a world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams

This...is Angel Oaks.



Fapple's an interesting little store. I'm sure they have PG furniture as well, but I discovered them because I was on an idle search for femdom pieces. For...reasons.

They cover a surprising amount of sub-genres--maledom, femdom, petplay, very tasteful BDSM devices of all kinds...if nothing else, it's an intriguing walk through a set of interconnected hallway showrooms.



But Angel Oaks is something else. It's an all-in one--enclosed skybox, fully furnished playspace, environmental effects (there's a waterwheel), and everything is set in this gloriously subdued eternal twilight that is very easy on the eyes, in person.



My Duke was amused with how enchanted I was with it, and while I did not bring it up to get him to buy it--it is fairly costish, coming in just under five thousand Lindens--he decided to buy it for me anyway, as a housewarming gift.

It's the closest thing I've found on the grid to a truly Unseelie space, since Lumindor.



While it is set within its own small grove of night trees, and rises out of a quiet, still pond, it's technically a set of three interconnected platforms--one central, one lower, and one in a small gazebo up a set of stairs.

This is one of the bat-winged lights that ring the gazebo.



I should point out that, in this shot and the one following, the ring of stones (a handy teleporter) was added, the rug was added, and the Royal Scandal lounger from Black Sun on the lower platform. I also exchanged one of the two chairs that was on the central platform with one I had in inventory. But everything else--the two cages, the throne in the gazebo and the two chairs on the main platform, the rugs under them, the small tea table, the photos and arches behind the chairs, the floating hot-air balloon chandelier and the scenery--all of it comes with the skybox.



I like it here. I could live here. Well, hells, I do live here at least part of the time. No, there's no bed, but...I don't really need it for sleeping, after all.

But yes, sometimes I do go here just to sit quietly and sip tea, and breathe in the twilight glow. It's...incredibly calming.

I'm so happy I own this little bit of the faelands. It matters.

I might be lost somehow, have strayed from the fold

Well, today was the snapping point. I have given up and gotten my own place again.



Look...here's the thing. I'm an understanding person. I believe in polyamory. I believe in not treading on my partners' privacy, if they want to be with other people, and it's not understood to be a threesome or moresome situation. This is not a jealous twinge, is what I'm saying.



But I am beyond tired of logging in and being told "Hey, I have company", and I then have to invent a place to poof to that's either on a roleplay sim I'm not dressed for, or my work studio. Which a), is on a homestead so frequently I end up crashing once I port there, and b), I really only use for, well, work. Right?



And it's not the place I wanted. Hardly. While I do like both the people managing the Fantasy Skyboxes chain (a grand mix of skyboxen, ground homes and RP of medieval, fae and Game of Thrones variety), and how easy it is to rent there...it wasn't my choice. I am so not the beach bunny archetype.



And I'm going to have to remember, every time I come here, to set it for sunset or midnight, because--well, just LOOK at the first three pictures! All that sun! It's disturbing!



But...it's also cheap. Right now this annoying beach cabin is costing me L$199 per week. I can manage that. I can set home here and always have a 'home' to go to...if I get kicked out, again, of the home I have now because...there's company over who doesn't know I live there.

Cue aggrieved sigh.

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, you won this time

Do you know the history of the .mp3? NPR wasn't sure we did, so went to Karlheinz Brandenberg to get the real story. It's fascinating, uneasy-making stuph.

And you will never see me on this hunt. Talk about missing the point...in all directions!

Looking for a terrifying avatar? I can help you with that.

The FTC has finally stepped in and forced Linden Lab to change their "Become your avatar!" campaign, on the charge of false advertising. You can see the revised before and after pictures on Miss Questi's blog.

(Yes, yes, it's a parody...but seriously, that would be cool if they did it that way.)

And this is one of the most impressive images I've seen from a Second Life photographer. My eyes keep telling me it's real; that the combination between the exquisitely textured sign, and the veiling of approaching night, manage to remove the computerized component entirely. Would it still feel "real", to me, at any other time of day? Likely not, but as it is, it's stunning.

Meanwhile...in a texture group far, far away...

[20:57] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: sprinkles the otter with pink glitter...
[20:58] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: dear santa thane, id like a martini the otter hasn't stirred with her paws... that is all
[20:58] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: NO!
[20:59] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx dabbles her paws in ALL THE MARTINIS
[21:00] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: --==crate=--
[21:01] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: AAAAGH NOT THE CRATE!!
[21:00] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: hehehehe
[21:01] Emilly Orr: So first we had an otter covered in pink glitter. Then we had otter retaliation by stirring all the martinis. Does that mean we now have martinis with pink glitter in them?
[21:01] Emilly Orr: Is it edible glitter, at least?
[21:01] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: it is! like kid proofing the house, we have otter proofed this group
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: havent!
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: well - maybe for a while - gotta go to beta grid
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: but Ill be back!
[21:02] Emilly Orr: You forgot the MUAHAHAHAHA.
[21:03] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx prances off giggling darkly to herself
[21:03] Emilly Orr: Close enough.

Seen at Patron, spinny people:

(from the random album)

Sculpted by Miss Eliza Wierwight (she also owns the Patron sim), the entire installation slowly rotates under a giant red balloon, and it's far more impressive in person. Do go look.

And there's a certifiably angry bird at La Boucherie:

(from the random album)

See? Angry. Really angry.

Seen at The Cube, the sculpture "Womanflower":

(from the random album)

This one was worth going back through to check again, because I wanted to name the artist. (She's Yaiza Galicia, by the way. She's also got a Marketplace store where you can purchase her sculptures at insanely reasonable prices.) The Cube gallery is a linked set of installation spaces, with artists that rotate in and out taking each of the cubes, or only some. If you go, they're happy to send you an invite to their group to keep up to date on the artists in residence.

If you're wondering how J.J. Abrams will do directing the Star Wars reboot, other fans are wondering the same thing. Ross Thompson did a trailer mash-up of both films, just to find out what it might be like.

Do you like zombies? Do you like teddy bears? Ever wonder what you'd get if you mixed the two? I can now answer that, also.

And there's a lot of Kickstarter project videos that start with the fairly artificial "surprise" angle--"Oh hey, I didn't see you there!" Kickstarter's finally made a video montage of projects that have used this angle.

Finally, there's a movement afoot against lives of indulgence and overspending. People are finding smaller spaces, and learning how to live in them; sometimes by building them, sometimes by buying or renting them. Felice Cohen is one of these people, who started out living in a tiny, tiny space, but--due to publicity and sub-leasing restrictions--now lives in a much larger one.

The bit about that which I think is important: she misses her old space. She misses feeling like everything she loved was nearby. I think making the sacrifice to live in smaller spaces means we find out what's truly important to us, and we work on making that feel like home (or reflect the home we have). Instead of what we think we 'should' have, or 'should' be working towards, we work on what we need.

More of us need less than we think we do, to be happy.