All the Rage

 Rage Darkstone has recently arrived in opensim, and has already begun to make his mark. His first big show was 'Death and Transfiguration' for the Pangea Art and Culture Festival, directed by Lampithaler Artis. 

Rage's 3D art is ephemeral, vibrant, tenuous, full of life and drama, and this performance had it all. Pretty good, too, for his first attempt in what many artists find a foreign country, OpenSim, where even on well conducted grids, scripts can mess with you, and your carefully honed SL inventory is not available, making life a little more... interesting.

Collaboration, by Karima Hoisan

 The following is a guest article by Karima Hoisan. Well-loved in both SL and on Kitely for her poems and sim-sized installations (called 'worlds' in Kitely), she shares here some thoughts about the most significant collaborations in her career. On her blog Digital Rabbit Hole, you will find many poems including this tribute to Natascha, called 'Lone Rider'

When I hear the word “collaboration”, I think of two people: Natascha Randt and Dale Innis.

In 2012.  Natascha and I knew about each other, but not well, until one day she said, “Let’s try something together.” In our first collaboration, we took 2nd place in the 2012 UWA Machinima Competition “Seek Wisdom”. We just kept going and going from that day on, until last September, when Natascha passed away while waiting for an artificial heart. She was 40 years old. 

In these last 10 years we learned so much, how and why we worked together so well. Our collaborations were not the norm, but they were successful and a delight to be a part of. 

Home Sweet Gnome

 "Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet, 
and it's great when I'm in my garden. 
But the minute I go out the gate I think:
'What the hell am I doing here?' "
George Harrison

In January 1970, George Harrison bought a house called Friar Park, on the western edge of  the Thames-side town of Henley, about an hour west of central London. The 60-acre estate has its feet, as it were, in the realm of the bus-stop-and-bins of suburbia, but its head rests quietly on the edges of the Chilterns. A rambling neo-gothic mansion built in the 1880's, by the '70s Friar Park had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it was due to be demolished. Instead, it was rescued and repaired. For thirty years it was home to Harrison, and the location of his main recording studio, and his family live there to this day. 

The house must have hundreds of tales to tell, but this post is about the garden, which has been recreated in the virtual world of Littlefield Grid by Pete Clements, aka Mudpuddle Cleanslate, on a region called 'All Things Must Pass'. This picture, as with all the landscape images below, was taken in that place in the  metaverse.

OSgrid Turns Fifteen

 Fifteen is a great age, and in Opensim it's virtually prehistoric - just four years younger than the old Grande Dame, SL. 

Event Plaza

So congrats off the bat to the entire operation - the geeks past and present who have kept OSGrid up to date, the creators, and the entertainers, the testers and scripters and artists, and even more to all the individual contributors who with sums large and small have paid for it to stay online. Let's see what some have to say for themselves.

On Fluorine

 Fluorine is full of toothsome goodies, way more than can reasonably be mentioned in this post, which is one for the ladies. Don't hesitate to jump on over to grid.opensimfest.com:8022:Flourine to do the full tour, and see these builds for yourself.

The theme of Opensimfest 2022 is Medieval/Fantasy which is a great piece of wordplay, because it leaves things open for fans of the medieval, fans of fantasy, and fans of imagined medieval. So that has us all covered. The first build that impressed and inspired me is this one by Susannah Avonside. 

It's the real deal in terms of medieval builds, and of course Suzi is flying the flag for her beloved Wales. 

By Jupiter

 Dewdrops, on a sultry summer day, could not be more welcome. And when Azi Az and Danger Lytton put out the invitation 'Do drop in', the appeal is twice as strong, twice as compelling.

The Dew Drop Islands on OSgrid are delightfully mysterious. Make sure you have Advanced Lighting enabled in your graphics, or you will miss out on the spectacular sky that makes you feel like you've arrived on a moon of Jupiter. A watery, flower-abundant moon, where you begin to wonder... and wander... everything has delicious doubt written into it.

On landing, a question. Is this a dragon, or a sea snake, an illusion, a guardian or a greeter? 

Art and Soul at the OSF

OpensimFest has as its motto 'The chemistry of community' and that's why the regions take their names from the periodic table. Some are words we're all familiar with like Oxygen and Carbon, while others have names that sound a bit made up, come on, admit it, by scientists who just want to mystify their craft. 

The heart of Chlorine. Greyer than I expected, tbh

Here are two OpensimFest regions you might like to explore,  one with an everyday name, the other sounding more exotic. What do they have in common? Big art, and interesting projects. Both regions are full of good things to look at, I've chosen my favorite three from each, so go and explore, perhaps you'll find something I have overlooked.

More than Music: OSF's Event sims

OpensimFest opened on Friday July 8 and will stay open for a full 17 days, including three 3-day weekends with twelve hours of musical entertainment, focused on the four Event regions that are all smooshed together, with four separate stages, so each performer can have the backdrop that matches their musical style. There is a shared dance floor spanning all four regions, and you can hear the music, whichever sim you happen to be dancing on. If you missed the first couple of days, no worries, there is plenty more to come.

Some of the performers have really gone to town in creating an ambience for their events, like this set up by Karima Hoisan, a perfect environment for the wonderful poems.

Many have brought the house down just with a bit of nifty dancing, as seen here where Holocluck Henly and Snoots Dragon are giving it welly.

Spectacular Sound & Adorable Alice

   The final Safari of the season (We start back up again on September 14) and two more absolutely unmissable destinations. If you and everyone you know don't know these places, well... Go. See. Enjoy. HG Addresses are as always at the end of the post.

First up, a visit to The Nuna Gallery on 3rd Rock Grid, more specifically, some sky-high sound based installations by the sorcerer of sound, Lorin Tone and region owner and brilliant builder and region owner Alia Soulstar.  

The Nuna is a walkable Encyclopedia of world art that is as peerless as it is rigorous. For me, it's one of the Seven Wonders of Opensim. Magnificent in its size, layout, detail, complexity, and precision, it must have taken a vast amount of time and talent to put together. This is a useful and beautiful place, an educator's resource of the highest quality, and a place that anyone can enjoy, and find within its walls serenity, knowledge and beauty. 

The Gallery opened in December 2019, and comprises five floors of outstanding world art, with information that sets it in context and basically will give you a degree in Art History by the time you've done the whole building, or, if you just sample a few bits, will in any case expand your mind and help you make sense of the world of art. It's bliss in a box.

Goodbye to Metro

 Nobody would argue (and on this venerable grid, that is really saying something) that the hero of Metropolis Metaversum is Neovo Geesink, seen here dancing along with the other star of the Goodbye to Metro party, LadyJo Martin. Wait, did this gif capture the hand of Kashi Takeshi? Classic Opensim. Metro was slated to close permanently on June 30, 2022, and we decided to party her offline.

LadyJo in green, Neovo in grey, with the partygoers

The party got started, not at noon Pacific as advertised, but well in advance, thanks to the fabulous