Renaissance Faire and Hunt

By Grey Lupindo

      The second Renaissance Faire and Hunt is going on through the month of December at Mieville Lovelace (21, 185, 23).  This hunt is great for anyone who likes medieval items or simply enjoys the thrill of a hunt.  You arrive on board a ship, and a foot bridge leads to the village.  The village is very creative and captures the mood and spirit of the hunt.    

      You will hear the sounds of village life—pigs grunting, chickens clucking and townspeople mingling about—as well as medieval music played on instruments like trumpets, harps, and bells.  

    Tents and vendor stalls circle around a center pond.  Paths lead off to the docks, a tree house, and a jousting area.  Many of the shops have freebies or reduced price specials.  Everything from small candles to huge sailing ships can be found here.  I especially like the vendor who posted the “Will Work for Chocolate” sign.   Me too!

     Perryn Peterson has done a great job organizing this hunt.  Perryn is known for the Historical Hunts, including my favorite, the steampunk ones.  A notecard states that there are over 100 shops participating.  I’ve only been able to visit a few so far, but they’ve been good ones.   I especially like the fact that there is a list of participating shops and LMs.  This allows you to continue the Hunt and return later to any spot where the item stubbornly refuses to be found.     
       In addition, Perryn has set up a mini-hunt in the village that is separate from the Renaissance Faire Hunt.  Fifteen acorns have been hidden very well around the village.  So far I’ve only found 3 of them, but I intend to keep looking.      

       There’s also a make-your-own pottery vendor in the village at Renaissance Faire Isle (70, 148, 21).   This is the first time I’ve seen this type of activity at a fair.  A couple of pottery wheels are set up where you can throw a pot for 25L.  If you don’t like your creation, you can re-set and try again.   You don’t pay until you make something you well like enough to buy.    

       There’s also a tree house that is reached by climbing a rope.  You have a choice of climbing speeds, too.  There’s a great view of the Faire from here.  Check out the inside, too.   

       A faire isn’t complete without food.   There’s a tavern in the round here with free food and drinks.   Lots of tables are available, too, for you and your friends to relax and rest up for the rest of the hunt.   

Grey Lupindo

A Bay City Christmas

By Grease Coakes

Every year in Second life just like real life people get into the Christmas spirit, and Bay City is no exception. On December 8^th they held a Christmas party. From 1-4 PM there was an auction featuring incredible items for sale to benefit “Childs Play” the charity that buys children in hospitals video game systems so they have something fun to do. You can find more at http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ to bid on item all you had to do was pay a board and outbid the previous bid.

One of the featured items was a bomber plane from the 1940’s. Someone had a bid for 1,500L. By the design and detail of the plane they were getting a bargain the plane looked very realistic and fun to play with. The party was a huge success with popularity with over 40 avatars on the sim the Bay City sim crashed at least twice. The sim seemed very laggy, and at one point crashed. However that didn’t dampen the spirit of Christmas and the party. There were also fur coats and whole forests up for bid for Childsplay.

At the start of the event Gospeed Racer was playing Christmas music like “Twelve days of Christmas” by the Muppets and Alvin and the chipmunks music for the holiday season for children of all ages to listen to. By clicking one of the landmark giving prims you got a free pair of skates to skate around on an ice rink where the Christmas tree was. I tried it for a little bit watching my foxy avatar skate around.

Later on Grace McDonough a live singer sang for the party. Her voice was soft and graceful just like her name singing excellent Christmas music. Bluemonk Rau a singer from Gspot came on and sang after her singing live with a piano with a country folk voice he was very entertaining.

Around 3pm SL time they lit up the Christmas tree and it began snowing. Marianne McCann wearing a child avatar told me she did the set up and her buddy Kriss Kehmann made the tree himself for the event. He’s a tree builder/seller in SL. Kriss also made the mesh trees around the sim.

Gemma Cleanslate my friend and co-worker thought she saw a Linden Derrick Linden hang around the event. She may be right I remember seeing a blue dot on my mini map. Lindens show up as blue dots on mini maps. I was upset I missed seeing him I could have asked for his Linden bear Aargh!

All in all it was a fun event and the Bay City greeters did a wonderful job greeting people through the event.  The sim crash did knock people offline, but they relogged and came back. One thing this party made me think of was the Christmas season is commercialized with buying toys on TV and stressing yourself out buying gifts for your friends and family. I think what this event symbolized that it’s also about having a good time and to support those who are less fortunate then yourself. Enjoy the Christmas season with your loved ones and more and don’t get bogged down. There’s more to the season then getting gifts.

Grease Coakes

Fall Fishing Festival Screenshots

 Pictures by Gemma Cleanslate

This weekend, Gemma spent some time at the 7Seas' Fall Fishing Festival.  Having earlier sent a story to tell about it just as it was starting, she sent a number of pictures as the weekend went on. 

Much of her time was spent at Party Island in Osimia, There were "contests held at the party island which is built like children's school desks."

  Gemma in front of one picture on the island

 People were both dancing to the music ...

 

And quietly sitting down to fish

 

 

Gemma had a number of people competing with her. Among them was Holocluc Henley.

 

 

 Gemma won at least one contest. Her prize: a rare seahorse.

 

The location of the party island is: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Osmium/136/127/25/ 

Pictures by Gemma Cleanslate

7Seas Fall Fishing Festival

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

It is that time of year. Everything happens on the same weekend and you wish you had bilocation. With everything else going on it is also time to sit and fish!

 

7Seas Fishing sponsors a wonderful three sim fishing event twice a year. Fishiversery in the spring and Fall Fishing Festival in November. All the builders of anything related to fishing, or not, created catches that draws fishers who just sit around and catch, filling up their inventories with goodies that may not get sorted by spring. It was great fun.

 

Many builders had little islands or shacks or quaint builds in the three sims and there was constant fishing going on. It was fun to park yourself in the middle of a group of servers and catch from many builders at the same time. There was comfortable lounging areas on their builds, or one could rezz a boat and move around the sims.

There are 24 fishing areas offering customs and things to buy and a party island where some short fishing contests will be held. There will be requests for donations to, and, auctions will be held to benefit  the  “Child's Play“ charity. This charity supplies toys and games to children's hospitals.

 

Seven Shikami and Meissa Thorne, the creators and owners of 7Seas Fishing are to be congratulated for hosting this event. They have the support of all the fishers in SL. Cudos also to the builders on the sims who created wonderful fishing places and really great catches. If you have time over the weekend to fish or just want to enjoy the view of the sims and the builds or make a contribution check my profile and I  will place the slurl there so you can get in to the sims. 

 

Gemma Cleanslate

Bomber Contest in New Bastogne

By Bixyl Shuftan

On November the 10th, the New Bastogne combat sim held it's second bomber contest. The first had been held on October 28th, but lag at the sim that say led to some unusually poor performances by some skilled pilots. So another was planned for a couple weeks later.

There were three separate categories of bombing in the contest. One was level bombing, in which the plane had to stay a hundred meters in the air with no loops or dives, with five passes at the target. Second was dive bombing, also with five passes. The third category was "anything goes" with the option of cannons, rockets, and guns in addition to bombs. Three passes were allowed at a moving tank. An administrator rode with the pilots in the contest. All planes had to be Second World War design.

About a dozen pilots took part in the contest: Florence Brendel, Kato Fall, Killingowl Resident, Klaus Himmler (titan.wardark), Laura Demina, Louise Francoise de Dampierre (felizitas.barbosa), Nikolai Suvorov (nickk.seetan), Nydia Tungsten, Rina Apfelbaum, Takashi Tsukune Naki (wanetta01), and Vickster Khun. JessicaBelle Dayafter helped referee the contest.

Eight pilots were in each category. The winners for level bombing were Louise with 86 points, Nydia with 64 points, and Takashiwith 30. In the divebombing competition, Nydia had the most with 53 points followed by Karo with 45 points and Vickster with 30. In the "anything goes," two pilots blew up the tank and damaged it again, Laura and Vickster with 170 and 167 points respectively, with Nydia scoring 56 points for third.

The winners of each of the three contests received 1000 Lindens, with 500 going to second place and 250 for third. There was also a raffle for each event. The competition was sponsored by Skunkette Aviation (also known as JessicaBelle Aeronautic Projects), Shana Enterprises, Buzzworx, and New Bastogne's German JG-52 group.

Bixyl Shuftan

Election Night 2012 in Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

Tuesday November 6th was Election Day in the United States. In real life for most American adults, it meant a trip to the voting booth to choose candidates for local, state, Congressional, and Presidential candidates. The Presidential election had the most attention, two nationwide campaigns having gone on for a year and a half,  between incumbent Democrat  Barack Hussein Obama and challenger Republican William Mitt Romney. The polls had gone up and down for weeks, and the final tallies between two of the most read, Gallup and Rasmussen, showed Romney ahead by a single percentage point.

For Second Life residents, those interested in politics could go to a few places to discuss the anticipated results. This included the Republican Party Headquarters in the Sunset River sim for conservatives, and for liberal/progressives there was the Obama HQ in Seokcheon and the longtime hangout of Cafe Wellstone in Pini.


The Republican HQ was full much at the time, including when I first logged on, so I checked out the Obama 2012 location first. There were just several when I arrived, with others teleporting in just afterwards. It was a shinny new location, with a blue dance floor where almost everyone gathered, with a blue "Obama 2012" sign with the campaign logo behind them, with an Obama '12 bar to one side, and a large  "Hall of Truth" building on the other.

Asking how everyone was, one answered "Sweating it out. I'm worried about stolen votes. i dont' want another repeat of Florida in 2000. I don't want the Supreme Court picking our prez again." A few people remarked they lived there. Others gave a variety of locations, including an American citizen in London who voted absentee ballot. There were a number of avatars present, though one resident stuck out in a donkey avatar, the symbol of the Democratic Party.

Asking them "So what are all of you expecting from an Obama victory?" I got a variety of answers, some pro Democrat, "Sane Supreme Court justices." And some were against, "More of the same," ""Same old f**king s**t," "The Obama deception." One guy asked, "Why isn't the media showing third party results?" He was answered, "Because third parties account for about 5% of the vote and are completely inconsequential. The UK media don't report how many votes went to the Monster Raving Loony Party candidates, either"

Heading over to Cafe Wellstone, there were a number of people there. There were no critter avatars, though on guy did make himself look much like the incumbent candidate. They were looking over election returns, which were coming in through both radio on National Public Radio, and TV stream via NBC, "51-49 Romney in Florida now, 50 percent reporting." "FOX exit polls Men 54/46 Romney/Obama Women 54/46 Obama/Romney Women 54% of the electorate." "Go women!" "Should we be demanding a recount somewhere yet?"

Asking what they expected from the election, one wryfully answered, "I'm hoping I don't lose my sanity, (laughter)." Asking them, "So what are all of you expecting from an Obama victory?" I got several answers: "Sanity." "Moving this country forward."  "I expect to not be effed over by the Republicans." "It prevents Myth Romney from being president." "Sharia Law." "A drunken party, and then 4 more years of the same." "More filibusters from Mitch McConnell."

The comments continued, "Gary Indiana just starting to report in." "Did 'gift from god rape' Mourdock actually win Indiana for Senate? if so I'm going to puke." "I was nibbling on candied ginger all day at work to keep my stomach from getting upset" Of a number of states in the south and midwest going for the Republicans, one guy commented, "All these red state results are making me nervous." "Oh, the red states, the sad, uneducated red states." "It's a sad fact that public education in the Southern states lags the rest of the country." "Poorly educated people are easier to maniupulate and are less likely to question what they're told."

Florida was something of a nail-biter that night, "0.2% separates Florida with 31% of the vote." Other early trends caused worry too, "56-42 Romney in Virginia, 24 percent counted." "I'm worried about Romney's trajectory. I'd like his trajectory to drop him in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." "What,  and pollute the ocean?" "Texas alway stuns me.How can they be so stupid?" "FL still looking about tied." "…. the GOP cheats well in Florida." "Same in Ohio. Felons run my state." "I've heard of 'snowbirds' that vote absentee in their home stand and then vote again in FL."

As time went on, more states went for Obama, "Obama wins PA!" "Mich and Penn." "They called Wisconsin? Yahoooooooo!" So Mitt's losing all his home states, and Ryan's home state?" "Romney & Ryan will lose all their home states excepts the Caymans" "NYT says Obama needs 27 more electoral votes"

I kept trying to get to the Republican HQ, but couldn't because the sim was full. Finally about 6:40 SL time, I managed to get over. There was a sizable number of people over, plus one critter avatar, the donkey from Obama HQ. "We don't usually ban anyone from here," he was told, "unless they're not nice." Asking them, "What do you expect of a Romney victory?" I heard, "Less debt, Obamacare canceled." Ii think Romney will reclaim a lost hill. The ACA will get repealed."

The donkey avatar spoke up, "I have a question maybe someone can truthfully answer for me, and not be an ass about (it). Why would anyone not want universal healthcare for everyone? Maybe I'm a dumb ass but I don't understand that." he got a number of answers, "It costs more" ""It puts the govt in charge of your healthcare." "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, but there's always free cheddar in the mousetrap." "Because we will be forced to carry (government) insurance or be FINED, the self insured are screwed, and I refuse to pay taxes to cover health care for asses who are too lazy to work." " We bankkrupt the country and no one has healthcare of any quality, you dumb ass." "But isn't health care already expensive?" "I dont want the IRS telling me I cant have procedure I need." "It (will be) a hell of a lot more expensive under Obamacare, but people think it's free because the cost is hidden in your taxes." "You don't get it, nothing is free." "It needs to be tweeked not overhauled."

"They are voting for Socialism, and the ruin of our country." "And they are voting to let China rule us at a rate of $1 trillion a year." "Prediction time!!! If Obama wins re-election - watch for increases in medical tourism as people seeking more medical options will travel to other countries with less restrictive laws." " if obama gets reelected, its going to cost the American people billions in fines *taxes* and the increase of what we pay for our insurance and deductables. Average family insurance will go up $2,500 next year, because the insurance model does not work to begin with for health care."

At 6:53PM, one guy noticed the tally, "This ain't good, O: 157, R: 153."One guy joked, "If Obama is reelected I'm quite in favor of my state Ok plus texas and any state that wants to join us should opt for secession." "Damn! NH is gone now." "He's now GOTTA WIN VA, FL & OH."

Events required my attention elsewhere for a while, but I returned to the Republican HQ at 8:15PM. Shortly afterward, the TV networks began declaring Barrack Obama the winner. The initial reaction was silence. Then someone broke the quiet, "Well, gold will go up." "Buy gold and guns." "Stock market is going to fall tomorrow." "Will I be arrested when i refuse my health ID number on my Fed tax form in 2014?" One dispirited resident told everyone "Good night all," and left.

Then someone popped in, "YEAAAAA BUDDY!  WE GOTTR DONE!" The responses were, "Go f**k yourself." "Look, the f**ktards coming in to gloat." "OBAMA! READ IT! YALL CRACKERS LOST AGAIN!" "Retard!" Finally, the offender was booted from the sim, a moderator saying, "Sorry it took so long to do that." "Funny thing is," someone commented, "if Romney won and we went over to the Dems' sim, they'd autoboot us." "Well, we'll never get a chance to see," another anti-Romney spoke up, laughing, "'cause he didn't win. Wooooo! OBAMA!"

Someone else began cheering, "WOOOOOOOO! OBAMA! :D" The reaction was "You're excited about the USA becoming socialist, real intelligent." "(laughter) Socialist is a 'lil extreme, don't you think?" "Socialist is completely accurate." "Come guys, don't be like that." "The gloaters are here." "Don't be like what? You're here gloating, not very mature, eh?" "(laughter, Well, we aren't talkin' 'ish about you, so that's not immature. Just exercising our freedom of speech. Yaaaaaaaay n Stuff!!" While the two anti-Romney's were cheering, one of them was running around bumping in to others. "No running around pushing people and such," someone told him, "very mature." "I'm not trying to push," the avatar in question answered, "I'm just running."

More anti-Romney residents arrived, and the banter began to deteriorate, "Gloat more when your rights are lost." "We don't' care about rights, as long as he ain't white!" "The Middle Class will be crushed by (the) Obamunists." "I voted for Obama 'cause Romney is a white devil." "Republicans are dumb if they would have have the nomination to Ron Paul then it would be different." "Hahaha, yeah, thats pretty much what I expect from modern Republicans." "What animals these particular Obamaites are, nothing but animals."

I asked the conservatives, "So, now that Obama has won a second term, what do you plan to do?" The answers were glum, "Well tell me something: what good did Obama do in his FIRST TERM?" "I still have my passport Bixyl, I can always go elsewhere and let the Democrats pay for the welfare state." "I guess we Republicans do not have any right to exist. Seems we can't have our own opinions, mob rule by the Obamaites."

"We voted for the lesser of two evils," one Republican commented, "because the primary process is corrupt and didn't give most of us a choice." "Here's a tip for next elections," one Democrat answered, "don't put the crazies in your primary." When challenged to name a better candidate, the anti-Romney resident admitted, "Santorum would have been better … or what's his name, the same guy, Huntsman."

There was no neutral political area like Capitol Hill four years ago, so I gave Cafe Wellstone a short visit, "Bixyl, you missed all of us going H00000000000000000000000000000000!!!!!" I asked, "So now that Obama's won, what do you expect to happen?" "Now, I expect that we all have to work really hard locally to get any s**t done!" "Well, for one thing, we'll keep Obamacare, Medicare, and Medicaid." "I expect him to purge the Republicans out of the house, and arrest them for 'political crimes,' then start to do the things we are asking him to do." "I am excited to see the healthcare fully implemented, not without bumps or adjustment but the right road." "We probably should work to change the House in two years." "And the Supreme Court nominations, that alone can be huge, long beyond a four year term." "Yes, SCOTUS is the real win for the long term."

Despite the winning, some Democrats still felt the need to put down the opposition, "Romney will concede tonight until he wants to look like a total ass... " "He *is* a total ass." "his was so close, scary close. I don't understand how we can have so many really stupid people in this country."

There were a few other places on the Grid where the election was talked about. Dr Fran had a picture of an election map in Hikuelo on her blog. At Club Zero Gravity, they held a "Skunk Party" in "honor" of how stinky the current state of politics had become. Following that, in Castaway Cove a mud wrestling pit was set up and people invited to come by, saying the election had a lot of mudslinging, "Now we're putting some of the mud to good use." Although I was there, I never took any pictures (sorry guys).

Some of my neighbors had a few things to say that night. One lady was overall satisfied with the results, feeling the cause of same-sex marriage had avoided what would have been a setback. Another whom had never commented on politics before described herself as being "purple" with anger over the results. One veteran I talked to felt the country had turned it's back on her.

But tomorrow was another day, and while the election would remain in our conversations for some days, over time things went back to normal.


Bixyl Shuftan

Guy Fawkes Night at Steelhead

By Bixyl Shuftan

Friday Night, November 9, was "Guy Fawkes Night" at Steelhead. Guy Fawkes Day is a British, and not an American holiday, and it was actually on the Firth of November. But with their mad scientists and their love of making things go "bewm," they didn't feel the need to make any excuses, "pretend it's the 5th of November, and dance away under the town hall." "Bring your revolution masks and some dynamite."

 So instead of at the usual location at the Steelhead Ballroom, the party was held in the town hall basement. Fuzzball Ortega was the DJ that night, with the central feature being a support pole rigged with enough dynamite to blow the place sky high.

  And of course they remembered the gunpowder.

 Occasionally something would go off with a boom, and fill the room with smoke. Luckily the dynamite was unaffected.

 The tip jar Fuzzball was given was also prone to explosions. The lycan was unhurt, though his hair was a bit gray from soot and his outfit scuffed up a bit.

 And as invited to, some Steelheaders showed up in their Guy Fawkes masks. No sign of any "Occupy Steelhead" though.

Besides the gunpowder barrels and dynamite, someone brought a flock of pigeons.

But with all those explosions, the results were most "fowl." Meat and feathers all over the place. The Steelheaders cheered for more, and a certain Fox Reporter was drooling.

The party went on for two hours, with Fuzz playing a variety of 80s fare and sci-fi hits, such as "Weird Science." After Fuzz bid everyone well, everyone went their separate ways, though yours truly borrowed a few sacks to clean up the meat, leaving the feathers for pillows.

And just what does a Fox with a brain and opposable thumbs do with lots and lots of poultry meat?

Thank you Steelhead! The Newser crew and my sweetheart Jasmine will be eating well for a while.

Bixyl Shuftan

Burn2 Burning of the Man

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday November 3rd, the begining of the end of the Burn2 festival took place with the Burning of The Man. The event took place at 4AM, Noon, and 8PM SL time. SL Newser was there for the Noon burning, and some pictures were taken.

Because of the dozens of people watching in the adjacent three sims, the lag could make it difficult to see at times, making the smoke from the fire even more obscuring than it was.

When the smoke cleared, momentarily, the head and torso had fallen.

Then a yellow glow came from below, more fire with a different glow (colored by chemicals?)

Fire consumes more of The Man. It won't be up for much longer.

People watching the burn. Note how many are gray due to the lag.

The fire dies down some, but The Man is blackened from flame.

And it starts to crumble onto the desert floor.

Eventually, the sim is declared open for all who want to climb on what's left of The Man.

Dawn arrives as the virtual sun rises on the Playa, and people celebrate.

Some partied on for a while. Others left to other places at the festival or elsewhere in Second Life.



And for a video, here's a YouTube by "Apmel,"courtesy of Daniel Voyager. Daniel also had some pictures of his own of the burning on his Flickr page.

Bixyl Shuftan

Halloween in Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's no season in Second Life quite like Halloween. With it's thrills and chills and dressing up, it brings out a mischievous side of many of it's residents. For some, the Grid provides the Halloween parties and haunts that aren't always available in real life. For others, it provides more to those who just can't get enough. Second Life Newser's writers have written earlier on some haunts and events. While it's been a busy time for me recently, I was able to show up at a few.

Saturday October 27 was Luskwood's Halloween party. The party was held not at the Big Tree itself, but at one of the clubs in the community's region, one that when viewed at midnight looked particularly spooky outside, one Lusky commenting, "Spooky tree! I love it!" But once inside, the atmosphere was fun and music, with DJ Haley Maruti spinning the tunes, "Time for music boys and ghouls!"


Events at Luskwood often have two problems. One is their popularity results in lag from so many avatars, "So many Luskies to load." With some people taking a while to rezz, there was the problem of running into one another, "I don't wanna shove people." Fortunately, there was a solution at hand, "Just use your minimap and be smart. If your dot isn't on someone else's, you're safe."

There were a variety of appearances on the dance floor, from a few demon girls, to the Laughing Man from the anime "Stand Alone Complex," to "Doctor Who," to witches, to a "Green Lantern," to someone who made his avatar look like it belonged in another virtual world, "You've gone all Minecrafty!" Luskwood being a furry community, so were most of those attending, though there were several human avatars. At least three of the four Luskwood founders Eltee Statosky, Liam Roark, and Michi Lumin were at the event.

Besides the song and dance, Luskwood was taking the occasion to release a new version of it's Big Cat avatar. The vendor there didn't rezz to everyone, though. and with the lag inevitably people crashed. But the party was a success.

Later on, my partner Jasmine and I went to the Sannomiya Pumpkin Hunt. This was part of a local festival that included events and a haunted house. Jasmine and I went looking for jack o' lanterns. Say "Trick or Treat" to certain ones, they would give you a gift, such as a piece of clothing or jewelry. The event was mostly mildly scary, with a few forbidding sounds and a few scary props. But stumbling upon a frightful sight when rounding a corner at the same time an ear-splitting scream rang out could be quite unnerving.

It's safe to say most clubs in Second Life hold some kind of Halloween event. The management of Club Zero Gravity, however, wanted to make it memorable. The decision was made to hold it "planetside" away from the space station and on a "Haunted Woods" platform. With it's aged wood, spider webs, and surrounded by an image of creepy woods, the place had a definate air of forbidding. Jasmine would be DJing for the event with a set of three hours of Halloween themed tunes. Things would be starting an hour early, at 5 PM SL time instead of the normal 6.

The party took place on Tuesday October 30th, and was a success with a few dozen dropping in on the "spook-tacular" event. This included Angel Estates owner Nydia Tungsten, Club Cutlass owner Jenni Greenfield, writer and Green Meadows Club owner Perri Prinz, and HV Community leader Ranchan Wiedman. There were a variety of appearances to, from witches to death knight, to vampire bat, to pony girl, and more. Among the tunes played were "Come Little Children," to "This is Halloween," to the "Ghostbusters" theme, to the "long version" of "Thriller," to a fun little disco tune Jasmine played for the vampire bat, "Drac's Back."

They're easy pickin's at the discotech,
I leave them feeling like they've been in a wreck.
You know they wake up all wasted, and they never check,
those two small holes that I leave in their neck.

Well if they were wise, they would soon realize,
they're not hung over, they're just vampir-ized.
'Cause Drac's back.

I wanna suck your (oooohhhh .. Dracula!)
Drac's Back!

Jasmine called it an especially catchy tune, "Don't blame me if it gets stuck in your head."

There was a three thousand Linden prize available to the winner of the costume contest. At the end, the votes were tallied, and the result was a tie between Ranchen, who came as a wolf-neko, and Kitculia, whose outfit was a spider priestess, and upon the announcement got into the act, roleplaying asking that the club be given a blessing.

Be sure to be on the lookout for some scary fun on Halloween Day. And even after the holiday is technically over, many of the haunts will be up for a few more days, as well as another costume party or two for those who need one more scare before packing their scary avatars away for a while.

To see a list of haunts, check out the official Second Life Destination Guide.

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