Halloween Haven

 So much happening on one build, thanks to a foursome of builders - Wendie Blackthorn, Johanna Haven, Freya Blackthorn, and Lizzy Borden - you may remember Lizzy's Mountain build we visited a while back - with that devilish maze, and Wendie's magnificent recreation of Dalaran..

These photos only give you a glimpse of one of this year's highlights in terms of Safarying. The address is as always at the end of the post, and of course, don't delay, Halloween season is limited.

Wendie and Johanna on Welcome duty!

Wendie Blackthorn: you see the burning wicker man we have here, those will be placed all over Kinky Haven on the 5th of november for bonfire night

Ankhtyfy Fun

Our first stop this week was on OSGrid, a Hunt by Francophone creators   Nani ferguson and Ange Menges. It began with a bit of a hiccup, as the region kind of threw a loop when 20 people showed up. This almost never happens on Safari any more, luckily we could easily regroup at the Clubhouse and just jump back after a couple of minutes when the server pulled itself together.

Arriving on Ankhtyfy

Lucy Afarensis: Interesting start today

Thirza Ember: lol that was a quick safari!

Forest Azure: maybe i should do some exercises meanwhile, since i'm dressed for it

Thirza Ember: lol Forest you are ready for a quick getaway

Taarna Welles: In the meantime I'll make a cup of tea. Brb

Mal Burns: all i found was a TP gate which unleashed loadsa monsters when i touch it, this quest gonna be hard I think... hope reboot wait is not part of quest lol

James atLLOUD: isn't it all though? Ankhtyfy is fairly close to the region.  World map doesn't show it offline.

Thirza Ember: osgrid map is notoriously slow, James

Ange Menges: Sorry for the problem . So we are late

James atLLOUD: I don't think avatars were harmed tho

Forest Azure: /me's toes are hurting from standing on them all the time

Minord Loup: re bonsoir a tous

Halloween Treats

There are always so many things to do at Halloween in Opensim, it brings out all the ghoulish genius of our many builders. Even if you're not generally a Halloween type person, there is plenty here to admire - and if you love the scary stuff you'll be in heaven!  (Or should that be the Other Place?)

The pumpkin patch on Themed region of escape2reality

Here are three suggestions of fun ways to enjoy the spookiest time of the year. All HG Addresses and hops are, of course, at the end of the post, and the links to the region's pages on Opensimworld are posted as links - so don't forget to click on the links, Like, Review, and Bookmark if you're so inclined - it's a great source of positive feedback for our wonderful creators.

Safari visits the Strawberry Fields

The arrival point on Strawberry Fields sets the scene for a Beatles build that takes you through the major sites associated with the Fab Four, and it's by JohnWinston Vandyke,  who came inworld to show us around, and thank goodness he did, because this build is as full of detail as it is ingenious.

This trip was made possible by Dorena Verne, of Dorena's World, without whose assistance we probably would never have been able to meet JohnWinston in person. Thanks Dorena!

JohnWinston Vandyke: wow..I am impressed. Hello everybody

Jupiter Rowland: Hi everyone!

Dorena Bree: Hello

Thirza Ember: wow quite a quick rez for me! impressive, dorenas world

Mal.Burns: faster than last for sure

Thirza Ember: everyone please meet JohnWinston he made this build all about the beatles

Juno Rowland: Hello!

Tosha Tyran: Hi John

Thirza Ember: hey Archetyp

Archetyp Jung: Hello! :-)

Jupiter Rowland: You may want to turn on the music stream. It's always worth listening to on John's sims.

Whirli Placebo: great idea, thx jupiter

Thirza Ember: I have been in love with this build for about a year! it is a really clever use of space.

Star Ravenhurst: Made it! I had to go to the club house first.

JohnWinston Vandyke: I am sorry, I neglected it for a long time, because I built my star wars planets the last 2 years... so let me tell you about this place a few things. Since I was a young boy I am a huge Beatles fan

Whirli. Placebo: love the reprise best

JohnWinston.Vandyke: Well I started to play the guitar, I always wanted to sound like John Lennon, in the end it turned out to sound like Bart Simpson 

Kitely's Cave Man

Lascaux, in Perigord, is one of those amazing places that says so much about humanity. Everyone knows the cave paintings, their size, vivid colors, and pure artistry speak to us across the gulf of ages. The tragedy of the caves, discovered during the Second World War, as their fate. They were monetized and rendered world famous in 1948, when a staggering 100,000 visitors flocked there every year for a while. The germs, humidity and light that all those tourists brought with them soon left its mark, and within 15 years the fragile environment was irreparably damaged. Undaunted, however, work began on copying the art, and today you can go to Montignac and take a ...dare I say it, virtual tour ! Today with all the mod cons of the 21st century traveller, you can absorb the prehistoric mood in a full-size, mathematically precise replica of the caves and their contents. 
Lascaux on Kitely has the same starting point, but a different configuration, and a very different and intriguing purpose. The Safari went to see what was what.

lifted pixel: some of you are missing bits and pieces but they're rezzing in now

Roffellos Kisses: if anyone lost some boobs they just shot past me

Angelic Kisses: Hahahaha

Tosha Tyran: if somebody finds my body - please return it to me - I need it, sniff

Forest Azure: gimme back!

Roffellos Kisses: strange wildlife here

Aba Brukh: ahhhhh, there I am

Cooper Swizzle

Thirza.Ember: applause for Cooper Swizzle - Kitely's own Cave Man

Cooper Swizzle: Thank you Thirza... Hello and welcome to The Lascaux Cave. I am Cooper Swizzle, and it is my pleasure to share my interpretation of the Lascaux Cave located in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac. I am a consultant and train adults on Leadership Soft Skills using 3D immersive environments in collaboration with Carla Kincaid-Yoshikawa, owner of Training in the 21st Century. As you will see, this is a sample of how we use the environment to train people. 

Ankh - st

 It's almost Halloween, and in Opensim that means ghouls and ghosties - big time angst! or in this case... ankh-st.

For creators, All Hallow's Eve is The Festival par excellence, because it offers the possibility of all kinds of visual cues, jump scares, and jokes, not to mention tricks and treats for friends and strangers, leading to a positive building boom all over the hyperverse. 

Art of Azure

All change at the gallery on Forest of Azure once again, with another selection of photos in this unusual and attractive landing point. Ten images taken in virtual worlds, expressing the intimate, colorful, and personal world of Forest Azure.

Forest Azure: I change the exhibit in my gallery on a regular basis, so this was one of the usual changes. The theme is essentially always the same: pictures that I see as erotic and of which I hope others see them that way too. On occasion I do a different theme, like portraits of people in SL and more ‘artsy’ pictures, like pictures with poems or more surrealistic pictures. One thing is consistent though: my pictures are always ‘what you see is what you get’ , that is, I don’t edit them, except to add text to the poem ones. 

It's a clever contextualization of the region, bringing together in ten canvasses the themes and values of the build below while offering a discrete destination all to itself for any art lover, easy to find and to appreciate. If you enjoy Forest's work, and want to compliment it to her in person, don't forget that she's holding a belated housewarming party at her inworld house on November 5 in the evening Euro time!

HG Address: hg.osgrid.org:80:Forest of Azure

MdM - Rededicated!

 The ribbon was cut today at the rededication ceremony of an old friend, the Museo del Metaverso on Craft Grid, now sporting a brand new look!

In a dark sky, just above the black waters of the sim, the new structure floats like a glass cage, full of movement and color, history and innovation.

Neo Rome

 Nexus Storm is a great builder! But you knew that already. Also, that the Neverworld family like to collaborate on builds - perhaps you remember the Total Recall region the Safari visited a while back. This time, we went to Rome -with a twist, a Neo twist.

Many people wonder, sure, when you read in this blog Safari people saying things like "I will definitely come back and explore" - do they really mean it? Well yes. Here's photographic proof. There were about 15  to 20 of us on the enormous region, and that of course made a certain amount of lag, even with all the possible precautions taken by the very skilled Neverworld teams - including turnings off their fabulous NCPs. Despite all their best efforts, Whirli found he couldn't move. So he simply waited for us to all leave, and for the region to be restored to its complete glory, and then he went back. Only to be eaten by a bear.

The build is an incredible mashup of all the best styles - roman bones, but its sinews and muscles taken from many fictional genres.

All Things Must Pass

Thirza Ember: this week, it would have been the 73rd birthday of John Lennon, so I was looking for a beatles destination for us... the first destination today is the RL garden of George Harrison. It was designed and built by Mudpuddle Cleanslate, I hope you will enjoy it.

Star Ravenhurst: Sounds awesome Thirza

Thirza Ember: you may remember Mudpuddle's other build Pepperland and Pepperland 2... they are also here on Littlefield as is his build for Van Gogh, called Arles.

James atLLOUD: OH yes, very much.

Thirza Ember: he is very particular about the details

SIWAS S: (de:en)  I am excited 

Thirza Ember: welcome to Friar Park, this is a real house just outside London. Mudpuddle Cleanslate is a big Beatles fan - he built this; he is a professional at graphic art... as you can see

Star Ravenhurst: Nice entrance!

Forest Azure: some dog!

Whirli Placebo on HIE

Our second destination was a preview of the HIE build. The Hypergrid International Expo is coming this weekend, with 3 musical guests on the Friday (starting at 11am SLT and then two days of talks and artistic performances, starting at 9am SLT on Saturday and Sunday.

HIE Welcome.  Join the Group best for your language,
and then walk through the portal to the Auditorium

You can find the whole schedule here - HIEOPENSIM - and also read about the artists and the speakers. The event gives an opportunity for people whose first language is not English to be able to give a talk to a wide public. As they speak, the main points of their talks will appear in 'Subtitle' form. Join the Language group right for you and just read the subtitles in the Chat.

Free Life in the City

This week's trip took us first to FreeLife Grid, the home of Victor DeAngelo. Our handsome host, noted for his many freebies and his kind and helpful spirit, awaited us on his Central City region. The HG Address is of course in the usual place.

James takes a seat at the arrival area on Central City

As you know, the Safari generally avoids malls because the combination of thousands of textures, a dozen avies, and less than an hour to take the tour makes for a lag challenge of immense proportions, so you may notice some of the pictures - and Jessica Pixel's livestreamed video walkthrough - had a few details missing here and there. 
If you are interested in having the Safari come visit your grid? Please, read this page it's just for you! And then come on a couple of Safari trips - there is no better way to get a feel for the dynamics of group tourism in virtual worlds, and it will help you plan your own hosted event.

Ange Menges: Bonsoir à tous

Ayla Alvarez: Bonsoir, Ange

Victor DeAngelo: i am seeing everyone pretty much.....rezzing is happening and you all look amazing