The "Bid Me Bald Game On, Cancer Team Challenge"

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Relay Rockers are known for their "Bid Me Bald" events, which have inspired numerous spinoffs over time. But this year, instead of individual Rockers putting their curly locks on the line, they've made it into a competition.  From April 8 until today April 19, they and several other teams were in a friendly competition to raise Linden dollars, pledging that the one in last place would give up their hair until the Relay Weekend.

I had a chat with Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (Trader1 Whiplash) of the Rockers just as the event was starting. "They (the kiosks) will be here for the next 10 days," Trader explained. When I asked him where the idea for this event came from, "We have always done challenges, couples going head to head, different RFL people. We retired the regular 'bid me bald' events partially last season and completely this season. But we wanted something to continue its legacy. After the success of 'Bid The Lindens Bald,' we thought perhaps the same format would work with teams. We also thought it would give some of the teams a boost in fundraising."

Several teams responded to the Rockers' challenge, "We have eight teams plus the Rockers of course, and the RFL Season Leads:  Adam, Ari, Gem, and reportedly Sting." When asked, Trader stated the Leads count as a team, "We've been trying to get Sting's hair for years!" So what were the other teams saying? "I can't speak for Sting, but the other teams all think its an awesome event.  Those I have spoken with are all looking forward to tomorrow. Let's face it, the first part of fundraising is FUN, and this is a fun event for everyone."

Seeing a t-shirt and hat nearby, I brought that up with Trader, who commented, "Hey you weren't there if you don't have the T-shirt! And if you're gonna be bald you need to protect (your head), so we have hats too. And every team gets a can of Turtle Wax SPF 50! Tazzie Tuque made the shirts again this year.  And they are only L$150 in an RFL vendor."

Trader has been busy lately, "These days and those too!  (laughter)  It never stops.   CRFB Top DJ is underway too.  But I will say overall the Rockers are taking it a little slow this year.  Most of us have been Relaying for a very long time.  Losing Ertina took some wind out of our sails, I am not 100% and a few others have had personal issues in the other world, so its not going to be a 'Rockers' year. None the less we will do what ever we can to assure the season is a success with Relay."

As of Friday, April 17, the totals of the teams were as follows:

People Are Rainbows   L$4233
Team Wishing Star   L$4250
Mieville Steampunks   L$6462
Relay Rockers    L$6719
RFL Season Leads   L$8560
Heroes Helping Heroes    L$9000
Cure Chasers   L$10050
Roos With a Dream   L$10051
Relay For Christ   L$ 40552

The kiosks are open until 4PM today, Sunday April 19, when the final totals are calculated, and the team in last place owning up to their promise for haircuts.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arinultra%20Cay/180/46/27

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

The Snowman Contest and the Holidays For Hope Ball

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Relay for Life Christmas Expo wasn't over until Monday. But Sunday December 13 was the high point of the festival. This was a day of events such as the conclusion of the snowman contest, and the Holidays for Hope Ball.

Those taking part in the contest paid a 500 Linden dollar fee, with cash prizes going to the winners. Voting was done by donating Lindens to the kiosk next to the entry you wanted. Some of the entries were fairly conventional, such as this one sitting down next to a Santa sack.

Would this guy be an "Ice Pirate?" Yo ho ho and a keg of rum.

This one was a tribute to the new "Star Wars" movie out.

And this one, either the builder was from the big city, or a "Calvin and Hobbes" fan.

"Welcome to Atlanta." Looks like this snowman didn't survive his trip.

That dalek isn't part of the display, but someone in an avatar. But he certainly gave a new angle to this entry.

Now this snowman looks downright creepy, something out of a Lovecraftian story. You don't want to end up "Alone in the Dark" with that.

And then there was this one. Cuddly Waffle called it, "very cute. This was a snowman who was taking a break from the cold and somehow managed not to melt!" Maybe he was on a beach in Alaska.

 I would later hear that this snowman, built by Thathy Slade, was the winner. Second place went to the green tentacled horror by Eclair Martinek. ArianaAstro Resident's snowman came in third. A total of 80,000 Linden dollars would be raised by the snowman contest.

Soon it was time for "the Grand Finale Event of the 2015 Christmas Expo," the Holidays for Hope Ball. This would be the sixth time this annual event had taken place. It would be held in a double ballroom.

The ballroom was created by Darkstone Aeon and the event was sponsored by T-1 Radio.

Dozens would show up at the event.

Formal attire was requested, though not a hard requirement.

There were two people in Santa outfits on the dance floor, one of whom was the one doing Santa duty at the Expo. Maybe one can call this scene "dueling Santas."

A fun time was had by all. Trader Whiplash would later announce the festival had raised over two million Linden dollars.

Congratulations To Nuala Maracas and the Expo Staff for a Job More than Well Done.. .. For an Expo that was not just a fund raising success but was a wonderful place to visit -AND- L$ 2,108,062 or $ 8,432.

And so, the 2015 Relay for Life Christmas Expo is now over. But the Relayers are not despairing. In a few months will be the the start of the official Relay for Life season. And once again, their fun-filled antics will resume.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games

By Bixyl Shuftan

In real life, the Winter Games don't start until February 7th in Sochi Russia. In Second Life last weekend, residents from several Steampunk communities (and friends of) got together for their own winter activities, the Wulfenback 2014 Winter games. The events took place over a the weekend of Saturday January 25 and Sunday January 26, and across several sims across the Steamlands over multiple communities. The events got their name from prominent Steelhead resident KlausWulfenbach Outlander.

The Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games as the events were officially called started off at 11AM SL time at the Dragon Amphitheater in Caledon On Sea (161/35/3076). At over 3000 in altitude, the location was all iced and wintered up, with the only dragons around being stone statues. Indeed there were more penguins at the place, which were skittering around on the ice, with other decorative items such as snowglobes. For those wishing to skate on the ice, all they had to do was click on the stage and get a pair of Wulfenbach skates (and disable any AOs active). Cups of hot coco were also available.

The stage itself had a white Christmas tree in the center back.On the brick floor was a large blue disk for a dance area, with decorative patterns. With music provided by Nyree Rain, people were soon, taking off their skates, and coming over to dance. The event lasted for about ninety minutes, though some people stuck around to chat for a little while before heading to the next event.


At 1PM SL time was the fencing match, the "United En Garde Tournament" at MariKesh Mondrago (75/199/47) (for those who want to know more about the game, Click Here). After paying an entrance fee, thirty-two contestants participated in the event, taking place over three rounds plus the rounds to determine the winner and third place. Some fast and furious swordplay was done, with no shortage of short matches.

The match for first place was Stormy Lionheart and Joesf Fitzpatrick for the championship. It was a bit of a contrast, Stormy being a girl in blue jeans and Joesf a dapper-dressed fur in a good suit. But feminine wiles won out over fashion, and Stormy won. The third place round between Zac Icthan and Vance Nirvana was an even greater contrast with Zac being a two foot tall hippo tiny. But in En Garde, size does not matter. The tiny hippo scored, and won third place.

 at 4PM SLtime, was an intermission event, "Queen Anne's Chess." This wasn't a tournament event, so no prizes were given, but there was still some competition. Queen Anne's Chess Club, at Winterfell Laudanum (127/210/517), has a number of games, including a billiards table, a Japanese dice game called Chou-Han, a Risk-like game called "Conquer," and of course chess. The location is open 24/7 for anyone to drop by and play.

At 5:30 PM was the "Steamcarpet Steeplechase," hosted by Lucien Brentano at MariKesh Mondrago (63/206/48). Actually, there was only one steamcarpet in the event. Most others chose some other vehicle from a flying giant BLT sandwich, to Baron Wulfenbach's helicopter pack, to Avariel Falcon's flying unicorn avatar, to a giant housefly. The flying sandwich got a few jokes in the crowd about "bringing home the bacon" and "airline food," and the giant housefly sparked some humoring about "that would take one heck of a swatter" and "you want flies with that?" The race took part across a course in the air made up of rings. Satu Moreau proved the fastest, and got first place. Second was Avariel Falcon. Third place went to Baron Wulfenbach himself.

The Steeplechase was the last of the Saturday events. Sunday January 26 would see a few more. At 11AM SL time was a fishing event in Caledon Kittiwickshire (71/236/24), "Hats may be involved." There was also a "Scupper of Coffee Race" at the Babbage Square sim, "The Experimental High-Test Coffee Race, newly added this season, will test your mettle in a foot race designed to demonstrate the energy-producing effects of a good, hot, steaming and perfectly safe cup of uber-coffee! Unlimited amounts of coffee will be provided along with additional equipment absolutely without charge!" Sadly, the Newser was not available to cover these events when they took place.

The final game event was the Monster Hunt, taking place at Steelhead St Helens from 5PM SL time to 7PM. The event was described as, "The North Pole has come under attack! We have received word from surviving members of Santa's elven ranger squad that otherworldly forces have invaded and taken over Santa's workshop, seeding the surrounding area with hideous monsters and vile mutations to keep away prying eyes. These villains are now using Santa's factory and manufacturing capabilities to create death machines to leave under trees and in stockings for children all over the world come Christmas next year. ... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us on the WEA Gummi-Ente where you shall receive equipment and basic training, and then be air-dropped as close to Santa's workshop as we are able, fight your way past the savage beasts that patrol, find the entrance to the main factory, find the ones responsible for this invasion, and in the spirit of Christmas, destroy them utterly and without mercy!"

The event was done using HUDs for the Grim Combat System, which I've seen in a few zombie games. Free crossbows and guns were available for the event, along with red berrets provided with "the blessing of the Queen Victoria of England." More than a dozen gathered to take part in the hunt, including Baron Wulfenback. Yours truly also took a gun for the fight. At the event's start, we jumped down, and mean-looking "tainted snowmen" began appearing, along with alien "three-legged freaks" and floating aliens, and closed in. We fired back, and began taking down these nasties. There were a few "clanks," steampunk robots, near the drop zone to fire at any monsters that came too close, so there was a safe zone.

After clearing out the space between the ship and Santa's workshop, some of us went in, went down a hole, and entered some kind of subterranian base with robot drones, aliens, and even the nemisis of Doctor Who, the Daleks, around every corner. It was a hard fight, and many of us ran out of hitpoints and had to be ported back to the ship, or if the port didn't work, wait for the HUD to recover before we could shoot again. Zanya Resident provided some commentary during the shootout, "Tha Baron is cornered but fights his way through a wall of Daleks and drones!" "Bix is making slush out of the snowmen!"

Finally, there was a big boom, and with a clatter, metal saucer-shapped objects could be seeing crashing to the ground. Zanya shouted, "OH MY GOD! The Dalek ship has been destroyed!!!"

Finally, the time for the shootout was over, "Everyone back to the ship."  "Shoot. I was hoping to reach 1000." Scores were tallied, "In first place, we have Luke Skywookam (Luke Skywalker aka maxim.krutschek ), with an unbelievable 914 kills! In second place, we have Tal'Kesh (aka Way) with an amazing 665 kills! And in third we have Baron Klaus Wulfenbach with a hefty 440 kills!" Zanya commented, "special recognition should to to Tal, though I don't have an exact number, I would bet solid money he thinned the Dalek population down more than everyone else! ... it seems the Daleks took massive casualties, we kept intercepting them screaming about a doctor. Then the ship exploded."

Zanya Resident reactivated the place after the games were over for anyone else wanting to play. The location is at Steelhead St Helens (109/218/886).

The final event was the closing ball. This would be at  St John Parish. Unfortunetly, yours truly was not able to attend due to real life matters.

It was an eventful Winter Games, the seventh organized event of it's kind in the Steamlands. No doubt next year there will be an eighth.

Bixyl Shuftan

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

The New Bastogne Second Annual Tank Rally

Saturday September the 8th was the first day of New Bastogne's Second Annual Tank Rally. Inspired by the "World of Tanks" computer game, the event was sometimes called "WoT2." The event was sponsored by New Bastogne's 1. Armee, in addition to Patrick Paspund, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Sunshine Juneberry. Fox Cheri acted as an umpire for the event.

The Tank Rally differed from normal ground combat in the New Bastogne area. There would be no infantry involved, only heavy, medium, and light tanks. The combat tags normally worn by soldiers and tankers would not be used, although tank damage was dealt and recorded using the VICE system. Participants from both Allied and German factions were randomly placed into red and blue teams. So each usually had a mix of Allied and German tanks, sometimes a mix of Western Allied, Soviet, and German. Participants wore the flags of their teams, red and blue, on their backs, which poked out through the tops of the tanks.

At one point the participants were greeted by an official looking figure in a tricolor sash, "Heil pour le Maréchal Pétain! … I am the new mayor, Etienne Vigée, nice to meet you." He stated that before long, there would be an election with at least one opponent. It was not mentioned whom would be voting.

The tank battles were fought in both countryside and urban terrain, taking a little time for the forces to meet. But once the battles were joined, the action was usually fast and furious. The first round was in hilly country, with Fatalitywolf Firehawk, Vickster Khun, and Ayane Sauber on the red team. Killingowl, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Toscha Vayandar were on the blue team. Both teams rolled out from their bases. But when they met, red team had their guns pointed right at two of blue, whom were driving across their line of sight. Vickster soon took out two, but JessicaBelle's light tank avoided the red team's fire and soon took out one. But her computer crashed, and so the match was declared a red team victory.

Round two took place in mostly urban terrain. Red team's Toscha Vayandar destroyed all three blue tanks. Round three, which took place in central Bastogne, started with the two bases not far apart, and the teams soon met up. This time Toscha's luck did not carry over, and his red tank was blown apart without a kill along with Blue's Crymson Serenity's. Blue Team's JessicaBelle was the winner with two kills, with Ayame Sauber having one. Red team's KillingOwl and Fatalitywolf got a kill each before their tanks were disabled.

The fourth round was in New Fallout, normally the home base of the Soviet team. The terrain here was hilly, with trees, boulders, and some trenches. Red team had Vickster, Ayane, Toscha. Blue had Fatalitywolf, JessicaBelle, and KillingOwl. Meeting up, Fatalitywolf and KillingOwl fell to Vickster and Toscha after several rounds of cannon fire. JessicaBelle once again was outmaneuvering the Red team, but her tank ended up caught in a ditch and without mobility was quickly smoked.

Under the point system, Vickster was the winner of Day One of the Tanl Rally with 1800 points. JessicaBelle was second with 1200 points. Toscha was third with 1100. Ayane Sauber was fourth with 700. They along with others who scored received Linden cash prizes. Vickster as the top tanker also won a new tank of her choice. There was also a raffle, in which the winner was due a second tank, along with a new plane from Dayafter Productions and a new uniform from Sunshine. The prizes just for this first day exceeded 6000 Lindens, two tanks, one uniform and one airplane. The points will be accumulated throughout the Rally until the end.

The Tank Rally goes on in New Bastogne every day to next Sunday, September 16.

"Play hard, and play to win!"

Bixyl Shuftan

The LEA Avatar Games

Recently, I decided to take a look at an event I heard about through some group chatter, as well as the Destination Guide: The LEA Avatar Games, also known as the “Art Games.”

Join the fun as the LEA Avatar Games (a.k.a. Art Games), held each Monday at 4:00 p.m. (Pacific). Watch as participants run through the obstacle course and the audience tries to to slow them down! Check out the sign-up sheet on Thursdays for contestants and audience participants. More info at: http://bit.ly/l30NvC.

LEA standing for “Linden Endowment for the Arts, I was expecting something conventional. Getting there, however, it was soon obvious the event was anything but conventional.Right away, I heard a familiar voice. It was Crap Mariner. He was moderating the games, along with Honour McMillian, describing what was going on from his slightly twisted point of view. Indeed the whole place could be called a bit twisted. The obstacle course that made up the maze looked like a surreal piece of art. There was something familiar about it. Then I recognized how the audience seating looked like that from a broken-down building, plus the metallic sculptures in a couple places, and then the “Daughter of Gears” and the “Rabbicorn.” Bryn Oh had made the obstacle course, whom stood on a platform over it as the “Platform Bastard.” No wonder these were sometimes called the “Art Games.”

Contestants were in a small skybox until called to materialize at the start of the course, which was littered with giant bones and the first half having a checkered surface. Then when the timer started, they would have to run a gauntlet of fire from the audience from guns provided by a dispenser, known as “The Grand Walloper.” While doing so, they had to get over a ditch of water, “The Cesspool. Then they had to get past a couple sets of whirling posts on sticks, “The Pefrackembacker.” And that’s just the first quarter of the course.

Turning the corner to get up the hill, they were now out of effective range of the whalloper guns, but had to dodge an avalanche of huge marbles that rolled down. Getting past those, the checkered surface turned rocky, and was half over. Then came another obstacle - a large wall of which the only way over was to wait for a set of blocks to arrange themselves into a staircase. Around the next bend was the final quarter of the course, which had cages of barcodes dropping onto the runners. Hopping over a couple bones, the last thing to do was to run under the lamp, and the course was over. The runners got two chances to run the course by themselves, then at the end all of them would race at once, free to use walloper guns on one another.

The course was a bit difficult to run, most of the contestants needing about four minutes to do so. Two runners just barely did a run in less than two. Crap Mariner changed to his Grim Reaper outfit early on, and yours truly didn’t escape his notice, commenting as press I was a non-combatant, and not shooting at the runners. Of the obstacles, the wall on the third quarter was the most difficult, a few runners kept stumbling as they tried to jump from a halfway completed brick ramp. A couple tried to climb up the cliff, which would get them both around it and skip the barcode cage obstacle. Only one made it through that way.

The fastest run on the day I was there was done by Theblackcloud Oh, who took one minute, 55 seconds. Afterwards, Crap Mariner and Bryn Oh were available for anyone who wanted to ask them anything about the race. At the end of the season, the best runners will appear in that show and compete for a prize.

Whether you like sports or art, this is an event worth seeing at least once.

The LEA games are every Monday at 4PM SL time at LEA3 (224, 127, 30)


Bixyl Shuftan

Creative Challenges and Innovative Ideas at the UWA

The University of Western Australia (UWA), founded by Sir John Winthrop Hackett, is a leading Australian research university and has an international reputation for excellence, innovation and enterprise. A member of the Australian 'Group of Eight' research universities, it is also among Australia's leading research universities. Sitting on the banks of the Swan River, the UWA Crawley campus is the oldest in Western Australia and among the most picturesque in the nation with its grand sandstone and terracotta buildings sitting among elegant heritage-listed gardens. The UWA in SL consists of three sims, including UWA, University of Western Australia and WASP Land.


Two competitions are running simultaneously through August 2010, the Imagine Challenge and the Flagship Challenge. The Imagine Challenge focuses on Arts and Design, while the Flagship Challenge focuses on Architecture. The competitions are taking place monthly with prizes awarded each month.

I recently visited the 3D Art & Design Challenge for the Imagine Challenge segment of the competitions. Even the landing point is unique in it's design with a swirling circle of color and an image resembling an eye. The Imagine Challenge focuses on limitless imagination. The challenge is to create a work of art using any form, shape, influence or medium. Awards are given in multiple categories. All non-winners will receive a share of the monthly pool beginning with $L6000 and increasing with donations to the tip jar at the Imagine Gallery.

The artwork is absolutely incredible! The designs range from ethereal to surreal to abstract. Skillful use of color and sculpties applies to these magnificent creations. There are sculptures both real and abstract, 3D pictures, a solar system complete with rotation and sound, and a piece which at first looks like colored pole lamps but is really shapes connected to five the effect of flowers in glass--at least that was my interpretation, perhaps not the intention of the artist. There is even a cosmic egg with what looks like an circular embryo in the center. All are very ingenious and creative pieces of art and a must see for all.

Shellie Sands