What’s Hot & What’s Not #1
HOT:
- As co-owner of the joint, I’m obliged to point out two things. 1. Cash$! - Home of Luck & Grace: Ithys (156, 100, 46) is being renamed to The Mandarin and that’s just in time for numero dos. 2. The grand opening is set for this Friday, 8/24 at 2-4pm SL time. Dig this? I know there’s Pin Ups out there and they’ve got a nice enough joint (little cluttered for my tastes, but that’s just me), but The Mandarin is it’s own entity and that’s mainly from the creativity and brilliance of Babyhoney Bailey (who also co-owns M&B Furniture). What we’ve got here is an actual original idea. Every dancer is modeled after a golden screen queen, such as Jean Harlowe, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Veronica Lake, etc. From the hair to the shape to the skin to the mannerisms. It’s uncanny. Sure, we’re gonna bang out the sickest in rockabilly sounds, but dig this - big band, swing, smooth jazz, and true period music. No rap, no metal, no emo dipshits with their hair in their face music at all. Also, 99% of the lay-out of the burlesque house was all handmade by either Babyhoney Bailey or Kimberly Casanova and only a few things here and there were actually purchased (like tip jars, dance balls and the dance boxes). The martini glasses that you see those lovely ladies dancing in were made by Babyhoney and are on sale in M&B right now. Word to the wise: this is not a stripclub, so don’t swagger in and expect to see the ladies doing the dirty on the stage. It’s going to be dripping with so much class that not only do you walk away with a limp, but you also grin like a mofo and have a great time, as well as learn a little something about the era that The Mandarin is living in. So, head on out and check it out Friday afternoon. Hit me up inword at Bongo Oldbull for a VIP tag and a TP into the shindig.
- How many shape stores are there out there right now that all resell the same shapes? 30? 40? 87665? Yeah, the latter is about closer. They’re all the same, though, with very few differences and when you get them on, they don’t always gel with the skin that you’ve got on. That means you have to dart back out to either find another skin or buy another damn shape. Yes, my friends, there is a better solution. Check out BODMOD - Shapes by Kalia at Ithys (154, 178, 47). This chica is high demand from the major designers to get her expertise on their team, but skip the middle man and go straight to the source herself. Not only are they superior to the ones you see everyone and their ma, pa, brother, sister, mailman, milk maid wearing, but they’re a hell of a lot cheaper. Personally, I’ve spent a small fortune on shapes and then skins, trying to match them up with the shape I just laid down 4000L for. It gets old fast and really, who’s got that kind of cash to blow? I don’t. I gots bills to pay. Save yourself a lot of time and trouble and check out BODMOD. She’s setting up shop now on her own, so keep stopping into peep on what new shapes she has out.
- Education. I was paging through all the classes available in-world the other night and was surprised at the variety of what’s currently being offered. Did you know you can take a course on how to be a Hare Krishna? That’s so rich that not even I could make it up. One thing that I really dig is organizations, such as Radcliffe University, who host an entire curriculum on scripting and building for those of us that were mildly bent over the table by the gambling ban and are looking for additional ways to make bank. I’m currently working on building my first house and using my knowledge of AutoCAD and Maya just isn’t enough on SL, due to angles and looking through the eyes of an avatar, rather than being able to manipulate the angles on my screen like I’m accustomed to. You can take classes on how to build just about anything you can think of, including homes, clothing, jewelry, and whatever the hell “sculpties” are. They’re laid out in a similar fashion to college courses, too, which makes it a lot easier. You can start with a 101 building class and work your way up through to 105 and learn as you go through an instructor, as well as tutorials that you are provided with. It’s right up there with taking a college course online, which is something that I do every chance that I get, just to be able to work at my own pace without some Scotch-breathed professor looking over my shoulder every five minutes. I definitely recommend people checking some of these classes out. If nothing else, instead of running out and buying something, you can save some dough by building it yourself and down the road, opening your own store. Shameless Plug: we still have a couple shops open to rent in the Hooters ‘n Shooters complex at Ithys (173, 171, 46).
NOT HOT:
- How many modeling agencies are out there, charging fees, demanding exclusivity of their talent and don’t even land them work? If they do square a deal, is anyone but the agency owners getting paid for it? Seriously, no. A new one opens everyday. I don’t get it. People have put a lot of time and money into perfecting their avatars and there are hundreds of clothing stores out there, so what’s with the no work, people? Why not strike a deal with one of those 1000 stores and hold a fashion show? Toss some cash to the talent, the store gets massive exposure, and everyone’s happy. It’s bordering on bullshit to have people sign up with an agency, then not give them anything back in return for their time, money and effort.
- Voice chat in clubs during events. I co-own two hot spots and let me tell you, it’s a serious butt itch to be there during an event with the DJ rockin’ the pad and have the sound of people laughing or rambling on about their fucking laundry blowing out over the sound of the tunes. I love to have a good time and talk shit as much as the next person, but what I’m not digging on is having to change my preferences every night to be able to hear the music and DJ. They make group IMs for that or individual calls for this shit, so why not use that and save everyone around you the aggro of having to hear you ramble on about nothing? Shameless plug: Hooters ‘n Shooters: Ithys (223, 189, 55).
- Since the powers that be did away with gambling, that caused a huge circle jerk among the banks. The second they posted about it, all the folks that made bank at playing poker (RIP Juggernaut and Scores) withdrew all their cash, which fucked the banks, since a lot of them had been using our money to invest elsewhere in-world. So, those of us who didn’t withdraw were left with a boot up our asses when we can’t touch what we’ve deposited. The Lindens sure as hell profitted from that, since those of us with accounts that don’t carry a lot of money on us in-world had to start buying money again. Don’t get me started on the exchange rate either, because I’ll be here all day and nobody wants that.
- Sexual depravity on SL. I have seen some truly strange shit in my time on Second Life and one thing that never fails to amaze me in the least positive way possible is the way people treat others at times. If you stroll into the club down the street from your digs, do you walk up to the dancer and whisper in her ear that you want to nail her like a 2×4? If you have any good sense and tact, you sure as hell don’t. Yet, there is at least one good a night minimum in every club on SL that thinks it’s perfectly alright to do that to the ladies. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know the ladies do it, too. However, they’re at least softer about it and more times than not, less graphic. Though, there was this one time…. nevermind. Ha. I think that at some point people forget that there is an actual person on the other side of that sexy, hard-bodied avatar on their screen and that gee, maybe they’re going to be offended when they’re messaged and in some cases, have *asterisks* literally thrust at them in extremely lewd ways. I realize that when someone signs up to be a dancer on SL, they’re probably digging on the attention. Come on, though, use a little common sense. They’re flirting for the lindens and not to get you off. Go hang out at one of the sex ball shops, if you’re into sexually harrassing people. Personally, I have no problem using the eject and ban functions at my clubs when I see it happening. Granted, some of these guys need to seriously get laid and most likely have the social skills of a lepar, but that’s no excuse for acting like tools. The next time you open an IM to a dancer in a club, keep this in mind: what would you do if your ma, sister, neice, grandmother, wife, daughter, etc signed up for SL and landed a gig dancing somewhere and someone messaged them with what you’re about to type to that dancer? You’d flip your shit, right? Ironically, I did a little impromptu study from personal obeservations and a majority of the offenders tend to either be teenagers and dudes in the 40+ category. That means someone’s father or grandfather is out there trying to get cyber sex and some chick just wants to make some linden, then go shopping. Isn’t that why there are escorts on SL? Go talk to the escorts, guys. Save me the trouble of ejecting and banning you.
