Punch Drunk!

Hey guys!
As you know, Ive been pretty busy lately. Been doing my best to release a few new things. Ive been putting the finishing touches on another new accessory. If you've ever played Tekken you'll recognise them straight away. They come in a variety of styles and colours including black, red, electric blue and pink. I'll be getting them out sometime tomorrow. Id rave on about them more but I dont feel like writing an essay right now XD

So for now... enjoy the pretty pictures.






Theres quite a few adverts Ive gotta make for them. But I imagine they'll be done sometime tomorrow...maybe. >.>

Peace out pretty kitties!

Don

Its ALIVE!

I'm happy to report that my main computer is alive and well. It was repaired on Wednesday and since then Ive been trying to get back into the groove of releasing and creating actively. The computer burning out there came at such a horrible time, it through my whole flow out of whack! But I think I'm slowly getting back on form and am ready for some nice big releases.

Some exciting news though, some of you may know about it already. But I have purchased my own land. So yes, I WILL have a GearShift mainstore in the near future. I have some exciting ideas for it, lets hope I can pull them off in the build. XD The dreaded computer burnout really did come at a bad time, but Ive had time to think about what I want for it...so watch this space.

Ive got out a baseball cap today. It was going to be a lot more involving when I originally thought of it. But I decided to release it early to get out something fresh from GearShift. My absence in releasing items has seen my sales go a little stale lately, but I'm gonna do my best to inject new life into my store inventory.

The Pirate Cap comes in two packs. Natural and Punk, both packs come with three different shades of hair. If people dig the hat, I'll see about improving it and adding different colours and designs. Maybe a scripted texture switch? We'll see. :D




This morning, I was just walking around Koreshan. I went to finally check out Noams mainstore. Although I did have my secondary computer to check in on SL, I could only really do basic things. Going to big locations would just see my machine lag...so I decided to wait. Its a great store, Noam did such a wonderful job. I hadn't been to Koreshan since Noam last took me there quite a few months back. I think back then it was mostly barren space, apart from Chicanery and a few others. But I decided to just take a little stroll today and WOW. Its such a deliciously created sim, its such a fresh idea to have it designed like a theme park. Every store is created with such enthusiasm its hard not to just smile when your wandering around the vibrant landscape.

Koreshan, I salute you!

Peace out pretty kitties!

Don

Who wants to be famous?

This is a topic that has been on my mind for the longest time. And it has to do with 'fame' or the pursuit of it in Second Life. Ive been wondering for a while if this was something that was appropriate for my blog, but after reading a reply to something I wrote in style disorder I guess its something other people have been thinking about too.

Not everyone is out to be popular (what does that even mean in Second Life?) or get something for free. - GillianWaldman


There have been a few conversations Ive had with people over the past couple of months that have dealt with this subject. But one I had with Rosie kind of stands out about what 'fame' is in SL. She explained that popularity exists in all aspects of social groups and communities and SL is no different. The popular ones of SL tend to be the content creators, its these people whose names we remember. And I guess its true, its their clothing that we wear, its their inventions that we use and its their creations in which we explore.

I respect hardwork and talent, its ego and attitude I find that sours my view of some content creators. Personally, creating in SL has always been an outlet for my ideas and creativity. 'Fame' isnt something that fueled my desire for creating clothes, it isnt what keeps me up in the early hours of the morning making sure that seams are aligned. Its love, its inspiration, its challenging myself and its these pure ideals that I believe are what make good content creators. When I was starting out in SL it was the attitudes of the designers at the block that I admired. They were approachable and talkative, they were helpful and supportive especially to someone new. Naively for the longest time I thought this was the attitude of ALL designers in SL, I was wrong. But it dosent stop me from believing it is an outlook that should be adopted. I think it would do wonders for the mindset of the casual SL-er and their position for putting creators on pedestals.

A couple of days ago there was a short conversation I had with someone that brought this point to light. I like to think Im very approachable and do my utmost to help anyone that needs it, be it something to do with my store or where to get something. I like conversation and am ready to chat with pretty much anyone. This person explained in IM how they were envious of me and the friends that I was with. He was to shy to approach us when we were at deviant kitties, I told him that we are all very friendly and dont bite. I wanted him to understand that Im just a regular guy, that he shouldnt put so much emphasis on me being a store owner and putting me on a pedestal, that next time he should just hang out. He told me that because I was a designer it allowed me to have 'certain' friends. I couldnt believe what I was reading. Yes, Im a designer. It may be what I do, but Im sure its me the person that people want to get to know, its my personality that gets me friends. Being a designer has NOTHING to do with that. His comments made me feel really awkward, I dont ever want to alienate anyone so I expect the same kind of respect in turn. Im not saying I dont enjoy compliments, but when some people come on really strong it can make you feel quite out of place. I cant speak for all designers, I know there are those who really enjoy the fame induced ego stroking... but I like being treated like a regular guy.

I think this seeps out into other aspects of SL other then content creation. The idea of fame in SL is something that is important to too many people. If your going to start working on something creative with SecondLife as a basis, great! Im all for encouraging new content creators and pioneers of new kinds of media for SL. But take the time to consider what your doing it for. - If the reason is for people to say : "OMG its so-and-so, dont you own generic-store184?" Then your deluded into a pathetic superficial ideal.

Phew, big rant eh? Well, its been on my mind for a bit. Hope it makes some sense. ^^;

Peace out pretty kitties!

Don

Crash and Burn.

Ive been working REALLY hard leading up to this weekend. Some of you might remember me mentioning 'Project: Rival Schools'in a previous post. Well, I was getting ready to make my first release with outfits from it this weekend - I was excited! Life however, has a way of shitting on your plans and laughing mockingly in your face.

Yesterday, my computer decided to conk out at around about 8PM GMT. I was crushed, I was in the middle of getting some promotional photos done and some extra goodies. I was really wanting to make a big post explaining what I had planned. Share my enthusiasm for what I have been working on the last couple of weeks. Well, my power supply decided to just burn out. - Crushed...that's maybe an understatement.

So right now I'm using my secondary computer. Its specs are severely lacking...and I dont really trust it to run SL properly. Well, not in the way I'm used to. And this machine has outdated design programs. I am pondering upgrading my PS from PS6 on here to CS. But, this machine rarely does what I want it to do...I don't know if the software upgrade is the best answer. Ive just talked to tech support and have booked to have my power supply replaced, makes me feel better about buying that insurance now. But that's not till Monday, and I'm not sure how long they'll decide to have it in. Its a fairly simple job, but we all know how tech guys are - they assume everyone is stupid. So what essentially might be an hour or two job, they can
lengthen dramatically...conscious free.

I'm so mad right now, all I can think about is wanting to just release my clothes. I think GearShift is in severe need to have some more inventory injected into it. Recently Ive been kind of getting down on myself about how long I spend working on templates and my creations. I do a lot of hand airbrushing and texturing, I spend ridiculous amounts of time zoomed in shading and highlighting folds till Im satisfied they look right. I add fabric textures, I make sure you can see stitching...but really you can only see some of these things if you zoom in closer.I'm obsessed with details like this, I think I have some kind of designer OCD. Do consumers really appreciate things like this? Do they even realize that Ive spent the time to make sure the stitching has the faintest of outer-shading to give it visual weight? I doubt it, my brain is wired differently I guess. Regardless of how I had been feeling - this weekend was there to set things right. That release would validate my hard work ,and all would be right in Don's small kitty world. This is what I had been telling myself anyway, you know...until things got a browner kind of shitty.



So with that ranty vent, I'll leave you with this small visual offering. Its a promotional shot of some of the outfits Ive been working on. I know theres probably some of you wondering, WTF is Rival Schoolz then you bastard? Well, the short explanation would be - imagine Battle Royale mixed with Volcano High. Yea, you'll get the gist of what I'm doing. I'll be sure to post more about the actual project when I don't feel this overwhelming need to stab someone in the face. I'll have more pictures :D

Oh, and if you dont see me on SL for a couple of days. Now you know why. *cries*

Peace out pretty kitties!

Don

Block Party 4 : The curse of Ivan Drago

The Block Party kicked off today and as usual wasnt without its trademark problems. Yep, I couldnt get any of the streams I had to work so it was without a DJ for a short while. Thankfully, the resourceful and adorably cute-alicous Pushbutton was there to save the day by finding a stream that I could rock on. I LOVE the people at the block, its the only place I can crank out tracks from anime and get a big cheer. *embraces his fellow geeks*
Living in England, the whole Super Bowl thing is lost on me. But from what Ive heard...its pretty big in the U.S . Which is why I thought it was a strange choice to have the Block Party on Super Bowl Sunday. But apparently Zab had planned it weeks in advance and didnt realise it was on the same date, go figure. With that said, we werent without the lag. Though, I dont believe we crashed the sim...surprising. The nutty banter was in full force, comment of the night had to go to Hely with 'orgasmic carrot dinner'. A short but interesting yarn about a young woman pleasuring herself with carrots, then using the said vegetable in her husbands dinner. Can you say yummy?


One of the best things about the block parties has to be the exclusives. And we had them in spades this time around with some great items coming from Zab, Keishii and KO. The limited edition items are on sale however ONLY for today... so if you havent gone to the block and blown your linden load on our offerings then you'll be left unfulfilled later as they'll be gone. Go grab them quick!



Peace out pretty kitties!

Don