The Art Connoisseur

Not only can I spell it but I believe I am it - a connoisseur. Defined by Mr. Webster as "one who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties," I admit to having a love of fine art paintings. Admittedly there are certain styles and techniques I prefer to others but I do spend money on art books and art galleries. Whenever I travel in the world, I try to ensure a trip to a local museum. I boast that I have almost been thrown out of the Prado in Madrid and the Art Gallery of Southern Australia in Adelaide, on both occasions for taking photos.

Second Life allows me to indulge this little passion by providing me with the opportunity to create my own private collection of paintings that I no longer need to work out how to steal in Real Life. I already have one wall of my house dedicated to some of my favorite pieces, and there are more walls to cover. Each painting is one prim so I cannot have a viewable collection of more than about 150 items because my land has a finite number of allowable prims and I at least need walls -although in a surreal way I suppose I could just hang them in air and use ALL my prims for paintings.



My collection contains primarily J.W. Waterhouse and John Collier. In a sense, I would like to recreate in-world the entire contents of my favorite web site, ArtMagick. In fact, if I can convince the site owner to part with some cash, I would be happy to enter a joint project to build a spectacular Second Life museum of Art, which could house an awesome collection. I suspect that there would be some minor copyright issues (!!) but then I can dream, can't I?

Meanwhile I can sit in my favorite Cuddle Chair, turn in the radio, and sit back while looking at my art. Cool, huh?

Return of the New Romantics

I am a hopeless Romantic. And please take note of the upper case "R" there. The Romantic Movement covered most of the 19th century and its children included the Pre-Raphaelites and the Neoclassicists. Of the latter, I'm afraid I have an almost erotic fixation on the paintings of John William Waterhouse. For those who have never come across his works, you could do no better than taking a trip to the premier Waterhouse site at http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com

While browsing the site, take a peek at Circe Invidiosa, a positive riot of turquoise centered on the image of the witch, Circe. In the Odyssey, it was Circe who held Ulysses captive (or is it captivated) for many years before he escaped to travel home to Ithaca. In this painting, Circe is in the process of transforming the beautiful nymph Scylla into a hideous sea monster. Wicked, eh?
The only problem is that Waterhouse's Circe is stunningly gorgeous. If she IS evil, then it's an evil most men would die to be the victim of. With her slightly retrousse nose and large, dark eyes, it's impossible for me to find any fault with her. She is captivating and intriguing - a dangerous and fatal duo of qualities for a woman to have, in art or in life.

In life, Waterhouse was besotted by one of his models, Muriel Foster. Some critics have argues that JW only ever had one women in his paintings - I'd suggest two. But it doesn't take a degree in Fine Art to flick through the website to see that the same woman appears over and over in Waterhouse's paintings, and if that doesn't suggest an enchantment, I don't know what does. Ooh, "enchanting," a third dangerous adjective for a member of the fairer sex.

If you want to see the actual painting, you have to travel to the Adelaide Art Museum and venture into room 15. There you can stand for 15 minutes and simply stare at it. Which I did. I also took a photo, which is (a) forbidden, and (b) got me a stern lecture from some jumped up attendant who seemed to think it was OK to allow a bunch of school kids to wander around taking pictures with their cell phones but NOT some 40-year-old adult male to take ONE with a camera. Well fuck him; I did it anyway.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a second painting at the diagonally opposite location of the room that I am similarly enchanted by. In fact, it is on the walls of my Second Life house along with the Waterhouse. This is John Collier's Priestess of Delphi, yet another image of a femme fatale who, not surprisingly, bears a resemblance to Circe. Draped in red, the priestess has her eyes closed while she dreams up her prophecy high up in the mountains in Delphi, Greece.

Two women in one day. A priestess and a witch. A dangerous day indeed.

Slaughterhouse Six: Revenge of the Carnivores

Vegetarian may want to stop reading now because the following contains descriptions of such animal carnage that this blogger accepts no responsibility for any consequences. Meat-lovers may want to start licking their lips in anticipation.

The Red-Hot Brazilian Charcoal Grill is a modest, unassuming little place on Adelaide's Gouger Street, unpretentious and basic in decor. However, for the unashamed carnivores among us, it represents a retreat from the over-hyped world of the sensitive, caring eaters and an atavistic throwback to when men were men and hoofed-animals were nervous.

For the princely sum of $32 Australian dollars, the diner can gorge on freshly grilled beef, chicken, barbecue ribs, lamb, sausage, pork, and kangaroo. Yes, kangaroo. To assuage some guilt, there is the option to add some grilled sweetcorn and salad to your plate in an effort to change its appearance from an explosion at a slaughterhouse to something resembling a food plate - but yours truly was quite happy to forgo the greenery and focus on the burnt offerings.

When you order, your server gives you a small card in the shape of a cow that's green on one side and red on the other. As long as the green cow s face up, the servers will periodically visit your table with a large skewer of some type of meat, dripping hot fat into a large metal dish. Armed only with very sharp knives, they will cut off slabs of protein as many times as you like until you flip the cow to show red.

The beef was beefy; the pork was porky; the lamb was lamby; and the kangaroo was... rooish. I have to say I wasn't over-excited by the roo on offer because it was a little chewy and had a slightly bitter after-taste. According to friends, this may just have been a by-product of how it was prepared, possibly due to a marinade and under-cooking. Nevertheless, I can now claim to have eaten "Skippy" and one more helpless animal can be stricken off my list of "things-to-eat-before-I-die."

After consuming a small herd of assorted beasts, my colleagues and I walked back to our hotel in an attempt to burn off at least some of the ingested protein and fat. We can but hope that was true.

Guzzling Garfish and Mony's Minute

Having experienced authentic Australian cuisine at Montezuma's Mexican restaurant, it was time to sample more native food - at the Amalfi Italian. Now here's a place so popular that it we had to book a table on a Tuesday night. A local favorite, the Amalfi has been serving food to the good people of Adelaide for many years and apparently the menu has stayed pretty much the same, with occasional modifications to maintain interest.

It's always good to go for local when on the road, so I opted for the garfish because (a) it is local, (b) I like fish, and (c) I had no clue what a damn garfish was! So time to try. Turns out that it looks like a really small swordfish, and is so small that you don't get "a" garfish but "some" garfish. With "fish" being both a singular and plural noun, of course, the word "garfish" on the menu doesn't tell you anything about number. I thought I was getting one, but turns out I had a school. Well, maybe not quite that many but at least six.


Before hitting the restaurant, I did manage to snag an internet connection for 30 minutes and was able to hang with Mony for a while. Seemed like I hadn't seen her for the longest time but it was actually only a few days. It's amazing how SL becomes just a part of RL and the people you know might as well be living in the same city as you. Incredible. And time moves so fast in SL that I felt we only had a minute. Maybe time dilation is a new law of Physics that only applies to Second Life. Researchers take note. Still , the minute was worth all 60 seconds.

Mexicana At Montezuma's

I'm no historian but I'm pretty sure the closest that Montezuma got to Adelaide was his backyard toilet. Nevertheless, the restaurant Montezuma's tries hard to recreate an authentic Aztec eating establishment - or not. The color scheme of the place resembles and explosion in an M&Ms factory where the notion of "too colorful" doesn't exist. Still, it's a fun place and was very busy to say I was there on a Monday. The Chili Verde with Spanish Rice was spicy enough, with wonderfully tender meat, but the rice was rather overcooked; unless they prefer their rice dry and crispy at the edges in Mexico. I think maybe not.


The owners clearly have a sense of humor though. The toilets are not marked "Men" and "Womens" or even "Hombres" and "Chicas" but "God" and "Goddess." Irreverent but appealing, especially to self-absorbed egotistical avatars like myself.

Oh, and for those familial with the phrase "Montezuma's Revenge" as a description of bowel functioning the day after consuming spicy Mexican food, I didn't need to go through any "God" doors today. And clue number two - the name of the restaurant - means you could hack into the databases of the credit card companies and search for a receipt that includes the purchase of a Chili Verde. Go to it , Sherlock!

We're Off To See The Wizard...

I appreciate the title of this blog is Sigmund Leominster on Second Life, and that what follows is not about Second Life, but you should also remember that this is MY blog and I'm free to do what I want with it. You're therefore free to stop reading now and hop back in-world until maybe 15th April 2008 when I'm pretty much sure to be back on track with all-Second Life all-the-time. Until then, you're going to find references to SL oblique rather than directly experiential.

That's because Siggy is on the road in the land of Oz and the Apple Island, which is, as I have now discovered, one of the Australian nicknames for New Zealand. And while I'm working hard (honest) in the antipodes, accessing SL may be more limited.


I'll be tossing in some pictures of the trip for the curious, none of which will actually include the Man Behind the Puppet; after all, this is "Sigmund Leominster's" site and not... well, whatever, his name is. Of course, a smart detective type willing to spend time and money might gather enough clues to work out who I really am, but honestly, it's not worth it. I am neither rich nor famous in RL so don't waste your time.

So here's clue number one; and aerial shot of the approach to Sydney with the iconic Opera House front and center. It's a little blurry on the left because your intrepid traveler (Sir Sigmund of Leominster, Vampire Hunter) was stuffed real close to the wing and so the heat from the engine was warping the air. Now you can work out where I was sitting and then check the passenger manifest of all flights to Sydney on that day. Good luck!