Category: Reviews

After receiving a poke fro Shawn Shakespeare, I was surprised to note that it has been over two years since our last visit to La Vie, the Homestead region held by Krys Vita and previously dressed by her and Arol Lightfoot. As such, following on Shawn’s suggestion, we hopped over to take a look at the region in its latest iteration.

This design is the work of Krys and her SL partner CarterNolan, and is beautifully minimalist in  presentation, whilst offering an attractive and photogenic setting.

The easiest way to describe it is simply to say that given the current worldwide climate of uncertainty around SARS-COV-2 and so on, La Vie represents the kind of idyllic location many of us probably would like to run away to and spend time appreciating without the the pressures of the world intruding,

Sitting as a series of sand flats that poke their heads above an azure sea, the region has the feel of a place perhaps at high tide – at least on its western side, where wind breakers usually put out for sunbathers sit partially submerged in rippling waves, a pelican watching over them and possibly wondering why the silly humans didn’t move them before the water rose…

Raised board walks run across the sands and also connect them, their presence perhaps suggesting that at certain times in the year a lot more of the setting might be waterlogged – although for now there is enough sand and low dunes to make wandering well beyond the board walks easily manageable – not that the channels cutting through the landscape are particularly deep. At least not until you get to the east side of the region that is.

It is on the east side that the region places host to signs of civilisation: a tidy mesh of piers and moorings for boats and sail craft, most of the wharves stout and broad enough to carry wooden buildings on their backs. These are mostly commercial in nature and include workshops and sea-related places of business, although a couple of units offer the opportunity to work off the extra kilos that might be added to one’s weight following frequent visits to the Salty Dog Café.

There’s a strong sense of this all being a local, family-run centre given the frequent use of the “Saltwater” name.  Perhaps the house at the centre of the piers and wharves being the base of operations for whoever runs things. It’s also something of a tour de force of building with AustinLiam’s designs as well, an approach that lends further authenticity to the feeling this really is a place put together by a single group of people working to create a unified presence, rather than a place that has grown over times with many different hands and views. I’ll also admit that seeing AustinLiam’s Captain’s Retreat in the region gave me a case of itchy fingers, as it is a design I’ve long wanted to fiddle around with and make into a cosy home.

With more marshy land off to the south sitting under the spread of a huge oak tree and a pair of monkeypod trees, and open sands to the north that carry the suggestion of strong winds sometimes visiting the land, this is a setting watched over by an old lighthouse to one side and an equally old forest-style look out tower on the other, both offering vantage points from which to suss out the best sunbathing spots on the sands below.

Completed by multiple places to sit and enjoy the setting – including a swing for watching the local sea turtles – and finished with a gentle sound scape, La Vie in this iteration really does offer a welcome sense of escape and freedom.

SLurl Details

• La Vie (La Vie, rated Adult)

We first visited visited Xana Newall’s Souls of Dreams in November 2019 (see: Souls of Dreams in Second Life). A captivating design built by Loly Hallison with added décor from Xana, at that time it occupied a Homestead region. Well, time has moved on since then, and so has Souls of Dreams, with Xana relocating to a Full region and bringing in Busta (BadboyHi) to provide the a new look.

Busta is responsible for a range of captivating region designs across Second Life, many of which I’ve covered in these pages since 2016. It’s something I’m always happy to do, as he really does produce designs that are worth seeing; and with the new Souls of Dreams (which at the time of our visits, he was busily completing), Busta has produced something truly exceptional.

A visit commences on the south side of the region on a wide terrace complete with waterside structures that have something of an ancient Greece feel to them. Steps slip gently down into the shallow waters on two sides, the water also being the home to an expanse of marsh plants floating on its surface.

These marshy waters continue on around to the west side of the island, beyond a growth of tall mangroves, to where wooden board walks span faster-moving waters fed via a variety of falls tumbling out of the region’s uplands.  Beyond these, flat shingle runs sit between the high cliffs and the water, moss-covered stone slabs suggesting a path or terrace may once have lain across them, wooden bridges offering crossings where water continues to flow outward from further falls.

Rounding the island to the north, the path offers wooden steps leading up to the higher ground, guarded at their top by an old warehouse now converted into a place of residence. This is furnished by Xana, who once again has offered plenty of touches of her own throughout the region to help bring it to life, and is open to the public to explore inside. For those who prefer, the path at the base of the cliffs continues onwards to the east, passing a beach and further opportunities to move inland via by rocky path or rough wooden steps, before it arrives at a headland house, also open for exploration.

And that’s just the start of things for the region – indeed, given it is reached by skirting the mangroves and following a path lying in the shadow of the cliffs that rise behind them, it is really the least obvious route of exploration for arriving visitors. This is because immediately to the east of the landing point (and visible from it) sits the bulk of what appears to be a small seafront town beckons, reached by way of a small flagstoned and gated terrace and two gently arching bridges which a distinctly Dutch flavour to them.

Within the archways leading into the town, the Dutch feeling is for me heightened both by the tall forms of the buildings used to define it, and the narrow, stone-sided waterways spanned by cobbled bridges, that have more of a feeling of canals rather than that of a simple mooring basin for boats. Though it may occupy less than a quarter of the region, the little town is very evocative of parts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and has plenty to offer the camera lens both within and around it.

Cut off from the rest of the region by two narrow channels of water, the town is nevertheless very much a part of the whole, not just joined to it by the bridges that physically link it with the rest of the setting, but because Busta’s design offers a marvellous blending of locations and styles.

There’s the aforementioned landing point with its Mediterranean hints, the town with its Dutch twist, suggestions of terraces and paved areas of great age mixed with beaches and a curving bay backed by ancient walls that also sit behind a more recent  terraced bar, and the Tuscan villa lying in the lee of the island’s highest peak.  This is reached via a number of paths, be they stone steps, rocky trail or rutted track, and is again open to exploration. And off of these elements are richly and marvellously presented, drawn together into a single and quite natural whole both by the various paths and trails that link them, and by the green stitching of foliage provided by great oaks and smaller maples.

To catalogue everything here would be a waste, as Souls of Dreams needs to be not just seen, but savoured. Places abound where visitors can sit and relax, whilst joining the local group for L$250 gives photographers rezzing rights for props (do remember to pick them up afterwards!). But truly, there is so much to see and appreciate here that you’re going to want to set aside plenty of time for wandering and finding all the paths and touches; and even then,it’s likely the region will call you back because the region really is that attractive.

Definitely not a place to miss, although given the amount of detail, some adjustment to viewer settings might be required to ease moving around comfortably if you tend to have a lot of rendering options turned up).

With thanks to Loverdag by way of Annie Brightstar for the pointer. 

SLurl Details

• Souls of Dreams (Glanmire, rated Moderate)

Back in May, I wrote about Camila Runo’s homestead region design, A Taste of Africa (see A voyage to Africa in Second Life). Since that time, Camila has redressed the region so whilst it remains rooted in Africa, its foundation lay further to the north and perhaps east than that iteration, as the new title – *NOUR* – Light of the Desert – indicates.

As with the previous iteration of the region, this is a richly evocative setting, incorporating multiple aspects of what might be called – for those of us in the west, at least – “traditional desert settings”.

There’s a domed palace on a rocky plateau, complete with a small garden house with with the most valuable commodity to be found within desert dunes: free-flowing eater. Then there is a Bedouin camp site sitting at the edge of an oasis (or a wadi, depending on your preference). In between these sits a waterside village, crowned by a luxurious bath house, although the dhows sitting on the river suggest this is more of a working village than a resort.

From the landing point, located in the south-west corner, it is possible to visit all of these locations in turn, the region being neatly laid out in such a way so as to suggest a walk through a desert, one surrounded by high dunes (although these are admittedly off-region, so the intervening water does spoil the effect a little), passing from one oasis of life to the next. A path running down from the landing point points to the route to be taken, with the first stop that of the high palace. sitting on its plateau, commanding a view across the rest of the region.

Topped by yellow-painted domes and reached via a stone stairway that sits just within the walls of the village and that leads the way past the lower-lying garden house, the palace has thick walls to help keep the heat out, a tall fountain splashing water within its main hall. Lavish curtains and drapes separate the side rooms from the hall, and latticed windows allow whatever breeze might pass to enter the building,  while the upper level offers an ornate bath and chaise lounge on which to recline.

Down below, beyond the garden house with its fountains, water, grass and flowers, sits the village. Flat-topped houses and a souk built of mudstone surround an open market of tented stalls. It is bracketed by water to one side, where wharves for dhows sit, and a long ruler of a wall on the other, clearly designed to keep as much of the wind-blown sand out of the village as possible. Standing as a place of local commerce, the village is dominated, as noted earlier, by the squat bulk of a great bathhouse, within which sits a large square pool and plenty of opportunities to relax.

A single gateway sits within the long village wall, parallel lines of rounded stones marching out into the desert beyond. These wind around and between rippled dunes, showing the way to the oasis / wadi. Whether you follow them past the old desert fort or simply set out over the banked dunes to reach the greenery that lies beyond them is up to you, but once you’ve passed through the ring of palm trees you’ll find a spacious Bedouin camp set out around a body of water unusually – for a desert –  fed by a rocky peak from which water tumbles in multiple falls.

Throughout all of this are many details that add depth to the region. There are a lot of places both within the grander buildings and in the large tents to sit, with more outside around camp fires or shaded by the likes of blankets draped over simple wooden frames. Dromedary camels add to the felling of the north African / Arbian setting, whilst a rich (if a little intrusive in places) sound scape brings life to the village with the noise of people going about their daily business filling the air. Adding their own conversation to the mix are the camels, given as they are to the occasional grunt and snort as they wander.

Following on from A Taste of Africa, Camila’s latest build continues in the same vein of offering an immersive, engaging setting, one particularly rip for avatar photography, although the region offers more than this for those willing to dress the part and / or explore it from end to end. All-in-all, an excellent build and engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• *NOUR* Light of the Desert (Coral Cape, rated Moderate)