Artwalk at Raglan Shire

I invite you to come and see my art installation at the Raglan Shire Artwalk this year, I have set out a series of my best animated art for you. Please stop by and have a look, stroll around and see so many artists best being placed out for you to enjoy!

That was my invite from Kikiri Tiqiri about whom I’ve written before. I finally dragged my butt over to the Shire and Wow! The place is packed with rows of artwork all along its many paths! Here are some highlights.

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Cheshire cat topiary


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After all


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sink in the burning


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Plenty of free Gifts can be found here and all along the walks.


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Tinies: They Are Legion

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Ariele Pumpkin—It’s amazing what they’re doing with mesh avatars ;)


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Apollo Flying Machine

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Barbie’s Dream

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If you’ve never been to Raglan Shire, this is a great excuse to see the multi-level home to the Tinies Nation!

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Some of Kiki’s animated graphics (Each can be had for $L600):

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The Spot (animated, by Kiki)
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After Alice (animated, by Kiki)

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Kiki’s Display

Raglan Website | Raglan Shire



I’ve been many different people – a pink haired flower pixie, a leggy exotic dancer, a proud and haughty centaur and many, many others. You can re-invent yourself in Second Life every week if you want. It’s a wonderful feeling to just be able to change everything about yourself at the drop of a hat. In my first year, I wore a different avatar almost every day. It was so freeing to explore a variety of identities and parts of myself I’d never dare to show the real world. I could be any one of any gender or any race or any age – the only thing limiting me was my own imagination.

Eleanor Ocheis, Connecting: 365 SL Lives

A wonderful article that reveals much in the hints of what she is leaving out of her fascinating story.

Two great new outfits from Devicious

Vanity is much like the ReVenge dress with the plunging neckline but without the ties across the front. Some great fabric and leather options from three 10-color HUDs plus blue, pink, red, and white boots in three sizes. Samba Nights fabric on the close up of my fanny. Red Lace on the down front shot. Great textures, well worked alphas … sexy dress!

Hamptons Nights is a wonderful flowing gown that doesn’t quite catch the curves of a thin waist but my goodness is just looks delicious! Using the Elegant Gown HUD (again 3 HUDs x 10 colors/textures), the trhee-way shot is Asian Silk. Using the Summer Gowns HUD, the shot from behind is of Butterfly texture. Down the front shot is from the Flowers HUD, Floral Gold. This dress moves so well with your body, it’s sure to win your heart (and maybe someone’s else’s) on the dance floor.

Other items worth mentioning in this shoot:
Petra w/roots hair in Quince by Truth
Vanity Ice eyes by IKON
Sienna Vivante Paparazzi skin by Exodi

Getting Something off my Chest

I’ve been faithfully posting Lolas Tango Appliers Outfit of the Week since the start of the new year. There’s been an explosion of sources for not only the Lolas brand of mesh breasts but Lush Breasts (eBoobs and others) as well. I would love to test out the Lush breasts and not show any favoritism, but alas, this whole thing is costing me more than I promised myself it would. For years, I rarely had to replenish my Lindens because I got a stipend from my previous editor and I got commissions for my customer service work for MechanizedLIFE. Well, I write for my own blog now and business at ML has slowed down. Mesh boobs, while not in any way proportional to the expense of getting a first life boob job, is still more expensive than your average mesh outfit.

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One shot I didn’t use from the Bodacious Tank shoot.

I do not request review copies of anything as a matter of policy. I don’t refuse gifts. (For instance, I would never refuse receiving a guitar or motorcycle for review … even Bigger Hint!) I’ve been very very hesitant to ask for fashion items for review because I just don’t want to handle the obligations that come with it.

I do have offerings from the likes of Pink Sugar and Que Belle that celebrate gazoombah-sized breasts with quality slut wear. (No comment on whether that last phrase was an oxymoron.) I just cannot really go there. Plenty of other bloggers who live that lifestyle provide their audiences with news and reviews. My wish is that Lolas and Lush and whomever else enters the mesh breast market hear a voice or two calling for scalability on the A/B market where the system avatars fail and despite their efforts, skin designers fail.

I do believe a Lola- or Lush-equipped Paypabak Writer in the A/B size/shape range would be a strong advocate and yes, this is a bald-faced request for review copies of that type of attachment.

The final straw was the debacle with Hugo Designs where I used my gift card on a LTA outfit and … well, read all about it.

All of this has been prelude to my saying that I can’t afford buying any LTA outfits or skins on a weekly basis, save maybe what I find in group gifts, discount specialty stores like The Dressing Room or Zodiac, or the 25-Linden wall of Ho Wear. That is to say, I can’t guarantee my weekly LTAOOTW posts will continue as they have so far. I want to keep the posts fresh, celebrating new stores or really special offerings. I can’t afford it. (I can’t see changing it to Ho Wear LTA of the Week, either.)

I really do appreciate the responses to what has been a very popular regular feature. I notice your notes! But I expect to be cutting back on the weekly pace I set for myself and managed for more than four months.

Seeing through New Eyes: IKON

Surfing the Plurk timeline, a post by Kittywich (Kitty Otoole) compelled me to visit IKON, a store that sells only eyes. I have been more than pleased with my old Exodi eyes. I have checked out eyes by LOGOS  and The Plastik, and more recently, Poetic Colors and Pulse. I’ve even toyed with HUD-based eyes by Tokugawa Heavy Industries. (Note that these links are from when I wrote for Moonletters, meaning they’re close to two years old.) But when I saw the Vanity eyes in Kitty’s post, I knew I had found something ethereal and special. I gravitate toward pale blue “icy” eyes or a deep blue, and found both at IKON, shown below, close up and then farther away.

Just my own observation but after spending a fair amount of time setting up my close-up shots—waiting for blinks and for the eyes to turn a particular direction—I was startled by how wonderful they look from a distance when I changed to farther away shots. And really, that’s how most people will see your eyes, anyway. Nonetheless, they are wonderful close up.

An interesting and very useful feature that I’ve not seen in many stores, but works wonders for showing off eye are “stations” for getting URL jumps to Flickr groups to see them “in Place:”

Utopia Eyes | Ardent | Lucid

Vanity Eyes, $L150 per color (5 sizes), $L599 for set of 7 Phantom Pack

Lucid Sapphire (close and farther away)


Vanity Ice (close and farther away)


Eternal (Indigo, Royal)

Specialty eyes tempted me greatly!

The prices are about the going rate for really good eyes, so if you have yet to find eyes that suit you, do yourself a favor and go.

Other items worn in my shoot for this article:
Andorra Earrings by Virtual/Insanity (Zodiac store)
Petra w/Roots Quince by Truth (Not sure if this was retired but was part of the Truth sale)
Sienna Vivante skin in Paparazzi by Exodi (Out of print)
Synergy latex suit in red with Lolas Tango applier by Karu Karu
Unfold 01 pose by *xoxo ania*

IKON Eyes

Iterating Fun - Simon Newstead: 5 reasons virtual worlds died

iteratingfun:

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Edit: HN discussion on this post here

Lately I’ve been designing a couple new games and got me thinking back to virtual worlds.

Remember when they were the next big thing?

Millions of us tried them. Gartner predicted 80% of all net users would have Second Life avatars. VCs…

Nothing like another virtual worlds post-mortem based on games theory.

If it doesn’t meet these game hypotheticals, a virtual world has obviously failed. I guess what really twirls the stick in my ass is this little bit:

Whilst never living up to its hype*, we can continue to incorporate their positives in a deeper way.

*Whilst not a mainstream success, virtual worlds are still active amongst several niche groups, eg deep roleplayers, virtual artists, or the disabled—where they can move, express and socialize in a way they can’t in real life.


You say “niche” like it’s a bad thing.Nothing like being the discounted exception to the reasons cited for our premature deceasement. And what do you mean by a deeper way? If you can’t play it on your pweshush handheld, it’s not deep enough?!!

I was going to go through each item with a resounding rebuttal, but there’s only so much energy for this kind of blogdoggeral. So here goes:

1. No purpose

um, fuck you

2. No feedback

I give this lame line of reasoning a 3-fuck you rating. How’s that for feedback?
(Seriously, all I need for feedback or reputation is an IM from a friend to keep vested in Second Life. We tried reputation reporting in SL about five years ago and it was laughed off the map.)

3. No theme

Yeah, right. “Most successful UGC communities …” Go fuck yourself and Reddit and Pinterest (and how are these “meaningful” virtual communities?)

4. Complexity

“people don’t handle complexity well” … I’ll keep it simple for you: fuck off!

5. Needs met elsewhere

SL does have an incredibly loyal community and more than the asterisked groups you condescended about. We don’t need to be massively populated by the likes of people “who can’t handle complexity well” and actually appreciate you staying the hell out. Just keep the obituaries to yourself, okay?

If you’re waiting for me to insert a “fuck you” here, continue to hold your breath till it hurts.


Adorkable Poses Closing Sale!

It’s been a long time coming… it’s time to close Adorkable Poses. I have had an amazing four years of making poses and getting to know some wonderful people. My real life has just gotten so bus…

SAY IT AIN’T SO!!

A wonderful Plurkmate and terrific posemaker is calling it quits inworld. I completely understand and appreciate her words. She doesn’t fade off into the Big Quiet but gives notice and throws a great sale.

Be sure to check it out. There have been times, I must confess, I have used Adorkable poses in my fashion posts without giving credit and I am so sorry.

Go Now, I’ll Meet You There Soon!

eailineen: Gah, if only I had known about this place before my exam! At least two (out of nine) questions was on ASD. But anyway, discovered the Autism Awareness Center on Second Life. If I’m to be a special needs teacher, this place is a godsend for me because of all the information available. I actually found articles on the symptoms of Autism, along with tips on communicating with people with Autism, in particular non-verbal children, as well as a detailed history of the discovery and research done on Autism. And I found some pretty disturbing articles on the use of restraints and physical punishment on children with Autism in some special schools in the United States. Truth be told, in Singapore, I already had some of an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes because I spent 2 days on attachment at a special needs school and what I saw kind of scared me, but this is truly scary stuff that more people need to be aware of. In particular, the red flags that could reveal some disturbing practices in special needs schools. This is especially the case in Singapore, where information and intervention on Autism is at least 10 years behind that of the United States. I also liked the colour scheme used as well. Warm dark woods with green carpets and stone walls carved with patterns and comfortable furniture. There’s also a group one can join; The Autism Support in SL. It’s for people with children suffering from Autism as well as those with friends with the condition. I joined it because I would like to have information on Autism as updated as possible. All part of the ongoing process to be a more effective teacher, if I do indeed follow this route. SL is amazing in the amount of resources it has for educators despite the neglect and supportive policies of Linden Lab.
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eailineen:

Gah, if only I had known about this place before my exam! At least two (out of nine) questions was on ASD.

But anyway, discovered the Autism Awareness Center on Second Life. If I’m to be a special needs teacher, this place is a godsend for me because of all the information available. I actually found articles on the symptoms of Autism, along with tips on communicating with people with Autism, in particular non-verbal children, as well as a detailed history of the discovery and research done on Autism. And I found some pretty disturbing articles on the use of restraints and physical punishment on children with Autism in some special schools in the United States. Truth be told, in Singapore, I already had some of an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes because I spent 2 days on attachment at a special needs school and what I saw kind of scared me, but this is truly scary stuff that more people need to be aware of. In particular, the red flags that could reveal some disturbing practices in special needs schools. This is especially the case in Singapore, where information and intervention on Autism is at least 10 years behind that of the United States.

I also liked the colour scheme used as well. Warm dark woods with green carpets and stone walls carved with patterns and comfortable furniture.

There’s also a group one can join; The Autism Support in SL. It’s for people with children suffering from Autism as well as those with friends with the condition. I joined it because I would like to have information on Autism as updated as possible. All part of the ongoing process to be a more effective teacher, if I do indeed follow this route.

SL is amazing in the amount of resources it has for educators despite the neglect and supportive policies of Linden Lab.

So just over a week ago, I regained consciousness and vomited weakly into a bag. That was my first conscious memory with no penis.

Forth made it through her operation and here is her amazing post-op post in what could be for some folks, uncomfortable detail. Her ability to capture and share her feelings is inspiring.

What an amazing journey she has shared with courageous vulnerability and astute objectivity.

Lolas Tango of the Week

You had a brief view of the Adam n Eve Megan skin in the LTOTW featuring a dress by Poison. The first two photos are of that same pose unclad and in all its glory.

I then took out an older pale skin called Piper from AE and using the same caucasian LTA but with the palest of the five settings and tattoo layers, found they work pretty well, as you can see in the last three photos.

Megan Valentine skin T2, where the lipstick forms a heart.

Piper Pale Blush by Adam n Eve, with Caucasian LTA
Piper makeups=Eyeshadow Pale Blue, Lipstick Pale Red, and Red Eyebrows
Darkglen eyes by Adam n Eve
Pandora hair in quince by Truth
Andorra Earrings (special for Zodiac: Taurus) by Vistural Insanity
Sitennoah Watch/Bracelet Chain by Mandala

Cabaret 3&5 pose by PictureMePretty