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Scylla Rhiadra

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Everything posted by Scylla Rhiadra

  1. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thanks Sandor. Part of the point of the exhibit is that the most important message of Christmas -- the redemptive force of Love, represented by Christ's incarnation and eventual sacrifice -- is in the long term the only real hope for the world. I'm not attacking Christmas: I'm endorsing what it means -- a message too often overlooked amongst the showers of tinsel and presents. "Courage, Love," posted above, is one of the images in the exhibit that tries to make that clear.
  2. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is why I couldn't do what you do, even knowing that my main contribution was to save lives. The worst public breakdown I've ever had was when I had to have my first pet, a cat I adored, put down. Worse than when my father died, even (which is not a reflection of my feelings for him, which were and remain very deep). The vet gave me a moment to say "goodbye" before he administered the needle, and I just sobbed noisily and uncontrollably in his office for . . . 5 minutes? He died in my arms. I've never been through something like that before.
  3. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thanks, Ags, it went pretty well! Although, interestingly, my curator/host, Hermes, heard from a few people who professed to be "uncomfortable" about at least a few of my images, and at least one who was outright offended because they thought (I assume) that I was attacking Christianity. (I am not, as a thoughtful view of all of the images should suggest, and as should also have been clear from my notecard for the exhibition.) I am not too upset about people being made "uncomfortable": that was, in fact, one of the points of the exhibition. I am sorry if anyone thought I was attacking their beliefs, however.
  4. Scylla Rhiadra
    I think this is kinda big, potentially. Have they ever tasked a manager solely with overseeing development of "the user experience" before? And insisted upon someone willing to embed themselves in the community in order to gauge what is needed, and what will work? It's also important, surely, because it's more evidence that LL wants not merely to keep this platform alive, but to grow it. Companies holding on to a dying asset with a view to merely wringing every last drop of profit from it don't create positions like this. This isn't just a "holding action": it's an attempt to be forward thinking. And finally . . . it'll be interesting to see if this means that LL intends to be more "hands-on" in terms of the continued evolution of SL over the next while. The tendency, as we all know, has been for the company to leave, for all intents and purposes, the actual experience of SL up to resident creators, community-builders, and so on. Does this signal a slight shift in that paradigm? And what are the ramifications of that?
  5. Scylla Rhiadra
    Clearly we should be keeping you far away from any architectural treasures of international importance. 😏 Lovely news, Cinn. And lovely pic.
  6. Scylla Rhiadra
    I have one or two styles that have very small flexi prims mixed in with the mesh. They're not long enough to disappear inside anything, and just prominent enough that they give a slight sense of movement to your hair when you are dancing, walking, or something. I think it can be done quite well, actually, and, although it obviously wouldn't work with all styles, I wish more creators would try this.
  7. Scylla Rhiadra
    "Courage, Love." I literally waited over a month to take this shot. I knew I wanted to take it at Walsh County, one of my favourite regions, but the owner, Randonee Noel, hadn't "winterized" it yet. I was getting nervous, because I wanted the pic for my exhibition, which opens tomorrow. THEN, at last, this weekend, it SNOWED at Walsh County! So I sent a notecard to the Randonee asking permission to use it -- because although the region has open rez perms, I felt a bit uncomfortable about plonking down a small armoured brigade without her permission. And she was lovely, and very graciously said yes. And so. Merry Christmas, and Peace on Earth. Courage. And Love. Walsh County: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Campton/54/54/22
  8. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is an astonishingly impressive shot. Everything about it. Really lovely! (In a mildly terrifying sort of way.)
  9. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is an extremely adorable pic.
  10. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is going to maybe sound odd . . . but that's a really good look for you! And a lovely image!
  11. Scylla Rhiadra
    Actually, this happened to me for the first time last night on Firestorm. Generally, for me, it's a Black Dragon issue.
  12. Scylla Rhiadra
    /me slowly backs out of the thread . . . 😳
  13. Scylla Rhiadra
    Suffer the Little Children (Yes yes, this shows breastfeeding, but you can't actually see anything.)
  14. Scylla Rhiadra
    The numbers I've seen suggest that it is indeed still relatively popular, although LeLutka dwarfs everything else now (I think I remember seeing 85% of heads are now LeLu?). My vague sense from things I've read is that there are reasons the Genus update has been so long in coming -- I seem to recall something about a new child, and there may be a Russian / Ukrainian connection or complication? If it does ever get updated, I'd be quite happy to stick with it. That said, I think the LeLutka Evo line is objectively a "better" head in many ways. But it does come down to personal preference. I've been working pretty hard to shape my LeLutka so that it looks as much as possible like my Genus, and I think it's coming along, but it'll never be a perfect match. What I want, of course, is my Genus -- but better and improved.
  15. Scylla Rhiadra
    I can attest to this. I once IMed Lil and she IGNORED ME. /me sobs quietly. At least, I think I did. I sort of remember doing so once. Maybe. Either way, it's a good story. *sob*
  16. Scylla Rhiadra
    And this, sadly, is why I've been experimenting with LeLutka. I love my Genus, and I love the look that I took literally YEARS to perfect with it, but honestly, how long as it been? And it's so glitchy: it really needs that update. As it happens (to get back on topic), I think the LeLutka (which I'm not yet happy with) looks a bit older than my Genus.
  17. Scylla Rhiadra
    The fashion for extremely "curvy" women with large posteriors has a pretty old history, going back to at least the late 18th century in the West; its most recent manifestations are celebrities and artists such as Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian, of course. The discourse surrounding this off-and-on trend is highly racialized -- Sara Baartman, a South African (probably) woman who was "displayed" in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is the earliest well known example, but think also of Josephine Baker, whose body type defied an age that was very much into "boyishly slim" women. There's an excellent podcast on CBC, featuring an interview with a woman who has just published a book on the subject of the history of "butts." It's really informative, entertaining, and manageably short (about 20 mins.). I have her book on order . . . https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2126856771694
  18. Scylla Rhiadra
    I think, based solely on my personal experience, that there is a great deal more variability in the ages men represent in SL. I see many more "older" men in SL than I do older women. There are reasons for that. First is that, for whatever reason, it seems to be easier to age male avatars well. I'd love to represent as mid or even late 30s, but it's difficult to find skins or add-ons that can catch that subtlety well. I wear crow's feet and eyebags, and I've tried wrinkles and laugh lines (which don't look great), but in general a woman can look in her 20s here, or in her 70s, with not a lot of play between those ages. The second reason is that, as a culture, we've decided that men age "better" than women. This is particularly evident in the fashion and film industries. Men over about 35 start to look "distinguished" and "craggy," while women, we're told, just look . . . old. Related to this second reason, and to what Rowan says above, is a tendency to sexually infantilize women. Older men with much younger partners are pretty acceptable; older women with younger men are derided as "cougars," or worse. That infantilization of women is particularly pronounced in parts of SL. PS. If you want to see this last dynamic at work very visibly, try visiting TikTok for a bit.
  19. Scylla Rhiadra
    Oh **** . . .
  20. Scylla Rhiadra
    There are new varieties of gachas, that aren't really gachas but that maintain some elements of the original game. They are not deemed to be "gambling" because, although they queue up items, you can see what you are actually purchasing.
  21. Scylla Rhiadra
    With respect, Krystina, I think you are misreading, or at least omitting, things I have said, including in the post that you actually quote. Far from "white knighting" the OP, I've explicitly said that I don't think her case merits more than the tools already available. I totally agree that "rudeness" is not the same as victimization by harassment or stalking. I also agree that the OP's case seems not to be about harassment or stalking or griefing, but about her desire to merely "customize" her SL to the point of actually impinging upon the experience of others. Where, here, do you see me supporting, yet alone "white knighting," the OP's request? I am interested in this issue in the abstract, because it does relate to those who have been the victims of stalking. But I think I have been pretty clear that I don't think that that's the case here.
  22. Scylla Rhiadra
    I didn't offer advice because there is no actual existing solution to the problem that she poses. And one possible "fix" -- making the "blocker" also invisible to the person blocked -- would be a gift to griefers and stalkers. And, finally, because the particular reasons she wants this don't seem to justify it. In this particular instance, anyway, the tools available are more than adequate.
  23. Scylla Rhiadra
  24. Scylla Rhiadra
    Agreed.
  25. Scylla Rhiadra
    Presumably because the OP has argued that it shouldn't be impossible. Although, in fairness, that view was answered fairly early on as well. And because people enjoy finding ingenious workarounds to problems, even if the problem they are responding to isn't actually relevant to the OP. I will plead guilty to the charge of being extra sensitive to this kind of issue, because I've known too many people (mostly women) who have been targeted by griefers and stalkers. That doesn't seem to be the case here, so I undoubtedly should just shut up, but it's given me a sort of visceral dislike of "solutions" that run along the lines of "So don't log in" or "So spend your SL in a fortified encampment built around your own parcel." I'd like to think we can find solutions that don't involve sending the person who is requesting some protections and/or privacy into a self-imposed exile. It's too much like telling women "don't dress like that" or "stop going out at night." Again, I'm very far from sure that the analogy holds in this instance. But it explains, even if it doesn not justify, my own responses.
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