Ballet Pixelle performs its version of the Nutcracker for those of you who have not yet seen this seasonal classic. You will be entertained by mysterious dancers on magic carpets, a Russian cossack stamping out a dance, a Chinese Empresses moving about the stage on delicate feet and Spanish senoritas throwing themselves flamboyantly. In IBM 10. [SLurl teleport at this link]
Ballet Pixelle produces professional works that creatively enhance the viewer’s experience while attending a ballet performance. Audience members can see classical, neoclassical, contemporary, and novel ballets that cannot be seen elsewhere. New ballets are premiered with original stories, choreography, and music with dancers from around the world all dancing together in one space. Unlike other ballet companies, Ballet Pixelle uses new technology to take the art form into a unique environment to new and existing spectators - the first and only of its kind. The company performs in and takes advantage of a 3D Internet virtual world called Second Life®. The company creatively utilizes unique aspects of the virtual reality, e.g., transforming from human into animal or growing old on stage. The ballet uses a new breed of dancers and a new classical ballet vocabulary created to take advantage of the innovative medium. The dancers are virtual representations of human beings (avatars). These avatars, or virtual dancers, are real people from around the globe – Bahrain, Chicago, Denmark, England, Germany, Hawaii, Holland, New York, Seattle, Scotland, and Washington DC – that come together to captivate audiences. Many are real life professionals.
By performing in an Internet virtual space, it breaks geo-
graphical boundaries and time zones, and it allows new spectators to enjoy, in a unique way, a ballet performance that they may have not experienced otherwise. Ballet Pixelle drives further awareness and appreciation for the art form.
“By the end of the first act, I realized that the same emotional response that real life dance can evoke is possible in the virtual realm.”—Pixeleen Mistral of the "Second Life Herald".
Ballet Pixelle’s debut on February 7, 2007, was the world premiere of a new and unique ballet, Olmannen, an original 3-act story written, choreographed, directed and staged in the virtual world of Second Life® at the Ballet Pixelle's Theatre hosted by IBM (IBM 10 (12,191,21).
The concept:
It is possible to perform live music, sing, and DJ from your real life home. Many people from around the world can tune in and listen. Anyone can tune in to a live broadcast stream provided they have a broadband connection, meaning, listeners can tune in from the internet, from their mobile device such as a phone and avatars in-world can tune in too.
How DJing over the internet and into a virtual world works:
The DJ or musician plays/performs (in any computer software music player, external live instrument or DJ equipment). A program (Shoutcast, Simplecast, SAM, etc) on your computer then sends out any sound going through your computer's sound card. Your broadcast reaches a server relay and this is what is needed to stream music live at HIGH QUALITY. The stream comes with a listener link. Any listener may hear the music you play LIVE. (For Second Life or a virtual world, that link goes into the land's music/audio link in order for inworld avatars to hear your broadcast.
Why rent one of your audio streams and not use some free streaming site?
Free streaming sites are low-quality sound. You could be performing the greatest set of your life, and it sounds great to you in your home studio, however the listeners hear poor, lower than radio quality sound. Dropouts, cut-offs, unstable, inconsistent low-quality sound is what you ALWAYS get with free streaming (for example: Ustream, Livestream, Tinychat, etc). Free streaming sites and video conferencing sites were meant for voice discussion, and low-quality audio (at audio qualities of 32kbps or 64kbps which is worse than radio). To perform an excellent pristine audio quality live show, you will want to make sure your audience hears what you hear, at CD-quality sound or above.
Free streaming sites do not come with customer service, technical support, troubleshooting, and emergency backup. I do. Now, with our 2010 improved servers and ISP, we are running at 100% uptime. Some clients that have relied on my streaming service have included IBM, Playboy, and many individual performers. ALL have been with me (some for several years) because of my customer support AND quality of service.
OK, so, how much is this going to cost?
Less than you think it would. Other companies try to rip you off. If you were to do a search on the internet now, lets say on shoutcast.com for example, they are looking to charge at $50-$100 or more USD monthly! That's insane!! I charge what it really costs. Depending on your package, it will cost $12-$15usd monthly (approximately $3800L/month).
Lets discuss your plans and expectations, and I'll be able to determine what is right for you as a live music performer.
A study in the Journal of Communication found that women who engage in a role-playing game online actually spend more time in the alternate reality than the guy players do. Karen Hopkin reports.
Picture a gamer, someone who spends countless hours immersed in one of those online role-playing alternate realities. And what do you see? Is it a physically fit female closer to 40 than 14? If not, you may need to rethink your assumptions about geekdom. Because a study in the Journal of Communication shows that when it comes to dominating the virtual world, women are actually more hardcore than men.
Scientists conducted a survey of some 7,000 players who were logged on to a game called EverQuest II. And they discovered some interesting things. First off, the average age of the gamers surveyed was 31. And that playing time tended to increase with age. Which is also where the sex differences come in. The female gamers actually logged more time online: an average of 29 hours a week, versus 25 for the males, with the top players putting in 57 hours a week on the girl’s side, and 51 for the guys. What’s more, it looks like women are more likely to lie about how much they really play. The researchers found that the gals tended to lowball how long they spend glued to the screen.
So, never ask a women her age. Or how much time she spends defeating the dark elves to rebuild the world of Norrath.
A backstage view of the very best in Second Life music, art and events.
About Traci:
Hello Second Life music and arts lovers!
I'm Traci Nubalo and I'm a refugee from the RL music business, formerly an artist manager, tour manager, concert promoter and music journalist.
This blog is my effort to report on what makes our Second Life music/art scene interesting. It's about the people that make the scene happen and how they work their magic to thrill us and inspire us with their writing, singing, playing and creating. Look at it as the backstage pass that most of us longed for and were never able to get our hands on.
The Originals: "Gotta Wear Shades!"
by Traci Nubalo
"In mid-August of last year a grand experiment was mounted in the Second Life live music community. Scottish singer/songwriter POL Arida, relatively new to SL, noticed that the musicians making up the club scene were playing mostly “covers” (non-original copies of popular songs). POL is a talented and prolific songwriter, and he decided to try to make an attempt to encourage original musical content here on the grid.
The result was an ongoing project that he called The Originals. The opening event featured a stellar lineup of talent all performing, of course, only original compositions. During that epic “original Originals” concert, POL enlisted the future help of longtime SL music supporter Harrie Skjellerup.
I recently sat with POL and Harrie at her Pixel Hill music venue and we reminisced about the origins of this amazing and important concert series.
Promotional video for Avatar - commissioned by Casio and 20th Century Fox for the new James Cameron blockbuster.
Casio and 20th Century Fox teamed up with End of the line's biggest artist Probs to execute something truly spectacular on the exterior of the Casio store. Filmed over three days, crowds of tourists witnessed the transformation of the Carnaby Street flagship store into Pandora.
Avatar marks the return to the big screen for James Cameron, the director of Aliens and Terminator 1 & 2. It is shaping up to be the Biggest blockbuster of them all, filmed entirely in 3D with revolutionary cgi and special effects.