It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and this week’s events are held at The Dickens Project.
Carol Week, December 17th-21st
Monday, December 17th14:00 and 19:00: Stave One: Marley’s Ghost.
Tuesday, December 18th:,
12:00 noon: Russell Eponym Live – stories, music, & poetry, on stream
13:00 and 19:00: Stave Two: The First of Three Ghosts.
Wednesday, December 19th:
13:45: Raglan Shire Tiny Carollers
14:00: Stave Three: The Second of Three Ghosts.
15:00: DJ DanoBookmite, live in Dickens Square.
19:00: Stave Three: The Second of Three Ghosts.
Thursday, December 20th:
12:40: Raglan Shire Tiny Carollers.
13:00 ans 19:00: Stave Four: The Last of the Spirits.
Friday, December 21st:
13:00: The Conclusion –The Last of the Spirits (selected) & The End of It.
15:45: Raglan Shire Tiny Carollers.
16:00: The Conclusion –The Last of the Spirits (selected) & The End of It.
19:00: A Very Misfit Christmas – Misfit Dance & Performance Art
Saturday, December 22nd:
12:00 Noon: A Very Misfit Christmas – Misfit Dance & Performance Art
14:00-16:00: Fezziwig’s Ball in “Christmas Past” With DJ Dano Bookmite.
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for August and September is Little Kids Rock, transforming lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in schools.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, December 9th
13:00: Tea-Time with Dickens
Selections from David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, and Oliver Twist, live in Dickens Square.
Music, poems, and stories with Russell Eponym in Dickens Square.
19:00: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
Caledonia Skytower returns to Baker Street for the story of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, which first appeared in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.
The Illustrated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
One December, Watson arrives at 221B Baker Street to offer Holmes season’s greetings and best wishes, only to find the Great Detective earnestly studying a battered hat. Holmes explains it had been delivered by commissionaire Peterson, who had witnessed a scuffle between some men, all of whom had run off, one of them dropping the hat and a Christmas goose in the process. Happy to let Peterson keep the goose, Holmes had found the hat to be of great interest, and by the time Watson arrives, had formed a quite clear set of deductions concern its owner, which he then proceeds to relate to the good Doctor.
Their conversation is interrupted by the return of Peterson, who presents Holmes with The Blue Carbuncle, a priceless jewel stolen from the hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar a few days previously. Peterson explains he found the jewel inside the goose. Having been quick on the case at the time of the theft, the police had already arrested known felon John Horner, who had previously been seen in the Countess’ suite cleaning the fireplace, and charge him with the theft. But Horner had from the start protested his innocence, and the police had been unable to locate the jewel, leading them to believe it is in the possession of an accomplice.
So could it be that the man who dropped the goose and hat was Horner’s mysterious accomplice, or is something else going on? And why hide the jewel in a goose? For Holmes and Watson, the game is once again, very much afoot!
Music and Dancing live in Dickens Square, with Ktadhn Vesuvino.
19:00: Competing with Time
An original tale read by Ktadhn Vesuvino.
Thursday, December 13th
19:00 The Santa Clause
Shandon Loring one more hitches a ride on a sleigh drawn by a team of rangifer tarandus to bring us the second part of The Santa Clause, a “novelisation” of the Leo Benvenuti / Steve Rudnick screenplay from the 1994 film starring Tim Allen.
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29).
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
In the small Canadian town of Coal Harbour, in a quaint restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing, everything comes on a waffle–lasagna, fish, you name it. Even waffles!
Eleven-year-old Primrose Squarp loves this homey place.She a young girl who could use a little extra attention; her parents were lost at sea and believed to be dead, and while her Uncle Jack tries his best to care for her, doesn’t have a lot of free time, and the guardian he hires to look out for Primose is so old, child welfare isn’t foremost on her mind. Similarly, the school councillor is far more interested in listing her own concerns and telling her own tales to actually listen. All-in-all Nobody knows what exactly to think of young Primrose, and Primrose doesn’t quite know what to make of her small community, either.
So Kate Bowzer, the owner of The Girl on the Red Swing takes Primrose under her wing. She teaches her how to cook, doesn’t patronise or chastise her, even when she puts her guinea pig too close to the oven and it catches fire. And so Primrose, in her own perceptive way, develops wisdom beyond her years and a belief system we could all do well to adopt – including the idea that hope is not crazy.
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads Polly Horvath’s 2002 Newbery Honor winner.
Wednesday, December 5th 19:00: Hanukkah Tales
Eight tales by Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer–one for each night of the Hanukkah celebration–tell of a world in which miracles abound, love triumphs, and faith prevails. With Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday, December 6th
Shandon Loring one more hitches a ride on a sleigh drawn by a team of rangifer tarandus to bring us the first part of The Santa Clause, a “novelisation” of the Leo Benvenuti / Steve Rudnick screenplay from the 1994 film starring Tim Allen.
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29).
In 2012, and to mark Dickens Bicentenary Year, Seanchai Library created The Dickens Project, a celebration of the life and times of Charles Dickens, focused around what is perhaps his most popular novel – and one which still resonates with meaning today – A Christmas Carol. Since then the event has evolved and grown over the years, in the process becoming a Second Life Tradition.
Now in its sixth year, The Dickens Project opened its doors on Friday, November 30th bigger and bolder than ever, offering a truly packed programme of activities, including over 40 hours of events and entertainment across four weeks of exploration and storytelling focused on A Christmas Carol.
What’s new this year? There is no short answer to that. In almost every conceivable way, the Project has flourished in the full region format. This year was a team effort – our first real foray into collaborative build creation. We learned a lot, and we are confident people will enjoy the results.
– The Dickens Project director, Caledonia Skytower
Events actually started on November 28th with a preview of Urchins In Dickens’ London – the opportunity for people to discover what it might have been like to live as a poor street urchin in London during Dickens’ time, and to share their experiences. It was followed on November 30th with a special performance by Idle Rogue to mark the official opening of The Dickens Project.
Created by Aoife Lorefield, a Dickens Project co-creator with Caledonia, Urchins In Dickens’ London will be available throughout The Dickens Project 2018 run, and will culminate in a special Urchins Extravaganza on Wednesday, December 26th. Residents of all ages are welcome to participate, and will find information and the Urchins HUD near the main landing point in Dickens Square. Enquiries about Urchins should be directed to Aoife, with additional information available through the link above.
Charles Dickens was ever a champion of children, writing stories about those who were poor and unprotected,” says Lorefield, “His child characters are often triumphant, finding ways to build lives of purpose and sometimes even happiness in a difficult time.
For those who missed the opening performance by Idle Rogue, they will be back on Saturday, December 8th and Saturday, December 15th, as part of a wide-ranging entertainments schedule encompassing music and dance – see the calendar below for more about all the music and dance events. Also participating this year are community contributions led by the Community Virtual Library (CVL) and Ce Soir Arts.
Obviously, the main focus of the month remains the presentations of A Christmas Carol in a variety of adaptations, in sections and in its entirety, and at different times to make the live readings accessible to residents from different parts of the globe. Also, other works from within the author’s vast canon are featured in the weeks leading up to “Carol Week” (December 17th through 23rd), which climaxes in a marathon “Big Read” presentation of A Christmas Carol performed by a relay team of Seanchai staff and storytelling friends, scheduled for Sunday, December 23rd. While throughout the month there will be a number of community-related tours of The Dickens Project region.
As with previous iterations, The Dickens Project for 2018 takes place on a regions designed to recreate various settings from A Christmas Carol, and that incorporates additional elements as well, such as the main events square, and CVL’s Dickens Resource Centre.
The setting can be toured on foot independently of any story readings, while Elite Equestrian have provided horse-drawn carriages for those we would prefer more of a pre-planned tours (and one of the horse may even give visitors a gift!), while a hot air balloon located close to the events square provides the opportunity to see the setting from the air.
Further depth is added to the experience this year via an immersive sound scape created by Dagmar Kohime. simply enable local sounds in your viewer, and you’ll experience sounds of all kinds as you explore the region: a fiddler playing at Fezziwig’s warehouse, the sounds of Nephew Fred’s party guests wafting into the street near his home while the Merchants Alley rings with sound of urchin laughter.
In addition, visitors can pick up the Voices of the Story Path HUD on arrival and hear short selections from A Christmas Carol in locations within the region that correspond to settings from the story.
Nor is Dickens the only focus for storytelling: Wednesday, December 26th will focus on tales with a definite Lovercraftian twist. Again, for details on individual events and times, check the calendar below (all times SLT), and also see The Dickens Project at the Seanchai Library website.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, November 26th 19:00: The Legend of the Engineer
Industralia is a country some might recognise – a mix of Victorian England and the American Midwest thrown in, with just a touch of Australia. It’s a place where steam power is the modern wonder, while the mode of dress is, like the setting, decidedly Victorian – not that the locals call it thus.
What is decidedly not Victorian, however, is the common use of mechanical human-shaped creations, called tikkerbots, to complete most menial tasks, or the airships that regularly pass overhead while mail is delivered by a pneumatic postal systems. It is a place we in this world would call “Steampunk”.
On the coast of Industralia lies the city port of Steamkettle Bay. It is home to Letitica and Gerard Liddle. Gerard is a talented inventor who has achieved a modest level of success with his practical yet whimsical household inventions. His wife Letitica is a very short, energetic woman who has a habit of mixing up her words. Together with their neighbours, the Liddles are preparing to celebrate the incoming new year – 1883. Why not join them?
The Dickens Project once again opens its doors on Friday, November 30th. Ahead of that, on Tuesday, November 27th, visitors can gain a preview of this year’s event – through the eyes, a Victorian street urchin.
This HUD-based game combines elements of a hunt with free form (and optional) role play, together with an invitation to create (and share) your story. An urchin avatar is not required to play, but definitely encouraged. When you pick the game HUD within The Dickens Project, you’ll receive suggestions on how to set up a low cost urchin “outfit.”
As a poor urchin, you need food and money. The grocers, the bakers, the butchers all have food. Can you buy some? Maybe steal some? You might see the gleam of coins on the street. Can you pick those up? If you ring a shop bell, the owner might have a job for you. Maybe down on the mudflats, treasure might be hiding.
Read the game play page for more. As an urchin, players are encouraged to interact with others in character, if they respond in kind, then role-play as you wish – see the role-play page for help and ideas. Afterwards, you can have the opportunity to write about your experience through a story that can be shared in a special reading event in Second Life.
Aoife Lorefield will be available at The Dickens Project throughout the day (North American daylight hours) to show interested urchin-ages around, answer questions, and share information concerning the event and The Dickens Project.
19:00: Everything on a Waffle
In the small Canadian town of Coal Harbour, in a quaint restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing, everything comes on a waffle–lasagna, fish, you name it. Even waffles!
Eleven-year-old Primrose Squarp loves this homey place.She a young girl who could use a little extra attention; her parents were lost at sea and believed to be dead, and while her Uncle Jack tries his best to care for her, doesn’t have a lot of free time, and the guardian he hires to look out for Primose is so old, child welfare isn’t foremost on her mind. Similarly, the school councillor is far more interested in listing her own concerns and telling her own tales to actually listen. All-in-all Nobody knows what exactly to think of young Primrose, and Primrose doesn’t quite know what to make of her small community, either.
So Kate Bowzer, the owner of The Girl on the Red Swing takes Primrose under her wing. She teaches her how to cook, doesn’t patronise or chastise her, even when she puts her guinea pig too close to the oven and it catches fire. And so Primrose, in her own perceptive way, develops wisdom beyond her years and a belief system we could all do well to adopt – including the idea that hope is not crazy.
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads Polly Horvath’s 2002 Newbery Honor winner.
Wednesday, November 28th 19:00: The Quilters
With Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday, November 29th
19:00: Leiningen vs The Ants
Shandon Loring reads Carl Stephenson‘s short story about a stubborn coffee plantation owner in Brazil who refuses to evacuate his family and staff when faced with a vicious, deadly army of ants – regarded as “an act of God”, as they ravage and destroy everything before them – and the plantation lies directly in their path. Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29).
21:00: Seanchai Late Night
Contemporary science fiction and fantasy with Finn Zeddmore.
Friday, November 30th 21:00: The Dickens Project Opens
Idle Rogue Productions presents: Guerilla Burlesque – pre-show seating at 21:00, music and dancing after the performance from 23:00.
I’ll be previewing this year’s Dickens Project closer to the opening.
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, November 19th 19:00: Tumithak Of The Corridors
Far and away the best and most exciting story I had ever read up to that time. I found the characters human and the hero all the more admirable because he could feel fear. I found the plot exciting and a deep humanity in the sentence ‘Tumithak had to learn that in no matter what nation or age one finds oneself, he will find gentleness, if he looks, as well as savagery.’
– Isaac Asimov
Such are the words of praise from one of the giants of science fiction for Charles R Tanner’s Tumithak series, first published in the 1930s (the fourth book in the series, Tumithak and the Ancient Word was not published until 2005, 31 years after the author’s death).
The series follows the titular hero, Tumithak, a young boy who rebels against the tyranny of the oppressive Shelks, invaders from Venus who have over-run Earth and force humanity to live underground in tunnels and caverns created at the time of the invasion. With no access to technology or knowledge of science, humankind lives in fear of the Shelks, who periodically descend into the tunnels of Man to hunt humans for sport – and worse.
Wednesday, November 21st: 19:00: The Quilters: Women in Domestic Art
With Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday, November 22nd 10:00: Alice’s Restaurant Massacree
A Seanchai Library Thanksgiving tradition with Shandon Loring.
via Wikipedia
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
Walk right in, it’s around the back,
Just a half-a-mile from the railroad tracks, And you can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
As Thanksgiving arrives in the United States, Shandon Loring presents singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s famous 1967 musical monologue, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (also popularly known as Alice’s Restaurant, and the inspiration of the 1969 Arthur Penn film of that name, starring Guthrie himself).
Aside from the opening and closing chorus, the song is delivered as the spoken word accompanied by a ragtime guitar. The story is based on a true incident in Guthrie’s life when, in 1965, he (then 18) and a friend were arrested for illegally dumping garbage from Alice’s restaurant after discovering that the town dump was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
What follows is a complicated, ironic and amusing story told in a deadpan, satirical tone, which encompasses fines, blind judges, guide dogs, 27 8×10 copiously annotated glossy photos related to the littering, frustrated police officers, the Vietnam War draft and, ultimately, the inexplicable ways in which bureaucracy moves to foil itself, just when you’ve given up hope of foiling it yourself.
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 