funny, how it seems that all I've tried to do, seemed to make no difference to you at all

Yesterday's post garnered a mention on the Zindra Times; I'm always happy to be mentioned, but now I'm wondering--because the extreme drop in profits? Has been going on for months in Zindra.

This is old news. Even the mention of adult content makers returning to the mainland is old news.

But then, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Likely anyone who's noticed a drop in sales either thinks it's them (which is usually not the case), or talks to Support about it--and anything from the Labs about Zindra is probably "Oh, you'll be fine, it's a momentary spike, everyone's picking up on sales. You will too."

Bah.

Jason Calacanis figures out how to kill Google. I don't personally think it would kill them, outright, but injure them? Likely. Would major media companies go for it, now that Google has become a verb? Who knows?

From the same fellow: "You don't make a revolutionary product by trying to beat a competitor who's an incumbent. You make a revolutionary product by looking three steps ahead, and saying, let's get to that place, and get to that place before that person even knows that that place exists." It's a very good point.

Some very random images from some very random places.



(The view of the Motherfunkin' Haunted Maze as a whole, set within a megaprim Hellraiser cube. Damn, I wish I'd known that beforehand.)



(An odd view of my avatar at DV8; the face, no matter where I turned, was this odd blackened tone. Something about their lights, that evening, or Snowglobe's responsiveness, or my own computer's oddity? Who knows? Has this happened to anyone else?)



(During a hunt at Dare Designs, in one of the farther chambers, I found a float tube with an animation ball. It took a bit to cam in there, but once I had, I found myself floating and spinning in a frosted glass tube. Neat.)



(Now that Octoberville is over for the year, I can start filtering through the images I captured there. This was a stroke of odd luck--the black box wherein the three colored keys were found disappeared as I was taking the picture, I paused to refresh when the box--invisible, but with the keys glowing--moved elsewhere on the sim, and snapped it then. It made a very ethereal image.)



(There were seven ghosts in Octoberville this year, named after the seven deadly sins. This was Wrath's room, a room of blood and red rage, weeping and screaming. Daunting effect.)



(This is Serenity Semple, post-Uchi avatar head mod. She used to be your fairly standard purple-haired bright-eyed white fluffy winged kitten (*snerks*), but Uchi Desmoulins (Desmoulins? The same av behind the Felis av of song and story) put out a cat avatar, and she extensively modded the head, then adapted bits and pieces of both avatars into a slimmer, more realistically anime-style fur.

(The bigger picture leads you to one of the cutest Serenity moments EVER. Even surpassing some of the images seen on her blog. )



(Sometimes, sims are very cool before things rez in. This is Le Petit Prince at sunset.)



(At one point during the festivities the Octoberville sim drowned. It was very, very odd to wander the expected halls and tunnels, past the burning cabins, into the haunted house....all drifting and blue, murky and underwater. It was very surreal.)



(Another shot, higher in Octoberville--the only place, in fact, that remained mostly dry: the Pumpkin patch, the carnival tents, and most of the Pumpkin House.)



(And have I mentioned we got on the wall on Octoberville, again, this year? I think the count stopped--due to lag and other issues, several days past October 31st--at #200.)

"When islands in Second Life sink, they don't even leave stones." (Crap Mariner)

Repo in Second Life is gone, temporarily or permanently--the sim that Falln designer Azriel Demain designed, the labor of love for all involved, has sunk with barely a whisper beneath the virtual waves.

I have pictures. I'm just not ready to deal with all of that, just yet. I'm still saddened from the loss.

spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

More from Sanitarium Island.



(With the advent of Zydrate and better organ-transfer procedures, organ theft is a serious concern.)

Mr. Rottissimo Shilling is the leader of GeneCo in Second Life, and he is no less firm on the ravages of organ theft as his movie predecessor. Repo postulates a society where organ theft, and black market organ transfer, are not ethical concerns but financial ones: with the development of genetic medicine, vat-grown organs removed and transplanted became an issue of commerce, not morality.



(The Bates Motel...in Repo?!?)

All right, I admit, finding this amused the hell out of me. The marquee sign of the Bates Motel, urging enjoyment of the courtyard pool.



(Don't let the children in there.)

The, err...courtyard pool. But that does bring up an interesting point: Shilo, in the movie version, is the only child we see, and even she's a young adult by the time the story opens. We hear of her mother's mythic pregnancy, and the hazards surrounding it; but it begs the question of what the rest of the society is doing. Has pregnancy become that lethal? Is everyone more afraid of dying, than passing on their genes?

Where are all the children of Repo??



(Pirate radio stations advertise in the same governmental font on back alley posters. There's somewhat sketchy evidence for the pirate radio broadcasts being government owned and operated--maybe...)

One would assume that in a culture devoted to life at all costs, Zydrate would just be a momentary inconvenience: sure, it's highly addictive, but if the alternative is organ failure and death...But the existence of a pirate radio network posits the concept that there are those who reject the lure of Zydrate, and likely from a moral standpoint, considering how Zydrate is produced.



(Graverobbers will be shot on sight.)

In a society where death walks apace with life, where death is oddly celebrated, funerary fashion is the largest fashion industry, and artifacts of the past are embraced easily and completely...graverobbing as an industry would be both embraced and rejected. Necessary, and loathed.

More to the point, though, Graverobber--reduced to a title, not a name--in Repo serves as narrator and Greek chorus, advancing the story moment to moment. He knows all, sees all, and links the tale from beginning to end.

In world, his representative is Graverobber Placebo, a devil-may-care fellow who may not be quite as erudite, but might be significantly closer to the character, as he's presented in the film.



(Even highways die.)

The twisted, mostly-destroyed suspension bridge that (once?) connected Sanitarium Island to Falln Sanitarium. Will it be repaired, or will civic funds go towards more lobbying for organ repossession to remain legal?

(A tip: though flight is absolutely not allowed--and listed as a bannable offense--on Sanitarium Island, if--once it opens--one ports to Sanitarium Island, peruses the hair and skin offerings, the howlings of the mad in the substructure, then exits the back door and walks into the ocean ravine separating the two lands...one can walk up the other side, ending up in the graveyards of dream.)



(A view of the graveyard, looking towards Nathan Wallace's home.)

The graveyard on Sanitarium Island isn't that large, all things considered, but one would imagine half the planet remaining in Repo would be memorials, commemoratives, crypts and mausoleums, gravestones and funeral statues. All the earth would be a place to mourn, one assumes.



(Looking towards Falln Sanitarium from the graveyard.)

Usually I don't cross my movies, but the sight of the taxi-cab, nearly falling into the sea, reminded me stunningly of Silent Hill for some reason.



(One of the many gravestones in the graveyard, this one set flush into the ground.)

Memorials are everywhere. As they might easily be in a society built on the dead.

There's still another entry full of pics in this to go. Stay tuned.

and when the fires came, the smell of cinders and rain perfumed almost everything

There are Chap Olympics? (Though I am highly amused by the concept of the lighting of the Olympic Pipe.)

This is going to be a very picture-heavy post.

I went to Sanitarium Island.



(The Genetic Circus.)

Currently the Repo sim is closed to the general public, but it will be open soon; it's finished.



(Change your face! Zydrate can help!)

Most of the circus tents will hold vendors to support the sim. Right now, only two of the tents are filled, and the Change Your Face tent...well, that's surgical, innit?



(Control your Zydrate intake. Join the Zydrate Support Network to learn how!)

That would be AmberSweet Swansong, I believe, if I remember correctly.



(The very imposing GeneCo headquarters.)

Sculpted and imposingly detailed.



(Follow shot of more of the sim.)

There are two of the adships floating, broadcasting advertising circulars, upcoming concerts...sim advertisements, for all I know, once the sim is open.



(Shot from the far side of the Genetic Circus.)

Complete with a (rusted, but oddly elegant) Ferris wheel, even.



(Empty building for now, but a lovely sculpture.)

Not many of the buildings have solid purposes, Dr. Wallace's home and the GeneCo headquarters aside. They will in time.



(The city relies on back alleys, skullduggery, looking the other way...there is little honesty and greater fear. Shining moments are few and far between.)

What fascinated me when I first saw this film is it seems very much as if this is the only city left on the planet. How many deaths would it take to achieve that? Mr. Azriel Demain, Repo's designer, billed it as "Sanitarium Island - an entire city built on the dead".

How many bodies does it take for a solid foundation? How many lives have to be lost before life itself loses meaning?



(Surgical addiction is the single greatest addiction the culture has to cope with...save for Zydrate, the drug used as combination anaesthetic and anti-rejection therapeutic. Both addictions feed on each other; reinforce each other; and are in many quarters considered fashionable.)

A culture devoted to medical fashion; to fashionable body modification; living in the shadow of organ failure and rejection. What changes would that make to society? What changes would that make to living our lives?

More pictures coming. And soon, the sim will open. Then...things could get really interesting.