Blog time

Ooww, I haven't been posting anything since February 7th. That is too long.

Writing a blog and keeping it up to date isn’t easy. I started in 2007, but have to admit that, due to circumstances, I am not able anymore to blog every day. I think it is a shame, and I regret that, but there is turning back.

Being active in Sl as the photographer of CYD records, writing articles in the Role magazine and being on the board of the Avatrait Gallery gives me not much time left to do the daily stories on my blog.

Nevertheless, I want to write now and than, to keep the few readers left on my blog up to date.

This evening I will be visiting the opening of Winter Wardhani’s first solo exhibition. Woot!!! She was the one who offered me some time ago to do my first solo exhibition at Portucalis. I am glad to see that she has her own show now.

In the meanwhile all articles for the next edition of the Role magazine are submitted and being edited. According Ofelia, the new edition looks again very promising. She told that the February edition alone, had already 4000 readers. So the curve is still climbing….. and so is the content of the magazine!! Don’t miss it, ‘cause this time I wrote an article about Feathers Boa…pssst…that should be a secret.;)

At the Avatrait gallery, Harry Huffmann is featuring this fortnight’s exhibition. On Friday at 2 PM SLT I will host the “Meet the artist” at the gallery inworld, so if you should have any question that you always wanted to ask Harry, but you never had the chance, come over and enjoy the chat hour with one of the most talented photographers in SL.

Some of you may have already noticed that I have found a new “toy”, that is called “Plurk”. Since the end of January, I am registered at “Plurk”, and that is fun doing, because I can not log in on SL at work, but I can plurk, and keeping myself very well aware of things that are happening inworld and in RL among my friends.

And between all these activities, I try to work on new pieces, learning every day what Photoshop has to offer, to make my works a bit more than just common. Thanks to some “new”and some "old" friends I have been able to find some inspiration again to continue my life as a photographer in SL, and even more than that.

MechanizedLife - Grand Opening

Press release

In mid-January, CodeBastard Redgrave, creator of the MachinimaCam HUD and creator of the acclaimed Boudoir Rouge portrait series, completed the purchase of MechanizedLife from Alidar Moxie. Moxie chose to scale back her in-world business responsibilities and approached Redgrave with the opportunity to purchase MechanizedLife’s full catalog of scripted products. MechanizedLife products are scripted tools designed to make your Second Life more enjoyable and include a range of products for both casual users and business owners.

Since the purchase, Redgrave, a talented scripter, has completed, updated and released a number of items that she had built alongside Moxie in late 2008, created the new RezURL product and has opened the official MechanizedLife website (http://www.mechanizedlife.com) which contains product information, technical documentation and direct links to each product’s XstreetSL page. Working with Rouge sim builder Eshi Otawara, Redgrave has expanded the Rouge Boutique on her iconic sim to make room for the new MechanizedLife main store.

On Saturday, February 7, 2009, Redgrave will host the Grand Opening of the new MechanizedLife. The all-day event will begin at 11:00am SLT with a press conference, followed, at noon, by a marathon, Rouge-style dance party featuring renowned Second Life DJs Nexeus Fatale, Amanda Shinji, DJ Genki, DJ Plusminus and more!

To celebrate the Grand Opening, all MechanizedLife and Boudoir Rouge products, including the BR individual and couples poses will be offered at 50% off regular price.

“The current MechanizedLife clients are incredibly loyal to the brand and I wanted to share this occasion with them and give them an opportunity to try some of our newer products at a substantial discount,” Redgrave said. “We also wanted to welcome new clients to the MechanizedLife family by giving them a chance to try our products without breaking the bank.”

Though the transition is ongoing, the products and MechanizedLife website have already been moved to servers personally hosted and maintained by Redgrave. This move was completed without any interruption of service.

Moxie will continue to provide support, as deemed necessary by Redgrave, for the next several months and Paypabak Writer will continue to provide first-line customer support just as she always has.

The full selection of scripted MechanizedLife products will be offered alongside Redgrave’s existing line of products including the MachinimaCam and FilterCam HUDs, the Boudoir Rouge brand of individual and couples poses, and the Dramavatar brand of eyes and clothing. All of these products can be found in the Rouge Boutique.

Teleport to MechanizedLife at Rouge Boutique and Press Conference.

Teleport to MechanizedLife at Rouge Boutique and Grand Opening Dance Party.

AM Radio in the February issue Role Magazine

"ROLE Magazine is pleased to announce the publication of our February issue!

Among the many features and topics of interest this month we include the announcement of our Grand Prize winner from the ROLE Magazine Photo Flickr contest, a cover story on the mysterious Arcadia Asylum, a lush fashion spread highlighting sensual lingerie in time for Valentine’s Day, an expanded section for men and a feature on artist AM Radio.

For your convenience, ROLE Magazine is available in 2 formats. Our in-world magazine is available at our many kiosk locations and offers the option of clicking the HUD’s menu button to receive a notecard of all referenced SLURLs. Our web version is available at www.role-magazine.com and features “clickable” SLURLs.

As always, the team at ROLE Magazine thanks you for your continued interest and support. We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed creating it!"

This month I wrote an article about AM Radio. He was so kind to do an interview with me. The article can be read in the magazine at page 60.

2nd Rezzday already

On Thursday, January 29th, from 1 till 4 PM SLT, I will celebrate my second rezzday on Second Life.
The location for this party will be at the Dream Beach, Isla de Bahia, home location and stage of CYD Records.

Should there be anyone who did not receive an invitation inworld, please accept my apologies, but people were going on and offline, and I did not remember after some chats, IM's etc. who I did sent the message to and who not.;)

But please consider this blog post as an invitation. Everyone is welcome.

Several artists will perform live on stage, so I hope it will be an enjoyable evening for everyone!;)

See you there!

All good things come to an end.

Things changes all the time, and certainly when you are active in the virtual world.
I started at the end of January, 2007, trying to find a way and trying to make money. Certainly in the early stages it was not so easy. I remember trying to find good places to camp while I was doing some other work. And at that time, camping a rato of 2 Linden$/minute, would not made me rich, but it was a start. I thought, having a couple of hundred L$ would give me some comfort, but I soon realized that comfort isn't for sale for a couple of lindens.
After a few months I got 1000 linden$ from a friend, and that was in fact the real start. Since then my financial troubles were over. It only could increase, which it did.;)
In March or April 2007, a Belgian Friend started with a new sim, and I was able to buy a piece of land. It was my island and I have lived there for one year, but last August, it came unfortunately to an end. The sim was sold, prizes were increasing, so I had to let it go.
On my search for another place, some of my friends made me suggestions, but finally I choose for Dream Beach. I could rent a penthouse on an island where no one else lives, beside my neighbors of course, but that were only 3 other levels in the same building.
Dream Beach on Isla de Bahia, is also the place of CYD Records. They manage some artists in this virtual life, and I am the photographer of the group. This means I had a connection on this island.
Pictures of mine are exhibited in the Gallery, together with the RL paintings of Syl Darcy, and after a while I could make my own little studio on that very same sim.
My penthouse was only used to log in, and read my messages, so I decided yesterday to stop the rent of the penthouse.
All good things come to an end, but this one hasn't finished yet. I will stay on the sim with my small studio and gallery, so in fact, there are no big changes....only that I don't have to pay any rent for that penthouse anymore.
This means another chapter in my short existence of Second Life®,, but not necessarily a bad one.;-)

All about me ;))

On this very day, which is important to me in RL, I wanted to write a new article on my blog.

I know I haven’t been very producible lately, due to several reasons.

First, the combination RL and SL isn’t always easy for me, as it is for most of us, I suppose. Besides the family life, there is of course my professional life, which takes most of the 24 hrs, that are available to me.;)

Secondly, I have agreed to write an article every month in The Role magazine. I hear you saying…that can not take so much time, to write only one article a month. But I can assure you, that I try to do some research before writing something down. I want the content to be interesting for most readers, if possible for every reader. And I am trying to improve in that, every month again, as I think this magazine has the potential to grow to one of the most important magazines inworld.

And then there is of course the Avatrait gallery, which will take us considerable time for having all organized and set in the gallery itself. Now that Stephen has taken some time off, the rest of us in the board will take care of the things he did. And that won’t be easy, as he did a marvelous job in the past. But don’t you worry, he still will be around.;)

Good for me, that I still have to do some photo shoots from time to time for CYD RECORDS, as that gives me also the opportunity to know many performing artists, beside the digital artists who I already have met at several galleries.

And last but not least, I want to create my own “art”, and find the time to do that, as that is where it all began, and what I like doing the most.;)

You see, the time where I only had my pictures and this blog are over, unfortunately. But I have new perspectives and new engagements, which are a lot of fun doing.

I don’t forget my blog friends. I still visit their blogs from time to time, but not as much as I used to though.

I am glad that I have made so many friends inworld, even through my blog, and continue, after almost two years being on the grid, to make new friends and get to know new artists every day again. Thank you!

As I said in the past, this blog will remain my way of communication to you all, so thank you in the first place for still visiting this blog from time to time and keeping yourself informed about Looker Lumet.;))

New edition "Role Magazine"

First of all..a happy New Year and prosperous 2009 to all the readers and their family.

With this first article on my blog in 2009 I want to inform you all, that the new edition of the "Role Magazine" is out.
Again, the team has accomplished an even more interesting magazine for you this time. Of course there are articles about fashion, but also about art, travelling in SL, in and out the inworld house and other stories.
This is only the second edition, but you can see at the website, that there is a whole team working with a lot of professionalism, to make an outstanding magazine in and about the virtual world as we know it.
To read the magazine, you can either choose the following link, but also inworld you can read the magazine, by clicking on one of the many kiosks, which places are to be found on the website, www.role-magazine.com.

Athan

Some days ago, I was looking for a nice place where I could take some snapshots to post process, because I hadn't posted on flickr for a few days. As I think it is important to post on a regular base, I needed some fresh pictures. Surfin' my way through the flickr streams, I stumbled on a place called "Athan". I saw some potential in what I saw, but could not think, at that point, what I was going to do if I had pictures from that sim.
I typed the name "Athan" in "search", and found the slurl of this place. They did not mention however, that you were supposed to wear swimming trousers, as I landed under water.;)
I decided to fly over the sim with my camera, without changing from spot.

This island has great potential for a photographer like me, and I took several shots, with different sky settings.(thanks to Torley's windlight settings.;))
After being occupied for several minutes taking pictures, I saw in the "castle" some white trees, and wanted to take a closer look. Two big mirrors were placed between the trees, which were in fact vendors for a male and female skin of an ice elf. Really wonderful for those who are looking for fairytale characters.
It took several hours to determine what I should do with the pictures. Trying different things out, I made the first ones with a yellow/sepia look, but, as I kept on trying different effects, I found a way to have a stormy, red colored sky, with some yellow lightning in it.
I post this, because I think this sim is certainly a "must " for all who want to take landscape snapshots inworld.
You will be able to find my pictures on my flickr stream, and if you like to visit the place, you can follow this link.

X-mas on Mars

I am honored to see that one of my pictures is being used as a New Year's card in RL. Vint Falken asked me some time ago to use my "X-mas on Mars" picture, and I could not refuse of course. Although it is a pleasure for me to work on images taken inworld, I am pleased to see, as any other photographer is, that some of the pictures I processed are being commented on flickr. When a picture is chosen to use in RL, and on the web, by someone who can easily make a piece of her own, it is really a great honor. TY Vint!!;)

OCTAVIA ROCKS IN HALO GUITARS’ DEBUT INTO SECONDLIFE,

>HUFSCHIMID GUITARS IS HALO’S EXCLUSIVE LICENSED SECONDLIFE DISTRIBUTOR

SECONDLIFE: HALO GUITARS, DECEMBER 19, 2008 – A major step forward in the music merchandise industry in Secondlife began this morning with the release of the OCTAVIA 8 string guitar from HALO Guitars. Brought into Secondlife through an officially licensed partnership with Hufschmid Guitars, the OCTAVIA is the first of many models from HALO Guitars to be sold in-world at the Hufschmid Guitar shop located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Last%20Resort/200/205/30.

The OCTAVIA 8 String is an exact replica of the real HALO model. Hours of design and development went into bringing this guitar into Secondlife. No detail was overlooked including its physical size, which is to scale. The deep black color and slightly beveled edge around the shape gives it a more three dimensional look and is fully prim constructed. OCTAVIA’S classic, yet aggressive look is what any star rocker and entry-level axe slinger would call a must-play in their virtual shows.

HALO’s OCTAVIA comes with all the playable features, custom animations (23), sounds and effects that you get in Hufschmid guitars. Even the HALO guitar case the OCTAVIA comes in was custom designed and made to look real and professional. The case can be worn on the back just like the guitar.

HALO Guitars in Houston TX has over 200 professional musicians and groups playing their guitars. HALO began in 1999, with two friends (Waylon Ford & Belinda Lee) in a dimly lit studio while reading over some guitar magazines. The common subject at hand centered on how drastically guitar prices had inflated to the general public. From that moment, the wheels were set in motion and a new company formed with the intent to create guitars both built solid and priced correctly… a company that would not be attacked by the Green-Eyed Monster known as Greed. The new millennium brought forth HALO Guitars – a company that provides instruments for musicians that are BUILT BY MUSICIANS and PRICED FOR MUSICIANS ®.

HALO Guitars delivers handcrafted instruments with high-performance parts, pure playability, unyielding tone, and an amazing visual style. HALO has continued to evolve year-after-year, offering The Demon Series, Hand-Carved & Art Series, The Select Edition, and the availability of EVERY model built in a 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 string extended-range version.

HALO is here for musicians and maintains an open mind for anything new that is requested. This is true in real and Secondlife as Waylon Ford is in-world as Waylon Krokus.

Hufschmid Guitars in Montreux, Waadt, Switzerland is owned and operated by Patrick Hufschmid whose passion with the guitar began when he was in his early teens. He started in music very early and spent most of his time as a child playing the piano and later, the violin. After many years of practice on the guitar Hufschmid realized that to be totally satisfied he needed to create his own designs and instruments.

Hufschmid’s aim is to bring the maximum possibilities (range, ergonomics, comfort, intonation, sound quality, sustain, etc) to the player. Specializing in baritone guitars, Hufschmid firmly believes the guitar is at its best with the added richness of at least a seventh string. He also makes eight and nine stringed instruments.

As a player himself, he is well aware of the ingredients necessary for the guitar and player to excel. This is also true in Second life as Patrick Hufschmid is in-world Patrick Hufschmid Beaumont.