Monday 3 December 2007

Elysian Isle welcomes author Abby Lee




Abby Lee, the pen name of well known blogger and author of the best selling book 'Girl with a one track mind', Zoe Margolis, came to Elysian Isle on the evening of Wednesday 28th and delived a fascinating two hour talk and Q&A session to a packed and enthusiastic audience.

Abby, who's avatar name is AbbyLee Aeon, talked about her blog, her book, and her quest to make it acceptable for a woman to say that she enjoys sex without being labeled as a 'slut'. It is a view that has attracted a lot of villification from some quarters, and Abby told the audience how she had been 'outed' by the press and had to suffer from the media's intrusion into her personal life.

Abby then went on to talk about her aim to bring equality to enjoyment of sex, she illustrated this by reading several passages from her book, and raised questions such as 'why cant there be pornography for women?' 'why are images of naked men aimed only at the gay audience and not at the female audience?' and 'why is the erect male penis never shown?'

An SL readable e-book with some extracts from Abby Lee's book is available in the Elysian Isle bookshop and the full book can be bought online from the publishers

The story of Abby's 'outing' and her quest will be the subject of a Channel 4 TV program to be aired on December 11th at 10pm. An introductory preview of this documentary was shown at the event.
Readers will I am sure be delighted to know that Abby has agreed to come back to Elysian Isle in the near future.



Wednesday 28 November 2007

And the winners accept their prizes!

Coordinating three winners for the Fashion & Fantasy costume contest when they are in 3 different time zones can be a challenge, so we finally met with each winner individually to give them their prizes. If you don't remember what they looked like on Halloween, click here.

3rd place winner - $1000 gift card to Vindi Vindiloo's clothing shops on Elysian Isle - went to JunZ DarkStone!


2nd place winner - $3000 gift card - went to Payton Heron!



1st place winner - $6000 gift card - went to SerinaJane Loon!



Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the contestants who entered. Stay tuned for more contests on Elysian Isle with valuable prizes!

And just to reminisce a bit, here are some photos from the Fashion & Fantasy Ball, BEFORE the sim crashed from the load of fabulous costumes!








Tuesday 27 November 2007

Thu 29 Nov - Cylindrian Rutabaga performs on Elysian Isle



Join us for a 1/2 hour set of live music at 6pm SLT on Thu 29 Nov with SL favorite Cylindrian Rutabaga aka Grace Buford. Head to the Rose Garden!

And coming up Dec 6...

Dann Numbers!

Thursday 15 November 2007

Music on the Isle Upcoming Artists


Music on the Isle is a 1/2 hour live, all-original acoustic set under the stars!

Every Thursdays at 6pm SLT - Elysian Isle Rose Garden

(produced by Metaverse Horizons, taped by SLCN.tv)

*15 Nov - Capos Calderwood aka Alex Whitmore
http://alexwhitmore.com

"Home cooked Texas style with humor for dessert."

*22 Nov - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY - see you the following week!

*29 Nov - Cylindrian Rutabaga aka Grace Buford
http://cylindrian.wordpress.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gracefolk

"The virtual representation of Atlanta Singer/Songwriter, Grace Buford, who has been writing songs and performing in Second Life and the regional Southeastern United States for almost 2 years."

*6 Dec - Dann Numbers- Dec 6th confirmed
http://www.dannrusso.com/home.html
http://www.myspace.com/dannrusso

"Dann Russo aka Dann Numbers pours rock, blues, country, gospel and every other type of real down-home music into his performances."

For more information about Music on the Isle, join the Music on the Isle Group!

Friday 9 November 2007

Music on the Isle on Elysian Isle

Despite the grueling logistics of putting on a live music event in Second Life that is being filmed by a professional crew, the Elysian Isle team survived the first two weeks of Music on the Isle, the event and online TV show that showcases diverse performers featuring a half hour of acoustic music.

Music on the Isle is every Thursday evening at 6pm SLT in the lovely Rose Garden.

Last week, we kicked off the series with SL music pro Hep Shepherd aka Jeff Krantz singer/songwriter based in New York and host Cybergrrl Oh.



This week's show was hosted by Krista Hollwood and another SL music pro Juel Resistance aka Suzen Juel graced our Rose Garden stage with her special brand of "naked" music.



The show is a co-production with SLCN.tv and music partner Cyber PR.

Thanks to everyone who made the shows possible!

Tuesday 6 November 2007

And the Winners are...

Our illustrious Celebrity Judges toiled long and hard over these wonderful submissions for Elysian Isle's first Fashion & Fantasy Ball. And the winners are... Drumroll Please...

The Third Prize winner (or is that Second Runner Up) is...JunZ DarkStone!



The Second Prize goes to First Runner Up... Payton Heron!!



And our FIRST PRIZE WINNER is... SerinaJane Loon!!!



Congratulations to all the winners!

Friday 2 November 2007

Second Life Halloween Costume Contest!

We held a 24 hour costume contest on Elysian Isle this week with our Celebrity Judges:

*Celebrity Trollop - Second Style Fashionista blogger - http://blog.secondstyle.com/

*TheDiva Rochttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifkin - Second Life Fashion Police blogger - http://slfashionpolice.wordpress.com/

*Daphne Abernathy & Tamara Kirshner
- Going Broke with Daphne & Tamara podcasters - http://daphneandtamara.libsyn.com

Now it is time for the judging to take place! If you submitted a photo anytime on 31 October and you do NOT see your photo, please email cybergrrloh AT gmail.com before Sunday.

Our illustrious judges will review the entries below and post their comments. Then they will email Cybergrrl Oh with their final choices for the 3 prizes in a specially hermetically sealed email!

Grand Prize - L$6000 gift card to Vindi Vindiloo's clothing shops on Elysian Isle
Runner Up - L$3000 gift card
Honorary Mention - L$1000 gift card

In the meanwhile, feel free to post your own comments to your favorite entries to offer your support.

Good Luck everyone!

Contestant #1

Contestant #2

Contestant #3

Contestant #4

Contestant #5

Contestant #6

Contestant #7

Contestant #8

Contestant #9

Contestant #10

Contestant #11

Contestant #12

Contestant #13

Contestant #14

Contestant #15

Saturday 27 October 2007



Elysian Isle is hosting a Fashion & Fantasy Ball on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 5pm SLT for Halloween and the event will include a Fashion & Fantasy Costume contest with celebrity judges. The event includes dancing, refreshments and Second Life celebrities and will take place on Elysian Isle in the Rose Garden.

The Costume Contest runs for 24 hours on Oct.31. To enter, residents must take a snapshot of themselves in their costumes anywhere on Elysian Isle. They can submit snapshots anytime on Oct.31 either by dropping them to Cybergrrl Oh with their avatar's name on it or emailing it to cybergrrloh AT gmail.com including their avatar name in the email.

Snapshots will then be uploaded to this Elysian Isle blog and the Celebrity Judges will post comments and cast votes from Nov 1-4. Three winners will be announced Monday Nov 5 at the Get Rich Business Mondays meeting in the Rose Garden on Elysian Isle.

Grand Prize - L$6000 gift card to Vindi Vindiloo's clothing shops on Elysian Isle
Runner Up - L$3000 gift card
Honorary Mention - L$1000 gift card

Celebrity Judges for the Costume Contest are:


*Celebrity Trollop - Second Style Fashionista bloger -

*TheDiva Rochttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifkin - Second Life Fashion Police blogger - http://slfashionpolice.wordpress.com/

*Daphne Abernathy & Tamara Kirshner
- Going Broke with Daphne & Tamara podcasters - http://daphneandtamara.libsyn.com

For more information, IM Cybergrrl Oh or email cybergrrloh AT gmail.com. SLURL for the Rose Garden - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elysian%20Isle/86/200/26

Monday 15 October 2007

When we last saw our three first round winners of the “Get Rich” competition, they were graciously accepting their prizes.



Last week, two of the three had established their presence on Elysian Isle – Lillith Anatine with several kiosks placed strategically around the Isle that map optimal sales traffic for her products and Bianca Zanetti - who has a retail reporting tool she is marketing - with a lovely two-story shop.



“I have my website up and running complete with a working demo http://www.second-site.biz,” said Zanetti. “My store is up and running at Elysian Isle, and now I am marketing the service. I have put it on the Second Life site and am putting the word out there.”

Zanetti has also begun dropping note cards in to various store owners and has an associate who is working with her on commission to try to bring in customers.

Anatine has Four HippoVEND vendors on the Isle and a backup server for them.

“I was hoping to set up 5 or so single vendors in unexpected places in the sim, say, at the end of the pathway in the Forest of Dennis. That way I could have used the arrows that point to the path as arrows that point to my vendor,” said Anatine who explained that she was given two small parcels so doubled up on vendors to make them visible from either side.



She also rented three more locations in malls around SL for her vendors. She hadn't advertised what she is doing at the time due to RL deadlines.

Real life issues has kept the third winner, Angel Slocombe, from setting up shop and the space is currently empty awaiting her school for emotive language in virtual worlds.

Said Anatine about her efforts in the competition, “I do not believe in putting all of my eggs in one basket so with a variety of products to offer in a variety of locations there will be something there for everyone. If everyone in SL knows where to find me, and anyone can find something that speaks to them in some meaningful way once they do find me, I hope to gain a large and loyal customer base that is willing to refer their friends to me as well.”

Visit our contestants on Elysian Isle.

And stay tuned to this blog to see how the contestants are doing!

Thursday 4 October 2007

Second Life Writers at Writers Wednesdays

The regular Wednesday gatherings of writers on Elysian Isle - Writers Wednesdays - are growing by leaps and bounds after only a few meetings. We've already had a special guest - Marvel Ousley from SLNN.com - discuss paid writing opportunities at the AP-style news outlet. And most recently, we discussed getting Linden for writing in-world.



Join us every Wednesday on Elysian Isle from 12pm - 1pm SLT to talk about the business of writing. We are planning many more special guests including editors from SL newspapers and magazines, RL book editors and agents and others who can help us get published in-world and in the real world and make money from our writing.

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Writers Wednesdays on Elysian Isle - 12-1pm SLT

Join us every Wednesday from 12pm - 1pm SLT for Writers Wednesdays on Elysian Isle.

This week, our special guest is Marvel Ousley, editorial manager and co-founder of SLNN.com, who will speak about paying writing opportunities at SLNN.

Network with other writers, share writing experiences, pick up a few new tips and tricks, and find out about writing markets both inworld & in the real world.

Writers of all genres welcome, but note that this is not a writing workshop.


Last week's gathering included writers, editors, publishers, reporters and other creative types.

Saturday 15 September 2007

Announcing: Winners of the first round of the business idea's competition


From left to right: Bianca Zanetti (1st prize), Lillith Anatine (2nd prize, Angel Slocombe (3rd prize), & Elysian Isle Manager Nick Gloucester

A presentation was made to the winners of the first round of the Felix Dennis ‘How to Get Rich’ Second Life business ideas competition in the Elysian Isle Town Square Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12pm SLT.

Each of the winners will be given two months to make a profit from their business idea. The individual who can show the biggest profit at the end of that period will be deemed the winner of the grand prize of an additional L$50,000 on top of their first round winnings

The winners of Round One are:

First Prize of $L25,000 - Bianca Zanetti with an idea for an SL based retail sales reporting tool.

In her own words: well, i have a fashion business in sl and multiple stores. i was getting very frustrated with the income reporting that the sl website allows. i wanted better statistics, etc. so i started putting together a tool for myself that would register all my sales in sl to a website as soon as they were made and would also allow me to upload my sales. then i started putting togerher reports for myself that would show trends totals etc. what i want to do for this project is to make this a commercially viable tool for other vendors to turn it into a real retail sales product service that retailers can subscribe to. i have to say, i love it and use it constantly, i'm hoping other people will as well.




Second Prize of L$15,000 - Angel Slocombe with the Angel Grace School of Emoting.

In her own words: My idea, was called - A school for Emoting. I've worked as a Host and Dancer and DJ in clubs for most of my SL life and one thing I know is that the one thing that will pretty much gurantee more attention and therefore more tips is effective use of emotive language. Many dancers for instance think that they can just jump on a pole and "describe" what they're doing and uit comes out crass and boring, but, if they are more descriptive, describe feelings, sensations etc then people tend to be more drawn to them. So, I wanted to open a school to teach this, I was originally just thinking about Dancers but the more I think about it the more I think it can be used in just about any area in SL. I 've always wanted to add beauty to SL and I think this is a way of adding beauty to the language used.



Third Prize of L$10,000 - Lillith Anatine with a project for creating a chain of small kiosk vendors that map optimal sales traffic across mainland Second Life.

In her own words:
my idea is very simple. I took a cue from a friend of mine's old SL b/f. His income in SL is outrageous I can't give real figures but he pulls roughly $6000 USD out of SL monthly. my idea was similar to what he did. SL has *no* necessities. you don't need to eat, go to the bathroom, etc. yeah... 60-100K in $L *daily.* herefore, in real world terms, all purchases in SL are technically impulse buys or *wants* and not *needs*. people will tend to spend $L50 almost on accident. my idea is simply to place a vendor anywhere these accidents can happen with a small, inexpensive item, poofers, etc. People actually buy these things. in fact, I have several items for sale at many places and the only sales I have ever made were these poofers.

so the real idea is simply to place them *everywhere* - maybe a location won't be too lucrative (Bianca's project will help tell!). so if people are willing to drop $L50 on something small on a regular basis, how regular will sales be in 100 places? put the name out, let them accidentally give you money. thatr's it... real simple.




Each of the winners will also receive free business premises on Elysian Isle for three months.

Friday 14 September 2007

Three winners of the Felix Dennis 'How to get rich' business ideas competition revealed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Three winners of the Felix Dennis 'How to get rich' business ideas competition revealed

September 14, 2007 (ELYSIAN ISLE) - Ebury Publishing announced today the winners of the first round of the Felix Dennis ‘How to Get Rich’ Second Life business ideas competition. The competition is part of the promotion for Felix Dennis’ book ‘How to Get Rich’ and is being held on Ebury’s Second Life sim Elysian Isle.

A presentation to the winners will be made in the Elysian Isle Town Square Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12pm SLT. (Winners listed below).

The judges selected three winners from a wide range of entries submitted over the last month. Each winner will receive a cash prize and go forward to Round Two where they will have to set their businesses up on the Isle and make money.

"We had lots of good entries and the overall standard was very high," said Elysian Isle Manager Nick Gloucester. "Selecting the three winners was quite a challenge.”

Each of the winners will be given two months to make a profit from their business idea. The individual who can show the biggest profit at the end of that period will be deemed the winner of the grand prize of an additional L$50,000 on top of their first round winnings.

The winners of Round One are...TO BE ANNOUNCED SATURDAY!

Each of the winners will also receive free business premises on Elysian Isle for three months.

The progress of our three contestants can be followed through this blog and members of the general public are invited to visit the three businesses at their Elysian Isle locations.

Monday 3 September 2007

Scenes from last week's Cafe Chat with Cybergrrl

Last week, Cafe Chat with Cybergrrl turned into an impromptu "Show and Tell" where participants displayed their latest projects or collections. Bruce Voight of PR Newswire gave us a demo of a low-prim kiosk that displays inworld press releases that can be submitted for free to the newswire service.



Later, multimedia maven Goldie Katsu displayed her fine collection of Linden Bears, the furry creations of Linden employees that they give out upon request.



Stop by Cafe with Cybergrrl this week and bring something to show and tell! Chats take place on Elysian Isle at the Cafe des Amis every Tuesday from 1-3pm SLT.

Writer Wednesdays on Elysian Isle

Starting Next Week - Wed 12 Sept - Stop by Elysian Isle's Town Square for Writer Wednesday from 12pm SLT to 1pm SLT. Published writers, journalists, poets, screenwriters, and writer wannabes are all welcome.

At these informal chats, we'll discuss the business of writing, making money as a writer in the real world and inworld, overcoming writers block and share our recent writing for input.

Stop by for a while, enjoy the company of fellow writers and relax on beautiful Elysian Isle.

Mark your calendars for Wed 12 Sept at 12pm SLT!

SLURL: Elysian Isle Town Square

Wednesday 29 August 2007

Cafe Chat with Cybergrrl - Tuesdays 1-3pm SLT


Stop by Elysian Isle's Cafe des Amis for a regulary scheduled chat with writer-in-residence Cybergrrl Oh every Tuesday from 1-3pm SLT.

Meet new and interesting people, see what everyone is working on in SL - art projects, new builds, designs, writing projects. Bring something to "Show and Tell."

For more information, IM Cybergrrl Oh.

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Voice comes to Elysian Isle.

Following the arrival of the latest software upgrade from Second Life we spent several hours yesterday checking out the new voice communications facility that comes with this upgrade. Like most things in Second Life it takes a while to get used to it, little things like remembering to face the speaker, and not moving more than about 10metres away from the speaker, but having said that it is a great addition.

Being able to use voice to speak to each other is a great addition. To try it out a group of Elysian regulars spent a couple of hours at the Café chatting yesterday evening, and it really showed the value of social spaces like the café.

The voice communications feature should prove really useful for events like the Reading Group meetings, and we are all looking forward to trying it out at the next meeting on August 14th.

Monday 6 August 2007

Felix Dennis’ ‘How to Get Rich’ event gets under way.

Despite a few problems with the video of Felix Dennis reading a poem about how to get rich, the event on Elysian Isle marking the launch of the paperback edition of his bestselling book ‘How to get rich’ has got off to a good start.

Over the weekend a steady stream of people took the path through the ‘Forest of Dennis’ , most of them are now the proud possessors of the free t-shirt and glasses and nearly half have taken an entry form to the competition.


If you have not yet been…..do come…..