Obligatory Post About Shoes

Posted on July 3, 2009
Filed Under Fashion, Hair, Skin, Free or Cheap, Opinions/Gossip/People | 1 Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

I am not into shoes. They do not get me excited. They do not light up my life.

My chosen footwear is usually tall gogo boots.

Ok, I admit to liking the video Shoes. But hey, that’s just for laughing.

The fact is I hardly notice what’s on a person’s feet unless it’s blinging pointy heels worn by someone in a thong, in which case I notice only because I want to giggle.

I do want to look nice though. Yes, really! So I thought I’d try to see what I’m missing about this whole shoe fetish craze, and I went shopping with Betty the supermodel to see what it’s all about. I must say everything looked brilliant on Betty. Me? I’d try stuff on, cringe, then change back into my tall boots.

I wish I had more to say about shoes, but I think most of you know more than I could tell you. While surfing Xstreet, I did happen upon a free pair of women’s sneakers that looked pretty cool though, and I visited the shop inworld but did not see the free shoes there. Hey, they might have been right in front of me, but the place was fairly large and I was feeling rather ADHD about the whole situation. If you’re able to, just get these things right off Xstreet.

Free Sneakers on XTREETSL
Visit Inworld and Search: Diamond Fashion

Mailbag: How Do You Choose SL Friends?

Posted on July 2, 2009
Filed Under Opinions/Gossip/People | 1 Comment

Hi Shauna,

I liked your article SL is not Playstation. I agree with it. I want to ask though, how do you choose your SL friends? I don’t find it easy to make friends on SL. Got tips?

You can print this but can I be anon?

A.P.

—–

Dear A.P.

Thanks for your email. You ask an interesting question, but I’m probably not the best person to ask for tips on this. I’ll try though!

Aside from going to places in Second Life with people who share your interests, I’d say just enjoy yourself and be nice. It never seems to work for me if I set out looking for a friend, but when a friend happens naturally it’s great. With some people it takes time to get used to seeing you around. These kind of friendships happen gradually, and you can become fond of a person over time. Now and then though you may click with someone instantly. When this happens it can be very cool!

Maybe Pay has some advice on this? Pay, you reading this?

Beavis Saying Peekaboo

Posted on July 1, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Free or Cheap, Interesting Items | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

The store “Gestures Right Out of Hell” have a Beavis giggling and saying peekaboo. I took a screen shot to show the ASCII art that comes with it.

Most gestures sell for about 25 lindens here, and the ones I like best tend to cost even less. This Beavis laughing is just 5 lindens.

Get it inworld: Gestures Right Out of Hell

Featured Blog: Virtual Neko

Posted on June 30, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Interesting Items, Opinions/Gossip/People | 1 Comment

Contributed by Paypabak Writer

I ran across this wonderful blog last fall and it’s on the “above the fold” screen of my iGoogle home page where all my essential blog feeds reside. Stacia Villota has IMHO cornered the market for blogging about being a SL Neko. If her great sense of style and commitment to exploring various Neko stores and sims isn’t enough, her wonderful blogrolls are so comprehensive as to have no peer in this area. She has broken out her own pages for handling SLurls and links to itemized resources on All Things Neko.

For example, here’s a great page for “How To Wear Multiple Attachments,” which any in-the-know Neko needs to accessorize to the max and bring a sim to its knees via Avatar Rendering Cost. (Just kidding!) As difficult as it is, she tries to list Events and Sales for Nekos, and solicits help from a growing legion of fans. If this is all very weird and mysterious to you, then go to her wonderful page on The History of Neko. (Of course, for the point-counterpoint view, you need go no further than Shauna’s Pet Peeve blog.

Virtual Neko is really the Mother of All Neko Blogs! And Stacia! Happy Anniversary!

Penny Lane Reopens

Posted on June 28, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Music Stuff | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

The club Penny Lane had to move locations due to some land confusion. They seem to have things set up again though, so if you’re a Beatles fan give them a visit.

Visit Inworld: Penny Lane

Second Life is Not Playstation

Posted on June 27, 2009
Filed Under Opinions/Gossip/People | 3 Comments

Contributed by Shauna Skye

Someone asked me to write an article to help people new to Second Life deal with emotional attachments and deep feelings which can occur within Second Life. I said I was more apt to offer help on How To Stop Your Hands From Typing, but thought well, maybe Dr. Shauna should give an opinion.

To begin with, the major mistake some make is in how they view Second Life. They come in thinking of it as a game rather than a virtual world, and while there are games within Second Life such as zyngo, shooting zombies, or roleplaying where you pretend to be vampires and kitty cats, Second Life is like the internet. The internet itself is not a game, but it has games. Second Life is not a game either–but it has them.

In the physical world our outward appearance can be an expression of ourselves in some ways. We can dress in certain styles, diet, have plastic surgery . . . but tomorrow we might be in an accident and end up looking nothing like we do now. Would that mean we were no longer ourselves? Isn’t it how we think which makes us who we are? When our minds are gone, the body is just a shell.

In Second Life we walk around as avatars; and what is an avatar but a vehicle for a mind? An avatar is a digital representation of ourselves, and one might say avatars are even more representative of the real us since we have more choice in how they look. An avatar can sometimes reveal more of what’s inside a personality than a physical body can.

Are Second Life relationships real? I’d say no less than those formed by other means such as talking on the phone or writing a letter. To say my friendship with a penpal is not real because we only communicate in letters would not be fair. My penpal and I may be even closer than people I physically see if we share more feelings. So how much more real is a SL relationship where you spend hours with a person in real time?

But what about the people who pretend to be something they’re not, you ask? A big concern is men using women avatars. Well, sure there’s room for deception, but people pretend in real life too. It’s easier to get away with being another gender in Second Life, but that does not mean “real” life can be any less deceptive. People wear masks everyday, and in fact may behave less like themselves in an environment where they are held accountable than in a virtual world like SL where they perceive no consequences and can remain anonymous. In SL a person can even switch to a different avatar if things get out of hand.

Sometimes people who want to behave certain ways will use the excuse that Second Life is just a game in order to do as they please. They behave with integrity in all ways except an area they want no restraint. SL is not a game to them, but when it comes to this one area suddenly “SL is just a game!” I’m not judging choices people make here, only that saying “it’s just a game” is not an excuse to do as you please. There are real people behind the avatars, so rather than using the “game” excuse just find others who are like minded and be honest about it.

I have no problem with the fact I sometimes feel emotional in Second Life since I’ve always viewed the place as a means of communicating rather than a game with unreal characters. My friends are great, and I’m not ashamed I have more in SL than everyday life right now. It’s just more convenient this way. People who say things to try to show how fulfilled they are in “real life” and try to insult those who feel close to SL friends (as if SL friends are less important) are “protesting too much” if you get my meaning. I know what it’s like to have a lot of friends in person. But the feelings I have for those in SL run no less deep, and in some cases far deeper.

So . . . are you struggling with the fact that you’re having feelings in Second Life? I’m not surprised if you come in viewing it as a game rather than a virtual world. But if you think of the place as a means of communicating rather than a playstation, you won’t be so shocked when someone you talk to actually elicits an emotional response from you.

Graceland in Second Life

Posted on June 26, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Fun Places, Music Stuff | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

Just some quick snaps for you. I don’t want to turn slFIX into a photo blog, but in this case the pictures say it best.

Visit Inworld: Graceland

slFIX Magazine Released into Second Life

Posted on June 24, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Free or Cheap, Interesting Items, Opinions/Gossip/People | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

slFIX Magazine has just been released. We’re still sorting out distribution and other fun stuff, but the magazine itself is available. It’s free!

Here’s a peek at the cover. Those who would like one can get it at slFIX Arcade or just IM Shauna Vella to send you one.

Get it at: slFIX HQ

Go * Go * Go! — Cyberpunk & Art

Posted on June 23, 2009
Filed Under Art & Culture, Fun Places, Interesting Items | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Paypabak Writer

A work colleague wears some very interesting cyberpunk accessories in Second Life and gave me the landmark for Mimi*a*Go*Go months ago–that’s where he got the stuff. And like the slovenly kitteh I am, I only recently made the jump and Wow! this is a great store! Mimi must love bright primary colors and glow for creating all of her cyber accessories for legs and arms, powerpacks to attach to your back and aid in flight, helmets, hats, an awesome-looking power staff . . . plus, full costumes for heroes and heroines. Yes, guys are gonna find some great stuff here. The store is decorated with great old posters of Batgirl and old comic book covers (Dan Dare, Captain Video). Prices are very reasonable and there’s a number of terrific freebies and 50L stuff. Note: A side room contains a gallery of lovely black-and-white nude portraits, so this is not a PG-rated store!

Down below the store, there’s an art gallery that caught my eye as well: Arys Palen’s Wired gallery. I wish I could show you the artwork but slFIX policy tends toward work-safe fare and I’m inclined not to push it here. Instead, I’ve included a shot of the gallery from a distance since I just love the design of the gallery as much as I liked what I saw! Both store and gallery are very avatar friendly and more than just functional in appearance conveying a palpable attitude of playfulness. The gallery has all these blue jets keeping it floating just above the ground and blue-and-white discs stacked and twisting as stairs to the various levels.

Palen’s art is verbal as well as graphic, with very haunting poetry about loneliness and loss but also of growth that is served well by the dense graphics in a cyberpunk motif. I didn’t see that anything was for sale but there was a donation device and I would urge visitors to patronize with your Lindens as well as sharing it with friends.

Visit Inworld
Mimi a*Go*Go Cyberpunk Store
Arys Palen’s WIRED Gallery

Landmark Givers Annoy Me Like Popup Ads Used To

Posted on June 20, 2009
Filed Under Fun Places, Opinions/Gossip/People | Leave a Comment

Contributed by Shauna Skye

When I first joined Second Life I could travel all over without having to constantly click buttons to close dialogue boxes. These days, jumping from sim to sim and exploring in peace is a thing of the past. Second Life has become like the web was at one point. When some of us first got internet, popup ads didn’t exist. Then soon we had to download special popup blockers or use certain browsers to avoid the things driving us crazy.

Second Life has come to this. You literally can’t go to another sim without some gadget (at minimum) offering you a landmark. It wasn’t so bad at first, and the first sims who had gadgets like these seemed clever. (I used to use a landmark giver as well as a group inviter.) But now, every sim you go to has a dialogue box pouncing on you.

It’s not just dialogue boxes offering landmarks, though these are bad enough. I mean, most of us know how to create a landmark. If we like the place well enough we will make our own landmark.

Many locations barrage you with several things at once. The moment you arrive you’re offered a landmark, a notecard, a free gift, asked if you want to join a group, and even if it’s ok if they can display your public profile picture on a sign!

I don’t know about you, but when I just arrive at a sim my avatar is still rezzing, and with things popping up at me I’m a grumpy cloud. At that point I don’t know if I like the place yet, so how can I know whether I want to join the group, or if I want the gift (usually a mystery object; I always imagine I’m being offered a leopard print thong or something), and please . . . let the objects around me at least become solid before I have to read a tome about rules, most of which are long and silly, and if you sum them up they mean “Don’t grief people” or “Don’t bring weapons, even ones that don’t really do anything and just look like weapons, because I’m such a wuss fake toy virtual guns makes me piss my pants.”

If I want to read a history of a sim I’ll click a nearby sign called Sim History. If there are special rules, such as for roleplaying and how to behave so as to not kill the fun of others, I’ll be happy to click a sign to get the rules, and will be more than willing to follow them. Those not willing to click a sign to read are certainly not going to pay attention to the notecard forced on them that’s longer than War and Peace. They’ll close it before they even glance at it.

Because of the barrage of annoying group inviters and landmark givers I have decided I’m not having them at my place, now or in the future. It was cool when it was only once in a while you had to face these things, but now, teleporting from sim to sim has become a chore of clicking away buttons, just like when popups started to ruin things on the web.

I am not telling anyone what to do on this, and not judging anyone for using these devices. As I say, I have used the things myself in the past. But this is how I feel about them now; they’ve gotten out of hand, and if there was a SL dialogue blocker available similar to a popup blocker, I might get me one of those.

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