Simploring 2018 (109) Matanzas

28 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

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

On Wednesday, December 19th and Thursday, December 20th, I visited Matanzas. I had got an invitation from Skate Foss, the owner of Matanzas, together with a short description and a quite detailed visitor guide notecard as a teaser. Skate wrote:
“Mantanzas is created as a tropical island with only a few rental homes to cover tier. Most of the island is wild and uninhabited. Theres 3 (custom made) waterfalls, 2 forests, one which is a rain forest and several ‘public’ buildings, one is the island greenhouse thats decorated every Halloween and Christmas. Theres an old Spanish Chapel from when the island was a colonial sugar plantation. Some houses are remnants of the Spanish, others are newer owned by the ex pats that live here.”

Matanzas overview

Actually there are not just a few rental homes but quite some more. The balance between public and commonly used space and private rental homes is fair nonetheless and really leaves enough to explore and discover. The landing point is on the pier in the East of the island, just where you would arrive when visiting an island. When you walk on the island you get to the cafe and dance floor and the public lounge. The cafe is really nice and detailled and a place where you’d like to stay for a bit.

Impressions of Matanzas (1) – the landing point pier, the cafe and the lounge

If you turn West from the lounge you’ll get to the only bigger house that is public, Matanzas house. I explored the outside with the pool, the nice terrace overlooking the ocean and the garden pavillion with it’s view into the rain forest. I also looked inside through the windows but didn’t walk inside as the doors were closed.

Impressions of Matanzas (2) – around the Matanzas house

I walked back to the lounge and further to the greenhouse, that is just like Skate wrote, decorated for the season outside and inside with many poinsettias and presents. Right opposed to the greenhouse is the main waterfall, that offers some places to sit and mediate, read or just enjoy the environment. There’re many animals at Matanzas: flamingos, parrots, butterflies, seagulls, Koi carps, red fox, dragon flies and many more.

Impressions of Matanzas (3) – around and inside of the greenhouse

The rain forest is really something particular. Of course it rains and you can hear the sound of the waterfall mixed with the noise of the rain. To sit in the rainforest is something you won’t get often and again you can watch some animals or just enjoy the atmopshere. And in Second Life you won’t even get wet *winks*.

Impressions of Matanzas (4) – the rain forest

I continued my tour walking further to the other end of Matanzas, saw the chapel and the West coach beach, walked along the beach and finally reach the waterfall in the South, that offers again places to sit. At the left side of this waterfall is a stair that leads to the hilltop forest, which is quite a contrast to the rain forest and also offers places to sit and stay for a bit. I had fun watching the dragon flies at the pond there.

Impressions of Matanzas (5) – the chapel, the West coast and the South coast waterfall

Matanzas is another example of a really thoughtfully created sim where you can rent fullly furnished residential homes and become part of a community or just enjoy to have a lovely environment at home. I visited one house, lot 10, that was available for renting when I visited. All other houses were rented out. Obviously Matanzas is popular and the renters love the environment. For visitors there’s really enough public space to explore and discover or take pictures. The private homes are not secured, so please respect the privacy of the renters if you go exploring Matanzas yourself.

Impressions of Matanzas (6) – the hilltop forest and the residential home lot 10

I enjoyed my two visits, maybe also because it was such a contrast to real life with it’s bad weather, winds, storms, rain and snow at this time of the year and also a contrast to all the (also lovely) sims that are decorated for the season (like our sim is as well). Hence it was like a short visit into Caribean Summer. Thank you Skate Foss for creating Matanzas and for sharing the public parts. I personally appreciate concepts like this and I hope they are and will be successfull.

Landmark to Matanza
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Matanzas/241/129/23

Simploring 2018 (108) 6 artists – new exhibition at La Maison d’Aneli

23 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

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

The latest exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli opened on December 12th and will stay open for the public until mid of January 2019. It presents gives insight into the art of Patrick Moya, Lam Erin, Chapichapo Delvalle, Layachi Ihnen, Bump Squeegee and Renoir Adder.

I started my visit on December 16th, with the corner presenting Patrick Moya’s art, which provides an impression of Patrick Moya’s (moya janus) art in Second Life and in Real Life. I came across Patrick Moya in 2017 when I visited his Moya Land (read Simploring 2017 (56) Moya).
Patrick Moya (born 1955 in Troyes, France), is a French artist. He is a part of the artistic movement “Ecole de Nice”. Moya has been at the forefront since the 1970s of straddling the latest forms of media and technology to benefit art rather than rendering it extinct.
 (excerpt from wikipedia).
He is an early pioneer of video art and is active with his art in Second Life since 2007 in addition to his work in the physical world. The barriers between the two worlds do blur in his artistic work. Moya Patrick (moya janus) has also a website with tons of information about his work and about Moya in Second Life. Unfortunately it is in French only.

Patrick Moya (moya janus) at La Maison d’Aneli

Lam Erin is specialised in landscapes and artistic depictions of scenes and avatars. He writes about his art:
“My art and photography works are known for two elements:
a. “Realism”: the pics of landscapes and avatars for which such effect is used, look “real”.
b. “Painterly effect”: the pics on which such effect is used look like paintings.”
At La Maison d’Aneli Liam presents pictures that were processed to look like paintings. I personally think that these pictures are great examples to prove how the virtual and physical world are more and more interlocking.
You can see more of Liam’s art on flickr here,

Liam Erin at La Maison d’Aneli

chapichapo Delvalle is a French artist and he’s connected to Patrick Moya. The exhibtion at La Maison d’Aneli has two parts. First there’re the pictures. Some of them look like pictures taken in real life, some others seem to be processed pictures taken in Second Life. Honestly, I can’t tell. What I can tell is that they are artful and intriguing. The second part of chapichapo Delvalle work can be accessed by the stairs in his exhibition area. chapichapo Delvalle makes moving colourful spirals and kaleidoscopes and there’s also a room where you can literally walk into a kaleidoscope.
You can see more of chapichapo Delvalle work on flickr here.

chapichapo Delvalle at La Maison d’Aneli

Layachi Hamidouche (Layachi Ihnen) is an artist from Algeria, born in 1947, hence he’s over 70 years old. Although he’s for sure not a native digital he began to work with computers and integrated digital elements into his work since 1999. He also runs his own gallery in Second Life LAYACHI ART GALLERY. His website is in French. And he is connected to Patrick Moya (moya janus) as well. The pictures presented at La Maison d’Aneli look like ancient paintings on the first view, but there’s a lot to discover in them if you look at them in more detail.

Layachi Hamidouche (Layachi Ihnen) at La Maison d’Aneli

Bump Squeegee is an artist and retired art educator from Oklahoma, USA. His work has numerous received awards and has been shown in galleries and museums in Boston MA, St. Louis MO, Los Angeles CA, Lincoln NB, his native Oklahoma, as well as numerous online exhibitions and across the SL grid (information from the provided notecard at the exhibition).
At La Maison d’Aneli he presents digital assemblages, that are derived from a number of sources like scans from old books, magazines, the web, as well as scans of original photos and drawings. And the result are pictures in which you will discover new elements each time you look at them – intriguing!

Bump Squeegee at La Maison d’Aneli

I didn’t find out a lot about Renoir Adder. I assume that he’s Italian. The paintings shown at La Maison d’Aneli are created by vangogh Rembranch and owned by Renoir Adder. In the notecard that is provided by La Maison d’Aneli, Renoir Adder writes:
“Vangogh Rembranch is an artist who deserves a special place: it is a longtime friend and a generous supporter of our charity project ‘Harambee Gwassi-Kenya’ and he often dedicates the sales of his paintings to support our Schools project! His paintings are real works“.
I couldn’t find out more about the artist so far and the website that was provided didn’t work. But I can say, that the work presented at La Maison d’Aneli is worth looking at. Some of the pictures have an Asian touch, some are clearly impressions of the Mediterrean. When you compare these pictures, that are taken from real paintings according to Renoir Adder with the digital “paintings” presented by Layachi Hamidouche (Layachi Ihnen) or Lam Erin it is hard to tell what’s real and what’s digital.

Renoir Adder / vangogh Rembranch at La Maison d’Aneli

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 for this new joined exhibtion, Aneli. I enjoyed my visit a lot again.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/32/40/21

Further information and links used in this blog post:

Moya Patrick (moya janus) website
http://moyapatrick.com/
Landmark to Moya Land
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moya%20Land/53/95/36
My visit to Moya Land “Simploring 2017 (56) Moya”
https://themaurers.me/2017/07/20/simploring-2017-56-moya/
About Patrick Moya in Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moya

Liam erin’s art on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/103098463@N04/

chapichapo Delvalle art on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chapichapo-delvalle/

Landmark to LAYACHI ART GALLERY
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Music/131/195/37
Layachi Hamidouche (Layachi Ihnen) website
http://layachi-hamidouche.net

Renoir Adder / vangogh Rembranch website (the site didn’t work for me)
http://fotoalbum.alice.it/cispiarte

Simploring 2018 (107) Season of Joy

20 Dec 2018 1 Comment

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

Once again I picked the destination for my simploring tour on Saturday, December 1st, from scoop.it SL Destinations. I visited Season of Joy. Season of Joy is a homestead created and owned by Lauren Grace (Daisy Kwon). The landmark description and the tags describe perfectly what you’re going to see and to do there: “Welcome to Season of Joy decorated for the holidays. Please enjoy this public sim designed for exploring, photography, and romance. Ice skating, sledding, romance, love, Christmas, Santa, Dancing, date, romance, love“

Season of Joy – overview

Upon landing I got a notecard with a more detail list of attractions, that you shouldn’t miss when visiting Season of Joy:
– Sledding hill with ski lift
– Ice skating
– Santa’s workshop
– Take a photo on Santa’s lap
– Visit the winery, dance on the balcony
– snuggle up in the two cottages or at many other places
– Take a ride with Santa Claus and his reindeer
– Christmas tree farm
– Gift wrap station
– Dining
……

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (1) – around the landing point

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (2) – Snow angel, Chapel, Romance and Christmas tree farm

I did all of the above and took some nice pictures. Season of Joy has all what it takes for a seasonal installation and the above listed activities provide fun and great opportunities for taking pictures. The only fun that didn’t work for me for whatever reason was the ride with Santa Claus and his reindeers. You get into the sleigh by looking up into the skies and sitting in it. But when I did, Santa Claus stopped his reindeers and simply hoovered above the Christmas market on one position.

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (3) – Some places to cuddle / Look at the funny board: “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints”

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (4) – Winery, Ice skating, Cottage

Everything at Season of Joy is a few numbers smaller than in full sims like the Calas Galadhon yearly seasonal installation. Season of Joy is a homestead and as such doesn’t have as much ressources as a full sim. But you get all the fun at Season of Joy that you expect for the season. And it is quite lag free as there are less visitors. I admire how wisely Lauren has used the limited ressources and managed to get all the activities realized and still provides that many spots to cuddle and simply enjoy.

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (5) – Winter fun

The winery is a building that you won’t expect in a seasonal installation, at least I didn’t. Of course wine is a nice gift, so why not? I liked visiting the winery and seeing how the products are presented there.

Impressions of “Season of Joy” (6) – at the Christmas market

Hence when you’re looking for a smaller place for seasonal fun, have a look at Season of Joy. Thank you Lauren Grace (Daisy Kwon) for providing your place to the public. I enjoyed my visit at lot!

Landmark to Season of Joy
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/My%20Beloved/169/140/25

Simploring 2018 (106) :nostos:deer:

16 Dec 2018 2 Comments

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

For my simploring tour on Thursday, December 6th, I picked :nostos:deer: from scoop.it SL Destinations, mainly because there was not much information about it. The landmark description didn’t reveal much neither, a list of tags that fits to store: “Yard, Sale, Gacha, Gift, Church, mountain, Sea, beach, Boathouse, Lighthouse, embankment, Canoe, river, Salmon, marsh, Snow, rain, Furniture, house, Rosary, Rosario, Nature, garden, resort, Japan, Nippon, Nihon, swan boat“. But the picture on scoop.it SL Destinations looked nice.

:nostos:deer: overview

:nostos:deer: is an island, actually two islands that are connected by a bridge. :nostos:deer: is owned by owner dora Nacht and as far as I could find out also by her partner hide Mint. The landing is at a lonely train station. The train takes you from the station to the other end of the island. The railroad tracks lead further to a broken bridge and at it’s end there’s a train blocking the way into the sea. The train I took turned before reaching the broken brige and brought me back to the station.

Impressions of :nostos:deer: (1) – The train

The train travels slowly, you can leave it easily by stepping out and continue exploring on foot, which I did. The island is really meagre and there’s not that much to see: A lovely beach, a beach bar, a lighthouse and a residential house. An old railroad trail winds up in serpentines to a mountain and on the top of the the mountain is a church. The church is quite interesting as it is so different from the many churches I saw in Second Life.

Impressions of :nostos:deer: (2)

Right across the bridge connecting the two islands is the entrance to what looks like a mine. Actually it is a teleporter that takes you to a platform in the skies. The platform is the show space for a store, “Little Hopper”. As far as I could find out, the store offers a lot of everything, amoung other items bumper cars. You can try them out on the platform. It is fun! From the platform you can walk down to the store itself. “Little Hopper” sells the swan paddle boat that I have seen so many times already on my simploring tours. You can get an overview about the items sold by Litte Hopper on the marketplace here.

Impressions of :nostos:deer: (3) – lower left is the teleport from the Island to “Little Hopper”, lower right is the entrance to the store

I returned back to the island and exploring the second island. Again, there’s not that much to discover either: A compfire with chairs for kids (funny to sit on them as an adult – just as funny as in RL), I saw a lonely deer and I found a peer with several swan boats.

Impressions of :nostos:deer: (4) – bumper cars, the store, the kid’s campfire, meeting the deer

Now after exploring :nostos:deer: I assume that :nostos:deer: is the island with the train. The second island is dedicated to the store “Little Hopper”. I looked up the profiles of dora Nacht and hide Mint. They are both from Japan.

Impressions of :nostos:deer: (5)

:nostos:deer: convinces with it’s simplicity. Some places offer nice views and invite to stay. The train is funny and trying out the bumper cars is fun. Now I also know the origin of the swan boats in Second Life. Thank you dora and hide for providing the :nostos:deer: to the public. I enjoyed my visit!

landmark to :nostos:deer:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/nostos%20deer/140/195/31
Little Hopper on the marketplace
http://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/58074

Simploring 2018 (105) Winter Wonders and Floating Islands

14 Dec 2018 1 Comment

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

Tuesday, December 4th, I went exploring Winter Wonders following once again an entry in scoop.it SL Destinations.
Winter Wonders is an installation by Zun Sahara at LEA15. She described her installation with a simple request “Please enjoy the wonders of a real world of winter“. Upon landing you can get a notecard with just a little bit more information, in particular with 4 landmarks that will enhance traveling around Winter Wonder but you can do it on foot too. One area though, the Floating Islands, can only reached by teleporting. You can also use the big crystal dragons to use teleports.

Winter Wonders – overview

Basically Winter Wonders consists of 3 parts besides the Floating Islands. The large elven wood around the landing point, the cave with the cave greenhouse and the Krystal palads on top of the cave. I first visited the cave greenhouse. Inside it is like a tropical island within this frosty winter world, the green, the plants, the many opportunities to sit and the blooming flowers makes it a cosy place to stay and look out of the windows into the surrounding winter world. Outside at the wall of the cave you find large statues artfully made of ice that seem to guard the place. Each of them is a piece of art on its own.

Impressions of Winter Wonders (1) – around the landing point, cave greenhouse and cave

The ceiling of the cave is supported by two huge statues, like Atlas who is supporting the world. And on top of the cage is Krystal palads, another of the provided landmarks. But there’s not much to discover (or I didn’t notice it).

Impressions of Winter Wonders (2) – upper left picture taken at Krystal palads

I explored the whole sim and it offers quite something to discover. Fairies and elves, ducks, penguins, deers, fox and other animals peacefully roam around. There’re some campfires and cosy places and the whole atmosphere is just lovely and invites you to stay longer. I did that for quite a while 🙂

Impressions of Winter Wonders (3)

I also visited the Floating Islands, which are not at all related to winter. The Floating Islands are a colourful fantasy world full of excotic plants. Peacocks, butterflies, birds, famingos and other animals have their home at Floating Islands. The light effects are well done and when you walk up form one level to the other you see a lot of nice spots to sit and enjoy or to dance with your loved one. Floating islands is to some extent just the opposite of Winter Wonders at least regarding the season. But it also fits perfectly into this dream world.

Impressions of Floating Islands (1)

Zun Sahara owns a store named Zun Design where she offers a lot of furniture, plants and flowers, prefabs and garden stuff, decorations and sim design elements, some of them are used in her LEA installation. There’re several boards where you can grab freebies of Zun. I got a mediation pyramide (you can sit in a meditation pose in it, can’t be seen seen from outside, but you yourself see the world around you), a pack of candles and a set of flying birds. I do like the later most.

Impressions of Floating Islands (2)

I enjoyed a lovely hour of exploring and escaping from real life into the fantasy of Winter Wonders  and of Floating Islands. Thank you Zun for creating this world.

Landmark to Winter Wonders
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/232/236/34
Landmarks within Winter Wonders
Cave greenhouse http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/92/94/28
Krystal palads http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/178/111/81
Landmark to Floating Islands
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/149/138/403
Zun Sahara’s store Zun Design
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/232/236/34

Simploring 2018 (104) Lullaby by Cica Ghost

12 Dec 2018 1 Comment

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

On Tuesday, December 11th, I got an invitation from Cica to see her newest installation “Lullaby” that opened that very day. Spontaneously I visited “Lullaby by Cica Ghost” right away.

Lullaby by Cica Ghost – advertising poster, overview and Cica’s snail

Lullaby is once again a meagre hilly island with some steep single rocks and rock arches which reminded me of Monument Valley in Utah, US. But when you keep the windlight setting, wich I did except for the overview zoom out picture, the rocks are not red but the whole scenery is in dark greeen and blue colours.

There’re again fantasy animals and bugs living at Lullaby. Some of them have similarities with real animals and bugs. Right next to the landing point is a huge snail with large telescope eyes. Bugs will fly around you during your visit. They are huge as well and they have a trunk, cute!
If you’re not alone at Lullaby you might see other visitors flying around sitting on bugs. You can’t sit on the bugs flying around you, but you can get a bug to sit on and to fly around with on the top of one of the steep single rocks. You can keep the bug as a gift by the way and probably scare someone using it on other sims *winks*.

Impressions of Lullaby by Cica Ghost (1)

Most of Cica’s animals at Lullaby are stationary, maybe a particular kind of worms. What you see is there heads and the big “Cica”-eyes. They are scary only on the first glance. After you’re settled in into the scenery, they look harmless and peaceful. One of them though opens it’s mouth, ready for eating you. No worries, the mouth is spacious enough and will open again, so that you can leave again.

Impressions of Lullaby by Cica Ghost (2)

Quite in the center of Lullaby, is one arch with a house. On the roof sits a “Cica”-girl with wide opened eyes. The girl is very pale and she looks a but scared. She fits to the poem Cica Ghost quoted in the landmark description for Lullaby:

“Another day goes by
And I don’t wash my hair
Another night is spent
Wishing you were here
My skin it looks so pale
What’s that over there?”

from “Lullaby For An Insomniac” by Kate Nash

Impressions of Lullaby by Cica Ghost (3)

More animals? Yes! A large teddy bear, a butterfly and a spider. The spider can be found close to the arch with the house and nearby you’ll see the spider net.

I had fun exploring Lullaby. Somehow Cica’s animals became friends of mine in the meanwhile. I look at them to see all details and am not scared. At Lullaby, the animals became part of the island. They’re integrated into the hilly landscape an into the steep single rocks. Lullaby is a fantasy world, a world to retreat and to let your mind wander. And the animals never sleep, even when they look asleep – insomniacs.

Impressions of Lullaby by Cica Ghost (4)

I searched to find one of Cica’s cats hidden at Lullaby, but I didn’t find it. Cica Always hides one of her cats somewhere in her installations. Maybe the cat digged a hole and is hidding in it? Maybe the cat is even sleeping in the hole surrounded by a sleepless world of insomniacs? If you find the cat, let me know please.

Thank you for another great installation, Cica. Once again, I enjoyed seeing your art a lot.

Landmark to Lullaby by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ai%20Atoll/75/145/30

Diary 2018 (214) Nov 30th / Dec 1st – naughty Maurer’s

11 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

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

Jenny and I had a great afternoon, Friday November, 30th. We tested the new Real Restraints Police collar and went to “Atlas de sade D/s” and “Atlas Steam & Sensuality”, a club we never visited before. It was quite empty there, so we could explore it and test the new collar feature of zapping the sub and restricting the vision when the sub doesn’t stay close enough to the owner, a very nice new feature. Then we went to our skybox and we had some togetherness (no picture of course *winks)

Virgo had sent an offline IM that she will run late for our Friday night party. Before we left that afternoon we talked about the theme for the party and agreed to the right mood for the season, for the snow and the advent. Hence we choose shiny all white or red and white as the theme.

November 30th: Jenny and Diomita visiting “Atlas Stean & Sensuality” (upper left) / Della, Starry and Fox dancing (lower left) / Jenny, Diomita and slave Flo dancing (lower middle and right)

The party began without Virgo, but we had fun nonetheless and listened to a radio channel. And Virgo showed up shortly before midnight, just in time to play our traditional midnight puff puff song.

Saturday, December 1st, Jenny and I visited Heavy Bondage Club and Puerto Esclava in the afternoon. slave Flo joined us at Puerto Esclava. After celebrating her 5th anniversary and after all the leeway she got in the time before, it was about time to get her tied up and restricted again. I thightened her corset as much as possible and added a hood, gag and blindfold. And I locked her legirons and cuffs. She looks great like this. Our (and her) fun can begin, as I intend to increase her restrictions using the police collar and all the other fine possibilities of RLV.

December 1st: Jenny and Diomita at Heavy Bondage Club / at Puerto Esclava with slave Flo

At night Jenny was in a naughty mood. And she infected me. I had an invitation for an “island warming party” at Nylon Island, a ladies only sim, and as the name implies a sim particulary for those with a kink for nylons. I got the invitation from Heather Luna-Kilmister (heatherluna), a co-owner of Nylon Island.

We both dressed sexually explicit including nylons of course. Unfortunately the party hadn’t really started. We spent some time there teasing eachother and dancing, then we moved on to Babylon Berlin. We should return to Nylon Island and do some kinkploring another time. While we were dancing at Babylon Berlin, Jenny talked me into wearing my police collar and she put on hers as well.

December 1st: Jenny and Diomita at Nylon Island and at Babylon Berlin

We left the keys out and went to club Domme a Domme to seek some fun together. It was full at club Domme a Domme and we were close to get into trouble but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. Hence we visited our slut cecy, who had come inworld in the meanwhile, at Psi’s realm and then we retreated to our loft to get our naughty desires fulfilled (no pictures of this part).

Simploring 2018 (103) Zimminyville

09 Dec 2018 1 Comment

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

Monday, November 26th, I was up for a simploring tour. I looked up scoop.it SL Destinations and picked Zimminyville as the teaser picture looked great. The landmark description description sounds a bit mysterious “Zimminyville was est. in July 2017. Curfax & Flo had a vision on the land and in the air to create a home on earth as well as on the moon. Please come by to explore. We encourage you to take pictures as you explore Zimminyville.“

A home on earth and on the moon? I had to explore it to discover what’s behind it. Zimminyville is a full sim, rated moderate. It is owned and created by Curfax Zimminy and Flo Zimminy (Sweetfloxo).

Zimminyville overview

The landing point is in front of a cosy house. Zimminyville is covered with snow according to the season. I zoomed out for orientation and on the first view it looks like a typical American village in Winter. I began exploring by walking along the road. The village really offers a lot. The residential house right next to the landing point is fully furnished with many details to discover in- and outside.

Impressions of Zimminyville (1) – close to the landing point
ding point

On my way through the village I saw the big barn and the large drive-in movie theatre at one corner of the village. There’s a gas station, a garage, a small harbour, bars, a windmill, a gaszebo, kind of an observation tower, and a long promenade along the beach with a cafe and several cars and huts that offer food and souvenirs. The village isn’t empty even when nobody is around as mesh figures enliven the scenery.

Impressions of Zimminyville (2) – drive-in theatre and bar

Impressions of Zimminyville (3) – harbour, promenade and gas station

At the other end of Zimminyville is a train station. You have to go into the passenger coaches. The are fully furnished as well! What really impressed me is that all buildings are furnished and decorated. This way you could explore and discover for many hours.
I spent more than an hour at Zimminyville and I’m sure that I just discovered a small portion. Of course there’re also many places to sit, you could play billard, have a drink in the bar, take a walk on the promenade, or have a look into the garage. Zimminyville is a vintage village, most vehicles are oldtimers and the furniture inside is mostly vintage. I got countless motives for pictures. Really beautiful.

Impressions of Zimminyville (4) – around the station and inside a passenger coach

There’s one building, which I discovered already when I zoomed out in the beginning of my visit, that is outstanding and somehow not fitting into the scenery, a modern pyramid with at beam pointing straight up into the sky. On my way exploring the forest around the observation tower and trying to find the way to the pyramid, I found a spaceship hidden in the forest.
And then I entered the pyramid. It is futuristic inside, a real contrast to the tranquillity of the vintage village. In the corners of the pyramid are launch pads leading the “Moon pool”, “Bio Dome” and “Cathedral”. I entered a rocket on the lauch pad with the sign “Moon Pool” – and it brought me to he moon!

Impressions of Zimminyville (5) – the pyramid, gateway to Zimminyville moon colony

Zimminyville part II: While on earth Zimminyville is a place where time stands seemingly still, is is a busy sci-fci colony on the moon. I’m not a big sci-fci fan, but what I saw up there was fascinating and I spent another hour discovering it. The colony on the moon is quite busy. Many more mesh figures than on earth enliven the scenery and provide the impression of a busy environment.
A modern hovering train circles around the colony and there’re two stations where you can enter and leave it. The cathedral is a big building with glass walls and it is what the name implies – a cathedral. The Bio Dome is a big dome that provides the conditions for plants and trees to grow and offers the possibility to enjoy earth nature on the moon.

Impressions of Zimminyville moon colony (1)

On my discovery tour I also came to 2 gates where you can enter spaceships, that look inside more like a sci-fi bus and might be used for transporation of people to earth and back to the moon. Most probably the transportation I choose to get there is expensive – but fun! Again, the details are stunning and part of the fun when exploring the Zimminyville moon colony. I just want to mention the FedEx sign or the PanAm sign, the security personal and their uniforms or the really huge cathedral, a building that I didn’t expect on a moon colony, at least not in this size.

Impressions of Zimminyville moon colony (2) – the cathedral and future mass transportation

What a great sim! Curfax Zimminy and Flo Zimminy (Sweetfloxo) have created two contrary fantasy worlds. Both are highly packed with details and each is an experience for it’s own. For me visiting these 2 worlds within one visit was just overwhelming. Thank you so much for creating and sharing Zimminyville. I like it a lot, Curfax & Flo!

Landmark to Zimminyville
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zimminy/67/111/21

Calas: A Christmas Midnight Clear in Second Life

05 Dec 2018 1 Comment

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

Jenny and I went to Calas Galadhon’s yearly Christmas Installation. A visit there has become a tradition for us. We made the sleigh tour and we explored a bit riding a horse. The installation is great once again and we intend to visit it a few times more during the season.

December 4th: Jenny and Diomita’s first visit to Calas Galadhon’s yearly Christmas installation

As always, Inara wrote a nice blogpost about “Calas: A Christmas Midnight Clear”. Enjoy reading and enjoy your visit! Thank you, Inara!

Inara Pey's avatarInara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

A Midnight Clear; Inara Pey, November 2018, on FlickrA Midnight Clear – click any image for full size

On Thursday, November 30th, the 2018 Calas Christmas regions opened to members ,and over the weekend of the it will open to the public at large. This year the theme is A Midnight Clear, and the two regions are once again beautifully presented for lovers of winters scenes and Christmas time to enjoy and share.

A Midnight Clear features all that we’ve come to love about the Calas Christmas regions: the Christmas Pavilion, entertainment, sleigh rides, skating, balloon and reindeer tours. In addition, this year offers visitors the chance to ride Bento horses (or reindeer!) around the regions, adding a wonderful depth to exploration and enjoyment, or take their rest aboard the marvellous Calas Christmas Special train.

A Midnight Clear; Inara Pey, November 2018, on FlickrA Midnight Clear

The arrival point for the general public is on the Homestead region of Eriador (also initially the landing point…

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Simploring 2018 (102) Celeste Sanct

05 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

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

Inspired by a picture that I saw at scoop.it SL Destinations I decided to visit “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}“. On scoop.it SL Destinations was just one picture and a text in Japanese … nothing more. The picture looked quite interesting and photogenic, showing a lonely place in winter but the landmark description did sound more like a description of a store “High Quality Adult Furniture + landscaping & Fashion for Maitreya, Belleza, Slink & Signature“. So what’s behind it?

The whaling station at “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}”

“celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}” is an abandoned whaling station. It is lonely and exploring it is fun. In the few living quartes you find just some chairs, a sign “Baby it’s cold outside” and yes, christmas decoration!
The facilites are empty but the huge chimney is smoking. That’s it, besides two empty storage silos and an half sunken trawler. Just what you’d expect from an abandoned whaling station in the middle of cold nowhere – yet very photogenic.
There’s no shop, at least I didn’t find one. “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}” is owned by Chania Leuce (cheekichica). It is a full adult sim. There must be something in the skies as the rezzed prims dont’t correspond with what you see. And there is! I found out later that there’s a big inworld store in the skies.

3 sim overview: The whaling station between “Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat” and “Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort”

I looked around and zoomed out and found that there’re two adult homesteads adjacent to “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}“, one is “Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms“, the other is “Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort“.
I started with exploring “Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms“. It is a photogenic sim dedicated to storm lovers. You get a notecard upon entering it and Chania Leuce (cheekichica) wrote in it that “this sim is art imitating real life. It is modeled after the South Texas Gulf Coast, USA.” I first used my standard windlight for my visit as the provided windlight is quite dark, later I used the provided windlight which gives you the feeling of being in a thunderstorm.

“Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms” – Impressions with a normal windlight setting

As Chania described it, there’s quite something to explore. The residential homes are all furnished (with style, I liked it!). There’s a large highway around this quite lovely and beautiful beach village, some parts of the highway are flooded, others are covered with sand dunes, just as you expect it after a thunderstorm. The contrast between the highway and the beach village is quite realistic (unfortunately that’s how it is in reality). I enjoyed exploring and visiting “Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms”.

“Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms” – Impressions with the provided windlight setting

On the other side of “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}” is “Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort“, a winter skiing arena with a large sky-cab to travel and several lovely decorated and furnished cabins. Once again you get a notecard with some information upon your landing or entering. The cabins are not for rent but free for all to use as a first come first serve basis during your stay.
I traveled with the sky-cab, I had a look into the cabins and I had a sledge ride, which was fun. According to the notecard this sim is only up for a limited time, from now until end of February.

Impressions of “Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort” (1)

Chania Leuce (cheekichica) is the owner & Creator of celeste.sanct, which is a store for furniture (with even adult aninations), for decorations, for home and garden and for plants an stuff that you need for creating sims. I only found the store at the marketplace here. But I saw some of the items sold rezzed in these 3 adjacent sims.

Impressions of “Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort” (2)

I can only speculate, but I assume that building and creating must be a passion of Chania. The three sims don’t really fit to eachother but are really photogenic and offer a lot to explore. I was surprised that I didn’t find a store (I found it later though) and the name for the whaling station “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}” is really misleading. I decided to title this simploring tour with “Celeste Sanct” as this is the brand of Chania.

I enjoyed my visit to these 3 sims. And as Chania also wrote in her notecards that the sims are changing, I should visit again some time to see what has changed.
Thank you Chania for providing your space to the public!

Landmark to “celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aphrodisia/134/178/24
Landmark to Runaway’s Gulf Coast Retreat – Thunderstorms
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aphrodisia%20Isle/190/242/26
Landmark to Mistletoe Lodge & Ski Resort
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seraphic/119/24/26
Chania Leuce (cheekichica)’s store inworld celeste.sanct // crazy {home + fashion}
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aphrodisia/117/123/4002
Chania Leuce (cheekichica)’s store on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/181933

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