Johannes Huntsman literature, second life, secondlife

PRESS RELEASE: The Dickens Project presents the New and the Familiar, beginning December 4

PRESS RELEASE
Issue: Immediate Release

Kill Date: January 3rd, 2021

Media Contact:

Caledonia Skytower, Seanchai Library
caledoniaskytower@gmail.com

The Dickens Project presents the New

and the Familiar, beginning December 4

Second Life – The Seanchai Library is proud to announce the opening of The Dickens Project 2020 Edition. The Project began as a special seasonal presentation of Seanchai Library in 2008. It transformed into an interactive environment in 2012, then to a full region experience in 2017. This year’s two regions are inspired by the Victorian world of A Christmas Carol and other beloved tales, offering a broad spectrum of opportunities to explore, discover, and participate.

The Dickens Project presented over 80 hours of events during the month of December 2019, and this year’s schedule is just as ambitious. Information is available on Seanchai’s website in addition to other information that will be released during opening week. This year’s two-region creation opens to the Second Life community on Friday, December 4th and will remain open through Sunday, January 3rd.

“Every year The Dickens Project intentionally blends the familiar features of previous years with new things waiting to be discovered,” said Caledonia Skytower of Seanchai Library. “It helps our loyal visitors feel like they are coming home, gets them excited about what’s new, and encourages them to share the experience with their friends. That’s our goal. Each year the Dickens Project is just a little different. This year, with a second region, there is a lot that is fresh and new.”

The Dickens Project is also about a community of Second Life individuals and organizations that come together for this month long celebration. That community will again include Radio Riel, and Innsmouth SL. The Community Virtual Library will feature aspects of Victorian life from clothing, workers conditions, Dickens in Spanish, to The London Exhibition in a dedicated information district. Idle Rogue Productions will return with a new edition of their “Midnight Dinner” show, and Misfit Dance & Performance Art returns with “A Very Misfit Christmas” filled with seasonal joy. These are in addition to the live story reading programs which are Seanchai Library’s hallmark.

Virtuoso Performing Arts joins the community this year, presenting their new “Tales of Beatrix Potter” show New Year’s weekend; and the SL Hawks Aerobatic Team will present their “Ghost Flights of Christmas” air show in performances in the skies above Dickens Harbour. That’s right: an air show based on A Christmas Carol.

For inquiring minds, there is “The Horse in Victorian London”, and “The Mine” interactive experiences. The later experience includes a ride through a mine with Sultan the pit pony and his coal carts. “Sultan” is a tribute to the name of one of the last pit ponies in Wales. Like their predecessor, the Urchin Experience (on hiatus this year), these experiences seek to balance the view of Dickens’ world. “It’s not all plum puddings and prize turkeys,” says Skytower, “not for children, the working poor, women, or for animals.”

The popular “Carol Week” returns with a section of Dickens’ novella presented live each day in a “Story Tour” to the sites on the region inspired by the story. Saturday, December 19th features Fezziwig’s Ball in the Opera House. The week culminates in The Big Read on Sunday, December 20th at Noon in Dickens Square. The Big Read is a relay-style presentation involving 9-12 voices in a continuous reading of “A Christmas Carol” from the beginning to the end of it.

“And this is just the tip of the iceberg,” added Skytower, “We have art shows this year for the first time, and wearable horses and carriages that you can drive around on each region, and so much more. It’s not a cliche’. It’s really impossible to concisely summarize everything you can do, see, or experience at this year’s Project. You just have to come and check it out for yourself.”

Seanchai Library offers its thanks to Linden Labs and Patch Linden, our 2020 Region Sponsors.

http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/p/the-dickens-project-sl.html

NOTE TO PRESS/BLOGGERS: A Limited Preview is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2nd from 2-4pm. Members of the virtual media are invited to get a closer look at The Project before it officially opens. Team Dickens creators will be on hand to answer questions, and the music stream will broadcast music and highlight various features in the region.

About the Seanchai Library

Seanchai Library (pronounced Shawn-a-kee, which means “Storyteller” in Irish Gaelic.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. The program remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: “We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life and other virtual worlds.” http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/

All times listed are SLT/ Pacific.

Johannes Huntsman art, artists, Kultivate, literature, second life, second life art, secondlife, secondlife art, sl

Seanchai Library Celebrates a Decade of Stories with “Volume 10”

 

Issued: March 15, 2018

PRESS RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT

Caledonia Skytower, Seanchai Library
caledoniaskytower@gmail.com

Seanchai Library Celebrates a Decade of Stories with “Volume 10”

 

Second Life – On March 20, 2008 Shandon Loring presented the very first story in voice at the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center, which would become Seanchai Library. A decade later, Seanchai Library is still presenting literature, stories, and poems live in voice every week. March 15th begins Seanchai’s ten day celebration of stories brought to life in virtual worlds, featuring a light-hearted quest, music events and, of course, stories. “Volume 10” kicks off today with the opening of a quest, and at 7pm PDT with Chief Storyteller Shandon Loring beginning the first of a two part presentation of Frank Delaney’s The Architect of Newgrange.

Continue reading “Seanchai Library Celebrates a Decade of Stories with “Volume 10”” →

Johannes Huntsman art, artists, inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, second life art, secondlife, secondlife art, sl, windlight featured

Seanchai Library on the Move!

Seanchai Library On Holly Kai 02.jpg
Press Release is also available at http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/p/press-re.html

Issued: May 31, 2017
PRESS RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT

Caledonia Skytower, Seanchai Library

caledoniaskytower@gmail.com

Seanchai Library On The Move

 Second Life – Seanchai Library, one of Second Life’s oldest spoken word programs –  now in its tenth year, is relocating from its current home on the Bradley University, hosted by the Community Virtual Library (CVL), to Holly Kai Park on the Blake Sea, part of the vast USS Regions and Estates.

“Both Seanchai and the CVL are currently facing crossroads in their organizational lives” said Caledonia Skytower, representing Seanchai Library, “Such transitional times involve challenging processes of review, reflection, and analysis in our best efforts to keep our presences in the virtual world relevant. Done well, it leads to healthy change.”  Seanchai Library engaged in just such a review and discussion process, and decided to take advantage of an offer to join the arts programming on Holly Kai, which includes the Art Hill, music events at The Pavilion, regular DJ gatherings at Catinara Bar, and larger community events such as the recent “Filling the Cauldron” fundraiser in early April.

 

“Seanchai Library is the perfect compliment to what we already present here.” said Holly Kai Curator Inara Pey, “We have enjoyed the storytelling programs that we have already offered, and are excited about having a greater spoken word presence here as part of our portfolio of features.”  Seanchai and Holly Kai have already collaborated on several events including last October’s “The Great Boo” ghost stories, “Dragon Tales” at the recent fundraiser, and an ongoing series of “Stories at the Park” presenting original micro-fiction and poetry inspired by, and presented concurrent to, the regular series of art installations.

In 2010, Seanchai accepted an invitation to make the CVL its home.  From locations on Info Island International, Imagination Island, and in the last two years on Bradley University, the Library has produced over 1,800 hours of live programming promoting literature, stories, and poetry.  Seanchai Library has supported cooperative programming with the CVL; producing numerous fundraising events, and twice producing The Dickens Project as a benefit for the CVL.

“This move is not a ‘good bye and good luck’ move,” Skytower clarified, “One of the great strengths of virtual worlds is the ability for it to break down barriers, including those of proximity.  While the move to Holly Kai provides Seanchai Library with some new opportunities, it does not do so to the exclusion of other relationships. We believe that all of our cooperative relationships, including with the CVL, will benefit by this change.”  Seanchai Library has already reached an  agreement regarding this year’s edition of The Dickens Project, scheduled to take place in a LEA Core Region this December, with the CVL contributing background resources on Charles Dickens and Victorian England that will be available to all visitors.

Seanchai Library will present its last story on Bradley University on Thursday, June 22nd at 7pm slt with Chief Storyteller Shandon Loring’s presentation of Ron Rash’s “The Southern Thing,” opening in the new location the following Sunday, June 25th.

Seanchai Library (Shawn-a-key, which means “Storyteller” in Irish.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. Thousands of stories, and hundreds of authors later, the program remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: “We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life.” Learn more about the program at Seanchai Library’s website – seanchailibrary.com

Look for landmarks and slurl for the new library in announcements in-world, facebook, Google+ and at the Seanchai and Holly Kai Park websites.

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All Image Credits – Inara Pey

Continue reading “Seanchai Library on the Move!” →

Johannes Huntsman culture, Kultivate, literature

Parthenon of Books: Access a database of 70,000 books banned around the world going back to 1575 — Quartz

Soon the world will have a massive physical monument to censorship.This year, Argentine artist Marta Minujín will open an installation built from books, all of which were banned around the world at some point in history. The “Parthenon of Books,” a re-creation of her 1983 installation in Buenos Aires, will be unveiled in June at art festival documenta in Kassel, Germany.Minujín and her team worked with researchers from the University of Kassel to identify book bans of regimes past. The resulting list, which will help books be vetted for the installation, names around 72,000 forbidden titles going back to the 1500s.

The list, last updated in January, highlights extensive censorship in Nazi Germany, 18th-century Austria, and the Soviet Union, and draws on a huge list of banned books kept by the Catholic Church from 1559 to 1966.(Quartz/Thu-Huong Ha)It would be “simply impossible” to create a comprehensive list for all regimes for all of time, says Florian Gassner, who co-leads the project. But the list does contain a fascinating smattering of censorship attempts from the rest of the world:

In China where the state continues to censor political discourse, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was also restricted in 1931.

In the 1970s, books by Karl Marx and Fidel Castro were banned in Argentina, as well as El Principito (Le Petit Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. During the country’s period of extensive censorship in the 1970s and ’80s, the government banned a host of children’s books, including those of icon María Elena Walsh, whose songs and poems criticized the dictatorship.

During the 1940s, Canada restricted Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, while the Soviet Union banned George Orwell’s 1984. The University of Kassel database also shows that in 1870s United States, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were both banned from sale for their obscene material under the Comstock Laws.

The project aims to collect 100,000 books to build the installation. Anyone can donate books for consideration, but only those legal in Germany will be included.

Source: Parthenon of Books: Access a database of 70,000 books banned around the world going back to 1575 — Quartz

Johannes Huntsman Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Librarians in Florida went rogue to save 2,361 books from an algorithm — Quartz

Data is great. Our ability to collect metrics on human activity gives us insight into patterns of behavior and that allows us to adjust our strategies accordingly. But our dependence on analytics can be misplaced. Or at least that’s what a Florida librarian says.George Dore, a librarian in Orlando, Florida was suspended from his position as branch manager after an investigation revealed that he had created a fake identity to borrow library books that were falling out of fashion. His creation, the fictional Charles Finley, was given a career (ballplayer), a drivers license number, an address and a voracious appetite for reading. He was also endowed with a wide-ranging taste in literature.

Continue reading “Librarians in Florida went rogue to save 2,361 books from an algorithm — Quartz” →

Johannes Huntsman Kultivate, literature, real life

The most popular books at U.S. public libraries in 2016, mapped by city — Quartz

Hollywood has been good to Paula Hawkins. Following the release of a movie adapted from her novel, The Girl on the Train, the book has become one of the most widely read books at US libraries this year.A survey of 14 metropolitan libraries by Quartz shows that The Girl on the Train is the most checked-out book at eight of them, and the most checked-out work of fiction at 11.

Continue reading “The most popular books at U.S. public libraries in 2016, mapped by city — Quartz” →

Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

See out 2016 with classic tales from Seanchai Library in Second Life

Inara covers this week at The Seanchai Library

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

It’s time to kick-off the last week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library for 2016. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, December 26th 19:00: Flight of the Phoenix

flight-phoenixGyro Muggins continues Elleston Trevor’s gripping 1964 novel which spawned two films, the classic 1965 version starring James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krüger. Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine, and the 2004 featuring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi and  Hugh Laurie

Twelve men survive the crash of their cargo plane when a blinding, unexpected sandstorm forced it from the sky in the middle of the Sahara. Stranded and alone and facing a slow, agonizing death under the unrelenting Libyan sun, only two of them have the skills to avert a terrible fate: the brilliant, obsessed engineer Stringer, and the tormented…

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Johannes Huntsman events, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES: SUNDAY, December 18th: THE DICKENS PROJECT Finale!

Dickens’ contemporary, William Makepeace Thackeray, was as scathing a critic as ever walked the street of London, once said of A Christmas Carol, “Who can listen to objections to such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness.”

@ 11am – Traditional Dances and Music with Wald Schridde, 17th and 18thC tunes played in traditional instruments, live in Christmas Present Square.

COME EARLY in case the Raglan Shire Tiny Carolers make one final, triumphant Wootmas appearance!@ NOON: THE BIG READ: “A Christmas Carol” – All the words of every stave presented all at once by a cast of voices, presenting in relay. Est 3.5 hours. Live in Christmas Present Square.

The Dickens Project 2016 on Water Haven in Second Life.The build will be open to the public through the end of the virtual day Tuesday.  This year’s Project has been Co-Sponsored by Kultivate Magazine, and  benefits Team Diabetes of Second Life (American Diabetes Association)

Source: WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES: SUNDAY, December 18th: THE DICKENS PROJECT Finale!

Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Seanchai Library presents the ghosts of Christmas in Second Life

Inara covers this week at the Seanchai Library:

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

The Dickens Project SL 2016The Dickens Project SL 2016

It’s time to kick-off another great week of storytelling live in voice with Seanchai Library – and this week it’s a special week, with the return of a seasonal favourite:  The Dickens Project SL. 

Now in its fifth season, and as I’ve previewed, the project this year is hosted by Kultivate Magazine at their Water Haven headquarters. Every day this coming week, members of the Library and their friends will offers twice daily readings of the story, generally a stave at a time, live in voice, in surroundings created specially to evoke the settings and feeling of Charles Dickens’ most popular story.  Supporting it will be a host of additional activities, with everything culminating on Sunday, December 18th with a marathon reading of the entire novel!

The Dickens Project SL is a unique festival and presentation by Seanchai Library, so take a note of…

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Johannes Huntsman events, inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Previewing the Dickens Project for 2016 in Second Life

Inara reviews Seanchai Library’s The Dickens Project 2016:

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

posterSince December of 1843, Charles Dickens’ “Ghostly little book”, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, has never fallen out of favour, or been out of print.  Endlessly adapted, its journey of redemption has broad appeal for its secular focus, rather than sacred invocation.

– Caledonia Skytower

These are the words Cale uses to introduce The Dickens Project SL for 2016, and they are a fitting way of opening this preview for what has  – very rightly, in my opinion – become a firm Staple of the Second Life Christmas experience – and if you haven’t shared in it yourself, I strongly urge you to do so this year.

Truth be told, a Christmas Carol has always been a part of Seanchai Library’s calendar from the year it was founded. However in 2012, and coinciding with the Dickens Bicentenary Year, Seanchai took the step from reading the story to presenting it in a 360-degree immersive…

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Johannes Huntsman art, artists, dawnbeam dreamscape, december 2016 issue, eleseren, exhibitions, ilyra, inara pey, jessii2009 Warrhol, john, kamille kamala, kinn, Kultivate, literature, myra wildmist, photography, places, second life, second life art, secondlife, secondlife art, sl, stavaros resident, the edge, the edge gallery, vee tammas, virtual worlds, windlight gallery

The December Issue of Kultivate Magazine is Now Available!

The December issue of Kultivate Magazine is now available! This issue will feature 3D artist, Haveit Neox, Ghee Co-Owner & Top Model Beatrice Serendipity, poet Kile Koba, Seanchai Library’s The Dickens Project, Baycity , Winter Art, DSA Aircraft, The Wastelands Sim, the new Linden Labs experience, Horizons; and a year review of Kultivate’s fashion division, The Edge. Click the cover below to read the issue:

december-2016-windlight-cover

Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

From Baker Street to the Baltic with Seanchai Library

Inara covers this week at The Seanchai Library

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Enter the lounge at 221B Baker Street to join Seanchai Library for more Holmesian adventures Enter the lounge at 221B Baker Street to join Seanchai Library for more Holmesian adventures

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, November 27th, 13:00: Tea-time at Baker Street

Tea-time at Baker Street sees Caledonia Skytower, John Morland and Kayden Oconnell open the pages of the second full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Originally commissioned for Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, for which it was serialised under the original title The Sign of the Four; or The Problem of the Sholtos. This was reduced to The Sign of the Four in later serialisations and when published in book form in 1890 –…

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Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature

Sunday, November 20th: Stories at the Park in Second Life | hollykaiart

Sunday, November 20th will see the next in the Stories at the Park series, jointly presented by Holly Kai Park and Seanchai Library – and I hope that you’ll pop along to the event, which starts at 15:00 SLT.

Continue reading “Sunday, November 20th: Stories at the Park in Second Life | hollykaiart” →

Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Of Victorian investigations, supernatural quests shapeshifting children

Inara covers this week at The Seanchai Library

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, November 13th 13:00: Tea-time at Baker Street

Tea-time at Baker Street sees Caledonia Skytower, John Morland and Kayden Oconnell open the pages of the second full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Originally commissioned for Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, for which it was serialised under the original title The Sign of the Four; or The Problem of the Sholtos. This was reduced to The Sign of the Four in later serialisations and when published in book form in 1890 – a title which itself was further abbreviated to The Sign of Four for various film…

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Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Of signs, satanic quests, shape-shifters and childhood scams

Inara covers this week at The Seanchai Library

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, November 6th 13:00: Tea-time at Baker Street

Tea-time at Baker Street sees Caledonia Skytower, John Morland and Kayden Oconnell open the pages of the second full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Originally commissioned for Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, for which it was serialised under the original title The Sign of the Four; or The Problem of the Sholtos. This was reduced to The Sign of the Four in later serialisations and when published in book form in 1890 – a title which itself was further abbreviated to The Sign of Four for various film…

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Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Stories that go Boo! and more in Second Life

Inara reviews this week at The Seanchai Library

Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Sunday, October 30th 13:00 The Great Boo!

the-great-boo-posterIt’s that time of year when ghosts and ghouls arise, when demons and vampires and more walk abroad; it’s a time for spooky stories and terrifying tales to be told by moonlight or in darkened rooms. And if you’re someone who enjoys spine-tingling yarns, Seanchai Library has just the thing for you at Holly Kai Park – The Great Boo! – an afternoon of Halloween stories live in voice to mark the opening of Holly Kai Park’s Storyteller’s Circle.

  • 1:00pm – Dubhna Rhiadra
  • 1:20pm – VT Torvalar
  • 1:40pm – Boudicca Amat
  • 2:00pm – Bryn Taleweaver
  • 2:20pm…

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Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Sunday, October 30th: The Great Boo! at Holly Kai Park

Johannes Huntsman inara pey, Kultivate, literature, second life, secondlife, sl

Mysterious Journeys, Coniston

Million Happy Endings

mysterious-journeys-1Located on Willow Terrace in Coniston is Mysterious Journeys, Art Gallery and Fine Wines. It’s currently decorated for Halloween. mysterious-journeys-2It is indeed, mysterious. There are several virtual photos, some drawings, wine, notecards to read from the book case and a copy of the New Toulouse Tattler. (My exploring companion became quite intoxicated from his drink.)mysterious-journeys-3Coniston is located in the northeastern corner of Sansara and created to look like the landscape of Northern England.mysterious-journeys-4An exhibit is located in the upper level. Mysterious Journeys is owned by Leonardo Myst.

There’s a broomstick rezzer in the park across the street for those who want to travel around the area but their’s is in the shop.

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Johannes Huntsman Kultivate, literature, real life

Christopher Marlowe credited in Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays — Quartz

The Oxford University Press will credit Christopher Marlowe as the co-writer in William Shakespeare’s three Henry VI plays, after a research conducted by 23 international scholars supported the theory of his contribution.

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