now and then there's a light in the darkness

Let me give you another good reason to keep wearing masks. This is dire news. Be safe out there. In the meantime...



Welcome to Hell Castle.



The theatre seems to be the one place that isn't haunted on this parcel, but they have some nifty lobby posters.



And they have a chain ride! So here...we...GO!



There is some spider action, but only here, right past the entrance.



I ended up going through this ride twice, just because I loved this section so much. So, the rest of it moves like your standard chain ride--jerk forward, see set pieces, jerk forward again, new room...but in this passage, the coffin car spun 45 degrees diagonally so that people in mouselook could see each painting change. That's pretty nifty coding.



And I never felt movement up, but we're on the second floor. That's pretty neat too.



I have left out a couple rooms, because they weren't as fun as the rest? But there are some zombies, some floating heads, in other rooms, at least one very familiar split-head dog (it's from a video game, or a movie; I just can't place it right now), a tunnel of reaching hands, and the traditional spiral-of-doom passthrough...



This was also nice. A tunnel passage that managed to be eerie and atmsopheric without dripping gore or triggering repetitive screams on the soundtrack. Neatly done.

There's something like five or six other haunted houses on the parcel, I may go back and see what they are, but if nothing else, any other fan of chain rides in SL needs to check this out. Pretty good job all told. Four out of five skulls.

all consumed and convinced as ever, but where were you?

I can't make this stuph up. I really can't. This happened. Up to and including the chicken cuddling.

Bizarre. Anyway, we move on.

So, the Dare Designs controversy--minimal as it was--is pretty much over, but it did lead me to this entry, and all sorts of wondering over who, honestly, truthfully, the Labs think their clients are.

Seriously, now. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm not sniping (at least, not without damned good reason): I'm dead serious. Earnest, even. Who do they think we are? Who do they see us as being?

They certainly don't see us as adults wanting adult toys. They moved everyone they could over to Zindra and then broke Search. I'm not saying the two are connected, but killing Search as effectively as they did pretty much killed a third of all Adult-based businesses outright, and many are hanging on, stubborn and determined, hoping beyond hope their sales pick up.

They certainly don't see us as fans of music and theatre, as often as they show that in their promotional vids. If they did, they'd have better tools by now for both live performance, and live music, and lo these many years later--they don't. They just don't.

They don't see us as premium account holders, or they'd have found a better resolution than instituting insane script and prim limitations on homesteads--because homesteads as they functioned originally worked for user retention, premium account retention, and on top of that, required that at least one full sim holder owned (but could sublet) all homesteads; thereby encouraging full sim ownership as well.

But they botched that entirely, so obviously, they don't see the residents of the grid as being devoted to recurrent fees (for membership) and virtual real estate (which reinforces the recurrent fees).

They don't see us as wanting to sell things (which sadly, still gives me personal evidence on the Labs' attempted killing of user content on the grid theory), or they'd have made the Marketplace more fluid and less...well...buggy? Error-ridden? Problematic to use and fix? Likely all three.

And they don't really seem to see us as in-world shoppers, only off-the-grid shoppers (which, to be fair, there's good evidence that most people do prefer to shop off-world, so they own that one).

And, as we all know now, they don't see us as being invested in virtual education or training, or they wouldn't have pulled the bonehead stunt of raising all the fees rapidly, in an extremely short amount of time, unless said institutions are large enough, and wealthy enough, to move within the next two months and pay out two years of land fees at once.

So who do they see us as? What category of end user do they actually want for their product? Because--in all seriousness, here--if they're not thinking entertainment, sex, shopping, fashion, land ownership, entrepreneurship, education, dance, or games--good gods, what's left?

Who do the Lindens want to be on the grid, using their service? I would adore finding out the answer to this question. But I think, as with nearly every other question I've posed here, no answer will be forthcoming.

in platform double-suede, yeah, there she was

[3:22] Fawkes Allen: I will kiss the first person to make a decent Windlight setting for builders

You heard it here first. Get working on that.

In the meantime, we'll be making new product announcements for the store, along with story details for the larger/stranger items, over on AUTOGENICA! Yay, we have a store blog!

Anyone who retails through us, I'm thinking, will have the option of posting access, if desired. So far that's only two additionals, but as neither's strictly confirmed, can't announce it.

I'm back to building dresses; I think I have a few good new ideas, but alas, so little period. I think I'm skating them in Penzance under the heading of 'costumerie', which is not precisely accurate. Still.

And life goes on. Now, y'all pardon me, I have to go pay rent.

you're making rain, and you're just in reach

Not that I necessarily want this journal to be a center for apologia, by any means, and I'm not entirely convinced she doesn't have someone else in mind, but...based on yesterday's happenings, I might well have offended Miss Persephone Gallindo somehow, so, here I am again, cap in hand, begging for forgiveness.

Let me preface this by saying, the problem with my partially-transparent floor in our Penzance establishment? Was not due to anything Miss Gallindo may have done, it was in the floor I installed. And yes, as it happens, the fix for it? Unlink the floor; remove that one prim; copy over a new prim in its place; voila, floor fixed now, we can stop sinking through it like warm taffy.

(Thank you, Mr. Breed, by the way, for that inspired suggestion.)

At any rate, if I have ever given Miss Gallindo evidence to believe I am dissatisfied with my shop or home in Penzance, let me rush to her defense. She's done a truly lovely and phenomenal job. Start to finish, she tells me, the Penzance build--before homes came in and shops were filled--was three hundred prims. Three hundred alone. That includes the theatre, I do believe.

Phenomenal. Did I say that? I mean it. Incredible, also.



(At the corner of my plot by the theatre, looking down Savoy.)

We also have the Caledon Gaiety, which, while not officially open yet, is, to date, one of the most impressive and breathtaking structures I've seen yet on the grid. Let me not damn Miss Gallindo with faint praise on this--the texturing will take your breath away, the vivid details will nearly bring tears to your eyes, and that's without anything that may happen on stage!

I'm given to understand there will be at least one winter show, put on by Mr. EllisDee Welinder, which sounds terribly amusing indeed. It may or may not be the theatre's opening event.



(The lovely Miss Howe practicing in the Gaiety.)

I live within walking distance of our store, now, too, and I have to say, I have missed that with a keenness nigh until pain, the ability to walk from home to work. If I'm not at home, retexturing, building clothes, or sleeping--I've been seen in the store, packaging things up, putting in the upper floor, setting things out. I still have many eyes to finish and set up for sale, and I need to remove items from my vendor that were in there as placemarkers to make sure the system worked, but...upstairs, where Kartiny now lives, is starting to come together. I also have out a set of sixty-eight tin ceiling textures I'm quite proud of--in case you're interested, I'm selling that in a single pack for L$500, which doesn't make back my upload fees, even, but they're so gorgeous, I really wanted people to be able to pick them up.



(Looking into the store from Pirates' Road, at Fawkes Allen Designs and CiCi, his clockwork girl. Upstairs is Kartiny.)

In addition to the Caledon Gaiety, Penzance is going to be a performing sim for many diverse arts. It's not just theatre and singing, burlesque and dance numbers. It's also machinima, and the "PENZANCE" sign above Professor Oolon's studio alludes to this wonderfully well.



(Pausing just before the studio sets off the main telehub.)

Don't let me mislead you in the least, though--in addition to being a center for culture and commerce, it's also a place for home and hearth--and I do believe we have some of the most breathtaking examples of the Victorian "painted ladies" style of abode, festooned with architectural gingerbread and elegantly detailed. Taking a walk along the thoroughfare, there's so very much to charm the eye.



(Pausing by one such example, complete with Blue Bayou rose arch. By the way, if you favor the arch? You can find it at Miss Soleil Snook's garden center--she's selling it as the "Lilac Rose Arch".)

Penzance also borders Caledon Mayfair. Perhaps taking influence from it, perhaps developing on our own, Penzance seems to have few fixed architectural styles, and neither does Mayfair. Both seem, to me, at least, reflective of genteel vacation villages, bustling during the season and somnolent when the sun's not out. This may change, surely, we are just starting out--but in the meantime, we have garden spaces, grand designs, and all that's theatrical in between.



(An overview shot of Caledon Mayfair, from above.)

Caledon Mayfair also has something that makes me happy to live in Penzance--a lending branch of the Caledon Library. I was overjoyed to find this--again, not some small distance from my home!--so it will be easy indeed to acquire new reading materials!



(Shot of the interior of the Caledon Mayfair Branch Library.)

Finally, we come to the spot at the top of the central hill, Miss Virginia Tombola's airfield. Frequently in the air above Penzance can be seen various and sundry flying machines, both those build to soar the air, and...well...more experimental devices. I never thought I'd be so thrilled to see planes in the air again, but I love watching them wing by.



(Standing in front of the one currently parked biplane, looking towards Savoy Road.)

All in all, it's charming, it's convenient, it's centrally placed, and if ever I cast aspersions on it in the least, I most humbly beseech Miss Gallindo to forgive me, for it is my home, and I am passionately in love with it.

Do visit, if you get a chance. You won't be sorry you did.

I sing of you in my demented songs

The Dollhouse, for all it was pretty--and disturbing--put me into an odd mood. Being riven from my statue for so many days--and so many days yet to come--sunk me just a bit lower. To cheer the mood, I went to the Halloween Horror Village in Antiqua Paradise.



Obviously, I wasn't thinking clearly here, either. The natives are surprisingly vicious.



Something dark moved in the Myers House. I was drawn forward to see for myself.



I didn't know whether I was more appalled at the wallpaper or the sign. Someone had actually decided to keep pods? They couldn't be serious.



They were! I nearly got bodysnatched in the Pod Garden! I didn't think I was sleepy!

Or that porcelain and wires were that tasty...



Yes, the board said, but yes to what? I couldn't remember asking a question...

I edged past the zombies on the dance floor and found a table with floating cards.

It asked if I wished a full layout, or a three-card spread. I chose the three-card. Of course I thought of the statue come to life, and the pale rose, and me standing between them.



The cards whirled, shifted, and appeared. My past: the Six of Cups, reversed. It's true, I live much in the past, I choke on nostalgia. Outworn friendships? Acrimonious partings? Oh, yes. And disappointment?

Enough disappointment to fill the cups and drown, yes.

I looked at my present and sighed. The Hanged Man. Life in suspension, standing in the crossroads, waiting, always waiting. A time of rebirth, yes, and reinvention, and what is my life now but that? Reinventing myself after love's loss. Reinventing myself after the loss of my main means of employment here, and learning who that makes me now.

The cards spoke too clearly. I looked to the future card and saw the Queen of Wands, reversed. My heart quailed.

While the Court cards traditionally represent people, and this one in particular, a strict woman, dark-haired, domineering and vengeful, deceitful and jealous...capable of great bitterness and great infidelity...I'm reflecting on an earlier conversation and cringing.

Though my demoness and I have parted, still, I can tie to her now and again. And she does so want to return, to walk the world...

I couldn't leave without asking for clarification, as dangerous as that might be.

I touched the card of my past. Of course, the Wheel of Fortune, reversed. Everything that the Wheel of Fortune righted is not--failure of enterprises, bad luck, unexpected happenings. Outside influences. That's been true, too.

I turned to my present. The High Priestess, also reversed. Lack of understanding, selfishness, shallowness, refusal to see the truth--oh, yes. That's been true, too.

Finally, I touched the card of my future. Also reversed, and the Ace of Wands. Setbacks for new things? Selfishness for chosen goals. Lack of determination.

The future wasn't looking so good, if the cards spoke truth, and if they were simply toying with me, that didn't bear much thinking on, either.

I left the house and the natives again grabbed me when I wasn't paying attention.



*sighs* Now I have to get scorch marks off porcelain. This is no good, I'll have to come back later. At least flesh is more ready to heal....

my ship would leave the country, but I'd rather swim ashore

Not that I spend much time talking about my (minimal) design skills, but since I threw together enough stock to start Kartiny on SLX and ShopOnRez, I've noticed what's been selling...and what hasn't been.

My public has finally convinced me. I will concentrate my efforts in future on small picture frames and similar objet d'memorabile, and...bloodstained dresses.

*ghoulish smile*

Hey, it's not my fault if the bloodspatter sells!

MUAHAHAHA....I mean, well, anyway. Until the end of October, everything that's not crimson-spattered, or frame-shaped, or fractally designed...with few exceptions, has been drastically reduced in cost. Then at the end of October, the bulk of my inventory gets deleted.

Should be fun finding new designs. In that sense of tearing my hair out....and onward.

This is a random collection of scattered images. Most are from Octoberville. (We're still working our way through the sim.)



Fawkes Allen in Octoberville. Before the boom.



BOOM!



Just in case anyone had doubts about the GINORMOUS HUD Octoberville is giving out?

There you go. GINORMOUS HUD.



Panjen is known--and well known--for innovative skin designs. This October? They might get known for this stirrable cauldron, complete with ingredients you can add to change the color!



Back to Killtower. Sittable pumpkins. Hee. Just for photo ops?



Eep! I walked through the curtains at the back of this theatre, only to face haunts and scarily alert floating eyes!



I got too close to one and all of them turned to watch me. VERY unnerving.

Octoberville, I guess, is where CHED comes from, Miss Christine.



Seven's Selections, in addition to wings, does offbeat little avatars. This one redefines the physics--it's an actual six inch pixie.



Think I'm kidding? That's Miss Neome as her pixie-fied self, and me next to her. She is TINY.



Me in Sleepy Hollow. Playing with angles, mostly.



Me trying to figure out what all the pumpkins were staring at, in Sleepy Hollow.



Finally, from a haunted-house tour I haven't yet posted...an interactive AI in whitespace. Really, she answers questions and everything. And they have her in the middle of a haunted house.

Eeep.

nunc et in hora mortis

This is just a short tip.

It might have been confusing, since I'm writing about my life, here, and suddenly, I'm writing about a character I play in Lumindor. It's confusing to me, too--full-immersion theatre is new.

So I'm instituting a new policy--if the bulk of the post is about Lumindor, not those outside it--I'm putting a small ((RP MODE)) at the top of those entries.

Hopefully that will help ease some confusion.