Day: April 21, 2022

Fantasy Faire 2022: your (almost) complete guide

Posted on by Inara Pey
Fantasy Faire 2022: Sunken Honey by Lilia Artis and Haveit Neox

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The largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, Fantasy Faire 2022, opened its gates to Fairelanders at 12:00 SLT on Thursday, April 21st, 2022 and will remain open through until Sunday May 8th, 2022 inclusive, once again raising money for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) efforts to bring about a World Without Cancer.

For the past five years, the Faire has dedicated those fundraising efforts to the ACS’s global service and support programmes, including the recently launched project BEACON (Building Expertise, Advocacy, and Capacity for Oncology Navigation) – of which. more at the end of this article. In this, the ability of the Faire to support the work of ACS globally cannot be over-estimated; in 2021, for example, Fantasy Faire ranked 19th out of 5,000 RFL teams around the world for fund-raising, and since its inception, the event has raised L$133,250,000 – more than half a million US dollars! And this year will further add to that total.

As with previous years, 2022 will see a wide range of activities and events taking place at the Faire through until Sunday, May 1st including the LitFest, DJ and live performances, auctions, role-play opportunities, and more. After this, the regions will remain open for people to visit and enjoy sans on-going activities, allowing them to shop at their leisure and explore the regions in relative peace – although some activities such as the Fairelands Quest will also continue through the final week as well.

The notes below are intended to get Fairelandaders old and new up-to-speed with a one-page look at the event as it opens.

Fantasy Faire 2022: Mythspire Ridge by  Elicio Ember. Home of the LitFest

If You Are New to the Faire and Other Notes

If you are new to Fantasy Faire, the 20 regions it encompasses can be overwhelming – just take your time with your visits, and spread them over the full time the Fairelands are open. Shopping and sightseeing can be much easier once all the initial rush is over!

  • For newcomers, a good place to start is Fairelands Junction. From here you can reach all of the regions via the teleport portals, so it makes a good hub for exploring. You can also grab a Fantasy Faire teleport HUD from here (or at the region landing points).
  • If you use SLurls, then the ones in this page are to the official landing point for each region, so you’ll always have information available to you on arrival!
  • For the best visual experience:
    • Make sure you have Advanced Light Model (ALM) enabled in your viewer (Preferences → Graphics) – this shouldn’t hit performance too heavily on most reasonable systems (you do not have to enable Shadows).
    • Make sure your viewer is set to Use Shared Environment (World → Environment) as the regions all have their own environment settings, and several have dedicated day / night cycles.
  • Regions can be busy! So if you teleport into one, be sure to move a little way from the landing point as soon as you can to avoid becoming part of an avatar tower!

Shopping

Fantasy Faire is very much about shopping. Merchants from across SL can be found in the shopping regions, all of whom offer some of their items through official RFL of SL vendors, so that proceeds of sales go to RFL / ACS.

  • The best way to find out about participating merchants and shopping is via the Fantasy Faire Shopping Catalogue.
  • The Fantasy Faire website also offers updates and news on merchants and region sponsors, so be sure to keep an eye on that!
Fantasy Faire 2022: Tenpyo by Takuya Jinn

Events and Activities Highlights

Parties and Performances

The deck of the Fairechylde will once again be hosting DJ and live performance parties throughout the full span of the Faire as it lays docked at Effervescent Clefs. There will also be live performance, dance events at Sunken Honey (where fantasy themed art can also be appreciated), and more to keep Fairelanders entertained. Much of the entertainment information and schedules can be found via these links:

The Fairelands Masked Ball

Fancy a more formal soiree where tuxedoes and gowns are encouraged and an air of mystery is added with eyes behind masks? Then head for the Fantasy Faire Masked Ball, with two dates to suit time zones:

  • Sunday, April 24th – Noon through 14:00 SLT.
  • Saturday, April 30th – 18:00 through 20:00 SLT.

Check the Fantasy Faire website for URLs.

Fantasy Faire 2022: Effervescent Clefs by Allie Munro and the 2022 Fairechylde

LitFest 2022

The LitFest will this year be based at Mythspire Ridge, and will again offer a range of activities including tours of the Faireland regions and opportunities to write about them, poetry readings, open microphone readings, a celebration of the Arthurian Tradition with the LitFest theme day (Wednesday, May 4th), and more.

Details of LitFest activities can be found via these links:

  • The full LitFest Calendar – provides a run-down of activities.
  • Region tours schedule – region tours are held on most days of the Faire at 13:00 and / or 17:00 SLT, offering the chance to explore the Fairelands and seeking the stories they have to tell as well as their special secret places and details.
  • The Fantasy Faire Film Festival and Film Competition – running from April 22nd through May 1st, featuring machinima, talks with noted videographers and the chance to enter the Fantasy Faire film competition.

Role-Play and Table-Top Gaming

The Children of Stories will once again be offering a rolling role-play event during the Faire. This year the focus is on the Union of the Sniffer Moles. Based within The Hunros Mine, as they play out and explore a special storyline tied to the Fairelands.

In addition:

  • Meet’n’Greet with the NeoVictoria Project. These are out-of-character events where players from the NeoVictoria community and learn about role-play in Second Life.
  • Role-play classes for those new to role-play in Second Life.
  • Table-top games also make a further return to the Fairelands.
Fantasy Faire 2002: The Chrysalis Gardens by Marcus Inkpen

Fantasy Faire Quest: The Dreaming Cat

This year’s chapter of the Fantasy Faire adventure quest series is The Dreaming Cat. Once again the Bard Queen will call upon adventurers bold of heart to purchaser a Quest HUD (also proceeds to RFL / ACS) and follow the clues in a quest of two parts. The first opens on Monday, April 25th, and will take adventurers across the Faireland regions in search of answers. In part 2, opening on Thursday, April 28th, adventurers will be able to enter the Quest region and resolve the mystery – and receive their bounty from the Bard Queen!

You don’t have to join the Quest right from the start; prizes are for everyone who completes the adventure, and the Quest will be open right through until May 8th.

And There’s More

Don’t forget, all the staples of Fantasy Faire will again be available, including the live auction, the silent auction and, jail and bail – see the Fantasy Faire website for details on these.

So, why not dress for the occasion (or buy a Quest Deluxe HUD and dress in the outfit supplied with it!) and head on over to the Fairelands to discover what adventures and parties await?!

Fantasy Faire 2022: Irridescent Keys by Allie Munro

About Project Beacon

A partnership with nine health institutions and organisations in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, BEACON builds on the success of similar ACS programmes in the US and elsewhere. The project answers the call from healthcare professionals and cancer patients in those areas for life-saving information that can dramatically increase survival rates.

Fantasy Faire is one of the cornerstones of our vital work. It’s an inspiring example of a global community working together to address a global challenge.

– Kristie McComb, ACS Managing Director of Global Capacity Development and Patient Support

Links and Region SLurls

Website Links Region SLurls

Fantasy Faire Social Media

 

Celebrations of Life at Monocle Man in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Monocle Man Gallery: Prins – Celebrations of Life

Open through until May 1st at Monocle Man’s Café Gallery (and beyond!) is a selection of art by Danish photographer-artist Prins (Skylog) entitled Celebrations of Life.

I say “and beyond”, because as well as presenting Prins’s work within the two levels of the gallery building, the exhibition offers a number of larger format pieces to be appreciated through the rest of the Monocle Man parcel, allowing visitors to explore what is and engaging setting that might otherwise pass unnoticed when focused on the main gallery spaces.

Monocle Man Gallery: Prins – Celebrations of Life

This outdoor display commences in the courtyard before the gallery building and continues down the steps under the Welcome sign to where a slightly industrial-looking waterfront area sits with solid buildings facing a high wall across a further cobbled square in which sits an outdoor seating area and a vendor selling drinks and ice creams. One of the buildings is home to Lynx Luga’s gallery space – Lynx runs Monocle Man along with Kit Boyd – whilst through the the arch of a red-bricked gatehouse on the far side of the square, a final piece by Prins points the way to a cosy garden, home to a little summer house.

Celebrations of Life is a vibrant, bright selection of pieces primarily focused on landscapes and buildings. They are pictures in which colour is used to bring a sense of vitality to the fore, drawing the observer into each, with the use of angle and focus emphasising points of contact  – delicate red flowers caught in a sea of sun-dried grass here, a stone figure apparently directly addressing the observer there; the graffiti painted across the hulk of a rusting car that makes it as much a part of the landscape as the blooms bursting forth before it or the over-saturation of light that speaks to bright summer days – or colder winter evenings -, and more.

Monocle Man Gallery: Prins – Celebrations of Life

Some of the pieces offer a departure from the rest. Business as Usual, for example, offers a poke at so-called Victorian values; Universal Whales touches on the surreal as a garden-laden whale swims through a pink sky dominated by a full Jupiter.

And then there is the dark beauty of Candles In A Deep Blue World, an utterly captivating piece seen at the top of this article. It stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Prins’s work shown here not just because it presents a – literally – much dark use of colour and tone, but because of the entire combination of colour, composition, angle and narrative make it an utterly magisterial piece in the manner it demands attention. For me, as much as I enjoyed the rest of Prins’s art, stands as the piece that made me particularly want to see more of his work and add his gallery space to my list of places to visit.

Monocle Man Gallery: Prins – Celebrations of Life

As noted, Celebrations of Life will remain in place through until Sunday May 1st, and offers visitors a rich selection of art and an opportunity to explore Monocle Man. Those wishing to extend their visit might also try the teleport station to reach places such as the sky galleries over head, and the exhibitions they may be hosting.

SLurl Details