Herr Drosselmeyer's Doll

Herr Drosselmeyer's doll

There she is on the stage

Spinning as she sprawls

Thank God the curtains fall

Her spring is sprung

And dance is done

Spinning as she sprawls

Thank God the curtains fall

In the morning, he twists the key quite hard

And ticking, she's brought to a boil

"Relevée, my sweet, en pointe, en garde!"

Her innards twang as they uncoil

Herr Doktor's fingertips trace by

On craquelature from every fall

The daylight made to race quite by

With paint and paste and stitch and awl

"Patience, patient bumblebee,

Soon your audience will admire

A shapely arabesque or three

I'll wind you up, you'll never tire."

Starry tutu, sullen moue

A frozen carmine mouth

Twinkles as she jerks and swoons

The lady's ushered out

Gentlemen, this fallen angel is the illegitimate daughter of art and science. A modern marvel of engineering, clockworks elevated to the very natural process which even now sets your blood racing and your eyes flashing at such irreproachable beauty. Here is Gaia, here is Eve, here is Lilith, and I stand before you as her father. Sprung fully-formed from my brow, dewy and sweet; she can be yours and yours again, for her flesh is the incorruptible pale--the excuse from the wages of sin!

And as the sackcloth, sodden, slumps

Beneath these chipped and china limbs

The sour flesh pines, grunts, and thumps

"Step right up, boys, tuppence for a spin!"

by Abney Park

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Cracks: Souzou Eien, Broken China Doll
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Gloria
Crown & Rings: Paper Moon, Electric Liberity
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Earrings: Eclectica, Manhattan
Right Eye: De La Soul, Rainbow
Left Eye: Rue, Elemental Snow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Heartsick, Crimson Lips
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Key: Eclectic Randomness, Bronze Key
Necklace: G Field, Key Necklace
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Finger Nails: A:S:S, Luster
Dress: katat0nik, Metal Corset Dress
Shoes: SLink, Hera Wrap Heel

Pose: Glitterati

Location: Mythopoeia
Light Settings: Phototools, Epi Vintage Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat #9: Dancing In The Moonlight

Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest

We get it on most every night
When that moon is big and bright
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Everybody here is out of sight
They don’t bark and they don’t bite
They keep things loose, they keep it tight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody’s feeling warm and bright
It’s such a fine and natural sight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

We like our fun and we never fight
You can’t dance and stay uptight
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody’s feeling warm and bright
It’s such a fine and natural sight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

We get it on most every night
And when that moon is big and bright
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody’s feeling warm and bright
It’s such a fine and natural sight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

( More Blog the Beat pictures here. )

( Inspiration here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Curio Obscura, Long Gothic Spirals Pigtails (Genre Event)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings (Fantasy Gatcha Faire)
Jewelry: Earthstones, Butterfly
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Staff: O.M.E.N., Mermaid Short Staff (Exclusive We <3 RP Event)
Dress: Violent Seduction, Roseraie Purple (Genre Event)
Shoes: katat0nik, Aya Wedge

Pose: Sine Wave, too much fun

Location: Sea of Fables

Light Settings: TOR, NIGHT - Mighty Moon
Water Settings: Nacon's Lake Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat #8: Gravity

Gravity by Sara Bareilles

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do
I’ll still feel you here ’til the moment I’m gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much
than to drown in your love and not feel your reign.

Set me free, leave me be.
I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall,
just the way I’m supposed to be.
But you’re on to me and all over me.

You loved me ’cause I’m fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while
and all my fragile strength is gone.

Set me free, leave me be.
I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall,
just the way I’m supposed to be.
But you’re on to me and all over me.

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see
that you’re everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you’re neither friend nor foe though I can’t seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you’re keeping me down.
You’re keeping me down, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You’re on to me, on to me, and all over…

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Cherry
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: MiaSnow, XP Eyes
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lips
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Lady
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Sound of Music 1
Dress: Blue Blood, Kawaii Doll
Boots: r2, Kneehigh Boots

Pose: Exposeur, In Motion - Falling in Circles

Location: My Platform
Background: Fortunas Creations
Light Settings: Places Duskwood

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, layering

Blog the Beat #7: Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes by Love & Theft

She likes whiskey with her water
She starts dancing when the stars come out
She ain’t your typical preacher’s daughter
She’ll leave you dreamin’ yeah there ain’t no doubtThere’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
She’s a little bit of heaven with a wild side
Got a rebel heart a country mile wide
There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
A little bit of devil in her angel eyes

 Saturday night she’s rockin’ out by the bonfire
Flirting from that tail gate and crankin’ up the dial
Come Sunday mornin’ she’ll be singing with the choir
Drivin’ me crazy with that kiss me smile

There’s a little bit of devil in those angel eyes
She’s a little bit of heaven with a wild side
Got a rebel heart a country mile wide
There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes

And I can’t stop wonderin’ what it would feel like, to hold her all night
She’s got that something, that sexy innocence, she must be heaven sent

There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
She’s a little bit of heaven with a wild side
Got a rebel heart a country mile wide
There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes

There’s a little bit of devil in those angel eyes
She’s a little bit of heaven with a wild side
Got a rebel heart a country mile wide
There’s a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
There’s a little bit of devil in her
In those angel, in those angel eyes

 ( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul

Eyeshadow: White Widow

Hair: Wasabi Pills

Wings: Deviance

Blog the Beat #6: Into the Ocean

This was a difficult song for me to relate to for this challenge - in terms of the gender conflicts inherent in the story, but I - like many people - know what it feels like to want to jump off of whatever vehicle we happen to be on, leaping away from expectations, restrictions, limitations, and responsibilities. I've always thought that one would just find oneself more solidly then, though - reflected through the eyes of a thousand new people. After all, isn't that just what Second Life offers us? A chance to jettison everything we are, including our appearance, except that which makes us who we are, our personality. While a different nature can be imitated for a while, I think that in the end the truth always rises to the top. Many people object to the number of people who enter into Second Life as a gender other than their own, even more than just about any other change, but I think there are advantages to shucking our appearance of gender and seeing what new prejudices and assumptions cling to us; the opinions of others can teach us so much. 

Into the Ocean by Blue October

I’m just a normal boy
That sank when I fell overboard
My ship would leave the country
But I’d rather swim ashore

Without a life vest I’d be stuck again
Wish I was much more masculine
Maybe then I could learn to swim
Like ‘fourteen miles away’

Now floating up and down
I spin, colliding into sound
Like whales beneath me diving down
I’m sinking to the bottom of my
Everything that freaks me out
The lighthouse beam has just run out
I’m cold as cold as cold can be 

be

I want to swim away but don’t know how
Sometimes it feels just like I’m falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion… yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now…come down
Let the rain come down

Where is the coastguard
I keep looking each direction
For a spotlight, give me something
I need something for protection
Maybe flotsam junk will do just fine
the jetsam sunk, I’m left behind
I’m treading for my life believe me
(How can I keep up this breathing)

Not knowing how to think
I scream aloud, begin to sink
My legs and arms are broken down
With envy for the solid ground
I’m reaching for the life within me
How can one man stop his ending
I thought of just your face
Relaxed, and floated into space

I want to swim away but don’t know how
Sometimes it feels just like I’m falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion… yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now…come down
Let the rain come down
Let the rain come down

Now waking to the sun
I calculate what I had done
Like jumping from the bow (yeah)
Just to prove that I knew how (yeah)
It’s midnight’s late reminder of
The loss of her, the one I love
My will to quickly end it all
Set front row in my need to fall

Into the ocean, end it all

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: The Stringer Mausoleum, Tenta - Seaweed
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Beautiful Freak, Sand & Sea Expo Hunt Gift
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Galatea Set
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Izzie's, Metallic Nails
Shirt: Evie's Closet, Under the Sea Hunt Prize
Tail: Tarnished, Teal Seafoam Mermaid

Pose: Chisa Creations, Mermaid 03

Location: Cerridwen's Cauldron
Light Settings: TOR, HORROR Land rising
Water Settings: Nacon's Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat #5: Shame

I played with projectors, inspired by Graphic Dix's tutorial on them, for the first time for this Blog the Beat challenge, and it was really fun. The layering was done in photoshop, though sometime I might try layering in world with several different avatars. Hope you enjoy.

Shame by Jimmy Eat World

Is it dark yet outside?
I’m through hiding tonight
Take from the rest, your debt erased
Sleep with my curse and feel no shame
No shame

It might take you all night
But you’ll love me with time
Take from the rest, your debt erased
Sleep with my curse and feel no shame
No shame

Take from the rest, your debt erased
Sleep with my curse and feel no shame
No shame

Is it dark yet outside?
I’m through hiding tonight
Take from the rest your debt erased
Sleep with my curse and feel no shame
No shame

Take from the rest your debt erased
Sleep with my curse and feel no shame
No shame

( Blog the Beat Past Pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: D!va, Lili
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Wings: Deviance, Titania Mesh Fairy Wings
Jewelry: Virtual Impressions, Silvia
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Dress: Bliss Couture, Byrn
Feet: SLink, Flat

Poses: Flowey

Location: Isle of Amras
Light Settings: Sim Default, Projections
Water Settings: Sim Default

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat # 4: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cindy Lauper

 I come home in the morning light
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun

The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells what you gonna do with your life
Oh daddy dear you know you’re still number one
But girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have

That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls – they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have

That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls – they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun,
They want to have fun,
They want to have fun…

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Alice Project, Calamity
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Cosmetics: MiaSnow, Blurr 4
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Primalot, Springhassprung
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Adore & Abhor, Princess Nails
Dress: Hucci, Irece Dress
Feet: SLink, Mesh Feet

Pose: Glitterati, Ballet 6

Location: Fantasy Island
Light Settings: Phototools - Lo Gun Light
Water Settings: TOR, Eyeballin'

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat #3: Don’t Stop Believing

This one took me forever. Between trying to find an outfit, trying to find a place, trying to find some focus, and trying to find and idea that wasn't completely reductive, I was stuck for so long. I'm glad I finally figured something else, but now I'm a couple songs behind on Blog the Beat, but I'm sure I'll catch up quickly. It's really fun to try to capture an idea, a feeling, originally embodied in song. This one is one of failed dreams, stale smells, and the thousand petty compromises we make in order to stay alive in a world who is far too often completely indifferent to us.

“Don’t Stop Believing” – Journey

Just a small town girl
Livin’ in a lonely world
She took the midnight train
Goin’ anywhere
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train
Goin’ anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching
In the night
Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’, somewhere in the night

Workin’ hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin’ anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some will win
Some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching
In the night
Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’, somewhere in the night

[Instrumental Interlude]

Don’t stop believin’
Hold on to the feelin’
Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’
Hold on
Streetlights, people

( Other Blog the Beat Pictures. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Giselle
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyeshadow 1: Mock, Pink (iced)
Eyeshadow 2: cheLLe, Mix and Match blue
Eyelashes: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Gathered Hearts Jewellery
Hands: SLink, Enhanced Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Top: Evie's Closet, Melusine
Corset: Deviance, Eros Jungle Corset (group gift)
Skirt: Mon Tissu, Oxford Pencil Skirt
Stockings: KCs No. 2 Black Lace
Boots: Lassitude & Ennui, Flutter Boots

Pose: Glitterati

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Blog the Beat #2: Poison and Wine

Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars

 

You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don’t want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don’t love you but I always will
Oh I don’t love you but I always will
Oh I don’t love you but I always will
I always will

 

I wish you’d hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don’t have a choice but I’d still choose you Oh I don’t love you but I always will
I always will

Sometimes, relationships are uneven. These can be the relationships with the most draw, the ones which catch us up in wonder and excitement, and often the ones which leave the deepest scars. I carry these scars, and sometimes they ache when it rains.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Hair: Alice Project

Dress: Senzafine

Shoes: DV8

Bench with Candles: Libertine

Blog the Beat: Week One - Mirrors by Justin Timberlake

Mirrors by Justin Timberlake

Aren’t you somethin’ to admire?
Cause your shine is somethin’ like a mirror
And I can’t help but notice
You reflect in this heart of mine
If you ever feel alone and
The glare makes me hard to find
Just know that I’m always
Parallel on the other side

Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul
I can tell you there’s no place we couldn’t go
Just put your hand on the glass
I’ll be tryin’ to pull you through
You just gotta be strong

We often discover who we are through the reflections of other people - how they react to us tells us who we are in the world, that space where we meet the worlds of everyone else. I don't have a single mirror, and sometimes I regret that; I would like to feel most important to someone, and to have someone who was most important to me, but it has not been the case for a while. Even with that, though, I have my friends and loved ones to keep me from every being lonely.

( More pictures here. )