THAT

Every child loves a clown. And this clown loves children.





Go on, take the balloon. They float...





Laugh louder. So no one can tell it's a scream.





Trust me. This will be the ride of your life.






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Blame Gidge. Her challenge to me was to blog "Vampire Clown." This is my response to her after she took my "Vampire Style" suggestion and ran with it brilliantly in her post, turning herself into an Undead June Cleaver. My take on things was a little darker. And I dedicate this post to the bastard who gave me Stephen King's IT on my tenth birthday.


Shot at the only place this really could be shot, Rezzable's Carnival of Doom.


Skin - Joker Cut in Ultralight by Nomine
Hat - Willow Garden, old group gift from Silent Sparrow
Ruff - Big Top Ruff, Carnival of Doom
Jacket - Parade Jacket, Gritty Kitty
Pants - Twisted Circus, SN@TCH
Shoes - Death Clown Shoes by Riggormortis String, bought from Xstreet.



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The Alpha and The Omega

Upon finding Alpha Tribe I was immediately seized with a sense of outrage.

WHY was I never informed about this store???



Fly Blackbird Fly skin.


Upon reaching the complete outfits on the second floor I realised to my shame that Grady had blogged them on Strange Pixels a few weeks ago, and it was my own stupid fault for taking so long to check it out.



Panther Skin


These skins are Eloh mods, yes. But I have never seen anything quite so breathtaking in their artistry, the glosss and sheen of them and just the absolute madness of imagination it would take to decide to spread these designs all over an avatar body.



Flamingo Skin


All these came in a pack that includes both a male and female skin as well as some items of clothing, and boots in the Blackbird one. There are no demos. But take it for granted, there's no way you will look like your everyday self in one of these, so suspend caution and take a leap of faith. These are just some of the designs to be found. There were also an array of complete avatar outfits, this one that I bought was named "Padded," and was a steal at just 250l. That's male and female options in the one pack, right from the skin up.









Alpha Tribe is a collaboration of designers that are led by Alpha Auer, one of the authors of the NPIRL blog. They proudly display the Eloh license with every skin they sell, and mention that they are a young team and would welcome any exposure they receive, as their sales help them continue to provide the free items that I also plundered whilst buying in a slack jawed frenzy.
I'm more than pleased to do so, it's artists like this that make Second Life worth logging into.



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Arcavim - Diesel Fitter

Yes, I found a designer that pays so much attention to detail, even his packaging and pose stands are beyond awesome. I'm posing in front of them in this picture - its the new store Arcavim by Drack Diesel, a game design student who has brought his skills to SL. He's been a builder for a while, but now he has branched out into this WAY too cool Vernesque/Steampunk inspired clothing line.





To quote from Drack's mission statement "...announces his new store in Second Life, Arcavim, and his Noble Traveler Collection. The Collection is comprised of men’s clothing in a versatile color palette with diverse styles. Elaborate sculpts, many patterns with multiple scripting options pervade the offerings in the Collection. The colors are comprised of mix and match tones of brown, black, grey, and gold with accents of forest, plum, and clay. The numerous interchangeable versions and combinations make for many unique looks for every occasion."





Every piece in this collection had me gaga for the workmanship, the intricacies of the details but most of all the rich textures! The sheen on the Gold Travellers Vest was the thing that had me rushing over there before anything else had rezzed, but I came away with one of pretty much everything Drack sells in the end. I'm enamoured with the palette, and almost everything that has prims on it is scripted to colour change so you can work within this range as much as you like.





The entire clothing line makes an innovative use of sculptys - you don't often come across a swing jacket tail made this way.





At present there is no ladieswear available, but the hats, boots and goggles are certainly unisex - go get 'em, Ach - but it's worth a visit anyway as it's a fascinating build. It's in the hangar of Drack's airship.





This may not be your usual taste or style, but the pieces are all such quality that you need some of this in your inventory. Uh huh. It's the most elegant and well made clothing I've ever seen in this genre, and I'll be happily stalking his store to see how it develops in the future. It'll be interesting to see what sort of video game Drack makes in the end, but he's well on his way to winning SL.

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Voodoo Child

Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand





Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise a little sand





Cause I'm a voodoo child
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child baby
I want to say one more last thing
I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
I'll give it right back to you one of these days





If I don't meet you no more in this world then
I'll meet you on the next one





And don't be late
Don't be late







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Skin - Obsydian Abyss by Fallen Gods
Hair - Shadow Keeper by The Stringer Mausoleum
Headpiece - Feathers by Nomine
Eyes - Animale PrimEyes by Tokio Plastik
Necklace - Bone Necklace by Four Yip - Tinted.
Jacket - Night Master from Bare Rose
Belt - Dark Bella Morte from Kyoot Army
Pants - Laced Leather in Wine from SN@TCH
Boots - Arachne from Tokio Plastik
Location - 109 Prims
Lyrics - Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix

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Spider Spider Typewriter Plaid

This is not so much an organised properly choreographed LOTD; but more a serendipitous collection I should call "Three things that I got on the same day that looked kinda cool together so this is what I wore."





The Savile Row Tuxedo from G'bberish** - how could I not fail to fall in love with something so geeky, and yet SO well made? These colours are so smooth and creamy together. There were prim sleeves too, but I did without so I could proudly sport THIS.





Simply called "Typewriter Bracelet" it's by [YGD] and it made me drop and give twenty glees when I saw it. And yes, it IS as heavy as it looks. Every time I went to push my hair off my face I knocked myself over. But we suffer for style, eh?





And lastly this amazingly crafted monocle from .:*D*:. I popped into MandyMandy McMillan's store after inspecting the buttcrack roses on a girl shopping at KMADD for hair to pick them up for Elusyve. MandyMandy was there, and was kind enough to gift me with this which went under the innocuous name of "Glasses No.20 Right."





Again, a delighted squeal when I tried it on at home, she's lucky I didn't on the spot or I would have been fanboi'ing all over her messily. I love spiders in a totally non-creepy type of way and this is such a whimsical treasure that I'll be watching the world through a cobweb for several days.


So it's not quite Steampunk, nor Mad Professor; but I wasn't reaching for a particular style. I just threw things on that I was all about today, it's a damn good thing they looked okay together. As I would have worn them anyway. Amazing how that works sometimes, isn't it?


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It's In The Blood

As amazingly realistic as skin, clothing and hair are becoming in SL, there are some days when I'd rather look as if I'd just escaped from a Tim Burton film. The grid is awash with photoreal clothing but you can also lose yourself in whimsy if you dare. Which is one of the things I love about it. And one of my best cartoon enablers is the label ++Blue Blood++ by Ghanima Uriza.





These are her two most recent releases, the men's version of Immortal and Beckoning. As you can see she finds the most interesting uses for prims as embellishment for an outfit, from the suit tails to wrist cuffs to collars. Her blocky uses of bright colours against a plain black are a trademark of her style, and one that is very easy to work with if you want to piece an outfit up. And whilst a ++Blue Blood++ outfit is easy to spot, every one is very different.





The thing that impresses me the most about Ghanima's work though, is that it's come so far in such a short time. I'll be honest - when I was first taken by Voshie Paine to her store in August I bought a couple of outfits that I put on - looked at - and never wore again. (Atreides and Ava Adore - sorry Ghani!) But as you can see by the texturing and primwork in the above outfits Dedalo and Crimson - especially that mad tattered jacket skirt - she's improved beyond all measure. I was so happy to rediscover this label recently, and I was thrilled to see how it had evolved. It's definately back on my stalk list.





Another thing that I love is that she releases all her items in both a women's and a men's version simultaneously, and for that she gets my pledges of love forever. Her lady's dresses range from gothic lolli dresses to full ballgowns, and her recent contribution to the Twisted Hunt was this Bloody Gras outfit that I borrowed Achariya's Caledonian escort friend Ersatz Charisma to show off - she has a better rack than I do, and was the only bored female friend I had online at the time. I'm grinning behind her and plotting vampire type things in Rain. But you can also see a better and more thorough review of the recent ++Blue Blood++ dresses at Ana Lutetia's blog.


So I definately recommend having a look at what Ghanima makes, and she's going to be a label that will be a force in SL. If you aren't sure if this style is for you, then take time out to stalk her lucky chair. You have nothing to lose, and you just may find that you want to step through that Burtonesque Looking Glass like me. Her mainstore is located at Kali Isle.



My hairs are from Black Maria, LaLa Moon and Exile, and my skin is Corvine from eXceSs. I forgot to ask Ersatz what hers was, but it currently has two puncture marks in the neck if that helps.

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Fnuff Is Enough

Burnt Cookie Fnuff.

Yes, that's actually the name of this av.






After seeing Achariya's Griffin post of last week, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I moseyed on down to Tokushi's Avatars myself. It took me a week. Damn, what a waste. I've never before slept on a purchase, but the only thing that stopped me from CLEANING OUT THE ENTIRE VENDOR was the fact that these were 900l each. And even now I'm planning on going back for the Anubis. And the Dragon. And the Wolfhound. And possibly even the Armadillo...

It has an included HUD, and with that you can adjust eye colour, facial expression and the tail and ear positions. It comes with this shape, the best way to wear it - as well as a female and a male one for those who prefer to go without the digigrade arms and legs. For me that's most of the fun. It's also a challenge to wear clothes like this, but I couldn't resist the urge to Winter him up a little.





Normally I'd get all annoyed and stuffs if you said I was "cute..." but even I have to admit that I went "Squeeee!" upon log in, having forgotten that I was wearing this when I logged out. Not my little girl though, she was most insistent that I was scary, and she wanted to see Winter again. Because Vampires are less scary than imaginary creatures apparently modelled after a Walt Disney possum dream, obviously.





Okay, so I'm not a Fur. But some things are just too... damn.... cool. And that's what SL is all about, right? The Cookie Fnuffs come in 6 different colours - flavours, really - and I came very close to buying the bright pink one with rainbow sprinkles. I think I'm skirting the far reaches of masculinity enough with the Burnt one though. There's a variety of fantastical creatures, and Elusyve bought the Qwhilla which she'll be posting too. 900l is a hard hit, agreed. But the workmanship, colours, scripts, and just plain joyful imagination which has been poured into each one makes it worthwhile. And with a little bit of effort you can customise them to make them into your vision. It hit me afterwards that the Fnuff resembled the character "Stitch" - so if you see a short brown dude in a pink hawaiian shirt at the Rainbow Tiger or The Ark during the week chances are that's gonna be me.




And I have to give props whilst I'm here to Harper Beresford of the House of Rfyre for taking my own words and completely owning me with them on yesterday's post. I'd still be "preening" today if I wasn't laughing so damn hard.


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Rfyre's Bytterwynds

This is what this post would look like if it were taken from the House of Rfyre blog.

Raven was busying herself, when she heard a noise coming from her studio. She looked up in startlement, grabbed her dagger and stealthily made her way up the stairs. She crept through the door, made ready to pounce - then stopped. "Oh, no..." she groaned. "Who the hell let YOU in here?" The white haired vampire stopped rummaging through the reams of fabric, looked up and grinned. "Don't you think it's about time you started making these things in pink?" Raven shook her head in bemusement, turned on her heel and walked from the room muttering "I've got to get the exterminators in..."



Good luck keeping me away from these kilts, though. This is Bytterwynds, the Highland warrior set that was created a couple of months ago in plaid. It's just been released in a gorgeous moss green, a subtle tan and this deep sexy black. The black at the moment is only available at the RFL show at the Rfyre stand on the Black Sea sim that they are sponsoring, and no word yet on it's general release.





You can see the amazing detail in the celtic knotwork throughout this whole design. The studs have the sheen of age embedded into this black leather.





The best thing about these sets is that they come with plenty of options. There are two lengths of kilt, a shoulder scarf, a choker, three styles of tunic and five lengths of pants - bootcut and regular. You also get these wicked arm bands with or without the daggers.





If you aren't a freak for kilts... then what are you doing on my blog? No, seriously - the leggings that come with these sets aren't your usual cut corner glitch pants, and you can wear them as a configuration quite happily. There's no detail lost in the lacings or the leatherwork.




This is a quality set all round, and you need this in your life. You can get the moss and the tan at the Rfyre mainstore. But if you want the black before everyone else make sure you go to the RFL clothing fair, as it's only open for a few more days.





Also shown - the new Miguel skin from Belleza, which I'll be featuring soon.
Lynne hair by Exile, created for the Victoria Bushfires Appeal.
Boots are from SFD, LaPointe and Bastchild, and Eclipse Development.



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Rainbow Koi

I'm a sucker for the unusual and beautiful in SL. And why not, we have that other place for boring things we have to say, wear and do right? So when Selos Dae of TRAP releases a new skin I'm there in hours regardless. But when it's this amazing?





Positioning. Target in sights. Locked. Loaded. Acquired. I think it took 47 seconds after seeing the feeds.





This is a re-release of the Koi skin that Selos originally created for the Harajukubox Skin Faire of '08. I bought this blue, and my soul cried when I couldn't afford the fatpack. As it was an exclusive for three days only.





I wore this skin everywhere for weeks. And I was so thrilled to have an almost unique creation, but at the same time sad that this work of art would be mostly lost to the light of day. Selos recently asked on Flickr if the owners of this skin minded if it was released on new colours. Avarice warred with my sense of justice...and godamnit. The good side won. So I and the other people who were lucky enough to get this originally gave their yea.





The rewards are evident. Each day - the grid gets just a little more breathtaking. And a more fantastical place to be.



The skin is 1500l and you get 2 shades in each pack. This is the Rainbow/Fae pack, and you also get clothing layer options for covering your bits. I decided to use them and spare you that today. There's 5 tones, from the white to this drow shade. All eyes in this post are by Ruina Kessell of House of Ruin, all poses by Dove Swanson of [LAP] and the hair is SUMMON WINTER by Helena Stringer of the Stringer Mausoleum. And yes, I'm still capitalising that name. Deal with it.


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When A Skin Isnt.

Nomine. Raw Skin.


[LAP] Caught


Some things you just HAVE to have.

And it's perfect for my response to Achariya's Posemaker Blogger Challenge.

I have a confession to make. I never remember to credit my poses. Sometimes this is because I've bought them months ago from obscure little Japanese stores that also sell robocat avatars and urinals, and I only find them in my inventory by the little running man icon. Other times it's because I've only remembered all the disparate pieces of my outfit by using the "(worn)" trick, and of course the pose I'm using doesn't show up. Probably because IT'S wearing ME. But the general truth is I'm a barely contained sack of forgetfulness, and when you combine lazy with easily distract - ooohhh...... something shiny! Where was I? Oh yes. I suck. It's true.



[LAP] Male Blogger 3

So Achariya's rather pointed stick to the gonads of the blogworld stirred me into action as well. Male poses are hard to find done really well in SL, and whenever I come cross any that don't put my "freakishly long arms and slender shoulders" - as a friend described them recently - into my hips then I buy up big. And no one does this better than Dove Swanson of Long Awkward Pose. Ok, yeah - I guess a disclaimer is necessary here. She's one of my best friends, but if I didn't respect what she was doing then I would KICK HER TO THE KERB AND STEP OVER HER FACE LAUGHING AS I LET THE RATS GNAW HER CARCASS. It's not a paean to her as a person, this post is about the technical expertise, research and humour that goes into every pose in the [LAP] portfolio.



[LAP] Boiling Over

The male avatar mesh is unforgiving, but she still manages to manipulate it into natural contours and expressive positions. And avoids the breaks in the shoulder joints even whilst reaching the arms up above the head, and that takes a buttload of skill and care to do. I have her earliest poses "Dude I" all the way up through "Dude VIII" to her brand new "Boy Bloggers" set - yes, there's over 150 male poses - and the progression is amazing. You can see how much she has learnt over a year and she's poured all that into all these static poses. When she finally moves into animations and AO's she's going to take over the world.



[LAP] Fall Away

Dove and her companion Lawless McBride spend hours researching pictures in magazines, television and the internet always trying to find something interesting and innovative that will translate into SL. This doesn't end at individual poses, her couples and group sets are also meticulously made and hours are spent testing them. And I know it's hours as I often get dragged along to donate my pixels so she can reposition and tweak. If you were one of the twenty people who were at the final adjustments for the epic "Takin' Over The World" set at Christmas time then you know what I mean. A simple fifteen minute ad shoot turned into a two visit three hour marathon until Dove got all the positions exactly right. She won't release anything that's less than perfect, and this dedication that shows in all her finished works.

[LAP] Flipped

But my favourite thing about Long Awkward Poses is that they are interesting and filled with emotion. From handstands to emo sulks to diva style to the spectacular buttshot one that Dove made just to gross people out, you won't find any other poses that allow your avatar to express itself with more playfulness and joy. Or attitude. Or despair. There are a lot of general modelling animations on the grid that display the av perfectly for runway or catalogue work, but if I want to take a picture with meaning, interest and passion then I go straight to my overstuffed [LAP] folder.

[LAP] The Winter - yes, of course this one is my favourite!

Lastly, I also need to veer just a little towards personal mush by reminding everyone how generous Dove is as a business owner. She donates her profits and her time to vital causes. She created an AO which is free to all newcomers (and legions of freshly created alts.) And she's just launched a "Blogger's Appreciation Program" with a purpose created set of poses for both men and women which she's giving away. So all this is why I'd be a fan of [LAP] even if I'd never met Ms Swanson. Okay, so I wouldn't know just how hard she works, but I'd still be all over the end product like Mike Tyson at a beauty pageant. And if you look at the feeds recently you'll see that I'm certainly not the only one that thinks this way.


So if you see me do another post without crediting the poses ever again, feel free to hit me. Odds are though, that you'll find each and every one of them at Long Awkward Pose.


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