Category: Second Life

Sheba’s mystical art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Janus III Gallery: Sheba Blitz – Into the Mystic

When Sheba Blitz first arrived in Second Life, it was without any preconceived ideas about displaying her work.  However, after encountering the vibrant arts communities that exist across the platform she decided to give exhibiting her work a try – and I, for one am glad that she did.

Hailing from Australia, Sheba has studied art in a variety of styles over the years, gaining several diplomas in the process. However, throughout her time as an artist, she has found focus in painting mandalas – which she does so quite exquisitely.

Janus III Gallery: Sheba Blitz – Into the Mystic

For those unfamiliar with it, the mandala (literally meaning “circle” in Sanskrit) is a symbol with very deep religious, spiritual and even political meaning. It may be employed in spiritual guidance, focusing the attention of practitioners and adepts, as a means of establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. Mandalas are particularly used in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shintoism. They also have new age symbolism, and were regarded by Jung as a means to explore “the fourfold nature of the psyche”.

I first encountered Sheba’s work five years ago and was immediately captivated. Specialising in painting quarternity mandalas, she works with gouache, acrylics and metallic paints on either canvas or paper, drawing on sources such as music, books, astrology and tarot symbolism as her inspiration. The finished pieces are all intricately beautiful, endlessly geometric, generally perfectly symmetric, and rich in symbolism.

Janus III Gallery: Sheba Blitz – Into the Mystic

All of this creative, spiritual beauty can currently be seen at the Janus III Gallery on Chuck Clip’s Sinful Retreat, where Sheba is exhibiting a selection of her work entitled Into the Mystic.

Across the two floors of the gallery one can find the most meticulous pieces of art that are utterly captivating.

Whenever I witness Sheba’s art and and consider the work that went into each piece, I cannot help but be put in mind of dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of coloured powders) in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. Like those painstakingly constructed sand paintings, there is an inherent balance within Sheba’s paintings in terms of symmetry and harmony that lifts the spirit whilst also speak to the depth of focus on the part of the artist.

Like the work of Tibetan monks, Sheba’s art is rich in iconography that combines geometric shapes and spiritual symbols.

However, unlike the Tibetan sand painting, which is intentionally impermanent, each piece ritualistically destroyed and used as an offering to water and life once the meditation of its creation is complete, Sheba’s art endures well beyond its creation. In this, while sand painting might speak to the impermanence of life and the cycle of creation, Sheba’s art reflects the enduring nature and balance of the cosmos around us.

Janus III Gallery: Sheba Blitz – Into the Mystic

This is art for which images on a page simply do not do justice. Each piece is so rich in form and intricate in detail, Sheba’s work deserves to be seen and appreciated first hand whether you are drawn to the spiritual symbolism of the mandala or simply drawn to art for its beauty and geometry So do take time to drop into the Janus III Gallery before this exhibition ends later in the month.

SLurl Details

Cherishville’s coastal spring in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cherishville II, March 2021

We were drawn back to Lam Erin’s Cherishville on the advice of region super sleuth Shawn Shakespeare, who noted to me the region has relocated since our last visit in mid-2020, and has been redressed for the spring season.

The last time we visited, Cherishville has been given a look of tropical splendour that mixed a splash of the Caribbean with a twist of the Mediterranean, whilst also carrying a sense of timelessness. For the new setting, the region – now referred to as Cherishville II – has moved to a somewhat more temperate climate in terms of its setting. However, while sporting a new look, it retains that air of timelessness.

Cherishville II, March 2021

I say this because as you explore the region, elements pop-up that give cause to consider it to be in a certain period, but then others appear to suggest something else. For example, on arrival I felt I’d dropped into a coastal setting that is in the immediate post World War II era. A 1940s Citroen is parked at the roadside, whilst a worn-out 50’s style car is slowly being overtaken by grass and weeds. Similarly, a boat moored close by has that 40’s / 50’s styling about it, whilst across the water the ruins of a large house look as if they are the result of ordinance of some kind having struck it. But then, in looking around, other details surface that suggest the region is placed in a more recent period.

Take, for example, the ruined house; it sits on one arm of the local harbour’s cove, the east and west ends still standing, the middle long gone, the wreckage having been cleared so that the space created might be used as the outdoor forecourt to a café-bar. This sits slightly set back from the ruin as you look at it, and is of a distinctly modern architectural form – that of a giant coffee mug, complete with handle, its brickwork almost pristine – suggesting it belongs to more recent times then the post-war years. Similarly, the two motorbikes parked outside of the old walls to the property suggest they are far more recent than the 40s or 50s, particularly given the off-road looks of one of them.

Cherishville II, March 2021

These dichotomies extend to the overall design of the region, which tends to suggest it might lie somewhere along the Atlantic coast of France (allowing for the presence of the surrounding mountains, hardly a feature of the western coast of that country!), but which can also awaken thoughts of the more remote parts of the North American continent, or in my case (again allowing for the off-region mountains)  in places brought to mind thoughts of Cornwall or Ireland. Thus, a further layer of magic is added to the scene.

The bay mentioned above is home to both the landing point and a small hamlet that might have once seen fishing as a potential mainstay, although those times may well have passed. While there is a fishing boat present, it is out of the water and up on stocks; whether it is undergoing repairs or restoration is open to debate, but it’s ageing condition matches that of the buildings close by, suggesting that it and they no longer see regular working use.

Cherishville II, March 2021

The hamlet’s presence spreads beyond the curve of the region’s inlet, extending eastward from where the café bar sits on the northern coast. Here again, the buildings offer a sense of age as they huddle around the foot of a narrow hill to reach an old stone built farmhouse. The flank of the hill directly behind this farmhouse has neat rows of lavender marching up it, as if going to war against the remnants of an ancient fort the crowns the hill. With its circular walls standing without evidence of ever being part of a larger structure, this put me in mind of the promontory forts of Cornwall and Devon – although similar ruins may well be found elsewhere in Europe.

While the slope from farm house to fort can be climbed, the best way to reach the latter is via the road that points south from the harbour and the landing point before meandering its way around the landscape. This is ideal for exploration on foot or – if you have one – via a wearable horse.

Cherishville II, March 2021

Running under tree and beside more lavender neatly arrayed in a field, this is one of those roads that, while you know you are confined to a single region, has the feeling of genuinely going somewhere. As you follow it, the bay and the buildings around it are gradually and naturally obscured by the trees and the lie of the land, whilst what lies ahead is similarly gently revealed as you explore.

It’s possible that at one time the fort offered a commanding view over the bay and the surrounding landscape, but the passage of years have seen the slopes around it become the home of trees that now match and exceed it in height such that whatever command it once had has long since passed. Now it sits with stones worn by weather and moss, a memento of a bygone era and, perhaps, the setting for lover’s trysts.

Cherishville II, March 2021

Beautifully laid out and presented, this iteration of Cherishville ensures the region retains its reputation as a photogenic highlight of Second Life.

SLurl Details

Bamboo’s Blue Snow in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kondor Art Centre: Bamboo Barnes – Blue Snow

Blue Snow is the title Bamboo Barnes has given to her most recent exhibition, which opened at the Kondor Centre Art Gallery (curated by Hermes Kondor) on February 27th. I’m not sure of the origins for the title, but that hardly matters given the theme of the exhibition and the nature of Bamboo’s art.

Bamboo is a self-taught digital artist who started producing her work using Second Life in the form of avatar studies and images of other people’s art installations. In 2013 she started producing original pieces, and in the eight years since, she has developed a unique and striking style that has not only been exhibited in virtual spaces but also in the physical world.

Kondor Art Centre: Bamboo Barnes – Blue Snow

For this exhibition, Bamboo plumbs personal depths, exploring her growing understanding of art as a means of expression and her development as an artist.

In her introduction to the exhibit she notes that “Art is never finished, just abandoned”, a statement that might at first seem a little confusing, as clearly, many pieces of art do stand as finished items – hence why we can see them in galleries and museums, reproduced, sold, hanging on our walls at home, and so on.

Kondor Art Centre: Bamboo Barnes – Blue Snow

However the capitalisation of “Art” is important: signifying that rather than referencing any singular piece of art, Bamboo is referring to the medium in all its forms, be it painting, photography, sculpture, models, the written and / or spoken word and so on; recognising that it is always evolving, and that artists can change genre, format and style, taking on some and abandoning others as they find new or different ways to express themselves.

As is usual with Bamboo, all of the pieces offered within Blue Snow are endlessly vibrant, both in terms of the colours used and the degree of life they each exude. There is a strength about each one that captivates the eye and challenges the imagination, offering stories that might – when considering the central theme of the exhibition – enfold thoughts of the artist and her relationship with her work as well as revolving around our own perceptions of who we are and where we might be going.

Kondor Art Centre: Bamboo Barnes – Blue Snow

Richly engaging, Blue Snow is another superb exhibition from one of SL’s leading digital artists.

SLurl Details

2021 SUG meeting week #10 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mount Campion National Forest: Roscommon Ridge – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 9th, 2021 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting.

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news and updates.

  • Tuesday, March 9th saw the servers on the SLS Main channel updated to server release 556255, containing “some internal tweaks related to launching region”.
  • There are no planned RC channel deployments scheduled for Wednesday, March 10th.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the current pipeline of official viewers at the start of the week, leaving them as follows:

  • Current release viewer: version 6.4.13.555567 (Jelly Doll improvements) originally promoted February 17th, and re-established as the default viewer following the rollback of the Simple Cache viewer.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.14.556098, March 4.
    • Maintenance RC viewer – Eau de Vie, version 6.4.14.556149, released March 4.
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 5 project viewer, version 6.4.14.556118, February, 23, 2021.
  • Project viewers:
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, October 26.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

Region Crossings

A simulator version currently in QA at the Lab has some region crossing changes in it. It is hoped the updates will take some of the load off of agents trying to enter crowded regions. The engineering team also intend to look at the protocol for moving an agent from region to another; however, this is viewed as “a much larger project” that has yet to be started.

In Brief

  • Group chat is being tweaked. It is hoped that an update will be ready for deployment Soon™.
  • Map tiles continue to be worked on, but not fully fixed. However, some updates to the World Map are being seen.
  • HTTP 5xx errors: some with internal services reliant on external web pages for data have been seeing an uptick in 5xx HTTP errors (see BUG-229660 and BUG-230059 as examples). Some this may be more directly related to the external service hosting the web pages (Cloudflare), while some are apparently seeing 503 errors when regions are down (rather than 404s), but are seeing recoveries once the region is back.
  • BUG-229871 TP issues: some people are experiencing teleport issues whereby they cannot teleport back to any region they’ve previously successfully teleported to previously in the same session, but are disconnected. This is being investigated. It has been suggested by some users the issue might be related to a past similar issue that was the result of a local firewall or router setting issue.

A little amusement at GEL Park in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
GEL Park, looking towards Space and Funland, March 2021

Sitting within the GEL residential community that spans some 40-ish regions, GEL Park is billed as an all-mesh public amusement park that offers some 26 different rides for the enjoyment of all who visit. It grabbed my attention after appearing in the Recently Added section of the Destination Guide, so over the weekend, I suggested to Caitlyn we hop over and take a look.

Utilising the entire ground level area of a Full private region and extending into the air overhead, the park is laid out in the manner of many a physical world amusement park – as anyone who has been to the likes of Disneyland, Six Flags Alton Towers and so on will likely recognise. There’s the familiar “main street” style of entrance next to the landing point, complete with mini arcades and store spaces (some of which are available for rent), with the rest of the region divided into five areas: Space, Adventure, Imagine, Yesterland and Funland.  There’s even a cable car to help give the sense of arriving from a distant car park.

GEL Park, March 2021

Most of these areas carry something of a theme to them. For example, Space has a distinctly futuristic look to it and features rides related to rockets, etc., that culminate in the region’s version of Space Mountain. Meanwhile, Yesterland takes a trip into the past with rides themed on ancient Egypt, Vikings and Atlantis. However, there is some degree of cross-over: Funland for example, includes Torgon’s Space Ride, whilst it is hard to miss the Stagate franchise references in a couple of Yesterland’s ancient Egypt themed rides.

While there is a lean towards rollercoasters, the park does offer a good mix of rides large and small, and anyone who enjoys amusement parks in the physical world will feel right at home among the dodgems/bumper cars, drop rides, pendulums and spinning rides,  and so on to be found here.

The rollercoasters themselves come in both of the common varieties: those with cars on the track and those with cars suspended from the track. Some have apparently been specially built for the park, others are commercially available and some have a touch of history to them. Torgon’s Space Ride, for example, first appeared at SL13B, and I can recall riding it there and am pleased to say it is as enjoyable now as it was then.

Yesterland, GEL Park, March 2021

There are a number of different approaches taken in how the different rides operate. Several will start automatically, waiting a number of seconds before setting off; some require you manually start them either via chat or the use of a supplied HUD, and some are triggered through the use of a local experience.

The latter are generally the rides that are located on sky platforms above the region, the experience intended to move you relatively seamlessly between ground and ride and back again. You’ll be asked to join it the first time you pass into the ground-level entrance for one of these rides (indicated by an area of deep shadow you’ll need to walk through); thereafter the experience will freely move you back and forth as required without any prompting or clicking.

The best way to appreciate most of the rides is to switch to Mouselook view, as this gives a more realistic sense of actually being on the ride (screen allowing), although a couple can result in a certain motion-induced giddiness, so a little care might be needed. Some rides will automatically drop you into Mouselook when you sit on them, others may require you to toggle it yourself.

Imagine, GEL Park, March 2021

This being SL, some of the rides can have the odd case of the jitters or have one or two small oddities (one rollercoaster is so compact, part of it seem to slice through you as you ride it!) but none of these hiccups actually prevent enjoyment of any given experience. My only real niggle was that I found the Haunted House ride in Adventure to be just that little bit too long (but then, I also feel the same way about LL’s annual Haunted House ride that rolls out each October).

Should the rides all get a little much, the north-east corner of the region presents Imagine, a garden space to wander within. This is home to paths, sculptures and water features, with places to sit and just unwind for a bit. It is also home to the Imagine Theatre, which I assume is home to dance productions and events – there is a auto-subscription board to one side of the theatre stage for the Imagine Dance update group (touching the board again will allow you to unsubscribe).

GEL Park – a Mouselook view whilst inverted in a loop, March 2021

Amusement parks are not new in Second Life (I’ve covered a number previously in these pages), and can be hit-and-miss events for visitors. However, GEL has a clean, open design that makes for an easy, fun visit, and aside for the minor hiccups mentioned above, all the rides worked for us.

SLurl Details

  • GEL Park (GEL Community 38, rated General)

Poetry, music and science fiction in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

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.

Tuesday, March 9th

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym, Live in the Glen

Music, poetry, and stories in a popular weekly session.

19:00: Variable Winds

A continuing experiment in poetry, music, and communal dances with Ktadhn Vesuvin.

Wednesday, March 10th, 19:00: The Guns of Avalon

Across the worlds of Shadow, Corwin, prince of blood royal, heir to the throne of Amber, gathers his forces for an assault that will yield up to him the crown that is rightfully his. But, a growing darkness of his own doing threatens his plans, an evil that stretches to the heart of the perfect kingdom itself where the demonic forces of Chaos mass to annihilate Amber and all who would rule there.

One of the most revered names in sf and fantasy, the incomparable Roger Zelazny was honoured with numerous prizes—including six Hugo and three Nebula Awards—over the course of his legendary career. Among his more than fifty books, arguably Zelazny’s most popular literary creations were his extraordinary Amber novels. The Guns of Avalon is the second book of The Chronicles of Amber.

With Corwyn Allen.

Thursday, March 11th:

19:00: Star Wars a New Hope

The story that started a saga with the immortal words:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away…

Join Sandon Loring and Caledonia Skytower as they bring us the story of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and two certain ‘droids as they fight for the Rebellion against the tyranny of the Galactic Empire. Also in Kitely! Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

Finn Zeddmore presents contemporary Sci-Fi-Fantasy from such on-line sources as Light Speed, Escape Pod, Clarkesworld Magazine, and more.