Otherworldly

I wish I was some place like this right now, in a cosy cottage surrounded by snow. Instead, I have am stressing with holiday preparations while it is distinctly green outside. Fuck global warming, I say. The only thing green around Christmas should be the fricking tree.

But oh well, at least I can get a little extra holiday feeling through Second Life. I went on a bit of a splurge during the Black Friday sales and picked up an enormous, heavily discounted (seriously, like 90% off) package of skyboxes and sim surrounds from Landscapes Unlimited. Some of them are getting on a bit in years whereas others use the latest features such as materials and there’s definitely some great options available for giving yourself some larger vistas to work with, whether just as a nice place to hang out or for photos. We’ve still not had time to finish the different environments on our sim (landscaping really isn’t one of my talents), so this will give some great options for different backdrops.

This is a post of last minute reminders for A Tattered Page, My Attic and for various Black Friday sales. We’ve had a busy weekend (culminating in a dog show today), but its a few hours until midnight still (especially if you’re in a different timezone from us).

I’ve been a very absent blogger these last two weeks, apologies! It has been quite a hectic month and somewhere along the line, my photo ideas seem to have been misplaced. But for the last week or so, I’ve been toying with a themed series of shots and after a few false starts (trying to find appropriate prefabs proved to be a bust) I think I know how to do them. The basic idea? Portraits of various characters that appear in The World of Ice and Fire, the book that Ran and I released together with George R.R. Martin exactly a month ago.

So, this is the first such portrait, showing Rhaenyra Targaryen, one of the two siblings who fought over the Iron Throne in the Dance of the Dragons. This portrait is showing her towards the end of her life, not long before she will be devoured by her half-brother’s dragon, Sunfyre. She wears a rich, but more modest gown and several pregnancies has left her plumper than in her youth.

Have you been to Enchantment yet? The event is more than halfway done, but there is still time to get those stamp cards filled out to claim the prizes that you want. For this round, the creations are inspired by the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin.

I love getting new skins, not the least because it is always a good excuse for getting naked. That is, save for some gorgeous jewellery and a pair of ultra-sexy shoes. And once you’re mostly naked, then lounging about on a new bed seems like a really good idea… You see? It all comes together so nicely.

A Tattered Page is a new event in what has become a veritable ocean of events, but this one really stands out and deserves recognition if you, like me, love books. Each round is inspired by a book, but for this event the inspiration has to be supported by a citation from the book. I have certainly started feeling that many themed events are becoming increasingly filled with items that only have a very tenuous connection to the theme so this is a welcome change of direction. If I have read and loved a book, I want to be able to really see what aspects of that book that the event creators also have fallen in love with, that makes their items all the more special to me.

For the first round of A Tattered Page, the participating creators have read and been inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I admit, it has been quite some time since I read Frankenstein, so I am not as familiar with it as I ought to be. What little reading time I’ve had this last month has been eaten up by reading for a class, alas, so I wasn’t able to brush up on it either.

I am all made up of Slink parts today - hands, feet, body and even head - since there is a new round of My Slink Obsession in full swing. Adam n Eve has released a new skin, Charli, for this occasion and she is made for the Slink Visage mesh head (but you can also wear her as a regular skin). I am also wearing lingerie in the form of appliers for Slink Physique from Luxuria, though it is a regular in-store release.

I keep saying I won’t spend more on gachas and then of course something new comes along that I just can’t avoid giving a few tries. Fortunately, my abysmal luck at The Gathering last month did not carry over to the new round of the Fantasy Gacha Carnival. That said, though some stores had yet to setup, I don’t know that I will be playing much more than what I’ve already done (well, alright, there’s a few machines I will have to visit). I think the glut in fantasy products is starting to show and it is becoming harder and harder for stores to stand out, especially when it comes to gachas. There are some fantastic-looking pieces available, but they’re not necessarily wildly different from things I already have in my inventory.

My big prize, however, definitely is a stand-out.

If it wasn’t for foolish boasts and ill-considered promises, there would not be many fairy tales to tell. Rumpelstiltskin, the theme for the new round of Enchantment, is a prime example of both. As before, Enchantment is a stamp rally event, meaning that you purchase as many qualifying items from participating merchants that you want and each purchase gives you a stamp card. You then visit all the merchants to fill your card(s) with stamps and then you head off to the prize location to claim one prize per card. The event page has a visual key to all the prizes so that you can determine in advance how many cards you will need.

Uber‘s “50 Shades” round is closing very soon (I do wish event webpages displayed the opening and closing dates more prominently!) and with this month having been crazy busy for me I had failed to blog the writing desk from Dutchie that I had picked up from the event. If you haven’t tried it already, you should really head over and do so. It is…inspiring.

The Fantasy Collective has opened for a new round and the combination of Senzafine‘s gown and ieQED‘s crown proved irresistible to me. I paired with a pose from Picture This! for Mystic Realms Faire (closing soon!) and found myself a stalwart knight to protect me.

As soon as I put on the Dona gown from Luminary for the next round of The Fantasy Collective, I knew I had to do something inspired by Renaissance paintings. It isn’t just about the style being perfect, it is about how spot-on the drapery of the gown is. Those folds look like they came out of a painting!

Zaara has finally created a new traditional Indian outfit and one in mesh at that. The beautiful Chandni Lehenga is available at Mystic Realms Faire and that is also were you will find the Lynessa hair by Calico.

Need a new gown in your Second Life? Then pay a visit to Luminary‘s booth at Mystic Realms Faire and find your favourite(s) from four new releases. I’ll be showing two in this post, both against the backdrop of 22769 ~ [bauwerk] and their Game of Kings gacha from The Gathering.

Mystic Realms Faire is open! Two sims full await you and trust me, there’s some really good things on offer. Plus, the sims themselves are gorgeous, though given the lag that usually accompanies events it may be hard to admire that aspect during the first days of the faire.

I am feeling very at home in a mystic realm today, with my avatar transformed into a Dragon Halfling thanks to Beastie Shack. I am also wearing MRF releases by Senzafine, ieQED and Exile.