Tag: The Arcade Gacha Events

Witchy Wednesdays: ISON @ THE ARCADE

Witchy Wednesdays: ISON @ THE ARCADE

by Lisa Millar ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We haven’t had a Witchy Wednesday for a short while, but this one is a cracker!

I’ve spoken about my love for ISON on these pages before, so I was delighted to read that they would be contributing to this round of THE ARCADE.  I wondered what fashionable delights they would have on offer and eagerly awaited a peek at their wares. Imagine my surprise then when I saw this astonishing decor as their contribution!

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There are nine pieces in this ‘Altar’ set with no rares to worry about, and as you can see it’s pretty fantastic. There’s lots of lovely detail to admire in these mesh pieces which are realistically aged in all the right places. I love the bottles of herbs for spells, the small cauldron-esque bowl with contents ripe for smudging and the pentacle with the horns really looks the part doesn’t it?  But it’s the altar table itself that has really bowled me over; it’s gorgeous, with a Triquetra carved into the front in an ornate style..don’t you just adore this entire set? WOW!

This is a great addition to your Second Life witchy home and of course you can add items to the table to fine tune it into your perfect altar environment. I really love this and  I haven’t seen any mesh altars out in world at all up until now, so it’s a pleasure to feature one on these pages, and at L$50 a pop the ISON gacha is one of the cheapest at the event.  (Plus because there are no rares you should find this an easy set to complete via the gift of yardsales) Oh the joy The Arcade brings!

Click HERE to try getting in to THE ARCADE or click HERE for a comprehensive Yardsale list, courtesy of Seraphim SL. 

Seven Days of Denim Challenge:Day 4

Seven Days of Denim Challenge:Day 4

by Lisa Millar ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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I’m having so much fun with this challenge!

Today I’ve gone for an Autumn inspired look.  It’s been quite cold today and thoughts are now turning towards the change of season, so here’s Kitty on her way to college or university wearing her  fall colours with pride and looking rather beautiful if you ask me.

To create this look I had a good rummage in my inventory but I also included a couple of items from current events (oh the irony when you consider my previous post!).

Let’s start with the fabulous denim jacket and tee combo that Kitty is sporting.  It’s by COCO and is available from THE MENS DEPT.  I love this vintage denim jacket styling and the upturned sleeve detail looks great contrasted with the baggy shape of the jumper underneath.  This is a beautifully crafted item and a real joy to wear; the shape is completely realistic. I’ve teamed it with some old inventory finds; there’s a brown denim skirt from TEE*FY and some woolly tights from FISHY STRAWBERRY. I’m still enjoying  the BELLEZA ‘Chloe’ skin, and I’ve worn it coupled with lipstick in a nice red (that was a tattoo layer included with the skins).

Accessories include this epic necklace by ENFANT TERRIBLE  from THE FANTASY COLLECTIVE that’s just begun. It’s actually a pentacle with the slogan ‘Witch Please’  (so this post now qualifies as a ‘Witchy Wednesday’ as well, woot!) and I think it really works with the colours of the tee underneath.  It’s rather bohemian, don’t you think?

Last but not least are these beautiful, bookish  tortoiseshell ‘Pegley’ glasses by ISON, and a fabulous hairstyle from WASABI PILLS called ‘Megumi’ that I forgot I had!

 A slick of mustard nail paint (Courtesy of my fave Slink nail applier’s from IZZIES) completes the look, and I think it’s my best one yet!  (Obviously you can’t see my feet, but if you could I’m totally wearing clumpy Doc Martin style boots; the ones from the ARCADE by ILO that I completely adore)

Kitty Wears:

EYES: ‘Perspective-Blush’ by IKON
EARS: Human Ears Tragus by CASA CHEERNO  **The Mens Dept **
EYELINER/SEPTUM RING by MONS
SKIN: Chloe medium bundle 2 (#19 worn with medium lip tattoo #1) by BELLEZA
TOP: Denim jacket with tee (Vintage) COCO  **The Mens Dept**
SKIRT: Basics Highwaist Short denim skirt in brown by TEE*FY
TIGHTS: Woollen Tights in Brown Stripes by FISHY STRAWBERRY
NECKLACE: ‘Witch Please’ by ENFANT TERRIBLE **THE FANTASY COLLECTIVE**
GLASSES: ‘Pegley’ by ISON
HAIR : ‘Megumi’ (in ‘Gingerbread’) by WASABI PILLS

**Quicky: For some reason WordPress has eaten ALL the blinking URL’s that I’d included in my list here for your convenience; It’s late and I need my bed so I’ll add them again tomorrow, OK?**

MAY THE GACHAS EVER BE IN YOUR FAVOUR!

MAY THE GACHAS EVER BE IN YOUR FAVOUR!

by Lisa Millar ♥ 1 Comment

It’s June, so that means a new round of THE ARCADE. Of course, getting in is nigh on impossible, and once you do you have to wait for everything to rez before you can go on a Linden spending frenzy, but it is utterly worth it.

THE ARCADE is probably the most popular event on the Second Life calendar, and let’s be honest here, with good reason.  The items available are just outstanding and I get some of my most treasured items that I own each round. The creators must spend an absolute age on the wares that they contribute, so I really do hope they make a small fortune in returns from this extravaganza; it’s completely deserved.   This month will break me because the furnishings and knick-knacks are just utterly glorious, and don’t even get me started on the skins and the hair and, well, let’s just not go on about it eh?   Sadly for me I have to keep a close eye on my Linden spending, but even on a restricted budget I find I can treat myself to a few awesome items, and that’s just what I did earlier.

There’s a yard sale at THE NEST which is looking promising, and it’s pretty ethical too. It’s free to use, but  the items on sale MUST be sold at Gacha cost price, even rares, which is brilliant in principle.  However, I don’t  think we’ll be seeing many of those this round sadly. Already  lots of people on Plurk are reporting that they’ve spent absolute fortunes on the machines without even a sniff of a rare. I’m hearing that the scripts have been changed this round, and I do wonder if that’s to try and curb some of the ridiculous prices that rares were selling for at many of the Yard Sales across the grid. I can sort of understand that, but at the same time if someone has dropped an absolute wad of cash on a Gacha to get a rare I can sort of understand the need to try and get some of that back.

That said, I can’t help thinking that if you were prepared to do that in the first place, then why not just keep a hold of the rare rather than sell it?  I dunno, but it’s easy enough to NOT buy something that originally cost L$50 and is now being sold for thousands if you just bite your lip and walk past it very quickly! No, it is, honest!

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Lucky for me I’m good friends with the wonderful Sienia Trevellion who kindly gifted her Arcade items on me this round, and they’re fabulous. Sienia is just one of those people that oozes creativity out of every pore. She’s so ruddy clever, and makes utterly fantastic items, and her ‘Magnet’ range for The Arcade is no exception. Honestly, where does she get her ideas? It just astonishes me! Anyway, the prizes are some pretty outstanding fridge magnet sets as well as worktop style mini-polar fridges to display them on.  Guys they’re chuffing awesome; textured to absolute perfection and really adding the finishing touch to your virtual kitchen, as you can hopefully see from my snap below…

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Doesn’t this look nifty? I absolutely adore it!  I love the fact that Sienia has been so on trend with her colour selections too; there’s a fantastic orange fridge in the collection, and the magnets are just sublime. I think the Kitty and Russian Doll magnets are my faves, and  I can see the picture-pegs being incredibly popular too; they will definitely be a much sought-after rare.  Incidentally I picked up my PIXICAT lilac kimono and the utterly squee TRUTH hair at THE NEST YARDSALE too.  I can see myself getting rather a lot of these outfits because PIXICAT just happens to be one of my absolute favourite brands at the moment, and as for the TRUTH ‘Sakura’ hair?  Well it matches perfectly:)

Could I be any happier? Well, yes, if I had a squillion Lindens to splurge at THE ARCADE, but that’s just being greedy! Be sure to check out THE ARCADE SHOPPING GUIDE and enjoy the month-long madness.  

May the Gachas ever be in your favour!

Kitty Goes 3D!!!

Kitty Goes 3D!!!

by Lisa Millar ♥ 6 Comments

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A couple of years ago, for my birthday, my beloved invested in a really snazzy monitor for me.  Boasting a glorious widescreen it was (and still is) a thing of beauty.

To be honest guys I don’t know the first thing about tech, but I do appreciate a good gadget when I see one. It was, and still is a great gift and shows how completely in tune me and my fella are with each other; he recognised that my Second Life was important to me and bought me something to enhance my enjoyment of it even further. 

If that’s not true love then I don’t know what is, and and  I adore my big monitor, I really do.

But in all the time I’ve had it I’ve only used it to within a fraction of its potential.  Why? Because it has 3d capabilities, and was purchased under the sadly misguided impression that surely one day Linden Lab would introduce a 3D viewer.

Thing is I don’t play any games as such.  Second Life is the only virtual reality that I occupy my time with so I was counting on the lab to get their arses in gear and release a 3D viewer. And of course it never happened.  You really do have to question the priorities of our overlords sometimes..

So even though I use my beautiful monitor on a daily basis, the accompanying glasses have been carefully secreted away in their packaging with all hope fading that a 3D viewer would ever appear.

I’m pretty sure they would have stayed hidden away in their box had I not thrown a proper virtual hissy fit  on Sunday. Second Life was being a pig and not loading for me, so  I decided to have a nosey on the wiki page and see what  other viewers were out there. (I don’t bother with alternate viewers as a rule; I have dabbled, but the standard release viewer has always been more than enough for my needs. ) I was being sassy and thinking that if the official viewer wasn’t playing ball, then perhaps an alternate held the key to my getting back in the world. (Like that’s ever worked before, right?)

So I loaded the page and began scanning the contents.  I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, and then these magical words leapt out at me: The CtrlAltStudio Viewer has been set up to try out and share a number of ideas, the first being stereoscopic 3D display.

I squealed.  Jez came running, and we both rubbed our eyes at what we saw; a 3D viewer release. OMFG! Could it be?!!  Could it even work on my monitor? We checked the specs. Yes, in theory it would. But I didn’t dare get my hopes up, what if it didn’t work once installed?  It took a while.  There were various issues with my machine and my 3D glasses had been out of action for so long that they didn’t have any charge. Also, my graphics card was way past its prime and I was having enough trouble logging in anyway without the extra stress that a 3d viewer would surely impart.

Fortunately for me, beloved had a winning card up his sleeve. Most women on their Fortieth birthdays would, I’m sure, be happy with a bouquet of flowers, some fine wines,  Belgian chocolates and perhaps a piece of statement jewellery.  I on the other hand am clearly not like most ladies and asked for the one thing that I knew would make my life rather more smashing than it already is.. brand, spanking new graphics card!  Jez  allowed the birthday fairies to deliver and install my card early and it was with some apprehension that we loaded the 3D viewer..

And there it was.  Second Life in 3D. I’m not exaggerating but my eyes were moist!

I panned around my virtual abode and I was seriously overcome with emotion.  THIS was the one experience I’d been desperate to have in my virtual life.  I wanted to really feel the dimensions of the space around me, and live just a little more in my virtual guise.  By the power of 3D (not Greyskull) I finally could.

Not only that but the objects around me were suddenly more  dazzling to me than ever before.   I felt I could reach out and grab the Schadenfreude Chibi cats I had arranged neatly in a row. The pages from the Lark Imaginarium Librarium were floating in the sky desperate for me to reach out and take them. The cup of coffee on my desk was steaming and inviting me to take more than my usual virtual sip.

This was no longer my Second Life, it had suddenly become something much more real, and all through the magic that is 3D.

You know, I actually think that it’s fate that I should discover this viewer now.  The introduction of mesh has been fully embraced by the grid, and now more  items are being made that are materials ready.  It all adds to the virtual experience, and  my stereoscopic enhancement was taking it to another level.  Walking around my home (and you know how much I treasure my virtual space) I really was blown away.   But just as it got  good, it got even better. Just for devilment I decided to try to rez at The Arcade. Things have quietened down now after all, so I figured I would stand a good chance of getting in and it struck me that the environment would be ripe for in-depth exploration of the 3D kind.

Oh I wasn’t wrong.  The experience was nothing short of sensational. Walking down the pier to The Arcade entrance  I was captivated by the benches and lamps that I passed. They were within touching distance, and they were real! It was uncanny. As for the concessions stand? I could practically reach out and grab the pretzel and really hold it in my hand.  If only I could take a bite!  Walking into the venue was another experience entirely.  Suddenly every Gacha stood out like never before as I passed, each one just begging me to reach out, touch and play them. Panning up to look at the roof for the first time was an experience I’ll never forget; here I was in a virtual world yet it suddenly, totally felt like I was gazing out into the sky watching the clouds pass by.

It’s been a few days since I enjoyed my initial 3D experiences. I’ve had no issues at all with the 3D, although for some reason my movement using my Space Navigator is completely awry when using the CtrlAltStudio viewer (if I switch to the normal viewer it’s fine).  No matter; for the sake of enjoying this experience I can certainly live with having to navigate my Second Life the old-fashioned way.  

Today I’ve visited The Seasons Story in 3Dmode and I can tell you it was absolutely dazzling. It seems to me that well-curated shopping events are even more enhanced when viewed this way. Not only that, but so is interacting with other avatars. I was very nearly whipped by the tail of a she-devil as she walked past me earlier; I actually flinched at my desk as she walked past expecting a hefty clout from her appendage! It’s true to say that this 3D interface has taken my immersion in-world to an even greater level.  I really, really hope that this viewer is cultivated and supported by fellow avatars keen to experience their virtual lives in 3D. If you have the equipment please consider trying it out and I promise you won’t be disappointed. I am so excited by it, as you can probably tell!

As I finish this piece I want to send a huge thank you out to Strachan Ofarrel who has brought this viewer to the grid.

Strachan, your work has truly made a difference to how I’ll be experiencing Second Life from now on, and you’ve finally enabled me to enjoy a birthday present that I received (almost two years to the day )and had sadly resigned myself to never using!

I really do think it was fate that finally intervened and helped me find my way to the downloads page and discover your viewer, and I wish you every success with it.

Oh, and a final note dear reader, you know the Lab are working on an Oculus Rift compatible viewer?

You’ll already find one on Strachan’s page…jus’ sayin’!

CLICK HERE to visit CtrlAltStudio