Category: Reviews

A newcomer-friendly Mindful Cove in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mindful Cove, September 2024 – click any image for full size

The Destination Guide recently led me to visit Mindful Cove, an interesting Full private region with something of a double life.  On the ground, it offers a natural setting in which to relax and explore and – it you are interested – join in the local music and mediation session (subject to available guides). Up in the sky, it offers a new user orientation centre, allowing it to a part of the Second Life Community Gateway programme.

Mindful Cove is a Second Life Community Gateway with a focus on mental health resources.. We offer plenty of fun, interactive resources for New Residents, and a tranquil space for all SL Residents to come and enjoy.  

– From Mindful Cove’s About Land description

Mindful Cove, September 2024
The region design is largely designed by Ella Pavlona on behalf of the Mindful Cove group. The ground level are offers an open wilderness with a backdrop of off-region mountains which, together with the sequoia-like trees, give it the sense of being somewhere in North America. The Landing Point offers a fair amount of information on the local group, events in the region, and the all-important teleport board up to the orientation area.

From the Landing point, exploration of the ground level setting is simply a case of following your feet; there is a trail that loops around  the setting, starting as a dirt track leading away from the Landing Point. This will take visitors around to the group’s main headquarters, with a café, meeting rooms, lounges, etc.

Mindful Cove, September 2024
Beyond this, the trail continues over a stream to an outdoor events area, which I gather hosts the music events and other activities (details on the notice boards to be found there and at the landing point and elsewhere). From here the path gets a little wilder and harder to follow, but it is worth persevering as the region is photogenic and you might come across peddle boats to rez and ride, places to sit and pass the time, and so on.

Find your way across the eastern stream as it passes close the the Landing Point (there are stepping stones!), and although trail offers further opportunities for exploration and / or relaxing  – although I would suggest a few more would not go amiss in helping to attract visitors. Within its screen of high hills, this eastern and southern part of the region has a very calming sense of remoteness to to and makes for an engaging space in which to wander and take photos.

Mindful Cove, September 2024

The orientation air follows the look and feel of the ground level, with a country trail circling a wooded lake. It also follows the familiar approach to teaching new users about the viewer and its controls and key aspects of Second Life: via a follow, read, and try orientation walk.

In this case, learning takes the form of following the trail as it takes the user through a series of lessons: basic avatar movement / navigation suing the keyboard and / or a mouse, progressing through camera controls, sitting, discovering how to make friends, join groups, communicate in text and / or voice, and so on and so forth. Information boards are provided in English, and despite being on transparent panels (which gives them a nice sense of floating) are very clear and easy to follow.

Mindful Cove, September 2024

The approach may seem pedestrian (no pun intended) to some; but the fact is, it works; there is nothing better than learning at your own pace, and I would suggest that by-and-large it is potentially somewhat more successful than having an orientation area loaded with “helpers” or “mentors” all with an eagerness to help – which can be a little overwhelming for some new users. Of course, a lack of mentors does mean a lack of people of whom questions can be asked; but again, I’d suggest this is not a significant loss – again, people are liable to be less nervous or embarrassed with any mistakes they make if they don’t feel they have someone watching them – possibly critically.

The orientation walk at Mindful Cove travels roughly half-way around a central lake, ending at a pair of building with an outdoor terrace area with a rezzing, new starter gifts and additional information. This also provides a teleport back down to the ground level, while beyond it is space into which the orientation walk could expand.

Mindful Cove, September 2024

To be honest, I’m not sure how much use the orientation area gets, or how active mindful Cove is as a Community Gateway (but then, LL don’t seem to be as engaged with the programme as they were when it relaunched in 2017). No-one was making use of the orientation area during my visits, which could make it an ideal place to take anyone you bring into SL yourself and want to let them try the lessons, or come across a new user  struggling with the viewer. Again as already noted, the lessons are nicely laid out and easy to follow, and the location pleasant enough and quiet enough such that that might welcome the opportunity of work through ay of the lessons that are relevant to them and reach a place where they feel more at home in-world and with the viewer.

Taken as a whole, Mindful Cove is an interesting / pleasant visit with some nice opportunities for photography and for participating in any events held there (there were two music events for September, so not sure what October will bring).  The region has a evening sky EEP setting across both the ground level and orientation area (although I used my own EEP when photographing the former), and the landscape on the ground is nicely laid out and accompanied by a suitable soundscape, so do have local sounds enabled.

Mindful Cove, September 2024

In all, a very pleasing and interesting visit.

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Everlast: a cathedral dream in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
SLEA – Everlast, by Gem Preiz, September 2024

Over a decade ago, I wrote about a stunning exhibition of fractal art entitled Cathedral Dreamer (see: Fractal dreams in Second Life). At the time, it was my first introduction to the artist’s work – although by no means his first installation within Second Life -, and the start of a wellspring of admiration I’ve had for his work ever since.

Long before AI became the “in thing” for artistic expression, the artist in question was working with software tools to produce the most amazing fractal pieces, genuine cathedrals, palaces – even cities – of the imagination modelled in 2D, together with magnificent vehicles and spacecraft. Nor did his creativity stop there; combining images with narrative and setting, his work came to weave together broad canvases of art, story and the imagination to take us both on journeys through space and time whilst giving us pause for thought.

SLEA – Everlast, by Gem Preiz, September 2024

Installations such as Heritage: Vestiges (January 2016, reviewed here), and its sequel, Heritage: Wrecks (May 2016, reviewed here), sought to allegorically and artistically ask us about how the past may have informed us in bequeathing structures and memories to us, and how we might in turn inform our descendants in  far future age in what we bequeath in terms of structures and edifices. He has also used his art to encourage us to explore aspects of philosophy (The Anthropic Principle, April 2017, reviewed here) and also moved into 3D builds and installations such as Skyscrapers (April 2020, reviewed here) and the fabulous Sapiens (January 2018, reviewed here), an exploring the nature of humanity and human society, and of consciousness and thought.

That artist is Gem Preiz, and the above is just to touch on his work in the years since my first encounter with Cathedral Dreamer. I mention it all intentionally, not because Gem really needs any introduction, but because he has opened a new installation within Second Life, which will remain in place for (I believe) around six months. It is a piece which – whilst far from being Gem’s last in SL, I’m sure – in many respects brings things somewhat “full circle”, returning o the theme through which I first encountered his work, as he noted to me when inviting me along to view the new installation:

Hello Inara. 10 years ago, you wrote a blog post about someone dreaming of cathedrals 🙂 . I finally managed to build one in 3D! It’s now visible “for real”, built in my way  [with] prims and minimal textures … I hope you will have time to visit.
SLEA – Everlast, by Gem Preiz, September 2024

And so it is that I jumped over to visit Everlast, a single installation of impressive size (28,913 Land Capacity and occupying a Full region leveraging the Lab’s Full region Land Capacity bonus) in which Gem has truly become the Cathedral Dreamer.

It’s a build that encompasses many signatures of his work, past and present: the use of prims over mesh; the minimalist use of colour which a focus on gold (which has been the colour of choice found within several of his more recent installations and exhibitions), the use of geometry and geometric forms which echo the geometry from which fractal grow, thus providing a subliminal link to his 2D fractal art (none of which is displayed here, an unusual move for Gem, but understandable given the overall LI of the installation) – and of course, his love for architectural design.

SLEA – Everlast, by Gem Preiz, September 2024

As a region-wide build, Everlast does require a fairly long draw distance to take it all in from the outside, but this can be stepped down own inside the main structure, if required. Those running on non-PBR viewers should also ensure that the Advanced Lighting Model (ALM – Preferences → Graphics) is enabled in their viewer for the best viewing experience, and if you’re able to do so, Shadows should be enabled – although these are not strictly required in terms of general viewing.

The build itself really comprises four elements – the surround, with its little pyramid structures; the  covered cloister-like walks surrounding the main build, the garden between these “cloisters” and the main structure, and the soaring beauty of the cathedral-like main structure in the centre. The geometry expressed throughout all of these elements draws everything together and becomes marvellously obvious when the entire installation is seen from above. It is also something visible within the cathedral itself through inlaid floor patterns, the lines of columns and – most particularly –  the floor designs themselves.

SLEA – Everlast, by Gem Preiz, September 2024

Ultra-modern in appearance, the cathedral nevertheless harkens back to the great Norman cathedrals in multiple subtle ways whilst also looking to the future. Its minimalist styling – plan white walls with gold coloured elements given both an impression of newest and, conversely, great age, marking the installation a beautifully timeless. In this, the outlying pyramids also add a sense of age, recalling as they do past civilisations. There is also a sense the building is incomplete: seating is scarce, the walls unadorned, etc. But again, as Gem notes in his introduction to the installation, this is intentional:

Some things don’t ever last long, others are everlasting. Some deserve to be forgotten, others deserve a shrine.
“Everlast” is a build which was meant to never be finished. Winter froze it in its whiteness and shades of gold.

Of of this makes for a place not only of artistic expression which has been beautifully conceived and executed, but also of personal contemplation and reflection. It’s is an installation not only to be seen, but experienced. As such, I recommend Everlast for your appreciation. Do go visit.

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A return to Clef des Champs in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Clef des Champs, September 2024 – click any image for full size

Update, April 2025: Chef de Champs has closed. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.

Flicking through my notes in the week, I came across La Clef des Champs, by Rose Siabonne, a place I’ve visited a number of times, and which I’d actually convinced myself it was somewhere I’d revisited fairly recently. I was therefore utterly surprised when my notes revealed that “fairly recently” actually meant “nigh on five years ago”!

How time flies when it comes to Second Life 🙂 . Ergo, I suggested to W that we bounce our way over and have a look to see what might have changed. So off we went.

Clef des Champs, September 2024

I first visited the setting back in May 2018, when it occupied a Homestead region. However, within a month of that post the setting had relocated to a quarter parcel on a Full private region, prompting me to drop in once again. By December 2019, and after a short absence whilst Rose focused on a homestead design she called Hors du Temps (May 2019), La Clef des champs returned later that year, this time covering an entire Full region and prompting my further visit.

Now simply called Clef des Champs, the setting remains on a Full private region, with the majority of the landscaping within this iteration by BeautifulDisaster Requiem, although touches by Rose ensure all the spirit and feel of the past iterations of the setting are very much still in evidence. However, one change from my previous visit is that the setting now appears to include a number of residential rentals; these appear to be confined primarily to the east and southern sides of the region, and so don’t interfere with public explorations, whilst as long as people keep their eyes open, the risk of invading privacy is equally remote.

Clef des Champs, September 2024

The landing point now sits in the south-west corner of the region, on the edge of a little hamlet which is very mindful of parts of France (and includes a boules court!). Primarily designed by Rose, this offers a little café in which to pass the time, and one or two little touches those familiar with earlier iterations of Clef des Champs might recognise (and which help with a sense of continuity between iterations).

From here, a walk northwards winds its way over grasslands and (via boardwalks) across the local wetlands before turning eastwards. These wetlands are fed by falls dropping from the region’s central highlands and offer a home to local waterfowl whilst a houseboat permanently moored close the the foot of the falls (“permanently”, given the boardwalks now appear to block its exit to open water) and several places to sit located around the edge of the waters all provide excellent vantage points from which to observe the waterfowl  – or simply has a cuddle.

Clef des Champs, September 2024

Having passed the wetland, the eastward path skirts the feet of the central rocky plateau, passing over a little stream to carry on around the landscape, presenting paths over to the rental properties to the south and east in the process. Screened by trees and shrubs from the rest of the setting, the latter are easily avoided by keeping to the flower-covered banks of the larger stream reaching outwards from the plateau’s falls.

A fallen tree trunk here provides a convenient bridge to cross the waters of the steam and reach the steps and trail leading up into the rugged hill. At the top. multiple places to pass the time might be found – including within the hilltop folly –  and a rope bridge might lead you to a hot tub sitting on the south cliffs as they form a curtain between the inner lands of the region and the public beach.

Clef des Champs, September 2024

When circumnavigating the main upland plateau, do keep your eyes peeled for the romantic cavern hidden within the rocks at its base. Do also keep an eye out for the teleport pads dotted around (not that they are hard to miss!). As well as offering shortcuts to areas on the ground level of the region, they also provide access to the Autumn and Winter sky platforms, each of which offers its own little retreat.

Between the plateau and the screen of rocky cliffs to the south, the landscape is cut through by the meandering, if fast-flowing, stream as it makes its way back towards the west to eventually exit into the waters beside the little hamlet. As it does so, it passes through a verdant land of tall trees, flowers, grasses and woodland where trails equally meander, and at least one camp site awaits discovery.

Clef des Champs, September 2024

Throughout all of this, the landscaping is highly amenable to photography and lends itself nicely to a range of EEP settings – I’ve used my own for the pictures here – and the soundscape adds depth to the setting. There are also multiple places to sit and pass the time; some of which are mentioned above, but more of which await discovery.

There was some redecorating (seasonal changes) going on during the second half of my re-visit, so its is possible some details may change between this article going out and you reading it – but if so – then that’s another reason for visiting, no? 🙂 .

Clef des Champs, September 2024

Looker Lumet at NovaOwl in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
NovaOwl Sky Gallery, September 2024: Looker Lumet – Sea Views

Open through until late October 2024 at the sky gallery space at NovaOwl Social Corner and Gallery, is an exhibition of photographic art by Looker Lumet. Entitled Sea Views, it in part features – unsurprisingly, given the title – images of coastal settings, seascapes and bays; however, to assume such images are the sole focus of the exhibition would be a mistake; rather, Sea Views offers a glimpse of Looker’s broader photographic and artistic talents, making it a thoroughly engaging portfolio of works in which to immerse oneself.

I’ve covered exhibitions featuring Looker’s work in the past, but these have tended to be shared exhibitions, rather than solo offerings; and while I’ve always admired what I’ve seen in his work, Sea Views is the first time I’ve actually been able to visit an exhibition that offers such a complete and engaging selection of his work.

NovaOwl Sky Gallery, September 2024: Looker Lumet – Sea Views
Looker Lumet is a Belgian photographer who found the pleasure in sl of taking pictures, back in 2007, which was an extension of his hobby in real life. It is also from 2007 that he has learned to work with Photoshop, and is still evolving by learning the skills of post processing every day. Thanks to the evolution in second life, where the avatars were better looking, the landscapes were more detailed, the pictures became more and more realistic. Throughout the years in second life, Looker Lumet has been first an artist of the Avatrait Gallery, before he was giving the opportunity to manage the gallery for three years. His works has been displayed in several galleries since then.

Looker Lumet biography

The lower level of the gallery space focus on Looker’s landscape and seascape photography. In all 10 pieces are presented, and whether the locations within them are instantly recognisable or not as popular public locations past and present within Second Life doesn’t matter; each is striking in its own way, thanks to a combination of Looker’s ability to compose and / or frame a shot and / or for his skills in post-processing.

NovaOwl Sky Gallery, September 2024: Looker Lumet – Sea Views

Eight of the ten clearly feature  coastal and sea views, be they sandy shores, coastal fens (Autumn Trace, if I’m not mistaken), or sailing vessels at anchor in a bay or with sails unfettered and in full career as they head to sea; and each is alive with a sense of Nature’s beauty and expanse. The remaining two pictures do not feature the sea directly, but both strongly suggest it, with Cloud Edge being captured from such an angle that even though the region itself presents a location high up upon a mountain range, the way clouds roll up against the peak directly before the camera within the image, strongly give the impression of sea-spray foaming up over rocks as waves roll against an island’s flanks following the ebb and flow of the tide.

The upper level of the gallery space offers a selection of eight pieces representing another aspect of Looker’s work: that of a portraiture artist. Seven of the pieces are rendered at black-and-white pieces, with one a self-portrait carrying with it subtle hints of chiaroscuro (in which it is joined by the two pieces immediately to its left as you look at it), whilst all capture their subjects both uniquely in terms of pose and angle, and expressively. The remaining image, offered in colour, stands as a broader portrait of a couple, offering a superbly framed and composed single-frame story ready to be told to the eyes and ears of anyone viewing it.

NovaOwl Sky Gallery, September 2024: Looker Lumet – Sea Views

Recommended.

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Diving into Second Norway’s Havfolk Fjord in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

As is fairly obvious from this blog, I enjoy exploring Second Life and writing about the places I discover either directly as I bounce around or via the Destination Guide, or am led to through the kindness of others dropping me a  landmark or SLurl and / or a suggestion. There are certain criteria I tend to apply to places I visit when considering them as a potential blog post; some of these criteria are pretty obvious (do I like what I see? Is this a place with a broad-ranging appeal?, etc.); others perhaps less so.

While there are some exceptions, I live within the estate and feel comfortably , I rarely review residential region or those that are largely residential focused – not unless they offer a good extent of public spaces thing to do and / or reasonably clear delineation between public and residential spaces. There’s a simple reason for this: I don’t want to be responsible for upsetting people’s privacy in regions that are largely residential by suggesting people go a-wandering in them and end up trespassing to the annoyance of those living there.

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

But, as noted, there are at times exceptions to thus broad rule of thumb. This is one of them – but as a long-time resident of Second Norway (4+ years now) and knowing Vanity and some of her staff, I’m comfortable in writing about it. Specifically, it relates to Second Norway’s new Havfolk Fjord, a two region area of the estate that has been redeveloped to provide underwater rentals and open spaces for those within Second Life’s Merfolk community to explore and in which to set-up home if they desire.

The Norwegian word for “mermaid” is havfrue. For “mermen” or “mer people,” the term is havmann (for males) and havfolk (which refers to merfolk or mer people in general).
Havfrue = Mermaid (literally “sea woman”); Havmann = Merman (literally “sea man”); Havfolk = Merfolk or Mer people (literally “sea people”)
Welcome to our Havfolk Lands at Second Norway! The Mer Community helped form the Blake Sea way back in the day. We are very pleased to introduce our own Mer Lands at Second Norway and hope all of our residents will enjoy this added dimension to the Role Play here.

– From the Second Norway announcement about the opening of Havfolk Fjord

With a small island serving as the Landing Point at its southern end, Havfolk Fjord presents ten rental parcels (at the time of writing) of various sizes across the sea bed and within an environment decorated by Second Norway resident (and operator of the Knapper village MyStory community within Second Norway) BenjaminButtonss on behalf of the Second Norway management team.

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

Linked by “paths” along the sea floor where ancient ruins  and sunken ships might be found and fish food obtained (yes there are little fishes scattered around , giving you the opportunity of finding Nemo and given feeding him), the rental parcels range in size from 3744 sq m / 484 LI through to 11040 sq m / 1431 LI, making them suitable for most pockets among merfolk (and maybe underwater explorers?), whilst the sea floor within the region offers a certain, if limited, given the need to conserved Land Capacity for residential use), “landscaped” seafloor ready for exploration via submarine or by scuba diving as well as offering merfolk the chance to rent space for a home. Meanwhile, the open waters on the surface offer space for boating and sailing.

The Landing Point island offers – literally, given the pier at one end of the beach – a jumping off point for explorations. However, on visiting, I couldn’t help but feel it might benefit from a little rez zone so visitors could conjure up a little boat or underwater craft to take to the water for a spot of sailing or exploring. But that said, the idea behind the updated regions of Havfolk Fjord is interesting, and I do look forward to seeing what develops on the seas bed there!

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

In the meantime, if you are within the merfolk community and looking for a suitable home, feel free to jump over the the Havfolk island and dive in for a look-see; details of all rents can be found within the information boards located within each of the available parcels.

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Rolvsoya is rated Moderate

Blip’s Black and White World in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

Currently open within the Suburbs sky gallery space at Mareea Farrasco’s IMAGOLand, is an exhibition of photography by Blip Mumfuzz. Entitled Black and White, it is perhaps a slight departures from Blip’s past exhibitions in that – as the name implies – Blip eschews her usual lean towards a richness of colour palette and explorations of tone and colour within her landscapes and images, as seen with the likes of Exaggerations (reviewed in 2022), or for capturing the mood and tone of entire regions, as seen within Images of Skrunda (also reviewed in 2022) in favour of a dive into the world of black-and-white photography / image processing.

And it is another tour-de-force demonstration of both images capture and processing; the section of images found within the two hangers  of the gallery space (and outside on the tarmac!) are simply eye-popping in their depth and content.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

I’ve long admired Blip’s art because of her many abilities and approaches. She has, for an example, an eye for creating images that hover between offering a complete scene whilst simultaneously encouraging the eye to focus down with macro-like intensity onto individual elements – a pot apparently tossed aside here, a towel draped over a bath there, and to on – imbuing the completed image with a layer of prompts which may prompt the imagination to create a story.

For example: who hung the cap on the handle of a garden fork? Was it the gardener taking time out to mop his or her brow, or a youngster who has decided they don’t want the encumbrance of the hat whilst playing?  Or is it simply, like the sheets hanging on the line behind it, just set out to dry in the day’s sunlight?  And what of the corner of an old building (or barn?) where a door stands open, the darkness inside beckoning? What might we find on stepping through? At the same time her compositional skill can produce images that blur the line between the digital and the physical to the point the eye can be tricked into thinking it is looking at a scene from the latter rather than the former.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

In other words, Blip has an innate ability to draw us into her images, to not so much see them, but experience and explore them; and this is more than evidenced within Black and White. Admittedly, not all of the images presented are necessarily new creations; there was at least one I recognise for certain from Blip’s Images of Skrunda and one I seem to recall from Urban and Industrial Images (2021, and reviewed here), although I’m not 100% certain on the latter.

But the fact that these images may well reply of post-processing to achieve their monochromatic finish doesn’t matter. Black and white photography / processing is in many respects a lot harder than working with colour; it is an unforgiving mistress prone to highlighting errors and imperfections – and this is true when converting colour images to black-and-white; yes, often the software will do the basics for you, but to get the genuine look and tone of a black-and-white image, with its clarity of line, light, shadow and so on, takes time and practice. And as these piece show, Blip has an artist’s skill in bringing this factors to the fore such that the pieces in this collect stand more as monochrome “originals” that anything that started life in the world of colour-.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

In being completely honest, I could have perhaps done without the nose and wing of a 747 being shoved through the the roofs of the hanger galleries – by a quick right-click derender soon eliminated that such that it did not intrude on my enjoyment and appreciation of this collection – and as such, I again strong commend it as being well worth viewing.

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