Category: Reviews

Sugar Mine is a Homestead region I learned about from Annie Brightstar. For those who are not aware of Annie’s work, she curates information on places to visit – regions, art exhibitions, installations, and events – and provides information on them through her Scoop it! pages and via her Twitter feed, which I tend to drop into from time-to-time as it is an excellent reference for things I may have otherwise missed.

The region is the home to Tomster Starflare and his gardener Gioia Sautereau, with the majority of it open for people to explore – providing visitors only attempt to reach those areas accessible on foot from the landing point or via the the teleports. The latter come in two forms: teleport discs and also experience portals (be sure to accept the experience when offered) that take a number of forms: mirrors, doorways, floating portals, stairways, and so on. The “on foot” aspect of visits should be kept in mind, as there is an adjoining region that’s part of the same group, but not necessarily part of the same setting.

As a region carrying an Adult rating, there are aspects of the setting that lean towards BDSM – but nothing particularly overt (in fact, it’s so subtle, you might actually miss it). It is also a place that’s a little hard to describe; carrying a strong industrial thread, alongside something of a deco / steampunk vibe in places, together with hints of dystopia and of futurism. All of which makes for an engaging mix.

Many of these elements are evident at the landing point: an industrial wharf watched over by a steampunk lighthouse, whilst a hover truck floats under the arch that marks the main road  away from the wharf – although there is a route for those on foot that goes via the nearby beach and stairs up the neighbouring headland.

Both the footpath and the zig-zagging road lead the way up to a plaza built on top of tall, deco-style and high-rise buildings. On its way to the plaza, the road offers a view out over one of the more dystopian aspects of the region: a semi-collapsed Eiffel Tower (of which more anon). A hover barge floating off the shoulder of the hill facing it offers a futuristic counter-point.

The plaza itself has buildings on three sides, with the fourth largely open, presenting a view across the waters below to a island that matches the plaza in elevation. Water tumbles from a dam-like outflow to drop unimpeded to the waters below, passing the double lines of tram tracks that appear from a tunnel as it does so. This water drop and other elements at the top of the hill  continue the industrial theme, whilst the three buildings each offer a deco-esque look. One of these forms a cinema,  another a large saloon club, and the third appears to be purely decorative. A  steam-power motorcycle and British Moran Plus 4 add a further mix to the setting.

The club offers a its own rich mix of themes: sci-fi, retro, and more. It is also the place where the fun may well begin, depending upon how you find your way around. In one corner is the image of a flight of stairs. Walk into it, and you’ll be teleported to a building some distance away that might otherwise be an annexe to the bar. This in turn offers two further teleport points – stairs (you’ll need to look for them) back to the main bar, and a doorway to the fallen Eiffel Tower.

The stairway in the main bar is not the only teleport portal to be found there, there is a second that leads to a further room below ground, which also has its own portal. There are more portals to be found elsewhere (notably on the old Eiffel Tower),  but I don’t want to give too much away about where they lead. Suffice it to say that some may be one-way, leading you from point to point (including across the water to that other tall island with its own water tumbling from multiple outlets on hight, and marked by the sliced hull of an old Soviet-era submarine).

However, the portals are not the only means of finding more places to explore – at the landing point, the plaza and elsewhere are teleport discs that offer the means to hop around. most notably, these will also offer the means to reach the region’s caversn – just left-click to select your destination, then right-click and teleport.

For those who wish, dances are available at various points, while the high, flat top of the smaller island offers a semi-natural retreat with a large body of blue water and places to sit. This island also offers a way down to the ground-level buildings that support the high plaza. These have a curious Japanese aspect to their signage , adding a further twist to things, although most are just façades for the most part.

Genuinely unique in its approach and design, Sugar Mine makes for an  engaging visit edged with a sense of being a magical mystery tour.

SLurl Details

• Sugar Mine (Starbright, rated Adult)

You know….we’re never going to survive unless we get a little crazy … Imagine if every JoKeR character had a home they lived in during their reign…

About Land, mR J’s HoUsE

So reads the description for mR J’s HoUsE, the latest region design by Archetype11 Nova (aka Schmexysbuddy Resident), the genius behind Isolation’s Passengers (see: Isolation’s Passengers in Second Life) and before that, the distinctively captivating builds created under the Hotel California banner.

As with his previous designs, this is a visually impressive setting, one that – like Isolation’s Passengers in particular – carries something of a message for the times we are currently living through.

At first glance, the setting appears to be a purely fantasy / fantastical setting that carries echoes of the just past Halloween. This, however, is in part washed away with a reading of the About Land description dispels this simple explanation. The situation around the world today and the way in which politics, economies, working lives and even the collective health of nations are under assault, we are all perhaps a step from needing to give vent to a little craziness in order to stay sane – so what if that craziness were to become the norm?

Through mR J’s HoUsE, we can get to lose ourselves in a world where the craziness has been let loose; but not any craziness; instead, Archetype11 has given it at least a couple of twists.

The setting is almost perfectly described by the About Land description: we are within the grounds of the home of the archetypical crazy, The Joker (right down to a portrait of Heath Ledger’s iconic embodiment of that character in 2008’s The Dark Knight). It is a place that stands, perhaps in direct opposition to the staid grandeur of a place like Wayne Manor, but it is a manor house nonetheless.

But where the home of the Batman might offer order and respectability, this is a place that speaks to disorder and the rite of craziness: giant clown sculptures and grasping hands rise from the chaotic, untended grounds whilst leering jack-in-the-boxes stand guard at the entrance to the mouldering hall and a decaying carnival watches any and all comings and goings.

This is a place rich in narrative and commentary. Clowns are oft seen as malevolent as much as fun, this the craziness released her has an edge to it – a reminder, perhaps, that in this world, much of what gives rise to out need to scream and shout and go a little crazy is perhaps self-inflicted; and that under the veneer of politeness and civility, that craziness (and individual meanness ) are waiting to be exposed.

Mixed with these strands of narrative is also a strong vein of artistry. The contrasts of scale, for example, – from giant clowns to “life-sized” trees, or the gently-falling snow (or fairy dust – or perhaps something else; you decided).  Within the halls of the manor house more of this artistic sentiment to be found. Yes, the occupants of the house might all be a little unsettling, be thy mannequins or jack-in-the-boxes or puppets, but the manner in which they have been set out speaks to an artistic purpose that in turn breathes life into the old adage, there’s method in his madness.

Offering a description of where to go following your arrival within the region is pointless: the design is open enough such that visitors should simply go where their feet take them – and everything is visible to a point where the major landmarks are easy to see as one explores. Narrative and metaphor also abound – although not in a way that demands you take all of it in; if you prefer to witness the region as a work of artistic statement, nothing in lost through ignoring that narrative and metaphor.

And within the madness of the setting are also moments of beauty: the glimmering of light strings hanging from threes, the burst of colour from a hidden bed of flowers and the promise of a coming season of joy in the baubles strung from another tree. Although these also have there twists of madness – as a walk through the aforementioned flowers will reveal (yes, there are interactive elements to be found here).

Rich in detail, edged with menace (for those who don’t like clowns), whilst attention-holding and highly photogenic, mR J’s HoUsE is yet another captivating region build from a true master of design.

SLurl Details

• mR J’s HoUsE ( Solveig, rated Moderate)