Debi Latte Closes Mystery Anniversary Week in Fun-Filled Event

On Sunday at Noon, May 23rd, the 4rth Anniversary week of events at Mystery was all set to close as it began: with Debi Latte singing live aboard the Queen of Hearts riverboat club. Her velvet voice would be what was needed for a memorable finish.

It didn't quite turn out as planned.

The event was almost finished before it started with Debi crashing. And then an odd thing happened. Debi was able to log back in, but her avatar didn’t appear. It was like a disembodied voice speaking from nowhere.

With no Debi on the stage, Tygeria put something else on the stage: “newbie Linden” mannequins. After a few minutes, she put other things on the stage. For a corny but slightly macabre touch, three singing skulls rezzed over the stage, along with another blowing into a saxophone, and another on bongo drums. Then came a dancing leprechaun, smiling, which would occasionally stop for a sip of dark beer.

Eventually, Debi reappeared, flying back onto the deck. She had gone away some distance from the crowd to try to rezz. But having no luck, she had to dig out a newbie skin. She poked fun at her own predicament, then saw what Tygeria put on the stage, and laughed. Mystery staff member Ayjay Carpenter commented, “Who said variety was dead. Ventriloquism, a chorus line, great singing, a vanishing act. ... all in the first 25 minutes!” With all the crashes, Ajay was wearing a helmet. Someone else remarked, “Only in Second Life can your back up group be skeletons - some newbies - and a drunk leprechaun.”

And so, the event continued, with Debi occasionally chuckling about the menagerie on her stage, which soon included a rustbucket robot that later fell to pieces, and otherwise looking at the good side of things, “What a terrific day.” Tygeria put back a few of the newbie mannequins, but left some up. Debi sang her music like only she could, songs such as “Daydreaming,” “I Will Be Here Waiting For You,” and the club’s trademark song, “Queen of Hearts.” Someone in the audience muttered an emote: “D-E-B-I SL DIVA GODDESS.”

Debi sang for an hour, then the event came to a close. Despite the technical glitches and having to use a newbie avatar, she enjoyed herself that day. Tygeria’s sense of humor helped. She would later describe the event on Facebook, “Seems that SL wanted to be crazy today and not let my avatar back in after a crash.... but... the show went on.... my amazing audience stayed til I got in with a freebie avatar... and we had fun aboard the Queen of Hearts in spite of the technology!!!!”

Just in case this does happen again, someone passed her a package of freebie “Wingless” furred avatars. So perhaps next time, Debi really will be a “foxy girl.”

“You've been talking to Tygeria toooooooo much. LMAO!”

Bixyl Shuftan

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Fifth Annual Artwalk at Raglan Shire

Raglan Shire is noted for being a “tiny” community. But this month, it’s hosting an art show for residents of all sizes. So art lovers big and small are invited over to see “art on the hedge.”


To read the article, Click Here to go to Community.

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M Linden Appears on “The 1st Question” Game Show

About a year ago, Second Life Newspaper took a look at Pooky Amsterdam’s “The 1st Question," a game show in Second Life shown on treet.tv someone called “a cross between having lunch with Albert Einstein and ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ “ Since then, the show has continued to appear every Tuesday at 7 PM SL time, always drawing a packed audience, and having among it’s contestants a number of noted residents, some well known, some important, and a few whom were both.

On Tuesday April 20, the contestants included one of the more well known residents of the metaverse: M Linden, aka Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon.

The other contestants were Sydney Caramel (real-life journalist Boonsri Dickinson), FutureGuru Haiku, and Professor Springflower. But all eyes were on M Linden. The center of the room had been circled with “M”s as well. So the question on our minds was, would the CEO come out on top, or end up getting his tail kicked? A couple people in the audience joked that a Linden loss would result in the sim suddenly disappearing.

The sim was packed more than usual, with 66 residents in the place at one point. This caused lag and other complications. Some residents crashed and were unable to get back in, including Sydney Caramel. Co-host Hydra Shaftoe later commented he should have capped the avatar limit at fifty or fifty-five. So it was up to two other contestants to stand up to the head Linden.

But with the first few questions, it was becoming clear M Linden was holding his own, able to answer tricky puzzles. Although the others were ahead in points at the start, M soon took the lead and held onto it, eventually winning the show. It is unclear what prizes M Linden won from his victory on the game show.

The archived episodes of “The 1st Question” can be seen Here , with the April 20th show most likely appearing on their within a few days.

Bixyl Shuftan

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Particle-Parachute Jump at “The Pocket” for RFL

Particle artist Tyrehl Byk has recently gotten together with Musician Maximillion Kleene and the staff at “The Pocket” club. The people have planned a unique event in Second Life, one that makes the use of their noted talents. They’ve given it a somewhat long name: the “Maximillion/Tyrehl Phantasmagora Particle Parachute Jump/Show/Stunt for Relay for Life.”

Delinda Dyressen, whom is among the staff at The Pocket, promises it will be “the biggest ever mass particle jump in Second Life history!”

At the location at 8 PM SL time, Tyrehl will perform the particle show that he’s gotten raves for. After the show, free “particle parachutes” will be passed around. Then the participants will jump and drop down “in a glorious mass of particle-ized parachutes,” and after pulling the ripcords float down to the dance club (which has had a bulls-eye whimsically painted onto the deck), where Maximillion Kleene will be playing. Relay for Life Kiosks will be set up around the place.

Delinda suggests that those interested try to show up a little early, “The Pocket and Freestar Bay Island are not responsible for anyone who forgets to pull the cord. On the other hand, Max and Tyrehl ... well you can talk to their lawyers.”

The SURL given for the event is Here at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Freestar%20Bay%20Isle/194/89/316 .

Source: Delinda Dyressen’s Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

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Tyrehl Byk’s Particle Art at Diablous

In February, SL Newspaper did an article on Tyrehl Byk’s Event Horizon Particle Show, sometimes called the “Particle Phantasmagoria.” It’s gotten a number of rave reviews for his unique display of particle art, including an appearance on the “Tonight Live” talk show.

Tyrehl has not been resting on his laurels, but has still been at work. Besides his regularly scheduled show, he recently built an exhibit one can visit any time at the Benvolio sim, at Diablous Art Space.

The show is on a platform over 3000m in the air. After the scenery rezzes, one will see a domed building with a sign next to it. The sign asks for people to reset their viewer controls in order to see the particle show at it’s best. It shows what to set graphic settings in “Preferences,” including setting the draw distance low, near 100m, and maxing out the particle count. Then on the Advanced settings on the toolbar, one makes a couple other changes. Following resetting, one clicks on the door, then enters.

Right away, one gets a hint of what is to come, with the plasma-like light surrounding the passageway that leads into the dome. Once inside, one sees a number of platforms circling the edge of the building. Each has a number of buttons. By pressing them, a group of particles can be made to appear or disappear. Pressing a number of them, the results can be a quite detailed and visually striking display of brilliant colors. One button allows for the option of a half-dome to appear on the platform, but this is not necessary. One can cam into the cloud of particles, or walk in and see from inside via mouselook.

The platforms are not the only displays of particle art. There was another show of particles that occasionally appeared above, closer to the top of the dome’s interior. It would occasionally appear, sparkle in a show of color, and then slowly fade.

Once again, Tyrehl continues to shine with his particle light art.

The Diablous Particle Art Show is at the Benvolio sim at (130, 122, 3090).

Bixyl Shuftan

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The Wearers

Gemma Cleanslate interviews Marmaduke Arado and Kikas Babenco, whom have come up with a unique show. They don’t set any of their props on the ground. What one would think would have to be set down is all worn by the actors.

For more, go to Community.

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Tyrehl Byk’s Event Horizon Particle Show

Recently, a friend invited me to see a well-done particle show. It was done by a Tyrehl Byk At Event Horizon in the Disturbed Fear sim. In his profile, he called it the “Particle Phantasmagoria.” By either that name or the Event Horizon Particle Show, it’’s worth a look.

After teleporting over, I found myself on a small platform about 4000 in the air. It was night, and the platform was a circle of chairs around what looked like a large bonsai tree. A computerized voice would occasionally speak up, asking the audience for patience until Tyrehl showed up, the seats slowly filling. Panning around, I didn’t see anything else but stars, and one small green dot some distance away below the platform. Of the audience, some of the people were well-known in SL media such as Cypress Rosewood and Delinda Dyrssen. Having seen more, they might be a little harder to impress.

Finally, Tyrehl arrived. The computerized voice then apologized to the audience for his tardiness, and began to insult him. After some moments of this, there was a “click” noise followed by a shotgun blast. “Enough of that,” Tyrehl remarked. He then explained that during the course of the show, he would temporarily be taking control of the residents’ view, recommending we go into mouselook before he did. He then told us we should soon see a green light. And it soon appeared in front of us in the middle of the platform. Then our viewpoint’s changed to empty dark sky. But not for long.

It began with a couple blue dots floating into the screen. Then came silver flares and fiery orange-red explosions of color, “Ooooh!” “Pretty!” “Awesome music!” “Beautiful!” A multitude of colored lights appeared, filling the sky. They were soon followed by colorful swirls. Then came a number of smiley faces, soon followed by some agressive-looking ones, the screen suddenly full of spinning pictures of disasters and troubled images, the music blaring, “It’s the end of the world, as we know it.”

The show continued on, with more special effects, such as the rumbling clouds that looked like a heard was trampling our way, “Stampede.” The audience continued to cheer, and express their approval. Finally, the show ended. Tyrehl thanked everyone for coming.

Tyrehl and I shared a few words after the event. “This is kind of new to me,” he told me, “I only started this performance last week. It's taking on a life of its own. ... Last Friday was the first time I posted a schedule and started inviting people to come.” Crowds came in “slowly at first. I had a lot of empty shows during the first week. Last night things really started to happen. It's difficult to really get a handle on SL promotion, what works and what doesn't.”

Of setting up the show, “The big challenge is creating the effects and coordinating them with music. I had to mix the sound track and then create effects to interpret the music. That took well over a month. There are over 80 different particle effects that had to be designed and tweaked.”

Of how he got the idea for the show, “I've always been a very visual person and when I saw my first particle effects in Second Life, it was love at first sight. I've also been very passionate about music, and combining them seemed like something that would be fun to try. As with so many things in my art, I don't always know where something is headed, but I usually know when it has arrived!”

Tyrehl has also worked on a place called “Not-A-Knot,” which he explained took eight months to build, “It would be interesting to see more people have the opportunity to view ~(Not-A-Knot) it is not very well known and it can be a source of very interesting dialog.”

Of future plans, “At the moment, my sights are set on further development of the particle shows. I've only really scratched the surface of what is possible, and it really seems to bring a lot of people joy.”

So for a great particle show, head to Tyrehl Byk’s after checking his schedule.

Bixyl Shuftan

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48 Hour Machinima Flm Project Showing: “And the Winner is ...”

On Thursday November 12 at 1 PM SL time at a theater in Rasta Ventures, Chantal Harvey hosted the showing of some of the finalists in the 48 Hour Machinima Film Project.

“This is the third time that the 48 Hour Film Project has included machinima,” Chantal told the audience, “and has come to Second Life to screen and celebrate this wonderful event. This past weekend was not a regular weekend at all, as it was divided in 48 hours, for the tream leaders and their crew, ... working hard to produce a machinima ... I recall one team leader saying ‘I love a good deadline,’ and I wonder if that still stands.”

For the 48 Hour Machinima, people had to do a film, using Second Life or another virtual world, such as the World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto games. A few elements were required for each film. Among the characters, it had to have a baker named Bobby or Bobbi Stewart. There had to be a book somewhere in the machinima. And one of the lines had to be “Are you sure about that?”

“People usually underestimate the production time of a film in real life,” Chantal explained, “and more so perhaps for a machinima. I always say there is little to no difference, technically speaking, between the two. Your story has to be strong and suitable, and camera work, light, acting, music, sound, edit, if you do a job right, it is done as thorough as in so-called real life. What makes it harder for machinima is the lack of facial expressions, so emotion is a hard thing to bring across. Each engine/platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. Big advantage, is of course no cranes, no helicopters, no rails needed to make a nice smooth pan.”

The finalist would be shown with other films in the larger 48 Hour Film project, which the Machinima contest was part of, “These films will be shown in Las Vegas, April 2010. ... I am so proud to be the machinima producer. It gives me the opportunity to help a little bit towards the goal I have set myself, to bring machinima to the attention of the world. The 48 Hour Film Project is a wonderful organization, and it has given an opportunity to many filmmakers to learn, and show their work. ... I want to thank the 48HFP for coming to virtual worlds and creating this opportunity for machinima. The producers of the first two editions were true pioneers, we can hold them responsible for the start of this wonderful event.
Which brings me to saying thanks, to Panther Chenille, our guest of honour tonight. For ever in your debt! And thanks, to Christina, Mark, and Ben.”

The audience included some noted people in SL media such as Delinda Dryssen and Pooky Amsterdam. Blue Linden was also there.

The first film shown was last year’s winner, “Merry Christmas Frank,” a tale about an elderly actor being thrown out of his regular Santa gig, saying the act’s been changed to scantily clad girls, and they “don’t need anyone about to be dead,” but the old man finds a way to get revenge. Then there was “Among the Badgerman” by Jun Falkenstein of Falcom Productions/Obvious Films, which was late but finished so allowed to be shown even if it didn’t qualify. Filmed in World of Warcraft, it shows a stereotypical TV nature show host coming upon a village of “badgermen,” treating them like simple primitives, completely oblivious to the fact they spoke perfect English and know some of the finer points of modern life.

Unfortunately, it was about this time technical difficulties began to crop up, some no longer seeing the films, just a gray or white screen. For others they took longer to load, sometimes the display cutting off before coming to a close. Using voice was not allowed, but chat was. “I've never been to a movie with so much talking... lolz!” “Shush, Trick.” (TributeTim Kwak throws popcorn at Trick) “I'm not saying anything” ... *brushes the popcorn off his hair.*

Other movies shown included “Bobby’s Wedding Cake,” by Team Machinimatrix, a lighthearted romance about a baker determined to foil the plans of his stonehearted master to marry a young girl. Then there was “Baking With Bobby,” by Team Sound’r, a comedy in which a TV show baker runs to the TV studio late for work, collides with a strange figure, and hastily picking up what he thinks is his cookbook, the results turn out to be a recipe for disaster.

Then there was “At Bakerys End” by Team Ciscovan, a dramatic tale of a man pondering love and losing it. From Team Rediculous Studios, “What of the Baker,” filmed in the Fallout 3 game, a Western. From Grey Matter Films, “The Wisk Girl,” considered of the Superhero Genre. The last machinima shown was the “Ring of False God,” by Team Clark, a suspense thriller. Two corrupt cops try to intimidate a captured enemy into revealing what a dead man was trying to hide.

Following the films, Chantal then announced the winners of the various categories. Team Clark got the most wins, such as in Best Directing and Best Cinematography. The runner-up for best film was “What of the Baker” by team Rediculous Sandwich Studios. Finally came the big moment, “BEST FILM is ... ‘Ring Of False God,’ by Team Clark.” The audience went up in cheers, lots of people saying congratulations. Chantal then continued, “Actually, you have all won!!!!!! ... And I mean it when I say you all have won.”

People continued to congratulate the winners, and Chantal for her work, before heading out.



Best Film "Ring of False God" - Team Clark
Runner-Up "What of the Baker" - Team Rediculous Sandwich Studios

Best Directing: Team Clark
Best Writing: Team Clark
Best Acting: Rediculous Sandwich Studios
Best Editing: Team Clark
Best Cinematography: Team Clark
Best Sound Design: Sound’r
Best Use of Character: Machinimatrix
Best Use of Prop: Sound’r
Best Use of Line: Ideajuice
Best Atmosphere: Ciscovan
Best Musical Score: Sound’r
Best Costumes: Machinimatrix


“It was such a pleasure to do this. I feel for the teams, as I know how hard it is. ... Bye, and welcome, and thanks ... phew!”

Bixyl Shuftan

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SLN Reporter Nazz Lane Appears on “The 1st Question,” Pooky Amsterdam Airs “Too Busy” SL Machimia

On Tuesday night at 7 PM SL time on September 8, Second Life Newspaper reporter and writer Nazz Lane appeared as a contestant on “The 1st Question,” a game show aired from within Second Life on treet.tv . He had been invited by host Pooky Amsterdam. Nazz was on the show with Lyr Lobo, Nuala Maracas, and Praxis Carling. Hydra Shaftoe cohosted with Pooky as they quizzed Nazz and the others in front of a packed audience at the show one described as “a cross between lunch with Albert Einstein, and the 1950’s style game show.”

Sorry to say Nazz didn’t win. Maybe next time.

Following the show, Pooky invited the audience to see her new machimia: “I’m Too Busy to Date Your Avatar!” The video was done in response to the popular online music video “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" by “The Guild." Pooky had finished it some days ago, and word about it quickly spread.

“I saw the ‘Date Your Avatar’ at 398 views,” Pooky told Second Life Newspaper, “and laughed to myself and said, ‘I’m too busy to date. And then the phone call introduction sequence kicked in. The (song) started working with Draxtor (Despres), sent a small song sample, and it really took off from there. He brought in Samuels Dream ... the music was by me, Draxtor, and Samuels Dream.

The video had a number of avatars in it, with Kat2 Kit bringing in some Tiny friends, “Emmo (Wei) and Pet(love Petshop), on the !st Question and Rob(wag Soothesayer) has been with me from the beginning, as has Kat. They are all part of the show.”

So if you’re an SLebrty, or someone else not so famous who’s felt a little overwhelmed by your online life, this song is for you.

Bixyl Shuftan

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The U'Bar

Second Life has a lot of dance clubs. But the U’Bar has something that separates it from the pack: a radio show.

The place is built like a pub. One ports in on a small platform in the corner. To the left is the bar counter and stools, often with a couple dancers on it during events. In front of that is the main feature of the place: the dance floor. To dance, one can press a button on the wall next to the large champagne bottle and drinking glass big enough for a girl to jump in. There are also a few dance poles, and in the other corner of the bar counter wall are a few comfy chairs one can relax in, or play a game of “Connect Four” with someone.

The owner of the bar is Cher Burt. “He is the man who created this place,” bar manager Islawhite Martinek told me, “and we love his music to bits. He works in the music industry in real life.”

The U’Bar has at least one event every day, which can be looked up in their event calendar. Sometimes it’s a special event, with the theme being music such as the “ABBA” parties, trivia events in which questions are asked and those with correct answers get a few Lindens for each one, showing of music videos, or themed avatars such as “Dragon Night.”

But what makes the U’Bar unique is the Cher and Carm Radio show. The show is done by Cher and his friend Carmine Caudron host the show in both a British radio station and at the U’bar, every Monday and Thursday from 12 Noon to 5 PM SL time (8 PM to 1 AM BST). Islawhite explained, “The run it from their real life music studio so it is very professional as well as being very funny and great entertainment!... but they also have another added feature of that they also do a simultaneous webcast so people can not only tune in from the Bar but can also watch the boys live on webcam from the studio.” The show’s website stated, “We play the very best in music from all decades, run competitions, chat about the strangely going on things in the world. Not to mention we have the best live artists perform from our professional studio ...”

Sometimes the show has a special guest. Recently they had “Mr. Methane,” whom appeared on “Britian’s Got Talent.” I didn’t see him, but was told his act was a real gas.

Dropping into the U’Bar during a running of the show one Thursday, I happened to arrive between songs, and the two radio show hosts noticed my entry, “And here we have Bixyl Shut-, er, Shoof- , um, a fox.” Cher had on a Superman t-shirt. Carmine had his virtual face painted up to look like Heath Ledger’s “The Joker,” clearly looking like he was serious about making the event a wild time. The place was packed, so it took a few moments to rez, but once it did and I joined those on the dance floor, I was welcomed by staff and visitors alike. And between songs Cher and Carm would liven things up by cracking a few witty jokes, and at one point offered a 1000 L for answering a trivia question. Sometimes the patrons would come up with their own madness. During the playing of “Me and My Car,” people started wearing their cars and spinning them around.

A lively little pub with daily events that offer big entertainment.

The U’bar is in the Lusiana sim at (118, 207, 3002). There is also a U’Bar blog: http://ubarblog.blogspot.com/ .


Bixyl Shuftan

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RULE - by Styles of Edo

A show not to missed with Edo Tones new collection

click the image above to teleport Saturday 25th at 2pm SLT

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The Wall

On Friday night I got an invite to go and see something new (well new to me) and I accepted the invite and TP'd in..........

Well I have to say I was lost for words at this performance I had never seen anything like it and probably never will again.

The set, the animations, the sheer creativity using the platform like it should be used a perfect amalgamation of creativity, music, dance and the platform.

You can find details in the EVENTS section which will tell you all about the Peacefest that 'The Wall' is a part of next weekend.

After the show I had the chance to chat to Debbie Trilling the creative director she told me when I asked her about the show;

"We created it because we wanted to do something ambitious... to set a new benchmark for live performances in SL. We are all experienced Content Creators, and, 'The Wall' seemed to be a perfect challenge....as well as fabulous music"

They definitely did that - it was a performance like no other, she went on to say "We started building it in Jan 2008, first performance was in April....tonight was the 25th time we have performed it, and now over 1850 people have seen it"

The Wall will be coming to an end soon only 4 more performances are planned so if you want to see it (I recommend everyone seeing it) you need to go soon ;

"It has been a trip..." Said Ms Tilling "But we have been working on it for 8 months now; and we as CARP have a new production premiering on 6th Sept....I want all our energy directed towards that. All previous performance have been for RFL...we raised in the order of 170,000L from this show...tonights performance and next weeks are for SL PeaceFest 08 (Amensty, UNICEF and others)"

I urge everyone to go and see something so out of this world it can truly show you what can be done in this virtual existence.

Dana

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GLITZ & GLAMOUR FASHION SHOW

Enjoy the "Glitz & Glamour" of fashion with Premiere Modeling Management's fantastic fashion show dedicated to all the fashionistas in SL!

Premiere Modeling Management presents
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GLITZ & GLAMOUR FASHION SHOW
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Hosted by Aeschylus Shepherd
Date: July 26 (Sat), 2008
Place: Pavilion Events Center, Antero Shores 235.45.28
Featured designers:
- MB-DESIGNS
- Mami Jewell of "Styles of edo"
- Sparkle Skye Designs
- ABL Dream Fashions
- Alienbear Design
- S@SS Shoes

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New Trends fashion show June 1st

Full details can be found in the EVENTS section

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The Best of SL for RFL

What a fantastic show
Go to EVENTS to see more

Left: Frolic and Raven join in with the final dance at the Broadway Extravaganza.

Right: Entertaining us with her fantastic voice Cylindrian Rutabaga.

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