On Feb 1st 2008 the rock band Journey will release their new Virtual Island in Second Life. A grand opening party is planned inside Second Life at the “Journey Rock Band” sim and will feature a meet and greet with band members as well as live DJ’s covering much of Journey’s history, and playing recorded studio and live performances as well as lots of other great music for fans to party to! The grand opening party is scheduled to start at 10:00 am on Feb 1st. The Journey island region in Second Life is named “Journey Rock Band” Journey has long been known for innovations in stage sets so creating a Second Life Island for fans to enjoy was an easy decision. The island features dedicated areas for each album along with audio and video presentations. There are also two venues on the island the Escape Club and the Captured Amphitheater where live SL events can be held. Journey’s new redesigned website http://www.journeymusic.com will be re-launched on or around January 29th. It will feature band history, tour information, photos and a new forum. Journey is currently getting ready to start their 2008 World Tour which begins in Santiago Chile in mid February. The Journey Island was built by Industrial-Design.com Journey’s long time web developer and features work by SL builders Farrokh Vavoom, Argus Collingwood, Adrian Harbinger and Jocelyn Sands.

Journey Rock Band Sim surl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Journey%20Rock%20Band/129/198/41
Submitted by Delinda Dyrssen

Outside the memorial tent, fans leave flowers and candles in memory of Heath Ledger.

Gotham City mourns the loss of The Joker 2008-Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Our residents have created a space dedicated to his memory if you’d like to come by and pay your respects. This is also a place to spend time with other Gotham City/Batman fans and discuss Heath’s work or role play as your favorite character.
Submitted by BooBooKittie Haight

Avatars in Second Life are Starting to Feel the Pinch of the Sub Prime Fall Out. Former Mega SL Realtor Mikki Young who flipped her SL Real Estate Sales into Real Life Wall Street Stocks was captured pan handling for Linden Dollars on Saturday.
Submitted by Mikki Young

Bankers in SL are scrambling as depositors demand withdrawals greater than their liquid cash can cover. January 8, Linden Lab announced it would change the rules for SL banks on January 22. Banks had to comply with a request for “proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter” or stop paying interest, according secondlife.com’s blog.
Only giving two weeks to comply was seen as a hardship on banks. Arbitrage Wise, CEO of SL’s largest bank, JT Financial said, “Prior notices could have been made to help banks better prepare for the implementation of the policy. But, I also understand the other side of the story that this could also give fraudulent banks time to scam more money and run. In the end, what’s done is done, and we just need to move on and deal with it.” JT Financial submitted a copy of an LLC, registered Wise Metaverse LLC, located in Richardson Texas. This document was declared insufficient documentation by Linden Labs. Wise said, “At this point in time, we are not pursuing a bank charter and will make the necessary changes to fully comply with Linden Labs’ new policy.”
JT financial holds two thirds of deposits in SL amounting to nearly 89 Million Lindens with 10,000 customers. They do not plan to pay interest in the foreseeable future. All banks appear to be working to liquidate assets to pay demands from depositors. Could these policies mean more than just restrictions on banks?
Tyrian Camilo of SL Investors Bank says, “In my opinion, they are saying a lot of things with their policies. Not only that “banking is bad, OK?”, but also they cannot decide is L$ a currency, or value-limited license use right. Even further, they are telling us, any business within SL, should be a registered business, and treated like an RL business, with full extent of RL regulation and legality. Meaning, if you like to do clothes, and sell them to others too, other than just your friends, you’d have to be an LLC even you would profit say 10 bucks a month. Just like in RL.” SL Investors Bank has 810 depositors with over 13.4 Million Lindens in assets.
What will customers of the banks do? See the article, “Linden Lab Law Makes Bank Customers Wait.” Jim Sella for iReports.
Submitted by Jim Sella

Banks in Second Life have frozen withdrawals as they scramble to liquidate trying to meet depositor demands for withdrawals. Many claim to be confident and hopeful, but insist on withdrawing their funds. How do bank customers feel, what do they say?
Estrellita Gagliano “I’m going to wait, and if they don’t pay to me, it is going to be the second time i loose money in banks” Arkas Roux, “The bad thing is about the loss of interests. This is a game and I lost a lot of fun.” Annierose Allen, “[I am] not the happiest, by far. I wouldn’t say I’m completely confident, but i am optimistic.. I do think they are honest people…and what happened really isn’t their fault. But not being able to make withdrawals, even of small amounts really does impact. So i just keep checking back every couple days to see what is happening.”
Cow Jubilee, “The economy and banks all seem frozen up and because of that i cant run my business, but i think it’ll be in the past once JTF is back up again. So far it doesn’t seem to be like a ginko re-run. I can wait … as long as its not what ginko did.”
CyberTiger Nemeth, “[I feel] Disturbed. I’m very worried about what will happen with my money. About LL, I think it was needing to be done something about. Some banks was just fake. I just didn’t like how the LL did the things so fast. I mean… Sudently LL said it was going to check the banks, so I think few hours of that notice JT turn into chaos. It scared residents. SL is a lot without rules, so some must be done.” The confidence displayed seemed like calm ‘after’ the storm. The ATM displayed “Offline” and the slogan “More than Expected” Customers were getting less than they expected, but seemed hopeful. One can’t help but think that is all they can do. Jim Sella for iReports.
Submitted by Jim Sella

I run a focus group facility on Second Life. It has been operating since early 2007 and we have run numerous research projects for all size clients. We are an actual business making actual money in Second Life. In our facility we have 4 viewing areas in a similar manner to a typical real life focus group where observers can sit behind a mirror and the respondents are unaware of them there. We can show ads and websites on our video screens. We even have a lounge (with a fully stocked bar) for clients, as well as a conference room and office where we manage our staff and real life business needs. For more information, visit us at www.iAskCenter.com or e-mail us at jack@iAskCenter.com.
Submitted by Twaddo Longwood

Getting somewhere in Second Life is never a problem. We simply TP (teleport) or fly to a location while others prefer to walk on solid virtual ground. 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life, generally don’t have gravity, but what if you wanted to bring the realism of the real world into Second Life? You visit Sky Dive Second Life! (Pamran 204,83,21 - mature) owned and operated by Spurs Seattle and W1cked Seattle. With over 457 enthusiasts as members, there is no shortage of friends, fun or Blue Skies. Open since March of 06, Skydive SL! was the first skydiving specific facility in Second Life. offering many services including: * Skydiving and Basic Flight Instruction * Vendor areas and Skydiving Gear shop * Wind tunnel and Team Training areas * Aircraft jumps and contests * A safe place to hang out and skydive! As recently featured in May 2007’s (RL) Parachutist Magazine, Second Life’s number one skydiving school features full time LIVE instructors. Spurs Seattle and his crew are very professional, friendly and love to have fun.
Enter a Drop Zone competition, fly in a 32 seat Skyvan and dive out the back, ride a helicopter to dizzying heights, or jump from a base jumping tower. If you prefer a more tame and controlled sort of experience, try the wind tunnel. There is no shortage of experiences at Sky Dive SL! http://slurl.com/secondlife/pamran/204/83/21
Submitted by Rocket Flasheart

Shakti Cianci, singer/songwriter and frontperson for the RL and SL band — SpaceJunky — learns that CNN’s Miles O’Brien interview of her and the band is airing on CNN Headline News. O’Brien, CNN’s chief technology and environment correspondent, interviewed the band on a virtual spaceship in SL. Picture taken at 11:00 am SL time at SpaceJunky Amphitheatre (Tunes 82,46,25)
Visit Tunes (78, 47, 25)
Submitted by Wizard Gynoid

If you are an art lover or simply trying to find a place for quiet contemplation then the Old Masters Picture Gallery Dresden is for you. Located on the Dresden Gallery island, the museum is a reproduction of the rl one located in Dresden, Germany. The building itself is impressive, with an imposing exterior. Once inside you can walk through galleries which are made to scale, with parquetry floors, walls painted in rich tones and hung with artworks from the 15th to the 18th century, all displayed in ornate gold frames. An acoustiguide is available, providing the opportunity to listen to commentary on the highlights of the collection. The care and detail given to creating this sim provides the visitor with an extremely realistic experience; one truly has the feeling of being inside a museum, in front of great artworks, with the added luxury of being able to visit from anywhere in the world, anytime, something that is not possible otherwise than in sl. And what great artworks!
Probably the most famous work in the collection is the Sistine Madonna, by Raphael. Look at the two little angels at the bottom, aren’t they familiar? Also in the collection are two works entitled “The Drunken Hercules being led by a Nymph and a Satyr”, one painted by Rubens in 1613/1614 and one by Rubens and his workshop in 1615/1616. Have a good look at the two of them, this is a great opportunity to try and discover the difference between work produced by good artists and work that comes from the hand of genius. Along with the works mentioned above, are others by such artists as Rembrandt, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Canaletto, and Poussin, to name a few. In all the 750 works on permanent display in the rl gallery are also on display in sl.
Don’t try to see all of them on one visit, go back for a few minutes here and there, and check out a few at a time. You will emerge from the gallery refreshed and with a new way of looking at the world, rl and sl. Dresden Gallery (128, 128, 25)
Submitted by Hibiscus Hastings