Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The 5 Science Fiction Tales That Made Us Love Virtual Reality

The 5 Science Fiction Tales That Made Us Love Virtual Reality


For almost as long as there has been science fiction, there's been virtual reality, teaching us about worlds inside machines before we even knew what the internet was. Here are five of the earliest, and best, VR stories we grew up with.

[CHECK OUT THE 5 SCIENCE FICTION TALES (and videos) THAT MADE US LOVE VIRTUAL REALITY HERE]

Doubledown Note:  Unfortunately there is no mention of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Every Second Lifer knows that "Snow Crash" is truly the originator of the concept of "Virtual World" and "Metaverse." 

Film adaptation of Snow Crash??
The novel was optioned shortly after its publication and subsequent success, although it has never progressed past pre-production. John Raffo and Jeffery Nachmanoff both completed drafts under the supervision of director Marco Brambilla while the project was set up at Touchstone Pictures and Kathleen Kennedy's production company, but due to the large budget required, neither was given a green light.

Also, there is no mention of a few others that I think deserve honorable mentions. These include the movies "The Matrix", "Strange Days", "Cool World" and the book "Vurt" by Jeff Noon.

Are there any other Virtual World science fiction stories, or Virtual Reality stories I missed?  Please post those in comments, and I'll add them to this blog post.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Photographers: Share your Bay City Visions!


Photographers: Share your Bay City Visions!
Posted on November 6, 2008 by Morris Vig

Bay City is an area of the Second Life grid featuring planned terraforming, urban design and themed building.

To celebrate this unique area, Morris Vig of Second Arts invites you to submit two images to the photography contest “Bay City Visions.”

The challenge:

Capture the essence of any or all of the 12 Bay City sims in your own unique style, whether in an unretouched SL snapshot image or one retouched in a graphics program.

All participants will receive an in-world catalogue of the exhibit; the winner of Bay City Visions will receive free exhibit space at Second Arts for a month following the conclusion of the exhibit and a RL copy of a book produced using the images from the exhibit.

Rules for the contest are as follows:

* Each participant will submit two images taken within any of the 12 Bay City sims and provide the location (SLURL) where the images were taken.
* Images will be of a PG nature.
* Images will be submitted to Morris Vig by e-mail to morrisvig@sbcglobal.net by November 28, 2008
*Images are to be submitted in these dimensions: 1547 pixels high X 2067 pixels wide(This is the optimum size for the production of the RL book. If you are unable to provide in this format and size, please contact Morris Vig to discuss alternate possibilities.)
*Images to be submitted as .bmp or .jpg.
*Entering images indicates permission for and acceptance of the following:

Display at Second Arts from December 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009 ( all participants may set images for sale during this time–no gallery commission will be charged)

Reproduction of the image as part of a www.Slide.com, flash-based (non-copyable) presentation on the Second Arts blog ( http://secondarts.wordpress.com ) to promote the exhibit.

Use of the images for production of an in-world catalogue; a copy will go to each participant and each judge. No copies will be sold.

Use of the images for production of a RL book, available through the Second Arts blog.
One copy of this book will be given to the contest winner; other copies of the book will be available for purchase and will be sold at cost with no profit to Morris Vig.
The artists will be credited by avatar name in the book for their images.

The decision of the judges will be final; one contest winner will be announced and judges may award Honourable Mentions to other images as they see fit.

No other use of images submitted to this contest will occur. The original photographer retains all rights to the image other than the uses described above.

Judges for this contest will be Morris Vig, past owner of Oyster Bay and owner of Second Arts; Harper Beresford, photographer and curator; Callipygian Christensen, SL photographer and Torley Olmstead and Ravenelle Zugzwang, longtime grid figures and advocates/practioners of the inworld photographic arts.

Any questions can be directed via inworld IM to Morris Vig. We hope you will consider participating in this celebration of Bay City and SL photography!

[Thanks to Hamlet Au for the mention in New World Notes!]

Friday, October 31, 2008

"AVATRAIT™: From Second Life to Florence" Art Book Released

"AVATRAIT™: From Second Life to Florence" Art Book Released
October 29, 2008. Evanston, IL – AVATRAIT, the leading advocate of the emerging genre of “Digital Impressionist” art from the virtual world of Second Life, is very pleased to announce the release of the first title from their publishing division, AVATRAIT: From Second Life To Florence. Produced to commemorate Avatrait’s participation in the recent Festival della Creatività event in Florence, Italy, as well as the on-going Rinascimento Virtuale exhibit focusing on the art of virtual worlds, this book serves as an introduction to this new form of art.

The Avatrait Gallery is one of the leading art attractions (and a permanent Arts & Culture “hot spot” venue listing) in Second Life, and features some of the most talented visionary artists working in the digital formats of that virtual world. The book presents art from 47 of the Avatrait Gallery artists, along with personal statements of each about their art. In addition there are three essays, Second Life founder Philip Rosedale discussing creativity and identity in the metaverse, Avatrait founder Greg Houston addressing art in the context of the virtual environment, and art professor Mario Gerosa detailing the emergence of “Digital Impressionism” as a new genre in the world of art.

AVATRAIT: From Second Life To Florence (ISBN 978-1-57353-300-3) is a 108-page, 8.25x10.5"-format hard-cover book, featuring full-color graphics throughout. It is available through direct order from Lulu.com.

Avatrait is on the web at http://avatrait.com/, the Avatrait Gallery can be found in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Simuality/38/210/38, and the book, AVATRAIT: From Second Life to Florence, is available at http://avatraitbooks.com/. Second Life is a virtual world created by Linden Lab of San Francisco, CA, and is at http://secondlife.com.

For more information:
btripp@avatrait.com
“Eschatos Graves” inSL