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With thanks to New World Notes —ce: New World Notes: Nylon Pinkney Is Online: Game of Thrones, Second Life Style

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I just had to share this. Nothing about Second Life; I just ran across it elsewhere, and figured the other Game of Thrones mavens would enjoy a giggle:

Jon Snow Emails 23andMe About His DNA Results

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Me and my friends are Jem girls
Jem, Jem is my name
Exciting adventure
Fashion and fame
Once you’re a Jem girl
You’re never the same

C’mon, c’mon and be a Jem girl
Jem, Jem is my name

Jem Opening Theme (variant 1), lyrics by Barry Harman

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Strawberry Singh’s latest Monday Meme came along at a perfect time; I was working on this concept anyway after finding a photo on Pinterest I’d loved, and so why not take advantage of it?  I never saw The Loretta Young Show when I was a child, but the reputation of it and its star has come down through the sixty years since it premiered on NBC.

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I originally published this in 2008, during the Beijing Olympic Games, and I’d still like to see someone who can shoot machinima try this idea out.  With the Opening Ceremonies of London 2012 about to kick off, I offer this up again, and hope someone will accept the challenge!  (Plead, beg, whine….)

So, does anyone out there want to become the Bud Greenspan of Second Life?

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I’m an Olympic Games fan; have been since about 1984, and the Sarajevo Winter Games, as a matter of fact. I’ve always preferred the Winter Games, but the Summer Games are good as well….

I bit the bullet the other night [back in 2008, remember], and bought a CD from 2000 of music composed or suggested for the Olympics, including three of John Williams’ major works: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, The Olympic Spirit — and Summon the Heroes. I was going to embed a video here of someone playing it, but the versions I found just didn’t catch my interest — including the Opening Ceremonies in which it was debuted! Probably because I have the full version of the music on that CD. But you’ve almost certainly heard at least part of it at some point if you’ve seen a Games since Atlanta 1996. Williams has mastered the composition of triumphant fanfares, creating uplifting numbers that stir the blood and call the listener to heed and celebrate.

While playing this, I had an idea for a great machinima come to me, one that would be perfect for an Olympic Games. Sadly, I can’t seem to shoot movies worth crap in SL (I have to study Torley’s or someone’s tutorial, ’cause I can’t get the thing to save a file or something); it would take a cast of dozens, if not hundreds of avatars; and it wouldn’t be ready until the next Games. (It could be filmed and released between the main and Paralympic Games in Beijing, but there would still be the problem of logistics and cast to pull together. Now I know how they feel when they’re trying to pull together a movie in pre-production in Hollywood!) So I release the concept into the Void by Creative Commons; and, if someone can actually film the thing…, please give me a role and a credit (and 2% of the gross, if any [grin]).

As for sets, there are plenty of builds across the Grid that could fit the need of the concept; the only one I could think of needing to be built would be a classical-type arena. (I’ve looked at the Gladiatorial Arena in Roma; besides the bloodstains on the floor, the build is over ornate for what I picture. Something more classical Grecian is in my mind, or at least similar; I’d prefer a look that wasn’t necessarily identifiable to any particular culture. Perhaps if something like an oval-shaped Greco-Roman amphitheatre could be done! But I doubt you could really get away from the Grecian elements and make it “universal”; the results would be too bland.)

Read the “concept pitch” following the break….

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When Hamlet Au tweeted his followers about a new machinima by Rysan Fall, a tribute to Billie Holiday in the latter days of Black History Month, I went to see the piece.  (Make sure to read his story!)

You should see this, too.

This film comes damn close to perfection; the one part I wouldn’t do is see the hanged man’s eyes blink, which is both a little weird and breaks the wall of the story.  Other than that, this is fine, and Rysan deserves all the praise I can give him.

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Revised August 20, 10:00 p.m. local:

I’m an Olympic Games fan; have been since about 1984, and the Sarajevo Winter Games, as a matter of fact. I’ve always preferred the Winter Games, but the Summer Games are good as well, and many of the events (Michael Phelps, of course, and the women’s gymnastics) caught my attention this time around. The politics of the Chinese regime are deplorable, and I do not support them in any way — but they know how to throw a hell of a Games.

I bit the bullet the other night, and bought a CD from 2000 of music composed or suggested for the Olympics, including three of John Williams’ major works: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, The Olympic Spirit — and Summon the Heroes. I was going to embed a video here of someone playing it, but the versions I found just didn’t catch my interest — including the Opening Ceremonies in which it was debuted! Probably because I have the full version of the music on that CD. But you’ve almost certainly heard at least part of it at some point if you’ve seen a Games since Atlanta 1996. Williams has mastered the composition of triumphant fanfares, creating uplifting numbers that stir the blood and call the listener to heed and celebrate.

While playing this, I had an idea for a great machinima come to me, one that would be perfect for an Olympic Games. Sadly, I can’t seem to shoot movies worth crap in SL (I have to study Torley’s or someone’s tutorial, ’cause I can’t get the thing to save a file or something); it would take a cast of dozens, if not hundreds of avatars; and it wouldn’t be ready until the next Games. (It could be filmed and released between the main and Paralympic Games in Beijing, but there would still be the problem of logistics and cast to pull together. Now I know how they feel when they’re trying to pull together a movie in pre-production in Hollywood!) So I release the concept into the Void by Creative Commons; and, if someone can actually film the thing by London 2012, please give me a role and a credit (and 2% of the gross, if any [grin]).

As for sets, there are plenty of builds across the Grid that could fit the need of the concept; the only one I could think of needing to be built would be a classical-type arena. (I’ve looked at the Gladiatorial Arena in Roma; besides the bloodstains on the floor, the build is over ornate for what I picture. Something more classical Grecian is in my mind, or at least similar; I’d prefer a look that wasn’t necessarily identifiable to any particular culture. Perhaps if something like an oval-shaped Greco-Roman amphitheatre could be done! But I doubt you could really get away from the Grecian elements and make it “universal”; the results would be too bland.)

Read the “concept pitch” following the break….

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I’ve been writing about so many different things lately that this draft has sat forgotten in the back room of the blog.  Now I submit it to you for your approval:  a link to a machinima called Noob.  If you enjoy it, come on back and let me know; I got a few giggles from it.

(Warning:  strong language at times)