Remembering Artistic Fimicloud

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cancer is a deadly disease. According to Wikipedia, almost nine million people a year around the world die from it. Striking down men and women, rich and poor, men and women, young and old, it takes away many individuals in the prime of their lives, leaving behind saddened family and friends. In Second Life, while avatars do not get cancer, the people behind them do. For the Relay for Life in Second Life, it's mission is to raise funds for research for cures and treatments has brought thousands to take part, from it's most active participants to those just stopping by to make a small donation. Sadly, along the way some of the Relayers have passed on. Catt Gable, Shady Fox, Alliez Mysterio and others would not survive their personal fight with the illness.

For the Sunweaver community and the Passionate Redheads RFL team in their early days, among their numbers was Artistic Fimicloud. In Second Life, she was known for her pink fox avatar. In real life she was Stephanie Koslow, an artist who did a number of pictures. Sadly, she also suffered from cancer, a struggle that had gone on for years. On May 26, 2008, the woman behind the little pink fox passed away at age 49, a sad day for both the Sunweaver community and it's team, and for the Relay.  Some days later, there was a memorial service in the Colorado sim. One artwork of her made since showed Stephanie's spirit rising from her body as her pink vixen avatar. "I Relay for Fimi" became a title seen on a number of the Redheads and others. Fimi's treehouse continues to remain up at the Sunweaver Estates at Sunweaver Bay (179/155/33).

Since her passing, every year there has been an event of some kind in her honor. The following year there was a candlelight vigil, of which Ishtarkiss took a number of pictures of, as well as a "Blowout" event featuring art and screenshots. Beginning in 2010 (more pictures by Ishtarkiss), there have been memorial dances in Fimi's honor. This year was no exception, with the Happy Vixen and Club Cutlass running events on the week of her passing nine years before.

The Happy Vixen's event was at Tuesday May 23 6PM, with DJ Tantari at the booth. Several people wore pink outfits or pink avatars in Fimi's honor. Tantari had made a "Pink Fox" track just for these events, "The search for a cure goes on in her memory. Never give up! Never give in!" The track was a combination of fox-themed and other tunes, but ended with a somewhat sad song, "Goodbye" by Ulrich Schnauss. "After every journey, one has to say goodbye," Tantari concluded the track.

Club Cutlass would hold the larger of the two events on Friday May 26, the ninth anniversary of Fimi's departure. The event was also at 6PM. Sabine McGettigan, the longtime leader of the Passionate Redheads team, was among those at the tribute. Also there was Sunbeamer team captain Rita Mariner, Dusk Griswold, and Shockwave Yareach whom also knew Fimi. Once again, many showed up in pink avatars, pink outfits, or both. On the wall was a picture of Fimi, and on the floor one of the pink fox statuettes that represent her.

In the nine years since Fimi left us, much has changed with both the Relay and the community and team she was part of. Some have left, and others who never had the chance to know her, including myself, have come in. The Passionate Redheads team would fold and become a part of Relay history as a top-ranking team to the end, it's members of the Sunweaver community forming a new team: the Sunbeamers.

People continue to suffer and die from cancer. And there have been a few conspiracy theorists whom wonder if there is some kind of plot behind the scenes by the powerful of Capitalist and Communist and Islamist lands to keep a cure from ever being found, or that a cure has been found but the medical community is so fearful of quackery it will not accept anything more than strictly conventional medicine. But most of us realize the struggle to cure cancer is a more difficult one than getting to the moon. With that, we knew where to go and it was a matter of building a big enough rocket with the means to get a team there safely and back. Finding a cure for cancer has proven more difficult as it's not just one but a multitude of diseases with a multitude of causes. But every fundraising event, every dollar donated, whether to the Relay for Life or a number of other reputable charities such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation, brings us closer to a day when a cure for the last form of cancer has been found.

In the meantime, in and out of Second Life, people will continue to help, with time, money, and in my case a pen.

"We shall remember,"

Source: IshtarKiss Flickr page 

Bixyl Shuftan

The Heart of Gold Club

by Grease Coakes

 

In the club scene of Second Life it’s hard to find one that stands out in the thousands on the grid. One does simply by its design and the name reference. "Heart of Gold" created by Ezrin Sabre and Saros Eclipse is a cozy club made for furries, but of course humans and anyone else are also welcome. Heart of Gold has been around for a year and half and it’s still going strong.

 

 The ship name is from the popular book series the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from the late Douglas Adams. Heart of Gold is the starship with the improbability drive.  And yes the ship actually has an improbability drive that Saros built in. There’s also Marvin the depressed robot downstairs as the barkeep.

 

Saros also owns an anime series called Hi No Tori which in Japanese translates to firebird or bird of fire. Ezrin told me that the series is about (surprise) a phoenix or firebird that travels the universe and teach various lessons to people. The ship itself is also a starship shaped very much like a bird with fiery feathers but also with a mechanical steampunk look. The dance floor itself is clear so you can look down below in the inside of the star ship. The starship itself is also set in outer space where the Heart of Gold/fire bird travels through. The graphics are wonderful as you dance or hang out the upper deck as the ship travels slowly. It seems like you’re actually in outer space but not inky blackness but a colorful environment that seems like nebulae in an explosion of color. 

 

Saros built the club herself as it helps her relax and Ezrin says the original club him and her owned was called Ari-Sen which had a big mushroom in the middle of it. When they moved to a sim with a naughty name, they put the human clubs out of business as they drew in a consistent crowd. DJ Aurora Avila was one of the djs at Ari-Sen until she moved on to AX (also known as Anthroxtacy).

 

Heart of Gold is active at night when their dj/s come out to play for a small but growing crowd that comes to hear live dj sets. Amurtigeress Korobase, a griffin dj, plays a wide variety of music from trance to movie theme music and various other genres as she is also the head dj at Heart of Gold. She djs Tuesday and Thursday 6-10 SL time and every other Friday 6-9 SL time. Sylys Sable a friend of mine also djs here.

 

I also like Heart of Gold as they were the first club to hire me as a dj in Second life. A club turned me down having no dj experience so I went to Heart of Gold instead and Ezrin and Amurtigress hired me right away wanting to hear what I played. I play a mix of dance music mixed in with video game remixes aimed at the dance floor. I dj Monday night 5-8 SL time and also 3-6 SL time on Wedsday night before Ezrin on the same night. The same night I wrote this article I held a contest that whenever I played a life force or mega man themed remix then someone tell me through IM or main chat and that person won a dj mix I just made that day. Hoppy and Zzri both won a dj mix from me for iming me when a megaman song played.

 

You want to see an amazing club and hear great music? Heart of gold is a great place to hang out with your friends and or dance the night away while you get lost in space.

 

Grease Coakes

An Awesome 80’s Club

Chances are if you live and breathe, you like 80’s music. And if you type 80’s music on a search you’ll find an 80’s club within Second Life. What club should one go too though?

In this humble furry’s opinion, the best place to go is Chini’s and Joh’s “I love the 80’s club.” After being in business for a year now, they recently celebrated their first year anniversary. Besides just listening to 80’s music there’s more around her club then just clicking the play button and dancing with friends. There’s a greedy greedy table and bumper cars. Wait bumper cars? I don’t know any other clubs that have bumper cars. I’d say that’s pretty unique. Among of the events Chini had to celebrate the one year anniversary was various contests like “300L for the highest score on skeeball.” I was mildly upset I was 10 points away from 300L.

Also when you walk in you see 80’s poster,s like the Blackhearts or the Police.
Behind the stage with the host and dj there on a brick wall you see their cool logo which says “I love the 80’s club” which does look very 80’s.That and a few arcade games to goof with while your hear a live dj play 80’s music.

The club got it's start when Chini to surprise her boyfriend wanted to make an 80’s style party and built it up in the sky of the sim so Joh wouldn’t find out about it.This was on an 1800’s pirate sim. Then she got her friends to hang out there and have a blast. Later on Chini along with Joh built their own club on the Pengo sim. “I Love the 80’s Club” as they both have a passion for the Reagan era style of music. Now Chini has moved her club to Neurnburg North.

However even with 80’s music theme, Chini and Joh still had to work every day to overcome the challenges of running an SL club. Having a popular music genre doesn’t equate to instant success and the club bursting with people throwing their hands in the air. The pair of them persevered throughout the year. Over time they hired dj/s and hosts to keep the club active and fresh for people to stop and have a good time, Chini said.

Chini Blaisdale-Solo (chinitadoll.blaisdale): I cannot even say we are experts in running a club, but we learn something new every now and then.

I commented back looking at the real-life New York Giants the football team. A few years ago they had a 0-2 start. Despite that they worked together as a team and pulled through and won the Superbowl. Chini says that team work helps keep her club on the up and up. No one wants to come to come to a club where the staff isn’t managed correctly. Even if Chini and Joh aren’t experts, seems like they have a good game plan at least.

Chini also seemed to have good support from her buddies, "But mind you our very first vips who happens to be very good friends of ours now are not big fans of 80's but they have made the club their home."

Just like the popular Bay furry club I reported on earlier, upholding a friendly environment seems to be a big key to making a club popular. Lots of people in SL or real-life want to come to a place they feel comfortable at and at home.

It looks like Chini and Joh know how to make the 80’s live again. Their traffic isn’t as high as say the bBackhearts, but still pretty high to draw regulars on now a daily basis.

Next time you want a dose of the police or Madonna or tears for fears Bruce Springsteen or bon Jovi, check out the “I Love the 80’s Club” It’s certainly a place in SL to call home.

Nuernberg North (62, 63, 21)

Grease Coakes