Guest Post

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    Linden Endowment For The Arts

    Byaemeth Art, Exploring SL, Friends, Guest Post, Hot Tips, JuicyBomb, Machinima, Second Life
    1 Comment

    Havenhollow

    It’s October the 1st, and that means Havenhollow is open! This year, the event is being sponsored by the Linden Endowment for the Arts, a program that allows residents to apply for land grants and put on exhibits for other users to enjoy. If you want to apply for a sim, visit this website to learn more.

    So far, some friends and I have run around Havenhollow and explored most of the places… but there’s a problem. We can’t find the ending! We’ve searched all over for hints and clues, but after looking through the haunted areas and trick-or-treated at all of the houses, we’re a bit stumped.

    Have you visited Havenhollow yet? Do you know where the “ending” area is? Perhaps there isn’t one this year? Or maybe it’s a timed event and will be set up later? Leave a comment about what you think!

    Art Farm Co-op

    Speaking of the LEA arts program, if you want a smaller space to exhibit your work, there’s currently land available at the Art Farm Co-op sim in their Pop-up Gallery section. Read the rules here before you set up, so your stuff won’t get returned! All galleries are cleared after two weeks, but it allows for artists to show off their work and possibly be motivated to create more. Currently there are lots of spots available, so go grab one!

    There’s also a cafe/city section (photo above) where users can make machinima, put on plays, and take photos to their hearts content. You can rez props in the cafe or the city itself to create as you need to. The cafe is also a great place to meet other artists and collaborate.

    I’m very happy to see Havenhollow making use of the LEA program, and I hope they continue to earn land grants from them in the future. There’s a lot of joy and care in their work and to me, that’s what we need more of in the grid.

    Do you create art in Second Life? Have you applied for/earned a LEA sim before? Do you know of other haunted places we should check out? Leave a comment! Thanks!

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    Stop Ripping Art That Isn’t Yours.

    Byaemeth Art, Exploring SL, Friends, Guest Post, iheartslFeed, JuicyBomb, Second Life, What I think
    15 Comments

    STOP this practice.

    The person responsible for the mural in this painting is MALT, an artist from Detroit who does beautiful paintings around town and abroad. I recognized this picture because the irl version is located at an art park not far from me (scroll down to the last picture), and his style is recognizable just about anywhere.

    I am not the first Detroiter to be active in the grid. Detroit Techno Militia was here once too. I’ve seen Niagara‘s work for sale at Tart Gallery, I’ve seen tons of great art in galleries that said they were used with permission, but I always had a funny feeling about it. Something was always off.

    So when I recognize a fellow painter’s work in the game, especially if they’re a local artist, I contact the artist to let them know what’s going on. Sometimes they have actually given permission to have their work for sale or used in the grid, but many times they don’t even know their work is being used at all.

    This practice is especially troubling when it comes to to hi-res photos like the one in the picture. I can tell it’s of a good quality. Whoever uploaded the texture either took a picture of this themselves, or ripped off a hi-resolution photo of the mural.

    Many people still don’t understand this rule about art in Second Life, so let’s be clear:

    YOU CAN’T UPLOAD ART/TEXTURES TO THE GRID WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO.

    • You can’t just “take art” from Google searches and use them on tshirts and clothing.
    • You can’t use Disney movies on mesh versions of a VHS tape for c88 because you think it’s quirky and cute and that Disney has “enough money”.
    • You can’t upload books you didn’t author that aren’t public domain because “you think all creative work should be open source”.
    • You can’t demand to be talked to privately about this in order to prevent a public discussion. Get over yourself.

    The sim this belongs to is filled with art that is both corporate (I saw an ad for Levi’s on the other side of the wall in the photo), and from other art that is so varied, it couldn’t possibly be all sourced with permission. I won’t link to them because it would encourage visits or possibly even hate–but I have contacted the muralist to tell him where his art is being used.

    It’s not snitching, it’s what happens when other artists are tired of seeing work abused in Second Life and want it to stop. The grid should be a place to foster creativity and inspire others, not to deposit work you’ve taken from others.

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    The Rules of Gacha

    Byaemeth Fashion, Friends, Guest Post, JuicyBomb, What I think
    23 Comments

    The Woods

    It’s pretty obvious I’m not opposed to gacha machines when I create gacha sets myself. Recently, however, Gogo brought up a pretty interesting conversation on Plurk about what’s okay to include in a gacha and what isn’t.

    By the way. Is it gatcha, or gacha? How do you spell that? Because I’m pretty torn on that issue.

    Anyway, here are my personal rules for content creation when it comes to Random Stuff You Stick In A Machine In Order To Get Money:

    • Don’t set the playing price too high. I’ve seen some gacha machines charging 75/play or higher. Are you crazy? The only way I would play that is if there were relatively valuable items for commons, or if I truly wanted to win the rare.
    • Don’t bait-and-switch your customer. Some machines show rare prizes on one sign, then farther below are the common prizes you’re more than likely to win. Come on, you don’t have to trick us into paying you for anything. If we want your rare prize, we’ll play anyway, right?
    • Don’t use mesh templates for gacha prizes if you aren’t going to add unique textures to them. WHY? Why do this? For a few hundred more Ls, we can snag the original, full-perm item on Marketplace. It would be one thing if the art you add to the template were outstanding and worth it alone, but an everyday item with forgettable textures? That’s rude. Make it truly unique if you want to use mesh templates.

    Gacha(gatcha?) machines are supposed to be fun to play. The dress I’m wearing in this picture, for example, is from Junbug and had reasonable common prizes to win on top of the rare corset I wanted as well. I was fine with playing the machine over and over in order to obtain what I desired. It’s an even deal when your machine is set up that way; both creator and customer walk away happy.

    But when the practice gets out of control, it’s giving your client base the short end of the stick. They aren’t your enemy and they aren’t obligated to be your source of income. Treat them with respect when you create your machines, and they’ll come back to play again and again.

    The Woods

    What I’m Wearing

    Pink Fuel Skin
    Junbug – Madame Corbeau’s corset (rare)/silk ruffles/split silk skirt (Ivory)
    Blueberry – Tiara (hair fair gift)
    Dura – Girl’s hair 51 (Strawberry)

    Location: 005: Dreams of Secrets

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    Gender Neutral

    Byaemeth Brands, cheLLe, Fashion, Friends, Guest Post, Hair, JuicyBomb, Shoes, Skins
    0 Comments

    Gender Neutral

    The Gen-Neutral event is opening tomorrow! I was excited to participate in this fair because it has to do with a subject that’s close to my heart. Everyone did a great job on their items, and there are a lot of great fashion choices available.

    So–what do I have to relate to about this event? I’m genderfluid. Most of the time I present as a woman. But every now and again, I switch to male. I usually allow this to manifest by mask art and going under a male alt in SL, because I am very curvy in real life, but I am too happy with my body to want to transition and become a man. I also dress very casually or wear men’s clothes sometimes, but I do it in my own way–which reflects my fashion choices in SL, too.

    Gender Neutral

    I used to think that being a woman meant I had to wear girly things. But being a woman should be what you define it to be, for yourself. The clothing at the Gen-Neutral event, such as the awesome top and pants I’m wearing in this picture, are worn by tomboyish models at their stalls to show they are meant for everyone. But when I wear them, I make them my own.

    You don’t have to cut your hair short to defy gender norms (or grow it long, if you’re a man). You don’t have to look like Ruby Rose or go to extremes in presentation. You can be you and dress how you want to dress. Define who YOU are, don’t let your gender do that for you. That’s what the Gen-Neutral event is about–giving you a choice.

    To learn more about gender fluidity, watch these awesome videos.

    What I’m Wearing
    Pink Fuel – Morgana Apricot (brown brow RARE – Arcade)
    Exile – Bewitched – Available at C88!
    cheLLe – Artemis Eyeshadow (Mauve) – For Cosmetic Fair, September 15th!
    cheLLe – Mix and Match Eyeshadow (Inner, Blue)
    [ a.e.meth ] – Life’s A Drag! Contour Makeup*
    breath – Autumn Set (Black, female hand)*
    tomboi – Easton Suit (Pants, flamingo)*
    LVLE – Pointed Flats (Black)
    * available at the Gen-Neutral event

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    SLink Physique Male

    Byaemeth Fashion, Friends, Guest Post, Hot Tips, JuicyBomb, Mesh, Second Life, What I think
    0 Comments
    Slink Physique Male
    It’s BoyCake, back with another review! Hello, lay-deez. ;D

    Are you ready for the new male mesh body from SLink? Well, it’s here! As some of you may know, I’ve been searching high and low for a good mesh body for my boy av, and now it looks like I finally have it. Or have I?

    Before I start off, I want to give a shoutout to both my close friends who tried this on with me, as well as the Convergence City roleplay group for discussing this with me in their out-of-character chat area. Their thoughts definitely influenced what I’m writing now! I always like to get other people’s opinions and have discussions about things before I give a final verdict.

    What did I compare this to in considering the SLink Male Physique for purchase? Mainly, the TMP male body and the Aesthetic by Niramyth. For reference, I snagged the TMP body to try on after my awful experience with the Jomo male body, which turned out to be a suspected rip. I have two male friends who own the Aesthetic, one who came with me to SLink’s store to examine the demo.

    Now, one to the review!

    Essentials

    The SLink Physique Male comes with a mesh body (no hands or feet) for 1250L. If you don’t have feet and hands already, take about 2400L to the store with you so you can pick up everything at once. The mesh body will include underwear, one pair of jeans, and one tank top. If you don’t like the basic skins you start off with for your mesh body, there are neck blenders provided to help with skin-matching.

    Technical/Observations

    • The Physique Male includes a penis. Yes, really! There’s even a foreskin option and pubic hair. The penis doesn’t seem to be able to get erect; I believe it’s there for completion purposes, sort of like most vaginas on skins and mesh bodies are. At first I was weirded out by an SL peen that doesn’t do anything, but after a while, I got used to it.
    • Your body will seem a little lean when you try it on, but it can bulk up nicely if you edit your shape. Will it get as muscular as the Aesthetic? I’ll talk about that in a moment.
    • For script maniacs like me, you’ll be happy to know that with the male body, hands, my AO, and the alpha/clothing hud attached, I was only running 32 scripts. That’s awesome. Everyone in SL should always try to wear low-script items so they end up under a total count of 50 for their avatar. It not only improves your SL experience, but helps to decrease sim lag.

    Room For Improvement?

    Slink Physique Male
    This picture has been brightened because my windlight was super dark when I took the pic. I’m dumb. SRY

    I, for one, am not crazy about the clothing/alpha HUD design. I know it’s a lot to include to the clothing hud, and Siddean must have realized this because she created two size versions of the HUD (small and large) for those who have trouble seeing everything. But it took me a moment of wtf’ing to understand just what button did what. Afterwards, I figured things out. I just wish the UI were a bit more friendly.

    I don’t know about you, but I like my men with some thigh. When I increased BoyCake’s thighs, I noticed some poses caused the underwear to clip (see pic above). I tried to find the correct button to HIDE his thighs in that area, but that took another ten minutes and then I gave up. My point–if you create underwear or clothing for the mesh body, I would include an auto-hide script for it. Kemono has that and so does Maitreya.

    Is This The One?

    Is Physique Male for you? That’s what you want to know, right? It’s been a long search for that one mesh body you can finally wear, won’t clip your damn clothing, won’t do this or that or make you unhappy or sorry you ever bought it. When I asked my friends about the Physique versus the Aesthetic, we both admitted we liked Aesthetic’s muscly body more, but only on certain avatars. Not everyone looks good with that much bulk, and not everyone looks good with TMP’s skinnier mesh body either.

    Physique Male is that sort of happy medium between TMP and Aesthetic. You don’t spend too much for what you get, and you end up getting a lot. For me, that means it’s a body I’m sticking with! For good, hopefully.

    You can teleport here to check out SLink Physique Male for yourself.

    Notice: if you create products geared towards men and want me to review it, please send an NC/pack/etc to Aemeth Resident. I can’t make a promise that I’ll review everything, but I understand the struggle of finding men’s products out there so it’s worth helping out!

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    What Do You Think?

    Byaemeth Fashion, Guest Post, JuicyBomb, Mesh, Second Life, What I think
    13 Comments

    What Do You Think?

    I’ve got an important question to ask you. I don’t want to rush you in answering, either:

    Do you think this body is a rip?

    It’s nice, right? It looks so good on me. I honestly don’t want to take it off. I looked all over for a mesh body suitable enough for my male avatar that wouldn’t be overly buff or cost five thousand lindens just to be able to use a simple (and necessary) alpha HUD. I just wanted something I could wear, look good, and if I go walking around in nothing but some skimpy shorts, I wouldn’t look like a joke. So, I bought this body from Jomo on Marketplace.

    I tried to do what New World Notes recommended in looking over the creator’s store to judge their character. I’m not the most versed in video games and their properties, but I did look for obvious copyright infringements where I could. I thought I was safe, so I bought the mesh body. But then, I saw this thread on the Second Life Universe forums… no one can seem to come to a conclusion about Jomo or their mesh avatars, although there’s some possible resemblance to some pants the store has created. Some items look like either altered rips from the online game Tera, or are VERY close inspirations of it.

    Speaking of, that’s the problem with “inspired” items. Some designers in SL believe items that are created with heavy influence isn’t crossing a line and can’t hurt your reputation. But sometimes, there’s an ugly backlash and the truth can’t easily be sorted out. Customers might want to do the right thing and buy only honestly-created items, especially when they’re shelling out a pretty penny for it. But what’s the end result when the item is DMCA’d and they’re left with nothing? They can’t exactly get a refund after that.

    In the end, I have no conclusion I’ve reached about this body. I’m sorry I didn’t look into it more, but then again–how much research can I do on a mesh body to ensure it’s safe to buy and wear?

    Men, I’d love to hear your recommendations on affordable, legitimate mesh bodies available for consumption. I’d also like to hear everyone’s opinion about my situation. I thought this was okay when I bought it, but now I have no idea of the body’s origins since I saw the thread on Second Life Universe. What should I do? Trash the body? Ask for a refund? Something else?

    What Do You Think?

    Let me know!

    What I’m Wearing:
    Hair: Exile – Tidal (Moonlight)

    Notice: if you create products geared towards men and want me to review it, please send an NC/pack/etc to Aemeth Resident. I can’t make a promise that I’ll review everything, but I understand the struggle of finding men’s products out there so it’s worth helping out!

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    Melanie’s Memorial Shrine

    Byaemeth Friends, Guest Post, Home & Garden, JuicyBomb, Second Life
    3 Comments

    Melanie's Shrine

    As Casja said–we’ve lost many people in SL this summer, and many to cancer. I wanted to take this post to ease us back into blogging, as well as talk about how to erect a memorial shrine for someone you love.

    These are more tips than a how-to, but I hope someone can use this to build an effective memorial. We would all like to think we would not need this information, but sometimes you do.

    – Location of the shrine is extremely important. For Melanie, she wouldn’t want to be too far from the water. Think about where your love one always was standing around or visiting in the grid. If you can’t put a shrine in that location, you can attempt to recreate it somehow (a skybox would help, in that case).

    – Style is the next important subject. Melanie was Hawaiian and Japanese-American. Her shrine is a callback to memorial shrines in Asia, as well as a mix of American style, with many reminders of Hawaii and her life there.

    – Candles are great, but mementos are important too. Fill your shrine until it’s almost overflowing with things your loved one would appreciate. Melanie liked different types of food, sweets, and drinks. The beer I placed on the shrine is more about her frank nature than it is about what type of beer she liked. There’s cake and sushi, and a dancing cat statue I found at the Okinawa Summer Festival going on right now. Melanie also loved What Next’s surfboards, so I rezzed them behind her shrine as a nice background.

    – Flowers. Melanie loved flowers that reminded her of Hawaii. We rezzed red hibiscus flowers around the shrine, with single flowers here and there as finishing touches.

    – Add a little tasteful humor if it’s appropriate. For Melanie, I found a small volcano from Boogers that would probably make her laugh if she saw it. When a visitor touches the volcano, it will display a tiny eruption. Humor may not always be applicable for your loved one, but if they’re a casual person who had lots of jokes, they might appreciate something funny on their shrine.

    – Stay away from religion unless the person is religious or made references to it a lot. Some friends in SL are religious; I would leave a prayer stand for them, in that case. I was going to do this for Melanie, but I paused in this and rezzed candles instead. If you have to give a second thought about any element to add to the shrine, don’t add it. That means it might not be a good idea and your heart is trying to tell you not to do it.

    – Guestbooks are a great idea. I’m using this one, which I found on Marketplace. Tell your loved one’s friends about the shrine, let them visit and make an entry. They will enjoy the shrine all the much more for it.

    – Your shrine can be temporary, or be functional with an ongoing purpose. Maybe build a cafe or a park around it, or turn it into a permanent art gallery. Whatever you do, remember the shrine is a part of you saying goodbye, and take your time in building it so you don’t feel rushed or pressured.

    – The last option is a presence of a spirit. I rezzed a butterfly, reduced transparency of it, and set it to glow. The butterfly is Melanie herself.

    You can visit Melanie’s memorial at the Juicybomb sim. Take some time for yourself, turn on sound, and enjoy the tranquility and view of the ocean.

    And we hope you never have to use this entry’s information, but it’s here if you need it.

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    Hold a pizza party this weekend!

    Byaemeth Brands, cheLLe, Friends, Guest Post, Home & Garden, Juicy sim, JuicyBomb, Mesh, Poses & Animations, Second Life, Shop Juicy
    0 Comments

    Hey guys! Cake here, with some news about Chelle and some products you might be interested in! Consider this your update from the designers’ desk.

    First up, I’m back to making more things in SL, and have two great products you’ll enjoy, especially this holiday weekend:

    [ a.e.meth ] - Pepperoni Pizza Server

    Who doesn’t love pizza? Now you can carry around pizza boxes in stacks of 2, 4, and 8! You can also rez these for as little land impact as 2. It’s a great prop for bar owners, party throwers, and roleplayers!

    Know what else goes great with pizza?

    [ a.e.meth ] - Beer Serving Tray

    Beer serving tray! I wanted this to fit in with multiple sims, so I gave the tray a brushed metal look. You can wear or rez this, and it will distribute tankards if anyone clicks on it.

    Last item, is this awesome wearable campfire:

    [ a.e.meth ] - Wearable Campfire

    Simply ‘add’ the campfire to yourself, and you’ll sit next to a nice, modest fire. It comes with extra chairs so if your friends have a campfire, you can sit with theirs instead of sitting on the ground.

    Now for Chelle news: Gogo and I collaborate on Chelle, and I’ve been examining the mesh heads that have come out lately. I’d like to tackle Lelutka first to create makeup for their heads. So, if you have one, please look forward to it! I’ll still continue to make regular tat layers as well.

    That’s all for now! Have a great weekend, everyone!

    Visit [ a.e.meth ] in SL
    Visit [ a.e.meth ] on marketplace

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    Virtual Girl

    Byaemeth Art, Fashion, Guest Post, Hair, JuicyBomb, Second Life
    14 Comments

    Virtual Girl

    Hi! It’s been a while since I’ve written, right? Well, I’m back in SL (Whiskey inspired me to return) and here to show you something awesome I’ve been doing.

    First of all, I look way different! I’m wearing the Kemono avatar and the M3 anime head from Utilizator so I look more like these cartoon girls behind me. But why match them, you ask? That’s because I’ve been painting them!

    I recently won and art fellowship with Red Bull, where I’ve been given a couple of months to create a new body of work. At the end of the fellowship, I’ll reveal all of the pieces at an opening in Detroit, Michigan. The internet has influenced me a lot as an artist, so I decided to focus on the net and women in general for this collection. I’m especially interested in online avatars, Tumblr, and how women express themselves (artsy NSFW warning) through these mediums.

    Throughout the collection, there’s also commentary slipped in about the crap women put up with in dealing with sleazebags, dating disasters, subtle racism, and all the fun stuff that comes with not being at the top of the social food chain.

    Here’s a picture of me painting Airedine, of the now-defunct store Adore & Abhor:

    Working at Red Bull House of Art

    I picked out a couple of avatars (and their real-life counterparts) to work into the exhibit, as well. Not everyone will fit in this round, but I’m going to be painting in this style for a while. It’s been great painting inspiring avatars in this collection, because I get to work in an aspect of that player into the painting. I’m looking forward to meeting even more people to paint in the future.

    How has the internet influenced how you express yourself? Who do you think is more attractive–you, or your avatar?

    If you want to grab some of the paintings I have in-world so far, five (FOUR! I can count!) of them are available. Nine more will be added next week:

    Virtual Girl Collection Preview Sale

    You can buy them by visiting my store here!

     

    What I’m Wearing:

    Kemono Avatar
    M3 Anime Avatar Head
    Kemono skin and eyes: Custom! I’ll sell them soon 🙂
    Hair: Exile – Kissing Strangers
    Clothing: All from Krankhaus!

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    The Elephant In the Room

    Bycajsa Guest Post, iheartslFeed, Uncategorized
    4 Comments
    Sketchport - Creative Commons License
    Sketchport – Creative Commons License

    Thumper’s dad was wrong. I know we all learned “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all,” whether from Bambi and Thumper or our parents. Gogo asked whether we agreed with that statement the other day. I absolutely disagree.

    There are situations where casting about for something nice to say is ludicrous. Yeah, that Ted Bundy may have been a serial killer but he sure had nice hair. Tell me something nice about slavery. If people followed that guide, the world would be in a terrible state. We need the people who say something about terrible things. They are the ones who change the world.

    Creative Commons from Wikipedia

    However, I do think the saying is applicable a lot of the time, but I also think most people misunderstand it. Most of the time when people say “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” they really mean, “If you have even one negative thing to say, shut the hell up.” To that, I can only respond with…

    First, let’s review a few terms because some folks need a new dictionary. I went to the OED.

    • Criticism: The art of estimating the qualities and character of literary or artistic work; the function or work of a critic.
    • Critique: An essay or article in criticism of a literary (or more rarely, an artistic) work; a review.
    • Dirt: Scurrilous information or gossip; scandal.
    • Opinion: What one thinks of a person or thing; an estimate of character, quality, or value.
    • Review: A critical appraisal of a product, service, etc., intended for the guidance of consumers.

    What Gogo offers at JuicyBomb and what makes her a successful blogger is that she offers criticism. She has asked herself who she wants for her audience, the designers or the consumers and has chosen the consumers. There is no unearned praise in hopes of getting more promotional items from designers. Designers are not her audience.

    However Gogo is Thumper after all. I have yet to read a blog post from Gogo where she does not have something nice to say. Even the posts that resulted in shit storms of hurricane force included several positive comments about the items being critiqued. It’s just that some people think that only positive opinions are allowed, but they are wrong.

    I like the way Gogo critiques items in her blog. She does not say “this is crap.” I think we should all know by now that if something was crap, she would not blog it. Have you ever seen her shoot herself looking terrible? It’s not going to happen.

    Gogo does not dish dirt. She does not make allegations about people sleeping with each other for one reason or another. She does not allege copyright theft or make insinuations about people’s integrity. She does not offer scurrilous information or gossip or traffic in rumors.

    mileage
    Gogo offers criticism – in the artistic sense. She assesses the good and bad qualities of an item and reports them as accurately as she can. When something is objectively wrong, such as the fabric not lining up at the seams or the inside being alpha so that people see gaping holes from different angles, she reports that. If something is subjectively wrong, she points out that this is based on her personal taste which may not be the same as yours. If she does not like mature skins or big eyes or bold prints, she admits out that her critique is based on personal opinion and that mileage may vary.

    Of course, criticism stings. Even if it is something minor and even if it is wrapped in layers of praise. It is human nature to ignore the 93% good and focus on the 7% bad. That’s why we lock our doors and hire policemen. We are hardwired to focus on the negative. However, I think that means we miss a lot of opportunities. Especially if we are designers and creators.

    Criticism when it is well done, when it is specific and detailed, is the most useful tool a designer can have to improve and grow. It is a gift, if only people would stop complaining long enough to unwrap it. The most successful creators in Second Life are not stagnant, they improve constantly. They send out works in progress for advice. They listen to criticism and separate the objective from the subjective and use it to make their products better.

    And that is good for all of us.

    Cajsa Lilliehook blogs at It’s Only Fashion.