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World of SL is a new project by SL resident Tao Takashi (who’s also a contributor to 3pointD’s Flickr group) that aggregates all the SL blogs Tao can find (and there are a lot of them). Slightly amusing is the fact that the big story on World of SL today is not about SL at all but about There.com, where it looks like MTV is opening a Virtual Laguna Beach to accompany its popular TV show of the same name. Apparently, the DVD of the show’s second season contains a teaser for the TV show’s virtual world, and SL resident Twiddler Thereian picked up on it and posted the news on his own blog. (The last name Thereian in SL often denotes someone who came to Linden Lab’s virtual world from over There.) (more…)

Well, I guess the news broke while I was on jury duty, but the story I mentioned earlier today as well as last Thursday is now official: 80s new wavers Duran Duran are headed to the virtual world of Second Life in what sounds like a big way. According to a press release, the band is having its own “fantasy, luxury island” built out in SL, where they will give live concerts and media appearances “taking place alongside the band’s media, public and live engagements in the real world. . . . The band has appointed London virtual world designers Rivers Run Red to create the five Duran Duran avatars and the band’s bespoke universe. Creative Director Justin Bovington said: ‘This heralds a new era in how branded content is being developed. For the first time a major international band is using a virtual world as a branded, immersive experience. We’re working directly with the band members to ensure fans get the ultimate Duran Duran experience’.” [UPDATE: Read 3pointD’s interview with the band’s Nick Rhodes for more.] (more…)

We’ll bring you more details later today [UPDATE: here they are] (I’m blogging this from the Brooklyn courts building, where I’m on jury duty, maddeningly), but 3pointD has just got word that the “80s supergroup” we told you would be setting foot in the virtual world is none other than Duran Duran. I don’t have access to all the details while I’m here sitting in judgment on my peers, so you’ll have to wait until this afternoon before I can bring you more on just what Nick and Simon have planned, but it’s so far going by the name The Virtual World Experience, designed and created by Rivers Run Red, in association with Sony/BMG Music Entertainment. One thing that’s interesting is that the project seems to have been driven as much by the band’s interest in the virtual world as by RRR’s interest in getting the band on its client roster. Stay tuned for updates.

3pointD has jury duty today (grrr…) but readers may want to dial over to the Second Life Herald in my absence to read the profile of SL resident Chance Takashi I posted there last night. Chance was the high bidder in an auction to benefit the American Cancer Society as part of the Second Life Relay for Life held recently in the virtual world. Chance’s bid of L$11,525 — just under US$40 — earns her a glowing profile in the Herald. Fortunately, it’s one that’s well deserved.

Read more at the Herald, and check into Chance’s SL Musings as well. It was actually a pleasure to meet Chance, and I got to have fun with the profile in good Herald fashion, while at the same time exploring some interesting aspects of identity in virtual worlds: While any number of people are one sex in the real world and another in the virtual, Chance, it seems, switches freely back and forth between male and female avatars, further clouding the issue. She’s caused so much consternation among those she regularly meets on the Grid that there’s a bet on about it, so Chance wouldn’t reveal her actual sex. It was interesting to see this gender-switching among (possible) gender-switching with Chance, and get to hear her thoughts on the issue. Plus she’s charming in general, and a great builder of steampunk gadgetry. And (for a gender-disconnected avatar) cute!