Please update your bookmarks & newsfeeds.

Thanks,

Jennyfur

Futuristic Cinema: Mash-Ups and Machinima!

The next meeting of the Philadelphia Future Salon will be on July 17th,
2008; we’re not meeting on the first Thursday of the month due to the
holiday.

The topic will be “Futuristic Cinema: Mash-Ups and Machinima!” Modern media
has caused us to rethink everything from business to entertainment. Youtube
has made it possible for anyone to be a star and share their dreams and
visions. Fans now have the technology in their power to find out who would
win in a fight between Star Wars and Star Trek. Major television franchises
such as CSI: New York and The Office are blending episodes with the virtual
world of Second Life. The most famous brands in the world, such as
Coca-Cola, are making short films in virtual worlds and video games (called
machinima) to enhance their advertising campaigns. Traditional businesses
are finding new ways to use these new technologies.

We will have two panelists from the area lead the discussion, with Timothy
Allen moderating.

The first panelist is Peter Decherney, a Assistant Professor of Cinema
Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching focus
on the history of media regulation and on internet policy, specifically the
interaction between Hollywood and Washington. He is the author of Hollywood
and the Culture Elite: How the Movies Became American (Columbia UP, 2005)
and many articles on the Hollywood film industry, on the history of media
regulation, and on fair use and academia, among other topics. In 2006, along
with two colleagues, Decherney successfully petitioned for an exemption to
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for media professors using clips for
teaching. In addition to Penn, he has taught at Yale University, Johns
Hopkins University, and Tsinghua University (Beijing). He is currently
working on a new book on the history and future of Hollywood and copyright
law. He frequently assigns mashups as coursework.

Our other panelist is Ariella Furman, the first person in her Ukrainian
family to be born in America. She acquired her interest in filmmaking when
she was practically in diapers. She took her skillset with her to Temple
University and became a 2008 graduate with a Film Media Arts degree. Her
story began with her love for music videos. Her videos for east-coast bands
have premiered on outlets such as LCN-TV, Adrenaline Nation TV, MTV Italy,
and more recently the channel Logo, a subsidiary of MTV. She then found her
next passion, machinima, by accident, through an experimental documentary
she made for class. Since then, she has worked with Electric Sheep, Popcha,
SLAgency, and created machinima for Nestle, World Bank, IBM, and others.

Timothy Allen is a virtual worlds enthusiast, Philadelphia area tech
fanatic, and co-moderator of the Philadelphia Future Salon.

Refreshments are provided, and free cocktails will be served after the
session. We look forward to seeing you there!

Location: 1835 Market Street, 15th Floor, at the office of Buchanan,
Ingersoll & Rooney.

Please RSVP to francis.ta…@bipc.com – please email him directly, do not
reply to the entire list, as we try to keep this a very low-volume group.
Thank you!

I don’t think this affects every item I have made. At some point in time I will need to do some inspection to see what is affected and what is fine. Unfortunately, I cannot go back and edit most of these pre-existing items without having to redesign the affected items from scratch. I spent some time last night searching for my source files and especially Photoshop Documents etc. I seem to be missing files from my hard drive. One item was brought to my attention, so I searched my design files for it and the Targa file was missing as was the Photoshop Document. The only remnants of the item was the product design for the box. I’m hoping these files got misplaced somewhere and not accidentally deleted during one of my hard drive cleanses.

Flipper will handle failed inventory transactions, refunds and other miscellaneous issues. Because he is not a fashion designer, no modifications will be made to existing items.

If you had a customer service issue previously ignored by yours truly please contact FlipperPA Peregrine and give a detail explanation of the problem and inventory items concerned. Since he is not familiar with my entire collection, please give specific item names i.e. (Deadly NIghtshade) Crimson Contact Lenses as opposed to Red contact lenses. This will make it much easier for him to ameliorate the situation.

Please note: all items in the Deadly Nightshade corset sets are sold separately. Yes, the corset is pictured on the three separate skirts available, but that is primarily because the pictures would have looked stupid without them. Also, the corsets were a reissue from an original design made in 2005.

All items should be Mod/Copy No Transfer. Not all are, especially if they are older. If this is a major concern for you please contact us.

We will not provide customer service for free items.

Please also realize that FlipperPA Peregrine doesn’t log in as much as he used to, but please be patient as it can take up to a week for issues to be resolved.

Thanks,

Jennyfur

Flip/Tim and I have been entrepreneurs in Second Life for the better part of the past four years, in which the use of “Second Life”, “Linden”, “SL” etc. as part of a business name or url has been widely accepted and endorsed by Linden Lab. This is evident in the numerous Second Life related websites that have cropped up over this time.

I believe the process for naming the Second Life Community Convention and for using the SL name and logo within our own only involved an email expressing permission, a direction to download said logos from the website and eventually this was put into writing in mid-2007 as part of the formal contract between the convention and Linden Lab.

Beyond the SLCC, Flip/Tim has worked extensively on SLBoutique (now OnRez), SLTrivia and SLPTO. The later two I suppose fall into the trouble zone and will need some appropriate attention whether it is filing for use of the url or changing the name entirely. I know that we are not alone in our contempt for this new decision.

Granted some of the language is vague with no indication of how strict or lax the enforcement will be. The change seems sudden and on the heals of the recent announcement that Philip Rosedale will step down as Linden Lab’s CEO, one can easily wager to guess what may be next coming down the virtual pipelines.

For now, I view this action as a slap in the face to all of the enterprising individuals who helped to build Second Life into what it is today. Linden Lab developed the product and platform, but without the countless enterprising residents engaged in forging the vision for virtual worlds far and wide since late 2002… Second Life never have grown to its current size and popularity.

Read more about changes to trademarks and Linden Lab:

Second Life Corporate FAQ regarding Trademark Use 

Second Life Brand Center

Linden Lab Asserts Control of Name and Image @ Massively.com 

The news has been reverberating across numerous Second Life related blogs and forums and twitter to name a few. Some regard the change with welcome arms citing many issues with Linden Lab’s management style in the face of a downturn of press and numerous issues with the grid. Others fear that this may be a red flag signally financial duress for Second Life makers Linden Lab. Some are speculating that perhaps, Linden Lab will soon be bought out by another company.

One of the reasons I left Second Life last summer was that I realized that I was too deeply emotionally invested in all things Second Life. A lot of things effected me much more than they should have or than I ever wanted them too. Since July or August, I’ve gotten really into playing World of Warcraft and it has helped me in so many ways to detach emotionally from gaming and/or virtual environments. I enjoy playing World of Warcraft, but stay drama free on all fronts. I’m not emotionally invested in the people in my guilds or anyone else around me (well accept for the few RL friends of mine who also play WoW). Playing WoW is something that I enjoy doing, but it is not all encompassing the way Second Life was for so many years.

Now, I am starting to try and figure out how I can approach Second Life in the way that I have approached World of Warcraft. I do want to get back into Second Life again at some point in time. I just need enough time to let the past be buried and to not be emotionally attached to any aspect of it. I’ve considered retiring Jennyfur Peregrine or at least not using it as a primary account when I return. I’m not sure whether or not I want to get back into content creation or if I want to explore something new. I’ve considered doing something with the music scene in Second Life, well not the existent one, but bringing more bands into virtual worlds. as I continue my explorations of music and new media.

I’ve been keeping up with all that has been going on and am interested to see how web on a prim, mono integration and Havok 4 affect the Second Life client. I’ve also been keeping my eye on the Open Sim project and all that.

Here is the event information:

Being a musician in the modern era has offered a huge wealth of tools
and opportunities, however, this can also be overwhelming. The same
thing can be said for the modern media business: how do you promote
yourselves in a vast sea of competition? Which tools are effective?
How do you separate your work from the pack? What artists and
businesses have been successful?

And, of course, the most important question: how can I get people to
listen to music, while still having an opportunity to make a living,
and maintaining the quality of my work?

We will be addressing these questions – and many more, hopefully
brought by you. Our panelists include:

John Allers: program director Radio 104.5 WRFF-FM – or better known to
us, the best local supporter of local artists, Clear Channel
Jennifer Vatza: local band manager; new media promoter, Web 2.0
socializer; virtual worlds expert
Darren Morze: local musician (Manic Mirrors) and studio engineer (Plan
B Studios) in both analog and digital
Ben Morgan: Music Director, Millcreek Tavern; Founder, Musictech
mailing list; Past associate of The Future of Music Coalition, Elektra
Records, CDnow

As usual, we will be having a fairly open discussion with the
panelists, not a lecture. We hope to see you Thursday, March 6th,
at our meeting location:

1835 Market Street
14th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103

To attend, simply drop an email to Frank Taney, our kind sponsor from
Buchanan Ingersoll, & Rooney – francis(d0t)taney(at)bipc(dot)com – if you don’t
have time to register, feel free to show up, but you may have to wait
a few minutes while the front desk contacts us.

We always gather between 5:30pm and 6:00pm EST, and start at about
6:15pm. We’ll have the discussion until about 8pm, and people who want
to join us for a cocktail afterwards at Elephant & Castle at 18th and
Market are welcome.