Wow.
A friend recently found a random patch of artistry in SL called Liferain Park. It is breathtakingly spectacular. I was astounded at the virtual vistas it provides.
As far as I can tell it is the brainchild, blood, sweat, and prims, of one Shack Dougall and if the place doesn’t leave you utterly enchanted then I can’t imagine what would. I spent the majority of my visit murmuring things like “wow!” and “oh, wow!” and “Holy WOW!”
The description says it’s a work in progress that is open to the public, but if you do a find places for it, the TP-in position is awful. I suggest a direct TP to coordinates: BonnyDoon 165, 45, 650. It will place you about a lookout perch that has a passage into a chamber of waterfalls just beside it.
I’m not sure what the final altitude of the park will be (although the idea of moving it on the whole down a few hundred meters is enough to make my head explode). Right now it is 600m in the air which means you can’t really fly and getting around is a bit of a pill. In this case, however, waiting for rez, and enduring the pain of moving around is completely worth the effort.
I humbly suggest using the little trick of rezzing a prim box, sitting on it, putting it in edit mode, and using the arrows to move yourself around as you prefer (please remember to delete your prims after — the pace is just too beautiful to litter up with plywood cubes). Unfortunately, there are some places you just can’t seem to get to by other means.
Erm. Maybe that’s the creator’s intent. Let’s hope not.
I have been meaning to blog about Paradise Landscaping for some time now. I tried to landscape the top of my volcano for all of about 20 minutes before I realized I needed to hire someone. However, having had the most onerous luck with contractors in SL, I went into it preparing for an ordeal. Sit at the table and spin the wheel has been my experience when hiring builders in SL. Then a mutual friend hooked me up with Xtasy Veil and Denise Domela of Paradise Landscaping. And my virtual world became so much better.
If you ever think you might want to create your own tropical nirvana, I highly suggest sitting back and giving the girls at Paradise Landscaping the reins. They’re professional, friendly, and fast. Each day of my build I TPed home to more and more lush breathtaking additions.
Sadly they both scorned all of my marriage proposals thinking I was kidding. That is my only serious warning when hiring them: you will want to keep them in little guilded landscaping cages for your very own and will be very sad when they leave. Although you will be comforted by the sheer artistry that they leave behind in their wake.
In the world of SL where every contractor you hire to build you X, Y, or Z seems to be a never-ending crap shoot, I can shout from the top of my volcano that Xtasy and Denise are diamonds in the virtual rough. I cannot *squee* about them loud enough. Absolutely incredible creativity and beauty flows from their little prim fingers.
Pricing is based on the lot size primarily, with complexity surcharges occurring for specific builds. Generally the costs of plants are included in the price, but for some custom plants there are extra charges.
However, I can promise you, ever Linden is worth the outcome. It’s luscious!
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When I was an SL newbie, my previous simulation game experience came from “The Sims.” My early priorities were set by that model.
1) Create a SIM me.
2) Dress SIM me fabulously.
3) Buy stuff for SIM me.
4) Buy property for SIM me.
5) Build a house on said property for SIM me.
6) Furnish said house.
7) Buy more stuff.
See #7.
I didn’t get anywhere close to the Second Life swing of things right off the bat. Live music didn’t occur to me. Opening a little store and creating fun stuff didn’t occur to me. Shopping, I was all over.
My experiences with homes in SL were not nearly as successful as my hunting excursions for clothes, hair, and shoes. I had a series of horrible prefabs followed by a series of horrible experiences with commissioned builders. To date, I do not have a nicely furnished SL residence the way I would like. Yet.
However, I have, from time to time, spotted a prefab here and there and thought to myself: “Why couldn’t I have known about THAT when I was still in my 512 space?”
Well, kiddies, now you can benefit from my trial and error (mostly error).
My favorite 512 prefab in all SL is the Cameo by Barnesworth Anubis. I cannot tell you how many newbie friends have ended up buying this after I’ve rescued them from hours of annoying online prefab hunting. So, what makes the Cameo my #1 pick?
1. It’s perfect out of the box. The elegant, modern style doesn’t need a single retexture or tinker.
2. It’s easy to set-up. The exception being that the doors can be a tiny bit tricky for a newbie. However, if you spend a day or so in SL learning how to move objects (which you SHOULD do before buying anything, imho), you should have no problem setting up The Cameo. Trust me, this CANNOT be said of all prefabs (for some of them, as an advanced user I still have trouble messing with them).
3. Studio Space. When you’re a newbie you don’t yet know what you want to buy, how you’ll be spending your SL time, etc. I think it’s a mistake to have a lot of empty space to fill. The cameo has the perfect amount of room — an open studio layout that you can section into rooms with low-prim furniture or do whatever else you prefer. It also makes a fantastic starter storefront space.
4. Bells and Whistles at a minimum. While advanced users clamor for versatility from their objects and homes, a newbie doesn’t need a lot of features. Features are damn confusing. The Cameo, smartly, has but a single gadget — a window tinting device. With a click on the button that sits unassumingly on the wall, you can tint the windows from clear to solid dark for that illusion of privacy we all like to think we have.
The only bad thing about the Cameo that I can muster to say is that it takes up 72 prims which is A LOT for a 512 space. However, with all the low-prim furniture on the market these days, I still believe this is the best starter home for a newbie.
If the Cameo is not your taste, then odds are you’re looking for a more traditional build, a lower-prim build, or a lot more gadgets. With those priorities in mind, you cannot beat the Yukon from Home Sweet Homes:
Which also comes in a “Yukon Brick” style:
The good:
1. The Yukon is VERY low-prim, weighing in at 24 prims total.
2. The Yukon has a much more traditional layout with a clear separation between its two rooms.
3. The Yukon comes with a bevy of features including tinting windows, locking doors, etc. all run from a single point-and-click interface made to look like a home security keypad:
The biggest negative for me with The Yukon (and, I confess, this is largely a matter of personal taste) is that I sincerely don’t care for any of the textures that it comes with, interior or exterior. For my taste, they are just horrid. And, given that learning textures and manipulating repeats, etc is one of the more challenging tasks a newbie can be charged to undertake, this makes redecorating difficult. If, however, you’ve got a friend who is happy to retexture for you, it can be a charmer of a little starter home:
And, as you can see, even though the rooms are divided in a more traditional method with a wall and doorway between bed and living areas, both rooms still provide plenty of space:
Plus, the very low-prim count of the structure means you can have more leeway in your decorating.
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I first found the Hollywood Sim by being a virtual tourist. In both my real and second lives, I am something of a silly little roadside attraction junkie. I am the annoying American rube who insists on going to Rock City and I would be one of the people that made the Parisians roll their eyes by squealing in pleasure at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. It’s bad. I grew up a stone’s throw from Key West and I still insist on standing by that “Most Southern Point in the US” hunk of concrete every time we go. So, you know, it only follows that if you put a little creativity into constructing a neat tourist attraction in SL, then *I* am your target market. And if you have cute clothes for sale there too, well then, you’ve got me hook, line, and sinker.
Wandering around the Hollywood Sim is cheesy fun. Both the Hollywood Sign and Grauman’s Chinese Theater are represented in reproduction. There’s lots to see and I’m not going to show it all here. Go and see it for yourself! You’ll have fun.
While you’re there, you should also trot into Hollywood Apparel where some of the nummiest simple tropical clothing in SL can be found:
The Hawaiian shirts are fabulous. Some are tasteful and low-key while others are bold and colorlicious including one must-have for parrot heads:
(Thanks to my friend Shadowe Shaftoe of Studio 3D for being my token male Hawaiian shirt model. He’s a peach!)
There are also matching outfits for couples who would, you know, wear matching outfits. I fell IN LOVE with their strapless sundresses in several tropical prints, but this one called “Teal Icons” completely captured my heart:
It’s simple, light, and sexy and the skirt is cut right. Perfect for all your beach blanket bingo needs and urges. Get one. Get three. I did 
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