Plurkers Rock

my very best friend Minx Arashi turned me on to the social network plurk.com (another building block of Canada's world leading electronics/telecomm empire) the other day. i've been following all the lovers of Second Life plurkaholics and ran into a funny on Niki Axel's page. i threw it onto a template and woila, instant freebie (no we're not all French, i just throw that in to sound cosmopolitan).

you can find it in a place of honour, on my freebie wall @ *BEHOLD*. it's called "plurker wisdom". i'm gonna comment on that one for sure.

Tropical Dream

the mood is set. Lilyana Dryke's new "Thaana" dress, with its muted soft pastel colours applied to her multiple flexi prims is evocative of the many flora indigenous to the Maldives. Thaana, you see, is the written language of the Maldives, a nation of lush and tropical atolls in the Indian ocean. with the groundhogs telling us we have another month of winter up here in the Great White North it's a pleasure to wrap myself in such a light and dreamy outfit.

walking along the virtual beach in this dress moves the many delicate "petals" flirtatiously. bees aplenty, should attraction be your thing, will gather about without any effort on your part but to drop the pieces onto your dolly. Lily's designs have always been some of the prettiest and most feminine dresses i have. and, with each design she releases she innovates and stretches her talents into another level of experience. in this Thaana outfit she's added a sculptie wrap worn on the hips which serves two purposes. not only is it aesthetically pleasing (there's a light and whispy frill integrated into the back tie) it hides the top of the flexi prim edges in a subtle and natural way.

the top, if you look closely, has Thaana script in the print fabric. i'm not sure what it says (the Thaana text i've used in the photo above is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). a beautiful dress, a beautiful setting, a beautiful dream along with a beautiful concept of human ideals.

EmCee's Widgets

it's always nice when EmCee Widget chimes into my quiet little SL window. of course, aside from being fortunate enough for him to share his new design releases with me, he's always been a great source for my education in micro prim work. he taught courses in jewelry making back in the day. his patience and intuitive sense suits my exitable nature. while i mostly elicit slaps in the back of the head at the best of times, his helpful understanding of human nature and the tasks at hand bring him into another level altogether from the ordinarily mundane encounter.

when i flew over to his new Homestead sim he was putting on the finishing touches to a Valentine's Day gift for his partner Evangeline; the very same name he's given to the above necklace from his newest jewelry set (includes earrings not shown).

i was immediately attracted to the gem faceted hearts. black on top surrounded by EmCee's traditional steampunk cogs, his trademark miniscule gears in between with a rose coloured heart below. i found out later those hearts are sculpties made by Aminom Marvin.

Aminom's helped in a few other places on EmCee's new sim. Aral Levitt's rustic looking shops, and Gypsy Paz's swim animation give the place a nice feel but it's EmCee's virtual realization of his old world leanings that shows his heart. of course, having lived in SL for some while, there's always the things we don't see that are the most enjoyable. hidden somewhere on the island is a secret lair with a cleverly disquised means of revealing what lies below. give him a visit. you will surely find something to love.

No Biggie

did i forget to mention my meeting space builds i have advertised over at XstreetSL? i didn't did i? well no more negligence. here's the latest above with an earlier one below. click on their images to go to the XstreetSL page where you may purchase aforementioned structures to endow your world with beauty and light.

you might see a native theme running throughout my human enclosures. i have mohawk blood and spirit coursing through my veins. the Haida House below and the Mod TeePee above are heart spoken above water. none of my art is representative of any particular community. i think you get a feel though, yeah. ~Onen~

*BEHOLD* Tattoos

click photo to see listing on Xstreet SL.

HugBall

just put this adorable little item out on XstreetSL. of whom, i am now a new "affiliate" member. even showing their button gives me panache, prestige, & MONAY! do try to contain yourselves. annoy your neighbours, push the button. think of the baby seals.

i've had this device kicking around for a while now but composing its "promotional elements" (leading to its ultimate success to dominate the grid with fun tings) ran up against some roadblocks. one of which altered my video editing software, the other my sound editing. hmmm, musta been beat since moving to this SATA system. i'm sure i'll get around to fixing that. nonetheless, i did squeeze out a FRAPS vid i shot back in december that didn't need any editing save the sound cut (Armin w/Audrey Gallagher).

if yer ever in the area you can throw it around. just watch where yer tossing it, it might never come back.


open in YouTube ui

Force of Nature

looks like i was due for a total redesign for *BEHOLD*. it'd gotten pretty messy. half the parcel was a sandbox of unfinished projects anyway. Play's way of "redesigning" is to set everything to Physical and watch the prims rain down colliding with one another in a deliciously destructive sensurama tour de force. maybe i should keep my mouth shut next time i think about changing anything. i'm sure i woulda got around to it. really i would.

now all the saleable items are tucked away in their own section at the South end of the parcel. i'll be changing the landmark in a week or so. for now you'll have to venture along the walkway columns from the usual landing point. i've still got a bit more rearranging to do. the pose ball animations are on the ground. lined up but still, i'll have to build a better locale. the more explicitly sexual animations are tucked inside a portion of the land that is only open to age verified residents. hope that doesn't inconvenience you kiddies, heehee. the vendor pose stands are outside the age verified space.

oh, i also got the shapes based on Emilia Redgrave's Rihanna and Moon skins out. they should be right in front of you when you land. one click should serve the billboard type package to ya. hmmm, if the picture doesn't sell ya i could probably give you some demos. the type with the super big feet and hands. sure, i'll do that.

most of my other time was spent rebuilding and texturing Play's jet tires for the Sabre. wrapping a torus is mind boggling when you've never done it before. i'm sure i can get it better. here's to tomorrow and a forgiving partner. really, i wouldn't change a thing hon!

Photo Real

me and Play are tooling up a scale model of a Canadian manufactured F86 Sabre jet fighter. well, i should say i sorta hang around and have fun. our "loose" working relationship commands that i clean up and Play builds. i had thought of numerous other arrangements until i saw her prims. sheesh. i can't figure out which way's up most times. i deferred to her magnificence and proceeded to spike her coffee with jet fuel. ah, a good cuppa's the way to start the day.

since i was making up a new avi (using Emilia Redgrave's Rihanna skin) i thought it'd be a great time to indulge my passions: getting naked and PSing my snaps into a photo layout. Emilia's faces are ideal. she is on top of her game. i've watched her progress and she's continuously stretched the boundaries, giving us revolutionary generational changes in how we look at our selves/dolls. while i haven't, and still don't, own a Redgrave skin; where i roam they are so far away from decent looking skins that they are in a completely different world. mouth watering face forward knockout gorgeous.

least wise, if you know how to mold your shape around the nicest glam skin texturing there is. a bad shape and a dynamite skin is stretching reality. literally. when i tried on Emilia's supplied shape (not sure she sells it with her skins since this was a demo) i knew i could do better than that. i carved out the above face from my normal everyday girl shape ignoring everything but the face. Emilia's makeups are just so lickable. it was a pleasure pushing and pulling my frame to fit her skin to perfection.

i'm putting a package together with the shape i've made for Rihanna (facelights, the pose i used in the layout, Emilia's eyebrow shape, kitchen sink, etc). i couldn't help myself, i went back for Moon. you can look for these posters at *BEHOLD* some time soon. maybe i should do the whole collection? hmmm, might keep me outta trouble.

Problem Solved

ever since Bax Coen came out with her ankle boots i've had this nagging technical problem constantly tugging at my sleeve. i mentioned it to Bax when she showed me the pre release copies of her prim based ankle boots. lining up the ankle laces (attached to the lower leg) with the boot laces (attached to the foot) couldn't be done unless you were in a static pose. anytime the ankle joint moved, my precise alignnment broke severely.

overcoming any breaking point (in other words: "it can't be done") limitations is the mark of greatness. as soon as i saw these pretty little boots wandering the grid that nagging little technical problem of having boots with two attachment points moving independantly seemed to have been solved.

when i explored, the designer's store, i tried on some demos and IM'd Bax immediately. she was familiar with the solution (one that she thought stiffened the walk dynamics) but was working on a similar test model.

the idea behind maintaining ankle and foot alignment is to make the entire boot one piece and attach it to one point. an invisiprim attaches to the foot and completely hides the foot. any movement of the foot takes place as par normal, you just don't see it. the only problem is viewing the invisiprim in front of a transparent or semi transparent background shows the invisiprim's outline (as shown in illustrations middle photo below). this problem is not something that is going to go away soon. it doesn't just exist in Second Life.

i asked Van Stantz, the designer of the lovely examples shown here, if i could review his ankle boots to illustrate this design solution. while his textures and sculpties are not as refined as the penultimate artist Bax Coen, the implementation shows great promise for future development. the embedded scripts provide options for sole and stitching texture changing, sizing, animations, and sounds. the default rez puts your avi into the included poses. it's a simple matter of touching to bring up the menu function to turn any of these added features off. having a zombie animation included in his walk choices seemed a bit odd if he's going for the fashionista market. then again... i better not say.

they're sold copy/no mod/no trans at the price for a single pair of 749L$ with discounts for fat packs. all in all, a very good start and a welcome inclusion to my wardrobe.


he also has some adorable, and free, calf length boots at his store. (now 99L$)

Lost & Found

so what do i do now?

as a brand new user, with absolutely no idea how to do anything, i suppose the best we could do to start our journey into Second Life would be to know something about the extremely complex interface. forget that your avatar is unresponsive to all the chatter surrounding you (should you enter at a time when others are forming at the same spot). you've "rezzed" inworld. from a misty cloud into a fully formed and clothed avatar, there you are. no lurking here. of course, all you see is the back of your inworld representation's body. don't worry, the laughing will abate, most of the other avatars look pretty much just like you do anyway. no judgemental uber models or snooty business people here.

of course, you could move off to a more private location, but how the hell are you supposed to move? uhuh. i'm sure it's that way with numerous individuals entering the world for the first time. there's no specific resource telling you how. the orientation experience was rife with vultures primed to discourage your every move. how i managed to land here on Help Island's all a blur. if you do manage to hang around long enough in one spot you just might get a straight answer from all the smart asses rezzing about you. that is if you know what to ask. and how do you open the chat!

is there any wonder why the retention rate is a whopping 10%? hang in there, if i can give you any help, trust me, your journey into the most vibrant and compelling virtual world is just beginning. i won't steer you wrong. you have to LEARN EVERYTHING from zero. you really are on your own!

Beauty on a Budget

came across this skin for my modeling alt a while ago in a magazine stand at Paper Couture's elegant House of Lu on the Barcola SIM. never gave it much notice till today when i was putting her through some new poses. what can i say? i was transfixed. musta been the light. yeah, that was it.

so i went back today to see if it was still there. looks like the skin's gone but the mag and stand's still there (Rapture Magazine). it's got a newer edition so there's no delightful promo skin to be had anymore. i have to fly about to find a place to rez the mag. checking the land properties i see Armidi owns it! looks like they have quite a few parcels there. totally undeveloped. what with all the newbs and terrorists hanging around the hub it might prove a worthwhile investment to steer some traffic away from their normal griefing over to their island.

anywho, i look up who's skin it was and find that the designer's got a store on Best of Italian. she doesn't have the QS line out (as illustrated above) but she's got some gift boxes (free, 3L$, 5L$), shapes, skins, and eyes. the shape packages are 500L$ and consist of a skin, 2 shapes (primskirt version included), facelights, & eyebrow shape. there's demos for the current skin line (::RD:: 900L$, illustrated below) and shapes so you can try em before you buy them.