Arton Tripsa’s Party at Book Island

 By Grease Coakes

Arton Tripsa stepped down as manager at Book Island after 4 years. There was a party in her honor at 4pm SLT at Book Island on Saturday June 15. I left my avatar at the beach of Dance Island while I went to grab some food beforehand. Selina Greene was there herself at the owner of Book Island. Brokail the blue alien showed up along with Perri Prinz the author of Spectral Shadows who is also the owner of the Green Meadows land club. Danger Dave and Jackson Arthur showed up a little later.

 Arton Tripsa wants to leave Second Life to start work on her second book. Hence Selina Greene set up a party in her honor. Izzy Upsilion came after a while and started djing for the crowd. He played a lot of pop and popular music. Arton Tripsa who is Jane Watson in real life is the author of Hindustan Contessa as she lives in Austrailla.

Lots of avatars were dancing and having a good time being silly. Barabara Blackcinder accused Brokali of being sick due to his skin being blue. In defense I said Brokali is a blue alien who will take over the earth and paint everyone blue. For a short time Selina Green spoke on voice and announced that the winners of the laureate awards were Arton Tripsa and Alexander M Zoltai as Alex is the events manager.

 I asked Arton about her book and here’s what she had to say, " It is a novel about a couple who travel to India to see the guy’s grandmother and get kidnapped." She adds this sentence as well, "not exactly, more analysis of dual cultures and cultural differences."

Grease Coakes, "Sounds interesting, like 'Dances With Wolves,' how the American solider gets integrated into Native American culture?"

Arton Tripsa, "Yeah something like that. The girl is Anglo-Australian, the guy is Indian-Australian: - ie born in India living in Australia (grin)."

The story idea was inspired a rare photo she had in real life.Well it was a metaphor, the photo showed an Indian child seated on a dining chair balancing on a giant Amazonian lily. It was about balance.

Grease Coakes, "About balancing different cultures together?"

Arton Tripsa, "You got it!"

Arton says her second book is about literary theft. I said that would be horrible if someone plagiarized my Children’s book. She said in real life someone took the idea of her first book. And the second book is about revenge for that. Her second book does not have a title yet.

Brokali, "The door prize winner will receive Cookie Monster Avi, Zebra Avi, Lighthouse, Vases, and garden lamps!"

Grease Coakes, "You mean the prize isn't a door?" (Giggles)

Arton Tripsa, "Lawl Grease!" the guest of honor laughed at my dumb joke.

Barbara Blackcinder won the door prize and no it wasn’t a door. The next question I thought of at random.

Grease Coakes, "If you could be a furry what animal would you choose?"

Arton Tripsa, "I have a tiny avi who is a calico kitten. (Laughter)"

Before tonight I didn’t know Arton Tripsa from Eyll Tripsa. Her friends at Book Island will greatly miss her. As she leaves Second Life to write her second book but Perri Prinz had this to say, "She'll be back, Grease. They always come back."

Perri could be right there’s always the allure of Second Life. But if Perri was wrong at least Arton got a hell of a farewell party in her honor for her pixel avatar.

For more information, check out the following links:

http://www.janewatson.com.au

http://www.janewatson.com.au/Site/Welcome.htm

Grease Coakes

Bagpipe Funeral for Lavendermist McTeague

Last week, my friend's partner Lavendermist McTeague, whom had passed away on January 20th, was given a memorial on the Grid. On Saturday the 28th, she was given a funeral service. Leading the ceremony was a group of bagpipers, led by Sue 'Piper' McCullough. Lavendermist had been a member of Sue's PipeDreams Fan Group.

"I have played for more funerals and Memorial Services than I care to remember," she told the gathering when it was her turn to speak, "But, this time is different. ... This time, I’m playing for a woman who was not only one of 'My Girls' in PipeDreams for a long time, but who was a good friend as well. ... Lav was one of those people who’s life showed me that mine wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d sometimes think it was. I seriously doubt that I’d have had the strength to endure all that she has. ... she’d say ... after EVERY gig, and EVERY time we talked ... how our music made her feel good."

"I think I know Lav well enough to know that, while she would certainly understand our grief at her passing, she would much prefer that we celebrated her life rather than mourning her death. ... For other funerals and Memorial Services, I will play the traditional and expected solemn music. But today, I will give her the music that she so loved to hear. I will give her music that is much like Lav herself!"

Lavendermist's partner Ote Underwood described how they met over comforting someone over the loss of the pet, described how the days went by, and how their relationship blossomed, "Lav was well-loved and she had done so many things on earth and I’m sure she’ll do much more in Heaven. I will be forever grateful to have known her. I will be forever grateful that Lav was there at the right place and at the right time and that she in a way brought me back into life. I will be forever grateful for spending almost 4½ years of my life with a friend like her. All the memories I have shared with her will forever be cherished and remembered . Lav will forever live in my heart … In our hearts."

Lavendermist's friend Suki Rexen was third to speak. She talked about their first meeting when lag was keeping some clothes of one from showing and the other pointed it out. Their friendship grew from there, Lavendermist doing a little modeling for Suki's business, "I feel very lucky to say she was my friend, and we worked together."

Following the speeches, the bagpiper band prepared to play one more song, but one a bit more cheerful than most at memorial services, "This song was originally done by Bruce Cotter. Last year, I met Bruce, and he asked me to do a new recording of the song with him. He then changed the name of it to: Susan’s Song. The feel of this song will always make me think of Lav. So, this is what I will play for her now. Close your eyes, and try to picture Lav as you hear this song." And then the band played.

Following the conclusion, Sue thanked those attending for coming, and the people thanked the band for honoring Lavendermist. Friends got together in groups to discuss her, and over time the crowd slowly dispersed.

The funeral was held in the Hidden Valley sim, which is normally for a Minoan Crete roleplay. It can be viewed on Youtube at http://youtu.be/NG4n94QesZc and http://youtu.be/cumWvb1c_Ng . But Ote had concerns they might be taken offline, and so made the film downloadable Here and Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

CNN iReport Island’s Last Event

On Tuesday December 27th, CNN producers Nichole and Henry iReport announced that the sim owned by the popular real-life news network would be closing down. There would be one last official event, a farewell gathering, two days later on Thursday December 29th.

I showed up early, ten minutes before the event. Only Daniel Voyager was around at the time. But then Pooky Amsterdam dropped in, followed by iReporter Janey Bracken, whom had written about the closing for CNN. And as 2PM arrived in came more people. Nichole and Henry iReport showed up, as did other iReporters and others in Second Life media. There were a few other noteables such as DJ GoSpeed Racer. And there were just plain folks whom had heard about the place and wanted to see it. Close to two dozen were attending at one point.

For the first hour, we talked about various subjects, notably the island’s limited time, many of us seeing it or an event here for the first time. Someone called it sad in another way. In it’s heyday, a number of real life companies had set up a place on the Grid. And now the small list of those that remained was getting still smaller. But there were happier topics. Someone mentioned Daniel Voyager’s birthday had happened just a few days earlier, and there was joking around of getting a cake, with or without a dancing girl inside. There were also jokes about Henry iReport’s “noob” appearance. Some mentioned how they first found out about Second Life. People also talked about the upcoming year, and were hopeful.

A few minutes before 3PM SL time, the meeting moved to the dance floor set up in the northern part of the sim, with Grace McDunnough playing the tunes. Someone changed into a 18th century naval uniform, looking pretty odd next to the disco & rave lights. Someone else mentioned fireworks, and a few were set up outside the dance area. For those with their viewers set to midnight, they were a colorful sight.

From about 3:30 to 4 SL time, people began leaving, thanking Nichole and Henry iReport for helping to keep the island there for as long as it was, as well as iReports in Second Life. Nichole reminded that while this would be the end of CNN iReport Island, the group itself would most likely remain. She told more information would be available later.

The sim itself is still up, and will remain until sometime in January when the tier runs out. People can still go there and pick up the iReports package, which includes a CNN T-shirt and baseball cap (default wear position on “nose” for those with attachments there). The island itself has an “i” shaped structure just west of the teleport entry area, with a small meeting area with seats making up the dot. North of that is the dance area. The middle of the sim has a small drive-in theater where one can see a few old news reports. The rest of the sim contains various outdoor scenes, hills, waterfalls, and bridges.

Daniel Voyager has his own article on the event, as well as a number of pictures on his Flickr (note: Daniel’s total number of screenshots there just reached 20,000). For any questions regarding CNN or CNN iReport’s plans, Nichole iReport says she will try to answer them the best she can from her email address at nicole.saidi@turner.com .

Bixyl Shuftan