The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

On July 1st, 2007 Blogpower hosted a virtual awards ceremony in Second Life. The idea was to present trophies to the bloggers who had won Blogpower Awards in such serious categories as "Best Britblogger" or "Best North American Blogger" as well as in less serious ones such as "Best Ranter". The "sky box" where it all took place has long gone. I have since bought most of the region where it was and have redeveloped it as a lakeside park on the ground and a sci-fi city in the sky.

However I recorded the location where the innovative ceremony took place and have built a laws-of-physics defying memorial there. Visitors to the Blogpower Common Room may visit by clicking on the teleporter for a menu and selecting "Memorial" as their destination. Those who remember dancing at the post-awards party may be pleased to know that the Airship "Limoncello" which contained the ballroom and bar is still there. It now houses the Limoncello Art Gallery, which contains both a permanent collection of Real Life and Second Life art and changing displays in 12 small galleries I provide free to artists working in SL. "Art Gallery" is the option on the teleporter which will take you there. "Ballroom" will take you to the awards party venue, which is now available for hire for SL events and has since been used, for example, for weddings. Yes, people get married in SL. Weird, isn’t it?

The awards themselves were a lot of fun. The ceremony, while nerve-wracking to organise (given Second Life’s tendency to crash at crucial moments), was entertaining too. We had a lot of interesting conversations in the run-up period, while bloggers planning to take part were practising their Second Life skills. As far as I know, there are no plans to organise Blogpower Awards again. Perhaps, when such meetings in virtual worlds become commonplace, some bloggers will remember with amusement their clumsy moments as pioneers.