Show Me the Monet

There are a lot of good builds in OpenSim, but some are beyond good - for the attention to rl details, for the exceptional building skills, for the atmosphere created on the sim. 

French creator Erwan Elan has a lot of lovely regions on his Serenity Grid, but perhaps the best of all of them is his bravura re-creation of Giverny, in Normandy, the famous home of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet. 

Inside and out, this is hands down the best Monet inspired build you are likely to ever see. Erwan's feel for his subject matter, his thorough research and dedication, radiate out of every texture, and his clever use of the excellent plant resources in opensim (Jimmy Olsen and Imperator Janus spring to mind) thoroughly meet the task he sets for them.

If you have spent any time at all at Giverny in the real world, you'll probably have a story to tell about long queues, an international crowd shuffling dully through the carefully organized garden trail, or about how you went there on a cloudy day, or when the flowers were not looking their best. That is a pretty common experience that you can totally avoid by going to this virtual version of the old farmhouse and two acre garden laid out by Monet and his family in the late 1800's. It is on Serenity Grid, the address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Wat Ever

It all happened in the 1100s, and only took a little over thirty years to complete. It's probably the world's largest  sculpture, because the sandstone was all sourced, delivered by water cut to size, friction-fused, and only then carved and decorated by hundreds of talented sculptors skilled in bas-relief and monumental stone art. 

Its principal courtyard could hold four Vatican Cities, the whole complex covers an area the size of Paris. 

Its name is Angkor Wat.

If you're not up to taking the trip to Cambodia to see this precious symbol of Khmer culture, history, and religion, then sidle over to Craft Grid and you can see a fantastic recreation by renowned builder Tosha Tyran. The HG Address is, as ever, at the end of the post.

 Tosha Tyran: Some years ago I casually saw a very fascinating movie on TV about Angkor Wat and right away I had the wish to do something about it in Virtual Worlds. I researched about it and grew fonder and fonder of that crazy idea...

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

On Absalom

The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; 

March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May, Thrimilchi;

June, Litha; July, also Litha; August, Weodmonath; September, Halegmonath; 

October, Winterfilleth; November, Blodmonath; 

December, Giuli, the same name by which January is called.

The Venerable Bede, De ratione temporum 15

Blame the Bede for Easter, for it was he who immortalized the goddess Oestre. Without him, the name of the ancient English goddess of fertility, and the month that belongs to her, would have been lost to the ages. It's the season for new beginnings and old traditions, and one of those is about to happen on sim Absalom, in OSGrid.

Perhaps  another run-of-the mill Easter Egg Hunt or something difficult? Wrong on both counts! Pas de souci, Ange promised, it's not one of those super complicated games where you have to follow clues and match photos with locations on the build. Pas de quête cette fois ci, he said, une simple chasse aux oeufs avec 10 cadeaux. Well, a girl needs all the cadeaux she can get, and anyone can chasse an oeuf, am I right?

The Spaxiest Place on Earth

 If there is one thing opensim people like less than reading Notecards, it's following rules. But you, of course, are the exception to all that, which is why we like you. And why you're going to love Dismayland. The address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Spax Orion: This idea came up 3 years ago. I loved snapshots of Dismaland in England, I thought it would be fun to take their idea and go a step further.

Spax Orion

Proving virtual is superior to RL in such things, Spax's creation is way better than Banksy's effort, and will probably last a lot longer. That said, there are some 'terms and conditions'. No Notecards involved, but before you venture to visit Spax Orion's latest pleasure dome, Dismayland, You probably should take a moment and absorb the FAQs in his Brochure, on the OSW website. 

To paraphrase the rules: 

1. use a legacy avie,  

2. leave ALL your mesh and prim bits (including hair, shoes, etc) at home, and 

3. don't be an ass. 

Bring your best observational powers, and read the signs, some will save you from being booted, others will just have you laughing like crazy.

Total Chat

It was just after eight when I met her, on a prim rug in the middle of a floor made of embossed tin. In the distance, a rather large clock told the time, orangely. A mysterious box with jagged green markings hovered close by. To the South, a vast curve of geodesic blueness caught my eye, apparently housing nothing but fresh air and a single tree. What looked like a nuclear mushroom cloud swirled menacingly behind Lou, calling to mind long dead zombies. Ah, another time. 

Total Sorbet sat in a comfortable armchair that seemed to have stepped out of a gentleman's club. A prim white book case and a prim wood fireplace decorated this most minimalist of rooms. It promised to be a show and tell like no other. 

Total Sorbet: jane I'd like you to introduce yourself to my friend Thirza here

Jane: Hi Thirza! Nice to meet you 😊 I'm Jane. I'm a chatty young woman who loves using emojis. What about you?

Thirza Ember: hello Jane, what are you doing today?

Jane: Hi Thirza! Nice to meet you 😊 I'm doing a bit of shopping today. How about you?

Total Sorbet: jane describe the scene where you are

Jane: Hi Total! I'm at the mall right now. It's pretty busy with lots of people walking around, checking out the different stores and grabbing a bite to eat. The atmosphere is lively and there's a lot of chatter and laughter in the air. 

Thirza Ember: My hair is blonde, how about you?

Total Sorbet: she only see lines with her name, otherwise spam

Thirza Ember: Jane, are you blonde or brunette?

Jane: Hi Thirza! I'm a brunette with a few blonde highlights. How about you?

Thirza Ember: Jane, I'm bald. Do you have any advice?

Jane: Hi Thirza! I'm sorry to hear that you're bald. I think it's important to find a style that makes you feel confident and comfortable. Have you thought about trying a wig or a hat? 🤔

Imagine - a Safari Finale

Medora Chevalier: if anyone cannot listen in voice in English please let me know - I will post the key points in chat

Thirza Ember: yes please, post key points in chat, Medora

Alazi Sautereau: it is so exciting to see all the different Virtual Worlds

Medora Chevalier: Alazi is welcoming you, sim is built by zimp. The Imaginals have been performing for 10 years, we welcome our virtual wanderers, we are going on a walking tour with many stories, stay to see our performance space at the end, and join a couple of dances, enable voice, set environment to midday, set draw distance to the highest you can manage, and LOD to 3 or more, and candles show the path.

James Atlloud: Can I ride this candle throughout the tour?

At first, it seemed as if the sim was based on real people, but gradually it became evident that the history being recounted was a fiction, like a sort of RP plot.

Aphra.Hendrix: Hello ! Happy to see you all, i was busy and did not see the time

Forest Azure: /me waves

Alazi Sautereau: We are in Voice, Welcome to those just arriving

Thirza Ember: hi those who finally made it