Roma's Neptunalia Festival

Last weekend on Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26, the Roma community celebrated it's Neptunalia Festival. Over the two days, several events would be held. With Neptune being the Roman god of the seas, rivers, and horses, they would of course include water and racing events.

The Newser wasn't able to make it to Saturday's events. There were three in the schedule.

10am - Ludi Apollinares Ritual & Tavern Party
Our festivals this month begin with the celebration of Ludi Apollinares - honouring the God Apollo. Our ritual to honour Apollo will be immediately followed by a party in the ROMA Felicitas Tavern to celebrate the festival's beginning!

11:30am - Ludi Chariot Races
As Apollo races His sun chariot across across the sky, so our Agitatores will race their chariots in the Hippodrome! Come spend an exciting day at the races, and maybe even try to race yourself!

1pm - Neptune's Fishing Contest
Our third festival event kicks off the Neptunalia, the festival in honour of the great God Neptune. We will be holding a 7seas Fishing Contest, with cash prizes for the 3 top fishers!

Sunday however, I was able to make it over. At 10 AM, the first event that day was a roleplayed ritual to honor Neptune, with two locals taking the role as priestesses.

"... and to You, Neptunus, before all other Gods I offer and accord You the highest thanks. I give You praise, for You know how to treat men fairly; this befits the Gods. Te hoc piscis ommovendo bonas preces, precor uti sies volens propitious illis Quiritibus te laudatis, quoius re ergo hoc sacrificium offero. With good prayers I offer to You this fish, may it be Your will to look with favour upon these folk who have honoured You, for which purpose I make this offering."

The priestesses and locals all spoke, "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!" "Ita est!"

"O Neptunus, Earth-Shaker, Storm-Bringer! Preserve us from disaster, and shield us from all ruin. Grant to us calm seas, both upon the waters, and within our lives."

"Neptunus, Lord of Horses and Master of the Waters, bless our Citizens, and our Legion, most especially those who serve with ships and horses, who are Your special children. Bless also our great Imperator, Julian, our Censors and our Praetors. Grant them Your strength and Your protection wherever they may go. So You will, so it is!"

Following the ritual was the Neptunalia Mer Hunt. Some locals put on various sea creature avatars, such as mermaids, though there was also a seahorse avatar in the mix. Those playing the part of hunters wore the free snorkel provided, though one other donned a 19th century diving suit. The object for the hunters was to tag as many of the sea creatures as they could in 30 minutes. For the hunted, the object was to of course avoid being tagged. The aquatics got a head start, then the hunters dove in after them. A few stayed on shore, watching the action and chatting. Among them was a pony avatar, commenting that as Neptune was described as having introduced horses to Man, perhaps his presence wasn't so far out.

After several minutes, one, and then a second hunter came back up from out of the water. Tagging the prey wasn't as easy as it first looked, so they gave up. They joined those whom had been watching. Eventually, the thirty minutes were up, and everyone surfaced.

At 12 Noon came the "Sun and Sea Grand Feast." This was a live music event in which musician Maximillion Kleene place his guitar for the crowd, whom danced to his music. Maximillion wore a toga for the occasion as he strummed his instrument on stage. When someone sent a few Lindens his way as a tip, his cow-shapped tip jar would lean, in effect "tipping the cow."

At 1PM was the final event, the Neptunalia Naumachia, or sea battle. Three ships, the Claudii, the Tiberii, and the Cornelii, and their
crews battled one another on the water with the other locals and visitors watching from a fourth, static ship, one munching on a fried doormouse.  Among those on the Tibeii, captained by Nina Tiberia, was Bandit Starrwolf, of whom the Newser recently wrote about his pub. With Rasberia Cornelia Daciana (rasberrykiss), they maneuvered the trieme, firing flame-tipped bolts from their balista, trying to ram the others when they had the chance.

Eventually, the Cornelii went down, and the Claudii and Tiberii duked it out, with Rasberia jumping aboard the other ship to do some damage. Despite the lady warrior's attack, both ships ended up inflicting enough damage to one another that they ended up crippled and aflame. But it would be the Claudii to sink first before the Tiberii went down moments later, and the crews had to swim for it.

With everyone meeting aboard the observer boat, one of the captains commented, "I'm mad at you Nina. You led me to believe you are terrible at this. You were great!" Nina shrugged it off, "I give my thanks to a marvellous crew! Bandit and Raspberry." "May Neptunus, king of the seas enjoy these three ships," someone commented.

And with that, the festival was officially over, quite literally having ended it with a bang.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Kiss" Tribute Concert at Primal Passions for Post-Walk Relay Event

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday July 26 at 2PM SL time, Primal Passions held a special event to raise funds for Team Sunbeamer for the Relay for Life. A "Kiss" Tribute band held a concert just outside the castle in the Sunweaver Estates. The event would go on for two hours until 4PM.

SUNBEAMERS Team is holding a KISS Concrt, today at 2-4 PM SLT on Sunweaver Bay, at he Primal Passions Club, Event is PG, for Pretty Good, but you still have to dress properly, so NO NAUGHTY BITS ALLOWED!  There is a Pre-Show with a Live DJ, verse a Dead One, starting at 1 PM SLT. 

Although the Relay Walk had taken place a week earlier, this was not the end of the Relay season. A few parties and other events were still being held by the teams. The action that day actually started earlier with a DJ event inside the castle an hour earlier. But when the hour neared, the crowd went outside and gathered at the stage as more people teleported in while the band got ready behind the curtain. The musicians were Random Nirvana as Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley as Paul Woodrunner, Black Nefarious as Tommy Thayer. and Dagger Dagger as drummer Eric Singer. On both sides of the stage was a Relay for Life kiosk for Team Sunbeamer.

Finally at 2PM, the music began. One of the musicians shouted, "You wanted the best! You got the Best! ARE YOU READY TO ROOOCK?!!" The curtain quickly parted, there was  a flash of pyrotechnics on the stage, and the band began rocking it up to the cheers of the crowd.

The music would go on for two hours in front of the large crowd, where furs and a pony mingled with normal human avatars. Among the people were the Sunbeamer team's captain (and chieftess of the Sunweaver Estates) Rita Mariner, and of course Rayven Tentigo, the owner of Primal Passions.

There were plenty of hard rock tunes, and plenty of fireworks on stage as flames went up in the air and pyrotechnics filled the air all around. The girls in the crowd joked about tossing panties onto the stage, and the band went along, encouraging them, "Lick it up!"

At one point, Rayven was dancing around on the nearby lion statue, which doubled as a tip jar for the club, "Wooooooooooooooooooooottttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!! Best way to spend a Sunday afternoon, with a killer concert and great friends, that all want to kick cancer's ugly a**!" At another, Random and Black got down from the stage to strum the guitars in the crowd for a minute.

When 4PM came, the band did one more song as an encore. But after that last song, the guitars fell silent, and the concert was over. Rayven thanked them for their performance, "Thank you Rockshoppe for bringing the rock! We always love your concerts! And Kiss! WOOT! Thanks for showing up and showing out! Let's kick cancer's a ... behind, and donate what you feel you can ... Thank you Kiss and Rockshoppe, and everyone who came to stamp out cancer!" Paul shouted, "Primal Passionssssss, good night, good night! Ohmigod! WOOT! You've been great! Thank you very Muuuchhh! We love you all!" One woman commented it was a great concert combined with a great cause, having been a two-time cancer survivor.

The band would hang around for a few more minutes, posing for a few pictures with Rayven, Rita, and a few others. But eventually everyone went their separate ways, many whom hadn't had enough music yet heading back into the club for more tuns and more dancing.

The concert raised over 5200 Lindens, Rita noting, "not counting what we raised inside before the concert."

As of the writing of this article, Team Sunbeamers has raised a total of 316,833, on the top half of the Gold ranked teams which include "Relay Wizards for Spunky" and Team Strange Journeys. Other teams having recently made gold include the Lanterns for Life and the Steelhead Salmons. Over the weekend, the Giant Snail Relay would also make gold.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Manga Fair

By Bloodykitty Resident

There is a lovely event going on in Second Life called, "Manga Fair 2015." Basically it is as it's titled, a manga fair. While many people would think it includes reading manga or downloading some sort of online manga book, it's not that at all. This fair is for anime nerds and geeks alike! Now to get details out of the way, the event runs from the 19th of July to the 9th of August. For the location it is located in the region called, La Isla Hispana. While it may seem like a measly little island, when your'e the normal sized avatar you are, the land seems much bigger and you may end up getting lost when looking at the different vendors and or shops. The land is owned by Princess Briand of "Babydoll" and "Candy Events" by the way.

 

You are looking for cute, kawaii items? You love pastel colors and the fun side of life? You want to fill the wardrobe for you Utilizator or M3? Then come to the manga fair and grab these awesome new items from some of your favorite brands in second life! 

Upon visiting, for my experience anyway, it was a tad laggy because of how many visitors this place has even today. It may just be my sucky laptop but it sure lagged at times when simply walking around. Besides that I found it quite simple and pretty the scenery, with its green grass, autumn looking trees, and the design of each shop. Want to know the best thing about it though? Gachas! Of course those are a good thing when your sort of broke like me and only want to slap out like 50L at most. Overall they have an assortment of items like clothes that are futuristic, Sailor Moon, school girl outfits, accessories, and even some items for men. There are a load more I could list but it would take forever and you wouldn't want the fun and adventure told would you? 

While I could ramble on and on about the place I suggest you take a look yourself at it and see if there's anything you like, or just to explore more sims in general. While I didn't buy anything myself, but snagged tiny freebies, it was cool to see the different items and creations people made, especially the nerds of SL, haha. I hope you all are able to get in on the event before it's over. Enjoy!

 

La Isla Hispana (122, 134, 21)

 

Bloodykitty 

Scenes from the July 4rth Weekend

At The Vinyl on Thursday July 2, the club celebrated the Fourth a little early with it's "Red, White, and Blue" party, with DJ Rose spinning the tunes that night.

At Steelhead's Friday Night party on July 3, some of the locals dressed up in red, white, and blue. One tall, thin elf looked surprisingly good in an Uncle Sam outfit.

And where there's the Fourth, fireworks often aren't far behind, in the case of Steelhead, their "exploding" tip jar. Needless to say, DJ Fuzzball got a lot of tips that night.

In the past few Fourth of Julys, the Elizabeth Town holiday sim changed it's look to "Summertown USA." But this year, Elizabeth town isn't on the map, for some reason. But I did see this decorated place in the Geranium Island sim that reminded me a little of it, with a number of red, white, and blue goodies up for sale.

"Search" revealed a flag store that had all kinds of them, including the Civil War Confederate flag.

The "Furry Fashion" lounge had an American flag up all week. The owner Amethyst Crystal is British, but she didn't let her ancestors being on the other side of the Revolutionary War stop her and her fans from having fun. Her club would have it's own Fourth of July party.

All day on Saturday, July 4, ZZ Studios hosted a car show.

The owner, Cindy "Zig Zag" Babii, hasn't been on much lately, but took the time to be here this day. She explained she'd been extra busy in real life lately.

 Saturday night, Club Cutlass had a Fourth of July themed party.

Several people there wore holiday-themed outfits appropriate for the day.

Tantari Kim, who usually DJs at The Vinyl, performed at Cutlass for this holiday event.

 Dusk Griswold and Zorro Wuramunga were the winners of the "Best in 4rth" contest that night.

 And what would the Fourth of July be without a fireworks show?

Marianne McCann, who's been holding them when she can on Saturday nights, had a special one for the Fourth of July.

 All kinds of streamers and rockets were going up in the air, and a few times they would form patterns in the shape of American flags.

She ended things with a rainbow. and applause from the audience.

It was a great Fourth of July in Second Life, full of red, white, and blue.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From Team Sunbeamer's Road Rally

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday June 27, the Pacific Waters sim in the north end of the Sunweaver Estates was the scene of some wheeled action. It was time for the "Road Rally" event, held by Team Sunbeamers, the Relay for Life team of the Sunweaver and Angels communities.

 In the days before, Cynthia Farshore had laid out a track around the the island. It was not a simple one with four curves and straight road, but had hairpin turns, a tight corkscrew turn, and a wooded area with deer running through. It was designed to be less of a test of speed, but skill. Racers could go up against one another, or by themselves.

The object was to get the shortest time, with a 1,000 prize awarded to the winner. It was expected though that all participants would make a donation to the Relay for Life kiosk that was there. Just a few days before, Team Sunbeamers had a total of 217,000 Lindens raised. By Friday night, the total had risen to over 220,000. Gold rank, 250,000 Lindens, was within sight, and it seemed all that was needed was one good push.

The event started at 8AM that day. Yours truly had to work in real-life and didn't arrive until much later. But there was much racing before that. Grease Coakes was among those racing then, and his quickest lap would be first place for most of the event.

Not all of the cars were racing. Some were up for show, such as Skylark LeFavre's "General Lee" Dodge Charger.

The car had a very detailed interior, worthy of the top Second Life car shows.

Skylark would race in another vehicle, a tank made for pony avatars.

 She and Rita Mariner would race a number of times in them.

 The tanks weren't too fast, but that meant they had good control over those twisty treacherous roads.

 Skylark held the lead at times, but it was Rita who won most off their races.

For the motocycles, a certain green mouse biker decided to get in on the act.

The motorcycle was faster, but had to slow down quite a bit to make the turns. This biker finished at a considerably longer speed than Grease's, a minute and twenty seconds compared to about fifty-five seconds.

The winner of the Road Rally was Tamara Stevens, Co-Captain of the Second Life Coast Guard Relay team.

The event itself raised a few thousand Lindens, but near the end there was a surprise. Shockwave had scrapped up enough Lindens to bring the Sunbeamer total to 250,000, and to Gold rank. Once again, the Sunbeamers, like the Passionate Redheads before them, had proven themselves as a top performing team in the Relay for Life in Second Life.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan