Sideshow Spectacle

I just finished reading Water for Elephants so I have the tawdry, tatty glamour of Depression-era traveling circuses on the mind. I like to imagine the behind-the-scenes life of the showgirls and dancers, right before and after they're on stage. What struck me about these photos I took is that Marisol seems tired and melancholy in them, resigned to the fact that the show must go on.

Credits/Notes:

Reasonable Desires (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Reasonable%20Desires/108/229/27) has a really nice burlesque collection, and that's where I picked up all of these outfits. In pictures 1-3, Marisol is wearing Miss Dupree Burlesque. There are several ways to wear the outfit (e.g. with or without pasties, short or long skirt, one stocking rolled down, etc.). I love having those options and the texture on this piece is amazing; you can almost feel the velvety sheen on the fabric. In 4 and 5, she's wearing Blush Burlesque and in the last photo she is wearing Mistress of Ceremonies. Marisol's hair is Ingenue's Bombshell. The shoes in photos 1-5 are from that fantastic and huge new line at grim bros., and they deserve a post to themselves I love them so very much. The boots in photo 6 are Bax Coen and the skins are from LionSkins--Yang series.

The location is Wish Moleno's whimsical and lovely Fantasyglobe (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dones%20Isle/202/192/21), which is dedicated to her friend lik Flux. I added some sepia tones to my photos; the colors there are actually much more vibrant.

Post #4, For Which I Make My First Virtual Latex Purchase

[2009/11/16 19:24] Marisol Koenkamp: how was the exhibit?
[2009/11/16 19:24] Pale Lilienthal: very cool

[2009/11/16 19:26] Pale Lilienthal: it's called "Storm Cells"
[2009/11/16 19:27] Pale Lilienthal: and samples the SL clouds above to effect changes in the components of the exhibit

[2009/11/16 19:30] Marisol Koenkamp: ooooh. *makes note*

[2009/11/16 19:31] Marisol Koenkamp: thanks
[2009/11/16 19:32] Pale Lilienthal: there you are

[2009/11/16 19:32] Pale Lilienthal: it's visually striking, too
[2009/11/16 19:32] Pale Lilienthal: would make a fine backdrop for your blog pieces
[2009/11/16 19:32] Pale Lilienthal: (yes I read them)
[2009/11/16 19:33] Marisol Koenkamp: ty...i'm feeling overwhelmed by what was going to be my next post idea.

[2009/11/16 19:33] Marisol Koenkamp: (and thanks for reading my blog!)
[2009/11/16 19:33] Marisol Koenkamp: (you are one of three, I think!)
[2009/11/16 19:33] Pale Lilienthal: you could dress in turquoise latex. *grin*

***

Upon arrival, Marisol caught a little tile tram that took her through the color-shifting turquoise cubes. I like how floating through the middle of this one only affected the color of the front prims of Marisol's hair:

Avatar facial expressions/glances/eye direction are a constant frustration for me when taking photos. Getting Marisol to look less autistic--without using the grotesque facial distortions that pass for smile and frown animations in SL--is a challenge. I rather think the most effective tools are context and body pose--if you provide a context and an interesting pose, then our imaginations do a lot to fill in the blanks and breathe emotion into an avatar's face.

While Marisol was floating around the cubes, on occasion she would suddenly look straight at the camera (and somehow her glance looked full of slightly creepy meaning) but the tile, with her on it, would immediately zip along quickly out of my camera frame. I couldn't figure out what I was doing to cause this, but I really wanted to get a photo of it. I finally did, with Marisol half out of the frame:

Deciding to take a rest, Marisol sits on the edge of one of the weather cubes and stares blankly and doll-like at the horizon:

The cubes are constantly shifting, and eventually, if you stand too long on them, you will fall right through. Let yourself fall down to the ground, where you'll find yourself in a very cool sim (see Credits/Notes below).

Here's a view of the cubes from below up through to sky:

Credits/Notes:

In the slightly paraphrased words of Zachh Cale, curator: Storm Cells is an etherial installation by Oberon Onmura constructed of a thousand 8mx8mx8m cubes, each of which is programmed to react to the density of the SL clouds directly overhead. As the cloud density over each cell increases, it simultaneously lightens its color toward white and increases its height. The result is a dynamic multidimensional map of SL's random cloud function.

Storm Cells is located on a sim called Cetus (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cetus/122/125/2622), which is devoted to the exploration of a new building form in the virtual world. It is also the studio of DB Bailey (David Denton Architect in RL).

*I did a little messing around with contrast and saturation on these photos, but not so much that the exhibit looks different from what you'll see if you go.*

Marisol is wearing MEDUSA-limited edition hair from Minnu Model Skins (now known as LeLutka). I did a quick search around LeLutka and couldn't find this hair. Sorry. The outfit is part of the black with sweet blue piping "Latex Concubine" (without the skirt) from KDC: Kyrah Design Concept. I added a sweet blue buckled latex corset (also from KDC), some torn fishnets from Sheer and Bax Coen's black leather Prestige Boots. Skin is Baroque Gothic from Kleineschwein Designs.

And thanks, Pale, for telling me about this installation and suggesting turquoise latex.

Fragmentary Blue

WHY make so much of fragmentary blue
In here and there a bird, or butterfly,
Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,
When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?
Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)—
Though some savants make earth include the sky;
And blue so far above us comes so high,
It only gives our wish for blue a whet. --Fragmentary Blue, Robert Frost

Verde

Verde que te quiero verde.

Verde viento. Verdes ramas.

El barco sobre la mar

y el caballo en la montaña.

Con la sombra en la cintura

ella sueña en su baranda,

verde carne, pelo verde,

con ojos de fría plata.

Verde que te quiero verde.

Bajo la luna gitana,

las cosas la están mirando

y ella no puede mirarlas.

Verde que te quiero verde.

Grandes estrellas de escarcha

vienen con el pez de sombra

que abre el camino del alba.

La higuera frota su viento

con la lija de sus ramas,

y el monte, gato garduño,

eriza sus pitas agrias.

¿Pero quién vendra? ¿Y por dónde...?

Ella sigue en su baranda,

Verde carne, pelo verde,

soñando en la mar amarga.

***

Green, how much I want you green.

Green wind. Green Branches.

The ship upon the sea

and the horse in the mountain.

With the shadow on her waist

she dreams on her balcony,

green flesh, hair of green,

and eyes of cold silver.

Green, how much I want you green.

Beneath the gypsy moon,

all things look at her

but she cannot see them.

Green, how much I want you green.

Great stars of white frost

come with the fish of darkness

that opens the road of dawn.

The fig tree rubs the wind

with the sandpaper of its branches,

and the mountain, a filching cat,

bristles its bitter aloes.

But who will come? And from where?

She lingers on her balcony,

green flesh, hair of green,

dreaming of the bitter sea.

***

Credits/notes:

Poem is the first two verses of Romance Sonámbulo/Somnambule Ballad, by Federico García Lorca. Translated by Stephen Spender and J.L. Gili.

This wonderful corner of the metaverse is called El Sacromonte. It has a flamenco club and tapas bar, a beautiful plaza, a big rock to dive from and a gypsy caravan. It's a gorgeous tribute to Andalucía. (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Liberation/78/224/42)

Marisol is wearing MAU's and MEJ's Undine dark black hair and a locket by Yummy Acessories & Jewlery in which you can place a photo. Her dress is Silk Gypsy by Paper Couture (from a few seasons ago, available on XStreet). Very 1930s bohemian, it is the perfect dress for standing on your balcony overlooking the green sea in the green dark of night, waiting for your lover to return ... he has fought valiantly against the fascists but at this very moment is stumbling his way home with his friend, both bleeding, dying, with drunken civil guards fast on their heels.