Into the West

Continuing our celebration of all things Rings on this the 55th Anniversary of the publication of The Return of the King, the final volume in the LOTR trilogy, we visited  an elven sim of quiet majesty. Roland Francis has been building at ViBel grid (Virtual Belgium, his homeland) for years, and the quality of his regions reflect his artistry and philosophy - a respectful, relaxed environment with a little spirituality thrown in. Perfect elf territory.  Roland's region WesLorien was our second destination this week, on the heels of his recent post about making animesh animals herd - something everyone would like to have on their landscape sim. But first, a little history.

Roland Francis, photo by Wizardoz Chrome

Roland Francis: Once the home of the Lorien Elves, the region was depopulated during the Fourth Age until all Elves were gone. The woods and the elven homes have been maintained by the creatures who reside there, hoping l that the Elves eventually will return to claim their home once again. Read Elbereth Elentari’s Diary entry about her visit to WesLorien here. You can see the  WesLorien Flickr photos here.

Creature of Hobbit

 JRR Tolkein published the third and final part of Lord of the Rings on 20 October 1955, and this week the Safari decided to celebrate that 77th anniversary by taking our fellowship on a bit of a quest. There are dozens of LotR builds in opensim, we could only see two this time, those belonging to Ferd Federix on Outworldz and Roland Francis on ViBel. 

Way too many pictures for a single post, so this one is about Ferd's place, Roland's build is covered in 'Into the West'. HG Addresses are at the end, as usual.

And also, as usual, we met at the clubhouse. If you have never been on Safari with us, take 5 minutes to drop in at the region hg.osgrid.org:80:HG Safari. The set up is simple, we gather a couple of minutes before it's time to head for the first destination - it helps to know who's planning to be part of the trip before we leave, so we can tp you if you get lost. There is a big box right by the landing place, with LANDMARKS on it. Click to buy, you will get a folder with the LMs for the day, numbered in order of use, and a Notecard summarizing where we are going - simple as that. We head to destination one at 12 noon SLT, and destination two at 1pm SLT.  

Horse Play

Je suis posey, avec mon poney, je kiffe ma journey

OK... Feelings of calm - a pleasurable journey - at the Apocalypse?   And surely those aren't ponies. Yikes! You know how it is with horseplay, it's all fun and games, until someone gets hurt. Or the world ends.

Terra... and Terra!

Well no, of course they aren't ponies, they are the famous 4 Horses - in this case, Domination, War, Famine/Disease, and Death - the brainchild of Terra Merhyem in her latest build, 'The 4 Horseriders of the Apocalypse'  which is part of the ongoing and very lively Pangea Festival of Art and Culture. 

From Aphra to Bibi

A bijou grid and a gem of a region on Opensim's biggest grid this week. 

Our first port of call was the home of Aphra Hendrix, Cozy Comforts grid. Check out the Cozy Comforts Grid website to learn about the meaning of the place, and for news of events. 

There were a dozen of us, landing on the sim Cozy Comforts World, where the party was already started. Full HG Addresses of our destinations are, as always, at the end of the post.

Beth Ghostraven: Hello everyone!

Ard Rhys: Hi Beth

Star Ravenhurst: Hi Beth

Thirza Ember: wow nice big crowd

whirli placebo: and so quiet and polite!  good looking too

Beth Ghostraven: lol whirli

whirli placebo: dancing with the avatars!

Beth Ghostraven: that's why I was late, getting dressed in something new :o)

Lloud and Clear

What's going on in Opensim can be a difficult question to answer. There's so much happening on so many grids and people who are busy making things don't always have the time or the temperament to effectively let others know about their creations.  

One way this need for communication is being served is through two broadcasts, MBTV News and Inworld Review,  filmed on Sundays from 10 am Pacific time, and available on Youtube. 

Making a show like this isn't easy - and there is a lot to learn not only from the guests on the show, but also from those behind the scenes...

What Dreams May Come

 Eclectic & Ever-Changing are the first words you see when arriving on AI Dreams in Art, the new sim by Karima Hoisan featuring art by Dale Innis. A bold promise, you might say, but Karima isn't the kind of person who over-promises, and this build lives perfectly up to expectations.

At this point, pretty much everybody on Discord has tried their hand at MidJourney, with varied results.  Admired and despised in about equal measure of passion, millions of words have already been spent on its place in the art world, so there's no point in rehashing all that. 

What counts here is the inspiration, and by that, not just the word choice by Dale Innis that elicited the images, but also the fabulous way the images have been set, like jewels in a splendid jewel-box, in discrete galleries in collaboration with the wonderful Karima Hoisan.

Fluxantis Fun

 Alien alert! Continuing the Pangea Art and Culture Festival, FLUXANTIS opened on September 30 with a big party. Made in Blender by Finja and Jason Flux, the predominant color of the build is turquoise - or is that Avatar Blue? 

 Finja and Jason Flux

The theme of the sim is scifi, with more with a touch of water-based fantasy and manga thrown in. Make sure you switch to shared environment to get the full effect of the region - it's beautiful!