Tag Archives: Reel Expression

Does This Make My Ass Look Fat?

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Possibly one of the most dangerous questions in history, Second Life fashionistas know that system skirts can prompt the question “does this make my ass look fat?” For whatever technical computer-y reason, system skirts seem to float above the body mesh, creating what Phaedra of Real Housewives of Atlanta calls donkey booty. You can prevent donkey booty with a skirt shape. There’s some resistance to this idea, I think folks feel it’s too much work, but really, it’s a short and easy one-time effort.

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Here you can see that with my regular shape, there is a bit of a donkey booty. The best made system skirt in the world will give you a bit of a donkey booty unless you already have a very small bottom. Of course, the larger your bottom, the more donkey in the donkey butt there will be. So, you can see there’s reason for making a skirt shape and saving it in your inventory so you have it on hand for all future system skirts.
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It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

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It was a dark and stormy night in Borobodur. I had come unprepared for the wind and the rain and desperately wished I had brought an umbrella and was not wearing open-toed sandals. My feet were wet and my shoes slipped on the rough stone stairs. I shivered as sheets of rain poured down soaking through my clothing.

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Then I changed my windlight settings. The outfit I wore to Borobodur was a cotton candy confection of pastels and springtime inspirations. It all began with the delicate floral Spring Forward tank from Ingenue. It’s beautifully made with excellent attention to details that we have come to expect from Ingenue. The minty color make me think of these leggings from Bubble that had sat in my closet waiting for their moment. I added the sweater from Tuli because springtime weather can be unpredictable. I was prepared for breezes, but not for downpours.

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Fashion For Life's Last Day

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Today is the final day of Fashion For Life. You simply must go. Even if you haven’t a linden in your pocket, go to the see the amazing sims built for the event. If you have lindens, go and support cancer research and find yourself something lovely. Several stores have discounted prices to increase the sales and raise even more money for the American Cancer Society – so it’s a win-win for you. Speaking of something lovely, This is the Maylee dress from LaLei. It comes in several colors, I happened to choose the white one because I wanted to shoot a white dress at this dance floor on Emerald Green.

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Walking up to the dance floor, I stopped to admire the waterfall. Emerald Green is sim full of little jewel-like settings such as this. It’s artfully built with high mountains and deep valleys to form small settings that are a photographer’s dream.
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Carmen Was a Hussy

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I am wearing the Carmen dress from Kunglers for Fashion For Life. It’s clear it’s inspiration comes from the fiery Carmen of Bizet’s opera. Carmen is an opera filled with catchy tunes that you will find yourself humming for days. The music is beautiful and makes it easy to forget what a misogynistic story it is. It’s all too familiar. A man who cannot accept that the woman he loves does not love him decides that if he can’t have her, no one will, and murders her. What’s infuriating is that he’s the hero and she’s the villain. And it’s a comedy. Still, I love the music and never miss a chance to see it. Carmen is a free spirit with a lively wit and insouciant spirit who easily captures men’s hearts. She is someone who wants what she wants and doesn’t settle for less. Sure, she was a hussy, but only because that’s how our society stigmatizes women who won’t settle.
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Beyond Black and White

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One of the pleasures of Fashion For Life has been seeing how creators have responded to the theme. Most obviously are the amazing greyscale builds that remind us all that black and white has a power all its own. Most wittily, SarahtheRed Aubierre of Vanitas Vesture focused on red, green and blue – the RGB color mixing that is literally beyond black and white. Some did not incorporate the theme into their clothing, guided by their own inspirations. Some, like Mami Jewell of Azul – adopted the theme fully and created black and white masterpieces. Canna Sombra is a powerful statement in black and white. You’ve seen the gown before in other colors, since Gidge and I did a shoot together. The dress is so stunningly beautiful we fell in love with its shape and flow. At FFL, you can find this lovely dress and help support cancer research at the same time.
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Looking Good While Doing Good

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I hope you spend some of this weekend at Fashion For Life and the Pacific Crisis Fundraiser. I know sometimes folks are reluctant to go because they think with so many people there will be a lot of lag. That has not been my experience. I hopped over to Bourke White last night to shoot these pictures and had no troubles with lag or rezzing even with my graphics cranked. I checked the map before going and went to the sim with the fewest people, but I don’t think any of the sims were full except, perhaps, Avalon, where there was a dance. Additionally, at Fashion For Life have incorporated many strategies to reduce lag to make your experience as enjoyable as possible.
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Things My Brother Taught Me

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All my siblings were married by the time I was four years old and for some of them I was a sort of “practice child” that they spoiled with attention. My elder brother and his wife often had me spend weekends with them where I learned to play horseshoes, shoot pool and throw darts. I also learned how to shoot a rifle, hand load bullets and even aim and fire a cannon. He and his wife taught me ballroom dancing, poker and craps.When I was older, he taught me how to drive his stock car. He took me deer hunting, fishing and taught me to swim. He introduced me to dozens of books and encouraged my love of reading. So much of who I am comes from my siblings, not just him, but all of them. But my other siblings will be around to teach their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and my brother won’t. He died of cancer a year ago last July. Too may children lose the gifts of grandparents and family elders to teach them. The work of the American Cancer Society to find cures for cancers is invaluable. And it’s working, Four times as many people survive cancer as did forty years ago. So, let’s keep supporting this good work with events like Fashion For Life – and if support means wearing a rocking hot outfit like this one, how can you resist?
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Forward To Fashion For Life

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Fashion For Life is starting in just a few days and this year looks to be bigger and better than ever. Not only will there be wonderful designs such as this dress from Clio, but the organizers seem to have taken everything learned from every event and incorporated it into their planning to make your experience as wonderful as possible. I read the article at the Fashion For Life website on what they are doing to combat lag and was so impressed by the thought and planning. Bookmark that article because it has useful tips for steps you can take to improve your experience as well. Now, back to the fashion.

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Clio Cardiff is fond of color, bright and bold saturated color. So, when I was thinking about where to shoot her Berry dress, I immediately thought of Two Moon Island. I headed back for the shoot and fell in love with it all over again. There’s several landscape photos of Two Moon Island on my Flickr.
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Post No. 2261

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It’s too early, I guess, to come up with a clever post title, so I settled for naming the number. There’s no settling, however, when it comes to the gorgeously foxy Kit skin from Lelutka or the detailed swimsuit from Vogel. Both are exemplars of the best of Second Life® craftsmanship and creativity.
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Sunday Morning Coming Down

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One of the exciting bonuses of Vanity Universe Skin Fair is that you know that Tricky Boucher of Belleza will have a new skin to fall in love with all over again. Tricky is not one of the skinners that rolls out something new every few weeks. Instead, he spends a long time on each skin, perfecting it so that when you go to Belleza, you know you will get one of the finest skins on the grid. And this skin, Melissa, does not disappoint.
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