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Today we are shining a spotlight on Max (Cosmic Cat), a singer and songwriter, and the talent behind Cosmic Dust, a clothing and accessories brand in Second Life!
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How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it?
I joined Second Life in 2013, so it has been about 10 years for me in Second Life. I first heard about it after looking for a new home when the virtual world I was in at the time, called vSide, had shut down. I guess it’s safe to say that Second Life became my new home in the past ten years..thumb.png.0ad802ba7242056ff8a71cb82f8972f8.png)
You have been a content creator in Second Life with your store Cosmic Dust for almost a decade! Tell us how you got started, where you get the inspiration for your creations, and what are some of your favorite pieces that you have created.
When I started Cosmic Dust, I genuinely didn’t know what I was doing. All I knew is that I wanted to make stuff and being someone who loves space, I immediately knew I wanted to name my brand Cosmic Dust. What I did have was an amazing support system of friends and family. With the help of some of my fellow creators, I was able to get started and learn the basics of creating/meshing as well as collaborate with friends on some more advanced projects.I get a lot of my inspiration from pop culture and everyday life. I tend to see things and think, “How cool would that be in Second Life?” My store has been on a bit of a hiatus since I have been focused on my music more recently, but some of my favorite items have been some of my sillier ones such as my backpack bra, as well as the fanny packs and boomboxes I made ages ago.
You’re also a singer and songwriter in the real world. Tell us more about your singing career and do you also sing in Second Life? Where can people hear you sing?
Growing up, I was very into pop music and pop culture. I was always interested in singing and songwriting but very shy about it. I had a notebook where I would write some songs and little tidbits of unfinished lyrics, but I never ended up doing anything with them. During the pandemic, I went through a bad breakup and never got any closure from the relationship. I ended up writing my first song Forever Goodbye, and showing a rough demo to some friends. Everyone was super supportive and told me I should release it. I ended up writing a few more songs, which really helped me heal and give myself the closure I didn’t get. When I finally released my first EP Heartbreak Hotel, I ended up sharing it with the SL community and having a virtual release party, and everyone was very supportive. I am currently working on writing and recording my second EP which should be out later this year.In Second Life, I am working on making my live singing debut at Smokefest in August, so be sure to catch me there! I am also planning on doing other shows this summer as well. You can keep up to date with me on my Flickr as I will be posting more details there.
June is Pride month and in Second Life many members of the LGBTQ+ community find this to be a safe space to express themselves and feel empowered. Are there any activities or events that you’ll be taking part in or are looking forward to during this month?
Pride month is very important to me as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Growing up Indian and gay, I felt like I didn’t have the best support system, nor did I know how to navigate battling societal pressures to live life as my most authentic self. Second Life really gave me a safe space to be myself and meet many other people who have stories similar to mine. I am so grateful for all of the people I have met along the way.Although I do have a lot of RL commitments this month, I will be DJing at Pride At Home twice this month and have a free gift out at the Pride At Home sim as well and am definitely looking forward to attending as many Pride events as I can. If you see me around, feel free to say hi!
My DJ dates for Pride at Home:
Pride Prom - June 24th @ 8 PM SLT
Pride at Home Closing Party - June 30th @ 4 PM SLTI’ll also be playing, show #1 live at Smokefest on Saturday, August 5th at 6 PM SLT.
Tell us about some of the other Residents in SL that inspire you and whose work you admire.
(Nokey) Kitty.Cat, Rikku (Bitey.Cat) & Glitch (Gae.Passion) are three creators I really admire. Glitch really helped me learn a lot in my early days when it came to creating in Maya for Second Life and she has come so far with her own brand, Quirky. Nokey and Rikku are the creators of HAZEL and STOIC. They create super fun high-quality items and animesh attachments that are super unique.Geena Carminucci is a wonderful blogger and photographer in Second Life and a great friend in real life. Her work completely blows me away and she often does my ad work for Cosmic Dust. She always inspires me to improve my skills and continue to learn new techniques every day.
Jade (Chibi.Resident) & Jess (xoJessxo.Pexie) : Although these two are not content creators in SL, they have become my family and inspire me to do better and be more creative every day. They are my biggest supporters and always give me new ideas for my creations and music. I have known them for over 8 years and they are some of the people I have known the longest in SL that continue to inspire me.
Sol (Cool.Cat) is an aspiring graphic designer and content creator who is super creative! I love her work and she actually directed my Heartbreak Hotel (Acoustic) music video used in this spotlight!
Video production by Sol (Cool.Cat)Where can people see your work? Please share links to your sites and social media accounts.
Cosmic Dust
Flickr
Facebook
DestinationMy Music (Late Night Feelings):
Spotify:
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Apple Music
Thank you, Max, for adding your talent and voice to the Second Life creator community and live music scene!
Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup
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"As my regular blog readers know, I have a drag queen avatar in Second Life, named MissDrag, and I have written about creating a look for her many times before on this blog..." Read more on the blog.
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Today's Second Life pic of the day is, a stunning capture of a tender moment, by Dora.
For a chance to have your image featured as the Second Life pic of the day, submit your work to the Official Second Life Flickr Group.
For a chance to be featured in our #SLFeature Instagram stories, follow and tag us on Instagram.Connect with Second Life on Social Media.
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As you may know, Second Life is soon adding the ability to import and edit GLTF Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) Materials. This upgrade to Second Life's graphics engine allows for more realistic surfaces, better reflections, and a more modern workflow for artists. You can learn more about PBR materials on our wiki, or try it out on the beta grid using its Release Candidate Viewer, available here.
We thought we'd give you a sneak peek of one of the features we are working on next: high resolution PBR terrain textures. While this work is early in development, we will discuss ideas and development at the Content Creator meetings, which all residents are welcome to attend. In the near future, a PBR Terrain viewer will be available on the Alternative Viewers page. We look forward to your feedback, and in the meantime, enjoy the pictures!
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Happy Friday everyone! Spring is in the air and it’s time to sweep out some clutter to make room for new things to bloom. We’ve had many of you give us feedback on absentee store owners who don’t offer sales support for their products. You also told us about older products or spam that is creating clutter. In the past, there have been clean-ups of the marketplace to address these concerns that yielded a very positive response. Keeping all this in mind we will be making the following changes:
- If the Merchant hasn’t logged in in two years *and* a specific product hasn’t sold in 1 year (03/01/2022), the product will be unlisted.
- If the Merchant hasn’t logged in in two years *and* the store hasn’t sold anything in 1 year, their store will be disabled.
- This means that if a product has sold within the past year or has not sold but the seller has logged in within the last two years, that product listing will remain available on the marketplace. If a store has products, which have sold within the past year, it will remain enabled.
We are confident that a more lean selection of products and search results will benefit the shoppers as well as active creators on the SL Marketplace. Happy Shopping!
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The Concierge and Land User Group meeting is a monthly, public meeting for discussion and education on Second Life, useful to both Mainland Residents and Estate owners.
Topics include any issues relating to Customer Relations/Support or concerning Land in general (mainland, islands, Linden Homes, estates, auctions, etc.).
Join Wendi, Vix, and members of the Land team, on Wednesday at 12pm PT at Linden Estate Services. All are welcome.
Keep up to date with all of our user group meetings on our wiki and public calendar.
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Hi Everybody!
I would like to introduce a new member of the Linden Support team, Boxy 5000.
Boxy 5000 is a virtual assistant/support bot trainee.
But wait, wasn’t there already a chatbot who answered questions for premium users? Indeed there was! Boxy 3000 was the earlier model of the trainee chatbot.
We are learning from some design flaws and moving forward with a more advanced bot. Boxy 3000 has been re-invented and given an extra 2000!
But wait a second time! Won’t this bring about the machine apocalypse? Not just yet–Boxy 5000 is more advanced and learns as they go but Skynet is still a few upgrades away.
The upgraded bot will be a 24/7 support option for both premium and non-premium residents! (Previously only available for premium customers.)
Boxy will have the ability to answer commonly asked questions, keep you up to date on current issues, help with ticket submission and in some cases handle a support request.
Boxy has uses for all residents, from early adopters to fresh new faces.
For new and more casual residents Boxy is available to help them find the support they need.
For our seasoned veterans Boxy can offer support options for some specific requests. Specifically, Boxy will be able to submit an abuse report on your behalf and in some cases help with the restart of a region!
Boxy will continue to learn as we go. Boxy might not have all the answers currently, but we will continue to review questions posed and help the bot to better answer your support queries.
We realize that a chat bot is not a substitute for a customer support representative, and this bot is not meant to be. It is however meant to help when we are unavailable or may be experiencing higher call volumes.For premium residents Boxy will only be the first point of contact before being passed to a support representative during office hours. Utilize Boxy to help better explain your issue once you are transferred to a support representative. Outside of office hours Boxy can help or create a ticket for when we are back in the office.
The ability to get an answer to your question or to get your issue resolved without having to wait until our Support Lindens are available is Boxy’s primary directive.
Anyone interested in saying hello to Boxy can access it by logging into our support portal. The Boxy 5000 chat widget should appear in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.
Boxy 5000, it’s advanced…
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