Designing Worlds Returns to Insilico

Designing Worlds hosts Saffia & Elrik take a grand tour of the dark and beautiful city of Insilico.

Designing Worlds at Burn2

Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin take a tour around this year's edition of Burn 2 and meet with artists and organizers of this popular annual festival.

Check out my set of Burn 2 images on Flickr.

Designing Worlds Visits Isle of Wyrms

Hosts Saffia & Elrik get a tour of the legendary place in Second Life where dragons live. Welcome guides Orlith Nightfire, Skylarian Isachenko and Talarus Luan to the show and learn about the rich history and tradition.

For more photos of this fantastical set of sims, please visit my Isle of Wyrms set on Flickr.

You can visit Isle of Wyrms by visiting http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cathedral/125/142/102.

Designing Worlds Visits the 2011 Home and Garden Expo

A tour of the 2011 Home & Garden Expo can only show you a tiny part of the amazing things to see and visit. A major Second Life event all to benefit the American Cancer Society Relay for Life campaign. Your hosts Saffia & Elrik take us on a whirlwind tour and run into a few friends along the way.



More photos of the Expo can be found in my Flickr stream.

Designing Worlds at Fantasy Faire 2011

Elrik and Saffia visit the 2011 edition of Fantasy Faire in support of Relay for Life.

Designing Worlds Visits Winterfell!

Take a tour of the dark and mysterious lands of Winterfell with owner Serra Anansi and captain Wildstar Beaumont. Your hosts Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin discover the beauty and dangers of this Second Life region.

Calas Galadhon on Designing Worlds

In the latest episode of Designing Worlds, Saffia and Elrik visit the beautiful region of Calas Galadhon. This area is comprised of 9 gorgeous sims with incredible natural beauty and Victorian goodness. Created by Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith...get thee to Calas Galadhon (slurl.com/secondlife/Calas%20Galadhon/14 2/230/23)



To see more, be sure to visit my Calas Galadhon set on Flickr.

Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum Closure on Designing Worlds

The team from the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum in Second Life talk to Elrik and Saffia about how the museum has been refused a renewal license from the FLW Foundation and received a cease and desist letter to halt the project. Guests include Rosalie Oldrich, Co-Director, Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum; Rowan Derryth, Board Member, Virtual Museums, Inc.; and Ethan Westland, Chair, Virtual Museums, Inc. Also joining the panel is Michael Schumann
(SL:Roy Philbin), Founder/CEO, Second Interest Virtual Business Solutions; and Dirk Talamasca, Virtual Worlds Developer.

Designing Worlds Visits Seraph City

In this episode of Designing Worlds, Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin explore the beautiful Art Deco environment of Seraph City … and also the phenomenon of Dieselpunk.

This relatively new form is known as dieselpunk – where the setting, rather than a dystopian future or cyberpunk, or the steam-driven alternative world of the 19th and 20th century, is actually driven by the diesel engine, and draws on the aesthetic of the 1920s and 1930s.



For more photographs of Seraph City, please visit my Flickr photostream.

Lunatorium on Designing Worlds

The November 1st episode of Designing Worlds saw Saffia & Elrik meet with artist Lunata Lupino and scripter Bavid Dailey at their very large Lunatorium shop and discover some secrets they use for helping people explore the wonderful things they make for above and below the sea.

See more photographs from Lunatorium on my Flickr photostream.

Designing Worlds Returns to New Babbage

A return visit to New Babbage docklands uncover a new dangerous mystery for Saffia and Elrik to solve and keep the peace with Babbage factions - even if they ignore the Prime Directive.

Designing Worlds Visits Mythopoeia

Elrik Merlin and Saffia Widdershins travel to the mystical land of Mythopoeia by Grey Kurka. Join them for the Case of the Curious Prim!

Looking Glass on Designing Worlds

Saffia Widdershins, Elrik Merlin and the Designing Worlds production team head to the amazing build by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee for this episode of Designing Worlds.

Designing Worlds at Relay for Life 2010

Congratulations to everyone involved in the creation and presentation of a stunning and highly successful Relay For Life. The time and commitment of so many Second Life residents, builders and designers is a testament to all that is good in the world.

Join hosts Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin as they meet with the creators of some of the most incredible builds at this year's RFL.



To view more images from RFL 2010, I invite you to view a set of my images on Flickr; and another set by Raven Haalan.

Mystery on Designing Worlds

A visit to the New Babbage burlesque show takes a surprising turn into a mystery which leads Saffia & Elrik on a search for clues.

Designing Worlds Visits Al Andalus

Saffia and Elrik visit the remarkable Second Life re-creations of palaces, gardens and mosques of historic Al Andalus and get a tour from community leaders Rose Springvale and Jamie Palisades.



Al Andalus creates some of the most famous palaces, gardens, plazas and great buildings – such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba – of the mediæval kingdom of Granada, where Christians, Jews and Muslims met in an amazing cross-cultural environment. They were joined by Rose Springvale who showed some of the sites … and also explained the philosophy that underlies the creation of Al-Andalus and has guided its development.

Al Andalus part of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS). Other regions include Colonia Nova, Neufreisadt, Alpine Meadow and Locus Amoenus.

I provided photographs of Al Andalus for the show, which can be viewed in a Flickr album.

Designing Worlds Needs Your Help!

Designing Worlds is entering the Streamy Awards, the first and most prestigious awards devoted to honouring excellence in web television.

The Streamy Awards identify and celebrate the pioneers laying the groundwork for a new and dynamic entertainment medium. The Streamy Awards ceremony brings together the top talent, decision-makers and influencers shaping online entertainment, and awards are presented for the past years’ best achievements in 35 categories spanning multiple disciplines. Currently in its second year, the Streamy Awards began as a grass-roots effort piloted by the leading minds in online entertainment and continues to share the spirt of rugged independence that drives creative expression online. The show is co-hosted by Tubefilter and NewTeeVee.

Reflecting the inherent openness of entertainment online, the Streamy Awards submissions process is free and and open to the public. We would like you to nominate Designing Worlds for one of these prestigious awards in the Best Reality or Documentary Web Series – and help us to raise the profile of virtual worlds – and the role of television within worlds such as Second Life.

Winners are selected by the International Academy of Web Television, an independent, member run not-for-profit organization representing a wide cross-section of online entertainment including actors, agents, composers, content developers, directors, journalists, producers, technology innovators and writers.

Please use the public voting system to vote for us – and other Treet shows. You can vote once a day – so you could give us repeat votes if you’re feeling REALLY enthusiastic! Go to:

http://www.streamys.org/submit/public-submissions/
and vote:
Best Documentary or Reality Web Series
Designing Worlds
URL: http://designingworlds.tv

Other Treet shows are up for awards too! Please vote for:

Best Hosted Series
Tonight Live! with Paisley Beebe
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/tonight-live

Best Hosted Series
Fabulous Fashion with Angie Mornington
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/fabulous-fashion

Best Live Production
The First Question with Pooky Amsterdam and Hydra Shaftoe
http://archive.treet.tv/programs/1st-question

Lauren Live in the following categories:
Best Comedy – LaurenLive
Best Actress in a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
Best Director of a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
Best Writer of a Comedy – Lauren Weyland
URL http://archives.treet.tv/programs/lauren-live

Best Hosted Series – Meet an Author
Best Experimental Web Series – Meet an Author
http://archive.treet.tv/meet-author

Points of Interest: World War I Poetry Digital Archive

I finally got a chance to watch the recent Designing Worlds episode featuring Frideswide, a recreation of a portion of the Western Front in WWI using the materials of Oxford University's First World War Poetry Digital Archive. This is without doubt, one of the best installations I have ever come across in Second Life and an illustration at how this virtual world can be utilized to its potential.



Csteph Submariner and his team of designers have done a magnificent job of not only designing the sim, but of incorporating the materials from their archive to its fullest potential. It is evocative, it is moving, it is thought-provoking and it is superb.

I strongly encourage everyone to visit this location on the grid and explore every aspect of it. There is so few left to tell the story of the Great War and their sacrifices and efforts should never be forgotten.

You can visit the sim in world by going here http://slurl.com/secondlife/Frideswide/219/199/646/.

You can also visit their Second Life-related web page for more information http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/secondlife.

I have taken photographs at the installation which you can visit on my Flickr page. View their YouTube video machinima or visit their Flickr group.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

This week I had the honour of welcoming the hosts of the Designing Worlds television show to a special dinner party at my home on the Avalon Estate. Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin joined myself and La Galleria's Pamela Galli, Table Service's Mavromichali Szondi and Prim Perfect's Aisling Sinclair for a special dinner party in honour of American Thanksgiving.



My recently acquired home designed by SkyeRyder Varriale is a beautiful Italianate villa which offers a fabulous environment in which to display my ever expanding collection of Second Life art. This was a perfect opportunity to have people over to share a meal during a very important week in holiday calendar.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the great artists in Second Life including Fuschia Nightfire, Rik Zwiers, Tricia Aferdita, Gracie Kendal, AM Radio, Konrad Jansma, and Terry Woodward.

Designing Worlds, formerly Meta Makeover, is the live weekly show covering design and designers in the virtual worlds, brought to you by Treet TV and the people behind Prim Perfect magazine. From its roots as a makeover show, the programme has now branched out into a magazine format adding interviews and visits to some of the most impressive builds and locations in Second Life and beyond.

I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did playing host to one of the metaverse's great television productions.

Thanks to Saffia, Elrik, Texas, Truman, Mr. Mimms and the entire Treet production crew for a fabulous time.

Designing Worlds in Babbage!

Here was a totally fun production that I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in. In the lead up to Halloween, Designing Worlds visited the steampunk region of New Babbage for a special show based on a short story by Aeolus Cleanslate. The full story is available in the October issue of Primgraph magazine.



The show was tremendously fun as I assumed the role of Mr. Biggins, the Babbage sand hog and foreman of the tunnel project. Great performances by Aeolus Cleanslate, and Ceejay Writer not to mention the hosts of the show Saffia and Elrik.

The tunnel build by Aeolus Cleanslate and Rip Wirefly are really amazing in detail as you will see during the show.

Hats off to the people at Treet TV who put in alot of work to make the final version of the episode which you see above. It is really an incredible production.