Cica Ghost has opened her August installation, and its is one that really doesn’t need a lot of words to describe, other than perhaps those she uses herself:
Happiness is enjoying the little things in your life.
Entitled Lollipop, the installation is pretty much a light-hearted frolic through Cica’s imagination and sense of fun. Many of her trademark elements are here, offering a veritable melting pot of creations we’ve come to know and enjoy, as well as introducing some new characters.
Cica Ghost – Lollipop, August 2021
Among the former are her tall, thin houses that point towards the sky like a collection of slender fingers, the majority of them forming a little town built on platforms over cool blue water; then there are her flowers, this time of a giant size, mostly growing free although here and there they set within pots, whilst also scattered around are her dinosaurs, frogs, ingenious flying machines and multiple sit points with animations and / or dances.
The newer characters take the form of happy mice, and a chap who combines two of Cica’s past creations – cats and fish – and who looks like he would appreciate company, should someone opt to occupy the high chair alongside him. Several sea worms are also to be found, apparently fascinated by Cica’s buildings.
While one of the latter might appear to look upon the occupant of a chair within the house it is curled around as a potential snack the goofy looks of its friends belie any ill intent. However, if you are unconvinced as to the motives of said worm, then perhaps you might want to grab a lollipop from the big machine close to the landing point before trying the seat. That way, if the worm does look hungry, you can always offer him the lollipop!
Cica Ghost – Lollipop, August 2021
Caught under a summer’s sky, the colours of the ground bright and jolly as well, Lollipop is a place for fun, where you can sit, dance, climb, ride and enjoy yourself, free from message and worry. So go on, why not take a lick? And if you like the mice, you can purchase them through Cica’s little shop in a corner of the region 🙂 .
Shangri-La, August 2021 – click any image for full size
In Second Life did Hera (Zee9)
A tropical paradise decree.
Where a hidden Gorgon statue sits
In a cavern that torches dimly lit
And a ship awaits upon the sea.
– with apologies to the estate of Samuel Taylor Coleridge!
Hera (Zee9) is a region creator whose imagination is in many ways unparalleled in Second Life; over the years she has consistently produced immersive environments built around themes that have richly and deservedly captured the hearts and minds of all who have visited them.
Perhaps best known for her ever-evolving Drune builds, many of which I’ve covered in these pages, she had also been the creator of places such as the medieval-like Golgothica and the captivating Venesha. Now, after what she describes as a “hectic and unpleasant four months”, she has opened another build for people to enjoy – and it is another marvel.
Shangri-La, August 2021
Shangri-La, modelled in part on an earlier Drune Raider design, was originally going to be a private place Hera could retreat to and spend time; however, she has generously opted to open it to the public as a place to be enjoyed and explored.
I actually first got to hear about it as she and I shared a brief conversation – as we have on occasion recently, the result of bumping into one another a couple of times quite by chance – just ahead of the weekend, and she kindly offered to provide me with a tour. Sadly, circumstances dictated that I was unable to take the offer then, so Hera dropped the LM to me, and as soon as my schedule allowed, I jumped over to pay a visit.
Quite how you might describe Shangri-La is a matter of personal choice. There is a marvellous fusion of Asian elements that reaches from India through to Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. At the same time, the very name of the setting – Shangri-La offers echoes of Shangdu, Kublai Khan’s “upper capital”, as well as echoing Hilton’s mystical place within the Kunlun Mountains, whilst climbing the steps and walking around the temple-like structures in places brings with it a faint sense of Mayan history out of South America.
It was the Shangri-La / Shangdu “connection” that brought to my mind Coleridge’s Kubla Khan – hence the opening lines to this piece, based as they are on his work – a poem about a fantastical palace, formed within the imagination; a place of dance, music, pleasure. But where Coleridge’s palace was the product of an opium-addled mind, Hera’s the result of her richness of creativity and imagination – although like Coleridge’s poem, there is a hidden edge to the setting, but where he writes of demon lovers and cries for war, the “shadow” here is much more classical, folding a touch of Grecian mythology into the build, as hinted at in my re-working of the poem’s lines.
Shangri-La, August 2021
From the moment of arrival, it is clear this is place welcoming to those wishing to escape: blankets and cushions are spread cardinal-like around the landing point, with more to be found on the various terraces, along with curtain-draped pergolas, whilst the tree tops and the surrounding beach offer yet more places to sit and relax.
For the explorers, there are halls large and small awaiting discovery – including the lower cavern / hall and its waiting statue, whilst the upper reaches of the main structure bring forth thoughts of Angkor Wat, thanks to the great carved faces mounted on the stone walls. These also highlight another unique aspect of Hera’s region builds: rather than relying purely on commercial kits and building obtain through the Marketplace or in-world, Hera is truly the architect of her settings, designing and creating many of the meshes she uses.
Shangri-La, August 2021
To the south, the temple stretches out over the sea to grasp a rocky outcrop. The back of this stone arm sits a simply gorgeous bar, its roof open to the sky, its narrow length split into three cosy areas whilst a canopied balcony at its far end offers a further retreat.
Whilst in places completely modern in design (the bar and the central lighting), it nevertheless sits perfectly within the “ancient” walls, a place crying out to become a gathering point for like minds and imaginations, masterfully completed by the Vallejo-like paintings Hera has created for the walls, paintings that for me again added a twist of South America to the setting, given their apparent inspiration.
Shangri-La, August 2021
A ship – one of Lia Woodget’s marvellous Blackpsot builds – anchored off the northern coast adds a different sense of era to the setting, its presence suggesting the island has just been the subject of discovery by 18th century explorers from the west. Thus, between bar and ship, Shangri-La encompasses a sense of existing outside the normal passage of time, much like its namesake.
When visiting, I do strongly recommend using the shared EEP settings for the region (admittedly, I’ve post-processed the images here to give a slightly different look to the setting, as I wanted to offer a sense of age to them that might be in keeping with that of the region, and without falling back on purely monochrome / sepia finishes).
Also, do make sure to have Advanced Lighting Model (Preferences Graphics make sure the ALM setting is enabled) as well as local sounds enabled. And as a final side notes, please be aware that while the building set upon its own in the south-west corner of the region might appear to a continuance of the main structures, it is actually a private residence and not part of the public spaces.
Captivating, photogenic and laden with tales awaiting telling, Shangri-La is exactly what its name and About Land description state: a tropical paradise and retreat.
Officially opening at 12:00 noon on Sunday, August 8th, 2021, is the latest Kultivate Select ensemble exhibition, which takes place in the garden space of the Select Gallery.
The theme for the exhibition is Landscapes, and it features a number of artists who will be familiar to many, especially those who enjoy exhibitions at Kultivate’s galleries, as they are very much part of the Kultivate “family”, and one or two names that may not be so well-known, but who are equally deserving of space in the exhibition.
Those taking part comprise: aquarius27, Cutewillow Carlberg, Eucalyptus Carroll, Freedom Voix, Harmony Evergarden, Jamee Sandalwood, Johannes Huntsman, Moora McMillan, TaraAers, Vanessa Jane, Via Theas and Zia Branner.
Kultivate Select Gallery: TaraAers and Zia Branner
Set around the gallery’s grassy event space, each of the artists has an open-sided hut in which to display their art, presenting a summertime garden environment that fits the theme for the exhibition perfectly. Given the title of the event is “landscapes”, then it should come as no surprise that the majority of the pieces offered feature in-world locations, many of which will likely be instantly identified by the seasoned Second Life travellers whilst offered under a new light through the lenses of the artists.
The notable exceptions to this are Zia Branner, who presents another collection of her paintings that has something of a focus on her captivating coastal views, whilst Harmony Evergarden offers a set of reproductions of her eye-catching original watercolours. I admit that one of the latter (whilst perhaps not the intent of the artist) instantly carried me to the windswept coast of Northumberland, and the curving bay of sand that is watched over by the imposing bulk of Bamburgh Castle. Alongside of Harmony, John Huntsman offers a set from his Garden Collection which, I have to confess, held my attention as I could not determine if they were wholly original, or images from SL post-processed as paintings – or a mix of the two, such is the artistry in their presentation.
Kultivate Select Gallery: Vita Theas and Eucalyptus Carroll
The two-hour opening event will feature the music of Mimi Carpenter and Sarita Twisted, and the dress code is casual.
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, August 8th, 13:00: Tea-Time At the Movies: The 39 Steps
Written whilst he was convalescing in a private nursing home, John Buchan’s 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps tells the tale of a Europe teetering on the brink of war in 1914. In it, the “everyday hero” Richard Hannay finds himself plunged into a world of intrigue, spies, threats to Britain’s security and murder.
Buchan’s novel was a gripping read when first published, and remains so to this day. It has all the ingredients of a classic thriller (although in Buchan’s time, they called them “shockers”): the hero-on-the-run; the seemingly insurmountable forces arrayed against him; the slow realisation by the authorities that rather than a villain, he might just be a saviour; and so on. Thus, it was, and is, the kind of story that naturally lends itself to a re-telling in film – and down the decades there have been numerous adaptations produced.
The first – and arguably most famous – of these celluloid outings came in 1935, with Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. While it actually takes very little from the novel other than the protagonist’s name (played by Robert Donat), and the idea of a man on the run whilst attempting to clear his name and solve a mystery, Hitchcock’s film was nevertheless a masterpiece in its own right. So much so that it actually became a blueprint for several of his later films – most notably, North by Northwest, a film that might also be said to pay a little homage to Buchan’s novel via the famous scene of it’s hero, George Thornhill, being chased by an aeroplane (Buchan’s original tale at one point features an aeroplane in the hunt for Hannay, although it admittedly keeps to a somewhat higher altitude!).
Such was the power of Hitchcock’s version of the novel, that it in turn became the foundation for a number of further cinematic outings. In 1959, for example, Ralph Thomas essentially took Hitchcock’s version and filmed it in colour, replacing Donat with Kenneth More in the lead role and adding or changing a few other characters and roles.
It is an adaptation of Hitchcock’s version that the tea-time team at Seanchai will be presenting, so why not slip into a disguise to avoid being recognised by any sinister spies, and join them?
Monday, August 9th 19:00: Goliath
The third and final instalment in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series, Goliath takes us once more to the alternative past history of Earth at the time of the First World War, and a world divided between the Darwinists- those who have evolved genetics to make animals more useful to humans – and the Clankers, who have built their society on machinery technology.
Once again we join Alek and Deryn in their adventures, this time with both of them aboard the living airship Leviathan. Unexpectedly, the ship is diverted mid-flight over Russia with orders to pick up a single large create being transported overland by a fighting bear. Once aboard the whale-ship the crew set about constructing the machine as the ship continues on its way.
Passing over Siberia, the Leviathan comes across an area of great mystery: a devastated region where the trees have been flattened to form a great series of rings, the corpse of another whale-ship lying near its centre, the beleaguered survivors needing rescue even as they are protected from out-of-control and starving fighting bears by another strange machine.
Bringing them aboard the Leviathan, the crew discover the survivors have been protected by the work of one Nikola Tesla, a scientist and inventor who may have the weapon that can bring an end to the Great War.
As the adventure continues, Deryn, still disguising herself as a boy in order to be a part of Leviathan’s crew, struggles with her feelings for Alek and whether she should reveal the truth about herself to him…
Willow Moonfire reads a short story from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea sagas.
Wednesday, August 11th, 19:00 Creatures of Light and Darkness
Two gods, two houses, one quest and the eternal war between life and death. To save his kingdom, Anubis, Lord of the Dead, sends forth his servant on a mission of vengeance. At the same time, from The House of Life, Osiris sends forth his son, Horus, on the same mission to destroy utterly & forever The Prince Who Was a Thousand.
But neither of these superhuman warriors is prepared for the strange & harrowing world of mortal life. The Thing That Cries in the Night may well destroy not only their worlds, but all humankind.
With Corwyn Allen.
Thursday, August 12th
19:00 Galaxy Quest Part 2
Join Shandon Loring for a trip aboard the NSEA Protector, together with her crew (or cast, if you prefer!).
21:00: Seanchai Late Night
Contemporary Sci-F / Fantasy with Finn Zeddmore.
Friday, August 13th, 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 undertakings encompassing football, academia, traditions, the fashion industry, politics, love, fandom, and which mixes in more serious themes of identity, crab mentality and self-worth.
Finian’s Foraois, August 2021 – click any image for full size
I received a special invitation from Nessa Nova and Natalie Starlight to pay a visit to the latest iterations of their Lost Unicorn estate, which officially open at 12:00 noon SLT on Saturday, August 7th. As a long-term admirer of their work, which I’ve blogged about numerous times in these pages, it was an invitation I was only too happy to accept.
As this is a preview piece, this article is going to be a little different to my usual travelogues, as rather than offer something of a walk through of the settings, I want to talk about the atmosphere that Ness and Natalie create within their region designs, and why I find their work so attractive and memorable. I’ll also note that that while both regions offer dedicated EEP settings, the images you see here have been taken with one of my personal EEP Fixed Sky settings, as I wanted to offer more of a personal take on the regions and their mysticism – so please make sure you have your viewer set to Use Shared Environment (World → Environment) when you visit.
Finian’s Foraois, August 2021
The Lost Unicorn estate has long been the home of the Lost Unicorn Gallery. Traditionally housed within a great castle watched over by the gigantic form of a dragon and seated upon its own island, the gallery has been home to some of the finest fantasy art, both mixed media and produced from images captured entirely in-world, that Second Life has to offer by some of the platform’s greatest talents.
With this iteration, the gallery retains its castle setting, but with a new building design that conjoins the main region thanks to a narrow stone causeway. The off-region surround that cups the the main Lost Unicorn region and which blends with it to the west and north, also extends south and west, giving the impression that the gallery and castle sit along the sweeping curve of a distant land’s mountainous stretch of coast.
The castle is a stunning structure, one of the most unique in terms of the blending of styles that I’ve seen in-world. Great elven arches combine with burnished minarets as water tumbles from high platforms to form curtains along straight and curved walls of stone within which galleried halls rise one another the other, and doorways unexpectedly open onto open-roofed courtyards and gardens or rooms where skylights allow sunlight to wash walls and floors.
Crowned by a building that combines the looks of a medieval cathedral with a distinctly elven tone as it sits on a saddle of rock, the entire gallery structure is utterly enchanting for its sheer beauty, the art it contains, and the unexpected little spaces that await discovery – such as the jazz venue and the Storybook Nook.
The Jazz venue is something I didn’t expect to come across. Presided over by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, it is not a place one might readily associate with a fantasy realm – and yet it works, presents another unique tale to the gallery’s ever-growing story. Soimilarly, the Storybook Nook presents a cascade of memories for those who visited Nessa and Natalie’s former region of Storybook Forest.
Lost Unicorn Gallery, August 2021
Down the steps from the landing point, the causeway to the main region – now called Finian’s Foraois (Celtic for “forest”) – adds a touch of Tolkien to the mix, guarded as it is by the Argonath, the great carven statues of Isildur and Anárion. Here, rather than guard the passage of the Great River Anduin as it flows into Gondor, they bracket the entrance to the forest.
Passing through the arch – and crossing into the estate’s Full region – was for me akin to stepping into Middle Earth. Not just because of the presence of the Argonath, but because the forest beyond the rocky veil that sits between the two regions brought to mind thought so Greenwood the Great before darkness fell across it, and a time when the paths beneath its great canopy echoed to to happy laughter of Sindarin elves and men and dwarves could find safe passage through the wood. A time long before it became the brooding shadow known as Mirkwood – although look closely in places, an you will see possible portents of the darkness to come, as baleful eyes here and there appear from within the foliage, glare for a moment and then fade away.
Finian’s Foraois, August 2021
Here, under the shade of the giant trees, paths meander and streams bubble. Deer and rabbit, otter and bear are to be found roaming, and the very air seems heady and light as mist curls and sunlight filters across paths or fills glades with light.
But it is not only a sense of Second Age Middle Earth to be found here, and many influences await those who wander.
Finian’s Foraois, August 2021
There is the little market on the hilltop for example – might it be found in Middle Earth or Middle England at the time of the Knights of the Round Table or of Robin Hood? And then there is the brooding bulk of the second castle, cold stone and heavy walls a world away from those of the gallery castle, and within it more touches of Arthurian legend and the romanticism brought forth by the likes of Thomas Mallory and his Le Morte d’Arthur.
Then there are the garden spots and glades with their own settings. places watched by unicorns and set of afternoon tea. But who are to be the guests? Inhabitants of Lewis Carroll’s world, perhaps, so some others?
Lost Unicorn Gallery, August 2021
This is the magic of Lost Unicorn, a magic that filters through each and every design Natalie and Nessa present. It encourages the imagination to soar unfettered, nudged by all that we see, large and small – as with the eyes noted above. Within it, those who have visited past designs will find threads of their presence – from story books to Celtic tales and medieval myths, all of which cast the mind by to lost Unicorns of the past. At the same time, the settings offer something entirely new place with stories as yet unwritten, where the echoes of elves and knights comfortably rub shoulders with the spirit of the Great American Songbook whilst looking into the eyes of Marilyn Monroe without any hint of jarring juxtaposition or misplaced design.
Thus, the Lost Unicorn estate remains, as always, a place to be savoured as much as explored – and needless to say, rich with opportunities for photography as well as for creating stories abound throughout. Yes, there is a lot for the viewer to handle if you run with shadows enabled, but the effort is more than worthwhile, as you will be rewarded by an immersive trip into a realm of fantasy and legend that is genuinely unique.
The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, August 6th, 2021.
These meetings are generally held every other week. They are recorded by Pantera Północy, and her video of the meeting is embedded at the end of this report – my thanks to her for allowing me to do so – and it is used with a transcript of the chat log from the meeting and my own audio recording to produce this summary, which focuses on the core topics discussed.
No updates to the current crop of official viewers this week, leaving them as follows:
Release viewer: version 6.4.21.561414, Fernet Maintenance RC dated July 14th, promoted July 19th.
Release channel cohorts:
Grappa Maintenance RC, version 6.4.22.561850, issued July 29th.
CEF91 RC viewer, version 6.4.22.561752, issued July 24th.
Project viewers:
Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26th, 2020.
Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9th, 2019.
Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, dated November 22nd, 2019.
360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, dated July 16th, 2019.
General Viewer Notes
The CEF update viewer is being looked at as the next possible promotion to de facto release status. A decision on this may be taken on Monday, August 9th.
The 360 Snapshot viewer update is in progress, but it is still going to be a while before it surfaces.
[Video: 4:17-5:25] The Legacy Profiles viewer requires a couple of additional caps on the back-end. This work has yet to be queued, as the focus of back-end work remains on the tools update that is currently in progress; so it will be a while before this viewer is updated.
Both the revised Simplified Cache viewer and the Apple Notarisation viewer are both very close to making an appearance, most likely as RC viewers.
[Video 5:46-6:18] The new performance controls viewer (ARC, etc.), should be ready for issue as a project viewer in the “not too distant” future.
A viewer using the mesh optimiser library for automatic LOD model generation for mesh uploads is in development. No date on when it is likely to appear.
This reportedly works better than the GLOD code that is currently in use. For the initial project viewer version(s) of this viewer, once available, creators will have a choice of using either GLOD or the optimiser at upload. Longer-term LL are still discussing whether or not GLOD will be retained as an option, or whether it will be removed (or at the least, made a non-default option).
Beyond this, there is the larger question of using the optimiser library in real time, and what to do with the available content that does not have properly defined LOD models, but this is regarded as “discussion for latter”; the onus at the moment is to make a viewer available that utilises the optimiser library.
The ability to run animations normally found in a scripted Animation Override HUD natively from the viewer has been a capability that a number of TPVs offer (animations play viewer-side anyway, so removing the need to operate them via simulator-side scripts helps reduce the script processing load on the latter). It is now the subject of discussions for a viewer-side AO system to be made a part of the official viewer, potentially leveraging what has been done by TPVs.
In Brief
[Video 6:50-7:49] As noted in my SUG meeting notes, the new simulator console command that let estate managers change the default EEP settings across an entire estate is now available on regions running on the RC channels, and will be grid-wide after the next SLS Main channel deployment (Tuesday, August 10th). This also paves the way for implementing a new default Mainland EEP setting that will be coming in a future update.
[Video 22:46-24:56] BUG-229227 “Offline group invites not working” this issue was the result of removing reliance on UDP messaging (which is not always reliable) and using a capability instead. While some fixes have been made to try to improve things, the code itself is described as a “Byzantine mess”, and in need of a complete re-write There are no time frames when / if this may happen.
Caatznip has been continuing investigations in to the cost of rendering Linden Water in cases where it cannot be see (e.g. when standing in the middle of a multi-region estate so it is completely “invisible” under the terrain), and have found that completely ignoring Linden Water rendering via occlusion checks can boost FPS by between 30-50%, with the most notable benefits being with lower-specification systems.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld