Touring Kingstown In SecondLife

Here's another of those entries designed to lure you into the addictive world of SecondLife by accompanying my skillful narration with pics...

:)

[A quick note about pic quality: I didn't take the time to resize all the pics into a smaller size in my previous entry, and as a result my blog page went all wonky. So this time I went ahead and sized everything down. If you don't know SL, you'd be SURPRISED how much detail you loose this way. But this isn't meant to be a photo-album; it's a story primarily. The pics are meant to enhance. So sorry about the quality. Now, moving on...]

So today we're touring Kingstown.

It's a cool li'l berg in SL created by Stranger Christensen. He and his wife are huge fans of Stephen King's work, and this is their tribute to him.



This, as you can see, is ME :) I'm beginning my tour at the campsite. Behind me, you can see a hoovering dreamcatcher, which I'm guessing is a nod to the more recent novel/film DREAMCATCHER. (I could be wrong here...)



I doubt you can see in the above pic, but laying on the rock pit that the campfire is burning in is a stick with a couple of roasting marshmellows! Nice little detail there :)

And behind me in frame is my first stop, the Overlook Hotel. Now, even if you haven't read the book THE SHINING, you have undoubtedly seen either Kubrik's film (most likely) or the ABC TV mini-series STEPHEN KING'S THE SHINING. If not, both are available on dvd. Go rent them and watch them again. NOW!

Unless you don't enjoy the horror genre, in which case this entry may not interest you much. I, however, am a Horror Nerd, so I dig on a town like this!



Immediately upon entering the front lobby, you see a couple of stills from the movie. The famous Bloody Evelvator scene, and a spooky shot of Nicholson's character at the hotel some 40 decades earlier.

(A note about spoiler: I'm not going to worry about them. I am truly sorry if I ruin anything for anyone, but it's not like I'm giving away major plot points here. I'm just touring a virtual town.)

And the further into the lobby I walk... OH! What?! What's that coming toward me?!!! Could it be...

A GHOST!

YEAH, BAY-BAY!!!

When the ghost reaches me, a script in the object corrupts my avatar's built-in animations and my computer crashes.

Just kidding :)

It passes through me harmlessly -- if creepily -- and I proceed to...



...the elevator...
...and the second floor.



Okay, one of the cool things about the Overlook Hotel is that Stranger Christensen designed it so that you can actually rent the rooms!!! Not with dollars, though. With SL's own currency, called "Linden dollars" or "Lindens" (and denoted thusly: "L$").

To give you an idea of the exchange-rate: The last time I bought Lindens, $20 got me around L$5,400. Or something like that.

(But like other all money, the value of Lindens fluxuates.)

A stay at the Overlook costs L$150 per 7 days. (And sinces the transactions are all automated by scripting, you can't haggle. It's take it or leave it. But that's cool.)

And THIS, Room 418, is the room I rented!!!



And this is the view out my window.

At night.

You get a better view during the day... But this being the Overlook Hotel in Kingstown, THIS is really the view you want.

Now, the truth is that in SL there's very little reason to stay in a hotel room. I mean, you CAN FLY in this world. So room rental is really more about bragging rights than anything else. So I spent, maybe, a grand total of 10 minutes in the room for my L$150. But in my opinion: Money WELL SPENT :)



And Brian didn't come with me on this tour, but here's the room he rented.

I actually took the tour on the last day of our stay, and we got notice that we had been "evicted" at midnight (SL Time).

Below is the view from the upstairs deck. (You can see the window to my room to my left -- your right -- and the window to Brian's room to my right -- your left.)

Cool deck, right?!



Returning to the second-floor lobby, you see more stills from Kubrick's flick and...

OH NOW! WHAT'S THAT?!!

Yep, those creepy little chick ghosts!

I jest now, but the first time you walk in and you're not prepared for that, it REALLY IS creepy! And it makes you a lot more careful when you open up doors. Because you didn't even know that was possible before, now you're wondering what other surpises the person who built this might have for ya :)





And if you'd like a souvenier to commemorate you stay in the Overlook, L$49 get's you an "I Survived the Overlook Hotel" T-shirt, with Stephen King's image on the front.





So, natch, I bought one :)



Next stop: The Pet Cemetery!!!



I don't know how well you can read these tombstones in these sized-down pic, so I'll read them to you...

"RAIDER: Nessie Cobb's Best Friend And Only Companion"

That's an allusion to NEEDFUL THINGS. If you're not familiar with that one, I recommend the book over the movie. Although the movie had some GREAT actors truning in great performances, the story is too truncated.

The legacy King will be leaving literature is the richly detailed people and places he invented or modified. King fans are ravenous because they KNOW the worlds King has created -- even if they haven't been to the Real-Life places that inspired King.

So despite the valiant effort made by the movie's screenwriter(s) and director, the book is my humble recommendation. (First, at least.)



"My Poor Dog Lucky Got Hit By A Trucky; Guess He Wasn't So Lucky"

I want to say this was from the book, but I couldn't tell ya for sure. (King books are long, and I'm a slow reader, so I tend not to reread them... Sry. "Jerusalem's Lot", however... I can't quote it yet, but I'm WELL on my way!!!)



"CUJO: My Best Friend Almost To The End"

You get that reference, I'm sure :)



"Here Lies Church the Cat: Born September 1987, Died October 1989, Dies Again November 1989"

If you've seen the excellent movie or read the excellent novel, you get THAT reference :)



This is a wierd energy-ball thing in the center of the cemetery. I believe it's more Symbolic than Literal.

Like the campfire I started out by: It symbolizes the four guys camping out at the beginning of the story, rather than recreating a literal scene from the movie/novel.

Still... It's COOL!

:)



And here we are at Needful Things: A shop built by the Devil to provide you with your deepest desire... For the oh-so-small price of... "a favor." ;)



Here are a couple of items used to procure such favors. Including...



A shard from Noah's Ark!!!



And here's me with Captain Jack Sparrow...

This is actually a life-sized stand-up you can purchase in the store.

No relation to the King novels, but a bloke's gotta make money SOMEHOW, right?



And if you slip into the shopkeep's seat, you find yourself drawing upon the dark energies of the universe...





And don't forget to tip your Host!

I didm't tip when I too this tour, and I was a little wasted the night that Brian and I rented the rooms... But Brian assures me (he hadn't been drinking NEARLY as much) that I was "overly generous" with my tip... In ADDITION TO renting a room and buying a T-shirt :)

(He says that he tipped "just over what the last tip was", so I'm sure he was plenty generous, too...)



And thus concludes your guided tour through Kingstown, one of the VERY COOL places you can visit in SecondLife!

Hope you enjoyed!!!

:)