Bringing you THE BEST OF SECOND LIFE

As the sun blazed and the warm breeze blew across Alajuela, the Rezz babies of February came out to party and celebrate their year or many in Second Life. DJ Azu, looking very fine and comfy in his sandals, pumped out the jams. The crowd was a mix of jiggling bodies as Costa Rica regulars Solitaire and Chase made their entrance, then Rezz Day babies Diacentra, Millie, Jaymz accompanied by his lady Samantha Ohberg, Carrie, Jennaa, Imani and Natalia.

A shout out to the birthday babies that didn’t make it; Aldo, Aston, Brooklynne, Chance, Coughran, Dave, Dixy, Docka, Fontesph, GatoBHZ, Jamesen, July, Locky, Mason and Midori. We hope you had a great rezz day wherever you were.

Though Millie claims there was a cake, I’m quite sure the gulls got to it first. Not that it was missed, I think champagne was the food of choice for the evening. All in all, everyone had a good time, language barriers notwithstanding, and shared the celebration of their 60 plus years, just kidding! Some of you are as smooth as the day you were born. I won’t tell

You can see more photos of the party at the Costa Rica flickr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/costaricasims/

Peace everyone <3

Keshi

Press release
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 – For immediate release

Relay For Life of Second Life releases new-style event boards

Moonshade Pastorelli writes:
Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is about to hit the grid. A new event board makes it easier than ever to list, promote, and discover events during the 16 weeks of fundraising. The RFL of SL 2010 campaign kicks off Saturday, March 13.

Some of the events to look out for during the campaign are races, DJ parties, live music marathons, fashion shows, and rodeos. A popular event is “Bid Me Bald.” For every L$5,000 a team member raises, she or he must go bald for one day.

“I want everyone to be aware of the event boards–to touch them, to enjoy the fantastic events that the RFL teams put on,” said Panza Eilde, RFL of SL teams chair. “There’s joy in sharing the conviction to raise funds for research that will help people overcome cancer. We want people to come to events, socialize with others, and raise funds for a good cause. We want to hit that $300,000 US donation mark this year.”

An example of a six-face RFL of SL event board

 Event boards were created to publicly display images of upcoming events that support RFL. Clicking any image on the event board will provide a note card with information about the event, when it will be held, where it will be held, and who’s holding the event. With a possible 40 events per week over 16 weeks, the event boards will be able to cycle through a series of images. The American Cancer Society (ACS) logo or mission posters will also randomly appear on faces of the displayer. Click these images, and the viewer is taken to a web page for more information about ACS and RFL.

Click on the banner at the top of the displayer and a blue menu appears with options that the owner can set, such as change the speed of the texture cycle, remove events that conflict with the owner’s local events, and offer a copy of the displayer itself.

“One of the neatest things about the event boards is that the team captains can post their events in one location and with continuity,” Eilde said.

To place an event in the displayer, RFL team members visit the middle floor of the warehouse at ACS Island. An in-box on a desk accepts a square, full-perm texture and a copy and resell/giveaway note card that contains particulars about the team event. The event image hits the displayer within one to two hours, and an e-mail is sent to the public relations team to get news about the event to various SL media. The event is also shown on the RFL of SL web page. When an event is over, it is automatically deleted. Teams are asked to place an event in the in-box no more than 10 days before it begins.

The new event boards were created by Charlene Trudeau, RFL of SL design committee chair, and the board itself was conceived and created by Dwen Dooley, RFL of SL survivor/caregiver chair and himself a cancer survivor.

Dwen Dooley sitting atop the new-style event board

“The idea of the design is that the displayers should all have the same look and feel so they’re not confused as being anything other than an official RFL of SL event board for the ACS,” Dooley said.

Event boards can be set up anywhere on the SL grid and are available in a variety of styles and sizes: a two-prim one-face displayer, a four-prim three-face displayer, a six-prim six-face displayer, and a 10-prim nine-face displayer. Most of the displays come in small, medium, and large; however, the one-face event board is also available in tiny. The largest displayer, with nine-faces, stands 6.5 meters tall and 5 meters wide. The six-face event board has three faces on each of two sides and is ideal for locations, such malls or outdoor settings. The other event boards can be easily set up on a wall.

An example of the new-style nine-face event boards

“Even amidst the competitiveness of Relay For Life, there’s a camaraderie,” Dooley said. “We’re all fighting cancer in one way or another. Celebrate, remember, and fight back. I think that’s the best feature of this event board. A team associated with a venue will put out one of these displayers, and it will stay there and show the events for all teams, not just one. It will display events at different places and different times. It will improve fundraising for everyone. People will start coming to more events, and those people who don’t know about RFL of SL will come to the events.”

Tayzia Abattoir, event chair, said: “I am excited about new technology and whenever we can find uses for it to better our in-world program. This is a wonderful new informational outreach opportunity created by Dwen. He has worked many hours perfecting the event board and it is an exciting new tool for our RFL of SL program. It will make it much easier for team captains to get the information about their events out, not only from the listing on the event board itself, but also as the information fed into the system about their events is generated to our PR group to release to media outlets and list on our google calendar etc.”

Distribution of the event boards directly to RFL of SL groups began on February 21. Displayers may be obtained by others in one of three ways. Go to any current displayer and click the banner on the top. Select “Get a Copy” from the menu, and a boxed kit of all 11 displayers will be sent. These kits are no transfer. A free copy of the kit may also be found at ACS Island at http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/151/162/51.

Xstreet SL lists the event board kit for L$1, which is distributed to ACS.

For more information about the event boards, e-mail Dwen Dooley at dwendooley@gmail.com.

For more information please contact one of the following people: Poppy Zabelin (RFL of SL PR Chair poppy_zabelin@yahoo.co.uk) or Breezy Carver (RFL of SL PR Co-Chair seabreezegal@gmail.com)

FOLLOW US on http://twitter.com/RelayForLife_SL and http://rflofsl.blogspot.com/

This Valentine had some consequences, hadn’t it? There is a rosebud in my soul that exploded in flower this morning at the sweet hour of the dew falling…so I put it on sandals to share it with you…Wow! No. 24 are sandals with ankles, feet and a great realistic and detailed rose with dew Extreme heels that flow in an allusive spirals and leads the looks along the thin ankles and up along the legs…you always wished to have:

As we all know now, one of the best Fashion Designers in the world, passed away last week, which saddened many, if not all, in the fashion world.

Here in Second Life, on March 13th, Some of the BEST designers and fashion creators will come together, and put on an amazing show, to remember Alexander McQueen, and to benefit Relay For Life, which launches on the same day.

Nearer the time, notices will be sent out in the Best of SL Magazine Readers group, and another blog post to get the final line-up of Designers taking part in the show. Below, are a list of people, who are already confirmed:

Ziamela Loon
Kimmera Madison
Amutey Decuir
Ashoka Eales
Joy Fellini
Anubis Hartunian
Raven Pennyfeather
morea Decosta
Sonatta Morales
Barbarella Cioc
pixivor Allen
Mami Jewell
Sparkle Sky
Thea Tamura
Enzo Champagne
soraya Vaher
Applonia Criss

More are expected to take part also! This is going to be an amazing show, and many are excited for it. Second Life Residents are welcome to the event, which location and time are listed below. See you there!

A TRIBUTE TO ALEXANDER McQUEEN TO BENEFIT RELAY FOR LIFE
March 13th
4:00 pm SLT
Patch Thibaud Auditorium

Have you ever heard of the CUBE Community? Well…now you have! And you will know some more through this little blog post, because i went there just the other day…and it was worthy of a BOSL post!

CUBE Community - Editorial Clarity Pic

Me and Frolic were exploring some places, and out he rezzed an invitation to a party for the CUBE. The invitation was awesome, it looked amazing, so we were eager to go and take a look at the place. When we arrived, we were greeted by a modern, stylish, chic and elegant Sim. The colours were amazing, showcasing a pink and light blue theme. It grabbed my attention for sure.

Now, The CUBE is a gay community here in Second Life! However, in the modern world, i know Gay Clubs and places, don’t only attract the Gay Community. So this is definitely something for the sophisticated, and modern of people to go check out for sure!

CUBE Bar/Seating Area - Editorial Clarity pic

The Owner, Cherish Demonge, created a beautiful roof structure, which was overheard the bar/lounge area. Frolic and me immediately loved it, therefore, he asked Cherish if it could be used for the decor over at Boulevard Agency for the recent ‘Carnival Extravaganza’ show. So if anyone reading this was there, which i know some of you were…now you know where the inspiration was from! Also, Cherish was the creator of the AMAZING invitation that was passed out for that event also! So YAY Cherish!

CUBE Seating Area - Editorial Clarity Pic

The CUBE are having a launch party on Sunday, February 21st, and ALL are invited. As this party is to signal a fresh new start for the CUBE, the theme for the party, is White Masked Ball. Very suitable i say! So, if you are available between 2-4pmSLT on this day, please head on over to the SLurl (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sylvheru/147/194/28) And have a good time! Me and Frolic will be going, so hope to see you there folks!

PS – The Place is Stunningly Stunning!

Love It!!! Edi C

In its hundred year history, the film industry has been dominated by large Hollywood studios willing to spend mega bucks in pursuit of box office success. But now, at the dawn of a new century, film making is being reborn at the hands of some exceptionally creative individuals who use nothing more than a PC, online gaming platforms and their limitless imagination to create some of the most thought provoking films ever made. This is the golden age of a new film industry known as ‘machinima’.

Machinima is a relatively new cinematic art form, classified as the art of using a game engine to create film. It was conceived in the late 1990s, when ingenious players of the earliest online games discovered that they could capture moving images from in game and by adding sounds, dialogue and simple edits, create a high impact movie without even leaving their homes. Now ten years on, ‘Second Life’ is a creative melting pot of some of the finest machinima makers on the planet. In celebration of their pioneering spirit, this year sees the second ever ‘MaMachinima International Festival’ take place in both RL and SL locations.

Initiated by Dutch machinima artist Chantal Harvey, this festival is bringing together over 40 machinimatographers, showcasing 50 original works of film and will allow real life audiences attending the event in Amsterdam to interact with the Second Life participants. Set over four sims kindly sponsored by Linden Lab and with futuristic domes adapted by ‘Pop Art Lab’ acting as immersive movie screens, this seven hour extravaganza of virtual film making will enable the machinima community to promote the very best work from this genre to new audiences unfamiliar with machinimas allure.

So why is this art form, which is still in its infancy, so deserving of such a large and globally recognized event? Chantal Harvey explains “I wanted to create a platform in which machinimatographers could showcase their best work, and share it with the world. I consider it the new media for filming. I come from a RL television background, and discovered machinima in 2007, and haven’t stopped since. I try to improve, grow, and never stick to one genre. I want to show machinima to the world-and the possibilities of it! In RL Amsterdam, people will be able to watch the in world event on a huge screen, and several large monitors are set up to show different angles. They can interact with the SL venue, using stream and webcams-which means that we in SL can see the RL venue too!”

As with standard film festivals, the MMIF will be highlighting work from different categories such as humor, high octane action films, romance and music. There will also be some innovative pieces on show, including a film specifically produced for this festival using 3d technology by Pyewacket Kazyanenko who says “I’ve made a 3d SL movie whereby a real life audience wears red and blue glasses. It’s never been done with SL machinima I’m sure! The work is a short dance video which plays on many aspects of machinima creation- the lone avatar , joyful in creation, the tacky effects, the quick cuts and the celebration of the new 3d phenomenon in a retro-3d way. It’s about the amateur film maker, ready to explore new territory but not altogether pulling it off professionally.”

It’s this sense of fun that seems to define machinima and unite its creators. The majority of machinimatographers also excel in other artistic disciplines and view machinima as another tool for creative self expression, as leading film maker, Colemarie Soleil, who has over 180 pieces of critically acclaimed machinima films to her name vividly describes. “Expressing myself is just what I do” she says “As a person, that is how I am. It doesn’t matter what medium I use; music, particles, painting, sketching, sculpting, Second Life building and design. But the reason machinima became so important to me in the end though, is because of that form of media’s ability to reach further outside of Second Life. To me, it’s a way of holding onto what I view as an extremely transient art form and to share it with people who might not have gotten to experience it. It becomes easier for me to visually show how I view SL too. My own little window to the metaverse I guess”

It’s opening up this window onto the film making of Second Life that the MMIF event hopes to achieve; proving that films created within virtual worlds are just as valid and culturally significant  an art form as traditional cinema. And if you think this genre of film making is only taken seriously by hard core gamers-think again. Already, famous Hollywood directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, use machinima in the pre production process of their movies and like any underground artistic movement, Machinima is on course to become the next mainstream success.

Bryn Oh, a revolutionary machinima maker and one of the most prolific virtual artists of our generation, has contributed a video of her real life book the ‘Rabbicorn’ story to this year’s event. She predicts that the machinima producers of today are helping to direct the very future of the film industry itself. “Chantal Harvey has put together an event which will showcase some of the ways people are using the medium of Second Life” she reflects “ It may convince some people outside SL that this medium has a multitude of applications beyond business and leisure- it’s a new frontier in creative expression. I truly believe that we are part of a new movement in art that has not yet been recognized, much of the machinima we are creating may be used, at some point, to explain this virtual art movement in the art history books of the future.”

The MaMachinima International Festival takes place on Saturday 20th February from 11am-6pm SLT.

For more information visit: http://mmif.org/

SLurl:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/MMIF4/22/234/29

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen … (yes, Sir, you too, because my shoes, even if they are for ladies’ legs, they are ultimately for your eyes, so…your also welcome at the tonight story…), as you now, our Real Lives are somehow national, and ethnically determined…so, we all enjoy importing Holydays!!! I Personally I would never refuse an extra Santa, so I gathered about 4 Christmas to celebrate with my family, a few New Ear’s Eves (yes, the Chinese one too, aren’t the Dragons fluffy and cute?), and above all, I cherish my 2 Love Days, the Saint Valentine’s Day on 15th and my national Dragobete on 25th of February. Yes, you may have a good laugh thinking that Dragobete comes from “to drag” and imagine him and her dragging each other somewhere (I will not say where)! So, I will let you laugh and not translate anything for you…enough to say that we celebrate it by laughter and jokes…Rules are simple: you have a good laughter that day…you will have good luck in love…if you happen to be sad that day, you will probably end up by making money instead!
But Saint Valentine is different; first of all it’s a religious holyday, and a good opportunity to feel in love…but seriously! Hey, it’s s about marriage; it’s about finding the love of your life…not just the second-love of your second life…that’s what I had to learn to adopt the new catholic Holyday: Saint Valentine was a priest who used to marry couples…so, ups! I had to meditate a lot before I would dare to dedicate my shoes to this day…I had to carefully choose the multi-faceted rubies cut in a shape of a heart…two hearts…and I wrapped them in delicate laces of precious metals, like ribbons that bond the hearts together in a vow…and I kept all triviality for the extreme heels and for the platforms in female shape…I smiled making the ankles count in the overall look, because this one was for the gentlemen…so now, their look can slide from your toes up to the Heavens along your legs…they totally transform the shape, now that there is no ugly potato-ankle to hide…look at the Wow! No. 23:

So…I was making shoes and I was thinking about sensuality and how to make a good design to express that particular feeling when a hot glance meets another fire glance and both worlds melt around and begin to swirl somehow mixing together like two waves of incandescence…so I took some precious metals and ribbons and I made them dance in spirals until the ice of the winter melt in diamonds…so, these are my Wow! No. 22, made accidentaly in my dizziness of meditation about love…

They come in ready made 2 sizes, as for the Model look and as for the Betty Boop look. Each of the 254 skin tones are clearly visible on transparent huds with textures…yes, you will not tint them in a plain color, just choose from a 254 collection of the best skin-tones in SL, vivid, realistic and textured in detail (sole, veins, cuticles, shadows and lights). Many of the skin-brands and their tones are alphabetically listed in a Guide so you will just click on a certain button of the hud. Also 26 nail enamels, in a Pedicure hud.
What’s left to say? You are all invited in 24 Shoo Shoes new palace…