Elf spoke at a panel hosted by Decentral during his time in Miami.
This week, Elf and Bearsnake joined us live from Miami! Dotta joined from his usual location in the Quantum Downs. Cosmo also joined the MM crew that is in Miami.
BlackSand Racing shared this chart with all the entered participants for the Ether Cup, to date, on Twitter (November 2022).
Tad mentioned the great new energy coming into the Cult in the past couple months, new enthusiastic members & creators such as Shleee & legatus. Tad also shouted out people who help transfer Cult knowledge to new ppl, and suggested more explainer videos for them. Tad is open to doing more pixel animations to help people build out their characters' lore. Additionally, MehsterBrown announced a new collection of Forgotten Runes pixel dolls.
Next, legatus came up to talk about BlackSand. Elf has become increasingly aware of the events held in BlackSand, particularly the pony racing, and recently decided to enter his own pony into the Ether Cup! Legatus explained that BlackSand is within the Runiverse, formerly known as Imperium, a central hub city that was destroyed by a volcano. As a result, it is unmapped, but is along the Salt Sea (precise location to be revealed).
Ponies are raced there because the Council of Mages (government of BlackSand) is trying to hold events to bring attention, people, and resources to rebuild BlackSand. The pony racing cup is designed to be played by the community. You can play passively (just enter and watch) or actively (boost your pony with treats, level them up and give them ability). Each pony will have a Twitter poll to score points. You can also get your pony points by feeding them selected Treats, and finally through special events (different one per race). Summary of everything can be found in a Twitter thread. To enter the Ether Cup, reply to this Tweet. The first race started on December 1st, 2022.
Elf, Bearsnake, and Cosmo Visit Miami
Next, it's time for Miami highlights! Elf, Bearsnake, and Cosmo traveled there to attend Miami Art Basel (well, more so all the NFT/crypto-focused satellite events). Elf has already participated in a panel at Decentral along with other interesting and notable panelists.
Last night, the MM crew attended an NFT Now event, which was a kickoff for a Christie's auction that includes new art from Elf! This piece harkens back to Elf's original digital art style. Elf considers it to be his first piece of Cult Content. Elf was challenged to write his own "artist bio". He wasn't sure at first how to incorporate his FRWC involvement into the bio. He ultimately decided to lean into the concept of the "cult leader."
Elf participated in a Mycellium event panel, along with Dr. Slurp and Cookie Tree (November 2022).
This is Elf's 2nd crypto-focused event (after NFT NYC earlier this year). His impression of the people was similar for both events - these are people that have legit reasons for being here, and are trying to build something honest, useful, sincere, and beneficial to others. This contrasts greatly with the general public's view of crypto and the people who are in the space, for whom the words "crypto" and "scam" are synonymous, and who consider those involved in the space to be scammers. But Elf doesn't see that vibe at all in these events. Elf met many genuine and enthusiastic builders who are eager to explore the possibilities of this technology and figure out how it can best benefit people in real ways. There was only one person he saw who was out to cause trouble...and it was Bearsnake!
Bearsnake was testing the endurance of the group, making the most of the social night hours to network and have fun. Elf tried to escape via Uber, but had to cancel one ride after the other as Bearsnake demanded they visit another venue. Bearsnake agreed with Elf that the level of talent and passion in the space is amazing. People are experimenting and figuring it out - FRWC and others will help create the next meta.
Elf mentioned attending Dr. Slurp'sMyFiStudio event and speaking on the panel there. He saw various community members there, including Slurp, Cookie Tree, Tania del Rio, Eagletorium, Panico, pva, and JPOneSix.
After the event, Elf and Bearsnake recounted a long night with several stops and parties, including a fun event organized by Bitvargen / Tim Smith. After hearing about this night out, Dotta said he had "zero FOMO" for Miami. Last night he enjoyed eating pumpkin pie and watching Game of Thrones with Mrs. Dotta.
Dotta Investigates Midjourney AI Image Generation
Dotta shares another of his Midjourney creations, "Bitvargen Teaches Typing" (November 2022).
Dotta said that it's magical and a bit scary to see how fast this field is advancing, and within our lifetimes we will be able to see full animated movies depicting the style, characters, and plot that you specify. On the other hand, what is generated is limited to the content, created by humans, that was used to train the AI in the first place. So we still need human creators in order to prevent things from becoming stagnant.
Madotsuki talked a bit about his own experimentation with AI-generated art and how it allows us to bring images into existence, that otherwise never would have been real. For example, we can now see what might have resulted from a Dotta/Henson or Dotta/Miyazaki collab.
Elf's first piece that he considers his own "Cult content" is this digital artwork that includes his Wizard, "Evil Arcanist Black Goat of the Wood." (November 2022)Wise Sam has been busy as usual - lately he has been creating Azuki bean-style wizards and warriors. Wise Sam has also been creating pixel animations - such as this one of bretty's goblin.
Can we bid on Elf's Christies auction? Yes, you can, but you must sign up here
Elf's favorite Miami event? Elf: Slurp's Mycelium event and Tim Smith's party.
Has Elf hugged Bearsnake yet? Bearsnake: Of course, that's the first thing we did when we saw each other.
Abbreviated additional questions: Elf needs 10 drinks to feel "dead", and Bearsnake will help Elf get a Cuban sandwich, and they will try to visit the beach before leaving (perhaps at 3 AM).
