webspelunker - My Travels Across Second Life: Acadia Asylum

Showing posts with label Acadia Asylum. Show all posts

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Back on Route 66 in Second Life

Some beautiful paths can't be discovered without getting lost.

Erol Ozan

A number of years ago, while traveling across Second Life (SL), I came across Route 66. My longtime friend, Perryn Peterson, had recreated the roadway as part of the summer festivities back then.

Well, he’s back on the road again!

Perryn and his merry band in Mieville have brought back a bigger and better version of Route 66 just in time to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the famed

highway in Real Life (RL)! (I’m always amazed at how Perryn turns into a major community event what most ordinary mortals don’t even know exists!)

Allow me to give you a little tour!

First, a bit of history! (Significant Other wonders aloud if anyone has ever warned Perryn that it’s a major mistake to let me talk about history.)

The original highway opened on November 11, 1926.

Route 66 was one of the first major cross country highways in America ultimately running from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. Its course was across the American Southwest probably to avoid the harsh winter weather in the northern part of the country. (Hadn’t anyone invented snow plows yet back then?)

The roadway became part of the country’s culture. It was there at the end of the Roaring Twenties as the Age of the Automobile began. It was there for the Great

Depression, the Dust Bowl, and World War II. The great post-war expansion led to the development of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System which ultimately contributed to the decline of Route 66.

Route 66 became part of America’s culture. There were songs (Get Your Kicks on Route 66), TV shows (Route 66, what else would you call it?), and novels (The migrants in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath traveled across it to get to California.)

Perryn’s celebration of Route 66’s anniversary will run from July 23, 2016 to August 14, 2106 and can be found here.

This rendition of Route 66 inworld is much larger and more detailed than its predecessor. The latter was essentially a small town somewhere on Route 66 in the American Southwest. This version seems to roll on across the sun blasted countryside seemingly forever. (I should know, I walked its entire length!)

More scenery is included this time from large rock formations to exquisite natural floral arrangements. The attention to detail is there in the papers blowing around in the street by the wind. The drive-in has to be seen!

Perryn’s team has captured the architecture of the region both in the traditional Southwestern style so easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the area to the classic American highway style of the diners and gas stations along the way.

Walking into one diner with its counter service, booths, black and white Formica tiled floor, and juke box was like going back in time. (Significant Other points out that I’m

not that old. I rejoin by saying that I did watch TV growing up.)

Don’t forget to visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s residence too!

The festivities will include a dance, costume and titler contests, a mini-hunt, rides, classic cars that can be rented, a petting zoo, gatchas, freebies, Cheesehenge (Just go look at it for yourself.), and much more!

Over one hundred vendors will have their wares on display, many in a marvelous flea market. The works of Acadia Asylum will also be available onsite for free!

Our Grand Sponsor is Emedea Morgenstern of Rag Dollz. Other merchants include Unalunaqat Resident and Stangbo Resident, who live in Mieville and are selling kittens. SunQueen Ginsberg of Where Worlds Collide, her whole shop will be dedicated to Southwestern wares. Plato Novo of "%" Per Cent who started three years ago at the last

Route 66 event has returned. Liam Metaluna, of Panda, Panda who specializes in creating music boxes, furnishings with an Asian feel, and all with detailed textures.

I encourage all to come and have a great time! There’s something for everyone!

This is also a great chance to see a part of America that unfortunately is slowly disappearing.

Maybe you’ll even run into me there! (I don’t care what Significant Other says about me scaring off visitors! I’m telling everyone that I’m coming!)

Additional pictures from my visit can be found on this flickr page.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker. Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com .

If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Open roads and kind fires!

Saturday, October 3, 2015

An Old Fashioned Halloween in Second Life

We're all of us haunted and haunting.

Chuck Palahniuk

The seasons change around us.

That time of the year when foliage begins to change color and then fall to the ground, when there is a crispness in the air, and when days shorten is upon us.

Traditions are part of these seasonal changes.

In Real Life (RL), the harvest theme is commonplace.

(OK, I know most of you have never even seen a farm but stay with the romance of the idea, will you please! Sheesh, everyone’s a critic these days!)

Shadows draw closer and the approach of winter is felt.

Halloween is in the air!

As in RL, Second Life (SL) has its own traditions at this time of the year!

One of the biggest and most well known is the annual Mieville Halloween festival!

This year’s is called An Old-Fashioned Halloween and brings back many of the old Halloween traditions (including dunking for apples!)

One of the few perqs of my job as SL’s least appreciated blogger (Except for you my three loyal followers!) is that I get a sneak peek at all the wonderful Mieville events from my good friend, Perryn Peterson, Mayor of Mieville and impresario par excellance.

(Significant Other suggests that I might be better appreciated if I quit using foreign words when I blog.)

I meet Perryn at the haunted house which is the landing zone for this year’s festivities.

(The haunted house is amazing and was put together by Brian Landar. It’s worth a

visit all by itself.)

As we begin our stroll around the grounds, Perryn explains to me that the emphasis is to not repeat attractions from previous years but to have new and fresh thrills for the visitors.

And, there is no shortage of new and fresh thrills for those seeking to be frightened!

The Fun House is new.

(But, the smashing pumpkin patch is back! Some traditions are sacred!)

A dead pirates’ ship with a full crew of skeletons awaits those who dare.

(Don’t blame me if they make you walk the plank. You’ve been warned!)

(Significant Other’s eyes roll here.)

The ballroom is inside a large, and I mean large, pumpkin and a giant spider is the

dance ball.

(Significant Other leaves the room at this point.)

The gachas are housed in an impressive new building.

There is a Great Pumpkin which leaves goodies!

Look for it!

(Yes, this is a tease! I won’t tell you where it is!)

The merchants’ wagons have been done over by Nana Saenz and Pierre Ceriano (who are husband and wife in RL) and add color and seasonal charm.

And, don’t forget to the haunted, great treehouse by Marcel Ghostraven. (No relation!)

Perryn does a wonderful job of redoing Halloween every year inworld.

The concepts are original and not static like some holiday sims are.

He avoids the “bloody/gory stuff” as he puts it but does allow a few scenes.

(Maybe it’s my misspent youth watching too many horror films and reading too many pulp novels but I don’t think the scenes are that bad.)

Punkerella Summers' wonderful build-your-own jack-o-lantern pumpkin patch is back and is another nod to those Mieville traditions which are so popular.

The merchants’ cottages have also been redone by Nana and Pierre and are a new style entirely which befits the holiday.

There will be a mini-hunt in the form of trick-or-treating which will start midway through the festival.

The merchants have once again outdone themselves with their gifts for hunters Perryn tells me.

In case anyone is worried, the highly creative freebies of Aley Resident/Acadia Asylum will still be offered as arranged by Briony Juran!

I heartily recommend this year’s Mieville Halloween festival to all!

Come to be scared and to enjoy yourselves!

The festival runs from October 3^rd to October 31^st and can be located here.

Tell ‘em web sent you!

More pictures from my visit to the festival can be located on this Flickr page.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker. Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com .

If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Open roads and kind fires!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

All Hallows’ Eve in Second Life

Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.

Anonymous

Leaves are turning color and falling from the trees in both Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL).

The days are getting noticeably shorter and there’s a crispness in the air that wasn’t there last week.

Yes, autumn has arrived!

With its arrival comes the unofficial start of end-of-year Holiday season – Halloween!

I know, I know. Halloween isn’t for another month! (Significant Other sighs resignedly. Significant Other has never gotten used to how I play fast and loose with the calendar.) Last Halloween seems like only yesterday.

My good SL friend and Mayor of Mieville, Perryn Peterson has reached out and informed me that the Mieville Halloween Village is ready for a tour.

While we both realize it’s early (I don’t know about Perry but I haven’t even bought candy for the trick or treaters yet.) we decide to start the publicity campaign now to give everyone plenty of time to come and see the spectacle that Perryn and his team have prepared for everyone.

We meet at the Village to begin our tour.

When I first see Perryn, I assume he’s getting into the swing of things early by wearing his lederhosen and cap. (Nice legs BTW!) But as it turns out, he’s doing double duty as the Biermeister at the Mieville Oktoberfest this evening. (I guess things aren’t all that easy when you’re the Mayor.)

Perryn begins by explaining to me that there are six themed areas in the Halloween Village.

The first is the Pumpkin Patch and that’s where we’re standing. There are a lot of pumpkins and let’s just say that orange is the predominant color.

Here, visitors can either smash pumpkins or carve their own jack o’lanterns. Not to worry about getting carried away, they grow back almost immediately.

Moving along, we come to the next area, Witches’ Woods. Leaves fall around us adding to the autumn mood.

Guess what the theme is here?

Yep, you guessed it. Witches! (Significant Other accuses me of sometimes pandering to my audience.) There are enough cauldrons and witches about to satisfy even Hansel and Gretel.

Up next is Skellytown. (We’re playing to a lot of stereotypes here I know but it’s all done with the best possible taste in the most macabre way possible.)

As we walk through these theme areas, I notice the shops and wagons of the participating merchants. Their merchandise is appropriate for Halloween and is of the highest quality. Many will be offering free gifts to visitors. Perryn works continually to have the best designers and creators at his events.

Our fourth stop is Vampyreville. None of our fanged friends are about when we arrive but there is an imposing castle which would make the Old Impaler himself proud. Perryn points out that the Halloween dances will be taking place on its rooftop.

The Village amusement park with rides is located in Vampyreville. One ride, a pumpkin coach reminded of a childhood ride that I once too. (Contrary to rumors started by my mother and which Significant Other continues to spread, I did have a childhood.)

Next up is Ghostly Gulch where graveyards and ghosts reside. A few of the latter have even set up a small barber shop quartet. Be careful around some of the graves because they have a nasty habit of reaching up and grabbing the unsuspecting. (Perryn finds this very amusing.)

Here is also the memorial to The Master. The grave of Edgar Allan Poe lies to one side for those of us who reread regularly his works to drop by and remember him.

Finally, Perryn and I reach the last themed area, Spyder Steppes.

Climbing the creaking old steps (Perryn has a thing for word play and puns I’ve learned over the years.) and brushing aside cobwebs we arrive at the top of a steep hill.

Here, as Perryn puts it himself, he has saved the best for last.

And, indeed he has!

For here, all free, is a treasure trove of mad scientist gear from the master herself, Aley Resident (AKA Acadia Asylum). I strongly recommend everyone who visits Mieville Halloween Village to at least stop here. Even if you’re not a collector, you must stop by to see some of the most ingenious contraptions inworld.

My tour with Perryn is over and he has to return to his biermeister duties and I have another interview to get along to. (I’m realizing that we’re both busy guys!) So, I thank him as we make our farewells and then rezz off into the Unknown.

All my impressions of the Mieville Halloween Village are favorable. After this whirlwind tour and my return trip to take pictures for this story, I’m impressed by both the scope of the sim and its detail.

Mieville festivals seem to be getting bigger and better. The Tolkien Festival earlier this year is another good example.

In lieu of the traditional Hunt with the event, there will be trick or treat doors with select merchants. Knock on the door at the appropriate time and you’ll receive a gift as a treat from the merchant. Knock at the wrong time and as a trick you may be teleported home! Wyvern Dryke

This particular sleight of hand is the handiwork of Wyvern Dryke. Wyvvy is one of the team’s most creative scripters.

This sim has lots of scares and fun but avoids the blood ‘n gore of others. (Significant Other informs me this one is preferred to some others I’ve visited in the past.)

The Village opens on October 18^th and runs until Halloween. Maybe I’ll see you there!

I strongly recommend the Mieville Halloween Village to all who want a little fun inworld during this time of the year.

Happy Halloween!

I would like to thank Perryn for his time and hospitality while meeting with me for this interview.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.

I’ve included some pictures from my meeting with Arkad in his private offices inworld.

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker. Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com .

If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Open roads and safe fires!