Area 54

It has taken me a week to write this post because I just don't know what to say about Area 54 to do it justice.  Ki and I spent the whole afternoon there teleporting around each area just dancing non stop.  But what is Area 54?

Well I am told it is a multi media immersive club, the future of clubs in Second Life and in the words of my better half "This is my kind of club"

The music pumping was trance, although being a "pop princess" (apparently), I could not tell you if this was techno, house, electronic... but what I can tell you is, it fits perfectly and I loved it!

This is art meets music meets clubbing meets an amazing experience.  

Follow the teleports to the many art installations and dance your way through each environment.

Turn your sound up and let yourself experience this explosion of music and media.  

I believe standing in these pods will give you a film of all the areas to visit but I didn't stop to see. I think Ki was more likely taking a breather after trying to keep up with me. (I am going to pay for that comment)

I just loved this DJ booth although I am not sure the music I normally play is right for this club....

.... but my dancer was rather sexy

There is even an events stage... well I had to try that out.

This place does come with a warning.

If you are adversely affected by flashing lights and patterns, this place could be dangerous for you.

Sadly there were no DJ's on while we were there but I have joined their facebook page here! so fingers crossed we will get back there when there is an event on. 

Teleport to Area 54

Tempura Island

Tempura was one of the first places Ki and I visited when we first started in SL. We weren't a couple the first time we went there so I guess you could say it worked some magic on us because look at us now more than 4 years later.

Tempura is set in a beautiful forest with many hidden areas for romance, including a submarine and an underwater garden but the place we are always drawn to is the Grand Ballroom with its opulent beautiful textures.

One side of the sim is a forest of autumn colours. The other side is a summer meadow field of flowers and then a spring forest . With a crystal cave complete with hidden room, a tai chi area, pond and plenty of animations dotted around, this is a sim dedicated to romantic, chilled interludes.

It is often busy but there are so many different areas, it is possible to take your date there, find some peace and, like Ki managed to do, impress the hell out of them. Or was it the other way round?

Teleport to Japan, Tempura Island

Ascension

Ascension is an LEA art project sim. Read more about LEA here: Linden Endowment for the Arts

On arrival you can chose from 4 directions; Beach Club, Sphinx Club, Ultra Club and the Ascension Tower, which is where we started.  The tower is on 7 floors and starting from the bottom on each level you are encouraged to touch, play and interact with objects creating sound and colour.

It is a really good immersive and futuristic environment with a strong sound and musical influence. The colours are bold and the particle effects dramatic. 

You need your volume up high when making music.

I was really taken with this creation.  To me it was a fut

uristic space fountain.

Very cool.

There are three small clubs here too, surrounded by stylised planting and crystals. In the centre is the sphinx with all seeing eyes, watching you as you explore.

I enjoyed this build.  If you are into immersive art and want to interact for a little while, this is a good one to explore.

Teleport to Ascension

Ocho Tango

Well this is a revisit to a sim Ki and I found a while ago pre-blogging and this time I dragged a friend over to get his opinion.  I love sims like this where you can dance anywhere and not just stick to a dancefloor.

So first to the description in the destination guide. "Ocho Tango is a land dedicated to tango, with a milonga for dancing and live concerts. Fully immerse in a pampas, relax or stay with friends and loved ones. A great spot for photos as well."

You have to make sure you use the windlight here because it is very atmospheric and compliments the build perfectly.

 Just check out the differences between the pictures above and below to see what I mean. (Oh and for those who know us, that is me with dark hair dancing with everyone's favorite Aussie, Mr Archie Tatham)

Isn't it amazing what remembering to set your windlight does to add to the atmosphere.






The music stream here was set to a radio station with an Argentine/Cuban/Spanish vibe, perfect for the salsa dances in the intans. There are plenty of areas to call over the danceballs or use the animations dotted around the place

With cuddles, sits and a bike ride for two, it is a very romantic place in my opinion but if you are going to take a straight up aussie with you be prepared for comments like "when wandering around you begin to feel like you are gonna get axe murdered"

This might just be because he got lost in the long pampas grass and saw the lone vulture circling above as the tumbleweed rolled past.
But overall his opinion was that Ocho Tango is "unique and well designed" and I have to agree.

I would have liked to have seen some information on any events held here as to me this is a perfect venue to listen to live performers but I was unable to find any schedule.

The central building offers more places to dance, sit or grab a drink from the bar with free gifts for both male and female avatars. It is highly recommended you call in here.

There are also teleports to a store in the sky which I will have to go back and visit another time.

.. and so I will leave it to Archie to give a final assessment on this beautiful sim dedicated to the sensual dance of Tango...

Archie Tatham: oh and they have a cock
Archie Tatham: always worth pointing out

Archie's cock

Teleport to Ocho Tango

Discovery

Ok you got me. I am a fairground/Disney freak.  I was lucky enough to go to Disney in Florida many moons ago and more recently to Disneyland Paris a few times. When I first saw the Destination Guide picture for Discovery, I thought that rings a bell but reading the write up I thought it was going to be a place more suited to Ki than me but once I landed and saw Space Mountain, I took off like a kid trying to get to the ride first. 

"Come experience a land that only Jules Verne and H.G. Wells could dream of. Featuring rides, and shows in a steampunk / dieselpunk theme"   

Space Mountain and Nautilus ride, what more could you ask for!

It really is a fun and interesting place but describing it in too much detail here might spoil all the suprises.  You need to make sure you have flash and quicktime enabled to appreciate all the different parts and wear the hud provided at the entrance to Space Mountain to get the full effect.

The builds were great and totally transported me back to that holiday where the sight of Space Mountain when entering Disney gave you butterflies and turned you into a child again.

The Timekeeper was very interesting and another you need to have your flash enabled to appreciate everything.

I thought the Nautilus ride was very clever but you do need to experience it.  I do not want to spoil anything by going into detail.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth. No queues, just fun.  Mouselook works well with these rides.

Fountain at the park entrance looks great on midnight and don't forget to ride the Orbitron.

I think someone was tired after all the rides...

...but always time for a cuddle.

We both really enjoyed this place. Make sure flash and or quicktime are working, set your media players and have fun. I managed to find a you tube video for you too.

Click here for video of  Discovery

Indigo Aviary

So Wednesday night and I am looking for something to do and decided to visit somewhere that seemed on the surface to not be somewhere that was better with a partner.  I was kind of wrong and could have done with Ki there because I saw a tree house that I want :D

This is a sweet little parcel built as a public park to house the owner's extensive bird collection.  There are dance balls and a nice sim surround and it is beautifully landscaped.

Just a peaceful colourful array of birds and plants for someone looking to spend half an hour sitting quietly with birdsong.

I enjoyed it here and I think I will come back with Ki, at the very least to show him the mesh tree house I would like for home.

Lovely pond from Heart by the way.  I have this in my invent but its too big for my land unless I take away a heap of stuff.

The Tree House

Teleport to Indigo Aviary

Grand Canyon

I warn you now, you need hours to fully appreciate all that the Grand Canyon has to offer and we didn't manage to fit it all in so will have to go back.

I might be being picky but when we first landed my initial thought was "I do not like this terrain texture" but having never visited the real Grand Canyon, I can't really comment on how authentic it is. Anyway getting past that, there is so much to see and do here I am just going to give you small snippets, lots of pictures and a you tube video I found. There are 3 sims Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon North and Grand Canyon South, with everything from helicopter rides to bunjee jumping and balloons to motorcycles.

We started off with the couples balloon ride. (Yeah I know, any excuse for a cuddle) This took us on a tour of all the sims and gave us a good overview of what we wanted to try out. 

More about the boats later..

There were lots of secluded spots including campsites, a tree house, raft, swing seats.

An underwater grotto

Handgliding, helicopter rides, ziplines, hovercraft, horseriding and the list goes on.

I had a slight mishap with a beaver's dam but this was a really fun place to spend a good couple of hours exploring and trying out all it has to offer.

We will definitely be going back to try out all of the things we missed.













This you tube vid gives a great oversight from the helicopter of some of the things here Discover the Grand Canyon

and here is your tp to the Grand Canyon