Monday, March 17, 2014

The Pressure, The Pressure...

I am indeed a fortunate man to have loved and been loved by two amazing, wonderful and talented men like my Ars and my Tomais.

With Ars it meant that I got involved in the SecondLife music & club scene, I don't think there was a single club in existence those days that I did not visit at least once, either for Ars sets or because one of the Sarco Sound DJ's were playing there. I must have been acquainted with most of the DJ's and club owners in those days too. Usually I was seen as a mere attachment to the SLebrity DJ, although I did my best to assist Ars during his sets in any way I could.

A new hubby, means new requirements! Tomais, as most of you know I'm sure, is a SLebrity photographer. His whole family - and it is large - consists of accomplished photographers or photo models, which makes completely different demands on my looks and demeanor. I must at all times look chic, dashing and lovely and also be able to bend into almost any pose that the photographer may requires for a particular shot.

I have therefore been forced be careful with what I eat and drink, never more than fifteen green peas a day and two glasses of champagne. I also follow a strict training routine to become as fit, slim and bendable as modelling for a master photographer demands. (See pictures)

Strangely enough I love it, because it is fun working with this mumbling and distracted man who is completely absorbed with angles, how the light falls and which of the 20.000+ Windlight settings (he has to go through them all for every picture) he is going to use. The reward comes after the photo shoot - and sometimes during - when we are both relaxed and goofing around.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Picture of the Day - 24

[Pile Up] Blind Angel Photography by Mo Ames
If you wish to see more of Mo's photography please visit his Flickr photostream here.

The Skin Fair 2014

The SecondLife annual Skin Fair of 2014 opened on Friday. 

I haven't dared go there yet and am waiting for the true-blue fashionistas, like my bosom buddy Apmel Goosson, to be done with it first. 

As Apmel discovered after being kicked off the sims twice the fair has strict script limits and enforces them diligently. (See My Avatar's Name is Apmel: Kicked out from Skin Fair)

This is what the organizers have to say about about script limits on the events webpage The Skin Fair 2014.

"As with any big event there are some guidelines to help make your experience the best that it can be. Get rid of ALL scripted items. This includes hairs, booties, hands, feet and the like….not only your ao and radar detectors. Wear a system layer bikini. *gasp* Did you just say system layer? Yes, when you go to a high traffic sim, there is bound to be lag and while we do our best to minimize it, mesh items take longer to rezz and most likely all people will see are your alpha layers. No way to impress is it? So dig out that hot lil bikini (sorry ladies but you must wear something to cover them nips as the event is PG) and wear it proudly. Nowadays most hair is scripted in one form or another, and this can be an issue for your script count, so I suggest finding a gorgeous hair base and rocking that look. These measures should help you when you arrive to skin fair, and not only not get you booted, but let you try on skins easily."

There are three sims of skins and other goodies and no less than 122 designers participating in the event. 
Skin Fair 1
Skin Fair 2











Skin Fair 3

Participating Designers

Divalicious - Apple May - White Widow - VCO - The Shape HQ - Chary - Izzie’s - SLink - Glam Affair - Baby Princess - YS & YS - Tuli - Zibska - Bite & Claw - Zoul Creations - Lumae - Belleza -  Amacci - vive9 Fiore - Akeruka - SYS - H.O.E. Inc - PXL - Nar Mattaru - tokyo Girl - Clemmm -  PixyStix - morphine - MUA - Fake - Precious - Kooqla - Shakeup - DyVersatile - Rozena - Kokolores - Fashionably Dead - Utopiah - Black Pearl - Buzzeri - Swallow - Curious Kitties - RyuuKou - Orage Creations - Moda - Filthy - Zanzo - Egozy - Style by Kira - League - La Petite Morte - Addy Style - Aeros - The Skinnery - My UglyDorothy - Lara Hurley - Birdy - Nuuna - Red Mint - Glance - Dream Ink - Deesses - Silken Moon - Adore & Abhor - Oceane - N.M+ - BoobieLicious - Nox - Ab Fab - Soiree - Rockberry - Envy Me - The Plastik Shine - Elysium - TSG - Adam n Eve - Blush - Atomic - Labyrinth - Esode - VYC - MOJO - ND/MD - deeTalez - Essences - Tuty’s - Pointillage - No7 - Dulce Secrets - Joli - The Mesh Project - Nivaro - Mimi’s Boutique - Iren - Oohlalicious - Clef de Peau - elephante poses - anymore store - Rosy Mood - Logo - Loud Mouth - Skindustrial Bodyworks - Madrid Solo - La Malvada Mujer - YumYums - 7 Deadly Skins - Pink Acid - Razzanova - WoW Skins - blacklace  - Beauty - *(00)*YUKI - Jalwa - Eye Candi - Dead Apples - Modish - Mystic Canvas - Nuuna - Ruby Skins - Arm Candy - New Faces - Okkbye

Chandra Deed @ The Oval - Today 2 PM SLT

My dear friend Garth Raleigh, the former Lead of Gay Archipelago, is busier than ever since he retired from office. As a part of the celebrations of Saint Patrick he invites us all to a concert with the celebrated singer Chandra Deed today.

Click the heels of your emerald shoes together as you hit this link and say aloud "There is no place like The Oval!"

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Picture of the Day - 23

"- Play Cool.." Photography by Tiiago Ribeiro
If you would like to see more of Tiiago's photography, please visit his Flickr photostream here.

Thank You, Friends!

Last Saturday my Tomais and I had the pleasure of having you, our families and friends, over to celebrate our elopement and share our happiness with us at The Elopement Party. To those of you who couldn't be there we say, we missed you dearly and hope that you can be with us next time.
"Selfies" Photography by Tomais Ashdene
You came in droves in a way that completely surprised us and made us feel more loved than ever before. You actually came in such quantities and simultaneously that the sim couldn't take it and crashed under us, but as I have always maintained "Every good party needs at least one crash!"

With the kind help and speedy assistance of TJ Linden the sim was soon up again and - as it seemed - moved to a much better server, because after the crash there was no lag at all even when most of you came back and we were joined by even more friends and friends of friends. Someone told me later that we at some point peaked at 64 avatars present at the sim.

Ryder Yowman and Rylan Sirnah, the Masters of Music for the evening, with their awesome tunes insured that we would all have a wonderful time.

You came in the most fabulous outfits or outrageous costumes and in excellent moods for a party, it was indeed a pleasure having you all there.  Even the performance artist SaveMe Oh turned up to see what was happening and "improve the artistic qualities" of the party. Alas I was forced to kick her off the sim when she started large flocks of sheep on the dance floor, despite this unfortunate incident we are still friends and SaveMe could be freed up to get kicked off a couple of more sims before her evening was over.

We requested that you did not give us gift but that you instead share your generosity with two charities and you were indeed overwhelmingly generous!

Chaz Longfall, our liaison with ACT (The AIDS Committee of Toronto) informed us after the party that you had donated L$27.600 to that cause, while I myself have calculated that you donated a few dollars shy of L$21.000 to Second Pride. We would both like to thank you for your kind generosity to these worthy causes.

All in all Tom and I both had a wonderful time, seeing all of you there and enjoying ourselves, although we were drowning in IM's, teleport requests, problems and handling local chat most of the evening. We were also both much too busy to take pictures so we are grateful to those of our friends who took pictures and shared them with us on their blogs or on Facebook.

Party pictures by Apmel Goosson

More pictures by Apmel Goosson can be found on his blog My Avatar's Name is Apmel "En krash direkt vid ankomsten"

Party pictures by Eddi Haskell

 More pictures can be found on Eddi & Ryce's Second Life Event Photography: Bock McMillan's and Tomais Ashdene's Elopement Party Earlier this Evening and Events: Benja and Ryce (as Tom Cruise) at Bock's and Tomais Elopement Party on Saturday Night

Party pictures by Helene Dragoone

Party pictures by Kahvy Sands

Party pictures by Kimly Crystal

Friday, March 14, 2014

Picture of the Day - 22

"We were happy" Photography by Rayne Morgan
If you would like to see more of Rayne's photography, please visit her Flickr photostream here.