crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight (part V)

Hello again! To start, the only offerings that Angel Eyes had were hairbases for LeLutka EvoX heads. Don't have a working EvoX head yet, so none of those will be shown. You can find them on the Noirette sim at Hair Fair.



Next up is Astralia, and their first style, "Margherita". This is shown straight out of the box, no tinting, because I thought it looked good enough.



Next is "Synthia", with the headband shown in shade 18 from the pattern HUD, and the hair shown in shade 14 from the color HUD (and also shown is how much this style does not fit my head).

You can find Astralia on the Brunette sim at Hair Fair.



Next is CAMO, and this is their 'Cat F-Locs' style. I'm showing it in shade 20 from their color HUD. Not overly fond, but then I'm not the proper ethnicity, either.

I'm showing it with EMO-tions' hairbase 10b, "crimson", because it didn't have an included hairbase.



Next is the "Severus" dreads, used with COLORS' hairbase "MediumGray", and shade 5 from the color HUD. Comes with the floof going either over the right eye, or the left (as shown).



Last is the "Jordan" dreads, used with Izzie's 'Regular Hairbase 16 (black)'.

You can find CAMO on the Foils sim at Hair Fair.

Next entry up soon!

crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight (part IV)

We're now up to part IV from part III! And we're starting with ADE:



This is "Melody", and I'm showing it in the third shade from the 'More Colors' section of the Greyscales color HUD. I like this one.



Some time passed, and I ended up in a different avatar. So this is "Suna", and sadly, while I think it's a pretty style, on this avatar it DOES NOT WORK, so...argh. But I'm showing it in shade ten from the Dark Roots section of the Blonds color HUD.

You can find ADE on the Brunette sim.

Alli and Alli sent pictures of their hairs, and ALL their hair huds, but--didn't actually send the actual hair demos, so...not covering them. You can find them on the Foils sim, though, if you're curious.

Next up, Analog Dog! Still doing the best bouncy vintage curls on the grid.



More time passed, so another avatar. For "Chimera", I didn't even bother tinting it--I kind of like the way the bangs and the hair was set out of the box. I think this is also going in the potentially-get folder. It's a little flyaway, a little free-spirited, a little vintage, a little bouncy.



This is "Halo", a slightly straightened, combed-out pony, but the hitch is I tried to tint this to a new shade, and that's when I realized the only color HUDs included are rigged for the "Chimera". Ah, well.



And this is "Pandora", which I'm showing in size M.

You can find Analog Dog on the Foils sim.

snapshot4

Next up is Exile with "Apollo", which comes in two variations. This one I'm showing in the very last shade of the included color HUD.






And this is the second variation, which I'm showing in shade 86 from the color HUD. I'm...not entirely sure...what the difference is? But there must be one.

You can find Exile on the Foils sim as well.

Coming soon: part V!

crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight (part III)

Is it part III? It IS! Continuing from part II with :



We start with ARGRACE's short choppy bob, "ASAHI", in size B, shown in the last shade from the first tab of the color HUD.



This is "HANNA", in size B, shown in shade 19 from the first tab of the color HUD.



Finally, this is "KASUGI" in size B, shown in shade 19 from the last tab of the color HUD.



Next, KoKoLoReS. with Caelan, a micro-short razor sheared bob with shaved sides--it says the (included) hairbase (two versions, standard and EvoX) is tintable, but the demo can't be. Still, if you've a decent eye for color matching, you could match it to shade 19 from Page 3 of the color HUD.



Next is Carter, a smartly styled bob that has more bleedthrough than I'd like on the sides, even with the included hairbase, shown in shade 25 from Page 1 of the color HUD.



Last is Ezra, a choppy asymmetrical bob, shown in shade 24 from Page 2 of the color HUD.

On to part IV!

crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight (part II)

Welcome back from part I! We're starting with ayame ame:



This is 'NAGISA', which is an aggressively flyaway style. It's almost a quiff, but I'm still going to call it a razor-cut pageboy bob. I'm showing it in shade 22 from the FLOWERS color HUD.



Next up: 'USHIO', a more vintage pageboy, with curled bangs. Shown in shade 15 from the BROWNS color HUD.

You can find ayame ame on the Redhead sim.



Next up is De'La, with their first offering, 'Gia', a messy top bun. Shown in shade 31 from their Black, Gray, White color HUD, but there was one other thing I wanted to show you:



Unless there's a specific pack of hairbases that can be acquired in De'La's color shades, this is going to need some head adjusting. For reference, my head currently sits at 52; with few exceptions, this is a head size that seems appropriate for my shoulders, and doesn't cause scalp gaps. On those rare instances, I've had hairbases in similar or exact shades to work with. Here I do not.



This is 'Wren', and eep. I tried the 'Boobs' version just out of the box, and nope, that's not gonna work.



The 'regular' version, though, works just fine. Shown in shade 22 from the 'Colors' color HUD.

You can find De'La on the Redhead sim.

Lastly, two styles from Monso.



This is their 'Arora', shown in shade 52 from their 'Black and Red' color HUD. Another one that really needed an including hairbase to color-match.



And this is 'Aurora', which I'm showing in shade 31 from the 'Black/Red' color HUD (for the bangs), and in shade 31 from the 'Mix and Pop' color HUD (for the braids). I already have a ton of braided styles, but I like this one.

You can find monso in the Noirette sim.

Part III coming soon!

crash and burn, all the stars explode tonight (part I)

Hey, everyone, Hair Fair is now open! And I am so behind because I forgot I wasn't in the group! Aaaaagh. So here's the first entry (of many) where I'm playing catch-up.

This will be in no order. I thought about going sim by sim and covering them alphabetically, and then I realized life is not long enough and my patience level is also not long enough so we're here now, let's go.



This is Vanity Hair's style, "25". Very memorable name there. I'm wearing in in size "C" (because size "L" did not come with an included hairbase?!), and in the 24th shade from the "Music Lovers" color HUD.



This is style "26", wearing in size "C" again, and in the 17th shade from the "Happy" color HUD. I'm seeing braids (and dreads) are going to be big again this year, and that's great, because I love braided hair. Both of these styles aren't exactly ones I'd choose, for me, but it looks amazing in the model shots.

Vanity Hair can be found on the Streaks sim.



Next up: EMO-tions, with "Nessa", which I'm showing in the fourth tone from their color HUD. It looks a little weird when it bends, like it's a planar thing folding, over, y'know, actual *hair* bunching up, but apart from that, it's pretty.



This is "Sami", which I'm showing in the eight tone from their color HUD, and I left the headwrap rainbow. (No indications on whether the headwrap can be turned off.)



And this is "Vaha", and it took me a bit to realize this was a pony. I like it. There also seem to be tinting options and script deletion options on the color HUD.

You can find EMO-tions on the Brunette sim.

Next up, TARDFISH, and both of their offerings are animesh hair add-ons? So I'm showing them off with Olive Hair's "Aurora" style.



"Twitch" just seems to be a little bouncing cowlick. While it is animesh, it's unrigged, so it can be adjusted in place.



"Medusa Friends" is the other one (neither came with a color HUD), and...honestly, I'd like it if the smiles on the snek heads weren't so goofy? But this is TARDFISH, goofy is sometimes the point.

You can find TARDFISH on the Noirette sim.

Part II coming soon!

you were my lesson I had to learn, I was your fortress you had to burn

This one goes back a ways. I can't remember if I blogged about this before, but early on in the pandemic, I put together a list of simple recipes for new home cooks, as well as virtual exploration destinations for folks trapped at home. That was clear back in 2020.

This put me on some kind of...list.

I got three messages from Lish Babela, one in December of 2021, the following two in January of 2022, two weeks apart, recommending her site's list of virtual museum tours in Singapore. But it didn't stop there.

Mary Pauline Maido let me know she had a site of virtual museum tours in Ireland in January of 2022. Then Katrina Lapid sent me a set of virtual tours of New Zealand. That was in February of 2022. She sent another email twice in March of 2022 with the same exact information.

In Aprille of 2022, she emailed me again. I just wasn't sure what to say. Then I got an email from Apple Smith...and got incensed.

While we have transitioned to a new normal and can finally go out and about, some of us are still homebound.

We can 'finally go out and about'? I don't know about your region, Apple, but where I live? People are still dropping in place. We still have eight hundred deaths on average a week, and over one thousand new cases a day just in my county and the county next door, let along the rest of the state. This is NOT over, and I highly resent your chipper, breezy conviction.

The [blog entry] you shared have given readers a timeless way to be active and productive. You also brought them to places at the comfort of their homes with the tours!

This would have been a comfort to hear, were it not preceded by the blind arrogance of the first sentence. As it is, I do not think you're speaking sincerely, and I wish you'd stop speaking to me.

They can also visit “The Couve” through our well-curated Virtual Tours in Vancouver, where we’ve personally picked only the best! It’s a one-stop page for all the great places they can visit from museums to art galleries and more.

Great. Linked. Anything else?

This is gonna be a fun trip!

Die on fire,

Best,

Apple Smith

I hope your favorite book is made into a hugely popular film with a terrible cast by Uwe Boll.

Is everyone HAPPY NOW?!? I'm crawling back under my rock and blocking you all if you write me again. Dear gods.

how are you so burnt when you're barely on fire?

Yeah...



It hasn't been the best day.

Taking a mental health day today, I think, so if I log onto the grid, it won't be for long. I have things to do Saturday, and a reading at the Chelsea Hotel to do on Sunday, so I'll do that, but right now...yeah, I think I'm good just hanging out for a bit and going to bed.

I'm also putting the same behavior into practice on the blog, right now, that I've put into practice on Twitter right now: if you disagree with why the court decision bothers me, you're free to comment, but I will then delete your comment, and it will not cause me one single iota of regret. Cheers.

hand, hands getting cold, losing feeling is getting old

Today's fun and games started here:

[10:52] Marcia (marciawatkins): Hey there, can you lend me 100L? Please, I promise pay it back tomorrow. I really need pay my rent now.

Group unimportant, everyone else in it who responded has been anonymized. Not Marcia. Marcia keeps her name, as Marcia got reported (and has now been axed by the Lindens).

[10:52] [Exxxxxx Rxxxxxxx]: nope

Remember my notation for mods? Mr. E's a mod in this chat.

[10:52] dxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: wow. the beggars are getting greedy. it's normally 20L, you know

Actually this is the new run. "I need to pay rent, can you give me 200L/500L?". With that *exact* phrase after: "Please, I promise pay it back tomorrow." Which tells me this is a bot.

[10:52] cxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: You just posted in another group. 1 day old account.
[10:52] Nxxx Axxxxxxxx: Two groups you asked in now..
[10:52] Uxxx Axxxxxx: 1 day and already rent fee? yeah yeah.
[10:53] vxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: lol
[10:53] Rxxxxxxx Nxxx: i'l gladly pay you tuesday for a tofu burger today
[10:53] [Axxx Dxxxxx]: Taken care of
[10:53] [Exxxxxx Rxxxxxxx]: Pff they left the group faster than i could ban them

The lass above this is another mod, and both of them tried to ban Marcia, but Marcia hit exit before they could.

[10:53] [Exxxxxx Rxxxxxxx]: dammit
[10:53] cxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: lol
[10:54] Uxxx Axxxxxx: thank you.
[10:54] Bxxxxxxxxx Gxxxxx: That is not a begger, it is a hijacked account. You should report those so SL can can freeze it.
[10:55] axxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: a hijacked 1 day old account?
[10:55] [Exxxxxx Rxxxxxxx]: There really is not need to hijack a 1 day old account

It's not a hijacked account.

[10:55] Rxxxxxxx Nxxx: I man if I was gonan take an account it wouldn't be 1 day old.. less they got no taste
[11:19] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): No, one day old account isn't a hijacked account, it's a bot.
[11:22] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): reported anyway.

When I reported it, I found something else interesting. First, this bot repeated the pattern of the others I've seen over the past few months: general white female face on the SL bio page, and on the FL bio page, a full name, full address, age and phone number. Why? Some of the addresses have tracked out as fakes, but others aren't. Why?

[11:22] oxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: are we still talking about this
[11:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Nah, just took a bit from the last comment to reporting.

The FL bio image, by the way? This one:



This is most assuredly not the bot that popped up in this chat. I'm fairly sure her name isn't even Crystal Colette, because as far as I'm aware, this is Crystal Colette--and she's a redhead.

So why do this? Are people still this gullible? I guess so, or they wouldn't farm so many bots out to throw out the Linden nets.

exploring SL19B (part I)

Finally got a little chance to wander SL19B, from the Arboretum in Wonderous, and then a bit of Exhilarate.



Inside the Arboretum.



Panning the camera back, outside the Arboretum. It's an impressive build



One of the random floaty spidery constructions in Wonderous.



A small theatre next to a small airship. If I figure out who these belong to--I was camming long-distance, due to lag on the sim--I'll update this entry.

step back in time, grieving minds cry for credible debate

So, the Shop and Hop that ties into SL19B opened a few days ago, and I've been wandering it. I don't remember entirely where I started--my brain remembers Delphinium, but I don't see that on the list of sims. But I thought it might be amusing to take pictures in the approximate style of neo-Victorian daguerreotypes.



The layout's the same as all other Shop and Hops, just the decor changes, but in this case, the decor's actually not bad.



Not sure which Mole thought it was a good idea for steampunk religious allegory? But okay.



As usual, there's the expected mix of Designers Who Grok the Theme and Designers Who Have No Clue, but--the theming from the decor was actually cohesive, and pretty much on target throughout.



And I also really liked the constant pairing of ivy and pipework--a subtle nod to the Victorian love of gardening, as well as steampunk's devotion to pipes and propellers.



Airships and ivy go well together, too.



And I'm not the greatest gif maker, but--I did like the way this one came out. It does not, at all, do justice to Vae Victis' booth at the event, though. If your processor is up to it, go and stand in place, and look up, and wait for the ceiling to spin with stars, and listen for the ethereal glissando of musical notes that accompany the starry movements.

And if that doesn't work for you, then just watch the celestialpunk chandelier spin for a few moments, because that's incredible, too.

[[Insert from the Editrix prior to publication: Delphinium does exist as a sim! And that's the SLUrl that will take you directly to Vae Victis' door, where Grimoire Hexem has made some wonderful skins for the Aurum horse, and in a collaboration with En Pointe, a truly beautiful set of tack that's rigged for all twenty Teeglepet breeds. Amazing.]]

Oh, and...

That is all.

returning to Rivula

They say you can't go home again. Well, sometimes, that's because home has become an amusement park.



Things are...very bright, here.



Possibly the Environment I had going didn't exactly help with that.



It was very odd walking around, thinking...over here was the Enigma, over there was my treehouse...head-tilty, and not always in good ways.



They have a lot of rides you have to climb.



And then I decided to go. And...that was that.

Also, please come buy a cat. If you want one. It's that or start deleting them.