Fusion Magazine - October 2014 by Fusion Magazine

FUSION

issue-thirteen OCTOBER-2014

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PUBLISHER

Libby

Farleigh

LAYOUT

Libby

Farleigh

FASHION EDITOR

Daija

Arida

MARKETING

Seth

Diabolito

Brittney Lynne

FUSION S t a f f contributors

CONTRIBUTORS Auryn Beorn Jude Tatham Lily Holsworthy Britain Kennedy Compe Lockwood

PHOTOGRAPHERS Autumn Ashdene Micah Kalinakov

FASHION TEAM

On this month's cover:

Photography by Xantheanne Modeled by Saddie Hurricane

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Alex1985 Diabolito Drakkje Dailey Oakley Foxtrot Autumn Ashdene

NOTE-FROM-THE-PUBLISHER 6

Boo!

Scared yet? No? Well, give it time, because this issue of Fusion is crammed full of Hallowe’en fun! With spooooky sims to explore, trick or treating to do with the family, perfect for fall decor and the best Hallowe’en costumes on the grid, we are celebrating all that is great about this time of the year. There are changes afoot at Fusion Magazine. For the last year we’ve published an inworld magazine every month, bringing you the best and most beautiful of Second Life. However, the job of managing the magazine, sourcing advertising, plus the hours and hours of work in InDesign every month to bring Fusion to life, as well as working all that around my RL, has become unsustainable. All that means that over the next few weeks we will be transitioning our content from the inworld magazine format to a web magazine. We will continue to release Fusion in its current format until the web magazine is ready to launch, which will hopefully be in the next couple of months. We will be sharing links and all the other details via our inworld subscriber group, and our Facebook page, when we have them. Until then, have a spooktacular Hallowe’en!

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Avatars for the young at heart!

Halloween Humbug! by Lily Holsworthy

Much like any other holiday there are some haters out there even for Halloween. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Who could possibly hate a day of candy celebration!? Lets face it, Halloween is hit and miss with some people. It’s the not so gentle reminder that Christmas is right around the corner. There’s the potential of your house getting egged by kids and teenagers who have the whole Halloween thing all confused as an excuse to vandalize. As a borderline Halloween hater I can admit that Second Life has renewed my love for it. Finding the perfect costume is right at your fingertips, you don’t have to worry about anyone egging your house and some of the effort put into Halloween sims is spectacular. There are so many Halloween events you can play dress up to your heart’s content and you don’t have to wash off all the makeup!

If you haven’t felt any love toward Halloween take the time and go back to your noob roots and go exploring, there are mazes, haunted houses, things for kids to do and if that isn’t incentive enough think of all the linden you could win just parading around to the various costume party contests.

Whether you’re an adult or a child in Second Life take the time to check out what there is in world, I promise you won’t regret it. You might think “Oh I’m too old for that”, well if that’s your feeling why not take one day to remember what it’s like to be a kid again and be that one thing you always wanted to be for Halloween and your parents always said no. Be that Superman and wear that speedo over a too tight bodysuit with a cape! Sometimes all it takes is running around in your underwear in a cape to remember how much you love something.

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Whether you hate Halloween or love it, Second Life is the perfect platform to celebrate. There are events in various time zones that you can attend after your children go to bed and you can do it all while raiding their candy stash! 

article by CompE Lockwood & photography by Libby Farleigh

Halloween Dead Town

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Gracelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Second Life Graceland is amazing in realistic detail. Admiring the front gates, an exact duplicate of Elvis Presley’s house, even Memphis natives marvel at how true to life it is. But this Graceland includes an airplane tour. Don’t take it, or you are doomed. Of course no one ever heeds the dire warning in a haunted house tale so fasten your seatbelt we are about to take off and land in Graceland’s Halloween Dead Town. It is well named.

“We try to change it up each year,” said BubbaC John, one of the Sim’s creators. “We don’t want the same old thing every year so this idea just popped into my head.” For about a month Bubba, Dale Chemistry, and Trixie Brequet worked on the spooky pixels. And now it is listed in one of SL’s ‘Most Haunted Places ‘ Now back to the show...

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The tiny bi-plane does just fine for about 12 seconds then a storm hits. Our pilot loses control. We aren’t going to make it!” says the captain. “It looks like the whole city has been destroyed!” he notes, looking down at the smoldering remains of who knows where as we crash land on who knows what.

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Leaving our doomed aircraft, survivors (forget the pilot, he’s toast) are advised to grab a gun because ‘you’re going to need it.’ Immediately a welcoming committee of bats, rats, zombies, ghosts, and things that go bump in the cyber dark, surround you. Walk anywhere you like, supernatural mayhem is in ever crevice. “Then you have to find the exit.” noted Bubba. Good luck with that. Don’t expect much help with the locals either, most of them don’t have heads. Bubba’s haunted Halloween places is now in the third year. “We have a ball designing this.” he said. “We added last some wicked clouds down there last night.” he laughs. “It is always changing.” You may encounter an entirely different set of spooks on your next visit. The difference here is you don’t just visit them. They come to you, and none of them are happy. I stepped away from the keyboard for one minute and returned to see a bat nudge my hapless avatar down a sinister street. 20

On this early October night, about 30 people a day are crashing the airplane in this city of the doomed. The number will increase, closer to Halloween. So will the body count. ď Ž

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http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Thriller/174/253/3001/

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Fright Night article by Jude Tatham & photography by Micah Kalinakov

am a scaredy cat, a cowardly custard and an absolute chicken. I get frightened by the silliest things which no doubt harks back to when I was a child and was scared of everything, including my shadow.

Now I am older and my imagination is not as wild as it was I can cope with a few frights, however these days they usually come in the form of my monthly credit card bill and my ever expanding waistline. That said, even to this day I am not a big fan of horror films and although I am not troubled by the gruesome and gory, I do tend to steer clear of anything too disturbing - my imagination still has its moments. So today when I checked the calendar and realised that the season of the witch is fast approaching, I thought I should go and investigate what SL has to offer to chill us to the core and scare us silly. My first stop was the haunted house and graveyard at Happy Ever After. As soon as I arrived my ears were filled with sounds of the macabre, including lightning strikes, blood curdling screams and the deep guttural laughter of demonic beasts and all this before I even step through the front door. What I find inside can only be described as an assault on the senses. Strange lights flash around me, swirling mist and spectres fill the air and every few steps blood dripping spikes break through the floor and impale me. There are some familiar faces of the horror world doing 26

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what they do best - slashing, gouging and possessing, plus a few things to interact with and get you more involved in the whole creepy, but fun experience. For those wanting a slightly more traditional haunted experience, head over to Fallenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Haunting at Sapphire North. This place was a little quieter which, for me, made it all the more creepy. There were lots of ghosts and ghouls, well placed sound affects and a few jumps along the way.....just what you want from a haunted house. There was also plenty of blood for the gore lovers, as well as the usual nods to our favourite scary movies. My final and favourite themed sim was the Happy Halloween haunted sim at Lanham Hills. The creators had put together an incredibly impressive boat ride of horror, which sailed you through every kind of nightmare and frightening scene you can think of. There was something for everyone, from zombies staggering out of the woods, psychotic clowns wielding bloody axes and mad scientists working on their human experiments, to demon pumpkin heads grinning at you from the shore, skeletons rising from the mist and even a haunted pirate ship. All this was taken in from the comfort of my own row boat and I felt like I was on some freaky Disney ride.

Please take some time to go and visit these fantastic places, not just for the fun element, but to see what incredibly dedicated people there are in SL, taking lots of time and effort to bring us these frighteningly fantastic treats. This is one reformed wimpy kid who is now a fright fest fan. ď Ž

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article by Jude Tatham & photography by Micah Kalinakov

Trick

Treat OR

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“Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world” - William Shakespeare

t’s close to midnight, something evil’s lurking in the dark. No it isn’t the late great Michael Jackson, it is Halloween and that lurking evil is probably your neighbour’s children trying to cram as much chocolate and candy in their mouths as they can.

Halloween is all about being scared and eating sweets, about dressing up as a spooky character and knocking on your neighbour’s front door, asking them the immortal question ‘trick or treat’. You know it will be a treat and they will present some teeth-rotting sweets to pop into your swag bag, but deep down you wish they would say trick, as this is the only night of the year it is acceptable to throw eggs at people’s front doors and hang toilet paper from their trees and bushes. But what started this strange and saccharin filled tradition – what is this lust for celebrating the macabre? Horror movies and TV shows have desensitized us over the years and costumes and characters are becoming more gory and frightening as the years go by, but the real reason behind Halloween is quite different. Modern day Halloween originated from an ancient Celtic holiday, known as Samhain. The Celts used the day to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter and also believed that this transition between seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead. Over the millennia the holiday has transitioned from a sombre pagan ritual to a day of merriment, costumes and parades. 38

The tradition of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats goes back to the Middle Ages. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;soulingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; when poor folk would go door to door on the Hallowmas (1st November), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (2nd November). This practice originated in Britain and Ireland and also as far south as Italy. Interestingly there is no evidence to suggest that souling was ever practiced in the US, although the tradition of trick-or-treating seems to have originated there, without any British influence.

So as we slip our tenth lollypop of the day into our mouths, it is interesting to see how traditions and ideas have changed. What was once a mainly adult event and involved dealing with serious matters such as poverty, hunger and of course death, has evolved into something for the kids and brings out the kid in all of us.

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Happy Halloween! ď Ž

Bring the

spooO

y k o o OO

to your windlight! by Auryn Beorn

How about enhancing those memories with a touch of windlight? Do I hear, you're not sure about what windlight is? Then don't worry, because this article is for you. Windlight is SL's atmospheric rendering system. Our viewers give us a set of settings that allow us to change how the sky looks, the light, Sun position, and other ambient effects, such as fog, clouds... Each of us can change the windlight settings in our viewer. By doing so, we're changing how the sky, light, etc. are rendered, but only in our viewer. Our choice of windlight settings is local, meaning, only we can see it in our viewer, not other avatars around. But that is fine when all we want to do is take pictures. Now, don't worry because it seems like we need to learn a lot of things in order to use this windlight thing. In this issue we'll begin with the basics: we'll learn where we can find this in our viewer, we'll see a few shortcuts for some third party viewers, and then we'll explore a few presets that we can use for our Halloween-Spooky oriented pictures. Yes: There are premade presets that we can just select and use.

Starting to use windlight is that easy.

In the official viewer, the windlight settings can be found under: World: Environment Editor: Environment Settings In order to select a specific windlight setting, we have to change the selection under Sky/Day Cycle, then Fixed sky, from Default to the setting we wish to use. For example, the picture shows how to change our setting to Blue Midday:

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which immediately changes the light settings in our viewer. Press OK to have them applied...

Other viewers, like Firestorm or Singularity, have quick access to the windlight presets at the bottom right area of our viewer. For example, in Firestorm we would click the little icon to the bottom right of the screen, normally next to the AO button:

and that would open the Quick Preferences, which among others, let us to select a Windlight preset under WL Sky (and WL Water for similar settings, only for the water):

Let's make a list here of some presets that everybody has installed in their viewers, ready for Halloween:

Blizzard Foggy Funky Funky Funky Ghost These options aren't bad, but it's true that, to begin with, the official viewer doesn't give us many choices. Don't worry, though, because lots of people have created their own presets, including Torley Linden, and offer them to other SL residents. What would we do with them? First, download the settings to your computer. Open this link in your browser, from the official wiki page, and start by downloading Torley's ones: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/WindLight_Settings

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/SecondLife/ Windows Vista & 7: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\ Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\SecondLife\ Linux: ~/.secondlife/

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After this, you will have to unpack them in a specific folder. Depending on your Operating System, the Second Life folder will be placed in one or other place. The previous link to the official wiki lists them:

Once you've found this Secondlife folder in your Operating System, the sky presets

have to be saved under: user_settings/windlight/skies/ and the water presets (if any) under: user_settings/windlight/water Once you're done, next time you log in using the viewer you installed the presets for, you will have them available in the same dropdown menu we used before. If you're using a third party viewer such as Firestorm, note that instead of Secondlife or .secondlife, the folder to look for is named Firestorm (or .firestorm for Linux users). Also, many third party viewers come with lots of Windlight presets installed, so for example, you may not need to install Torley's ones in them. For Halloween, I would recommend trying out all the presets from Torley that are in the FOGGY, HORROR and NIGHT categories. A few personal choices: [TOR] FOGGY - Das fog [TOR] FOGGY - Silent heck [TOR] HORROR - Bloody moon [TOR] HORROR - Castle vain [TOR] HORROR - Darkside tales [TOR] HORROR - Dullard [TOR] NIGHT - Moony [TOR] NIGHT - That spells moon (1 to 4) As a final note, know that you can also change the Sun position! In the official viewer we can use two ways. One thing that we can do is go to the World: Sun menu, and in there, select one of the four default positions, corresponding to 12 AM (Midnight), 6 AM (Sunrise), 12 PM (Noon) and 6PM (Sunset). 44

Then, and this is a little more complicated: Go to the World: Environment Editor: Sky Presets: Edit Preset menu. This opens the following window, where we begin by selecting the preset we'll be using:

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Making changes here will overwrite the preset. In order to avoid this, the first we do is a copy of the preset we're tweaking by writing something more under Preset Name, for example, Funky Funky Funky - My Sun Changes in this example, which will create a copy of the preset under this new name:

Now, we click on the Lighting tab, and we drag to move the green dot in the Sun/ Moon Position slider, to change the Sun position:

Once we're done, we have to go again to World: Environment Editor: Environment Settings, and select the modified preset we've just tweaked by changing the Sun position, then hit OK. We can of course change the Sun position over this work copy we've created, not creating more and more copies of it. The purpose of creating this first copy was not to lose the original setting, but with this done, now we can reuse it and tweak saving over it as much as we need. 46

This will let you experiment what Sun position gives the best spooky feeling for your pictures. It will also change the direction of the shadows, if you're using the Advanced Lighting Mode with shadows turned on.

Finally, if you're using a third party viewer as Firestorm, you can quickly change the Sun position by using a slider, without having to save a different preset for this! Just notice that under the WL Sky and WL Water selectors there's a color band representing the times of the day, and a slider that lets you drag and so change the Sun position:

With all this, now go out and take lots of fun pictures.

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Happy Halloween & enjoy your SL. ď Ž

FUSION COVER MODEL article by Jude Tatham photography by Xantheanne

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87 Sadie

Hurricane r

Our cover star this month is designer and creator Saddie Hurricane, the owner of Little Lamb, a childrens furniture and toy store. When did you start designing and creating in SL and what are your inspirations? On my first avatar I started to make clothing for fun then went onto some poses. When mesh first came to SL I was interested in learning, so I watched a few tutorials and made some small things just to see what I could do. Last year I met SunAnn Jewell who owns the shop Kalopsia. She makes beautiful items, so naturally I bugged her for a few pointers. It is because of SunAnn that I started my shop. Your style and creations are geared towards young or child avatars, what motivates you to target this market? In RL I have a child and most of the toys, shows and movies I buy for him are vintage, or things I remember from being a child, and I see how happy these

things make him. I make my products because I love the simple things in life that bring joy. If I can make something that reminds you of your childhood, or that makes you smile, that is success to me.

Having a child AV in SL can often be seen as controversial, with concerns over age play, etc. What made you decide to portray this image and what do you say to those opposed to it? I played my adult avatar account for a couple of years, but just like in RL sometimes being an adult here can get complicated and stressful. So after a while, I just decided I wanted to live a carefree life and the easiest way to do that was to play as a child. I think that people give the reasoning behind being a kid avatar far too much thought. They want to know why we do it, what makes us tick and often make negative assumptions that there is some sinister or hidden reason for it. I can't speak for everyone of course, but for me and the people I know, we just want to have fun. We get to dress up our avatars like cute little dolls, run around and enjoy ourselves.

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As far as the naysayers go, it's funny how kid avatars is the one community in SL that people continually state their distaste, dislike and disgust for. There are many other things here that would give most people a heart attack, and yet in SL we barely bat an eyelid. I fully understand that some people don't get it and if it's not your thing, that's fine, move on. In your profile you mention your SL mother and father. How important is family to you? My mother Britain and I have been friends on my adult avatar for almost three years. Since we have known each other a while and both been hurt by people in SL,

when I made Saddie she wanted to take me in. My father Noah is just amazing, he is fun and hilarious and could make you laugh all day long. I also have friends who I knew long before we were actual siblings, so naturally I care about them a lot. We are friends more than anything, not just something where I log on and suddenly we care for one another, but real emotions that exist outside of SL. And finally, what next for Little Lamb, what does the future hold? I plan on branching out beyond toys soon, I have been wanting to make more builds, I made a play house a few months ago which sparked my interest. I'm also learning more things with mesh and hope to eventually get into extending my shop. You can view many of Saddie's creations at her in-world store: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Goober%20Town/50/189/502

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BY BRITAIN KNAVE

FALL LIVING ROOM

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FALL LIVING ROOM CREDITS

Sofa: The Loft - Frezza Sofa Casual Cream Mature - Colleen Desmoulins Coffee Table: floorplan. - captain's coffee table / ink - Tegan Serin Rose Bucket: A.V. - Brise' White Roses Bucket - StephanVisconti Bowl: The Loft - Catch All Bowl - Collen Desmoulins (modded with Apple Fall's Edi Wicker Lamps.) Wine Candles: ISON - wine light - Harry Hyx Pinecones: [ARIA] Gretchen big cloche with pinecones - Yelo Uriza Remote: [ARIA] Deborah deco remote control - Yelo Uriza Puppy: ISPACHI [Florian] Sleeping Puppy In Basket RARE - Andred Qinan Rug: La Galleria - Antique Black Floral Bijar rug MESH - Pamela Galli Chairs: Apple Fall - Wingback Chair 5 - Apple Fall Table & Chess Set: {theosophy} - Cheriton Side Table (Coal) - Trace Osterham Planters: The Loft - Wareham Planter - Nardya Rousselot Doll: MudHoney - Dolly - Evie - Rayvn Hynes Mirror: The Loft - Neo Mirror - Colleen Desmoulins 'K' Frame: The Loft - K Frame - Colleen Desmoulins Flowers: Apple Fall - Meadow Flowers - Apple Fall Clock: LD mantle clock v2 - shabby - Heavenly Villa Candle Holder: Alouette - Medieval Candle Style 3 - Scarlet Chandrayaan Antler Candle: The Loft - Antler Candle (sm) - Colleen Desmoulins Candle Stand: Alouette - Medieval Candle Style 1 - Scarlet Chandrayaan Shelves: :FANATIK HOME: - Industrial Shelve 2 - Kendra Zaurak XO: .:revival:. - "Kiss & Hug" sign - Momentous Wood Basket: AF - Woodstock - Apple Fall

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Baskets: floorplan. - wire basket stack - Tegan Serin Books: MudHoney - Books w/ Apple - Rayvn Hynes Lanterns: The Loft - Multi-Candle Lantern Black - Colleen Desmoulins Storm Lantern: {af} - Storm Lamp (Old Wood) - Apple Fall Black Frame: The Loft - Tribeca Frame 1 - Colleen Desmoulins Wooden Frames: AF - Annan Reclaimed Frame - Apple Fall Clock: floorplan. - lantern clock / black - Tegan Serin Cabinet: oyasumi - wire cabinet - Kenzo Gateaux Desk: The Loft - Bacall Desk - Nardya Rousselot Chair: The Loft - Bacall Chair Mateo - Collen Desmoulins Suitcases: DRD - stack of suitcases - Jaimy Hancroft Lamp: The Loft - Banker's Desk Lamp Black - Colleen Desmoulins Map: floorplan. - map frame - Tegan Serin Planter: AF - L'Olivier - Apple Fall Ruffle Chair: [ARIA] - Gretchen armless chair - RARE - Yelo Uriza Basket of plans: HIDEKI - Inventor's desk (basket) - Hideki Carami Fireplace mantle: Apple Fall - Cast Iron Victorian Fireplace (Modded) - Apple Fall Console Table: floorplan - simple sideboard - Tegan Serin Mirror: llorisen // - eclectic standing mirror.brown - Elsa Wellesley Lamp: PILOT - Murrow Table DEUX [Lamp] texture change - Kaz Nayar Skull: AF - Springbok Skull - Apple Fall Phone: AF - Springbok Skull - Apple Fall Tins: AF - Tea Time Tins - Apple Fall Books: Dutchie - mesh antique books - Froukje Hoorenbeek Basket: floorplan. - gas price numbers basket - Tegan Serin Maps: PILOT - Maps Basket - Kaz Nayar

article by CompE Lockwood & photography by Libby Farleigh

Haunted e v i t c a r e int House

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“Hello? Anybody home?” Inquiring minds want to know. The witch in the front yard remains silent. Leaves and bats flutter in eerie winds, and only the adjacent graveyard keeps me company and no one is alive there. Or is there? Within seconds of landing at Spooky Interactive Haunted House, ‘interactive’ comes alive. Everything else comes alive too, including stuff that’s not supposed to be. Roll up your sleeves and prepare to enter a hands-on haunted house. One of the best haunted attractions in Second Life, builder/creator, Tigerlily Hyun’s work is also one of the oldest. People have explored the meandering staircase, secret rooms, and dismembered members since 2009. It is open all year. Her goal was for a haunted house that is not static. I just got stabbed in the chest by a cyber-ghost. I get the not static part. “I like to think it's the interactive experience, that sets us apart,” notes Ms. Hyun. “Many haunted houses simply have scary scenes and items that pop out to frighten you. What's different about the Spooky Interactive Haunted House is the ability to interact with the environment.” Visitors are encouraged to touch everything possible inside the house. There is much more going on than seen at first glance. “You might be surprised how much more is going on if you trigger the interactive items,” adds Hyun. “Some things trigger just by your presence; I like to say the ghosts are always watching! I created a lot of custom items, with custom sounds and animations, for the house, which is also unique.” Each door has a new discovery. An upstairs bedroom invites you to take a nap on 66

its four-post bed. But I’m just not sleepy with that hangman’s noose hanging from the ceiling and the ghost floating over my head is a definite distraction. Knowing what’s underneath this house isn’t slumber-friendly either.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solo/140/30/21

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“There is a secret laboratory hidden beneath the floorboards,” smiles Ms. Hyun. “Many are able to find the blacked out basement, but only the persistent will find their way to the lab. I like to think about the former occupants of this house, and why they needed a hidden laboratory! There is also a really subtle prank in the kitchen I like. Keep an eye on the chairs as you walk by. Those ghosts are up to their tricks!” Now you tell me. 

h n e v a H

trick or t for the fam

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Havenhollow/163/68/2223 68

hollow

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treating e whole mily!

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blogger's corner

By Alex1985 Diabolito

I have to admit, October is by far my favorite month in SL. I love Halloween and as you'd expect I also love all the dark and gory goodies you can find all over the grid these days. So here is me sharing some of the creepy awesomeness!

Hair: Defiler (Mystic Realms Faire) from Tableau Vivant Outfit: J.D. Chapman from FATEplay Mask: Gas Mask from FATEplay Machete: Machete from FATEplay Gloves: Black Cruising from O.M.E.N

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Head: f.o.d in Bloodwired from DRD Suit: Body belt suit from Gabriel Gloves: Black Cruising from O.M.E.N Knife: Meat Cleaver from FATEplay

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Dress: Fall Babydoll Dress in Charcoal from The Secret Store and Nyu Hair: Frenchie in Hilton from ILLMATIC

Skin: Sia in America 08 from -Glam Affair Tights: High-Waisted Tights from Izzie's

Boots: Wendy.Boots in Midnight from fri. Bag: Mariel bag from LaGyo

Styled, modeled, & photographed by Drakkje Dailey

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GET THAT STYLE

Look OFTHE Month

Photographed by Xantheanne Resident Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95681306@N07/ & http://xantheanneslife.wordpress.com/ 88

Look OFTHE Month

Photographed by Hikaru Enimo Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62690596@N05/ & http://hikaruenimo.wordpress.com/

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Photographed by Trinetty Skytower Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34553181@N05 & http://skytowerstudios.wordpress.com/ 90

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Our Inner Fears article by Jude Tatham & photography by Micah Kalinakov

e are all scared of something, be it small and silly or deep and dark, we have all had something that unsettles us, makes us nervous and can often keep us awake at night.

Many of us are influenced by our religions or superstitions, or by the path we walk on and the people around us. But what really gets under our skin and how do our fears in this virtual world differ to those in the reality. This month I headed off around the grid talking to people from all walks of life, asking them ‘what really frightens you’ and the answers were varied and, at times, unexpected. Some people were happy to share and took pleasure in telling me about a time they were scared, whilst others were a tad cagey and didn’t give much away at all. From this I realised that not all of us are keen to admit we have weaknesses or show fear. Some like to put on a front and claim to be afraid of nothing, however showing your vulnerability can often make you seem more human and relatable. Out of the responses I received, there were a few predictable answers. Dark rooms, shadows and things that go bump in the night were high on the list, as were spiders, thunder and lightning and walking through graveyards. Most agreed this was probably due to the number of horror movies that cash in on these timeless fears and take advantage of our overactive imaginations. 92

There were more serious fears however, including a fear for our families, our safety and our future, of terrorist attacks and thieves, murderers and more. Some found the lack of common politeness a fear, how bad manners or lack of control could be a scary thing. A fear of heights and of falling came up several times and also when swimming, a fear of getting out of our depth and drowning. Then of course this brings us to the common fear of death, something which plagues many people the world over.

But what about SL, what fears do we harbour here in this virtual world? The loss of our inventory was a big one, logging on to find those precious items we love have been lost forever. Account hacking in SL was also a fear, that someone could access your avatar, your inventory or your hard earned Lindens. On a lighter note, many people claimed to be scared of poor fashion or avatar appearance, including bling shoes on an AV over a year old, alphas not being worn and people going barefoot in system feet. But what was our biggest fear in SL, something which may not even be considered a fear, but it bothers us all and can often ruin a conversation, a party or any event - it is of course, lag. Treacle walking, clothes removing, chat confusing lag.

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But whatever scares you and sends you running, this Halloween why not confront it and be just a little bit brave. ď Ž

modeled & photographed by Oakley Foxtrot

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HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!