I’ve had a busy couple of weeks work wise and inworld I’ve been helping a very good friend with her exhibit for SL8B, as well as talking to someone else whom I’ve chatted to for quite a number of years at office hours about his exhibit for SL8B. I’ll be looking to reveal a sneak peek about the first of these over the weekend, although I don’t want to give too much away, the press people will I believe be getting sneak peeks of all of it this weekend, I could poke one of them for information but I think I’ll just wait and see about the other exhibits.
I’m torn between wanting to blog about these exhibits and feeling it’s unfair to jump the gun, although both people have said I can blog, I did say to one of them that I will blog once the event is officially opened, although if anyone else blogs about it, I may jump the gun! SL8B will officially open on Monday June 20th, with a speech from Rodvik, asking what the hell Randy Lerner is playing at appointing Alex McLeish as Villa manager ….. oh wait, that’s my speech!
SL8B is one heck of a milestone for Second Life and Linden Lab, the theme being the magic of Second Life, as explained on the official blog. There is also a blog dedicated just to SL8B itself, which you can read here. There are some sneak peeks there too.
Eight years though, seriously, that’s quite a good run and here’s hoping for more than eight more. Second Life of course has faults and flaws, but it also has a magic to it, which is why this year’s theme is very fitting. Over the years some of that magic wears off and people get jaded, but events like this can remind people of what they’re missing, they can also be very frustrating due to performance issues but they are worth the hassle most of the time.
Earlier this year I gave a lot of coverage to Fantasy Faire, largely because I like the fantasy scene in Second Life, but SL8B gives us an opportunity to look at other elements of Second Life and how people can be artistic in their promotions, I’ll be happier seeing interactive or artistic displays than I will just seeing flat designs, but those flat designs can contain nuggets of useful information.
I’ll be trying to make a few posts about people I don’t know over the course of the birthday, time willing of course, but mostly I’ll be hoping to enjoy this event, I don’t generally do the birthday events but I feel this year is the right year to get into the party mood, before returning to “Bah Humbug!” once the magic has worn off.
This year Linden Lab are actually doing some half decent promotion too, with some videos from Phaylen Fairchild: