Wednesday, March 26, 2008

RL move.

We've moved into the new place, finally. !#@$#@$ flood! Which is why I haven't been in SL (neener neener I'm not using the TM)much move preparation and after-move work. Don't know when things'll return to normal. I don't have much time for SL, but I DO read my email.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Layniewear Audrey

Layne Link of Layniewear loves CC! She saw my wish list and came up with a simple and pretty square necked sheath named Audrey. it's what I wanted, and I actually prefer the more fitted silhouette than the shift silhouette of dress I showed. It's something I can dress down for business



or dress up for evening. All it takes is a change of makeup, hairstyle, jewellery and shoes.



I love. And yes it comes in more colors, Thank you Laynie.
SLURL to Layniewear Pamran location

Channeling Alexis Carrington in a Business suit from Cattiva

Lissa Maertens of Cattiva saw my post about the G.L.A.M. Bossy suit which mentinoed the 80's and dropped a photo on me. Now I knew Lissa was, like me, a bit fond of the 80's which might be a bit of an understatement on both our parts, but I wasn't expecting this lovely:



I put it on and spent practically the next hour humming the theme song from the nighttime soap, Dynasty I really needed to find a Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington avatar to have a catfight with. It is exactly the sort of thing Joan Collins as Alexis would wear to the Carrington offices. BIG shoulder padds, 80's style cropped jacket, slim skirt. You must understand, we 80's folk have a love/hate relationship with BIG shoulder pads I, of course paired it with BIG hair from Armidi (Envy) and glam makeup from Fleur because I just had to have the Alexis style cheekbone contouring. This is the ivory but it comes in other colors too. but the ivory is so Alexis.

Now all I need is an SL Blake Carrington to buy me my own sim, and lots of shoes.

Dot Lane

I met fashionista and blogger Dot Lane the other day. I'd seen her pics on flickr, and they were "kyoot". Of course, being a redhead, wearing ETD Maaliyah and wearing Fleur skins is always a way to get my attention. Fleur wearing Maaliyah redheads unite!

So I friended her and she likes meeting new friends in person so I invted her to my lil skybox. She was wearing a simple button down, jeans, Shiny Things Lollies, and a Fleur Parfait skin. She was adorable, so I switched clothes so we could be kyoot and adorable together.



My shirt is from Luminosity, jeans from Launa Fauna, and one of my many Fleur skins.

I suggested we storm a sex club with our kyootness, but we didn't. Though that would have been fun if we were riding cows. I also love Dot's blog, she covers tons of kyoot, and punk stuff and has even visitied the Japanese sims that I never get around to doing. She's also the founder of a "Girls with Glasses" group, that I want to join but can't because of the sucky group limit. Just like I can't start up a "Red-headed Shameless Hussy" group.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Return to Classic template, and by the way, Notepad sucks.

In moving to the new "Layout" version of blogger with drag and drop ability of widgets and stuffage, it seems I lost my blog links. So I added the link widget, which I discovered one cannot edit manually, you have to add and subtract links one at a time. Not only that, but the new templates are in that evil of evils, XML. I have always believed that XML, CSS, DOM, and all that other crap was intentionally added to HTML to take web page creation out of the hands of amateurs and return it to the coder elite, remember Geocities, go.com, Tripod,and Angelfire? Well, I figured I could always edit the template manually and without thinking, saved it and opened it up in Notepad, since I was on Windows at the time. That, of course gave me a jumbled mess, because the file was probably unix-formatted and Notepad isn't XML aware. Which brings me to another point, to edit XML you practically have to have an XML aware editor. Windows by default doesn't have such a thing, and I don't have one installed, I think, So I just ftp'd it over to Linux where I DO have XML aware editors.In fact I have one of the editors that has a long history, vim.

vim (vi iMproved) is a modal terminal based editor descended from the 31 year old vi, that drives non-geeks insane. Modal means you can't just start typing in vim, which starts in "command mode", you have to enter "insert mode first, and then type. To use commands, for example, to save and quit, you have to exit insert mode and enter command mode. However, as you can see it can syntax highlight xml making it much easier to read and parse. The terminal here is mrxvt a version of rxvt with certain enhancements like tabs and TrueType font support.



After taking a look at the XML I realized it used an external call to the Link widget and thus wasn't easily editable to add my links.in so I switched back to the classic template to make it easier on me. That's when I decided to do this post about vim, which also has SL related uses because it can also syntax hightlight LSL (Linden Scripting Language)



As well as autocomplete LSL, type ll and hit Ctrl+n and it will popup a little mini-window.with all the llwhatever functions.



It can do tons of other stuff, like tabbed editing (just like tabbed browsing in Firefox, but even works in the terminal version) but not to worry, there is also a graphical menus n mouses version named gvim that is installed right along with vim.



See, it's not that scary. But even using gvim, the keyboard commands stay the same, like :wq! for "write(save) and quit". So there's a gvim enhancement called cream, that makes gvim act "normal" from a Windows users perspective. Ctrl+S saves for example. But any way you slice it, any version of vim is a better text editor than Notepad.

Windows installer for standard vim and gvim

Cream-ified vim/gvim for Windows installer Very popular among Windows users.

I will not speak of the editor emacs, I don't like it even if you can play Nethack, tetris, adventure and read your e-mail from within it. Yes, I know about viper mode that makes emacs act like vi, but that's the problem, viper mode acts like vi and not vim.

I've heard good things about a Notepad replacement called Notepad++ but I have never used that.

What CC wants....besides the pony.

Yes, I still want a pony for my full sized avatar self (the one from Virrginia Tombola), but there are other things I want in SL. Many of which I cannot find.

First of all, I want some tailored loafer styled shoes:


Lumiani Assisi high heel loafer style pump from Zappos



Chinese Laundry Degree chunky heel loafer from Zappos




Anne Klein Felder tailored loafer Look, a medium-low heel!



I'd also like to see some "Everyday", tailored basics (images and links from Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft):

Ann Taylor Loft Striped Cotton strech shirt This is the sort of thing worn by women everyday to work, it's simple, it's attractive, it has clean lines, it just "works"



Ann Taylor shift dress A basic shift dress one can dress up and dress down. Wear it with a jacket and those Lumiani Assisi's above for work, pair it with dressy jewelry and the equivalent of our Tesla Natasha's or Maitreya Slinky's for a dinner date.



Ann Taylor white shirt and black skirt Oh wait, I have this in SL. :-)



I also need some springy/eastery/ladies-who-lunch pink tweed/boucle suits. Other pastel colours would be good too. (All images and links from ebay)

Karen Scott pink tweed suit A little bit boxy and matronly with the cardigan styled jacket but still a classic.




Nanette Lepore pink tweed suit I really love the silhouette on this one and the insets on the hemline of the skirt. Since it's fitted, it might work well in SL.



Valerie Stevens pink tweed suit Oooh it's so pretty, and the trim! Again, love the fitted silhouette that should work well in SL.



Chanel Jacket Dress So classic, so fabulous, so perfect. Love, love, love.



If anyone has seen anything like these in SL, I NEED to know NOW! If not designers NEED to make them. :-)

I am such a Bree Hodge (van De Kamp) aren't I?



That must be why I like Icing's Stepford Wife

G.L.A.M. Bossy

You remember the late 80's don't you? Slim fitted suits, with slightly above the knee fitted skirts, worn with almond toe pumps? And the shoulder pads? Well guess what I'm wearing. :-) Obey your power suited boss with prim shoulder pads, or she shall give you the look of corporate disapproval



Semi sheer black hose and Shiny Things Classic pumps



I just love a good suit.

Fashionista is an inclusive word, or should be.

When I use the term fashionista in SL, I'm not just using it to describe those who blog or designers, I use it to mean any fan/follower of fashion in SL. That includes anyone that has carefully chosen their look to fit some kind of theme or idea, like how Ordinal Malaprop's avatar looks exactly like you'd expect a quirky Victorian Steampunk inventrix to look.

Here I am, in a picture taken last august at Miriel Enfield's store, with fashionista Judi Recreant. I saw her and noticed her outfit, and went over to talk. We had a most enjoyable chat.



My outfit was from Little Rebel, with a Fleur skin of course, Enkythings pinson boots, ETD Melinda hair in Crimson. She was wearing an outfit from rebel hope, hair from Gurl6, shoes from Fleur, skin from insolence.

On another note, don't be afraid to chat up the more "famous" fashionistas, we're just pixels, though sometimes busy. I was told a couple of days ago, that when I had visited a store that the designer hid from me! She said she was like, "zomg zomg zomg, Crono is in MY store! what should I do, should I talk to her, zomg zomg zomg" She said she still gets starstruck talking to certain people in SL. I told her that I was the same, "zOMG, she's talking to ME! zOMG, what should I say, do I sound like an obsessive fan, zOMG!" So talk! Chat us up! Tell us you like our shoes!

My shape, plus gratuitous boobehs!

I've been thinking about shapes recently again and decided to show off mine, without clothing, so that it can be seen better. This is actually a modded freebie shape that I've been using for ages, within a couple of weeks of joining SL. In SL my av is shorter than average, height gizmo's say about 5'7" (170.18cm)which is actually a bit taller than I am in RL. I used to be much taller, about 6' 2", but shrunk myself down to less glamazon proportions for my everyday shape. I also added a bit more flesh to the shape. I'm trying to go for for a fairly realistic for SL look: "the pretty woman next door who looks fab because she does her yoga and pilates, but she actually eats!" I knocked down the breasts from 66 to 60, though I'm beginning to think that 60 is a touch low for some fashions, even though 66 was a touch big for some fashions. I had knocked it up to 66 because TaP Une tended to make boobehs look smaller. I think this shape is pretty close to what I want, though I may tweak the hips up and shoulders down, and my torso and legs may be just a touch long. But I do think my av looks pretty good in most clothing. I probably need to tweak the eye depth and nose bridge, because I had fiddled with that when I was playing with certain eyes (they showed through my eyelids) and never changed it back. I also took these pictures in Windlight. The advanced lighting options weren't open to me before but they are now, even if I can't see the pretty clouds. I think I had the haze setting up just a touch too high, but these pics were taken without any prim lighting.









I love my avatars butt, it's just so cute.

Any comments?

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Re-Opening of House of Gestures

I was thinking about gestures a few days ago and received this press release while offline, the 9pm slot is still upcoming so I'm going to post it:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 3, 2008—Unknown Unzoned—If you are looking for the perfect woot to shout out during a fierce SL fashion show or the sultriest rawr to add to your boudoir repertoire, then you must go to the Grand Re-Opening of House Of Gestures on Wednesday, March 5. Owned by Blazin Aubret and Tristan Careless, this company is opening its doors to the public at 12 noon SLT and 9:00pm SLT for two big, down and dirty extravaganzas!

Don’t mistake this Grand Re-Opening as one of SLs oh-so chic events. No ball gowns required for entry here! There is a gritty, urban ambience, and you can almost smell the cigarette smoke wafting through the air as you explore the sim. This place will remind you of the back alleys your parents told you to stay away from. DJ Kromus Korobase will also be the featured DJ during both events, and you know he’s not known for keeping his clothes on!

Watch out for:
- Funny and sexy trivia games with prize giveaways such as gag gifts, Linden dollars, and gift certificates
- A $1200 photo session giveaway with "Cut Above Photography"
- Gesture hunt on the land with 15 free gestures to be found

The store features various gesture selections, such as Movies, TV, Comedy, YouTube, Music, Club/Party, Howls, Expressions, Gaming, Kids, XXX and more. With 98% of the gestures being fully animated and all being custom-made (including Chatart/ASCII), you are sure to find one or more to suit your filthy tastes! *Rawr*

Clothing Fair, a Relay for Life in SL event.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but my Dad is a prostate cancer survivor, and cancer killed both of my mother's sisters, so I support the various RFL events in SL and RL. Here's the press release:


Announcing the Relay for Life, Clothing Fair 2008 brought to you by Relay's Raiders with sims Donated by the Rezzable Group.

The much anticipated Relay for Life, Clothing Fair will be opening it’s doors March 17, and run thru March 23, 2008. Jam packed with live music, treasure hunts… and fashion shows this year’s fair features 84 of SL’s premier designers! Kicking off this years Relay for Life Clothing Fair will be a multi-sim St. Patrick’s Day celebration. The event runs 24/7 until the doors close on the 23rd.

This year’s concept spans four sims to ensure a low lag, positive shopping experience. Watch all our sponsors for more infomation on this event.

Come stroll the seasons and help us “Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back”. We can make a difference! Until there's a cure, there's Relay for Life.

http://www.slrflclothingfair.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 03, 2008

I miss the old Second Style blog

You know, when it was just Celebrity Trollop and a few loveable lackeys like Choice, Grazia, etc.

It had more..."soul". It felt more "personal" like Celeb and friends were my gorgeous fashionista friends helping me find the good stuffage. It seems impersonal now, with that Second Style Network and all. Sigh. It's not that I don't understand being busy, having other projects, or not having enough people, and the grid overflowing with stuffage. I just miss what it was, but realize that SL has changed and that Second Style perhaps can't go back to what it was.

Ahh I guess I'm an oldbie now, ranting about how things aren't like they were in the good ol days.

Fashion Circle Jerk

Several commenters on a post about the various blog feeds on Shopping Cart Disco made that remark. That everybody blogs the same stuff, that the fashion press feeds on each other. And sometimes that there's conflict of interest a la someone working for/renting from/economically intertwined a designer still blogging said designers stuffage. You know what, they're right for the most part.

That's one reason I do commentary and opinion and don't do new items like a lot of other blogs do. This is a blog what I like blog.

I also don't ask for review copies, for one I don't have lots of SL time these days, so if would feel wrong. I DO tell people where they can send their stuff.

There's also things I won't blog, for example, I work for Metro Models and thusly am an associate/employee of Alaska Metropolitan. Therefore it would be wrong for me to blog any of her new stuffage as a "review".

If you're a new content creator, IM me, I probably won't have the time to blog your stuff, but I am willing to take a look and give a quick opinion via IM or in person.

Marketing advice....well that's another story, because that's one of the services Metro Models offers. And I wish more folks took advantage of those services. There comes a time when winging it isn't cutting it anymore in the competitive SL fashion market. You have to "bring your A game" and it's best if your stuffage is as good as what's already out there, if not better or more unique.

I could rant on marketing, ad design, etc all day and I'm not even a professional!

GLAM SL magazine.

Alaska Metropolitan told me to check out the Glam World SL magazine last night. I went to the website and browsed through the flashy thingy.

Gosh the Photoshop work sure is pretty and artistic, but it doesn't reflect the real SL, which I think is a bad thing.

We hate it when designers excessively photohop their ads to make their stuff look better, and I think it's a bad idea for the SL magazines to do similar. It also prevents those not familiar with SL from getting an overly rosy picture of how it looks.

I went to download the PDF version of the magzine today and got a surprise... it's 81MB. That's right, it's 81MB. No, it doesn't have as many pages as Second Style, it's rather short. I don't know what they're doing but 81MB for a PDF is outrageous. Optimize for screen, people, not printer. No one prints these things. it doesn't need mega high resolution/quality.

I will be avoiding Skin Fair.

"Why CC, the new Fleur skins are there." you may be thinking.

It's simple, I don't like badly organized events, even if I think it was a good idea, and even if I'm a big fan of the content creators involved.

1. They only have 1 sim, it's not enough. You get more than 20 fashionistas in a sim and you're asking for trouble. Sure the sims can handle more, but not in a "fun and useable" way. Now I'm the sort of person who'd show up nekkid, or intentionally ruthed, it's a skin fair after all, but there's folks who feel the need to show up and show off in their latest bajillion prim hair and 5m wide flexi ball gown....with bling. And an event like this with free and/or cheap skin will attract a hell of a lot of people, enough to fill and/or easily crash 1 sim. I know people love to gather, but big events with lots of avs simply don't work well in SL. That's why some of us would prefer some kind of "virtual fair" where the designers involved did special branding/adverts/promotions in their own stores, thus reducing the strain. Then hand out special HUDS, that when you click on a "Fair" location bring up the map so you can see how busy it is, and choose another.

2. They didn't promote it well. I didn't know the Skin Fair was on "for sure" til last Tuesday! They should have had all their cards together: location, time, etc and been promoting it for weeks! But maybe they were promoting it, but I didn't have any information. The only promotion I got was a picture of Sachi Vixen's booth from Sachi herself last Tuesday, and I'm press! Second string press, but press nonetheless. If Aradia Dielli dropped some press package on me I didn't see it, and I know there are others who should have got press info that didn't. Handing out press kits means the press doesn't have to actually go there and fall through the ground, walk in slow motion, see unrezzed sculptie ball shoes, unrezzed vendors, and everything else that comes with lagtastic events. They can sit at their home/studio/skybox and do their thing.

In other words, if you want to do a big event, pre-planning, lots of it, is essential.