Simploring 2018 (7) Green story

23 Jan 2018 2 Comments

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

Tuesday, January 9th, I went on a simploring tour late night after Jenny had already left. I looked up scoop.it (link is listed on the sidebar under Other links: scoop.it SL Destinations or read here) and choose Green story as destination.

Green story – overview

The sim’s name “Green story” is misleading, there’s no green. Instead Green story is a larger sandbank somewhere up in the North, something that doesn’t exist in the physical world. It’s cold, it is snowing, it is windy, the sand is covered with snow where the wind hasn’t blown it off.
The island is dominated by a big lighthouse with an attached scaffold, which purpose isn’t comprehensible for me. At the foot of the lighthouse, is a small hut and from there a broken railway track leads to an old railway car, that is used as a home.

First impressions of Green story

The rest of Green story is mostly empty besides some elks and goats. On the top of the dune you’ll find a windmill. A bit away from the main sandbank is a small island with a campfire and an empty residential shed. Up in the sky is a suspension bridge held by ballons, that might connected the small island with the main island before it got loose and went up in the sky.
With the sim’s windlight settings you see northern lights everywhere that produce a very pecialatmosphere together with the permanent snow falls.

On the top and at the foot of the lighthouse at Green story

Green story is created and owned by Dior (rich.canis) as far as I could find out. The landmark description doesn’t contain too much about the creator’s intentions and ideas “You have to relax here. You have to think here. You bank here another memory.”

At Green Story: the old railway car and sitting at the campfire on the small disconnected island

Green story is pure fantasy, a mix of several fantasies, a bit like a dream that doesn’t make sense often. There’re several really cosy spots to sit and to mediate looking at the northern lights and warmed by a fire. The snow storm at the top of the scaffold is not really inviting but the view from the top is great and luckily in Second Life you don’t need to protect yourself against the cold too much.

Green story: the suspension bridge and other impressions

All the inconsistencies of Green story, of this artful creation, give reason to dream and to mediate, to let your mind wander or to simply enjoy the beauty of the northern lights and of the atmosphere.
Thank you Dior, for sharing Green story with the public. I enjoyed my visit!

Landmark to Green Story
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Green%20story/194/133/22

Simploring 2018 (6) New Babbage in Winter

19 Jan 2018 2 Comments

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

January 7th: Port Babbage in Winter

After I discovered Babbage last year (read here “Simploring 2017 (92) New Babbage“), I had a short chat with Vic Mornington (victor1st.mornington). He advised to see New Babbage in Winter… and so I did Sunday, January 7th. Eleven connected sims all set to Winter with heavy snowfalls, that’s quite impressive. On my first visit I just got a little small insight into this Steampunk world. And with my 2nd visit now, my insight is still very small. I landed in Port Babbage and walked from there to Babbage Square, New Babbage and Wheatstone Waterways. I enjoyed the views and the atmosphere, I took the elevator to the top of the high tower at New Babbage just for the view.

January 7th: Babbage Square and New Babbage in Winter / a view from the top of the Tower at New Babbage.

I went into some halls, stores and pubs. And I saw Hawksley Pumping Station. Inside the building you can see the big pumps and the wheels are turning. There’re some pictures of pumping stations in the physical world (Papplewick pumphouse and Crossness pumphouse) that have inspired for building the Hawksley Pumping station.  I looked up both pumphouses:
The Papplewick pumphouse was designed in the early 1880s to pump millions of gallons of clean fresh water every day to the rapidly increasing population of Industrial Nottingham (read more here).
Crossness pumphouse weas built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette for London’s sewage system and opened in 1865, it is a Grade 1 Listed building and features some of the most spectacular ornamental Victorian cast ironwork found in the world today (read more here).
And Hawskley? Well, Thomas Hawksley (1807 – 1893) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with early water supply and coal gas engineering projects. Hawksley was one of the leading British water engineers (source: Wikipedia).
Visiting these pump stations must be really inspiring for Steampunk enthusiasts.

January 7th: Hawksley Pumping Station in Second Life (upper row) / RL pictures of Papplewick Pumphouse and Crossness Pumphouse exhibited in SL and taken from the Internet (middle row) / Wheatstone Waterways in Winter

As I said, I really just saw another small piece of New Babbage, it’s just too huge. You can spent easily several days just to see all buildings and each of them is built with love for the detail. I hope to find the time for some more simploring tours to New Babbage.

Thanks to Vic Mornington and all others who built New Babbage and who keep it alive and share it with us all.

Landmark to Port Babbage
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Port%20Babbage/120/174/103
Papplewick pumphouse
http://www.papplewickpumpingstation.org.uk/
Crossness pumphouse
http://www.crossness.org.uk/

Simploring 2018 (5) Bird People by Cica Ghost

16 Jan 2018 1 Comment

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

To be able to fly (in the physical world) is an old dream of mankind and if we could fly we were free as birds, maybe we would be bird people. On Saturday, January 6th, I visited “Bird people by Cica Ghost“. Upon landing you’re asked to use region windlight and to switch the advanced lighting model and shadows (sun/moon + projector) on.

January 6th: Stepping into the world of “Bird People by Cica Ghost”

Where you land? In a bird cage of course. No worries, it is open and from here you can explore Cica’s Bird people. It is another very impressive art installation from Cica. Cica’s Bird People live in a dark and foggy world of metal bird cages, which are connected or accessed by stairs. Besides the cages, most of them are open, there’re large metal fences and frames, stell beams and some decorative ironwork. The ground is tiled with some islands of plants inbetween, the plants being in shadows of grey as the whole world of the Bird People.

Bird People by Cica Ghost in their cages

This time Cica gives away the central message of her piece of art “We are all living in cages with the door wide open (George Lucas)“. And yes, “Bird People by Cica Ghost” is full of metaphers. They are free yet they seek the protection of there cages, but they also seek to gather. Some of them have left their cages and gathered, maybe to talk or just to be close together. But they can always return to the security of their cages. Some do live alone in a cage, some as a family of two or three. Their world is dark and foggy and quite complex, structures are hard to reveal.

Bird People by Cica Ghost seeking togetherness

Some of the Bird people just observe the scenery from an elevated point, a higher cage, but they live in their cage like the others. Another thought came into my mind, Bird people could fly (they are birds!) yet they don’t. They could take advantage of their abilities, but they don’t. We learned to fly in the physical world, we can get over most barriers and frontiers but we don’t, we’re caught in our little world of cages, which offers security. And hence the world stays grey.

Diomita meets Cica literally in her installation “Bird People”

I met Cica in one of the cages a little bit apart of the main structure and with a good view on it. She was there with a friend or acquaintance and they were talking about the Bird People. And of course we exchanged as well about them. Cica Ghost’s art installations are always worth a visit and the Bird People is no exemption. I admire her creativity and art. You should get a look at the “Bird People by Cica Ghost“.
Thank you Cica. I enjoyed my visit!

Landmark to Bird People by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imagine%20Hall/89/134/49

MetaLES to close its doors in Second Life

15 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

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

Just a few minutes ago I heard that MetaLES is going to close today after 8 years of providing space for the art in Second Life and featuring a lot of artists. I personally discovered MetaLES, which was run by Romy Nayar and Ux Hax, in July 2016 on a Saturday afternoon simploring tour and had a longer visit to it in 2017 (Simploring 2017 (45) MetaLes ..O.. ArT Virtual Space).
It’s sad that this art space is going to disappear but we have to be thankful for having it for such a long time. Thank you Romy and Ux, and good luck for your next projects outside of Second Life.
Inara has a way more detailed farewell blog post about MetaLES. Thank you, Inara.

Inara Pey's avatarInara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

MetaLES: Haveit Neox The Haul (2017)

On Monday, January 15th, Ux Hax and Second Life partner, Romy Nayar, announced that their art region, MetaLES, would be closing at the end of the day. The announcement came in a simple statement passed through a number of art group:

After 8 years of art, fantasy and work MetaLES ..O.. closes its doors. Many thanks to all the artists, bloggers, friends and visitors who made it possible, The decision is for the lack of time to dedicate to the project.

Kisses and hugs

Romy & Ux

“Yes today is the last day,” Ux informed me. “We are sad, but the art in SL will continue!” He went on to say that the lack of time mentioned in the notices is related to a new physical world project he and Romy are involved in. However, he refused to be drawn into providing any  specifics…

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Simploring 2018 (4) Brand New Colony

13 Jan 2018 1 Comment

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

A few days ago Inara Pey wrote about New Brand Colony in her blog “Return to Brand New Colony in Second Life“. I was at Brand New Colony End of July 2017 and had a blog post about it (Simploring 2017 (59) Brand New Colony). I wrote about it: “What a lovely place! It’s peaceful and offers a lot of spots to sit and watch, to cuddle or to mediate. And as it is an adult sim, there’re also some adult animations. Brand New Colony truely is – as described in the destination guide – photogenic. I enjoyed exploring and discovering it. Of course I also went to the dungeon, which is located in a skybox. The dungeon is well equipped and cosy“. I also wrote that the sim is owned by the Blessed Family and I assumed Esmenet Foxdale (esmenetpink ishtari), the founder of the group, being the owner.
Of course, Inara’s recent post attracted my attention. I learned that Brand New Colony has moved and was redesigned. The redesign as well as the first sim was done by Bunny Blessed (Svelte Blessed) and Mimara Blessed (Mimara) with assistance from Seren La Croix (torturedstar).

Brand New Colony January 2018 – overview

Again Brand New Colony is lovely and photogenic. It has changed a lot. There’re six islands now and the fact that some of them hoover above the sea like balloons clearly defines the sim as a dream, a lovely dream. The islands are held on the ground by thick and heavy chains that connects them to the main island and the chains also serve as bridges between the islands. All islands offer a rich and colourful vegetation and many spots to sit and cuddle. Here you can really wind down and dream.

Brand New Colony January 2018 – Landing Point (left pictures) and Gazebo (right pictures)

Instead of walking you can use the sim’s teleport system. In the overview above I added the teleport spots for your orientation. On the main island, which has a Mediterrean touch, is a large villa and a bit below of it a nice decking with a fireplace. The decking is just next to a small jetty with a sailboat.

Brand New Colony January 2018 – Pond (upper left) / Chapel (lower left) / Dock (upper and lower right)

January 2018 – Villa (upper left and right) / Roma Camp (lower left and right)

Brand New Colony is still an adult sim but on the first view and in most areas you won’t notice it. I went inside the villa and found a dungeon in one of the rooms. The skybox dungeon doesn’t exsist anymore, at least it is not accessible by the teleport system. Inside of the villa, there are some items that are related to bdsm on the second view. During my visit, I saw a male slave locked into one ot the closets. I had a look into all rooms, and I also went upstairs to the “Management” room. First I thought, I’d be in a girls room, pink being the dominating colour. But then I realised that it must be the Mistress’ room. There are toys, a real wardrobe and a desk. And again you see the toys and the more kinky decorations not immediately but when you look at details. There’s the tied up bear under the chair, a gagged piggy bank, a laptop with an erotic picture, a vibrator on the desk …. I admit, I spent some time in this room and began to enjoy the atmosphere very much.

January 2018, the kinky side of the villa – Dungeon (upper left) and Management room (all others)

I remember that I wanted to return to Brand New Colony together with Jenny, be it for cuddling or for playing, but with all of our activities I forgot about it. I hope, that I won’t forget about it this time. Brand New Colony is a dream turned into reality. I really like it!
And still it is open to the public. The landmark description is inviting “Home of the Blessed family. Everyone nice is welcome.”
Thank you Bunny Blessed (Svelte Blessed), Mimara Blessed (Mimara) and Seren La Croix (torturedstar) for creating this dream and thanks to the Blessed Family for sharing it with the public.

Landmark to Brand New Colony
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Teasers/84/172/41
My first visit Simploring 2017 (59) Brand New Colony
https://themaurers.me/2017/07/29/simploring-2017-59-brand-new-colony/
Inara Pey’s blog “Return to Brand New Colony in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2018/01/02/return-to-brand-new-colony-in-second-life/

Simploring 2018 (3) Whimberly revisited

08 Jan 2018 2 Comments

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

Early last year I visited Whimberly (read here). I came across Inara Pey’s post “Once more to Whimberly” Saturday, December 30th and learned that I had already missed one makeover of this sim. Spontaneously I revisited Whimberly myself.

Whimberly overview

Staubi (engelsstaub), owner and creator of Whimberly, wrote an inviting landmark description: “Come and explore the spring themed location called “Whimberly“. Enjoy your stay, take lots of pictures, meet friends and above all have fun!“

Impressions of Whimberly (1)

I had not very much time for my visit, but yes, Whimberly is a beautiful place and gives already a taste of the upcoming spring. I just took a few pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere. There’re some places to sit and relax and for enjoying the views. For a more detailed description read Inara’s blog post.

Impressions of Whimberly (2)

I recommend a visit and I hope to find a bit of time for another visit to Whimberly myself. Thank you Staubi for sharing your sim with the public.

Landmark to Whimberly
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whimberly/198/168/37
Inara Pey’s blog post about Whimberly
https://modemworld.me/2017/12/30/once-more-to-whimberly/

Simploring Destinations

05 Jan 2018 2 Comments

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

After publishing the blog post about my simploring tour to La virevolte I got a message from Annie Oh (anniebrightstar) who follows my simploring tours. She knows that I look up the SL Destination guide every once in a while, when I have no destination on my list to visit. Annie has collated every travel blog she can find for some 4 years now and put into scoop.it. Look it up here: https://www.scoop.it/t/second-life-destinations. Here you can search blog entries about a SL destination or just look up the latest published entries. I added the link to the “Other links” section on the right.


Annie has also her own blog https://anniessl.blogspot.co.uk/ and I’ll have a look at that from now on. She’s a simplorer like I am. I added her blog “Exploring Second Life with Annie” to the list  “Active blogs” on the right as well.
On Annie’s blog I also found another scoop.it page, which is curated by Annie:
Art & Culture in Second Life – art Exhibitions, Literature, Groups & more
I added it also to the “Other links” section on the right.

Thank you for the hint, Annie!

Simploring 2018 (2) La virevolte

05 Jan 2018 4 Comments

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

December 29th, 2017, I went simploring in the afternoon. Once again I followed a post from Inara Pey’s Living in a modemworld blog “A photogenic twirl in Second Life“.  La virevolte is French and means turn or twist, hence the title of Inara’s post. And La virevolte is really picturesque but natural, it offers great opportunites for taking pictures.

La virevolte – overview

La virevolte is owned and created by Iska (sablina). There’s no landmark description. I looked up Iska’s profile which is quite empty except of one sentence “I love creating landscapes and dreaming inside“. For me these few words describe La virevolte perfectly. You can enjoy lovely views and you can dream and wind down there.

Impressions of La virevolte (1)

La virevolte is an island perfectly melted in a sim surround of high Mountains. The island itself has a flat part with no snow – it looks as if the wind has blown away the snow from this part of the island – and some higher rocky parts. There are a few houses spreaded on the island, also a few ruins. In the center a small natural fjord ends in a small pond. La virevolte looks really natural and I couldn’t get enough from the different views. Although it seems that there’s not much activity you can find some Christmas illuminations here and there and even around the ruins.

Impressions of La vivrevolte (2)

Impressions of La vivrevolte (3)

During my visit, Jenny came inworld and joined me there. She was not dressed for the cold. We tried some ot the places to cuddle and enjoyed the peace together. I think my pictures do show some of La virevolte‘s beauty. If you like winterly sims, don’t miss this sim and visit it before spring arrives. Well, it might be lovely in sping as well and another reason for me to return then.

Thank you Iska for sharing your dream with the public. I enjoyed my visit very much!

Landmark to La virevolte
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lemon%20Beach/128/128/28
Inara Pey’s blog entry “A photogenic twirl in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2017/12/23/a-photogenic-twirl-in-second-life/

Diary 2017 (219) December 28th – Maurer’s in partnerlook (II)

04 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

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

Thursday, December 28th, was another of these quiet days between the years. I met with Jenny in the afternoon. She had just tried on a dress, that we both got a few days before and I dressed alike but choose another colour. We went to Domme a Domme and caught up there about the day before in SL and RL.

December 28th at Domme a Domme: Mrs. and Mrs. Maurer in partnerlook

When slave Flo came inworld, we returned home. I added Jenny as an owner of slave Flo’s new drone suit and she decided to pull slave’s restrictions a but tighter. In addition I changed the suit’s colour to something between pink and purple, magenta? That’s it about the afternoon.

December 28th at home: Jenny and Diomita adjusting slave Flo’s new drone suit

We spent most of our night with slave Flo. First we played two rounds of greedy, then we went out on a short kinkploring tour and visited Sins Keep and The Hideaway. Both places were empty. While Sins Keep is quite large and has a lot of equipment, The Hideaway is more cosy and offers also a nice photo booth. At The Hideaway we also found a nice punishment rack, which I might purchase for our sim.

Kinkploring tour December 28th: Jenny, Diomita and slave Flo playing greedy at home (upper left) / at Sins Keep / at The Hideaway / dancing at Satyr club

After the short kinploring tour, we went dancing at Satyr Club with slave Flo and finished our night at club DeLust and at home (no picture, some things stay private *winks*).

Simploring 2018 (1) La Vie in Winter

02 Jan 2018 4 Comments

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

December 26th, 2017 I made another simploring tour. I looked up the SL desination guide and scrolled through the recently added sims. There I found La Vie on page 2: “La Vie…formerly a bright sunny beach and then a colorful autumn paradise has now been snowed in. Come play in the snow in this photogenic spot before it’s gone“

La Vie in Winter – Overview

It’s my 3rd visit to La Vie, which is owned by designed by Krys Vita and Arol Lightfoot. I visited it in Summer in June 2016 (read here) and in Autumn in October 2017 (read here). La Vie seems to become a regular simploring destination for me.

La Vie in Winter – the house by the landing point

Again La Vie has changed a lot. It didn’t just snow and become cold. The whole island was redesigned. In the center of the winterly island is a pond, the shores are mostly rocky. There are a few houses spreaded over the island. Each looks cosy and inviting and is furnished and decorated for the season inside and outside. One road leads from the landing spot to another house and a Christmas tree sale. A chaple is located on the highest rock overlooking the island, but it’s hard to reach, you need to climb up the rocks.

Impressions of La Vie in Winter (1)

Impressions of La Vie in Winter (2)

There’re some opportunities to sit and cuddle and to enjoy, for example in a sleigh or even in Santa’s sleigh. La Vie sim offers lovely views and is another Winter paradise for those who love taking pictures like me. Completely new is a ski lift, which does not lead up to a mountain, there just 4 or 5 poles, but you can take a picture from a perspective where you don’t see that it doesn’t lead up to a mountain. And there’s one of these big snow vehicles that are used to prepare the slopes. And I even saw another visitor skiing. This way I got a little foretaste for my upcoming ski trip in RL.

La Vie in Winter – a SL foretaste of skiing in RL

La Vie is jsut beautiful and another example of the possibilites for building your own dream in Second Life. Thank you for sharing your sim with the public, Kyra Vita and Arol Lightfoot. I enjoyed my visit to winterly La Vie.

Landmark to La Vie
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/La%20Vie/143/157/23

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