From the moment I laid eyes on the trees, I knew I had to have them at my new home, they are perfect for a spooky Halloween landscape. But when I saw their name, I feel in love with them even more.
Deadwood trees.
Not Dead Wood Trees.
Deadwood trees.
Oh god, I’m a ten year old boy, because this hearkens me back to the ever prevalent Deadwood word. And I’m lost giggling as I place them because I love it so much. Continue reading
Collabor88 is full of the beautiful and macabre this month. I am so very much in love with the Vanity Hair contributions especially as it works so well with the headpiece from Zenith. I imagine it would also work well with hats and other hair accessories.
Zenith’s brocade corset and lace skirt for Collabor88 is a perfect composition of the Gothic aesthetic, corsets, ribbons and lace in a bold and sexy form that contours and highlights the body.
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This month’s Collabor88 will open at midnight with an exciting theme centered on the delightfully macabre Burtonesque palette and mood board. I am sure there are some people in the world who do not like Tim Burton’s work, but they are probably unhappy. I headed off to Deadman’s Island, a haunted sim with a beautiful ghost ship. I think Tim Burton would like it a lot.
I think Tim Burton should do a film about las calaveras, the happy, delightful sugar skulls that mark the celebration of All Saint’s Day in Mexico. The Day of the Dead is not Halloween, in many ways it is the opposite of Halloween. After all, Halloween focuses on fear of the dead and the Mexican celebration of el día de los muertos is a welcoming visit with the much beloved dead. Families visit the cemetery and spend the day with their dead, leaving ofrendas (offerings) such as food and wine and the lovely pan de los muertos. They also will place photos and even a soap, mirror and razor so the dead can freshen up for the coming year.
There is a gift to making houses. I’m so spoiled and picky that once I find myself in a house with poky walls where I find my camera running into trouble regularly, I abandon them post-haste. I can’t be bothered with houses that I can’t cam about in comfortably.
That’s probably why, despite some fun shaped rooms that might seem to be potential camera problems, I am in love with my twin treehouses. I make the living/sleeping quarters in one half with an alcove for my bath, and the other house is solely for kitchen and dining. It’s a bit like a summer house with the kitchen separate due to the heat. Continue reading
A little over 300 years ago, Joseph Addison wrote, “Colours speak all languages, but words are understood only by such a people or nation.” He was writing about the pleasures of the imagination and arguing that the written word incites the imagination more than imagery. He also suggested that how enthusiastically people respond to the written word is influenced by their capacity for engaging their imagination while reading. I like the idea that color speaks all languages, but it is hooey.
First of all, even within people speaking the same language, men and women see color differently. Women see more shades of color than men and describe the colors differently. Beyond that, colors have cultural values that vary from place to place. There is a very cool interactive chart here. White is the color of mourning in East and of bridal innocence in the West. Red is lucky in China and dangerous in Europe and North America.
However, no matter what the cultural subtext color choices may bring, no one can deny that this gorgeous Ethnic Jacket from Purple Moon will being an entire conversation to your closet.
I paired it with this gorgeous pencil skirt from Maitreya. The skirt details including the black back and the leather detailing make it seem to have been made for this jacket.
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There are shadows of the heart and shadows of the mind. When both types of shades plague you, it’s hard to know where to turn. Lingering, long cast reminders of where light once played splay across life and leave you with nothing. Continue reading
Sanura Snowpaw made a heartfelt plea for help yesterday, one that was difficult for her to do because most of the time, she is the one answering the pleas of others. It is always hard for the givers to ask for help. But she is not asking for herself, not really, she is asking for her dog Kassie who needs an expensive surgery.
Of course, she is doing her part, too, putting everything in her store Somnia on sale at half price in hopes that folks who like her clothes will come and stock up, taking home twice as much and injecting some much-needed lindens to help take care of her dog. Since she always sells her items with a texture change hud with 8 colors, that is 90 lindens for 8 colors of this sweater and 90 lindens for 8 colors of this skirt. Seriously, even if you do not care about the dog, you should spend, spend, spend just to stock up at half off on wardrobe basics. Since she makes appliers, you can also get all your layering basics too.
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Alexander McQueen said “Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of punishment.” I agree, we should wear what makes us happy and only follow those trends that appeal to us. After all, style is more important than fashion and style is about our choices. There are always wonderful choices in Second Life®.
I have also finally figured out how to make Marketplace work again and uploaded the projector I used to shoot these pictures.
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I love the music of Leonard Cohen. I have a playlist I love of Leonard Cohen covers and know nearly all his songs by heart. One of them, Anthem, is one of my favorites because although on one level it despairs of the world; it also calls us to act with hope. “Ah the wars they will be fought again. The holy dove, she will be caught again, bought and sold and bought again. The dove is never free.” It is true, endless wars are a constant stream throughout history, started by governmental leaders, the “killers in high places who say their prayer out loud.”
But then there is the chorus.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring acknowledges that as bad as it is, there are still some things that you can do. Don’t let excuses stop you from doing what you can. “Forget your perfect offering” reminds me of Voltaire’s aphorism “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Do not wait for the perfect answer, the perfect solution, go with what you’ve got because good enough is better than nothing, and nothing is what you get if you wait for perfect. Everything we can do is going to be slightly imperfect, “there is a crack in everything” but it is those imperfections that reveal our humanity and “that’s how the light gets in.” I love how he asserts that it is in our imperfections that we will save ourselves.
So, this is not one outfit, but pieces from two, or three if you count my shoes, outfits that I put together. The Nisha blouse is paired with a solid black flirty flip skirt and the Kenia pencil skirt is paired with an elegant halter top. I was immediately drawn to the pencil skirt. I always am, it is one of my favorite forms in fashion. However, as much as I liked the halter, I struggled to get it to work with the alpha cuts on my mesh bodies. I noticed the blouse and thought that the two prints would work well together and produce a more exciting, bolder look than each print alone with a solid item. Luckily for all of us, DE.Boutique releases their items as separate pieces, even though they are in one outfit. This gives us the freedom to do our own thing.
I will confess I am a little in love with Deborah Vos and DE. Boutique even though I have never met her or even sent or received an IM from her. It is just that I liked this outfit (there’s a bit of a story there) so well, I checked out her Marketplace and found so many things I want, with that combination of sophisticated and classic style and bold, modern sensibility that is completely in tune with my aesthetic. DE.Boutique is completely new to me, a discovery at this month’s showcase event The Instruments that runs through October 6th. They have a new sim, so delete your old landmarks and Teleport to The Instruments‘ brand new home.