Mariko Nightfire: A Virtual Life: 2016

Friday, April 8, 2016

Mariko Magic: Dem Bones

I was perusing Harper Beresford's blog A Passion for Virtual Fashion looking for fashion ideas and stores to shop. She has an eye for interesting outfits and accessories, and I enjoy her pictures and commentary. But, on one of her recent posts, I became very intrigued with the location of her photoshoot - a wonderfully macabre exhibit of bones. Well, I just had to go there and see it for myself and to try my own hand at taking fashion pictures among dem bones.

Click on the pictures to view them in their full size glory.

Using the landmark provided by Miss Harper, I teleported to a place called Split Screen Installation Space where a flying skeletal fish (a bass, I believe) with bony wings (???) directed me to fly to something called Chronophobia. Off shore, in the distance, I spied three pedestals, high in the air, in the process of disintegrating - their debris falling into the ocean water below.

The pedestals are sundials, timepieces, and, in their centers are the skeletal remains of the ravishes of time - the bones that I journeyed to see and photograph. This was some pretty heavy stuff to take in.

Chronophobia is the fear of time, and it's a thought provoking work of virtual art by artist Rebeca Bashly. It's a cliche to say time is cruel. However, we know it's true. It steals our beauty, our health, and the ones we love. But, Bashly's Chronophobia is a fear that is even more visceral. As our timepieces crumble away, we know that ultimately we must inexorably fall into the void below. There is nothing beyond our time. We cease to exist - everything that is us ... our memories, the values we hold dear, our passions and our loves ... gone as if they never were. Fear of time is the fear of the dark and empty void.

Of course, this is a secular view of our ultimate fates. And I do pity the atheist who has reason to fear time. But, people of faith have no such fear of time for we know that values are eternal, our lives have meaning, and that dry bones shall rise again.

I need to lighten up. So, let's get back to fashion. In planning my fashion posts, I typically choose the outfit that I want to feature and then search for a suitable and visually interesting location for the photoshoot. But, now I'm beginning with the location and having to choose a suitable outfit, one that evokes a sense of time. And I found the perfect one, a design seemingly brought back from an age long left behind by the flow of time and incorporated into an outfit that is very now and very sexy.

I'm wearing the Gizza Macha Outfit Embroidered designed by Giz Seom of Gizza Creations. Its a sleeveless tunic top worn over tight shorts. In my mind's eye, the embroidered gold evokes the ancient glory of the Bronze Age, perhaps jewelry worn by an Mycenaean lady of wealth or even a necklace from the treasure of Priam, king of ancient Troy. It's very striking and sure to attract attention. Gizza Macha Outfit Embroidered comes with earrings, an arm band, and Slink heels. The tunic top can also be worn alone without the tight shorts. The outfit costs L$350, and I purchased it at Mimi's Choice, the best store for fashions in Second Life.

Didn't I tell you that this outfit is very sexy especially when wearing this particular hair. The hair is from Emo-tions and is called Heather. I bought it at the Emo-tions Discount Store which is directly opposite the main store. Heather costs L$122 per color set and L$546 for an all color fatpack.

Split Screen Installation Space is part of a homestead sim made available for virtual artists to create large immersive installations. In general, one or two artists will use the space for two months, and then others will take over. Daniel Shotakovitch is the owner and curator of Split Screen Installation Space. Chronophobia will be on display through April.

Split Screen Installation:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amra/102/42/24

I love scenes with wide vistas like this one.

Mimi's Choice:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Deep%20House%20Island/208/18/21

Gizza Main Store:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GizzA%20Creations/126/113/72

Emo-tions Discount Store:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hells%20End/199/152/22

I was saving the best picture for last. It's my favorite picture from this photo shoot, and I'll say that it's one of my finest Second Life photographs to date, not that I'm any kind of Second Life photographer of note, not even remotely. Bones are morbid; so let me end this post on a fun note with a rendition of 'Dry Bones' by the fabulous Delta Rhythm Boys that inspired the title of this post - Dem Bones.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Photo Mariko - Favorites from 2014

I've been neglecting my blog for a long time and couldn't help but notice that I made only a single post in all of 2014. I do have a fair collection of photos for 2014, many of them were going to appear in the blog that year. Unfortunately, my first year of law school kept me otherwise busy and away. I want to make up for that conspicuous void in my blog, so I went through the pictures and picked out some favorites from 2014 for this Photo Mariko post. Let's open with a picture from a planned fashion post which would have featured this incredibly horrid outfit of a supposedly Native American inspired design. I modeled this ridiculous dress parading down the streets of Manhattan at midnight like a ... I don't know what was in my mind at the time. But, I like the picture.

Click on the pictures to view them in their full size glory.

Who doesn't love dinosaurs, especially T-Rex? They may be extinct in real life; but, they still run around here in Second Life. This one is a particularly marvelous specimen. Did you know that female tyrannosaurs are much larger than their male counterparts? Yes, they are. Have you ever noticed that there's also a lot of giant women also running around in Second Life? You don't see a logical connection? Hmmm ... forget it ... neither do I.

A horse pulling a sleigh on ice with falling snow and the moon hanging high in the sky. There must be some poetic symbolism somewhere in that. But, I can't figure it out. Well, anyway, I think that it's a pretty scene. My blog comments are coming off kinda strange and off focus. You might be thinking that Mariko is in a confused state of mind. I am. I'm watching the Republican Primary Debate.

Right now, Donald Trump is throwing insults left and right in this so-called debate. I'm confused. This man throws little old ladies out of their homes to build hotel parking lots, and he's going to make America great again? He's all bomb-throwing soundbites and no substance - a most obnoxious man.

I turned off the debate even though I think Marco Rubio is cute. Their playing 'gotcha' grew very tiresome, very quickly. I wanted to know the judicial temperament and philosophy of justices the candidates would nominate to the Supreme Court, among other things. I learned very little from this debate, and that's the fault of the debate moderators who are also very much into the gotcha game and provoking confrontation rather than debate of important issues. My consolation is the happy knowledge that the Democrats are sweating out the possible indictment of their front runner while lefty-loony Bernie is giving her a run for her money. I could use a nice cup of tea right now and the company of some good friends.

Especially if that tea is served in a room designed by my dear friend Jaysun Dagger.

Photographic evidence that the hottest ladies in Second Life congregate at Johnny's Pub.

I want to know where the hottest guys in Second Life congregate. However, I do know where the sweetest guy hangs out. My dear English friend Soy Source is a fixture at Blarney Stone Irish Pub. I met him when he was a fixture at the Open Latte Coffee Shop in the long gone, but lovingly remembered, Mill Pond. Ohhh Soy, I'm sorry ... those opening sentences didn't come off well ... you're both the hottest and sweetest.

I seem to have spent a lot of time in 2014 floating around in crystal spheres.

They had some sort of attractive power over me.

I wish that I could remember where I photographed this intriguing time piece.

One of the best things about Second Life is that I get to go into outer space with Jaysun. And I also get to wear a really cool spacesuit.

I like the pose that Jaysun is striking in this picture. Jay is the one on the left.

In 2014, I rented a little house in the community of Philomenaville, a small town set in the early years of the 20th century (sadly now closed). It's a very charming place, very Americana, and the people there were wonderful. Here, I'm off to a date with a guy that my Second Life sister Victoria set me up with.

This is the last time Victoria will ever set me up with a blind date. Oh okay Vic, so this is not my date. Are you telling me that he ate my date? And now he wants dessert?

Fortunately, a couple of night fisherman rowed by who were out catching frogs for a local French restaurant. I think that it's poetic justice that my 'date' ended up as dinner on some diner's plate, or at least his legs did.

Fall arrived in Second Life when I took this picture. Sometimes, I'll loose my thoughts pleasantly in the melancholy of an overcast Autumn day.

My 2014 Halloween picture. I think that I look like the Wicked Witch of the West played by the marvelous Margaret Hamilton.

See the resemblance.

Well, its winter and 2014 is coming to a close. And it was a very good year as all years are in Second Life.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Fabulous Avatars - Round One

Casy Brouwer

One of the great pleasures of Second Life is Avatar Watching. We all do it. For most of us, our avatars are our most creative and personal expression of ourselves in Second Life. But, not all avatars are created equal. The special ones sparkle with a creativity that make them distinctive. You recognize them. They need not be Miss Virtual World and are probably not; but, they have something about them that shines. It may be a unique avatar dressed in an awesome outfit or exhibiting a number of qualities that expresses the personality behind this avatar. Well, I want to feature them in this and future Fabulous Avatars posts. When I come upon an absolutely fabulous avatar, I'll snap a candid picture that I hope will capture that creative sparkle. So, let's begin with Fabulous Avatars Round One and present some truly fabulous Second Life residents.

Click on the pictures to view them in their full size glory.