054 - Floating

Dim Sum sits on a boat and ponders the chairs, the masks, and the urns.


This is a very small part of Blue Tsuki's installation called "Float=Nought". From his artist statement about the work:

"Float=Nought is a piece made after a hiatus from SL art making. It revisits some familiar memes and tosses some on the fire to make way for the new. It is a transition piece to the next direction of images and dreams. As always, little explanation here, I prefer people bring their own interpretations as those are always more powerful. That said, as a starting point the piece is a slow meditation on transience and almost remembering something forgotten."

The photo is purposely minimalistic. There's more to see in the exhibit itself.

Before I talk about my interpretation of the work, I just want to point out that there's a bit of synchronicity going on here. I was just thinking earlier today about the transience of SL, of people coming and going, of relationships burning bright and fading away. So, my interpretation of Blue's work is going to be influenced by the mood I'm in. But then, art interpretation will always be subjective anyway.

So, here goes...

The boats are the lives we live on the surface, in real life. And the boat frame under the water surface, burning bright, is the dream life that burns within us. On the surface, we move, we turn, but we're really going nowhere. Under the surface, the dream life waits to be filled in, to be fleshed out, to be real. (I don't know what to make of the hands with the eggs. Blessings?)

The chairs and the masks are positions and roles we take on. We take on many throughout our lives. Some we exalt; some we eventually burn. The urns hold what is dear to us, what we treasure, what sustains us. Among those that we exalt, there is one red mask, one red chair, one red urn. The one that stands out among the multitudes. The one that defines us. The one that makes us unique.

His notecard already alluded to the memes tossed "on the fire to make way for the new." We discard old positions and old roles to make way for the new. Pruning dead branches so new ones might grow.

Most of Blue's 3D work that I've seen (since I met him at a sandbox in late 2006) feels either melancholic or haunting or both. But always rich in symbolism. At least to me.

location: Gallery Assis (adult)

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] BIG SUN - Slips through walls 5 (modified)

Depth of Field:
View angle: 0.606
FOV: 19.2
F-number: 4.68
Foc Length: 231
Foc Time: 0.5
CoC: 10.0
Resolution: 0.7
Aspect Ratio: 1.5

Glow Settings:
Quality: 9
Iterations: 2
Strength: 9999.0
Luminance: 0.0
Warmth: 0.0
Width: 1.3
Alpha: 0.25

012 - Well, are you gonna eat that?

Well, are you gonna eat that? 'Cause if you're not, .... you know, it just seems a waste....


This penguin seems distraught, maybe even crying, over the death of the fishes.  Doesn't make sense.  After all, penguins eat fish!

location: LEA23 - "The Arrival" by Rose Borchovski

Technical notes

windlight: Annan Adored Light Explosion II

I was hoping to do some shadows if my machine would let me, then I crashed.  I guess that was my answer.

011 - Penguins

Dim Sum auditions for the Penguin Rockettes.

This little bird is actually very easy to overlook, because it is relatively small compared to the children and other things. Plus, it was on steps with the same color.

It's the little details like this, the little surprises, that make great builds. You don't see everything the first time; the more you dig around, the more you see.

I also thought it was very cool that it reflected the penguins behind it, like a secret motif. Like the stripes on the stairs reflect the stripes on the children's shorts and on the rats.

location: LEA23 - "The Arrival" by Rose Borchovski

Technical notes

windlight: Phototools- Lo Light 03 (modified)

• I had to use Ctrl-0 to visually narrow the distance between the bird and the penguins; otherwise, the penguins would look really, really small.
• I retook the photo because the first one had clouds that were distracting.
• I had to click the refresh in the photo tool until I could catch it in this pose, which goes very fast.

010 - Drummer boy

/me stares down the striped prey and wonders if it's as tasty as its plainer and smaller relatives.


I've seen Rose Borchovski's work in many machinimas before, and I've been itching to come to this sim for a few days now.  I love the faces of her children.  I imagine them to be the Lost Boys.  But I'm not showing a face here.  Just the legs of one of the drummers (there are at least two).

location: LEA23 - "The Arrival" by Rose Borchovski

Technical notes

windlight: Midday 4 (modified)
water: [NB] Turbid Reflections