News and Commentary: On The Spotlight

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Yours truly has been writing about Second Life and Linden Lab for fourteen years. Needless to say, it's a surprise when the Lab writes about you. 

The "Second Life Spotlight" has been a relatively new feature in the official Second Life blog, around since November when they wrote about noted artist Bryn Oh. I figured I didn't have much to lose by applying for it myself in the Newser's behalf. So it was a pleasant surprise when I was contacted by one of the Lindens and interviewed.

The interview appeared yesterday, Wednesday January 5, on the Linden blog. There was also a link to it on Facebook. Word of it quickly spread around, and I got quite a few complements that day.

The article was a complimentary one, and I was able to mention some of the people who helped and inspired me all the way. There wasn't enough room to mention all of them, so I'll have to find a way later on. I did notice the first picture that appeared after the lead was Alleara Snoodle's drawing of my avatar done as a present soon after the Newser's start. As Allie and I were good friends up to her passing away last month, it was nice that she gets some more recognition. 

I also noticed that the picture of my avatar at the top, it appeared to be glancing at the "Spotlight" label. Nice touch that she made.

I wasn't sure if the Lindens would consider me for their Spotlight feature. I don't always describe the Lab in a positive light, and there have been some times in the past I've openly stated they were acting greedy, incompetent, or both, such as the content creator Terms of Service controversy and the SS Galaxy closing. When I carefully brought up my past complaints following the end of the interview the Linden made, she just smiled, "We're willing to accept constructive criticism."

Perhaps I'm getting a little soft in my old age, but it's my observation in the past few years the Lab hasn't made the kind of blunders they did earlier in the Newser's history. Plus we've also given some compliments over time, such as the late Ebbe Altberg while not perfect being a good CEO for Linden Lab. And of course, in the end we all want a healthy Second Life.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop holding the Lab's feet to the fire if I think it's called for. If I see a problem, I'm going to respond (and so will the rest of the staff). 

In any event, thanks to Linden Lab in granting this little publicity, which in the end as Second Life is what I write about, helps us all out. 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Interview With Marcel Mosswood

By Deaflegacy

Marcel Mossword began writing for the Newser a few months ago. To begin with, I had already known her some as not only is she a fellow reporter, but also my neighbor at Cape Heron. We recently met to talk about her time at the paper so far.

Passing  my congratulations to Marcel about becoming the new reporter for the SL Newser, Marcel told me,  “Thank you.  I like my new job.” She smiled, and went on to say she plans on writing,  “as long as I can have my SL account.”

I asked Marcel about her goal as a reporter.  “I like to let people know the news on Second Life,” she replied, “I want people to know the news in Second Life in depth, that's why I like to take one side of an event, not just the publication side.” Marcel went on to say she doesn't play on making this a real-life career, “I don't have a plan to become a reporter in real life.”


Besides being a reporter, Marcel is a skilled artist here in Second Life, “My main goal is to bring art to SL from our remote area and to learn about building and collaborate with people.” She also  considers Second Life to be a good place to learn to write and have collaboration with other writers.

Marcel currently has an exhibition at the sci-fi fair.  Her exhibition is mentioned on the sci fi blog:
https://art2048.blogspot.com

Marcel is an animal lover, who has three cats in real life. Her profile describes her in real life as a painter, illustrator, writer, and "homeschool mom." She is married to Iggy Tachikawa in both real life and Second Life.

Deaflegacy

Editors Note: Marcel would post the following in Facebook yesterday.

A month ago I joined this group of SL reporters, the SL Newser. I learned so much from my new job. I'm an RL writer since years ago, but I never did a reporter job who reports events or people. 

When I do my job, I combine my knowledge of various news reports with my interest in humanity (I'm a psychologist in RL :D ). So that I not only produce an article about the event itself, but also the human side of the event. Such as motivation, fatigue, teamwork, inspiration, emotion, etc.

I enjoy being among the SL Newser's media team, where the fellow reporters are very fun, creative and passionate.

VWBPE Behind The Scenes: Elli Pinion From The Volunteers Committee

By Marcel Mosswood

VWBPE Conference re:Vision has started. The Volunteers were so busy, full dedication they organized this event to be successful. Today I interview Elli Pinion, the avatar behind the success of the Volunteer committee. I believe it’s a hard job to manage all the volunteers, but it’s possible with the great and smart team.

Elli Pinion

Marcel: Is this your first time organizing volunteers for VWBPE conference?

Elli: No, I've been a part of the VWBPE Volunteer committee since 2011. I started as an Assistant to the Volunteer Chair, and have been Chair since then.

Marcel: Why are you interested in this job?

Elli: I've been working with Volunteers since I was a young mom in PTA. When I went into education, during my doctoral program in Ed Tech, I was introduced to Second Life. We were exploring online teaching and learning in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds and were fascinated at the interesting people connection, bridging Transactional Distance between students and instructors, students and students. Then I found this group that promotes educational strategies in Virtual Worlds and elsewhere, and I was so glad to be a part of helping with its success. And also giving others the opportunity to help.

Marcel: Are you alone on this job or have a team?

Elli: I have a small team, Bluebarker Lowtide and Edith Halderman are other educators that are my assistants. We have about 50 Volunteers that give time to the conference.

Marcel: What are the benefits of this job for you?

Elli: I would say getting to collaborate with other innovative educators that believe in offering educational opportunities to students who can join online.

Marcel: Do you have a quote that inspires you to work better for the VWBPE?

Elli: I truly believe that we are all better together. This year's conference theme uses: "re:Vision” is not just a concept, but a passion of those who seek to revive old ideas or innovate new ones into our modern extended reality.

Some words from Elli for educators everywhere:

As educators, we must be innovative to be the best educational experience possible.


By Marcel Mosswood

Interview With Six String On Being An Aspiring Musician

By Deaflegacy

Six String (roleplayismylife) is more than just my Second Life partner, and real life boyfriend.  He is a musician on Second Life to happened to be an inspiration as well.  I was lucky to recently be able to have an interview with him about his career on Second Life as a musician.

My first question to Six was how long had he been a musician on Second Life.  “Well, I'm not really sure," he replied, "since I've only had a small hoofful of opportunities to perform for everypony in Second Life.”

Asking Six where he usually performs, he answered, “I've only performed at The Tipsy Cow." When I asked if there were other places he could think of, he answered he's done private performances for friends.

I asked Six String if he is going to continue performing on Second Life. He replied, “If I'm given a chance to, yes.  I have offered to other places, but was turned down without them even hearing one note from me.”

My next question to Six String was what is his dream.  “Well I did have a really crazy one last night where--Oh, you mean my goal in life," he answered, "To entertain people with my music, if possible.”

I asked Six how he feels about being a musical inspiration even through he doesn't usually play music on Second Life.  “ It's great," he told me, "I don't feel like I'm much of an inspiration, but someponies think that I am, which is good.”

My last question to him was what are his longtime goals on Second Life.  “Being able to get a steady job as a musician in SL, so that I can support my SL family, and help pay the cost of renting the lots here at Cape Heron," he answered, "It's a tough burden ... I should be helping out.”

I smiled at Six String.  I really do love Six String because he is my Second Life partner as well as real life boyfriend.  That's not all.  Six String works with me since he is an inspiration.

Deaflegacy

The "Two Vixens And a Wolf" Radio Show

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's a new radio show done by three residents of Second Life: Two Vixens And a Wolf. The vixens would be Svetlana Snowpaw (Sarah Golem) and Roxy Noir-Snowpaw (creatureofthenight2011 Resident). Greigh VonGottreich (Greigh Dingo) is the wolf. Svetlana has a blue and white fox avatar while Roxy's is purple and white. Greigh's coat is a simple black. The show appears on the AllFurRadio stream, an Internet radio frequency aimed at fans of furry science-fiction and fantasy. I met up with the new media stars at their station in Rabbit Valley, and they invited me to take a seat.

On the question on how the radio show got started, Svetlana told me, "I want to say I was the one who initially pitched the idea to the All Fur Radio station owner, Markus Damone, when he had asked me if I wanted to DJ for him again since he was reopening the station for a third time and I had done DJing for him back when it was first open years ago back in 2007 I believe? Well anyway I was excited to do that, however after over ten years and four computers later I had lost a lot of my music and wanted to help out anyway I could. So It didn't take long for me to ask Roxy, my mate at first if she would be comfortable doing a talk show, and she agreed, but we both knew we needed a bit more, so we got approached Greigh about joining our little venture to which he seemed delighted by as he had recently got a new studio mic and wanted to put it to good use."

Asked how the first days went, Greigh responded, "Here's what happened from my angle. Initially, I was anxious and outright nervous as I never did anything like this before ever. I've performed DJ'ing in the past but never talked on the microphone. Some folks call me DJ Deadmike or The Jukebox because of this sort of thing. But once we started off with the show (initially with the test shows), I felt more comfortable once I've warmed up to being on the air for that moment."

Roxy spoke of what they have, "We have different segments throughout the show, Greigh's 'The List of Greigh' which he talks about incidents that are realistic and can range from bizarre to hilarious. Svet has a news-broadcast update entitled 'The Good, The Bad, and the Furry' which there are all sorts of articles from social media to real news that we discuss. My segment is a media review, somewhat like Ebert and Rupert did in the 90s. We discuss media, music, film, and even upcoming media releases that we are interested in. We have done trivia games where two of us go against each other, and even have storytelling moments where we jawjack about life, the community, and interesting topics. We never discuss religion, politics, or race since these tend to be topics we hear in the real world. Everything about our show is to bring a smile or to brighten one's day.

"We have had one guest thus far on the show and we ended up have a great reception with the audience even bringing in our segments with 2 The Ranting Gryphon. The show is all about having fun and smiling even when the world around us seems to be falling part. We are constantly revising the show and this is something we enjoy doing as we want to relate more to our audience. Greigh's segment is my favorite."

Greg broke in, "The fun part is that the show is flexible, given with what we're working with from time to time too." Svetlana nodded, "Yes so if our work gets in the way we can flip around the schedule of how the show flows, seamlessly and get stuff reorganized on the fly."

I asked more about their interview with The Ranting Gryphon, whom is one of the furry fandom's personalities. Greg told me, "The way our first guest came about was by surprise by the boss. We didn't expect anyone wanting to do a guest session with us at all. Plus it was a neat treat to have 2 onboard with us." A nearby friend of theirs, Shoshi Darkpaw, remarked, "God you should have seen excited Svetters was." Greigh grinned, "Heard nothing but 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!' for at least 15 minutes." Svetlana kept a straight face, "Oh yeah, apparently our boss, Markus Damone, knew 2 The Ranting Gryphon from years back. And so it wasn't to difficult for us to get 2. However I recently got a hold of Uncle Kage to do an interview with us or be a guest on our show some time after AnthroCon.  Getting guests is kind of like fishing, you just have to put your line into the water and see what bites." I asked when "Uncle Kage" (another personality of the fandom) apperance on the show would likely be. Svetlana answered, "It's still up in the air, we are to speak with him after the con, but we are trying for late July, but we have booked the Youtubers, Moms of Furries for August 6th.."

I asked how often Second Life is discussed on the program. Their answer was at the moment, not much, "... we dont get out much. We talk about our personal SL stories and pasts." The did say they would read the Newser more often for stories.

And this being live radio, I asked about their funniest bloopers. Svetlana grinned, "Oh let me tell you. ..." Greigh commented, "Two words: Murphy's Law." Svetlana continued, "Well yeah since the show is relatively new we are still working out bugs and everything that could happen did happen. The best one though ... down stairs someone was cooking and set off the smoke alarm, which was audible on air. So we decided to go to break after joking that we may be in danger." Shoshi, who was still nearby, chuckled, "Oh, I wish I heard that! I would have been dying!" Svetlana continued, "So our breaks are usually 1-2 songs long with possible ads and then we come back. Well we resumed the show like normal after two songs and five minutes into the next segment. I was talking, and then looked over and noticed we were no longer broadcasting, to which we immediately hooked back into the server and apologized to our listeners and joked about the situation and actually had to ask our listeners, 'What was the last thing you heard?' "

Svetlana moved on to another blooper about concerning a rookie mistake, "The other blooper came from the purple fox across from me, Roxy, when she was discussing how new she was to the fandom and said 'I'm the baby fur' while we had 2 Gryphon on air with us, to which we all just went 'Noooooo!' and laughed because being that she is somewhat fresh to the fandom she doesn't know all the terms and we had to immediately explain to both her and the listeners that was the WRONG terminology." "Et Tu Murphy's Law?" Greigh asked. Svetlana responded, "It's something you just can't make up." When I asked if the furry fandom had it's own term for newbie, Svetlana answered, "I haven't found one that I really like other than 'NewFur.'"

And then there were their reactions to bloopers, Svetlana saying, "We have an  inside joke during the show, because we all manage to slip up now and again, however when we start dropping F-bombs like B-52 I slam my fist on the desk and go 'This is a family show DAMNIT!' and it puts us back in check for the most part but the show is still a PG-13 show." I asked how creative they could be about using otherwise clean language to describe something that wasn't quite. Svetlana answered, 'Well there is a lot of sexual innuendo which is not planned, but both Greigh and I are smart-asses and sometimes cannot control what comes out of (our) maws." So who at least had some control? Roxy answered, "That would be me. I end up biting my lip and blushing uncontrollably as I have the thoughts and just start randomly giggling. I end up yelling at both the vixen and wolf as they make me blush the whole show. But that just shows even though I am innocent, I'm not completely."

And what were their future plans? Greigh answered, "At this point, we're wide open to things in the future. Depending on how things turn out over time. We're going to also target on attending cons as best we can as well in the future." Svetlana told me they'd be doing a live show at a panel at a con in Philadelphia from August 10-12, "Also our show lands on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. So we will definitely make a Christmas Eve Special as well as a New Years Eve special, I will have to talk to our boss, Marcus, and do a extended four hour show to bring in the New Year."

We would talk about a few other things, such as goings-on in Second Life, and eventually, it was time for me to check out another event, so I bade them good day and left the radio station.

"Two Vixens and a Wolf" broadcasts every Monday from 5-8PM (8-11PM EST) and rebroadcast on Wednesday at the same times. Besides it's station location in Rabbit Valley, it has a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

https://www.facebook.com/2VAWallfurradio/

https://twitter.com/2VixensandAWolf

Bixyl Shuftan

"Man On The Street" Responses to the Furry Convention Gas Leak

By Locke Esgal

Earlier this week, we here at the Newser found a terrible bit of news passed across our desks. A chlorine gas attack was launched against the Midwest Furfest convention, injuring 19 people and endangering hundreds more. Police on the scene believe that this was an intentional act, while some believe that this was deliberately to target furries, considering the 'hatedom' that the furry fandom has. This has even begun to fuel the belief that other fandoms with a notable hater followings. I've traveled around the grid to find some views on the matter. Several answered, but most asked to remain anonymous. One stallion had said when I asked for his comments. “Furries don't bother anyone. They mostly keep to themselves and don't go shoving it down people's throats.”

     While some believe we might see a trend in vicious attacks against fandoms, many believe that this is going to be a one time event. Thing, both a brony and a furry, said, “It's a pretty nasty thing to do, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it was anything serious. It sounds to me like a couple of guys wanted to be a smarmy and chose a really dumb, potentially harmful way of going about it.” The weapon of choice, chlorine gas, has a history of being used as a chemical weapon, but has notably less lethality then other home-made options. Despite this, it can still be very deadly if deployed correctly. Fortunately, this didn't end up being the case at Furfest.

    Many questions still remain unanswered. While there are a lot of theories, the most prevalent being that this was fueled by the hatred some hold for the fandom, there are still other possibilities. One interviewee said “Perhaps there were people against the convention itself, but let's not forget that some people like to get revenge against another.” Regardless of the motivations behind this attack, nineteen victims were hospitalized from this cruel act. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them, and we here at the Newser wish them a speedy recovery.

Locke Esgal

This is Your Life, Grease Coakes

By DrFran Babcock

Grease Coakes, SL Newser Reporter, was rezzed on June 12, 2007. This makes him six years old—an old-timer in this virtual world that is about to be ten years old. SL Newser sat down with this remarkable griffin on June 11^th to learn a little bit about him, and see what he was up to. Grease needed no prompting:

Grease Coakes: Tomorrow is my sixth SL birthday and I’ve done a lot in Second Life™. I’ve learned to deejay,  I’m well known in furry clubs, and humans are familiar with me. I think that says a lot about an avatar, for SL.

SL Newser: How did you come to be in Second Life™?

Grease Coakes: Well, a friend from Neopets (the online virtual pet community) was saying I should check out Second Life™. I had no idea what it was about. I came on like a complete newbie, and my friend told me about camping for Lindens, so I tried it.  At first, I wasn’t earning jack, but then I figured out I could buy Lindens with real money, and I bought for my first furry avatar: a mutant red fox from Mutation Industries. I thought I was too cool walking around in that ugly avatar.

SL Newser: haha

Grease Coakes: I spent my own money a few times, but when I learned you could work in SL earning Lindens I wanted a part of that. I think the first job I got was as a male stripper for a club that’s long gone called The Spot. I used to hang out at a club that’s Dance Island now, but was called TJ Icey’s. Just for kicks I still use their really old glowsticks. I met RAFTWET Jewell there, who is one of the co-owners of the A-List and is Xavier’s wife, and Sneaky Krugman, a deejay who almost never changes his clothes. He’s always dressed in his longcoat and that Russian hat.  Later on I learned to host for a club that’s still around, Blackhearts Café, that you may have heard of—that plays 80’s music. I think back then in 2007/2008 it was a new club. It was fairly popular as an 80’s club. I guess it was a new thing in SL, an 80’s club, so lots of people came while I hosted and I made good money.

By that time I had my second avatar, an Aventity black fox. I started buying those like crazy, but the thing was I was earning the money from hosting instead of going to my debit card. I also found out about furry clubs a little later. Before, I only went to human clubs. The first furry club I went to was The Ark. Other furries, when I mentioned human clubs, said I was lucky for not being ejected as a furry, or at least being griefed. I guess I went to the right clubs back then. Even Blackhearts Café, a human club, got so used to me they let me host there. So I might of been the first furry to host at a human club in all of Second Life™.

    I ran into Tantari Kim at The Ark, who became one of my friends for a long time. She also gave me positive feedback about my children’s story before it got published. So she has always been a good friend.  And she's the leader of her very own Vixen Scouts. Every time I IM her to say “hi” she always says “arf!” Yeah Tantari is a helpful and kind person, but I can’t join her Vixen Scouts because I’m a guy. She likes recruiting vixens that are helpful and kind like her. She’s also been in SL a long time (2004), a longer time then me. So, even if I’m old in Second Life™ at six, her avatar is almost a decade old. Her last name, Kim, was the only last name she could pick out back then

SL Newser: Will you be deejaying at SL10B?

Grease Coakes: Yes, I might have to change my time though because it conflicts with a game I play over Skype. For those who haven't heard me I play house trance and video game remixes.

SL Newser: Have  you been a griffin for long?

Grease Coakes: Yes, for a while. The first griffins I bought were Toshuki, and today I have all nine of their colors, even the pink color.  One way or the other I’ve found a way to earn Lindens in SL. I haven't bought Lindens with real money for a long time. I’ve been in tail sales; lots of them (See: http://slnewserextra.blogspot.com/2013/02/at-tail-sale.html ). In fact, speaking of pink anyone who buys my children's story for 250L in SL gets a pink shirt with the book cover on it that is also a sixth birthday shirt. So far I have had three people buy it.

SL Newser: So, tell me about the book. How did you come to write a children's book?

Grease Coakes: Well I always remembered the Richard Scary books with the talking animals. As a kid I related to those stories, so I was a furry at heart although I didn't what it was a called back then. I thought wouldn’t it be cool if I wrote something similar? My character deals with something that children might relate to in the real world.

   My book was rejected many times, but in real life a woman did help me. I found her first life phone number on a website called Literary Market In the end she didn’t accept my book, but she was encouraging me and giving me advice. Her name is Annette Johnson, and she runs allwrite publishing. She’s a nice lady, and even though she did not publish my book in real life she helped a lot, just like Tantari Kim did. She was proud of me when I published my book in first life through a website called lulu.com It cost me a lot of money, but I was excited when I saw my book get published. I used a tax refund, so I didn’t really lose out. I can promote myself too in Second Life™.

   I like having fun too. I just blew 4,000 Lindens on buying an artist at a tail sale. I forget what club it was though.

SL Newser: Could you please explain about tail sales for readers who might not understand?

Grease Coakes: At a tail sale, for example, a furry can bid on me for my writing abilty. The last furry who bought me wanted a story about pirates, so i wrote a high seas adventure with his character and his girlfriend. One time, Dragon Heart bought me at a club for 5,000L. I kept 2,500 the other 2,500 went to the club to help pay for club fees. He had an interesting request, one that isn't suitable for the SL Newser (grin).

SL Newser: OK, we can move along…

Grease Coakes: Chazore Ayers is the exception, because she just wanted a flat out adventure without adult themes. The story I wrote for her is more PG-13, not so much XXX. She just wanted to be in a fantasy adventure. I thought it would be easy, but it took a while to write. She also gave me a 7,500L bonus when I finished because it was so long.  It was close to 40 pages long. I made 10k off a single story. I didn’t have to worry about Lindens for a while.

SL Newser: So, what would you like for your birthday? What gift would make you the happiest ?

Grease Coakes: Probably just people buying my book, Ginny Griffin’s First Day Of School, and then turning around saying it was a good book .

SL Newser: And, you said it deals with something folks could relate to in First Life ?

Grease Coakes: Yes, for children on their first day of school who don’t know anyone. Ginny Griffin runs into some bad things at her new school. I won't say what, but it’s a big issue now.

Starting tomorrow I will start handing out limited edition shirts to celebrate my SL birthday. I’ll be handing them out for a week or so, and after that no more shirts. Last year I handed out my fifth SL birthday shirts only on my SL birthday.  Giving away the shirts is fun as they are limited edition, making them rarities, like Linden bears.

Find Grease Coakes and get a limited edition birthday tee shirt, see if you can guess what issue troubles Ginny Griffin on her first day at school, and:

Come see Grease Coakes deejaying for SL10B on June 20^th from  4:00-6:00 SL time.

DrFran Babcock