THE TAZ OF OZ!

It begins, as you might expect, with a black and white view of Kansas, and our own Auntie Em-- in this case, Evie Fairchild, owner of Cayman island. In celebration of Baccara Rhodes' one year anniversay in Second Life, Cayman has just been transformed into a world based on the Oz novels of L. Frank Baum-- with a few scattered nods to the classic Judy Garland MGM musical which emerged from them, a few decades later. (Fortunately for Spellbound, Baccara's group of event planners who created the Oz microcosm, the novels are already well within the public domain.) Wandering along the yellow brick road and through the Emerald City and flying past the witch's castle-- the Bad Witch played, perhaps unsurprisingly, by Baccara herself-- it all struck me as something of a TAZ, Hakim Bey's idea of a temporary autonomous zone. Usually the setting for weddings and other traditional ceremonies and social events, Spellbound has suddenly turned Cayman into a momentary world of literary role playing. And like a TAZ, the place will be disassembled, in a matter of days, the island returned to conventional use. And all most of us will have to remember it by will be in screenshots-- like the ones after the jump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baccara's Credits for Oz (handed to me by a passing munchkin, if memory serves):

- Costumes by Fey Brightwillow

- Emerald City Build by Donovan Galatea & Nyna Slate

- Witches Castle Build by Athos Murphy

- Kansas Set by Johnny Bunderfeld

- Cottage Sets by Evie Fairchild

- Script Wizard & "Surrender Dorothy" by Panthar Orlowski

- Soundtrack & Music by Astrin Few

- Games & Giveaways by Caroline Apollo

- Mini Emerald City Display by His Grace