Category: Second Life

Dreamscapes and imaginings: Cherry’s Strange Garden

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cherry Manga: Strange Garden

-ADreNaLin- is a relatively new region venture by Cherry Manga and JadeYu Fhang, intended to offer an “Art Place & Music Venue” with a focus on “Experimental Art – Music – Events.” It’s a multi-layered environment set within one quarter of a Full private region, offering room for art installations, a venue space and a store, all interconnected by teleport and with links to other French-related regions across the Second Life Grid (via a HUD that can be obtained from the region’s Les Explorateurs Francophones level – which can be reached from a teleport point on the parcel’s ground level).

Currently, the region is home to an installation by Cherry Manga entitled Strange Garden. It’s an ethereal, subtle setting that is evocative and layered, presenting something of a dreamscape and – possibly – reflections on self and human nature.

Cherry Manga: Strange Garden

The dream aspect of the setting is perhaps most vividly offered through the monochrome styling of the installation (the use of monochrome to portray dreams has oft been used within media, although research suggests whether we dream in monochrome or colour appears to be down to an exposure to monochrome or colour television in childhood). However, the use of monochrome might be indicative of more than just dreams, and incorporates a commentary on the mind’s state – or perhaps the artist’s thoughts -, and the fact that we so often consider matters in a binary form – or black and white.

Presented within a hemisphere, the installation is bounded by black monolith-like blocks that lean outwards like the petals of a flower, slender trees rising into a grey sky beyond them. These blocks enfold a wild landscape, home to Animesh plants that whirl, writhe and sway to an unfelt wind, like stray thoughts turning in the back of the mind. More plants rise up and remain static, as if focal points of thinking (or perhaps creativity, if we consider ourselves inside the mind of the artist), while winged figures are to be found amidst this garden – angels of brighter thoughts, perhaps, countering the darker, lower aspects of the setting that might present more dour thoughts and feelings.

Cherry Manga: Strange Garden

It’s a setting that is undeniably rich in symbolism. Within the garden can be found both Pandora’s box, and a memento mori. The latter is symbolic of the inevitability of death, offering again a suggestion of sitting within the mind and amidst reflections of self and identity (who among us has not pondered death’s ever closing hand and what might remain once it has gripped us in an inescapable grasp?). The former conjures perhaps thoughts of challenges unmet as a result of their complexity or the woes we set upon ourselves when seeking to gain greater freedom of expression through striving to create? (I would also suggest that perhaps the memento mori is a reflection of Cherry’s installation of that name that recently closed.)

This symbolism can also be found in the central “stairways” that twist in on themselves, apparently defying gravity it their suggestion one can climb up them, yet return to their base while still appearing to be climbing, almost Penrose-like. This also might be a reference to fate and the cycle of life – or equally to the font of creativity, where ideas fountain upwards, and also fall back to feed the ground from which they first rose, helping to nurture further ideas, enriching the garden, while the submerged elements could represent subconscious thoughts and processes…

Cherry Manga: Strange Garden

A genuinely immersive (apparently developed for use with VR headsets) installation with multiple opportunities for interpretation / reflection, Strange Garden makes for an engaging visit (please make sure you have local sounds enabled and use the local windlight settings.

SLurl Details

Note that ADRENALINA is an Adult-rated region.

2020 viewer release summaries week #4

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 26th

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version 6.3.5.533275, formerly the Wassail RC viewer, dated November 5th, 2019 – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • No updates.

Mobile / Other Clients

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Exploring Witch’s Rock in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Witch’s Rock Costa Rica, January 2020 – click any image for full size

Note:  Witch’s Rock has relocated.

Alsatian Kidd recently pointed us in the direction of the Homestead region of Witch’s Rock Costa Rica, the work of VW Sands and JT Castanea.

Apparently inspired by Roca Bruja or Witch’s Rock, on the west coast of Costa Rica, the region offers, like that location, the opportunity for surfing in a broad bay backed by high hills of rich green, the foreshore area presenting a mix of beach, hill walks and places to relax.

Witch’s Rock, Costa Rica, January 2020

The landing point is located in a deep valley to the south-east of the region, tucked neatly between the hills of the region and the hills of the off-sim surround, a curtain of trees dividing the two. It’s a neat location in which to arrive: the rest of the region’s offerings are neatly hidden from view and, while there is a place to sit and relax close to hand, a sign beckons arrivals to climb a set of stone steps cutting through a cleft in the hills. This leads to a path that quickly forks, a group of signs suggesting possible routes to take.

Follow those pointing along the horse trail / towards the bar, and you’ll quickly come across the back of the latter – circle around to the left of it to find your way up to the deck at the front. This offers a view westwards and down to the the shoreline and an almost continuous roll of breakers heading towards it.

Witch’s Rock, Costa Rica, January 2020

A stream running down from the hills splits the landscape, separating the grass and shrub topped dunes below the bar from the sands and surf paraphernalia of the local beach, a couple of simple wooden bridges spanning it. Those wishing to surf the waves can do so from the beach, while above and behind the rezzers is a bar awaiting customers.

A further stream tumbles over rocks to separate the beach and bar from the northern reach of the region. Sandy in nature again, this features a large corral and a barn, a track cutting between the two. A saddle sits by the barn’s fencing; those touching it can rez a horse and take to the hoof and ride around the rest of the region, taking the trail that runs eastward up the slope and between misty trees.

Witch’s Rock Costa Rica, January 2020

Following this route will being riders – and walkers – to large rocky pool, a single channel extending from it to form the head of the two streams mentioned above. Crossing this via the lone rope bridge allows travellers to follow a grass trail that runs back past the steps leading down to the landing point, and thence to the hilltop bar. Continue south and west along the trail as it descends back to the west coast, where a ride can be finished off by a gallop along the shallows of the shore.

Those who fancy spending time on the water without having to surf can do so either by taking a seat in the little rowing boat calmly sitting offshore despite the waves, or – if an eye is kept out for it – grabbing the little motor boat mooring at the southern wharf.

Witch’s Rock Costa Rica, January 2020

For those who enjoy SL surfing, Witch’s Rock Costa Rica makes for an interesting visit, while there is enough within the region to keep SL photographers happy as well, the local bird life and the ambient sound scape give the region further depth.

SLurl Details

All4Art at Beau Belles Village in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
All4Art: Agleo Runningbear

All4Art opened its January / February 2020 exhibition on Saturday, January 25th. Featuring another ensemble of artists, the exhibition this time has moved to Beau Belle Village, offering visitors both the opportunity to visit the art on display and to explore the region itself – although for those who wish to focus their time on the art, a series of teleport discs are available to carry them back and forth between individual displays and the main landing point.

Established by Carelyna Resident, All4Art has a mandate to move art in Second Life beyond the more traditional exhibition spaces, as the group’s description describes thus:

The vision of this group is to make art inclusive and not limit them to the galleries in SL. This is a group of artists who are driven by the need to express themselves and create art for art’s sake. The artists will show their artworks in public places other than galleries in successive itinerant exhibitions.

All4Art: Leonorah Beverly

For this exhibition, All4Art is showcasing Etamae, EvangelinaBurroughs, Kimeu, MTH63, Mylena1992, Nabrej Aabye, Leonorah Beverly, Judylynn India, Agleo Runningbear and Carelyna herself. Together they present a rich mix of SL and physical world art, with a lean potentially towards the latter, given some of the Second Life images are rendered as paintings. Almost all of the artists confine themselves to 2D works, although Nabrej Aabye offers a trio of sculptures alongside his paintings.

Meanwhile, Beau Belle’s Village offers an intriguing space for the display, mixing as it does public spaces and private rentals. Those wishing to view the art by exploring the region should do so by following the arrows pointing the way from exhibit to exhibit – the first of these arrows can be found just down from the landing point teleport discs, directing people over a humpbacked bridge.

This route will take you first along the waterfront, passing JudyLynn’s art – a set of abstracts on the them of circles, thence to Leonorah Beverly’s Second Life landscape studies presented as paintings, and onwards still along the waterfront to Carelyna’s display (down on the wharf) which again offers Second Life scenes as paintings which might be said to have something of a Van Gogh influence to them, before arriving at Agleo Runningbear ‘s quite marvellous ink wash studies of New York City that are bracketed by two colour paintings.

All4Art: Mylena1992

A little back tracking from here is required to return to the tunnel leading to the rest of the region and the remaining artists (or you can scramble up a snow-sided hill and descend by wooden steps to reach the rest of the art!). Perhaps the most striking exhibit in this part of the region is Milena1992’s; this is in part because it is contained within a hard-to-miss semi-transparent yellow surround, but mostly because it pricks at the conscience by presenting concerns about the increasingly worrying state of the planet’s climate, and exhibition in part presented with a backdrop of trees engulfed in flames – a reminder of the wildfires that visited themselves on so many around the world in 2019.

Also to be found inland are the displays by EvangelinaBurroughs (which includes a part of eye-catching paintings-as-drapes), Kimeu, Etame and Nabreij, while nestled on the north-east beach is a selection of abstract expressionist pieces by MTH63.

All4Art: EvangelinaBurroughs

Taken together, this is a richly diverse selection of art, for which there is no official closing date – the exhibition will remain in place as long as the region holders are prepared to host it.

SLurl Details

Circuses, gardens, trees, daughters and seas

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 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, January 26

13:30: Tea-Time at the Night Circus

Caledonia Skytower and Kayden Oconnell read selections from Erin Morgenstern’s 2011 tale about a circus that suddenly arrives without warning. One day a field is empty, the next the circus, with big top and paraphernalia is just there. Called Le Cirque des Rêves, it is only open at night and offers visitors a unique experience full of breathtaking amazements.

But behind the scenes, lies a fierce competition – a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors.

Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. But Celia and Marco tumble head-first into love – a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons of the circus, hang in the balance, one as precarious as the swings used by the acrobats who entertain without a net.

18:30: The Secret Garden

Caledonia Skytower reads this classic of children’s literature  by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1911, at the Golden Horseshoe in Magicland Park.

Orphaned after losing her parents in a cholera epidemic, young Mary Lennox returns to England from India, entering the care of her uncle Archibald Craven, whom she has never met.

Up until this point, Mary’s childhood had not been happy; her parents were selfish and self-seeking, regarding her as a burden over which they were not obliged to hold much responsibility. Not overly healthy herself, she is as a result  a temperamental, stubborn and unmistakably rude child – and her arrival at Misselthwaite Manor and the relative gloom of Yorkshire’s weather does little to improve her mein.

Her disposition also isn’t helped by her uncle, who is strict and uncompromising, leading to Mary despising him. But her uncle’s story is itself filled with tragedy, particularly the loss of his wife. As she learns more about her uncle’s past, so Mary learns about a walled garden Mrs. Craven once kept, separated from the rest of the grounds and which, since her passing has been kept locked by Mary’s uncle, the door leading to it kept locked, the key to it buried somewhere. 

Finding the missing key and the now hidden door, Mary enters the garden, and her passage into it starts her on a journey of friendship and discovery, one that leads her to the thing she never really knew: family.

Monday, January 27th 19:00: The Integral Trees

Dispatched on a mission of exploration, the Earth ship Discipline, operated by the the all-powerful State, encountered a strange phenomenon: a torus-like ring of gas and dust surrounding a neutron star. Within the torus, the crew discover a thriving ecosystem of plant and animal lifeforms that have evolved to living continually in a state of free-fall.

Despite being overseen by the ship’s AI system, Sharls Davis Kendy, from which they received advice and information, the crew abandoned the Discipline in favour of living among the plants and trees of the torus, which they call the Smoke Ring.

Now, 500 years later, the descends of the original crew have formed a tribal society focused around some of the trees of the system. Adapted to free-fall life, their societal structures are sharply divided, with “wars” common among them, as well as stronger tribes raiding or enslaving weaker tribes, whilst in all of them, artefacts from the original mission are sought-after and venerated. 

In the midst of a round of aggression between various tribal factions, one group find themselves aboard an original craft from the Discipline and caught in space beyond the Smoke Ring, where the Discipline and Kendy are still waiting – and Kendy is willing to provide assistance.

Join Gyro Muggins for more.

Tuesday, January 28th 19:00 The Daughter of Odren

For fourteen years, Weed, as she is called, the daughter of Lord Garnet, has brought offerings to the standing stone. Alone in a shallow valley, she implores the stone not to forget her. To remember who he is and the life he led. To wait until the day he will be avenged.

Now the day has finally arrived. After fourteen long years of waiting, he will have his revenge and she will have her father back.

Or will she?

Willow Moonlight reads Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea Cycle 6.5.

Wednesday, January 29th, 19:00:The Starless Sea

Caledonia Skytower reads selections from Erin Morgenstern’s novel.

Deep beneath the surface of the Earth and upon the shores of the Starless Sea, lies a network of tunnels and rooms filled with stories and tales. The ways into this secret place are many, but hidden, and perhaps set for just one individual to find. They exist where least expected: on the floors of forests, behind doors inside private homes or around alleyway corners or within mountain caves – almost anywhere in which they cannot be anticipated.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place.

When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is…

Thursday, January 30th

19:00 The Furies Part 2

Myths and Legends with Shandon Loring. Also in Kitely – grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI).

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

Contemporary Sci-Fi-Fantasy from online sources such as Light Speed, Escape Pod, and Clarkesworld presented by Finn  Zeddmore.

2020 TPVD meetings week #4 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Recollection, December 2019 – blog post

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on January 24th, 2020. A video of the meeting is embedded below, my thanks to Pantera for recording and providing it. As always:

  • Time stamps are given with links that will open the video at the appropriate point in a separate browser tab for reference.
  • Core points of the meeting are listed below. Other subjects of lesser import may have been discussed, please refer to the video.

The latter part of this (brief) meeting comprised a text chat discussion amongst Firestorm people on profile picture aspect ratios and Firestorm UI skins. If interested, please refer to the video.

SL Viewer News

[0:13-6:35]

The rest of the viewer release pipelines remain unchanged:

  • Current Release version 6.3.5.533275, formerly the Wassail RC viewer, dated December 4, promoted December 12 – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
    • 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.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

General Viewer Notes

  • It is anticipated the Xanté Maintenance RC will be promoted to de facto release status in week #5 (commencing Monday, January 27th). This is a milestone viewer for the Lab as it will be the first to be built and released using the new Github infrastructure.
    • Under the new structure, both viewer-dev and viewer build should have their master branch updated when a viewer is promoted.
    • Most viewer builds outside of the release version should now be seen as branches within viewer-dev.
  • Viewer build work is now primarily focused on the transition to using Visual Studio 2017 and a recent version of Xcode.
    • Python 3 will be made a part of the viewer build process “over the next couple of months”.
  • [13:48-14:00] Despite it being only a project viewer, the Legacy Profiles viewer is being touted as the next in line for release after the Xanté Maintenance RC, so it would seem the viewer is going to go through a rapid RC promotion and cycle.

In Brief

  • [9:16-10:25] the graphics / rendering team has been focused on trying to clear the EEP bugs so that project can be released. However, the issue of OSX OpenGL deprecation issue is “pretty much” next on their list to dig into. Even so, it might still be a while before the Lab is in a position to discuss anything related to decisions and future direction on the matter, although as changes start to be made, they will be through publicly-viewable repos.
  • [13:17-13:46] There are some issues in dealing with “long names” that are affecting the deployment of Name Changes. As this is a web-based capability, it is not anticipated there will be a project of RC viewer specific to the capability.