Its all gone Pete Tong

Real Life is sustained by internal organs: the heart, the lungs, et al; whereas the virtual life is kept alive by external organs: the modem, the PC, the screen etc. Can you guess where I am heading? Yes my bleedin' screen has fecked up so there is a hiatus in my virtual life until I sort it or head into the loft to find an old one. Its a royal pain in the bum, hope everyone is having fun will be groovin' and blogging again soon ... I think I cant take much more of the wife's archaic school lap top.

Modernist Fashion in SL

Yum yum a new mod fashion item to blog about. Synonamous with mod fashion is the green parka; there are several available in second life which have been blogged here; but there is always scope for variation. So, when I read the Fade to Grey blog post on a new parka I eagerly sought it out. One of the issues with the brilliant but prim heavy Aoharu parka was getting the prim items to fit the smaller vavatars of the modette. Ostensibly I think the parka was designed as a male only item and this created difficulties for the modettes who bought one. Hopefully there should be no such concerns here as the parka comes in both male and female versions. However, as I loaded up the prim hood on my version I noticed a flaw in the design that left the top of my white T-Shirt exposed. The green jacket under layer was not cut high enough to block the white T-Shirt with a blanket of green and despite extensive position with the prim hood/collar I was unable to satidfactorily position it to block out the T-Shirt and still retain all the elements of the prim attachment. I do wish female designers would bring in a range of male body shapes to try out their designs on as many prim attachments are often too small for male shapes that tend on average to be rather large. I tried a smaller shape once and felt like a dwarf and so reluctantly followed the herd and stuck with my big shape.

But, enough of the gripes and lets put forward some positive comments. The dark olive colour of the coat is perfect, the styling of the coat is good too, although it lacks the classic fish tail that gave the parka its name. The hood collar combination is also a fine piece of work, despite my fitting grumbles, but it lacks a fur trim [also a fundamental element of the parka], the sleeves, pockets and other prim work are very nice and the parka has a very mod feel to it, despite my grumbling. And, despite my grumbling I like it and was happy to buy one. However, its not a cheap item at 380L$, so you may feel inclined to look elsewhere. For the modettes out there I would say its an excellent buy and there will probably be less fitting issues than with the male version; for guys wanting to look sharp its a good option but many could opt for a freebie version if its still available ... its just a virtual guy thing. In the end you pays yer money and takes yer chance; I like it yes its far from perfect but its still a cool piece of virtual mod wear and is now hung up alongside the other coats in my mod folder.

DP Yum Yum

Wheel on Monday

I opted to log on inworld on Monday for the first time in quite a while and then had to decide where I would head to in order to find some chilled tunes. Knowing bothe the AAi and Soul Mods were closed for Mod business on a Monday I decided to try out the Twisted Wheel remembering they have quite a bulging roster of Js playing mod and soul throughout the week.

Arriving early I grabbed a pew and listened to the chit chat, occassionally joining in and chilled to some cool tunes, some not so good, while I waited for the DJ Markus Arkin to arrive and start his set.For a short while Markus ran his own club Soul Suite but now has a residency at the Twisted Wheel, he can be counted on to supply some cool soul tunes so I was happy to wait for him to turn up. Then typical of all things virtual real life made a call and I had to log off, when I relogged Markus' set was in full flow to a small but appreciable crowd. Why clubs seem emptier trhese days was a topic of conversation and we guessed its the summer sunshine drawing people away from their overheating keyboards and out into the real world. But felt confident numbers would rise with the first of the autumn chills. Obviously the coolest people are virtual clubbing with their lap tops on wi-fi sat out in the sun slurping chilled beers. Moi? I am sat by a hulking desktpo drinking tea, guess that puts me out of the circle of cool .. fortunately I'm virtual ice, hahaha.

So I began to enjoy myself to a scinterlating soul soundtrack, and strutted my dance animated stuff. We briefly chatted about the sim and who conceived, designed and buolt it. We all know the answer to that and if your stuck, check out the photo on the pillar, no it was'nt Boonie or Lupo, so... I was having a fine time when once again the boring necesseties of real life intervened and I was dragged away. When I got back the bloomin' thing had shut down, I'd forgotten I had re-installed the programme and not utilised the advanced function to over ride a few basic Second Life irritants. I had failed to do this basically because I had forgotten how to activate the advanced column. Hints welcome, cheers.

Another great night brought to an abrupt halt by the twin inadequacies of my real life and my utterly feeble technical skills. A great set from Markus with some stomping Northern Soul, pleasant company and interesting chat, not a bad return for a tentative log on and a gamble that there'd be some cool mod entertainment somewhere on the grid. May not be a pounds shillings and pence victory but it put a smile on my face.

ciao.

New DJ on Soul Mods roster

I was late, but that seems to be standard for me now, arriving at Soul Mods on Friday and the club was hosting a new DJ so curiousity and expectation was high. The new DJ was DJDee Riddler and she played a very sharp blend of soul and funk that had the club patrons grooving.hard.

Heard some awesome Curtis Mayfield floating across the airways along with some solid Motown soul; and, was having a fine time listening to jokes and chilling to some awesome tunes. There was a decent crowd in the club despite the Football on TV, and those that were in attendance seemed to be having a great time. Conversation was varied, jokes were from the Carry On school and the music was thunderous. I was having a fine time, several good friends were in attendance and others were missing as they had other things to do. But, the crux of a good Soul Mods night is fine music and the music being played was high calibre and all of us had fun, which is the essential factor of a virtual night in. If its not fun why bother?

ciao

Modernist Fashion in SL

I spent an age scurrying around the grid looking for some desert boots, suede chukka boots, iconic mod footwear. I struggled finding the correct style as too many were the rigid construction boot style rather than the softer suede of the classic desert boots. Finally I found a pair that satisfied my demands and all was well.

But choice is king in the marketplace and the other day whilst scanning through some of the Second Life fashion blogs I noticed a write up flagging the chukka boots over at the Action Surf Store. They looked fantastic and definitely match the brief for mod footwear. Coming in a range of colours they look very sharp and well textured. Ideal for the mod dressing down his suit or just chilling in his jeans. If you don't have this style in your inventory and are looking to purchase a pair I suggest you check out the demos, well worth adding to your mod wardrobe.

While checking the desert boots another item caught my eye, for Chelsea boots. A fashion design classic the Chelsea boot is an authentic retro fashion styling and would suit most modernist wardrobes to give that nondescript suit a real retro look. The boots, like those above, come in a variety of colours and are well made sculpted items that many NeoMods, especially those with a heavy Beatles influence [not strictly mod, but its hard to separate the two in many peoples minds] may wish to add to their fashion folders.

Again, get yourself over to the sim and check out the demo shoes. There are also the occasional usable items lurking in the store that can be drafted into mod fashion in the correct circumstances. But, these two footwear items are classic retro and well deserve a place in the virtual mods wardrobe.

Oh Bollox!!!

The big problem with summer is its warm, this encourages you to chill in the afternoon sun and drink a few cold beers ... ah very relaxing. But there are penalties for this, one of which is sofasomnipathy. Okay, I made that up it doesn't exist, but falling asleep on the sofa after afternoon drinking can lead to severe misfortunes, such as missing a night at Soul Mods. Yeah, I slept through it blissfully snoring (allegedly) whilst Lupo Lexington sent out a stream of cool tunes. I have yet to catch a Lupo DJing set but I'm surmising if he is playing at the club they must be cool tunes otherwise he wouldn't be there. So, I probably missed a great night with Lupo's fan club in full swing and some cool music thrown into the mix it will have been another fun night in virtual clubland. Clubland, oh dear I'm beginning to sound like Brian Potter, are we opening the first virtual Phoenix Club?

So I have nothing to blog about having failed to attend another mod night, nobody to gently mock, nobody to hype up and no opportunity for narcissistic lyricism. Oh well, it will be fashion comments again I guess, more shoes I think ... how cool is that, yeah putting some sole back into the blog. Oh dear, I'll get me coat.

On a kind of mod related topic, ie several of us were in attendance. Had a great time at the AAi for Jellies rezz day party. Great tunes by Graz, the club was heaving and everybody seemed to be having a lot of fun. Plenty of crazy dance animation, plenty of wild gestures and lots of laughter a great night in. I was quiet throughout most of it, issues reading the type, but chilled to the tunes and joined in the chat when it was essential [like "are mods some kind of emo?" still sends a shiver down my spine]. Anyway a great night and you can catch Jellies own comments on her post over at Moonletters.

Fingers crossed see you tonight at Soul Mods, no beers no sofa, I will remain strong.

Modernist Fashion in SL

One of the easiest pieces of mod clothing to acquire within Second Life is the classic revivalist monochrome 2 Tone black and white coloured items. There are several pairs of checkered trousers across the grid and this particular pair from Zoobong are a wonderful example of sixties styling matched with a classic modernist design. The trousers texture includes a neat belt on the hipsters which has been emphasised with a cool black/white ying/yang prim buckle. Hipster styling, classic colours sharp texturing and excellent design have created a fine pair of mod trousers, check them and buy yourself a pair.

Worn with the trousers are some old freebie shoes from Kalins which are scripted for size and colour, so worn in a monochrome black and white the beautifully match the sharp hipster trousers. The casual slip on style and the colour lend itself to a more dressed down look than a formalisation of the trousers and so the best option in this instance is a T-Shirt to be worn with the trousers but a sharp cut shirt and tie would suit equally as well. However, keeping to the chilled theme I opted for a classic white T-Shirt emblazoned with an iconic mod graphic of one of the foundation mod bands of the sixties - The Who.

The T-Shirt is one of several classic mod graphic based T-Shirts I bought from Arteeshirt Garden. This image has been replicated on a myriad of modernist items both in the virtual world and the Real World, the band in their hippest mod clothing posing somewhat artfully with a target background. Iconic modernist pop art which looks fantastic when textured and applied to a well created T-Shirt. The ying/yang buckle can also be clearly seen in the accompanying snap. Not an authentic mod style item it does however marry well with the checkered trousers [due to its shared monochrome look] to beautifully accentuate the contrast in colour and give more life to the textured items. A sharp chilled retro mod look, find the items and mix and match to create a cool retro look of your own,

Zoobong
Kalins
Arteeshirt Garden

ciao.