Safari rolls with it

The transition is a keen one, I assure you, 

... and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics 

to enable you to grin and bear it. But even this wears off in time. 

- Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1: Loomings

          In his introduction to Moby Dick, Herman Melville explains the etymology of the word 'Whale' - it comes from a Teutonic word meaning 'to roll'... and we certainly were rolling all over the place on this week's Safari.

In the foreground Vivienne Clary, our hostess on PSSMG Sea, and Spike Sol

   It was Pirate week, and as part of the celebration,  we had a reading from Moby Dick by Emil Jannings of New Media Arts Inc (catch him soon at Avatarfest). The famous novel is a tale of obsession, disaster, and hardship, but also of friendship, resilience, and survival... something grid jumpers in opensim can heartily relate to.     

Emil Jannings performing on Pirates Atoll, Digiworldz

The costumes people came up with were spectacular, and I'm sorry that the difficulties in getting to DeReOs and the concomitant lag and crashing meant we lost many of the crew... kudos for keeping on trying, guys. 

Nyom Chung looking lovely

        Here are a few examples, from long time safarians, like Nyom and Wizardoz...

Wizardoz Chrome shabby chic pirate

some had uploaded avies, while others made or sources individual items to put together their own unique Pirate looks, 

Lucy Afarensis in the foreground, with Howard and Aime

as Lucy, xSiberiax and Sunbeam show here. 

XsiberiaX Ilfreddopurifica - hat by Tosha Tyran

 This all that adds to the beauty of opensim, where creative imagination is the ship in which we all sail.

Sunbeam Magic

New members, and we had several brave souls this week, like Cilla Teebrook, Valibrarian Gregg, Lady Blue, and Howard Lotsof. They all really... 

Howard Lotsof relaxing before the chaos begins.

...pushed the boat out on this one.   

Akira Sonoda awaiting the arrival of the Safari on PSSMG Sea

         In the real world, there's plenty of terror and suffering on the news that puts our inworld inconvenience in context. For example, OSgrid has been exhibiting some funky asset issues for many people. On Francogrid, hgsafari region was moved, and the grid suffered an attack a couple of weeks back, all of which appears to have caused some interesting issues with NPCs, Landmarks, assets, scripts, and so on. This put an end to a planned NPC display and also did some weird stuff to the Landmarks provided for this week's trip.

          Dereos grid was working fine and PSSMG region was looking perfect, with all its steampunky pirate glory ... should that be sailpunk? Just wondering... 

Victor Clary

...anyway, all was good, the Dereos friends were awaiting us on the dockside, until two minutes before the Safari. Then as we tried to get there, the region found it all too much to handle. We tried to move as slowly as possible, and not teleport all at once, but still, no go. Some say it was having our viewer's Maps open. The problem is, that when Landmarks fail (and they often do) the next strategy has to be a HG Address, and you can't use that without opening your Map. Anyway, I blame the hats. 

Safari clustering

          After trying for about an hour to get to Dereos with multiple crashes, freezes, chat lag, and clusters like this one... those who had not gotten entirely frustrated and fed up decamped to Digiworldz. 

Only Logicamp survives the floating cluster situation on DeReOs

         However, PSSMG Sea really deserves a visit, as Drang Po said, it's a gorgeous region and one of a set of sims that feature both beautiful landscaping and interesting freebie shops.

         So, off to destination 2 on Digiworldz, and well worth visiting too! You arrive on Pirates Atoll in an underwater train station... 

...and from there, you can teleport up onto the atoll, with its charming town...

 ...dance club, an 'old town', and of course water activities.

      Our host Strannik Zipper had a three phase event for us. First, Emil Jannings reading an excerpt from Moby Dick.
Emil's glorious voice lifts the text and floats it out into the ocean of your mind's eye. The restless wanderer, looking for the excitement and satisfaction that only a wider horizon can provide - it's piratey and safaryish all at the same time. Emil will be performing at Avatarfest this coming weekend, and is preparing seasonal goodies around Halloween, with the Avatar Repertory Theater so make sure you click all these links to stay in touch and informed.

 then a tour of the region, which includes a Library, where you can find a copy of Moby Dick; 

a 'literary' Caffè that celebrates Francis Ford Coppola, 

and an Orthodox Church, 
with a beautiful interior, complete with the sound of chanting - very atmospheric.
Howard Lotsof: this is really nice
strannik zipper: there is the chant
Leighton Marjoram: feel strange being dressed like a pirate in here
strannik zipper: You should try going to a gypsy funeral!  
strannik zipper: this has saints both east and west and some esoterica
Sunshine Szavanna: wow great work with the music - oo its the stream
Wizardoz Chrome: Byzantine icons
strannik zipper: The icon of the transfiguration, for example, can also represent the different faculties of the soul when they are unified... and you can ring the bells outside.

We also got to see Strannik's workshop.

strannik zipper: this is an actual working machinima studio which I use to place 3D models in websites and videos

Thirza Ember: is this where strannik makes is naughty movies?

Sunbeam Magic: coolio, i like naughty

Thirza Ember: we know

Sunbeam Magic: oh *zips lips*... giggles

Leighton Marjoram: giggling

strannik zipper: On the control room wall, you can see photos of what happens when the objects are applied to backgrounds and other video elements. It works just like the RL version

Leighton Marjoram: I have a green screen box but love this idea

strannik zipper: I'm basically a Web developer, but now I can offer the "3D Web"

    You can see the results on Strannik's blog

         And at last Dancing, with Max Headroom, and many other special effects. DJ Strannik, who once deejayed for eight hours straight at Avatarfest, will be performing again this weekend at Avatarfest 2017, so don't miss that! more details on their website.

 Our resilience paid off, after all. 

Roll with you next week.

HG Addresses:

PSSMG seaside steampunk mall    hg.dereos.80:pssmg sea

Strannik Zipper's pirate region      login.digiworldz.com:8002:pirates atoll