August 2013 – Page 2 – Ciaran Laval

August 7, 2013

An Interview With Strawberry Singh Part 2 – The Too Few Hours

I finish my cup of tea and return to my interview with Strawberry Singh, I have this really eerie feeling that someone or something is watching me, something is sending tingles down my spine that’s for sure. Shortly I will get a hint of what it may be, although no confirmation, but it does go to show the commitment I make to seeking truth and justice.

I wonder, just how Berry manages to blog, take photographs, post on Flickr, start memes, tweet, work as a PR manager for stores, writes tutorials and fit in outside Second Life time, she smirks, I think it’s a smirk at least:

“I have a deal with the devil. He writes all my tutorials for me in exchange for the souls of those that interview me. I dunno to be honest, add real life work, family, friendships and dating to that pile and you got one busy Berry!”

At this point my finger is so close to the ring in my pocket that it’s scary, I mean being an evil Drow wizard and part time Dwarfin wizard I’ve fought my fair share of demons in the past, but usually with my Chief Elf assisting me, I’m here with a lady whom seems to have charming abilities and I have no defence. I cough quietly and put my head down, moving on to the next subject, tutorials. Does Berry enjoy making them, what does she get from them?

“I guess I am a teacher at heart and just enjoy being able to teach people things that I’ve picked up along the way myself. It always feels nice when someone messages me and says how much they appreciated my tutorial or how much they learned from it.”

Then I move on to Second Life, what positives and negatives does Berry see about being a photographer in Second Life?

“Hmmmmm, this is a hard question. I do it because I enjoy it and it’s helped me unleash this creativity within me that I didn’t even know existed. I don’t really see any negatives to it other than seeing people on social networks bashing other people’s art. It can be a bit heartbreaking because everyone puts a bit of themselves in their work, at least I know I do, so it can mean a lot to them and I just wish people would have more respect. But I guess that doesn’t just pertain to Second Life alone.”

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August 7, 2013August 7, 2013

An Interview With Strawberry Singh Part 1 – The Fellowship Of The Singh

There I was in my home sim, minding my own business when my chief Elf rushed in holding a golden ring. I arched an eyebrow and then sighed as she hurled it on to the fire. “Remove it” she said, so I used a stick and pulled the ring from the fire and then to my amazement, elvish style writing appeared on the inside. I picked the ring up, my Chief Elf asked “What does it say?”

“One Singh to rule them all, One Singh to find them; One Singh to bring them all. and in Second Life bind them” I replied, somewhat surprised. My Chief Elf looked far from impressed. “This is a sign, I must go on an epic journey and interview ….. Strawberry Singh!”

My chief Elf remained nonplussed “Wait a minute, the serpent girl, you were talking about this serpent and a girl, I remember, you were most agitated.” I rose and collected my staff, wizard hat and cloak and made my way towards the door, meanwhile my Chief Elf was eyeing the ring “Hey, this says nothing of the sort, you’re making this all up, good grief you made this up for a corny blog title and cheesy intro didn’t you!” she shouted at me. However I was not about to be deterred and took the ring from my Chief Elf and placed it in my pocket.

Then I departed, the words of my Chief Elf ringing in my ears “Epic journey! Why don’t you just teleport! watch out for that serpent!” As soon as I was out of sight I decided an epic journey was too much hassle and teleported to Strawberry Singh’s secret hideaway, where unsurpisingly I found Strawberry Singh!

Strawberry eyed me suspiciously, but made me feel welcome, to put her at ease I asked her where it all began, what brought Strawberry (AKA Berry) Singh to Second Life:

“A friend told me about it and so I signed up whilst eating a bowl of strawberries, hence the name. 😛 ”

I’m not sure whether she’s winding me up here, one thing I have noted is that Berry is an outrageous tease and full of mischief, she smirks at me from the other side of the desk, watching the cogs in my head turn as I try and weigh this up, then I move on to the next question, when when did the photography bug bite, when did it all start?

“I have a friend, Roosevelt Dagger, who is no longer in SL but he was the first person to take professional pictures of my avatar and he put them on flickr and then taught me how to take snapshots and got me addicted to flickr. This was all back in the summer of 2007, I was still newbish and only a few months old. Here are some of the pictures he took of me back then that got me so inspired and into photography myself” :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooseveltdagger/sets/72157600786161404/

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August 6, 2013

Linden Lab Launch New Second Life Affiliate Program

Linden Lab have launched, somewhat quietly, a new affiliate program for Second life in conjunction with Commission Junction. well quietly that is, unless you were emailed about it! Linden Lab may want to fix the hover text on their website, which umm suggests you’re going to the old network.

Details of the program can be found on the Second Life affiliate program page: https://secondlife.com/corporate/affiliate/

The big question is, who can join the affiliate program … I have the answer!

“Web sites that complete the Affiliate Network’s publisher registration and are not based in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina.”

I have no idea why those states are excluded, maybe some of my readers know.

The next question of course is, who on earth are Commission Junction?

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August 6, 2013

An Interview With Laura Demonista

I stumbled across Laura Demonista on Flickr. The stream is adult in the main and deals largely (but not exclusively) with erotic art, created initially in Second Life and then fine tuned outside. Unless you’re signed into Flickr you should not be able to see these images, that is as long as Laura has flagged them correctly, if she hasn’t she deserves a damn good spanking! Seriously folks, please flag your Flickr images correctly, it’s better for everyone if you do that.

Whilst interviewing Laura I feel like I’ve stepped into a Philip Marlowe story, or maybe a David Lynch one, although I resist the temptation to don a trenchcoat and a trilby. Laura’s steam has a noirish feel to it in parts, as I settle down in a seat in Laura’s office, I notice that the blinds are closed, I can hardly make Laura out as she sits at the desk across from me, Laura manages to play the detective and the femme fatale perfectly, although she avoids smoking a cigar during the course of the interview and I’m sensible enough not to ask if she does smoke, I do note a revolver on the desk, which is enough to intimidate me into playing nicely, that’s for sure!

We settle down to the interview and Laura starts with a bombshell:

“I am not an artist in any true sense of the word. I cannot paint, I cannot draw. I am always vastly impressed by the beauty, the imagination and the mastery of those who can. I have my particular favourite artists. Jack Vettriano is one example, Vargas is another. I love the power of images. I love the tales they tell, the beauty that can be created.”

Am I being played here, I wonder, is this really Laura Demonista or have I been setup for a fall? Laura quickly removes my misgivings by explaining that although she is not a traditional artist, this has not deterred Laura from creating images using Second Life, so where did it all begin?

“My very first image that I could reasonably call art was taken in March, 2011. Everything before that was a simple snapshot. I wouldn’t say it was GOOD art but I can call it art.”

Where does Laura get her inspiration from to create the images she does, what actually inspires Laura:

“The simple and rather trite answer is everything. I wish I could be more accurate but I can be inspired by anything at any time. I see a wine label that says “Room Temperature” and an image pops into my mind. Ideas come constantly and I stopped questioning it.”

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August 5, 2013

Tyche Shepherd’s Private Estate Survey For July

Tyche Shepherd’s private estate survey for July brings home the decline in private regions due to two landmark figures being met. Private regions slipped below the 20,000 mark during July and estimated private region tier fell below the the USD$4,000,000 per month mark. Although it should be noted that Tyche’s estimates are +/- USD$50,000, so tier may be treading water above the USD$4,000,000 mark. However another point to note is that Tyche’s estimates do not include educational discounts, so it’s likely that tier has slipped below the USD$4,000,000 barrier.

Tyche estimates that tier from private regions now stands at USD$3,975,000 +/- USD$50,000, which is estimated to be down USD$53,000 on June. Again, please note the margins of error for these figures.

Having said that, this is still a healthy income stream, we’re far from having to man the lifeboats but as I have repeatedly said, Linden Lab need to get their thinking caps on, tier is still too much of a central plank of their income stream and the tier is too damn high.

The Top 10 Estates by number of regions held are:

RGF Estates Inc 5.1%
Azure Islands 3.4%
Zoha Islands 3.2%
Dreamseeker Estates 2.9%
Victoria Chung 2.7%
Weezles Real Estate (WRE) 2.4%
Miriam Chung 2.3%
Jessica Chung 2.3%
Fruit Islands Estate 1.7%
Lala Rentals 1.7%

There were no significant changes in the way the land lies for the large estate owners this month, all variations were within the margin of error. The top nine estates occupy the same nine positions they did last month, Lala Rentals has swapped places with Bell Estates, which drops to eleventh place on the list, but at 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, they could easily flip flop again, they are running pretty much neck and neck. A list of the top 20 estates is available on Tyche’s SLU post.

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