Category: Relay For Life

RFL 2019: are you ready for the Weekend?

Posted on by Inara Pey
RFL of SL 2019: Relay Weekend

The Relay For Life of Second Life Relay Weekend for 2019 is upon us, and will feature everything one would expect from the event – walks, celebrations, remembrances, the luminaria ceremony, interviews, music, dance, and more, all in aid of the American Cancer Society in its efforts to eradicate cancer.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a couple of sneak peeks around the regions that make up this year’s walk, together with the activities regions, and to say they are extraordinary would be an understatement. Spanning 36 regions, including the core American Cancer Society region, the Second Life RFL Relay Weekend promises to be spectacular.

RFL of SL 2019: recall RFL mega events, such as the SciFi Con

Activities will kick off at 10:00 SLT on Saturday, June 8th, and will feature 24 hours of themed laps, activities and entertainment. The weekend will wrap up 24 hours later, on Sunday, June 9th at 10:00 SLT. Featured events between those two times include:

Saturday, July 16th 2016

  • 10:00 SLT Opening Ceremony:  the weekend formally begins at the Ceremony Stage.
  • 11:00 SLT Celebrate: The first lap of Relay weekend begins with the celebrate ceremony.  A Survivor/Caregiver honour walk
  • 21:00 SLT Remember – The Luminaria Ceremony:  a solemn reflection with readings and inspirational music as the regions are darkened in remembrance of those and their loved ones who have lost their battles to cancer or are still battling it; all are invited to participate.  Please walk the track in silence

Sunday, July 17th 2016:

  • 06:00 SLT Fight Back: Collect your Fight Back Kits and Fight Back Flags available at the Relay Information Stations along the track, and pledge to save a life: your own, a friends, a family member, or someone you don’t even know yet
  • 10:00 SLT Closing Ceremony: a closing tribute to al that RFL of SL has accomplished at the Ceremony Stage.
RFL of SL 2019: witness art – with pieces like this, by Cica Ghost and Bryn Oh

Track Themed Laps

From 11:00 SLT on Saturday, June 8th through until 09:00 SLT on Sunday June 9th, relayers will be able to join in laps around the relay track that winds through all of the event regions will commence, each with its own focus / theme. The times mean that no matter where you are, if you believe in supporting efforts to reduce  / eliminate cancer in all its forms, there is likely a slot when you can spend time walking the track. You don’t have to go a whole hour – just hit the start line, walk – and make a donation!

All times below are SLT.

Saturday, June 8th
 Sunday, June 9th
11:00: Survivor/Caregiver Lap sponsored by the Relay Rockers 00:00: Midnight Masquerade!
12:30: Teams Lap sponsored by Together We Are Mighty 01:00 Wear the Rainbow
14:00: Purple Hour 02:00: Demos!
15:00: Halloween Hour sponsored by River Park Club 03:00: Girl / Boy Next Door (library outfits)
16:00: All Aboard! Uniforms (conductors, pilots, flight attendants, ship captains, etc.) 04:00: Beachwear
17:00: All Aboard! 15th Anniversary Lap (wear any Relay shirt from year’s past) sponsored by the Relay Rockers 05:00: Crazy Hats
18:00: Animals, Prehistoric, Dinosaurs sponsored by Harmony of Hope – In loving memory of Kate 06:00: Fight Back Lap
19:00 Walk your pet / Shoulder pets 07:00: Pajama Party!
20:00: Formal Wear 08:00: Mother Earth sponsored by Harmony of Hope
21:00: Luminaria Ceremony 09:00: Black and White
22:00: Fantasy / Magical 10:00: Closing Ceremony & Victory Lap
23:00: Game of Thrones

Entertainment

Music will be provided throughout the weekend by the following DJs (all times SLT):

Saturday, June 8th:  09:00 Trader Whiplash; 11:00 Nuala Maracas; 12:30 Gem Sunkiller; 14:00 Fizban Underwood; 15:00 Anni Braveheart; 16:30 Tazzie Tuque; 18:00 BenVee; 19:30 Tril MacLeod; 22:00 Fuzzball Ortega

Sunday, June 9th: 00:00 Lia Vipera BrightFlame; 01:00 Madonna; 02:30 Elrik Merlin; 04:00 Luke Flywalker; 06:00 FIGHT BACK LAP with Nuala Maracas; 07:00 Madelyn Majestic; 08:30- 10:00 Trader Whiplash; 11:00 Nuala Maraca.

You can catch all the music both at the event or anywhere on the grid or on-line, by tuning into T1 Radio – including coverage of the ceremonies.

RFL of SL 2019: Relay Weekend

Where To Start

If you’re new to RFL of SL weekends, probably the best place to start is the ACS Welcome Area, or you can opt to drop in directly at main stage at RFL Unity. And don’t forget to visit the RFL Museum, and recall RFL events of the past!

So, are you ready to Relay?

Related Links

RelayStock 2019 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
RelayStock 2019

It’s a weekend of Peace Love and Hope and great music as the 6th annual RelayStock continues over Saturday May 18th and Sunday May 19th, 2019.

Paying homage to Woodstock, hosted by the Relay Rockers and sponsored by X-City games, the event features live and DJ entertainment, dancing, vendors and the opportunity to help raise money for RFL of SL.

The event is focused on RFL team camp sites all located around a 60s style festival stage. The camp sites, mixed between iconic VW camper wagons and tents, are occupied by RFL Relay teams who present kiosks and fund-raising vendors, while the event stage plays hosts to the performers and the ever-popular Celebrate Remember Fight Back (CRFB) Top DJ Competition Top DJ Competition.

The Rockers have been fortunate to have participants from many teams in our CRFB Event. RelayStock is our way of saying thank you for the huge support across the grid for our event. It affords every team the opportunity to share in a super fund raising event.

– Relay Rockers Co-Captain Arizona Ballinger

The event is open to all residents of Second Life. In addition,, when visiting, you’ll also be able to Bid a Linden Bald, which this year see five teams for Linden Lab participating – see 2019 Bid a Linden Bald for RFL of SL for more.

RelayStock 2019

The event’s activities line up as follows all times SLT):

Saturday May 18th:

  • 10:30: DJ Ray02 Little Inspired Dream Walkers.
  • 12:00  noon: DJ Dolleyes Barbosa Too Tough To Die.
  • 13:30: AustinMoores.
  • 15:00: Todd Rumsford – LIVE – Cure Chasers.
  • 16:00: Keeba & The Tiny Maniacs – LIVE – Relay Rockers.
  • 17:00: The Core Four – Cancer Gets Stung.
  • 18:30pm: DJ Heath Harmony Of Hope.
  • 20:00pm: DJ Kayla Roos With A Dream.

Sunday May 19th:

  • 11:00: Holocluck Henly ACTS.
  • 12:30: DJ Escape.
  • 14:00: CRFB FINALIST #2.
  • 15:30: CRFB FINALIST #1.
  • 17:00: CRFB AWARD CEREMONY.
  • 17:15: Trader Whiplash – Cure Chasers, The River Of Life & Roos With A Dream Teams.

So, let the age of Aquarius enter your life this weekend, don your kaftan (and galoshes!), put flowers in your hair and head on over to RelayStock for get music, great dancing, great fun – and all in a good cause!

Event SLurl

2019 Bid a Linden Bald for RFL of SL

Posted on by Inara Pey

A traditional event during the RFL season is the Bid Me Bald challenge organised by the Relay Rockers. As the name suggests, people are invited to bid (make donations to RFL) to see a well-known Second Life resident go bald for a period of time in-world. First held in 2007, Bid Me Bald is presented as a means to honour those who have lost their hair as a result of their cancer treatment, with those volunteering to participate going bald for one day for each L$5000 raised through donations.

In 2017, to mark the 10th anniversary of Bid Me bald, a new twist was added to the mix when three teams from Linden Lab put themselves up for bidding / donations in Bid A Linden Bald. In 2018, the Lab again put forward three teams for Bid Me Bald, with the team raising the least amount of money will once again go bald for the amount of days equal to the total of the team raising the most, with the time shared among the losing team members.

Those two events between them raised more than L$3.5 million for Relay for Life. For 2019, the Lab is participating with five teams:

  • Customer Account Operations: Dakota Linden, Theresa Linden and Vanessa Linden.
  • Concierge Support: Dottie Linden, Evie Linden, Rocko Linden, TJ Linden, Vix Linden, Volo Linden and Wendi Linden.
  • Land Operations: Constantine Linden, Izzy Linden, Kona Linden and Madori Linden.
  • Tier 1 Support: Acan Linden, Cantara Linden, Ellie Linden, Ginger Linden and Jet Linden.
  • Support Management: Ami Linden, Derrick Linden, Kristin Linden and Maggie Linden.

Bidding officially opened on Wednesday, May 15th and will run through until May 22nd, when the losing team will be up for a haircut at a special event!

Should you wish to place a bid, drop in to the Relay Rockers’ home region. You may be redirected to the main landing point, so just follow the signs to the bidding kiosks. You can make your donation based on the team you’d like to see win – or against the team you’d like to see lose!

The 2019 Bid a Linden Bald kiosks

Additional Links

Fantasy Faire 2019: as the Sun dips towards the west

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Fantasy Faire

The official events of Fantasy Faire are over. The DJs have played, the artists have performed, stories have been written and told. Memories have been born, friendships renewed or made. As it is with every year, Fantasy Faire 2019 will leave its mark on all who attended it, whether for their first time, their fifth or as someone who has been a part of the magic since its inception.

But while the formal events have now ended, The Fairelands remain for one more weekend; so if you’ve not yet had the time to visit this year’s realms, now is the time to do so.

Already this year has been a landmark for Fantasy Faire. In 2018, the event raised some US $50,000, all of which was put towards cancer care at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi, Kenya, and the American Cancer Society’s plans to build a new Hope Hostel for cancer sufferers and their families and carers at the hospital. The success of the 2018 Faire served as a hallmark event for the Hope Hostel efforts within the ACS, as Kristen Solt, Managing Director of the American Cancer Society’s Global Health Initiatives Programme indicated in an open letter to all Fairelanders.

Fantasy Faire 2019: The Shrine Tree

This year, it had been hoped that 2019 could come close to matching that total, further strengthening the work at KNH, with a target of US $40,000 being set. But then came an anonymous business donor, who offered US $20,000 to Fantasy Faire if the event achieved their target.

US $40,000 is L$10 million – that’s a lot by anyone’s count. But on Thursday, May 2nd, as Fairelanders were informed via group note cards, that target was achieved, and the anonymous benefactor indeed stepped up and presented the Faire with a further US $20,000, bringing the total raised to date for the 2019 event to over US $60,000.

Fantasy Faire 2019: Sanguinely Gardens

And there is still time to increase that amount. the regions of the Fairelands will remain open until the end of day, Sunday May 5th. The stores all remain open for business, and there is still time to join this year’s Fairelands Quest – the Lair of Lantoris:

The Bard Queen’s grandson has been stolen … his parents, the Princess Flora and Garius the Winter King are determined to rescue him. But Oswain has been carried to the lair of Lantoris, a disgraced mage and follower of the Unweaver. His skill at protective spells is so advanced — can you penetrate his barriers? It all depends on you, apprentice of magic,  to gather the ingredients to create the spells that Flora is researching. And then to venture into Lantoris’ realm, where Garius is desperately seeking his son.

As with past Faire Quests, the Lair of Lantoris is HUD-driven, with the HUD available from all landing points within the Fairelands at L$250 for the basic edition and L$350 for the Deluxe edition with a custom outfit for your avatar. It is, again, like previous quests, in two parts, with the second chapter, now open – so, if you haven’t started it as yet, there is still time to catch up over the weekend!

Fantasy Faire 2019: Thornfast

The first part of the Quest offers a great way to discover the Fairelands: you must travel through each one, starting with the Fairelands Junction, where the Bard Queen will set you on your way. Then you must find a series of ingredients (with the aid of a NPC “helper” in the form of The Professor), one per Faireland region (with the exception of Thornfast, which is reserved for chapter 2 of the Quest). The ingredients could by anywhere in each region (except within the store themselves), so you’ll get to find out a lot about each one.

The second part of the quest takes place exclusively within Thornfast – make sure you follow the additional instructions for this part of the Quest carefully! Should you need help with anything, refer to the Quest FAQ, and if your curious about the rewards you’re be granted on completion, check out the Quest prize catalogue!

So, with three days left, be sure to head over to the Fairelands and enjoy Fantasy Faire 2019 before the regions fade into the west for another year. There’s a lot to be found within the stores, and plenty of kiosks in which to offer a donation, and you can also dontate via the Fantasy Faire ACS team page.

Fairelands SLurls

 

Fantasy Faire 2019: Ursula Le Guin and voting for rulers!

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Fantasy Faire

As a part of the Fantasy Faire LitFest, one day at Fantasy Faire is set aside to mark the life and works of popular writers of fantasy and science fiction. The roll call for this event so far reads:

  •  2015: Terry Pratchett.
  • 2016: William Shakespeare (marking the 400th anniversary since his death).
  • 2017: J.R.R. Tolkien.
  • 2018: G.R.R. Martin.

On Wednesday, April 24th 2019, the Fantasy Faire LitFest is celebrating the life and work of American speculative fiction icon, Ursula K. Le Guin, who sadly passed away in January 2018.

Ursula K. Le Guin by Eileen Gunn

Regarded as one of America’s foremost writers of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish Universe, and her Earthsea fantasy series, Le Guin’s career spanned 60 years. During that time, she produced more than twenty novels, over a hundred short stories and many volumes of poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children’s books.

Her first published novel came in 1966, with Rocannon’s World, after she had faced around a decade of having her work rejected by publishers. This novel formed the founding volume of her Hainish Cycle, the fourth volume of which, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), propelled her in the mainstream of science fiction, garnering her a Hugo and a Nebula award in the process – the first of many awards she was to receive throughout her writing career.

The Left Hand of Darkness laid down many of the defining traits found within Le Guin’s works, which often include themes of cultural anthropology, Jungian archetypes, philosophical Taoism, gender and sexuality, moral development, political development and systems, and general sociology, psychology, or philosophy.

Today, Le Guin is rightly regarded as a writer who did much to bring fantasy and science fiction forward as accepted literary genres, and her work, ides and style influencing many authors in both fields who followed her.

Ursula K. Le Guin day will be marked by a series of special events, comprising:

  • 09:00-10:00 SLT: Exploring Le Guin: A Brief Tour and Discussion: a “tour” of Le Guin’s lands, via favourite passages from her books – suggestions invited. Moderated by Aoife Lorefield.
  • 10:00-11:00 SLT: Aoife Lorefield Shares Readings from Ursula K. Le Guin.
  • 15:00-17:00 SLT: A Wizard in Earthsea Party: The LitFest Ball.
  • 19:00-21:00 SLT: Seanchai Library present Celebrating Ursula K.Le Guin.

Don’t Forget To Vote!

And while discussing matters literary, don’t forget to cast your vote for this year’s King, Queen and Chancellor for Fantasy Faire 2019!

This fun (and fund-raising) activity lets Fantasy Faire visitors vote for the fictional characters (human in the case of King and Queen, strictly non-human in the case of Chancellor) they’d liked to see “crowned” at this year’s Faire. Voting is via donations to L$ Fantasy Faire, and this year’s nominees (selected by popular demand) are:

Kinq Queen Chancellor
Doctor Stephen Strange (MCU) Arya Stark (Game of Thrones /  A Song of Ice and Fire)
 Drogon  (Game of Thrones /  A Song of Ice and Fire)
Inigo Montoya (Princess Bride) Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones /  A Song of Ice and Fire) Falkor the Luckdragon (The Neverending Story)
Jareth, The Goblin King (Labyrinth and winner, 2016) Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones /  A Song of Ice and Fire) Kalessin (Earthsea series)
Newt Scamander (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) Lyanna Mormont (Game of Thrones /  A Song of Ice and Fire) Paarthurnax (Skyrim)
Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire)  Moana (from the film of the same name) Smaug (The Hobbit)
Toothless (How to Train your Dragon)

To vote for your favourite in each category, visit the voting board on The Celestial Plain.  Here you can cast your vote via a donation to RFL of SL. Just right-click on the donation boards beneath the nominee(s) for whom you’d like to vote, and enter an amount of your choice to donate.

Voting for your choice of king, chancellor and queen – uright-click on the RFL donation kiosks, not the nominee images!

You can pay as much or as little as you want but the more you pay, the more chance your candidate has of becoming King, Queen or Chancellor, as the winners will be based on the highest amounts raised for the nominees in each group. You can also vote as often as you like, as this is a fun activity to help raise funds for Fantasy Faire and the KNH Hope Hostel.

Voting will close at 16:00 SLT on Sunday April 29th, and the results will be announced at the end of the Live Auction.

Additional Links

The art at Fantasy Faire 2019

Posted on by Inara Pey
Fantasy Faire 2019: 2D art at Fairelands Junction

SL photography is a popular subject – as any casual glance through Flickr with the search tags of “virtual worlds”, “SL” “Second Life” and similar will reveal. There are many styles and subject matter of SL photography to be sure, but it not unreasonable to say that fantasy art is one of the more popular fields of endeavour, be it through avatar studies or the recording of the many fantasy environments that have graced the platform over the years.

It’s therefore fitting that Fantasy Faire embraces this wellspring of individual creativity each year by offering Second Life photographers and artists the opportunity to display their work. And one again, Fantasy Faire 2019 offers two gallery spaces where art can be appreciated.

Fantasy Faire 2019: 2D art at Genesia

The first can be found at Fairelands Junction, and is itself in two parts: the image gallery, located in the ruined structure that houses the Fairelands portals, and the Worldlings display, located in the rock formation upon which the ruins sit. The second gallery can be found within the Genesia Arts and Performance region.

Forty 2D artists are presented within both the gallery spaces, and as with previous years, the focus for art is on avatars and fantasy, with the official blog noting:

The galleries focus on various fantasy avatars within Second Life, celebrating the freedom from the mundane, showing how in here you can be whatever you wish to be, your true self.

The focus continues to be variety in fantasy forms, inspiration in character creation and talent in photographic arts.

Fantasy Faire 2019: The Call of the Forest by Aleriah

A full list of the artists participating in the exhibition can be found in the link above, so I won’t repeat the list here. However, what I will say is that the art is remarkable for its richness of imagination and presentation. Many pieces are obviously influenced by popular fantasy genres – there are a number that clearly draw from the Likes of J.R.R. Tolkien and G.R.R. Martin, for example. This isn’t a critique, as it is always interesting to see people put their own slant on popular fantasy; but for me the magic of many of the pieces is in their depiction of settings entirely born from the imaginations of their creators – such as with The Call of the Forest, by Aleriah (shown above).

The art at Genesia is displayed within yet another remarkable region setting by Haveit Neox & Lilia Artis, as the Art and Performance region at this years Faire. This stands as a work of art in of itself, and should be explored for its incredible creativity, both above and below the water, and the way it offers a link to past Fantasy Faires in its overall design.

Fantasy Faire: Genesia

The gallery space for Genesia sits on the outer path of the region, with art displayed on rock walls or held aloft by elephants and stork-like birds, the path leading the way around to the main performance area.

Meanwhile, the 3D Worldlings art can be found, as noted, in Faireland Junction. Described as the “Fairelands That Could Be”, the Worldings are seven realms-as-dioramas suggesting possible Fairelands as imagined by their creators: Kerryth Tarantal, Faust Steamer, Colemarie Soleil, Bonny Greenwood, Ameshin Yossarian, Bee Dumpling and Beryl.

Fantasy Faire 2019: Worlding by Faust Steamer

These dioramas – at least one of which is interactive – offer windows into the imaginations of the Fairelands (and region) creators behind them. Whether any of them might be expanded out to become a full Fairelands setting in the future is open to question; but I admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing Faust Steamer’s idea (above) fleshed out and given form!

Fantasy Faire 2019: Wrong Direction by Sugarfairy88

I often am prone to comment with these art exhibitions that when it comes to the 2D art – and allowing for the subject being that of fantasy avatars – it’s a shame that the net isn’t cast a little wider to more generally encompass fantasy settings in Second Life; there are, after all, a fair few. There is also as vast catalogue of images of past Fantasy Faires – so it would be nice to see some broader celebration of fantasy art that can be created within SL beyond a purely avatar focus.

Nevertheless, given how easily an art exhibition can be overlooked with so much else occurring at Fantasy Faire, I do very much recommend that anyone who enjoys Second Life art and photography stop by the galleries at Fairelands Junction and Genesia.

SLurl Details