The Art of the Wolf

 Wolf. There, quickly. What comes to mind? Perhaps the sleek fur, an indomitable intelligence, a pack working together. Or something shadowy, sinister, threatening and scary. Is the wolf for you part of the realm of the supernatural, part of endangered nature, or is it all these things? The relationship between man and wolf is as old as humanity, and wolves stalk world languages, popping up in metaphors and idiomatic expressions, proverbs and poems.

No wonder they make such a good starting point for AI art, which you can see - along with some original work by Lone Wolf, on the welcome sim of Wolf Territories Grid.

When you first arrive on Wolf Territories Grid, you'll find yourself in a circular space, full of information about how the grid works, how you can be part of it, how to get help, information, and find your way around this vast grid, which seems to be growing every day. 

OSFest is Coming...

 Osfest is just around the corner, and people are getting busy preparing their exhibits, temporary shops, artistic installations, and theatrical and musical performances. 

A dedicated grid is being set up to host the event. There are a lot of moving parts as ever, and a theme that encompasses music, art, culture and history - plenty of scope to play with ! And  just in case you're curious, here is a little bit of a glimpse into the thoughts and experience of three participants, all doing something slightly different, to make this event shine.

 DJ Sofee is a familiar figure over on Alternate Metaverse Grid, along with the delightful Ted Junior. You may have read Sofee's monthly journal BlaBlaBla, it's full of news about AMV's people and places. Perhaps you've attended one of her FunSize Dinkie events on AMV, or seen her spinning tunes as a DJ. She's going to be part of the party at OSFest.

Sofee Giano: This year I was asked by Rosa Alekseev if I would like to DJ at the OSFest 2023 on the 26th and the 28th at 12noon for one hour on each date, I told Rosa I would love to, but going way back to 1860 to 1970 is a bit out of experience and knowledge of music for this genre and style which the OSFest is doing, so I will be playing more modern style Jazz with a twist to try to fit into this years theme. 

Portugal by Tutz

Every musician likes a nice stage to perform on, but generally speaking, a visiting singer doesn't expect to have a whole sim built for them. 

That's what makes the region over on Pangea pretty and amazing, and all around pretty amazing. How did sim Portugal come to be? 

AMV's Long Weekend

Sultry summer weather. Gas prices high, and so is the mercury. You've simply got to get away. Idk, a long weekend in Calistoga, all spa and art and Eastern healing stuff and cool happenings - that sounds about right. 

If that is out of your price range - or thousands of miles out of your weekend travel range - here's a really good alternative... AMV has a long weekend of art coming up. It's going to be held from Friday 11 August through Monday. 14 August  with events all over five different regions including OpenMic Arts, The Arts, Festival of Arts, In Tribute, and AMV Special Events. 

Arrival on AMV Special Events

Cataplexia Numbers has prepared one of her super long and complete Notecards, so this post won't repeat all the info you can grab from that. Here are a few glimpses though... 

Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen is an important milestone in any aspect of life, and OSGrid, the 'crossroads of opensim', the Test grid, and home to hundreds of residents, has reached this grand old age with the traditional parties and of course the Expo regions, all shaped like the OSGrid logo.

The expo regions are in a circle in the sea, all around Event Plaza, and contain all kinds of lively tributes to the grid, by its residents.

Matilda Charron: Osgrid is a great community home to many talented people (and creatures) from programming, scripting, wide variety of creativeness and well run events for all to enjoy. It is a great social platform and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I admire such talent and thankful to be a part of such great place and thankful for the people I call friends.

Jazzed Up in Opensim

Poppy Fields and Forest Azure organizing a Jazz and Blues Weekend and it's coming up on September 9 and 10. It's sponsored by Masala Estates, (thank you Unadecal!) and will be held on a dedicated sim, HG Jazz & Bluesfestival. It will cover both Euro and US-friendly hours, 11am - 3pm on saturday, 11am - 5pm on Sunday, for your listening pleasure.  

The full lineup of performers is: Rez Rezzal, Icky and Sum, Charice Singer, Acidicloop, Ruud vandeSande, Clan's Band, and Poppy and Forest themselves.

September is still a month away, but preparations are already well in hand, with this stage, built by Poppy Fields, featuring a great dome in dark blue, filled with stars and

Tropicana fun!

Mike Townsend has been in opensim since way back when. If you're an oldbie, you may remember his UKTurk grid, with its freebies - such a precious resource at a time when finding content was a painful business on the HG. These days, you'll find him in his OSGrid estate, Tropicana. Hot or what. So, what's the story?

 Mike Townsend:  I have never really left OSgrid, just dabbled in other grids and moved around a bit. I guess for me the appeal of it is the building and creation of environment. And of course the friends that we meet in our travels. I don't miss having a grid of my own. Not at all. Most grids, as they get larger, become cumbersome and problematic. Tropicana was not here a couple of years ago, it is really the result of the pandemic. It was built very quickly and homes and lands were added as an afterthought, and it just grew and grew from 9 SL sized regions to around the 600 that it is today. 

Makes sense, after all OSGrid is known as the crossroads of Opensim. You can check out the