Virtual Worlds Survey

I occasionally dip into There.Com as well as Second Life (as Elsie_Broek). Not often because I have no real life friends in there and unlike SL, there is little obvious in the way of "freebies" there or easy ways of earning $$ either (it seems much more designed for folks to spend real $). When I have gone back, it's to do occasional exploring and racing (though someone in there once stole my hover board!).

Anyway, I was just sent  an e-mail link to a survey about Virtual Worlds run by Zoomerang that you might be interested in completing. In addition to there.com, it also references second life, gaia online, hasbro hotel(?), youtube, flickr, myspace and a few others. If you make it through to the end (like I did) you can go into a draw for $500.

Just though that if you play any of the above worlds, you might find this interesting.

Corvus Corax - Chou Chou Sheng (Live)

Good heavens - I saw a link to this in a pagan mailing list I'm on. I thought I'd check it out:

Who'd have thought that bag-pipes and drums could be used in such a way? Some of the tags on youtube were Celtic Gothic World - interesting combo.

Also, for some reason, it made me think of Immaculata (who I saw live a few years back).

The Matrix - via marching band!

Yes folks, I'm on another "youtube roll". The following is bits of The Matrix played by, and, um, acted out by, a brass band! It, it, well, you'll see (and hear):

Exactly what shapes were they trying to make out there? And that that wasn't strange enough, what about The Four Freedoms- Hunterdon Central Marching Band 2004 (when I first heard the list of freedoms I thought the announcer said "freedom from worship"). The best marching band vid I've seen yet though, was Don't fear the reaper cowbell! (but there's something "sick" about this version).

On the fence

Tabby turned up again this morning, after a gap of about 9 days.

This time he stood on the pallet that I'd put back on the fence (mostly, so that I could entice Xena to eat on it) where it used to be. He stared at me and meowed loudly while I was preparing food for Gabby and Xena. I walked over and picked him up to take him to a ledge on the other fence, and then Pegasus chased him back over the fence when he was on the ground.

Poor thing. I got some dry food and lowered it down to him which he gulped down. Xena finally turned up and I fed her on another platform I'd built on top of the fence. Interestingly enough, while Xena wouldn't go too close to Tabby, there was none of the hissing which she gives Gabby.

Perhaps they've been co-inhabiting next door's backyard for a while now and have resolved their differences. I wonder how Tabby and Ebs get on. When she was over that Jenn's, Ebony used to go out and beat up other cats, or so Jenn told me.

This on the whole is good news. Tabby is still something to be chased for Pegasus which is fair enough, but the fact that he let me pick him up bodes well. Either I will adopt Tabby (unlikely with three cats already) or pass him on to an animal refuge. To do either I have to get close to him first.

Tales of the Black Hills

Apart from various bursts of time behind the PC, I've read a whole book today. That was Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills.

The book is both about the HBO series and about the real town and people that inspired it. There's quite a mixture inside, with the main text written by David Milch. His views are rather interesting about exactly what Deadwood was all about, and the forces and orders involved.

Now I've only seen the first season of the series so far.I have the 2nd series and am waiting for the price on the boxed DVD set for season 3 to come down in price. But after reading this book I'm very tempted to go out and buy it ASAP.

Deadwood is full of swearing, killing, beating, fucking, cheating, thieving and much worse. The way the author writes though, you can start to see exactly why some characters are so intriguing.

Indulgent Day

It's been a wet day today,and I've done little that might be considered "productive".

I've:

• sat out the back with Pegasus,Gabby and Xena, reading a book
• played ancient video games via emulators
• watched MONKEY
• played Second Life
• looked at Open Life
• slept
• and otherwise checked out stuff on LJ

Nice to have a lazy day sometimes, and not feel "guilty" about it.