The Newser Anniversary Beach Party

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By Bixyl Shuftan

It was about twelve years ago, and one month, since a new newsletter came on the scene in Second Life, the Second Life Newser. We've been busy writing the news of the people, places, and events across the virtual world. And finally, it was time for a little party to celebrate our turning another year older.

Although our anniversary was in June, sadly we had some medical issues and personal tragedies to deal with. So the decision was made to postpone the party for a month. On Saturday July 9, it was time to celebrate. And the event started at Noon at the Happy Vixen beach club.

Noted Newser reporter Gemma Cleanslate was there.

So was reporter Penny Shuftan (Deaflegacy), who wanted to dance with yours truly, the editor, until her boyfriend arrived. I had a Firestorm Fifth Aniversary Fennux pet out. 

Nydia Tungsten, who owns the club and the sim, with Helios Auxifur helping out and Snowy Anglebuns Lefavre managing, and writes a number of game reviews and an occasional commentary was also there. Usually in a fox avatar, this time she was in her feline one. 

DJ Snowy played the music for the party.

 Ranchan Weidman, who provided the Newser with it's office, came by. 

Instead of her usual canine appearance, her avatar resembled a Pokemon/Digimon.

They were soon joined by Rita Mariner, the "Chieftess" of the Sunweaver community, where the Newser office is located.

We got a few visitors as time went by.

For the two hours planned, and a little time after, the music and dancing went on. It was a lot of fun for the Newser and it's fans.

Happy anniversary, Second Life Newser

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Reader Submitted: A SL Surf Battle Royale

The Triple Crown of Surfing : A SL Surf Battle Royale Promises Fierce
Competition and Fun Across the Grid

By Shiny Journo (NarayanRaja Resident)

A new Second Life virtual surf competition is on the horizon. The contest organized by
Solsty, Kris Marley, and Richie Marley of Surf SL want to discover who has what it takes to be
Crowned the Best Surfer on the Grid.

In an exclusive pre-announcement interview, I met the organizers at one of Second Life’s hottest
and new Surfing and Watersports sim, on the beach of Cohiba Cay Surf Sim. Under Caribbean
skies, we talked about the competition on the shore of a beautiful stretch of white sand beach.
They shared the details of the competition among lush green palms, as set after set of sparkling
and cascading Maoli waves, ripping left and right, roared in the distance.

“Bascially, it’s like battle royale style, I guess!” organizer Kris Marley explained, standing ankle
knee-deep in the shore break laughing. “It’s an elimination over 3 competitions. It starts with
twenty surfers. After the first comp, five competitors are eliminated, and the winner gets a free
ride to the final. The 2nd comp starts with fifteen from the last round, and five more gets
eliminated by the end of this heat. Then there will be a ten-person final, with two heats, five
surfers are discharged after heat 1, and the last five who have survives to go to the final and surf
it out to see who is champion. The final is the Grand Prix.”

The competition is a three-month, multi-board, multi-Sim event. The first heat is April 18th and
takes place at 2pm SLT Cohiba Surf Sim on the newest surfboard in SL, the Sally. The second
competition takes place on May 16th (time and sim to be announced), and competitors will surf
the infamous C3 surfboard for this heat. (time to be announced). The finals and the third round
takes place on June 20th, Cielo. This is a finely crafted sim and set of waves in majestic ruins
you can surf through. It is set adjacent of a five sim Surfing beach island and with contenders
pitted against one another on the classic HP5 surfboard.

Registration for the competition opens April 3rd and closes April 16th. Registration sign-up
boards will be located at the following locations: Cohiba Cay, Bundy Reef, Cielo, Kanaloa
Beach.

The competition is free to join and completely community funded, with most of the budget
coming from the organizers who happily volunteer their time and resources to the sport and
community they love. You won’t find a way to donate to their cause, they prefer the support goes
to the sims and creators who make virtual surf life possible. They are still seeking experienced
judges and performers for the event, as winners and runner-ups and fans of surfing party all day
on the beach. It’s a great day for spectators too!


No Lindens have been collected, but the organizers hope the Brands and Sims that make Surfing
in Second life possible will be supported. Maoli Waves and Ramps, Cohiba Cay, Surf SL, Cielo,
Umbrella, Bee Designs, The Shack, InkMe, and HP5, are some of the essential terraformers,
makers, and builders that make extreme sport and community experiences possible.

Kris Marley swigs his beer and says, “Sponsors are the kind people who donate and contribute to
our events. Obviously, we don’t ask for any money from sponsors, it is a no money pot we sit
on! We usually pay for everything ourselves, but we like to make sure their (creators and sims)
contribution to surfing are highlighted.”

Solsty, a hardworking, pointy-eared, community organizer, laughs off the financial question,
“That hadn’t even crossed our minds. I’d say donate to the venue or brand. (For us) It’s always
just about bringing the community together, never really crosses our mind about receiving. If
people want to donate, I’d say donate to Cohiba or Maoli or whatever is happening that month?”
When asked if some funding could help propel some new projects, they say it would be nice.
However, they still ground their work in the spirit of generosity and community. “It’s s really
about having fun, surfer, organizer, says Richie Marley Di Vaio, and the passion for surf.”

Look for more official announcements and details today on www.slsurf.com.

*****

Triple Crown Surf Competiton
□ Schedule □
 ▷ April 18th @ 2pm SLT: Cohiba Cay (212,102,22): Sally
 ▷ May 16th @ TBA :TBD: C3
 ▷ June 20th @ TBA : Cielo (37,174,22): HP5
□ Registration Information □
 ▷ Registration Opens: April 3rd
 ▷ Registration Closes: April 16th
□ Sponsors/Contributors □
Brands that have contributed in some way, no Lindens collected:
Maoli Waves and Ramps
Cohiba Cay
Surf SL
Cielo
Umbrella
Bee Designs
The Shack
InkMe
HP5
□ Available Opportunities □
Judges Needed
Contributors/Sponsors Wanted
 ▷ Barter system preferred

□ Organizers □
Kris Marley
Richie Marley
Solsty Kismet
□ Media □
Surf SL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/636725840069521/
Surf SL Website: https://www.surfsl.com/




Shiny Journo

Beach Party at Sunny Beach

 On Saturday August 27, some of the Newser crew and their friends met up at the Sunny Beach sim for a beach party.

The event started a bit before Noon SL time, and was at the "Surf City" hangout.

 Tantari Kim, who DJs every Tuesday at the Happy Vixen, spun the tunes for the first hour.

Deaflegacy was there, sporting an itsy bitsy bikini.

Gemma Cleanslate had her own swimsuit as well.

Anne Brightstar, a friend of the newspaper, also had her swimwear.

 ShadowRene Ivanova funning around in a microavatar.

 Not everyone was dancing all the time. There was some seating for those who weren't. Wesley Regenbogen was there, though didn't have a suit.

Quite a number showed up, including Sunweaver Chieftess Rita Mariner, Happy Vixen Manager Skylark Lefavre, and a number of others. Nydia Tungsten was there for a while as well.

 In the second hour, Grease Coakes took to the DJ booth.

 Breezes Babbi showed up for a little while at one point. Lately she's been spending most of her time in the Tombstone sim.

There was a 1000 Linden prize for the best swimsuit. Rita Mariner ended up with the most votes.

The party lasted for about three hours. There was lots of fun to go around between the music and the beach scenery.

The SL Newser Beach Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday July 2nd was the day of the Second Life Newser Beach Party. About two to three times a year, the newspaper staff get together to take a little time off their busy schedule for a beach party. Usually they hold one in early June around the time of the Newser's anniversary. But complications came up on top of an already busy schedule, notably covering and being a part of the Second Life Birthday. So the party was postponed to the Saturday after the official events.

At just after 1PM SL time, people began gathering at the Happy Vixen Club in Purrfection. DeafLegacy dances to a tune while next to ShadowRene Ivanova, Skylark LeFavre, and Pagan SunFire.

Nydia Tungsten, the owner of the Happy Vixen, was the DJ who provided the music for the event

 Gemma Cleanslate was certainly dressed for the beach party.

Britty Bee, one of our newest writers.

ClarisseJane, whom had recently sent a Reader Submission and expressd interest in joining the team, was there. 

Becky Shamen in her bunny avatar, with her "Bid Be Bald" time over, the "hare" is back.

Mikati Slade came over, bringing a couple friends.

Many others showed up such as Kryxia in her new avatar.

 We all had a great time that Saturday afternoon, a couple hours of music and dance and a little time away from out busy schedules. But eventually it was back to (virtual) reality

Second Life Newser's Fifth Anniversary Weekend

On the weekend of Saturday June 6 and Sunday June 7, Second Life Newser celebrated it's turning five years old. It was  June 5, 2010 when it's predecessor paper, Second Life Newspaper, folded, and the new paper began. The celebrations actually began on Thursday June 4 at "The Vinyl." But when the weekend came, it was time for the celebrations to happen elsewhere.

Originally, we were going to have the party for Saturday at Noon at Thorstar. But there was a last minute problem: ban lines. We didn't see who now owned the stretch of beach, so the only thing we could do was move the party.

 And so we moved it to the Happy Vixen, with Grease Coakes spinning the tunes as the DJ.

 Lomgren Smalls, who has been easing back into Second life after a hiatus, was among those there.

Besides Grease, Gemma Cleanslate and Wesley Regenbogen were there, along with some friends such as Anne Brightstar.

 At 6PM, it was time for the party at Cutlass. As June 6 was also D-Day, Cynthia Farshore, whom was DJing for the party, wore a naval uniform and played a recording of the announcement of the landings in Normandy.

 Lots of fun was had with various news songs being played.

Zorro Wuramunga, normally with a fishing rod, sported the traditional news reporter's hat and overcoat that night. He and Carolzilla Lionheart won 500 Lindens each.

On Sunday at Noon, it was time to once again take the party to the Happy Vixen for the last of the celebration events.

Nydia Tungsten, who runs the Happy Vixen, would be the DJ for this events. She would play songs like "We Are the Champions" and several renditions of "Happy Birthday.

Today we are hosting the birthday party for the SL newser, yours truly is DJ'ing and putting out the tunes to help them make it another year, come by because you are all invited!

At one poiny, Nydia and Jenni Greenfield did a a hula dance routine.

 Ozymandius was among those showing up at the party.

The 500L prize, which had been boosted to 1500 by a supporter, went to Skylark Lefavre.

The Newser's celebration was also noted by Daniel Voyager, who mentioned it on his blog. There were also various well wishers on Facebook.

It was a Happy Anniversary to the Second Life Newser, and hopefully there will be many more to come.

Bixyl Shuftan