Still Looking for Help for Sinnocent!

Sinnocent Mirabeau, whose real life medical problems with her dog I wrote about last week, has told me that the surgery has been scheduled for this week. However, she's still some $300 short for the veterinary costs. And we're talking real New-nited States Dollars here, folks, not linden dollars. Sinnocent is still running her BOGO sale at Sinsation (I finally got the acronym right), and I urge you to take advantage of it. If you click on through to my home blog, Around the Grid, you can see me modeling my own likes from the Sinsation collection. (Sorry I can't post the gallery here, but wordpress.com uses a microcode tag that doesn't work in Blogger/Blogspot.) These photos won't be pretty; more quick and dirty, as I want to complete it and help her; but if it helps get her that last $300, it'll be worth the artistic sacrifice [grin].)

As a sweetener to the pot, send me a picture of you in some of your new Sinsation hair in front of the poster at the Sinsation store, and I'll send you my current package of prints from Harper's Fine Art. That's 21 framed pieces of art, at least a L$2,000 value -- for free. Can't beat that, folks; you'll be doing well, you'll be doing good, and so will Sinnocent and myself! Come on, and give the lady a hand!!

Call for Help for Sinnocent Mirabeau

Gentle readers, if you have some extra lindens in your pockets, I've heard of a fellow avatar in need.

Sinnocent Mirabeau, the owner of Sinsation Hair in Hairspray, sent out a notecard with good news and bad news. Since the note is public (she has a dispenser in her store), I reproduce it here to let her tell it in her own words:

Hi everyone.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this, but I figure my crisis and personal heartache can maybe have something good come out of it. Hopefully for myself and for all the people in SL who like my hair or skins and want to get 2 for the price of one.

Anyways, here’s the deal. I normally hold sales like this every few months just for kicks and as a fun way to get people even more hair than they’d normally be able to purchase on their own. However, this sale is of great importance to me for other reasons.

A week ago my 9 month old baby puppy, Eris, (even tho she’s not so little anymore) started to have a mass growing in her ear. I thought she had just gotten bitten by something outside and it would clear up in a few days. Well that didn’t happen. In fact, the mass got about 8x bigger. So I took her to the vet yesterday and got the worst possible news.

She didn't get bitten; she has a tumor and a hematoma forming in her ear and she needs surgery to remove it. Otherwise it will just get bigger and bigger and will either.. rupture… get badly infected…. and most likely both will happen.. and the infection the doc said will eventually kill her.. sooner rather than later.

The even worse news is exactly how much it’s going to cost to save her… Which is $1447.00 US. I was in shock when given that figure because it is just not a price I can even close to afford. I’m getting married in RL in September to my sl hubby and I’ve had to put most of my money towards that for deposits and all the other wedding junk that I need.

The irony is that she was my engagement present, and now… my wedding is the thing that has taken up all my money and put me in this spot. Blah…

So at any rate I’ll get right to the point.. I have a very little window of time in order to raise the money to save her.. so I decided I would do a buy one get one free sale in order to try and help to get some of the money for her surgery.

Everything in my shop is eligible for the sale, nothing at all is excluded. The basic idea is whatever you buy.. you get something of equal or lesser value.. free.

So if you buy a skin you can get a skin free or a couple hairs, doesnt matter. Anything goes.

All you have to do is purchase what you want, then send me a notecard with what you purchased and which items you would like to receive free. I will send them on out to you after that.

I suspect anyone who likes outrageous hair knows of Sinsation. If you've seen some of my Flickr photos, you've seen me sporting Sinnocent's work. It's good, and I want to throw my support behind her. I've already done so materially; I purchased a fatpack for £5,000, and I've requested a £3,500 fatpack as my freebie. Drop yourself into Hairspray region, step over to the pink palace you'll see when you materialize, and let's help out a fellow traveler and good designer.

Linden Lab's New Brand Center

Just to keep myself on the safe side of the lawyers, any "conclusions" as to the law obtained by me below are not necessarily correct legal opinion or precedent, and should not be regarded as such. So don't rely on my word for it, folks. All I can claim is that, having seen some experience with these things over my time, I think I'm pretty close to how the real world works with these questions.

Yesterday, Linden Lab announced through the Big Blog the creation of its "Second Life Brand Center," which lays out strong, explicit rules and examples of how its various trademarks and service marks may be used. "Discussion" started quickly in the comments section to the announcement article; and, across 139 comments (as of this writing), the consensus has been strongly -- if not almost universally -- sarcastic, disparaging, and just plain negative. At least one commenter suggested that LL might be preparing for an initial public stock offering, and is trying to establish control of tangible and intangible assets, which trademarks certainly are to a company. (Witness the trademark inspectors who were running around restaurants during the Seventies and Eighties at the height of the Cola Wars, making sure that waitresses identified their product as their product.) Many were angry that, while LL is taking steps to protect their copyrighted material, the company seems unwilling to do anything to protect the same rights for Resident merchants.

In reality, this kind of lawyerly comedown is not that new. Any subscriber to, say, Writer's Digest will see batches of ads several times a year imploring authors to refer only to Kleenex™ facial tissues or Frigidaire™ refrigerators, etc. This is to protect their brand name and market position, since excessive use in a generic way forces the name into the public domain. That's why we have Velcro, and then we have everyone else making "hook-and-eye fastener strips."

The trick here is that many of these new rules put out by Linden Lab appear aimed mainly at businesses, both in world and out, seeking to associate themselves with Second Life. This is to keep customers from believing that the Lindens have endorsed, support, or otherwise have any connection with the third-party service/product. There is some legitimacy to this position, and such a stroke by Linden Lab helps to keep them out of the court if the third party gets hauled into it. A portion of the tempest over the rule changes is, therefor, in a teapot, and won't affect the average Resident normally.

Other parts, however, could. Or, at least, they could affect the average blog writer. If you're now supposed to put a ™ or similar after at least one early example of Second Life, Linden Lab, SL, Linden dollars, etc. ad inf. ad naus., are you going to when you're not getting paid to write a piece in the first place? Or are you going to shut down your efforts instead, because the ease and simplicity have been taken from an enterprise that makes you no money, and was embarked on as an extension of the fun you were supposedly having in world? Most of us aren't lawyers, and we can't usually afford to hire a trademark attorney to advise us in such areas. (I'd be willing to guess what the lawyer's advice would work out as, anyway.)

I think the answer for most bloggers lies in the volume of us out there, and the nature of our writing -- primarily hobbyist. Just as Coke and Pepsi have never been able to keep the public at large from referring to their products interchangeably, or as simply "soda," "pop," and so on, Linden Lab is not going to be try to enforce this on every single blogger in the SLogosphere. The attempt would be impractical at best. Of course, if a comply or cease-and-desist communication was received by the blogger, that casts a new aspect on the matter. At that point, the choices become sharp and clear. But will LL go to this trouble, and also generate this much ill will for their main product, which is already somewhat beleaguered with slowing growth and many technical issues?

My own approach will be as I've laid out above -- I will wait and see, and continue to write the various terms as I have to date. If I get word from a San Francisco lawyer, then we will see what my choices are at the time. If LL is wise, though, they will take a Paramount-Star Trek approach to fannish use of their trademarks. Paramount has existed quite comfortably with the fan community using their shows' names, their characters, their devices, and every other aspect of their product for over 40 years now, and has almost never freaked or been sorry over the matter. Linden Lab can learn from this example.

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Another aspect of this question comes forward now: LL's insistence on its copyrights, while dragging its heels at best on the cries of their creation's artists for assistance in their own attempts to enforce intellectual property rights. In this, LL's timing has been nothing short of phenomenally poor. The people who are responsible for creating most of the world are getting the impression that they are on their own; that Governor Linden is more worried about protecting its own interests than theirs, and that they can basically go whistle for a wind. And this after one of the largest JIRA votes in the Grid's history for Linden Lab to solve the problem and enforce DMCA rights, months before the Brand Center announcement. This accounts for some of the outcry against the Brand Center rules -- and it is justified.

While the merchants -- the content creators -- are able to take some measures to prevent or slow theft of their product, the Lindens could also help greatly in this area. The key thing here, of course, is proof of the creators' contentions. Can they establish the legitimacy of any claim against a seller? If they can, then LL is under a legal obligation to stop the thief's profiting from that intellectual property. Indeed, at least to this legal novice, failure to help enforce their rights could lay LL open to civil charges of negligence -- or even complicity, if a clever lawyer got hold of the case.

In this area, the Lindens need to get their house in order vis-a-vis their customer relations before getting over-worried about enforcing their own property rights. If the content creators leave the Linden Grid in a huff for other metaverses, Linden Lab won't have to worry about it --because they won't have a Grid to market.

Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper.

"Ever Have a Bad Hair (Demo) Day?"

Well, a lot of the folks at the party in Hypnoz did last night. Here are some photos I took from the shindig:



1. Looks like Silo Uriza was really having a bad hair day!
2. Rhodesy Durant in just one of the styles she showed us. I was lucky to get this; every time I set up for a shot, Rhodesy suddenly slapped on another demo wig, and she'd ruth out on me for a few minutes (grin).
3. Maht Wuyts and Furrball Nirpaw do a tango together.



4. Myself, in a demo from I don't remember where. I entered the contest, but I had no real hope of winning; the only bad thing about this hair was the bangs right across my eyes.
5. I was dancing most of the night beside the house DJ, Robyn Writer. I don't know who won the contest, as I had to leave to get to the darkroom (grin); but I'd say Robyn should have got the prize.




6. Boopzee Slade channels Marilyn Monroe -- from the neck down.
7. Casja Lilliehook with what looks like some curious ornament in her hair.
8. The house's hostess w/ the mostest (for the night, at least), Gidge Uriza, doing a Hillbilly Helen thing from Sinsation.
9. kevin Bloch actually looked pretty good!




10. miwo Varriale gets down.
11. Sable Heartsdale in some sort of cornrow affair, I think.

Gidge will fill you in on more details and the winner of the night.

Temporary Build by AM Radio -- The Refuge and The Prospect

While rummaging through Hitomi Mokusei's photos on Flickr -- she is one of my contacts, since I've enjoyed her photographic work so much -- I came across a set which she put up just a few days ago.

The set details some of the latest build created by Hitomi's friend, AM Radio, the avatar also responsible for the tremendously popular Far Away build, a sort of rural Andrew Wyeth landscape. There is truly something about AM's work that needs to be seen in person and experienced -- and then imaged in detail. I haven't been there yet myself, but I'm going no later than tomorrow, I think. You should, too, for this build is temporary, and it's going down after March 6! I'm sorry I discovered it so late, especially to spread the word, but better late than never. Enjoy!

RL and SL merging?

Charlot Dickens at Charlot's Web points out that it's getting harder and harder to tell whether you're in Second Life or the Real World at times, depending on where you are.

Her evidence? Read the article and see the pictures....

Prim Lag -- Or Just Too Many Bodies?

I'm gradually getting over the latest virus -- last week it was the stomach, this week the sinuses. While I'm doing that, I'll catch up with an issue that was generating bytes of excitement a week or so back.

That's a spate of recent requests by some models and designers for avatars attending fashion shows to strip themselves of "unneeded" AOs and attachments, so as to lessen the load on the server handling the event. The concept here is that, with all those attachments needing to be monitored and tracked by the sim server, it puts added strain on the technology. Higher strain, more lag, and jittery models trooping down the runway. Brace Coral published points that, while gently stated, amounted to a manifesto in her LiveJournal a few weeks ago (thanks, Hamlet Au!).

However, longtime Resident Gwyneth Llewelyn offers a polite rebuttal to this in her own blog. The upshot of her argument is that the technology has advanced beyond where attachments and prim hair have much effect on the quality of the "environment." Read the article carefully, and the comments that follow. Though there are some dissenters in those comments, I think Gwyn's contention has some merit. The Almighty knows that, any road you go, the first factor influencing lag will be the population density in a given sim. As example, take two places at the extremes of the prim battle, but with heavy populations for given programs: Frank's Place on a good night, or Science Friday on Friday afternoons, when Ira Flatow (Ira Flatley in-world) runs an edition of the popular NPR program.

Any time of the day is busy for Frank's, but the night is particularly laggy, because they average around 65-70 Residents attending, dancing together or just standing about and grooving to the great Rat Pack jazz. The lag goes even higher on nights when the house DJs are spinning music live. Moving across the floor is interesting, especially in the big ball skirts and hair favored by most women at clubs like this. (The same goes for clubs such as Cloud Nine, Casablanca Lounge, etc.)

Alternatively, Science Friday attracts some 40-60 people every Friday afternoon to lurch around and look for chairs, so they can participate at a remove in the discussion. As a rule, most people attending aren't wearing vast amounts of junk, aside maybe from blingtards and the occasional dragon or other large avatar. Yet the region is as slow as one of the formal clubs.

(Curiously, I've attended three parties thrown by Vicious Studios so far, at least in part, and the lag has never been incredibly intense, despite all the movement of dancing bodies and flicking prim hair and the intense use of dance scripts. Then again, the body load doesn't usually exceed 30 at one of these parties, I believe. That would seem to support the contention that it's population load, not prim load, that is causing lag fits.)

Is lag with us to stay? Yes, for at least as long as current processor technology can't keep up with the demand on it to track individual avatars. But I don't think we have to strip down to our virtual skivvies to do anything popular yet. (Although doing so might make the parties thrown by the Vicious Ones really great, instead of just plain great [grin]!) And things can be done on the client side to help it along: set your draw distance to no higher than 96 for duration; upgrade your hardware if you can afford it, various other items. Give these some thought; and, in the meantime, grin and bear it (grin).

Contact Sheet -- 4 photographers

I've had some material marked and building up for a few weeks, so it's time for another Contact Sheet.

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Ryou Yiyuan is a French avatar. This photo from her stream reminds me of sections of the Pictured Rocks, a long stretch of wave-worn sandstone formations on the shore of Lake Superior in my home state of Michigan. There have been arches cut by the water action in the past -- though boaters should never count on their stability! The actual photo is from the Aglarond region, which Ryou calls a medieval RP sim.

For those interested and with Google Earth, this KML from Wikipedia will get you close, but you should pull out and go west to see the full extent of the shoreline.

I also recommend the three pictures she has mounted of Capadonia, which she notes as a new sim. Capadonia also appears to be medieval themed, which would fit with Ryou's possible preference for an elven avatar. (Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3)

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"Connie Sec" models on the Grid (though I can't figure out what her actual avatar name is right now), and has quite a portfolio -- including some erotica, just to advise you. (Good, but not my normal shtick, and I won't be doing much talking about anyone's erotica, except to advise you it's there.) In the first photo below, Connie dons a decidedly Old Hollywood-style glamour, enhanced from the looks by WindLight as well as personal creativity. She appears ready to make her walk on the red carpet this Sunday night. Her second is reminiscent of Andy Warhol's famous four-frame lithograph of Monroe, helped along with a graphics program. Not quite Technicolor as Warhol's work, but still quite interesting.



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Thinking of portraits, how about this from Sonia28 Jie, which makes me think of the persistence of motion phenomenon.

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And, wrapping up, one from SL doyenne Gwyneth Llewelyn. Gwyn, as you may know, is an active resident of Neufreistadt in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, which recently inaugurated its eighth Representative Assembly. The photo here, from her Snapzilla stream, can be considered news coverage, and is something you might see in any given January 21 newspaper, a class photo of the new Congress as it works. I like particularly the person with the sword on the far right (is that the Sergeant-at-Arms, or just someone with a drawn sword?), and the small koala MP in morning coat and purple Ascot.

Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life. Images used in this article are used under permission of the owners via their participation in the Creative Commons license; otherwise, all rights are reserved. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required Flickr or Snapzilla page. Please go to these artists' pages in any case to leave comments, if you have an account on the appropriate service.

Suggestions are appreciated; please send them to me by in-world IM, notecard, or E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com.

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

A few selected photos from Flickr

I publish many of my Second Life snapshot photos on Flickr, as you can tell from my sidebar feed box; and, while following the visits made to my own stuff, I like to check out the photos taken by my competition, uh, colleagues (grin). (Okay, okay; the ego's getting swollen here....) Where I find good ones, I mark them as favorites so I can come back to them.

Many of these are too good to not share with you; and so I'm starting an irregular column called "Contact Sheet," where I'll share a few with you from time to time. Where the photographer has allowed usage (usually through Creative Commons), I'll insert a copy; otherwise, you'll find a link to his or her page on Flickr, Snapzilla, et al.

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Several regions of the Grid are very much favorites of some avatars, for reasons sometimes best explained by themselves. But if you study their work, you can begin to perceive the reasons for such an appeal. One of these is Anessa Stine, who (when she isn't running Pin-Ups in Retrology) has done some time in the Wastelands. Here, in this howling wilderness of ruins, rubble and mutants, Anessa has discovered ways to capture your attention and portray beauty -- and even a smile or two. Of course, it could simply be the costume she's wearing.... (Note: for those easily offended, go rather to the kittens. This costume is radical to some sensibilities.)

• Wasted [3]


• Wasted [6]

Hitomi Mokusei, on the other hand, prefers the more pastoral lands of the Far Away, specifically the Wheatfield. She has a set dedicated to photos she's taken there. Examining these, I'm much reminded of the better work of Andrew Wyeth, such as Christina's World. A selection of the best (one of which I've commented on in depth):

• Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

Saturday Night Costume Party at Vicious

As part of their Grand Opening festivities, the Vicious Ones threw another party Saturday night, themed "Come Dressed for an American Idol Appearance." Fortunately, we weren't asked to sing (even if I had a decent voice anymore, I have a head cold now in RL)! Any road, while I couldn't make the other activities so far this weekend, I was able to make it to this one, and in I came.

(You can click on the pictures for slightly larger versions; I held the size down even then as a courtesy to the blog's true owners.)


I'll admit that I took a rather broad view of how my costume should look, but I wasn't the only one (grin). I just love this silver top and shorts I picked up in Canada in SL; to it I added the Omayrah hairstyle from Sinsation (Hairspray region), diamond-studded snakeskin boots, and a dark silver skin from chroma.


We had about 20-30 Residents present and getting down to a fantastic beat, provided by our nights song-spinner, DJRobyn Writer. She looked as fantastic as her DJ work was, and I voted for her in the best-dressed woman contest. She didn't win that, but she did clean up several times on the two sweepstake balls the Vicious Ones provided -- including snagging some of the really good swag (mock growl). I can't complain, though; I got my own share, including a nifty bicycle blimp!

Some other photos:











That's a close-up of me with a katana on my belt. Vic, the sim's owner, likes guns; in fact, he really likes guns. He was most polite, and didn't shoot anybody; but, as the bullets started flying over the broad way (grin), I figured I needed something to deflect the occasional stray ricochet (grin).

Oh, the contest! When the voting came in, there was a three-way tie for first: Arcadia Nightfire, one of the Durants (I can't remember which right now; please help, Gidge!)...and myself! I knew this was a good costume!! Take that, Simon Cowell. And congratulations to my co-winners, along with thanks to the Academy for this great honor....

(For once, this was not cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper!)

Ad Hoc Shepherding for Newcomers -- Why Not?

How long have you been a Second Life Resident? As for myself, as you can tell from my Profile, I'm still a relative newbie; I first rezzed up in October of last year. I've apparently just passed the 100-days-old mark recently, however, because I've received a nice IM from an in-world gallery owner, looking for works to sell (grin). In these hundred-plus days, though, I still remember the day I first appeared on Orientation Island and went through the basic tutorials. I'm a fast learner, I'm proud to say; but I still had the occasional question to ask, and I'm thankful for the avatars who took the time to answer them.

I was reminded more forcefully of that gratitude the other morning. I've taken to joining the Morning Coffee Time at the Blarney Stone in Dublin region (7-9 a.m. SLT, if you're interested); and I was modeling the Droxine costume I had just purchased from Hanalyn Ferrer, when Zoe, the host, welcomed someone in. We all quickly discovered that the new girl, Emarie, was a new girl -- she had joined SL just the day before. She had shot through the Orientation tutorials, like most new Residents do. Even with time spent in depth on the Learning Isles, though, most of us still have questions about the world and its culture. Emarie certainly did, and I pulled up her Profile to IM her and offer some assistance.

I took her upstairs to the second floor, out of the hurly-burly of the main bar, and a fascinating hour or so of chat followed, where I felt I was making a real contribution to the Grid. I even got to demonstrate how I look "ruthed," when my DSL hiccuped and I had to log back in (grin). I gave her a few gifts (landmarks to Free Union Stores and a place or two else), and ended up gaining a new friend -- not something I usually do on first acquaintance. It was a pure pleasure talking to Emarie about locations, cultures, and just generally tapping into my accumulated experience --

-- And it wasn't just for ego-massage. Second Life has dozens to hundreds of newcomers log in every day, but only a relative handful reach the (ahem) exalted state of living in world for a hundred days. Who knows how many potential artists, designers, builders and merchants we lose because the newbies get frustrated and bug out, never to darken the prims of the Grid again? For all I know, I may be paving the way for the next Nicky Ree or Lumiere Noir or Robin Sojourner by helping some new visitor to get acclimated and find their sea legs.

You can get involved in this yourself. Many of us know -- or are members -- of the Helpers and the Mentors, who hold themselves ready to assist someone with questions. but you need to join a formal group to participate there. What I suggest is to simply hold yourself at the ready to answer questions as they come up, and offer assistance if someone sounds lost and bewildered. By the time we have a hundred days under our belts, we know at least most of the basic chops, and how to find an answer if we don't know. Why not share this with the newbies around you if you find one?

In doing such an ad hoc program, I can see at least some points we should keep in mind:

1. Be friendly. Don't sound like it's a pain or imposition to help, and you're answering just to give them a clue. Again, remember your first days! No "RTFM" answers allowed, and I think you all know or can guess what the "F" actually stands for -- not "fine."


2. Don't core-dump. If you can answer them with a few sentences, do so. Don't drop the entire Knowledge Base on them; they'll have to mine through all the slag to find the needed nuggets -- and they probably won't know that you can cut and paste out of the Chat windows.


3. A little humor is a good thing. Many a college professor knows that an occasional joke can serve as a wonderful mnemonic device -- especially with an 8 a.m. class (grin). Don't be afraid to let your wit show, as long as it isn't bawdy, nit-wit, or at the newcomer's expense. At the same time, don't go into a Marx Brothers routine to make your point.


4. Offer presents, kemosabe. In one of the books I list on my SL Books page, one of the authors was visiting Luskwood, the home of the furries. A brief time after rezzing in, some random furry ran up and shouted "Money attack!!!" at him; and, before the poor schmuck knew it, he had been doused -- with £900. You don't have to drop gifts of money on every newcomer, but you have other stuff you can give as helpful welcoming gifts. For instance, how many landmarks have you accumulated in your travels and purchases in world? Those are made for passing around! Especially good are locators for freebie stores such as Yadni's Junkyard, Free Union, etc., so they can get a start on reshaping their avatar away from LL blandness. Consider tips on good clubs as well, and copiable/transferable objects, too, if you have any.


5. Let them know where they can crash. Many newbies think they have to have a house, I believe. I know I did when I first joined. Nothing's so appealing as a plot of ground you can call your "own." We don't need that, of course; when we log out, our avatars just go poof and become one with the luminiferous aether until we return. But it doesn't hurt to show newcomers a few places to "hang out" between sessions. A great offer is a landmark to Alady's Noob Island; as long as an apartment there is empty, you can inhabit it. If you really like your new acquaintance, you could offer them access rights to your own house or apartment for, say, a month, until they get on their feet; this, of course, involves matters of trust.


6. Recommend sources of more knowledge. The Knowledge Base, the Forums (remember, you need a credit/debit card on file for the Forums!), the Wiki, and the Big Blog for status updates and LL news -- these are all prime sources for the newbie. Information is power; be free with your giving of this commodity! Also suggest good blogs for more reading. (I like to think you'll recommend this one first of all [grin]), especially if they have tips to freebies.


7. Don't be pushy!! If someone doesn't want help, don't force it down their throat. As well, if you're welcome at first, don't end up drowning them with invitations, suggestions, IMs, notecards, tips, et al. ad naus. A friend can become a pest that way.... Know when to push forward, and when to retreat.

If anyone has more good suggestions, lay them on me! Let's help nurture and grow Second Life, and make a difference.

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

Custom Couture by Hanalyn

How many of you have dreamed of commissioning a couturière to design a dress, suit or costume just for you, an exclusive that only you have? I've wanted things like that for my second life; and, with a little tasteful persistence, I was able to achieve one.

I've admired for many years the work of William Ware Theiss, the costume designer for Star Trek's original series, and the creator of the original run of Starfleet uniforms for the more modern versions of the franchise. It's not a Starfleet uniform I've always wanted, though. You can go to the Starfleet Museum in world and buy a Voyager-vintage uniform for £300 or so, and other clothing creators have done their own versions across the Grid. No, I wanted some things that expressed more creativity, more beauty, more...more flesh (grin). You may recall that Bill Theiss operated on a now famous maxim for his designs; when he created a gown for a woman on the show, he wanted the audience to ask themselves, "Will she, or won't she, fall out of that costume?" Even in the uniforms, that resulted in those famous miniskirted uniform dresses that made Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett and Grace Lee Whitney freeze their legs for three seasons. (Of course, it helped that miniskirts were in style back in the Sixties.)

The alien cultures were even more interesting. You didn't see it so much in the first season, aside from Barbara Anderson as Lenore Karidian in "The Conscience of the King." Remember that fur dress she wore onto the bridge? But in the second season, we have T'Pring of Vulcan, the Alices of Mudd's Planet, and Carolyn Palamas' peplos-inspired gown in "Who Mourns for Adonais." (For some pictures, see this blog article.) And in the third season, there was Natira of Yonada ("For the World is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky") But my all-time favorite costume from that season was worn by Diana Ewing as Droxine, in "The Cloud Minders." Theiss placed Droxine in a dress that was little more than a full skirt with a slingshot-bikini top. What made it so fascinating to a young kid was the long train, like a cape, that was attached to the neck of the top in back, and the way it moved about her, almost floating like a cloud, as she moved. You have to see the episode to appreciate this; it's not the best story they ever did by a long shot, and some might raise a Vulcan eyebrow at Mr. Spock's seeming interest in a girl who starts out shallower than a thimble of water, but oh that dress!

Now I'm no good at drawing with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, though that could probably be solved with a lot of practice; but, when I realized the possibilities of getting one of my favorite costumes of all time, I leaped at the chance. Approaching the big-name designers of the Grid was out of the question, of course. They had their own businesses and their own lines, and were busy enough not to be interested in doing commission work. So I wrote a classified ad and posted it to Search, and waited.... And waited.... And waited, until I was flabbergasted one night to get a response from a neko avatar named Hanalyn Ferrer. She had read the ad, and wanted to tackle the job. We negotiated briefly, and I sent her a series of screencaps from my DVD of the episode.

Frankly, I think Hanalyn undervalued her work. She got back to me a few days ago saying she was done, and I invited her to the loft to deliver it. When she modeled it for me, and then when she passed it over to my Inventory, I almost squealed with delight. Hana got the fabric practically perfect, and the fit and "feel" of the gown as I walked about the apartment were excellent. The one thing that I eventually had a problem with was the glitch pants -- they needed to be longer, and it took me a few days to decide that for sure (grin). Here we are together after she delivered the gown; she shot a few images for herself as well. I'm placing some more photos on Flickr, so check the stream in my sidebar, or go straight to my Flickr pages to examine them. (More on that below.) Oh, something else, more important than the gown. Out of that commission also came a friendship with a person who sounds very warm and is a pleasure to talk to.

So, can you get this for yourself...pretty please? No, not quite. I gave Hanalyn permission to sell this, as long as she makes just enough changes to render this unique. She doesn't have this in her store yet, but it pays to have a look periodically. Just don't turn it into a feeding frenzy, like has been going on in the Quad lately. She has a small storefront, God's Eden, in the Wando region, where she sells a few designs, AVs and neko animations. Drop in and check out her work, especially those neko animations. (Search all the way in the back for the stairs to the second floor.) There's a coat downstairs on the first floor; and if you know who Selene is (hint: Kate Beckinsale), then you may want to drop a few hundred lindens on Hana, followed by rushing out and finding some more black leather to complete the outfit! You can even try the coat on before buying, through a clever arrangement of a posing stand and display that is the first time I've seen such a setup. The detailing on the back of that coat is wonderful!

Now, for the story. When I shot my suite for Flickr, I cast about in my head for a good, exotic location befitting an alien's gown -- and it came to me. A quick rummage through the landmarks, and I teleported to the Star Trek Museum in TovaDok II and Minshara. Once there, I found the holodeck and set up the Vulcan simulator, where I snapped the photos. But then, seeing that there were some more Residents running around the place, I decided to have some fun! And so I went up to them and said hello, waiting to see what the reaction would be. I now feel officially old, guys; not a single avatar there recognized Droxine!! Of course, as I say, that wasn't the best episode they ever did, but yeesh!!! When I commiserated with Hana in IM, she laughed at me and said she feels the same way about people who don't recognize all the lesser-known characters in Star Wars.

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

Pulling (Virtual) Hair

There's been a hair sale happening at ETD's main store, and I had a chance to get in and fill many of my hair needs for some time (at least for normal hair [grin]). Elika Tiramisu does a fantastic job with prim hair, and it's easy to see why she's so popular.

Oh, you want proof? Well, when I materialized at Elika's landing site, the sim's server was screaming for mercy. The only thing extra I wore that would add to lag was a walk AO, and I was still moving like I was immersed in hot, sludgy taffy. You couldn't really tell it, due to the amounts of open space in the store; but that hair department was (virtually) packed.

I am, fortunately, used to "wading" through these situations now.... With patience and a bit of flying (and judicious use of a machete) to take in the large tri-tiered displays, I picked my way through and snapped up some real bargains on fatpacks. I ran into friends from Frank's Place as well. (Indeed, it was Nanceee Sinatra who twigged me to the sale, while I was having my morning coffee at The Blarney Stone in Dublin.) I bumped into Laceminx Lane and her friend Jasper; and Jaidyn Hartsdale was beneath me on the ground one time. I want to say Mistress Howlett was there as well, but I can't remember now. Of course, emerging from sales like that with your life is an accomplishment, so I'm not complaining about memory lapses.

I managed to snap some images during the visit, but it wasn't easy since the lag was so beyond compare, and the resulting photos are small. However, for a brief taste of the manner of folk on hand this day:

Tuyuko Kamachi, after some translator work, very kindly consented to having her photo taken. I like the combination of purple miniskirt and the tall boots!

Rumour Mills shows that love of beautiful hair crosses species boundaries (grin). Those wings are very nice; if I get an avatar for one of the fantasy sims sometime, I might send her a note as to where they come from.

And Aun Darkstone shows that it crosses reality boundaries as well! (That's me to the left, but that's not any of Elika's hair; it comes from Sinsation in Hairspray.)

And Semi Gray shows the nicest of futuristic "classic" lines, so to speak.

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

That's Professor Ondrejka!

Most Residents and readers will recall the surprise and consternation that shot through the Second Life community on the sudden departure of CTO Cory Ondrejka from Linden Lab in December. What the long-term fallout from this situation will be, nobody yet knows, of course. But the now former Linden seems to have landed on his feet. Comes word from The Chronicle of Higher Education that Cory has been appointed a visiting professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication. (Cory has also announced this on his own blog back on December 30, but I've read no news of it until now.) Logically enough, he'll be lecturing the grad students about online communities, and their economic/technological impact.

Best of luck, Professor!

(Cross-posted from Around the Grid with Harper)

Robbie Dingo's "Watch the World(s)"

I've been scrounging around, waiting for the Grid to come back up today from scheduled maintenance, and I stumbled across this. Robbie Dingo is already well known, I believe, as one of the leading machinima filmmakers in Second Life, but his work is worth a revisit even if you've already seen it. (And Don McLean's "Vincent" has always been a favorite of mine.)

Watch the World(s)

(Cross-posted from Around the World with Harper)

Worries at Arcana Nuevo -- Gehn May Be Back!

Have you ever had a friend who you needed to aid in the greatest of perils? A man who was willing to sacrifice all for the larger good -- even his family, if need be?

I had a friend like that at one time. His name was Atrus; and, in order to stop madmen from conquering worlds, he was willing to imprison those who were precious to him above all but one -- his two sons -- so that their reign of terror over other peoples would end. He did not enjoy this duty; he was forced to it, and I am sure he regretted his actions to his dying day. I had the sad honor of assisting him in this task, and then helping to rescue his wife, Catherine, and stop Gehn, his father, from a similar destructive stroke in a whole range of worlds that he had discovered with the peculiar Art of the people known as the D'ni. This and other adventures besides, were my lot during my friendship with this warm, wise, but troubled man.

Imagine my surprise, then, when, in making my daily run through the various Grid-blogs, I learned Gehn may have escaped from his prison and fled to Second Life! If true, the potential danger to the Grid and its Residents was great indeed. My duty and friendship to Atrus and his goals required an investigation to learn the truth of the matter.

Pyter, my informant, had kindly supplied a teleport landmark. I used it as an initial landing, but chose to leave quickly from that location, in case visitors were expected.... Flying about the island, I encountered nobody for some time. Then I spotted a house built on a grand scale indeed. Its architecture was strangely, eerily familiar -- until I realized that it could only have been built by the descendants of the D'ni, with their penchant for spectacular-sized buildings and strange devices at strange points. I quickly shot an image as evidence of my visit, even as I reflected that something else seemed very familiar about what I was seeing....

Hello from Harper

Hello, everyone!

Gidge has kindly invited me to do some guest-writing for Vicious Studios for a time, so I thought I'd do a quick introduction. As you should see from the slug, my Grid-name is Harper Ganesvoort, and I've been a Resident since around mid-October. In that time, I've racked up quite a few Grid-klicks of travel, as well as establishing a few favorite haunts, and I started writing about my travels -- as well as my own occasional take on Second Life news and issues -- in my own blog, Around the Grid with Harper. I won't say that I have anything incredibly unique to offer in my viewpoint, but you never know (grin).

With Gidge's permission, I'm going to approach this basically by doing cross-posts from the other blog; there's only so much time in a day, unfortunately, and I have about a dozen other eggs to juggle as well (grin). But I think I have a few good subjects from my travels cooking on the back stove, as well as perhaps drawing your attention to a few things from my own past entries. And, if I come up with an idea that's perfect for just here, you folks will be the sole beneficiaries. So come along on the ride, and let's see where we're going!

If you'd like to learn more about me, come visit Around the Grid and read my profile there. Until then, peace!