A Tattered Page – Addendum, or “Sense and Insensibility”

After some heated discussion about events in Second Life, and various ways they can be implemented, an experiment was born.  I find this rather apropos to A Tattered Page, where this experiment is to take place, since Victor Frankenstein was the perpetrator of one of the grandest and more horrifying experiments in literary history.  My only hope is that the undead creature due to rise from the morass of sludge that is the Second Life Marketplace does not end with the creator being destroyed by the Creature that was given life in the beginning…

A Tattered Page, as you may have surmised (if you haven’t been reading about it already), is an event centered around the classic novel “Frankenstein – or The Modern Prometheus” by Mary Wollstoncraft Shelley.  Doctor Frankenstein has inspired a lot of artists over the years, and he will be inspiring a whole set of Second Life creators in November for A Tattered Page.

But what of this experiment mentioned above?

Well, someone had the bright idea of incorporating the Second Life Marketplace into a Second Life event.  It all started in a thread on SLUniverse.com in which someone was complaining that events are often too lagged for easy shopping.  There are a myriad of reasons why, and I won’t go into them now.  Suffice to say there are arguments on both sides; from creators (IT LIVES!!) to event organizers to shoppers on the grid to self=proclaimed “Fashionistas” (Oh how I hate that term).

The idea proposed, in spite of many people explaining with small words and diagrams how awful listing things on the ponderously slow and poorly designed back end of the Marketplace can be, is that when an event starts, those involved in the event will also list stuff on the Marketplace and provide links to each item to someone who will be linking those links to the event website for “ease of shopping”.  Of course, my morbid curiosity piped up and said, “Okay, I’m game and will do it just to see what happens.”

I only hope I’m not going to end up chased down like an animal in the Arctic by the creature we’ve given life.  Heck, I don’t even want to be the dude in tap shoes singing “Puttin’ on the Ritz” with this monster.  We all know how these things turn out.

In any case, this is what’s going to happen:

There’s a purely voluntary movement for creators to list their stuff on the Marketplace, including the Event Exclusive item(s), and to send these links to one of the event coordinators so the items can be linked to the event website, where vendor pictures and store logos will be featured, along with the SLurl teleport link to each inworld store.  Since I was the first to proclaim that I am game for this (Hi, Mouth, you kind of suck sometimes), I will be doing just that.

All the Victor suits and all of the Elizabeth dresses featured in this blog earlier are listed on the Marketplace and will go LIVE on November 5 when vendor ads and links are due.

If nothing else, I do get a jump on listing the stuff on the Marketplace, which I would have done after the event anyway.  The gods know how much every merchant using the back end of that site detests it, and I’m no exception, but I do like to get the unpleasant bits out of the way.

So be sure to hit the A Tattered Page site for links to all the participating merchants.  I will also post my Marketplace links here at that time.

Till then I leave you with this:  If you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to why don’t you go where fashion sits, ARRRARRR RRARRR RARRRRR!”

The HORROR! Lovecraft Dagon Terrifies the Grid. News at 11.

“With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters. Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the while it bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured sounds.” – HP Lovecraft

The holy terror moved through Innsmouth, towering over buildings, and causing the ground to quake with every footstep.  People ran screaming from this oceanic terror; an elder god of Lovecraftian proportions.  One glance upon its countenance could drive a man mad.

Now, Darklings, denizens of the deep, and huddled masses, the Dagon has at long last been unleashed upon the Second Life grid.  At 13.5 meters tall, this monster towers over human vermin in its path.  It’s available in seven colors, and materials have been applied, so it helps to have advanced lighting turned on when you’re viewing this creature.  The eyes can be modified for a deeper glow, or for no glow at all.  It also comes with a shape and an alpha.

If you find that your avatar won’t snap back to its original shape once the avatar has been removed, contact Sredni Eel for the free Utilitizer Undeformer.  Or you can get one from any of the Petites Mesh Avatar sims.

Available inworld and on the marketplace.

Weird Science – A Tattered Page, Victor Frankenstein, and Second Life

There’s a new event coming to Second Life, run by some experienced hands.  It’s one of those events that uses a particular theme to inspire the merchants to come up with something relevant, amazing, and literally literary.  It’s A Tattered Page [*citation needed].

It looks like this event will occur a few times a year, with each theme focusing on one amazing book that everyone should read at least once in their lives.  We will be off and running with Mary Wollstoncraft Shelley’s original mad scientist epic, Frankenstein.  This is not about the movie adaptations, TV shows, cliff’s notes, or even the Abbott and Costello/Boris Karloff Halloween mask.  This is the book that started it all; a short rollercoaster of a novel about a man, his obsession, and a creature.  Anyone involved in the event who hasn’t read it has to read it.  Yep, we have homework!

This is an in-store event, so all items will be sold in individual stores with at least one exclusive item that you can only get during the event.

This one’s right up my alley, since I love to make historic clothing.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that the book is set in the late 1700s.  Okay, I tell a slight lie.  I kind of knew.  I also love, love, love making that stuff.  This is also a great opportunity to expand my mesh clothing line to include female clothing items.  I won’t lie:  It’s been a little scary to try making women’s clothing.  Now that I have, it seems I did okay.

So here’s a sneak preview of the two items I will be debuting for the event…

Let’s talk about the Elizabeth gown.

This lovely number will be available in ten colors and five sizes.  It’s a casual (for the time) gown, circa 1790, modeled by the beautiful Misha Selene.  There’s a demo available, of course, and it will cost 250L.  The exclusive color is called “Blood”, and is a gown resplendent in black and red.

Elizabeth Lavenza was the love interest for Victor Frankenstein.  She was adopted as a young girl by Victor’s parents, and raised as a “cousin” figure.  She was beautiful, and gentle.

The other item being offered for this event is a later style, perhaps very early 1800s, suit.  It will be available in seven colors, and five sizes.  It is a rigged mesh suit with unrigged top hat, cravat and shoes.  There is a demo available.  There will be an exclusive color for this one as well, but it’s still being decided which one.  More than likely there will be an eighth color added just for the event.

A Tattered Page begins November 7, and these items will be available at Avatar Bizarre at that time.

It’s Time for KRAMPUS!

Krampus is a Christmas demon who travels with St Nick and punishes the naughty children by whacking them with his stick.  If children have been particularly bad, he tosses them into his basket and takes them home to eat for his Christmas dinner.  Krampus has roots in Germanic folklore, but his influence is spreading across the globe.  Traditionally, young men dress up as Krampus during the first week of December and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells.  In my neck of the woods, a friend of mine crashes Christmas parties, Halloween parties, and just about everything that could possibly warrant a big hairy demon, and scares just about everyone, though Krampus seems to have a lot of fans as well.

Krampus isn’t as well known in the United States, though his story has begun to seep into American Pop Culture with appearances on American Dad, Grimm’s Fairytales, and other television shows.  It’s a moral imperative to spread the word about this beastie, particularly when so many parents we meet believe it’s  a fantastic idea.

Krampusnacht is fast approaching.  Therefore, it was time to introduce a new avatar into Second Life.  Avatar Bizarre is thrilled to present the Krampus avatar, which includes a rigged avatar with blinking eyes, the rigged basket (sculpted detachable babies), unrigged manacles and chains, and the alpha.  In true Krampus form, he has the horns of a goat, and hooves.

He will be available in a few different colors.  For now…at least for a couple of days…this is just a sneak preview.  This avatar will be available starting the first weekend in October.

So keep your eyes peeled, and don’t let the lack of Christmas demons Krampus your style!

EDIT:  HE IS NOW AVAILABLE inworld and on the Marketplace!