The Last SL16B Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Second Life Sixteenth Birthday had lots of music events. The official ones ended Sunday night. But that wasn't the end of the fun. There were a couple of unofficial ones later on the week. There was a short one on July 4. On Friday July 5, I dropped in on another not long after it started at 12 Noon SL time,

The event took place in SL16B Astound, near a theme park area and the Auditorium to the northeast. It was packed, with the sim often at it's limit at 66 people.

Behind the DJ booth was a sign in lights, "Thank You SLB Volunteers."

The Newser's Gemma Cleanslate, whom had been busy doing work as a SL16B greeter, was there. 

So was Nance Clowes, an amusement park ride maker.

There was one of the Linden Moles there, Missy, aka Mischievous Mole.

Golan Eilde, one of the senior volunteers.

Torgon Woodget, whom made some of the amusement rides for the SL16B, notably two roller coasters.

Quite a crowd had shown up. With my viewer taking it's time in rezzing people, it was easier to see how many looking at nametags.

 Many of the people got on small squares to do a synchronized mass-dance.

Some though, such as this greeter, chose to just sit and relax.

Gemma danced for a while, then we both sat for a picnic lunch.

One of the traditions of the resident-run Birthdays had been the cake slices that had been passed to exhibitors. With the Lab running things now, that practice was stopped. Still someone felt there should be cake, and had this slice out for anyone to take one.

And while there might not have been a Cake Stage this year, someone made a large cake.

While there couldn't be a "cake explosion," it was set in a "cake agitator" to shake up.

As one 50s song put it, "whole lotta shakin' goin' on!"

Yours truly ended up crashing. Later on, I would drop by the sim after the party and head to the amusement park area nearby, where there were Torgon and Nance's rides and games.

Here was a shooting gallery in which you would fire in mouselook at targets while on a moving cart. I got about 35,000 points, about 100k shy of the high scorer.

It was a fun day at the Second Life Birthday, one of the last before the place closes.

Bixyl Shuftan

One More Time: The "Cake Explosion" And Other Last SL15B.Unofficial Events.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Sunday July 1 was the last day that the sims of Second Life's biggest event of the year, the Second Life. Several years ago, there wouldn't be much happening, just people walking around and seeing the exhibits one last time before they'd be picked up.

But in the past few years, things have been a little different. First the "Cake Stage" was dismantled not by simply taking it down, but by having it all come apart in a shower of prims in what came to be called the "Cake Explosion." When people saw videos of it, it became so popular, people wanted to see it happen, so the event became announced in advanced. Then something else happened, DJs began playing at the clubs one last time. 

This year, the unofficial DJ events started before the Cake was set to blow. At one point, I headed to Stage North SL15B Impressive to catch an event there.

And there was a small party there.

Catboy Qunhua was there, in a red and white dress with Canadian maple leaves on it for "Canada Day" that day. I never did ask if she was from the Great White North, or just showing appreciation for the land of hockey games and maple syrup.

The time of the "Cake Explosion" was scheduled for 4PM. So with a half hour to go. I headed there. Unfortunately, with all of the avatars there, some  took a long time to rezz. There were  close to 150 in the two sims.

Eventually, there were so many under the Cake stage sims, I was unable to get in after one particular crash. So I watched from SL15B Exhilarate next doot. Then a little after 4PM, "The Cake" rose in the air.

The crowd below awaited the pile of virtual cake and frosting to drop from above.

Crashing was still a problem, even in the next sim.

 Finally at 4:22PM, we saw the pieces start to fall. Slowly, but it had begun.

 Volunteer Marianne McCann yelled, "Down it goes!"

"Coming down!"

 "Woot! Fantastic time!!!"

"Oh, the whole area is falling apart, and the pieces descending to the ground!"

It took a while, but the prims were soon all over the ground.

Some hung in the air for a while.

If a piece drifted to another sim besides the two The Cake was on, instead of falling onto the ground, it sunk through and vanished.

It was quite a scene with all that virtual cake and frosting on the ground.



Peet Auer had this video up on Youtube. RacerX Gullwing had another, filmed at Midnight view.

After "The Cake" went out in glory, the party moved on to Stage Left, aka "The Serpent." 

 At 10PM SL time was the last of the unscheduled parties.

DJ Luscious Giano would run the tunes for the last event period of the SL15B

Among those there was volunteer Marianne McCann

So was Stage Lead Golan Eddie.

The party would go on for a while. At one point, Luscious pointed to a crystal in the air, saying who clicked on it would get a souvenir of the stage, courtesy of stage creator Faust Steamer, a Meso-American style serpent statue.

 I would take a few more pictures of The Serpent, such as behind the DJ booth.

 In a room behind the booth, where there was a rezz spot.

 For those who never bothered to pan upward, there was this.

 A crystal hanging high over everyone.

A view of Stage Left from above.

Eventually, Midnight came, and after goodbyes, people began heading out, to either log out, or look at the sims one last time.

And I myself decided to look a little longer before calling it a night.

This exhibit by Marianne McCann, mentioned in an article by Gemma, brought back a few memories. And unlike the Tapestry of Time mentioned in one of my articles, it was less afraid about mentioning a few problems over the years.

It was a quiet winding down to a great day, though a somewhat sad one. The next day, the builds would start to come down, and the place would be gone in a few. It was the last hurrah of the Second Life Fifteenth Birthday.

Bixyl Shuftan