My Dutch cousin Dix...

Dix

Dix, aka Dixie Barbosa, is a dear friend and a talented partner at Showgirls and Burlesque. Together with Ingenue Campese, his RL/SL partner, he helped us get Moulin Rouge on stage, many of the show's exclusive poses and set scripted parts being his creations or adaptations, and as a DJ he has taken the stage at Birdland, for our pleasure, during our 2012 Halloween Event.

As a Birdland Friend, and after the interview with Ingenue, he was the obvious choice to continue the People Page series and we met at the Balboa Theater, where the Moulin Rouge stage sets he helped with live, for a conversation about his Second Life and how he sees it. I had a wonderful time with this Dutch cousin of mine. Here is the result.

Alma and Dix, sitting on the Balboa stage for a nice chat

Alma Fushikizoh: Well Dix, for starters thank you for your time, I know you are busy setting up Riverchapel and I appreciate you taking the time out to do this. I interviewed your better half, Ingenue Campese, and of course I had to follow up with you. All the work you guys did helping us with Moulin Rouge's production was precious and the show would not have reached the level of quality it did without you two. Having said that, let me ask you point blank... What do you do in Second Life?
Dix (dixie.barbosa): First of all, thank you very much for having me. It's a great honor to sit here in an empty Balboa Theater with such a talented person as yourself. Secondly, you're absolutely right in saying that she's my better half. She keeps me sane in every way and away from side-tracking all the time. Which takes me to your question... I guess that's what I do most. Side-tracking. Let me explain... I see myself as a jack-of-all-trades, someone who isn't really a specialist in anything, but loves everything. And I guess in SL I do just that, a bit of everything. From creating (scripting, designing, building, animating, you name it) to socializing, to enjoying everything SL has to offer. I have so many projects half-finished on the shelf, it's not funny anymore (although... you should see my 'ATTIC' folder in my inventory, you would laugh so hard)... Not sure if that answers your question, but thinking about it... I'm not sure there is one specific thing I do best or most in SL.

Dix was very much a part of Moulin Rouge's production

Alma Fushikizoh: When we first met you we were far from imagining you and Ingenue would play the part you now do in our lives, it was some Petites event and you were the DJ, later on when we were "formaly" introduced we went like "omg, it's Dix!" and you were both in your petite form. Why did you go the Petite way and how does Second Life look like from down there?
Dix (dixie.barbosa): I'll be honest with you. I see SL as an extension of RL. Not a replacement or a place to escape to. Because of that, I need to be able to relate to my second life up to a certain level. Because of that, I'm not too much into looking any different than a normal person would look like. I'm not as big into petites and whatnot as Ingenue. They just needed a DJ and I was there (with a bit of former DJ experience under my belt), so that's how it came together. More like a coincidence, I guess. However, DJ-ing at ShrinkyDinks (world for small avatars) did bring me to  being a Blues DJ at Voodoo Blues club after that. I did have a blast there for quite a while. How SL looks from down there? Much bigger! Other than that, pretty much the same. It looks  great and people who wear petite stuff, are usually less bound by common conceptions about how one should look like. So there's a much wider variety of ways how people dress up, when they're in small avatar form. And that's mighty interesting to observe.

The daunting audience view from where we sat

Alma Fushikizoh: It's interesting you consider SL an extension of RL, I share that point of view myself, and we happen to both have met our partners in SL and then transcend the relationship into RL. So what you do here on a technical level is also something along those lines? How much of a geek are you in RL?
Dix (dixie.barbosa): Tough question to answer. My RL doesn't look much like SL. My RL is pretty boring, in the sense that I'm a bookkeeper/financial analyst and I have a few hobbies, but other than that, the things I do in SL are definitely things that I couldn't do in RL. In SL, for example, I'm a DJ. I don't see myself doing that in RL. In SL, I used to be a reporter for SL Newspaper (we had about 10k hits per day), but doing that in RL is a whole different ballgame. Those are just examples. In SL it's so much easier to do stuff that would take an investment, education, experience or something similar to do in RL. Now of course, it is common belief that one can do anything (in RL), as long as you put your mind to it. However, it's easier said than done, and I guess in RL there's somewhat of a shyness that holds me back on some of those things. Like the DJ-ing. I guess I share that character trait with geeks. Other than that, I don't have any other special techy talents in RL, other than being able to 'program the VCR'. So am I a geek in RL? Anyone who is deep into SL or has been at some point, I guess can be considered a geek. Other than that... nah, not so much. Just to clarify, I see SL as an extension of RL, in the sense that if RL was the base package of a program or object, SL would be a package of add-ons. Things that aren't found in the standard version, but will give you extra cool stuff on top of it.

 In the background: Satine's Hindi elevator, with many hours of scripting versions inside, Dix's own

Alma Fushikizoh: I have seen your work as a journalist and you even got to interview a Linden once, managing somehow to finish the job without strangling him which is a testament to your professionalism! Being a blogger myself, RL and SL, I follow a few bloggers with interest and was amused when you let me in "Vinny Takes Charge", your pet's own blog! How did that happen?
Dix (dixie.barbosa): I have a love for writing. I guess there is something of a journalist in me. I try to entertain and explain. However, those two have to go hand in hand, in my opinion. I could have gone Linden-bashing, and it might have been entertaining, but would the interview have been better? I don't think so. To actually get to people, you need to take them seriously. Off the record I do plenty of LL bashing when a sim restarts while I'm in the 'zone', working on a project. But it is LL that is giving us a Second Life, and has connected me to the love of my life, so I'm the most grateful person there is!  So, getting back to your question: just entertaining is for short-term and you won't get far. Just explaining is boring. But combining those, is magical. That's what we do with Vinny's blog as well. Write entertainingly, while writing down our experiences as first-time parrot owners so others can use that info to their benefit. (pauses) Let me rephrase that: I have a passion for passion. I find it very interesting to get people to talk about their passions. By taking a serious interest in people, you might get a glimpse of someone's passion. From there on in, you can dig deeper. To me, that's so much more interesting than cheap entertainment. Our parrot has a passion for life in every form (and napping, and eating, and playing with his toys). Everything he does, he does with a passion. That's what I want to capture in that blog. I do some RL photography as a hobby, and my biggest challenge is to capture passion. Feel free to pick your answer.

The Balboa theater, a replica of the San Diego real one

Alma Fushikizoh: And that is the perfect segway to talk about Riverchapel. You and Ingenue were moving Size Matters and finishing up the details on the Mall you own there, opened for Petite Business, and it seems like what you mentioned about sharing the experience is part of what you do in SL. So what will Riverchapel bring to us?
Dix (dixie.barbosa): Our place on Riverchapel offers one-stop-shopping for the Micro Mesh system of small avatars. There are several systems that are only partially compatible with eachother. Yabu Petites is the main one, but there are a few other systems on the rise, like the Micro Mesh, created by (11)Design (Devious Noyes). Other than that, we have our event area, that we haven't really used yet, but we're planning to do some fun events there in the near future. But that's basically it. It started out as our own place where we could work, with the possibility of organizing some events, but the mini-mall, which started out as a side-project, has definitely become our baby.

Even a truly gifted man drops his shades once in a while

Alma Fushikizoh: Dix, I won't take your time much longer, just let me thank you for allowing me and our friends to know you better, we enjoy giving Birdland's friends a place where they can share their experiences and let others know them a little better. That's what the People Page in our blog is all about and I couldn't have found two better people to start it with than Ingenue and yourself. Thank you for being a friend and a "partner in crime" at Showgirls and Burlesque and I hope to keep you in the "payroll" for years to come.
Dix (dixie.barbosa): Unfortunately, I'm not as talented as Ingenue (she's awesome) or as you and Blysse of course (huge amount of awesomeness there as well). All I did was help out with a few tech things. And of course I'll be more than happy and honored to keep working with Showgirls and Burlesque and Birdland in the future, wherever I can. And about our talk here... The pleasure was all mine! Thank you so much for having me!

To get to Dix and Ingenue's little people Mall in Riverchapel click here for SLURL!
That is where Size Matters lives (click here for the SL Market Place store page)!