Back from the brink....no not really!!

Well I keep covertly popping in and out of Second Life to see if my rezzing issues have been resolved and despite a couple of updates. the status quo ensues. I cannot rezz on my own screen, called me a vain twat [you all know I am] but this somewhat diminishes the experience for me. I would like to see myself even with my awful eyesight. Anyway I wish you all seasons greetings, and until then I shall remain in the closet as the egg man...............

A film Star is Pixelated*

As I missed out on the uber cool Soul Mods film preview Seren kindly put together a little Albion mini-feature, thank you.

*Did you see, because I'm English and not American I said film rather than movie, because I speak English not an American version of it it so you can feck your 24/7 I prefer all day all week etc. Ta very muchly.

The Modfather truly has Soul

Now many of us eighties throwbacks who sought mod rather than frilly shirts and kilts as our inspiration during our youth are firmly convinced of the immense soul on display during the Style Council years. And, whilst many yearn for a Jam reunification [err not moi I saw them as a kid why spoil the memory we are all older, greyer, balder and fatter] few call out for a revival of the classic Council line up. Yet, the Style Council oozed modernist class and their songs were soul monsters and perhaps the best way to illustrate this is not to link up some Council YouTube but instead to exhibit a few cover versions. Soul indeed...

Now if that cant convince you of the Style Council's quality, not sure what else can! And while I'm wittering on about quality any techy sods [like Kim Slate Eden et al] who know how to "capture " these tracks from YouTube I'd be very grateful for a copy ta very muchly.

However don't assume all covers are great.....Weller goes all Bon Jovi courtesy of Rod the plod, err I mean mod.

....and lets be frank the Manfred's don't do much better do they?

Now it would be churlish to leave this little post on such sour notes so chill to this better cover if you please.

ciao, more actual Second Life stuff next time I promise hahaha

Paul Weller- Starlite by IslandRecords AR UK

And much as we adore the past we also look to the future Weller single release for the summer, chill

Bits of this and Bits of that......

Despite my miserable posting performance and the fact I have missed a lot of Soul Mods nights out whilst sat in my chair; there have been a few cool things occuring in my somewhat limited Second Life.

First off, Shauna gave me a really groovy cap that matched my Hoorenbeek suit and Muism sweater perfectly, put a twenties spin on my modernist look but I thought it looked great and wore it whilst I grooved at Soul Mods a while back. Shauna is producing a lot of sharp designs at her store so I suggest you retro girls head over to Moonletters and check out all the stores as its a great place for retro clothing stores. For girls obviously, us blokes are as a rule too tight to splash our lindens on clothes,,,surely not! Looking at the sharp dressers at Soul Mods you think not but sadly they are generally the exception.

I bought myself another military mod outfit in my pursuit of the 1967 look, not sure if its quite right but I'll probably blog more on it at some point. Anyway, it looks kinda cool just need to find some trousers to set it in its sixties retro context. Also bought a wildly pink suit from Shiki, to show its not just Graz who does pink y'know. I'll blog more on this later too just thought I would mention it as an excuse for fiddling with throwing up a couple of snapshots.

Other madcap adventures followed reading Jellie's post over at the Moonletters blog which I saw as a challenge, okay I admit I cheated, whilst I went for a cuppa and watched TV I weighed down the page up key to gain height whilst I chilled, I felt it was only fair after Albion crunched his head on a floating platform, I realised how dull climbing to over 100,000m on your own can be and thirdly my finger dtarted to forget what its role in life was beyond depressing that key. And to be fair, there is really nothing up there, try it yourself, go on go on....

Albion chasing the moon, but eventually you leave all this behind and the sky is just full of stars, the guy who hit over a million meters must have gone crazy. Orbitting myself might get me to that hieght but as for flying there, werr I leave that to jellie, 103,000m give or take is probably my limit. If however you fancy it yoursef, feel free to fly high and send me a TP when you get there. Chilled in space, starring Albion Spitteler. Not much to do with virtual modernism, altho Mods in Space has a kind of freaky B Film ring to it, flying scooter anyone. Besides it gives me an excuse to post two awesome tracks, one is from the mid sixties pop art mod genre the other is mod suspect but a fantastic tune so what the feck. Have you guessed them yet, no? I cant hide my disappointment.

ciao

More Virtual Magic

Admittedly it lacks a degree of Albionawesomeness but its my own fault for not getting my @rse into gear, and Seren did kindly give Albion a sequel all to himself.But this is the club I witter on about the most in this blog; and these are the wonderful people who populate our marvelous little mod metaverse with magnificent avatars full of good humour kindness and style. Roll film......

Its great isnt it!

Friday Night

So how was your virtual Friday night? Hope it was kinda groovy. Mine? Well mine was shite!

The day started well I logged on to Second Life to have a stroll and received an IM from Dugi telling me Soul Mods was having a big party night for Jellie and Josie, plus there'd be a virtual guitar-fest. All sounded cool and I said I'd see him at the club later. Now Albion being so vain I teleported over and began sifting through my wardrobe keeping it simple I opted for a plain polo and jeans then grabbed my hidden treasure my Hawley guitar as played by the man on his tentative dip into virtual gigging. Yes my only encounter with real life rock stardom in Second Life [that's Albion in the grey jacket lounging in the deck chair]. So all was set clothing plus guitar now go and loiter in the cupboard, log off and take the dogs out cool.

However, I had not anticipated a bits of pollen floating about in the air which meant rather than listen to cool tunes and have a laugh with all the sods; I spent my Friday night lying on the bed in the gloom with my eyes shut, thinking I'll open them in a minute and log on. Then through the blur I figured I would give them another ten minutes to sort themselves out, I kept giving them ten minutes right up to 22.45 when I finally capitulated pulled the duvet over my head and went to sleep.

Anyway, hope all the party goers had a great time, hope those whom the party was thrown for had an even greater time and apologies for not making it, especially after I said I would. Would happily have swapped the eyes for marbles and plunged them in the washing machine last night,,itch!!!!!

So, missed another Friday at Soul Mods as a week early I was home for a Wedding, £9.25 for a Guinness and large white wine think I'll stick to virtual nights out, back again in three weeks or so I better start saving up.

As for Second Life my logging in is on the whim of the old eyes if they're good I'm in if they're not.....fingers crossed there'll be more good than bad. Oh and by the way Albion even made it onto the BBC for the Hawley gig. Stardom at last.

ciao

Self Pity Grump over

And so as its Albions rezz day I have decided to play DJ today and just pile a load of , what I think are, cool YouTube videos on here until I get bored of adding them. As Captain Oats said,,,,I may be some time.

Well ten seems like a good number, obviously its easy to fill up the entire blog with great YouTube tunes, but these ten were the first that caught my eye as I typed in Northern Soul to the search facility. Anyway listening to them made my foot tap. This DJing malarky its easy, oh yeah all I'm doing is copying and pasting this is virtual virtual DJing!

YouTube Treat

Sixties Fashion

Scooters

Tunes

Modernist Fashion in SL

Returning to an old chestnut here, trainers. Flipping around the grid I stumbled upon an urban street wear store, immediately bringing up some shades to protect myself from the glare of unreconstructed bling I decided to take a peek. And, was very pleased to discover a range of Adidas trainers for sale, priced at 290L each or a very reasonable 690L for the fat pack they are a nice option if your looking for something more mid scale than the brilliant but expensive SoReal or the mega store Hoorenbeek, much as I adore Hoorenbeek trainers sometimes its good to support smaller creators. So, if you're thinking you need to get more casual in your mod styling and are looking for a good, reasonably priced, range of Adidas check out the URBATIK *Urban store* and pick up a pair or more wisely grab the fat pack as I am sorely tempted too. Damn this new austerity covenant I made with myself. Anyway if your looking for a stylish slice of footwear grab a pair of these, judging from the product images they look a great buy.

URBATIK *Urban store*

Hoorenbeek are so fantastically crafting that its hard to blog against them so for those who seek reassurance from a grand virtual brand here are the Hoorenbeek options. But you'll pay 520L a pair for these trainers almost twice the price of the above so why not give them a go. Much as I love top end virtual fashion brands I am beginning to think the pricing of items is getting rather extreme. Or maybe that's the skinflint in me beginning to seep out.

So whilst the Hoorenbeek brand is rightfully highly thought of in these fiscal times I am tempted to try the cheaper option, I can get the fat pack for a little more than the price of a single pair of trainers. But, as ever you take your choice flip the lindens and get into the groove. Whatever option you select you'll acquire an excellent addition to your wardrobe.

Hoorenbeek trainers

QUESTION: Why do Hoorenbeek trainers feature so often in the blog.
ANSWER: Simplicity itself, because they're bloody good, despite the cost.

What have I been up to....

An odd week in Second Life shuffling along trying to find things to do. Logged on and visited Moonletters and had a wander around. Evelyn was there in her sharp looking E-Type she gave me a rather slow ride around the Moonletters streets. Then I rezzed my Porsche and we had possibly the slowest sports car race known to the virtual world. After a couple of laps and the rezzing of a few more cars Shauna arrived and rezzed her London Taxi cab and we took another trip around the wider Penny Lane sim. Not your typical taxi journey as we ended up in a pond, stuck down a ditch, and lost in a marshy jungle type prim mess; luckily for us Shauna was able to pluck us from our midden and plonk us nicely on a better piece of land until we finally found tarmac and completed our journey. A very interesting car journey, then Shauna informed me that there was a soul night at the Hangout with Janis Short as DJ.

So, I said my goodbyes and hopped on a teleport to the Hangout to listen in to some great tunes, there were a few sods present and Janis' usual crowd all enjoying some fantastic tunes. A great night and everyone had fun, some great chat in the chat line as people had a few laughs and jokes. A great night in; however, I retreated upstairs to the lounge bar to escape the particle lights which were a tad too bright for me now. Rather strange conducting a conversation from upstairs with those downstairs.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Hangout listening to some marvelous tunes. Janis will be DJing less regularly in the virtual world as she has aquired a real life job, that damn real life interfering with our entertainment, how bloomin' dreadful. I dressed in my best Oirish paisley green mod outfit, and grooved away alone upstairs like a sad Billy no-mates. After a while all got a little tiring and I took my leave and logged out after having a great time. Having so many good nights in Second Life of late its almost a crime to get so much great entertainment for so little effort, log on and have a raft of great DJs play me great tunes. However being a greedy geezers and still like to call out for more, lots more soul lots more mod and more mod fashion but I'm a difficult geezer to please! Check out the flyers and attend the events as the DJs relish the support and everyone appreciates being appreciated! Sermon over....

I also jogged over to Soulsville to listen to a few soul tunes at the club on Tuesday. As ever I tended to stay quiet in the corner and just listen in to the great music. Marvelous music in the virtual world, just wish their was a lot more of it, oops I'm off on my rant again.

These virtual days lets hope they never end,,,,,

Modernist Fashion in SL

The Good!

Carnaby Street inspired styling using the "Prince Charming" dress uniform jacket from SF Design's Royal Wedding outfit, with the crazy Union Jack trousers from PXDTOXIC and the red trainers from a fatpack from J's, the new and old merged to create a sharp mid sixties look that grew out of the mod movement. Perhaps a little too bright for many it can be shaded by opting for less pop art trousers but the overall look of military fashion is very mid sixties, possibly derived from the flag fabric jackets of The Who. Anyway its an easily achievable mod style look ideal for the virtual NeoMod looking to catch the eye. Variation are obvious just find the one that suits.

Odd white shades from Cheerno, and my old favourite GL Menace hair style which has served well as a classic mod cut. Not for everyone but in my mind totally mid-sixties mod.

The Bad!

I have seen these suits crop up a few times as I forlornly tap the keys into the Second Life search option, so the suits are listed as Mod suits; but for me they bare no resemblance to anything mod I am aware of. Its because of my extreme negativity towards the suit that I have not blogged it, but as I'm having a jokey post and this fits the second label. Double breasted wide lapels its just so unmod I find myself cringing that anyone could view it as a classic mod suit. Basically its a faux mod suit based on the mid sixties hippy swing of the Austin Powers films, no harm in that but seems a touch disingenious to label it mod. It fits the mid sixties vibe but it can hardly be classed as mod, designers and creators put a lot of effort into their creations so its unpleasant to be critical, hence my bypassing of these item, I still feel bad slagging it; but if you type mod clothing into search this will come up, however there are far better mod suit options available. If its authentic sixties mod you are looking for, sorry but this isn't it.

The Ugly!

Due to the effort put in by designers it would be totally unfair to call any of their designs ugly, although there are several of them out there I'm sure you have seen a few of your own ugly designs. But I thought I would drag out a snap from years ago when I attended a party dressed in the worst possible taste, freebie skins shape etc.......now that's ugly! Its unlikely you'll see many avatars looking like this in the beautiful world of Second Life... However despite gaining a few pounds, needing extra support and having uncool shades I reckon Albion still looks cooler than Dugi!!!

Whatever mod fashion you choose, have fun: whether its classic, NeoMod or more mid sixties psychedelic its out there just difficult to find. Have fun finding it!

As quick aside I saw a link to a nice mod Mod website whilst I was ranting on Twitter so might be worth a quick peek. Enjoy!

Modernist Fashion in SL

Things are becoming somewhat desperate in my pursuit of new mod clothes in the virtual world. I seem to be regurgitating the same items with the addition of a different shirt or perhaps a different sweater but essentially its the same items. One factor is undoubtedly cost I have stopped forking out a couple of thousand lindens a month or clothes and tried to be more selective in my purchases. I occassionally feck it up and buy stuff I dont need to for several hundred lindens: such as a new modifiable shape that I tweaked severely and then on reflection realised I was attempting to modify it to look like my original shape, quick waste of 700 lindens there folks. However as I quite enjoy myself by blurbing away on this little virtual modphile blog I do look out for new pieces of mod paraphernalia just to keep the old thing ticking over, that and updates of my rather quaint virtual social life. But, finding those new mod items is getting tougher and tougher and so in a desperate measure I enrolled Albion into an elite corp of fashion hunters. Once inducted he underwent a severe bout of intensive training to emerge as an uber fashion hunter. Yes I am pleased to reveal him as I think the world's first virtual mod commando.

His mission is to enter the leather clad, denim soaked soft rock hell that is Second Life male fashion, to use his uzis of cool to blast away the dross of Bon Jovi inspied fashion faux pas and forge a path of mod fashion rightousness. He shall pentrate the den of the freebie T-Shirt with the naff sex pun slogan, reap havoc amidst the heavy metal bandwagon and spray the mob of bling laden wannabe rappers with the bible according to mod. All shall hail the soul and ska inspired tunes, they shall forake their ugly fashion errors and follow the path to true fashion cool, they shall bow at the feet of Lupo's cool; hail the throne of King Slate; kowtwo before the club icon of Soul Mods, learn at the feet of Moonletters and crave to be Albion ... yes I have seen it written by the mof astrologists, Second Life shall be a haven of mod hope. And then I woke up......

Mod commando's seeking out shite fashion and blasting it away!

Yeah decided to go a tad mental today and enter the realm of the crazies anything for a laugh, the trousers and beret of Albions Mod Commando are available at the Marletplace, they were not cheap but what is nowadays in the virtual world. But, they made me laugh and despite the silliness the fact remains finding good male mod items is getting harder and harder. The guns some old Uzis from Breach I had in my inventory. Be vigilant, the mod commando's are on the march, hahaha.

Mod Commando Beret
Mod Commando Trousers

Or check the store inworld: PXDTOXIC

And using the rather tenuous mod commando link I sieze the opportunity to raid YouTube and load up one of the most awesome tunes ever!!

The Fabulous Wailers

Tuesday had me rifling through the search facility looking for some entertainment, and I inadvertently stumbled upon the Fabulous Wailers gig at Hangar 39. Slipping on my slickest groove clothes I teleported over there. The Fabulous Wailers? Who are they, I'm no expect but they are a classic sixties US garage band, check them out:

Obviously the gig wasn't being performed by the real Wailers it was a virtual tribute band who had put together a set that their avatars mimed too. But, the tunes were great there was a decent crowd in attendance and fun was had by all.

The sound was gritty Rock 'n' Roll tinged with sharp Rhythm and Blues overtones, classic sixties garage, and I enjoyed the neat uniformed avatars strutting on stage with their array of instruments and attitude. A great little gig. I have seen tribute performances in Second Life before and can say this was one of the better ones, its not a live performance but it felt like it could be one. Most enjoyable and I think I'll be checking out this sixties treat again sometimes, if you get an opportunity I suggest you do too.

They have several video clips up on YouTube so check them out to see what they bring to the club scene on Second Life.

Awaydays

Amongst the many things I find myself endlessly wittering on about in this loose collection of waffle is casuals fashion. Undoubtedly many people assume this is a relaxed kind of dress, easy enough to surmise that but its quite the contradiction. Casuals had extremely rigid dress codes, in essence they were little more than neatly dressed football hooligans; but their hooliganism oozed sartorial style.

Read this book years ago, rekindled some lost memories not on this scale but severe enough. Along with other sharp styles, over time casual dress codes become absorbed into the wider sharp fashion yearnings of the NeoMods. Although Second Life struggles to provide an array of suitable classic mod wear it is however bulging at the seems with aspects of the casuals dress code: trainers, jeans and track wear. Find it, wear it just leave the stanleys at home cheers.

Amongst the many suppliers of trainers, Hoorenbeek should be a first port of call. There is a wealth of finely sculpted trainers here. Classic retro eighties stylings are a specialist of the Hoorenbeek designers. This classic pair are on old freebie pair modelled along classic Adidas lines. Hoorenbeek rarely strays into reality fashion these days sticking to its own virtual branding, but the styling is close enough to please the virtual mod seeking to immerse himself in some casuals footwear. Also worn here are some khaki jeans with prim cuffs from  ::Mr.Poet:: and a cool casuals styled jersey from [Sheep Door] , which is FREE just join the group and get your group gift. If Hoorenbeek is not ticking the correct boxes do not fret, there are a range of other footwear options. First to try is the uber cool Adidas branded trainers from SoReal. This is a very cool urban funk store, not cheap, but their items are well crafted and possess great scripts to help you tailor your fit. However there are trainers spread across the grid just ensure you select the correct style. Decent pair of jeans and a track top and your almost there, sharp hair and your casuals inspired NeoMod styling is complete.

As for the film and book, nostalgia of the darkest kind, read the book watch the film both are quite good, but I'm no film or literary critic I just like what I like, ciao la!

Silent Crashing

For the second night in a row I secretly crashed whilst at Soul Mods, this happened a lot during my early virtual days but has not happened for many many months. Basically the musical stream continues and my screen shows the action of everyone dancing only there's no chat as I have been disconnected. In a quiet club this means you think you are still in there, luckily Soul Mods is a rowdy friendly place and so the lack of chat alerted me to the fact I was logged off. Linden arses!

Other than my crashing they were good nights at the club, uber Madrid mod Lupo played a blinding set on Thursday with a few stand out tracks, Wild Thing by Wilson Pickett from the Hey Jude album set my ears on fire and I have had a daily listen since. The usual nutters were in attendance, but something very fishy was in the air, and it wasn't just Josie. How often can you get a fish into your conversation, endlessly it seems, cant say the clubs not got sole!

On Friday, with Slate in Spain enjoy Sun Sea and Sangria [was that him in the back of the van on Benidorm*] Soul Mods played host to Janis Short on decks. Janis plays a mean sixties set and kept the troops entertained in the maniacs absence. I had fun even if I was quiet, the new non-reading regime. Then I crashed, bugger. Well hope the virtual world treats you kindly I might even post some more and stop being an idle git.

ciao

*Benidorm trivia, I know the fat lad who got his hat nicked in last nights episode, and was doing the Benny Hill chase near the end, Benidorm the sit com not the town, lol.

Its all in the Eyes

Taking a break from most things computer at the minute, I am winging about my eyes too much, so giving them a rest. Will blog even less frequently than at present and will probably turn up at clubs but just listen in, so I'm not straining to read text. Have fun in the virtual world.

Modernist Fashion in SL

As these are so easy to knock out, requiring little creative input and the technical ability to cut and paste and little else here is the inevitable PART THRE. The tunes today are from another mod compilation on my I-Tunes. Yeah I really do spend all day listening to music and hammering the keys. If only.......

And so to the fashion, I reckon if you dump the hood (cowl) this should provide an excellent 2Tone inspired track jacket but wow that cubist pattern certainly phases the eyes if you stare at it too long, sharp!

Sweatshirt cube

{AHC} Valenciaga - Tweed Jacket

Not really a mod item at all this more generic sixties pop but there are a lot of people who like that kind of thing who pop into the blog so this is one for all you sixties fans, the pretty fab Monkees, I'll hold my hands up I really like their tunes. Is that my mod credibilty [the little I had] fallen through the trapdoor, feck it, lol.

SL Monkees Groupie Jacket

e! Pea Trenchcoat

Cardigan in Blue

For those hugh like that PopArt '67 miltaristic style:

 

West Point Military Jacket

*O* RUDE BOY JACKET W/ BUTTONS

SHIKI-fall jacket

Well thats it for this third part I doubt there will be furher posts of this nature, given you enough hints on where to look and see whats out there. Second Life Marketplace is a cool tool but a touch labourious for the virtual mod: type MOD into the search engine and you'll see why if you've not already guessed. Anyway if you bought an item hope it pleases you, time for me to chill with some coffee and toast. Boy I work hard at this blog shite!

ciao

Modernist Fashion in SL

Discovering what an easy cop out this sticking snapshots up malarky is I have decided its time for PART TWO. So I have the Immediate collection on I-Tunes and am listening to this:

Whilst typing out this drivel. Right lets get too it, less waffle and more snapshots and links, a few here I'd buy myself but....Anyway hope its of some use to some fashion visitors and to others more madness and waffle soon, just chill amigos.

First item up is the fat pack, merely to show the full colour range, each item can be bought individually or you can dive in for a fat pack.

Class Affair - Coat

Anthony - Male Business Suit

B-Styles-Cotton-Coat

NeoMods wear leather too, check out this for your NeoMod styling:

::Schoen:: Leather Jacket (Tricolor)

*TSIX BOX 168 Track Jacket

s'LADE MEN - Sports Jacket

s'LADE MEN - Casual Blazer

Unplugged Suit jacket

So, that is this one done, quick sharp possibly very dull, but if somebody finds it of some little use its served its purpose. Besides its economy of effort I'm blogging whilst remaining ostensibly idle, perfect. Therefore, part three is obviously inevitable.

Modernist Fashion in Sl

I often wake up early and bored, put the kettle on and click on my I-Tunes to idle away an hour or so listening to some cool Mod tunes, presently this is playing off a neat sixties compilation:

Tunes established I then have to decide how I'll fill in a bit of time sat at the computer screen; sometimes, I head off to the Second Life Marketplace as I've done this morning. Often during these trawls through the fashion morass I see items that I would not buy but perhaps have a degree of mod fashion potential, but I never list them as I dont purchase them. Therefore, this morning I figured I'd kill several birds with a single stone: I'd put up a lengthy post without actually having to type much at all. Also, I will highlight a few mod items that normally would not get blogged and also I'm not required to spend any lindens. So I have basically grabbed the snapshot of the item from its page at the marketplace and then added the link to the item below it. I neither recommend nor do I advise against purchase so the choice is yours I'm merely acting as a conduit into your lindens wallet, and all for free....are you listening designers, hahaha.

Last Eden Parka

One item thats very popular amongst mods, and especially Mod revivalists of the eighties is the leatrher trench coat, inspired by the Ace Face Sting [c'mon don't laugh] in the iconic film Quadrophenia. Anyway here is a selection of trench coats of variable merit and price. Seek and ye shall find.

B11 Men's long coat

Black Leather Trench Coat

MarcoD'AvanteTrenchcoat

As well as a coat every virtual mod is going to need a jacket or two maybe these appeal and can fill that hole in your mod wardrobe.

(NO) Brown Blazer

:: SD :: Old Army Jacket Green / khaki

*MZ* Grey and Dark Elegant jackets

*Zanzo* Cambridge blazer

And as the tunes wind down I think I'll leave this post and leave you to decide if there is anything here worth purchasing, I just dont have the funds to buy everything, despite all evidence to the contrary. Enjoy your linden splashing...I need a coffee refill.

ciao

Something to subscribe too

Almost everyone in the virtual world drops into YouTube, I have even seen YouTube videos on peoples virtual TVs; so, bearing that in mind this looks like a great channel for virtual mods to subscribe too:

http://www.youtube.com/user/s2trash#p/a/u/1/jKZBPFb8zZQ

Check it out, full of great tunes and aging real life mods, just like me, chatting the breeze away. Just a tune taster, enjoy:

Been a little virtual lite of late, hopefully I will reverse that and start waffling again soon.