TIME TO GO MEDITERRANEAN
Crowds gathered at the Expo 1 region, awaiting the “reveal” of the new Bellisseria Premium Plus Home Theme. There was a great deal of excitement as people waited. The reveal was set for 7am SLT on Thursday Dec 7th. However, people started arriving two hours early and turnout was high. The region totally “filled up” by about 6:30am, with others trying to get in and unable to do so. Derrick Linden kindly increased the avatar limit to accommodate the crowd.
Several people asked for a speech. However, Patch Linden seemed to feel that a picture was worth a thousand words. Instead of saying anything about the release, he simply made the reveal region appear promptly at 7:00 AM SLT.
A lot of excited people began surging onto the region. So many people entered at once that it had to be restarted. The crowd was asked to curb their enthusiasm and try to enter about ten at a time.
Once people got in and began looking around, everything ran smoothly. They spread out to look at six homes that had been beautifully decorated for the holidays by the Moles. There were another six homes that were demo rezzers, allowing people to rez any of the styles and then go in and check them out.
So what was it people saw?
A collection of “Mediterranean” style homes; large manor houses with Spanish tile roofs and stucco walls. The region was lined with cobblestone streets and concrete sidewalks. The vegetation was not plush; more dried grass mixed in with bare spots of earth. But was still quite attractive. There were several different types of trees: olive trees, palm trees and evergreens, etc.
The overall effect was quite pleasant. It reminded me of some of the sprawling mansions I have seen in well-to-do parts of Southern California.
The houses are grand and elegant. This theme offers four different styles of home, in each of two versions – an open model and one with interior walls. Three of the four styles are two-storey and one model was a single storey home.
The homes offer nine exterior colours, nine interior colours, nine colours of door, eight different types of windowpane woods, and four different exterior trims.
Some, but not all, of the models come with working fireplaces! According to Linden Lab, you can control them.
The fireplace button along the side of the baseboard will allow you to light or put out the fire, clean the burnt logs, remove the fireplace grate or even hide the fireplace completely. All with no added land impact on your parcel.
Speaking of land impact, each of these homes offers a 703 LI allowance and the parcels are 2048 square metres. They will only be available to Premium Plus members.
Most of the comments I heard (both in person and on the forums) were positive. People seemed really to like the new designs. However, several people commented that, while it was very nice, it wasn’t quite what they think of when they hear the term “Mediterranean.”
Please remember that this is a reveal and not a release. The homes are not yet available on the Land Page. They may not be available for some time; possibly not until the beginning of the year. So don't abandon your homes to get one yet. Please wait for the official release.
If you would like to visit the reveal region, please teleport here.
Article and Photographs by Teresa Firelight
MILESTONE STAMP IMMINENT
As you can see from this chart, we are close to issuing the 50,000th stamp on our V3.00 Passports. It was the upgrade to V3.00 which first provided us with the technology to track such things.
This is a significant milestone and we want to mark it in some special way. We will be able to identify the user who collects the 50,000th stamp and we plan to issue them with an additional, unique commemorative stamp.
The design process for the one-off stamp is still continuing but here's one of the current drafts to give you an idea.
So, if you are that lucky person, you will have something in your passport that no-one else can have! It's the collector's item to end all collector's items!
So head out onto the grid, equipped with your StaFi HUD or guided by the Gazette Online Travel Guide and pick up any passport stamps you don't yet have. Any one of them – old or new – could turn out to be the 50,000th stamp issued.
Good hunting and good luck!
Photos by Robert Rhodan
300+ STAMPS IN ONE WEEK!
Most current BBB bureaucrats joined our staff after becoming keen collectors of our passport stamps. Collecting them is is a fun, SLife-enhancing way to find places on the grid we might otherwise miss. We love it when people enjoy collecting them as much as we do.
A recent new enthusiast is Tor Karlsvalt, the Chancellor of SL's oldest democracy – the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS). He acquired a passport recently and really went for it. He collected over 300 stamps in his first week!
Here's a framed photo he made of his collection.
Congratulations on your remarkable achievement, Chancellor. We hope you continue to enjoy travelling Second Life® with your new passport!
Photo by Tor Karlsvalt
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
| If you have one of our stamp terminals and you're having an event or would like to make an 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 and/or photos. |
Your taxi is here.
Your taxi is here.
******
Applications open December 7-17th. Exhibition opens December 23rd. Celebration on December 27th 2-3:30pm slt at The Dickens Project - DJ Elrik Merlin, broadcasting live on Virtual Community Radio. Full details of how to apply are here.
******
Advance Notice of the BBB Christmas Party
Get ready to join the BBB for our Christmas Party at BBB HQ. Please mark your diaries for December 20th at 1-3pm SLT. Music will be provided by DJ Dulci. There will be fireworks by Crito. Details to follow but we think you can safely bet on there being an event stamp.
NEW LOCATIONS
If you missed the first concert at Planet Tambalya by the SL tribute act for K-Pop sensations BlackPink, you will be happy to have a second chance. You will not hear a better pop concert in SL.
You have another chance also to see Ilyra Chardin's amazing art installation at her guest exhibit on Planet Tambalya. This time, there's an event stamp too!
Mieville Historical Hunts and Events is celebrating Christmas during the whole of December. All the information is available at their website.
Founded in 2006, the Fishers Island Yacht Club on the Blake Sea is one of the oldest in Second Life. We're happy that you can now pick up a passport stamp when you visit.
Also on the Blake Sea, the Sailors Cove Airfield and Seaplane Base has a small, dirt runway, adjacent seaplane docks and is also a GTFO! port.
The Dickens Project is an SL holiday tradition that invites you to walk in the steps of Ebenezer Scrooge. The 2023 edition is now in progress at Seanchai Library and runs until January 7th next year. Read all about it here. There will be not one, but two, beautiful special event stamps to collect.
