Simple’s Zoo of All Things @ Lythria: 2015

Not only is the Zoo of all Things still present, it is growing and expanding – there were 2 major reconstructions since my last post here. As promised, the place is ever a work in progress 😉

The Zoo now consists of parcels in 5 regions: Triphosa (6144m2), Phyllodesma (5136m2), Philereme (3968m2), Dimidiata (8160m2) and Lythria (about 53’000m2). This allows me to distribute the prim load evenly – and there are a lot of prims to distribute since a lot of exhibits were added (a lot of freebies to collect too 😉 )

There were so many changes and still more to come, that I decided to go now without a detailed directory and removed the plates in front of the exhibits too, it was way too much work to maintain that… Please use “inspect” or “edit” on the objects and read the profiles and descriptions to learn more about the creators. The tourguide consists of 5 panels, showing the last known position of the largest objects. Please get this documentation on place (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lythria/108/41/59) or on my flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplewunderlich/sets/72157627163763342/).

An overall view (the Panoptikum is already replaced by a smaller building and the pasture expanded for some horses):

and how it showed 2 years ago:

The Zoo still has the same pleasant neighbors: Jeanna (genesis.dayafter) in her castle and DreamCrawler (dreamcrawler.martin)’s ever ugly update zone for his otherwise wonderful DreamCrawler’s Avatars. I recommend to derender the few too colored objects of his shop while visiting 😦

The empty parcel on the other side of the road belongs to Max Bergson since sep. 2007 and hosts the “Star Wars Combine Info Box & Amanora’s Art”.

The additional land gave me the opportunity to show a few more examples of the very interesting wildlife of Secondlife: As an example – on display in front of the new Exhibition place – some Animated Mushrooms made by fffred Auer from Eclyps 3D:

Added to the zoology were also an Animania Ants Nest by Vinnie Baxter, a pair of ducks – do not stumble over her massive eggs – an “Animated Little Tiger at scratch tree, with swing” by Bridget Lykin from Bridgets Pets and Outdoor, the wandering “lost flower eyes” by Cutea Benelli, some “INFINITUDE WILD HORSES” by Poppet McGimsie from ANTIQUE ARTISTRY and more.

And way too many decorations and artwork are new on display to list here in full. Wonderful – and somehow difficult to fit in – the “bridge of thighs – a bridge made of bones” by Cutea Benelli from Grim Bros:

Many of these creators are gone or do not display their creations anymore – the land to support the prims needed is way too expensive. You will never find the “Circuits in Cyberspace” by Madcow Cosmos (548 prim!) and the “- Organic Tech – Future?” by Damanios (damanios.thetan) from Damani Sculpts (162 prim) anywhere else in SL on display together with the very prim heavy statues by Cheen Pitney (an eagle dancer alone is about 150 prims) – only possible in the Zoo of All Things 🙂

Along the road you will find some recently added statues by dileoo Kirax:

Dileoo Kirax’ profile: “Hello i represent an association of people working on the Internet and doing 2D and 3D artwork. We are in Second Life to provide some nice sculpties and will also do custom work on demand. Specialized in caricature of celebrities in sculpties you can come check our work at the place shown in my pics. For more information send me a notecard or contact Ub Yifu”. And Ub Yifu’s profile says: “After 7 years building statues in SL i have to leave my sim for a small shop in Paris 1900… I can still do custom statues for you and will be waiting in my new shop which you will find in my picks. I will move there the 15 july 2014” . And that is just paradigmatic – Ub Yifu’s Sky Gallery was an extensive and one of the most wonderful and comprehensive collection of creative SL craftmanship constantly on display inworld 😦

But the creations of these artisans are still to be found while traveling secondlife. And there are new builders making very exiting things. I do have some new wonderful pieces of art and artwork in my inventory to add to the exhibits soon – and some of the new garments are very, very ingenious creations too 😉 Secondlife is still alive – not exuberant, but alive – and the residents, oh my, still the most creative and crazy bunch of people imaginable 🙂

You will still make some wonderful discoveries en route on the roads and trails of the mainland. Just take a rest while traveling Route 4 (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Heterocera_Route_4) at the 2 new picnic places in the Zoo with a wonderful view over the locations. You can choose between the EarthDwellings – Picnic Table by Twistit Saiman at the Garden Terraces:

Or get saturated at the fully equipped “BBQ Grill E4V2.8” by caroline Planer from Caro’s Barstuff on the Aquarium Terraces in Dimidiata.

Next on the list to thoroughly reconstruct is the area of the Watertower. I have a new building almost ready with some extraordinary dancing fountains. This will free some prims to add new exhibits. I hope it will get enough – I will not buy more land 😉

Of course all changes will be announced and documented on this blog – I hope better in time this time.

be nice and have fun…

Along the High Mountain Road (Route 6) / Heterocera Atoll: The Mountain Greenhouse @ Plebeja

Just next to Simple’s Mountain Retreat in Plebeja you find a nice 3456m2 public place called The Mountain Greenhouse. The parcel is not listed in SL search, so only known to the travellers of the high Mountain Road and to the readers of this blog 😉

The description of the parcel says: “Hi and welcome at mountain greenhouse. I dreamed of living in a greenhouse so i decided to do so.” It is group owned by the Mountain Greenhouse group, founded by seventhwave. In his profile he describes his role as “I am just the good spirit of Mountain Greenhouse paying the bills and cleaning up the mess after every party”.

You reach the parcel from the High Mountain Road climbing straight up the hill from http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plebeja/52/50/128 or you can tp directly to the forecourt at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plebeja/38/91/170

The building is very beautifully located on the ridge with a nice view over several sims (and to my Mountain Retreat). The greenhouse and the gazebo are made by Phoebe Avro, Owner of The House of Avro Gothic Furniture and Castle Furniture – “I build Gothic furniture, castle furnishings and Antique items”, Part owner of Club End of Days Gothic Club, one of the oldest Goth clubs in SL and Owner of The largest Christmas shop in sl – Christmas at The house of Avro (open 3 months a year). A very impressive list indeed 😉

The nicely animated furniture in the gazebo is made by Harrpo Marabana.

The Gargoyle on top of the gazebo is a “Bad Katz Mesh Gargoyle”, made by Katz Republic – Owner of Bad Katz Textures.

The greenhouse is fully furnished, you will find many places to take your selfie 😉 The furniture is a very carefully selected collection of pieces from Yelly Donut (yelena.istmal) – [noctis] and Akaesha Revnik – Akaesha Designs. The TV displaying visitors profile pictures is an old Freebie from the Golden Oriole made by the famous builder Oriolus Oliva.

The greenhouse itself is a nice piece of work: Despite the amount of transparent textures, all conflicts all carefully averted and the structures of the walls and the roof are making very nice shadowplays on the tiled floor.

Upstairs a beautiful bath by Akaesha Revnik – Akaesha Designs is set up for the tired traveller to get the avatar clean and prosper again after touring the dusty (or muddy?) High Mountain Road. Additional furniture is again made by Yelly Donut (yelena.istmal) – [noctis].

The plants here and downstairs including the beautiful orchid behind the bathtub are made by Logan Bauer (“Hi!  I run Arctic Greenhouse and Logan’s Virtual Showroom, in the sim “Alternate Reality”).

There are still many of these small places worth visiting and enjoying to be found on the mainland. Generally more so along the roads and railways. The building of this network some years ago was in my opinion one of the greatest achievements of the Lindens (and the Moles!) in the history of SL. Now it still binds the regions together, despite the fact that many of the parcels in between are abandoned and empty.

The character of the mainland gets less and less suburban and more and more rural. But that in my eyes is a development not for the worse 😉

So Traveling will again saddle his horse and show you soon on this blog, what treasures still can be found on Mainland SL. And a big thumps up from and to all the connoisseurs: Greenlaning is groovy for real again 🙂

Be nice and have fun …

Simple’s Mountain Retreat @ Plebeja: 2015

My long time home and beloved workplace in Plebeja on the Heterocera Atoll (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plebeja/217/187/223). More about this place here. You can’t miss it traveling the High Mountain Road. It even found its way into the secondlife Wiki now: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Mountains_Of_Heterocera 🙂

Too bad the Rezz Zone on the road as mentioned in the Wiki (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Heterocera_Route_6) doesn’t exist anymore. Now you find the nearest Rezz Zone along the road in Moth (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moth/236/31/128).

The parcel includes 24’176sqm / ~ 5’500 prims. Before the partial reconstruction sometimes I was running short of prims while building or sorting inventory. Just in rebuilding the old school floors and replacing the complicated ramps / stairs by spiral staircases, I did spare more than enough prims – even enough to add some new fancy waterfalls. And I still have some 1500 prims in reserve 🙂

I like the look of these staircases – they are realistically massive but still elegant and wide and secure enough for an easy walk. Here a view of the balcony:

Like the Zoo, this is and will ever be a work in progress. Some ideas prove worthwhile, some don’t turn out the way I imagined and stay more or less unfinished, waiting for the next attempt. But some places really feel like home 🙂 Here a detail of the garden located on the top terrace:

The “Mookah (Multi Chair Hookah) v1.0.43” by Timeless Prototype – Timeless Gadget – is one of the oldest objects in my inventory – and still much in use 😉

On the middle terrace you will find a wonderful addition, the “~*FF*~ Elemental Falls “Earth” by Uni Ninetails – ~*Forest Floor*~ Gardens & Dreamscapes. It makes a nice place to fiddle around with the lights, shadows and Depth of Field settings of the phototools.

The head here and the hands of the new waterfall are from a set of sculpties called “Chakra Nova BODY PRIMS” by Pumpkin Tripsa. According his profile he is “Currently working on coming back to SL. Very excited about that.” I’m very exited about his return too. He is one of my favourite creators but did leave sl before I started collecting for real. So you find only two of his statues on display in the Zoo of All Things @ Lythria (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lythria/108/40/59): A “Seraph (dark gilded)” and the “Ganesha (marble)”. I hope he will bring his old work back too, I remember seeing some fantastic gargoyle statues in his shop 🙂

Next, I plan to reconstruct the wooden ramps / walkway from the road. I do have a set of building elements in my inventory from dop Kidd (dop.kidd) – KIDD Grass that will fit very nicely. But there are some other items on the sl todo-list for both Simple and Traveling. So do not expect this reconstruction happening soon. You will read all about it on this blog 🙂

be nice and have fun…

2015: The resumption

A long time has passed since the last post. A lot happened in RL that took precedence over most of my SL activities. Most but not all 😉

A lot happened in SL. The world looks better than ever – even though it got empty in some places, the creativity is still manifest. All these ‘new’ technologies improved the experience inworld massively, even traveling across Sim borders at high speed isn’t a challenge anymore – most of the time 😉

A lot happened at the Lythria Zoo of All Things (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lythria/108/41/59), the Plebeja Mountain Retreat (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plebeja/217/187/223) also saw some reconstruction and Simple created a new place: Simple’s Garden of (adult) Delights @ Garland (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Garland/185/65/30) on Zindra. More of this work in forthcoming posts.

The new technologies improved also the look of the clothing of the avatars massively. So after this long time in seclusion, Simple and Traveling had to shop for some appropriate new clothes before venturing among people again 😉

This is how Simple, Creator and Director of the Zoo now looks like. Fitting isn’t it?

The hat: “do it yourself TOPHAT patched faded black” – by Cutea Benelli – Grim Bros & Good Co.  vintage clothing+ steampunk accessories

The jacket: “sf design lounge lizard jacket vegas style” – by swaffette Firefly – sf design

The pants: “sf design mesh long shorts” – by swaffette Firefly – sf design

The shoes: “MayCreations rustic biker boots” – by Maymay Matova – MayCreations

The socks: “Whaley’s Prim Ski Sock Green” – by Steven Weinerman (steven.whalen)

On the belt: “[ Tsuchino Co.,Ltd. ] Hammer with Carabiner” – by Tsuchinoko Voom

The tattoo: “::Para Designs:: Demonic” – by Paranormal Putzo – :Para Designs

The skin: “Ghost xy +Fallen Gods Inc.+ Natural” – by Alia Baroque – ~Fallen Gods Inc.

The eyes: “A&A_flame_eyes” – by The Lady Legacy Paine (legacy.paine) – Attitude is an Artform

The animations: from “VA Boxer” – by Vista Barnes – ViSTa aNiMaTioNS

 .

And this is how Traveling Albatros, Explorer and Pathfinder now looks like:

The glasses: “grim bros mc sepia gogglets sepia” – by Cutea Benelli – Grim Bros & Good Co.  vintage clothing+ steampunk accessories

The vest: “MayCreations biker vest black” – by Maymay Matova – MayCreations

The pants: “sf design mesh long shorts” – by swaffette Firefly – sf design

The belt: “grim bros pouchy belt brown” – by Don (don.duke)

The shoes: “MayCreations rustic biker boots” – by Maymay Matova – MayCreations

The socks: “Whaley’s Prim Ski Sock Green” – by Steven Weinerman (steven.whalen)

The scarf: “*DL* Palestine O.D. color” – by toxic Lemon – ☢ PXDTOXIC ☢

The skin: “Vampyr Skin” – by newbietemplate Linden 😉

The hair: “.:EMO-tions:.SCHATTENREITER – shadow*rider Hair” – by Mirja Mills – EMO-tions:.

The tattoos: “ASCENSION tattoo +Fallen Gods Inc.+ PITCH BLACK” – by Alia Baroque – ~Fallen Gods Inc.

The animations: individually bought animations by Abramelin Wolfe – ABRANIMATIONS

 .

I’m feeling at home with both avatars and am looking forward in good hope to our future time in SL. You will read about on this blog 🙂

be nice and have fun…

New book – Simple’s Meditations: Along Route 7 around Gaeta V

Volume 8 in the series collects the most beautiful and remarkable pictures from Traveling Albatros’ cirumnavigation of Gaeta V along Route 7 as described in this post.

The Route follows mostly the coastline and is even sometimes continued as waterway or canal.

It is a very rewarding trip. I recommend to take your time, some of the creations of the residents you will pass en route are worth a second look 😉

As with all the other books in the series, the 28 stylish pictures are accompanied by some deep wise words 😉

You will find this book for sale only in Second Life at the souvenir kiosk in the Zoo of All Things @ Lythria (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lythria/55/181/51) and at several places in Simple’s Mountain Retreat @ Plebeja (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plebeja/217/187/223) 😉

All sales as always in favor of Simple’s Zoo of All Things @ Lythria.

be nice and have fun …