Music is the strongest form of magic

 

Whether you have angels dancing on clouds or devils in the heat of the hottest music, the Basement Club is always different and always unique.

The music makes people smile and when you smile you cannot be sad and that is what it is all about.
No matter what life throws you at any moment, music can soften that blow. The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but the music of the essence. (We have visual art here as well in the gallery.)

"Music is the strongest form of magic." “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

We hope to achieve the sensation of that magic for everyone that visits the Basement Club. We are all so lucky to be here in Second Life which is rich in music and art. What a great place to be at. This is the Metaverse in its finest creation and it gets better every year. 

So, if one night you do not know where to go or you are tired of the same old music, why not stop by the Basement Club and listen for yourself so that we can fill that pleasure of music you may have never heard before? We want to enhance that sensation and bring out those feelings and memories. DJs are here Mondays through Fridays starting at 6PM SLT. They even take requests if you absolutely need to hear something. 

Want to play your own music and be a DJ? Come and apply. Even a frog can do it.

Maybe you feel your voice is not a DJ voice or you just don't like to talk, it is ok. We never force any DJ to talk. You can do this. It is easy, fun, and rewarding.

Whatever you decide we hope you stop by and give music a chance. Not just any music but music that will make you smile.

Until then, be at peace always. Life is too short to frown.

Second Life Challenge

This challenge is called the famous landmark challenge and I remember quite a few places that I visited in the past in Second Life. 

The Eiffel Tower is a world-known icon. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel fondly called ‘the magician of iron’ was a French master engineer and architect. A must-see here in Second Life and of course part of this challenge. You can travel here right from the comfort of your own chair and home and you will be amazed just as much as if you would be here in real life. 

Versov is a shopping experience that can be found deep within the bustling city of Paris. A variety of products, such as shoes, clothes, eyewear, and accessories can be found within the store. Visitors are more than welcome to explore outside the store as well and get a feel for the bustling atmosphere of the streets of Paris.

A reminder this is Second Life, but the experience is real. Why not stop by and be part of the challenge? I had a lot of fun exploring this sim once again. I enjoy it very much when I see a sim this old still here. You kind of expect it to be here because the Eiffel Tower has been around for many many years and it will remain that way for a long time. 

The Virtual World has also its own challenge with Meta and the Zuck trying to create something that people can visit, but let's be honest about this Second Life has mastered the virtual world of the metaverse for 19 years and like the Eiffel Tower it will be around for many more.

You have to understand the followers that are forever embedded into Second Life, Meta does not have this. Yes, they have Facebook and all those platforms but none can compare to Second Life. You are talking about Coca-Cola which we all know and comparing it to a new cola with an aftertaste nobody will stick with after they had a drink or two.

Nope, that fat is not gonna stick at all. 

All of you Second Lifers show your stuff and travel to Paris in Second Life take your picture selfie and hashtag it #secondlifechallege

Post it into their Flickr Group.

Visit Strawberry Linden's Blog for more details as well.

Poetry in pictures

 "Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls."

"Sometimes I understand my own poetry better when I create a picture of it. Thanks to Second Life, I can do it and redo it as many times as I need." ~Anjelikka

Muddle

by Anjelikka

Originally written in 1997

Like confetti scattered around
in my mind of confusion
exploiting my most intangible
thoughts about life and romance.

I obliterate any vague chance
of knights pursuing my existence,
trying to express fond endearments
in their quest of convincing me
to surrender my delicate heart.

Wish and be silent

Forget the violent

Hear the flute

Of the brute

Struggles wither

Do not dither.

To read more poetry come to the 3AM Poetry Cafe. ( I have not updated that site in many years)

Sommergewitter

Sommergewitter is a german word for summer thundershowers. They happen a lot in the summer and are a nice way to cool off, for a little bit. Sommergewitter is also a sim that has been around for many years. I have been there often and I love to reflect on the wonderful times I had there. Whether they were sad or happy, they were memories Second Life has preserved for me.

I took many pictures there and I even made a video there about 6 years ago. Wow, how time flies, and another wow for all the great memories. 

Writing a blog and capturing the photographs is a wonderful way to show that these places here in Second Life have been around for a long time and they get better all the time. I love coming here and seeing what new things I can discover and what old things I can see again. 

I hope you go out and visit this beautiful place and make some of your own memories you can look back at.

Another thing I love
Is feeling rain hit my skin
Little drops of heaven
Sinking to within.
I adore these storms
As they emerge from the sky
The clouds getting darker
The wind is whooshing by.

It echoes loud and clear, a thunderstorm passing by. Reverberating within my mind brings with it flashes of confusion, and bolts of newfound understanding, with it, I have lost all sense of identity.
This diverse thunderstorm is new territory, lands desperately for travel & discovery. Who am I? What do I feel is correct? I'm lost wandering through the rain.

Read up on this past blog post I made in 2018 about Sommergewitter. and in 2016

It only happens when I look at you from Anjelikka Kowalski on Vimeo.

(P.S. Greg is still a very good friend of mine, what a good guy he is. I am so lucky to have met him and I wish him all the best Second Life and Real life can offer. )

A Pirate is a Pirate

Second Life has given me the ability to give my poems a vision. I started writing so many years ago and even at the university poetry writing was one of my minors. I loved it of course because it gave me a way to express myself. I do this still today in art, picture taking, and poetry writing. At one point I created a lot of machinimas in Second Life about poems I wrote or just random thoughts. 

The poem below I wrote so many years ago was the inspiration for one of my videos filmed in Second Life. 

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

A Pirate is not a Prince
(AKA as A Pirate is a Pirate)

She was drifting in the wide-open sea of her dreams,
only she knew where her ship was sailing to,
or did she forget again how to navigate
through the endless black sea of her inner-self?
It wouldn't be the first time,
it happened so many times before,
and I wonder if there is any ocean left to sail.

But she keeps on drifting raising the sails of her heart.
There are dangers out there in the sea
hasn't she learned the lessons of past battles
with dragons, sea monsters, and pirates?

And just as predicted another pirate ship on the horizon
appears on the water of deep emotion.
She didn't even have time to change the course
and the pirate conquers her ship just like the others before
as if she was waiting for the disaster to happen
just one more time.

A damsel in distress, a role she knows so well
she should be nominated to win an award.
Oh but no, this one will be different
a sailor full of treasures on his ship
only to find out they are from the Titanic.
His ideas are as violent as the sea
but of course no surprise to us
we know what is out there in the ocean
just garbage is thrown in by the careless peasants.

Yet, she still lets her heart be captured
by the pirate in her dreams of darkness
as the moon silhouettes the flag
of the enemy vessel bigger than hers.
One can only hope she will wake up
realizing that a pirate is a pirate
and not a prince charming,
although I'm not sure if they exist,
but there are enough pirates
still capturing ships unprotected on the sea
floating without a purpose.

A Pirate is a Pirate from Anjelikka Kowalski on Vimeo.

Bella's Lullaby

Lover lover weep for me no more I've been right here under the willow...

Mother, mother I think I found my soul while I was hiding under the willow

I've been the portrait of despair despite this hat and badge I wear 

I've been a captive and a coward.

Bella's Lullaby is a place where nature breathes, with many photogenic spots.  Wander among flowers and animals and find your inner peace. This is a really pretty sim with nature all around. Below the willow tree is where I hide the darkest parts of me. They’re hiding underneath the broken lies that I just still believe. 

Below the willow tree is where I sit and hate on my enemies. I drown ‘em in my dreams. I think it’s me who needs some humility. I’m alone here. Can you feel the sun? I do, but I can’t see it. Can you feel the breeze? I don’t, but I believe it.

Below the willow tree I get hung up on my insecurities. Rose-colored dopamine; my soul feels like it could be make believe.

Why not come and visit this lovely place and find some inner peace? I love all these places in Second Life where you can escape from the stress and anxiety that real-life dishes out. It is most definitely a place to boost your mental health. Some people always say Second Life is a game, but it really isn't. It is what the Metaverse should be all about.

And I know & I know what you’re thinking...I like it on my own. But I’ll let you in if you say it’s okay. Below the willow tree, I search to find some sense of identity. This weeping willow tree sits in silence and sheds no tears for me.

Check out Bella's Lullaby Flickr Group filled with some awesome photographs. I know you want to come here and sit down under the willow tree and dream the fears away.

Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared 'neath the stars above. For a moment all the world was right. But how could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye. And now I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end the way it all would go.

What Dreams May Come

 

“All of us have a path to follow and the path begins on earth.”

Today I visited a beautiful sim and it is based on the movie "What dreams may come". If you have never seen it, you may want to and then you understand the beauty of this place. It is a perfect place for pictures and to just quietly reflect on how lucky you are to be alive.

This Mortal Coil - Spark Project is a must-see for all who appreciate art, music, and life itself.

It is all inspired by dreams and so are the festivals it hosts.

“People are not punished for their deeds but by them”
― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come

What dreams may come may come in peace, what dreams may come may come as fields of roaming grains kissed by a breeze,
what dreams may come when one is whole and eyes the field as endless wonder planted by a higher power?
What dreams may come may come in jerks of memories lost from years gone by now brought to life as one just sleeps,
what dreams may come may come as real as life and love and death
what dreams may come...
You know they may...

I truly enjoyed this place a lot, it is very dreamlike and reminds us all that if life lets you down you have to keep going. In the movie, the couple who fell in love loses their children and they struggle to cope to move on. In a freak accident, the husband also dies leaving the wife all alone. Heartbroken, she commits suicide and ends up in hell. He is determined to find her even if he has to go to hell. If you think of suicide, please get some help and call 988 a 24/7 hotline.

“Everything is mental,”

You have so much to live for, even if it all looks dark at the moment, you never know what dreams may come, so stick around and find out. 

“People on earth are never alone, there’s always someone as a guide for each individual.” Life is a gift and it is to be treasured because you never know when it suddenly is taken away. Enjoy each moment, each person, each smell and sound. 

Thank you for having this beautiful sim :) 

A Funky Night

Funk Music at the Basement Club

Sometimes we have themes at the Basement Club, just for the fun of it. Funk music is a dance music genre that incorporates elements from soul, blues, and jazz. Funk originated in African American communities in New Orleans and led to the birth of an aggressive dance style. Funk is still a popular dance music genre. It’s different in the sense of adding emphasis on the first beat of each measure compared to the second and fourth beats that characterize other dance genres.

The Basement Club is more known for Indie, Alternative, and 80s Underground music with DJs M-F starting at 6PM SLT. We of course enjoy all sorts of music and the DJ decides what they want to play. Music keeps the soul happy and we all need happiness these days.  Benefits include stress relief, reduced depression and anxiety, and reduced agitation. So come on down to the Basement Club and let some of that stress go. Yes, there are many many clubs in Second Life and we love it when you come to ours. 

DJ Gerikk is our newest DJ. He may be small but he plays some giant music. All music is capable of forging bonds. The brain releases endorphins, making the shared experience pleasurable. The Basement Club welcomes all avatars. We feel it is your right to express yourself, and so be you. We only ask to be respectful.

How childhood aided to my PTSD

Although I had this fascination with bugs as a child, there was one creature that really freaked me out. It still does today. My fear of this eight-legged fiend has forever caused anxiety in my life. So I incorporated this into Second Life to conquer my fears.

I was four and with my father went to the river that flows through my home town. During the summer it always was open to people for swimming. I love the water and playing in the shallow part of the river was refreshing and so much fun. The little fish tickled my toes and I laughed. My father watched me from the distance and I made sure he never was too far, but he let me enjoy the freedom of roaming around.

I was independent.  So it came that I, like any little princess, needed to use the bathroom and at the river, the only public bathrooms were similar to outhouses. They were constructed of wood and had openings exposed to the elements to provide light. I went in and closed the latch and like a good girl did my business, all by myself. It was then that things got a little more complicated and I had to make a decision that a four-year-old is not always ready to make. I couldn’t open the latch and was stuck. I screamed for my father but there was nobody who could hear me. I had two choices either wait until somebody would walk by and hear me or find a way out. I decided to find a way out.

There was an opening on the top of the door. The problem was that the opening was covered in webs and in the corner a big spider was just waiting for its prey. Now to a little girl like me that spider was a giant and it was waiting for me. I was absolutely terrified. I knew that the only way to get through this opening was to go through the web, and this web had the spider in it. I climbed as carefully as I could all the way up. I felt the web on my hair and then on my neck. I closed my eyes. The spider touched me and I was freaked out and crawled through the hole. My body was covered in scratches and I ran as fast as I could to my father and told him what had happened.  

It just shows that you can do whatever you need to do and even if you have fears you can overcome them. I still fear spiders to this day, but if I absolutely have to I will kill them. I just stay out of their way if all possible.