Newsweek on Second Life

Newsweek magazine covers the world of Second Life in their July 30th issue.

Titled "Why Millions Are Living Virtual Lives Online", the article claims that SL "may be the Internet's next big thing". ;)

The article differs from most recent mainstream media coverage, in that it actually looks at SL from a variety of angles. It skips the "ZOMG u can make oodles of moneyzzz" hype and takes a look at the live music scene, RL networking, disabilities, designing, creativity, corporate presence, education, research, development, culture, love and even sex. Not a bad read!

All Bets are Off!

As of yesterday, Linden Labs no longer allows gambling or wagering.

Gambling is defined as any game that relies on "chance or random number generation to determine a winner", or relies on the outcome of real-life organized sporting events, and provides a payout or prize in either Linden dollars or any real world currency.

Games that are now verboten include baccarat, blackjack, craps, keno, poker, and slot machines. Casinos will have a hard time figuring out any way to stay open. Offering merchandise instead of lindens, and games of skill instead of chance might be one way, but will that draw avies like games of chance and the possiblity of winning oodles of lindens?

The policy goes into effect across the grid, regardless of where individual members reside in first life. I wonder if chips count as Lindens or real life currency.....

Blog entry: Wagering In Second Life: New Policy

Artist Zero Ball

I ran into artist Zero Ball the other day, at an exhibit of his work near my home in Theretra. He graciously showed me around, answering questions about his many works. Zero works in many mediums - sculpture, images, and many of his pieces are kinetic or interactive. The piece above is entitled "Vortex" and the picture just does not do it justice. It has a very lovely movement to it, and standing inside and using mouselook gives an entirely different experiential view. Zero and his partner Sylver Piccard, who is also an artist, call their brand of animated sculpture "Meta Dimensional Art", or Metilism, full of kinetic energy and motion.

I was intrigued and impressed enough with his work, that I actually agreed to sit for him. While I am not extremely shy about my pixels, I am a bit guarded about where I flash them. Ok, sometimes I am guarded about where I flash them. ;) I felt comfortable with Zero's work, and I was also curious to see what he would do with my image. A few days later, I got a call that the work was done and had been accepted into another gallery opening in Abitibi, at the Symposium gallery. I quickly ran over with a few close friends to see what had become of me ....

..... and I was quite pleased and intrigued with his work. Very heavily shaded, the single nude figure is both exposed and obscured. I find the portrait mesmerizing. I also readily admit that I may be slightly biased. It's titled "Lillie Guildenstern", you can't miss it.

Do come see his unique works at the Asgard gallery in Theretra, and at the Symposium gallery in Abitibi. Zero is available for commissions and portraits, and his art work is both beautiful and thought provoking. He's definitely worth the look!

Boston Uncommon

Emerson College in Boston has a build of downtown Boston on their island. Their campus is at the corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets, pictured here. I'm intimately familiar with that corner, they've done a very faithful recreation - building by building - even graffitti and drain plugs are included in their texturing. Greetings from Boston!

Encore, Bossa Nova!

Both Encore and Bossa Nova released new items this week, and as those are two of my favorite design houses, I had to check them out.

Tracy Scofield of Encore has taken up jewelry design, and has some delicious offerings in black and white pearls, necklaces and earrings, to mix and match. Her first jewelry offering is the Timeless pearl collection. The textures are delicious, and the pearls are nicely strung. The necklaces come in double and single strand, knotted, and a sort of choker with a teardrop version. She has created four sets of earrings; teardrop, chain, double chain or hoop earrings. Decisions abound! Everything comes in black or white versions. Necklaces are $100L and earrings are $50L, so if you just can't decide, you can buy them all!
Encore is at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hillcrest Estates/112/214/24





Moire Georgette's designs of Bossa Nova have become one of the staples of my SL wardrobe. Whether you want casual, kicky, retro, classy, fun, or elegant, Bossa Nova has something for you. She released two new dresses this week, including the Clove above, shown in Lilac. It's an elegant design, with very subtle folds. The ribbon edging has a lovely satiny shine to it, and once I pulled the prim bow out of my boob, it sat nicely on my collar and waved hello. :)

Moire is also retiring some of her older designs, so she's having a very nice sale on some of her soon-to-dissapear outfits. Prices as low as $50L! Get over there now before they're gone forever!! Bossa Nova is at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dos%20Corazones/79/122/25

Clove dress in Lilac by Georgette Moire of Bossa Nova

Vamp Veronica Sandals in Rose by Lyra Muse for Last Call

Timeless White Pearl Double Strand Necklace and Chain Earrings by Tracy Scofield of Encore

Radiant Hair in Dark Brown by Elika Tirmasu of ETD

Skin Hybrid II in Spectral by Santana Lumiere of Nevermore Studios

Starry Starry Night

Robbie Dingo wanders inside Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night" and recreates it in Second Life. A mesmerizing video, beautifully done, set to Don McLean's "Vincent".

A thank you to Eloise Pasteur of SL Insider for bringing this to my attention.

Debunking SL Myths

Wagner James Au recently wrote an article for GigaOM titled "Debunking 5 Business Myths about Second Life". Having seen a lot of the articles in the mainstream media that just make me cringe - or laugh - I enjoyed this article very much. He makes some good points, with humor, even if you take issue with some of his stats. The five myths he addresses are:

Myth 1: Second Life is Huge– or Second Life is Small

Myth 2: Nobody visits SL Marketing Sites

Myth 3: Real World Advertisers are Linden Lab’s Main Revenue Source

Myth 4: Corporate Sites are Helpless in the face of Protesters and Sabotage

Myth 5: It’s Mostly a Sex Haven Full of Weirdos

The part of the article that struck me the most was that if you substitute any SL/Linden references with the word "internet" this could have been a flashback to the 1980s.

Further debunking on the NWN Blog here RE-DEBUNKING SECOND LIFE MYTHS

Renovation sale at Last Call

There's a sale going on at Last Call on the Dazzle sim - Ginny Talamasca is retiring some designs and has set them up for sale through July 27th, so if you've put off making some purchases, now might be the time to do that! After the sale, these items will no longer be available.

I picked up a few items for about 1/3 of what I would have paid before, including a nice expansion pack of tops to the Kerry outfit, which I just love!

The sale wall is right behind you as you teleport in - I didn't see it at first and almost missed it - turn around and the giant black sale wall will be looming over you!

It puts the lotion on its skin....

..... and puts it in the basket.

Another Lucky Day at Pixel Dolls!

Who says Friday the 13th is unlucky? Not Nephilaine Protagonist, apparently!

Pixel Dolls is showing more love this week, in the form of some delicious freebies! Port Seraphine location only.

There's a black cropped sweater with sculpted prim cuffs, a sumptously silky peachy pink leotard in multi layers, and two piles of tank tops - wrapped and wrinkled , fifteen of each, all for free. The wrapped is a crossover top with a little tie over the decolletage, and the wrinkled has a delightfully ruched texture over the tummy.

I'm completely in love with the leotard- try and peel it off me!

She likes us! She really, really likes us!!! Thank you, Nephilaine!!!

Lazy Bum

Just hanging out by the pond, bumming around, enjoying my first day of summer vacation.

Appropriately dressed in summery togs, and my new wellies from Jeepers Creepers. I've been a big fan of their shoes for a long time, and these Ladybug Wellies just amused me no end!

The halter top is the Annie in red from /artilleri/ - I love the tailoring of it, and it's just so summery and crisp! The jeans are just the freebie faded jeans - but on the underwear layer for wearing with boots.

The earrings and bracelet are from my good friend Emma's DelEmma Duality Crystal jewelry set in black. It comes with a choker as well as a second bracelet. I love the crystal look of the set, and it's achieved without bling! Yay, Emma!

Annie halter in Red by Antonia Marat of /artilleri/

Ladybug Wellies Eponymous Trenchmouth of Jeepers Creepers

Duality Crystal Earrings and Bracelet by Emmanuelle LaFollette of DelEmma Designs

Black Star Pearl Necklace by Neptune's Kiss

Radiant Hair in Dark Brown by Elika Tirmasu of ETD

Skin Hybrid II in Spectral by Santana Lumiere of Nevermore Studios

Freebie Faded Jeans from Linden Textures :P

Andromeda at Last Call

Ginny Talamasca of Last Call has done it again! She's got a fantastic new release out in her shop - a limited release - in six colors - all for 1L$ each!

Andromeda comes in a deep ruby red, amethyst, antique gold, apatite (teal) , emerald, and sapphire, each deeper and more lustrous than the last. As an added plus, they're all spelled correctly, too! ;) I love the strappy back on it, as well! The skirts move nicely, and the double hem is extremely well done! Two skirts are included, one is very full and the other is slimmer.

Pictured above is the Andromeda in apatite with the skinny skirt. I cannot resist teal!

They're for sale for approximately two and a half weeks so get there soon - TP your friends to Last Call at Dazzle! They'll be glad you did!

Study in Wireframe

I like to putter around with some of the lesser known tools - and play with the camera in SL.

One of the rendering options in the Client menu (formerly the Debug menu) is to view your surroundings in wireframe. You can get some interesting effects this way.

If your Client/Debug menu isn't visible in your options, click Ctrl-Alt-D in Windows (sorry, maybe someone can comment on the Mac command!) and it should appear along with the Server menu. Happy debugging! ;)

Lucky Day at Pixel Dolls!

If you love freebies and you love Pixel Dolls, then today is your lucky day!!!!

Nephilaine Protagonist, in all her benevolence, has made this Celeste dress available free at her Port Seraphine shop in twelve - count them twelve!! - delicious colors! Teleport to secondlife://Port_Seraphine/44/134/27 at the base of the staircase.

Here's the dress in Magenta, yummmy!!!

I've been doing a bunch of shopping at Pixel Dolls lately, I suspect there will be more blog entries from here! Pixel Dolls makes me drool, always has!

Celeste dress in Magenta by Nephilaine Protagonist of Pixel Dolls
Silk Wrapped Pumps in Regal by Mare Lu of Paper Couture
Black Star Pearl Jewelry Set by Neptune's Kiss
Bridget Hair in Crimson Blackened by Elika Tirmasu of ETD
Skin Hybrid II in Spectral by Santana Lumiere of Nevermore Studios

auntie elsie by /artilleri/

I stopped in to see what was new at /artilleri/, as I haven't been to the main store since Antonia Marat moved to her own sim. I found this delicious little summery number and hemmed and hawed over what color to get it in. I never never get yellow, as it's a color I can't really wear in RL (can you say jaundice?) but it just looked so irresistably cool and summery in the yellows and greens that she chose, that I had to make an exception!

The auntie elsie dress comes in blue, green, red, brown and yellow - at 200L$ a pop or 600L$ for all five colors. The flexi prim skirt is flouncy, with a net crinoline beneath - enough bounce and movement to suggest a breeze, but not a frequent flasher flexi. ;) The little prim bow is sweet but not saccharine.

Fun to wear and very well done!! /artilleri/ is one of those Second Life shops that has consistent quality and consistently imaginitive new designs, with some fifties funk and down home diner casual influence - if you haven't been you really should check it out, it's a great build and a really nice shopping experience.

auntie elsie dress in yellow by Antonia Marat of /artilleri/
White and Black Mules by Lassitude and Ennui
Deese Aero gold jewelry by Ginny Talamasca of Dazzle
Bonita Hair in Mahogany by ETD
Skin Hybrid II Spectral by Santana Lumiere

Ruthed .....

.... is the new black.