Garden Selection - Home and Garden Expo 2013

I know I'm quite far from what could be called a "professional blogger" (whatever that means anyway.) However, since I finished my display with time enough, I popped at the platform where we were putting out the gifts for the bloggers, looked around the shelves, and thought "perhaps I could post a few pictures myself."

In this first post I want to show what tickled me the most from the garden items I've checked out.

First is this beautiful and peaceful "Cherry Blossom Place" from Two Moon Gardens.

It has a beautiful seat in the middle. It's using an old sitter system with many scripts, but the good news is, the objects are modify, so we can replace this by our own sitter system if we so wish :-)

Then, I've liked this garden cafe table and chairs set from What Next:

The tray dispenses some wearables when clicked (upon menu choice). Don't forget to add instead of wearing if, like I do, you have mesh hands on :o)

Last but not least is this "Fancy Schmancy Fleurs" from Meadow Works:

In fact, this has been my favorite-favorite from all the garden items I've checked out. It's a beautiful, evocative and dreamy piece. The menu messages to select how many butterflies you want have also made me smile. Well done, Garvie!

That's it for now. I hope having some more pictures after having had lunch :-)

The Expo opens today at Noon!

Advertisements. Is everything allowed?

Normally, I don't pay attention to advertisements. When I need something, I look for it, and meanwhile, I'm almost blind to the banners that populate web pages. But when an advertisement is repeated over and over, it surpasses my blindfold threshold, and I eventually turn an eye to it. Which doesn't mean I'm going to consider it anyway.

And so this morning I've realized about this one:

Perhaps I'm more naive than what I suspected, but I thought that mocking your competence in an advertisement is just cheap, to say the least. I thought that vendor system was good... The creator has no confidence on it as to praise its advantages? That's why he needs to mock the competence? Or is it a new trend I'm not aware of?

If it's the last case, perhaps I should start writing my own slogans now.

"Ghosts are Scary. Just sayin'."

"Even the cutest ghost will make you cry at midnight. Just sayin'."

"Ghosts lose data through their immaterial hands. Just sayin'."

Puhleeze...

Twisted Hunt Hints - 2013, Delirium

The stats of this blog tell me that several people drop by looking for the hints of the "Twisted Hunt". I'm sorry if you've been disappointed by finding none that could be useful at the moment. Let me make up for it, with a song:

Delusion

I was explaining here, a couple of days ago, about "Delusion", the gift I've built for the Twisted Hunt edition called "Delirium". We can read on their website an explanation of the theme:

a journey into confusion, an exploration of derangement, an expedition into hallucination and hysteria, and the insanity that goes with it...

It's not required that the gift follows it, but it's recommended.

Now, I don't sell clothes. I don't sell furniture (ok, I did for a little time, but with all the changes, I had to give up temporarily, I will bring it back in the next weeks). I don't sell skins, tattoos... I don't sell anything that the majority of SL could be interested into.

But I sell scripts, I like to write, I'm gaining more experience in creating textures, animations, etc, and as I explained here... a hunt is also a great chance to use it as a literary workshop.

So what's my gift?

A story that you can live :-)

You get two items: one HUD, containing the story behind "Delusion" for you to read it, and better know what will happen, and a room that you can rez.

As you rez the room, you see this:

I know, I hear you. "An empty room? Are you kidding?"

Put your earphones on and raise the volume, because you will miss details if you don't hear the sounds. Click on the floor. Select the act #1 from the menu. Have you skipped a heartbeat? Good.

A desk begins to show. It's waiting for you to sit.

I know, now this begins to look like scary :-)

The story moves on a sequence of vanishing/appearing items, distributed along three acts, intercalating some sounds that help to create the atmosphere.

The final act tells you the truth of what's happening.

I know, this is not a masterpiece. Remember: it's a hunt gift. It does not mean that's the reason why it's not better. It means that I have worked on this under a very tight time constraint (and I've made all of the supplies, which takes quite some time.) So, if you don't like the gift or think "meh", feel free to trash it. It was L$0 anyway :-)

If you like it, you now understand better what I'm going after in SL. "Your world, your imagination". My imagination is a dark place, and I feel I have now more tools to express it. To me, this has been like building a very short movie. And I have loved every moment of it.

There's a rezzed copy on the sim. Feel free to play with it. And if you're into the box insanity that the Twisted Hunt is, move your mouse around, because some boxes have poses and you can sit on them. Have fun :-)

Delusion (Twisted Hunt - Delirium)

Waiting for the sim to be upgraded, and fearing that it would happen coinciding with Twisted Hunt, I decided not to join this time, although the topic was, again, something tickling my imagination, in a fashion like I already explained when the Tainted Love Hunt was about to begin.

As my mother said at times, I don't know why I have a couple of operative braincells (one alone during the weekend), since I didn't think on the obvious: ask the organizers and explain to them about the situation. I assumed, without asking them, that it would be much of a bother in such a huge hunt, having to update landmark, landing point, and perhaps hearing from confused hunters because I could be terraforming at the current landing point.

I assumed wrong. One of them got in touch with me, and after explaining what was about to happen and my reasons, she made me feel confident that it wouldn't be that much hassle I had thought. And so, I applied and was accepted.

Now, "Delusion" is about to be completed, and it is again a work of love. While I finish the last animations and textures, I smile, because I've made it again: using SL to build a story. Not a long story, I know, but this time I've even gotten one step further than for Tainted. This time you can read the story on the HUD, and you can also live it, through three acts that you can select from a menu.

I have no images to show yet, I'll update this when I'm done.

So this time, you will get a HUD with the story, and a room. A room that rezzes upon choice one from the three acts that compose the story, and only when you "sit" to do what in the story you would do, then all the rest happens, in a vanishing-appearing-screaming little show that I hope you will enjoy.

Same as I said for Tainted, if I had been given the talent of composing music, I would have added some. But since I don't have such talent, I'll link again some songs from the "Silent Hill" video game series that fit with the story:

The hunt begins March 1st. Have fun!
(Remember that this is Twisted! Don't expect it will be easy to find the gift!)

PS: And of course, the sim was upgraded with the hunt about to start. Please bear with me and all the changes =)

The Tainted Love Hunt

When you try to release (four, five, six, more...) new things every week, it's easy to lose inspiration and get to a moment when you can't just think what else to do. That's what happens to me at least, and in those moments, a hunt can inspire you right in the moment when you need it the most.

Like the Tainted Love Hunt has just done.

The topic sure attracts my interest. I've grown bored of the sugar-coated Valentines pseudo-love. It's not that I'm unable to love, it's just that I always thought that love has nothing to do with evaluating the truth of a feeling depending on which day of the year you choose to celebrate it (and I rather prefer to celebrate it every day, in the small details.)

Of course, go ahead and do celebrate Valentines if you so wish. It's just not my cup of tea. I've even been unable to put my brain to creating any kind of supply related to it. I guess it's over what I'm able to do.

There's where this hunt has, so to speak, saved me. The topic is about obsessive love, painful love... This tickles a lot more my imagination, for it allows me to think of stories that aren't about "I love you", "I love you more", "no, I love you more!", which gives me more room for developing some kind of darkness.

The last year I joined, since June, 18 hunts as a merchant (20, counting the two that started the beginning of this year), and honestly, that was something crazy to do. For some, I created some sets I feel proud of, but for others, I joined being uninspired, just feeling "I had to". The obvious consequence was that even the day before hints were due, I continued to be uninspired, and the last I wanted was to give away something of bad quality.

I decided this year that I would be more careful in choosing. That I should understand a hunt not as a marketing tool, but as a "literary workshop", as in high school. Of course, I want that people like the things I do and come back! (who doesn't?) But if I'm not able to create something kind-of-unique and remarkable, then I shouldn't join. So I didn't apply until I had a clear idea of what I would do.

Most likely, those that get my gift will not even open it. That's ok, that's how hunts are, how SL is. That doesn't take away the fact that this time, I've been able of writing a very short tale, illustrate it, create the textures, and then create the animations, objects, textures and scripts that you would need to re-create parts of such story. (A few items I had already created them, but that doesn't diminish the whole of the gift.)

I'm almost done preparing and packing:

You will get a HUD with the story, the table, the chair, the crying book and the box... What's in that box...?

The content is the core of the story in the HUD.

If I had been given the talent of composing music, I would have added some, too. Since I don't have such talent, I'll just link some songs I've found that fit with the story (all of them, from the "Silent Hill" video game series)

Still, there's an audible surprise. The hunt begins February 1st. Enjoy!

You can just work...

... or you can work in style.

The above outfit comes from the (now finished) Silver Lining hunt, and the just cute and adorable Demy set that Caitlin has posted in her feed.

One day I hope to move over my shyness and break the ice, to formally meet those I follow in the feeds, and even on the forums, now for long.

(Yes, the mess surrounding my avatar is the platform where I work. The place of the never ended projects and ideas that continue to pop one after the other. I don't know why I made a "to do list" board inworld. I never filled it. It is written down on paper.)