Wednesday, October 31, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 44 - Charcoal

Fall Mist Rising

Charcoal is such a perfect color for this week - the week angling into darkness, when the veil between the worlds thins. I've been sinking into the podcast of a dear friend, the Burnham Society, and it suits the uneven texture of the night - particularly Talafiera's story - the Winter Queen telling the tale of how she became the Winter Queen. It's a time of fear and wonder both - and I have to admit I tend much more toward Dia de los Muertos than Slasher Flick in my tastes. Give me actual death far before screams and bloodpacks. It's always an odd offset, navigating a world where contrived horror has become normal, even expected, when one wishes to avoid it as much as possible. The fires are being tamped down, though, and the horrors the world holds are far more compelling and powerful than those of any fevered imagination. Imagining New York City, dark from 42nd street down, the terrible toll of the sea and the sand over homes, the hungry licking of fire above sea water - the combination of fire and water not tempering each other, as they normally do, but instead only expanding the damage done. In coming days it will be the time of coals, of mold, of the dull gray of hopelessness facing an uncertain future, only the faintest ember remaining in the dust.

In Hand

last ember fades, though't clung valiantly to life,
glowing whitish-gold in deep'ning twilight strife
the logs are but half burnt, and still the ember fades;

a building broken down was built with just-born logs,
but still there is a rafter cracked, wrapped well within the fogs
that curl around its dying bones like new-born, healthy skin;

some seedlings pass away within a violent frost
claiming their slim lives to join all other's lost
instead of gaining bloom to continue on with life;

in spring a tree lies dead, bereft of all its bloom,
locked within a cycle that brought it naught but doom
as slowly half-dead leaves are blown by bitter winds;

within the earth there is a grave of a babe who knew no breath;
the mother, weeping, lies above, for she has nothing left;
last remnants of a well-loved man followed him to death;

the light is fading fast, leaving me with night,
around my shoulders he has curled, removing all my light
as last ember falls away, and is covered up with ash,
and on my back, like bite of snake, I feel my heart-ache's lash.


Stillbirth, by Deoridhe Grimsdottir

Sugar Skull

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyeshadow: De La Soul, Inked
Lipstick 1: L.Fauna, Black
Lipstick 2: Mock, Vitrail Lip Glass - black
Mask: Spyralle, Fractal Mask "Rage"
Hair: Magika, The - Charcoal
Hairflower: G Field, Rose Hairpin - gray
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Dress: Wicked Dollies, Pretty Pleats - Charcoal
Shrug: Elymode, Facil Shrug - black
Lace: Silent Sparrow, Vertnoir lace shirt
Jewelry: Eclectica, Vintage Glass Series
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks - ash
Shoes: Bliesen + MaiTai, Morticia

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Netherfield - Eclectic Desires Hunt
Light Settings: Places Wiccan
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday, October 29, 2012

25L Fall Fete: Fall Day at the Beach

Wading

Tomorrow is when the 25$L Fall Fete is ending, and I have it on good authority that in addition to a lot of 25$L items, there might be some freebies lurking around as thanks for another wonderful year. I escaped the damp rain of the fall to go to the beach, though! A little chilly, this time of year, but my beach cover from uNA was perfect for the purpose, and high enough that I only got it wet when I went wading deep in the waves! It's rigged mesh in several sizes, with charming drawstrings along the hips, and the texturing is very colorful and fun.I was very sparing with the accessories this time, leaving the main focus on the kaftan and my gorgeous, rigged mesh hands and feet from SLink. My one wish, and it is a very minor one, is that SLink might come out with a variety of skin textures to lay over the skin colors, allowing for a more pure match to my rather textured skin. In dimmer light it's not visible, but in the bright light of the beach, faint seams can be seen. I love them all the same, though; they finish off the limbs of my avatar in such a gorgeous manner that I keep pausing to stare!

Near the Docks

I picked a loose, flowing style of hair from Secrets as the perfect accompaniment. It's a thick style with a loosely coiled texture to it, with those adorable curls at the end - like my hair is drying all frizzed and full of salt! I wanted something which looked rough and sun-warmed, and this fit the bill perfectly. To add some color to my pale skin, I layered on a reddening tattoo from Fallen Gods; it was meant for winter, but I found the effect worked well for the beginnings of a sunburn! Really, next time I should put on more sunscreen. I brightened my lips with a lovely gloss from Mock, just a faint amount of pink as if slightly chapped and wind-blown. As you can see, below I'm grinning and that comes with narrowed eyes - a challenge for those of us vain enough to wear eyelashes. I actually keep an extra set of my usual lashes which have been narrowed for the purpose, but sometimes you just have to edit for an angle and hope no one looks to closely! Since my eyes are larger than the norm, fitting lashes can be a bit of a trial, but I don't think I did to badly with the combination of Flugeln Brise and SLink below.

Wildlife

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Blush
Skin Color: Fallen Gods, Winter Flush
Hair: Secrets Hair, Sunshine - Nordic (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Outfit: uNA, Beach Kaftan
Bikini: Umi Usagi, Garbera Bikini
Feet: SLink, Mesh Feet

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Arcachon Atlantique
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Rebranded Skies
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Saturday, October 27, 2012

20L Tuesday Fall Fete: Hunts and Haunts and Harvest, oh my!

Book Sprite

The Fall Fete for the weekly 25L event is in full swing, with a few days left for exploring, buying and hunting. There is a hunt going on - a very civilized affair with an image of the hunt prize on each hidden box! The sim is designed like a haunted town, with an ancient old house on the top ripe for spooks. Like a lot of events now, it does have a script monitor that ejects you if your script usage is over 3.0. It also, sadly, yells for the entire sim to hear - which personally I think is really a shame. Expel people if you must, but the public shaming (and spam) is really offensive; an awful lot of people aren't aware of scripts and the effects they have on others, and ejecting someone 10+ times while yelling every time is just overkill. For people who want to keep track of their script weight, there is a free script scale on the marketplace that I personally use. I keep it by my height measure in my dressing room, and it works a treat. Often times, the culprit is resize scripts that have to be in every prim of an object, like jewelry or hair, which ends up amounting to two hundred or three hundred scripts. One thing you can do is make a low-script outfit for going to large events, one which has few to no scripts, if you have some favorite items which are very script heavy.

Did I Hear Something?

I'm decked out in a wide variety of items from a variety of events - this fall they seem to be springing up like mushrooms after a rain! The dress is from Gorean Rose and is available at the Fete itself; it's a charming puff dress with a wide belt and comes in the usual range of sizes for mesh. The texturing is subtle and sweet, and make sure to remember your lingerie because bits will be hanging out if you don't! I paired it with a new hair release from Wasabi Pills for the Costume Ball event in a soft brown to match the leather-like texturing of my dress. It comes in long and short, and is a single mesh object instead of several pieces combined. It's a puff of an updo with a cute ribbon on top; the ribbon is color changing via a HUD, which also makes it low script. The necklace is a new release from Apple May Design, and is only 10$L through the weekend. It's worth every penny (and many pennies more!), being a gorgeous combination of pearls and metalically style flowers, and comes in white, black and white, and black and red. The crow on my head is from Silent Sparrow released on Fifty Linden Friday, and it caws! It even caws with my voice; I was one of many birdies who donated my caw for a good caw-se. Finally, my adorable shoes are a recent release from Dilly Dolls, and like all of her things come with a wonderful color changing HUD for the details. I really love the new tendency toward putting the heavy scripts on HUDs; it makes the avatar itself low scrip and means I don't get yelled at when I go to events!

Staying for Tea

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyeshadow: Mock, Wicked Ways - Brown
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Silent Star - baroque
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Christy Mesh Hair (Costume Ball)
Bird: Silent Sparrow, Corbie Plus Crow - coal
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Lingerie: Artilleri, Renee bikini
Dress: Gorean Rose, Lola Dress - Red (promotional item, 25L Fete)
Necklace: Apple May Design, Edith Necklace (10$L through the weekend)
Jewelry: League, Wanderer Jewellery
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks - brown
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Dasha Black & Dark

Poses: Glitterati

Location: 25L Fall Fete 2012
Light Settings: Places Babbage

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Freebie Central: Falln Angel Creations Brains Hunt

2012-10-27 Falln_001

Every fall, Falln Angel Creations does a massive Halloween Hunt - and this year is no exception. Going until November 2 at 3AM SLT, and encompassing both of Falln's two sims (The Main Store and the Sanitarium), fifty brains have been removed from Azriel's loyal Angels and hidden all over - on the floor, on walls, even sneaking up the ceiling on spiders' backs. It is a massive undertaking to find them, but sometimes if you're lucky you can go to Falln's Facebook page and find hints as to where some of them are hiding. Each prize is a single Linden, and here's the astonishing thing - each prize is one full item from Falln's stock. My dress? one of the prizes. My hair? A prize along with three siblings. My skin? A prize. My ears? A prize. In fact, everything you see except for my eyes are a prize in this astonishing hunt. There are fifty brains hidden all over with clothing, animations, even furniture and decorations, all over two sims - this is a hunt not to be missed!

2012-10-27 Falln_005

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Falln Angel Creations, Persephone Dark Feminine (1$L Hunt Prize)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Falln Angel Creations, Elf Ears - Eless
(1$L Hunt Prize)
Hair: Falln Angel Creations, Tantarra - BrightBlue (1$L Hunt Prize) 
Wings: Falln Angel Creations, Bugs Wings - Orange (1$L Hunt Prize) 
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Harumi Gown - Orange(1$L Hunt Prize)
 
Poses: Glitterati

Location: Falln Angel Creations: Sanitarium
Light Settings: Places Abracadabra3
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fear and Loathing in Second Life

"My wife is disabled. I got a home and a mortgage, and if this hits the fan, I believe this will affect negatively on my employment," he said. "I do my job, go home watch TV, and go on the internet. I just like riling people up in my spare time." - Reddit Troll and Moderator, Violentacrez

There are a lot of stories about Internet Trolls and people who foment discrimination and insulting slurs on the internet. The pervasiveness of insults is often downplayed as something unusual; Fat, Ugly, or Slutty started as a funny joke blog for women who all knew how frequently we receive dismissals based on our genders online, but the moderators have discussed how people would respond to it with shock that it was so prevalent. Fat, Ugly, or Slutty also combated the false stories that people who made gendered insults like this were teenagers, noting that you can hear their voices many times and they are clearly adults, and were part of the growing awareness that ignoring the trolls actually didn't make them go away. In the wake of watching Lindy West Doesn't Cry Anymore, though, and the recent article about Violentacrez linked above, I'm left with two very unsettling lines of thinking that I'm grapling with.

On the Red Carpet

One is the pervasiveness of minimization and defense of the people doing abusive things in the different stories I linked to above. I'm more than aware that victim blaming and such goes on, but it seems to be broader than that - almost an identification with the abuser with a simultaneous denial of that identification. I'm having difficulty putting my finger on it, so it swirls in the back of my head like a tsunami. The second is a growing sense of pity for the trolls and abusers. The more I learn about the individuals, the more sad and pathetic their lives seem to be; the more their abuse of others seems to be a way of outsourcing their own pain and emptiness so that we are as hurt and pained as they are. My main problem with this line of thinking is that I do not like feeling pity for people - compassion, yes, but pity is a condescending emotion in my opinion - and yet I cannot deny a growing combination of pity and disdain for people whose enjoyment revolves around causing misery in others.

Dynamic Lighting

Tonight, as I was taking pictures, an individual moved his avatar right up on me while I was posing, moving his avatar as if he was humping me. I ignored him, and in short order he went away. The second. lurking nearby and offering me friendship without ever speaking to me, I de-rendered so I could take my shot. A short while back, I was orbited by a stranger in another sim, another form of trolling. I reported him to the sim owner, and he was banned - but even in the immediate, simply facing up to him made him go away remarkably quickly. I've never actually been stalked or harassed, just threatened, but if I ever was there would be still other techniques I would try in an effort to shake the person off, including clear communication and - if necessary - legal actions. I think one of the flaws in how a lot of people view those who act to disturb others in the world for their own amusement is assuming that they have just one motivation, and that there is just one way of responding. I'm glad to see the toolbox of ways to handle trolls expanding, along with the necessary growing public awareness of just how inappropriate the behavior of these people is.

Flow

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Alice Project, Willow (Cinema)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 04-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Wicked Ways - smog
Lipstick 1: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat - Mercury Rising
Lipstick 2: Mock, Dark Mallow
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Perception, Bustier-Dress White (Cinema)
Necklace: Donna Flora, Amarcord Diamond Necklace (Cinema)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands - Casual and Smoking
Cigarette: Boom, Golightly Cigarette Stem (Cinema)
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Blossom Wedge Sandals (Cinema)

Poses: Adorkable (Cinema)

Location: Cinema Event
Light Settings: AnaLutetia - AvatarOpt whiter

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

20L Tuesday Fall Fete: Teal Temptress

Subtle Advertising

This is another set of shots at the Open Studio Project, this time in the Subway Set - which includes a cute little shopping area and a few vehicles for posing on! I'm wearing a variety of things from the 25$L Tuesday Fall Fete, a one week event including hunts, special events, and a whole slew of things either significantly discounted or for only 25$L! The fascinator, from On A Lark (charmingly fringed and with a really cute veil), is made to match one of her outfits, but I found it matched this adorable rigged mesh dress and warmers from For F's Sake! Isn't that the cutest store name ever? It's a very pear-shaped mesh with a cute theme overall; the only flaw I could see is that the dress is set to fullbright and can't be edited to change it, but in most lights that won't matter; it just doesn't take shadows in the same way. The zipper up the front is, indeed, what you think it is; there's a second version of the dress which ...shows off all of the goods, so to speak. Kept zipped and with the included undies, though, it covers enough for the persnickitiest of sims. I capped off the outfit with adorable feet from N@N@, with color changing toenails and a really cute design. They come with coin anklets that fit over the feet and hook around the second toe, not shown here.

*Edited 10/25/2012: The designer from For F's Sake (sorry about the name and addy mixup!) dropped me a line to let me know the dress was fullbright accidentally, and she's fixed all versions of it; now that is awesome customer service!

About to Jump the Stiles

This is the kind of outfit which would attract comment most places, but which is positively prudish in Second Life, a contrast I find alternatively charming and maddening. One of the interesting things about the tendency toward nearly nonexistent outfits in Second Life is that they lose a lot of their cache. On the positive side, this means that by and large one can wear as little as one wants with very few ill effects - something not often found for women in general in the world. The downside is that being alluring, even with traditional pin-up poses, becomes increasingly a challenge because the full monty is a teleport away. Being sexual, and sexy, can be a mixed blessing and brings with it a lot of assumptions.

At the same time, a world where a woman must be sexy in order to get any attention is not a world I'm particularly fond of - I have mentioned before the acquaintance who literally said he wouldn't bother paying any attention to me because I wore clothing which covered more than 50% of my body, because I wasn't attractive to him in particular. Just a small glimpse into the differing goals of men and women when interacting, the different agendas, how those effect how everyone views everyone else... I've been dwelling a lot of these in connection with this post at Metafilter, where I ended up referring back to this blog to give examples of the sort of treatment women receive at the hands of men not interested in me, but rather in what they think they can get from me. There are a million different voices on this topic, and the ones related to it, but one which struck me recently was from a woman who spent a while cashing in on the cache of being attractive enough, "Beauty is powerful because it is pleasing. Real power means not having to please."

Car Girl

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: elikatira, Flattery
Hat: On A Lark, Mysterious Fascinator
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 04-A
Eyeshadow 1: Virtual Insanity, Fairy - Sea
Eyeshadow 2: Virtual Insanity, Paintbrush 16
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Apple Blossom
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Outfit: For F's Sake, Eve Teal
Feet: N@n@, Bare Feet

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Open Studio Project: Subway
Light Settings: Places Betham
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 43 - Ghost White

Graveyard

I'm getting Ghost White in early so that I can focus on a few other things on my plate, but I really had a good time with it! I set it at MadPea's latest hunt, the Praying Mary hunt, which goes until the end of the month, and what I was aiming for was a ghostly figure in the darkness - an attempt at in-world, unedited chiaroscuro using a combination of windlight settings and body lights. Chiaroscuro is the purview of one of my favorite artists of all times, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn,and the idea behind it was of things rising out of the darkness, highlighted by the halo of humanity which illuminated his subjects. My favorite of his works is Lucretia, a moment poised while she's still contemplating the actions she will take; I'm unsure what I find so compelling about this (and I admit, on the computer screen it is significantly less inspiring) but I would linger by it every time I went to the National Art museum, leaning close to see the scraping of his pallet knife across the canvass, singing into the expression in her eyes, the slight smile of her lips as if she found some peace in a desperate act, the luster of the pearls and heavy weight of her gown. You can't see it on the screen, but in person the contrast between the smooth, soft texture of her skin and the harsh, angular, scraped texture of her dress is all but tactile. I adore his other work, but Lucretia transfixes me every time.

Fading into Night

In my own, paler imitation of chiaroscuro, I shifted to a feathered skin from Fallen Gods and paired it with a similarly feathered dress from Angelwing, complete with little details along the sides and feathered fans for dancing. In the absence of anything more ghostly, I felt the effect of the feathering was reminiscent of a snowy owl, often the ghost of the evenings - but a violent ghost, moving silently through the night until he prey is spotted. The hearts of that prey are transfixed on my horns, from Rue, which were part of the Twisted Hunt sometime in the recent past. More ghostly hints come in the form of my wings, a lucky chair win from ni.ju a while back; the effect of them, when angled correctly, is really impressive - fading from light to shadow in smooth lines of demon wings.The only other detail was my hair, an old release from Wasabi Pills in a perfectly pale white. I felt like the final effect was a little demonic, a little owlish, and a little uncanny all at once.

A Little Cross

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Feathers (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Cookie (Promotional Item)
Eyelashes: SLink, Eyelashes
Horns: Rue, Horn'd Marchmaker
Outfit: Angelwing, Feather Fairy
WIngs: ni.ju, Glow Dragon Wings - Ghost
Floater: katat0nik, Freebie Ghost

Poses: Glitterati

Location: MadPea: The Case of Praying Mary
Light Settings: AmbientDark
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunday, October 21, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 42 - Cosmic

Tiny Reflection

I am so late on Cosmic! I blame my short attention span. I kept meaning to put together and outfit, and remembering halfway through another photoshoot, and then I spent most of Saturday taking shots at Fallen Gods' Fifth Anniversary Party and went to sleep late. So this is a day late! Bad me! I'm hoping to get it in before the Flickr week restarts, though! Sometimes having only three pictures a week can be such a trial. Speaking of the pictures, you may notice that they seem a little contained this week - and that's because I literally took everyone one inside and around a store, using the small decorative touches around Rebel Hope Designs. Tiny fountains, planters, and vases of flowers all became my backdrop, because when one is a petite they are actually rather huge in comparison! That is one of the things I really love about being a petite - how it affects how I view the world and what becomes a beautiful background to some tiny pictures. Full sized it is more difficult to use a store as a playground, but when one comes up to everyone's knees, one really can make a playground out of anywhere!

The Iris Faerie

I also bought this outfit for this color, less because I couldn't find it in larger and more because I really wanted to be a petite again for a while, which necessarily means wearing petite clothing! I had remembered a color similar to Cosmic among the selection at Evie's Closet and went hunting, and found she's converted many of her more fae outfits for petites in all of their colors. The hair, from Secrets, is part of their new petite line and has some wonderful details - like the braiding and ribbons of hair on the ponytail. I love those kinds of details, the small touches which make something unique. The jewelry is off-color, but I liked the blue as a break in the Cosmic monotony, and Elemental also has converted many of her jewelry from full sized to petite, which means a wider variety to draw from when getting gussied up.

Skimming Over the Flowerpot

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Body: Fallen Gods, Pale (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Rainbow (promotional item)
Hair: Secrets, Kristeen (promotional item)
Outfit: Evie's Closet, Damselfly
Jewelry: Elemental, Butterfly Kisses

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Rebel Hope Designs
Light Settings: CB's Rouge 1
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Experimentation: Lounging in Second Life

Sunset

There is an amazing display at LEA20 which is meant to be used by photographers and machinimists in order to create things in Second Life, and it's really, really well done! There's a HUD you get at the entrance which gives teleport links to all of the areas. Several of them are fully contained displays, like the New Orleans Apartment I used for today's photoshoot, while others are missing the fourth wall and are set up for scenes and filming. All of them are incredibly detailed and gorgeously put together! A few places, items might not be quite flat on other things, but it's such a minor issue that can often be fixed with angles. In addition - wonders of wonders - they allow you to rez objects (with a very short life, maybe a half hour?). This makes it glorious to pose shots - several of these shots would not have been possible without my being able to rez a photography object.The styles of the different areas are widely variable, and I have no doubt I'll be back to make use of them! I am a huge fan of cohesive, gorgeous sims, but I have to admit this style of having different "scenes" is really growing on me.

What book do you want?

The hair is a gorgeous style (regular and flexi prim) from Secrets Hair, which has moved! If you keep landmarks, make sure to update them! The hues are from a "fun" set, and I love the stripes of pink and white; when I saw them against my awesome dress from AlaFolie, I couldn't resist. AlaFolie has really stepped up on redefining the silhouette using rigged mesh, and this dress is a wonderful example of that - the ruched sides caught up with roses move smoothly in almost every animation I tried. The pearls dangling from one side are flexible prims, though I wish they moved a little more slowly; I wanted to catch them in midair, but they fell too fast! I matched the variety of pinks with a dark magenta eyeshadow from Virtual Insanity and a light pink gloss from Mock; I initially wasn't sure about the eyes, but I think they really called up the darker strands in my hair, and those few dark pink roses on the skirt. The shoes are from Felicity and were a special release for Sales Blitz. This week, this style of shoes in gray and a bunch of animal print stilettos are waiting for you at the store! Hurry to Felicity's store to check them out.

Recline

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Secrets Hair, Nara - Soda Pop (Promotional Item)
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Fairy Fluff
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Cabaret
Jewelry: bewildebeest, Madiera
Dress: AlaFolie, Marilyn Plume
Bouquet: G Field, Rose2 Mini Bouquet
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Felicity, Gianna Stilettos (Sales Blitz)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Machinima Open Studio Project: New Orleans Set
Light Settings: TOR, SPECIAL Heaven
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Friday, October 19, 2012

Single Frame Stories: Surrender

The Inevitability of Ignorance

What I Don't Know I Know is less than What I Know I Know is less than What I Know I Don't Know is less than What I Don't Know I Don't Know. Ignorance is only bliss before you fall off the cliff edge.

Sweet Surrender

You take me in, no questions asked.
You strip away the ugliness that surrounds me.

Are you an angel?
Am I already that gone?
I only hope that I won't disappoint you
When I'm down here on my knees.

Sweet Surrender is all that I have to give.

-Sarah McLachlan

( Other Single Frame Stories here. Single Frame Stories Blog Here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Secrets Hair, Nara - Soda Pop (Promotional Item)

Eyelids: SLink, Eyelids
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Cabaret
Jewelry: bewildebeest, Madiera
Dress: AlaFolie, Marilyn Plume
Bouquet: G Field, Rose2 Mini Bouquet
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Felicity, Gianna Stilettos (Sales Blitz)

Pose: Glitterati

Location: Machinima Open Studio Project
Light Settings: TOR, SPECIAL Heaven
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Contest at Fallen Gods

Light and Shadow

This is totally self-serving (and likely pointless, since maybe thirty people come by here sometimes), but I'm taking part in the God & Goddess Election at Fallen Gods (my application picture is above), and if I don't win I will sulk for at least a week! So go and vote for me (and the other awesome people applying). Here's the link to Selidor! Go and click on things endlessly! Voting ends tomorrow, so I have a lot of votes to catch up by! I'm only at thirty-one.

Sulking, I say! Lots and lots of lower lip quiver. The occasional halting, passive-aggressive sniffle. Only you can save my friends from being annoyed for the next week.

Edited 2012/10/22: I totally won! I'm a Runner up for the Best Avatar Style Award! All my friends need to thank Alia for saving them from some epic sulking; I was all primed for the sulk.

Closing Sadness

Along the Pier

A few months back, two of Falln Angel Creations' sims closed, and we all were very sad. Now another one is on the chopping block - this time his home sim of Sanctuary, a charming flow of seasons into other seasons with houses tucked here and there in among the decorations. I'm starting my photography in the swamp, one of the later additions to the sim, but I'm going to do my best to sneak around to different areas for the purposes of photography before it starts to disappear later this week. Falln also has a hunt coming up at the end of the month; his hunts are among the most generous on Second Life - usually 30-50 items, all priced a linden and all full items form his stores. Swing by and take advantage of the beauty while it's still here, and dream of some day when it might be back again.

Sprawled Over my Reflection

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, Fairy - Grass
Lipstick: Mock, Glasside Lip - Flame Pea
Hair: Secrets Hair, Lila - Plantinum
Wings: Illusions, Chibi Angel Wings
Dress: Sublime Shroud Kreations, Ashura the Witch
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Phoebe Mesh Laced Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Falln Sanctuary
Light Settings: TOR, NIGHT Bright Blue Horizon
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

ICHP: Days of Celebration and Remembrance

High on Shrooms

I have some real delights for you all today, most of them from events and one named for me! Squee~! I always get a little shiver of pleasure when something awesome shows up with my name on it, and this Dia de los Muertos inspired mask from The Bitten Prim is no exception. With influences also from Pysanka eggs, from Ukraine, it's a bright and shiny take on a night of joy and solemnity ever intertwined. I have it on good authority that more will follow this one, of similarly bright and cheerful hue. The hair is from the Cinema Event from Wasabi Pills, and I really love it. It's a long, sleek, rigged mesh hair with just enough hair-in-the-face to be freaky and/or sexy. Ambivalent and awesome! Also from the Cinema Event is a new mesh dress from Dilly Dolls with the cutest ruffle right under the bodice. As you can see, a few poses stretch the texture along the bottom, but I adore the images on it - so cute! - and the style is fantastic.I felt like it really fit the sparkly, bright, subtly creepy look I was achieving, though there are black-based colors for people who don't want a bright and sunny Halloween. The hat from 22769 is from the L'accessories Event, which offers up a selection of limited edition accessories for people to peruse. I thought this tiny rose hat was the cutest, and it perfectly matched my the lighter purples in my look.

Bridge Over Lots of Air

The shoes, from Felicity, have been out for a while but I've been looking for a place and time to show them off, and it looks like that time is now. Again, they naturally caught up colors in my outfit, and I thought the extremely high heel and cut-out design really made me taller and more elegant! Also on the older side is this amazing set of jewelry from Elemental. I love jewelry which harkens to offline-possible designs, and this one with the gems in cages of metal is simply divine. It is color change on touch with three options, which means it's pretty versatile. I'm also still wearing the amazing SLink hands and taking SLink eyelashes (from her closed-eye kit) for a test drive as well. I like their natural, uneven quality, and while the entire eyelash being one mesh item makes it a little difficult to fit, since my eyes are oddly shaped for Second Life, I think I did a pretty good job.

Rapunzel Had a Haircut

( More picutres here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Mask: The Bitten Prim, Dia de Deoridhe (gift)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Nikki Mesh Hair (promotional item, Cinema Release)
Hat: 22769, Femme Fascinating Fascinator (L'accessories Event)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Elemental, Splendor (promotional item)
Dress: Dilly Dolls, This is Halloween-ish (promotional item, Cinema Release)
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Shoes: Felicity, Felicity, Harlow Stilettos - Lilac (promotional item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Siren - Isis City
Light Settings: London2026
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

How to Get on a Blog in Second Life

So, I was on a sim which I will not mention the name of, since it was lovely and not involved with this story. In fact, the only name I'm leaving intact is the one of the person who was a total asshole in Second Life. He will probably never see this, but it makes me feel better. In any case, I was in this sim, having done a slight windlight edit and set up a tricky shot. I was just finishing the first shot when someone teleported into the room.

[22:34] Reign (sovereign20060): hey
[22:34] Deoridhe Quandry: Hi. ^.^
[22:34] Reign (sovereign20060): whats up?
[22:34] Deoridhe Quandry: Not much, Really enjoying this sim!
[22:34] Reign (sovereign20060): good 4 u
[22:35] Deoridhe Quandry smiles.
[22:35] Reign (sovereign20060): ur wings r small
[22:35] Deoridhe Quandry: Ok. Have a nice day!

This is when I leave the room we're in, having taken my picture and decided he really seems sort of like a jerk. His name isn't on the sim, though, nor is he in the group in charge of the sim, and his following words make it clear he has no affiliation with it, so I go back to my photography, assuming since we have nothing to do with each other that I have equal right to use the space. As I'm leaving, a woman teleports in; I open both their profiles to check if they are in the group and notice she is a slave of someone who is not him, and he has a partner who is not her, but it's hardly my business what strangers get up to so I close the profiles and start setting up the next tricky shot, which happens to be in listening range, but like I said, I really don't care what strangers get up to. I've overheard and promptly ignored all kinds of things in general chat.

[22:36] [Not His Partner]: whats this?
[22:36] Reign (sovereign20060): another place i come too
[22:36] [Not His Partner]: hmmmm
[22:36] [Not His Partner]: a cuddle rug
[22:37] Reign (sovereign20060): yup
[22:37] [Not His Partner]: lol you like to cuddle I take it
[22:38] Reign (sovereign20060): i do. the places i find always have one. its weird
[22:38] [Not His Partner]: tryng to say something/
[22:39] Reign (sovereign20060): what?
[22:39] [Not His Partner]: lol Im picking on you
[22:39] Reign (sovereign20060): i know lol
[22:40] [Not His Partner]: what is that sound?
[22:40] Reign (sovereign20060): i dont hear it
[22:40] [Not His Partner]: somebody is on voice

I check, and it's me. I'd reinstalled Firefox and when I'd turned off voice the night before it didn't stick, so I turn it off again. No use bothering her, right?

[22:41] [Not His Partner]: and it went poof
[22:41] Reign (sovereign20060): i got this
[22:42] [Not His Partner]: got what?
[22:42] Reign (sovereign20060): give me a few

And then he came down and orbited me, in the middle of setting up my shot. It takes me a second to figure out what happened, and when I do, I IM him.

[22:43] Deoridhe Quandry: You are an asshole.
[22:44] Reign (sovereign20060): tell me something i dont kno

Rash, I know, but he really pissed me off! I almost had that picture set, and it takes forever to get the right angles on a shot. He had no more right to that place that I did, I had politely left the room and would have left the area as soon as I took my next shot, and he decided to grief me. Weirdly, though, when I returned less than a minute later, he had left. I sent a nice notecard about the incident to the sim owner, and then got on with my pictures. Oh, after making a vindictive blogpost!

Ah, I feel better. 

UPDATE: The sim owner contacted me, and he has been banned. Deoridhe 1; Orbiting Asshat 0

Sunday, October 14, 2012

2012 Color Challenge: Week 41 - Antique Brass

Eerie Glow

I'm squeaking in Antique Brass right under the line, despite having a decent amount of free time - mostly because I used that free time on other things and forgot completely about the challenge until yesterday~! I've been pre-occupied, and really have a growing awareness of how critical something that simply isn't found in Second Life is to me and how I form lasting memories - scent. Some of this is a relief; I can only imagine the stale wax smell that Linden Labs might provide as a default, and a gathering of noobs could send a person down in a welter of vile odor. Imagine being able to smell a garden, though, or the damp, slightly metallic smell that might accompany these pictures, with a hint of wood and grass on the wind. The scent that's been most disturbing me recently is a scent I never imagined to smell in my own home - the smell of my grandparents' home.

Bent Over My Reflection

I recently found the time to unpack the first of my inheritance boxes, this one mostly full of ducks and a goose, and I was astonished at how strong the scent of the house was on the papers everything was wrapped in, and how strongly the mixed emotions and memories of that house returned to me. It is something I am unable to fully capture, and certainly unable to bottle, and it lingers on the edges of my mind. One thing I inherited was a glass perfume bottle my grandmother carried with her. My plan had been to empty it and fill it with my perfume, but having opened and sniffed and experienced the unmistakable weight of memories associated wit that smell, I find myself unable to. She and I never had a close or easy relationship, but she was my grandmother and I loved her; that love lives in scent now, absent a person to carry it.

Landscaping

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: Flufeln Brise, 05-A
Eyelashes 2: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyeshadow: Virtual Insanity, SPRING - Starfish
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir Espresso
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Taylor Mesh Hair (promotional item, Cinema Releases)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace: G Field, Key Necklace - brass
Jewelry: League, Wanderer - Golden Oak
Outfit: The Sea Hole, Odette Bustier and Culottes
Hands: Slink, Rigged Mesh Hands (New Release)
Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Bare Feet

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Black Kite
Light Settings: London2026
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Saturday, October 13, 2012

RAINBOWS~!!!

Wheatlight

katat0nik gave me RAINBOWS~!I love rainbows! So much! The dress is rainbowy, there are rainbow socks (though I'm using the stockings included in the outfit, which have garters), and there is this amazing rainbow purse! My shoes are also katat0nik, and I got fatpacks on all of them - which means they are menu-driven multiple choice for everything but the system layers, which is awesome. My inventory thanks you! The dress also comes with adorable undies which I cleverly hit with these bloomers from Violent Seduction; aren't I crafty? I decided to go with the muss-haired younger sister of Lolita, garter snapped loose and skirt extra-short so I can climb trees. I'm still wearing Fallen Gods' newest skin, too, because I felt like the last batch of pictures didn't show off the skin as well as I'd like - and I'm still not sure I quite captured it. There is a crystalline, glowing quality to it which is difficult to bring out, with tiny sparkles here and there glimmering and delicate swirls of color that I catch only in retrospect. The mussed, curly hair on top is new at Collobor88 from D!va; she does fantastic flyaway hair, and I really like the curls she's coming out with now.

Level Gaze

This sim, though, gave me the everloving fits. I don't know if it was my computer or the sim, but I lagged like anything while I was there, and you don't even want to know how long it took to get the shoe shot I took! Despite all of the alpha, overall there weren't a huge amount of alpha occlusion issues - even with my wings. Most angles I could find something that worked. What I really struggled with was lighting it - and I ended up taking one of the windlights and modding it slightly to knock down the Scene Gamma - which is brightness of the light - and then used facelights to bring the light on me back up. One of the tricks of in-world photography is learning to balance windlights and face and body lights; I use manually edited lights which are spaced all of the way around me, but I've been considering figuring out how to make menus so I can make it HUD driven. It can be hard to remember where I left things the last time I took pictures! Tinting the lights often has a lot of interesting effects - for example, above I'm using a blue tinted light to contrast with the bright yellow ambient lighting.

Breathtaking

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Fallen Gods, Onyrica - Anima (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: D!va, Jina (Collobor88)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: katat0nik, Rainbow Dress
Bloomers: Violent Seduction, Muse Bloomers
Purse: katat0nik, Rainbow Purse
Watch: katat0nik, Rainbow Nada Watch (gift)
Shoes: katat0nik, Wingtip Mary Janes

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Ocho Tango Club
Light Settings: Places Beach Cay Surreal
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Single Frame Stories: Driven

Driven

"I fell in love with the idea of human sensation, you see. I couldn't, no I couldn't give it up. And you can't imagine, you take it all for granted - it's yours by right so you never think: the pleasures of touch and taste. Your skin alone - your skin affords you such - rapture! ... To eat a peach, picked straight from the tree and warmed by the autumn sun, to bite a crisp apple - the first juice - a revelation - or to feel the sun on bare skin. Salt! Salt! ... Salt on a fresh-laid egg, boiled for four minutes, or to lick fresh, human sweat. ... Let me feel - let me go on feeling..."
- Carmody Braque from The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

This book was a random find, picked out of a fifty cent bin years ago, but even as I grow older I find solace, comfort, and challenges in its pages. These lines stood out for me starkly even years ago (on the same level as Erik's final cries in The Phantom Of the Opera from the Book: "She kissed me, right here on my forehead. She kissed me, and she did not die!") as a pure cry of the desire for connection and sensation, and the lengths people will go to in order to achieve it, as well as what they will give up having achieved it. Both Carmody Braque and Erik/The Opera Ghost are villains, barred from legitimate human sensation and connection due to their own actions, and I think that's part of what draws me to these final cries; in my heart I want to believe there is no one beyond redemption, while in my mind I know redemption is far less important than stopping those who harm from doing so.

( Other Single Frame Stories Here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul
Eyelids: Slink
Hair: Wasabi Pills
Lipstick: Mock

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Shades of Blue and Gray

Is He Looking at Me?

I love the Halloween spirit, but I'm more of a shiny, sweet, mysterious halloweener than the zombies, monsters, and being too afraid to sleep at night. I am, what you might call a tender fruit... or something like that; Jeeves said it, not me. A few years back I took my only trip through a haunted house, aided largely by the fact I had several people rallying around me to protect me through the scary. I don't know what it is about it that makes me want to hide and leave instead of scream with glee like so many other people, but I've about given up on finding gross and disturbing things enjoyable. Give me the shiny, the scent of apples, long considerations of death and destruction, and the odd blood sucker, and I'll be a very happy faerie.

A Bridge Too Far

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Fallen Gods, Onyrica - Anima (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Analog Dog, skura!
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Violent Seduction, Muse - Faun and Coagulate
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Dasha Pump, White & Light Skully

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Pure Dreams
Light Settings: Places Annamaria
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday, October 8, 2012

Femme

Edge of the Sea

Who we view ourselves as can have a lasting effect on what we chose to do, which then has a solid effect on what we believe we can do. That's one of the interesting things about the internet; its a place where one can revisit oneself, trying new things also without leaving the comfort of your own home. It's also a place to find a bunch of different perspectives - looking through the eyes of a million other people into their worlds, getting to see the details, trials, and joys of their lives in an unusually intimate way (even if sometimes those worlds are more like amazing works of fiction). It's also possible, however, to narrow down into a minute group, cleaving off all dissent with a blade until you have the finest, purest, faceted diamond. The power is really not in the medium, be it the internet or something else, but rather the choices we make within the context of the medium. Sometimes I try for a midpoint - trying one new thing, trying one new activity, stepping out into a new social group; I have to admit it can be a struggle for me, though. Something like trying a new kind of food is easy, but stepping into a room full of strangers can be terrifying.

Reaching Branches

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeshadow: De La Soul, Smoke
Lipstick 1: Agua, Gloss Lip in Blood
Lipstick 2: L.Fauna, Red 1
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Alice
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: AlaFolie, Carla Gown
Gloves: Rosal, Viron-M Gloves

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Raven Lake Fathoms
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY Das Fog
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Third Runway Perfect Hunt: October 1-31, 2012

2012-10-04 Runway Perfect Hunt_001 The Runway perfect Hunt is a shorter, widely varied hunt aimed at models and runway styles. You're hunting for a grey and white band, shiny, which is quite flat (see below). The hunt began on October 1st and ends on the 31st. All prizes are free and most are easy to find, though some are tucked behind other things so look closely. There is a hint blog as well as interviews with the creators on the official blog. Several times, the landmarks in the folders were wrong, or a box was given instead of a folder, so it would probably be easiest to use this list of landmarks.

Runway Perfect 1-5

#1 Morgane Batista Poses Shop Prize: Six Pozes
#2 White Widow Prize: Cosmetics, with and without eyeshadow
#3 Tres Beau Designs (gives box, not folder) Prize: Sweater
#4 Miamai Prize: Jewelry
#5 Paris Metro Couture Prize: Dress

Runway Perfect 6-10

#6 .:. CHG .:.Fashion Prize: Two Outfits, female and male
#7 Element Hair Prize: Hair, pink and white
#8 ::WetCat:: Prize: Runway
#9 Angel Dessou (gives box, not folder) Prize: Lingerie
#10 Chop Zuey Prize: Ring

Runway Perfect 11-15

#11 Oceane Body Boutique Prize: Eyeshadow
#12 Xen’s Hats Prize: Two hats
#13 Headturners Prize: Pink and white nails
#14 Bubble’s Designs Prize: Clothing, white, female and male
#15 Dot-BE Fashion Prize: Clothing, female and male

Runway Perfect 16-20

#16 Vanity Hair Prize: Hair
#17 a la folie Prize: Outfit
#18 eden jewelry Prize: Two bracelets
#20 Jewelry by zuri (doesn't give next landmark in folders) Prize: Necklace and belly ring

Runway Perfect 21-25

#21 GizzA Prize: White Dress
#22 SHIKI Prize: Black Dress
#23 PRISM Prize: Animal Print Dress
#24 SEQUOIASTYLE Prize: Bracelets
#25 PoseSion Prize: Poses

Runway Perfect 26-30

#26 Lovely mi Prize: Cosmetics
#27 the funky chapeau Prize: Tentacle Hat
#28 L+N Signature Design Prize: Hair (tintable) and Hair Flowers
#29 AZOURY Prize: Dress
#30 Moondance Prize: Nails

Runway Perfect 31-35

#31 Mohna Lisa Couture Prize: Outfit
#32 Morphine (gives boxes, not folder) Prize: Poses
#33 Fatal Prize: Two outfits, female and male
#34 Just Darling (gives boxes, not folder) Prize: Dress

Runway Perfect 36-40

#36 LIV-Glam  Prize: Dress
#37 Miss Darcy Prize: Clothing, female and male
#38 Dulce Secrets Prize: Skin with blue lips
#39 Luziefee Prize: Outfit, including shoes
#40 Absolutely Smitten Designs Prize: Dress

Runway Perfect 41-45

#41 Artistry by ~ E ~ Prize: Jewelry, bracelet, necklace and earrings
#42 PM poses Prize: Poses (all through the pictures)
#43 My Pretty Pixels Prize: Boots
#44 22769 – Casual Couture Prize: Mesh, rigged scarf
#45 Quintessencia Prize: Tattoos

Runway Perfect 46-50

#46 PurpleMoon Creations Prize: Dress
#47 Studio Nails Prize:Nails
#48 Baboom Prize: Dress
#49 Silken moon Prize: Skin with teeth prim attachment