Tag: Busta

Busta (Busta Blakewell, and formerly known as BadboyHi) has over a decade or so, been responsible for many region designs in Second Life. He’s built locations both for himself and the enjoyment of others, and he has designed settings for others, some of which have been opened to the public as well.

I’ve been covering Busta’s work since 2016, including The Rusty Nail, a setting mixing public spaces with private rentals and which I first covered when it was located within a Homestead region (see: The Rusty Nail in Second Life). It has since moved to a Full region utilising the additional Land Capacity bonus, and that was reason enough for me to pop have and have a look.

The first thing to note about this iteration of The Rusty Nail is that while it does offer extensive parcels for rent, they are placed around the outside of the region so that each enjoys a waterfront view. This allows the interior of the setting to be left open to public spaces, the majority of which are separated from the rentals by the looping flow of a body of water cutting into the landscape, although a neck of land does extend out from the south-east corner to connect with the central spaces, also forming a public area of its own.

This latter space, whilst abutting some of the rental properties, includes some foreshore seating locations and a kind of garden space within the remnants of some ruins complete with a meditative shrine and a climb up to the region’s highest point where a deck-straddling lookout / retreat can be found.

The remains of an old church sits at the foot of the climb up the hill, now propped up against its own potential collapse, together with more remnants of the older ruins. The ground here is extensively paved to form the neck reaching out to the centre spaces of the region, whilst a path meanders out to a southern corner of the setting to present a quiet retreat looking out over open waters.

The main bulk of the public spaces sit on a long paved terrace running south-to-north from where it joins to the rest of the setting, and broadly split into four areas.

The first of these is a centred around a pond from which a Kraken rises, with seating available for customers of the Solace Bar and Café. A single pier extends out into the waters, rowing boats moored alongside together with a deserted houseboat

Through the gates from the pond is the main bar and events space. The latter provides room for dancing together with seating to one side under a trellis and a small wild garden. The bar is fronted by the DJ stage, also under an extensive trellis, and is an inspired use of Cory Edo’s Yara Treehouse design, copies of which have been neatly kitbashed together, with one element sitting to one side as a little coffee house.

The final area is given to the main café and a wine bar, the terrace space before them carrying with it Parisian flavours together with a comfortable range of seating, with a further very cosy seating space to the rear of the café.

The detail packed into these spaces very much bring them to life, and it is worth spending time wandering around and through them to see all that is on offer. Outside of them to the east, the paving takes on the look of a waterfront walk, complete with places to sit out over the water, a horse stand for those wishing to rez a horse and take a ride and views out across the inland waters.

Beyond the terraces, the land broadens out into a continuing paved area edged by places to sit by the water and dominated by huge metal frame of a former glasshouse, now forming the nucleus of one of the many wildling gardens cultivated across the region. This area is also home to the region’s Land Point.

Those exploring the wider reached of this area and around the west side of the bar and café terraces will doubtless come across slabs of heavy rock arrange to form broad, shallow steps leading down to the water, where flat-topped boulders provide the means to cross to steps on the water’s far side, where smaller public spaces have been cosied-in between some of the rentals, providing further places to sit and pass the time.

Sitting under the perfect EEP sky – do be sure to use the Shared Environment when visiting – The Rusty Nail is a gorgeous, extremely photogenic region, folding into itself as it does hints of the East, a sense of swamplands without their more claustrophobic elements (or alligators / crocodiles!) and smatterings of cosmopolitan necessities, all wrapped in an idyllic atmosphere and given a sense of tranquil age by the ruins.

As with the rentals in the original Rusty Nail, the houses offered here have been select to fit the environment, allowing them to blend into it rather than standing apart or appearing uneasily placed within the landscape. There is no rental office to clutter the place up – so anyone interested in renting one of the houses (there were at least a couple available when I dropped in), contact Busta in-world.

Should you require rezzing rights for photo props, these can be obtained by joining the local Group. As auto return is not set, please do pick-up your pieces afterwards!

Slurl Details and Website

• The Rusty Nail (Solace, rated Moderate)
• Rusty Nail website

Earlier in February, Honey Heart (H0neyHeart) – whose Sable Hound Hollow I visited towards the end of January 2026 –  dropped me a line to let me know our mutual friend / acquaintance, Stevie Morane Basevi (Stevie Basevi) would be officially re-opening her region of Sanctuary on February 19th, although it is already available for people to drop in an explore, together with the neighbouring region of Zantosa.

Stevie is something of a tour de force in Second Life. I first met her through Relay for Life of Second Life, before coming to know her a little more through both her art and her association with projects I’ve tended to follow and support in my own way: One Billion Rising, The Dickens Project and the Bradbury Project. An avid role-player, Stevie first established Sanctuary in 2008, growing it over time to a community and location covering many aspects of Second Life.

Sanctuary, long celebrated for its award-winning historical role-play, has evolved into a vibrant cultural space for art, photography, dance, music, and theatre—welcoming global gatherings and creativity without borders.

– Sanctuary About Land Description

For this latest iteration, both Sanctuary and Zantosa – each of which are Full private regions leveraging the Land Capacity bonus available to such regions – Stevie has turned to another old acquaintance to design the overall look and layout of the regions: Busta  (Busta Blakewell, previously badboyhi, whose regions designs have regularly featured throughout this blog.

Given the size of both regions, I’m not going to try to cover them both in a single post; they are richly laid out and offer much to be discovered, so will hopefully return to Zantosa at some point in the near future.

Sanctuary offers a setting suggestive of somewhere in England; a place with certain timelessness – parts of it could easily be Victorian, others carry a faint hint of the 1950s-1960.

This town is the kind of place in which it would come as no surprise to turn a corner and find Sherlock Holmes lecturing Dr. John Watson on the minutiae of various powdering of ash and a certain bird droppings will inevitably lead to the cornering of their quarry. Turn another and it would be equally unsurprising to witness find a dapper John Steed stepping down from the running board of his 1930 Bentley Speed Six, umbrella in hand as he rounds the front of the car to open the door to allow Ms. Emma Peel to gracefully alight.

In other words, it is immediately immersive and open to broad role-play opportunities.

The Landing Point sits to the east side of the region and within the town square. Splitting the townscape in two is a high wall and a tall gatehouse. The latter forms a teleport link to the neighbouring Zantosa. Simply walk towards the gates to be teleported across the region boundary.

The local lunatic asylum offers its own opportunity for potential role-play, having been turned into a bar – although who is to say some of the former residents aren’t lurking in the upper floors? The asylum is one of a number of locations within the town which can be explored. Others include the local church, a pair of pavilions offering a kind of two-part music conservatory, the theatre  and the Sanctuary art gallery, featuring Stevie’s art on the ground floor.

It is outside the church that visitors can obtain further information on the region, including a delightful back-story to its development and a teleport HUD to help reach points of interest – simply add it from inventory to use it.

The majority of the locations on the teleport HUD can be found on the ground level of the setting and so can be reached on foot. Two, however, are sky-based and will require the HUD to reach them.

I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow description of the region, it really does speak for itself in terms of design, atmosphere and details. I will however note that there is a further art display – dedicated to Sue Elaine Winkler to the rear of the main gallery building.

Part of the region is cut through with a storm drain linking two low-lying parts of the setting. This carries a suggestion a degree of land reclamation has taken place, resulting in an inland body of water complete with multiple places to sit and appreciate the setting, together with a recovered area of coastline forming both a walk and further places to sit and pass the time.

Whether or not you are into role-play, structured or casual, sanctuary makes for an engaging and photogenic visit.

Slurl Details

Sanctuary (rated: Moderate)

As regulars to my Exploring series may know, Busta (BadboyHi) is a region designer whose work I enjoy, and I recently had the opportunity – courtesy of an LM passed to me by Shawn Shakespeare – to visit a design he has put together for Kn0cks Shad0ws (Whozyer Daddy) and his Full region, Dukedom.

Designed primarily for photography, the region is divided north-to-south by the presence of an elevated rail line, making this a setting very much of two parts. To the west, and occupying the majority of the region, are wild lands, a place of tall trees, waterfalls, streams and touches of the bayou along the west coast. Along this shore are wooden cabins, shacks and an old houseboat that mix their presence with mangroves, wetlands and a rocky shoreline to suggest a little community eking out a living by finishing – something added to by a number of fishing boats, one of which has seen much better days…

This is a place where wildlife abounds. gulls wheel and turn overhead, ibis stalk the mouths of the streams emptying into the coastal areas, alligators bask in the  dirt of the local tracks and ignore the fact potentially tasty seals are not that far away, also basking themselves out of the water; deer watch more domesticated animals – cattle, goats, and geese; peacocks strut their stuff, bids sing in the trees and more. Ways around the coast and through the hunched uplands behind it are marked by rough trails, boardwalks, tree-trunk bridges that span the streams and hard-packed earth paths and steps.

Sitting between the streams and set a little back from the waterfront lies a roughshod deck extending outward over rocky ground from where a glass-fronted cabin sits. At first looking to be a cosy retreat, closer examination with reveal it to be something of an apothecary-come-magic store; a place well in keeping with the bayou vibes exuded by the lands below. Around it are offered several places to sit, including a welcoming cuddle sofa.

The sofa and benches around the cabin are a just a handful of all the places people can find to sit and pass the time; places that include swings watched over by baby chimps, and the carving of a giant hand holding a blanket in its palm which begs the question, was it carved over the bank of the stream against which it sits, or has come to reside there after the fact. Back down as the waterside sits a comfortable deck ideal for a small group, sitting alongside a makeshift watchtower.

Further back among the trees awaits more to be found among the trails; with two further cabins being chief among the sights. Each is comfortably furnished and offer welcomes to those passing, and both sit close to where the elevated train line cuts across the region and, beyond it, the purely urban setting.

Occupying a little over one third of the region, this urban area sits as a busy, if a little run down, corner of a much larger town. The area under the elevate tracks looks to be undergoing repair / renewal, lots of people are out and about on the streets, a building is being heavily refurbished / rebuilt, cars are everywhere, and a military helicopter is clattering around overhead.

The latter might have been called by the local law enforcement as they attend a rather grisly homicide that has been committed on some waste ground to one side of the town. It’s a scene that – as is the way of things – has drawn a crowd of its own, some of whom are more interested in catching the situation on film and selfie, rather than offering respect for the life lost. But not everyone is drawn to the tragedy; at the back of the waste ground, a skateboarding area has been set-up and is of much more interest to local teens – although perhaps that is also a reflection on modern-day human nature and indifference…

Throughout the region there as many points where photography is possible, although sadly, group membership is closed, so no props rezzing available. As an adult-rated region, there are apparently some adult-rated items spotted around – but nothing too obvious that I noticed from my ramblings through the wilds and along the streets.

I would also say that as a Full region with both the private island additional land capacity and with a lot of mesh and textures, Dukedom can hit some people’s performance, so be prepared to make some adjustments to your viewer if required. But that aside, Dukedom has a lot to commend itself; just take your time when visiting – and try not to disturb the sleeping bunny!

SLurl Details

• Dukedom (rated Adult)

Busta (BadboyHi) has a well-deserved reputation for designing eye-catching regions – so when I heard he is behind the new design for the Poison Rouge store in-world, I had to jump over and take a look.

Occupying half of a full region, the setting has something of a Dutch urban feel to it around the landing point – tall, slim town houses built along cobbled streets that line the banks of canals spanned by little bridges – with more to discover beyond.

The landing point itself is located within a large square. Facing this on three sides, and separated from it by the above mentioned canals, are the town houses that form the home of the Poison Rouge fashion and accessory brand, operated by Shena Neox, who is also the parcel holder.

It’s a visually appealing setting, the square with water features and places to sit, whilst in the streets surrounding it and the store buildings are other little attractions: a little outdoor coffee bar, boats (with sitting poses)  on the canal waters, little overgrown garden plots, while bicycle racks add to the feeling we’re in The Netherlands. To the north of the square lies open water, a row of moorings home to sail boats and fishing trawlers. Further moorings can be found to the west of the square and store, watched over by a lighthouse.

However, this is very much a location of two halves – whilst the west side is devoted to the urban environment with shops and canals and streets, the east side presents an entirely different setting – although still one in keeping with lowlands that might be found in The Netherlands.

It is reached by way of a railway station that effectively splits the setting in two as it runs south-to-north, from tunnel to terminus. A familiar DRD Arcade Express sits at the station, and with no footbridge over the track, visitors can either pass through the train’s carriages to reach the far side of the station, or follow the footpaths around the northern end of the terminus.

Beyond the station is a remarkable garden area that is also part cemetery. Of great age, overgrown and rich in features and detail, this is a place to capture the eye and imagination – and time really should be taken in exploring it, as there is a lot to see.

The north side of the cemetery includes the ruins of the church, with further ruins beyond, sitting between open waters and a wetland cove that naturally intrudes into the landscape, gulls circling overhead.

An aged path runs south through the old churchyard to reach a second square. neatly paved if starting to be overgrown. It is dominated by a large square water feature and grand statue, bordered on three sides by more structures.

The first of these is an elevated walkway that offers a good vantage point from which to observe the square. It looks westward to where a pavilion is slowly breaking into ruin. This appears to form a stage area for music events. Behind it lies another garden space, forming a quite waterside walk, in turn bordered by a rushing stream pouring over rocks from narrow southern falls. The south side of the square is house to tearooms fronted by a raised terrace.

Throughout all of this is a wealth of detail awaiting discovery: inscriptions on water features, the flight of butterflies, the multiple places to sit through the the looks wildlife – all of which also heighten the photogenic nature of the setting.

Definitely not a place to miss.

SLurl Details

• Poison Rouge (Poison Rouge, rated Adult)

Shawn Shakespeare passed me the landmark to Angel’s Nest, a Full region held by Denise Wirtanen and designed by Busta (Badboy Hi) with additional elements by Denise herself. As I’ve mentioned in these pages in the past, hearing or seeing Busta’s  name associated with an region is bound to get me bouncing to take a look, as he has a particular eye for designing environments that I really appreciate – and Angel’s Nest is no exception.

A semi-tropical island marked by a central high peak (the summit reachable via teleport disc), this is a design the brings together multiple themes in a manner that is genuinely breathtaking, and considerable care ha been taken to ensure that visitors can be gently lead around the island via a series of paths that allow everything to be revealed naturally – so much so that I’d tend to recommend not camming around too far in advance so as not to ruin any revelations and allow the paths to lead you onwards.

The landing point is located part-way up  the central mountain, sitting on a broad shelf of rock that is home to a Tuscan style villa and courtyard. The house is furnished, offering a first point of exploration. From here, a number of paths marked by logs set in the loamy soil offer several routes of discovery. Two wind down to the coastal regions while a third curls upwards to twist around the flat-topped tower of the mountain, and a fourth points the way to a lookout point built out over a pool of fresh water fed by multiple falls – which are very much a theme for the island, as more are waiting to be found.

I don’t want to give a blow-by-blow account of the region’s sights – as noted above, they deserve to be discovered naturally;  but I do want to highlight a number of things and offer some impressions.

The first of the latter is the manner in which the island – deliberately or otherwise – evokes thoughts of settings from television and film. Taken as a whole, the island has – for those that many have seen it when originally aired or in re-runs – something of a Fantasy Island feeling. Not that there is any grand villa or guest houses (although the lighthouse just off the main island might be seen as a place where Tattoo might cry, “The ‘plane, Boss! The ‘plane!”), but rather that the settings to be found around the island might be taken as individual fantasy areas for visitors.

Similarly, and a little unexpectedly, the tall mountain with its sliced top carries (for those of us who enjoy science fiction) an echo of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. Again, not that any flaying saucers or motherships are liable to rise from behind it – but it does give the island an additional sense of place and mystery, whilst its flat top offers a place for meditation – just use the teleport disc in the courtyard of the villa to hop up and have a look around.

In terms of highlights, there are many to choose from, however there two that particularly caught my attention. The first of these again lies off of the main island to the north-east. Rugged and low-lying island in which Busta has placed a – for me – quite eye-catching modification of AustinLiam’s Captain Retreat house (which as I’ve commented on in these pages is a favourite of mine), so much so that I might well borrow elements of the idea from him!

The second is the café-bar located on the south side of the island, overlooking the southern beach. Utilising the Trompe Loeil Yara Treehouse. With the two halves of the structure located on two shoulders of rock and linked by their rope bridge, the café presents an eye-catching location, reached by several routes, one of which rises from the beach to pass under the rope bridge.

Another aspect of the region are the many little place people can gather and sit, all of which should be sought out carefully. But it’s not only the various settings that catch the eye here, but all the smaller details within them and across the island as whole that add a sense of presence to the island.

Some of these – such as the old British red telephone box just outside of the villa – is one of the more easy of these to spot, nestled alongside an old piano that has become a garden feature with colourful blooms (and which has been claimed by some of the local cats!). Others might actually be easily missed – such as the great Buddha sitting on a shoulder of the mountain, and a sculpture of a spear-carrying Angel on an opposite shoulder.

Rounded by a balanced soundscape and given life through the inclusion of birds, cats and assorted animals, Angel’s Nest is an engaging visit – although some may find they may need to disable shadows / make adjustments to their their viewer to enjoy smooth motion within the region. I’d also note that there is a second region to the south, reached via a footbridge;; however, as this appears to be a private home, we didn’t venture to it, and would advise caution to those considering doing so.

Slurl Details

• Angel’s Nest (rated Adult)