The opening guns have fired, and the hordes of coiffuristas have been let loose. Hair Fair is now on!
Well, actually, it’s been on since Saturday; I’ve been busy trying to work my way through the lag. I had to smuggle this report out via secret courier, who made a deal with the minions at the borders to let him/her cross into unlagged regions and telegraph it to my editors in London–
(WHAP!!!!)
Okay, okay; sheesh! Can’t let an avatar have some fun…. Anyway, I’ve actually been shopping since I managed to make it in, or make it across a region boundary to the next sim. I’m on the third region now out of four, which is great progress for the early days of something as big as Hair Fair. The lag can still be punishing at times, and so I’m usually sitting on one of the red cubes that the organizers have left lying around for avatars to use, and moving that about with the edit controls. Much faster than trying to duck-walk through molasses; not quite instanteneous, but the next thing to it over short distances.
The Fair covers four regions. This year, continuing with the extraordinary shapes of the other recent clothing fair for Relay for Life, all four regions are built and decorated like something out of a candy junkie’s fantasies. Even the ground texture resembles something out of Candy Land:
Map of the Hair Fair regions
The huge chocolate-chip cookies are the landing pads for teleportation; the rest of the decor is candy canes, lollipops, gumballs and gobstoppers, etc. Several people I’ve talked to in the Fashion Emergency group — I am not making this up — have said that they are getting a major munchie attack after making it in to the Fair.
A better view:
Even the roads look like ribbons of dark and white chocolate
The selection of designers is excellent so far. I’ve seen at least some of the big names, such as Analog Dog and Diversity Hair (which is a branch of Digit Darkes); and many others who I have enjoyed in the past, such as Tekeli-li, Tukinowaguma and Kiss Hair, are also present. Many of the styles are fairly typical hair, of course; but there is always the occasional extraordinary piece, some of which I’ve been picking up. Much to the sorrow of my in-world budget, I should say. However, some of these pieces are also placed in donation vendors, which means that at least half of the purchase price is going to the Fair beneficiary, Locks of Love.
Well, I guess I can stand it once a year….
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So, what does a stylish avatar wear to a function like Hair Fair?
Nothing…except your skin.
Now, before you let your imaginations get the better of you, look at this:
Fantastic texture!
None of this is not system; it’s simply a well-textured skin. Not a single prim on me, from the eyes to the soles of my sequin-spangled feet. And no scripted attachments, either. Admittedly, when I walk, since I’m not wearing an AO, I move like a galvanized duck. But I’m doing most of my moving around on a cube, as I said, which is much quicker at this stage than walking. All of this results in an Avatar Rendering Cost of … 1. Yes, folks, ARC does matter, and it would make life much easier for all if we all forbore from trying to grab attention for events like this, when it seems half the Residents of the Grid are trying to rush in here. It would allow us to move easier, let the buildings — and vendors! — rezz faster, and let us finish our shopping that much quicker so someone else can have a chance to get in. Be kind…and strip (grin).
Rezzable Plans to (Mostly) De-rezz
Tags: Commentary, Issues, News, Rezzable, Second Life
The news comes down today from the company itself that British-based Rezzable plans to shut down or transfer most of its operations in Second Life and move to its OpenSim-based platform, Heritage Key. From their blog:
It’s good to know that Greenies Home, which I’ve visited along with many other avatars, will be continuing (at least for the short term); but the loss of a first-water content creator, whether an individual or company, is never a good thing. It’ll be a shame to lose Rezzable, whose artistry and creativity is well known, from the Greenies to the King Tut exhibit.
But does this, as the doomsayers claim in their bromides, prove that Second Life is dying? I wouldn’t believe it. Second Life is far and away the preserve of the small businessperson; and there are still large companies yet, such as IBM, who see uses for SL as well. The fallout of RL companies from the Grid is similar to some of what happened in the Nineties on the Web, when the dot-com bubble burst. The ones who will stay are the ones who can figure out how to put this exciting new medium to use most effectively for their purposes. IBM uses it as advertising, and as meeting space; the RL U. S. Guvment uses it as well, particularly the military! Second Life is far from dead, and I don’t even see it as morbid or moribund.
To the naysayers: your output is derived from your input. If you don’t put anything into SL, you’ll never get anything out of it — unlike the thousands of us who do, and are.