Your source of news about the people, places, things, and events across Second Life.
Sunday March 25th was an active day for the Relay for Life. There was a sixty-hour music marathon that began the night before, a cross sim-snail race, an "Areosmith" tribute that drew a big crowd, a "jail & bail" that nabbed one of the top people among the Relayers, and more.
And Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega was there. And in a party like this, he naturally brought "The Hair," the massive hairpiece that has become identified with the Steelhead's Relay for Life fundraising. It continues to get comments, and not just from residents inworld, "Our kiddo in real life just pointed at Fuzz's hair and laughed, 'that's cool!' "
At one point, the party was bombarded with a shower of marbles. Baron Klaus Von Wulfenback, whom was also there, looked around and quipped, "I know this ammo."
There was some sad news for sci-fi fans in Second Life last weekend. It was announced that the "Firefly" roleplay community Washtown at Burnet would be closing down. The place had been running for over five years.
"This sim was started by me and Jadi, and a friend named Deiter. We use to play on a firefly mush together and then it closed. I found SL and dragged them in. At that time there was nothing for Firefly in one area, just a bunch of scattered fans. So we bought a little piece of ground and built a little club and called it the Hoban. Soon people started coming. We bought the big Firefly and more people came to see it."
In the RP, residents had just a few days to wrap up plotlines. The final event was the nuclear reactor blowing, and the town having to evacuate. One of the residents passed me a screenshot of the radiation leak and the ship "Raven" taking off with the last evacuees.
April 8 is not that far away and that is Easter Sunday in most cultures. It is time to plan your decorations for that day , for your home, your clubs, your sims. You can find some delightful free decor in the new Corner Estates sim at the Corner of Revolving Time. As usual Vickijo Rivera has it all in place to give you time to make your plans.
I went over to check out all the items that Sweetsister Silverstar and Saucy Loire have placed just for you. I took a ride on a sweet little carousels. The egg trees are great for outside decor on my roof at home. I picked up a lovely banner inside the building and saw some flowers and Easter baskets I really need to get. I had to take the cute cracked eggs dancing out of their shells immediately.
The Corner of Revolving Time is now in the Ophelia sim, which is the headquarters of the The Corner Estates where you can buy or rent land in numerous sims. You will see a contact board off in the distance. Take a walk over. Also fly over to the new Corner 7Seas Fishing area where hosts have contests daily. I love the new building that the Corner of Revolving time has. There is plenty of room for the decor for each holiday as it comes along. You will want to keep the landmark for future visits. Things are still developing there : http://slurl.com/secondlife/
Malcious acknowledged there were details less than completely accurate with history, "but the purpose of the Arena is for people to shoot each other and have fun. We use the Vice Combat System, which I love simply because you don't need some laggy hud nor do you need to create some account on a website. You can just pick up one of the freebie guns and get started, we've also provided uniforms and various tidbits to help players get immersed … We have guns, tanks, planes, some you have to pay for, some are free."
To the left of the vendor boards are the teleports to the Allied and Axis respawn areas, "I only have the two respawns up at the moment, each flag will take you to that teams base, the allies in the Village and the Axis in their own occupied Mansion HQ. I'm going to install a neutral flag for visitors or civilians later. Each team has three respawns, to try and limit spawncamping. … If you get killed, you're taken to a room away from the battlefield where you can heal and choose a respawn location."
For the moment, New Ravenloft is the only sim in it's combat RP. It is next to several others, "the adjoining sims are part of the D.O.R. (Dogs On the Run) Project. … no one aviation company is in charge or has a direct say in how the place is run, and there are no product bans. Anyone is allowed to fly whatever the hell they want. I'm joined with them as the terms of my sponsorship, also I'm a great believer in the project and friends with the owner. … I'm hoping as Ravenloft increases in popularity, so will DOR."
Fans of the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, which is recreated in Second Life in the fall as Burn2, will get a treat this weekend. The Playa at Burning Man Deep Hole will be open for the Burn2 "Mini Burn" event from March 31st to April 1st.
For more information, one can go to the Burn2 website at burn2.org, or when the sim's open, head to the information tent at Burning Man Deep Hole (96, 6, 25).
Just be sure to "watch out for misleading information when you land." It is April Fool's after all.
Any1 Gynoid told me about the place, which was designed as a club. People were dancing on the quilt bed when she was there, people clicking on a blue stuffed critter for single dances and a pink for couples.
It was a fairly typical March day at the Podex Exchange. Between customers, the tellers would chat of goings on. Some talked about the opening Relay Life season and the various events it's teams held. Another mentioned the Military Expo near the end of the month. And of course, there was St. Patrick's Day. A couple of the tellers had gone to Dublin, but had to leave due to the lag. Two others went to themed parties elsewhere, and one had gone to Castle Blarney to kiss the stone.
"I be after me pot o' gold," the visitor answered in an stereotypical sounding Irish accent.
"Sic im!"
It was "Death from above" at the March Military Expo early Tuesday afternoon. at 12PM SL time, formations of A-10 "Warthog" ground attack aircraft from the Flying Tiger's 74th Squadron took off from an airport in the WW2 Tribute sim. Their mission: destroy as many of the nearby ground targets as they could.
From the safety of the airport, onlookers could watch, and pan out safely from a distance. They watched as the aircraft blanketed the ground with bombs and missiles, turning tanks, oil drums, observation towers, etc. into black, smoldering, wrecks. But it wasn't long before the wrecks were repaired back into operation, requiring more blowing up from the pilots happy to do so.
Eventually, the pilots came back to base, where they congratulated one another. Among the Tigers was Vickster Khun, also known for her role at the New Bastogne WW2 Combat RP region. Earlier I had a few words with her and officer Jessi Warrhol. They described a few events, including a firefight and rescue on Thursday March 29th. Set for Noon SL time, the 38th Squadron will work with the SL Coast Guard in a firefighting and rescue mission. A ship on fire, if all goes as planned, will have the flames estinguished and the crew evacuated. At the Expo tomorrow. March 28th, will be two air assaults at Noon and 6 SL time respectively.
March comes to a close, but the events continue to march on. This week, the March Military Expo takes place in the WW2 Tribute sim with events every day to Friday. New art exhibitions are up, as well as Relay for Life events. And of course the regularly scheduled DJ & live music events, book & poetry readings, and talk shows.
"Just when you think nothing on SL can surprise you anymore, you find yourself in the middle of a WWII aviation reenactment as a side gunner on a Japanese bomber with a white wolf wearing angle wings as your pilot. No kidding, but I digress. What started out four years ago as a small group of nomadic aviator friends flying around the grid for fun has evolved into a multi sim operation, the largest aviation group in sl with over 2400 members and a bunch of downright fun folks to hang out with. Meet 'The Flying Tigers.' "
Some sad news for nautical fans. Checking up on the LM to the battleship Yamato, I found it was broken, the sim gone.
Remember the project Zayn Till and Wynx Whiplash started on the fundraising website "Kickstarter" to help bring stories based on the Tinies of Raglan Shire to an audience outside Second Life? Last week, the thirty day project made it's $8500 goal in about half the time.
With the US Presidential season in the news, some are turning to talk shows as a source of information, or a soapbox to speak their minds for a few minutes. While on the radio, they can be found in Second Life. One such show is East Coast Conservative, co-hosted by Hatton Humphrey, known on the Grid by his avatar Hatton Hunghi. Recently, he and I sat down for an interview, in which he talked about his show, and its current new location.
A little bit of New Orleans comes to Second Life. Relay For Life of Second Life will present their first Multi Team event, Mardi Gras Weekend.
Stroll along the streets and soak in the atmosphere where you'll find street performers, shops and dancing featuring some of SL's great musicians and DJs playing Blues, Jazz and Rock and Country.
On March 31st @10 am, line the sidewalks for a parade of floats created by Relay For Life Team members. Mama P Beerbaum, Stingray9798 Raymaker, Dwen Dooley and Nikki Mathieson will be on hand to host and talk on air and share their observations with us as the floats go by! You may vote for your favorite float by paying a team vendor 1L per vote! The team who wins BEST in FLOAT wins 5000L paid to their team kiosk, too! The weekend will end with a formal Masquerade Ball in the French Quarter hosted and Broadcast Live by T1 Radio and Trader Whiplash who will Crown our BEST in FLOAT winner.
Come on over y'all and get your free beads, grab a mint julep, and enjoy this tribute to the city that holds the warmth and welcome of Cajun hospitality. There will be games, carnival rides and raffles - something for everyone, while supporting a great cause, Relay For Life!
See you there!
For more information, please contact:
Shayla Juran
RFL Teams R Us Lead
Teleport Agent
Today, the March Military Expo in the WW2 Tribute sim officially opens.
Earlier this month, I decided to drop in where I got my real start in Second Life, Luskwood. The occasion: the folks at the Big Tree were throwing an impromptu pirate party. So it was time to get one's eyepatch n' cutlass and sail on over.
With Gemma Cleanslate having written recently on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Theater in Second Life, there have been a few people asking about the article of when it was first seen. Originally written for Second Life Newspaper, the archives it was in was blocked from view. So it's been printed in the Newser four years later.
It is that time again; 7seas Fishiversary 2012 is open! This is the 4th anniversary of 7seas fishing and the owners & designers, Jen Shikami, Seven Shikami and Meissa Thorne have set new customs of their own on their Party Island in Osmium. They, as well as 7Seas sass, will be hosting many fishing contests during the weekend and holding live DJ parties there on Sunday.
Twenty four of the designers of custom fishing items: rods, fish, wearable items such as shirts, hats and more, have set out their little islands in the sims of Ruthenium and Iridium. The items are all free to catch ( with baited rods) and many fishers will spend the whole weekend in these three sims looking for these special items. It is a great fun weekend.
I went to a very busy contest on Friday morning. Almost 40 fishers participated in 15 minute contests with bait going to the the top 10 leaders and a special prize for 1st and 5th place. If you have time and are not a fisher you can come take a look at the builds. If you start from the following LM you can rezz a boat and take a ride through the three sims. The cute builds are worth seeing and so are some of the fishers!
Are you "full of Blarney," haven't had enough of St Patrick's Day, or just want to see something Irish in Second Life? Besides the noted Dublin sim, there is Castle Blarney. Going there, one can go to the top and do the ritual of kissing the Blarney Stone.
Yesterday, RacerX Gullwing announced there would be a cross-country, or rather a cross-sim giant snail race for the Relay for Life fundraiser. The race will be at the Skybeam Estates.
"Visit famed fashion and skin store Egoisme for a day of partying and giveaways — where two people per hour will be treated to a total makeover including clothes, skin and jewellery. Music is provided by the award-winning BOSL Radio team and you can feed more than just your ego by helping to raise funds for the Feed a Smile Charity. The event runs March 24 from 9 AM to 3 PM"
The wilderness is made up of six sims far (southeast) from the mainland: Gecko, Caiman, Piranha, Tapir, Capybara, and Leech. different from the rest of the Grid in a few ways. Like the Linden Realms gaming area, it's a creation of Linden Labs. Unlike Linden Realms however, it's finely detailed, making much use of mesh objects. Plus it's limited to Premium Account members, the post asking people to take advantage of a 50% discount on memberships (lasting one quarter). Free players trying to get in will be blocked. According to the blog post, it also makes much use of the new Pathfinding tools to animate the critters. It also stated they would be generally available "at the end of March."
The response has been, on the whole, positive. In the "Eternal Sunshine" blog, Mera thought the place looked much better in-avatar than what the pictures suggested, "I got a different feeling when I walked around the paths of those sims than I usually get in Second Life. They had more LIFE!" She very much recomended walking about instead of flying or teleporting. She did wonder if a few more features, such as poisonous snakes or infectious diseases, might be needed to keep the place something of a challenge, but she liked it.
On Wednesday, the 4rth Annual Second Life "Buddy Walk" took place. Set up on a two sim stage, nine musicians took part in the fundraiser, raising thousands of Lindens for charity.
For those who don't know, Tuna Oddfellow is a magician in real life, Mathew "Fish the Magish" Fishman. He got attention during Second Life's heyday in 2007 when NBC did a "Most Talented Avatar" competition. "I've got a mission to bring a little magic to everyone's day," he told the reporter then. And magic he has delivered, eventually coming up with the Odd Ball.
By 2010 though, the two were more concerned with Tuna's health problems that were taking a financial toll as well. With the help of friends and family, they got through them. Tuna's heath problems haven't gone away, but he and Shava continue their performances on the Grid. Occasionally they have a guest musician, such as Cypress Rosewood.
When logging in, the link that appeared on my screen was about getting a Linden bear on Marketplace. Curious, the Linden bears popular as they are (even if the Lindens aren't), I look a look, and came across this page on the official offworld Second Life store.Get this free limited-edition Linden Bear in celebration of the new, more efficient way to receive purchases from the Marketplace — not BOXED! The bear will be delivered to a new Received Items folder. Grab your free bear, find it in your Received Items folder, and get a notecard telling you more about the changes to the Marketplace.
For more information, see the updated Knowledge Base article on shopping in the Marketplace: http://bit.ly/ShoppingMarketplace.
And getting the bear and rezzing it, he appeared as in the picture, roasting marshmallows over older X-Street delivery boxes (the more recent ones were pictures of the product).
