Designing Worlds looks back to … the very first One Billion Rising in Second Life!

Today is February 14th – traditionally Valentine’s Day – but for the last ten years it has also been One Billion Rising in Second Life – a four region collection of art, music, poetry and dance to celebrate and raise awareness.

So today we’ll be looking back ten years to that very first One Billion Rising in Second Life. But at 2pm SLT, Elrik Merlin will be playing a set at this year’s One Billion Rising in Second Life on the Stage at OBR Unite – and we invite you to come and join us – and watch the video later!

In 2013, we took several peeks behind the scenes at how the event One Billion Rising in Second Life was created – and how the music video “Break the Chain” was created in Second Life as well!

We will be filming this year’s event, which we’ll be showing later in the season.

Main stage – photo by Wildstar Beaumont

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Designing Worlds visits the mainland – and explores the Hotel Chelsea

Hotel Chelsea in the New York District

Join us today, Monday 19th April at 2pm SLT in our beautiful studio in Garden of Dreams as we journey back into the past for a show first shown in November 2011, when we paid a visit to the Mainland, and explored – among other locations – the Hotel Chelsea and CBGBs.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/513175829. And you can join the special Watch Party at 2pm SLT in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

This was our second trip to the Mainland of Second Life, and we visited some fascinating and beautiful locations, including the recreation of an historic piece of New York City, magnificent temples to ancient deities, and an art gallery that’s 3km tall.

Our guide on this journey was Nexus Burbclave, who had recently undertaken the Mainland Renaissance project to highlight some of the fascinating builds of the mainland.

The famous CBGBs

Nexus took us to the Hotel Chelsea in Lanestris, a loving recreation of the well-known new York location, where we met Mykal Skall, its creator who works with Enola Vaher, the manager, to bring this fascinating area to life, and we talked about the build and the district that surrounded it. And Elrik took a look at the famous music club – CBGBs.

Temple of Nautilus

Then we moved on to explore the beautiful Temple of Neptune in Nautilus and saw some of the gorgeous Linden designed buildings there on public land.

A highlight of the show is our visit to Solkide Auer’s amazing 300 metre tower at Italic Art, on the mainland slim of Slitheen – he was going to remove it, but he left it up a little longer so that viewers of Designing Worlds could see this amazing build for themselves.

Travelling through Solkide’s tower

And we finished with a resident build in Nautilus – Kothar by Valentine Easter – which we think may surprise you!

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Designing Worlds looks back to … a longstanding roleplay estate in Second Life – Avilion!

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/516465206. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

#DW152 Exploring Avilion Feb 13th 2012 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

Originally a special Designing Worlds for Valentine’s Day Eve, Saffia and Elrik visit the extensive regions of Avilion in Second Life, a complex of mediaeval-themed roleplay, residential and communal areas with an extremely strong sense of community.

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

The regions date back to 2006, and are home to the famous and extremely romantic Avilion Ballroom. Saffia and Elrik also explore combat areas, visit a gypsy encampment and elf circle, and discover the Avilion Library, where the history of the community is maintained.

And, of course, no visit to Avilion would be complete without a visit to the famous ballroom – something that our Prim Perfect readers voted to see included in their favourite Valentine locations.

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Thankfully, unlike many other locations we have visited, Avilion is still with us – an estate of seven associated regions. You can visit the information point on Avilion here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Avilion/248/128/22

It makes for a fascinating and beautiful show – so do come and join us at 2pm or watch online!

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

 

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Designing Worlds looks back to … the beautiful Costa Rica estate!

Prim Perfect offices on Costa Rica, photographed by PJ Trenton

Join Designing Worlds at 2pm SLT Monday 22nd February for this week’s show from the archives which goes right back to February 2012, as we visited the beautiful – and very fashionable – Costa Rica estate (alas, no longer on the grid).

#DW151 Visit the beauties of Costa Rica – Feb 6th 2012 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/513196409. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In this episode we explored Costa Rica in the company of Giancarlo Takacs, the founder of Costa Rica, MariellaAnna, who is one of the Events Directors and Mimi Juneau, the Doyenne of Fashion, who held regular events in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We explore locations used to host some of the fabulous events hosted in Costa Rica, and talk about these, as well as the natural beauties of this stunning estate, and the importance that the real life Costa Rica has played in the creation of these buildings – whether it is the Opera House, the Music Temple, the Welcome Cente, the volcanoes … or the Costa Rican-themed headquarters of Prim Perfect, created by Dijodi Dubratt.

Prim Perfect offices on Costa Rica, photographed by PJ Trenton

And it might just be that there’s a rather alarming surprise for Saffia …

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

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Designing Worlds looks back to … the dieselpunk magnificence of Seraph City!

Seraph City, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Join Designing Worlds at 2pmSLT Monday 7th December for this week’s show from the archives which goes right back to March 2014, when we we paid a final visit to the beautiful dieselpunk region of Seraph City.

#DW224 The Dieselpunk World of Seraph City – March 3rd 2014 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo. You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/382965949. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 7th December) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

Seraph City, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We tour some of the beautiful builds in the city – and also talk about how episodes of The Blackened Mirror were filmed there – and were the basis of some popular games during the first season of the show.

Seraph City, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Sadly, a few days after we filmed here, the owner announced his intention of converting the sim into a private region. Already the name has been changed and many of the iconic buildings have gone (including the Hawkesmoor Apartment buildings which we visit). Obviously, we had no idea that this was going to happen when we filmed the show – and nor did the Estate Manager, Edward Pearse, who was our escort.

Seraph City, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

At the time, we thought long and hard about broadcasting this, but decided to go ahead, even though the show was more an elegy to Seraph City than an invitation to become part of a community. Of course, six years later, we have a lot of elegies in our Archives!

Seraph City, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Designing Worlds looks back to … Relay for Life in Second Life … in 2009!

The Telethon Studio from Treet at RFL 2009

This last weekend saw the fantastic Relay for Life of Second Life weekend, the culmination of a wildly successful RFL season. We will be looking at that in more detail on the show in a few weeks … but this week, Monday 8th June at 2pm SLT, we are taking a look back to the builds of the Relay for Life weekend all the way back in 2009!

Unavailable on the web for a number of years, it recently found a home on our new Archive channel (which is full of goodies!).

#051 The Builds of Relay for Life: 21 July 2009 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Archive Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/371357132. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

The New Babbage Exposition at RFL 2009

And it was a classic year for great builds: from the New Babbage team we saw the exploration of Mars, and an imagining of an Exposition Universalle, based upon that of 1889 in Paris when the Eiffel Tower was first revealed; we visited the Elf Circle, the Wonders of the World region, and we finished at Anatomica, the most amazing region, which combined information and a great interactive learning experience about the physiology of cells and cancer – with a fast and furious game where you got to dress in a red suit for surfing the bloodstream and blast cancer cells yourself!

Anatomica at RFL 2009

It is a fascinating show – so do come and join us at 2pm at our studio on Garden of Dreams.

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Designing Worlds looks back to … Fantasy Faire 2011!

Fantasy Faire 2011, photographed by PJ Trenton

This week on Monday 13th April at 2pm SLT, as excitement grows for THIS year’s Fantasy Faire, we are taking a look back to our very first Fantasy Faire show, back in 2011!

Unavailable on the web for a number of years, it recently found a home on our new Archive channel (which is full of goodies!).

#122 Fantasy Faire – 4th April 2011 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Archive Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/373068686. And you can join the special Watch Party (also at 2pm SLT) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

Fantasy Faire 2011, photographed by PJ Trenton

This is what we said in 2011:

“Today Designing Worlds will be visiting Fantasy Faire and sharing with you some of the amazing regions that make up the Faire! So prepare for fantastic elven woodlands, for lakes of chocolate, for delicately texture dark mysteries, for seas that lure mermaids, and for steampunk fantasies beyond your wildest dreams! And we’ll be learning all about the Faire and the entertainments that it is offering for visitors, as well as about how the hunt has achieved its wonderful, magical appearance – and about some of the designers who have worked so hard to make it happen.”

Fantasy Faire 2011, photographed by PJ Trenton

The annual Fantasy Faire was, in 2011, a 9-sim extravaganza celebration with a slant toward elves, fairies, dragons, mermaids plus many more role playing fans. The 10 day event featured some amazing and impressive builds to visit and was, as ever, part of the Relay For Life in SL campaign to benefit the American Cancer Society.

We don’t have time to show you all the regions – but you will be able to see some awesome photos, taken by the talented Mr PJ Trenton, of the Faire as a whole.

Fantasy Faire 2011, photographed by PJ Trenton

If you want to learn more about the amazing individual regions at the Faire in 2011, follow Beq Janus’s daily posts on the Prim Perfect blog!

• Fantasy Faire 2011 -OPEN
• Fantasy Faire 2011 – Sim overview
• Fantasy Faire 2011 – Day 1 round up and Fantasy Faire Central sim guide
• Fantasy Faire Day 2 – The Forest of Light
• Fantasy Faire 2011 – Day 3 – Forest Of Shadow
• Fantasy Faire 2011 – Day 4 Dark Mirage

After the show, Saffia was captured and placed in jail to raise funds for Relay for Life.  Despite valiant efforts by friendly dragons to free her, she was held fast until she posted bail of L$50,000!

Fantasy Faire 2011, photographed by PJ Trenton

There will be more news to come very soon about THIS year’s 18 region Fantasy Faire. In the mean-time, do take a look at the Fantasy Faire website at: https://fantasyfairesl.wordpress.com/

 

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Designing Worlds opens the Archives – and you get to choose the show!

Today we have very exciting news. Recently, Designing Worlds have created a separate Archive site on Vimeo to make available what we think will eventually be over 40 of our old shows, most of which have been unavailable on any channel for some years.

You’ll be able to see the channel at https://vimeo.com/channels/designingworldsarchive – and for our show tonight … well we are asking our viewers at home to choose which show they want to watch – you can choose your highlights, or have a good old binge on your favourite shows. And our regular Watch Party in the Designing Worlds studios on Garden of Dreams at 2pm SLT can choose which of those shows they would like to see again!

Alchemy Immortalis

A Little Bit of History

Over the years, a great many things have changed or Designing Worlds. Well, WE’VE changed for one – originally for the first fourteen months of the show, we were MetaMakeover! Then, when our original producers and hosting channel SLCN became Treet TV, we became Designing Worlds. And our early shows appeared on the Treet TV channel, and were re-routed to our blogs using a service called Vopod – which eventually failed.

Treet.TV ceased production services in July 2011, with many of its shows closing. Designing Worlds and the Giant Snail Races both decided to go it alone. But Treet continued to host our new shows (and archive our old ones) until 2014, when shows were hosted by Aview.TV and then by SLArtist, where they continue to appear until now, and have also more recently on our main Vimeo channel.

Travelling the Second Life Railroads

But when the main Treet channel also closed, many of our old videos disappeared. They were stored on a remote server and, over the years, retrieving them became a hideously complex process for the erstwhile Treet team, who had moved on to new and demanding projects. Over the last few years, though, we have managed to retrieve some of our favourite and most popular shows.

Now these shows are available again as we launch our new channel – Designing Worlds Archive on Vimeo.

30 shows have already been uploaded to the channel – the process is a little slow as we can only upload 5gb each week. So more will be coming!

Today, we invite you, rather than watching a specific show, to dip into our archives and explore our old shows. Perhaps you’ll want to see how things looked back in the really early days when we went Seven Seas Fishing, the hot new game that was taking Second Life by storm, with a newcomer to the show called Elrik Merlin. Or maybe you’ll want to take a look at the remarkable re-creation of the Dresden Art Museum. Perhaps you’ll want to recall the time when Saffia, Elrik and Wildstar were besieged in a tower by a horde of pitchfork wielding Tinies, marvel at the beauties (and crazy sheep) of Alchemy Immortalis, fly with the Flying Tigers, or when we paid visits to other long-gone grids such as the Reaction Grid or Heritage Key. Or perhaps you’ll take a ride on the Second Life railroad.  All these lost shows are available once more and – over the coming weeks, more will be added regularly.

The first New Babbage show

We even have the very first New Babbage show!

So enjoy the new channel – let us know what you think, and join our watch party at 2pm in Garden of Dreams to choose which show to start with …

 

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