starting 1st May, no bus will go here anymore

I can't find the thing.

Let me say that again, as it's vaguely important: I CAN'T FIND A SINGLE ONE OF THE PICTURES OF THE LAST THING I WAS GOING TO REVIEW. Worse? I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS IT WAS I WAS GOING TO REVIEW.

Add to that the frustration that I'm not already healed last week, getting a slight cold from the girl, local temps crashing, my own current dissatisfaction with my ability to Em...

Anyway. If nothing else, I needed to just get away from it all.



And tossing out the original review I had been planning entirely, whatever it was, and since I still haven't changed out of the outfit I was wearing two or three days back, I decided, we'll just pick something at random. Which turned out to be the "Elemiah" Illuminated Glass Halo from /Vae Victis\.



Also om nom nom broken bits.

I'm currently at the Snowbound hunt, looking for various baubles (in world, there's a glass ballroom with all the keys where you rez, or you can jump to Flickr for each maker's bauble color and number of prizes), and--of course and always--mourning my inability to buy Lindens. (Why is this such a constant state, Em? Oh, right, depression.) It ends January 21st, so a bit ouch if I don't get to things in time. Still. It's a pretty (and pretty crowded) build, overall.



And there's a train, so you know I'm happy. (Wrote that as "appy" first--and no, no, definitely not appy.)



But now I'm out of gingerdead coffee. Darn. Pepperminthe it is!

(Oh, by the way, if anyone feels like getting a belated gift card for coffee for yourself or a friend, or buying coffee for future me, even, Death Wish Coffee is a good one [I adore their Pumpkin Chai, it's just straight-up good spiced coffee, but their Dark Spirits Chocolate Rum Ball is also amazing]. If you're more into just good, unflavored coffee, Top of the Mornin' Coffee has a lot of really good blends--for dark roast lovers, I can't recommend their Midnight Oil blend enough. For fans of lighter roasts, give their High Noon a spin--that one's responsibly sourced, and organic! Also Dungeon Brew Coffee. [Looks like they have some of their Minty Magic blend still in stock.] I have a friend in Chicago [where one year his cat froze to his apartment window], so that tipped me to Hero Coffee, which bids to serve really excellent cups and donate to charity at the same time. And Many Worlds Tavern--they're not as stellar as Deathwish or Top of the Mornin', but they're good. And they're gamers, so occasionally they throw in dice! And I can't fail to mention Bones Coffee, because OMG, their White Chocolate Peppermint Bark is sooooo good, and I'm dying to try Sweet Tater Swirl, because--sweet potatoes? In COFFEE?!?)

(I'm not sponsored by any coffee company, just FYI. And I am far from a dedicated Q Grader. I just like coffee.)

Just for fun, I decided I wanted to see the minimum and maximum sizes in the halo. Here's the min:



And here's the max:



And it was so big I had to cheat a bit and raise my hover height to the absolute maximum, and then pull the camera way back, just to get it all in frame!



At any rate, I think that's about it. Grabbed a cup of hot chocolate from the next coffee shed I found, and have now found all five of the Winter Edition "Marbas" furs put out here. I'll be reviewing those soon, though at this point, with only one day left AAAAAAAH--you may have to hope to find the Marbas furs as a group gift later on!

through the vapor, see the inside of her head

So. Most readers don't know (and there's no reason why you should; if you'd rather stay uninformed, skip to below the first pic), though a few know some of what's going on. I try not to make a huge deal of it, because everyone has their own problems. But, today is Day 136 of the Eternal Headache. I say this as someone who has had lifelong headaches, and migraines--this is more pain than both, and my ability to human is starting to become compromised.

It's not the greatest. And we still don't know why.

So, while we wait, I wander the grid, spend far too many Lindens, and review lovely things, because--why not?

Today I'm in Winter Daydreams, which is gorgeous in every crisp, winter way. And I'm showing off the Sacred Insignia Celestial Hair Pin from Arkivet.



Now, the first thing you need to know--this is not straight out of the box. There is one, count 'em one pin in the box. That pin can be modified and copied, yay, so I now have two positioned through the hair.



They're simple enough--one faceted gem, inset into a ring of metal, attached to a pin with metal wings. Each bit--the gem, the ring, the side wings, and the pin--can be tinted eleven different tones.



See? Variety.



And of course there's the traditional Byxian pink. You know, Alia Baroque's Flamingo skin might go well with the solid pink...



Seriously, if it weren't that I'm dressed to die in wind chill, I could live here. It's so pretty. And the pins are too. The all-gold (well, almost, it's actually a mix of red, gold and orange) effect is good too.

Anyway, it will be available at the Abstrakt Event, 15th January to 5th February, then available in the mainstore. I'll tell you what it's priced at when the event opens!

salvation's here, it's really quite a find

One of the more annoying features of the Eternal Headache is my innate tendency to say "I'll do the thing later" being expanded to ridiculous proportions. Case in point, the Gothmas Holiday market event, which opened December 15th. It's now the 23rd, and I just got a notice that said this is the last weekend.

So, here I am, Lindenless and trudging through the snow, because at the VERY LEAST I can blog about the next release from /Vae Victis\ BEFORE the damned event shutters for the year!

Honestly.

(Because this is also a rush to get out, no frames on this one. I just don't have the time...though I may go back later and upload things after the fact? But it will be after the fact.)



First, there are two versions. One that rings the bell via clicking on it, and one that rings the bell via HUD. (Wandering demon not included, and I did have to do a wee bit of editing to make her mostly SFW.)



I am...not entirely sure...? If the bell actually makes a sound? Though it's probably easy to find a good bell-ring around and about, and pop it in, because the bell is mod.



This is the bell in winter whites, so you can see the detail work.



Grim picked a gorgeously deep cobalt for the blue, and the gold has the same option the reds have--either solid color, or stained-glass crackle.



And yes, there is a pastel pink, and a rich bold pink, to appeal to Byx Button's candyfloss heart.

You can find the bell at the /Vae Victis\ booth at Gothmas, through today and Saturday, and possibly Sunday? It's L$350, which for this level of detail and care is kind of phenomenal. So act fast if you want it!

as I walk out the door singing "next team, next team"

Eight days since the last entry, ye gods. This is a facet of my "I will do the thing, I will I will, just...later" mentality right now. Well, it's now LATER, Em, so DO THE THING!



Which plonks me full in the 4th Christmas Wonderland event hosted by Rani Rosenhauch, carrying around a heckin' huge staff.



This is the Nix Solis staff, which is a collaboration between Arkivet and /Vae Victis\, designed for the Winter's Hollow event (now open).



Gotta show off the detailing, because that's the best part of any creation from these two--and yes, the inner part of the snowflake finial (is it finial in staves? The top bit, I mean) does move.

It has an animation hud with five poses, and a tinting hud with--HOLY CARP--

Okay, wait, brane can do this. Brane can do thing. Hold on.



All right. Not the most complementary colors--and that is not a knock for Grim or Mesmer, the designers; if anything, that's a knock for my current level of fractured concentration--but I tried to give some idea of tinting possibilities.



And this is it with everything in icy frosted tones.

It took a bit, but I found their booth at the event. Where this will set you back L$450, but keep in mind that's with a fully customizeable tinting hud with an embarrassment of color options, and its own pose hud to boot!

It's so pretty...

If you like to dress for the winter season, if you, say, have a folder of ice-colored skins to wear during the course of December...you need this staff. If you like finely-crafted, detailed accessories, you need this staff. If you haven't yet found the perfect gift for the holiday-obsessed someone in your life, the vendor has a gift option...

...either way, you probably need this staff. Enjoy!

(I never have any idea what I'm wearing in terms of details, but I'm going to start trying, so, in some rough order:

Winter coat: from siss boom, their "Nanook"
Hair: ADE's "Aura" in Large
Eyeshadow: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics' "[mock] Glitter Pop eShadow [Synjari Tierra]" [and I tried every SLUrl in her profile, none of them lead to her, so Mocksoup Graves may be gone for good]
Lips: Jade lips in Purple [which has now become Oceane Body Designs, so--I guess look for it there?]
Body is from Maitreya
Shape is still heavily tweaked from a freebie shape picked up in 2008 from AWESOME DESIGNS [she's now apparently just on Marketplace] (also, I no longer remember the name of the shape, but the description still slays me: "Exotic DD Cup Gorgeous and So intelligent!"<]
Eyes are from Inkheart [now only on Marketplace], his "Hades" line in "Toxic Green"
Skin is from SEVEN's "Noellia" line in Apricot [no longer available, it was an Advent gift several years back, it just became my default]
And I'm wearing FOXCITY's facelight designed for photography.)

leave home, feel the wind blow

[15:17] Tree Rat (treerat): Is this thing broken?
[15:17] Iradium Piros (raaseer): No
[15:17] Baran Breen: which
[15:17] Tiana (malkia4657): Nope
[15:17] Bowno Scarbridge: Many things are broken in the world.
[15:18] Riot Hax: the thingermabob is broken the contraption is working well
[15:18] Tree Rat (treerat): Kintsugi makes it all better.
[15:18] Stitches (angrynoob): Every cog in Contraption is mal-aligned
[15:19] Tree Rat (treerat): Keeps things nice and off-beat.

Have I mentioned how much I love the Contraption store group? I really do.

Today and yesterday, and possibly over the weekend too, the SLEA--the Second Life Endowment for the Arts--is having their "Crystal Carnival". The dance stage is amazing. As I'm still recovering, I'm not going to fancy up the shots, but it deserves to be seen.



The main view just using the cam behind me--I'm the person in pale blue you can't see against the pale blue ice.



Violet Scrivener, the DJ, put up the spinning pink tree so people could touch that for ice dances. Neat.



A more complete shot of the stage.



Cam spun to the left to take in more of the build. Front right is a wood-fired pizza oven. I'm amused.



And Violet herself, dancing atop a rocking horse made of ice. Neat.



Finally, camming out behind Violet, taking in the whole dance stage.

This is beautiful. And there's so many little details you really need to be on the ground to pick up. Which, thankfully, we may get more chances to experience, with or without Violet, because--in tracking down the SLEA blog, I discovered the event is running until February 28th!

So plenty of time if you want to traipse by and view the contributions by SLEA artists to the project, dance on the ice, or listen to whomever's playing at the time. Enjoy!

now, if you'd take a look around, you could see the sights and all the sounds

Sometimes I find myself at loose ends, and tonight, I didn't feel like sorting inventory, so...I went wandering.



Snoweeta is interesting. They actually have an ice wall.



I have always hated these type of trees RL, they always seem like they're wounded, with the cut-backs of new branches and the overgrowth of bark. And now someone's brought them into SL. Why?



Then there's Old Town Winterland. They have two skating rinks. This is the smaller of the two, which is also the port-in point.



This is the bigger one, still with traces of both Christmas and New Year's events.



How about 'Tis the Season? The port-in-point is by a train, and...that seems familiar...



Lots of fun cuddle spots, plus, I now realize this is Moochie, the former sim of Hello Dave nails, so it's good to know she's still kicking around. In decorative sim form, at least.



Next up: the Ville de Coeur in Borgogne Hospice. There is a lot going on here.



Oh, hey, it's a horse-riding sim? I may have to come back with one of my horses!



Last, I hit Peaceful Dreams, and realized I'd taken too many pictures, which is why everything's a smaller size than usual.



But it turned out to be a very peaceful walk, lots of neat places to pause and take pictures. So that's not terrible.

take a chance, we can dance up in mid-air (part two)

More from the ice-skating event in Christmas Town!



Skating through Whoville brought us to the rather infamous National Lampoon movie--and while it and Christmas Story aren't my favorite holiday films by a long shot, I know a great many people are nostalgic for them. And while this is mostly artfully posed cutouts, and the shortest section of any of them, it demonstrates the film's highlights very well.



And then...Polar Express. And while I admit the CGI used in this film gets more and more Uncanny Valley every year, it's still such a heartwarming piece.



And then Frozen, because of COURSE Frozen, why wouldn't there be Frozen? And the Frozen set they really put some work into, it's...magical.

Now, this is where it got odd for me...Past Frozen, you skate past a big WAKE UP sign, and that part's okay, nothing wrong there, you fell asleep to start this, but...



...then you pass paparazzi?? And...cheering crowds?? The huh?



And then you're back on the lake.

Now, you can get off there, and be happy with the trip. Or, you can stay in pose, and you'll skate through the whole town in a huge curving loop, which makes the whole thing--from the front pad with the pose sets to the end of the ride after the town finale--about twenty or thirty minutes, all told. It's not a short piece.

But probably because of that, it is an experience, and one I heartily recommend. The rating is moderate, and there's nothing unsafe for even the littlest of littles or the most venerable of the aged to be offended at. It's just charming start to finish, and a great deal of fun.

Five out of five candy canes, do go if you get the chance!

take a chance, we can dance up in mid-air (part one)

So let me tell you about an ice-skating event in Christmas Town. Lady Justine tipped me to this--walk (carefully) across the frozen lake from the flagstones to the big glowing castle, and pick your choice of journey--single skating, or couples. They're equipped for both. Turn off your music, say yes to the HUD control (it's small, you won't even see it), and off you go.



See? Big glowing BRIGHT blue castle.

So, the conceit of this is that you've fallen asleep somewhere, and you're dreaming about various holiday movies. There's a great bit of moving-clock action as you go into the first film...



...which is of course "It's a Wonderful Life", and they did a great job with very muted colors and lots of shades of grey.



Next up: Christmas Story, and while the cut-outs of the characters are a bit pale and reflective, it gets the point across. Past the flagpole, we skate into the house, and out into...



...Charlie Brown! Which was all bright colors and Schultz drawings against shadow, VERY effective.



Charlie Brown leads us to the Grinch, and again, the cut-out's a bit reflective and static, but the Whohomes of Whoville are lovely little structures, and it's a fun moment.

Next up: the rest of the skating tour!

I heard it's so sharp, but I had to just go on

No. This is a direct game rip from the second Alice game. Stop it.

For anyone who might be looking for free or discounted male skins, Ryan Schultz lists two offers on his blog that might still be available. Go see if they still are!

This one is yet another case of, "Is it Em, or are they really naked?" To wit:



I'd gone to the store in question on a hunt. They had an obscure hint, so I'd been there for a while before I finally decided, in total frustration, that maybe they meant something sparkling outside. So I cammed out, and saw...her.



And I won't lie, I got distracted. So there I am, standing motionless in the store. My "vision" via cam is focused outside on the snow. Watching her. Watching her not rez anything in.

No hair. No accessories. No shoes. No outfit. Nothing. Just...what looked for all the world like a bare system body in system lingerie. And not even all that much of that, as can be seen by the censoring.

And yet, her avatar listed things I could not see. Earrings. Necklace. Hair. Heels. Outfit. I was so confused. I actually had to look it up, because it really seemed like there was no way she was in a mesh body. But apparently she was, the eBody Classic, to be specific. Baffling, but there it was.

Fifteen minutes of the two of us standing in place while I waited for anything, even one single thing, to rez in, before I gave up on seeing anything magically appear on her, and the hunt item I was searching for, and left. Just odd.

In the meantime, I ran into a cartoon avatar in Second Life. No, wait, hear me out, I'm not using the term as an insult.



This is Ms. G. From the hair to the heels, she's perfect, if we're talking animated characters. Her eyes (which, alas, censoring prevents me from showing you, but they are a very pretty intense green) are overlarge, her hairstyle is vintage, her legs are thin, her hands are tiny. But taken as a total package, it works.



She's very Daphne. Seriously, check it:



See? Or for a more 'lifelike' look, try Daphne Clamel, a pinup model from the 1960s. (Some of her images are NSFW, that one is SFW.)

However one interprets it, though, this is definitely a tightly planned look. She is the avatar she wants to be. This is the body she wants to live in. I admire people who commit totally to their representations.