Happy New Year!

Slightly Twisted Winter

Every Winter Katz Jupiter creates something special at Slightly Twisted. I lov how the RL and SL artist combines landscaping and art. There is so many to explore and to do.

At my visit today I found artworks by Asmita Duranjaya, Bloo Ansar, Cadwallader, Carlotta Ceawlin, Cat Boccaccio, ChapTer Krofeld, Chuckmatrix Clip, Ed Vespucciano, Eliza Wierwight, Fiona Leitner, Fuschia Nightfire, Groll Greggan, Harli Magic, Kicca Igaly,  Louly Loon, Mistyy Minotaur,  nessuno Myoo, ppeapod, Rebeca Bashly, Rose Borchovski, Sisi Biedermann, Scottius Polke, White Lebed, Xirana Oximoxi and Katz Jupiter. This list might not be complete. So much to see!

And not to forget the works of so many great builders in Second Life, to name a few: Charlotte Bartlett, Kriss Lehmann,  Mikatsuki Matova and Vitabela Dubrovna,

Katz told me that this build is very personal and expressing a lot of good memories. The visitor can feel that. The place is dreamy and filled with humour and magic as well as bright melancholy.

Additional to the art and builds you find skiing, balloon rides, sledding, horse rides, skating, dances and much more.
Not to be missed!

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Slightly%20Twisted/138/86/21

The Drax Files: Scottius Polke

Today Draxtor Despres published today a new video about the artist Scottius Polke, Scott Rolfe in real life:

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all readers a Merry Christmas!

Thank you for your interest in 2013!

P.S.: The large wreath with poses is "Caught in a Wreath" by Eternal Dreams Poses.  My head dress is Ginger Bread Wreath by Boudoir. Scatters hat is the "Male Steampunk Hat", Holidays Hat Hunt item at Christmas Fair. Look for a small red hat.

Home of an Artist: Ub Yifu

As traveler in Second Life I am used to be mostly alone. The places are rarely crowded. And sometimes I am surprised to see many people but a look in scan shows that these are not avatars. The avatar statues of Ub Yifu are widely to find an I always like to see them.

Left and center: Ub Yifu

Ub Yifu is the nicest bipolar avatar I know, he always comes as Don Quixote AND Sancho Panza (after Picasso's famous painting). I don't know who of them is talking, but it is always a pleasure.  An exhibition made me aware of the massive changing, Ub's land was undergoing recently. The sim is like a park with statues to find around every corner.

Coming back to the exhibition it is photography of  Miuccia Klaar. Ub told me that he invites artists from Flickr to show and the talented Miuccia was a good choice. I forgot to ask how long her works will be seen, so you better hurry.

And there is a another reason to hurry, Ub Yifu is taking part of the POE hunt and his generous gift is a low prim mesh statue.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ub%20Yifu%20Sculptures/199/231/29

The Perfect Place for a Nice Walk

Lost Town is a special place to me. Before I started blogging I wrote note cards with travel tips and my very first travel tip was Lost Town. My friend Eupalinos Ugajin encouraged me to blog instead and showed how to start. Since then I blogged Lost Town several times. Sivi Kilberry and AKILAE Gant made it again and again to please the visitors with great live events, skilled landscaping and spectacular art installations., The current one, " Invisible People " by Rebeca Bashly I blogged here.

 Idus December - The Night of the Winter Creatures

For the 4th birthday Lost Town got a wonderful  winter landscape by Yony Bing and some artists contributed works:

" Angel Free " by Nexuno Thespian
" Cocoa / Warmth of Dream " by Yooma Mayo
" Idus December - The Night of the Winter Creatures"  by   Haveit Neox , Lilia Artis and Moe Sandalwood

" Angel Free " especially warmed my heart!

Congratulations Sivi and AKILAE and keep on doing your great work!

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Land%20of%20Glory/123/69/21

Opening Today: Façade

At the rare occasions when I saw paintings by Lilianna Clarity I was always fascinated and delighted. Her paintings are professionally painted and contemporary images with a strong magic. The mainly female subjects of her paintings are far from fashion dolls as we see in Second Life. They are "real", dare to be different and the radiance of their self confidence attracts attention.

Lilianna Clarity, aka Liana Russwurm is descendant of an artist family, but was not professional artist from the beginning. Experiencing that her possibilities of artistic expression besides the work life was to limited she decided 2002 to study at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. Since then she has been awarded several times. Facade is the title of her latest exhibition in real life and which are the main part of the exhibition. We added some of her older works which are too good to be left out.

 I just can assume as I never saw her works in real life, but it looks as if they get even stronger in a virtual environment. I as happy to hear that she had more works to present in Second Life and promised to upload them for an exhibition at Art India Gallery. Just have a look at "Americana": this women is not beautiful or fashionable, but assertive and sexy.

More about the artist: http://www.lianarusswurm.com/

Come and experience the magic of Lilianna Clarity's Faces!

Opening Today at 2 PM SLT with DJ Deen ForTune!

Taxi: sadly gone

BOO

Boo Glasses

It is again that special time of the year when everyone is feed up with Christmas mood before the Holidays even started. Therefore I decided yesterday to have a break from romantic Winter sims and Christmas decoration, to do something else and to follow an invitation that I kept for long: Nuville Horrors

It opened right after Halloween, that special time of the year when everyone is feed up with horror mood ;)  The second reason to postpone the visit was the entrance fee of 100 Linden which is just meant for a one day visit. That means for a blogger to pass the game AND to take photos at once.

But I kept it because it has been built by 2 very talented people, which I admire for the quality of work with always a special cuteness, Anya Ohmai & Suetabulous Yootz. They wrote about the build: We are RL sisters and creators of !Ohmai and Beetlebones. We've been wishing to create an amusement park like atmosphere in Secondlife for a while now and finally decided; why not give this idea a shot?  Our dreams came true when we met with Biblar Heliosense - a scripter who was willing to meet with our crazy ideas and give them a shot in coming to life. Together the three of us bring to you Nuville Horrors - a place that not only is an event, but rather an experience in itself. 
Take your time to experience the ride, and the wonders that Secondlife has the capacity to fulfill. Then indulge yourself in over 50 gifts created by the sisters.

To make it short, my expectations has been fulfilled. After entering you are invited to a bus ride which leads to some well done scenes, partly Halloween themed and sadly neither interactive nor narrative. The tour ends at an apartment structure where you get a HUD for a simple Trick or Treat tour through the building.

The gifts have this special cuteness too, several Halloween decorations and shoulder pets. My favourites are the Boo glasses and this sweet mesh Bat Avatar incl. AO and Pooper (yes, seriously :). All together well worth the 100 Linden but not enough for many revisits and a full membership for 800 Linden.

Winter Shoulder Armor Black by LUAS Urban Style, Bullet Pendant + Pentagram Earrings (Gatcha) by Gamer's Inc.
Not from J&A Expo: M100 Dress Camo by Deco

I was thinking a horror adventure would deserve an adventurer outfit. A good occasion to present some more items of the Jewelry & Accessory Expo.

The weapons of a woman: Caicko Knuckleduster/FEMALE by CASHMERE&KEANE
Not from J&A Expo:  Bordello - Bonnie - Camo by [Gos]

Taxi to Nuville Horrors: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Clove/244/89/26

Taxi To jewelry & Accessory Expo:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Georgetown%20West%20Colorado/10/125/1302
(open through Dec. 21st)

Body Madness

Yesterday opened the latest installation by Giovanna Cerise:  "Fisicofollia" which means translated Body madness. From her invitation: Fisicofollia refers in a free way to the futurist theater and especially to the futuristic setting, drawn by Prampolini, Balla, Depero and of course Marinetti. The Italian Futurists had the goal to break with all traditions in art. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, father of the Futurist Manifesto wrote 1913 a manifesto for the theater too, called manifesto Del Teatro di Varietà. As we get already from the name, the ideal of theater for the Futurist was not narrative, but consisting of small scenes like a variety with improvisations and the inclusion of the audience. The actions, held in theaters, usually started with insult of the audience. It has been regarded as success when the event could not be finished by massive protests sand catcalls of the audience.

Futurism was not only about the glorification of future and paving the way of modern design. We should not forget that it was aggressive, destructive, violent and created the ideological breeding ground of fascism in Italy. Many reasons for me not to share completely the seemingly boundless and uncritical awe of many Italian artists in Second Life for that artistic movement.

Giovanna Cerise has been inspired by futuristic design. The parts of the installation are neither formally, nor in colors connected which is inspired by the structure of Fisicofollia. Giovanna's experience as builder enabled her to create a virtual environment which is much fun to explore and gives new views from every angle. Don't try to find a structure or a red line - just enjoy!

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA6/110/34/21

Nice Surprise: Doll in Music Box

Logging in I had a nice surprise today. You may remember that Livio Korobase, the Artist in Residence at LEA11 created a wonderful installation around music and sounds: Musiclandia. I blogged it here. Seeing this I could not resist to show Livio my collection of music boxes, partly caused by the wonderful charity event "Music Box for Children" that we ran at Art India Gallery. Livio built a place for the musicboxes and the result was "The Musical Box" at Musiclandia.

From time to time I pop in to fix the cacophony if sounds, because not all stop without click and to watch the visitors playing with them enjoying. And if needed I explain how to start them. Schanie Akina send me a link to a sweet machinima she made there:



Since the current LEA round ends this month, you should take chance to have a last look on all the works at Miusiclandia and all the other sims. As with every round, not all has been finished, not all turned to thrilling results. But they represent a good picture of creative work in Second Life. And Musiclandia is one of the highlights.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA11/229/195/22

Gallery Hopping

"Roots & War" by JadeYu Fhang

JadeYu Fhang created an apocalyptic vision in terracotta colors. Make sure to have sound enabled.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Song%20Bird/9/72/1492



Sleeping Snails by Rebeca Bashly

Rebeca Bashly has been very busy in the last months. Her installation Invisible People is a highlight of the year. "Sleeping Snail" is a sim wide installation of beautiful builds with exquisite  textures. It is simply beautiful, enchanting and an example of masterful virtual craftsmanship. The place attracts already a lot of photographers.

But besides that there is not much to say. We see the same snail from small to extra large, some platforms and some flies. And the snails are actually not sleeping. I think a sleeping snail vanishes into her house. These snails look blithely with their tentacles up.

My "tentacles" ;)  is the beautiful hat Lill, a new release by Lode Headwear for the Jewelry & Accessory Expo. The necklace Tamarindo by Kunglershas the same rich gold tone as the snails and is available at J&Y Expo too. My dress is the POE hunt item at Artizana.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MetaLES/251/251/21



Tribute to a Famous Architect

Not everyone may be familiar with the name of Oscar Niemeyer, but if you hear that he is on of the fathers of Brasilia you should know who it is about. This extremely productive architect who avoided straight forms was highly influential worldwide. He was the most important representative of Brasilian modernism, which made Brasilia until today a city where it is hard to live but World Heritage at the same time. He sadly passed away last year.

A group of residents, consisting of Sunset Quinnell, DeMarco Galthier, Abel Paulino, Nanda111 Constantine. Cullum Writer and Pol Jarvinen built a tribute to Brasil's famous son. In a rebuild of the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum you find information about Niemeyer, rebuilds of some of his sculptures and Niemeyer inspired art.

More here: http://lindenarts.blogspot.de/2013/12/tribute-to-oscar-niemeyer.html

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA1/55/165/21

A Must See: Tunnel of Light

Maloe Vansant and Burk Bode belong the photographers in Second Life which I admire for long. Their images of both artists are different but both go far beyond just snap shooting. They tell a story.

When Burk told me that Dido Haas persuaded him not only to present the images but also to do the builds I expected another well made exhibition as they usually are at Nitroglobus gallery.

But what I found really flashed me. The images are projected, using the advanced Lighting Model, at the walls of a maze, blurring, interfering also with the visitors and combined with poems and quotes.

The visitor literally gets lost in the maze, always finding new motifs and perspectives. It reflects the theme of the texts and vice versa - what is reality, what is virtual? My answer is taken from Buddha: I cannot get confused because I know all is virtual ;)

Important for a proper experience: Have Advanced Lighting Model enabled and set Windlight on Ambient Dark.

Taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Costa%20Blanco/195/119/771

Christmas Trees and More

As we see with all the Winter and Christmas places and events in Second Life there is not me who has much fun in decorating for the Holiday Season. Eliza Wierwight created as every year a range of most enchanting trees.

This year she runs a charity event for the Holiday season in favor of the "Save Elephant Foundation". The Elephant Topiary costs 499 Linden Dollar and is trans. 54 topiary are saving one elephant in real life. My friend Dividni Shostakovich wrote a great blog post on that which you should read: http://dividni.blogspot.de/2013/12/an-artist-with-cause.html

Taxi:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Patron/80/235/30


Charity Trees

Speaking of charity, Solasnagealai has created 4 beautiful trees for 100 Linden Dollar each, one in favor of Relay for Life and 3 for TeamFox, which is is part of the Real life Micheal J. Fox organization to raise money to help win the war against Parkinson’s. The trees are availabe at 3 places in Second Life:

Blue Moon: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ranthambore/96/128/1003
Rose Theater Christmas Market: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Angel%20Manor/85/48/21
and at the Christmas Expo together with many other beautiful RFL trees:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xmas%20Expo%20Peace/113/104/24


Modern Trees for the Virtual Christmas

Mandel Solano created trees with soft floating animated textures. This is not only beautiful, it is modern, hardly possible in real life and therefore much more adequate for a virtual Christmas decoration. The trees are 100 Linden each. In case of interest please contact Mandel Solano.

The floating bulbs particles are a Xmas gift by Venus Adored. Grab them in her particle shop.

White Catsuit by Gisele Grizot for ChezGigi, TRIUMPH shoes by N-core

I was thinking a modern Christmas tree needs a modern angel ;)
The SAINT jewelry set by FINESMITH is availabe at the Jewelry & Accessory Expo.

J&A Expo: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Georgetown%20West%20Colorado/10/125/1301


Holiday in the Mountains

Decorating the tree, unpacking gifts,... For all around the Christmas tree Heart Homes created a tree with lots of animations with props for decoration and more. Read more here.

My jewelry is part of the Alma Gold Set by Vintage Jewels, to find also at the J&A Expo.

Dress: Elie Saab Tribute by Modern Coutures, tintable gloves by SF Design, Hair: Halo Braid by Nylon Outfitters @ Collabor88

Many people like to retreat from all the Christmas hectic and  to stay in the mountains for Christmas. I choose the furnished Aspen Skybox Cabin by DaD Design. I like the beautiful landscaping with pond and ice skating. The size is perfect for a quarter homestead, can be rezzed on ground too and is for those who do not want to spend hours for landscaping. 

Taxi to J&A Expo: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Georgetown%20West%20Colorado/10/125/1301
Open until December 21st!
Taxi to Heart Homes: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shopping%20City/236/40/1000
Taxi to DaD Design: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DaD%20Design/90/87/23