MAGAZINE
. A k R ee B W M n U io N sh E a F .P 6 1 SS
MAY 2016
ECLIPSE
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Contents
18. DelVino
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Social Media
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Artist Highlight
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[SWANK] Events
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The Toddleedoos
Born from the innovative and creative mind of Editorial Clarity, we introduce the grid’s newest & hottest outdoor restaurant and cafe!
Proust Spotlight ECLIPSE showcases the talented and artistic Tempest Rosca and her amazing creative work.
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Cajsa Lilliehook takes an in depth look on SL outside of SL and the various social media platforms residents use.
One of the grid’s largest events, by Adonis Lubomir, shows us some of the fabulous designs this round!
The light shines on live artist, Zachh Cale, from Whispering Sands Live Promotion!
Novaleigh Freng introduces us to some of the fabulous designers from the toddleedoo community!
Often times in the fashion industry, it is easy to become short-sighted and forget that fashion is not limited to that small community. Fashion is the art of expression, which is an integral part of our shared virtual world and the Second Life community as an aggregate; thus, our goal at ECLIPSE Magazine is to not only offer an aesthetically pleasing publication with a heavy fashion influence and rich in content but be accessible to all of SL.. because EVERYONE wants to look good.
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Cover Story .PENUMBRA. Spring/Summer 2016 Fashion Week Cover Photographer Lessthen Zero Writer: Iseult McPherson
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Voices from the Grid
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.PENUMBRA. SS16FW
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Ways to Wear
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Photo Contest
For this monthly feature, we ask residents, “How has Second Life changed your worldview?”
The ECLIPSE Models highlight some of the fabulous collections from this fashion week’s designers: B Barbie Styles, October’s 4Seasons, Petit Chat, RAYNE, Sonatta Morales & Wicca’s Wardrobe
This feature returns, as two models get the same pieces to style, and YOU the reader get to vote on who styled it best!
.PENUMBRA. Spring/Summer 2016 Fashion Week had a photo contest, check out the top five with the most votes! ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 7
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Letter From the Publisher
I have a confession to make. I to much needed Second Life break the .PENUMBRA. Spring/Summe Fashion Week productions. On t upside, I am very much refreshe
Our fifth fashion week to date, h our biggest and most successfu over 80 designers and 450 outfi showcased on the runway in 21 am grateful to everyone at .PEN from our senior management, o production team, our models, o bloggers and the participating who made those nine days an in journey with their tireless effort work.
At any rate, this issue comes a ta later than I would have liked, bu as we publish sometime in May qualifies as the May issue, right?
While the major focus of this iss fashion week (retail is open unt we are jam packed with other g extraordinary things. Thus, I do enjoy this edition. Happy Readings!
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ook a k, after er 2016 the ed.
has been ul with fits being 1 shows. I NUMBRA. our our designers ncredible t and hard
ad bit ut as long y it still ?
sue is til June 5), grid-wide hope you
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Contributors Writers Amity Sorbet Cajsa Lilliehook Iseult McPherson Novaleigh Freng
Taylor Wassep
Zzoie Zee Dethly
Creative Director
Creative Director
Miele TarantalCajsa Lilliehook Amazon Silverweb Fashion Editor
Fashion Editor
Ephemeral Skye Lead Photographer
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Copy Editor
Photographers Amazon Silverweb Anderian Sugarplum Daffodil Crimson Ephemeral Skye Lessthen Zero Miele Tarantal Taylor Wassep Tempest Rosca Zzoie Zee Dethly Models AnnaG Pfeffer BonieFacio DiamondGem Destiny Euridice Qork Leezah Kaddour Linda Reddevil Lolita Paragorn Lorelei Maggs Lua Vendetta Raven Aeranae Ruby Ornamental Saian Samuel Shena Neox Sienna Bellios Silly Avro Tyra Eiren Veronica Krasner Wicca Merlin Xiomara Lavendel
Want to advertise with ECLIPSE Magazine? Want to be featured in ECLIPSE Magazine? Do you have any suggestions for ECLIPSE Magazine? Contact Trouble Dethly in-world!
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DelVino Restaurant & Cafe Page 18 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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DelVino by Editorial Clarity, located at LaTarazza on the The Groves Estate sim, is the latest exclusively outdoor restaurant on the grid to be revitalized. When you visit, you will land right outside open gates that immediately welcome you into a plush seating area surrounding a fountain. To enjoy the restaurant and cafe to full effect and view the mood lighting at its best, use the region windlight and turn your graphics to mid level. Off to the right are dining tables surrounded by lanterns hanging from the robust branches of trees. There is wine available at many of the tables - aptly situated given the meaning of DelVino, which is Spanish for “wine.” There are small open spaces next to some tables if you fancy a dance. There is a small bar to the side of the cafe with stools if you’re looking for an even more social experience or have come on your own and want to mingle. There is a music station that blends in perfectly with the rest of the decor. You can even sit by a small pond full of lily pads and koi fish.
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Every piece of furniture has been chosen strategically to create the atmosphere which has a distinct European flair. In fact, the Mediterranean was a main inspiration for Clarity. He also used his experience dining at PUMP West Hollywood, reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump’s famed establishment, to inspire the atmosphere at DelVino. Each item has exquisite detail, pieces placed perfectly. Editorial Clarity’s signature style is evident. He chose to create a restaurant, unlike anything he has seen before in Second Life and that makes this project truly unique. Clarity stated that “DelVino was a restaurant that was created on The Grove Country Club Estates by the founder, Umberto Giano” who was responsible for choosing the name. The current owner, Crito Galtier, decided to keep the location open to the public after taking over. This allowed Clarity the space to make his own vision come to life, completely revamping the restaurant. Clarity has “always admired restaurants/bars in real life” and that inspired him to take on the project, creating an even bigger restaurant on the LaTarazza sim. He saw it as “a new fun challenge.”
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“I’ve long admired the ambiance and quality of The Grove Estates, so knew this would be the perfect setting.”
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Clarity was happy to use LaTarazza, a mixed residential and commercial part of The Grove, as the setting for DelVino. He said, “I’ve long admired the ambiance and quality of The Grove Estates, so knew this would be the perfect setting.� While Clarity is the brains behind the restaurant in its present form, he is thankful to Crito Galtier for allowing him to use the space and Kimmera Madison for the custom creations she contributed to the venue. Clarity set out to create a restaurant and cafe combination that is relaxing. Visitors can hang out with friends or even hold meetings and private events. He welcomes groups to visit, but feels that it also works well as a place for solitary contemplation. At this time there is not a set schedule of constant events or entertainment. Eventually there will be a grand opening for DelVino, which Clarity is currently working on. The date is yet to be determined, but information will go out through social media and other sources, including LTD. Over the next few weeks Clarity revealed that several events will be held at DelVino, including the closing part of Penumbra Spring/Summer Fashion Week 2016. DelVino is always open to the public, so Clarity urges you to visit and enjoy the space. Visit DelVino here.
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The Proust Spotlight is our monthly feature where we highlight one of the many creative residents of Second Life速. Utilizing the Proust Questionnaire, whose namesake comes from the late 19th century French writer, we will offer a glimpse into what makes them tick.
Proust Spotlight: Tempest Rosca Page 32 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photography by Tempest Rosca ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 33
Tempest Rosca, the talented photographer, blogger and model shares with ECLIPSE a little bit about herself. “I came to this magical world that is Second Life in the Spring of 2007 after Sky News sent me a survey asking if I would ever use a virtual world or environment for current affairs - and giving me the link to SL.I logged on and have been here, on and off, since. I’ve had long breaks away but have always come back (so far!). I started a career in modeling and then turned my attention to more production and backstage management - something which i still enjoy . Of course, fashion and photography are linked closely within the industry and photography has always been a passion of mine so it was only natural that it would pour into SL. I knew nothing about PhotoShop and, like many, watched endless tutorials to try and understand and improve something I still do to this day. My blog ‘Belt Up, Betty!” was born back in the winter of 2014 and I’m lucky to have the most amazing sponsors and supporters - thank you all. I find it so very rewarding and satisfying plus it brings all the things i love together - my love of all things fashion and photography. SL is what you make it - surround yourself with good people and enjoy what it has to offer - explore and reach out. I am blessed with wonderful husband, sister and close friends in this amazing world - Life is good!” Check out her Flickr here.
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What is your ideal of perfect happiness? Does it exist? Perfect happiness? We would all like to think so, wouldn’t we but am not sure it’s obtainable. Happiness for me is contentment, is being at ease with oneself, being able to sit back and think ‘this is me, this is who I am - I am happy, at peace’. This can be in any situation through-out your life - middle start and end - as long as you can find contentment and go to bed each night knowing you’ve achieved all you can that day, then that is enough for me. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Enrique, my fiancé , well tell you that I use the words ‘honestly’ and ‘to be honest’ too much! We often laugh about it. I also use too many commas and full stops when i type (as this article will confirm!!) - I like to think it’s because I’m an expressionate type of person - but I think it’s probably more out of habit! What do you most value in your friends? LI am blessed to have the most amazing friends in both lives - so much so that I am in constant contact with my closest SL friends in my real world - meeting up with a few of them as and when we can !! I would recommend it to anyone !! My friends are bluntly honest, compassionate, kind, trustworthy and most of all respectful - all of which I value more than anything else. What is your greatest regret? There are a few - some that have been in my control , some which haven’t and some I wouldn’t share here as they are very personal. However, I would say that one of my regrets is not joining the armed forces - looking back, I now would have liked to have followed in my fathers (UK Parachute Regiment) and brothers (Royal Green Jackets) footsteps in joining the British Army. How would you like to die? With a smile on my face! What is your motto? “Don’t stress about things that you can’t influence” . My friends know that i use this a lot and there are times I don’t adhere to it myself as I should (only human after all!) but as a whole it is something that I like to sit back and think about and try and drum into myself. I used to worry a lot about things I had not control over - someone told me to write a list of all the things that bothered me and then cross out all of those that I could do something about. There was just one of the list! An exercise I recommend to anyone who’s going through a rough time. Page 40 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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PENUMBRA SS16 Fashion Wee Page 50 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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A penumbra, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a space of partial illumination between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light. The agency known as .PENUMBRA. has been purposefully named such. The brain child of Zzoie Zee Dethly, born in the late fall of 2013, .PENUMBRA. was started because “I felt like the fashion industry was not reaching out to different communities other than high fashion” states Zzoie. And thus, the choice of a name representative of a light cast where others have not cast one. Zzoie has an extensive background in fashion. She is a graduate of two impressive, wellrespected model training schools, MVW and Avenue. When asked why she chose to train as a model, as she isn’t someone you see walking a runway, Zzoie states “I went through the training with two regarded, different programs so I’d know what to expect of models when hiring them for work whether in a store or walking a runway. An owner needs to know what skill sets a potential employee should have before hiring.” Zzoie did recently walk the runway at .PENUMBRA.’s SS16FW in place of a model who was sick. Her training obviously comes in handy when something like that occurs within her own agency. Zzoie is also anticipating graduating from Visionaire, an institute well known for it’s prowess in photography. Visionaire is owned and lead by Nariko Okawa and WrenNoir Cerise, both exceptionally talented photographers. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 55
Again, Zzoie chooses to learn so she not only can take photos of her own, but especially because she desires to know what she should expect when hiring a photographer for a photo shoot. It’s no simple task ensuring each model is dressed and styled, posed in a way that flatters the outfit worn, the accessories accenting it let alone trusting a photographer to have the skills to balance light, diffuse glow, adjust depth of field, not distort perspective, colors, overly saturate.
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Retrospectively speaking, Zzoie realiz several retail and residential sims was her becoming close friends with the which evolved into her not only deve learn more about Second Life’s fashio shifting her sims to be fully focused o only. Zzoie was experiencing her ow light and eclipse.
zes her days owning s fortuitous; it led to manager of Egoisme eloping a desire to on industry, but also on fashion thus retail wn point between
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In late January 2014, Trouble Dethly joined the .PENUMBRA. team both as a male model and a production, script writing, backstage manager force to be reckoned with. Together as .PENUMBRA. CEOs, Trouble and Zzoie have tripled participation in .PENUMBRA.’s bi-annual fashion weeks. Spring/Summer 2014, the first fashion week produced by .PENUMBRA., 25 designers’ work was showcased. This fashion week, 80 designers’ creations were shown as well as two reputable monthly events’ designers’ clothing featured, Designers Showcase and [SWANK]. Trouble branched out starting a magazine initially to highlight both the .PENUMBRA. models and to shine a spotlight on all the extraordinary cultural and lifestyle endeavors of Second Life. His magazine is called ECLIPSE. Hence the name .PENUMBRA.-ECLIPSE. Ironic? I think not. An eclipse provides a shadow, the opposite of light, a compliment to it. Literally falling in love with writing Trouble has since diversified. Still using ECLIPSE magazine to promote .PENUMBRA. and it’s events like fashion week, other times he finds his staff interviewing notable Second Life avatars such as Editorial Clarity, owner of Love to Decorate or Strawberry Singh, blogger and photographer extraordinaire. Trouble engrosses the reader with the descriptions of sights seen as his team travels sims inworld. Page 58 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photograph by Lessthen Zero
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“This is the penumbra. We are PENUMBRA. WE are FASHION.”
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Obviously .PENUMBRA.-ECLIPSE is more than a unique name. It is Trouble and Zzoie along with their exceptional staff bringing goodness and light to Second Life in the form of inclusive fashion shows (think new designers, toddledoos) and an incredible magazine. To quote their opening at every fashion show “There exists a space of shadow and light, the almost imperceptible zone between luminous sun and the velvety black of an eclipse. This is the merging place of light and dark, the niche of perfect illumination and shadow. This is the penumbra. We are PENUMBRA. WE are FASHION.� Be sure to experience the next fashion week yourself and until then, keep reading ECLIPSE.
Click here to teleport to fashion week retail. Click here to check out their website. Click here to see other issues of ECLIPSE. Click here to go to their Flickr. Click here to like their Facebook page.
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.PENUMBRA. SS16 Fashion Week Page 72 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photographer Anderian Sugarplum ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 73
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Model: Lolita Paragorn B Barbie Styles - Spring Blush Dress ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 75
Model: Lolita Paragorn B Barbie Styles - Spring Formal Page 76 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: Lolita Paragorn B Barbie Styles - Spring Garden
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Model: Lorelei Maggs B Barbie Styles - Butterfly Effect Page 80 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: Lorelei Maggs B Barbie Styles - Butterfly Kisses
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Model: Lorelei Maggs B Barbie Styles - New Bloom Teddy Page 84 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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.PENUMBRA. SS16 Fashion Week Page 90 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photographer Emphemeral Skye ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 91
Model: Leezah Kaddour Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Joanique - Mocha Makeup 5 Nails: October’s 4Seasons - Leopard Slink Nail Appliers Page 92 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: Leezah Kaddour Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Rehana - Mocha Makeup 2 Freckles Page 94 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: Leezah Kaddour Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Catalina Papavar Makeup 1 Nails: October’s 4Seasons - Diamond and Pearl Slink Nail Appliers ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 97
Model: Shena Neox Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Joanique Blossom - Makeup 5
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Model: Shena Neox Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Jewell - Blossom Natural Thin Open Lip Page 100 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: Shena Neox Skin: October’s 4Seasons - Guiselle Blossom Blond Natural Page 102 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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.PENUMBRA. SS16 Fashion Week Page 108 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photographer Taylor Wassep ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 109
Model: DiamondGem Destiny Petit Chat - Butterfly Dress Iced Coffee Page 110 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Model: DiamondGem Destiny Petit Chat - Lorelei Water Dress
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Model: DiamondGem Destiny Petit Chat - Nymph Dress
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Model: Euridice Qork RAYNE - Whisp Dress
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Model: Euridice Qork RAYNE - Scarborough
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Model: Euridice Qork RAYNE - Janis
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.PENUMBRA. SS16 Fashion Week Page 126 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photography by Wicca Merlin ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 127
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Model: Silly Avro Sonatta Morales “La Palma”
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Model: Silly Avro Sonatta Morales “Magna”
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Model: Silly Avro Sonatta Morales “Iris”
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Model: Wicca Merlin Sonatta Morales “Cat”
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Model: Wicca Merlin Sonatta Morales “Lake”
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Model: Wicca Merlin Sonatta Morales “Mull”
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.PENUMBRA. SS16 Fashion Week Page 144 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photographer Anderian Sugarplum ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 145
Model: Linda Reddevil Dress: Wicca’s Wardrobe - Edith Boots: Wicca’s Wardrobe - Doro
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Model: Linda Reddevil Dress: Wicca’s Wardrobe - Seleia
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Model: Linda Reddevil Dress: Wicca’s Wardrobe - Monique
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Model: Saiain Samuel Shirt, Pants & Wrap: Wicca’s Wardrobe - Remington Outfit
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Model: SaianSamuel Wicca’s Wardrobe - Andrew Jacket Wicca’s Wardrobe - Boston Jeans
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Second Life Outside Second L Page 160 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Life
Written by Cajsa Lilliehook Photography by Taylor Wassep ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 161
For many residents, Second Life® is a three dimensional social media platform connecting friends, families and loved ones around the world. Those relationships often spill over to the outside world where people find many ways to connect even while outside SL® through the many social media outlets that are out there. Perhaps no one employs social media more effectively than Strawberry Singh who has
generously written many guides and tutorials for Second Life users over the years, including guides to social media on her eponymous web site. She has an informative tutorial of the best social media for brand promotion that is good reading for any store owner or blogger. Interviewed for this article, Singh provided lots of useful information and explained her own relationship with social media.
“Social media helps me get my message across to a bigger audience by using the right hashtags or words to convey it. I use it to promote my blog and engage with my followers that have a mutual love for Second Life. To me, sharing something positive and making someone smile or laugh on social media is the same as smiling at them while passing them on the street and have them smile back. It can make a person’s day. I know it does mine. Social Media can be powerful. Imagine you are writing the words on any network with a permanent marker, it never goes away, so be considerate and careful about what you say. “ - Strawberry Singh
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For this issue, ECLIPSE Magazine decided to take a look at Second Life outside the grid, among the many social media platforms that connect us. Facebook The most widely used social media platform in the world is Facebook. Second Life has invested heavily in Facebook with their own Facebook Page and a Facebook Share button that can be added to our toolbar for easy posting to Facebook from within Second Life. That Second Life pushed Facebook as an option for residents is odd considering that there is no social media platform more actively hostile to Second Life than Facebook. Facebook’s Real Name policy does not allow pseudonymous members. They believes this fosters a more respectful, less abusive environment. This is problematic for many reasons far beyond the inconvenience to members of the SL community. Dissidents living under oppressive regimes are
endangered by this policy and apparatchiks in those regimes find an ally in Facebook by reporting them as pseudonymous to the company and silencing them. Demands for official identification put their lives at risk. Facebook also allied itself with bigots by disallowing the names adopted by people who are transgendered and drag queens. Despite protests, Facebook has not changed its policy, however, they have eased the requirements to prove people know you under a pseudonymous identity in order to address some of these concerns. They retain their prohibition on avatar names, which completely misunderstands the role of our avatar names, names we hold for years to which our credibility and reputation are as attached as they are to our first life names. For many, their SL names are the names they do business in and are known by far and wide. They are the names by which their friends, family and colleagues know ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 163
them, but Facebook does not understand that. It is strange that Second Life continues to promote a company that is so hostile to its residents. Residents are encouraged to create a Page that presents their avatar. This is a second class, second rate option for Second Life people. You cannot friend anyone, you can only like their pages. There is no possibility of creating a real community with Pages instead of Facebook avatar accounts, but people who invest in a Facebook account for their avatar risk losing all those connections at the drop of a hat, or more likely, the result of someone reporting them as a fake account. There is a slight chance you can restore your account. Toysoldier Thor was able to restore his Facebook account. Sister Roma, a drag queen who is one of the leaders of the campaign to change Facebook’s real name policy has helped some people. There is an article with information on this at New World Notes. Despite Facebook’s open hostility to Second Life residents, there are more than 370,000 likes of Second Life’s facebook Page. There are thousands of Second Life users in Facebook, many with SL avatar accounts operating openly in the hopes no one will be so small-minded and petty as to report them. Others run Facebook pages Page 164 | ECLIPSE May 2016
and put up with the indignity of having no friends, only likes. With so many Facebook pages to like, Second Life facebook groups to join, logging in is always accompanied by requests to join and like more groups and pages. If residents respond in the affirmative to all likes and join requests, their Facebook becomes unending river of promotional content, the same blog posts repeating in group feed after group feed, a flood of promotion that inhibits interaction on the personal level and encourage a similar sort of solely promotional content. In many ways, Facebook is like Home Shopping Network, with all sorts of things to buy, read, and click and a few friendly words from the hosts. Twitter Twitter is the second most popular social media outlet and there are many Second Life tweeters. Second Life also integrates tweeting directly into the SL toolbar with Twitter Share. Twitter is a great platform for announcing things, but less so for conversations which can get hijacked by driveby comments from total strangers. Topics are annouced with hashtags and the #secondlife hashtag is useful to find other SL residents. Second Life has an account on Twitter and looking at how follows that account is a great way to look for friends on Twitter. There are more than ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 165
45,000 people following Second Life on Twitter. Twitter is the best place to go to follow news sources, your favorite blogs and celebrities. It is difficult to build community, though, because all conversations are open to anyone. The 140 character limit also makes conversation limited. It’s a great place to promote blogs, new releases and the like, but it’s less useful as a place to have conversations with friend. You can create Lists of Second Life friends so you can focus on SL residents when you want to without seeing all the other people you follow for news, politics, literature, art or movies. Page 166 | ECLIPSE May 2016
You should definitely follow Sec so you know what’s happening.
Plurk Plurk is quite possibly the most community-building social netw Second Life as a geographic loca residence. Second Life has an ac pictures of the day. When you p them Second Life - a category th the only social media platform t community.
cond Life Grid Status on Twitter .
Second Life friendly and work. They actually created ation to say claim as your ccount and plurks updates and promote items, you can mark hat is built into the platform, to cater to the Second Life
Plurk is a little harder to get into at first. The best way is to look for someone you know and become their friend and ask them to introduce you to their friends. Once you have a group of friends, though, plurk is a platform that fosters real conversations, intimacy and bonding at a level the other platforms fail to achieve. Much of this is because you can determine what level of privacy your timeline has and who can follow it. There are friends and followers on public timelines, allowing you to make private some conversations while keeping the rest public. You can create groups for private conversations and sent private plurks to any number of people. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 167
Plurk’s culture is not one that tolerates only self-promotion, so if you decide to join plurk, share more than your posts, photos and creations, share yourself. The plurk community is rich in support, friendship and camaraderie. There’s also drama, of course, because people are people and some people just rub each other the wrong way. All in all, though, people keep coming to plurk because it is the one social media where people share themselves most openly. Flickr Flickr is on the surface simply a place to share photos, but SL users know it is much more than that. Many bloggers and creators use Flickr to publicize their latest posts and creations. SL artists use Flickr as a medium to share their art. Residents document their in-world adventures, love affairs, friendships and their erotic games. Second Life on Flickr is Sl in all its glory, its beauty, its wackiness, its creativity, is seaminess, its tackiness and its wonder. It is the broadest possible view of
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Second Life outside Second Life. Second Life has a built-in processing for posting your pictures to Flickr. In fact, it is so reliable and easy that sometimes when you cannot save your pictures to disk without crashing, it is the only way to save your pictures at all. The Second Life Official Flickr group is where people share pictures that can be used for the Picture of the Day and used in Second Life’s splash screens and on Marketplace™. There are nearly 6,000 members of the Second Life Official group, but that number is dwarfed by the number of SL residents on Flickr. As a Flickr user, you can create galleries of the pictures that inspire you or use the gallery or favorite features as a virtual shopping list. You can ask questions about the photos to learn more about photo-processing techniques, or to find out where a picture was taken or where some hairstyle was purchased. You can tell them you like the work by favoriting it or
adding it to a group or a gallery. The ability to comment on photos can, in the best of times, create community and in the worst of times, lead to fracture, faction and hatred. Flickr is the birthplace of most of the copybot scandals. Someone will upload photos to present their evidence and then war breaks out in the comments below. There are no rules in the court of public opinion and often everyone loses. Instagram Instagram, like Flickr, is a visual social media platform. Enter secondlife into search and you will get over 100,000 posts. Enter SL and there are more than 400,000, though many are unrelated. Like Flickr, there can be many comments on a post, good, bad, and indifferent. The best way to find Second Life residents is to search for #secondlife and follow a few people and add the residents they follow and who are following them. Oddly enough, the #secondlife hashtag also brings up a fair number of used clothing for
sale for people who want their garments to have a second life. Instagram is the only place where that usage is fairly common. Instagram does not have the vibrant SL community that Flickr has. Even the top photos have the kind of stats of likes and comments that an average photo on Flickr would have. Reddit Reddit has a few thousand users who participate in the SecondLife Subreddit. At first look, reddit looks old and outdated, like the bulletin boards of the early internet, yet it has some of the most active users on the internet. Because people associate by interest, though, it does not have a strong integrated SL community. Instead it has many communities that cluster around interest groups. So, you can participate in the SL community (which seems to be mainly promotional posts of blogs and videos), a political community, a ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 169
community of people playing particular games, a community who enthuses over a tv show or a particular species of animal or hunting mushrooms or seeking E.T. The communities do not connect together. Your comments about Sasquatch will not be visible to your friends in the SL subreddit, unless they too are bigfoot aficionados. There is a belief that the best of the best rises to the top in reddit because people upvote those posts they like, creating meaningful discussion. Comments are the meat and potatoes of reddit, they are why people keep coming back. Sadly, the Second Life subreddit is a fairly quiet place. If reddit appeals to you, Mashable has done an excellent Beginner’s Guide. However, for the SL resident wanted a full community experience, reddit creates a balkanized community that does not allow redditors to be fully rounded people with each other. They can discuss Second Life together, but interests in art, literature, movies, music and politics are Page 170 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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segregated into different subreddits. Facebook and Twitter have their drawbacks, but they do let you be a multi-faceted human being. Skype Skype.com is not really a social network. It is a free voice over internet calling service that lets you video conference, share desktops, or chat in instant message with your friends and contacts at no cost. However, for many it is the primary way they keep in touch with each other outside Second Life and also the way they communicate even while in-world. You can create conference chat with multiple friends, adding them as they join and have a long, rollicking, free-for-all conversation about anything and everything. There are collaborative Skype groups of creators who help each other with technical expertise, marketing and mutual support. There are groups of friends who keep a running chat going no matter what they are doing or where they are. Skype, however, is a closed system. To join a group you must be added by someone who is a member or, in more formal groups, by the group host who might expel you if you were added without permission. You cannot ask to join a group or even find a group in search. They are essentially conference calls that you are added to, not permanent, searchable groups. If you leave one, you have to be invited back, you cannot rejoin on your own. Although this means it is a hard social network to join from the outside, that is not what it is really for. Instead, it is a place where you can form an informal group of your friends from in-world to keep in contact in the background whether you are logged in or not. It’s your place to create your social network that fosters intimacy and social bonds. Google Plus Second Life users should flock to Google Plus because it accepts pseudonymous identities. Second Life has an account where you can intersect with other residents. There is also a Second Life community which has more than 4500 members. Nonetheless, despite allowing pseudonymity, the ability to create communities, share events and integrate with other Google products, Google Plus has not caught on. There are a lot of problems with Google Plus. Almost no ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 173
one uses it and even fewer people know how to use it. Worse, when you add people to a circle, it tells them what circle you add them to, so when you add someone to your circle called “Who?” they might take offense. Circles are going to be either mean or meaningless. You can add everyone to friends, or you can add some to acquaintances or some other subset and leave them wondering why they’re not your friend. Google Plus has shifted from trying to be more like Facebook to trying to be more like Pinterest. Perhaps what it needs to do is stop being like some other platform and be something new. Ello Ello is an idealistic social media platform that hopes to find an economically viable way to survive without advertising. It has a few hundred Second Life residents. It will never sell user data, never show ads and allows pseudonyms. It would be perfect, but has an incredibly small user base. Pinterest Pinterest is another pictorial site similar to Flickr and Instagram. However, it’s more like scrapbooking than networking. People use it to save things they like, want to buy, are inspired by. Some pin their blog pics in order Page 174 | ECLIPSE May 2016
to promote them. Some pin the vendor pics to encourage shopping. But Pinterest is for visual consumption, not for conversation. There are a few thousand SL residents using Pinterest and Second Life has a small presence there. It is a good place to look for items from events, just search for the event name. While they have added features that allow more collaboration and communication, Pinterest remains mostly a site for collecting and display, not for communicating. FetLife Fetlife is a social media platform that caters to fetishists and “kinksters� as they say on their home page. There are 264 Second Life groups on FetLife, some with over 3,000 members with many events organized in and out of the grid. One of those groups is The Dominion Femdom and they are a great example of how Second Life residents can deepen their connections and expand their reach using social media. My name is Evangeline Eames and I am the owner of The Dominion Femdom, a Second Life based, female led community established October 17th, 2008. The Dominion’s focus is on the exploration and encouragement of female domination in a BDSM context. We also promote female leadership and feminist values. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 175
Over the years we’ve extended the reach of our Second Life community using a variety of social media platforms including Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, and Fetlife (a kink friendly social networking site). Our website (www.DominionFemdom.com) with blog, events calendar and more has also been invaluable with keeping our members informed and connected when outside of Second Life. Each of our social media platforms serves a particular purpose: Twitter (https://twitter.com/DominionFemdom) is mostly to keep people up to date with what’s going on at Dominion. Flickr encourages artist expression and is used to promote our Dominion Art Gallery exhibits (https://www.flickr.com/groups/dominionfemdom/). You’ll find fun, Second Life based videos on our Youtube channel (https://www. youtube.com/user/TheDominionFemdom), which has been helpful with conveying the energy and creativity of our community. Our Fetlife group ( https://fetlife.com/groups/10402) has been useful in extending Dominion’s reach outside of Second Life. In fact, a good number of our 1300+ Fetlife members are not active in Second Life at all. All of our social media platforms have been helpful with the enrichment of our community, particularly with forging relationships between our members outside of Second Life. Everyone sincerely interested in female domination and feminism is welcome and encouraged to join The Dominion in and out of Second Life. See you at The D! Social Media For Second Life In addition to social media platforms that are created for the wider world, there are some platforms specific to Second Life. The most obvious, of course, are the ones provided by Second Life. My.SecondLife.com The first social media platform residents might be interested in is the Second Life feed which is read off the SL profile. Your Second Life Profile is similar to, and based on, your inworld profile. You can edit all but the picks from outside SL. There is a feed. You can post to your feed directly from within SL. While based on Facebook, it is a bit clunky, though, and not used regularly by most residents. Many people do not even know they have an SL feed, so unless someone specifically suggests contacting them through their feed, it is best to find another way to contact them. Some people opt to prevent posting on their feed to prevent people from leaving messages that they will never see so no one get angry about failing to respond. Page 176 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Second Life Forums The Second Life Community Forums are not just a place to seek technical support and answers to questions. There’s a Missed Connections Forum which can be very poignant when people are asking for information on friends who no longer log in, wondering how they are doing. There are discussions about relationships, about making friends, as well as discussions about creating, marketing and all the other wonderful things that make up Second Life. There’s a Make Friends forum, as well, to help foster the relationships that make Second Life a place people want to come back to again and again SLUniverse SLUniverse is forum for Second Life residents independent of Second Life. It was started by Cristiano Diaz. With over 27,000 members, it is an active community of people commenting about everything from their favorite pictures, SL issues to topics in politics and culture. In fact, the liveliest forum is often Politics, Religion and Society. SLUniverse has history and members have known and argued with each other for years. There is a forum for introducing yourself and people will make a point of welcoming you. However, as with any community set in its ways, it is useful to hang back a bit while you learn the mores of the community. SLSecrets There are some who will argue, with reason, that SLSecrets does not fit in with these other forums. It is essentially an anonymous platform for sharing secrets, good and bad, mostly bad. Comments allow discussion of those secrets and they may also be anonymous. So why consider this part of SL outside of SL? Gossip has always been the enforcer of community standards. It defines what is outside of bounds and what is allowed. It has been an evolutionary force, and SL Secrets provides the public face of that function in SL. It brings the gossip out in the open, sometimes to ill effect and other times to good. It has an outsize influence is evolving community standards. We asked the weekly secrets poster, Lourdes Denimore for her perspective as the person many people love to hate. “SLSecrets is the guilty (not so guilty for some) pleasure that thousands of SLers read every Sunday. Some believe the original intent was to be introspective. What happened is that it became reflective of the best and the worst of the community. We see ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 179
everything from true love to age play in the child RP community to personal triumphs to IP Infringement to jilted lovers and shoe whores. It’s all a mixed bag, but its entertainment. More people than are willing to admit get their Sunday fix from the joys and the suffering of others. It gives perspective on human nature. In running a site of this nature Kess [Kesseret Steeplechase] and I have received our share of venom. We come from the dark early days of the internet, where no holds barred flame wars on BBS and IRC were a daily occurrence. After being battle hardened in those fires, the SL community venom is like the playful swipes of a kitten’s claws. We laugh and enjoy the moment, then we move on.” - Lourdes Denimore
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Avatar Social Network Avatar Social Network has thousands of members from all sorts of different games, not just SL. Joining is free but with $15 one-time fee, people can further customize their page. In describing its raison d’etre, Avatar Social Network pointed to the hostility of Facebook to pseudonyms. “The members of these games and virtual platforms did not have an online web service they could go to without being called out for real life information. Facebook seemed to be a good option but because of the focus on collecting real information of it’s members it is not the right environment for these people.”
Avatar Social Network is friendly and welcoming and similar in structure to Facebook, even in having games people can play within the platform. AvatarBook is specifically structured for Second Life residents. It has about 4000 users. It does not emulate Facebook despite its name. It has streams of photos and another of posts as well as a newsfeed. There are classifieds, announcements and discussion forums. It has potential to be a communitybuilding platform when it reaches critical mass. Koinup is a photo-sharing site that is designed for gamers. It allows screenshots, machinima, and storyboards. It has an active
SL membership and KoinUp Places is a great place to look for sims to visit. There will be SLurls! There are several thousand SL viewers, many of whom migrated there after Flickr was bought by Yahoo! Another influx of people joined when Flickr changed its design. Moolto has over 15,000 members and is a Social Network on Ning.com created for Second Life residents. It’s been around for many years but remains mostly another place to post blog posts, pictures and vendor photos. There is very little discussion or interaction. These are not even all the social media platforms out there, though they are the most common. Participating in all of them would
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leave you with little time to do anything else, so when you choose what platforms you want to participate in, you should ask what you want from it. If it is promoting your brand, Facebook and Flickr are the most effective and friendliest. If it’s bonding and forming a community of friends, SLUniverse and Plurk seem the most intimate and selfrevealing. Avatar-only sites are a great resource and with more people leaving, or being forced out of, Facebook, they are a refuge for those of us who want to be people, not pages. Of course, when you’re active in social media, you can get pretty meta about it by also adding social media about social media. For that there are two more sites of interest, Klout and About.me. Klout measures your connectivity, interactivity. Do people look at your tweets, your posts, your plurks, your photos? If they do, you have more influence and Klout measures that influence for you. About.me is a one-stop calling card where you can note all your social media accounts so your friends and acquaintances can find you. And perhaps, because there are so many options out there, so you can find you.
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Born from the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Adonis Lubomir, [SWANK] is a monthly fashion event bringing together a select group of over one hundred designers with their newest and hottest releases. Check them out the seventh of every month to get your fill of Second Life’s best and most fashion forward content creations!
[ SWANK ] Events: May Round Page 188 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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BonieFacio in LUXE Paris Page 190 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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BonieFacio in Meshmerized ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 193
BonieFacio in Sage Page 194 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Tyra Eiren in CST Designs
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Tyra Eiren in Tashi
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Tyra Eiren in Keresma
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Veronica Krasner in PREY
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Veronica Krasner in Selene Creations ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 205
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Veronica Krasner in SAGE ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 207
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Xiomara Lavendel in LRD ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 209
Xiomara Lavendel in Dot-be
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Xiomara Lavendel in ZURI Jewelery
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Monthly Artist Highlight Page 216 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photography by Anderian Sugarplum ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 217
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Zachh Cale Zachh Cale is another talented live artist with Whispering Sands Live Promotions, joining them recently after his manager Lizzy had to leave musician management for real life. He tells us how impressed he is with the organization. Initially, he begin as an instrumentalist, “but eventually started singing too although not a professional singer, but can use my voice to get a song across with live piano.” His beginning years of Second Life, he was a virtual art curator; however, he shares with ECLIPSE, “when I started to realize through chats with musicians performing at art openings, I could perform too. There was a ramp-up to understanding and coordinating all the technologies needed for streaming live performance while being in-world - but there’s an active and vital music community that supports new musicians.” He expresses his gratitude to musicians like Bones Writer, Tip Corbett, Ashiya Jun, Winston Ackland and others for not only giving him inspiration but also offering technical support. Zachh performs regularly at Key West, The Sable Club, Live Vibrations, Savoy, The Only Venue and Eclipse Lounge. While piano is his main instrument, he has recently begun including “loopers, synthesizers and whoosie whatsits. I’ve got a degree in music, so can read music but now play most things by ear. So if people have requests can usually figure it out, or at next show.” His top 5 favorite songs to sing are: The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie I Put a Spell On You by Nina Simone Tiny Dancer by Elton John Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell Someone New by Holzier Listen to his music here.
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“I’ve got a degree in music, so can read music but now play most things by ear.” Page 220 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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The Toddleedoo Experience Page 222 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Photography by Daffodil Crimson
Written by Novaleigh Freng ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 223
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One of the most hectic and fashion-forward weeks of the year in Second Life ® just passed, and it was a blast. If you happened to miss .PENUMBRA’s Spring/Summer 2016 Fashion Week this year, you missed out on some of the most fabulous summertime styles from some of the most talented designers on the grid. This year, you also missed out on the Toddleedoo Experience—a series of shows featuring items designed by, catered toward, and modeled by some of the cutest babies on the grid! The Toddleedoo fashion industry is arguably one of the fastest growing fashion industries in Second Life, and this year’s Spring/ Summer Fashion Week was a testament to that. Of the nine Toddleedoo designers that participated, seven were newcomers to the event. JourdainRose summed up the growing industry perfectly. “I want people to know that there’s a lot of talent among the kids in SL,” she said. Jourdain, the creative mastermind behind Anklebiters, told ECLIPSE that she plans to revamp and branch out into furniture soon. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 227
Toddleedoo avatars make up a small percentage of players on the grid, but these tiny tots can pack a punch. Zahra Yue, one of the minds behind the popular ToodleTeez brand, says that she is “AMAZED to see the growth of talented kid designers and mesh creators. In the past 6 months alone, it
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has blossomed tremendously!” The general consensus among many Toddledoo designers is that the kids of Second Life don’t often get the recognition that they deserve as legitimate designers. “Kids [in Second Life] have had to settle for less for a
long time, and being unique was even harder,” said Zahra. “I look forward to seeing more amazing things in the future, and I know it will only get better.” .PENUMBRA stepped up to the plate in an effort to bring some of the hard
work of these adorable designers to light. The “Toddledoo Experience” at this past Fashion Week featured a series of four kid-friendly shows. In the Toddledoo community, it can sometimes be difficult to find new and exciting fashions, but these designers were committed to and excited
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about doing something different and fun for the fashion-conscious kids on the grid. SamanthaFaye opened her store .{BabyBurp},. in 2014. She started out building other things, and then decided to venture into the world of creating fashion for herself. “So many kids asked me where I got my clothes from, and then I got addicted to creating things, and eventually opened a store,” she said. While many of our tiny fashionistas spoke about how far children’s fashion in Second Life has come and how excited they are about even the thought of what the future will bring, there was also a resounding theme to our interviews. When asked about their design process, their brand, and their thoughts about the future of the industry, it was easy to see the pride they held not only for their own creations, but for the growth of their community on the whole. Page 230 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Archer Bloodmoon is the talented designer behind :BoWillow:, another fabulous and kid-friendly store featured in this year’s “Toddleedoo Experience.” He loves to design and push his creative limits. He also sees a very bright future for the Toddleedoo fashion industry. “I see lots of clever and innovative concepts coming to life in a thriving community of epic cuteness and baby swag!” He said. As the industry continues to grow, these talented but pint-sized designers want the adults of Second Life to know something important: They aren’t going anywhere. “Kids’ fashion is just as important as adult fashion,” said SamanthaFaye. “We want to look pretty, and cool, and stylish, and realistic, just like the adults, and we put so much detail into our creations, just like they do.” JourdainRose shared this sentiment. “. I know a lot of adults are not quite as accepting of [kids’ fashion]. I would like to see them ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 233
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“Kids’ fashion is just as important as adult fashion. We want to look pretty, and cool, and stylish, and realistic, just like the adults, and we put so much detail into our creations, just like they do.”
actually take the time to look and see that what we do takes as much time and effort as anything an adult creator does.” Milli from Meshy Me started out designing clothing for her brother Cae because he was unhappy with the selection of clothing that was available to boys. When he later refused to wear anything she didn’t make, she knew she would have to get to work, and she has been working hard ever since. Milli points out that meshes can be expensive, and it can be hard to price things sometimes, but she wants to make sure that her fashions don’t break the “piggy bank.” These designers may be small and disarmingly adorable, but they have big hearts and even bigger dreams for the growing kid fashion industry. They want to continue to see that growth in popularity and acceptance from the adults. They face the same sorts of challenges an adult designer does, after all. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 235
Whether it’s finding the perfect mesh for an outfit, creating one from scratch, or scratching your head and nibbling on some cookies while you try to figure out just what went wrong with your texturing process, these kids know what it means to slave for their fashion, and they want everyone else to see it, too. If the Toddleedoo industry continues to grow as it has in recent years, pretty soon, the toddlers really will be taking over at Fashion Week! If you’re curious (and prepared for both fabulousness and cuteness overload) head on over to .PENUMBRA’S Spring/Summer Fashion Week retail sim before June 5th and look for the balloons to find some of the fabulous kid fashions featured this year!
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Eros Foehammer in AnkleBiters
Stasha Benelli in AnkleBiters Page 238 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Archer Candy Bloodmoon in BabyBurp
Kiley Mangafico in BabyBurp ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 239
Amber Soulstar in Basically Bratty Kids
Poppy Refenoir-Peel in Basically Bratty Kids Page 240 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Poppy Refenoir-Peel in BoWillow
Kiley Mangafico in BoWillow ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 241
Cinderella Moonwall Trinity in Little Badz Inc
Kiley Mangafico in Little Badz Inc Page 242 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Archer Candy Bloodmoon in Meshy Me
Zachary Macbeth in Meshy Me ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 243
Amber Soulstar in Sweet Tots
Kiley Mangafico in Sweet Tots Page 244 | ECLIPSE May 2016
Penelope Dethly in ToddleTeeZ
Kiley Mangafico in ToddleTeeZ ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 245
Kiley Mangafico in Zanzadoodle
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Voices From the Grid is a monthly survey of opinions and ideas of Second Life速 residents on the salient issues of the day. For many people, Second Life速 is a place that affords them the opportunity to experience things they otherwise would not be able to. How has Second Life changed your worldview?
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Abel Streeter Abel Streeter (Seb Arkright) is a blogger, stylist, photographer, writer and above all a creationist! SL is one big canvas, upon which he paints his dreams, imaginings and fears. His work is both emotive and dark, hopeful and pained. Where do I start? When I first stopped to think about this question, the simple answer was, sure it has, but when I actually wondered around the question for some time, the answer was vast. Second Life has transcended the barriers of language and distance, and gifted me with the ability to reach out and into the lives of so many diverse people all across the world. Because of Second Life, I have experienced so many people and seen the world through their eyes. From those living in fear of civil war in Ukraine, to those fighting cancers and illness, others who face daily struggles with identity and sexual preference. Before Second Life I was purposefully striding through life, with my world view narrowed and safe. But since becoming part of this melting pot, I have learned so much, from those of varied race, religion and gender. Due to this crazy thing we call SL, my life has been enriched by colour, emotion, love and support. These gifts have impacted upon me in so many ways, with people reaching out during sad and dark times, providing that distance means nothing. Second Life despite its lag and texture refreshing, proves that we are all the same, yet all different but it’s ok. And through one ‘game’ we can co-exist and learn from one another. And due to this game I have had the honour of meeting some of the most wonderful people, who have brought love, light and laughter into my life; brightening and enlivening my view of the world and those within it. His Blog. His Flickr. Photograph by Abel Streeter Page 256 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Daeberethwen Arbenlow Daeberethwen Arbenlow is an avid photographer, blogger and YouTube tutorial guru based in Los Angeles, California. Her versatile style, crisp details and hyper realistic portraits have been turning heads on Flickr. What sets her apart from other artists, however, is her passion for teaching other Second Life residents. Her YouTube channel, featuring tutorials on Second Life photography and post-production with photoshop, has nearly 1000 subscribers since its December 2015 launch. In my experience, Second Life is a melting pot in the truest sense of the word. People of all races, genders, creeds and ways of life from all around the globe come together to create and socialize. With Second Life, I feel I have learned an incredible amount about how alike humanity is across the globe. We all have similar struggles, hopes and dreams that we don’t even realize others share. In Second Life we can live and laugh together from thousands of miles apart. The same is true for struggles I didn’t even know existed, or to what extent people still face outdated mindsets on disabilities, gender identity, sexuality, race and more. Being raised in a largely liberal family, traveling around the world with the U.S. Armed Forces, I didn’t see anyone as being “different” because of the color of their skin or who they loved. Hearing Second Life residents talk about what they face in their “First Life” has made me more compassionate. It has led me to be more active with the social injustices and outdated folkways that still cause heartache to people living in unfriendly environments and bound by laws that restrict their rights to live and to love. In these hardships, I have watched Second Life residents come together to show one another they care. Reminding people that it does get better and that there are still decent people in the world. That everyone is worthy of love and respect even when the worst parts of society try to tell them they are not. On the whole, Second Life has made me fall in love with people again. Photograph by Daeberethwen Arbenlow Page 258 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Nina DiLeonardi Nina DiLeonardi (Nina2012nina Resident in-world) has been a Second Life Resident for 4 years now. In 2013 she started her own fashion blog, “Nina’s Magical World”, to share her love for fashion, photography and Second Life. She loves history, literature and movies and her avatar’s appearance is often influenced by her favourite fantasy books & movies. You’ll often see her as an elf, a fairy or a gorean lady but she can also appear in contemporary clothing. Nina loves photography and adores practising in Photoshop. When she is not working on her blog, she enjoys decorating her home & garden, exploring different places in Second Life, listening to music and chatting with friends. She likes meeting new people, so if you see her in-world, don’t hesitate to greet her. In real life, Nina has recently graduated with her Masters degree. Her expertise includes American & English Literature & History, Creative Writing, Theoretical & Applied Linguistics, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
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I grew educa the We Life I w contem the ma postm started truths” Life, an oppor Secon world
w up in an environment which values ation, literature, fine arts and generally estern Canon. When I joined Second was a University student, and I was into mporary literature, artists coming from argins & very much influenced by a modern way of thinking. I had already d to challenge the values & “universal � I grew up with, so trying out Second n online virtual world seemed like a good rtunity to broaden my horizons. Indeed, nd Life has enabled me to understand the in a different way.
I’ve been a Second Life Resident for 4 years now (since March 2012) and thanks to this virtual world I have learnt to appreciate different countries & cultures as well as contemporary forms of art. As a Second Life resident I have visited a lot of places like Japan, Asian sims, Victorian England, sub-Saharan countries & tropical islands. Amazed by the wonderful landscapes & by chatting with international people, I came to appreciate all these different places and to want to seek out Real Life photographs and information about them. By following the work of international designers & bloggers in Second Life, I now understand the aesthetics & the ideals of beauty of other cultures (e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish) which is reflected in their creations and/or photographs. I am now so much more eager in wanting to travel abroad (especially in Asian countries), read the history & literature of different countries & interact with international people. Second Life has also enabled me to think about art in a broader sense too. I am fascinated with the unique details & the artistic expression of some landscapes and virtual goods that are created in-world. It is pure art! What is more, Second Life photography is one of my biggest passions in Second Life and I consider it a form of 21st century art. I adore both to take photographs and to see what other photographers achieve. The windlights, the shadows, the lights, the angle, all these are things that elevate a Second Life photograph to a work of contemporary digital art. Since I started being involved in Second Life photography, I have been more interested in visiting art fairs, art galleries & looking for new artists & alternative forms of art. All in all, I believe that Second Life has enabled me to become more open-minded, knowledgeable & above all artistic! Her Blog. Her Flickr. Her Facebook. Photograph by Nina DiLeonardi ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 261
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Mili Miklos Mili Miklos is a SL fashion blogger at Inventory Mess where she is known for her witty and creative photos. She has been in Second Life for eight years and still finds inspiration. In addition to blogging, she is also a manager at enVOGUE.
Second Life changed my worldview in a way I couldn’t have ever imagined. It showed me that even with long distances and cultural differences, people can think the same way, have the same ideals, and fight for what they believe together. In these eight years of Second Life, I saw just a minority using Second Life as a tool to segregate and spread hate and harassment. Most people use our virtual world to give strength to each other, to raise funds and loving words for those in need. I found out that some myths about people of certain religions, places and economic power were unfounded, and that precisely these people could be the most sweet and tender, with open minds to differences of opinion. I think the most important word of Second Life, as I always like to say, is help. And to that word there are no boundaries, just as there are none in Second Life - a place where we can all be creative minds, masters of our own destiny and true to a word that has fallen into disuse in the real world. Her Blog. Her Flickr. Her Facebook. Her Facebook Fan Page.
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Reina Alice Reina Alice [ReinaAlice Resident] has been in Second Life for six years. She loves fashion and photography and recently posted her 800th fashion photo. She is from Japan and is a poetic writer. I get up around 4:00 every morning. At the time when the which birds which greet the morning darkly Don’t hear a greeting yet from outside. I open a window wide and breathe deeply. And after making a little strong tea, I make my small avatar awaken. I like this avatar very much. I feel the same affection as I would a daughter Which in a way she is. Small, she’s always a smiling face in the monitor. And I greet her with a smiling face, too. “Good morning my dear little friend” A smiling face makes people happy. The special gift that was given to man. Out in the world, I am prohibited that smiling face. A boss of the company said. “Don’t laugh carelessly, it’s unpleasant” I heard the word and the character in me was denied completely. And I had the sickness which can’t put on a smile in public. So I always make this avatar a smiling face. A second life which gives me my smiling face. The place in the world where I can open my heart. And the friends all over the world who see This friend’s small smiling face makes me happy. “I may be here a smiling face, too.” I have begun to think so.. Thank you very much, my dear friends. I once again have a smiling face thanks to you. Photograph by Reina Alice ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 265
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Sorcha Irelund Sorcha Irelund is better know around the grid as Sorchiee. She’s an active blogger, role-player, and all around busy body! She’s been wandering the SL® landscape for almost seven years and is still surprised and delighted everyday. She created and founded the realm of Mystara with her friend Annie, but would soon find herself more interested in fashion than in running an RP sim. During the tail end of 2014, she met Duchess Flux who soon became her best friend and confidant. Together they own “The Ippos Collective” which is a set of 4 sims dedicated to beauty, creativity, and kindness. They also own an event called, Enchantmentsl.com. You can find a load of information My core group of friends consist of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. We are all members of The Ippos Collective and together we form a community of artist, designers, creators, bloggers, photographers, and friends. We believe in being kind and supporting one another in all things. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends. In real life I’m a costumer & costume Designer for film and television. I pull so much inspiration from SL and the incredibly talented artist who call SL home. I have three cats (Keats, Dashiell, & Hemingway), a Chihuahua named Pixie, and a fish called Byron. I live in lovely Los Angeles and I’m in love with both my RL and SL. Second Life is and always has been a place for me to be creative and to express myself artistically in a variety of ways. When I first signed into SL I was immediately drawn to roleplay. Specifically medieval and fantasy-based RP. I’m a huge Lord Of The Rings nerd and I
knew I wanted to be able to pretend I was an Elven Princess from some far off land. When I created my avatar (which has been an ongoing process for seven years) I was drawn to shopping in SL like a moth to a flame. I couldn’t get enough. This led me into blogging and I just loved it. I’ve been blogging fantasy, medieval, and all things fabulous in SL for over 7 years and through that time I’ve acquired a pretty fantastic following. I’ve even been honored to have my photos displayed on the Second Life website. Blogging has led to so many fantastic adventures such as owning my own event! Enchantment has been such a precious aspect of my SL and my partner in crime, Duchess and I strive to bring as much magic and wonder into SL as possible. I love the SL community and I don’t see myself leaving anytime soon. Her Blog. Her Flickr. ECLIPSE May 2016 | Page 267
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In April 2015, we introduced a segment called, “Ways to Wear” to highlight how style is unique to the individual by providing two models the same items while resulting in two different looks.. We took this concept a step further with a friendly competition between our models, by empowering our readers with the opportunity to “vote” on who they feel styled it best. This issue we have brought back the feature to showcase 8 fabulous designers from .PENUMBRA. Spring/Summer 2016 Fashion Week! As always, vote for your favorites!
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Dress: B Barbie Style
Lua Vendetta q p Ruby Ornamental
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e Black & White Dress
e to VOTE!
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Outfit: Belles Parisienn
AnnaG Pfeffer q p Lua Vendetta
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nes - Tenue Emmanuelle
e to VOTE!
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Dress: Culco -
Ruby Ornamental q p Sienna Bellios
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- Violet Gown
e to VOTE!
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Dress: GLITTER -
Lua Vendetta q p Sienna Bellios
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- Majestic Gown
e to VOTE!
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Dress: Masoom
Lua Vendetta q p Raven Aeranae
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m - Emma Gown
e to VOTE!
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Skin: Oceane Bod
AnnaG Pfeffer q p Ruby Ornamental
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dy Design - Lotte
e to VOTE!
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Skin: Ooh-la-licio
AnnaG Pfeffer q p Ashton Jinx
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ous Skins - Celestia
e to VOTE!
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Dress: Simply
AnnaG Pfeffer q p Raven Aeranae
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y Me! - Ecstasy
e to VOTE!
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Photo Contest Page 290 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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WINNER - Rea Quar Page 292 | ECLIPSE May 2016
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Sabine Mortenwold
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VanessaDelRio Underwood
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BroderickLogan Resident
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QueenBrat Bracken
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