Yes, I got Manga’ed

Ethereal Fireworks

This past Sunday my friend Beladona invited me over to a “fireworks” show. What I saw reminded me a bit of the weightless room in Svarga as the particle effects flowed, darted and sailed around us:

As you can see the whole display is contained in a large sphere way up in the sky. As the SL sun rises the sphere becomes transparent and the show ends. The nearby castle does have a smaller fireworks show inside. Just beware of the vampires 😛

Sometimes a Fantasy (is hard to figure out!)

This past week I was discussing with a listener a Billy Joel song that had just played on KONA Radio. I recalled I saw the video once in 1980 and it subsequently disappeared from TV after that. I think it was the repeated “crotch shots” towards the end of the video. Anyways I rediscovred it on Youtube just now and the video just confuses the heck out of me. I forgot there was another guy in the room with Billy Joel as he was on the phone. In fact the other guy was BIlly Joel in disguise. I just couldn’t figure out the dynamic. Anyone got a clue as to what the story is about? Here’s the video:

or a direct link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X163bAYcD1M

While my personal relationships in SL have ranged from wonderful to awful there is one thing that has been constant in its ability to give me satisfaction. Running an online music station has been very gratifying in that I serve people who truly enjoy the music I share with them. From flea powered AM and FM transmitters that served my neighborhood to shout-casting to listeners all over the globe the dream of running a radio station has been fulfilled. Sadly it appears the future is clouded for internet radio. Where as terrestial stations pay no royalties and satellite radio (XM and Sirius) pay 7% of their Net income, internet radio / streaming may be priced out of business with onerous royalty rates. A stay of execution went into effect last summer but a final agreement has not been reached. Pandora radio has as much said they’d shut down because they cannot make enough money to pay the fees. It won’t be alone either as many web-casters big and small will fold. There is some doubt that hobby stations that use a co-op for reporting and paying fees will not survive either. One could go pirate, but hey, I don’t have 10’s of thousands of dollars lying around to pay fines and penalties. So as we go into fall I certainly hope an agreement is reach or my dream of being a broadcaster will die. Kinda sucks that we all may be reduced to listening to SKY-FM or the like and its box of 100 records. <shakes head>

Until then KONA Radio is proud to report that GoSpeed will be DJing at the Clocktower in Edloe every Wednesday night from 5-6pm SLT before Ladybird Xax’s gig of electronica at 6pm. GoSpeed will also be at Midnight Lotus THursday night between 6 and 8pm SLT Thursday night. Wear some pirate gear!

Pffttt yeah, I need to get me some gigs too. But until then I’ll let GO have the fun while I dance with the ladies!

GoSpeed’s post about what a real friend is made me ponder about honor and loyalty. A real friend also embraces those two virtues and you can’t have a true friendship without those two. So here is my list of thoughts on them:

Honor and Loyalty is….

…keeping your promises.

…never forsaking others.

…valuing a person over things.

…standing by your friends even though you may lose status or power. True power is friendships.

…putting other peoples welfare before your pleasures.

…saying something when an injustice is done.

…doing all in your power to help your friends.

…is being honest.

…is suffering for your friends transgressions because you know they are weak, but will ultimately do the right thing.

…having faith in others who have proven themselves.

Honor and Loyalty is what makes a person or avatar special. To not embrace these virtues is to be as empty as the shell that our avatars are. To love, honor, cherish and be faithful to our loved ones makes us worthy of life. To fail this is to simply exist. Existence is futile, embrace life for your sake and the sake of others.

The past few months in SL has been very trying for me, GoSpeed, and our extended family. We have been terribly abused by those we felt close to. Fortunately we have a few good friends who have stood by us when others turned their backs on us. Friends are rare indeed, hold onto them and make sure you take good care of them. I am especially grateful for people like Yxes Delacroix, Crap Mariner, Grizzy Griswold, Ginger Shoshtakovich, Aribella Lafleur, Diana Allandale, Honour McMillan and several others. You guys never let us down and I am thankful for your friendship.

Rav

Sunday morning saw a lot of failed teleports to “Home” . For some odd reason whether it be failed TPs or missing sims when you log in I’ve noticed a lot of people report landing in the Korea sims. I wonder why this is?