Running through until October 20th, 2017 is the fourth Rally to Rescue event in Second Life in support of Operation Delta Dog.
Founded in 2013, Operation Delta Dog, a non-profit organisation, uses with experienced trainers and positive-reinforcement methods, rescues homeless dogs from Massachusetts shelters and breed rescue groups and trains them to work as assistance dogs with local veterans who are suffering with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
It was founded by Trisha Blanchet after she read reports that as many as 22 US service veterans a day were taking their lives after serving their country in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, then finding themselves unable to readjust to private life due to PTSD / TBI. At the same time, she was aware that up to 50,000 dogs a year in Massachusetts alone wind up on the streets – and as many as 50% of them are destroyed as homes cannot be found for them. Given that trained assistance dog supporting veterans with invisible disabilities were in short supply, Trisha saw a means to form a link between the plight of homeless dogs and the plight of veterans, and offer a brighter future for both.
Organised by the Ghost Bullys Motorcycle Club is Second Life, Rally To Rescue is a shopping event featuring 32 designers, all of who are offering items for sale with 100% of all proceeds going to Rally to Rescue and thence to Operation Delta Dog.
There are shapes, accessories, fashion and furnishings to be had, together dog kennels for the discerning SL dog owner, motorbikes and things for Halloween. Some of the items have a canine theme, and all are presented in a pleasant meadow-like environment high above the GBMC’s headquarters. In addition, those who prefer can donate through the kiosk boxes intermingled with the vendor boards.
So, don’t forget to hop along to Rally To Rescue before October 20th and, at the very least, drop a few Lindens into the donation boxes for a worthy cause. Help a homeless dog get the home it needs, and a veteran get the help they deserve.
On September 22nd, 2017, Maxwell Graf issued a deeply personal, heart-breaking request via Plurk. Related to a personal situation, it included a request for people to buy from his store (in-world or on the Marketplace). For obvious reasons Max didn’t feel comfortable in asking for more than this, despite the severity of the situation he and his flesh and blood partner, Lyyric Fei face. However, that hasn’t stopped friends and fellow creators from rallying around; and on Monday, September 25th, a special shopping event, organised by Charlotte Bartlett, Sophia Harlow and Blazin Arubet, was announced.
Going to the Max, also now more simply referenced as For Max, opened on Tuesday, October 3rd and will run through until Tuesday, October 10th, 2017. It features more than 50 creators from across Second Life, offering fashion, clothing, animations, accessories, furniture, fun items, curios – even entire houses – with many offering 100% of all sale proceeds in support of Max and Lyyric.
Taking place on the Apple Fall region, featuring booths sponsored by Shiny Shabby, For Max not only features some great shopping opportunities, but will also include entertainment (yet to be scheduled at the time of writing), raffles, an auction and more.
The sheer diversity of goods on offer means For Max really is an event with something to suit almost everyone and every pocket. So do make a point of visiting, perusing and purchasing! Be sure, as well, to keep an eye on the For Max Facebook page (Facebook log-in not required) for the latest information and updates on the event.
For Max: many of the items on sale are offered 100% of all proceeds going to Max and Lyrric at an event where you can buy everything from fashion, animations, furnishings and accessories all the way through to entire homes and fun items
But that’s not all that’s going on in support of Max and Lyrric!
Also rising to the call, artist and author Kylie Sabra has opened an art exhibition at her gallery space in the Antiquity regions in support of Max and Lyrric. As with For Max, Kylie’s Benefiting Maxwell Graf exhibition runs from Tuesday October 3rd through to Tuesday, October 10th, 2017. 90% of all proceeds from the sale of Kylie’s art go directly to Max and Lyyric.
Kylie says of Max:
Maxwell Graf is one of our beloved members and a long-time Second Life artist and builder. I met Max years ago when I asked him to exhibit at The Rose Theatre Art Galleries when I was curator. His work was and is impressive. He’s a great talent and I wish him the very best in these hard times. I can also attest that he makes the best-fitting pair of pants in Second Life and you’ll find them at Rustica!
Kylie’s work – landscapes, avatar studies, abstracts, is evocative, emotive and exquisite. It is ideal for in-world display, and a superb addition to any collection belonging to the discerning connoisseur of virtual and digital art. Her outdoor gallery space at Buckingham Palace in Antiquity also makes for an idyllic visit.
So why not combine a visit to the historic Antiquity regions and time appreciating Kylie’s artistry with an opportunity to further help Max and Lyrric with a purchase or two?
It’s time to kick-off 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, October 1st
13:30: Tea Time at Baker Street
The pages of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories first published in the Strand Magazine between October 1921 and April 1927, are once again opened for another tale from the diaries of Dr. John Watson…
This week: The Adventure of the Lions’s Mane
“It is a most singular thing that a problem which was certainly as abstruse and unusual as any which I have faced in my long professional career should have come to me after my retirement, and be brought, as it were, to my very door. It occurred after my withdrawal to my little Sussex home, when I had given myself up entirely to that soothing life of Nature for which I had so often yearned during the long years spent amid the gloom of London. At this period of my life the good Watson had passed almost beyond my ken. An occasional week-end visit was the most that I ever saw of him. Thus I must act as my own chronicler.”
Thus begins the second of only two stories of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures to be narrated by the great man himself. As the opening suggests, Holmes is now in retirement in Sussex, where he meets an old friend whilst on the beach. Harold Stackhurst is the headmaster of a local preparatory school, and as the two men chat, one of the masters from the school, Fitzroy McPherson, staggers up to them, his torso covered in livid welts as if he had been whipped with a hot wire. McPherson manages to utter the words, “Lion’s mane,” before dying.
More mystery ensues when it emerges that McPherson was involved with one Maud Bellamy – much to the chagrin of her father and brother -, and he had a sometimes strained friendship with another of the school’s masters, Ian Murdoch. What’s more, Murdoch may have also once been a suitor for Maud Bellamy.
Is murder most foul in the air? Could hatred or jealousy be the reason? Is McPherson’s death the result of his involvement with Maud Bellamy? The mystery seems to become more perplexing when McPherson’s dog is found dead, apparently having suffered as agonizingly as its master. But is its discovery the clue Holmes has been seeking?
To find out more, be sure to turn up on time for a spot of afternoon tea at Baker Street!
Gyro Muggins reads John E. Stith’s alien first contact story, once described as “Rendezvous with Rama meets James and the Giant Peach“!
Lieutenant Commander Alis Mary Nussem, her body partially bionic, isn’t to happy about finding herself aboard the same space vessel as the man she deems responsible for the accident which robbed her of a part of her natural body. However, she must put aside her differences with scientist Karl Stanton when a massive object enters the solar system, apparently on course to be swallowed by the Sun – but not before it will collide with a space station in Earth orbit.
Ordered to investigate the object, which is as large as a moon and quickly given the name “Cantaloupe,” Nussem, Stanton and the crew of their ship rendezvous with it, only to find they are not the first: the wreck of another vessel lies on the surface, a hole drilled into the object close by. The only means of entry to the Cantaloupe, Nussem and Stanton lead a team down through it – to make a stunning discovery.
Like Nussem, Cantaloupe is an bio-mechanical entity. It is alive, but it’s interior also have pipes, elevators chambers and more within. But it is also a place of danger – as Nussem and her also companions quickly discover – some to their cost. It’s also a place of unexpected surprises, as the crew’s biggest discovery proves…
Tuesday, October 3rd 19:00: Monsters of the Midwest
Join Kayden Oconnell for tales of bigfoot, werewolves and other legendary creatures! They are all absolutely true … except the ones that aren’t …
Wednesday, October 4th, 19:00 The Water Mirror
Faerie Maven-Pralou reads Kei Meyer’s tale of magic.
Merle is apprenticed to a maker of magic mirrors. She even has one of her own, with a surface of water into which she can reach without ever getting wet – magic being a relatively common thing in Venice. Meanwhile, her friend Serafin, once a master thief, now works for a weaver of magic cloth.
Both Merle and Serafin accept the wonders of the city, from the mermaids in the canal to the stone lions on which the city guards ride on their patrols. But all is not well; beyond the walls of the city, the Egyptian Empire is laying siege, an army of mummy warriors and flying sunbarks held at bay by the power of the Flowing Queen, which runs through the city’s canals and hold the enemy forces at bay.
Then Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen and render the city defenceless. And while no-one actually knows what the Queen looks like, they set out to protect and / or rescue her. In doing so, they must ally themselves with the Ancient Traitor and journey into the realm of Dark Reflections…
Thursday, October 5th
19:00 From the Shadows
Shadows is a series of eleven horror anthologies edited by Charles L. Grant and published by Doubleday between 1978 and 1991. Grant, a proponent of “quiet horror”, initiated the series in order to showcase this kind of fiction. It dispenses with the traditional trappings of horror and avoids most physical violence. Instead, the stories take place in every day settings, and feature a slow accumulations of dread through subtle omens. While Grant himself was very adept at this kind of fiction, he contributed no stories to the anthologies, writing only the introductions and author profiles.
For this reading, Shandon Loring has selected Mrs Clendon’s Place by Joseph Payne Brennan, and The Haunting by Susan Casper, both of which appeared in Shadows 7 in 1984 (also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
21:00: Seanchai Late Night
Contemporary science fiction with Finn Zeddmore.
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for August and September is Little Kids Rock, transforming lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in schools.
The 2017 Rock Your Rack Art Show and Auction in support of Rock Your Rack opened on Saturday, September 30th, 2017, and will run through until Saturday, October 14th, alongside the main Rock Your Rack 2017 events.
Rock Your Rack is the annual fund-raiser started in October of 2012 by Jamee Sandalwood and the team at Models Giving Back for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF). Founded in 1991, NBCF’s mission is to help women in the United States by providing help and inspiring hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services. NBCF is also joining hands with organisations around the globe to provide breast cancer education.
Curated and coordinated by Kultivate Magazine on behalf of Rock Your Rack, the art show features 32 2D and 3D artists, all of whom are offering one or more items in their art displays with 100% of proceeds going to Rock Your Rack.
Events accompanying the Art Show include the return of the Pink Art Ball with live performer SaraMarie Philly on Saturday, September 20th at 16:00 SLT, a special gift card raffle, and a special art auction bundle, featuring work by Cica Ghost and Bryn Oh. The art show will participate in the Rock Your Rack hunt, where hunt goers can search for hangers throughout the art area and the rest of the region.
As well as the Art Show, Rock Your Rack features shopping, a silent auction, live entertainment, DJs, the aforementioned hunt … all in a beach themed location so those of us facing the approach of winter can enjoy a last moment of sunshine for 2017, and those in the southern hemisphere can greet the forthcoming arrival of summer!
It’s time to kick-off 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.
Monday, September 25th 19:00: A Wizard of Earthsea
Gyro Muggins reads Ursula K. Le Guin’s first Earthsea Cycle.
The boy is born on the island of Gont in the archipelago of Earthsea. This is a world infused with magic. Not everyone can control this magic, but those who know the right words and have a wizard soul can learn to utilize the power of the Earth to manipulate objects and events. The boy’s name is Duny; I can tell you that name because the name has no power over him. His true name is something he can only reveal to those he trusts absolutely beyond question.
I know his true name, but fair reader, I’m not sure yet that I can share it with you.
His aunt knows a few things, a handful of words, that can be used to bind things or call animals to her. Duny is particularly adept at calling falcons and other birds of prey. His agile mind soon surpasses what his aunt can teach him. He burns to know more. He is assigned to a mage, Ogion, who tries to teach him about the balance of magic with the Earth. There is always a cost for using magic. Understanding the levy for sorcery is the difference between being just impulsively talented and being wise about what you know.
(Commentary by Jeffrey Keeten.)
Tuesday, September 26th 19:00: Monsters of the Midwest
Join Kayden Oconnell for true tales of bigfoot, werewolves and other legendary creatures!
Wednesday, September 27th, 19:00 Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
Corwyn Allen reads Spider Robinson’s 1999 anthology.
The titular saloon is a haven for lost souls; a place where the patrons come for one drink and a chance for a second – but only if they offer an unburdening toast at the fireplace. Mike Callahan, the owner, never judges but sometimes advises in as few words as possible.
The stories in the volume are:
“The Guy with the Eyes”
“The Time-Traveler”
“The Centipede’s Dilemma”
“Two Heads Are Better Than One”
“The Law of Conservation of Pain”
“Just Dessert”
“A Voice is Heard in Ramah…”
“Unnatural Causes”
“The Wonderful Conspiracy”
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Thursday, September 28th 19:00 Kiss Me Again, Stranger
Daphne du Maurier is perhaps best known for her period novel Jamaica Inn and her romance / thrillers My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca (the latter also being infamous for the claims of plagiarism made against – and not the only story by Du Maurier to face such claims). However, see also turned her hand to writing short stories in the horror genre as well, of which The Birds – immortalised by Hitchcock and also accompanied by claims of plagiarism is the most well-known.
With Kiss Me Again, Stranger, du Maurier sets out a tale of revenge framed by loneliness in what is a classic tale of a femme fatale, and which has itself enjoyed numerous short film and television adaptations.
London, England, not long after the end of the Second World War. A lonely car mechanic goes to see a film. At the theatre, he encounters an attractive usherette – and is immediately smitten; so much so that after the film has ended, he waits around outside the cinema for her to finish work, then follows onto the late-night bus, which they share with a man in a RAF uniform.
Paying a fare to the end of the bus route for both of them – he has no idea where she might get off – the young man sits beside her, secretly thrilled that she doesn’t seem surprised, nor does she reject his company. He even ventures to put an arm around her, which she appears to accept, telling him it’s not every day she gets a free ride – or free pillow, as she rests her head on his shoulder with the instructions that he’s to wake her “at the bottom of the hill, before we get to the cemetery.” He doesn’t, content to bask in her company, and they miss the cemetery. But she doesn’t mind, “Oh, there’ll be others,” she says. “I’m not particular.”
And thus is the young man drawn into her dark world…
With Shandon Loring (also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for August and September is Little Kids Rock, transforming lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in schools.
The third Spoonful of Sugar festival, opened its doors on Saturday, September 16th, 2017 and will run through until Sunday October 1st, bringing together fashion, home and garden and breedable designers and creators together with DJs and live performers to help raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Also known as Doctors Without Borders, MSF was founded in Paris, France in 1971 as a non-profit, self-governed medical humanitarian organisation delivering emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare around the globe, based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. Since that time, MSF has grown to a movement of 24 associations, bound together as MSF International, based in Switzerland. Thousands of health professionals, logistical and administrative staff – most of whom are hired locally – work on programmes in some 70 countries worldwide. See the video at the end of this article for more on MSF.
Established by Ever Courtois and Angelique Wickentower, Spoonful of Sugar (SOS) aims to raise money for MSF as a part of the organisation’s Vital Pact Campaign. Highlights of the autumn 2017 event include:
Four SOS Shopping regions featuring more than 150 stores selling clothes, hair, jewellery and home and garden items.
A gacha orchard.
An events area.
Auctions and raffles.
The SOS Home Giveaway Raffle – the chance to win a fully furnished home in the SOS silent auction.
Spoonful of Sugar: the Home Giveaway raffle prize
A full shopper’s guide is available, and participating creators have items on sale via special SOS vendors, with between 50% and 100% of proceeds of sales being donated to SOS. The entertainment guide provides details of who is providing the music and when, at the entertainment barn on the main Spoonful of Sugar region.
The Home Giveaway raffle features the grand prize of an Imbrie Farmhouse and Gazebo by *Funky*Junk* and furnished by the Spoonful of Sugar sponsors. Tickets are L$100, and details of all raffle prizes can be found here. The house can be seen a short distance away from the Spoonful of Sugar information point.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 