The Lab has issues a reminder via the Grid Status Reports page that there will be no concierge telephone and chat support available from midnight SLT on Wednesday, November 26th through until 08:00 SLT on Friday, November 28th.
This is to allow support staff in the USA to enjoy Thanksgiving with their family and friends.
Concierge phone and chat support will be offline this coming Thursday, 27 November, so that team members can spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their friends and family. Both services will close at midnight Wednesday evening and will re-open at 8am Pacific on Friday morning.
To the support staff and all at Linden Lab, I’d like to pass on my best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving, and the same also goes out to all those I’ve come to know in SL who are celebrating Thanksgiving as well.
Second Life photographer, blogger and friend, Ziki Questi, has two new exhibitions of her work under way in Second Life right now.
The first, located at the Rose Theatre Art Gallery, Angel Manor, features landscape images with a decidedly watery theme. In fact, of all the original pieces selected for the display, only one didn’t have a watery theme, and so that was swapped out for another at did!
Featured here are some of Ziki’s more recent works from places such as Binemist, NorderNey, The Colder Water, Square Pegs in Round Holes, Sarawak, and more, all in Ziki’s familiar panoramic format, tastefully displayed in one of the gallery’s larger exhibition spaces, with plenty of light and which also offers comfortable sofas from which to admire Ziki’s work.
“When Holter first contacted me,” Ziki says of the second exhibition of her work, which is located at the Holtwaye Art Space, curated by Holter Rez, who co-runs the gallery with WayneNZ, “he clearly had some thoughts in mind about what sort of theme he wanted, and I was very surprised to see what he had assembled.”
She continues, “most people probably know me as a photographer of landscapes and artwork, and I often think of my own work that way. But Holter assembled a group of ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic’ images, as he put it, that are more abstract, or at least less immediately recognizable by subject matter.”
The result is Geometries of the Grid, a selection of images by Ziki spanning a number of years, and taken (predominantly) at art installations which have appeared in Second Life. Each piece – as the title of the exhibition suggests – has been selected for it geometric content and appeal. Spread across two floors of the gallery, the display offers a unique way in which to revisit and recall some unique installations that have appeared in SL.
Both exhibits offer a very individual view of Second Life as captured through the eyes of a very talented photographer, as such, both come highly recommended.
Brysk is a homestead region currently shared between Nailah Carrlucci and Armon Aeon. While the two halves of the region may be independent of one another in terms of ownership, Nailah and Armon have worked to present their lands as one, bringing us a public place caught in an Indian Summer as the trees turn to gold, inviting visitors to explore and relax which winter slowly takes a grip on regions elsewhere…
Nailah’s portion of the region, The Sanctuary by the Sea, features a large stone church with cobbled paths beyond its low surrounding walls. A small tavern – more a converted stone out-house – offers visitors a choice of local wine or ale, both served by the chubby monk in attendance. A towered stone house, one of Maxwell Graf’s beautiful mesh creations, is open to visitors, offering a place to relax and chat with friends. A short distance away and reached either via tree-lined track or across stone bridge, is the landing point, surrounded by trees touched by the changing seasons. This offers another invitation for visitors to sit for a while and pass the time: chairs and loungers from Cory Edo, warmed by a fire pit and with a large stone fountain splashing water nearby.
Beyond the low line of craggy hills which divide the land, lies Sanctuary Falls, Armon Aeon’s land. This is altogether more rural, a place where red and gold leaves float on an ocean of white-tufted grass and deer wander among grazing horses, while tall trees mix greens and yellows against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains that surround the region. Water is a feature here, with falls, streams and ponds. A touch of fantasy is also caught within the landscape, as tall carven figures stand on either side of one of the waterfalls, and further afield, under the shade of a gnarled tree, an elven couple lay in and eternal stone embrace.
Both The Sanctuary by the Sea and Sanctuary Falls offer visitors a restful visit, and lend themselves to a broad range of windlight settings for photographers. Given their complimentary nature, I couldn’t help but combine them into a single little machinima, which I hope you enjoy (if it doesn’t play at 720p automatically, click the gear wheel and select)!
Christmas is a time for giving, and on Saturday, December 6th, 2014, Bay City will be hosting their annual Christmas Tree Lighting and fundraiser.
Activities will commence at 13:00 SLT and run through until 16:00 SLT, taking place at the Bay City fairgrounds. On offer will be:
Live entertainment, music and dancing
A skating party
A silent auction
refreshments and fun.
Christov Kohnke – performing at the 2014 Bay City tree lighting fundraiser
This year will see Christov Kohnke take to the stage to provide the live music, and GoSpeed Racer will be spinning the tunes as the event’s DJ.
The silent auction will take place throughout the afternoon, and will conclude at 16:00 SLT, when activities officially draw to a close. All proceeds from the silent auction and from donation bins at the venue will go to Child’s Play Charity, a 501c3 non-profit organisation offering on-line communities such as the Bay City Alliance an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.
Request to Second Life Designers and Artists
To assist with the fund-raising auction, the organisers of the tree lighting are asking that SL designers and artists to consider donating fun, interesting, unique, or other transferrable items (or a no-copy object that an auction winner can use to redeem their prize in the case of no transfer items) which both reflect well on Second Life and which can be offered as auction items.
If you are willing to provide one or more items, please contact Marianne McCann in-world for details on how to participate.
About Bay City and the Bay City Alliance
Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab™ and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest Bay city group, and home to most Residents of Bay City. To find out more, contact Marianne McCann in-world.
The Lab has issues a reminder via the Grid Status Reports page that there will be no concierge telephone and chat support available from midnight SLT on Wednesday, November 26th through until 08:00 SLT on Friday, November 28th.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 