Would you like to visit #Berlin1920? You can time travel to the #Interbellum period via #SecondLife

Machinima artist Drax has a new episode up in his “World Makers” interview series – I love the visuals he gets with his machinima, and the way he cuts it so that his avatar appears to be interacting with “normal” humans via Skype.

Jo Yardley listens to Marlene Dietrich on a hand crank gramophone because she lives in Weimar era Germany and electricity is rather scarce: oh yes, although Frau Yardley lives in Amsterdam, her house is decorated with original furniture and accessories from the 1920ies and German magazines from the Interbellum Period are everywhere.

This week he talks with Jo Yardley, creator of the amazing 1920s Berlin project in Second Life. My friends and family sometimes wonder why I “play” Second Life; well, this is one of the reasons. Someone has created a way to time travel to 1920s Berlin, during the heady yet troubled period between the wars, and it’s possible to dress “in period” and interact with other people there. It’s always sounded intriguing (I’ve been hearing about it for a while now) but this video of Draxtor’s really makes it look beautiful and interesting.

Jo’s real-life commitment to living as a Berliner of the 20’s is really interesting as well, and I love that she goes about her business in Amsterdam dressed in vintage clothes. Now that’s artistic integrity!

According to the video, she’s planning on creating a Blitz-era London next – a time period that has always fascinated me. I’ve always felt a strong emotional pull to London anyway, and anything to do with the Blitz just… it really gets to my heart, somehow. My parents both lived through WWII though neither of them ever went anywhere near England (though Mom and I traveled there years ago for fun). I’ll be checking back in on Ms Yardley to see if the London Blitz pops onto the Grid, it’s definitely a time and a place I’d love to experience virtually (okay, sure, it’s a lot easier with no real V2s falling from the sky).

Weekly Tweets:

G+: Teleworking, The Myth of Working from Home

As a teleworker myself, I’d be angry too. I get more done than I did working in the office. Plain and simple. No myth.

Embedded Link

Teleworking: The myth of working from home
Yahoo has banned its staff from “remote” working. After years of many predicting working from home as the future for everybody, why is it not the norm? When a memo from human resources dropped into the inbox of Yahoo staff banning them from working from home it prompted anger from many of its recipients. “Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings,” the memo…

Google+: View post on Google+

Weekly Tweets:

This looks really intriguing and is quite charming, too

It would translate well to the Steamlands in Second Life.

Embedded Link

The Steampunk Tribune: A Steampunk Walt Disney ImagiNation endeavor
Discovered the other day an endeavor titled “Gaslight”, which is a Walt Disney Imagineering: ImagiNation 2013 semifinalist by an intrepid team of students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. T…

Google+: View post on Google+

G+: The Steamlands of Second Life

This article about places in Second Life where I spend a lot of time really tickled me.

Embedded Link

My Second Life: Steampunking in the Steamlands | Metaverse Mod Squad
One of the first things I discovered about Metaverse Mod Squad that really turned me on to the company was that it was born and raised, so to speak, in Second Life. You see, I had been an enthusiastic…

Google+: View post on Google+

UPDATE: 04JAN16 Sorry to say that my old home in the Steamlands, the Steelhead sims, closed in December 2015.