Silent movie night in October 2022: “The Hound of the Baskervilles”

Since the launch of the silent movie nights in Second Life, it has been our tradition to present silent horror films in the weeks leading up to Halloween. In keeping with that tradition, this year we’ll be watching Der Hund von Baskerville (The Hound of the Baskervilles), the very first film adaptation of this Sherlock Holmes novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Released in 1914, it was directed by Rudolf Meinert, starring Alwin Neuß as Holmes, Friedrich Kühne as Stapleton, and Hanni Weisse as Laura Lyons. Long considered lost, luckily the film has been rediscovered.

If you want to brush up on the celebrated novel, here’s the link to the free e-book, available in several different digital formats (although I should add that the film we’ll be watching doesn’t follow it closely).

The screening is scheduled to take place on Friday, 28 October 2022, starting at 12 noon SLT at the Wannsee beach in the 1920s Berlin sim. If you get lost in the sim and have no idea where the Wannsee lake is, don’t hesitate to IM me inworld at abinoam.resident and ask for a teleport).

The film will be available on demand at our usual spot, Kino Babylon, until 24 November.

Return to Darkwood

Late last night – the Halloween night, when the veil is thinnest, Duncan, Ciska and I went to visit this year’s Calas Galadhon holiday sim, Return to Darkwood.

Visiting the Halloween sim at Calas is always a special occasion for me, as it brings to mind my first Halloween with Duncan several years ago. I remember being so impressed with all the details and various features that made for a very special holiday experience.

Congrats to Ty and Truck for a job well done! If you haven’t visited, here’s the SLurl.

Back in the castle, in time for Halloween

After leaving Second Norway back in early September, I moved back to mainland where I was using a nice, minimalist skybox as a home. However, all along I had the feeling that by Halloween I’d be moving into a building with a bit more character. Over the course of two or three weeks I was thinking about using some of the medieval buildings I had in my inventory, but they all had one thing or another against them (bad LOD, unsatisfactory texturing, high land impact etc.). At one point I rezzed a few one on top of another on my parcel, for comparison.

Finally it occurred to me that exactly a year ago I had been using a lovely small castle created by Compulsion that would totally fit my parcel, both in terms of size and LI. Duncan was quick to help with landscaping, and within hours, I had that homey Dark Shadows-like feel again.

About ten days ago I started decorating the place for Halloween, adding various bits and pieces – and quickly going down to 0 prims available! Now the place has its resident ghosts, witches and the undead…

One of my favourite spots is the side room that will at some point probably be reoccupied by Refugium meditation space. For the time being, it serves as a spiritualist shop where you can come for a seance.

Due to the constant challenge of prim limit, immediately after Halloween I’m going to redo some of the interiors. In the meantime, if you feel like stopping by, you can use this SLurl.

Silent movie nights in October 2018

For the third year in a row at the Odie Cinema, the month of October is dedicated to silent horror movies. As we approach Halloween, join us for some delightfully spooky time!

As always, silent movie nights take place Fridays from 1 pm SLT, at this location.

5 October 2018
Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire (orig. Genuine, die Tragödie eines seltsamen Hauses, Germany)

Directed by Robert Wiene, released in 1920. Starring Fern Andra and Hans Heindrich von Twardowski. The set was designed by expressionist artist Cesar Klein. We’ll be watching a version with a particularly eerie score by P. Emerson Williams.

12 October 2018
Waxworks (orig. Das Wachsfigurenkabinett, Germany)

Directed by Paul Leni, released in 1924. Starring Emil Jannings and Conrad Weidt. The movie is a mix of different genres, and some classify it as historical, with only some episodes belonging to the horror genre.

19 October 2018
Wolf Blood: A Tale of the Forest, USA

Directed by George Chesebro, released in 1925. Starring George Chesebro and Roy Watson. A werewolf story.

26 October 2018
The Bat, USA

Directed by Roland West, released in 1926. Starring Jack Pickford (Mary’s younger brother) and Louise Fazenda. Based on the 1920 Broadway hit by the same title, it was an influence on the subsequent creation of Batman.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

No, you can’t have my lolly!

Snapshots of my Second Life home… If you haven’t visited the Refugium island, you’re very welcome to! 

Tour of my haunted island: https://abinoamsjournal.blogspot.rs/2017/10/tour-of-my-haunted-island.html

Tour of my haunted island

Over the last week I made many changes to Refugium, my island in Second Norway. This time it was not just the usual reshuffle of furniture… There are whole new builds and features, and the place has taken a darker, Gothic feel to it.

The landing point is close to the dock. From there you can walk towards the castle, or into the forest.

The castle itself is a beautiful build made by Compulsion. It looks primmy, but it has actually saved me a tonne of prims, as I’ve been able to house inside everything I used to have in my previous home building(s), plus the Refugium meditation centre, and then some more.

Walking through the gate, you will find yourself inside a court where there is some food available (there’s always food and drinks everywhere on my parcels :D). Behind me is the new meditation space, a chapel-like room whose interior will be familiar to those who’ve been attending our daily meditation sessions.

Nothing on my land is strictly speaking private, and people are welcome to come inside the castle. On the ground floor is my sitting room and kitchen…

The top floor serves as bedroom… But I wanted to show you two special rooms. One is found on the first floor, and it’s dedicated to celebrated gay artist Tom of Finland.

The other one is the basement. There I make my potions and do other witchy things… One of the walls is a tribute to one of my favourite TV shows, the original Dark Shadows from the 1960s.

I won’t say much about what’s in the forest. Just be careful when you get to the cemetery, as this is the season when the veil is thin… You don’t know who or what may creep out of those graves!

Once you’ve made it safely to the other side of the island, you will find the new entrance to the cinema. It used to be on a mainland parcel, but now I’ve been able to move it to the island. The hall itself is in a skybox, but here you can get some popcorn and use the teleporter (it’s the time machine lying on the floor, next to the ticket booth).

At the northern tip of the island there’s another dock for boats, and a cafe with Halloween treats.

As I’ve gone a little crazy with rezzing, I’ll be removing some of the things soon after Halloween, so please visit until then. Again, here’s the SLurl.

P. S. Silent movie nights take place Fridays, starting at 1 pm SLT. You can find the current schedule here, or join the Facebook group to get the regular updates.

As planchette begins to move, Ciska and I look in eager expectation…

Refugium 2nd anniversary party

On Tuesday, 25th October, there was a party on Norgaard Island, marking the second anniversary of the Refugium meditation space. And as it was so close to Halloween, we had a costume party, with DJ Elf Starsider providing the music. Here are a few snapshots from the event.