Day: December 4, 2013

Speak again, bright angels: Romeo + Juliet winter season

Posted on by Inara Pey

Baz Luhrmann isn’t the only one to bring a contemporary beat to that most famous of tragic love stories of all times: Romeo and Juliet. Throughout most of 2013, The Basilique Performing Arts Company has been presenting its own unique re-imagining of Shakespeare’s tale of love, loss and tragedy.

Romeo + Juliet production poster (courtesy of Canary Beck)
Romeo + Juliet production poster (courtesy of Canary Beck)

Conceived, directed and narrated by Canary Beck, Romeo + Juliet presents the story of star-crossed lovers in an inspired mix of  renaissance-inspired sets, 1940s costumes, and contemporary music from the likes of Nat King Cole, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, Michael Buble, Jack Black, Carl Douglas, Moby, Duran Duran, The Indigo Girls, Queen and more. At two hours in length, the show is a veritable tour de force of the creative and collaborative capabilities of the Second Life platform, and sets new standard for presenting dramatic pieces within SL, combining dance, animations, voice-overs, dialogue and an unforgettable sound track.

The show is now into its winter season, and if you haven’t seen it yet, now is the time to set a date in your diary and make sure you get along to the Basilique Playhouse to see this extraordinary show for yourself.

Upcoming dates are as follows – all times SLT:

December 2013:

  • Sunday December 8th 12:00 noon
  • Saturday December 14th: 13:00

January 2014:

  • Sunday January 4th: 12:00 noon
  • Saturday January 11th: 13:00
  • Sunday January  19th: 13:00
  • Saturday January 25th: 12:00 noon

February 2014:

  • Saturday February 1st: 13:00
  • Saturday February 8th: 13:00
  • Friday February 14th: 13:00
The cast at a curtain-call (image courtesy of Strawberry Singh / Canary Besk)
The cast at a curtain-call (image courtesy of Strawberry Singh / Canary Besk)

Notes on Attending a Performance

Do note that the Basilique Playhouse is located on an Adult-rated region, and that age verification is required in order to teleport there. The show itself does not feature sex or nudity, although one scene does suggest sexual relations. All performances are free, but gratuities to the cast and crew are always appreciated.

In order to enjoy the performance to the fullest, it is recommended that audience members:

  • Remove unnecessary scripted attachments (hair, accessories, and shoes tend to be the worst offenders)
  • Turn off nametags and Look-ats
  • Wear mesh if possible
  • Keep local chatter and gestures between scenes only
  • Set the following in their viewers:

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Taking a break. Well, for a day

Posted on by Inara Pey
Home sweet home
Home sweet home – click to enlarge any image

I decided to take time off from blogging & exploring for a day and focus on things at my home on Blake Sea. Having seen a number of outstanding home and garden designs recently, I felt more could be done with my own place, so I took the day off for more involved blogging to see what I could do both within the constraints of the parcel size (2688 sq m), capacity (800 prims) and the requirements of the estate covenant (which limits things like terraforming, build types, etc).

Looking at the house from across the pond. Note the use of materials :)
Looking at the house from across the pond. Note the use of materials 🙂

The first thing I knew I needed to do was to re-work the house; when I moved in, the orientation of the build was such that the bedroom faced out over the sea, and the lounge sat towards the back of the land and faced into the parcel, something I’ve wanted to revise for a good while now, so the lounge would be more forward and facing the sea.

Once this was done, it was time to get to work on sorting out what else I wanted. This was actually a case of trial and error, as it turned out to be another of those situations where I hadn’t the foggiest notion of what I actually wanted; just a vague idea of paths, trees, flowers and water all somehow mixed together. Inspiration finally hit when I decided to take out the wooden dock I’d built for the Lady of Calas, my little E-Tech Sparrow cruiser. With that out of the way, I could re-work the house further and introduce a couple of stepped terraces down to the water’s edge, the lowermost of which could also form the quay for Lady of Calas?

Flowers :)
Flowers 🙂

It was a pretty simple idea, but one which let me get around the issue of terraforming, as it meant I could add walls and planters to the terraces, offering lots of opportunity to display flowers and add colour and have to worry about tweaking the land in order for things to look right. A shopping spree also saw me splurge a little as I picked-up some items from some of my favourite designers: Alex Bader, Cory Edo, Eko Zhong and Kayle Matzerath (I still love Kayle’s Luminaria build for Fantasy Fayre).

From across the bridge
From across the bridge

I don’t pretend the finished article matches up to anything like Crystal Oak Falls. I’m not even sure it is finished; I still have some capacity I might yet use; at the very least, there are some Koi Carp boxed somewhere in my inventory which may end-up in the pond, and I’m having further ideas about making the gardens somewhat more “formal”. But is it is, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve managed to achieve, hopefully without bending the estate rules *too* much in the process.  As it is, the house is now decently oriented, and I’ve given myself a little more organised space around the house through the use of the terraces, including finding a nice new home for my piano. I’ve also gained a new outdoor seating area out over the water on the far side of the parcel.

There are a few more things I might do over the next few days in order to refine things further, but for now, methinks it is time to get back to blogging!

By night
By night