cómo se puede bailar, es un escándalo

Received this from someone on Discord, who had originally DMed me out of the blue asking to be "friends"...and then followed that up with constant server invites to his own server, where apparently he's "God". I finally just asked him what he was here for, becoming my friend, or just seeking new fish to swim into his server?

That's what I got back. The capitals make it extra-important, I guess.

And two different requests for aid: first, the maker behind Pirocious recently rescued a Husky, and he has a shattered leg. She'd like to ask for help in getting (the absolutely gorgeous, there are pictures) Ghost back up on his feet. Here's how directly, or you could just go to the store--she's having a store-wide sale on everything she's made so far, and if you like things cute and spooky? This is where you need to start.

And, from the brand Debauchery comes this:

"I have received some medical news that requires me to need to spend a sudden and surprising amount of money.

So, if you can, please try to come find some things to buy to help support Debauchery and me.

If you can donate, anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. I've set up donation boxes at the store and around Maui.

I hate to ask, but I really need help.

Bandor"

For those who don't know, he's one of the makers of adult furniture on the grid that's decided more is definitely better? So most of his pieces are integrated with Lovense, various adult bits brands, I'm not going to say for sure INM, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that locked into any of his showers or hot tubs--and he runs not only the Debauchery store, but the Maui Swingers' Resort in the next sim over. (I don't attend normally, because most of the days I think I may want to wander in for a Mai Tai I have fur, and it's a human-only place? Store's not, though. Store you can show up as anything, and I've never had a problem shopping as a cat.)

(I should probably also say that both Debauchery, the store, and the Maui resort, are both strongly adult places, and in both of them you can frequently find folks au naturale, so...I guess they're NSFW, basically.)

But, above and beyond that, I have had the absolute worst day, so...time to check out an old favorite.



Wait. Is this the same place?



I mean, the big pumpkin guy's here, but...nothing else seems to match...



Well, the interior's largely the same.



And Madam Leota's there still.



All in all, the haunt has seen better days, at least on the outside? And some of that's entirely possible SL's current fun party trick of not rezzing things in on sims is to blame. At the end of the day, though, it accomplished what it needed to--calming me down. What more can I really ask for from a haunt?

I watch silently, I wait estranged

The Haunted House of Horrors and Halloween in Siringo has this to say:

Come to the Haunted House of Horrors. We have all sorts of evil creations and furntiure for sale, zombies, ghosts, blood, Haunted Graveyards, Horror Haunted Church, scary and Vampire, HALLOWEEEN

Okay, then. I port there and it's immediate aural chaos. Way too many sound loops on way too short repeat cycles. Yeep. But we must persevere, so onward!



Wait, it's a store? Well, that's disappointing. But at least I can leave the constant dunnage of sound loops.

How about the Hollywood Tower Hotel? They don't have much to say:

Welcome to the Tower of Terror....

Right.



The bright sun and palm trees are not filling me with confidence.



A-ha. That explains some things. It is a lovely build, I will admit. Very well done, very much part and parcel of its era, with vintage Art Deco touches and recreated props from Twilight Zone episodes.



The shadows are amazing.



I clicked the box to preload the audio, which told me it would be about two minutes. The sign behind it said the elevator doors open every five minutes (the library doors earlier open every two minutes, that sign said).

[23:05] Object whispers: Ready to enter the Service Elevator!

Okay, audio preloaded!



But...nothing. I finally sighed and left the sim at 11:12 pm (SLT), because I'd more than given the doors five minutes to open.

Bother. Maybe it was just broken for some reason? I can't imagine they have that entire build on the land and then nothing past the elevator.

Third time's the charm? How about Goodnight's Amusement Park? That was another landmark I picked up at Whymsee's Haunted Mansion. Their description states:

Great roller coasters, games, rides, Mini-golf Course (putt putt), Tunnel of Love, Go-Kart racing, and live entertainment. You can also sit at the pier and just enjoy the sparkly fireworks. Brought to you by Jeff and Q Goodnight.

Doesn't sound like a haunt.



Ah, that's because it's not. Okay, I give up.

make no fuss over my grave, just plant something pretty and call it a day (part 3)

And from part two, we are now at the end of the trilogy.



Royal escapades in the cemetery.



More cemetery hijinks.



The ghost of the bricklayer attempting escape.



My run-in with the hitchhikers.



Leaving the Mansion to the high, fey voice of Little Leota. "Hurry back!...Hurry back!...Be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us...Make final arrangements now!...We've been dying...to have you..."



And end of the ride! Keep in mind that for this, really, for any of the Haunted Mansion tribute rides, because there are a few, set some time aside. It's meant to be a slow, spooky ride, so don't expect to rush through it in two minutes. Enjoy!

make no fuss over my grave, just plant something pretty and call it a day (part 2)

Picking up where we left off...



I'm strapped into the Doombuggy, and off we go!



Past the Gallery there was a ramp up to the second floor, heavily draped with radiant, eldritch webs we had to travel through.



I do love this clock.



Our first glimpse of Madame Leota.



The ornate--and very haunted--feasting hall.



And the ghost bride in the attic. There's one more entry to go!

make no fuss over my grave, just plant something pretty and call it a day (part 1)

I honestly can't remember if I've been to Whymsee's before, but here's their description:

FUN tribute THE HAUNTED MANSION RIDE and WHYMSEE HAUNTED SIM date night family Thrill Ride scary haunted house carnival AMUSEMENT PARK Rides dance club horror EVIL DEAD hunt GREEDY Oculus vr halloween

All right, then.



The pumpkin dancers are all kinds of cute. But. This event has a rotating door, and I got solidly stuck both attempts to walk through, and finally had to spin my camera to the front and walk through that way. That is massively irritating.



Was this the Haunted Mansion tribute ride I caught last year? I can't tell.



That's...kind of creepy.



This fireplace. So iconic. And this is an excellent reproduction.



This room I know well, too. They seem to be running the soundtrack for the actual mansion, as well.



And I swear, this is a picture of Uncle Creepy.

More to come! (Also late note from the Editrix: Yes. Yes, I have been through here before. They've just updated with a bit of animesh beforehand.)

grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize

Rides? Did someone say Haunted Mansion rides? I am so there.

The bio mentions more:

"FREE 4 MAJOR Builds - THE HAUNTED MANSION 50s Thrill Ride TRICK-OR-TREAT treats tribute Disney zombies 2 scary haunted house 3 Carnival AMUSEMENT PARK Rides + horror EVIL DEAD midnight mania PIRATES hunt GREEDY Oculus halloween shops FREE"

Interesting. So...some shops, but rides? And haunts? Okay.

Have I been here before?



Wow. Maybe not, but that's a good Haunted Mansion. I decided to concentrate on it.



Someone loves this ride more than I do. (An image for comparison; yes, that is the exact sign that hangs in front of the entrance.)



Changing picture, from vital to dead, but what really got me was how cool the fireplace itself looked.



Leaving the library with a shot of the painting on the exit wall. Yes, the eyes do follow as your doombuggy travels.



The entirety of Madame Leota's parlor room, reproduced really faithfully.



And the circa 2000-era Bride in the attic. Soooo good.

All in all, I took far too many pictures, more than just these six. I threw them together into a Flickr album. This one...it takes time, as does the original ride, but it is so well done. Do go if you can, it does capture the feeling of the original in loving detail.

spooky scary skeletons

Spell Block Tango, anyone? Watch it. It's awesome.

So, I got a better landmark, and I guess the big spooky mansion is the Tiny Ride of Terror this year. I just...as yet...see no ride.

(from the haunts album; I get stairs this trip!)

But look! Stairs! Whee!

(from the haunts album; teeny tiny haunted outfits)

And upstairs...oh. Just vendors. Don't get me wrong, innovative Tiny wear for very reasonable prices? Always a good thing! But there must be more to this...

(from the haunts album; why does this keep happening?)

Eep! Blood from the walls is NEVER a good thing!

(from the haunts album; home medical lab? Ew.)

Why is it always medical labs??

(from the haunts album; the haunted theatre.)

And also upstairs, they have a full haunted theatre!

(from the haunts album; the haunted basement.)

Finally, I felt I'd explored everything, no sign of a Tiny ride anywhere to be found...so I turned to the basement. On my first trip through, there was some sort of event either in the basement, or near the house, and I couldn't move for the lag. On my second trip, I made it upstairs, and then crashed. On this trip, I made it to the basement...and was frozen in place for forty minutes while my browser pondered whether or not it was going to crash.

(from the haunts album; the haunted basement.)

I'm going to say the problem well could have been me, and my 130,000+ level of inventory, but on the other hand...Raglan Shire has nearly eight thousand active scripts, so that may share some wee part of the blame.

(from the haunts album; the haunted basement.)

So is it worth going? Well, there's a good level of innovation, and L$75 Tiny costumes cannot be passed up, but...it's no Tiny Ride of Terror, that's for sure. Which is sad; I wanted to check that out this year. Guess they went in a different direction.

I am lonely wherever I go, sanctuary is all that I know

Digital painting is an art form all its own, if a more technical one than most. But there are aids for it, that can also work for painting in general. The artist behind the Ranarh account on deviantArt is trying to make digital portraiture a wee bit easier.

Tiny Tips: Keep an Eye Out
Tiny Tips: A Mouthful
Tiny Tips: Easy Braider
Tiny Tips: Blending In
Tiny Tips: The Five-Colour Trick
Tiny Tips: Wild Skin Colours
Tiny Tips: Skin Tutorial
Tiny Tips: Snuffles
Tiny Tips: It's a Material World
Tiny Tips: Keep It Low

She has others on painting backgrounds, waterfalls, rock formations--she's really a great one-stop resource for both budding and established digital artists.

Saint Lucas, anyone? Well, not so much, but some familiar faces from Star Wars drawn in religious icon form. Beautiful work.

Speaking of art, did I mention the Vochol Beetle? Commissioned by several art and museum groups, and crafted using over two million glass beads by Huichol artisans in Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico, it's a stunning tribute to both art cars and the arts in Mexico.

Moving to games, Metal Gear 5 is planning on a sooner-rather-than-later release, and to that end, has released nearly six minutes of 'real gameplay' footage. I'll warn you now--it's actually painful for me to watch. Not due to gore--there isn't any--or horrific things happening, per se--it's just I've had lower-body injuries and I've done the pulling-myself-across-the-floor thing. It's not fun. This video makes it seem as grueling as it actually is, so...yay for realism?

And now fun new toys! Or at least, new disturbing ones. Which brings is to Japan and Sanrio, who's decided this year's best nightmare-fuel offering is the reversible Hello Kitty. What does she reverse into? A turkey, of course.

If you think you really need one in your life, they go for $28 on Sanrio's main site--where you can find other cuddly wonders like the octopus sausage, Hello Kitty with a suntan, and Hello Kitty's severed head on a string. Enjoy?

Next up, science--the MindWalker's been launched, subject to review by the European Commission. It actually utilizes an EEG cap that measures electrical activity across the scalp to control the exoskeleton. This could be big.

Also, Dmitry Itskov wants everyone to live in virtual reality. No, really, that's his goal:

Mr. Itskov says he will invest at least part of his fortune in such ventures, but his primary goal with 2045 is not to become richer. In fact, the more you know about Mr. Itskov, the less he seems like a businessman and the more he seems like the world’s most ambitious utopian. He maintains that his avatars would not just end world hunger — because a machine needs maintenance but not food — but that they would also usher in a more peaceful and spiritual age, when people could stop worrying about the petty anxieties of day-to-day living.

"We need to show that we’re actually here to save lives," he said. "To help the disabled, to cure diseases, to create technology that will allow us in the future to answer some existential questions. Like what is the brain, what is life, what is consciousness and, finally, what is the universe?"

Grand dreams, indeed. By 2045, we'll see if they're dreams that can come true, too.

Speaking of robotic aids, someone else has an idea. And it was an idea gained through watching Chobits. Danny Choo is currently in the process of designing a Smart+Doll, based on his Mirai Suenaga mascot character, that he's hoping will be fully interactive.

Whatever that's going to end up meaning for Japan.

And finally, if anyone's been watching ABC's "Once Upon a Time" series, there's going to be a spin-off...sort of. Titled "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, it will tell the tale of Alice's journey down the rabbit-hole, but--as we might expect from the changes wrought on "Once Upon a Time", ever so slightly altered from the stories we know.

I'm still willing to give it a solid viewing, because I'm enjoying the first show so much. We'll see how it goes.

you built up your heaven on the back of hell

Studio Foglio will now have all twelve of their Girl Genius volumes reprinted! On June 2nd, their Kickstarter will be fully funded, which means for the next eight days, it's just play time and stretch goals. Considering some of their stretch goals involved pancakes on various Foglio family members, I'm dying to know what they're going to do next.

Couple weeks back, Disney announced the "official" arrival of Merida as the next Disney princess. Which is all well and good--the coronation announcement was both splendid and a great deal of fun, on May 11th--but it's not the announcement itself that seems to be irritating people. It's the sparkly, slimmer redesign for the two-dimensional version that seems to be getting under peoples' skin.

Merida's creator criticized Disney for this move, there was a petition that garnered a great deal of signatures, and Disney quietly caved--for once--and put the original Merida up on the princess page.

But I think my favorite fan reaction, all things considered, was John Kovalic's. That's very nearly perfect.

Sent from a friend, from a profile she wandered across:

"Breaking News: The Pity Train has just derailed at the intersection of Suck it Up & Move On, and crashed into We All Got Problems, before coming to a complete stop at Get the Hell Over It. Any complaints about how we operate can be forwarded to 1-800-WAA-WAAA. This is Dr. Sniffle reporting LIVE from Quitchur Bitchin'. If you like this great, if you don't, suck it up cupcake! Life doesn't revolve around you."

I like that.

The White House has awarded Sally Ride a posthumous Medal of Freedom for her efforts in both scientific endeavors and in expanding the reach of the space program. Her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, accepted the award on her behalf, and NASA has announced a new internment program to allow up to ten deserving students each semester to study alongside NASA research scientists and engineers, in partnership with Sally Ride Science, the grant set up in Ride's name. While she was the third woman in space, her achievements--especially in the field of educational inspiration, long after her death--have been significant, so this is wonderful news.

This, also, may be the single most beautiful ad for a funeral home ever. Not only that, but we need more ads involving mortality leading to new life. Most of the funeral home advertising--in the US, at least--tends towards far skyborne vistas, stately aged trees, sunlight on water...that whole 'eternity' vibe, when what they should be reinforcing is that we all die, and that's okay, because the flowers still grow and the children still play.

until there's nothing left of what was my former self

This next one's...odd.

(from the haunts album; the Haunted Holiday Area at yet another almost-DisneySLand)

As you may have gathered from the last couple of entries, there's a lot of Haunted Mansion references on the grid this year. The next one is no different: Bracket's Magicland Park, and the "Haunted Holiday Area", which was...a little weird for me.

(from the haunts album; more of the Haunted Holiday Area)

First, it's not a ride, it's more of a casual stroll (which, in one section, you can turn into an ice-skating opportunity). Second, it's all...wintry, and 'holiday' holiday. Like...Yule holiday. Bwuh?

(from the haunts album; more of the Haunted Holiday Area)

I won't lie, some of the decorations were charming (personally, I'd kill for bat wrapping paper in December), and the size of the area made it feel very cozy and familiar. But...it's not a haunt.

(from the haunts album; more of the Haunted Holiday Area)

Apparently--at least, since the arrival of Nightmare Before Christmas--this is something Disneyland just does in October, and have done so for several years now. I wouldn't know; most of my Disneyland experience is prior to the millenium shift. According to one who's spent more time than might be legal obsessing on all things Disney, this one's fairly close to the way the original looks, so I get why they wanted to...deck their halls, so to speak.

(from the haunts album; more of the Haunted Holiday Area)

I don't know, though; I guess I'm the wrong target audience for this. Or maybe it's just too early for jingle bats.

(from the haunts album; the Haunted Railcar..."Attraction"?)

Rixendale's Haunted Ride Railcar was next. Ugh.

(from the haunts album; the Haunted Railcar..."Attraction"?)

I did snap a few pics, the best two of which I've included here, but seriously, unless you really enjoy head-splitting volume levels and far too much bass distort on your vocals, don't even bother.

It's overly busy, it's not well built, the concept is disjointed, the ride--when it dumps you off into one of the ride areas at the end--sends you down very nearly beneath the floor of the room you land in...pair that with the fuzzy vocals, the distortion, the screaming, and poorly timed special effects, and really, it's a dead loss. Don't go.

(from the haunts album; the cemetary at Le Dome)

I'd like to end on a high note, so let me bring up Le Dome's little haunt. All it is really, is a small parcel cemetary, but trust me, it's far from a waste of time. Whomever's behind this really knew what they wanted to build, and it's both quaint and charming.

(from the haunts album; the cemetary at Le Dome)

Plus, pumpkin mask! No, I'm serious, before you go in, there's a box where you can get one of six pumpkin "masks" that cover your head entirely. And they're free! That alone is worth the trip.

There is a slight zombie infestation going on, but they're relatively easy to damage, and (generally speaking) won't damage you. It's still fun, though.

With or without a pumpkin head.