French Weave

To weave the mirror's magic sights...

Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott

The appointed hour - the heure fixée -  is 12 noon SLT, let's call it 21 heure de Paris. The place, a marble palace on the tiny grid of Eden Cat, full of souvenirs, games, pictures, comfortable chairs, and music. The day - the first Thursday of the month.

It's time again for a regular get-together of anyone who enjoys the francophone community in Opensim. This month, half a dozen grids were represented among the participants, some with famous names, others bijou grids with only a handful of residents, some personal sanctuaries with a single  inhabitant.  It can be fun to have your own place, there's a lot to be said for it creatively and in terms of keep the drama to a minimum, but humans do tend towards gregariousness. Advice, encouragement, and some chill chit chat can make a welcome change.

For about half an hour, the group gradually assembled, and the whole event is in voice and in French - the whole point of it is that people can chat freely in their own language, so it would not be nice to show up and expect everyone to shift to English. The conversation weaved through issues of connectivity, the quality and type of internet  available in different places (did you know that 'téléphone de cuivre' is French for 'land line' ?) and then it moved on to people with issues with their OSGrid account - 'Dan Bannaire' was named pretty freely. 

The many accents are enchanting , from the mountains of the Dauphiné in the East, to the Brittany shore - here's another nice word - Breizh. And then Quebecois, with their unique idioms and vowel sounds, spicing up the convo with some transatlantic charm. The sofa poses were mocked - aren't they always, in any seated setting?

 hicks adder: nos avats avec les main sur la tete ça ressemble plus a un braquage qu'a un réunion

Hicks at the center of this photo. Too much dieting?

But then it was time to go, for this isn't just a sit-about- bavardage session. There's a real destination, and something exclusive, to boot. 

Max Hill, famous for his spectacular builds on the fabled Ignis Fatuus grid, offered the group the chance to see his latest creation, a build based on the poem The Lady of Shalott. 

Eden Cat in the yellow dress with the wings.

The build is not open 24/7 so probably best to approach Max yourself if you'd like to see it, it's not currently available on the usual grid, and may not be for general consumption as it is still a bit of a work in progress. 

That said, the quivering aspens, the shallops, the lilies, and so much else from the verses is there. The  river and the boat, are central too, of course (maybe the boat is a bit unlucky to sit in, just saying) and the main attraction is the fatal tower with its loom and of course the mirror - all the ingredients are there, along with many beautiful extras to flesh out the scene beyond the words of the poet.

 This was a favorite theme of the pre-Raphaelites, with their gorgeously romantic paintings, and Max has borrowed freely from that style,   Tennyson wrote the poem in 1832 and then produced an updated, improved version about a decade later. Maybe we can all relate to that - how many of us have builds that require overhauling and tweaking over several years, before we have it just right.

Max by the shattered mirror

The atmosphere on the trip is one of gentle humor, intelligent questions, and kind attention to anyone who might be a bit lost.

The whole trip is recorded by Prodyck, who posts on twitch and leaves in the interface to give a feeling of immediacy and heart to the vid, or as he puts it:

Prodyck Theas: Je laisse l'interface car cela permet voir qui parle  , aux personne qui regardent de voir toute l'interaction dans le viewer, c'est plus vivant. Quand on enlève l'interface c'est plus joli certes, mais tout disparait et les voix viennent d'on ne sait qui, et les avatars semblent figés.

Here's the link to that: 

Highlights of the preliminary meeting

Highlights of the trip to Shalott