Monday, December 28, 2009

Ciudad de Mexico

i've not been to Mexico, DF.  it is one of my dreams to visit, someday.  it seems so interesting--apart from the sheer intensity of such a crowded place, there is the unusual geographic situation, and also the weight of history. the residents there are supposed to even have a special character, and have a charming (and from what I read, perhaps derogatory in some contexts) nickname (Chilango).  btw, as a completely off-topic aside, i keep up with a particularly hilarious blog called "effective swearing in d.f." which should help me a great deal should i ever get to visit the real Mexico, D.F.


so i thought it very interesting then when i was looking at Liqueur Felix's flickr stream (always the most gorgeous amazing finds and pictures of different places to visit btw) and saw this image of the ciudad de mexico sim, which is apparently a roleplaying sim run by brasilians. upon visiting it in person, i found it really quite lovely, though the observer tag is distinctly hideous to wear (it looks like a fishbowl over your avatar's head).  when i was walking there parts of the city reminded me vaguely of nexus prime in 07, and a little of hangar liquides before it moved to insilico. there are three levels to the city, with interesting and mostly empty buildings to look at, but take care. while i was doing my research and exploring the sim, i happened to touch a transport button and it teleported me into an arena on the upper level, into what i think was a beauty pageant that was in progress while i was there.  sadly there is no photographic evidence of this caper, as i was so completely flustered i ran across the room and jumped off the building. ah well next time.  and now you know this amusing little anecdote.

i was really at a loss what to wear--however there are shops when you first teleport in, and i found a really unusual outfit from rfyre, called providence. of course i pared it down a little to suit my purposes. its really quite striking on its own, but i liked very much how it seemed to combine so well with the deconstructed trenchcoat from nomine. i had also found the amazing mirror hair from paradox and alpha, along with their interesting facial piercings in my earlier travels.  as it is this outfit turned out to be a collection of new things and my favorite standbys, as you might recognize the rest of what juana is wearing from other posts.   

juana the wannabe cyber chilango wears:

providence house of rfyre
deconstructed trenchcoat by nomine
aztec sample bracelets and armlets by otaku designs (group gift)
bone queen bonus skin cutea benelli
mirror c14 hair and P_Stras piercings by Paradox & Alpha
ving boots by shiny things
mayan dream tattoos by garden of kuu (tinted red)
cybermacahuitl by cortech enterprises

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

glamazona

i am very very fond of horses, i am lucky that my parents have them and i get to go ride occasionally. i must say that with my overactive fashion mania that i have never really liked most of the riding habits out there, and always wanted to devise a kind of private personal riding habit according to my tastes. women's riding habits and equestriennes are rather charmingly called "amazona" in spanish, and so of course i would want to call my version of a riding habit (and an equestrienne styled avatar) a "glamazona."


i have always wanted to learn to ride aside, and so in my mind the glamazona prototype would definitely have a skirt. i love spanish-style habits, and the magnificent Yuki-Hime ensemble from The Black Canary has that kind of severe yet graceful flavor, though it is more properly described as a sort of neo-victorian-kimono mashup. it is a very distinctive and ladylike outfit, which i totally fell in love with as soon as i saw it.  and the sleeves would look gorgeous hanging down from the horse.  the Yuki hime outfit is part of a hunt though, check the Black Canary store for details. i chose a spanish-style hat to go with it, and of course if i was riding through the wastelands i would want to take a katana to use against snakes and other such hazards.  perhaps this is purely fancy on my part but this area is strongly reminiscent of deep south texas (near the border), and i half expect to see a coyote or two.



and this is why i was listening to narcocorridos while writing up this post. i must say that the horse is nice though a bit complicated.  i have yet to find a horse maker in second life who makes peruvian pasos, which are the horses that i ride.  someday perhaps. this particular horse is from AKK Horses, and it is interesting. i have always wanted to have an arabian, so why not. it is however a trifle expensive.  it is my very first second life horse. i am so pleased i don't have to clean his feet.

juana la glamazona tejana wears:

Yuki hime by the Black Canary (winter hunt gift)
Andalusian hat by Daini Ken
Miriel Granny boots by Siyu Suen
Cortech Katana by Beezle Warburton
Bone Collector collar by Nomine
Yanzi wave hair by DrLife
Raine cream Dolly tears red by popfuzz
Heavens Tear eyes by Tohru

Arabian Horse by AKK Horses (Kristivon Kolache)

at las animas, ashvasta
listening to contrabando y traicion cover by
maldito bajo

Saturday, October 31, 2009

at siyu suen's masque of the dead.....

....a special merveilleuse report. :)

Siyu Suen has the most insanely fabulous parties.  not only does she dj divinely but she also has hit on a very brilliant method to keep lag down--when you attend one of her parties (masked and in formal clothes) you must keep your prim count at 200 prims or less.  it sounds mad, but i do believe it causes unbelievable creativity in the ensembles that are worn.  and trust me, the people who go (myself not included) are fierce slfashion titans!




i tried to get a few little films in of the remarkable scene--every single person looked unique and distinctive.  truly there were too many to count. but at the end of the fray, the ball had its king in carthalis rossini, who did a splendid interpretation of baron samedi in a nomine sugar skull skin, and also the three queens, who were mabb dilwegg, who looked amazing carrying her decapitated head as a zombie marie antoinette, and the incredible twin duo of mourna biziou and achariya maktoum, who were twin creepy broken dolls.




i think the brilliance of the company speaks for itself, i only hope i was able to catch a bit of the amazing scene that unfolded last night.....

i only wish to add here at the end, what i wore.  i found a somewhat expensive but really innovative store, called violator.  i suspect people already know about it, but when i saw this dress i knew i must have it.  and so i must show it to you, because i love it.....




juana's masquerade gown:
(abridged) @192 prims:
death of the black swan dress by violator
aztec gold bracelets by otaku designs
skull mask
hair rose by gfield
mary jane shoes by violent seduction
burnt bones skin by nomine
skull ear spikes by mad about
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
hair by deviant kitties

(unabridged version, which what is pictured above):
death of the black swan dress by violator
aztec gold bracelets by otaku designs
hair rose by gfield
bonus cruelty skin by cutea benelli
mayan dream tats by garden of kuu (tinted red)
skull ear spikes by mad about
visions of death eyes by rotten toe
bax boots
hair by deviant kitties

Thursday, October 29, 2009

la llorona

when i was small i was scared half to death by tales of la llorona, a spectral crying woman who roamed the banks of the river (supposedly the one in our town of course), creeping up and snatching children. i spent an awful lot of time at my grandparents' house and they lived a few blocks from the river.....






it wasn't till later that i learned that la llorona is a folk legend that is pretty widespread....and she is apparently all over the place.  it doesn't lessen the uncomfortable feeling i get when i have to pass by the water at night, or hear distant sounds of women crying.....

however it is an excellent excuse to blog the uberfabuloso dia de los muertos jewelry set made by the lovely lola79 heinrichs of otaku designs!!!! <333!!!! and i love how the main pendant has a lovely purple flame too!




la llorona juana wears:

dia de los muertos necklace & bracelets by otaku designs
maya hair by mirja mills
jasmine dress set by fumiwo
immortal dreamer skin by miasnow
carpe noctem ivory boots by nightshade designs
visions of death eyes by rotten toe

at innu sim
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Innu/209/...
listening to walking shadow (doboide) from freesound

Saturday, October 24, 2009

when mythologies collide.....

occasionally it makes me laugh to imagine juana as being a dark and sinister fashionista follower of the old gods, prowling the landscapes of second life looking for noobs to sacrifice, to keep up her outfit juju.  hey, stranger things have happened. so juana got dressed to kill in one of the new nomine sugar skull skins (throws self on ground in manic abasement and worship of the divine munchflower z.) and went out to look for sacrificial victims for her obscene and deadly fashion rites.




but there is a slight problem with this ho-hum rummaging for sacrificial noobs. this creepy little town......is inhabited by an inescapable horrendous terrible horror the likes of which nobody has ever seen! (and if they did see it they'd go mad!) now, at this point i am thinking that if this little scenario wasn't ever made as a santo film, then it really should have been.  (i did google santo vs. the great old ones just to be sure) though actually i would rather have masked takenouchi from cromartie high school in the movie. or at least dress poor juana like him.



apart from these little technical difficulties, now is the time on merveilleuse where we gush about the fashion. and i admit to falling in love with sangre noir, though i first was introduced to this designer when i bought the most adorable dia de los muertos neko set from subtle submission.  i love the way this outfit moves.  also i can't say enough how much i adore bakersfield kidd's tattoos (they aren't for sale anymore which is why i love them even more).  also, cutea benelli, in her infinite goddesslike wisdom has made the most perfect set of sacrificial shoes ever. they are literally stiletto blades impaling severed hearts. <3<3<3!

sugar skull in innsmouth juana wears:

sugar skull skin 3 by nomine
to live and to die tattoos by bakersfield kidd
sangre noir 2 by sangre noir
skull choker and earrings by mad about
bloody bonehead bracelets by retox
obsidian blade by cortech
heartsnatcher stillettos by grim bros/cutea benelli
anzu kuromame hair by ay.line
hair rose wine by gfield
visions of death eyes by rotten toe

in innsmouth sim
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Innsmouth/128/130/25
listening to
Krios- Illa Tiðandi (Burzum cover)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

the undead quinceanera

it's october....and therefore the obsession with the dead continues. as i was trying on the new Skinny Winnie Zombie Bride dress by Grim Bros/Cutea Benelli, i started laughing for a moment. i didn't laugh at the dress--far from it. this dress is by far my favorite of the bone dresses Cutea Benelli makes--i love how it is bony but also very gauzy and light looking too. what made me laugh was it reminded me very much of the dress i wore for my quinceanera.




the idea of a pre hispanic death goddess as a quinceanera struck me as insanely funny, and i thought it might be hilarious to go to one of those romantic smooth jazz ballrooms and hang out. and so i did.  the people there at the ballroom were actually quite kind, and didn't seem to notice my attire. i was wondering if i was being teased because someone was addressing another person as "skull" but that ended up being one of the avatars' first name.




even so, nobody wanted to dance with me. *sniffs*. 

skinny winnie the zombie's bride & belle morte shoes by grim bros/cutea benelli
wild woman hair by miasnow
mayan dream (tinted) by garden of kuu
crossed out clown skin
skull ear spikes by mad about
hair rose wine by gfield
necromantic crown by violent seduction

at sweethearts jazz club

listening to smooth jazz all stars "heart of a woman (r. kelly cover and tribute)" *snicker*

Monday, October 5, 2009

in nomine munchflower......

i went to get a new dollskin from nomine. :)  its freaking amazing of course (does the i am not worthy dance), and while i was at it i decided to have a mini nomine hommage...wearing the annis dress and the necklace from the bone collector set. 




i went exploring in la cimitiere--very charming sim.  it seemed at first glance to be new orleans-ish. there was a kind of house there that had all manner of poses, and it amused me very much because try as i might to be a dainty little doll, i ended up making poor juana look like a gothic sex doll.  and it made me scream with laughter. also because my poor little shape had a bit of a peachfuzz frida kahloish mustache going, so to prevent my embarassment i just added a faux mustache to cover it up.



apparently there are people who like this sort of thing, because i looked up from taking pictures and there was an avatar there on the bed somewhat disrobed and cheerfully asking me the standard questions. i just about died laughing.

annis dress, white dollskin seamed vamp skin,
& bone collector necklace by nomine
necromantic bloomers & elegant gloves by violent seduction
gazing balls eyes silver by miasnow
mustache from duckshoot dress by katatonic
yangzi hair by drl
platform dia de los muertos shoes by grim bros/cutea benelli

at la cimitiere

listening to
Eläkeläiset - Juon ja Humppaan (Sex Bomb)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

mi novia

it is the first day of october. and it begins my most favorite time of the year.....that lasts till nov 3rd.   by now  you all know that i am obsessed with pre-hispanic culture, and at this time of year i am even more obsessed by la catrina, the female dandy skeleton and symbol of the day of the dead.  to me she is more than just a symbol, but also in my opinion a living link to ancient mesoamerican death goddesses.  she has been called many names, this "lady of the land of the dead," and i strongly suspect that she is still being worshiped in the modern cult of santa muerte.




it made me wonder....if jose guadalupe posada improbably came back from the dead and managed to break into the dreamworld of second life, (maybe as a skeleton avatar), he'd probably have a ton of things to lampoon.   and in this same spirit i thought to myself, if la catrina was going to be in second life and ultra fashionable, she might very well come back incarnated as a goth loli.



 i was aided in this little exercise in vanity and clothes-madness by the *cue screaming fangirls* ever magnificent munchflower zaius, who made this incredible skin and gave it to me as a gift (stops typing to throw myself to the ground grovelling).  i also went mad when i saw this incredible dress, the Aura dress from Violent Seduction.  likewise the shoes from Cutea Benelli/Grim bros are freaking amazing....

gothloli la catrina juana wears:


Sugar Skulls & Roses Upper & Lower Body tattoos (black and white)
Aura set by Violent Seduction
Charmant Raven sleeves, top, and pantaloons by Nightshade Blacklist
lollo estremista ballet heels by Grim Bros
Alice black hair by Deviant Kitties
Trophy hat no. 2- The SkullCake by i love 13
Gypsy hoop earrings and Sugar Skull necklace by Kunstkammer
fascinator paris 1 hat by Nonna Hedges
Sylvan China White sugar skull skin (custom--a gift from munchflower <3 *fangirl* ) by Nomine

Thursday, September 24, 2009

vampyr circus acrobat

it has been a while since i have posted. there are times when the wheel of fortune spins out of control, up and down and all around in a dizzying manner....and so it has seemed the past few days.








i'd had a spectacular binge at rotten toe, which is fast becoming one of my favorite stores.  the whole guro loli thing i think is beginning to grow on me.  i also went crazy over the magnificent skin there.  today i wore the black dancer dress.  it has wonderful variations, and this is just one way to wear it.  i was wandering around as always and stumbled on a kind of vampire opera house. but with a trapeze.....it just seemed so very fitting.


vampyr circus acrobat juana wears:

Black dancer set & Clownish f1 skin by Rotten Toe
lollo estremista shoes &
full frontal spike choker by Grim Brothers
enigma bracelet  by loulou&co
natsumi by diversity hairskull nose piercing by AVZ
Sugar Skulls & Roses tattoo by Otaku Designs
Ghoul fest eyes &
Silver Nail brooch by Tacky Star

at asunder sim
listening to
la vie d'un poisson dans l'eau by
Circus Marcus

Sunday, September 13, 2009

rubaiyat

This Universal wheel, this merry-go-round
In our imagination we have found
The sun a flame, in the Cosmic lantern bound
We are mere ghosts, revolving, the flame surround.
(by omar khayyam, translated by shahriar shahriari)




when i am feeling sad and out of sorts, and am home-bound, i often find comfort and solace wandering the landscapes of this dreamworld. And more often than not i stumble on a place that either heightens my mood, or perhaps softens it a bit.

another one of my vices is the irresponsible reading of poetry. :) when in a mood such as this i like to read khayyam because even if it is bleak it is beautiful, and sometimes we need a whiff of corruption in this hyperreal perfect dreamworld. Amusingly enough apparently sometimes people use these poems to tell fortunes--you simply open the book to a random passage and wherever your finger falls will fortell your future supposedly. Unfortunately I don't have Wordpress because there is a random rubaiyat generator you can install.



An old potter at his wheel
Clay and dirt mould and deal
My inner eye would reveal
My father’s dust bears his seal.
(by omar khayyam, translated by shahriar shahriari)
Hmm. not sure what to make of that for today's fortune. :)

the pixel clay juana wears:

antie eyes silent brown by artilleri
hiding in trees sunrise set and monochrome shirt by i love 13
hair rose and ankle straps by gfield
dia de los muertos earrings by violet voltaire
magnolia bracelets and necklace by loulou&co
mary janes by violent seduction
stockings by rotten toe
ratty armwarmers and glam chinstripe skin by nomine
nobara hair by ay.line

at the miasnow store
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hwang/105...
listening to:
oud play by asoliman

Thursday, September 3, 2009

...will be the death of me...

in sl, as in rl, i have a terrible love of boots and shoes. maybe it's not an addiction of say, imelda marcos magnitude. (that poor woman, will we be joking about her hundreds of years from now) It is somewhat pronounced though, this shoe mania that afflicts me.



and so i have decided to confess my unholy love of all things boot and shoes....while wearing an impossibly cute and tough pair that i found at an interesting shop that i like. and i am very lazy, wearing a dress i bought last friday for 50 linden at katatonik.


bored and boot mania juana (like barbie parody, no?) wears:

dark pink s & s dress by katatonik
cyberpunk combat boots by self expressions
necromantic bloomers and opheliac skin by violent seduction
skulls and roses tattoo by otaku designs
trophy hat and necklace (the name eludes me) by i <3 thirteen
alice hair by deviant kitties
antie loud brown eyes by artilleri
bloodybones bracelets by retox

Sunday, August 30, 2009

the great tyrant

i have been obsessing lately over the character of the great tyrant/black queen of sogo, in barbarella, played (but not voiced) by the wonderfully evil anita pallenberg. i can't help it, she has the most fabulous clothes (and looks so oddly like an avatar) in that film.


so when i saw this hair by alpha and paradox, worn in a joint post by achariya and mourna, i thought it so very reminiscent of the black queen, that i knew i must buy it at once. fast forward a bit.....while messing around in my inventory i somehow managed to put something together from various things that i'd seen in posts i loved, which incidentally i wore last night at TriNala's last show.



the plastik strappybodysuit i'd seen and loved, but had no idea what to wear it with. in one of those happy coincidences, i was standing trying on all the things marked "skirt" in my inventory, and the cellular skirt from avz bizarrely seemed to match almost perfectly. add to this the magic circle sigils (though i suppose more accurately they go over the chakras), which are not new, but i encountered on another shopping expedition....and voila. fear my diana ross fury minions!!!!

the great tyrant of sogo juana wears:

C10 hair by paradox and alpha
shiva (creator) skin by gauze
strappybodysuit obsidian by plastik
cellular skirt by avz
boots by j's
magic circles set (woahglo) by dark eden
machina eyes (unknown)
red hair rose by g field

using ikaru's preset, in pteron sim

Thursday, August 27, 2009

bona lolita drag

i <3 drag queens. i mean, really. i respect and admire them tons, and cherish the fond thought that if i had been born male, with my same personality, then i'd actually try to be a drag queen.
that being said...





...i'd been shopping and stopped by one of my fave places, nightshade designs. they had the Charmant/Charmante set, a girl and a boy outfit. being the perverse person i am i thought to put girl juana in the boy outfit and boy juana in the girl dress. besides which, the girl's outfit is lolita, and who is the most uber lolita of them all? mana of course.....so i just ended up getting sidetracked with leandro in drag, so juana's debut in man drag will have to be in another post. :)


charmante juana wears:

charmante set raven by nightshade designs
trophy hat by i <3 thirteen
opheliac skin & necromantic bloomers
by violent seduction
alice hair by deviant kitties
lollo estremista ballet heels by grim bros
sugar skulls & roses tattoos by otaku designs
loud brown eyes by artilleri




charmant leandro wears:

charmante set raven by nightshade designs
scorpio revelation skin by
lower lip spike punk by PopFuzz
buddy glasses by Gudshu glasses
trophy hat by i <3 thirteen
necromantic bloomers by violent seduction
alice hair by deviant kitties
sugar skulls & roses tattoos by otaku designs
gothico boots by grim bros
loud brown eyes by artilleri








Sunday, August 23, 2009

hanging around.

while exploring the other day I bumped into a friend. It's always cool when you and your friends share the same interests. Or at least tolerate them enough to humor you occasionally.



I've posted elsewhere about my friend Rev, who IMHO is one of the rare people whose RL appearance surpasses his avatar. But this doesn't mean his avatar is any less striking. On the contrary, he looks always really interesting. somewhat magnetic, i'd say.



i did enjoy the visit, and i would have offered him some tea, as is only hospitable, but my neck was broken i'm afraid.

on rev eponym:
Hair: .::MADesigns Hair::. ~ ANDY ~ Silver Tones
Artilleri 'Buddy Glasses'
Redgrave Black V-Neck sweater
Nightshade 'Obscurities' black pants
Blitzed 'Brutal' cuffs

on juana:
devil dress by queenqueen
rosenkavalier hat by rozoregalia
yanzi wave hair by drl
clockwork skin by nomine
carpe noctem boots and apneatic embrace stockings by nightshade designs
magnolia bracelet and necklace set by loulou
fascinator hat by raven pennyfeather/nonna hedges





Friday, August 21, 2009

happy moody bunny

i love second life. its so freaking peculiar. like where else can you sit on a representation of a squishy mammary gland?(may be NSFW) and have splendidly dressed women ask you seriously why you are in the art?

i went to wait on a friend in the amusingly named "happy mood" sim.....there are bunnies there. gigantic happy ones. i couldn't resist. as far as my ensemble goes, i am still in the throes of a queen queen addiction......so sue me. :)

happy mood purple juana wears:

dark dress by queenqueen
magnolia bracelets and necklace by loulou
hyasynth shoes by shiny things
yanzi wave hair by DrL
glam chin stripe skin by nomine
kunstkammer sugar skull necklace and roma style earrings (also malice set by tekeli'li)
antie eyes loud purple by artilleri

at happy mood sim, an anonymous rice paddy, and the grande odalisque statue at black swan.....

Monday, August 17, 2009

teddy bears have nightmares, too.

i have always wondered if wicked teddy bears dream....apparently they do, in a sort of funky movieish kind of way.



i'd been to troy vogel's cool rezday party, at odaesan house...in my beloved (and on sale i think) eshi otawara monarch dress and mrs. schmidt liquid boots.


rigor mortis juana wears:

monarch dress in taupe by eshi otawara
yanzi wave hair by drl
rise of lolita opheliac skin by violent seduction
skull nosepiercing by avz
mrs schmidt liquid boots by mrs schmidt
803 ~ Autopsy Table with Anims by mercy cazalet
tedi wears loco pocos avatar.

somewhere in odaesan house
listening to "glasgow smile" by InnocentzRaptor
http://www.sendspace.com/file/vghxzx

Sunday, August 16, 2009

on the slab

my infatuation with queenqueen rages on, unabated. i just can't help it, they are so lovely, and detailed, and just crazy. and they have a sort of goth thing going, though its not what you'd normally classify as "goth" necessarily.

like this ensemble, called very simply "blood dress." its not exactly gothy per se--except for the blood spatters, and when you cam in closer you realize the pattern on the dress is like veins....it was hard to figure out where to go to take a picture for this outfit. first i went to a rice paddy (leeches) then i found a funny morgue store, and jumped in a "body filing cabinet."


i have gotten up on a real morgue autopsy table at a museum once, but that's another story. :)




Originally uploaded by al-zahra
cold cuts juana wears:

blood dress by queenqueen
gawth tears skin by nomine
splash hair by c hair
liah boots crimson by jaywalk
blood beads set by spica
red hair rose by gfield
skull nose piercing by avz

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

midway

one of my favorite things about second life is that you never know who or what you will encounter in your daily travels/routine...in this case i arrived somewhere with a specific purpose in mind, to make fun of someone, and ended up feeling too awed and moved to do anything but stare and wonder.



The sim owner and builder, MASAKADO Allen, was incredibly kind and gracious. Even though translation programs can be awkward at best, she was so patient and taught me a few japanese words. i regret not knowing japanese, i would have liked to have been able to extend her the same courtesy. it was so amazing to me to think of us both chatting nicely, the two of us, though our countries had once been bitter enemies.

i think the most moving part came near the end. she had explained to me that the Akagi was sunk during the battle of Midway, (***correction: Yamato was sunk, but much later. Many thanks to Grady Echegaray who kindly pointed this out to me, along with the correct spelling of Akagi***) and i asked her if both ships still remained on the ocean floor. She told me that they sleep in the ocean.

i hope they and the bodies of the men that they still entomb, slumber peacefully.


pseudo-cher juana wears:

corvus dress, WL goth skin by nomine
abbadon bracers by tekeli'li
big bomb hair by bp
u-sha fantasie necklace by husky gfx
hathor goddess diadem by eyecandy
paradisis armlets by cat-i-mimi
neck corset by RU
fallen disgrace boots by nightshade designs


listening to audio from the
movie "Midway" (1976)
At Masakado Allen's sim
YAMATO of Japan

rest in peace
Yamato and Akegi

Saturday, August 8, 2009

queenqueen makes me brokebroke.....

...not to mention eshi otawara's post mortem sale, which makes me crazy. i will probably be reduced to begging in the virtual streets for lindens.

the bandage mermaid dress totally blew me away yesterday. and so i had to investigate this new-to-me store, and when i arrived there i totally and utterly fell in love. and i found a few cool and interesting facts-- QueenQueen is apparently a RL brand designed by a RL designer, Koji Toyoda. And they had a cool youtube channel too.

this dress has face bandages that go with it too. i'm impatient and my avatar is difficult to fit, so i just dispensed with the scarf and lower face mask....the armlets too were giving me issues.

while shopping at eshi otawara's store, i spied these interesting shoes, and so had to have them.....


brokeback juana wears:
dark bandage dress by queenqueen
usa hair black, hair flowers, and armwarmers by gauze
neck corset by ru
glam skins vice versa deux pale by lessthanthree
pointed bridge boot by schmidt
creepy eyes by negriposi

Friday, August 7, 2009

bandage mermaid

there are times when we must work with what fate and fortune have given us. a strange convulsion of luck while looking for something else, and finding the perfect outfit unintentionally....is priceless.

in this case i was wandering the channel island asylum, which is a really creepy place btw, all haunted sounding and with strange quirks, and it made me think of juana going off to bulgaria for cheap plastic surgery and ending up committed in the mental ward for "exhaustion."



and while looking for a suitable costume, found the most amazing outfit, from a new to me designer, queenqueen. it is literally a mermaid outfit composed of bloody bandages...and despite the fact that a mermaid floating in the halls of a mental institution might be odd, i did it anyway.

crazy juana wears:

bandage white mermaid 2 by queen queen
wild woman hair by mia
dollhouse skin 14 by lionskins
cigarette by primitive design
neko geta by dirty lynx
mermaid ao by kami-hitoe

at the channel island asylum
listening to end titles by atrium carceri

Sunday, August 2, 2009

requiem.

dancien had a benefit at his club. it was totally goth, and many interesting people attended.



i also enjoyed a dance with the lovely mourna biziou. she was very kind and during the course of the party i was quite happy to win the little tophat bearing her name.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

doomed love (mexigoth mismash)

  so, i have been quite insane for the past few days, working on an article for a sl fashion magazine. i could totally get into the OCD but i won't. needless to say in the course of obsessing, i have decided i love this outfit.

a friend of mine told me that "it looked gothic but not gothic, that it looked just like me, and that i was able to carry myself over into the avatar" (a paraphrase). i thought this was a compliment, and so that is why i am recording it here.

the uber-juana mexi-goth doomed outfit consists of:

cenobite outfit by falln
alice hair by deviant kitties
cruelty skin by cutea benelli (part of cruelty set)
nose piercing by avz
los muertos sugar skull attachments by i love 13
cenobite's claws by tekeli'li
mayan dream tattoos tinted red by garden of ku
black widow boots by nighshade designs
creepy eyes white by negriposi
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

fraulein gigolo

ah, the romance of berlin between the wars. so decadent. i like to imagine what i might be like, to live that sort of way, in abject poverty but with memories of greatness and a few trinkets of the past to keep up a sort of appearance of gentility.



and there is a magnificent sim, that recreates it. so i can be just as pretend unhappy, and then go off back into my regular comfortable middle class existence.

weimar fraulein gigolo juana wears:

Swansong blackflame outfit &
twisted Swiss stockings from RFyre
Vamp Blood Red ultralight skin by Nomine
CReepy Eyes by Negriposi
Clara bow hair by Helena Stringer
Shooting star pet cemetery hat by split pea
corded neck corset by ru
Anthracite skull earrings by deco
bloody bonehead bracelet by retox
allicagor pumps by stilletto moody
cigarette holder by Mika

at the 1920s Weimar berlin sim
listening to
Schoner Gigolo by Dajos Bela tanzorchestra
&
Kannst Du pfeifen Johanna? by Harry Hardins
tanzorchestra

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

graveyard heart

ah, cutea benelli...she just totally makes the most amazing things...

now perhaps if i can bribe her to make a tiny one to put in the forehead? a la frida kahlo?

the bereaved juana wears:

dollarbie pet cemetery hat by split pea (in the new elliott sim)
peppa hair by diversity hair
cruelty skin and inner graveyard heart by cutea benelli/grim bros
avalost dress by nomine
corded neck corset by ru
murder ballet gloves by snatch
skull ear spikes by mad about
hair rose wine by gfield
mayan dream tattoos (tinted red) by garden of ku
creepy eyes by negriposi

Friday, July 24, 2009

fashion sadhvi

i have always wanted to leave the world behind. the figure of the saddhu i have found somewhat fascinating. i was once very close to a friend of mine, rakesh. he told me a funny story about being on the way somewhere and encountering a saddhu, who scared him by stopping him and telling him what he'd eaten for lunch (chicken biryani) and other things. as much as i'd like a transcendent wisdom such as that, i don't think i could give up my love of things of the flesh....

and so if i really were a sadhvi (female saddhu) then i suppose this is the closest i would ever be. i dont know what happened to kesh, except that he is back in india and happy too i think. i have a vast collection of nicknames--he is the one who gave me my nickname of "indrani" and he is probably the only person in the world who actually called me that regularly.

the fashion sadhvi juana wears:

metal runes silks set top and pants by alpha tribe
machina eyes sky by negriposi
female shiva destroyer skin by illuminati
royal rajput gold ruby parure by mashooka
dread hair by bp

in an unknown buddhist sim
listening to
svetasvatara upanisad performed by
The Phillipe Eidel Mahabharata Group

Thursday, July 23, 2009

julnar the mermaid

i was reminded of the story of julnar the mermaid in the thousand and one nights while visiting alpha auer's magnificent syncretia sim. its totally changed since i saw it last, or maybe i was in a different spot. but still.



and am very fond of tekeli'li though my lovecraftian knowledge is not up to par. this dagon parure is scripted to squirm. how cool is that? i know very little of dagon except from the story of samson and delilah. but i guess this means if i am a devotee of dagon i am now technically a philistine?

human juana julnar wears:

dagon hair, nautilus parure by tekeli'li
teal gloves and ma cher seadust by mimikri
dance of the manatee skin by lessthan3
creepy eyes by negaposi
boots by BAX

juana julnar the mermaid wears:

dagon hair, parure, belt and top by tekeli'li
teal gloves by mimikri
dance of the manatee skin by lessthan3
creepy eyes by negaposi
japanese mermaid black ash tail, ao,
and dance by kami-hitoe

at alpha auer's syncretia sim,
listening to mecca 1 and 2 from
the secret garden project

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

random ransacking

sigh. i totally need to find a better hobby. today, unaccustomed to having so much spare time, became very bored and started digging through the untamed (and uncataloged) inventory.....



i didn't realize i had this...its very courtesanish...from un jour, a place i really like.

la belle manuel wears:
la vie n'es qu'une comedie outfit (with chair) by un jour
autumn chignon coffee by bp
the rise of lolita ophelia skin by violent seduction
nose piercing by avz
sugar skulls and roses tattoos by otaku designs
carpe noctem boots by nightshade designs

Monday, July 20, 2009

violent seduction

this little industrious fit is due to my unaccustomed leisure....while bored and circling flickr i came across the proprietress of a place called violent seduction. naturally i am like the last person to know about it. but still.

she was wearing an outfit featuring a version of an anatomical cameo corset. this of course is a quite famously done piece, with examples in real life, and in mourna biziou's iconic blog post. but i like it precisely because it is a different spin, and the bone cage crinoline skirt is really a fabulous idea.

i was also sold on the bone tiara as well. and oddly enough when i changed the red tinted tattoos and cutea benelli's cruelty skin carried over, and they seemed to look just fine. so i just left it like that.

anatomical juana wears:

necromantic dress (tiara too) by violent seduction
cruelty skin and dia de los muertos platforms by cutea benelli/grim bros
peppa hair black by diversity hair
skull nose piercing by avz
his embrace gloves by self expressions
bloody rawbones bracelets by retox
mayan dream tattoos by garden of ku (tinted red)

the sim where the store is located is absolutely adorable. its creepy yes, but lolita creepy. which means childishly bloodthirstily kawaii.

it is made to shop, with inviting little areas full of gorgeous stuff. i wanted to buy everything of course but i restrained myself. i did get a different outfit, and a skin.

i am very fond of cage crinolines. i have worn hoopskirts many a time in my earlier SCA days, and to me the caged ones are like the skeletons of hoopskirts. and so it makes me giggle to be wearing their remains.

i did however pass on the top. and while fiddling around for accessories stumbled on a cool outfit by un jour that seemed to go pretty well with this ensemble. another plus--the skin came with a notecard that had a preset specifically for the skin. oooo. chichi.

ero loli juana wears:

ero loli outfit and the rise of lolita ophelia skin by violent seduction
la vie n'es qu'une comedie hat, gloves, stockings, and choker by un jour
murder ballet top by snatch
autumn chignon by bp
mayan dream tattoos (tinted red) by garden of ku
skull nose piercing by avz
boots by j's boots

perhaps next time i will pay more attention and actually accessorize a little better. :)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

cruelty

i am on vacation....and of course this means i am just doing what i want...all day :)



and so today i indulged myself a little. not to mention the fact that one of my fave designers had this amazing dress and skin out. its so freaking majestic....she had quoted les liaisons dangereuses as captions to her images of the dress. it reminded me of what a medici queen might wear...that and coupled with the amusing conversation i had with m. lippmann about a village of homicidal hungarian wives made me die laughing. and so i looked for a palace, because although its bone, it is a very regal outfit.

to my amusement the palace i found had a wedding chapel. i won't go off what i think of SL "marriage" but suffice to say i was in a very entertained state the whole time i was there.

the remorseful juana borgia wears:

cruelty set (and skin) & belle mort shoes by cutea benelli/grim bros
his embrace burgundy gloves and stockings by self expressions
dreads purple by bp
skull nose piercing by avz
mayan dream tattoos (tinted red) by garden of ku

in an unknown french wedding chapel sim listening to
"hildegarde on ice" from the secret garden project

Saturday, July 18, 2009

abney park concert.

....starring.....the band abney park
IMG01230

and appearing as spectators:
dancien graves, rev eponym, and moi.

so my exhaustive study of steampunk fashion culminated in the abney park concert in dallas, at the venerable goth club, the church. seeing as i had never had the chance to study these creatures in situ, i was of course intensely interested. and the proceedings were even more enhanced because i had the pleasure to meet in real life, two very interesting people of my second life acquaintance.

dancien graves is a very well known and influential second life fashion blogger. he was in "steampunk jihad."

IMG01216.jpg
he wore a shemagh (i totally had no idea what that was till he posted it on plurk) with british aviator goggles. (this provoked probably the most hilarious comment i have ever seen in flickr, composed by grady echegaray: "Smiteth the anti-fashionista unbelievers and ye shall have 72 supermodels in paradise!") in the days leading up to the concert, dancien advised me to go to a military surplus store. pretty good advice. i think it gave us a very orientalist flavor, especially when we were holed up in the patio smoking my hookah.

i didn't ask but his shirt appeared to be handmade, or perhaps a poet shirt. (and what happens when my friend poet wears a poet shirt? but i digress) and his boots were very cool as well. i thought he looked very dancien of arabia, ready to lead some rebels. :) and i will say here that in person he is very charming, very considerate, and quite the gentleman, and i was very impressed by him.

rev eponym is a former member of the legendary second citizen forum, and also a builder/libertine/inventor/mad scientist/forumist.

IMG01217
Rev appears in the "Punchcard Networking Engineer"ensemble. the provenance of these things he is wearing is unknown, but he did tell me he was going to a second hand shop to look for something to wear a few days before the event.

i thought it very wonderful, and to me it gave him a very dashing dangerous sort of "strelnikov the revolutionary" kind of look. and of course that soul patch...what can i say....tremendo! in fact i think rev seems to have that whole bad boy cool thing down pat.

but, that is just my opinion, you know.

and then there was me, in the final version of the steampunk nilufer outfit.

although i had vowed not to wear a top hat, a calamitous attempt at a tarpush convinced me otherwise. luckily there were goggles at the bazaar and so i bought them and some seamed hose and fishnet gloves. i wore my spanish mantilla as a hat band, and wore laboriously braided false hair. interesting factoid but the hair added a little bit of bulk to my head and helped the hat stay on better, though rev did his part and assisted me in achieving a rakish angle that had previously eluded me.

as i dressed myself in the hotel room i wondered what people would say or do, as i was in the fairmount, a swanky hotel. but they didn't notice, or at least the bellboys did but they told me i looked "crazy" and "wild." upon further reflection i realize that i probably looked like a hideous mashup/collision of early madonna and generic romance novel cover vague victoriana. but vanity was satisfied because i was complimented a few times, and photographed too. the oddest comment was from a very drunk woman in the elevator as i was returning to my room. she told me i looked very unique.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

at times the profusion of creatively dressed people was staggering to me, a condition probably aggravated by my advanced state of inebriation. and where else do you get into a conversation with a girl about corsets, and end up feeling each other's corset bones????

IMG01202.jpg
one word. HOT.
IMG01205.jpg

interesting.
IMG01212.jpg
rev noted her different interpretation

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

steampunky nilufer?

so, i am going to see abney park in dallas. i had to have a steampunk outfit. this is not a style dialect that i am familiar with. in fact, i spent tons of time in the SCA *avoiding* victorian-era gear.
after tons of hair-pulling, i think i know what i will wear. and refreshingly it won't entail all that much, just some alterations i think.

btw, please be amused at my highly charming bathroom--i have mirrors in this place but they are in the weirdest places. :)

i am thinking the aggresive gloves might look nicer, and i do have a fishnet shrug that goes with it perhaps. but i think this is what i am going to go with, give or take a few things. its funny, i'd made myself nuts making another jacket, which i tried on today with corset and i was completely swimming in it.

it would look sharp, but its vast. as it is the yelek i am wearing is also way too big. (i have it pinned up in the back) its gratifying but sort of annoying too. the choli just fits, though i broke a few beads on the fringe yesterday while trying it on. i am thinking that it will be more like a rom-ish look. i have a white coin hip scarf somewhere, if not i might buy one. not sure for the hair. i have a long length of uzbeki silk, perhaps i can tie a little turban with it?

or go more with the turkish and wear a little fez and wrap the silk around it?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

pre-columbian neko

i have never been a neko before. until now. and naturally i wanted to be a pre-columbian styled neko too.



i actually would never have bothered but i was looking for something else and found the los muertos neko set--roses and skulls, totally up my alley. and the hybrid prod waspoid skin is one of my very faves, though i don't wear it as often as i should.

pre-colombian neko juana wears:

his embrace black by self expressions
hybrid prod waspoid skin female by hybrid productions
los muertos neko set by subtle submission
realia hair by gauze
skull nose piercing by avz
dead doll eyes by deviant kitties
cenobitie's claws by tekeli'li
rivet kitteh boots by dv8
mayan dream tattoos (modded white) by garden of ku
skull collar by mad about...

at temple of bubastis at lyre @ lyre sim
listening to "mass for four voices" from
secretgardenproject.com

Friday, July 10, 2009

juana a la turque

i love hammams. ever since my adventure at the grand mosquee de paris i have loved them. imagine my surprise then when i found one in second life. i was so amused i had to tell troy and he teleported right over.

while we were amusing ourselves, a very bewildered looking romanian guy in speedos showed up. naturally this semi-soap operaish kind of spectacle appealed to me.

i'd been shopping at nomine, because a certain blog post excited my interest in the new rom themed clothing that was out. (giggle)

while i was there i was trying things on and i realized that some of the items reminded me very very much of turkish clothing. and so i started rummaging in my inventory and found a few little accessories.

and voila. juana a la turque. or at least, juana in a fantastically lame ass orientalist version of a turkish woman's outfit. this is the danger, although i thought it looked pretty, i have no earthly clue what i am saying with this outfit, to those who know.

i mean, maybe it makes me look like a kurdish cleaning lady.

and a la turque is a euphemism for....

but i digress.

second life is infamous for having forms of "ethnicity tourism" where people can pick and choose their ethnicity and race and gender...and i suppose i can count myself one of the major criminals committing this particular sim.

and cleaning lady or no, tedi still pushed me in the bosphorus.....

nilufur juana a la turque wears:

skin, mala vida yelek, skirt by nomine
woman's fes plus hair and coin necklace from folklor set (unknown)
top from egyptian black dress set by fumi
babuchas (moroccan slippers) by unknown
nautilus belt by tekeli'li
zydratic complication eyes by aura falta
yoru lingo ring by nonko (that was accidental)

at the second life hammam, and at mission home store.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

fortuitous steampunk cinderella

it is amazing when a series of perfectly timed coincidences happen in a series...i suppose technically the word for this is synchronicity...



right now its my mania, and i have just gotten tickets to see abney park in dallas. and how eerily the sim seemed to match, though it was mostly brazilians there, and unfortunately i could only very faintly understand the outrageous flirting that seemed to be taking place.

steampunk cinderjuana wears:

eyepiece and shoulder piece from the
cuprum copperbot avatar set, copper rose tophat,
fusty rusty bangles, archaic choker,
& ironspine steampunk
by cutea benelli/grim bros
dreadlock purple hair by BP
rusted caged dress, coffin ring,
& boots by schadenfreude
egyptian black dress by fumi
doll house skin 25 by lionskins
mayan dream tatoos by garden of ku
apneatic embrace stockings by blacklist

at tepura sim
listening to Wieniawski Mazurka
by Eugene Ysaye
using the chouchou hud

Monday, July 6, 2009

we'll make castanets out of your testicles already

if i had half a brain i would have busted out the flamenco dance instead. mais non.



my excuse is that i was too overcome by the hilarity of the scene to be witty. i didn't really expect to be pirouetting with the bloody remains of discarded meat puppets.

music box dismembered meat puppet ballet dancer juana wears:

cuprum copperbot avatar, copper rose tophat,
singing saw pants, ironspine steampunk by
cutea benelli/grim bros
stoli nekomi hair nekomi &
rusted caged dress by schadenfreude

at mismera county sim
listening to delayed motet from
secretgardenproject.com
using the chouchou hud

Friday, July 3, 2009

private eye

i am very fond of koinup....they have the most interestingly cool things there. i rely on it most to find new and interesting sims. and by extension i end up learning new and ever more obscure factoids. like enka, a style of japanese music.



this sim is apparently a kind of red light district prevalent in japan before wwii. i was wearing a newly acquired accessory from a designer i like but who has appeared to be inactive for nearly 2 years. its apparently for photographing ghosts. if there are any in second life, i can't say i have seen them, but it made me think of private eyes snooping around. and i wandered around but found no ghosts to speak of.

juana p.i. wears:

egyptian dress by fumi
peppa hair by diversity hair
trophy skulls hat by i love 13
neck corset by ru
hair rose wine by gfield
skull pendant, coffee bangles, & armlets by grim bros
apneatic embrace corset & stockings by blacklist
carpe noctem shoes by nightshade designs
dollhouse skin 25 by lionskins
camera obscura, heaven's tears eyes, and pose by tohru

in the akesan sim
listening to Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe engestelt
sung by marlene dietrich

Sunday, June 28, 2009

1492

i find myself here, in the second life alhambra, having seen with my own eyes the beauty of the real thing, yet at the time of my visit little knowing its deeper significance. i hope i may be forgiven for it.



i think i realize now the events of 1492 and this place have a deeper dimension that i never really understood fully before. i knew columbus met with the catholic kings in the alhambra before he left on his voyage....in the same room where boabdil surrendered his kingdom. and also in this same palace in the same year was issued the infamous alhambra decree expelling the jews.

this catastrophe remembered, (among others) on tisha b'av. it is early, yet. still too early for tisha b'av this year. the saddest day of the year that i never celebrate...but its the reason i have chosen this place to roam, dressed as an old testament angel of affliction......for the laments and exile and destruction for the moslems and jews. and also the destruction and conquest and visited on the indigenous people in the americas. because i guess the energies that were expended to retake this fortress, never dissipated, perhaps just redirected into different parts of the world...

and so i visit the replica of a place that i have come to regard as the womb of our world. i like to think that all of us, the children of the new world, are the products of the scenes that took place in this magnificent jewel of a palace composed and created in equal measures of beauty and filth, violence and piety, and dreams of paradise....

al-zahra wears:

corvinus hair black by gauze
kaballah skin by nikita friede
cernwn horns by siyu suen
corded neck corset by RU
skull pendant by grim bros
u-sha fantasie outfit & boots by husky gfx

in al-Andalus Alhambra
listening to "todos los bienes del mundo"
a villancico by juan del encina

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

ghost court lady

Kenko Yoshida says that the beginnings and ends of things are much more interesting.(p.379)

it is a useful thing to know, when one is on a quest to be a proper heian court lady, in these degenerate and insensitive times. likewise the whole concept of appreciating that which is broken and ugly and commonplace is so hard when we live surrounded in a world of pixel perfection.

with this in mind, reading my battered copy of lady nijo's diary, and even leafing through the pages of my own diary, i am struck at how the words of a long dead anonymous woman, could touch me so deeply, enough that i oftentimes think of her in familiar terms, almost like i know her personally.

second life exists for us to live our dreams, whatever they may be. and so i dressed my little pixel soul-mannikin in the garb of a court lady, and teleported to the kyoto sanjo (the name sanjo, third avenue, is a title she carried when in disgrace) sim, to become her, in a way.

except she never drowned herself, choosing exile instead. and i killed off my avatar, because i loved the outfit so much...and the only way to wear it was as a ghost...

dressed as a ghost, she roamed, this neo-lady sanjo, in the magnificent ishiko kimono made by yukio ishida (he even included red hakama in the outfit) and also wearing the hakama from the splendid ghost hakama set from selos dae, she haunted an empty room, dancing alone. a poem by ariwara no narihira, the heian superpoet/don juan/hero, came to mind:

tuki ya aranu
Faru ya mukasi no
Faru naranu
wa ga mi Fitotu Fa
moto no mi ni site

Is this not that moon?
And Spring: is as the Spring of old
Is it not?
Only this body of mine
Is as it ever was...

Ariwara no Narihira (KKS XV: 747)

and i felt those ancient words sink in so deeply, though i do not mourn those aspects of my life which have died, and those things which i sense even now are passing from my life at this moment. what i do feel is the certain inescapable onslaught of aging and death approaching, a contrast to the ever youthful pixel creature that is a surrogate container for my soul, the little doll who i incarnate and inhabit in this dreamworld.

and as if in an answer, like the long ago legend of ono no komachi's skull reciting poetry to ariwara no narihira as he rode past her grave, i was drawn to one of komachi's poems:

Fana no iro Fa
uturi ni keri na
itadura ni
waga mi yo ni Furu
nagame sesi ma ni

The colour of this flower
Has already faded away,
While in idle thoughts
My life goes by,
As I watch the long rains fall.


Ono no Komachi (KKS II: 113)



the ghost lady sanjo wears:
(dead)
ishiko kimono by gauze
hakama from ghost hakama set by trap
aisha hair silver by penumbra
geisha skin 07 by penumbra
miko tiara by rumi

(living)
aisha hair black by penumbra
juni-hitoe top by CTK kimono
miko hakama by kami hitoe
uchikake (oiran) by i dont know.

the poems (and their background stories) from the 2001 Waka for Japan 2001 site.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

unintended explorer

necessity is the mother of invention? or perhaps exploration? i don't know. but today while shopping i found myself marooned on the dirty lynx sim and while there, unable to teleport, i decided to make the best of it and explore.

there were a few places that amused me some. a scary hobo place....but a little further on i noticed the gleaming of something, and upon closer inspection realized it was a large steampunk submarine, just casually laying out on the ground.

i had no idea what it was meant to be, but i had to explore.

i used to love reading jules verne as a younger person, and although i have forgotten most of it, the flavor of the adventures that i had read about--and this seemed so wonderfully made, and textured. it had such a gilded age ambiance to it--heavy wood and glistening metal.

i was only trapped here a relatively short time....but i expect i might return, if only to visit.


sailor juana wears:

trophy skull hat, paper doll dress set, emo bird boots by i love 13
niela coffee hair by philotic energy
beads and willow smokey skin by eat rice!
coffee skull bangles by grim bros
red planet earrings by spica
cinema shirt purple rotten toe
purple striped stockings by katatonik
zydratic complication eyes by tacky star

in an abandoned steampunk submarine, somewhere in the dirty lynx sim.