Bellydance Goddess Oasis

In the mood for something different? A little exotic? A lot of fun? Ever thought about trying bellydancing at a middle-eastern sim? The thought never occurred to me until I saw some bellydancing outfits on sale. Where would I use them? I checked some places and came across the Bellydance Goddess Oasis and Mall.

Landing Point at the Bellydance Goddess sim

At the landing point, there are magic carpet teleports to several sites around the sim -- each of them offering a unique visiting experience. There are two sets of locations. The Bellydance Goddess locations do not require middle-eastern dress, although it is strongly recommended. These locations include the Plaza, Market and Mall, the Kasbah Cafe, the Moroccan Riad, and the Moroccan Riad Interior Garden, the Dunes and Caves, the Goddess Realm Ballroom of Dreams, and the Sultan Beach Wildlife. The roleplay locations, Kingdom of Serpents, includes a game which can be played by following instructions from a notecard you can get from one of two chests at the landing point.

Goddess Realm Ballroom

At the Goddess Realm Ballroom, you can click on a bellydance ball, or, if you're there with a sultan, a couples ball and gyrate around a temple-like dance area in the clouds.

Sultan's Beach

Teleport to the Sultan's beach, and relax with friends or a special someone on the Sultan's lounge while watching the water and listening to a drumbeat (you can bellydance, too, with animations provided by touching some conveniently placed jar vases).

Near the Kasbah Cafe, you can board a flying carpet tour of the whole sim. The tour is narrated and can seat 3 people.

Originally posted in the blog, "Eye on the Grind"

First Travelogue Tour

I recently joined the CVL (Community Virtual Library) Travelogue group, a new group that will offer tours of a variety of Second Life places on a quarterly basis. Our first tour's theme was "Places to Play." We visited 3 locations: Chelsea's Diner and Bowling Alley; http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vitae/127/162/1503, and the Celestial Game Tower.

Chelsea's diner and bowling alley
1st stop on Travelogue Tour

At Chelsea's Diner and Bowling Alley, our guide, Aiyden Crystal, showed us around the diner and bowling alley that also featured a nice game room. The bowling alley has three lanes that can accomodate groups of 4 per team. He also showed us a bit of the Butterfly Kisses sim which is PG-rated. We saw the ice cream shop, and he pointed out some of the clothing and other stores that are on the sim, as well as a mini golf course. Everyone agreed this is a great place to go with friends.

Bumper Cars next to the Movies @ Vitae
2nd stop on Travelogue Tour

The next stop on the Travelogue tour was the Movies and bumper cars @ Vitae where I showed the group the theater that features a concession stand with popcorn and other goodies and shows full-length films. By clicking on the box in front of the screen and adjusting your media settings, you have your choice of shows. All directions are on a notecard, and you can even sync the movies for your friends to watch the same shows with you. Next to the theater is the bumper cars which temporarily rez at your command and disappear when you vacate them. Groups can have a lot of fun playing on these, and our group enjoyed a hands-on demonstration.

Celestial Game Tower
Final stop on Travelogue Tour

The last location visite was the Celestial Game Tower where owner, Sorina Garrigus, showed us an amazing collection of all types of SL games that can be purchased or played on-site. She said there are over 300 games on display!

The next set of tours will be of historical places, and I am looking forward to attending, if not leading the group this time. There are so many places to see in SL, so a group like the CVL Travelogue is one that can help introduce residents to those they have never visited before and may definitely want to explore further on their own.

Originally posted in "Rainbow Notes" blog

Touring Texas SL Style

Text and Photos by DULCIE MILLS
Machinima by CLARK
Originally published in RezLibris Magazine




The Texas Library Association in Second Life is currently sponsoring an exhibit called Virtual Texas. According to Valibrarian Gregg, Texas Librarian, the idea for the exhibit came about after she met Jacon Cortes, co-owner of the Antiquity Texas and Antiquity Tejas sims, at an ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) conference that had been held both in San Antonio, Texas, and in Second Life. “The Texas Library Association built an exhibit using his (Cortes’) Alamo façade as a backdrop,” Gregg said. The exhibit also includes SL universities that are in Texas, a few virtual books, and other historical and period items.
The Virtual Texas exhibit will run through April on Info Island and will then be featured at the Texas Library Convention in Austin. Gregg, along with Cortes, is conducting tours of the exhibit as well as the Antiquity Texas sim itself. The tours run for two hours and conclude with fireworks and dancing. There have been two tours and possibly a third will be given in April before the exhibit is taken down.
Antiquity Texas is a role-playing sim that is one of around 40 sims that are part of the Kingdom of Antiquity community of Victorian role-play sims, each of which is privately funded. Some other sims in this group include Antiquity Tejas, Antiquity London, Antiquity France, Antiquity New Europe, Antiquity Harbor, and Antiquity Prairie. Western, Victorian, or period dress is recommended for visitors to Antiquity Texas, and free outfits for men and women are available at the landing point where several tours around the sim originate, including an audio walking tour, horse-drawn buggy tour, and hot air balloon ride.

Describing how Antiquity Texas came about, Cortes explained that he, his rl brother, Tocho Cortes, and a business partner, Pixapao Xeno, had not originally planned on creating a historical sim. They initially wanted to expand their business, Los Texanos Beaux Arts, an ornate shop selling jewelry and other items that is the main shop currently on Antiquity. “When it came time to decide for a building to place our new shops in, we thought about what kind of building we wanted and where it would be located,” Cortes said. “We thought about different buildings, different themes, that would add to designs before we decided on the Texas Capitol Building. My brother and I, both being from Texas and very proud of our state and its history, convinced our partner on the Capitol. Pixapao, in turn, had a recommendation for a builder and we set off to recreate the Capitol. Once we had the Capitol built, I placed a rough Alamo next to the central plaza. Thus Antiquity Texas evolved.”

Besides the Capital and the Alamo, there are many places to see and visit on Antiquity Texas, including the Governor’s Mansion, Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loret, and the Port Isabel Lighthouse, to name a few. Cortes described the process of recreating historical details for the buildings: “The majority of buildings were built by Master Builder Powder Pinkenba. Powder has a fantastic eye for detail. He used original blueprints that we found on the Library of Congress website to plan and build the buildings. For the Capitol, my brother, mother, sister, and I drove to Austin to photograph the Capitol to use for the textures. As for the other buildings, we tried to make them as close to possible, in our minds, as the building looked like in the early 1800's. Using images from the Net, Powder would work to create realistic reproductions.”

“I think the reason the librarians got involved in this,” Gregg said, “is because Antiquity Texas is such a wonderful example of an immersive learning environment where one can actually enter an historical era. The TLA SL group is very appreciative of the hospitality shown by Jacon and Tocho Cortes.” Cortes added, “If somebody in real life who could not come to the Texas Capitol building or to the Alamo could come and visit and learn about Texas history in this sort of way, I think it’s good on all different kinds of fronts. It is the goal of Antiquity Texas, and Los Texanos, our group, to continue to build on our historical foundations and be able to offer a fun community of role-play to enjoy it in.”

Slurl to Virtual Texas Exhibit: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/61/94/23
Slurl to Antiquity, Texas: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Antiquity%20Texas/153/38/22

Links for Further Information on Texas and Historical Sites:

Alamo http://thealamo.org/main/index.php
Governor's Mansion and Texas Capitol http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/tspb.htm
Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loret http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=754&ResourceType=Building
Port Isabel Lighthouse http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/port_isabel_lighthouse/

West of Ireland

Nancy Blake's Pub, West of Ireland

Since it is so close to St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd explore an Irish sim, in particular the West of Ireland sim. I don't know what I was expecting. Perhaps some thatched cottages and green fields. The sim does have that, but it has a lot else. Of course, there's shops and a pub, a very popular one called Nancy Blakes.When I visited, they were celebrating Mardis gras, so I can just imagine what it will look like for St. Patrick's Day.

Art Gallery, West of Ireland

West of Ireland also has some horses and stables in a pretty glen, an art gallery, and a surfing beach. The surfing beach has some huge waves, and there are shops selling surfboards and other beach gear on the boardwalk. I also noticed a skydiving platform and, in the village, a free tarot parlor, both of which I intend to try when I visit again.

Village Tarot Parlor

A notecard I picked up on the sim gave some very interesting background: "The West of Ireland promotes Irish and Celtic culture within Second Life, while raising funds for Project Children and providing an entertaining environment for guests. These estates are owned by the South Texas Celtic Music Association and are collectively a recognised 501(c)3 nonprofit organisation with both the US government and Linden Labs. Project Children was started in 1975 as a way to bring Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland together. At the time the organization was founded, Northern Ireland was strewn with political strife and violence . . . At the West of Ireland, we host concerts, DJ dances, theme parties, and other events as a means of raising donations for Project Children."

Garden Maze

One other surprise I found at West of Ireland was a garden maze. There's a lm-giver by the art gallery to the maze, but you need to be farther from the maze to use it. The maze itself is quite lovely and, although I haven't tried it, I imagine it's tricky, too.

Also, for your information, the West of Ireland's library moved from this sim to Info Island and is now the Seanchai Library offering the same quality programs and storytelling as they have in the past.

Slurl to West of Ireland: http://slurl.com/secondlife/West%20of%20Ireland/15/69/22

Originally posted in "Eye of the Grind" blog

My Rockin Rez Day

I just turned 4 in Second Life yesterday, and I celebrated with some friends. We went to a bowling alley and then to a fifties-themed sim. We all dressed up in 50's clothes. It was a real blast.

Chelsea's Bowling Alley and Diner

The Chelsea's diner and bowling alley is on the Butterfly Kisses sim. Besides bowling, there are several other things to do both indoors and outdoors including a movie theater and mini golf course. The building that houses the bowling alley also has an arcade room and diner. The bowling alley has 3 lanes, and 4 people can be on a team. It's a little tricky to learn how to maneauver the ball in mouselook, but my friends seemed to catch on pretty quickly. I still need to practice, but I'd definitely recommend it as a fun night out.

Celebrating my Rerz Day with Friends at Runaround Sue's

Runaround Sue's is a great 50's themed sim with a full calendar of DJ music playing terrific oldies. The dance floor itself has some incredible dances from the twist to line dancing to just great Rock and Roll moves. There is even dancing inside the ice cream shop/diner that also sells some fifties clothes and hair. The rest of the sim is quite attractive with a lighthouse, lover's lane, and shops selling a variety of 50's items -- all with a laid-back summer feel. Posters of popular fifties personalities decorate the main walkway. It's the kind of place that's fun to visit anytime and is especially fun to go to with friends.

I enjoyed my rockin rez day and hope to go back to both places again.

Originally posted in "Rainbow Notes" blog