Living in a Modemworld | Diomita Maurer’s Blog

An early start into the season – Telrunya Winter

14 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Diomita Maurer, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Nessa Zamora, Telrunya Winter

The weekend is often the time I go simploring. I looked at the destination guide and already the 2nd sim in the editor’s pick list – Telrunya Winter caught my eyes.

November 12th: Landing gazebo at Telrunya Winter

“Welcome to a new chapter of the Telrunya sims, a truly magical Winter Wonderland in its captivating and unique beauty. A gorgeous landscape where time stands still, specially made for you…to just be.”

Telrunya Winter is owned by Nessa Zamora (noralie78) who also created it. I looked up her profile and found that it is not her first “Telrunya sim” and that she has created already several more sims (Lost Unicorn for example).

The winter time is coming again with more snow, christmas decoration and a different kind of fun in SL. Telrunya Winter is my first sim to visit for this season and it was already a highlight of the season. It is just beautiful! It is not just a snowy landscape. The moment you arrive you’re caught by the atmosphere. I turned the music on, slow jazz, and could seemingly smell winter.

What makes Telrunya Winter so fascinating is how Nessa played with light. There’re nothern lights appearing again and again and in the forest other light is shining through clearings. It is the light which provides this cosy atmosphere. And along the paths there’re laterns to illuminate the way. In the middle of Telrunya winter, just close to the landing gazebo, is a big pond which is perfect for ice-skating.

November 12th: Scenic atmosphere at Telrunya Winter

November 12th: Ice-skating at Telrunya Winter

But most of all, Telrunya Winter is a place to dream, to relax and wind down. Simply beautiful! Thank you Nessa for providing this gem for us all!

Just when I finished my visit, I came across Inara Pey’s article about Telrunya Winter. In “A mystical Telrunya Winter in Second Life” you’ll find a more detailed description. Anyway – another “must see” sim in SL.

Landmark to Telrunya Winter
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Diamond%20Island/218/94/22
Inara Pey’s “A mystical Telrunya Winter in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2016/11/12/a-mystical-telrunya-winter-in-second-life/

Monochrome – black, white and red

03 Nov 2016 5 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: art in SL, Diomita Maurer, Giovanna Cerise, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Second Life

Monochrome derives from the greek words monos (alone, single) and chroma (colour). In art monochromatic painting has been an important component of avant-garde visual art throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. Painters have created the exploration of one color, the examination of values changing across a surface, the expressivity of texture and nuance, expressing a wide variety of emotions, intentions and meanings in a wide variety of ways and means (source wikipedia).

Ocotber 30th: A visit to Monochrome – black, white and red.

Sunday, October 30th, I visited Monochrome. Monochrome is an art installation of Giovanna Cerise and will remain on display until the end of December 2016. Giovanna calls her project “Soul of coulours”, the colours being black, white and red.
“The installation develops onto three levels, each dedicated to a single color: black, withe and red. The choice of black, white and red was dictated by my passion for these colors that evoke a multitude of contrasting references, in agreement or in continuation with each other. It is best to explore the installation simply walking through, but you get a good effect also flying between locations and by inserting the mouse look. You should try different settings of the environment setting to experience the different possibilities of light and ambience offering the virtual world.” (excerpt from the notcard you can get upon arrival at Monochrome)

Once again I came across this piece of art by following Inara Pey’s blog “Giovanna’s Monochrome in Second Life“.

Ocotber 30th: Monochrome black

The three levels couldn’t be more different and that is not only related to the monchromatic black, white and red. On the black level you experience different levels of cubes which offer new view angels everywhere and the three sculptured steel beings in the center of the black level provide an anchor and orientation – and are a perfect object for photographs. When I visited I was still wearing my Halloween make up in black and white and I think that my own person adds another semi monochrome aspect, yet provides some warmth in the cold black and gray world.

The white level is like a big maze and I lost my orientation quickly. It is not only white as the walls are transparent on one side and like milk glass from the other side. The lost feeling was for me similar to what you get when walking through winter sometimes – in the end all is just white.

Ocotber 30th: Monochrome White

And the red level? it is more like a 3 dimensional accumulation of red blocks in different sizes hoovering in the space. But when you dare to walk from the teleport point towards the red blocks you notice that there’s ground to walk on. Although red is a warm colour it didn’t feel warm at all for me.

Ocotber 30th: Monochrome red

To sum it up, 3 dimensional virtual temporary art at it’s best. You still have the rest of 2016 to visit and experience yourself.

Landmark to Monochrome
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA21/18/125/31
Inara Pey’s blog about Monochrome
https://modemworld.me/2016/10/28/giovannas-monochrome-in-second-life/

Haunted Halloween tour

19 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Diomita Maurer, Halloween, Haunted Halloween tour, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld

Saturday, October 15th, I explored another place recommended in the SL Destination guide, the haunted Halloween tour. The description is promising: “Do you dare take a ride in the Haunted Halloween Tour? Strap in and prepare to experience haunts, ghouls, death, scares, and a descent into madness itself. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart!“. The landing brought me to another haunted house, just like the one I visited before at Templeton Cove.

October 15th: The haunted Halloween tour

The front door of the haunted house brings you to another sim and I did recognise it immediately. Wow, still there! This Halloween tour is just great, a ride in a coffin and really bloody and scary. I made it at least 3 times already, every year again. And I reblogged a post from Inara Pey about it last year: “The haunted Halloween tour“. I did the ride again – and it has not lost it’s attraction. It is simply great! And in the end truely full of Humor. So here are some impressions from it. Don’t miss this Halloween tour!

Visiting The Fallen in Second Life

18 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Diomita Maurer, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Second Life, The Fallen City

On Monday, October 17th, I visited The Fallen City as Inara Pey’s blog post inspired me. It is spooky, has great sound and some nice effects and is what you expect from a sim for Halloween. There’s not that much to add. The card playing Skeletons, the nun circling around a child Skeleton, spooky houses with dead bodies, ghosts, screaming voices of kids … pumpkins… and what I liked in particular the billard table in form of a coffin. For me a “must-see” during Halloween Season. I add some of my pictures for myself (this is a diary too) and for those who want to get an impression before visiting. Have Fun!

October 17th A visit to The Fallen City

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

The Fallen – click any image for full size

Halloween is always a time when ghostly goings on and ghoulish gambits of games and explorations take over many parts of the grid. The Destination Guide can be awash with places to visit, so much so that those who love this time of years have both a cornucopia of places to visit, and a bit of a headache in choosing where to go and what to do.

The Fallen, open for the month of October, offers a destination which includes touches of Salem, Sleepy Hollow and Transylvania gathered around a small urban setting overlooked by castle and mansion. It’s a dark, mysterious place which extends over a rolling, misted landscape – and also under it at the couple of locations.

The Fallen

A visit starts towards the south of the region, beneath the roof of a circular gazebo. menacing sounds…

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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 ….

A smile in autumn

11 Oct 2016 4 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Diomita Maurer, IASWAS, Inara Pey, Kaelyn Alecto, Living in a Modemworld, Vero Hartmann

Following Inara Pey’s blog I read her blog entry “Autumn walks all start with a smile in Second Life” and decided to visit “It all starts with a smile” myself. I was there already this summer during a Saturday simploring tour and my impressions from my last visit were confirmed. “It All Starts With A Smile (IASWAS) is a picturesque sim by Kaelyn Alecto … It is a group of tropical islands with many places to sit and cuddle, to have a drink, to relax and I could almost feel the sun. At least I had a feeling of vacation and laziness.”

October 8th: Visiting “It all starts with a smile” again

What has changed is the vegetation. It is not a group of tropical islands anymore. It is a group of islands of the northern hemisphere in autumn now. Upon my landing I met Kaelyn McMahon (akelyn.alecto), who owns this sims, and her partner Gorba McMahon, who welcomed me and wished fun exploring. I walked around the main lake and visited some of the houses, barns and huts scattered around the lake. There is always something to discover like the small red hut which is used as an atelier.The outstanding feature of IASWAS are for sure the many places to sit, mediate and to cuddle. I enjoyed drinking a coffee at the campfire while smelling the autumn. My favourite spot is a raft just by the shore, maybe because of the saying written on the cushions “Life is like riding a bicycle: to keep your balance you must keep moving” and that is so true!

October 8th: Visiting “It all starts with a smile” again – sitting at the campfire and drinking a coffee

October 8th: Visiting “It all starts with a smile” again – my favourite spot to sit and think

While I was sitting at my favourite spot, I had a chat with Vero (vero.hartmann) and I invited her over. We continued chatting and and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. IASWAS is worth a visit, in particular when you seek a nice place to wind down or to cuddle. Thank you Kaelyn for providing your place to the public.

October 8th: Visiting “It all starts with a smile” again – chatting with vero

Landmark to “It all starts with a smile” (IASWAS)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heavenly%20Groove/165/130/23
Inara Pey’s last blog entry about IASWAS
https://modemworld.me/2016/10/05/autumn-walks-all-start-with-a-smile-in-second-life/
IASWAS in summer 2016 in this blog
https://themaurers.me/2016/07/05/saturday-afternoon-simploring-tour/

Pandora Resort

27 Sep 2016 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: Diomita Maurer, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Pandora Resort, sapphirejolla, Second Life

I have explored many “RL sims” during my vacation – now being back home I started exploring SL sims again. I scrolled back in Inara’s blog and came across her post “A vacation at Pandora Resort in Second Life” and decided to visit Pandora Resort. As always I recommend to read Inara’s post for a more detailled description of the sim.
I arrived at the station (the landing point) and was impressed by the large hall with the two railroad engines. And I was welcomed via IM by one of the team Managers, Sapphire Jewel (sapphirejolla). That was nice! Thank you again, Sapphire. I stepped out of the station and roamed through the town of Ironfalls. In it’s center is a nice park and a church. From there I made my way up into the mountains.On my way up i saw the Pandora Resort, a big house overlooking Ironfalls. Then I noticed the cable car moving up into the mountains and I took it. The ride was nice and led up quite high, it began to snow and I was definitively not dressed for winter yet. Stepping out of the cable car was a challenge. And there’s no good way to get down again. The snowy environment is lovely, particularly for someone who love skiing like me, but in Second Life it is difficult to build structures like mountains on which you can walk. I found some ways later, but that is definitively a downside that destroyed the experience – at least mine. Scattered into the lower mountains are vacations home that you can rent. Prices are high as in every lovely surrounding. You have to pay for the view *winks.At the end of my visit I took a closer look at the Pandora Resort, the big house overlooking Ironfalls. The Resort is really a gem. Fully furnitured with love for the detail. Many spots to sit and talk, to celebrate or to simply have a good time. The Pandora Resort and it’s furnishings were the highlight for me and it’s really worth seeing.Thank you, Sapphire for your heartly welcome, and thanks to the team for creating and providing this place for us.

Landmark for Pandora Resort
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hurricane/18/133/22
Inara Pey’s blog
https://modemworld.me/2016/09/16/a-vacation-at-pandora-resort-in-second-life/

Yasminia

16 Sep 2016 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: BadboyHi, Diomita Maurer, Inara Pey, Living in a Modemworld, Yasmin Heartsdale, Yasminia

Following Inara Pey’s blog I came across her post titeled “Yasminia: pastoral peace in Second Life“. For those following this blog for a longer time, or who have read back into the first years, the name Yasminia rings a bell. I really couldn’t believe it to see Yasminia in a blog title of Inara and even more together with the words pastoral and in particular peaceful! My last blog entry about Yasminia is from February 2012 and was sort of a farewell post.

Yasminia in February 2012

Yasminia was the homesim of Yasmin Heartsdale who owned me during my first 3 years in SL. Yasminia was named after her and being Yasmin’s brat it was my second home. Yasmina at that time was full of traps, bdsm gear, spots to cuddle and I certainly took a lot of inspiration from it when building out homsim Mount Everest. And it had most of the time the character of an Caribean island. If yo want to know more about the Yasminia of 2012 read more about it here.

September 9th: Diomita visiting Yasminia’s farm

No doubt, I had to visit new, pastoral and peaceful Yasminia. I wonder if the owner and creator of it, Busta (BadboyHi), knows about Yasminia’s past. Yasminia was an adult sim while the new sim is rated general. The new Yasminia is a lovely rural sim with a lot of nature, horses and everything you would expect when you visit a pastoral and peaceful sim. As always I recommend to read Inara’s detailled description. I roamed over the whole sim and climbed up to the lighthouse for an overview. Finally I sat down, enjoyed the peace and my thoughts went back to 2012 and before. What a long, exciting and various life we had and still have in Second Life.

September 9th: Diomita at Yasminia – thinking back

The new Yasminia is for sure worth a visit in particular for those interested in taking pictures and in exploring, like myself. I enjoyed walking and discovering Yasminia. Thank you Busta for providing it for all of us!

Landmark to the (new) Yasminia:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yasminia/141/118/22
Inara Pey’s blog about the (new) Yasminia:
https://modemworld.me/2016/09/08/yasminia-pastoral-peace-in-second-life/
Last blog post in this blog about the (old) Yasminia:
https://themaurers.me/2012/02/06/yasminia/

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/

Diomita Maurer’s Blog

An early start into the season – Telrunya Winter

Monochrome – black, white and red

Haunted Halloween tour

Visiting The Fallen in Second Life

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween – Exploring on foot

Neverland – Calas Galadhon Halloween

A smile in autumn

Pandora Resort

Yasminia

Arranmore

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