Interview with Fop (KingForri), Giant of Natoma

 

 So how tall was the tallest avatar you've seen in Second Life? For some residents who haven't been around much, they may not have seen avatars much taller than they. For those who have explored some and been to some notable events, they may have seen an occasional macro that can get to be around fifty feet tall. And then there's the avatar of Fop (KingForri). Encountered at the Natoma sim, he easily stood over the Ivory Tower. Yours truly got in contact, and he had a few things to say. 

 

Read the interview in People. 

 

Giant Avatar at The Ivory Tower

 

 Going by Natoma the other day in one of my Rezz alts, I saw this huuuuuuge avatar. There's a running joke about many Second Life residents wanting to be above average in height to the point in reality they'd be seven foot tall basketball players. Some take things a little more, going for eight or nine feet. But this guy was the size of a mountain, even crouched down, towering over the Ivory Tower of Primitives. He was well over a hundred meters in height.

His name was Fop (Kingforri Resident). As it turned out, I'd seen him once before, at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Natoma's "The Man" statue. But before I could message him, he was gone.

Such avatars are impressive, but highly impractical. Without chat extenders, you can't talk to anyone. You can't really interact with anyone. So most likely Fop only appears like this once in a while. So outside the Fantasy Faire, it's rare you'll encounter a mega-macro avatar like this.

Bixyl Shuftan

"The Man" Statue Turns 20

 

July 19, 2022 was the anniversary of one of the oldest objects in Second Life and possibly the oldest one more detailed than a single prim: "The Man." People came by the Ivory Tower of Primitives where the statue is located where they danced away to music provided by GoSpeed Racer. This included several Lindens and Moles such as Oatmeal Linden. The Newser was there, and took a number of pictures. 

 

Read more in Events.
 

"The Man" Statue Turns 20

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Yesterday, July 19, 2022 was the anniversary of one of the oldest objects in Second Life and possibly the oldest one more detailed than a single prim: "The Man." 

This statue, created by Oldjohn Linden, was created on July 19 2002, twenty years ago.  This would be almost a year before Second Life was officially open.

 

People came by the Ivory Tower of Primitives where the statue is located where they danced away to music provided by GoSpeed Racer. This included several Lindens and Moles such as Oatmeal Linden. At one point, someone in a HUGE mega-macro showed up. made 

Happy anniversary to "The Man"

 

Addition: Check out more pictures of the event (here). 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

"The First Nickel" - First Textured Object Twenty Years Old

 

Late last month was the 20th anniversary of the rezzing of Second Life's oldest prim. But as we all know, building doesn't stop with prims as they need to be shaped and textured. And it was twenty years ago today, February 11 2002, that the first known finished object, known as "The First Nickel," came to be.

There are two copies of the nickle known to the Newser, both owned by Marianne McCann, who got it from James Linden. One is at the grounds of the Ivory Tower of Prims in Natoma at (233/159/26). The other is at the Bay City Community Center in Daley Bay at (225/51/25). 

"Avi was kind enough to allow me to share it there, which I deeply appreciate," Marianne told the Newser, "The Bay City location was one I always have considered 'temporary,' but then it's been temporary for a couple years now. (smile).

"I had approached Avi (Arrow) about displaying it in Natoma a couple years back, figuring it may be a good, neutral and public location for such an artifact, given some of the other items in the region (the Man, the Ivory Tower), but we could not agree to a location. She had suggesting putting it on Philip's Hill right next to the Man, but I didn't want to diminish the importance of the Man! She eventually offered the spot under the Arch d Linden Grande, with a number of other displays, and that seemed both visible, but not overwhelming the importance of other objects."
 
Happy anniversary

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Avi Arrow, Owner of The Ivory Tower, Has Died

 

Sad news for fans of the Ivory Tower of Primitives. Avi Arrow, the owner of the noted longtime location in Second Life, has died. The news was announced in the Ivory Tower Library Group.

We are very sad to inform everyone that our beloved friend Avi Arrow passed away at home Saturday, October 23, 2021 surrounded by her family.

She will be deeply missed.

I had a few words with Marcov Carter, one of four officers in the group. "She will be deeply missed," he spoke of her, "she had a lot of good friends, she did a lot for the comunity, very sad." He stated an inworld memorial service was being planned and "we will rez two statues, in Zoe, as she wanted, close to (the) Lumiere Noir memorial." Of the Ivory Tower area, "Kennylex Luckless and I, will do our best to keep this place as it is, as Avi asked to us."

For those wishing to pay their respects now, "as a lot of friends started to rez objects for Avi near the table, where she used to stand, we made a temporary memorial." Taking a look for myself, there were candles, a rose, and a screen showing a slide-show of pictures of Avi.

Avi Arrow helped the founder of the Ivory Tower of Primitives, Lumiere Noir, run the place until he passed away in 2015. The Tower was created early in Second Life history to be a place of learning how to build and script.

Avi would present the Newser with an improved sign for it's office as a tenth anniversary present last year.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/74/172/26

Rest in Peace

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Anniversary Gift From The Ivory Tower

Remember our "Big Ten" picture in our anniversary article last week? It was made at the Ivory Tower in Natoma, run by Avi Arrow. Avi happened to see it as it was being made, and asked what was up. Hearing the reason, she promised to send a small present. A few days later, she sent me several signs, with one going on the side of the Newser office.

Thanks again Avi

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: December B.A.D. Build Contest

Hey kids!  This Friday the next B.A.D. contest will begin. The theme is, "Christmas Selfies". Your build must include a photo or cutout or figure (3D figure) of yourself. Anything with your face on it that you include in your build. I think this will be fun and full of interesting possibilities!

The build phase of the contest will run from Friday, Dec. 13 thru Friday, Dec. 20. There will be both popular voting and judged voting for this one. The prim allowance is set at 200 but Avi said that is subject to change and more prims might be allowed, depending on how many are available. Below are the rules and the LM to the platform. You can rez one prim on a spot now if you like to hold that place. You can begin building Friday morning at 6 SL time. Hope to see you there! Happy Holidays!

Rules:
Prim allowance is 200 prims (possibly more later). You MUST build everything yourself. I will be checking each build to make sure the entire thing has your name as creator on it. You are allowed to use mesh and sculpt maps. You are also allowed to use a few things you already made and have in your inventory but the main part of your build should be created during the contest dates. I know it can be costly and really time consuming to create mesh items plus, if you are like me you hate having to recreate something you already have ten copies of in your inventory that you made before!  So I decided to allow builders to use a few items they created previously.

At the end of the contest I will put up a voting board which will stay up for one day and I will send out several notices to encourage people to come see the builds and vote. There will also be judged voting.

Sound files are ok as long as they aren't looped or excessively loud. I prefer you use the kind that are activated when an avi steps on or near the prim with the sound in it.

Particles are ok but please make sure they stay within the boundaries of your build spot.

In the middle of the platform I put out a FREE box. It contains a texture board and a sculpt map board. Help yourself to that! There is also a LM giver to Sanna Science and Art. She has lots of cool stuff you can get to create your own animated textures.

You can work in teams of two if you like. If you should win then I leave it to you to divide the Lindens with your build partner.

The main thing I always stress and re-stress is to make sure everything in your build was created by you!  I HATE having to disqualify anyone and this is the #1 reason why people have been DQ'd in the past.

Last rule - have fun!  That's what this is all about, after all. IM me if you have any questions or need help with anything.

Luna (LunaEnigma Resident)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/146/108/3751

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Natoma

By Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: New Event at The Ivory Tower

This Saturday and Sunday we will have a mini build contest at Ivory Towers. I want you to get acquainted with the place and the folks there and thought this would be a good start. The theme will be, "Baby It's Cold Outside!" The platform is all set up with snow and you are to create a build that makes people shiver and run for the hot chocolate!  ... I will need for you to contact either Avi Arrow or me to say you want to join so that Avi can add your name to a list which will prevent your prims from being auto returned. So please do this sometime before early Sat. morning.  Ivory Towers is a really nice sandbox. I think you will like it there and will also like Avi Arrow. She is a peach!

Theme: "Baby It's Cold Outside"
Starting date: Saturday Nov. 23 - six a.m. SL time
Ending date: Sunday night midnight SL time
Voting open from Sunday night midnight until midnight Monday, Nov. 25

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/156/131/3752

Luna (LunaEnigma Resident)

For complete details, message Luna or Avi Arrow, or get the notecard from the Ivory Tower Library group.

Memorial Service for Lumiere Noir

Last weekend, Second Life bade farewell to a noted resident, Lumiere Noir. For many who learned how to build things, they got their lessons at the Ivory Tower of Prims which allowed residents to learn at their own pace. As it's creator, Lumiere's death was particularly sad to many. On Sunday August 16, residents old and new gathered to remember the departed teacher and share a few stories.

Read more in Events.

In Memory of Lumiere Noir

A *Remembrance and Celebration* gathering for Lumiere Noir will be held at 1:00pm (13:00) SLT on Sunday 16th of August at the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/28 (G-rated) .  Bring fondest of memories and dancing shoes.

Natoma (210/164/28)

Lumiere Noir, Creator of the Ivory Tower of Primitives, Dies

Most longtime residents, especially builders and scripters, know about the "Ivory Tower of Primitives." For those residents wanting to learn how to build and script at their own pace, this library if infor mation in the Natoma sim is the most well known and one of the best places to go to. The one behind this library of instructions and tutorials was Lumiere Noir, whom created the Tower very early in Second Life's history, possibly shortly after it's begining in 2003, and has since helped maintain it, with the help of Avi Arrow and Kennylex Luckless.

It has been recently revealed that the person behind the avatar Lumiere Noir has died, passing away on Monday August 10, 2015.

I chatted briefly with Kennylex, " I do not know so much about him personal, but he was the Founder of the Ivory Tower. ... He was the one and only that did build the tower I think." He explained the Tower wasn't originally built in Natoma, but "The first Tower was located in Noyo, It was a huge party here when the tower was moving here, it was a big event for the whole of Second Life."

Kennylex went on to say, "Natoma and The Ivory Tower was one of the first places I did come to in SL and the reason that I did stay so long."

Kennlylex pointed to an article in the "Not Possible in Real Life" blog. There in an interview with Bettina Tizzy, Lumiere identified himself as Vince Frost of Plano Texas, a teacher of English as a second Language. "I love to make things and I love to teach," Lumiere spoke when asked where the idea for the tower came from, "Making the tower was a natural thing for me as a teacher." He didn't like teaching inworld, so he created the tutorials.

Lennylex told me that Lumiere's avatar was active, but being used by a friend to make some adjustments to the tower. 



Torley Linden did a video about the Ivory Tower of Prims in May 2008 (link), "Its kind of like visiting a candy factory to see how your favorite sweets are made," came one of the comments. He also took a number of pictures in his Flickr (link).

Lumiere was known for appearing in a "Black Spy" avatar, of "Mad Magazine's" "Spy vs Spy" comics.

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

The First Sims – Natoma

DrFran Babcock continues her "First Sims" series with a visit to Natoma. This place is distinguished by two feaures: the landmarks and old builds, one a remnant of Second Life's alpha grid days, and that unlike many places there was someone always here on the sim when someone stopped by. So what else did the intrepid writer find?

Read DrFran's story in Places.