SL Video: "Halle Bailey - Angel ft STX"

 

 

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From GE.N.T. Productions on August 29 2023

 

Interview With Nydia Tungsten: 11 Years, 11 Questions

It was eleven years ago tomorrow, December 12, 2008, that Nydia Tungsten first came to Second Life. Over time, she has been many things: DJ, club owner, sim owner, community leader, negotiator, published writer, music video maker, mentor, and friend. She's also been a contributing writer to the Newser. Recently, Cyfir interviewed her about her time here, with one question for each of her years here in the virtual world.

Read Cyfir's interview in People.

SL Video: "Angel Fox"

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From Furry Andy on Feb 2015

SL Video: "Strawberry"

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From Sunweaver/Angel resident Liffento on November 26, "My character dances Strawberry ☆ sung by Kagamine Rin. Song produced by Yuugou-P. Dancer in Second Life was made by cleaglass of Little Pierce Music Studio."

SL Music Video: "Unchained Melody"

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From Calaval on May 2013, "A Second Life movie inspired by Ghost. I hope you enjoy it! Music is by Les Baxter."

A Glance At Two Starter "Bento Enabled" Avatars

After the new starter avatars were announced a few days ago, I'd heard a few complaints about them, and finally someone asked me if I'd given them a try. Not seeing them available in my viewer, I went ahead and created an alt and started out with one, the male "angel."

In my up to date Firestorm viewer, which is designed to see Bento avatars and attachments for, the avatar looked pretty detailed, and the wings gently flapped. But there was one small flaw, at least in my opinion. The avatar was shown sword in hand. It would have probably be better for the sword to have been in a scabbard on his belt as presumably it would be mostly in social situations chatting with others, and a newcomer would take a while to learn how to remove it.

Two of the avatars, a female and a male (shown here), were horseback riders. Not only did the avatar come with a horse, when switching over to it the rider was on the horse. The horse was quite detailed, and moved around a little at rest, and when walking or running, the animation kept up. It would be good for someone heading straight to a horseback riding sim or a fantasy roleplaying area that was mostly forest land. That is, if the newcomer knew where to get to such places. The problem with the newcomer arriving on horseback is he's not going to know how to remove his horse for a while, which may make interaction with others indoors a little awkward at times.

Gentle Heron mentioned one other complication with the horseback riding starting avatars, one that in my opinion Linden Lab couldn't be blamed for not anticipating. It seems at least one resident was staying clear of these avatars due to a phobia caused by a traumatic experience with one of these huge animals with powerful legs. And since a newcomer couldn't be expected to know how to remove the critter, he wouldn't know how to remove the source of fear of someone with a similar phobia.

As many weapons in Second Life are designed to be sheathed or drawn with either a code word, or a gesture that can be made with the press of a button, perhaps something similar could be done in the case of the weapon and the horse. But how to make it simple for newcomers, and getting this information to them?

And of course if a newcomer in  Bento avatar comes across people in older viewers, the features that were improved on new viewers are going to come out a mess. Since you don't know what viewers others have, when arriving at an event in a shinny new Bento avatar, you may need to ask everyone of they can see it okay.

After playing around for a while, I sent the alt to Curious to get the freebie furry Felis avatar there before calling it a night.

Addition:  here's a more cheerful review by Alicia Chenaux.

Bixyl Shuftan

Sunweaver/Angel Community Highlights For 2016

Last week, the Newser had its Year in Review of Second Life. But only a few things were mentioned about it's adopted home area, the Sunweaver/Angels Community. So what happened in our neck of the virtual woods?

Marusame Arai was interviewed by Koatu Magazine.

Becky Shamen filmed a video of the Sunweaver Estates.

Nydia Tungsten filmed a number of music videos, such as "Chemical Rush," "Straight Up,"and "Wild Thing."

The Sunny Beach sim had a makeover as it's new owner made it the home of "Mythical Woods" and the "Gathering Oak" hangout.

The Happy Vixen and Club Cutlass were remodeled.

There were special events such as the Halloween party, the "Twisted Christmas" party, Guy Fawkes Night, the "Cheesy" game tournament, the New Year's Eve party, and more.

Cynthia Farshore built a new hangout in her Pacific Waters sim, the "Goblin Cave."

Jenni Greenfield constructed the Crystal Tower.

The Feral Theater was remodeled.

RECoyote Mindes helped the Sunweaver and Angel sims get their reduced "Grandfathered" rates by paying the fees.

The Primal Passions castle club closed, as was Club Fur, the oldest furry-themed club in Second Life.

Nydia Tungsten's mother passed away. Cynthia Farshore's father also passed.

A number of Relay for Life events were held, including the air show and road rally at Farshore Field, Becky Shamen's "Bid Me Bald" aka the "Harecut," and the "Fox Avatar Challenge."

The Sunweaver/Angels' Team Sunbeamer in the Relay would go on to build an exhibit at the Relay for Life "Relay Weekend" track, which would win the "Cancer Education Awareness Award," and the team would go on to reach Platinum rank for the first time ever.

The Second Life Newser would win an Award For Excellence.  The Newser would also gain Farshore Radio as a sponsor.

It's been an eventful year for the Sunweaver/Angel communities, with a few sad happenings, but also a number of happy and great ones.

Here's to a great 2017 for the collection of artists, writers, builders, designers, clothesmakers,  musicians, jokers, and general misfits whom make of one of Second Life's most noted communities.

Bixyl Shuftan

Crossroads

Recently, Netera Landar visited a dark place in Second Life, the Crossroads. Halfway wondering if she'd end up needing to buy a vampire's wardrobe and a coffin as a result of her venture, Netera braved the dangers and talked to the people behind this gothic-themed roleplay community.

Read more in People.

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan