Linden Lab board member and management Executive Chair, Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) will be joining the Lab Gab Leadership Team special for SL18B
The SL18B Meet the Lindens events kick-off on Monday, June 21st with an initial Lab Gab Special that was initially billed as being the Leadership Team of Grumpity, Brett and Patch Linden.
In initially covering the series – which will run through each day of the week until Friday, June 25th, I lamented that we didn’t appear to be hearing from either board member and Executive Chair Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) or from the Chief of Staff (and herself a skilled CEO) Cammy Bergren.
Well, it’s time for me to eat my hat, as early on Monday Junes 21st, Linden Lab updated their original announcement on the Meet the Lindens schedule to indicate the Monday session – streaming 14:00 SLT – will include Oberwolf Linden.
This means the updated line-up of Meet the Lindens events is as follows:
Day (Times SLT)
Lindens
Monday 21st June
(14:00-16:00)
Lab Gab SL18B Special with the Leadership Team (Grumpity, Brett, and Patch Linden) together with Executive Chair Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden).
Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product, who will be discussing several Second Life initiatives including recent efforts focusing on growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion.
Brett Linden, Vice President of Marketing, who will be talking about recent user acquisition and retention efforts for Second Life including advertising, public relations, content strategy, and social media.
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 in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.
Sunday, June 20th, 13:30: Tea-Time with Modesty Blaise
The Modesty Blaise comic strip made its debut in the London Evening Standard in May 1963, and drew to a close with the Evening Standard in 2001 – although several newspapers which went onto also run the series re-ran it from 2001 through 2018.
Modesty Blaise by Enrique Badía Romero
The strip was created and written by Peter O’Donnell and largely inked by illustrators Jim Holdaway (1963-1970) and Spanish artist Enrique Badía Romero (1970-1978; 1986-end). It follows the adventures of the titular character (and based on a young girl O’Donnell actually met) who escapes from a displaced person (DP) camp in Greece as the end of World War 2.
Initially becoming the unofficial ward of another refugee, Lob (who calls her “Modesty” and provides her with an education), by 1953 she is leading the criminal enterprise known as The Network. During this time, she meets Willie Garvin, a man who becomes her most trusted ally and friend (but not her lover), and the two work closely together throughout the rest of the strip
After marrying and divorcing (gaining British nationality in the process), and having made her money through The Network, Modesty decides to return to England, with Willie accompanying her. Here, and for the core of the strip, Modesty goes to work for the British Secret Service as a kind of “independent contractor” working of H.M. Government – and she brings Willie in to assist her. During this time they also become embroiled in several adventures of their own.
Now Modesty Blaise comes to Seanchai Library’s Fireside Room with Corwyn Allen, Gloriana Maertens, Elrik Merlin, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower reading The Giggle Wrecker from Pieces of Modesty.
Monday, June 21st 19:00: Behemoth
In 1914, the world is divided into Darwinists and Clankers. The Darwinists have evolved genetics to make animals more useful to humans. The Clankers have built their society on machinery technology.
When the Leviathan, a living whale flying ship, arrives in Constantinople, a city where Clanker culture and Darwinst principles intersect in the most intriguing ways, Dr Barlow and Deryn Sharp deliver their precious cargo to the Sultan as part of a peace-keeping mission, only for things to suddenly take a left turn. Now the only way to save themselves in this hostile, politically-charged city is for Dr Barlow to offer up the thing that matters most: Leviathan itself.
Meanwhile, Prince Aleksandar Ferdinand, the would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne following the murder of his father, escapes from his prison camp and once more goes on the run with his men and the Loris, while Count Volger stays behind to fend-off the pursuit, forcing Alek to take on new responsibilities.
Thus, fate once again sees to it that both Deryn and Aleks must re-evaluate their precarious situations in the world…
Join Gyro Muggins as he returns to Scott Westerfield’s alternate history of Earth.
It is the summer of 2013 and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake.
While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks chasing unicorns Abigail is dealing with her own mystery: teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing but before the police can get fully engaged the teens return home – unharmed but vague about where they’ve been.
Aided only by her new friend Simon, her knowledge that magic is real and a posse of talking foxes that think they’re spies, Abigail must venture into the wilds of Hampstead to discover who is luring the teenagers and more importantly – why?
Join Corwyn Allen as he reads Ben Aaronovitch’s latest novel.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 19:00: Carl Hiaasen’s Skink
A native Floridian, Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist who focuses on political issues (notably corruption, environmental issues and other wrong-doings) within his home state. Starting his career in the 1970s , he became renowned for being exceptionally outspoken – even against his own employers.
Carl Hiaasen. Credit: Joe Rimkus Jr.
During the 1980s, he started writing fiction in his spare time, achieving initial success with three co-authored novels published between 1981 and 1984, as well as writing several non-fiction titles.
In 1987, his second novel, Double Whammy introduced the “trailer park star tenant” and private eye, C.J. Decker, which Hiaasen fondly refers to as “the first (and possibly only) novel ever written about sex, murder and corruption on the professional bass-fishing tour.” Among the cast of characters mixed into Double Whammy is one Clinton Tyree, the one-time governor of Florida, who abandoned his office and now lives as a outdoorsman (and partaker of roadkill cuisine) in the Everglades and the Florida Keys, using the pseudonym Skink.
Skink went on to become a recurring character in a further seven of Hiaasen’s novels to date, with all the books in which he features being gathered together under the general title of SKINK, with several of them being been among the 20+ works of fiction and non-fiction by Hiaasen to appear on the New York Times best-seller list.
Join Kayden Oconnell as he continues a journey with Hiaasen’s characters.
Thursday, June 24th , 19:00: Little Fuzzy
Ktadhn Vesuvino reads the book by H. Beam Piper that spawned a series by him and other science fiction authors about a small, furry species dubbed Fuzzies.
Little Fuzzy charts the discovery of small furry species on the planet Zarathustra and the attempts by humans to determine whether or not they are sentient. If they are, then their planet will be declared a protect aboriginal world. However, The Company has desires to control the planet and its resources.
Friday, June 25th, 14:30: Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals
Football in Ankh-Morpork is not as we might know it. Rather than being comprised of rules and played within a recognisable ground, it is far more akin to the somewhat violent mob football of medieval Europe.
Not that this is a concern for the elderly, mostly indolent and (some might be tempted to think) somewhat inept old wizards making up the faculty staff at the city’s school of wizardry, the Unseen University. Until, that is, their very handsome annual endowment becomes subject to their playing the game themselves.
Thus, Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully sets out a two-pronged strategy: to ensure the city’s version of football is restructured with proper (and favourable?) rules, and to put team preparations at the university in the hands of the talented candle dribbler, Mr. Nutt and his assistant, Trevor Likely, the son of the city’s most famous (if deceased – did I mention the game can be violent?) player, who are in turn supported by Glenda Sugarbean, who runs the university’s night kitchen and her assistant Juliet Stollop.
Except Mr. Nutt soon discovers he has problems of his own to deal with, and Trevor has promised his Mum he’ll never get involved in the game. Meanwhile, Glenda has the daily responsibility of baking the Discworld’s best pies, and Juliet is about to find herself whisked towards the heights of fame as a fashion model, thus potentially leaving the team a little short on practical advice…
Join Caledonia Skytower as she presents the 37th novel in the Discworld series, and possibly one of its greatest satirical undetakings encompassing football, academia, traditions, the fashion industry, politics, love, fandom, and which mixes in more serious themes of identity, crab mentality and self-worth.
Note: the images here do not show the intended EEP environment for the fantasy theme. They have been taken purely to show the house designs themselves. I will have images reflective of the Fantasy homes and their new sub-continent utilising the correct environment lighting when the Fantasy theme becomes available.
As a part of the opening of SL18B, Patch Linden announced the next Premium Membership Linden Homes theme will be Fantasy, and a preview area opened within the celebration regions, giving people a chance to see the new theme ahead of its release later this year.
Fantasy has been a common request for a new Linden Homes theme, and the new theme is to address this call. In keeping with the majority of the “new” Linden Homes themes, the houses occupy 1024 square metre parcels, and the theme appears to comprise four styles, as described below – but please note it has been indicated that:
The interior layouts may change between the preview and the release.
This theme is to include “special features” not previously seen in Linden Homes – but these will not be revealed until Patch’s Lab Gab session on Tuesday, June 22nd (unless he spills the beans at the Leadership session on Monday, June 21st!).
Amberbrooke
The four styles are:
Amberbrooke: a large, open-plan central room with stairs to the upper level and front and rear access, flanked by two additional rooms. Upstairs are three rooms, with the central room featuring a balcony overlooking the rear of the property.
Mistbrooke: a large, single-level house with central entrance hall flanked by two rooms on either side, the two rearmost of which each provide access to a small terrace / patio sitting between the wings of the house.
Rosebrooke: central entrance hall, flanked by a large room to the right with access to the rear of the property, and a smaller room to the left. Stairs from the hall provide access to a landing with a room to either side, each with skylights.
Stonebrooke: a turreted entranceway provides access to a large main room with access to the rear of the property and further access to an inner hall / room that in turn leads to three further rooms.
While it is purely speculative on my part, I wonder if these homes might also follow in the footsteps of the Chalet theme, with each style offered both with complete interiors and in a more open style variants for people to create rooms of their own.
MistbrookeAs it is, and again given the interiors are not finalised, the Mistbrooke would appear a little cumbersome in layout – the only way to get to the rearmost rooms in the house (and indeed, access the rear terrace / patio) is to traipse through the rooms they adjoin. Some might not find this especially enamouring, depending on the uses to which they put the intervening room. Given the hallway overlooks said terrace / patio, I’m surprised the window it contains is not actually a doorway.
In terms of overall design, the Fantasy Homes could be described as “the Cotswolds meets Lord of the Rings”. True, these are are not faced in stone (at least for the preview), but on the whole their general appearance (ignoring the skylight motif and fretwork over entranceways) wouldn’t seem too out of place if dropped into a Wiltshire village.
Rosebrooke
It is the fretwork that pretty much carries the “fantasy” theme (along with the “Linden typical” approach the the general landscaping (twisted and gnarled trees, crystals thrusting out the the ground together with giant mushrooms). This fretwork and the skylight window motif do give the houses a lean towards “elven / Lord of the Rings”, but to me on this first look – and granted I know nothing about the “special features”, so may well have to eat my words later – the overall designs feel as if they are tinkering with the fantasy theme, rather than embracing it.
Truth be told, wandering / camming the region left me asking, “where are the rounded doorways? Why not something with a little more of a fantasy edge to it such as homes with open-sided entranceways and halls leading to rooms that are somewhat more enclosed?” and so on. However, and in fairness, I can also recall the original Linden Homes fantasy theme came under heavy fire back in 2009 for being too other-worldly (/Lord of the Rings-ish) and thus seen as having “limited appeal”, so a more staid approach might be for the better.
Stonebrooke
As it is, much of the initial reaction on the forums has been positive, and it is fair to say that in not going “all out” on the fantasy theme, these homes could find favour among both fantasy lovers and those who are not so heavily fantasy oriented, but want a home that is just that little bit different without being completely “outlandish” to their way of thinking.
Either way, the preview region will be open for viewing throughout SL18B, and I’ll doubtless have more on this theme down the road.
Update: details of the new Linden Homes Fantasy Preview have been added following their unveiling during the opening ceremony.
Second Life marks its 18th anniversary in 2021 with a week-long celebration of music, entertainment, art and more across multiple regions, eight of which are given over to exhibits from Second Life residents, and which include the companion Shop and Hop event.
The gates have now opened, but as there was not opportunity for any previews by bloggers, etc., in advance of the opening, we’re all scrabbling around trying to put things together. Hopefully, however, this will serve as a shorthand guide, and my apologies for any omissions.
The regions are, as usual, split between core event regions as exhibitor regions. The core regions include:
In terms of major events, what does SL18B hold? Well, the best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below. Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view. Major events are also summarised below the calendar.
Grand Opening
Patch Linden will be formally opening SL18B at 11:00 SLT as a Lab Gab special via the Second Life You Tube channel, after which Strawberry Linden will be hosting a tour of the SL18B regions.
Meet the Lindens
Meet the Lindens is now a staple of the SLB celebrations, and this year we’ll be hearing from – and putting questions to – the leadership team of Grumpity, Brett and Patch collectively and individually through the week at the SL18B auditorium, with things rounded-out by another session with the Moles of the LDPW. Catch the sessions as follows:
Day (Times SLT)
Lindens
Monday 21st June
(14:00-16:00)
Lab Gab SL18B Special with the Leadership Team (Grumpity Linden, Brett Linden and Patch Linden) via You Tube, with steaming into the SLB auditorium – Second life You Tube Channel
Tuesday 22nd June
(13:00-14:00)
Patch Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product Operations – Live Stream link
Wednesday 23rd, June
(14:00-16:00)
Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product – Live Stream Link
The SL18B Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, June 17th, and conclude at 19:00 SLT on Saturday, June 19th. It will feature 25 artists performing at the SL18B Main Stage, with the line-up as follows:
Time (SLT)
June 17th
June 18th
June 19th
09;00
—
—
Randy De Lucia
10;00
—
—
KATIA
11:00
—
—
SpiritLed
Noon
—
Seli Blackmore
Semina
13:00
Milan Zepp
Toxie
Skye Galaxy
14:00
Rogue Galaxy and The Tiny Rebel Band
Staring At The Sun
Fly Kugin
15:00
Oblee
Dandy Pianoman
Marqs DeSade
16:00
Maximillion Kleene
Mimi Carpenter
Dude
17;00
Erik Kottzen
Ruvilyn Gatchie
Effinjay
18:00
Joaquin Gustav
Wytchwhisper Sadofsky
Gabriel da Silva
19:00
—
Gabriella Rothschild
—
20:00
—
Kendall Jigsaw
—
Shop and Hop
Sixteen regions and 320 creators, all offering a 20% or more discount on items and a free (non-group) gift for shoppers, with the event running until July 6th,2021. Shopping SLurls below!
Note that Shop and Hop regions are rated Moderate.
A full list of participating creators with direct SLurls to there S&H stores is available here.
Other Points of Interest
The Tapestry of Time
First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.
SL18B Tapestry of Time with the Ebbe Altberg memorial
During the SL18B opening ceremony, Patch Linden revealed the next theme for Premium Membership linden Homes will be a Fantasy themed series of four styles, and the preview area at SL18B was opened to visitors. See Previewing the Linden Homes Fantasy Themefor more.
The Linden Homes Fantasy Theme preview at SL18B
The Gifts Areas
The SL18B Gifting Areas offer gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.
Exhibitor Regions
As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the eight regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.
Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found below:
Information / SLurls for individual exhibitors can be found in the SL18B Community Experiences pages of the Destination Guide, and I hope to visit and write about some during the week.
Explore the SL18B regions via the automated pod tour cars, courtesy of Yavanna Llanfair
Advice On A Better Experience
The SL18B regions – celebratory and Shop & Hop can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:
If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum.
Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
To assist the simulator, remove unnecessary scripted attachments.
If you are using Firestorm and still encountering issues, try going to Preferences Graphics → Rendering and:
If you are running a 64-bit version of the viewer, make sure Restrict Maximum Texture Resolution to 512px (will require a viewer restart).
Use the Max Texture Quality Level drop-down to set texture rendering quality to Mid.
SL18B Meet the Lindens will focus on the leadership team of Brett, Grumpity and Patch
Update: Monday June 21st: well, I did say some aspects of SL18B may cause me to eat my hat, and the first Meet the Lindens session is one of them! In difference to the opinion voiced at the end of this article, the first of these sessions – Meet the Leadership Team will feature board member and Executive Chair, Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden).
A staple part of the SL Birthday celebrations over the past few years has been the Meet the Linden sessions. Featuring selected members of the Lab’s management team who appear each day on stage, either individually or in pairs and groups, to discuss (almost) anything related to Linden Lab and Second Life, the sessions are a popular source of information straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
2021’s SL18B continues the tradition, offering another a week-long series of Meet the Linden events. These have now been formally announced via a blog post from the Lab, which provides information on them and other streaming events that will be taking place during the week commencing Monday, June 21st.
Featuring the core Leadership team, this year’s Meet the Lindens events kick-off with a special Lab Gab Live Stream on Monday, June 21st, and the complete line-up of sessions is as follows:
Day (Times SLT)
Lindens
Monday 21st June
(14:00-16:00)
Lab Gab SL18B Special with the Leadership Team (Grumpity, Brett, and Patch Linden) together with Executive Chair Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden).
Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product, who will be discussing several Second Life initiatives including recent efforts focusing on growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion.
Brett Linden, Vice President of Marketing, who will be talking about recent user acquisition and retention efforts for Second Life including advertising, public relations, content strategy, and social media.
By following the You Tube live stream links above at the time of the event.
In addition, the Tuesday through Friday events are listed on the Lab’s Meet the Employees page on You Tube, together with pass SLB and Lab Gab sessions.
I confess to being a little disappointed that we’ll not be introduced to / hearing from Executive Chair Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) or Chief of Staff Cammy Bergren (Cammy Linden); it would have been nice to hear from one or the other, even if via a Lab Gab session. I certainly hope there may yet be an opportunity for such a session in the not too distant future.
In the meantime, I hope to have summaries of all this year’s Meet the Lindens sessions available through this blog as soon as possible after each has taken place.
The Second Life 18th birthday celebrations are almost upon us, and while news in advance of the event has been scarce this year, the Moles and the Lab have been busy with things.
On Tuesday, June 15th, Strawberry Linden issued a note card to members of the SLB Press Group, providing a short update and links (including the Birthday Calendar – see below), with a focus on the upcoming SL18B Shop and Hop event. A blog post was also issued later on Tuesday, highlighting the Music Fest and the Birthday Calendar directly.
SL18B Shop and Hop
Shop and Hop
The SL18B Shop and Hop event is perhaps the largest S&H event thus far held, featuring no fewer than 16 regions and 320 creators offering a 20% or more discount on items and a free (non-group) gift for shoppers.
Dates
Public access to Shop and Hop, 09:00 SLT on Thursday, June 17th, 2021 through until July 6th, 2021.
Early access for Second Life Birthday Group members from 09:00 SLT on Wednesday, June 16th, 2021.
Shop and Hop SLurls
Note these SLurls will be available on Wednesday, June 16th for members of the Second Life Birthday Group, and from 09:00 SLT on Thursday, June 17th for everyone:
A full list of participating creators with direct SLurls to there S&H stores is available here.
Music Fest
The Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, June 17th, and conclude at 19:00 SLT on Saturday, June 19th. It will feature 25 artists, with the line-up as follows:
Time (SLT)
June 17th
June 18th
June 19th
09;00
Gates Open
—
Randy De Lucia
10;00
—
—
KATIA
11:00
Opening Ceremony
—
SpiritLed
Noon
—
Seli Blackmore
Semina
13:00
Milan Zepp
Toxie
Skye Galaxy
14:00
Rogue Galaxy and The Tiny Rebel Band
Staring At The Sun
Fly Kugin
15:00
Oblee
Dandy Pianoman
Marqs DeSade
16:00
Maximillion Kleene
Mimi Carpenter
Dude
17;00
Erik Kottzen
Ruvilyn Gatchie
Effinjay
18:00
Joaquin Gustav
Wytchwhisper Sadofsky
Gabriel da Silva
19:00
—
Gabriella Rothschild
—
20:00
—
Kendall Jigsaw
—
The venue for the Music Fest will be the SL18B Live Stage – the SLurl will be available when SL18B opens.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 