Category: Events

RFL 2016: A Stand for Hope in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
via the A Stand for Hope website

Running through until Sunday, April 16th, is A Stand for Hope, in aid of Relay for Life of Second Life 2016. The event is in two parts: the Stand Up Best DJ on the Grid competition, and Hope: A 2016 Relay for Life Photography Exhibition.

Stand Up Best DJ Competition

Having kicked-off on March 12th, the Stand Up Best DJ competition is now reaching the final stages, which will take place over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday the 26th / 27th of March and the 2nd / 3rd of April respectively.

Each weekend for the last two weeks, seven DJs have been going head-to-head for they title of Best DJ on the Grid 2016 and a prize purse, providing the best in music and entertainment whilst raising money for RFL of SL in the process. The standings are determined by a combination of judges’ scores and total donations for RFL of SL raised; with two rounds still to go, you can see the overall standings here, and learn about the seven participating DJs.

The Stand for Hope Best in DJ venue offers a street party atmosphere
The Stand for Hope Best in DJ venue offers a street party atmosphere

The schedule for Best DJ can be found on the A Stand for Hope events calendar, and you can join in the fun, dancing and fund-raising at the Best DJ in SL street party venue in-world over the next two weekend, as noted above. Already over L$250,000 has been raised across the first two weekends of heats, so with our help, the competition could raise a cool L$500,000 (roughly US $2,000) for RFL of SL.

Hope: A Relay for Life Photo Exhibition

The Hope: A Relay for Life Photo Exhibition launches on Saturday, April 9th, and will run through until Saturday April 16th, inclusive. For the event, 25 Second Life photographers have paired with 25 cancer survivors and caregivers. The survivors and caregivers will share their story of dealing with the impact of cancer in their lives, with the photographers supplying a portrait of each of them.

The stories and portraits will be displayed in a special gallery from April 9th through 16th, and to help raise money for RFL of SL, a silent auction will be held during the exhibition period. In it, the photographers will be offering a portrait package / photo-shoot opportunity to their respective highest bidders. In addition, there will be the opportunity to bid on a spot in the autumn course with Visionaire Institute of Photography, and single portraits by special guest artists Skip Staheli, Magissa Denver, and Natzuka Miliandrovic.

You can find out more about the participating artists, survivors and caregivers via the A Stand for Hope website. In addition, I hope to preview the exhibition ahead of its opening on April 9th. You can also visit the 2015 Stand exhibition on-line, and read my review of that exhibition.

Related Links

Fantasy Faire 2016: blogger applications are open!

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via Fantasy Faire
Via Fantasy Faire

Fantasy Faire, the largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, opens its portals on Thursday, April 21st and runs through until Sunday May 1st inclusive. It will bring together everyone with a love of fantasy  – enthusiasts, creators, performers and designers  – for eleven days of commerce, special events, live music concerts and more, all to help raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life.

On Sunday, March 20th, the Faire organisers announced that applications for blogging about the Faire are now being taken, with the announcement reading in part:

Every year we welcome almost a hundred bloggers into the early access to the Fairelands, to photograph and capture their beauty when they are still pristine and free from the Lag Monster. This year is no exception.

Fantasy Faire 2015: Vallacia; Inara Pey, April 2015, on Flickr Fantasy Faire 2015: Vallacia April 2015 (Flickr)

As with recent years, bloggers are additionally invited to participate in one or more challenges. These are not obligatory, and anyone  – official blogger or otherwise – is free to participate in them. They are:

  • Faire Folk – “create a character from the Fairelands. Pick one of the Faire sims as their home, make a look mostly from Faire items, make the character come alive. Take at least one picture of that character in the chosen home sim and blog away! The more roleplay-style bloggers are invited to write about the character as well, but even those to whom pictures speak more than words can let those pictures speak loud and clear! Sim exploration stories encouraged!”
  • My New Shiny – “find a shop in the Fairelands you have never heard of before and blog something of theirs that you love. This is all about finding and showcasing the hidden talents, the newcomers, the surprises you can find when you explore the Fairelands thoroughly instead of just going through your already familiar favourites. If you know every single shop in the Faire, pick one that you think should be in the spotlight more.”
  • Why I Relay – “this challenge is for those who do have a personal reason to support Relay for Life events and who would like to share it. Obviously if you don’t have any personal tie to the charity or if you’d like to keep your reasons private, there is no need to do this. But those who would like to speak out for the charity, for RFL and for their reasons, they are invited to do so.”
  • I Remember – “tell us your favourite Fairelands of the past, dig up the old pictures, reminisce, travel down the memory lane. Write about your transformations, talk about your favourite moments, re-live it all again. Re-live and prepare to meet your new favourite moments soon!”
The Spires of Andolys, designed by Jaimy Hancroft, hosts The Origins of Sanctuary: Lut's Story
Fantasy Faire 2015: The Spires of Andolys, April 2015 (Flickr)

Those applying to be an official blogger at this year’s faire can also apply to write for the official Fantasy Faire website. This has no influence on the actual blogger application and should be filled only if you are truly interested. There’s very limited spots for this.

For full information on applying to be an official 2016 Fantasy Faire blogger, please refer to the Blogger Info 2016 page on the official website, and then complete the application form.

A Seanchai celebration in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Walk through the Story Forest to visit the themed area of the region
Crazy Eights: tour the region during Seanchai Library’s 8th anniversary celebrations, and follow the trails through the Story Forest to visit the themed areas, stopping at the Story Stations as you go

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, March 20th

13:00 Crazy Eights: Seanchai Library 8th Anniversary

Crazy Eights hosts Seanchai Library’s eighth anniversary celebrations with an afternoon featuring:

  • Bear Silvershade’s Lonely Man project, and a Gallery of Images from Seanchai Library’s past
  • Stories and Poetry Presented by Shandon Loring, Bear Silvershade & Derry McMahon,  Crap Mariner, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower
  • Special guest Valibrarian Gregg.

18:00 Magicland Park: The time is Not Yet

With Caledonia Skytower.

Monday March 21st 19:00: Prometheus

carmodyGyro Muggins concludes a 3-part reading of tales concerning one of Philip José Farmer’s many memorable characters: Father John Carmody, and ex-con who painfully grew a conscience, but is still not entirely beyond benefiting himself.

In A Few Miles, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Carmody is ordered to the planet Wildenwoolly (think about it 🙂 ), but is given no funds for his journey and must therefore find his own way there. This proves taxing, with even reaching the space station where he might gain passage to his intended destination proving problematic. So problematic, in fact that he ends up “expregnated” by a large earthbound bird called a horowitz.

Now, in Prometheus, the egg attached to his chest until such time as it hatches, Carmody finds himself on Feral, the planet of the horowitzes, and cast in the role of educator for these strange birds, and as a sort of latter-day Prometheus, bringing them moral enlightenment.

Tuesday March 22nd, 19:00: Echo

EchoCaledonia Skytower reads Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Newbery Honour novel.

Three entwined stories focusing on a magical harmonica, start with the tale of 12-year-old German boy Friedrich, growing up in the time of the rise of National Socialism in Germany. Already an outcast because of the birthmark that disfigures his face, Friedrich discovers the harmonica, and with it, hope for the future.

Two years later, 11–year-old Mike Flannery finds himself in possession of the harmonica, and with it, the opportunity to prevent his younger bother being sent away to a state home by the woman who adopted the boys to suit her own purposes.

In the final story, Ivy Lopez, whose parents are migrant farm labourers. It’s a year after Pearl Harbour, and her family  find themselves running a farm after the Japanese-American owners are placed in an internment camp. Forced to attend “Americanisation” schooling, Ivy encounters institutional racism, and also strength and refuge when the harmonica enters her life. But soon enough, her family’s ties to the Yamamotos put them in crisis, and Ivy finds herself keeping what she fears is a terrible secret.

Wednesday March 23rd 19:00 Crazy Eights: The Hunter’s Moon

HuntersAoife Lorefield concludes reading the second in the Crazy Eights series of monthly Featured books

When she arrives in Ireland to visit her cousin Findabhair (Finn), American Gwen expects a fun backpacking trip to sites of the fairy lore they’re both fascinated with. What neither cousin knows is that it’s the summer of the Hunter’s Moon, a dangerous time for mortals to meddle in the kingdom of Faerie.

Whilst camping out, Finn is kidnapped by the handsome Faerie king, and Gwen must rescue her. In attempting to do so, she travels between modern-day and mystical Ireland. And when she does finally reach Finn, she finds her biggest challenge might be actually persuading her cousin she is in need of rescue!

Thursday, March 24th

19:00 Legendary Fictions of Irish Celts

With Shandon Loring.

21:00 Seanchai Late Night: The Lonely

Rod SterlingThe Lonely is the 7th episode seven of first series of The Twilight Zone, which first aired on November 13th, 1959.

James Corry is a man sentenced to solitary confinement on a distant asteroid for 50 years, his only visitors bring the crew of his resupply ship, who arrive at the asteroid four times a year – but stay only for 20 minutes. To try to make Corry’s life a little easier, the captain of the ship delivers a feminine robot to keep him company. Then the news comes that Corry has been pardoned, and he can return to Earth – but only at a price.

Join Caledonia Skytower and Shandon Loring as they enter …. the Twilight Zone.

—–

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 March / April is Project Children, building peace in Ireland one child at a time.

Additional Links

Engage! The Second Life Sci Fi convention warps in

Posted on by Inara Pey
Second Life Science-Fiction Convention - Nimoy mega-hub
Second Life Science Fiction Convention – Nimoy mega-hub

On Friday, March 18th, the 2016 Second Life Science Fiction Convention, organised by the SL Sic-Fi Alliance, opened its doors to sci-fi enthusiasts from across virtual worlds.

Running through until March 27th, 2016, the convention is spread across six regions packed with all things science-fiction, with good representation from OpenSim as well. As usual, the event has been organised in support of Relay for Life of Second Life, and forms one of the RFL of SL mega events for 2016.

Second Life Science-Fiction Convention
Second Life Science Fiction Convention

As this is a sci-fi event, the major areas for activities are located high up in the sky over the six regions, forming a bustling metropolis of stores, activity centres, walkways, and more, with vehicles of various descriptions passing by overhead. There are also some facilities – teleport hubs, entertainment facilities, etc., located at ground level as well.

The Five  exhibitor regions are (see here for a full list of exhibitors):

In addition, Stardust Dreams provides entertainment facilities both in the air and on the ground.

Second Life Science-Fiction Convention - a time-travelling Allosaurus pops by for a look
Second Life Science Fiction Convention – a time-travelling Allosaurus pops by for a look

When exploring the regions, you’ll find the usual interesting mix of merchants and role-play groups, all with something to offer. The best starting point for explorations is perhaps the mega-hub located in Nimoy.

Details on entertainment, etc., seem a little thin on the ground where the website events page is concerned (or was at the time of writing), so finding out what is going on where and when might be best done via the in-world convention calendar at the Nimoy mega-hub, where you can also pick-up a SLSFC9 uniform (all proceeds to RFL of SL), if you haven’t anything suitably sci-fi to wear (or even if you have).

Second Life Science-Fiction Convention
Second Life Science Fiction Convention

Whatever your interest in science fiction, be sure to set your phaser on fun and head back to the future with a visit to the SL Sci-Fi convention. So say we all!

Related Links

 

MadPea readies for The Interview in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

madpea-logoMadPea Games are gradually ramping-up for their next game, offering people the chance to win a Gold Pass VIP access to the game, which includes a personal welcome from Queen Pea, Kiana Writer, plus MadPea himself and many of the MadPea crew who will be on-hand to provide assistance to lucky winners as they take their Gold HUD, outfit and accessories, and enjoy 24 hours access to the game before it opens to the public.

The Interview, a grid-wide mystery puzzle game, will launch on April 3rd. Details on what it is all about have yet to be revealed – but there is a clue in the title, and it involves an organisation called the Goliathus Society.

The curious can check out the vendors who are supplying elements of the successful applicants benefits package (aka prizes), while those wishing to try their hands at gaining early access to the game can have a go at The Interview Photo Contest and / or the Interview Writing Contest.

Interview Photo Contest

For the photo contest, which is open now through until Saturday March 26th, entrants are invited to show the MadPea team exactly what they would wear for THEIR interview with the Goliathus Society. Would it be formal, business, casual or, knowing MadPea, something more in keeping with planning for the unexpected? Show MadPea your best Interview themed outfit for a chance to win prizes!

Interview  Writing Contest

For the interview writing contest, which runs until Monday, March 28th, You need to write your best cover letter detailing why you  are the best candidate for a job with the Goliathus Society. You’ll need to use your imagination to decide what the society is hiring for, and what kind of skills, assets, and work experience might make you the ideal candidate. Then, in a covering letter, describe to the MadPea team why you are the best possible candidate and why Goliathus Society simply have to hire you!

Int-1

General requirements for Entry

  • Both contests are note card only competitions. Entries must be submitted to the BRIGHT PINK mailbox at the MadPea Info Hub
  • Only one entry per avatar for either contest
  • Note cards should be titled:
    • Writing contest: The Interview Cover Letter [your name]
    • Photo contest: The Interview Photo Contest [your name]
    • Please only use yours avatar name – not your display name
  • Cover Letter contest entries must not exceed 250 words
  • Photo contest entries must include;
    • A full permission copy of your image ( your image will not be sold, or shared outside of MadPea, But may be used/displayed for promotion on the MadPea blog, website, or notices)
    • A few sentences explaining why you choose your outfit.
    • Photos may be edited externally to Second Life, but this is not required
  • Winners for both contests will be announced by MadPea on Tuesday, March 29th.

For full entry criteria and rules please visit either the MadPea Interview Photo Contest page, or the MadPea Interview Writing Contest page.

Prizes

The following prizes will be awarded in each contest to the top three entries, as judged by the MadPea team:

  • 1st place – Interview VIP Pass. Which will give you 24 hours early access to the game
  • 2nd place – L$1000 Madpea gift card
  • 3rd place – L$500 gift card.

See the MadPea blog for more on The Interview and their other in-world games.

Fantasy Faire 2016: as the doors start to open

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via Fantasy Faire
Via Fantasy Faire

Fantasy Faire 2016, in aid of Relay for Life of Second Life, will take place between Thursday, April 21st and Sunday May 1st inclusive.

The largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, Fantasy Faire It brings together fantasy enthusiasts, creators, performers and designers for eleven days of commerce, special events, live music concerts across 14 themed regions, with special emphasis on fund-raising for Relay for Life of Second Life.

Via Fantasy Faire
Via Fantasy Faire

Merchant applications have been open since early March, and the ten core regions for the event are filling up fast, although there are, at the time of writing, some parcels still available. Blogger / press applications are set to open on Sunday March 20th.

This years brings some new names to the list of designers selected to bring the faireland regions into being, as well as seeing some familiar and popular names returning as well. The regions and designers are:

Blackmoor by Lokii Violet. “Fog snakes down the gas lit streets. Footsteps echo on the cobblestone but whether friend or foe approaches it is impossible to guess. Shadows loom in every corner as the bowels of the city wake up and the workings of another moonless night begin.” Store status: sold out.

Breeze by Kayle Matzerath. “A very bright and pastel watercolour village that harnesses the wind to turn it into magical energy.” Store status: themed stores only.

Bright Haven by Kilik Lekvoda and Rynn Verwood. “A fairytale market town brimming with wonder, happiness and magic. A stroll down the cobble streets might see you breaking out in song accompanied by your woodland friends.” Store status: sold out.

Dangarnon by Jaimy Hancroft and Eowyn Swords. “Villains roam the cobbled streets of a fallen Andolys where evil rolled in and blotted out the light. Skeletons of what once was are all that remain. Rotting and crooked the stone houses and towers are a sad reflection of their former glory. Darkness hangs over the land like a heavy blanket suffocating any ray of light. But even here, in all this blackness a shimmer of hope has managed to hide and survive, a tiny piece of what once was this magical place still lives within these dead walls. Perhaps all is not lost yet…” Store status: sold out.

Hope's Horizon: Fantasy Faire 2014
Hope’s Horizon: Fantasy Faire 2014

Echtra by Loki Eliot. “The land is stuck in time. There is no summer nor is there any winter. There is just a grey emptiness hanging over the once busy town of Echtra and the surrounding moorland. And what of the legends that tell of a great sleeping dragon under the hill the town is built. Will the secrets of this once thriving community be revealed and if they can be discovered exactly who will awake?” Store status: not provided.

The Golden Delta by Alia Baroque. “The Immortal City bathed in gold and turquoise where the river and sands of life draw the passing of time.” Store status: themed stores only.

Lucentia by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee. “There lies a realm in the depth of antiquity or perhaps its the distant future- where all is energy and light and physical substance has no meaning. A glowy world of shifting lights and undulating energies. A world of magic and emotion and beauty. Where the only danger is losing your mind.” Store status: sold out.

Ichi-Go Ichi-E: Fantasy Faire 2015

Serenity by Kaelis Ember and Aikeo Rieko. “They say there are one thousand steps to the top of Serenity, an ancient city, every nook and cranny carved to perfection, smooth curves, beautiful terraces, stunning waterfalls, latticed windows. Built by ageless hands so many moons ago, they also say that those who ascend to the top of the city will discover something more valuable than gold, the knowledge we’re not alone in our fights.” Store status: sold out.

Tinkers Hollow by Mayah Parx. “If you had the power to create anything you thought, what would you think? And if every thought you thunk took form, where would you store all the stuff? Welcome to Tinkers Hollow. The eclectic trappings of an unusual mind filled with everything from toys and cards to gears and cogs. Who knows what might appear?” Store status: not provided.

Twilight Illusion by Sweetgwendoline Bailey and Eldowyn Inshan. “The Realm of Twilight Illusion is a land divided. Rising out of a vast lake of lava, small islands pepper the view. Connected by rickety bridges the inhabitants make a life amid the hellish landscape of rotten vegetation, creepy trees, stinky mushrooms, bones, skulls and ravens. As sulphur and brimstone percolate below the breezes of the upper levels remind of sun and dew, welcoming the visitor into a flower filled meadow where worries are replaced with joy under rainbow skies and a picnic of nectar and honeyed cakes has been laid out by unseen hands.”  Store status: themed stores only.

Crimson Field: Fantasy Faire 2013
Crimson Field: Fantasy Faire 2013

In addition, the following regions will also be a part of the Fairelands:

  • Fairelands Junction by Saiyge Lotus
  • Fantasy Faire Radio / Literary Festival by Elicio Ember
  • Arts and Entertainment  by Haveit Neox
  • Fantasy Faire Hunt by Rynn Verwood

As usual, I’ll be covering Fantasy Faire in these pages, but to keep right up to date with news and announcement, keep an eye on the links below.

Related Links