Eshi... sings!

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Eshi Otawara is so gifted, in so many ways, it hardly seems fair! Virtual artist and celebrated fashion designer, Real Life painter... and now it turns out that the woman has a voice.

It's so hard to distinguish her voice amidst the sounds of a very loud, very happy crowd at the recent Second Life Community Convention, but here's an earful. Accompanying her on guitar and also singing is Cylindrian Rutabaga, and sitting in the middle is Robert Bloomfield (aka Beyers Sellers) from Metanomics. He also has one heck of a voice. Talent, people.


Many thanks to Pato Milo for capturing this moment

Love you loads, Eshi.

Artists consider Adult Content ratings in Second Life, and I reach my own conclusions

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Let me first say that I understand Linden Lab's motivations for rating (see "Upcoming Changes for Adult Content and sections of the Second Life® grid. In fact, about three months ago, I decided to rate my own sim PG in support of my desire to make it newbie friendly. Newbies already have a lot to deal with when they arrive, and rezzing next to a couple that's copulating in the woods (I still don't get why people do this in very public spaces, but eh) is, in my view, too much of a test, not that I enjoy coming upon these situations myself.

However, I do prefer environments that provide for the greatest level of individual freedoms within a framework of accountability, and I always worry when any entity takes it upon itself to tighten controls over what is right and wrong. I do believe that Linden Lab will rue the day it ever decided to walk this lawsuit-happy path. Notwithstanding special viewers and other automated processes, they are going to devote copious amounts of precious time and resources in arbitration.

Tateru Nino over at Massively is still working on her coverage of this story. "I can't find three people in SL that can all agree on what's allowable in a PG sim," she told me. She shared a few more very fascinating insights in a Not Possible IRL group IM immediately following the announcement, so I'm especially looking forward to her post, which may come as soon as tomorrow.

I was immediately curious to hear what people in Second Life's art community opined on this topic so I did a quick roundup.

New media superstar Gazira Babeli was busy making some interesting changes to how the Odyssey sim will appear on the map when we spoke (we'll have to wait for the next system refresh to see it). Gaz and I agree that this is going to consume a great deal of Linden Lab's time and resources. "That means decadence. Resources lost in details always result in decadence," she said.

Artist and lead creator of many of the grid's most popular sims, including the Greenies, Pavig Lok: Part of me says "about time" and part of me says "best option available" and part of me says "dammit the unicorns and fae have gone from our world, curse you loss of innocence!"

Artist and founder of Second Life's art-critique mecca Brooklyn is Watching, Jay Newt, responded to my email this way:

"It's a really interesting question. It seems to me a little like the movie rating system, and I like the movie system, because it is voluntary. There is the category "unrated" and you know that that means: "who the hell knows what it is going to be." I wish they would make these categories for SL content voluntary in that way so you could advertise your content as fitting into one of those categories or you could elect not to participate in that particular categorization scheme and then people would know that they are just taking their chances coming to your sim.

I also think that SL artists will likely get upset over this because of what they think will happen as a result and the truth is that none us of us knows what will happen as a result. It could be that most places will list themselves as "adult" just to have the freedom to do what they want, even if they aren't about sex or violence, and there will be no stigma attached to that label...

We're all jumping ship from SL as soon as there's a large enough community on some un-regulated open source distributed server system anyway, right? :)"

Hyperformalist and producer/director of ZeroG SkyDancers DanCoyote Antonelli offered an intriguing perspective: "If any company leans on the US legal system in their Terms of Service and are protected by US laws, they should also follow through and support the right to free speech provided for in the US Constitution. Want to be protected by US law? Then provide US rights as outlined in the Bill of Rights.

Leading fashion designer and artist, Eshi Otawara: "If the concern is children, this still will not stop them from entering Second Life and pursuing their curiosities. It's the responsibility of the parent to supervise their child. As far as adult content being 'offensive' to adults, I am sorry to say- there is far more of both natural and less natural human activity that offends a lot of us on a more profound level then adult content ever can. But in those cases it is socially acceptable so those who don't agree must conform or keep quiet in the least.

"For me, this is just another step that Linden Lab, unfortunately, must make - to protect the company from the people whose state of mind is so unfortunately fragile they cannot handle functions of their own bodies and who are indoctrinated into false pretensions that assuming what is commonly and unfortunately for human kind referred to as 'purity' vs. embracing the human nature provided to them at birth by whatever/whom ever one chooses to put faith towards makes them somehow more in control of anything. For the rest of us, there are always contentedness, laughter and hope Darwin takes care of it in the long run."

Finally, artist and co-founder of Arthole, the often-controversial arts center that will surely be affected by these new rules because it sits on the mainland, Nebulosus Severine, wrote back a very thoughtful response.

"As you know, I have some very strong opinions on the upcoming changes in SL that would restrict a lot of so-called Adult content. The way LL is handling it is still so unclear to me, and I keep going back and forth from optimism to pessimism.

I don't have to worry about all aspects of this new policy. I am already payment verified, so my presence in SL won't be limited; that is at least some relief to me.

However, I have already taken preliminary steps in considering what will have to be done with Arthole. Arahan and I will be talking soon to figure out what to do. I know he and I both agree that we must have absolute creative freedom to address any subject matter with our art. As we frequently choose controversial topics, I think the safest bet would be to move Arthole to an Adult piece of land.

However, this will limit the access of several friends who, although adults, are not age-verified (for their own personal reasons), and wouldn't be able to come visit Arthole, if it does end up on Adult land. That is really frustrating and heartbreaking.

Not to mention that I have had the same piece of land in Kress for nearly 4 years. I suppose a move isn't that big of a deal, but it's still an inconvenience to say the least.

When it comes right down to it, I believe that LL is censoring SL. I've read their arguments to the contrary, and I don't trust their supposed reasoning. And with their proposed definitions of what "Adult" is, it seems as though they'd have an easier time making a new PG continent and keeping THAT all together. The Mature rating is effectively useless, too. Why not divide the grid geographically into "Adult" and "All Ages" and keep it simple?

Seriously... "illicit drug use" will be considered "adult"? I have never been to a live concert in SL that did NOT have an avatar (or three, or ten) smoking on a prim joint or tripping on scripted 'shrooms.

Anyway, I could go on and on. My bottom line is that I distrust and despise ANYTHING that would seek to restrict freedom of expression. I consider censorship to be one of the biggest violations of human rights. I know LL is a private company, but the more that censorship is imposed on people in any community, the more people start to just accept it as a fact of life, and THAT is dangerous," concluded Nebulosus.
~*~

"Why not divide the grid geographically into 'Adult' and 'All Ages' and keep it simple?" suggests Nebulosus. This sounds appealing, smart and effective doesn't it? And cost and resource thin, right? Oh, wait! Isn't that what is already in place? Which leads me to conclude...

Why change a system that just needs to be implemented properly?

Is this just busy work that will result in the same-ole same-ole put in place just to hush some fundamentalist and ultra conservative groups, at the great expense of art facilities like Arthole?

See also: What will happen to art?

W magazine's Second Life : NPIRL and the Fashion Institute of Technology get a Second Chance

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

I was beyond excitement when my copy of the April 2009 issue of W magazine arrived this week. The cover reads, "Second Life: Designers Revive Their Greatest Hits." Alas, the article is not about fashion in our Second Life®, but reissues of old classics - marvelous though they may be - in Real Life. Sigh. Mark my words... the day will come.

Not long ago, I was scheming with NPIRLer Max Newbold (aka Beth Harris in RL) on a mixed realities project in New York/Second Life that was to feature fashions that are Not Possible in Real Life. At the time, she was working at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, but the blueprint for our happy plan got tossed in the dust bin when Beth was snatched up as director of digital learning at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Talk about mixed blessings...

The good news is that a scholarly hero has stepped in to rescue the FIT/NPIRL project. Dr. Steven Zucker, dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, has rallied the troops and has informed me that it is still a "go!" Meanwhile, the real world fashion industry will just have to wait to learn about the hottest names in virtual fashion, and in particular about NPIRL fashion.

Eshi Otawara, creator of the most expensive dress in virtual worlds, just unveiled this new POPI outfit with a skirt that reminds me of rich, creamy icing and comes with a bonus: a finger jewel of a bee that is sticking its tongue out at you :P. The hat! Eshi Otawara couture is available here.






I haven't retouched these, other than to crop

Cutea Benelli and her shop Grim Bros, continue to issue surreal and/or humorous outfits for men and women and every possible mood (teleport directly from here).


Artemis


Lalala


Virulent

Alpha Auer has already blogged about Pandora Wrigglesworth's colossal "Rococo" hairstyle, but I still can't get over it. Literally. This all brings to mind that Texan expression... "the bigger the hair, the closer to God." Available at Pandora's fantastical Curio Obscura shop (teleport directly from here).


Rococo Fantastico

Catch up: The New York Times on virtual architecture, AM Radio's voice on Arthole Radio, and more

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

It feels like an eternity since I last sat down to blog about the many enchantments and the occasional disappointments that my virtual life affords me. I’ve been caught up for weeks with the physical world of Real Life and moving to Austin from Santa Monica. Last night I unpacked the last box, and may I say… I simply love Austin. It’s good to be home.

Meanwhile, my new co-blogger Alpha Auer has been a miracle of productivity and triumphs. I congratulate myself on my association with her. The metaverse is too eventful so I couldn't very well expect things to stand still during an absence of three weeks, and I’ve especially enjoyed seeing it through her eyes.

Actually, I did do a blogpost about Eshi Otawara’s new Collection, which she unveiled yesterday to instant acclaim. Its immediate success surprised absolutely no one, least of all me. She informs me that all six of the Limited Edition outfits have been snatched up, and sales of everything are so brisk that she has decided to put all of her older styles on sale, 50% off (teleport directly from here).


You simply MUST see the arm pieces on Eshi's Limited Edition Kabuki dress up close, but you will have to know one of the six people who now own it to do so

Anyhow, here's a very quick summary of some of the news items that must be shared asap:


The New York Times eyes virtual architecture

Last Sunday, the New York Times style magazine, known as T, ran one of the most balanced yet favorable articles I've read about content creation in virtual worlds. Original Sim by Sam Lubell delves into architecture in Second Life® - not sex, adultery and MacMansions, for a refreshing change - and several NPIRLers and their works were featured, including Scope Cleaver, Keystone Bouchard and DB Bailey. I was flattered to see the NPIRL blog mentioned as a key source, and took pleasure in seeing Designer Dingson and photographer Lem Skall get their due, as well. Random House has published two beautiful and inspiring books that Sam Lubell authored about architecture in the fair European capitals of London 2000+ and Paris 2000+, and he is the Los Angeles correspondent for Architect's Newspaper.


AM Radio speaks on Arthole Radio

Arthole Radio has launched a one hour weekly program hosted by artist and art history/critical studies professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Amy Freelunch (aka Amy Wilson). For one of her inaugural shows, Amy conducted the first-ever voice interview with none other than fine artist AM Radio. I cannot encourage you enough to listen in, and you can do so here. It takes time to load, so be patient.

AM describes how artworks are capable of social interaction in virtual environments, hence the effort he put into creating his singular avatar; why he believes that he needs to be the best and most influential user of his work; and his views on how he is often compared to Andrew Wyeth.


What to do with a paper moon, by AM Radio

During the interview, Amy said something that has stuck with me: that virtual artists are pushing the medium as far as it can go. I agree. This is certainly one of the most compelling arguments I've heard for why Linden Lab needs to throw much more support behind artists.


Alternatives to Second Life

There are two new virtual worlds that I have yet to visit, one of them being Rezzable Productions’ Opensim foray with a test grid featuring a Greenies build. You too can sign up to be a part of the alpha testing.

Truth be known, so far, I’m less than wowed by the alternatives I’ve discovered to Second Life, and my dissatisfaction isn’t just over physics. Marianne McCann has shared with me that Legend City Online has banned kid avatars, and this after its owner, LaLa Legend, responded to me in writing – yep, I’ve got it in black and white - when I asked her if LCO would be welcoming all communities (child avatars, Gor, BDSM) with these words “We welcome people from all walks of life. Of course, we expect everyone that comes to our community to be respectful of each other’s choices. As well as expect that all activities are legal.” Bah! I have heard from a couple of people that LaLa bans folks if they so much as disagree with her on any small thing, too. Is this true? Has this happened to you?


Oh nooooes! Svarga is up for sale

It also broke my heart to learn via Hamlet Au and his New World Notes that Laukosargas Svarog has put Svarga up for sale. The fact that this blog has never covered one of the most NPIRL and extraordinary regions in Second Life is a huge oversight on my part that must be amended.


Yay! Tooter is back



On a happier note, that wicked-good and fun avatar creator Tooter Claxton is back! He’d gone missing since May, save an occasional email, but weeks had gone by since I’d heard from him, so I was overjoyed to see the little blue box pop up, notifying me that my friend was back in-world.


Photographs I take in Second Life still suck



Waaaaa! I'm a blogger, for cripes sake, and photographs are my instruments. Even though I attended Bridie Linden's office hour, blogged about that disappointment here, reopened JIRA #VWR-1641, downloaded the lasted drivers, and tested several clients - both production and RCs, nothing seems to fix this bug that ails all photographs I take in Second Life. Importantly, the same is not true of photographs I take in Legend City Online or Openlife, so I know the problem isn't with my system.

Feisty, radical and rich with culture: Eshi Otawara's upcoming Collection

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

If Akira Kurosawa were alive today, I do believe he'd hire Eshi Otawara to costume his next film. I am also quite certain that Yves Saint Laurent would have swooned at the sight of her next Collection. At least Lagerfeld is still around but he'd better hurry up or maybe Galanos will snatch her up.

One year ago, Eshi’s much celebrated fishhook dress caused such a prodigious pandemonium on the grid that a cult following sprung from it. Seven months later, that same dress - in a black Limited Edition - sold at auction for $460,000L.

This Saturday at 1pm SLT, Eshi will present her Winter/Spring Collection, featuring the first Limited Edition dress under her new Eshi Otawara label, but like everything that has to do with Eshi, that’s not half of the story. It just seems to me that everything she does… even the most mundane things, are standouts.

Allow me to illustrate what I mean… Early last month, I TP’ed Eshi into the shop of a well-known and successful clothing designer to show her a hat I’d been chatting about in IM. We were both quite surprised to find ourselves alone in the mega emporium, which is usually swarming with shoppers.

Right then and there and much to my utter thrill and horror, Eshi donned the KABUKI dress she’d been working on... This is THE dress that will have a limited release: five copies only and each will be sold for $50,000L.

Well, she could have knocked me over with a feather; I’d have thrown a sheet over her if it had been physically possible. I was simply horrified with the possibility that someone might teleport in and see it before its proper unveiling. I was thrilled because the dress was unlike anything I’d ever seen in my real or virtual life, and it was so very appealing. I mean, it can be done in Real Life, but I don’t think it has. And the accessories! It is the sort of garment you’d expect of one of the fashion greats: super inventive and beautifully realized… and smart! And sensual.

Of course, I did the only thing any reasonable woman would do under similar circumstances. I promptly begged her to allow me to be a model at the show where this thing of beauty would be released in the wild.

Lucky for me and unfortunately for her, she accepted, so there I’ll be this Saturday, most assuredly making a fool of myself, but the reward will be as rich as a chocolate mousse, hehe. Wild horses will not be able to tear her Collection from my avatar body.

Oh… Eshi did give me a photograph of this dress, but I’ve elected not to publish it. It’s a great pic, but it still doesn’t do the outfit justice. You’ll simply have to be there to see this and the other extraordinary fashions – even for Eshi! - for yourself. I'll give you a couple of hints though. Think Japanese. Think punk.

BOSL Theatre - Saturday, December 13, 2008; 1pm SLT
Teleport to the East Entrance from here; teleport to the West Entrance from here.

The *last* (and the latest) Chambre du Chocolat dress by Eshi Otawara

October 15, 2008, 4:40pm SLT Update: Eshi informs me that the Samurai-in-the-Storm sold out in 15 seconds.


I can identify a Chambre du Chocolat dress 512m away... they are that different and that iconic. All of the dresses - wearable art, every one of them - from Eshi Otawara's label have always been at the pinnacle of NPIRL chic, and are searchable in one's inventory under the initials CDC.

Now Eshi has announced plans to put the last limited release dress to be issued under the Chambre du Chocolat label on the market: Samurai-in-the-Storm. The dress was inspired by a painting she did in Real Life in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita in 2005. "From my experiences came the courage to inspire and adorn, to delight the senses and surprise the eye; from tragedy arises beauty," says Eshi.

And so it seems that the CDC label will cause quite a stir from the first to the last. Her earliest release was the Fishook dress which recently sold at auction by the Designers in Seclusion team to benefit the Relay for Life fundraiser for the impressive sum of L$460,000.

"The Samurai-in-the-Storm is my rendering of a samurai spirit, and envelops the wearer with both the strength of armour (the corset) and the power of nature, as seen in the waves rising from the lower part of the dress. Raindrops caught in the wind encircle the wearer, demonstrating the fortitude of the samurai to overcome obstacles, no matter the nature of them," she explained.



Photography courtesy of Chambre du Chocolat

Only seven of these dresses will be created. One has already been spoken for, one will be set aside for a future auction, and the remaining five will be made available for purchase for L$25,000, making them quite rare.

The new label for her future creations will be known simply as Eshi Otawara. I'm going to love that when I look for her things in my inventory.

Eshi Otawara reinvents romance

Photography by Stephen Venkman

Eshi Otawara took a photograph/texture of a Real Life flower by Douglas Story, and used it in an entirely new way to produce a gown that is as dazzling and NPIRL as couture can get. The Hibiscus Dream Gown is theatrical, very pink, and all woman. Teleport directly from here.

Eshi's flower gets a permanent home

Eshi Otawara had been building a new sim every day, and then wiping that slate clean to start anew, day after day. It was all part of what she called her One Hour Sim Project, facilitated by one willing Dirk Talamasca who handed the keys of his sim over to her. When asked about it, she referred to the mandala, and how these creations were not about permanence or material holdings. Rather, the entire exercise was a meditation of sorts for her, and we were just bystanders. To that end, she had no intention of keeping these works in inventory.



But then she made that towering flower with clusters of the most exuberant white petals tinged with pink...



...the closest thing to a sacred place I have ever come across in pixelated form, and literally hundreds of Second Life®'s residents cried out and begged her not to destroy it.


So powerful is the effect of this build that I perceive it to be almost fragrant. It gives me serenity and excites my creativity all at once. It is a dream I didn't know I longed for, but once found, want to hold close

In my short virtual life, I have only seen that level of excitement over the discovery of Light Waves' Black Swan sim, and AM Radio's The Far Away, but then we weren't fearing for that content's ongoing existence.

And then... that scribe and thinking man's thinker, Dusan Writer stepped in, and persuaded Eshi to sell him this masterpiece.

He wrote me a simple note this morning that made my heart glad, "I have placed Eshi's flower on Remedy. There is a sign at the landing point where you can teleport into the flower."

Dusan... thank you.

Teleport to Eshi's flower directly from here.

The month we won't forget
The month of July has been extraordinary where Eshi is concerned. She helped inaugurate CodeBastard Redgrave's larger-than-life Rouge sim, which she created. She built a private space for me at Chakryn Forest. By my count, she completely built out a new sim every day for twelve days! She created customized, signature clothing for the Black Swan sim, put together one of my favorite outfits ever in Second Life, "Chocolat"... and then that amazing girl auctioned off her celebrated Fishook dress to benefit the Relay for Life fundraiser, and pulled in $460,000L, or approximately $1,700US for one outfit, thanks to a bidding war that ensued between two friends and business partners.

See also:
* Eshi's Desperado
* #9
* Eshi Otawara's one hour sim project is blossoming
* Eshi's One Hour Sim Project Flick Pool

NPIRL fashion: What the heck is it?

I just launched a new Flickr group for Not Possible in Real Life (NPIRL) fashion: NPIRL Fashion - Not Possible in Real Life, and I'm realizing that describing this genre is not so easy, so I made a little video.



It's about fashion that clothes the avatar's body and...
* Defies the laws of gravity and physics in general
* Exposes the avatar's body to extreme heat or cold or exploding particles or sharp things
* Features rotating textures, electrified elements that a human could not withstand
* Multitasks and that, in addition to clothing the avatar, can do strange and wonderful things
* Includes elements (such as clouds or snakes or sunshine, for instance) that could never be used in Real Life


Video locations
Cologne Cathedral
artoo Magneto's AnyMotion sim
Designer Dingson's Concept Build
Chouchou island

Eshi Otawara's one-hour sim project is blossoming

July 22 - 1:47am UPDATE: The flower will stay for a bit longer. Eshi would have to eject people from the sim otherwise! I look at what is there and wonder... how can people who aren't in Second Life® look at this and not want to dive in immediately?


Can you smell the Night Jasmine? Eshi's tux dress against Eshi's flower

1:40pm UPDATE: Dusan Writer has just acquired this installation... thank heavens! Eshi has not been saving any of her sim-wide creations for this project, but this one just couldn't disappear. It just couldn't!

Also, I should mention that I took all of these photographs using Torley's special Windlight presets.

~*~

These are just a few of the dozens of photographs I took at Eshi Otawara's latest in her ongoing one-hour sim project... a towering flower. I didn't retouch them.

Just go... Teleport directly from here. It will poof by midnite tonite SLT.

#9

This is Eshi Otawara's 9th sim-wide creation in as many days... The Flower Tower (teleport directly from here).



Many thanks to Dirk Talamasca for making the sim available to Eshi.

...and the most expensive dress on the grid is... NPIRL - RFL reaps the rewards

Sometimes you are just in_the_news. Such is the case of Eshi Otawara this month, as she keeps knocking our socks off with her one hour builds , and the creation of CodeBastard Redgrave's new sim "Rouge..." but nothing could have prepared me for her latest.

Remember this dress?



We went wild in December when Eshi introduced us to this divine, very Not Possible in Real Life frock, which she created using fish hooks. Within days, she issued a limited edition in black, and it became an instant hit.

Fast forward! We are in the final days of this year's brilliantly successful in-world Relay for Life fundraiser, and Eshi wanted to do her part, so this afternoon she offered the very last of the black fishook dresses up for auction at an event hosted by Designers in Seclusion and organized by Alaska Metropolitan and Tigerlilly Koi.

I'm told that the bidding began and, per Eshi, "When the dress reached $150K, I got really excited... at $200K, I got nervous... and at $300K, I quit breathing. Finally, I cried!"

Two women got into a bidding war, but decided to join forces and put up all the money they had to get it: $460,000L!

The winners are Kay Fairey and Clarabelle Cazalet, two models for Premiere Modeling Management. When I asked if they were clothing designers, too, Clarabelle responded, "We're just really good clothes hangers and know how to accessorize!" Kay added, "We are getting ready to make our own fashion publication on the net."


Kay Fairey, Eshi Otawara and Clarabelle Cazalet

Of course, I had to ask what in the world Clarabelle and Kay were going to do with a no-trans dress. Was Eshi going to give it to them transferable? "Yes, because they put up so much to get it, but under the condition that they can only transfer it to a third person if it is for another RFL auction next year," she replied.

8:52pm Update: Eshi has just learned that Kay Fairey won the auction outright, but decided that she will share it with her good friend Clara, knowing that Clara had wanted the dress for a long time. Such a happy ending!

Eshi's Desperado

10PM Update: Dizzy Banjo just finished a video of this build, and I've also learned that the sim is not going to poof. Rather, Dirk Talamasca is letting Eshi build and build to her heart's content, and she plans to be updating it daily, for a while anyway.




Woke up this morning to an offline from Crap Mariner. Turns out that Eshi Otawara was up all night... (teleport directly from here). I understand that the sim will poof any moment.

Eshi, get some much deserved rest now! <3

Rouge! CodeBastard Redgrave becomes even larger-than-life (if that's possible) in the hands of Eshi Otawara

Back in March, I spoke of CodeBastard Redgrave splashing the grid red... Little did I know that she really, really would.



On Wednesday, my avatar undulated acrobatically on a stripper pole not far from Eshi Otawara's similarly engaged avatar. Likewise, the brightly tattooed and uniquely Rubenesque, yet no less limber CodeBastard Redgrave, or Cody, as she is affectionately called. Cody was afk (away from keyboard) getting some dinner, while Eshi and I chatted about her latest commission: the very bright, the very red, and the very daring Rouge sim, created for the very bright, the always red, and the very daring (and darling) Cody.



Allow me to let you in on the surprise a bit early on, so that you can share my amazement. Let's pull back a bit from the dance floor...


This photo by Stephen Venkman who, in Cody's words, is "a lifetime Code Red member. He met Kimmy at CodeRed.”

... and a little further back...


Yes, the club is nestled in the airy space just beneath the girl's locks of red hair!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the new sim: Rouge...


This photograph by Stephen Venkman

What was the seed of the idea here?
Eshi Otawara: Code has this thing for red and for hot girls, and when she told me she got a sim, I thought I'd make something totally unexpected. As usual, I had no idea whether it was going to work out, but something drove me to try to terraform a hot chick. I wanted to have the sim itself to be more than a sim with stuff on it... for it to be one big art piece with functional parts, like the club hidden under waves of hair.

I terraformed it overnight and miss Code freaked out (positively) when she saw it, which encouraged me to continue. I let myself be inspired by people.

She's fun to work for, is she?
Eshi Otawara: Yes, she's great fun to work for, especially because I got free hands to do what I want. I like that. I think Code felt that 'wavelength' with me... She trusted me with it and that usually produces the best results: when two people allow each other to inspire.

There are still a gazillion prims left here. What now? Her photography?
Eshi Otawara: Her art... along the red walk.


Eshi was referring, of course, to Code's "Boudoir Rouge," her much celebrated Vargas-inspired pinup photography of many of the best known and best loved women on the grid

How many "areas" are there?
Eshi Otawara: There is a shop area (the large stripping pole), art gallery area (the boa)...


This photograph by Stephen Venkman

Eshi Otawara:...and the club. Code's photo studio will be in a skybox above, and perhaps a few living spaces; we have not decided yet really. It is relatively low prim, so far.


This photograph by Stephen Venkman

Eshi Otawara: This is way out of my general aesthetic direction. I like to mix styles, and I am very impressed with Japanese art, but as a clothing designer, I adore Vivienne Westwood and the good oldies, like Lagerfeld... which are more western in their art. This is actually done after a pinup model

What about their designs appeals?
Eshi Otawara: I like the ornate style of Westwood, so I always incorporate some detail work in what I do... and like the slight BDSM undertones to my work, Japanese are not far from it. I like their contrast of gentle and bold color. There is something about the juxtaposition of the two.

Contemporary Japanese then?
Eshi Otawara: I am not talking about any particular era of Japanese art. I pick and choose by art piece what I allow to influence me. I am a great fan of Yoshitaka Amano, but you can take that, and then look at this sim and not find connection at all, or can you?

CodeBastard Redgrave: Personally, I think my ass inspired her. (She was back from dinner!)

Eshi Otawara: Lol, no way, not your ass, but... your love of ass.

CodeBastard Redgrave: Hahahahaha XD. Ok, fair enough.

Starting tomorrow, you can visit Rouge yourself. Get that slurl directly from Cody's excellent blog.

~*~

No blog piece about Eshi Otawara would be complete these days without making reference to her hideously unfair situation, wherein she has become a victim of a 37 year-old practice by the U.S. government known as the "widow's penalty." It's especially appropriate to speak of it today, on July 4th. I hope our congressmen will make us proud to be Americans and tackle her situation and that of other foreign women who became widowed before their legal status as spouses to American men was established, and then found themselves deported from the country, as it seems Eshi might soon be.

But Eshi, with such aplomb and grace that it both moves and inspires me, has continued to make beautiful things, despite the weight of her circumstances.

Consider this, one of my favorite creations on the grid - ever - which she named, "Everything is a Tribute to Mozart" (teleport directly from here and be sure to turn your sound on).


Music by Dizzy Banjo

Eshi has also just tripled the size of her clothing shop, Chambre du Chocolat (teleport directly from here). I believe I own everything Eshi has ever made, in every color. It's hot, and generally gauzy, and nearly always Not Possible in Real Life.

Inside the mind of Crap Mariner: At the Garden

Crap Mariner cracks me up. As GoSpeed Racer said recently, "He is a true comic genius with a flare for the bizarre, the weird, and the obscure. Crap can tell a story with as little as one picture."

Crap has his own installation at the Garden of NPIRL Delights, but he has devoted more time to exploring the Garden and seeing what others had done there than anyone else I know. Here are just a few of the many, many videos that Crap has created. I suggest you pull up a chair, and take a tour through his stream for a glimpse into this man's head, and the Garden, too!

Content creation in the service of LOVE - Eshi Otawara's Taj Mahal

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I created a new group in Flickr called NPIRL <3 - Content creation in the service of LOVE, and invited Flickrites to share their photographs and stories about their own personal experiences. Here is one of the first entries and I think you'll agree it, it's smashing.

by Eshi Otawara

I was about 4 months old and still seeking self - sort to speak. At that point, most of my 'SLife' was socializing and hopping from place to place trying desperately to distract myself from grieving the passing of my (RL) husband. One day, at a club I used to frequent, there stood a man with long hair and purple sparkling eyes. I thought he had a rather funny mustache which turned out to be an excellent conversation starter.

As if we have known each other for years prior, we stayed there and talked, laughed, cried, and before we knew it some 8 hours have gone by. For the next couple of months we spent many more hours learning from each other about each other in a beautiful platonic relationship. I don't think I ever felt so deeply understood and connected to a human being and even though we were cultures and miles apart (I am Croatian living in USA, he is Hindu living in Australia) and our bond was strong. His wisdom was rare, his kindness to me was disarming and his way of showing me he cared for me was indeed the thing that prompted the first steps out of the most sickening depression I ever experienced.

One day we were both obviously very tired and we got into an argument. I hurt his feeling so deeply that he left saying he'd never speak to me again. I was shattered after I realized what I've done and It haunted me so badly that the only thing I could feel and think of was the desire to make him happy again.

I went to a sandbox to try to distract myself by taking a shot at building a 'house'. I threw out a prim and remembered one of our first conversations when he said only true Love can give life to most beautiful and miraculous things... like the Taj Mahal, the world's most beautiful monument to Love...adding he always wanted to see that building in Second Life.

At that point, I was not a builder - all I have ever built was an over sized ice cream cone and my building skills were truly nowhere near good enough to undertake something like the Taj Mahal, but I wasn't focusing on my insecurity of being judged for a bad build. I focused on his words about Love and great things, and thought about his happiness...

The prims kept flowing for hours... building on as I duplicated, shaped, rotated and textured them in white marble. One minaret was done, then another... and another... The sensation of gratitude for his presence in my life regardless of the outcome, the desire to fulfill his wish which was not his expectation of me by any means, all of that kept me going for 3 days. And after 3 days- there it was. I stared at the Taj not believing how it got built. I have secretly dreamed of being a builder since I got to Second Life, but before this I never had the courage... In all actuality, I am still not comfortable taking the credit for this build. Vajra's Taj was built by pure Love which only used me as a vessel.



I took a snapshot of it and sent it to him without saying anything else but - "Thank You." And I am still thankful, and always will be thankful.

Without this man's love, I would never have gotten the courage to create in Second Life.

Now THAT's a dress!

Eshi Otawara, founder and host of Open Art Critique, just created this lovely... I gotta get me one. *swoons*