Alphamale Article Published

After spending far too much on clothing from Alphamale, I did what any other Second Life hack would do - make up a story. In the world of fashion, the cool thing is that you don't have to make too many things up provided (a) the stuff is good and (b) you can take some photos. I suppose I could have tried to get a return-on-investment by entering the Alphamale Search competition - but I couldn't work up the enthusiasm.

So just before Christmas, I got myself into "Male Model Mode" and spent an hour looking at my oiled, muscular body in the mirror before having sex with my own alt. Just kidding... it was only half an hour.

I did spend some time at a snow-covered romantic log cabin on a wintery sim, which gave me the opportunity to wear a number of sweater-and-coat-based outfits and the opportunity to spend time with a rather attractive blonde avatar who shall remain nameless, enigmatic, and add a sense of mystery to this piece.


Four of the outfits can be seen on my Flickr pages - a resource I have had for many months but haven't used for the same amount of time. This year I'm going to try to add some of the fashion pics from the articles I write. Either that or steal some from someone else.

The article and pictures are now available in this month's edition of FreeLife Magazine (Issue 32), which is also a collector's edition. After this issue, FreeLife will no longer be available as a PDF magazine but a web-based blog, which I sort of like. For the time being, it'll still be update once or twice a month, but hopefully at a later stage the editors will allow me the luxury of daily blogging - sort of like what I do hear but (a) on fashion and (b) for money. My blogs are free, but anything else I write has a price tag ;)

I'm thinking of writing a "shoe-off" between the ankle boots from Bax Coen and Stiletto Moody. I love the Coen boots (hi Miss Bonde!) but the Moody's look pretty damn cool too. Lucky I'm a guy and don't have to make a choice - because I wouldn't make a choice; I'd buy both.

Check out the Alphamale piece, even of you're not a dude - maybe you can take your guy shopping!

Another Dormant Second Life Press Organ?

The glossy Second Life-orientated magazine, Altamoda, appears to be taking a rest. The last issue of the Ewing Fashion Agency's glam mag appeared in July 2008, with editor Sienna Fredriksson signing off her editorial with "see you again in one month." She didn't say which month was the one though.

SLNN is still exactly as it was two months ago and no reply has yet arrived from editor, Garret Bakalava. The Metaverse Tribune is still very quiet, with just the automatic feeds changing on a daily basis. I know the Trib is potentially still a player because I was offered the editorship and am still wondering whether or not I can do it. Still, I did get an article in there on January 7th - it just didn't make the front page ;(

The Looking Glass Magazine has now officially gone offline. Only last week I stopped by and it was still accessible, all be it closed, but now you can't even get any of the back articles. I guess I can now take it off my bookmark list.

There's a new fashion mag in the offing - shh, no names no pack drill - and FreeLife goes blog this month. As yet, the final PDF version has not been published, which is a shame because I have an article in their about Alphamale, a copy of which I promised Belle Lefevre; and I hate to break promises.

I'd love to do an annual State of the Press report but methinks that would be tough. On the other hand, maybe some ad hoc pieces here on the blog would be OK. Like this one ;)

Building a Better Business Card

In preparation for the opportunities ahead in 2009, I decided to create a new business card. Actually, the word "new" sort of implies there was an "old," which there wasn't. So, I decided to create a business card...


Using the excellent Paint Shop Pro X software, I designed and uploaded a texture, squandering L$10 in the process.

Climbing to the roof of my house, I rezzed a box, turned it into a thin card, and added a notecard script. By the time I'd finished, I had freely distributable object that can hand out a notecard with my details. Cool, huh?

So I invited my friend, the extremely talented photographer Seikatsu Koba over to take a look. Dangerous, because Seik's as honest as she is cute - sorry, pretty! And after casting her newly bespectacled eyes over the card, she said, "Why didn't you do it landscape?"

Curses! I had no idea why I didn't, even thought in real life the world uses landscape orientation for business cards. Sometimes I really think my brain has serious holes in it somewhere.

Lucky for me, Seikatsu is somewhat sensitive to my fragile ego and she offered to take my "first draft" and work on it. And she did. Within 30 minutes she'd revamped, restyled, re cropped and reworked the whole thing. She still thought it looked a little more like an ad for a male model than a journalist - thanks to the outfit by Yelmer Pfeffer of Alphamale - but seeing as I write and get paid to cover men's fashion, I didn't want to look like Jimmy Olsen.


The final card is wonderful. It pays to have someone with a photographer's eye take a look at what you create. Thanks Seik!