Economic pressures are taking their toll on surf sims in Second Life and it seems certain that more surf sims will close during the coming months, according to the Second Life surfing blog SurfWatch. Rezzable, one of Second Life’s leading sim owner/developers, announced the closing of Surfline Aloha and Surfline Epic sims at the end of June, just a couple of months after completely redesigning and relaunching the surf sims.

“When the the bulk of the surfing community is spending time at only a couple of surf locations in Second Life, those locations that don’t see traffic will close down,” said ATown Fall, owner of TCH Estates and one of the entrepreneurs behind a massive Second Life watersports development called Broadwater Antilles. “There is no reason to offer something that is expensive to run when people are not using it. For the record, TCH Epic Surf zone will remain open and fully operational.”

Surfing community sources blame the Second Life economy and the difficulty of making consistent revenues via surfing sims. However, this hasn’t stopped sim owners launching new surfing sims and, whilst some surf sims close down, several new ones are opening. Radical Twang, co-owner of Reaction Pro has just opened an innovative new surfing beach called the Boneyard next door to his flagship Reaction and Reaction Girl stores. Combining surfing sims with other economic activities certainly seems to be the key, “I certainly wouldn’t have a full beach sim without my store to cover the costs,” says Radical. “I foresee more closing due to financial issues, not everyone can afford to provide something so expensive, without any real return.”

Picture credit: Dharma Austin
Submitted by Barchan Paderborn

Who is the man behind the Avatar? It’s a mystery indeed. In fact the only way to catch Jax Live is in Second Life a virtual 3D online world of social and business networking or on his audio stream. Jax is currently on tour in SL:his “DosVidasTour” is stopping in all the best venues, gathering more and more fans.On June 26th he will do a stop at Milano Vera, using a stage built on 4 sims, able to host more than 100 avatars. Jax kindly answered to some questions about his all virtual SL career. First of all I asked him why did he choose to appear only in second life. “When i discovered the opportunity to perform live via second life, i saw a great opportunity to create a new art form and to use the power of the internet to then create a “Brand Name” around this new art form. The Jax Streeter Project was started with the idea of bringing to life a “Virtual Aritst and Celebrity” The project continues to develop quickly as Jax Streeter comes to life and has an identity of his own. Jax Streeter is the Star. Jax Streeter is real and marketable. A blend of reality and fantasy that is marketable across the worlds and across many countries and cultures. Jax has no idealogies or differences that seperate him from others but rather has qualities that bind us all … “The Love Of Music” “Jax Streeter” is not only an artistic project, actually there’s a defined marketing idea behind it which is worth to be explained and, maybe, studied as a case history: so i asked Jax to explain how does it work. “There is a great opportunity to work together in second life to cross promote one anothers interests. The Dos Vidas tour provides a way for artists, businesses and organizations to use entertainment as a way to reach out to the market places in an exciting way. What is more exciting than the sights and sounds of a live concert. Prior to each tour stop, all participating partners (sponsors) send notices to their own membership groups. The notices contain the schedule of acts and information about each tour stop along with a list of all the participating partners. This provides exposure to everyone partner and artist involved. We estimate that currently when notices are sent to each parnter’s group members, it represents over 10,000 SL Residents. There are currently 21 partners.” Jax thinks that second life gives a great opportunity to all the musicians residents to share experiences and enrich each other musical background.During his tour stops he has been followed on stage by the best SL musicians so i asked him his opinion about this sort of worldwidelive jamming in SL. “I think it is important to showcase the best talent in SL in the best possible way in order to continue to grow the entertainment industry in SL. It is still very new and there are many residents to reach that do no even know about live entertainment. So it is important to put our best foot forward with professional artists.” For the Dos Vidas Tour italian stop you have selected a very cool venue, Milano Vera and an italian musician and his band - Swina Allen & the Moodies, so I asked why he selected this new SL band ? “Swina Allen is one of my personal favorite artists..I am a fan of music as well. Swina is talented and shares a similar philosophy about presenting concert like performances in Second Life. He and Sandy Demina of Italian Mood are pioneers in their approach to SL entertainment and I am happy to work together with them. I am always looking for others that share the same philosophy and goals about using SL for their music careers regardless of whether they are new to SL or not. Thanks Jax for your kindness:we all look forward your next italian Tour Stop at Milano Vera on june 26th at 12pm! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Italia%204%20Milano/31/2/652
Submitted by Simona Dawes

Star Thiemem, here. This is Themiskyra, an Egyptian themed Sim in Second Life. This is Second Life at it’s grandest when it comes to applying imagination that you can virtually experience.
Visit Themiskyra (35, 239, 36)
Posted by Star Thiemem

People download the program Second Life (SL), create an avatar and after learning all the basic movements and technical stuff, quite often arrive at the SL mainland and ask ‘What do I do now?’ I have heard this said many times from avatars a day or two old who are wandering aimlessly around. Some never understand things and quit after a few days. Most people, before they join the virtual world, think it is a game with rules and targets, so it’s no surprise that they are a little lost once they are ‘in world’. I suppose that’s why some of the ‘gamers’ who join turn their hand to griefing, as they expect a win or lose situation and have no social skills.

Many, however, soon realise that the beauty of SL is the social networking, allowing you to meet and talk to people from all over the world, and the possibilities to create an actual ‘new life’ career are endless. I have been fascinated by the way some people have actually combined SL with RL to make a business or show their skills at creativity in whatever form they specialise in.

One person who intrigues me, is avatar Cher Demonge. Cher is a very talented graphics artist in real life and shows all the talents of being an outstanding entrepreneur in SL. Therefore, I have been watching Cher’s SL career develop with interest.

Cher is an absolute powerhouse of ideas, his artwork is unique and outstanding and SL has given him a chance to display his work in a way that real life has never done. He even has his own gallery to display his work. Cher first bought a small parcel of land to build a meeting place for all his friends, he jokingly called it ‘Murray Rehab’, using it as a place we could all use to get away from the griefers at Murray.

However, within weeks Cher had sold up and bought a large parcel of land at the ‘Ministry of Media (35, 162, 21) Neon Nights Complex’. He soon installed a nightclub, ‘Neon Nights’, inviting people to dance there to earn Lindens, and within days he had expanded the whole of the area into a shopping precinct as well.

Because of his artistic skills, Cher designs his own products and builds them himself, anything from designer handbags (so lovely I bought one!) to household items and clothes. One of his main successes has been a range of designer kitchens, using vivid, strong colours, they would make an outstanding feature in any SL home.

I asked Cher how he started off, he said that he bought a piece of land to build on ‘just to see what he could do’. He had opened a few businesses in real life, but they were secondary to being able to let his creativity run free, creating his own individual world, which you don’t get to do in real life!

He admits that, like a lot of people in Second Life, he has got addicted to the building side of things. He said that he builds something and then thinks, ‘I could build a gallery to show my art’, then thinks about building something else as well. Cher says, because of this, he thinks his place will always be evolving. He is building rental properties at the moment, smart houses to rent out, and he says he would like to create his own ‘Neon Nights Community’.

In real life Cher has created lots of pieces of artwork and has a graphics degree. However, his real life work doesn’t really allow him to pursue his creative side, so Second Life gave him that opportunity, he has had lots of positive feedback from the other virtual residents ‘in world’ as well.

For those of you who are wondering why I have a picture of Cher as a beautiful girl avatar, Cher says that he appears most of the time in Second Life as a girl, although he is a real life guy. He says that he always used female characters in computer games and says he finds women very interesting and it’s a ‘different view’ on the way people treat you. He told me that as he knows what it’s like to be a boy in real life, being a girl SL gave him the opportunity to try something far removed from his real world. Well all I can say is that Cher’s av puts mine to shame, as he has created a really glamorous looking girl, wearing all his own designs as well.

Just like real life, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and to set all this up, Cher has invested a little real life money into his Second Life adventure. But there is the crunch, if you are willing to invest a little, work hard and market your product successfully, the world may be your oyster in SL. The day you created your avatar, like a new baby, you came into the virtual world with nothing, accept the challenge and see how high you can climb!!!

Teleport to Cher’s place at Ministry of Media (35, 162, 21) Neon Nights Complex and be inspired!

Posted by JaneyBracken

This is a picture of the Taj Mahal that i built in SL. It took me over 4 months to build this and it has around 4500 prims including the Taj Mahal garden area and as you can see i also built the taj gatehouse. I built this with inspiration after looking at pictures of the real Taj Mahal and i hope that other people will enjoy this Taj Mahal as much as i enjoyed making it.

It is available for purchase although i don’t have a fixed price yet. It can not be copied or modified so that it will be unique.

Posted by james8170

On June 1, Ballet Pixelle (formerly Second Life Ballet) premiered their fifth ballet “Shuzenji”. Set in Edo era Japan, “Shuzenji” tells the story of two lovers, Sakura and Tokai, who are separated from each other when Tokai is murdered by four jealous courtesans, or Oirans at the shrine of Shuzenji. Because Tokai died violently, he became a Yurei, a spirit who is trapped at the place where his life was taken. The faithful Sakura continued to visit Tokai at the shrine and because of her devotion Tokai’s spirit was released and he was able to wander the world. Sakura, fearful of losing him again, commits suicide so that she can be with him forever, and they are joined together in the spirit world, along with the countless spirits of others, the Obake.

This is a very ambitious ballet, one that took almost five months to create. The story and choreography, both created by the director and founder of Ballet Pixelle Inarra Saarinen, help to explore “the geographic and cultural diversity of Second Life by dancing about the unique Edo era of Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1700’s” as well as “the universal feelings of love, commitment and loss.”, according to Saarinen. The music was written for the ballet by popular Japanese composer and performer Solary Clary (rl Sora Izumikawa, www. sorasora.com), who was present at the premiere. The Edo era is convincingly and beautifully brought to the stage by the use of the gorgeous and elaborate costumes, which contrast with the simplicity of the sets created by Mark Cassini.
According to Saarinen, Ballet Pixelle is “dancing into the digital future”, by exploring the intersection of the real and virtual world. Saarinen creates the animations used in the performances; there are no poseballs or looping, no artificial synchronizing devices, each dancer is actually dancing live during each performance. I was invited to watch a rehearsal for “Shuzenji” and while it is strikingly similar to a real rehearsal, the dancers must learn to deal with challenges specific to Second Life. Of course there are the things you would expect, such as lag, but also just imagine that the dancers must find the correct spot up in the air, so that altogether they present the particular vision of the choreographer. As well, the dancers and others involved with the ballet are scattered all over the world from Japan to Europe to the United States. This requires a lot of coordination and commitment from everyone, complicated by the different time zones.
The name of the company was recently changed to Ballet Pixelle, from Second Life Ballet, Saarinen said “to better represent that we are a unique company with a virtual base” with the word “Pixelle” used “to keep the digital element clear.”
“Shuzenji” will be performed on Wednesdays and Sundays at 5 pm throughout June at the Ballet Pixelle IBM theatre, IBM 10 (14, 179, 25) Join the Ballet Pixelle group to receive updates and information.

Tokai is murdered at the shrine of Shuzenji (act 1)
Sakura visits Tokai at the shrine (act 2)
Tokai and Sakura are re-united in the spirit world (act 3)
Cast and Crew of Shuzenji Mark Cassini (+MC+), Neena Botanical (+Obake+), Tatianna Kurri (+Obake+), Amelie Dibou (+Sakura+), Tik Merlin (+Tokai+), Lina Lageos (+Obake+), Pyper Dollinger (+Obake+), in front, Inarra Saarinen (founder and director)

Posted by HibiscusH

Naughty Auties, the haven for Autistic people in Second Life, is up and running again. There had been a temporary closure of the Naughty Auties headquarters at Crystal Isle for a few days, but owner Dave Sparrow sent out a message this week telling the group members that the site is now open.

Some changes have been made to the layout, but it is just as welcoming and comfortable to visit as it was before. They are resuming the meetings and events and all sufferers of Autism and their friends and relatives can go there to relax and chat.

As ever, and with the help of his friends, Dave has made the Island very beautiful and there is literature on hand giving information about the condition and places to contact.

Pop along and give the Island a visit, you don’t even have to have connections with Autism, you can just go and chill and say hello. Naughty Auties Haven, Crystal isle (165 225 21)
Posted by JaneyBracken

As SL’ang Life Magazine, it is our great pleasure to invite you to the special event, a presentation of Portuguese Second Life Community. Our aim is to present the most interesting activities of Portuguese Residents and join the celebrations of the Portuguese Communities Day (June 10th). SL’ang Life magazine strives to actively participate in promoting initiatives leading to the creation of a community in SL. Thus, we offer space on our island and on pages of our magazine to present local activities to new public. A transcript of all presentations will be available at SL’ang Life magazine’s website, and a report from the meetings will be printed in our magazine. Such events are a chance to start a cooperation and to learn about similar projects from all over the world. We would like to thank Ibrahim Bates, member of Portuguese Community, writer, our reader and most of all our friend, without whom this event would not be possible Please, join us as we welcome Portuguese Community to SL’ang Life. Kind regards, SL’ang Life Team ô€€ ô€€€ Portuguese Community presentation schedule: http://slanglife.com/center/events/?id=319 Day 1 (June 5th) ~ exhibitions openings ~ Day 2 (June 6th) ~ Welcome party ~ Day 3 (June 7th) ~ Portuguese university researchers in SL ~ Day 4 (June 8th) ~ Portuguese creators presentations ~ Day 5 (June 9th) ~ Portuguese sims presentation ~ Day 6 (June 10th) ~ Portuguese Community Day ~ During the whole event you are welcome to vist the info kiosk area in the southwest part of the island, displaying Portuguese Residentsts’ activities. —– SL’ANG LIFE - PRINTED MAGAZINE ABOUT SECOND LIFE. Available FOR FREE for all SL Residents. All you have to do is to make a subscription at http://slanglife.com/
Posted by Muza Waco