Monday, March 31, 2014

Nerdgasm

Club Stiletto is one of my favorite hang outs these days.  Usually some one around, lots of events, friendly folks, good music and best of all, chat in local.  Last Friday they had a "Come as you would to RL work" day.  So I put together this outfit.  Sadly, the DJ got sick so the event was canceled.  But I'd gone to the effort of going through my rather extensive inventory and finding the right thing to wear.  So darn it, I was going to wear it!  I wanted to take a snap shot in front of some server racks, but IT infrastructure is actually rather hard to find in SL.  I ended up finding the place shown below in the bowels of the Arcturus RP Sim that has subsumed the old Skara Brae sim.

Yup, that's what I wear to work.  Jeans, plaid shirt, sneakers and sweater to keep warm in the data center.  Not to mention my ID card, cell phone and glasses.

Club Noir

A really nice friendly club aimed at adults and providing jazz, rat pack and other oldies.  The decor and dance ball are perfect for the type of music provided.  There are not always folks here, but if you hang around for a bit, odds are someone will show up in a few minutes.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

New Profile Image. Thank you Dollle.

A while back I posted an image of me in a great little leather outfit from Dollle.  You can see it here.  I really liked it, especially since the top sleeve and collar portion were separate from the actual dress part.  Unfortunately it did not come with an alpha layer that let you wear them as separate items.  I found some alphas from other things that sort of worked.  But I also IM'd the creator CrystalDoll Lemon.  She actually took my advice and created individual alphas for the parts and even sent me the new version!  Which was terribly nice of her.  You can check out her SL Marketplace shop here.

I like the upper part of this outfit so much, I used it to create a new profile image.  Which is shown below.  I've been watching the new version of Cosmos, and I think maybe it influenced by design choices.  What do you think?  The snapshot used for this was taken at Inspire Space Park.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Holiday Snapshots

I was working on a new profile image today and found a couple of snapshots from holidays past in my pictures folder.  So, I thought I'd share them with you.

Watching Independence Day fireworks at Miko's Nude Beach

Dancing at Touch of Pleasure on St. Patrick's Day

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Not the Heart of Darkness - New OpenCollar HQ

If you are involved in BDSM in SL, it's very very likely you are familiar with the OpenCollar group.  They are a small group of builders who have set out to make quality scripted collars, cuffs and AOs for the BDSM community.  All open source, all for free.  They do appreciate donations, but the gear is free, and you can pick it up at vendors scattered all over Second Life. 

But they have always had a single HQ or "Temple of the Collar."  It has moved frequently because they don't have the finances to buy a big parcel and keep it.  And the temple gets a lot of traffic.  Well, the latest move has put them in a positively gorgeous adult sim that is setup like an  XXX-rated Indiana Jones river excursion.  It really is a positively gorgeous place.  I explored most of it last night with two friends who've been in my blog before, Prissy and Raph.  And even if you are not into BDSM, you might want to visit the OpenCollar headquarters, head down the ramps into the caves or jungle, and enjoy the sights. And maybe some of the toys they have all over the place as well.

Here's a panorama shot of me standing in front of some ruins.  The waterfalls all around the ruins are very well done.  And if you have on your environmental sounds you'll hear the water roar as you approach.

And here's me looking up river toward the ruins above, along with a shot of Prissy, Raph and I in that same river.
It is an adult region, and I was swimming a lot.  So clothing was optional for this jaunt.  This means you must be an adult to visit.  But if you are, it is well worth your time.  I'll probably go back and get some more snapshots of other places in this sim.  This is only a small part of what you can find there.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

My name is Inigo Montoya...

FYI:  If you haven't seen the movie Princes Bride, or read the book, the following isn't going make much sense.

Okay, we know that Wesley and Buttercup go off and live happily ever after.  But have you ever wondered what happened to Inigo?  Or Fezzik?  I always related more to those characters.

Most days I'm perfectly fine being The Dread Pirate Roberts.  But some days, I feel like it must be kind of nice being Wesley.   I wonder, did Inigo ever find true love?  Seems like trust would come hard to a guy like him.  So put yourself in his place, ever wonder what it must be like to find your amarantine, someone to whom you can give over a part of your heart with the trust that they wont run a dagger through it?  I guess we all want someone to whom we can say, "as you wish."  So, I was wondering, how happily ever after did Inigo live?

Here's to hoping you are having a wonderful life.  1st or 2nd.


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Cosmos, Contact and Carl

Not quite a year ago, I posted an entry titled "I believe in potential." These ruminations were caused by watching the movie version of Contact.  The adds for the new version of Cosmos soon to come out, the one that features Neil deGrasse Tyson brought those thoughts to mind again.  I love the old Cosmos with Carl Sagan.

So, I finally got my hands on a copy of Contact and re-read it.  And, I have to say they did a much better job with keeping the spirit of the book in the movie than I had thought.  They did mash some characters together, and they did dumb a lot of things waaaay down.  But over all, not bad.  I give the movie a thumbs up.

So yes, I'm a bit surprised at how god friendly Contact the book is.  But what it is not friendly to, is organized religion.  Maybe back when I read it is when I began to realize that was what I didn't like either?  If you read through the rants I've made like this one in my blog, you'll realize, I'm pretty god friendly too.  But I do not have any patience for those that turn religion into a tool for power.  And that is what every organized religion I am familiar with does.

I guess I should acknowledge that Sagan was one of those writers who had a profound effect on a young person all those years ago.  So, here's to Carl, you are still missed.


Grumble's at it again.

I've posted some images of me wearing mesh gowns previously.  The gowns were nice, but didn't quite meet or surpass some of the older clothing layer and flexi gowns I have, that you can see via these links (White Green).  I've been saying the that while I think that mesh is wonderful for some things, it's not the way to make everything.  I think some designers are starting to really grok that.  Long clinging sheath style dresses in SL have always had a tendency to make you look like you have a lot of junk in the trunk.  Clothing layer skirts do not quite meet the waist of your avi, and, well, just make your butt look bigger.

But mesh has found its way into gowns.  I went to the first anniversary party at Club Stiletto last night.  And the event was "formal."  So, lots of gowns.  Some awesome old style flexies were to be seen.  But, more germane to this posting, some absolutely fabulous mesh gowns were to be seen.  Two ladies were wearing long sheath dresses with flaring hems that literally sparkled.  I don't mean the awful flashing bling of the bad old days that thankfully is rarely seen in recent times.  I mean it looked like the dresses were covered in zillions of tiny shinny beads.  I should have made a snapshot, but didn't think to.  What I did remember to take a snapshot of is the mesh sheath dress from Grumble that I was wearing.  And while not quite so spectacular as the sparkley ones, it looks great, moves well with the body, doesn't over emphasize your rump and frankly, is tre' chic!

And, while we are talking Grumble, they are having another scavenger hunt this month.  Here's the add if you'd like to know more.  It's fun to do, especially with a friend who can help you look.  And a great way to pick up lots of goodies on the cheap.  I haven't done this one yet, but I enjoyed the subway hunt in January.

http://grumblesl.blogspot.com/