AVENUE ultimate style Magazine issue 58 / July 2013
AKERUKA
Photography by Absinthe Montenegro
Publisher’s note
Summer is in full swing and bloom and the AVENUE team has come up with so many ways to have days of sunshine and fun in this issue! It’s a Tropical Explosion in our fashion pages where our stylists have scoured the grid to find you the most colourful and vibrant combinations to style your summer wardrobe. And if you’re on the lookout for a beach sim that doesn’t smack of the typical tropical beach getaway, check out Jac Mornington’s Second Life rendition of Baja Norte as our Recreation & Leisure feature of the month - a wonderful beach location that makes for a perfect photographic excursion. Interior decor has never been more exciting in Second Life and our Lifestyle section paves the way with ideas for your summer decorating spree. Blogger and interior design guru, Neva Crystall shows you how you can populate small spaces with summer blooms and intricate interior gems to make for a rich and refreshing experience. We also had a chance to catch up with one of SL’s popular
interior decor creator, Tegan Serin of Floorplan,who shares with us about her creative processes in creating the wonderful home and decor pieces that make our homes that much more precious and personal. Last but not least, if the fashionista in you is feeling feisty and gutsy to strut the glamor puss in you, LIV-Glam’s Glam Girls search organised by AVENUE, is the perfect chance to break into the fashion industry. Check out the winners in our inside story of the first month’s semi-finals within. So here’s to fun, glamor and days of sunshine at home or traipsing around SL. Let’s break out in song and dance and rejoice for everything that summer can be!
Rusch Raymaker
Rusch Raymaker Publisher
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30
Cover Story
Featured Designer
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Architecture
180
July 2013
58
Fashion 30 52 64 78 88 100 110 120 130 140 204
Cover Story Akeruka Featured Designer DDL Couture Clash La Dolce Vita LaFemme Summer Breeze Homme Sweet Serenity Focus On Sentant Soleil His Details The Desperate Vacationers From Runway to Street Summer Colors To the Nines Life’s a Beach Blogspot Color Beat Fashion Agenda LIVGlam Contest
Lifestyle 166 180 194 204 218 232 240
Recreation & Leisure Baja Norte Architecture Maven Homes Interiors Floorplan Landscapes & Garden Summer Blossoms in Small Spaces Technology Dio & Versu Perspectives Fatal Crosspost For the Love of Creations Park
Arts 160
Featured Artist Mantis Oh
Magazine cover Featuring KaoZ Koba & Agony Helse, Owners & Designers of Akeruka featuring Akeruka skins Photography Lara Ubert
AVENUE Magazine is published and managed by AVENUE Inc which owns and operates AVENUE Models + Academy and AVENUE Marketing + PR. Online issues: issuu.com/avenue AVENUE website: www.avenuesl.com Visit us inworld at: Zenshi East 62.118.26 For exclusive updates, gifts, events and latest releases, join our inworld group: AVENUE Magazine Readers Press releases to: editorial@avenuesl.com Ad queries: ads@avenuesl.com Advertising and vendor requests: Absinthe Montenegro, Amazon Silverweb, Kerasia Hexicola, Leezah Kaddour, Xandrah Sciavo
Staff & Contributors
Publisher Rusch Raymaker
Editor in Chief Xandrah Sciavo Creative Director Leah McCullough
Graphic Designers Leah McCullough Grant Valeska Rusch Raymaker Fashion Editor Anna Sapphire
Lifestyle Editor Umberto Giano
Marketing Executives Kerasia Hexicola, Leezah Kaddour, Rita Hazelnut, Amita Yorcliffe
Writers Casja Lilliehook, Huckleberry Hax, Isadora Fiddlesticks, Lexie Jansma, Liat Reina, Louise McWinnie Roundel, Prisilla Avro, Quan Lavender, Spruce Canning, Ziki Questi Stylists Absinthe Montenegro, Amita Yorcliffe, Anna Sapphire, Arscene Dubrovna, Asia Rae, Calima Dufaux, Dantelicia Ethaniel, Diconay Boa, Eira Juliesse, Gabe Bookmite, Hikaru Enimo, James Schwarz, Jax Aster, Leah McCullough, Neva Crystall, Ocean Blackthorne, Pierre, Syra Hyun, Winter Jefferson
Photographers Absinthe Montenegro, Annough Lykin, Asia Rae, Arscene Dubrovna, Calima Dufaux, Citta Wiskee, Eira Juliesse, Eve Kazan, Leah McCullough, Linda Reddevil, Nariko Okawa, Natasja Schumann, Neva Crystall, Zazie
Contributors Lara Ubert, Angels Milena, Angelik Lavecchia
Cover Story
Akeruka: Skin Deep
Writer Cajsa Lilliehook Photographer Leah McCullough Stylists Ai Hienrichs, Imani Enzo, Leah McCullough, Tadeu Gartner and Winter Jefferson
D
esigner collaborations are relatively common in clothing and accessories, but almost unheard of in skinmaking. That is why it was so intriguing to ask Akeruka designers Kaoz Koba and Agony Helse the same questions and compare their answers. In the end, this revealed what makes their partnership work so well. They are on the same page - even with the secrets they keep.
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Ares appears completely at ease, casually leaning forward, arms resting on his thighs as he scans the surf. The sun spills through the palm fronts, warming his shoulder and easing the tension he cannot allow to show. Since his cover was blown last night, everything depends on warning Meg before they catch up with him. He sees the tall man, Caesar, he thinks he is called, watching him from trees. He knows he doesn’t have much time now.
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AVENUE: How did you come to join Second Life速? What was your first day in SL like? Kaoz Koba: It was five years ago! Well, my friend in real life knew that I would be interested in joining Second Life速. So that night, I logged in for the first time, and I just teleported myself everywhere! Agony Helse: Three years ago, I met KaoZ in real life. We were good friends but love shot us both in the heart. KaoZ was telling me about Second Life速 all the time and asked me to join him and make skins together. The first day I rezzed in SL速, KaoZ left me alone to explore, meet people and understand SL as a newbie.
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Giorgia’s curls lift lightly in the breeze as she casts a quick sideways glance at Ares. She admires his tradecraft, making contact at a beach where the bare skin and thin fabrics limited what tools of the trade could be used. She read that people who are emotionally in sync often wear the same colors. Could mirroring his color choices catch his attention? She hopes so, pinning a flower with a microphone in her hair and walking casually in his direction. 34
AV: When did you start creating in Second Life? What was the first thing you made? KK: I started six months after I joined Second Life. At that time, my problem was that I didn’t like any skin in SL for myself. So I decided to make one just for me. After that, my friends told me the skin was very good and that I should sell it. So I made Damiani Fashion Design Brand and released Joshua. AH:Immediately after joining Second Life, I began to spend so much time uploading textures and trying skins. After a few months, I had a full skin to release and I made another with two different characters and expressions to give more choice. My first skin was Meg.
Caesar watches Giorgia ambling toward Ares, primping her hair and giving it a little shake as she opens her eyes in feigned attraction. “You have to be a secure man in this business,� he thinks, admiring his wife as she sets the honey trap. Watching her smile at the blond athletic Ares, he thinks for the hundredth time that this is his least favorite part of the job, but Ares could discover his cover has been blown soon, so there is no time for a more elegant approach.
AV: What is your inspiration for your skins and shapes? What is your goal? KK: My inspiration comes like thunder! Sometimes I am on my scooter or I’m at the beach and I visualize a specific expression that I would like to get on a skin... and then it all starts. My goal is to make a specific character design that I, as well as other people, like to wear. In a few words, I always work for myself first, then if I like the skin, I release it for our customers. AH: My inspiration comes without thinking - while I am reading a fashion magazine or I am shopping and I see some ad posters or some photos of a girl I would like to look like in SL. My goal is to reach more tastes, to please all of our customers.
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Meg sees the brunette talking to Ares and walks past quickly. Something is up. She had seen that woman before, in a gallery in Milan. The stakes are too high to think her appearance in Oahu now is coincidence. Her mind races, thinking of a way to alert Ares. Turning to the left, she notices a tall man with strikingly good looks, a square jaw and aquiline features trying just a bit too hard to look like he was not looking at Ares and the woman. This is trouble! But trouble can be opportunity.
AV: It is hard to break into the skin-making market. How did you succeed in getting noticed and growing in such a difficult area of the SL fashion market? KK: Yes, it is very hard today. I know because I closed Damiani after one year, and I then joined with my real life partner, Agony Helse, and re-opened a new brand beginning from zero. But what breaks in skin market is the style. You can’t hide your style, and people recognized my style which found the Evolution of Damiani Men skins. AH: Competition is very strong in SL, and I think there are very great creators on the grid. But as KaoZ says too, it’s all about the style. So what I do, is make a skin that I would like to wear. This way, I think many other women would like to wear it as well.
AV: What are your future plans? Will you branch into making other things? KK: For sure, my future plans are to improve our technique in skin making but without losing the expression. Most of the photo-realistic skins look all the same, and I don’t like that too much. That is the reason why I love the hybrid way, photo, 3D and painting more. In the future, we will make clothing and accessories. It all depends on our inspirations. AH: We will improveimprove-improve-improve and improve! I want to improve my skill at making skins. Kaoz is teaching me 3D software and I am developing new techniques to make my skins exactly as I want.
Manuela brushes her long, straight hair back off her shoulder and freshens her lip gloss. If she’s going to make a fool of herself in front of an entire beach full of people, at least she will look good while doing it. She has no idea why that elegant Italian woman paid her $500 to go up the dark-haired man in a swimsuit and give him a kiss, but $500 is five hundred dollars. No harm, right? People are crazy.
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AV: What do you do in SL for fun? What is one of the most fun things you did in SL? KK: Oh! Well, when we have time, we go around in SL to talk and meet people. We listen to feedback and advise in creating things for SL. The most fun thing I have done in SL? Hmm… one quest game (I can’t remember the name of it) and other thing is SWIM in a Second Life sea. I was feeling so free and good. AH: We love to meet people and share info about everything! SL is a huge place of knowledge!
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Twiggy laughs. She has been worried that Giorgia and Caesar would succeed in scooping up both Ares and Meg and is on hand to protect them if necessary. Thanks to Meg’s quick thinking and Giorgia’s momentary inattention, she can remain in the background, surveilling the other couple. It is a good thing, she thought, when spies fall in love - at least when they are on the other side.
Bianca scowls. That Meg is a clever one, distracting Giorgia for just a second so she could catch Ares’ eye and signal him. They work together so well. I guess it is a good thing for spies to fall in love - but not when they work for the other team.
AV: Where did the name of your store come from? KK: Hmm… that’s a secret! But AK is Agony and KaoZ, of course. AKERUKA is KaoZ & Agony together and forever. AH: AK is Agony KaoZ. The rest.... is only for us! Marketplace: https://marketplace. secondlife.com/stores/10011 Blog: http://akeruka.com/blog/ Facebook: https://www.facebook. com/Akeruka Store: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ Akeruka/163/131/23 Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/ groups/akeruka/
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Featured Designer
DDL writer Prisilla S. Avro photographer Calima DuFaux
M
uch like the confection it is named after, the delicious designs of Dulce de Leche [DDL] are sure to appeal to your fashion sweet tooth. Melina Anatine has been creating accessories and apparel in Second Life® under the label of [DDL] for the past two and a half years, though she has been in SL® for six. Anatine reflects on her beginning as a creator: “I used to make mostly candies (lollipops, candy snacks and so on) and any object I liked in real life and wanted to have in my SL®. I didn’t have an in-world store. I just sold a few things on the marketplace.”
Necklace: Yes master by DDL.
Anatine has a history of content creation. “I’ve been creating content for games since I can remember; I’ve always liked that. I used to play The Sims™ (not online) and created clothing just for myself. And as soon as I created my SL® account, I started creating (or at least trying to) clothing and accessories.” Anatine creates in SL® what she enjoys in her first life, calling her in-world designs her own “fashion cravings collection.” When those same items can be enjoyed by others, it brings Anatine a deep sense of satisfaction. Like many in SL®, Anatine enjoyed the club scene for a time. It was at a club that [DDL] began to take shape. “I was standing at a club and someone talked to me. I didn’t know that person; the name didn’t ring any bells for me. Later I found out he was a designer. We became friends. He encouraged me to learn more, so I did. He’s not in SL® anymore, but he’s always been my role model and someone I’ll always admire. The second person I will always be grateful to is another stranger I met at the same club while just standing there. Another designer and owner of a great shopping sim (he’s not in SL® anymore either) who saw what I was doing and also encouraged me to make more accessories. He invited me to be a guest at a very popular discount shop at that time. So I started making more accessories, but I still didn’t have an in-world store. The third person who helped me was a friend of mine who told me literally, ‘It’s now or never! We are building your store right now!’ And he helped me build my first store. 54
Dress: Just Smile by DDL, bag: No, you boys by DDL, glasses: Ay Ay Ay by DDL, necklace: Linger by DDL, shoes: Obsession by DDL, watch: Savior by DDL.
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Tank: Just a Few Basics Tank by DDL, jacket: Just a Few Basics Cardigan by DDL, pants: Just a Few Basics Skinny Jeans by DDL, bag: Lucky Ones by DDL, glasses: I quit by DDL, shoes: On the floor by DDL, bracelets: Skull by DDL.
Dress: I feel fine by DDL, bag: Hello goodbye by DDL, shoes: I told you so by DDL, watch: Savior by DDL.
That is how I became a designer, and DDL was finally born.” Designing her fashions is a creative outlet for Anatine and a labor of love. She logs in to create items inspired by her first life. She has been in SL® long enough to know what she likes and what she doesn’t, and to see the build abilities change over time. “Things always change in SL® - meshes arrived. And that was great for 3D designers in SL®. It’s a new world of opportunities, and that’s awesome.” Anatine is always striving to do better by trying to make her designs as realistic as possible. “I’m always learning, and I will be forever. So what you can expect is that I will become a little better each time I create something.” [DDL] came to be at a time she needed it to most, Anatine explains. “It coincided with a huge change phase in my personal life. Lots of things changed but not really because of becoming a designer. Spending time doing what I love helped me overcome a crisis. I feel really lucky.” When asked what in her collection of designs was her favorite Anatine replied, “The heels I named ‘I told you so...’ Why? Because I’m always my worst critic, but I fell absolutely in love with them as soon as I finished.” As for her plans for the future of [DDL] her plans are simple, “I’ll keep doing what I love to do.” Shop [DDL] Visit [DDL] on the Second Life® Marketplace
Couture Clash
Writer Louise Roundel Photographer Dantelicia Ethaniel
La Dol
Top and shoulder pieces: The Last Royal byVanguard, skirt: Sicily by Gizza, hat: Black Gold by Meilo Minotaur, neckpiece: Helena by Emotions, cross: Cross Pendant Necklace by Baiastice, bracelet: Takara by Mandala.
T
he longing for warm weather, blue skies and lighter clothes has come to an end. Summer is finally here, and despite the worldwide forecasts for colder temperatures this year, it is absolutely impossible to keep any woman from kicking her sandals down any street where the sun is shining. No matter where in the world you are, the hot temperatures allow you to be transported to another reality, to a place where there is music outside, people are dancing in the streets or somewhere where you are simply lounging, sunbathing. The tropical indulgence becomes real, even if just in your wardrobe.
ce Vita
Dress: Is My Lace Showing by Boudoir, head wrap: Jah by LH Couture, earrings: Gigi by Fulo.
The satisfaction of putting on a little outfit, imagining oneself somewhere in the Mediterranean - where glamour is eternal and sipping on a cocktail while waiting for the nail polish to dry brightens any day. And for this reason, after spending hours looking at fashion folios on WGSN’s website, it became quite clear that from all the designers and all the collections available, there was one who simply reflects everything that a woman needs for this season. That is Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring/Summer 2013 Collection: our plane ticket to Sicily. The colours, the energy and the simple elegance of the Sicilian inspired collection emanates nothing but pure heat as one catches a glimpse of the outfits. Some of you may think of traditional Italian outfits to be conservative, but trust us, there is nothing conservative about this collection. Just to kick start it, let’s look at the choice of bold statement patterns with figures inspired by street theatre puppets, the clear influences of African and Arabic cultures, the opulence of the Mediterranean history all carefully wrapped in a sea of bright colour, like a walking canvas in the glamour museum. Stripes and geometrical shapes are essential to this, yes, but, let’s take it up a notch, shall we? The first thing that pops to mind when you see the crop tops may be, “This is a somewhat of a 1950’s interpretation,” and
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Overall: Bottom Dweller Jumper by Loovus Dzevavor, head scarf: Viva La Melia by Ameliarae Beauparlant, shoes: Siracusa by Similar Italian Footwear, bracelet: Snake Bracelet by Baiastice.
Dress: Maja by Faster Pussycat, shirt: Baroque Sicily by Gizza, hair by Boon, earrings by Zibska.
Body: Morena swimsuit by Miamai, hoop skirt: Romantic Soliloquy by Paper Couture, cuffs: Cabinet des Antiques by Violator, head band by Shi, hair: Ula by Lelutka, lipstick by Pididdle.
you would be correct, however, nothing can ever be just-whatit-is when it comes to Dolce & Gabbana. The outfits would have to be adorned with something that catches your eye, and for that reason, you have cute and girlie little details like pom-poms and flowers that attempt - and fail to draw your eye from the sheer fabrics used. Feeling the heat already? So are we! Skirts are very present and in different lengths, but they are not all that define this collection as “feminine”. It oozes femininity with its figure hugging cuts, smart print clash choices, cute shorts and clever detailing. But if you think that Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana would stop there, you would be wrong. Pushing the collection even more to the demi-couture side, you can find intricate wicker bustiers and corsets that will shock and amaze anyone looking - perfectly wearable by the right woman, at the right holiday spot, borrowing a little of the Italian woman’s sensuality. Can you feel the heat already? Let us find you a comfortable spot in the sun; just put on your heels and relax. The waiter will bring you your drink any minute now. Enjoy your holidays!
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Breeze
Summer
L’femme
by Neva Crystall
Hair: Mimi by Diva, skin: Cleo by Glam Affair, dress: Ruffle Dress by GizzA, bag: Summer by GizzA. 78
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Scarf: Cotton scarf by Milk Motion, bag: Alphabet Marine Trico Bag by ASO, top: Ruffly Kini Aloha Top by Paper Doll, ipod: Silver ipod by KAZ, bracelets: Friendship Bracelets by Boom, watch: Asia by Gizza, shorts: Work Out by Gizza. 81
Hair by Eaters Coma, headpiece: Aiko by LaGyo, Jumpsuit by Gizza.
Hair: Siobhan by Maitreya, hat: Leather Made Goat Head by Teefy, dress: Aurelia Summer dress by Teefy, backpack: Residents Monkey by D Lab.
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Homme
sweet SE by James Schwarz
Cap: 5 Panel Cap by Alright, shirt: Fresh Prince by Credo, shorts: Mark by Fatewear.
ERENITY
Tank: Vest Tank Top by Flow, pants: Baggy Jeans by Pumpkin, Cuffs: Sea Story Leather Cuff by Tabloid, hair: Jirou by Taketomi, sunglasses: Old Timer by Sorgo, guitar: Chaos by Ur Favorite Store.
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Sunglasses: Old Timer Shades by Sorgo, tank: Layered Tank by Sleepy Eddy, Cuffs: Sea Story Leather Cuff by Tabloid, pants: Easy Tapered Pants by Rom.
Sunglasses: Billionaire by Sorgo, jacket: Quilt Jacket by Gato, trunks: Ian by Fatewear.
Focus On
SENTANT Bikini: Wildlife Tini Kini by Drift, Necklace: Katakori by Mandala, Bracelets: Cuffs by Erratic, Hair: Yesterday by Magika, Hat: Berthhold by Lelutka.
SOLEIL by Diconay Boa
Swimsuit: Suape by Amarelo Manga, bracelet: Polly by Mandala, hair: Crazy in love by Exile, necklace: Tefutefu by Mandala.
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Bikini: Maua by Baiastice, palm leafs: Palms by LaGyo, bracelets: Kitsch by Glow Studio, shades: Circacia by Lelutka, necklace: Omochi by Mandala.
Bikini Top: Bandeau by Drift, Hair: Nyx by Exile, Necklace: Vanisri by Zaara.
His Details
The Desperate
Vacationers by Ocean Blackthorne
Hair: Boy37 by Dura, skin: Sky by The Body Co, eyes: Fate Eyes by Fate, facial hair: Chin Strap by Valiant and Sacred, earrings: Takayama by Mandala, milk: Choklit Milk in Yer Mouf by Evilkyoot, necklace: Dagger by Fusion, shirt: Kauai Outfit by Shiki, sunglasses: Randy Glasses by Revanche, bag: Bunneh Bag by FreakyDesign, bag: The Last Genesis Bag by Aitui, floatie: Floaties by Miamai.
Headphones: Amped Headphones by Remarkable Oblivion, hair: Zayn by Taketomi, sunglasses: Bottle Cap Shades by Pididdle, lollipop: Sculpted Lollipop by Flecha, shirt: Tropical Summer Shirt by JLBAision, bag: Pet Carrier by Tutys, necklace: Riddim Necklace by Kari, surf board: Shaka Brah Surfboard by Tabloid & Ma Vie, bracelets: Wooden Bracelets by Okkbye, flip flops: FliFlop by Cheerno, shorts: Burak Swim Suit by Vero Modero.
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Necklace: Dagger by Fusion, shirt: Kauai Outfit by Shiki, sunglasses: Randy Glasses by Revanche, bag: Bunneh Bag by FreakyDesign, bag: The Last Genesis Bag by Aitui, floatie: Floaties by Miamai, watch: Pyramid Watch by Cashmere and Keane, pants: Trousers Camo by Kauna.
Hair: Gosling by Burley, sunglasses: Glasses Aviator by Cheerno, earrings: Achilleus Pierce by Gabriel, necklace: Safeguard Chain by Fruk, blazer: Floral Blazer by Gizza, bag: Kelly Tote by Deco, purse: Mermaid Purse by Handverk, icecream: I Scream You Scream by Ur Favorite One, camera bag: Toy Cam Mera Bag by Teefy, swim ring: Swim Ring Quack by Sway, shorts: Zack by Fatewear, bag: Men Backpack by Gizza.
From Runway To Street
Skirt: Natzuka by Solides Folies, blouse: Arabesque by LeeZu, hair: Carnival by Vanity Hair, earrings: Ewa by LaGyo, necklace: Kenya by LaGyo, skin: Summer by Glam Affair, eyeliner: Colorful by Glam Affair, eyeliner: Vintage liner by Miamai.
Summer Color Stylists Angelick Lavecchia and Syra Hyun Photographer Syra Hyun
Blouse: Arabesque by LeeZu, bodysuit: Pantone by LD Major, skirt: Laurie low wait Hi by Teefy, earrings and necklace: Grapa by Finesmith, necklace: Ewa by LaGyo, headpiece: Spring orchyds by LaGyo, skin: Summer by Glam Affair, hair: The meadow by Vanity Hair, shoes: Espadrilles by Gos.
Jacket and shirt: Gaston Jacket and Shirt by Entente, pants: Mills pants by Gizza, hat: Biker Cap by Straps, boots: Yaji by Cheerno, glasses: Optino by K gs.
Vest: Weave Leather vest by Shi, pants: Mills pants by Gizza, sneakers: Low Cuttlerz by 2Real, bracelet: Pearl Rain by Mandala, watch: Hokusai by Mandala, necklace: Nothing’s Necklace by Hod, glasses: Roux Reader by Balaclava, hair: Vindicated by Exile.
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Blouse: Sarit by Shi, skirt: Ava by Ladies Who Lunch, skirt: Aviari Tutuby Ladies Who Lunch, hat: Blush veil by Ladies Who Lunch, earrings: Brandy by Pure Poisson, collar: vers5 by Solidea Folies, skin: Summer by Glam Affair.
Hair: Bitter Sweet by Vanity Hair, skin: Summer by Glam Affair, lipstick: Cleo by Glam Affair, earrings and ring: Sarit by Finesmith, blouse: Sarit by Shi, leggins: Vegan Leathertte by Ladies Who Lunch, shoes: Fearless by BSD Design Studio, bag: Petra Rivet by Glam Affair.
Shirt: Plain Shirt by Chronokit, swimsuit: Swimtrunk by Elysium, boots: Triumph Boots by Gos, bracelet and watch: Sitennoah by Mandala, hat: Chic Fedora by Nyu, necklace: Tie Necklace by Mandala.
Shirt: Plain Shirt by Chronokit, swimsuit: Swimtrunk by Elysium, shoulder shirt: T shirt Regata by Muschi, sneakers: Sneakers Miles by Redgrave, hair: Rich by Cheerno, glasses: Cyrah by K gs, necklace: Epiphany necklace by Kosh, bracelet: Armlet Nuts by Redgrave.
To The Nines
Life’ Bea
Photographer Citta Wiskee Models blackLiquid T Devine Hunt, & Honey Bend
Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, hair: Amandine by Emotions, skin: Miss Aries by Cstar, makeup: Cat eyes by Corvus, bracelets: Jasha by Pacadi, necklace by Mandala, sandals: Envy by Diktator, shades: Deluxe by Baricci.
’s a ach
Tokyoska, , der
Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, hair: Trouble by AA, necklace: Adira by ZC, bracelets by Amorous, nails by Mandala, face paint: Talen by Handverk, skin: Limited Copper by Cstar.
Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, makeup: Chic by BlackLiquid, blush: Deep Blush by Vive9, shoes: Delicious by Ncore, bangle: Zerbani by Osakki, hair: Candy by Truth.
Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, makeup: Orient cloud by BlackLiquid, glasses: Fabby by Yummy, basket: Beach Basket by Gizza, sandals: Gladiator by Skifija, bracelet: Bangles by Nod, hair: Pocahontas by Lelutka.
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Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, skin: Trina by Meghindo, hair: Pap584 by Boon, headpiece: Solidea by Solidea Folies, ring: Chameleon by Solidea Folies, makeup: Element by Glamorize, shoes: Pretender Platforms by Ladies Who Lunch, jewellry: Sveta by Zibska.
Swimsuit: Safari by Violator, skin: Trina by Meghindo, jewellry: Wanderer by League, shows: Lolita Espadrilles by Gos, hair: Siobhan by Maitreya, bag: Straw Tote by Mon Tissu, eyeshadow: Indifference by Mock.
Color
by Angels Milena http://www.angelsmilena.blogspot.it/
Hair: Gwen by Emotion, body: Bandage suit by Ison, belt: Reine by Azul, necklace: Un Corail by Je Suis, earrings: Ilde by Donna Flora, bangles: Takara Bangle by Mandala, sunglasses: Anna Shades by ChicZafary, lipstick: Lola Lipstick Color Trend by Handmade, eyeshadow: Eyeshadow Stunning by Mons, eyelashes: Couture Eyeliner 01 by Glam Affair.
Beat
Blogspot
Turban: Manish Turban by Vanity Hair, dress: Baroque Decal Mini by Loovus Dzevavor, leggins: Mesh Leggings by Maitreya, earrings: Artemide by Donna Flora, necklace: Cactus by Paper Couture, ring: Aziza by Donna Flora, eyeshadow: Glam Eyeshadows by Dead Apples, lipstick: Lola Lipstick Color Trend by Handmade.
Hair: SMK876 by Boon, top: Mrs Carter Ethnic by ChicZafary, skirt: Goddess skirt by Paperbag, legging: Mary Jane Legging by Paperbag, jewels: Ravesc by Donna Flora, lipstick: Priscilla lipstick by Handmade.
Hair: The Meadow by Vanity Hair, earrings: Earrings Pyramid by Mons, eyeshadow: Eyeshadow Wonder by Mons, lipstick: Lana Lipstick by Handmade, jacket: Esme Silk Scarf Print Suit by Liv Glam, top ad pants: D&G by Paperbag, shoes: Cassandra Heels by Slink.
Hair: 002 by Aurora Hair, flower headpiece: Juicy Flower by Vanity Hair, eyes: mesh eyelids by Slink, lipstick: Lipstick Festival by Mons, earring: Sparkling Feathers by Glow Studio, shoulder pads: Ara by Solidea Folies, dress: Maten chiffon by Baiastice.
Fashion Agenda
Glamming the Grid W
ith summer officially under way, the fashion circuit in Second Life速 is heating up over a new competition. Glam Girls 2013 by Liv Glam has begun the search for the most glamorous ladies on the gird. On June 22nd, the thirteen semifinalists for the first round took to the runway before the judges and a select audience. Featuring a design by Liv Glam, contestants showed us their interpretation of Casual, Business, Cocktail, & Club Glam. Initially selected from the submission pool on Flickr, the semi-finalists were able to strut their stuff on the same catwalk which hosted the release show for the Liv Glam summer line and the surprise announcement of the competition itself just last month.
Writer Liat Reina Photographer Eira Juliesse
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As the evocative tunes of DJ Seashell Dench filled the air, hostess Amazon Silverweb welcomed each lady to the runway. A panel of judges including representatives from Liv Glam, AVENUE magazine and two modeling academies had the difficult task of selecting the first four GLAM GIRLS of 2013. The finalists will go on to compete with other winners from each month in the grand finale taking place on December 20th, 2013 where final winner will be selected. Each of the finalists for the month will walk away with a prize bundle including Linden™ dollars, a Liv Glam gift card, an outfit named after them, the chance to model for an upcoming vendor display, and a L$1000 voucher for AVENUE Models Academy. Last but not least, each of the finalists will be featured in AVENUE magazine. Therefore, without further ado, Liv Glam and AVENUE are pleased to present a forward from Miss SamanthaSJones of Liv Glam followed by a look at the GLAM GIRLS for June 2013. “From its humble beginnings, Liv Glam has grown from a one person company into a virtual fashion house with many employees and a steady growth of customers. In discussing a way to show our customers appreciation, we wanted to do something different. We wanted to do something out of the box. We could show appreciation by giving some clothing away. But even more amazingly, we could give
one woman, or a small group of women, the chance to be the face of Liv Glam. This was the driving concept behind Glam Girls. The Glam Girls will be just what the name states: Glamorous. We have high expectations at Liv Glam, and the women chosen will be ones who are fashion forward and who present themselves well in a variety of situations. We are looking for an entire package as the girls chosen will not only be the new face of Liv Glam, but they will be spokesmodels whose actions and words will represent the company. In addition to their spokesmodel roles, the winners will ultimately receive a career boost in the modeling industry as they work with Miss SamanthaSJones and her staff. Monthly advertisements featuring the winners will appear in store and other media. In addition, the top Glam Girl will receive fifty thousand Lindens in cash, modeling academy vouchers from AVENUE Models Academy, and will be used in future advertising campaigns.” – SamanthaSJones, Liv Glam CEO CONTEST INFORMATION & RULES SLURL http://maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/zenshi%20east%20 two/125/175/28 FLICKR http://www.flickr.com/ groups/2038164@N25/pool/
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Casual Glam:
Danity Mynx
Casual GLAM GIRL for June 2013, Danity Mynx, exemplifies the relaxed but polished look that brings glamorous flair to the everyday. Her styling of the Adailia jumpsuit charmed the judges into feeling her inspiration: “A soft sandy beach and warm salty water washing over your toes as you stroll along a deserted beach. Walking along the water’s edge, casting your worries into the water like stones. The Adailia Jumpsuit reflects calmness with its light flowing material and noted that the shoulders and arms are bare to enjoy the rays of the sun. Making it a perfect outfit to enjoy the ocean with.” This self described “Jane of all trades, master of none,” felt she truly found her passion with her first runway walk. She loves all aspects of a fashion show, from styling an outfit to make it shine, to the walk, the poses, and all the preparation. All of it leading up to “that heart racing first walk in a show.” She used to take all that work for granted when she watched a show, but no longer. Currently a working store model for four designers, she looks forward to walking many more runways “and showing off the hard work of such amazing creators.”
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She uses SL® itself as her inspiration: “I am a shopping maven. Ok, ok - I am a shopa-holick.” She marvels at the creations she finds all around her. “I like taking a piece and making it mine, of putting it in an outfit and making it real for me.” She discovered Liv Glam by accident and swiftly fell in love with the styles and was further impressed by the texture work of her first purchases. “Liv Glam gives you a mixture of all types of outfits perfect for all occasions, and you know if you purchased something from them, you are sure to be wearing your very best.” When asked what Glam is to her, she shared the following, “Glam to me is that extra special quality that makes you stand out. Glam is the ability to take fashion trends and make them yours. That perfect final touch.” Her advice to those who aspire to be GLAM GIRLS would be, “Believe in yourself. Have the confidence to put yourself out there. This is your Second Life; be willing to succeed. “
Business Glam:
GloriaSilverstone Resident
As the business GLAM GIRL for June 2013, Gloriasilverstone Resident was able to portray the ultimate in chic and fabulous office wear. Her styling of the Liv Glam Spring 2013 Alice suit left no doubt that it is possible to bring glam to the office and leave the boring grey suits to the men. She was able to embody a powerful yet feminine look, explaining, “The rich luxe fabric and pattern in the pencil skirt marries with the polish sleek silk jacket and sets the tone for my interior design styling; mixing ultra chic modern with luxury ornate pieces. Easy to wear and always glamorous.”
fashion in my DNA, and was born that way, so my taste is eclectic.” Most notably, she looks to Yves St Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Emilio Pucci, Ralph Lauren and the London mod movement. She fell in love with Liv Glam’s “clean lines, great style and superior quality that always makes you feel and look fabulous.” The HUD system allowing for multiple options of pattern and pantone captivated her with the ability to get far more for her money, as well. She also appreciates the design of the store itself, for she feels it “creates a mood and setting for a luxurious shopping experience.”
In real life, she is an artist and is passionate about both fashion and art. After two years in Second Life®, she is still utilizing it as one more outlet for these pursuits. She loves to create characters and moods with her styling and has explored multiple genres in this pursuit. She also adores stretching her imagination by entering contests and has been honored by being selected as a finalist in many.
Glam, to her, is all about “a perfectly tailored, finished look… always going the ‘extra mile’ to style yourself to perfection.” She feels simplicity is key and that less is more, opting for a refined look “but always finished and polished.” To those who aspire to be GLAM GIRLS, she offers the following advice:
She finds inspiration from many places: art, architecture, cultures and history just to name a few. “ I love rich fabric, polished tailoring and good design. It seems I have
“Select a garment that you love and enjoy wearing. Keep your styling clean, simple and polished, allowing the Liv Glam outfit to speak for itself. Enjoy the experience and the wonderful people you will meet.”
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Cocktail Glam:
Lucemia Resident
When it came to presenting a look that was perfect for an elegant evening, cocktail GLAM GIRL for June 2013 Lucemia Resident nailed it. Her look featuring the Wanda Monochrome Dress fit this category exactly, as well as her inspiration. She says, “I love the elegance and refinement. The style is a little vintage, mixed, however, with elements of modern styling and a nod to fashions that are somehow timeless. For me, it creates fascination, admiration, and celebrates the whole ‘modern’ woman with an inspiration to the fashion of the past that celebrated the curves and allure of the perfect hour-glass figure.” As a professional Italian model for the past two years in Second Life®, she loves all things fashion. “My dream is to work for famous brands and agencies and have access to the most prestigious fashion.” She loves to improve herself and enhance her competence as well as her experiences. A graduate of four different modeling academies, she is currently working to complete two more programs. She loves challenges and proving herself, traits which have her constantly looking for new castings and placing well in several competitions. In addition to all this, she also finds time to own and hold a position as
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top model for Sunshine Agency, a fashion house, restaurant, and large mall dedicated to the high fashion brands in SL®. Her fashion inspiration is always about refined elegance, but she loves to be unique and original as well, creating her own style by studying the combinations and searching for the most suitable accessories. When it comes to Liv Glam, she particularly loves the modern design and flexibility of the selections. The originality of the cuts which allow for a perfect fit in combination with the HUD system offering greater flexibility in the texture and color options, she feels makes it easy to prepare an outfit with class. In reflecting on what glam is to her, she shared the following: “Glam. The word is synonymous with charm, elegance and prestige, all of the terms and characteristics that I identify with and are fully represented by the brand Liv Glam.” To those who seek to become GLAM GIRLS themselves, she offers this advice: “I would recommend you buy and try various outfits of the fashion house Liv Glam, in order to experience more genres and their adaptability to your own personality.”
Shop [DDL] at maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/Endless%20 Horizons/177/121/400]
[http://
Visit [DDL] on the Second Life速 Marketplace at [https:// marketplace.secondlife.com/ stores/13328]
Tank: Just a Few Basics Tank by DDL, jacket: Just a Few Basics Cardigan by DDL, pants: Just a Few Basics Skinny Jeans by DDL, bag: Lucky Ones by DDL, glasses: I quit by DDL, shoes: On the floor by DDL, bracelets: Skull by DDL.
Club Glam:
Prisilla Avro
A reminder that last is never least, club GLAM GIRL for June 2013 Prisilla Avro brings sizzle to the final category. When it’s time for a night out and the goal is to dance until dawn, the styling she presented of the Slainie MiniDress showed how to maintain that super chic look. She shares, in her own words, what this look says to her: “This outfit is a show stopper… one everyone in the club is sure to take notice of. The desire to be bold and breathtaking served as inspiration for this styling. A provocative little black dress confirms you are certain to be noticed. Party or club rocking with a clever twist on style is what it is all about!” With six years of enjoying Second Life® to the fullest, she is constantly impressed by the level of creativity shared by other residents. “I firmly believe SL is an excellent medium to express creativity in any form, and that is one of the reasons I enjoy it so thoroughly.” She was initially too intimidated to pursue modeling in SL® which had been a long time dream of hers. When she took a position as a writer for AVENUE magazine however, she felt it was time to give it a try. ”It has been my SL dream job. Without
my wonderful AVENUE family, I would not be a Glam Girl finalist today.” She loves what Tyra Banks has done to empower and instruct young models and feels inspired by her longevity and versatility in the fashion industry. As a Latina of similar background, she finds Jennifer Lopez to be one of the most beautiful, natural, bold, and still down to earth inspirations. “For me, Tyra Banks brings fierce and Jennifer Lopez brings sabor... latin flavor. This has translated into my fashion statement... Barrio Chic. I strive for my stylings to be fierce and full of sabor.” She finds the variety of styles provided by Liv Glam to be perfect for any occasion. “They are versatile and creative. I enjoy bringing my flavor to their designs.” She describes glam in her own words: “Glam is being fierce and fabulous! Glam is about confidence, poise and style. Glam is about being noticed.” Her advice to those who seek to be GLAM GIRLS is stated best by a direct quote. “Don’t resist what draws your eye. You are attracted for a reason; find that reason and make that outfit your own.”
Recreation & Leisure
Baja Norte Writer Prisilla Avro Photographer Ziki Questi “The cure for anything is salt water - tears, sweat, or the sea.� Isak Dinesen
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large expanse of serene beach welcomes you upon arrival in Baja Norte. From there, the choice is yours. Walk the shoreline? Venture inland? What will catch your eye and beckon you toward it? There are many places for contemplation, with or without a significant other. The landscaping is incredibly realistic and photogenic. There is no shortage of angles for the camera loving visitor.
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Bringing the natural beauty of real life into Second Life® is something many strive to do, but few are successful. Jac Mornington is one of the successful few. His latest build is Baja Norte, inspired by the real life location of the same name. Mornington remarked, “Landscaping these sims is like painting in 3D to me. I put a lot of soul into Baja. The ocean is a powerful force... untamed and vast. All life comes from her.” Mornington enjoys the challenge of bringing real life to SL®. “I study the landscape I am recreating in SL® from real life and try to only use features, flora, fauna that would be found in the real life location. I love when a sim has movement and life. But the greatest satisfaction for me is when the landscape design affects people. Almost every day, I log into someone telling me how much they love the sim. I enjoy giving others a beautiful place to reflect and share. Also, it draws many creative people, photographers, machinimists, bloggers, models, designers, and creators. I love meeting them all and seeing their work created from Baja and throughout SL®.” The grid has been graced by several Mornington sims. “I usually keep a design for a few months before the desire to create a new landscape takes over. I wish I had a 100 sims. One sim in the past was an arctic theme featured in showcase. I love winter themes... the solitude and peace of winter gives time for reflection.” Baja Norte in SL® took Mornington a
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month to create and was open to the public in March of this year. Mornington came to SL® over five years ago after hearing about it on the news. “I saw a story one evening on news program about a virtual economy and this new game where you could build, create and sell virtually anything. I still have not gotten to the ‘sell’ part of things, but I do enjoy the building and creating.” Bringing a vibrant and lifelike sim to life is a long process for Mornington. “First I have to be inspired by a vision for the sim. Then I research the real life photos and study. The first challenge is the land textures and blending those throughout the sim. Next is to lay down the bones... the rocks and features. My favorite part, then, is the flora and fauna. And, finally the decorations and props. But all of it starts with a vision and then takes on life of its own.” The inspiration his sims cause in others is very meaningful to Mornington. “I enjoy creating these sims. I have met so many people from all over the world who come to visit. I love giving people a beautiful place to enjoy SL®. And I especially love seeing my work inspire others.... and this inspires me to do the next one.” Visit Baja Norte: Salt Water [180.150.22] View the inspiration of Baja Norte on Flickr.
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Architecture
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Maven Homes
Writer Lexie Jansma Photographer Nariko Okawa
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home is a place to rest your weary bones after a long day of Second Life速 troubles. Home is a place to get away from the dance parties, the loud din, and the drama that can invade a virtual world. Your home can be anything you want it to be: a tropical beach house, white washed castle in the mountains, or a little cabin in the middle of a magical forest. A home should reflect the personal taste of its owner. Helping to reflect these personal tastes and make home dreams come true is Cain Maven of Maven Homes.
Maven began his journey in SL® by altering other home builders’ work to suit his tastes. His inability to find something that fit his needs, along with his skills, led him down the path to being a home builder. “I had a little experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, and software development. I taught myself scripting, started throwing prims together, and little by little, built my first house.” Maven’s first build was a clunking success. He remembers, “It had all the airy elegance of a WWII bunker.” Eventually, he built two more just like it, bought some land, and began Maven Homes. In three and a half years, Maven has expanded from concrete bunkers into a plethora of styles and periods. He has worked on builds from the Villa Anatra based on the Italian Renaissance to more modern homes. Maven said of himself, “I’m an incurable modernist, or maybe postmodernist, or post postmodernist. But I try to work in a variety of styles, both because of the challenge and to present variety to the market.” You will find many styles of builds, including log cabins, Victorian faire, and even Georgian architecture. The abilities of mesh have made their way into home builds, as well. As the advances keep coming, Maven continues to challenge himself and the capabilities of mesh. His inspiration comes from this desire to push not only the tools he uses, such as mesh, but also his own abilities. Inspiration
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can come from the most unlikely of places, such as something he might see in real life, architectural magazines or websites, or other such triggers. Maven tries to find the balance between the creative and the business side of things. A very shrewd business man, if he does not see a market for it, he may not produce it. In the very same vein, it is hard for him to get involved in a project he is not passionate about. “If I try to build something that I don’t personally like, it doesn’t come out very well. There has to be some sort of creative interest.” The initial drive that Maven expressed to alter his own first home has translated into his business even today. He offers limited customization of existing builds so that customers may make it into their own personalized space. On occasion, he even considers complete custom builds. If that is not in the cards due to price, time, or other considerations, Maven offers some versatility in his homes. “I try to build some flexibility into the designs (which can a challenge with mesh) so that the customers have some options to make their own changes.” Maven very much considers his customer and their use of their home. He understands the desire to make a space uniquely theirs. Every detail is considered and carefully brought to Second Life. The amazing skills that Maven possesses, not only the creative, but the business acumen, allow him to provide a quality
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product at a reasonable price, and with impeccable customer service. When you are finally ready to settle down in SL and find your own little piece of paradise, make sure to stop by Maven Homes. Visit Maven Homes at http:// slurl.com/secondlife/Maven%20 Homes/128/128/24.
The
STUFF Of Life Writer Cajsa Lilliehook Photographer Zazie
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hat piece of shale on the side table is not just a stone; it is a round trip ticket to Cayuga Lake and the joy of learning to water-ski. That conch is more than the shell of a sea snail; it is a link in a chain of memories going back to a honeymoon in Barbados generations ago. That book on the shelf is a story shared about a mother, a daughter and a long-gone grandmother. This is what we call stuff, a humble word, but pregnant with meaning and memory. This is the stuff of life, the little pieces of memory that make our homes into a living history of us.
Interiors
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When we see a house without stuff, we say it does not look lived in. We are a nesting species, and we need to feel that human element, that bit of story and history, to feel at ease. We need that in our virtual lives as well. Tegan Serin of floorplan. is one of those people who creates the sundries of memory that can turn a Second Life® house into a home. Whether it is plates for the kitchen wall, a written manuscript to place on a desk or a stack of books with a lamp, floorplan. is the place to go to find the stuff of life. Serin joined Second Life® after watching an episode of The Office where Dwight plays the game. ”During the episode, I didn’t think that SL® was real. I thought they made it up for the show! After it was over, I googled it and decided to give it a try to find Dwight (I did - and he gave me beets!).” Serin has been creating for a long time, at Reek with a former partner, at fri.day under an alt and with an earlier store, a small prefab shop called Molto Bene! with skyboxes and houses. She closed up shop when sculpts came along, thinking the technology would confound her, which makes it all the more surprising that mesh led
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to the renaissance of her building career with floorplan. As she explains, “I completely talked myself out of ever creating in-world again, but then last summer another creator talked me into at least giving it a try, so the first thing I created was a mesh coffee table. It took me 5 hours to make from start to finish! It was frustrating, and hard, and there were many times I just wanted to give up, but after about three months in Maya, one day it all just clicked! It all made sense!” Serin loves the Home and Garden business and has become a popular designer. She has focused a lot on knick-knacks and other sundries because she was self-conscious about adding the requisite adult animations for furniture, but she has worked her way past that embarrassment with the help of friends. Most recently, her play tents for the The Arcade June were a huge hit. They typify the sense of whimsy and quirkiness that is the essence of the floorplan. aesthetic. Vibrant colors, a hint of playful dorkiness and a sense of humor combine to capture the hearts of SL® residents. Her favorite creation was made earlier this year for The Arcade in March. Collaborating with Darling Monday of fri.day, she made the Teardrop Trailers. “I was brainstorming for weeks... one night I was thinking about things I loved when I was a kid,
and camping was a big part of my life. I knew instantly that I wanted to make a trailer, but I don’t think I could have pulled it off without Darling! She helped me with some of the textures and also made custom poses for it, and I could not be happier with how it came out and how well-received it was across the grid!” From choosing pink walls for her bedroom when she was three (and regretting that from kindergarten to high school) to her present day love of finding those special pieces that make her home feel lived in, Serin has always loved decorating. Second Life® has allowed her to indulge that love. “I remember my first plot of land, my first house, and all the furniture and decor rather well. Everything I always wanted in real life, I was able to have here. One week I could live in a tropical paradise, the next a New England cottage. I loved how the possibilities were endless.” Serin is constantly preparing and planning for events. June’s Summerfest, an event conceived by Darling Monday, was one of the most rewarding. “It was a lot of work from start to finish but I loved the environment we createda scenic New England style beachthe beach of my childhood, as I grew up in Connecticut and spent my summers in Cape Cod. I co-create for fri.day under my alt, Friday Monday, and I was responsible for the builds. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!”
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Many designers struggle with balancing the demands of multiple events with the need to focus on their main store and their core business. Serin participates in many events herself, but does not see that as a conflict. She has a hard time saying no to events and often works long hours to finish work for the events. “I haven’t been able to do a regular store release in quite some time, but I’m okay with that. I’m so proud of all the events I’m in, specifically Fifty Linden Friday (FLF), to which I owe floorplan.’s start! I had previously participated in FLF with my previous shops, and when Barb started FLF 2.0 she graciously allowed me to participate, even though at the time all I had was a few tables and wall decor.” In fact, FLF worked to motivate Serin and push her to keep working, improving and expanding. Writers are advised to write what they know, painters are told to paint what they see. Perhaps the advice for home and decor creators is to build what they love. “I create things that I love, and if you haven’t noticed yet, a lot of my creations have books in them! Open books, closed books, bookshelves, stacks of books, a headboard made of books- I love to read, and neither my real life nor SL® would be complete without them scattered around.” Floorplan. has been rewarding, exciting and frustrating. Learning Maya was a battle for Serin, but
friends such as Kaz Nayar of PILOT and Darling Monday for fri. day helped her through the tough spots by screen sharing on skype and finding tutorials. The most frustrating for her is the excitement of coming up with something new and the disappointment of discovering it was not so new after all. “There has been more than one occasion where I planned or started working on a project, and then I glance at flickr and someone else had just released something so similar - so not wanting to step on anyone’s toes, I put my project on hold, sometimes indefinitely, which really sucks because a few times I was so excited to work on the project!” The greatest reward for Serin, though, is being able to leave her real life job and support herself in SL®. “So I get to work in my PJs all day, create my own hours, and fully support myself in the process. It’s an amazing and scary feeling all at once!” Working fulltime in SL® requires being able to explain her work to people who have no concept of our world. Serin describes herself as a “digital architect for a virtual platform. I create 3D models of homes and home goods that can be used to create 3D environments for others to view.” Serin’s second life and her real life flow together. “This isn’t just a game to me, and it isn’t just my job. SL® has given me so much more than that.” She met her best friend in SL® and they have traveled to see each other four times and plan
many more trips in the future. “I’ve met friends from all over the place in person, and so many more just in world that I’m so thankful for, that I couldn’t imagine my life without. I get to spend my days creating things that I want to create, spend time with amazing, creative people, and I couldn’t be more thankful!” “It is such a great feeling to know that people genuinely enjoy my work! In terms of the SL® community, overall, last week I received an IM from a customer who simply stated, ‘Thank you for making SL® a more beautiful place.’ To think that I contribute something beautiful to this vast grid is pretty amazing for me.” Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/annunziatamacchi/ Marketplace: https:// marketplace.secondlife.com/ stores/118568 SLURL: The Nest [83.123.21]
Landscapes and Gardens
Summer B Writer Umberto Giano Photographer Neva Crystall
Foliage: Hanging Grapevine, Mediterranean Cypress and Fallen Leaves by 3D Trees, Green Ivy by UrbanizeD, furniture: Cabinet Hutch with Sink by Trompe Loeil, Classic Barrel Barbecue by C&D Designs, Pigeon Hole Wine Rack by Breno, Dishrack by Dutchie, Italian Cafetiere by Taressos Arts, lighting: Hanging Lanterns by Trompe Loeil, smalls: Olive Oil Bottles, Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Winebottles and Can by Dutchie, Melons by Flecha, Coffee Sack, Radio System, Coffee Grinder and Coffee Sacks by Tartessos Arts, potted plants: Potted Flowers by DIGS, Genesee Bushel Basket by POST, Potted Flowers by Dutchie.
in Small Spaces
Blooms F
or people decorating a small outdoor space, whether a patio, front porch or even a green house, a few well-placed potted plants or containers can create the illusion of a yard full of colorful planting beds (and it is a lot less work).
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Chairs: Beloved Chair by Culprit, Newcombe Industrial Chair by The Loft, lighting: Hanging Lantern by Trompe Loeil, smalls: Newspaper&Glasses by EoD, Smoker Set by Tartessos Arts.
Blogger and interior design guru Neva Crystall approaches such spaces with an eye for detail. “My approach in such a small space is that I will try to get as much detail to each and every object possible since the space is limited,” she says. “The rich colors are of importance so the eye can differentiate the object from one another, in tight spaces monotones doesn’t really look as appealing.” Of course, decorative foliage and flowers can only benefit from welcoming touches such as a bench for sitting or a small table for potting. Neva elaborates, “It is important for me to extend the possibilities of a greenhouse or patio and not just reduce it to a place for plants. The idea of adding some common comfort like a living room couch or a working desk or even a kitchen sink and cupboards are thinkable… even reading material left on a stool gives the whole experience a fresh new feeling.” “Basically, the ideas are endless, and I carefully combine a place for plants and an area where one can also enjoy the morning paper and cuppa while not neglecting the original purpose. It is fun to experiment around on how far one can mix and discover new styles by just adding personal accents.”
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Foliage: Green Ivy by UrbanizeD, Fallen Ivy by 3D Trees, furniture: Newcombe Sideboard accessories: Vintage Goblet by The Loft, British Tea Set by Tartessos Arts, Pepper shaker Dutchie, lighting: Hanging Lantern by Trompe Loeil, smalls: Guitar by Tartessos Arts, T Moth Orchid by El Patio Inc.
d Brown, Dining Table and Industrial Chairs by The Loft, Sofa Old Stripe by mdrm, dining by Flecha, Dinnerware by Theosophy (store closed), Bread and cheese and Winebottles by TissueBox by XT, Marquette Broom by Post, potted plants: Potted Flowers by Dutchie,
Foliage: Victorian Orangery by Culprit, Mediterranean Cypress by 3D Trees, potted plants: Hanging Tri-Planter White by Trompe Loeil, Potted Flowers by Dutchie, smalls: Bicycle Decor by What Next, Trash by Dutchie, Paper Bag by EWD, Honeypot /Butter by floorplan, garden accessories: Garden Gnome by Surge, Water Hose, Garden Tools and Rain Barrel by Pilot, Dolly - Emily by MudHoney and Ladybug 211 Rainboots.
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Potted plants: Potted flowers by Dutchie, furniture: Eure Drafting Stool (light natural shabby) by Second Spaces. 213
Furniture: Trunk and Chair by Dutchie, Eure Drafting Stool (light natural shabby) by Second Spaces, Tiled table sand by Zigana, Cabinet Hutch with Sink Black by Trompe Loeil, smalls: Cobble Hill Pencil Sketches by Trompe Loeil, Newspaper by TA, Paper Bag by EWD, Winebottles and Can by Dutchie, Organic Vase Trio by Circa, Coil Baskets by MudHoney, garden accessories: Garden Supply Box by Circa, Garden trowel by Circa, Garden Supplies by Pilot, potted plants: Potted flowers by Dutchie.
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Technology
Linden Labs’ Adventure Products:
dio and Versu Writer Huckleberry Hax Photography/Images Courtesy of Linden Labs
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n February 2012, Linden Labs announced the acquisition of the experimental game studio, Little Text People, a venture between Artificial Intelligence specialist Richard Evans and Interactive Fiction author Emily Short. The day after the purchase, Linden Labs CEO Rod Humble commented on the New World Notes blog, indicating the company was developing new products separate from Second LifeÂŽ. Rumours had been circulating the previous year that Linden Labs was interested in developing text adventures, although a tweet by Humble in September 2011 had appeared to deny this.
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At the end of January 2013, Linden Labs first launched “dio”, a web-based platform. “dio” was followed by iOS application “Versu” in the middle of February. Neither are in any way related to SL®, and if it wasn’t for the banner ads for Versu recently added to the SL® website, you could be forgiven for having completely failed to notice these new companions to our beloved digital world; nothing about these launches has so far been announced on the SL® site. This does shed some possible light on the sudden flurry of posts since the start of the year in the Featured News section of the SL® dashboard; perhaps Linden Labs is hoping new users of these two products might pay SL® a visit. Dating back to 1975, text adventures started out as games where descriptions of locations were given in text, and you were able to move around and do things by typing in simple instructions such as ‘Go north’ and ‘Get sword’ and ‘Kill troll.’ In the very first text adventure, for example (“Colossal Cave Adventure,” written by Will Crowther), players were greeted with the following at the start of the game: You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully. Typing, ‘Go in’ then gave this update:
You are inside a building, a well house for a large spring. There are some keys on the ground here. There is a shiny brass lamp nearby. Games were eventually completed by using objects found such as the keys and the lamp to solve problems encountered. A darkened room, for example, might yield no secrets without that shiny brass lamp lit, but you might have to source oil and matches elsewhere before you could do that. Text adventures were popular in the very early days of home computing, with titles such as the 1982 adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit achieving over a million sales in the UK. As the graphical capabilities of those machines developed, however, the more immediate appeal of arcade style games swiftly pushed adventures out of the mainstream market. But a small and dedicated community of writers and players remained loyal to the genre, and new games have continued to be created ever since. Whilst they might be more difficult to get into initially than a game of Space Invaders, text adventures can be very immersive once you’ve got your head around them, and the pleasure at solving a complex problem is immense. Two key developments in adventures as the memory capacity of computers grew were the addition of pictures to location descriptions in some games and a greater focus on the quality of writing. The text descriptions in
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very early games were necessarily short and functional since anything more indulgent would have quickly filled up memory; as this ceased to be a limiting factor, however, more lengthy and literate narratives could be created. Over time, the term ‘interactive fiction’ was adopted to reflect this shift towards more immersive writing. Today, the term ‘text adventure’ is often used to refer to games where the focus is on solving puzzles and moving around an environment, and the term ‘interactive fiction’ used to refer to games where the focus is on narrative. This is a useful distinction for the exploration of Linden Lab’s new products, since dio would appear to be built around the text adventure approach, and Versu is very much a platform for interactive fiction. In fact, one of the first adventures to be found at dio (www.dio.com), which you access via the web and can log into using your Facebook account, is an implementation of none other than Will Crowther‘s Colossal Cave Adventure (https://www. dio.com/places/colossal-cave). The dio approach, however, does not require anything to be typed in. The options available to you in any given location are arranged down the left hand side of the screen like the navigation buttons of a turn-of-the-century web page. The location text, pictures and messages display in a frame in the middle of the screen, and there is space to the right of this for visitors to leave their comments. For me, the photographic illustrations instantly cheapened the feel of the Colossal Cave Adventure, 226
but text adventure enthusiasts always did argue that graphics ruined the visuals. Moreover, the arrangement of text and pictures on some of the dio titles gives a bit of a ‘scrapbook’ feeling. Still, it is early. The first blogs were hardly works of art, either. But it’s not just adventure games that can be created using dio. A text description of a place could be a real place or an historic place or a remembered place or a hypothetical place. A teacher could create a Victorian street of shops for pupils to explore. Distant relatives could create ‘tourable’ versions of their homes to display. Holiday photos could be linked together as an album of pictures and jotted down memories. In a sense, dio does for text adventures what SL® did for first person shooter games: it takes a way of exploring an environment and broadens this beyond merely ‘game’. dio locations are not just restricted to spatial environments; suggestions made on the site for content include hobbies and interests, such as dios that show off any collections you might have (think places on a shelf). This, therefore, is Linden Labs’ ‘Pinterest Product’, a new way for linking pictures and text that challenges the dominance of the blog and Facebook format - items linked conceptually rather than chronologically. At a simplistic level, it could just be used as a website creation tool. Versu (www.versu.com), on the other hand, is only a dedicated interactive fiction platform, the obvious outcome of the purchase
of Little Text People. Currently only available as an app for Apple devices, the download comes with three free stories and a fourth available to purchase – all written by award winning interactive fiction writer Emily Short. No doubt, the range of titles for sale will grow over time, especially once users are able to generate their own content. Currently this isn’t an option, although there are plans to introduce it in the future.
response of other characters to your actions will depend upon a number of factors, including their personality, abilities and mood. All of this complexity is gift-wrapped in Short’s sumptuous narrative and accompanied by beautiful line art illustrations. Overall, they brilliantly showcase Versu as a reading experience and set a high standard for future authors to live up to. I hope there will be more titles available soon.
The short stories are a collection of nineteenth century tales, the freebies consisting of “An Introduction to Society,” a Versu tutorial that follows schoolgirl Lucy taking instruction from her grandmama on how to behave in polite society, “The Unwelcome Proposal,” an adaption of Mr. Collins’ proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice,” and “The House on the Cliff,” a mystery story taking place on an apparently empty estate following a horse and carriage accident. On entering a story, the reader is given a choice of characters to play, and narrative is presented from that person’s perspective from that point onwards.
Blogosphere commentary on dio and Versu at the time of writing is sparse, since they are both still very recent releases. Some initial disappointment has been expressed that two products which appear at face value to do a similar thing are not compatible with each other. dio and Versu, however, are conceptually different and targeted at different audiences. They both have immense potential as content platforms and both will succeed or fail depending on the content created for them. I used to write text adventures many years ago, and I like both of these products. I have two new toys to play with which take me back to a way of thinking about stories that I haven’t entertained for a long time. That they both come from Linden Labs – the company responsible for the product that has perhaps most engaged my imagination and creativity over the last ten years – is just the icing on the cake.
As with dio, there is no text input for the Versu stories and your options are made available via menus. Don’t mistake this for a simple system, however; the options available are numerous. When Lucy takes tea with her grandmama, for example, these include stirring her tea, sipping it, slurping it, checking the level in the teapot, pouring out a cup for Grandmama, spilling a cup on Grandmama and many more. The
Huckleberry Hax writes novels set in Second Life®. You can download these for free from www. huckleberryhax.blogspot.com
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Photography by Leah McCullough
Perspectives
Fatal Crosspost:
Coming soon to a conversation near you Writer Huckleberry Hax
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saac Asimov once wrote of his pride in coining the word ‘robotics,’ a term now commonly used to describe – and this can surely come as no surprise – anything pertaining to the technology or use of robots. It might seem odd that an author of literally hundreds of books should have ranked so highly the invention of a single word – one which, let’s face it, would probably have made its way into our language in any case – in his audit of personal achievement; I’m totally with him on this, however. After nearly seven years of life in the metaverse and approximately half a million words committed in some shape or form to the subject, the marriage of just two of them delights me as one of my favourite creations: I invented the term ‘fatal crosspost.’
‘Fatal crosspost’ might not be quite so universally obvious a term as ‘robotics,’ however I’m relatively certain that most Second Life® residents will understand its meaning without too much thought. It is, of course, the accidental typing of a comment into person X’s instant message box instead of person Y’s. Not just any comment. Let’s be really clear here: simply typing any old innocuous thing into the wrong IM box by mistake is not what I’m talking about at all. That, of course, would be just a benign crosspost, the sort of thing we follow-up with “Wrong window; my apologies,” and to which the crosspostee typically responds with a smiley face and a polite, “LOL.” No. For a fatal crosspost to occur, the thing accidentally typed has to be monumentally one 233
of the worst possible things you could say to that person in that moment. For example, a comment about person X meant for person Y. An uncomplimentary comment. As a general rule, it’s unusual for me to make uncomplimentary comments about other people; one might think, therefore, that the law of averages alone would result in the number of benign crossposts made vastly outnumbering the number of fatal ones. This is not the case. In fact, I’ve found the benign crosspost to be a much less common occurrence than probability would predict based on the mental challenge posed by juggling two, three, even four IM conversations at once. On the other hand, those moments of immense peril involving immature conversations about someone nearby seem to attract the accidental crosspost like gravity attracts matter. This is not to say that the benign crosspost can do no harm. Accidentally cross posting a comment on, say, the state of the economy into the IM box of someone you’ve intimated has your complete attention would be embarrassing for the crossposter and potentially humiliating for the crosspostee. Such a crosspost could indeed turn out in the longterm to be fatal. But the true fatal crosspost requires no time for its consequences to become apparent; its impact is as subtle as the kiss of a flying brick smashing into your face. And the torchlight embarrassment felt previously at an awkward crosspost will
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become in the sun-like glare of the sheer shame of an FC as minor as accidentally letting out in conversation one of those highpitched sneezes you’ve always tried to repress in public. The fatal crosspost is the noisy fart you let out during your annual appraisal with the line manager you’ve always had a secret crush on by comparison. I’m not quite sure why the creation of this phrase gives me so much pleasure. One theory I have is that the sheer mortification experienced at my own incidences of fatal crosspost is so intense I’ve disproportionately attached immense pride to the making of the phrase in order to convince myself that all the pain I’ve experienced and caused was in some way worth it in the end. The mollified corpses left in my fumbling wake are the unfortunate collateral damage of genius, if you like: I might have seriously upset perfectly decent people with my social ineptitude, but without those subsequent moments of utter self-abhorrence, I might never have achieved the greatness of inventing this amazing phrase. Incidentally, I’m not not mentioning here examples of my own personal FCs here out of consideration for the privacy of the crosspostees insulted by them, nor out of any attempt to reduce damage to whatever impression you might currently hold of me: the reason I’m not mentioning them is I have very little actual recollection of their content and circumstances. I believe that the magnitude of my horror on these
occasions activated some sort of emergency self-preservation system which declared martial law on my brain and promptly ordered the neurons retaining the memory of the event to commit suicide. All I’m left with today is the recollection of suddenly realising the full magnitude of what my third finger and the Enter key had just done to me, and the extreme desire in that moment for my life to end immediately. There is, of course, no recovery from a fatal crosspost. In the instant of their occurrence, one is usually completely aware that, following the optional grovelling apology, the crosspostee will never be spoken to again. Their name must be added reluctantly to the growing list of people we’re resigned to acknowledge would not only be likely to run us down if they happened to spot us walking alone on a country lane, but would actually be justified in doing so. Any attempt to recover even the smallest fraction of the previously held relationship will only result in the degradation and further humiliation of both poster and postee: any hugs, praise and compliments, any statements of self-flagellation, any intellectual attempts to undermine, counterargue or in any other way rescind the offending comment made – humorous or otherwise – will ring more hollow and more false than a politician’s pre-election promise; never, under any circumstances, should this be attempted. Accept the new reality and move on.
I’m joking, of course. Recovery is, indeed, possible. You should be warned, however, that the possible grain of truth in your flippant comment, made for the sake of a moment’s worth of positive affirmation from the person you thought you were talking to, is likely to become the catalyst for a new level of relationship that involves open articulation of the neuroses you might previously have wished person X had some awareness of, but which you’ll conclude were probably better left unexamined after all. By means of compensation, you’ll then feel the need to share some of your own insecurities in return; before you know it, you’ll be listing each other in your profiles as SL® siblings, bound together by the pain of existence in an unfair universe and threatening the ten courts of hell on anyone who “messes” with the other. In the long term, then, it might ultimately be far less pain and hassle to just let the crosspostee get on with the business of thinking you a complete and utter turd from this point on in both your lives. Returning to the issue of fatal crosspost, the phrase, as opposed to fatal crosspost, the experience, the invention of any new piece of terminology is only really meaningful if other people go on to use it. The difficulty with this particular phrase is that it contains within it – through use of the word ‘fatal’ – a strong acknowledgement of the magnitude of the deed’s consequences that only a person who’s committed it can really fully
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appreciate. To anyone who has not thus far committed this crime (enjoy your smug innocence whilst it lasts), ‘fatal’ must seem a bit disproportionate, a bit of an overexaggeration, a bit of – dare I say it – ‘drama’. They might consider the phrase ‘accidental crosspost’ to be entirely sufficient a term, not in need of any embellishment or sub-categorisation. A person who chooses to use ‘fatal crosspost,’ then, is sort of admitting through so doing their own guilt. It’s a bit like announcing to all who are present that you’re the sort of person who routinely talks about others behind their back. The good news is that, by the same logic, this will only be apparent to other offenders, who will likely nod their heads solemnly in real life and welcome you into the brethren of convicted FC felons. Just as some of you reading this will be wondering what on earth all the fuss is about (whilst others will be smiling at the resonance and simultaneously shuddering at the brief re-emergence of heavily repressed memories), the innocent bystanders will scratch their heads in puzzlement, shrug the phrase off and take their next step on the journey towards their own fatal crosspost appointment – because we’re all of us human and we all occasionally gossip. Then, and only then, will the true meaning of the phrase reveal itself to them. If you belong to the group of people who’ve committed fatal crosspost, can I ask you to do this veteran SL® resident a favour and
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start using it in your conversation? The thing to remember is we’re not really bad people for having done this, particularly if the words we use to describe it convey that we know that it was wrong and we do, indeed, feel shame. Huckleberry Hax is the author of ‘AFK’ and other novels set in Second Life®. You can read these for free from www.huckleberryhax. blogspot.com
For the Love of
Echoing Hope and Parkinson’s Disease Awareness in Second Life Writer Isadora Fiddlesticks Photographer Ziki Questi
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hen something life changing such as disease or calamity hits one member of the family, others get affected by it one way or another. The experience stays with each member for a lifetime. As the situation sets in, whether it goes deeper or goes away, it leaves an indelible mark that either makes a family stronger or breaks it apart.
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“In fact, Parkinson’s has made me a better person. A better husband, father and overall human being.” Michael J. Fox
In the case of one woman with Parkinson’s named Fran Serenade, her family decides to give Second Life® a try. AlmostThere Inventor has already been inworld, and decided to introduce his sister, Barbie Alchemi and their mother, Fran Serenade. The trio decided to socialize and communicate in Second Life as a family, but it wasn’t until the year before that they decided to take their personal story to the next level. Their desire to spread their story took them to create Creations Park. “How you spend your money and time will show where your values are and I decided I wanted to give more meaning to the time I spent in SL.” Barbie Alchemi says while we float idly by the river in their sim. It was one glitchy day in SL that I got to talk to Alchemi and received an invite to explore the Creations Park. Fran Serenade would talk in the background, and when I couldn’t hear or understand, Barbie types for her. She explains that almost everyday, they would meet with their mother, helping her socialize and get around the virtual world. Earlier, Alchemi gave me a short tour around the sim, where I saw a glimpse of shops and scenic landscapes. The sim’s several unique islands houses several dancing venues and boutiques that are designed to be explored and appreciated. For people afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease like Serenade, having a way to “move” through Second Life and in a safe and supportive sim like Creations Park has been “thrilling” and
encouraging. “We are still learning,” Alchemi says, “neither one of us could not have learned it if my brother Almost (AlmostThere Inventor) was not already here to teach us, but we both felt the sense of immersion almost right away. One of the things that fascinated us about SL is that we emotionally felt the experiences our avis have here.” ‘We dance often and enjoy it.” Fran Serenade says. Their efforts as a family paid off and their project Creations Park has done well. Last year, they were able to raise one million Linden dollars, an equivalent of four thousand American dollars for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Thus, Ms. Alchemi was invited to New York City for the foundation’s awards dinner last March where she got to meet Michael J. Fox in person. While their project was successfully raising awareness for Parkinson’s Disease in Second Life, Fran Serenade has been experiencing great results from her experiences in Second Life. It has inspired a seasoned researcher, Tredi Felisimo (Dr. Donna Davis in Real Life) to start a research project inworld to document and look into the benefits of Second Life for people with Parkinson’s. Alchemi tells me that their support group has been the most rewarding aspect in their project.
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“We have a small but loyal and very friendly group. We know there are many more people in SL with PD, and often they say when they are in SL they do not want to think about their disease, but everyone who attends our support group says it is more meaningful to them than any RL support group they have attended.” She attests, with Serenade agreeing. Perhaps the reason why their support group tend to have that fun and friendly vibe is because they go out of the way to look beyond the situation. Having support in a place that lets you be who you really want to be enables people to truly see others beyond the external barriers such as disability that prevents us from seeing their true selves. The result is open and real conversations in a safe and understanding environment. “One of the things people love about our sim is that they feel very peaceful here and they sense that these sims were created with love.” Alchemi says proudly. The experience is made better with meeting the three. While with them, one could not help but feel the warmth, hope, love and positivity that emanates from this very close family. For the most part Parkinson’s has made them a very tight family and hopes that this kind of solidarity they express by participating in virtual worlds will spread and more families will use virtual environments and technology to reach out with their relatives with Parkinson’s Disease.
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“Whenever someone asks how often mom gets to see her son, she begins to say, ‘Oh I see him several times a week hahaha’, because it truly feels like we see each other when we are together in SL. We have always been a close family, but it has even brought us closer. We can share fun experiences together.” Alchemi shares. With AlmostThere Inventor living on the East coast while they are on the West coast, meeting inworld gave them so much to enjoy as a family. Apart from Serenade and the siblings, I have met Solas, who found SL and has used it to great success. A former fashion designer in real life, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s fourteen years ago and was forced to retire from her profession. She tells me her story: “In 2007 I found SL and started exploring and fell in love with this amazing world and felt you can tailor make it to your liking, so I started to learn to build almost at once, then that lead to buying land and creating. But I was still missing something, and it was clothing and fashion, so I started playing with Photoshop and making clothing that was prim base, but was not happy, so moved on to mesh and I LOVE IT. I started a shop about one year ago and make role play costumes. SL has given me my designer life back.” “Like I have been given my activities back.” Serenade agrees.
Solas met Alchemi and Serenade through the RL Team Fox and immediately asked if they could join forces. They both feel that teaming up can really make a difference, and has grown really close. It is great when things come together so fluidly like they have, as if it was meant to be. It was serendipity born out of ceaseless hope for their mother at first, then grew to be a movement. “We want people with PD to discover how wonderful SL can be for them! Mom has had some RL physical benefits from practicing Tai Chi in SL, she could actually feel her leg muscles strengthen as she watched her avatar do the movements, and one day she said to me in RL ‘Look what I can do!’ and she was able to stand up from her chair without and assistance, not even using her arms to push against the armrest! And she had not been able to do that for many years!” Barbie Alchemi enthuses. “I can do many physical things now that I was unable to do before, thanks to SL.” Fran Serenade testifies. “Oh yes, and mom has regained balance also. She is able to walk up and down a curb which she had not done for years. She says she has seen her avatar do it so she knows she can do it and she can! We believe watching our avatars triggers the mirror neurons in the brain to build new connections. What our mind experiences will
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affect the chemical messages that the brain produces.” Both Serenade and Solas agree. The family covers the tier for both sims which is a pretty hefty amount, so that one hundred percent of donations can go directly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. They do not pay for anything out of the donations. They have over thirty top designers here that donate fifty percent of all their sales on this sim to the Foundation. They invite readers to go to the website to be able to easily donate through credit card or through Paypal. If they want to donate in Linden dollars, they can do so through any of their donations globes all over the sims. Serenade’s courage and determination to win Parkinson’s is very touching and admirable. I look at her with awe at how she can bravely say “I may have Parkinson’s, but it does not have me” at her age of eighty-five. I am truly moved by these people, who all refuse to stay defeated by Parkinson’s. Meeting them has made me realize that despite the “darkness” that seems to surround us often in SL, there are still people with strong values and great character. I find tremendous joy in sharing their miraculous story in AVENUE Magazine, where my joy can be felt by many.
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Take time to look at the following websites: http://creations4parkinsons. com/ http://www2.michaeljfox. org/site/TR/TeamFox/ TeamFox?pg=team&fr_ id=1300&team_id=3920
Arts Feature
THE TECHNO ARTIST
Writer Quan Lavender Photographer Zazie
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A
virtual world like Second Life® represents the future, and we should expect a lot of futuristic builds inworld. But the large majority of spaces are either contemporary or inspired by history. Builder Mantis Oh is an exception. Since 2007, he has been creating futuristic prefabs, gadgets, avatar accessories and plants for his shop, Hybrid Productions. His current art installation “Ascension” represents a possible future urban setting by using his own builds for Hybrid Productions. However, Ascension is more than that. It is a journey through sounds and clubbing locations, too. And here is the connection to Mantis, who is in real life the well-known and successful Techno-DJ and producer, Cari Lekebusch.
AVENUE asked him how he came to music, and he relayed his story to us: “I am from Stockholm in Sweden, and I come from a musical family. In the early 1980’s, I became fascinated by computers and electronic sounds. “Kraftwerk are a good example of a band composing this type of music, and I had seen the early versions of PC’s and stuff like the Vectrex and Atari. This way, I came to realise that’s the way to make music without having a band - which is awesome, as well, but can’t always be done, and when a creative itch needs to be scratched... well, there’s no choice really. My own record label, H-Productions, is actually one of the longest running classic labels on the Techno stage, I’m proud to say, and I don’t take credit all by … the list of partners is long, of course! Each month, there is a release from one of the eight artists including me, Alexi Delano, Tony Rohr, Jesper Dahlback, The Advent, Industrialyzer, Nima Khak and Joel Mull, and we travel all around the globe to perform our music in clubs, at festivals and similar events.” The fascination for computers brought him to virtual worlds, he said. “I’ve always peeked at online communities.
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Techno music is Oh’s profession and main interest. “I have always been extremely fascinated by it and studied its many faces,” he explained. “Music is magic, and I would like to know as much of it as possible. Techno is my main choice because of the instrumentality and ‘shamanistic’ elements. It is a pure, stripped down form of music that leaves the listener (or better said, experiencer) to add his or her own imagination into the mix. Real Techno is best experienced, not listened to. It is designed for a larger club environment - thus a platform where many can meet.”
My record label had one of the earliest web pages; it was not a pretty sight, and the functionality was as good as giving a Q-tip to an Elephant, but from that, one can learn! I remember looking at SL® in its early stages, thinking it was similar to any of the communities at the time, but around 2006, a real life friend (Kafka Oh) mentioned I should have another peek, and in 2007 I created Mantis Oh. I felt that SL® had enough to make it an interesting experiment.” It was only natural for him to use Second Life® as an online base for his real life record label, which has the same name as his shop inworld. He also loves to perform live techno music DJ sets in-world when his tight schedule allows.
Oh is one of those people who always need to keep busy. On his days off between travelling, Dj’ing and producing, he relaxes by working in SL®. “Fundamentally, I feel sick if I don’t get to make stuff. Creation is as a big a part of life as any other fundamental part. So if there was not anything like the internet or computers, then I would most likely create something else. But given the choices, I do feel that audio and video combined are such awesome mediums to carry a message, emotion or anything you want to communicate, express or just have fun with. Experimenting with life in general in virtual environments and 3D is a great combination between audio and video and thus is my number one choice. Although audio is my main expertise, producing music and Dj’ing, I find bringing all this into virtual environments is interesting. Performing from the studio and transmitting worldwide means I leave a smaller carbon fingerprint
compared to flying in aeroplanes all the time, although, nothing can beat the real thing - performing on stage in front of a crowd!” Mantis Oh’s latest exciting project is his art installation. “Ascension” was only natural to Oh, who combined an art installation and sound experience that encourages the visitor to explore the seven levels of a cubic, tower like structure. Oh explains, “Loosely based on the seven chakras (energy centres) of the human body, visitors begin the journey by stepping down twelve steps that each release a musical note underfoot, before entering the base level room which is bathed in deepest crimson red. Music and sound are intrinsic to this build, and you can create your own unique musical compositions by stepping onto the trigger objects on each of the levels. If you explore the sim with friends, together you can create sound patterns in a truly social and fun environment.”
For complete enjoyment, the visitors should have sounds enabled to fully appreciate the playful acoustic effects. A teleport in the centre leads from level to level, which have new colours and sound effects. Visitors can also solve a riddle by moving around on the sim. Brilliant DJ sets add a stunning element to complete the art /music installation. You won’t want to miss Mantis Oh’s “Ascension,” which is open until the end of July.
Cari Lekebusch Website: http:// www.lekebuschmusik.se/ Ascension machinima: http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Lb0p6GI0sm4 Teleport to Ascension: http:// maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ LEA16/128/128/35
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avenuesl.com