float like a butterfly, scream like a banshee

What IS it about the Pose Fair and being hassled by day-olds??

[20:49] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hola
[20:49] Emilly Orr: Hello there.
[20:50] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: How are you doing?
[20:50] Emilly Orr: Good so far.

I mean, beyond the screen it was a hot day, promising to lead into a hot next week, and there were some slight complications going out, resulting in some minor sunburn...but overall, okay.

[20:51] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Can I ask her mother tongue?

I'm assuming he means mine.

[20:51] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: What languages do you know?
[20:52] Emilly Orr: Smattering of Latin, a few words of Spanish and French, mostly English.

Even still says basically that on my profile.

[20:52] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: De verdad

Oh, good gods. Off to Google Translate. Because seriously, I'm not bilingual in any functional way. If I had to take a stab at the above, I'd make it "The truth", which is wrong, as Google Translate says "For real".

[20:52] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: muy bien (that one's easy, that's very good).

[20:52] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: yo sabes espamyol mil palabras ("I know Spanish a thousand words", says Google.)

[20:52] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: :D

[20:53] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Oye ("hears"??)

[20:53] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Really glad that you can speak Spanish 

Really amazed you somehow missed I don't. And I need to figure out why moving from italics to regular text breaks Blogger's code so much.

[20:54] Emilly Orr: Right, so...I can say "No habla español", "Dónde está el baño", and "Yo soy un nombre Emilly". I really mean just a few words.

Then he tried to call me. I turned the call down.

[20:55] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I'm new. Why did you turn off voice search.
[20:56] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I just want to talk a little bit.
[20:56] Emilly Orr: My dear, I charge for voice. Highly. Ruinously so. I don't voice casually.

I'm not ever stepping away from that position. I do not want to voice with people I don't trust, or at least have some connection to, if it's not a hire. Period.

[20:56] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: It would be nice to hear how much Spanish you speak
[20:57] Emilly Orr: You've heard how much Spanish I speak. That's it. I may be able to still count to fifteen, but really, it's limited.

Now, do I want to learn Spanish again? Absolutely, because in high school I was fluent. Am I fluent now? Hardly.

[20:58] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I never heard of counting up to 15.
[20:58] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Because you refused to call.
[21:00] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: where are you from?
[21:00] Emilly Orr: All right, what part of "I charge for voice" is unclear? I don't voice casually with anyone I don't know VERY well, who is related to me, or who is paying me specifically for voice work. Period.

Eh, hell, I'll toss him a general location. It's hardly a secret.

[21:00] Emilly Orr: West coast, USA.

But good gods, you're being pushy. Honey, that exhorbitant charge just went up by L$5000. I an not budging on this.

[21:02] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Well I understand How old are you?
[21:02] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: if you don't mind, can i learn your age
[21:02] Emilly Orr: Old enough.

Really? Age questions now? When there is zero information of any kind on his own profile?!

[21:04] Emilly Orr: I. Charge.

Cue aggrieved sigh.

[21:04] Emilly Orr: Here's the thing.
[21:04] Emilly Orr: I don't *want* to voice with anyone I don't know.
[21:04] Emilly Orr: I really, really don't.
[21:04] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I'm new.

I don't care.

[21:04] Emilly Orr: So my rates start at L$10000 for the half hour, and for you, I'll go L$15000.

Listen, this is not ego talking. I don't think I'm that amazing at vocal work. Especially for sex work, I'm pretty useless, because I lose the ability to English alarmingly fast. My rates are insanely high NOT because I get hired for voice--though it's happened a few times in the past--but because I don't WANT to be hired for voice. So I am trying to pitch them to start at highway robbery, and go on up to buying that second yacht stage.

[21:05] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: OK, I understand you very well.
[21:05] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: You have to pay me to talk to me.

Then you understand not at all.

[21:05] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: But I wouldn't charge you any fees[21:06] Emilly Orr: No. YOU would have to pay ME. 

[21:06] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: If you want, we can give a free speech.
[21:06] Emilly Orr: We cannot.
[21:06] Emilly Orr: I do not want.

How much more clear can I make this?

[21:06] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: No, I will not talk to you.
[21:07] Emilly Orr: Doesn't matter.
[21:07] Emilly Orr: I. Do. Not. Voice. With. Strangers. Unless. They. Pay. Me.

Or rather, don't pay me, because that is the price point I'm going for--the one that makes everyone shake their heads and back away at the sheer lunacy of it. But seriously, how much clearer do I have to be? He's literally centimetres from getting blocked.

[21:08] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I know it doesn't matter.
[21:08] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I just wanted to chat a little bit. Am i in a wrong room

Room??

[21:09] Emilly Orr: Well, first, SL is not a room. It's a series of 70,000+ connected and not-connected simulated land masses and private estates.
[21:10] bxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I wonder if we are on your private property right now
[21:10] Emilly Orr: No, this is...let me check.
[21:10] Emilly Orr: This is on Kendelwood, it's a private estate.

At least, I think that's what it was. I just glanced at the land info, but "Kendelwood" turns up nothing under search, so...

I left Pose Fair soon after that, though, having made notes on things to come back and buy later, and he stopped talking. Yay.

In other news, I have a new work studio.



The down side is, much of it is a rather alarming shade of pink. And since I don't own the furnishings, not much I can do about that. But I like the space, and wonder of wonders, it's on a sim that's not crashing twice a week, so it's much more stable for patrons. Double yay.

Plus, I won't lie, I really like the bathtub.

adam & eve's offerings for Ice and Fire

Now we move on to Ms. sachi Vixen's offerings for the Game of Thrones-theme event, Ice and Fire. I admit, I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, I believe strongly in homage, as in, fans of a thing recreating that thing, either for sale or private use. On the other hand, there's that whole copyright infringement angle.

However, with at least adam and eve's offerings, while they do resemble some of the noble house symbols, they are not exact representations. Therefore...they skate that line, but I don't think they push past it.



This is part of the Kraken jewelry pack. This is the brooch in bright copper. It's unrigged, so it can be repositioned to a better place on the chest, and I would assume--though did not test--that if it is unrigged, it might be able to be resized.



This is the brooch in a burnished bronze. It comes in six metal colors total.



It also comes in a pendant version, also unrigged. This is the Kraken in gold.



This is it in bright silver.



And there's an included necklace thong HUD--this is it in black silk. The natural linen thong can be seen in the first pendant pictures. Not shown: the white silk option.



I also received a circle brooch with an embossed lion head on it. Shown in the bright copper again.



And this is the steel, which is a color I don't think has been shown before. The Lion pack also comes with pendant versions, and the brooch/pendant metal HUD, and the pendant thong HUD.

The seraphimsl.com blog shows all of them in silver, and they're going for L$225 a set--which, remember, includes the broach, the pendant version, and HUDs to change the metal and the necklace thong tones for each set.

the hybrid face of time and space, and all that's in between

Want to know more about Amanda Palmer's music? She's opened up a ton of past recordings--some to download, some to buy, but all available for listening. Fun idea, and something more artists should do; because the concept of record stores with listening stations is now something firmly camped in vintage reality for most of us.

Artist Nina Katchadourian has, for several years, been rearranging book spines to make snippets of prose ranging from the whimsical to the profound. Now, her project has been released as a book itself, which is, frankly, all kinds of awesome.

Interested in quilting? Interested in constellations? Combine the two! There are seventeen days remaining to the project, which is now fully funded, so you can still contribute if you want your own special thing; or just toss in funds to support quilt artistry in general. Either way, it's a fun idea, be that wall hanging or bed covering--a section of the sky, with stars strewn in stitches to adore at leisure.

More intriguingly, though, this is not the first Haptic Lab project to use Kickstarter, and it's far from the first that's funded--this tends to be what they do as a collective. Most of their projects are sold in kit form, but when they have a design idea that needs more funding than simply selling kits and finished quilts will get them, they toss up a "mini-Kickstarter" to help them. In exchange, they put out limited editions that will never be made again. So it's a win for everyone involved--Haptic Lab gets to make bigger projects, and sell the non-limited versions to the public; the contributors get a special, one-of-a-kind handcrafted creation with all of their trademark precision and tactile sensitivity.

Speaking of Kickstarter, have I mentioned the Girl Genius Kickstarter yet? Already fully funded, with sixteen days to go, the impressive thing on this one is the steadily achieving set of stretch goals, because the more Studio Foglio raise, the greater this thing's going to be when it closes.

First, a touch of explanation for anyone who doesn't know: books are expensive to keep in print. No one knows this better than independent publishers, but as the Foglios are highly talented, slightly scattershot, vaguely disorganized artist-types, they suddenly realized they had several volumes that had slipped out of availability all at once.

This is bad. Thus, the Kickstarter, and the stretch goal process:

• $70,000: Reprinting Volume One of Girl Genius (achieved!)
• $85,000: Reprinting Volume Eleven of Girl Genius (achieved!)
• $100,000: Reprinting Volume Five of Girl Genius (achieved!)
• $115,000: Reprinting Volume Two of Girl Genius (will likely also be easily achieved as they're close)
• $130,000: Reprinting Volume Three of Girl Genius (also highly possible, as they have sixteen days and a LOT of fans)

And it goes up from there. Even better, if for reasons of ecological preservation, discouraging clutter, or purely financial, the $20 level gets you both a shiny metal pin (in antique silver or brass) PLUS PDF copies of all the books they manage to save with this effort.

Also, some of the upper level offers are just amusing beyond all reason, up to and including, for the startling fee of $10,000, Professor Phil coming to your house (or, the concurrent offer, $10,000 to keep Phil from ever coming to your house).

If you're a fan, you just might need to help them out. Good news for us--they're going to get the help, so anything past now is gravy. Tasty, tasty steampunk gravy.

Are you a wee bit OCD? Do you cook? Consider the Obsessive Chef cutting board set, with precise organizational measurements printed right on the cutting surface. Personally, I love this concept; it would be a boon to both beginning and experienced cooks alike.

Know someone who's interested in calligraphy or illumination, but who prefers naked girls to dusty books? Offer them a compromise. (That link is elegantly NSFW, but very very pretty, just so you know.)

I actually think that's a fascinating concept in general--it hearkens back both to the old horror tales of living books, as well as tattooing in general, and the preservation of knowledge. After all--you can't suppress knowledge that people already know. And folks are already getting quotes tattooed on themselves, why not entire book pages? Think about a banned book fair that's entirely comprised of passages no one can take away without removing the skin of the participants.

(I might be taking this a bit far, but still. Fascinating.)

Normally, BuzzFeed is where you go to get a quick fix of internet oddity or quirky reaction gifs to save for later, but on occasion, they make serious points. Here, why Varys is the real star of Game of Thrones. They may not be wrong.

And--last but defiantly not least--prepare yourselves. He is coming. And he looks amazingly bad-ass. RiddickRiddickRiddickyay! (Yes I am a fan.)