Pixie Rain: straddling Art and Porn in Second Life.
Some of the machinima and blog-posts on this site are adult in nature and contain scenes that some people may find disturbing.
If you feel this might be you, please exit now.
Other elements are warm and cuddly and have a "feel good" factor.
Click the "Film Link" tab below for all my films listed chronologically.
to ruminate: 1. to chew the cud like a ruminant(example: sheep and goats)
to chew the cud: 1. to chat in an aimless way. Cud is the part-digested food that ruminant animals bring back into their mouths from their stomach to chew at leisure. The image is a slow and meaningless mastication.
Pixie Panda
On her notorious, controversial, sometimes cruel and frequently funny blog, Rayven Baily made some interesting remarks about a much publicised Second Life (SL) porn-industry poll.
Tulsi Clown
The poll in question is hosted at the PixelX magazine blog and is run, at least in part it seems, by the infamous Jumpman Lane.
The winners of each of the categories get awarded real life dollar prizes (rather than Linden Space Bux).
From a drop down list, you can select who you feel should win in a particular category and your vote is counted.
So far, so good.
Except that anyone can cast multiple votes in any category, separated by a 24hour interval. Moreover, voting is open for another six weeks!
A recipe for....well, not "disaster" exactly but certainly "inferior quality".
I remember reading a notecard about this competition and, on seeing how the winners would be judged, deciding to keep at arms length from it. In fairness, however, I am not one for entering contests and I wouldn't have given the matter very much thought before concluding "not for me, thank you".
Now, before we go on, it should be said that Rayven has an agenda of her own here which will be readily obvious to her regular readers - and which Rayven herself makes no attempt to disguise or hide, bless her cotton socks!
I am not particularly interested in Rayven's not-so-hidden agenda to be honest, except perhaps in the morbid sense of rubbernecking a train wreck.
But I *am* interested in the how the chosen election process for this contest has the potential to lead to seemingly weird and outlandish results.
And the way Rayven described it, the results were so bizarre, so ridiculous, so....so unbelievable that Rayven just *had* to be exaggerating. Right?
This type of voting mechanism has prior form and is widely employed in such TV programmes as X Factor, Big Brother and many many others.
By allowing multiple voting, someone can feel they are really getting behind and supporting the performer they want to win. The production company get a small income from every vote. Its all good. Its all fun.
In these types of TV programmes, each broadcastepisode could expect to generate tens or hundreds of thousands of votes. Some can generate millions.
The number of individual votes and voters involved is so vast that it would be near impossible to viably influence the result using various social networking or crowd sourcingtechniques or indeed other forms of voting irregularities. It has been attempted, of course.
However, when such a voting regime is employed in that considerably smaller pool of resources that is Second Life, it becomes entirely possibly to influence the final result, given enough motivation.
When you look at the interim results that this contest has spewed out thus far, it is hard to escape the conclusion that some form of manipulation is occurring of the nature that Rayven describes. In fact, Rayven's reporting on the voting patterns appears to be disturbingly accurate.
This contest certainly has lost all credibility, imo, and I am glad I decided not to enter. It isn't something I think I would really want on my curriculum vitae!
Now, the fact is, this contest - or any other for that matter - has no obligation to be credible! It just isn't a requirement of competitions!
And if winning a contest that has no benefits in terms of personal credibility, respect or self-dignity is meaningful to you - then go for it, I say! Spam all your friends, drag out your alts and get the buggers to vote for you every 24 hours!
And if it isn't the "personal credibility, respect or self-dignity" that is motivating you but instead you are seeing dollar signs in front of your eyes - then, again, go for it! Spam and alt-vote to your heart's content!
While there I voted in each of the categories. I voted as I felt was right and true for me.
In some cases, that meant I didn't vote for someone on my friend's list. Sorry. But there is a simple matter of personal integrity at stake here.
I will not be returning to cast any further votes; I am done there. Nor will I be keeping abreast of developments
For anyone interested, here is who I voted for, and the reasons why.
Pornographer of the Year: Of the sixteen possible candidates, only two could I personally realistically consider - Emanuelle Jameson or Serenity Juneberry.
Emanuelle's generous and enthusiastic coverage of other people's work on her extremely popular blog allows us to see work which would unlikely ever otherwise come our way. She doesn't have to do this but she does, in a most unselfish and encouraging way. Emanuelle is a great community leader.
Serenity has not only built up an enviable body of high quality work, she is also generous and unselfish as a person. As well as working on her own blogs (count 'um!) she is a regular contributor on Emanuelle's. You see her commenting on many films; she is widely liked and her opinions are highly respected.
It was a hard decision but, finally, I plumbed for Serenity because she has been the more active of the two in outputting new creations in the last year.
Porn Newcomer of the Year: I found this quite a lot easier than some of the other categories. I voted for Collen Criss
I am really enjoying the photography on Collen and Toran's blog. I like their style and the care they evidently put into their work.
Really good stuff.
Female Model of the Year: A tough category, especially as SL now provides so many attractive looking "off-the-shelf" and "generic" avatars.
What I personally find attractive and what I look for in the actors I cast in my films, is an individual "created" look. If I sense a "generic" or "off-the-shelf" look - even if it is attractive or beautiful as many of the "CherryGirl" and "Dr Life" avatars clearly are - I am less likely to be enthusiastic in offering a part.
Sexy and beautiful are "must haves" obviously, that's a given. But the avatar must also be capable of retaining that sexiness and beauty under different Windlight settings, different outfits and different hair etc. I am particularly interested in eyes, lips and facial shape. I especially check that there is no shadowing around the nose and cheeks.
From a starting field of seventeen, under the above criteria, the numbers quickly get shaved to a more manageable amount.
Male Model of the Year: Many of you know I hang out at Old Lars House. The thing is, you see, in my personal life I have a penchant for polite, mature gentleman.
The young stereotypical SL "male hunk" just don't do it for me.
So, there was really only one choice....Philip Sidek.
Photographer of the Year: The single hardest category imo. So many good photographers are in amongst the twenty-three candidates.
I eventually ruled it down to Jeanne Sahara, Jinx Jiersen, Philip Sidek and my eventual choice....Debra Stine.
Female Machinima Performer of the Year: I could happily cast my vote to Quinn Ying, Serenity, Arwen but after a lot of deliberation finally decided on Aurora Bentham.
The reason is because Aurora created the one adult machinima that I have watched over and over again this year - Disturbia. I loved that film but unfortunately it isn't on NaughtyMachima any more.
Male Machinima Performer of the Year: I haven't voted yet. I am waiting for Philip Sidek to be added to the list for this momentous performance.
Machinima Director of the Year: I voted for Vanhelsing Svoboda because, with the possible exception of Quinn's, I like his films more than the others listed, .
However, after some reflection I wish I had not cast a vote at all.
The list does not include Serenity Juneberry (or Rysan Fall for that matter) and is therefore inherently flawed and incomplete.
Pixie xx
IMPORTANT EDIT:
Since publishing the above there have been two major developments significant enough to justify an edit:
1) The polls have been changed to only permit one vote per IP address. This is much more sensible under the circumstances but likely too late to repair the damage already inflicted on the contest's reputation.
2) Arwen and Serenity have withdrawn from the competition entirely. See their formal announcement here. At the moment of their announcement, Serenity was leading in two categories ('Female Model of the Year' and 'Female Machinima Performer of the Year'). My feeling is that if the organisers had not removed her name from the 'Machinima Director of the Year' category (whether deliberately or accidently is far from clear) then she would be heading that category too.
Arwen and Serenity really are a class act, both on and off the stage.
Their withdrawal from the contest effectively renders any result from this contest worthless. Now I really want to leave this whole sordid matter behind and recommend we all do something more pleasant and light hearted - like dressing up in tiny avatars and re-enacting the electro-convulsive therapy scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!
Bagsy I be Jack Nicholson! Serenity and Arwen can fight over who will be Nurse Ratched!
The pictures used on this blog-post were taken by Tutsy and I in our tiny avatars at Madcow Cosmos and Lorin Tone's fun and funny 'Through the Lens of Dreams' region.
Today I hope to write a blog-post which you'll find interesting and intriguing enough to actually go visit yourself - The World's End Garden on the Dernier Lamento region of Second Life (SL).
However, after some thought, I have decided not to reveal all the secrets I found on this region nor include all the pictures I took. Some things are best left for you to discover for yourself!
(click images to enlarge)
Normally at this point I would introduce the Creator but for the time being we will forego this formality and instead talk only about the region.
The reason for this is because only by first understanding something of the nature of The World's End Garden can we even have a chance of appreciating the seeming paradoxes and contradictions of the Creator and the remarkable achievement that results.
The World's End Garden is an intriguing story - a detective story, perhaps. Or maybe a horror.
The only clues we have to decipher the story are those which we can find in the Garden; the only verdict is that we ourselves decide upon.
On arrival on the region you are invited to have your Windlight settings changed to 'AvatarOpt'. This is a good choice for a nice compromise between making the prims look good and to flatter the avatar.
However, on my screen at least, the default AvatarOpt settings have the disadvantage of making patches of "glow" look almost nuclear at a distance.
I found that by lowering the sun glow size, the sun glow focus and the haze density a touch that this "nuclear glow" effect was largely negated.
On the surface of things, the layout of the Garden is very similar to the HuMaNoiD region which we explored and blogged only last month.
Both are whole region installations which have small isolated islands separated by shallow ankle-height sea.
However, whereas on HuMaNoiD it appears that the islands are somewhat ad-hoc and only vaguely themed, at the World's End Garden the theme is consistent and unswerving - albeit not easily and immediately apparent.
In amongst the Windlight created light pinks and tranquil textured pastel colours, we hear the delicate sounds of bird song, the harpiscord and harp.
But occasionally, unexpectedly...you hear a thumping heartbeat, the ringing of a nearby church bell.....
"In Paradisium" translates from Latin to English as "Into Paradise". The phrase is specifically used to describe the part of a Requiem Mass of the Western Christian Church where the choir sings as the body is carried from the church.
To get a better sense of the feel of the World's End Garden - after the discovery of the coffin - press <Play> on this video and simply have the music playing quietly in the background while you continue to read this blog-post.
The suspicion that what you believed was just another lazy Sunday afternoon on a tranquil pastoral sim is actually not a true and faithful representation of the facts increases further when you notice the empty chair looking outwards over the ocean.
The nearby caged miner's canary is still breathing, yes, but is unmoving, paralysed and unfed.
That disconcerting feeling is similarly provoked when you notice the perfectly serviceable row boat standing ready, complete with oar.
Could this be Charon's ferry across the Styx to Hades?
We finally become aware of a feeling of grief, of loss. The feeling is tangible and emanates from the Creators sensitivity with prims, with textures and with their precise placement.
This is not some sort of vague generalised sense of grief and loss
No, this is specific; it is unambiguous and explicit...
...it is a widow's grief.
Her loss was sudden. And recent. Possibly violent.
But her grieving process can only properly begin after the funeral has ended.
The Christian symbolism and iconography on this sim is handled with great delicacy, respect and a sense of the sacred.
For myself personally, I have little time for any religious doctrine or its watered-down cousin, "spirituality".
The wisdom of Feynman is far more meaningful to me than the Wisdom Of Solomon; Dawkins more intelligent than any Deacon; Hitchensmore honest than Hiram.
My position is firmly in the atheist camp rather than the agnostic or religious.
But none of that means I am so crass as to not appreciate the beauty, the immersion and the dedication that many artists have since time immemorial been motivated to create due to a religious impulse.
It is clear to me that this space is at least as equally profound and sacred as any other religious space I have yet encountered in SL.
Only the Monastery of St. Michael the Arc at Taliesin Shores (sadly now gone, I believe) even comes close in my experience.
SuicideGirl Evermore & I visited many churches when we were researching 'Personal Jesus' but for me only a small handful could I consider to have a genuinely sacred or profound feel about them.
However, in my opinion, the Creator of the World's End Garden has done precisely that - created a space with a genuinely sacred and profound atmosphere.
And because of that, the widow can grieve...
By joining the World's End Garden group on the sim, you can get as free gifts all of the outfits that you see me wearing in the pictures on this blog-post.
All of them were free, all totally appropriate to the theme of the region.
And it occurs to me just as I near the end of this blog-post that coincidentally all this is very reminiscent of Serenity and Arwen Juneberry's gothic adult machinima, The Widow. These outfits would have worked well there too, at least in the clothed scenes!
There is only one thing remaining for this blog-post - to reveal the name of the Creator of these lovely clothes, these great prims and textures, this authentic religious space. Her name is Lucia Genesis and she is a Japanese Bloodline Vampire.
I have never met Lucia nor know anything about her other than what is in her profile and her World's End Garden blog.
Regardless - and seemingly against all odds - Lucia has created something really quite remarkable and I urge you to experience it for yourself.
'PRON' is the newest SL adult machinima bearing the "Serenity Juneberry" hallmark of quality and distinction.
Jointly directed by Emeelee Rage and Serenity herself, the film opens with a smart and sleek After Effects composition set to the beat of The Eurythmics 'Sweet Dreams'.
This opening sequence sets the scene for what is to follow - a phantasmagoria of colour, sexual imagery and story telling.
Whilst Serenity directed the opening and first five minutes of the film, Emeelee took firm hold of the director's rein to steer the actors through the action scenes that follow.
Collaboration is never easy even at the best of times, but Emeelee and Serenity seem to have negotiated the many pitfalls and pulled off a near miraculous sharing of the directorial responsibilities.
The film concept is broadly based on the popular 1982 science-fiction film'Tron' - a computer user is enticed into a neon world of digital adventure. We follow a digitalised Serenity as she searches for the the Grid-Babe, played by Arwen Juneberry.
However, in contrast with the 1982 film where nerds and geeks get to play at being cool, in 'PRON' we are delighted to have an array of gorgeous and sexy avatars in various states of undress.
Starring alongside Co-Directors Serenity and Emeelee are Louise Silverweb, T413, Ivori Faith, Alyssa Drechsler, Stryker Ninetails, Natalie Xenga, Jinx Jiersen, Rayven Baily, VanHelsing Svoboda, Booya Bombacci, Haylie Joles, Elizabeth Firelyte, Dsfargeg Batista and, of course, the inimitable and beautiful Arwen Juneberry.
A lot of time, effort and love has gone into the making of 'PRON' - and this is evident is almost every scene and scene transition - but the film sets themselves definitely deserve singling out for special mention.
Designed and built by Louise Silverweb and Serenity, the sets - and indeed the actors outfits - constantly reinforce the iconic 'Tron' neon imagery. You are never left in any doubt that Serenity and the glamorous beings she encounters are denizens of a digital world.
The story presented in 'PRON' is a fun and rather clever re-working of the aeon-old "Initiation Story".
In initiation stories, the protagonist is forced to descend into a dark world (representing the Unconscious) where s/he encounters various strange and wonderful people, beasts and animals (representing various unconscious unresolved conflicts, complexes and confusions). Only by successfully negotiating with said beings can the protagonist continue on to eventually meet the Loved One (representing, of course, wholeness and resolution).
And so it is with 'PRON'. Our heroine Serenity willingly submits to the unknown experience of the digital world in the hope of becoming reconciled with her Ideal, the Grid-Babe. But, to do so, she must first pass through the portal of The Cyber Clit Club having satisfied its patrons of her worthiness.
'PRON' comprises two parts (of approx. 17mins and 14mins) and uses a text-based narration technique. The text is clear and legible and for the most part does not interfere with or obscure the visual aesthetic of the film.
This is important. The danger of text-based narration is that perfectly fine visual images can be ruined or obscured by misplacement or mistiming of text. Like everything else in 'PRON' it is clear that thought and effort has gone into the narration and, as a result, the story is able to be told with the minimum of disruption to the viewer.
However, due to the very nature of the medium, text-based narration inevitably causes some lose of immersion, just as it does while reading sub-titles on a foreign-language film.
To some extent, I submit, we need to ask ourselves whether we are writing a book or making a movie. Both are equally valid forms of storytelling but they do not necessarily make natural bedfellows.
Machinima is a very new art form, and the adult/porn genre a relatively immature but rapidly evolving expression of that art. The next logical step, it seems to me, is making voice the staple diet of machinima storytelling - as has already been done to great effect by Rysan Fall and other directors - but also, as alluded to by Peter Greenaway in a recent lecture in Second Life, voice itself could well merely be a stepping stone, and one that may in fact itself be left behind...
I keep hoping to see a visionary machinima maker - someone who uses the medium as the message. At present we are only seeing other art forms rewrit - the short-form feature-film, the music video-clip, the catwalk presentation, the dance-movie, the documentary-fiction with commentary - it's related of course to a loop of what you want is what we can produce for you - but I am truly full of excited hope that it is coming - an increased demand for new and better tools by machinima makers will increase the soft-ware and even the hardware thinking.
As artists, we should be looking to how we can develop machinima as an art form beyond the comfortable familiarity of the book and the blockbuster feature film.
This is, undoubtedly, a tall order but it is also almost an inevitability. It will not be a smooth, gentle growth but rather an evolution consisting of fits and spurts with terrible tantrums and hurtful growing pains.
But, please consider, most every new art form and most every new technology has been, is, fuelled by "pornography" (or erotica or libido or sexuality etc).
Personally, I cannot think of a single reason why the newly developing Art of Machinima should not also be fuelled by adult film makers. Can you?
Even now, in its early stages of evolution, we can see individual adult machinima directors taking the first tentative steps out of the comforting watery-womb of familiarity onto the more uncharted shores of experimenting and artistry - I refer you to the work ofHitomi Crystal, Quinn Ying and Aleeah as but three examples of an ever increasing pool of talent - but, ever leading the vanguard, few would disagree, is Serenity Juneberry.
Whereas 'Pandoras Box' should certainly be considered as a milestone on the evolutionary path of adult machinima, 'PRON', I think, could be characterised as one of numerous essential and important rest-stops where we can review how far we have come, survey the surroundings, take stock and prepare for the next step of the journey.
'PRON' takes a story line and runs with it to its logical and sexy conclusion. It does this with class and style, with humour and love. Emeelee and Serenity have done a very fine job of co-directing this movie.
I believe that every individual involved in the creation of 'PRON' has the right to feel justly proud.
So, without further ado, please allow me to present to you Serenity and Emeelee's 'PRON' (Parts 1 and 2):
