SL on SL Slowdown

The real world economy is causing problems and challenges for many people. And this is true for the man behind Sigmund Leominster too. But not in a bad way. Although I chose to keep my RL and SL separate, in the real world, my international company has been going through some significant growth over the past two years and it continues to do so. And without revealing too much about "me," my role is at a senior level and I have to ensure that all the employees are fully tasked and able to do the jobs needed.

So, what with hiring new people, shipping large quantities of products, and having to travel around to continue expansion, poor Siggy has been in SL much less of late. This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean he's idle. As news anchor for Life On Line and a co-presenter on MBC's news, Sigs has four shows per month to cover. And writing for SLentrepreneur, Prim Perfect, and The Alphaville Herald still keeps crusts on the table.

Where sacrifices have been made are in the blogging arena. SL on SL comments have slowed down, as have SL on VL. However, that's not really a problem.

I also have a blog in real life - which gets many more readers than SL on SL - so that also takes up time. It all comes down to numbers really. We all have to divvy up our time to make best use of our scarce resources. Second Life is fun and being part of it is a great escape at times. But, as my friend Mony Markova keeps reminding me, it is, after all, not "real" or "important" in the grand scheme of things.

So don't think that fewer posts in SL on SL means I have gone away. No, I'm just shuffling the deck a little.

I Want My MTV(R) - or Not

My latest article in the Herald follows my trip into the world of Virtual MTV. Entitled, Pimpin' My Crib in Virtual MTV: Points for Friending and your Chicks for Free, it's a short piece that offers a glimpse into the latest version of MTV's attempts to gain a virtual world presence.

Check out my blog post at SL on VL, which includes a promo video.

Sunday Night Fun

This weekend saw me working with Steve Cropper on producing the news segment for the upcoming edition of Life On Line. For those curious about process, here's what happens.

I select four or five news items from my SL on VL site and condense each one into a two or three sentence summary. I also supplement the stories with graphics and videos whenever possible. This provides Steve with material to show along with my voice.

Armed with the text, Steve and I set up a Skype call to record the segment. If all goes well, it's a one-shot take; if not, we try again and again until I get it right!

Steve then takes some film shots of me at the studio and ultimately blends the voice, video, and graphics into a segment.

So there you have it. The media at work. Lucky for me I only have a one- to two-minute slot - Steve has to pull together the rest of the program!

SLebrity and Trademarking

I heard from Robustus Hax of MBC. The name SLebrity had been considered but there may be some Linden Lab involvement in the show, which may cause problems. Why? Because the word SLebrity is clearly a portmanteau of SL and celebrity, and the SL element is trademarked. There may be a case for LL to go up against MBC because of this.

I say "maybe" because you can't trademark a word, only a mark. The word slebrity (no upper case for the first two letters) exists outside of the Second Life universe. For example, on May 11th, 2006, a blog post appeared entitled SLEBRITY SPOTTING, with the words in a caps font.

So the word slebrity cannot be trademarked retrospectively, although maybe SLebrity can. I'm certainly not going to consult my real life patent attorneys on this - and those of you who have such people working for you know the cost involved! - but from what I know of past work with them, I bet slebrity is OK but SLebrity is not: The former predates Linden Lab's annoucement in 2008 about branding and the latter is obviously SL related.

I may have some challenges of my own at some stage. My name, Sigmund Leominster, is mine, and mine alone. My initials happen to be SL. My blog, SL on SL is a gray area, but I have it as SL© on SL™ because the first SL is my intials, and I can copyright these, but the second is an abbreviation for Second Life, for which I use the obligatory ™ marking.

My friend Seikatsu Koba is working on a logo for me. I think it should be fun to see what happens if his starts appearing in the Second Life press!

More SL on TV?

Well, as I hurtle headlong toward the New Year, the opportunities for increasing my media presence appear to be landing on my virtual desk - which is, I have to say, a very nice desk and one that I bought way back when I lived in a single-room rental.

I have an offer from MBC to host a new show with the working title @SLentrepreneur, which would be a joint venture between MBC and SLentrepreneur Magazine. Add that to the twice weekly news report AND another TV show in January (Life on Line), I may just about be maxed out in my second life. Here's my potential 2009 work list:

New Editor: SLentrepreneur Magazine
Men's Style Commentator: FreeLife Magazine
News Reporter: MBC TV
Host: MBC's @SLentrepreneur
News Reporter: Life on Line
Freelancer: Second Life Herald
Freelancer: Castle Keep Magazine

Add in the blogs SL on SL, SL on RL, and SL on VL, and you get an idea of why I have to sit down over Christmas and do some planning. Trouble is, I love this stuff and it is fun. Of course, it leaves little time for other Real Life things such as movies, books, family, friends, and all that jazz.

Or does it?