Blarney's Simulcast

Tonight's a night for dancing in Dublin's Blarney Stone pub. Another episode in their Simulcast series draws a crowd as Al Hofman climbs the stage.

Al's performance was great, and I've heard many guitarists in my life. Between his songs he spoke in a soft voice, not much of a talker, but his music speaks for him. The crowd certainly loved it. For those interested, here's a pic from the preference settings for optimal sound. Let's meet again in Dublin :)

If you'll check the Second Life events, you'll find Al to be a regular performer at various clubs and events.

Real Life Cities 2: Dublin

If we're talking about virtual recreations of real life sites you have to visit Second Life's version of Dublin. Many people who have visited Dublin in meatspace will recognise the virtual version.

Dublin in SL also hosts one of the most popular meetingpoints in Second Life, the Blarney Stone pub. Aside from meeting the regulars and dancing. The sims media url usually streams real life Irish radio, but the Blarney Stone is a regular site for musicians to simulcast. Many young artists perform on the small stage behind the dance floor. Due to its popularity the pub was one of the first places used by Diageo to promote their virtual bar.

The heavy build urban sim and the popularity of the Blarney Stone have a downside; the sim is usually very slow to stream and at happy hour many teleports are rejected because of this.

Next to old fashioned Dublin a new sim was added recently, shaped like the traditional Irish four-leaf clover. Unfortunately it is not open to visitors yet.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dublin/128/128/0

WEB: http://www.dublinsl.com/

Virtual Tuscany

On one of my Metaverse journeys I came across a nice romantic sim, called Tuscany. A small village lies next to a meandering creek. On the shore there's a row of neat beachhouses and a pier.

The sim is set up quite spacey with nice walkways between the hills leaving room for some typical Tuscan trees, a little pond and sunflower farm...

I'd say it's not a professional build like Dublin, but the concept works for me. I can imagine Tuscany lovers renting one of the beach houses here.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/toscana/110/86/32

Dancing Stormtroopers

The virtual world of Second Life gives people seemingly endless opportunities to have an eternal carnival. Bizar outfits can be observed at almost every street corner. Tons of people do serious roleplaying in sims on the Elfencontinent or the Star Trek sim, but here's an odd one out "the dancing stormtrooper"

When I just finished my virtual shot of whiskey in (arguably) SL's most popular bar, the Blarney Stone in virtual Dublin, I suddenly came across this phenomenon. One should try to picture a full grown actor wearing the heavy metal outfit from the original score and shove him into a warm, crowded pub. On the other hand, try to imagine the stormtroopers dancing the jig in the Empire strikes back...