Random stuff I learned from SL16B resident exhibits

[Qie Niangao]

I've had a really hard time making it through the resident exhibits at SL16B this year, even though there seem to be fewer than in past years, based on the number of regions on the map with 1024 parcels. There seem to be more and more full- or multi-sim constructions every year, so I expect the total birthday region count is the same as in past years. This is all objectively, quantifiably knowable -- and I even ran the numbers last year, IIRC.

Anyway, things that keep popping into my head as I try to make my way through the exhibits:

1. Not everything shoebox-sized becomes interesting when blown up to full parcel scale. That was fun for the first one and a half SL Birthday exhibit parcels I ever saw. Now: If there's something worth seeing at a scale-busting exhibit, it will have to get past a yawn to be noticed.
2. There really are some Norman Rockwell paintings in the public domain. Also, as 1950s as Norman Rockwell feels, some of the famous images are from the 20s.
3. It's a challenge to navigate when so many exhibits are so similar in theme. ("Have I already been to this diner?") On the plus side, I guess that means this year's 1950s theme was successful -- it certainly seems to have been followed a lot more (and a lot more literally) than in past years.
4. Apparently there are a few things about historical periods that reliably evoke the era. Music is a big one. Trends in typefaces, graphic design, interiors, and architecture, too. Clothes. I guess we already know all this from movie sets and costumes, huh?
5. Movies, books, factual historical context too of course. 
6. I bet subject matter experts get period-nostalgia for weird stuff. For example, there must be students of culinary arts who know all about historical trends of food preferences, diets, and menus. Etiquette, too, and dining place-settings.
7. Some periods have period-specific cues. For the 50s it's evidently cars, diners, drive-in movies and fast food. Space and sci-fi. Also the heyday of weird mass-produced cultural ephemera.
8. I detest Animesh figures even more than those clunky old static mesh -- even sculpty -- representations of human figures. (They're extra revolting when stuck in a dance loop.) To me, it's as if somebody discovered the "uncanny valley" and then started digging.
9. Seems as if the 50s marked a change in celebrity culture. Elvis, for example. There were certainly celebrities before, but it feels like something from the shared experience of the war made folks crave common icons. Or maybe it was an effect of TV.
10. Every year, at least one exhibit lures me to try sailing or surfing in SL. Every year, despite having several waterfront locations myself, I lose interest after one teleport. I'm sure this is entirely my fault.
11. A touch of random incongruity is more than enough random incongruity. It's like the scale-busting effect: mildly diverting the first time encountered, ever. (Corollary: Obscure enough obscure references are indistinguishable from random incongruity. Related: an inside joke comprehensible only to the joke-teller is not actually a joke.)
12. Viewing when your avatar is two regions away (so you're not even a child agent of the viewed sim) prevents some stuff from rezzing, even though lots of stuff does rez based on cam position. (Maybe everybody knows this, but I didn't.) And yet, scripts that insist on proximity to do their thing are a hindrance to fun. Sometimes it's unavoidable -- e.g., can't view parcel media from a different parcel -- but notecard givers? Well, okay, parcel audio; parcel Windlight/EEP, maybe, too.

As curmudgeonly as most of this sounds, there's a lot of inspiring creativity in the exhibits, it's very evident that many hours of effort went into them, and some are really quite an achievement. Certainly worth a visit while the regions are still up.

[Mollymews]

my only stabby thought came when I started to feel like I wanted a big hammer whenever I saw another pink cadillac 😺

otherwise I thought was pretty ok

 

ps. SL surfing like RL surfing is really about doing nothing much at all. More just paddle out beyond the breakers, and then sit the board and chill out as the sun rises and sets 

[Erwin Solo]

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Random stuff I learned from SL16B resident exhibits

I noticed once again that Lindens don't show up on sensors when in administrative mode.

Old version: http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/327/3e/292950/1.html

Current version.  See first bullet under Caveats. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Sensor

[animats]

10 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

I detest Animesh figures even more than those clunky old static mesh -- even sculpty -- representations of human figures. (They're extra revolting when stuck in a dance loop.) To me, it's as if somebody discovered the "uncanny valley" and then started digging

I know. My own animesh figures are now up to the "n00b avatar" level, I think. It seems to help if they move around and look busy, not just run an animation loop. You don't get to examine them as closely when they're in motion, and if the movement looks purposeful, you accept them as background characters.

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Every year, at least one exhibit lures me to try sailing or surfing in SL. Every year, despite having several waterfront locations myself, I lose interest after one teleport. I'm sure this is entirely my fault.

There have been a few decent surfing spots in SL, with surfable waves. Those are fun; you can steer into the curl. One I liked shut down. You have to pay tier for a lot of water to make it work. A public surf zone off Bellesaria would be nice.