Movies and Game Shows

Hello all.  Welcome back.  So, here I am, all excited about this world I'm visiting, with all the potential it holds for creativity, and you know what I did today?  I spent two hours in a movie theater eating pixilated popcorn.  That's right, I went to the movies in Second Life.

Can you name the film?  You've got to be specific.  I'll give you a visual clue.  It stars this actress:

The theater is the Second Cinema Movie Theater, located in Amity Island.  It showcases classic horror films, and abounds with free horror film posters for the taking.

I also got an invite to an event.  I thought it was going to be a question-and-answer panel show about science.  I was excited about going, wondering how many people would be there, what kind of things I would learn, and just what the experience would be like.  It turned out to be much more entertaining than I thought.

The event was a weekly science panel show, just as I expected, but with an entertaining twist; it is set up like a game show.  It is called The 2nd Question.  Turns out it's a television show broadcast in Second Life.  Episodes can be viewed at www.slcn.tv.

I met a friend at the StudioDome in SciLands (she's the one on my right) and got comfy.

As you can see there were quite a few people there.  Everyone was in good spirits as the show began with holiday songs from guitarist and singer Edsel Heinkel.  The hosts, Pooky Amsterdam and Hydra Shaftoe, kept everyone entertained as they read questions and commented on the audience responses, which at many times were hilarious.

The questions were mainly of a scientific nature, though they weren't strictly limited to the realm of science.  There was one question which everyone in the audience knew the answer to; Liberace.  Not only did we all know it, we all spelled the flamboyant pianist's name correctly!  However, like I said, most of the questions were not as easy and I spent much of my time on Google and Wikipedia looking up the information.

My research efforts paid off.  I ended up neck to neck with a cool looking reindeer named Loretta McGinnis.  In the end I was able to come out ahead and finished with the most correct answers for the evening.  My prize?  A cool L$1000.

Afterwards, as balloons, confetti, and dreidels rained down on us, many of us hung around chatting and getting to know each other.  Well, everyone else did.  I took a few pictures and left, eager to write about my experience.  Simply put, I had a blast!

So, what's so special about going to the movies and a game show?  Well, nothing really.  But I wonder, how many of you have been part of a studio audience?  Well, maybe lots of you have, but here in this world we each have the opportunity to not just participate in an entertaining cultural event and have fun, we have the opportunity to create the setting we want and showcase whatever content we wish.  Well, perhaps developing something like this show or constructing a movie house would be incredibly challenging for any of us to do (design and construct a set, plan a show, get legal permission to showcase films, etc.), but it would be possible, and maybe easier, to find others in this world with whom to cooperate in accomplishing this task than in the 'real' world, and it certainly is within our capacity to develop a cultural event on a smaller scale.

Am I being naive in thinking that any of us can do anything in this world?  Maybe.  After all, I have only experienced a total of about 3 days of this world.  I am still in my honeymoon period, and besides, I am just a tourist, perhaps only seeing what I want to see.  Still, I am so impressed by what can be done here that I will keep exploring, looking to experience more of what people just like you have created in this Second Life world.

Take care,

Pluton Karas