The Blog That Time Forgot...

The author of this blog (me aka. Wirxli Flimflam) is 88% confident that the esteemed Sci-Fi Author and Media Philosopher, Paul Levinson thought of the title for his new sci-book precisely at the moment this picture was taken. He is shown here viewing the inspire-some (is that a word? If not, it is now) wallpaper sketches of my fellow artist colleague-in-crime, Juria Yoshikawa.

Hey there Dark Aged Avatars, Levinson Levitators and Beauty Pageant Tyrants...

Ok, this blog posting will be relatively short in length because I am way behind the times when it comes to keeping my blog up to date. I just noticed earlier this evening that I totally forgot to blog about the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse's gig awhile back at the Metaverse 2007 Conference hosted by The Avastar.

In addition to the lagging back(b)log of postable content, I also have to begin compiling the various documentation from the Orchestra's megalithic blockbuster gig at Wien Modern in Vienna (where my new composition Riesenrad was premiered) that took place on Saturday. On that same day, I also did an interview for Krystal Epic where I was nominated for being the "Best Performing Artist" in Second Life so I guess I will have to blog that too sooner than later...sigh!

Well, enough about that! I am now going to chat about my 2nd in-world meeting with Paul Levinson thus far since it has come to my attention via Paul's own blog that a meeting I had with him and a couple of my friends such as(Aurel Miles and ByrneDarkly Cazalet) directly inspired a title for his new novel.

I actually remember the exact moment well where he first brought up "The Time that Light Forgot" and I also recall that it was me (for the record, Paul - tee hee) who actually made a pun on his title by calling it "The Light That Time Forgot" and I made the correlation between this new title and the Dark Ages. Well, it does not really matter who came up with the title. I do not need to see the chat history or anything to prove this matter as that would be petty anyways.

At any rate, I am pleased that Paul came up with a new and kewl title for an upcoming book and am flattered that he mentioned me as a source of inspiration. It is ultimately his concept and idea. At the time of writing, Paul has not yet figured out what kind of book he could write that would suit the title....He did mention time travel as a theme which would be great and I also think that Paul should deeply consider the fact that more novels also need to be written about Metaverse culture since there are only really the novels Neuromancer and Snow Crash out there in the classic print-media galaxy that have directly influenced the culture of Second Life - maybe it is Paul's turn to add to this genre? I am sure he could write a brilliant book about it as it is a hot topic these days.

Hmmmm...this reminds me that I am currently reading over a treatment for a film called VolaVola by the Italian film-maker avatar, Finally Outlander (Berardo Carboni in SL) which is all about how the Metaverse culture is gradually being exported from the in-world scene to the status quo of mainstream cultural and fashion worlds in RL (among other things).

I guess I should summarize this posting so I can then finish reading the second half of the treatment for this film since I might be starring a cameo role in it and maybe even writing some of the soundtrack for this film that will begin production in 2008. I had a meeting today with Finally Outlander earlier today about exactly these prospects. So much to do and so little time left to blog out the light with more text-pixels...sigh!

Oh geez, I am cluttering my 2-bit thug life (and mind) with non-linear blog-narratives at the moment so I should resume my "professional" writing style and get back to the meeting with Paul....

Ok....Paul.... Hmmmm... Well, I have known Paul virtually for quite awhile, actually.
I interviewed him for Intelligent Agent Magazine in 1999 but I guess I have not "seen" a kinetic virtual (and visual) version of his avatar until his recent interview with Kenny Hubble in SL a short awhile ago.

I guess that interview session drew him in hook line and sinker to the immersive world of Second Life and so now I am expecting to see him in there on a fairly regular basis - I mean, he even has a bookstore in there now :-)

It probably also helps that his new hostesses are keeping him cozy in their swanky pad.
Couch surfing never felt so comfy! :-D

Ok, I think it is time I left this blog posting alone now and continue reading the film treatment for VolaVola before my biological self packs it in for the night.

Stay tuned for upcoming blog postings about:

1) The AOM at Metaverse 2007

2) The AOM at Wien Modern

3) My interview along side Fau Ferdinand with Sunnie Beaumont about our SLart nominations (Man Michinaga was there too).

Orchestra in Philadelphia...

I arrived just in time in Singapore Harbour for the end of the panel at the iDMAa Annual Conference 2007 (International Digital Media & Arts Association)in Philadelphia. A few co-members at the Avatar Ochestra Metaverse were sitting on the panel alongside the Tokyo-based installation artist Juria Yoshikawa to hype our new music work in Second Life. Late in the morning, we gave a quick demo of Miulew Takahe's composition, Fragula.

Hey there Philadelphian philanthropists and ventriloquists-with-voice-overs,

Well this morning was a bit of a non-starter...I arrived late for the panel and then no one at the conference could hear our audio transmissions...sigh!

This is just a quick blogette today because I really should focus on more pressing blog postings and uploads but here are a few more snapshots all about this morning...

Here is another angle of the panel session. The conference moderator, Pastiche Oh appears to be invisible...lol! Maybe this was foreshadowing for her bandwidth issues later in the conference event.

We then went over to Juria Yoshikawa's and Aldomanutio Abruzzo's sound and vision installation called Liquid Light. Juria gave a quick artist talk about this installation.

Eventually, we made it down to Odyssey's sound house for our newest combo-demo of merging Miulew's Fragula with Gazira Babeli's installation called Come Together. Unfortunately, we realize that Philadelphia could not hear us in RL so we had to stop mid-way through since everyone was talking over our performance...sigh! One of these days, Linden Lab really needs to sort out their technical issues. You will probably noticed that I briefly passed out before we were about to perform. Had I know that the conference would be unable to hear us, I would have stayed down there happily unconscious....sigh!

This pic was taken just before we were about to begin performing...it was a good thing green tea was passed around as that gave me something to do since the sound never was transmitted to Phillie...sigh!

Wirxli was NOT here...

Here is photographic evidence (well, proof) that I was NOT here at Juria Yoshikawa's early-period installation that had an opening sometime in the distant past...

Hey installation-art fans and Juria Yoshikawa retrospective completists,

Here is another mini blogette posting for you with a brief confirmation that I was definitely NOT here with Juria Yoshikawa and Fau Ferdinand late last night.

We were definitely NOT hanging out and discussing future collaborations nor was I, for the record, anywhere NEAR here for Juria's opening that happened sometime early in her career (actually the latter part is true...sigh!).

...and here is further proof that Juria herself was definitely NOT here with me and for sure, my good friend Fau Ferdinand was NOT here either. There were others who were NOT here last night and even if they were "here", I since have forgotten who they were because they were obviously NOT anyone in particular.

Ok? I just wanted to set the record straight....phew!

If you want to know more about Juria, click on these links below:

Click here for one of my earlier blog postings about Juria's exhibition called "4".

Click here, here for Evo Szuyuan's machinima documentation of Juria's post-ambient installations and performances...

Juria Yoshikawa's 4...

Hey ambient installation fans,

I quickly managed to squeeze my lanky avatar into Juria Yoshikawa's collaborative installation at the White Cube Gallery called "4" just hours (or maybe days) before it officially closed down for the next artist in line.

I was very immersed in that space... I could have faffed my precious time away there for hours, it was so refreshing and calming!

It was super ambient and I was allowed to both dive and float around this multi-floored condo space. It is too bad this installation has to disappear..I hope someone will be able to re-install it somewhere else so I can continue to bathe in its quadragenic atmosphere :-)

Because I am lazy, I am just going to parrot for you here what seems to be her official press release:

Installation art by Juria Yoshikawa.
Original soundscapes by composers Miulew Takahe, Bingo Onomatopoeia, Auxillary Snook and AldoManutio Abruzzo.

At White Cube Gallery
June 3rd to July 4th

Week 1: 6/3-9 Miulew Takahe
Week 2: 6/10-16 Bingo Onomatopoeia
Week 3: 6/17-23 Auxillary Snook
Week 4: 6/24-7/4 AldoManutio Abruzzo

4 weeks, 4 installations and 4 composers. "4" is Yoshikawa's latest installation work and collaboration with composers Miulew Takahe, Bingo Onomatopoeia, Auxillary Snook and AldoManutio Abruzzo.

Given a month in a 15x15 meter cube shaped art space, she chose to use a single number as the beat to create to. The idea is simple, to install a new artwork and create a new composition in the gallery each week. The minimalist number concept then extends to the 4 SL musicians - one each week.

Each composer is given a single number 1, 2, 3 or 4 to create a soundscape based on their musical interpretation of that number. Yoshikawa will use each of the 4 weeks to extend her ongoing exploration of light in immersive spaces. Yet this time, she will take on the challenge of using the art space itself as the raw material of the sculpture.

As with light, sound, motion and time - the art space is material for the creator. Can a simple number inspire? Please join the artists at 4 to find out.

Here are some more photos I took of my brief appearance there earlier "today" (it was actually night, in my time zone)...

Here I am diving straight into the floor...lol! Am I going through the rabbit hole to visit Alice in Wonderland? I hope the building is insured

After awhile, I chose to be a floater instead of a diver...phew! Now I can keep my head above light ;-)

I almost decapitated myself while stuck in this floating pose...Is my torso really connected?

Ok, now I am really floating...yaaaay! I can now have a closer look at White Cube Gallery's neighborhood.

I invited my friend Catherine Omega to join in the fun. Since she was about to go to bed in RL anyway, I figured this installation would help put her to sleep...heheheh!
Catherine and I are thinking of performing here with our friend Pravin DeSantis.