February 9, 2010 by primperfect
View of Midsomer Isle by PJ Trenton
Join us today at 2.00pm in our studio in Northpoint for our show when we visit one of the most romantic locations in Second Life, Midsomer Isle (and its two associated sims, Midsomer Meadows and Midsomer Nigh.
The region consists of a series of beautiful areas for romance and relaxation, together with a few discreet and delightful stores belonging to the owner, Zanza Marx, who will be telling us all about this wonderful area.
View of Midsomer Isle by PJ Trenton
We’ll be exploring some of the romantic areas that this region has to offer, all ready for Valentine’s Day, and talking to Zanza too.
And we think we can promise you one of our most stunningly beautiful editions ever!
View of Midsomer Isle by PJ Trenton
The show starts at 2pm SLT, but you should be in our Northpoint studios by 1.30pm to make sure of getting a seat. Or you can watch on the Treet live stream. And there will be Valentine gifts for all those who attend in person.
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February 4, 2010 by primperfect
In this week’s show, we visited a fascinating project – a house in Pompeii, the city in Southern Italy that was famously destroyed by a volcano in AD79 (for more information about that, go here). But that, in fact, is only the start of the story, because we were not visiting a Second Life reconstruction of Pompeii as it is now, or even a reconstruction of Pompeii as it was prior to AD79, but a recreation of a house in Pompeii that was recreated for the Crystal Palace in 1854.
posted with vodpod
The project is the creation of Gwendoline Beningborough and Lucien Kranfel, the avatars of the real life Dr Shelley Hales and Dr Nic Earle from Bristol University. Shelley is a Senior Lecturer in Art and Visual Culture in the Department of Classics & Ancient History, while Nic is E-Learning Co-ordinator at the Education Support Unit and we explored – with them – a fascinating bringing together of three immersive environments, one modern, one Victorian, and the other from Ancient Rome – or, at least, a conception of Ancient Rome!
This was a show packed with information about Roman Pompeii, the Victorian response to it – and how our construction of immersive environments in Second Life echoes the Victorian attempt to create similar immersive environments too.
And there’s morel about The Great Exhibition, the Crystal Palace … and the development of some exciting educational projects on many levels.
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February 2, 2010 by primperfect
Actually, that’s a very appropriate metaphor for today’s show!
Join us today at 2.00pm in our studio in Northpoint for our show when we visit a house in Pompeii, the city in Southern Italy that was famously destroyed by a volcano in AD79 (for more information about that, go here). But that, in fact, is only the start of the story, because we are not visiting a Second Life reconstruction of Pompeii as it is now, or even a reconstruction of Pompeii as it was prior to AD79, but a recreation of a house in Pompeii that was recreated for the Crystal Palace in 1854 – see what I mean about layers?
The Crystal Palace from the north in 1854
The Great Exhibition was a fascinating event in itself – and you can see information about it here – and we will be talking about it during the show as well. But the heart of our show is the Pompeiian Court and we’ll be exploring this and discussing contrasting attitudes to history with Gwendoline Beningborough and Lucien Kranfel, the avatars of the real life Dr Shelley Hales and Dr Nic Earle from Bristol University, the people behind this project.
Bristol University Project: Pompeiian Court at the Crystal Palace
Shelley is a Senior Lecturer in Art and Visual Culture in the Department of Classics & Ancient History, while Nic is E-Learning Co-ordinator at the Education Support Unit and we’ll be exploring – with them – a fascinating bringing together of three immersive environments, one modern, one Victorian, and the other from Ancient Rome – or, at least, a conception of Ancient Rome!
The Pompeiian Court at the Crystal Palace in 1854
And we’ll also be talking to them about how they are using different Second life tools (such as a HUD, bots and information points) to create a vibrant educational tool.
The show starts at 2pm SLT, but you should be in our Northpoint studios by 1.30pm to make sure of getting a seat. Or you can watch on the Treet live stream. And there will be gifts for all those who attend in person.
Further Reading:
Phillips, Guide to the Crystal Palace and Park, 1854: http://tinyurl.com/ykvypv4
Pictures of the original Pompeian Court on the English Heritage “Viewfinder” site, beginning here: http://tinyurl.com/yks9cdu
The Roman House and Social Identity by Shelly Hales: http://tinyurl.com/ygl5jro
(Victorian images in this article from the 1854 Guide Book to the Crystal Palace)
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January 31, 2010 by primperfect
In this show we visited the very special region of Al-Andalus. Al-Andalus creates some of the most famous palaces, gardens, plazas and great buildings – such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba – of the mediæval kingdom of Granada, where Christians, Jews and Muslims met in an amazing cross-cultural environment. We were joined by Rose Springvale who showed us some of the sites … and also explained the philosophy that underlay the creation of Al-Andalus and has guided its development.
more about “Designing Worlds visits Al-Andalus“, posted with vodpod
But there is more to this region than just the beauty of the buildings. Since last June, Al-Andalus has also been part of the Confederation of Democratic Sims, and we were joined by Jamie Palisades, who explained to us something of what that means for the citizens of the area.
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January 26, 2010 by primperfect
Al Andalus El Partal Palace: Photograph by PJ Trenton
Join us today at 2.00pm in our studio in Northpoint for our show when we visit the stunningly lovely region of Al-Andalus.
We can promise you a very superior order of eye candy in this show! Al-Andalus creates some of the most famous palaces, gardens, plazas and great buildings – such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba – of the mediæval kingdom of Granada, where Christians, Jews and Muslims met in an amazing cross-cultural environment. We’ll be joined by Rose Springvale who will be showing us some of the sites … and also explaining the philosophy that underlay the creation of Al-Andalus and has guided its development.
Al Andalus Mezquita: Photograph by PJ Trenton
But there is more to this region than just the beauty of the buildings. Since last June, Al-Andalus has also been part of the Confederation of Democratic Sims, and we will be joined by Jamie Palisades, who will be explaining to us something of what that means for the citizens of the area.
Al Andalus Alhambra Palace Court of the Lions: photograph by PJ Trenton
The show starts at 2pm SLT, but you should be in our Northpoint studios by 1.30pm to make sure of getting a seat. Or you can watch on the Treet live stream. And there will be gifts for all those who attend in person.
Posted in About the Show, event | 1 Comment »
January 25, 2010 by Elrik Merlin
In our latest show we visited Virtual Africa with Alanagh Recreant of Uthango. Alanagh gave us a very spirited tour of several of the main areas in the four-sim region and we all learned a great deal. I would encourage viewers to visit Virtual Africa themselves – there is a lot more there than we had time to show.
What we did cover, though, included some fascinating projects. In the first part of the show we heard about a fascinating projects to bring bicycles to a school. We went on to visit a recreation of a township (basically, a shanty-town) which is not yet open to the public and talked about Cape Town-based Uthango’s development projects; and finally we visited a wildlife area where you can adopt a Meerkat. The show ended with us attempting to take a balloon ride – but we were so busy talking we nearly missed it! Alanagh was a wonderful host and was a fount of information.
We came away extremely impressed by Virtual Africa and also by Uthango’s work in Africa in real life. Many, many thanks to Alanagh for showing and telling us so much.
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January 19, 2010 by primperfect
African Bicycle Project Uthango
Join us today at 2.00pm in our studio in Northpoint for the first show of our new season – our third! – when we visit Virtual Africa in Second Life.
Uthango Virtual Worlds Initiative Logo
This amazing project is run by Alanagh Recreant of Uthango Social Investments, a South African not-for-profit organisation. The region consists of four private islands, some of which we will be exploring on the show, will discussing initiatives and projects with Alanagh.
Uthango are in Second Life to explore the value of virtual worlds for and with Africans. They focus on community-building and create unique content related to Africa.
“We also believe Africans can add enormous value to virtual worlds, if we can overcome the barriers of infrastructure and bandwidth costs,” they say.
Porcupine Theatre in Virtual Africa Side View
In pursuit of this, they offer many different experiences in Virtual Africa, broadly grouped into Education, Arts and Culture, Adventure & Entertainment, Enterprise & Business and Romance. This includes, among many other things, the African Wildlife Centre and Solo-Tour where you can click on various wildlife or enjoy an educational video – you even adopt a meerkat! there’s also the Virtual Africa Balloon Ride, with a variety of routes, the African Arts and Culture Gallery at Robben Island, the Miriam Makeba Memorial, a chance to go rafting or hang-gliding have an Individual Tour with a Ranger. Then there are live music performances at The Porcupine Theatre, or you can dance at the African Rain SkyClub high in the sky or go shopping for Africa-themed goods in the market area.
metaAfrica Township 1
So tune in to our show to see some of these places – and also to learn about the vitally important development work that is being initiated here.
For more information see their blog: slafrica.wordpress.com
The show starts at 2pm SLT, but you should be in our Northpoint studios by 1.30pm to make sure of getting a seat. Or you can watch on the Treet live stream. And there will be gifts for all those who attend in person.
Posted in About the Show, Designing Worlds goodies, event | 1 Comment »
January 10, 2010 by primperfect
Designing Worlds logo
Designing Worlds needs your help!
We are entering for the Streamy Awards, the first and most prestigious awards devoted to honouring excellence in web television.
The Streamy Awards identify and celebrate the pioneers laying the groundwork for a new and dynamic entertainment medium. The Streamy Awards ceremony brings together the top talent, decision-makers and influencers shaping online entertainment, and awards are presented for the past years’ best achievements in 35 categories spanning multiple disciplines. Currently in its second year, the Streamy Awards began as a grass-roots effort piloted by the leading minds in online entertainment and continues to share the spirt of rugged independence that drives creative expression online. The show is co-hosted by Tubefilter and NewTeeVee.
Streamy Awards
Reflecting the inherent openness of entertainment online, the Streamy Awards submissions process is free and and open to the public. We would like you to nominate Designing Worlds for one of these prestigious awards in the Best Reality or Documentary Web Series – and help us to raise the profile of virtual worlds – and the role of television within worlds such as Second Life.
Winners are selected by the International Academy of Web Television, an independent, member run not-for-profit organization representing a wide cross-section of online entertainment including actors, agents, composers, content developers, directors, journalists, producers, technology innovators and writers.
Please use the public voting system to vote for us – and other Treet shows. You can vote once a day – so you could give us repeat votes if you’re feeling REALLY enthusiastic! Go to:
http://www.streamys.org/submit/public-submissions/
and vote:
Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
Designing Worlds
URL: http://designingworlds.tv
Other Treet shows are up for awards too! Please vote for:
Best Hosted Series
Tonight Live! with Paisley Beebe
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/tonight-live
Best Hosted Series
Fabulous Fashion with Angie Mornington
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/fabulous-fashion
Best Live Production
The First Question with Pooky Amsterdam and Hydra Shaftoe
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/1st-question
Lauren Live in the following categories:
Best Comedy – LaurenLive
Best Actress in a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
Best Director of a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
Best Writer of a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
URL http://archives.treet.tv/programs/lauren-live
Best Hosted Series – Meet an Author
Best Experimental Web Series – Meet an Author
http://archive.treet.tv/meet-author
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December 21, 2009 by primperfect
Brideswell Manor in Caledon Rothesay
Join us today, Monday (not tomorrow) at 2.30pm in our studio in Northpoint for our final show of the season, when we visit Elrik’s home on Brideswell Manor on Caledon Rothesay.
The show is coming out a day early, due to Christmas scheduling constraints, but it will be shown again tomorrow at the usual time – with the bonus that Elrik, Saffia, Matelisse and Aisling will all be in the audience – and we’re planning on making it a Christmas party!
Today we’ll be at the Manor and exploring the grounds of Caledon Rothesay, as well as meeting two of Elrik’s neighbours – Eleanor Anderton and Gabrielle Riel (the head of Radio Riel), who will be telling us all about their Christmas plans – and beyond! And we’ll be seeing – and hearing about – an mazing steampunk Christmas Carol from Iason Hassanov. In fact, in the course of the show, we’ll be hearing about three different Christmas Carols!
A Steampunk Christmas Carol in Caledon Rothesay
The show starts at 2pm SLT, but you should be in our Northpoint studios by 1.30pm to make sure of getting a seat. Or you can watch on the Treet live stream. And there will be gifts for all those who attend in person.
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December 18, 2009 by primperfect
This week, we were in the very traditionally European themed sims of Wunderbar to learn how thwy were celbrating Winter and preparing for Christmas. You can now see the show on the web – here, and available in both standard and high quality on the Treet.tv archive website. And you can also download the show from the iTunes store (just search on Designing Worlds) to watch at your leisure. You can even put it on your iPod to carry around with you (or watch at the gym!).
Wunderbar is a region of eight sims with a decidedly European flavour, thanks to the careful efforts of the two owners, Ha Tenk and Poppet McGimsie. The feel of the environment is nineteenth century but, unlike the more usual regions that reflect the British or American ninteenth century, Wunderbar reflects the excitement and colour of the Austrian and German states – something reflected in the large number of German-speaking residents and in the traditions that have grown up in the community – for example for the or Christmas Market, and the regular waltzes held in the stunningly beautiful castle.
The Ballroom at Wunderbar
Join Saffia and Elrik as they try out the winter sports here, exploring the vast Kronenberg ( a huge mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds), and then the Kirche, the Market and finally the ballroom, modelled after Neuschwanstein, the most famous castle built by Ludwig II of Bavaria, where the residents and friends of Wunderbar gather for regular waltzing balls.
Posted in About the Show, On the web! | 1 Comment »
