Ipso-Fari

Our second stop this week was on BloodMoon Pack grid, to meet up with the French painter and videographer Prodyck Theas. We were there to see Ipsofacto, a sim with deep connections to Prodck's RL artistry, and also his many eyars of activity in opensim. Prodyck often streams inworld events on his Twitch account, though today he was busy showing us around - so here's the words and pictures part; if you'd like to see more pictures, why not join our Facebook group where photographer extraordinaire Roff Kisses has posted a few.

Prodyck Theas: bonjour

Vlad Helsing: Please click on the ball on Prodyck's head and choose your language.

Cherry Manga: hello bonsoir

Forest Azure: more desert!

Dings Digital: bonsoir

Tina Bey: que bueno!! llego el traductor!

Prodyck Theas: Has everyone arrived? Welcome to all It's been a long time since I've made any visits. The last time was on Craft  A thank you to Vlad for hosting regions. The theme of this region is after global warming. Man had to make little artificial paradises

Tosha Tyran: Oh my god, that is why it seemed so familiar - like looking out of my window in RL

Cherry Manga: global warming made clouds bloom as flowers , how sweet

Prodyck Theas: Follow me. Here a nod to the spirit of the times

Ipsofacto, in Fact

In Opensim, the name Ipsofacto is always closely associated with Prodyck Theas. For many years, Prodyck's been an explorer, experimenter, and videographer, best known for his Twitch channel where he has filmed and archived events, particularly in the Francophone community - weddings, inaugurations, even Safari trips! As a sim, Ipsofacto like so many places in the hyperverse has undergone lots of adventures - going offline, and finding a new home, and a new iteration, all the time expressing the solidarity of the francophone community. 

Prodyck in a surreal moonlight on his sim Ipsofacto, when it was on Osgrid.

The meaning of names is always so important... 'Iposofacto' comes from the Latin for 'by the fact itself' in other words, something that needs no explanation, is obvious. But there's more at play here; the Latin word we translate as 'fact' also means a deed - something done, a creation or action. And what is Opensim all about if not actions, creations, and deeds?

If you ever get a chance to talk to Prodyck, ask him about the French-speakers of the early days of Opensim - he has many memories of those early times, when assets were scarce, but on the other hand, experimenters and explorers were everywhere. This is a good moment to mention Francogrid, a lost treasure of Opensim, which, after a long decline, went offline  in 2022 due to a tech failure at the place where the grid was hosted. If you're curious about FG, or about opensim history in general, why not take a look at this post where 8 years ago (my how time flies!)  the Safari gang met up with a bunch of Francogridiens.

M is for Music

Morlita Quan's Second Life adventure started 16 years ago, and it was pure boredom.

Morlita Quan:   I even remember myself thinking : " Ok, I won't stay here more then two days". But as you well said, SL is a nest of creativity and very soon, I had the luck to meet persons there who used SL as a professional tool for art and music, and not like a simple social game. 

Morlita at her new, as yet unfinished, gallery on sim MorlitaM on OSGrid.

Sixteen years later, Morlita is still working on projects that overlap between the real and virtual worlds. Recently she has revived her interest in Opensim, and has an exciting new sim on OSGrid - address at the end of the post, as usual!  What, though, makes virtual worlds a special place to be creative?

Snack-fari?

The HG Safari clubhouse on OSGrid is closing down, because now the travel group's main HQ is on a dedicated grid, hopefully you already know that if your planning on joining us in the next season of trips. 

The HG Address of the new sim is at the end of  the post, where it belongs.

New HG Safari sim

So - exciting times, but it is a bit of a sad goodbye to the sim that Ange Menges gifted in the fall of 2021 when it became very clear that our old home on FrancoGrid wasn't going to be viable any more as our main base for the revamped HG Safari group.

The FrancoGrid clubhouse, 2015-2022

Over past months, regular visitors to the HG Safari sim on OSGrid may have noticed gentle reminders that it's closing, as the land got smaller and features like the Archive House, the Self Guided Tours, the Marketplace, the dancing places, and the mesh clothing store, Meshanthropy, all gradually disappeared.

 Leaving just the mountain in the osgrid ocean. 

Safari goes to Generositania

Generositania isn't a real place... it's loads of places, where the spirit of generosity is the fundamental working principle. Here are three fun places in opensim, with an emphasis on altruism, that you should definitely go and see. 
HG Addresses at the end of the post as usual. First stop, the Dune Project on Metropolis.
Neovo Geesink: Welcome at Dune-1
Wizardoz Chrome (it>en): Like film Dune? ... or ...
Truelie Telling: there is no resemblance to the world of the film Dune, or the books
Neovo Geesink: I don't know why they are Called Dune. Lena Vanilli is the "boss" and has made this Project of 5 4x4 var regions possible.
James AtLLOUD something gigantic just rezzed in my camera view.

Back on Safari

Sound artist Morlita Quan, check out her music here

... And we're back.
The first Safari of the new season was a celebration of creativity, style, sensuality and above all the free open source ideals of Francogrid, and the wider hyperverse of OpenSim.

Fest'Avi is always about the body beautiful. It is about creativity and a practical need for more original avatars for people to use and share. Anyone can contribute an avie, and this year there are about 19 different models, some very human-like, some romantic, some very unusual.
Here are the avie makers this year: Sunbeam Magic,  Archael Magic, Canonboymaty Duffield, Zany Foxtrot, Serene Jewell, Praline B, Shannan Albright, Meilo Minotaur and of course Cherry Manga, whose artistic imagination and passion are the fabric upon which these avatars are displayed.

A Hearty, Arty Safari

         Some seriously fun art in OpenSim this week for the Safari, on two excellent art-friendly grids. HG Addresses at the end.
          First up, Francogrid and Michaël Borras aka Systaime with his show "Curating Money" curated by Wrong Grid organizers Ellectra Radikal and Frere Reinert.

Chasing the Safari

RL comes first, we all know that, and for a lot of people, that makes joining the Safari impossible. Same happened to me this week. But while some weeks, the group visits specially opened sims or one-off events, this week's destinations are all easy enough to visit when the fancy takes you. And very worthwhile too. Just grab the LMs from the Safari clubhouse, for your convenience they are available at Teravus Plaza on OSGrid, as well as at our usual rendezvous, HGSafari sim on Francogrid. If you made a  LM to our Francogrid clubhouse more than two weeks ago, it will no longer work, as the sim has been moved onto another server. But if you put our hg address into your map, you will find it OK. That address? hg.francogrid.org:80:hgsafari
This week the first destination was something of a load test for the group, and by all accounts it stood up well to the onslaught of the safari waifs and strays. The grid in question, Sailonbye, (full HG Addresses at the end of the post) is a mini grid that brings together three of opensim's greatest virtues: a sense of place, a talented builder of original content, and a generous heart.

Le Safari

             This week's Safari was a trip to the little known French province of Lagetaine. The emphasis on Lag...

Eyewatering buckets of slowness, crashing and general frustration seemed to dog our every step, from the starting point at HGSafari sim on Francogrid, through to Virtual Dreams, on to the Louvre sim on OSGrid. Only the very last stop worked perfectly, by which time a mere handful of bold and tenacious Safaristas were still on board.

           

The Snowind Swansong

          It is their swansong, and so it is up to you and I to make the most of it.  After many years of providing fun and delight to their fellow residents, in the form of their seasonal treasure hunts, Nani Ferguson and Ange Menges have decided to take a break.  

   
          Ange and Nani's Hunts marked things like Easter and Christmas, which provided a convenient deadline to them, and a signal to us that there would be hours of fun to be had.

A Scifi, Scofi, TP try and try Safari

 Beacon opensimworld: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: 
Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.    

        So, back to Metropolis for the Summer of Arts which has morphed into an Autumn and almost a Winter of Arts, which is fine by us - the more the merrier! If you have not been to Wanda Shigella's regions, you have time until the end of the year to enjoy the 40+ artists on show. 
       The addresses, as ever, at the end of the post.

Safari starts at a fest and ends up in Jail

It was highly inappropriate, to be on a cathedral sized art installation doing a girl gangnam style dance but that's how we roll.
      Two trips, and a shorter safari than usual, yet it felt like we encompassed the universe in this our 79th outing. First up, a visit to AvatarFest. This four day festival, part show and tell, part concert, was a huge success both socially and technically.

Thirza and James sitting on the Safari elephant

But first some elephant action. And Teravus Plaza chit chat. Last week, James was accused of 'never sitting on the elephant' so this week, he made sure he got on board. Can't have Safari's premiere sitter accused of not starting the Safari as he means to go on!
Thirza Ember: I'm so glad we get to celebrate your Fest tonight
Han Held: I am too! I'm glad y'all are coming and that Truelie is performing for us. I'm really proud of everyone and the way we all came together.
Thirza Ember: this time, I plan to actually go look at the exhibits on avatarfest, not just dance
Han Held: I think a lot of people are, and I hope that they come by before the end of the month
Sunbeam Magic: it's such a nice small town feeling , easy to walk paths and not too many exhibits to overwhelm you. and Tom had his DJ debut there, he is great bluesy jazzy guy lol
Tom Frost: now that the Metro stammtisch [grid meeting] is only once every month I will have much more opportunity to be with the safari !

     

Safari Goes to the Shows

George.Equus: Now stuff makes sense  :)

      The one thing that is always the same about our safaris is that they are never the same. Most weeks, two or three new friends join us and even when we go to places we have visited before, it always seems to result in a different experience.
Take yesterday's trip to Metropolis and Francogrid, for example. 
Billy Bradshaw: I have some chores in RL, will join the safari a little later
Alya VonZ: so glad it is wednesday, I could use a break:)
Thirza Ember: they are restarting the sim for destination 1 in a few minutes, so all should be ....dare I say perfect?? is that tempting fate?

Arriving on Futurelab

Alya VonZ: hehehe
Lucy Afarensis: probably
Thirza Ember: hey Lyr!! welcome!
Selby Evans: hi everyone
Lyr Lobo: Hiya Thinkerer *grins*
Thirza Ember: Lyr almost all the sit poses in the jeep are non embarrassing... also the elephant - apart from the tail seat of course
Truelie Telling: yeah, I'm sitting with my feet in elephant brains
Thirza Ember: how come James never sits on the elephant?
James Atlloud: I don't know about never. Usually getting myself sorted at this time.
Alya VonZ: hehe, haven't sat on it either yet:)  - have to be earlier on I suppose to do that, hehe
James Atlloud: lol - right after the elephant ... spoke?  the music started. lol
Selby Evans: I can sit on the elephant

        The conversation turned to operating systems and new laptops, and then poof it was time to go to Futurelab on Metropolis. HG Addresses at the end of the post. There was some climbing of ladders, and some jumping jack poses, then some sitting and having our cam control taken from us. Futurelab currently hosts the gigantic model of a sterile lab, which is part of a project for a real world company not named here by request of Art.

So Wrong it's Right

        A giant smart phone in a soup of whatnots, the wistful implications of insanity, blocks and heads, and  a sort of glorious heavenly carrot cake - these are just some of the impressions to be garnered in the the playful, imaginative atmosphere at The Wrong Grid, a biennial digital art festival, which starts Sunday November 1, on Francogrid. 
       Organized by Frere Reinert and Ellectra Radikal, sometimes known as Step Flow, it's an opportunity to see art in OpenSim as never before.

Frere Reinert and Ellectra Radikal.

      This is a fresh and exciting art show featuring work by artists who, with one exception, FrancoGrid's own Cherry Manga, have not previously used OpenSim to display their art.  The art show is hosted on the sims of Claudius Utopy who also made the HUD for the event. Nice work Claudius! This post contains photos of just a handful of the installs, just a quick glimpse a the wonder that awaits you when you visit.

Safari Lessons

          Yay it's nice to be meeting on OSGrid at the ole homeplace again. 

          But no time to feel homesick for Francogrid, because our first stop this week was on that very grid. Sim Avatar crashed - had to be an omen - but a second top secret alternative destination was immediately made available. 

           

Safari by the Numbers

          Tip Corbett in the real world Gregory Hall put on a wonderful concert for the Safari this week, inspired by conversations with Wizard Gynoid on the theme of "The Aesthetics of Advanced Musical Scales in Words and Music". 
          Originally the concert was due to be on the HG Safari sim on 3rdRockGrid, but the grid showed up as offline until just before the Safari was due to begin, so the event reverted to Francogrid. That meant we missed out on seeing most of Wizard's geometry. These are some highlights of what happened, and here is the link to the audio of the whole concert. 
          As ever, URIs for this week's destinations are at the end of the post, which alone cannot do justice to Tip's lovely voice on stream, let alone his magnificent music.

Tip Corbett:  And... Welcome to the sim! This is going to be lecures and playing, which is something I really like, and I like feedback, so if you want to give me feedback, that's a gift you can give me.
          (go ahead and do that, by finding and subscribing or liking his pages on Facebook, on Youtube, or on his website GregoryHall.org.)

Fun with the Frenchies

          What keeps a grid alive? A sense of place, a sense of purpose. That is the secret behind Francogrid's longevity. The grid is founded on good old French ideals like Liberty and Fraternity, and they mean it. Freedom is paramount on the grid. A free exchange of knowledge. Creativity given the freedom to grow. And free space. The grid has an impressive history of sims donated to creative people. Freedom too from the humdrum cookie cutter architecture of the past.

Accueil, Francogrid's welcome area, with TP parlor. Build by DJ Phil and Cherry Manga

The English language is, obviously, a crushing force for communication in the metaverse. In Francogrid, just about everyone makes an effort to speak English if they meet a non-francophone, however, this grid does a little bit to push back and remind us all that there are other languages out there. 

Safari In Wonderland

Wizard.Gynoid @hypergrid.org:8002: this is starting to look obscene

Clustersled!

 Not one Wonderland. 

Three. 

On three different grids. 

Because this is OpenSim, not merely SL. We saw Alice, rode dragons, made new friends, honed our ability to grid jump, and thoroughly came to terms with the instability - and beauty - of hypergridding. 

Cherry Manga's new Alice build on Francogrid

First up, a Winter Wonderland, Canadian style. L'Hiver du Grand Nord is on Dabici Straulino's VAR region full of snow and fun, and oh boy did we take advantage. Kelso Uxlay and Dabici herself were on hand to welcome us when we arrived, via a gate she supplied, although the Safari Landmark seemed to work OK for most. The HG Addresses are at the bottom of this post, and of course, the LMs and explanatory Notecard (not reading the NC can make your life more difficult) are still available on both the Metro and Francogrid bases, and in Group Notices on Craft, Francogrid, and Metropolis. 

L'Hiver makes you shiver

Creanovale is the biggest little grid, and has a gallic smart ass bot called Jean-Givre on hand to keep you company if you go over there by yourself. If you're into festive stuff, there loads of decorations in the winter market. James ATLOUD found what he described as an HG Wells lost underground vessel (an excellent excuse for another visit) but that's not why we came. 

C'est Safari

What's the difference between SL and OpenSim? If a guy in SL asks you to touch his trunk, he's probably a pervert. In Open Sim, the trunk is a chest of Pirate Treasure, and it's a nice little freebie souvenir de France. Make a note of that for later.
This week, there was already considerable confusion over the end of Daylight Savings Time, and we ramped it up further by offering two possible start points for the Safari, the classic Outlands on Metropolis, and a new base, on Francogrid, donated by Gill Beaumont. The sim there is easy to find, it's called hgsafari. With Metro straining at the seams, a backup to out backup seemed wise. There are now three HG Safari groups, 4 if you count the unreachable OSGrid, join them all, we don't have group limits in open sim, and this way you can use Group Chat if you're on Francogrid, Metropolis, or Craft. The weekly Landmark notecard is also sent out as an announcement via the groups, so that may help you find us.

We talk a lot, on Safari. It must be really annoying for the grid owners who are eager to make their presentation, but it's so much fun to read Local Chat and get a feel for all the people coming from different grids. The big question of the week was - What is the National Dish of France? - and it seems that choucroute won, mostly because Strannik Zipper was handing out samples, but also because our first destination was the University of Strasbourg, and the fantastic virtual Campus (URIs at the end of the post). Unistra manager Anne Cordonnier welcomed us, and Cheops Forlife translated her introduction into English. Cheops has her own group of virtual researchers, the i3DM, their stamping ground was OSGrid, so when that's back up and running, we plan to go visit her there too. But back to the University of Strasbourg, and the choucroute...

Spike, SIDA, and Sara Fari

          They say it's wrong, but it's not. Traveling in a group of twenty-plus avatars from grid to grid, I mean. Not that other thing, which is very wrong and you really need to quit.

          Every Wednesday, in the three hours of the Safari, we lose people. Some just drift back to more important things, some get bored or called away, some don't realize that we are still online even though we show up offline - a simple IM will resolve that, and get you back with the group! - and sometimes we all get frozen or can't see much but then there are moments like this, from yesterday, on Francogrid's SIDA monument to AIDS victims, when it is just so worthwhile...
          There are three things that go wrong when hypergridding, one is Attachments disappear, we are working on a Safari strategy for that, two: people get lost, ditto, and three: some grids and/or servers just can't take the strain, but even here, the outlook for the future is good. 

          Meet Sara Fari. During each Safari, she is going to hang out at Teravus Plaza, Osgrid, at our main HQ. If you get lost, go back to see her. She will let us know where you are and we will tp you to where we are.  

         This is us at our first stop, looking at the HG Safari stand, part of the OSGrid 7th anniversary party. We're on the North sim, there are two other 0.8 Varregions hosting exhibits, OSG7BW and OSG7BE. Try saying that 3 times fast. Hey, that's Pathfinder's Map on the ground with pins in it! How long till someone sits on a pin, I wonder. 
Oh too late.

         After Francogrid,we visited the Metropolis grid TP center that is on Spike Sol's home computer - yes home computer! In 21! and we didn't crash it! 

          That's not to say we could see everything: it isn't built for numbers. But we visited, and I hope made Spike realize how much her fantastic collection of Metropolis destination portals means to the hypergridder. Likewise the genuinely wonderful friends on Francogrid who are always so welcoming.
          After Metropolis, it was time to try visiting Pete Camino's Firefly-themed build on sim Landfall and surrounding on OSGrid. I say 'try', Pete warned me before hand that they might not take a lot of avies all at once. Indeed, many of the party had departed, and many crashed like me; only to come back online to find this going on. Not even the presence of Pathfinder Lester was enough to rein in the madness.

Pathfinder , OK I can see that happening. But Nara of Nara's Nook? *looks shocked*

          This region is wonderful. Pete has made available dozens of different spaceships for you to copy and fly. There are interesting buildings and a variety of shops 'selling' firearms, furniture and more. We were too much for the place, and gradually decamped, returning to HG Safari's home on Teravus Plaza, where Mal, Allelia, Miso, Mr Mips, Wizzy, snow and I exchanged Movie Gestures, and pondered on this travesty to the spirit of safariing.