Tuesday, July 31, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 31 - Wales

Tangled Falls

The color Wales was a pain in the butt to find, but I actually really like it. It's a bright, sweet, slightly blue shade of green which isn't commonly found in clothing on Second Life, which is what made it fun to finally, twenty to thirty outfits in, find the color. I ended up with one of my oldest (and yet still favorite) styles from G Field, her Rose Fairy dress, available with four or five types of skirt in about a dozen colors. I own them all, and I do mean them all. This dress and the matching shoes were one of my first purchases at G Field, and I still wear them regularly. I believe her roses are the loveliest in Second Life. The hair from Exile, by contrast, is one of the new rigged mesh releases that I picked up at the hair faire, and comes with color-changing butterflies; it's just tucked a bit against the shoulders, but it really makes the style much more versatile and pose friendly! Speaking of poses, I've been using a lot of Glitterati recently, and it's really been perfect. I combined three set of cosmetics for the facial look, a large eyeshadow/blush from cheLLe, with under-eye petals from Virtual Insanity, and then a lovely pale gloss from Mock for the lips.

Cliff Edge

I've been thinking a lot lately about adulthood versus childishness. Remembering back to when I was new in Second Life, and what I do now; remembering an incident when I was quite new and going about in a child form and was called "creepy". The comment was made then, and I've seen it echoed in many places, that adult things and child things should be distinct, and that when one becomes an adult one should leave both childishness and childlikeness behind. One of my big adult tasks has been getting better at taking care of my habitat and keeping up with all of my responsibilities, but I've found my desire to revisit and enjoy things from my childhood - and things from new childhoods since I was a child - remains unchanged. Even as my eyes roll at some of the storylines from favorites like Jem or She-Ra, I enjoy a less complicated time. There was something odd about going from the television series Touching Evil to childhood cartoons, but the balance between realism and naivete is appealing to me, and I don't see myself giving up the latter any time soon.

Shadowpaths

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow 1: cheLLe, Tropical
Eyeshadow 2: Virtual Insanity, Paintbrush 15
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Blush
Hair: Exile, Wide Awake (Hair Faire)
Dress: G Field, Rose Fairy green
Feet: SLink, Mesh Natural Barefeet

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Isle of Amras
Light Settings: Deo-chan, Mint Madness
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Poppet in Wonderland

Rising

I don't have a lot witty or pithy to say today, except that I found a wonderful way to get close-ups on petites. Put a sphere around yourself, and edit it to go outside of your petite body, and you can alt-click on it and zoom in without your camera going flying. No go forth! And take cute petite pictures~!

(The parts of Wysteria you can get to free are very pretty. The parts you have to pay for I have no idea, since I didn't pay.)

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Fallen Gods, Petites Pale (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Luminus Rainbow Eyes (promotional item)
Hair: Secrets, Nummies (promotional item)
Jewelry: Elemental, Fiori Set (promotional items)
Outfit: Skinthesis, Petite Poppet Rainbow (gift)

Pose: Glitterati

Location: Wysteria
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Albedo 0.39

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 30 - Aqua Island

Transfixed

I'm swinging up from behind with Aqua Island, so I decided to go to one of the glorious islands associated with Fallen Gods and get my aqua on. I'm actually wearing mostly blue, but it's such a green-tinted blue that it seemed to fit the theme. I think that's one of the fun and challenging aspects of this; how you approach the color and interpret it is central, and you can change it from week to week. Sometimes I'm very attached to the word, and sometimes I'm very attached to the hue; the latter is much harder to pull off. I had bought a set of matching boots from Dilly Dolls, inspired by her awesome corset, but sadly a mesh issue (three rigged items break my eyes horribly, and I haz a sadz) meant I'm not showing them off. I'm still in my smaller-boob shape, and I think I might end up keeping it since it means I fit mesh so much better, and it doesn't look too different from before. The question of how to alter oneself in a place where every aspect is alterable is a fraught one, and I am particularly attached to my shape since it was the first thing I made in Second Life, and it's only minorly changed since then. I'm also on the fence about apparently being a small with smaller breasts; offline I'm anything but small, and I had tried to make Deoridhe be more on the voluptuous side. I suppose that's one of the downsides to anything that is sizing specific - we have a whole weight of offline assumptions built into size, what size we are and what that says about us. As a woman, I attempt to ignore but cannot escape the extent to which a single number determines my worth to a not-insignificant portion of the population, both online where it's relatively easy to fit desire stereotypes, and offline where it is not.

I was thinking about this sort of self-imposed (yet nonetheless real) aspect of the human psyche while watching Botgirl's Inside the Avatar show, or I should say the voice/avatar that hid inside Botgirl only to be revealed over time through human relationships. One thing which struck me strongly was the extent to which he called virtual worlds "not real" and then expanded that to offline life, where the baggage, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and assumptions we carry with us aren't physically tangible. Unlike the futon I'm sitting on, the laptop under my fingers, and the fan keeping the room cool - I cannot touch my pain, my despair, my joy, or my sense of self. I can express them through words and actions, and usually do even when I am not aware of it, but the scars I have earned in relationships with other people are fundamentally different form the scar I have from when a cat attacked me. The clothing I spend money on will never exist offline, and even the money is less something tangible like the bills and coins in my wallet, and more abstracted like numbers in a program that we hope is accurate.However, these thoughts and assumptions still cause tangible damage to people, both in terms of building in groups and out groups with institutionalized discrimination, and in terms of inspiring real violence and murder.

Just Out of Reach

Appearance versus nature is always a fraught issue for women, we who are so valued for our appearance and not for our nature. One of the things which has always twigged my nerves with Botgirl specifically is how pervasive her in unpleasant sexual situations was, and relatedly how she was usually naked or in very little clothing. When I discovered the person who had created Botgirl was a man I both had a feeling of sudden understanding and the irritation increased, as this placed Botgirl once more as a woman being literally manipulated by a man and his vision and assumptions about her, nothing more than a puppet. On the other hand, what does it say that his initial philosophical influence came through the face of a female avatar? He became widely known as a woman, and one aspect of online life is that women are much more dominant than we are offline - both because it's newer, so the old boys club isn't entrenched, and because the internet is so strongly social, and women are socialized to be more social and cooperative.

Some of this coalesced in my mind with the recent mistep by Joe Peacock on CNN.com which was comprehensively taken down by John Scalzi and then discussed on the latter's blog. Peacock claimed that there were Poser Geek Girls who can be recognized because they are attractive and ignorant, the latter term left largely undefined. Ironically, he actually managed to call out a population of well known gamer women maybe only a month after the last geek guy tried to claim Felicia Day could be considered "nothing more than a glorified booth babe." The thing is, women are used to having our credentials challenged no matter what we claim to be (including beautiful - you would not believe the lovely women who are regularly called ugly dogs online), but it seems like a certain Critical Population has been reached in gamer, skeptical, and other online environments where enough women and men speak up and object, leading these issues to regularly be reaching a wider audience (though I don't think anything has yet reached the mainstream media; I presume CNN's blogs get a lot more views than their television shows).

On Fire

One interesting thread that was left mostly untouched by the official posters on the topic, though, was initially brought up by A Mediated Life which points to the heart of a major point of contention and disagreement within women - that of our relationships to our bodies and those bodies being seen and judged both by ourselves and by others, and how sexism plays into that. There are essentially two sides to this. One which says women should not wear sexually attractive and revealing clothing because it reinforces sexism; this point of view usually assumes the women are unconscious of the larger context of sexism and simply want mens attention (ironically, part of Peacock's argument objecting to attractive women being at cons). The second is that women cannot be freed from sexism until we are supported no matter what we wear, and that our clothing is less important than what we do - the clothing we wear should not be an excuse to rape, molest, harass, or dismiss us. Obviously, I lean more toward the latter; while I think discussion among women about why we wear what we wear is important, I don't think shaming attractive women for being attractive is any better than shaming unattractive women for being unattractive. Women are the primary enforcers of judgement about looks on other women because we have internalized sexism, and that leads us to focus more on what other women are doing than on the larger picture that we should be able to wear what we want without the narrative that we "caused" bad things to happen to us or are somehow slaves. Keeping the focus not on the women but instead on an industry which reinforces sexism in the appearance of women I think is a better way to combat sexism than going around and telling every "slavegirl Leia" that she should put on camouflage and grab a few teddy bears.

And for the record, I'm one of the ugly ones, offline. Online I'm GORgeous.

Broken

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Fairy - Sea
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Toast
Hair: LeLutka, Versage Hair (Hair Faire)
Jewelry: Elemental, Lariat Pearls (promotional item)
Corset: Dilly Dolls, Dola Corset (promotional item)
Skirt: Deviance, Sugar Plum Fairy
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Bastian Boots - White and Light

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Athan Selidor
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY - Maldives
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Impermanence

Reflected Grief

I found a new tumblr called Unfuck Your Habitat which I really adore. It's aimed at taking small amounts of time to clean things up, focusing on people who are busy, stressed, have physical difficulties, or other reasons why sustained cleaning is a challenge. I love how the internet has opened up these kinds of conversations - for the messy, the individual, and the tolerant. I'm trying to seek out more of these places to combat the gross injustices I often see online and offline, like Captain Awkward's Advice Blog. The light and beautiful in the world is a shimmering impermanence, like the sun at noontime. It poises for a moment up high before dipping back down toward the earth... though really, what happens is the earth goes spinning in circles, sending the light out of sight. A lot of what we see is a matter of perspective and experience entwined; a combination of the personal and the abstracted. I'm becoming increasingly aware of the importance of what we surround ourselves with - both in terms of the cleanliness of a home and the people who speak in our ears and the thoughts we invite in to entertain us.

Wheeee~

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Lip Glasside - Shocking Pink
Hair: fashionably dead, Garden - Blond (Hair Faire)
Dress: Dimbula Rose, Alice Dress - Alice Blue
Shoes: katat0nik, Aya Wedge

Poses: Adorkable

Location: Talamasca (Only Styled until Mid-August)
Light Settings: Places Annamaria
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 29 - Persian Rose

Pillars and Chessboards

I'm so late on this Color Challenge - I think this is the first time since the challenge began - with a lovely shade of pink called Persian Rose. The windlight - one of Torley's set in the FOG subheading - was central to bringing out the pinks, and I found the contrasting green really fascinating. This isn't the psychedelic pink and green of a watermelon, but rather it's duskier, darker sibling; one imagines a goth watermelon complaining about being told to take out her piercings and slamming the door in her parents' faces. I got two of the pictures taken in time, then was distracted by a flaw in the outfit and a glorious weekend offline, and came back several days late to wrap it up - only to find the Relay for Life sims were gone. I mourn all of the ones I didn't see, but there are only so many hours in the day and I am finding more and more that I simply can't accomplish everything I'd like to. I ended up seeking out the LEA sims instead, on LEA 6, a display which opened on the fifteenth of July and is ending... sometime. I wish the end dates were more explicit; it would make it easier to prioritize; I'm only halfway through photographing another LEA sim and feeling all the weight of the end of the month. I'm also feeling quite sore and tired, but happy, so I suppose things balance out in the end - even my woefully late Color Challenge.

Pixeldancing

The outfit is from Pinkmares, a store I've been meaning to showcase for a while due to her incredibly generosity. A regularly changing midnight mania and four lucky offers are always on in her store, and holidays regularly lead to hunts, additional lucky boards, and other offers. The store is a must join for any Thrifty Goths about, both for the free offers and the outfits for sale. My one complaint - and it is on the nitpicky side - is that the top of this particular gown had a line at the back of the neck which drove me wild until I realized what layer it was on. I photographed around it, but it didn't let me highlight this amazing Hair Faire offering from Discord Designs properly from the back (yes, I really am that picky, no I didn't change my top).  I have several angles to show off this awesome close braid with it's metal fastenings, though, and it is up to Discord Designs' usual high standards. The jewelry is another amazing release from Elemental and matches not at all, which I ended up deciding was fun; I had planned to swing by the store to hunt for something in pink, but the yellow was such a contrast to the rest in a look that really had very little contrast. The curling vines around my eyes are an amazing eye-makeup from White Widow and were, when I picked them up at least, very economical for a really distinctive and theatrical effect. I have a half dozen in the wings, so expect to see more from that store in the future. I thought the combination with my usual secondary eyelashes was very nice as well - vines and flowers are a weakness of mine, I suppose!

Sound Behind Me

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: White Widow, Rosees
Lipstick: Mock, Pomegranate Lip Jelle
Hair: Discord Designs, Delrey - Baby Blonde (promotional item)
Jewelry: Elemental, Sunray Set (promotional item)
Dress: PiNkMaReS HoUsE, Beautifully Broken
Shoes: G Field, Strap Shoes "Alex"

Poses: Long, Awkward Pose

Location 1: Relay For Life
Location 2: LEA6 - Lollito Larkham
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY Melon Chapterhouse
Water Settings: Atomist 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Walking on Sunshine

Horny

I'm having a complete ball wandering around the RFL sims and exploring the enormous displays people have created on either side of it. I have no idea if I'll manage to circle around again, but I'm enjoying myself as I go. The sheer diversity is amazing to me, and strongly reminds me of a similar diversity at SL9B. It makes me think of the mainland as well, a place I've started to explore, which has a gleeful disregard for surroundings. The state of things in Second Life always somewhat remind me of the effects of Home Owners Associations, where a neighborhood agrees on a certain look and the ability to, say, paint your house bright pink and have a flock of flamingos in front is no longer allowed. Mainland is a world without those restrictions and also without the restrictions of a great deal of money, so people put out all kinds of things with varying levels of attractiveness, leading to wars of walls and dividers. I remember when a roleplaying sim I adore got neighbors who built a city in the clouds, and proceeded to drive cars off the edge into the sim itself - they were less than co-operative about no longer doing that. Much like the wars of hedges and poison which occur offline, this online boundary war is a symbol of the difficulties of people getting along with people; the difficulties of diversity.

One downside to how diffused culture has become is that those opportunities for us to rub up against each other and hopefully learn to tolerate each other have been decreased; we can exist on our own little islands, expelling people who disagree with us at a moment's notice. I try to make a point of keeping a diversity of views, both in regards to Second Life (a listing on my side is not an endorsement, but it does mean I read you!) and in regards to the world in general. I have the hardest time with this in areas I take very personally, like abortion and rape. It's easier with contentious things that no one can take from me, like my religion, though I have lost friends who denigrated my intellect or sanity because of my religion. I've been friends with misogynists and racists as well, and argued points with them on those topics; I'm still on the fence as to how appropriate that is. On the one side, I am a trusted person who disagrees with them, so I might open their mind. On the other side, several have claimed that maintaining friendships implies endorsement of all of another persons' beliefs. I'm not sure that's true, any more than being listed on my sidebar means I agree 100%, but there are circumstances where I am significantly less sure on this point.

Give Me that Phone!

The outfit is a gorgeous new release from katat0nik, with matching shoes and socks. After I bought both fatpacks, kat passed me a fatpack of the socks - aren't they the cutest? It is mesh, but I'm actually wearing it in these pictures without an invisi-layer, which is a bit of a blast; usually my belly doesn't fit under dresses! It comes with panties but not a bra, so I hope I'm not flashing everyone. The hair is an awesome release from Discord Designs for the Hair Faire, which is another big event for charity.The thing I adore about this hair is how long it is, how the braid curves down and up and over the shoulder, how the ends dangle down - I haven't had hair this long since my early days in Second Life, before body clipping started really bothering me. This hair can be difficult to pose with, but it is completely awesome looking when you get it right and the mesh quality of it means it moves pretty decently in world. My one complaint, and it is a little one, is that one of the side bangs clip the front of my ears so close ups are single sided, but otherwise I could wear it for days in happiness.The gathering of hair in the back and throughout the braid is naturalistic and loose, it's like I'd braided it together in a rush and just left the ends hanging, because it's so damn long I can't be bothered with it! My only wish now is for a flower festooned braid a la Rapunzel; hopefully my dreams can come true! The jewelry is an amazing set of pearls from Eclectica with two types of earrings (one long, one short), which I managed to put on twice on my uber long Illusions ears. I love the delicacy of the pearls, each little fastening perfect.

Discarded

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, eShadow Fall Festivale Pumpkin
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor Mocha
Hair: Discord Designs, Phoenix (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Eclectica, 'Enchant' Pearl Jewelry - amethyst
Dress: katat0nik, Allura Dress
Socks: katat0nik, Allura Socks (gift)
Shoes: katat0nik, Allura Wedges

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Relay For Life
Light Settings: Bentham
Water Settings: Atomist 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Pretty in Pink

End of the Rainbow

I haven't made it to the Relay for Life racetrack before, but I've had a lot of fun finding things along the path. I know I've complained about this before, but it often seems like there isn't enough time; RFL is an enormous event across multiple sims, and it's only up for a few days, so there isn't a lot of time to explore. Add in the changes I've been making offline - rearranging my living room, meeting people in that strange sim called "Offline", and trying to stay on top of housework - and I often feel like I'm limping miles behind my thoughts and plans, hoping to catch up. I think that's a common feeling in this day and age - the world is a fuller, busier place where we're more in touch with things across the globe than we've ever been before, and that is in and of itself overwhelming. My small clinging to things I can control - my pictures, my blogs, the tiny space I call my apartment - can only go so far. I'm trying to find the joy in the dance of anxiety and confusion that is my life and I think I'm succeeding as far as I can.

Pinned Up

This adorable, eared hoodie is a new release from Violent Seduction. Overall, I liked it. The inside is mostly lined except for inside of the ears and high up in the hoodie itself, which makes pictures easier to accomplish. Some of the edges are a bit jagged and raw and I'm not entirely sure why*, but the overall whimsy and style of the hoodie is difficult to match. It is made for the wider hipped among us, but I found that looked perfectly fine despite being of a narrower hipped shape due to the implied bulk of the fabric. I was able to fit the cute Alice hair from Wasabi Pills under without too much difficulty, and I went pink since I've been on a cooler bent for a few weeks now. Hot pink pants from katat0nik rounded out the look; unfortunately, the length of the hoodie meant I couldn't fit a skirt underneath, so I took an unusual foray into pants and pulled out this awesome old group gift. The final piece were pumps from Lassitude and Ennui, a store which doesn't release as often as some others, but whom has superior shoes in my opinion.

Stretching Out on the Green

* Sgt. Pepper had some fantastic tips! So in her words, "it seems like you're having a mesh bug with your photos which explains the jagged edges. By using a less harsh light such as 'Nam's optimal skin and prim' and by reattaching the jacket you can counter this. It seems to be a problem with some clients. It causes mesh to look terrible in some cases; I believe LL is working on a fix; but a softer light or reattaching the mesh usually fixes it." I don't think the mesh looks terrible, but tips are always good!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Boom, Hard Candy - Pink Sugar
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lips Fuschia (50$L Friday)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Alice Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Jasmin necklace
Hoodie: Violent Seduction, Ferale Hoodie
Pants: katat0nik, Love Butt Pants (group gift)
Socks: G Field, Button Socks - gray
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Skully Pumps - pink

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Relay For Life
Light Settings: Bristol
Water Settings: Atomist 2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pausing Along the Path

Poised on Words

In my drive to become a semi-art blogger, I ended up pausing to take some pictures along the Path, the second incarnation of Bryn Oh's collaborative project. Something I read on New World Notes got me thinking along these lines - I really think the best creations come not when people are in conflict, but when they are in collaboration. Hamlet Au's book (which I haven't read and doubt I will) refers to the response of early Linden Employees to the actions of the players; Feline Slade paraphrases: "You wrote that the early Linden World developers were more interested in creating a game out of their destructive avatars and rock-eating birds, but they realized that during a meeting, the board members' eyes were drawn to the image onscreen of a giant, evil snowman that one staffer was building, with little snowmen being built gathered around to worship the big one. Even from that early development, the Lab was building something for a different customer base than the one that the platform appealed to."

Movement Behind

That image of a Linden Employee building a giant, destructive snowman in the context of a violent combat game attracting a small army of worshipers from new players really struck me at the time of how different things become in the movement between isolation and community. It also made me wonder what role gender might have played; I believe the early Linden employees were mostly male, and I also believe the first builder who wasn't a Linden was female - I don't believe that men and women are intrinsically different, but I do believe we're socialized differently. Men tend to be socialized for collaboration only within narrow boundaries and when united against a shared enemy, like on sports teams. Women tend to be socialized for broad based collaboration even unto dismissing their own thoughts and desires, and only accomplishing power through hidden means and social pressure. Both men and women have aggression, but women tend to express it much more covertly - not necessarily passive aggressively but rather strategically. What this ends up leading to is women having more social awareness and knowledge, and often defaulting initially to practicalities instead of combat when it comes to hobbies.

Tree of Life

Practicality leads to collaboration for the simple fact that other people don't go away when we want them to outside of games, and as near as I can tell it is within that collaboration where the fastest and more diverse creativity occurs. You can see this within Further Along the Path, in how one element in one place becomes major in a second then transforms entirely in a third. Even where elements aren't directly related, there's a conversation between artists that is visible. A similar thing occurred with some of the artists in A Rusted Development, where the vision of the artist was altered in reaction to and conversation with other artists. I remember one of the interesting points about the initial Sims game was that it had equal staffing of men and women, which meant that unlike many games the developers put in things which appealed to a wider diversity of people. A similar thing happened in the writing room of Community; when you introduce diversity among creators and developers, the end product has a broader appeal than it might otherwise, but it will also be different from what you expect - which can be a shock and lead to the end product being rejected.

Silhouette and Silhouettes

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, eShadow Fall Festival Rust
Lipstick: Mock, Mizu Venetian Red
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Brigitte Mesh (promotional item)
Wings: Favole, Laced Phoenix
Jewelry: Earthstones, Caged Heart
Collar: Favole, Prolific
Dress: Solange, Carnal Special Edition - Red/Gold (One Voice Event)
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Further Along the Path - Alpha Auer
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY Sad Purple
Water Settings:

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Prarie Latex

Single Blossom

One of the things which can be fun about Second Life is the juxtaposition of very dissimilar things - like my shiny, latex dress from Falln Angel Creations and the down home country views at Noweeta Grassland. There's no way a shiny latex dress, laced down to forever and flipping slipperily in the wind would work in an actual prairie, but in Second Life there is neither heat nor sweat nor little midges to make a photoshoot unbearable. I love the layering of textures, though, and the distant vistas stretching out and concealing the water around the edges, making this less an island and more in line with a prairie. It's a dry, arid place with little pools of water - one tiny lake and a small forest hung with balloons by the house. I found it through the Destination Guide, which I must say is getting a lot fuller recently, which can be very helpful for finding curious places in Second Life. Unfortunately, as of the last Firestorm update my slplugin is acting up again (it always does; I'm never sure what fixes it) so I can only access the destination guide outside of Second Life, rather than inside of it. Otherwise, I'm finding the latest Firestorm a lovely thing, as always, though I haven't yet tried to turn on shadows and see if I still crash!

Huuuuuuh?

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Souzou Eien, Fairy Eyes Ocean (Lucky Board Prize)
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Apple Blossom
Hair: Clawtooth, Wildflower (Collabor88)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Earthstones, Shells & Pearls (Collabor88)
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Auria Outfit - Aqua (50$L Sale)
Shoes: Falln Angel Creations, Ambrosia Boots - Aqua

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Noweeta Grassland
Light Settings: Places Las Legunas
Water Settings:

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday, July 9, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 28: Astronaut Blue

Cherry Blossoms and Snow

Astronaut Blue was difficult, and briefly I considered going more astronauty before I opened this outfit and decided it was the one, but I do love the shade. The difficulty was more in not repeating an outfit, which I try to not do for pictures, at least. This gown from Dilly Dolls was a remake of an older gown and has been in my inventory for ages, but I love it - so here you are! The hair is new, though, from Truth and on sale (yay sales~!), and the jewelry is also an old inventory-find from Eclectica that I picked up ages ago, likely on 60$L Weekends. I know, I know, I'm cheap, but I have good taste! I layered Adam n Eve cosmetic details over my staple Mock cosmetics for double the effect - isn't that lip heart simply the cutest thing ever? I now wonder how I could have ever done without both cosmetics and my eyelashes. I wanted to switch over to mesh lashes, but my eyes are simply too oddly shaped (I based them on my offline eyes) to fit most places. I keep hoping some mesh eyelashes will come out that are sectional, so I can edit them to fit my own curves. My face is one of the features I prefer to not change; I worked hard to base it on myself, and when I look at it I see myself (but thinner and prettier!).

Winter Love

Earlier in the week I made a more-serious-than-usual set of paragraphs in a post, and I was thinking about why I posted them here instead of at my more-serious-than-this-blog. There is an aspect to online debates about the abuse and harassment women receive online which causes me deep and abiding pain. I have gotten less than many, being largely in female-dominated areas and with a gender-neutral name, but I'm far to aware of my own vulnerability to it, and I don't know if I would react with as much grace as Watson and Sarkeesian have. Counterbalancing something that painful with pretty pictures of myself in beautiful places calms me in a way I can't easily put into words; it reminds me that there is hope and beauty int he world, despite the destructive actions of some of the humans among us. I know that for many it would undercut the message, but for me it's central to my being able to type about those issues - that I can balance the disturbing with the reassuring in my own place.

Fresh of the Boat

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Less of a Blues Girl
Lipstick: Mock, Micare LipGlimmer - Hypoxia
Lipheart: Adam n Eve, Lip Strip Heart Blue
Hair: Truth, Cynthia (Sale Item at Truth District)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Eclectica, Rococco - cobalt
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Amaranth II Blue
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Freddi Boots - Lace

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Leroy
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Moth to a Cake Candle Flame

2012-06-27 SL9B_002

On the last day of SL9B, I thought to try to take some pictures to express the vastness of the four sim Cake Stage which was the centerpiece of the celebration. It was so enormous that it was difficult to capture in pictures - as soon as you scroll out enough you disappear. I placed myself by one of the candle flames (there were nine of them around the cake, each giving a different birthday hat) and then gradually scrolled out to try to give a sense of scale. I am a full sized avatar in these pictures, and I never move or change size - this is simply how enormous everything was. I'm a tiny moth by the flame above - that's the flame of the candle below (look for the black arrow pointing at me).

2012-06-27 SL9B_003

Panned back, I am a tiny dot by the flame above. Even scrolled only a little back I almost disappear. I'm even smaller - barely visible, in the picture below which shows part of the enormity of the cake with the candle nearby. Each of these candles - which dwarf me entirely, are dwarfed themselves by the full cake stage. The scale was so unbelievable, it took me several visits to figure it out - and I hope this helps express that glory now that it has passed us by.

2012-06-27 SL9B_004

( More pictures here. )

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Wandering, Lost in Flowers

Drink for Four

There has been a lot of words recently across the various blogs I read about sexism, especially in often self-proclaimed superior places like the skeptical movement and video game players. Its been a longer flow in the skeptical movement, having started with what is now called Elevatorgate, when pointing out that asking a woman up to coffee at 4am in an elevator after never having spoken to her before (but observing her do a talk on how much she disliked these sorts of approaches) was inappropriate could lead to death and rape threats. The most recent hubabaloo was sparked by Rebecca Watson again being blamed for driving women away from a conference that she actually raises money for women to attend by speaking out against sexual harassment and calling for all conferences to have a no harassment policy and set of guidelines to follow to handle incidents at their conferences. It's now expanded far beyond the initial spark (Pharyngula has a bunch of posts on it, as does Ophelia Benson who declined to go to a conference due to threats against her life which were not taken seriously by the conference promoters), but what seems clear is that skepticism is no inoculation against sexism.

Add in the far more compacted abuse and harassment of Anita Sarkeesian for having a kickstarter fund drive for an expanded series of video analysis of Tropes about Women in Video Games, and you have a virtual internet storm about misogyny; some people are doubling down, but the visible and vocal support of women is stronger than I expected. Sarkeesian hasn't made a single video yet, but she received such an enormous amount of abuse for it that she's doing an extended analysis of the various ways she was harassed - trigger warnings for these links (YouTube, Wikipedia Vandalism, Images). One of the aspects of her situation in particular was how many people expressed the thought that she should be thankful for the abuse because it got her more attention (her kickstarter was fully funded before she began to speak out about the harassment) or that she is doing what she is simply to get abuse and trick people into thinking there's a problem of sexism in gaming communities. Add in the usual "if you talk about it, you're giving the tolls what they want" and I ended up really being struck just by how much of a catch-22 being visible and female is on the internet. Expect abuse, worse than men receive, if you appear to be female but you must never, ever imply that your being female changes the type or amount of abuse you receive (not even getting into the persistent sexual harassment).

But we do have some support - more than I expected - so maybe someday... things will be better.

Pink Posies

On a more positive note! The first Silent Sparrow outfit I ever bought was Coppelia - and I spent a very long time agonizing over which color, as this was long before I was free with my Lindens. Recently, other shades of it went on sale and I was significantly more free with said Lindens - buying up all that was on sale! Ode is a similarly long destination on my list, though now the individual who started it is long gone (leaving behind a beautiful history of gorgeous jewels), it continues in all of it's shining glory, now tucked next to Oubliette - a similarly beautiful sim. The style is all fairy, all brightly hued colors and shining lines of light on high cliffs above crashing waves. I find it a soothing place to be, relaxing and enjoyable no matter what my mood or mode of dress, though I am sad I missed the heydays of the sim when stars used to fall from the sky and you could catch butterflies full of jewelry.

The jewelry is another blast from the past; Kyccie left Second Life ages ago, selling off the last of her jewels which had a very distinctive style. I picked them up before I started blogging, but I always look for times and places I could fit them into a look, and as the accoutrements of the fairy princess, they seemed perfection. The hair, though, is entire newness - Curio Obscura is doing new mesh releases, including hair, and this is a gorgeous mound of princess curls that made me think immediately of my dear friend Ro-chan. The skirt is too short and the bodice too low for a Sweet Lolita look, but you will be seeing this hair again on a more traditional look.

On the Horizon

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mons, Eyeshadow Punk - purple
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor - Roman
Hair: Curio Obscura, Princessy Hairstyle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Kyccie's, Sweetheart Set - Amethyst (store closed)
Dress: Silent Sparrow, Coppelia - Iris
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes (tinted)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Ode
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Thursday, July 5, 2012

ICHP: Spray Tan and Sunshine in the Country

2012-07-05 ICHP_005

As you can see, this is a complete departure from my usual style - but I was so intrigued by the bib-miniskirt and tub top from SLC Couture that I simply had to give it a try. The sizing is a bit off, but it looks kind of loose and fun to me, so I rolled with it. I ended up shrinking a few places so I could wear it without invisilayers, since I was enough off of the base shape that you could see through me in a few places. One thing I really like about mesh is the ability to seem much smaller than your clothing, though; no longer the skin-tight of system layers, fabric can drape over a body and form new shapes which make it much more realistic and fun to take pictures of. In this case, I put the medium bustier top under the large overalls, and it looks like I pieced together an outfit from my dad's clothes and maybe some window curtains! A perfect Country look that needed a country place. The lovely ladies in the Mock Cosmetics Group pointed me to T-Town, which proved to be a fantastic place to match the style of my outfit. I love the rows of lavender and the old town, somewhat broken down buildings; it really got me in the mood of being a country girl with her pet owl (50$L Friday Release by Silent Sparrow - it hoots when you click it!).

2012-07-05 ICHP_001

The jewelry is from my ongoing favorite, Elemental; I figured it looked like the kind of thing a girl would pull together from brightly colored river rocks, bouncing around the farm with her jewels clinking. The hair is a perfect updo, too, from Secrets Hair. I love the braid across the forehead, and I was able to resize it and work the dangly tufts in front of the ears; it's really a lovely, breezy style. As suits a farmgirl, I went brunette and matched it with a darker-than-usual skin from Dulce Secrets and pale as ice eyes from Mayfly (the area was no script, so I couldn't pose my eyes for best look, but these are an amazing design in brilliant shades). The makeup you see is included with the skin; the shadows are darker than I'm used to, but I think it works well with a tannish-red skin. I liked the texturing of the face, too; much less sweet and innocent than my usual skin - which I thought elevated my farmgirl from naif wild child to a woman flirting with elegance. That same elegance is echoed in the nails (a first for me! I'm still not sure what I think of them overall, but the ones from Moondance were lovely) and these gorgeous heels from Felicity. Clearly, she's on her way to town, since there's no way anyone could do farmwork in stilettos!

2012-07-05 ICHP_006

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Dulce Secrets, Lyric Amaretto (promotional item)
Eyes: Mayfly, Deep Sky Mesh - Monet Dawn (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Secrets, Naive - Mocha (promotional item)
Head-owl: Silent Sparrow, Owl-ee! (50$L Linden Friday)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Elemental, Tropical Earth (promotional item)
Nails: Moondance, Square Extra Short Gothic Lolita (promotional item)
Outfit: SLC Designs, Mesh Bib & Brace Mini Skirt and Bustier Top (promotional item)
Shoes: Felicity, Harlow Shoe (promotional item)

Location: T-Town
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Azure
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Antique Truth

Fairy Lights in the Mist

The Truth District is having special birthday events (I squeaked into the group while it was open right under the wire, but I didn't post in time to share, sorry!) and I'm wearing some of the awesome free and sale items (mostly sale items). Walking around the District, I was struck by how many shopping malls that remain work so hard to be attractive, so decided to snap some pictures once I put on my new shinies. The dress from Aura is a free gift, and quite outside of my usual style - but I like the effect. This is the large, and it still clips my boobs a little, but this awesome half-off Truth hair cover that up nicely. One thing to note - make sure you have your lingerie handy when you wear this dress or you will be flashing the world! Also, if you're taking photographs, be careful with the upward angle; the bottom is completely transparent, so bits of the background kept showing up as my upper thighs; I may do a second set of pictures just to see what interesting things I can make show up there! It was rather entertaining. The jewelry is from Earthstones, also on sale, and comes in rainbow or diamond - I bought rainbow, obviously - with gold or silver metal. The ring from Sugar is from another event, the Fruity Stuff in Stock, and was quite inexpensive as well as coming with a slew of other rings of different macaron flavors.

Glow Within

Have I mentioned lately there are a lot of sales going on? There are a lot of sales going on.

*collapses over her inventory in a faint*

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Fairy - Gold
Lipstick: Blacklace Beauty, Pout Gloss 2
Hair: Truth, Brandy w/Roots (Truth District Special)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Earthstones, Entice - Rainbow / Gold (Truth District Special)
Dress:  Aura, Summer Sun (Truth District Gift)
Lingerie: Adam n Eve, Moody Monday 19 Ana
Ring: Sugar, Mesh Macaron Ring (Fruits Event)
Shoes: G Field, Square-toed Shoes "Sophia"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Truth District
Light Settings: Places Abracadabra
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday, July 2, 2012

Split Screen: Liquid Crystal

(13) Split Screen: Liquid Crystals

I had a really busy June, so although I got these pictures taken I didn't manage to get them edited and uploaded until tonight. Splitscreen had a gorgeous, evocative, lightastic display from Betty Tureaud called Liquid Crystals that I absolutely fell in love with. You sat on a box, which glowed, and then was spun around through shards of every color imaginable. I took pictures while I spun, and I think they really show the glory that was this display. Even after I finished taking shots, I sat and enjoyed this for a long while more - it was soothing and beautiful all at once.

(4) Split Screen: Liquid Crystals

There is so much going on in Second Life that I can blink and miss things. The ones I regret the most are missing art displays, or not being able to give them the time to really dig in and enjoy it. I wish a broader audience would get to these displays, but I know of no way to help but to try to highlight them. I'll try to catch what I can, promise! You promise to go and see them in world - truly, artists make dreams live in Second Life.

(6) Split Screen: Liquid Crystals

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Solstice
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called - evergreen
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Cabaret
Hair: Exile, Lost in Wonderland (Fairy Tale Event)
Hairclip: Violet Voltaire, Starlene Yellow
Wings: Favole, Guardian
Necklace: Lolapop!, Los Muertos
Bracelets: Glow Studio, Ribbon and Pearls
Lingerie: katat0nik, Lovelace Lingerie - yellow / green
Corset: Aura, Grimm Corset - Muse (Fairy Tale Event)
Shoes: katat0nik, Candy Shoes

Poses: In Situ

Location: Split Screen: Liquid Crystals by Betty Tureaud
Light Settings: Places Les Legunas
Water Settings: Hidden Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 27: Cadmium Red

Tentacle Love

I got started on Cadmium Red later than usual, but it's a color I really love - so bright and vibrant.I went to a darker, more punk direction than I usually do - combining one of Wasabi Pill's Fairy Tale Event hairstyles with a very old purchase or win from Evldva (included hair not shown) and a set of jewelry from Ticky Tacky that I've had in my inventory forever. I love the combination of old and new - and in new news, Curio Obscura has a Lucky Chair! I've been lurking there for the better part of the morning, and began to notice just how complicated and amazing the store is. It's a giant Victorian mansion on the back of a hypno-eyed robot creature rampaging across the landscape. I went with a completely extreme color scheme, but I think the shadows and architecture hold up to it. As a reminder - outside of cropping, none of these pictures are edited; this is what can be achieved within second life with the right light settings.

Balcony in Angles

There have been a number of posts recently ironically segueing off of each other about the topic of originality. Given a choice, the majority of humans cluster and group, building up conformities with a few people excluded. In the individualisticly-obsessed Western model, this is a failure of humanity, a failure to be "yourself", a failure to be unique and special and to innovate enough. As someone who has recently started seeking out local communities to join and people to build from strangers into friends, I have perhaps a unique perspective; I want to conform enough that people will like me, want to be around me; conform enough so that I can build circles of local friends to spend time with, do things with, support and be supported by without sacrificing any centrally important things to myself. In that way, I find the grouping behavior of humans deeply reassuring; it has resulted in me being able to find local hobby groups that share my interests, within which I may find people who will like me and whom I will like. The urge to community includes the urge to conform, and this has both positive and negative implications - on the positive side, people support each other, hold standards for each other, and make each other better; on the negative side, people negate themselves, pull each other into hatred and cruelty, and make each other worse.

In The Dark

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: House of Ruin, Hypnos: Atomic
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Matchgirl Mesh (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Ticky Tacky, Sweet Dreams
Dress and Shoes: Evldva, PIP Rebel Yell Red

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Curio Obscura
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR Profondo rosso
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Carmen Chameleon

Carnelian Lily

It has been a wave of sales recently, almost overwhelmingly, including the Donna Flora sale where I picked up this dress and an embarrassingly large other set of dresses. Any attempt I had to wrangle my inventory back to 50,000 has long past, and I'm eying higher numbers with trepidation - expecting to see them reflected at the bottom of my inventory soon. There is a conspicuous consumptive aspect of this which I had hope to head off at the pass by photographing my clothing - and in that way keeping myself from purchasing the same outfit over and over again - but it's so time consuming, and I've picked up so many other things I do, that I have no idea when I could possibly stand in my dressing room for long enough to accomplish anything. It took me the better part of a year to do my initial inventory organization, so I suppose I should give myself some time!

Giggles and Falls

Consumption, conspicuous and otherwise, is one of those First World Problems that always seems to have "simply get rid of things" as its solution. Looking around my apartment, filled with things and plants and more things, I can understand the drive toward simplicity even while I wing rapidly in the opposite direction. Simplicity is in its purest sense Less Stuff, and in a world full of disposable stuff that all too quickly goes to the landfill it becomes less an aesthetic choice and more a functional necessity. Time is one of those things that  wonder I would have more of if my life was simpler, but on the other hand I like having a slew of interests and lots of things to do. The trick, I suppose, is to balance things appropriately so that what Has To Get Done gets done (something I am less good at). I'm playing around with the balance of my life, a balance made more difficult by the tug of interest and options surrounding me.

But this clothing is so pretty!

Dandelion

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Souzou Eien, Fairy Eyes - Orchid (Lucky Chair prize)
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Pale Violet
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Princess Mesh (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Wings
Jewelry: Elemental, Splendor Jewelry (60$L Weekend)
Dress: Donna Flora, Carmen (sale item)
Shoes: De La Soul, Gatcha Flats - Flower Rainbow

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Via Montenapoleone
Light Settings: Ana Luteia Avatar Opt
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

A Rusted Development

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA1/159/125/1
Dates: May and June of 2012
Picture Credits: Deoridhe Quandry ( More pictures here. )

A Rusted Development - Haveit Neox 15

Rowan Derryth went artist hunting with a sim, and filled it with an astonishing variety. A Rusted Development aims high, and it creates a trajectory which crosses a lot of ground, with little in common besides the rusted city of a gallery. That is both it's greatest strength and it's greatest weakness; the shared, novel environment encourages people to view it as a single art piece, instead of a gallery with disparate pieces, but a gallery with it's own, fantastical story is something which could only easily occur within Second Life - thus taking advantage of the aspects of building virtually which are unique to that medium. The other difficulty is causes is telling when each artist's creation begins and ends, though after perusing the sim for a while I began to get a feel for it. Twelve different artists contributed to the display, offering a broad reach of style and message; I found I responded more to some artists than others, which is usual, but I've tried to do at least a few high notes on each.

A Rusted Development - Haveit Neox 11

Haveit Neox is one of the harder artists to find because his art forms the hidden underpinnings of the entire gallery. In that way, he is both evident within the art of all the other artists, and hidden beneath their weight. Derryth's idea of a rusted, ruined city was expanded by Neox into the following story:
The fabled merchant city that rode atop the back of a gigantic whale met with a calamity that ended its existence abruptly. In the middle of the ocean, a horrific storm caused two huge ships carrying toxic chemicals to collide into the swimming whale city. The whale and all the populace died in the flood of chemicals that saturated the waves.

The whale turned to bones, and the city to rust, it was nearly half a century before this city adrift was discovered. An expedition of artists, searching for land to build an art colony, came upon the decomposing city. With the intent to regenerate the place, they set to work by first towing to safe harbor the floating mass. Each artist then undertook their vision. The empty shell of the city suddenly filled in and expanded as each artist found their niche in the Rusted Development.

No longer at the mercy of invisibility, the city humbles its rusted façade to the highlights of the art within.

A Rusted Development - Rose Borchovski 1

Rose Borchovski's "You are not allowed to fish" floats high in the sky above the rest of the displays, like an oddly shaped and colored moon, reachable through the eye floating by a table down below. It's main features are a long bridge into the "moon" with a series of words on it from which, I believe, the piece derives it's fish-themed name. The secondary feature is a figure within the bird-flying moon, a woman carrying another over pinned ribbons which have cut through her feet, leading them to bleed. This is not the only blood in the display - Eliza Wierwight has similar blood-and-impaling themes in her art - but the use of the blood drops to trickle down into the fish which lay dead in the depths below her, unseen by her but not by her burden, who is dangling a fish down over as if unaware of the pain his carrier is suffering. She herself is obsessed with the Summons in her hand, unaware of the actions of the child or the fate of the fish. The general sense for me is one of pain so usual it has become unfelt - the nails into forehead, chest, feet - they all seem to be secondary to the drama of child-with-fish and woman-with-paper. I honestly found the whole thing disturbing (I find the impaling of things deeply troubling) in a way which made it difficult for me to focus; I just wanted to look away - and maybe, in a way, this encapsulates the entire display in a nutshell.

A Rusted Development - Artistide Despres 1

Artistide Despres has another small display - also moving in rapidfire in the brilliant colors of pink and black. It's oddly out of place in the middle of the rest, though the pink ends up being reflected in paler form in Jewell's section. I know not at all what to make of the three naked, male forms or the pig lurking by the foot of the black-and-pink reader; it seems to be some sort of play on the chaos of life reflected in the theater pulling from classical literature and racist fantasy.
O most violent Paradise of the enraged grimace! No comparison with your Fakirs and other theatrical buffoonery. Wearing improvised costumes in nightmarish taste they act out ballads, tragedies of thieves and demi-gods of a spirituality hitherto unknown to the history of religions. Chinese, Hottentots, Gypsies, nincompoops, hyenas, Molochs, old dementias, sinister demons, they mingle populist, maternal tricks with bestial poses and tenderness. They would perform new plays and "nice girl" songs. Expert jugglers, they transform people and places, and resort to magnetic comedy. The eyes flame, the blood sings, the bones swell, tears and trickles of red descend. Their raillery or their terror lasts a minute, or entire months.

I alone know the plan of this savage sideshow.
A Rusted Development - claudia222 Jewell 19

claudia222 Jewell is a thoroughly creepy display woven into a display area of the sim. In reality, it's more like a display in a museum than art or something organically drawn out of the sim itself. Jewell's style is incredibly distinctive, all inhumanly perfect, angelic faces wailing around each other in a nest of fractal reflections of themselves. The hues of this one - shades of purple - pull a little of the nearby pink of Despres' display and hints at the purple in the middle creation of Polke, but seems to have been fully brought in and of a material which wouldn't have survived on the rusted building and sourly colored bones. It glows softly, like pearl, a material and tendency not found elsewhere, but at the same time it's woven into the form of the rusted building itself, as if is sprung out of them. It's a complicated balance not made any easier by the cold, singing or screaming faces repeated over and over at every angle. The fractal quality is really enhanced in the mermaids' bodies, smaller forms of their tails angling out of the sides of their tails, then repeating again even smaller. I think it's the combination of fractal and organic curves which intrigues me the most about Jewell's work; it's truly unique from nose to toe from anything else I've seen in Second Life, and instantly visible.

A Rusted Development - Bryn Oh 4

Bryn Oh created a tiny, perfect note hidden high on a ships mast, a nest made out of improbable things within which new life has bloomed. On reflection, it is the entire gallery and contents in a birdshell - things re-purposed and then lived within by new life; the old looking at itself through the eyes of the new.
I woke last night from the sweetest dream
Of titanium fears and eyes aquamarine
You pressed me against a willow tree
The glint of sun on a metal cheek

As I slowly woke and rezzed the grey
I knew you had already gone away
To the call of life from the real world
And left behind a robot girl
A Rusted Development - Scottius Polke 1

Scottius Polke takes up the center of the gallery, and seemed to me to be the most playful of the artistic creations, with "living" things moving endlessly across a rusted grass island. I love the brightly colored huges on the elephants and giraffes, particularly the elephants with the brightly shaded ears. They look as if they were made out of metal then spray-painted over, like Polke took pieces of the rusted island and refitted them into playful robots surrounded by waves of white and blue. The final piece, a teal "whale" which spurts water not and then as it circles the island, is the final charming touch. I really found this a much more pleasant display, and lingered for quite a while enjoying how the animals moved around each other, and the play of the colors off of each other. It seemed much more organically part of the surroundings, too - less like an art display placed in a gallery, and more like an art display made out of the gallery. I rather like the mix of inspirations, some clearly in existence before A Rusted Development was ever dreamed of, while others seemed to have been inspired by the project.

A Rusted Development - Ziki Questi_006

Ziki Questi's display is an amazingly fun and interactive display of art from art projects, including A Rusted Development. I recognized some of the other pictures, gorgeously taken, right before they shattered into tiny squares or fell on my head. It was, however, incredibly difficult to photograph. As soon as I walked toward it, things fell apart. I waited a moment, and things faded out and moved back to where they were. The second I got something framed, it vanished like it had never been - hugely frustrating! It was a lot of fun, though, and I found the wooden sound of the canvases hitting the ground very soothing.

A Rusted Development - PJ Trenton 4

PJ Trenton floats images of the past in the bottom of A Rusted Development, secreted away down a marble path and places within pale marble walls. Like many of the other artists, he included some words; unlike many of the other artists, they were his own.
Sunken Treasure
The works in this gallery pay homage to places of the past... the virtual past. Where some things rust and decay, others simply fade away, such as the locations depicted here.

As a photographer in SL, I really serve two important roles... one, capturing the creative pursuits of the artists, creators, musicians and community builders of our virtual world; and two, visually documenting places, places and creations of an all too tenuous and sometimes far too short-lived nature. This second role is one I hold in very high regard, These are the creative pursuits of not only artists and creators, but also members of communities... people who populate and visit these places.

In the spirit of A Rusted Development, I present something a little different... not rusted... but faded away. Each of these images represent locations or installations that are sadly no longer on the grid.

The locations include: The Quiet, Cetus, The Greenies, Nemo, Dresden Gallery, The Path, Second Libations, Utopia, Emvee Cuba, Alien Isles, Shadow of Intent, Drottninghom, and Templum ex Obscurum.

A Rusted Development - Blue Tsuki 2

Blue Tsuki placed a giant clock, which I have to admit I missed the first time through. It's tall, but enough off the beaten path that I walked right by it! The clock is mobile, and gorgeously set and transparent so the entire scene can be seen through it. The build below it is more oddly textured, the colors bright and rough compared to the textures throughout the rest of the build, which set it off a little from the rest. Definitely a good idea, and decent prim building, but I found the textures distracted me from the build more than drew me into thinking about it.

A Rusted Development - Eupalinos Ugajin 1

Eupalinos Ugajin isn't mentioned in any of the literature I read, but I found a box left behind underwater and snapped a picture. It's an interesting bit of street art dropped in an unlikely place.

A Rusted Development - Stephen Venkman 12

Stephen Venkman's is the most directly reflective of the early build, containing artistically altered and remade images from Neox's build. Given the differences between the build as I saw it and these images, I presume that they were taken as the build was forming up - and thus reflect the slow moving hand of Neox's creation - at once a comment on the result and commentary on how impermanent it will ultimately be. In a delightful bit of recursion, a picture of the ships that Venkman's art is displayed in is inside the ships themselves.

A Rusted Development - Eliza Wierwight 9

Eliza Wierwight placed out several, seemingly related figures in a series of multi-level tableau, making her one of the few artists who treated this more like a gallery than like the place for a single work. Hers are a trietise on hanging and blood - people connected by thing wires of bright red, people hanging by skin and (presumably) bone, men enchained with their female saviors holding the key, everything paused in the moment of action for all eternity. Like Borchovski's display, I found the images deeply disturbing and so did not linger. In this case, though, I'd say the overall combination of images is of a journey through different states, the blood and hanging more symbolic of the vitality of the journey rather than something meant to make it difficult to look at.

A Rusted Development - Trill Zapatero_004

Trill Zapatero was elusive, tucking in among a tower built by Neox and along the outside wall. It took me a little while to figure out that the cups and curved pictures weren't part of the basic build, and I was deeply frustrated by the fact I couldn't walk up and down the stairs - I have no idea what was going on with that! What I liked most was the giant cup at the top, pouring clear water out of one side. It seemed almost like an elusive grail hidden high among the displays, easy to miss unless you take the long view.
You from whom my sentiment rarely strays,
Ancient sarcophagi, I greet you,
Conduit where jubilant water of Roman days,
Like a wanderer's melody, yet flows through,

Or these tombs, open as the eyes
Of a happy shepherd glad to rise
- wherein pale dead nettle and silence lies -
Out of which flutter forth charmed butterflies.

All that is wrested from doubt's dark den
I greet: the voices which once more flower
After knowing silence's ways.

Do we know, or do we not, Friend?
Both sides are framed by the reluctant hour
And chiseled on the faces of men.
Ranier Maria Rilke
A Rusted Development - Haveit Neox 4