Luvem, tiny prim, animation, toy piano

I wanted a piano, but not a grand piano, but a toy piano. Found a mini organ, thats not a toy piano... its like I really like to have that silly toy llama and not a realistically rendered sl horse.

Luvem showed me the animation of the guqin player... she has a nice warm looking house w a stone fireplace! It reminds me of European homes in the 40s,the floral patterns, the wooden chairs. So we will do further details, and see how that goes.

Now, have to put the strings on the guqin, but my strings are very thick, scaled to reality - it must have been at least 1cm in diameter - which is like 100times too thick... what to do? I remember someone told me about tiny prims. There is a place for tiny prims, for 10lindens, so I got some. Saitot showed me a YouTube, they show you how to make tiny prims, well... then I dont need to get them for Swannjie jie, one set is good enough as they are not transferable.

We sat on the balcony today at Elks beach Guqin house, Kotorin showed me all her instruments except the large ones. I played the cello and violin. Thats all i have, if i had a toy piano that would have been fun to play. It is then I realised i wanted one.

Ikune is doing landscaping of his interactive baseball game. He said he doesnt need our help to beautify his sim... I was only joking! To see how irritated he would get... hahahahah. Yes, I am silly like that sometimes. But nothing like that happened so we went away to our shopping.

In fact, i was looking for a suitable dress for photos to be "Swann Jie" in concert, this photo will be later used for a real life oil painting. The sl pic is but a sketch of what the oil painting will be like. A kind of picture sketch. But the sl photo exists in its own right too, as i had to choose all the elements to make the composition work as a whole, lighting, colors, textures. The sl photo is a real photo, and the painting will be a real painting, and if you went on line, you will see the virtual world life in action, in movement. It is the "Swannjie jie thrice represented."

Then, I also talked to several other people. Aboveall, by fluke, Saitot has copies of the water nymph dress that i was looking for for the last two days! what a waste of time, and I dont see it anywhere. Such a stroke of luck. So I got my concert attire finally.

Now, one step at a time, all the pieces are fitting together.

I sent GuanPingHu and CaiWenJun out into the world today. They are dressed in modern clothes, but already not like newbies, they have fancy hair and slick clothes. And got flirty comments coming.

I will put them away because it takes time for a character to mature and I dont have that much time now. But its ok for them to come out for air everynow and then.

There is also BoYa and Ziqi, the other two famous ones. SuDongPo is already half trained, so I will take him out more often.

And thats the news for today.

Tilly, Ikune, Saitot, SuDongPo,

Today mainly, three big events
Ikune completed the script and we went over it carefully.
Saitot showed me the one prim sculptes
Tilly came and gave me a lesson how to make flowers... i will be a flower expert?
SuDongPo had to go sit for hair at Calla, and the money has gone up! for each correct question answered you get 10lindens
Whats most nice is that while people are playing the trivia game, they all sat and chat, about hacking, about whats a respectable hacker... etc etc
They told me where i could go for a freebie "topknot" - well, i think i have seen the topknot, but its a little too... old man hair style... SuDongPo wont like it, he is someone i think, forever youthful. Becasue of his mind.

:)

luvem, Nao, Mikirin, Amemura, Body Language

As I was fooling around using the same stunt bike as Five, but couldnt turn somersauts like her! ppppffff well, in real life i would have tried and succeeded, but in sl, next time... :) though its cool to see all these flips... the bike is a freebie you could get at Amemura, outside of Sushi script and bar shop. Very nice riding w this bike.

Then I focus on trying to find the right pose and animation for the Guqin. A Seiza pose is a Japanese kneeling pose, i am sure they exist some where. But no body knows where to buy such things.

So I was hanging around in Amemura, looking at all the changes, the Sushi shop changed into a tubular 3stories high tower, with a boxing ring in the middle, nothing on third and small bar below. And snow, Christmas tree in front. Ever stylish. I like this designer, there is something chic and slick about his choices. But nobody in the shop.

So I explored more the area and found a Yutaka, very pretty one, purple w large flowers - a freebie! There was one gal standing around, so i chatted with her, and asked her if she know of Seiza poses. She said no, then disappeared after a while, she blinged me. I am of the habit now to offer friendship to people who seems friendly - she tped me to a large hall in the middle of a building, its very stylish too, gray concrete, like these humongous towers, the airy space in between. She said, look behind you. I only see there were 2 other girls with her. As i turned around, on the wall was a huge poster with many Japanese figures, the same girl in a gray kimono - sitting, kneeling, standing, standing coy, standing presentation, etc
all this for 500lindens. There was a huge poser pad on the ground. So I got on it and tried out the poses. There were no pose balls, just the pad, so the script is embedded in the pad. Amazingly Swannjie Jie started to look coy, cute, shy, demure, kneeling... and walking a Beauty Walk, Beauty stand... very Japanese... hahahah.

There were other huge pads, so I jumped on and tested them all, sexy pose, relaxing pose, young girl anime pose... some of the poses, reminds me of a certain young girl, very socialable, likes to seduce... its exactly that, Body Language. Very very good.

So I explained that I am looking for Seiza, but this Seiza has her hands hidden inside her lap... may not be useful. But I am glad to have found it... I took my guqin out to show them, and then the koto to show how to play with the music running. After a few moments, one of the girls said, I will make it for you!

Hoooo hoooo, wow. This is unexpected! So I will see in a day or two.

So far, I am sleeping better and better everyday. I enjoy doing the dishes, writing all my admin tasks down, turning the computer off to have lunch and look at some old books, the seven wonders of the world, Andersons illustrated book, old fashion magazines, feminine reviews, web sites, and I also started listening to the radio! I thought, I dont bother to watch sl tv, read sl magazines, and sl radios etc. becasue i dont even do these things in rl... on second thought, why not? So I listened to the radio,left it on all day... I only hear about disaster stories! But its all so great. I actually enjoy hearing the news, whatever news, good or bad, its an enjoyment to hear people talking about things around them...

Music clips, pose, animation... almost all the ingredients are here.

Then i think: when there is a will, there is a way.

Elkdeer, Lost Guqin found, Camping script, Cattleya Harker's Water Nymph dress

Elkdeer invited me to play at his beach and that i should put up a flower house if i wanted to .

So I did, a green flower house for Digital Guqin playing. Kotorin, esp, five, saitot, Elkdeer were there when I found my first guqin, this time its filed under "object" and when i opened it, it was created by a sisoud, who is that? In no way could this creator be linked to the Rumi simpson koto - the only part that I had used from the beginning...now how did it get files under this annonymous title. I was checking through 60 unidentified "object" files and deleting carefully the useless stuff, and there it was. Found. Very curious. But i must make backup copies... its a lot of time wasted this type of strange things.

Esp wanted to look for some camping script - so i took her to see JohnnyDepp who has made a "popularity shop" in the middle of nowhere is a second floor, where there were many Japanese avatars dancing. He showed us two places where camping scripts are sold, one is 1000lindens and the other cant remember. But these are "chat camps" mainly in Japanese language.

After i set up the Green Peony Guqin House no.1 at Elkdeer Beach, suddenly I thought, why not have a series of Green Peony Guqin Houses,no.2 at Linden Nimue, and no.3, and no.4 etc. They are just small intimate places for 6 to 8 people to gather to listen to a quiet instrument. The ideal setting for listening to Guqin. Each house will face a nice environment, not blocked by highways or shopping malls or whatever, must have a fine vista. And Elkdeers beach has a very nice ocean view... this gave me the idea to have a series of them.

I noticed the grass patch is spilling over into Saitots shop, her walls are growing grass... so i moved the house over by a few meters

Club Fabulous Tokyo has a new motocycle / mini race car track thats like a road which curves up high into the sky and comes down. There are five little race cars in different colors. CFT is a fun oriented place, between jazz club, Japanese lessons, car race, sky diving and hot air balloon launch... and rides... its magical and fun oriented.

I am glad things are resolved little by little. Today, I looked for the water nymph dress and didnt find it. but i found a notecard by Cattleya Harker, she carefully put in a notecard all the ingredients for making this water nymph outfit! Which particles to use, which texture, how to adjust the water movement... you feel the excitement and care the creator has put into it, and the thought she had for the newbies. Its a mini lesson right there!

I still wish i could find the dress so i wrote her... would she reply? I went to all the links she provided - and by accident i clicked on a Voice things, and bought a voice thing for 100lindens, apparently it allows me to adjust my speech to a whisper or a long range telephone effect, or put another name instead of my real avatar name... for spying ? There was a nice Bubble teleport... which was what i would have like to purchase, but by fluke, I bought this other thing, suddenly i didnt want the Bubble anymore. I dont need a fancy teleport! But its really nice, like a bouncing machine, it shoots you up somewhere, and throws you down - since there is no upthere to catch you, you come down.

Ikune, Kotorin, Elkdeer

Ikune and I went to Kotorins house to see her White Grand Piano, because I remembered that it played a piece 8mn long. This is interesting, was there any breaks, was it smooth, etc etc

Now that Ikune is going to write the script for me, suddenly I felt a lot lighter, as if I see the light at the end of a tunnel! I felt so happy about this, I turned everything off and had a leisurely lunch with Swannjie Jie... :)

Kotorin means Koto Child... :)

I put my new running shoes together - they are faded gold color with bright yellow furry horse skin trims and glossy patent leather trims - I had forgotten about them. I have so much clothes that I have not yet unpack from my shipment - the thought of going through this stuff is mixed. I only go shopping when i am really tired. Because, then I feel that I am not wasting my time going through item after item. In general I like to look at good design but I hate going shopping. I wish all this stuff is not in my house. But then, if I have to go out, I must find the right clothes and if I have only a few items, i get bored with wearing them so fast. Anyway. Clothes are important to me, if I got the wrong color or wrong item together, things are not quite exactly feeling "right", it could be something that irks me even slightly... i think it is not worth it. Thats why it take me at least some time, before I am ready to go out - sometimes. Not all the time. A lot of times I am ready in 5 mns. But I would say, compared to some of my other girlfriends, I dont spend that much time fussing... hahhahah. But now, i think it is a pleasure, its a girls thing... to look and check and re-check and look in the mirror again, and again, and again... hahahahah

Time to prepare for the trip to Beijing! I had forgotten that i had these Reboks... very nice. I want to go walk on the Great Wall again at Jian Cou - the wild section of Great Wall. Last time I was there, that was the high point of my visit.

Because of sl, suddenly I am going through all these clothes that i have not looked at...

And then, I think now, I must learn to play the Guqin well, to complete the whole ... area of interest - i guess. I am considering staying in Suzhou for 3 months - thats the minimum if I want to learn anything. Start with 3 months. In anycase, i have moved my office to sl, so the continuity of "office" things wont be interrupted.

I also want to go to YiWu, which reminds me a bit of sl in conception. Its a humongous shopping centre of a city. I met this man on the plane last time, he said the whole town is a shopping centre, you can get anything there.

Sounds like sl. But maybe much better, becasue its real things with air, nature, water all around. On the other hand, it could be worst, you cant just turn the screen off when you are fed up with everything.

Anyway,i want to go to YiWu to have a look. :)

Guqin no.2, Spa pool office

So, i quickly made Guqin no.2 - as Five said, you must save the world. Save the world? I am only a human being, not a saint. She said, this means "your world", you must focus on your world and save it, so get to it do it. You dont know how lucky you are... she is trying to cheer me up. I was so sad and pissed by the whole missing guqin thing.

And in one day, i did complete the new one, since i already knew made one. The second one is a lot faster. So i copied it and sent one to the assistant and one to sister.

Then comes the sound sampling... I listened to Guan PingHu again, it is very very good.

Met a Japanese girl, Kotorin, she is a collector of instrument. I was invited to her home, a fancy high rise apartment - just like in rl! A white grand piano, with full length pieces... 8mn, the screen says, downloading in 72sec, I looked at the watch - and a stopwatch! It took nearly 2mn to download and the piece is very well joined together though I do hear little clicks between the samplings... it is much better than the other pianos I saw. This one cost 2500. But the quality is much better than the other black ones.

Then i saw these very cute sculptie chairs, one one prim per chair. I got two. And the designer came to my flower house, we agreed its looks really good here. They are perfect, perfectly beautiful for this spa-pool office.

What do i do in a spa-pool office? Well, read books i like, listen to music, drink, receive friends - they could bring their swimming suits, or jump in with their normal clothes, nothing gets ruined or wet in sl anyway. But for ambiance, it is differnt if the person wears swim suits.

So little by little, my dream office is materialising. Why have an office just like in rl? You should have what you really want in sl.

:)

Nightmare, Nightmare came true

Nightmare, I dreamt of taking a train with Swannjiejie, and I hung my silver leather coat with black bag and Nikon camera in it in a compartment. As I chatted with people in the other car, I vaguely felt that I should have taken them with me and not have no one to attend to it. Sure enough a few minutes later, everything disappeared. When I got off the train, I found them in a market - for sale. The woman tending the stall said to me, that these three items for me is special price 500dollars only for all. She smiled in a secret way, I said, what these are my things, these things belongs to me! You guys stole them from me! She smiled a kindly and said, she has been told to sell them to me and only to me for 500, for others it wont be so cheap. Just my camera itself is 4000 dollars, not to mention the coat etc. So I said, ok ok. Thanks. She said, this is to teach me to not be careless and look after my things, in this world, she said things disappear very easily. I thanked her and paid. When I came back with my things, Swannjie jie said, why, you didnt even bargain and negotiate for a better price? They are yours, you could have gone to the police! I said, its ok its ok. She was nice, and she is right too... because i had paid so swiftly without arguing that lady became my friend and told me many unspoken rules of the world.

Nightmare came true!

I lost my guqin the instrument that i have refined over and over again, just the right color right texture, right proportion, things are working... after i rezzed it at the club, i carefully put it away. And - never seen again in my inventory.

Investigation shows only two possibiliites
One, Linden Lab had a bug in their shuffle of data, shut downs, they deleted my file by accident. People told me they have lost things, quite common apparently. So in the future, I msut send a double to my assistant so that if one goes down, maybe the other doesnt.

Two, apparently people do "steal" things. A guy got his whole inventory stolen because he was a ladies man. While he was invited to have sex, duriing sex, he got his penis stolen, his partner, originally a woman, suddenly became a man, and started to empty out his inventory. He was cleaned. After that, he left sl. Too disgusted by this experience. But technically, what does this all mean, what does having sex mean in sl? It means you accept to animate your avatar according to a proposed script. A proposed script usually lets you act out some gestures, like dancing, making love, doing karate, getting pounded by a boxer etc etc. But some scripts pretend to be action scripts but in fact, there is more than physical actions, it might be accepting to pay somebody - the whole inventory! For example, you dont know, and you said yes, and then everything is gone.

So i think thats what happened. Other than that, any objects not belonging to owner gets returned to owner. In the process of getting returned, autoreturn is part of return, often the object disappears. If an object is no-copy, it gets deleted.

So, my guqin most likely got deleted. :(

Salmaru, Saitot, Tilly, Taka, Hiroko, Five

Today, Tilly took me to see her hideout and the new Flower House thats hidden in a mushroom... with tall green grass... she said the grass is a particle effect based on an image of grass... looks good. Then i fell under the house - ooooh - into the Dungeon... get me out of here, get me out of here

Salmaru was online, since I didnt see him since the closure of Isakaya, I blinged him and he tped me to a very nice Sandbox place, he has this old style bicycle complete with squeeky wheels, and he had a plateau with 2 bowls of ramen and very beautiful fish in them. I got some ramen! Yummy. Now, thats the pleasure of sl, when things are so well done in careful detail with fun and quality craftsmenship.

Saitot came to help me put the water back into the spa tub... good neighbour is worth its weight in gold.

Marsha the one i have never met put up a futuristic look-out space ship house overnight. We chatted.

Taka is around and I am very thankful that he allows me to rezz my things on his club ground, Hiroko as well, though i didnt see them today, i was busy taking photos of the new guqin and Swannjie jie playing. SuDongPo was supposed to play, but i couldnt find hair or clothes in a short time, so, he will come later.

Finally a most enjoyable moment! I got a violin from Five! We went to the shop and we fooled around - I agree the animation is rather mechanical... little musically enjoyment type of expression - this is so important for sl, sometimes its not in the facial detail, but more importantly in the body language.

When i see avatars dancing, synchronised, even though its just a cartoon, but it gives a pleasure that mechanical wooden moves just wont do. After all, we are in sl for pleasure, so lets go for the maximum if possible?

For example, if a car doesnt drive, its not that interesting is it? A stationary hot air balloon etc. In rl we could still have some physical sensation, push the objects around, make sounds, but in sl, thats really asking us to do everything!

Much better to read a book instead.

I love the ramen, so clap clap for Salmaru, once again, his work is amazing.

SuDongPo Timeless

I have such a case of blah with sl, I resuscited SuDongPo to get me out of here...
Even SuDongPo cant help...

Time to just do real painting and leave sl for a while.

Reading is the same, sometimes after I have been in books for a while. The world seems unreal, cant read anymore. Reading is like riding a horse on someone elses ground, you roam here and you roam there. Sl is the same, you roam here and there, and today, the amount of un-interesting places is incredible. I dont enjoy shopping in rl, and having to look for hair in sl for SuDongPo is hell. Maybe I will put him somewhere for now and use the beautiful maidens for model instead. Pretty girls are always a pleasure to look at right? Its much harder to find the right clothing and hair, and props for SuDongPo in sl. I could get him the right things in rl much much muuuuuuch easier. That is the reason why i find sl is sooooooooooooooo maddening. Hmmm, maybe unless you make things yourself, just like in rl, you must be content with whats "ready-to-wear" just like in rl. In rl, I customise almost everything... :(

It is such a pain to do so in sl, because so cumbersome... the experience of creation is not such a multi-sensorial event. It is flat, like the pixels on the screen.

Airstream

Just saw some YouTube on Airstream,since i was onto the subject of travelling, camping, where to live, homes etc.

I liked all the Airstream photos, so I looked up some YouTube clips... ooooh, looks very tight inside... hmmm

I changed my mind. Dont want that. A yourte is much nicer.

On camping, I definitely dont like camping cars... so heavy and hermetic... but you dont need to put up a tent each time...

hmmm.

A yourte is nice.

Well, all this is moot. I really want a nice house with a lovelly wide garden one that you dont see any neighbours... like in these parks, where you see a house and then in the greenery and thats it.

:)

trailer, yourte, houses, airstream, camping car

Yes, i would prefer a nice English home with bay windows, where i could read and draw pictures, a big or small brick house in a well landscaped surrounded by garden, trees. etc. Like what you see in the movie , the girl who drew picture books of rabbits --- whats the name, cant remember, anyway all these English movies... you know...

Depending on your use - if you own an Airstream and never enjoy the "dreams of adventure" that goes with it, then, its better to buy a house because you should live your dream, and not waste your time. People live with symbolisms that helps them focus, target their dreams.

maybe the problem is in the connotation of the name "trailer", a trailer usually refers to a practical camping car in camp sites, temporary home before buying a real home. It is a step towards a real home.

Whereas an Airstream is designed for travelling. This is not really a "trailer" because as you point out, for the cost involoved, its clearly the fancy cream on the cake for travelling, and not shelter for thrifty reasons. An ordinary trailer is less expensive than an Airstream? I have not even looked at any other trailer in the trailer category - because "trailer" is like "trailer park". Asians are house crazy anyway. To me, the Airstream is a category of its own. Like a yourte is not a trailer - its much closer to a house. Even though it is originally meant to be moving mobile shelter, and not a shelter aiming to upgrade to a real house. I would imagine myself owning a yourte, but not a trailer, an Airstream but not a trailer, isnt this strange?

Although, Jacques Tati has made a kind of charming camping car movie... changes the context of "trailer" a little bit, but he is careful to stage it in a 24 hour exhibition ground, away from ordinary camping car contexts - which is much harder to glamourise. The North American, and British "trailer" life in movies, and reality is often less than romantic, I agree.

Airstream is an icon of North American culture, nobody refers to their Airstream as a simple "trailer" because they love it too much and due to the love, it isnt. They've got some fun names to each model, Safari, Bambi, Land-yacht - rah rah rah - thats what marketing people are, they sell designer life style dreams... Like a coffee in starbucks is selling a life style - cost 4buck - and Tim Hortens is 2 bucks - when you get a drink in a bar, a screwdriver is not exactly the same as "orangejuice with vodka" - not everyone wants to have coffee in starbucks... go to sl, there is a Tim Hortens complete with the out doorsy camping chair glamour, and space, greenery all around. (in real life, Tim Hortens are in big malls, on highways, in urban shopping centers...)

A small house for the same price brings other values that an Airstream wont do: its a stability oriented cozy warm nest - not a roaming nomadic dream. An Airstream is slightly like living on "Rocket/spaceship", moving ahead to un-explored ground, better pictures coming into view...on the highway, across America, in the desert..., its a 50s happy forward, futurism travelling conquering land dream.

If you take any other trailer which is a temporary home the function and dream is not the same. A trailer points to a dream of a better solid house, and an-Airstream points to new adventure.

Both are building towards a happy future.

Are there sl Airstreams? In sl, everybody flies... maybe they dont need Airstreams. :)

Romantic Freedom, Airstreams, Tents in Linz, Kassel and Venise, and yourtes as a nomadic dream for permanent homes

how could i insert photos? in blogger? it will take another few moments to read instructions, pppppfffff, the problem w internet is, its very hard on eyes to focus on a light emitting screen all the time... sl has a huge problem for me, a/ not stable, i lost some items each time after the Linden updates, objects thats been renamed, or somehow classified under a totally different title - and the original titled object became some strange unopenable object - maybe its me - well, i want to see how far i could go via intuitive user logic - also inventory, sometimes all the things i am looking for is hidden... hmmm b/ too hard on eyes... how could we figure this one out, its a hard ware issue? I use both Apple and PC, so Apple seems to be better on the eyes, sharper defiinition... but still hugely over rated in terms of a machine...

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http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/home_campaign/YIKE_029T.wmv

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070906.re-mays0907/BNStory/realestat


What ikea thinks a home is, and what we see in sl is basically more or less all the typologies shown here.

In rl, I would really like a customised handmade Airstream like a silver bullet which travels around but not as a roving camping car - I feel sad when I see people living out of a camping car. I saw two in the last month.

One in Kassel - i think the mans camping car has been there for at least 2 years, judging by the lawnings sagging tension and grass under his car - all dried... a permanent dead lawn. And, most of all, one evening, I actually saw someone going to and from the corner where his home is set. He had the face of Charles Bronson about to go out to "get it done" - Swannjie Jie said, hmm, well, maybe his wife threw him out of his house, he lost his job, and now, hes here... why should he be smiling and cheerful?

The other one is in Venice, it was a small car the owner is an older man, a retired man, he had his rugs out on the clothes line, and lots of plastic pans and dishes, he made a little warded off corner for himself. It didnt look like a temporary home. But it didnt look like a 2 year old settlement either.

The intentional camping, the yourte is cheerful, it looks right to be there. A most warm tent. But wait, maybe in a couple of year, what does it look like? Arent we being romantic about nomadic living? We have to see first, and then evaluate later, and if we dont like it, change change change.

In sl there are a lot of round houses, lighthouse, huts, yourtes-like towers of varying heights, all cozy cozy. A home is a cozy place. We cant call an empty cold house a home, can we?

Digital Guqin in sl, 2

Now that the first HunDun guqin has been working, I thought of what sort of sitting should work best in sl... sl is not rl, there is really no need of chairs or acoustics or anything like that. All this silk string and flexi movements of tassles are all - make believe - for the purist, the best Guqin is one that has NO strings - because the music is in your heart. Rah rah rah

I still want to make the silk string - very silky strings. And the seats, must be the right seats.

Either it is totally sl conditions - experimental working within limits of 3D virtual world. Or, we could go for rl antique revival conditions, or contemporary conditions as a life style type of enjoyment.

Today, I tried to put a huge sitting ball for the Guqin player... like a small hill and i linked the ball to the guqin... error! When I decided that I dont like it that much, I had to carefully re-linked everything! all the pieces that took me so long to put together! I must learn to link and unlink better... whew... luckily, it was a simple thing. No linking to any Guqin, it is just not worth all the hassle when its time to delink!

I checked my friend John Thompsons excellent site again, and saw a Swedish specialist, Professor Cecilia Lindqvist who wrote a book on the Qin in Swedish which won the best non-fiction work award! There is a photo of her smiling in a chair on one of the blocks... hmmm, Swann wants to invite her to be guest of honour when the Digital Guqin House is ready.

Cecilia Lindqvist studied with Guan PingHu and Wang Di. Since I have already met all four of the official students of the Master, it adds an interest to me to know that there is a link here!

Now, coming to the question of avatars, shall I make Avatars of Qin players in the line of artistic interpretation? This means, should i make for example the Guqin masters, who are still living in their real image? For the ancients, we could always do what we want, who from year 600ad is going to argue with me?

Then, enlarging the possibilities why not have everybody who wants to play take a picture? It is very nice to have all kinds of avatars to play the guqin, like Neko cats, Gothique Princess, Baseball players, super hunks, everybody!

Now I want to put together a library of Qin books for this Digital Guqin House.
:)

Should they be available for consultation only in sl? Will there be an infraction of copy right if I put them in sl?

Hmmm.

Digital Guqin in sl

Finally I put together a Digital Guqin in sl, the proportion etc, to align things properly you must use a mathematical method, input precise coordinates, you cant just do it by eye, it will never align properly - Tilly was kind enough to come over - all the way from New Zealand!!! to check out the problem.

Then, I made new strings, etc etc

Then, after all the adjustments, tweaking, color coordination of pegs, textures, suddenly I noticed the new qin has my name not only as owner but also as creator! The starting point was a koto made by a creator, Rumi Simpson, who had already made a 94 prim koto - a very pleasant, attractive one and it is with this original model that I dismantled and re-shaped - almost ALL the components have been remanipulated or reconstructed! But at the beginning, the instrument had Rumi as creator... suddenly, today, I discovered my name is on it as creator!! Woooo :), yes, I did a lot of the work and I will put in my original samplings... I am the creator ? But, Why and when and how did the name change happen?

It is difficult to keep copyright in sl.

So I made my first group, Digital Guqin.

My idea is to create playable guqins, and invite visitors to play - all the pianos, guitars, harp, bango drums, we dont know how to play and our little amusements with avatars can never take place of the touch of real instruments. Still, we could enjoy playing with computer music. Some musicians abandonned analog instruments... well, I prefer a rl instrument, but computer music is so eloquent, with so much power, its another field altogether.

From make-believe to real play...sl to rl. And from analogue sounds to computer music design. We are so lucky today.

Why snapshots in sl tires quickly, novels, graphic novels

I have not put up any snapshots from sl, but at the beginning when I first started, I took lots of snapshots - I felt as if its is a one time event, memorable, I must keep a record of it. And that this might make a very interesting comic book.

When I look at my own snapshots, there is a very warm memory, but when i look at other peoples snapshots, most of what I see are - at best - graphic comic book pictures - it does not have the interest of a rl photo. Part of the reason is that the entire snapshot is flat... there is very little depth in the photo. Sometimes, using a converging point of view will lead us to a specific point of interest, aside from this, its mainly a graphic layout picture. As it is a digital compilation of an image, every point on the picture has equal importance - unless the photographer does extensive post production work with photoshop then its like painting, you adjust and manupulate the points of interest.

I like some fine art comics, but looking at these slick, sharp sl pictures somehow is very boring. There is a lack of "fumatto" effect. Everything is shown, there is nothing that is unsharp. Tireless equal depth display of details.

Just read a novel by Tom Wolfe, "I am Charlotte Simmons", a 2 inch thick block of paper - not one picture. The book is very lively, full of details. Considering the content of the novel, as it is set in contemporary US campus, Wolfe would have little problem in getting photos to illustrate what he writes. In fact, maybe he has a whole stock of reference photos to help him re-construct the mental, textual journalistic tale. Writing is not illustrating, its not a graphic novel. Its the pleasure of a text. Reading and conjuring up personal pictures of the story through words, and the music of the composition of words.

Some novels and some graphic novels, have the ability to lead us to re-read the text and pictures. You just want to keep a copy of it at home within reach, so that you know it is there.

Sl generates natural narrations - you (everyone) are in a play starring yourself, a self conducted theatre of a sort, how interesting would making a graphic novel be from catch as catch can snap shots? I suspect to make a memorable graphic novel takes just as much time as hand drawn pictures - you have to tweak the images to lighten them for readers eyes. Its the erasing of information that will make it interesting. Imagine a novel where they tell you everything... how heavy and burdensome this would be - and to weed out this load, so you could fly with the story would takes a lot of painterly/graphic skills and clear artistic objectives. This is the visual part.

Back to square one, in movies and comic books, and novel writing - its the story thats most important. The script writing, story telling skill is the main motor.

Sl snapshots - after treatment could be employed as frames of graphic novel - and it would still require a strong story. Our reader will then be riding in a graphic novel vehicle (sl or not), time passes with lightness and grace through the neverneverland of sl.

Berlin in sl, happy together

I met the guy who created sl Berlin, he said since he started - entirely financed by the group of friends - he hasnt really slept. And I believe him. Sl is that mesmerising for someone coming into it, and if you gather a group of friends to collectively create together, this energy is what makes it so powerful. Not so much due to sl, but the being together making something -

reminds me of people who told me about the Cultural Revolution in China, people who passed through it as a child have very good memories of being part of it, its a kind of freedom.

I read the artist statement at Venise biennale, the women artists born in the 60s all seem to have a similar lightness - its a special moment in history where it is kind of freedom, free for all, being together and sharing things. The artist told of their memories of happiness light as air. And it is visible from their video. A garden of Eden, girls nude talking bird talks to real birds... very light using amost nothing but a video, a natural park, no clothes.

Also a Luxembourg presentation, Endless Lust, I met the artist. A cheerful gal, she imported all sorts of IndoChine ambiance objects as prop for an installation, Southern Asian louvers, overhead ceiling fans from India, to create a hot and humid ambiance... endless Lust. No particular message except to show an ambiance.

How thin is the border between rl and sl ?

Just came back from trips and talked to a friend. She said, you know sl is very close to rl, a friend of her passed away, 55 years old, heart failure. She was debating whether to go to the funeral or not, even though she has never met the very good friend. Then she said, you should enjoy life while you can, now.

I consider this question again, should you or should you not go to a rl funeral for an sl friend? The context is that this friends has a leadership role in her sl social network. What is the purpose of going to a funeral? If nobody goes to a funeral, who gets hurt the most? It might be the family members in rl of the person. But if its the sl friends whom rl people, children, son etc never really met in anycase - would it be sufficient for the rl family to imagine the huge numbers of sl friends?

Would they feel hurt if sl friends dont appear? A lot of sl people never mix their rl live with sl, so the family would not feel hurt. But if they were rl friends, then, I could imagine who showed up or not would be an issue.

Now from the point of view of the living ones, the focus of the group has passed away, would the group be dispersed because of it? Then, the group was attracted by the leader. The leaders function goes away with the leader. It is not a system, its a personal network.

I dont know the leader, but I could feel that the person must have some special charm or energy.

I would have liked to know the leader simply because of my friends sadness.

Is rl very close to sl? Is the border that thin? When it is very very thin, then sl would be - like a regular portion of rl - its the internal emotional aspect of rl.

Venise 2007, coffee, aperol, murano glass pen

This time, I was a little fed up with the idea of going to Venise, but as my assistant Swannjie jie assured me that, yes, its going to be nice, since we decided to do it, why not do it? Its a good idea... ok ok.

So off we go, first try we had to turn back at the Mont Blanc tunnel... the radiator has given up the ghost. The Insurance people sent us a taxi to go get another car, taxi to pick us up again to take the train, no, you cannot drive all the way to Italy, only in France. Poooof

Second time, well, how about just tag this on after Linz?

Good idea. After 4 rainy days in Linz, its a nice idea to go to Venise.

Venise, such soft caressing air, everywhere beauty, beauty, beauty... beauty and more beauty. The beauty is a natural old, more and more beautiful with age.

By the time we got to the nth palace, looking at the contemporary art, then, stand at the balconies looking over the canals, and the sun shining in warm on our faces... no crowd... no noise... just the Adriatic sea... the water the lagooon, the green and pink marbles. And excellent coffees, and Aperol... Spritz, its called. white wine, selzer water and orange bitter. with a huge green olive on a stick, and sometimes they give you a little plate of potato chips. We had drinks with football fans, gondoliers, tourists, and no body in particular. One cafe bar we went to was deep and dark, beauty... there were 3 men at the counter, the bar owner ginergly prepared a baked cheese hors d'oeuvres on toasts for them. I said i drink whatever they are having and the same toasties. The men laughed and said, its very good. Very good? or Very very very good? He laugh, very very very very good! Be careful with the vino, he said, its dangerous! He mimiced someone walking with a zigzag. And he was right, after one glass, very unusual for me, I felt dizzy! hahahahaha

That is my favorite part about venice, we go into the little bars and have one drink and move on to the next place. So many palaces, so beautiful. The Singapore pavilion was in the Arts and Science building... with a most elegant barman in a white jacket, he had the look too, straight from a Viconti movie. Nobody at this "cafeteria" which ressembles a 5 star hotel lounge. Very good little sandwiches and drinks, with original hand blown murano chandeliers! I vowed to work very hard, so that i would get to work in a place of higher learning and have lunch in such a cafeteria!

The art will be covered in the next blog, as I think the most magnificent part is not in the Biannale, but in the setting. Which oeuvre could compete with ANY part of venice? None.

I bought some glass pens, at first, i got the metal ones, until i notice some pens are entirely made of glass, even the tip! So i started to buy the other ones. Each one more beautiful than the last... in our digital age, few pepole write even, now, every shop has a selection of these "plumes", with a traditonal nib that you dip into an ink pot. Why do we buy them? I will want to write with it... it has nothing to do with practicality, it has to do with pleasure of writing.

There was a small shop with all kinds of metal robots from the 70s, its all about pleasure. Venise is a city of soft pleasure.

As we pull away, Italy is generous, noisy, tasty, sunny, and down to earth. True beauty.

Ars electronica 2007, Second round at the festival, lst annual architecture and design sl

http://www.sl-award.com/sl-award.php?method=presse

While in Linz, I didnt have time to sit through the whole day judging process, so now, on the web, we have further info. The winner will be voted online - hmmm - is this really such a good idea? Anyway, it seems to be the way things go now a days, from book covers to best ofs... In the end, the result is not necessarily the best, but the least troublesome in the end.

The best architecture I have seen have always been the result of a specific vision and not through voting. There are exceptions of course

So what else is in my heavy bag?

So hardcopies of LindenDollars, www.BerlininSl.com, maybe you will see a picture of these very American looking dollars... very cute dollars... :)

The University of Western Australia offers a degree in Biological Arts, here you could learn to use rat tails to transfer into editable hamburgers etc etc. Well, maybe not exactly this... just to give you an idea of what this means. The conference was very interesting.

Also a sensational buzz work, a high tech, chrome, stainless steel, industrial grade appearance, heavy duty, you feed real food into it, and the machine makes shit... a rather cynical works, though not without humour, but at what expense? In art, should we talk about expense? I think so. For a certain amount of money, you should get some value, for the amount of money that you put in, the "art" of it is rather thin. However, it is a great publicity stint. As everybody has some experience with shit... It does get everybody's attention and could be elaborated with many twists and turns, fulling developed - very thesis like. I think only in a developed country would you find such an artist, people choose this type of wasteful ironic subjects as a cool theme for work. I did not go near the shit machine... As the artist himself said, anybody who didnt have to go to school could make perfectly good shit... why go to the hassle of creating such a machine with so much hurdles, problem solving issues? hahahahaha. Everybody laughs.

An Artist from India won a big prize, his work is very interesting, a clear simple idea, corresponding to the local Mumbai culture. He would have had more things to say if there were more time. His work had a multi-dimensionality to it, very rich, and through his discourse, I imagine many subjects could be developed further had he had time.

One other guy who made seemingly art-brut type of reaction-manual-cranking wood machines is infact very well versed in computers. It is made with such attention to reactions (not in the glossy finishing of the wood component itself, but in the attention to how algorithmecally one action triggers further actions, leaving traces) One of his pieces is a coffin that the artist by use of a rudimentary hand crank cranks himself into the coffin. He added a loud speaker, one people could peer into the coffin, is anybody there? and he would answer from the coffin. Hahahaha. Great charm, light and well thought out. He made a little box, in the same simple wood chip - woodsmen style - it says, just in case, when you open it, a neat little tag which says: out of order. He said, you never know when you might need it. This final touch reveals a mind that considers every aspect of an idea.
It is light as air, people just like to sit and interact with his machine.

All this, and much more at Ars Electronica 2007. This is the second time i visited AE, and since I paid a lot more attention this time. It is a very good show.

The next big conference, if i get up the energy to investigate...

www.metaverse07.com, a European Second Life Conference and Expo.

Linz, Ice Strawberry, Venise, AutoGrill

Linz, Ice Strawberry, Venise, Autogrill, Linz real peoples secondlife,

Autogrill in the Italian Venitian area -
the coffee is as usual very very good. These Autogrill stops along the high way is very interesting, it sells everything like a grocery store. Pasta, bread, milk, cheese, vegetable, books in a pile, magazines, a large range of sandwiches, chocolates, sunglasses, gadgets.

The French highway stop over Arches etc. Very neat and tidy, no real coffee, only machines!!!
The toilets are cleaner, newer, cuter. But not so full of life. Its boring, cold, bad drinks, bad food.

I think about the cute camping in Linz, thats secondlife for some people, many cute little elves, little glass pot flowers, tiny tiny lawn infront of wooden carriages. Behind the counter, there was a hand painted canvas of the camping with the nice lake behind, somebody really loves this camping. The brush strokes are so carefully put together, so much tenderness.

The camping in Venice is practical, and no more. But the people at the cash is funny, a very handsome young blond guy, he answers and seem very ready to get back to his football magazine. When we left, he gave us two sovenirs, a red color ball point pen with the name of the camping printed on it.
While i was there, a couple of older people came in their car with a huge fold out tent, they looked like seasoned campers.

All I thought of was, when I get that old, would I enjoy camping in a non-scenic camp ground?

Another car next to us opened up with an aluminum fold out table - i saw it at the nature shop at the Louvre boutique - it looks very nice... I liked the table very much at the shop, here it is rather more urban chic than all the things around us. I see inside their tents, the two folding army cots in the same series, very chic and sleek. They stayed one day and the next day they are gone.

Opposite from us is a small caravan, he hung out carpets to dry, maybe he lives here for a long time! there was a tiny fold out bikes with small wheels.

I wouldnt want to live here long term. I like living in nature, with trees, sun, and simplicity... the one solution i find is the yourte, it is both with nature and settled with modern comfort. I would feel sad if I lived in a camping car all year round...
a wooden cabin would be so much better. There is something sad about living in a house with wheels... isnt this strange?

A boat on water, is it sad to live in a boat?
Anyway, I came home and glad to sleep in my bed and putter around in the bathroom, kitchen, reminds me of what and how should we live? What is the purpose of life?

Ice Strawberry, Russian film

Swann met ice strawberry in Linz, Ice Strawberry took a photo of Swannbb - people were very excited about exporting sl to rl. People walked on the street, so many avatars in rl! I even got an exported chocolate glaze donut, and real linden dollars. Free clothings. The whole set up was called Second City. Most important thing is that everybody had great fun! Adult and children alike! Berlin in sl. All the rl avatars told me that since they came into sl, they havent slept.

Then, in Venice, at the Biennale de Venise, in the Chinese pavillion, swann saw the installations, very interesting. Weapons made of kitchen knives and colorful sweaters wrapped in wash basins - I think. Very creative, in such a challenging site. Very beautiful and reference to the everyday. There was a video of a Girls Virgin Garden, a girl dancing in the nude in a long shot, she is enjoying herself, and chirping in bird talks to birds.

Very fitting from all points of view, in such a difficult space - because, its already filled with huge oil drums, full!!! only space left was the ceiling and in between the barrows!

Very successful.

More later.

Half Hundun Guqin in sl!

Since I learnt to link and delink yesterday, I cant help it, I took out the chouchou koto and started to take it apart.

12 strings, pluck pluck pluck, 7 left. This is a 94 prim instrument! pluck pluck pluck, the frets, each one of them are made with 3 little pieces; so at the end of this exercise, my land is littered with little pieces of white bone like things!

Then there is the silk headboard, silk inlaid, pluck pluck, all out. The bridge at the top and the bottom.

How to taper... i got a couple of friends over and we tapered test cubes, they showed me how.

So, I practiced on a new board that I made to be about the same size... so I try it on throw away stuff first. Good. Works.

I tapered, and re-aligned the top and the bottom.

An error message comes up, no signal to trigger music. Hmmm, ok, no problem, I just put it together first and see.

So, its now put together. I try to sit at the guqin, hahahaha. The avatar just flips upside down! but the music plays!

So I disassembled the guqin and re-organised the boards, and the avatar now sits upright and plays! Perfectly! HOOOO, one days work!

Now, i will put in Digital Guqin music, and that will be the instrument part. Next will be the fancy robe I will make for SuDongPo! Hahahah, apparently hes a fat man... he invented the DongPo porc - a slow cooking stew of very fat porc, very yummy though... hahahah. And for someone who lived in year 1500s - got to check... as he is my favorite writer, poet, intellectual...

He will be in my tableau of "Playing the Guqin under a tree" in Secodlife Qin Garden...
You wait and see, everyone is invited to take on the avatar of SuDongPo, and play the guqin... hahahahahhahaha

Got to sleep now, will be off to Ars Electronica tomorrow, and then Venise.

So surprised this problem is solved in one day !

Laggy laggy

Boring day, but I learnt to link, delink objects... I removed some of the sitting balls and stuck them everywhere... hahahah so now, you could sit on the flower trees everywhere on leaves and - everywhere!

Actually in sl, everything is prop - there is no need to have anything at all to sit or whatever. Everything is to create ambiance. So, now I think of it, particle are made to help people express themselves, either through a rosy fog, bursting with little hearts, or green clovers to give cheery good luck , or fire work, or whatever. The whole point is to help the verbally short people to give a kick to their speech...

Reminds me of the 3 euros perfumes, I was laughing so much when I first saw them - BI, or I love you, or Passion, or MAN MAN etc. Very direct, no mistake about it, the one who gives such a gift is very direct. We might laugh, so corny, but that the comic book age, we are impatient with words... hahahahahh

Today, I visited everywhere. A friend answered my IM, but I had a crash. Right at the critical moment a crash. :(

Linden Lab is not yet a stable enough platform for certain work. I read the sl conference proceeding - one of the message from almost everybody is - lots of latency.

Laggy laggy...

Canadians, Medical Doc's pre-internet ghostly secondlife, teenagers, timid people

Read the sl tutorial site, it tells you ABC's of sl life. So I looked in the photography section... oooh, its linked to a special designer wear site, an underwear made to measure - hmmm, from the very formal clauses, I am certain the clothes are made for sl use. And its 30US per baby doll, tie-me-up strap swim suit etc! ooooOOOOoooo

How many sets did the designer sell? Doesnt say of course. But some people really take things seriously - more than rl?

I got a bling - and so I invited some people over, and two Canadians showed up. One does a particle effect business in sl, he makes several hundred US$ per month. He showed me showers of fire, maple leaves, maple leave flags, etc etc. This is pretty good! He gave me around 50 LM for sims that he likes, this will be on my list of to visits for the next few days.

Then, at noon, I consider my work done. How beautiful rl is, my tree looks so alive outside, with depth, and nuance, not flat cartoony trees, the grass the smell, and I sit next to the window, finally, opened a book I bought a year ago.

A book of line drawing and short texts by a medical doctor. Very unusual, because he professed that he is timid and due to a natural born characteristic, he made little friends. Definitely brilliant as he speaks many languages, and very well read - this is evident from the text he writes to accompany the little vignettes that he draws.

I read it for one hour, and at the end, I came back from his world to my world. His world is a Kafkaesque, with a quiet poetry - sombre,full of anxiety, and mysterious spiritual paradoxes - a sort of secondlife, as he seemed to be not of this earth or he seemed to live in a limbo between our world rl and a world beyond at the same time. Heavily smelling of a twilight zone. Could this be the reason that he made few friends? There was a photo of him in the book, a rather large portrait of an unsmiling handsome, robust built young man, behind him stacks of books on medicine, philosophy, art, all piled up not on bookshelves but a wall of columns of books. Actually I enjoy putting my books this way too. Seems more minimal, pared down. Its a way of storing books without damages. The drawings were spiritually sombre worlds, silent and poetic. I think, should he ever enter sl, he would enjoy it - and maybe sl could save him from this limbo imprisonnement. And possibly, his "characteristics" that made him so friendless is this ambiance of from the other world - some people have ultra sensitivity to previous lives... maybe he is of this ilk. (though he says he has friends, I think he is just the non-boisterous, quiet and reliable type of friend). He is an amateur, not a professional, this could also be seen in his drawings and his texts. They are a form of romantism from the 30, 40s, written in the style and tone of a gentle, elegant, genteel society of Shanghai where names of people and places are referred to by a single alphabet. He would say, I lived in "H city" - this is not a contemporary trend in storytelling - people like to be as loud and as transparent as possible in our days - Though he is from the North, so where did this style of writing come from? His world is formed from reading, because he is a loner... and serves night shifts at the hospital - thats why this book is an extension of that booky, historic literary world.

He lives in the secondlife of the pre-internet world. People read books and build stories from books.

In the current sl world, there is a lot of noise, and very few slow, poetic moments. It is equivalent to a world where anybody who took the time could publish a book - so imagine, the amount of self-published books there are! However, it is not so bad, because it is NOT a book. A self-published mediocre book will have almost zero reader - here in sl, its rather like a pub - jokes, shared times do not need to be at the level of eloquent professional performance. Sl is a huge shared convivial, social space.

Yesterday, a German friend tp me to a sandbox where he worked. As his English is hesitant, he gave me the impression that he is a very timid person... he slowly told me that he has learnt to make... and before he completed his sentence, he jumped ahead and asked me what I did, so I said, I did shopping and bought some houses. I rezzed a flower for him to see just to get the motor going; immediately, some voice came over, very loud, very rude... saying, "asshole, dont try to sell freebies here!" I dont know if that voice was talking to me, but, such rudeness, loudness - I hope its a teenager only - shoots before he thinks... but still... hahahah sl is like rl, looks like much crap everywhere.

My friend disappeared immediately, did he have a crash? ... so very sl - pooof - gone!

Poser 7, scripting, hair, wedding, gift

I found a gift this morning, a Rietveld chair - such a nice object. I saw it on a neighbours lawn, and wrote to the creator and its in my mail box! Such a beautiful gift.

Such I have to make headways, i asked Spirited Dog about using his Antique chair but what about the pose, if its pre-scripted what to do to change it to a both feet on ground pose? Spirited Dog said that just put something else to sit on, so we click on that object script and not on his chair and everything is fine.

So next, fingers, and arms animation... and sitting pose

Poser, my new team mate informed me yesterday, is what animators use - confirmed by Spirited Dog, so i downloaded a demo version. In no time, the male model began to look like a Francis Bacon painting... :) All twisted... animation is a precise art!

Hair, you could grow it from the skull...

In the demo, there are facial expressions of a lean smart white boy, I laughed when I see the expressions, it is basically your nice spunky geek facial expressions. And then i looked at the Poser illustrations, yes, these are the new illustrators, they are a far stretch from Vermeer, the faces are rigid - betraying the illustrator doesnt really see the movement of the muscles beneath the skin... hmmm

An oil painting in the old school if done half decent shows fluidity, but this illustration package is an abstraction of the construction beneath... the movements are not aligned with the muscular support - thats why faces all look rather stilted... like - too much botox...

Anyway, no one could afford to have good paintings... its mainly for advertising, photography replaced old classical portraiture. But if you come back to the question, in the old times, who could afford to have an oil portrait painted by a professional painter?

I kept on getting IMs from Everwind, weddings, somebody wants to know how much it cost to have a wedding in Everwind. I wanted to attend a Wedding in Everwind, the Medieval role play castle thats so beautifully done. A bendwood lawn chair has 27prims!

I want to see a wedding in their castle, the banquet hall, there was an old fashion storytelling session and dwarfs, elves and witches. I met three Japanese avatars in warrior clothes at the prison room.

Japanese and Americans are the most active players in sl.

Guqin in sl, Flowing Water, hot tub in Green peony w piggy back pink flower apt.

Still early, but my work is done today at noon!

Very rare.

I must start learning sculpties now, to make the Half HunDun guqin object.
Two friends came by this morning, no, three, Grim, Ikune, and Taka.
They all liked the hot tub, all soaked in it, chatting at ease - with all their clothes on.

Now, should I make things complicated by providing swimming suits or bathing robes or any such trouble some moves? Nobody seem to mind sitting with their baseball uniform, ceremonial kimono, or their black robe... but sometimes clothing add ambiance - you cannot eliminate everything until it is just words... afterall, why do we bother with 3D virtual worlds?

I added the pink flower ontop of the green, suddenly this is really complete. Mentally, the hot tub salon is great, transparent, joy, water, air, and more cosy day bed upstairs, private.

I will move it to position it just so perfectly... wish Five would come see her land now...

Next, one of my friend will join the Guqin research-creation studio as support team member. This is a break through. Now, I must make the sculptie object myself.

Nice to have friends to drop by, this is my favorite part of sl.

If my idea works and scheduling permits, we might just make it in time - for a special event - live in sl.