Caption: Playboy Managers Kimberly Laughton and Kattatonic Yates discuss how to handle the latest violation.

At Belle Belle Furniture and More (171, 126, 21), customers can pick up a free animated sunbathing towel with the Playboy logo. But is it legal? Not this time. On May 2, two managers from the officially-licensed sim teleported to the Belle Belle store to investigate the free towel display. Trademark infringement is still a major problem in Second Life, especially for real life companies that don’t have an in-world presence to police the situation. Many RL businesses are fed up with the blatant logo theft, including one of the biggest RL players in SL, Playboy Enterprises.
Posted by MincedMedia Clip

Second Life is becoming more and more a virtual stage that fits for promotion and diffusing on the web of music in all its aspects, but :it’s quite unespected that an RL production starts debuting in SL prior to RL. That’s the case of the musical “Odissea”a work by Marco e Massimo Grieco;whose debut will happen before inworld ( May 9th at 12:30 slt, in the land Italia Vera (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Italia%2010%20Milano/19/23/86) followed by the Real Life debut in the summer 2008 . The aim of this performance inworld is to take advantage of SL potential in order to promoting both the RL work and to raise funds for a benefit association A.M.R.E.F.African Medical Research Foundation http://www.amref.it/index.cfm This project actually affects for his smartness so we decided to make some questions to the authors, Marco and Massimo Grieco,who kindly accepted to meet us and reveal what drived them to start this project. Marco and Massimo told me about themeselves and their passions , explaining their concept of musical composition , based on research and experimentation . Their rediscovery of ancient myths together with the love for traveling in the greek lands roused the desire of putting in music the story of Ulysses and his ” nostos” ,a kind of coming back to the common roots of Mediterranean civilisation. The musical is above all a teamwork: behind the scenes many people worked to this project: some international companies have been charged with the developing of the gestures tin order to give naturalness to avatars overacting.Furthermore some of the best sl developers worked to this produstion :the virtual director ”, Dario de Judicibus,the audio supervisor Claudio Crocetti, Franca Olivieri who made the avatars and their costumes, Rolando Ferri PR handler, Jeremy R. Cooper the English translator:to this team it’s necessary to add dozen of people with the task of moving the avatars . It comes spontaneous asking Marco which has been the motivation that caused him to use a pop genre as musical for the stage play of Homer’s masterpiece, wich is one of the cornerstone of western civilisation.He states that the idea is the result of the friendly talk with his brother and Ciro Caravano (of Neri per caso), the three friends have ben taken by the need of both doing a musical and giving voice to a sort of reflection upon Homeric myth:the captivation of human being resides in the never ending contradiction between the strength of his mind and the weakness of his passions:this is the ultimate meaning of Ulysses adventures. The musical panoply of the work draws on a well recognizable leit motif “La Partenza di Telemaco”, and I asked Marco which has been his source of inspiration:” All the flavours, the sensations and emotions -he says- that I felt year after year during my travels all around in Greek islands ,as Itaca and Cefalonia , enriched me with sounds and colors that suddendly became a part of my souls; these boosts joined my personal backgound : in fact, Hyonic Greece musical instruments and its traditional prosody are really so similar to the ones which is possible to find in southern Italy:(”bouzouki” is realy similar to guitar mandolin):it seemed so natural ,for me, to let them flow into music.!” This kind of traditional roots have been the cue for an happy contamination with pop, rap and even rock, in order to incline contemporary audience towards the great Homeric work.This natural and spontaneous plot gave life to arrangements that go back over world music and classical tradition arising a very enjoyable mixing! Actually a musical is not only made by… music so we asked Massimo about which kind of specific work did it require the Odissea’s “mise en scene “. “Rather than isolating single episodes-he answers- we preferred cutting it down through the music in order to evoke the pathos aroused by Odissea. We decided therefore to synthesize the feelings of characters in a few drawings.” At this point I asked the authors about the kind of troubles found in the fullfillment of the project: “Well we had to solve a lot of technical problems,- Massimo says- as the realisation of scenes (as Polyphemos and the monster of Scilla) , the continous changes of setting and the complex interaction between virtual environment and real dancers: the choice has been to keep virtual the set designs in order to let the “real” artists express themselves singing and dancing. ” The enthusiastic way of present their creature explains how it’s been possible for them to gather supports around the project : “Everyone who listened to the musical offered himself completely for this cause, starting from actors, dancers choreographers and so on.”hte authors say. As a last question I asked who are the persons who have helped the most fotr the fullfillment of this project and they answered:”In RL the promoter of Premio Charlot who strongly wanted the performance of Odissea in the archeological area of Paestum (SA) and in SecondLife Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia who decided to host the musical inworld in his lands(Italia Vera). Ulysses story,after 3200 years, is still up to date and it’s definetly able to move deeply and make everyone dream: this is a good reason to wait the debut of “Odissea he musical” even in our Second Life.
Posted by Simona Dawes

In the Town of Haven, in the land of Sterling Grove, “The Great Exhiition of 1851 is being recreated “SL Style”. Kiosks tell of the history of the 1851 Great Exhibition of the works of the Industry of all Nations and then explain that an SL-er by the name of Mako Magellan is in the process of recreating the Crystal Palace that held the exhibition and will be filling it thematically with creations by Second Life Designers to showcase the Best of Second Life. I have been observing the progress and the structure and collections are quite impressive.
Visit Sterling Grove (73, 140, 22)
Posted by Happi Jansma

TheSLAgency launches an innovative job recruitment program for a government client in Second Life. Job hunters will interact with a unique career recruitment experience in Second Life as potential firefighters, medical technicians and others can virtually hone their skills before interviewing for Public Service jobs. Have you ever wanted to fight a fire, though you weren’t so sure how you’d do with the 70 pounds of protective gear, oxygen mask and fire axe? Is your dream to help cure disease, but perhaps you’re not so comfortable with beakers and lab coats? Via a new innovate program from interactive ad firm TheSLAgency, Second Life users can now practice a handful of public service jobs – including role-playing as a firefighter, civil engineer, medical technician, and more – all virtually, before donning the heavy suit or hard hat. The interactive career experience, built to showcase the range of jobs available in Canada’s provincial Ontario Public Service, allows users to fight virtual fires, to analyze traffic patterns using live video feeds from throughout Ontario, and to virtually test water samples for pathogens and other nasty things. The goal? To create a better awareness for the breadth of jobs in one of Canada’s most exciting provinces.
Posted by Jaciilyn Thatcher

Princeton University in Second Life announces “Diversity”on the Princeton Groups sim Scope Cleaver- Architect Poid Mahovlich - Terraform Artist The “Diversity” building on Princeton Groups island is intended as a social gathering place for Princeton University student groups and organizations. The commission stipulated a warm and friendly location where students could meet, chat, and organize events in Second Life. The resulting sim is a thoughtful contrast of Second Life resources with real world concerns. The stark, evocative landscape provides a foil for the elegance of the architectural composition. The central building’s rainbow colors exemplify the lively, multicultural community for whom it was built. The present generation of Princeton students will someday grapple with the environmental issues suggested in the desert terrain of the sim. “Diversity” is architect Scope Cleaver’s fifth building on the Princeton University in Second Life islands. Like his other full-sim composition at Princeton in SL–Alexander Beach–it shows an expansive use of scale that unexpectedly creates intimate social spaces. Uncharacteristic of Scope are the warm, organic building textures, which underscore the building’s function as a community center. The organic theme is carried into the building’s massing, originally suggested to the architect by a photograph of a nautilus shell. Poid Mahovlich, SL terraformer, designed and executed a landscape that would provide interest and focus to the building. More than that, the landscape itself is a series of destinations inviting exploration. A variety of walks and suggestive vignettes reveal artistic discoveries, environmental statements, and sweeping vistas from which to appreciate the greater composition of landscape and architecture. Architecture and landscape merge in a delightful collaboration between Scope and Poid under the “Diversity” building. Don’t leave without discovering it! —————————————————————- location SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Princeton%20Groups/130/47/22 —————————————————————- Artist statements: Scope Cleaver says: “Science is about describing things, describing reality . . . describing what there is. Design is about what should be. It’s trying to bend the world, bend the environment, to your vision.” Poid Mahovlich says: “I build creatively using smoke and mirrors. I am a geek dreamer; driven by ethereal fuel some days, nerdtech and biscuits on others. I have a passion for terraforming, sculpting pixel earth is an evolutionary process of discovery where you enter a very different head space. I am a Real Life professional conceptual Artist: a self-proclaimed Wizard who has a severe allergy to Hawaiian shirts.”
Posted by Poid Mahovlich

I saw a iReport yesterday about this issue and fount my own expeirence today in Second Life, over 10 bots all created on the 16th April in a parcel that deals with mature content. Surely this is not legal? The use of bots must be prohibited by the terms and conditions of second life usage. Its funny how there al n00b avators also
Visit Binneed (162, 88, 188 )
Posted by Krazykizza Carling

How many graduation ceremonies have you seen that have dancing wolves, baby chickens and farm animals in attendance? And, btw, the wolves and chickens also talk. This Friday, 4-18 and Sat, 4-19 Linden is hosting parties throughout the day for graduating new mentors, complete with music, a bartender, tons of food and free goodies. Of course the main activity is dancing and random shouting, typical SL behavior. All in all it is a great party and speaking as a new mentor I feel very appreciated. Pardon me now, a wolf is asking me to dance! Reporting from SL Volunteer Island - Lea56 Hyun
Visit SL Volunteer Island S (254, 249, 37)
Posted by Lea56 Hyun

Another iReport! This is the Apple store immitation of the Apple store on 5th Avenue, NY. I really like this place because it sells SL objects suct as the CyPhone (A inworld texting and RL texting device like the iPhone) And Macs that can stream audio and video content!
Visit MediaCity UK (116, 215, 30)
Posted by Krazykizza Carling

his is the virtual Paestum amphiteater built for the debut of the musical “Odissea”
Submitter Comments Friday May 9th, Italia Vera and his creator Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia will present in Second Life the musical”Odissey”,a work by Marco e Massimo Grieco;it’s the first musical whose debut will happen before inworld and then in Real Life: in the summer 2008 this work will be performed in the ancient theater in Paestum. Ulysses story is a cornerstone for the development of western man:the musical transposition of the homeric hero’s adventures,aware both of his weakness and of his intellectual power, will carry away the watchers into a travel through time and memory. A short version of RL musical will be performed inSL: Italia Vera ’s buiders are setting up a virtual copy of Paestum amphiteatre, laying above four lands,one of which is entirely dedicated to actors, that will be able to gather hundreds of spectators . In order to bring the musical inworld it’s been necessary to find some advanced tecnichal solutions concerning both the avatars creation with animations and costumes and the set design: this project is currently involving several people, whose technical and artistic skills have been tried out in a really challenging way. The aim of this performance inworld is to take advantage of SL potential in order to promoting both the RL work and to raise funds for a benefit association A.M.R.E.F.African Medical Research Foundation http://www.amref.it/index.cfm
Posted by Simona Dawes