Going to the Burn

This weekend, the Burn2 art and music festival opened in Second Life. Taking place across six sims and eight days, there's a lot to see and experience with over a hundred arrests and dozens of live musicians and DJs apiece.

Heading over to the entrance at the Playa in 

Burning Man - Deep Hole, (84, 9, 24), I was greeted by one of the staff, Tee Auster, "Heya, welcome to Burn." Talking to her, she described the weekend as "pretty busy. … we had a great turnout last night for the Lamplighters." She gave me a notecard with a list of landmarks, and if I had any questions let her know."

Green arrows led from the entrance into the festival grounds, the trail looking like tire tracks in the Black Rock Desert. I soon came across a few teepees with packages of freebie goods, which included mutant vehicles and funny hats. Although it stated "backpack, wear me," there was no backpack in there, but there were plenty of other freebies.

Passing a few mannequins, there was the DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) Diner, which I stopped at to take a break. There was also a map of the six sims, with the Guru stage in the northeast of the sim of the same name, and Newser writer Gemma Cleanslate's partner DJ Qwark having a place in Burning Man - Deep Hole.

I ran into one other Burn2 staff member, Chrisssy (Chrstenhp), "Welcome Bixyl to Burn2." Asking her who was coming to the festival, she answered there were "a lot of" newcomers attending, reasoning they saw it in the Second Life Destinations Guide, but there were plenty of seasoned residents coming too.

Within sight, there were a number of exhibits. There was a 3-D maze that looked promising. But I saved that for later as it seemed a little crowded. One exhibit close to the entrance was Caro Fayray's "The Maypole, the Brain, and the Beanstalk," which had a few more freebie items such as a brain hat that sparked and a walking stick that made one's avatar dance. Other exhibits included a garden DJ stage, a flower garden with birds and bees, three giant spiders throwing webbing over an avatar-sized empty chair, and many others. And around the sims were the decorated toilets that appear every year. I also noticed a pet kitty walking the grounds of one exhibit. No doubt set there by the artist as company while building the place, and left there since he seemed happy enough.


There was only so much one can see in a few hours. Clearly, one will need to come back more days to get a good look. And of course there's the Burning of The Man and the Temple Burn next weekend.

Burn2 is based on the real life Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, which is considered by some to be a partial inspiration for Second Life as some Lindens attended it during the development of the virtual world. For several years, Linden Lab sponsored a Second Life version of the festival, which then was called Burning Life. But eventually Linden Lab stopped it's sponsorship. The people running the festival rented a few sims and renamed the event Burn2. Today the Burners, as the serious fans of Burn2 are called, are more active than ever with smaller events with the theme elsewhere in the year. But there's nothing like the big event.

For a list of landmarks, Daniel Voyager had these listed in one Burn2 article of his:

Gate Road & Freebies (SLURL)
The Man (SLURL)
The Temple (SLURL)
Center Camp Stage (SLURL)
BURN2 Osiris Stage (SLURL)
Guru Stage (SLURL)
Lamp Lighters (SLURL)
BURN2 Ranger HQ (SLURL)
Literary Camp (SLURL)


For the Burn2 Flickr, Click Here.

For the Burn2 website: http://burn2.org/about

Bixyl Shuftan

Scary Fun at ZZ Studios

To celebrate the spooky fun of Halloween, ZZ Studios announced on October sixth they were having a "monster mash" party at their Club Stripes. Just doing a photo shoot with them, I wanted to check out their party.

There was an amazing prize of 1,000L for the best Halloween costume. I didn’t have anything very spooky except for a no face costume. The no face is the lonely ghost who enters the bathhouse in the movie "Spirited Away." I got a few compliments from the other spooky party goers. The scariest and best costume by votes was "Oogaboogaman." His costume was the Oogie Boogie character from the "Nightmare Before Christmas" created by Tim Burton.

Cindy Babii the owner of ZZ studios gave me permission to take photos around the ZZ studios sim. Usually it is forbidden and a bannable offense to take photos around her sim. However I worked for the SL Newser so Cindy allowed it.

ZZ Studios went a step farther to celebrate Halloween. They created a zombie maze that was pretty fun. First you had to grab freebie weapons from a nearby box along within uploading a HUD and bar above your head showing your hit points. It was a whole new game within Second Life. They used the grim combat system to do combat with those nasty zombies. You had armor, health and ammo in your HUD. I equipped myself with a sword to hack away at the zombies to give them a more permanent grave. The zombies had high detail and were cool and gory to look at. The maze itself was dark and forbidding as well with dark stone walls. Asking, I found out Rhin Forti and Mercy Moonwing created the zombie maze. They both did an aMAZEing job.

The combat was easy. Zoom into mouselook, and there was a set of crosshairs on your screen to target those zombies. The hard part was staying alive. Just like a horror movie, they surround you and bite and claw at you until you fall over, dead. You’ll know when you die when your avatar falls over dead.  Unlike the soap opera "One Life to Live," you have unlimited lives. So don’t worry if you end up dead. Click "escape" and then click where it says “You have died, click here to be revived.” After a few messy deaths, I figured out backing away while attacking seemed the best way to keep zombies from biting me as I hacked away.

Over time I got a few kills and some experience, but after a while I wanted to look into the madhouse also on the ZZ Studios sim. Standing at the entrance, Darkefur Fraker joked that the hearse was about to make another trip. Risking my life anyway, I entered the madhouse.  It certainly was spooky and scary inside.  Navigating around was certainly difficult as there was no direct path throughout the madhouse towards the top. While in the madhouse, I heard the audio playing of a creepy movie along with scary images all around. Just like the zombie maze it was an excellent environment like a horror movie. Something scary I saw were buzzsaws at my feet with blood coming up. In the madhouse the enemy wasn’t zombies but more of a puzzle of how to get to the top by navigating through the twists and turns. Oh and there was a tentacle monster.

Darkefur Fraker and Mercy Moonwing created the madhouseand they did a great job. The madhouse did drive me mad not in anger more like insane trying to figure out how to get to the next floor or area. If you want a challenge try out their Madhouse.

Looking for a fun way to celebrate the spooky time of the year? I recommend ZZ Studios’s zombie maze and madhouse. There might be some ZZ studios staff or other vistors to hang out with as well.

Grease Coakes

Editor's Note: To those who don't know, Cindy "Zig Zag" Babii's ZZ Studios has an overall adult theme with it's adult clubs and sexually themed media up for sale.

The First 2012 Presidential Debate in Second LIfe

At 6PM SL time on Wednesday October 3rd was the first of three debates between Romney and Obama in the US Presidential Election. It could be seen in two places in Second Life. One was Cafe Wellstone at Pini  (56, 78, 45) a hangout for people advocating liberal and progressive causes, and naturally were inclined to support President Obama. Among the people there was CNN iReporter Any1 Gynoid. Most of the audience who stated so remarked they were watching MSNBC.

There were a number of comments there, such as how Obama has aged in the past four years. Someone wondered if a bingo card should be made up with key words, and the appropriate square checked when it was uttered. More frequent were comments praising the President and not just saying the opposition wasn't as good, but clearly questioning their motives and goals, "Barack is one of the finest Americans ever born. He saved the country after the Republican wrecking crew. ... Every time Republicans win the White House, it's a criminal exploitation of the US economy, start wars, enrich (their) buddies, destroy industries." "(Romney)'s so full of crap already." "He's lying like crazy." "Quit selling out resources to China." "Middle Class Mortgage Deduction - GONE!" "Mittens is a moron."

For the politically conservative, there was the Republican Party in Second Life building in Sunset River (180, 198, 23). The humans and furs were watching coverage streamed in from FOX News. Among them was East Coast Conservative's Hatton Hunghi.

Naturally they had the opposite position of the people at Wellstone, criticizing Obama and complementing Romney. "This from the commentary on The Iowa Republican blogsite: Comment From Todd, 'Apparently the President is taking this debate as seriously as he did his Daily Intelligence Briefings.' " "LIAR!" "Oh em gee, hilarious." "Exxon employs 82,000 people ... and does me more good than this President." "Obama is just repeating his speaking points and getting called to the mat for it." "GO ROMNEY!"

Following the debate at the RPSL building, most thought the challenger came out ahead, "Romney should be carrying a broom right now, he swept the floor with him." CNN, streamed by neither location, declared Mitt Romney the winner.

There will be two more Presidential debates, and one Vice-Presidential one.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Sunday Night Demo Derby

It's probably something you've fantasized about during a traffic jam: revving up the engine, then charging and smashing into the mass of cars. Well, there's a place in Second Life where that behavior is not only allowed, but encouraged. Every Sunday night in the Random sim, there's a Demolition Derby in a track a few hundred feet above the sim.

The track for the event isn't circular, but a few times longer than wide. Guard rails keep vehicles on the track, at least when drivers don't have a case of lag that causes them to travel a distance away before reappearing back on the track. At one end is the entrance in which participants can walk onto from the entry area, which has a notecard giver explaining more details about the derby.

Dropping by one night, I heard the people running the event ask for all those interested in racing to be on the field. About a couple minutes before the event, cars were rezzed in two rows, one for each side of the track and pointed back end in. The racers were asked to get in, and about twenty seconds before the start, those cars still empty were derezzed and the racers told to get ready to start.

And once the staff yelled "Go!" the cars charged, rear end first to keep the engine from being hit. Or in this case, to minimize the number of hit points taken away. It was a chaotic scene as cars moved around to ram one another and avoid being rammed. None of the cars tried to circle around and stay out of it as the rules stated everyone in the derby had to "actively and continuously fight" or otherwise be flagged and disqualified.

Once a vehicle's hit points reached zero, it blew up. Drivers were asked to at least fly up into the air so they wouldn't get in the way (free flight feathers were in the lobby entrance for any newcomers). Voice chat was openly encouraged, and I could hear a few excitedly calling out as they went around the track. I didn't hear any insults or taunting.

Different rounds had different vehicles. Round two involved racing in semi-truck cabs. Round three had a unique race. The participants jockeyed about in small flying saucers, obstacles resembling planets were added into the course, and vehicles could suddenly go up the sides and on the underside of an invisible force field, going upside down. It could be quite confusing and disorienting.

Round four involved something not usually seen on wheels: driveable pool tables. Back to a normal course, it wasn't long before the less skillful drivers were behind the eight ball. Round five was back to smashing around in cars, but police cars. There were no tickets for reckless driving that day as all but one ended up disabled. The sixth and final round had another unique run. The drivers were in shopping carts, and when they bumped they would loose of of the items inside, and it would appear on the course a few times larger as an obstacle. The course was soon quite a mess, "Clean up on isle 9."

The winner of the final round got an 800 Linden prize, with 400 going to second place.

Following the event, I had a chat with one of the people  there, Barbie Alchemi. She explained her brother AlmostThere Inventor ran the place, and she herself was the head of the Creations for Parkinsons sim. So besides a great place to have a smash-up-derby, the track has connections to a major charity in Second Life. One which will be for another story.

To get to the Sunday Demolition Derby Track, head to Random (6, 92, 301). Once again, scheduled races are from 6 to about 7 SL time every week. Between events, the track is available for "practice and grudge matches."

Bixyl Shuftan.

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" in Second Life

I went searching for a “Talk Like a Pirate” party, and I quickly found three fun ones. 

My first stop was at Pirates at Black Shark Reef, a tropical paradise with plenty of palm trees and sandy beaches.  Their party was located at  Black Shark Reef (144, 149, 411).  Couples were dancing to great tunes like Mark Mulligan’s “Drinking Mexico Dry” and Jimmy Buffett’s  “Banana Republic”. 

Maximillian Desoto, co-owner of Black Shark Reef, was the DJ.  He and his partner, Sunny Vandyke, looked great in their pirate outfits.   Desoto said, “I've been doing Talk Like a Pirate Day parties for a couple of years.  We like doing it.”

Black Shark Reef boasts SL’s only Mechanical Shark ride, too.  They were giving out a prize for the avi who could stay on the longest.   Wyatt Bouscario tried his luck with the Shark, followed by his partner Peachalicious.  “Gotta catch that man 'o mine,” Peachalicious said as she tried to beat his score.   

I hated to leave this fun group, but I wanted to catch up with some other pirates. 

My next stop was at the Tiki Bar, located at Poseidon's Adventure (101, 140, 23).  In addition to dancing, these multi-tasking pirates were having a trivia contest!  Edward Pluto, assisted by his friendly parrot, was the DJ here.  Pluto had one of the most colorful pirate outfits that I saw tonight. 

My last stop was at The Brass Rail, located at Fountainhead (81, 107, 55).  This was the wildest party, no doubt because they had already emptied a few kegs by the time I arrived.   Some of the ladies had lost their pirate outfits, too, but the buccaneers didn’t seem to mind.  Witchiepoo69 handed me a tankard and asked if it was my first time at a strip pirate party.  (It was.)   

But the fun was all good-natured.  CaptainTomUSA said he “be having a jolly time.”  DixieDee hollared, “Yo Ho! Bottle Of Rum? Drink Up Cause We're About To Get Swashbuckled!”   JustinKredible’s outfit included a huge sword, which led to a few comments.   LITA (lalita.graves) said, “Oi Justin...ye had best be careful with that sword!”    

All of the pirates I met tonight were fun and friendly.  I can’t wait to meet up with them soon. 

Grey Lupindo

Club Zero Gravity's Pirate Night

On Tuesday Sept. 18th, Club Zero Gravity held a "Pirate Night" in honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day," giving people a chance to celebrate a little early.

"Avast ye landlubbers! Tis true "Talk Like a Pirate Day" be not til tomorrow, but ye git o' chance ta revel a wee bit early. Club Zero Grav'ty be havin' it's Pirate Party tonight. So git yer peglegs, yer cutlasses, yer eyepatches, yer parrots on th' shoulder, and whateva mark ye as one o' th' Brotherhood o' th' Coast. So no time ta arrrrrrgue, git yer best buccaneer look an' be quick about it or ye walk th' plank."

DJ Shockwave entertained the crowd with his music, as well as a few one-liners between songs, which included, "A Pirate's Life for Me," "Airship Pirates," "A Pirate Christmas," "You are a Pirate," and "Hey it's Can(n)on." His humor showed when he dedicated one song to a skunkgirl, "You Stink, But I Love You," and when some unknown person was having fun with a "spanker," his response was to play Michael Jackson's "Beat it."

Someone asked where to get one of the pirate songs. It was downloaded from a pay music website, "It would be bad form to pirate a pirate."

Club Zero Gravity's owner Nydia Tungsten was among those reveling it up on the dance floor. Jessicabelle Dayafter (right) was the winner of the contest for best pirate look. Her outfit having two sabers and multiple flintlock pistols, none of the other buccaneers chose to "arrrrrr"gue.

It was a night of piratical fun at Zero-G that night.

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