Snowy’s awesome build at my Sunset Myst sim is showcased on the ‘SL Things to Do’ site – a great blog that lists all sorts of cool places to visit in SL. Lovely photos by Lainy Voom and a nice write up about the sim, too.  Thanks, Jenn!

I’ve been doing a lot of fishing lately – virtual fishing. I was searching for some fun activities to add to my Sunset Myst Hiking Trails when I came upon the 7Seas store. About an hour later I looked at my inventory folder bulging with cute, fishy pets and knew I had found what I was looking for.  ;)

The folks at 7Seas have cooked up a really fun, not to mention addictive,  game. You can fish at dozens of 7Seas enabled fishing holes all over the grid, catching what must be hundreds of different virtual fish. Some are cute, some are funny, some are realistic. You can attach the fish to your avatar or plop them into a virtual aquarium, too.

There’s no real skill involved, but there’s something about the game that makes you want to make just one…more..cast…to try and get that next super rare fish. You can even visit different spots to try and catch the custom fish that people create just for their own fishin’ holes. You’ll also find spare parts and blueprints that you can use to create even more nifty items.

I installed the 7Seas system at Sunset Myst. Come on down and drop a line in the mountain stream and try to catch my first custom fish – the realistic Red Band Rainbow Trout.

I held my first tournament today to test everything out.  We maxed out the Homestead style sim with 20 avs Not a single glitch and we all had a great time. I did almost get eaten by a giant Eagle,  though. :)

Frequent visitors will probably have noticed that my posts have been few and far between lately. Sorry ’bout that. I’ve been very busy with several projects in-world and have had less energy to devote to other tasks. Here are a few links and other things that I have been meaning to mention:

We had an opening celebration at my Sunset Myst sim for Snowy Hoobinoo’s out-of-this-world floral creations. A great time was had by all. Snowy handed out some free, flowery wings that made us all look like a mobile flower garden. Lots of cool avs and fun people in attendance. You can see pictures of the event on Snowy’ Flickr stream, Tim Deschanel’s, and mine too.

Speaking of pictures…Koinup is a great way to share your SL pics. It sort of like Flickr, but just for snapshots and videos from virtual worlds. I especially like how they gather together all the shots from specific sims into one group. They also track the ‘coolest’ images and places. It’s a great way to find new places to visit in-world. My Koinup page.

The SLurl site has been upgraded. The map loads so much quicker now and the images include more detail. Whatever they did it sure is a nice improvement.

LL reports on the growth of Second Life in 2008 – and of course this brings out hundreds of angry comments from folks who are stilled sore about the OpenSpace mess. Zee Linden is in amongst the mob, taking things in stride and engaging in  honest and informative conversations. Way to go Zee! I’m psyched that SL has grown so much and am very optimisitic about the future of our virtual world.

My friend Thoth Jantzen has expanded upon his Kaleidoscopium idea and created the Disorientation Station. :)  His virtual, immersive kaliedoscopes turn any YouTube video into a hypnotic sensory overload. Very cool, but be careful if you have work to do – time flies when you’re inside these things :) Check it out in-world.

I’m very excited to be hosting a new build by my friend Snowy Hoobinoo. I discovered his wonderful creations on Flickr and immediately started pestering him in-world for more examples. I also asked if he’d be interesting in creating something on my new sim, Sunset Myst. Thankfully he agreed and has created an awe inspiring valley full of out-of-this-world plants.

We’re having an opening celebration tomorrow ( Wednesday Jan 14th) at 2pm SL time. Come by to see the sights, meet Snowy, and revel in the possibilities of SL art. Click here to teleport to Hoobinoo Valley.

CNN has been experimenting with ‘citizen journalism’ with their  iReport project – tapping into user generated content by allowing anyone to submit RL news stories. Now you can try out your virtual journalism skills by filing iReports from Second Life, too.

Hop on over to iReport Island, pick up a notecard and some virtual press credentials (a hat, mic, and press pass card), and start spreading the word about what you think is important and interesting in Second Life.

You can also check out what others have to say by visiting the SL section of the iReport page. This is an interesting way for CNN to begin experimenting with virtual worlds, and it’s always great to see some positive press on the mainstream media.

An example of a recent SL iReport