All dressed in rag and bones

So as everybody and their pet dog Fluffy knows by now, Entente has just opened. It’s a new store specializing in menswear and unisex wear, and most (but not all, see below) of their garments have women’s versions. They’ve also got men’s skins, hair, hats, shoes, glasses, scarves, socks, and I’m pretty sure they’re offering a kitchen sink in there somewhere.

First things first: for some people, there’s some sturm und drang because the designers behind Entente are designing under pseudonyms. Seriously. People on Second Life are freaking out because someone on Second Life is using a pseudonym. I cannot begin to smack my head enough.

Okay, I’m done dignifying that controversy.

Next: the quality of clothing is, overall, really good. It has a comfortable, cool look to it: casual, relaxed clothing with a stylish edge, like this sweater with a puffy zippered cowl neck, or a classic jacket with a sheepskin shawl collar. These are clothes that anyone could wear to look good without looking like they’re trying really hard to look good. Okay, there’s also an awesome Thriller jacket, but even that is toned down to a casual level.

The hair actually fit me straight out of the box, which surprised me, as it’s meant for a guy’s head. It comes with a hair base, and the combination works together smoothly. The hair textures are a little thick; it could use some softer textures, but otherwise it’s a good hair.

Also, I really, really like the glasses. I buy a lot of glasses in SL, and these are a great shape; their HUD makes them easy to resize (and I can tint the lenses any color I want! Check out the awesome purple!); and they work with texture packs, which is an interesting idea. I like the black tortoise shell I’m rocking.

Now for the critique…

Not all of their garments come in both male and female proportions. Normally, this doesn’t bother me, because normally, I’m fine buying men’s clothing and just resizing it…but the sweater I bought comes with a body prim that’s shaped for men and simply doesn’t fit my body. I’ve tried to make it look smooth in the picture, but it still pokes out and buries itself in my leg. Damn shame, because I love the collar.

I’m also not wearing any of Entente’s shoes (I’m wearing some of my favorite old Surf Couture shoes). The demo shoes look very cool, but they’re no mod and don’t resize. For L$450, I’m not going to buy shoes when I can’t see if they’ll look good on me. Here’s the down side of pseudonymity: there are a scant few very well-established designers I’ll pay that much money for shoes and just trust that they’ll look good.

So only a few criticisms. For the most part, it’s a really good new store.

Wearing:
Hair & Hair base: Entente — Thibaut by Mr. T
Sweater: Entente — L’Espace Sweater by Sting
Jeans: Entente — Classic Jeans by Meat Loaf
Glasses: Entente — Savant Glasses by Grandmaster Flash
Shoes: Surf Couture — Boardwalkers by Emma Gilmour
Blemishes: A:S:S — Imperfections by Photos Nikolaidas
Poses: Olive Juice by IsabellaGrace Baroque; Still Life by Gwyneth Reinard

What’s inside an evil man’s eyes

The eyes. Eyes in Second Life are pretty literally a dime a dozen, but good eyes — well, that’s harder. Lately a few designers have started making mesh eyes, which are surprisingly gorgeous. Mesh eyes hold textures much more clearly than system eyes or even prim eyes; it’s something to do with the number of facets or something. However, like all eyes, their quality depends on the artist creating the texture, and few people really get eyes right; it’s one of my biggest SL peeves (P.S.: the cornea is convex and transparent; the iris is concave. Light hitting the top of the cornea will light the bottom of the iris. It’s not hard!). Arkesh Baral of Mayfly has started making really beautiful mesh eyes with gorgeous textures and scripts to easily resize. Beautiful work.

Next.

You guys, this leather jacket from chronokit has just rocked my little world. It comes in a ton of different colors, and the little details really make it exceptional: the leather pulls tied to the zippers, the wrinkles and bulges that make it look like well-worn leather, the thick seams and overall heaviness of garment. It looks like a leather jacket. It hangs like a leather jacket. It just feels so familiar to me.

Ju Weissnicht used to be famous for making the K Boots, which, back in the day, were pretty much the most perfect boots in SL. Recently, she has opened a new store called Ju, and with it, released the Charlie boots. Now…I don’t generally wear heels, but ever since I got these boots, I have worn them nonstop. They’re not only beautifully made (let’s be honest: mesh shoes and boots are hit and miss; not everybody gets the foot right, yeah? Ju gets them dead-on), but the colors are rich and luxurious. More importantly to me, the boots are offered in multiple sizes, and each size comes with an alternate option for those of us who have angled our knees in from the standard 50 setting. As we move more and more towards mesh ubiquity, it’s nice to see designers offer options like that.

Wearing:
Hair: Shag — Hard Day’s Night by Sebastian Aries
Eyes: Mayfly — Deep Sky Mesh by Arkesh Baral
Jacket: chronokit — Motocycle Jacket by Kit Pizzicato
Trousers: League — Jipped Leather Pants by Nena Janus
Boots: Ju — Charlie boots by Ju Weissnicht
Tank: Vitamen — Ribbed Cotton Tank by Vitamen Hax
Tie: Mandala — Smexy Tie by kikunosuke Eel
Gloves: Hermony — Leather Gloves by Hermanni Laville
Facial Scars: Vaya Con Dios — Express Yourself: Scar by Lulu Jameson
Poses: Second Look by Roenik Newell; Long Awkward Pose by Dove Swanson

When the lights go out

Hey! Did you miss me? My RL is settling down a lot, so I’m back! And I’m really looking forward to blogging regularly again.

I do feel a little bad. I have such a backlog of amazing things I’ve wanted to blog: outfits I’ve been wearing almost constantly in-world, hair and boots and clothes. But see, when it comes time to take pictures, I don’t start with the outfit and then just take some snapshots. I start with the pose, the body language, the attitude. Then, I look for the location. Sometimes that’s finding a great in-world spot; sometimes that’s building a set myself. Once those crucial elements are in place, I figure out what to wear that goes with the poses and location. So the really amazing stuff I’ve been wearing in-world will get blogged. Promise. As soon as it works with the picture inspiration.

For this, though, I just want to make a point of mentioning SLink’s mesh feet. I’ve been wearing SLink’s prim bare feet for aaaages. I also own sculpted bare feet from loads of other creators, but Siddean not only has made great feet, she also has a great tinting interface and provides regular updates, which has always set SLink ahead of the crowd in the sculpted foot market. Now that she’s doing mesh feet, SLink has blown the competition out of the water. They are gorgeous, they tint so easily with the aid of tattoo layers (and socks for those of us who are already using a ton of tattoo layers), and they flex and move seamlessly. I really, really love them. By the way, I have not photoshopped my feet in this picture. That’s what they look like in-world.

As a side note: since I last properly blogged, Plume closed, and Lulu Jameson opened a new store, Vaya Con Dios. I seriously have not taken off the VCD (formerly Plume) Express Yourself hairbase since I got it. It works so beautifully with all the hairs I wear, and it also looks amazing all by itself. If you see me, I’m probably wearing a VCD hairbase.

Wearing:
Hair: U. December — Side to Side by Kimbo Reitman
Hairbase: Vaya Con Dios — Express Yourself by Lulu Jameson
Tie: Mandala — Smexy Tie by kikunosuke eel
Tattoo: Para Designs — Anchor by Paranormal Putzo
Feet: SLink — Women’s Natural Barefeet (Mesh) by Siddean Munro

Poses: (pda) by Izzy Bereznyak; Del May by Del May
Furniture: MudHoney Seville Bath Set by Rayvn Hynes

Second Life Bloggers and Review Copy Disclosure

Hi. It’s been ages since I last posted. I know. And now I’m posting with no pics, and it’s a boring post about legal stuff. Promise I’ll be back for reals in January with all new stuff. In the meantime, let’s learn something! — Vaki

In 2009, the FTC released its Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. When it did, there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from bloggers all over the internets as people freaked out a bit over whether or not that meant they could still review items they had been given to review. Because laws, regulations, and FTC guidelines are pretty confusing and rumors tend to persist, many questions still remain several years later.

• The first and most important element to know is that these are guidelines. They’re not laws. They’re guides that the FTC may use if it is asked to investigate deceptive conduct, but they’re not laws.
• The second thing to know is that the FTC doesn’t go out and monitor your blogs waiting to pounce any time you slip up. Again, these guidelines are used if someone reports your blog to the FTC for unethical conduct…and if the FTC decides to investigate.
• The third thing to know is that the FTC is not going to fine you for not putting ‘Review copies’ in your blog post. There is no fine for not complying with the endorsement guidelines.

Here’s how it works for Second Life bloggers. If a designer pays you, a blogger, or gives you an item of value in exchange for your review on your blog (review copies, if you’d normally have to pay for them, count as items of value; if you’re getting them because you’re a blogger, that counts as being in exchange for your review on the blog), you should mention it somewhere. It could be as subtle as a ‘Review copies’ tag at the end of posts that contain review copies, or asterisks by the items that were given to you as review copies (with a “* Review copies” down at the bottom).

You do not have to flag things you’ve paid for yourself. You do not have to flag anything that a designer has given away for free to everybody.

I am of two minds about items that are sent out to blogger groups. On the one hand, those are sent out to groups of people because they are bloggers. On the other, the point is to give the blog reader some awareness that there is a relationship between the blogger and the creator of the product, so the reader is aware of any potential bias. In blogger groups, there is no such relationship. However, transparency is a good thing.

In short, the debate over disclosing “review copies” in Second Life blogs is much ado over not much. Bloggers, don’t panic. Make a little mention of it for transparency’s sake and move on.

Thanks for bearing with me. See you kids in January.

On a gathering storm

On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man in a dusty black coat with a red right hand…

Today, some friends of mine threw a masquerade. I managed to grab a picture or two before I ran off to go dancing, and figured I’ve been neglecting you, my dear blog-friend…so here you go. A picture. I swear, I have a couple more almost ready to go…I’ve just been busy. And because I’ve been busy, this’ll be a short post.

Because it was a masquerade, I’m wearing a mask from Illusions, which I tinted, because Illusions is awesome about selling their stuff mod. There are a few places to get masks in-world, but Illusions really remains the go-to place for masks. The sculpt work is very nice.

The Matusalen coat from LeLutka is now about a year old, I think, but it’s held up beautifully. It’s still one of my favorite coats in SL. I’m also wearing trousers from LeLutka — I love the cut of these pants. They hang on my hips so flawlessly. I don’t love everything from LeLutka, but damn, when they get it right, they really get it right.

The really big deal, though, is the hairbase I’m wearing. But you can’t see it well in this picture, and I have much better pics in the post I’ll be putting up soon, so…I’ll talk about it more soon. I promise.

Wearing:
Hairbase: Plume — Express Yourself by Lulu Jameson
Coat & Trousers: LeLutka — Matusalen by Azu Catteneo
Mask: Illusions — Bauta mask by Siyu Suen
Necklace: Shade Thrown — El Rosario by Undo Hermano
Tattoo: Scribble — String Theory by Radio Signals
Feet: SLink — Bare feet by Siddean Munro
Bloody hands: by Amon Dragonash
Pose: (pda) by Izzy Bereznyak

Ask. Tell.

On December 21, 1993, a policy that came to be known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was implemented. It was intended to provide a little bit of protection to gays and lesbians serving in the United States military, but in practice, it was a hellish fiasco, leading to the dismissal of hundreds of mission-critical service members, many with important language skills, during wartime.

Today, September 20, 2011, at 12:01 EDT, that policy ended.

That policy ended with remarkably little upheaval. The leaders of our military have supported this change for years. 97% of troops have gone through training and the military has distributed new regulations stating that “[a]ll service members are to treat one another with dignity and respect regardless of sexual orientation.” For most of the branches of the military, this is not a big day: this is business as usual, with the repeal being taken in stride and soldiers and service members simply being reminded to treat one another fairly.

Treat one another fairly.

People talk sometimes about a “gay agenda” — there you go. That’s it. Today is a huge milestone in our big gay agenda, if there is one: treat one another fairly. Today, people get to serve with pride in their country, and it doesn’t matter if they’re black, white, brown, or blue; it doesn’t matter if they’re male or female; and it doesn’t matter if they’re gay or straight. What matters is the dedication they have for their country. That’s fair, and we’re all stronger for it.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been relegated to an ugly corner of history, over with segregation and the struggle for women’s suffrage. Spare a moment to celebrate its passing, and thank a service member the next time you see one.

P.S.: I want to deeply thank the amazing Strawberry Singh for patiently posing with me. She rocks.

Wearing:
On Strawberry:
Hair: elikatira — Later by elikapeka Tiramisu
Skin: Belleza — Chloe by Tricky Boucher
Dress: suzy — French Sleeve Dress by Arianrhod Garnet
Shoes: Gos — Espadrilles by Gospel Voom

On Vaki:
Hair: Jaryth’s Barber Shop — Clipper Cuts Sebastian by jarythe
Shirt: Defectiva — Vintage Error by Disembodied Hand
Tank: Vitamen — Ribbed Cotton Tank by Vitamen Hax
Trousers: NSD — Chinos by Naith Smit
Boots: Gos — Docs by Gospel Voom
Necklace: Mandala — Shamira by kikunosuke Eel

Poses: Storin by Annah Whitfield; Oh! Studio by Marcopol Oh

Trust in me in all you do

It’s late, so forgive me for being brief. Tonight, Rob1977 Moonites released FIR & MNA’s new collection, and it looks fantastic. I’ve always liked FIR & MNA’s old-world casual elegance — vests, cardigans, sweater-vests, corduroys, cozy jackets — and Rob has continued in that vein while adding more versatility in the form of this very nice suit. The Morgan suit comes in three different shades, and the tie (which comes with) is scripted to color change.

It’s sculpted for men, and while it’s script-resize and mod (bonus!), it’s not /perfect/ for women’s shapes. However, with a little nudging and re-rotating, it works pretty well…and it really does look fantastic. I really love the jacket lining, which, like the tie, is scripted for color change, and the cuffs have changeable buttons. Among the lining options are red spots — awesome. It’s so nice to have that pop of color, which, incidentally, works very well with the rest of Rob’s current line, making the Morgan jacket (and the Morrison jacket, which is the same thing as the Morgan jacket, just without the rest of the suit, and in more colors) a great wardrobe piece if you happen to wear a lot of FIR & MNA clothes (which I do). The trousers are gorgeous, with a lot of attention paid to little details like the fabric texture and the button at the waist, and I really like the ability to wear the shirt tucked in or untucked.

One comment (edited AGAIN): the Morgan suit is currently men’s only, but Rob is planning an update later this week to add a jacket in women’s sizes. The woeful dearth of good suits for women in SL has just gotten a little bit smaller — THANK YOU, ROB. You guys, seriously, go get this. It’s good.

Oh. P.S. This wingback chair from Glitterati was last week’s FLF item, and it’s awesome and I love it. It is now part of my home’s regular decor. Yep.

As a final comment…the new lace socks from Milk Motion are so damn fun. I’m always looking for great socks in-world, and it’s awesome to finally see someone other than Pig doing something interesting with socks. Maybe there are other awesome socks out there and I just haven’t noticed them. Feel free to poke me on plurk if you’re making really cool socks and I just haven’t seen them.

Wearing:
Hair: Shag — Soldier Boy by Sebastian Aries
Suit: FIR & MNA — The Morgan Suit by Rob1977 Moonites
Socks: Milk Motion — My lace socks by Marie Lauridsen
Shoes: Treads — 77 Loafers by Ju Weissnicht
Poses: Glitterati (Wingback Chair) by Kaz Nayar; Stakey by Raymond Ohmai; & by Sebastian Aries

We’re in the movies, we’re heroes

Today, James Schwarz brought my attention to this jacket from 4mc. It’s mesh, and it’s such a great example of what I’ve been saying about mesh: mesh is just getting started, and once designers figure out how to make it work within its limitations, it’s going to be really cool. This jacket is awesome. It’s the first mesh item I’ve ever put on that fit me immediately without making me feel like I was wearing someone else’s body…because it’s designed to be bulky and loose. Instead of fitting to a particular avatar, it fits loosely to a general body shape.

It comes with six sizes (three for male avatars, three for female) and two alphas, so you can pick which one works best for you. I haven’t tried the jacket with a shape other than mine, so I don’t know how it fits larger, curvier avatars…but it fits me fantastically. Additionally, it’s scripted, so it comes with a snillion textures, including flannel, camo, and leather…and it not only comes with patches you can display on the front, back, and each arm, but the script allows the owner to add patches for unique customization.

A mesh jacket that fits me properly and moves with me instead of poking into my body like a sculpt — yeah. New favorite item in SL.

The other thing I really need to mention is: Adjunct has new boots. I wore them in my last post, but I didn’t really draw attention to them. They’re gorgeous, beautifully textured work boots. You can’t really see it, but dude, even the soles of the boots have treads — so well done. The boots come with two options: one option that attaches to the foot, to wear with trousers that have cuffs; another that attaches to the lower leg, to wear with shorts or, I don’t know, lacy underwear. Why not? Anyway, if you want to wear other stuff on your lower leg, that’s what viewers with multiple attachment points are for. You guys, these boots are really nice.

I am also rocking a great Discord Designs hair I’ve had for ages and kept meaning to blog and just never had time. I love this hair, and I wear it a lot. So much fun attitude.

Oh. And the new KOSH necklace. Man, I keep buying all the jewelry Lynaja Bade puts out…it’s got this great unisex simplicity to it that I really love. This piece doesn’t have the texture change script that items like the key or the leaf had, but it’s still really fantastic.

Wearing:
Hair: Discord Designs — Stampede by Kallisti Burns
Jacket: 4mc — Jacket 1 by Berta Kohl (available on the Marketplace)
Shirt: Nanuk — ulf beater by Dowr (tinted)
Shorts: Connors — Half Denim by Salah Axel
Boots: Adjunct — Lace Ups by myvegancookbook Bollisima
Stockings: Sheer by Sh Oluja
Necklace: KOSH by Lynaja Bade
Poses: Oh! Studio by Marcopol Oh; GEEZ by Grazia Horowitz; Alchemy Immortalis by Immortalis Cyannis

Unstoppable

Sometimes when facing common trouble, when whole town is screwed
We become actually human — act like Prometheus would

Ten years ago, after this country reeled back from the staggering blow it was dealt, something beautiful happened: we started looking for ways we could help. We volunteered, we donated, we rebuilt. We were hurt and grieving and scared, but still, we joined each other in helping those who needed a hand. Some enlisted immediately, giving the country all they could offer. Some gave blood. Some donated their time to the Red Cross or other organizations. Some just reached out on an individual level, offering a shoulder to a friend or a stranger who was overwhelmed. In our own ways, we came together to reconstruct our world.

And you see brothers and sisters all engaged in sport of help
Making merry out of nothing like in refugee camp

We did this again when Katrina smashed into New Orleans. We opened up our homes to complete strangers, because they were our people, and they needed us. We donated anything we could; we gave our time and our sweat and our cheer. All over the country — not just in Louisiana or in the neighboring Southern states, but in every state — we reached out and helped to rebuild.

Even when crisis strikes outside America, we respond: in the wake of disasters in Haiti, Indonesia, and Japan, we responded, volunteering in many ways, whether it was through donations, event organization, or even actually getting on a plane and going to the stricken countries to help rebuild with our own hands. This is who we are, when the chips are down: we are a people who care, and we are a people who will come together to work.

And you think, “All right now, people, they have finally woked up”
But as soon as trouble over: watch them take another nap
Now nobody’s making merry, only trodding scared of boss
Everybody’s making hurry for some old forgotten cause

Day to day, we find it so easy to forget that this is who we are. Day to day, we get so focused on our little dramas: who fucked over whom; which politician did what that you don’t like; what’s going on with the economy that’s making you very put out. Hey, I get it: I’m trying to pay bills too; and gosh, I really hate that stupid politician who says dumb things; and I also hate that website run by that woman who posts stuff I don’t like. But none of that is legitimately divisive. We, as a country, have been through things that are potentially legitimately divisive, and we came through it by coming together, helping one another, and rebuilding. That is who we are.

Oh yeah, oh no — it doesn’t have to be so
The forces of creative mind: Unstop-op-op-able

Yeah. That’s who we are. Unstoppable.

Wearing:
Hair: Plume – LJ by Lulu Jameson
Shirt: Nanuk – sven shirt (tinted) by Dowr
Trousers: NSD – Chinos by Naith Smit
Vest: Aoharu – Woven vest by machang Pichot
Boots: Adjunct – Lace-Up Boot by myvegancookbook Bolissima
Glasses: bastard. – Smoovies by maxwell graf
Scarf: Muism – Crinkle scarf by icemocolo Voom
Pose: (pda) by Izzy Bereznyak

It makes me feel special

As everybody already knows, mesh is out. Say hi to mesh. Hi, mesh. Mesh is both great and terribly frustrating: if it fits you, it’s the best damn thing ever. If it doesn’t fit you, it’s awkward and strange. For those of us who’ve spent years fine-tuning our shapes, and who feel like our shapes are really part of our online selves, it’s very hard to suddenly wear clothes that force us into another shape, another body. That body may be extremely curvy, or it may be not curvy enough, or it may have all the curves in the wrong places.

Additionally, and more troublingly, mesh opens up a very significant can of worms that Second Life had never really opened before: that of body image. SL always allowed us to create, within certain limitations, the body that we wanted. We could be slender, youthful, and girlish. We could be stacked, sexy, sensual. We could be wiry, androgynous, angular. We could be voluptuous, curvy, womanly. Men, too: from skinny youths to muscular manly-men to pot-bellied bears, SL allows an amazing range of shapes…and that’s just the humans.

Yeah, this is not news…but here’s the mesh problem: so many of us have struggled for years in real life with our body images, for whatever reason. So many of us dread the chore of going shopping for clothes and wading through options that don’t fit, or hang funny, or gap in places they shouldn’t gap. We hate it because society makes clothes for an ideal shape which is not our own. We hate it because it reminds us that our bodies are not easily mutable, and we cannot change the things about us that feel, for whatever reason, alien.

Second Life gave us bodies that we can make our own: that we can make the way we want. Second Life gave us clothes that, more or less, would just fit those bodies. Eventually, it gave us sculpts, and sculpts took a whole lot of pushing and prodding before they’d just fit, but hey, eventually most of those are more or less one size fits all. Now it has given us mesh, and without some extensive upgrading, mesh simply is not one size fits all. Mesh yanks us back into that real-world body-image morass of sizes that don’t fit, that hang funny, and that gap in places they shouldn’t gap. Mesh forces us to fit into ideal shapes which are not our own; shapes that are alien.

Mesh has a long way to go before it’s really going to be mainstream, I think. For now…try demos, and see if you like the shape the garment creates on you.

I really did mean to mention, in amongst the ranting, that Wicked Closet has just put out a v. awesome mesh set for men and butch women. YEAH I SAID THAT. That tie is mesh, you guys (as are the jeans). I purposefully did not edit the tie in my photos, so you can see that my belly still clips into it a little — a downfall of mesh. Also, you cannot adjust where the tie sits on your neck, which looks pretty awkward on me. BUT LET ME TELL YOU: a tie that actually bends when I bend rather than getting swallowed by my torso? Awesome. Worth it.

Wearing:
Hair: Shag — Dogs of Lust by Sebastian Aries
Shirt: pivaaca — Border Tank by Trish Blanco
Shirt (around waist): Coco — Shirt tied around waist by cocoro Lemon
Jeans: Wicked Closet — Dark Slim jeans by Wicked Resistance
Tie: Wicked Closet — Alton tie by Wicked Resistance
Hat: Wicked Closet — SkaterBoi Flat Cap by Wicked Resistance
Shoes: FIR & MNA — The Solas Shoes by Rob1977 Moonites
Socks: Pig by Apatia Hammerer
Cuff: Kari — Key Cuff by Menno Ophelia
Tattoo: Garden of Ku by danel Kurosawa
Poses: momomuller by momomura Zehetbauer