An Adult Oktoberfest for Second Life

 

 

When you teleport (or walk, but who does that?) in at the region where I live and work in Second Life, you will now see a huge tent, for our Oktoberfest. Whotter actually discovered it well before I did, but that is no surprise: unfortunately, drinking has become a new hobby of his. I guess that's the downside of him being an author...
But we both got our traditional dress ready: a dirndl for me and lederhosen for him.

 

The beer is supplied by Fiver of No.5 Bar, the highly succesful cafe in our street. Our street whores who for a large part do nothing else than drinking these days, can recycle the empty mugs too, in the container in the alley behind the bar.

The mugs are going to become a collector's item, she said. I am not so sure: given the amount of glass I had to clean up at my front door, Whotter drank at least 120 pints so far. Should I be concerned?

Of course, not everyone is drinking. Werner, for instance, picked up rollerskating and could be found circling the dancefloor on them. I am not sure that will be safe when all the drunk people show up at one of the music events that will take place in our tent.

A Street Whores Author Meetup

When I walked into the bar earlier this day, I was alerted to the presence of a vertiable author: Nikolaos Sakamoto. He has been there before and been talking about his work, or so I was told. As many authors who once entered Second Life, he stuck around. Maybe to explore the boundaries of imagination, or just the seedier corners of the human mind. Who knows?
Of course we tried encourage him to go to the Second Life Bookclub, to promote his work, but he seems shy to do so.

Well, that is the cultural sector for you I suppose: not too shy to hang around in a bar full of whores, but when it comes to promoting their work...

Whotter picked it up a lot better: he immediately handed Nikolaos a signed copy of 'Fish', his 8-world circular novel. That was much appreciated. We heard Nikolaos laugh about it for a while. But let me do some of his promoting now: there is more to be found on his character and his work on this website.

The 100.000L photo contest

Yes, you read that correctly: there is a photo contest going on and the winner is supposed to get 100.000L! It all feels a bit chaotic, but the contest runs until the 30th of June.The contest is named 'Celebrate a whore photo contest and instructions are to be found at Bar No.5, where the winners will be announced on 2 July at 2PM SL time.

Whotter is confident his fish photo will win him 100.000L

I will show my submissions for the contest later on. Of course I could not take part in it without Whotter getting involved somehow. So here he is, sneaking up on me and posing with his big fish, while I am taking a nap after my photoshoot.

An eagle avatar

I walked into the No.5 Bar the other day and a fan and reader of my blog was there. He sent me this wonderful gift:

He gave me this eagle avatar. In the picture I changed the pattern into a bearded vulture, but that's just as pretty, don't you think?

Sometimes, scouring the street, I can feel like I am an eagle, or a vulture even. Scanning the area for prospects, approaching some, ignoring or even avoiding others. The hunt can be exciting!

Of course, Fiver, the bar's owner, looked at me and then asked around in the room: "Who turned Tsai into a bunch of feathers?"

Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times premiere

 

For 2 years Second Life film maker Draxtor has been working on a film on virtual cultures during the coronavirus pandemic. Last weekend Whotter and I had the chance to be present at it's premiere. Over a 100 avatars gathered in the in-world cinema. I don't recall having sseen so many avatars in one place in Second Life in many years. Usually regions are limited to 35 or 40 avatars or so.

I will embed the film here, with the first paragraph of it's accompanying text.

 

 

Since March 2020, Draxtor has been following UC Irvine Department of Anthropology researchers Tom Boellstorff, Evan Conaway, Chandra Middleton and Sandy Wenger around Animal Crossing and Second Life to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping online interaction. In the film, protagonists from all over the world open up about their anxieties and everyday challenges during the last two years, and share what virtual worlds and social games mean to them in the context of a global health crisis.

Fuck you, Putin

 

This is what we say to Vladimir Putin

Where has Tsai Cheng been?

 Yes, you are probably wondering:

"Where has Tsai been?"

Well, actually I have been at the Second Life Bookclub a lot. With Whotter, who has his own tiny seat. He thinks it's a VIP seat of course and yesterday venue designer Ruby Geek even placed it on a table. Now Whotter surely thinks he is a Very Important Person...

 Meanwhile whores have been whoring, or drinking, like these 2. Waiting for 2020, 2021, to be over and life returning to normal. Like Second Life ever would be...

Where has Whotter been? Well, besides coming with me to the Bookclub, thinking he is a famous author, he has mostly been selling the girls fish and chips. Which is not a wise thing to buy from him. He has probably caused his fair share of obesity and food poisoning by now.

But what can I say? It probably eliminates the competition...