The Call for Ideas - BLOGHER 08

BlogHer in Second Life ‘Call for Ideas’

July’s BlogHer conference in San Francisco is near and that means it is time to beginning planning a parallel conference in the virtual world of Second Life.
I’m proud last year’s ‘experimental’ conference was a runaway hit, and hope those who are unable to attend the San Francisco conference and Second Lifers are ready to make this year bigger and better.
We are already planning on more Second Life experts to help guide you before the big days in July and your feedback and ideas are key to crafting the kind of event YOU want.
As Elisa Camahort Page wrote in her call for ideas for San Francisco, we’d love to see the Second Life attendees participate in the exact same way:
“Why a ‘Call for Ideas’ and not a ‘Call for Speakers’ or ‘Call for Proposals’ or something like that? Because BlogHers are a generous bunch, and there are plenty of you who like to recommend other people to speak and want to suggest panels you'd like to attend, not personally speak on. And we are all for that...any idea is welcomed, collected and reviewed by humans.
Our theme this year is Reach! This has different meanings to different bloggers, but we know that many of us have aspirations to reach more people with the ideas we're sharing and also to reach for more in our lives on and offline. This conference is all about helping you have more reach, and to reach for more.”
So what is your idea? Do you want to see more Second Life exclusive content or more live streams from San Francisco? Do you have great ideas for panels, speakers, or events? Email Elisa@blogher.com AND queenofspainblog@yahoo.com (address your email to BOTH please)
Can’t wait!
Queen Tureaud, aka Erin Kotecki Vest

Shantu Selene Tonight at 8pm ~ Vicious Hypnoz

The Cartoon Party!

Tonight at Vicious Hypnoz.....it's the Cartoon Party!

Who will you be?

See you there!!!!!

The Pirates of Vicious Island Invade TONIGHT!

9pm SLT! The PIRATE PARTY! Which is not to be confused with the PIRATE MOVIE!
Because the PIRATE MOVIE was lame. But this party has it all including a full sized pirate ship that I rezzed inside Hypnoz. It's huge, my brother used to live in it!

We'll have a $L500 prize for best pirate costume AND we'll be giving away excellent raffle prizes all night long! So break out the pirate speak on your babbler and get down to Vicious Hypnoz at 9pm SLT!

I'm dressed.
What are you wearing?
And yeah, they're real.

See you guys tonight!!!!

Who Killed Vicente Bolero - REVEALED

Okay so we had some EXCELLENT guesses and I am SO BLOWN away by ALL the entries we got that everyone will be receiving a special gift from me, just for playing. (I do mean the people who turned in an answer). We had THREE guesses that were correct, DJRobyn Writer, Boran Horan and Sable Heartsdale. Since we had a tie - we drew for the winner of the $L1000! Congrats to DJRobyn Writer for winning.

But since only two other people got it right, I think that both of you should expect a little something cool coming to you from me, as a thank you for playing and a congrats for getting it right.

I think what freaks me out most is that Boran Horan got it right before I even got the killer's profile on the blog as a suspect. So Boran Horan - whose alt ARE you? Kidding kidding kidding.

Well the night was excellent, we had several folks come by including some new friends like Pixel Breda and we were glad to see all of you.

Since I had such good response from all you lovely AVs out there, I'm even going to send out consolation presents off OnRez or SLX to all of you, to watch for inventory offers. The ones from SLX will be identified but you know, OnRez never tells you who something is from. Anyway, if you get some random nice present - it's from The Vicious!
Now, who WAS the killer?
Well, it might not have been who you thought, but it was the mild mannered SILO URIZA.
We fixed him though, and held and execution right on the stage of HYPNOZ.

Of course like every execution, we had protesters.

I got a lot of great pictures from the evening, and they'll all be up on Flickr in a day or two. Also Harper Gainesvoort from AROUND THE GRID WITH HARPER contributed some excellent shots, so I'll post hers over there too!
Everyone looked great and thanks for coming out! See you all on Saturday night at the Pirates of Vicious Island Party!
And super thanks to Cajsa for the excellent signs and help with the event as always, she rules!

And is it JUST me or do these two, Phrost and Furrball, look like they are getting ready to dine on what is left of Silo's corpse?

Just wondering.

Thanks for playing everyone!

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....

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)

And and While We're at It.......

In addition to a GREAT Modeling Contest on Vicious Island (see the post below!) we've got TWO great events currently scheduled and more to come!

First of all Tomorrow night we'll rock the house inside of Maht's Mats and Mattes with DJ nlinear pessoa spinning the tunes with a lot of great prizes to be won as always!

So tomorrow at 8pm SLT be sure to TP over to Vicious Island to party with the Vicious!

And then Feb 5 we'll be getting our Mardi Gras party in effect starting at 5am SLT with the Vicious Japan team at ExC! Alice07 Barzane will be hostess AND DJ of the 5am party! We're still finalizing the night time party but we know it will be at 8pm SLT also held inside the ExC couture store! Mardi Gras is going to be a fantastic time and we hope to see you ALL on Vicious Island for the events! Watch this space for notices - and remember you can subscribe to the blog by filling out the link on the right sidebar! You'll get all of our notices via email that way!

Vicious Model Contest!

We're running a new modeling contest at Vicious Island and if you think you've spent a good deal of lindens on a really good looking AV, this might be the contest for you!

So let me tell you about it!

We want to use the most beautiful AVs in all of the Vicious World to model for our Couture designers, however, we can't have just ANYONE doing that now can we?

We're having everyone drop Lia Trefoil a photo that includes your AV name - don't send her one that is called SNAPSHOT okay? Cuz I suspect that in our busy Vicious Schedules these sort of entries might just get lost - ahem.

You follow me?

So drop those photos in her inventory and the most beautiful will be chosen to be our Couture models. And - it gets even better.

There will be LINDENS given away to our top three models - $L1000 to the most beautiful AV, $L500 to the first runner up and $L200 to the second runner up.

Do you have what it takes? Is your AV drop dead gorgeous? If so, we want to see your photo - and give you the opportunity to win some lindens plus gain a GREAT Second Life job!

Remember - those entries to go Lia Trefoil and MAKE SURE those snaps are NOT named SNAPSHOT - give them the NAME of your AV!

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)

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)

Narrating the Sensual Senses

In real life we are bombarded daily with sensations: sound, sight, smell, taste, touch. In SL we are a bit more limited. All we have is the visual (our avatars and animations) and verbal (chat and IM) for expressing ourselves--although happily that verbal is sometimes now audio (second life voice is live) as well as text. But without the sensation of touch, the ability to run fingertips over skin, to let lips connect, to feel the pleasure of orgasm and ejaculation, how can sex in SL be as gratifying as that in real life? For some it can't. For those, however, who are willing to let their imaginations go, there is a a remarkable wealth of sensations that can be described and thus imagined along with the physical release that comes from the mutual masturbation that accompanies SL sex.

Think about it. Some of the most remarkable pleasures of a sexual relationship are not in the end product: orgasm, but rather are those small things that trigger imagination and desire. The warmth and strength of a holding lover's hand in yours carries with it the memory every hand that you have ever held, from the security of the parent's hand when you were a child to that first daring time you touched a member of the opposite (or same) sex, to the fingers of the most desired lover you can't forget. When you describe twining your fingers with those of your SL partner--describe the way your fingers slide into his, describe feeling the strength of his hand that could crush yours yet holds you with a touch as light as a butterfly--you evoke the memories he carries as well as your own. We connect best in SL when those memory patterns overlap, when both partners have the same sort of pleasurable memories to draw on. Another way of saying this is that you must be willing or able to connect on some inner levels with your partner. Know what he likes and dislikes.

Take scents for instance. Scents are remarkable triggers of memory. Lavender always reminds me of my grandmother, pleasant memories, but not conducive to romance. Jasmine, however, makes me feel sexy, exotic. I can trigger either scent in my own brain by its description, by merely naming it. No olfactory stimulation necessary. So if I tell my lover that I love the way he smells, like cinnamon and deep woods, and when I tell him that if he buries his face in my hair I will smell of oranges and jasmine, I am triggering my own memories of certain sexy men's colognes, of cooking in a kitchen with a lover, and of my own sexual identity.

He, too, has to on some level, think of those as sexy agreeable scents and also be able to imagine them. If he has never smelled jasmine he might be able to as least conjure an image of flowers and connect that to a romantic moment. But if cinnamon reminds him of pumpkin pie and Christmas and family things, that might not be the frame of reference I want to evoke for a truly lusty encounter. The important thing is to listen to what your lover is saying, pay attention to how he responds to your descriptive moments in IM or voice. Don't get so carried away by your own narrative that you forget to listen to what he is saying and especially what he is responding to!

If you can flesh out the narrative, clearly describing what the sights, scents, tastes, and touches of your lovemaking are, and encourage (by example) your partner to do the same . . . SL sex can be as good as (even if different from) RL sex.

--originally posted at Diary of a Second Life Courtesan by Tsai Jie--

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)

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!