Day: July 31, 2016

BURN2 2016: bringing Da Vinci’s Workshop to Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

DV-posterBURN2 2016 will be opening its gates on Saturday, October 15th, and will run through until Sunday, October 23rd 2016, culminating in the burning of the Man the Temple on the closing weekend of the event.

The theme for this year is Da Vinci;’s Workshop, which the official Burning Man website describes (in part) thus:

Burning Man’s 2016 art theme is inspired by the Italian Renaissance of the middle fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when a historic convergence of inspired artistry, technical innovation and enlightened patronage launched Europe out of mediaevalism and into modernity. Our story will focus on the republic of Florence, for it was here, in a city-state of about the same size and population as Black Rock City, that humanist ideals, a rediscovery of science, and funding from a newly moneyed class of entrepreneurs fuelled a revolutionary cultural movement that redefined Western civilization. Five centuries later, we will attempt to recreate this potent social alchemy by combining Burning Man art, maker culture and creative philanthropy to make Black Rock City the epicentre of a new renaissance.

The plot sale is now open, as is the Plot Lottery and Juried Art Applications. You can purchase a plot for BURN2 directly from the kiosks on the playa, with parcels priced as follows:

  • 512 sq m / 117 LI – L$2,800
  • 1024 sq m / 234 LI – L$5,600
  • 208 sq m / 468 LI – L$11,200
  • 4096 sq m / 936 LI – L$22,400
Reserve your plot in-world
BURN2 2016: Reserve your plot in-world

Please ensure you read all the information on an application forms, and that you also read the
Builder Guidelines and Ten Principles before you submit your application. Aesthetics mirroring the Black Rock Desert are in effect for this event.

Plots are liable to be taken fast, so as the BURN2 press release on the event states:

Get inspired by visions of Renaissance ingenuity, Medieval machinery and the artistic, eclectic, multi-gifted genius of the great Leonardo da Vinci, and bring those creations to the virtually dusty playa – come in world and get your plot reserved as soon as you can!

Volunteers are also being sought to help with greeting, building, creating, performing, dancing, and sharing the news about BURN2. Those wishing to be a general volunteer, should fill out the application form, while those interested in a leadership role should consult the BURN2 Application for Key Roles form.

About BURN2

BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.

The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.

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A Beautiful 4 Seasons in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Beautiful 4 Seasons; Inara Pey, July 2016, on Flickr Beautiful 4 Seasons – click any image for full size

“This region is my labour of love :D,” Inkie (inkie Loudwater) tells me as I admire the latest iteration of her Homestead region, Beautiful 4 Seasons. “I change  it every season; it’s an ongoing process, so the more people enjoy it, the better it is!”

Looking around the region it’s hard to imagine it not being a staple part of people’s itineraries when exploring Second Life. It sits as a mostly low-slung island in the centre of a lake. Across the water and completely surrounding it, a patchwork quilt of fields recede towards misty, distant hills and rounded, grassy peaks. it’s not quite England’s Lake District – but it could be.

Beautiful 4 Seasons; Inara Pey, July 2016, on Flickr Beautiful 4 Seasons

The island forms a west pointing C, a smaller island nestled within its curving arms. A tiny hamlet sits along one arm of the C, perched on a slender finger of rock facing the waterfront to the south, with rowing boats and small craft drawn in close to the single wooden pier and stone flanks of an old harbour wall. Behind the little row of buildings forming the hamlet, stone stairs offer a way down between the rocks to where wooden bridges hop from the main island over a little nub of land poking above the waters, to the smaller island, occupied by a small summer-house and partially walled garden.

Westward of the hamlet, the land drops away gently to s small circle of standing stones, an elongated henge with lintel stones still in place to connect rough-hewn columns. Eastwards, and the land curves and climbs to its highest point, a rocky shoulder to the north-east. A house shelters in its lee of the hill as the island curls northwards, looking out over the water to the smaller of the two islands.  Below the house, the land slips gently downward and across a grassy tongue lapping at the water’s edge, where sits an intriguing camp site awaiting visitors.

Beautiful 4 Seasons; Inara Pey, July 2016, on Flickr Beautiful 4 Seasons

The entire impression here is of a small, possibly private, holiday island; a place where people can escape the hassle of everyday life, sitting beyond the distant hills, and simply wander and relax. It’s a place where bikes and scooters are popular – but which is best explored on foot. It’s the kind of place where even strangers are on first-name terms within minutes of meeting, and where the entertainment, going by the makeshift outdoor theatre, is as home-made as the bead in the bakery.

There is also subtle mystery of stories awaiting visitors here. The bakery is well-stocked, the summer-house is set for dinner while the deck outside invites people to sit and have a drink; across the water; the camp site shows signs of use, and here and there, washing hangs on the lines. But where are the locals? As busy as the little island seems, the houses sit unfurnished, motor scooters sit deserted, and dogs stand and stare into the distance, as if waiting on someone’s return. Are the locals all off across the water? If so, where might they have gone for the day? Or are we, as a part of our visit, “the locals”? And if so, what might our stories be as a part of this little community?

Beautiful 4 Seasons; Inara Pey, July 2016, on Flickr Beautiful 4 Seasons

Beautiful 4 Seasons is, in a word, charming; the kind of place I could happily holiday within; so much so that I wish I’d seen some of the earlier iterations of the region. It is, however, quite firmly penned-in to my list of regions to revisit in the future. but that’s the join of Second Life, isn’t it? The chance of discovering / hearing about new places to visit, explore and photograph.

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Dying detectives, alien missions and blueberry summers

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, July 31st 13:30: Tea Time at Baker Street

Tea-time at Baker Street returns for the summer, featuring a new location – 221B Baker Street at the University of Washington in Second Life, and a return to His Last Bow.

A 1917 anthology of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the volume originally comprised seven stories published by The Strand Magazine between 1908 and 1917. However, later editions of the book saw an eighth story included, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, originally published in 1892. This week sees Holmes and Watson engaged upon The Adventure of the Dying Detective.

Sherlock Holmes is dying. That is the shocking discovery Doctor John Watson makes on being called to 221B Baker Street. The Great Detective has apparently contracted a contagious and rare Asian disease while on a case in Rotherhithe. Mrs. Watson confirms Holmes has not eaten or taken a drink in three days.

Wanting to assist his friend, Watson finds himself forced to wait – the contagious nature of Homes’ illness preventing him from carrying out an examination – until six o’clock that evening, when Holmes reveals the name of the one man who can save him, one Culverton Smith. Unfortunately, Smith may not be predisposed to lending assistance, as he is not a doctor, but a man Holmes once implicated in a murder.

Before Watson departs to bring the man to Baker Street, Holmes makes a mysterious request: once he has secured Smith’s agreement to come to Holmes, Watson ensures he returns to Baker Street quite independently of Smith. Confused, but determined to help his dying friend, Watson sets out on his mission …

Plus a special Bonus: Mrs. Hudson’s Case by Laurie B. King

When Sherlock Holmes retired to the Sussex Downs, his long-time (and long-suffering) housekeeper, Mrs Hudson, went along to run his life. But when the house is invaded, shortly after his meeting with Miss Mary Russell, Mr Holmes refuses to turn his mind to the problem, leaving Mrs Hudson herself to solve the case.

Monday August 1st To the Vanishing Point

vanishing pointGyro Muggins continues his Monday Night treat of sci-fi with Alan Dean Foster’s To the Vanishing Point.

When Frank Sonderberg insists his family make their annual vacation a road trip, his wife and kids are less than impressed. When he pulls over to the side of the road to pick up a beautiful young hitch-hiker apparently stranded in the desert, his wife definitely isn’t impressed.

But no sooner has the young woman, calling herself Mouse, boarded their motor-home than reality changes – and not necessarily for the better. Mouse, it turns out, is an alien on a mission and in picking her up, the family is inextricably joined with her in that mission. The universe, with all its many realities, is coming apart because the Spinner, the creator of those realities, has a headache. Mouse has the cure, but in order to give it, she must reach the Vanishing Point – and she needs the Sonderbergs to get her there.

Tuesday August 2nd, 19:00: Blueberry Summers: Growing Up at the Lake

Kayden Oconnell reads from Curtiss Anderson’s classic coming of age memoirs.

BlueberryBorn in 1928 in Minneapolis, Curtiss Anderson grew up in an extended family of Norwegian-Americans, among whom the highlight of the year was time spent among the lakes of northern Minnesota.

For young Curtiss, growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, these were especially idyllic years. Time spent in the farmhouse among this extended family presented an opportunity for him to escape the strained and troubled relationship he had with his parents and enjoy the company of others, aunts and uncles, the loving care offered by family friends Leigh and Clara, the companionship of the family dogs – and the chances to experience young love of his own.

Through the tales he relates of these summers, so Anderson also explores the notes and letters he wrote as a boy, carefully produced on a hand-me-down typewriter. Missives and notes which, although he never realised it at the time, were in fact his first forays into what would blossom in his adult life into a distinguished career as a writer, editor and publisher.

Wednesday August 3rd: Women Going Wild in the West

With Trolley Trollop.

Thursday, August 4th: 19:00: Gaslight & Grimm

Steampunk faerie tales with Shandon Loring – also in Seanchai Kitely.

Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.

The featured charity for July-August is WildAid: seeking to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection.

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