Monthly Archives: June 2012

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Home & Garden: Jacan & Ellie’s Moondance

Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
The couple’s home is a grand Victorian
and in the sky the Moon shines especially bright.

Jacan & Ellie Slade married in Second Life and live at a most amazing home called Moondance. Jacan is a well known DJ and Ellie is well know for throwing the most amazing parties on The Grid. And if you get to know Ellie just a little bit, you learn she has a keen interest in and enthusiasm for the Moon. So I started this post with a photo that would captured the Moon as it brightened the night sky over the couples home.

Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
And in the brightness of the day,
the beauty of their home beams outward.

This process of doing photostudies of friends homes & gardens have revealed to me just how distinct each people can be. In Second Life, people can express their values and interests in their homes. Among the photos I shot there’s a lighthouse, cottage & dock, gazebo and an amazing little farm (oh yes!). There are many nooks and crannies and even beach with great breaking waves.

Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
Another spectacular feature of Jacan & Ellie’s home
is the beautiful lighthouse out on a small island
on the windward side of the island.
Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
You can’t just have an island without a boat
and this beautiful wooden one sits ready,
just behind a lazy little cabin on the dock.
Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
As promised, I shot this photo of the
almost-a-farm vegetable garden.
I say farm because nearby there’s
even a chicken coup.
Ellie & Jacan's Moondance
There are many places to sit and enjoy the day
but this gazebo stood out, tucked between two trees,
I felt this was a great pic to end the post.

I had a lot of fun shooting these photos of the Slade’s home but I’m told that soon the couple will be moving to a new home. I wonder what is in store. Oh, I posted ten photos on Flickr if you wanna see some other features.

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The Great Matsumoto Castle

A few days ago PrimPerfect ran an article about Hosoi Ichiba, one of my favorite places in all of Second Life. I was even asked my Amiryu Hosoi to be one of her spokespeople and to work with PrimPerfect but I just couldn’t. The article captured the essence of Hosoi Ichiba but I want to focus on something I particularly love. In particular, I want to show you one of Ami’s greatest creations, The Matsumoto Castle. In this case, two photos will tell the entire story.

This is the real Matsumoto Castle in Japan.
It is one of the treasures from Japanese history.

This is the Matsumoto Castle on Japan Chubu sim.
It is one of Second Life’s treasures by Amiryu Hosoi.

These are the things I love about Second Life, these places where you can go and immerse yourself in treasure. But at Hosoi Ichiba on Japan Chubu, you can immerse yourself in Edo era history and role play.

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SL9B and the “Secret Sauce”

A lot of people are evaluating the SL9B success and there’s great enthusiasm for SL10B already. I kind of ran out of blogging steam after a my blogathon last Saturday, but I have some things I still want to write about. I want to use this last post to take a look at a couple of my ideas about SL’s “Secret Sauce.”

That big train sitting on the outer edge of SL9B
is being loaded up and will pull away today.

I need to start by saying my experiences in the past couple of months have expanded my frames of reference. I’ve learned more about communities and community leaders. I’ve gotten to know more of SL’s writers and media. And my point of view has expanded outside my comfort zone.

Thanks to SL9B, I’ve also gotten to know more about people in the far reaches of Second Life. And I’ve seen my basic premise – When Second Life is at its best there are infinite possibilities – to be  true and I’ve spoken with many people experienced something wonderful in SL during the past month. I tried to express those feelings in my post on iRez.

And I made another huge discovery.

One of my early assertions about the secret sauce – Thousands of thriving communities blend in their unique spices to the giant SL “secret sauce” pot — and I believe that is obvious, but what I failed to notice is there is one giant Second Life community.

Second Life’s 9th Birthday theme was ”Community” and even though the heart and soul of SL is based in small communities, the global community is capable of acting in ways I never imagined. I believed there were too many competing interests among different groups to create a global initiative. It seem unlikely to me that all those groups could work together with effectiveness. I assumed Linden Lab must always provide the leadership to coordinated any “global” initiative.

If you attended SL9B you saw the results of the planning and building. If you attended the performances or events or just wandered around, you shared in the celebration. No one saw every performance and every exhibit. So, if you want to look deeper into all happened I point you to the official SL9B website, all my SL9B posts and the huge body of information produced by a hundred bloggers and other media sources (just Google “SL9B”).

In the opening ceremony, Saffia Widdershinns remarked that this event almost didn’t happen. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details that led a group of SL residents taking the reins of Second Life’s birthday party celebration, but I was witiness to the process. In the end, a group came together despite Linden Lab’s lack of involvement. This was Second Life at its best and that is the best example of SL’s “Secret Sauce”!

I’ll finish my observations about how SL9B came to be in a forthcoming post on iRez.me.

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Yordie Sands @ iRez.me

Ok, ok, ok… things are moving very fast at iRez.me and in a good way. Vanessa has have to take down individual author tabs because we are adding a lot of new authors, even Strawberry Singh. So, you just have to look for me under “Authors,” ok? Ok!

Hi Everyone… I’m very happy to inform you that I have my own tab at Vanessa Blaylock’s I Rez Therefore I Am blog (iRez.me).

iRez features eight other bloggers plus me and its focus is on art, culture, activism and identity. I think the nature of Being Yordie Sands has always had a focus on identify, so I feel comfortable writing about those issues. Hopefully I’ll also bring my own slant on Second Life culture into the mix.

I’ve already written my first post and I’m planning to write for the blog several times a month. I hope you’ll keep an eye out for my posts there.

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Junkyard Blues 6th Birthday Party

Junkyard Blues 6th Birthday
The scene at dusk as guests poured into
Junkyard Blues nightclub.

I’m happy to say that one of the first blues clubs I ever visited in Second Life was Junkyard Blues. That sentiment of pride is shared by a lot of people who come to the Junkyard, we call them Dawgs and Dawgettes. And it’s worth mentioning, and it is predictable as clockworks that those Dawgs pour in and onto that familiar blue tiled dance floor for every important event, especially birthdays. That’s the way it was last night for Junkyard’s 6th birthday.

Junkyard Blues 6th Birthday
The wonderful partners and owners of
Junkyard Blues nightclub & community
are Richardina “Dina” Petty and Kiff Clutterbuck.
Junkyard Blues 6th Birthday
Kiff & Dina not only own this estate
but they’ve become the center of our Junkyard family.
They don’t have the option of ever breaking up!
Junkyard Blues 6th Birthday
DJ Fiery Otaared is “the real deal”
when it come to the blues!

There are other clubs out there on the grid that enjoy the kind of loyalty JY supporters feel for our club, but this club is mine.

And when I see all the familiar names from the past and all the new people who have discovered the JY, I feel a little proud to be part of this group.

So for such a great club it was only right that one of it’s oldest and best DJ was spinning tunes for last nights party.

DJ Fiery Otaared not only spins the blues, she has a knowledge of the blues unequalled to anyone. She also has a wry wit and keen awareness and sense of humor.

Want to know more about Junkyard Blues including it’s history, DJs, hosts, Dreamgirls, stores and residential areas? Checkout Junkyardblues.com.