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.