The Alphaville Herald

Shuless – Episode Three

Music, Poetry and Tasteful Vulgarity by Iona Nikolaidis I am not a novelist. I am not even a creative person. When I tell a story at a party, and I do, it has a logical beginning, middle, end. Prologue, Epilogue. There is an order to things. People need to be able to follow the lines. [...]

Network Culture Challenge

by Jessica Holyoke Cory Ondrejka and Doctor Ludovico recently announced the Network Culture Challenge from the International Island sim.  The University of Southern California’s Network Culture Project, in conjunction with the MacArthur Foundation, is inviting the residents of Second Life to imagine new ways that virtual worlds can be used to make contributions to the [...]

Shuless – Episode Two

Iona finds a home by Iona Nikolaidis When I created Iona as my avatar in Second Life, I only had a vague idea of the effort and real work required to explore the metaverse. So, after leaving Orientation Island (for you non-Second Lifers, Orientation Island is where you go to learn a few basic things [...]

IRS Says Virtual Greeters Are Real Employees

Electric Sheep Company VP Giff Constable confirms IRS ruling by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk Misty and Maia are employees – not contractors This weekend, the Second Life Herald learned that the Internal Revenue Serivce has ruled the greeters employed by the Electric Sheep Company for the CSI:NY metaverse/television cross promotional event are ESC employees [...]

Op/Ed: The Biggest Threat No One Is Talking About

by Jessica Holyoke I went to the Virtual Law Conference a few weeks back, courtesy of Virtually Blind.  While there, I talked to two lawyers who would bring about the end of Second Life (r) as we know it and no one seems to care. Dave Echloness is an Employment lawyer out of Colorado.  In [...]

Shuless – Episode One

How It Began by Iona Nikolaidis Hello, dear reader. My name is Iona Nikolaidis. I am an avatar in Second Life, and this is the story of how I came to meet a fellow avatar named Alexandra Shu. This blog is an effort to get her out of my head. This is not my choice, [...]

La Vida Linden

Justine Babii — Post 6 Grrrrl

[I have very mixed emotions about this particular feature - it marks the end of an era. One of the all-time sexiest avatars in SL, a great friend, and an amazing photographer is posing as a Post 6 Grrrrl - the Herald's highest honor for avatar art. Sadly, this is also Justine's retirement . Despite [...]

Minnu Model Skins PhotoSourced from Renderosity???

Metaverse shocker — pirated skins being sold in SL!!! by Tenshi Vielle, fabulous fashionista – courtesy of shoppingcartdisco Do you remember a while back, when we were talking about “what ifs” regarding stolen content across virtual worlds? I think the best case has to be Renderosity.com artists’ work being bought then redistributed without their permission [...]

Jenn Villota: The Artist as a Young Av

Interview with a new and upcoming artist by Kris Dibou When I saw the pics for Jenn Villota’s gallery opening, I could not turn my head, nor scroll away. The thought passed through my head that I was in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, X-rated editor’s cut. Indeed, it appeared that there were demons here, now [...]