Citysphere

By Bixyl Shuftan

Recently in Second Life, SL Newser heard about an unusual place: The "Citysphere." The place was a huge globe covered with over a hundred buildings. While there have been huge globes built in Second Life before, such as Second Earth near NOAA, Citysphere was different in that you can walk all over it, even on the underside.

Getting to the location I found on the Destination Guide, there were a couple signs telling people to walk around, one in English, one in French. They just had to click on the ground, wait for a red cube to rezz, and then "sit" on it. Just walking about, one looks like they're floating about a foot over the place. Once you have the red cube, you can walk about normally on the ground, even on the underside of the sphere.

The Destination Gude describes the place as a "mind-bending experience" with "three times the surface area of most sims and must be seen." The notecard I found at the signs described "you will discover new sensations, as well as uncontrollable dizziness at the edge of intoxication." Going about the streets of the place, things certainly did take on a new perspective as I got close to the globe's equator, and moreso on the southern hemisphere. Different people will handle the experience in different ways, one Facebook poster describing herself as feeling nausea. For this reporter getting around took a little slower as my perspective seemed a bit disjointed, and moving in the right direction near the south pole could be a problem.


The notecard suggested similar spheres could be easily made with a different environments in mind, and with close to three times the surface area of a flat sim, "it is so a not insignificant saving of space."  The place was made by Freeloops Zanzibar, with Slove Mode designing the surface walking script. Others involved included Gizmo Tyrant, Loda Denfu, Coxigrue Borgin, Chikami Resident, and Abracada Dreamscape.

Citysphere is in SL9B By Us1 (134, 115, 2130). In January, it was advertised as running "throughout the month," but is still up.

Bixyl Shuftan

Melusina 's Art

By Gemma Cleanslate

 Quan Lavender, curator of Art India Gallery  is hosting an amazing exhibit by Melusina Parkin. I attended the opening of the exhibit on Saturday (Feb 2) that was a fun flapper party. Melu was wearing an amazing flapper outfit, as were other attendees. Melu has an extensive history in the art, furniture and fashion world of Second Life and has exhibited in many museums and galleries across the grid. Her resume of accomplishments and awards is available at the gallery and you can pick it up and read all about her. Her major passion is Art Deco. She has remarkable photographs on the walls of the exhibit hall she has decorated at Art India in Shekhawati. The furniture and the carpets on the floor are all examples of her work.  

I loved the ceiling and pillars of the long exhibit hall. The sleekness of the gallery with the subtle shadings and angularity I found kept me just gazing off into the distance for a long time before I went to view the photography. It is amazing to see photographs of all those builds and furniture and pieces that are around SL. 

Above the exhibit Melu has set up a display history of Art Deco relating it back to ancient times. You will find a teleport near the entry point. I enjoyed that area as I learned so much about it that I did not know. You will see geometric patterns from ancient Egypt and the Mayan empire that are the inspiration of  Art Deco and follow movements through the last century to modern times as depicted in buildings , furniture , decor, and fashions all over the world.

I learned from an article that Melu has written, available to you in the history area,  that the term Art Deco “originates from the Exposition des ARTes DECOratives de Paris, 1925 .” Read all about the progression of the art in the last century. At the same place you will get a list of landmarks of places in SL that contain Art Deco buildings and decor. Out of curiosity I did take a couple of tps to places I have not been before just to see the buildings. Some of those sims need a second look.  

The exhibit will be open until the end of March so you will have ample time to explore and enjoy both areas, the exhibit itself and the history locale. There is no way to do it all justice in a short article. See for yourself.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shekhawati/205/29/35 

Gemma Cleanslate

Shockwave Yareach’s Valentine Maze

By DrFran Babcock

 Do you know Shockwave Yareach, or Shocky, as his friends call him? Recently, he became the object of some controversy when his suggestion for fixing problems with SL land ownership were highlighted by Hamlet Au, and tons of comments ensued. (http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2013/01/second-life-land-solution.html ) This hunky wolf has been in Second Life for many years, and has become renowned for his scripting skills and diabolical mazes. I can understand confounding everyone on Halloween, but Shocky doesn’t even let up for Valentine’s Day. I was informed that the maze was up the other night, and figured I would go take a look.

First things first, I am not a gamer. My skills at Second Life took ages to evolve, and the thought of a maze—even one with such a loving theme—filled me with fear. I was not disappointed, nor will you be, if you take a trip to Shocky’s Valentine Maze at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/191/136/61

When you land at the teleport point you will be greeted by a riot of red roses, that make up the walls of the maze. Spend some time inside and you will become completely disoriented, as the walls pass around you, red and seemingly unending. However, the first thing you need to do is grab a HUD from the box to the left of the entrance. After you apply that to your screen display you will note that is ready to be filled with gems that represent the qualities of love: Strenth, Adoration, Faith, Wisdom, Respect, Patience, and Dedication. Aaaah, but how does one find these gems? Of course, the answer to that lies within the maze, and the wicked candy hearts that are traveling along through the maze, each heart corresponding to a colored gem. The goal is to find all seven hearts and touch them as you do. This will light up the gem on your HUD. One of the sophisticated features provided by our fearless furry is that the gems stay on the HUD, even if you log or teleport elsewhere. This means that you can finish the maze in more than one visit without any penalty. Sounds easy? Well, Shocky says: “Love sounds easy, too. at first (grin)."

This is such a perfect activity for couples. Run through the maze, search for hearts, and discuss the qualities of love, as identified by Shockwave. There are no prizes beyond the joy of completing the gems on the HUD, but who cares. Love is the greatest gift.
I caught up with Shocky as I was putting the finishing touches on this article and we spoke about his mazes and his love for Second Life. I had forgotten the famous Easter Maze in which you had to shoot the Alien Eggs before they killed you. Shockwave plans to run that again this Easter. “It’s a good excuse to shoot up the place with your favorite gun,” he adds.

I asked him what he liked about Second Life, and he replied: “Second Life is to me a graphical version of a Muck— a user created world where you can do anything, be anything, and push away all the limitations of distance. (http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/MUCK ) “My friends and my group keep me here.  I love these loons and I enjoy building fun stuff.  I build in Real Life, too, so the LEGO aspect is just as important to me as the socialization.  But honestly, it's my friends that keep me here.”

The geeks amongst you will understand this next part, even though I don’t. Shocky’s mazes are computer generated, and when he had a full sim to work with: “My gear can make a maze that covers an entire sim. You put a prim down at the Southeast corner of the sim, drop in a text file, and it rezzes the walls as needed. I could change it hourly if I wanted.  It's very fast.”

Thanks, Shocky, for your genius, and for what I know of you as a gentleman wolf and fine builder and scripter. Go visit the maze, and maybe you will be lucky enough to run into Shocky. Say hello for me!

DrFran Babcock

The Steampunk Meets Flowerpower Hunt

By DrFran Babcock

 Admit it, you love hunts. For me, a hunt is a way to chill out from a hard day in the non-digital world, or when things get drama-laden here. Which never happens, right?

 
Well, if you are like me, the lure of freebies, meeting people, and finding just that special treasure keep me searching. The Peace on Earth Hunt, over for now, is my favorite, but the name of this hunt grabbed me. I love Steampunk, and I am a hippie. What could go wrong?

 DrFran was a little busy with real news, so she sent her alt: Mai Waffle out to do the hunting. Below are the things she found. The hunt item you are looking for is a gear that is pink.

There are 25 items in the grid-wide hunt, and Mai was able to find all but one. She enlisted the help of Oakesy Ogg to help her show off the items that had both male and female items.

IMPORTANT: The Newser is usually not on the Hunt trail. If you are interested in seeing more hunt reports, please let Editor Bixyl Shuftan know. Thanks.
 

The Steampunk Meets Flowerpower Hunt runs from January 1^st – January 31^st. The blog for the hunt, with hints and teleports is here:
http://insidethepeapod.tumblr.com/post/39071952659/steam-punk-meets-flower-power-hunt-212

 DrFran Babcock

Editor's note, Luminous Designs has informed the Newser it will soon be joining the  hunt.

Luminous Designs

By Bixyl Shuftan

In Steelhead, there are a number of personalities, such as the Sasquatch, Baron Wulfenbach, and everyone's favorite lycan, Sherif Fuzzball Ortega. Then there's Lumina Elvehjem, better known by her friends as Lumi. Popular among her friends, when I asked people around Steelhead who deserved an interview, it was suggested I talk to her. So I contacted Lumi, and we agreed to talk about her store at Steelhead, "Luminous Designs."

Lumi has been in business for about four years. First logging into Second Life in June 2006, "I started with furniture at 6 months, I got into photoshop at around two years. and opened a clothing line around that time." The store offers, "mostly womens'  clothing, but I have several mens' things too, in a few generes. Among her items, "historically accurate, steam/Victorian-inspired, boudoir (lingere / bedroom), and whimsical. And some stuff I make 'cause I want to."

Among her top selling items are the lingere sets, "I have been thanked by boyfriends for some of them (smiles)." But the best selling one, "my most popular item of all time (was) a total surprise to me, it's my Greek/Roman shoes." These "gladiator style" shoes were pretty simple fitting men and women equally well, a single prim sole and a "wrap around the legs." While Steelhead has had some Greco/Roman events, the reason she made the shoe, "was actually a request from a customer." And once in the store, people began buying it again and again.

Another top seller is her Sheerly Sari, available in a number of colors and about 500 Lindens, "I have to say, this is the thing I'm most proud of. I nailed it. That is a classic historically correct bit of lush gorgeousness. No sculpts, and it's pre-mesh."

The store itself was fairly large, with several floors, "First floor is for newer stuff. I have some things I need to put out for New Years. Next floor up is Oriental. Third floor is Steam/Victoriana, loosely interpreted. Fourth floor is boudoir, and the whimsical stuff ends up there too. Top floor is ancients. Asking her further about the whimsical items, Lumi answered, "Fairy  stuff, skimpy lil miss nothing outfits." I then asked what was her whimsical item that got the most laughs. Lumi thought for a moment, "Hmmmm, toss-up between the shower bubbles and the sparkle suit." Camming up, a picture of the wearable shower bubbles wasn't exactly safe for a family newspaper.

Lumi has more than one store in Steelhead. Stopping by one of her "annex store" locations, there were a few chuckles at the place such as a "Beware of the neko" sign, and a can of "anti-drama spray." More examples of her humor.

So what does Lumi do when not minding the stores or making items? "I hang out with the Steelheaders. I often lead several of them in Sync dancing where you match animations to the tunes that are playing in real time." Her favorite regular event is the Steelhead Friday Night Dance, "I sync-dance everyone at that. (smiles)"

As for her title of "Steelhead Ambassador," Lumi answered, "It's something Lunar thought up. We represent Steelhead, and help locals with various things, invite people." She's happy to have her store here, even though. "I'm not a 'steampunk' store. It's not genere-correct, but I'm not going anywhere else."

One can find information on some of Lumi's items at her blog on: http://lumisbloggiebits.blogspot.com/

So whether to get a Victorian-era outfit to fit in better at Steelhead, or a little something for the spouse, or something just plain funny, come by Luminous Designs.

Steelhead Shanghai (67, 21, 31)

Bixyl Shuftan

Contemplating Turing

The mezmerizing chat of "one one one zero zero one one" greeted me as the door as I entered the Turing Gallery in Extropia. Gracie Kendal is the curator of the Gallery and asked Oberon Ommura to do an exhibit there. The mission of the gallery,”Turing Gallery exhibits work that is futuristic + conceptual in nature. We adhere to the Extropian philosophy of creating an environment of near future and science fiction ideals.“  

The Turing exhibit that Oberon has created is a tribute to Alan Turing a very early pioneer in computer sciences. IIn Oberon’s words, ”Alan Turing had a hand in creating modern information theory, in no small part with his thought problem called the' Turing Machine.' One aspect of the Turing Machine is that it is potentially 'infinite,' in the sense that it can (theoretically) become any computer and solve any problem, given adequate input. This installation is an artist’s riff on that notion – infinite input, infinite output – even though there’s no computing happening here!”  

His picture stands outside and again on the top floor of the gallery there is an image of him also, surrounded by the 1100110‘s. There is a constant flow of data going on from all directions and filling the halls of the gallery from the lower floor to the upper floor. A throng of artists and friends attended the opening and were amazed at the exhibit tho one said to me that Oberon loves moving prims and scripts and uses all he can. 

In reference to my comment that it is difficult to describe the art in words Oberon said to read Quan Lavendar ‘s travelogue which I had already done. http://quanlavender.blogspot.com/2013/01/an-opening-and-festival-start-today.html . Oberon said,  she hit the nail on the head though about my style sort of giving permission to the viewer to respond very personally,” and I agree. 

Go through the door: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Extropia%20Core/190/115/22

Gemma Cleanslate

The Peace on Earth Hunt

By DrFran Babcock

I really suck at hunts, but every year I struggle through at least a part of the "Peace on Earth Hunt" because of two reasons: 1) I love good quality freebies, and 2) what I REALLY want for Christmas IS peace on earth.

So, fashionistas, here are two looks I put together from just about one quarter of the hunt. For more information, SLurls, and hints, go to this website: http://peaceonearthhunt.wordpress.com

Look Number One: ( I mix and match, and don't always use all items from an outfit)

ANGEL DESSOUS Mimi Gown 

ESHI OTTAWARA -Fuzzy Short Jacket

Beloved Jewelry Chantelle Gold/Ruby Earrings and Necklace 

CHICHICKIE! Serafina - All Colors (ColorTouch) 

[BLUSH] Selma Skin Tan - Nude

POSE: The Muse - Peace 3

Picture Taken at: Area 51 Winterland International

Look Number Two:

EAR CANDY ~ Earrings and Necklace, and Gold Mesh Heels, which you can't see.

SASSY! - Whitney gown 

AMACCI -  Hair Nena - Ice

AMACCI Skin - Oleana (Pale) - Peace - Cleavage

Taken at: Garden of Whimsey - Winter Wonderland

 

DrFran Babcock