Commentary: Fashion Bloggers, Why They Matter

Longtime readers may remember SamanthaS Nightfire from the early days of the Second Life Newser. Having gone from reporter to talk show hostess to wrestler, Samantha ended up having to take a break from the virtual world due to real life. Having come back to Second Life, she's come back to reporting. For her first article back in the Newser, she takes a look at fashion bloggers. While there's no shortage of blogs about fashion, doing a good one isn't as easy as it may look.

Read Samantha's article in Fashion.

Samantha Nightfire and New Millennium Wrestling

Longtime readers may remember SamanthaS Nightfire, the writer whom went on to star in a talk show in Second Life TV. So what has she been up to recently? I met up with her, and she told me she'd gotten involved with an upcoming wrestling federation, New Millennium Wrestling, not just as one of the staff, but as one of the wrestlers as well.

Read more in People.

“Fight Like a Girl”

At the invitation of Samantha Nightfire, I went to one of the wrestling matches at the UWS Metrodome. I hadn't seen a wrestling match on the Grid before, nor a match on TV since the 1980's, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Arriving in time to see the women's match, I expected rough, and witnessed rougher.

Read the article in People.

Xymbers Slade’s Interview by Sam Nightfire

Freelancer Xymbers Slade recently made an appearance on Samantha Nightfire's Virtual Tonight talk show. Sam wanted to know about his fortune telling through tarot cards. There were a few technical glitches, but Xymbers gave Sam a demonstration.

Read about the interview in People.

Interview by Sam Nightfire at Virtual Tonight

On Sunday at 8 PM SL time, I was at the set of the Virtual Tonight talk show at the invitation of hostess Sam Nightfire for an interview. Of the several guests, I was first.

The interview went well. I probably could have done a slightly better job, but at least my “voice for newspapers” didn’t trip and stammer. The questions about the paper varied from how did I get my start, to what do we usually write about, to can readers also submit things for the paper to publish, and others.

Besides myself, Sam had several others on the show, from fashion expert and host Tempest Hennesy, to Thinkerer Melville, a "retired Professor of Psychology, community advocate and promoter of virtual worlds," to stand-up comedian Elron Priestman, whom he and I traded witty comments in group chat, and a KISS tribute band from Canuck entertainment. While not a KISS fan, I have to say the musicians put quite a bit of effort into their performance.

I saw a few friends of mine in the audience, and a few friends of theirs. Thank you for coming. For those who didn’t , Sam told me the show should be on the Virtual World Network Website (http://www.virtualworldnetwork.tv/) by Monday February 14th.

If Sam seems familiar to regular readers, she should. A few months ago, she came to me having heard about the paper, and was interested in helping out. It was soon obvious that she was someone with both confidence and a good head on her shoulders with business sense. She already had a job with real-life media, but considered it important that there were thriving outlets in Second Life, and was willing to help out. She did for a while, but her talents were discovered by the Virtual World Network. We parted on good terms, remaining friends.

Had she stayed, she probably would have soon become the editor.

Virtual Tonight is still a new show, with a new crew learning the ropes and the routine. But Sam picked a group with talent. It won’t be long before their ratings start giving Paisley Beebe’s “Tonight Live,” a serious run for it’s money.

Sam also posts regularly on Facebook, never at a loss for a witty comment, and has a lively group of friends. Those checking her out there may see a few of my replies.



Bixyl Shuftan

Apperance at "Virtual Tonight" Tonight

At 8 PM tonight, SL time, I'll be at the Virtual Tonight talk show, hosted by Sam Nightfire. Instead of doing the interviewing, yours truly will be the one interviewed. Knowing Sam, it will be an interesting experience for certain. She promises "a shocking surprise."

Besides myself, Sam will have on fashion expert and host Tempest Hennesy, Thinkerer Melville, a "retired Professor of Psychology, community advocate and promoter of virtual worlds," stand-up comedian Elron Priestman, and a KISS tribute band from Canuck entertainmen.

Sam promises "lotsa fun." Provided Linden Lab doesn't have a major burp, and even that might not matter, she'll deliver.

The studio will be open for the audience at 7:30 at Virtual World Network (184, 146, 545). The show will be taped and posted on the internet in about a week.


Bixyl Shuftan

“Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire” First Episode Online

Virtual Tonight's First Episode finally went online a few days ago. Sam Nightfire interviewed a number of guests, notably Jessica Lyon of the Phoenix Viewer team whom had a few things to say concerning her group's past and present. For those wanting to read more, Click Here.

“Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire” Launches

On Sunday January 16 at 8PM Second Life time, Sam Nightfire hosted the first episode of the “Virtual Tonight” talk show. The show was taped in front of a live audience in a skystudio high over the Virtual World Network sim. About 55 were in the sim.

For this first show there were several guests. First was Ray Hoffman, a builder and architect who owns the Envision Design and Envision Design & Architectural University, as well as the one who build the studio for Virtual Tonight. Also were Vista Coba and Nesto Quatro, the owners of the Virtual Realty Football League. The League had several teams, and to answer Sam’s question, yes they are still hiring cheerleaders. The musical guests were Automotive Quandry and the Automatic Band. The band had volunteered to do the theme song for the show.

The most noted guest was Jessica Lyon, the head of the Phoenix Viewer development team. It didn’t take long for the Emeraldgate issue to come up, and Jessica told Sam and the audience that her staff had learned a number of lessons from the scandal, and had set protocols in place to make sure nothing like that would ever happen with Phoenix. Unlike Emerald, Phoenix was devoted to transparency, she stated, so all changes to the viewer code would be published on the website as they happened.

Further tapings will be every Sunday evening at 8PM SL time at Virtual World Network (49, 58, 1010). The show “will have an array of topics ranging from current events and cultural trends to politics, comedy and more, all while bringing viewers closer to their favorite celebrities and notable public figures with revealing, compelling interviews.” It is owned by Virtual World Network, and produced by Ishelwood Studio. The shows will later be up for viewing on the Virtual World Network website, “sometime in January.”

Bixyl Shuftan

Invitation to Taping For "Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire" New Talk Show in Second Life

You are invited to be in the audience of 'Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire', which is a late night entertainment talk show taped 'live, in front of a studio audience' every other Sunday beginning Jan 16, 2011 at 8pm - May 1, 2011 (1st Season) in Secondlife.com. Due to on-going construction, the sim will not be open to the public until one hour before the show.

Our first show debuts with a live audience on Jan 16, 8pm SLT. The slurl is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20World%20Network/49/58/1010 . There will be a teleporting board at the landing point. You want to go to Studio 1500, the Virtual Tonight set. Please walk upstairs to the building. Virtual Tonight is debuting online (after post production) at http://www.livestream.com/vwn1.

Owned by Virtual World Network, Produced by Ishelwood Studio Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire, is an entertainment, variety talk show that uses the Secondlife platform for its productions. It is aimed at U.S. Demographics and streamed world-wide on the internet 24/7.

Virtual Tonight with Sam Nightfire will have an array of topics ranging from current events and cultural trends to politics, comedy and more, all while bringing viewers closer to their favorite celebrities and notable public figures with revealing, compelling interviews. For guest appearance, please contact Sam at samvwn@gmail.com or email contact@virtualworldnetwork.tv Subject: Virtual Tonight Guest.
=============================================

Our guest for the evening of Jan 16, 2011 are:

Ray Hoffman, Master Builder, Architect, Professor and Mentor who owns the Envision Design & Architectural University

Jessica Lyon, the spokesperson for the Phoenix and soon to be released Firestorm 3rd party 3d Viewers.

Vista Coba / Nesto Quatro, VRFL owners and developers of the Virtual Realty Football League HUD of SL. Their mission is to become second life’s premier league for American football.

Musical Guest: Automatic Band, that hails from California has been rockin' the local club scene since 2008. Their unique blend of indie, classic, and avant garde rock gives them a wide appeal.

Comedy, entertainment as well as important info will be our focus for our shows.


Hope to see you there,

Sam Nightfire
http://www.virtualworldnetwork.tv/ (should be up by Monday Jan 17, 2011)

Commentary "What Should I Do About the Land I Own on Second Life?"

Question:

Should I sell it or hold on to the land I own in Second Life and wait out the economy?. And what about Linden Lab restructuring, does it mean they are selling Second Life, if so what can I do?

Basically, in having invested a lot of your time and money, is it still a good investment considering all the recent changes with Linden Lab and the worlds economy?

MY REPLY

The future cannot be predicted and I'm not a 'futures' investor, so who knows but I can say this, in my opinion Second Life is a very successful business but that depends on how you measure it. By Linden Lab's measurement, I think they feel they have failed in their original intent but then they were overwhelmed with the resident/average user's output, so their original goals were sidetracked and they inadvertently switched to the unexpected resident oriented goals and LL got sloppy in going with the flow, so they had to pull up their pants so-to-speak, make new decisions and refocus on what they needed to do. By the time they did that thought, their founder had already lost interest and started a new business. This makes them seem a bit unsuccessful but wait...

After releasing their code source, LL has been successful in spawning a generation of 3d worlds, most of which are flourishing in more ways than anyone could have imagined. Search "3d world" or "open sim" and see what you come up with. Due to the current growth of open sim platforms, LL could feel that they have reached their goals and are now done and ready to move on to bigger and better things but I also think they feel an obligation to its residents and will find a way to insure creators can continue with Second Life, rather it be sold or not.

I think Linden Lab's Second Life, is ripe for sale and they may be preparing for that but they are not saying, so who knows. If sold, whomever buys it most likely will not change it much at first. They may come in with their own ideas about what's good for them and that may mean later changes. If they are smart, they will respect the solid foundation that Linden Lab is now trying to create and leave things as they are.

As for the land you now own. If it is not your sole income and something you enjoy. I would reevaluate it and make a decision to either stick it out and see what happens or sell and get out now. I do suggest you do not make a rash decision because these things are worth waiting out. I've learned that the best decisions are educated ones, so I suggest you read business news regarding 3d worlds such as www.hypergridbusiness.com. They offer credible research for their 3d related business stories. Search 'secondlife' and see what you come up with. Make sure the date is recent because this biz fluctuates everyday.

If I currently owned land on SL, I would not sell it but maybe cut down according to what makes sense to me based on the real world economy because it has affected Second Life. Virtual land sales have taken a big hit but have you thought about marketing differently? When something we do does not work for whatever reason, it means we have to find a different way of doing it - before we even contemplate giving it up - most just give up - will you?

SamanthaS Nightfire

The Terror of Mulberry Horror

SamanthaS Nightfire recently explored a Halloween haunt that was definitely not kiddie stuff, but "horror with a capital 'H'." "Forget the usual 'Boo!' kiddy stuff. As you desperately make your way through the dark, you'll have that sickening feeling that the child murderers, torturers and demons really are after you. You'll face your darkest nightmares. One question remains... will you make it out alive?"

Read about this haunt of haunts in Places.

SL Viewers: What's the Deal, What do I Use, and Why

There's no shortage of opinions on what Second Life Viewer is best. SammanthaS Nightfire has been busy looking at different ones, going past the claims and hype, and looking at what performs. Sometimes the best viewer depends on what you're doing on the grid, exploring or building.

Read her review of SL Viewers in Extra

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan
(picture from SamanthaS Nightfire)

Reader Submitted: Review of SL 3rd Party Viewers

Many residents have been looking for a new viewer for Second Life following the Emerald mess. One of our readers, SamanthaS Nightfire, recently took a look at various alternatives to it and the official Linden Lab client. She came up with a few conclusions.

Read the story in Extra.