Uncategorized 10:30 pm
Hear ye! Hear ye!
The Antiquity Gazette ran an interview with Jacon Cortes ,
Attorney General of Texas, Marquéz de Bexar and Antiquity Ambassador, on the 2nd of October, 2009.
A wonderful insight into the co-founder of Antiquity Texas.
Jinx Ashley
Secretary of Tourism
Uncategorized alamo, american history, antiquity texas, art, art exhibition, battle of the alamo, cnn, governors of texas, history, ireporter, john waterhouse, mar chagall, mexican army, mexican history, port isabel, presidents of texas, presidio la bahia, san jacinto park, second life, sight seeing, sl, spain, spanish, spanish history, texas, texas governor's mansion, texas governors, texas history, texas state capitol, tour, tourist, walking tour 1:08 am
by JaneyBracken [link: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-55654 ]
Being from England I must admit to not knowing a great deal about American History, however, I had heard of the Battle of the Alamo and the terrible loss of life that went on there. My good friend Wheemzel DeCuir told me that she had recently visited the Second Life sim called ‘Antiquity Texas’ where there is a replica of the Alamo Mission, so I thought I would have a look for myself
I was lucky enough to meet Texan Jacon Cortes, who, with his real life brother avatar Tocho Cortes and their partner from France avatar Pixapao Xeno, own the Antiquity sim. Antiquity Texas is a role playing sim and visitors are requested to wear Victorian style clothes when they enter the site. Jacon gave me a beautiful ladies’ riding outfit, which I put on to explore the area. Jacon is the SL Texas Attorney General and Antiquity Ambassador.
Jacon gave me a guided tour and our first stop was the SL Texas Governor’s Mansion in Austin Texas. The building is beautifully put together by Jacon and he told me he worked from original old photographs. Since he had completed the first build in SL there had been a fire destroying part of the real mansion, although luckily a lot of the interior and furniture had been removed for restoration, so at least the fire had not destroyed everything. He then created the SL building again, from another photograph of the rebuilt Mansion.
We moved on to San Jacinto Plaza where the atmospheric SL Alamo building stands (wonderfully built by Jacon), and the magnificent Texas Capitol Building also fills the skyline. The Capitol was built by Powder Pinkeba, who worked from the blueprints from the library of congress. Jacon had driven over to Austen to take photographs for the textures. I cannot say how impressive this building is, it is totally awe inspiring, and the detail inside is overwhelming. You look up into the great dome, which features photographs of the Presidents and Governors of Texas up until 1899.
There is much to see in the Capitol Building, not only the wealth of real history on display there, but also the classy shopping areas. Jacon is a master designer and builder and has clothes, jewellery and also sets of the most beautiful china and crystal I have ever seen in SL in his shops. In the Senate Chamber there are also art exhibitions featuring John Waterhouse and Mar Chagall.
There is a monument built by Edcion Cortes, which is the first monument in the State Capitol grounds, built in honour of the heroes of the Alamo, Jacon told me that 179 people had died in the battle on the Texan side. The actual battle lasted 13 days from Tuesday 23 February to Sunday 6 March 1836.
We walked around the outside part of the sim where there is an area set aside with tepees and a blazing fire, Jacon explained that there will be information about the Texas Native Americans here. We boarded a canoe and travelled to a lighthouse in Port Isabel, Texas, Jacon further explained that the real life lighthouse was built in 1854. We arrived at the ‘Presidio la Bahia’ (which is considered to be the world’s finest examples of a Spanish frontier fort (built in 1749) and the most fought over in Texas history). The detail inside is totally exquisite and well worth a visit.
Jacon is not only a fantastic builder and designer but he has also come up with an idea that I could see being used all over SL in the future, especially for historic sites like the Alamo. He invited me to go on the automated guided tour, which I did. There is a plaque with a hovering ball above it that you touch, this animates your avatar into walking mode. You then use mouselock view (which means you are looking through your avatars eyes instead of seeing your avatar on screen) and you take a walking tour of the sim as you listen to the audiotape of the real life history of each section as you pass through it. What a brilliant idea and a must for education in SL, so much better than reading text, as you are seeing the places as they are explained to you. Jacon told me that he had asked a friend to do the narration, which was excellent, and they hope to do a Spanish version as well in the near future.
What a wonderful sim to visit, rich with history and just so amazingly built with its magnificent buildings and so much detail and information for visitors. I wish Jacon, Tocho and Pixapao every success for the future.
Texas Capitol Building, Antiquity Texas (153 39 22).
Uncategorized antiquity texas, second life, sl, star telegram, star-telegram.com, texas 9:31 pm
Howdy! Good news! Our beloved Attorney General, Jacon Cortes was recently featured in a RL newspaper! Read on for more of his chance encounter with the journalist from Star-Telegram:
(link: http://www.star-telegram.com/schools/story/757192.html )
I look like Jason Taylor: tall, a little mysterious, lighter than air. With a couple of mouse clicks, I can even dance like Jason Taylor.
In reality — well, never mind.
This appearance comes courtesy of “Texas Attorney General” Jacon Cortes. Señor Cortes is part of a Victorian role-playing group that simulates the late 1700s and 1800s in Second Life, the virtual world game of sorts. I ran into him last week on his island of historical Texas buildings.
At the time I — my Second Life name is Smuck Snoodle — looked kind of like E.T. (Let’s just say I didn’t take advantage of the “appearance” module back on Orientation Island.)
“You look kind of like E.T.,” Señor Cortes said.
Over the course of an hour or so, he conducted an extreme Second Life makeover on me. New skin. New shape. New clothes. It was all a blur. I remember one point, standing there completely naked, saying something like, “I need pants.”
I had to be shown everything, but Señor Cortes, a fellow Texan, was patient.
And, truth be told, I’m really proud of my new look.
So, this week, I called Señor Cortes to thank him — in Real Life, not Second Life.
“You still have your pants?” asks Juan Antonio Canales, 41, of Benavides, chuckling. He’s been in Second Life since February 2007. For a while he visited clubs and shops and parties. Then he started to build things and got hooked. Canales, his brother, Tocho, and a friend from France who goes by Pixapao Xeno jointly run a Texas-themed island. It takes up all of their free time.
Of course, in Benavides in South Texas, there’s not much else to do with your free time. (Canales makes his living doing freelance computer work and working cattle on the weekends.)
Canales says he tries to help newbies get started whenever possible.
“I was a newbie once myself,” he says.
Well, I, for one, am grateful.
You never forget the person who first showed you how to put on your pants.
Uncategorized antiquity texas, second life, sl, sl media source, slms, texas 10:40 am
This piece was written by our very own General of the Texas Army, Tocho Cortes and published in slmediasource.com. Enjoy! :
http://education.slmediasource.com/texas.html
Excerpt:
When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.
From this declaration was born the Republic of Texas. Created by the people, for the people, in a land taken long before by the Spanish Empire from the natives that had thrived here for centuries. With six flags having flown over Texas, its history is rich with various cultures including Spanish, French, Mexican, Republic of Texas, Confederate, and American influences…
Uncategorized antiquity texas, second life, sl, texas 1:09 am
More posts to follow… soon! Meanwhile please visit us in-world 
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