Memorial Service for Carl Paneer

My friend Ezzie Mirabella has dropped an item in my profile in SecondLife, but I haven't logged in yet and was therefore grateful for this information being posted on Ryce Skytower's SecondLife (url).

The memorial service for Carl Paneer, a.k.a. NakedCarl, is set for tomorrow, Saturday September 22, 2018, at Viper Isles (SLurl), and will begin at 12:00 PM (noon) SLT.

A Charity Fundraiser and Celebration of Life Party will follow. The location will be open one hour early -- at 11:00 a.m. -- for arrivals.

Ezzie has sent further instructions to everyone who will be attending the service, please go to Ryce's blog post (url) to read them in full.

I hope to see you all there!

More Sad News

I hadn't been on Facebook for a couple of days and when I logged in today there were two sad messages waiting, from Asta and Ezzie, both informing me that Carl Paneer - in SecondLife better known as NakedCarl - had passed away on Sunday, September 16, 2018.

"NakedCarl" by Carl Paneer himself

In first life, Carl leaves behind a big family with a daughter, four sons and tons of grandchildren. By his side was also his best friend, the mother of his children.

Carl was a friend of mine and a fellow blogger. We used to join forces during the Second Pride festival each year. He was always more ambitious than I and tried his best to cover every event, I was more laid-back and covered the events I wanted to visit.

We were not close friends, but we had a good friendly relationship. Carl was a sweet soul who - although a bit quiet - always seemed to overflow with kindness and good humor towards everyone who came in contact with him.

I will always remember Carl with great fondness, and I will miss him very much.

Rest in the peace of the Universe, Carl.

Must Read: Curious Ways to Die in SecondLife

Ricco Saenz, blogger and a long time friend of mine, recently posted about "6 curious ways to die in Second Life" (url) on his blog Second Sighting │Ricco Saenz journey in SL (url). You must read it, and the pictures will make you die in interesting ways too!

"Eaten by an anaconda" Photo by Ricco Saenz (at Flickr)

Second Pride Festival Pictures?

Do you want to see pictures from the ongoing Second Pride Festival and possibly share your own? Here are some tips of where you can find them and post your own.

Photo by J.J. Goodman of a probably angelic, certainly
innocent and possibly virtuous party goer of unknown identity

1. There is a group on Flickr named Second Pride - Celebrate Diversity where you can see other peoples pictures from the ongoing festival and share your own photos, snaps and pictures. Just join the group!
2. Also, my dear friend and co-blogger Carl Gee, a.k.a. NakedCarl, is doing his usual thing and is live-blogging from the festival, see his pictures on his blog NakedCarl - Second Life Photographer.
3. There is also the Second Pride website, under 2017 Pictures. 

I am not listing Facebook, because all of those enjoy that website.

Should you know of any more places where one can see pictures from the ongoing festival, please give me the link in the comments and I will add them to the list.

Second Pride Wants Bloggers - Apply Now!

My dear old friend Mr Kahvy Smith Esq, nee Sands, asked me to help spreading the word on this. So here goes!

"We need bloggers for this years round of Second Pride!!!

For the first time ever, Pride is happy to announce the use of a Bloggers Room. With so many amazing creators on board -- check them out on http://second-pride.com/vendors/ -- we could not go without YOUR help!

So now we need YOU!!!! We are looking for Bloggers that want to blog about the items for sale at Pride from June 23rd - July 1st! Set up starts at June 18 and items should become available from now till the event opens.

• Bloggers gain access to a special bloggers room through a private group, items will be available there for you to pick up. 
• Acceptation based on first come base, Bloggers that already work with vendors that participate have first pick 
• We are gunning for at least two blog posts from you! We know the deadline is steep, if that's a problem for you, please don't apply! We need people that can work fast and furious to get the word out!
• Creator participation is volunteer base, not all of them will participate but some exciting content creators already have joined the room, including to date, Gabriel, L&B, T L C , Sources, RJD, Redangel, PowerDesign and more are added every day!!! 
• A young team of Blogger Management so we expect you, to work with us to make it better! Help shape us up and make Blogging a Regular for Pride! Be a Pioneer with us!!! 

Contact Kahvy Smith​ (kahvy.sands) inworld for an application and/or more info!"

Happy 10th Eddi!

Today we celebrate the tenth rezday of the one-and-only Eddi Haskell, my dear friend and my mentor in blogging.

I hope you have a wonderful rezday, buddy, and then I'm looking forward to ten more wonderful years in SecondLife with you!

Big hugs and lots of kisses on your cheeks. 

NakedCarl Turns Middle-Aged

My dear friend and blogging buddy Carl Paneer, best known as Naked Carl, turns six years old in SecondLife today. (Which as you certainly know means he will henceforth be considered as a ripe middle-aged gentleman.)

Carl is celebrating this special event with a party this evening at 10PM SLT at a secret venue (SLurl to the party venue will be provided on Carl's blog at 09.30PM SLT. Click this link)

Clothing is - as one could guess - optional and DJ Ez will supply the musical entertainment.

Unfortunately I will not be able to take part in the celebration as it starts at an ungodly hour for a late-sleeper like myself.

I wish you a very happy rezday, my dear buddy, and hope you have a wonderful party!

P.S. I have sent you a gift from Marketplace, it is called Darius and is of course mesh. It is something every naked man and male avatar needs.

The thing is sometimes hard and at other times soft, sometimes wet and at other times dry, it comes in all colors and shapes, lengths, girths and sizes and you can even change all of it yourself, well in SecondLife you can. I hope you enjoy it!

As we cannot have the most famous nude man of SecondLife running around with a mismatched cock, the gift also includes thirty (30) minutes of quality tinting by the Master of Cock-Tinting in SecondLife, my husband Tomais Ashdene.

New Favicon - The Green Carnation

Before we got the Internet and all the hookup apps, gay men with faulty or spurious gaydar - much like myself - tried coming up with various clear but subtle and innocuous ways of identifying one another in the vast ocean of stunningly handsome heterosexual men.

Ever since Blogger started allowing "favicons" (a.k.a. website icon or bookmark icon) I have availed myself of it as a means of identifying this blog as gay operated. I have used various LGBT symbols to do this, first the λ-sign, then I moved on to the pink triangle. 

When I started looking for a new favicon I came across an account about Oscar Wilde, the biggest and butchest poofter of us all.

It is said that he and his group of friends in the Victorian England of the 1890's wore a green carnation as an emblem.

It would seem - judging from a Wikipedia article on LGBT-symbols - that in doing so the group picked up a previous tradition among homosexuals in ancient Rome.

New Logo for Bock in SecondLife

Bock in SecondLife is delighted to unveil its new logo.

The logo is to be used when the blog is represented at various SecondLife events, such as the Second Pride Festival or the Gay Archipelago SummerFest (among others).

This bolder, more retro and ironic approach features a Pristina font, which is the work of British designer Phill Grimshaw, a calligraphic typeface that displays all the natural, unrestrained qualities of cultured penmanship.

The logo is clearly inspired by the traditional Japanese Imperial flag and is designed to be both recognizable and highly visible. It comes in a variety of clear pastel colors which are pleasing to the eye, but it is also everso slightly asymmetrical, to indicate that the editor in chief is an opinionated and headstrong bastard who doesn't always aim to please.

The logo was created by the blog's own favorite graphic designer Tomais Ashdene after a concept by the blogger himself.

Technical Difficulties - Please Stand By

This blogger is experiencing a bout of Festival exhaustion, but we (i.e. I, me & myself) have decided to call it "technical difficulties".

Regular programming will be resumed shortly, please stand by.

Strawberry Praises Tomais

Strawberry Singh is one of the most well known SecondLife photographers and also a renowned SecondLife fashion and lifestyle bloggers, with her blog StrawberrySingh.com.

Every Friday Strawberry does a post on her Weekly Roundup & Friday Find. In her post yesterday Strawberry revealed that every week in her Weekly Roundup she intends to try to mention a photographer whose work has caught her eye or whom she admires.

The first one to be singled out for this exceptional honor is none other than Tomais Ashdene, to readers of this blog better known as "the royal consort" or "hubby". Strawberry shares her reasons for her selection by going on to say: 

"I wanted to start it off with Tomais’ images. I notice his work pop up often in my favorite twitter hashtag: #SLLooksGoodToday and I am always amazed by it. I especially love his landscape shots of different Second Life locations, such as this one. Make sure to check out his stream!"

 Congratulations on this great honor, my darling Tomais, what a wonderful start to the new year!

I Dreamt of Vanadis

Last night I dreamt one of the weirdest dreams I have ever dreamed before.

Vanadis Falconer
(photo quoted from Facebook)

I dreamt that I was sitting on the terrace of my "palazzo" at Southern Charm with none other than the other Swedish SecondLife blogger Vanadis Falconer. We were talking in voice and were happily chatting away and laughing a lot, although I cannot for the life of me remember what our conversation was about.

Now everyone who knows me well - or has followed my blog through the years - knows that my relationship with Vanadis has been "extremely strained", to say the least.

On June 29th this year I made the unilateral decision to forgive Vanadis, among others whom I felt had wronged me, so that I in time could forget the perceived insults and abuses. I at the same time asked for her forgiveness for my words and actions. Nothing more has come of that, other than the wonderful relief it gave me to get rid of that stinking and heavy burden and to finally let go of the bygone. So it is a complete mystery to me why I had this completely unexpected dream.

I am not even sure how I would actually handle the situation if the opportunity did arise.

The Return of Blogger Ziggy

Hear ye, hear ye!

The one and only Ziggy Starsmith is back with a new blog, "The Eyes of Ziggy Starsmith. A pictorial essay of the virtual world of Second Life..."

Welcome back, buddy, your voice has been missed!

Slipshod Security at Second Pride Festival?

Do we need to nail Security Chair Sutry's (nonexistent) balls to the wall for insufficient security at the Second Pride Festival this year? Perhaps even the rest of the Second Pride board should be held responsible for being negligent (some of whom do have large hairy balls, I'm almost certain)?

Well, I suggest you read this truly shocking eyewitness report by blogger Rusty Redfield (picture left) concerning a possible serious security lapse two days ago and then come back and tell me what you think.

You can read Rusty's heart wrenching testimonial here: Playing with the Big Boys; "035:...".

New Blog Header For Summer

This is my new blog header for the summer, isn't it simply beautiful? The picture is called "Tan lines" and is by my talented husband Tomais Ashdene.

My tan lines have been generously provided by my friend and fellow blogger Ricco Saenz. You can find Ricco's blog here, Second Sighting (and in my blog roll, of course)

Are You a Tourist or a Traveler?

What is your attitude, your approach, to SecondLife, are you a traveler, a tourist or perhaps something in-between?

"On the hill" by Ricco Saenz

Blogger and photographer Ricco Saenz shared his beautiful and thoughtful images, both mental and literal, on that very question in his blog post yesterday, Second Sighting. Ricco Saenz's journey in SL: Under the sheltering sky. Read it!

I am here for the duration.

Recommended Reading by Dej

My concerned brother Dej Mycron sent me these literary suggestions to broaden my mind and enrich my life.

As the ever kind blogger I am, I now share them with you, my dear readers.

P.S. Furthermore, I consider that Dej must be partnered soon. The wonderful man's single status is an utter mystery to me and he certainly needs other things to occupy his mind. Interested parties should contact me a.s.a.p. for additional information.

Ziggy Is Back!

It was only a few months ago that Ziggy Starsmith, to the dismay of his loyal and loving readers (of which I am one), tiredly declared that he was going to stop blogging full time.

The beautiful picture that Ziggy left us with in October, 2013

Since then we have only gotten a few bread crumbs tossed at us from time to time by the irate and erratic blogger, just enough to keep us from feeling totally abandoned and dying from mental and emotional starvation.

Knowing and loving Ziggy I, however, kept my hopes up and never removed his blog from my blogroll. Lo and behold, yesterday he came back to us - full force - with no less than five posts!

The blog has been slightly renamed to "Ziggy Starsmith On The Edge Of Second Life... And Beyond" with the declared promise of "brutally honest commentary of the virtual 3D world of Second Life".

Welcome back, buddy, I have missed your forthright views on the worlds as we know them!

Vote for Your Favorite Anything in SL

Voting is now going on in SecondLife's 2013 Avi Choice Awards.

You can vote for absolutely a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g and e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g concerning SecondLife, from your favorite Skin Designer, Hair Designer, Avatar Accessories and Mens and Womens Apparel over your favorite groups, dance troupes, dance choreographers or  & AO-creators (male or female) to favorite blog/blogger, male Petite avatar-maker & machinima producer. Anything and everything I tell you, even your Favorite Linden. Just go there and start voting and see for yourself.

It is with great pride I noted that my friend, mentor and fellow Rhino Writer Eddi Haskell has been nominated in the category Favorite SL Blog/Blogger, that the awesome Arcangelo Hellman has been nominated in the category Favorite DJ,, that junivers Stockholm has been nominated as Favorite Male Musician and the Second Pride Festival in the category Favorite Event.

Go here to vote in SecondLife's 2013 Avi Choice Awards (url)

The voting ends on December 12 at 8:00 PM SLT.

I Am Totally Biased!

Recently I and my poor little blog have gained some attention due to my posts concerning the upcoming Second Pride election.

I have received messages and emails asking me to post this or that "to prove" that I am unbiased and objective. It is totally beyond me how anyone can think I am unbiased or even attempting to be that.  I am a blogger, not a journalist. Every post I run is something I myself find interesting and have an opinion about, which I in rare cases choose not to share with you. Usually however I will tell you what I believe, think or feel in no uncertain terms.

In this election I have asked the candidates certain questions that I believe are relevant and pertinent. I have done so respectfully and with no interest whatsoever of "bashing" them or making personal attacks in anyway. Despite this I have, more than once, been accused of bashing or personally attacking some candidates, sometimes even by the candidates themselves.

I have also been asked or told - anonymously or straightforwardly - to ask a certain candidate something or other. I have always refused to do so because I am not a mouthpiece for anyone but myself,. If someone else wishes to ask a question they should do so themselves.

I of course realize that others do not always agree with me, and however distasteful I may find their views I will allow them to comment on my blog as long as they stick to the issue and don't attack other commenters or people, should they wish to launch a personal attack at me they are welcome to do so.  I have only ever removed one (1) real comment and several hundred spam comments. The real comment I removed was a personal attack on an avatar and had no relevance to the post at all. Even the four Swedish female avatars that I utterly detest, can and have indeed left comments here even if I have expressly asked them never to do so.

In spite of this I today received an acidic message in private on Facebook from someone whom I thought was a friend, thanking me for permitting him "to leave a comment on (my) magnanimous blog". This totally irked me.

So be warned, I am opinionated and totally biased. Always!