Category: Relay For Life

100 Word Stories RFL Challenge

Posted on by Inara Pey

Hello. This is Laurence Simon (SL: Crap Mariner) of the 100 word stories podcast. Welcome to 2012.

The 100 word stories weekly challenge is where I post a topic to http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com and then you write and record a story based on that topic.

The topic of the next Weekly Challenge is “Life”

Want to give it a shot? Send an email to isfullofcrap (at) gmail.com with the subject of WEEKLY CHALLENGE and the following:

  • The text of your 100 word story on the topic
  • Your site’s URL, if you have a site and aren’t ashamed to share it
  • A topic for the next Weekly Challenge
  • And, if you can, a recording of your story (and any shameless plugs) in MP3 format

Oh, and everything’s due by the morning of July 15th (Sunday) when I put the episode together.

If you hate the sound of your voice or can’t record your story for some reason or another, go ahead and send the text of the story in anyway. someone will record it for you.

However, I think you’re going to want to record it, because this week, it’s special: It’s the RELAY FOR LIFE 100 WORD STORIES WEEKLY CHALLENGE CHALLENGE:

You see, the Second Life Relay For Life is taking place the weekend of July 14th, and I like to come up with unusual ways to raise awareness and funds for Relay.

So, here’s this year’s challenge: Send a story for this 100 Word Stories Weekly Challenge, I’ll donate 1 dollar.

Yes, I will give Relay For Life (through the Relay Wizards For Spunky Team) $1USD for each person that sends in a recorded story (or stories) on the topic of “Life” for the July 15th 100 word stories weekly challenge. I will donate up to $100USD.

You must record a story or arrange for someone to record it for you to be a part of this additional fundraising challenge. Stories without recordings do not count towards the fundraising challenge, but will be included in the episode.

If you have any questions about this, email me at isfullofcrap (at) gmail.com, or send an IM to me at “Crap Mariner” in Second Life.

Thank you, and as always, keep it brief. (Oh, and GO RELAY!)

Posted on behalf of Crap Mariner, poster image by Tish Coronet. So, get your story hats on and see what you can come up with in 100 words! Remember to record it and e-mail the text and recording to Crap at the address above

RFL 2012: It’s time for a cure

Posted on by Inara Pey

With SL9B now behind us and July opening before us, Second Life moves towards the central event of the Relay For Life in SL season: the Relay weekend.

This year, the weekend will take place over the 14th and 15th of July, and will feature 36 regions of campsites and five regions set aside for events. As with previous years, the regions will feature the Relay Track, giving participants the opportunity to wall through the regions, seeing the wide diversity of campsites and builds, and donate to RFL SL.

RFL Relay Weekend: sims on-line and under development

Events are still being planned, but the broad outline of activities have been announced:

Saturday July 14th:

  • 10:00: Opening Ceremony
  • 11:00: The first lap of the Relay is a Survivor / Caregiver honour walk – please line the track and celebrate our heroes.
  • 21:00: REMEMBER – The Lunimaria Ceremony: a solemn occasion in remembrance of those and their loved one who have lost the battle against cancer or who are still battling it. The sims will be darkened. there will be readings and inspirational music. All are invited to participate and asked to walk the track in silence

Sunday July 15th: 

  • 06:00: FIGHT BACK: collect a RFL Hope Cape and Fight Back Flag and join-in pledging to save a life this year – your own, a family member, a friend or that of someone you don’t even know as yet
  • 10:00: The closing ceremony: celebrate and pay tribute to what has been accomplished and all that RFL in Second Life stands for and has achieved over the years.

To date, RFL SL has raised over $1.5 million dollars since 2004, with almost $300,000 having been raised through events already held in SL this year.

The core regions at the Relay Weekend

Related Links

RFL SL Welcome Centre 2011

5th annual SL Home and Garden Expo

Posted on by Inara Pey

The fifth annual Second Life Home & Garden Expo is currently underway across 16 sims showcasing the work of many of SL’s top homes & gardens creators (many of whom are also sponsoring the event), with two additional sims for entertainment and breedable pets respectively.

The event opened on May 19th and will run through until May 28th and is supporting Relay for Life SL, with the 18 sims sited directly adjacent to the American Cancer Society’s region, which visitors to the Expo are welcome to visit.

The Expo sims are laid out with a mix of home & garden parcels, all based on a grid of interlinking footpaths that make wandering the event easy and which serve as natural boundaries. RFL donation plinths are regularly spaced along the footpaths, allowing people to donate as they go. Given the sheer number of sims and exhibitors, finding things can be a handful, so I recommend you make use of the Expo guide available on the official website.

Expo map

To encourage visitors, many of the participants in the Expo are offering exclusive items which will only be available throughout the duration of the event. These range from building through to furniture to trees and plants – even clothing and aircraft are offered, making it quite an eclectic mix.

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Fantasy Faire 2012: $25K for RFL

Posted on by Inara Pey

Fantasy Faire 2012 has closed. It’s been an amazing week: 9 sims of stunning builds – eight representing the incredibly diverse nature of fantasy and role-play in Second Life.

In all, some $25,080 USD has been raised through the nine days of the Faire for Relay For Life. However you look at it, that is an amazing total, and represents the generosity of Second Life users.

For those who have yet to visit the sims, there is still time: they’ll remain open until midnight SLT on Monday 30th April – and they really are worth a tour.

For my part, I’ve had great fun exploring the sims, taking photos for the articles here and visiting the various stores. I did stupidly miss out on a couple of things in the silent auction I intended to bid for, but I’ve no-one to blame but myself for that.

To all involved in the event, organisers, support teams, sim builders, sponsors, creators, entertainers and everyone else many, many thanks for your hard work and efforts; it’s been a great event, and now looking forward to 2013!

Here are a few highlights, courtesy of SL machinimatographers:

Related Links

Images from Fantasy Faire 8: Siren’s Secret

Posted on by Inara Pey

Important Note: due to the service outage on Thursday 26th April, Fantasy Faire has been extended by one day. 

Siren’s Secret is the second build at this year’s Fantasy Faire by Elicio Ember, the other being Nu Orne. It takes us from the deep jungle to the wide sea, and a design that, like The Tides, has Atlantean echoes. But whereas The Tides is suggestive of an Atlantis of legend, Siren’s Secret takes a more alien / science-fiction turn; indeed, anyone who has seen the TV series Stargate:Atlantis may well feel a certain familiarity when looking on the style of architecture here. Again the echoes are faint, but they are there, and walking along the flood walkways I would not have been surprised if I’d come across a Stargate and DHD sitting in a corner…

Which is not to say this build isn’t in any way original; as I said, the echoes are faint. In fact, I have to admit that it is perhaps the build that draws me most strongly. This is in part because it does mix fantasy and science-fiction so well, but also because of the manner in which the build extends below, as well as above, the waves, encouraging those who visit to explore what lies beneath as well as being tempted by the creations on offer.

The sim is sponsored by Booshies, housed in an imposing store directly opposite the main teleport area, on the other side of which site the Jail and Bail cell. Around the sim, under the sweeping gaze of the crystal-powered lighthouse (which Elicio has donated to the Faire’s Silent Auction alongside the lighthouse from Nu Orne), you will find stores with a distinctly aquatic feel: Bibi’s coral reef shop, Mermaid Treasure & Boutique, Pacific Sunrise, Mer-chandise Cove and more besides.

Booshies themselves are a new range of breedable about to be launched in Second Life and are the subject of an interview with their creator, Booshie Resident, on the Fantasy Faire website. The website also carries an interview with Elicio Ember, in which he discusses both Siren’s Secret and Nu Orne.

One of the things I like about Siren’s Secret is that it naturally lends itself to being photographed at night – so I make no apologies for the number of night shots that follow…

Siren’s Secret
Teleport
Booshies
Your cell awaits: Jail and Bail
The lighthouse and sim by night
Detail above the water
…and below
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Brilliant video: the architecture of Fantasy Faire

Posted on by Inara Pey

The following is a stunning machinima from Fantasy Faire by Marx Catteneo, which magnificently capatures the architecture of the various regions of the Faire. So much so that I had to share it here.

Important Note: due to the service outage on Thursday 26th April, Fantasy Faire has been extended by one day. 

Teleports