Monday 25 February 2013

Imogen and the Pigeons

The names of the Immersiva sim and artist Bryn Oh don't need an introduction. When I used to be more active on Flickr a couple of years ago,  I saw a lot of beautiful images of Immersiva, but I never visited the sim inworld *blush*.

So when I noticed the other day that a new installation by Bryn Oh was announced in the Destination Guide, I didn't hesitate: go! It was the title in particular that triggered me: 'Imogen and the Pigeons'. Sounds like a story!

On arrival you find yourself in a desolate landscape.

Immersiva

Immersiva - Spiraling up

The landscape seems to be illustrative for Imogen's state of mind. You'll find her after a challenging climb, in a room of a psychiatric hospital.
Through short poems in every room the story eventually unfolds. Imogen dreams of escaping and wishes she could fly away with her friends, the pigeons.

Immersiva - pigeons

Immersiva

While proceeding through the building, you follow Imogen on her quest for freedom. Sometimes you'll find the world turned upside down - literally - and you'll visit strange rooms, like this Beauty Salon:

Immersiva - Beauty Salon

I won't give away the details here, but at the end Imogen finds the freedom that she's searching for.

Immersiva

During my first visit I didn't click the butterfly from the picture above and  thus missed an amusing end scene. Further I managed to get through the complex building of 'Imogen and the Pigeons' without any problems. On her blog, Bryn Oh gives some tips for controlling your movements.

'Imogen and the Pigeons' was good enough to keep me occupied for a whole evening. Bryn Oh knows how to combine words, sounds, image and interactive elements to immerse you into a different world. That's SecondLife on its best.

Not able to visit Immersiva right now? Then enjoy the trailer at least:


Saturday 23 February 2013

Two times happy

Last week I coincidentally teleported to Happy Mood and my jaw dropped: what an amazing sim! I'd not been there for maybe three years and it's completely different from what I remember.
Main shop and biggest part of the sim are set up as a forest area. Many great forests have appeared in SL past years, but this one's superb by its light and colours.

Happy Mood

The soft tones and dots of light make you feel like walking through an impressionist painting.

Happy Mood

It's not just sweet pastels, though. Some spots have dark foliage or ground surface, which is good for great contrasts with the lush planting. 

Happy Mood

The Happy Mood sim is truly worth its name: walking there made me feel very happy indeed.
But there's more to discover.

From the shopping area I saw a bright shimmering in the distance.  The neighbouring sim, called Cadanza,  appears to be good for a second portion of happiness. In the middle of the water arises a nearly sim sized, shiny tree. You may have to turn up draw distance to get a full view of it.

Cadanza - sim sized tree

Between the roots you will find a wonderful scenery, mostly in black and white tones, that you can enjoy from a tiny leaf-shaped boat.
I could spend hours in these two happy mood sims without getting bored.


Cadanza - under the tree

Cadanza - under the tree

Cadanza - under the tree

Monday 18 February 2013

Coastal Waterways - from West to East

A couple of months ago the time had come to move house again. Ugly building in my old neighbourhood had increased to an unbearable level and besides that, eventually the wish was born to be able to moor a boat and sail to Blake Sea.

After ample investigation I found a mainland spot that satisfied all my requirements: not too big and not too small, waterfront, relatively affordable, protected coastline and possibility to sail to Blake. That is... in theory. In practice I crash before I'm halfway.

But who cares, when the Coastal Waterways have their own attractions, as I discovered lately?
I'm living on the far West end, on a sim called Wildspitze,  and on my struggle to sail against the default East wind into the direction of Blake, I've found some small but pretty islands, apparently built by the Linden Moles.

You can reach them with your own boat, but unfortunately there are only few rez zones. As an alternative, there's a 'guided tour',  a tiny pod that automatically sails along the islands. The first spot where it starts once in a while (I think every 30 minutes), is on Duna.

First stop after Duna is Redoubtable, with a lovely lighthouse on a rock.

Coastal Waterway - Redoubtable

The journey continues to a cluster of islands on Intrepide, called the 'Tiny Isle of Mist". Who ever played the game Myst, will find some familiar objects here. And indeed, there is a small quest on this mysterious island!

Coastal Waterway - Intrepide

It won't take much time to solve the mystery and then you can sail on to Brillant and have a peek at the Fairy Cove that's hidden there.

Coastal Waterway - Brillant

Last stop before heading North is an island on Genereux, with a very particular village, where tilted vases seem to be the houses for some tiny folk.

Coastal Waterway - Genereux