Blogger's Last Topless Tuesday

On or about March 23, 2015, the fine folks at Blogger will mark The Poultry Report as hosted on their servers as Private so that only I can see the content (source). My blog won't be alone. I'm sure thousands if not tens of thousands or more will disappear because someone has an issue with nudity and other adult topics. So much for free speech.

Click to embiggen or see it on Flickr.

So here is the last Topless Tuesday picture I will post on Blogger. Going forward, my blog will be hosted by Wordpress at https://poultryreport.wordpress.com

The move is in progress so the look of the new site might change. I'm still using the same template that I picked when I created the Wordpress version years ago when I experimented with it versus Blogger.

Perhaps it is easier to objectify bare chests on women than it is on men and likely this will always be so. It is an erogenous zone, after all. And as much as I decry the inequality between men and women on this issue, I often look at other women with a bit of lascivious glee, clothed or not. I like boobs but I can understand some of the reasoning behind Blogger's policy change.

I can't help wonder, though, if Google/Blogger will crack down on violent images. Which is more harmful ... a picture of a woman's breast being caressed or one being carved at with a knife? Frequent exposure to anything will desensitize a person to the stimulus it provides. That's one of the reasons the Romans held The Games. Let Citizens see violence and they will become accustomed to it. Frankly, I'd rather see more breasts and hope I don't get bored.

Since my efforts with The Poultry Report have to been focus on Second Life I'll abstain from delving into the nanny state concept behind all of this. Perhaps I'll tackle it in the future if I can find an SL tie-in.

Adieu, Blogger. Auf Wiedersehen. Arrivederci. Vaarwel. Good-bye.

A Special Request

Click to embiggen or see it on Flickr.

Once in a while my wife asks me to wear something special for her. This is what she picked.

Really.

This is for you, Catnip!

Another Topless Tuesday

Click to embiggen or see it on Flickr.

Happy Topless Tuesday. Yes, I know it has been a while since I have done one of these.
Tweaked in Pixelmator.

First Topless Tuesday of 2015

Click to embiggen or see on Flickr!

Second Life Yearbook Photo Challenge

Strawberry Singh is back with blogger memes and I had a few minutes to kill, so ...

"Share an image of your Second Life avatar smiling for a yearbook photo" (orignal post here).

I decided to re-create my high school senior yearbook photo but thought "maybe I should't post a blank image." Since 5th grade my picture never appeared in school publications because I always refused to participate. Starting in 8th grade we all had to have our photos taken for security reasons. Sure, years after I was kidnapped,* they wanted a photo. Locking the school door after the fire started, I guess, or something like that. We all needed photos.

In my senior year we were all to go to a studio in town for those really nice formal sittings that seniors get, but since I wasn't going to do that I had to line up with the 11th graders and let the visiting photographer snap a pic and try to talk me into getting those cheesy portrait packs to give copies to friends and relatives. Didn't happen. It is very rare I even appear in the family photo album. One of the reasons I got a camera was so I could be behind it.

The funny part is, my senior picture got lost. The guy couldn't handle the concept of separating it from the juniors sets and managed to separate me all the way to the cutting room floor. So what I re-created for here is more or less what I looked like at the time. Set your Way Back Machines® for 2006.

Click to embiggen or see on Flickr.

You can't see it from here, but my hair was down to my butt. I wore the cheapest eyeglass frames possible, no makeup, and the only clean hoodie I had. In Real Life it was a zip-up bright green one whereas all my usual ones were dark colors. Sorry, but this one is blue. One of my many Disney t-shirts capped the outfit. Jewelry? I owned one necklace and no earrings. Since people could grab you by the necklace, I almost never wore it.

The photographer often commented "I'm glad you unzipped your jacket" while constantly leering at my chest and trying to take a few shots with my torso showing. One of his really nice Broncolor lights met an untimely death "by accident" while I was zipping my hoodie on my way off the auditorium stage where the pix were being taken. Oops. Maybe the most expensive leering he's done, I'm sure. At least he didn't cop a feel or I would have heard what a Mamiya 645 sounded like when hitting the hardwood.

Second Life should have a yearbook because every Profile photo is a special statement. Sometime when you are bored, perv some profiles and I think you'l agree.

*Read through the blog a bit and you'll learn about this.

Meauxle Bureaux

Every Autumn the monarch butterflies flock to Mexico, but where to moles go? I don't know, unless they are Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) Moles. They go to Meauxle Bureaux (SLurl), a fun region where each Mole has a home (and Abnor Mole has a pub). Intrepid Poultry Report correspondent Zyx Flux explored and sent these pictures (Click to embiggen or see them on Flickr).

(SLurl) A broad area with a fountain and reflecting pool separates the main building from a lovely park. Adorable vendor stalls add to the festival atmosphere that fills the little town. It would be quite daunting for a little pixy (I'm at the bottom, center) but Moles are friendly folk so how scary could their town be?

Sadly, none of these lovely flowers were really for sale. Nor were any of the items in the other vendor stalls, but you could borrow a bicycle to explore Meauxle Bureaux.

The park looking West from the fountain area. That may look like a portal that you might see on Linden Portal park (SLurl) but it isn't. Still magical, though, like the rest of the park.

The main building (it must have a name, but I can't find it) looks a bit like the Moles are still moving in, but you can see the magic already. Click some of the pictures for landmarks to some great LDPW builds (like The Cornfield!). An upper gallery has portraits of some beloved Moles you should know.

Little pixy; Big tavern. Abnor Mole's "home" is a warm and inviting public Public House. You can play billiards or "Cards Against Humanity," watch television, or just hang out. Plenty of comfy seats and lots of great Mole pix add to the atmosphere.

Some homes are occupied already, like this choice end unity that Garden Mole claimed, but some are still empty. I look forward to returning often to see the creativity that each of these master builders add to their space.

Explore everywhere, try different Windlight settings, and take lots of pictures. There is so much to see and you might even meet a Mole or two. Try to find Michael "It's good to be the King" Linden's house.

Zyx sent so many pictures, quite a few blurry from a shaking camera or repeats of several scenes. It's quite obvious she is very excited about the new Mole homes and meeting Frost Mole (see here) like I did yesterday (see here). Yesterday I gave some LDPW Mole Fan Club t-shirts to Frost and Abnor and Zyx gave a petite-sized one to Frost. You can get copies of the shirt at the Arboretum in Bay City (SLurl) and use Search to join the group (free!).

It's Alchemy!

Yesterday, when I kept crashing each time I tried to upload a texture or save a snapshot to my hard drive, I popped into the helpful Macinrosh Users group chat to see if anyone else had the same problem. "Me, too!" I was told by some and then came the inevitable "You should use Firestorm."

No.

That viewer has been a lag-fest for a number of years, even when I disable as many of the toys as I can and drop my graphics preferences to below system recommendations. Look, I have a Late-2009 27" Apple iMac. It runs everything very well – especially since the last OS upgrade – but it really doesn't like Second Life and Second Life doesn't like it.

After making sure I was using the latest Official viewer and still having problems, I thought I'd try some other Third Party viewer. Checking the Wiki list of such I saw l no updates on some older viewers I once really liked, but I came across one I hadn't seen before. Alchemy.

First impression: Dark. It is very dark and contrasty. Parts of it are too dark, blending into other dark parts that make them tricky to use. Like the Conversations pane.

Though on the whole, after a few hours of use, I like it. The Alchemy-logo folders in Inventory are annoying but that's about the extent of my actual complaints. Many features are improved over the Official viewer, like the Environment Settings pane. It is much smaller and clearer than the Official viewer and you can add a tool bar button to call it up right away. Similar controls are available with a Quick Settings button.

Bells and whistles? There are a few. Your object editing beam can be a rainbow. If the Alchemy window isn't on top then in-world notices can be sent to your desktop. Yep. Looking for a way to turn that off. Inventory has buttons for opening and closing all folders. Can't imagine why I'd need the Open one, but the Close button is great. More goodies are buried in the menus and Preferences. None of these seem to increase lag so big "Yay!!!" there.

Right now Alchemy is missing the photo filters for all snapshots except those sent to Flickr or Twitter, but that feature is relatively new in the Official viewer so I'm sure it will show up soon. Overall, Alchemy builds on the original without getting carried away. It is low-lag, easy on the eyes, and works just fine.

Except I still crash when trying to upload textures or save a snapshot to disk. Must be an issue between Second Life and the Apple OS.

Women in Games

From left-to-right, coverage from iMore, Gameranx, and Circa.

Maybe I'm not helping the stereotype many males (and some women) have about women and gaming. Maybe I should help more.

The other day I closed the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group. My intent behind TTiSL was to challenge the right of male avatars in Second Life to bare torsos anywhere they wish while female avatars must remain fully-clothed in many places. Considering the number of frankly pornographic images – usually of submissive women and dominant men – regular sent to the TTiSL Flickr group queue and the general disregard for the group's other standards, I felt it was time to give up.

Bare boobs. Right. What was I thinking? As some of my first thoughts when I see a nude or partially nude woman are often less than pure I'm likely at least partially guilty, as well. Like many people, my first thoughts are seldom "My, she's brave and empowered" when I see a lovely pair of breasts.

Second Life is not a game. The gaming industry is not a game. This is all Real Life, people. What we do in-world and at our keyboards and out in Meatspace shows who we are. The relative anonymity of social media and assumed roles in on-line activities are weapons. Sadly, many mis-guided and selfish misogynistic individuals (and some women can wear this description) wield these weapons to hurt others. It is an easy means to get quick attention and praise from the like-minded and thus gives a quick sense of satisfaction and self actualization – both false – without revealing the truth that such actions are cowardly and pathetic. One needs real strength to aim these weapons to dispel myths and falsehoods, a strength that so few seem to exercise.

So it is time I step up my game, so to speak.

Brianna Wu fights back.

First, I don't apologize for the nudity on this blog or on my Flickr feed. I have breasts in SL and in RL. I like them. Others like them, too. Deal with it. They don't define me, though, and mature people should not use them as a measure of who I am. These pix have been the easy way out, in a fashion, of participating in Our World and moving forward, that is no more. I will increase my efforts to write on a variety of topics starting right now.

Second, time has come to get back to being active in Second Life. Anyone can put on a bikini (or take one off) and lay on a beach. It takes a Resident to leave the beach (and dress in accordance with ToS).

Third, though likely not last, it is time I stop being a girl in a game and grow up to be a woman that has Game. That'll help, right?

Topless Tuesday Video

A woman I know in Real Life video chats with me (via Apple's FaceTime) now and then. She's deaf and I'm mute so the medium is best for Sign Language. Most chats are of the basic How-are-you?-I'm-fine type but as she fancies me carnally so now and again I answer her calls to sometimes find a nude woman blowing kisses at me.

Not that I mind, of course. At least not too much.

But at this time I can't really be in a relationship and even if I could we both know the two of us wouldn't work out in the long run. That doesn't stop these "Boobie Calls" – her term – and I answered one this morning. She was in a super frisky mood and since I'm a good friend, I dressed in kind.  Which inspired my Topless Tuesday picture for this week.

Click to embiggen or see it on Flickr!

Here's the Webcam's point-of-view, the way it appeared on MySL ...

Topless Tuesday Waiting

Not sure what I'm waiting for, but I'm doing it topless (as it is Tuesday, of course).

Click to embiggen or see a larger version in Flickr's Topless Tuesday in SL group.

Topless Tuesday Angel

The post from My Second Life ...

Advanced lighting with Strawberry Singh's "Close Up" Windlight setting and the Auto Intensity filter added.

The raw Save to Disk image ...

Advanced lighting with Strawberry Singh's "Close Up" Windlight setting but no filtration.
Notice my eyes are closed. A happy coincidence.

The final shot after some trickery in Pixelmator and Acorn ...

Happy Topless Tuesday! See how others celebrate in the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group.

Topless Tuesday FX

Unable to come up with anything truly creative, I shot a simple image in-world and tossed it to my iPad for editing in a new app I bought, Tangled FX. You might know the images that come from this app – wistfully whiskery like this lion at left. How the software works I don't know, but you'd think the uses would be pretty limited, but if you play with the controls and have some patience, you can get something different from what most folks buy the app to do. Like my picture above. Less whiskery but certainly different from the original (shown below).

Three-point lighting thanks to some projector prims in an all black studio and a simple pose from somewhere in my collection. Details, details, details. This is why I'll never be a serious fashion photographer, right?

Look for more Topless Tuesday pictures on Flickr here and check out a great use of the Tangled FX app by Andy Ihnatko here. The SVphotography Blog is another great source for cool pictures with this app.

Topless Tuesday in Bed

My Topless Tuesday started with staying in bed for an extra couple hours, surrounded by kitties and stuffed animals. One day I'll figure out a way to do that in Second Life. Until then, I'll just be comfortable.

Click to embiggen or visit this pictures and others in Flickr's Topless Tuesday in SL group.

Random Thoughts

• It has become abundantly clear to me that I blog almost exclusively on Tuesdays of late. I post my Topless Tuesday pic with a brief few comments, link to Flickr then I'm off like a prom dress. This tells me that I need to explore Our World some more, something I used to do quite a bit. Now I mostly pop into various beaches and swim around or lay on the beach while reading.
• Swimming in SL is fun, though I miss Real Life swimming. Having to attach a separate swim HUD is annoying as is turning on/off my regular movement AO HUD when I exit or enter the water. I know that Our World is now (in some eyes) obsolete, but perhaps it is time for The Lab to re-engineer the viewer so that there are standard animations for being in water.
• After all these years, body parts still talk. You know the ones. They are annoying at best and downright inappropriate in public places like shops, Infohubs, and the like. Why is it important that I know what one of your organs is doing at a particular moment? I'm tempted to go rogue and click away, randomly and often, until I get booted or someone leaves.
• I find it amusing that when I cam around at home the Kennylex-made cannon I have on my porch fires without being touched. Some particle sources do this. Also, some animations. As I write this I cammed about to greet someone and a row of girls "bounced" on the beach towels from Standing to Laying, taking on the pose in the towel.
• The User Interface of the Official Viewer still operates as if designed by engineers and not users. You would think that Third Party Viewers would fix this as they are, almost by definition, designed by users. No. In each case the designer is a geeky programmer not who tends to think in logical progressions like the ever present Directory Tree. There are too many bloody steps to change Windlights and the pop-up panels are unnecessarily large. Stop relying on "the task is done" and go for "the task is done with elegance."
• Sometimes if I forget to turn off my AO when sitting on furniture so the HUD's sit animation is played. Others don't always see it this way when I do and sometimes I don't see the AO being dominant while others do. This applies to everyone, I suppose. Right now a girl near me is floating mid-air in a relaxed sitting pose when I know the animation in the towel she's occupying should have her laying on her belly. Maybe SL 2.0 will address this.
• There is so much progress with using mesh to create ultra-realistic homes, furniture, and landscaping, but it seems to me that very few creators are working to bring similar gains to the underwater realm. PADI's Dive World sims were spectacular in their day and I'd love to see what they might look like with today's mesh advances.

• When I was showing off some new bedroom furniture on MySL today (see above plus here and here for more examples) I was trying to angle the shots to as the mirror wouldn't show it was fake and thinking "I used to have a table with an animation to do this" and "I wish SL really had mirrors." Not long after, I ran across a MySL post from Torley Linden that eventually led to the video below.

•  I need to enjoy my home more. Finances iRL are getting tight and even the $15/USD monthly tier I pay might get squeezed. Gone are the days when I raked in tons of SpaceBux hosting events at Lesbos and handing it to my sister Threshin for rent so that isn't an option, either. Premium membership is paid up for almost a year so I could at least have a Linden Home.

Topless Tuesday with Xandah

When my wife logged in last night I was browsing for studio props on the SL Marketplace and showed her a camera with poses from What Next. A few minutes later, it was in my Received Items folder, a gift from Angela. Clearly, she wanted me to use it so I did. A few minutes with Xandah and another prop I found at Magnificent Poses then a few more minutes in Pixelmator ... BAM. I got my Topless Tuesday pic! Look for more in the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group here.

Le Botanique

Liara (Kemicq) Okiddo has once again created a marvelous scenic landscape, perfect in nearly every way. In this lush section of forest a perpetual rain is actually as welcome as a fuzzy blanket for the atmosphere it creates. One can almost smell the greenery and feel the warmth of Le Botanique (SLurl). As with Isla Okiddo (see here), Liara has carefully added elements one-by-one to be form an extraordinarily cohesive environment. A visual treat from every angle. Here are a few pictures I shot today but I highly encourage you to visit Liara's Insights into building 'Le Bontanique' Flickr group for not only more pictures but for detailed commentary on her building process.

My photographer, Zyx, enjoying a break after the morning's shoot.

Click any image to embiggen them or see them on my Flickr feed here. My graphics were set to High and Advanced Lighting was off as it slowed the rain effect to a crawl leaving just streaks of light as if I had used a flash attachment.

Topless Tuesday Yoking Around

For quite some time I've had a animated yoke with water pails made by Knickknack in my inventory and never had a use. Today, I decided that must stop. In the last several days I've been pretty merciless in deleting stuff I don't need and storing stuff I like but don't use. My total inventory count is down by some 5,0000 items. The yoke's life was running short. So I dug out a favorite BINA Slutress dress that I haven't worn in some time, hoisted up the yoke, and stood outside my house.

Then I broke down and leaped into Pixelmator to improve a truly mediocre picture. Added some sun rays, some lens flare, touched up some obvious plant issues, tweaked this then tweaked that and the shot turned out as you see it above. Below is the original.

Enjoy this one here as only the final one will be added to the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group.

It is really topless, though? Technically, I'm wearing a top but the girls have been hauled out. There are those that will argue the point and there are those that will just giggle to themselves and keep saying "boobies" in a low, squeaky voice. The latter camp is where I lean, but about 15 years after blooming I'm still tickled to have a (generous) pair. This week I'll go shopping for more photo props that I can leave unused before I decided to delete, store, or get off my (generous) buns and finally use.

SL11B - Embargo Lifted!

The official Second Life 11th Birthday blog has published more than a few sneak peek pictures of the event in the building stages as have quite a few Residents on their blogs and on their MySL pages. Many of the pix from the latter forums turned out to be more than carefully cropped previews, but no one went all Snowden on the event. Some of the mystery is preserved. I held off until today and here are some of the images I've been collecting since I was given access last week. These and more can be found in my SL11B Flickr album. Many more will be posted directly from the Second Life "Share" viewer I'm testing. The event officially opens June 22 at Noon SLT.

My job this year was to be Doc Gascoigne's body guard.
Whenever he was AFK I'd protect him with a tub of lime Jell-O®.

Pygar Bu created a lovely stage complex for the Auditorium. The detailed, bucolic setting has paths to explore, prep stages for presenters, and a spacious main stage.
Did I mention there were snacks? (SLurl)

On rehearsal day at the Auditorium I watched Hamayu Andel and a Modern Chinese Ballet go through their act. Clear your calendar for June 26th at 6PM SLT to see this amazing performance. Amazing music, gorgeous sets in brilliant colors, and a great story, too. Must See! (SLurl)

These next three images are of the Bay City exhibit (SLurl) crafted by Marianne McCann. It has a very 60s vibe to it and is a good reflection of corporate promotional style. Be sure, as with many of the exhibits, to have Advanced Lighting active to see the intricate details that Mari has added. This is the future of Second Life, people. Get used to it.

The Cake Stage (SLurl) is another amazing build. Loki Eliot is always pushing the envelope in everything he crafts and this venue is no exception. Again, use Advanced Lighting when you can.

Multi-region bridges connect all of SL11B to the Cake Stage, with lights pulled right out of the Tron movies pulsing, swirling, and flowing. Fly around out side and you'll see some cool sculptures, too.

Inside the Dome. It would be a crime if you attended an event in the Cake Stage and didn't fly into the dome. Imagine this picture in 3D and moving.

Look for the VIP boxes. There be gifts hidden in them. Plus, look a the stuff near the seats on the dance floor and click the white buttons. Heck, click everything!! Loki is a master of details.

Just wandering the regions is fun, too. Here is a typical scene. Just like Mainland SL you'll find jarring juxtapositions and harmonious habitats so wander around on foot for at least some of your visit. Many buildings are very tall so do some flying, too.

Just a street? (SLurl)

One of the Time Capsules near the Welcome Area (a treat in itself) (SLurl)

Above is one of my prides and joys, the Time Capsule for SL7B. That year I won the design contest so I have a lasting presence on The Grid. Each year some of the past Time Capsules and select items donated to these repositories are set out to show people what Second Life looked like in years past. Go here to read about this year's contest.

Lastly, a reminder to look up. Not all you can see is at ground level. Cam, climb, or fly and you might see ...

Somniatis - Ascension of the Digital Consciousness (SLurl)

Topless Tuesday Again?!?

Yes, it seems all I do is blog about Topless Tuesday.  I've blogged nothing since last Tuesday (though the pic from then was highlighted on Busted Magazine's blog) but it wasn't from lack of trying. Okay, it was partly from lack of trying. But I've started a semi-secret job at Second Life's 11th Birthday (SL11B) and pix are under an embargo right now. That also means that a chunk of my otherwise free time has been taken up so I have less time to ...

Who am I kidding. I'm lazy. Here's your picture:

Click to embiggen or see other sizes and more pix from other Topless Tuesday revelers on Flickr.

Topless Tuesday in the Wild

Sometimes when one is roaming the wilderness you have to take pictures fast and the results may not be optimal. I had this in mind when I dropped my Topless Tuesday pic into Pixelmator and started messing with filters. Some light leak to simulate lens flare (still figuring out how to make that since there is no specific filter), a bit of zoom to imply motion, and a bit of poor exposure should all add up to a quick, off-the-hip picture. How'd I do?

For more Topless Tuesday pix take a look at the Topless Tuesday in SL Flickr group.