Category: Reviews

Whimberly – click any image for full size

Surprisingly, it’s been fifteen months since we last visited Whimberly, the homestead region design by Staubi Reilig (Engelsstaub). I say “surprisingly” given the region has always hosted eye-catching designs by Staubi, and has thus has tended to be a place for frequent revisits – as a result of which, it already has three prior appearances in this blog. But given we received a tap from Shawn Shakespeare that region’s look has changed in recognition of spring and the approach of summer, so a further visit seemed more than appropriate.

For those whose thoughts are turning to summer vacations, time in the Sun and away from the hustle of city life and the bustle of crowds, this iteration of Whimberly could be just the way to visualise such a getaway holiday. With a lean toward a Mediterranean feel, the region offers a genteel rural look and feel, dominated by a field of gold that arcs around the southern and western sides of the region, bordered on three sides by rocky slopes that fall away to the seas, whilst washing up against an abrupt rise in land on the fourth, in the lee of which sits a large Tuscan villa.

Whimberly

The landing point sits over to the east of the island, on a broad headland topped at a small formal garden. From here a track winds away westwards, dropping down to where a deck sits out over a shallow cove, before rising past an flat-topped upthrust of rock presents a table upon which weeping willows shade a picnic spot, reached via a spiral path. Beyond this, the tack continues onwards to reach that field of gold – and then ending unexpectedly.

North of the landing point, a bridge has been strung across the narrow finger of water that has splits this part of the region into two headlands. With a north facing beach, the land across the bridge offers much to be explored, be it following the grassy path marked by rope lines and the bent figures of trees that appear to have struggled to grow in strong winds, or taking the path eastwards along the rocks above the ribbon of beach.

Whimberly

Take the former, and the grassy path will eventually lead you to where a second bridge spans the channel between the bulk of the region and a small island, home to a squat lighthouse below which chairs and an bench offer a most excellent view back across the north side of the landscape. This route also has a path down to the edge of the waters flowing outward from the channel betwixt the two headlands. Here an egret patiently watches the slow passage of water and flowers grow in profusion.

The channel originates at an oval pool of fresh water lying almost at the heart of the region, beneath the high curtain of rock that separates it from the field of gold to the west. A slender ribbon of water drops from this natural curtain, constantly replenishing the pool, the rugged southern banks of which are marked by places to sit and look out over the waters. There are most easily reached via the wooden steps that descend from the back of the villa, passing under a natural arch in the curtain wall of rock in the process.

Whimberly

The villa sits as a comfortable home, its two wings built around a walled courtyard with swimming pool, suggesting it is a holiday home, not a working property, despite the field washing against its boundary. Each wing is clearly defined in terms of use: one forms the living area, with bathroom above, the other sits at the kitchen and dining area with the bedroom above, with both upper floors reached by external stairs. It’s the kind of place one could lose oneself at during a vacation, and while it has not real garden of its own, a set of wooden steps sitting just outside the walls on the north side drop down to where a terrace of cut stone sits out over the waters, lit by large lanterns to help with appreciating the sculptures there, and with more seating close by.

Nor is the villa the only living accommodation on the island, however. Further along the northern coast and overlooking the beach, sits a cost wooden summer-house. mounted on a silt-legged wooden platform, this offers a view back towards the lighthouse and along the sands of the beach. It is also comfortably furnished in the manner of a holiday retreat, although it contains Staubi’s office. This appears to be more as a means of advertising her photography and design work, rather than being an actual place of business, as the house is otherwise open to public visits, as is the villa.

Whimberly

With chairs and benches and swings scattered throughout, as well as things like the little picnic spot and courtyard and deck seating, this iteration of Whimberly offers plenty of reasons to not only explore, but to sit and stay a while. The openness of the southern and western aspects of the land making it ideal for horse riding, and  – although this should go without saying – there are photo opportunities a-plenty to be had.

Finished with an ideal windlight (that also works well under EEP), and with a rich, natural sound scape, this is a version of Whimberly that – like its predecessors – should not be missed. Should you enjoy your visit, please consider making a donation towards the region’s continued public presence in Second Life, via the donation box at the landing area.

Whimberly

SLurl Details

• Whimberly (Whimberly, rated: Adult)

HoPe – click any image for full size

Update: HoPe has closed, and the region hosting it has a new region holder and is being repurposed. SLurls to the build have therefore been removed from this article.

We first visited HoPe on the suggestion of Shawn Shakespeare at the start of April 2019. This is yet another region designed by the team of Fred Hamilton (frecoi), Alexa Maravilla (Spunknbrains) and Lotus Mastroianni, who have previously produced settings like Little Havana (with Sofie Janic – see: A trip to Havana, with a little Voodoo In My Blood), so the names alone were sufficient to further pique my curiosity on hearing about the region.

At the time of our first visit, HoPe had just opened, and was subject to some heavy traffic, so I opted to hold off blogging, as the region can take its toll on the viewer, and having a lot of avatars bouncing around at the same time certainly doesn’t help! Things are quieter now, so while the region can still present a performance hit for the viewer, I thought this week might be a good time to head back and take another tour.

HoPe

During out initial visit, the About Land floater had a short description about nature reclaiming a city that has befallen a disaster. On my return mid-month, that had changed to a more succinct description: The World wouldn’t die without the Humankind. A bleak outlook perhaps, but one that accurately describes the setting.

The is a setting in which it is clear some form of widespread catastrophe came to pass; the shattered remains of an elevated roadway almost rings the empty remnants of a city in which the roads lie crumpled and ruined, and the buildings are little more than empty shells, some of them leaning against their neighbours  as if seeking support as they stumble over the ripped and broken asphalt beneath them.

HoPe

In one corner, a subway tunnel had been thrown up, a broken maw spanned by the ruin of a subway car. From this, and the wrecks of cars in the streets and on the roadways – including those of fire trucks -, together with the broken fuselage of an aeroplane, indicate whatever happened, came suddenly and without warning, bringing chaos in its wake.

Oddly, the one part of the city that appears to have suffered the least from the cataclysm is a building site off to the south, atop a low hill. Here stands the skeletal frame of what might have eventually been a set of pristine apartments offering a grand view out over the city below; or perhaps it was destined to be a shiny new office building or some new factory premises. Earth movers sit outside, as do free-standing banks of spotlights – still oddly working; and while the sky crane towers might be broken, and the safety fence stands rusted and leaning, with nature encroaching into the building itself, the site stands oddly pristine, like the bleached bones of a whale on a beach.

HoPe

Throughout the setting are all the signs this was once a place of bustling human habitation. Faded store fronts line streets city, and graffiti sits on walls. Given the chaos that has ensued, some of the latter might actually now appear prescient: from one wall, the likeness of the late Heath Ledger’s Joker stares down at a street, a spray can of his laughing gas in one hand, while just around the corner, Harley Quinn, from her days in the Suicide Squad, swings her bat, both of them bringers of pandemonium.

While the initial catastrophe made have visited itself on the city without warning, nature has long since announced its determination to lay permanent claim to the neighbourhood. Open spaces now lie flooded, for example; might there have been a tsunami as well? Or has global warming subsequently led to a rising in sea level? You decide. Along the fractured streets, trees now add to the chaos, trunks further breaking the asphalt, roots eating into the foundations of building, adding to the canted appearance of some.

HoPe

It is with the trees that we have perhaps the clearest indication of whatever happened here happened a long time ago: some have matured to such an extent that, should people ever return here, without a significant lumber operation, the elevated roadway can never be repaired. For now, however, the buildings and town houses are home only to bushes, shrubs and brambles, the raised sections of subway now little more than trellises for plant growth, the air heavy with the sounds of birds, the once proud rising form of the new building now an apartment house for (possibly now feral) cats.

All of this is evidence that, when all is said and done, nature has the power to survive, no matter what humans might do. But also, on some deeper level, perhaps, just perhaps, there is a message that humanity also has the power to survive: just catch the sound of a radio in the air, caught within the cacophony of bird song, or the child’s rubber duck sitting on a streetside bench.

HoPe

Heavy going on the view it might be, but HoPe offers an ideal backdrop for photographers looking for something to frame their avatar studies, or who are looking for a more unusual landscape to capture.