Scenes From the Texas Furry Fiesta

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

From Friday March 26 to Sunday March 28, the Texas Furry Fiesta took place in Second Life, and a few other places online. Much like with the Gen Con last year, the decision to make the event virtual was because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

The TFF however would have a smaller designated area in the virtual world than Gen Con last year. The location was in the Crimson sim, the lower area next to the beach with the sounds of waves coming ashore.

There was a freebie "store" with a small selection of free avatars. They were quite dated, but better than nothing. I didn't see any Wingless avatars, but was later told they weren't put up as there was only so much room. 

Clicking on a crystal would teleport one up to the upper level, a beach park area. The main feature was a two story building with a flat roof. 

There wasn't much on the first floor, though there was a request to donate to charity.

The second floor had a small dance floor.

The top floor had some seating and a "Cards Against Humanity" game.

Near the building were a couple other games, and a screen people could watch one of the streamed channels.

There was also a display for pages of the website.

A few people were dropping by early to check things out.

The event also had places in VR Chat and Minecraft. I checked out the latter.

There was a hotel made of bricks, where players appeared. 

With the inside detailed. There were also water elevators one could flow up in.

Outside the hotel, there were various plots, where people with permission could build something.

Taking a look after the con was over, build they did.

Friday March 26 was the official start of the 'con. Much of it was on Discord with streamed channels. But there was activity in Second Life. I ran into Shelby Allen, one of the TFF staff.

Shelby explained things were going smoothly, and showed me around a little. There were a few others around, including some whom hadn't been around in a while.

There was one thing I hadn't seen in a while. There was a group of Yinglet avatars around, the largest since the release party in Montecito Bay.

When I mentioned this to one of them, she smiled, "Obviously, you haven't been looking in zhe right places."

Later that night, the "Cards Against Humanity" (or furanity?) proved to be a hit. 

And some fun conversations.

Saturday March 27, I saw something I hadn't seen in almost 12 years. This was one of the limited edition Lost Furest kitty avatars sold with all proceeds going to the Relay for Life. While I had gotten the Hope Kitty, I forget which one this was. 

There was more activity at the top of the building.

Someone showed up in a petite avatar, looking small.

And someone changed to a six-inch Lomtech from Lomgren Smalls, at six inches, looking smaller.

While it might not have been a real-life convention, there was plenty to do. Besides VR Chat and Minecraft, some were playing video games over Twitch. And on some Discord channels there were discussions and music playing.  I listened to a few minutes of those, but not a lot. This was partially due to the instant messages I was getting, and partially because with my experience with cons, I've found it best to relax and not worry about doing too much.

On Sunday came a message from HR Fluffenstuff over Discord, "Thank you for joining us for TFF's 2021 Virtual Con the discord Server will be taken down on 04-02-2021.  We will be looking at rebuilding it properly with the feedback we got from our attendees. Our social media team will announce when and where it will be hosted when we are able. 

"Thank you again for joining us and we hope to see you at the 2022 Live con!"

One friend of mine who attended commented the experience was so involving, he ended up getting post-con blues. Others on Discord posted they liked it as well, "(I) really enjoyed what I have seen of TFF and got to connect with people I would never be able to talk to." "I have enjoyed this Virtual convention experience very much. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen.  It is normally next to impossible for me to get time off work to travel, so Virtual is the only way I have been able to experience any type of furry convention in a long, long time.  I hope that you will be able to consider having a virtual presence going forward. Not just for me, but for others who have difficulty traveling, including those who have disabilities, or who are otherwise home-bound."

What happens next year is still to be determined. But hopefully there will be some kind of presence by the Texas Furry Fiesta in Second Life next year, either their own area or cooperating with one or more furry areas.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Luskwood and Trotsdale's Anniversary Celebrations

By Bixyl Shuftan

Luskwood is the oldest known furry community in Second Life, probably the oldest community still around. It was founded in September 2003, just a few months after the virtual world was officially opened. They've been pioneers in many ways, including the first line of furry avatars, and the founders and been around longer than practically all of the Lindens. Trotsdale is Second Life's best known and largest pony community, fans of the "My Little Pony" cartoon. The community's current sims came about in September 2011 shortly after the collapse of the original ones. Luskwood has celebrated its anniversary in October, and beginning last year Trotsdale began having it's anniversary at the same time.

LW14B/TD6B/DL5B Celebration
It's anniversary time!
Luskwood has been around 14 years!
Oldest community in Second Life.
Trotsdale is having its 6th anniversary and Derpyland their 5th as the oldest running Pony Sims.

On Saturday October 21, both communities had their anniversary events. Like last year, Trotsdale would go first. But instead of one hour of music, the ponies had four. Derpyland, one of the other pony sims, used to celebrate it's own anniversary up to it's fourth a year ago. But it was decided this year to combine their efforts and expand the Trotsdale event. At 12 Noon SL time, DJ Cassandra started up the music, and it was party time on a disco dance floor that a distance away was obscured a bit by a Halloweenish dark mist.

Contrary to what one might expect, there was little music from the cartoons. Instead there was trance, 80s rock, and other kinds of tunes. There was a 'sploder in the room. Unlike most around Second Life, no one had to contribute a Linden to it to be eligible for a prize, so it was a few free Linden dollars given out to several residents every time it went off about every ten minutes. There was no tip jar next to the DJ booth. If anyone wanted to pay a tip, it was suggested they instead put a few Lindens into the sim payment fund board nearby. Later in the Trotsdale events, there was a "Caption This" game in which people were invited to make up captions to various pictures.

There were a number of people I recognized. Some I knew from Luskwood, such as Death Berger, and the popular Michi Lumin. Michi wasn't in the black stovepipe hat with goggles and black pants with purple suspenders I had kept seeing her in, but a burgundy dress and her hair dyed a shade of burgundy as well. During the event, she would briefly change to a pony form which had a smaller version of the hat. One person I recognized from a year earlier at Luskwood was Tiger Kitchensink, or "Pumpkin Spice Soprano" as she calls herself now. Some neighbors of mine from the Sunweaver/Angel Estates, such as Skylark Lefavre, were also there.

At 1PM, Cassandra handed the DJ booth to DC (Death Berger) to play for an hour. At 2PM, DJ Crayzee spun the tunes until 3PM. Finally came DJ Cera, who played for the last scheduled hour. As Cera played her last tune, people began heading over to Luskwood for it's events. Once the hour was up, Skylark offered to DJ for those who remained behind, and the ponies were happy to let her play some music for a little while longer.

The Luskwood half of the celebrations that day, the LW14B, began at the Retroskunk Cafe, located in northern Tehama southeast of the Lusk sim, at 4PM SL time. Shannon O'Herlihy was the singer at this event at the open-air venue, which had some fallen autumn leaves on the wood deck, on which a mix of furs, ponies, and human avatars listened to. Mounted to the side was a poster of the event, the Luskwood symbol in grey in the middle of a triangle with some lines from a document of some kind, some words blacked out, and stamped "Classified" in onr corner. In this conspiracy/secrecy theme, some had taglines such as Michi's "Double Agent," and Shannon was refered to in one or two of Luskwood's announcements as "Agent 0014."

We're very lucky to once again have Shannon O'Herlihy performing for the Luskwood birthday celebration! Shannon will be onstage performing her gorgeous music at the RetroSkunk Cafe in Tehama (landmark included) from 4-5 PM SLT today, to be followed by Keeba Tammas at the Amphitheater at 5.

Shannon sang for a while, then at 5PM the people headed over to the Luskwood Amphitheater in Perry. This location would see the most of the celebration time, two hours. From 5 to 6PM, Keeba Tammas and her Tiny Maniacs played for the crowd. This live band of a human and several tinies got cheers from the crowd, "My face is hurting from smiling too hard.  I love this!" "~*~ W00T!! It's KEEBA! W00t! W00T! KEEEEEBAAAAA!!!~*~" Some of the tinies were in costume, including a ghost, skeleton, "rattle dose bones!", and vamp. Keeba herself was wearing a "Bride of Frankenstein" hairdoo and a bloodied dress.

When the act was over, they got off stage and the tinies did a "tiny riverdance," with the sounds of stepping feet. Someone wasn't so sure if the structure could take even their small feet, "I'm not sure this balcony can handle riverdancing." But after the footwork, there was something missing, "Ohoh morton, someone stole your blue suede shoe." "Look, they gone." "We hafta buy him sum new wuns."

Woot, we're playing at 6pm for Luskwood's 14th birthday, and Trotsdale's 6th!  It's a bit laggy due to all the folks but hope you can make it.

At 6PM, the live music duo Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe got on stage. But they weren't in their usual feline and amphibian avatars. Instead, they looked like shaggy monsters, Jaycat the pianist as a white creature, and Frogg the guitarist as a black one with a huge mouth that looked more like he was eating the guitar than playing it: Specimens E92 and E30. "I am doing things for SCENICE!" Jaycatt tried to explain. Frogg responds, "No, things are being done TO you for SCIENCE!" "They said I'd get a cookie," Jaycat stated as his reason for volunteering, "when the testing starts, I hopes there is no needles."

Keeba, who was still around and listening, exclaimed, "no one said there would be testing! I was told there would be no math!" Michi gave an uncharacteristically sinister laugh, "Just a little pin prick. Keeba. there'll be no more... aaaa-aa-aah." "You can't test on my band! NO ANIMAL TESTING!" But not all of the tinies were alarmed, "Wot awesome monster up dere." Despite their very different forms, Jaycatt and Frogg would go on to play the good music they're known for.

At 7PM, it was time for the last act of the celebration. The crowd headed to a "Restricted Area" somewhere in Perry. The place was a mock-up of the legendary "Area 51" government facility that the authorities continue to refuse to acknowledge whether it exists or not. Nearby was a flying saucer abducting a cow and a smaller building in which an alien was on an examination table. There were a few other aliens about, including one next to a "take me with you" sign wearing a tinfoil hat. And there were "No Trespassing" and "Photography Prohibited" signs which were ignored by the crowd.

Haley Maruti, the busty squirrelgirl DJ, spun the tunes for the event, next to an alien with his own DJ headphones, "Dig through the ditches and burn all the witches and eat a big bowl of Count Chocula!" The floor was packed, and occasionally a 'sploder like the one for the Trotsdale parties would rain down a few Lindens on a few partiers. There was also a bomb, presumably defused, hanging from the ceiling. Behind the DJ booth was a mounted shark's head, not something normally associated with a military facility.

Besides Michi, Liam Roark was there, but he was becoming less active due to sleepiness. Others I recognized included Hagalaz Nilsson, Fury Rosewood, Tengu Yamabushi, and Ardy Lay. Cynthia Farshore, a friend of the Newser, came by, "Just left another place that was steampunk having a 7th annual Halloween ball, and (it) had half the size of this. ... Glad I made it here to see this first hand, was really busy tonight, first DJed a club, then ran over to another to dance, then drop in here" People danced to the music, chatted about things like what happened to the Munsters, or looked at photos of Luskwood's early years on the back wall.

The event had no set ending time, but as it went on and on, people began heading to bed. Eventually, Halley had to hang up her headphones, "Gonna need to pass out soon, but goodness this was a fun time tonight." Michi kept up the music a little longer. But unlike some previous anniversary celebrations, she couldn't stay up past Midnight. Well before that time, she told everyone she had to log off, saying she had to make a trip tomorrow. And with the popular but tired skunkgirl gone, the crowd soon dwindled to a few. The party was pretty much over.

But for those who missed the event, don't fret too much. Luskwook is sure to have some goings-on at Halloween. And next year marks Luskwood's fifteenth anniversary  And Second Life's oldest community will have it's pride on the line to make their celebration grander than ever.

"Happy Birthday Luskwood!"

Bixyl Shuftan

The Furry Fashion Halloween Hunt for 2016

By Bixyl Shuftan

Like may of her customers, Amethyst Crystal, the owner of Furry Fashion, has a great love for Halloween. So for weeks she and her staff have been working on a special Halloween area: The 2016 Furry Fashion Halloween Hunt: The Drageth School of Magic."

"Our take on our own version of a magic school," Amethyst called the place, "I'm a big fan of fantasy and magic. I have the Harry Potter books on audio, I listen to (them) quite often."

Just the look of the place is enough to bring people, the overall spookiness, the erie-looking woods, the creepy creatures, the tentacled horrors, the tombstones, "R.I.P Skyler Glasswing: Lost in Teleport," and the haunted castle where the School of Magic is. The castle has numerous hallways, passages, and rooms. And you never really can know what's behind those spooky-looking doors until you open them.

But of course there's more. This being Furry Fashion, there's a number of stalls and vendors offering a variety of outfits and avatars. There's witch, convict, bat, spider, and more.  The majority are fitting for a Halloween event.  There are also textures for modders and builders.

And of course there is the hunt. Placed throughout the area are thirty magic books. Each contains a prize, such as shorts, dresses, jewelry, and more. To give those looking around an idea what to look for, there's a sample spellbook on the fireplace next to the arrival point. While they have the same shape, they do come in different colors and some are better hidden than others. They are both in and outside the castle.

Besides the Halloween area, Furry Fashion still has it's everyday avatars and outfits at ground level, as well as the Furry Fashion Lounge which has events every day except most Mondays. No doubt many of these parties will give shoppers a chance to wear their outfits before and after Halloween.

As for next year, "I've already got staff giving me suggestions to what to do for next year," Amethyst told me, "One of the staff is obsessed with skeletons so wants a undead ballroom. She loves anything to do with skeletons, bone mods,dancing skeletons, etc. Another suggested Alice in Wonderland."

To get to the Halloween area, those at ground level at Furry Fashion can teleport up there via a fireplace, "on the ground level of the sim between FF Main store and the Gacha Resell Shop. ... people can click the flames and it turns into a teleporter." Furry Fashion is also taking part in the "Quest Fur Cover" shopping hunt, so it's hunters will also receive the landmark to it. Or one can just head to Furry (198/167/2480).

Bixyl Shuftan

Luskwood Celebrates Nine Years

With the events of Second Life's Ninth Birthday a few months ago, last weekend it was it's oldest community's turn to celebrate nine years: Luskwood. Besides the home of the classic Luskwood furry avatars, Lusk also boasts the longest lasting group of residents, not just of Second Life's furs, but of the entire Grid. And Saturday October 20th, the folks of the Big Tree got together to celebrate their staying together.

Hey Folks! It's that time of year again, and for the 9th time, we're celebrating Luskwood's Birthday!  To kick off the celebrations, we bring you the lovely Keeba Tammas, singing hits from the 70s through today!

Stick around after Keeba, becuase at 1PM, Shannon O'Herlihy will be picking up the microphone, and delivering a fantastic acoustic folk set.  Come on down and grab a seat, the fun starts at Noon, SLT! 

The singers performed not at the tree, but the nearby ampitheather, which was on both the Lusk and Perry sims to accommodate more avatars. Following Shannon was live singer Alazarin Mondrain. Later on came a performance from two musicians whom have performed regularly at Luskwood for years, Jaycatt and Frogg.

As the musicians played, some avatars danced on the floor near the stage. Others sat in the stands and cracked jokes, "is there any LW9B souvenirs?" "Commemorative Michi bobbleheads?" "Michi should be made into a bobbletail." "Or a bobblehat." "Hmmm, Lusk Core bobbleheads n' tails. (smile)" Luskwood founder Michi took the joking around in style. As it turned out, there were commemorative LW9B hats.

The last live musician was Canon Organizer at 6 SL time, who razzed an organ on stage, and told everyone he was playing from a real one that was practically a museum piece. But still, he told the audience to be ready to be pleasantly surprised, "and now for something completely different," and then began playing the "Star Wars" theme on it, much to the delight of the audience, "Woo-hoo! I love Organ!" "Amazing how much sound is coming out of that one instrument. (grin)" Other tunes included the "Back to the Future" theme, and "Brains" by Voltaire. "That organ might be the ticket to play that 80's tune, 'Freeze Frame' (grin)."

There were a few technical glitches. Those in the Lusk part of the stage kept seeing the Perry sim vanish then re-rezz. Michi told me, "It's because Lusk is on Magnum and Perry is'nt. It's been having sim intercomm problems ever since the 'unscheduled emergency' Magnum roll on Wednesday. … it was some sort of rollback and 'group database' fixes."

But the birthday went on. Last for the night at 7PM SL time was the squirelgirl DJ Haley Maruti, who rezzed her box onstage and got in, "LUSKWOOD, MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOISE!!" For a few hours, she entertained the crowd with a selection of pop music, from 80's tunes, to more modern fare. "And now for something 'PSY'chotic," she announced before putting in an English "Gangnam Style" remix. When her playlist was done, she told the crowd, "We're into unknown territory now! I planned for three hours tonight, but you all are being so awesome that I can't stop now!" And so she continued to play on as the Lusk residents continued to dance late in the night, the floor changed from a wood finish to a discotech one, with a spinning Lusk symbol in the center.

This wasn't the end of the birthday celebrations. On Sunday afternoon there were some open mike "social events." But the big events had been on Saturday.

"Thank you so much! Happy Birthday Luskwood!"

Bixyl Shuftan