Kuri’s Neighbors

Endings

nobody@vox.com(Salvia Homewood) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:08:49 +0200

In the Winged Girl Blog, Kate Amdahl writes about the end of the Linden Lifestyles blog, but more to the point, writes about the ending of other kinds of things--places, and people.

But this post isn't about fashion: it's about endings. They scare me, frankly, which is good in a way (on which more in a moment). Every ending like this is only a change, a transformation into something new (in First Life, in Second Life...that energy and attention is going *somewhere*). But it's also a death. It's not the end of the world - unless whatever's closing down happens to be your world in Second Life, in which case you have three choices: burn out, fade away, or dwindle and remain as a shadow of yourself.

When I first started out in SL a little over a year ago, I was just checking it out because a friend of mine had joined. I didn't really imagine that I'd stick around. I started out at AOL Island, and I fell in with a group of compatible people, and we hung around together, generally showing up at AOL sometime in the evening, and mostly just sitting around talking. If I logged on in the evening, the first place I'd check would be AOL, and if my friends were online, they could usually be found there, quite often skateboarding for Lindens.

Then AOL left, and closed the island. We tried hanging out at my house for awhile, and that was fine, but there really wasn't anything to do there, and sometimes talk wears thin. And things happened with the group, things that were never resolved, and people started drifting away. Some of them found new relationships in RL, and SL became less important. I logged on the other day and saw (by looking at the "last logged in" date in a group) that one of my friends hadn't logged in for nearly a month; I checked their Flickr account and it had been deleted. I have no idea what happened. I wrote to them at the last email address I had, but never received an answer.

People disappear. I could disappear, too, if I chose--no one knows who I am in RL, and if I disappeared, no one would know where to start to look. Places disappear. I needed a place to take pictures the other night and thought of a place that I hadn't been to in a long time. I can't remember the name of it now, but it was a university-type place, with all kinds of classes, some of which I had attended a long time ago (funny how a year seems like "a long time ago," but everything seems compressed in SL). It was gone--something else entirely different was there.

That had happened before, too. A wonderful place I'd found disappeared. You kind of expect that things will be there forever, but you just can't count on that anymore. SL is ephemeral, it isn't real, after all. But I still wonder what happened to my friend; there are people behind the places in SL, of course, someone has to build them. But more than that, there are people behind every avatar, and in some ways it's easy to forget that.

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A fine Frenzy - Almost lover

nobody@vox.com(ysé) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:25:59 +0200

A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover

You fingertips across my skin

The palm trees swaying in the wind

Images

You sang me spanish lullabies

The sweetest sadness in your eyes

Clever trick

I never want to see you unhappy

I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

I should've known you'd bring me heartache

Almost lovers always do

We walked along a crowded street

You took my hand and danced with me

Images

And when you left you kissed my lips

You told me you'd never ever forget these images, no

I never want to see you unhappy

I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

I should've known you'd bring me heartache

Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean

I cannot drive the streets at night

I cannot wake up in the morning

Without you on my mind

So you're gone and I'm haunted

And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that easy

To walk right in and out of my life?

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

I should've known you'd bring me heartache

Almost lovers always do

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Another change in my appartment...

nobody@vox.com(lilfairy) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:35:28 +0200

New arrangement in the bedroom... Put the tiny cupboard from the entrance hall beside the bed, not bad !

J'ai encore changé des trucs chez moi... le petit meuble à côté du lit était dans l'entrée où on ne le voyait pas vraiment. Il est mieux là non ?

Changed-again

Sinon, vacances demain,... souffler, enfin :) Well, and tomorrow evening: holidays ! time to breathe at last.

happy summer

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like a loving fish :)

nobody@vox.com(lilfairy) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:02:17 +0200

That's official now: you can get my design on your vox too ! Just have a look on your "change design" panel and choose "like a loving fish"...

Loving fish

My theme is yours :)

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Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

nobody@vox.com(Salvia Homewood) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:12:43 +0200

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

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Le commando torquemada

nobody@vox.com(ysé) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:05:13 +0200

l'ovni de mon dernier comité BD - Le commando Torquemada est employé par l'inquisition dont le chef est le Cardinal Albuferque, le pape (JP ! ) a bien besoin de leur "compétence". Composé de trois allumés au méthodes assez spéciales - Frère Malachie, moine empoisonneur, de Feargal Mc Gowan, flingueur adepte de calembours, et de la sexy Sœur Sarah Terwagne, extralucide et folle des hommes a peau malade. Dans le premier tome, le commando est reactivé pour retrouver la fameuse lance de Longinus. Dans le second, ils doivent remettre sur pied la soeur Dominique, donc le tube "Dominique Nique Nique" est resté dans les mémoires. Humour noir, ça décape, et c'est bien barrén tout ce que j'aime quoi - Philippe Nihoul, au scénario et Xavier Lemmensau dessin. A découvrir donc !

Commando Torquemada, Tome 1 : Pour la plus grande gloire de Dieu

Xavier Lemmens

Commando Torquemada, Tome 2 : Dominique, nique, nique...

Xavier Lemmens

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Voxeuses, Voxeurs: participez à la Une de Vox!

nobody@vox.com(L'équipe Vox) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:19:19 +0200

Bonjours Voxeuses, Voxeurs,

Que vous soyez tout nouveau sur Vox, ou plus ancien, savez-vous que vous pouvez participer tous les jours à faire la Une de Vox?

Vox est une plateforme communautaire avant tout, et vous avez la possibilité de participer activement à la vie de cette communauté: partager sur Vox, c'est répondre mais aussi suggérer!

Trois outils principaux sont à votre disposition:

Le [c'est top]: vous êtes nombreux à le consulter, mais sachez que vous pouvez également suggérer des notes pour le [c'est top], soit les vôtres, soit celles d'autres voxeurs. Tous les jours, vos suggestions seront examinées, et un tri sera fait pour la publication du [c'est top].

La Question du Jour: nous sommes toujours demandeurs de nouvelles questions! La créativité est plus variée si elle émane de tous nos membres. Si vous avez des QdJ en tête, n'hésitez pas à les suggérer à l'Equipe, vous aurez le plaisir de voir nombre de voxeurs y répondre!

Le Défi Vox: vous avez des idées pour le défi? Ne les gardez pas pour vous! Suggérez les à L'Equipe, et nous les mettrons en ligne pour le plaisir de tous!

Pour participer à la vie de Vox, rendez-vous sur votre page d'accueil, si vous avez besoin de plus de détails vous pouvez consulter cette note, ou nous envoyer un message privé.

Participez et Suggérez sur Vox

Merci à tous!

L'Equipe Vox.

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Look of the Day: Wednesday

nobody@vox.com(Salvia Homewood) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:27:25 +0200

Look of the Day: Wednesday

Nissa Nightfire sent me a fatpack of her new release -- scoopneck tees in brilliant colors. I chose the turquoise one on Wednesday because I could coordinate with my brand new Porn Star hightops. I used the hud to change the texture to the turquoise "Tattoo" texture, and changed the laces to hot pink. With all that color, I wanted jewelry that either matched or was subtle; I couldn't find any bangles in the right color, so went with silver jewelry. The next night, though, Nissa dropped a fat pack of coordinating bangles on me! I told her she must have been reading my mind.

With coordinating bangles!

Credits:

Shape: My own
Skin: Celestial Studios Charmed in Auburn, Tone 20, Neutral 1
Eyes: Miriel, Marine
Top: Magpie Scoop Tee Turquoise
Jeans: Neph's Jeans
Manicure: Nails by Celeste - French Nude
Hair: Gwen in Light Red from Tami McCoy
Earrings: Paper Couture Basic Hoop Earrings
Necklace: ayaV Key necklace
Bracelets: Second Mirage Chunky Silver Bangles (first picture); Magpie Coordinating Bangles (second picture)
Shoes: PornStar Hi-Tops Multicolor

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Recréer une ombre / create a shadow

nobody@vox.com(Sebcaen Ulysses) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:46:16 +0200

C'est un tutoriel qu'on m'a pas mal de fois demander, du coup me suis mis au boulot :)

Quick and Dirty tutorial, Shadows

Détourage du sujet. Plusieurs méthodes sont possibles : lasso, chemin, baguette magique (oui si le fond est uni), l'objectif est de reproduire la silhouette de l'avatar. Aucun besoin d'être précis, vu qu'on va floutter après, il faut juste être réaliste.
Sur un nouveau calque transparent, on remplit de noir la silhouette de l'avatar.
Avec l'outil Perspective (sous Gimp), on deplace le calque créer au petit bonheur la chance :p oui y'a pas vraiment de règle à appliquer le tout étant de rester logique par rapport à l'environnement et donc il faut prendre son temps. L'orientation de la lumière aidant beaucoup. Note: Dans cette exemple c'est volontaire que je ne prolonge pas l'ombre sur le mur, ca necessite de se readapter l'orientation de l'ombre, c'est juste une question de patience.
On floutte le calque, flou gaussien 25% (plus ou moins), ca rend l'ombre un peu dilué et donc moins franche.
On joue sur l'opacité du calque je la baisse à 0.50 mais à la fin je remet à 0.80 ou 0.90
On nettoie les bavures de la transposition du calque
fin des traitements.

Shadow

Select the avatar. Lot of methods are available : lasso, path, magic wand, the goal is to produce a silhouette of the avatar. No need to be sharp, we will blur next. Just need to be realist
On a new transparent layer, you fill the selection in black.
With the tool perspective you move the layer like you can :p no rules are available, maybe just the light orientation. In the exemple, I clearly don't put shadow on the wall, but it's possible and work for the same. Need to be patient.
Blur the layer (gaussian blur 25%)
We play on the layer opacity. Here I put it at 0.5 and at the end 0.8 or 0.9
We clean the transformation task (shadow on the avatar)
End of the treatment as usual.

Pour photoshop (for photoshop):
To have the perspective tool, you need to do Ctrl+T on your layer
Il faut faire Ctrl+T sur le calque pour avoir les points de perspectives.

Download the movie

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World of the Extremes

nobody@vox.com(Salvia Homewood) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:42:36 +0200

From Living in the Metaverse:

There is also another thing that bothers me. If this trend continues, and it probably will, we'll have a nice "clean" world, world where even nipples on 15th century paintings are too much. At the same time, just a few sims away, we'll have places where kinks get the forms closer to pathology than to sex. We'll have the violence, mutilations, humiliation, sex with animals and rapes.

I very seldom write about anything substantial here, or do any editorializing. My Second Life is mostly about shopping, finding cute clothes, finding fun places, and that's as it should be. But something has been bothering me lately, and I keep meaning to write about it, but just haven't.

It isn't about fashion, but actually, in a way, it is.

Everyone is different, and everyone gets their kicks in a different way, and that doesn't bother me. To each his own, and Second Life gives us all a way to be whatever we want to be--younger, prettier, more muscular, taller, a vampire, or an angel, or an animal. We can have (theoretically) guilt-free sex with whomever (or whatever) we want, we can dress any way we please.

Just because I have no interest in dressing in latex, stiletto-heeled boots, or body oil, doesn't mean that other people can't, and I have nothing to say about it. It's not for me, and I just don't care. I don't have any interest in role-playing, and I find the whole Gor thing sort of amusing. I can't really understand anyone wanting to role play as a slave, but obviously some do, and so be it.

But there is something that I absolutely can't understand. I'll never understand BDSM, although I guess I can, kind of, strictly on an intellectual basis. People, like I said, get their kicks all kinds of different ways. But the thing that floors me is the so-called fashion designers who come up with things like bloody skins, bloody clothing, skins with bleeding cuts, bruises, etc. Although I can't imagine wanting something like that, I suppose there must be a demand for it. But why would anyone want to make such awful things? You don't have to sell things just because there are people out there will buy it.

How can anyone have respect for themselves if they're making and selling things like gags or torture devices? I'm repulsed by all of the facial piercings, the lip piercings especially, but at least that's something that people are doing to themselves. Take a look at that article I referenced, and look at the second photograph (NSFW). What's that all about? If Second Life can be all things to all people, there are going to be people out there who get their kicks looking at a woman impaled on meathooks. But is it something we want to encourage? My vote would be an unequivocal "No."

LL seems to be hell-bent on keeping child roleplay out of SL, and I understand that. I find child avatars fairly creepy, frankly, and have no interest in that kind of roleplaying. But how can they work so hard at keeping child roleplay way out on the fringes, yet let things like mutilation and torture go on? Yeah, it's all just pixels, but as we all know, pixels have power, too. There is a real person behind every avatar, and some of them are going to be people we wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. If at all possible, I don't want to meet them in SL, either.

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