Thursday, October 18, 2012

Caledon Machinima Mania

Caledon has a long history of machinima, from both the uber creative residents in its midst and non-residents who view the nation as a jewel of SL.  When I first moved into Caledon, the place for machinima was Penzance with it's Caledon Studios nestled under the Hollywood-style Penzance sign in the hills.  Oolon Sputnik was the mastermind behind the Studios and gifted us with memorable classic Caledon movies which were doubly poignant as they were used for fundraising for Relay for Life.







 
 
 
Not all of the Caledon Studios videos were for entertainment, though.  Mr. Sputnik captured Caledon history with this video of our Guv'nah Desmond Shang terraforming the then baby sim of Wellsian (a place that I have a particular soft spot for).
 
 

 
 
 
Caledon's Armed Forces have had their share of machinima work done over the years as well.  Once upon a time, the RCAF dogfight footage was collected and archived via film.  A couple of examples can be seen below.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
The Caledon Fire Brigade even got into the act with this short film, documenting a fire in Caledon Moors.
 

 
 
 
Visitors to Caledon sometimes can't resist capturing the aura of the place to document their travels (some even decide to settle here!).
 
 

 
 
(I'm partial to this one--that's my first Caledon home and Mr. Bingle on my roof at about 1:45!)
 
 
 
Finally, last year, I threw my hat into the ring of creative machinima making, using the Caledon Cavorite Mines in Moors as the setting for "They Came for the Cavorite".
 
 

 
 
Hopefully machinima makers will continue to document Caledon using this form or get inspired from Caledon to create their own fictional films.  We have the history--now let's carry on into the future.  Make masterful machinimas merrily! :D
 


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Back to the Beginning: Revisiting Caledon Prime

To kick off this blog, I figured I'd take a short tour around the sim that started it all in Caledon, the sim "locals" call Prime.  Who would have thought that when Desmond opened Caledon with this one sim back in 2006 that it would grow to a size of fifty sims at its largest?

I have to start any visit to Prime at my "pet project," Aether Education and Travel Bureau.  Having done tours in Second Life and beyond for nearly 4 years, I've amassed a lot of tour cards (understatement)--Aether is where they're housed in-world, along with pictures of the locations. There's also a Caledon Air Transit (CAT) terminal just behind the building which is nice for those wanting to tour the nation by air.

Funny story about this location--when I first arrived in Caledon, I saw an open meter right behind the Caledon Welcome Center and I paid it, excitedly shooting off a notecard to a Desmond Shang, letting him know how excited I was to be a new resident.  Well, the open meter was a mistake, but Des managed to put me in touch with a few people and I settled under the floating mountain in Morgaine.  It took about two years and multiple tenants, but eventually I finally got that first parcel I noticed in Caledon, the one in Prime nestled right behind the Caledon Welcome Center. :)




Right across the way from Aether stands the Prime location of retailer lassitude & ennui.  L & E is a long time fixture in Caledon--the first time I came across them was in their old Mayfair location (circa 2008).  They specialize in Victorian Steampunk fashions and are worth a looksee (visitors can pick up a free box of shoes!).




To the south, visitors will find Fable Gardens and the entrance to the Caledon Primtionary stage.  The area on the ground is nice and relaxed, looking out over the sea under Steam SkyCity, but on Friday nights at 6pm slt, the place comes alive with the weekly Primtionary games, hosted by AV Parabola.




Further down the southern edge of the sim is Ordinal Enterprises.  Ordinal Malaprop is one of the founding members of Caledon and, any Caledonian worth their salt must have at least one of her firearms (usually several)--it's like a right of passage.




Right across from Ordinal Enterprises is the Vannevar Bush Reading Garden, hosted by Caledon Library founder and head librarian, JJ Drinkwater.  The Reading Garden is, of course, focused on books and the love of reading.  One of it's tongue-in-cheek features is the Inter-Library Loan, a book slinging catapult.





Walking north along the eastern side of the sim, visitors will come across RavZstein Cove Gardens, currently outfitted for the haunting season.  The Gardens here have a great view of the islands to the east, including Loch Avie and Llyr.




Not far from RavZstein Cove Gardens, visitors can find the Virtual Kennel Club Dog Park, another long standing Prime feature.  The dog park allows patrons to adopt virtual dogs and play with them on the various obstacles stationed around the park.  It's a fun way to spend a bit of time, plus you get to take home a virtual furry pal. :)




We end this short tour just shy of where we started, at the Caledon Welcome Centre.  Sponsored by the Caledon Library, the Centre offers newcomers and visitors information about Caledon, it's culture and it's history.  It's also a comfy spot to just hang out with a few friends and chat.






Exiting out the back door of the Welcome Centre leads to...tada!...the Aether Education and Travel Bureau.  See?  Full circle. :)