Kermitt Quirk is the by-now famous inventor of Tringo, the heralded game-within-a-game now ported to the Nintendo DS. Australian news source The Age recently interviewed Kermitt and grabbed a little video of both his land and a short introduction to Tringo itself.

Now, I've not played Tringo, because frankly I don't need another method of frittering away my time; I'm the addictive type, and I know it. Kermitt, however, is another example of 'residents gone good', to be lumped in with the likes of Anshe Chung and Our Aimee -- that is to say, residents with an impact so great that they've become the RL's touchstone to SL. While the videos are short, Kermitt comes across as a fairly sober-minded individual, which is probably a good thing, considering all the overblown hype the mainstream media usually generates around SL. Go check it out; links to the videos are at the bottom of the article.

(Thanks, Corey!)

Since she's either too busy or too shy to mention it, Our Aimee was recently interviewed by Secondcast, regarding the UN's "Stand Up" project, which she helped architect. Just under an hour, the interview is fun to listen to (and also features Chance Takashi, by the way) and it's always great to hear Aimee's trademark giggle!

Okay, I know everyone's excited to know who's donating prizes, and what they are. As it stands, here is the list:

• Coal Nelson donates a 'Personal Comet' head orbiter (if you haven't seen one of these, they're really cute! Come find me in-world for a look)
• Mistress Midnight donates something from her personal line of clothing (details to be determined by Mistress)
  
• Six Kennedy donates a 400L gift certificate to Gurl6 (her fashion and hairstyle store)
• Our own Aimee donates both a 1000L credit voucher to Preen and a few unreleased Preen items (to be determined by Aimee)
  
• Jakkal Dingo donates 2 800L gift certificates to The Werehouse (Like my werewolf av? I got it from Jakkal!)
  
• Tippy Fizz donates a portrait session in her photography studio (She does fine work, no lie)
  
• Trinity Serpentine donates a 2 hour set from the Radio Radio DJ of the winner's choice (though the DJ requested must either be off-schedule or this can take place during their scheduled set)
• Ordinal Malaprop donates a new object of her design (she's keeping it a secret!)

And, again, I'll offer to interview the winner if they're interested. So there you have it, a drool-worthy list of prizes if ever I've seen one. And I've never seen one, so I'm proud to be the first! Thank you to everyone who's graciously donated these prizes and for being so generous with their time! If you would like to donate a prize to this contest, you may either IM me in-world, or send me mail at akelatal@gmail.com. Good luck to the winner!

Well, after missing an update last week, the general consensus seemed to be cautious optimism: If LL was taking the time to get the update right, with all potential bugs worked out well ahead of time, it was worth the week-long wait. Personally, I was happy with the most recent update. I was experiencing little lag (at least, less than before) and dramatically improved rezzing speed.

However, it's 1 PM now (PST/SLT), and still no update. Cautious Optimism turns to Justified Concern. Justified Concern turns to Frustrated Waiting. Frustrated Waiting turns to Boredom. Boredom turns to Sleep. Sleep turns into "Hey, I wonder what disaster photo Aimee will put up on her next 'Second Life Down' post?"

For those of you who missed the earlier, impromptu one, SLI will be celebrating its launch with an in-world party at Noon, August 3rd, at the Radio Radio Club in Midnight City. Meet me, Caliandris Pendragon, Aimee Weber, Master Penguin, and Local Jezebel, as we dance like the power-mad fools we are, and light up our stogies with the wads of Lindens that we receive in tithe by the other, lesser blogs of the Internet.

Trinity Serpentine will be DJ for the evening's festivities, and a wild assortment of residents from all areas and walks of life will be there to whoop it right the hell up with us! I'm offering a prize of a posting of the subject of your choice to the winner of a random pulling of names of attendees from a hat. A prim hat. Probably one of those floppy 'Cat in the Hat' numbers.

Actually, I don't have a hat. I'll be pulling the name from a list that I'll be writing myself by hand to commemorate those ancient, halcyon days before we did all of our communication by typing. But you know what I mean. The post can be an interview with you, or someone you know, or a discussion of whatever you'd like the world to know all about. You can use it to bring attention to a serious subject, or just give a shout to the people you know and love. It's all about the love! You may direct questions to me in-world. Be there, or be a quadrangle of indeterminate area! Hmm... doesn't quite flow, does it?

Podcasting is the new Black. There is a metric tonne of podcasts out there, dealing with the gamut of topics from Aliens to Zebras. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before Second Life had its own. Developed and hosted by Johnny Ming, Secondcast is a wonderful example of the breed. Commenting on all issues relating to SL, Johnny heads up this podcast alongside usual suspects Walker Spaight of 3pointD.com, Torrid Midnight of TorridWear and Midnight City, Lordfly Digeridoo of Digeridoo Designs, and Cristiano Midnight of Snapzilla and SL Universe.

Covering a wide range of subjects, these outspoken members of the SL community bring a show filled with insight, sarcasm, and a heaping helping of hilarity (Damn my predilection for alliteration!). Frequently featuring a guest speaker (past episodes have brought Elex Dusk, Mistress Midnight, and our own Aimee Weber, as well as RL guests such as Philip Linden and Randy Moss of the American Cancer Society), the show continues to educate and entertain. It's well worth your time to dive into the archives, and hear how the show has developed over time to grow more accomplished and professional. Now, if they'd only consent to interview werewolves...

American Apparel, the RL clothing store, has opened a new location in SL! To do so, they've enlisted our own adorable Aimee Weber to create their building.

It's interesting, to say the least, that SL is beginning to be regarded as a viable option for advertising purposes. As Raz Schionning, director of Web services at American Apparel, says: "Everyone else has wings and devil horns and all the rest ... So it'll be curious to see if a red T-shirt makes sense." I've found that residents, above all else, value choice in their appearance, so I don't imagine that AA ought to be too concerned. The question is, however, will this drive sales up in RL?

This site has a nice selection of pictures of the newly-designed space, and of course, you may go visit the site itself in the Lerappa sim.

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....