VPoses and Devo

I meant to post this...a bit ago, but I suck and kept getting distracted. As it is, the panty hunt officially ended last night...but you might get lucky and still be able to find some. After last year's hunt, we were still finding clams for months.

And by "months" I mean "I saw a clam from last year's hunt out in this year's".

Our community manager got a cheat sheet from everyone (in theory), so maybe, just maybe, they will have been returned if people haven't picked theirs up...but I haven't logged in today so I don't know if she's done that yet!

But anyway. Now that I've apologized for not wearing pants...again...and possibly taunting you with things you can't have.

Nestled up in the foothills behind Thimbles is a little building that houses VPoses. It's got some glass walls as well, so there are some great views from it.

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for more good pose shops, and VPoses has a lot of nice "model" poses (including some with great attitude), as well as fun poses and group sets for snapshots, and a great sofa with a number of poses (especially tuned for couples. Awwwwww).

Devo is located at the foot of Mount Lolita, down the stairs from VPoses, and is full of all sorts of scripted wild and wackiness. The piano I'm posing on here actually plays when you touch or stand on it, and you can record songs to play back as well.

Yes, I do have no legs (and put on a more skin tone skin as the legless attachment isn't really meant for someone as blindingly white as I usually am! Regardless, it is still made of awesome, and I am willing to get a tan for it), courtesy of a thresher accident, and Devo. The picture behind me is something I halfassedly drew- you can play with it with your whole ass and draw pretty pictures on it too.

VPoses and Devo are located in scenic Floyd, below and to the side of the giant flowers scattered across Mount Lolita.

Split Pea

Split Pea is the brainchild of Melatonin Hax, she who is one half of Thimbles, the high muckity muck in charge of the Area 408 half of Harold, and the new sim Elliott. A little over a year ago, she branched off from Thimbles into millinery- creating fantastical creations, mostly to be worn upon the head, in room 13 of the motel when it moved to Lloyd.

Eventually this little side project grew beyond the bounds of just a motel room, and moved into, of course, giant peas. Those peas inhabit the space in Lloyd that had been devoted to Thimbles, before the move to the giant thimbles in Floyd, keeping that plot in the family, as it were.

Quite a few head adornments (there are hats- but there are also feathers and vines and bows and glasses and birds) in Split Pea are created to go with things made by other designers- there are hats to go with dresses by Heartattack&Vine, feathers and bows to go with Clawtooth by Clawtooth hair.

Split Pea is located in the southwest corner of Lloyd, a stone's throw from the motel and next to ZsaZsa's bra on Horst.

War? (We grief our sims, so you don't have to)

On the evening of July 14th, the evil forces of Vintage McMillan (of Epoque and Eugene) and her army of giant dolls descended upon the Starlust, in her bid to conquer the rest of the land of greater Starlustland. It started high above the skies of Floyd, as a foreboding airship cruised around, dropping huge dolls in her declaration of war.

We scrambled to rally the troops in response, and were aided in our defense by mushroom throwers, giant chickens, and the fearless crotch swan infantry. And then, the battle was on! Vintage manned the huge Godzilla-like doll, with its laser eyes, setting fire to the grounds of the motel, as giant chickens flew into the face of danger trying to fend off the menace.






















Eventually the brave cock and fungus forces were victorious, defeating Vintage's evil...for now.

I knew it was a mistake to let Eugene in!

More photographs of the damage can be found on the flickr pages linked above, as well as at the lobby of the motel. You can also get a cockfighter of your very own at the lobby, to stand firm in the face of evil everywhere.

Starlust Residentials

Did you know the Starlust has a few residential spots?

(The Emerald viewer rocks in a multitude of ways, including the temp upload feature and the ability to set perms of things in the contents of objects en masse, and it also actually lets me turn on Atmospheric Shaders! I have to use them very sparingly and only for photos...but look! Actual pretty water!)

Nestled in the mountains above Area 408, there are a select few unique buildings for residences, overseen by our lovely Melatonin Hax. It's a pretty fantastic view from up there, looking over all of Starlustland (if you can up your draw distance! I keep mine super low except for photos, so I'm always even more amazed when I can see things).

We do request that visitors to Starlustland be respectful to those who choose to keep homes here, however we have been blessed with never having any problems to speak with so far, because, let's face it, the people who hang out at the Starlust are awesome.

Royal Blue

Royal Blue just recently underwent a remodeling. It has kept a lot of the same themes and charm of the previous build, but evolved into more of a proper "building"- this time, for instance, there's actually a roof! The previous incarnation to that was the gingerbread house in Floyd, and it's been an interesting progression in theme to watch, as certain elements have become more prevalent.

(I'm sorry, I have to apologize here for a moment- the new ~silentsparrow~ tattoos have made it hard for me to actually wear clothing. However, as I was having a hard time deciding upon a shirt that would accentuate this skirt to its full potential anyway...so it worked out just fine! I love the floral motif on this one playing into the roses.)

As you might be able to spy in the background, there's a new addition to Horst. All that glitter has been gathering high above the sims...and it made a giant unicorn. I hear eventually Tres Blah shall be setting up shop in his innards!

It's a very chic build, but at the same time, there's a lot just a bit strange and wonderful about it. When you walk inside, you find that there are two distinct styles of architecture at war- on the one side you have the very fancy slick white walls with accents, clean and stark, like the interior of high end Beverly Hills boutique, or a nice department store like Saks, when it still actually was nice (it's even more that prefect ideal of what these things should be, what they try to be, than even the reality achieved)- and on the other it's an explosion of flowers and plants and grasses planted in a checkerboard pattern (even up onto the walls), as if Wonderland has come to take over.

I would like to thank the lovely Nivaya Barbosa, of Dressing in Pixels, for playing the fashionista Alice to my Cheshire Cat.

Royal Blue is located on the sheer cliffside of Horst, next to Sh!t Happens and Free*Style, and also keeps an update blog.

The Garden

We don't really have a name for the area in the middle of Floyd, the foothills of Mount Lolita covered in giant plants. I call it the garden (which occasionally gets "wait, where?" in response).

Originally there were 13 flowers planted on the slopes of Lolita, brought into being by Apatia Hammerer, Melatonin Hax, and myself; as each of us created some of the flowers until we hit our desired number- they almost built themselves, unlike most builds where I sit there and worry and plan and try to figure out how to work (I obsess. It's a character flaw). Well, two of mine aren't really flowers, per se, but carnivorous plants, as I have a bit of a soft spot for them (though, sadly, not the climate to grow them, as my venus flytraps and my pitcher plants have never lasted more than a season, regardless of the terrariums I try to set up for them). I'll let you in on a secret- the pitcher plant is my favourite. It's also the one with the most ridiculous traffic flow, having to climb up and down to get into it!

I shall momentarily single out one store in particular- usually I try to avoid much of that in the broad tours when covering a larger area because then I'd never finish, however Aisuru Rieko of Beloved Designs, not only chose the pitcher plant of the ridiculous way of getting in and out, she also helped out when the garden was replanted- first providing the adorable temporary booths of bowling pins and balls, as well as adding a few of her own creations for buildings when the garden expanded.

When the garden was originally planted, the Starlustland sign wasn't around- it only ended up coming into being one day I was working on Horst, before any of it was open to the public. I think, for some reason, it was the bra that brought it about (maybe because of some cognitive leap that involved Frederick's of Hollywood as one of the steps? I don't know, I just know that it seemed fitting and wanted to see it happen). When the mountain was (finally- if you visited Horst in the interim, you know that it sat there near the bra for a while, though it was always planned to move to Lolita once we terraformed for it) carved out to create a place for the sign, the garden expanded beyond the original 13 to include mushrooms, a potted onion, crate, watering can, wheelbarrow, and the barn. I find it a bit more fun to walk around in now, too, with little pathways hanging precariously off the edge.

Currently tending our garden:
Scribble, with cute clothing and funthings
i love 13, with imaginative inventive jewelry and floofy dresses
Beloved Designs, with quirky and adorable landscaping
77 Degrees, with pretty hats
Chaoslotus, with adorable jewelry
Picnic, with sweet garden and home items
Fresh Baked Goods, with candy coated jewelry
RC Cluster, with novelty items that make you cooler
Tousled, with cute girly hair
Hang the DJ, with casuals for men and women
Fresh Trash, with great clothing basics for girls
[CRAP], {BOUTIQUE}, Punch Drunk, and Fawn Fotherington Hair, all sharing a space in the barn, with clothing and hair spanning a few genres (you know I'm totally pulling all these adjectives out of my ass anyway, right? If you said "oh, I like _insert type of thing here_, I could tell you where to go, but I'm not good for coming up with the right types of descriptives! Also, yes, I overuse cute and adorable and fun, but, well, they all are, so....)
Kandy Kitty, with the most appropriate couch for smoochin' ever
Nimia store, with vintage and unusual clothing

Smersh and The Golden Oriole

I'm sorry I've been a slacker of a tour guide- I was distracted by getting through the oxfords, finally. Sorry, you haven't gotten rid of me yet!

The two places I would like to show you today are Smersh and The Golden Oriole. Both have impact in Starlustland beyond just their shops- flopsie McArdle of Smersh has contributed a number of little touches all over the sims, from hot dog themed items (mmmmm) to paths to trees to picnic tables and beyond, when flopsie hasn't been off building sims for companies, she's been puttering around the 'Lust here and there. And, of course, the train station on Horst that houses VintageWear, one of her magnificent prefabs.

I've never met the person (or people?) behind the Golden Oriole myself, but they are directly responsible for the absolutely fantastic treehouse that perches high atop Mount Lolita on Floyd, that serves as the communal I (heart) the Starlust clubhouse. We used to have a castle there, but gave them freedom to do whatever they thought was good, and it blew away any expectations we had!

Both places have a lot in common- aside from being right next to each other, they also both do prefabs and gadgets and furniture, and they do it fantastically. Smersh is more modern retro and grunge, the home of the Laser Shark, a hotbed (hotdog) of revolutionary activity, and the place you can get the best damn corndog in Second Life. You can also ponder the existentialist emptiness of being as you wage slave your life away selling Flopdogs. The Golden Oriole excels at steampunk and Victorian delights: beautiful buildings, exquisite weaponry, gorgeously detailed furniture for the upscale abode, and what is certainly the best pith helmet in Second Life I have ever seen.

Smersh and The Golden Oriole are right next to each other on Lloyd, towards Herman Melville from the motel.

Catty Campground

The part of Harold you enter from Horst, the other half of Stein's section to Dogtown, is Catty Campground. Stein created this fabulous bright tents that await your desire to camp out under the stars, sitting around the campfires telling scary stories (I set up random poses in a number of the rocks surrounding the fires, because I'm obsessed with sit trapping. It's a sickness).

There is, of course, also a public shower, so while you're roughing it, at least you have some of the amenities. Filth is just _so_ unfashionable, you know. Be careful you don't slip at the entrance, there's a bit of a puddle that hasn't been cleaned up yet.

The gravel roads through the campground lead to Dogtown and to Area 408, with tents set back a bit from the road, but still within easy walking distance. After all, you wouldn't want to be _too_ inconvenienced while camping.

In the showers:
Boycut, with assorted underthings for boys, and girls who like their underthings with more coverage

Currently camping out:
Zanzo, with cute japanese inspired printed clothing and shoes
CoCo, with cartoony animal pillows and sofas
SLink with ladies clothing, and shoes with sculpted feet and sculpted bare feet
Miu, with sweet girls clothing
duh, with ladies footwear and t-shirts
Republica, with clean lined furniture
Sugar Puss, with sweet girl shapes
(nova), with colourful women's wardrobe staples
Tiny Bird, with lovely hair for ladies
SD Wears, with alternative clothing
lessthanthree, with fun t-shirts and heans
Golden Delish, with fun and fanciful poses
Rock Candy, with skins and hair for men

VintageWear

VintageWear has its mainstore on Horst (this is soon to change- as there's a new hidden extra son in the Starlust family just arrived), in the train station built by flopsie j McArdle. flopsie has left her mark on Starlustland- aside from her brilliant SMERSH duck, she's contributed a number of details around the sims (including the wonderful workhorse paths that we've done all sorts of things to....and the giant hotdog in front of the motel). She has more patience with realism than I do, as I have a tendency to get bored and wander off- she adds all sorts of crazy finishing touches.

Vintage McMillan creates all sorts of amazing eyewear, including over the top styles inspired by Elton John and Lady Gaga, and also makes jewelry, and hair. The hair section has grown too large for the train station, and you'll have to take a seat on the teleporter to take a visit to the hair shop.

If you drunkenly follow the girls at the boardwalk on Baconlust Beach around a corner, you'll also find her shoes- the Amazing Hooker Walkers, available in a selection of colours. Molest Touch any girl to find out her story- the brilliant stories are written by Stein and Apatia.

Halflust Harbor

Halflust Harbor is on the inland shore of Floyd, and might give one the tiniest inkling into Floyd's penchant for sailors. (There's a lot you can probably infer about Floyd's personality if you look around the sim- and you'd be right.)

Halflust is a lovely place to sit and pick up sailors enjoy a nice day by the water, exploring the sunken depths of the Big Booty Big Money ship (we're not going to talk about how drunk I was when I sailed that in there), browsing the wares of the less soggy shops, and whiling away the time fishing (like most of the watery areas in Starlustland, there is 7Seas fishing at the Harbor, including special Starlust exclusive catches).

The harbor serves as the mainstore for a few places, including Twosome, Sisters, the Sock Shop, and Big Booty Big Money. There's also a fortune teller at the entrance to the center of Floyd, where you can try your luck with a friend to win fabulous prizes.

And after an exhausting day running around, there are comfy benches where you can take a nap.

Currently docking at port:
Twosome mainstore, with fun funky clothing for girls
Marinesta, with colourful casuals for men and women
Meriken Co., with classy separates for men and women
Brazen Tarts, with yummy cakes and hats
chicoco, with bright fun jewelry and headbands
Adjunct, with geeky cool menswear
1-800-Bettie's, with retro threads for men and women
The Cat Eye Boutique, with vintage eyewear
The Sock Shop mainstore, with fun and crazy socks for when your avatar's feet get cold
Milk Motion, with soft and sultry skins
Shabby Flamingo, with strongly patterend furniture
Snooky's Poses, with playful group poses in the front, and racier couples poses in the back
Sisters mainstore, with an assortment of pretty frocks
Big Booty Big Money mainstore, with strong colourful dresses

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.