More hUUUUUUUman than hUUUUUUUman...

Here is what a default humanoid avatar looks like after it's original template form de-sculpts via a mysterious rezzing glitch in Second Life's system.

In this sense, I have become more of a "template" humanoid than before. I am now gender, colour and texture neutral. In addition, I should remind myself that I do not have much of a "sculpted" body anymore. I would say that I now look like someone with a body waiting to be sculpted rather than having a pre-defined/calculated muscular structure.


Since I was quickly becoming less generically human and more specifically Posthuman in appearance, I hastily and perhaps impulsively decided that I had best get to the task of abstracting (and extracting) the "human" essense out of my chosen avatar form as soon as "humanly" possible...

I began by purchasing and then "wearing" a set of four pre-designed elemental humanoid avatars...

ELEMENTAL HUMANOID AVATAR FORMS...

I really like the way my male fire avatar form came into being via a flurry of flaming pixels. The reason why I am enchanted by this particular mode of elemental manistation has something to do with the fact that my humanoid form has not yet materialized. In the most classic sense, my humanoid body is truly in a "virtual" state of being - at least for a short time.

I still have a few seconds to enjoy the process of the flames violently consuming and engulfing my representational humanoid form...FLAME ON!

This picture shows a clearer profile of my obscured humanoid form.

Here I am as a gender-neutral Earth elemental. I like how my joints and limbs are not very clearly defined. In fact, I do not think my body parts are even connected...except...er... virtually connected. Yes, the sunset was very aesthetically pleasing that day but I should focus on the task at hand and save these romantic indulgences until after my research has been completed!

Here is a full profile of my Earthly form. My rubblesome torso-bits did cause a fair bit of billowing dust but I should point out that the mountaintop itself produced its own share of sOOt. Are we already witnessing the possibility of an instance where the Figure and Ground relationship starts to blur before our very eyes?

Here I am as a female water avatar for a change. I think the relationship between the figure and the "ground" is quite clear in this portrait...I will explain in a later post why I was hanging out in a furniture store.

Here I am gradually dematerializing into air at the official corporate headquarters of Artificial Avatars Corp....Because of my near-invisibility, this was the elemental form I preferred the most as it reinforced the anonymous nature of my role as an "objective" academic researcher.

Now you see me and now you don't! My avatar form has virtually vanished into thin air...pOOf!

From this point onwards, I will experiment with non-humanoid avatar alternatives...