and I'll burn my mind on this nothing

And this is how we heard:

[17:07] Cayenne Republic: store is gone
[17:07] Cayenne Republic: clubhaus is gone, find a sandbox
[17:07] Veruca Monday: :-(
[17:07] Lulubelle Muircastle: MOCK is gone?
[17:07] Emilly Orr: Oh, no.
[17:07] Emilly Orr checks the marketplace
[17:07] ĐJ Ɓrєє Rαуηє (breezimarie): :((
[17:07] Ξ Ѡ λ η η λ Ξ (wannabeekiwi.bluebird): ohh nooo
[17:07] ĐJ Ɓrєє Rαуηє (breezimarie): that's so not like her to not message. I hope she's ok.
[17:08] Ruina Kessel: :(
[17:08] Ξ Ѡ λ η η λ Ξ (wannabeekiwi.bluebird): :(
[17:08] Emilly Orr: Yes, still there, on the marketplace
[17:08] Emilly Orr: I hope she's okay too
[17:08] Cayenne Republic: she's fine
[17:08] Cayenne Republic: she's just busy with RL
[17:09] ĐJ Ɓrєє Rαуηє (breezimarie): I used to have her youtube link, but I can't find it now. Maybe someone can message her there?
[17:09] Ruina Kessel: Are you in contact Cayenne?
[17:09] ĐJ Ɓrєє Rαуηє (breezimarie): oh ok, that's great to hear!!
[17:09] Cayenne Republic: https://www.facebook.com/mockmadeup/
[17:09] Cayenne Republic: http://mockmadeup.blogspot.com/
[17:09] Ruina Kessel: ty!
[17:09] Cayenne Republic: yw :)
[17:09] ĐJ Ɓrєє Rαуηє (breezimarie): thanks for that Cayenne, just hit Like :)
[17:10] Emilly Orr: So, she's not coming back as an SL store?
[17:12] Cayenne Republic: I'd say no, since she's removed the shop from her FB page and there's no mention of second life; and the shop is gone and the space for rent ... but you can surely send her a FB message and ask lol
[17:13] Emilly Orr: Not on FB, I'll leave that to those who are, but I do wish her well.

Now, I'm still able to find her in search, so she hasn't completely deleted her avatar, but...I'm thinking, at least for now, she's done with SL. I've deleted my longstanding pick for [MOCK] Cosmetics, because it leads to land for rent now, but...I'm not sure what to do with the group. I like the people, there's some genuine good and caring hearts in there, but...if Mock's not coming back, what's the point of the group without her?

And for this one, I left the names in, because....well, just because. Still kind of tilted over the fact that Mock didn't even leave us a message before killing her store. I don't...I don't understand that.

[Update from the Editrix, 7 Jan: this notice was sent out whilst I was away from the keys.

Hello! Just an FYI that the main store is currently under re-construction. We will be working over the next few days to get everything back in place.

Thank you all for your support and Happy New Year!

Did she just...expect no one would notice the store being missing and the sim up for sale? But okay, seems like she's moving to a new sim, and she'll let us know when things are back up? So...yay?]

every angel begins at the end

So...innovations and inventions, both baffling and unique. Clip post? Why, yes, we are there again.

First, a bit on nail polish. No, not Ciaté's chalkboard manicure (though I, along with many, many others, am dying to find out how that works). But no, I'm talking about the Blow Monkey.

Seriously. They couldn't have come up with a better name than Blow Monkey? Don't misunderstand me, nail dryers of various kinds have been out for decades, and it's not a bad concept--nail polish takes a long time to dry, and if you're doing a full set--with or without fake nails adding to the drying time--it's not the worst idea to find the concept one approves of most, picking up the reasonable device within that concept, and adding it to one's manicure routine.

But...Blow Monkey. Blow Monkey. Really?

There's still a few left on Amazon, if you're really curious.

Moving to science, this is made of awesome and win. And SCIENCE. Seriously, if the ITER project works out, we could crack the secret of fusion power in my lifetime. From "it can't be done, what are you thinking?" to creation, that's impressive beyond reason.

"These fashionable totes are constructed with two main items: a roll of duct tape and a stapler."

No. No, they're not. Seriously, pick up a damn needle. Because I guarantee you, that won't hold up to a trip to the library, let alone groceries. And if all you want is some big oversized trendy thing to toss sunglasses and a paperback into, then go on Etsy like everyone else and pay too much for one. It'll last longer anyway.

Moving to childcare, how about a redesign of the baby spoon? And really cleverly done, too--not only did Spuni launch this campaign on Indiegogo, but they then decided to take their concept into the real world via fabrication printing. So, crowdfunded--which they made--for a product which will revolutionize infant feeding, no lie, and they're taking over part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard complex for manufacture--which has, for literal decades, been a decaying, unsafe series of structures slowly falling into disrepair.

Technology meets reclamation meets child-rearing improvement. I am so on board for this.

I just want to toss this out there while we're on quirky redesigns. It's more "aww, cute idea" than revolutionary and must-have, but still.

Moving to crafts, there's apparently a small-time resurgence in making ninja peg people. Now, while that can be cool and quirky and fun all on its own, I personally have this sudden temptation to make up a dozen little peg ninja at a time, then leave them on my travels out and about. It's like guerrilla crafting...only with ninja toys!

And have some Lego Iron Man 3 posters, while I'm thinking about it. What else do I have lying around...

Oh, right, I've been thinking of doing a series on various aspects of Fantasy Faire, but this year got away from me in spades. Which is kind of sad, because I promised a friend I'd do a review of at least her sim's Faire booth.

How'ver, I'm thinking this may be a good starting point for an entry on its own anyway--what RP sims in SL are getting it right, for the most part? So expect an upcoming entry (hopefully sometime next week) on that topic, so feel free to keep an eyestalk out.

And I'll leave you with the fiftieth episode of Your Grammar Sucks, which is a madcap twenty-odd minutes of skit comedy, bad grammar, baffling YouTube comments, live performance, and fan contributions. Well worth the watch. (And while you're there, have a listen to the Epic Rap Battles' second-season finale, which featured Rasputin vs. Stalin--with amusing cameos along the way. It truly deserves the term "epic".

my ship is sinking, so watch me drown

Why does this maker not have this lip? Who makes this lip?!?

And there's a new heavy metal band on the scene--literally. Massing over a ton of solid working gears and metal, they're the heaviest thing around and then some. Give them a listen.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

In the meantime, some sad news. I'm copying directly from the notecard received.

******************************
Sidney Arctor's Updates Group
******************************

22nd January 2013 Update.

Bad News Everybody :(

The Armada Breakaway Sim is going offline this weekend. :(

All has been done to save it, but there is just too much empty land.

So this will mean Arctor Ship Yards and Fabulous Contraptions will both be closed.

The most popular items from both shops are already on marketplace and will still be available, and I plan to reopen a shop somewhere eventually, but this could well the last chance to get certain items, such as individual sofas (marketplace only has sets) and most of the furniture, full perm sculpts, and dock decorations. Also, it could be a while before my cannons are available again.

As my subscribeomatic server is set up in Armada, this could well be the last update message too.

My marketplace Page is here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/22780

This shan't be the end of old Siddy tho, nor the last you hear of Armada, new adventures be awaiting in Blake Bay where building is underway, there won't be any commercial ventures but those of you who appreciate creations by me and the rest of Armada builders, drop by in future as there's going to be various fun creations to check out.

Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone in future!

Sidney. ◕‿◕

P.S.
There will be an end of Armada party on Saturday 26 from 7-9pm SLT and everyone is invited!

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

Personally, I thought Armada Breakaway was an amazing sim concept. In these harsh economic times, we must adapt or sink; and it's not news in the least to hear of another store closing, another sim disappearing. But this one is especially poignant, because it wasn't just another cookie-cutter mall plot. The entire sim was water-based, and every tenant and shopkeeper was parked on a boat, a ship, an airship, in a hot air balloon--the sense I always got was, whatever they could scavenge that could float or fly. And all of these myriad constructions were anchored one to another by rope bridges, wooden walkways, riveted planking, steel catwalks...There was a definite sense of craft, and by that, I mean, making what we have work for us, patching what we're missing, and never giving up.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

This is pure economic necessity, yes, but I don't view this as giving up. I don't think Sidney does either. But it is a major setback, and another beautiful, irreplaceable thing gone from the grid.

Though it is a sadder, emptier place right now, I'd recommend people see it before it goes up in flames for good.

I couldn't find a better man to let me go

Seen at Coco Designs:

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

May I present to you the fabulous Miss Gigy Flux, who did not know I was taking pictures of her, but who was nonetheless divine anyway.

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

People, I tear down a lot of different avatars on this blog. I always have; I likely always will. But here, heels to the top of that incredibly poufed hair, is an avatar that gets it right.

(from the Avatars album; the divine Gigy Flux)

The only shot of the back of her dress I was able to get; that one last shot, and she was gone. Fare thee well, Miss Flux; may you have truly exceptional adventures in a life full of glitter and luxe things.

Her hair was from HoB; but she ported off before I could get any other information (or compliment her on the look!).

(Also, if you're interested, Coco Designs has a free Dorothy mesh doll avatar at the beam-in point.)

Zombie lips! With real little zombies! Actually, her entire deviantArt account bears perusal, for the afficionados of makeup and costume. Which reminds me, I should pass some of these on to Miss Mocksoup, to peruse for inspiration.

More fun can be seen over here, with a blend of lip gloss, powder pigment, white eyeshadow and thin Fimo cane slices used for the effect. (You can see more in her gallery, including a Beetlejuice eye, crime scene lips, extreme bling (with a Tiffany variant), Maleficent lips, the Black Swan, a tiger eye, and a blend between the Disney and the Burton Cheshire cats. Impressive.)

And while we're on the subject of deviantArt, let me introduce you to tweebears. These may, in fact, be the world's smallest jointed bears. Most clock in at about 1/4" tall...or smaller.

they sentenced me to twenty years of boredom for trying to change the system from within

I will not offer refunds for accidental unenroiling

First off, I love that word. I have no idea what it means, but I love that word. (And yes, I know Ms. Graves meant "unenrolling", there, but...still. Unenroiling. Fun.)

I will also not make the group free if you accidentally leave for you to rejoin. It's not fair for anyone else.

Now, keep in mind, this is coming from the M.O.C.K. Cosmetics group. While I didn't pay to get in the group, if I left--for any reason--and wanted to rejoin, I would, happily, and I would not complain a single thin complaint about the L$250 join fee.

Why not? Because--while I have bought lipstick layers, eyeshadows, and full makeover sets from her over the course of the last year--the bulk of my makeup collection is group gifts she just tosses out. She's working on a concept, and she doesn't know where it's going--she'll do it up in grape or turquoise, copper or violet, and see how it looks when it's vibrant. Then she turns back to the worktable, and does it over again for smokey eyes, muted lips, neutral makeovers.

Not everything she makes is sedate; but for the most part, what her store actually carries for sale are makeup and tattoo layers that enhance subtly, or tone down the makeup your skin might actually have, or just adds another stripe of color to your existing stripe, across the eye, the lips, the cheeks.

Everything else? Whatever occurs to her in the fever of creation, and most of it she tosses to us gratis. So that L$250 fee to get in is a bargain at twice the price, no doubt in the least.

Two years after the fact, I finally get an explanation on the great Valkyrie/Dreamscape bridge debacle I covered back then (scroll down to the last two comments). How'ver, reading over my original post before the answer, I still stand behind what I said back then: it doesn't matter how personally attacked/vilified/stolen from any maker feels emotionally, imitating someone else's work to that specific extent is an act of ridiculous folly. Because it makes the maker in question look like an idiot, essentially. Rather than the injured party, noble even when wounded and bereft; because it, itself, feels like the personal attack.

I'm not wholly without blame (in the general sense) myself, in this: several years ago I put together a pack of tin ceilings. This was before I started making texture sets by hand, and ensuring that any elements I pulled from various websites were legal and in the public domain, and royalty-free. At the time I saw no problem in hitting two large makers of tin ceilings, and resizing their product images to fit the standards of Second Life.

The reason I don't sell that pack now is that--even though my digital reselling of that pack never directly lowered the profit margin of those makers of actual, RL tin ceilings--I didn't get permission to reuse the images. To me, that was something that became startlingly clear after I began to investigate digital copyright.

But here's the thing--even if I was still selling that pack of images, if someone lifted those images from the same sources I did, paid to upload them all into SL, and then made a house with them--I would never, not in a century of SL days and nights, do my best to copy that mansion down to the last detail, then use my own tin ceiling textures to provide that final, malicious retort.

Because I'm not showing the world that I had the textures first in that example. I'm showing the world what a spiteful, vindictive, petty tyrant I can be when crossed, and frankly (especially as I already have a reputation in many places for being mouthy, bitchy, and/or relationship poison anyway), that doesn't advance my cause any. That just makes me look like an easily offended loon who'd rather copy someone's else's work out of peevish resentment.

Seriously, people...if you're going to take a vocal stand against copyright infringement, the last thing you should ever consider doing is engage in any blatant copyright violation. Whether it proves a point or not, it's never going to be the right move.

lips like sugar, sugar kisses

So, I of course remembered Mocksoup Graves' question in group chat about what kind of lips she should do next. And a lot of us tossed out suggestions, but I was thinking more, where can I find pictorial evidence?

And then I found several pictures, but didn't want to upload them all, plus, some of them I'd found months past and didn't know where I did find them...and I'm not going to be getting back in world tonight.

So this is more of a placeholder, to tell me two things: first, to remind me to toss her the link to this, and second, to track down the original sources of these images (if possible). Of course, it's not that there aren't problems with my suggestions in the first place...

(from the random album)

Like this one. Real life? That kind of shine is easy. Well. Not easy, and certainly, keeping that shine up is all that model's doing until the picture's taken; because that level of high gloss will evaporate by a single sip of fluid, bite of salad, or hells, depending on where one is, even walking around outside.

But in Second Life? Gloss like that is nigh impossible. We just don't have the resources. It's all a case of trompe l'oeil, innit? Layers of paint and subterfuge to convince us we're really seeing what we're not.

(from the random album)

But I have to admit, the high gloss makes the vibrant colors so pretty. And in SL, we don't necessarily have to worry about doing much that would destroy that gloss...technically...right?

(from the random album)

Are there ways to achieve this high a shine? Your guess is as good as mine. I sheerly do not know that much about SL makeup.

*(from the random album)

(from the random album)

From random

And then there are jeweled options. Leaving out that, again, this is just a look for photographs or runway shows, would this even be possible? Or desirable, at least in SL? Talk about your nano-prim work...

(from the random album)

And we're back to shine again. And metallics in general--while there are makers of metallic skins, they all struggle with shine and light and perspective. Even makers of latex struggle with light and reflection in the virtual world.

(from the random album)

Still, I'm tempted by it. How close to solid shine can SL designers get? How close to glitter and shimmer is possible?

(from the random album)

Failing that are the pure fantasy aspects. Lipstick doesn't have to be solely confined to the lips. Eyeshadow doesn't have to just be restricted to the eyes. This is wishful makeupping! Dream big! Dream vibrantly!

(from the random album)

After all, SL is where we go to dream, whether our dreams in RL have panned out or not. And for women, those dreams sometimes converge in painted ways--in eyes, lips and cheeks that stand out, or fade back, in looking like everyone else or no one else, in standing out or stepping forward or flying away. Whatever our dreams are, they're ours.

But we need the proper looks to make it happen.

(from the random album)

We are who we dream, right?

So this is what I'd like to see. Or, at the least, I'd offer these up as inspirations, not direct suggestions. Take from them what you will, what you can use, Mocksoup; see where the art leads you. Metals. Chrome. Glitter. Shimmer. Color. Pattern. Reflection--and everything in between. Where will it lead you?

I don't know. But I'm dying to find out.

(Just to tie things up, in from the Not Posted Here discoveries--look into the 'Animal-ipstick' line from the artist Viridis Somnio, for some really amusing lip styles, or just stroll through LipFetish of an evening. Fun stuph. And there's a whole ton of two-toned pure glitter styles I'm leaving out...but man would that be difficult in SL! And I'm leaving out the pastel variants that really require evenly pale skin and pastel hair to work, but...again, this is SL.

(And you could always throw caution to the wind and go with haunted lips! Whee!)