To wander an oriental landscape

Kesei, February 2015 Keisei (Flickr) – click any image for full size

I last wrote about Keisei in May 2013 (see here), and while it is a place I’ve often enjoyed dropping-in to, I’ve actually not set aside time to write about it since. Which is a little lax of me, as Daddio Dow’s region, with its rich mix of oriental themes and activities, is always a visually attractive place to visit.

I was actually put in mind of Keisei while writing about the Chinese New Year. While the region  admittedly leans more towards a Japanese theme than Chinese, there is some cross-over in places, and writing about Chinese themed builds in SL got me thinking about other oriental locations I’ve visited over the years. Coincidentally, Daddio himself dropped me a little line asking after me, and mentioning that there had been some recent changes, so I decided to hop over to Keisei and rectify my lack of recent blogging.

Kesei, February 2015 Keisei (Flickr) – click any image for full size

The overall oriental theme to the region, coupled with the use of water – there are waterfall-fed streams running through the landscape – are primarily why I’m attracted to Keisei. With the streams spanned by bridges, the careful use of flora, a mix of grassy paths and cobbled streets, coupled with a rich ambient soundscape, everything combines to present a place ripe for photography, inviting exploration. And while the buildings might be suggestive of a specific period setting, the reality is that the region exists in its own time, easily mixing the use of stone lanterns perhaps of a bygone era with more recent electric lights.

Parcels within the region offer their own windlights, which may vary, depending upon who is occupying them (several of the parcels are open to rent through Daddio), but given the continuous theme through Keisei, the entire region lends itself to almost any windlight you might choose to use.

Kesei, February 2015 Keisei (Flickr) – click any image for full size

From the landing point, with the nearby Shinto shrine, pagoda and grand mansion, you can find follow the paths through the region to the bath houses, shopping area, tea house and onwards out to the palace and other buildings closer to the edge of the region, some of which are operated by those renting land from Daddio. So far as I’m aware, all of the buildings are open to visitors with the exception of the White Lotus Retreat in the north-west corner of the region, which has no bridge linking it to the rest of the region, signifying it is a private residence.

As an adult rated region, there are some activities of an adult nature (you might note the opium den and shibari house on the teleport map at the arrival point), but you shouldn’t let this put you off; everything is quite discrete (the shibari house is up in the sky, for example, and well out of sight) and the region can easily be enjoyed whatever your outlook on life.

Kesei, February 2015 Keisei (Flickr) – click any image for full size

So why not hop over and take a look for yourself; you might even find the onsen calling to you!

Related Links

Banging the cultural DRUM – Saturday February 21st

MadTone - LEA26: The drum stage, where the Saturday, February 21st performance by DRUM will take place
MadTone – LEA26: The drum stage, where the Saturday, February 21st performance by DRUM will take place

Drumming – good drumming – is an art form, be it using a modern drum set, steel drums, native American drums, African drums or any other form of drum. I first became fascinated by it (although I don’t play the drums) via Japanese Taiko drumming, particularly as a result of listening to Kitaro, and love the sound created by, and skill involved in, ensemble drumming of all kinds.

On Saturday February 21st, at midday SLT, we can all enjoy a demonstration of cultural drumming from around the world via a special performance by members of DRUM.

“DRUM’s goal is to bring the world to you via the power of drumming,” Phoebe McMillan says of the ensemble’s intent. “Our aim is to have fun and to create incredible, beautiful rhythms – live. Right now our performances consists of 11 different drum cultures, Taiko (Japanese), Native American, African, Latin, Indian, Mallets, Stomp Wall, Rusty Barrels, African Ghost, Steel Pan drums and our newest set, Brazilian.”

Members of DRUM  – which stands for Divine Rhythms of Universal Music – have collaborated to create the unique sounds, drums, and animations that allow them to perform live in-world, with each performance uniquely its own. Appropriately enough, they’ll be performing on the huge drum stage located over the MadTone installation at LEA26, with Lorin Tone hosting the performance.

As noted above, things kick-off at 12:00 noon on the 21st, so be sure to arrive a little ahead of time to get yourself set for what is sure to be a unique and entertaining event, which is not going to be one to miss.

Related Links

SL updates updates week 8: viewer updates and general news

Soyokaze; Inara Pey, January 2015, on FlickrSoyokaze (Flickr) – blog post

Server Deployments

As will already be known, there were no server deployments this week.

SL Viewer

A new release candidate viewer appeared in the release channel on February 17th in the form of a new login viewer. Version 3.7.25.298971 sees the three log-in options buttons on the original log-in screen update replaced with a single button.

LL viewer log-in updates: as they first appeared after an initial log-in following the 2014 revisions to the log-in / splash screen (top); and as the log-in options are displayed in the new RC viewer (bottom) - click for full size, if required
LL viewer log-in updates: as they first appeared after an initial log-in following the 2014 revisions to the log-in / splash screen (top); and as they are now displayed in the new RC viewer, version 3.7.25.298971 (bottom) – click for full size, if required

February 17th also saw updates made to the Maintenance RC viewer, which was updated to version 3.7.25.298971, while the Tools update project viewer was updated to version 3.7.25.298862, having been held over for release from week #7, due to the Valentine’s weekend / President’s day no change window.

Group Chat

The was a further back-end update to the group chat servers during the week, further implementing the stability improvements the Lab has been working on to solve issues of chat appearing to freeze when switching between tab / issues with the chat servers themselves locking-up.

Other Items

Attachment Issues

As per my last report, there is still considerable debate about the nature of attachment issues, particularly those reported via BUG-6925. A concern is that while (as noted last time), the Lab considers there to be multiple issues occurring, BUG-6925 has already had some initial investigations carried out by the Lab, and these might be getting missed as the Lab considers the wider problems and attempts to categorise things. There is also a concern that the BUG-6925 issue in particular is AIS-v3 related, which could result in a significant increase in reported issues should that code be released by Firestorm as a part of their planned update.

Suggestions have been made on additional logging that might be added to the viewer to further pin-down precisely what is happening in the various circumstances where attachments are detached / re-attached or appear to be detached but aren’t, etc., and the issues are continuing to be examined by the Lab.