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 ;)

Welcome Back Cattiva e Cattivo

One of the first designers I met in Second Life was Lissa Martens. I remember first meeting her in her store, Cattiva e Cattivo, when I was in my early days of shopping for clothes. In fact, one of the first outfits I bought was something called The Englishman, an ensemble of bits and pieces that I could mix and match.

We chatted for a short time but enough to get a sense of her sense of humor. And oh does she have one!

The next time I got a real chance to interact was when she went into business with Simone Stern, another fashion icon in Second Life. Cattiva e Cattivo would be no more and Lissa would be creating new things under the Simone! banner. Interviewing them for FreeLife magazine was like working with a double act. Simone was the straight man and Lissa the comic.

And announced today, Lissa is dissolving the Simone relationship and bringing back Cattiva e Cattivo as her personal flagship. I couldn't resist making a flying visit to see what the place was like. In truth, it hasn't changed ;) We poor guys still have to walk upstairs and currently she is showing her old CeC items and those that she has been selling under the Simone! name.


However, those of you who haven't shopped at Cattiva e Cattivo can now start building up your Lissa Maertens folder. I already have about 1/3 of what she sells and there are some pieces I will be picking up to take me up to the half-way mark. I still wear her Acid Iron jeans as my everyday denims and still love to slip on the Perfectly Pinstriped Light Blue suit whenever I want the smart summery look.




SLurl: Cattiva e Cattivo

Second Life Herald's 5th Anniversary

The 5th anniversary party for the Second Life Herald started at 2:00 SLT and by 2:40 SLT had to be moved to a different sim. At that stage, I was still in Real Life working on some editing for a local periodical but I was monitoring my Gmail chat and there was a message from Pixeleen Mistral alerting folks to the shift to the Woodbury sim.

By the time I got there, the place was full of names I recognized and people I didn't. It struck me that I have been writing pieces for the Herald since January 2008 and have never actually met anyone. And I'm not sure I still have. The place was a blooming, buzzing confusion with folks tossing web addresses for hastily created YouTube videos at me. By the time all the folks had rezzed for me, the Sim crashed. Kaput.

It took me a few minutes to log back in, choosing "My Last Location" as the entry point. Tragically, the location was still down because I ended up in my house. So I sat back, started chatting to Alice, and waited for some information from the group.

A message arrived that folks were moving to a new location - the party had become a progressive. Someone sent me a TP and I found myself underwater below the Temple of Iris! A few folks began appearing, including Pixeleen, who turned out to be shorter than I expected. We bantered for about 15 minutes about nothing much. Trivia at its finest.

Pix had to leave to make dinner. Somehow it seemed so ordinary and banal. And once she had left, the others dropped one by one back to wherever they normally hung out in Second Life. Or Real Life - I don't know.

And it's the not-knowing that I find so fascinating. I feel like I belong to a group that is made up of individuals, and that they is very little "groupiness" to it. I might also speculate that this is, in part, because of the nature of the Herald. One of the things that gives it the flavor of antagonism that it has is the fact that it isn't a "hobby publication" where a bunch of friends get together and play at being journalist. No, it is actually a focal point for a bunch of individuals who may well not even like each other, let alone know each other and hang out.

This is also a strength of the Herald. It can be sacred at times and then profane. It can focus on trivia and then substance. It can be praised and ridiculed in the same article. It can be scatological and then erudite. It swings from left to right, forwards and backwards, offending and delighting at the same time.

Five years and still going. All in all, that's not bad for a Second Life publication (although it admittedly started in the Sims environment). It's fun to be part of it. It remains one of the two publications in SL that I prefer to spend my time on, the other being SLentrepreneur.

My time in SL lately has been less. Real life has some priorities but that doesn't mean I'm about to leave. What I'm doing is the same as Mony - developing a balance. Her balance is tipped much more toward the Real Life end of the scale, and that's what she needs! Mine is too, but I still spend a few hours per week in-world.

I have two new Herald investigations to work on, I have completed an article for FreeLife, and I have two others to chase for SLentrepreneur. Toss in the odd piece for the Metaverse Tribune - which is struggling a little at the moment to remain topical since Runeswan Ceawlin left - and that should fill my plate.

Another Missed Deadline and an Idle Weekend

My Second Life has been pretty non-existent of late, specifically in relation to actual presence in the virtual world. I intended to complete an article for FreeLife magazine as Saturday was the deadline, but I failed.

So last weekend, I logged in to collect messages and check dates, and flatten out my land. I also spent some time chatting with my neighbor, Lillianna Bailey, who is wanting to sell a plot of land adjacent to mine. I could up my square footage from 1024m to 2048, thus doubling my prim count! On the downside, I would move from the $5 monthly tier fee to the $15, which I think I can afford but am not sure I can justify - yet.

My dear sweet Mony logged in for a short time - both of us had real life things to do - but it made the day all the better for seeing her. We chatted for maybe 10-15 minutes, and then poofed out. That Saturday night, I had a real life party to go to so no SL for me.

I'm now in a hotel in Minneapolis for a business trip and so won't be home until the weekend. Which means I may try to get on late tonight using my laptop, but that's typically a bad idea because it can't cope with SL. I don't know why but I suspect the fact that I have a ThinkPad with the Intel (i.e. unsupported) 950 graphics chip has a lot to do with it. Maybe I'll just drink myself to sleep.

More Sig in FreeLife Magazine

It's the birthday edition of FreeLife magazine; the 25th issue is now out and has an article on Wavie Haller's Valiant clothing store. It's in PDF format so you can download and print it for easy reading, or simply read it onscreen if that works for you.

Next issue should include a much-anticipated interview with Ben Vanguard of SLmen fame. This will probably be in two-three weeks so keep an eye open - I'll flag it in this blog.

Hello Herald Readers!

It just struck me that all my posts to the Second Life Herald include a simple click to get here. Folks who do this may be surprised to find that this blog is not a series of political rants, economic treatises, anti-Linden rhetoric, or pungent attacks on the mores and morals of Second Life individuals or groups.

In fact, I like to think of this blog as "the softer side of Sig." Normally I am a skeptically cynical, misanthropic curmudgeonly atheist who loves to wallow in the sheer pointlessly of life and does his very best to keep suicide at bay. After all, if life has no meaning, you either make it up yourself or throw yourself off a cliff and be done with the whole sorry affair.

However, in my less miserable moments, I like to project an image of caring and sharing; of laughter and gaiety; of wit and charm; of gentlemanly demeanor and comradely affability. In short, I want people to love me.


Here's pic from photo-whiz Seikatsu Koba that she did for me some months back. It's my "sensitive" image - Sig deep in thought and musing on some significant life event. It's maybe a tinge narcissistic too.

So, dear Herald reader, the Sig you see here is a different Sig than the one you read in the tabloids. It's a different Sig from the one you will read in SLentrepreneur, or FreeLife magazine, or anywhere else that I ply my trade. The Sig in this blog is closer to the real-life puppeteer who pulls Sig's strings.

But even "he" is different ;)

It's a Sig Fest... Another Article

Either I have no life or am on a roll. Today's Second Life Herald has my latest offering, I'm a Barbie(R) Girl, in a Barbie World..., a story of my first experience in Mattel's Barbie Girl(TM) virtual world. The one thing is has in common with the Second Life environment and Google's Lively(TM) is that is also has the same method of logging out - the crash!

Anyhow, check out the dirt on America's plastic role model. Also keep an eye of for the September issue of Castle Keep magazine where I have an article coming up on social networks.

I'm also working on two more articles for FreeLife magazine and a biggie for Slentrepreneur, which restarts publishing in September after a summer hiatus.

New Siggy article at FreeLife Magazine

In the latest edition of the stylish FreeLife Magazine, Aydan Darcy talks to Tragedy Kanto, owner of the Oh Tragedy store, Inga Ember visits the $25Diva store where everything is only $25L, and Sigmund Leominster - oh, that's me! - raves about Iota Ultsch's collection at her Tres Jolie store. You can also pick up some free T-shirts designed by Sid Kwon.

Spent some time at the new Valiant clothing store talking with owner/designer Wavie Haller. Nice! Keep an eye open for an article in FreeLife in the very near future.

What You Been Up To, Sig?

As I've said before, daily posts are the province of the unemployed, the retired, the full-time paid blogger, and the crazy. My real life has been pretty full lately so my second has had to be less extravagant.But I have been doing stuff. I have finished two articles; one for the Metaverse Tribune that launches on 1st August, and a second for FreeLife, the next edition of which is in a few weeks time.

The first was a short interview with Shakti Cianci, lead singer for SpaceJunky, a terrific band whose debut album, Resident Alien, is available via iTunes(R). The second is a look at the designs of Iota Ultsch who owns the women's fashion store, Très Jolie.

I also attended a fashion show organized by Calamity Hathaway of Hathaway's Haute Model Agency (CHM). The show was focused on the creations of fashion designer Aeris Pinazzo, the owner of Mythology, a men's and women's apparel store.

Meanwhile I have shopped at Hoorenbeek, bought new stuff from Muism, and begun blogging for Simone Stern, writing reviews of clothing. So all in all, I have been busy in SL despite the call of the real.

FreeLife Article: Men's Style @ Redgrave

Issue 19 of FreeLife magazine is out and it contains my latest article, Redgrave: Sin With Style. I won't just paste in the article here because that's plain boring, so feel free to click on the link above to download the excellent PDF version. Suffice to say that there are some cool clothes on offer and if you want to get rid of some of your hard-earned (bought) lindens, the nice folks at Redgrave are only too happy to help.



I have one of their sweaters, a black stripy number, but other options are available.



I also like the dotted shirts with open collar and skinny ties, much more interesting than some plain old things in plain old colors.



Go shop.

Redgrave: SLurl:secondlife://SANDS Island 1/170/100/24/

Hitting the Triple Play

There's a saying that everything comes in threes and today is a great example. In an ego-massaging twist of fate, today sees the simultaneous release of three articles in the SL sphere. The first in the the always-scandalous-never-boring Second Life Herald. The piece is called "Vanity The First Deadly SL Sin" and is the first (hopefully) of a seven-part set that looks the Seven Deadly Sins and how to break them in Second Life.

The second is a look at the opening of a new sim in Chelsea, London and published in issue 14 of FreeLife Magazine. There you'll find a replica of Westminster's famous Big Ben clock tower and have the opportunity to ride a flying double-decker open-top bus. The sim is next door to Knightsbridge, a great shopping and entertainment area.

The third is in the more business-orientated SLentrepreneur and is a comment on Linden Lab's latest press release on controlling their trademarks and copyrights. Are LL moving towards an IPO later this year? It seems so and that's one of the points I make in the article.

You'll find that they are all fundamentally different types and styles of article. But that's the point of being a freelancer! I can switch from the trivially tongue-in-cheek tabloid style of The Herald to the much more analytical and formal style of SLentrepreneur. It's too early to be pigeon-holed.

Keep an eye open for the next Deadly Sin in the Herald, another clothing review in issue 15 of FreeLife, and lots of analysis and commentary in SLentrepreneur. Oh, and I want to get at least one in the SL Enquirer, who I have avoided so far not because they are not good but because they don't pay quite as well ;)

Mercenary, moi?