lay down for a while, disconnect

"True to myself until the end", this tattoo says, and I'm not quite sure they caught the significance--or the likely unintended hilarity--of the placement, methinks...(May have to have Adult listings enabled on the Marketplace to see it; it is a tattoo, after all.)

And if you ever have a need for two dead mesh goats, I can now help you with that. I have no idea why anyone would need that, but hey, just in case, there you go.

Did I mention God has this odd habit of popping back into my life on occasion?

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: FROM THE HELLS I RETURNED
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: TWICE
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: IN A ROW
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: WOOOOOOOO
Emilly: Yay? And which hells?

This is a legitimate question. For God, there's a lot of hells. Not quite as many as Big Trouble in Little China, but close.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: just won a game of dota 2
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: so hard
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: i fought 3 people
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: they killed me when i got one
Emilly: Dota 2?

Dota 2 seems to be, from my understanding (after looking it up) to be sort of a formal, official sequel to a few informal, non-official mods for other released games.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: so my guy auto rez'd
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: and then i killed another and they killed me again
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: AND I CAME BACK AGAIN
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: AND KILLED THE THIRD
Emilly: Woot!
Emilly: TRIUMPH

Figured it was appropriate. Still wasn't sure what was going on--the looking-up phase hadn't happened yet.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: ALL HAIL THE SKELETON KING

Hey, that was appropriate too. Not that I knew what God meant (though that's a fair point, also--sometimes, it's really hard to tell what God means in any given conversation).

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: yeah dota 2
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: its like nerd sports
Emilly laughs
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: the international nerd sports
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: wish i took a screen of that guy asking why wont you die

I mentioned my watching of back-to-back Let's Play videos of Final Fantasy (begun with FFXIII, and now nearing the end of FFXIII-2). God mentioned another game I'd never heard of:

Emilly: Also, up to part 55 of an insanely long YouTube series on Final Fantasy XIII-2
Emilly: I think it's nomming on my brain
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Hahahah
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Its a lp?
Emilly: Yep
Emilly: Kung Fu Jesus and PokeCap'n, Medibot, MyNameIsKaz, some others
Emilly: Just a big room of guys playing Final Fantasy, eating cookies, and going crazy on occasion from the stress of playing the game
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: I think I know kung fu jesus
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: he started on SA I think?
Emilly: Yep
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Hes in their lparchive
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: OH You should see GODHAND if you want a hilarious one
Emilly: It's weird, I now have LPers I recognize.
Emilly: Godhand?

Still a valid question.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Its
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: like
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: a beat-em-up
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: but
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: uh
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: you have the arm of a god
Emilly: Just the one?

Apparently, yes. Just the one.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: and go after demons
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: and
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: its in the old west
Emilly: So you're Hellboy, then

Because seriously, that's how it sounds.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: and you fight a mexican elvis demon
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: well
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: hmm
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: theres a poison chihuahua
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: uh
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: you fight 2 gay luchadores and one doesnt have a dick
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: man
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: theres like
Emilly: 0.0
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: a ton of crazy shit

I don't even. There's so much that's so deeply odd in that section. (Since having this conversation, by the way, I've watched part of a run through the game by the same group, and...yeah. It really IS that odd.)

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: and yet, its a more reasonable game than Anarchy Reigns, which is new for 30$ tell all your friends
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Anarchy Reigns is a fighting game. With 16 people at once. Over 5 city blocks.
Emilly laughs
Emilly: Advertising!
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: AIRPLAINS FALL
Emilly: Snakes were probably on them
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: YOU CAN PILEDRIVE HELICOPTERS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: CATCH MISSILES
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: TITS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: MUTANTS
Emilly: Wait, you catch missiles with your tits, what?

Still trying to understand it all.

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: BUTTZ
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: ROCKET HAMMERS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: AZN TRIPLETS WHO ARE SEXY ASSASSINS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: ROBOTS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: ROBOT NINJAS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: NINJAS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: THE BLACKEST MAN ON THE PLANET, THE BLACKER BARON
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: HIS ROBOT HOOKER
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: CHAINSAW ARMS
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: its pretty sweet

Uh...

Oh no not me I won't stand it no: So in summary, Godhand is cray and Anarchy Reigns made it look normal
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: http://youtu.be/0eQSSwmCUks 20 sec video on how hype i get about anarchy reigns
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: http://youtu.be/G6U12dQPykI the actual reasons to get this game
Emilly: Yeah, we watch a lot of Achievement Hunter/Roosterteeth, because at times they play games SO badly (Minecraft, generally)
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Hahaha
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: You watch the one of them playing Clouds?
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: the minecraft map they made?
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: I loved that one
Emilly: Oh man, that one just COLLAPSED me
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: Hahaha
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: But yeah, anarchy reigns
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: im gonna go play that right now
Emilly: hee!
Oh no not me I won't stand it no: laterrrrrr
Emilly: Ta!

"We're all doodlers by nature," says Brandon Griggs, but what if we had the ability to make our doodles real objects? About two weeks back, parent company WobbleWorks launched what they thought was a modest enough proposal--$30,000 to get their proof of concept into mass production. Now, still with half a month to go, they've topped one million dollars in donations.

I guess more people really want to give their sketches shape than they thought.

Sadly, gadget canes are not as popular anymore--and most of the ones that are still made involve swords or alcohol--but on occasion, a vintage one surfaces that can, if nothing else, be appreciated from a distance. This is one such cane. An ornately carved ivory knob over the metal collar (complete with monogram initial), it hides a metal pick, a small dagger, and a fine ivory tool that resembles a bodkin to my eyes, but then, I sew; everything starts to look like a needle after a while.

In a prime example of cultural differences, this struck me as just odd: Minami Minegishi, one of the young singers in the idoru group AKB48, was caught leaving her boyfriend's home by press. Her reaction to this news? She shaved her head and offered a seemingly heartfelt apology--complete with wracked sobs and genuflections. But here's where it gets really odd:

[6:30:35 PM] Emilly Orr: Apparently, she's been demoted to "trainee" status, which means she'll only appear in the back of the group on tours, and not be shown outside of small clips in music videos.
[6:31:23 PM] Emilly Orr: The weird thing is that the management company for these girls forced her to wear a wig after the head-shaving vid went viral and garnered eight million views in two days. And fans reacted--but in a wholly unanticipated way: they were angry.
[6:31:49 PM] Emilly Orr: They flooded fan boards and chat rooms saying the wig told them she wasn't sorry at all, and now it's a PR nightmare.

I never thought I'd say this, but I am dying to know what this vegan, fat-free, chocolate pudding tastes like...but I'll admit, I don't think I'm brave enough to try it on my own. Why? Two reasons: half of its base is zucchini; the other half is sweet potatoes.

But hey, feel free, experiment and share the joy. Or something.

The Real Tuesday Weld have returned from their Russian tour, and have now set up a dedicated domain for their various natterings. The Blogspot for the Clerkenwell Kid is still active, as is their Facebook and Twitter feed, and the Antique Beat email service. But this will now be the spot where all new updates are sent first. Wonderful.

Finally, Google Glass gets a test run, and looks damn fine doing it. Wave of the future? Pretty much.

I left a thorn under your bed, I'm never gone

Speaking of copyright infringement...

This is Vanille, from Final Fantasy XIII:

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix)

As far as I'm concerned, she's the second most annoying character in the game, but hey, at least she's memorable. Or something.

This is Vanille as an action figure:

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix; figure is sold by Kirin Hobby, among others, for $39.95 plus shipping.)

This I tracked down less for the Vanille doll options, and more for the full-length outfit/accessories shots.

I'm thinking we're all on the same page so far, yeah?

This is the "Hippie Girl" avatar from 'Fantasy Mesh':

(from the Comparisons album; the character of Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, All Rights Reserved, Copyright Square Enix; mesh avatar made by Alternate Lastchance for Fantasy Mesh on the SL Marketplace.)

Gosh, but that entirely coincidental resemblance is uncanny, innit? Well, not so much, because Ms. Lastchance also features the entirely coincidental mesh avatar rip-offs of the Elementalist from Guild Wars, Bayonetta (renamed "Ninja Girl") from the game Bayonetta, plus Lightning, Tifa, Rikku from Final Fantasy games...do I need to go on? Essentially, every damned thing Ms. Lastchance makes is infringing on someone's copyrighted creations.

There's not one original thought in Lastchance's head. It's sickening.

Perceive this. We all violate copyright, at one point or another. For some it's music; for others, movies or software. Some people copy paintings. Some copy furniture styles, or fashions. No less an august personage as Michelangelo knew this well--a famous saying is attributed to him:

"Where I steal an idea, I leave my knife."

Even back then, inspiration came from other artists, and influenced the work.

In Second Life, since it is, in essence, all virtual, it's just easier to have what we want. Remember: wanting isn't the bad thing. It's not a flaw, it's not a weakness of character, to want. And, RL or SL, it's not always a weakness of character to have--consider cosplayers, for instance.
Where the ethical lines are drawn is generally in making a profit on the creations of others. And this is where we as individuals need to decide--are we honorable, or are we thieves? And if we're thieves, is it going to bother us to be thieves?

And if we are thieves, we cannot remain ignorant of the consequences of being thieves. Because, while SL violations rarely result in RL consequences, they can. It depends on the violation. And even if RL consequences never manifest, if we do not do our own work, so to speak, we risk losing access to those works, losing temporary access to the grid, or a permanent ban from Second Life forever.

So is it worth it? Is it worth the brief and temporary financial gain? That's the question we should consider. Especially if we're Alternate Lastchance.