SL13B

Many bloggers have written about the events and happenings at SL13B, the thirteenth annual Second Life Birthday Community Celebration, which continues only through July 3. Organized by Marianne McCann, Doctor Gascoigne and Diana Renoir in collaboration with many other residents, the festivities include dozens of builds by people throughout the SL community, among them a number of prominent artists. As was the case last year, artist Mikati Slade steals the show with her stupendous centerpiece, the Cake Stage (images above and immediately below).

If you're going to see anything at SL13B, it needs to be her stage, the crown jewel of all thirteen sims — indeed, it takes up four of them! "I began to work at the end of April," said Mikati (shown against the Cake Stage in the image above), explaining how she commenced the design work at her own sim, and then later moved to SL13B, enlarging Cake Stage from one to four sims. "I needed to make it different [than her previous builds 2012 and 2015] while keeping the style. The building work is easy, but the design work was very hard." On her bright trademark colors, she remarked, "My artworks try to express positive energy for life. Usually, life is merciless, so I want people to experience some happiness with my art."

Also not to be missed is The Automaton (image above), a stunning and fabulous creation by Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer) with contributions from Cerberus (Kamayari). This giant scene, spread over two sims (be sure to have draw distance turned up), depicts a storyteller, his many books and a bottle of vermouth at the ready: "Gaze in awe at the mysterious automaton built by the forefathers of industry," says the description. "It seems to depict a man who was tasked with immortalizing the adventures of people long gone from this world. Listen well and you will be able to enjoy his collection of tales." (Watch long enough, and you'll see him move. Search carefully, and you might discover The Hidden Theatre.) Elsewhere, other stages were contributed by Cube Republic — the Dazzle Live Stage, which is a Class V Turtle Cruiser — and the beautiful Linden Tree DJ Stage by Zuza Ritt. And Anthony (ADudeNamedAnthony) contributed much throughout SL13B, including the Auditorium.

Each year, the birthday celebration allocates a limited number of special parcels to the arts community, but for SL13B these parcels are decidedly a mixed bag with a few standouts. Presentations include Blowing in the Wind by Livio Korobase, In Search of Perfection by Chic Aeon, The Centaurs and the Birds (image below) by Haveit Neox & Lilia Artis, Catalina's Shared Adventures by Catalina Staheli, Lollygaggers by kilara Balnarring, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by David DuCasse, SL Goonies Dungeons & Knightmares by Loki Eliot, ART BOX by Frankie Rockett, Fractosphere by Asmita Duranjaya, The House Tree by Caro FayRay, Cammino e Vivo Capovolto by Mistero Hifeng, and Mad Monster Mountain (image above) by Kiana Writer and MadPea Productions. But many additional artistic presentations also await, such as those by Mac Kanashimi, Artists4SL, and Solkide Auer & Maddy. The SL13B website is a great (if incomplete) resource for locating these smaller parcels, but, appallingly, provides no significant acknowledgement to Mikati, Walton/Faust or others whose contributions are the true showstoppers.