133: Koningsdag at Big Momma's Ballroom

I found myself with an unexpected moment of leisure and found to my pleasure that I actually had time to drop in on Big Momma's Ballroom to hear DJ Kahvy Smith lead a celebration of a very important holiday in the Netherlands, Koningsdag or King's Day. It celebrates the birthday of the reigning

King Willem-Alexander.
   Hosting duties were handled ably by Crafty Migpalion Foxdale, and the dress, as you can tell from the pictures, is formal. Specifically, formal with an orange accent or royal regalia. (I'm wearing an orange jewel around my neck to honour the House of Orange, honest, although you'll have to look at the close-ups to see it.) Always fun to

have an excuse to wear my L&B tuxedo and the ladies certainly do formal events justice, as you can see, with each gown more spectacular than the next.
   The most interesting part for me, other than the chance to pay my respects to the cultural tradition of my Dutch friends, was the chance to use their super-duper Intan dance animations. As I understand it, DJ Kahvy is in real life a trained

ballroom dancer and so matches the music to the animations, that he also announces. So when he plays a paso doble, you and your partner can DO a paso doble. Unfortunately my fiancé Alex Thaub wasn't with me but a kind gentleman, Theron Mexicola, took pity on me and danced. It was quite a pleasure to be able to dance so well since in RL I am pretty much the guy

standing on the side of the dance floor bouncing up and down holding his beer because he can't dance. ;-)
   It was a lot of fun, everyone was in good spirits, I saw some friends, including the very regal Bock McMillan and Tomais Ashdene, Helene Dragoone, and the always lovely PuPi. And it was a nice change of pace to have a different style of music and a

different style of dancing. Happy Koningsdag!

122: Walking through the new 3Bears Foundation Gallery with curator Joseph Nussbaum

Part of the reason I live on the 3Bears sim is their commitment to displaying the work of Second Life artists; I like that idea and it's great to just go for a walk on the sim and see what you can see. Recently, though, Galileo Michalski re-did the public areas -- beautifully, I might add -- and as a result the 3Bears Foundation 

Gallery space was changed. I persuaded my friend and neighbour, and well-known photographic artist, Joseph Nussbaum to walk me through the new gallery space and do an interview to tell my readers about it; he's currently showing, as well as two other well-known SL artists, Bianca Xavorin and Tomais Ashdene. 

Joseph Nussbaum

[15:24] Rusty Redfield: hey!

[15:25] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): hey there!

[15:25] Rusty Redfield: good to see you, and thanks for taking this time

[15:27] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): we can sit on a bench here I think

[15:27] Rusty Redfield: so my understanding is in the recent re-vamp 

A room of Bianca Xavorin's exhibition

of 3Bears, you moved/changed/resized the art gallery?

[15:27] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): it's a long story, but yes :-)

[15:27] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): just a sec, my focus is out here lol

[15:28] Rusty Redfield: heh heh yeah, the short version will be fine

Part of Bianca Xavorin's exhibition

[15:28] Rusty Redfield: I know 3Bears has always had a focus on the arts, it's part of the reason I moved here -- that and the nice neighbours LOL

[15:28] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): When I left, it was because I was getting tired, and I want SL to be a fun, interesting, time and not unfun.

[15:28] Joseph Nussbaum 

A view of Tomais Ashdene's exhibition

(edward.nussbaum): yeah it's a nice place!

[15:29] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): but I guess I had taken on a lot, and all the different tasks started making me feel like I do in RL, and I have enough of that

[15:29] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): so I left to take a rest.

Another view of Tomais Ashdene's photographs

[15:29] Rusty Redfield: I know, right? We come here to have fun and recharge and maybe create, and dance and shop and fuck

[15:29] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): lol

[15:30] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): all of that hyes :-)

[15:31] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): but, when I came 

A look at Edward Nussbaum's exhibition

back, I didn't want to be beholden to anything specific, I wanted to just take my time. Gali (The owner of 3Bears) had revamped the place - He said it was time - and he put down this small gallery

[15:32] Rusty Redfield: I've certainly seen and liked the re-vamp.

[15:33] Rusty Redfield: so you get to do -- how shall I say -- a bit less curation? 

Another view of Edward Nussbaum's artworks

More focus on a smaller space, less ongoing responsibilitiy?

[15:33] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): Yeah - a small gallery, I can just relax with it, present stuff that I want to, not worry about anything - yay!

[15:34] Rusty Redfield: exacctly.  And people know that when you mount a show it's worth seeing.

Edward Nussbaum (L) / Rusty Redfield (R)

[15:35] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): There are many huge galleries in SL that do wonderful things and I want to have an intimate space for small shows  - I don't want to be famous or work my tail off with all that, I just want to present things that I like and artists that I love.

[15:35] Rusty Redfield: I understand.

[15:36] Rusty Redfield: And I see you have a couple of very familiar names here, people who have been creating beautiful work in SL for a while, that have a track record of achievement

[15:36] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): And the gallery will remain small, with some small parties now and then, but present art as it should be, mixed in with the residents.

[15:36] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): Yes, We have Bianca Xavorin with a lovely exhibit

[15:37] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): and Tomais Ashdene with some of his realistic pictures,

[15:37] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): and of course, my own room hehe

[15:39] Rusty Redfield: I see that!

[15:39] Rusty Redfield: so -- perhaps we could have a look at each of the rooms

[15:39] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): sure thing

[15:39] Rusty Redfield: you pick

[15:40] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): This is one room of two of the photography of Bianca Xavorin

[15:40] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): She's chosen a "Mythological" theme for her pictures, or perhaps "Gorean - Mythology"

[15:41] Rusty Redfield: that makes sense

[15:41] Rusty Redfield: fantasy, definitely

[15:41] Rusty Redfield: and for some of my readers, the attraction will be some very handsome nearly nude models <grin>

[15:41] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yeah, She does wonderful work with figures, and has a great choice of colours

[15:41] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): hehe

[15:41] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): and hot models too :-)

[15:41] Rusty Redfield: I was thinking that -- the palette is golds and greens and flesh colour, very linked together

[15:42] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yes, she has done some other shows of different types of photos, all very good!

[15:42] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): ok over to Tomais

[15:43] Rusty Redfield: this is Tomais Ashdene, I took my readers to a show of his work not too long ago and interviewed him, a great guy

[15:43] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): A room of Tomais here - some of these are older works, some are new.

[15:43] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): But a nice quiet display of pieces

[15:43] Rusty Redfield: I know he's like me -- he likes to pay attention to the tiniest details

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yeah lol, unlike me, I like to take shots on the moment

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): I took one of you

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): lol

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): which will show up on Facebook

[15:44] Rusty Redfield: <grin> I have no patience but an eye for detail, it's a fatal combination LOL

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): hehe

[15:44] Rusty Redfield: aha!

[15:44] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): ok the final room

[15:45] Rusty Redfield: I know Tomais spends hours working over his art, and it really shows

[15:45] Rusty Redfield: I know from seeing some things you've put on Facebook that you're currently interested in ... shadows?

[15:45] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): This is just a collection of pictures that I have done over time, as well as a picture which links to a video

[15:45] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): I have some photos from my Tarot set here

[15:46] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): my "Moving Picture Show"

[15:46] Rusty Redfield: I remember those! Yes, that exhibition too

[15:46] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): and some of my latest pieces

[15:46] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): this is my most recent

[15:46] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): It's from a video I made, actually

[15:46] Rusty Redfield: large pools of shadow

[15:46] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): I like shadows :-)

[15:47] Rusty Redfield: people don't exploit them in SL often, I guess

[15:47] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): not really, people rarely do, that's true

[15:47] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): but that's the gallery, I hope to have a party here soon for it as well.

[15:47] Rusty Redfield: you can get people to focus in on a smaller part of what they're seeing

[15:48] Rusty Redfield: oh THAT sounds like fun, your opening parties are always fun

[15:48] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yeah, and that's all I want

[15:48] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): as soon as I know moe, I will let you know

[15:48] Rusty Redfield: I'll drop the word. I've met some really interesting people at your opening parties ... always fun.

[15:48] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): thanks!

[15:49] Rusty Redfield: so how long will this exhibit be mounted?

[15:49] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): not sure, lol, probably for a month or two

[15:49] Rusty Redfield: oh good, so people can come and see it.

[15:50] Rusty Redfield: without worrying about a deadline

[15:50] Rusty Redfield: any upcoming exhibitions you can talk about?

[15:50] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yes, I hope they do, just to see the art and get a nice idea of what people are doing,

[15:50] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): it's not just all parties all the time

[15:51] Rusty Redfield: heh heh, no, that's the fun part to make up for the hours getting the details painstakingly correct on the art

[15:52] Rusty Redfield: this has been great, thanks so much for walking me around it

[15:52] Rusty Redfield: nice to see the new space and it sounds like you have found a new enthusiasm

[15:53] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): I hope in the future to have small shows like this, for art on a small scale, a time to just sit and enjoy how art is in society

[15:54] Rusty Redfield: <smiling> I like looking at good art, and I like the opening parties

[15:54] Rusty Redfield: so you keep finding the artists and I'll keep blogging the openings! <laughing>

[15:54] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): excellent!

[15:54] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): Thanks for the interview, Rusty! Hope to see you  here!

[15:54] Rusty Redfield: thanks again Joe.  I'll add a SLURL to the gallery after we close off.

[15:54] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): kk :-)

[15:55] Rusty Redfield: Thanks for your time and -- see you soon!

[15:55] Joseph Nussbaum (edward.nussbaum): yw :-)

So, no time limit, but I think you'll find it worthwhile to take someone on a date, or just out for a view -- a gallery visit makes a nice first date and you get to find out what kind of art your date likes! Thanks, Joe, and I hope lots of people come and see the exhibitions. 

100: With Tomais Ashdene at his gallery show

I'm trying some new formats for my blogging; one is that I've met so many artists recently, I thought it would be fun to walk around an exhibition with an artist and find out more background than you usually get from the catalogue. A guided tour by the person who makes the art; I like it as an idea. My friend Tomais Ashdene graciously consented to test out this format with me and I think it went very well -- you decide.  Rather than hide this at the end, I'll put it right up front; you can follow Tomais's Flickr stream here.

[18:03] Rusty Redfield: *click* turn this damn tape recorder on.  There we go.

[18:03] Rusty Redfield: I'm here with Tomais Ashdene at the Nilsart Gallery

[18:03] Rusty Redfield: nilsart.com is the website

[18:03] Rusty Redfield: and we're about to get a conducted tour of his latest exhibition!

[18:03] Rusty Redfield: say hi, Tomais! 

LOL

[18:03] Tomais Ashdene: Hiya!  :-)

[18:04] Rusty Redfield: it's called -- I hope I get this right -- "A Photo. A Story."

[18:04] Tomais Ashdene: You got it right.  :-)

[18:04] Rusty Redfield: whew!

[18:04] Rusty Redfield: so -- what prompted this collection of photographs?

[18:05] Tomais Ashdene: Absolutely nothing - other than I like to take photos.  I don't often do themes - I'm pretty eclectic.  :-)

[18:06] Rusty Redfield: there you go.  So you have a great eye and you like to use it, and every so often you show the results?

[18:06] Rusty Redfield: I know you have, like, three or four shows going at the 

moment in various galleries

[18:06] Tomais Ashdene: So I tend to call my exhibits things like "Olio" or "Miscellanea"  "=_

[18:06] Rusty Redfield: haha

[18:06] Rusty Redfield: as an artist once told me, "Untitled #23" means "I couldn't think of a damn title!"

[18:07] Tomais Ashdene: Right now, I have photography on display here, at 

3Bears, and at Zeus.

[18:07] Rusty Redfield: oh well done, thanks, and I'll get SLURLs for those places too.

[18:07] Tomais Ashdene: Titles I can usually manage.  Collections, not so much.  LOL

[18:08] Rusty Redfield: so -- tell me about your process.  I tend to ask dumb questions but -- what prompts you to 

take a picture?  What causes you to go, "Oooh, I want a picture of THAT"

[18:08] Tomais Ashdene: Some stray synapse fires in my brain, I think.  LOL   I tend more towards concept photography, but I live for those moments of serendipity where I just snap a pic.

[18:09] Rusty Redfield: that moment when it all comes together

[18:09] Rusty Redfield: now, I don't 

know if you know this or not, but I bought one of your pictures before we ever met

[18:09] Rusty Redfield: this one here, the boxer

[18:09] Tomais Ashdene: And then there are the painful moments where a pic may take horribly long to set up and get right.  :-)

[18:10] Rusty Redfield: I know, right?

[18:10] Rusty Redfield: waiting for him 

to turn his head j-u-s-t ....

[18:10] Rusty Redfield: oh The Phantom!

[18:11] Tomais Ashdene: That is gratifying to know!  That's one that just popped into my head.   I was able to put the outfit together pretty easily  (there isn't much to it after all!)  but I also made the pose and that took awhile.

[18:11] Rusty Redfield: I'm a Phantom fan -- geekboy that I am -- and I can tell 

you, you got the details right

[18:11] Tomais Ashdene: The Phantom is an old favorite. I am probably dating myself, but I grew up reading the strip in the Sunday paper.  :-)

[18:11] Rusty Redfield: I can't see the ring, but I'm sure it's there LOL

[18:12] Tomais Ashdene: Actually, it is!

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: mm-hmm!!

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: <laughing>

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: you're just like me

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: it has to be there even if nobody sees it LOL

[18:12] Tomais Ashdene: Exactly. *I* know it's there.  :-)

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: right

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: so -- where do you find your models?

[18:12] Rusty Redfield: I think this sleigh 

ride is you and Bock McMillan?

[18:13] Tomais Ashdene: If you're on my friends list, you're fair game.  hehehe

[18:13] Rusty Redfield: hahaha

[18:13] Rusty Redfield: well that's an interesting fate

[18:13] Rusty Redfield: I've seen a few of these in Bock's blog

[18:13] Tomais Ashdene: That is actually 4 avatars:  Bock, fellow photographer 

Bre Czaroux,  myself, and SL son Pook Cypher.

[18:14] Rusty Redfield: the sleigh ride?

[18:14] Tomais Ashdene: Yes!  Pook and I are the horses.  LOL

[18:14] Rusty Redfield: ohhhh they're the horses?

[18:14] Rusty Redfield: wow

[18:14] Rusty Redfield: okay, I am SO modeling for you ROFL

[18:15] Tomais Ashdene: And Bock is really driving the sleigh!  Thankfully, he's a quick learner.  :-)

[18:15] Rusty Redfield: amazing

[18:15] Rusty Redfield: is there a picture here that is a favourite of yours?  Or one that there's a story behind it that no one will know unless you tell me? <grin>

[18:16] Rusty Redfield: this one of the man throwing leaves in the air is brilliant

[18:16] Tomais Ashdene: Thank you.  That was my fave fall pic.  :-)

[18:17] Rusty Redfield: it's so natural -- and you can almost tell what happened immediately before and immediately after, which is what I like to think about

[18:17] Tomais Ashdene: Which is why Anna titled the exhibit as she did.  :-)

[18:17] Rusty Redfield: aha!

[18:18] Tomais Ashdene: There are several little stories that are part of each picture.  And one or two in the make of them.  LOL

[18:18] Rusty Redfield: I like to figure out the stories, certainly.

[18:18] Rusty Redfield: and we have a similar taste for 40s and 50s science fiction illustration

[18:19] Tomais Ashdene: I love retro sci-fi!   A Flickr pal of mine, Jordy Zipdash, does these amazing retro spacesuits.  I used those in both the star cadet pictures.

[18:19] Rusty Redfield: I remember "Tom Corbett Space Cadet"!! LOL

[18:19] Tomais Ashdene: And somewhat later, Tom Swift.  :-)

[18:20] Rusty Redfield: I think Tom Swift was earlier -- but he got revised LOL

[18:20] Rusty Redfield: but yeah, Tom Swift and his atomic cyclotron was part of my youth

[18:20] Tomais Ashdene: Yes, several times now I think.  :-)

[18:20] Rusty Redfield: yeah, way back when, Tom Swift and his AIRPLANE was pretty cool LOL

[18:21] Rusty Redfield: You know, one thing about this show is that it's very "hangable"

[18:21] Tomais Ashdene: We got excited over simpler things then.  No TIE fighters, or starships, or lightsabers.   LOL

[18:21] Rusty Redfield: I thinnk people will want to have one of these on their walls

[18:22] Tomais Ashdene: I'm always gratified when that happens.  :-)

[18:22] Rusty Redfield: well, I have the boxer, but I have this THING about guys with black eyes <grin>

[18:22] Rusty Redfield: but I know for people who are trying to make their personal space have a "feeling", you will find a piece of art here that will help you

[18:23] Tomais Ashdene: Thank you.  That people are interested in my photos and want to purchase them always amazes me.

[18:24] Rusty Redfield: You must use a lot of tools like Photoshop and Windlight manipulations?

[18:24] Tomais Ashdene: Bock will jokingly say that I must try out every Windlight setting available when I'm shooting a pic.  I am really not that bad.  LOL

[18:25] Rusty Redfield: hahaha

[18:25] Rusty Redfield: and I'm learning that light is SO important

[18:26] Tomais Ashdene: Most of my photos don't get much more than cropping and color adjustments in Photoshop.  Like many people I probably don't always use Photoshop to it's best advantage.  :-)

[18:26] Rusty Redfield: I'm probably very naive, but I can't really tell when people do that

[18:27] Rusty Redfield: these just look like absolutely tremendous versions, carefully lit and staged and composed and conceived, of -- illustrations from stories

[18:27] Rusty Redfield: am I making sense? I never know, when I'm talking about art

[18:28] Tomais Ashdene: In a few cases that's quite true.  I may think for weeks (and in a few cases months) about a picture before I shoot it.  Others come together in a few minutes.

[18:29] Rusty Redfield: So how long would it take you to put together the pictures for this show, for instance?

[18:29] Tomais Ashdene: There's one photo in this exhibit that I actually took 6 years ago.  LOL

[18:30] Rusty Redfield: wow

[18:30] Tomais Ashdene: Sorry, that is not quite right - more like 3 or 4 now that I think of it.  :-)

[18:31] Rusty Redfield: well, I don't want to give away the entire exhibit -- believe me, folks, there are beautiful pictures here I deliberately haven't shown you

[18:31] Rusty Redfield: can I ask some of my usual interview questions?

[18:31] Tomais Ashdene: Of course. :-)

[18:31] Rusty Redfield: You've been in SL six years

[18:31] Rusty Redfield: Why do you stay in Second Life?  What keeps you here?

[18:35] Tomais Ashdene: Mostly because I am having too much fun to give it up.  There's so much to do and see here.  It's a pretty sad thing if someone becomes bored with Second Life - there is always something exciting just around the corner. :-)

[18:35] Rusty Redfield: very, very true

[18:35] Rusty Redfield: amazing things to do, and see, and learn

[18:35] Rusty Redfield: what are the qualities that attract you to people in Second Life?

[18:37] Tomais Ashdene: I've been lucky enough to meet some really amazing people here.  With the rare exception, they are all brilliant, honest, fun-loving folks who are genuinely enjoyable, mostly because they too really enjoy what they do here.

[18:37] Rusty Redfield: so those things go together.  Makes a lot of sense

[18:37] Rusty Redfield: If you could give advice to your earlier self in the first month that you spent in Second Life, what would you say?

[18:38] Tomais Ashdene: Don't stop.     LOL

[18:38] Rusty Redfield: <belly laugh>

[18:38] Rusty Redfield: good one!!

[18:38] Rusty Redfield: yeah, weren't we all there at one point?

[18:38] Tomais Ashdene: I'd actually tried SL a year before my official rez day.  And I didn't get it at first.

[18:38] Rusty Redfield: such a huge, huge learning curve

[18:38] Tomais Ashdene: A year later I gave it another try, and I've been coming back ever since.  :-)

[18:39] Rusty Redfield: And one last question -- What’s your favourite place to spend time in Second Life?

[18:39] Rusty Redfield: (Believe me, folks, if you ask this question you get some amazing pointers!!)

[18:41] Tomais Ashdene: Probably the Blake Sea area of Second Life.  There are hundreds of sims that link to the Blake in some way, and Bock and I are often out there boating, sailing, flying, or scuba diving.    :-)

[18:42] Rusty Redfield: Wonderful! I haven't tried that stuff but it's on my SL bucket list LOL.

[18:42] Rusty Redfield: Now, before I let you go, do you have any upcoming exhibitions or things we should know about?

[18:42] Rusty Redfield: I'll put in SLURLs for the three exhibitions you CURRENTLY have going of course.

[18:42] Tomais Ashdene: I have hangar space at New Horizons Airport, but I often fly out of St Martins or the new Seychilles Airport.  :-)

[18:43] Tomais Ashdene: Nothing upcoming as of yet.  But who knows what tomorrow brings?  :-)

[18:44] Rusty Redfield: indeed.  Well, thank you SO much for your time here, and talking about your work -- I know it can be tough explaining things to the uninitiated like me LOL

[18:44] Tomais Ashdene: That's very much for asking me.   :-)

[18:44] Rusty Redfield: wasn't so bad, was it? LOL

[18:45] Tomais Ashdene: Hmm... do I have to answer that?  hehehe

[18:45] Rusty Redfield: <grin> Tomais is a little shy but he's been wonderfully forthcoming.

[18:45] Rusty Redfield: Okay, thanks again, and I'll let you off the hook -- I'll just turn this off *click*

This show runs until March 31 2015. Check it out!

040: Walking around ... 3Bears Resort

The idea that I can just go somewhere in Second Life and walk around and take pictures and think about what I'm seeing is not revolutionary. It's not even very organized, frankly. I envy my fellow SL bloggers with more experience; somehow they seem to be more organized than I am. The "walking around" method is what I'm stuck with, so I thought I'd see if I could learn how to do it better by -- doing it. I think it's a good way to find things in SL landscapes, or to experience it in a way that it was probably designed for, rather than being told what to think in advance. So to inaugurate my "Walking around ..." series, I thought I'd start close to home.

My home is on a group of sims called 3Bears Resort (Terra Ursa Major), run by a group of hunky gay men. The 3Bears themselves are Galileo Michalski, Duir Mayne, and Stefan Box, and although I don't know all the details, I know my friend and neighbour Joseph Nussbaum arranges things to do with art exhibitions. 3Bears is focused on being a place for gay bears: there's places to live, shop, relax, a nice beach, a couple of nice residential neighbourhoods. It was recommended to me maybe 18 months ago as being a nice place to live; I came and looked around and, by golly, it was. I found a nice lot with a little waterfront and I've been there ever since. (I'm not sure I should have to mention this, but what the heck -- they're not paying me to say any of this. No one ever has, and I don't expect anyone ever will; if they do, I'll say so.)

The thing that really appealed to me about 3Bears was that the guys really have a big commitment to the arts, especially performance and visual arts. They have a very cool sculpture garden; as of what I could find this afternoon, they have two separate gallery spaces that are showing the work of three artists. Tomais Ashdene and Boris Twist are showing portraits of men, and Nikolai Warden is showing landscapes. There might even be more galleries, it's a big area.

The centrepiece of the public space is what's called the Lotus Dome, to the left. The scale is hard to judge, but I remember seeing at least a couple of large gatherings and parties in that space, it will definitely hold that sim-crashing 50 people. You could certainly do a large-scale concert there, or a big party, or a ceremony. Right now it has two smaller structures under the Dome, each displaying one of the portraitists I mentioned above.

The plaza with the circular design, in front of the Lotus Dome, leads to a nice gathering area and then a little grid of buildings; the ones that face the plaza on the other side include the other gallery space, currently showing Nikolai Warden's landscapes, and an interesting kind of gallery crossed with a meeting room, where you could attend a lecture and then have a look at the art on the walls more closely. To me this is not a commonplace kind of space in SL; people are fairly ready to offer you things to look at, to listen to, or to interact with, but they are strangely reluctant to offer you space where you can do what you want to do. I think offering this amenity shows a level of thought about what the SL community might want that is well above the others; part of the reason I like this place.

I have to warn you in advance, I didn't even manage to walk around 10% of what's there. There is so much more -- I've been to quite a bit of it already. I've seen the nude beach and the gym, and I've shopped in the stores (there's some useful stores if you happen to be a gay bear!). There have been some fun parties on the sim; I blogged about one a while back. There are various sizes of apartments available in the shopping district but, when I wandered a little further, I learned two things.

One is that there is a frickin' water-based monorail that I'd never experienced (it doesn't travel to my residential neighbourhood) -- it scared the hell out of me when it pulled up! The other is that within easy walking distance of the plaza, there are a couple of very attractive houses for rent dirt cheap. L$360 a week for 180 prims in a small house that you don't have to supply yourself is a really attractive solution for someone who doesn't want a big establishment, just a bachelor pad, a place to call Control-Shift-H. You know, a pose stand, some erotic art, a freebie sofa, and a bed that cost as much as it would to rent a sim for three months. (I'm kidding.) Actually I had a look at the empty one. It looked like an intelligently divided space that would let you have fun decorating the three interior rooms with your prim allowance, and the basic Cape Cod on pilings design will give you a design push if you're not decoratively inclined.

Overall, I think it's the way that I want to live in SL -- to be part of a community that has a space for public interaction where you would actually want to interact. I know of many, many residential sims that are lovely but fairly empty -- people TP in and out of their homes, and nobody walks around. 3Bears tries really hard to simultaneously support the artistic community, and give its residents a reason to leave their houses and go over to the "downtown" plaza and see what the gallery or the stores have that's new.

035: A ribbeting display!

In a spare moment, I thought I'd drop into Second Pride this afternoon. This particular two-hour stint was hosted by Manshots magazine and its CEO Angelik Lavecchia; I'm a fan of this magazine and have said so before (see post #03). Thanks Angelik!

I was at the main pavilion where all the dances are, just enjoying the music and bopping along, and chatting with Jak Calcott, who designed the place ... pervcamming all the handsome guys ...

But then my attention was ribbeted -- sorry! -- by these six cute little frogs, any of whom might have been as tall as my calf, who showed up off to one side of the dance floor, dancing as a synchronized unit. I have to say, this is the best group idea I've seen in a long time.  A long time. I roared with laughter and loved them all instantly.

My friend and neighbour Joseph Nussbaum was one of the frogs -- he said they'd been taking some pictures and decided to pop into Pride for some fun and to amuse the onlookers. The other five were Tomais Ashdene, Holter, Sabor Skytower, Bock McMillan, and Boris Twist ... thank you, froggies, you made my day!

Boris Twist also came to my attention this afternoon in a completely different context, the latest issue of Photography magazine, because the guy has a fierce eye! I'm sure he must have exhibited before, I simply haven't been in the right place at the right time, but -- a frog with a great camera eye? I think my readers have to find out more LOL.

Sorry the little skeeters were moving around too fast for me to make notes of which guy was which colour frog -- but I'm sure the sexy one is Joe!