Cartoon of the Day: Big Organ

 

 Taken at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 1900

By Bixyl Shuftan

Chouchou Sim Reportedly To Close

Some sad news. According to New World Notes, the Chouchou sim will reportedly be closing soon. Made by two Japanese musicians who named it after their band, they stated the sim would close this Friday or any day afterwards. The two musicians, vocalist Juliet Heberle and composer Arabesque Choche, had met in Second Life, and performed there in numerous events without having met each other in real life. But eventually the couple did meet for real, married, and have a child. While they have been expanding their audience over the Internet, they cut back on their performances in the virtual world.

The scenery of Chouchou, and it's sister sim Chouchou V, was artistically beautiful. When I arrived, all was night and everyone around were black silhouettes. The soft ambient music added to the atmosphere. Visiting later, night had turned to day, first a cloudy white sky, then a clearer blue one. Besides the ground area with a few features such as a piano in the water, a half-sunken birdcage, and ladder leading up to nowhere, clicking on the last one led to two places in the sky. These were Islamey, a Japanese temple with cherry blossom trees, and Mememto, a large cathedral. There was a cinematic hud one could touch and receive, which made the screen look like a movie theater projection.

It was Kira Balestra, a fan of the sim, whom had told Hamlet Au that the sim was set to close. She appealed in the Second Life forums for the sim to be saved, which received numerous fan pictures.

By all means, visit the place before it's gone.

Flickr page

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chouchou/187/129/23

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Gathering at Notre Dame In Memory of the Original Struck By Fire

It survived for over eight centuries, outlasting revolutions and two world wars, only to go up in flames in a matter of hours. On April 15, the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris France was hit by a devastating fire. Ironically enough, the building was starting to undergo renovations to repair parts that were deteriorating from age. Some artifacts and art were saved, including several statues which had been taken down from the roof for cleaning. But the building itself was gutted.

In Second Life, people were gathering at the Notre Dame building in Paris 1900. Conversation was a mix of English and French, "I pray for our church. Even though I am not from France, Notre Dame is the heart of Europe." "Truly horrible." "Breaks my heart and for the people in Paris."

The sim would be close to capacity for a while, some looking in from the next sim.

At one point, fires broke out in the building. People thought it was griefers and a couple Lindens came over to invistigate. It turned out the one of the staff had set the fire.

Someone started passing around French flags to those at the club.

An article from a French paper would eventually be posted next to the cathedral.

I would stay for over an hour, but as the place remained full, and presumably remained so for much of the day, I eventually left to let others come by.

The disaster was bad. But thankfully no one was hurt. French leaders have vowed to rebuild the cathedral. Notre Dame will never be quite the same again, and reconstruction will take years. But it will be remade. It's just a question of time, money, and effort.

Third picture from  Lia (Female Winslet)

Bixy Shuftan

Antiquity

Looking for a good place to explore in Second Life can sometimes be difficult. So how often do you come across a place that isn't just great, but grand? Becky Shamen visited one such location that can only be called that: Antiquity. Consisting of thirteen sims, each with buildings or natural scenery, the owner Jacon Bexar didn't have just one well-built location, but a number. From the Royal Antiquity Theater, to the cathedral, to the horseback riding trails, it is a place one can expect to make repeat trips to in order to explore what it has to offer, and with it's events perhaps keep coming back to.

Read Becky's article in Places.

Mcarp Land in LEA

Following up her visit to the Sea of Aley, Gemma Cleanslate checked up on her friend and fellow artist Mcarp Mavendorf. Join her as she interviews the artist with a fascination for clocks and time, and ends up in a rather precarious situation when taking a ride up and over the sim.

Read more in Places.