The Alphaville Herald

Typepad Threatens Takedown of Herald Justice League Unlimited Exposé

Will role-play superheros' copyright claims trump free speech?
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affair desk
Typepad administrator Jen has given Herald a deadline of January 29th to gut our coverage of the Second Life Justice League Unlimited's wiki, citing a Typepad Terms of Service violation for "displaying copyrighted text and images without permission". The Herald has declined to [...]

Egghead Studies Second Life Chickens – Clucks To Shocking Conclusion!!!

The Web Ecology of Sion chicken society explained
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Patrick Davison is part of several performance groups including What We Know So Far and MemeFactory and is also involved with the Web Ecology project at Harvard – exactly the sort of scholar that can bring meaning to the Second Life Sion Chicken [...]

Out Of Touch Egghead To Pontificate on Second Life

Herald founder keynotes 2009 Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference

The Herald's own Urizenus Sklar – who is widely believed to be self-identical – will present a virtual keynote titled "Virtual Communities, Virtual Cultures, Virtual Governance" for the Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference Monday October 26.
Virtually viewable here http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/ludlow/ after the virtual presentation Monday – the virtual keynote [...]

Watch “Another Perfect World” Documentary in Metaplace

by NuMedia Econobot
Another Perfect World – a documentary investigating the quest to construct digital utopias – premiers in the United States Thursday September 10 at noon PDT in Metaplace at The Stage. For our readers' convenience, the Metaplace space for The Stage is embedded below.

showtime: Thursday Sept 10, 12 noon PDT
The film includes interviews with [...]

New Vaneeesa Blaylock Performance Art Saturday

I Advance Masked video released
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
If you missed Vaneeesa Blaylock's recent performance art piece, I Advance Masked, all is not lost. The event was documented by Codewarrior Carling in an evocative machinima – and Ms. Blaylock and company have a new work scheduled for Saturday September 12 from  noon – 2 [...]

Chipmunk Warns Against Second Furry-Troll YouTube War

Time is better spent on Second Life, fur affinity account
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Tamias the Chipmunk – a war weary veteran of troll/furry conflict on YouTube – issued a new video warning against a second furry war in the user-generated content battleground that is YouTube.
Although Tamias feels that repeating pro- and anti-furry arguments serves [...]

Basement Dwellers of WoW — Lives and Loves On Film!

Second Skin documentary online through August 13by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Raids, addiction, online love, and real life meet-ups of WoW players are featured in Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza’s award winning 1998 2008 documentary “Second Skin” – now screening online through August 13th via the SnagFilms.com distribution network.
While much of the content covers [...]

Watching Obama in Ghana from Metaplace/Second Life

Ironic ads courtesy of USTREAM video
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
A bit of unintentional irony was my reward for attending an early-morning cross world Second Life/Metaplace live stream of President Obama’s speech in Ghana today, as incongruous advertisements streamed along with the USTREAM feed rebroadcasting the Voice of America coverage of the speech.

Was I [...]

The Awful Truth About Internet Dating!

by Dr. Denise Levertov, virtual advice columnist

dear dr. denise:
i'm lonely, desperate, and thinking of dating on the internet. my friends tell me I'm crazy, but what is the worst that could happen? is there anything I should watch out for?
 - miss lonelyhearts

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts,
I sense that you have self esteem issues and have been [...]