Mardi Gras at Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

by Gemma Cleanslate

The parade is running and Jazz is playing but only until February 16! It’s Mardi Gras! People line the Bourbon Street in  New Orleans to watch the parade as it rolls by, dancing and cheering .

 FrannyDJ has opened the party so make sure you get there. This is an annual event here in Second Life and is one of the best celebrations of rl where one can join in with no worries.  Hop on a float and wave and dance for the fans. The entire parade lasts 1 1/2 hours from beginning to end and has 103 floats .  Look up too so you don’t miss the big balloons passing overhead, some of which you can ride on.

Stop at the French Jazz Club or the Burlesque Club on Bourbon Street and check out the Mardi Gras Museum near by . If you join the group Fame you will get notices of parties on the Riverboat Parties Restaurant held often. The Voodoo Shop  and  the Magic shop too is filled with freebies so do not miss those. Masks and beads and feathers await you.

Take a walk through the park to get over to the Carnival where games and rides are all working. If you have time take a walk along the back streets where there are lovely homes like those you would see on a walk around New Orleans. The culture there is so charming and vibrant .Remember to grab a piece of King Cake when you get there at the entrance. It is good to plan several trips to enjoy everything that is offered there. I did. Bring friends!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colossus/55/176/1163

Gemma Cleanslate

Baja Cove

By Bixyl Shuftan

While 2020 was a year full of anxiety for many Second Life residents, it ended on a sad note for the residents of a place called Baja Cove. One of the people whom rented there told me on December 31, it was about to be closed.

"Baja Cove is shutting down cause Covid19 lost the sim owner her job," she told me, "I lost my private getaway. It was a beautiful New Jersey-like beach." She would tell me she once rented a beach house in the area.

The owner of the estates, Lauren Bentham, had announced the closing.

It is with a very heavy heart for me to say that due to personal rl issues I am needing to close down my Baja Rental Sims effective immediately.

It breaks my heart to do so with so many loyal renters over the years but I am faced with no choice,  I love you all and am very thankful for the fun years I have had creating and owning the Baja rental sims, I have no money to sustain the sims and no money to offer refunds to anyone I am so sorry about that. I will not discuss this any further it would hurt far to much.

Love and Best wishes to each and every one of you, keep safe and look after each other,

Checking the map, the area consisted of four sims: Baja Cove, Baja Bay, Baja Norte, and Baja Isles. They were all residential sims. A fifth sim, Baja Coast, was non-residential and not renting out to people, though people could still head there and walk around. 

When I decided to visit the following day, I found only Baja Coast was accessible. The others were closed to me. Arriving at Coast, the entry area had some landmark givers to the other sims, and a lot of picturesque scenery. 

The land was all sand dunes with the water never far away, with beach grass and palm trees. 

There were also shacks, fencing, and walkways that looked weathered a bit by the salt water. 

There were a couple old boats that had beached and were abandoned.

There were also a few rusty abandoned cars. 

There was also an abandoned amusement park. 

One thing that got my attention was a sign, "Baja Coast Welcomes You," made to look like the sign of the resort down in the "Jaws" movie. 

There was also a still-working lighthouse.

January was a busier month than expected. So I delayed writing about Baja Cove. After a few weeks, I decided to see if Baja Coast was still around. As it turns out, it is, but changed. The place has been given a makeover so people can rent in the sim. In place of the landmark givers to the now gone Baja sims there were others for other places of the owner, Bentham Manor, Arranmore, Everwinter, and Rosewood Hills. As of the writing of this article, all available places have been rented out. But while it's still the same rustic beach atmosphere, much of what was is gone, such as the amusement part and lighthouse.

More pictures can be seen on the Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/groups/baja_norte_official/

Bixyl Shuftan

Moya, The Artist and Location

 
By Gemma Cleanslate

When I was serving as Ranger back at the Burn2 I visited a parcel that was giving away gifts of art. I took the art home and looked at it an wondered who was the creator? I met the artist who was amusing to talk to and became interested in learning more about him.

I came to find out from my friend Lee1 Olson, a fellow Ranger that this artist is most famous in his homeland France. The artist is known here in Second Life as Patrick Moya ( Moya Janus) and variations of that name. He is really one of the most interesting people I have met in SL in a while.

Lee1 has a whole section of his huge museum,  filled with works from Moya that I visited . The works are fun and engaging. I decided to go to see Moya’s own Second Life museum on his recommendation. This museum covers several regions showing  his art here that he has brought in from real-life and created here in real-life also. Amazing stuff! It took Moya Janus 11 years to build up his museum, starting with a floor plan. Moya owns four islands, about 256000m2

What fun we had visiting. My fellow reporter, kayly iali (Kayly Iali), who is also an artist, and I made an appointment for a tour. Moya came himself and took us for a tour in one of his cute cars. and Kamerina (Kamerina Kamala) came along with us.  We went first to a model of  his latest real-life exhibit which was like a curiosity cabinet that he painted in 20 days . Sadly the real life exhibit had to close because of covid 19. But here it is in Second Life though!

 

 We then visited the models of his first works back in 1975. “From 1974 to 1977 Patrick Moya theorizes the consequences of television images on art. He thinks that when the artist is alive the creature hides the creator.” Moya Janus attended the Villa Arson in Nice. The Villa Arson is an art school devoted to contemporary art in France. When Moya discovered Second Life, he realized it had potential to realize his dream. Since he worked in so many different mediums, he is able to show all of his works in its entirety. He believes that Second Life will allow artist avatars to create comprehensive works that will survive their creator.When asked who were his influences were  his answer was “I have none....  me and my name.” 

I came to realize that Moya is his art and his art is Moya. Moya loves dolly the first cloned sheep and she is everywhere.

He calls his works the opposite of pop art but using the same methods. He is an original. It is obvious in his eclectic works  in so many forms, paintings, sculpture, pottery, .His attitude toward Second Life is that it is a place to prepare more art for the future  and gives him a place to work expressing himself using many forms available.Kayly asked if he did all his painting in real life and then brought it to Second Life. He does, and  thinks how can he use it in SL when he brings it here . Second life has given him an extension of his life works . Moya also has a section on his region near his museum for anti-Moya. The anti-Moya avatars are 2D figures who are protesting the 3D avatars of Moya  who has created an area of 3D avatars that he scripted. I had the nerve to enter and check out the area.!

He does much live painting in real life in museums , many in as little as 40 minutes.His works are used by towns for festivals. Now that Covid has stopped these activities temporarily second life gives him an outlet to perhaps prepare for real life presentations when they are possible again. It is easy to see he is much loved in his homeland, France, and popular in other countries in Europe, and Asia.  Check out his  website that show so many past exhibits everywhere .

To see his museum it will take days, weeks maybe since you will have four regions of art in so many forms to wander through and experience. There is a marvelous teleport center where one can pick and choose which part of the museum they would like to visit that day .. some samples, Ceramics, Fashion, Street art, special exhibits of real life art such as his exhibit in Korea, The Hospital, his real-life  home,
( where or when or how he sleeps I have no idea),  and so much more. He told me that I would be writing ten pages to cover it all and he is right!  I will let you discover all that I did not write about. The tp center is here :  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moya/118/108/22

I bet if you want a personal tour it will not be hard to get Moya to take you all around, just ask. You can find free cars to rezz if you like. I did see some construction going on in case you find that a TP might not work or looks different than you expected. 

If you would like to watch the curiosities cabinet being created in real life you can see it all here. 

 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeb8Lp4FeDE&feature=youtu.be

 His website,,,  http://www.moyapatrick.com/

Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/PatrickMoya/featured

*Waves*: Kayly Iali

Gemma Cleanslate

Goings On In Bellisseria

 
By Gemma Cleanslate

There have been some other happenings on the Bellisseria continent besides the holiday parties. 

The Bureau of Burocracy has moved again to one of the new stilt homes that opened in December. It is a perfect setting for the office which needs room for applicants getting licenses, registrations and passports. I dropped in to visit and found four in line with plenty of room. The onsite manager , Bel (Jezebel Bailey) was there helping out the applicants. She lives nearby in another stilt home so just walks over to the office though mentioned getting a row boat.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lorelei/218/77/24

The second new venue I dropped in on is the new Riverside Bowling alley. This is an addition to the many fun places to visit on the continent which is growing by the week.  

'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu) , who has many fun activities going on placed the game on a houseboat . I did not have time to try a game yet but will. Bowling has been a favorite game for years!  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Esper/100/172/22

I also stopped over at the Bellisseria Citizen’s Group Headquarters to check what is new. The Group is a wonderful group for chat and help to residents all over the continent, old and new. There is also a table with many free gifts for residents. I stop over once in a while to find out what has been added by other residents. This time I picked up two items.. a new jeep type vehicle and a train engine hauling cars filled with necessities.    

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morning%20Dew/146/88/54

I made several party stops the last day of the year. The first was to my friend, Jardinalexis NY Pemier Business Center where the crowd was huge and having a great time. I picked up a great 2021 top hat there .

One was to the Windlight Magazine  party where John.(Johannes Huntsman).. was hosting a big bash. Strawberry Linden and Alexa Linden were in attendance. 

One was to the Windlight Magazine  party where John.(Johannes Huntsman).. was hosting a big bash. Strawberry Linden and Alexa Linden were in attendance. The decor was lovely and the music great. There was a huge crowd coming and going to say goodbye to the old year

My last visit of the year was to the last New Year Eve party at the Fairgrounds of Bellisseria . It was a beach party based on one held every year in Rio, Brazil.

The music and decor were themed on  that yearly celebration. The host and DJ, Bela Tolson who sponsored  the party. had us all dressed in white as is the custom in Rio.

At midnight there is a huge fireworks display at the beach and duplicated here and it was spectacular! (The Rio party was cancelled this year as so many around the world were). That was the last party of the year being tossed aside with hopes for a better tomorrow for us all.

Gemma Cleanslate

Christmas Places: Rebel Yell and Christmas Town

By Gemma Cleanslate

CHRISTMAS IN SANTA'S HOMETOWN Rovaniemi Lapland

Christmas at Rebel Yell is always special because of the depth of decoration and the many activities available to all visitors. Skating, snowboarding,skiing, sledding... take your pick, If it too cold outside you can go bowling or play pinball.

This year they have a marvelous display of the hometown of Santa, Rovaniem in Lapland. Read the history at the entrance. 

Santa is there and is so proud of his home he is showing it off in so many ways.

He is driving couples around in a sleigh, having dinner with people, listening to their wishes , supervising his elves at the workshop and doing a wonderful job!

I even found him having a happy dance on top of his train.
He has set up horses for riding with your honey, or alone. I found a fishing hole and sat for a while trying to catch something to no avail but it was fun.

The Gingerbread Bakery is filled with goodies and I had to stop for some roasted chestnuts on my walk through the village. 

There were many visitors wandering the town and nearby woods on horseback checking out all the venues  . Go visit! 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/REBEL%20YELL%20HEADQUARTERS/81/102/25

After that visit I stopped at the Holly Jolly Cafe at the Christmas Expo  for a live show   DaliLu  (DaliLuuDj)  and group singing. She has a lovely delicate soprano voice that charmed the audience. It is great to see the good that the Expo does every year for the ACS and this year was no exception.

Well it was a bit later than other openings however Laura Liberty got it done. I was so happy to see Christmas Town come to life again. This venue has everything! There are shops where you can pick up anything you have forgotten for decor, numerous outfits for any party, and much more. One thing I always like to visit is the New Years Eve shop. Check out all the decor you need and food and drinks , of course , Champagne .

This year there is a new item I think, unless I missed it last year... Jigsaw puzzles you can buy and actually make own photos into a puzzle~! The old make your own card is still available to work with and take home. There are spots around the lovely ice lake where you can just sit , relax by the fire and watch the skating. There is also a scary sled ride if you have the nerve. Look for the underground entrance and good luck!

Skating here is so much fun. The ice is delightful and one can use the skate balls or  your own AO. The best part is entering the magnificent Castle. This is an experience you must not miss.The ride through is a guided tour that takes you back in time to all the favorite old and newer Christmas movies beloved by all. I am happy to be reminded of those not to miss again on TV.

There is a music attachment to use while skating through. I love it!

Hopefully Santa will be there and you can get a picture before you leave.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Belle%20Vie/115/215/149

Gemma Cleanslate