something funny

According to the newspaper article, a man named John Beahan sent them this:

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an e-mail to his wife. However, he accidently left out one letter in her e-mail address and, without realizing his error, sent the e-mail.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who had had a heart attack and died. The widow decided to check her e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends.

After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room and saw the computer screen, which read:

TO: My Loving Wife

Subject: I've Arrived

Date: October 16, 2004

I know you are surprised to hear from me.

They have computers here now and you

are allowed to send e-mails to your loved ones.

I've just arrived and have been checking in.

I see that everything has been prepared for your

arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!

Hope your jouney is an uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!

So I Married An Avatar.... part 2

Last month Business Week ran an article "So I Married An Avatar" to which I posted a list of the top 10 reasons why a virtual wedding was better than a real life wedding (or something to that effect.) Evidently it wasn't as funny as I thought because it wasn't posted to the comments section NOR did anyone on the SLEducators listserv even comment.

Then, much to my surprise I received an email from one of the editors late one Friday afternoon asking to use my comment in a new section "Featured Readers Comments" and requesting a photograph. Unfortunately I didn't get the email until after the deadline had run, but evidently that didn't matter as a few days later I found myself--er, my virtual self--as one of the Featured Readers. Here's the link.

Contrary to my wife, I am NOT lame. Yeah to Business Week!

Second CD?

Rumors of a second Niko Donburi CD are... TRUE! Yes, I am working on a follow-up to my first CD, Tales from the Grid, which debuted at SLCC2007. While I am not sure if I will be performing live at SLCC2008 in Tampa (check out their new site) in person like last year's Chicago show, I'll certainly be there virtually--if they'll have me!

If you've been to a show in the past few weeks, you've heard some of the new ones: Virtual Stranger, 44 Lines about 22 Lindens, Should I log in or should I go now, The Linden, and most recently, SL Man. I be firing up the recording studio in over the summer and will start circulating demos to my group members so join up if you haven't already.

Meanwhile, I'm soliciting names. Thus far suggestions include: Tales from the Grid 2.0 and More Tales from the Grid.

So I Married an Avatar...

Having just read the article on the Business Week's website ("So I Married an Avatar"), I couldn't help but make a list of

The top 10 "best things" about a Second Life wedding

(10) No rubber chicken dinners;

(9) Virtual wedding gifts are cheap;

(8) The bridesmaid's don't have to worry about looking fat in their bridesmaid's outfits;

(7) If you don't want to attend you can blame it on your internet provider;

(6) If a guest gets drunk and obnoxious you can mute him/her/it;

(5) If the bride spills red wine on her dress it can be removed with a click of the mouse;

(4) no need to invite that aunt you don't like 'cause she ain't got broadband;

(3) you can play solitaire during the speeches;

(2) everyone looks good dancing;


and the #1 "best thing" about a Second Life wedding....




(1) the honeymoon suite is just a click of the mouse away!

Free - Niko Donburi Ringtones!

Found this website via Sonic Bids which allowed me to make some ringtones for you. They're free so you have NO excuse for not having the chorus of Dear Linden, Dear Linden or Escape - the Second Life song ring when your sweetheart calls.

More from Niko Donburi at Myxer

* * *

More from Niko Donburi at Myxer

Black is the Colour

What follows comes from watching too much YouTube. Tuesday evening as I was cleaning the studio I had YouTube up and was running through some of my favorite clips. Two in particular, Johnny Cash's searing rendition of Trent Reznor's Hurt and the Holohan Sister's version of Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair some how got mashed up in my brain while I was sleeping. The next morning I tuned to DADGAD, a notorious Celtic guitar tuning, and came up with my version called Black is the Colour. A click on the song title should bring you to the song on last.fm.

In case you aren't familiar with the song, it is a traditional Scottish Song which somehow found its way to the Southern Appalachians. It was originally about a woman whose lover had failed to return from sea but I have changed the gender of the narrator given I'm the one singing it. Us guys can mourn too, you know....

(My version) of the lyrics:

Black is the colour of my true love's hair.

Her face is like some rosy fair,

The prettiest face and the neatest hands,

I love the ground whereon she stands.

I love my love and well she knows,

I love the ground whereon she goes,

If you no more on earth I see,

I can't serve you as you have me.

The winter's passed and the leaves are green,

The time is passed that we have seen,

But still I hope the time will come

When you and I shall be as one.

I go to the Clyde* for to mourn and weep,

But satisfied I never could sleep.

I'll write to you a few short lines,

I'll suffer death ten thousand times.

Black is the colour.

_ _ _ _

* In case you were wondering, the Clyde is a "a river of southwest Scotland flowing about 171 km (106 mi) northwest to the Firth of Clyde, an estuary of the North Channel. The river is navigable to Glasgow for oceangoing vessels." See here.

SL Under the Radar Episode #22

Radar was kind enough to chat abit about 44 lines about 22 Lindens in this recent episode which is fitting given that he interviewed Cogsworth Linden. Do yourself a favor and check out one of SL's best podcasters--you know it is good when Crap Mariner is a fan.

A Public Thank You to LL

Over the past year and a half I've admittedly done more than my share of complaining about Second Life and its troubles. Before the year ended, it was my goal to write a song giving "thanks" to all of the Lindens that make Second Life possible. Despite my grumbing and poking fun at you in song, I do appreciate all of your hard work.

At the same time, I got to wondering about who the "Lindens" are, what they do, etc. Thanks to Google, I stumbled upon the Second Life wiki article about Linden Lab employees which yielded enough information for the following creation:

44 Lines about 22 Lindens

Torley is the famous Linden
He's the one that does the blog
Robla works in management
He's just another Linden cog
Meta is the data cruncher
for the common metrics team
Poppy Linden finds the bugs
that cause us residents to scream

Pathfinder sends his snapshots
to his famous Flickr page
Mia rounds up volunteers
who do good work but don't get paid
Chiyo Linden is Japanese
we all call her Chiyo-chan
Colossus works with Jesse
keeping live music going strong

Brad is making Windlight
to turn the weather on and off
Bridie helps to fix the grid
when it starts to hack and cough
Elle is the french Linden
she's the one I'd like to meet
Blue Linden is famous
for the avatars that look so neat

He's also known as Cyan Linden
on the teen grid

Frontier's techy articles
I can never understand
Ginsu made the final call
on who or what got permabanned
Catherine's gift at marketing
helps Linden Lab stay in the press
Steve makes the SL Viewer
so Second Life will looks its best
Phoenix works on open source
for which he gets a lot of grief
Harry's making help search better
that should give us all relief
Cory's Linden Scripting Language
is what our world is based upon
but Philip Linden had the vision
so he's the one that ends this song

Thank you Lindens.
44 lines about 22 Lindens.

something funny

Received via e-mail, original author unknown:

A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York City two days before Christmas.

'I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing,' he says. 'Forty-five years is enough.'

'Pop, what are you talking about?' the son screams.

'We can't stand the sight of each other any longer,' the father says. 'I'm sick of talking about this, soyou call your sister in Chicago and tell her.'

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone.

'Like heck they're getting divorced,' she shouts. 'I'll take care of this!'

She calls her parents immediately, and screams at her father, 'You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing!'

The father hangs up his phone and turns to his wife.

'OK,' he says; "the kids are coming for Christmas and paying their own way.'

Open Letter to Readers of ontohollywood

From a post to the Music Dev list, I learned that there is an interest be YouTube performers about coming into SL to perform. I posted the following to the ontohollywood blog and am reposting it here:

As a member of the live music community of Second Life, I'd like to welcome all you readers to come into Second Life and check things out. It's a great place to catch a gig, make some friends or do just about everything that you can imagine.

It is also provides a wonderful opportunity for those of you looking for a place to perform YOUR original music, as long as you keep the following in mind:

(1) Second Life itself is pretty CPU and Graphics card intensive. Adding audio capture and streaming software to the mix will push your system to its limits, not to mention your broadband connection.

(2) Don't expect to learn Second Life AND performing in Second Life in the same day, or even the same week. It is going to take you a while to learn how to get around, communicate, find shows, listen to audio, rez something, search your inventory, buy stuff, etc. You HAVE to learn how to do all of that before you can even be in a position to consider live performing. My advice: get a SL account and spent a few weeks checking out gigs. You'll not only learn how to operate in SL, but you can get an idea of the venues that are available, meet some performers and make a determination as to whether or not SL is for you.

(3) Learning to stream audio is not as simple as "plug-n-play." After you get comfortable in SL and have settled on a virtual instrument to play, head over to one of the open mics that cater to new performers and introduce yourself. They can direct you as to which streaming application you should use and will walk you through the steps of accessing the stream, setting levels, etc. You are going to have to be able to juggle two or three different activities while performing. It's not hard, but does take a while to learn.

(4) Forget making any money in SL, at least at the beginning. No one is going to pay you to play if you don't know what you are doing, are an "unknown" in SL and don't have a following. Play for tips only. It will not only get you more gigs, but it will quickly give you some feedback as to whether or not performing in SL is for you. Think of it as virtual busking.

(5) Contrary to what you may think, SL is not a game to us residents. It is a place. We make friends, enemies, lovers; earn an income and spend a lot of time (and money!). There is a social protocol that is expected to be followed (e.g. use "/" before your typed chat at a gig) and an understood vocabulary. Behind every avatar is another human, some more fragile than others. Yes, there are some assholes in SL. There are also some of the finest people I have ever met. Please be one of the latter, and not the former.

(6) Audiences in SL prefer original music.

Feel free to email me and/or IM me if you make it in-world.

Best of luck,

Niko Donburi - The "Weird Al" of Second Life
www.nikodonburi.com

Slusic & a new look!

I blink and another week or two slips by without me getting the chance to update the blog with the latest happening. Here are some of the highlights:

-- A new service has arisen which caters to SL music performers and fans: Slusic. Two of my CD's worth of music (Tales from the Grid and God doesn't care) are available for streaming. I'm nowhere near getting into the top 10 of songs played, but with your help who knows!... :-)
Click here to go to Niko Donburi's Slusic page

-- After a show on 10/20 I was interviewed by an SLCN reporter(Second Life Cable Network) for a new spot focusing on the SL live music scene. More details to follow...

-- More time in the studio has definitely paid off with not one or two but three new SL songs: "44 Lines About 22 Lindens," "Should I Stay or Should I Log In?" and "Virtual Stranger." While none of them have yet been uploaded for your listening pleasure, I am playing them at my gigs...

-- You can catch my show twice a month at the fine ASD Studios Hollywood sim where I've somehow convinced them to give me a two hour time slot rather than the standard one hour. This not only gives you the listener more time to satisfy your craving for an extra serving of Donburi (hehe nihongo no joudan) but also gives me more time to slow the pace down, add a couple more covers and a lot more originals. Check out the photo above for my latest performance sans hair!

Niko on Tonite Live!

Come early to the set of the Second Life Cable Network's Tonite Live! with Paisley Beebe as it is going to be a packed sim. I'm this week's musical guest and will be interviewed post-performance by Paisley. Click here for a slurl to the show where you can watch it live. The show is also being streamed live in-world, so tune it in. It begins at 6 pm SL on Sun 10/7.

The show will be uploaded to the Tonite Live! website post-premiere so I'll get a link here in the next day or so as well.

Other guests include:

Upo Choche - Artistic Director - who will share how the Act Up Theater group brings 'live' theater to SL and Setori Spire - Metabrand Developer - who speciallizes in the conceptualization, design and development of Metabrands within the SL Metaverse.

OK, I'm outing myself right here before you read it in the Second Life Insider, Second Life Herald or one of the other SL rags....

My show at the Plus sim opening will NOT be live. I am lipsynching the entire event. Actually, since SL lacks any ability to move lips (see Kronos' Lip Flap for more on this), I am not even able to lip synch. I am just going to be standing there, strumming my guitar whilst a German DJ plays my mp3s.

You are no doubt wondering how I went from being the "Weird Al" of Second Life to the Milli Vanilli almost overnight. I am as well.

Just Saturday evening I was rocking out the House of Flame's, raking in the Lindens and now, Monday afternoon at 11:30 am SL I'll be perched on the back of a semi trailer pseudo-lip synching to my OWN tunes at the opening of what appears to be a German Home Depo type store.

What's even worse is that I am doing the whole thing for nothing. Not a Linden. I thought I was going to be playing live so I went and got a nice 100 connect stream, started plugging phrases into Babelfish to have a bit of German patter between songs (don't want to make that infamous Kennedy gaff!) only to find out that they DON'T want me "live" live.

Why did I volunteer to do the show in the first place? Well, it was my understanding that this would be a bit of SL history.... The people behind the scenes will be broadcasting the event from Second Life to the real world via their lifecrawler application. At least, that's what I think is what should be happening. Babelfish translations can only get me so far!

If you are in-world, here is a slurl: http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/plus/288/139/31

Log into the DJ's (slr2) stream here.

House of Flames: Sat 9/22 at 8pm SL

If you can't be in-world at the time of the show, feel free to listen in:

House of Flames stream

Cybster's Concert Stream

It seems like forever since SLCC took place. As of this date, the musical performance have yet to be posted.

Radar Masukami tracked me down after a show for an interview for his podcast, SL Under the Radar:

SL Under the Radar 015 - Niko Donburi on SL, Music, and the SLCC

There are plenty of great musicians in Second Life. Niko Donburi (http://www.nikodonburi.com/) is one such musician, and he talks to me about second life, music, and the experience of playing at the SLCC.

Intro music is "Under the Radar" by the band What The...? (http://www.what-the.com/) Outro song this time is "Dear Linden, Dear Linden by Niko Donburi.

Click here for direct download in mp3

Take a listen to it and his other episodes. And, for you other podcasters out there, don't forget that all of my songs are podcast friendly!!!

SLCC Audio

Despite the technology problems at SLCC 2007 which thwarted plans to have performers in-world at the same time we were performing in Chicago, the audio was professionally captured, recorded and mixed by Nethermind Bliss. It is slowly being posted to the Internet Archive, a hosting site which features all sorts of free stuff that is in the public domain.

All of the music performances at SLCC can be located here.

Second Jam Radio

Xerses Goff (mastermind behind the Arbor Project and The Teleportation Trail), after being interviewed by ABC News at SLCC, turned around and interviewed me for his nascent Second Jam radio station.

Not only are many of my Second Life parodies playing, but he also has snippets from our interview and some of my non-SL songs as well. Other artists include Cylindrian Rutabaga, Rich DeSoto, Ka-klick Martin, and others.... Listen in.

download stuff

Can't make SLCC? No problem!

I understand if this year's SLCC in Chicago is just too far away for you to attend, I really do. That's no excuse, however, for not catching the show.

Those of you with Second Life accounts can attend one of the various in-world venues that will be live streaming the audio. I and the rest of the band (the Music Monkeys) will be logged into SL whilst we are playing so you will be virtually there. If the many sims are full, lagged or if you simply have something else to do in-world then you can stream the audio to your parcel: http://social.phreak-radio.com.

What? You don't have any land? No problem: I'm setting my Tyta parcel to the stream before I leave so that you can stop by the ole duck pond (yes, it truly is a duck pond) and enjoy some SL wildlife along with the tunes.

Those of you that are technologically impaired or have chosen to avoid getting a Second Life for whatever reason don't need to feel left out either. Well, OK, you can feel left out but you can still listen in by entering the following into WinAmp, I-Tunes or another stream reader:

http://phreak-radio.com/social.pls

And lastly, those of you who truly have NO IDEA what the hell I am talking about need to get a life....