Exploring a Medieval Sim and First in Virtual London With New SL Technology

Drax and I went off exploring again the other night, we wanted to find a nice role-playing medieval sim, I just love the clothes and the times, its proper fantasy stuff that could never be recreated in real life.  We travelled to Renaissance Island and it looked really great, we were made very welcome by the people in the sim who handed us a glass of ale each to keep us going. 

We had quite a chat with the locals and said we would like to come back.  We said our goodbyes and went off to look around.  They have the Globe Theatre there and some beautiful houses to rent.  Drax went quickly ahead, I have no idea why my av is so slow, but he often marches off with me in hot pursuit!  We looked in a few of the houses and ended up in a lovely manor house.  I am looking forward to going back and getting to know everyone there, also to test out my role-playing skills, which are really rusty!

A few days ago Ed told me about the new Second Life Beta viewer 2 and he was trying it out.  I downloaded it as well, and it is completely different in respect of the interface compared to the normal versions.  Ed is very clever with all the technical side of things and he told me that you could actually view web pages in this new version in-world.  Last night we were talking about it again and thought it would be a good idea to put the prim web page viewer in our shop in virtual Kensington, so people could come in and look at the ‘up to date’ Virtually London (lite) blog.  The race was on as we didn’t think anyone else in Virtual London had got as far as installing one like it.  Ed had shown me a video of Torly Linden explaining how to transfer the web information onto the prim which would be used as the screen, so I set to and made one.  Now if someone is running the Beta SL viewer they can look at our London blog in the shop.  Ed says he thinks we beat everyone else in Virtual London by getting it up and running, I wonder if we have!!  I also wrote a CNN article on it last night, as I think Nicole and Henry could make good use of this at their meetings, plus they could leave a link to their CNN.com on the Island all the time.  This is exciting technology from the Lindens and I think the viewer has some nice enhancements.  Only thing I couldn’t find was where to upload textures, but maybe because this is a Beta it’s not working yet.

White Masquerade Ball and Hibiscus the Greeter

I got an invitation from friend Cher Demonge the other day and he invited me to a Masquerade Ball for the opening of his gallery the Cube, which has been moved to a new location.  The theme of the Ball was to wear white and obviously a mask as well.  I have a couple of white dresses and tried a beautiful one on from Evie’s Closet, but this had a very full skirt, so I decided on one of my favourite dresses with a slim skirt.  Hibiscus came over to the shop where I was and she too decided on a lovely gown she had with a slim fitting.  We had similar masks and we were looking forwards to the party as we got ready, watched by Max the kitten.

The party was well under way when we got there and it looked like a really swish ‘do’ with the people in their white costumes.  Cher danced with a teapot on his head and what looked like a white wolf skin hanging from one shoulder, he was definitely enjoying his night, as were all his guests.  The gallery looks like a great place to visit in its new setting, I hope he does well.

Yesterday when I logged on, Hibiscus was already in SL and when I spoke to her she said she was in Victoriana carrying out her new role as a Greeter,  She was meeting new people and anyone who wanted help as they arrived in the Victorian sim.  I decided to go over and have a look and Hib was speaking fluent French to a new lady, how lovely to be able to do that, she will be a big benefit to the sim.  The new lady had donned one of the Victorian dresses that Hib had shown her.  It was a free gift and looked good.  I decided I had better put a long coat on as I had arrived in a modern skirt, so I quickly got the coat out of my inventory.  The little lady who Hib had been helping suddenly decided she would try the horse out that she must have just found, and off she tried to gallop.  SL wasn’t about to give her an easy ride though, and I suspect she had an animation override on that interfered with the horse, so she sank into the ground.    Not to be put off though, she abandoned the horse and spent the rest of the time dancing in the street.  I think Hib had done a good job as the lady happily went on her way.

Valentine’s Day Fun

It has been an extra busy time in SL, especially with Valentine’s day a few days ago.  I read that the Lindens would be holding another one of their events where they would invite us ordinary avatars to go over and meet them, and they would give out kisses for free.  Being extra smart this year, I decided to go over to the two heart shaped SL Islands early, and I was very fortunate that not many people had arrived.  I met a nice bunch of Lindens, Jillian, Mia, Blondin, Gary, Niko, Gail and Quixote.  I told them I was on the scavenge for a story for CNN and I asked a couple of them if it would be ok to get a picture as I kissed them.  Blondin was very nice and took a picture and gave it to me.  He said that he often reads the SL reports on CNN, so that was great.  Being a bit cheeky I asked Gail and Quixote if they had a bear I could have, Gail gave me her cute bear and Quixote promised to put me on the list as he had not made his yet.  He had a great outfit on, medieval armour and I said I wanted the bear to have armour too, I wonder if it will have.

We had the Valentine’s Ball at the Underground Club that night.  I bought a dress for just a 100 Lindens, which was a special, so I put that  on and headed over there.  It was a red dress and I sort of didn’t link the two, Valentine’s Day and the colour red, but of course it was the most popular colour there.  Hib had a beautiful bright red dress on and she looked breathtaking, as did Amourette.  So I matched the event without really meaning too.  Ed and Drax came along and we all had a great time listening to dj Janis as Brie hosted the event. Drax had put his special red tie on, so he looked very smart.

What Do You Do When You Are Bored?

What do you do when your are bored in SL, go round and irritate your mates, that’s what.  I saw Hibiscus and Ed on-line and for some reason they have taken up fishing, a very nice thing to do I suppose, they are both getting expert anglers and they have lots of pretty fishes.  I got to where they were fishing when Ed had just caught a cute little starfish and Hib had some sort of goldy coloured fish with long floaty fins. 

They seemed perfectly content and I sat on a bench over the other side sorting through my inventory.

I found some boats and things and got out a rubber tyre to have a float around the pond in, but the ducks kept getting in the way and SL ducks are quite vicious when they have their ducklings with them.

Anyway I wasn’t being annoying enough because the other two carried on fishing, so I found some ships that I didn’t even remember I had, one was a great big tanker thing, goodness knows where I got that.

I found a yacht made by friend Monet and Ed had the cheek to climb  on board and carry on fishing, hummm, well couldn’t have that could I, so I put it away again in case Hibs got ideas.

Eventually I found a skijet that Monet had made, what a brilliant inventor she is, and took to the water in that, round and round I went churning up the pond and came to a stop near the frustrated anglers.

I asked if they wanted a go and bravely Ed jumped on the back and off we sped.  I think I spent more time bouncing off the riverbank than I did in the water, but it was a real laugh.  I landed back near Hib and poor Ed, who was looking a little pale climbed off.

Hib said she had to log soon, but agreed to take a spin before she went.  She was very quiet as I lurched into gear and hit the water at speed, clinging on for dear life, she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.  Once again the riverbanks seemed to get in the way as I overshot the water, but we made it back in one piece and Hib, looking a little bit green, said goodbye and logged off.  I wonder if they will let me know when they are going fishing again?

Avatar The Movie is Fun Role-Play

At the last CNN meeting, the producers had mentioned that they were interested in anything to do with the movie Avatar in SL, so I set off to have a look.  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but had seen people dressed in the blue skins and stuff in SL, so I thought there must be something going on.  I ended up finding a sim called Pandora and went over for a look around.  I was relieved to see that I didn’t have to wear one of the character skins or role play, but could go in as a visitor, which I did.  There were people arriving all the time, so I guess it is very popular and both Hibiscus and Drax have seen the film and told me it was good. I looked around the vendor bit before going down to the forest were some people were already acting out a scene.   I got challenged by a girl who hadn’t seen my visitor tag, quite handy really, as I hadn’t wanted to disturb the others in their role-play, so I got chatting to BobCat and she let me take her picture which was nice of her.  It was her first day in Pandora and she seemed to fit right in. 

I tried to keep out of the way as a battle started and still managed to get shot, which I included in my article, it made me laugh at the time, as the people were so immersed in their roles.  It is a great sim and I went back with Drax to show him, as he could relate to it having seen the film.   I had another nice surprise at the CNN meeting as Nicole the producer said that they had put a link to my story on their Entertainments page, so it got quite a lot of hits, although not as many as Brie and Seany’s story, which is still my favourite.  But a big thanks to CNN again this week for giving me a link to their main site.

Truthball Fun In Our Shop

We are always talking about stuff to do in our little shop in virtual Kensington.  Hibiscus and I had planned to sell some artwork there, I started to do some photos and then got too busy to finish them (but I might carry on later, it’s a shame to give up on an idea!).  Anyway looking for other ideas, we had fun playing Truthball at the Truthball Cafe and decided to install a Truthball in the shop so people could stop by and play the game if they wanted to.  It’s great fun, you can play with two people or a crowd, you click on the Truthball and it reads out a question, which can be personal or not so personal, depending on what list of questions you pick, and you are supposed to answer truthfully!!  It’s a laugh and in a group  it’s an icebreaker as it keeps the conversation flowing, it’s also fun with just two players, you can answer in chat or IM, so you can talk to each other like never before!

Hib, Ed and I had a go at the Truthball and then decided to go over to the Underground Club to see who was there.  It turned out to be quite a crowd with all the regulars having a good time.  The theme was ‘best in green’ to win lots of money, Ed fished out a green hat from his inventory and I couldn’t find anything, so I had a cup of green tea instead, not sure if Hib had anything green, I think she was just enjoying the dancing.

Take a trip over to our shop and play the Truthball if you dare!!  Don’t forget, you can leave us a few Lindens in the tip jar for the news blogs if you like the game!

Brie and Seany’s Story Hit’s Front Page Of CNN

It’s turning out to be a week to remember, I’d put my story on CNN a few days ago about Brie and Seany from the London sims announcing their engagement in real life.  Some stories give me great pleasure to write and this was one of the best, two very good friends who I’d felt so happy for and the story was a beautiful one, just what we needed to cheer us up in this very gloomy start to 2010.  I was hoping Henry Hanks the CNN producer would be pleased about it as he had covered a story on SL romances in 2008 when he mentioned one of my articles covering Brie and Seany then, so it was a nice follow-up.  Anyway to cut a long story short they decided to list the story on the very front page of the CNN website under ‘Living’ and it’s getting the most hits I’ve ever had on an article and been shared numerous times, so it looks like it has taken off quite a lot.  I must admit to feeling a little excited about it all and still am, Brie and Seany’s story would make a great film, crossing real life with Second Life, and it has a real ‘feel good’ factor about it!

We talked about the story a little at the CNN meeting last night, among other things that Nicole wants us to follow-up, and there was some group chat going on as well and for some reason I started putting in some fish puns for a laugh, like ‘good Cod I never thought of that!’  Anyways, I don’t know if that put the thought into their heads, but Hibiscus and Ed decided to go fishing later and I caught up with them there.  I thought it was supposed to be relaxing, but they seemed to be squabbling over the fish and what they had caught, so funny!  We had a good old chat before I logged for the night!