Today’s Fast Five includes a fabulous real life/Second Life art gallery opening. You will want to dress up to attend the SL show so the RL folks can marvel at your style. A blogger is back from six month hiatus and there are great photos to check out.

1. Uberverse: Art From a Virtual World. Ballarat Art Space in Ballarat, just north of Melbourne, Australia is opening a showing of Second Life art. The opening event is 9:00PM – midnight SLT on Friday 8 March at b1 sky gallery and will be streamed onto a big screen in the RL gallery.
2. The Body Was Willing: Caoimhe Lionheart’s photo for this post are stunning. She is a great stylist and the bold use of light to blow out these photos make this an almost impressionistic explosion of color.
3. Siren’s Song: With the release of the amazing sirens from The Erare Project, there have been many mermaid photos. Shawneese Offcourse does an exceptionally sexy and dangerously alluring siren.
4. Play Ball: Cherryblossoms Resident has a cute, playful outfit that would make her the chicest basketball player in the universe. I love her boots.
5. Brushed Chiffon: Lily Eggstar is back to blogging after a six-month hiatus. She has not lost her skills one tiny bit.

Five great posts today! From high concept couture to cute and cozy, there’s a lot of variety. The non-fashion posts include a good tutorial and an example of amazing self-awareness and self-examination.

1. Thanatos: This is one for the guys. Carthalis Rossini shows off some new skins from The Men’s Department that are so striking and high concept that they make me want to see something similar for women.
2. Roxi Bluewood: Roxi Bluewood contributes a brutally honest self-examination to the Connecting: 365 SL Lives project. If only we could all be so honest with ourselves. 
3. Tips & Tricks: Winning the Inventory Cleanup Battle: Hamlet Au wrote and article for New World Notes after reading this extensive and comprehensive tutorial on inventory cleanup. Hamlet points out that the difficult work of managing our inventory is another reason to charge for excessive inventories. I will leave that debate to the comments on his article, but I did want to encourage folks to check out the tutorial.
4. Persephone: Dantelicia Ethaniel’s post features a beautiful and moving picture. I always am excited to see what she posts because she is the most free and experimental of all SL fashion photographers and bloggers.
5. Simplicity: Naraelina Ordinary’s post is adorable. I love the photo and the epistolatory format of her post. It feels like getting a letter from an old friend, cosy, confiding and casual.

Today’s fast five includes advice for selling lindens that sounds like good advice for buying lindens as well, a fabulous post that was shot with real imagination and some other worthy things to check out.

• How to Sell Lindens: Gogo explains how to maximize your money when selling lindens, though clearly the advice would also be useful for buying lindens, too. 
• Underneath This Adolescent Sky: Magenta DeVinna blogs about the Pilot Dollhouse from The Arcade Gacha. You have to check out her photos. She used such with and creativity, that I am sure this is the best use of the Dollhouse ever.
• Like Sisyphus, Only Not: This is an oh, wow! photo from Whiskey Monday. I know I just highlighted a post from her, but this is so good you don’t want to miss it just because I want to avoid repeating myself.
• Blasphemy: From our own Hybie Minx, for her fabulous travel blog. This post makes me want to go shoot there right now. I particularly love the last picture. It’s so bold and graphically striking that I can see it as a fabulous background for a photo featuring an avant garde dress.
• DJ Exclusive: Interview with…: Piedmont Cartauld has another exclusive DJ interview and you will never guess with whom. No clues, you have to go look.

Today the Hula Hoop is 50 years old. More accurately, the patented Hula Hoop is 50 years old. Something tells me that people may have put hoops around their waists and held them suspended by swiveling their hips before there was ever a patent office. I also have five great posts for you to check out .

1. Valena Vacano: Valena Vacano chronicles her long, frustrating, but ultimately successful struggle to find her niche in Second Life for the Connecting: 365 Lives project. She brings honesty and rigor to her story. 
2. Sliding, But Not Dead – Inara Pey provides a broad and reasonable assessment of Second Life’s overall health. There’s no declarations of doom, but neither any starry-eyed optimism.
3. Sugar’s Style & Grasp, Amacci – Sugar Planer put together an adorable casual outfit that makes me want to run out and tap some sugar maples, collect the sap and set it to simmering away on the wood stove.
4. Owlfit #183 – Goizane Serenity tickles my funny bone with her photo for this post. It’s cheeky and fun and I love how well she did finding a setting that suited her outfit and her idea for the post.
5. Mount Rush Moose: Today’s edition of Where’s Dim Sum just made me laugh and laugh. I love that blog!

 March 4th is not just a date, it’s an imperative. So please do march forth and check out these excellent posts that I discovered today.

1. The Heroic Imagination Project. GreenLantern Excelsior challenges people to write about their heroes in Second Life, to share stories of people helping people in SL and share. The writer explains the bystander effect which can allow people to stand by and do nothing, but can also urge and encourage people to act. Excelsior seems to hope sharing examples will elicit more heroic and helping behavior. 
2. Fantasy Faire 2013 Kickoff Announcement: Inara Pey shares the initial announcement and information for stores and creators who wish to be be involved in this huge event and RFL fundraiser.
3. 514 Words. Whiskey Monday has a thought-provoking photo that leaves the viewer filled with questions – as art should.
4. 435 – Kyrie Source always shoots such powerful photos and this is one of her most striking. Her styling often juxtaposes elements that should clash, but don’t. It’s simply wonderful to see what she can do.
5. Deathwish – This is a fabulous post from Petra Messioptra who never fails to shoot amazing photos.

 Today there are lots of fabulous photos and outfits, an interview with my ex (not by me) and  a link to a collection of some the best tutorials of the past month.

1. I  Am the Abstract – Vaki Zenovka reminds us how bold and exciting Second Life fashion can be. She takes an avant garde outfit and shoots it the with bravado it deserves.
2. DJ Exclusive: Interview with Maht Wuyts: Piedmont Cartauld interviews one of my oldest and closest friends in SL (also my ex). It’s part of a series spotlighting SL DJs that should be interesting to follow.
3. Take Courage – the Fashion For Life posts are starting and I love this one from LisaMun Aronowitz. There is something haunting and otherworldly about this photo from the pose to the styling. A feeling of stillness.
4. This is place where I don’t feel alon, This is a place where I feel at home. Neva Crystall does her usual stunning job of creating a setting that makes me want to be there. She creates such homey and lived in settings, she’s kind of the Kathy Ireland of Second Life.
5. Best of Tuts in February 2013 – While not associated with Second Life, many SL bloggers and creators are tutorial collectors and this is my favorite place to go prospecting. 

 Today I am going to take advantage of this space to direct you to an article I wrote elsewhere, but since the point of the Fast Five is to highlight the cool, interesting, amazing and important posts of other people, I will make it a Fast Six for today.

1. What I Like #90 is my article at Shopping Cart Disco. Normally this column focuses on a few select pictures that caught my eye recently and which I think illustrate great composition. This column, though, is full of suggestions for Second Life’s staff on how they could diversity their front page. 
2. The Drax Files – World Makers. Strawberry Singh does a great introduction to a new video series about Second Life that highlights the creators of our world. If you don’t smile when you hear why he began making trees, you haven’t an ounce of romance in your soul.
3. Ashasekayi Ra – This offering from Ashasekayi Ra for the Connecting: 365 Lives project really speaks to me about what matters in Second Life, the community of people and the care, support and friendship we offer each other.
4. Challenge Gallery 29: Almost. This week’s edition of Single Frame Stories is up with a dozen interpretations inspired by the word Almost.
5. My Little Walrus from Jill Narstrom is so sweet it will make your teeth hurt. I will definitely be buying that jacket.
6. Learning to Walk Again from Jolene McAndrews is great for two reasons. I think the hi-top shoes are adorable and according to the post, you can customize them six ways to Sunday. However, what I love most is the clever way McAndrews found to show off the shoes. Kudos for creativity.

Today’s Fast Five includes a great op-ed on shopping, exciting new releases and some stunning photos. Also yoga.

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Five posts worth taking the time to check out. There is a relatively important one assessing the state of the mesh deformer and of course, ones great styling and pictures. There’s also an excellent article looking at the death of Elisa Lam though personal experience.

1. 73 from Thalia Heckroth is a witty video preview of upcoming Arcade items combined with Heckroth’s always striking and beautifully shot photography and filming.  Continue reading →

 The Fast Five is a small collection of current blog posts that I think are outstanding for one reason or another, whether great photos, useful information or good writing.

1. Rusty from Steffy Ghost has a fun, witty picture that will make you smile. It’s been nearly a month since she’s blogged, so I am glad to see she’s back and back with wit and style!
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