Saturday, 21 July 2012

RFL for 2012

Another year sees the end of RFL. Either I'm mellowing out or the level of Rah Rah Rah around where I live and play has managed to get to levels where I don't find it a headache. Of course the debate has risen that the level of Rah Rah Rah around where I live and play has become passive rather than active but that's another debate and one my views are well known on.

While many want to wear their hearts on their sleeves and pour out Hallmark-card worthy stories, I've always appreciated the builds put together. This year's theme "Time for a Cure" saw the makers of sculpted hourglasses become wealthy overnight but sadly saw very few Robert Smith pictures (I only saw one). And mazes seemed popular this year. Go figure.


The New Babbage Clocktower


Which features dancing figurines that chimed the quarter hour


And an Orrery


And a day/month face



And some impressive gargoyle figurines


Better still the interior (which reminded me of Crossness Pumping Station) was an accurate working clock mechanism!


Lanterns for Life

Avillion's build



Cierra Anatine's exploding clockface


PHC for Life


An excellent maze garden, whose creator I sadly forgot to note


Devil's Reign Motorcycle group


Rathmeous Dagger and Alecto Vella built a VAST lab. Giant scale as shown by the track running through the middle of it.




Armada's sim build.


Cole Eyre's sim sized watch


Very simple build by The Fringe


Barnesworth Anubis's stunning memorial to caregivers and survivors


Aether Chrononauts team's roller-coaster clock


Alia Baroque's gorgeous seaside build. Atlantean Deco?


Lovely Egyptian build


Jalynne Ohmai's gorgeous designer build



More from Jalynne Ohmai


Amoreetto Breedable's build


This stunning build from Little Yoshiwara was almost perfect. The bamboo flute playing and the view. I wish I could take this build home with me.


Kingdom Between Two Seas gave us something like Barbie meets the Stepford Wives.




Harmony of Hope's recreation of New York's Times Square


Touched by Angels' creates a fairytale maze


I loved this Cathedral under construction from Walking Tall For a Cure


Caledon's Steampunk Genome Factory.


Advocacy to Awareness had a very Art Deco feel to their build


Raglanshire came up with a wonderfully fun build


With Anubunnies that followed you


And waffle pyramids


Which then moved into Steampunk


Complete with giant top hats


And on into the future


With spacesuited tinies on segways


The Fancy Pug Palace. Huge. As if a Russian themed casino was opened in Las Vegas and owned by pugs


Someone really likes pugs


Mieville Steampunks


Team Okie Dokie's build was fascinating. It only lacked a roller coaster car


Team Full Moon's lovely contemplative build


A Lewis Carol inspired build from Inspired Dreamwalkers. Including a maze.


I love the clock face on this one


Riders for a Cure present the biggest cogs in RFL


This 2 sim stunning creation from the Elf Circle team


The RFL Events pavilion was centred over the conjunction of 4 sims. Still lagged like hell


Breedables! I didn't realise there were so many


I not-so-secretly want a Meeroo shoulder pet. Not a breedable or anything just an animated shoulder pet. Someone make one of these now.


A lovely Asian build from a team whose name I missed


Searlait Nitschke's gorgeous build


Steelhead's impressive series of arches and clocks


The Passionate Redheads team build looked better in the dark. I'm sure there's a line there but I'll refrain


And the build from the Doctor Who Fans was brilliant.

That's it for another year. Some great builds as always. And as much lag as you can eat.

Friday, 6 July 2012

Breakfast in Babbage: Travel!


With summer holidays quietening things down in the Northern Hemisphere a theme about vacations and travel was a perfect opportunity.

So if you're not off on an adventure of your own, join Edward Pearse for a trip.

Saturday Morning 14th of July. 8:00am - 10:00am SLT

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Breakfast in Babbage: Kids!


Kids, urchins, scamps, crying little snotbags, call them what you will. Everyone was a kid at some point (yes even Doc O). Celebrate your childhood as Edward Pearse's music does strange things to your memory.

***NOTE : Breakfast in Babbage is a week later than normal this month due to RL commitments of my typist.

Join Edward Pearse for your early morning wake-up call

Saturday 16th June  8:00am - 10:00am SLT

http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Babbage/210/63/103

Five Years!



Five years ago today I asked Christine to be my wife. The speed with which some relationships come and go and the relativity effect of time in SL probably means it feels like far longer.

Thank you for your patience, for your indulgence, for challenging me and for being with me.

I am a very lucky man.

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Titanic in SL II

Many years ago I visited the Titanic in SL and was disappointed to find it little more than an over sized shopping spot.

However Ns5 Xorbun has created a 3000 prim extravaganza that makes me wish I had somewhere to put my own.


Long shot. You need to crank up your draw distance.

The bridge of the Titanic


Heading into the crew section of the ship.


The Grand Staircase

The aft deck with images from the real ship


Aft compass deck


The stern of Titanic

So far, there's no interiors aside from the 1st class staircase and the Bridge, but free updates will be given as additional parts are finished.

Visit it yourself while it's still on the ground at the Grunion sim. It's well worth the look.


Exploring Venexia

Venexia is a vampiric Venice in a world where vampires are the ruling class and humans are intelligent cows. The Venexia Skyline St. Mark's Basilica, Venexia The Basilica interior. Island of the Elders The Slaughtered Lamb. (American backpackers beware) Chapel interior of the Nosferati The canals. My first thought when I was told about a "Vampires in Venice" sim was that someone had taken the idea from the Doctor Who episode "The Vampires of Venice". So far no underwater aliens lurking in the canals but you never know.

 I went to Venexia to look at the architecture and was surprised to discover two of my friends were residents there. I was given a tour and the couple of other residents we encountered were very polite. If I'd seen this 15 years ago I would have been there in a flash. Now I'm not sure vampire RP is my thing.

It is an amazing build though, and the rather maze-like layout would take a short while to come to terms with. They're happy for visitors to come by, just make sure you wear a visitor tag.

Drop by Venexia. It's to die for.

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

New Babbage Pub Crawl!


From the 1st of June to the 30th of June New Babbage's many pubs and bars have made an enjoyable way to explore the city.

21 bars and restaurants have hidden 21 bottles for you to find. Start your search at the Lotus of the Sea Gallery, and off you go on a walking tour of New Babbage like no other. All you have to do is touch the bottle, it will give you a prize and tell you how to get to your next stop in local chat.

Don't forget your map. 

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Radio Riel's 5th Anniversary

On June 1, 2007, Radio Riel launched as an internet radio adventure with the intention to provide Classical and 19th Century music in the Independent State of Caledon in Second Life. 5 years, 6 streams and 1000s of broadcast hours later, we are honored to provide "soundtracks" for listeners all over the world!

Join us on Sat, June 2 as we celebrate with live events on our Main stream ALL day from various locations in the Second Life Steamlands! Please read the schedule below to see when we'll be in your estate!

Radio Riel 5th Anniversary Schedule

Otenth Paderborn
Music of Northern Seas, Balkan Beats
7-9am PST
Caledon Highlands
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Highlands/64/98/23

Soliel Snook
Scottish Music, Jigs, Reels and Jives
9-11 am PST
Rosehaven Community Center, Winterfell
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Winterfell%20Anodyne/120/22/22

Vic Mornington
Billboard Hits 40's-60's
11-1pm PST
The Clarendon, New Babbage
http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Babbage/219/77/103

Loken Jewell
The Oh My Mix-Blues, Jazz, Electro and Dub
1-3pm PST
The Nightingale, New Toulouse
http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Bourbon/12/26/23

Elrik Merlin
Music from the Grand Hotel
3-5pm PST
Caledon Highlands
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Highlands/64/98/23

Carter Denja
Grab Bag of World Music
5-7pm PST
Edison Ballroom, New Toulouse
http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Bourbon/154/132/23

Gabrielle Riel
Songs from the Nightingale
7-9pm PST
The Nightingale, New Toulouse
http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Bourbon/12/26/23

Edward Pearse
Swing, Soundtracks, Edwardness
9-11pm PST
The Seraph Club, Seraph City
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seraph%20City/66/144/106