Destination guide | Diomita Maurer’s Blog

Simploring 2017 (40) Another World

01 Jun 2017 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: art in SL, Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, LEA26, Solkide Auer

Saturday, May 27th, late afternoon, I decided to make a simploring tour. I picked “Another World by Solkide Auer” from the Second Life desination guide. The title already reveals a lot about this simploring tour. I went into another world, created by Solikide Auer. He writes about himself: “I’m italian and I am a citizen of SecondLife. Everybody has a dream and I can give a form to your dream as I am a builder and artist too, as I create sculptures.” The landmark description gives more information: “Another World is a flight in a pure geometric ambient where shapes and colours try to give a momentary lapse of relax. Nothing else than stay in peace with yourself.“

Another World consists of different geometric forms piled up into the height. The forms are all different, stars, spheres, spirals, cubes, bows and grids. There no sky, the enviroment is black and dark and all forms are artificially illuminated in different and constantly changing colours. No viewing angle, no colour composition can be easily reproduced. Everyone sees another world different, as a personal expierence. There are 3 ways to explore Another World. You can take a little spaceship, a flying sofa which will lift you up to the top of Another World and back down. This roundtrip takes about 15 minutes. During the flight up and down you can relax, enjoy the lights, the different impressions, you fly peacefully through space, time, lights and forms. You get views from inside of the geometric forms as well as from outside. The second way exploring is taking one of the seven doors next to where you land. Each door teleports you to another part of Another World from where you can walk or fly around and enjoy the view. And the third way to explore it is to simply fly.

I was very impressed by Another World. Of course I took tons of pictures, so what I selected for this entry is just a small excerpt, a teaser. It is another way to relax. I visited already many lovely sims, where you just relax by admiring the (virtual) nature. Another World is also very relaxing and peaceful. In particular the flying sofa tour provides great impressions that you can simply enjoy without being activ.

Thank you Solkide for your artful installation. I enjoyed it a lot.

If you want to see more of Solikide visit his blog Solkide Auer, where you can learn more about him and his art. There are also some videos (taken within Second Life) to watch in this blog.

Landmark to Another World by Solkide Auer

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA26/136/74/22

Solkide Auer’s blog
http://solkideauer.blogspot.com/

Simploring 2017 (13) – Days of O

27 Feb 2017 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Days of O, Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, fluxie aeon, Mako Vitti, Mistress Jenny

Thursday, February 23rd, I went simploring. As Mistress Jenny had locked the clumpsy wrist shackles on me (see yesterday’s blog entry). I decided to look at the SL destination guide for an adult sim for my simploring tour. The first entry caught my attention “Days of O“.
The landmark description sounds promising: “Story of O is a tale of female submission involving a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer named O, who is taught to be constantly available for intercourse. Come, live and write your Story of O with your friends, subs, Masters or pets!”

My visit was in the afternoon, for sure not a time where you expect many people. But I was alone at Days of O and I stayed alone during my one hour visit.
Days of O is a very well made sim. At the landing point you get some information and you can look at a map for orientation and to decide what you want to see. The sim is full of places to cuddle and to dream, the forest and park around the buildings is photogenic. There are several Buildings: the Roissy Mansion, the pantheon (that replaced the bath-house), a greenhouse, a barn and an resident home (that replaced the auction room). All buildings are furnished with style and with love for the detail. I really liked what I saw. Here are some impressions..

I tested in detail the pet’s cage and it’s animation in the residence house. Overall I had a very relaxed hour at Days of O.

The sim is owned and created by Mako Vitti (fluxie.aeon). According to his profile, there a Social Mix Party every Sunday evening (which timezone?) “Join us, come as you are, and blend in :)”
As opposed to the notecard that I got when entering Days of O I had not to join the group and to pay a fee for it just for visiting the sim.

Landmark to “Days of O”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Puffin/215/217/39

Still scary times at Woodbury Falls

20 Nov 2016 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, Second Life, Woodbury Falls, Zaccai R. Wolfe

Halloween is not that long ago and there’re still scary sims up to visit. Saturday, November 12th, I went to Woodbury Falls which is listed in the SL destination guide.

November 12th: Arriving at Woodbury Falls

“Woodbury Falls is a photogenic horror sim where it is evident that something is wrong. The town lies through the maze of abandoned houses where windows have long shattered in the weakness of their structures and rotting boards, Weeds socialize across the cracking asphalt of every road, gathering and laughing at the lone pedestrian. Do you have what it takes to survive?”

Upon your arrival at Woodbury Falls you should grab a flashlight as you’ll need it. Just across from the landing point there’s the entrance to an old mine, easy to recognize by the lonely dead body hanging just left of the entrance. I dared to walk in. Its dark inside and you shouldn’t be easily fainted. As I walked along the old tracks, I literally stumbled over dead bodies. Around one corner a bloodied woman suddently appeared and really scared me for a moment.

November 12th: The old mine at Woodbury Falls

When you visit Woodbury Falls get used to dead bodies, they are everywhere. In the forest, there must have been a massacre. Dead bodies hang from the trees like leaves….

November 12th: In the forrest of Woodbury Falls

November 12th: In the forest of Woodbury Falls

The town itself has all what you’d expect from a town: a church, a theatre, a cemetry, a motel. All seemed to be abandoned but there’re people. Kids gather in the church for ritual prayers. And if you enter resident homes what you see is either dead bodies, a crime scene or a bloodied child staring shocked into this surreal world.

Yes, Woodbury Falls is not for the fainted heart. It is dark, scary and depressing. It is for those who love this kind of scenery – and I did enjoy my visit as there are so many details to discover. Thank you Zaccai R. Wolfe (robesz) for providing this sim to us!

Landmark to Woodbury Falls
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Crystal%20Rock/240/140/22

Halloween tour 2016 – Templeton Cove

17 Oct 2016 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, Halloween, Templeton Cove

It’s the Season for Halloween tours, for scary sims, for fun. Saturday, October 15th, I continued my simploring for the Halloween season – I visited Templeton Cove. Templeton Cove is described in the SL Destination guide: “Can you survive the ride to hell? Climb aboard the ferry, and make your way through the Land of Hades on this award-winning roller coaster brought to you by the Templeton family, WolfSong Creations, and Torgon’s Development Service. Explore Templeton Cove’s Haunted House and forest and enjoy shopping in the Halloween decorated outdoor mall. “

October 15th: Visiting Templeton Cove

Upon landing there’s nothing scary at all. As opposed to Templeton Cove is a lovely sim decorated by the colours of autumn and with typical Halloween decorations, just lovely eye candy. I roamed a bit over the sim and through the shops that offer a lot of decorations. Then I went over to the haunted house. The house doesn’t offer too scary things, but it is worth to peek in. In the ballroom in the first Floor there’s a skeleton couple dancing, really funny. If you walk upstairs, there are two rooms, one is empty, in the other you’ll find a girl in a bloodied dress sitting by the window and starring outside, poor girl! What else is there in the haunted house? You need to touch a wall to get into a hidden room, which is really lovely. There’s not really that much inside but a table with a skull in the middle and you can lay Tarot Cards. But the atmosphere in this room is just impressive.

Just across the haunted house is the entrance to the “Ride to Hell Rollercoaster”. Of course I tried it. It is fun if you like riding rollercoasters. To stay honest, it is nothing I would repeat, it’s nice but not really scary.Landmark to Templeton Cove
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Templeton%20Cove/67/225/22
Templeton Cove in the SL Destination guide
http://secondlife.com/destination/ride-to-hell-haunted-house

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween – Exploring on foot

14 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Calas Galahon Neverland, Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, Halloween, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Second Life

October 11th: Exploring Neverland on foot

Tuesday, October 11th, I continued exploring Neverland on foot trying to find the way to “The Portal”, which I saw already when I did the boat tour. This time it was more “Holloween-ish”. I had to pick up a flashlight and to enter mazes, where I came across large spiders, ghosts, strange creatures and stumbled over some skeletons. In addition the sound was scaring (as it should be!). Yet also when you explore on foot Neverland is very colourful, the colours are just overwhelming and in hard contrast to the dead bodies, skeletons and other scary elements around.

October 11th: Overwhelming views on colourful Neverland

I for sure missed out a lot of surprises as I found the way to “The Portal” and the pavilion quite quickly. But I got a good impression about about Neverland and might visit is again together with Jenny before October, 31st.You enter the pavillion over a large sailing ship, again populated by skeletons. Then you walk over suspension bridges from one rock to the other to the pavilion, a large event and dancing area. Unfortunately we might not be able to attend any of the events as they all are at 7 PM PST, so we Europeans will be left out (at least this year). Nonetheless I add a picture of the event time table for those who can’t sleep or are in living in or close to PST timezone.

Neverland Pavilion’s table of events

Landmark to Neverland
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ESGAROTH/37/52/21
Neverland in SL Destination guide
http://secondlife.com/destination/neverland
Neverland in Inara Pey’s blog
https://modemworld.me/2016/10/02/visiting-spooky-neverland-in-second-life/

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween

13 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Calas Galahon Neverland, Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, Halloween, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Second Life

One of the highlights of a simploring year are Calas Galadhon’s seasonal sims. This years sim for Halloween is called Neverland and can be found in the SL destination guide where you find the following description of it: “With the beginning of its 7th year, Calas Galadhon creators Ty Tenk & Truck Meredith share their 2016 Halloween build Neverland. In the spirit of the season with the creator’s unique mix of beauty and terror, this enchanting build provides many opportunities for haunting exploration and fun for every Peter Pan & Wendy. The magical boat tour with its overview of the build is a must! “

Well, exactly Neverland consists of two sims, one homestead and one full sim. You land at “The Pirates Cavern” where the road to neverland begins and the boat tour departs. As you land in the homestead part, the number of visitors is limited to 20 avatars. The goal is to find your way to “The Neverland Pavilion” were live music performances are held during October. I started with the boat tour, which was quite impressive and took about 40 minutes. You not only get an overview over Neverland doing the boat tour, you can already see from above what you shall explore later, like “The Portal”.

October 9th: Starting the Neverland boat tour

Neverland, at least what I saw during the boat tour, was not at all what I expected it to be. I saw lovely colourful flowers, lots of green, lets of water, rocks, lanterns and lights, a flying sailing ship, algae, water falls – just beautiful fantasy but not what you’d expect from an Halloween Installation, no graveyards, no ghosts, no fog ..(I admit I saw several skeletons and crocodiles)

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (1)

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (2)

As with other boat or sledge or carriage tours I made visiting Calas Galadhon sims, the boat tour is just at the beginning and in the end a real boat tour. Soon the gondola begins to fly and then you see Neverland from above. As you can see from the pictures above, Neverland is just a must see regarding it’s beauty and strong colours, simply wonderful! There’s also some wit scattered inbetween and I’m sure that I didn’t see all of it. I saw Pinocchio standing on a rock and I saw Mickey Mouse floating on the water, funny.

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (3) – floating Mickey Mouse

I also saw some beings that were a bit scary at least, not as a single being but in a crowd, for sure others know these beings, something between a rat, a mouse and a pig, there were hundreds of them gathering and I could see them from the boat. Are they dangerous?

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (4) – scary beings

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (5) – “The Portal” seen from the boat tour

October 9th: Impressions of the Neverland boat tour (6) – a look from above

At the end of the boat tour I got the following directions:
Neverland Tour: We hope your enjoyed the tour. Now it’s time to explore on foot. Sign posts and torches will light your way. Look for the Journey Cloths (Pirate Flag) which will take you to unique locations not accessed by walking. Find your way to THE PORTAL in the Ruins to take you to the Neverland Pavilion where this month’s live music performances will be held. Farewell. Be Safe!

So as soon as I find the time for it, I will return to Neverland and continue exploring, then on foot …. to be continued ….

Arranmore

13 Sep 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Arranmore, Destination guide, Diomita Maurer, Inara Pey, Lauren Bentham, Living in a Modemworld, Second Life

Friday, September 2nd, I went simploring. After visiting Cica’s Library I went to Arranmore, also listed in the Destination guide and described in Inara Pey’s blog “Arranmore in Second Life“.
“Explore the timeless coastal island of Arranmore, with its haunted manor house and photogenic scenery. Enjoy the creepy landscape shrouded in mist. Remember, it is not what you can see that is scary – it is what you can’t see.” (quoted from the Landmark’s description).
You will have been offered the free Arranmore flashlight upon arrival. This flashlight will work, and cast light just like a real flashlight, if advanced lighting is set in your graphics preferences. It is also recommended to turn shadows on. I did that but my graphic card couldn’t handle it really and all became way to slow for me, hence I turned shadows off again after a while. In my personal opinion, you won’t need the shadows, the sim is just great to see just with the advanced lighting, but you will need advanced lighting to really enjoy it.
The scenery is dark and foggy and you need the flashlight. Everything farer away is swallowed by the dark and the fog. I turned right from the landing point and followed the old railroad tracks to an old lonely house with a scrap car in front of it. I could sense that living here was once very active but all is more or less deserted nowadays. Then I saw the manor dimly in the center end of the sim and walked over to it.

The manor is real MUST see here in Arranmore. It proves the possibilities of Second Life for creative people – WOW. Turn your sound on btw. it adds a lot to the scary atmosphere, a phone rings every once in a while but isn’t answered, the wind howls through every crack of the old building, and lightenings illuminate the inside of the house revealing persons and ghosts.

In one room I met the creator of Arranmore, Lauren Bentham. She’s a content creator of many things, including landscapes, Environments & Dark Fantasy Fairytale Stuff and created and owns several sims like the Baja sims (Baja Norte,Baja Cove,Baja Bay & Baja Sands) or Netherwood. Some of these names ring a bell, but checking my blog I didn’t find any entry – so more to explore for me!

September 2nd – Arranmore: Diomita meets Lauren Bentham (creator and owner of Arranmore). Look at the ghost between us!

September 2nd – Arranmore: Suddenly I noticed the ghost sitting in the chair. Watch the little details – the teapot begins to hoover and to poor tea into the cups, but none is there

I really enjoyed exploring the manor. What a great work! For me it was also an early teaser for the upcoming Halloween season. Thank you Lauren for providing Arranmore to the public.

Landmark for Arranmore:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aridia/63/131/23

Arranmore in the Destination guide:
http://secondlife.com/destination/arranmore

Inara Pey’s blog entry about Arranmore:
https://modemworld.me/2016/08/25/arranmore-in-second-life/

Cica’s Library

04 Sep 2016 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: art in SL, Cica Ghost, Destination guide, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld

Following the Destination guide I came across Cica Ghost’s Library. I have visited several of Cica’s art installations before, the last I saw was Key’s. Cica’s Library is also – no surprise – described in Inara Pey’s blog “A visit to Cica’s Library in Second Life“. “The only thing that you absolutely MUST know, is the location of the library (Albert Einstein)” is what you’ll find as a sim description. No wonder, Cica’s library is full of books!

September 2nd: Cica’s Library

Upon you arrival you have to pass the librarian, an old Lady supervising the library and she’s not only pale (as an librarian is usually), she also old and wear thick glasses and hence fulfills all cliches. To me she looked really scary as she’s tall, really tall, like everything in Cica’s library.

September 2nd: The librarian at Cica’s Library

Because everything, every book, even the mobile library truck is huge, I felt small – just like my knowledge is small compared to all what is written down in books. Good thing is that you can climb up the piles of books and immediately get an overview about all the knowledge *grins*

September 2nd: The mobile library truck at Cica’s Library

September 2nd: Climbing up a pile of books at Cica’s Library

This is anothter great installation from Cica Ghost – of course everyone will interpret it differently and have own thoughts. I enjoyed my short visit and the impressions I got. Thank you, Cica!

Landmark to Cica’s library:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sky%20Atoll/243/202/40
Destination guide entry:
http://secondlife.com/destination/library-by-cica-ghost
Inara Pey’s blog post about Cica’s library:
https://modemworld.me/2016/08/26/a-visit-to-cicas-library-in-second-life/

Diomita Maurer’s Blog

Simploring 2017 (40) Another World

Simploring 2017 (13) – Days of O

Still scary times at Woodbury Falls

Halloween tour 2016 – Templeton Cove

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween – Exploring on foot

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween

Arranmore

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