simploring 2019 (112) – 20][21 gallery “Miss Barbara’s sense for ice”

08 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life, Real Life and Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

Our friend Barbara Reiter-Jewell (Barbara Reiter) has her own little gallery called “20][21 gallery“, where she exhibits her own work every once in a while. Saturday, November 2nd, she opened her exhibition “Miss Barbara’s sense for ice” with pictures of her journey to Greenland in 2019: icebergs at Disco Bay, mainland shelf and some Greenland moods. It is an art show and installation showing an other view into arctic and arctic life.

In the 20][21 gallery you can see the pictures presented in different ways as slideshows, as panorama pictures where you can litteraly walk in and as wall filling exhibits. Besides the quality of the pictures the permanent changing of them at the walls and slideshows and different viewing angles allow you to immerse yourself into this artic world.

A view into the 20][21 gallery

I added a few sample pictures of the exhibiton so that you get an impression. The pictures look better in the 20][21 gallery. For me personally presenting photographs from the physical world in Second Life is a great fit between the two worlds that adds another dimenision to 2D pictures.

Impressions of “Miss Barbara’s sense for ice” (1)

Impressions of “Miss Barbara’s sense for ice” (2)

Landmark to 20][21 gallery for contemporary art
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enchanted%20Love/18/20/2500

Simploring 2019 (111) Last Dove

06 Nov 2019 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, November 5th, I visited “Last Dove“, a moderate homestead sim owned by Erythro Isback (erythro).  It has been created by Erythro with full collaboration of shannon Cardalines. I got the landmark by following scoop.it SL Destinations and I read Maddy (Maddy Gynoid)’s blogpost about Last Dove in his blog Echt Virtuell – “Simtipp: The Last Dove” (the blog is in German) before I visited myself. And I’m really happy that I did!

Erythro Isback (erythro) wrote into the landmark’s decription:
“Created with love in the spirit of West Texas honoring those that came before, those with us and our future.
“Let the cowboys be cowboy bound.””

First impressions of Last Dove – upper left is an overview

Last Dove looks like the background of a movie – and it feels as if you’re a part of a movie. There’re bots dressed like cowboys that walk around and liven up the scenery. Dust is blown through the village that consists of a saloon, an abandoned chapel and a few houses. There’s a ranch, a barn, a small ranch house and a corall …. beside of that you’re in the wide open. The sim background is just amazing as it make the plains endless. A group of wild horses is drinking at the shore, a group of buffalos is close to the ranch.

Impressions of Last Dove (1) – Inara Pey entering the town (upper left)

While I was exploring Last Dove I saw Inara Pey riding a horse. I grabbed a horse myself (as far as I experienced it you can only grab and ride the horses that are in the corral, the others who haven’t found their way back can’t be ridden) and rode to her and we had a nice chat. Inara told me that the whole setting is based on Lonesome Dove, “a 1985 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series but the third installment in the series chronologically (source Wikipedia)“.
The bots that I saw are characters from the novel Captain Woodrow F. Call , Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae, Pea Eye Parker and others. In 1989 a TV mini series with 4 Episodes was broadcasted that featured renowed actors like Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane and Anjelica Huston.

Impressions of Last Dove (2) – Inara Pey and Diomita (upper right)

I had fun exploring the “Last Dove” the right way: riding a horse. And I took many pictures, the background is simply too outstanding.
And I decided to be lazy and to refer to Maddy Gynoid’s “Simtipp: The Last Dove” and to Inara Pey’s post “Last Dove: a western homage in Second Life” instead of further research about the novel and the TV series. In addition, my pictures tell more than a thousand words could do.

Impressions of Last Dove (3) – Inara Pey and Diomita (upper left)

Don’t miss this great sim. Thank you Erythro Isback (erythro) and shannon Cardalines for creating this masterpiece of virtual immersion and for sharing Last Dove with the public.

P.S.: I had a nice chat with Erythro later. He asked me to give credit to corrade bots, an essential piece of the sim. Here’s the link.

Landmark to Last Dove
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Droomeiland/158/64/26
Maddy Gynoid’s “Simtipp: The Last Dove”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/11/simtipp-last-dove.html
Inara Pey’s post “Last Dove: a western homage in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2019/11/05/last-dove-a-western-homage-in-second-life/
corrade bots
http://grimore.org/secondlife/scripted_agents/corrade

Simploring 2019 (110) Rocks by Cica Ghost

04 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

Yesterday I got an invitation by Cica to visit her newest installation “Rocks by Cica Ghost“, that opened November 3rd. And I went there right away late at night.

Impressions of “Rocks by Cica Ghost” (1)

This time Cica Ghost art is presented by Sim Quarterly, a sim and initiative of Electric Monday:
“Art and the virtual world, Second Life© are very similar —you are able to both find yourself and immerse yourself (and maybe even lose yourself) in something totally unlike what you already know. The experiences you gain help you grow and form new opinions about the world. That is what I hope this sim can provide over time. I am very excited to bring to you a quarterly art project by way of The Sim Quarterly.
The project features one creator every 3 months (every quarter) as an artist in residence. The purpose of the sim is so that residents can experience something new and even create a community.”
Learn more about Sim Quarterly at their website.

Impressions of “Rocks by Cica Ghost” (2)

“Rocks by Cica Ghost” is an island with … rocks! All is grey tones, the windlight submerges the island in turquoise, the clouds glow in orange. All rocks are painted and thus Cica’s rocks become a world of it’s own. I recognized a lot of Cica’s themes be it cats or snails. You see “Cica-ish” flowers, trees and houses on the rocks. There are no ohter plants than those painted on the rocks, no green grass, just rocks and some groups of naked floral stems. The girl from “Frogs” (read simploring 2017 (9) Frogs by Cica Ghost) has a reappearance and you find her painting the rocks.

Impressions of “Rocks by Cica Ghost” (3)

As usual humans become dwarfs in Cica’s worlds. The rocks are huge and so are the painted animals, houses, and flowers. It is fun to immerge yourself into “Rocks by Cica Ghost“. It warmed my heart seeing all the funny and peaceful animals and to recognize Cica’s humor at every corner. If you hoover your mouse over some of the rocks you can dance in front of some rocks or sit on others. This adds to fun and it is what “Rocks by Cica Ghost” is intended for – getting out from every day life (even in SL), dance, laugh and have fun!

Impressions of “Rocks by Cica Ghost” (4)

Thank you Cica for another great installation and thank you Electric Monday for your initiave and for hosting “Rocks by Cica Ghost“. I do look forward to visit Sim Quarterly and it’s art projects again.

Landmark to Rocks by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Sim%20Quarterly/237/107/26
Sim Quarterly website
http://tiny.cc/co2mfz
Sim Quarterly flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/thesimquarterly/

Simploring 2019 (109) {Unconditional}

03 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Sunday, October 6th, I picked “{Unconditional}” from scoop.it SL Destinations. {Unconditional} is an adult homestead owned by Chavy (Chavonne Mcauley). According to Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: {Unconditional}“, besides Chavy also Tomis (Tomisnotaboy Resident) and Moonsoul Resident helped creating {Unconditional}.

The name of the sim is related to love, unconditional love. The landmarks description provides a definition of it “Unconditional love — in its most simplest form — means appreciating someone else for who they truly are. It means loving them when they are unlovable, and in spite of their imperfections and mistakes.”
The sim is open to the public yet although it is an adult place you’re asked to refrain from nudity.

{Unconditional} – overview

{Unconditional} consists of 4 islands. I named them Beach island, Swamp island, Mill island and Community island. All islands are connected by bridges. The landing point is on Beach Island next to a small shelter. Walking along the shore of the island I came across several very nice places to sit down, to chill or simply enjoy the surrounding. Some trees on Beach Island are glowing in the colours of Autumn.

Impressions of {Unconditional} (1) – Beach island

Impressions of {Unconditional} (2) – Beach island

From the Beach island your get to the Swamp island by a path and by walking through a hollowed tree trunk. The Swamp island might be the most photogenic island of the four islands. An elevated wooden path lead through the swamp to a nice and cosy hut from where you have a nice view. Another great place to make a stop is at the pond in the center of the Swamp island. And I found a nice elevated place to sit just at the end of my visit on this island.

Impressions of {Unconditional} (3) – Swamp island

The Mill island is outstanding because of its waterfalls. The wooden path along the falls is really well done. I also want to point out the alley of twisted trees that looks just beautiful with its red leaves. At Mill island there’re again several nice spots to sit … and some great backgrounds. The house on Mill island is private and not accessible.

Impressions of {Unconditional} (4) – Mill island

A stone bridge connects Mills island with Community island. It is raining on the bridge.. with another windlight setting you might get some great pictures there. In front of the villa on Community island are several tables and chairs, there’s a stand for hot chocolate and a fountain. To me it looked like a place to meet friends and hence I named this island Community island. The villa is not furnished by the way (or not yet).

Impressions of {Unconditional} (5) – Community island

{Unconditional} offers some really nice Autumn views, particularly when using the regions windlight setting. I decided to use another windlight setting as the picture get a bit dark using the regions settings. But {Unconditional} is not a sim just for the Autumn. I like the Beach island with its cosy places and I enjoyed the views on the Swamp island. I think the alley of trees and the waterfalls as also outstanding.

Thank you Chavy (Chavonne Mcauley) for creating your place and for sharing it with the public!

Landmark to {Unconditional}
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Passionata/214/93/26
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14667150@N21/
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: {Unconditional}”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/10/simtipp-unconditional.html

Simploring 2019 (108) La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019

31 Oct 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The newest joined exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli was opened on Wednesday, October 30th. This time Aneli (Aneli Abeyante) features the art of Beertje Beaumont, IndigoClaire, Norton Lykin, Gitu Aura, Lala Lightfoot, Senka Beck and Treacle Darlandes.

Once again I visited the exhibtion before the official opening as it fitted better into my plans. I started with a visit to ” La Serre” : Undiscovered Planet, created by Treacle Darlandes. It is a 3D art installation filling one room. You enter a purple fantasy world. The sky is glowing in orange, the trees have glowing yeallow and red leaves (like in Autum), the flower glow and a butterfly brightens up the scenery. The background is sharp and edgy – an undiscovered planet.
Treacle Darlandes is from the UK. She joined Second Life over 13 years ago and is engaged in assistance for new residents, depression support, an over-40 group and other things – like art. She enjoys creating art in Second Life to relax and loves colour and movement. She likes to feel immersed in her art, and hopes that others like it too. I felt attracted by Treacle’s undiscovered planet.

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Treacle Darlandes

Right when you enter La Maison d’Aneli the first area is occupied by Lala Lightfoot’s art. Lala has been creating art all her life and has been influenced by the colors, pattern and shapes in nature and the amazing works of great artists. She loves putting these elements together in different ways to create art that is entertaining, thoughtful and fun.
Lala Lightfoot is an art educator from the US. She’s in Second Life for over 12 years and is known as a painter favoring watercolors, acrylics and mixed media. I personally think that her style is unique.

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Lala Lightfoot

Beertje Beaumont is an artist in RL and a jeweler in SL. She’s in Second Life for almost 13 years. Considering her name I suspect that she’s Dutch.
At La Maison d’Aneli she shows her first paintings. She used acryl paint with a coarse bottom layer of sand and gesso, to have a special effect. The corner with Beertje’s paintings has dark walls and thus the colours of her paintings look stronger. The paintings have complex structures that makes them intriguing the longer you look at them. I like how Beertje’s corner at La Maison d’Aneli is decorated not only with the little meeting area in the middle next to a piano but also with glass sphere suspended from the ceiling.

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Beertje Beaumont

Indigo (IndigoClaire) is from the Czech Republic city of Prague. She joined Second Life about 9 years ago and had already several art projects and exhibtionsin SL. At La Maison d’Aneli she created a room all in white with a box in the center and big artful pictures at the walls. I think all the pictures were taken in Second Life and processed with special effects like blurring some parts. The whole compostion of the geometry, some colourful spheres on the floor and the pictures which are seen from different angles is very interesting and invites you stay a while.

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – IndigoClaire

Gitu Aura, another artist who is in Second Life for already almost 10 years called her corner of the exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli “Embrace my dreams”. She says about herself: “Art is very important to me, I can’t live without it. It’s like a passion for me, the motor which drives me, my reason for being and never staying at the same point. I love to create and share it with people.
Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, what awakens my soul…I just adore to sit and listen to music while I am relaxed and my phantasy fly in the Photoshop. Is the process I never know how will finish, that’s the magic of the moment and creativity…and I am always happy to share what I did create, as Art should speak itself…as the silent poetry..the moment to feel…“

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Gitu Aura

Senka Beck is another SL veteran with far over 12 years. She sees SL as her playground where she enjoys interacting with peeps and prims, where she captures and releases her inner being.
The work presented here at La Maison d’Aneli is titled Detoxomania, Reboot. It is a combination of different forms of art, a light installation, that covers all walls, the floor and the ceiling. Senka plays with effects and with sound and the pictures at the walls look technical, something like circuits, fractals and other geometric forms and they change their colour and hence the impressions of them. Get immersed!

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Senka Beck

Finally I visited the room with the art from Norton Lykin. Norton is with over 12 years also a SL veteran. He’s living in Denmark and took up his art activities after his retirement as a system programmer. He sees life as a journey “The ideas we have and the history we tell. Reality is not a scientific truth but as we understand it in every given moment.”
His pictures at La Maison d’Aneli work with shadows, colours and shades: Everybody will see different stories or objects in them and that is Norton’s intention.

La Maison d’Aneli – November 2019 – Norton Lykin

La Maison d’Aneli is owned by Aneli Abeyante. Through her gallery she brings together all forms of creativity in RL and SL and the featured artists come from around the globe. Aneli’s intention is to “put her gallery in the service of artists, so that the world can be better, exchanges and meetings probably contribute even though it seems to be particles.”
Thank you Aneli for another great exhibition and thank you to all artists. The current exhibition should be open until End of November 2019. Enjoy your visit, if you go there yourself.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oak%20Park/101/136/3502

Diary 2019 (165) October 21st – The Facility

30 Oct 2019 3 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Diary, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Where to begin today’s diary entry? This might become a longer diary entry ….
A few months ago I met Mistress Oblivion (herindoors3) at Heavy Bondage Club. She’s quite an intriguing being and very possessive, self-centered and confident. Her main kink is to get into the mind of her victims, to brainwash them, so that they have nothing else in mind but serving her. In May I arranged a roleplay and sold slave sappy to her (read Diary 2019 (69) May 12th – slave sappy sold) and later slave sappy was released again, which was a quite funny story (read Diary 2019 (75) May 22nd – Back in control / the sappy story).

I had visited Mistress Oblivions home and her facility in May and I understood why she easily attracts slaves by her natural dominance and control. It might be not my way of playing, but thank god we’re all different and the the BDSM world offers innumerous different kinks. Anyway I stayed in loose contact to Mistress Oblivion but I hadn’t seen her again up until Mid of October when I ran into her at club Domme a Domme. Mistress Oblivion showed me her new homeplace, that consists of a houseboat (her living space) and a huge facility, “The Facility“. I stayed with Mistress Oblivion in the main entrance hall of The Facility. You can see a battery of tube cells there and the captured victims (if present) and you can visit them. Mistress Jenny came inworld and as she has me on the map she teleported to me. She had mixed up the place with another place and thought I was in a public place. Mistress Jenny, Mistress Oblivion and I chatted a bit, then we left.

I visited The Facility again at night and Mistress Oblivion gave me an extended tour and I told Mistress Jenny about my 2nd visit.

October 21st: Diomita visiting Mistress Jenny at The Facility

When I came inworld Monday, October 21st, shortly after lunch to check my messages, I found a blocked IM from Mistress Jenny … and a message from Mistress Oblivion:
“Hi Dio..  A friend of yours paid me a visit earlier.. She is now in a bit of a pickle and needs your help to get out of it. She’s a little sorry for herself, when you have a moment..”
Mistress Oblivion wasn’t inworld and I went to The Facility and found one of the tube cells occupied by Kitty and another occupied by Mistress Jenny … I could already suspect what happened. I also recognized two other names that sounded familiar: Jenny and Maddie. Jenny (gfd39) had spent some nights with us in early September and her name let to some funny misunderstandings. I had already wondered why she hadn’t shown up again – now I know. And Maddie (madisonrayne02) spent some time with us in Summer 2017 as a kidnapping victim.
I left a message for Mistress Oblivion and went offline again to tend to my RL.

October 21st – The Facility: overview (upper left) / brain washing equipment (upper right) / behind the publicly accessible rooms – various equipments for treating slaves and subjects (lower pictures)

I returned in the afternoon to meet with Mistress Jenny. I went to The Facility and we found a way to communicate (of course her IM was blocked). Mistress told me that she came there to rescue Kitty. She had given the landmark of The Facility to Kitty and had told her NOT to go there. We know our Kitty! Mistress Oblivion was not amused and suspected that we had sent Kitty to spy – we didn’t. Long story short – Mistress Jenny was caught as well. I had a longer chat with Mistress Jenny, we caught up with our mutual news and we discussed what to do. Then Mistress had to leave and due to RL she was prevented to be inworld at night.

October 21st – The Facility: Mistress Oblivion in front of The Facility (left) / the visitor hall (upper right) / more cells behind behind the publicly accessible rooms (lower left)

At night I came inworld earlier than usual and i could talk to Mistress Oblivion. I won’t go into details at all but finally I could achieve that Mistress Jenny and Kitty were released and could leave once they return inworld. Thank you, Mistress Oblivion.

The rest of my night was quite uneventful. I went home and met slave Gwendi, Angelique, slave Flo and later also slave slut cecy, quite a surprise for a Monday night. We just sat at home in our living room and chatted about RL and SL, about clothes and about our wardrobe, about rules, about haircuts, about bound maids and dusting, …. time flew by and after Angelique and slave Flo had went off to bed I visited Mesmerize Dungeon with slave Gwendi and slave slut cecy for half an hour before I went off to bed myself.

October 21st – a night at home: Diomita with Angelique, slave Flo, slave Gwendi and slave cecy at home / Diomita with slave Gwendi and slave cecy at Mesmerize Dungeon

Mistress Oblivion has the following description of The Facility in her profile:
“The Facility is a dangerous place, not to be entered unless your affairs are in order. It is rumoured that several Dommes reside within, having entered to reclaim a lost sub.  Mistress Oblivion runs it with a firm hand  and takes total control of anything in her path,  forever. RLV will be handed over on entry. You body, mind and will to follow shortly. Permanent on site storage.”
It comes to my mind that Mistress Jenny and I often say: “Be careful what you wish for!” The Facility is not a place for short fun or play. You won’t get out as the same person – supposed you do ever get out of it.

Landmark to The Facility
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Clairehaven/206/97/21

Simploring 2019 (107) Deadman’s Island 2019

25 Oct 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

“Deadman’s Island is a haunted gruesome island where the tortured souls come to rest. Are you looking to visit somewhere dark, ominous and creepy? Deadman’s Island will leave you feeling like someone is right behind you, watching and waiting …” is the landmark’s description of Deadman’s Island.

October 11th: Deadman’s Island – overview

Once again I found the landmark at scoop.it SL Destinations when i was looking for a destination for my simploring tour on Friday, October 11th. Right upon landing, the sim looked gruesome – but familiar. And yes, I had been here before in October 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (81) Deadman’s Island). The layout hasn’t changed but it was rebuilt in another (full) sim.

Impressions of Deadman’s Island 2019 (1)

Deadman’s Island is owned by Alex Luciano (alexandrasadie), but I also found some objects owned by Jaxx Luciano (jaxxson37). Both are not partnered but the names make me suspect that they are a couple. The word dark fits very well for Deadman’s island. I changed my windlight settings to get my pictures a bit lighter. Beside some shabby wooden buildings the island is covered with forest. You will find a lot of dead bodies and creatures that seems to be a strange mixture of a dog and a dinosaur on your discovery tour.

Impressions of Deadman’s Island 2019 (2)

Wherever you go on Deadman’s Island – blood, deads, scary creatures, rats, spiders, ghosts … and every once in a while you encounter a person fully covered by a cowl holding a mining light. I went to chapel and inside, I saw the cemetery. I visited the ghost ship. I went into all buildings, one seems to by an old asylum. Every room in every building has another scary sceenery. Everywhere is blood. It’s for sure nohting for the faint hearted. In one room swords darted up from the floor as I walked along and blood (my blood) was sprinkled around. Thank god, it was just pixel blood!

Impressions of Deadman’s Island 2019 (3)

I had also fun standing next to the band of skeletons, watching the witch brewing her particular soups and playing the organ in the chapel.

Impressions of Deadman’s Island 2019 (4)

The ghostship is something particular as the ship is really tranperent like a ghost and it looks different from every angle. For your exploring tour I recommend to enter all buildings if you like scary scenes. And if you can, then turn you sound on, it adds a lot to the scary and dark mood. Also don’t miss to climb up the lighthouse, as you have a great view on the ghostship from up there.

Impressions of Deadman’s Island 2019 (5)

Deadman’s Island is a seasonal sim. It is for sure worth a visit, particularly during Halloween season. I enjoyed my visit again! Thank you for providing your island to us all, Alex.

Landmark to Deadman’s Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dark%20Souls/43/148/26
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/2881747@N20/
Simploring 2017 (81) Deadman’s Island
https://themaurers.me/2017/10/14/simploring-2017-81-deadmans-island/

Simploring 2019 (106) Autumn @ Skull Creek

21 Oct 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Thursday, October 3rd, I picked Skull Creek, or more precisely Autumn @ Skull Creek, from scoop.it SL Destinations and I read Maddy Gynoid’s report about it on his blog “Echt Virtuell” – Simtipp: Autumn @Skull Creek (the post is written in German). Maddy’s pictures and his report were tempting to visit myself.

Autumn @ Skull Creek – overview and around the landing point

Skull Creek is a moderate full sim owned by Racey Boom (Raceyy Resident). Right next where you land is the headquarter of a group called Ghost Bullys 1% MC. The Ghost Bully 1% MC is a SecondLife motorcycle club that dedicates themselves to rescuing abused and abandoned animals. Racey Boom is heading the group. In the skies of Skull Creek is a huge race track. A part of Skull Creek is private. According to Maddy’s blogpost, the sim is changing with the season and I can confirm that its Autumn appearance is simply great.

Impressions of Autumn @ Skull Creek – trailer park, Roady’s and the dancing chosts

As mentioned above the landing is in front of a huge barn, that seems to be the headquarter of the Motorclub and also provides space for indoor events. Right next to it is a large outdoor event area. Already at the landing point you can almost smell the Autumn. The sim is literally glowing in red, green and yellow. The ground is coverd with leaves and while I was exploring I could see more leaves falling.

Autumn @ Skull Creek – the haunted house and the graveyard

A road is leading around the sim and besides the beach everything can be explored following the road. Skull Creek is also a bit weired, in a positive way. You will find some oddities. I came along trailer park, an ufo, an haunted house with a graveyard (it’s the season for that!) and a motel. I visited the beach and I rezzed a horse, right next to the motel and continued simploring riding a horse.

Autumn @ Skull Creek – the Ufo and the cows, the bear hut, the motel and the horse rezz

There are for sure more oddities, that I might have missed, but make sure to see the Ufo hoovering over a group of cows. I also think the 3 huge dogs next to the headqurter look a bit odd due to their size but considering that the group is engaged in rescueing animals they have another meaning. Or I think of the dancing couple of Ghosts. These elements add a funny and personal touch to Skull Creek.

Autumn @ Skull Creek – the 3 dogs, the beach and other impressions

I really enjoyed the Autumn at Skull Creek. Racey succeeded to make it almost perfect. For me it felt like a short visit to the Northeast of America during the foliage. And riding in this environment was simply fun. I enjoyed my visit a lot and took many pictures.

Thank you Racey for creating and sharing this spectacle of colours with the public.

Landmark to Skull Creek
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Skull%20Creek/192/115/22
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: Autumn @ Sull Creek”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/09/simtipp-autumn-skull-creek.html
Skull Crrek Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/3357917@N24/

Simploring 2019 (105) Furillen

19 Oct 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

The name “Furillen” might sound familiar for many people in Second Life who like to explore this virtual world. Furillen.org is the website of Serene Footman where you find information about Serene’s outstanding places in Second Life. All of there creations have a strong connection with places in the physical world, places that not many people know or can get to easily. And these places always have something mysterious and a particular atmosphere.

Serene’s first creation was Furillen (at least as far as I know) and I visited it back in 2016, Of course I wrote a blogpost about it and I will add it below. And now Furillen is back! This gives those who missed seeing it the opportunity to discover and explore it. And for others it is very enjoyable to see it again.

Furillen October 2019: landing loint (upper left) / in the office (lower left) / in the hotel (upper right) / in the factory (lower right)

I’m not sure if the whole sim is exactly the same as in 2016. For example I can’t remember the dining table on the roof terrace of the old plant site. But perhaps I missed it during my visit in 2016. I recognized a lot though.

Impressions of Furillen October 2019 – upper right shows the dining place on the roof terrace of the factory

 

I recommend to read Serene’s text about Furillen at his website Furillen.org before visiting. Knowing the background about Furillen makes the visit even more interesting.

Here’s my blogpost from 2016…

Furillen in Second Life

Saturday, November 5th, I looked up the SL destination guide and came across Furillen. Somehow the name rang a bell, but more about this later. The description read very tempting for me “Furillen depicts an island off the north-east coast of Sweden containing abandoned industrial builds that were once part of a former limestone factory. Remote, bleak and beautiful, this is a Second Life photographers haven.”
Once I arrived at Furillen and saw the cold, snowy, dismal island with the ruins of a former insudstry, I began to do some research about Furillen.

Furillen (older spelling Furilden) is an island in Rute on the northeast coast of Gotland, Sweden. For most of the 20th century, there was a limestone industry on the island until it was closed to the public by the Swedish military in the 1970s–90s, when radar installations became operational. The north part of Furillen is a nature reserve and a Natura 2000 area. Since 2000, the old factory buildings from the limestone industry have been used as hotel and conference venues by the Fabriken Furillen (the Furillen Factory) company, owned by photographer and entrepreneur Jonas Hellström. He started out using the abandoned factory and its surroundings as a backdrop for commercials and rock videos. (source Wikipedia)

November 5th – Furillen in Second Life: Arrving at Furillen

There’s a website about this sim furillen.org and I recommend visiting it first. The following information is en excerpt taken from furillen.org. The sim is owned and was created by Serene Footman in Ocotber 2015. Serene is an university professor in the UK in RL and the author of several books. “I originally ventured into Second Life as a researcher. I have always found creative sims to be the most compelling aspect of Second Life. By creating Furillen, I wanted to provide an environment in which photographers and Second Life wanderers would feel welcomed and inspired.”
The virtual Furillen was designed to retain some of the most distinct and recognisable features of the real Furillen: the airstream, the tree line and pier, for example, together with the large slag heaps that still exist as a reminder of the old quarry. In addition, there are several buildings, the main being a hotel that – on the virtual Furillen – doubles up as an art space with a series of rooms featuring minimalist installations.


Furillen became quite a social space. It is, especially, a place for photographers. Serene has also staged events over the past year, most memorably those devoted to Bowie, Radiohead and Pink Floyd – and it is the Pink Floyd event that rang a bell for me. I’ve visited Furillen before together with Mistress Jenny during this event, not konowing about the background of Furillen. You can read in this blog about the Pink Floyd event in the article “Pink“.
It is amazing how perfectly Serene succeeded in making the virtual Furillen looking similar to the real island as you can see when you compare the pictures from wikipedia with the pictures taken in Second Life – chapeau! One of the old buildings is used for exhibitions and right now there’s an exhibition called “Birds” with photographs from Laura.


I roamed over the island and climbed on the structures and was impressed how intense you feel to be in a real abandoned industry ruin. The highlight of my visit was the hotel which is placed just behind the tree line. The tree line looks really misplaced on this island in this dismal environment but is also just reflecting the real Furillen. In the hotel each room is a different piece of art, mostly surreal and a heaven for photograhers.

November 5th – Furillen in Second Life: The hotel behind the tree line

I know I am by far not the first writing about Furillen. There’s a long list of articles on furillen.org. Nonetheless I wanted to keep something for this diary and to inspire others to have a look at Furillen. Thank you so much Serene for providing this sim to the public!

— end of my original post 2016 about Furillen (I only updated the landmark) —

Thank you so much Serene for bringing back Furillen. I enjoyed my (re-)visit at lot!

Link to my original post Furillen in Second Life
https://themaurers.me/2016/11/08/furillen-in-second-life/
Landmark to Furillen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arcole/163/117/23
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/furillen/
Serene’s website furillen.org
https://furillen.org/
Furillen entry in Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furillen

Simploring 2019 (104) Fox Road

17 Oct 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I cam across Fox Road looking up a place for a simploring tour at scoop.it SL Destinations. The landmark description is inviting “Fox Road was designed with love, for pleasure from rough nature. All are welcomed to hangout, explore, or spend time here.“

Fox Road – overview

Fox Road is a moderate homestead owned by ｌｕ (Vertiline Colter). It consists of two parts that are connected by a wooden bridge. The smaller part is a piece of land at the foot of mountains. It is used as a showroom for ｌｕ’s store Little Fox, that provides female apparel. The main part, where you also land, is and island and it is dedicated just to pleasure. It is coined by a rough nature. There are some huts. On a high plateau is a former event or fair place, that looks as if it was abandoned long ago.

Impressions of Fox Road (1)

A former greenhouse is now a cosy place full of decorations and plants. There are more places at Fox Road just to chill and enjoy. At the water tower is a tent with a bed and instead of a beach you can sit on a wooden deck overlooking the sea.

Impressions of Fox Road (2) – the Showroom, the old fairy place and in the greenhouse

What might keep in my memory are 2 groups of 3 chairs. They are placed twice on the highplateau and standing there in the rough environment almost out of the blue makes them kind of art.

Impressions of Fox Road (3)

Fox Road is a place to chill, a place to enjoy a quite natural environment. Nothing there is overdesigned, it’s rural and simple (except of the chairs of course). I enjoyed my visit and exploring it. I always appreciate when business is combined with an extra. Thank you very much ｌｕ (Vertiline Colter) for sharing your place with the public. I had a good time.

Landmark to Fox Road
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Meropis/101/111/21
Little Fox on SL Marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/160772

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