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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

ALMOST TIME TO OPEN!


When I was in college I had a design professor from London one year.  A little elven man who ran about most of the Fall chuckling, "It's almost Panto Time!"

I feel like that now ... "It's almost Dickens Time!"  Have been listening to Klannex Northmead's daily 1pm readings from Little Dorrit at Written Word (most days but Sunday's & UK Bank Holidays  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cookie/15/244/22) through out December at 1pm SLT) while working on promo texts, uploading images, looking for props on Marketplace, and eating lunch.

The Dickens Project Build is almost ready to move down to the terra level ... and Friday's Opening is almost upon us ... more in progress shots below.  It's nearly time to put the roofs on and start moving!

LEFT: Ixmal Supermarine checks out the build in costume, all ready for next week's readings.
BELOW: The Notable Scrooge Gallery panels being hung above the Poulterer's Shop.





Three Alcoves celebrate Illustrations past and present of "A Christmas Carol"

The first of the roofs goes up ... only three more to go!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

WORKING SCHEDULE: Update!


WORKING SCHEDULE: Updated 12.20.12
(Subject to Change - this is a document in progress - All times SLT)

Friday, December 14th - Opening Day - @ 2:00pm: Caledonia Skytower with The Opening Story!

Saturday, December 15th  - @5:00pm: Avatar Repertory Theatre presentation, adapted by Ada Radius (with Singing!) RESCHEDULED DO TO SIM CRASH - See Below
Sunday, December 16th - No planned events as of yet ... "doors open" for everyone to look about.

Monday, December 17th - Stave One ~ Marley's Ghost
                                    @ Noon: with Ixmal Supermarine
                                    @ 4:00pm: with Corwyn Allen

Tuesday, December 18th -  Stave Two ~ The First of Three Spirits
                                    @ Noon: with Dubhna Rhiadra
                                    @ 5:00pm: with Brokali

Wednesday, December 19th - Stave Three ~ The Second of Three Spirits
                                    @ Noon: with  Ixmal Supermarine
                                    @ 5:00pm: with Kayden Oconnell

Thursday, December 20th - Stave Four ~ The Last of The Spirits
                                    @ Noon: with Dubhna Rhiadra
                                    @ 3:30pm: Avatar Repertory Theatre presentation (rescheduled)

Friday, December 21st - Stave Five ~ The End of It
                                    @ Noon: with Elrik Merlin
                                    @ 4:00pm: with Caledonia Skytower (Staves Four & Five together)
                                    (Possible later reading by Caledonia)

Saturday, December 22nd - OTHER DICKENS! TBA
Sunday, December 23rd - @3pm: Caledonia Skytower (120 minutes- 1st half of novella)

Monday, December 24th - @3pm: Caledonia Skytower (120 minutes- 2nd half of novella)

Tuesday, December 25th - CHRISTMAS DAY

Wednesday, December 26th - OTHER DICKENS!
                                    @ 10am: Caledonia Skytower & Elegia Underwood with Oliver Twist & David Copperfield
                                    @ Noon: Klannex Northmead with a selection from Little Dorrit
                                    @ 2pm: Dubhna Rhiadra with a selection from the Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens
                                    @ 4pm: Caledonia Skytower with a selection from Great Expectations

Thursday, December 27th - Closing Day - "Alternate Versions Presentations"
 ---------------------------
Under Construction . . .

The facade of Scrooge & Marley's

Inside the Bookseller's Shop with stairs leading up to the gallery level

The "Yet To Come" Gate in Progress

Gallery level installed almost all the way around, ready to be finished and roofed.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

"TDP" Site Secured - Schedule Preliminaries

We Have a Home!  The Community Virtual Library has generously given us a huge plot on Info Island:  a rough footprint of about 50m x90m and over three times the prims we were seeking for the beta version of this project!  Thank you Abbey Zenith and the CVL!


Buzz has begun as various performers begin considering how they might participate.  We have begun a very preliminary schedule with the first few bookings into it, as well as some "wish for" possibilities.  Interested in presenting?  Interested in one of the "Wish Fors"? Inspired with an idea of your own?   Contact Caledonia Skytower by notecard in world.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE:
(Note: anything in italics is NOT set in stone)

Friday, December 14th - Opening Day
Saturday, December 15th - TBD: A.R.T. Partnership Presentation** 
Sunday, December 16th - TBD: A.R.T. Partnership Presentation**

Monday, December 17th - Celebrate Stave One... A Visit from Marley's Ghost*
Tuesday, December 18th - Celebrate Stave Two... Christmas Past*
Wednesday, December 19th - Celebrate Stave Three... Christmas Present*
Thursday, December 20th - Celebrate Stave Four... Christmas Yet to Come*
Friday, December 21st - Celebrate Stave Five ... Scrooge Awake!*
Saturday, December 22nd - 
Sunday, December 23rd - @4pm: Caledonia Skytower (90 minutes- 1st half of novella)

Monday, December 24th - @4pm: Caledonia Skytower (90 minutes- 2nd half of novella)
Tuesday, December 25th - CHRISTMAS DAY
Wednesday, December 26th -
Thursday, December 27th - Closing Day - "Alternate Versions Presentations"

* ~ "Wish Fors" - A great day for presentations, solo or in groups, of that particular stave of the novella schedulable anytime from 9am -9pm SLT

** ~ Once, not both days . . .(no way we would be THAT lucky!) pending confirmation and pending agreement with the Avatar Repertory Theater Company.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

ANNOUNCING: The Dickens Project!

We are in the waning months of the Dickens Bicentenary Year of celebration, and what better way to wrap up that year than with a tribute to his masterwork A Christmas Carol.  StoryFest Events will be launching The Dickens Project as just such a tribute. 

Sponsored by Stories Unlimited! and the Community Virtual Library, The Dickens Project will be an interactive environment for the presentation of A Christmas Carol which will be open to presentations of that work in whole, part, or adapted (as long as it is true to the original story) beginning December 14th through December 26th.  On December 27th, the last day of the Project, the venue will be open to "alternate version" presentations and tributes to the classic.

Any and all voice performers in Second Life are welcomed.  Presentations may be solo, duets, or larger groups of voices.  They must be live and in voice.  StoryFest Events will take care of booking time slots and promoting (though presenters are encouraged to promote through any avenues that have as well) and having our finger on ban/eject when needed. The Dickens Project will be located in Info Island in the Community Virtual Library Estate, and tips to benefit the CVL will be encouraged.  More about tipping later.

Here is the approximate Project Timeline ....
  • Dec 5 - Deadline for Presenter Requests
  • Dec 1 to 13 - install components of the environment
  • Dec 10 to 13 - Make available for presenter preview
  • Dec 14 - Opening Day
  • Dec 27 - Alternate Versions Day, and then it all goes Ba-Bye!
Interested?  Apply to Caledonia Skytower by notecard in world for a presenter slot by December 5th.  Be sure to include the times and dates you would prefer to perform.

We hope that this year's project will be well recceived well enough for it to be a beta test of a more expanded project in December 2013 ... Lord and the Lindens willing.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

It Was A BOO-tiful Thing!


Dubhna Rhiadra as "Bill Door" from "Reaper Man" ~ Photo by Crap Mariner

What a great day!  We had a great range of stories from the humorously macabre to the out-and-out gruesome.  Great scary fun!  Great crowd, appreciative audience.  Good times!

Thankks to Dubhna for hosting us on her lovely land again.  Thanks to all the presenters for great jobs done, one and all.  Thanks to the folks who showed up, some of whom spent the entire day with Dubhna and I ... soup to nuts around the fire!  Thanks for all who were able to donate to War Child, and the 2451L that will go to the charity.

Check out Crap Mariner's Flickr Photostream to see the wonderful 40+ shots he took of the event, bless'im . . . and he "mobility impaired" as it were.  Thanks Crap!

Information will be up on the blog in the first week of November about the next StoryFest Event: The Dicken's Project.  Come back and check it out!  The Dickens Project will open December 14th, with its final day on December 27th.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

BOOFest! Sunday, October 21st

Over a dozen voices performing spookable tales of the season around the blazing fire at Bran NON-STOP at BOOFest! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bran/78/141/24

This year's BOOFest benefits War Child North America, and is produced in partnership between Stories Unlimited! and Branwen Arts

~~ 9:30am – Introduction & Welcome – Hosts Dubhna Rhiadra & Caledonia Skytower

~~ 9:45am –  REAPER MAN by Terry Pratchett
 A Selection from Terry Pratchett’s grim and delightful novel.  Death has been told he has lost his job, because he has been showing disturbing indications of individuality. The Auditors, who appear as grey floating faceless figures, have therefore appealed to Azrael himself to banish Death and allow a new Death to take his place, who will emerge after a period of … readjustment. Death then becomes subject to his own death, he is given a lifespan, in the form of a timer, to live out as he sees fit. He and his horse, Binky, must come to live as mortals in the world.  Presented by Caledonia Skytower and Dubhna Rhiadra.

~~ 11:00am: THE WATER GHOST OF HARROWBY HALL by John Kendricks Bang
A classic ghost story from the past which can still raise a smile at that perpetual battle between the sexes -  even from beyond the grave. Relax and listen to this short charming and unusual tale of one man’s attempts to relieve his family of the legacy of a watery annual visitor, and said visitor’s tenacity at not being dismissed.  Presented by Queen Bluestar.



~~ 11:30am: THE MONKEY’S PAW by W. W. Jacobs
Kayden Oconnell presented this bit of early 20th Century classic horror.  The story is based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.


~~ Noon: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE FREAKY IN 100 WORDS
The Prim Reaper Returns!  Always unpredictable and irreverent, no subject is too sacred, no cow too holy for Crap not to pull it out, examine it, and bang it on the table a few times before putting it back where he found it - albeit slightly crumpled.  Long ago, he swore an oath to write a 100 word story every day until the day he died. He's not dead yet.  And no, he NEVER has opinions! http://firstlife.isfullofcrap.com/  (photo of Crap as "The Prim Reaper" by Bear Silvershade)

~~ 12:30pm: NIGHTMARES with Hakeber Haber
Have you ever wondered what nightmares are made of? Listen to Hakeber Haber's tales of horror and find out. Don't worry, nightmares can't hurt you, right? Featuring three of her original works:  Nighty Night, Yes, Master and Memory of the Sun.






~~ 1:30pm: THE CASE OF LADY SANNOX by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In this tale, Conan Doyle pits the reputation and intelligence of a medical man, trained in clinical discourse and behavior, against his all-too-human failings: lust, greed, even curiosity (recalling the "curious cases" of the pre-clinical era).  The famed surgeon Douglas Stone flaunts his notorious affair with Lady Sannox, although his professional reputation begins to suffer. One night a mysterious Turk asks him to attend his wife, who has cut her lip on a poisoned dagger.  Presented by Corwyn Allen.

~~ 2:00pm: TALES with Lycanthia
Once you have heard one of Lycanthia Wolfhunter’s stories, you never quite forget it.  They are gruesome, sensual, and posses a righteous sense of justice that is delightfully unique.  Today she presents four original short stories: Zombies Can Scream, You Always Kill the One You Love, Get A Head, and Trick or Treat.





~~ 3:00pm: MICROFICTION with Brokali
It is a chance to reach inside your day, their day, and everyones night. The coldest, warmest, darkest night without the over use of adjectives and never an adverb.
The best part is when we paint with microfiction what we see is obvious and real. Let's splatter it across our hearts and then share more. And more. More.



~~ 3:45pm: UNWIND by Neil Shusterman
Selections presented by BigRedCoyote.  In a world where medical science made it possible to replace any part of the human body by transplanting the part from a donor.Healthy donors were those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen who society determines were expendable.  An unruly child would be retroactively aborted.  Of course the child's life does not technically end.  The child's parts would be used for transplants.  And the child would continue to "live" as part of another body.  The process of harvesting the parts was called Unwinding. This is the story of how one boy is Unwound.

~~ 4:15pm: GHOSTS ON A BUMBOAT with Singh Albatross
Singh presents a selection from his Singapore novel: When Ralph Drummond steps on a curbside Hungry Ghost Month offering he collapses into a coma. Will he survive the psychic battle when the Gates of Hell open? Can his wife Winnie and their new Singapore friends Alvin and Fay save him? What is the Water Clan and who is the Geomancer?





ALL Times SLT
ALL presentations are live in Voice Chat.


Sunday, October 14, 2012

BOOFest Preliminary Schedule

Oy!  What a challenge!  So many great people wanting to participate.  This schedule is preliminary, and subjectt o change and revision, as everything in life seems to be.  Check back on the day of the event for the most up-to-date posting.

BOOFest 2012 ~ Sunday, October 21st at Bran:  9:30am to 5:00pm SLT

~  9:30am:  Welcome and Selections from Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man with Host Dubhna Rhiadra & Caledonia Skytower

~  10:30am:  Shandon Loring

~  11:00am:  Queen Bluestar with an original story - The Water Ghost

~ 11:30am:  Kayden Oconnell

~ Noon: Crap Mariner with the Good, the Bad, and the Freaky in 100 Words.

~  12:30pm:  Habeker Haber with her own original spookiness: Nighty Night, Yes, Master, and Memory of the Sun
~  1:30pm:  Corwyn Allen with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Case of the Lady Sannox
~  2:00pm:  Lycanthia Woolfhunter with more orginal works of horror: Zombies Can Scream, You Always Kill the One You Love, Get A Head, and Trick or Treat

~  3:00pm:  Brokali with Spooky Flash Fiction

~  3:30pm:  Monday Jinx

~  4:00pm:  Big Red Coyote with Selections from Neal Shusterman's Unwound

~  4:30pm:  Singh Albatros with a Selection from his novel Ghosts On A Bumboat

All times SLT.  All Sessions will take place around the Fire at the Story Circle on Bran's terra level.  SLURL, And more information of Individual sessions will be posted here on Wednesday.

Donations received during BOOFest will benefit War Child North America