All Things Digital

In my Internet holiday party video posted yesterday, I talked to entertainer and entrepreneur MC Hammer about his new online dance start-up called DanceJam.

At one point, I kid him, noting, “You can’t dance on the Internet.”

So, of course, it took about two seconds to get an email on the subject decrying my ignorance, including a link to Second Life Ballet’s first production from about a year ago.

Called “Olmannen,” it uses original animations, music and choreography, put together by a choreographer and director whose Second Life name is Inarra Saarinen. And, apparently, the virtual-reality dancers are real ones manipulating the avatars.

While I am not a big fan of Second Life, this is oddly riveting and works well in the avatar medium.

The SLB’s newest production is, no surprise in this holiday season, “The Nutcracker,” which just premiered in Second Life and runs through January.

Here’s “Olmannen,” in two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Yes, indeedy, this is about as insider as you get in Silicon Valley. But we are just addled enough by all the spiked eggnog we drank this weekend to think you might be interested in this video we did at a variety of industry holiday parties BoomTown attended.

They include a stop at angel investor Ron Conway’s Pacific Heights (San Francisco) apartment, where we talked to Ron, entertainer and entrepreneur MC Hammer, blogger Om Malik and The Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Delaney.

Then, a visit to investor Ram Shriram’s home in Woodside, Calif., where VC James Joaquin and YouTube’s Chad Hurley are harangued by our Flip camera.

And also, a sojourn at the downtown San Francisco abode of Google’s Marissa Mayer, where we interfaced with her, as well as Google’s Sergey Brin, WSJ’s Rob Guth and, yes, someone we can only call Hot Santa.

No surprise, but BoomTown just could not resist that one.

Here’s the video:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.