The Future? December 22, 2008

Created a preliminary study of what the future beehive on the new AI1 property might look like. Essentially this thing is 2 B_Hivias to the left here, 2 Temple of TILES in the middle, and yet 2 more B_Hivias on the right. It’s a pretty massive structure. Now whether I follow through and start filling in the outline of this thing presently is another matter. I’ll have to study the subject further. It will probably involve the purchase of yet another piece of property, if I decide to proceed.

That tiny white dot on the bottom platform is Hucka D., just to give you an idea of the scale involved here.

To make room for the experiment in terms of prims, I had to temporarily (?) delete the collage gallery that formerly sat on top of the transplanted Temple of TILE, back on AI1 now where it was originally created. So here’s a look at the skybox without the collage gallery on top of the temple. I think I like this look better… the collage gallery (again, this is the old Wright House Gallery from Tyta) didn’t really fit in stylistically with the rather stark cube that is the temple. So if/when I reinstate the collage gallery I think I’ll move it further up in the sky, still accessible through property teleporters, but perhaps not immediately viewable from the Sky Forest, as I’m calling it.

After he finishes working on the outline for the possible, new temple, Hucka D. relaxes at the central lounge area of the skybox. Unfortunately he has no money to buy a magazine or a soda at this point. Behind him is a map of AI1, with the location of the temple highlighted with a red ball. You can also see the particle ferns to his left here… I have both particle ferns and snapdragons manifesting in the Sky Forest presently. The ferns are in the densest part of the forest, in the snubbed ne corner of the skybox as a whole.

Hucka D. walks toward the table at the eastern edge through this most crowded forest area. A great view of island sunrises can be had there.

Then a little later on, Baker Blinker decides to recheck the skybox and take her own snapshots. This is where you beam in through the provided teleporter at this location. There are about 6 teleporters on the property now.

Baker Blinker looks to the northwest corner of the Sky Forest from near its center…

…then more to the southwest, over top of the purple snapdragons. Altogether there are 5 tables in the Sky Forest, with 3 visible here.

Then looking in the opposite direction toward the ferns.

Nice views can be had of the Sky Forest from many part of the temple itself, such as this one from the 4th floor.

So a decision must be made soon about buying more property. I’m inclined right now to say: I like the Sky Forest as it is, and the temple as well. I’ll just move the collage gallery a little further up in the sky and have done with it for the most part presently. That’s my gut feeling. Again this could change in, well, the blink of an eye. SL is apparently all about rapid change.

Gallery Sights, 2 of 2 (Gallery) October 24, 2008

So this whole lower part of the Rubi gallery containing my Greenup collage series has been moved over to the Tyta properties — the brown tile part. Glad I was able to take some pictures before the transition. I like the way the spiral walkway is framed by one of the front windows here.

Baker Bloch at what was then the top of the spiral, entering the lower photograph level. This part is still at Rubi, although the spiral has been extended upward and also downward. Now you can walk the spiral into both the photography level above this one and also one more level, which would be the second level of the temple itself now.

I like this view out the windows of Zarek’s TILE colored platforms. How deliciously synchy!

Baker Bloch sits in the foray behind the 2 photography levels of that older version. From this draw distance you can get an idea of the size of all this mess added together. It was quite a collage of disparate objects! (and still is to a somewhat lesser degree)

More view of the towering gallery system. Those Victorian houses at the top remain in the exact same position in the newest version, except they are now encased by the temple itself. The lowest levels of the subway galleries, the old Azure house, and the brown tile part have all been removed, with most of rebuilt in Tyta.

Oh… can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this or not but the Edwardston Station Gallery is the name of the *Tyta* gallery now, not the one remaining in Rubi. The Rubi gallery, now solely composed of Edna’s photo collections (plus a small Klutzy Kamper collection in one room), is instead called The Gallery at the Temple of TILE.

Gallery Sights, 1 of 2 (Garden) October 24, 2008

Before I got a chance to write the text to this post, the whole Rubi gallery had been remodelled…. again! The garden part most pictured in this first post (of 2), however, remains somewhat the same. The grounds now, as of 11/8, are expanded since I’ve deleted all of the Arcadia Asylum subway stuff except for the actual 50 meter tunnel itself.

I did want to provide some pictures of the little garden I set up beside the subway tunnel, on the west side of the grounds. There’s what one could call an actual center to the landscaping efforts in this particular version (continued into the next version, with a 2nd center added, even). The original Rubi gallery was so full of gallery space on the ground level that there was little room left for landscaping of this kind. I thought this part was worthy of a little blog space, then.

Above you can see a glimpse into this “center”, which includes a tiny waterfall falling from a crimped pipe of some kind into a small pool. Surrounding this waterfall are 4 large upright rocks, arranged in a kind of Stonehenge fashion around the falls. These rocks (and also the water in the falls) are actually what remains of the Luna Bliss waterfall that use to be on the bottom level of the temple, but whose parts I accidentally delinked with deleting one of the versions of the Temple of TILE. But I found I had some cool looking 1 prim rocks to set up on my property as a consolation.

Below is a picture of Baker Bloch atop a grunge water tower I set up in the very sw corner of the properties, an object which also made the transition to the newest version of the gallery. He looks up toward the Victorian houses that now have a lot of additional buildings/objects rooting them to the Rubi ground. More on these in a minute.

Closeups of the falls I’ve already mentioned. I suppose I would call them Butterfly Falls for obvious reasons if I had to come up with a name. The tombstone in front from this angle has now been moved to the east side of my Rubi properties and coupled with another tombstone to make a little cemetery.

Looking through the crimped pipe toward the relaxed Baker Bloch in the science fiction related Star Treky chair.

NOOB statue looks directly down upon Baker Bloch as he sits at the tiny falls. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about it here, but that house the NOOB statue stands next to is the same as the first Azure Island house, when Baker Bloch and Baker Blinker were very much noobs themselves — they still have aspects of noobiness but they’re working on the problem.

As you can also tell, the middle part of the house has been greatly extended upward to accomodate particles emitting from a mysterious sphere situated in the middle of the old main room. In the latest version this is found inside the hull of The Arab now.

View of Baker Bloch, still in his chair, from the property to the west. The vegetation is thick here (still is).

New Look ESG, And Chatting… October 10, 2008

Thought I’d go ahead and provide some preliminary snapshots of the new look of the gallery. As you can see, it’s quite a diverse collection of structures all collaged and wedged in together. Is it a marvel or a monstrosity, he he? Probably a little of both and all points between.

First the back…

… then the front…

I also wanted to chat briefly with Hucka D. if he’s there. Hucka D.? Come in sir.

Hucka D.:

Whadda ya want?

bb:

Just to chat. Did I disturb you?

Hucka D.:

No. Joke.

bb:

Ok, now it seems to be that it’s really not the Edwardston Station Gallery that’s the focus, nor the Wright House Gallery. It’s the forest. that both surround.

Hucka D.:

It’s the forest that both surround. 10×10. Edna.

bb:

What’s up with Kerchal?

Hucka D.:

Not a whole lot now. Renew your rent though.

bb:

Ross Sea?

Hucka D.:

Connected to the Land of Oz… glad you asked. The Ross Sea complex highlights the lack of an African-American presence at the festival. Diana Ross… The Wiz. Ross Sea is the Dark Side of Oz. Dark Dorothy.

bb:

I’m going to rent The Wiz.

Hucka D.:

You do that. And of course Gary points to Michael Jackson, since that’s his birthplace.

bb:

Gary points to Gray, which has other ramifications.

Hucka D.:

Monochromatic Oz.

bb:

All Black and White.

Hucka D.:

No Color.

bb:

What’s in the Arab, Hucka D.?

Hucka D.:

The World. A World and The World.

bb:

Mythos.

Hucka D.:

Yeah.

*****

bb:

Hucka D., Mayberry is a problem, isn’t it?

Hucka D.:

Whistling your problems away. Monochromatic. Simpler times.

bb:

Can I talk further of the split between the 2 galleries now, centralized by The Forest?

Hucka D.:

Talk all you want.

bb:

I keep coming back in my thoughts to The Arab.

Hucka D.:

Dark sea. Scary. Night. Creepy. Darkness. Bottom of sea. Antarctic. End of the world.

bb:

I must return.

Hucka D.:

You must return.

Loose Notes Again… October 8, 2008

Edwardston Station Gallery is a go once again… might even be renamed the Edwardston Station Galleries. I believe that the Wright House Gallery may be just some kind of annex now, perhaps. For the record, this is the third time I’ve reconstructed the ESG. What do they say, third time’s the charm? Could be.

Here’s what I’ve done so far. I’ve kept the basic idea of the 3 gallery floors, but I’ve made the station area smaller (decreased from 5 collaged AA stations to 2) and also the brown colored tile gallery that began as the Hidalgo Gallery. It’s about maybe twice as big as the original Hidalgo gallery now, but still close to 1/2 the size it was in the last version of ESB. Maybe somewhat more than half. And I know the collection that will be in it: the Greenup series of collages of the 10×10, the only series of the 10×10 currently completed that was left out of the Wright House Gallery. I have more windows looking out of the gallery, being more aware of the space surrounding the gallery in this version. The 20 collages of the Greenup series fits quite comfortably within this space, even with the large windows (4 in all). So that’s a solid foundation, I feel.

Returning to the station itself, I haven’t decided whether to just leave the AA wallpaper up or put up the wallpaper that was in the station in the former version, the nicer, cleaner stuff. But I definitely want to add in the Esbum and Edwardston (Mythos) related pictures again, to provide a history of the station. Only 1 bathroom area exists still, as opposed to 5 formerly.

In the station I also decided to leave the two ends of the subway itself open, the rr part that is, instead of capping them with fake extensions. This allows easier access from the outside, or more apparent access.

Keeping to this level: because I rather considerably decreased the size of the station, there was also considerably more I could do in terms of landscaping. I also put a number of higher prim trees and vegetation around the gallery, including the cypress tree formerly in the Temple of TILE (the temple didn’t make it into version 3 of ESG… more on that in a minute), and also some giant bamboo currently. The center of this landscaping effort is a small waterfall pouring out of a pinched pipe and into a tiny pool, all surrounded by four large rocks from the former Luna Bliss waterfall that I accidentally unlinked when deconstructing the former gallery version. The NOOB statue is looking down on all… get to that as well soon. Anyway, there’s an interesting and particular center to this landscaping, unlike before… unless you count the pool in the old basement that sat perhaps where the present, smaller pool is positioned.

So I’m pretty happy right now about this new landscaping effort. Moving to the middle level, where in the former version you beamed into the gallery — the front door — I’m not sure if it will be the front door of the gallery now, since I don’t plan to put photographs on this level as I did before. Instead we have — get this — the original Azure Islands house — complete! — on the back of this level, which I think will act as the main offices of the gallery now. The open central part of this house has been *greatly* increased in height, though, and actually reaches what was formerly the bottom of the Temple of TILE. Again, I’ll have some snapshots soon of this extension. But the point here is that I don’t plan to put photographs on this level. Instead I’ve created 2 entirely new levels in one structure, inserted in the the old gap between the temple and the gallery.

So to these new levels. First off, they are accessible from the spiral around the tree that I’m keeping from the old version of ESG. The spiral will have more functions now, then: it will be the only connection between the 3 lower levels and the the levels above it. Technically, I suppose, we have 8 gallery levels now…

Let’s go into a little more detail about the 3 lower levels before moving up. The 1st level, or the station itself, is only connected presently to the 3rd level, or the brown tiled part of the gallery now holding the Greenup collage series. They are connected through an escalator still, as they were in the older version (except the west escalator instead of the east escalator, the latter now being closed as the west was in the old ESG version). So an option would be for visitors to beam in near the escalator, and then access upper levels from there. Those that enjoy the collages on level 3, the next accessible level if I decide to create the main access point of the gallery here, can also visit the Wright House Gallery next, or travel up the beanstalk to more collages in the ESG itself. On that subject: I think I’ll put the projected Wheeler-Jasper collage series, that will close out the 10×10 soom, in the houses at the top of the gallery. This was a plan carried over from the last version of ESG, where I inserted the Yale-Newton collages into these houses before moving them over to the Wright House Gallery. Another option would be to put the Wheeler-Jasper series in the Wright House Gallery and move either the Oblong series or both the Rose Hill and Hidalgo series into these houses. As Hucka D. said, it seems that the location of the various parts of the 10×10 is a key to ESG’s success. I’m *leaning* toward putting the Oblong series in the houses, since it is a direct double to the Greenup collage series from below. And then, also , the Wheeler-Jasper series will be in the same space as its own twin of Yale-Newton (as are Rose Hill and Hidalgo, if I keep them in the Wright House Gallery).

Then the new levels between level 3 and levels 6-8 (the two houses) will be used to exhibit Edna Blinker’s photography.

Gee wiz that sounds like a *plan*.

*****

10/09/08:

Just going to add onto this particular post to relay new developments in the ESG.

Returning to the station itself, I haven’t decided whether to just leave the AA wallpaper up or put up the wallpaper that was in the station in the former version, the nicer, cleaner stuff. But I definitely want to add in the Esbum and Edwardston (Mythos) related pictures again, to provide a history of the station. Only 1 bathroom area exists still, as opposed to 5 formerly.

I’ve added onto the station quite a bit, actually, since this note. There are now 3 bathroom areas manifested instead of 1, and 1 of these in a new position from the old gallery, even. This is still less than the 5 in the old gallery, and I think my expansion of this level 1 is done now. And these areas are also already filled with art (!). Edna’s stuff takes up the east side, my stuff is to the west, and in the middle we still have material relating the story of the Edwardston Station (same pictures as from the last 2 versions of ESG essentially). On this level, Edna has her Charleston, SC pictures, contrasted with those from Pocahontas, Virginia. Basically the dichotomy is riches and ruins. On my side I’ve added in some entirely new SL pictures, including 10 really old collages (pre-10×10), and also 3 chromagraph studies, which worked out nicely despite the lack of high resolution images to upload into SL. I’ll provide pictures soon — really quite pleased with that given the circumstances. So all the art of mine in this lowest level is pre-10×10, since the chromagraphs are old, old news to me. Plan to do more of those now, though.

Oh, and I did decide to put up the wallpaper from the old level 1 in ESG version 2, although I left some AA textures around the escalator area and also the floor remains hers (for now). So that’s a review of what’s happening with level 1.

Levels 2 and 3 remain basically unchanged… still the Greenup series (first of 10×10) in level 3, the brown tiled area. I have added teleporters throughout the gallery now so that you can browse through the levels quicker. You can walk or teleport now — options. The spiral staircase surrounding the giant tree will remain.

On level 4 I’ve put Edna’s Land of Oz pictures again, and basically the same ones found on level 2 of ESG version 2. Works nicely there, and part of the next steps will be to look at the brand new Land of Oz pictures for additions to this level and perhaps the area behind it to the south I’ve collaged in now. Get to that in a minute.

The east wing of level 5 is taken up by Klutzy Kamper’s photos, also translated from version 2. The west area will probably have Edna’s photos again, perhaps mountain scenes.

Now to the new, south addition, just put in this afternoon. It’s base is the low prim Beach House again, like I used with the Wright House Gallery. But instead of 6 beach houses I use only 2, turning the top upside down on the bottom once more. But the design is the same, only I use 2 houses (working as one pair or one unit) instead of 6, as the Wright House Gallery has. This remains an empty space… thinking about putting Edna’s Blinkerton related photos here.

The higher levels above these remain unchanged, which means the two glued together Victorian houses are still there. I haven’t decided whether these will eventually house the projected Wheeler-Jasper collage series or not. Another option now is the new South Wing… oh, I was going to explain a little more that design. Well, within this, since the Beach House has 2 levels, there are now 4 levels (since the second is simply stacked on top of the first. There is no direct connection between the bottom 2 levels and the top 2 levels. Instead there are entrances at both the east wings of levels 4 and 5, just large enough to get through (an opening similar to the one found in level 3 to reach the spiral initially). Then there are 2 spiral stairs within this new wing itself so that you can move between the two internal levels of each twinned part. Again, I’ll have pictures soon that’ll explain better… hard to describe all this. But one of the interesting things to me is that in constructing this new wing realized that technically levels exist between 3 and 4, and also 5 and 6… 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 in other words. Very Being John Malkovichian!

But the problem, for me remains the relationship between the Wright House Gallery, holding the 60 collages of the 10×10 past the Greenup series, and the Edwardston Station Gallery which potentially will have to hold the 40 other collages of this series, or the beginning Greenup series (20 collages) and the ending Wheeler-Jasper series (20 collages as well). I still lilke the idea of putting the Wheeler-Jasper series in the 2 Victorian houses perched atop the ESG.

So some work remains: I must review Edna’s new Land of Oz photos, as well as mountain landscape photos. Must decide whether to accept more guest art, as I have done with KK’s collection. So far I have Edna’s Land of Oz, Charleston, and Pocahontas photos in the ESG, as well as my own pre-10×10 collages, a couple of chromagraphic studies, and then the first series of the 10×10 (Greenup).

Put teleporters at strategic points in the gallery for those who are either more interested in collages or more interested in photos, so they can teleport to appropriate places of interest. The way I’m thinking in this is that you have teleporters on the treehouse spiral just outside level 3 with the Greenup series that will whiz you across the Rubi forest if you wish to visit the next 60 collages of the 10×10, instead of progressing up to the photo areas. Then on the escalator going up to level 3 I’ll also put a teleporter allowing one to skip the collages of level 3, if that’s not their cup o’ tea.

*****

Another thing that I contemplated and I just don’t think will work is moving the whole Wright House Gallery over to the Edwardston Station Gallery property as a skybox there, and probably at the 250m level again. Prim count is a problem to begin with. No, I think it’s best that the 10×10 remains split between the two galleries in practically terms, on the north and south side of the forest, as it were. *Ideally* they should all be together but I dont’ think that’s going to happen for some time.

Zic-zac-zoe > The Arab September 19, 2008

So here’s the ship I’ve been talking about in recent posts. Doesn’t have a *fixed* name yet but I’m leaning, right now, toward Zic-zac-zoe or perhaps Ziczac-zoe, to indicate a probable location it was found buried at, which is the Zoe property in the Ziczac sim where our family house is located (see: renaming of Ziczac property to Zoe above for more on this). Also another strong probable location for the ship was Camp Zoe, where they hold all those Deadhead related festivals throughout the year, Schwagstocks I think they’re called. Camp Zoe is a 1/2 mile from the *Current* River in that location, on Sinking Creek, and The Arabian was found, according to the wikipedia article on that subject, 1/2 mile from the *current* river, which means, in that case, the Missouri River. But Grassy says that the two rivers are one under the most *current* or up-to-date interpretations. Most definitely Camp Zoe has something to do with this ship that has seemingly just suddenly appeared in the temple.

At first, I thought the boat’s name might be The Arab, similar to The Arabian, then. But I think keyword “Arab” appears in our attempted interpretation, through synchronistic resonance, to indicate more the presence of a “foreign one” or “Foreign One”, which has now been connected to Big Four, West Virginia and Grassy1’s current presence there. “Foreign One” was part of or perhaps all of the cargo involved.

Let’s just move into a description of the ship itself. As you can see, I punched another hole in the top of the temple to make room for the superstructure of the vessel, here viewable from the Viewing Level of the temple, beside the teleporter on that level.

The ship’s hull runs along the entire northern length of the temple, making it 30 meters long as well in that direction.

This is the other end of the ship, and underneath I’ve left the table and 3 chairs from before. I have a feeling that this may become a regular meeting place for those involved in researching the ship. We’ll see.

Through an opening created in the hull, Baker Bloch is allowed access to the old deck of the ship by walking up the roof of the Newton House, which the ship can be said to be perched upon in a manner of speaking. This is where the precious cargo was stored, of which not a stitch remains as far as Blochs can tell. What happened to it?

Blochs then moves to the top of the temple to better examine the superstructure.

“Boy this is one cramped little walkway,” he might think, and indeed one has to wonder at the size of the former occupants, given that Baker Bloch’s hat bedecked head will *just* fit under the roofing here.

Gallery/Temple Tour, Couple To Finish Off (Finally!) September 10, 2008

As I mentioned in that last post, level 6 of the old temple is left basically intact in the transition [note: same with "level 7, actually, since that's the very top of the temple still]. Baker Bloch here walks around to verify that this is so.

Some outside views…

Gallery/Temple Tour, Part 8 September 10, 2008

To access other parts of the viewing level you must walk over this roof section.

On the other side is the green floored or middle section of the viewing level. The teleporter here is in roughly the same position that it was on the old level 5. I’ve also rezzed a bridge here so that one can walk around to the blue section easier.

Another great view down into the temple.

A strange quirk of juxtaposing the houses with the old temple is this tent-like area in the blue section. Perhaps it can be used as some kind of storage area?

Baker Bloch reaches the end of the viewing level.

Gallery/Temple Tour, Part 7 September 10, 2008

There’s no other way to access further levels up from this “middle” level, so Baker Bloch has to drop down to the first or bottom level again to gain access to the spiraling staircase running throughout the temple. Here he inspects the row of services provided on the side of one house: newspapers, fizzy drinks, and magazines. Baker Bloch is reminded that this is NOT a public library, and that he must BUY a magazine before reading. All part of the fun and games, though, since you can’t actually buy any of these items here.

Baker Bloch moves to the foot of the staircase…

Up, up, up, and on the way up he finds he has to walk over part of one of the house’s roof to keep a steady pace going. But he finds it fun.

Baker Bloch looks over to verify that he indeed is at eye level with what we should probably call the “viewing” level instead of the upper level of the temple, actually, since there are 2 levels above that of the houses. The viewing level is larger, while the level above that, completely berift of objects, is the same as the old level 6 of the temple. The viewing level, in turn, would be roughly the same as level 5 in the old naming system of temple floors.

I wanted to include this shot so one can see where Baker Bloch has to leap off to access the viewing level.. near the top of the spiral but not so near that he can’t fit underneath the roof of the temple. Perhaps I should put a sign up here reading something like “Access Viewing Level Here”, or sumtin. I’ll work on that, then.

Baker Bloch landing on the “red” part of the viewing level. In walking around this level in a counterclockwise directly, he will encounter red, green, and blue floored areas respectively.

The viewing level, true to its new name, allows some quite fine views down into the lower parts of the temple, such as this one in the red section…

Baker Bloch enjoying the viewing and resting from the climb up.

Gallery/Temple Tour, Part 6 September 10, 2008

Of course since Baker Bloch helped build the structure in the first place, he was aware that the houses are still kind of empty. That void will be filled soon enough, though — I have some sketchy plans for that space.

But through the built-in teleporter system of the houses, he is at least able to easily access their second levels, which also make up, jointly, the new second level of the temple itself, I suppose.

And there in the middle of the merged porches stands the central lemon tree and the spinning cube. Again, as with Lavender Falls and the giant cypress tree and the 30 meter spiral stairs, these objects were not moved from their former location. The spinning cube is still positioned in the exact center of the overarching 30×30x30 cube. I felt it very important to keep the core of this central complex, although I had to delete the 11 stone-like objects surrounding this lemon tree and spinning cube to make it fit. I guess this means we don’t have a working “portal” between RL and SL in the temple any more, but I could be wrong there. I will have to ask Hucka D. about this the next time he’s around.

Baker Bloch attempts to take a snapshot of a passing pigeon. Another nice bit of unplanned symmetry: a bird perpetually circles ’round the very top of this tree, as a (hobo) fish circles iaround the bottom of same (his/her pool viewable from the lowest level of the gallery).

Then Baker Bloch visits the 3rd floors of the houses, which are also mainly empty as with the lower floors of each. But I just wanted to throw in a picture of one of the 2 upper floors just to note they exist. I forgot to take a snapshot of it, but the other house’s “loft”, as we could call it, has an open window overlooking the Ruby Forest. Quite spectacular; I think if I were to claim one room in the temple that might be it.

Then there is also a counterpart to to the small northern porch on the middle level, accessible through a quite narrow side porch.

Half the way down this narrow porch, Baker Bloch decides to take a picture of the waterfall, and the top of the huge tree that now stands directly underneath its flow. “Shame that the tree’s top covered the view of that pretty waterfall,” he might think here.

Baker Bloch then looking through the open end of the middle level porch, toward the Ruby Forest.