Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco, December 2021 – December 2021
It was in 2016 that I first visited a build by Dandy Warhlol (terry Fotherington), then working with Belle des Champs (Bridget Genna), carrying the name of BarDeco. As a setting for music and socialising (see: Visiting the Village in Second Life), I enjoyed exploring it then, and went on to fall in love with the bar in its 2017 iteration (see A break for coffee in Second Life) – so much so, that with Dandy and Bridget’s permission, I took inspiration for a bar design of my own back in 2018-2019.
BarDeco continued through different iterations of the years, but with Dandy’s region design abilities being in much demand of late, it has been – for me – a much missed destination. Which is why, when Vally Lavender-Ericson (Valium Lavender) set me the Landmark, I made a point of dropping in as soon as time allowed.
Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco, December 2021
Occupying a parcel within a Full private region, Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco offers a refreshing break from the current round of winter-themed regions by presenting visitors with a little corner of Mediterranean France with a beach to the southern aspect, and a little east-facing cove dominated by building-sized lump of rock that – being honest – had me regretting the beach didn’t didn’t continue along the coast from the south, and a coastal, almost rustic corner of a town built around BarDeco itself, that offer little walks and corners to explore.
The landing point sits on the east side of the parcel, overlooking the rocky little cove on a stone-faced wharf / piazza. This faces the entrance to BarDeco club space, the façade of which carried elements seen with the 2017 design I fell in love with.
Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco, December 2021
Passing through the archway into the club space reveals that it has been set within an open-air courtyard surrounded on three sides by the ruins or rear aspects of buildings, and the forth by its front façade. One of the latter includes a neat little balcony that overlooks the courtyard and makes for a neat little bird’s nest for the DJ. Facing it across the courtyard and under the shade of one of the ruins, sits the bar, its design again recalling earlier iterations of BarDeco through design and décor, whilst remaining unique.
A neat aspect of the club is that one corner opens out into what looks to have once been gardens. Now overgrown with wildflowers. It forms a charming – perhaps even romantic walk, or even a little place for a romantic dance or two – that offers a means to reach the rest the setting, reached by way of stone steps leading to a small terrace, and gates pointing the way to to the southern sea-front.
Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco, December 2021
Here, on a raised waterfront overlooking the beach, are the local businesses. They are presented as façades which help keep the land impact under control whilst presenting a sense of place – added-to by the back alley that offers a further taste of realism for photography as well as giving a link back to the landing point by way of a little bridge. Again, this would perhaps be a little more quaint if the bridge and the water under it were more connected to the cove rather than being caught between that block of rock; but as it is, the design still works.
My other minor niggle is that sitting in the north-west corner of the setting sits what is already a delightful little walled garden corner – but without direct access. It would be nice to see it finished and an means of accessing it was provided – even if at the cost of some of the LI used for some of the elements around the “upper” level of the club – many of which probably wouldn’t be noticed by those hopping in for the entertainment anyway.
Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco, December 2021
But again, this is just a minor point; there’s no mistaking BarDeco offers an eye-catching venue for music and dancing, and the surrounding build of Sainte Rose sur Mer offers plenty of photographic opportunities, making the setting deserving of a visit.
Melusina Parkin is a Second Life photographer whose work never fails to impress and attract. Her images are among some of the most unique to be found in SL; beautiful blendings of focus, colour, tone, subject, angle and minimalist presentation that present us with highly personal yet resonant photographs that bring her subjects to life in a way that never fails to attract.
Generally building her exhibitions around an idea or theme, Melu uses her camera not only to present that theme, but to explore it, observe it, and even question it – or cause us to question what we are witnessing, thanks to her ability to offer not just a a moment in time, but an actual phrase within a wider narrative, inviting our imaginations to define what that wider narrative might be.
Which does not mean Melu’s art cannot be enjoyed simply in and of itself; all of her images are so perfectly composed and composited, that they stand as individual pieces that can be appreciated purely for the artistry they contain, without the need to plumb deeper ideas or thematic elements.
Art Korner: Melusina Parkin – Shining Streets
With Shining Lights, now available at Frank Atisso’s Art Korner, Melu explores the world of the signs and lights that illuminate our city nights, as presented within in Second Life. In doing so – as she notes herself – she follows in the footsteps of Walker Evans and other;, photographers who frequently used signage, billboards and the like as a means of adding depth to their photographic documentation of American life (Evans perhaps pioneered the technique whilst employed by the Farm Security Administration, documenting the impact of the Great Depression in the 1930s, and often returned to the subject of signage and billboards through his career, particularly during his 22 years with Time Inc..
Within this collection, Melu again offers her unique approach to her work – that use of angle, focus, depth of field, etc., that allows her to present the Shining Lights of Second Life in a manner that – thanks to her use of darkness / night to offer contrast to the bright glow of lights whilst avoiding wider structural detail – is again very minimalist in tone and feel, even when the colours are rich and bright.
Even for those of us very familiar the the neon glow that flows through our cities, Melu offers us completely new ways of looking at the night signs of a city, inviting us to view them not so much as informational / promotional elements designed to invite or entice, but rather as expressions of art in their use of colour and – particularly with neon lights – flow. Within this is also the hint of narrative – what are the lives being lead behind the glowing windows of high apartment blocks or who might be working within the illuminated of high office buildings.
Art Korner: Melusina Parkin – Shining Streets
Some of the images – consciously or not – touch on memes and tropes that too often get trotted out about SL – take Shining Streets 2, Shining Streets 3, and Shining Streets 8, for example. Others might be more emotive in the way they encourage memories of visits – real or virtual; or they simply give us pause to reflect on the art of the neon lighting itself, as noted above; an intricate form of lighting with its own form and flow.
There is something else within these images as well. We often talk about the beating heart of a city – the pulsing of life through the veins of its streets as we all come and go about our daily lives, travelling on foot, by car, by public transport, eating, talking, working, laughing, shouting through the hours of daylight. But at night, that pulse of life is changed; we still flow through the streets, we still meet and talk and dine and allow ourselves to be entertained, but only because we have the lifeblood of lights, be they neon, fluorescent, LEDs, OLEDS, incandescent, and so on – that holds back the night and like our ancient, primal times of pre-history, give us the sense of comfort and protection we still very much need.
Within Shining Streets, Melu beautifully reminds us of this: under the bright glow, the high fingers of illuminated windows and the invitations, the lights of our shining streets – always seen, if their artistry is rarely noticed – give us companionship and holds off the darkness that might otherwise leave those same streets not only darker, but also more threatening in their layered shadows.
Art Korner: Melusina Parkin – Shining Streets
All told, Shining Streets is another captivating exhibition from one of Second Life’s most expressive photo-artists, and one more than visiting.
The SnowDrift, December 2021 – click any image for full size
It was back to scenes of snow and ice with roar of fires in hearths and steaming mugs of hot beverages to warm cold tummies and fingers for me this week, as I took Shawn Shakespeare’s advice and hopped over to The SnowDrift, a winter / holiday season setting that occupies the ground level of Audie Whimsy’s Cherished Melody Full region.
Explore the magic of the holiday season in a snow covered winter land of bliss filled with wondrous festive décor & arrangements. The SnowDrift gracefully captures an old time Christmas feel where you’ll be craving a nice mug of hot chocolate!
– from the region’s About Land description
The SnowDrift, December 2021
Surrounded by tall peaks with slopes covered in their own share of snow through which fir trees raise rows of green spires, the region presents a classic series of winter holiday and festive settings and scenes. To the west, the landing point sits within a little village where the snow is falling and the local fountain is heavy in icy stalactites frozen from waters that usually fall from the fountain’s tiers.
Separated from the rest of the region by a frozen channel of water, the village with its little cottages, chapel and shops, is nevertheless connected to the rest of the region by a series of bridges that offer various routes of exploration. These pass around and through the region’s high central peak and its surrounding hills.
The SnowDrift, December 2021
Along the way, these paths lead the visitor past snuggle points, outlying cottages and houses, the ruins of another chapel, and more. There are also opportunities for ice skating, sitting aboard Santa’s train, wander through a candy cane garden – and to even find Santa himself tippy-toeing around as he attempts to deliver presents without being seen. Elsewhere Frosty the Snowman tips his hat in greeting to passers-by, with more to be found.
The SnowDrift, December 2021
Set under a cold blue sky (albrit one with what appears to be a giant tree growing across a part of it), The SnowDrift lends itself to a variety of EEP settings, and is rounded out by the presence of local wildlife and a suitable sound scape with the winds, jingling bells and the sounds of birds chirping in boughs of green or which raise themselves skyward, devoid of leaves until spring returns once more.
This is a setting that doesn’t need a lot of description, eloquently speaking for itself as it does. The detail is rich and engaging, without being too overwhelming. And for this reason, I’m going to close this piece with a couple more images.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, December 19th
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Release viewer: version version 6.5.1.566335, formerly the Cache+ 360 Capture viewer, dated December 7, promoted December 15 – NEW
Art Street Gallery: Gianmario Masala – The Eternal Leave
I recently received an invitation from Vally Ericson (Valium Lavender), owner of the ValiumSL regions in Second Life, to visit a new exhibition of images now on display at the Art Street Gallery, located in the air above the Valium regions. Entitled The Eternal Leave, the exhibition is devoted to the striking avatar studies of Gianmario Masala, an artist whose work I cannot remember previously encountering – which, having spent time viewing The Eternal Leave, I cannot help but regret.
Multi-talented, Gianmario received a Master of arts in Architecture after studying in Milan, and is also recognised as a musician and a motion picture set designer. In particular, he is an accomplished photographer, his work having been displayed in several collective exhibitions in Milan, Turin and Naples. In addition he has also mounted solo exhibitions, including Il parco agricolo sud Milano (“The agricultural park south of Milan”), displayed in Milan, Vigevano and Naples; and Harmonia, exhibited in Finland.
Art Street Gallery: Gianmario Masala – The Eternal Leave
Having entered Second Life in 2007, he was quickly drawn to the potential of photography within our virtual world, and started exhibiting his work in 2008. In 2010, his series Women Portraits was displayed on the metro stations of Milan as a part of a collaboration involving the Italian community of Arte Libera/2Lei in Second Life and the Brera Academy of Milan.
In both the physical world and within Second Life Gianmario’s art covers both landscape images and portraiture / avatar studies. His work involves considerable experimentation with a range of techniques from long duration exposures through to the skilled application of post-processing techniques and tools.
I try to create artistic images through post-production, giving them the aspect of a painted artwork. Through the variety of texture layering as a background, together with use of colour and focus, I try to give give the sensation of paintings of past centuries. In highlighting elements by fractured textures, I invite a sense of uneasiness, putting “beauty” up for discussion in order to reach a more deep sense of “truth”.
– Gianmario Masala on his art.
Art Street Gallery: Gianmario Masala – The Eternal Leave
For The Eternal Leave, Gianmario offers a selection of his avatar studies that bring together all of this in the most engaging of exhibitions spread throughout the various levels of the gallery. Mixing colour images with those in monochrome tones and / or black and white, these images are extraordinary in their richness of presentation and depth of narrative.
As a photographer, Gianmario notes he is influenced by some of the greatest painters down through the ages through to some of the most noted cinematographers and directors of the 20th and 21st centuries. This is also much in evidence through the images offered within this exhibition. The narratives, drawn as they are from classical art and from the central inspiration of music by English electronic band Massive Attack, are presented through the mix of subject, pose, colour, tone, camera angle and post-processing, whilst also opening the door on that discussion as the the nature of beauty and it truth.
Art Street Gallery: Gianmario Masala – The Eternal Leave
With the holiday period upon us, we’ll all possibly have more time for our SL explorations and travels, and when it come to art exhibitions, I can think of none better to visit for its breadth of presentation of avatar studies and portraiture than The Eternal Leave.
The NASA spacecraft has spent more than three years winding its way by planets and creeping gradually closer to our star to learn more about the origin of the solar wind, which pushes charged particles across the solar system.
Since solar activity has a large effect on living on Earth, from generating auroras to threatening infrastructure like satellites, scientists want to know more about how the Sun operates to better make predictions about space weather, and gain a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in and around our star. Over the years, we’ve done this with a number of missions – but the most fascinating of all to date is the Parker Solar Probe, a NASA mission that has literally touched the face of the Sun.
The spacecraft – launched in 2018 – is in a complex dance around the Sun that involves skimming closer and closer to our life-giving star, and they sweeping away again, far enough to cross back over the orbit of Venus – indeed, to use Venus as a means to keep itself looping around the Sun in orbits that allow it to gradually get closer and closer, with the aim of actually diving into and out of the Sun’s corona, what we might regard as the Sun’s seething, broiling atmosphere.
In fact, the probe actually first flew through the corona in April 2021; however, it was a few months before the data to confirm this could be returned to Earth, and a few more months to verify it; hence why the news has only just broken about the probe’s success. One of the aims of pushing the probe into the Sun’s corona was to try to locate the a boundary called the Alfvén critical surface. This is the boundary where the solar atmosphere – held in check by the Sun’s gravity – end, and the solar wind – energetic particles streaming outwards from the Sun with sufficient velocity to break free of that gravity – begins, creating the outwards flow of radiation from our star.
Up until Parker’s April 2021 passage into the corona, scientists has only been able to estimate where Alfvén critical surface lay, putting it at somewhere between 6.9 million and 13.8 million km from the gaseous surface of the Sun. As it passed through the corona, Parker found these estimates to be fairly accurate: the data it returned to Earth put the outer “peaks” of the boundary at 13 million km above the Sun’s surface – or photosphere; the data also revealed the boundary is not uniform; there are “spikes and valleys” (as NASA termed them) where the boundary stretches away from the photosphere at some points, and collapses down much close to it in others. While it has yet to be confirmed, it is theorised this unevenness is the result of the Sun’s 11-year active cycle and various interactions of the atmosphere and solar wind.
The Parker Solae Probe. Credit: NASA / I. Pey
The April “dip” into the corona lasted for five hours – as the mission goes on, future “dips” will be for longer periods). But give the spacecraft is travelling at 100 kilometres per second, it was able to gather a lot of data as it zipped around the Sun – and even sample the particles within the corona. The probe’s passage revealed that the corona is dustier than expected, the cause of which has yet to be properly determined, as well as revealing more about the magnetic fields within the corona and how they drive the Sun’s “weather”, generating outbursts like solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CREs), both of which can have considerable impact on life here on Earth.
To survive the ordeal of passing through the corona, where temperatures soar to millions of degrees centigrade, far hotter than those found at the Sun’s photosphere. – Parker relied on its solar shadow-shield: a hexagonal unit 2.3 m across made of reinforced carbon–carbon composite 11.4 cm thick with an outer face is covered in a white reflective alumina surface layer. This shield is so efficient in absorbing / reflecting heat, whilst passing through the corona the sunward face is heated to around 1,370ºC, but the vehicle, sitting inside the shadow cast by the shield never experiences temperatures higher than 30ºC.
In addition to mapping the Alfvén critical surface, Parker’s April 2021 trip into the Sun’s corona, the probe also passed through a “pseudostreamer,” one of the huge, bright structures that rise above the Sun’s surface and are visible from Earth during solar eclipses. This was compared to flying into the eye of a storm the probe recorder calmer, quieter conditions within the streamer, with few energetic particles within it. Exactly what this means is again unclear at this time, but it does point to further incredibly complex actions and interactions occurring with the Sun.
Since April, Parker has dipped back into the corona twice more, with the November 2021 passage bringing it to around 9.5 million km of the Sun’s photosphere – although again, the data from that pass has yet to be received and analysed. The next passage in February 2022 will again be at roughly the same distance from the photosphere, with a further five passes to follow at the same distance in 2022/23, before a flyby of Venus allows Parker to fly even deeper in to corona. By December 2025, and the mission’s final orbits, it will be descending through the corona to just 6.9 million km from the photosphere.
An artist’s depiction of magnetic switchbacks in the solar wind. Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez
But that’s not all. Because Parker is in an elliptical around the Sun, it spends a part of its time much further away. This both allows the craft to dissipate absorbed heat from its shield, and for it to observe the Sun from a distance, giving scientists much broader opportunities to study the Sun, such as allowing them to study the physics of “switchbacks”. These are zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, first witness by the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses mission that occupied a polar orbit around the Sun in the 1990s.
In particular, Parker’s observations suggest that rather then being discrete events, switchbacks occur in patches, and that these “patches” of switchbacks are aligned with magnetic funnels coming from the photosphere called called supergranules. These tunnels are thought to be where fast particles of the solar wind originate; so switchbacks may have something of a role to play in the generation of the solar wind or they may be a by-product of its generation or, given they seem to have a higher percentage of helium than other aspects of the solar wind, may serve a highly specialised role as a part of the solar wind.
Right now, scientists are unclear on what might be the case, or what actually generates switchbacks; but gaining clearer insight into their creation, composition and interaction with other particles in the solar wind, and with the Sun’s magnetic field might provide explanations for a number of solar mechanisms, including just why the corona is so much hotter than the photosphere.
Mars 2020 Mission Update
Scientists with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission have discovered that the bedrock their six-wheeled explorer has been driving on since landing in February likely formed from red-hot magma. It’s a discovery with implications for our understanding and accurately dating critical events in the history of Jezero Crater – as well as the rest of the planet.
Even before the Mars 2020 mission arrived on Mars, there have been much debate about the formation of the rocks in the crater: whether they might be sedimentary in origin, the result compressed accumulation of mineral particles possibly carried to the location by an ancient river system, or whether they might be they igneous, possibly born in lava flows rising to the surface from a now long-extinct Martian volcano. However, whilst studying exposed bedrock at location dubbed “South Séítah” within Jezero, the science team noted a peculiar rock they dubbed “Brac”, selecting it as a location from which to collect further samples of Martian bedrock using the rover’s drill.
When taking samples of this kind, booth Perseverance and her elder sister, Curiosity, operating in Gale Crater half a world away, are both instructed to scour target rocks clean of surface dust and dirt that otherwise might contaminate samples. This is done by using an abrasion tool (think wire brush) mounted alongside the drilling mechanism. However, in checking the work on “Brac”, the mission team realised the abrasion process had revealed the rock was rich in crystalline formations.
Rather than going ahead and drilling the rock for a sample, scientists ordered the rover to study the formations using the Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) instrument – which is designed to map the elemental composition of rocks. PIXL revealed the formations to be composed of an unusual abundance of large olivine crystals engulfed in pyroxene crystal, indicating the formations grew in slowly cooling magma, offering some confirmation that volcanism has at least be partially involved in Jezero Crater’s history. However, PIXL’s data also suggested the rock, once hardened, has subsequently altered as a result of water action – confirming free-flowing water also had a role to play in the crater’s past..
The crystals within the rock provided the smoking gun … a treasure trove that will allow future scientists to date events in Jezero, better understand the period in which water was more common on its surface, and reveal the early history of the planet. Mars Sample Return is going to have great stuff to choose from.
– Ken Farley, Perseverance Project Scientist
The Sample Return mission has yet to be fully defined, let alone funded, but is being looked at as a mission for the early 2030s, quite possibly with European Space Agency involvement. In the meantime, a question Farley and his colleagues would love to answer is whether the olivine-rich rock formed in a thick lava lake cooling on the surface of Mars, or originated in a subterranean chamber that was later exposed by erosion; knowing the answer to this could determine the early history of Jezero Crater and its surroundings.
This 60-second video pans across an enhanced-color composite image, or mosaic, of the delta at Jezero Crater on Mars. The delta formed billions of years ago from sediment that an ancient river carried to the mouth of the lake that once existed in the crater. Taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, the video begins looking almost due west of the rover, and sweeps to the right until it faces almost due north.
Also within the latest updates from the Mars 2020 team is the news that Perseverance has found organic compounds within the rocks of Jezero Crater and in the dust that covers them. This discovery was made as a result of a review of findings from the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument.
This does not mean that the rover has discovered evidence of past microbial life on Mars; these carbon compounds can be created by both organic and inorganic processes. However, the fact that they have been found at a number of locations explored by the rover means that the science team can map their spatial distribution, relate them to minerals found in their locations, and thus both further determine their organic / inorganic origins and trace the distribution of minerals, etc., within the crater.
Further, the fact that compounds like these have been identified by both the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers means that potential biosignatures (signs of life, whether past or present) could be preserved, too. IF so, then assuming they exist, there may come a time when one our other rover might happen upon them.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 