Category: Reviews

A Calas Christmas Wish 2022 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022 – click any image for full size

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

So goes the first stanza of the 1972 poem, A Christmas Carol, by Christina Rossetti, and which is perhaps known since 1906 – when it was set to music by Gustav Holst – as the seasonal hymn, In the Bleak Midwinter. It’s an odd poem in many ways, confusing the hard, cold winters of the Victorian era with the warmer climes of the Middle East and the birthplace of Christ.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

But putting the religious cast of the poem to one side, that first stanza does capture the essential point that winter can be an especially hard time for all; the weather can be bitter; snow, whilst fun for some, can also be isolating in many ways; the days are short and can often be leaden with heavy cloud or dulled by freezing fog which refuses the Sun’s urges to burn itself away, and so on.

That said, even in the depths of Midwinter do come times to celebrate, to revel – if just for a moment or two – in that the same snow on water gives the latter the strength of stone as it lay sheathed in ice; that we might look to the end of the year in joy, and perhaps think of the coming year and the opportunities it may hold and the joy it may bring. In short and despite the cold, the end of year and its association with winter within the northern hemisphere can be a special, precious time, with traditions aplenty.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

Within Second Life, one of the greatest of those traditions is the Calas Galadhon Christmas / Winter setting with its two regions of snow, entertainment, ice skating, dancing, sledding, balloon tours, sleigh rides, and lots of opportunities for photograph and exploration.

The theme for this year is once again A Christmas Wish, which this year is located on the regions of Midwinter and Midwinter 2 (the region names giving me the excuse to quote Rossetti’s A Christmas Carol!). This is perhaps actually a more relaxed setting than previous years with a greater sense of an open wilderness marked by snow and bounded by woodland and off-region surround elements which add to its since of remoteness and romance; all of which all come together under the guiding hands of Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith to offer a setting with a familiar mix of time-honoured elements and new trails to wander.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

Visits begin at the skybox landing point for those visiting for the first time. On arrival, new visitors are offered a copy of the music events schedule in texture form and a notecard of landmarks for direct teleporting to various locations within the regions, together with the option of visiting the Calas Galadhon website. From here, follow the candy stripe arrows across an icy landscape to where the portal to the regions awaits (if you’ve never done so before, you’ll be asked to join the local Calas Galadhon Experience in order to complete the teleport down to the ground level), where your explorations proper may begin.

Of course, the centrepiece for the setting remains the Pavilion, rich in its holiday / Christmas looks and home to the music and entertainment – check just inside the main entrance for dates and times of events, or join the Calas Galadhon in-world group for notices if you did not collect a copy of the schedule from the landing point. This sits above the giant skating rink at the northern end of the trails winding up from the ground-level landing point, allowing people to wander through the landscape, explore, take photos and find the little cosy spots indoors and out along the way by which to rest and maybe enjoy a cuddle or two.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

Around the frozen waters of the ice skating lake can be found other familiar touches – the Calas Polar Express, the balloon tour, the winter lodge and the fine dining pavilion with their own opportunities for dancing. For those who prefer, there are the sleigh tours alongside the landing point to carry you around the setting. Capable of carrying up to four, depending on which you select, they give the excuse of keeping a sense of warmth and you huddle under blankets and watch the sights of the region sliding by. Not far from the sleigh rides, and at the start of the Pavilion trail, is a horse rezzer for those who fancy time exploring on horseback.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

The Calas Christmas regions are always a popular destination, and avatars can place the heaviest load on the viewer, consider keeping your avatar dressed accordingly, use Bakes on Mesh, and avoid outfits that utilise multiple high-res unique textures. Also, to assist the simulators, do lighten your script load.

Also, keep in mind that because the regions are popular, you may want to make adjustment to your viewer to help with processing: reduce the maximum number of fully-rendered avatars, perhaps turn off shadow rendering, if used (other than for photography), drop your draw distance, etc.

A Calas Christmas Wish, December 2022

But above all, enjoy your visit!

SLurl Details

Note that the Midwinter estate is rated Moderate.

Mareea’s Enchanted Garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
IMAGOLand Gallery: Mareea Farrasco – Enchanted Gardens

Enchanted Garden is the title Mareea Farrasco has given to a small exhibition of her own work available at her IMAGOLand gallery. Comprising just 10 paintings reproduced within Second Life, it is nevertheless an engaging exhibition, taking visitors literally and figuratively on a walk through a garden whilst asking a question.

The paintings are of a classical nature, encompassing themes and styles familiar to any lover of art: nature, women in flowing gowns, hints of faery and fantasy, ideals of love and marriage, summer days with fields of flowers and lavender, and so on. They are presented with a dream-like finish, the haze and soft form suggesting horizons and ideals which extend far beyond the edge of the canvas.

IMAGOLand Gallery: Mareea Farrasco – Enchanted Gardens

Looking at these images, it is hard not to see within them the echoes of great painters mixed with the imagination of a modern-day dreamer with the rich range of image manipulation tools at her disposal and an imagination capable of carrying us on the wings of story to wherever our own imaginations and dreams choose to alight.

At least three of the pieces paint a story of their own: one of a wedding, the bride and her maids – possible post-ceremony – caught in moments of contemplation (or lightness) within a garden. Posed they might be, as all such wedding photographs are, they encompass both s sense of the romantic painters of a bygone age and the artificial construct of a posed photograph in a manner that might be seen through a certain lens as, well, kitsch.

It’s a sense evident within the other paintings to different degrees, and in using the term I am not in any way denigrating Mareea’s work; for in presenting these pieces, she asks us to define what is kitsch.

IMAGOLand Gallery: Mareea Farrasco – Enchanted Gardens

Often used in a pejorative manner to express the feeling that a piece of art – visual, written or musical – is naïve, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. “Kitsch” is a term that at its height became – ironically – somewhat passé, the means by which not so much to pass a critique but to demonstrate our own hipness. However, the term has other connotations; some kitsch art can, for example, be appreciated for the irony or humour or quirky nature without it being visually offensive.

More particularly, Kitsch as a statement has been around for long enough that it might itself be considered an aesthetic category and style of its own; and it is this idea Mareea explores through these ten images. For while they may well encompass themes and elements we might – in different ways – require as “kitsch”: the flowers in the hair, the “soft focus”, the posed nature, the themes of gardens and faeries, there can be no denying that each piece within this collection is beautifully executed as a work of art, and the pieces collective are an expression of art and talent that is richly evocative. As an adjunct to this, Mareea also asks us to consider kitsch more widely, pointing our thinking – if we are so inclined – towards how it might be considered as broadly as within the topic of politics…

IMAGOLand Gallery: Mareea Farrasco – Enchanted Gardens

However, I’ll leave that for you to discover and close this piece by saying this is a engaging, easy-to-view selection of art, whether you opt to see it in its own light, or through the lens Mareea casts upon it in her introduction.

SLurl Details

A Frogmore Winterset in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Winterset Hollow, December 2022 – click any image for full size
It was back to a wintry setting for me recently after an invitation of region Holder Tolla Crisp to visit a seasonal offshoot of her Frogmore estate regions: Winterset Hollow. Designed by Tolla and her go-to landscaper, Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington), the region is intended to offer a Swedish-style winter setting – as its name suggests.
A Frogmore Christmas Region from Tolla Crisp and Terry Fotherington. Enjoy your stay in our Swedish inspired winter village.

– Winterset Hollow About Land.

Winterset Hollow, December 2022
By dint of my viewer hiccupping, I arrived within the region with my viewer settings reflecting the environment of the region I had just departed – a night with a Moon low in the sky. It was actually a set of environment settings which suited Winterset Hallow, and so I retained it for some of the photos taken as I flycammed through the region and have included them here. With the landing point located towards the centre of the region, this is a place blended into the surrounding snowy mountains to present the idea of a town deep within the rugged Swedish countryside, one perhaps cut-off from the rest of the world by the snowbound weather.
Winterset Hollow, December 2022
A long central cobbled street climbs (or descends, depending on your point of view!) through the middle of this blanketed town as it sits as if within a deep valley, houses and small places of business on either side. At the top end of this street is the local chapel, providing it with a commanding view back down over the town and its old fountain. Sitting with its water frozen, the latter is also overlooked the local coffee house. All of the business are furnished, with many of the houses either fully or partially furnished, offering many points for exploration (and escaping the snow!), although for those who prefer, there is outdoor seating as well. At the far end of the street compared to the chapel, a pair of holy-wrapped street lamps mark the steps descending to where a covered bridge spans a frozen body of water to where more steps slope down to what might – but for the snow – be a country road.
Winterset Hollow, December 2022
The broad expanse of snow curves north to come to an end before woodland with trees frosted with snow, naked branches reaching upwards and a narrow path winding between them. This path leads the way to where a pond has been converted into a skating rink, and else well-defined paths path onwards through the trees to snow-covered farmland tucked beneath the rocky arm on which the little town sits. To the south, the road continues to arc around the foot of the town, passing between it and a shoulder of a hill on which a trio of cabins sit. From here, and in summer, the road climbs the southern hills before ending in another tree-enclosed trail above the town. However, for winter, this rising road has perhaps been converted into a ski run complete with lift rising upslope beside it. at its upper reach, the slope offers a large deck built out over the hilltop, providing clear views of the surrounding mountains.
Winterset Hollow, December 2022
Whether you view the slope leading up to it as a road or not doesn’t matter; the deck, set with tables and with food and hot drinks on offer, propane heaters warming the air to make it a welcoming look and feel. Across from it, the little ski lodge provides snowboards for those wishing to make a fast descent back down the hill. Beyond the deck and ski lodge, the winding path runs between the tree to where a large, partially-furnished house sits above and separated from the rest of the town. Perhaps it is a private dwelling or perhaps it is a guest house; either way, it faces a footpath dropping down a short slope to where smaller houses flank a playground and the path connects back to the town’s chapel. before dropping away again to reach the northern farmlands under their blanket of heavy snow.
Winterset Hollow, December 2022
Rich in detail (and admittedly, a little heavy on viewer performance even with the recent improvements), Winterset Hollow offers a lot to see and photograph – including the local wildlife – and makes for an engaging visit, rich in a sense of the season and to enjoy. My thanks to Tolla for the invite!
Winterset Hollow, December 2022

SLurl Details

Junction Points at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Selen Minotaur – Junction Points

The law of polarity (aka the law of opposites) states the idea that everything has an opposite: with every day, there is a night; for every moment of sadness there will come a corresponding one of joy; for every electron there is a positron; every life ends in death, and so on. It’s a notion akin to Chinese yin and yang; and like that philosophical concept, it suggests that these opposites, if not directly joined, are interconnected at some level.

It is this interconnectedness – this duality, if you will – that is the focus of the December exhibition now open at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas. And like many exhibitions there, it is an exhibition that is layered in potential interpretation.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Selen Minotaur – Junction Points

Entitled Junction Points, it as presented by Selen Minotaur, and features both 2D and 3D pieces (together with a machinima), and in describing it, Selen focuses on the idea of duality inherent in the law of polarity, and the importance of finding balance:

We live, in fact, in duality: high-low, left-right, chiaroscuro, good-bad, day-night, healthy-sick, cold-hot, north-south, etc. Duality teaches us what we prefer to experience and helps us recognise how to change our way of thinking to create that preferred experience in our lives. We know we prefer happiness because we have known sorrow. We love health because we have known sickness.
The challenge, for everyone, is therefore to find the points of junction, those which make it possible to feel “ONE”, in symbiosis and in balance with oneself, with the others and with the universe.

– Selen Minotaur

In reflection of this, the images and sculpture forming the exhibition offer elements of duality throughout, together with their inherent points of connection. In doing so, she presents pieces that are both highly visual whilst frequently offering insight and commentary on life and the human condition.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Selen Minotaur – Junction Points

Take 1+1=3 for example. It suggests two people caught in a dance or coming together in greeting / celebration, and about to clasp hands. Between them is a third individual placed in a front split, feet touching both of the standing figures. Set on a backdrop of geometric forms, it is a piece visual rich in ideas of duality, reflection, and connection. More deeply, however, it might be said to reflect the basic truth that the singularity of life (symbolised by the middle figure connecting the two upright figures, complete with hair growing into a tree-like form – the tree being itself a symbol of life) is born out of the duality of two people becoming a unity.

Across the hall, Double Sided offers a a commentary on our need to at times being both striking in our looks and gaining the attention of others and for our need to to be private, as symbolised by the use of shaded glasses and the hat in one  half of the image. Thus, on a deeper level it offers a metaphor for the fact that we are, by turns, both social and gregarious creatures whilst also creatures of needing solitude and privacy, and somewhere between the two is that junction point of nature where me might be most true to ourselves.

Within the 3D pieces, both Mood Swing and Depth are especially layered in interpretation, offering ideas on the manner in which we need to find balance within the see-sawing of our emotions both for our onw piece of mind and our relationships to others; through our perceptions of self and those around us, and the fact that we can seem at time to be incredibly deep and at other extraordinarily shallow, with the junction between the two being whom we really are.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Selen Minotaur – Junction Points

Visually expressive, rich in context and (again) supported by lighting and elements by Adwehe on behalf of Dido and the Gallery, Junction Points is an exhibition well worth spending time pondering. However, when visiting, do make sure you have Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled in your viewer (Preferences → Graphics → make sure Advanced Lighting Model is checked; no need to have Shadows enabled as well) in order to see all of the pieces in the installation correctly.

SLurl Details

Art and Cyborgs in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Subcutan Art Gallery: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Cyborgs
Currently open through December 2022 is Cyborgs, an installation by Austrian artist Sophie de Saint Phalle (Perpetua1010) located within her Subcutan Art region  At its heart Copper plate etchings and lithographs, although they are framed in a much broader story.
Leave the security and assurance of your spoiled civilization and immerse yourself in the fantastic and futuristic world of Cyborgs and dangerous creatures.

– Cyborgs by Sophie de Saint Phalle

The full story behind the exhibition can be obtained from the information giver board at the landing point. In short, it is the far future and humanity is now an interstellar civilisation. However, it has also faced numerous wars with other civilisations, some of them possibly biological / genetic in nature, so humans have been left weakened and in need of cybernetic enhancement in order to survive, eventually reaching a point where children are conceived in vivo and assigned to full cyborg bodies which define their role in their civilisation.
Subcutan Art Gallery: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Cyborgs
Within the exhibition, the images represent a group of these human-cyborgs now forced to live bound to a single planet, where limited genetic materials are of ever increasing importance, as does the need for these human constructs to express their humanity. Set within an environment representing the landscape of the planet to which they are confined, the installation comprises two parts: the landing point and events area – the installation opened with 6 hours of music – with the second containing the art itself. when visiting, it is essential you have Advanced Lighting Model enabled (Preferences → Graphics → make sure Advanced Lighting is checked), and preferably use the local environment (World → Environment → make sure Used Shared Environment is checked).
Subcutan Art Gallery: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Cyborgs
Within the art area, the etchings and lithograph are presented mounted on a series of granite-like blocks. At least two copies of each etching is presented, generally on the same block (or a neighbouring block), with each version of an etching given a different finish. They form expressive and very human aspects of life – people at work, people resting from exhaustion, male and female alike. None of them looks particularly “cyborg-like”; rather, but for the title given each piece, these could be studies of fully flesh-and-blood humans. And it is in this that the power of the art lies: the rich suggestion of largely artificial beings trying to express (or recapture?) their essential humanness through art and carvings; seeking to reconnect with their species heritage and origins. As well as the images, the landscape includes figurines intended to represent the races which may have forced humanity down this evolutionary path, the creatures they have had to tame – and the artificial bodies into which they have been forced based not on will or desire, but as a result of genetic make-up and algorithms about which they had no knowledge even as the life-forming decisions were being made about their futures.
Subcutan Art Gallery: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Cyborgs
Sophie’s work is always evocative and captivating, and Cyborgs offers a further dimension to her work displayed in Second Life, whether you opt to view the pieces as etchings in their own right or within the framework of the installation’s wider narrative. When visiting, do also consider using the teleport disk to visit the other exhibition spaces Sophie has created within her Subcutan arts region (about which you can read about in my January 2022 review).

SLurl Details

  • Cyborgs, Subcutan Art Gallery (Ocean Island, rated Adult)

The solitude of WQNC in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
WQNC, December 2022 – click any image for full size
At the start of the year I made a return visit to WQNC, an iteration of the Wo Qui Non Coin region design by Maasya I first visited in September 2021. With the end of 2022 approaching, Shawn Shakespeare suggested I make a return and witness the current version of the setting, which has relocated since my January 2022 visit, and downsized to a Homestead region. Not that the downsizing makes a difference; Maasya has a talent for creating captivating settings, and whilst this one may well be within a Homestead, that certainly remains true. In fact, I would suggest that it is perhaps a design that speaks closely to her self-described isolationist nature.
WQNC, December 2022
The setting takes the form of an east-west oriented island, a slender finger of rock rising from the surrounding seas, cut almost all the way through by a canyon, the western end of which blocked by a high table of rock, and what would otherwise by the open eastern end partially enclosed by a high-rise apartment building of indeterminate age. It is at the foot of this high-rise that visitors initially find themselves, standing knee-deep in tidal waters lapping a small beach. This gives the impression of literally having just arrived – whether by boat or by swimming or simple luck on having survived some event, is hard to tell. However, the overall design of the location does suggest some form of apocalyptic upheaval may have taken place.
WQNC, December 2022
A tunnel passes under the foot of the apartment building to provide access to the canyon beyond. A teleport sign is mounted on one wall of this tunnel; at the time of my first visit, this provided access to the skybox, but on my return visit it appeared to have restricted access, as attempting to use it left me floating in the air within the tunnel. Beyond the tunnel, a path winds through the canyon – a street winding through tall buildings backed against the rock walls of the natural canyon, such that they form their own man-made gorge. Neon and LED lights glow from street lamps and signs on the buildings and signs, some of which are mounted on metal poles to span the width of the road like latter-day Torii gates – much of the signage suggests this island street lies somewhere amidst the string of islands which make up the nation of Japan.
WQNC, December 2022
Follow the path to its western end, and the rock walls close to a narrow stair leading upwards, the bottom end marked by a traditional Torii gate. Ancient-looking lamps (fitted with LED or neon illumination) light the steps as they climb to the western table of rock to where a shrine is guarded by a pair of stone kitsune. Quite where the power for the lights is coming from is a mystery as this is hardly a bustling thoroughfare; the buildings are heavy in vines, shrubs have claimed ledges and windowsills and also the rooftops – together with the odd tree have claimed. Thus, there is a sense of this strange location having been deserted a long time ago – although quite why is for your own imagination to determine; to me, there is a hint of a global catastrophe having overtaken a city (or the world), leaving this enclosed alley with its cliffs of buildings as the sole survivor of a drowned township.
WQNC, December 2022
The sense of mystery prevalent throughout the setting is added to by the ambient sound system;  a distant sound of electronic drumming reverberates through the air, mixing here and there with echoes of music coming from somewhere – including one decidedly season tune. Also mixed in with the hissing crackle of electrical shorts from fallen power lines. Alongside of this is a sense of isolation and separation, as if this might be the last remnant of civilisation. In this, and as noted above, the setting might be seen as a reflection of Maasya’s nature; her Profile defines her as someone preferring her own company, and perhaps not overly friendly towards strangers. This is something I can actually attest to, having been summarily banned from the region (without much of a prior warning) as a result of standing still for too long whilst taking photos during my visit; so I would advise visitors to keep on the move, just in case!
WQNC, December 2022
Outside of this (while at the same time keeping it in mind), the region is as photogenic and eye-catching as Maasya’s previous builds and well worth witnessing.

SLurl Details

  • WQNC (Blue Reef, rated Moderate)