Arthur in Pangea, with Terra Merhyem

On Pangea Grid, there is an Art and Culture Festival going on, and to kick it off, Terra Merhyem has prepared a magnificent region celebrating the Arthurian legends, on a region called Avalon. 

Afterlife at Amerika art

Terra joined in Second Life in 2016 and immediately got started with art shows featuring both 2 and 3D art. 

She twice qualified for a sim at the LEA and in 2021 also had a SLEA region. She's had going on for thirty art shows altogether in Second Life, and has two permanent exhibitions, at The Galleries  and at The Peace Gallery 

Terra came to Opensim thanks to the art initiative Amerika Art, the brainchild of Art Blue with Juliette Surrealdreaming. You can find the installation among a constellation of important SL names like Glyph Graves, Thoth Janssen and Bryn Oh, on the Amerika regions of Craft Grid. 

If you would like to see the exhibition just go to Craft Grid, type into your Map Amerika and when you get there, look for the funky little chairs deep in the bowels of the pyramid. There are various rooms that enable you to travel to the installations, most many thousands of meters above the ground. There are plenty of installs, all following the theme of an afterlife in various ways, to choose from. It only took me about 45 minutes to find Terra's.

But worth it. Terra's build 'The Afterlife' is a spectacular sculpture soaring high up into the night sky, full of fire and energy, a bit like the lady herself, and from that positive experience on Craft Grid, great things have happened. Was it easy to connect with people in Opensim?

Safari goes Little and Large

This week was all about the great and the small. We started small, on Weelandia, Digiworldz grid - full HG Addresses, as always, at the end of the post. 

Small inconvenience getting to Digi - well, a very big obstacle for quite a few, who could not navigate the rather daunting ID process. So our group was not as big than it might have been, which is a shame, because Digi is a nice grid with lots to see. But that's part of the Variety of Opensim, everyone has their own strategies and concepts about grid security and community. You have to like difference to love the HG.

Because none of that could stop us from visiting with the lovely Nebby Newman, in company with aminata Potez, for an extraordinary visit to a true gem of a sim, Weelandia. 

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

Safari goes to the Docks

This week, two Beatles related builds! One recreating Liverpool Docks, and the other recreating all the joy of the Yellow Submarine. Both exploring a time long, long before you or I were born, naturally. Liverpool is a city with a rich, sometimes troubled history. A port city from the beginning of the 1700s, the ships that plied the Transatlantic routes carried all sorts, manufactured European goods, American cotton, tobacco, sugar, and people - immigrants, but also slaves. The famous Penny Lane immortalized by the Beatles is named after James Penny, described by some as a slave merchant, although the jury is still out on that. One thing that is without a doubt is that the Beatles are Liverpool's number one export, the pride and joy of the city. A huge Beatles museum is located a converted warehouse building on Albert Dock.

We start with a truly amazing trip to Kitely, and the Old Liverpool Dock. This region is normally closed to the public, so our visit was a little bit of HG heaven, and our host Graham Mills has done a

The Sponsors' Tale

 Organizing a big festival is always a huge headache, and you really have to take your hat off to anyone with the nerve to do it. They often end up making a significant financial contribution too, because the setting up of a temporary grid costs rl money. 

This year, the total cost of running the festival is $1040, and a little more than half that has been pledged.  One way that you can help out with it all is by becoming a Sponsor. 

For as little as three bucks you can get kudos and publicity, and brownie points with the higher power, so why not consider helping out? OK I may be lying about the higher power, let's call it the HG power.

There are lots of levels at which you can contribute, and each one brings a bigger slice of land, publicity and warm glowy feeling, although the last might just be the wine, so don't quote me on that. 

Any extra money generated by the sponsors will be shared out among the performers - there will be about 90 over the 17 day event. 
Here are some stories from people who chose to go ahead and put their hand in their pocket for OpensimFest. How hard is it to sponsor? why did they want to do it? What do they hope to see at the event?

Notes on a Safari

 This week two great musical guests, Joao Frazao and Moses Rae. Dang, even their names are musical. As usual HG addresses are at the end of the post.

Starting with destination two in this post, just to mess with your head. 

Belfast and Japan - Photo Finish

History featured strongly in this week's safari as we visited little slice of Asia and of Europe on two grids, Discovery and OSGrid, and found out about a past that may have passed some of us by. It's also a journey into the passion of builders, scripters, and virtual residents, as the kaleidoscope of creativity continues to enthrall us. HG Addresses as always at the end of the post. 

First up, the new project on the Belfast regions of Stiofain Mactomais. Known best perhaps for his music venue the Maritime, modeled on the real club of the same name where Van Morrison got their start, there's much more here - poetry, real world architecture, an exhibit celebrating the Belfast-built Titanic. 

This visit was to the Falls Road, and a project that can be enjoyed using your phone, Oculus rig, or as we did simply inworld.  Called the Belfast Archive Project, t's all about bringing the social history of this part of the world back to life in a vivid and accessible way. We met outside the inworld version of the historic Conway Mill.