this is what it sounds like.....when gothloli robots cry.

i have to start this post with a shout out to marisol koencamp of the blog some strangeness in the proportion. i saw her fabulous last post featuring the chrome goddess skins by Terra Cioc and started drooling uncontrollably despite my somewhat semi-serious aversion to gynoids.  then i invited my two friends Dimitri Rizooto and Circe Timtam, and guess what happened.............



it just goes to show what terrible role models fashion bloggers can be, no? :D

juana manuel as the gothloli doll wears:

duck shoot mustache by katatonik
triquetra posture collar by lolapop!
aura top hat
and chiroptera bloomers by violent seduction
black dancer vinyl gloves
and replicant eyes by rotten toe
poe corset and panties by nightshade designs
broken crinoline skirt by weird designs
enigma bracelets by loulou&co
ailith hair grafite by wasabi pills
j's thigh high boots
chrome goddess v02 skin by terra cioc

Special thanks to Brad Murphy for permission
to use his cover of "When Doves Cry"

vibrator sound effect from
freesounds.org

Circe Timtam as the Girl wears:

Skin - Nomine Sylvan Ultralight-glam goblin
Hair - ZF-Tickles Hair-Frost Marshmallow
Eyes - Slick-Blink Rumpleteazer-New Growth
Ears & Tail - Urban Dare Neko Ears w/rings and
Urban Dare Neko Straight Tail- Long/Slim w/dagger
Piercings - Slick-Triple Erl and
Slick-Triple Lip Piercing w/Triple Round Dangles
Tattoos - Aitui Cherry Blossoms (red) undie & bra layer
Bra - Artilleri Deanna Bra *cherry black*
Sweater - Pixel Mode Twist Sweater-Black
Skirt - Blow-Up MiniSkirt Zipped-WhiteTartan
Panties - Blow Up-Black Panties Low
Pearls - Shiny Things-Knotted Bead Strand
in Mother of Pearl
Boots - Pixel Mode-Viv Boots-Jet w/Silver
Stockings - Sheer Torn Fishnets in black

Dimitry Rizooto as the Boy wears:

Skin - Daniel Peach 04 - LAQ,
Hair - Caught - Shag,
Pants - Deconstructed Blue - Nomine
Wife Beater - Plain White Tank - Mechanism ,
Shirt - Sinnerman Smoker - Nomine,
Sunglasses - Recon - Role Optic,
Tattoo - Viva La Zapata by garden of Ku

Special Thanks to Dimitry for the use
of his house and also
his excellent poseball wrangling

my necro-nomine valentine

i just had to have the new nomine milkmaid dress...it is so gorgeous and sexy and it comes in several colors. juana has gotten several compliments wearing it, and i would highly recommend going out and buying all of them myself. amusingly enough when i donned the dress, it put me in a bit of a valentine's day mood, but in my case that means laughing at necrophilia. it did remind me a little of what a lonely girl working at a morgue might wear. or at least my idea of what a lonely girl working at a morgue might wear.

i was encouraged/joined/enabled in this jollity by the ever fabulous recidivist sideways, who volunteered to play the dead guy. we were also supervised very carefully by the diabolically fashionable Rev Eponym (who was observing off camera).  i have mentioned before that Liqueur Felix has the coolest images and flickr site for browsing for new places, and it is there that i found the slurl to Ben's Morgue in the Wastelands.  

special guest star recidivist sideways wears:
custom skin and accessories
by munchflower zaius of nomine

necrophilia valentine juana wears:
peach milkmaid dress, primrose virgin tart skin,
& heart repaired necklace female by nomine
latex gloves from dark dancer set by rotten toe
black boots (high) by j's boots
skull nose ring by avz
kitty eyes blood black by yukis devin
new 47 hair by W&Y

at ben's morgue, wastelands
http://mixoom.com/map/The%20Wastelands/96/250/76

"how deep is your love cover" by david choi (thanks to david choi for permission)
download at:
http://davidchoimusic.com/downloads/covers/

special thanks to Rev Eponym
for ensuring no corpses
or small animals were harmed in the
making of this fashion machinima.

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)

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*

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

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

psychokiller...qu'est-ce que c'est?

i am always so late. i saw the coolest machinima i have ever seen today, and the even cooler part is that the person who made it, posted his settings on flickr.

so i had to go mess around at the carnival of doom. it isn't the rides that i love there, but the creepy outbuildings. there's a barn (a real sort of non red texas-ish barn) that has blood and veves on the walls and floors....and a house that looks so ed geinish.

psycho killer juana wears:
singing saw top, graphite skin, black wireweb monocle, coffee skull bangles, bone element piercing, separate skull pendant,bullet arm band all by grim bros/cutea benelli
tribal hair 2 by avz
assassin high heels by dirty lynx
obsidian blade by cortech
antie eyes silent brown by artilleri
couture separates chaps brown/black digit darkes
corded neck corset by RU
suicide earrings by spica
fumi gset gloves by i dont remember

at carnival of doom
listening to psycho killer by the talking heads.

black and blue ballerina.....

i love lionskins. and they are having a contest too. when you go to their place they have a photo thingy set up because that is part of the rules--you have to use THEIR photo thingy.

i have never used a photo thingy and so i have been going there and playing in it. now i understand why people get so freaking excited about it. being stupid i have no clue how this thing works, every time i go there it's different and i have pushed all the buttons.

its sort of fun though.

i had a massive binge in lionskins and in modern gypsy too. this is another modern gypsy dress i found that i liked. black and blue go together so well it seems.

even though i don't wear the most recent things i suppose i can be forgiven in this one respect. its also so fun when you finally find a dress that you can wear with the invariably weird and hard to match pieces that occasionally crop up. these gloves are from a bizarre and ugly outfit but i have been wanting to wear them for ages......

and i love love love tattoos, and i really love these, from otaku designs......and the hair makes me scream. i mean, being a librarian you'd think i would have a sort of affinity for buns but i swear i hate them normally, but this one is so towering and wobbly and just so generally goofy looking that i thought i had to have it just for the irony factor.

black and blue ballerina juana wears:

Pers bracers by Deviant Kitties
Dollhouse 25 skin by LionSkins
tripleicecream hair by BP
gloves from dragonfly set by i don't know who
sugar skull necklace by kunstkammer
caged bird crown by silent sparrow
blue bird of happiness earrings by i don't know
akemi posture collar, fetish stockings, and arm belts by gauze
zydratic complication eyes by tacky star
hair rose pink by gfield
sugar skull and roses tattoos by otaku designs
dancer dress by modern gypsy
boots with platform addons by sinistyle
skull nose ring by avz

in the lionskins store messing with their photo thingy......

hazmat club girl at the meat market

i am very fond of dance music, and the clubs in second life have good music but they also look so cool. and even if there are annoying people it's nicer than feigning interest when a drunk person screams idiotic pickup lines in your ear, flavored with their beer breath.
i went to kitu lounge, which was amusing because they had dance platforms that move up and down with the music. if that was for real i would totally be vomiting and fall off too. but in second life it is no big deal, and you can even look as odd as you want to.......

because I sort of can't take it seriously dressed like this....in a frat boy meat market kind of club....

the juana the club girl wears:

dedalo set by blue blood
black widow boots by nightshade designs
forbidden 19 skin by lionskins
amaya kimono arm belts and posture collar by gauze
riddle multi by magika (guilty for wearing it but oh well)
skull bracers by ct
finga gloves by snatch

ganguro

i have never ever worn this style before. it's called ganguro, a look that's past its time already. according to the all-knowing wikipedia, it peaked around 2004. it makes me think of a character that would get killed in a horror flick, so i visited the carnival of doom. while i was wandering around i met a few carnies dancing in a barn, all blood soaked, and i laughed at the utter contrast of it all. they were nice though, and i promptly changed into something more gruesome looking.

i think it's an interesting style even if it's already dead and in its grave, because this is what japanese schoolgirl rebellion looks like apparently. it consists of a deep tan, with white lipstick and eyeliner, bleached blonde hair, and loud bright colors.

i have to admit it took me a moment to adjust, because it looks weirdly like a kind of racist blackface at first. i did love the face gems, and this was the first time i have worn false eyelashes in SL. it's funny, just like RL i had to shorten them and adjust them to fit my tiny eyes.

the loud clashy colors took some getting used to. i hardly ever wear this kind of thing in SL. i searched all the images i could find and i was unable to really implement it on my SL body farther than this. but the skin is very lovely, and the eye jewels too, both from Gauze, which is one of the holy trinity of my favorite visual kei-ish stores--those being Gauze, The Black Canary, and Blue Blood.

the rebelliously attired juana-ko sports:

ganguro ginger skin, Corvinus hair, and heart face gems by Gauze
eyelashes by DrL
Frog tee by Meriken
Skull mini skirt by amplify
Flour corsage from 64 set by KS
tropicana hair flower by artilleri
purple legwarmers by BP
blackstripe leg socks by LaynieWear
jeweled satin cuffs from murder ballet set by snatch
absynthe oshun collar by dark eden
ving boots by shiny things

at the carnival of doom, and the china sim

alice in wonderland/strange girls

i was bored and went to the alice in wonderland ride. it was odd but not creepy.

i was bad and jumped off the ride and wandered in the display. while there i met an avatar named avril bosshart. she was nice, and gave me a radioactive cookie. this is the first time in recorded history that i have worn a cookie like that. but it seemed fitting.

there were other very interesting displays. i wished though that you could be shrunk or be turned into a giant, when you passed the "eat me" and "drink me" signs. it reminded me too much of the disney cartoon version, in the end.

juana in wonderland wears:

sade dress set & carpe noctem boots by nightshade designs
dream hair by red queen
forbidden 14 skin by lionskins

it seemed the sort of place to wear this outfit. it reminds me a little of the RL alice and the pirates label that i see often in the gothloli bible.

and then this is where it gets a bit odder. i found a big top circus stage set up. it seemed the thing to do, to put on a saloon outfit, and do a little dance. i was in the middle of something and then i realized that avril was there. she'd found me, and so i asked her if she wanted to be in the machinima. she changed into a really lovely deadly clown outfit, and then we did our little strange girls thing in the big top.


the strange girls wear:
on juana:

midnight victorian and amaya kimono cuffs by Gauze
rose suede hairpin (wine) by G Field
black coffin ring by Schadenfreude
goth hat by unknown
aDiva couture temptress hat by aDiva
platform dia de los muertos shoes by Grim Bros
susie leather choker
june hair style by Catwa
forbidden 14 by LionSkins

on avril bosshart:

shoes, dress, hat, parasol, and skin from Carnival of Doom
Machette hair by Deviant Kitties

ay POPI

i thought it would be funny to go somewhere where my dress didn't match the surroundings. first off i went to some trashy "666" horror sim in my beloved new POPI dress by Eshi Otawara.

so far so good right? no. i was wandering around looking impossibly pert and perky in the stereotypically gloomy satanic lite lame ass sim (with two big ass pistols i may add) and clicked on some sort of animated scene type things.
some were merely incomprehensible, mostly they were silly.

but then again, how i can i say they are silly if i myself am there too?

it's only cuz i am being ironic. (yeah right)

while on my little tour of the premises, i got trapped in a spider cage thingy. i didn't mind though, because this is sort of what i think a deranged fashionista would look like, after having to keep up with everyone for so long.

but we can chalk this up to hallucinations and exhaustion right? which means a stint in rehab or a hospital.....................................

so i looked around for lunatic asylums. this one appears to be a clubhouse for a group of people who like to put mildly pronish pics of their avatars all over the place. i decided to stay because the bear at this lunatic asylum reminds me of tedi........

the crazy wannabe fashionista is clad in:

POPI by Eshi Otawara
Skin Ultralight Vamp red (Nomine)
Pearls (i can't remember)
GField Lady Rose Shoes in Pale Pink
Katonka hair by Catwa

shopping binge

i am always the last person in the world to find out things.

i found a sl visual kei fashion blog i loved, and zeroed into a store i hadn't been to yet. and pretty much went crazy in there. then i took myself to club baby seals and saw dancien and momo. momo was wearing the dogwitch set from nomine. i didn't recognize what dancien wore save the burnt bones skin from Nomine. it was funny because momo naturally knew all about the store i had visited, and even chided me very gently, with her astounding encyclopedic knowledge of sl fashion. i also had no idea either about the hair boycott, and got a rundown on it. it was a really interesting hour or so visit--i tried out my new computer, and dancien and momo talked a little about the things they did when they make their poems in the language of images. it was really fascinating to hear, like having the curtain drawn back and seeing the gears moving behind the scenes.

stats:

skin: dark jester; latex top, skirt, leg bands: isis silks; boots: black widow; all by Nightshade Designs
skulls chest ornament, gloves, stockings, and underpants: Dogwitch by Nomine
tattoos: Mayan Dream by Garden of Ku
bracelets: Bloody rawbones by Retox
skull nose ring: AVZ
Jolly roger armband: Grim Bros
hair: Riddle by Magika
wings: Cobweb by Material Squirrel
badass obsidian sword: Cortech cyber Macahuitl by Beezle Warburton

it was interesting, and i left soon after. i wanted to try on the rest of the things i had bought, and bored, went to odaesan house. i tried on one of the dresses i had found, a black EGL, and to amuse myself listened to malice mizer's song "baroque" while i wandered around. i am curious if since it is all black, that means it qualifies as a kuro loli dress?

stats:

skin: dark jester; dress, stockings, gloves: Sade; leg bands: isis silks; boots: black widow; by Nightshade Designs
tattoos: Mayan Dream by Garden of Ku
parasol: Reien set by Sweetaholic
skull nose ring: AVZ
Immaculate heart necklace: Tekel'li
hair: Lucy by Magika
Skull Ear Spikes: Mad About
Raven Pennyfeather hat: Nonna Hedges

i got some more dresses and boots but i will have to wait for another day to fiddle with them.

sxsw part two (interesting bands and their outfits)

Originally uploaded by al-zahra

it's a pity i didn't get more funny pictures, but it's hard to sneak up on people and take pictures with the phone when you are doubled over laughing. i mean, i just can't stop myself from laughing. it was bad enough with troy because we'd look at each other and make faces. i did however get this one pic of jrockers outside elysium. it was a pain in the ass to try to stand behind them, because their hair blocked the view of everything. i have absolutely no idea who they are or if they are famous.

these are few crackberry pics of the bands that i saw. they ranged from the pretty charming and aggressively stylish to the insane.

the japanese show is a useful starting point, because the (admittedly few) bands i saw there were interestingly dressed, as were the spectators. pictured to the left is the band "the emeralds" who wore leather pants and jackets with polyester shirts. they also wore big ugly plastic sunglasses, as part of a pseudo elvis tribute.

the fans wore a wide range of things, with minis, legwarmers, etc. it was very much like second life becoming real life.....people were wearing whatever, like anime characters or covered in tatts and piercings.

the band "mad juana" was very interesting. this is the violin player. the rest of the band wore an intriguing meld of roma, spanish, mexican, and hipster outfits. this guy scared the freaking hell out of me because i bumped into him in the hallway not noticing and i just wasn't expecting to meet death so soon. he was also wearing halloween spectacles that distorted his eyes in addition to the heavy make up and improbable combo of mariachi suit and afghan hat. i liked the black polka dot skirt-velvet corset plus piano shawl and tophat that the accordion player wore, and the lead singer looked like the greaser girlfriend in the movie grease--with plaid capris, a satin 50s letter jacket, and a rose in her hair.

the most austerely stylish were the moog, from budapest. they had us laughing because they were so into their style and appearance that the band members would duck into the bathroom at least every 15 minutes to make sure their hair was utterly perfect. the lead guy especially was very chichi, with uber tight black jeans, pointy toed shoes, red shirt, vest and jacket and ascot.
it was hard not to stare at him when he was off stage because he was just so easy on the eyes.

======================================================================

honorable mention: monareta


they are zany, but it takes balls to wear a silver helmet with a bicycle wheel mounted on top of it. that and dancing energetically around, and climbing balconies........i mean it's not really an outfit, but i thought it was hilarious.

i also saw a band of street performers, half furry, who were a type of brass band with trombones and things. they weren't entirely furry, only partly, but wore bits and pieces of marching band uniforms....the one human was dressed sort of like a sweet little country rodeo clown.........

pyehole's testicle

Originally uploaded by al-zahra

today i chatted with pyehole, for the first time in about a year. i thought he hated me but it turns out he had merely forgotten to reply to my email.

i was given a message from him on new year's from arjuna, and so today i called him. he'd been in the hospital recovering from a twisted testicle.

i have missed him. we are throwing out ideas of having a benefit for him. i'd totally pole dance for him. :) when i discussed this with him he was highly amused.

and in keeping with his pyehole style, when i said good bye, he merely said, don't be a stranger. it was as if he'd just left five minutes ago.

sublime porte sallies forth

You Cant Do THAT!
Originally uploaded by steelskyblue

i am laughing so hard. this is way too much fun. and this is as good as an introduction as any to my friend sublime porte. he has a very complex nature. i have described him at length elsewhere in pillowblog, and so don't have time to repeat all that i have said.

but this is so very representative of him i think. and so i put this as a souvenir of him. it is actually proper as well, because he was the one who pushed me to have a blog, and then after told me in his sublime way, that it was too texty and i should have pictures and things throughout.

my first video with new camera

my first video with new camera
Originally uploaded by al-zahra

and so it begins, no?

a new camcorder, ridiculously easy to use.......i don't normally speak this slowly but i am not used to speaking into the camera. :)

it's not a fashion blog, although that is one of my major hobbies, in RL and SL. at first i had it to keep track of my sca garb projects and sl outfits, like a blog version of the notebook i used to have. but now i thought it could be more like a pillow book for pictures, outfits, and videos. and pranks. and SCA. and whatever i want to do. i am not sure.....

hanukkah gelt bank robber

i really hate the holidays.

it was the second to last night of hanukkah, and in the spirit of mostly boredom i went on a crime spree with my dear little Breach MP5. First i stopped at Hangars Liquides, but shootings are so depressingly pedestrian there. then i went to a German bank. I thought to hold them up for Hanukkah gelt. Seeing as there was nobody there to terrorize, i just posed like Patty Hearst. so call me "Tania" from now on.

gimme all the gelt. MACH SCHNELL bitches.


"tania" is wearing:

skin: Nomine vamp Red
hair: Zero Style "Tita"
hair doodle: Sweetaholic Hair Accessorie
hair rose: GF Rose hairpin Red
dress & gloves: katatonik hanukkah dress (group freebie)
armlets & choker: Susie Bone-Shirt Set
earring and necklace: Violet Voltaire Glitterati set
tattoo: Mia Snow Candy
stockings: katatonik striped stockings teal/black
boots: SiniStyle Deception boots plus platform add-on
machine gun: Breach MP5