Category: Reviews

In the Wild – click any image for full size

Update: In the Wild appears to have closed.

Given it is summer in the northern hemisphere and many are experiencing heat waves (even those of us in the UK!), the mind  turns inevitably to holidays and vacations. Often, however, we can’t always just take off to somewhere where the sun and warmth are more fun; but fortunately, there are plenty of places in Second Life that at least give the illusion of escape when we’d all rather be somewhere other than slowing baking in the heat at home.

Take In the Wild, for example. Sitting at the eastern end of the Orchard Heights Estates, it offer local residents and visitors alike the opportunity to escape the demands of physical and virtual life, and simply relax in a parkland setting offering much to see and do. For those seeking a little piece of privacy for a day, it also provides vacation cabins and tents for daily rent.

In the Wild

Designed by Liyora Resident, this is an exceptionally picturesque region, rich in detail with plenty of opportunities for photography and fun. Comprising three islands connected by bridges, the park offers a good mix of land and water, with trails and lookout points on the former, and sampans, bumper boats and kayaks on the latter – there’s even a swimming area with floating slide available, as this is a family friendly park.

The largest island includes the landing point, overlooking the waters and complete with an information board. A long covered bridge links it back to the rest of the estate, reached via a track snaking down the hillside. Above and behind the landing point is one of the park’s rental cabins, sitting atop a high cliff and presenting superb views to the south and north-west. Between landing point and cabin is a second track, pointing the way to the bridge leading to the next of the park’s islands.

In the Wild

This is where the water fun can be found – the swimming circle with its slide, and the bumper boats, together with a couple  of static water vehicles  which give the park a sense of being used, rather than offering actual rides. This is the largest of the island, backed by another high shoulder of rock on which a further cabin sits, guarded by the tower of a windmill and partially overlooking a circular inlet cutting into the lowlands.

Out on a north-eastern headland of the island is a public picnic area offering another fine lookout point, sitting as it does on a shoulder of rock just below another of the park’s cabins and the local lighthouse. Before this headland is  tongue a of land ending in a finger of rock where a further bridge connects to the smallest of the three islands, and home to another holiday cabin as well as the park’s music events area.

In the Wild

As well as the cabins, there are several tens scattered around the islands, also available for daily rent and provided pre-furnished and a modest LI allowance for rezzing props, etc. Paths through the park take a variety of  forms: dirt tracks, wooden board walks and sets of paving stones loosely place across the grass. Like spots offer solo places to sit in the shade of a parasols and. The kayaks mentioned earlier can be obtained via a waterfront rezzer a short walk from the landing point. and come in single and tandem seat versions.

In the Wild can be summarised as a well-designed region, one that is – as already noted – very picturesque. It is certainly well deserving of a visit.

In the Wild

SLurl Details

• In the Wild (In the Wild, rated: Moderate)

Abandale – click any image for full size

Update: Abandale has closed. The SLurls in this article have therefore been removed.

Somewhere, along some coastal road, perhaps hidden under the shade of trees or easily missed as it tries to compete with the stunning ocean vista on the other side of the road, an ageing, fading sign points the way down a turn off and is stencilled with a single word, fading with age: Abandale.

Take the turn, and the road gradually becomes more and more decrepit until, just as the idea of turning back and forgetting curiosity’s call, it arrives at a narrow stretch of coastline caught between sea and undulated shoulders of rock. Here sits a place where the black top finally gives up, and an old cargo container offers itself as a makeshift bridge spanning a narrow finger of water, the original crossing perhaps only a ford. It is the setting for the remnants of Abandale, a little town lost from civilisation and forgotten by time.

Abandale

There’s not much here to commend itself to visitors seeking comfort – all that’s left of the motel which may once have  stood at the town’s edge is the entranceway and the front office. Whether the rest was demolished or fell prey to a violent storm – the place stands almost on the edge of the land – is hard to say.

Beyond a curtain of trees from this, and reached by a wooden board walk, sits the ruins of a large building. But it doesn’t appear to be part of the motel; its general shape and the large gates sitting to one side suggest it was once a house, possibly part of a farm, going by the broken windmill and barn close by.

Abandale

The town’s bar, however, does survive intact. It faces the ruins of the house across what’s left of the main road, but the sign confirming it is open for business may not carry quite the assurance the proprietor likely hopes. Certainly, the detritus of other human habitation before it doesn’t offer a comforting invitation.

Across the narrow channel of water the intrepid explorer can find more signs of former habitation: a long abandoned and broken little fun fair shaded from the sun by a tower of rock, the ruin of an old chapel sitting on the other side of the road and reached via an old track. A second track offers passage up to the hills to where a run-down cabin sits.

Abandale

To the west of this, down on the coast, sits a beaches – perhaps the one place that offers an almost pleasant greeting for those who find it; certainly, someone has opted to set-up camp close by and avail themselves of the bar and volleyball. Perhaps whoever it is owners the rather pristine motorbike parked outside the old town’s garage, and they’ve found what’s left of Abandale a cosy enough place to rest from their own travels…

Designed by Dominique Redfield, Abandale occupies half a Homestead region and offers SL visitors something just that little bit different. Poetic licence on how to reach it aside, a visit begins up on the hills marking the parcel’s southern boundary, a switch back path offering a way down to the ruins of the house mentioned above, as a well as presenting a short walk along the cliff-tops to a high placed little wooden snug.

Abandale

There is a ramshackle, ageing charm to Abandale, with plenty of room to explore and for photography. True, some of the landscaping is a little rough (I’d personally have avoided laying the dirt tracks up the slope to the cabin, or at least worked the land a little more to help blend the edges of the track more with the rocks and shrubs), but there’s nothing here to really spoil the time spent in visiting it.

For those who enjoy atmospheric settings for their photography and who enjoy experimenting with their windlight settings to define a desired result, Abandale offers plenty of scope (and has its own Flickr group). Similarly, those looking for places to sit and relax in a “country grunge” type of setting, will find plenty of such places here as well, from the beaches to the aforementioned cliff-top shelter.

Abandale

One of the places I’d always enjoyed visiting in Second Life – although I admit it’s been getting on for 4 years since I was last there – is the paired regions of Chouchou, Chouchou V. These form the in-world base for the musical pairing of Japanese pianist arabesque Choche and vocalist Juliet Heberle, together also known and Chouchou. Over the years they gained a strong following in-world and have produced a number of CDs of their musical and original compositions, with samples and tracks showcased through their YouTube channel.

I first blogged about Chouchou – the region – far back in 2012, and it is both surprising and gratifying as to how little has changed over the years. The ground level setting, with its sand banks, shallow waters and teleport ladder rising into the sky remains always as it was, offering a haven of peace presided over by the duet’s music (do have the music stream enabled when visiting).

The teleport ladder provides access to two areas in the sky (both of which can also be reached via direct teleport as weell – SLurls at the end of this article): Islamey and Memento Mori (a third area, Babel, sadly seems to have sadly disappeared at some point in the past).

Islamey offers something of a traditional Japanese garden look, with teahouse built over water and walks under cherry blossoms, all sitting beneath a bright blue sky. This was once the venue for concerts – but to be honest, I’m not sure if this is still the case. But even if not, as I noted far back in 2012, it is a place of quiet contemplation where you can come when you want to give free passage to thoughts and ideas, or when you simply want to find peace and let Chouchou’s music soothe you gently.

Memento Mori is a place that used to draw me a lot because it is a magnificent build styled after the great medieval cathedrals, and that simply must be seen to be appreciated. It may appear to be a startlingly bright environment when first arriving,  but it is well worth leaving the default windlight set while climbing the stairs from the arrival point up into the cathedral’s great nave; the way the jet black piano is revealed through the surrounding light is almost transcendental in feeling and perfectly suited to the setting.

The intricacy of this build – a joint work dating from 2010 by Juliet collaborating with Miya Grut and with the support of Yuki Aabye for some to the sculpt work – is completely mind-blowing: From the sheer size of the cathedral, through the curling stairways leading to the upper passages, the great bell suspended over the piano as it sits within the space below the great tower to the ghostly pews between the nave and the two outer aisles, the beauty here tends to leave the visitor in awe. It is genuinely a place that has to be visited and seen, rather than written about and photographed.

I was actually drawn back to Chouchou for two reasons. Firstly, to witness Memento Mori once more, simply because it has been so long since my last visit. Secondly, and, more particularly, because reader Silvana Silk e-mailed me with a link to a recent video on Chouchou’s YouTube channel announcing a new set of concerts by arabesque Choche.

A noted and respected classical pianist going by the name of Michal Horák in the physical world, he will – for the first time – be giving a series of concerts in Japan under both his physical world name and his Second Life avatar name. As the notice with the video states:

Up until now, arabesque has been working not only as a composer and a pianist of Chouchou, but also as a classical pianist under his real name Michal Horák. And this fall, for the first time the two names will be combined together. He will have the first piano concert under two names with this title “Michal Horák/arabesque Choche Piano Concert.” The concerts will be held in Tokyo, Osaka and Kagoshima, and Chouchou’s new and second piano album “piano02 opus” expected to be released on December, 2018 will be on presale at the concert venues.

Tickets for the concerts are on sale, and there are links in the video description (in Japanese) to the concert venues – I only with I was in a position to attend one of them. As I’m not, and to mark the occasion in my own small way, I’ve put together a video of Memento Mori. I hope you’ll enjoy it and use it as a reason to visit / return to Chouchou.

SLurl Details and Links

• Chouchou landing point (Chouchou, rated: Moderate)
• Islamey
• Memento Mori
• Chouchou on YouTube
• Michal Horák/arabesque Choche Piano Concert trailer