Whoo Doo? Yoo Doo with Voodoo at Temenos

Your crack reporter has stumbled upon another Second Life shopping gem. As you know, the run of the mill shopping experience is not for my crowd. Not only do we want high quality at low prices, we want an unusual shopping experience while we get fitted out. Temenos Island delivers on all counts.

I ran into Amy Faulkes, a loyal Temenos shopper while on my last research trip to the shop. When I asked her about Temenos she said it’s always been her first choice for neko gear, and she was on her way to sort out some new boots to go with her outfit. I had previously seen a couple pairs of gorgeous boots in the shop, so I’m sure she left a happy customer.


It’s a delight to find a sim owner who can not only design great clothes and send them out the door at a great price, but who knows how to design and build their shop to present a unique face. Zoe Llewelyn has put together a beautifully strange shop, one that grabs your attention and holds it like a spooky movie.

It takes more than just a quirky shop to take this reporter to her paypal account though. Even for a non-neko Temenos has a lot to offer. Great clothes, skins, tattoos and accessories with a twist. For me the hoodies were an excellent deal, and at the time of this writing I’m sitting in some lovely lace delicates purchased at a seemingly insane low price from Zoe.


Ms. Llewelyn doesn’t stop the show at the shop though. Her profile presents a picture of a talented designer, and her first life page makes one both sympathize and feel the voodoo vibes. She lives the role, and leaves room for belief that it’s not just an act. You can find her own net efforts at Boneflower , a beautifully designed blog at Google blogspot.

It’s a master craftswoman who paints such a total picture. One feels as if one is buying not just a great set of clothes, but a great story to go with it. Temenos Island comes highly recommended by this reporter for your shopping and sightseeing pleasure.

Summary only...

NEW SECOND LIFE SPORT: POGO STICKS AND LANDMINES

Ladies and gentlemen, Lionel Oliva is pleased to bring a sport that will revolutionize the events of Second Life: Pogo Sticks and Landmines.

What you are looking at is a one-prim, low-lag landmine with enough oomph to send you sky-high, quite literally. Combined with the fun of being on a pogo stick (and I highly recommend this deluxe pogo over the freebies we offer) and mouselook, Pogo Sticks and Landmines will bring you and your friends from

this

to this in a moment's notice.

Pogo Sticks and Landmines is sponsored by Greer Larsen, Old Glory Sutlery, and Hall of Heroes. Do come by and give it a try... with a deluxe pogo, we think you won't... er... mine playing, and with the ASM-1000 sound system from KHE, you can blast mines with tunes from country to chillout and a lot more!

Events will be forthcoming and game officials are welcome to apply to Lionel Oliva. Business partners welcome. Bring your friends too and enjoy this unique Second Life opportunity at
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hawkins/195/117/97.

SPECIAL EVENT! This coming Friday night we've got 600 prims free and we're dropping a TON of mines at Oliva Enterprises' 4096 for the SL-wide debut of Pogo Sticks and Landmines! Buy your stick at the door, there is a L$75 cover charge which goes 100% toward your pogo stick. Prizes will be announced and handed out!

Summary only...

First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin

Loyal readers know how seldom this reporter writes about actual malls. There are so many unusual shopping locations available in Second Life, and so many real life malls near me in Los Angeles, I normally can’t find the inspiration to even visit them, let alone write about them. KaDeWe has some things going for it though, so this is a tale of what they’re doing right and room for improvement.


KaDeWe is a mall that reflects a real life shopping mall in Berlin, Germany. You can find an excellent website advertising the mall at http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php . The recent opening of the SL annex was reported extensively by German television and print media, and attended in world by hundreds of shoppers.

The Second Life mall is a nice experience. A hostess waited in the mezzanine, greeted me in her best German/English, and asked if she could help me find anything. While I recovered from my shock at this courtesy a well-dressed man wearing a ‘security’ tag came by and also asked if I needed any assistance. I virtually pinched my virtual arm to see if I were virtually dreaming.

This is an upscale mall, and you better be prepared to pay upscale prices. I did purchase a nice business outfit, which fit me to a “T,” and am considering the heels I lingered over for stop back purchase. I saw some lovely gowns as well, very unique formal affairs, and should a special date come up I will return for the red/black number I admired for ten minutes.

While exploring the mall I ran across a unique camping system, billed as the “advanced camping” group. This supposedly allows you to wander within a certain range from the camping box and still collect your Lindens, rather than having to sit in one spot. Brilliance! Now campers can spend while they earn at the very site they’re working.

I spoke to one camper, the first well-dressed and fitted out male camper I’ve ever met in Second Life. JohnG told me that he lives in the western portion of Germany, about 600 kilometers from the real KDW shop in Berlin, but that he’d visited there once. I asked him about the real life store. He responded that “…my first and only one visit in that store was such an impression... if I would live in Berlin - believe me - I would stay there very often…”

Even the campers are upscale at KDW

There is room for improvement at KaDeWe. The mall is huge and it spans several sims. Lag can be a bit of an issue while you cross boundaries. Like all shoppers I can become irritated at having to watch myself creep across the floor, glaring at a horde of campers who aren’t helping matters any.

Also I was a bit mystified at the third floor, which spanned the entire mall but had no actual retail, only mockup textures of shops. I suppose they’re leaving room for expansion, but why do that and make the lag worse? It would be better to scrap the floor until they actually need the space, in my humble opinion.

Still, a positive shopping experience for when you want to get dressed up and shop in style. KaDeWe can be found in the aptly named KaDeWe Sims, of which there are four at last count.

Summary only...