Breezes Thoughts

First view of the morning is delightful for me.

where shall I roam this day to see. I have a craving for sweets you see. ah Iknow exactly where to go. Follow me if you please.

Is this anyway to camp??

even the bartender is ignoring me. Mercy sakes Bree you are losing it.
I know, but whats a girl to do?
I asked for a drink , he said get it yourself little lady. I raised my glims at him and the look went squinty. finally Igot my drinks.
Just goes to show. Persistance is what it takes.

Now here is my craving satisfied? No not quite. haha but It is close.

Munching on Jellybeans standing amongst the hedgehogs that like to bite my Saadi. and the peacock squawking at him as he frowns mightily. Me in latex and a western hat and gun waiting to venture to a mixup contest. This is the way I go tonight.
Variety of stuff I can get into?

Breezes Babii

Interview with Jazzz Hermit

By Bixyl Shuftan

The romantic-themed sim Mystery is a place with numerous sites and attractions, notably the riverboat club “Queen of Hearts.” There are also quite a few planned events, such as the daily dance parties at the club and the bazaar sales. Helping sim owner Tygeria Mirabeau manage these, as well as editing the sim magazine, is Jazzz Hermit. Jazzz also describes himself as “mildly courting” Tygeria. I recently had a chance to meet up with him, and he talked a little about his time at Mystery.

Bixyl Shuftan: How did you find out about Second Life?

Jazzz Hermit: Through one of my friends, Amythe Moonlight . She came in a long time before me, but eventually convinced me to give it a go.

Bixyl Shuftan: And how did your experiences in SL go at first?

Jazzz Hermit: It was fun :) I started out having a go at building things. First thing I built was a steam train, then Amythe kept challenging me to build other stuff. It was a while before I came to Mystery, I stayed in sandboxes mostly to begin with.

Bixyl Shuftan: What things did she have you build?

Jazzz Hermit: I was allowed to build whatever I wanted; I remember building a penny farthing at one point, I know she asked me to build a coal scuttle for the pub in the village. Mostly random stuff. :)

Bixyl Shuftan: Did much of what you made ended up here in Mystery?

Jazzz Hermit: I think only the coal scuttle survived :) Amythe sometimes bounces ideas off me, but it's her and AJ that do all the actual building. I haven't got the patience they have.

Bixyl Shuftan: When did you join Mystery?

Jazzz Hermit: I came to Mystery in October 2008 - I didn't join the staff till November, when I first sang for the sim. ... I first sang at Tygeria's birthday party, but it was great fun.

Bixyl Shuftan: About how often do you sing here?

Jazzz Hermit: Not very often. :( I'm away a lot, so I only sing online maybe once every two months. ... hopefully (it will change soon) :) I'm going to be back home for a couple of months in June, hopefully.”

Bixyl Shuftan: How would you describe your work on Intrigue magazine?

Jazzz Hermit: Working on the magazine is great fun. I do it all in photoshop. It's exciting designing the various aspects - the spring edition was supposed to have an interview with Bloodrose Writer in it, but unfortunately I couldn't get hold of him. It's a fun way of getting people to know what it is we do here while making it interesting to read. I get some help on it - a friend of mine does an article now, Amythe helps with the photos and AJ/Tygeria both check it over once it is finished to make sure there are no mistakes, etc.

Bixyl Shuftan: I heard you play some music in real life as well.

Jazzz Hermit: Yes - a lot of my time in real life is spent with my music :) I study music at a university currently.

Bixyl Shuftan: Have you done performances of any kind in real life?

Jazzz Hermit: (laughs) A lot. I was recently in a choir that performed Faure's Requiem I've been doing live performances since I was around about ten, i think. Back then it was school concerts though! :)

Bixyl Shuftan: You describe yourself as liking to sing blues, jazz, and ballads. Do you often try other styles, or is that what you more or less stick with?

Jazzz Hermit: To be honest, I've never thought my voice could sing much more. These days, I'm more of a classical singer than anything - partially due to my university course, but singing classically has helped enormously with all other kinds of singing. Rock/Pop was never my thing - as much as I tried to sing it, it always sounded wrong. (laughs)

Bixyl Shuftan: Heh ... Any particular projects that you've been working on recently, in Intrigue magazine or anything else in Mystery?

Jazzz Hermit: A lot of my time is spent at the university these days, we're getting into exam time :/ I know there's going to be a special edition copy of next month's magazine with a limited number of copies, so that's something I'm currently working on. I've just done a massive rebuild of my computer, so hopefully it'll last long enough this time to get some work done :) I don't think I'm performing again till May 17th, but I've been mostly talking easter ideas with Amy and AJ recently.

Bixyl Shuftan: Any ideas that you can share, or are they all surprises?

Jazzz Hermit: Ha ha! I can tell you that the poetry competition has double prizes this month, and that there's going to be a 'guess-the-staff' game, where you have to guess the member of staff based on a photo from their newbie days.

Bixyl Shuftan: I take it the latter will be quite hard.

Jazzz Hermit: Almost certainly. :)

Bixyl Shuftan: Any particuarly memorable happenings here that you'd like to share? Any amusing incidents?

Jazzz Hermit: Ummm .... one of my personal favorite memories from here is during a live concert. Debi Latte was singing onstage, when Tygeria rezzed a giant Rhinoceros next to her :) While people started riding the Rhino, Debi started singing 'The Rhinoceros Song' (laughs).

Bixyl Shuftan: (chuckles) Any future plans that you'd like to mention?

Jazzz Hermit: I don't think I've got any plans at the moment - everything just seems to happen. :)

Bixyl Shuftan: Anything else that you'd like to share?

Jazzz Hermit: I can't think of anything else. Thank you.

And so, the interview ended, with each of us going our separate ways.

Jazzz’s magazine “Intrigue” can be read online on it’s website : http://www.heartofmystery.com/Magazine/.

Bixyl Shuftan

Kiana Writer of MadPea Productions

By Nazz Lane

I’d first become aware of MadPea Productions while working on a story where I’d come across a poster about a game created specifically for a grand opening event at a business related SIM. I’d taken the informational note card offered by the poster into my inventory and reviewed a little later. When I did, the concept fascinated me and I’d decided to find out more about a company that builds games within a game. So I contacted Kiana Writer, the founder and director of MadPea Productions. She graciously accepted my offer to meet and be interviewed for the SL Newspaper.

When the arranged date and time arrived, so too did a TP request from Ms Writer and I took the ride over to MadPeas Production Headquarters on Orange Island. We exchanged pleasantries before moving to the community area where she said she liked to be while working. She then warned me that we may have multiple interruptions from visitors, so we should do the interview in IM.

Nazz: What bought you into second life Kiana?

Kiana: hmm... I came here out of curiosity and got instantly addicted.

Nazz: What was it that caused the addiction?

Kiana: SL is what you make of it. The only limit is your imagination. I just loved meeting people from all over the world, and the possibilities in SL are endless, you can really lose yourself in here.

Nazz: I’m reading from your profile "We create fantasies that are beyond your imagination..." that and from what you'd just said, was that the inspiration for forming MadPea?

Kiana: Definitely, when I came into SL, I was really surprised how “little” there actually was going on … you can create anything here ... and yet people were choosing the same activities as in RL. I saw the potential to bring my stories alive in here and I absolutely love it.

Nazz: How did you come up with the name MadPea?

Kiana: *Laughs* … a moment of madness I guess. It just seemed to fit us perfectly. We wanted something cute and crazy to describe us.

Nazz: It is memorable. You've been in SL for nearly two years now ... have changes in SL changed your vision for MadPea?

Kiana: hmm... let me think about that one … From the technical point of view the engine has improved, which enables us to make the games more realistic. And of course more and more people are joining SL, which is great.

Nazz: I was recently at the Sigma-Aldrich SIM and saw that MadPea had developed a game for their opening last October ... did you approach them or did they approach you?

Kiana: They came to us. They saw what we had done here at Orange and wanted a fun little game for their opening.

Nazz: Was the idea for "Reaction" MadPea's?

Kiana: We sat down with Georgianna from Sigma-Aldrich and talked about what they would like and then proposed Reaction to her.

Nazz: How many other RL companies have done something similar?

Kiana: We just finished a game for MacMillan Publishers/ Nature Publishing group, and the game 'Notes from the Voyage' will come out on soon, and we're currently working on a game for Orange … which will be the biggest game we've ever done. We have several proposals at the moment, but since we are a small team, we usually carefully select the clients.

Nazz: Earlier you'd mentioned that SL has allowed your stories to come out, are you a writer?

Kiana: Like you, I'm a journalist … but I've been writing stories since I was little. Actually I came to SL when I started writing my first novel in English, because I wanted to learn more English ...that was nearly two years ago, and I only completed one chapter … I got so hooked on making games instead.

Nazz: Do you think you'll finish the novel eventually?

Kiana: I think it's going to turn into a game here.

Nazz: Which MadPea game has proven to be the most popular with SL'ers?

Kiana: Eek! That's a tough question. The games we have out at the moment are very different yet, we have the same players playing them all. “Within” and “Firefly” are more challenging and “Swamp Hotel” is currently on the Linden Showcase, it's a smaller game.

Nazz: Why do you think the games have gained so such popularity in SL when a number of people consider SL a "game"?

Kiana: I think everyone here reaches a point ... when the shopping and clubbing just aren't enough. We don't make just games, we provide a whole community. You get to meet like-minded people … and one thing I was thinking actually ... you get to play our games as yourself in a strange way. For example, if you play a game on a console, you have to choose a character, but in SL, you tend to spend a long time making your avatar into your persona and you truly get to live the story as yourself. We build the games from the player's point of view, to give the player a true experience. The feedback we get is so funny at times … some people have been really scared

Nazz: You'd mentioned "community", since the inception of MadPea how big has the community gotten?

Kiana: We’re at 1058 members at the moment and we have a Hippogroup for those that don't have group space. And now we have a problem, because the group is so big, the notices don't reach everyone and the group chat fails all the time, we need that for communication.

Nazz: Do the members of the community interact in SL and RL and in the "game"?

Kiana: I don't know about RL, although I've heard rumors that some members have met in RL after they met each other in MadPea games … but yes, we have events where they come to meet each other … we are also working on making our website more interactive www.madpea.com … and one thing I think is so fantastic, members that have completed a game, help out others that are just starting.

Nazz Lane: Any closing thoughts or comments you'd like to share with my readers?

Kiana: Stay tuned, as we'll be bringing out some really big games during the next couple of months, they will truly blow you away.