Magnificent Chaos: Eupalinos Ugajin's "Gravity Is a Mistake"

Anyone unacquainted with the work of Eupalinos Ugajin will have no idea of the ecstatic lunacy Second Life can host. His One Day My Cow Will Come, which I blogged about in 2011, is one of my favorites. He's produced many works in the interim, including an installation at Split Screen. He now has a build at LEA21 titled Gravity Is a Mistake, which in my book is a must-see.

Like many of Eupa's works, Gravity primarily consists of a potpourri of small pieces (a few of which have appeared before) with no particular connection to each other as far as I can tell, but of course all sourced from Eupa's particular sense of surrealism and humor. (Not to mention his abiding love of the Russian cult film Kin-dza-dza!, which is why you'll hear someone saying "Kou!" -- also transliterated as "koo" and "ku" -- and see the same word inside what might be an oxygen tank on a cow.) In Eupa's builds it's essential to touch, bump, or grab everything. Often the object will transport or animate you, and sometimes it will make a sound, move your camera, or send you a gift (in the last case, try wearing it right away). Other pieces are amusing in other ways, like a giant ear with a Klein bottle earring. Gravity is structured as a dome with a central corridor, but be sure to cam outside because some of pieces including another Klein bottle) are on the exterior. At the main entrance you should receive a HUD (or if not there, then pick one up at the beginning of the corridor) which has two buttons, one to return you to the beginning of the corridor, the other to rescue you from one of the small works.

At the end of the corridor is a "dragon" which you are supposed to pass in order to reach the library at the end. This is not easy to do. No, let me rephrase that: it's well nigh impossible. There are a few "clues," all of which are totally useless if not outright intentionally misleading. After half an hour of struggling I thought I had it -- I said "Kou" to it, which given Eupa made perfect sense -- but it turned out that this was completely coincidental: something else entirely had caused the dragon to turn around. This I found out when I appealed to Ziki Questi. Really, to get past the dragon you need two clues; what I'll tell you is that French government will undoubtedly strip Eupa of his citizenship for the crime of weaponizing Edith Piaf; and going up the stairs in back of the dragon is useless, but up the stairs is useful. Those clues may or may not be in the right order. If you're still stymied, for now don't worry about it -- currently the library is pretty empty, and Eupa has invited some artists to install something in it. So plan on making a return trip or two. With any other artist its hodgepodge might indicate lack of direction; but with Eupa, and in this work especially, the collection of quirky oddities is almost a vision of the universe. Gravity is magnificent chaos, well worth additional visits.

Exterior	The Klein bottle earring
The bar ... lots to drink ...	(I haven't a clue)
The "kou" cow	The dragon

Eupalinos Ugajin's Gravity Is a Mistake (click to enlarge photos)

Speaking of other artists, the SL artist most akin to Eupa in playfulness and disregard for realism is Maya Paris (she's more satirical, he's more surrealist and messy). Eupa actually incorporates a tidbit of Maya in his work, but more, if you look along the top of the dome you'll find a teleport to Maya's Le Cactus, a piece inspired by Josephine Baker that Maya created a couple of years ago, which at Eupa's invitation is back for a return engagement.

That vampire you've been shagging could be an NSA spy!

Oh for pete's sake ... The Guardian in the UK reports that according to documents supplied by Edward Snowden, the US's National Security Administration and the UK's Government Communications Headquarters decided that virtual worlds like the World of Warcraft and (of course) Second Life might be a haven for international terrorists (forgetting, as usual, that they should first look in the mirror), and so they're now present in-world to do some spying the good old-fashioned way: by dressing up as orcs and almost certainly as vampires (fitting, huh?). That woman wearing an Alli & Ali box on her head as though it were the hair she just bought? Be careful, she (or he) is listening to you bitch about wanting a version with streaks, and classifying your comments as code for bombing a Pizza Hut. The NSA & GCHQ have also raided Xbox.

I have to quote a couple paragraphs from the article:

One problem the paper's unnamed author [an NSA analyst] and others in the agency faced in making their case – and avoiding suspicion that their goal was merely to play computer games at work without getting fired – was the difficulty of proving terrorists were even thinking about using games to communicate.

and this:

Meanwhile, the FBI, CIA, and the Defense Humint Service were all running human intelligence operations – undercover agents – within Second Life. In fact, so crowded were the virtual worlds with staff from the different agencies, that there was a need to try to "deconflict" their efforts – or, in other words, to make sure each agency wasn't just duplicating what the others were doing.

The second paragraph there is pretty scary. But I have to admit, I can't stop laughing. Hello, Austin Powers, and the 1967 spy film satire Casino Royale. But at last, we finally know why we get so many random "bite" offers: they're made by CIA officers conducting a sting operation.

Addendum: Wagner James Au has a post about this in New World Notes, with a little history and a mention of its constitutionality. As he points out, there's nothing really surprising in any of this; but something about it strikes me as ridiculous. What sort of body shape, skin, hair and clothing do the NSA and GCHQ spooks shop for? Are they investigating the BDSM community for interrogation techniques, or do they think the steampunk crowd is developing new and highly dangerous weaponry? Hey, maybe we now have the truth about SaveMe Oh! :-P

(OK, I admit, that was slightly mean. But I cut my political teeth when the FBI was massively infiltrating leftwing groups with agents provocateurs.)

Steampunk dada: The Bogon Flux is back!

The Bogon Flux is one of the great classic "Impossible in Real Life" builds, created by Blotto Epsilon and Cutea Benelli. Alas, it vanished from the grid two or three years ago. It was eventually succeeded by the Petrovsky Flux, which is at the Spencer Art Museum. If you haven't been there, well, go!

But first, thanks to Eupalinos Ugajin, the Bogon Flux is back, hosted on a LEA sim until the end of September. To be honest, I like it more than the Petrovsky Flux, possibly because by the time the Petrovsky Flux was installed I was more accustomed to some of the wild things artists can create, but more likely because the Bogon Flux is a lot sillier. Most art (virtual or material) is serious, so sophisticated goofiness is much to be treasured. The only other sophisticatedly goofy artists I can think of are Maya Paris, who has a strong satirical streak, and of course Eupalinos, whose style (especially lately) tends toward surrealism. Artistically, I'd call the Bogon Flux "steampunk dada," or perhaps "dada steampunk," take your pick.

You can't merely drop in on the Bogon Flux, look around, and leave. You must spend time with it, or you'll miss everything. There is much to see and much to explore, and what you'll see and explore changes. Specifically, the installation slowly grows. And grows. And grows. And then flies apart, until there's nothing left but the small shed at the base, and the whole cycle starts again. It's important to cam out now and then to watch what it does. If you happen to be inside one of the pieces when it blows apart, off you'll go. There are also strange creatures around, including watchful eyes, rats, and what might be described as a hairy turd (although it's the wrong color). There's also a giant couch and a few other things on the periphery.

The houses on fire are the least of the dangers.  And there are certainly pleasures, such as hanging out on the patio.

Your starting point.

"I always feel like somebody's watching me..."

Boom

The creators give instructions on how to explore the build, or at least how to go up, through internal teleports. Sometimes the teleports lead to a dead end, so you may have to find some way out. But going back down the build in any sensible manner is a lost cause. Either fly out from one of the rare openings or wait to be blown up.

The Bogon Flux and its surroundings are a little different from its previous incarnation. Perhaps it's my imagination, but I think it grows more slowly than before. Also I miss the rat barbecue. Still, years later there's still nothing like it on the grid except the Petrovsky Flux, so see it while you can.

Veparella! or, Aren't Capers a Garnish?

The second loopy build this month! Maya Paris has a new one called Veparella. As she tells us, a "scissor-wielding superheroine created in a freak sewing accident invites you to join her in a Fairytale Caper."

When you arrive, pick up the costume and instructions from the basket of bones.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

The Veparella costume	Full view of the build
What happens when you say "snip"	Dancing on an apple
Making angels on the bed	Ummm ... I have no idea

Turn on the media stream for musical accompaniment reminiscent of old cartoon shows.  Really, the whole thing seems to be channeling Chuck Jones and Jay Ward.

There's probably a serious meaning to all this (maybe something about the philosophical significance of seamstressing, red high heels, and sew on and sew forth), but I'm not that smart so I'm going to take it as a fun treat.

To those of you who feel uncomfortable about wearing women's clothes, just a reminder: this is SL, you're looking at a bunch of pixels, so please -- get over it.  That goes for the males among you, too.

Cow loon

Occasionally, while I'm at Split Screen, I'll get into conversation with a visitor. One who came by a couple days ago to see the new show was Eupalinos Ugajin, appearing as a large dragonfly. I don't think I'd ever heard of him (I think it's a him), but then, I get a bit disconnected. He gave me a link to his Flickr site with some interesting photos of his sim, he said he didn't build elsewhere, I got an LM and he went off to take photos. But something told me I should look at his work in person. And so yesterday I landed at "One Day My Cow Will Come." It's a wild, wonderful, lunatic build, I laughed pretty much the entire time, and everybody ought to make a pilgrimage there tout suite.

There's plenty to do and see here -- in fact I know I missed some bits, which is good because now I have an excuse to return -- but the pièce de résistance is surely the huge catapult. There's a menu from which you can select from a range of objects (by various makers, including Dekka Raymaker, Rose Borchovski, and Maya Paris) to drop in its bowl. When you launch it, a gigantic strawberry descends from the heavens, hits its paddle, and the projectiles go hurtling across space, into and through the huge net. I spent maybe half an hour loading and launching, pretty much giggling the whole time.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

At the landing point	The big net
The big picture	I'm not sure why I'm running in a tub....
Our hero: Frank Zappa	Looking down into the "city"
Tyrannosaurus watches ELF	My conversation with Mrs Bones
Sleeping on the net	Also on the net
Cows rain on me in the "city"	The strawberry falls
Flinging eyes from the catapult	Flinging cows from the catapult

Mrs Bones made a machinima which will give you a flavor:

As you can see from my photos, the place has gotten a bit more, um, occupied since Mrs Bones made the video.

So stop reading this and go see "One Day My Cow Will Come."

Return of the Flux!

Once upon a time, there was the Bogon Flux. In a land inhabited by eerie creatures with one large eye on a mechanical stalk, rats, an enormous (and equally ratty) couch, and other oddities, it was a crazy, ramshackle steampunk build that grew from a smallish tower to a gigantic mishmash of rooms, tubes, outhouses and god knows what that you could wander through, soon getting entirely lost, and then tumbling out as it blew itself apart, sending pieces into the sky and onto the ground. And it was good. It was very good. And it went away.

Months and months passed. More than a year. Lovers of lunacy long lamented the loss.

Now, blotto Epsilon and Cutea Benelli, creators of Bogon Flux, have brought us the Petrovsky Flux, installed at the Spencer Art Museum sim. Its twisty branches sprout new parts of various sorts, as did the Bogon Flux, and also like its predecessor, eventually numerous parts fall off in a cascade of junk. You'll want something to protect your head, and the creators kindly provide one -- a "noggin protector" that you pick up from a sign at the landing point, complete with little propellerized sheep that fly around your head. The big sofa is back -- two of them in fact -- as are the eyeballs on stalks, now accompanied by eyeballs with wings. Pink armchairs are piled up and occasionally wander around; one or two provide rides of a sort. There are some TPs and other goodies.

All photos below are taken with the "Brighton" windlight settings recommended by Epsilon and Benelli. Click on the photos to see larger views.

I have to admit, I miss the creepier aspects of the Bogon Flux, especially the large number of eyeballs on stalks watching your every move, the rats, and the disturbing and undefinable creatures in the sea. And the Bogon Flux was designed so that people can wander around inside, which this build isn't (although you can get inside). On the other hand, it also isn't as lag-inducing as its predecessor (as an occasional scriptor, I'm fascinated by the technical aspects too). Anyhow, I'm happy to see the Petrovsky Flux, and already started dragging friends over to see it. It's that sort of build -- go share it with someone.