The Scoutlounge Beach Club

By Wesley Regenbogen

ScoutLounge is a Second Life beach club that was showcased by Linden Labs in May 2008 in the category “Music” in the Destination Guide. Before that in February 2007, Lexx Runo founded “MEC Trendscouts” to develop the possibilities in virtual worlds like Second Life.

In September 2011 the Second Life club reopened and introduced their weekly TV broadcast at USTREAM.TV. In December 2012 they redesigned their website, which can be found at http://www.scoutlounge.net .

The music that is played in the club and also live stream on their website is : house music, but other music as well. In the past DJs were tied to their DJ booth at the club they were playing. Nowadays, Second Life offers new possibilities. DJs nowadays can get “live” in contact with their fans in the Second Life environment. 50 DJs from around the world play LIVE DJ SETS to please a huge community of music lovers.

The club is nicely decorated and if your avatar is tired of dancing, just take a seat in the club’s lounge seats and relax for a while, while enjoying the music further, of course.

One of the benefits of this club is that you can listen to the live stream on the web too at http://www.scoutlounge.net. So when you leave the club in Second Life, you can tune into the website and listen further online. You can watch the live broadcast through one of their partners Digital Broadcast Channel (DBC).

There is a group in Second Life called “ScoutLounge” where you can be held up-to-date about events and live DJ sets and much more. It’s free to join this group, so I suggest you can do it to keep up-to-date for events. They also have a presence at different social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr.

If you want to know what’s happening, you can login into Second Life every Thursday night and visit the club in-world.

In my personal opinion, this is one of the best clubs in Second Life, aside the other ones that I reviewed a long while ago. It’s nice to see that the radiostation merged real life and virtual life in one place, either the website or the club in-world.

So, it’s one of the largest music community out there.

Check it out in Second Life !

You can find the place at this location in Second Life :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Suisse/160/102/23

Wesley Regenbogen

Basilique Town and Performing Arts Company

By Wesley Regenbogen

Basilique Town is a small Italian city recreated within Second Life! The town was created and decorated in January 2013 by Canary Beck and Harvey Crabsticks. The place is nicely decorated and you really have the feeling that you are in the real life Italian city Basilique. It’s really amazing how they actually recreated the whole town.

 I found the music a nice touch. In the chapel and Bathouse, 1930s tunes are played. House music is played at the modern bar. There are both parties in the Baththouse for members, and DJs performing for crowds at the Modern. There are also chat salons where a dozen members discuss a planned topic for over 2 hours.

Then there is the Basilique Performing Arts Company. Their performances are over for the year, though there are future productions coming in 2015. But up to September 21, they were doing performances of a Second Life version of "Paradise Lost," and "Romeo and Juliet 2.0"

This sweeping story features 43 characters, took over 1000 hours of development and a budget of more than L$250,000 to produce. You will come away saying that this is one of the most amazing things you have seen in Second Life. Don’t miss this unbelievable opportunity. Book now. Tickets are available on the Second Life Marketplace. Second Life’s most ambitious performing arts company presents an adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Following their “masterful adaptation” of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Basilique Performing Arts Company returns to tell the story of humankind’s original sin. Choreographed and set to the fourteen movements of Mozart’s Requiem, this is the story of humankind’s creation by God, temptation by Satan, and expulsion from Paradise.

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In my personal opinion, it’s a nice town that has been recreated within the Second Life environment. This is a very nice place that you can visit if you want to relax a bit and just have a look around.

If you want to know more about this place you can find more information on and also about events, you can also find more information about Canary Beck and Baslilque Town on these links :

about.me/canarybeck

http://canarybeck.com/ (Blog)

https://www.facebook.com/canary.beck (Facebook)

https://twitter.com/canarybeck (Twitter)

http://bit.ly/X7NOxJ (YouTube)

http://bit.ly/QS0bwd (Google+)

http://bit.ly/RnK8pZ (Flickr)

http://soundcloud.com/canary-beck (SoundCloud)

https://my.secondlife.com/canary.beck

 

Wesley Regenbogen

Reader Submitted: The Koto Project

By Fritter Enzyme

The Koto Project is one of the most beautiful sims you can find.  Japanese ones are known for their detail and quality.  This is one that takes out the overkill and makes a place that is superb, in the plants, and the open spaces.   The trees here are like something out of a Japanese painting.  Half the sim is a walled city, the other is a wooded park.   


 It is a RP community, but the website states it is a human community.  Yet I have spoken with the owner, in the fur, and have not been asked to leave.  I have been there many times and had furry friends along to see it.  I can’t apply to be a character in the RP group, but I still seem welcome to enjoy the environment they have created.


The walled city is Edo era, and things sold there fit that theme.  A horse and buggy await at the gate to take you for a ride through the city and back out again.  The woods outside the wall are worth spending time mulling throughout for the views and hangouts.  The sim surround is wonderful; the water front has a boat with reflections that lends itself to photography with ease.  In the city you will find shops, temples, tea houses, restaurants, a bath house, a Zen garden, and if you join the RP group, even a Geisha house. 

They also have many rental homes of different sizes.  There is an animated work area with props are in the back of the residents homes.  Pick apples, chop wood, or feed the chickens.  And a meditation stand at the waterfall makes for a nice resting place for the whole Zen experience.  Some shops have yet to open.  Click on the food in the restaurant and sit to eat while you play a game on the wall.  Put on your kimono and get in the spirit of Koto!  If you don’t have one, some of the best I have seen are sold there.  Koto Project.  A surprisingly sweet place to be. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kyoudai/130/49/22

Fritter Enzyme

Reader Submitted: Blue Hole

By Fritter Enzyme

In my wanders through our virtual world I look for places that are stimulating, fun, exciting and inclusive.  Inclusive because I am furry.  It is nice when a club mentions that all are welcome in a notecard. Or even a sign out in front of the club (E.G., Phat Cats Jazz Club).  But it is good enough, sometimes, if I just don’t get kicked out.  I seek these places and let other know where they can go.  Nothing is guaranteed, of course, if not stated in the club rules.  Certain host will react different than other will.  I have been kicked out of clubs that demand human avatars, but allow fairies, with wings and all.  I do refuse to leave and end up banned.  I do not recommend this action, it is my choice, as I feel it is discrimination.  Think of how real life would be, right now, if certain groups were “kept in their place.”  Not going where you are not wanted makes sense to some, but not to me.  So I search and I explore, and I report on what I find.

In a recent outing I came upon furry scuba equipment.   The place is called The Blue Hole.  It is a virtual Blue Hole like the one that exists in Belize.  Not totally accurate, but very nice to play in.  And they sell the furry scuba outfit with the others so furs are welcome there.  The land has the usually trimmings, beaches, beach houses, a club for events, a light house, plenty to explore.  And of course, a store with the scuba supplies.  And the water, many places to float and hangout as well as the Blue Hole.  Not a vertical walled tube as the real one is, but enjoyable to spend time in.  Great for photography, deep enough to make the equipment fun to use as well.  It is very colorful, stocked with different life at varying levels to add to the realism and fun.  This is a place I will be returning to, and bringing friends of all kinds.  I know they will enjoy it, and I know they will be welcomed to stay.

The scuba equipment comes in two packages, for furries, a basic one at 590L and a premium at 790L.  Not that big of a price difference so I went with the premium setup.  For humans, 420L for the basic and you add on what you want after that purchase.  Sea plants, and ship wrecks for sale too.  Come see the Blue Hole, a place worth spending some time at:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BLUE%20HOLE/183/213/51

Thanks for looking,

Fritter Enzyme

NekoZone Central : A Futuristic City Within Second Life

By Wesley Regenbogen

NekoZone Central is based on the future version of Los Angeles out of the sci-fi movie “Blade Runner." The sim was created and founded by Fox Daviau and was created in the year 2007. He came up with the idea and created it all by himself.

 The sci-fi themed sim is set at the end of the 21^st Century, where Earth has become a place where destruction, overcrowded cities and flying cars are found in every city. But flying cars could become a reality in the near future, that’s what Fox Daviau thinks, at least.

When you wander around in the city you get the feeling you are actually in the Blade Runner movie itself. Bring your umbrella with you, because it can be rainy there most of the time. In my opinion this place is well made and really gives you the feeling you are in a futuristic city and you see the flying cars in the air all over the place.  

There are numerous shops, but also many free spaces for shops as well sadly. They also offer apartment rentals starting from L$ 200/week for a place with around 50 prims or so. The urban life style may take getting used to, but if you are into sci-fi, you have found the place to wander around and explore it further. There are “camping” places where avatars are standing and hoping to get free L$ while camping there. In the center of the teleport area there is a fountain, a relaxing place, to relax when you want to escape the chaos of NekoZone Central West. When you take the escalator upstairs there are even more shops and places to visit.

There’s a dance club called InFuzion, which is open 24/7 offering music all the time. If you are a dancer or a DJ you can apply for a job at the sign you see in the club or just outside the club. Their events are listed on the Second Life Events website.

All things considered, this place is cool when you are into sci-fi and want to get a feel of it in Second Life. If you are not into sci-fi, you can wander around and see what this sim has to offer for you. Either way, it’s a nice and cool place to wander and explore, in a late 21^st Century scenery.

You can find the place at :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FireStorm/113/127/30

 Wesley Regenbogen