Because we can can can!

Moulin Rouge night was a great success. The first function in the rebuilt saloon, and what an impressive venue it is. Certainly evoking the ideal of a prosperous boomtown.

With red lined curtains and marble pillars the burlesque feel was complete.




DJ & Jukebox? Fuzz & Mr. Hassanov cast their eyes over the dance.


I went for a look inspired by Harold Zidler. Finding a red tailcoat in SL in next to impossible. I may have to do one of my own.


My beautiful Christine


Mr. & Mrs. Decosta inspire some pizazz


Another stylishly dressed visitor to Steelhead who's name I didn't catch.


Of course the Daleks had to put in their appearance


Tensai & Hermione Pennyfeather


Miss Projects shakes her gears

Oktoberfest finishes in Neualtenburg

By official request of the Kaiserin of Neualtenburg, yours truly closed up the Oktoberfest festivities. So Tuesday saw me dig the lederhose out from the wardrobe and head over to Marketplatz.

I started out with some traditional Oktoberfest tunes with assorted polkas and music from the Bavarian Oktoberfest Orchestra. Then as I started on the more contemporary music the requests came in an the playlist went out the window. Music ranged from Falco to ABBA to David Hasselhoff to Nina & Mike to Rammstein to Weird Al. Certainly a strange music evening and great fun!


Mer Majesty sports a novelty viking helmet for the evening.


Myself and Lady Gustafson, polka away.


Assorted revellers


Lady Primbroke dances on while the Duke of Murdann and Miss Laval polka.


Hotspur O'Toole dances and Frequency Picnic's beavers

HMVS Cerberus

Since everyone is going a bit potty over ships and boats of late I thought I'd post some information about one of my locals, the HMVS (later HMAS) Cerberus.




1- Launched in 1868, Cerberus is the only remaining Monitor (the first generation of modern battleships) left in the world.

2- Preceding HMS Devastation by almost three years, Cerberus was the first British warship to dispense completely with sail power and to incorporate the shallow draft.

3- Cerberus was the first, and is the only remaining example, of a Monitor having a central superstructure.

4- The design for Cerberus was the first in the world to incorporate the combination of a central superstructure with fore and aft gun turrets.

5- Cerberus is the only substantially intact surviving warship of any of Australia's pre-Federation colonial navies.

6- Cerberus was the flagship and most powerful warship of the Victorian Navy. In addition she was the most powerful warship of any of the Australian Colonial Navies and was the first armoured warship built for Australia.

The ship was scuttled in 1926 to form a breakwater in Half Moon Bay. There it sat as a fishing point and later diving spot until 1993 when decades of rust caught up with it and it suffered a partial collapse.



There is an active movement to have the ship salvaged and ultimately restored.

More information can be found at Friends of the Cerberus

An excellent blog discovery!

Many thanks to JJ Drinkwater for passing on this intriguing aetheric journal:

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century



Wonderful stuff!

Caledon Hallowe'en House competition

The rules are simple.

1. Decorate your home in your favourite Halloween decorations.

2. Send me (Edward Pearse) a notecard with your name, a LM of the property and a little description no later than the 21st of October.

3. A notecard of all houses in the competition will be made available to Caledonians.

4. Caledonians lodge their votes for their favourite house by 27th of October.

5. In the event of a tied vote, I have the deciding vote.

Winners will be announced on this blog and contacted directly to receive a prize of L$2000 and a prize plaque.

Heroes & Villains

Friday night saw an impressive array of outfits for Steelhead's Heroes and Villains theme.


Dia as The Rocketeer


Lunar as Sonic


Freakazoid!


Hotspur O'Tool in one of many costumes he cycled through on the evening


CeAire Decosta as a Jedi


Hawc Decosta as a Superman with an interesting belt buckle


Christine as Poison Ivy


A Flaming demon


Fuzz trying to figure out what lurks in the heart of men


Baron Wulfenbach as Bill Heterodyne. Nice touch :-)


Yours truly in an Iron Man outfit. I love this AV and it's proven quite inspirational.


Thanks to Miss Cornelia for this shot of the X-Tinies!

Whimsy & masques.

Last week I attended the Caledon Regency sim's Court of Whimsy Ball. I believe lag was specially imported for the evening.


The above photo (one of the few I managed to take) was taken after being in the sim for a good half hour. As you can see some of the textures were still grey. But it was a good night. Some wonderful outfits as far as I could tell.


Then is was time to head over to Steelhead for their monthly masquerade. Sheriff Ortega was unable DJ due RL commitments and I had been asked to provide music instead.

Me & the Missus


Tensai dancing with "The Doctor".


Diamanda Gustafson and Elrik Merlin enjoy some Strauss


Gabrielle and Lunar waltz for a bit


Lumina dances to some of the more contemporary music.


The Decostas twirl for a time before being distracted in their hunt for a coloured moth...


...that was seen flying over head.


And what would Steelhead be if there wasn't something surreal happening? Even if it was after the Ball had actually ended :-)

Special early Halloween broadcast

A special presentation edition of Radio Riel will go out on Thursday the 25th of October.


First up is a presentation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds radio adaptation by CBS's Mercury Theatre On the Air. Adapted by and written by Howard Koch, and famously directed by Orson Welles. Originally broadcast on 30th of October 1938 and causing great controversy at the time (not to mention covering up the actual invasion by the red lectroids). This broadcast runs approximately one hour.




Following this, is an exclusive presentation of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre's version of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. In the style of The War of the Worlds and The Shadow, Dark Adventure Radio Theatre dramatizes HPL's story with a cast of professional actors, exciting sound effects and original music by Troy Sterling Nies (composer for The Call of Cthulhu). Relive the excitement of 1930s radio with one of most exciting and fascinating stories: At the Mountains of Madness.

Broadcast with kind the permission of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

Villain's base!

While out exploring sims I stumbled across what would be a perfect base for any aspiring villains or mad scientists.



Submarine? Check
Strange industrial type building? Check
Heavy use of things that go zap? Check

All it seemed to be missing was the obligatory underground tunnels!

AM Radio' "Wheat Fields" exhibition

Last week I finally managed to get myself over to Dreamworld North and have a look first hand at the Wheat Fields creation by AM Radio.


Long shot of the exhibit








The man himself

It's quite an impressive collection with textures foe shadows and lots of little details. The wheat itself is quite well done. Have a look first hand if you can.