Avatars, RL fashion and beauty.

I read the fashion mags, mostly Marie Claire, Allure and Lucky. Though I do read others on occasion. In the November 2007 Marie Claire, there was one of those "send a staffer out to test a runway trend on the street" 1 page articles by MC's Style Director, Cleo Glyde. In it, she tested out a riding crop, as seen on some runways.




Now when I saw that, I thought, "Hey I bet I could duplicate that look in SL if I wanted to." I also wondered how she could walk in those needle thin heels. But at the time I didn't have the clothing and accessories. Eventually I remedied the situation and here is my interpretation of Cleo's look. Blouse by Winter Moon, skirt from Ingenue, Armidi Bombshell hair in Ginger 3, Tete a Pied Vivant Red Lips 3 skin, Sunglasses from Paper Couture, Jane ankle strap pumps from Tesla, Riding crop by Carricre Wind (Admiral, Imperial Navy of Caledon)








I got pretty close, which leads into this rumination I had:

We all know about the RL fashion influences on SL fashion and beauty, but I think RL beauty is becoming more avatarized. Here's a few links for a start:

Jezebel.com photoshop of horrors

Evolution of Beauty video

Have you seen the magazines lately? They even photoshop Angelina Jolie, apparently even she is not pretty enough in her natural form to be on a magazine cover. And inside the magazines, some of the models look more like dolls (essentially avatars themselves) than human beings. Even in "beauty editor does blurbs on new products" type articles, sometimes the beauty editor is represented by a "chick lit style cartoon avatar" a la the original cover of "The Devil Wears Prada", than herself.

Or even compare the pictures of Rachael Ray on her books to her actual appearance on the show.

I'm beginning to think that avatars of some sort will replace RL women in print work (the average L'Oreal, Ralph Lauren, Chanel ad) in about 15 years or so.

En Garde!

En Garde is a two-player turn based card game playable in SL inspired by RL fencing. It was created by Rifkin Habsburg of Procyon Games and was inspired by the En Garde tabletop card game by Reiner Krizia. I learned about it in Caledon and just looove it. Since it's turn based, it's immune to lag, and it doesn't matter what your frame rate is. The game itself hands out what's needed to play, a scripted weapon (that's just for cool fencing type animations and sounds while playing) and the HUD that's used to play. I even bought my own set. While you can buy traditional fencing gear to wear by Bryndal Ellison at the Procyon Games location in SL, I tend to wear whatever I have on at the time, like this crisp white blouse from Winter Moon, pencil skirt from Ingenue and Tesla Natash stilettos. My weapon is the Ordinal Malaprop Galvanice Swordstick (En Garde version)

You can see the scoreboard behind me, which can show Team Rankings, World Player Rankings, or Local Ranking.



And here are Mr. and Mrs. Scaggs-Despres (Kacy Despres on the left and Mordecai Scaggs on right) engaged in a duel. You click on the score sign attached to the pole to get set up to play.



One reason I have my own piste is because I thought about renting it out for fashionista events. For example one could issue fashion prizes to winners of duels or set up tournaments to win a Limited Edition item, that sort of thing. (Though it can't give out items itself currently, I suggested that function to Mr. Habsburg) It's an additional draw for competitive fashionistas. Another plus is that it's low prim, the game itself is 16 prims and a single signboard is only another 18, how cool is that.

You can get the game at the Procyon games location in Malrif, personal license is 1999, commercial is 2999. The personal version is also available here on SLEX

PDF's

PDF is a great cross platform format for documents. Readers for Linux, OSX, Windows and other platforms exist. A couple of days ago I needed to send some formatted text with images and PDF was the one format I knew my recipient could almost be 100% assured to handle. In fact, it's probably the best format for sending formatted documents between Linux and the other OS's, since Linux users tend to be not overly fond of .doc, and Windows/OSX users probably aren't going to want to deal with .abw (Abiword) or OpenOffice formats. It's great for SL magazines too, though they should be optimized for screen use and not printing. It's very unlikely that a 70 page SL fashion PDF is going to get printed, and optimizing it for screen mode will make it smaller, faster to load, and work better overall in readers on other platforms, and even on that bloated monstrosity that is Adobe Reader.

OSX and Linux have PDF creation support right out of the box. On Linux, even if the application itself can't create PDF's directly, they do output Postscript, which can be ran through ps2pdf on the command line.

Windows doesn't have PDF creation support built in. You can install support in Word, and OpenOffice can create them, but the easiest thing is to install a virtual printer that creates PDF's when you print to it. I have one installed that came with a copy of Print Shop, but I've seen PDFCreator recommended.

I love Icing

And not just on cakes either.

Fashionistas chat with each other, this is what we do, especially when we work with each other. So I was talking with Daisyblue Hefferman, a co-minion of Linden Lifestyles, and she mentioned wanting a horse but not having enough money. I told her that I knew of a place with cheaper horses that seemed pretty cool to me, Virrginia Tombola's Coach House just off the Caledon Eyre telehub. So I popped over there and checked the prices and offered a TP to Daisyblue. And then I saw what she was wearing and wanted to rip it off her right then and there. It reminded me of my third grade teacher Mrs Lowery who was a bit of a "dame" with a taste for classic styles. Mrs. Lowery would have worn something like that, perhaps with a bit less cleavage, though she probably would have worn her red and white spectator pumps. So as soon as I could I bought it too, making my first visit to ICING. It's called Study Date, but IMHO it's way too sophisticated for a student, I think of it as more as "Alluring Librarian", it gets the details right, the sleeves, the belt, the little bow, the books.



While at Icing I also picked up this Holiday Party dress, which I love love love, it's just so Donna Reed meets pretty pretty pretty. The skirt moves so prettily and it has a net crinoline. It looks great without the fur capelet too.




And yes, I saw lots of other retro-pretty lovelies at Icing that I NEED.

ETD Roslin hair in the older Mahogany, and TaP Vivant skin (just lips 2, frameworks glasses, Lassitude &Ennui Eva shoes, pictures taken in Caledon Victoria City.

Icing store at Mischief 147, 160, 24

The 25 limit must die! Use Subscribe-O-Matic

I hate the 25 limit on groups. Really really hate it. But there's social groups and update groups and \I get invited to groups all the time and simply can't join them because I'm at my max. It would make me very happy if more update groups switched to Subscribe-O-Matic. Admittedly, Subscribe-O-Matic is a fee based service and might work best for larger businesses.

Of course, all this would be moot if the Lindens would increase the group limit. 100 would be a nice start, 200 would be better, 1000 would be heaven.

Shopping center sims

This post was inspired by the launching of the Le Zoo sim.

I like shopping centers in SL, they're a great way for a bunch of small to medium size businesses to pool their marketing advertising efforts and drum up some business.Also i'ts kind of handy to have favourite small to medium designers near each other. However.....I'm not for certain if the concept works in the long term in SL. Why do I think that? Two words...Midnight City.

When I joined SL Midnight City was the IT sim, it was the happenin place, it had all the hype all the awesome fashionista parties that I only heard about. But now, it's deserted. It's like "Midnight City, whats that?"

That said, I think people should still keep doing them, because I think the concept is sound, it's the implementation that's tricky.

1. I think the sim's owner/creator can't be too busy or absent, or it suffers. If the creator is busy, perhaps they should hire a full time manager to actually run the sim, while they concentrate on on their business.

2. The stores in it can't be too big, or the traffic hurts the sim, neither can they be too small with not enough inventory.

3. The stores have to have new inventory to attract repeat customers.

4. It helps if the stores are full stores and not satellite shops, there's few things more annoying than knowing a store doesn't have the full inventory and having to travel the grid to find the item in the one satellite shop that has it.

5. That said, limited inventory satellite shops might work for large businesses who might want to reduce traffic lag at their main store. For example, a hair creator putting new releases in a satellite shop as well as the main store.

6. I think it helps if the center has areas for just hanging out and having fun, to kind of develop a community.

If I had the cash, I'd probably try to start up what I call "the Fashionland/Fashiondonia project." It's inspired by Caledon, which is an obvious success. In Fashionland, I'd have the sims be mixed commercial/residential, a la amicitia, but with perhaps a bit more commercial.

Fashionland 1: mixed residential-commercial with some common areas for just hanging out and having parties.

Fashionland 2 more of the same if 1 is successful.

Port Fashionland, with a sea inlet for more waterfront property.

Fashionland Runway: Runway setup, model agencies, photographers

Fashionland Bryant: Big shows and events, with tents and stuff, but set up with a long return time so that it an be used as a kind of sandbox by fashionistas.

Fashionland Avenue of the Fashionistas: HQ's and residences of the SL Fashion Press

Fashionland Swirlyland: Swirly Cyclone, gets her own sim, just because.

Fashionland Coiffure: Hair! (and residential)

Fashionland Macquillage: Skin! (and residential)

Fashionland Outlet: The place where designers can put their old stuffage

Fashionland Condo: Cheap residences (and some cheap commercial slots) for fashionistas on a budget)

Fashionland Ducalpalooza's: Low prim Island sims for those who need a bigger store/mansion/castle, but don't need a full priced sim.

I'll never be able to do it, but I think it would be fun to try, though I imagine Desmond Shang or Anshe Chung could pull it off.

I got Tagged

Blast, I was hoping to stay hidden. :-) But both Amelia Book and Rose Farina got me.

"Eight Random Facts" meme.

Here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
8 Things you may not know about me.


1. I like vi, but never use vi-keys in Nethack

2. I love doing accents and impressions, which means that you might want to disable voice in SL when I am near. I also sing, run away, run away.

3. I know my MAC foundation number.

4. I love Hello Kitty.

5. I love pumpkin pie and could eat it all year long. I love making pumpkin pie too, the secret to a good pumpkin pie is in the spices (if you can't see them you didn't put in enough), and in the cooking method. Use a cookie/baking sheet even if the recipes say not to. Using the cookie sheet will increase the time necessary but will protect the oven from filling spills and help bring out the spices. It's also important to sing the Swedish Chef Song when putting in the spices. adding more with the Bork Bork Bork.

6. My favourite drink is root beer. a really good root beer is a rare thing. It should be smooth, but not too carmelized and no fricking caffeine. Root 66 was the best, but it can't be bought here anymore.

7. I used to be able to solve Rubik's cubes, but have forgotten the ending sequences so can only get halfway these days. I could do it in less than 2 minutes if I was doing good.

8. I can't watch trivia/question and answer style game shows on TV, the contestants annoy me.

Lets see, now who to tag, oh I know: Sabrina Doolittle, Salome Strangelove, Swirly Cyclone, Stephanie Misfit, Furiae Blackthorne, Alaska Metropolitan, Roslin Petion, CJ Carnott

For the guys who are gals in SL. respond if you want.

Been reading blog posts lately and saw this response by anony-mouse on a post on Kit Meredith's blog. I know why I play a female avatar, I'm transgendered in RL. But there's folks who don't identify as transgendered who also play female avs. Some do it for business I think, some do it to "explore"and some I think are transgendered but might not have heard of the term or even realize that's what they are.

This post is for all of you born males playing female to respond to, anonymously if you want. It's not really intended for those who do identify as transgendered though you can respond too. I'd like to know how you feel about playing a female av, why you think you do it, how you interact with other avs, anything you want to talk about. If you don't feel comfortable talking about that, tell me what clothes you like, where you shop, that sort of thing.

I'll kind of get things started:

I'm CronoCloud Creeggan, born male, play a female av. I'm transgendered in RL. I would like to do what we call "transition" but such things are very money intensive and I don't have those kind of resources. I've done what some might call "crossdressing" in RL for around 30 years. I like the things that the people who are called "femmes" tend to like. I have an amateur's interest in fashion and makeup. I'm also a very much a geek. :-) I'm not involved in any kind of romantic relationship in SL or RL, in fact I freely admit to having never been on a date in RL. And yes, I'm a virgin. (I know, I know I'm 40 and a virgin) But that's all issues and drama. I don't identify as lesbian in RL, though I did at one time spend much time hanging out in transgender friendly lesbian IRC channels. If I was to transition though, I would identify as lesbian. Lesbian male to female transfolk are actually rather common. As we say, gender identity, and gender object choice (who you want to love and have romantic relationships with) are two different things.

I'm honest in SL about being a born male, it says so in my profile. I decided early on to do that because I joined SL using my "male" nick to participate in a vodcast related chat. The persons in the community related to the vodcast knew me as male. But after I had seen fashionable pretty avatars in SL I wanted one too, so I switched, and decided to admit to why I had done so in my profile. There's a bit of a trend in the transgender to community to try to encourage less secrecy and more openness.

I've not had much trouble in SL in regards to my openness, though it has surprised people and some people I have encountered have openly said they don't get the "why" of it. But that's okay because I don't know why either, it's just the way I am. Now it's your turn, I look forward to reading the responses. If you don't want to respond on the blog, you're welcome to e-mail me, there's a link to my e-mail address at the bottom of the page.

Welcome Fashion Planet readers

I finally got around requesting being added to the Fashion Planet feed and I see that my posts are showing up there. So, welcome and thanks for reading to all the new readers And thank you Tao Takashi for adding me and creating and hosting such a useful tool.

A Pirate in Penzance

After seeing that Pirates of the Caledonian video I just had to find myself a great pirate costume. Which I did at my costume go-to store, Reasonable Desires. And when the Caledon Penzance sim was built, I had to sneak in before the official opening and take a picture of myself as a Pirate in Penzance. Yar!



IMHO, this is the best sexy pirate costume in SL. It has a thigh dagger, it has a belt, it has an eyepatch, it has skulls and crossbones, it has a BIG HAT, and it's reasonably priced, like all of Reasonable Desires stuffage is. And of course, I look good in it, which is all that matters me hearties! Yar! Raise the mizzen sail, load the cannons and prepare for Piratical shenanigans! TaP skin and ETD Maaliyah hair....as usual.

Talia Talamasca's "Schwarzes Kleid und Minuette Avatar"

Taliah Talamasca dropped this deliciously "dead" skin, shape (the Minuette avatar)and clothing ensemble (Schwarzes Kleid), at around Halloween. She knew I like black. Which is true, I like black, I REALLY like black, and now, I also like being "death"ly beautiful:



It's just so corpsey and gothy and fluttery and feathery and BLACK! It comes with those pretty little victorian style shoes and that lovely hair. The skin itself is quite pretty, or at least I think so, and looked great not only on the included shape but on my own usual one. When I put this one I simply had the desire to find some poor desolate sim and sing laments to lost loves. That, and then find Furiae Blackthorne of the Fashion Victim blog and go kill things with her, just for fun.

Available along with lots of other victorian pretties at her store, Wardrobe Trunk.

A picture I wasn't originally planning on posting.

In this blog post by Kit Meredith. She mentions finding her perfect haircolour, and I noticed that she resembled my Boss Sabrina a bit in the last picture. She then replied that she was inspired by me to a certain extent and that she might be essentially be a "grandchild red-headed shameless hussy". I then remembered this picture, that I wasn't planning on ever posting:



I had been playing with the new TaP vivants in at their launch in August, and I had just purchased some HCT hair to see what it looked like on me, and I was playing with my thin lips version of my shape to see how the TaP lips looked on it, and THAT happened. The blue eyes didn't help either. It not only resembles the last picture in Kit Meredith's post, but also resembles the pictures in this post by Boss Sabrina on Linden Lifestyles. Now admittedly Sabrina is wearing TaP Deux and not Gala in that post, but the resemblance is there.

Now normally I don't wear HCT (or Gala) for that reason, and though I have a thin lips version of my shape (which certain skins look better on) I wear the fuller lipped version and I wear green eyes and not blue. But yeah, she's obvioulsy my biggest style inspiration along with Salome, and frankly who wouldn't want to BE Sabrina or Salome and be one of the best dressed and tressed av's on the grid, not to mention one of the best fashion writers around. I'd love to have half her or Salome's wit, style and panache. Helping out at Linden Lifestyles is probably my dream gig in SL.

Kit Meredith is no slouch on smarts either and is one of my new favourite bloggers. Besides, the more smart red-headed shameless hussy's on the grid, the better.

Ageplay, Fashionista Style

After reading varioups posts and articles about ageplay in SL on various blogs and whatnot I decided I needed to admit something:

I'm an ageplayer.....but perhaps not in the way one might normally think.I'm 40 in RL, how old does my avatar look?



Tete a Pied Vivant Red lips 1 skin, ETD Carolyn hair in Mahogany, Eyes by Miriel Enfield, dressy Nuclear Boutique

That image is one of the best ones I've ever taken of my av I think. It's just simply beautiful. Even if with that classic understated elegance makeup my av does not look 40. She's 25 at best.

Or what about this "teen queen sexy schoolgirl" look a la Britney:



Tete a Pied Vivant Sultry 3, Armidi Bombshell hair in Sangria, Sister Penitence School Uniform from Luminosity, Go Hellions!

See what I mean? Even if an av is not a child there's still a lot of ageplaying going on without many folks consciously realizing it. Sure I dress my avatar in mostly classic tailored clothing, retro-wear and casual basics, but she still doesn't look as old as me. And I'm not for certain I want her to look 40 anyway, because she lets me be pretty (and sometimes sexy) in a way I can't in RL,though having the option to look older would be nice.

Pricing

Might as well state it up front:

I think some designers wares are overpriced. I think some are overpriced for the quality and I think even some high quality designers are overpriced. Usually it's in the range of 25 to 30 percent but I've seen some that I believe are overpriced by about 50 to 60 percent.

Now admittedly most of the "overpriced designers" do have some lower priced wares, but I've always wondered if they've read the Lindens own data on in-world purchases, the gist of which is this: most purchases in SL are of goods priced L$200 or below. The number of pople willing to by tiems priced at L$500, L$1000, or more is actually relatively small. Which may be why the Japanese designers are keeping their prices lower, making up for the lower prices in selling mass quantities of goods. L$20000 is the same amount of money whether earned form selling 100 items at L$200 or 40 items at L$500

Perhaps experimentation is in order, but I think the Japanese designers have the right idea, quality goods at lower "don't have to think about it much" prices. I personally try to have a budget in SL that I stick to in regards to Lindex purchases which isn't very high. If I had steady income from SL I'd spend more. But for me the L$200 price point is a marker betwee "just click and get it" and "spend some time thinking about if I really need or if there's something I need more"

I understand designers have rents, fees and design time to consider which is why this is a touch ysubject. Again, some experimentation might be a good thing, to see what works. I know some designers have budget lines and deluxe lines kind of like how Old Navy and the GaP are the budget and higher priced stores within their overall company.

Ginny

We know the reason now, and the reasons behind the vagueness, the typist behind the Ginny Talamasca avatar has died.

Post on Last Call blog

Starley post

From reading Starley's post, it seems that the decision to close was a quick "we want to help our friend, what can we do, let's all close down to keep any business stuff off of Ginny's partner's plate at this time" And it's not like anyone can really pre-plan for this kind of sudden tragedy. I was hoping that my guess about the reasons for the closing was accurate (that the Four had merely taken a trip to visit willow), because I didn't want this sort of thing to be true. And I didn't trust to rumor.

I didn't know Ginny well, we maybe chatted a couple of times. I own some Dazzle/Last Call stuff. the Marisa wrap dress is STILL one of my favorite SL dresses. I was surprised and awed to find out that Ginny didn't use one of those drawing pads, but used her finger on the laptop trackpad. If I remember correctly, Ginny designed jewellery in RL, I wish I could have seen some of it.

My condolences to Ginny's friends and family. There's not much I can do, except apologize to a certain extent for the previous post. But I can wear my Ginny stuff in her memory.

UPDATED: The Quad sims, aka Ginny, Starley, Elika, Canimal.

UPDATED: They're baaaaaack. With this enigmatic phrase: "it was something we simply had to do." Again, IMHO, it wasn't. Except for new content, the businesses run themselves for the most part. Need to take a break, fine, but there's no need to shut down the entire sim for a short break. And frankly RL businesses couldn't get away with shutting down without some good reason stated publicly.


Original Post:

The quad sims are closed, no reason given, no hints on how long, nothing except for a "respect our decision" Well I can respect their decision to do so while still being of the mindset to say.....It's a dumb decision.

Yes, that's right, it's dumb, and not necessary at all.

Suppose I was a designer, and I needed to take a break for some RL reason, why with automated payments for sims and the like I wouldn't have to shut down at all. Just say, hey, going on vacation no customer service for two weeks. I wouldn't even have to do that if I did one thing that designers in SL do not do enough of:

Delegate.

Who needs to shut down if one has trusted managers/assistants that can handle customer requests. In particular, doesn't Dazzle have "design associates" now?

As an example, I could give my bosses at Linden Lifestyles, one of whom is still on hiatus.(Come back, Sabrina!) During their hiatus, did they shut down their sims? Nope, Did they shut down their businesses? Nope. I could log into SL and be in a fully in business Chez Petite in Calla, in two shakes of a lambs tail.

And if the shutdown is for a branding/image/store rebuild, then why shut down totally at all. Invite your customers to kibbitz and perhaps lend advice during the build ie. "No Ginny, don't drop the Dazzle branding, yes I know how you want to change the image built you've built up brand equity and people are still going to call your store Dazzle anyway."

And one final thing, when you shut down, you're giving free money to your competitors. Remember Ginny's hiatus when she shut down Dazzle? Remember all those new designers that showed up and got blogged? It would have been harder for those people to break into the SL fashion market if Ginny had still been putting out hordes of stuffage. Her absence created opportunity.

Now, I doubt that all four of the Quad sim folks are having RL issues at the same time. Odds are they're going to do some kind of joint "Ginny, Starley, Elika, Cani 2.0" thing, god forbid. IMHO personal opinion it was a bad idea to move those four busy (and often laggy) sims right next to each other anyway It could be possible that one is having RL issues an dthe others are closed in solidarity. That would be nice for a few hours or a day, but perhaps not very business savvy for days on end.

Pirates of the Caledonian

It's a machinima taken by "Commodore" Oolon Sputnik during the summer for a RFL event in Caledon, with a VERY catchy song called The Last Shanty by Tom Lewis. The video basically exemplifies the what the "spirit" of Caledon is and why I love it so.

Pirates of the Caledonian

In the Navy!

Caledon has a Navy for the usual do-gooding purposes, boosterism, charity fundraising, as well as the opportunity to wear neat uniforms and if you're an officer, a REALLY BIG HAT. I just joined the Caledon Navy as a plain ordinary Sailor, no big hat yet. Ready to repel itchysporkchowchow boarders and swab the decks, Sir! (Maaliyah hair, TaP Vivant Just lips 1)




And I just happened to have a freebie Cokes steamboat that I modded into a "brown water patrol boat" I was in the land based Milita and am a Gunbunny (as a Penguin) so I'm more akin to a Royal Navy Marine. I added the Navy ensign, and made me a simple US Civil War style swivel cannon to put on it. It's non-functional, just for show, though the bore is probably a bit too large for a boat this size.



And here I am, patrolling Port Caledon. There's plenty of water in Caledon to pilot a small boat in, even the interior river of Caledon Cay is navigable.



You to can join the Navy and sail the seven seas. Look for the recruitment posters at the Caledon telehubs. The HQ is at the Salty Mermaid Tavern in Caledon Kittiwickshir. right near the Telehub.

Cheer up my lads/lasses/tinies/furries/other, tis for glory we steer!

Moo! and some commentary.

I've seen Moo Money around the grid, but never really had the chance to talk to her until I saw her at Tete a Pied in Nouveau, she was after the recently released Automne set, which she says she likes better in the lighter skin shades. We got to talking about the fashion business, about how some designers are under-appreciated (especially Roslin and CJ of Tete a Pied). And how some designers have changed their output so much that she doesn't shop from them anymore, she misses the "old stuff". The example she gave was Dazzle/Last Call. She prefers the older Dazzle stuff, and some of the early grungier-grittier Last Call releases. Me, I like the new "upper class lady who lunches" stuff over the old "yet another babydoll cocktail dress in a dozen pastel colors". That was one thing we both agreed on, that Ginny shouldn't focus on just one overall style and "run it into the ground." We also dislike the major lag at Dazzle, which is one of the reasons I rarely go there, but that probably can't be helped. The build itself is too "Midnight City" for my taste, my favorite Dazzle build was the old Warehouse across from Luxe, but I like this one better than the one just previous with the transparent walls and stuff.

One thing we also discussed was that there should be more communication between shoppers/consumers and designers. How are they to know what we like/don't like/wish they'd change/what the shopping experience is like unless we tell them. But we both thought that people, especially bloggers like us might be afraid to do so because they don't want to "piss people off" and cause "drama" I've probably ticked of Ginny with this post, but I'm one of the ones who said she should have never dropped the "Dazzle" brand name to begin with. I'm also one of the ones that says she should co-locate her store, she's one of the few designers who could benefit from having a second location to cut down the lag, but that would increase her land expenses of course.

The conversation with Moo was one if the best fashion convo's I've had in a while. I didn't get any really juicy Moo quotes though. Moo is one of the most quotable fashionistas in SL, truly.

Simone! Ornament

I'm rather fond of the Simone! Ornament gown. There's just something about the open diamonds showing skin that makes it red carpet worthy. This is the pink, which isn't my favorite color of it, but it's still nice. Comes with both Ballgown and mermaid style prim attachments, which is also handy. That's a TaP Boudoir 1 skin, Armidi Envy hair.

Taking one for the Colonel

Some of you may remember the Great War between Neualtenburg and Caledon" (the fictional just for fun and charity war). Anyway during The War, some brave Neualtenwhoever Husar tossed a grenade at the unit I was in. The officer in charge was Colonel Hotspur Otoole. Great officer, handsome officer, rather successful with the ladies he was. Getting back to the grenade, I tended to be rather alert to the things, wanting to keep the lads and lasses (and tinies, furries, robots, etc) in my squad as non-dead as they could be. It was headed right towards Hotspur's spurs, (He had just had another prim horse blown up from under him and was serving in our foot unit and hadn't taken them off. I, of course, being a valiant I-work-for-a-living, I'd-better-get-a-Posthumous-Knighthood-for-this, kind of Sergeant, I )threw myself of the device to save the Colonel and anyone else within range of the "boom". But after some time had passed there was no boom. As we discovered, some manufacturer of the device had accidentally replaced the explosive that was supposed to be in it with mince. As in mince pie, mince. The only injury i sustained was a bruised (and punctured hip) The pin was sharper than my favorite hat pin. As such, the Colonel said, I was entitled to complain about it and whine a little.

Adding insult to injury War Department I didn't qualify for a "wounded in battle" award. Some mixup the Colonel said. Supposedly I'll be awarded one, "soon". I believe that I'm more likely to be Queen of the Grid before that happens.

(The Colonel came up with that idea of me falling on a dud grenade during the War. Funnny!)

Also I attended a discussion of "Group narratives" at the Library. It was mostly about the Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island And was very interesting. Zealot Benmergui has to be one of the most quotable Caledonians ever, (and Caledonians in general are pretty darned quotable)

Boots

I love boots! I've been wanting lots of boots in RL, but SL boots are cheaper:

ETD's ankle boots, the perfect high heeled ankle boot. I can buy similar ones in RL!



Tesla's Analise suede calf boot. I'm not a big fan of calf boots, but I like these with their medium conish heel and slight platform. (the hard thing about calf boots is they're too long for pants but too short for most skirts)



The Oh What a Neat Boutique's 80's style slouch boots, very Molly Ringwald Brat Pack era.



Adam n Eve's heeled riding boot, very Eddie Bauer dressy casual



And my favorite boots in SL that took me forever to find, the enkythings Pinson, high heeled pointy toed sleek, but classy boot. I have boots very similar to these in RL

Vamp CC!

I was TP'd by Rose Farina to Alienbear Gupta's store to mob a Mobvend to get the Halloween themed Dracula's heart set down to it's minimum price of 299 (max is 2000) Since I have a great red/black gothy vampy gown I bought it myself, and I also have a great vampy skin in Tete a Pied Boudoir 3 (Miriel eyes, of course, and ETD Anisa hair in crimson, the dress is Midnight Goth from the old Dazzle)



I have fangs too! I vant your blood!



Aren't I the most perfect seductive vampiress? Yes, Yes I am.

Demeter SE shape from Zada Zenovka

The new realistic looking Demeter shape from Zada Zenovka's Zada Shapes store, has been mentioned on Second Style and on Kit Meredith's blog, but I thought I'd discuss it here.

First, I'm all for more realistic shapes in SL, I've reduced the height and added some mass to my regular shape to make it look a touch more realistic than the "Supermodel Centerfold" it was. I'm also suprised and a bit miffed that some folks with more realistic or unusual shapes get slammed in anon comments on some blogs. It's a good thing that there are those who try to get their avatars to look like themselves or more RL in general.

The Demeter shape itself looks about a size 12-14 US to me. she's got a rounder face, a slightly belly and larger thighs, meaning she's very realistic looking. Since she does look like "the woman next door" I decided to put her in a "woman next door outfit", a hoodie and hair from Maitreya, Strict Jeans from Launa Fauna, ETD booties, and a TaP Vivant skin (Just lips) This is the freebie, no-mod, version Zada released to encourage diversity among avatars. The full mod version with extras is 800L$



The face itself reminds me of Alyson Hannigan's face, but rounder. It's pleasant.




For comparison, my regular shape, same skin, outfit and hair.

Some Caledon related fiction: The Unflappable Batmen (and women) of Caledon

The Unflappable Batmen (and women) of Caledon

by

Miss CronoCloud Creeggan (Gunbunny, Sergeant of the RFL Militia, Ret.)

Right then, what's a batman? No, not the one of the four color adventures, this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_%28army%29

A batman or batwoman is an aide/assistant/lackey to a commissioned officer of often higher social standing, and as a role playing opportunity is quite suited to Caledon. Not only because of the presence of military ranks, but because batmen often follow their former officers into civilian life, serving as trusted aides/major domos.

In RL media, Jarvis of the Marvel Comics Avengers, Alfred Pennyworth of DC's Batman books, and Jonathon Quayle Higgins III of CBS's Magnum PI might be considered batmen.

This reminds me of the time I was serving Leftenant Colonel Bernard McLuhan (Lord Thistlebrook) in the Unpleasantness in the Vast Underworld of the Morlocks. Banky, which was his nickname among the men, women, furries, tinies, and other assorted Caledonian residents under his command, preferred his sporting rifle to the standard issue officers weapon. We were facing a rather large Mess of Morlocks, intent on reaching the surface and ravaging the innocence of Caledon's Lads and Lasses. It was the cavorite mines you know, that led us to encountering the Morlocks. The inventors of Caledon must have their cavorite. Right, Mess of Morlocks. Banky's hunting rifle was effective at range in large caverns but not so useful in most of the Underground.

"Dwat and double dwat", said Banky. Not that he had any speech impediment, he just liked saying "dwat", "I apparently forgot to bring extra ammunition for my rifle. And not a great time to realize that. Any suggestions, Sergeant?"

I, of course, being a competent batman was quite prepared.

"I have a boomstick, strike that, shotgun, available for your use, Sir. It will probably be quite effective in these circumstances.", said I, as I was blasting an approaching Morlock with Madame Malaprop's Finest Blunderbuss. I then tossed Banky the weapon and ammo.

"Jolly Good, Sergeant, we'll show these Morlocks what for!", said he, chambering a round.

"Behind you, Sir.", I warned

Banky then turned and let loose a round in the gaping maw of a Morlock two feet behind him, "Swallow this!".

Ah yes, batmen. Competency and preparedness are our watchwords. We need skills and equipment for any contingency at the ready to serve our commander/employer's bidding.

There was this time, after we had been temporarily returned to Reserve duty, Banky had a scheduled tryst with the young Lady AmberLynn Snowcrash. Her father was away on business on the mainland and had ordered that the young lady refuse the company of suitors until his return. However, the young lovers were not to be thwarted. The Lady's own batwoman had agreed to chaperone the young ones, if Banky could manage to get in the Lady's demesne, which would not be an easy task. Her father would know if we entered through the front door, a Babbage Engine kept track of entries and exits, notwithstanding the lowering and raising of the gates. So, Banky would have to enter through an unguarded entry. Using tools at my disposal I had discovered that an attic window would probably be the best method.

"Attic Window eh, CC?", said Banky. Banky often called me CC while we were in mufti.

"Yes sir, that would probably be the easiest way."

"I don't suppose I could fly up there."

"The region is no-fly, sir."

"Dwat and double dwat, the Lady Amberlynn is the most desirable ingenue in all Caledon. I shall not be deterred."

"Of course not, sir. I happen to have a grappling hook gun that should be useful in this circumstance. You may use that while I hold off the Proto-bunnehs"

"Proto-bunnehs?"

"Yes sir, apparently the Lady's father acquired a pair and has been breeding them and training them to guard the manor."

"You're not going to kill them, are you CC? Remember what happened the last time someones favourite pet rabbit was killed? Besides, 'is Nibs is fond of rabbits"

"Killing the bunneh's won't be necessary sir. In my cute tiny form I should be able to convince them not to bother us. If that fails, I've taken the liberty of loading Madame Malaprop's flare gun with soporific gas projectiles."

"Capital, CC! Lets do it!"

The tryst proved successful, with the Lady's father none the wiser.

I must be off now, Banky has entrusted me to acquiring a gift of jewellery for Lady Amberlyn n while he is testing his new aircraft. I am much more familiar with the best places to find beautiful baubles than he is, so the gift will be of better taste. That reminds me of the time when Banky gave the Lady a gift of blinging shoes of rather hussylike appearance. She liked the shoes, except for the bling and charged us with a quest to find a non-blinging pair of similar appearance, but of better fit and quality. That required a visit to the mainland among the natives there. Which is a tale for another time.

Sleek!

Thanks to the open source movement, there's new and alternative clients for SL. One of them is SLeek, a minimalistic client that lets you chat and view your inventory with a minimal interface. From what I see this thing could run on a machine without a 3D card.

From the README:


SLeek v0.2.0
By: Delta Czukor

Since the interface seems pretty straightforward, I'm simply going to list what does and doesn't work in SLeek.

What works:
- Logging in!
- Receiving and sending chat (whisper, say, shout) from agents and objects.
- Receiving a list of nearby agents.
- Reveiving a list of nearby objects.
- Teleporting.
- Sending and receiving IMs (online and offline).
- People search.
- SLeek Scripting (to be rewritten in a future release).
- Inventory support (not all item types supported yet).
- Sending typing animation when typing.
- Setting away/busy status.
- Flying.
- Autopilot (+ flying).
- Profile viewing (basic).
- Sending and receiving teleport offers.
- Debug log.
- Region search.
- Basic Friends functionality.
- Payments.

What doesn't work (or just isn't there yet):
- Groups functionality.
- Too much other stuff. :P

Shortcuts:
- Enter/Return: Says the inputted chat text.
- Ctrl+Enter: Shouts the inputted chat text.
- Ctrl+Shift+Enter: Whispers the inputted chat text.
- Ctrl+Alt+D: Toggles the Debug menu (next to Help, may take two or three tries).

How to contact me:
- Web: http://delta.slinked.net/
- Email: deltaphc@gmail.com
- SL: Delta Czukor
- IRC: EFNet #secondlife, #libsl

Secrets of the Catwalk (new shoots show)

So I can add another "skill" to my SL resume, runway model. As some readers might know I'm a member of the Metro Models Agency. I've been friends with Alaska for ages. Well not ages, but a long time SL wise. We talk all the time.

Anyway she asked me to join and I said yes. So I went through the training. What's that you say, there's training? Yep. The little things you need to know to make things easier, quicker, better. And I went through the rehearsals. Yes, rehearsals, there's timing and movement to get down pat.

I was assigned as backup model to the New Shoots Persona and AnnaH, Saturday show, which suited me fine. I wanted to watch the show and get a feel for how they worked before I did any future runway work, if any. Yes, having backups is important because one of the scheduled models couldn't make the show and I was there to fill in.

Here's a shot of the backstage drama....NOT!



Let me tell you the most important skill an SL model has, it's not the ability to make/mod a nice shape, or the ability to shop for a shape flattering skin, it's the ability to follow instructions. Because that's what we do, follow orders, follow cues, hit our marks, cue our poses, have the right outfits on when they need to be on. That sort of thing. When you're doing that, you're focusing on doing your job as best as you can through lag, or anything else the grid can throw at you. There's not time for drama, so simple professionalism and a few jokes rules the day. Weirdly enough, it's a lot like being a healer in the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI.

The show itself went as smooth as silk, models rezzed, we hit our marks well, timing was good, the raffle script (which I assisted with) worked as it was supposed to and as far as I know, none of the models crashed. Though we did lose one of the event hosts for a minute or two, but Alaska was prepared.

Not only that, but the ensembles were great too, I really liked the ones I wore. I only took the one picture because I was afraid of doing anything that might make me crash. That's the Carmen outfit from AnnaH which I thought of as the kind of outfit a "desperate housewife" might wear when she wants to dress up a little but not too much. A kind of Chico's flavor if you will, at least to me.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but I was nervous because I didn't want to mess up the show. But everything turned out okay, thanks to planning and competency of the Metro Models Agency, Models and Staff. Yay for us.

12 Avatars Don't vote for CC! UPDATE CC didn't win the vote count, YAY!

Yes, I entered the contest,for the "glory", there's over 600 avatars entered, I think. More info here My vote picture is on kiosk 27, side D in Tellus III This is the outfit I used, the tweedy coat from Bare Rose Couture, skin from Tete a Pied, Short Crop hair from Aveda by Elika and the great Pinson boots from EnkyThings



But Don't Vote for CC! I just found out via the Fashion Victim blog that there's people entered who if they win will donate their winnings to charities, find one of them and vote for them!

Natalia Zelmanov is one.

But if I do happen to win, which I won't, I'll donate to the Red Cross in SL. Thanks to Stephanie Misfit for that suggestion.

UPDATE:

I didn't win the vote count. I only got two votes, one of which was mine. Okay who voted for me, you deserve a hug or something. I am surprised by the vote counts a bit, but it doesn't matter. Though we know who won the vote counts, we don't know who will be picked to fill the other 10 slots yet. Those are going to get picked by "consultants" Congratulations to the Winners: Babyhoney Bailey (Grand Prize Winner) with 403 votes and yolesa palen (Runner-Up Prize Winner)with 378 votes.

RealSKINS by Stephen Lightworker

I don't do heavily photosourced skins, everyone knows this. Can't stand em. So when Stephen Lightworker of RealSKINS dropped some one me I was filled with trepidation. What should I say? Should I not write about them? I finally decided I should write about them, at least a little.

Here's the Krista skin, pleasant perky face. Reminds me a bit of Paige Davis who formerly hosted Trading Spaces (US version)






The Erica skins, which have a rather young looking and cute face (and come with a young looking shape)





Nitpicky points:

The lips are picky shapewise and do not flatter my shape's default lips.
I don't like the torso shading, the blurry boobehs in particular.


But....if I wasn't going to get nekkid, I could tolerate these because of the great faces. Which means for fans of photosourced skins, I would recommend these. That said, I still personally prefer hybrid skins, sorry folks.

RealSKINS is located at: Pogon 32, 51, 38

Kira's Tree

My favorite tree in SL, Kiralette Kelley's tree at the Bardhaven estate in Caledon.

Artilleri's Kats Meow coat

I had to have the new Kats Meow coat from Artilleri as soon as I saw it in the Chaton picture on the Tete a Pied blog. It is squee-tastically gorgeous. I got the leopard pattern pack and this is the snow leopard pattern. I decided to pair it with the TaP Chaton skin, ETD Maaliyah hair, ebony neko ears and tail from Boneflower, fishnets from Wrong, and the utterly sleek, sexy, but still classy Pinson boots from enkythings



I intend to buy the solid colors too.

R.I.P. StyleDisorder

The StyleDisorder fashion blog is no more. This was not "unexpected" but I was hoping it wouldn't happen. In my personal uninformed opinion what took down SD was what killed PXP: "Willow Zander is a human being and not just a blogging machine." PXP and SD were heavily dependent on Willow to keep up the output on new stuffage, but when Willow needed to take a break from SL back in the PXP days, or has an upcoming release of "the bean in her oven" that means new fashion bloggy content comes to a standstill. And without new content readers become unhappy especially if any other bloggers involved simply couldn't keep up with the expected output.

Personally I'd have loved to add on more writers to PXP when Cani, Willow and Arbel left, but I didn't have that power and the one who did, Lo Jacobs was in absentia. Something similar may have happened at SD, but I don't know for certain.

I'm going to miss Style Disorder, I still miss PXP, though SD essentially recreated the feel of PXP. I hope that sometime in the near future the writers of SD return, perhaps once Willow is less busy with bean related RL stuffage.

and in the spirit of PXP and SD: zOMG, who's going to blog Ginny's, Starley's, Elika's and Cani's byootiful and/or kyoot new release stuffage!

Simone Stuffage

Simone Stern of Simone! planted what seems to be her entire fall line on me. Thanks Simone! So if you see me in grid in a gown, you're probably going to be seeing me in a Simone. I haven't actually worn anything yet but from pictures a lot of it has an old Hollywood flavor which is my sort of thing.

Tami McCoy's

Remember Catherine Zeta Jones hair in the Movie Chicago? Well Tami McCoy has this similar short "flapper" tyle that I just love and now I finally have the perfect dress for it in Simone Gatsby.

Nicky Ree's Faery Dae

Been meaning to post about this wonderfully pretty set for ages. Wings! Wand! Happy Fairy Pretty Prim Goodness. Love Love Love. Lots of options. I love this with the Tap Deux Naturelle skins.

Quick and dirty images.

I've got a backlog of stuffage that I want to post about so I decided to keep the image editing to a minimum and just convert my bmps with ImageMagick convert to save time and not crop/scale em.

Adam n Eve Grand Reopening

Adam n Eve has been celebrating it's grand reopening with the new build yesterday and today. The dance/scavenger hunt starts in a bit over 20 minutes at Adam n Eve in Genesis.

I am fond of Sachi Vixen (and Damen Gorilla) and consider them to be kind of like the solid quiet types who deserve more hoopla over their stuffs than they get. They're nice! If I ever was to get married in SL, Sachi would probably be the first person I would ask to do my "Fairy tale princess poofy wedding gown". Also, amazingly enough, Sabrina, Salome and I, all like her stuff. And we don't agree on much, fashion-wise.

Nerd Test (everyone else is doing it)

I am mighty in Nerd puissance. I took it last week for message board.




Take the Nerd test

Tete a Pied Vivant Review.

The new Tete a Pied Vivant line has been released and here is a review from Tete a Pied's #1 groupie, Roslin and CJ's *****, me!

Here's the ad:



The new skins use different shades from the Tap Deux line. In fact if you want lots of variations of Tan, Faux Tan, Dark Tan, Dark, etc. TaP is not for you. The new shades are from lightest to darkest: Cream, Blush, Almond, Buff, Bronze and Chestnut. Cream is very light, Jackal Ennui style goth light I would say.

These are the makeup types: Basic red, Basic pink, Basic nude, Just Lips, Pinup, Biba, Bebelle, Kyoko, Candy, Sultry, Natural, Feline, Freckle, Horus, Glam, Cercle. I got the same preview pack others got, ie one skin in Pinup, basic nude, and Candy. I also purchased a three pack in Buff in both Just Lips and Red Lips.

The Vivant skins, unlike the previous TaP skins are hybrids. They have some photosourcing, but not too much photosourcing in my opinion. That makes them look a bit more modern than TaP Deux, which might appeal to more skin buyers, as well for those looking for more realism. But since they are not heavily photosourced, they won't turn-off TaP's loyal markets of certain fashionistas, redheads, and Caledonian ladies.

Here I am in the Buff Pinup 1, which was the first of the Vivants I put on. It was love at first sight. This skin reminds me a bit of some of the old TaP Une series in a way, which I like.



Here I am wearing the Bronze basic nude 1. This one said to me that TaP is trying to reach outside the traditional TaP market. This one is very modern and more like a traditional SL skin than older TaP's were.



And in the Blush Candy 3. You'll notice that the lips are slightly different on all the makeups. If one makeups lips don't look good on you then try another.



That's ETD Roslin hair worn in the photos above, I just had to wear it.

In the vendors in the store you'll find demos of every makeup in every skin shade. That surprised me because that's a lot of work doing that, and Roslin said that they weren't likely to do it again after doing it for TaP Deux. But they did, and I appreciate it greatly. I do have one complaint about the build, because of the way the stairs are set up the walkway in front of the skins is a bit narrow, but there's space at each end of the store for hobnobbing and kibbitzing, not including the roof.

Also, the pricing is different than the TaP Deux skins. Singles are L$500, three packs are 1200. That's right, they're a steal! Roslin and CJ want people to think of skin as an acessory that one changes with clothing and the new prices reflect that. Here's another important thing, brows and kitty's are mod.

That's right redheads, with TaP Vivant you can have every skin match your gorgeous red tresses. Just pick up the mod brow bases, and put it on. That goes for blondes too. That makes me ecstatic in joy and tribulation. See the results in this collage using the Just Lips 1 skin.



ETD Maaliyah hair

Pubic hair works similarly, just put on what kitty hair options you want, they're on the underwear layer. For those interested, the traditional TaP heart shaped kitty hair is included.

Here's some comparisons of Tap Vivant Red Lips 2 skin with the TaP Deux Sophisticate 1 skin (custom redhead version) I compared these two because of the similar lipcolors:


Full body front, notice the changes in the torso shading.:



Full body back, notice the new butt! I love the new butt!:



Torso. You can see the torso shading changes better. The cleavage enhancement is still evident, but my boobehs look a bit more realistic in the Vivant:



And the face. There's subtle changes in the facial highlighting, a sort of glow. There's some changes in the lip texture too.:



Again, ETD Roslin hair

If you're wondering how the skins might look on everybody's favourite missing Redheaded Shameless Hussy (Sabrina Doolittle) and Patootie Head (Salome Strangelove), here is yet another homage to my bosses at Linden Lifestyles If any skin has a chance to steal Sabrina's Whoring Heart(tm) from her Gala's it's TaP Vivant. This is the Just Lips 1 skin.



Armidi Bombshell hair in Ginger III on my faux Sabrina self, and ETD Patootie in Chestnut on my faux Salome self.

And here I am crying and pouting because I want them ALL! Yep, I LOVE them, but of course, I AM Roslin and CJ's ***** (Inspired a bit by Ida Keen's New World Notes Uncanny Valley contest entry last year.)



ETD Patootie in Crimson, facial emote from my Mystitool.

Tete a Pied is located in the Nouveau sim.