A Mystery

"Tinas universum" used to be one of the most active Swedish/Scandinavian SecondLife blogs as long as it was run by PetGirl Bergman (aka Tina).

Through Tina´s hard work, efforts and her good connections - she was after all one of the hmm lets call it most experienced (but I really mean oldest known still active Swedish avatar with her 6+ years in-world) she made it the most influential among the Scandinavian communities and the Scandinavian blogs.

It was almost "a must" to read for all residents with any self respect or interest in what was going on in SecondLife.

After more than a year of in-world conflicts PetGirl was finally so fed-up with it all that she transferred the blog to an un-named group of 6-8 other Scandinavians. They said from the start that they would not be able to keep her tempo in updating but started out nicely with a few posts everyday.

Suddenly I discovered there was something missing in my life. It used to be my habit before logging in-world to read "Tina´s Universe" just to get information what was going on, now I suddenly realized that I had not read it for awhile. So I just checked and saw it had not been updated for 6 days.

That is totally unheard of, not even when Tina was sick as a dog or on vacation would this have happened before. Is there some news I have missed about this?

Now I am looking for answers to this mystery, does anyone know whats happened? Please inform me and the rest of us in the comments below!

The Jesters Hat Goes To Second Pride

As the proud creator of the fashion forward Jesters Hat, only recommended for the most daring of fashionistas, I was happy to find two pictures of it on Jeff Ellsworth's blog.

I should have known that some of the gay men would understand my vision.

Ernst Maven in The Jesters Hat (a bit toned down to suit his outfit). Photo by Jeff Ellsworth

Themba in The Jesters Hat - rainbow edition. Photo by Jeff Ellsworth

As some of you know this fashionable hat is the base of the BMcM Corporation, everything started with this hat. It is the creation to which I own my fame or infamy!

Only two other people loved it before, my Ars and Millimina, and that may well be because they love me too.

Myself in my creation

Second Day of Second Pride

The second day of Second Pride 2011 and I went to the party at the LGBT-sim. The first DJ there was my old friend from Boots Beach, Jerrod Roddenberger. He was really great to my relief!

Jerrod was so sweet to refer to Ars and myself as his mentors from his early days in SecondLife. I am sure I do not deserve such an honorable mention, but Ars was always good at looking after others and helping out as best he could. He is well worth any praise he gets.

The second DJ was Sasch Petrov, who is a sure card from the old days too. I used to go to the German gay club Arsenal to listen to him DJ. Sasch is still going strong, also to my great relief!

Well to fit the occasion I had made a special outfit for myself and a rainbow Jesters Hat. I thought I looked pretty stunning, but some still mistook my hat for hair which kind of upset me a little until I decided they could not be true fashionistas.

The club was filled with the most awesome male avatars I have seen in a while, well except for other members of my SecondLife family that is. Andrey, Dejerrity, Jeb, Guyke and Janttu are hard to beat when it comes to stunning avatars. One of the men caught my special attention, his name is Jimmy Windstorm. I would love to see him photographed by Eddi Haskell someday

 

I took a whole lot of pictures the first hour but was too tired when Millimina had joined me, which I really regret now because she looked beautiful as always. Life is too short for regrets though, so here are some of the pictures I did take.

One of the nice things about Second Pride is you get to meet people you haven´t seen for the longest while, nice guys that you have met earlier and become friends with but somehow your paths never cross - except for at Pride. Of course an explanation to that could also be that I have been pretty reclusive the last year.

Oh I mustn't forget to mention, I gave a guy an interrogation on behalf of someone I love dearly. He passed all my tests with flying colors so far, but I am not completely done with him yet...

The Party has Started - Enjoy

Rejoice for - in spite of the Rapture - We are still here, We are still queer and you still need to get used to having us in your face.

So as you cannot beat us why not join in on our celebrations this week?

Some pictures from the events yesterday. I am sorry to say there was no Parade, it had to be canceled for various reasons, but listening to Mapoo Little sing was a great party starter. The crowd went wild for this little woman with the huge voice, of course she pleased us with some gay anthems but at an occasion like this it is fitting

Here are some pictures from the party and the ceremony that followed it, "The lighting of the Flame of Hope". I could not get on the sim for the last event, but thanks to Zack Preminger, I got a good view from the adjacent sim.

 

This great picture was sent to me by my friend Kolja Shan

The Speech given for the "Lighting of the Flame of Hope" by Nanaki Raymaker.
 

It's great to see you all here today!

This statue was a joint effort of the Board of Directors of Second Pride 2011 - specifically Tylendel Falconer, Jace  Lewis, and Nanaki Raymaker. It was designed to be seen clearly from a distance, and across several regions, and therefore uses conventional prims for the flame instead of particles.

The two most obvious symbols of the GLBT community have been used - the rainbow, as well as black and pink triangles.

Inverted pink triangles were used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. This symbol, which was used to label and shame, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride.

Starting out as a late-night mission in protective darkness, the giant Pink Triangle has been annually placed atop Twin Peaks - a mountain in the center of San Francisco - during every Pride Parade weekend since 1995.

The rainbow flag and it's colors has been revised over the years, each color representing a positive attribute of our shared existence, hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo/blue for serenity/harmony and violet to represent spirit. However the most widely used flag now is the one designed by Gilbert Baker (six colors).

 In November 1978, San Francisco's gay community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. Wishing to demonstrate the gay community's strength and solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee decided to use Baker's flag.

This statue represents the upward progress of all sexualities and gender identities - after all - no civil rights movement has *ever* failed, as well as a symbol of hope that one day we will shine as one light, and speak with one voice.

We've got Mr. Gay 2011 and Ms. Gay 2011 here to light the flame atop this statue. A man who needs no introduction, Regi Yifu is an absolute powerhouse of creativity, generosity, and has been a source of inspiration for the GLBT community.

Marge Beaumont has served on the 2011 board of Second Pride as our Treasurer, and has worked tirelessly in her role. She is both a source of inspiration and endless humor, and I feel very honored to consider her a friend.

Second Pride - Program

What would we all do without the help of our friends?

While I was extremely busy sleeping my dear friend Eddi Haskell published the full program for Second Pride 2011 on his blog Eddi Haskell´s Second Life

As Eddi is almost as proliferous at blogging as PetGirl Bergman used to be this is your direct link to the post with the program.

RAINBOW taxi to the Second Pride (SLurl)

The Second Pride Festival

 The SECOND PRIDE FESTIVAL
May 22nd to May 29th, 2011

Theme: International

The first Festival happened in 2005, it grew bigger in 2007 and remained a big event ever since. Every year is a different adventure as the Teams making it happen change every time, making it as diverse as our community by mixing various styles, concept and ideas each year to make every edition unique.

Making this happen in a diverse community is a challenge, especially in the Second Life virtual world as not only do people from different backgrounds meet, but to that we can add the different ethnicities, cultures, mindsets that we come across the grid which is accessible in most countries today.

Second Pride is a unique experience where we try to make sometimes very, sometimes less different people come together as one in a one week Festival of events. This is a unique human adventure to consider in advance as a thrilling roller coaster with all it's good and scary times but that everyone enjoys in the end and runs to climb back on for a second round !

Come and experience a taste of Global Pride, get out of your routine and take a shot of new things, new people, new ideas, learn to become aware of the globality of LGBT, to enjoy sharing and collaborating, setting aside self-focus, and growing to be a better person from this international sharing opportunity.

Warning To All Residents

Wild Zepp, spokesman for the McMillan household, today said that The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm, is planning his reimmersion into SecondLife tomorrow Saturday May 21st 2011 - if he survives the night. No parades please!

Residents are warned to keep their handsome male avatars, dogs and chickens indoors until further notice.