Twisted Color Challenge: Week 35: Wild West

I definitely went outside of my comfort zone with Wild West, as well as going through about a half dozen different aspects of the look before settling on this and... well... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I think I've sort of spray painted over the line between stylish, sexy, provocative, and vulgar.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Discord Designs, Deoridhe
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Earrings and Hairsticks: Tama, Japanese Lantern
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Kosh, Lost Souls Eyeshadow
Lipstick 1: Adore & Abhor, Shreveport Lipstick
Lipstick 2: Mock, Fruitillicious Gloss
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Lights
Purse: katat0nik, Woody Purse
Jewelry: Top2Toe, April Wood
Shirt: G Field, Floral Halter
Skirt: Rue, Threads/Artist Miniskirt
Stockings: Sn@tch, Ribbed Knit TIghts
Shoes: G Field, Western Boots

Poses: Poise

Location: Tempura Island
Light Settings: Phototools, July Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday Meme: Exploring Second Life

Strawberry has another Meme Monday Challenge for us to share some of our favorite places in Second Life, and I love this idea; I'm always looking for new places to take pictures, so this challenge feeds my exploring bug like whoa. Taking a leaf from Strawberry's book, I uploaded these at full screen size for the full effect, but I reserved the right to have fun with the windlight settings. I have a lot of favorite sims, but I'm trying to focus on the ones I return to over and over again, the ones that sing to my soul, the ones that I return to when nothing else is fitting my needs, and one recent opening that I think deserves a lot more attention as it's an incredible resource for photographers. I hope you love them as much as I do.

I had to start close to home. I live and consider my home base to be Isle of Amras, a gorgeous roleplaying sim designed and largely built by my friend, Lerochelle Destiny / Charlie. He's been really stepping up his design with mesh, and just recently redid the view I'm showing, including my own apartment on the third floor over the infirmary. There is a lower keep with a bustling marketplace, a mountainous area over Charlie's store, an enormous keep area studded with hidden apartments and classy stores, the castle - which is festooned with roses - complete with garderobes and a really fun great hall, and an entire second sim of farmland with a swamp at the end. It is a roleplaying sim, but if you want to come around just to check it out or to take pictures, stick on an OOC marker and the residents will cheerfully ignore you.

Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY - Vintage Village

The first sim I fell in love with was World's End Garden. It looked very different then, and had a single section on the bottom level with the gorgeous tree I'm showing above, but in darker hues. I used to come and play music and just look at the waves come in and out, simply relaxing in the immersive beauty. The sim now begins one in the basement, in a mass of filmy trees and secret places. The main floor is now a selection of locations making full use of the reflective nature of the water - this is where I take most of my pictures these days. And if you find the right door, you can find your way up here to the attic, to the genesis seed of the world tree and the sparkling sounds of beauty.

Light Settings: TOR, FOGGY - Das Fog

Bryn Oh and her Immersiva was the first artist I fell in love with. Her latest build isn't my favorite of hers, but I still love Immersiva and the melancholy stories she weaves for us to wander through. She also makes these amazing machinema to capture each build and tell each story long after the builds themselves are no more, and I think my favorite character of them all is the Rabbicorn, who simply wants someone to love and be with. The current story, a macabre and thoughtful one, begins with a challenge and takes a turn for the bizarre and amazing halfway through. To get to the bulk of the display, one has to walk up a thin staircase, either an easy to fall off one, or one which forms under ones feet. One can cheat, but I would certainly never admit to doing so. Not me. Partway through, Bryn added an amazing effect where  you sit on a feather which allows you to walk on the walls - to walk on the side, upside down, inside out. You're supposed to stand up now and then, but the first time I went through I saw how far I could get walking on things and it was a whole lot of fun. So yes, it's hard to get there (unless one cheats), but once you do it is so glorious.

Light Settings: TOR, BIG SUN - Good for Sailing

The LEA Machinima Open Sim Project is a fairly recent sim, but it is a photographers daydream. Chic has created hundreds of little scenes perfect for almost everything. The only flaw could be that with so many scenes on the ground, it can be a challenge to obscure the other ones in the background, but a sensible photographer can do a lot with angles, windlight, and draw distance. I always mean to come back and do a different picture in a different scene each time, but then I get caught up in the fantastic details and can't resist focusing on a single build. Also, there are snapshot sims in the air, teleportable to through the HUD. I particularly love the landscaping on the ground, though - natural seeming pools here and there with lovely buildings next to them; it's everything I love in a photographic area.

Light Settings: TOR, BIG SUN - Impire

Captured Moments offers photographers the opportunity to play with and use a lot of different props all in one place, for glorious effect. There is an outdoor area in the round available, as well as a ton of neatly placed together props with backdrops all in a pretty box in the sky. This is a perfect place for the blogger starting out, as it offers a wide variety of poses and platforms - a collection that would have taken a lot of Linden to bring together and which would be well outside the reach of a lot of people. They've all been placed together beautifully well, with enough room so one can take full advantage but without any wasted space. At regular intervals, there are also pose stands for dressing and undressing oneself. I had a lot of fun playing around here and jumping form scene to scene, and I really recommend everyone check it out.

Light Settings: Sim Default

SL Disney Bound – Week Twenty Two: Cinderella & Gus Gus

It's going to take me a while to catch up with the Disneybound Challenge, especially when I do what I did today, which was spend a whole long time on figuring out how to make a projector because I am stupid. Right now I'm working on Cinderella and Gus Gus, with poor little Gus as a worn companion instead of an alt because... I just can't do all of that and shadows. Sorry, it's just too many variables to work together smoothly. I ended up pulling out a tiny mint bird which I got from Schadenfreude ages ago, remembering that Cinderella had bird friends as well as mice friends; it snuggles up against my hair in most of the pictures, which I think is really cute and understated.My hair is the FaMESHed Wasabi Pills release with a fantastic swirl of braid that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I adore how it curves around the bulk of the hair, and there are great wisps of hair down the back as well, which makes it look very natural and sweet. Although the braids cross through my left ear, it works from most angles because part of the braids go in front, so it appears like my ear has been woven in. My wings are an amazing rare gatcha prize from Deviance which simply makes me gasp with awe and envy; they were released at the Fantasy Gatcha Event. I really hope she keeps it up with the wings - I love her clothing, but her wings have helped to fully lure me away from my long-time Fancy Fairy wings, which I haven't worn in a long while.

My jewelry, gorgoeus releases from Lassitude & Ennui, I've actually worn before, but it remains so sweet and nature-driven that I felt it fit for Cinderella, who makes friends with wildlife like a good princess should. It has sweet and simple earrings and a delicately rendered chain. My one wish would be for darker colors on the jewelry (or an easier way to tint them). Much as I love the pastels, I'd like to modify them without taking them apart. My dress is an amazing one from Fateplay, and I may end up photographing each color before I'm done because his clothing is so flawless. In this case, I'm showing off the shirt-version where the sleeves remain hanging no matter what one does, which can lead to interesting effects in poses, but which also adds some verisimilitude when the arms are by the side. I simply don't have words for how glad I am that he's making women's clothing now. My finger and toenails owe their coloring to Orc Inc, which is one of my favorite nail stores; one bonus with Orc Inc's nail lines is that you get a certain color style in a tone of colors with a single purchase, which is a lot of bang for one's buck. Finally, these amazing shoes are from Sax Shepard Designs. I love the realistic detailing - you can see the stitches, even - and the delicately rounded heel which is very different from other shoes I've worn. They have a casual, classy style which can be dressed up or down depending; in this case I think they match well with the rough elegance of my Fateplay medieval gown.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Sarah
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: MiaSnow, Dark 2 blue
Lipstick: Mock, Fruitilicious Gloss - Grenadine Lolli
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Lights
Jewelry: Lassitude & Ennui, Dewdrop
Gus Gus: Schadenfreude, Mint Sparrow
Dress: Fateplay, Wende
Feet: SLink, Mesh Feet
Shoes: Sax Shepard Designs, Casual Mules

Poses: Exposeur

Location: Isle of Amras - Infirmary
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA Monochrome
Projector Texture: Mine
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 34: Preppy Violet

I pulled together Preppy Violet a while ago, and then got completely distracted and didn't photograph it until today. It's a pulled together outfit - while the top and the bottom are both from Sn@tch, they're from different outfits at Sn@tch, and this marks one of the few times I have gone and purchased clothing specifically to try to fulfill a challenge - because these colors are rare and difficult to find. Pastels that are this pale are very difficult to separate out, and Sn@tch is awesome for giving a variety of colors of a certain type - including pastel only. I kept my hair very pale as well, using one of the rainbowtastic prizes from Alice Project to top my head and add a bit of variety to my pastel. My gorgeous jewelry, made of blocks of gems and long-threaded, softly shaded pearls is from Donna Flora, and is an absolute credit to her style and taste. In addition to the earrings and necklace there is a lovely, loose bracelet and a ring.

Finally, at the tip of my SLink feet are these amazing slip-on shoes from Lassitude & Ennui. I had originally been considering some sort of flimsy neglige outfit, as these seemed the sort of shoes one would keep within a boudoir, but when I saw how cute and flirty this outfit was, with the transparent top, I simply couldn't resist adding them in. I love that SLink is inviting other shoe makers to make shoes for her feet, too - it makes wearing them a snap. I also spent a chunk of time organizing my poses today, and re-discovered a store I had found during one of the pose events - Grafica - to try out in the field. They're really lovely, fluid poses without noticeable buckling of the body mesh. One issue I run into with poses is that my arms are longer than standard SL women's arms (I aim for fully proportional), which means that often my hands end up in my head. In the case of Grafica this hasn't been a problem in the two head-approaching poses I have, which is nice.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Alice Project, Alexis
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Solstice - frost purple
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Adore & Abhor, Shimmer Fades
Shirt: Sn@tch, Topsey Crochet Sweater
Jewelry: Donna Flora, Eccentrica
Shorts: Sn@tch, May Crystal Set
Feet: SLink, Mesh Feet
Shoes: Lassitude & Ennui, Opium Mules

Poses: Grafica

Location: Scribbled Hearts
Light Settings: Phototools, Angles Light
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Hunts, Freebies, and Moochers

I was introduced to "freebies" my first day, and discovered hunts the December 2008, with the Winter Grid Wide Hunt. I did the entire hunt, cursing when I couldn't find things. This was pre-blogs-covering-items, pre-linklists-of-stores, pre-derender, pre-wiremesh-mode, pre-hunt-groups, pre-hints. I spent hours at different stores, only to find the item OUTSIDE of it. I'll never forget the store I combed over multiple times, only to have some enterprising person discover the item stuck into the wall with only a tiny corner sticking out. In another, about thirty or forty people combed the four levels minutely until someone found it outside of the building, tucked under a roof.

This was pre-banning-people-from-sims-for-using-local-chat, too. In both cases, we shouted it to the high heavens. In less than five minutes the stores went from crammed to the gills to empty. There are still stores I refuse to buy from because of how they hid things in hunts, the most memorable being when an item was hidden inside another small item. This was before I could derender things, so it took me at least five minutes to cam inside to get it.

The first year of hunts I gave it the real college try. I'd try to do entire hunts, to explore stores, etc... but then the hunts started multiplying, and for a while now I've mostly chosen individual stores out of the herd to go and hunt at based on pictures of the prizes. Now and then I'll stumble across a small hunt that seems made for me or which is under fifty stops, and then I might go through. The other exception is a group which does games that include hunts as part of their game; I always do those because I'm addicted to the stories - I want to know what happens. I'm tending to hunt for different reasons now, though - I know exactly what I'm getting, for example, or it's part of a greater whole.

You see, even on the highest quality of hunts... a lot of what people put out, I don't want in my inventory. Sometimes it was an issue of quality (I know we aren't supposed to say that because it's rude to look gift horses in the mouth, but it's true) and sometimes of style, and sometimes that I doubt I would ever find a use for it. I don't own a lot of land, so a lot of in-world objects simply loiter in my inventory tucked five down in a folder, my style is fairly modest and feminine geek, and as my inventory has ballooned my standards for what I keep have become that much more stringent. I don't usually say so, though; while I will sometimes offer commentary on what people created, I try to soften my opinion of gifts as much as I can, usually offering them without comment at all, because of the aforementioned gift horse and mouths.

I totally agree that it can feel awful to have someone insult one's creations. Having had some creations insulted I know the stinging pain of that, and I've had my share of knee jerk, immature responses. The tendency to ban people from land based on real or perceived insults is very concerning to me, however, especially when met with a subset of people bemoaning how reviewers on Second Life are never "honest."

Well, of course they aren't. Being honest can get you banned.

Hel, even being slightly critical can get you banned. I'll never forget an acquaintance of mine who was banned for suggesting - suggesting mind - that someone's hunt prizes were also their store items. She was wrong, she corrected it, but she and everyone who commented on that post was banned from the sim in question. Several times since then I've heard similar rumblings, of people banned not for publicly disruptive behavior, but for private concerns and reasons - for critique, for comment, even for bothering a creator too much.

I am a big fan of hunts and freebies. I think they're a perfect way to hook people into fashion into Second Life. I also like the collaborative spirit that can emerge - nothing pleases me more than helping someone find something after they're really, really tried to find it. There's a rush to that moment of "I found it" which is better than the rush of all the prizes. For a long while I was a vocal and enthusiastic group helper in a variety of hunt groups, but in the last year I've taken my helpfulness out of group chats and into private. Sometimes this is because a group specifically discourages helping in the open chat; like giving hints in open chat, it's viewed as spoiling the hunt for people who really want to do the work to get the item.

In conversation with another hunter a short while ago, after I had helped her find something using general hints - nothing too specific (I always start with my most general hint) - she commented that her eyes weren't very good these days, and so it had been difficult to find the item because it was very small and blended in very well. "I hunt because it's fun," she said, and I was struck by how true that was for me, as well. There is a threshold beyond which I am unwilling to continue. One memorable time I was hunting for an item and was lead directly to where it was, by a bunch of people who all saw it, but my computer hardware apparently couldn't render it because it was simply too small. Other hunts have been buried under lag, crowds of people trapped looking for something and adding to the problem exponentially.

There is a point where it stops being fun, but communicating that - stating that something is simply too difficult to be enjoyable - seems to be a peculiar kind of verboten. "You don't need the prize," I've heard people respond, but in the case of hunts which are part of a story, the prizes are often secondary or tertiary to the pleasure of figuring things out and finding out what happened (I know that's definitely the case with me). I wish this was something more easily and facilely discussed, though, without knee-jerk accusations of being lazy or entitled.

At the end of the day, what I want is for us all to have fun... together.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Discord Designs, Codie (24 Gatcha Prize)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Mock, Glitterotica
Eyeshadow: cheLLe, Tropical
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterfade
Dress: Prism, Corrina Gown (24 Limited Edition)
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes

Pose: flowey

Location: Fortuna Smiles
Light Settings: Places Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Podcasts I Know and Love

Since getting my new phone, I have become an avid listener of podcasts. Something about it being able to load automatically, without even having to go through my computer, makes it perfect for my haphazard manner of living. I'm not feeling particularly like coming up with other things to say, I thought I would share a few of my favorites.

Ask Me Another & Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me: Both of these are NPR Radio Game Shows, which means they're hopelessly, helplessly uncool and geeky, and I love them for it. Very white, very silly, with lots of puns and word games, and some of my go-to shows when I've had a bad day.

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: A fantastic show by an amateur, but very thorough, historian. He focuses on very narrow times or events and goes into depth with them, and has a fantastic dramatic style. Several times he does quite long podcasts - more than six or seven hours of content - and I've always been impressed and educated, as well as entertained. It is a bit heavy; a lot of what he covers is pretty violent. The advantage to having it in podcast form is I can stop and go to something else when I need something more chipper.

Deep Shit with Baron Vaughn: This is one of my newer shows, but I really enjoy it. Each week features a different person with a different thing they are excited about, and it really gets deep and fascinating. It's sort of like those 3am discussions when you've had a few drinks and are ready to get real.

Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler: This is another of my more recent ones, but I've really been enjoying it. Aisha usually interviews comedians, but her final one for this season was with Levar Burton and it was amazing, heartwarming, entertaining, educational, and left me feeling all warm and glowy inside.

Made of Fail Productions: Some old friends started this, but I didn't get into it until I got into podcasts. It's a geeky, sometimes serious, usually silly, lots of fun and lots of inside jokes. This is really for the geeks in the audience - I call you "My People."

MSNBC Rachel Maddow: For a long time I didn't listen to news programs, getting my news piecemeal through a variety of social media outlets and relying on friends, but once I found this podcast I never looked back. I download it every night to listen to first thing in the morning during my morning commute; the first week I was keeping up with my old means, and she covered everything, plus added some history I didn't know, and covered more than I found out on my own, and I was hooked.

Nostalgia Chick: Yes, I'm very geeky. Nostalgia Chick is more of that, and a whole lot of funny. She covers popular media, usually with a social justice angle, which I really like. Plus, I'm just a sucker for media analysis.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: A weekly podcast about whatever is going on right now media wise. While Nostalgia Chick draws from the whole media spectrum, Pop Culture Happy Hour is focused on whatever happened that week, and does both critique and simple squeeing about delightful things. The participants all have different angles which keeps it interesting and often foments discussion amongst them.

SF Squeecast: This podcast is unmitigated awesome. If I had my druthers, I'd have coffee with the entire table, and probably end up eviscerated to predict something important, but it would so be worth it. The focus is entirely positive, which is really fun since a lot of my other interests have both light and dark sides; it's nice to have a place to retreat to and just enjoy how much the members of the panel simply enjoy each other's company. I love them, I love them, I love them.

Radiolab: My favorite of a few different "telling peoples' stories" podcasts, I particularly like Radiolab because of how they use sound - layering it over and under and combining and cutting so that each episode is almost like a single musical score.

Welcome to Night Vale: Inspired by everything that goes bump in the night, this is a twice monthly podcast that does a semi-parody of an NPR broadcast, only... well, things in Night vale are a little different. You need to not go to the Dog Park, A hypnotic Glow Cloud runs the PTA, and heaven is about a hundred feet over the Arbys in town. If you like the eerie, the unusual, and the unexpectedly sweet, this is the podcast for you.

Yo, Is this Racist?: The podcast that goes with the popular website. Andrew Ti has a new guest on every week to answer calls and questions about race in the USA.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Clawtooth, Angeles
Hat: Volstead, Peacock Headband
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeliner: Mock, Glitterotica - Ariel Wink (Group Gift)
Lipstick 1: Adore & Abhor, 13 Lips - Fire Red
Lipstick 2: Mock, Mizu Venetian Red
Jewelry: AZE, Puka Shell & Turquoise
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Fan: Volstead, Peacock Fan
Dress: Ison, Dazzel Gown (collabor88)
Shoes: Schadenfreude, Casinelle

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Mad City - Madame Peacock's Parlour
Light Settings: Phototools, Absinthe Light
Water Settings: NB, Sparkling Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

MadPea Hunt: Room 326 - Mark II

One of the two latest MadPea Hunts is Room 326, a remake of the same hunt from roughly six months ago. Like other MadPea Hunts, the hunt is half a game, half a story, and the mechanism is a HUD you can pick up for 150L at Mad City, the setting for the second Game/Hunt in August.

Welcome to the Madness, dear hunter.
 
You are about to discover the story of The Silent Peacock Hotel and enter the famous room, 326. Before you can begin with the hunt, you must find and enter Room 326 for your introduction to the game. Once you find an important item in the room, your HUD will be activated.
Please understand that this game is a point-and-click treasure hunt. Clicking items will give you clues to advance in the game.

Your ultimate goal is to find 15 envelopes in grid-wide locations eventually taking you to the final game play area where you will be rewarded with 15 high quality prizes. Once you click the photo on the HUD, it gives you a hint and a SLURL in local chat to a location where an ENVELOPE has been hidden. 

Once you find an envelope the photo on the HUD will turn into that. Please note, the ENVELOPES do not give out prizes. You must collect all of them to receive all the prizes at once in the end. When you have all the envelopes, follow the instructions given in the chat to you.

To HIDE the HUD, simply click the MadPea on top left corner to rotate it. For extra help ask in MadPeas group chat. Be Spooked, Be Mad, Enjoy!

The Game begins: Da Vinci Isle (116,179,29)

You begin outside of the Peacock Hotel, and to begin the hunt and activate your HUD, you have to find room 326 and the "special item" inside of that room. The hotel is lush, lovely, and can be slow to rez, so take your time and try to be patient. Once you find the object and click it, you will get a notecard that includes all of the images on the HUD and your HUD will be activated. If there are a lot of people in the sim, this may take a while, so again be patient. Then you just click on each picture and it gives you a bit of the story, and sends you to a store where you're looking for the 3D Letter each person received. How difficult it is to find depends largely on the stores, but a hint for the hiding spot is in each piece of the story.

Oh look, this seems like a police file. I should pick it up as it might come handy for my investigations. Oh wow! It contains the photos, names and addresses of all those missing people, including information about them! What a lucky find! I can see a part highlighted stating that all those people received a strange letter from someone before they vanished! I should look for those letters to find out what happened. If I solve this mystery, I will become a hero!

Painting, Television, Sunglasses

Warbug Headquarters - Look for someplace social to hang out in, far from where you land.
According to her neighbours, Rose Barley isn´t a very well liked woman. She had worked at the Silent Peacock Hotel for the last ten years, before she retired 11 months ago. She had managed to do her job well, even if she didn´t communicate much with the customers. None of her co-workers said they were missing her though, which says a lot. Her next door neighbour Mrs. Cluskey said: ´´Rose was such a loner, never got a smile from her. She would just sit at her home and have that damned record player on all the time playing Mariachi music. It´s hard to imagine, but she must have had a mexican lover in the past. I remember about a month ago I bumped into her in the hallway and made her drop her nachos all over the floor. She seemed very upset about something and asked me if I had seen anyone suspicious around. Hell, let me tell you, this place is full of weirdos! Anyhow, that was the last time I saw her. We were not friends, but I do hope that she will be found soon!´´ Look for the letter @ Black Forest (174,61,21)
Room_326 1: You mean old witch, you didn't look twice. You just turned your back and closed your eyes...

Possibly the Peacock - I couldn't connect it with any other store and I couldn't find a DRD prize.

DRD Mainstore - Find the freebies, then look beyond.
 Sunday School teacher, Betty Atchison is loved by her parish. She has devoted her life to Christ and teaching children about Christianity. She doesn´t have any close family members and has always lived alone. To our huge surprise we found her closet full of fetish boots and after thorough investigation several photographs of her dressed up in them dancing inside a cage in a club. It seems we all really do have our dark side. Her students told us that a strange letter had arrived to Betty during a class and she had been in shock after reading it. She had shouted something along the lines of ´´from 3 to 6!´´and left the school immediately. She hasn´t been seen since. Look for the letter @ Death Row (131,135,79)
Room_326 2: You believed in a lie and didn't question why. Now you should pray, cos I will make you pay...

Orca Doll

Oceana Breedables - Obvious from the clue
Defense attorney Evelyn Knight´s boyfriend has been very vocal in the local media ever since Evelyn´s disappearance two months ago. He is offering a million dollar reward to the person who finds his loved one. Miss Knight´s boyfriend, famous underwear model Andrew McMillan stated to us: ´´Ever since the big case one year ago, Evelyn has been very famous and wanted. I´m just expecting to get a ransom letter and I will pay whatever they ask for so I can get my honey back. I know she must be missing me hard! Two months ago we were having drinks at a tiki bar, a rare luxury as she´s so busy and hardly ever at home. Just as I was feeding her pineapple slices with my own mouth, some spotty delivery boy brought a letter to her that she wouldn´t show me. I don´t know what she did with the letter, all she told me was that she needed to check on some details and she left. I finished up my drink and went in later and saw a file from THAT case a year ago wide open on her desk. Do you think her missing has something to do with that case?.´´ Look for the letter @ Wilderness (176,201,23)
Room_326 3: Life is so precious and it's really funny, that you sold your soul just for the money...

Dwarfin Doll (interactive on wear)

Dwarfins - It's a bit of a hike through the woods, but fairly obvious from the clue.
Chemist Leonard Pointer´s 18-year old twin daughters aren´t too worried about their father missing. According to the sisters it´s been very common for the father to go missing for weeks at a time at random intervals. ´´Dad gets on these crazy moods at times, he thinks he´s going to win a Nobel prize or something and locks himself away in some weird lab, forgetting to eat, sleep and call us. He always comes back.´´ Missy said. It has been exactly a week since Mr. Pointer went missing. ´´Yeah, like that one time he was gone for two weeks and we found him in the woods taking the DNA of some very short people. Old man´s weird like that. He´ll be fine, he´s always been fine.´´ said Chrissy. The sisters do remember their father getting a strange letter though. ´´He said he´d need to think about it in peace. That usually means that he wanders off to a secret fishing place, which is really just a tiny pond with a few genetically modified fish. I guess he took the letter with him.´´ stated Missy. Look for the letter @ Dwarfins (32,141,23)

Side Table

DIGs - Pretty obvious from the hint.
´´I´m not paying for that chair!´´ shouted the mother of the famous Country singer, Chase Cooke, on the phone and hung up on us before we had a chance to say anything. According to Mr. Cooke´s assistants, he had completely trashed the last hotel room they had stayed in. ´´It was total chaos, broken furniture, glass and vomit everywhere, even a stinking raccoon. The worst of all was this very expensive wooden chair that Chase whacked into pieces with an axe. I don´t know what got into him!´´ said his hair stylist. Chase had apparently vanished quickly after that incident. His assistant remembers him receiving a bizarre letter that came from the Silent Peacock Hotel. He said Chase had mumbled some numbers and just left. No one has any idea where he could be. They told us it´s not typical for him to go missing like this, as he has already missed three big gigs. Look for the letter @ Terra Felix (136,127,23)

Woman's Outfit

Sakide - Very obvious from the hint.
Ophthalmologist Catalina Cordero is being missed by her four children and husband, Julio. Julio Cordero gave us a statement: ´´We were window shopping and looking at some gorgeous white orchids when she told me something and made me promise I wouldn´t tell anyone. She had received a letter that morning from someone she didn´t recognize and it prompted her to go to the Silent Peacock Hotel. I told her not to go, but she kept insisting that this was important. I swear the letter was cursed, because she was acting so weird, almost in a trancelike state she kept telling me that she has to go to find out the truth. ´What truth?´ I asked her and she just smiled, saying she would tell me everything when she´s back. My wife is a tough one, you just can´t turn her head when she´s set on something. Three weeks ago she went in that damn hotel and never came back. I´m begging you, please find my wife soon, the kids need their mother!´´ Look for the letter @ Dark Tranquility (121,72,25)

Hatch Skybox with two levels

Poetica Homes - You have to go high in a dark place to find this letter.
 .: Michael Donovan is a taxi driver and lives alone in a downtown penthouse called the Ivy Tower. We found it strange that a taxi driver´s salary pays for that, however the content of his computer didn´t come as as surprise as it was full of adult entertainment, as well as various emails back and forth with escort services. We have a reason to suspect that he´s gone to the Silent Peacock Hotel to meet up with a prostitute for the night. His last customer (who wishes to stay anonymous) confirms this as she said: ´´I was sitting in his taxi to get a ride to the theater and suddenly he started acting like a maniac! He ran a red light and was mumbling about how he has to drop me off fast so that he can get to the hotel. I asked him why it was so important and he just looked at me in disgust saying ´It´s all about the girl!´ I was just holding on tight to my seat and was so happy to get to the theater alive. He didn´t even take a payment from me, just left fast!´ Look for the letter @ Okinawa (119,178,25)

Antique Shop Front

Never Totally Dead - You have time, just look closely.
Steven Jepson is an artist specialized in glassblowing. He owns an antique store together with his life partner, Joshua Michaels. According to Joshua, Steven had been withdrawn for weeks before he vanished. ´´Steven has always been the life and soul at the parties, he´s full of positive energy. I´m not sure what happened to him, he just suddenly became cold and distant. One time I found him just standing still and staring at this new clock we had received. He had a gun in his hand and I asked him what on earth he was doing. He just glazed into the distance saying how his Granpa had always been right. I hope he´s ok and hasn´t done anything stupid! I saw he had signed into that hotel, which I find weird, he´s never been there before.´´ Look for the letter @ Ketama (64,173,1204)

Male and Female Shirts

Just BECAUSE - Some days it isn't worth it to get out of bed in the morning.
´´We are so worried about Daniel, hope you will find him soon!´´ was the response from Mr. Sharp´s parents when we interviewed them. He is an unemployed nurse, who lives with his parents. ´´Daniel has had some issues with computers´´, Mrs Sharp said letting out an embarassed sigh. Her husband carried on ´´He was addicted to some stupid computer game, where you pretend you are someone else and build a house together with someone. He would sit there 20 hours a day doing god knows what. He would literally not leave his bed at all. Just lay there with his laptop lost in this other dimension. He thought he was in love with a young woman from across the world, who in reality turned out to be a married older man! After crying for days, we pushed Daniel to start doing something useful with his life and he finally started looking for jobs. It´s not easy on the job market though, so we do wonder, if he´s gone to meet that strange man afterall!´´ Look for the letter @ Taupo (179,181,48)

Three necklaces and a set of aquarium eyes

Druidamus Whisper - Surprisingly near where you teleport in, but very well hidden.
Victoria Sacket is a banker and has all the riches anyone could dream of. Living in a mansion with her boyfriend, who is over 20 years junior to her, she has a lifestyle many envy. ´´I know what you´re all thinking, but it´s not like that!´´ exclaimed the boyfriend, Adrian. ´´We love each other very much and I can make her happy unlike anyone else could before. We were getting married next year and I had already made perfect plans for our wedding night. I went to see her to her work about the reservations and I could tell she was extremely upset about something. I got her some peppermint mocha and massaged her shoulders, but she wouldn´t relax. She said she needed to sort out something very urgent and would be home later. I had arranged a beautiful romantic meal waiting for her, but she never came home. She´s my Triple Goddess, you must find her!´´ Look for the letter @ Sylvhara (101,87,2501)

Tattoo Layer scars, eyes, hand spikes, bracelets

Mad' - Kinda gross, actually... but obvious from the hint.
´´It was Kimmie´s 27th birthday and we wanted to surprise her! We fetched her from work and took her to this new sick club. We all got totally wasted!´´ said Mandy. Lee told us that in fact Kimmie had got so drunk that she had spent most of her evening throwing up in the bathroom. When we asked about her life, the told us that nothing unusual had happened to Kimmie lately  ´´She´s such a party girl, loves her job and gets a kick out of meeting new people. The only unusual thing was probably her jury duty a year ago, we are still giggling at that, cos it was so out of character for her to be sitting there with all those posh people. She hated it bad.´´ ´´We haven´t seen Kimmie since that club night. We have called all our friends, but no one has any clue of where she could be.´´ Look for the letter @ Oro (22,214,2000)

Skybox Detective Office with a lot of accessories

Distorted Dreams - Obvious from the clue, and I got a snack!
Alexandra Holcombe, a young waitress of the local greasy spoon is being missed by her family greatly. ´´It´s been 6 weeks now. I´ve been taking care of her baby and her dogs and we just want her to come home soon´´, said Savannah, Alexandra´s younger sister. ´´She moved further away, cos she had always dreamt to be an actress. Apart from getting a tv commercial advertising a lotion for hemorrhoids, she hasn´t had much luck yet. It´s only a matter of time when someone discovers her though. She told me that she was approached a few times at work, but I think it was just some random guys trying to get laid. She´s so beautiful. Oh wait.. I do remember her telling me about a strange letter she received where she was asked to go into a hotel to see about some art show. I told her to make sure to take some pop corn with her.´´ Look for the letter @ Epic Sanctuary (52,15,1502)

100 female poses and 40 male poses

SHEY - Names are an important thing.
´´She´s a rising star! I´ll Die for You - play has been a huge hit and we´re losing sales if she doesn´t return soon.´´ exclaimed the manager of ballet dancer, Julia Whitman. ´´It was Julia´s idea to bring a new touch into this show by using a real skeleton as her dance partner. She does things no one else dares to even think of´´, the manager continued. Julia´s make up artist, Janis told us that there had been a letter waiting for her after the second show and she hadn´t talked about it with anyone. ´´She was in such a shock that I just took the letter from her hand and put it away.´´ Janis said. Julia had gone home straight after that instead of celebrating her successful performance. ´´We´re missing our star, please find her soon.´´ they all pleaded. Look for the letter @ BoSH (212,19,23)

Furniture set

noctis - Warm your hands by the fire and say hi to sleeping beauty before you hunt.
´´It´s only been a few days, we´re sure Flynn´s at some secret techie convention´ laughed the workmates of an IT technician, Flynn O´Toole. ´´That man loves dressing up and going to all kinds of weird places, his imagination is out of this world! You know we all surf the net here and look at some weird stuff together, but Flynn.. oh, man.. he´s got this huge privacy screen set up around him, so no one really know what he´s looking at!´´ One of them remembers seeing a letter from the Silent Peacock Hotel on Flynn´s desk. ´Oh yeah, I remember that one. It made me google the place, cos I got curious on knowing what´s going on. Flynn was extremely secretive about that. Must be some masquerade orgy of superheroes or something. Now, wouldn´t that be cool!´´  Look for the letter @ Steelhead Nevermoor (174,35,27)

Boots

Mad City - Hike a ways to check out your fortune, see if it helps.
Art Teacher, Mark Langley´s wife was in tears when we talked to her. ´´Why can´t people just leave us alone. Ever since that girl, Madison went missing, we have been living under constant stress. Mark is a wonderful husband, father and a great teacher! He never would have done something to a student of his. How dare people still accuse him of that! He was put on trial and they all saw how genuine he is and how he possibly couldn´t have hurt that girl. It took a long time till he was able to work again after that incident and now this! He´s been missing for three days and it´s all because someone wrote something to him. I didn´t see what the letter said, but I saw it had a Silent Peacock Hotel stamp on. That damned hotel again! Wish people would just stop. In my despair I went to see a fortune teller, Madame P. who told me that I should be patient, our life would finally change. Maybe she can tell you more than I can, just leave me alone now!´ Look for the letter at Mad City @ Da Vinci Isle (119,176,29)

Room_326 15: You fooled them all, played well your part, now you must become the last piece of my art...

Endgame: I think I might know what these people have in common. I should go back to Room 326 to check if I missed something there previously. Something must have happened to Madison there!


The nice thing about MadPea Hunts is that the storyline holds a lot of the hints, so head back to the Silent Peacock Hotel and see what you can find. Of course, this isn't the same hotel as where you started - instead, click on the pin icon on your HUD and you will be teleported to a New and Improved Silent Peacock Hotel with loads and loads and loads of creepy. You start some random place on the first floor and have to find your way up - and while I am a wimp, I also jumped several times. It will take a little while to follow through the labyrinth to the third floor, but you can find it.


Local Newspaper: 12 Man Jury FREES Art Teacher suspected of killing local teenager.

Defense attorney Evelyn Knight gets art teacher Mark Langley free.
Mr Langley was charged of murdering local teenager, 14 year old Madison Walkner who was last seen in his car getting a ride home from school. Blood stains were found on the car seat, but they were not enough to convict him as the 12 man jury found him not guilty.

Madison's body was never found and there are still people hoping that she is alive somewhere. One of the main questions was: 'Where were you between 3 to 6 pm?' as that was the time of Madison's disappearance and Langley was missing an alibi for this time slot. Knight and Langley are planning on celebrating the victory at the Silent Peacock hotel and claim that Langley had nothing to do with Madison's disappearance. 'I hope she will go home soon to her family, she is such a talented art student and a wonderful girl.' Langley said.


If you need a hint at this point... consider that the murdered girl was an artist. If anyone finds some final bit of text about the conclusion of the story, please let me know and I'll add it to the guide.

Credits: 

Hair: Alice Project
Skin & Eyes: De La Soul
Poses: Adorkable 

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 33: Wine Cellar

I went more to the red than the purple of Wine Cellar, but it's a gorgeous combination and I really embraced the Twenties in Europe and the US - the shapeless sheaths that were early reflections of women's desires to be equals to men, along with the widespread embrace of smoking as a symbol of empowerment. Short hair served the same purpose, as well as being easier to take care of; World War One had given women a taste of the public life, and they wanted more. In retrospect, there is a headlessness to the time between the two World Wars; although we know no one could have known what was coming, the combat which would shatter an empire and set the ground for another to take root seems to be reflected in the metal and glass, in the delicate roughness that exemplifies Art Deco and the Twenties. I have always loved Art Deco and the detached, stylish, ironic air which surrounded it. It seems like a desperate, beautiful time, when everyone knew things were profoundly disordered, no one knew what to do, so we might as well drink. The class war was still reasonably well hidden, colonialism loomed largely, and people would non-ironically name a largely European War a worldwide affair. I found an exquisitely rendered Twenties haven in Mad City, the sim built for MadPea's latest two hunts. This set is centered mostly around the Hotel, which is gorgeous, but there is also several other areas as well as an enormous park and a multitude of cars. I really encourage you to go check this sim out before it vanishes in the maw of MadPea's next game.

My hat is a very old release from Eclectica that I gleefully ripped the hair out of and resized to fit new hair. I love the style of it, and the slightly uneven brim, and her gorgeous textures. I tucked into it this bob from Alice Project and tinted it blond with rainbow streaks using her amazing HUD system. I love how versatile that makes her hairs - I can really shift them to fit a lot of different looks. My cosmetics are from Mock - I layered two shades for a dull, brownish red to match the reds of the rest of my look, and it worked beautifully. One wonderful thing about Mock's lips is that most of them are at least a little translucent, which makes customization a matter of layers. My pearls are these lovely knotted ones from Deco, the colors delicate and the arrangement just a lot of fun. It looks like I've been out dancing all night and not noticed what happened below my chin. I'm semi-saturated on jewelry these days, but something unique and quirky like this always seems to steal the Linden out of my pockets. My wings are free - f r e e - and do not look it; they are the Apsara wings from Illusions in rainbow, and part of the Taste the Rainbow Hunt. I simply adore them, and the curls and colors fit the Art Deco aesthetic beautifully. My dress is an astonishing release from Volstead which is a lot more scandalous than it looks - the mesh dress is actually semi-translucent, and it's only the texturing layers on my skin which make it look like clothing one could wear in public. It also moves beautifully, and wasn't quite as square as some of the other dresses I've seen. My cigarette, and my poses, are all from Flowey; I have Whiskey Monday to blame for turning me on to her, and I've never regretted it; one wonderful thing about her poses is how natural they often seem - not posed or false but rather how one stands when no one is looking. Finally, I've shown off these shoes before but they deserve a second look - released by Schadenfreude, the heels have a gorgeous Art Deco style heel and are tintable in five different places, which means they can be adapted to an awful lot of looks.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Alice Project, Mary
Hat: Eclectica, Cloche Hat
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick 1: Mock, Sahne Bitter Chocolate
Lipstick 2: Mock, Lucir LipColor Vin Rouge
Jewelry: Deco, Marilyn Pearls
Wings: Illusions, Apsara Wings (Taste the Rainbow Hunt)
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Deco
Cigarette: Flowey, Heirloom Cigarette Holder
Dress: Volstead, Scandal Dress
Shoes: Schadenfreude, Casinelle Shoes

Pose: Flowey

Location: Mad City - The Silent Peacock Hotel
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Herr Gracken
Water Settings: NB, Sparkling Depths

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Monday Meme: 42 Second Life Groups Challenge!

Strawberry has another challenge out about our Groups - and this may not be fashionable to say, but I've actually put a certain amount of thought into them. Ages ago I did a whole post on groups and what I thought of them in general, which I'll link to instead of repeating myself, and my thoughts in general in groups is unchanged. In the specific, I've had more experiences with transitory groups and group fees, and the vagaries of creator releases, so I'm less inclined to pay to get into a group, more inclined to leave when annoyed, and in general more grumpy about groups and how they are used, but that's largely a function of experiences over time rather than my opinions actually changing. I would also add groups I stay in for sentimental reasons to the list, now, though. I have a few which qualify, which wasn't the case when I wrote that post.

1. Have you reached the 42 group limit?Absolutely. It took me an astonishingly brief amount of time to hit the limit, and I knew it would at the time.


2. Do you do a lot of group hopping to keep up with all the groups you want to stay a part of? I group hope for free releases, but as my inventory has swelled I've become more and more selective. My alts tend to hop into a lot of groups - I once did a mass-add when I discovered a group with a group-only lucky board was temporarily free. Since my alts are primarily for decorative and lucky chair / board turning purposes, the groups they're in are necessarily few.


3. What makes you want to join a group? Groups began as a social vehicle for me, and have only slowly changed from that. I would join store blogs to chat in them, and I still have a couple very active groups for that purpose primarily. I also joined store groups that released regular freebies, or offered bonuses - one of my favorite offers 50% off new purchases to group members and group-exclusive colors, for example. Then I got into roleplaying, which tends to be very group-heavy (often annoyingly so - to join a sim there's usually a minimum of two groups, and I've seen ones where there are six or seven if you get really involved). And finally, most recently, I've been involved in several bloggers groups and groups for events. I'm increasingly disliking the pressure to join groups to participate or as a visible sign of allegiance, though; I actually left a blogger's group because the creator wanted me to be in both that group and her main group, and it was the final straw.


4. A lot of store VIP groups have a group fee which you have to pay to join. How do you feel about paying group fees? I really dislike group fees. I understand creators wanting to limit membership and reward only "loyal customers", as defined by "pays me linden to be in their group", but I can't count the number of times I've paid to join a group and the creator has gone on hiatus for six months, or a year, or as near as I can tell forever, without a word to the group. I think the inclusion of a group fee sets up the benefits from that group as less a gift and more a purchase - and my expectations are different between gifts and purchases. I think a lot of creators feel pressured to offer free things, though, thinking it's their only option for getting notice, and yet since they feel pressured they are also inclined to resent their customers. The whole dynamic seems really disordered to me, and increasingly I'm refusing to even look at groups that charge unless there is a significant secondary gain that will keep me from feeling resentful.
   


5. Name a few groups that you are a part of that you feel everyone should look into joining and share your reasons behind that. It's hard to give recommendations because I have a very set style and my groups reflect that, and I have very set hobbies and my groups also reflect that... but I'll list a few of my favorites that still deliver (despite my love for them, none of my sentimental groups will show up here).

**Blue Blood: 50L to join, but you can get 50% off fatpacks of new releases and custom, group only colors, in addition to group only lucky boards with custom colors. I have more than made back my initial investment, and because of how she set it up it's self-sustaining; the extra things are always add-ons to her releases, instead of special additional things.

**Thrifty Goth: Free to join, and is a way for people to share freebies and specials with a Gothic edge to them.

**Virtual Impressions Retail: Free to join, and you get discounts on the newest releases plus single color versions of other jewelry. Tends to be high quality, and what I like best is that I can go, look, maybe buy.

**Mock Cosmetics: My big exception... its 250L to join, which is a lot, but the chat is incredibly fun and usually playful (with the occasional, inevitable drama), Mock gives out tons of presents in these sort of cascades of awesome, and I actually managed to sneak in before the group fee went up. You don't have that luck, but if you love cosmetics, and chatting, and being silly, and you'd like a girls-only changing room, than this could be the group for you.

**SL Blogger Support: This is mainly for bloggers, but you can ask about obscure items for a picture, or some piece of clothing you saw but can't find, and often people will help.

( Click on pictures for credits. )

Taste the Rainbow Hunt

The Taste the Rainbow hunt is an incredibly small one, but with the highest rate of get to keep that I have run across in a long while. My usual pattern with hunts is that I keep maybe 20% of what is put out for the hunt - which isn't necessarily a commentary on the quality of hunt prizes as I have a rather specific sense of style, though in a lot of cases these days the quality in hunts is very low. The keep rate for this hunt is pretty close to 100%, and not just because rainbows are totally my thing, but also because the quality of items in this hunt was incredibly high. I would have liked a little more variety, while I'm being picky - shoes, nails, maybe some cosmetics? - but honestly, this hunt was pretty much perfect. Short and sweet, high quality prizes, and a theme which really spoke to my soul. I hope you like it, too. It's continuing until September 3rd, so you have a lot of time for this short and sweet hunt. You're looking for the 3D glass with a rainbow smoothie in it that I'm showing off to the side, and while the store owners were occasionally creative, they were never cruel.

Deviance - Rainbow Wings

Comes with additional fairy dust and three 

speeds of wing movement, as well as static wings (shown)

deviousMind - Corset Outfit

Includes accessories and stockings. 

Corset comes with several sizes, standard and more chestacular.  

Rose pasties (shown at top of corset) originally placed over nipple area.

Blacklace - Lingerie

In blue and purple with a zebra skin texture. Includes rigged 

mesh corset and texture layers on every conceivable clothing layer.

Faster Pussycat - Jeans

Rigged mesh seventies style jeans in tie-dye with yellow laced up sides.

WetCat Builds & Poses - Rainbow and Clouds

Pose item with a bunch of single poses and three couples poses.

The Plastik - Shirts

A wide variety of styles, all of them rainbow.

Ellabella - Piercings

Rainbow tinted, a full set around the mouth.

Studio Sidhe - Hang Glider

Rainbow Butterfly hang-glider. Rez it, sit on it, and fly away.

Illusions - Rainbow Wings

Art Deco style with textured membrane. Shoulder and spine attachment points

ChiC Buildings - House

Open door house with large porch and stairs up,

perfect for waterside. Also comes with plants in brightly colored pots.

Alice Project - Hair

Standard hair colors with rainbow streaks.

Pink Fuel - Lipstick

Lipstick in every color of the rainbow.

Aisling - Unicorn Add-ons

Horn, tail, and glowing star eyebrows

There is also a bonus Market of Colors with lots of rainbow things to love and snuggle and call your own.

Credits: 

Skin & Eyes: De La Soul
Eyelashes: Slink & Flugeln Brise
Shoes: katat0nik
Poses: Flowey