RFL Team Sunbeamer Bid Me Results

 

The results of the three Bid Me fundraisers this month by the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamers are in.  

 

Cynthia Farshore

 

Stay Normal: 500L

Change : 9000L

 

Cynthia becomes a gray male furry wolf for three weeks.

 

Shockwave Yareach

 

Stay Normal: 200L
Change: 9000L

 

Shockwave becomes a white female furry goat
3 weeks

Charlee Harmony
 

Stay Normal: 0L

Change: 20,000 L

Charlee becomes a black-furred vixen for ten weeks, two and a half months.
 

As of now, the Sunbeamer team has raised a total of 1,109,028 Linden dollars, eighth of 189 teams. 

 

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

*Update* We originally reported the results of Charlee's kiosk was 9000L. It seems there was another donation, bringing the total up to 20,000 Linden dollars.  

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

Drax Radio Hour Ends After Seven Years

 
Noted Second Life media personality Draxtor Despres is noted for many shows. Nowdays, he's known for hosting the Second Life Book Club, and the Second Life Destinations videos he does for Linden Lab. But there was one show he'd still been doing after over seven years and over 300 episodes: The Drax Files Radio Hour. But a few days ago on October 24, he aired a brief five minute episode announcing "This Is The End."

"I'd sad, but also relieved," he stated in the final show, saying his listenership for this particular show had dwindled to a tiny few, "It makes no sense to continue this podcast with this lack of interest. ... That's totally fine. ... It's a very saturated marketplace. And truth be told, I am extremely busy on other fronts that are very gratifying. People know that I come from radio. I love radio. I love the podcast medium. I love audio. But I also love making videos and profiling Second Life people. And I love making documentaries. ... We are very busy with an upcoming documentary about virtual cultures in Pandemic times ... I produce a minimum of about 140 videos per year for the official Second Life social. ... we're extremely productive. The podcast is just not catching on. I'm sorry, but there is enough media, enough stories, enough art, and reportage documentaries from yours truly. I think I'm overexposed as it is."

On the webpage, he would post the following:

My friends: I decided to end this podcast. we started way back in 2014, shortly before Ebbe Altberg came in. We had over 2000 listeners per week. We are down to 9!

I don’t mind. I am happy that i can cancel myself in fact because we churn out over 150 videos with second life stories per year, not counting the feature length work.

That should be enough should it not? listen to my short announcement and tell me what you think. Thank you for making my second life awesome every day!

The Drax Files Radio Hour first aired on Friday January 10, 2014. At first he did the show with Jo Yardley, best known for her "1920s Berlin Project." The first few episodes would go into topics like supposed NSA investigations of Second Life, other platforms such as High Fidelity and Cloud Party, and the resignation of then CEO of Linden Lab Rod Humble. More recent episodes were about subjects of Second Life Book Club airings. The second to last episode, Show 320, aired on August 16. So the Radio Hour had been on hold for a while.

For those wanting to keep in touch with Draxtor, "Befriend me inworld, join the book club, ... follow me on Twitter." One can also email him at draxtor@draxtor.com, or madeinsl@draxtor.com if there's a story about Second Life to tell

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Burn2 Festival Ends

The Burn2 art and music festival is now over. Over the weekend, the Burning of the Man and the Temple Burn (above) took place. The events are over, but the sims will be up for another day or two. For those who want one more look, or haven't been there yet, head over and see the exhibits before the artists clean them up and "leave no trace."

VWBPE, Home and Garden Expo, Conclude

Two big events in Second Life came to a close this weekend. On Saurday night, the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education had it's conclusion with the closing ceremony followed by a Dick Clark Tribute Concert, featuring performers representing various singers of the past from Freddie Mercury to Louis Armstrong to Aretha Franklin to (preteen) Michael Jackson. On Sunday, the Relay for Life's Home and Garden Expo had it's last shows, including a special appearance by Patch Linden at the Relay Rap.

The sims for the VWBPE will remain up for a few more weeks, allowing people to see the exhibits (and try out the underwater hunt). But it won't be long before those for the Home and Garden are closed. Later this month is the next mega-event for the Relay, the Fantasy Faire, which will be in temporary sims in the area.

We'll soon have a little more about the VWBPE.

Addition: For those who want to check on VWBPE discussions they missed, check the list of videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/VWBPE/videos .

Cynthia and Shockwave's "Bid Me" Period From Relay Season Ends

In a sense, it was the last event for Team Sunbeamers, the Relay for Life team of the Sunweaver community. During the Relay season, Cynthia Farshore, known for her anthro nannygoat avatar, volunteered for a "Bid Me Foxy" fundraising event for the team. Shockwave soon followed up with his "Bid Me Goat" fundraiser. The two "Bid-Me" events raised over 62,000 Lindens for the team when the totals were tallied on Friday June 15, and helped it reach Sapphire status that weekend. But they were stuck in their new looks for twelve weeks.

When the Relay season ended in July, Rita offered to let Cynthia and Shockwave off the hook as technically all Relay events were over. But the two answered that a promise was a promise and they would stick to it. So they stayed in their "Bid Me" looks until the night of Friday September 7 at the "Lemon/Lime" dance at Club Cutlass when the 12 weeks were finally up. For the first hour, they danced about as usual.

At 7PM, Cynthia vanished in a cloud of pigeons flying in every direction. Then a few minutes later, both reappeared in another cloud of pigeons and red smoke, both in their usual appearances. "Showmanship counts," Shockwave would comment. The two then resumed their dance.

And so, the last of Team Sunbeamer's events was truly over. While the team is proud to have reached Emerald rank for the first time ever, it is also tired. While the team will be doing Bid-Mes and other fundraisers next year, there will probably be no games like this year's "Cancer Shooting Train." But the next season is months away, and Cynthia and Shockwave have a few things to work on in the meantime, such as the Caledon Downs sim and the relocated Goblin Cave,

Bixyl Shuftan

"Happy Birthday Second Life!" SL14B Celebrations End

Sunday June 25 was the last day of official events at the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday celebrations. And there were a number of performances at the stages.

The energetic DJ Tantari Kim, who performs every Tuesday night at the Happy Vixen, made an appearance at the DJ stage.

Among those in the audience were Golan Eilde and Catboy Qunhua (pictured).

Later on, I went to "Stage Left" where Jaycatt and Frogg were performing.

While Frogg Marlowe rezzed, my viewer refused to render more than small parts of Jaycatt Nico during the performance.

I had to wait until after the show for a good picture of the pianist.

Xiola Linden and April Linden were also there. Of Xiola's shirt, does "We are the weirdos, Mister" refer to Linden Lab?

As Midnight neared, people gathered at the Cake Stage. The last DJ there was Laz Dressler

Among those there was Cake Stage builder Mikati Slade.

"This is the Birthday!"

"That's why you're in a cake..."

As Midnight neared, Laz ended her set with "Goodbye To You." "Thank you all so much for staying with me tonight," she told the crowd, "Good night everybody. Have a blessed Second Life."

 In previous years, Midnight would mean the end. But I noticed a gathering at Stage Left, and going over, I saw fireworks.

Among those there was Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer), the builder of Stage Left.

Seeing another gathering in front of the Cake Stage, I went over, and there were a few people, including Warp Linden and Mikati enjoying one more event, a few fireworks. Some spelled some words.

"Happy 14th Birthday Second Life. See you next year."

And so, the official events for "The Birthday" are done. But that does not mean the end of the SL14B just yet. The sims will remain up for several more days, and most exhibitors leave their builds up, allowing those who couldn't attend earlier due to real life events or older computers to see them. One unofficial event that's become a tradition, the "Cake Explosion" has been given a date: Sunday July 2 at 4PM SL time. But on Monday July 3, the sad part begins with "the breakdown." And on July 6 the sims go offline, leaving nothing but memories, recordings, and articles such as this one.

Bixyl Shuftan