Preparing For The Burn

 

In a few days, Burn2, the largest and longest-running annual art and music festival in Second Life, will began. This is the virtual version of the Burning Man festival in Black Rock Nevada, which helped inspire Philip Rosedale and others in the early Linden Lab to come up with Second Life. Gemma Cleanslate has been at the Playa as the "Burners" are getting ready. So what has she seen?

Read Gemma's story in Events.
 

News and Commentary: Have a Second Life Contingency Plan

People make all sorts of plans for unexpected situations, and this includes Second Life. For instance, a DJ might ask a buddy to take his place at a venue in case the Internet goes bad. Or if you can't make a meeting, you might ask someone to take notes. But what would happen if you were sick or injured for days, weeks, or months? If you had a home, would it still be here? If you had a club or other venue, what would happen to it? Suppose for one reason or another, you couldn't come back. Following a close call for his real-life community, and with the country facing a deadly epidemic, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich) ponders the question. Is it time for all of us to have a contingency plan in case something happens?

Read Cyfir's article in People.

Behind The Scenes of the Second Life Birthday

As the Relay Weekend fades into Second Life history, attention turns to the next big event: the Second Life Sixteenth Birthday celebration, also known as the SL16B. Behind the scenes, the moles have been busily making the infrastructure, the exhibitors and their crews making the builds, and the volunteers have been training. Gemma Cleanslate, whom is one of the volunteers, had an inside look at things.

Read Gemma's story in Design.

Building Begins For Burn2 Radical Ritual in October

Besides Halloween, October in Second Life is also known for the main Burn2 festival. Although the "Burners" as they're called have spinoff events around the year, October has always been the time of the original of the yearly events, based on the real-life Burning Man festival in Black Rock Nevada and originally called Burning Life, that have taken place in Second Life from it's first year. Klaus Bereznyak had a look at the preparations for the "Octoburn" from the scene of the event as the people behind it get ready. This year's theme: "Radical Ritual."

Read more in Design.

SL14B Update

With about a week and a half until the Second Life Birthday celebrations, the map has been taking shape as more exhibitors work on and finish their plots. Among those, the SL Newser exhibit on the left edge of SL14B Electrify, which is largely complete aside from some last-minute adjustments. Silvia Ametza, the chief builder for the exhibit, informed me that after some suggested script adjustments by one of the volunteer staff, the exhibit passed an inspection.

Work has been done on three of the stages and the auditorium. But the main stage, also known as "the cake," is not on the map. Almost certainly, it's been worked on by it's builder(s) elsewhere. Almost certainly, it will be on the SL14B grounds soon.

One curious detail was that a duplicate of SL14B Dazzle appeared south of the main mass. Why this was done has not yet been revealed.

Tomorrow June 10, those applying to perform for the SL14B will be notified through email. The remaining schedule for the preparation and the celebration goes as follows:

June 15-16: Sims Closed to Exhibitors for Walkthrough
June 16-17: Extra time for adjustments
June 17: Press Day
June 18, noon SLT: Opening Day!!
June 23: The Birthday
June 18-25: Open with Performances
June 26- July 2: Open for viewing–No Performances
July 3-5: Breakdown
July 6: Sims Go Offline

For exhibitors, there's also a hunt one can register for, if you have a gift in theme to give.

Once again, the SL14B officially begins on Sunday, June 18 at Noon SL time.

SL13B Preparations Under Way

It's just a few weeks until Second Life's Thirteenth Birthday celebration, eight days of events, and seventeen sims to walk around to see the exhibits. But before that, the exhibitors need to build their exhibits. As both a volunteer for the SL13B and writer for the Newser, Gemma Cleanslate had a few thoughts to share, as well as a few pictures of the "placeholders" the exhibitors left on their plots to mark them as claimed.

Read Gemma's article in Events.

Second Life 11th Birthday Preparations

The SL11B is fast approaching though it seems far away yet. 

The roads are down on all the sims. Stages are in progress. The auditorium is awaiting programs. The builders are waiting to enter. Yesterday I went to my training session for Exhibitor Assistant. Diana Renoir gave the training again this year. This will be my third year as an EA as we are called. Our job is to help the builders get settled on their plots and have the “tools” they need to do their work in the sims. We give them a slice of cake which contains all their information to make life easier for the next few weeks before the opening of the sims to the public. 

The builders are most grateful to the EA’s throughout the next weeks because we can set their streams on the plots, put a landing point for them and a texture of identification of their plot. I took some pictures at the training session so you could see some of the people you may meet on the sims . I enjoy being in the sims during the building to witness the growth of the installations . 

One thing I know, although I will spend time there in the next month before and during the event I will never get to see everything there is to see. The past two years have proven that to me. It is impossible!! There will be so much to explore on all those 11  sims. So I am warning you now to save more than one day to come during the public weeks. You really don’t want to miss all the sights, and freebies, and parties do you? 

Keep an eye on the blog and check out those great videos and get ready for fun! 
http://slcommunitycelebration.com/

Gemma Cleanslate



(click here if the video fails to play)

Editor's Note: Today (May 30th) is the day the SL11B sims open to exhibitors. Stay tuned for sneak peeks of the builds (exhibitors contact us if you want your build in the paper).

SL11B: Applications Closed

It was announced by the organizers of the upcoming Second Life 11th Birthday that applications for exhibitors are now closed.

Applications for all Exhibitors, Performers, Speakers and Volunteers have now closed, and it looks like you guy REALLY love birthdays!  We had 426 exhibitor applications, 440 Performer applications and over 300 volunteers! Now begins the task of sorting through all your applications and figuring out how to fit you all into 243 plots and 3 stages.. Our first priority is exhibitors, as the sims open for you lot on the 30th of May – not as far away as you’d think! Acceptances for you will start coming in the next few days and will continue over the next week. Please be patient as we have a lot to work through! We’ll post the dates that performers can expect to hear from us in a while, but that will be closer to our opening date of June 22 – we won’t forget you, promise!

Besides Saffia Widdershins' latest "Madman" video, there was one by a "Canale di Pallina60Loon"



(Click here if the video fails to play)

For more details, check out the SL11B website: http://slcommunitycelebration.com/ .

Preparations For Burn2

Gemma Cleanslate reports from the location of next month's Burn2, one of the major yearly events in Second Life. The various volunteers are hurrying to make everything ready for the festival of art and music. And if you're interested in joining, there are a number of positions you can take.

Read more in Events.

SL10B Preparations: Flying over the Sims

Gemma Cleanslate has been busy at work as a volunteer for the SL10B staff, helping to get exhibitors to their plots and taking care of any problems. The work has been busy, but she gets to see the new builds come up.

Read Gemma's article in Events.