Warm Winter Nights

I have been giving classes in Academia Portucalis since 2007 and, teaching not being a RL activity, I took it as challenge when invited.

My stage fright was not easy to overcome, but blushing on this side of the screen and using written text made it easier and step by step the fright was gone and I am already able to speak in front of an audience without mumbling.

I have been teaching there mostly common Second Life things, like avatar make overs, land and group management, general Q&A sessions. The last mini-course I gave there was about windlight and photography.

And now comes the true reason for this post. I was really overwhelmed with the results obtained. Not only the students kept making clever questions, but did in fact pay a lot of attention to the classes. When asked to do some pictures as homework the results were really amazing. Never knew that teaching could be so rewarding and I am really proud of them.

There is an exhibit of their first works going on in Owl’s Bay Art Gallery which you can see until the end of May. Please drop by any time and check their works (teleport in front of landing point).

Could not end this post without thanking Marga Ferrer and M2Life Paravane for the great work they are doing at the Academia and for making the Portuguese community a bit richer in knowledge within this Second Life of ours.

Leave you a couple of pictures from the classes and the exhibition.

Taken by Marga Ferrer during the class

Like I have been posting, we are launching a short story contest every month at Owl’s Bay with the same theme as the Island for that month.

Last one was Once upon a time in a Fairy Tale – although one of my friends claimed it should be Furry tails hehe.  Anyway, leave you here the video for the cerimony, produced by BlueAngel Lungu, and hope that on next contest you can be one of the lucky winners. I will inform the new theme shortly, so that you can call the muses in time.

Owl’s Bay is the new Open Space SIM I rented with some friends (and what a bargain guys!) and is soon to be officially opened.

Among the several events, which will be held during 4 weeks, we are launching a Short Stories Contest. Here are the Rules

1. All residents older than 3 months in SL may present a maximum of 3 works and just one story of each author will be selected.

1. The stories should some how be connected to the theme “Once Upon a time in China”, once this is the theme for this month’s event.

1. Stories can be submitted in Portuguese and/or English.

1. The stories have to be non-published originals and may not exceed 2 A4 pages. A maximum of 6 photos can be added (1 being for the front cover). If you decide to present a comics story, the maximum number of pages will be 6 with a maximum of 6 pictures per page and an extra for the cover.

Note: All the photos have to be taken by the author or it/he/she should supply to the organization a written authorization by the photographer.

1. All works must be sent until October 5^th to owlsbay@gmail.com in .doc and .jpg files.

1. The winner chosen by the jury will receive a L$ 1,000 cash prize and the book will be published and set for sale in Owl’s Bay Bookshop and other places that join the initiative.

The next two best stories will also be published and set for sale under the above terms.

Note: Owl’s Bay will retain a 20% percentage of every book sale.

1. The winners will be announced on the “Once Upon a Time in China” closing party and the books launched at the same time (date shortly to be announced).

For further information please leave your question here in comments or send e-mail to owlsbay@gmail.com.

Are you still there? Come on! Get your feather, pen or keyboard and start writing. We are waiting for your master pieces.

Have fun and may the Muses be with you!

For all of you that met Summer or know her writing this will come as no surprise.

My siss is the person I must admire in terms of writing and she can really make you feel what she is feeling and transmit all those emotions to her readers making you “see” as if you were there yourself. She is now writing for FreeStyle Magazine, an “old” SL Magazine (they will celebrate 1 year next September).

Siss congratulations on your article and for making another of your dreams come true!

(Geez I’m really proud of this siss of mine hehe)

Dowload the .pdf here and read the magazine. It is worth the reading. You can read about Mermaids world, the beautiful Tempura Island (this story by my good friend Petros Milkos, also a great writer), a couple of fashion articles (with freebies *winks) and of course siss story about Dogs and Puppies in SL.

I met Rann and his girlfriend Lizie through a friend. His Scottish accent (yes even in writing) and easy talk immediately captivated me.

We talked for a while and he showed me some of his RL paintings. I was completely hooked and knew I just had to have his paintings in Galeria LX walls. He was kind enough to accept and now I am proud to invite for the opening on August 7th at 02:00 PM PDT / 22:00 GMT (Galeria LX, Portucalis (111, 81, 22) ).

Leave you here the press release for the exhibition and a photo of the invitation.

Hope to see you there.

SPIRIT OF SCOTLAND BY RANNOCH LATER

Rannoch comes from the Highlands of Scotland.

His native land has been the inspiration for most of his work and this often reflects in the subject.

It all started one very cold winter while he was stranded by deep snow in his caravan (Trailer) on the side of a Scottish Loch. He was fixing his Motorcycle at the time, so had some tins of spray paint left all over the place. Just decided to brighten the place up with it, and… the end result was what you will see at the exhibition. He discovered he was into painting.

He was stranded for over a week, and had nothing to paint on so the furniture, what wasn’t burned, got it. Most of the Originals of these prints were done on recycled domestic furniture with tins of Graffiti paint, and some Ink.

The rest was done on Roof tiles that were under his caravan. You could say this is his old home on display.

Among his works are Logos and Album covers for the music industry, as well as corporate logos and design boards, and several commissions, but mostly he enjoys painting for his own fun.

He also makes Swords and daggers, again this is all done with things he finds and recycles.

RL exhibitions:

Smith Gallery, (Stirling), part of “Brave Art” exhibition 1997

Trading post, Royal Mile (Edinburgh)

Royal College of Phisicians , Queen Street (Edinburgh) (part exh)

Lethbridge , (Ontario).(part exh)

Now Galeria LX is proud to present his works for the first time at Galeria LX in Portucalis. Galeria LX, Portucalis (111, 81, 22)

Please join us there for a night embedded with the Spirit of Scotland.

I already posted about SLang Magazine and Slang Island. This time I would like to inform you that Uzi Boa, the SLang Team and my good friend Ibrahim Bates have been organizing the Portuguese week in SLang Island with several events going on starting today.

So if you want to know what we Portuguese are doing in Second Life take a look at the events schedule here and drop by to have fun and collect some info and freebies from the kiosks existing there.

(Oh, yours trully will be speaking about Portucalis on the 9th at 02:00 PM PDT *winks)

My good friend Halden Beaumont is yet in another project and the Second Life Portal for the Portuguese speaking community is already online. Conceived and designed by him this project comes to fill a gap in the Portuguese information about Second Life.

But this post is not about the Portal or Halden. It is about siss.

Halden invited Summer to do a talk show and the first person to be interviewed was our good old friend Ibrahim Bates who is going to launch 2 short stories in Second Life, both in Portuguese and in English, next March 28th, 1:30 PM SLT at the opening of Portucalis bookshop.

The interview was simply great and siss just seems to be born to do that. I must apologise for those who can´t understand Portuguese, but I did have to post about this. I’m so proud of her!!!

Last week I met Uzi Boa. She was introduced to me by my good friend Ibrahim and I showed her around Portucalis. Uzi is Polish and we chatted a bit about the project she’s in: SL’Ang Life, a magazine that is distributed to your RL door by mail.

Usi passed me the information about the project and I share it here with you, cause I really find the idea quite innovative and interesting.

In January 2008 Slang Corp. published the first issue of SL’ang Life magazine. The magazine is in English and delivered to subscribers all over the word by post. It is free of charge and delivery costs! In order to receive a brand new 48-page (A-4 format) issue every month, visit Sl’ang Life’s virtual island and subscribe by filling in a form on www.slanglife.com.

Sl’ang Life publishers compare the magazine to Newsweek, so it aspires to be opinion shaping press. Its main frame consists of four major sections: SL life, SL culture and style, SL economy and SL entertainment. There you will find interviews with personalities of the month, current affairs and descriptions of important events and places in SL connected with culture, business and politics as well as music, fashion and travel corners, technical advice, novel in episodes and many other trivia. As Macciej Schumann (CEO) said during the opening ceremony – the aim is to present opinions and comments expressed by avatars and journalists, both from SL and RL, in a wide international perspective.

Check also their blog here and if you have time take a look at the SL’Ang Island and enjoy yourselves.

As many of you know, I have been following Halden Beamont’s path within the machinima and other media works he has been developing.

I am today proud to inform you that is work has been – once again – recognised and that he has been nominated Media Director for the Second Life Ballet.

Second Life Ballet is one of SL’s most prestigious institutions and with one of the biggest international projects within SL, if the not the bigger.

Congratulations Halden!

When reading Gwyneth Llewelyn’s  post about Windlight, I came across a YouTube Video that caught my attention.

The first thing was the Smartboard interactive whiteboard they use at the presentation. The first time I ever saw this technology (don’t know if we have it here in Portugal) and it surprised me for the potential it has for educational purposes and also for companies that operate in Second Life.

Then I decided to google Greenbush and this Education service Center is doing a pretty good job. On their first page it states: At the core of every Greenbush Program is the unyielding belief that every student, regardless of geographic location, deserves equal educational opportunities. Take a look at the site and see the great job they are doing.

There are great educational programs in Second Life, and for those sceptics who think that SL is just a game and it is all about sex, you better think twice and don’t believe everything you read or see in the media.

 Congrats Greenbush and keep up with the good work.