CoryD Comes to Town, Leaves Town
by Alphaville Herald on 25/07/05 at 8:39 pm
by Prokofy Neva
Cory Doctorow‘s book signing took place amid the usual sim-crashing, alphabet-soupy, av-pushing and kewl-kid posturing we’ve come to associate with SL events — the events listing led to the wrong sim–tps led to gnashing one’s teeth outside the right sim…and you really had to *know somebody* — a Linden preferably — to get in the door.
While the event was positioned at a four-corners sim, most avs were on only 2 of the sims and even those who got on the exclusive Cory Doctorow Book Club admit list found themselves eating those blue “can’t enter parcel” messages and retreating to repeaters. Nevertheless, a good 40 or so clung to a beautiful build giant book-case build Nova Linden had created for the occasion and Cory answered numerous literary questions about his whimsical magical-realist Internet book about a man with a washing machine for a mother, a mountain for a father, a murderer for a brother — and a penchant for not just putting five coats of shelac on his newly-sanded floors but *twenty*.
Philip Linden stole the show, however, appearing in OMG GASP HELP STOP TEH PRESSES *a new t-shirt*.
Philip finally gets a new T!!!!
Having spent months — years? — in that t-shirt with the big open red Rolling Stone mouth, avs were set IM’ing furiously by his new fashion statement — a grey t-shirt designed by VR and RP geekgirl Aliasi Stonebender for the SL Second Anniversary with “I Survived Philip Linden” stenciled in blood-red graffiti-style typeface. WTG Aliasi! Barnesworth Anubis also got to shine as Hamlet Linden and Cory sat in his new faun-skin chairs. (No, THAT animation was missing, Barnes, but somebody *did* TP in with their Play Sexy cock still showing and they apologized profusely to Cory later).
Jeska was on hand to moderate questions as usual but unlike town hall meetings, where Lindens admonish residents not to chat out loud in room chat, Cory’s party — embellished by Obscure Vineyard wine and platters of cheese slices — was the kind where you could intermingle your comments in the chat and sometimes Cory would even answer some of them. He seemed to hold up remarkably well despite having risen at what was 5 a.m. London time (his usual schedule) and downing an untold number of magnums of some chocolate liquer in RL.
Virtual foo foo victuals (say 3 times fast)
There’s no question that Cory is cool. And interesting. The book is good, too. Um…if you can get it to rez and focus on it right. I actually read it on the web in HTML pages. I guess web-on-a-prim is supposed to bypass our short-lived immersive book-publishing and book-signing-party world…this may have been the last glass of wine ever drunk at a party for something still called “a book” and vaguely answering to its description.
Perma-banned Random Unsung persisted past Jeska’s and Hamlet’s moderation to ask when Gutenberg would get to SL: so far the contestants in Hamlet’s contest, including Falk Bergman, the winner, appear to have made their brilliant technology available only for Cory’s use — but after Cory said he thought it would be cool if other people got to publish books in SL, too, Falk explained his script was open and it was merely a matter of uploading a lot of textures (tekkies seem to differ on this issue…)
Cory was looking dapper indeed in his custom-av by lilith Pendragon (or we think it was her work) — and the event wasn’t complete without Sausage Turner showing up toward the end in a giant black machine av that scared the bejesus out of everybody lol.
I managed to fire off a bunch of screenshots of SNOOPYBrown Zamboni getting his book signed and Pathfinder, who must have been buried in IMs with people on secret sims who never uttered a word the entire time.
Pathfinder gives his secret FIC sign, cleverly disguised as a simple had wave.
Khamon Fate and Jared Godel asked some pointed questions about Creative Commons and books and technology being opened up for mass communication in SL, too, whereupon Random fell through the floor in embarassment. I mean, it was that kind of floor…
over and out,
Prokofy Neva/Random Unsung
Ren
Jul 26th, 2005
>and even those who got on the exclusive Cory Doctorow Book Club admit list found themselves eating those blue “can’t enter parcel”
Really? When did they arrive? I was there 2 hours before the event and had no problem getting in, if you got there closer to the time I’m sure you would have issues, but sims have such limited capacity that its hardly surprising you would not get close.
>Pathfinder gives his secret FIC sign, cleverly disguised as a simple had wave
Are you sure that is Pathfinder? I know that there a team of people with that av but on the night the only one I saw was Biscuit Beckenbauer. Pathfinder was in a witch av.
ren
Prokofy Neva
Jul 26th, 2005
Uh, I arrived 30 minutes ahead of time to try to camp it and the sim was full, even being a member of the Book Club. I then repeatedly had Hamlet Linden and somebody else try to TP me in, and it kept saying “parcel full”. Not sure that happened, if they planned the Book Club to have the avs that could fit (40). Geez, why should I have to get to an event 2 hours ahead of schedule when they’ve made a closed membership group for that supposed reason to try to solve that 40-av-only problem? You seem to think we’re supposed to be in Grateful Dead concert mode for things like this in SL. In fact there should have been 4 book clubs and 4 sims with seating on four sims. In the end, they got 71 on 2 sims I believe.
The avs will always expand to meet the available space, of course.
Oh, you’re absolutely right. That’s NOT Pathfinder. And I didn’t say it was. I said he didn’t say a word to me, but I had a different picture — that picture isn’t one I took, and it’s one the editors got from somewhere else I guess and captioned themselves. Or if there is some kind of error and they got it out of the huge stack of pictures I did take, I never said it was Pathfinder because it obviously isn’t. The caption is the editors. But…Pathfinder is capable of emitting death-rays from his eyes and secret signals in all kinds of ways!
Urizenus
Jul 26th, 2005
Right that caption was my bad. I saw the secret FIC sign and figured it was Path, but of course I should have noticed the absence of the thought control eye rays. Again, my bad.
Prokofy Neva
Jul 26th, 2005
Uri, they often plant decoys and fakes to do that secret FIC sign thingie, in order to distract you from the REAL SECRET FIC sign — and oops, you missed it AGAIN. In fact Aimee was at the Cory do and actually thought-bombed me into thinking I had NOT negrated her on appearance and that she was even “going to take that as me flirting with her” (eye-roll) even though I *saw* the $75 for the triple neg go by. I saw it with my own eyes! And now she thinks I have to go find something of hers to put into edit mode and make sure the neg is on for appearance. But you see, that IS the thought control. So I have to resist…Gosh, Uri, they are so DAMN SUBTLE.
Didn’t you know? Sheesh. Yeah, the thought-control rays get heavy sometimes. Ever since I told PF “maybe the best thing to do with the Lindens is to ignore than and hope they ignore back” — and he decided to behave-mod me by taking me at my word and ignoring me back lol, I found myself becoming a model citizen, even getting on the Dwelloper list. It’s scary. I think if you fly far enough away from Ambleside and Kirkby though the modding starts to wane. The reason I have my main base behind the fortified walls of the Sutherland Dam which thought-rays haven’t been able to penetrate yet. Of course…they have their ways…
And let me take this opportunity Stoneself and other enemies to say that Philip’s question about the asshole avatar was NOT about me. rpt NOT. So he says. I believe it. But Cory’s answer about needing to filter avs out more and have “coping strategies,” well, that’s just more behave-mod.
When will we be free?
Ingrid
Jul 26th, 2005
“when will we be free?”
Whenever you decide to let go.
Prokofy Neva
Jul 26th, 2005
Hi, Ingrid, sounds like you’re still holding on to me pretty tight lol, you’d think you’d stop stalking me now that I’ve been booted from the forums ROFL. P.S. Your house rented woot!
montserrat
Jul 26th, 2005
i did not even TRY to go to that event on account of
the lag is so bad just normally, why would i torture myself
for a book?
Bakuzelas
Jul 27th, 2005
I figured that you all knew the person in the Hero avatar was either Breakfast Bijoux or Sausage Turner (probably Sausage, since the person is standing next to Wyn and was in line to get his book signed) and were just joking about it being Pathfinder.
The event was a fun time. Even though I got there late, I could hear everything said while sitting on the bookshelves. After Cory Doctorow talked and answered questions, enough people had moved around that me and the friends I came with were able to enter the sim and get our books signed.
I felt the lag wasn’t that bad, and the event was organized very well.
Cory was very friendly and pleasant and had interesting things to say. I hope that more authors and celebrities or musicians come and do similar events in Second Life.
Urizenus
Jul 27th, 2005
Thanks for the report Baku, but I do gotta add that more and more you are reminding me of Eddie Haskel.
Aimee Weber
Jul 27th, 2005
Don’t roll your eyes at me, I have never seen someone so smitten as you are by me. On one hand your unceasing attention reminds me of a schoolyard boy pulling my piggytails in a clumsy attempt to show affection. On the other more chilling hand, Hannibal Lector’s love for Clarice springs to mind.
Prokofy Neva
Jul 27th, 2005
“Gosh, Mrs. Cleaver!” Uri you’re hilarious ROFL.
Yes, you could hear everything. I even have the full transcript in case Hammie’s “selected excerpts” selects out too much. Yes, it wasn’t THAT laggy but just funny stuff kept happening like we kept falling off the building and through the floor lol. It was fun, though.
Yeah, I thought Cory was interesting but what would have been much more fun would have been not so much being held in class at the desk to talk about litrachore which most of the people in the room hadn’t actually rezzed, but to continue the topics begun with the interview of Cory in the Herald a few weeks ago. That would have just been more interesting.
Yes, people lined up really dociley. It was wierd. I mean, they could have or layered themselves in stacks or rezzed out all the books in a circle but they lined up…like…like police trainees in Iraq. I don’t know why that image sprang to mind. They all got copies too.
Hi, Aimee, guess the Lindens are more smitten with you than me though. They have you…what…four times now? on the front page? Oh, back to just 3 again? Well…you make up for it on things like mentions in all their media hype like http://www.apple.com
To all you people outside of SL reading all this ingroupie stuff do you wonder when somebody is going to write the Great SL Novel bout the WORLD??? Only don’t make it about me and Aimee, there’s no story there ROFL as much as she is woefully fantasizing, it’s pathetic.
Urizenus
Jul 27th, 2005
Bakuzelus: “What a lovely dress you’re wearing, Mrs. Linden.”
Prokofy Neva
Jul 27th, 2005
“Well, if you’ve got work to do, UriZEENus, I don’t want to interfere. I was reading an article in the paper the other day where a certain amount of responsibility around the metaverse was good character training. Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Linden.”
Cocoanut
Jul 27th, 2005
How does one sign a virtual book?
coco
Prokofy Neva
Jul 27th, 2005
Coco, they had some kind of thingie, whereby he could automatically put his stamp on it. Now…I don’t know if he was just dragging a texture on to a part of it that was free to do that…or what the mechanics are but it was an automatic thing.
Cocoanut
Jul 29th, 2005
Cool!
coco
lilith
Aug 1st, 2005
“Cory was looking dapper indeed in his custom-av by lilith Pendragon (or we think it was her work)”
I’m not quite sure if you’re doubting I made his av, or if you honestly weren’t sure. But either way… yes, I made Cory’s avatar.
Urizenus
Aug 1st, 2005
Just the excessive caution and care that goes into every Herald story, Lilith.
Nice work on his avi!
Prokofy Neva
Aug 5th, 2005
I wasn’t 100 percent sure that it was indeed my neighbour lilith Pendragon who made the av because it wasn’t stated definitively in the room chat during the event — so I just flagged it for Uri saying that I wasn’t sure, but it seemed to be lilith, that’s all. We do try to check facts : ) It’s a spectacular job!