During the month of February, Millions of Us and Fox Atomic held a contest for the best machinima and photos of their horror avatars. It recently ended on February 26th, with judging taking place this past week. I'm excited to let you know that the results have been announced. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Machinima Contest

• Pierce Portocarrero - Grand Prize Winner receiving a round trip for two to Costa Rica
• Decomposing Monstre - First Prize Winner receiving 100,000 Lindens
• Osprey Therian - Second Prize Winner receiving 50,000 Lindens

Photo Contest

• Kronos Kirkorian - Grand Prize Winner receiving 25,000 Lindens
• Ina Centaur - First Prize Winner receiving 10,000 Lindens
• LK Roar - Second Prize Winner receiving 5,000 Lindens

Cory Edo will be known to many of you. If she isn't her work surely is. As a member of the MDC Electric Sheep Company, Cory has worked on many public projects, and has also been interviewed on Secondcast. Even though she was officially on vacation, she generously gave me a little of her time to answer some burning questions. More after the jump!

How did you come to be with [ESC]?

Cory Edo: Well Makaio and I had our own development company back at the end of '05 called Tiny Seadog. We did mostly inworld stuff but a few RL projects as well. When ESC approached us about joining up, it was just getting to that put up or shut up point where I'd have to set up a business license, taxes, all that stuff, which I dreaded doing. So this seemed like a good way to be able to just concentrate on building and texturing and letting someone else handle the administrative aspects ... plus tracking down the jobs.

When Fox Atomic and Millions of Us announced their big Machinima contest, with enormous prizes, the goons answered the call of duty. Just about the only requirement for the entry was that it used the Fox Atomic avatars, which it did throughout. Decomposing Monstre sprang into action, building his sets on Lukanida, with only days left until the deadline, which is tonight.

The premise of the video is that the streets of Second Life are being invaded by a monster, GriefZilla. No one is safe from it's wrath. I don't want to give too much away, so you'll have to check it out!

What do I like about the video? He turned off the UI! Well, that's not the only thing, but it really makes a difference. He uses subtle humor throughout the film and experiments with different genres. It almost reminds me of Rampage, the old PC game. If you enjoyed the film, vote for him on the Fox Atomic website!

The prizes are some of the highest value I've seen for a Machinima contest. One grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Costa Rica. The first and second prize winners will receive 100,000L and 50,000L. Not a bad haul for virtual loot. The contest ends on Monday, February 26th, at 11:59PM PST, so don't wait!

Cisco is co-hosting an event in Silicon Valley at TechMart which will be held simultaneously in Second Life on Cisco Systems 3. Taking place on Tuesday, February 20th at 8AM PST, it will run all day, with an impressive list of speakers.

• Helen Chang, World of Warcraft guild leader
• Reuben Steiger, CEO of Millions of Us
• Geoffrey Moore, President of Santa Fe Institute on Serious Games Conference
• Byron Reeves, Stanford Media X talking about psychology of avatars in immersive environments
• Edward Castronova, the virtual worlds economist
• Tom Malone, Sloan MIT professor and author of Future of Work
• Alpheus Bingham from Innocentive/Eli Lilly
• Chuck House from Stanford Media X talking about serious applications of gaming
• Christian Renaud from Cisco talking about Cisco and serious applications of gaming

Two of the speakers, Tom Malone and Alpheus Bingham, will be chatting in Second Life only. The meeting will cover how to harness entertainment applications such as SL and WoW for real-world challenges. The speakers will also weigh in on initial corporate efforts and how old models of leadership hold up to today's standards.

(Thanks for the tip, Jeremy Pepper!)

Kiwi Alfa, the Machinimatographer whom revamped the Alt-Zoom camera to give it handy commands, has been holding a series of basic Machinima Classes in conjunction with Millions of Us. Held on the island of Fox Atomic, they cover such topics as how to record using the built-in camera in the client, what settings to use, and even how to use his modified camera.

Two classes have been held prior to these, but I wanted to let him settle in before I mobbed him!

Here is the remaining schedule:

• Feb 12th - 12:00 PM SLT/PST
• Feb 15th - 12:00 PM SLT/PST
• Feb 17th - 03:00 PM SLT/PST
• Feb 19th - 12:00 PM SLT/PST

Update: I should note that all of these classes are the same. They're just available on different days so you have a greater chance of attending. Thanks, Master Penguin, for raising this question!

My name is moo Money. While I'm no stranger to blogging on a personal blog, this is my first time doing it in a professional manner, so bear with me. I found out about Second Life in January of 2003 when I was managing the news for TSO Stratics. I wasn't feeling very creative at the time, so I didn't stay for very long in SL.

I returned in December of 2005 after reading an article about Second Life somewhere. It was a wondrous, magical place and I couldn't wait to get started on my new virtual life. I eventually found my niche in May of 2006 at which point I was hired by BuhBuhCuh Fairchild to promote Machinima. I've accomplished a lot since then ...

I've received notice that hip-hop artist Jay-Z will be performing in SL with a simulcast to the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show, hosted by and on Pontiac's Motorati Island. I'm intensely curious about this particular mash-up, which Millions of Us is helping bring into reality (or should I say 'virtuality'? Haha! Ugh) -- whose idea was this, initially? Has Jay-Z been aware of SL before this? Is this Pontiac's way of attempting to cement their name with America's youth, coordinating with a popular musician? How will Jimmy Kimmel announce this to his audience? THere is a lot of potential for this event to have wide-ranging effects ... including, of course, another huge spike in account creation.

If anyone catches this broadcast, drop us a line and let us know your reactions. Once video becomes available, we'll put it up here.

Ok, I can almost hear you muttering, "Big news, Cali, the October issue is on the news-stands in Europe, we all know they've been in SL, keep up!" Aha, but I mean that Wired have set up an office in SL, on the Millions of Us sim, and they appear to be in SL.

I say appear to be, because really just because a company has a placeholder build in SL, doesn't mean they are "in" SL, and exploring in the way that you and I explore. I bought Wired for the article on SL in the October issue, and because people told me that my baby, Numbakulla, had a mention in it. Well... yes. But actually their researcher talked to Moopf Murray, erstwhile owner of Numbakulla, who told them to talk to me about it, then Cierrah Blair, my friend and colleague from a number of jobs, who told them to check it out with me... and they still printed what they wanted to print in the first place.

I think I can quote the whole of the quotation without straining your eyes: "When Uru Live, an MMOG made by the creators of Myst was canceled, some fans refused to let it die. They bought their own island in second Life and created environments and puzzles that recall Uru." It's sort of true, and sort of a complete distortion of the truth at the same time. I think they confused Numbakulla with Telador, and ignored what they were told. Their fact checker asked Cie if Numbakulla resembled Uru and was told: "No, I wouldn't say it does." Ah well, that explains why they told Cie it wasn't that important. Let's not let the facts get in the way of a neat story.

So. They've opened a headquarters in SL because they want to report from the front line in the new world, and I went to visit their HQ to see if they have used some imagination or set up conference rooms and offices like the rest.

On initial inspection, they seem to have used some imagination to set up an office which looks like the inside of a

Millions of Us, a metaverse media management company, is involved in an interesting event occurring as we speak, and for the next 72 hours. Versu Richelieu will be spending 3 days in the store window of Datavision, an electronics superstore in New York, with only her laptop as a source for entertainment, communication, and nourishment. She won't be eating her computer, though she will be using it to order food and anything else she might need online.

Additionally, she'll be spending her 72 hours in SL, in an attempt to build an equivalent model of the surrounding blocks in which she's ensconced. The best part? You can see what she's doing in both worlds at http://www.nyclivewindow.com/!

When I arrived at the sim in which she was building, I was amazed to see a metric tonne of Lindens there: Sabin, Ben, MichaelFrancis, Jeska, Milo, Torley were all in attendance, watching Versu build while she danced. Versu, I wish you luck. Keep hydrated and make us proud, soldier!

Sire records announce that they are to launch Regina Spektor's album in SL. 

There is a place in world  (two, actually) for people to go and listen to her latest release: Begin to Hope, built by the inestimable Aimee Weber.

In the interests of my readers, I have travelled there by SLUrl.  A loft-style room awaits, streaming the the album music. The build and lighting are all one would expect from Aimee, and the clever little gadgets which are streaming the music, and link to an external website, are by Green Fate. A Millions of Us logo appears on the wall.

A veteran of in-world launches, I clicked on everything I could see, but could find no freebies. Maybe they will appear once the launch is officially announced....