Mooching with Marnix

Dr Marnix MD

2010-08-28T00:11:00.012+12:00

I got a new job recently. I felt I needed to earn my keep to help pay the rent. I thought I'd do something medical. I thought it couldn't be that tough, eh? How wrong I was.

It was my first day. An uneventful morning was unfolding. A few appointments, a bit of a tour of the hospital, introductions. That sort of thing.

All of a sudden, in a flash of lights and wail of sirens, an ambulance speeds into the driveway. Through my office window I see a beautiful girl wheeled on a gurney into the ER. With no thought for my own personal safety I throw down my coffee cup and rush across the corridor, pushing aside my more experienced colleagues.

One thorough examination later and I was baffled. I had no idea what was wrong. Whatever should I do?

There was only one thing an unqualified medical practioner could do. The same all people everywhere would do in the same situation. The fall-back for anyone who needs an answer. Google.

Unfortunately t'internet was no help. Well over 65 billion pages and none of it any use. By now I was worried for the beautiful girl. Her condition was deteriorating. I had to act.

There was only one thing left to do....CLEAR!

Nothing. Try again....CLEAR!

Suddenly a reaction. The girl opened her eyes, looked up at me and smiled, whispering an enticing thank you. I smiled back, winked and handed her my "call me" business card.

I span round and breezed out of the emergency room, keen to find someone to clean up my coffee before it stained the polar bear rug in my office, happy in the knowledge that my medical career had begun with success. The first of many medical conundrums to be solved by Dr Marnix MD.

Pipe and slippers

2010-08-27T20:50:00.002+12:00

A little while ago I gave up my last plot of land, Waterloo Sunset. Since then I've been a nomad, just hanging around the gallery, of no fixed abode, stalking friends and partaking in a bit of sim-hopping. Just like the old days. But all that changed this week. Jordy asked me to move in with her. As if I was going to say no.

So the other night we had a fun-filled evening rezzing every house and skybox we own between us trying to work out what would be perfect for us. Below you can see what we decided on.

It's a little two-story number with a bit of a garden. The house is big enough for the two of us but small enough to be cozy too. And the garden has room for a tree swing and a hot tub. What more could a man want?

Well, how about a couple of danceballs on the balcony? Job done :)

SDF @ The Shoe Fair

2010-08-07T21:01:00.006+12:00

Did you know there was a Shoe Fair on? Did you know that the best of SL's cobblers are gathering on four sims of shoey-goodness starting today and continuing until the 22nd? Well, if you didn't, you should. Especially if you're a lass. Because, don't deny it, you love shoes, right? It's for charidee too, you know. A proportion of all sales made by each vendor are going to Soles4Souls.

You can find out more about the Shoe Fair here.

The reason I mention all this, other than trying to promote a good cause of course, is a bit of personal self-promotion. Swirly Disco Flames has a mini-stallette at the Shoe Fair. Yes, I know I don't do shoes, but as part of the fair this year, the organisers have given non-shoe makers the opportunity for a bit of exposure. We have been given some hay bales. And I have created for new and exclusive art especially for the fair. You won't be able to get these five new pieces anywhere else.

I am on this sim. One of four, as I say. And to be honest, if you don't like shoes (or modern abstract art!) the sims are worth a visit. They are just gorgeous. Kudos to the architects.

Feeling horny

2010-07-30T21:37:00.002+12:00

Last time around I talked about rediscovering my love for SL. I talked about how that would surely lead to superfluous XStreet purchase habits reintroducing themselves to my time in the office. I was not wrong. This post is testiment to that. I also talked about how I still sometimes feel the need to develop an identity. Whatever that means. This post is testament to that too.

Back in October I wrote a post about hats. Specifically it was about not getting hats to fit over my hair without making them literally ten gallon hats. I have since learned that the options are either hats with hair built in or skins with hair drawn on. Both have served me well, once I learned of their existence.

So, the heady combination of my procrastinative online shopping expeditions, my new-found hat satisfaction and my semi-diluted Norse blood inherited as a result of originating on the north-east coast of England compelled me to seek out a Viking helmet.

My valiant quest was not in vain. The quest ended in glorious success. This post is testament to that.

Sadly, only one helmet was not enough.

And neither was two.

In the end my inventory is now three helms richer. Three stylish helms, I must add. I own a helmet for every occasion. I can coordinate as necessary. I have a smart helmet and more casual ones. I have the pointy kind as well as a feathery one. I am a man of the noughties if nothing else - a man's man yet in touch with my softer side. I think this pictures demonstrate that perfectly.

Resurgence

2010-07-27T12:13:00.001+12:00

For whatever reason, a combination of a lack of time, other distractions and a healthy dose of apathy have led to minimal inworld participation in recent weeks. Just needing more damn sleep than usual hasn't helped either. It's winter so perhaps I'm turning into a squirrel and need to hibernate or something. But that's another issue.

Well, this last weekend saw a bit of an upturn in time devoted to self-pixelation and it made a refreshing change. I got to hang with old friends and dance a bit and listen to some live music and play adult truthball and everything. I think I am close to being bitten by the Linden-bug again. I am trying to resist but I know I will fail. I guess it's not a bad thing. It just means that I will spend excessive amounts of time browsing free stuff on XStreet during the day again, I will feel the need to develop a new 'style' but struggle to decide what that should be, and I will spend too much on clothes I never wear. Oh, and I will probably feel compelled to rent land again too.

Liquid light

2010-07-09T19:33:00.003+12:00

A newly released collection can be found at Swirly Disco Flames, as promised.

It's a little different to my usual stuff, so feedback gratefully received :)

It's about time it was over

2010-06-30T11:05:00.002+12:00

Way back in May I blogged about the sales vendors I had in my store. They were to be there for a limited time only, giving people a chance to pick up back-catalogue items before they are no longer easily available.

Well, I reckon that the 'limited time' is about to expire. So go now. It's your last chance. Don't delay. This stuff will be gone. Forever. Deleted. Well, almost. I'll still sell pieces out of my back-catalogue, I reckon. But the easiest way is to get them from the vendors. They're at least 60% reduced. You can't go wrong, eh?

Oh, and current collection out on the walls, the Spring Spirals, that's about to be replaced too. So if you need something a little pastel-y for a light and airy beach house, for example, don't hang about or you'll miss out.

As a teaser, the new collection, to be released very, very soon is called Diffusion. Or perhaps Liquid Light. I haven't decided yet. But the pieces are a little different to my usual work. A change is as good as a rest, as my nan used to say. But you'll be the judges of that, eh?

I can haz skillz - BBBC 2010: 7

2010-06-21T14:25:00.002+12:00

Yes, I realise that the BBBC only had six questions, not seven. But I am special. And Alicia gave me a special seventh question all of my own.

The dialogue in plurk, for those of you that can't see it, went a little like this:

[Ali] : Marnix gets his very own 7th day blog question: Tell us what talents you have. IN DETAIL
[me] : RL or SL?
[Ali] : Both.
[me] : Aw man. That's a toughie
[Ali] : That's what you get for making me come up with another question that didn't have anything to do with me.

I guess, in summary, it is my own fault for moaning about a week of blog challenges not lasting a week.

But it is a toughie. What are my talents? If I were to enter a talent contest what would my act comprise? Were I to appear on New Zealand's Got Talent what would I be doing at the second three big red crosses sparkled above my head? To be honest, in the traditional sense, I got nothing. I can't sing. I can't dance. I can't play the kazoo. I haven't trained a dog to do any of the above either. I can wiggle my ears but I think, despite that mind-blowing talent, I might have to cast my net a little wider for the benefit of this post.

Dictionary.com says a talent is "a special natural ability or aptitude". So it is something congenital rather than learned. What am I just good at?

RL sees me sitting at a desk all day doing numbery, spreadsheety stuff. In brief terms, much of what I do involves taking lots of data and condensing it down and summarising it so and drawing conclusions that other people can understand it. Sometimes I make pretty graphs. I guess that is a talent - making something incomprehensible comprehensible, right?

What else could be considered a talent? Perhaps being affable? Having the ability to put people at ease, being easy to talk to, making them laugh with my dry and understated, self-deprecating wit? Yeah, maybe. If so, I guess that one would extend to both worlds. I hope that people feel comfortable around me and that I make them smile. I know sometimes people don't get my sense of humour and think I am serious when I am totally joking, but that's just something that comes with time, I guess. It's cultural. Bear with me. You'll get there.

And if we move to SL, I guess my one talent would maybe be my art. I hope it is somewhat of a talent anyway. Otherwise I am wasting everyone's time, right? I know it is art, and clearly that means appreciation of what I produce, like all other art, is highly subjective, but I hope enough people like it enough for me to keep doing it. I enjoy it if nothing else. I just hope others gain enjoyment from it too. I struggle with motivation when there is no prospect of sharing.

I was never arty at school. I couldn't draw. I couldn't sculpt. I could do technical drawing a bit, but that was just maths with a pencil and ruler really so it doesn't count. I always felt like I want to have an arty side. I was just rubbish at it. Numbers were always easier. And they were right or wrong. There is no subjectivity in algebra. So when I discovered this abstract art I now create I felt a release in finally having an outlet. The tap had opened, the damn had burst and pretty, abstract art poured forth. A bit like my words on this blog.

It is actually quite hard to list your talents when you don't have any of the traditional ones. Also I reckon talents are quite subjective. What others might see as a talent in you, you might just see as 'you' rather than anything special. I have tried to do the question justice but self-promotion is definitely not one of my talents.

All alone

2010-06-21T04:01:00.000+12:00

Checking out the competition

2010-06-20T20:51:00.000+12:00

I found myself in SL tonight. With nothing to do. It is so long since I have been in SL with nothing to do that I decided to explore a little.

When I was a noob I used to randomly tp about the place, chasing green dots, upsetting couples in-flagrante. Not on purpose, of course. I have grown now. I am beyond that. But being beyond that also limited the scope of my 'what-to-do'. Fortunately, before I gave up, I remembered that I had a gallery tour HUD in inventory. Yes, I thought. I am feeling cultural. A gallery tour sounded ideal.

Think of the HUD as random tp-ing about the place. But instead of chasing green dots, you chase art. Just to see what you can find.

If you're interested you can find a list of all of the galleries covered by the HUD here. To quote the obligatory notecard - "The Art Galleries of SL list was created and is maintained by Sasun Steinbeck for the benefit of the wonderful galleries, artists and art lovers in Second Life." If you are feeling exploratorily cultural and want to grab a HUD, you can click on the kiosk at Swirly Disco Flames.

Tonight I discovered that art, like everything else in SL, is mixed. There is some good. And some bad. Some stuffs grabs you. And some repulses you. Some is clever. Some is stupid. Some is just a major reminder that art is in the eye of the beholder. Even if he is blind. I don't know why I supposed it would be any other way.

One thing I was reminded of tonight though is how much RL photography displayed as art in SL just doesn't sit right with me. It jars somehow. I don't know what it is. And it doesn't even depend how stunning the photograph is and how much I would love the photo via some other medium. I just can't mesh the two ideas. Abstract stuff, yes. SL-based stuff, yes. Graphic art stuff, yes. In fact, anything virtual or digital, yes. But real and analogue, nope. Sorry. Not for me.

Oh, and another thing I was reminder of tonight - there's a lot of sex in galleries. The gallery tour HUD even has three categories - one of which is 'erotic', for if you're so inclined.

Six days a week - BBBC 2010: 6

2010-06-19T17:19:00.003+12:00

So we come to last post of the challenge. The last of the week. Yes, six in a week. I know, I know. Don't blame me.

And the topic is: What did you get out of your experience? Do you think it will change the way you blog in the future?

Hmmm. Well, to answer the second bit first - no, I don't think it will change the way I blog in future. If you've been around here any time at all you'll know that I waffle sometimes, about anything. I just ramble on. About nothing. And for me, that's what this week has been about. Except someone else has given me the topics to ramble about. It hasn't changed how I blog or what I blog. It has perhaps made me blog every day this week which is a first for many a moon, but it won't change anything going forward. I'll blog when I feel the need. Or when I want to plug my gallery. Or when I have something I just have to get off my chest.

But what did I get out of the experience? That's trickier. I have been thinking about this for a while now and to be honest, I'm not sure. I have enjoyed being forced to write. Because I do enjoy spouting forth nonsense. So that's a definite bonus. I enjoyed participating in a fun challenge initiated and organised by one of my best friends. But as for anything deep and spiritual, full of insight and meaning. Neh. Probably not.

Maybe one small thing I have got out of the experience, to finish up, is a reminder that for some people this challenge has been about being heard rather than listening to others. For me as much enjoyment has been gained from reading the blogs of friends and strangers as from writing myself. But for others, it is all about them. They write because they think that not writing would deprive the world of their wisdom. They don't care about what others write, only that as many people as possible digest their tasty morsels of vocal pricelessness and are grateful for the privilege. That's not the spirit of the challenge for me. Or blogging in general. But what do I know, eh?

An empty vessel - BBBC 2010: 5

2010-06-18T12:58:00.003+12:00

Topic #5 - Blogger's choice! Write about anything that's on your mind!

I can write about anything? Anything at all, huh? So why's my mind gone blank?

Um....

Erm....

So, .... no, not that.....

Well....

Do you know how hard it is to just write something on request? Do you think Alicia realises the pressure this is putting on us? There's nothing on my mind. Not food, not sport, not sex. What else is there for a man?

I jest. I am not like that. Not all the time.

So, what's on my mind? Nope. Got nothing. Work. RL stuff. Cat's crapping over the edge of litter trays. Stuff none of you want to read about. SL stuff? Nope. I hardly get inworld at the moment. So there's nothing to write about there. I only survive in an SL sense most of the time through plurk. [You should add me, you know :) ]

Will this do? Can I stop rambling now? Please?

Ageing gracefully - BBBC 2010: 4

2010-06-17T10:39:00.003+12:00

The next BBBC topic is a hard one to answer. It is not something I have ever thought about. I guess it means this will be a short post.

Topic 4: Is your avatar more or less your current biological age? Do you portray a younger avatar, or older? Why is this?

As I say, I have never really considered this. It has never entered my head. My av is just me. The way I am. Perhaps the way I want to be, mebbe, rather than the way I am, in some respects. The way he looks just kinda depends on the skin I am currently wearing. I have never set out to give my av "an age". I don't play a child av, and I don't wear a skin that makes me look like a sun-dried prune. Marnix just is.

I guess at some point, if I stay in SL for like twenty years, then Marnix will be younger than me, or at least he'll look younger than me. But other than that, given most of us are in the 25-40 bracket, and most skins fit that bracket too, and mostly it is hard to tell, in SL or RL, where an individual person quite sits within that bracket, it doesn't really matter to me whether I look younger or older than my actual self.

Does this answer the question? I guess so. Mostly.

Collaboration

2010-06-16T11:05:00.001+12:00

In my BBBC 2010:2 post I was kinda cryptic about a positive thing in my SLife. I said I couldn't give details at the time. I now can.

A while ago, I approached the talented Rayvn Hynes of MudHoney fame about a collaboration. Well, collaboration is a big word for enquiring whether she'd be interested in selling my art in her store for a cut. Exclusive custom-made art to fit her designs, I might add. Surprisingly she said yes. I nearly fell off my chair.

Due to a few RL things and other commitments nothing then happened for a while. But late last week I got the nod. She had a room set about to be released and had some empty picture frames that needed filling. Bring on the art, was the call, and I answered.

So here we have it. The Lawrence office available here complete with five exclusively available pieces of my work. Check it out.

To nick words from Rayvn's own desciption of the set:

"The desk set was part of my Spruce Up Your Space item from last month, and I've added to the room to make a complete set. It's 283 prims of cute accessories and little details. And, since the pillows turned out so adorable, I've made it so they can be purchased separately, too, so you can scatter them in other areas of your house.

As usual, you can get the full set in copiable OR transferrable. The awesome artwork was done by Marnix Malifozik of Swirly Disco Flames, and I love how he's pulled the colors from the room into his pieces. [round of applause] "

Covering old ground - BBBC 2010: 3

2010-06-15T22:38:00.002+12:00

So, topic 3: How hard do you think it is to find a relationship in SL? If you have an SL relationship, have you met in the physical world? Would you meet them? Do you think it would change your SL relationship if you met?

Ooh, so many questions. Where to start? Where to start?

Well, first up, in terms of my relationships in SL in general and my view of them, you only need read back around here to find a lot of heart-felt posts. I am no stranger to relationships, for better or worse. Also, if you were here round the time of my rezday, you might have read my historical relationship overview. Given all that, I might keep today brief. I have covered some of this stuff before.

So, in short, I think it is remarkably easy to find a relationship in SL. I will add to that though, that this is as a guy. For girls I think it is different. As a guy there seems to be more choice and more opportunity. As a girl you perhaps have to be less fussy.

Met in RL? Nope. At times in various relationships there have been times (and still are) when I would have liked nothing more. But perhaps that was the little brain thinking ;)

That kind of answers the next question too. Would I meet them? Certainly there have been times when I would have grasped an opportunity to do just that with both hands.

And would it change the SL relationship? Well yes. I am talking for me here, of course, and not generally, but how could it not change things? It would be going from existing in each other's virtual lives to existing in our physical ones. Boundaries would change. Expectations would change. I like to kid myself that things would not change. But they would have to.

Positive vibes - BBBC 2010: 2

2010-06-14T21:34:00.002+12:00

I know, I know. Two in a day. But I was playing catch-up before, and now I am getting ahead as I won't be near a PC tomorrow. The rules are fluid, I'm sure. Alicia will understand.

Topic 2 of the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010: Write about three positive things going on in your Second Life.

Three, huh? Sheesh. Three?!? Hmm, let me think...

Well number 1, I guess I ought to mention Jordy. I don't see her inworld nearly enough. Plurk keeps opens the lines of communication, but it's a poor substitute for spending time together. We seem to work well together. We seem to understand each other. We are there for each other when we can be but don't make demands of each other, especially unrealistic ones. She is definitely a positive thing going on in my SLife.

Number 2, I really wanna tell you details of. But I can't. Not until later this week. All I can say is 'furniture' and 'art' and 'collaboration'. There. I've said enough. My lips are sealed. But suffice it to say, I am quite excited about the prospect of these developments. But I can say no more. For now.

And number 3, I have to mention Ali, source of the BBBC. When I first arrived in SL and searched out people on their blogs, as I mentioned in BBBC1, I placed all the bloggers on pedestals. They were something to aspire to. Some sort of celebrity community us normal folk could only look at in wonder and awe. It turns out though that they're normal too. But along the way, those bepedestalled bloggers became friends. I got to know them. Some more than others, and none more than Alicia. In the last ten or so months we've hung out, we've chatted, and we've got to know each other better and better, until now, via the joy of various electronic media, we chat almost every single day. Despite being half a world apart she is one of my closest friends and someone I share much with. She also is definitely something positive going on in my SLife.

Kick up the jacksie - BBBC 2010: 1

2010-06-14T14:38:00.003+12:00

Ok, so I am a day late signing up. But that's ok because I am in the future, right?

At the very worst, at least signing up gets me to blog about something other that my gallery and stuff. That makes a change, eh?

Right, so topic 1: Why did you become a blogger? How has it enriched your life?

When I first arrived in SL I didn't know anyone. I sat at work each day thinking about SL but not really knowing anyone. I knew that I needed to know people so decided to google 'Second Life', mainly for hints and tips. The result, I was surprised to find out, was page after page of blogs. I read through as many as I could find avidly. There was like a whole community out there.

Now, I had been a RL blogger for maybe two years at that stage. I blogged about my move to the other side of the world, both the run-up and once it happened, under the pretence of letting friends and family back home know what was going on without the need for multiple emails saying the same thing to multiple people and never knowing who's up to date and who knows what. That was the pretence, and perhaps even initial logic. But after a short time I realised that blogging was a great way of saving my thoughts for me to look back on. Especially with a 30-something memory lacking the vitality and capacity of youth.

As a result, it was not too big a step for me to consider SL blogging too. Especially when I realised that blogging, getting seen around, commenting on the blogs of others, that would be a great way to 'meet' people. Just kinda getting my name out there. Also, just like with RL, the blog became in time a great way to document my thoughts, memories and experiences.

So that's the first part. That's why I became a blogger. But how has it enriched my life, eh? Well, the answer has to be people. Simply the people I have met through it. And the friends I have made. I have met people as they have commented on my blog just as I commented on the blogs of others. Some people I know in passing only, but others I am proud to now consider my friends. These people enrich my life. Even if I am on the other side of the world I can see what they're up to, they can see what I am up to (even if it has been very little recently) and we can let each other know we're around and that we care. They enrich my life.

Location location location

2010-05-30T16:01:00.002+12:00

This blog is rapidly becoming one solely dedicated to Swirly Disco Flames, eh? It's not by design. It's just that I am so rarely inworld at the moment that what little time I do have is spent sorting out gallery stuff.

In my last post I intimated that the sim my gallery was on was going through some changes and so you'd have to be patient if you were on the hunt for some abstract art. Since then the changes have been more drastic. Idle Rogue and the Beautiful Freaks, the music venue and audio-visual performance extravanganza combo, lifted up their corporate tent pegs and relocated to another sim. As merely a side stall at the carnival they've become I thought it wise to go with, especially when the offer of space to house my artistic dabblings was extended to the new location.

As a result, you will now find me on Viva La Glam. It is quite some sim, with a retro 50s diner and roller rink as well as the ultimate burlesque experience that is The Factory. I think the Slaughtered Lam Pub is also around there somewhere too.

My sparkly white new gallery is just up the hill from the main town centre bit but just below the mountain that the Big Top that houses the Beautiful Freaks sits astride.

I wanted my gallery up there, so I could look down on everyone like Zeus atop Mount Olympus, using people as playthings for my amusement. I was told no.

But yes, anyway, the new gallery is sparkly and white, has the Spring Spirals collection on display at present, and also houses the three sale vendors that are living on borrowed time.

There's also a little lounge area to sit and relax. Given I has just surrendered my little plot of land yesterday there's a fair chance you might even find me sat around there, waiting for customers to chat to. You should stop by and say hello sometime.

Look up

2010-05-14T11:59:00.003+12:00

OK, please bear with me. If you've recently tried to TP to the Swirly Disco Flames gallery (maybe to check out the Spring Spirals collection or the new but limited-time-only sales vendors you may have arrived to find yourself in a location more resembling a field than a gallery. This happened to me last night, as it happens.

It turns out that Idle Rogue, both the commerical and venue areas, are under-going construction. I am led to believe the revamp will be astonishing.

In the meantime, however, do not fear. You can still get your fix of abstract art. Just lift your eyes heavenward and all will be revealed. Swirly Disco Flames is still there. It has just developed a slight distaste for gravity.

Back catalogue

2010-05-13T00:32:00.002+12:00

I had the idea that I might create a back catalogue of my art in Flickr and embed it here. I am hoping it works. Fingers crossed, eh?

This is stuff that has at one time or another been on sale in my gallery. I still have it all hidden away in my inventory so can sell you a piece from there if you so desire. The only stuff I can't sell is the custom-made stuff I created for people.

Last chance sales

2010-05-09T16:32:00.000+12:00

Swirly Disco Flames is undergoing a change of policy.

In the past, when I have released new collections, the most recent collection has just been added to an in-store vendor so the old art was still available there. But this process was getting unwieldy. The vendor was getting quite full.

After all, there was my original collection, the Symmetry collection, the Aroha collection, the collection designed for the satellite gallery and of course the ill-conceived St Paddy's day collection. This is on top of the odd one or two that didn't warrant inclusion in a whole collection. As I say, the vendor was getting quite full.

I had the idea of multiple vendors, but didn't consider that for long as I had a better idea. At least I think it's a better idea. Basically, my art will now be limited edition. Or at least it will be available for a limited time period. Once a new collection is released the old stuff will no longer be for sale. It'll make it more exclusive, I think. Or something.

But, rather than just remove all my old stuff from sale without giving anyone any notice at all I thought I'd try heading down the road of a sale. So that's what I am doing. Right now.

All my art that was previously on sale is now bundled up in three vendors in store at the drastically reduced prices of 20L, 30L or 40L. Each vendor contains art of the same price to make it nice and easy for you.

So please come on down and don't miss this last chance to grab some collector's editions, old pieces of Marnix memorabilia that will soon be gone forever.

And while you're at it you can check out the recently release Spring Spirals collection.

Spring Spirals

2010-05-03T23:58:00.004+12:00

Spring has sprung, in northern hemisphere at least. As a result I thought it timely to maybe work on some new art. Something in pastels and spring colours and such.

The long hours spend behind numerous canvases (canvi?) finally yielded results and today I am pleased to announce the release of a new collection entitled 'Spring Spirals'. You can see a selection of the sparkly and new Swirly Disco Flames below on my brand new shiny advert.

Each piece is still a bargain at only 100L a pop. And you'll still find my work at the usual place.

Regulars to the Swirly Disco Flames establishment might even notice a change. To coincide with the new collection I have a fresh new logo too. Many thanks to my friend Aisu for all her work on this. She also makes the only eyes I ever wear.

Also thanks are due to Alicia for the shots in the advert of my art in situe.

A niche market?

2010-04-28T09:16:00.003+12:00

Yesterday at work a friend brought to my attention Alibinetwork. The website describes the company as "...a cutting edge full-service discreet agency providing alibis and excuses for absences as well as assistance with a variety of sensitive issues." Digging deeper it looks like they provide a very comprehensive and varied service.

After my initial surprise and shock that such a service existed, my reaction settled on the side of admiration. I guess the market must exist if the business does so you have to give the ideas people brownie points for spotting an opportunity.

Thinking later about the whole thing I was struck with an idea of my own. If the business need exists in RL, then surely it must exist in SL too, right? If people need "Privacy Partners" in RL then why not in SL?

It was that thought that has led to my new business venture - SLalibis. Never one to shirk away from grabbing on to someone else's coat-tails I am launching the service today.

So, if you need an SLalibi talk to me. I understand my clients' unique situations and will explore with them various approaches before arriving at and implementing the best solution on a case-by-case basis. I understand your need for complete secrecy and discretion and won't plurk details of cases even with clients' names removed. Rest assured of that.

Maybe you need to hide a discreet booty-call. I can provide you with timely hunt gifts that 'prove' you were busy hunting, not playing hide the pixel sausage with your floozy.

Maybe you want time alone with a 'friend'. I can rent a private luxury hideaway sim in our name so it will never appear on your transaction history as well as constructing a perfectly innocent chatlog, complete with gestures, to show you were shopping and talking to many, many strangers at the time.

Maybe you're in a straight relationship but feel the need to hang around in gay strip clubs. I can replicate your appearance and provide you with time-stamped pictures showing 'you' in a range of well-known photogenic locations.

Maybe you simply want to buy the secret flesh-interest in your life with saucy gifts that cannot be traced back to you. I can track down the perfectly in-appropriate items and transfer them with a notecard on your behalf.

Or maybe your significant other is inworld while you are trying to seduce noobs on Orientation Island for meaningless cyber-nookie. I can provide you with an attractive and fashionable alt to use while logging on as you and entertaining your partner on your behalf.

This is just a selection of the services I can offer. Whatever your need, I can provide the support and solution you are looking for. With a guaranteed promise of no guilt-trip or disapproving noises. IM me now for a free initial consultation.

Double bill

2010-04-23T21:23:00.003+12:00

Since the last post I've been a bit down on SL. I log in and find two people on my friends list online. And they're contacts rather than friends. It gets depressing sometimes.

Live music though, that is something I really enjoy in SL, and something I try to make time for. Especially when it's at Idle Rogue, my friend Chry's venue. Which is just next to my gallery incidentally ;)

Tonight it was a double-bill. Two artists for the price of one.

First up was Nohj Martinek, a Kiwi with an English accent. Nice stuff. Covers. Moody Blues, Elton John, Buffalo Springfield, Boby Dylan, Tom Petty. A nice half hour set. And great to open up for the headliner.

The headlining artist though was Adrienne Deezul, a kiwi in German exile.

And she was awesome. I cannot do the set justice by describing it. I really liked her stuff. I don't know how to pigeon-hole it for your understanding. Kind of think Joan Osborne with a smidge of Alanis Morrisette with their edgy vocals and acoustic stuff, but with kinda of an industrial celtic twist? I dunno. Something like that. Whatever. It was good.

Another extreme positive for the evening was the audience. And the artists, I guess. I stood in a room in SL with at least six other people in or from NZ. That has never happened before. I never ever thought it would. I knew three other people in NZ in SL before. I have now tripled the number I have met. Which makes me smile.

Time changes everything

2010-04-14T08:52:00.002+12:00

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we moved a couple of weeks ago to wintertime. In contrast, as most of you will no doubt be aware, the Northern Hemisphere moved last month to summertime. Or daylight savings time. Or whatever you call it in your neck of the words.

I can hear you all wondering what place useless not-even-facts like that have on a SL blog. Well, I'll tell you. It all comes down to time differences. With me moving backwards and the north moving forward, given I am in the future, you'd be forgiven for thinking the time difference between me and pretty much the rest of SL got smaller.

For Europe, that is indeed true. I have gone from being 13 hours ahead of the motherland England to being only 11 hours ahead. It means when my mum forgets the time difference and phones me at 7pm it is now 6am for me, not 8am. Joy.

When it comes to the US though, and most of SL, the picture is a little murkier. Take SLT for example. I have gone from being 21 hours ahead to being 19 hours ahead. On the face of it it looks like the gap has narrowed. But because I am so far ahead of them it is like I am behind them, only in tomorrow. So ignoring days, I have gone from 3 hours behind SLT to 5 hours behind.

And that's the problem. When I come inworld it is usually somewhere after 8pm for me. In my summer that was 11pm SLT and still early enough for some of my American friends to be online. Now however, in my winter, 8pm for me is 1am SLT. The number of American friends still awake is thus smaller. And 8pm is the earliest I ever get online pretty much.

So basically the number of friends I ever see online from this point until October is minimal. Perhaps it is time to start exploring alone again. I could even resurrect Wherever Wednesday, I guess. Or maybe just hanging with my Aussie friends. Although previously that's always ended up causing me grief and drama. Aussie women, eh? Sheesh ;)

Disappearances

2010-04-08T21:40:00.000+12:00

I am sure at some point before in this mammoth marathon of verbal seepage I have mentioned how we are helpless in our SL friendships and relationships. But I'm going to mention it again anyhow.

You see, this week it affected me very directly and I was once again reminded of the distance between us. Someone close to me, someone I speak to every day, vanished. I was not around all the long weekend, something friends were aware of, but I returned to the computer on Tuesday to find her absent. Tuesday passed, Wednesday passed and still no word. Common friends were worried too. It wasn't just me.

To compound the issue the friend's list shown on secondlife.com decided it would omit her. So my initial thought was that she'd deleted her account. But when I did get online I found the website's error and then dismay turned to worry.

I mean, there may have been illness, an accident or major RL trauma and stresses involved but I had no way of finding out which explanation of these, or indeed any other, was correct. I was left. Lanquishing.

The good news is that Thursday brought relief when she resurfaced. But that's all background detail really. The issue I am writing about is the helpless emptiness we feel when a friend poofs, even for a couple of days.

Some people talk about giving an SL friend RL contact details so that they can get in touch. But even with an RL email address and mobile phone number the situation here was not altered. If people don't want to answer emails or texts they don't have to. So again, you don't know if it space they need or an ambulance.

Others talk about getting similar contact details for an RL contact of your SL friends so you can get in touch in a second-hand kind of way. But some have good reason to be reticent to do that, and even if they're not, it seems a bit alarmist emailing someone you don't know just because a common friend has been offline for two days, eh?

I guess therefore I don't have a solution to suggest. It is just a problem that we have to live with due to the very nature of our global and virtual relationships. What is so exceptional and such a draw-card for me in terms of meeting fantastic people on-line on the other side of the world is also a key flaw. We befriend in this global intrasphere but cannot nip round to have a coffee and see if our befriendibles are ok. It sucks, huh?

My name's Marnix and I'm broken

2010-03-24T08:37:00.000+13:00

If you're a friend on plurk and you read my verbose outpourings there as well as here you might remember a few days ago I mentioned a small bug I was experiencing in SL. For some reason I could no longer run, I could not fly, I walked as if through treacle and I fell at an alarmingly slow rate. Added to that was the issue where I would tp to some sims, and I stress some, and land in a spot that wasn't where I tp-ed to and would then promptly not be able to move. I would just moonwalk on the spot. It was, to understate it, immensely frustrating.

The other day I fell off a sky platform 700 metres up. In the end I got bored and logged off. As a result this is what I logged in to. I was still falling. That's a plane in front of me there, by the way, just hovering at about 650m.

I decided I'd wait and see how long it took me to reach ground level. I changed clothes. I chatted with a friend for a little bit. And I continued falling. I measured that I fell 73m in 8 minutes.

Eventually a random stranger on the ground below me IMed me and asked if I was alright up there. He even flew up from the ground to meet me and just hovered a bit. He was as perplexed as I was about the issue but he suggested TPing me to somewhere with less lag to see if that helped. I'm a trusting sort of a guy so I agreed to give it a go. The issue couldn't get any worse. And by now I was down to about 500m anyway. Another hour and I'd be at ground level.

He TPed me somewhere and we landed on a quayside outside of a built-up city. The sim was named Kowloon. The first thing he said when I landed was "take off all your clothes except your pants". For a minute I thought I'd been kidnapped for the Hong Kong sex-slave industry, but then he qualified it by adding something about making sure I was wearing absolutely nothing containing a script.

I did as instructed and tried flying. And running. And falling. And wahey! Success. It worked. I was mended. Next up was to slowly, one item at a time, add all my stuff back on again - the AO, the Pandora HUD, the mini-radar, the flight feather, the type-blocker thingy - to see at what point the bug returned. Because then, of course, I'd have found the offending item.

One by one I added stuff back, tried flying and falling. Each time I found everything was good. Until eventually I was back, exactly as I had started, fully-dressed and fully-HUDed up. And yet I still worked. I was not broken any more. Now is it me, or is that some weird-ass shit?

I went to thank my unlikely fairy godmother but he'd vanished. As suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. Just who was that mystery stranger who came to my aid? Perhaps we'll never know.

Publicity ho

2010-03-23T12:10:00.002+13:00

I've been syndicated! No ,really!

The 'Home and Garden SL Feed' does exactly what it says on the tin and from now on relevant Swirly Disco Flames posts from here will appear there too.

Don't worry though, all the rambling drivel I spout about something and nothing and anything will be filtered out though. It will be solely art stuffs. Well, art stuffs surrounded by minor drivel. Like this. Only this doesn't have any art. Only drivel.

Although, thinking about it, if you're reading this here, then chances are you won't need to read my stuff on the feed because you'll have read it here already. But don't let that stop you checking the feed out, no siree, as you'll be able to find loads of amazing stuff there too.

What an awesome idea, huh? It works for all that fashion stuff. And now, all those with interior design (and exterior design, come to that) fetishes can get their fill too. Genius!

The flip-side

2010-03-23T09:45:00.001+13:00

The other day I introduced the eponymous protagonist of my overly ambitious and never to be completed SL-based comic project, Norks McCracken. And like any good 1920s-style private eye, Norks has an arch-enemy in organised crime. A racketeering anti-Norks, if you will.

Of course, like any self-respecting archetypal prohibition gangster, my villain is Italian American. He needs a name though. Something suitable. Which is where you come in.

I am holding a competition. It is called 'Name the mobster'. What happens is that you all suggest appropriate names for a crime boss, something suitably Don-ish, and I choose the winner and adopt the name. Simple, huh?

It's all about getting you involved in the process and giving you ownership in the project. It's a wicked marketing ploy really, but I removed the majority of the wickedness by exposing my motives. Cunning, huh?

Getting around

2010-03-22T11:28:00.000+13:00

It seems that nowadays you can't go anywhere without seeing some of my art plastered on the walls of SL.

OK, so that's not strictly true. But it is true that a couple of custom pieces of mine now adorn the walls of the offices of the editor-in-chief of Icon Lifestyle magazine.

Did I mention I undertake commission work?

Norks McCracken

2010-03-20T10:14:00.002+13:00

Meet Norks McCracken. He's a 1920s Private Eye, living in Chicago, walking the tightrope that is staying on the right side of both the law and organised crime.

The other week I had an idea. A bold and imaginative idea. I wanted to create serialised graphic novel-type blog, set in SL. All I'd need were characters, a storyline or two, locations, poses and time. Lots of time. Oh, and a bit more inclination.

I still haven't ruled out the idea. My good friends are all making supportive noises. But it would be an awful lot of work. And I just don't think I have the time, sadly. I wish I did.

Take tonight, for example. I probably took two hours finding a location for some introductory shots. (Admittedly SL was being an arse during that time.) I then sorted through the shots, chose some good ones, and then experimented to find some suitable comic book effects. This probably took another two or three hours. And this was just me, so no other characters or poses to worry about. Four or five hours for an output of six pics. No diva actresses or ill-disciplined actors to be bothered with. No framing of the pics into a comic-strip and laying on of dialogue etc. To do it justice it would be a full time job.

But then I look at pictures like this one here, and I get excited by the idea again. And I want to find a way to do it. But other than resigning from work or just not sleeping I don't have a solution.

So for now I think the idea will have to sit on the back-burner. Let's call it an ambition. Norks will have to wait. The murder, kidnap and theft cases will just have to be left unsolved.

I am quite pleased with some of these pics though. I would need to choose one particular style though, I reckon, eh?

Quite a fun game

2010-03-16T00:01:00.002+13:00

Ok, the skin game went down quite well (on Plurk rather than on here tbh), so I thought I'd try the same but with hair.

As before, click through to see the image bigger. Oh, and these are demos again, so you kinda have to ignore the colours shown here.

Once again, pick your fave.

Pick a number

2010-03-15T21:52:00.003+13:00

I am working on a little project, and for that project I need a new skin. So I am trying to choose one. But I got lost in the mire. So am seeking opinions.
Pick a number for me and help me out.

You should be able to enlarge the pic by clicking on it

Experiments in scupltiness

2010-03-15T09:45:00.001+13:00

If I am showing demos of my art in plurk to friends quite often I will import the images into Powerpoint (for ease) and use this neat little effect it has to make them look kind 3D-ish. It looks pretty, that's really the only reason for it. As you can see:

Just recently I received a comment that made me think. Someone said they liked the rounded canvases. I wondered whether this is something that I could perhaps try in SL, for a change and stuff.

I had no idea how to do it, mind, not being a builder and stuff. But after consulting with the oracle that is my plurk friendslist it came down to two options. One was to effectively 'build' a canvas from multiple prims. This was a no-no because a) I kind like my art being one prim, and b) how on earth would I texture a multiple prim build?

Option two was to use sculpties. Once my eyes had finished glazing over, friends came to the rescue. Quaintly told me about a free sculptie fatpack which would contain what I would need, Tym ran over to grab said fatpack and then dropped me a copy given it was trans, and then later Quaintly dropped into my gallery and volunteered to help teach me texturing skillz.

In her words though: "texturing sculpties is like winning the lottery". I've never won the lottery. Not even three numbers. I didn't hold much hope for sculpty-texturing therefore.

And yet, after much head-slapping, swearing and tweaking of numbers this was the result below. The original is on the left.

It's almost ok. And I learned a lot, so thankyou, Q. But the bottom line is that texturing a sculpty with my art kinda transforms the art a bit. It makes it a little different to what I original created. And so for that reason, I still be sticking with the simple prim canvas.

I least I can say I tried it though, right?

Productive Friday afternoons

2010-03-14T17:10:00.001+13:00

A couple of months ago I mentioned about a gallery owner approaching me to see if I wanted a room in his gallery. For free. You'll be pleased to hear his hand, the one I bit off, has grown back nicely.

Yesterday afternoon, in a period of inactivity at work, I thought it might be a nice gesture if I made a special collection for his gallery, rather than just recycling the old stuff from the main gallery at Idle Rogue.

As a result I bring you the "Not-really-keen-to-work-of-a-Friday-afternoon" collection - exclusive to UrbanARTs.

You should really go check UrbanARTs out. Not just for my stuff, but also to see the amazing work of some of the others artists there. Some of the stuff makes me feel like such a fraud masquerading as an artist. Hehe.

SDF goes green (and orange)

2010-03-13T12:00:00.000+13:00

After the relatively minor success of my valentine's-themed Aroha collection I decided I'd try something new for the next upcoming celebration. Just to see. I seemed to remember last mid-March everything going a bit green with copious amounts of pixel-Guinness staining the inworld floors so I thought I'd give it a go. Especially when friends confirmed SL celebrates every festival going.

St Paddy's Day - consider your bandwagon jumped on.

This Murphy's-fueled collection is entirely inspired by the Irish flag. Think green, orange and white. Interestingly, if you don't celebrate St Paddy's but are Ivorian then this collection is for you too. Bonjour mes amis africains.

So if you're going to be celebrating on Wednesday and perhaps you have a room that needs decorating thematically and you maybe have something missing and you're perhaps thinking that that gap could maybe be filled by a little abstract art in the right colours to match the bunting then hop on over to Swirly Disco Flames.

I kinda think I should be wearing a leprechaun outift in these photos. They were taken at short notice though so you'll have to settle for a green bowtie and waistcoat with the tux.

Honesty and friendship

2010-03-11T12:51:00.002+13:00

This week a blogpost has started a minor plurk meme. The idea, in case you're too lazy to follow links, is that every day for a week you share a truth about yourself.

Now there has been all sorts of debate and drama and to-ing and fro-ing about the motives behind the idea but I'm not going to get into that. I'll leave it to the llamas. But for what it is worth, I like the idea. I am enjoying reading what people decide to share each day.

Myself, I haven't participated. I might, but haven't yet. The reason for this post though is my whole thought process and stuff after hearing about the challenge. It is stuff that's been on my mind this week. So where better to spurt forth drivel than here, eh?

For various reasons I don't share much about my RL self, either on here, inworld, or in plurk. Some stuff I do, on plurk at least, but nothing of great significance. Superficial nothingness really. Yes, I have two kittens. Yes, I work at a desk making pretty tables and charts. Yes, I am married, English, live in New Zealand and play football a bit.

But I wondered to myself, if I did participate in the great honesty challenge, what would I share? The fact I like banana icecream, or that I am left-handed, or that I once broke a finger catching a ball? Hardly life-changing revelations are they? But anything deeper than that I struggle to feel comfortable sharing.

So then that led me to wonder, if I don't actually share anything about my RL self, can I really claim to have friends here? Sure, I have acquaintances. Plenty of those. Plurk is ripe with pretty ladies and nice blokes and it is a real joy to pass my working day with them. But friends? Like real friends? I don't know.

After I had been inworld a little while I drew myself a line. I knew I needed one. This line would be the line I would not cross with RL information. Basically I wanted to ensure that my SL self was so divorced from my RL self that I would be untraceable. Should I ever encounter someone with malevolent intentions I wanted to ensure I could not be found.

However, I now realise that this line, rather than giving me the freedom that was its intent, has actually enslaved me. I cannot open up and develop true friendships because I cannot let people through my monitor and into the part of my life that isn't pixellated. Sure, you get snapshots. You get to look through the keyhole as I bare my dazzlingly dry sense of humour and rapier-wit. (Oh and my tongue-in-cheek attitude to most stuff, including faux arrogance and indignation. Plurk friends will know what I mean.) But you don't see me. You don't know me. In so many ways I regret that. I regret that the line was necessary. Or at least is necessary now. I have done things that I cannot risk coming to light in RL. I think it is kinda obvious what I mean. If you have been reading for the blog for a while you should be able to pick up what I mean.

But through all of this there are bright spots. There are a few that have crossed the boundary. A small few. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people that I am comfortable enough with to entrust with significant aspects of my RL. And I wouldn't need all the fingers to count them. But they are there. They know who they are. Some people do know me and I am so very glad I have let them into my life. It just took time.

To bunny or not to bunny

2010-02-28T23:41:00.002+13:00

That is the question.

Some friends have offered to gift me a spare bunny. I am amazingly chuffed that they'd choose to offer me one of their babies. And I'm seriously tempted. I just don't know. What do they have to offer that the chickens did not? Apart from being rather cute, I mean.

I would hate for a bunny to go the same way the chickens did.

Doing it large

2010-02-25T19:16:00.003+13:00

I have been building up to this for a while. I started small. You may have seen. Here and here. But since November I have wanted it large. I wanted to upscale. I wanted to play domino rally with incendiary penguins like never before.

So, here it is. 116 penguins. 2,124 prims. 1 click. And one helluva mess. This is why you never seen penguins on grass. When spring comes, penguins go kablooie!

I had an audience. It was Alicia who kindly donated me prim space so we thought she ought to be there, just in case. And Quaintly stopped on by by accident and came along for the show. I crashed halfway through setting up the penguins and I think it was all Alicia could do to restrain herself from setting them off prematurely.

For those who can't be arsed to watch the youtube vid here's a couple of photos to explain quite what went on, and perhaps to entice you to click play after all.

The quote of the night:

Quaintly: - I didn't have particles on so didn't see any blood!
Alicia - You got the kiddy-rated version!

The only downside to this was creating more lag than the sim has ever seen. Even more than at the height of the chicken epidemic of 2009. Walking was nigh on impossible. Also the free-flowing penguin guts kinda created an infinite loop. As quick as the first penguins re-rezzed, they were set off again.

By the eighth or ninth time around Alicia had to return my items to my L&F. I wanted to let it run all night "just to see what happened". But she said no :( SOmething about not wanting to piss her tenants off or something. I don't know. This is science! Or art maybe. Or both?

There was one disappointment to come out of this - the sim didn't crash. I was gutted. Alicia and Quaintly felt jipped. I felt sure it would do something terminal. I need to think bigger, I guess.

The thing that took me longest about this whole aquatic avian adventure? Deciding on what music to add as a soundtrack. That shit is tricky.

Second thoughts

2010-02-24T12:26:00.003+13:00

I also wanted to title this post 'It's not you, it's me'. Both work.

Two weeks ago I was all excited. I had decided to expand my art work empire and open up a little satellite gallery on the Second Style sim. I had grand ideas.

Two weeks on, my rental is up, and I have decided to retreat, retrench and regroup. But it's not a bad thing. I just haven't sold enough to make the little place commercially viable.

Thinking about it, and talking to a few people, I think that perhaps the problem is that people come to the sim wanting to shop for hair, clothes, shoes, jewellery and other apparel. They're not really coming wanting to buy art, or even furniture in general. So either the customers are in the wrong frame of mind or in fact they're the wrong customers entirely. Either way they're the wrong flavour. I am not going to reach my target market sat with a little gallery just there.

This assumes, of course, that I have a market at all.

I don't have enough good things to say about the Second Style sim though. It is a lovely little place. I can recommend it, should you be looking for a store on a mall-type sim. Just don't do it if you intend to sell art.

It's by no means the end of the road for Swirly Disco Flames though. Oh no. Just a minor hiccup and rethink. So please do not panic, those of you who do actually buy my work. My main, primary, foremost and original gallery will remain until Chry decides she needs the space for something else. Also of course, there is the little installation at [[UrbanARTs]] (how on earth do you type < and > within a href tag without t'internet getting confused, btw?)

I need to reconsider how to market and promote my work, I think. A general mall sim is clearly not the way. There is something rather exciting in the pipeline that I do hope to be able to tell you about soon though. But for now, I can only say - "watch this space".

Tugging on the heart-strings

2010-02-23T14:44:00.000+13:00

A good friend told me off last night. She read my review of my first year in SL and then she told me off. She said I had compromised in a particular area of my slife, hardly mentioning it and not giving it the time and space it warranted.

I wanted to disagree with her but in truth I could not. She's right. I did only briefly skip over an area of SL that has in many ways defined my second life so far and made Marnix who he is, rezzed here today.

The topic is question is of course, relationships. Relationships are so many different things to different people in here. Emotional, sexual, virtual, physical, platonic, supportive, ... . The list is never-ending. I couldn't hope to write a general post to discuss every possible variation and permutation of what we are respectively seeking here; either our stated rational needs or our unstated emotional ones. So instead I will focus on me and open up a little about what relationships have meant for me in the past year. A sub-post to my previous review, if you like. But without the emo crap. Been there, done that.

If you have read much of this blog before you will know there have been ups and downs in the emotional side of the past year. Some great ups, but some heavy downs too.

Perhaps I skipped over the subject in question in my rezzday review subconsciously on purpose. A few of the potential sub-headings are vocal about my mistakes and my flaws and perhaps I wanted to avoid steer clear of breaking down the door of the room filled with more hurt, misunderstandings and vitriol. If drama is laying there seemingly not breathing, you don't want to poke it with a stick to check, just in case, do you?

But my friend last night was right. By not giving some major parts of my last year more than a passing mention I was devaluing what we shared and what I learned as well as selling you, my few readers, short.

In short, sometimes it is hard to write in much detail about this side of things. If I expound on this part of my second life too much there is a danger I may veer across the boundary to the RL equivalent. And to be honest, that is not somewhere I wish to go. I am happy to explain my decisions, or lack of, to close friends, but I don't want to put you all in a position where you can't help but judge me too. It is not fair on either of us.

So skipping over detail, I want to tell you that there have been important people who've shared major parts of my last year in SL. But not all of the roads I've travelled have ended without a bump or two. In fact, there are a couple of journeys that leap to mind that ended up in a road crash and a smouldering, burned-out wreck at the bottom of a cliff. But everytime both passengers walked away. Sometimes a bit bruised. But we survived.

Sometimes, to extend the metaphor, we continued in the same direction but in different cars. Other times we sped away knowing it would be best to not look back. One of my dearest and closest friends now was the result of a semi-unrequited infatuation so there wasn't a pile of charred and twisted metal at the end of every chapter.

I do remember happy times with the girls who've shared my life so far, despite what may have followed. It is amazing how the hours and miles can melt away as you virtually sit in each others arms, chatting about nothing. There were laughs, there smiles and there were tears. I guess one thing about looking back over my blog is that it is easy to remember the happy times. We don't often take photos of anger and upset.

As I come to close I realise I don't really know how to conclude this post. I guess I just need to nod knowingly at the friend from last night and to look to the future. We all make mistakes. All we can hope is that we learn from them.

Introspective retrospective

2010-02-21T20:19:00.000+13:00

In the beginning there was...CSI:NY.

It's just over a year ago now that I watched that fateful episode of that series that began my walk towards a Second Life. I decided that given my one year has arrived it would mark a good traditional point to stop a look back. To reminisce on the things done, the people met, the times spent.

And to break the potential wordage up, because at this point I have to admit I don't know whether this post should be seralised or written on the back of a paper napkin, I thought I'd included pictures - one photo for each month I've been alive. There are perhaps better photos in my blog and in some months it was hard to choose just one, but I tried to narrow it down to give you a selection and a taste of what a year in the life of Marnix has looked like.
[Oh and please note, the photos are in time order and do not reflect the writing around them. You will see why I added this note when you get to the 'Nekkid But Tasteful Butt Pics' photo!]

Reading back over my blog now it seems hard to believe I really was ever that new. There was a time when skins, hair, clothing and AOs were all such a mystery to me. Are big shoes really and indication that you're a noob? The learning curve was so steep and my first impressions as a wide-eyed newly-rezzed was of a enormouse world full of imagination and possibility. It dazzled me, it intrigued me and it seduced me.

As I began to realise that I couldn't get the most out of SL just wandering around randomly tp-ing about the place searching for green dots before so rudely strolling into private houses I sought out social places. Places where people gathered. Where I could meet the same people twice even. I knew I needed friends.

Extensive searches for New Zealand-related sims yielded few results, and even less successful ones. As a compromise I extended my search to the bigger cousin across the Tasman and eventually landed at the Pond. Here I finally met people who were in the same place just hanging out a bit night after night. In fact I met one of my oldest friends, Chry, at the pond within my first few weeks.

It was the search for friends that led me to the blogs, and indeed to start this blog. I realised that there was a whole sub-community out there of bloggers and a good way to be seen regularly was to comment on blogs. And if I could lead them to read my random ramblings so much the better. It would be a good way to let them know a bit more of the internal Marnix and perhaps accept me and even welcome me.

This yielded successes. I now number some of those initial bloggers I stalked and bepedestalled among my closest friends. Y'know, and I am sure they won't mind me saying this, but those bloggers we so revere are normal people too. Mostly. They like to be IMed or have their blogs commented on. Hang around enough and they might even take pity on your and befriend you too. Worked for me :)

Blogs led to plurk. And I cannot say enough good things about the influence plurk has had on my second life. It has meant that even when I am not in SL, when I am at work for example, ahem... I can be surrounded by my friends. I can grow and develop friendships there and even make new ones. It is a great way to turn friends-of-friends into friends.

This year has seem times of exploring for me, times of meeting people, and times alone. There's been times of boredom and loneliness but also times of creativity and acceptance.

One thing I love about SL is the way we can really do anything. Where else could I find an outlet for my art? Where else could I (attempt to) sell my swirly disco flames? In fact where else could I even call them that?

I've been a tiger, an alien, an otter, a robot, a terrier and a ghost. They're just the av changes I can remember. There's been cars, bikes, scooters, live music, pub quizes and dancing. Lots of dancing.

There's been women. And there's been mistakes. And there's been hurt.

I've owned chickens and a dog. I gave the chickens a viking funeral. And I played domino rally with incendiary penguins. More than once.

I've had 8 homes, either alone or shared.

And I had five minutes of fame with a blog meme that led to tens of people baring their bums in the name of art and an exhibition inworld.

The over-riding thing I had gained from this first year though is friends. Some have been passing friends, us in each others lives for the briefest of moments. But others have been enduring friends, relationships deepened and real moments shared. Many have impacted my life and enriched it by being there, whether I've met them recently or whether I met them right in the beginning when they took pity on a poor noob and took me under their wings. I want to name you all, as special as you are to me, but I fear accidental omission so will hesitantly fall back on the safety net of the fact that you know who you are.

I often think I want my legacy from this first year in SL to be the flame-grilled nautical poultry or the galllery filled with rosy rear ends. If I could walk into a room and hear someone say "Marnix? Isn't that the guy who floated his chickens to a fiery yet watery grave while urging people to send him photos of their butts" I could die happy. Or so I sometimes think.

But actually, in writing this, my summary of my first year, I realise that that is wrong. The Greek fella Pericles had it right when he said "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others". That's what I want my legacy to be - the lives I have touched. Sure, this year hasn't always been a success and perhaps my first year has seen a small share of darker recesses I am not proud of. But I can learn from that and what I want for my second year is that all of those times I touch people's lives, the legacy left is mutually beneficial, if not entirely positive.

Hearing is believing

2010-02-17T15:37:00.001+13:00

Since my very first foray into the world of voice I have only managed to plug my mic in a handful of times. As I mentioned before, there are reasons why it is not always a possibility for me. But sometimes it is possible, and sometimes it does happen. And when it does, it is good.

I have some friends who despise voice in SL. They're the purists. The ones who were here before voice. The ones that remember when "all this was ASCII fields". They see voice as an abomination of all that SL is and should be.

Then there are others who embrace voice, who see it just as another medium of contact with friends. Something different to text. The same but different. Like Skype but with cartoons.

There are those in SL who voice publicly when shopping together or exploring together or doing the naughty together (ask me about the Italians I heard at the zoo once! - I think they thought I was an exhibit rather than a fellow guest) but I don't think I have any friends who would break the unspoken protocol like that.

Me, I fit into the second category. For the most-part. There are times when voice is appropriate, when it is right and is a good thing. But there are also times, I think, when it isn't right.

Taking the last of those first, I have been unfortunate enough to be in a group gathering once when everyone was on voice except me. I think that is when it is wrong to voice. Voice changes the dynamic of a conversation. It is different to chatting in text. So to have a group of people following one dynamic while someone, or a couple of others, are following another dynamic is never going to work. I've even go so far as to say it can be rude. It is like, if you will forgive me a very extended simile, being deaf and going down the pub with your progressive, fully-hearing mates. Sure you can lip-read and they can sign, but imagine that they choose not to. The conversation is not a level playing-field. It is very exclusive. By the time you have signed your contribution the conversation has leapt ahead and left you behind. Voice should only ever be enjoyed, I think, if everyone is voicing.

My good friend, and patron to my gallery, Chry was the first person to really enlighten me as to how SL changes in voice. She told me, before I ever voiced, that it has a very different feel. And she was right. I was so nervous before I first voiced. Personally, I know that I would never say some of the stuff I type. Not unless I am only with particularly close friends, that is. Somehow the addition of voice tears down that barrier of anonymity that fails to constrain some of us. On voice, we have less freedom to extend beyond our norm. Or maybe that's just me?

But on the flip side, hearing a friend speak you have only ever read before gives you a deeper understanding of them. You gain a whole new insight into their personality. Hearing someone laugh or giggle is so much more intimate than LOL or /me giggles. And one-on-one especially, intimate is good for developing and deepening friendships. Whether you're just kicking back with a friend chatting about nothing or wandering round a new sim checking out the stores and getting the goss on the owners and the relative quality of their merchandise, voice can give you freedom too. It provides the freedom to more easily 'know' your friends. I know there are some people who will baulk at this and rail against my conclusion. But it is true for me. I have good friends that I have only ever read. Would I feel closer to them and know them better if we'd voiced? I have to say yes.

Oh, and just to keep the sulky monster at bay, Princess Ali has a cute voice. There, I said it.

It's me again - but betterer

2010-02-17T14:08:00.003+13:00

I mentioned in my last post that some recent time spent in the studios of a couple of photographer friends had inspired me to show you all that it's not as easy as it looks, this photography business. I think I achieved that.

Today I have the output of one of those sessions to show you. To demonstrate to you how it should be done.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the work of Ms ShannonCharlize Gossipgirl:

Thankyou, Shan :D

It's me

2010-02-16T00:06:00.004+13:00

In the past couple of days, a couple of friends of mine have been generously taking photos of me. I love to see the output of those photographers who really know their way around Photoshop. This time in the studio with the experts has inspired me to play around with Photoshop a little myself. Just so I can see what I can do. And once again realise the gulf that exists between the amateurs and the professionals.

Below is the result of a few hours messing about a bit. Please forgive my self-indulgence.

A day early

2010-02-12T13:10:00.002+13:00

I got a surprise last night. Quite a big one.

I'd been setting up the new gallery when Chry IMed me to see if I would TP over to Idle Rogue for a dance with some friends as she was DJing. I wasn't quite finished so told her I'd be there in, like, 10. I finished up, took some photos without crashing for a change, and then picked Quaintly up in the taxi on the way over.

There were a few people I knew over at Idle Rogue, and a few I didn't. But that's not the surprise. After I got there last night, Chry announced to me that today is my rezday! And I didn't even know! How remiss, huh?

I can't believe I've been here a year already. Cue long navel-gazing blogpost about times gone by etc etc. A year is long time of mistakes, misjudgements misbehaviour in Marnixworld. It's also a dumpster full of new friends and experiences I would not have missed for anything.

Only, have I been here a year yet? You see, it's the 12th Feb for me. But not for SL. So in actual fact I reckon my rezday is actually tomorrow. Probably.

I have time to prepare for the self-deprecating navel-gazing.

Branching out

2010-02-12T09:30:00.002+13:00

The other day I noticed a plurk from Al about a new commercial sim opening up. For some reason I cannot explain I felt compelled to find out more.

The sim, it turns out, is a newly renovated spot associated with Second Style magazine and somehow the idea of having a little spot to hang my art on a sparkly new sim seemed an attractive proposition. It was formerly Le Zoo if that means anything to anyone more worldly than me.

I contacted the girl-in-charge and after eventually our virtual paths crossed. She gave me a little tour of the sim, I liked what I saw, and a deal was struck. Cue spitting on palms and firm handshakes all round. Well, either that or simply payment to a rental vendor.

Unfortunately at the moment you can't go have a look, at either my new gallery or the sim, as it is not open yet. The grand re-opening happens on Friday evening (SLT) with a DJ set and free gifts to shoppers. I would tell you the exact time, but I don't know it. It's just the evening. 7pm or 8pm or something probably. *shrugs shoulders gallicly*

There's a rather cute map of the sim here and Swirly Disco Flames mk III is in shop 19, even though at the time of writing, it's not stated there.

OK, so now I had a shop. An empty shop. To fill. Bugger. What now?

Well, the shop is effectively two stories high so I figured a mezzanine type thingy with some stairs would not go amiss. Otherwise it would just be a big empty box with art randomly (but artistically) scattered on the walls. I had a tiled floor plinth that I'd previously 'built' for a bathroom a few houses back. I thought I could re-use that. Except it wasn't big enough. I figured I'd need to rez two and join them. Half an hour later I had the textures matching perfectly. Hmmmph

Next up I needed stairs. I plurked to ask friends about stairs, given I was a staircase noob, and almost started a fight between the pro-spirals and the anti-spirals. I was directed to a awesome spiral staircase. And it would have been perfect too. If only I could have figured out quite how to place it. But somehow it wasn't quite right, so I went back to the conventional staircase solution. Again, rigorous XStreet searching followed, followed quickly by success. I had a staircase. I had a mezzanine. And I even had a smoked-glass effect barrier to stop people falling off said mezzanine.

Art was rezzed and placed. A hop, skip and a jump over to my fave furniture store resulted in a sofa set which was duly rezzed. A few plants were liberally scattered. And a banner template for the sign outside the door was created and placed. And wow, three or so hours after I started the rental the place was set, ready for the grand opening tomorrow.

But, just in case you can't make it tomorrow (and because I am proud of my amateurish handiwork and want to let you see it), here's a little sneak preview. Just for you...

It is true to say that after I finished, I was pretty excited about the whole thing.

"Welcome, welcome. Come on in. Please."

"If you build it, they will come!"

Aaaaaaaaaand relax....

Shocked and appalled

2010-02-10T14:42:00.004+13:00

You know, I guess I have been a little surprised by the strength of the reaction to my last post. In particular, eyes have been mainly raised at the second pic, of course.

Some people have commented privately to me that the picture was "inappropriate". Others have said it is bordering on pr0n and isn't the sort of thing they expect to see on a "respectable blog". For me this has just brought to a head how double-standard-ed (if that's a word) SL can be sometimes. Well, not just SL, I guess.

Earlier in the week a good friend of mine plurked a picture of her and a friend in a very nekkidly evocative pose. The comments rolled on in and were enthusiastically positive. One after another. But, you see, the picture was of two women. I actually commented at the time to another friend that I doubted whether the reception would have been quite so demonstratively welcoming if instead of two women, the picture was of a man and a woman.

And it seems now that perhaps my point has been made. I post one clothed (mostly-clothed, ok) photo of me with Jordy in a hot-tub in a spanking pose and suddenly I receive numerous comments vilifying me.

Are two women together less threatening to us as a community or something? Or would it have been different if I'd been the one get spanked instead of doing the spanking? Because at least then I'd not be perpetuating misogynistic stereotypes, right?

I mean, shit, come on, the pic could have been a whole lot further over the line than it was.

Steam and bubbles

2010-02-10T11:47:00.008+13:00

Some evenings there really is nothing better than sitting round enjoying the lovely warm water of the hot-tub while contemplating the stars.

It's also an excuse for pretty pictures too, eh?

I also rediscovered some fun poses that lay buried deep within my hot-tub. Not a pic you'd categorise as 'pretty' maybe, but still definitely worth sharing. RAWR!

Aroha

2010-02-07T17:55:00.004+13:00

I yesterday launched a new collection in my gallery, Swirly Disco Flames.

At first I figured I would just jump on the bandwagon and design something appropriate to grab a share of the lovey-dovey dollar that people will be spending this month. But as I created more and more of the collection and tried to decide on a name I realised it became more.

The collection is called 'aroha'. Aroha is a Maori word meaning love. But the English word love does not demonstrate the true depth of aroha. Other ways to translate aroha might include compassion, affection, respect, sympathy and mercy. It encompasses so much more than merely love.

As such, in the end, these paintings were designed with this in mind. I released them in time for Valentine's Day as I think they will be perfect gifts for your lover. But they should not be restricted to that. They will be perfect gifts for friends too. Aroha covers the love, respect and affection between friends as well as between lovers.

Come down and have a look at them, why don't you.

Been too long

2010-01-30T15:54:00.003+13:00

I have mentioned before, once or twice, my fave live artist in SL, Ms Starflower Orbit. I've not managed to coincide a trip inworld with one of her gigs since maybe September. Which is ages ago. This was until yesterday, at least. I managed to scrape together big enough chunk of free RL time to log in to see who was around and imagine my glee when I got a notice telling me a Starflower gig had only just started.

She did not disappoint. She never does.

So the ballerina says to the samurai...

2010-01-25T22:25:00.002+13:00

There's probably a really funny story attached to this image. The story of the ballerina and the samurai.

I can't decide though whether it'd be a fairytale or a dark fable with a moral undercurrent.

Waterloo Sunset

2010-01-23T21:58:00.005+13:00

The other week I mentioned I finally got myself a little bit of land and promised that I'd give you a tour. I've been busy the last wee while getting it set up and stuff, but finall it's ready. So please, come along in, take your shoes off at the door and have a look around.

The region I've moved to is called Virtue (Stop laughing at the back!) and it's a twin sim with Thistle which is right next door. What first attracted me to the place, other than having some friends already living there, is that it just looks so pretty. It's beautifully landscaped with streams and paths interwinding throughout the place. It definitely feels like a nice place to live. The sort of place you'd go for a morning constitutional and wave at friends as you pass their door.

I've not got a big plot, but it seems big enough to furnish and decorate so that it feels homely and welcoming. I decided that I'd mostly live up in the air, but given how pretty the rest of the sim is I knew I had to hold me end up and make an effort down there too. I've never really done trees before though. My previous homes have either made use of stylised trees or palms trees.

I never realised the tree industry was so extreme. It was really quite overwhelming. How was I meant to know what kinda tree I wanted and who made the best ones and who made dead twigs? Well eventually I found some I liked and liberally scattered them around.

The next crucial ingredient for me was a pond. I've not had the greatest luck with terraforming, and I've got some swans that I hadn't had an awful lot of luck with either. I was determined that my luck with change with both. And, after a couple of 'learning experiences' in both areas I am happy to announced I not only have a pond but the swans in it are actually in it and not above it.

In terms of what else to place on the ground, my hammock was a must as I love it, and after much searching I found the perfect little garden shed that looks perfect with a couple of battered old armchairs. It's comfy. Which is what I wanted.

Upstair, in the sky, I have a skybox. Again it took much deliberation but eventually I found the one that felt right. Previous homes for me in SL have always been modern and contemporary. I guess my chosen style hasn't changed yet.

Downstairs there's one big room stretching the length of the house. At one end I have the living space with my favourite sofa and chair set that has followed me for a few moves now.

And at the other end there is currently a sort of breakfast bar or dining area. I want to do something else there I think, but it'll do for now.

Upstairs is the bedroom. Strictly speaking it's not upstairs as it's via teleport but you know what I mean. It contains a bed. You know, as they do.

Also upstairs there's a door out onto a balcony. Perfect for staring into space. Perhaps while sat in a hottub, eh?

And after all that, I think it must be time for bed, eh?

Playing with Photoshop

2010-01-23T05:45:00.000+13:00

I am determined to improve my PS skills. Practise makes perfect, I hear. So I'm-a practising.

What do you think?

For Lolita!

2010-01-23T01:33:00.002+13:00

This pic says it all. Happy, rezday, Lolita. It is a joy to know you and call you a friend.

The party was a blast. Sorry I couldn't stay too long. The trivia ball thing was a wonderful idea.

I won't wear it again

2010-01-19T21:46:00.001+13:00

Ok! Ok! So you don't like the shirt. I get the message!

Internationally renowned

2010-01-16T11:34:00.001+13:00

Right, so you know I said yesterday that I had nothing to tell you? Well, apart from the new home that is. Well, after last night, I do have some news. And it's quite exciting too!

I was at home, setting out furniture and art and stuff when I got a random IM. From someone I didn't know. A Belgian fella, as it turns out. He was asking about my art and whether it was my own work or not. It seems he had just been at Mags' store, Emjay. You remember, it was the one that I made some custom art for just before New Years. Well, he said that he liked my art, and that he was an art student who had started a big gallery in SL as a project for artists to come together and display their work free of charge and did I want a room?

Sounds too good to be true, right? Where's the catch? Well, there doesn't seem to be one. He provides the space, the prim allowance, the gallery set up. He promotes it. And it's all free. He doesn't even take a cut of sales. All because he wants to do it. How awesome is that?

I basically snapped his hand off. Went and checked his place out, snapped his hand off again and started rezzing pictures. The place, called UrbanARTs, is a nice set up, and some of the art there is stunning, so to be hanging alongside that is quite an ego boost.

It didn't take me too long really (and I had some company to give me a second opinion) so now it is ready please go along and take a look. At the moment the work I have on display there is also available in the main gallery (although possibly in the vendor rather than on the walls) but the work of the other artists is worth checking out too, I'd say.

Oh yeah, you need to know where it is don't you. This will take you to right outside my room in the gallery, in theory. But I am not sure if there is a landing point. There might be. If so, I am on the second floor. Up the stairs.

Oh, and there's a flyer too.

Nothing to tell

2010-01-15T15:35:00.002+13:00

Have I really not blogged yet in 2010? How can that be possible? I must have done. No? Well, I'm sorry. I'm rubbish. But I will return.

I have just bought some land, a little place to call my own. How about if promise you a tour of my new home, once it's all sorted and stuff, that you forgive me? How's that sound to you?

Happy customers

2009-12-30T17:09:00.003+13:00

A little while ago I made a piece of custom art for my friend Magen for her store EmJay. Recently her store has moved and looks a little different and, fortunately for me, she liked my previous work so much that she asked me to make her a piece for the new store.

Once the usual RL Christmas stuff was out of the way I was able to settle down and get around to it and this afternoon I was able to present Magen with three options all along a similar colour theme that will fit with her store. As it happens it liked them all so much she took the set!

Why not go along and have a look. And while you're there check out what EmJay has on offer.

Magen's three pieces :)

Oh, and one last photo for this post. This is Magen in her store. She had such cute wellies on that I couldn't resist a final snap.

More presents

2009-12-29T23:40:00.003+13:00

My good friend Quaintly gave me a cupcake for Christmas. I learned today that she made it! Yay for building stuff :)

Lovely girls

2009-12-22T22:41:00.002+13:00

This evening I was over at my gallery when I saw two yellow dots I recognised over in another part of the sim. I wandered over to find Jewellah and Chry worrying over piles and piles of presents all gathered together under a tree.

They then presented one to me! To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement.

Given that tonight was my last time in SL for maybe a week due to festive travels the girls said I could open my gift there and then. Which I promptly did, to find myself bestowed with a shirt and trousers combo from Alphamale. I tried it on so they could see the visual fruits of their searching endeavours. Purple suits me, I think.

As well as the shirt there was also another small gift from the cheeky lasses. I tried that on too, as I think that was kind of their aim...

Thank you so much, Chry & J, for making me smile tonight. I totally wasn't expecting a Christmas present. But you surprised me with one. You're both lovely, whatever you try and claim.

Shameful

2009-12-21T14:46:00.003+13:00

On Friday, in RL, I had the Christmas party for my team at work. Somehow during the course of the evening the discussion moved on to me and my love of spreadsheets. At this point Mrs Marnix revealed to everyone present that I keep a spreadsheet of sales of my art work in SL. (New range of work, entitled Symmetry, on sale now, btw!) Cue the usual "Second what?" questions.

I am not quite sure what I stammered and stuttered to try and explain what Second Life was, why I 'play' it, and how it quite works that I sell art I create in RL to people in SL to adorn the walls of their virtual houses and stores etc. but I am glad that the pizza restaurant was dark enough to hide my blushing cheeks. I think the end result was quite a few people not quite understanding the concept and thinking that I am perhaps even more of a geek than they already think I am because I know my way around a spreadsheet.

This whole experience got me thinking. Why do I, or even we, find the concept of SL such a difficult thing to explain? Why does the idea of meeting people around the world and making friends seem such an alien idea to others just because it exists through the medium of computer software and an avatar?

I really felt embarrassment at having to explain what I spend some of my non-work hours doing. I have really no idea why though. What is more shameful? That I have a Second Life, or that I struggle to talk about it?

Symmetry

2009-12-20T21:47:00.000+13:00

If you've only been stalking my blog a short while you might not know this, but I have a gallery. It is filled with my fractal-based artwork. I filled a sim back in September at the launch party, mostly due to my lovely friends, but since then it has kinda stagnated. I've not changed any of the stuff on the walls since then.

Or at least I hadn't. Until yesterday. I felt inspired and created a whole new load of work and have revamped the gallery. I have gone with a theme this time, the theme of Symmetry, so if you need some new work for your house, you need a gift for a loved one for Christmas, or if you just want a nosey around, please come on down for a look around. Swirly Disco Flames is feeling refreshed.

Feeding the hungry

2009-12-17T07:38:00.001+13:00

A friend came to visit me in my gallery today. She wasn't coming to see my work though. She was just coming to say hello. She came wearing a supermodel stick thin shape so I did what any generous host would and rezzed her some food.

She didn't look impressed.

Although her reluctance to eat could have had more to do with me watching intently to see if she partook of the culinery delights than a distaste for the cuisine on offer itself.

I am not sure she even liked the new ultra-violet club-style lighting I was toying with. There's no pleasing some people.

Keeping my head warm

2009-12-16T23:24:00.002+13:00

There are four reasons for this post.

I am still feeling the wintery, festive mood from the other day and wanted to continue the fun
I am having fun messing around and learning PS Elements a bit
My friend Lolita has an SL Snowball fight group going on in Flickr that I wanted to post some more pics to
I have a lovely new bobblehat to show off

So, I give you, me, a bobblehat and a snowball fight:

Some are better than others. As I say, I am learning :)

Changing clothes

2009-12-13T20:41:00.001+13:00

I bought some new clothes the other night. Three outfits from the same shop. This is not unheard of for me though. When I find a place I like I tend to buy the whole catalogue. But really the point of this post is where my mind wandered next, while trying on the new clothes. I just kinda got to thinking about how my fashion tastes have changed since I've been in SL and how I've gone through phases.

I guess when I first arrived I flitted around, not really knowing what was good and what wasn't. I didn't know what was quality, didn't know any of the big names in fashion, so just bought what I saw. I was not discerning in the slightest.

I even went through a stage of wearing my PJs everywhere I went.

But then, as I learned a bit more, started reading some of the male fashion blogs, and got more of a sense of what was out there I started being a bit more targeted.

I guess my first real direction was kind of a smart casual kind of look. AlphaMale was a shop where I spent quite a bit of time. And money.

After that I discovered less generic, and more targeted fashion, I guess you could describe it as. I loved what RFyre did but my big love was Silent Sparrow. It is definitely fair to say that this was my brocade period.

I have never really done anything rock-y or punk-y in my time here. Somehow that just doesn't feel Marnix. In fact I didn't even own a pair of jeans for months and months. I struggled to dress in anything less than smart casual. And even when I finally bought some jeans I paired then with a shirt and waistcoat. I just couldn't help myself.

And now I think I have reverted to my 'sharp' default setting, especially since my shopping the other day. I just think suits can look damn good in SL. Especially when they're done well. And now I have three that I expect to wear rather a lot over the coming however-long.

I have remembered I like to look sharp. And damn these suits are sharp.

With this sort of thing you can't go wrong, eh?

Feeling festive

2009-12-13T19:52:00.002+13:00

After the other night and all that wintery behaviour I have been feeling decidedly festive in SL. I even went along to the Winterstock fashion show yesterday (mainly to cheer a friend on who was walking) and dressed in a nice warm jumper and coat combo to stay warm. Today I wanted to go check out a friend's place because I'd heard she's got a particularly nice wintery cottage chalet type thingy I wanted to check out and share with you all.

And so, I give you Velvet's place. It's pretty stunning really. It makes me pine for those European winters, those regular pre-Christmas visits to the markets of Vienna, those evenings spent huddled round mugs of mulled wine.

[Coincidentally, it's the same parcel where I used to live a while back, but that's by-the-by.]

After I'd finished taking piccies I saw a yellow dot on the mini-map so wandered over to say hi to a friend. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than sitting on giant Christmas presents nattering about nothing, eh? All we were missing was the mulled wine and mince pies.

Winter sports

2009-12-12T02:06:00.001+13:00

Moving from the northern to the southern hemisphere, one of the biggest differences for me to have to get used to, and something I continually struggle with, is inverted seasons. This is especially the case for me when it comes to Christmas.

For me, Christmas is a winter thing. All the movies, the cards, the music, the shopping mall imagery - it's all wintery. Even here, in the height of summer, it's all wintery.

This year though, things haven't been quite so bad for me. Either I am slowly getting used to the idea, or else, more likely, my first Christmas in SL is allowing me to get a virtual winter fix. After all, I can sit here in shorts and t-shirt while having a snowball fight...

...or going ice-skating, can't I?

Reminds me of the old days

2009-12-03T01:35:00.000+13:00

Tonight I was inworld messing with poses. I decided to unpack the one hundred and twelvety poses I had lying around from a hunt I did a few months back and try them out. But I got bored. Fairly quickly. My attention span does not extend to adjusting them to fit my av size.

As something a bit different to do, I headed over to my gallery and saw that two of my oldest friends in SL, Chry & Jewellah, were perched around the corner. It would have been rude not to wander round to say hello.

Sometimes it is just good to sit and chat and share secrets and laughs. Friends are good, y'know. Even when they take offence at your clothes and make you change your shirt.

Tongue in cheek?

2009-12-01T15:25:00.002+13:00

I had my attention drawn to a new blog in town today after someone posted a comment here. I was unsure quite what to expect when I started reading, and to be honest, I am still not quite sure. It's kinda intriguing if nothing else, and probably worth a glance.

It seems that if you have a problem in SL you can ask Anneka for advice and she'll post you a reply online. Different, huh?

Serial offender

2009-11-27T08:47:00.003+13:00

Sometimes I look in the mirror that is my computer monitor, see the avatar gazing back at me, and wonder quite how I got to be that person. It amazes me how traits are distilled through a digital medium; how our RL safeguards and fail safes are rerouted and overwritten.

Yup, it's another of those navel-gazing, self-analysis plurks. If you don't wanna be an emo voyeur, look away now. Don't say I didn't warn you...

It is true I wear my heart on my sleeve, I launch myself into things and it tends to be everything or nothing with me. I struggle with anything in between, it seems, for whatever reason. I also seem to be able to make a girl feel special, like she is everything in my world. This is not a good thing.

It seems like it should be. It seems like it should be brilliant. Everyone's a winner, right? But it's not. It causes pain and hurt, especially when coupled with my other characteristics I listed above.

Y'see, when a girl is everything is my world, I dive in, head first. And she feels overwhelmed, pampered and special. So very special. For a while, everything is rosy and songbirds dance around our heads singing sweet songs of spring. But then something will happen or something will change, and I might not even know what or why. The initial lustre will fade and my binary switch will flick from 1 to 0. When that happens I know there is only one outcome. So I bail. It really is for the best.

Only, the girl is still seeing those songbirds. She is left stunned and confused and hurting. I hate that I do that.

There are one or two girls scattered around the SLuniverse who are nodding right now, assuming they're reading this. They know what I am talking about. They have experienced it first hand. I have hurt them. I intensely dislike that I have. I don't mean to. But I never learn my lesson. I always plough on regardless, blind to the road signs screaming "caution", disregarding the impending road crash, thinking this time it will be different. But it never is.

And so, I plead with you, heed my warning. I don't know what the future holds, who fate will cause to cross my path. I only know that falling for me leads to pain and anguish. If I start to pay you too much attention pull up the drawbridge, man the battlements and set that boiling tar a-bubbling. I might lay siege to your castle, but do not open your gates. I'm a trojan horse.

Glum

2009-11-26T16:55:00.002+13:00

A good friend often tells me I wear my heart on my sleeve by posting so much emotional stuff on here. She is probably right. Another friend told me that when I get an idea about something I throw everything at it, heart and soul. She is right too. The downside of both of those is that my emotions and relationships can tend to be a public roller-coaster with extreme peaks and troughs.

At the moment I am sat in a trough. I am driving. But it still hurts.

Penguin experimentation

2009-11-25T00:21:00.002+13:00

I don't think, if you've been reading recently, that this post needs any explanation.

Did someone say "Fish supper?"

2009-11-23T13:19:00.000+13:00

I went to a party at the weekend. It is a rare occasion that someone has a party in SL in a timezone that is useful for me. And it is even rarer that I get there and don't spend the whole of forever crashing. But it was my friend's husband's rezzday party and Tymmerie and Jerremy throw such awesome parties that I wanted to be there. And when my Saturday plans ended earlier and I arrived home with an hour of the party remaining I knew I wanted to go along and wish Jerremy a happy rezzday and boogie for a bit.

Tym and Jerremy do themed parties. And when they do a themed party they take it to the extreme. The theme of this party was a sort of underwater aquarium thing and they excelled themselves. Everyone who attends a Thorne-Darwin party tends to go along with the theme so I knew I was in for a treat, in terms of costumes.

I guess I sided towards the underwater half of the theme, rather than the aquarium side, dressing as I was, as an otter. A very cute otter, I have to say. I figured that if there were no nibbles provided at least I could munch on the fish-themed guests.

The party was held in a purpose-built aquarium, complete with stones on the floor, coral, the little castle you see above and shoals of fish.

The guests certainly did make an effort. I love the thought people put in. It must make all the work worthwhile for Tym and Jerremy as I am sure they must work hard on these parties.

I wanted to take more close-up pictures but my computer decided it had had enough and I kept crashing so I only managed a few long-range shots and a couple of close-ups. There were so many awesome costumes I wish I could have captured for you.

Here we have the DJ, Princess Alicia, along with Boss and Lolita.

I think this was Queen Kellee, although I could be wrong. As this stage I was trying to figure out if the dances in the treasure chest danceball would work with my tiny av.

And finally, on the left here, we have rezzday boy Jerremy and Tym themselves, complete as the king and queen of the sea-monkeys.

I wish my timezone allowed me to hang out with friends more often. It doesn't so I appreciate the limited time I do get with them.

Cl-cl-cl-click on a penguin

2009-11-23T09:09:00.001+13:00

A little while ago I found something awesome on XStreet. Meet Blasty, he's a penguin. But not just any old penguin. He's an exciting penguin, as a few of my friends have found when they've had one left on their land or dumped into their inventory by me. I like to share the love.

I also like to share the blood and guts. Which is good. Because, y'see, when you click on Blasty he, as his name suggests, explodes showering blood and internal penguin organs all around.

Now, this is entertaining enough for a while. Like for at least an hour or two. A day. For a month. Or two. But eventually a boy needs more. A boy needs bigger and better. So I got to thinking. The penguin explodes on a click or a bump...the penguin shoots guts about the place...so if the body bits are physical then by standing penguins next to each other...

I tried rezzing two penguins first, right next to each other. I clicked on one and it exploded. Brains and liver and kidneys leapt into the air in a shower of blood. And then, yes! Success! Penguin two exploded. But two was never going to be enough, was it?

You see where I'm going with this, don't you? Think domino rally, but with no dominoes. And with penguins. And penguin offal.

And...click.

It worked perfectly. The penguins exploded down the line, each one setting the next one off. Boom, boom, boom.

Sometimes the effect would not be immediate, but usually a stray bit of intestine bouncing around would trigger the next one eventually.

By the end the poolside was littered with penguin parts. The pool was pretty full too. But ah, bugger, a problem...

Y'see, the penguins explode and disappear and leave their internal bits around for a while. And then, after a pre-determined time, the organs and brains and stuff disappear and the penguin re-rezzes. But if penguin number one rezzes while penguin number sixteen's spleen is still bouncing around on the tiles there is a fair chance that penguin one will explode again. And by the time this happens penguin two has rezzed. And so on. And so on.

I found myself in an endless penguin loop. The lag from the scripts and the bouncing lungs and hearts even caused Arora to crash. I thought it would never stop.

For a while there I was actually worried that it would actually never ever stop. I has visions of the whole sim being closed and taped off with that yellow police crime scene tape to prevent anyone getting tangled up in the penguin loop. I imagined huge danger and warning signs around the edge of the sim. The map would be marked "Here be penguins".

By the third or fourth time down the row I was madly trying to delete penguins as they re-rezzed before they exploded. It was, to be honest, a little manic. But finally I managed to delete enough of them for the others not to explode. And....relax.

Getting antsy

2009-11-18T14:05:00.002+13:00

This time of year is always busy for me. Summer sport has kicked off again now the evenings are getting longer, I have some other stuff on a couple of evenings a week, and basically I don't get home before 9 or 10pm on Monday through Wednesday. Also Thursdays are quite busy too. Then we're around to Friday which can be when social stuff happens and the weekends are always hit and miss whether they're packed or not. And even if they're not, getting time sat at the laptop can be tricky at best.

Basically, it feels like I haven't been inworld for ever. And the next few weeks are going to be the same. And then it's Christmas which will be a lottery when it comes to SL-time. I miss SL time - exploring, buying stuff and my friends especially. If it wasn't for plurk they might be searching the online Kiwi obituaries for mention of someone with a "secret internet life" by now.

It's kinda hard sometimes, being on plurk, seeing friends posting about inworld stuff, showing us pics, telling everyone how much fun they're having. I miss it. I want to be there too, right alongside them, laughing and being silly with them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't resent RL stuff. I enjoy the stuff that is keeping me out of SL immensely, and it is usually all by choice. I love summer as I can put some shorts on and run around and get all hot and sweaty. And I love spending time with friends.

But I still miss SL. And I'm getting antsy. I have stuff to do. My inventory won't sort itself, the house won't decorate itself, and I hate to think of the mess Buckley has made with no-one cleaning up after him. I have a filter-cam to review, I have poses to sort, and my swans and koi won't appreciate being left in my 'animals' folder.

Maybe if I stopped working I could spend all day in SL and then still have the evenings free for RL...

Did someone call security?

2009-11-13T17:12:00.000+13:00

I've got a new job. It's a very important job. A life or death job. I have to protect some VIPs. I have agreed to lay my life on the line ensuring the safety of these VIPs. Although strictly speaking, I guess they're VIBs.

So what is my new vocation? Well, I'm a .....bunnyguard.

A big thankyou goes out to Chase for the pose at very short notice :)

Channels of communication

2009-11-09T10:36:00.004+13:00

When you're in SL, and you start IMing someone for a bit, but you're both doing different things, and perhaps IMing others, and the IM conversation sort of tails off - do you need a goodbye before the other person signs off?

The reason I ask is that this happened to me the other day. I arrived inworld and someone IMed me to say hi. We chatted for a while with the usual 'how are you?' and 'having a good day?' stuff but then we were both busy and the conversation just sort of tailed off. You know what I mean, you've all been there, I'm sure.

So I continue what I am doing for a bit and then have to leave. So I log off. But then next time I log in I find an IM from the person saying "fine. good bye to you too!"

Now, I'm not really writing about that particular instance, but more about SL communication in general. It just got me thinking about communication in SL. I hadn't really thought before how we might treat it differently.

Y'see for me, I guess I see it a little like walking into a busy room at an RL party. There are people around. You chat to some for a bit, you move from person to person, group to group, don't necessarily have to speak to everyone there, and then when it is time to leave, you might say goodbye to the person you are currently speaking to, but you don't stop the party, get everyone silent and then say "Ok, I'm going now. Bye everyone." That'd be a little arrogant wouldn't it?

But it seems, for others, that IMing is maybe more like a telephone call. And you wouldn't hang up on someone without saying goodbye, would you? I know the analogy doesn't work perfectly because you wouldn't have three or four conversations on different phones at the same time, while shopping for new shoes, while talking to someone in the same room who is blinging with their buttcrack hanging out. But you get what I mean.

Maybe those people are just more needy and self-important than me. Or maybe I'm just rude and ignorant. Or perhaps reality lies in the grey area somewhere between the two extremes. Doesn't it always, eh?

A tad remiss

2009-11-09T09:40:00.002+13:00

I've not been in SL much recently. This is a busy time of year for me, RL-wise, and then when I have made it online recently, my time has been spent with one person in particular for the odd hour or so I have, rather than out and about doing stuffs, seeing stuffs and meeting stuffs...erm... people.

As such the much promised inventory sort will have to wait, Wherever Wednesday is taking a sabbatical, and the continuing new house furnishing is delayed a smidge.

[Ooh, that's a point - did I tell you I'd moved? I don't I did, did I? Well, more on that when I can show we're ready to accept visitors. But the bottom line is that I have moved. But you probably gathered that much by now, eh?]

So yeah, no interesting pics to show you. No news of exciting new places I've visited. And no random musings on SLife.

I whole-heartedly apologise. Normal service will be resumed in a bit. I promise.

Getting into the spirit

2009-11-01T14:52:00.003+13:00

I don't usually do halloween. For a number of reasons. The primary being I just cannot be arsed. And when halloween in SL seemed to start in August I was so definitely over it even before we reached October.

But then some cheeky little Kiwi kids came knocking at the door last night asking for candy and threatening to throw eggs at my windows so I embraced the spooky season. I wish I had an attack dog to chase them off at times like that but I had to make do with the hosepipe.

But yes, sorry, I am waffling. Halloween and SL. Below you will see my efforts to fit in. OK, so dressing at a giant marshmallow Caspar-type thingy is not really ever going to mean fitting in, but you know what I mean.

As always, please excuse the dodgy water shots. My video card has extreme limitations when it comes to water.

[Oh, and speaking of water, if a certain person is reading this - you know water, right? It's that stuff that can be both under a bridge and off a duck's back. For everyone else who doesn't know what I'm on about - don't worry about it.]

A hats gripe

2009-10-31T19:46:00.002+13:00

I have a gripe. In case you missed the title, the gripe is about hats.

I would love to be able to wear more hats in SL. I would love it. Really. But I just can't figure them out.

It seems to me that there are four options. You either switch your hair for a buzzcut, you have hair sticking through the hat, you postion the hat so it perches delicately on the top of your hair, or you make your hat so large that you look like Jamiroquai.

Surely if boobs can bounce someone can do something about making hats work, can't they?

Skate-less

2009-10-31T15:50:00.003+13:00

Sometimes it is just good to hang out with friends, dance a little, chat a little, and laugh a helluva a lot.

I am lacking in the roller-skates department though. I've decided.

Wherever Wednesday - Bug Island

2009-10-31T13:41:00.003+13:00

It's a little late, I know. But I got there. Eventually.

This week's random explorer tour (I'm not explaining again - if you want background read back here and here and here) took me to Bug Island. Look at the view below that I saw as I landed. Erm, not a good start, eh?. Just once can I go somewhere interesting!?!

Yes, you guessed it, it is a sandbox. The gods of the loading screen decided I should explore a sandbox. Genius.

But, on your behalf, I decided I should still walk around to see if anything interesting was around.

There was some mildly interesting stuff as I cammed around. Some blocks and some balls and some numbered blocks in the sky.

Probably the most interesting thing I found, and everything is relative, was a Dan Linden shiny test. You sit on a pyramid and get given 4 huds and then check a picture the HUD shows you against what you are seeing in order to check that your shiny works. You do it for noon, midnight, sunrise and sunset settings. Yes, that's it.

There was also a lighting test. But I figured I could only take so much excitement for one day.

The final piece of relative excitement was noticing a blue dot on my mini-map. I don't think I've seen a blue dot before, only green ones and yellow ones. So I cammed over, and ooh, hello a Linden. I always expected them to dress better.

I then left because someone sent me a TP and dancing with friends in her roller rink sounded much more appealling than a sandbox.

Unreachable

2009-10-27T11:11:00.001+13:00

You know, there are some great things to be said for SL. For plurk too. We virtually meet people, we make friends, we share our SLives (and lives, to some degree) with wonderful people all over the world. Who would not want that, eh?

But then sometimes there comes the realism that our friendships, our relationships, are really quite detached and vague and really quite unlike their RL equivalents. When someone is a plane ride away you can’t just nip round for a coffee. If they’re offline, usually we can’t just phone them or send them a text to say hi and see how they’re doing. If they are not inworld or plurking, for the most part, there is just no way of reaching them and no way to find out why. No way at all.

I feel lucky in some ways because so far in my SLife I haven’t had a friend disappear without warning. Speaking to friends though, it seems clear that at some point it will happen. It happens to us all sooner or later.

Now, this post is not really melodramatic or anything emo like that, and is hopefully just prompted by storms causing power outages in Queensland, but it just made me realise, I guess, that when we need to speak to someone, sometimes we cannot. And that is frustrating. And there is pretty much no ideal solution. Our world-wide community has its limitations and drawbacks as well as it’s attractions and advantages. We just have to hope that the latter outweigh the former.

A glimpse of the future?

2009-10-25T17:40:00.000+13:00

I went to see a movie last night. In RL. I know I don't blog RL here and make a point of not doing, but the film is kinda appropriate so I will break my own rules this one time.

The movie was Surrogates. If you've not heard about it, it is set in the near future. Basically robotics and stuff have developed to the stage where almost everyone use a robot in every part of their everyday life. People are linked to their robots via "the grid". They stay at home in pretty much isolation, on their "stim chairs", and go and live their lives via a robot they are connected to. Their Surrogate. They can be young and attractive forever. They can do things they would not normally do. They can be who they want to be.

Do you begin to see why I might have thought this movie made me want to blog?

The story of the film is not really important. It's a decent murder/intrigue sorta of a thing but the key thing for me was the basic premise. The idea of surrogates. It all felt quite real, and not really too far from the lives we currently lead. The second lives, I mean. For surrogates read avatars.

We can be who we want to be, and we can do whatever we want to do. We can leap from tall buildings. We can fly. We can be perky blonde bimbos instead of fat blokes in Iowa.

The only difference is that at the moment most of us only use our surrogates when we have spare time. And the grid is still inworld, rather than outworld too, if you see what I mean. But it's not too big a leap, I don't think. How many of us prefer our second lives to our other mundane one? How many of us would leap at the chance of a surrogate?

As the film ended, some punk-kid stood up in front of me, turned to his mate and said "well, that will never happen". I think most of you, like me, would disagree. The future is not far away.

Arora

2009-10-23T12:45:00.001+13:00

A little while ago, I met Arora. We clicked instantly. It's hard to put my finger on it exactly, but it just felt right. And good. We fitted.

She is the Nala to my Simba, the Buffy to my Angel, the Princess Buttercup to my Westley.

I learn more about her every day. And I love that I do. Time spent with her is so easy, so perfect, but always too brief.

We can sit and chat alone for hours. We can hang with friends and laugh. We can explore together.

It is easy. It is fun. It is perfect.

Wherever Wednesday - nowhere

2009-10-21T19:48:00.002+13:00

Wherever Wednesday has been cancelled this week as I have been exploring in RL instead of in SL. It will return, as usual, next week.

I am tempted to bore you with my wanderings around Sydney instead but this is not an RL blog so I won't. If you want to see pics of that you'll have to find me on plurk.

Wherever Wednesday - Gibson

2009-10-15T11:32:00.000+13:00

So far Wherever Wednesday has taken me to Beaumont and Insilico. Wednesdays roll around fast these days and before I knew it was time once again to cast my dice and submit my wanderings to the gods of loading screen.

There are some places that looking really quite interesting on the loading screens. And some that don't. There is one that just looks like an empty beach. Last night, said empty beach appeared as I loaded up Emerald. I thought about having to blog my time roaming over sand dunes and nothing else and almost decided to cancel and reload SL. I reconsidered. That wouldn't really having been playing within my own rules, would it?

So, an empty beach, and a sim called Gibson. Expecting sun, sea and sand I donned a pair of shorts. It felt semi-appropriate. I didn't give my companion explorer and guest photographer, Arora, any clothing guidance as I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It turns out SL is the a place you can explore in heels. Her. Not me.

When we arrived we found a box of a city with skyscrapers called Nexus Prime. A citadel perhaps. There didn't seem to be any doors though or anything to press or click. Even the gun turret just sat there doing nothing. Luckily there were a few others things to explore though that we saw as we cammed around.

The first we found as we wandered over a hill from the landing point was a big pool-type thing. We're not really sure what it did or why it was there. We just took a quick look and then wandered off to find some more stuff. I blame the over-exuberance of having a full sim to explore. The stuff at the beginning always loses out.

Round the back of the citadel was a delapidated wooden hut - the love shack the sign said. In side we saw a dirt mattress on the floor and another leaned against the wall adorned with a blood stain. Not precisely my idea of a love shack, to be honest. Moving on...

Up in the sky we came across a glowy white sphere and inside it was big organ with screens that seemed to want to play media but did nothing. Oooh, so close to actually having something to interact with...

Under the citadel, in a pond, we discovered a black box. It took impressive camera ninjery to find it, to be honest. Camming inside showed some sort of Tron-looking room labelled Black Sun.

And through the screen doors there were some inaminate but intimidating sentinels. Like lots of this sim, we were kinda left thinking "Interesting, but why? And why put it here?"

By now we were feeling a little deflated with Gibson. There were some nice ideas and stuff but we were left with more questions than answers. Some things we wanted answers to. Some, like the very organic-looking tunnel complete with bright blue nub over the entrance, we didn't really want to enquire about in too much depth. Either way, we decided it was time to move on and noticed movement on the sim next to us so headed over. What we found was a waterfall overlooking some sort of officially-branded educational stage.

As we stood there we noticed more movement. Huge cubes flashing with colour were falling from the sky to the ground. Tens and tens of cubes. A waterfall of giant flashing cubes. With no indication as to why. It was becoming a theme for the evening.

In a short while, they were everywhere, almost completely covering the sim. One cube that wasn't falling or flashing was a Borg cube complete with "We are the Borg. You will be assimilated" soundtrack. In the end the sim got so covered we decided to run over to the next sim where we had seen some sort of racing inflatable ring boats things complete with cannon. But we didn't get time to check them out as the cubes continued falling, speading out into the new sim we were on. We couldn't quite figure it out but it seemed we were being targeted. Was it some sort of surreal security device? We certainly had no answers.

In the end we had to wander over to the next sim over again, the third over from Gibson, where we started. Here we found an eclectic collection of houses and judging by the "Foxes at work" signs and 'erotic' porcupine wall art (don't ask!) I reckon it could well have been a furry community. But I have no room to explore that further here even if I wanted to.

In summary, Gibson, where we started for this Wherever Wednesday doesn't quite seem finished or have any common threads we could really identify. And the sim next door pours flashing cubes on you. And the next one but one after that has porcupine soft porn. All in all, we were not quite sure really. This week was a bit on the confusing side.

But for every Insilico there is a Gibson (& neighbours), I suppose. That's the beauty of SL isn't it?

Happy rezzday, laydees

2009-10-12T09:20:00.000+13:00

I went to a party yesterday. My first rezzday party, I think. Well, not my first rezzday party, that won't come around till February sometime, but the first rezzday party I have been too. At least I think it is. If I have been to another and I have forgotten, I blame the foggy haze that is Monday mornings and I am sticking to excuse. I know I have had a few invitations to rezzday parties but y'know, timezones and stuffs...

So yeah, the rezzday party. It was a joint party for Arora, Ember and Bindy - three of my fave Aussie lasses and it was held up in Bindy's awesome forest garden skybox.

It turned out that the theme of the party was 'white'. And most people turned up in suitable attire or, like me, changed into white once the theme became obvious.

Of course, with a white dress code, you just know that someone had to put on a stormtrooper outfit. But boy, that stormtrooper sure had riddum.

Wherever Wednesday - Insilico

2009-10-09T14:17:00.000+13:00

Last week I started my new blog idea - Wherever Wednesday. You can read more about it back on that blog page. I just wanted to make clear though, because people have asked, I may not blog about it on Wednesday and I may not even go though on a Wednesday (although I will try to go when it is still Wednesday in at least one timezone around the world) - all I promise to do, following my own rules, is make a note of the SLurl of the Emerald loading page picture thingy the first time I log in to SL on a Wednesday and then visit that place as soon as I can.

So on to this week's trip. Wherever Wednesday edition 2 takes you to Insilico. The loading screen image is dark and kinda futuristic, so me and my travelling companion for this trip, Lysi, donned appropriate clothing before tp-ing off.

The big overview-type picture shows what sort of place we're dealing with here. It is futuristic, as I said. A stark, black, cityscape.

Upon landing the first thing I noticed was movement behind me. As I turned around for a better look I wished that I hadn't. Mechanical spiders don't make for friendly-faced doormen. We hurried off down a tunnel opposite, hoping the spider would be too busy to want to follow us and devour us. Mechanically.

The first stop on our trip was a diner in an old train carriage. There were no staff so Lysi had to step behind the counter and rustle us up some travelling food. I was tempted by the quiche down the counter from me. Until I saw it was green. And it wasn't a spinach quiche.

Our tummies filled with futuristic food and Pepsi we carried on down the tunnel until we reached a sort of factory pod-filling type room. I am not sure what the pods were for, and what the blue gloop in them was. There were no tourist-information signs.

Insilico has a transit system with wall transporters dotted around the place. In some ways I am against using this sort of thing when exploring a place as it kinda seems like cheating to me, but in other ways it does allow us to skip to the highlights without getting too lost.

One of the first places we headed, were the apartments, mainly because we figured that's where the people on the map might be and it would be good to be somewhere with people, rather than empty, shadowy tunnels and alleyways.

It turns out we were right next to the apartments so we didn't tp far. We walked up floor after floor of spiral rampway finding the door to each apartment locked. Ok, so this isn't where all the people on the map are. Camming around, all of the apartments looked empty apart from one. To be honest, I wasn't surprised. I think living here instead of a nice sunny beach would lead to me doing myself some harm. It's not exactly a cheerful sim.

Take this bedroom of the one non-empty apartment as an example. Now, I am all for tying in your decor with the theme of the sim, but would some decent lighting go a miss? Maybe a plant or two, a painting of a mountain landscape, a bookcase, and more of a bed than a dirty old mattress?

The next place we found ourselves, quite accidentally, appeared to be some sort of church that appeared to be a place of worship to the colour blue. You had to join a group to make a donation. Seems a bit cultish to me...

Eventually, after some more wandering, and TP-ing we found ourselves in a skybox high above the skyscrapers. As you would expect with this sim though, it wasn't your usual skybox. Now correct me if I'm wrong, and I don't live in a skybox so I might be, but they don't usually come with cyborg justice pods as a standard fitting, right?

Just upstairs from the pod I got plugged into, on the mezzanine, if you like, was something much more homely - a couple of sofas and a tv. After wearing ourselves out we decided to rest our weary feet. I wish we hadn't. The Japanese advert for 'Fruity Oaty Cakes' will follow me to my dreams...

So overall them, it is sims like this that blow me away. The sheer scale and imagination that goes into something like this. The level of detail and the time needed are phenomenal. Take for example the fire in the pic above, or the moving shadow on the floor of the rotating ceiling fan. The pic doesn't do either of them justice.

It was a dark and brooding place, very Blade Runner. You wouldn't want to come here for a bit of light-hearted sunny frivolity. It is a beautiful place in it's own way but not exactly cheery.

Again the random gods of the loading screens seem to have picked a place for me where there is little to do, but in some ways that doesn't matter at a place like Insilico. You just need to walk around and look.

A battle of wills

2009-10-09T06:52:00.001+13:00

Do you ever have those evenings where banter turns into sticking tongues out at each other which turns into flicking the v's at each other and where, before you know it you're stood toe-to-toe, eyeball-to-eyeball, refusing to be the first one to stop an animation?

No,....erm.... me neither.... ahem.

Missing out

2009-10-09T00:42:00.003+13:00

No, that's not really me there in the middle. I'm not Mr Popular. My cut-out is. I was at work.

Boss decided it would be a good idea to rez a cut out of me at his club. At least he kept the Marnix cut-out under 50 feet tall. This time...

Soaring

2009-10-07T15:58:00.001+13:00

Sometimes you just gotta dance, y'know? And when a friend TPs you to head on over to the new club her friends have set up, sometimes you just have to put on your dancing shoes and hail a taxi.

I'd not been there before, given it only opened last week, but the Mile High Club looks like a pretty cool place. Especially since it has the twirly sky dancing platforms thingies me, Lolita and Boss first saw while watching Starflower play a while back. I don't often frequent clubs in SL, mainly because anywhere with more than four people in the sim presents a high probability of me crashing, but this place seems like fun. But of course half the fun of any place is the people you're surrounded by.

Even if I was there on my own, to be honest, this place would still get a thumbs up though. Any club where the DJ will play me Axel F (the Harold Faltermeyer original of course, not the Crazy Frog version!) on request is alright by me.

Home sweet home (again!)

2009-10-02T18:10:00.000+13:00

I thought it proper, given I moved home a while back, to give you a bit of a tour. I have been busy getting things right, so I delayed until I has happy to take visitors. It is almost there now, but is probably about ready so take a wander round while I put the kettle on.

The house is a prefab. I wouldn't even consider building myself. Are you quite mad? It's by that well-known bloke who sounds like a cross between a Second World War spitfire pilot and and Egyptian god. The house is called Angolo, which means 'angle' in Italian, factfans.

If we start outside you can one of my favourite parts of this little island. This hammock is just awesome and has some cute little poses in it. I love lying here taking it easy.

Wandering through the door you come to the living room, complete with dog corner and open fireplace. I love my gorgeous new bonsai tree. I killed a bonsai I had once in RL so it is good to have a second chance with one that won't die.

I've gone for quite a minimalist look with the decor as it seemed to fit well with the house style.

Up and round the corner is the bedroom. La boudoir de Marnix, if you will. Actually. it might be le boudoir. I don't remember. Excuse my French. The bed comes complete with 'jump' animation. There really is nothing quite so good at erasing the worries of the day as jumping up and down on your bed.

By the way, how much of your own artwork can you put up around your house before it can be classed as self-indulgent?

And just up from the bedroom we come to the bathroom furnished with a brand new hot tub.

I 'built' and textured that floor myself. I was so proud of the achievement :)

And now a few gratutitous night shots, just because they looked nice. And demonstrate how long it took me to take all these photos. It was daytime when I started!

So yeah, house complete. Apart from a few little finishing touches. Any time you're free, stop by for a chat. The coffee pot is always full.

A big claim

2009-10-02T04:05:00.001+13:00

Close by the Beaumont sim I noticed a sign.

Sadly the structure had banlines around it so I couldn't get any closer but a little camera ninjery allowed me to view all the way to the top. So the answer is....a platform and some flags?

While I'm here, this sign makes a bold claim. But is it true? Can anyone beat the height of this column?

Wherever Wednesday - Beaumont

2009-10-01T20:22:00.001+13:00

I've been thinking for a while now that I need to explore more. But where to go? That's the question. Then, while loading up SL the other day it came to me - my new bright idea - Wherever Wednesday. My idea, which natch I'm gonna blog for your delectation, is to tp to wherever the Emerald loading screen is showing, and do it on each and every Wednesday. Can you see where I got the name from perchance? At the very least I'll end up in some places I've not been before. I'm just hoping there isn't too much water to photograph. My graphics card doesn't do water.

So, Wednesday. Time to explore. The very first Wherever Wednesday. And the loading screen suggests..... a sim called Beaumont. Now I have never heard of Beaumont at all but on landing it seems to be a workspace for Lindens.

Of all the amazing places I could have tp-ed, the random gods of the loading screens effectively chose an office. I apologise. At least the dancing frog was welcoming though.

There were some interesting looking 'workspaces' though. Not your usual glass box. On, and in case you're interested those big white boxes above have a pic of a rat on them and say "Lindens want you! To be their rat! Tell em to slurp your butt!" Er, ok then...

There we no Lindens in sight while I was there but there were some pretty important looking posters. I think the one above me here shows how LL plans to take over the world.

And there may have been no Lindens in person but there were plenty of Linden bears around the place.

Now this is my kind of workspace...

To be honest, I felt a little like I was trespassing as I wandered from one office to another, eating their left-over pizza. I hope the Linden whose communications tower this is wasn't saving that for breakfast. Can you get banned for eating stray pizza, d'ya think?

I felt very important sitting in all the chairs of these clearly very important people. I too want a laptop with a squirrel on it.

Overall, the sim was a very eclectic place. It did feel like lots of different buildings and locations dumped on the same sim rather than having a consistent flow. But I guess this is exactly what it is, to be honest. It's not meant to be pretty and flow-y and consistent. And there's not an awful lot to do.

Up on the hill, by the observatory, you get a great view and more interestingly, there is a cannon.

Show me someone who cannot resist climbing into an empty cannon.

It's very tempting, you know. READY...

AIM....

FIRE!!!!

"Six point oh" for a perfect landing. I have to say, travelling by cannon is a great way to get to meetings when you're running a little late.

In summary then, this was not the best ever start to Whatever Wednesday to be honest. I hope future excursions will be a little more riveting, with a little more to see and do.

Oh, and just a final disclaimer - the Wednesday in the title refers to the day I explore, not the day I blog :p

I bear no grudge

2009-09-30T11:02:00.001+13:00

She may have cancelled on my gallery launch but I love her music just too much to not go see her live when I get the chance.

An hour spent listening to Starflower Orbit sing with a few friends around me is a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I reckon.

Finding our space

2009-09-29T15:55:00.003+13:00

Over the past six months or so, I have learned many things. Most of them I have shared here as I have discovered them, been taught them or stumbled across them.

One thing I have learned is that we are all here for a reason. We all exist in SL for a reason.

Our own reasons are specific and particular to us. Our reasons differ from person to person. And even, to some degree, from time period to time period.

One thing I have learned is the secret to a happy SL. It is simple. We just need to surround ourselves with people who have compatible reasons.

Custom work

2009-09-29T11:59:00.001+13:00

I was going to hold off writing about my art again for a while. What with the gallery launch and everything pretty much taking up every blog post for the last week or so. But I changed my mind. And I can do that, y'know. It is my blog :)

This post is dedicated to custom work. Stuff created specifically and uniquely for someone. And particularly, in this instance, for Magen Jigsaw and her store Emjay.

You should follow the slurl above and go check it out. And while you're there mebbe have a look at Mags' stuff. I'm a bloke so know nothing about these things, but to my untrained, fashionista-less eye it looks good.

I filled a sim!

2009-09-28T12:58:00.005+13:00

So, the big gallery launch finally came and went. You should ask others for a second opinion but I think it went well. At least it seemed to, when I wasn't crashing. I am told that some people couldn't TP into the sim because it was full. That's got to be a good thing, right? I never knew before the party that you could only have 40 people in a sim at any one time. I'm learning new things every day.

So yeah, it was great to have so many friends, of both SL and plurk flavours, turn up to support me and hear the live music of Shane Kirshner. There were even people there I didn't know. Like, strangers and everything. Maybe some of that publicity worked after all.

One thing about filling a sim, I discovered, is that it makes it incredibly hard to do anything. Like move. Or cam. Or breathe. Fortunately some people did manage to stumble into the gallery from by the stage outside to have a look at my work though. That was kinda why we were all there after all.

Shane's performance was brilliant. Even more so given it was 6am for her when she kicked off. She even managed to throw in a bit of impromptu French, reading from a French textbook she had lying around. Now you don't get that sort of variety performance with just any run-of-the-mill musician, you know.

Things all ran really quite smoothly in the end. Despite my worries. For everyone who contributed in the run-up (and you know who you are) I thank you all most deeply. It meant an awful lot to have your support and encouragement. Take as an example the friend who disappeared ten minutes before a party gets under way, wearing a shimmering silver ball gown to track down champagne and a chocolate fondue.

I even had a certain someone agree to be my date for the party too. Don't we look cute together in our gothic-casual attire?

And the final result of the opening? Well, I had hoped people would come along and enjoy the party, enjoy my art and that maybe it would get my name out there a little. And if I sold a few paintings, so much the better. I think it was mission accomplished. And I sold 15 pieces too, so it nearly reimbursed me for the cost of the vendor I bought the other day and spent hours setting but that no-one bought anything from. You live and learn, eh?

I'm not quite sure who arranged the security though, but it thankfully proved an unnecessary precaution.

Oh, and thank you, Lysi, so much for the photos. It is very much appreciated!