More SL14B Exhibits

By Bixyl Shuftan

At Midnight on Sunday June 25, the official events of the Second Life Birthday came to a close. But the sims remain up for another week. So people have more time to see the exhibits.And here are a few more examples of what we found.

One from my old friends, 10 and Marcthur Goosson was their Watermill Cottage.

 The cottage was very well designed, and is among their goods for sale.

The exhibit by M and M Creations is at SL14B Wonderous (26/233/22)

These glowing weeping willows looked pretty at night.

 The Global Online Hockey Association exhibit

 This exhibit had a lot of anime pictures.

 The Confederation of Democratic Simulators exhibit.

Sometimes called the CDS, the Confederation bills itself as Second Life's longest functioning representative democracy (old SL wiki, CDS blog).

An exhibit called "Mischievous Subversion."

"to the carnivalesquq protest. Where authority is playfully mocked and subverted. Where mischievous roleplaying promotes dialogue and laughter."

The Berlin 1920s Project exhibit.

About once a day, Jo Yardley, the owner of the Project, would hold a "happy hour" at the exhibit.

 I asked Jo Yardley about the "Come As You Were" party in which she attended, saying I had documented some pictures and dialogue. Her response was, "I deny everything." "Heh, so you deny setting a trap for Torley Linden?" I asked. Jo had a chuckle, "Ha, no I do not deny that. Torley put it in his own flickr, hehehe. ... It was more Torley bait though, I didn't lock him in a cage" One supporter commented, "Frau Yardley doesn't need traps - she faces everything head on!" Jo commented, "We trap people in Berlin, but not with traps. We just lure them and then make them want to stay. ... Can't get rid of Berliners, I try." "Kill us with kindness and cheap bier!" another supporter commented.

That's it for now of the SL14B exhibits. We'll try to have some more pictures up soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Journeys Across the SL14B: Resident Exhibits at Electrify

There's much to see at the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday. Earlier, I mentioned the welcome area of Dragon Mountain and the stages. But "The Birthday" is more than that. There's also the resident-built exhibits. The Newser has it's own, built by Silvia Ametza in SL14B Electrify. But there's many many more.

In the middle of the sim was it's art exhibit, the Pinwheel, by Mac Kanashimi, "Sixteen pinwheels of 125 equally shaped triangles tile the 64 x 64 x 0.5 meter parcel, displaying a continuously changing color pattern of 4 pictures."

Just north of the Newser exhibit was the one from the Second Life Coast Guard.

 There was a merry-go-round with Coast Guard craft in miniture, instead of horses.

"Find your own rank" had people going up behind pictures of various uniforms, with a hole where the face would be, people inviting to stick their heard out. But sometimes the results were amusing, "you look good in a skirt."

You never knew who you might meet walking around, maybe a Linden, a unicorn, or both.

Nearby was the "Weltenville Alien Sideshow of Earth Oddities" by NorTonJohn Hellman.

This alien spacecraft was showing off items as aliens might see them, such as farm animals,
"Abducted 1950-2017. Traits: used mainly as food or transportation, smelly." Or various captive humans, such as a biker, "Abducted 2015 near Roswell NM. Traits: aggressive, travel in packs on loud craft."

 Also nearby was the Second Life Surfing Association's exhibit.

There were fun things to do there, such as rides and a dunk tank.

There was the "Rocket-Go-Round" by the National Space Society.

Further away, there was an exhibit that was a game that was running on automatic between AI, made by Alisha Ultsch, "This is a game called Romanov Go, loosely based on the Chinese game Go.  Eighteen potential debutantes to the court line up in full Russian Court gowns with long trains each supported by six maids.  Each girl in turn may make a move which can be either a walk 2 metres forward or a turn to face left or right.  However turning completely around 180 degrees is not permitted because of your heavy train holding you back.  The order in which the girls move is chosen at random at the start of the game and remains the same throughout.

"The idea of the game is to surround the other girls so that they cannot move on their turn.  If this happens they lose a pair of maids who kneel down where they are and block that square from then on.  Once a girl has no maids left she herself will next have to kneel down to add to the blockages forming all over the playing area."

There was the "Newspaoer Factory" by Jazsintha Resident.

Jazsintha was encouraging residents to make publications of their own communities. When I ran into her, she requested, and got, an SL Newser newspaper stand.

The tallest structure in the sim was the "Radio Waves" tower.

 One fun exhibit was Luna Bay Community's.

 There was a video arcade with games, though to play them you needed the latest version of Flash.

But the main attraction was their roller coaster ride.

RacerX Gullwing's exhibit for the Giant Snail Races.

This one by the Fun Amusement Group gives people a number of landmarks of fun-themed locations, the group is open to all to join, and had announcements for a number of places.

Water World had an above ground pier walkway.

And there was water one could go into, free diving suit provided.

There were many other exhibits at the sim, and of course there are the ones from the other sims. So stay tuned for more about the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday celebration.

Bixyl Shuftan

Journeys Across the SL14B: Dragon Island and the Stages

By Bixyl Shuftan

From Sunday June 18 to Sunday June 25, the main event to celebrate Second Life's fourteenth anniversary, the Second Life Fourteenth Birthday, also known as the SL14B, is taking place. The event has had it's drawbacks, notably the lag caused by all those avatars dropping in (and whatever they're carrying) which drives some residents to visit only after Midnight, or the few days after the official closing in which the sims are left up. And some communities don't bother with exhibits, either to concentrate on the Relay for Life or for some other reason.

But despite the troubles "The Birthday" has always been popular. When Linden Lab announced in 2012 that they would no longer be organizing another Second Life Birthday event, following the initial shock some residents stepped forward to try and organize one of their own, and have continued to do so since to this fifth resident-run SLB event in a row (SL3B was organized by the residents but the Lab contributed several sims).

There was too much to see everything in the first few days, but I could get some peeks around.

 The official entrance is at SL14B Impressive (96/122/80), which is called Dragon Mountain."Here Be Dragons," says the sign, and there certainly are.

There's one dragon standing atop the mountain, breathing fire.

There are also flyable dragons you can hop on and ride.

The mountain had a welcome center.

 And inside one could find teleports to various places on the SLB grounds.

 Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

The SL12B had a noted train build. The train for this one however was off the rails.

And the mountain had a balloon one could get on.

However, it landed on the road where the air bag vanished and the basket turned into a pod.

Leaving me to go about the exhibits.

 On Press Day, I had some trouble getting in. But it was taken care of by Doc Gascoigne. I waited a while for a tour, as every year before there had been one. But when I finally asked, I was told there would be none, later told that from their point of view the writers and bloggers had been going their own way rather than take one. But Treacle Darlandes

 The biggest structure at the Birthday grounds is the Cake Stage. Once again, it has been designed and made by Mikati Slade. She has been the "Baker" four times in the past six years.

 As a build, "The Cake" is massive, taking up four sims.

The build looked different in ways from Mikati's previous stages, but still retained her style.

 "I think more each year, it looks really fab," Terrace commented.

The reason the Cake Stage is so big is so that larger numbers of people can listen to a single performer in the four corners where the sims meet.

In theory, over thirty can dance in each sim for an audience of over 120.

Treacle next took me to the Live Stage at , SL14 Incredible, "I like this build its quite an urban feel."

There were some people nearby who soon came out on stage.

Treacle told me, "These nice folks are stage staff and greeters."

I also noticed some "soap bubbles" which floated around, and were still around when I checked the place later during events.

Next she took me to the DJ Stage, in SL14B Astonish. It resembled a fancy top hat.

Getting up there meant going up a ribbon, of which where you stepped a hexagon would briefly glow, leaving a trail as you went up.

 Near the stage were a few small amusement part attractions.

I would later drop by here during an event (note, my appearance then was due to a Relay "Bid Me" event).

 Next was "Stage Left" at SL14 Stupendous and Mesmerize.

 This enormous build resembles a Chinese lion sculpture, though with three heads, which move around, and occasionally puff smoke. It was build by Faust Steamer, "This is the 3rd year this builder has been at SLB I think. or maybe four."

It's a little unnerving when one looks down at you, as if contemplating having you for lunch, in a bad way.

There was quite a bit of detail.

Sitting on top of the lion is the stage.

Which was where the parties were held, the performers just in front of the curtain in the back.

That's it for now from the SL14B. Stay tuned for more pictures, of the "Max Mystery Land," the resident exhibits, and more.

Bixyl Shuftan