I WAZU ROB BY TSUU MEN!

Here are some fun videos to cheer up your day!



See, its fun AND educational! Now you know what to do when in the same situation...japanese style. "Spare me my life!" The very words that send villans running in fear!



I want to go to Korea now!


Okay, okay... now for some boring writing and stuff. I released the new jumpers yesterday. I rushed to get them out before the new patch, got the prims about done JUST before seven when SL went down. Didnt get to go back on SL hours later, thanks Lindens :). Well, apparently I had the wrong things in one of my vendors, and one of them wasnt set for sale. OOPS! Quickly amended that and gave the new items to those who bought the wrong items. >_<; Im such a tard! They are now available at my others stores...woooo! Exciting :)

SL is acting all screwy since the patch. Nothing seems to be working properly, cant see my money, cant TP anywhere, cant attach anything, cant see my avatar and a whole host of other loverly things. Lets hope things will get cleaned up.

Anyway, until next time pretty kitties!

Don

Magic numbers.

I bumped into a few people the other day as I frolicked the dirty streets of the Block in my school uniform. TeHe! I think I scared Zab a tad, its okay Zabby...its alright to want me. *blows kiss* Was a funny night, testical transformers and headbanging...awesome!


Its alright, embrace the feelings...bask in the sexy. Now breath, there ya go. :D

My bestest friend Noamy seems to be taking a break from SL now. I thought Id write how I feel here rather then leaving a lengthy reply on his blog. When I first started making friends at the block, Noam and Keishii were the first two I REALLY latched on to. Noam was soooo cute, I remember we went skating together once and he gave me a parker. I had the biggest crush on him...But Im happy with how things are right now, Im glad hes part of my secondlife.
I think one of the reasons I get on with Noam so well is that we are into the same things. Our brains seem to be wired the same way, Noam says we share a brain...it reallys does feel like it at times. The last couple of weeks we havent really gotten to hang out as much as Id like. I dont know, but Ive felt like Ive been treading on thin ice with him. Im always afraid Im making him angry, or boring him...or feel hes busy. So I try and give him space...I really dont want to smother him. And now I feel really bad hes going away, But I understand why hes doing it. I know hes been stressed, so I hope this break can put him at ease. SL can really get under your skin sometimes...I guess its time for Noam to detox. I really dont think Noam quite understands how much I adore him, I care about him so much. *clasps air for an empty hug*
Noam if your reading this, I'll be here when you get back...Im missing seeing you already.
-So in closing : Noam, I love you and I want your babies! THERE, I said it! *laugh*

*coughs* Okay... *brushes mushy side off...clears throat and deepens vocal tone* So anyways, Ive been making clothes ALOT! Ive really gotten into my groove now and Im really enjoying making my clothing. Its strange, people are starting to take notice of me. Yesterday I got given a spot at Velvet, a really well designed club. Its funny because I was at the very same club when they gave an offer to Noam a couple of weeks ago. I dont think the owner knew who I was then ^^; I asked if she remembered me from that time. She said, yea... that she found my store a week or so later and went apeshit. Im really wanting to expand my stuff, I know there are alot more urban clothing stores out now. But I would really like GearShift to have its own unique flavour. Ive been experimenting more with colour, Im tired of staying in the safety of all the grey and black. Im doing a few different shades with my new winter wear that I hope people will dig.





Thats Canimal in the photos. Ive been hanging with her alot last couple of days and she is very cool. She shattered alot of what I assumed of her on our first real day of hanging out. Shes very down to earth and approachable and has a wicked sense of humour. :) And shes not american! *hugz his european sistah!* *pinches her oompa lumpas*



Ooo, I also got this jumper done yesterday. Weeee... Im loving the colours. I think I might release a few things today. No point in doing a crazy huge clothing dump on the forums. Im reeeeeeeeeeally wanting to get my new shoes done, its definately next on my list! *Runs off to make more stuff*

Until next time my pretty kitties!

Don

New zipped collared jumpers!

Okay, I bet some of you after reading the title are wondering - 'What the hell is a jumper?' And others are thinking - 'Yep, this guy is definately british.' Kudos to those who know what they are - but to the uninitiated its what we limeys call sweaters. Yah, I was actually chatting to Posy about these things a while back. They are in my lil black book of designs and are now officially ticked off as of today. I own some zip collared fleece tops in real life, they were initially the inspiration. But instead of using a fleece-like texture I gave it more of a knitted look. I think they've come out quite well, Im also quite pleased with the zipped prim collar. I made the lil zip flexi...so I assume it moves around when your walking. - Not that its easily viewable though seeing how small it is. But Im sooooo obsessed with small details like that, as much as making things dirty - if not more.





That graffiti-ed spot outside 'Miau Haus' at the new block is definately a hawtspot for photos. While taking them I bumped into DT owner of Desert Moon, he was wearing his female shape for some new dresses hes designing. He looked hawt with boobs, as did his newly designed dresses. - I myself dont really have a female shape, I enjoy just running around in drag...I so have the bum to pull it off. XD I spent some of my morning with my friend Char, her boyfriend was huge in comparisson to lil old neko me. He looked like a schoolyard bully! - This is where the topic of school uniforms came up, and my funtime escapades at Nakama with Posy and Noam. I put it on and wiggled my lil spiked tail. - Ive decided to hang around the block tonight in my schoolgirl uniform. *laugh* Be sure to look out for me. XD



Im going to try and finish some more goodies before my next release. Im also wanting to make free goodies for members of the 'GearShift Collective'. Yay! *goes off to design.*

Thats all for now pretty kitties!

Don

I didnt do didnt do didnt do.

So I have been listening to this fantabulous song by boy kill boy. (How awesome is that name for a band?) Its called 'Shoot me down' and is definately my fave song of the moment, Im listening to it as I write this. *nods head to its delicious melodic twinkling*
Here for your listening and viewing pleasure is the video. Huzzah for youtube!

I love the song... but please, did anyone else laugh uncontrollably at the falling down the stairs? Poor guy... not once but three times. *laugh*


So anyway, on the SL front. I have released my hoodies - YAY! Four hoodies for guys and two for the gurlies. Hoodies definately seems the flavour of the month, I guess it must have to do with the winter season. *smiles*. I did promise glorious hoodies however all the way back in my first post. What a long wait its been 0_o. They seem to be doing well, Im glad that people seem to be enjoying them...I really wanted the design of the hoodies to be unique to GearShift. I wear hoodies alot IRL and could really picture myself donning these offerings to go hang with friends. I'll be sure to get out more variations when time permits, my time will be a little limited this week due to some RL engagements - but never fear... I shall return. :)

Oh man, while working on this post. It looks like my webserver seems to be going screwy. I'll have to have a word with my friend who owns the server tomorrow, some images I uploaded earlier arnt coming through. 0_0 Yippie, another thing for me to do. T^T

Well, yesterday morning I managed to finish a sign for my store at The Block. Im quite proud of it actually. I feel all established now, having this hefty piece of metal above my door way. I lugged it to all 4 of my store locations and put them up, including my 'Unlimited' spot. I set that store up in a hurry, it looks a lil crappy at the moment. I'll be sure to grunge it up properly when I next get a chance.


Awww. And Canimal gave me free goodies for singing on her blog. THE AWESOME! Yay for freebies, I should go busk for some more. *laugh*

Anyway, Thats all for now pretty kitties!
Don

PowerPuff Girls Z!

So how many of you like watching the powerpuff girls? Come on... raise those hands. :) Okay, so heres an interesting little fact. If you knew this already, who woulda thunk huh? But to those still in the dark...here ya go.

PowerPuff Girls Z! Yes, the PPG have gotten transformed into uber kawaii chibi gurls. (OMG a mixture of german and japanese buzz words.) Yep, Cartoon Network teamed up with TV Tokyo and its undergone a complete transformation. The PPG are sooo amazingingly popular in Japan, to them it seems natural. But I find it really interested that a show that was inspired heavily by anime from the outset with sprinkles of american sensibilities has in turn crossed over to Japan and then been remade. Imagine if you will, the american show crossing the sea to have sordid sex with a japanese anime show - only to find that their hijinx led to some freakish pregnancy. Its like a cross-bred bastard cartoon child. *laughs and pokes the freak show* Isnt it cute? Yay for cross pollination!

So without further a do, heres the intro to the show!



And now that I have comepletely raped your mind with this confuzzled choice of pointless information. I shall ride off, like BraveStar.

Untill next time pretty kitties.
Don

Leave me a message!

Heya!

I was reading Arbels blog and totally dug her waffle machine. Ive read willow and arbers comment about this before but I had NO idea what it was. I thought it was soooo cool that I just had to get one for myself. So why not get on it and leave me a voiced message! Click on it to the side and leave me random stuff I can hear... YAY!

*waits patiently for his first message*
Don

Its super robot fighting time!

I bet alot of you must be tired of huge rambling posts by myself. I know, I sometimes can get into one. Seeing all that text...omg scary! So heres a short fun-filled post for you all.

I stumbled upon this a month ago and thought it was soooo great. I love the terminator and robocop. Someone with a great passion for both movies went out of their way to splice together footage from the movies to make an action filled short. Just amazing!



Wasnt that fun? Yes... I thought so too!

And now for something a lil different.



*laugh* that silly Neo!

Until next time pretty kitties!
Don

And the superstars sucked into the 'supermassive'.

So Im sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about the copybot. So, I'll try and make my rant on it brief before moving onto less drama filled things.

On the day that the sky started to fall, I like everyone was upset. I did my best to stray from the hysterics, I really wanted to find out more about it before booking my ticket to hell. I guess Im glad for not being in the fashion-superstar loop in situations like this, Keishii told me of what was happening in the sellers guild and I was like - 'OMG really?!?'.

I think alot of the paranoia stemmed from Robins original post on the blog. We designers really want to feel safe and protected. Robin spoke vaguely about the bot and its capabilities, and their impartial stance on copybot left us all with a sour taste in our mouths. When a big crisis like this occurs we want to look to the Lindens and feel a safe secure embrace, with a lulling voice telling us 'Everything will be okay, we'll look after you.'What we got instead was more along the lines of 'Hey, we cant do anything...we'll try. But right now I guess it sucks to be you.' For people working in the business of people in metaverse...they sure dont know how to deal with people.

This of course started the mass hysteria, avatars were running to supermarkets buying up cans of digital beans to stock in their bunkers. Children were running around soiled and naked and feathered chickens flocked to the streets...utter chaos! The amount of rumours I heard about what this bot could ACTUALLY do I would later find are in fact false. Thanks to Zab and a group of other designers we sat in with Cory and tinkered to find out exactly what it could do.

Heres a brief summary. (thanks to Chronocloud for this.)

What can the CopyBot create a copy of?
- fully textured objects attached to avatars in proximity
- fully textured objects in proximity

What can the CopyBot not copy?
- any object contents, including scripts, animations, sounds and textures
- clothing
- shapes
- textures (objects are textured but the CopyBot does not get the original textures)

Implications:
- If CopyBot copies you, only your attachments can be transfered, not your shape, clothing, appearance.
- If CopyBot copies your attachments, the attachments will be simple objects without any special functionality since they will not contain scripts, animations, etc.
- If CopyBot copies your product vendor, it will only get an object that looks like your vendor. It will not contain your product or any of the vendor scripts.
- The same is true for unattached objects.
- You can turn off object creation in sims containing unattached objects you do not wish to be duplicated

On the PXP comment fiasco -
I find it funny that some people can jump on bandwagons and run around beating babies with bats with only misinformed hearsay and small balls of truth. Sometimes people are all to ready to follow the popular crowd without once questioning the reason. Of course the situation is a serious one, but I dont think punishing our customers by closing on the idea that they could potentially be a prick is right either. Id like to stay positive and believe that the huge majority of people are going to remain true to us. When it comes to music I like to support the artists I love by handing over my hard earned cash, I think this mentality is true for customers in SL. They will rally to support those designers they like because they appreciate our hardwork and time.
I really do admire the way designers have come together with a singular voice, I just think we could be using it in a better way. At the end of the day, all of us designers are in the same boat, the threat of theft is not a new one...its been around in other shapes long before November 14th. If copybot has done one thing, it has lifted the vale of the false sense of secruity we all had. We are all potentially at risk from theft, not just the big names...but us smaller stores too. Lets work together as a community to help each other, if you spot something or someone sinister...well spread the word. I know its important that LL looks after us, but I also think its important that we be united - petty squabbles arnt going to be constructive to our cause. ONE LOVE!

Okay, so I lied about it being brief...sue me! OMG!!!1 Dont do it really, copybot is stealing all my business. T^T

Sooo in the background I have been making more clothes. Ive decided to hold out on my release of my new stuff....Grrr, for obvious reasons. But yesterday I managed to sell 8 of my hoodies. AND they arnt even released, holy shit! *laugh* Friends have been wearing them and people have been asking questions. Wow! Way to build hype! So lets hope this is a sign that they will do well. *grins*





Also, on a strange note. Yesterday I met someone who lives like a 10 minute drive from my house. How awkward is that? Im so used to meeting americans on here that even meeting my european brothers is a rare treat. Meeting someone so close to home is just new to me. It really is a small world after all. XD Hes a musician, actor and is actually pretty cute. *smile* I said we could maybe collaborate on something, and seeing as Im usually into some kind of strange media project working on crazy ideas...its definately a possibility. :D

Well, I'll leave you with that pretty kitties!
Don

Charlie and the Copy-Factory.

So I have been working on these hoodies for ages now. Distractions finally pushed aside I am now on a creative streak and am pumping them out like small asian kids stitching up Nikeys.

I am so absolutely excited about the hoodies, Ive been painstaingly zoomed in...airbrushing, aligning, uploading, re-aligning, re-uploading...rinsing and repeating. Its nice to see hardwork finally coming to fruition when your wearing it and have that warm feeling tickling you on the inside. I feel a little guilty that this feeling is being produced without the help of toys or the soft moist sensation of tongues. But *orgasmic spasm* Im enjoying it in any case. And its great timing too as for some new stores Im having to set up. The Block is being built bigger, badder, faster and stronger - much like a giant dirty-bricked 6 million dollar man. Zab and DT carefully crafting this urban mass, raising their hands collectively like the Gods of urban streets only can... they 'throw down that hawt fire shit'. Having been in its glorious gritty presence I am happy to report that it looks fantastic. This coupled with the fact that I got a spot at another new shopping spot 'Unlimited', definately has me in good spirits. *falls victim to another orgasmic spasm*

Today I came online and was greeted by Sinjun. I thought yay! I must throw hoodies at her and watch her force her well-endowed full figure into my tight little cropped offerings. After showing off some of our new inventory fodder I thought it would be cool to get some photos of us in my new hoodies. So after grabbing a quick TP down to the BladeRunner-esque 'Devil Moon' we snapped each other in various poses.





So after sitting on some girders in the park, Sinjun told me of the copybot. She showed me the link to the SL blog and I was just disgusted. It was news I couldnt get at a worse time, serious flashbacks of late nights working on clothing danced in my mind then shattered into a million tiny pieces. The copybot is an object that can copy avatars, attached objects, textures...your very uniqueness. Rather then rattle on about its actual possibilities I'll direct you to the actual blog.
I havent had a business long here in SL, but the actual idea of this copybot is seriously worrying. And from the very fury penned in the comments it looks like Im not the only one. Its really disheartening that the big guys at LindenLabs arnt taking enough of a negative stance on this. I want to feel protected and secure as an artist, as a designer. Robin Linden argues that the copybot dosent actually fall into copyright laws, they discuss briefly on ideas to make it so that your creations can be identified as your property. But if someone can just take my created items for free then wouldnt the value of my creations quickly drop to nothing? I dont think there are alot of people who realise the heartbreaking effect that this can have on us designers. Especially those reverse-engineers out there... I myself have put soooo much effort and time into my created offerings. The idea that someone can take my items, can take my time, can take my effort - for free...well thats just a kick in the fucking teeth.

Jakkal Dingo Says:

“Copying doesn’t always mean theft”.

No of course not. Copying just means you’re taking someone else’s hard work, without paying for it, and doing with it what you please. What’s the point of having “no copy”?

You know LL, artists are some of the most territorial people in existance. You’ve just told them to bend over and get ready for a massive art raping. You’ve pretty much just made it so no one is going to be willing to build anything in SL for fear it might get stolen.

There are ALOT of scary questions and points being put forward, - what will happen to the economy? What about the possible griefer attacks this tool could be used for?
It looks like a scary time is ahead for us...So what will I do you ask? Well after taking a big break earlier, sighing and contemplating I decided I can only continue what I enjoy to do here in SL and hope that things work out for the best. Im going to continue making clothing and accessories and hope that my small business does not get hurt.

Well, until next time my pretty kitties.

Don

Balancing act.

*dodges thrown fruit and veg from readers as he sheepishly makes a late post*

Okay, I know I havent blogged in a while. I sowwy, I was finding it difficult to find interesting tid-bits to entertain you all with. I did however get some advice, a couple of days ago while sitting with my foot firmly lodged between the digital buttcheeks of Rosie. Jelly said that I should just write about how Im feeling...and whined why there was a lack of an entry brandishing the fact she has added my name to voiced gesture.

Oh - I cant just write small thoughts down. No... I must punish you with long-winded extracts from my very mind. Im a disturbed sentence-sadist!

Well, Ive been feeling a little lacking as a designer. My library of clothing at GearShift is pretty puny at the moment. My stack seems to crumble at the sight of some other designers inventory. Ive had this reverberating voice saying - 'Make clothes...Make clothes.' in a chilling sort of psychotic mantra. Im starting to feel guilty that I havent released in a while and Im scared people are going to give up/forget about me. - I finally got to speak to Noam yesterday which made me happy. He told me that I shouldnt let it bother me as much, that I shouldnt make it seem like work and that it should be fun. He said people wouldnt forget me. :3 That really made me feel so much better! He also called me hun, I think that was a first. *smiles*

I keep a small design book. In it I write ideas about clothing and accessories so that I wont forget about them. Usually Im talking with Posy when an idea would hit me in the face and the start of a random but magical collection of sentences would leave my lips. "Hey, you know what? Wouldnt it be cool if..." Which Posy would reply with - "That sounds cool, you should make that." And I think... Oooo idea! And Id pen it in this little black sketch book with doodles and scribbly writing. Now this book has pages of ideas that Im slowly trying to get through. One of them that Im working on right now is a new hoodie. Ive been chipping away at this template while trying to balance freelance work. Im sooooo close to actually finishing it, I can literally taste the feeling of release when I have it on a prim on a wall. Just a few things I need to fix but Im liking how its turning out.



Still a few minor things I need to fix. Im a glutton for detail, so I keep finding myself going back and adding little highlights. Tightening certain areas and generally sculpt it into a piece of clothing I feel is solid. All I can think about right now is wanting to get into Photoshop and happily airbrush away, work however is being made a priority. Im having to have a site ready for this evening so the hoodie will have to wait. *strokes Hoodie* 'My precious.'

Well, I'll leave it there pretty kitties. I'll be sure to ramble on again soon.

Don