I got a message from my pal DJ Doubledown Tandino announcing that he’s going completely "metarati" as SnoopyBrown Zamboni would say. That is, Doubledown is quiting his day job and pursuing his Second Life work full-time. He’s a very gifted DJ, in whatever world you happen to be inhabiting, spinning everything from swing jazz to…
Catalonian virtual cooking? WTF?
Ok, I love Catalan cuisine and I love virtual worlds. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why I would go to a virtual world to learn how to cook a Catalonian dish. I received a press release telling me that Manuel Diez, head chef of L’Arrel del Born in Barcelona, will…
“Virtual Activism” mixed-reality event next Monday at Games for Change
I’m spreading the news that the 4th annual Games for Change conference happening next Monday and Tuesday (June 11-12) will feature a mixed-reality panel on "virtual activism" at 10:30AM EST. Games for Change brings together game developers, industry experts, academics and non-profits to discuss how to use digital games to promote social change. The "virtual…
Happy birthday, Ms. Dawn Hampton!
Last night we celebrated the 79th birthday of my friend Ms. Dawn Hampton. For most of Dawn’s life, she has been a musician and a singer, playing saxophone and singing with the Hampton family band, and later the Hampton Sisters. But I’ve known Dawn primarily as a lindy hop dancer. She’s a regular at our…
Six suggestions for the virtual Philippines embassy
Ok, I was a bit negative yesterday when I dropped in on the planned Philippines virtual embassy in Second Life. Here are some constructive suggestions for how the Philippine government should use their first virtual presence: Expose people to the richness of Filipino culture: How about creating a tinikling dance animation? Or selling/giving away Filipino…
There goes the neighborhood: Filipinos opening an embassy in Second Life
Uh-oh, here comes the Filipinos! The non-profit group the Diplo Foundation is helping several developing countries open embassies in the virtual world of Second Life, starting with Maldives, Macedonia and the republic of the Philippines. I dropped in on the Philippines embassy to check it out (teleport SLURL). Not much to look at for the…
No fun being a black cat in the summertime
My cat Mole Negro is stunned by the summer heat. Sorry, kid. Time to install the AC, I guess.
Is the ‘Net Generation “amusing ourselves to death”?
I just finished reading through Neil Postman’s ground-breaking screed against the dangers posed by television on our culture, Amusing Ourselves to Death, published in 1984. Much of it still rings true today, perhaps even more true, as the dangers he foretells 23 years ago seem self-evident and pervasive today. In light of Postman’s book, I’ve…
No rice = no meal
So Cindy and I are at Elvie’s, a popular filipino restaurant in the East Village, last weekend. We ordered a delightful assortment of pork adobo, chicken in a coconut sauce, and a pork skewer. We only got one portion of rice because I’m cutting back and Cindy doesn’t eat much herself. Our apparent deficit of…
Multiple Gay Pride events in SL over June!
It looks during the month of June we will see at least two different sets of organizers putting together in-world gay pride events. Satchmo Prototype announces that "The L Word" community is organizing a series of pride events in June on their sim, featuring both in-world parades and broadcasts of real world parades in LA…