AMV Blue

 There's that magic blue in the air over on Metasea. You know, that magic blue that says family vacations, long summer evenings, and relaxing with friends. That's the underlying message behind the upcoming event here, from Friday 16 May to Sunday 18 May. 

I got a Notecard about it from grid owner Cataplexia Numbers. It was shorter than I expected, and very intriguing. A weekend campout that all are welcome to enjoy, with both community stuff happening like concerts and games, but also the change to get out into the wide blue yonder, and enjoy some outdoor sport, from the comfort of your own laptop.

Cataplexia and pet sheep at the campground.

Thirza Ember: what inspired this event?

On Satori

Our first trip this week was to Alternate Metaverse Grid, and the lovely sim Satori which at first glance would seem to be simply a well appointed beach resort, until you discover a whole other world up in the sky.  

It doesn't happen every week, for sometimes there's mad chaos in the minutes before the HG Safari tour begins, when a host goes awol or a region goes offline or someone asks a question that does not compute. But sometimes, there's a delicious calm before the storm, and this week was one of the delicious kind. Not least because our first stop was at the home of the deliciously golden Maia Antarra, DJ, builder, choreographer, Reiki practitioner, and more... 

Maia Antarra

... and the darkly suited and harder to get on camera Savage Taurus, the master scripter whose work amplifies and animates this cleverly laid out region.  Normally there's one Thirza at the Clubhouse and another goes a few minutes before the event begins to our first destination to facilitate our arrival. 

Savage Taurus: hello Thirza,  have you come for the tour? 

Maia Antarra: she's the ringleader

Savage Taurus: awesome. I think the saucer is working right

Maia Antarra: well it if has a malfunction we all get jettisoned into space that's all...  spacesuits available in the shop over yonder

Yana's Samsara

 The circle of life - birth and death, and rebirth - that's Samsara, a process that leads over time and many repetitions, to the state of nirvana. Samsara is the name of Yana Dakota's var region on AMV, a region that's undergoing renewal and growth. HG Address at the end of the post, as always.

It was a pretty quick rez as the hordes of Safarians arrived - we've been having slow textures for a few weeks, but this time, they all arrived in the little dock house with seconds of lag only. It's a big region, so everyone tried to keep their draw distances and other bells and whistles to a minimum, of course.

Yana Dakota: Namaste to Samsara. Creating the Samsara region in the Alternate Metaverse has been a labor of love. My goal was to design a space that encourages introspection and spiritual growth. Every detail, from the high-detailed builds to the serene environment, was crafted to provide a peaceful and immersive experience. The music and viewer settings are optimized to enhance the overall atmosphere, making it feel more engaging and calming.

Elegant and lagbusting the ladies of the Safari are unbeatable!

If the name of this sim is familiar to you it's because there was an interview with Yana on this blog a few weeks back. This was an opportunity for Yana to show off her favorite pieces and also to explain so much about this belief system that is so close to her heart. 

Going to the Goddess

Our second destination of the week was over on Alternate Metaverse Grid, with the lovely Lynnestra Parker showing us around. We were sorry to learn that Maldrul Smith, a good friend of Lynnesta who DJs regular music events on Lynn's region, wasn't able to be with us due to RL. We were able to learn a lot about the sim from these informative boards when we arrived... this is a place of spirituality, myth and healing... with a fair dose of humor and fun thrown into the mix.

Thirza Ember: Thanks for agreeing to show us Airmid, Lynnestra!

Star Ravenhurst: I am excited to see it!

Lavia Lavine: It's positively gorgeous here. It's very relaxing

Lynnestra Parker: In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed (also given as Airmid) was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. With her father Dian Cecht and brother Miach, she healed those injured in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. I created this Armid to give people a place to relax and possibly heal.

The Warmth of Yana

It's no secret that Yana Dakota likes to be warm! Whether it's her signature Tahiti build, visited by the HG Safari group back in  or her take on what makes the ideal opensim gird, warmth is key. She discovered opensim by herself, and the experience wasn't all that positive at first.

Yana Dakota: I joined a grid that was not open for HG which had some serious problems and after 3 months I had had enough. Then I joined OSGrid and I didn't feel comfortable there either, that didn't last long. And then I come to AMV and it was a feeling of coming home. I was immediately addicted again, lol. What I look for in the owners of a grid, is warmth, safety, feeling safe under their wings, and that's what I found here.One big family, warmth, coziness, and especially love, because that is actually what life is all about, not only in RL but also here.

Yana on Tahiti

Yana's experience as a landscape builder began early in her virtual life - back in 2007 she got a job dressing sims for XiaoWang Yue of Tao estates - five regions, each with 16 parcels if you remember those. Plenty of work, then, in organizing them for rental use.

Yana Dakota:   I  think I worked for him for 3 years. Landscaping is a thing of mine.  All in all I got the hang of creating 3D. I put everything on the marketplace with a 3D picture and in no time everything was rented out with the result that he had to order more sims. Eventually I became general manager there.Then the recession in RL meant that he started selling his sims until there was nothing left. After that I had 2 more jobs and then took a big break from SL.

A Haven for Jimmy

Everybody hopes to have one, a little private haven somewhere in the virtual world. So many creative people share their fabulous sims with the general public and enjoy and allow strangers just to pop in at any time, and that frequently includes having lots of freebies in the form of art and assets - we're very fortunate to have them ! But it's also nice to have a place where you can kick back. 

This is Jimmy Olsen's hideaway, Tromsø, on Alternate Metaverse Grid.

You might have heard him called the Norwegian Elf, in reality Jimmy is Brazilian. That's a very un-Scandinavian country, where right now it's very hot! As a way to beat the heat, his inworld home sim is far cooler and darker than his RL experience. Jimmy has a special script that makes it rain on his region when it's raining in Tromsø (and it rains 234 days a year, on average) so no wonder he suggested I bring an umbrella when dropping in on him!

The EEP is everything to Jimmy. That's how he starts every build, with the feel of the sim, the colors and the shadows becoming an integral part of the construction - and incidentally, covering the occasional imperfection. It might seem impractical to some of us who prefer to build in mid daylight so they can see what they're doing. But too much stark daylight can crush creativity for some people. Which category do you fall into? Or do you do a bit of both?

Safari Maitai

May your journey and your drink never end, or be boring

Eiaha e pau to oe haereraa e to oe inu, eiaha râ e riri

Our second stop this week was on Alternate Metaverse grid, and a beautiful VARregion with low lag and dramatic scenery. As always, the HG Address is at the end of the post.

Thirza Ember: Welcome to Tahiti... waiting just a sec for any people are trapped between tps

Lynnestra Parker: Maldrul said he has to relog, he can't tp Star Ravenhurst: I hate when that happens, Microsoft did an update so that doesn't help

Thirza Ember: yes and that brings me to my next point... This region is by Yana Dakota - you can see her photo here Forest Azure: /me peeks Thirza Ember: it says 'offline' by her picture, that's because just a little while ago her computer did that update, and something went wrong, so Yana can't be with us today sadly. However, I have some of the background, if you'd like to hear about it... In RL, Yana in the Canary islands, like our friend from last week over on Astralia grid, Marpil (altho Marpil is a native of the Canaries, not sure Yana was born there). Star Ravenhurst: Oh wow! Small world.

Thirza Ember: Because Yana loves islands, she decided to make a sim all about Tahiti, as you may be able to see it's huge...

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... 

Clan Do

By far the biggest number of events on Opensim are musical. Whether it's a DJ spinning a few, or a karaoke style performer, or a live musician playing in real time, each brings a unique style and contribution to the community. But even if you're not particularly into opensim as a source of your tune-based entertainment, our second destination will wow you without a single note being played!

The magnificent Club Escotia is a 2x2 var on AMV grid, the full Address is, of course, at the end of the post. To greet us, the magical Webby Merlin and everyone's favorite precipitation, MidnightRain Glas.

Webby Merlin: Welcome to Club Escotia, home base for the phenomenal singer Clan Escotia and his various clan members from all over the metaverse. Welcome home all ye who enter here! A custom castle fit for a Scotsman surrounded by various themes of performance venues, 22 in all!

Alex Salamander: Hello :-)

Star Ravenhurst: Hello!

Luna Lunaria: Hi Webby :-)

Lavia Lavine: rubs the top of my head because somebody landed on it  LOL:::

Webby Merlin: Lavia hope your hair's ok! For your tour today, please click the HG Safari Welcome Sign for a TP MENU HUD. Once you ADD this from your inventory, it mounts on the left side of your screen, a click will toggle it open and closed. 

Tosha Tyran: the hud is very neat

Luna Lunaria: Yes I love the hud

Rinky Dinkie Fish and Fun on AMV

 Last season on the Safari we visited arguably the largest single vehicle in opensim, the luxury liner Aurora, and this week, we're back on AMV grid again to see a very differently proportioned build by Ted Junior - the Dinkies Funsize Resort. While the general rule is that you should have a small cat avie to participate on the sim, Ted and Sofee Supermarine made an exception for us, and we got a warm welcome on an impeccably organized and decorated build.

Ted Junior with Sofee SUpermarine on the right

The convenient landing place puts you down in a information area, where you immediately have access to the Dinkie town plaza and Main Street. Everything is appropriately proportioned, yet cleverly engineered so that normal height people don't feel like their camera is always crashing through walls. A group of AMV residents, including grid co-owner Clifford Hanger, were there to meet us, in their Dinkie personas.

Egg sistence on AMV

AMV grid is celebrating the spring season with a whole raft of Easter games and hunts, and among them is the latest offering by Nyx, realworld photographer, digital artist, curator and all round good guy. It's a fabulous, faberge-style eggstravaganza laid out on four different levels.  You should set your environment to Midnight to see it as intended, some of these pictures have more blue in them just to make them a bit easier on the eye in a blog.  When you arrive, there's a poster, you can get the explanatory notecard, which has LMs to where toe goodies are, you know, just to give you a chance...

Thirza Ember: how do you play? click on all eggs?

Nyx Breen: the 5 eggs are hidden. Use your virtual skills to discover which ones will give you a prize. There is one on different levels, all within 75 meters of where the LM takes you, and there are 10 textures in each one... so over 1000 eggs find the five ! lol evil evil laugh

Ship Trip

Admiral Hanger says: Welcome back. It's nice to have you back. Please enjoy your stay.

Ted Junior: Bonsoir Ange :) Bienvenue

Yara Eild: A real cruise ship

Ange Menges: Merci Ted, bonsoir. Bonsoir Yara

Ted Junior: Welcome Everybody, I am and I'm your guide, today for the Aurora Cruise Ship here on AMV. If its not rezzing good, just walk around a little then it pops up

Forest Azure: /me is getting seasick already

We were at SevenSeas on AMV for the prnultimate destination of this season, and delighted to be on the biggest ship in opensim !  Ted is one of the Staff on AMV and kindly took on the job of showing us around. He has forearms, I swear, but like Yara's legs, and Ziggy's torso, they chose not to reveal themselves to my viewer. The joys of HG - but back to the tour.

Noise Ploys with Lorin Tone

How many dimensions, would you say, are there in virtual worlds? If your answer is three, then maybe think again. For a virtual environment to really be immersive, there is another dimension that will lift, color, enhance and amplify your build, whether it be a sci fi paradise or a woodland tableau. That is sound.

Sound is one of the hardest things to get right in virtual worlds. Too many noises, or noises repeated too often, can spoil a sim, while if your audio is too sparing, visitors may not notice it at all. But how can you create the perfect aural environment?  Consult the Sorcerer of Sound, of course.

Lorin Tone: Sometimes sound effects can be used as a major component in build or environments. For most environmental soundscapes, the sound should not be featured, but more "felt" than noticeably heard. At other times, you can bash people over the head with sounds that enhance the most important elements of a build. 

Lorin Tone

Lorin presents a fascinating course on using Sounds in virtual worlds. The class lasts about an hour, and is held twice a month on Sundays, at 10am Pacific Time, on his region Soundscapes, within the Koryphon

Safari goes to Hell and Back

Come quando la nebbia si dissipa,

lo sguardo a poco a poco raffigura

ciò che cela 'l vapor che l'aere stipa...

Dante, Inferno XXXI

Beth Ghostraven: Hi Ubit!

Luna Lunaria: Hiya Ubit :-)

Ubit Umarov: nice regions stress your arrival :)  You bring own chairs..  good idea.  i was about to rez a few boxes.. no need

Lux Tergeste: Thank you Thirza for the handy chairs :)

Beth.Ghostraven: this dress is stain-proof anyway

Aedifex Rex: the art of Nyx Breen

If you ever spent any time in the temples of art in Second Life, you will have come across the work of Nyx Breen. Based in Massachusetts, he has a long career as a real-world fine art photographer, and in virtual, a list of winning entries as long as your arm, in particular at the  UWA, the virtual campus of the University of Western Australia. 

After more than a decade of nurturing and rewarding digital art and artists, the UWA powered down in Second Life back in 2020. I thought the place was gone forever, but the great JayJay 'Zifanwe' Jegathesan tells me that the original UWA sim persists there, along with Nyx's Moreton Bay Fig. I asked JayJay about his friend and collaborator.