Category: Reviews

HollyWeird is the name Schmexysbuddy has given to his Homestead region of Hotel California.

This is a region that tends to change on a monthly basis, which keeps visits fresh and interesting. We first visited in April 2019 – see: Welcome to the Hotel California in Second Life – and while I try to avoid writing about a region again so close to having previously blogged on it, Schmexysbuddy’s August design is so out-of-the-ordinary, it deserves both a visit and a write-up.

There is no obvious theme to the region, which is one of the things that makes it intriguing. There is a reference to the name on which it draws on, with the appearance of the famous Hollywood hillside sign in the north-east corner of the region, complete with the relay tower rising behind it. But does that make it unique? Well no – until you consider the giant fox that’s leaping into the air beside it.

And that’s just the start. Travel the region and you’ll discover the remnants of a fun fair lying alongside a field of giant plastic flowers (where I’ve arbitrarily opted to set the SLurl in this article). This points the way into the region, passing two huge walls – and two even bigger clowns. Fortunately, the latter aren’t the, “just wait there while I sharpen my meat cleaver” type of clown – they are the genuine  funny article. And if you touch one, he’ll happily play the maracas he’s holding, while the other will bang his snare drum.

The landscape itself maintains something of a thematic design with some of the past Hotel California designs by Schmexysbuddy: a semi-flooded and broken, complete with the ruins of buildings and elevated roads and a smattering of trees. Mixed within this are platforms topped by with the most unusual and garish buildings. They rise from the (shallow) waters like bizarre oil or gas platforms except where the former would have derricks rising from their backs, these have trees and windmills.

All of this makes HollyWeird immediately attractive – but there is far more. The fun fair, the platforms and the Hollywood sign and its fox form what are really mini-scenes within the region; vignettes if you will. And there are more to be found across the region, many of them focused on elements of art by the likes of Bryn Oh (including the flowers mentioned above), Cica Ghost and CioTToLiNa Xue.

There’s even a touch of science fiction and sci-fi movies that both folds into the Hollywood motif as well as standing on its own. This can be found to the south-west of the region, and includes “greys”, a flying spaceship, landed “flying saucer houses” and is completed by a collection of Cica Ghost’s characters either greeting or saying farewell to the ship overhead.

Most of the buildings and ruins within the region are empty  – but make sure you visit the old theatre, as it sits partially flooded. This contains a beautiful and simple vignette of pieces by Bryn Oh.

It is this art content and the vignettes and motifs it brings with it that I find particularly attractive within the region – particularly the way in which the details can suddenly pop out where you least expect them. These, combined with the sheer unusualness of the region make it a genuinely unique setting that really draws visitors into it.

Our thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the nudge about this update to Hotel California.

SLurl Details

• HollyWeird (Hotel California, Adult)

A little while ago I received an invitation from Noirran Marx to visit Isla de Sol, her Homestead region, which I gather is open to the public. It took a while for us to get there, but we did in July and found it to be a quiet, balmy tropical island that makes for an easy, gentle visit.

At the time we dropped in, the island offered a roughly north-south orientation, with the clearest signs of human habitation at the southern end, most notably in the form of a large house sitting within a low walled garden, with two trailer-style homes sitting close by under the boughs of tree that might be more at home in more northerly latitudes than suggested by the rest of the island’s styling.

To the north, the island is more open and tropical in looks. Grass sits under palm trees and a Greedy Greedy table sits bracketed between and old adobe building and the (rather incongruous) cone of a volcano that appears to be erupting…

The volcano forms the highest point within the region, but does tend to a look a little “glued on”, so to speak. To us, it was slightly jarring visual element in what otherwise is a pleasant low-lying island where the aforementioned Greedy Greedy can be enjoyed, and the outdoor decks offer places to sit, think, cuddle and  / or chat.

So far as we could tell, the house is open to the public; there were certainly no security orb warnings on approach. It is cosily furnished, but the garden perhaps offers the best opportunities for those taken with photography.

Off to the west side of the island, behind the screen of fir trees, a four-legged platform rises from the shallows. A rusting lifeboat slide to one side of it suggests it might have once been some form of small drilling platform, but it is now given over to a shack in need of some renovation. The sea lions on the raft and rock below it don’t seem to mind its presence, tho.

Small, quirky and perhaps needing some of the bushes and plants to be made phantom (we bounced off of some of the palm trees while trying to pass under them!), Isla de Sol presents an easy visit for the beach inclined. There are opportunities for photography (rezzing is possible with a 5-minute auto-return) throughout, and it avails itself to a range of windlight options (I again used my default takes on Annan Adored’s End of Silence and Morning Dream in the four images here.

SLurl Details

• Isla de Sol (Delirium’s Respite, rated Adult)

Basilique is perhaps one of the more well-known public regions in Second Life. It has been popular among SL photographers, as well as once being the home of the Basilique Performing Arts Company.

In more recent times, ownership of the region has passed to Niccoli Sweetwater, who has taken it on with the aim of maintaining and extending the region’s arts ties, as she stated to me recently, “My goal is to restore Basilique and share it with the SL arts and live music community. This place is truly a labour of love.”

As a part of this, Niccoli has not dramatically changed the ground-level design of the region, which still retains its town-like feel and presents a welcome feeling of the familiar. Those who have visited the region whilst under its prior ownership will recognise the long form of the Basilica, modelled after the San Pietro Martire, in Murano, Italy.

Once a centre of productions by the Basilique Performing Arts Company, the Basilica has been restored to its role as a church, its triple nave dominated by two huge frescos. The pews and candles here are interactive, and the church is now offered for weddings and ceremonies.

Other familiar locations remain as well: the domed basilica, now the Galleria di Basilique, a ground-level art gallery; the pier and the appropriately-named Bar Moderna sitting in its corner terrace with fish still “flying”. But what now draws them together is a history and tour guide that has been written for the region by Niccoli. This both places the setting as an island community located on Lake Garda and traces the town’s story from 1292 as a fortified defensive location, through more recent times.

A group of deserting French knights founded Basilique in 1292, when they fled seeking refuge from the Mamelukes after the fall of Acre. The knights chose the island for its defensive position and established a stronghold, soon intermarrying with the local population. Over time the legions increased fortifications, but a fire destroyed the original structure in 1457 at which time the remaining inhabitants constructed the foundations for the modern town around the only remaining edifice – the stone tower that was at the centre of the old fort.

– From the “History of Basilique

The guide also points out the smaller locations in the region, including the Member’s Club, host to wine tastings, and incorporated within the old bathhouse alongside the island’s gardens, the pier with is rezzable rowing boats and the Taverna Fico Bar.

A new addition to the region is the Palazzo  di Basilique, a gallery space located in grounds of its own up in the sky. It is intended to offer “an elegant venue with a huge dance floor and dinner tables for a romantic night out listening to some of SL’s most talented artists.” Outside of this is a terrace café and gardens  to be enjoyed.

Still a photogenic region with much to offer, Basilique remains an engaging destination for visitors old and new. Just do please note that the house on the island to the north-east is a private residence that is not open to visitors.

SLurl Details

• Basilique (Basilique, rated Adult)