Month: November 2019

A Seanchai Thanksgiving week in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, November 24th 18:30: Ann Mary; Her Two Thanksgivings

Calaedonia Skytower reads Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman’s short story. First published in 1892, as a part of the short story collection, Young Lucretia and Other Stories. Though Thanksgiving preparations are often stressful, what’s most important is celebrating with family!

At The Golden Horseshoe, Magicland Park.

Monday, November 25th 19:00: Teacher’s Pet / War and Peace

Gyro Muggins returns to Larry Niven’s Known Space universe and the Man-Kzin Wars series to bring us two short stories from that series written by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and which appeared in the Man-Kzin volume 11 (edited by Niven), first published in 2005.

Set after the end of the war, the stories within Man-Kzin XI are predominantly set during a period where the Kzin are down (but not necessarily out) and having to adapt to no longer being the masters of all races they encounter, and are in roughly chronological order.

The two stories by Harrington follow the trio by established writer Hal Colebatch, and marked his début as a published author at the age of 35. They are regarded by many as being strong studies in the Man-Kzin lore, whilst also drawing on other literary sci-fi sources. The stories are also noted for Harrington’s ability to round-out a number of “loose ends” within the Man-Kin wars as well as offering new slants on the broader carves of Niven’s Known Space universe.

Both stories use a play on words in their titles, with War and Peace doing so both in the manner it reflects the period of peace following war, and also for the way it focuses on the life and work of Peace Corben, a human female Protector, who returns in Harrington’s sequel story, Peace and Freedom, published in the 2009 volume Man Kzin Wars XII.

Tuesday, November 26th 19:00 Spirit of Steamboat

Kayden Oconnell returns to the tales of sheriff Walt Longmire, reading the ninth volume of Craig Johnson’s tales about his laconic US Marine-turned-lawman protagonist.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Longmire is reading A Christmas Carol in his office when he is visited by a ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a scar across her forehead. He doesn’t recognise her, but she clearly knows him and his predecessor, sheriff Lucian Connally, under whom Longmire started his career as a deputy sheriff in 1972.

His interest aroused, Longmire takes the the young woman to see Connally, now a resident at an Assisted Living Home. But Connally, a former US Army Air Force pilot who flew B-25 Mitchell bombers in the Second World War, fails to recognise her. This is in some ways hardly surprising, given Connally’s frequently inebriated state.

Disappointed at the two men’s reaction, the young woman whispers a single word, “Steamboat”. In doing so, she embarks on a tale that tales Longmire and Connally back to Christmas Eve 1988, when Longmire had been a deputy sheriff just two months. The holiday season had brought with it a record-breaking blizzard – and a road accident that left Longmire and the (again inebriated) Connally with no choice but to pull a B-25 out of mothballs and make a dangerous flight through the blizzard to Denver, Colorado, in order to save a life.

Wednesday, November 27th 19:00: What’s Cookin’?

A favourite food stories and recipe exchange with Caledonia Skytower and friends. This week, the Thanksgiving Edition, with Turkeys and stuffing galore. All are welcomed to bring some of their favourite recipes to share, on note card.

Thursday, November 28th 10:00: Alice’s Restaurant Massacree

A Seanchai Library Thanksgiving tradition.

via Wikipedia

You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
Walk right in, it’s around the back,
Just a half-a-mile from the railroad tracks,
And you can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.

As Thanksgiving arrives in the United States, Shandon Loring presents singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s famous 1967 musical monologue, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (also popularly known as Alice’s Restaurant, and the inspiration of the 1969 Arthur Penn film of that name, starring Guthrie himself).

Aside from the opening and closing chorus, the song is delivered as the spoken word accompanied by a ragtime guitar. The story is based on a true incident in Guthrie’s life when, in 1965, he (then 18) and a friend were arrested for illegally dumping garbage from Alice’s restaurant after discovering that the town dump was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

What follows is a complicated, ironic and amusing story told in a deadpan, satirical tone, which encompasses fines, blind judges, guide dogs, 27 8×10 copiously annotated glossy photos related to the littering, frustrated police officers, the Vietnam War draft and, ultimately, the inexplicable ways in which bureaucracy moves to foil itself, just when you’ve given up hope of foiling it yourself.

Also presented in Kitely (grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI).

2Lei and a return to a Lost Town in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Lost Town: Cecilia Nansen – 2Lei 10th edition

In previewing the 2019 2Lei No Violence! season to raise awareness of the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, I was surprised to see that one of the exhibition centres for this year is Lost Town – La Citta’ Perduta.

Surprised, because between 2012 and 2014, the Lost Town was a regular destination for me in exploring the arts in SL (in fact, it’s the place where I first made an attempt at a “full” SL machinima). However, somewhere along the way, I lost track of the location (I actually thought it had closed!) – so my apologies to sivi Kelberry, the region’s holder, for doing so.

Lost Town: Eve Pearl – – 2Lei 10th edition

For the 10th 2Lei edition, Lost Town is hosting exhibitions by Cecilia Nansen, Dixmix Source, Eve Pearl, Hillany Schofield, Mistero Hifeng, Moya Patrick, and Nevereux. This is an accomplished group of artists, and the art is equally so. As such, each of the displays presented in Lost Town has a particular attractiveness and message.

Some of the exhibits tackle the subject of violence against women head-on, as with Mistrero Hifeng’s Di quel che e’ stato non resta, which is startling in its context and presentation. Others focus more on the beauty and femininity of women, an approach that is particularly effective given the primary subject matter for the season. This can be seen through Eve Pearl’s images, for example.

Lost Town: Mistero Hifeng, – 2Lei 10th edition

Still others provide something of the hidden truths of the violence that can exists within a seemingly loving relationship. Note the hard, cold look evident in the male of Dixmix’s images, and the pose / look of the female – her looks suggestive of a desire to please that could go beyond a “simple” desire to show love.

However, I confess to finding Cecilia Nansen’s triptych of monochrome images especially powerful. From the hand raised in a appeal to stop / to be left alone, through the eyes closed against tears, to the line of blood trickling from a nostril, these three images convey all that needs to be said about the hurt and terror of domestic violence.

Lost Town: Dixmix Source – – 2Lei 10th edition

Evocative throughout, all of the displays offered in Lost Town are all emotive in content and should not be missed. For more information on the 10th Edition of 2Lei’s No Violence! season, please refer to my preview piece: No Violence! the 2Lei 10th edition in Second Life.

SLurl and Links

More on a Sky Tower home in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Oblivion inspired Sky Tower house in situ at the home island, and with the landing pad in use, with moorings below

When I wrote about my fiddling with a personal interpretation of the Sky Tower house from the 2013 Tom Cruise vehicle Oblivion (see Of Sky Towers and SL homes) just a few days ago, I didn’t actually expect to be writing about it again quite so soon. But here we are.

Admittedly, when I wrote that first piece, the basic design was complete, and it was already semi-furnished as I tried to work out how things would fit. At the time, I was actually unsure if it house would find its way into personal use for a number of reasons (mainly the fact we both rather like the “Fallingwater” style house and home parcel layout in place).

Looking at the house from the north island’s gardens

But as is often the way, everything came together quickly, and with the help of one of my preferred rezzing systems, it became very easy to complete a suitable home parcel layout with the new house (+ island designs) and drop it into a rezzer and also drop the “Fallingwater” layout (again, house, furnishings and islands) into another rezzer to make both pretty much “hot swappable”. So here’s a look at the results.

The house slots in between the “north” and “south” island, offering us a nice look to the west towards sunsets. This position means the house sits over the water, held aloft on a slightly off-centre pylon so that I could install moorings for boats and planes beneath it (and of course, the vehicle rezzer has been retained, to make swapping between what is moored there nice and easy). In doing this, I particularly wanted to ensure there was good clearance under the house, but the house itself would still sit below the height of the trees on the south island, so it’s not sticking out like a sore thumb.

The living space

The interior of the house offers compact living space: an open-plan lounge, dining area and kitchen, with what was in the film’s Sky Tower the medical bay / hygiene bay turned into a bedroom, while the section given over to the sleeping area in the film becoming a bathroom.

One of the things I like doing in SL is kitbashing – pulling items together from different builds to achieve a result. In this case, Alex Bader’s Skye Beach House, which I’ve had for some time, came into play. Specifically, I was able to pull apart the swimming pool and use a part of it, together with its animation system, to give some life to one of the major features of the Sky Tower – the swimming pool. Elements of the Skye Beach house and the Maven Homes Eco IV also help provide fixtures in the house: the fireplace, doors, and external furnishings.

A Side view with the darkened windows of the bathroom.

As I mentioned first time around, I skipped on including the upper level control deck from the original, and the low workshop area. This, to me, makes this design less distinctive than the original, but makes it nicely streamlined and more in keeping with the broad styles of houses found across the islands around us.

So that’s the new house for Isla Pey, and we can now happily swap between that and the “Fallingwater” derived house as the mood / season / year goes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to list to the Oblivion sound track. Again 🙂 .

Let it Snow 2019 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Let It Snow! November 2019 – click any image for full size

Winter is coming to the northern hemisphere, and for Second Life, it means regions are starting to get snowy make-overs and – in some cases – Christmas and end-of-year holiday décor has started to appear. Given this, we’re entering the time of year when a lot of winter / holiday themed regions will be subject to blog posts and Flickr photo streams.

This being the case, I thought I’d get things started here after Caitlyn and I received an invitation from Milly Sharple to visit this year’s edition of her Let It Snow! region design. I’ve actually been writing about Milly’s wintertime designs since 2014 (allowing for a break she took with them), and I’ve always looked forward to seeing them each year, as they’ve tended to offer something beautifully photogenic and with a sense of magic.

Let It Snow! November 2019

For 2019, Let It Snow! offers something a little different to previous years – at least to my eyes. There is the same winter feeling – a crisp, cold looking sky which looks as if the air entering your lungs would give you that cold, hard thrill of being alive; there’s the familiar blanket of snow thrown across hill and dale with the trees coated in frost, and there are the trappings of the season: hot chocolate, holly strung above shop doorways, lights strung across lintels and over tree branches and so on.

But at the same time, there is something that feels a little different with this year’s build. In the past, Let It Snow! has perhaps been a contiguous landscape, flowing from place to place, while the flow is present in 2019’s design, but so to is a feeling that elements of the setting stand a little apart from the rest, as if they are mini vignettes, the surrounding landscape as much a buffer between them and the rest of the region as it a means of connecting them.

Let It Snow! November 2019

Which is not to say this year’s Let it Snow is any the less photogenic than previous years or is in any way disjointed in its presentation of its different locations. There is still a lot – as always – to appreciate, from the little village square that brings with it a touch of England with its red telephone box, Royal Mail pillar box and  country-style pub, through the crystal palace crowning a flat-topped hill and the skating rink and cabins sitting among snow and frost heavy trees.

From the landing point, visitors can turn north to the village or south towards the crystal palace or eastwards across the low-lying part of the region. The latter direction leads visitor past some of the detailed touches within the region: one of the furnished cabins, stone rings, snowmen and ruins.

Let It Snow! November 2019

Scattered throughout are places to dance or to sit – one f the more amusing of the latter being the opportunity to pose with a seated snow sculpture in the village.

There are also some familiar touches to the design – motifs seen in past iterations of Let It Snow! – that help to give a sense of connection between this and the past versions of the setting for those who remember them. Chief among these is the aforementioned crystal palace, whilst elsewhere are deer wandering in the snow, and little hideaway snugs.

Let It Snow! November 2019

For those who like a little activity, the skating rink to the west of the region, while the cable car close by offers a ride up to the hilltop overlooking it, where a toboggan-style sled rid awaits those waiting to ride back down the hill.

With plenty of opportunities for photography, Let It Snow! once again offers a charming visit and opportunity to welcome in the coming winter season in Second Life.

Let It Snow! November 2019

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Mary Cassatt at the Museum of Fine Arts in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Museum of Fine Arts: Mary Cassatt

Currently open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Second Life is the third part of a series celebrating les trois grandes dames of French Impressionism. Having featured Marie Bracquemond in the first part of the exhibition (see: The Museum of Fine Arts in Second Life) and then Berthe Morisot in the second (see: Berthe Morisot at the Museum of Fine Arts), this final part turns to the work of Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926).

Cassatt is perhaps the most unusual of the grand dames, in that she was born in the United States, the daughter of a stockbroker of French descent. Her parents were able to afford to provide her with a well-rounded education that included travel and study in Europe, where she gained her first exposure to music and the arts. It was at this time that she likely gained her first exposure to  some of the great masters including Edgar Degas, would later be both colleague and mentor.

Returning to the United States, she started to formally study art – albeit it against her parent’s wishes – a path that would lead her back to France in her early 20s. At the time, women were unable to the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris – one of the most influential schools of art in the country – and so sought be be privately tutored. It was this bias against women in a foremost school of art that likely further reinforced Cassatt’s support for equal rights, which formed as much a part of her life as her art.

Museum of Fine Arts: Mary Cassatt

Learning under the tutelage of Jean-Léon Gérôme,  Charles Chaplin and Thomas Couture, it was at this time (1868-1870) Cassatt had her first pieces of art accepted for exhibition. Following a visit home to her family in 1870/71, Cassatt returned to France where she enjoyed further success with exhibiting her art, although she became increasingly cynical and outspoken about the male bias against women artists event in many of the art salaons. In return, she was increasingly seen as “troublesome” for her views and straightforwardness – something that perhaps moved her more towards the Impressionist movement, who were just starting to mount their own independent (or “fringe”, as those practising more accepted forms of art may have regarded them) exhibitions.

It was at this time that she came directly into contact with Edgar Degas, who invited her to join their exhibitions and movement. With Degas she formed a life-long, if often strained, friendship, which included experimenting with form and colour, and she continued to enjoy moderate success.

In 1894, Gustave Geffroy referred to Cassatt as one of les trois grandes dames (the three great ladies) of Impressionism alongside Bracquemond and Morisot. However, by that time, Cassatt no longer regarded herself as part of any movement, but rather as an experimentalist and teacher. Similarly, her popular reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn and tenderly observed paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child, works which she embarked upon after she had started to move away from the impressionist movement – which is not to diminish her role within the movement.

Museum of Fine Arts: Mary Cassatt

The exhibition of Cassatt’s art at the Museum of Fine Arts can – as with the previous exhibitions of Bracquemond’s and Morisot’s work can be found in the pavilion buildings, behind the main gallery. It is broadly split into two parts: the pavilion to the left (as you face them) is predominantly focused on Cassatt’s  work from the 1870s through her time in the impressionist movement, while the pavilion to the right  focuses more on her later work including the aforementioned series of mother and child pieces.

As is the practice at the gallery, the paintings are drawings are presented with wall-mounted information cards, and touching any reproduction will display the information relating to the piece in local chat. All the the pieces are also offered in scale with one another – which, as I’ve noted in past reviews, can make some pieces hard to fully appreciate. To counter this, the gallery offers some of Cassatt’s drawings to scale – but with a larger-scale version alongside to offer the opportunity for clearer appreciation. It’s a simple, but effective approach.

Museum of Fine Arts: Mary Cassatt

One of the attractive features of these exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts is that that bring together works  that might never all be seen together under one roof; as such, this is again an exhibition that connoisseurs of fine art will not want to miss.

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Second Life: Name Changes, Marketplace fees and events updates

Posted on by Inara Pey

With typical timing, I’m taking time off from the blog to enjoy an evening at the theatre (seeing Jonathan Pie, aka comedian Tom Walker, in case you’re interested!), when Linden Lab blogs about Name Changes, the updates to events I’ve mentioned in my Web User Group updates, and on Marketplace updates!

You can read the official post – The Return of Last Names and Changes to Marketplace, Events & Premium – in full on the Lab’s SL blog. However, here are the key points:

Name Changes

  • Linden Lab is working to make Name Changes “available by the end of January”.
  • As per my previous reporting on the subject, Name Changes will be an Premium (and Premium Plus – see below) benefit.
  • Changes will incur a fee (yet to be disclosed) which will be levied as a single transaction for “one or both of your first and last Names.”
  • Last names will be be list-selectable, and users can help LL curate the list.
  • Between December 16th, 2019 and January 6th, 2020, the Lab will hold a Last Name competition for SL users (Basic and Premium) to suggest suitable last names to add to the first list of names to be made available. Five will be selected, and those submitting them will be able to change their names completely free of charge. Details to follow in a later Lab blog post.

Note that in addition the to official blog post above, Linden Lab have also indicated that:

  • Those signing-up to Second Life will not be required to pick a last name, but will continue to have “resident” appended to their name until such time as the opt to go Premium or after they have completed the sign-up process, if they opt to go directly to Premium when setting up their account.
  • The fee applied to Name Changes will likely be in US dollars, and will be at a lower rate for Premium Plus (once available) than for Premium.

For further information on these latter points, please refer to:

Premium Plus

  • Again, as I’ve previously reported, there will be a new Premium membership subscription level, sitting above Premium.
  • This new subscription level is to be called “Premium Plus” (previously referred to by the Lab as “Elite”).

Again in addition to the official blog post:

  • Premium Plus will be made available on a monthly or annual subscription basis.
  • It will be made available some time after Name Changes have been made available.
  • Likely benefits will comprise a mix of “enhanced” Premium benefits and benefits exclusive to Premium Plus.

For further information on these latter three points, please refer to:

Events Updates

  • Events are being overhauled to present more functionality, such as the ability to set an alert on an event you want to attend, to follow your favourite events hosts, share event calendars, and more.
  • This work will include a new look for events (see the concept art below, courtesy of Linden Lab).
  • The updates will be accompanied by the introduction of event listing fees, at the rate of L$50 er event for Basic members, and L$10 per event for Premium members, who will – as a follow-up update to these initially changes – be able to schedule recurring events.
Concept design for the new Second Life events pages. Note the final version, when deployed, may differ to this. Credit: Linden Lab

For further information on this, please refer to:

Marketplace Fee Changes and Updates

As from Monday, December 2nd, 2019:

  • The Marketplace sales commission will increase to 10% of the item price.
    • This marks the first fee increase on the Marketplace in a decade.
    • It is seen as a means of off-setting the cost of on-going improvements and enhancements to the MP.
  • Marketplace Product Listing Enhancement fees will be reduced by 10%.

The blog post also points out further Marketplace enhancement that are close to being ready to be deployed, or are in development, including:

  • The ability to filter limited quantity and demo items (close to being ready for deployment).
  • Improved navigating shopping and order history for shoppers.
  • A means to prevent limited-quantity item redelivery for the Merchants.

Longer-term, the Lab is working on Mobile-friendly layouts for the Marketplace and planning both a complete facelift for the Marketplace and on a vendor system “that better connects in-world sales and tracking with Marketplace transactions”.

I’ll continue to report on all of the above as news surfaces on them via in-world meetings and / or official blog and forum posts.