Friday, September 30, 2016

The Gathering Oak


By Becky "Sha" Shamen

Some time ago, I volunteered to help an old friend, turned new neighbor on Sunny Beach, Erik Mouse to  build the sim of his dreams. He showed great interest in providing attractions for the community to come and have fun. I have become his court Magician and councilor, to teach him the power of Imagination. The force is strong in him.

The perimeter of the island sim provides beaches, boating and surfing. The interior of the island is a thick forest, known as "Mythica Woods." At the North end of the woods, there is a clearing, with a spring fed pond. When I made the Sunweaver Tour video, I called this area, "the local watering hole", because it seemed like it was a natural gathering spot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f144n1NYcos .

There are several Hobbit style homes, a camp fire, a TP and Stargate. We built a tiki hut club and called it "Surf's Up," to draw attention to the surfing wave, on the North shore. Erik was eager to begin having weekly events, on Saturdays at noon SLT. I let him know that it would be his adventure and I would not be on club staff. He is the owner and should make his own rules and provide any staff and DJs for any events scheduled.

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, but after three weeks, our little friend was feeling stress, because his club had yet to become an overnight success. He came to the Newser staff meeting, seeking help in getting more visitors to come. At the close of the staff meeting, Erik, Bixyl and I convened to Surf's Up, where an event was in progress. This was the ideal location for the discussion, since we could also get additional input from those on the dance floor. Indeed, I took notes as Skylark LeFavre began to describe a different decor, from her imagination. She described a clearing with a large oak tree..... Before saying another word, I was already seeing the complete picture.

That night, I searched the marketplace for oak trees. I found a towering ancient oak tree, that looked like the perfect fit for Mythica Woods. I spent the night, with nobody around, installing the oak, removing the tiki hut and moving the club equipment under the tree branches. The next day, after seeing the new set up, Erik sends an IM, asking if I had left anything for him to do. Indeed, there were a few objects and the contest board, which I could not move. Later that evening, I attended a weekly dance event, at Creations Park. They have a rotating circle sync dance that is a wonderful thrill to partake in. After the dance, I met up with Erik again. I told him that I think a circle dance would be perfect for the new club layout, so we went about trying to find a good one. That was an adventure of it's own and we nearly got booted off of one RP sim.

When we found an in world demo, of one I spotted on marketplace, we tested it, bought it and took it home to set up. Words could not explain how enjoyable it is for a group to share. I knew I would need to get some pictures or video of a group doing the dance. For two days, I asked friends to come try it. At the close of the following Happy Vixen event, I announced that I would be making a video and all were invited to be in it. We got a nice little impromptu group going and the camera began to roll. I captured 10 minutes of video, before folks needed to go and posted it, unedited, on Youtube.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L_kNx3Nz5oI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://youtu.be/L_kNx3Nz5oI

   Recently, I made the comment that where the sky and earth, fire and water all meet is a place where strong magic is made. There's lots of room to dance and several group sitting areas, if you'd rather sit this one out. There's even a cuddle basket, if you like that kind of magic. The club will now be known as "The Gathering Oak" and will have a weekly Saturday noon dance and you can also come any time, to enjoy all of the sim's attractions.
   Aloha,
Sha

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Echo Valley


“Surrender To Echo Valley's Halloween Reverb”

by MajikVixen

If you're looking for a great place to explore this Halloween, I say you tread lightly at Echo Valley!  This beguiling, bloodlines friendly (don't worry, no biting or harassing allowed), adult sim is dedicated to those creepy thrills, offering a perfect kick-off to this Fall season.  Follow the foggy dragon's breath over the bridges of skulls and pumpkins looking for Treasure Quest coins, Haunted Hunt clues, or Skeleton Hunt items.  Find a few surprises along the way, like tales of dead men who still message you from beyond the grave, secret teleports, random prizes, and who knows what other terror awaits you... my avatar got shredded to bloody bits several times and even disappeared, mwahahaa!  In development is a maze (by the first weekend of October), and specially designed Treasure Quest mega coins.

It was Jack the proud ripper ℓ'є ℓµиє  (movsponge12) who approached me to do the article on this sim, to begin with.  He said, "My wife Mysty Le' Lune (mystyangel), who is an awesome wonderful spitball of fire, had acquired this sim on Tuesday, May 31st.  We shared it together with my Second Life Mom, Sweet Surrender (dontbefooled), who is a sweet and loving woman, who will always go out of her way to have a good time, and give the love and care people deserve.  TychusRainer is my Second Life Dad, he is pretty cool as well.  He has a passion for gaming, music, my Mom, hehe, and working.  My wife Mysty, as I have said, is a truly amazing wonderful person who wouldn't hesitate to give her shirt off her back if meant to help someone in need.  She works very hard to earn her keep, bring joy into peoples' lives and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves.  This is one of the reasons why Mysty, Sweet and I had created our sim Echo Valley Halloween! into the spectacle that it is.  We wanted people to have a place where they can come and go as they please, enjoy themselves however they wish, and always have something fun and exciting to do. 

"However, some of this work would not have been possible if it were also not for a few good friends of ours, Frenchie Fry and NaTaS (natas.janus).  With their natural talents, and eye for placement, we would not have some the of the features in our sim that we have right now.  Frenchie helped us find on marketplace, a skull tree that illuminates lights from the skulls eyes with energy floating around the tree.  Natas had helped us with making a boat ride tour that you can take and enjoy looking at the whole sim.  He also helped out with terraforming bits and pieces of the land along with Mysty and putting out some of the fog effects and such in order to help the landscape have the right atmosphere.  After the Halloween season has finished, we plan in the future to do other holiday seasons such as Christmas, Valentines' Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and a whole bunch of others.  We are so excited so we hope to bring everyone enjoyment whenever they come to visit and everywhere we go.

"Also Mysty is not only a creative landscaper, but she's also has her own shop on marketplace called Two Blue Moons.  In there she has some of her collectible items, as well clothes, knickknacks, and other cool stuff, if anyone would like to take a look from the classic avi to the mesh anime.

"However, we cannot forget the thanks and support from the visitors who have come and appreciated the sim, as it has been, and that includes our friends over at Silent Lucidity, including Kymdra (kymdriel) and Johnny T (surveysays), who have been good to us, and have always been there for us ever since they been part of our lives.

"Another thanks goes out to Frenchie Fry, Jenni Witherspoon, and ƇɑssĨê Ŀɑηgтяy (cassieopeya), for helping us get involved with Treasure Quest and becoming good friends that we always have a great experience with.

"So for everyone that I have not mentioned yet, Mysty and I are very grateful for your support, and hope you all have the best Second Life experience! ^^"

All in all, it seems the SL family who have brought us Echo Valley, enjoy people very much.  I was even invited to watch them put together the first pieces of the maze.  So here's to the amazing people and experiences that await you.  Here's to the maniacal laughter that fills your head when thinking of Halloween and the adventures expecting you, at Echo Valley.  And here's to following your heart to bliss.  *lifts a mug of pumpkin spiced rum and cheers*

Additional Information:
SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Echo%20Valley/164/33/25
URL: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/106630
Group: Echo Valley Retreat (Group Key: 311c24a9-5282-26bf-63ea-d0c9e193467e)
Preferred contact: Jack the proud ripper ℓ'є ℓµиє  (movsponge12) or Mysty Le' Lune (mystyangel)

MajikVixen

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Templeton Cove Pirate Maze


By Bixyl Shuftan

Monday September 19 was "International Talk Like a Pirate Day," an informal holiday made up about two decades ago that gained publicity thanks to a syndicated newspaper humor columnist. Those taking part are encouraged to speak a little pirate lingo. In real life, there are occasional stunts, such as the "Krispy Kreme" stores offering a free doughnut for anyone willing to talk like a pirate. In Second Life, there's no shortage of ways one can have some pirate fun. One can grab a pirate outfit from a store, some of which are free such as this one. And one can usually find some pirate events somewhere.

In the past, the Newser has done a number of articles such as how to talk like a pirate. We've also reported on some pirate-themed places, as well as some pirate parties. This year, I did find one thing a bit different: a pirate maze. It was located underneath the piers in the Templeton Cove sim.

"Enter if ye dare!" challenged a sign with skull and crossbones just over the entrance. Going about the maze, the way was marked with the occasional red sword pointing the way, with the way through usually where the piers were widest apart. Barriers, either resembling glass or invisible, were there to block people from taking the wrong path. There were also a couple "no drowning zone" signs where one could pick up a steampunkish diving helmet and wear it.

Along the way, there were occasional sea creature facts on the glass panels between piers. There were also occasional obstacles such as pits, one of which had to be crossed with a rope bridge by "sitting" on it in a certain spot. At least one obstacle would teleport you out of the maze and you'd have to start all over.

Finally at the end of the maze, about in the middle, there was a rec "X" on the ground. There was a nearby shovel rezzer one could touch for a spade, and start digging. And what I found underneath was ... nothing? Arrrrrrr! Seems a scurvy pirate beat me to th' booty, shiver me timbers. Oh well, I had fun navigating the thing.

Templeton Cove (82/60/15)

Bixyl Shuftan

Friday, September 16, 2016

"My Father's Place" at Aero Pines


By Bixyl Shuftan

"My Father's Place" was a music venue in Long Island New York which ran for sixteen years, from 1971 to 1987, with about 3000 musicians performing close to 6000 shows, some broadcasted over radio, some recorded. In Aero Pines park, the music club has been recreated, where visitors can listen to music and dance, read up about the real club's history, and more.

My Father’s Place (MFP) presents a live video webcast series from Long Island, NY. Featuring original musicians and songwriters, as well as famous recording artists. At the Virtual MFP venue, you can experience live mixed-reality shows, explore interactive photos from the book, listen to archived shows, watch the WLIR documentary, play rock trivia, dance, and mingle at the bar.

Dropping by recently, even though this was a time of day fewer people are in Second Life, there were several people inside. Most were dancing away, playing the trivia game, "Question 35 of 50: The band White Snake was rumored to be named after the lead singer, David Coverdale's….?", or both. There were also a few people outside nearby doing some fishing. Near the front door was a display of the myfathersplace.com website, showing the times of broadcasts from Glen Cove, New York. On the inside, the place was done much like a real life club, with a bar area separate from the dance floor, with stools, a few booths, even a couple 80's video games. On the wall were a number of pictures of the real life location, and a little history.

"There was a time in Long Island's cultured history when the whole world looked here for the next big trend in Rock n' Roll. This was between 1974 and 1980, the heyday of My Father's Place, a cabaret in Roslyn and Michael Epstein, known as Eppy, ran the whole shebang. Along with My Father's Place, which opened on Memorial Day in 1971 with a concert by Richie Havens, a confluence of entities created a scene that would influence music for decades to come." The New York Times, August 27, 2001.

Cindy Bolero, the owner and manager of Aero Pines, was also there. "It's kind of (a) live venue and museum," she told me, "a 3D version of the legacy rock club's book and documentary." She went on to say of their broadcasts from Glen Cove, "Every couple of weeks we have someone famous. So far this summer we had the real China Crisis from Liverpool, Denny Laine from Wings/moody blues last week, coming up Mike Peters of the Alarm." She mentioned the Facebook group so far had close to 10,000 fans.

Cindy's big challenge was getting fans of the venue who hadn't been in Second Life before to the place, "Been working hard at getting it easy for noobs. ... The 3D venue is still experimental. The hardest thing to do is get new users to Second Life, but these guys have a lot of enthusiasm. ... Secondlife viewers are the deal killer. Too complex and overwhelming, frustrates new users, they don't come back. Things need to be simple, simple, simple. Linden Lab wont do anything about it. ... and they wonder why its still less than ten percent stay and play. ... the complex interface keeps it from being more popular with the masses."

She went on about the club, "I feel its not just another club either. We stream bands, which is rare in Second Life because it takes a crew to live mix and shoot. We also stream famous artists, but its a challenge getting them to understand the virtual bar and get them to talk to the avatars. And its hosted by famous music promoters and radio station DJs that have a name in the industry. They are based in New York and I had much history to learn, but it is parallel to what I was doing in the 70s and 80s here in the San Francisco market. Basically when we were all in our 20s and 30s working in the music industry, We dealt with the same artists, and same music industry ecosystem of  'Band plays club, Newspaper does reviews, their record in the stores, and their record on the radio.' Now I'm trying to bring them up to speed with social media, live video webcasting, online label, activities to promote that, and that wacky virtual bar they wanted to try. Many many challenges on this journey. We've had an artist deny the video webcast at the last minute because their agent was paranoid about something or other. Meanwhile a whole crew just set up everything. We don't make music. We showcase new and famous talent. We meaning the MFP productions team.

"The history is the My Fathers Place rock club (300 seats)  from 1971-1987 featured pretty much any band or artist you can think of in that era. Just search a band with My Father's Place. Like 'Police My Father's Place' or The Ramones 'My Fathers Place.' Or Billy Joel, who got his start there as well as Bruce Springsteen. And even through the disco years they stayed a rock venue. Doing a historical build in SL is a lot like doing a documentary. So this is basically a reboot of how things were done and how entertainment companies are trying to survive today.

"What I was getting to, is back then the club got too famous for its size. So the famous underground rock radio station started bringing a truck and did live broadcasts. And since then much of the recordings have been released or bootlegged all over the web. You can say they were the first 'sharing' social media by broadcasting the shows live so more could listen."

Cindy eventually had to head out, "I'm excited to be a part of something that may actually give virtual venues a boost outside of Second Life."

For more information, check out the website, http://MyFathersPlace.com , or the Facebook group:
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfMyFathersPlace/

Equus (50/129/29)

Bixyl Shuftan

Monday, September 12, 2016

Wild West RoleplayLands


By Becky "Sha" Shamen

I have been writing for SL Newser, for several years now. With all this practice, we gain skills in finding and writing about ever greater adventures. This also enables us to observe and teach those elements that make any life, real or virtual, better for all. Life can be difficult, but the rules are very simple. To have a better life, always obey these two little rules. One, life is fun. If you're not having fun, you aren't playing by the rules. Two, life is for learning new things. Everything in life is a fun lesson and even an old god can learn a new trick. If you are not learning fun new things, you are stuck in a rut. Being stuck is not fun. Go back and read rule one. In addition to writing about a fun life here, we also give one-on-one guidance, to those that seek it. They are like students or Padawans. We will be including one of these padawans in this adventure. Let us begin to set the stage, for his entry.

On an intuitive hunch, I opened the World Map, of the SL Grid and began scanning for interesting sim clusters. Finding a good candidate, we zoom down for a closer look at the terrain. Like a good spy satellite, we get a detailed picture of what is going on down there. In this case, we located a tight collective of 24 sims. Each sim is named after an area in the western part of the USA and you could see it in the landscaping. This area had all the elements of a great place to explore.

I had copied the SLURL for one of the sims and went, briefly, to set a LM and get a "first impression". The landing is a skybox, with a painted interior. There is a shack, a horse and a few signs. The 24 sim area is called "Wild West Roleplay Lands" and, as we guessed it, there will be rules. As kids, we called "Roleplay" by the name "Let's pretend". You did your best to look and sound your part, in order to free the imagination to act out the role. It has been many moons, since we last played "Cowboys and Indians" and my imagination has many other ways of getting around. I decided that when I come back I would take in the whole experience, by joining the group and wearing the HUD and health meter. After the regularly scheduled evening's event, I returned home to dress western, horse included, and returned to those wild days of yore.

Back at the skybox, I gathered and read all the notecards about the ground rules and notice that they are in English and German. That seemed unusual, at the time, but I would eventually learn the reason. I joined the local Buffalo Wyoming Group and wore the WW meter HUD and health meter. Now I was ready to descend to ground level and begin the adventure. 
Turning towards the TP, I spot something at my feet that wasn't there before. It was my tiny neighbor, friend, Erik Mouse. He had located us on his world map. Not long ago, I had invited him to join me, during my explorations of Creations for Parkinson's and he had figured out, if I was far from home, I was probably researching another fun adventure. I could tell, he was hoping to get invited to join the fun. I have to admit, my first thoughts were, this is like getting a hot first date and your mom says to have to watch your little brother and let him tag along on your movie date. Then, my mind steps in, telling me this is exactly the thing we are trying to teach others to do. It wouldn't be a change in our plans, because we were making it up as we go along. Besides, I reasoned that roleplay was a bit like sex, being more fun to play with friends, than to play with self. I told him that I wouldn't mind if he joined me, but he would have to do it as a human cowboy. He said he had never played a human, in SL, but would do what it takes. I informed him that he could find a human avatar in the library section of his inventory and that they provide free period clothing at the near by shed. Our location seemed to be preventing us from making any changes to our avatars, so we returned home to make a man of him. At the Surf's Up club, I located a complete cowboy avatar, on Marketplace, for only L$25. The cowboy avatar even came with a coiled lasso, so Erik was now fully prepared to rope him some fun.


So, now we have Erik, on his first day as a human, but he's not the only cherry. I quickly discover that I am no longer the author of this play and the actors are working without a script. Our first location, on the ground, was the town of Buffalo, Wyoming. Sha, from experience, takes up the lead position and her faithful companion follows a few paces behind. Being in a Wild West town, our first interest was finding the local Bank. We found it, but it was locked so we went across the street, to the Saloon. The barkeep and patrons are all cardboard cut-outs. If we wanted adventure, we needed to head on down the road. A quick check of the radar showed that we were the only ones on this sim, but there are a handful of others on the next sim, so we head in that direction. As we entered the next town, there only seems to be one resident and he is taking a nap, in front of the Pub. I spot the local jail and head over to check the accommodations. I entered a jail cell and invited Erik to come in and pose for a souvenir photo of our adventure.

 We broke out of jail and returned outside where I spotted a gallows. I think this might be a good place to demonstrate the virtue of Courage, so I clicked the gallows and selected the hang by the neck animation.

 Well, I was having some fun, but my companion was probably wondering when the adventure would begin, so we headed towards the blips on the radar. This ain't no big city. There are no paved roads or direction signs to follow. As we walk, I spot three buffalo, grazing in a field and say, "Oh look at the cute critters. Let's go pet them". BIG MISTAKE! One of the buffalo turns in my direction and prepares to charge. I take off for the hills, double time, and see on the radar that Erik is right behind me. I run into a stone canyon and find a Medicine man's tee-pee and campfire. Thinking this is a safe place, I sit down at the fire. Turning my cam around, I see Erik lying face down on the ground, with a rattle snake biting his leg. I asked him about the snake. He said that he didn't know about the snake, but his HUD just informed him that the buffalo had killed him. I'm like, OMG, they killed Kenny! I brought my little buddy here and got him killed. Then, the unexpected happened. Laying face down in a pool of blood, Erik begins to comfort me. "Don't worry, I'm just dead. I'll be better in about 30 minutes". WOW! Who is this guy and what did he do with the timid little mouse? I said, " no worries pal. I'll sit here and wait for you, while I smoke this peace pipe that I found by the fire." As I sat there thinking, I realized something else about this man named Erik, that was different from the mouse I had known for years. From the time he found me in the skybox, until now, he had not been AFK, even one time, throughout our adventure.

At about this time, a stranger approached the campfire, carrying a rifle. I could only hope that he was one of the good guys, because we were in a defenseless posision. As he began to talk to us, or should I say, er begann, mit uns reden, I realized this cowboy was speaking German and it was being translated to English. I learned, later, that Wild West Roleplay is very popular in Germany. The cowboy told us that Erik would soon live again, although his full strength would take a bit longer. When Erik rose from the ground, the cowboy pointed to the ground and said, here marks the spot where you were dead. The blood was gone and the cowboy bid us well on our journey. I told him, "Danke shon", and Erik and I continued on the trail. We soon found ourselves in another small town and it had a church. I have always been interested in the architecture of places of worship, so we went inside for a look. Erik's first comment was that we could have used some of this guy's healing skills, back on the trail. WOW! He understands religion. I was seeing inside the RL Erik in a new light. I wanted to get to know him even better, so I steered the conversation to our RL selves. "Do you go to church", I asked.  "No", was his reply. I told him my age and birthday and he told me his. Erik is in the same age range as my three daughters. Our sun signs are also very compatable. I asked him if he used Facebook, so we could friend there. He did and we set it up, then and there.

    The hour was getting late and I had a staff meeting the next day. I told Erik to feel free to explore some more, but I was going to bed and would probably come back a few more times, to explore more of the Wild West Roleplay Lands. He wanted to know if he could come again, with me. I told him, "Si, mi casa, su casa".

   I must point out here that Erik and I only covered about 1/6 of the Wild West Roleplay Lands. If you come here, there is enough adventure to keep you going for months or even years. Besides that, I am scratching my head, wondering what this story is really about. A fairy mouse king becomes a mortal man, to descend to earth, is killed and comes back to life. It all begins to sound like a symbolic initiation into some secret brotherhood of knights or an ancient Greek passion play or the labors of Hercules.

   I don't know where the story came from, but I'm signing it,

"Sha"

Monday, September 5, 2016

Faerie Crossing's Terra Firma Up For Sale


By MajikVixen (bluevioletvixen.lorefield)

“Harness Your Creative Majik With Terra Firma”

Named after Delerium's entrancing song, this parcel went up for sale/lease this week, in the moderate Wildefleur sim of the Faerie Crossing community.  Faerie Crossing is a community of 10 fantasy sims, and is listed in the Destination Guide under Newcomer Friendly places.  Traditionally, Wildefleur is a homestead sim that caters to giving one the feel that they are an actual tiny fairy in a big, wonderful, magical place (adorned with oversized flower pots, watering cans, and beehives that decorate gardens).

Those interested in Terra Firma, should contact MajikVixen (BlueVioletVixen Lorefield) to purchase or lease.  The sale terms are L$41,300 for initial purchase, and then L$8,400 per month (tier payable from date of purchase) for 900 prims.  The lease terms are for no initial purchase price, and L$9,750 per month tier, for 850 prims.  Example housing has been provided, currently it is an oversized nightstand house.  The top drawer acts as a balcony overlooking the lake, and the moving bottom drawer acts as an entry door.  The main component is phantom, so there are a few secret compartments, complete with staircase and functional furniture.  A private skybox can be built above 512 meters, with all the conveniences one would like.

One must adhere to the Guidelines and Covenant while living in Faerie Crossing.  It basically boils down to three rules (the 3 "Ps"): 1) Private homes at ground level can only be entered if the door is open (there is no exploring above 512 meters, those are for private skyboxes), 2) Prim litter should be looked after properly (be considerate of our atmosphere we try to preserve), & 3) PG rating (although we're rated moderate, we want our lands friendly for those child avis too).  If you can respect those rules, no matter who you are (human, fae, or creature), you are welcome in Faerie Crossing! 

Faerie Crossing is also a great community of events and helpers.  Almost daily events (please see the first link in the Additional Information section of this article) include dances, building classes, scripting advice, quizzes with prizes, and story sharing.  Special events include lectures, guided meditations, and the Magic Messenger (the Faerie Crossing newsletter).  The helpers range from Brownies (who help clean up prim litter), Merry Meeters (actively involved members who help join people to the main Faery Crossing group), Gateway Guides (who help newborns become more accustom to Second Life), to Protectors (who help handle griefers and any potential drama).  Faerie Crossing is run by Queen Gypsy (currently on hiatus) and members of the High Faerie Court (who meet once a month to discuss future events and other such occurrences). 

We do take pride in our community and homes, and decorate accordingly to the seasons and fantasy theme of each sim.  Be you ready to answer this call for talent and share your imagination with everyone?  Then come visit this place, let your inner child play, and take root in this community of dreams!


Additional Information:
SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wildefleur/212/89/41
URLs:   
Faerie Crossing Events Calendar:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=l58ok6oqiqnm0iei9eg4qmd1u0@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles?
An Old History of Faerie Crossing:
http://fc.heliste.nl/Sitemap.aspx
Groups:    
Gateway to the Faery Crossing (Group Key: 4a20e96d-6571-f974-a8fc-0024d14be066)
The Faery Crossing (Group Key: 06881a03-e85e-d9be-f63a-be9015119c94) (join the first group, and then joining this group is by request/invitation only)
Preferred contact: MajikVixen (bluevioletvixen.lorefield) Faerie Crossing Steward and Gateway Guide

MajikVixen

Friday, September 2, 2016

Tableau


By Becky "Sha" Shamen

 Among the LMs that Bixyl sent me recently, there is one for a sim called Tableau. I stopped here long enough to set our own LM and then headed to Creation's for Parkinson's, to write about it first. My first impression of Tableau was that although it was in ways ugly to me, it was also, somehow, very interesting and might even be a fun adventure.

Before we begin our adventure, our readers must understand the language being spoken. Mediators know that disputes often arise between two parties that both want essentially the same thing, because of not knowing the other party's definition of the principles in question. If we tell readers that Tableau is a fun adventure, they are probably going to disagree. To get on the same page, let's sit in on the first lecture given at Clown College.

The Professor wears a silly looking cap, called a mortarboard, and a bulbous red nose and is explaining why people laugh.   Laughter is a release of tension. If you are struggling to figure out something, when you finally get it, you say "Aha". Other jokes are funny, because the teller uses a different meaning (double entendre), which is known about but not expected in the story. Another useful way to make us laugh is called "Slapstick." When we see a one ton weight, thrown off a cliff and heading down towards our position on the ground, we laugh with the relief of seeing it flatten the coyote, instead of us. OK, we can now go to Tableau and have a better idea of why we think this is a fun adventure.


Arriving on the sim, we are in a desolate town, in the middle of a desert. We wonder if there are any people that live here, if so, why. A sim surround adds to the impression that we are in the middle of freakin' nowhere. If I was a child, growing up in this place and was asked, what would I like to be, when I grow up, the answer would be, "I'd like to BE.......any place but here."

 It seems that, to save a dwindling economy, the town created a tourist attraction, called "Dinosaur Park". The three dinosaurs are impressive in size, but lacking in realistic detail. Perhaps they were made from sheet metal, salvaged from the many vehicles found dead in the desert. The town budget couldn't afford a sign painter, but some old weathered boards and a black crayon let us know which way to go.

Down the road, we spot an earlier attempt to draw tourists. It is called Fun Time Park, but something evil has destroyed this place. At the mouth entry to the park, outside authorities have blocked entry, with signs saying Closed, Condemned, Quarantined and Infectious Virus Area. 

Sha is here for a story, not the rides, so, pulling out her Press Pass, walks boldly through the gate to the middle of the park. There is a black hole and signs of toxic waste. A Newser Press Pass will also shield you from harmful radiation. Sha marches straight into the black pit and drops into a glow in the dark, day-glo chamber.

Naturally, Sha loved the pretty lights, but wouldn't stay long, not having her Geiger counter or a sonic screwdriver in her pockets. One can't help but begin to think that this poor town is ripe for a take over by some crazy gang of hippies, ha, ha, he, he, ho, ho. Is there a secret gang, calling itself "SLUG," that is responsible for the tagging on the local walls?

Passing by a news stand, the headlines show that the residents are very concerned about the identity of SLUG and a dead lady, found inside one of the dinosaurs. Perhaps they should be more concerned with finding a way to remove the two giant, rusted atom bombs from their town, but maybe they are saving them to make some new dinosaurs.

So now, as we wrap up this tour, we count the hands of the readers that got their eyes poked, hair pulled out and pianos dropped on their heads. None? I guess you all had a fun adventure. We send it off to print and close the light for a rest. Hmmm, are bunnies supposed to glow in the dark?

 "Sha"