Your editor is still on the road for his continental European road trip in RL. So this is a barebones issue of The Gazette. Normal service will resume next Saturday, when you can expect to read news of an exciting new technical innovation for the Bellisserian Passport and of the BBB's participation in SL20B. Thank you for your patience and watch this space!
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
The 39th term of the CDS starts today, 3rd June, and we will celebrate the passage of office and our amazing community at noon SLT. DJ Calli will be spinning dazzling beats for two hours straight! This time the theme is ‘Aloha Summer – don your favourite tropical attire – come and gather.
When applying for a stamp for your location or event, please use our online application form. We still receive occasional applications on the old notecard forms from people who happen to have them in their inventory. You can always get the link from the Stamp Application Form dispenser at BBB HQ.
Thanks for your co-operation.
Robert Rhodan
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NEW ARTICLE IN PARADE OF HOMES REVIEW
There's a new article for you at our sister publication, Parade Of Homes Review – Give Your House a “Makeover” – Part 2.
This article, by Teresa Firelight, talks about how to make an “old” home feel like a new location by giving it a “makeover” where you re-decorate your home and yard.
NEW LOCATIONS
The sound of seagulls dominates the waterside location of a new venue in the CDS region of Locus Amoenus, which bills itself as "a small but select art gallery." The Black Tulip Gallery is set in a quaint stone building and contains works by such luminaries of SL art as Ilyra Chardin and Patrick Ireland. This is nice spot for a gentle arty outing – and there's free wine too!
We have a new private home location in Bellisseria. Soon-to-be-married SL couple Dizi (DiziChick) and Lex (Lex 3Sixty4) have issued a stamp for their chalet region Linden Home (decorated and landscaped by Dizichick for Lex) in the style of an English country estate.
In the region of Hakon is the Viking domain of Bjarkavik. It already issues a stamp but is now issuing a new one for Valkyrie's Den – a location where the goddess Freya and the Valkyries hold meetings and events.
Finally, not a new location or new stamp, but an updated slide for one of our oldest locations, Qeddoq.
Your editor is taking a break for the next two weeks to make a road trip through Europe. His access to the internet may not be as reliable as usual, so it's possible that The Gazette may not appear - or may be published in reduced form. Normal service will be resumed from 10th June.
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY DAY - Observed May 21st - ALL INVITED
International Cultural Diversity Day is a day set aside annually to celebrate and appreciate the different cultures and backgrounds of people all over the world. Everyone should be respected and included no matter where you're from, the language you speak, what your beliefs are, the color of your skin, your age, your disabilities or gender.
Crowne Heights Community is a community themed in the 1950s. Our diversity event will be held in the streets of that location. We invite and encourage all backgrounds of people to come and explore, visit and celebrate with us. We will hold social events and gatherings throughout the year to help bring people together to celebrate as one.
For more information on Crowne Heights Community, visit us.
The Nom Nom Café Library in Corsica provides a quiet place to;
relax, read, eat delicious food, cuddle your loved ones, find peace & maybe even make friends.
And now you can also stamp your passport: all the better to remember your visit and remind you to return.
Bjarkavik is Rungardvik's sailing outpost in Second Norway, from which the Vikings launch sailing expeditions across the Blake Sea and enjoy the summer season, Viking style. A rez zone is available to launch your own longboats!
The Cultural Diversity Day event at Crown Heights (see Events & Announcements above) is issuing its own limited-edition stamp. As is the Nugget Hope Floats Boat Parade, which is raising money for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.
Much of our bureaucratic work is about promoting awareness of Second Life® geography. The Mainland Continents and Bellisseria are locations in a (mostly) connected virtual world with terrain, oceans and airspace through which our avatars can travel. Many residents love to traverse it in vehicles, trains, boats, planes or space craft. Why, when we can teleport instantly to anywhere we want to be? Because we want to get to know it; to experience the shape of it rather than just tp'ing thoughtlessly from place to place.
Some of the old-established regions become as familiar to us as the places we're fond of in our real lives. They have not just geography, but history. One such is New Kadath Lighthouse Art Gallery, curated by Juliana Lethdetter-DeCuir (juliana.lethdetter). She wrote of it – on its 10th Anniversary in 2021 - that;
Our little Lighthouse, originally constructed as a gift from my wife just so I'd have a place to hang all my sepiatone and steampunk photos, opened to the Grid as a formal art gallery on October 1, 2011, with a few simple directives: that it should be a graceful, peaceful place, that everyone who visited should be welcome within its environs, and that nothing within it should ever be for sale. Ten years later, in 2021, all those things are still the case... The Maps of Second Life exhibit has been the cornerstone of our collection since its inception in 2012, but we've been privileged to participate in and document the cultural fabric of our virtual world in many other ways as well, and we're profoundly thankful, not just for the good times we've had, but for all the friends we've made along the way.
To all of you who have ever come and ever will: you are the light in the Lighthouse.
Such sentiments might sound a little OTT to non SL'ers, but long-standing residents will understand perfectly Juliana's emotional connection. It – and indeed the wider region of New Kadath – is a spot on the Grid that feels like it grew over geological time, rather than just being terraformed and furnished with stuff slapped down from someone's inventory. Little touches like the undersea landscaping (much appreciated by our mermaid staff photographer) or the memorial to a late friend who used to spend time there give it context and make it feel real. In the wider region, co-owned by Juliana and her wife Dragonia (dragonia.decuir), is their home, Dragonia's shop and a charming little cheese shop which will be familiar to many of our readers.
We usually visit to consult the collection of historical maps of Second Life® that remind an older resident like your Editor of the way things were, but there's more to find if you look around – including one of the older passport stamp terminals in use at the gallery and a more recent one at the cheese shop. Why not pay a visit?
TOP STAMP COLLECTORS: GRAPHIC VIEW
If you're using our StampsOnPP HUD (available from BBB HQ) to track the stamps you've collected on your Bellisseria, Continental, SL Generic or CDS passports, you may be wondering how your efforts compare with other SL travellers.
As a matter of principle, we don't share personal information from our databases but you can now assess your rank by comparing your own figures with those displayed here. The figures will always be as current as the most recent database sync. The anonymised graphic overview runs in seconds, just like your personal update from the StampsOnPP HUD.
You can also view The Maximum List, which shows all the stamps ever issued and whether or not they are still current.
All these tools are made possible by V3.00 of our passport HUD designed by our Head Scripter North Cannock and made available by the skills and hard work of BBB Consultant Robert Rhodan.
Thank you, North and Robert, for making our SL travels more fun!
The links above are all permanently available – along with the Gazette Online Travel Guide (GOTG) and much other useful stuff – under Information & Resources in the side bar to The Gazette. In fact, Information & Resources contains the answers to most of the questions users ever have about our bureaucratic services.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir,
I asked ChatGPT to tell me something about the Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy. At first it denied its existence, then gave me this....
I apologize for my previous response, which was incorrect. After doing some further research, it appears that the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy (BBB) is a role-playing group in the virtual world of Second Life, specifically within the Bellisseria community. The BBB is a group of residents who engage in role-playing as bureaucrats, tasked with enforcing rules and regulations within the Bellisseria community. Members of the group often wear uniforms and badges, and interact with other residents in-character as government officials. The group aims to promote a sense of community and immersion within the Bellisseria region, and provides an outlet for residents who enjoy role-playing and storytelling. It is important to note that the BBB is not an official organisation within Second Life or Linden Lab, and is solely a community-driven initiative.
Where are our uniforms and badges? Does Mr. Beeb have them?
Yours etc.,
Boo Royjo
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
For some time now, the Limoncello Art Gallery has been the proud sponsor of Infinite Production's series of Pop up art galleries: Art Unbound. The idea behind the project is to take art out of its "palaces" – the conventional art galleries – and take it to the most unlikely places. We've had Art Unbound on the Mother Road, in a beach hut and in bombed-out buildings. Now we're taking it to Outer Space!
The pop up gallery is aboard the Limoncello Space Station, in orbit above the main location of the Limoncello Art Gallery in Nyunanga. Organiser and curator, Cate Infinity – the founder of Art Unbound said:
Art knows no bounds, and what better way to prove it than by showcasing it in the limitless expanse of space. A pop-up art show in a space station is not just a display of creativity, but a celebration of human ingenuity and the spirit of exploration.
The exhibition will run from May 13th to June 3rd, 2023.
The opening party will be today, Saturday May 13th, at 12 noon SLT. Dress Code is Space wear (optional as you never need venture out of the artificial gravity and life support of the space station unless you want to).
There'll be an after-party for our friends in the Officers' Mess of the space station. Dress code for that is lingerie.
Music will be provided by DJs Suzen Juel and Frank Atisso. We hope to see you there.
The event will have its own special stamp, so don't forget to tuck your passport into your lingerie!
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It's summertime friends. You're welcome to join us and let loose on Crowne Heights public beach! Bikinis and Beach Bums, come end your weekend with a bang! DJ Chocolate Sin will be bringing her upbeat variety of tunes to end the weekend on a high note! See you every Sunday between 5pm to 7pm SLT!
NEW LOCATIONS
The first new location this week is an art gallery event with a difference. ART UNBOUND is a long-running series of pop up art galleries organised by Infinite Productions in association with the Limoncello Art Gallery. Each is in a location where you'd never expect to find art – in this case, aboard a space station!
Next we have the LGBTQ History Museum and Cultural Center in the old Continent; Sansara. This aims to be a creative and educational space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history and culture and currently has a number of exhibits including: LGBT Activism, Influential People, and HIV/AIDS.
Finally we have to announce a new stamp for an important new public location from the Lindens and Moles. You'll all have heard about the new Bellisseria regions of which Patch Linden said in his announcement:
The BelliHub and BelliDemo regions are a resource for everyone who wants to help prospective new Linden Home owners, or just hang out and discuss all things Bellisseria.
Every new Second Life® resident will receive a landmark to BelliHub, so it will become the Welcome Centre for our whole world! We encourage established SL'ers, not just to hang out at Bellihub and enjoy what's on offer there, but also to help answer questions newbies there may have. We all remember being newbies ourselves and our gratitude to those who helped us then, so why not pay it forward?
Your editor has had an Asian-themed week. Drawn by the promise of a new installation by one of his favourite SL artists, Fiona Fei, he visited The Asian Pacific Heritage Festival 2023 in Satori Bay. Fiona's work did not disappoint. It alone would have justified the energy expended in the teleport! If your visit inspires you to see more of her work, Fiona also has an exhibition at Firestorm Art Gallery this month.
The rest of the festival was also amazing. It's being staged on a beautiful floating market build around some islands. The boats, laden with flowers and other goods, are each representative of an Asian Pacific nation. Clicking on their flags gives out information to visitors.
The food stalls really capture the atmosphere of Asia. If you weren't hungry when you arrived you will be before you leave, so have an RL snack at hand for your poor typist. The islands have Fiona's exhibition and other displays. It's a beautiful build and well worth a visit.
The Asian theme continued when I attended Kyo Odori 2023. In a previous Out & About, I wrote about a performance by geikos and maikos from SL's Kyoto teahouses at the Sakurasseria Community area. That article resulted in an invitation to this event. Kyo Odori is one of two annual public performances by the geikos of the two tea houses of SL Kyoto. It's an opportunity for those of us who might not have the opportunity to experience the rarified atmosphere of a tea house (in SL, let alone in RL) to experience their classical Japanese arts of music and dance. I wrote of the Sakurasseria show that;
If I could take an SL-sceptic to just one event to show the potential of our virtual world, this could be it.
That was before I experienced this event! I always love it when the potential of SL – so often squandered on trivial or seedy pursuits – is used with serious artistic intent. Kyo Odori was an excellent example of that. Clearly a great deal of study, effort and rehearsal had been put into a series of flawless performances. If you get a chance to go to one, please take it.
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
... Dee Essence's Houseboat Essence of the Sea est. 3/2023 Bringing a pinch of modern luxury to the Bellisseria Sea, my houseboat is the perfect place for me to kick back and pretend to live a lavish virtual lifestyle! haha The interior has a yacht-like style while I played with irregular shapes in my furniture selections while being complimented by a paired back minimal dock extension. It may not be everyone's taste but it is something that I enjoyed putting together.
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Advance Notice: International Cultural Diversity Day – May 21st
For those of you who haven't met me, I'm the new Ambassador to Gaeta I & V. I am very excited to take on this role for my continent to help bridge the gap between Mainland and Bellisseria. That being said, I have an idea for an event that will bring everyone together in a most festive way but I need your help!
May 21st is International Cultural Diversity Day and what better way to bring everyone together than to have a day that celebrates everyone and their differences, be it by cultures, backgrounds, traditions, races, ages and genders. I have some ideas on how we can celebrate this event but I would love to hear from all of you as well.
Please let me know your thoughts in-world so we can move forward with this event.
H.E. SᴏɴDᴇᴇ Bᴀᴛɪsᴛᴀ-LᴇFᴇᴠʀᴇ (sonsaraydejonay)
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Harmony of Hope FUNdraising event
Team Harmony of Hope invites you to an afternoon FUNdraising event for SL children and their families, to benefit Relay For Life of Second Life® (RFL of SL) and the American Cancer Society.
The afternoon will include a Kids Waterpark, Playground, and small Petting Zoo. As well as LOTS of kid and family friendly music, and delicious goodies.
So invite all your friends and family members from across the Grid to join us as we enjoy a fantastic afternoon in the Sun & Sand.
Our readers from outside his Majesty's fifteen realms of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the United Kingdom will, we hope, forgive us if – publishing as we are on the date of the Coronation – we commemorate it here by publishing the logo designed for the event by Sir Jony Ive (the Englishman who designed the iPhone).
God save the King!
NEW LOCATIONS
Safire is back in SL and has now installed her stamp terminal in the garden of the recording studio from which she broadcasts her YouTube SL channel. Welcome back, Safire.
In Second Norway in the Blake Sea is a museum dedicated to the myth, magic and memory of the Vikings and the Norse people. It's a beautiful modern building housing much interesting material and now issuing an elegant passport stamp to commemorate your visit. It reminded your editor of an excursion in Norway during which a guide said of his country's first Christian king (a retired Viking converted during his raids to England);
He had a unique approach to baptism. He held his followers' heads under the waters of the fjord until they believed.
Robust characters, those Vikings!
SL railway enthusiasts will be delighted to hear of a new station where a stamp can be obtained. Primrose Station serves the quaint hamlet of Primrose Village near the SL International Airport in Nautilus.
This is the fifth and final instalment of our Building Community series. We have looked at some of the people who help us build community and connect with each other. This is not an exhaustive list, but we have covered the Bellisseria Citizens chat group (founded by Gingir Ghoststar), Special Events by the Hammies, the Bellisserian Birthday Events (by PrudenceAnton) and DJ Far’s weekly Friday parties.
There is one more person I want to add to this list: the BBB’s own Freddie Harrington. Freddie is Ambassador to Nautilus, but he is so much more than that. He is a DJ and frequently throws dance parties at various locations in Bellisseria. He also organises vehicle tours in Bellisseria and elsewhere. His main objective is to have fun and get everyone else having fun along with him.
It's a great way to build community, so I hunted Freddie down and asked him a few questions:
Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
My Real Life name is Freddie. I like boating, driving and flying in SL as well as exploring all the new places I find from The Gazette's passport stamp location listings. I like to have fun and dance, and I am a DJ. I am the BBB ambassador to Nautilus. In addition, I like to help people here.
I understand that you organise some kind of rallies. Could you tell us a little bit about them? How did you get started organising them?
My SL sister Dulcinea and I decided to start a new parade group to replace the (sadly) now defunct Bellisseria Boat Parade group. We decided we would make routes for different vehicles, not just boats. and not just in Bellisseria. Also, we schedule them a bit later in the SL day to appeal to more people in world. We also don't have any regular schedule so it's all done on the fly! we usually have a little dance afterwards too – because I love to DJ and love to dance.
Please share how you become a DJ or what gave you the idea of DJing?
In real life I used to DJ at various bowling alleys on a Friday and Saturday night. So, I thought it might be nice to play some music here too. I just play music, I don't chat but I think that appeals to some people. I mainly play pop and dance and some cheesy stuff but people seem to have fun.
I mainly do some of the events at the fairgrounds, sometimes at Bellboy's house, and frequently at the community spaces in Bellisseria. I really enjoy seeing people have a good time.
How often do you end up DJing at assorted Bellisseria locations?
Very frequently. Sometimes I randomly decide to do a party out of nowhere. I just get the urge to do it and go with that urge. My favourite places to DJ are at Campwich Community Center and The Drunken Mouse.
Do you have a favorite type of music? If so, what is it?
80s and 90s pop and dance. Also, some 60s and some 70s disco. I am not a huge fan of modern stuff. I do like my cheese as well.
What is your favourite thing about Bellisseria?
Oh, the community is number one! The fact you can drive from one side to the other uninterrupted is a close second. I also love the flying and the sailing is pretty nice here too.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Yes! I'm so excited about the new Belli hub – it's awesome! The beach and the bowling are spot on. and I look forward to playing some music there.
The event took place in the MarktPlatz (Market Square) at Neufreistadt, outside the Rathaus (City Hall), where the Embassy is based. There was much to celebrate as the CDS – SL's oldest democracy – joined Bellisseria and the Mainland Continents in issuing passports based on BBB (Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy) technology. Now its citizens can join those of the rest of our virtual world in collecting unique and hand-crafted passport stamps as they explore.
Moon Adamant, Chancellor of the CDS welcomed the guests and Jezebel Bailey, CEO of the BBB, congratulated the citizens of Bellisseria and the CDS on their new cooperation. Sandy Burgess, accepted her appointment and was officially installed as the new ambassador.
The event is reported in more detail by journalist Gemma Cleanslate over at the SL Newser. Gemma has promised her readers more reports from the CDS as she explores all of its regions in future.
OUT & ABOUT
Teresa Firelight's excellent article on the history of Bellisseria was reproduced in full with her permission as part of an article by Gemma Cleanslate on the Linden Continent's 4th Anniversary in the SL Newser.
Your editor would like to congratulate Teresa on a wider readership for her work and the SL Newser for its excellent taste! Erudite Teresa, starship captain, park ranger and BBB official, is a regular contributor to The Gazette on a wide variety of topics. She also writes about SL interior design for our sister publication, Parade of Homes Review.
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Passport Collecting tour by seaplane!
Your host is Yukiko Yeshto. We will meet up at the BBB Headquarters in Swordfish from where we will start our tour by seaplane. This is subject to alteration, depending on the actual number of tour participants. It's important for a comfortable trip to detach any unnecessary HUDs, attachments and scripts to avoid issues with region crossings.
Stamps can be collected by everyone! Whether you are a Bellisserian, mainland resident, CDS citizen, private island-dweller or even homeless, everyone can have a passport! Visit the info corner at BBB HQ and find out how to obtain yours. Stamps are transferable between different V3.00 passports now, so if you need to wait for your application in Bellisseria or the CDS to be processed you can get a temporary generic passport at any Embassy (SLURLs in The Gazette side-bar). When you get your permanent passport, the stamps will magically appear from our database.
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An Apology
There was a mix up with the issue of new stamp terminals last week. One terminal was issuing the wrong stamp and another was mistakenly reported as being in place. We work hard every week to check that new locations are correctly announced; reminding and helping new issuers to install the terminals on time. On this occasion, we failed.
The error was entirely that of the BBB and nothing to do with the location owners. We can only apologise to them and to our passport holders.
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Farewell to Robert Rhodan
Robert has decided to leave the BBB. He will still support our team by maintaining and running the weekly updates to the StampFinder (StaFi) HUD and the Gazette Online Travel Guide (GOTG), the weekly updates to the clients' StampsOnPP HUD and the global StampsOnPPMaximumList, the Calendar 2023, the Parade-of-Homes (PoH) listings, the plane and boat rez zones graphical map, various web-based application forms, stamp statistics, and the web server and database server infrastructure used for all that.
Stamp creation and terminal programming and delivery will be continued by his experienced colleague Amanda. Robert will also be available to the BBB as a consultant, but won't be creating any new tools and procedures, and will attend our events only as a visitor.
Robert told The Gazette:
It has been an honour working for BBB in recent years. I leave with the knowledge that I've found (and kept) many good friends within the BBB team, and am thankful for the kind feedback our clients gave on the tools and stamp designs I made for for the community.
We are grateful to Robert for all he has done (and continues to do) for the BBB and wider SL community. We're glad he will continue to help us out and wish him all the very best in his other ventures.
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StampsOnPP HUD Update
Since last week's scheduled database sync 1,336 additional stamps have been collected by our valued passport-holders, making a total of 21,947 stamps collected on all of the version 3.00 passports. Most passport holders have now upgraded to the latest version and gone through the amusing – but very clever and innovative – process of sitting on their old passport and visa HUDs to transfer the stamps they've collected using their avi's body as a conduit to our database.
However 151 people have yet to upgrade from version 2.00. We invite them to do so soon. It really is a great improvement and much less fiddly to use. The StampsOnPP HUD is available from BBB HQ in Bellisseria.
As of this week, 532 unique stamps have been hand-crafted for our passports – not all of which are still current of course. If you've been with us since the beginning and have been diligently exploring Second Life® with us, here's the Maximum List of what you could have collected.
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The Bellisseria Diplomatic List
In the wake of all the new appointments and the opening of our Embassy to the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, there's an updated list of our Ambassadors in the side-bar. Please feel free to contact your continent's ambassador about your events, news and ideas.
Our embassies are public resources open to all in SL and our ambassadors aim to provide useful information. They may also be happy to post information about your local events too.
NEW LOCATIONS
The Limoncello Art Gallery has opened a new location in the city of Neufreistadt in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators. The Limoncello Kunstgalerie on the MarktPlatz near to the Rathaus is the latest of the gallery's places to issue a unique passport stamp.
The second new location this week is also connected to the Limoncello Art Gallery. New Zealand artist AmandaT Tamatzui (well-known to BBBug users as a designer of our passport stamps) is staging an exhibition at the LG Tower – the largest of the three Limoncello gallery locations. The special event stamp will be available during the exhibition, which will run from 28th April to July 31st this year.
If you are an SL time lord you can land at either of this week's new locations in your HOO or Novatech Tardis. Check out your destination database!
We are continuing our series on “Building Community” in Bellisseria. This week we will look at something that has become an institution – DJ Far’s Friday Parties. I caught up with DJ Far for this interview:
Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
So where do I start about myself? Now I'm very old. I started DJ'ing a long, long time ago and I'm famous for my mixes and my mash ups. I use a mic and it's quite hard to stop me from talking over the top of my mash ups
How did you come to be a DJ?
Years ago when I was 14, I ran away in RL to join the circus. I lived in the West End of London. I used to bunk off school and go up to the West End. I would DJ live in the clubs well before I was supposed to. After that, I did lots of different jobs during my life.
Eventually I ended up in Second Life. I realized that what I wanted to do was to be a DJ again. So I did it! Now I'm a DJ, and I haven't looked back. I just love being a DJ.
I understand you hold weekly parties at Bellisseria. Could you please tell us when and where those are at?
The parties are at my Houseboatevery Friday from noon until 2:00pm SLT. Everyone is welcome.
How did you come up with the idea of doing weekly parties?
I moved to Bellisseria the first day it “opened,” which was on Monday April 15. That first Friday, April 19, I started my first party at my houseboat. And I have thrown one every Friday since. We haven’t missed a single week, except for two occasions when I was in hospital and I got someone to cover for me. The “Friday Party” had become a bit of a legend in Bellisseria.
Now we also do a Wednesday party which is ‘Bingo and Beans.’ This is more of a ‘chill out’ party. We quite regularly do themes, such as “flexi.” We all love flexi-hair – well, I do. And we play bingo and we just chilled out and chat. It is an awesome Wednesday party.
It became clear that people wanted me to do regular parties, so that's why I do it. That is why my group is called “Fars Friends.” As much as anything, these parties are about the group hug at the end of the evening. I feel loved for doing it and I love being with my friends.”
What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria?
What I love about Bellisseria is that we are slowly but surely opening up more Community zones.
I have a vision of being allowed to DJ at the community zones, and I discussed this with lovely Patch Linden. He has facilitated getting radios put out across the whole of Bellisseria. This will make the community areas more accessible and more fun for people. So far there's loads of them.
I hope that the next step will be to allow us to rez bits and pieces for small events. That would make it possible to have theme parties at the open areas.”
Do you have a favorite type of music? If so, what is it?
My favorite music is probably Mixes and Mash Ups. I love booty Mash Ups. I have a studio setup at home where I dabble a bit. I wouldn't say I'm fantastic at it, but I do dabble and people seem to like what I produce – so it's all good. I can actually play any genre, because I love all music.
I even got asked to do an industrial dance set. When I first started putting it together, I didn't really like industrial dance, but now there are two or three industrial dance tunes, I actually like. So yeah, I I hope that answers the question.
When you are not spinning tunes, what is your favorite thing to do in Second Life?
My favourite thing in Second Life is hugging people -- I just love hugging! That is why every party I do culminates in a group hug. I've got lots of group huggers, and I love everybody.
I think we need to spread the love and pass it forward. Getting in on a group hug and ‘hugging it out’ is one way to do that. So yes, like I say --. Hugging. I love to hug everybody, and at the moment I love to hug.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Yeah, what I'd like to share is as much love as I can for the rest of the world, and the rest of the community. Sometimes the world is definitely lacking love. I like to spread love to everybody. And bring the community together. That's what I aim for, and that's what I've been aiming for ever since I've been in Bellisseria. I'm. And yeah, that's about it really. Thank you for listening to me.
Here is my life’s Mantra: ‘Life is not a battle to win. but a melody to sing.’
Article and photograph by Teresa Firelight
OUT & ABOUT
Much fun was had at the celebration of Bellisseria's 4th Anniversary. There was music, dancing and laughter at Bellisseria Fairgrounds as the usual suspects of party life on the Linden Continent came together. Our thanks to Rachel Stardust for allowing us to feature two of the photos of the event from her Flickr feed. You'll find other pictures by our readers over at the BBB Flickr Group photo pool.
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
Opening Party of the Bellisserian Embassy at the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS)
The CDS and the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy are cooperating now and we are proud to announce the opening of the Bellisserian Embassy of CDS in the Rathaus. We have an opening party at the Marktplatz in Neufreistadt on Sunday, April 23rd at noon. Please come to celebrate the occasion with us and DJane Mandry Demonia.
Bikinis and Beach Bums, come end your weekend with a bang! DJ Chocolate Sin will be bringing her upbeat variety of tunes to end the weekend on a high note!See you on Sunday between 5pm to 7pm SLT!
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Advance Notice of Opening Party at the Limoncello Gallery
The opening party will be on April 28th at 1pm SLT at the LG Tower. Music will be provided by DJ Frank Atisso.
NEW LOCATIONS
The first new location this week is for a special event stamp for the opening party of the Bellisserian Embassy to the CDS (see Events & Announcements above).
We have two new stamp-issuing locations this week from Crowne Heights, "the city that time forgot" – a 1950s role-playing community in Gaeta V. There's an rp period shopping mall (where no actual commerce takes place) and a relaxed public beach.
Drishti Yoga Oasis on the continent of Jeogeot is a tiny mainland roadside yoga and meditation garden, where all are welcome.
Also this week, there's a new place to hang out and get refreshments in the lively area of Avery Hills. Bubble Tea is a new beverage to me, but I'm told it's delicious. Go try it for yourself at Clark's Bubble Tea Café.
Finally, this is a re-announcEment of the stamp at the new Bellisserian Embassy to the CDS in the Rathaus at Neufreistadt. There was a spelling error on the original stamp, so it has now been replaced. If you picked up the misspelled one, you now have a super-rare collectible! You can now also add the correctly-spelled stamp. Our apologies for the error.
Following a notice in the Bellisseria Citizens group of a dance performance at the Sakura 🌸 Community Region in Bellisseria (or Sakurasseria as some people now call the Japan-themed part of the Linden Continent) your editor tp'ed in to take a look. If I could take an SL-sceptic to just one event to show the potential of our virtual world, this could be it. The four dancers were impeccably dressed and made up. Their dances were carefully-animated. Their interaction with the audience was scrupulously polite. Of course, I don't say that seeing such a performance in Second Life® will take a visit to Japan off my bucket list. Rather, especially after visiting the Kyoto region, I want to go even more more than before!
I spoke to Toshiha Magic after the performance. She's a geisha in SL and kindly agreed to be interviewed. She told me;
We have been doing this in SL for varying amounts of time. I joined in 2008 specifically to become an SL geisha and have been doing it ever since. I also run a shop for geisha in Second Life that has been open since 2009.
No real maiko or geisha are in SL--they're very busy! We are all, however, geisha enthusiasts. I lived in Japan for several years and met them on several occasions, mainly in Kyoto, where they are called geiko. I was also blessed enough to be introduced to a teahouse, which is not an easy feat even for Japanese, where I could experience the entertainment first-hand. Today, I am still in contact with a few people who are customers of geiko in real life or study their world professionally. My research is never-ending, and I learn about their profession, and teach it to others.
I asked how ladies in the dance performance got to know each other and how did the idea came about;
The geisha profession has existed in SL with various okiya (geisha houses) cropping up through the years with varying degrees of accuracy. I work now in Kyoto Kagai region, where I moved my okiya to join with another SL geiko, Kikutsuru san (miehina Resident). She did a wonderful job re-creating Kyoto and its geisha towns as they exist today. I moved there after being amazed at how it made me feel I was back in Kyoto for real.
We shared a love of the district of Miyagawacho, our favourite of the five geisha districts in the city. Accuracy and dedication were also a shared value and goal. We want people to understand the truth about the geisha profession as it is in real life. Our apprentices go through years of training to gain the knowledge they need. Currently our region has two okiya which work together. We have four geiko and six maiko (apprentices), making us the largest geisha group in SL. Each of our girls understands this takes a lot of dedication and time.
Asked how often they perform and where, Toshiha-san told me;
Kyoto is the name of our region where we live and work. In full, we call it Kyoto Kagai - Hanafusa & Komayaka after our two okiya. Hanafusa is run by Kikuyuu and Kikutsuru while I run Komayaka. I open my teahouse weekly, but Hanafusa maintains its own schedule, too. Every month we send out a joint schedule notecard that lists our public performances in English and Japanese.
We also have two large theatre performances a year – at the end of April, and again at the end of October – so our biggest event of the year is coming up soon! Each show is unique and offers eight acts of traditional dance and some kabuki or noh inspired pieces. Geisha perform by singing and dancing, but like the real ladies we can also perform tea ceremonies, give educational talks and experiences, play traditional Japanese games (ozashiki asobi) or even just sit and be fine company. Geisha are known to be witty, educated and flattering.
A geisha's large repertoire centres around the concept of omotenashi--a great customer experience. I don't think there is any other place in Second Life® you can experience Kyoto geisha culture, and few where you can experience traditional Japanese culture. We want to share it with anyone who is interested. We also welcome performing elsewhere in SL.
Asked about the history of this style of dance, Toshiha-san told me;
The dance we perform in SL is a specific category called mai, modelled on the Wakayagi School in Kyoto. Those who've watched The Makanai on Netflix will have heard this term. Kamigatamai is a dance that emerged in Kyoto from 1800, in the middle of the Edo period. It is based on suodori (dance without costume and hairpieces), in which dancers dress casually in kimono and dance in a zashiki (tatami room) with folding screens.
Most people, however, think of Inoue school when they hear of Kyoto geiko, because this style was developed there specifically for the Gion geisha district; the most famous of the five. For this reason, Inoue is also called Kyo-mai, literally Kyoto-style mai (dance). The head of the Inoue dance school is considered the most important person in Gion. Some of the dances and songs are hundreds of years old while others are newer. I hope if people go to Kyoto they can watch the Kyo Odori in Miyagawacho and the Miyako Odori in Gion, which are public events to appreciate these dance styles.
The dances tell a story and the movements are often stylistic and minimal. Some moves – for example sweeping a broom – may be obvious. Another move, raising the hand, palm up, and gently bringing in down in a small waving motion can symbolize petals or snow falling from the sky. Other moves convey feeling and are not meant to be interpreted literally. In SL we want people to appreciate and understand what they're seeing, and not have it just be a novelty. So, I include English translations of all the songs as we perform the dances. Most of these translations I did myself. The songs are poetic with a lot of nature imagery that often has double meanings steeped in old culture.
I asked how popular these arts are in modern Japan and how safe the geiko tradition is for the future. Will it fade into history?
There are estimated to be a few hundred maiko and geiko in Kyoto today. There used to be about 80,000 around World War II. While there was a maiko boom around the mid-90s and early 2000s with many young ladies joining the profession, it has tapered off, and the pandemic saw many geiko and maiko quit. I really hope they will recover from that, and I have confidence they will. Of course, business also depends on younger generations seeking this traditional entertainment. If you hummed the geiko song Gion Kouta to someone in their 70s or 80s, they could sing along with you, but most people don't know it today.
Those who study geisha also wonder if the tradition will fade. Many people think geisha is stuck in time but this isn't true. When the profession began, geisha chic inspired innovation in fashion and music. Geisha were the first to wear haori (a men's kimono jacket) and now you see haori on kimono-wearing women everywhere. They were trend setters but as Japan modernised, the profession had to change – it became about preserving what was Japanese and traditional.
The profession is still changing. You can find geiko with Instagram and TikTok accounts and ochaya (teahouse) have websites. Traditionally, this world is very closed, and the rule of ichigen-san okotowari stands – No first-time customers. But now it's easier to meet a maiko or geiko in a public setting. It's not the same as becoming a customer in the teahouse, but this is an example of recent adaptation. I believe, in my personal opinion, that some aspects must change further and become more accessible – as they were when the profession first started. Today, a teahouse party costs thousands of dollars just for a couple of hours. I am not sure how viable that will be, but the profession itself is expensive. The teahouses face a conundrum as customer loyalty is very important, and often goes back generations – how would regular patrons feel if suddenly anyone can walk off the street and throw down $50 for the same entertainment?
I asked Toshiha-san if there was a question I should have asked. She told me;
I love when people ask questions! It's important to understand what geisha are, and are not. When most people hear the term geisha they think of Memoirs of a Geisha, written by a Western man with a fantasy and only a cursory understanding. I highly recommend Mineko Iwasaki's book, Geisha, A Life. She was once the most popular geiko in Gion. Her book reads very differently, and is more riveting because it is real.
Geisha don't sell their bodies. Yuujo (courtesans) do that. Geisha are not yuujo or oiran or tayuu (all of which get confused with them in Western minds). Geisha means artist in every sense of the word. They learn to play traditional instruments, sing, dance, do tea ceremonies and flower ceremonies -- all the arts that were considered good for a cultured girl to learn in the Edo period and beyond. A geisha today is like a woman in any profession. She can have a boyfriend and it's her business if she does. But she will never be expected to sleep with a client. There is a lot of personal autonomy. In fact, this is a world run from the top down by women. It was one of very few professions in Japan in which women could be their own bosses; be independent.
I really hope more people come to visit us in Kyoto region – please don't be shy! We share a true passion and do our best to do justice to the ladies of this profession in real life with accuracy and dedication. We want to share this with anyone who may be interested, loves Japan or even just arts in general!
Article and photos by the Editor. Additional photos by Brianne Slade and Opinicus Extraordinaire, gratefully acknowledged.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLISSERIA!
Bellisseria is turning four years old today. This is a big deal, so there will be a big party to celebrate. It will take place at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds.
The party commences at 10:00 AM SLT with an opening speech from Patch Linden. The organizers recommend you arrive early, as the place tends to fill up for Patch’s opening speech. There will be entertainment and dancing from about 10:15 AM SLT until 4 PM SLT. The DJs are: DJ Gio from 10-Noon, DJ Krys from Noon-2, and DJ Steph from 2-4 PM SLT. And for those of you who are passport stamp collectors, there will also be a special Bellisseria 4th Anniversary Stamp at the party.
I caught up with Bellisseria's head builder Abnor Mole, and he had this to say;
When we started building Bellisseria, we figured it was going to be a few hundred regions and we thought that was HUGE. We wanted to incorporate what we always loved about mainland --its ‘connectedness.’ This is a feeling of continual space that you can't get on just a few regions. It is the perception of community that Second Life started out with, a feeling that many of us remember from so long ago. If fact, that feeling of community is what made us fall in love with this platform in the first place.
People responded to that idea. Four years later it has ballooned to a few THOUSAND regions. When we moles step back and look at what we've built over those years, it gives us a reverent pause. We think, ‘Wow, we started building some homes and some land, and we ended up building a CONTINENT, and it is full of people!’ It cannot not make one smile.
So let me give you a quick history about Bellisseria and how it was built. Bellisseria was born on April 15, 2019 with an initial release of 136 regions. This included two house styles: Traditional and Houseboats. The user community’s response surprised and overwhelmed Linden Lab (LL). Every single house sold out in less than 48 hours. There were many additional requests for homes that LL could not fill because there were no more left. The moles were kept very busy building more homes as soon as possible. On May 15, 2019, LL released another 709 houseboats, which were again snatched up quickly.
By June 24, 2019, Linden Lab was ready to release more Traditional homes, and elected to go with a new strategy. They released one region at a time, rather than all at once. The attempt was to release a new region every day or two, except for obvious gaps on the weekends. The homes remained very popular and tended to “sell out” just about as fast as they were released.
On Sept 17, 2019 the 512 m2 campers were released. Roughly three months later, the Victorians were released (on Dec 16, 2019). Demand still exceeded supply and Linden Lab and the moles kept working hard to make more homes available. They released an additional 2,330 new homes (spanning all 4 house styles) on December 18, 2019.
In short, they released over 10,000 Linden homes in 2019, and there was still demand for more! On April 1, 2020, less than a year after the initial release, Linden Lab made Log Homes available – 4,828 of them. The good news is that by this time, there were usually some Linden Homes available for those who wanted them. They might not be able to get the theme they wanted, but there was usually something available. There would be occasional times where all homes on the Land Page were sold out, but if a person tried back a little later, they could find a Linden Home.
Linden Lab hoped to release the Stilt Homes shortly after that, but the “uplift” project caused a long delay. This was a project where LL moved their code from their own (somewhat aged) computers to the AWS Cloud. That was a complex project that preempted most others. People kept asking Patch when the Stilts would be available. In response, he ended up Trade Marking the term Soon™
Roughly eight months went by. On December 21, 2020, the Stilts were finally released. The initial release was 3900 Stilt homes, plus another 552 House Boats. There were a few bumps in the road with this release, but were sorted out before year end.
About four months later, the Chalets were released, along with a massive community center – Die Betrunkene Maus – located in Muehlenbach. This happened on March 30, 2021. Four and a half months after that, on August 12, 2021, the Fantasy homes were released. The fantasy regions introduced new technology. They had trees and plants that glowed at night, and the foliage colours changed as the seasons passed. Next came the Newbrooke container homes on March 3, 2022, followed by scenic Sakura (Japanese) homes on May 16, 2022.
In November 2022, they released an update to the Traditional homes and a new Traditional community center on Chippewa Junction. Then in December, 4 new houseboat styles were released.
Of course, Bellisseria is much more than just the houses that people live in. Several community groups sprang up, such as Bellisseria Citizens, Bellisseria Entertainers and Events, etc. These have really fostered community and organised many parties. There have also been volunteer groups who work to create fun activities such as The BBB (Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy) who issue passports, passport stamp machines, licences, etc. Other service groups included the Parade of Homes to showcase nicely-decorated homes owners open to the public, Belli Bin to playfully collect our trash, in-home clubs open to the public such as the Bellis Blues Cafe, etc. And there have been publications to keep people informed of what is going on, such as The Gazette. There are so many others that I did not list who contribute to making Bellisseria a great place to live. It is not just the place; it is the community.
Happy Birthday Bellisseria!
Article and image by Teresa Firelight
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
Bellisseria's 4th Anniversary Celebration!
Are you ready to Party!?! April 15, 2023, is Bellisseria's 4th Anniversary. We've got a great party planned, so be sure to join us. Also, be sure to collect the rare Anniversary stamp at the event.
Stop Press: The HamRaiders event at the Fairgrounds will be hosting the Bellisseria Fourth Anniversary stamp terminal. If you missed your chance to get it at the event, you still have until April 30th.
NEW LOCATIONS
Our first new location this week is the Artoozy Lounge (where it is always happy hour) & the Isness Gallery, which is currently featuring the art of AmandaT Tamatzui, Pagan Lane, Rage Darkstone Angel Lilly white and Shug Stupor.
In the delightfully-named Cheezberger region of Nautilus is the HQ (and fishing dock) of The BeezCherger Boating Club.
In the Corsican region of Ardingley is the Pawfect Day Café. To look at it, you might think it's a café for dogs, but in fact it's for dog-lovers. It's a drive-thru where you can pet puppies whenever you feel like it. As its slogan says, share a cup with a pup!
Back in Nautilus, in Avery Park near the SL International Airport, you'll find the Picnic Park & Cave Entrance. We're not sure a name could be any more descriptive, so we'll leave it to you, gentle readers, to explore! Trust us. Spelunking is not so scary in SL as RL.
Cloud Galleries in Novatron on the Corsica South Coast is the latest venture of serial curator and patron of SL art, Owl Dragonash. It's an elegant setting for a series of art galleries. If you see Owlie when you visit, say Hoot! from her friends at The Gazette. She's one of the nicest people in SL and does wonderful work creating attractive spaces. Don't forget to post any photos you take to the Corsica South Coasters photo pool on Flickr.
Finally this week, we have a new stamp terminal at the 1950's RP Community of Crowne Heights. It's an extensive build with lots to explore for time travellers to the middle of the last century.
BUILDING COMMUNITY – THE BELLISSERIA BIRTHDAY PARTIES
We are continuing our series on Building Community in Bellisseria. This week we will talk with Prudenceanton, who has organized several fun events for Belli residents. This interview will focus primarily on the Annual Bellisseria Birthday parties. (The next birthday party is coming up soon, on Saturday April 15).
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I came to Second Life in October of 2006 on my main avatar. I heard about Bellisseria and worked hard to land a home. I eventually opening the Bellis Blues Cafe in July of 2019. I've taken part in hosting many events at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds over the years along with running the Bellisseria Parade of Homes until September of 2022, when Robert Rhodan took over for me. I also am half of Pring Productions, which has created over 70 videos on Youtube. Most of them are about life in Bellisseria.
If you would like to know more about Pring Productions, here is the YouTube link.
How long have you lived in Bellisseria and what do you love most about Bellisseria?
I got my first home, a Traditional, along the riverbank of Buitenwijk, in early June of 2019. I fell in love with the beautifully built neighborhoods that comprise the community of Bellisseria.
You have been involved in organizing Bellisseria’s birthday parties since year one. How is it that you got involved in doing this?
I had been hosting parties at Bellis Blues Cafe and enjoying sharing good times with fellow Bellisserian neighbors. When they launched the fairgrounds, I started to participate in some of the events being planned there. I had a smaller participation at first, like creating a beverage bar at an event that others were hosting. And it grew from there.
No one actually asked me to plan the first party, it just grew out of my previous involvement in organizing activities. I realized that no one was doing anything to celebrate Bellisseria’s first anniversary, so I worked with with a small group of DJs to throw something together.
What is your favorite part about organizing the Bellisseria birthday parties?
Let me answer that in two parts: On the organization part, I enjoy working with some of Bellisseria’s talented residents. It is fun to get them involved in planning the festivities of celebrating another milestone year of living in Bellisseria.
On the partying part, it's just so much fun to see everyone having a wonderful time. I love to see them dancing, listening to great music and chatting away with each other. We all enjoy the fun, the silliness and laughter and ideas shared during this annual event.”
Can you tell us a little about the first birthday celebration and what it was like?
As it turned out, no one had reserved the fairgrounds or made plans to help the community celebrate Bellisseria's first year. So, as a last minute thing, myself and some of the Djs figured we could throw something together. And we did!
I happened to have a beach-wharf build I had put together and hadn't used. I set it up, organized some of the DJs to bring their sets to the fairgrounds. For the finale, we had fireworks. Everyone had a great time. And I was pleased to see that the moles showed up and enjoyed the good times with us.”
I know that for the third birthday celebration you had the BBB team working with you on that, and it was a huge one. You were involved as a BBB member in organizing activities and I believe some type of game or contest. Can you tell us more about that?
Abnor mole came to me to ask if I was planning on doing Bellisseria's 3rd Anniversary celebration that year. Since I was working with the BBB team, I thought it might be a great idea to have the team get involved in the planning. They did a great job, too.
My task that year was to organize the entertainment and a contest, ‘How well do you know your moles?’ I had taken photos of about 14 random moles and put their images on a billboard. The contestants had to guess which photo went with with provided mole's name? Surprisingly the contestants did pretty well, and the top winners got a nice prize, too.
Please tell us about this year’s Bellisseria Birthday celebration, scheduled for April 15.
It's a forest theme, this year. I don't want to spoil any surprises, so I'll just share two photos I took.
Do you have any future plans for organizing future events (birthday and otherwise)?
I'll be planning Bellis Blues Cafe's 4th Anniversary party in July. And I've been considering what to plan for Bellisseria's 5th Anniversary party, next year. But I don’t want to share the details and ruin the surprise. (winks)
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Be sure to arrive to the Anniversary party a little early, on Saturday, April 15th at 10:00 AM slt, enable your voice (and mute your mic) to be able to hear Patch Linden's opening speech and let's party!
Article and portrait photograph by Teresa Firelight. Additional photos by Pru.
CONFEDERATION OF DEMOCRATIC SIMULATORS ISSUES ITS OWN PASSPORTS
The Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS) – Second Life's oldest democracy – is to issue passports to its citizens. CDS is a real community in a virtual world. It is NOT role-playing at democracy, but actually governed by officials elected by its residents. It has a Constitution, a Code of Laws and three branches of government.
The CDS's private estate regions are loosely based on Germanic, Alpine, Tuscan, or Mediterranean themes, representing different historical periods. They operate under common covenants. For example;
All buildings in CDS must be physically plausible, based on the architectural technology of the historical period and culture of the CDS region in which the property is located.
In keeping with its independent, democratic structure, the CDS will control the issue of its own passports, which will be available only to its citizens. Those citizens will now join those of Bellisseria, the mainland continents of Sansara, Satori, Heterocera, Nautilus, Jeogeot, Corsica and Gaeta in collecting stamps from the locations listed in the Gazette Online Travel Guide (GOTG) or the Stamp Finder HUD (StaFi) available in-world.
As of March 28 this year, we've issued five hundred and seven unique, individually-designed stamps, either for permanent locations or for special events. All of us at The Gazette and the entire staff of the BBB and the CPCB are delighted to welcome the citizens of CDS to our community of SL explorers.
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
Phishing Warning!
This warning was posted yesterday by Mister Acacia in the Firestorm Support English Group. We thought it was worth passing along to our readers.
There is a new phishing attempt that surfaced today. A dialog box will say you are about to be logged off, and that you should enter your password. Obviously you should not enter your password, but instead file an abuse report against the sender.
******
Birthday Party today at 3.15pm SLT
AmandaT Tamatzui is an artist in RL and SL and a stamp designer for the BBB. It's her birthday IRL today (April 8th). If you know her and want to say "Happy Birthday" in person you're welcome to join her BBB colleagues and other friends aboard the Limoncello Space Station at 3.15pm SLT.
The party is in the Commander's Quarters on Level 3. DJ Frank Atisso will be providing the music. If you don't already have the space station's stamp in your passport, you can stop by the terminal in Station Security on Level 1 to collect it.
Full life support and Earth-level artificial gravity are in place, so there's no need for space suits (unless you feel like dressing up or prefer to arrive by rocket shuttle, in which case use this SLURL instead and hop aboard). Either way, please do set your viewer to "shared environment" though in order to get the full outer space experience.
NEW LOCATIONS
This week we set a record for new locations. We have eight new places you can collect stamps for your BBB, CPCB or CDS passports.
The first location this week reflects the big news that the Confederation of Democratic Simulators is about to issue its own passports using our tech. The Bellisserian Embassy to the CDS is where CDS citizens can apply for their passports. It's in the Rathaus (City Hall) and non-CDS citizens can find lots of information there too. If you haven't visited the CDS before, it's well worth a look.
We have two big new additions to the roster of Nature Locations offering passport stamps. When we say big we mean BIG. These are two full-region wilderness parks in the grand American style. Yosemite is one of the most famous in the world and its SL version is;
a region-size national park with forests, meadows, cliffs, waterfalls, wilderness... and bears! Go hiking, horse riding, kayaking, biking, camping, fishing, swimming, and more. Nature at its finest. Great for outdoor adventure.
Nearby High Sierra comprises;
Tenaya Lake, Tioga Pass, and the wilderness backcountry of Yosemite. Hiking trails, mountain biking, horse riding, camping, backpacking, log cabins, BnBs and more.
The next couple of new locations are big too. That's to say big on entertainment. Firstly, The Square is a music venue that features open mic nights. Secondly our old stamp-issuing location Vegas in the Sky returns, bigger and better. It's kept the name even though this version is on virtual terra firma.
We are delighted as the fourth anniversary of Bellisseria's foundation approaches, to welcome two new faux businesses. Such locations were probably not anticipated by the Lindens when Belli was launched, but we love it when Premium members generously dedicate their Linden Homes to community projects open to all.
Firstly there's the Spooky Old Bat in Fantasseria– a pub with a witchy theme. It sounds scarier than it is and is actually a charming place to hang out. The E.S. Gallery & Studio is a nicely-presented (check out those professional-looking information cards by each exhibit) art gallery in a Belli stilt home. A small selection of the modest owner's art ("I am only role playing being an artist") is hidden among her collection of famous RL pieces. There's an Easter gift there at the moment, too.
Finally, and still in Bellisseria, there will be a party on April 15th to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Linden Continent's foundation. This is an advance notice so don't rush off to collect the stamp yet. It will only be available on the day so will be a super-rare prize for your collection.
BUILDING COMMUNITY: BELLISSERIA HAMSTERS OR “BELLI HAMMIES”
We are continuing our series on “building community” in Bellisseria. Last week we looked at how chat groups help build community. This week we look at how some community events help towards that end. In particular, we will visit with Varistentia Varriale (also known as VariHammy) and Jessssycajayne (also known as Hammie). These two are “party animals” in the most literal sense. They have a fun and lighthearted approach to life, and have created a lot of fun events for all of us to enjoy.
They were quite busy preparing for Zoo-Palooza 4, but took some time to sit down and chat with me. I would like to share what they had to say:
Please tell us a little about yourselves. (Also maybe a little about how you met).
Hammie:I came to SL in 2015 (my main has been here since 2008). I moved to Bellisseria in late June of 2019 and landed a houseboat as my first home. But hammies are not very good swimmers so I changed to a traditional house instead. I started to decorate it wiff hamster items and then got the idea to turn da house into The Bellisseria Animal Sanctuary and the rest is history!
Around that same time, I met VariHammy at a pickle party. He was a hooman back then but soon after he magically transformed! That's the power of the carrot yew see. Since then we have co-owned and run the sanctuary together and it's been great!
VariHammy: I had upgraded to premium around a year before I got a notice on Facebook about this new premium place called Bellisseria then I jumped right in on April 15th 2019 the first day of Bellisseria and switched houses a few times until I got a great spot up in Washburn (Old Belli as I like to call it) and I remain there to this day in my Winchester style home. I met Hammie at a pickle party and thought she was the cutest and coolest thing I had ever seen in Second Life so I had to become a Hamster too.
(At this point both of them were smiling from ear to ear at both me and each other.)
Can you share a little about what you love about Bellisseria?
Hammie: My favourite thing about Bellisseria is the sense of community and the overall support that peeples show each other here. In all my years in Second Life, I haz never seen a community that interacts so well together. It's pretty amazing really! I also really enjoy seeing the creative end of things here. Like the amazing parties, events and group outings that happen.
VariHammy: Like Hammie said. the sense of community is truly unique and the support is amazing among da hoomans (and animals teew). I also love the amazing work of Patch, lindens and moles and the close interaction with the residents – this really feels special. The Fairgrounds is also such a treat (besides carrots of course) that has allowed us to create our beeg builds and so we are very happy about dat.
I understand you decorate the fairgrounds and organize some very popular and fun events. How did you get started on this?
Our reason for starting to do events at the Fairgrounds was born out of our mutual love for animals in the real world. And since we were already running The Bellisseria Animal Sanctuary and doing some small parties in the yard there, we thought how fun would it be to do this on a grander scale! So we started to plan for our very first Zoo-Palooza which was held in the spring of 2020. Here is a link if you would like to see what the very first zoo looked like!
Can you tell us a little about what one of your typical events is like?
Sure! We do a few different events each year. Our Zoo-Palooza events, which usually run for about a month, happen once annually. We build a brand new theme each year. Our first one was in 2020 and it was a North American type zoo. It was a the type of public zoo you might see in Canada or the USA.
After that we did Zoo-Palooza 2 Hammiefari. which was based on the African Savannah! And last year we did Zoo-Palooza 3 ForestHam National Park, which included free range animals and a ton of camping spaces for adventures! Our latest event for 2023 is Zoo-Palooza 4 HAMRAIDERS - THE CARROT OF LIFE which is based in the Peru rain forest and is our take on the game/movie Tomb Raider.
In regards to setting up. We build off site from the Fairgrounds. And spend anywhere from one to two months creating the builds before breaking them down and then taking them to the Fairgrounds to set up.
We also have done a Hammieween (Halloween) event for the past 3 years. With fun things like trick or treating and spookeh cemeteries! And a couple of Winter events as well.
Our longest running event has to be the “Big Splash Adventure Oasis Water Park.” That sure is a mouthful huh? The Water Park starts as a one month event which in the past, has stretched into a full summer as long as the space is free. This particular event has several water slides, lagoon pools for lounging, a kids water park and various refreshment stands and areas for lounging, hanging out and a space for dance parties.
You have an event that starts today. Can you please tell us a little bit about it?
Yush! This will be our fourth installment of the zoo: Zoo-Palooza 4 HAMRAIDERS - THE CARROT OF LIFE. As we mentioned a bit earlier, it is based on the Peru Rain Forest. So it has a real jungle and lush forest feel to it. It has plenty of wild animals that are native to that specific part of the world and maybe even a few surprises that you will have to visit to find out about! We had a ton of fun creating this one!
I will let you in on a teeny secret though. We originally had planned on doing an oasis. But we realized that there isn't really anything AT an oasis. So out of trying to make that work, we did a full 360 degree turn and ended up with HAMRAIDERS!”
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Ummmm yes! We LOVE carrots so feel free to spread the word that crates can be dropped off at The Bellisseria Animal Sanctuary night or day!
Article & Photo by Teresa Firelight
NEW WEB-BASED STAMP APPLICATION FORM
In the past, we have distributed notecards in-world labelled "SSA" (stamp service application) or "SSAE" (stamp service application for events). Requesting stamps for your beautiful locations or amazing events has now been migrated to a web-based form that can be centrally updated, without nagging hundreds of clients for details of updates. The form looks like this.
click to enlarge
So please delete any SSA or SSAE notecards you may still have in your inventory, and instead use this form for applications and/or updates. When you've completed the relevant details, just click on the Submit button and you're done!
Article and Photograph by Robert Rhodan of the Stamp Team
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
Bellisseria's 4th Anniversary Celebration!
Are you ready to Party!?! April 15, 2023, is Bellisseria's 4th Anniversary. We've got a great party planned, so be sure to join us. Also, be sure to collect the rare Anniversary stamp at the event.
WHERE: Bellisseria Fairgrounds
WHEN: Saturday, April 15, 2023
TIME: 10:00 am to 4:00 p.m.
Music . Dancing . Prizes . Refreshments
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Hope Floats Boat Parade
Nuggets Family Community Center is a strong supporter of the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life and will be staging an event in May to raise money for that noble cause.
The Hope Floats Boat Parade will start at 10am SLT on Sunday May 21st.
There will be a special passport stamp for the event, which will be announced in the usual way nearer to the time. In the meantime, if you're interested in getting involved, please contact diddja Resident in-world.
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Pern Day Gather at Gianfar Peaks
WHAT? Join us for a Gather, a day of celebration in honour of Anne McCaffrey's birthday
EVENTS! An amazing display of rider and dragon flying in harmony, featuring Gianfar's own Randy Thor on the bronze dragon Varth
DANCING! Join us for dancing to music from DJ Cisop and the MacAlt Clan band
Dragonback tour of the island of Gianfar for the brave!
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Welcome to Vegas in the Sky A former stamp-issuing location is back and a new stamp is coming soon (watch New Locations for details). In the meantime here's the entertainment schedule.
There are new HUD dispensers now at the BBB HQ. A HUD user guide is also included. See all the stamps you've collected in a secure online page!
NEW LOCATIONS
In Avery Hills near the SL International Airport (SLIA) in Nautilus is a well equipped medical centre with emergency facilities. You can now get your passport stamped when you visit.
Wumpkins Wood in Heterocera is a pretty nature location in dense forest with a hiking trail, game cabin, campfire, movie cave, koi pond and treehouse outhouse.
Seaside Forest is a beautiful woodland on the cliffs above the Sea of Fables.
A special event stamp is available tomorrow at Gianfar Peaks – a role-play region based on Dragonriders of Pern; a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey. The members hold an annual Pern Day Gather to celebrate Pern and the author from whose imagination it sprang. Please check out our Events & Announcements section above for more details and your invitation.
Finally, we gave advance notice last week of our beloved hammies' Zoo-Palooza 4 event. It begins today, so go check it out! Don't forget to take a carrot or two. The SLURL to go there is below. Please note you'll need to accept the experience at the arrival point in order to access the event.
DEVELOPING COMMUNITY – THE BELLISSERIA CITIZENS CHAT GROUP
When I ask what people like most about living in Bellisseria, often they answer: “community.” Few places in Second Life® offer anything close to the sense of community that Bellisseria has.
How did this come about? There are probably dozens of things that went into it, such as the careful Linden/Mole planning of nice neighbourhoods, projects like BelliBin and BBB passports, resident and DJ-sponsored neighbourhood parties & events and — possibly most significant — community chat groups.
I would like to focus on one of those: the Bellisseria Citizens. It currently has 6,253 members, including Bellisseria residents, non-residents, Moles and Lindens. It has played a huge role in helping to establish community in Bellisseria. It has also been key to building a friendly bridge between residents and Linden Lab. It's not unusual to see Lindens and Moles interacting with residents in the group’s chat. It has also helped other projects and groups by advertising their activities and events in group notices. For example, when I publish one of my Parade of Homes Review articles, I send a notice to the group. So does Dave, when The Gazette is published. The group was founded by Gingir Ghoststar and anyone is welcome to join, as long as they abide by the group’s rules. (If you would like to join this group, here is the link.
I recently sat down with Gingir and we chatted. She had a lot of interesting things to say:
Please tell me a little about yourself.
Hi! I'm Gingir! I've been in SL for 12 years now. I enjoy building, exploring, and chatting with folk. You'll usually find me standing in my yard working on something for my home.
What initially gave you the idea of forming the Bellisseria Citizens chat group?
Oh this one is easy! It was the first day of Bellisseria, and everyone was out exploring and meeting their new neighbours. I thought it would be great to have a group just so that we could all share the really cool homes and locations we were finding. We were all so excited about the new home area.
How did you go about connecting with the Lindens and Moles to get them interested in participating with the Bellisseria residents?
Really, the community did that. I didn't advertise it in the beginning. It was quiet for weeks, but people slowly kept joining. Eventually they were using the group to chat with each other more frequently. I'm guessing that, since many Lindens and Moles happen to live in Bellisseria on their alts, they joined to chat with their neighbours too.
How did the group goals/charter/rules come about? Did you figure that out up front before we started, or did it evolve as you went along?
I did not have any goals for this group. I still really don't. I just wanted a place to be social with my neighbours.
Everything evolved along the way. As with any group that gets above like 20 members, folks are going to bump heads, clashes of personality, and of course you'll have your trolls who join. So the rules evolved from there. It evolved from the original rule of ‘Don't Be A Dick’ to what it is today.
Eventually some of the early mods and Belli residents began requesting more fleshed out rules. The ones we have now were written mainly by a mod who has since retired back to mainland. But the entire mod team went over them, discussed them, and helped to mould them to what we felt would be best for the group. We did that before we published them.
Every now and then someone comes to us, either another mod or resident and suggests a change or an update. So they've grown organically from what the community wanted and needed.
When you first formed the group, how did you get the word out about it to the Bellisseria residents? How did you get people to start joining the group?
That first day folks shared it a bit with their friends, so they could all chat while out and about getting their homes. We know that the private ‘group’ chats you can make are inherently buggy AF; having an actual group chat is much more stable.
Folk started making things for the group. Shirts, flags, etc to give out in the group notices. I made a group sign for the yard. I figured that would be an easy way of letting your neighbours know there was a place they could come chat with everyone.
Where there any issues/problems that arose, and if so, how did you handle them?
Not really. The group has been pretty great. We've had trolls, like actual trolls, the kind that like to rez all those annoying flashy things that break regions and such. They tried to bring their trolling to chat. We identified the main group they came from. These folk are so bright. they advertise their youtube trolling channel in their profiles. They made it super easy to kick the ones that had joined and to ban all the rest of them at the same darn time. That was probably our first problem that came up.
There have been personal squabbles, but our rule is to stay out of them and for them to keep that to themselves and out of chat. We're all volunteers, we aren't paid, so we really don't want to get pulled into that conflicts like that. We're just your neighbours, just living our lives, same as everyone.
The Bellisseria Citizens group has a dedicated team of Moderators. How did that come about?
Volunteers! Folks who I noticed were taking a special interest in helping their neighbours, I reached out and asked if they'd like to be a moderator. We still have fewer than ten. Some faces have come or gone over the years but there are still some OG mods around who hold the fort down.
Can you please share a few memorial stories about things that happened in this group?
This is hard. I'm proud of the group in general. We've got some really great folk. As for the funniest moments? That would be any number of interactions with the Lindens and Moles, though I still think that Patch's ‘big deck’ cracks me up the most. I've seen photos, he does indeed have a rather large and beautiful deck.
Is there anything else you would like to say/share?
Bellisseria Citizens is less my creation than it is the community's. The mods and I just try to make sure we keep it a welcoming and fun environment for everyone. I couldn't be more proud and happy with how it has grown and turned out. I might have paid the group creation fee, but there have been so many people over the years that have helped nurture this place. I love that. I am so lucky to be a part of all of this and I cannot wait to see what comes next for Bellisseria.
Article & Photograph by Teresa Firelight
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos.
New article in Parade of Homes review This article in The Gazette's sister publication features two more modular kitchens that go well in Bellisseria homes, includes a photo, and shares their pros and cons. It is the fourth of four articles on Modular Kitchens by our very own Teresa Firelight. *****
New acronym guide in the Sidebar
Our colleague Robert Rhodan noticed that, like many bureaucracies, we've developed our own jargon. In particular we are very fond of acronyms. Our own organisation - the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy is universally known by its classic TLA ("Three Letter Acronym") of "BBB", for example.
Our bureaucrats and diplomats come from all over the world. English is not the first language for all of us, so Robert helpfully made us a glossary of the acronyms in use. We think it might be of wider interest, particularly as he has added some more general acronyms as well. You will find his guide in the Sidebar to The Gazette under the heading Information & Resources. If you have suggestions as to further additions, please let Robert know.
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Good take up of the StampsOnPP HUD
Last week's edition of The Gazette included a free HUD that allows users of our V3.00 passports to get an online report of the stamps they've collected, sorted in various ways. We were very happy to see that so many of our readers immediately loaded it up and gave it a try. We hope you continue to enjoy it.
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Updated Edition of "25 Cutest BBB Stamps"
By way of a small celebration of our issuing our 500th unique passport stamp to "Bellisseria Bike, Drive & Scoot!" last week, we published an update to the 25 Cutest BBB Stamps collection published in January. We hope you enjoy the fun-to-read background stories from the designers, and wish you happy stamp hunting.
NEW LOCATIONS
Our first new stamp this week is an event stamp. The event – at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds – does not begin until next Saturday, April 1st and the stamp won't be available until then. We just wanted to give you more advance notice of the event in question – organised by the Bellisseria Hamsters.
Non-Bellisserians may be puzzled by how much our dear Hamsters (universally known as "the Hammies") mean to us. They've been part of our community for a long time and are as active and community-minded as they are cute – and, trust us, they are very cute. Everybody loves them, but no-one more than we bureaucrats of the BBB. They have always been as supportive of our work as we have been of their events.
Their latest carrrot-fuelled extravaganza is Zoo-Palooza 4, which has the intriguing strapline "Hamraiders - the Carrot of Life." The Indiana Jones fan in your editor is intrigued, optimistic and awash with images of whip-wielding Hammie archaeologists. To be clear, these are not spoilers, just an old journo's fantasies. You'll have to visit it yourselves to find out. Whatever you do, give the Hammies a kind word and/or a carrot, please. Preferably both!
Our other new location this week is our first Linden Department of Public Works build for a while. Valmorel Rez Zone and Airfield is in the snow lands of Sansara on Mainland. It's a bleak, rugged spot for aviation and no place to mess up a landing, so please take even more care than usual if you fly in to check it out.
[Stop Press! At the time of publication, this new LDPW terminal had not yet been placed, but this has now been rectified and it's available. Our apologies to our keenest users who were disappointed in their attempts to collect it.]
