(Virtual) Prostheses!!!

Posted by Alpha Auer ;-)...

Despair not, all ye elderly avatars! At the point where virtual muscle gives over to flab the resourceful amongst us turn to prostheses! And what a selection there is to be found in our oh so eternally youthful virtual world! I maintain that even the most fastidious of cyborgs will have very little to moan about in this department...
...



Primtronics, the joint venture of Skalli McMillan and CJoke Oh is an emporium on which I have previously posted voraciously, so brilliant do I find their output. And when it comes to spare body parts Primtronics is an establishment not too easily outdone, as these chrome arm and leg attachments with built in machinery will easily attest to.
...



I am told that incubating mothers need to be particularly vigilant against griefers. The Grim Bros incubator can be combined with watchful eye attachments by Primtronics for a maternal while yet stylish look!
...



And when one's own skinny arms are no longer up to the task of hefting heavy objects one simply puts on these power limbs: These robotic (animated) cyberarms, again by Primtronics, come in both an industrial as well as a chrome finish for a variety of occasions from casual to dressy.
...



Lucia Cyr's arm and leg prostheses can be found at her store Losthaven and these are certainly amongst some of the finest in Second Life®. However... And yes, I have already mentioned this little drawback on my Flickr ages ago, but one can never really overdo it with precautionary advice whilst dishing out shopping tips: Do not even think that these will get you out of exercising; if anything you will need to spend more time on that odious contraption known as the treadmill: Prolonged periods of inactivity tend to bring on a most unsightly accumulation of rust!!!
...



Always a favorite, the Prosthetic Spine, for that extra little bit of support for severe cases of virtual sciatica and lumbago - this one comes from cutea Benelli at Grim Bros., combined with yet another most useful head appendage from the same establishment. Could be my imagination entirely I suppose, but the external neural transmitters really do seem to convey the brain juices most efficiently - far better than my built in ones anyway...
...



Finally! A garment which does my clockwork brain justice, designed by none other than cutea Benelli comes from Grim Bros.: The automatic peacock dress. Quite needless to add, the brain is the "brainchild" of Pandora Wrigglesworth.
...



And speaking of brains, The Cortech Brain Jar by Total Chastity is the essential accessory of all avatars that like to air out the gray matter from time to time. Works even better than Gingko Biloba, I find: Simply wear for an hour a week, preferably outdoors... Sudoku is all very well and good in its way, but not a patch on a nice northerly breeze blowing through all of those dust ridden crevices!
...



Failing eyesight... It does come to us all in the end, doesn't it? And while in Real Life there are of course the wonders of Laser interventions, virtual ophthalmology offers a far more elegant solution: Goggles!

Top left, Thomus Keen (Steampowered Nuts); top right, Disembodied Hand (Defectiva); bottom left, my favorite ones by Torus Heliosense, these are scripted to set your hair on fire should you desire to do so! (Unfortunately no location seems to be available for Torus Heliosense at this time). And finally bottom right, Primtronics strikes yet again!
...



And in the end, when hearing loss finally creeps up, one can always find solace in cutea Benelli's hearing aid, available at Grim Bros., enhanced with bells, trumpets, car horns, gauges and whistles. And if that doesn't work - trust me, nothing ever will!
;-)
...

Credit also goes to Laynie Link, whose helicopter and tower hair I have worn for some of these shots. These were pieces which Ms. Link was distributing as freebies during the hair fair. Her store at Hairspray however, carries a far more conservative, Real Life-like line these days. Maybe we can entreat her to design some more towers and helicopters?
...

May you all have many healthy days ahead of you in your long virtual lives! The amazing cyborg paraphernalia to be found in Second Life, of which I have shown only a very very small personal selection can of course be enjoyed by all avatars of all sizes, shapes, descriptions and age groups. So, enjoy my friends, enjoy...

tis the season to be steampunk....

... fa lala lala la la

Posted by Alpha Auer... ;-)

Although a sizable proportion of virtual worlds Residents (including myself) do not celebrate Christmas in the religious sense of the word, this time of year has nevertheless come to be associated with festivity, merriment and the exchange of presents in a big chunk of the globe. Point in case: In my beloved Istanbul supermarkets and shopping malls are brimming over with "New Year" trees and decorations even as we speak. And what's more we seem to have managed to adapt the tradition to suit our own secular/muslim culture: The biggest seller in tree ornaments for the past few years has been a truly gaudy plastic adaptation of the tip of a minaret that you stick on top of your tree in place of where the angel would normally be put in a Christian household...

So, I have been wracking my brains in the pursuit of suitable seasonal gifts that we can inflict upon our loved ones in the metaverse and this establishment seems to me to fit the bill to perfection: Primtronics, a co-venture by CJoke Oh and Skalli McMillan is a delight of a store specialized in avatar attachments, with a steampunk neko twist but added extras!

OK, let us face it: Is it just me or is everybody beginning to notice the proliferation of truly well designed, meticulously detailed and textured steampunk and neko objects throughout the metaverse? Now, on the one hand this is of course wonderful news. We are obviously entering an era of high sophistication in virtual object design. However, on the flip side, a lot of what I am seeing out there begins to be repetitive in concept. Or I am simply beginning to become an extremely spoilt little neko person who turns up her snooty little whiskers at most of what she stumbles upon? In short, nowadays I am definitely looking for something more - and that something more for me usually ends up being something funny. And these two people are indeed funny! So, let me show you exactly what I mean:


For that incorrigible introvert who inevitably prefers a party of one, why not get them the fully animated Shoulder DJ? Comes with its own charmingly pulsating disco lights border and glow spotlight...


For that special man who likes to cook, the leg holster mixer? Very handy around the virtual kitchen, I am sure...


His 'n Hers Crazy Antigravitation-Experiment V1.1 Backpacks... Perfection itself for that personalized little touch!


And here is another one and oh my goodness! It even has its own little wind turbine: The industrial landscape backpack "MinniKraftwerk" will (hopefully) manage to put a smile on the faces of all of those moaners that you have to get gifts for, the ones who claim to be carrying all the weight of the world upon their shoulders?


A very naughty follow me pet is the Kuhschraubaer (German for cow-bear-heli). Although I did have the little devil firmly leashed it took me forever to get her to fly to heel. Not to put too fine a point on it - she just simply would not oblige! So, this gift would most definitely not be for those authoritarian, "do-as-I-tell you" souls amongst your acquaintance...


Quite a different proposition from the naughty flying cow is the Pilot-Teddy, a lovely great little cuddly guy - obviously the perfect gift for that romantic dreamer...


For that eccentric individual, the mountaineering neko, a rope tail comes complete with its own handy knife...


And finally, for that naughty naughty boy, ear and shoulder laser guns! Zapppppp!!!
...

And now onto a wee bit of complication: While I have done all that is in my power to furnish you with tips as to how best to annoy your loved ones with your gifts, the items at Primtronics are copy but no transfer. However, the good news is that they do have gift certificates available at their shop, to where you can teleport directly from here. So, all that remains for you to do, is to present the objects of your bounty with a gift certificate and precise instructions as to what it is that you expect them to get once they land at Primtronics. And then - well, just hope for the best I suppose... I mean, once you let them loose in there with all that cash there is really no saying as to what they will actually be walking out with from that oh so wonderfully imaginative location.