Last month, I spent a couple of hours applying to TEDGlobal. Admittedly, the biggest reason I did that was because it’s held in Oxford, and me being in my Shakespeare phase… the UK is the one place in the world I’d want to un-hermit myself to go to. I also convinced myself that it’d be a worthwhile experience to attend, if only to meet people who can help sponsor my projects — sadly, the prospect of art for art sans funds just doesn’t work out, especially when (though you thrive at it!) you end up having to do everything yourself. Then again, considering that my formal education is nothing in what I’m perusing independently now (virtual worlds, Shakespeare and virtual theatre, historical reconstructions, medieval studies), maybe I might find some sort of epiphany there that might guide me on a different path…

Reasons why TED should choose me, which I’ve tried to convey within the box limits of the application:

1. I create more than I talk. Most of the time I don’t have the time to update my blog; I am so immersed in actually doing things instead of reflecting on them.
2. Projects mean more to me than anything else in the world; I exist to create and do.
3. I am a true polymath, adept in many things across the spectrum, and not limited to just math/science or arts for example, but in both that and more.

Reasons why TED shouldn’t choose me:

1. I might not be sane. My mental processes are abnormal; normal people don’t have their speech functions disabled in order to maximize creativity. My visual IQ typically far overshadows my auditory IQ.
2. I’m quite evidently a hermit; I was even candid enough to mention in my application that I find myself antisocial. There’s too much uncertainty in my nature.
3. The cynical mentality behind the (Shakespearean) Authorship Question - People might not believe me. Most people don’t sacrifice their lives to do everything well.

And, though I made it to as far as receiving a phone interview from Logan (TED Program Coordinator), today at brunch, the verdict came out the negative with a rejection letter! I believe the phone call revealed my insanity. So, we know now that TED polymaths are the sane types…

Naergilien Wunderlich has created a “One of a Kind” dress that is a meticulous Second Life reconstruction of Queen Elizabeth I’s Rainbow Portrait dress.

This dress can be obtained through a silent auction that ends at 4 PM SL Time on Winter Solstice December 21, 2008.

The bid is currently at L$10,600. IM and notecard Naergilien Wunderlich directly with your bid.

Proceeds benefit the SL Shakespeare Company in their SOS “Save Our Sims” Campaign.

Closeup Image:

Here are a few more shots (click for big pic):

Unedited “Direct-from-SL” shots of the two main ad photos above are here (click for big pic):

These photos are taken direct from SL with “Atmospheric Shaders” turned off in Edit > Preferences:

This dress is also available in “3d preview” at Wunderlich’s Garb Mainstore and at the Shakespeare Island sim. More details here on Wunderlich’s original post.

Queen Elizabeth I will be making an appearance as Gloriana Sixpence in the SL Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare on Ice to premiere on December 21, 2008.

Lists of mine typically get longer and longer and longer and longer. To-do lists tend to become bloated as as the black box gets clogged up with high inflow and low outflow. Love-at-first-sight syndromes occur on first thought, only to be trapped in the ethereal dimension of ideas as I go into states where I just sit there in the void totally bored and stale — not because I have nothing to do, but nothing I want to do particularly at the moment. The situation typically has me with everything to do, and rarely, salient things that tickle me into doing it.

I’m non-religious, but do hope for a benevolent universe in the holistic version at least. I believe in myself, and for the most part, I avoid letting traditions cage me. My “New Years” resolutions are typically spontaneously formed, but this year, I’d like to make just three, and evaluate them on a “percentage met” level rather than the usual discreteness. In lieu of checkmarks, completion bars that dynamically update would be used!

• Unfinished projects that should have been finished
  
• Promote myself as an artist rather than as… everything else.
  
• Post to this blog as frequently as possible … um at least once a week.
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