Category Archives: Heterocera

TEXT SOON.

… of VWX Town.

Main update: moving of the Temple of TILE more into the center of the town. Physically it has been moved from the Southside region to VWX Town’s Central sector, making Cardboard Derek Jones and the rest of Westside even more pissed off than ever, at least for the moment. For Central seems to be making power play after power play to simply take over the town, strangling Westside and perhaps Southside as well out of the picture. This according to CDJ, who, we know, can’t be counted on as a totally objective source.

For compensation to Southside, Pietmond’s Gallery Jack has been rezzed in the spot of the old location of the Temple of TILE. Bean Mister has defected from Central to Southside to act as bartender for its top floor bar. The spirit of Pietmond is said to dwell in that building at night.

In the transition to the center of town, unfortunately the Temple of TILE lost the functionality of its highly touted “Dark Side of the Rainbow” based walking labyrinth. Maybe the labyrinth can be moved to a different location in the burg.

Oh… I *could* just move it up from the first to the second floor of the same structure (!) Maybe that’s the solution for this particular problem.

Where is all this heading? I’ve started an analysis of all the buildings in the town. Temple of TILE will have its turn if this continues. Unfortunantly, once more, Westside has no structures that have historic depth, and will most likely be left out of such an analysis, to the irritation of CDJ and other Westies.

Structures of Pietmond:

WESTSIDE
Gallery Behind The Eyes
Wall of Eyes
Small Gothic Castle
Gallery None
Westside Garage

Surrealism Gallery
CENTRAL
Kidd Tower
Home o’ Fibs
ToXic Art Gallery
Stairs Gallery #1
Big Boy
Tower of A. Mann
The Table House
Burl Tower
Temple of TILE
Hole in the Wall bar
Stairs Gallery #2
Home Orange
Coolie Building
Town Hall
Quadtower of TILE
Sink Lair Gallery
SOUTHSIDE
House of Truth
Power Tower Gowlery
Gallery Jack

—–

10:PM:

*Latest* incarnation. What’s happened after the last picture (top o’ post here) is that, 1) the Sink Lair has been replaced in its old spot by the Norris Gallery or Norris Temple (take your pick), and, 2) the Sink Lair has *replaced* the short lived Gallery Jack in Southside. Oh, and Town Hall has moved on the other side of the path from where it was, and *its* spot has been replaced by a low prim version of Urban Steampunk Building (nonfunctional).

Still over 400 prims to play around with in Central/Westside now. Yippie! VWX Town is becoming perfected.

If this is truly going to be my last virtual village for a while, and at least in Second Life, I thought I’d focus more on the individual buildings while they’re rezzed. Liked the Kidd Tower pictured above. It evolved in New Pietmond, Sikkima in tandem with the evolution of the X-Spot Gallery, which has not yet been manifested in VWX Town. It may have broken away from this original tandem and declared its independence, like a kid does from its parents and perhaps especially the mother. The Mother. Kidd Tower, Big Boy and Tower of A. Mann are all clustered together in VWX Town, like they were in New Pietmond, *Otaki Gorge* (the *other* New Pietmond, also from the November-February, 2012-2013 period). Their surface meaning seems fairly clear: Kidd Tower, the shortest of the 3, is the kid, probably pre-adolescence; Big Boy, with the median height, is the adolescent; and Tower of A. Mann, the tallest, is the kid all grown up into a mature adult. Big Boy and Tower of A. Mann have never been fulfilled internally — they’re basically just town eyecandy with their glorious height, dominating over all of the Central section. Kidd Tower, in contrast, is internally meaningful as well. Outwardly it is basically composed of 3 stacked and identical modules of a building designed by the virtually famous Arcadia Asylum, the source of a lot of structures and objects in my virtual holdings down through the years now. This particular building is called the economy slum tower, I believe, part of her amazing Slum City collection that also includes the slum apartment used as the basis for the SoSo Gallery in both New Pietmonds.

So how did this particular building grow 3 times as tall as originally conceived? Where did it come from, once more? The Slum Tower, just as an object, I believe first appeared in one of my vitual locations in Noru, Spring 2009, but remained empty there, as it did up to the original (and longest) incarnation of Pietmond the next year. It was in Pietmond the economy tower fulfilled its first important role: as the home of the Gallery in the Rocks holding the art of synching friend Stegokitty. Related posts from the Baker Blinker Blog are here. Before this, as I’m remembering now in looking over that BB Blog post, it was called Gallery None, because there never was anything in it up until then. With the inclusion of Stegokitty’s photos and collages, I felt the structure was fulfilled in its unmodified or original state, and actually still do. The Gallery in the Rocks then also appeared in Pietmond, Second Stage and also other virtual villages from 2010 to 2012. In New Pietmond, the transformation of the structure from Gallery in the Rocks to Kidd Tower began, because I felt the former venue had run its course. Stegokitty had gone back to school to study film, and his new art, which I have not been able to experience yet at any length, was still obviously outpacing the old, at least to him as he relayed the basic idea back to me. *And* I felt it was also evolving beyond *synchronicity*, for Stegocat had, in the meantime, allowed his former touchstone Dark Side of the Rainbow site, The Definitive List, fall by the wayside. He had more important matters to attend to, and that’s understandable and most likely necessary. So it was actually in Carcassonee in Spring, 2012 that the economy tower started its growth spurt, transforming from Stegokitty showcase to a *Dark Side of the Rainbow* showcase (showing actual videos of Dark Side of the Rainbow, and still shots of important moments in this still most famous of audiovisual synchronicities). But this aspect was shortlived, as the Carcassonne village was soon given up. The next time we see the economy tower for any length of time, virtually speaking, I believe was in New Pietmond, Otaki Gorge. By that time I had created the rainbowology.net site, and had become involved in another person who had created an updated and very original Dark Side of the Rainbow web site named Jamie. Corresponding to this, I had the rough idea that the economy slum tower could become the virtual center for a study of rainbowology, obviously as a continuation of the Carcassonne leitmotif.

So, once more, how did the Kidd *Tower* evolve from this, and why the extra stories? Where *did* it come from??

(to be continued)

Big Boy, Tower of A. Mann, and Kidd Tower, with Southside’s even taller Power Tower in the background to their left.

—–

AND then, in a couple of hours, it’s changed once more.

Newest map of VWX Town.

Compare with here from just 2 days prior.

Biggest changes:

* addition of The Table House where the ToXic Art Gallery use to be, with the latter moved to the northeast corner of the town. The Table House becomes VWX Town’s newest hub, its primary power spot. Exciting things will be happening within soon.

* deletion of Tooter Claxton’s marvelous Hobo Squat to make room for the ToXic Art Gallery movement. Necessary.

* Creation of 2nd part of Stairs Gallery using same structure as employed in part 1. Both parts are connected to the Big Boy tower by bridges, allowing one to easily move between the two. This will most likely be a guest artist exhibit spot, probably emphasizing collage works again.

* Town Hall inserted between Coolie Bldg. and The Table House. For a brief spell this hall existed on the site of present Stairs Gallery Part #1, and for a briefer time both duplicate Town Halls coexisted with each other in these locations. Now the only duplicate structures of VWX Town are the parts of the Stairs Gallery.

Currently I have 574 prims to use for future construction in my newest virtual village. Great! And to free up even more prims, I could partially empty both the Sink Lair and the Quadtower of TILE, placing pointers to online exhibits of the works within instead.

So what’s next? Of the 4 bigger statues use in VWX Town so far, only Goldie remains, with bickering twins Newton and Jasper, and also coppery Brash, having been deleted in the meantime.

New location of ToXic Art. Seems to slot in this corner perfectly.

Dsiplaced palm trees from this same corner find a new home in Westside. Cardboard Derek Jones actually approves!

So here’s what I think is happening *now*. Central — Core of 4 or whoever — wanted *The Table* to become front and center, and cleared way for that by at least temporarily eliminating the ToXic Art Gallery and its bulk of the Art10x10 from the town. As of the last hour, it’s returned, but not where it was before. It has replaced the Hobo Squat that use to occupy the northeast corner of the burg, a logical progression looking back on it. The Goldie statue has also been moved to the end of a way that briefly became golden in color, but has, for the moment, turned back to its normal and lackluster gray — no golden roads in the village as of this writing (it could change in a moment’s notice). But Goldie is still there. And there isn’t just one Stairs Gallery building in town, but *two*, both surrounding the Big Boy tower.

Before I forget, I made what might be a meaningful mistake in calling the Big Boy tower the Power Tower in the last several exchanges of the last blog post here. I’m going to just let this error stand, for I believe Big Boy *is* the center of power in town now, and that’s what Central (Core of 4, etc.) had in mind all along. Let me return to that thought.

The *second* Stairs Gallery in VWX Town now, and on the opposite side of Big Boy from the first. Both are connected to Big Boy by a bridge.

The now central Table House — *The* Table House — sitting on land formerly occupied mainly by the ToXic Art Gallery. Never fear: that gallery would shortly return to VWX Town.

VWX Town skyline looking from the east. Soon the Hobo Squat (right) would be no more — that’s where I reinstated ToXic Art.

View from west, with The Table House visible more in the foreground.

Looking toward the Wall of Eyes from around The Table House, Goldie in foreground.

The Table itself, in the upstairs of The Table House.

Nice view from the transparent upstairs wall, looking toward the Quadtower of TILE.

“Hucka D., it’s time to talk about all this.”

Hucka D.:

It is what it is — a power play. This is probably what the Core of Four wanted all along: The Table in their midst. Whoever controls The Table controls the town. That was their thinking.

bb:

Who are the Core of Four, then?

Hucka D.:

In you mind, you’ve guessed the 4 dopplegangers of The Kniks, who are actually 1 Knik, and that is Knok. You see them/him in the very first collage displayed in the Power Tower Gowlery. Go take a look — take a snapshot. I’ll wait.

bb:

Okay.

Hucka D.:

So the Core of Four… you go…

bb:

So the Core of Four are The Kniks who are one Knik and that is Knok. But what of the townspeople? We’ve speculated that Biker Jones and Ranger Johns, and perhaps Furry Carl and Bean Mister and Lt. Pepper along with them, are candidates for the Core of Four.

Hucka D.:

Cardboard Derek Jones should know. His grandfather Cardboard Isaac Newton Jasper Jones was killed in the town’s Meat Wars. His grandmother Cardboard Derek Jeter inherited the old postmodern art mill, which churned out a dozen or so prodigies in its day. That was behind the present Wall of Eyes, and when Carrcassonne still had all knowing power. The eyes only looked at her in those days.

bb:

Should we bring back Cardboard Jones to verify all this, Hucka D.?

(Sound of door slamming, which made Hucka D. jump out of his seat but which I, baker b., barely heard. In fact, I looked around for another insect tapping at the far window that Hucka D. seems oblivious of. Derek Jones enters.)

CDJ:

In fact, there was no eyes on the wall in those days. I was listening with my supersonic powers while walking down the street toward this place. What do you call this place anyway? It’s a squat!

bb:

We call it Nowhereville.

CDJ:

Appropriate. Yeah, that’s something I didn’t tell you. Carrcassonne wasn’t always blind, as it were. She gave her eyes to the wall. Her eye which is many eyes. Isn’t there a story of Shiva in your Indian mythology with the many eyes?

bb:

Unsure, Cardboard. Maybe a 3rd eye you are referring to? Also I think Shiva was a destroyer. Was Carrcassonne a destroyer?

Hucka D.:

Yes. (insert sound of door slamming to Hucka D., and the sound of another tapping insect to me, baker b.) CDJ had to leave because he remembered he forgot to lock his front door [as he just whispered to me]. He’s afraid of Central’s goons, and probably for good reason. They hang at Furry Carl’s newly inserted bar, get drunk, and then go looking for trouble, especially towards Southside and Westside. Cardboard Jones also told me last night that they’ve actually changed the name of the whole town from Westside to Westend, just because that’s what everyone seems to mistakenly call it — like me! But Westside’s Story goes on.

bb:

You mean the play based on the history of Westside — er, Westend. I actually like Westside better.

Hucka D.:

It could change[ again].

—–

bb:

So back to The Table, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

It is what it is.

(to be continued?)

Added a stream in front of the Power Tower Gowlery, a shorter version of the one in the original VWX Town in Rubi this May. The swift flow helps better define Southside from Central to its north, and keeps Central’s kids from running amok in the Power Tower Gowlery all the time. At least that’s what Southsiders claim — about the kids running amok I mean. This stream was later ratified by the town’s first official meeting, which strangely and even suspiciously, I personally was not invited to. Instead Hucka Doobie took my place as representative for the “outside”.

The town now has an official bar: the return of Hole in the Wall, also last seen in Rubi. Furry Carl is still within, now offering summer beers in his cursing manner. I wonder if Knok will show up there again like he did before? Today or tomorrow I think I’ll go shopping for free or very cheap stuff over at the SL marketplace — maybe find me some more cutouts of things like Carl, Bean Mister, and the like.

Interesting bridge between the Stairs Gallery building, still in development, and Big Boy tower. You’re suppose to call it just Big Boy and not Big Boy Tower, and if you attach the word tower to it in writing you’re suppose to make the “t” small. It’s Big Boy or Big Boy tower. Hucka Doobie, who took the minutes of the first meeting (maybe that’s the only reason they invited *him*), reinforced this to me. And he says to not chafe the Centrals, because they’re a rough crowd and tend to harp on details. Not like the totally anal Westenders, he added, but still they’re pretty bad. Can’t wait to read these minutes.

Town map added in front of the ToXic Art Gallery. Or is that ToXic Art *gallery*. Have to ask Hucka D. when he shows up — he’ll probably know by now.

Well, this is as good a spot to bring him on in and talk about more changes that have taken place before and after the first meeting. Hucka D.?

Hucka D.:

It was a confusing meeting, baker b. Confusing to me. You just built this town in the last week, but citizens, like Cardboard Derek Jones, have a memory of the place spanning decades, and he might even claim he was born there. He said he was raised a Central boy, but then moved to Westend when he “grew up” or “got wise” as I believe he put it. Oh he has to come to Central all the time, since there’s precious little in Westend. He has to attend the Temple of TILE services over in Southside since that’s the only place of worship in town. So he talks bad about Central and Southside all the time, but really that’s where he hangs out more. This was brought up at the meeting: Biker Jones — apparently no relation — puts him down at one point by saying he’s never even seen him in his beloved Westend, and then playfully adds that he, however, doesn’t go there much to see for himself because there’s nothing there. This particular strain of vehemence started when Central’s “Core of Four” decided that House Greenup was taking too many prims in the town for its ultimate worth, which they said wasn’t much. Oh you should have been there, baker b. Cardboard Jones started cussing and cussing, saying he thought the Greenup collages were better than anything in Southside and Central put together, and that he had read Floydada [book inside House Greenup, attempting to explain the collages] over and over again, since that’s about all they had to read in Westend, not having a proper library or anything. Then he adds that he didn’t really *understand* it all that well, but he’s read it again and again still, and that there’s some mighty important things in there for sure. The Core of Four pressed him, and since he couldn’t produce anything of substance, they voted to get rid of House Greenup, replacing it with a more modern and prim saving museum with art to be determined at a later date.

bb:

Was there anyone else from Westside at the meeting? And isn’t it Westside instead of Westend?

Hucka D.:

Yeah, sorry. Should know that since I took the minutes. (Hucka D. then places his hands on the side of his head in shock) Holey moley, I hope I didn’t make that mistake throughout the minutes!

bb:

You better check now. We’ll return later. I’ll add some more pictures to a new blog entry and we’ll continue in a moment. Go ahead and take your time.

Hucka D.:

Thanks! I’m shaking in my boots thinking what Derek Jones would do to me if I published them that way.

“Hucka D., I sense a rivalry between at least Central and Westside, and probably between Southside and the other 2 as well.”

Hucka D.:

Correct! Cardboard Jones obviously champions the west. He lives there! Behind the eyes, but not between the eyes, you see. You see? baker b.? (pause) Town meeting… aw never mind. I’ll put up some pictures.

Cardboard Derek Jones welcoming Baker Bloch to Westside.

Baker chatting up the locals. Westside Story’s coming to town soon, he hears.

Westside’s certainly proud about their newest structure: The Gallery Behind the Eyes.

Yet another Baker Trap (I think Knok may live in that garage in the background here; Knok’s a Westie?!).

Meanwhile, Southside fights for the rights to the House of Truth.

Thinking of his sector’s own Wall of Eyes, Cardboard Jones taunts Southside’s lack of vision.

Over in Central, locals argue over which part of it is best while a policeman spouts inflammatory words.