Does My Avatar Bum Look Big In This?

It’s the famous question that all boyfriends and husbands dread!! “Does my bum look big in this?” the wives and girlfriends ask, when they are trying on something to wear to go out. Of course, nine times out of ten, men don’t even notice, mostly because they wouldn’t really be looking at what their partners are wearing anyway, they are just watching the clock hoping she will hurry up before they are late. Once cornered with this question though, most men, gritting their teeth, would give the answer that the woman is hoping for “no, it looks fine” they murmur, with a weak smile on their face. There are two reasons why the man would give this answer, the first is, that he knows how upset his partner would be if he told the truth about her bum looking really big, and secondly that he would have to wait while she finds something else to wear, and the dreaded thought that she might ask the same question about the next outfit.

So we come to SL, now I have been around for a couple of years and even had a bash at making some clothes in the past, so I know a little bit about the shapes that I had to work on, and the skirt has been something that does not seem to have improved over the time that I have been here. You can have the nicest shaped avatar with well-balanced waist and hips, and if you prefer, a small bottom, but as soon as you create a skirt, either in ‘Appearance’ or by using a template and transferring it in-world your behind seems to explode to mammoth proportions!! Come on Lindens isn’t it about time you did something with the shape of the skirt in ‘Appearance’. It’s like a sack of potatoes even at its slimmest measurements.

Luckily we have some clever designers who seem to get around this to a certain extent, but I can only think that the ‘skirt’ thing was created by a male SL technician in the first place, who didn’t really care if all lady avatar's bums looked big!! (Mind you SL men’s frockcoats have the same problem if they use the skirt as a base, I only hope they never ask their girlfriends or wives about their bums because they look even dafter than us women!!).

Janey Bracken

Television's 'Friends' Coffee House In SL

For those who like the television series ‘Friends’ there is a treat in SL, Tinytiny Dean has recreated the Central Perk Coffee House and you can go there and sit and natter with your pals. It’s a really good replica of the cafe and there is so much detail that you may have to wait a while for everything to rez, but it’s well worth it!

As you reach the door you will hear the ‘Friends’ signature tune and then you can listen to part of the script from one of the shows. On the far wall there is a picture of the ‘Friends’ cast with their character’s names lit up on the wall. I propped myself up against the bar for a while in front of all the delicious cakes and goodies on the counter, then I sat on one of the comfy sofas and you could just imagine that Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, Monica, Ross and Joey would walk in any minute.

Tinytiny has put a lot of thought into this, and it’s a little gem, so go and have a look and give him a vote while you are there, it’s really very well done!!

Janey Bracken

Chance To Win 100,000 Lindens!

I’ve seen some good competitions in SL, but this one is the easiest to enter and it has the biggest prize I have ever seen, you can win 100,000 Lindens, yes One Hundred Thousand Lindens!! The Ministry of Motion sim, where you can buy a unique and wonderful range of Mocap dance animations, as well as the most exquisite copies of real life guitars, (scripted so that you can make your own music in SL), has joined ranks with Second Style Magazine for this great competition. This huge amount of money will be given to one customer on the 31st October 2009. (Pictured above is Ministry of Motion sim owner Nomasha Syaka). Here are the rules taken from the Ministry of Motion press release:

“Rules:
1. You must make at least one item purchase from Ministry of Motion to enter. You will receive one entry for each purchase between Oct 1st and Oct 31st 2009. Entry in to the draw will be automatic following each purchase.
2. On the day of the drawing Oct 31st you must have Ministry of Motion listed in your Profile Picks. (see instructions below)
3. No employee of either Second Style Magazine or Ministry of Motion will be eligible to enter the contest.
4. First Prize will be L$100,000.
5. Second Prize will be a copy of all Ministry of Motion Dance Animations (Transfer only)
6. Third prize will be Avatars choice of 10 Ministry of Motion Dance Animations (Transfer only) and one Nomasha Syaka Guitar.
7. By registering MoM in your picks, you will receive a free animation.

If you don't know how to put this in your picks, let me walk you through it...

Let's get started.
Step One:
While anywhere on my sim, right click yourself and then left click on "Profile..." OR
click "Edit" in the menu bar and then "Profile..."

Step Two:
Click on the "Picks" tab in the list of profile tabs. It should be the 4th tab.

Step Three:
Click the "New..." button.
A new pick will be added to your profile. The image, title and description should be filled in already. No need to edit any of it!

Step Four:
Click the "2nd Life" tab. It should be the 1st tab in the list.

Step Five:
At the bottom of the "2nd Life" tab, there's a checkbox marked "Show in search". Make sure this box has a check mark in it.
If there's no check mark, just click the box to add one.

Step Five:
Left click the "OK" button.

Once all this is done, it can take around 24 hours to be reflected in the online database.”

So hurry over to the Ministry of Motion to enter this amazing competition and don’t forget to pick up your free dance hud while you are there as well! And Good Luck!

Janey Bracken

Old Bert Looks for a Job

Old Bert was a sociable avatar. He felt he needed to get out, make some friends and find a job. He couldn’t stay in his apartment all the time and despite the unpleasantness he had encountered in the nearby pub, he hadn’t completely lost heart. A good night’s sleep revived him and he set off to see what the grid had to offer.
After a bit of wandering he discovered the 1920s Berlin Project sim. This was not a glamorous place; many of the buildings looked a bit shabby, and some of the inhabitants were down at heels. Nevertheless the sim appeared to have some life to it and Old Bert had a good look around. He discovered a square surrounded by shops, a cinema and a hotel. He was pleased to find that there was a barbershop. He went in and had a hair cut, coming out feeling quite spiffy. In the center of the square was a lady organ grinder. The music she was playing added an air of liveliness and cheered Old Bert up. He went over to her and they had a little chat. Old Bert asked her if she knew of any jobs available in the sim and she pointed him towards the Nussbaum Hotel, saying that they were looking for a caretaker. Old Bert was very pleased by this news so he set off after first tossing a few lindens into the wishing fountain in the center of the square.
The hotel was not a big one, nor was it very fancy, in keeping with the rest of the buildings in the sim. On the ground floor was the reception desk. A few tables in the lobby made up the restaurant and in the back was the kitchen. Upstairs were a few modest rooms. Old Bert was hired by the management and set to work right away, scrubbing the floors and washing the windows. In return for his meals he also helped out in the kitchen. While this may not have been quite the kind of work Old Bert had hoped for he was still very happy to have found a job. He struck up a friendship with the lady organ grinder and got to know some of the other residents of the sim so that he began to feel as if he had found his niche.
Old Bert was something of a student of human nature. He enjoyed meeting new people and was keenly interested in their conversations and experiences. He was an avid profile reader and culled landmarks from the picks he read, saving them for his days off when he tp’d around the grid. One day he found a landmark for a place called Café Trivia and on his next free day he decided to pay it a visit. Old Bert was thrilled by this discovery. He loved to play trivia and the avatars at Café Trivia were a very friendly bunch who welcomed Old Bert and made him feel right at home. The game itself took some getting used to, the questions were displayed at an alarming speed and the other avatars were very adept, but soon Old Bert got the hang of it, answering questions, chatting with the regulars, laughing at typos, and even making a bit of money in the camping chairs. Old Bert was happier than he had been in a long time. Neither his home nor his job was grand, but he had a roof over his head, such as it was, lindens, food and now a place to go on his days off. Things were certainly looking up for Old Bert.

Old Bert will be off next week. He will return in two weeks.

My thanks to Boye Jervil for pictures of Old Bert at work

Hibiscus Hastings

Lunatics in SL

I’ve always noticed changes in people’s behaviour based around the phases of the moon. It was a full moon on the 4th October and you could almost hear SL creaking with all the wacky people who roamed the sims looking for someone to vent their oddness on. The power of the moon affects the tides and the weather in real life and I’m sure it brings out the ‘lunacy’ in certain people both in the real world and the virtual one! It would seem that these poor souls are still feeling the effects, I went over to one of the SL stores yesterday, only to be confronted by a huge pink avatar who blew me a kiss as he arrived. As I didn’t run away, he did the usual bumping into me routine that some newbies love so much, then he went off, with me in hot pursuit. I was being a little bit wicked by going after him and he tried to get away. When I cornered him he gave up and teleported out in a puff of smoke. Not a word was said!

Then later on, while I was dancing in the Underground Club, trying to relax after a long day, I noticed an avatar moving slowly round the edge of the dance floor. He had a mask over his face and a drawn dagger in his hand. His profile stated one word ‘Gangster’ and he came and stood menacingly behind reporter Ed Follet whose back was to him. Being SL no one took any notice and we all carried on, had this been real life there would have been something to worry about. This was another newbie (or maybe not, who can tell!) and another player bringing his madness to the fore.

As we have Halloween on the 31st October I expect a lot more strangeness in SL, so be prepared, anything can happen…….

Janey Bracken

Love Your Virtual Pets!!

My Siamese kitten Max is a right little character, my friend Drax bought him for me for my birthday and Max, in many ways, is just like a real cat. Pets are one of SL’s amazing things, fellow writer Ed has a cat as well that he carries around, and it purrs loudly! My kitten is programmed for a few different things, he roams about and suddenly lays down and goes to sleep and snores. After a brief nap he gets up and stretches and continues to run around. Probably the cutest thing is the fact that I can walk around the sim and he will follow me along the road. He has his own food bowl, plus a packet of cat food, a little bath that I can wash him in, and a ball to play with. I can carry him across sim borders, although he is a bit big to carry, but then again, I can adjust his size if I want to. I remember logging off and leaving him in my SL Chelsea apartment only to find that when I had logged back on he had gone down into the street to watch the builders who were creating a park area. They were amused at how he would wander about and then just fall asleep at the roadside.

I took a look around a couple of pet stores yesterday to see what they had, and the range is vast, you can even buy your very own crocodile. I started at the Lolo Pets Store and there was this huge croc roaming about on the decking, pretty harmless I thought, till he opened his mouth to show me a massive set of sharp teeth! I must have been lucky he wasn’t hungry, so I went off before he changed his mind! Lolo’s store does a nice selection of animals and aquarium fish too, she even has some nasty looking spiders for sale, I thought I would leave them on the shelf as Hibiscus wouldn’t appreciate any creepy crawlies running around in our new shop.

I teleported over to Zoobyland, a well laid out sim, with many exotic animals as well as domestic pets for sale. The features on these animals is very well done, you can get that lovely dopey looking Labrador, which comes in black, cream and brown or you can buy yourself a magnificent looking lion or black puma. Once you look around, you start to want them all, you can buy baby wild cats that you can cuddle and even monkeys to sit on your shoulder. These animals are very pricey, nearing the 1000 Linden mark or more, but they are cleverly scripted and have a virtual life of their own.

When I had been over to see Celine, the little green witch’s home the other day, she had a blue and gold Macaw flying around, I watched as it landed near us for a minute or two, then it took off again, flying in various patterns all round the sim. The Macaw wasn’t just repeating the same route over and over, he seemed to go off for different periods of time before returning, very impressive!

My little Max comes from a place called A.I.F. and they do corgi dogs as well as kittens. You can even buy a little house for your cat or dog to live in and clothes for it to wear. As time goes on the people who make these cats and dogs update the scripting and you can go back for a free update too, so it’s worth paying that bit more for a really smart pet.

Be careful though, next time you see a cat or dog walking about in the street, it may not be a virtual pet, but a real person who is wearing an avatar animal skin, so don’t go over and pat him on the head in case he does bite you…….

Janey Bracken

Our Virtual Trilogy Shop

‘OurVirtual Trilogy’ team have opened our very own shop, it’s a nice little place where you can join us for a chat if you like, or you can just come in and sit for a while to rest your feet or arms from walking or flying. We don’t bite, honest! (well, unless it’s near dinner time anyway!) so be sure to make yourself at home!!!

It’s still a Trilogy as there are three of us at the moment, me, Hibs and Ed, but I heard from our lovely Pixi and she is planning to come back soon, so it will be Our Virtual Trilogy plus one!!

Janey Bracken