Ancient Beauty

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Kingdom of Sand

One of the virtual destinations with beautiful architecture is Kingdom of Sand. It’s meant as a roleplay sim but visitors can pick up a three day visitor’s pass in the welcome area. It’s owned by those who had Venexia and Goatswood which closed earlier this year.Most of the activity is in the Palace and the City but there are dwellings and meeting places out in the desert, on pirate ships and in Mer people caves.There are Catacombs for the Undead too. Visitors don’t have access everywhere, not in residences of course, but also NPC’s block the way to secret meeting areas for the various factions and groups.Kingdom of Sand is well established; in my opinion the build still looks great. There are vast areas of sands with palm trees but there’s enough water that my avatar felt comfortable as I happily snapped photos during several visits.The ambience is of ancient times but I did notice two raccoons and a Jack Daniels bottle. Much of the Palace and the Harem is off limits but there are public places one can visit.If you’ve ever considered visiting or making a return visit, sadly I suggest you do so very soon, within the next week.

Nightfall Cities: Into the Wilds

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Nightfall Cities

I’m wanting to visit some of the newer sims before winter. I took my camera to one that’s about a month old. The plan here seems to be lots of vignettes for photography rather than a cohesive theme. There are hidden places too, I relaxed and poked around for a while. The sim is Nightfall Cities. It’s Adult rated; there are rules that need to be read. You can join a group for prop rez rights; there’s a symbolic fee for that to help support the sim.     From the land description:

“pictures, explore, photography, fantasy, wild, farm, lake, romance, couples, cuddling, exploring, ruins, ancient, fairies, animals, snapshot, camera, fun, meet, newcomer, secrets, caves, beach, boats, gardens, nature”

Camera and photography is mentioned several times in that paragraph but not machinima; I’m guessing that the owners would be fine with filming. This beach is a few steps away from some brown bears under some trees. There really are lots of animals, ruins, farm scenes, old playground equipment as well as the water backgrounds and palm trees.     What I like the most is the gorgeous water. This is near the landing; the office is in a small building. There’s a link to the Flickr group.One area of the sim has a variety of little houses for photographic purposes.

New Toulouse ~ No Such Thing Hunt

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New Toulouse, No Such Thing Hunt

There are reasons I rarely post about Hunts or even do them. New Toulouse is one of my favorite virtual places and I really enjoyed the No Such Thing Hunt going on there right now, through Nov 28. From the land description:

“Welcome to New Toulouse, a private estate community based on the American city of New Orleans, Louisiana and its surrounding environs in the first 25 years of the twentieth century (1900 – 1925).”

While it’s a private estate community, there’s plenty for visitors to see and do. I took these photos of some of the places on the hunt trail.There’s info at the landing about the hunt or you can start at No Such Thing HQ. There you pick up a free HUD and a Building Inspector Badge, the green thing I’m wearing in the photo.

“Collect your HUD at the starting point. Wearing your HUD, find all twenty kraken hatchlings and hear their stories. When your HUD is completely filled, return to hunt HQ to collect your rewards.”

SL has been laggy and crashy for me lately so I removed and reattached the HUD several times to make sure I didn’t lose my progress. With all the photo taking, distractions of exploring (like the cool detective agency) and numerous bars and the opium den, I managed to complete the hunt in a reasonable amount of time with a remarkable lack of frustration and annoyance. And I love most of the prizes; there are many I actually can and will use.

Here are some photos from my recent travels in New Toulouse:

Lafitte’s Old Primsmith Bar

“Lafitte’s Old Primsmith Bar Home of Mama Cree’s Freebies, All Full Perm – The oldest structure in New Toulouse! Refurbished a few times, but it was here first! Stop by and drown your sim-blues in prim-booze.”

Cafe d’Eve-Musica y Danza de Latin America y el Caribe

“Also home to the Louisianna Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning, New Toulouse Extension. (And upstairs to some suspicious IWW radical types who seem to be plotting to launch some kind of subversive newspaper.)”

Lin Laundry

“Lin Laundry New Toulouse Laundry. First-class cleaning at reasonable prices. Currently hiring.”

Begues’s Restaurant and Saloon

“Begues’s Restaurant and Saloon Begue’s Restaurant and Saloon (Circa 1915). Sit back, unwind and enjoy a full service menu of a reminiscent cafe and saloon from early 20th century New Orleans. – Restaurant, Ragtime, Dixieland Jazz, Swing Jazz, Vintage Blues, Electro-Swing.”

Kari’s Bar and Dance

“Kari’s Bar and Dance A bar and club that plays good Blues and Jazz especially made to dance and romance . midnight settings, Gumbo, Gris Gris, Dancing Cheek to Cheek, Roof-Top Tangos and True- Blue Friendships that last.Live music entertainment.”

The Green-eyed Fairy

“The Green-eyed Fairy Absinthe bar. Playable ragtime piano. Dancing. Pictures of Jazz and Blues greats (buy for 0L). Many other freebies and low cost items. Beautiful garden. Other interesting features.”

La cloche du chat

“soup kitchen for cats”

This is one of about three stops that are in the bayou.

La cloche du chat

A second photo of the soup kitchen since I found it charming and amusing.

The Dafthouse

“Music, Poetry, Art and conversation. This once busy brewery has been abandoned after mysterious murders and rumors of ghosts, but we have filled the place with joy and light. Come play games, talk, or indulge in more carnal pleasures.”

There seem to be two hunts every year in New Toulouse.

 

AvatarFest 2015 ~ Opensim

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AvatarFest 2015, opensim, virtual worlds

There’s a four day AvatarFest celebrating the strength and diversity of the hypergrid user community happening; today is day three. There will be a hypergrid safari visit on Wednesday the 18th. AvatarFest is open to the public for two weeks after the celebrations end.

“We do not represent corporations, companies nor grids – we are the customers, users, builders and dreamers who live out here, sharing our dreams and creations with one another.” In the above photo is a bar near the welcome area of the event. The Dj stage is nearby as well as information kiosks.

My schedule doesn’t permit me a lot of time in opensim. I found it fairly easy to visit from several of the grids where I have accounts, just pasting http://avatarfest.net:6000 in the world map and most of the time I saw Region Found! and teleported.    Above is a space roleplay installation in the exhibit area. The exhibit area is well worth visiting after the events are done this weekend. They represent a variety of grids and activities in opensim.   I enjoyed visiting the huge Hogwarts Spot. The build isn’t totally done but is quite impressive. There are several interactive areas; I got sorted into Ravenclaw House.

There were several Dj’s scheduled this weekend, a poetry reading, a theater performance, a roleplay workshop and several live performers. One live performance, by a musician from France, was understandably cancelled. There were moments of silence and a candlelight vigil for those who lost their lives in Paris.This is a Native exhibit with displays of related books scattered around the edges.   This is a portal to the Immersive Edge place which is a collaborative work for the future of storytelling in opensim. I want to post about it soon. Nara’s Nook, a writer’s grid is moving right now; there’s a storytelling group people will be able to join for notifications about Immersive Edge.This exhibit is at Byron’s Art Gallery. There’s writing about Autism Meltdown as well as other information.A view from inside the dance pavillion. There are many exhibits not shown here. There are also inviting places by fountains and flowers to sit and rest your pixels.This was a fun exhibit of droids.

I liked dancing with other avatars on Friday evening and now on Sunday afternoon. I am AfK part of the time. I’ve recognized avatar names from Google + and from Summer of Arts on Metropolis Grid which I’ve visited and posted about recently. There are lots of avatars here but the grid hasn’t crashed at this point.

I love seeing the creative results of good people working together.

Autumn in Frisland

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Frisland

My heart goes out to my French and European friends at this time.

Recently I returned to visit Frisland to enjoy peaceful, virtual autumn.

From the land description:

“Frisland is a phantom island that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the North Atlantic from the 1560s through the 1660s. This is our try to let our imagination run wild and create a region related to this mysterious phantom island. Enjoy!”Frisland is a very popular sim. There’s a welcoming notecard with some rules at the landing. For a small fee to help with upkeep you can join the group to rez temporary poseballs or props. 

Hot Tubes & Psychedelic Grooves at .:Metamorfaces:. Thursday

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Art Oluja, LEA, Livio Korobase, Metamorfaces

Time: Thursday, November 12, 1–3 pm SLT. Place: Metamorfaces; LEA 10. From the invitation:

“Hey friends! Art Oluja and Livio Korobase team up again to bring you Hot Tubes & Psychedelic Grooves!

This time we’re tapping into our Hippie vibes and taking the music under the trees at ::Metamorfaces:: with Livio Korobase at the DJ table burning up the tubes with awesome psychedelic grooviness that’ll get your flower power on in no time. So throw on some colour and get into those bell bottoms we’re ready to party!”

The colorful invitation and LM giver is like the roof of the dance floor. They are available at the Metamorfaces landing.

Summer of Arts 2015 ~ Metropolis Metaversum ~ part four

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Angus Vapor, Art Blue, Atari Patrucci, Chapter Kronfeld, Lucy Afarensis, Metropolis Metaversum, Summer of Arts 2015, Torben Asp, WordfromtheWise

 

Atari Patrucci

Here are the last photos from my visits to Summer of Arts 2015 at Metropolis Metaversum which may have ended on October 31. I’d thought it would be open until the 14th of November.

Atari Patrucci

This beautiful building had a sign out front saying “Work in Progress” when I was there. It is gorgeous and I spent time taking in the details.

WordfromtheWise

Pictures can’t possibly do justice to the colorful and dynamic art I strolled around in.

Torben Asp

This was an interesting adventure to explore. It looked like an architectural sculpture to me and then a few weeks later I read that there’d been a Dj and a party event.

Torben Asp

While I was there I looked over the surrounding structures, again realizing there was no way I could see and photograph everything.

Angus Vapor

I walked through this changing construct which was very colorful and dynamic. I can’t even describe it; you had to be there.

Art Blue

This area was very animated.

Art Blue

That is my Metropolis Pearl Grey avatar trying the chairs at Art Blue’s installation. Each seat offered a cammed in view of a different art space in the surrounding area. I very much appreciated this as I was becoming sleepy and had been exploring for hours. Art Blue documents works of other artists as well as creating performances himself. Here is a recent video of a performance  he did at Sim Futurelab in Metropolis Grid.

Lucy Afarensis

At this point I crashed and stubbornly logged in again, soon finding myself back in the 2D art where I noticed some things I’d missed before.

Lucy Afarensis

Chapter Kronfeld

Here is a site with information about the artists participating in this event.

Chapter Kronfeld

My previous posts of photos:

part one

part two

part three

 

 

KiLu

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KiLu

KiLu is an autumn themed destination. It’s on an adult rated sim, you can rez poseballs for photography.  

From the land description:

“KiLu sim is the perfect dream escape brought to reality in Second Life. Come explore the pathways and enjoy the photogenic scenery and views. Autumn foliage decorates the sim and you’ll never know what picturesque hidden treasures you’ll discover.”

Information is available near the landing. The landscaping and decorations are by Kimbra Iridescent and Luis Lockjaw. 

It has been quite crowded since it just opened on the third of November.

 

Pop Up Galleries Fall Session 1 Ending

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Art Farm Co-op, LEA

antsue

Fall Session 1 at Art Farm Co op, LEA 28 is ending on Sunday, November 8th. Everyone is welcome to visit the new gallery spaces and installations that will remain up through then. The other three quadrants, Youth Hostel (camping) Cafe Society (machinima and performance) and Jolly Pirate Books ‘N Grog will be closing as well. There are details at the bottom of this post if you would like to participate in the opportunities at LEA 28 this round.

The photo above was taken through the front window of antsue’s space. This artist also has a couple of free 3D pieces in the “large exhibit” area, which are actually reasonably sized.

Alegra

A new artist to this project is Alegra, with photographs in the theme of Sweet Melancholy.

Veyot

Veyot has returned to put some colorful things in this space. There’s a free 3 prim art sandwich with instructions that I’m looking forward to learning how to use.

Dulcis Taurog

I snapped this standing in the middle of the space Dulcis Taurog filled with both 2D and 3D art.

The pavilion in the background has several types of art media by AlexandreLois1 with new recent additions that are well worth checking out.

Pearl Grey (moi)

I put up another structure, the Kowloon Memory by L2 Studio. Both upstairs and downstairs display photographs with vintage look effects, the photos I also have shown on this blog about the flood in New Toulouse as well as in the post about the destination and rp sim IIe Sainte Marie-les-Bains. There’s a glitch slideshow I put together and also a drawing done by Elle Thorkveld.

Next to my gallery, in the right of the photo is Van Caerndow’s space displaying some of his work and where he holds his Drinking and Drawing classes on Monday evenings.

Elle Thorkveld

Elle has displayed some generative art and photos as well as making some new 3D sculptures in her gallery as well as the large exhibit area. There are tutorials available in prims here. She has done a wonderful job facilitating the Self Serve Pop Up Galleries.

Tiffany Mosienko

Tiffany Mosienko has displayed a project with old postage stamps, documents and other pieces of Illinois history. They’re interesting and well organized.

Neeva Torok; Cake (Aemeth Lysette)

Neeva Torok has continued her creating with mesh experiments, the white piece in the left of the photo. During a discussion I learned from a photo she gave me that I was unable to pick up the delicate detail around the edges of the piece, a reminder that we’re all seeing things differently. The build on the right is by Cake, a winter scene that can be used for filming and photography. This is an idea I’d like to see a proposal on for Fall Session 2

Serra Quendra

Serra Quendra has an inviting gallery with quirky autumn decorations in the yard. The wooden framed art photos are free gifts. She’s also contributed a lot to the Youth Hostel area next door.

Kimika Ying

The autumn maze by Kimika Ying completes my photos for this post. Kimika has contributed greatly to the success of Self-Serve Pop Up Galleries.

The open structure in the center background holds the sculpture garden.

There will be a two week break at Art Farm Co op, then Fall Session 2 will be six weeks, from November 21 — December 31. We are having a sort of meeting/party/display of creativity and works in progress on Sunday the 8th of November at 9:00 a.m SLT.

Visitors are welcome to attend and meet some of the active participants, learning more about what might be happening during Fall Session 2.

At the ending celebration of the summer session, proposals were called for and four were chosen for Fall Session 1. It’s more open ended this time; communication and information haven’t been forthcoming. We’ll come up with some sort of play, creativity and community though. This is a wonderful opportunity to become more comfortable with the LEA grant process and to meet supportive avatars.

I’ve blogged about Art Farm Co op here and also wrote about the Summer Session and gave links to resources in this post.

 

 

 

Including Machinima Permissions in Land Descriptions

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LEA, machinima, Second Life ToS

I’m a courteous and responsible avatar who enjoys making machinima. When I am filming it looks like I’m standing around, either alone or with my subject. It isn’t like I’m driving a van through someone’s flower beds or tracking mud on the carpets or scaring their sheep into a stampede.

I still have a huge amount to learn and the electronics I use aren’t so great. One thing I’ve learned is that unlike virtual photography, unless land description specifies that machinima is welcomed, we’re expected to ask permission. We can film on the LEA sims but we can’t rez. (Having no rez rights isn’t a problem for me; I rarely use poses for photography or deal with details that many others work with.)

When I see that others have used a location, I can guess that it’s acceptable to film but I’m not sure. Many showcase sim owners create flickr groups and invite avatars to submit their photos. It would be great if they would include information about machinima as well. Of course the location is to be credited; I don’t recall seeing when it hasn’t been.

The thing is, when I’ve sent IMs and notecards asking permission I haven’t been getting responses at all. I’m not sure how other avatars deal with this. None of the well known machinimists know me and we don’t hang out and chat so I am pretty much on my own. (My creative efforts have inspired several avatars to go and make wonderful machinima because I have such a blast doing it.)

It takes hours and hours to even end up with a three minute film so we have to kind of love it to bother. I think I recall seeing a list somewhere of places where filming is welcome but so often those things are not up-to-date.

I am hoping that some of the showcase sim owners who aren’t able or available to respond to IMs and notecards will indicate about permissions in their land descriptions for us everyday avatars who quietly go about doing video capture and editing it for our own enjoyment as well as the amusement of a few friends.  I’m mostly thinking of these unique sims that are around for three or six months.

If this doesn’t make it more easier, I’m prepared to make more use of the LEA build locations. And at Art Farm Co-op, there will be a Fall Session 2 for six weeks where participating avatars can have rez rights as well as film which is something I very much appreciate.

Anyway, here is my last machinima. I don’t have words to describe how much fun it was making it.