The Official Hayden Panettiere Save The Whales Again Petition Widget.

This campaign is more important now than ever; Iceland recently announced it was upping its quota from 40 whales/year to 250 whales/year - including 150 endangered Fin Whales and 100 Minke whales. Click here to read how the U.S. Department of State reacted to the announcement.

True Beauty

It's funny how some things come together.

After having taken part in Natural Beauty by Impressione last weekend I came across this in Hamlet Au's excellent New World Notes.

Iris Ophelia raises a very important point when she said:

"I don't want to be Little Miss Teardown...but this is very much the dark side of SL aesthetics... Beauty is what leads to the bad feelings...

"When you pick someone over someone else, you aren't just saying that God made x more beautiful that y and that's life and nature. You're saying x is a more talented individual than y, and at the same time making the same associations emotionally that it would have in real life.

"Calling someone ugly in SL is worse than doing it in RL because they have complete control in SL, and don't in RL."

Yes, beauty is a very emotional issue for women irl and SL. Maybe more so in SL because as Iris correctly pointed out we have complete control over our appearance and that levels the playing field for those of us not blessed by having attractive forbears in our family tree.

At first blush it does seem like having an SL Beauty contest is a disaster waiting to happen.

While there are a lot of Beauty and modeling competitions in SL (Top Model, Product sponsored things and the like) the Natural Beauty contest was very different, especially when it came down to the finals.

We were asked to prepare 2 looks: one reflecting Sl and one reflecting RL.

Those who are familiar with the backstage goings on of catwalk shows or Beauty pageants will know there is a lot of chatter and excitement that goes on throughout the event.

It was the same during the Natural Beauty rehearsals till the time came when we changed into our RL looks in front of each other for the first time.

Even for someone like me who is hearing impaired irl I could feel the silence that accompanied the change.

It was the scariest thing I've ever done in SL.

We were fully clothed but at the same time more naked than we've ever been.

This was us.

The real us.

I've never felt more exposed or vulnerable in my life.

As I looked around and saw the real selves of the women behind the keyboards I felt the tears come.

Because it didn't matter now if I won.

It was an honour just to be with these women who were brave enough to choose to share what they were like irl.

And in that moment we were all embodiments of the truest beauty of all: ourselves.

It may sound like a cliche but I felt like a winner just for participating.

And when the contest is about the true beauty that resides in each and every woman, we are all winners.

Many thanks and much love to the well deserved winners of the Natural Beauty Contest: Mavi Beck, Rhi Rossini and Adriana Princess as well as the other beautiful finalists: Callipygian Christensen, Kalia Meiklejohn, Sami Kutanaga, SweetVicky Voom, Zoe Demar.

A big shoutout and uber thanks and love to the Impressione team that made it happen and showed that true beauty comes from within: JennyH GossipGirl, Bex Hathaway, Genna Gray and Channen GossipGirl for thinking of me and sending me an application form.

And all my love and gratitude to Kara Foley my partner and soulmate and to Tillie Ariantho, my BFF.

Take care and stay safe, dearest friend and reader.

A worthy cause!

Hi dear friend and reader!

This is the Weekend of Beauty and your Rainey is a finalist in the Natural Beauty by Impressione contest! It's a 72 hour event for the benefit of National Eating Disorders Association, so please drop by and give your support!

TC and stay safe, sweeties!

The Inner Fashionista

The other day I got to thinking about fashion. Irl I've never been much dressing up; my parents, especially Mommy, are forever scolding me about the way I dress. In fact, when I first came to SL I was running around like a wild thing: barefoot, in shorts or cutoffs and tees. It was my baby girl who gave me a makeover and that in turn lead to me discovering my inner fashionista.

And for fashionistas SL, is to die for! Not only can we have perfect figures and look the way we've always wanted to, we can have as much clothes as we want at a tiny fraction of the price irl.

But there's something even better! Fashion forward means nothing here with all the diversity. Individuality rules!

It is not only the diversity that makes SL the place of ultimate fashion freedom; because it is part of the metaverse, we are liberated from the limitations of rl physics. Haute Couture has become high fashion in its purest, wildest most extravagant sense!

Vive la difference!

Shedding the old skin!

Hi, dear friend and reader! It's been a while, I know. But your Rainey's back :) So much has happened while I've been away.

The most exciting things are the new skins designed for Windlight! If you thought you looked good with the old client, you are gonna look so fantabulous now!






















The piccie above is the new Helen Tan Night skin from Insolence. It's photosourced and sophisticated, the kind of look that's perfect for clubbing and events. Camilla Yosuke's new generation of skins features different ethnicities and expressions. Highly detailed and realistic, it's the way to go if you want or need a photosourced skin!























Gala Phoenix's as yet publicly unreleased Super Premium GP line takes artistic skins to a whole new level! The GP Luster Dew has a freshly scrubbed, natural look with plump kissable lips, wonderful for any and every situation. The perfectly shaped eybrows come with the skin, and the darling details like the tiny mole in the corner of the mouth are to die for!

So which one should you go for? The body details are uber hott and you're gonna be so smexy in either! It will depend ultimately on your shape, as each skin/shape combination is unique. I myself am extremely picky and the new Insolence and GP are the only two skins that satisfy me under Windlight. Some slight editing of your shape may be needed according to your tastes and preference. For Insolence I found I has to take the smile down to get the mouth to a shape I liked, while it needed no change at all for GP.

The Insolence 08 series of Skins are readilly available, while you can IM Gala Phoenix for demos of her new GP line. Either way you'll be to die for under Windlight!


Details

Skin: Helen-Tan- Night by INSOLENCE
GP Luster Dew by Gala Phoenix

Hair: Armidi Pasadena Girl (Full Flex) Pecan

Eyes: Radiant Green lenses by Joannah Cramer

Sunnydale Lives!

Hi dearest friend and reader! Sorry for the long absence, but we’ve been involved with something that’s sure to become one of SL’s must see spots—mysteryn11 Vollmar 's Sunnydale SL!

For those who don’t recognize the name immediately or wonder why it sounds kinda familiar, Sunnydale is the town that was the setting of the cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Who can forget the “twice dead and twice reborn” Buffy or the Scoobies, or the darker grittier spin-off, Angel?

Sunnydale SL is permanently set at midnight, very apropos for an RP sim that involves Slayers and Vamps. Starting 2008, the sim will be 100% role-play and is sure to be the premiere location for those who follow the Slayer or Vamp lifestyle.

So what does this have to do with us, you wonder? Well, the first likeness of a real person that I crafted was Eliza Dushku as Faith. After that, I put her aside not really knowing what to do with her AV. Months later, I found out that Sunnydale SL would be opening as a RP sim and the target launch date was Halloween. Having about a month before that event, I decided that it would be uber cool and hott if a group of us went as the Scoobies. Little did I know what I was in for!

To make a long story short, crafting some likeness proved more challenging than others. While Willow

and Spike

were relatively easy, it took 19 versions before I was satisfied with Buffy

and 25 before I stopped tweaking Anya!

It was also around that time that I considered opening a To Die For! Branch in Sunnydale, and it would be the only branch where we would sell our BTVS Tribute Series.

We were a big hit during the launch and the owner Myst took piccies of us on the stage of The Bronze which is so accurate and will bring back memories in any BuffyFan! In fact, I won the best costume! Yay!

Sunnydale SL consists of Light areas like Buffy's house

and the Magic Box (with a special back room for Slayers in training!)













There's also Willow's Wiccan Academy and a Slayer School is in the offing!

The Bronze, managed by Jude Tatham, serves as a neutral zone where Slayers and Vamps can meet peacefully.

The Dark side of Sunnydale currently features the Black Bar, also managed by Jude. It's hauntingly beautiful both in and out and is sure to appeal to Vamps! Locales for Vampire Nests are also planned!

Sims like Sunnydale SL are what make Second Life truly magical! They give us a chance not only to visit the places we could only dream about and have loved for so long but also allow us a chance to become part of it!

Sunnydale-SL rocks and Buffy Lives!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday and one that is not without some controversy.

The political and historical nuances and discussions are better handled by those more qualified than I.

On this day, a little more than a year after I began my Second Life, there is much to be thankful for:

A loving, beautiful and caring partner who continues to love me for me, despite my flaws and imperfections,

A family where love, respect and loyalty continue to be the cornerstone of the values that bind us all to each other in addition to blood-ties,

A community of kindred spirits who I would never have been able to meet otherwise and with whom I share values and ideals that hold us to a higher standard and a sense of responsibility that calls us to a higher duty, sometimes at a personal cost,

A community of friends, who though we have gone our separate ways, are still always there for each other to lend a hand, an ear or a shoulder,

A group of colleagues who I am just getting to know, who display the highest degree of professionalism in public which is counterpointed by good-spirited rambunctiousness
in private,

For all of this more, I give thanks and am truly grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving, dearest friend and reader!