I Can Haz Promoshunz: Beach Comber

I wasn't quite ready to give up summer yet - as you can see from my selections of bright, colorful, and warm weather clothing. One of the nice things about Second Life is that even when it's icy outside, you can find a bright and sunny place and live out dreams of a deserted island in summer. At Retropolis, I found myself on a storm-driven ship nearly swallowed by giant tentacles, but that horrific image was quickly replaced with blue seas and warm golden sands (click on the genie to escape the storm!).

I've crammed a lot onto one little avatar, so I'm just going to start from the top and move down. The hat is a special creation from De La Soul that I have on good authority will be released as a group gift in December. The texture is an explosion of rainbow, and the band and feathers are both color changing! It is, aptly enough, named The Deo. You'd think I tortured Charlie until he made me rainbows, or something. Hee hee hee. The hair is a fantastic release from Me., and comes in a wide variety of colors with a base color and highlights. I paired a slightly darker blond with a lighter one, to reflect the sunkissed nature of my avatar! The skin is from Perception, which is a new-to-me store! It has a very interesting philosophy about skins - seasons based with Summer being this rosy tanned one I'm wearing now - and cosmetics - based on time of day, they allow a variety of styles for different levels of makeup, from simple designs meant for daytime wear to the full eyecolor of this evening look. The lipstick is on the skin, and the eyecolors come separately, which allows for a lot of mix and match.

I added some piercings to celebrate this very different, tanned look I built - from Acide!, which does some amazing designs. Each section of the piercing comes with it's own shadow. On the one hand, this adds a real verisimilitude. On the other hand, this made fitting them to my face took a while! I had to edit and rotate several of the shadows to lie appropriately on the curves of my face. I added a gorgeous little butterfly from Je taime to my collarbone instead of a necklace, and I really like the effect with the rest of my loose, relaxed look. The dress from Paris Metro really fit the mood perfectly, too - it's lose, and flowy, with a tail style skirt which would hang in the hair for several seconds, allowing for some really fun picture opportunities. The prim parts are modify-ok, which made fitting the sleeves to my shorter arms a snap; you just have to edit single prims if your arms are shorter and/or wider than the usual. I finished the whole look off with a pair of shoes I bought ages ago from SHOEnique. I got them literally because they were rainbow, and then this outfit showed me why I had kept them in my inventory - they look made for this!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Perception, Sara - Summer (Promotional Item)
Cosmetics: Perception, Evening Set 1b (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Piercings: Acide!, Mel - Rouge (Promotional Item)
Hair: Me., Jacqui (Promotional Item)
Hat: De La Soul, Defora Basic - The Deo (Promotional Item)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Butterfly: Je taime, Sculpted an animated butterfly (Promotional Item)
Dress: Paris Metro, Artist Series - Betty Tureaud Gown (Promotional Item)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: SHOEnique, Flower Power Hippy Wedges

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Retropolis
Light Settings: Paulina, Fairy Blue
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

katat0nik Twins

katat0nik is in the process of kicking my butt with her releases - so often, and so fantastic! I still have a dolly avatar pairing in the wings, but when I saw she did rainbows! Rainbows! My absolute favorite rainbows! Well, something in me snapped and I promptly outfitted both mes with different shades of her fantastic release. Deoridhe Quandry, my main, is in the black version, and Deoridhe Starr, my original abandoned avatar, is in the pink version. Both of the dresses, an additional purple version, the shoes, and a rainbow tattoo are all for sale at katat0nik. There's also a new cupcake dress which will probably take a while for me to do pictures because! katat0nik! She is kicking my butt with releases!

In honor of the dress, I tried to twin Deoridhe Quandry and Deoridhe Starr as much as possible while still reflecting some originality between them. Both of them are wearing sale-release hairs from Exile; Exile is in the process of removing some of it's older content, so there's three walls of hair that, despite being older, are still pretty fantastic. I decided that Deoridhe Starr is the human, paler version of Deoridhe Quandry, so she got all of the light blondes and Quandry got all of the dark blondes! Well, by all I mean eight hairs - but at 50$L a color set it still only set me back 400$L on each avatar. The stockings were part of a buy one, get one to share special from Vextra Fashion, which means future twinning will be much easier due to shared stockings! The shoes are also identical, the rainbow shoes from katat0nik which are clearly going to be a favorite of mine!

Now for the differences!

Quandry is wearing a skin from Apple May Designs, Kat, and I really like the delicate cosmetics on the base. It comes with a wide variety of eyebrows and some cleavage variations - yay! I'm wearing the Pale tone, but there are other darker ones of course. I also highlighted her rainbowness with a Rainbow Key from Souzou Eien. I bought it on massive sale, because I just happened to see the notice on the day of the sale, but it's still available for a shiny 100$L, so even off uber sale it's still a bargain!

Starr is wearing cute accessories from a Honey Kitty gatcha which I was able to pass to her. The bracelet is an adorable mixture of bright, colorful shapes and the ribbon, and part of why I had some to pass was I kept playing the gatcha to get them all! The hair ribbon matches the bow and I think it really sets off the rest of the outfit. I also bought my darling a set of Flugeln Brise's lashes - 09 instead of the 05 that Quandry usually wears.

Switching over to the new release of Firestorm brought it's own excitement to this picture series. I actually had to take the first picture twice because my water settings didn't work! Ugly teal, no response from Windlight, and it turned out even my Windlight appearance was wrong with the recommended version. There's a second version of Firestorm with older graphics somethings, though, and installing that cleanly fixed my problem - so if you're noticing graphics issues, try installing the other version!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Deoridhe Quandry:

Skin: Apple May Designs, Kat - Pale Nitro 3 (Promotional Item)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 05
Hair: Exile, Gossip Girl - sand
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Dress: katat0nik, Triple Dip Dress - black
Key: Souzou Eien, Rainbow Key
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Stockings: Vextra Fashion, Opaque Stockings - white
Shoes: katat0nik, Kita Mary Janes - Candy Rainbow
Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Deoridhe Starr:

Skin: Cupcakes, Charm - Snow
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 09
Hair: Exile, Gossip Girl - Ash
Hair Ribbon: Honey Kitty, Cutie Ribbon - Pink
Dress: katat0nik, Triple Dip Dress - pink
Bracelet: Honey Kitty, Cutie Ribbon Bracelet - Vanilla
Stockings: Vextra Fashion, Opaque Stockings - white
Shoes: katat0nik, Kita Mary Janes - Candy Rainbow
Poses: Glitterati

Location: INK Flagship Shop
Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY - Sad purple
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Fine Fae in Fur

Sometimes, I'm really grateful for friends of friends. A dear friend bought me this mesh avatar of a kitty from Blue Galaxian, and I spent the day rubbing against people's ankles and nibbling ears! Like my doll mesh avatar, the clothing choices are limited, but it's definitely an awesome avatar and it is tintable (I tinted the undies, for example). I heard down the grapevine that clothing to fit it will be released soon, but I kind of had fun wandering around in these cute undies. The hair, from D!va, is a lucky board prize and is fantastically lovely. I had to increase it 30%, but then it fit perfectly!

I think this is my shortest credits ever!

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Avatar: Blue Galaxian, Female Feline - Ghost
Hair: D!va, Eriko - Ruby
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Undies: Blue Galaxian, Female Knickers and Tanktop

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The Wilderness
Light Settings: Places Pathfinder
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

A Brief Rant Inspired by Netflix

I love comedy shows. Adore them - especially standup.

I have one thing which kills an act for me - every time. I've reached the point where if I'm watching a show and this shows up, I stop it and mark it in some way so I know "don't watch again."

Generalizations about women.

Comedians and other assholes who do this - news flash! We're half the fucking population. No, we don't ALL try to trick you into being rude. No, we don't ALL set traps for you. We don't ALL shop for shoes for hours, or wear only pink, or nag you into cleaning. Some of us hate cleaning, even. We don't all hate porn, or hate sex, or set you up to fail. If you have a problem with your significant other because she's mean to you, TAKE IT THE FUCK UP WITH HER.

Leave the rest of HALF THE FUCKING PLANET aloooooooooooooo~ne.

[/end service announcement]

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Brrree Mesh Hair (Promotional Item)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Dress: artMefashion, Steampatch Gown Green
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Duh!, Snow Booties - Brown (Promotional Item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Treptower Park
Light Settings: TOR, DUSK Vision of Something
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Brick House

I often feel guilty for not being more involved in political things, social movements. Some days even tracking the news becomes too much for me, and I end up singing along with GlaDOS.

It's hard to know what the balance needs to be. How much soothing helps me pull myself together for the next day - how much knitting up the raveled edge of care do I need before I'm ready to handle the weight of the day; the dance of delusions and discombobulation; the balance between being a quasi-agent of the state and serving the needs of those at the corners of society.

I still sometimes feel guilty for sitting and taking pretty pictures, though.

And I don't know why or if I should.

And I'm not sure I'd believe anyone who told me one way or another.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyeshadow: Bubble, Electro Pop Eyeshadow 2
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Lipstick: L.Fauna, Lipstick Red3
Hair: Tribal Secrets, Helena - Platinum
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Amalia
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Astrid - Brown
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Judy - Cherry Heels

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Villefranche sur Mer
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY - Cheery Cyan

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Peacock in the Aviary

One of the fantastic things about Second Life is how theatrical the clothing can become - how unreal and non-normal. I was instantly struck by this new dress from Inga Wind - enough to overlook the alpha issues which are inherent in an outfit like this. At the wrong angle, this looks like mush, but at the right angle it's absolute magic. I adore the colors, too; I was tempted by the golden peacock, but the natural colors are so striking that I couldn't resist. When I found the albino peacock at Tropical Paradise Designs, it seemed too perfect to resist. My long, slick black legs come courtesy of SLink and are mesh - so for more than half the grid you'll look legless with a ball attached to one thigh. The peacock necklace from TERHO rounded it out, and I was able to match the coloring of the peacock with the shiny Wasabi Pills hair on my head - a newer release. I was also able to match the colors on my Eclectica gloves as well - the feathers version this time instead of the roses I was rocking before. There are pearls as well - have I mentioned lately I adore these gloves?

There is something alluring about how easy it is to look fantastic in Second Life - without the dust, grime, laundry, and mess of the offline world. There's no need to cook, no need to clean, dust never accumulates, and looking gorgeous is a matter of attaching a folder.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5-A
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Kimmy Hair - Golden (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Necklace: TERHO, peaCOCKED Necklace
Dress: Inga Wind, Pavonine
Gloves: Eclectica, Little Black Pillbox Hat & Gloves - Feathers (Vintage Faire - promotional item)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: SLink, Tall Leather Boots

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Tropical Paradise Designs
Light Settings: Midday

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Vintage Roses

Like a lot of people, I ended up taking a gander over at the Vintage Faire - not only for a view at some new things, but also as a chance to scout out stores and look for new names to add to my (admittedly long) list of stores to keep track of. I ended up spending more than I expected - but I always do! A couple of old favorites hit the top of the list; Eclectica is a longstanding favorite of mine, and ever since she sent out the pictures of the gloves and hat I have felt a deep longing for these gloves. I thought one pair might be enough (she has three styles) but I think I may be forced to go back for more. The roses have texture change, but like all of Eclectica's stuff (love it!) it's modify ok!

The dress is another old favorite - Icing. I have to admit, I dithered a bit on buying it (I have a lot of short black dresses with flowers on them), but the flutters at the side really change the silhouette a lot, making it more interesting than a lot of small black dresses, and I've a total weakness for an altered silhouette. The flowers cling to a number of places, which makes the dress itself work with a lot of poses. I echoed the color in my lipstick (I think it was a free gift) from Pixelated Designs - which is a new-to-me store.

The shoes were an awesome match to the hot pink from Dilly Dolls; they're not a style I usually buy, but I have to admit having tried them out I was really impressed. The skin on the feet have texturing on them, which can match it up nicely to the skin on your... well, skin. Fitting them was the usual annoyance, but I don't think I managed too badly! There's a little bit of a "rim" but at a distance you'd never see it. The texturing HUD includes safe spots for colors, so if you move between a few standard skintones, you can save them and easily revert whenever you want to. There are also some default colors - and I'm pretty sure they'll match up with Dilly Dolls's skin perfectly.You can also set custom toenail colors, though I have to admit I didn't play around with all of the HUD options - they were multitudinous.

The necklace finished off the look, and was to reinforce the paler pinks in my new favorite hat and gloves. It's an old necklace; I'm not sure when I got it, but it's one of the few things in my inventory from Bliensen + MaiTai and I really like it. I'm a total fan of the double strand, and while these aren't pearls, they look like a fancy sort of glass adornment. The hair is from Alice Project (store currently closed), another new-to-me store, and they're mesh - which means to most of the grid you're bald. To those who can see, though, they look completely awesome (and as you can see in several of my additional pictures, it curls with your body in an awesome way). There are these adorable curls at the top of the head, and the bottoms also have awesome curls, and I'm completely in love with it. The bangs are separate and come with one of the two hairstyles I picked up; I can't remember which. Fantastic effect, though.

I ended up going for pictures at the new RMK Gothic Mall. There's been a lot of buzz recently about Second Life malls being doomed by the marketplace; one thing I love about Second Life malls is how often they becomes beacons for beauty, places where the styles of the stores expand out into the landscape to make shopping a much more enjoyable thing.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5-A
Lipstick: Pixelated Designs, Audrey Semi Gloss (Vintage Faire Freebie)
Hair: Alice Project, Bonnie - Blonde (Vintage Faire)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace: Bliensen + MaiTai, Sakura Double
Dress: Icing, Orchid Delight (Vintage Faire)
Gloves: Eclectica, Little Black Pillbox Hat & Gloves - Roses (Vintage Faire)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Dilly Dolls, Beatrix Heels (Promotional Item)

Poses: Glitterati

Location: RMK Gothic
Light Settings: Midday

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

How NOT to pick up a Man in Second Life

I got sent this by a fan of my "How NOT to..." series; the commentary at the end is so not mine. In fact, I have to admit I find this level of creepy somewhat unnerving; thankfully I've only had one person IM me with comments while I'm inside my house, and the new parcel settings can offer some privacy - but not when the parcel is largely set apart by being in the sky, rather than on a separate plot of it's own (something that many creators do).

Seriously, people; give people some privacy when they're at home on their own ground.

Perver: Beautiful house.
Homeowner's reaction - *blink blink and goes to nearby avatars to find that Perver is 54 meters away. Cams. He is flying below the house platform.*
Homeowner: Thank you
Perver: Did you build it?
Homeowner: modded it from two different builds
Perver: Nice.
Perver: So you RP, correct?
Homeowner: on occasion, yes. but not on this avi
Perver: Ah.
Homeowner: This is my buisness account primarily.
Perver: I see...A rather dashing business man I must add.
Homeowner's Reaction - *Blink... Blink... squidges and fumbles for... some kind of.. response.*
Homeowner: man.. woman, I tend to flip depending on what  make. XD but thanks?
Perver: Lol

*And then the Perver sticks around.. silent for about 30 minutes.. unmoving... while the Homeowner cannot just help but keep staring back... waiting for things to either get creepier.. or him to leave. Which he does. *

Ladies.. Gentlemen... generally speaking this is a breach of Common Sense Rule #1 on the internet. If you would not do this in RL, do not do it online. This is tantamount to climbing a tree across the street and using binoculars to look through someone's windows, then calling them to tell them they have a nice house and they look hot.
Real life, had this happened would have resulted in the cops being called and the Perver's ass going to jail. SL.. luckily we have things like estate bans and security orbs. (He was just outside of the range this Homeowner uses.)

Now... Homeowner would not mind this as much had his house not been over 1000 meters in the air! Had it been on ground level... that is another matter though could have still done without the creepy stalker hitting on.

REALLY, people.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Xplosion, Prim Lashes
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Bold Coal & Purple
Tattoo: Eternal Darkness, Harlequin Tears
Lipstick: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat - In Denial
Hair: Magika, Ren - blond
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Cipher, Lamia Dress - purple
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Cipher, Lamia Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Haruno
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI - Metal Gear Solid

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only 

Rainbows for Luna!

Luna started the color challenge - the first challenge I successfully followed for a whole year! Can you believe it? In thanks and appreciation, the suggestion was made to take pictures of rainbows for Luna and dedicate a post to our experiences and appreciation.

I love the idea of a challenge around colors because, in a lot of ways, it's a fairly low bar. I've been afraid of the Alphabet challenge because it seems a bit more of a challenge than I can afford - especially given my dearth of skins. Colors, on the other hand, rather come naturally to me and are adaptable from one thing to another. And, as many people know, rainbows are my particular love. (The dress is not publicly available, but single color versions of it with black trim instead of white are purchasable from Falln Angel Creations. The rainbow version is MINE ALL MINE, though!)

I love them because they are one of the only things where being different is not only possible, but required for the rainbow to function. So often people laud diversity in the abstract, then attempt to crush it in the actual because it shows up in the form of dissent, or argument, or disagreement. The best rainbows, though, are when the green is the best green it can be, and the blue is at it's most blue, and the red is so very red it takes your breath away. Each color has to be itself - orange must be it's very orangeness, and purple cannot escape from being so very purple - in order for the rainbow to even be a rainbow. If yellow were not yellow, the rainbow would no longer exist.

So often in the world, people try to make blue or green people into yellow or red ones; people say they want rainbows, then demand everyone conform to orange, or purple, or teal. Many times the words obscure the actions, making people think diversity is there when it's not, but in a rainbow, if orange were to become green, then everyone would notice right away!

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelashes 5A
Hair: Rezipsa Loc, Ellen - blond
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Wings: Falln Angel Creations, Deo Custom Wings
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Deo Custom Gown
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks - overknee offwhite
Shoes: De La Soul, Cavas Flats LoveFlowers

Poses: AO

Location: Slitheen
Light Settings:Midday

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Castle Arcanum

I've taken photos outside in Arcanum before, but it wasn't until the Peatonville Hunt that I realized how much inside there is! This is a small look at a couple of rooms - I was most taken by one of the mage rooms, with an entire window of amazing, glowing, gorgeous plants along one side. My favorite is definitely the musical box flower, though I think the stained glass flower reflects my clothing the most! My dress is a gorgeous new release from Dilly Dolls with a slightly retro-fifties feel to it; I'm really fond of the hint of animal print along the bust line and the hem of the dress - it takes an older design and makes it unique. It's released for the Vintage Faire and available in a variety of colors, though I'm really partial to this teal!

I paired it with a new hair from Tribal Soul; I'm not usually a "hat hair" kind of person, but this one was adorable, and the floofy hair really seemed to suit the sleeker, simple style of the hat. It's fully editable, so you can do things like tint the hat - like I did - to match an unusually colored dress. I added in a new release of eyeshadow from Adam n Eve (I'm getting so addicted to being able to change cosmetics - I can barely remember what it was like to be stuck with one makeup style!) and used the nude lips from my favorite De La Soul skin because the faint pink seemed to complement the vibrant teal I'm covered in. (On a side technical note, I'm trying linking to all the stores of the things I'm wearing - but it's a huge pain in the ass. Comment if you think it's worth it, or if I should let everyone use the search function, like the gods intended.)

One of the enjoyable and frustrating parts about Second Life - and life in general - is that there is so much going on and only a limited amount of time to react and a limited amount of attention to give. Life begins to be a series of priority lists - do I want to do this, or this? How can I combine multiple goals? Is that really worth my time to do? I spent that amount of time to do WHAT??? Trying to finish up one of those damn Sims Online challenges in a week, I found myself spending an hour waiting for different rooms to load and my desire to continue, to try, to even care was waning quickly. One of the mental fallacies people struggle with is the Sunk Cost Fallacy, and a lot of Facebook games seem to hinge on these. One side effect of Sunk Cost leveraging, though, is when the current challenge is severe enough and the current results are thin enough that it's worth not sinking more time and energy into it. I find the Sims Online rapidly moving into that along with Farmville; in both cases, the time spend doing things is increasingly not worth the reward - the mental space it needs to take up in my head is not worth the fun I get out of it.

Developers - don't rely on Sunk Cost too much; when you hit the tipping point, the loss of interest is rapid.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyeliner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Eyeshadow: Adam n Eve, Glitz Groovy Greens G
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelashes 5A
Hair: Tribal Soul, Vodka - Platinum (Promotional Item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Jewelry: Eclectica, Pearl Mixables - Deco Redux
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Delilah - Teal (Promotional Item)
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Square-toe Shoes - Sophie

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Arcanum
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Coral Reef

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

A Doll's Life

Mesh is a somewhat controversial thing in Second Life right now, both because it's not currently deforming in reaction to most aspects of peoples' shapes, and because a lot of people still use browsers you can't see mesh on. Full mesh avatars are even more controversial, because they can't work with system layers at all, which means that only full mesh or full prim clothing will work on full mesh avatars. I have a soft spot for Ball Jointed Dolls, though, and so when I heard about Doll Coco coming out with mesh Ball Jointed Dolls, I hurried over to check it out. Sadly, so far it doesn't work with any of my other mesh clothing (I tried it with a Dilly Doll's dress and the doll body stuck out unnaturally) but it does work with prim hair and my prim wings, as well as prim accessories like this Dilly Dolls packaging (post on newest Dilly Doll releases to follow, assuming I don't become completely distracted by something shiny). Have I mentioned I love the new trend in awesome item packaging? I have a folder labeled "cool packaging" that will be gradually showing up in my posts (assuming I don't become completely distracted by something shiny).

SOMETHING SHINY!!!!!

Oh, wait, what was I saying?

Oh, right. One of the nice things about the Doll Coco setup is that the body and one outfit is free, and the heads aren't too high priced for what they are (450$L). However, other mesh attachments, like this awesome dress I'm wearing, are on the high end of what I'm willing to spend on clothes at around (others are available for cheaper, but the dress I'm wearing is 750$L and other full-body outfits are in a comparable range, with the cheapest at 300$L). There also isn't a large selection in mesh clothing yet, though more is showing up including some separates. What this means is that in general, your doll may have one or two outfits (if you spend the linden) but for the moment the styles and colors you can wear are very restrictive - and I'm sure there are no few people who will find that a serious sticking point. One of my friends also found that her shape became somewhat "broken" when she moved between the mesh avatar and her regular shape - something else to keep in mind.

What non-mesh compatible browsers will see.

I know this sounds like a total downer, but really I found myself charmed by my doll, and I'm considering using it as the basis for a bunch of inventory-pictures of my group poses due to it being both highly stylized and yet still very attractive. The jointing is exquisite (not that you can see in my pictures) and the face and hand poses are completely charming. It really looks like a ball jointed doll in a way which skins on a regular avatar simply cannot. I'm sure as time goes on, more clothing will be made and perhaps a few more free outfits will round out the offerings and offer some variety in style and color. In addition, the new parameter distorter thingies being made might enable mesh clothing to be fittable over the Doll Coco mesh with some modifications of shape. We're still in the infancy of mesh, but the possibilities seem really exciting and I'm enjoying being on the cuttingish edge (even if it is hard on a girl's wallet!).

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Mesh Avatar: Doll CoCo, Body Snow
Mesh Head: Doll Coco, Alice
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Chloe Hair - Flaming Cherry
Dress: Doll Coco, Classic Dress - Floral Red
Doll: Dilly Dolls, Packaging

Location: Alchemy Immortalis
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA low saturation

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Newbie Challenge II - A and I

I have something shameful to admit - I have an alt for every letter of the alphabet.

I know, I know, get over your giggles. I plead being addicted to lucky chairs; there is something very powerful about sitting at a board and systematically clicking through it until a question mark or a D finally show up! It's saved me a lot of time on all but the group-only boards where the groups cost money; otherwise I'm set; it's also saved a gathering of people groaning out about the fifth U in a row!

One of the fun side-effects of this has been trying to set up a variety of avatars with very little money - so the lot of them are perfect for Gogo's Newbie Challenge II (and you'll get to see one "look" from each over the course of however long it takes me to get through the alphabet!).  I'm starting at the beginning - with A (in purple) - who was actually a roleplaying alt and not a lucky chair alt. Doesn't she look amazing?

Deoridhe is rather an Aryan's wet dream, so I often try to go into completely different directions with alts - also it's more fun! A, by contrast, is meant to be Igbo (or at least Ghanese) and is in my head as my 'classy/stylish' alt. I try to dress her in semi-formal dress and modern casual, styles that Deoridhe tends to not wear and which don't look as good on her as on A's lanky frame. In my head she has a slight Caribbean accent from moving there later in life. She does bring up, for me, the question of how appropriate it is to go cross-cultural, especially when one is offline rather an Aryan's wet dream. Deoridhe is based off of my appearance - blond, blue, and pale; and while I try to not approach A with a stereotypical attitude, it's difficult to know how many stereotypes I've accumulated without noticing and then played out through her - thus disrespecting a whole lot of people who don't deserve that disrespect.

One of the things I decided when I made her, though, is that her hair would be as accurate as I could get in Second Life - so when I discovered this Discord Designs hair I was utterly in love. it's a complicated bit of braiding, and would require use of wire, but the end result is striking. Prior to this I had her in long braids, having been unable to find a shorter style I really liked and yet didn't look Asian or European in texture.Hair and African Americans seem to have a tumultuous history, so while I'm not sure the issues are applicable to a Ghanese woman, I'm aware of the dangers of sticking European-style hair in black on the head of a Ghanese woman and calling it a day.

A's skin is a new player gift from Tea Lane - an excellent shade of chocolatey brown; I very specifically wanted a dark shade, not one of the lighter ones, because you see many fewer avatars on Second Life with truly dark skin. I have my eye on some other brands, but this one fits under the 550$L limit! The eyes are courtesy of Little Boy Blue and are made to seem as if the entirety of the night sky are within your eyelids.There's even a prim addition which moves, as if the sky were slowly turning within your gaze. The dress is from Pixel Dolls and is one of the lower price choices that I really love. The texturing on it is divine, and while it's one of the older offerings, it still stands up against newer clothing. The shoes are cheapies from Glad Rags. I didn't add any cosmetics, but the skin came with a bit of shine to it which I think really suits the entire effect.

The entire look came to a grand total of 510$L, but I think it looks like a million bucks!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Deoridhe (totally over 550$L):

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyeliner: Boom, Midas Touch Liner
Lipgloss: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears - Fairy
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelashes 5A
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Ryoko Hair - Golden
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: katat0nik, Sweetness Dress - yellow
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Square-toe Shoes "Sophie" - yellow

A (510$L Total):

Skin: TL, Chocolate Skin (0$L - new player gift)
Eyes: Little Boy Blue, Eshu eyes (75$L)
Hair: Discord Designs, Gaijin (180$L)
Dress: PixelDolls, Porcelain (250$L)
Shoes: Glad Rags, Folden Boots Black (5$L)

Poses: Glitterati and Long Awkward Pose

Location: Point of Derivation
Light Settings: Purple
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Pandamonium

I have a friend who loves Pandas. Pandas love bamboo. Bamboo and Pandas both show up in China. This photoshoot was totally obvious.

I've been reading a lot recently about identity, different ways one expresses identity, what being plugged into the internet means, etc... Largely, though, I'm trying to figure out what new blogging site I want to sign up with, or if I want to go back to my still existent Livejournal. Google is rapidly moving toward mandating Google+ with all their products, which means soon I won't have a blog, a video account, or an email account. Any suggestions would be appreciated - right now I'm looking closest at Wordpress, but am impeded by having made an account there and forgotten the password.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin, Ears: Draconic Kiss, Pandamonia Skin Set
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Vicky Hair - Iceburg
Headband: Silent Sparrow, Jolie Headband
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Draconic Kiss, Pandamonia Dress
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - black

Pose: Glitterati, 061

Location: China
Light Settings: Places Wiccan

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Ahern

My initial account, in 2006, bypassed the "starting areas" of Second Life - the telehubs - which again are mostly unused these days since new players are sent to anywhere on the Destination Guide. When I rejoined in 2008, I was immediately dragged to Lolita Malls and Camping Chairs, again bypassing what seems to be a rite of passage for a lot of people in Second Life. I don't know if anything would have been different if in 2006 I had been directed somewhere instead of dumped in an empty place on the grid, dazed and confused. I suppose some of it might have depended on who I met, if I'd been directed somewhere; I found Ahern less than compelling, but at least there are people! And the view isn't bad, ne?

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5A
Lipstick: Mock, Micare LipGlimmer - Mandarin Sparkle
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Hair: Yuna's Hair, Marie
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Adelle Stripey
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - royal blue

Pose: Poise, Academy Kiera

Location: Ahern
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Hong Kong special

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

How Not to Pick Up a Chick in Second Life: Episode Six

Sometimes I think there's no way I'll be surprised by how rude or crass a stranger might be. While taking the above photograph, someone contacted me to show how wrong I am.

[20:32] Complete Asshole "Rascal": hi you have flowers for nipples what do you have dowe south  he he
[20:32] Deoridhe Quandry: Excuse me?
[20:33] Complete Asshole "Rascal": not sure wha tyou did but okay your excused

I think what bothers me most is that there's no effective way to counter this; to be female is to get, unsolicited, grossly sexual comments from strangers.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5A
Lipmark: Adam n Eve, Lip Strip Heart Black
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Hair: Truth, Kalia
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Necklace: Miel, Sen Necklace
Outfit: artMEfashion, Steampatch Bloomersuit Brown
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: G Field, Short Lace Up Boots

Pose: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Peatonville Mystery
Light Settings: Lunar Morning

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Ghosts

Sometimes, a theme is done around a store - in this case I tried to put on as many Favole things as I could and then went to town for pictures! I mixed in a collar from a different purchase time and threw in some bloody black wings to match the slashes on this dress - one of Favole's only piece of clothing! I'm also wearing Favole shoes, but they're hard to see under all the skirt (the skirt has fantastic movement - slightly slowed so it looks just a little eerie).

One note about Favole collars - some are resizable (either through scripts or editing) and some are not. I have a few I only wear with long hair because my neck is too thick for them; I think most people have narrower necks, though, so it shouldn't be a problem. The artistry on them is totally worth it, though; gorgeous designs.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Tattoo: Favole, My Fading Heart
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Bold coal red
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, Eyelash 5A
Lipstick: L. Fauna, Red 3
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear - Fairy
Hair: Truth, Kalia - driftwood
Hat: Favole, Vepar
Wings: Favole, Megalomaniac
Collar: Favole, Prolific
Dress: Favole, Perdition
Gloves: Eclectica, Swoon - ebony
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Finger
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet
Shoes: Favole, Possession

Pose: Glitterati, 229

Location: Rackingham State Hospital
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Grimler gronchi

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Twelve Months of Color

It's been an amazing year, a lot of colors. I've learned a lot, but not strayed form my essential goal of taking pictures in the wilds of Second Life and presenting them as taken, no photoshop - just cropping.

I had an awful time trying to pick my fifteen favorite pictures, so I went instead with views - mostly. I ended up re-cropping a couple of them so I'd end up with a clear rectangle. Some of the highest viewed surprise me, or are not my favorites; others are ones I still really enjoy and like. I'm struck most of all by the sheer variety; some are subdued, others over-saturated; some are melancholy, others triumphant. In most of the highly viewed ones, I'm not actually looking out at anyone - which surprised me a lot. The clothing also varies a lot - from very scanty and skin revealing, to full coverage.

I'm on the fence about whether I'm going to pick up another challenge as I'm waiting for the Color Challenge Deux to begin in January; part of me will be grateful for not having a drive to post every week, and maybe turn some of that energy to clearing out my Promotional Folder. There are a few challenges going on which look fun, though - the alphabet one looks way too difficult, but there was an old prop challenge that looked fun. I also have some thoughts on doing group pictures, with me and my alts; doing some deliberately cultural pictures by hunting down traditional costumes from a lot of places (anyone know where I can get a dirndl?) and making shapes to match; I also have a vague thought of photographing my inventory to create an record and further sub-sort it for ease of finding what I'm looking for.

Looking back is a fantastic inspiration to look forward.

( More pictures here. )