Timberry and Fashionably Dead

I don't really have any interesting stories to tell you about Timberry Boutique- while Timberry has been part of the 'Lust since Neverdie, it arrived fully formed in the stage, and I've never met the avatar behind it, Viewtiful Young (because I'm a hermit).

I do recall the first time I saw it though- it wasn't even quite open yet, in Cherry Buttons, and I was enchanted by the stage, and wanted so dearly to be sitting in the front row watch puppets dance across it acting out some parody of life. Timberry carries imaginative clothing, hair, and accessories, as one might guess upon seeing the stage.

On the other hand, I have more stories than space to tell you about the Fashionably Dead dinosaur. It was originally built to go on the opposite end of the motel, at Neverdie, once I finally buckled down to face it. Funnily enough, I'd been thinking about how to build a giant concrete dinosaur building before Starlustland was a twinkle in our eyes, as I'd dreamed of having one in the Wastelands, but the interior/collision/walkability on that dream dinosaur was nightmarish to consider (it was a more accurate recreation of Dinny, a lot of the details of which don't translate so well to SL for a multitude of reasons- as well as being less fitting for Fashionably Dead in general). For this one, I'd been stymied at just how to approach it- sculpts versus regular prims, working within the very limited selection of megas, how to texture it...it was all an uphill battle. I quite love how it finally came out, with his goofy eyes watching over Starlustland.


Toast Bard is to blame for a great many things- one of those being the Oui Coupes coming to the Starlust, she set out a pair of them in Neverdie. And I scrunched myself in them, and made it possible to drive up to the second floor of the motel (and parked next to the laundry), as well as invisibly ramping the pool, and otherwise making the majority of Neverdie drivable in some manner. And trying to drive on to that dinosaur's head- which I have managed, but it's soooo not easy. There are a few more pitfalls in Starlustland currently (quicksand!), but I still build with half a mind towards "how will a car work in this environment", and while I can't build everything to be drivable, I can at least build more things to not cause too much getting stuck. Also, if you drive up the mountain and bank just right, you can get up onto the roof of the motel.

Toast Bard was also the first person to build an interior to one of my builds that made my jaw drop in awe. I wasn't sure how she was going to use the space (this was, you know, back before I became a sadistic evil bitch and _everything_ I built had curved walls), but she created the most perfect little gift shop inside (it is, in fact, way more adorable than the gift shop inside the actual dinosaurs I've visited- especially Dinny, it's what the interior of Dinny should be, but never has been). I strongly suggest you take the time out to read the signs to learn some about this period in history, before you walk through the curtain in the back to explore the dinosaur further.

If you've read the helpful information signs, you will know more about the dinosaurs that await you beyond the curtain, in their bright and colourful blacklight world. Toast Bard, of course, is also one of the brilliant minds behind the sim of Tableau, which is one of my favourite places in all of Second Life (although I always get a bit of a pang when they remodel- I'm far more likely to nest and choose to add more, rather than demolish the old to make way for the new), and is herself an amazing artist, both evinced by her skins, clothing, hair, and accessories in Fashionably Dead, and by her amazing paintings and other artwork. I have been trying to stay at least somewhat impartial in my tour of Starlustland, but it's true that while all of our family is amazing, both as artists and personally (as well as patient and understanding and insanely good sports with whatever we decide to pull on them), there are certain people with whom I have more of a personal affinity, for their style and the amazing things that they do- not to mention the fact that Toast Bard is one of the pioneers of SL, someone whose been creating content for a number of years and is in part responsible for SL growing into the world of beauty that it is today, both through things she herself has done, and simply through her example encouraging others to try and push harder to do more amazing things. Fashionably Dead also keeps a new release blog.