Happy International Women's Day

It’s International Women's Day. Time to celebrate!!! On this occasion remember all the women in your life and make them feel as extraordinary as they always are. Wish us all love and feelings that we are truly special.

Second Life Events Schedule for February 2009

16th, Monday
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Special Australia Bushfire Charity

NOON SLT - 21 CET
Sphere Quan

1 PM SLT - 22 CET
JONAS Lunasea - NAG premiere!


17th, Tuesday - double special
----------------------------------------------
Midnight SLT - 9 CET
Alienspeaking - Australian DJ Group
Continues Aussie Bushfire Benefit!
http://www.alienspeaking.com/alienspeaking/

1 PM - SLT - 23 CET
Euodia Baxton - continues BUSHFIRE BENEFIT

2 PM SLT - 22 CET
REIS - Launch of VIVO site in Brasil + AUSSIES
http://reis.conexaovivo.com.br/profiles/

18th, Wednesday
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NOON SLT - 21 CET
Sphere Quan ( Holli Vals ) live from the IcyLands

25th, Wednesday
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6 PM SLT - 2 CET
Duzzy Ryder - live from JAPAN

Second Life Events Schedule for January 2009

January 18th
Time: 2 PM SLT
SL NAG @ Rich Island

Wipping Willow live premiere
from MIDEM event @ Cannes / Frances

http://myspace.com/WippingWillow
http://www.midem.net

Scheduled Sequence:

introductory instrumental, image et violoncelle
la periode noire (4 songs) "CInematika"
cerise intro tango
then the singer Anouk joins on l'oiseau tarantelle !

Emergence
Cello Fan
Darquologie
Cerise

Oiseau tarentelle
Cordes pixélisée
coeur grillé
Bonheur ephemere (i shouldn't)
Lollipop
Keskejfoula
rupture inversé (beauty arround)
Escapade
Demenagement
watcha Weia

RL-Videos to your attention:

oiseau tarentelle : http://vimeo.com/1138620
Bonheur ephemere (i shouldn't): http://vimeo.com/2228371
Keskejfoula : http://vimeo.com/2401243
Lollipop : http://vimeo.com/2559001
rupture inversé (beauty around) : http://vimeo.com/2188756
Escapade: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hyyt_wipping-willow-la-bellevilloise-liv_music
Demenagement : http://vimeo.com/1169521

-------------------------------------------------
January 19th
Time: 1PM
SL Zurich Opera House

Info: http://www.francescocuoghi.it/bibli_streaming.htm
http://www.bibli.it/musica/adesso/2009/09-01.htm

LIVE from ROME:
Maurizio Barbetti viola
Francesco Cuoghi guitar and electronics
Gabriel Maldonado guitars and electronics
Speaker: Gianni Antognozzi

Music from following composers:
Eckart Beinke, Klaus Stahmer, Luca Miti, Edu Haubensak,Bruno Strobl,
Aldo Brizzi, Gerhard Stäbler, Gabriel Maldonado, Riccardo Sinigaglia

ask EdDereDdE Laval - for further infos :)

Zurich City SL Opera House

Zurich City SL Opera House, originally uploaded by Wildstar Beaumont.

I am sure I am not the first to discover the Zurich City Opera House, yet it is such a wonderful institution, both from the architectural and artistic points of view that I thought it was worth to add en entry and few images about it :)

W

fairy photo contest winners

I would like to thank Elease Graves and Darkley Aeon, for sending me these wonderful pictures:




Winner Elease Graves received:

- 1000,00 lindens in cash from me;

- one pair of Ava Choo from her choice;

- one gift pair of Ava Choo from "The Sex and the City Collection" that I chose to give her;

-500,00 in cash from Anna Avalanche to choose one product from
AA Trade Company


Her picture is already displayed in my stores at :

Lucille's Little Corner

Coconut Ice on SL Illustrated Sim

and
Ava choo on Bahama Mall


Second Place, Darkley Aeon, received:

- one pair of Ava Choo from her choice;

- and oh well, I was feeling nice so I also gave her the same gift pair of Ava Choo from "The Sex and the City Collection" I had given to Elease Graves.

Her picture is also displayed on my store at Lucille's Little Corner.


I am thrilled with them! :-)

I said I wanted to see fairies and they sure showed me some really beautiful ones!

Thank you very very much for your joining the contest and please wait for others!!!! :-)

Kiss, Luci.

Would you like to date me?????? PAY FOR IT.!!..BUT READ IT FIRST:, by Lucille Morigi

Yes, I am selling myself for a very good cause - no, absolutelly no cybersex during the date!!! , lots of fun, yes!!!!!!!!

Ok, so that's it: if you want to spend time with me, now is your chance!!!!! Go go go go, go cause I rarely stay 2 continuous hours in sl, believe me......

This is important people! I am asking you to take part on this event:

Nuki-Nuki Beach Date-A-Thon 2008

Annual Charity for Breast Cancer Awareness

Date and time - Friday September 26, 2008 07:00 – 11:00pm SLT

In the spirit of giving back, the Beach Brats and all our friends, relatives, and loved ones are welcome to participate in this annual giving event to raise funds for breast cancer research.

All funds collected from the Nuki-Nuki Beach Date-A-Thon 2008 will be passed on to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. Our Goal will be a total stretch but we hope to raise L$100,000.

DATE-A-THON

Need a date for that special occasion, want to change things up from that “regular” you have been hanging with, or have you always wanted to go out with that person but never had your chance???

Do not be bashful – now is your time to explore the inner you and express it in a very positive way! Bid on that Babe or Dude and benefit breast cancer research at the same time. Go to the “Date Board” and select your target dates(s) – yes always have a plan B ready!

HOW DO I BID?

On Friday September 26th the auctioneer (The Big Kahuna) will run down the list of each participant (Babe and Dude Dates) from the event notecard. Notecards card be obtained from any event poster. You will simply touch the sign below the “date” you are bidding on. Raise your bid by touching the sign again. All bidders except the top bidder will have their funds returned. Minimum bid starts at $500L.

WHAT DO I RECEIVE?

If you are the winning bid you will receive a date that consists of 2 continuous hours. It is up to the winner to contact “the date” and schedule a time that both can meet and go on their date. This is a charity event and meant to be fun and entertaining for the participants.

HOW DO I ENTER AS A DATE?

Go to the date board and grab the notecard. Complete the questions and do not forget to attach a picture of yourself to the notecard. Send all notecards to Ipunin Pera.

TP to Nuki-nuki beach

Mer Dreier… So Sexy

EXPO : 7.08.08- 3.09.08
Siena Museum, ITALY
Vernissage/Opening:
Thursday 7 August : 21.30 --- 12.30 PM SL TimeWednesday 3 September 2008




Photography lovers don’t miss this incredible photo book form Mer Dreier.

It is so sexy…..

Mer Dreier by her own word

How I work or why?

Mer Dreier

Is the desire enough to justify what I do? I know just that in the absence of this need for creation, of this logic of creation, it does not matter how it is named, I am dissatisfied, anxious. Also my step is the transposition of this desire to give to see what appears to me. The medium by which these feelings forward imports me less than the shown thing.Mer Dreier lives and works in France(Various mediums: acryls, techniques of drawing, photographs, creations digital)Graduate of Paris I Pantheon-SorbonneTeach the visual arts in collegeExhibitions of painted works

Do you want to know more about Mer Dreier? So don’t miss the expo.

SANA MODELS SHOW- The Maseno Project

I am very happy to invite all our bloggers to join me at a very special fashion show and auction - June 1, 2008 at Noon SL time, a charity fashion show at the lovely KJAZZ Club.

I met Abbie Reinard (model, writer and activist) and she told me about The Maseno Project, in a small village 20 miles west of Maseno, just north of the lakeside city, Kisumu, in Western Kenya where due to AIDS pandemic, a lot of children have been orphaned and they have no relatives or any means of support to even meet their basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter and education. The Maseno Project is an intimate charity whereby people's donations make significant impact on particular lives.

This is a self-funded integrated community based project to establish education bursary plans for orphans, youth, the destitute and special cases such as the blind, deaf and the lame. And provide health care for the above groups. The centre has one ongoing activity early childhood education program which has 30 children, mainly orphans.

The idea of the show started when Abbie met Keely LeFavre (supermodel, blogger and businesswoman) during a modeling contest and this idea of holding a charity show for the children of Maseno in SL came eventually as they went on from becoming contestants to best friends. Keely LeFavre and Sana Models are presenting this charity fashion show inorder to raise funds for these orphaned children.

The show will consist of 6 of the hottest SL models showing creations from 6 amazing SL Designers. Immediately after the show, an auction will take place for one outfit from each designer. All donations and proceeds will go directly to the Maseno Project.

The show promises to be something truly special and has attracted designers who rank among the most elite in Second Life's fabulously thriving digital fashion industry: Callie Cline (Callifornia), Giana Paine (GiGi couture) Sissy Pessoa (BAIASTICE), Bianca Foulon (biancaF.), Stiletto Moody (Stiletto Moody Shoes) and Omnia Oh (Beauty Avatar). The auction at the conclusion of the show will include 4 full outfits including skin and shoes. These outfits will be only one of a kind!



Event Date and Information:
*Date: June 01, 2008
*Time: 12PM SLT
*Host: Abbie Reinard & Keely LeFavre
*DJ: Giela Delpaso
*Location:
*Auction begins: 1PM

For more information on this visit http://masenoproject.blogspot.com/
or contact Abbie Reinard (in world) abbiereinard@gmail.com

ArtLife^3 Gallery

Nicci Lane is opening her Australian themed Gallery and chill space at Baie St Anne. The ArtLife^3 Gallery





Second life premier artists exhibiting include, Doutzsweet Jetcity, Soleil Beam, Kolor Fall, Clarice Castaignede, Artfox Daviau, Juanita Deharo, Finny Yates, Blue Tsuki, Music Hyun, Cienega Soon as well as feature exhibits bi monthly.




There is very nice art exposed, don’t miss seeing it. So dress up, bring your best mate, and enjoy a night’s entertainment from 8pm - 10pm SLT today



Bongobenny Matova, bring you Australian beats to dance the night away...whether you want to toggle or not, ambient bush sounds in the outback areas , Big red Roo will be hard to catch as will a few natives!

Life^3 Attol sim also open for touring and romance, Edderedde Laval welcomes you to NAG Gallery and the castle walls talk of a thousand years gone by.

Summer Model Contest

New Summer Model Contest brought to you by

Flavah Modeling Group .
Audacious Designs /Slick .

Audacious Bade is the Owner of Audacious Designs a high quality clothing store that has been reviewed and received excellent ratings from the SL media for her clean cut designs that compliment all women no matter what their shapes may be. In late May of 2008 Audacious will be launching her line of mens apparel called *SLICK* and for this reason we have decided to put a face to both clothing lines.

We are holding a 2 weeks search for both a female and male model to be the face of Audacious Designs and *SLICK* summer clothing lines. Along with many other prizes in which will be outlined and detailed below. Contest opens May 2nd last day to enter may 17th midnight.

For More information contact Audacious Bade in world

FASHION ROCKS at Subtle Tease Galleria

This information just arrives from my new friend Annie McAlpine

Grand premiere of the Galleria at Subtle Tease Island featuring an exclusive fashion show starting at 8PM SLT Tuesday May 6th.

Featuring five of SL top designers showing their latest fashions, live music and tons of freebies.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend. Also, plan to hang out and join the after party at the Grand Opening Party at Picasso's Club. .... Adress here
be there !!

FASHION ROCKS!

SL Statistics for Mach 2008

Base on the official information from Linden Lab, we present an exclusive summary with the main statistics, on the Second Life.

• Total of hours spends by users: little more than 30.7 million hours, a growth of 9.5% in relation to February;

• Increase of the total population: they had been opened 408,499 new accounts, 3.22% increment, rising for 13,080,137 residents (historical mark, above of 13 million). However in percentile terms, it was to the worse mark of all times;

• Premium accounts: in March a fall of 1,656 accounts was registered , from 91,531 in February to 89,975 in Mach (-1.81%).

• Brazil active resident registered a fall of -2.22% avatars(about 575 residents less), finishing the month of March with 25,236 avatars active, and keeping 6ª world-wide position (with a representation of 4.64% of world-wide the active population in the SL).

In world-wide level the March month registered increase in the total active users (breaking the increase of fall in the last month), about 17,375 new users, what corresponds to 3.29% increase. The month of March closed with a total of 544,290 active users in the world.

• TOP 10, they represent 80% of all activity in the SL:

1º U.S.A. (194,899 active users) – same position as last month
2º Germany (44,908) - 1 position up
3º the United Kingdom (43,859) - 1 position down
4º France (27,130) - 1 position up
5º Japan (27,081) - 1 position down
6º Brazil (25,236) - same position as last month
7º Italy (23,577) - same position as last month
8º Canada (18,279) - 2 positions up
9º Spain (17,868) - 1 position down
10º Holland (17,202) - 1 position down

• Total area of grid (world-wide map of the SL) grew about 5.24% and it reached the mark of 1,093. 42 Square kilometers

• Total regions (islands) about 16,600 .

• Total L$ circulating in the system went up 4.9%, reaching the total mark of L$4.8 billion (new historical record, beating the previous month), equivalents US$18.4 active millions in the financial system.

• There was an increase of L$ trades in the official market (LindEx-Linden Exchange), from US$8.4 millions to US$9.1 million (8.33% growth).

• The Linden Lab invoiced US$ 884,000 in March, with direct sales of L$ (Linden Dollars), at LindEx market.


Analysis:
The Second Life is really an interesting system. If compared with a country in real world, it would be among the fast grown country. The growth projection for this year is 40% disrespecting the users with only one access, those that open account and never connect again.

This growth projection is superior of many countries in terms of USD$. Therefore 40% in revenue return is fantastic.

The growth in the indices of the virtual economy is more solid. This confers to the system a status of bank, as a result of more than USD$18 millions inside Second Life! This amount of money is equivalent to a GDP of USD$215 million /year. Corresponding to a developing country economy with a potential for grow and rising funds. An excellent scene for who knows what to invest in the world domestic market. Lands and commerce are the business investment suggestion.

With the contract of Mark Kingdon - career executive in the technology area - Linden Lab confirmed the changes in board. In terms of history, he has a background in art, economics, and business. he has been in successful and highly regarded leadership roles at two companies that are bigger than Linden Lab: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Organic. Kingdon is a weight name to conduct the critical internal changes in the company, moving away the possibility from an I.P.O.

The problem of retention of new users is critical in the Second Life. If it was not for the constant growth in North American users, the system would have a considerable fall in this month.

The constant instabilities had not been enough to knock down the volume of used hours. They grew about 10%. Could grow even more if, there wasn’t many problems in the Linden Lab servers this month. The installation of gravitational system Havok 4 is speculated to be the cause of server problem. In general terms, the perspective is very good for Second Life.

Dear reader, what is your opinion about Second Life business?

Based on: mundolinden.com
Translation and adaptation: Anna Avalanche

Sana Models fashion show

I want to congrats Sana Models and its President Keely LeFavre for the beautiful model show this week. The Sana beautiful models in the show were:

Incolumis Lancaster
Ken Poikolainen
Liane Maertens
Mimmi Boa
Mortimer Vhargon
Salvo Waydelich

Sana Models is a subsidiary of Sana Mall and in addition to be a newly formed agency it is available as a service to Sana Mall vendors. Basically, the vendors of Sana Mall are able to use the models in any professional manner that they require: billboards, logos, in-store modeling, fashion shows, etc. The show featured Sana mall vendors: Micro Dinzeo Underwear, Just for Him, and Safran’s - Which are men’s clothing stores. The famous Nicky Ree clothing design was also featured. This was a high quality fashion show.

After the show I interview two beautiful models, the top model prize winner Mimmi Boa and Liane Maertens.

According to Liane Maertens – also a Déjà vu Journalist – “was really a pleasure to model for Sana Model mall and agency and I wish to make more shows like this in a near future. KeeLy Lefavres is a very nice and friendly person. The clothes were not very difficult to match with the most different accessories and jewels.” Liane featured Safrans Micro and Nick Ree beach wear at the runway on the paradisiacal Sana beach mall.

Mimmi Boa is an Italian Model, Here curriculum include big model agency like Modavia Model, SL Supermodels. She has large experience in fashion shows, no admire that she won the contest. I found Mimmi very happy and satisfied about the catwalk. As she say: “I worked really hard to learn more and more every day. Is really amazing and I’m so happy and proud!” To Mimmi these last weeks are really incredible she was chosen as pre-finalist for Miss Universe 2009 and also won the rank of Top Model for Sana Modeling. Congrats girl!

I would love to have had the chance to interview all the lovely models on the show. Hope I have the chance next time. For those beautiful models that I didn’t interview, please feel free to add a comment about your impression and feeling of the Sana Models high quality fashion show here.

MFA - From Liane Maertens

This here I was invited as Moda model to participate at MFA showcase, and I got realy involved with the wonderfull and generous idea of the coordenations.
MFA started as a clothing fair called the Merovingi Clothing Fair on 2 sims, with the good feedback recived from the visitors and contestants among with some suggestions how to improve the show. One of these, where to not select fashion labels but to let people nominate themselves.
So the organization asked Second Life residents in January to nominate who they think should participate. Every Second Life resident was invited to nominate one (1) fashion company who only exist in Second Life, only Second Life businesses could be nominated. Fashion Labels that has a business registered in Real Life could not be nominated. in each 5 given categories.
Judging will be based around 5 categories:

1. Best Female Fashion Label
2. Best Male Fashion Label
3. Best Goth Fashion Label
4. Best Furry Fashion Label
5. Best New Fashion Label

Over 5000 nominations later, the top 5 nominees in each category has been invited to attend. The top five (5) labels that gets most nominations are offered to participate at the MFA Show-grounds. Here, they were offered a spot on the grounds where they could put on display there creations and offer visitors a chance to have a close look at there work before voting.

Last year’s show event helped to raise money for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and this year the plan are make things even bigger, by raising money for Doctors without Borders and the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

This year the show is twice as big, spread on 4 SIMs in Second Life. In comparison to passed shows, the coordenation didnt hand pick designers, instead they left the Second Life community nominate and vote for those it thinks should be the winners. During the week-long event, visitors are offered to visit the show grounds and vote for who they think should win, in each of the categories. Each Second Life resident could vote one (1) time. Voters must had minimum 30 days old to vote.

Also this year, they award a brand new Apple iMac 20" computer to each winner, and an iPod Nano is raffled among those who nominate and vote!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Osmium/191/198/22

London School of Journalism

Morgue McMillan Public relation of the London School of journalism send me this important notice. It is nice to have a real life journalism school also on Second Life. I will be glad to have some articles of the students publish here. Congrats Morgue and all London School staff, professors and students.

This is a nice tip for those who want to be an journalism. London School of Journalism.

Established for over 80 years, the London School of Journalism provides journalism courses, freelance classes and creative writing lessons by distance learning.

The LSJ has been at the forefront of teaching journalism and creative writing skills for three generations, and continues to lead the way in developing new and effective teaching methods. It also offers 3, 6 and 9 month attendance postgraduate diploma courses in Journalism in London, and modular 24 month online distance learning postgraduate courses.

Although best known for its journalism courses, half of the students are involved in other forms of writing - short stories, novels, children's fiction, poetry, cartooning and English courses.

The presence of the LSJ in Second Life is one more step in the development of new teaching and learning methods. It took Titan Thorne and Indego Hax little over 3 months to build the sim, which includes a main building called the Student Union that contains a general public relations area with announcements as well as an amphitheatre and a club for dancing and events.

Furthermore the Learning Curve will provide the students with all the assets needed in SL and for their learning experience. The LSJ also plans to offer free lectures all throughout their distance learning programme every other week and will co-operate with the writing community in SL like The Guild of UK Writers, Written Word and INKsters as well as with Rockcliffe University.

For further information please contact Titan Thorne or Indego Hax in-world and they will be glad to answer any question, or visit the website of the London School of Journalism at http://www.lsj.org/.

The sim will open officially on April 26, 2008 at 10 am SLT (6 pm GMT) with a public lecture (it is a free event, but it is needed to contact Titan Thorne via IM to attend as it will be a group event), music and readings.

Their virtual campus is here:

Virtual style? In another life

This is based on an article in the London Financial Times on the fashion industry and how real-world fashion companies are braving the virtual frontier. Also, this is part of my history inside the metaverse. I was surprised when I read a line about me on Fiona article. This is because I took part on the Lacoste contest. Below you can see my pictures. Well I didn’t win but I got media coverage.

The idea to publish this article is to show part of my history inside Second Life; Give a tip about business and brands on the metaverse - In my opinion this is a very new internet platform and real life companies aren’t using it very well; Also, introduce my new article about fashion tips and trends on Déjà vu magazine: Deja vu international.

Virtual style? In another life
Based on text By: Fiona Harkin

No longer the domain of tech-geeks and real-world businesses are vying for a virtual presence - especially fashion businesses. After all, think of all those perfect-bodied avatars to dress.

"Aranel is fun and spunky. She is happy-go-lucky and really easy-going but has an addiction to shopping for clothes." So reads the online description of one avatar beauty applying to take part in Lacoste's Second Life virtual modelling contest. The French brand has joined the likes of American Apparel, Reebok, Adidas and Calvin Klein fragrances in tapping the growing marketing potential of virtual worlds.

Unlike American Apparel and Reebok, Lacoste has chosen not to open a store in Second Life, but has instead launched a competition on its website, where players can upload images of their avatars to be judged in an online voting competition.

"By going as far as virtualising the product, Lacoste is demonstrating that an item of clothing is infinitely more than a piece of fabric," says Ivan Beczkowski, web consultant at BETC Luxe, which is behind the Lacoste project and sees it as a way for brands - even luxury ones - to reinforce their identity and engage the consumer.

"By becoming involved in Second Life, Lacoste is investing in this new virtual living space, a space that has become a powerful economic reality and a decisive territory for brand expression and expansion," adds Corinne Perez, managing director of BETC Luxe.

Well, she would, wouldn't she - though with avatars such as Anna Avalanche, pictured on the Lacoste website in a revealing Brazilian bikini, and Salvatoree Rossin with his steroid-pumped torso, it's hard to imagine the style of Second Life avatars fitting in with the clean-cut Lacoste image.

Still, says Sabrina Dent, alias Sabrina Doolittle, of Linden Lifestyles "Critically, there are no really effective advertising channels in SL, and therefore no in-game mechanism that allows a brand to dominate, no matter how much they spend. The playing field is still very even between real-world brands and in-world brands and, in fact, the real-world brands do a much poorer job of reaching consumers.

"Having said that, Second Life is a micro economy and there is no real-life brand that's here to make money. It is an excellent platform for building relationships, cementing brands and building consumer loyalty - yet few real-life brands are doing those things correctly in Second Life," adds Dent. "Take Lacoste. It has little or no in-world presence; it's just running a vapid photo contest on its website."

"Overall, I'd say, most residents are indifferent to the large companies that open outlets in Second Life," says Celebrity Trollop, Second Life's fashion oracle and the managing editor of online magazine SecondStyle.com. "Second Life is driven by the new and now. If you open a beautiful store like American Apparel, it will be popular for maybe a month, but as new content fails to appear, traffic and sales will quickly erode."

So what are the sartorial codes of the virtual world, and how can you win your fellow avatars' approval? "Second Life allows you to be a celebrity in your own lunchtime," muses Dent. "You can design the body you've always wanted, and indulge your fashionista fetish for very little money. You can be the most attractive, best-dressed version of yourself you can imagine."

It figures then that having achieved a perfect body, most Second Lifers choose to flaunt it. Cue an overwhelming array of bootilicious clothing and bare midriffs which would horrify real-life fashionistas. Second-Life style isn't about the latestPrada shoes and Louis Vuitton 'It' bag. Instead, there's an appreciation of technical craft, especially as anyone with Photoshop can be a virtual fashion designer. "There are some extraordinarily talented people in Second Life," says Dent.

Then there's Crucial Armitage, aka Peter Lokke. A former manager of a Pathmark supermarket for 16 years, he gave up his real- life job to further his career as a virtual clothing designer and land baron, with 70 stores throughout Second Life. One of the 35,500 players experiencing a "positive monthly Linden flow" in April, Lokke says he makes enough money to support a family of four.

"I believe the great majority of players prefer something a bit simpler with a touch of flair and sex appeal to it," Lokke says. " I never rush anything I make. It is this process that I think makes my items stand out."

If uniqueness and craftsmanship count, perhaps more luxury retailers should be getting involved? "The 'participative democracy' of the net takes nothing away from the magic of luxury brands as long as their appearances on the web show both understanding of this new world of expression and convey their extraordinary status," says BETC Luxe's Perez, referring to the Lacoste project. "I am convinced that internet users will appropriate and twist the codes of a universe that stays inflexible and formatted in reality."

But to what end? Accessto a niche group of online early-adopters with enough cash for the hardware needed to run Second Life? Dent is firm in her belief that Second Life has added value for a brand in witnessing the way players shop. "Anything I see in a high street or a Bond Street window, I can find a semblance of in Second Life, and it has its own couture brands, too.

"What I see an opportunity for, however, is smaller fashion houses trialling design concepts in Second Life. If you're trying to decide if a consumer group will prefer one pattern over another, Second Life shoppers can very likely provide you with statistics on that. And, with the correct market intelligence, design houses could also extrapolate data about price points - all with corporate anonymity."

Adds Trollop: "You couldn't ask for a better creative Petri dish to grow a market winner."
The bigger issue, then is how Second Life could change the way we shop in real life. It offers the opportunity to try before you buy. It fosters shifting identities, with avatars changing styles from day to day. (On the flip side, it could also lead to more demanding real-life customers.)

No wonder Aimee Weber, who built American Apparel's Second Life store as well as virtual versions of the company's real-life outfits, says: "I predict the real fashion world will have a season or two in the near future that will be advertised and heavily influenced by the virtual worlds."

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008


The complete article can be found here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/733d2398-05a6-11dc-b151-000b5df10621.html?nclick_check=1 or here: http:http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto052320070811047333

Please, leave comments of your thoughts if you wish. Do you think real life companies don’t know how to use correctly SL? Do you think that real fashion world will be heavily influenced by the virtual worlds?

This is my pictures for the Lacoste contest Fiona Harkin refer to.

Anna Avalanche Lacoste 01
Upload from Anna Avalanche

Anna Avalanche Lacoste 02
Upload from Anna Avalanche

Anna Avalanche Lacoste 03
Upload from Anna Avalanche

What is coming up next on Second Life?

This is a Reuters article: The last big feature: “HTML on a prim” by By Eric Reuters.

Speaking last summer at the Second Life Community Convention, Philip Rosedale pledged that stability would be Linden Lab’s top priority for the coming year, plus two major new features: the introduction of voice, now live in the virtual world, and the ability to access web pages inside Second Life.

Earlier this month, Linden took a major step towards realizing the second half of Rosedale’s wishlist with the release of a new test version of the Second Life software. Insiders call the long-awaited feature “HTML on a prim,” for the ability to display the language web pages are written in (HTML) on the basic building blocks of Second Life objects (prims).

What it means, to hear Linden Lab executives speak, is to allow people to share the any experience that can be had on the World Web Web, collectively through Second Life. “You can have the experience of watching a video — dare I say YouTube? — with other people at the same time,” Rosedale told Reuters last week in a Second Life interview.

The current test version has nowhere near that capability. Only one URL, or web page, can be used in a given parcel of land. Eventually URLs will be tied to virtual objects, a substantially more difficult task. But as a prototype the functionality works.

Rosedale, noting the shift in his Second Life usage towards educational institutions and non-profits, said he imagined the earliest uses of the new feature would lie in creating “virtual white boards” to share ideas between people in remote locations.

“Today, you have to take screenshots of your slides and upload them as textures, which normal people just aren’t going to do,” he said. Coding a presentation as a webpage is substantially easier.

Eventually, more capabilities will be added. “We’re shooting a lot higher then just ‘HTML on a prim’,” said Samuel Kolb, a Linden developer working on the project. “Anything you can do on the Web, you should be able to do within Second Life.”

Rosedale shied away from promising a deadline for the general release of the new feature, but when pressed said he hoped to have a first version by the end of year. “If you wanted to be all Steve Jobs about it, you wouldn’t say anything to the public until it was all ready and finished,” he joked.



What you think about this innovation? Had you hear about it? Do you think this will transform Second Life? Please leave your comment about this topic.

19th Annual National Service Learning Conference

My friend Rhiannon Chatnoir just sends me this invitation:

Starting now (April 11 ) in the NMC sim Teaching, as part of the National Youth Leadership Conference live events, Global Kids' workshop on Using Virtual Worlds to Promote Service-Learning - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching/110/117/23


The National Youth Leadership Council will be hosting its 19th Annual National Service Learning Conference in Minneapolis from April 9-12th, 2008. The NSLC is the largest gathering of youths and practitioners involved in the service-learning movement where participants connect through three days of plenary sessions, featured forums, and service projects.

Friday the 11th, Global Kids will be streaming the key events live onto the web at our blog http://tinyurl.com/67pt8l, and hosting live events in Teen Second Life on our Global Kids estate and on the Main Grid in the NMC sim Teaching (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching/110/117/23).


Schedule of Events

Join us for Day 2 of great plenaries, performances and speeches from the Learn and Serve Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


Date: April 11th, 2008

Be sure not to miss Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an activist who helped end racial segregation in South Africa!

7:00- 8:30 a.m. (PST)
Plenary session with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, human rights activist and Nobel laureate
Archbishop Desmond Tutu's faith in and commitment to the peaceful destiny of South Africa earned him the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. He served as his country's voice of conscience during its long struggle against apartheid. During those years, Archbishop Tutu soothed the spirits and rallied the hearts of his people with simple words of passion and dignity. Those words also united the world against South Africa's apartheid regime.

8:45 - 10:15 a.m. (PST)
Responding to Tutu's Global Call to Action
Calling all youths! Don't miss this opportunity to hear young people's reactions to Archbishop Desmond Tutu's plenary address and global call to action. You will spend this session responding to issues discussed in the plenary session such as Jewish relations, Darfur, and HIV/AIDS.

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. (PST)
Tabitha Gkid's workshop on Using Virtual Worlds to Promote Service-Learning!
This session highlights some of the exciting work that young people are undertaking both on- and off-line to address significant problems faced by youths in the 21st century. Come hear what youths around the world are doing in virtual worlds at Global Kids, a New York nonprofit, to promote service-learning, and learn how you can do the same in your community!

2:15 - 3:45 p.m. (PST)
Youth in Media: Leveraging Our Power
Are you a middle or high school student who feels that you have creative media ideas to help change the world? This forum will feature panelists whose lives are focused on making change through media. This forum will ask, document, and seek to answer questions such as: What is the media feeding young people? How can media and service effectively complement each other to make change?

A tribute to Mexico People

This is the April Issue I wrote for Déjà vu magazine. You can also find other great articles here: Deja vu international

Mexico ~Chichen Itza~Archeologic, Visit Mexico (198, 69, 38)

I love to travel and explore real and second life places and I decided to make tribute to my friend’s country. Maybe I can have all 192 countries members of the United Nations as homage. So I ask my friends to write an article about their countries. For my surprise Patt Sands a very intelligent and especial friend sent me this remarkable note about Mexico. This is not an interview but a very well wrote article. Enjoy your second life and maybe you real life in a travel to this fantastic country.

The most notable tourist draws in Mexico are the ancient Meso-American ruins, and popular beach resorts. The nation's temperate climate and unique culture – a fusion of the European (particularly Spanish) and the Meso-American – also make Mexico a large draw.

This article is about the impressive pre-Columbian archaeological site. Chichen Itza, pronounced (/tʃiːˈtʃɛn iːˈtsɑː/) from Yucatec Maya Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha' was a major regional center in the northern Maya lowlands. I invite you to travel in the thought and words written from Patt Sands.
Anna Avalanche

Text from Patt Sands, Photography by Anna Avalanche
Models Anna avalanche and KidBengala Blackadder

Chichen Itza

People say there are places to be remembered but not all places capture our attentions in the same way. That is what I felt when a while ago, with sweat on my forehead, gasping; a little tired after climbing 91 stairs. Finally, I arrived at the top of the Pyramid of Kukulkán (plumed serpent). This place is most commonly referred as, “El Castillo” (the castle). It was built with nine terraces and four staircases, one on each side of the monument. Each staircase consists of 91 steps. If you add the steps of all four staircases, that totals 364 steps and with the top platform of the pyramid you get the number 365, which equals the number of days in a year[1]. This is the most famous place of the late classic maya culture in the city of Chich’en Itzá (At the mouth of the well of the Itza) located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
[1] http://www.pyramidmatrix.com/kukulkan_pyramid.htm

There, two special days a year before sunset, many people gather around the pyramid and wait. Then, an undulating shadow identified as the, “Great Plumed Serpent” moves down the balustrade of the staircase. I could see one corner of the structure casting a shadow in the shape of the famed plumed serpent descend along the side of the northern staircase. I could feel the mysticism which, arises from the seven shadows transcending the stones; a wonder that can only to be seen on the Spring and Fall equinox[1]. The Mayan people were great architects and astronomers. They knew to anticipate that moment in time when the center of the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth’s equator. El Castillo was built oriented in such a way, so as to produce this amazing shadow projection, which will occur this year on March 20th and September 22nd.
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmnC_fQXvBU&feature=related

Concurrent, sound was as important as light. When a person claps their hands at the base of the staircase, they evoked echoes from the countless facets of the Mayan pyramid. Uniquely interesting is that the echo resounds to mimic the primary call of a Quetzal, the Mayans’ sacred and symbolic bird. This magnificent bird, now near extinction, has for thousands of years represented the “Spirit of the Maya”; spirits that tradition ascribes to be able to speak in echoes.

Research involving the Pyramid of Kukulkán has been ongoing, as modern technology allows. Scientist Nico Declercq of Ghent University in Belgium[1] has more recently shown that sound waves ricocheting around the tiered steps of “El Castillo” create a parody including the chirp of a bird and the patter of raindrops. Declercq's team has shown that the height and spacing of the pyramid steps function as an acoustic filter that emphasizes some sound frequencies while suppressing others. An underlying questions prevails, “In the creation of form, function and functionality, did the original architects know exactly what they were doing?” To the Mayan people, this rhetoric question is akin to asking if the enduring works of Mozart and Beethoven where also accidents.
[1] http://www.me.gatech.edu/declercq/Chichen-Itza.htm

As my day drew to a close, I had the opportunity to hear from far away, some old canticles invoking “Chaac”, the archival God of Rain. In that fleeting moment, the “Itzaes” were again alive and asking for both mercy and water; sustenance of life of their abandoned city. Archaelogical findings suggest that Chichen Itza’s collapse was violent[1], and the population abandoned the metropolis around AD 1221, but the Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote), where sacrifices were supposedly practiced as a form of worship to Chaac, prevails as a pilgrimage, where one will find a natural sink hole formed by water percolating through the soft limestone above.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

In 2007, El Castillo of Chichen Itza was voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, by a worldwide plebiscite.

I invite you to visit the Mexican Tourism Board’s portrayal of Chichen Itza [Mexico ~Chichen Itza~Archeologic, Visit Mexico (198, 69, 38)], where you will enjoy a rare opportunity to look directly into Mayan history, while wearing traditional robes.
Patt Sands

Anna Avalanche sponsored by:
AA Trade Company, Cleary (120, 70, 113)

Linden looks outside the company for new CEO

SECOND LIFE, March 20 (Reuters) - Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab who is stepping down as chief executive, told Reuters on Thursday he was looking to bring in someone from outside the company rather than promote from within.

He also said the new CEO would have the freedom to change elements of Linden’s quirky culture.

“Companies always talk about the fear of losing their culture because parts of their culture are lame,” he said. “It would be inconsistent of me to bring someone in and say ‘Listen, buddy, you have to use the love machine.’”

Rosedale spoke at length in a Second Life interview about what Linden Lab was looking for in a new chief executive. He is leading the search and will become chairman of Linden’s board once a replacement is found.

The most important criteria, he said, was to find someone who’s had experience growing a small company into a global player. No one at Linden Lab brings the right résumé to the job.

“We need someone who’s done this stuff on a organizational scale we haven’t,” Rosedale said. “We’re all relatively junior.”

In describing the skills he was looking for in his replacement, Rosedale said the new chief should already be a passionate user of Second Life. They also have to be “a great coach” who will work well with Linden’s staff.

“And they have to have complementary skill sets to mine,” he said. “Because I’m staying and will still be involved.”

Experience operating in a global information technology market is necessary. Rosedale pointed to Second Life’s large non-American resident population and the company’s confusion last year as it began to charge VAT to European Second Life users.

“Me, I’m a California guy, all the way,” he said.

Looking forward to the year ahead, Rosedale expressed optimism about the new “HTML-on-a-prim” feature in development, but said his company’s top priorities remain making Second Life easier to use, and improving the stability of the software.

He said Second Life is currently able to turn between three and five percent of new registrants into committed users, compared with ten to fifteen percent for sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.

“I want my new role to be about getting that retention up,” he said. “I don’t want the community thinking I’m reducing my hours.”

By Eric Reuters from Reuters

I will love to have the community comments on this information.