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I have yet had a chance to publicly thank those who were a part of Phantom’s Republic team while I was online, but before I do that, I am pleased to announce that Fiona Haworth, owner of PrimPads furniture and our Home and Gardens coorespondent will be continuing this blog as owner and blogger. Her posts on prefabs, unique furniture, and just fun items you could find around SL were a breath of fresh air … considering that most SL blogs have to do with clothing and fashion. The bulk of her contributions made her one of our top producers, and among all of the latest posts on the blog, hers generally outperformed everyone else’s … including mine.
So, for those of you who relied on Phantom’s Republic for the latest and best in House and Home … Phantom’s Republic blog will still meet that need, and I’m more than proud to hand over the reins to a person I trust, admire, and respect … Fiona Haworth.
Before I go, I want to thank all who have been involved with Phantom’s Republic over the last year. About this time last year, Fiona agreed to jump on board, and she’s contributed consistently since then. Not too much later, Aristoteles Allen – manager of Cheerno (formerly a.C Store) joined our team, and became our lead men’s stylist – giving our presence in men’s fashion a much needed lift. Since then, several have joined the team — some have stayed or gone their own way: Italiyia, Coldfusion, Xavier, Laya, Autumn, and Jenniferr.
I would also like to thank Giancarlo Takacs for our time as part of his team at Costa Rica Sims. I really enjoyed my time there, and wish him – and all of the residents of CRS – more years of fun and sun in SL!
Thanks to all of you for our wonderful time together! It was a great ride 
I don’t believe in destiny. I don’t believe in a lot of things, actually … and that’s always made me a little different than a lot of people around me. I believe in things I can hold, see, hear, smell, grab, taste, hold on to …
I don’t know what it was about Second Life that drew me in so deeply. The fantasy aspect? A premature mid-life crisis? I’m amused by those snobs in SL that say they’re nothing like the losers who become so immersed that they don’t know reality from a blip on a screen, yet – like these so-called losers – they can be found logged on and intertwined like the rest of us … for hours, days, weeks, months … logged on and obsessed like the rest of us, mesmerized not only by the seemingly flawless recreation of the physical world, but also in the beauty that this world brings out in the rest of us … a world where our noses, our handicaps, our weight problems, our ages, our skin blemishes, our speech impediments, our social hang-ups, and our pasts no longer hold us back. In Second Life, we’re all beautiful – in and out – just like we want to be in the Real.
Although blind faith has never been anything I subscribed to, hope has always been a friend of mine: hope for a life different than the one I had; for a different future; for a resurrecting, transforming love … something different than the shut doors, the “not-good-enoughs”, and the superficiality of today’s consumer culture. How I ever thought I would find something different in a world where superficiality is the base component of its very existence will always allude me – but, hope was what I had in this world not seen before, the world that made us all more alive than we are in our Real.
But, even though emotions seemed stronger, love seemed more real, and where things seemed more possible than they ever could otherwise … it never amounted to more than grasping at empty pixels. For those that claim this is the new economy, fortunes have been won (and lost) by the stroke of a pen at a computer lab somewhere in Silicon Valley when economy or real estate has been adjusted for the benefit of the many, or for the corporate image. It is all elusive, all unreal, all grasping at phantoms who seem so real … so beautiful at first.
So, what does that make all of us … those who have been spending the better part of our lives day in and day out, hours and weeks … pretending in a world of make believe? Is SL really the next economy, the future of social networking, or has the whole holodeck nature of it turned it into something more tragic? What do we gain in the world – in life – spending hour after hour in front of a wide plasma screen emoting in a chat box? Even when we fall in love – as so many say they do here – how does it benefit our lives when that life “together” can only be imagined … never shared, or enjoyed with another sitting beside you? Is it really the same sitting in a fake hot-air balloon and floating over virtual Venezia … or to hold the one of a very real lover while traveling down the canals of the very real one? Can it replace seeing the smile of surprise when giving a gift to your husband or wife, feeling their lips against your ear as they whisper sweet-nothings? And, for those who are here because they have had the real and lost … does it really replace what you had before? Or does it just keep you from ever having it again?
I came to Second Life on New Year’s Eve one year (the first time) … looking for something. And, although the ensuing months brought plenty of laughter, smiles, tears, and joy … one thing it never brought me was anything real. It felt real – absolutely – and in many of my virtual relationships, things still feel very real.
But, it isn’t … and it can’t be … not as long as it keeps us from reaching out and making things real; not as long as it prevents us from enjoying our own real lives; not as long as it robs us of the courage to make those real lives better. In that sense, SL isn’t an adventure … it is emotional heroine.
And, today … I’m pulling the needle out of my arm.
Those who know and love me know how to contact me … and I hope they will continue to do so. But, I can’t live in Pleasantville anymore. It isn’t real. I’m not throwing anything away … I’m casting my bread on the water … and what comes back (as the book of fables says) … was real all along.
Here’s to Real Life!
Unplugging …
After last month’s fashion show, I took my guy to shop at Nardcotix … he likes plaid shirts, and designer Nardya Rousselot has a truck full … not to mention a nice assortment and variety of other items in her new but growing men’s line. Needless to say, we had to leave quickly … we were tempted to buy everything in her store!
Last week, she asked me to look at some new items … and let me tell you … like her women’s line, Nardya is becoming a force to be reckoned with in SL fashion. Her clothes are more than just paint on prims or sculpties … they’re dynamic, they show personality — they capture the wind! Didn’t take long to take these shots in my crib … these clothes are awesome for events or just posing!
Stop by her store in either the Costa Rica Sims or her homestore in Einstein … and if you see something you can’t live without, grab what you like, and tell her Phantom sent ya!
TOP – Coat – NX Fielding Wool Coat Khaki| Vest – NX Gordon Leather Vest Brown| Denims – -WMD-”Ronin”Pepper Jeans | Boots – Black Leather Sculpties *REDGRAVE*| Sunglasses – KR Sunglasses M6 Gold| Necklace – *Cobrahive* Kousa Necklace | MIDDLE – Shirt – NX Devon Striped Shirt Blue| BOTTOM – Suit – NX Pierson Formal Suit Brown|
Allure Fashions / Obry Fashions has opened a shop here in the Costa Rica Sims Shopping District! Filled with women’s casuals and intimates, Allure/Obry is one store to add to your next virtual shopping trip! Amara is wearing their “Sweet Kitty” outfit.
Or, the CheerNo “Deuil” Winter Collection Exclusive Fashion Show
The CheerNo Fashion show actually showcased two different lines, designer CheerNo Destiny’s “Montage” and “Deuil.” Montage was released in fall and is available at CheerNo stores everywhere, while Deuil will be released on November 13th.
Narrated by CheerNo Manager (and our own male stylist here at PR) Aristoteles Allen, we were told of the designers influences from childhood that inspired the Montage collection … the bright colors of toys and candies. The electric hues of the each of the designs caught my attention … rather than being an explosive mess of color, prims, and sculpties, these designs reflected moods and states of mind and were each … in my mind … emotionally honest and playful works of textile art.
Deuil was a much darker exposition … reflecting the starkness of winter, but with each piece still showing that life exists even in the darkest of nights. Each model wore CheerNo skins to match their outfits of white, silver and black. For a moment, I thought I had been transported to the set of the movie Pleasantville … but I was jerked back to virtuality quickly as each model illustrated the outfits of party, disco, and business that will be CheerNo’s trademark this season.
Unlike much of the rest of SL’s clothiers, CheerNo Destiny’s releases are always along a certain theme or color scheme … and Montage and Deuil are simply additions to his already extraordinary line of men’s clothing.
You can find these outfits, as well as those of his previous releases, at his home store, Casa CheerNo, in the Costa Rica Sims, or at the GLOOM! Fashion District.
During the last month, when Shelby Robbiani and I were shopping for Costa Rica Sim’s Halloween Ball, we stopped by Rustica to browse. As it happens, Maxwell Graf is on her friend’s list, and halfway through our spree, she asked if I wanted to meet him. Of course, I wasn’t going to miss such an opportunity, and within a few moments we were whisked away to a sim called Rune … and what appeared to be a mountain raceway. Graf was more than happy to rezz a vehicle and give is a personal tour, and since I wasn’t so rude to take pictures that evening … I went back today to snap a few pics of what promises to be the next step in gaming within virtual worlds.
When it comes to vehicle-based gaming in SL, we think of slow-moving vehicles ambling jerkily along predestined tracks, with visible rezz-balls, etc. Or … “bring-your-own-vehicle” race tracks where one comes to try out the max speed on that thousand prim single-server-powered vehicle you have to wear. Alpine Deathrace 2000 isn’t about a fancy vehicle, or Coney Island-style amusements … it’s about the game, and the obvious influence on the vehicle and landscape is … well, what it should be … video games.
A simple set of instructions and a rezzing pad get you started (his low prim/low lag vehicles … not yours). Hopping on, you immediately notice the ease of vehicle maneuvering … this thing was built to turn on a dime, something that’s an immediate obvious need around the corner.
Leaving the starting area, you cross a bridge … and at the smallest suggestion of an incline, you realize this isn’t going to be as easy as you might have imagined. This vehicle has “physical” elements, which means it isn’t going to sit where you stop … it will obey our virtual world’s physics, and rest only at the lowest possible point.
There’s only thing worse than two ladies wearing the same dress to the ball … and thankfully, with over 100 guests throughout the evening, we did managed to avoid that during Saturday night’s Costa Rica Sims Ladies’ Society’s “Phantom of the Opera – A Halloween Masquerade Ball.”
The absolute WORST thing you can do is take one lady’s photo … then attribute it to someone else. Shortly after I had uploaded the post to the PR and CRS website, our estate webmistress, DzinWiz Babii, sent me an IM telling me that the glorious outfit I had attributed to her … well … wasn’t her.
I was still really busy finishing up things related to the party, and so I said I’d change it later … until later that evening, when Ms. Gloria Marchant commented on the blog that SHE was the mysterious mislabelled fine lady in mauve.
So, to both, I offer my humble apologies! You were both extremely lovely Saturday evening, and my only regret now is that I didn’t get a full photo of Dzin (she is slightly behind Gloria to the right – hence my name-bubble confusion). I couldn’t amend the old photo (I hadn’t saved the layered version after building it – BAD BLOGGER!), so I thought the absolute best thing would be to feature Ms. Merchant in her own posting … and here it is.
What do a bleeding skull, a crashing chandelier, and an enormous pipe organ represent? … A great excuse for a party!
Last evening, the Costa Rica Ladies’ Society hosted “Phantom of the Opera – A Halloween Masquerade Ball,” which turned out to be the most successful party on the entire Costa Rica Sims estate so far this year. At one point, nearly 86 people were partying on the sim at one time.
Guests ported into the main entrance of their normally formal opera house … now filled with mist, creepy trees, and a reminder to dim the lights on their viewer. And, the only way in was to follow bloody footprints into the lobby of the auditorium.
Entertainment for the evening was provided by crooner Clairede Dirval who sang the blues, some pop and alternative classics while strumming her guitar. By the second hour, we were moshing to the heavy beats of DJ Azu Catteneo … well, almost … our thick layered costumes prevented much crashing into each other!
As mentioned, the crowds were enormous for an SL party. We were afraid at one point the Sim might crash … and although many of us did (I did more than once), it wasn’t too terrible getting back inside the party that never stopped.
(For more coverage, and to find out who attending … take the jump!)
High noon in Second Life was a great time of day for the townsfolk to gather in the square to see the new Sheriff ride in. The Square: the Fashion Venue of the Costa Rica Sims. The town crier: Clyde Saunders of Costa Rica Sims Productions. The Posse: Models Florentine Rau, Wipster Baxter, Donald Feld, TraLove Pinazzo, and Hollee Zhora. The new Sheriff? Fashion Designer Extraordinaire … Nardya Rousselot, with a piping red-hot branding iron that lets everyone in town know which ranch she started …
…Nardcotix…
The show started off with the lovely Florentine Rau wearing Nardcotix‘ Frank’s Jazz in Crimson, a lovely strapless gown gilded with deep black patterns against deep red, with an explosion of fabric over the thighs and legs.
Next, Wipster Baxter wore Madeline in Blue, a fun slightly oversized dress that gives contemporary textures to a retro feel.
Donald Feld came out in Nardya’s new men’s line, wearing a Neron Striped Shirt in Purple, over her 641 Denim Jeans.
(Click HERE for more Nardcotix outfits … plus the interview!)
Mid-autumn … that period of the year where you embrace the extra inches of fashion, but are still reluctant to let go of the fun colors of the warmer seasons!
I started this ensemble at Meriken Co., one of my absolute all-time favorite stores. After getting the top and denims together, I thought it would be awesome to have Amara tag along and dress up, too, and before long, we were mixing the colors of summer and fall before the cold winds of winter blew away our fun.
A quick stop at Emery for her, and then we both got to accessorize! Then, off to the Picnic area of the Costa Rica Sims for some snapshots of the fading day.
AMARA: Top – Emery – Shirt Plaid Plan B| Skirt – Emery – Skirt Black High Waist | Shoes – [*RG*] London Heels -Black by Redgrave | Purse – Emery – HandBag R.F. #Sailor | Hair – >TRUTH< Melanie – strawberry| Skin – :GP: Petal [Light] Pin Up-Jitterbug 1 by Curio
PHANTOM: Shirt – Meriken Co. polka-dot pink | Denims – Meriken Co. Jeans #103 | Shoes – [ hoorenbeek ] All Star – Low Top – Pink | Scarf – Gritty Kitty: Stripes and Plaids Scarf | Glasses – Gritty Kitty: Velma Glasses [B] | Hair – Uw.St Reed-Hair by UncleWeb Studios| Skin – .::. REX .::. TONE 1 by Signature Skin Lab
Poses by Essential Soul Studio
