Derek’s SL Report (English Edition)

When you are being born into Second Life (SL) nowadays, you may no longer be naked like in the old days, still, you are not exactly making a fashion statement either in those basic outfits they provide newbies with. (I’m not talking about the CSI NY avatars who are better equipped at birth with prim hair and prim shoes.)

Your skin and shape, too, look like the literal dime a dozen, so no wonder you want to change that as fast and preferably as cheap as possible – at least if you don’t have hundreds of Linden Dollars (L $) to spend.

Now, there are lots of places where you can get freebie stuff in SL. Use your SL search function and type in “free”. From the occasional t-shirt to the complete outfit including skin, shape, and hair there is a lot to choose from, especially for girls.

Here are a few of my favourite freebie places. Go take a look to see if they don’t have some decent looking clothes, shoes, hair, and maybe even skin for you, too.

Everybody who prefers to pick up freebie clothes, sneakers, and stilettos by the dozens should visit any of the following locations:

01. Freebie Store ForoU

Remember: Not every item may be free at every location but before you spend even a single Linden Dollar I’d take a look around to see if you can’t find that specific item for free at a different place.

02. Freebie Planet

03. Freebie Warehouse 5,000+

04. At Freebie Dungeon you can rake in crates of the usuual freebies but also stuff not found elsewhere. Look for CDs, a face lamp HUD for better pictures, free avatars, textures, etc.

05. Now who said that freebie outlets must look cheap. To shop freebies in an elegant atmosphere go the Free Dove store. They have some nice brown and grey leather shoes there for gents and lots of stuff for the girls.

06. Another nice but very small freebie location is Boulevard Mystique where they have placed one rack filled with freebies in each of their regular shops for ladies and gents. Men will find 14 free, hip, Gecko Label outfits, including a tuxedo, and one pair of shoes. The ladies’ store is situated right next to the gents’ store.

07. If u still haven’t found everything you were looking for you might visit Vienna High-Quality Zero L$ Freebie Store with its freebie mall to complete your shopping spree. Have fun! Guys, get yourself some bad-ass Ray Bans over there – very 70s!

Now, anyone not yet tired of filling his inventory with free stuff may want to try these locations too:

08. The L$1 Shop at Enkythings. By the way, a lot of their stuff is free!

09. The GNUbie Store

Enjoy, and don’t forget to clear your SL-cache from time to time!

Summer in Second Life (SL) was long and warm and lots of fun.

We partied around the clock …

enjoyed the occasional fireworks …

and couldn’t get enough of them.

Now we must prepare for rain and thunderstorm …

while the season turns to fall.

When leaves turn red …

everbyody prepares for Halloween and trick-or-treating, …

knowing that November’s fogs loom.

Still, here’s hoping that Indian Summer will last a little longer this time.

It’s not that my blog is all about shoes now. Still I would like to point out another nice store (B & G) which is selling well made and very realistically looking footwear.

You might also like to visit their main store.

Prices range from 250 to 350 L $. The ones I got go very well with Blue Jeans.

CU in SL

Good men’s shoes are hard to find in Second Life (SL). Although there are a lot of freebies around, to find a nice-looking pair of sneakers or even a realistic-looking pair of leather shoes takes a lot of effort as well as money.

A recommended place to start your shopping trip is CasualT’s. Go up to the first floor but get a free group membership first for your group discounts.

I own a pair of black leather lace-up shoes. Prices for Cas’ Shoes range from 199 to 249 L $.

A tad more expensive are leather shoes at Shiny Things in Shiny Falls: 300 L $. Sandals sell for 250 L $, boots range from 300 – 500 L $.

One of my favorite shoes here are the black Flare Oxfords.

At ! Made Men …

I got a nice pair of Wingtip Shoes for 450 L $ to go with my grey double-breasted suit.

Very realistic but also very expensive shoes at 600 L $ a pair are sold at FNKY Cake.

Still saving money to get a nice pair of Styles - Penny Black here.

Last but not least a special tip: At KangarOOs …

you can get some great Sneakers Black DUDE (or grey, red, white, denim coloured) for 195 L $ …

as well as a pair of freebie KangarOOs Classics - Flexgrip Men’s that alone are worth the visit.

BTW: They have them for women as well! Enjoy your walks and dancing in SL in good shoes.

CU soon!

Summer is the season of fireworks – not only in real life (RL).

On July 4th, Marin, Skyler, and I went to one of the numerous fireworks displays in Second Life (SL).

While we watched the roof-launched spectacle …

the aroma of roasted pig and other goodies to eat made our mouths water - in RL too!

But that was not the only pyrotechnical experience in SL in the past weeks that I have had the opportunity to enjoy. On June 29th I photographed the Grand Palace Shopping & Event Area opening in Nightwish.

After ball room dancing and a beautiful (and enlightening) live concert by Juel Resistance …

the evening entered its final party stage with an almost hour long, amazing fireworks performance.

The sky literally turned into a spawning ground for all kinds of strange fire flowers …

and alien lifeforms.

The after-fireworks party outside was quite spectacular, too, on its own merits:

Bubbles, balloons, …

and booze turning this into a somewhat surreal experience.

CU at the next fireworks!

Things change a lot in Second Life (SL) and much has happened in the past weeks. But there is one thing one can be sure of: Sooner or later Seraphine Khorana will again be presenting an exciting fashion show.

June’s “Summer Romance Fashion Show” provided me with the opportunity to take a lot of photographs of beautiful as well as beautifully dressed girls.

With Seraphine having edited some of my pictures, I decided to exhibit them in a freebie building turned ad-hoc gallery which I had found in my inventory.

I put five to six photographs into each of the six frames with the display set to change every 30 seconds.

The location was an experiment, too: At 768 meters altitude on a temporary sky-platform it might seem somewhat unconventional.

Sadly, though not quite unexpectedly, it got deleted before all of my friends and readers could take a closer look.

CU at the next show!

Last weekend marked a big event for SL’s “Act Up Theatre Group”. Their “Potpourri of One Acts” was performed during the Second Pride 2007 Festival and, despite some minor problems with sound streaming, all three shows were a great success.

Now we, the SL audience, finally know all about how our beloved virtual world came into being and what 80s fan-favourites Beavis and Butthead are doing nowadays.

“Genesis”, the story about the creation of Second Life, tells it all: why humans with cat ears and cat tails are running around in our new world, how furries and tinies were created, and why tech support is the Linden gods’ final gift to us users.

After an interesting monologue by Lauren Weyland on the hazards of SL sex and poseballs in general, there came another highlight:

“One Little Indian Boi”, a crime noir pulp fiction mixture inspired in equal parts by ordinary SL kinkiness, Inspector Clouseau, Tex Avery’s Droopy, and the Village People of YMCA fame, enlightened us about the potential risks of using a seemingly harmless eXCITE Sex Toy.

But never fear, the culprit was apprehended and himself accidentally disintegrated by his fiendish contraption. We won’t give away who it was but hey, hint: Look what the play is called!

After all these very SL related plays and monologues came a play appealing to more sophisticated users in SL. “The Thinkerer”, a new take on Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare”, told a short but very entertaining tale about the value of finding a moral in doing one of those very senseless human things we all love to watch: racing!

The shows concluded with lots of applause once the audience located the F2 key on their keyboards. I was asked to thank all those who attended and especially those who contributed generously into the tip jar and thus laid the groundwork for more shows to be produced in the upcoming months. You were a great audience!

See you at the next show!

I met Ethos Erlanger at Ty’s place the other night. He was very excited that his’ and Lox Salomon’s rendering of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater as a three-dimensional replica in Second Life (SL) had gotten ready in time for the celebration of the architect’s 140th birthday on June 8th, 2007, 6:00 pm Pacific Time (SLT). The location in SL is “Schwanson Schlegel” (158, 169, 27).

This is Ethos’ report which I just illustrated with some of my photos.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935, Fallingwater was built over Bear Run in the hills of Western Pennsylvania for Edgar J. Kaufmann.

In Second Life it is a dream come true for two ardent fans of Frank Lloyd Wright. Lox Salomon first built a model on his own land in Svan at a scale of 1:1. It became apparent that most residents in Second Life would bump their head on the low ceiling in the living room. To build it to a larger scale would require more land than Lox had in one parcel.

Ethos Erlanger, another admirer of FLW, wanted to do this model as well, but thought surely it must have already been done. Being the most visited house museum in the United States, how could Second Life be without a true to life model of Fallingwater?

His search found more than one house that looked like or was actually called Fallingwater. But in truth, they were not up to his expectations.

Where were the iconic Cherokee Red windows and doors?

Where was the one of a kind wine kettle set into the niche in the stone wall left of the fireplace in the living room?

WHERE WAS BEAR RUN?!

After a conversation about his wish to do a faithful rendition of Fallingwater in Second Life, Ethos knew that Lox was the ally he needed. Now came the other challenge they both faced. Where to build it? Second Life land and the monthly maintenance on that land is not cheap. Where? How? What made him even consider asking anyone to lend them their land to build Fallingwater of Second Life?

Fate led him to a chance meeting with an art museum owner. Ethos chose to ask Cecilia Delacroix after only meeting her once. And to his delight, she pulled a photo of another Fallingwater out of her inventory. Cecilia appreciated what it would mean to have a faithful rendering of Fallingwater in her back yard. She agreed to be the benefactor needed to realize their dream.

Lox did most of the building. Ethos became the helper, cheerleader, and promoter. In Second Life it is not a straightforward task to have two builders build on the same project. Ethos did the best he could. He did the bridgework that crosses Bear Run to the East of the house.

Lox created custom textures for the doors and windows. He tweaked and fiddled with textures to get them to look just like the real thing. Ethos fiddled with prim placement. But in the end, Lox did the heavy lifting.

Ethos found enjoyment in searching for other talent in Second Life. Lox needed the sliding hatch cover to move slowly and smoothly. Ethos wanted the bifold doors and windows to be realistic. So off he went to find a scripter. In second Life it is the scripts that make things move. At the simple touch of an avatar’s hand, doors and windows open. Even the wine kettle rotates into position over the fire. But the realism found in these items is the artistry of Ty Jaehun.

Having studied Fallingwater in Real Life, Ty was intrigued by the idea of becoming involved and soon the challenge of the hatch cover was hers. Ethos had already commissioned one version of the bifold doors and windows. But that script snapped the doors into position too quickly. Ethos wanted a smooth action.

Again Ty comes through with what may be one of the most unique applications of scripting in Second Life. Certainly Ethos had not found a bifold door anywhere in Second Life before this.

You can visit Fallingwater of Second Life. You can walk through the living room and hear the relentless sound of Bear Run as it breaks over the waterfall below the house.

Through the hatch that covers the stairs to Bear Run, you can walk down and step off into the stream. The sound of the splashing water reflects off the bridge and house walls. This is Fallingwater of Second Life.

CU on Friday!

If you want to know what’s hot in the Second Life (= SL) cultural scene, the answer is: live theatre in SL using avatars as actors.

The challenges are multifold, ranging from …

- the uncertainty whether the voice capability in the SL main grid will be available on time (or the need to alternatively use prerecorded voice),

- the question which stage to use,

- the task of finding competent set designers (here Tyg Jarrico for “The Thinkerer”),

- to the chore of locating animations which will make the avatars stand, move, and gesture like RL (= Real Life) actors.

The premiere date is set for “The Act Up Theatre Group” (TAUTG) which recently held auditions for “A Potpourri of One Acts”.

A cast of 20 SL actors and SL actresses has been obtained for two one act plays:

1. “One Little Indian Boi”, by Christo Larson and Upo Choche and directed by Upo Choche & Kimmi Jewell; and

2. “The Thinkerer”, by D.F. Dansereau and S.H. Evans (a new take on Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare”) and directed by Marin Mielziner (see picture).

Sadly, at the rehearsal I was invited to, the tortoise was missing so I can only show you Aesop (Athena Maeterlinck) …

and the hare (Pat Hartono) practicing their moves with director Marin Mielziner filling in for the tortoise (Bianca Arkin).

TAUTG’s first production is scheduled for June 30th, 2007, at 11:00am and 1:00pm PDT (SLT) during the Second Pride 2007 Festival. At least three further performances are planned.

If you have any questions or requests, please contact Kimmi Jewell in SL:

CU on June 30th at the Second Pride 2007 Festival!

A few days ago my good friend Katharina Kappler asked me to meet her in her new gallery where she sells pictures of cats [Mission Viejo Campus 12, Mission Viejo (25, 138, 24)].

When I arrived she told me the good news: She knew of a job as photographer I might like.

Just a short while later I was already serving customers at the open air photo studio for the contest “Best Outfit 2007“.

The organizer, JoHan Glenville of Mission Viejo, is offering attractive prizes for the 20 best looking outfits / to the 20 most beautiful avatars.

1. rank:         15.000 L$
2. rank:         10.000 L$
3. rank:           5.000 L$
4.-10. rank:        500 L$
11.-20. rank:      250 L$

The awards will be presented on July 14th, 2007, at 9 pm GMT+1 (= 12 pm SLT) to the public. Afterwards you´re welcome to the big party!

And remember: Every participant gets 10 L$ just for joining the contest!

Being one of the official photographers at Mission Viejo, I can promise you that my colleagues and I will do our best to make you look good. You can find a collection of all the contestants’ pictures by clicking here.

After the photo shoot you are welcome to join our team in the Mission Viejo Bar for a drink or two – right above the open air photo studio. Just fly up till you hit your head against the floor of the sky box!

When will you come to let me take your picture? Be warned: I’m known fo my impatience, therefore from time to time I might roam the streets at night looking for photo prey.

So don’t be surprised if I pop up close by and call on you!

CU in Second Life!