Notre Dame

This is not a normal entry.

On April  the 15th we've lost part of our identity, our history, our hearts. Words cannot express how shocked I was when I first saw the livestreaming of this immense disaster. The horror when I saw that spire being destroyed. The despair in those people's eyes reflecting in mines.

I've been living my summers in Paris since when I was 15yo and it feels somehow like home to me.  Everytime something happens there, my heart cries.

Right now, I'm sitting in the virtual recreation of Notre Dame de Paris. People are teleporting here from all over the grid since the other day.

It soothes my heart, knowing that we're all still capable of feeling something.



http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Paris%201900/29/121/24

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No Man Is An Island

Daphne Arts (https://www.flickr.com/groups/daphnearts/) released yet another installation which took my breath away.
No Man Is An Island is a simple yet so dramatic space that promises to leave an impressive mark on your mind and soul.
Wether alone or in company, just take some time to enjoy the scenery and game of sounds and light this place has to offer: I promise you won't regret it.  NMIAI is, indeed, a lonely and desolated northern beach. Candles seem to be the only inhabitants of this place, while rain is pouring over a neverending burning small shack. Over all of this, a silent lighthouse is watching over the sky, trying to reach whatever it is that hides behind all those clouds.

As soon as you get in you will be given a hud, which changes your whole prospective into a cinematic experience both visually and musically.


I've fallen head over heels for this place. I'm sure you will too.

TAXI : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Honeyoe%20Falls/136/217/22

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Palmwood City

 

Do you live with that nostalgic wave of feelings coming from the Eighties?

Do you love aesthetic memorabilia? Do you like pink and neon? Do you fancy the seaside and Miami?

If the answer of at least one of these questions is yes, then you must visit Palmwood City!

Palmwood is a furry sim (not that strict, they won't kick you away if you're human, just don't use child avatars 'cause it's an adult roleplay area anyway) born from the necessity of having a retrowave hangout for people like us, living in the glorious pink fashion that the '80s were.

You start by arriving at the mall (which is, for once, built like a real one!) and then reach a plaza with an arcade, a casino and many other things.

Palmwood is a residential city, you can rent a house (Miami style, of course) and live your “Magnum P.I.-like Second Life” of you can just stroll around like I do, have some chat, relax by the beach, listen to some good music at the local pub or even have some kinky night at the stripclub.

Anything goes, as long as you play along with the theme ;)

I really love this place, it's coherent, very well built and has an authentic atmosphere. It's like going back in the past, with a glam touch.

Also, the sky is always pink in here. Soooo dreamy !

TAXI: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Odessa%20Plains/164/148/24

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*ED* Eternal Dream Poses

Today I wanna talk about a store (oh yeah sometimes it happens! xD) and more precisely, a poses and animations' one.
Eternal Dream poses is an establishment among Second Life's  most famous poses and props stores, being in the game since a lot of years ago and also one of my favourites since then.

As of today, ED lays in a very cosy land, full of relaxing spots and a very quiet atmosphere. The landing point is a cool gazebo from which you have a marvellous sight on both the store and the vibrant surroundings, made up of trees, cute animals and the ocean.

On the right side we find a sort of romantic openair temple, which contains wedding and love poses, while on the other side there's a quite big cottage showing up all of Fata Boa's poses and animations.

I find the place very quiet and cosy and I like to spend time here, aside from shopping, also for the overall positive vibes.

Fata offers all kinds of poses, props, AO animations and single ones. Wether you are a blogger, an artist or simply interested in good poses, ED is a place you just can't miss.

TAXI:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Silva%20Arcana/216/244/22

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Ｖａｐｏｒｗａｖｅ

Ｖａｐｏｒｗａｖｅ  "is a microgenre of electronic music and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s.The music typically features a fascination with 1980s and 1990s styles of mood music such as smooth jazz, elevator music, R&B, and lounge music, often sampling or manipulating tracks via chopped and screwed techniques and other effects. The subculture surrounding vaporwave is often associated with an ambiguous or satirical take on consumer capitalism and popular culture, and tends to be characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades. It also incorporates early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, and cyberpunk tropes in its cover artwork and music videos." (cit. Wikipedia)

I love this genre in every shade of it, so I decided to scout the grid and see what it has to offer. Here's a small list of nostalgic, vaporwavey places that will melt your little chilly hearts.


Axolotl is a small ..room. Filled with pink, neons, lounges, retro designs and nostalgic posters. Above all, the iconic "We are the dead" laser writing. Cosy and private. Small but amazing.

TAXI - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arang/245/146/553


::: b E T A m A X ::: open stage is a small pinky club, a reminder of an endless summer in the sunset
of Miami with a cocktail in one hand and some cocaine in the other. Stroboscopic lights and retrovawe decorations make it a special place, where a big wall of old tv make it wonderfully techno-nostalgic. A must see!

TAXI - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kawaii%20Kingdom/10/158/998


C L U B   ' 9 5 , like the name suggests, is mostly dedicated to the old operating system nostalgia. This place is a bit wider and features mostly blue and geometric visuals, even if we don't miss the usual classic statues and screens. I love the sarcastic BSOD as backdrop and the overall lightness of this place, which is less mesh-oriented, less "elegant" than the others.
TAXI - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Super%20Nova/198/194/31

The Neon Joint is a private collection, featuring two rooms full of neons, vapor art, oldies and retrogaming objects. The atmosphere is more of a garage filled with everything you could fit into, but it's still cosy and peaceful. A nice place to chat or..do other things, like the owner says: "retro aesthetic hangout to blog, idle, sex, take photos, do whatever. Friendly to all folks & species. "
TAXI . http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mystique%20Island/122/204/1397

 


 DROSS SANDBOX Vaporwave Last but not least, an impressively atmospheric sandbox, where
you can sit lounge and build in perfetcly retro style! This place is mostly dark, neon nightly decorated, and somehow resembles the inside of an old videogame, with some Tron vibes. The sky is absolutely stunning!
TAXI - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dross/118/130/27







Finally, a small disclaimer: my pics here have been taken with no filters and using regional windlight settings.

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the pink salon - returns

The Pink Salon is a comfy angle of grid for everyone in love with '80s-'90s, gracefully filled with vaporwave-like aestethics and music.
I talked about this place almost one year ago (in this post) but was also enraged and saddened by the fact that it had closed a few days after that.
Now I'm glad to report that the salon has reopened in a new location and even though I liked the old building a lot more, it's as sassy and beautiful as ever.
Remember it's higly NSFW.

TAXI .. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kane/196/19/3498

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Dementophilia - at The Vordun museum

Wake up in the middle of the night because your demons got out of your head and are permeating everything around you. Walk among them, in a mutated enviroment which resembles your everyday life but crawls out of your nightmares and you have no more control over it.

This, and much more, is Dementophilia, the latest exposition by  Federico Sosa.
I won't post any of the artworks here, because it is meant to be "lived" while you walk among them, but be sure it's something that will stick with you.. like a knife pierced through the back of your head and you can't take out.



The Vordun is a small atmosferic place, an impressive museum showing a permanent collection of famous rl paintings and temporary exibithion by renown sl artists.
Dementophilia just opened its doors so take a chance and look while it lasts.
Since you're there, also remember The Vordun also hosts a special wing dedicated to ukiyo-e paintings called "Pictures of the Floating World" and an interesting monography called "Proverbs".
Let's spend a different sl, for once ;)

 TAXI -- http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fancy%20Decor/87/107/32

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Silent Hill Halloween Hunt

It's that time of the year again!! Halloween fans, rejoice and have fun! This is also my favourite time of the year not in RL only, but in SL as well: there's a lot of events, scary places, haunted houses, creepy rides and spooky hunts :D
So I opened the search panel and looked for something nice (as of...my personal definition of nice which involves corpses, ghosts, blood and violence to the least..) and stumbled upon this nice place, which is temporary so run and have a look while it lasts!

The sim is totally unrelated, this is a Silent Hill-themed hunt which you gain access to by clicking on a teleport at ground level.
I won't spoil it too much by adding screenshots, just remember to have your headphones on  and switch off the lights :D 
It is not a themes-sim, just an homage, but it's damn well thought.
Have fun!


TAXI--  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FresH/91/70/1102

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The Colours of Loss and Healing

 "An artistic collaboration by iSkye Silverweb and Ahnue Heartlight: iSkye's visual and poetic expression; Ahnue's infusion of sound and rhythm; Dubhna Rhiadra's voice in a journey through the heart of loss into the healing knowledge that love continues on."

This place just breaks my heart. It is meant to share and cope with the pain of loosing someone we love, be it a person or a pet: it's ...suspension. I think iSkye's installations talk so much there's no words to escribe how moving and deeply touching this place is. There's only a few symbols, scattered through a desert landscape, filled with remains of colours here and there. Exasperated colours and shattered surfaces, like someplace that has somehow survived an earthquake and is painfully trying to remember what it was like, before.
There's a parrot that follows every step you make, appearing in many forms and asking for attention: "Pet me."  Pet him..pet yourself, pet your soul. Let this place move you and heal you, somehow, sometimes.
There's a big book, a book where you can leave your trace, leave something that reminds you, reminds everyone, about whom you lost. Because it is never, ever, really gone.

This place filled me with tears. I left my note on the big book.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA6/149/136/23 

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[small cozy places] - She Wolf & Wolfsongs

I was wandering with absolutely no idea of  where and what I was doing, when I recalled a friend of mine gave me a lm some days ago and I still had to check it. So yeah, I went there and I was greeted with a simple mesh objects store. Then I took a look at the surroundings and it was a surprisingly nice sim, with a lot of cute houses and shops (even a toy tigers' one!!! *_*).
Anyway, one of the best looking places was this small and cozy pub, with a mix of grungey-country-rock elements and a funny santa dog at the door  XD
I immediately felt like home. The place was empty and very quiet, no music at all, but the insides are just as hilarious and welcoming as the outside! A little heaven for nerds, full of reminders to books, movies and series.

I really liked this venue and I will surely be back here from time to time, when I need some space to be comfortable and alone..something that I desperately need, lately.

On a side note, with this entry I'm starting the "small cozy places" series which is kinda self explanatory ;)

TAXI :  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arcania/110/169/27

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