Nexeus Fatale

With the SLCC beginning in 3 DAYS, I’m going to be more silent than usual! Tasks for organization are picking up, I’m going through final meetings with the other SLCC Organizers, final e-mails, and final preparations until I touch down in Tampa on Thursday. Preparing for this year’s convention is massive, there’s so much going on it’s almost impossible to keep up with it all.

Somewhere in today’s preparation process, things went horribly wrong and this happened!

The doctors say it’s not permanent and that I have to stop taking pictures with my tongue sticking out.

See you in Tampa! And a reminder for everyone there is 1 Day Left For Registration and Payments!

My First Second Life Poster (some time ago)

Four years ago, I ventured into a new world. One that had existed for roughly a year and a half. It was a world I’ve heard about some time ago on CNET, but my interests peeked in late August 2004 and I wanted to attempt something new. After signing up and paying my $9.99 premium fee (or was it $14?), Nexeus Fatale was born!

It’s shocking that I’ve been around in Second Life for 4 years; so much has changed namely its growth and platform. At one point I remember the population of the community sitting at roughly several thousand and now it’s tens of millions!(?)

Second Life has been a very important aspect in my life, not only as a DJ but socially, developmentally. I’ve met many people through Second Life. The first person I’ve ever met Madison Gardner, my Second Life mother Baccara Rhodes (whom I owe many phone calls), cuz Stroker Serpentine and the rest of my faux family including BCreative Wilde (my first best friend in SL), Munchflower Zaius, Trinity Serpentine, FlipperPA Pereguine and his wife Jennyfur. The list goes on for miles, other important people I’ve come across (AmySue Shirakawa, wifey Emme Mammonnen, Ribbions, mis hermano’s at Pure West Documentaries) the companies I’ve worked with (Electric Sheep Company, Millions of Us, H&R Block) and the people whom regularly support me either by attending events or being there for me (Tarsis, Sezzy, PheonixFire). Don’t think I’ve forgotten your name because I didn’t list it there’s way too many!

There have been so many things I’ve been a part of that has made the past four years in Second Life worth it, the Second Life Community Convention, The L Word, the Metaverse Meetups. All of these have shaped parts of my virtual life, broadened my horizons and introduced me to so many wonderful people!

This Rez-Day comes with some sadness though, I had several things I wanted to release today, a party I had planned, some major changes but I’ve been derailed with technical issues that has prevented all of that.

If you’re expecting some final “ta-ta”, ride into the sunset speech, I’m sorry to disappoint. I’ve really invested myself in the things that I do within Second Life. As SL grows and becomes more and more decentralized, I’m going to continue to make efforts to aid in both those on the centralized SL system and the non centralized sections (i.e. avaverse.org)

Just because there’s little activity does not mean that a lot is not brewing underneath. Year five is shaping up to be quite active for myself, beyond just being a DJ. Maybe Prokofy was right after all, maybe I’m really vying for virtual world domination.

With four years under my belt and my march of year five I really just want to say…

THANK YOU!

I hate technical failures. They derail any progress always force me to change my plans. Today, my graphics card has melted under the weight of Second Life and other graphic activities. This failure means that the system I’ve relied on for the past two and a half years cannot run, I cannot DJ. I am going to have to pause all of my Second Life gigs for the time being. Obtaining a new graphics card is not only beyond my reach at the moment but makes little sense.

I wish the solution was the purchase of a new graphics card, but the system that I’ve been running on is an aging AMD system, slowly buckling under the weight of Vista and new technologies. While a short term solution would be that of a new card, I may end up in the same position a few months down the line. The real solution is that I need a new system. Either purchase one or construct one, but it needs to happen. This will take me time; I estimate a month or two.

This pause forces me to fall back on other projects. The Second Life Community Convention is almost two weeks away and I still have many preparations along with the rest of the organization team to accomplish; I have the release of my new brand soon; my mixing podcast need to be revived (I still have access to my mixing hardware); and two budding radio stations that need to exit their beta phases. This is only a small sample of the many things I do.

Do note this is a pause, a vacation if you will and I will return to DJing. I am not leaving Second Life, I have a system that will run SL (and hopefully not melt my graphic card). There are also two more than qualified DJ’s that I will refer to for events to until I can return back to the fold. I can personally vouch for BCreative Wilde and DJ Tarsis as great, professional and well rounded DJ’s. Currently, my timetable for a return is late September or mid-October, but time will only tell.

Maybe this pause is a good thing; I’ve been DJing non-stop in Second Life for the past 4 years, who knows. This detailment is rather annoying!

In the past I have been critical of the Second Life Media. Although the media sources have improved since my initial comments, I still feel that there is a lack of one, central media source that just did the news. No OP-ED’s, no opinions, no drama coverings, just reporting what is going on, interviews, and announcements. At the moment to achieve this effect a person would have to check several news sites, at least 2 forums, and at least two feed aggregators.

Where is my cleanly organized, searchable, news content? New venues? New content releases? New stuff that big and small companies are doing in Second Life? The answer is that it is not all there yet.

For a very long while I’ve been thinking of creating my own news source to help aid in what I see to be lacking. Today the “Coming Soon” sign for that idea has been posted. Introducing The Metaverse Wire, a new news source that will focus on the news, what’s going on, and what’s happening. My plan is to use the same sources of news that I’ve been using all along, the community. There’s always a notecard, a conference IM, a new group about some new event, venue. There’s also the big news of a major company doing something in Second Life, but all of that seems to fall on deaf ears. In intend, with The Metaverse Wire, to turn the ears in the community.

Over the past few months I’ve been working on a system to help do this, and it will serve as the backbone for this information gathering (actually many of the scripts I’ve been writing for projects are the reason I launched The Avaverse, but I digress). If you are interested in learning more, contact me, or send me a message in Second Life, and I will be able to fill you in with the details.

(ps. If you’re wondering when I get sleep? I don’t.)

Remember a time of roller skates, Drive-In’s, and sock-hops? I don’t at all (I’m too young.) But for those who enjoy 50’s pop, music or style may get a kick out of a new venue titled “The Fabulous 50’s”. They are having their grand opening in Second Life Wednesday, August 6 at 4pm PST with Erin68 Frog and Satin Galli performing live in concert. The venue keeps in to spirit all of the style from the 50’s.

One of the reasons I’m posting this venue is, well my friend HaleyGrace Delight (an owner of the venue), pointed it in my direction, but I’m having a little 50’s flashback myself (hopefully to be described in a later post this week). If you get the chance, check out the venue in Second Life on the Asmodeus Sim.