Palmwood City

by Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)

There’s no denying that I love the architecture, colors, and neon-vibe aesthetic of the 80s. I especially love the way malls of the era looked. There’s something about the wood grains, neon, off whites, etc. that bring me back to a much better time. It’s one of the reasons why I love Dan Bell’s Dead Mall series on YouTube and why I think that it’s awful that the mall I used to go to in my childhood got modernized with a bland remodel. There’s something very nostalgic about the feel and vibe of that era. When I first visited Palmwood, those nostalgic vibes came rushing back.

Palmwood is a thriving furry Second Life community themed around a “retrowave” city aesthetic. There are many private and commercial rental options available as well as clubs, a mall, roller rink, and a retro themed arcade named Joysticks. The founder, Jimmy Talon, was inspired by his nostalgia for the old arcades that he experienced growing up. He remembers “the chirping sounds and the neon carpets and the flashing colorful lights and classic rock and dance pop playing over the speakers. It was very nostalgic for me growing up in the early 90s. The 80s really clung around until about 94; even longer in the pre-internet midwest.”

When asked about how it all started; “So one day I got into a sandbox and wanted to see if I could recreate my old local arcade from memory. I made a little replica while listening to some old jams and then showed it off to a few friends for fun and they really enjoyed it.” He spent about a year tweaking it for functional use. Once finished, he rented a small plot of land. The first incarnation had a parking lot out front with old cars. It took about a week for things to gain traction but vaporwave was really starting to take off at the time so people started to find the place via keyword searches. “And then, before I knew it, we had 15-20 people packed into the arcade during peak hours, playing table games, listening to vaporwave and just goofing off and feeling nostalgic for the place. Pretty soon requests for new games and activities started rolling in. We added more machines, more table games, a bowling alley. . .so we needed more space!”

He bought a neighboring plot of land and joined them to solve the issue of space but the cost was more than he anticipated. “So I asked some friends if they wanted to take over some of the rent in exchange for some little houses and we got the idea to make the land look like a little town with an arcade in the center and. . .it just kind of escalated from there.” Pretty soon requests started coming in from people who wanted to rent a place and within a year they had built an entire RPG style town modeled after an old American community which featured a town hall, a park plaza, and a mall. Not long after that, a decision was made to remodel in order to appeal more to those who were fans of the vaporwave aesthetic. This lead to the creation of what is now Palmwood City today.

When asked what their current mission in Second Life is; “It’s really just about community I think. We never really set out to make a bunch of money or sell anything like merch or club life or anything too crazy. We’ve incorporated things into our goals mostly by request from the community because people feel kind of. . .attached to Palmwood.” He mentioned that their rentals are not even the most efficient or cost effective. However, the people who tend to rent there aren’t concerned with getting a good deal or having privacy. They tend to be more concerned with being a Palmwood citizen and love the idea of being part of a retrowave paradise city designed by furries. The sim functions more like a real functioning city with a sense of community rather than just another real estate sim.

As for the future of Palmwood, the founder is just seeing where it takes them. They pride themselves on listening to their community and fulfilling their wants and needs and making changes every once in awhile to keep things fresh. There is currently plenty of things to explore and do and plenty of people to meet there. “Everyone in our community is generally very welcoming and willing to show you around!” he says. So go to https://www.palmwoodcity.com/home and check them out!

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Odessa%20Plains/162/148/30

Cyfir

Aech's Basement in Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

The movie "Ready Player One" a few months ago attracted attention from users of Second Life as it's main characters went about a highly developed virtual world. Although the movie wasn't the big hit that was hoped for, it was still well liked by a number here. Recently, I found out about one build of a scene in the movie, "Aech's Basement," which was done by a fan, Orion (OR10NN Resident). high over the Foulds Cross sim.

To begin with, it was Will Burns (Aeonix Aeon) who does the Andromeda blog and builds inworld arcade machines who told me about the place. He explained he had done a search for "arcades," and noticed "Aech's Basement" on the list. Taking a look, he discovered the builder had been a customer of his, "Aech's Basement had a Joust machine."

Talking to Orion later, who called himself the "Head Hangout Guy" of the location, he had a few things to say. When asked where he got the idea to build the place, he told me, "Well, kind of a long story. .I was one of the 'book first, movie second' people. So obviously the basement was important to me cause of the significance it held in the book. And this being Second Life I figured there should be a place to go to hangout like the people did in the book. But when I searched there wasn't anything. So taking the references from the movie and scenes I had seen from the Sansar sim, I made this place, with a few of my own personal touches."

And what kind of personal touches? "Well, some of the posters....like Superman, Star Wars, Excalibur I added (which were references in book and movie). I also added the Superman symbol over the bar. The movie had a Swordfish, but I didn't see the point of it plus wasn't really my taste. I also added the 'Giant Robot' poster cause it was nice to reference the scale of them."

Of what he thought of the comparisons of Second Life to the movie, "Well I don't know Ernest Cline's background or inspirations, but I DO like to think that Second Life was his bases for the movie. No other system comes close to virtual gaming like he describes in the movie. Sure, the are other MMORPG's out there, but none that encompass everything like SL does. I think Sansar is probably the next evolution of that, but for now I still prefer and enjoy my Second Life. It's like Parzival said, 'where else can go and climb Mt. Everest, with Batman!" He chuckled.

When asked what else he made in Second Life, he answered, "been building in SL for years. I also made Flynn's Arcade, which is from the movie 'Tron.' I put in a teleporter at the top of the stairs of the basement to link the two. In case you haven't noticed I'm a bit of an 80's buff, which is probably why I was so attracted to the movie. (laughter) "

While we were talking, someone else dropped by. He complemented Orion on the build, and after some talk he eventually left. "Although I like people coming by," Orion spoke of the basement, "I did build it more for the long term nostalgia purposes. Hopefully it will also inspire more 'Ready Player One' creations in Second Life.  I would LOVE to see a sim based on Ludus, especially the hidden D and D quest. ... Ludus in the book was the first quest. I can understand for flow purpose why it was changed in the movie to a car race, which is why I would like to see it revived in SL. (It) was a great chapter."

There was one moving item in the room: the hoverboard from "Back to the Futire" just in front of the stairs, moving up and down a bit. Several feet away was a picture of a mirror in which the hoverboard on that was also moving up and down a bit. I asked Orion if that was hard to pull off. He answered, "Not really, reflecting the hoverboard by making a smaller on was easy. The hard part was reversing and sizing the picture of the room in the mirror. Especially if I decided to change something, I would have to go and remake it. (laughter)"

When asked what the most memorable reaction visitors had to Aech's Basement was, Orion told me it would be my request for an interview, "I was also asked by someone else if it would be around for a while as a RL teacher was going to bring her students online to this place, would be second most."

Orion concluded, "I would like to thank you and anyone else who has come by and appreciated not only the place, but the movie. Also, I expect The Basement will be here long term, as I have no plans of going anywhere *laughs* And I would also like to give a special thanks to Will Burns (aeonix.aeon) for providing the arcade games for not only The Basement, but also for Flynn's Arcade. They are quite amazing!"

Aech's Basement is located at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Foulds%20Cross/213/220/2500

Bixyl Shuftan

"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

NeverLand Valley - A Tribute to Michael Jackson

By Grey Lupindo

      I have attended many concerts by tribute bands in SL, but this was my first visit to a tribute sim.   Created by MICHAELjackson Follet, NeverLand Valley is devoted to honoring, remembering, and celebrating the best of Michael Jackson’s life.   It is located at NeverLand  (247,250,25).  This isn’t a new site, but it was new to me.

      The site is amazingly true to the RL Neverland Ranch that existed in Los Olivos, California from 1988, when Michael Jackson purchased it, until 2005.   During those years, the 2500 acre Neverland Ranch was Jackson’s home as well as a wonderland for visiting children.  There was a petting zoo, amusement park, two trains, and other attractions.  

        In the SL version MICHAELjackson Follet has recreated the amusement park, zoo, a train, a large home filled with Jackson memorabilia, and beautiful gardens.     Make sure your music is enabled when you visit.   While I was there I heard  "We are the World", "Things I Do for You", "Another Part of Me", "Bad", “You are My Lovely One”, “Dancing Machine”, and others.    

       There are reminders when you enter that this is a unique, memorial site.     A note states, “Neverland is my Home...I created Neverland as a home for me and sharing with others. (MJJ).   Respect each other and you are the most welcome.  Feel free to go around, play, enjoy or simply relax.  It's all for love.”    There is a reminder that visiting residents may experience different emotions when recalling Jackson’s memory, and visitors are urged to respect their privacy.  There were other residents there on the three occasions that I visited, but no one was chatting.   We each seemed to be content with remembering this special and talented man.    

        When you enter the gates you can pick up a free Smart Car to drive or you can walk on the stone walkway to the house.   The two-story house is huge, with a library, multiple sitting rooms, pianos, and many portraits of Michael Jackson on display.   Upstairs there is a bedroom with Shirley Temple photos and other children’s items.  In one of the offices there is a framed copy of a RL legal document relating to the Ranch hanging on the wall.    My only criticism is that I wish there had been a few notecards describing some of the items.   Everything is very interesting, but I left wanting to know more. 

          The gardens surrounding the house and open areas are beautiful.   There are bridges to cross and ducks and swans to watch.   Benches are available, too. 

           In the amusement park, MICHAELjackson Follet provides SL residents with many of the same type of rides that Michael Jackson owned.     There’s a Galleon swinging ride, the kind that always makes me sick in RL, a huge Ferris wheel, Merry-go-Round, Lollipop carousel, and a few more.   I rode these rides, and they are great.  

            Nearby there is a theatre, too.   In the entry are images of toys and characters from favorite children’s stories such as Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, ET, and Pinocchio.     In the theatre section there are plenty of comfortable seats.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get the video to play, which I’m sure was caused by my system limitations.        

        I was able to view many videos created by MICHAELjackson Follet on his website, http://mjfollet.com/Neverland.html.   My favorite video is the one located on this first page.  Entitled “Forever Neverland”, it shows images of both the SL site and RL photos of Michael Jackson.   While the images are shown, Michael Jackson sings “Have you Seen My Childhood?” and “Smile”.   Although I only know a little about the abuse and loneliness he experienced as a child performer, I found the video to be very moving. 

          Next to the amusement park is the zoo, found at NeverLand (52, 96, 22).  As you walk toward it, moneys wave and birds fly by.  Be sure to approach the animals slowly so that they have time to become animated.   Touch them to hear their sounds.     Michael Jackson would have loved the SL version of his zoo.  There are no cages, and while the lions and tigers growl, they don't bite.

         Another amazing thing about NeverLand is that everything here is free.   There are no tip jars and almost nothing is sold here.   Inside a building located in the amusement park there are a few children’s items that appeared to be for sale, but they are discretely hidden away.      All of the rides, cotton candy, and other items are free.   

      The site and its members do support a RL charity in Haiti.   Tucked against one side of the sim, at NeverLand (142,247,26),  is a display where donations for “Haiti’s Children” are accepted.   There is a picture of Mideau Pierre, a child that is being supported by Neverland Friends and donations from other SL residents.    They have been supporting him since 2010.   At the time of my visit, they had collected  $44,169L in the donation box located there. 

     SL NeverLand Valley is a unique site that honors and celebrates the life of one of the most talented musicians of our time.

Grey Lupindo

 Editor's Note: Following the death of Michael Jackson, a number of tributes were created in his honor, one of which was featured in Second Life Newsepaper. Neverland might have been among them, but most of the others are gone. As for the real life Neverland Ranch, it was sold in 2008 due to Michael Jackson being deep in debt, and fell into disrepair following his death. Recently there was a partial restoration with what was left of the amusement park rides replaced with a zen garden.