STORYLINE: No sooner I had spoke into my recorder, “Reporter for Midnight Magazine here,” then I sensed a displeasurable aura coming my way. The Predator of Predators flopped down in a chair in front of me in a whirlwind of thunder and thinly veiled contempt. I cheerfully offered my hand, “It’s an honor to meet the Legend of the Hunter Society.”
He refused my hand, and scoffed at my recording equipment. “Is that really necessary? I have nothing to say to your blood soaked readers. I’m not here by choice.”
“Yes, I’ve heard the King has some kind of sway over you,” I thrust my recorder in his face. “Care to explain what it is?” He smacked my hand away with such violence, my poor little device was buried deep in the wall. “My my… aren’t you the scary one.”
He stood up as if to say, this interview is over, but he paused by the door and asked, “I have no idea why you vampires… are interested in me.”
I leaned back and smugly regarded him. Got ya. “As strange as it sounds, you do have a fan club. Let’s just say, for the undead its a fantasy to be killed, and then by someone as beautiful and powerful as yourself... Well, you’re quite the dreamboat."
His lips curled up in disgust, revealing his own sharp fangs. “Vampires…,” he hissed unironically. “I do the world a favor annihilating you perverse vermin.”
Behind me, Lillian, from the makeup department, swooned at his dangerous growl and fainted right on the spot. Despite his menacing words, the Underworld’s Lancelot was very much the knight in shiny armor. He moved so quickly, he caught her before she hit the ground.
I quickly snapped a tantalizing shot of this accidental embrace. It was perfect for the editorial section! Oh yes, this next issue is going to sell out fast. Of course, Midnight Magazine wanted the world's only Elder Slayer for our July cover model. Lucky for us, the King ordered him to appear as a bit of positive public relations for his newly formed Camelot of the Night. Surely it was some kind of punishment for the White Knight’s misdeeds.
I smiled brightly at him, “Midnight Magazine has a wonderful photoshoot setup just for you. A romanic scene of thorns and roses. I’m sure you will hate every minute of it!”
Midnight Order is back bringing you some much needed Darkness in the blistering heat of summer. This image was inspired by Gothic Window by Schadenfreude, Valentine gloves by Cubic Cherry, Skellybones Tyrant Torch, and Wicca Liuva boots, -- all awesome items at the current round of Midnight Order. I have been feeling nostalgic lately, like wanting to get back to the original idea for my avatar when I first joined SecondLife. I'm very into vampire stories. Back in 2011, I had just seen the dark fantasy anime Vampire Knight. I really identified with the long suffering Zero. I bounced between several looks for avatar, but white hair and purple eyes just felt like home, so it became my main look. The VK story itself was loosely inspired the tales of King Arthur. So I'm putting my own spin on things with the idea of vampire magazine article, Camelot Exposed!
Ok, so first, in the unholy Lancelot makeover is the hair by Ginko. Its something I might wear forever. Its gorgeous. Comes in male and female fits. I love me some slutty boots, so when I saw Wicca's Liuva boots had male fits, I knew I needed to feature them! They come with a hud to change the colors. The Valentine gloves work perfectly with Wicca boots and the fatpack comes with a lot of great texture options. I added the Nunna Klei tattoo for extra glam spark. Can we speak about that beautiful Axe by Skellybones? Wow. Just awesome. It comes with 4 hold poses and a texture hud. The Gothic Window by Schadenfreude makes my gothic loving heart sing. Its lovely, and has many color options. There is also a version with a stained glass texture, and a coffee table with a stained glass shadow!
On Him, The White Knight of Dark Camelot: Hair: Ginko Hair #84 Hair - Rigged(Male/M) [mesh](Midnight Order)(465L)
STORYLINE: The moonlight glinted on the ripples of the Mississippi as I ducked into an overgrown secret garden on the bank. My presence was noticed, it was as if suddenly all the life of the bayou held its breath, terrified what I might do. They say it's never a good idea to bring back the dead. I'm proof of that. But how can I ignore what the scholars of the Dark Arts Academy revealed to me? Could they be trusted? Certainly not. My life is literally an open book. It would be simple for them to lure me in knowing my weaknesses. And yet, how I could I not try? She was my daughter.... Even as I cleared the decaying leaves from the wrought iron table for the spiritboard, I thought about what they said. It haunted my nightmares. A vampire is immortal. Even separated from its body, the soul continues to be bound to the Earth. I made quick work of filling the goblet with blood, and placing a belonging of hers, an old doll. Could she really be here, lingering in her favorite place to hide? Was she even her anymore?
Midnight Order's first round of the new year is ending soon. Be sure to drop by and check it out if you haven't already. This post was inspired by the Wrought Iron garden set by Eclectica Curiosities at the event, the blood goblet by sacrilege, fancy top by HotDog, and Arch Arcanum by CELESTE. Another Anne Rice tribute for the late author. Akira Voorhees and I teamed up for this one. She plays Claudia to my Louis, and she took the foreground picture. Thanks for your help Akira!On Him, Louis: Open book:Ivy Helping Books - Vampire [mesh](Midnight Order)(200L) Top: Hotdog Flashy waistcoat, Plain, Slim bowtie [mesh](Midnight Order)(350L) Pants: Hotdog Ringmaster boots & pants dark [mesh](350L) Hair:NO.MATCH NO.PASSION, male [mesh](350L)
STORYLINE: In a not-too-distant future where the climate and oceans are rapidly changing, few brave souls willingly live in the danger zone. Stationed at Weather Outpost 017, located in the Florida Keys, is one such person, a Climate Scientist. His mission is to collect vital data for better weather forecasting, and transmit it back to NOAA and the National Hurricane Center in New Miami.
More than just a home, the Outpost also functions as meeting area and office space for visiting scientists, government officials, and journalists. The curved home is built to withstand extreme weather and packed with advanced Green Technology. It generates its own power for the home, appliances, and the electric truck outside using a wind turbine and solar panels. Water is produced thanks to a rainwater collection cistern connected to the roof. Food is grown on the roof top garden. Being located close to the Gulf of Mexico, the home is raised off the ground in case of storm surge. The thick LED infused glass windows are handy for Heads-Up weather alert displays, and they are also shatter-proof up to a Cat 5 Hurricane.
Unlike the old Lighthouses of a bygone era, the Weather Outpost is better able to entertain its lonely resident with satellite link internet for watching TV, holding video conference calls, and playing games against other people through the internet.
It's a dangerous life in what was once considered paradise, but the Climate Scientist is committed to his cause to save lives.
This is my entry to this year's Decorating Competition at the Home & Garden Expo! The challenge is to decorate one of 14 homes with 450 prims in one week, and include at least 3 Relay for Life donation items for sell from the Expo. The winners are determined by votes paid with Ls to the RFL kiosks in front of each home. All the money raised from the home design challenge goes directly to Relay for Life. Voting will close at midnight SLT on March 12th(UPDATE: extended to March 20th). You can read more about the contest here: decorating-competition.
....By the way, did you catch the debut of the brand new Linden Home theme, The Lodge Cabins in the Redwoods? You can run go see them here: Linden Homes - Log Cabins
March 24 UPDATE: My home took 2nd place in the Storyteller's contest. Thank you judges and all those wonderful people who donated to my home!
(click to enlarge)
Home & Garden Expo Design Challenge: Weather Outpost #017 by DevinVaughn
My idea for the home is Futurist style and Green Technology. (NOTE: The gamer chair, figurine, fridge, & geosphere donated by Akira Voorhees. Thanks, Akira!) You can visit my house and other houses and for vote for your favorites here: Its all for a good cause! Home & Garden Expo Design Challenge: House 13 Natane http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hope%203/55/41/23
(NOTE: Please allow time for all textures to rez. The decorating challenge area is packed full of mesh and many textures from each home. I recommending letting your avatar wait 5 minutes to rez in textures before entering each home.)
This is my 3rd time at the decorating challenge. Its no understatement to say I look forward to this all year and take it very seriously! lol Of course I took the lessons learnt from the past, and applied it to this year. And I also worked on my inventory to better fill in areas where I knew I was weak. But even the best laid plans can get destroyed! You never know, nor truly be prepared, for what style of home you will get. I carefully considered what house inspired me and what type of house I could best decorate with my existing inventory. It was Akira Voorhees who made me look again and consider a house I hadn't considered, the Natane. The more I thought about it, the more excited and full of ideas I had. This year I was determined to not suck, so I took a crash course in interior design, (thanks to many wonderful tutorials websites and videos on Youtube). I think all that hard work and cramming made a huge difference!
Tips and & Tricks: Rather than repeat my past Tips and & Tricks, this year I want to share what new tricks I learned. The first is called 60 - 30 - 10. What is it? Its a simplification based on Golden Mean. Basically 60% of your room should be one color. 30% is a secondary color, and 10% is the accent. Since my floor and ceiling are the same texture, that automatically determined what my 60% color would be, medium cool grey. White is my 2nd since its the other wall, and the accent is of course Green, and I have little splashes of cyan, blue, black and warm wood.
Tips and & Tricks: How do you create a room within a much larger room, aka the Open Concept space? How I did it in the entryway is the animated carpet. It clearly establishes this as a "room." To further define the space I used 2 bookcase dividers and the long hanging plants. For the Office, I used a raised platform, and for the living room, the curved sofa.
Tips and & Tricks: Open Concept means a large room with several smaller sections in it. My house has a long space that's open concept. To unite the room areas, the professionals say to use a unified palette and the larger colors should be neutral. So thats why my entryway, office, and living room all have the same color palette. Office space: Desk, chairs: IsilEuropa Desk, chairs [mesh](400L) Tree: Little BranchLB_SeaAlmond Seasons [mesh](386L) Planter:[AC] Aethis CreationsModern Planter metal [mesh](199L) Ceiling Light:DenPaMicCeiling Light Hexagon[mesh](50L) Halogram: IsilPlanetarium Hologram (Earth) COMMON, gacha[mesh](50L) Bookcase: IsilFuturist Shelf Set [mesh](350L) Icosphere: Inner Demons{ID} Icosphere Decor Small 7 [mesh](100L) Halosign:solaresTech Sigil [mesh](0L) Ferns:SoyVoluminous Potted Ferns [mesh](100L) Geode:ChiMiaGeode Coffee Table [mesh](100L) Books: Apple FallTied Books [mesh](75L) Books: Apple FallStacked Books [mesh](125L) Books: Apple FallBooks - Arrangement 1 [mesh](150L) Books: Apple FallBooks - Arrangement 3 [mesh](150L) Books: Apple FallBooks - Arrangement 4 [mesh](150L) Coral: Apple FallCoral Specimen [mesh](0L) Picture frame:esgardioFrames [mesh](0L) Weather Station:VON thermometer barometer hygrometer created with prims Stairs:VON created with prims
Tips and & Tricks: The Golden Mean. This is something that blew my mind! This house is my first time trying it in decorating. I know the Golden Spiral well since most of my pictures use it, but it never occurred to me to use it in decorating. Every single item in my house is placed where it is by a golden mean scale, even the heights of objects. The Golden Mean also told me how much stuff I needed in a room (60%), and how much space to leave open (40%). It was so eye opening using this method. I feel this trick single handily raised my decorating abilities to the next level. One of the biggest design challenges of this house was its curved back-wall. What to do there? I knew I wanted to put a TV there and dark tall stripe, it just looked right to my eye. Well, it turns out, using the Golden Mean, that was actually the sweetest spot in the entire house! So instead of it being a problem, it turned into a wonderful opportunity, and I was able to let it shine. (You can read more about the Golden Mean on wiki.) Laundry: Art: Strange Merchant Edge Walls -Wood- V:1.0 [mesh] (Relay for Life - Hope 4) Hamper:David Heather Laundry Hamper His T. Rade Closet, gacha [mesh](75L) Hanging plant: SoySuper long Hanging Hedera [mesh](75L) Washer, Dryer: Pixel Mode Laundry Room - Black [mesh] Dividing wall:VON created with prims [mesh]
Tips and & Tricks: Theme. Before you even start to decorate, you need to pick a style theme for you home and stick to it. I originally wanted to do Cyber for this home but it was impossible for me to have a cyber kitchen and bath so I switched to a more reasonable style, something too distant in the future, futurist and modern. I was able to drop a boxy modern kitchen down but add a cyber themed refrigerator and retro future computer to make it work. The Cybertruck outside and LED breaking news on the windows is a gentle reminder this is a slightly futuristic time. Kitchen and dining: Dining Table:Jian Saxton Dining Table (Animated) [mesh](450L) Chairs:floorplanaden kitchen chair [mesh](25L) Kitchen:inVerse Osoe - full furnished modern house villa hi-definition [mesh](449L) Spices:BAZAR Toronto-Magnetic condiments [mesh] Limes:Apple FallHurricane Vase w/ Limes [mesh](175L) Food: dust bunnyspicy fiesta set [mesh](550L) Computer: BLUE SKYiHeart computer [mesh](210L) Herb: [ keke ] paperbag herb - mint 1 RARE, gacha[mesh](50L) Herb: [ keke ] paperbag herb - salvia 1, gacha[mesh](50L) Herb: [ keke ] paperbag herb - coriander 2, gacha[mesh](50L) Fridge: Violetility Intelligent Life Fridge, gacha [mesh](50L) Lights: Pixel Mode Geometric Hanging Light [mesh] Exhaust hood:Pixel Mode - vent [mesh] Salt & Pepper shakers: Pixel Mode the Kitchen Salt n Pepper [mesh] Teapot: Pixel Mode the Kitchen Copper Kettle [mesh] Sign: Pixel Mode the Kitchen Eat Sign [mesh]
Tips and & Tricks: Make it yourself! Creating a bathroom in the house was a challenge, and the curve of the wall was a design challenge too. My solution to curve was adding a shelf. Originally I made a prim to fit the curve, but later switched it for a futurist shelf. Still, not the best solution, but the idea I think was sound. A second problem in the bathroom was a bold white line going down the window at the start of the curve. To fix the view, I created vertical blinds in medium grey that both covered the white line (thus toning it down) and creating visual anchors to ground the tub. One of the great things about Glas Houses are their creation inworld first before being converted to mesh. Because of this, I was able to add my own prims to the layout of the house and it blended in perfectly! Thanks to the home's designer, Sandi Glas, she told me where I could purchase the textures she used and I was able to match the house perfectly. Did you noticed I replaced the White brick wall upstairs with a grey painted white brick? It was so lucky for me to get a house I could customize in this way! Bathroom: Art:Strange Merchant Hollow Walls - White-#5 V:1.0 [mesh](Relay for Life - Hope 4) Wardrobe: BAZAR Glam-MALE closet 05 WHITE [mesh](637L) Hanging plant: SoySuper long Hanging Hedera [mesh](75L) Ferns:SoyVoluminous Potted Ferns [mesh](100L) Tub: Culprit Zen Stone Tub PG [mesh] Mirror: BackBoneDarkness - Old Mirror [mesh](159L) Table: BackBoneDarkness - Console Table [mesh](159L) Towels:N4RSFloor Towel, N4RS Bathroom Towel Rail [mesh] Sink: BAZARMaldives - Bathroom Sink [mesh](129L) Toilet: BAZARMaldives - Toilet [mesh](85L) Toilet paper: BAZARMaldives - Toilet paper [mesh](29L) Razor, tissue: BAZARFloria-Bathroom cup set-male, tissue paper [mesh](25L)
Towels: BAZARMaldives - Folded towels [mesh](20L) Clutter: Pixel Mode Ansley Bath Clutter [mesh] Caddy: Pixel Mode Ansley Bath Caddy [mesh] Bath Matt:Pixel Mode Ansley Bath Mat [mesh] Soap: Pixel Mode Victoria's Bath Soap Basket [mesh] Towels: Pixel Mode Victoria's Bath White Towel Stack [mesh] Blinds: VON created with prims
Tips and & Tricks: Now a reminder of how to decorate wisely for SL. Look for good low land impact mesh. (For example I love going to Dysfunctionality for well made low land impact items like I used on the roof, the Bamboo planters and vegetables garden plots.) Once you get all your items down, link all copy items that are not interactive. (For example, I never link gacha items or any interactive furniture.) Any prims you laid yourself, be sure to convert them to Convex Hull instead of prim in your edit menu before linking to save even more prims! ...Using these simple tricks will save you so much land impact, you will have plenty of prims to complete your home! Sides, back yard, upper roof: Solar panels:DBy StudioSolar Board [mesh](75L) Wind Turbine:Apple FallWind turbine [mesh](0L) Beach towel: BALACLAVA Triton Beach Towel Pineapple [mesh](120L) Beach towel and parasol: The Dreamer CreationsBeach towel 2, Sun Umbrella [mesh](495L) Palm tree:Little BranchLB_BeachPalm*Double Animated [mesh](286L) Beach:Skye StudiosBeach Building Set [mesh](699L) Ladder:ContraptionSimple Ladder double [mesh](0L) Sounds:Real Wavessound water ocean Paving stones: what next Garden Paving Stones [mesh](75L) Electric Car: S2 - Roleplay, Live, PlayCybertruck Static Prop [mesh](100L) Roof railings: VON created with prims Rainwater Cistern:VON created with prims Water, Weather Outpost 017 sign, beach wedge:VON created with prims
Tips and & Tricks: Get advice! I would like to thank my PaleoClimatologist big sister who is working hard gather data on past climates to better predict future climates. She advised me on what items I would need for my home: Wind Turbine, Solar Panels, Rainwater Cistern, Rooftop Garden, and that the home has ability to be lifted off the ground on stilts during a storm surge. ....she also asked, by special request, for a little Elephant. I put him on the bookcase so you can see him when first entering the home.
