Vanity Fair

I for one will be sorry to see Frank's go. I also joined Frank's Elite (back when it cost L$500 to join) because the Frank's Elite Jazz Club was so nice and you didn't have male avatars constantly hitting on you. Fun fact: I used to judge how well I could style a female avatar in formal wear by plunking her down at the bar next to the dancefloor at Frank's Place and waiting to see how long it would take before some random male avatar would hit on her. I think my record was less than 60 seconds. Second fun fact: I used to use Frank's Jazz as my radio station. I would just load up Vanity, dress her up in a ballgown, place her at Frank's, and then go lie on the sofa with my iPad while listening to the music stream. It will be interesting to see which place(s) Frank's clientele will go to now that all the venues are closing. Which ballroom was the one that had all the bots: Foxxy's, Sweethearts? One of them had the exact same bots every single time you visited, so that they would appear high in the search listings. And yes, I do consider this to be the end of an era, and I will probably be there at Frank's Place or Frank's Elite Jazz on the final evening.

Is there some problem with Second Life and/or Firestorm? I just signed in (and then logged out and back in again), and ALL OF MY SAVED OUTFITS HAVE DISAPPEARED!!!! Is anyone else having this problem??? AAAARGH!!!

Altamura has one full-body mesh avatar called Marcus, that comes in two different ages: middle-aged, and old. Here is what he looks like: I blogged about him here when he was on sale (he's full-priced now): https://ryanschultz.com/2019/03/09/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-get-the-altamura-marcus-full-body-male-mesh-avatar-for-only-l343/

Frank's Place does allow you to visit if you are not a member of their exclusive club, though. (I did join when the fee was only L$500, and it does give you access to Frank's Elite club, which has some good events and performers and at least you know you're not gonna be hit on by creepers and mouth-breathers...)

I am exploring the wonders of Bakes on Mesh, and I am going as a horror version of Carmen Miranda. More details here: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/10/second-life-bakes-on-mesh-halloween-carmen-miranda/

If you missed out on the regular Akeruka group gifts (they usually offer group gifts every 6 months or so), you can pick up a very handsome Bento mesh head from LV Designs for only L$500. The Matt head (SL Marketplace link) may not come with all the bells and whistles of the pricier Bento mesh heads from Catwa and other vendors, but it certainly does the job at one-tenth the cost, as you can see:

I maintain an up-to-date blogpost with information on free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for male avatars here: https://ryanschultz.com/2018/10/04/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-free-and-inexpensive-mesh-heads-and-bodies-for-male-second-life-avatars/ I also have a separate blogpost for free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for female avatars here: https://ryanschultz.com/2018/09/24/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-free-mesh-heads-and-bodies-for-female-second-life-avatars/

I am still having an absolute blast trying out all my old system skins and system layers clothing on mesh avatars. Here is my latest creation, an old system-layers-and-prims outfit from Comme Il Faut on a fully mesh avatar (Akeruka Cleo head and Altamura Juliet mesh body, both free group gifts from earlier this year): More details here: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/10/second-life-bakes-on-mesh-halloween-carmen-miranda/ The skin I am using on this avatar is by Atmoic Bambi, and is called Noori Noir. Unfortunately, the store is also no longer on the grid. This is an older system skin, so the area around the fingernails doesn’t quite match the Altamura mesh nails. I found that my earlier solution, the free finger and foot fixes available from League which I mentioned in this earlier blogpost, didn’t work for grey skin. To fix the area around the fingernails to match this deathly grey pallor exactly, I used nail covers by SmitCoStudios, which you can edit and tint any colour you wish (they are available for L$25 on the SL Marketplace).

Also, Sonatta Morales has an excellent vintage clothing store in the 1920s Berlin sims, I think. Or maybe the Time Portal? Search for her under People in your SL viewer and there should be a SLURL to her store in her profile somewhere.

And the best part is, with Bakes on Mesh, you will still be able to wear system layer clothing on your fully mesh avatar body!

Here's my take on the new Bakes on Feature support in Firestorm: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/02/the-firestorm-second-life-viewer-now-supports-bakes-on-mesh/ And here's another update I posted yesterday, about BoM for both Maitreya and Altamura mesh bodies: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/03/second-life-bakes-on-mesh-truly-a-second-life-for-your-system-avatar-skins-and-clothing/ I am very happy with how well Bakes on Mesh works. It have given a "second life" to all my old system skins and system layer clothing! In the second blogpost I tell you about a free set of finger and foot fixes for older system avatar skins available from League, which will fix issues around the fingernails and toes of these skins. I have tested the fixes and they work well too.

Here's my take on the new Bakes on Feature support in Firestorm: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/02/the-firestorm-second-life-viewer-now-supports-bakes-on-mesh/ And another update I posted yesterday, about BoM for Maitreya and Altamura mesh bodies: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/03/second-life-bakes-on-mesh-truly-a-second-life-for-your-system-avatar-skins-and-clothing/ I am very happy with how well Bakes on Mesh works. In the second blogpost I tell you about a free set of finger and foot fixes for older system avatar skins available from League.

Here are my reports on using Bakes on Mesh with Maitreya Lara: https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/02/the-firestorm-second-life-viewer-now-supports-bakes-on-mesh/ https://ryanschultz.com/2019/10/03/second-life-bakes-on-mesh-truly-a-second-life-for-your-system-avatar-skins-and-clothing/ In summary, Bakes on Mesh works like a charm, and I can now wear all my old system skins on my Maitreya Lara mesh body and Catwa mesh head! In the second blogpost, I also post about a free set of finger and feet fixers for older system skin from League. I have tested them out and they word well. I'm very happy with the BoM relay for Maitreya and for Catwa.

OH, wait! I gotta better one! FIC!!!

I think we should call it "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" 😉

Wow! You are all an inspiration. Here is a blog post I wrote up yesterday. I'm MUCH better at writing about my inventory than organizing or weeding it 😉 https://ryanschultz.com/2019/09/07/true-second-life-confessions-how-i-deal-with-an-inventory-of-240000-items/

So...I'm curious. How big is your SL inventory? Do you throw out old stuff regularly? Do you just let it accumulate? How do you organize it? *Do* you organize it? I'll start. My current inventory size is *cough*239,322*cough* and I once made a very half-hearted attempt to filter the items older than 4,000 days (see picture) and throw out some of my oldest system layer and flexiprim clothing. Then I gave up and just kept everything, forever and ever, Amen. I just tell myself that with Bakes on Mesh, I still might just need something... *sigh* I think I need to join a 12 Step group... somebody call the people over at TLC, I might just have a new reality TV show idea for them....

Strawberry Singh once promoted a styling service called the Makeover Agency here: https://strawberrysingh.com/2018/10/19/the-makeover-agency-in-second-life/ She also asked people interested in providing styling services to comment on this blogpost: https://strawberrysingh.com/2018/05/03/do-you-offer-personal-styling-services-in-second-life/

I'm just curious (I might write up a blogpost with the answers to this topic later on): What do you think are the most consistently popular/crowded sims in Second Life? Where you're pretty much guaranteed you'll run into a lot of other avatars? I'll start: London City sims (especially the plaza right next to their freebie store).

I might need to write a new blogpost, based on what I am reading in this thread!

I blogged about my pet peeves in SL some time ago: https://ryanschultz.com/2018/03/23/pet-peeves-in-second-life/ In short, they are: Avatars who are still wearing old system shoes that used to use invisiprims, which are now broken, WITHOUT adding a proper shoe alpha to cover up the foot deformation. Avatars with too-short arms. Bling. Pregnant stomach talkers. Horrible, horrible freebie stores that are unloading floor after floor of ancient system layer clothing. “Gifts” (especially those at shopping events) that cost more than L$1. Stores that constantly spam you with landmarks and requests to join their group.

Did somebody call my name? 😉

Yes, I found it and bought it! Thank you!

Ooh yes, Boudoir! They have AMAZING costumes for female avatars.