At lunchtime I was chuffed to find a ‘discreetly’ packaged booklet upon my doormat, eagerly anticipating my arrival….It’s the kind of package that must drive the Postie mad wondering what depravities are concealed from the naked eye by the thin black-plastic wrap, replete with nondescript address label ..Although I don’t really want to spoil the illusion, it certainly wasn’t my monthly subscription to ‘Busty Brenda’s Bollock Bonanza’. It was the latest copy of SL’ang Life, a Polish-produced glossy 45 page colour magazine, all about Second Life. SL’ang Life’s mission is to provide information about the virtual world we love so much in a non-electronic format, and it certainly looks the part. It’s backed financially by RL advertisers which means that the whole production doesn’t feel cheap, and the latest issue is bursting at the seams with features on the virtual economy, art, science, in-world legal matters, fashion and religion..it’s your virtual world equivalent of a Sunday supplement! It’s not a bad read, and for me it bridges the gap nicely across those moments when I can’t use my laptop but am desperate to read SL related content..so my copies are neatly lined up in my bathroom for me to dip into when I’m laying special brown eggs in my porcelain nest:) However, there are a few issues with it that require addressing. For a start, if you’re going to produce an English language magazine that is translated from another, it’s imperative that you have someone check the copy to make sure that it scans properly. I also think that the production team needs to concentrate on finding their niche market – the copy is so plentiful and diverse that the magazine feels somewhat fragmented, as though a bunch of articles landed on the Editor’s desk and he gathered them all up into a bunch and published them. SL’ang Life seems to want to be the virtual world equivalent of ‘Time’, ‘The Economist’ and ‘Hello’ in one user-friendly package, but I’m afraid that it doesn’t quite pull it off…yet. I’m confident though that once it has found it’s identity amongst all the other metaverse publications it will be able to give them a real run for their money. My favourite articles this month were about Virtual Dublin and a beautifully illustrated article about religious buildings in Second Life. Oh, and the fashion pages weren’t bad either!

If you want to try SL’ang Life yourself for *FREE* then make sure you register at their website: http://www.slanglife.com