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. 

Cool Poule

 Over the past weeks,  the group Les Theatreux has been working hard on a play called 'Et l'oeuf engendre la poule' which is a reference to the old expression 'which came first, the chicken or the egg', and Thursday night was the final performance. The whole thing took place in the purpose-built theater on sim EventSpace, on Minord Loup's grid, SV3D. The full HG Address is at the end of the post, of course.

Using as the soundtrack a radio broadcast of the  play from a few years back, the team took the story and interpreted it into 3D sets with appropriate lighting, poses, props, scenery and so on - all the bells and whistles of a theatrical representation. Kudos to the man behind the control panel, Tristan Dehaie. 

Tristan Dehaie, the man at the controls.

 It's a play by Jean Vilain - no, not the guy from the Expendables! - here's a potted autobiography by the author who has clearly had a long and entertaining career in theater in France. 

Rural Retreat

In a corner of the gloriously rural Ruritania region on Littlefield Grid, is a beautiful old barn, converted by sim owner  Xi Shi into an airy art gallery,

It's a perfect little jewel set in a many faceted 4x4 VAR build that celebrates so many aspects of England that is will take you hours visiting and contemplating in order to take in all the delightful details, as it draws you back to another time, not just in the style of the vehicles and the road signs, which belong to the era of Dr Who's TARDIS, but also in the allusions and references to UK film and television, gently reminding you of classics like Brief Encounter, and the Two Ronnies discussing fork handles - or should that be four candles - to mention only two of the dozens of 3D throwbacks... make sure you have your wits about you, or you'll miss a lot of the fun. The HG Address is, of course, at the end of the post.

Vicky Does It Again

 Victoria Logan is a delight, and she's pulled off another successful art collaborative on her OSGrid Var region 'Arts-&-Friends'.

Victoria Logan at Arts-&-Friends in 2024.
The region features a mall showcasing some of Victoria's fractal art

 Last year, the connecting thread between builds was the subject of Women, with celebrations of everything from Disney's princesses, to Amy Earhart. 

It's all about OSGrid this time!

Victoria's installation sets the theme

Victoria Logan is a familiar figure on the virtual art scene.  The Argentinian artist has been a resident on OSGrid since 2012 and has been building ever since.  You may remember her build dedicated to her home country, on sim Vicky's Dreams, back in 2015. She invited the Safari over for a visit on Christmas Eve, and our experience was further enriched with a concert by Joaquin Gustav. 

Atlas Fashion coming soon!

Another exciting event produced by the team on  Atlas grid, Harthelie, Chip and Jeff, is being planned - a fashion show!

Chip Atlas, Harthelie Atlas, and Jeff Kelly

If you attended the previous edition of their Fashion Show, you'll remember the spectacular evening in 2023 which drew a huge audience - a challenge in itself for any sim, but one that they rose to magnificently. This is the second parade in its initial form, with a similar (set but new outfits, obviously, hey, fashion is always changing!)  The Atlas friends are already planning ahead, and say that the 2025 extravaganza will take place in an entirely new setting.

So, what inspired the group to do an event like this?

Finale on Atraxia

Our final destination for this season was a chill trip to the trippiest, most unusual VAR regions in opensim, owned by 3D artist, photographer, and curator Nyx Breen, whose talent is well known but never everyday.  Nyx Breen was on Inworld Review  a few weeks ago, check out the interview in which he discusses both immersive digital art, and a bit about his rl work. and the HG  Address for this enormous build is at the end of the post, as tradition demands. 

Nyx Breen

Nyx's work with EEPs (the Environmental Enhancement Project) has become something of a legend, he has hacked the usual expectations of sea and sky by adding all kinds of unusual and striking images, thus exploding the concept into a full blown art show that occupies all your senses rather than being a passive if pretty background. Every now and again, he changes the settings, creating yet another mood on the region.

Dorothea Lundquist: Hi Nyx :-)

Nyx Breen: hi there, everybody welcome

Forest Azure: heya nyx

Petlove Petshop: Thank you !! oh wow !

Safari's Wild Season

Little bit of pre-nostalgia on Safari yesterday, as we had our final meetup on the OSGrid region HG Safari. The sim was gifted by Ange Menges back in late 2021 to give the Safari a regular base (our sim on Francogrid was still in existence at that time, but the grid was in deep decline) and since then, it has been our life-off point for 160 trips around the hyperverse. The closure here marks the start of another adventure on the new HG Safari Grid, which will be our main base starting in the Fall. More about that in future posts.

Final meetup on HG Safari sim, OSGrid

Today's first destination was on Neverworld, another large and detailed build, with extra features! The full HG Address of Wild Kingdom is of course at the end of the post. 

lifted pixel: hello hello! sorry distracted how are all you lovely avatars today?

Taarna Welles: Hello sweet people.  :)

Star Ravenhurst: I am sad this is the last Safari for awhile

Thirza Ember: well there is so much happening in opensim, plenty to do always

Forest Azure: /me smiles... last one?

Thirza Ember: until September 4 when it all begins again... I hope you guys are ready to be eaten by dinosaurs today

lifted pixel: oh hell yeah

Tosha Tyran: if later he spits me out again - why not?

Thirza Ember: make sure you are wearing stain-resistant clothes

lifted pixel: i'll be sure to scotchguard my rings before we go

James atLLOUD: Hello - I just got home from work!  Barely made it.

lifted pixel: yay welcome james :D

Dangers await at the Wild Kingdom !

We jumped over to Neverworld Welcome, in a bid to make our arrival a bit easier on the servers. As time has gone by, avies have become more complex, so we take longer to load. But not that much longer...