Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life and other virtual worlds. Images used in this article are used under permission of the owners via their participation in the Creative Commons license; otherwise, all rights are reserved. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required blog, Flickr, Koinup or Snapzilla page. Please go to these artists’ pages in any case to leave comments, (as well as comments here), if you have an account on the appropriate service.

Suggestions are appreciated; please send descriptions and links to me by in-world IM, notecard, E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com, or leave a comment below. I can also be reached on Twitter (Harper_G) or Plurk (Harper G. — include the period!), but the message may get lost in the luminiferous æther.

NOTICE: Some of the photos/links may contain nudity. Viewer discretion advised.

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A quickie today, mainly because I’m wanting to get a fresh article up, and also because I’m not wanting to do constant fashion.  This is a generalist blog, but there’s no real news to speak of at the moment.  So, it’s time to catch up with a few more of this blog’s favorite (and only) column.

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Crystal-ball gazers are a favorite item of mine in the Flickr and Koinup photos.  The theme and the composition are excellent, and lend to many interpretations.  For instance, Rebecca Bashly does here a piece she entitles warten, which shows her looking on at one who may be her current love, or her future love.  The actual state is left as an exercise for the imagination of the beholder….

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Lizi Nitely, however, takes a different view.  A more worldly view.  Or would you prefer a more global view (grin)?  In any case, this interpretation, named Gaia, inverts Boticelli’s Venus in a sense, placing the Earth on the half-shell.

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Finally for now, Nessy Shepherd looks upon herself in a different guise from how she is as she views her inner avatar.  The title, inner voice, speaks of what is being whispered to the more proper “Real World” avatar of how she truly wishes to be….

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Hopefully a longer piece in a few days.  I need to catch up on a few columns, in any case.  Keep tuned here!

I’m swatting away at this blog, working on coming up with new pieces.  I may make my own probe into Zindra in the near future, and there’s always fashion, of course.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Okay, where is he??

Don’t you just hate having to stand around waiting for a date to show up?  I was supposed to meet the guy here on the Champs-Élysées for dinner and the show at the Lido.  He’s an hour late now, and I’m about to just throw it over as stupidity and take care of myself.

Ah, well, at least I’m dressed for the night.  This Starlight gown I picked up from Digit Darkes would have been perfect for a night with that guy, though; just the right amount of sophistication and seduction — a lovely strapless top edged in black satin, rustling tulle skirt, and a side slit up to there in just the right place.  Lots of leg, and nothing else; but oh, the sense of invitation….

Are the shoes staying on?  I’d better check; I have problem with slingbacks.  Even ones as nice as these from Armidi Gisaci.  (I’m glad I’ve been studying yoga.  Lets me keep my balance when I’m standing on tiny surfaces….)

Good thing I decided to come to Paris before trying the ice on.  I get the feeling the guards at the Smithsonian wouldn’t appreciate how I heisted their prize rock when I was visiting Washington last week.  I better hope there’s not an extradition treaty between France and the good ole U. S. A., though.  Of course, wearing the other pieces here might just keep the Sûreté confused.  They never knew that Evalyn Walsh McLean managed to put together a matching suite for the Hope Diamond, and I’ve “acquired” the other pieces over the years.  Tasty!  A pity she never had a circlet bandeau made for the suite; but this one from Waka & Yuki works pretty nicely, especially with my hair swept up like this.  Gotta love Japanese hairstylists!

Now, where to go…?

The details:

• Shape/skin combo:  Type 6 (see Fashion page)
• Hair:  Waka & Yuki (W&Y) Style 90 (black, at Tsukiji store); W&Y Hair Fair jeweled circlet (available with their Hair Fair 2009 style)
• Nails:  Sin Skins Glitter Manicure (burgundy)
• Shoes:  Armidi Gisaci Barcelona slingbacks (gold)
• Gown:  Digit Darkes Starlight (mustard), minus shoulder bow
• Jewelry:  Dahlinks Hope Diamond (classic blue); Virtual Impressions watch (diamonds/platinum)

Photographed by me at Les Champs Elysees.

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:

…We have decided to close down all our sims on the Second Life grid except for Greenies Home. We will drop Crimson Shadow, Tunnel of Light and Carnival of Doom mid-July. Greenies Lawn is already gone. The Hobo Island is being transferred over to Thinkerer Melville. Black Swan will be deleted from the SL Grid after the Swan Song fashion event closes in mid-August. We will be focusing our efforts on Heritage Key, where we invite you to GoVirtual (VX) with King Tut. We will re-open the Rezzable Grid for people to help us test/improve OpenSim as well as showcase things that work there. We will continue to operate http://rezzable.com and cover metaverse topics and our virtual locations directory….

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.

I’ve added two new static pages to the blog, which you can reach from below my masthead.  They’re basically indexes to my articles on fashion and hairstyles.  Since wordpress.com treats category and tag clickthroughs as searches on the entire base of blogs they host, I’m doing this to make it simpler for readers to find articles in those two categories.

I hope your July 4 is a good one, and that you remember all that this RL country means to us here in the United States!

The details:

Standard shape/skin set 1 (see the Fashion page)

• Hair:  Sinsation Liberty (red/blonde tips; Sinnocent Mirabeau)
• Bikini:  SWIM Patriotic Pair (red/white top, blue brief; Ianni Lane)
• Boots:  B&G Sendra (two sets — red [rojo] on left, blue [azul] on right; BG Planer)

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring some of the more extreme or just plain interesting styles I found while traveling this year’s Hair Fair.  The ordinary stuff has its place, but sometimes you just gotta wig out, ya know?  I hope you’ll enjoy these; let me have your comments!

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Before I launch into pictures, a touch of news from the Hair Fair blog:  the organizers plan on extending the Fair by two days.  This will be due, they say, to the Über-crash that slammed the Grid during the first weekend of the Fair, and took two days to clean up the pieces from.  So now the Hair Fair will close at midnight July 6.

Bandana Day is still on for July 3.  Please remember to purchase a bandana from a vendor (there’s at least one vendor in each region of the Fair), and wear it all day in place of your regular wigs as a visible reminder of who we are doing this donating for.

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Pincushion is an “unreleased for sale” style from the Stringer Mausoleum that they are distributing as a freebie.  I can’t understand why they don’t charge for this piece; I think it’s gorgeous, resembling an extreme formal Japanese style.  You could wear this with a kimono and get away with it (I should have tried for this shoot).

All this hairstyle is called is “Type D,” and it’s being offered by Tsukiji W&Y, according to my notes.  When I saw the jeweled circlet for this style, I just had to do something a little more fantasial than I was originally planning on, and so here I am as an Atlantean priestess.  I think this one goes particularly well with the shape/skin I’m wearing at the time, don’t you?  Although my regular combo might work as well; I just haven’t tried it out that way yet.  (The diadem is a prim option in the package.)

B Spot’s Helen is fairly straightforward; I just didn’t have anything like this in my inventory until now (grin).  As I recall, the hairband changes color with a click.

Haver by Miau Haus is also straightforward.  I like the attachable flowers that circle the braids on both sides of your head.  I think they also change color with a script; but my notes are incomplete here.  (I’ll try to remember to correct this later, one way or another.

More in a few days, including a bit of a special dress feature; so stay tuned!

I just spotted a new tutorial by everyone’s favorite watermelon-fascinated avatar, Torley Linden.  He focuses his camera on…well, on the camera.  Or, more specifically, the camera controls, especially if you do machinima.  From his brief writeup:

Before Second Life Viewer 1.23, in Preference’s Input & Camera tab, there used to be Camera Transition Time and Camera Smoothing. They’ve been replaced by Camera View Angle (a more fluid way to adjust View menu > Zoom In and Out), and Camera Follow Distance now behaves as it’s named (not just while you fly).

I don’t use Linden 1.23 much, as I prefer Rainbow Viewer currently; but this information will be interesting for the times I do switch to the official viewer.  The controls are accessed through the Debug window in the Advanced settings.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring some of the more extreme or just plain interesting styles I found while traveling this year’s Hair Fair.  The ordinary stuff has its place, but sometimes you just gotta wig out, ya know?  I hope you’ll enjoy these; let me have your comments!

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I suppose the case could be made that Kiss’ Kira style (a freebie at her booth) isn’t that extreme or over the top.  The main thing here is that I love the ornament on the right side.  The little silver flower is cute, and I enjoy the dangling chain as well.  One has to wonder if those are handcuffs attached to the flower, not rings; but your mileage may vary here….

Sparkle Skye created Helena under the direct influence of the ancient Greeks or Romans, I’d say; it’s very reminiscent of something from the classical period.  Note the little gems decorating the upsweep.

Her Mui, on the other hand, is all loops and braids, and would not be out of place in a cyber region, with the wearer in a plugsuit.

Sparkle’s Naima is even more braids.  I’ve seen something resembling this in Roman-themed movies as well, but it doesn’t completely strike me as that kind of influence.

I won’t even guess where Vanity’s Herma came from; I just enjoy the corkscrew locks and the thick upswept hooks that must have taken a bucket of freeze or gel to create!

And Vanity’s Medusa, as you can see, lives up to its name.  I love these multidimensional art forms that you can wear; creativity can be found just as clearly in hairstyles as in other things involved in the art of fashion.

Until next time, hair’s looking at you!

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).