Billy Beaverhausen
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Taking David to TMD October 2018
The current round of The Mens Dept. started on 5th October and will last till the end of the month. I don’t keep count of the percentage of clothing items versus tattoos, skins, hair, poses etc. but I do feel that this round seems to be offering more fashion. I’m writing this intro before having tried anything on, but I’m hopeful there will be enough here to dress the NX-Nardcotix David mesh body. Before we start dressing him though, let’s take a closer look at a skin you can also find at this month’s TMD.
The Benjamin skin by Birth for Catwa mesh heads is manly and fresh-faced with a hint of cheekiness. I’m showing the No. 3 skin tone on the Catwa Stanley head, but I’m confident it will look good on most, if not all Catwa heads. Birth skins always come with several options for the brows, hair base and beard. You can of course also apply the naked skin and use your own favorites. Matching body appliers are available specifically for Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake but Birth also have a generic Omega applier that works really well with David. Covering up the family jewels this time are the NX-Nardcotix briefs, which you naturally can find at the same place where you get the body.
As is my habit, I’m wearing the Season 5 Steking ears by Mandala, because I like the way these are sculpted a lot more than the original Catwa ears, even if matching the skin tone is a real pain.
The new skin put me in the mood for a new hairdo as well and I was drawn to the Nial hair by Modulos also present at TMD this month. A long messy fringe always has been a turn on for me, especially in SL.
First up on the list of clothing items I have found at TMD for David is this snazzy jacket with an open shirt and a casual tie from ::K::. It’s not a perfect fit, as you can see from the bit of clipping at the wrist, but it just goes so well with this boyish slightly rebellious look, I couldn’t resist it. I’m not sure which one works best, the Jake or Gianni size, but in the end that will also depend on your personal shape. I like the NX-Nardcotix Finlay cargo pants and Jude ankle boots with this jacket.
A pair of ripped jeans and sturdy walking boots are a great match. I was able to make the jeans by Vexiin work for David with some shape remodeling. The Gianni size is probably your best option. There is a version with and one without a belt and you’ll find a hud in the package with some options for the belt and underpants. The boots are from Lenox and fit well under the jeans if you use the Jake size, which is interesting, seeing how I’m wearing Gianni size jeans. The message here is: always try everything!
Of course a leather jacket goes well with ripped jeans too. Etham has released one at TMD that fits nicely on David in the TMP size and it comes with a hud offering 12 shirt colours and 5 metal options.
Blankline wants you to keep warm this autumn when you go out for an evening walk in this turtle neck sweater and shirt which is easy to put on, as it covers up most of your body and comes with a hud that offers three colour choices for the sweater.
The coat from Hotdog & Contraption inspired me to be a bit more daring with the bottom half of the outfit and I went for the Alexander leggings by Noche. Currently these are available a the Kinky Event until 19th October and afterwards they’ll pop up at Noche’s main store. Don’t get your hopes up too much though, you will not be able to wear these leggings topless. The fit is much too tight to be able to make them work with a body they weren’t specifically made for, but don’t they look cray cray in a good way when combined with this coat? Another thing that’s worth mentioning is that I had to pull in my chin to be able to wear that turtle neck. You can wear the coat with or without the fur collar and you get a bunch of texture and colour options that will have you mixing and matching till the cows come home and remind you to … moooooh, milk me motha-fuckah!
I think there is more at TMD this month I can work with, but I’m taking a break here and am keeping a little something for another day.
The Psycho Pumpkin Hunt
The title of The Psycho Pumpkin hunt arguably makes little sense, but the list with hints and slurls very nicely indicates whether an item is female, male, both genders or unisex. I wasn’t in the mood for rezzing things and trying to create a scene with an odd mix of bits and bops from this hunt, so I limited myself to the wearable items instead. Perhaps it’s the early unset of a winter depression?
This sweatshirt or long sleeved t-shirt from Horr menswear is quite dull but not entirely without merit for those of us that actually like to keep it basic. It includes standard sizes and versions for the Adam, Aesthetic, David, Gianni, Jake, Slink and TMP mesh bodies.
Waffles calls this a scrubs set, so this means I’m dressed for working at a hospital… A mental institution more likely with these loud colours. I imagine it would be the kind of place where if you aren’t mad going it, by the time they let you out you’ll be positively bonkers. But at least it’s not dull, right? This set includes standard sizes and versions for the Adam, Aesthetic, David, Gianni, Jake, Slink and TMP mesh bodies.
To top it off I have this scary hat from Storax Tree. Now I personally don’t have anything to go with it, but I’m sure there’s plenty of daft old ducks among you who will have just the thing in their inventory.
If you’re wondering where I took these snapshots, head over to MadPea’s Mad World and have a owl… eehm, I mean a hoot.
Shown on Belleza Jake mesh body with Catwa Stanley head, Stray Dog Erwin skin and Stealthic Reach hair.
7 Deadly S[k]ins Group Gift October 2018
It’s that time of year again where we’re all officially allowed to get our freak on, known as the Halloween season. In most countries in Europe Halloween has only been gaining momentum in the last 10 years or so and it is by no means as big as in the USA. Is it anywhere bigger than in SL though? Many sims are going all out and the options to transform your avi from mundane to magical are manifold. The October group gift at 7 Deadly S[k]ins is a good example of that. The Halloween version of the Brett skin comes in a very pale tone with a hint of death… And in this case that’s a good thing.
The gift includes several versions of the skin with beards and a cracked marble effect. 7 Deadly S[k]ins uses omega appliers, so in theory this skin will work for any mesh body and head that’s omega compatible, but it might not work as well for all of them. I’m showing the skin on the Catwa Stanley head and Belleza Jake body and I only have a small niggle. My finger and toe nails didn’t get textured when I applied the skin and the flesh colour of my nail bed looked very strange against the pale skin. The Belleza body doesn’t have a nail option that is light enough to match the skin, so I decided to tint them black. Problem solved.
Other credits: Stealthic ‘Like Lust’ hair, Mandala mesh ears, Noche Metallic thong.
The Fall In-Sim Hunt
The ‘stuff Groups presents The Fall In-SIM Hunt, covering five groups: Menstuff, Womenstuff, Homestuff, Kidstuff, and Posestuff. There’s a bunch of prizes in each group and most of the stores on the land are participating in this festive event. Here and there you’ll find a wooden floor sign with a deadly thin looking fellah (a.k.a. skeleton) standing next to it. Click on one of these signs and you’ll get a list of participating store names, hints and other info. Some prizes are 0 L$, others are 1 L$. That’s all I can tell you about this hunt, but let’s take a closer look at some of the items from the Menstuff collection.
I’m not exactly blown away by the loungers from LooLoo & Platypus, but I’m pleasantly charmed by the silly itsy bitsy spider pattern on them. I guess these could be my lazy Sunday silly pants for the Halloween season. They come in classic sizes as well as versions for the Signature Gianni, Belleza Jake, Adam, Slink, Aesthetic and TMP mesh bodies.
Boyberry gets in the Halloween spirit with this cropped t-shirt. I’m not sure if this makes me a trick or a treat, but I do know this is going to be too flimsy to be wearing on those spooky autumn sims. This top works with the Aesthetic, Signature Gianni, Belleza Jake and Slink mesh bodies.
Elle’s t-shirt is using that same funny little spider pattern as the loungers, or something similar in another colour anyway. It comes in standard sizes and versions for the Aesthetic, Signature Giannia & Geralt, Belleza Jake, Slink and TMP mesh bodies.
I love the print on this sleeveless hoodie from Emberotic. Comes in standard sizes and versions for the Aesthetic, Signature Giannia & Geralt, Belleza Jake, Slink and TMP mesh bodies.
This pretty much sums up the pieces I was interested in. Everything was shown on the Signature Gianni body and head with Stray Dog Owen skin and Tableau Vivant Dagon hair (we’re still waiting for them to reopen their men’s hair department). Jeans are from Riot (white and blue) and Signature (black).
Happy trick-or-treating!
Exmachina Davide 4.02 : Suiting Up
Building on the work I have done with the latest version of the Exmachina Davide full avatar, I’m continuing the series with a post about suit options for this body. In theory it shouldn’t be too difficult to find suits for any mesh body, because obviously most of the body will be covered, which means you can make good use of the alpha cuts. However, in some cases there will be issues with the shirt collar and cuffs and in other cases you simply will not like what the suit does to your shape. But before you start stuffing your face with chocolate muffins and crying your bitter tears of disappointment in your cup of sweet mint tea because (boohoohoo) nothing fits, let’s look at what Beaver pulled from his wardrobe. Ever so helpful, I’ve put the sizes I’ve been using between brackets, so you don’t have to worry your pretty little head over that.
Left: (Signature Gianni size) Let’s start things off light and breezy with this Summer Suit by Gabriel. Sure, it’s autumn where I am, but it’s spring down under and there are plenty of eternal summers in SL, so shut up already. The Monk Shoes by Ascend are a nice fit with this suit.
Middle: (Signature Gianni size) For the more flamboyant gents among you, there’s the elaborately embroidered Valentine Jacket with matching trousers and Triple Monk Shoes all by Ascend. The jacket is also available in plain colours, for those of you that aren’t into embroidery.
Right: (TMP size) You’ll find a sexy casual option in the Marc Jacket, combined with the Jack Cargo Pants and Harry Long Boots all by Ascend.
Left: (fitmesh) The Peak suit from Deadwool and their Dandy shoes and socks have been around for a while, but they’re still dapper as f*ck and so damn sharp you’ll be cutting right through the masses strutting your stuff. Several versions are available, so even if the classic green tartan isn’t your cup of earl grey, your bound to find one that hits your sweet spot. The shirt, tie, pocket handkerchief, belt and socks all have huds with a bunch of texture options.
Middle: (Signature Gianni size) Brand new from Deadwool is the double breasted Hart suit. This one is so sharp, it’s probably illegal! The one button that’s left undone does leave a hint of casualness and that’s cool. The Oxford shoes are also one of Deadwool’s more recent creations and fit perfectly under the trousers so you can just blank out pretty much everything apart from your hands, neck and head. Now I did notice a tiny little bit of pesky clipping in the neck area and I increased my neck size to 75 which solved the issue
Right: (Standard Sizing) This is Deadwool’s aptly named Dandy suit. It’s an old school standard size item and I’m wearing the small size. I wouldn’t call it a perfect fit and I wish this suit existed in a fitmesh size, but I love the look of this suit with its extensive colour options for the tie, handkerchief and shirt. Just to be clear, there are no clipping issues, but I feel my arms look too skinny in the small size and the medium size makes me too bulky for my liking.
Left: (TMP size) Etham’s Josh blazer and Adam chinos work very well together as a casual suit. For shoes I chose the Deadwool chase sneakers, wearing the resizable version.
Middle: (top Fitmesh, bottom TMP size) Take Kalback’s casual blazer and wear it with Cold Ash Dean Chinos and you’ve got yourself a smart but playful casual Friday outfit.
Right: (Signature size) The Gabriel blazer by Not So Bad comes with a nice selection of texture options in the hud for the shirt. With the matching suit pants you have some choices for the belt as well, so you can coordinate it with your shoes. The blazer made my ass arrive 5 minutes later at the party than the rest of my body, but that was soon solved with some careful shape editing.
Speaking of shapes, I should mention that it’s good practice to click the “Save As” button in the shape editing window as soon as you have changed one setting, that way you prevent accidentally overwriting the original skin you may have been working on for a while. Alternatively you can make a copy of the shape in your inventory first.
I’ll conclude this blog post with pointing you into the direction of Vango for hair, Mandala for mesh ears and Birth for that scruffy beard applier.
It’s Kinky Time 5
The Kinky Event started yesterday and I decided to bite the rubber bullet and brave the luscious lag. In a way, lag is a rather kinky thing, when you think about it. You’re moving in slow motion through a mass of people and as clothing tends to rez later that mesh bodies, your getting slapped in the face by wobbly boobs and wibbly butts. I don’t know if it’s the habit at this event to have a DJ on the opening day, but that’s what was going on. The tunes were hot, the venue was packed and the DJ was funny in an unintentional way. Boots were overflowing with skimpy skirts, kinky knickers and other such accouterments.
There’s also a small assortment of furniture and decor items, like for example this rather sexy Empress Chair by Dollmart, though to be quite honest with you, I find it lacking in animations. It’s a great talking point for your interior space, but that just means more blah blah and less boom boom.
When it comes to menswear at this event, there’s only one item. The Alexander leggings by Noche are well worth the visit though, in my opinion. The fatpack has no less than 37 texture options which can be applied separately to the waistband and main fabric. There are 32 plain colours and 5 stylish patterns. I particularly like the Louis Vuitton inspired pattern, though for the life of me, I don’t understand why anybody would spend that much real life money on a handbag. For some people that’s their budget for a used car! But let’s not get lost in a socioeconomic debate and instead take a closer look at some of those texture choices.
This snazzy flowered version should get some die hard fashionistas an elevated heart rate. Then again it might just be the caffeine. Put that skinny vanilla latte down biaaatch!
The leggings have been rigged for the Signature Gianni and Belleza Jake bodies and there are three bulge sizes, ranging from a timid size 0 to a more heat-packing size 2.
All are shown here on the Belleza Jake body with the Catwa Stanley head, Birth Axel skin, Vango Bobby hair and L’Etre gem pierced ears. The briefs worn while seductively posing on the Empress chair are from Noche as well.
Right! Time for a (cold) shower and some real life fresh air now! *sashays away*
Exmachina Davide 4.02 – episode 2
I wasn’t quite done with the Exmachina Davide full avatar after my previous post. It needed a little extra something and the ‘Bristle’ beard applier from Birth was just the thing, but I’m not sure how exactly I manage to put it on the face. I finally got there, but then I teleported and it was gone again. I have a strong hunch that this beard would be much better behaved on a Catwa head. It’s a shame, because sure looks handsome on this mug.
The baggy pants from Legal Insanity are an absolute delight, if you are into that sort of that thing of course. The drape of the fabric looks fabulous and the belt and chains positively rock. Best of all, they come in an exmachina size!
Equally soothing to the eye and also rigged for the Exmachina Davide are these overalls from Legal Insanity and what makes them even greater is that you can wear them with or without the shirt.
I was trying some skins before returning to the standard skins for these image, but accidentally left on the brows from a VYC skin. I’m only noticing this now while I’m editing the pictures. It doesn’t look bad though. Our boy can do with a stronger brow. It’s a shame that there isn’t a standard skin option without brows with this full avatar.
I used two different hairstyles from Vango for this shoot, booth working exceptionally well with the shape of my head and helping me to achieve boyishly handsome looks. The eyes are from NSS and ears from Mandala.
Lat but not least I need to mention that at 3200 L$ this full avatar is priced very competitively and at this very moment there is a 50% discount! I’m posting this at the end of 27 September and I have no idea how long this discount is going to last.
Exmachina Davide 4.02
The answer to the question “what shall I do next” eventually came to me as: “Let’s play with the Exmachina Davide avatar!” It has been a while since I last used it, which adds that little bit of excitement to the situation, because there’s always the chance that there has been an update. Sure enough, as soon as I put on version 3.01 I was offered version 4.01. It was apparent straight away from the somewhat odd looking face that Exmachina has been tinkering with mesh and my shape was no longer ideal for it. I welcomed the opportunity to work on my shape and soon found that the changes are a nice improvement. Some of the jagged edges in the facial features of previous versions seem to have been smoothed out a bit. The list of improvements is long and while most of them are little bug fixes, it’s nice to see that Exmachina is persevering.
Sadly this body still is lacking in underwear and swimwear options. You’ll find a small satellite store of Gild at the Exmachina sim where you’ll see speedos and rope I’m wearing above and these are by far the nicest thing you’ll find for Davide in terms of skimpy things to wear for a swim. If you search Marketplace for underwear, you may come across something, but it all leaves me feeling a bit… meh.
While we’re talking about Gild, we might as well take a look at the other two items they have for the Exmachina body. Their baggy pants with suspenders are perfect for some barefoot island exploring and leave much to the imagination while still making clear that you’re going commando. They seem to communicate with the body, albeit with a delay and though I’m all for auto alpha functionality, I was a bit miffed to see that the pants knocked out my head. But no worries, you simply bring it back by using the body’s hud.
Here’s a pair of skinny pants from Gild, complete with shoes and a belt. These are three separate items so you can wear them how you see fit. You can leave off the belt if it’s clipping with your top for example. The open knitted sweater I’m wearing here is from Legal Insanity, which is another brand that’s started rigging clothing for this body.
Other credits: hair by Vango, ears by Mandala and eyes by NSS.
Just another fairy day
A while ago I “confessed” that occasionally I like to don a lovely pair of wings and flit around the grid all fairy like. With that confession I showed my revamped fairy look, but why stop at just one look though? I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and looked at what can be achieved with the NX-Nardcotix David mesh body. I knew that trying to find suitable clothing for a fairy with this body was going to be a challenge, but with some rummaging around I came to a pleasing end result.
Gabriel has several older fantasy gacha sets which have aged gracefully and thankfully still are available at their main store. I got these pants with armored boots and a belt because I rather liked the idea of a warrior fairy. The fit isn’t perfect, but for me the Signature size seemed to work best for David. It’s worth checking Marketplace for these items, so you don’t have to keep hitting the gacha machine till you finally get what you want on top of a heap of things you weren’t looking for.
If you like posing with props, you’ll probably appreciate the detail and range of colour options on the bow and quiver from Elemental. I would have liked seeing an animation or pose coming with this, but instead I had to go look for one in Marketplace.
I would like to create a fairy with a softer looking mesh head some time, but for this time I went back to the Catwa Stanley head, which looks suitably boyish with the Ryu skin by Birth. A bonus is that the omega mesh body applier from Birth works beautifully with the Nardcotix body and is fit as f*ck.
Obviously the pointy ears are a big part of this look. You can get the Season 5 Steking mesh ears from Mandala and the great thing about those is that they are human, pixie and elf ears all in one. Wings are a must as well and I went with my usual Titania fairy wings by Deviance. To give him a twinkle in his eye, I chose the NSS Vermeer mesh eyes and finally, the Like Lust hairstyle by Stealthic finishes off the look.
Right, and now I’m flying outa here! Cheerio. *woooosh*
Nevermore Hunt 2018
The Nevemore Hunt started on September 7th and runs until the end of the month. This hunt has a Gothic theme, so naturally some of the prizes lean that way. There were several stops I simply skipped because the item clearly was going to be women’s wear. Yet again there are some disappointing cases where the store carries both female and male items, but the owner chose to only include a female prize. Where’s the logic in that? Anywhooo, let’s take a look at what I gathered.
X-clusives Animations has this rock complete with splashing water effect, a statue and a fire pit. As per usual with their items, it is jam packed with animations ranging from romantic to downright dirty.
The bench, ottoman, rug and birdcage with a small raven from Kitty Creations isn’t quite up to my usual standard, but it isn’t a complete disaster either and the set goes nicely with one of the wallpapers from Timeless Textures. The room screen from Anna’s Attic looks reasonably at home in this decor as well and helps to hide the fact that you caught me naked again.
We go deeper into the Gothic and dare I say Halloween theme, with the cat that’s feasting on mice on top of a stack of skulls by Darkmatter. There are more skulls from United InshCon, silky pillows from Gross Princess and a blood curdling bowl of “wine” and glasses from Special O’Cassions. At the end of this row you find one of the finer pieces in this hunt, which is the Jack O Lantern scarecrow from StoraxTree.
Finally I was able to salvage one piece of menswear, which is a simple but perfectly acceptable sweatshirt from HORR… oh look, I got dressed! You can find all the landmarks and hints on the Nevermore Hunt site. Happy hunting to you all!
PS: that cat really reminded me of Salem in Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
What’s Eating TMP 10
What’s TMP? It stands for The Mesh Project and though I wasn’t a Second Life citizen yet when they launched their mesh bodies and heads, I believe that at the time they were ahead of the game and now they are behind, far behind, with no update in sight. So why would you still get their body and/or head? Because for 500 L$ they look amazing. As always there’s a word of caution. TMP allegedly operates on their own servers and if these would ever go offline, the body would stop working as it should… Allegedly.
I made a quick visit to The Shops to check if anything has changed, but you still land at a so called pre-launch pop up store where TMP recently started selling new hair and you can click through from there to get to the old bodies, heads and skins.
For me it was my first mesh body and I enjoyed it a lot. Some people will say that clothing designers have stopped supporting this body, but that’s not entirely true. Some have dropped it, yes, but some picked it up at a later stage. I went to the current round of The Mens Dept. to see what’s new and comes in a TMP size. The event started at the 5th, as usual and will be running till the end of the month.
Cold Ash has a well-made tight-fitting shirt with short sleeves and some buttons undone to create a sexy plunging neckline and show off that chest. You can also get the new Not So Bad jeans at TMD which happen to be a perfect choice to wear with the shirt. I don’t think that any of the shoes at TMD this month include a TMP size and instead of trying any of them, I went with a pair of sneakers from an old gacha set at Semler, because these have stood the test of time very well and actually were rigged for the TMP body.
The Lenox “Juneau” jacket is a bit bulky but you can make your avatar somewhat slimmer to downsize the overall look, which brings me to the sweater and trousers from MGmen’s at The Men’s Dept. My avi looked like a blimp in that sweater, using his broad shouldered muscular shape. Only after severely toning down the body did this outfit become more or less acceptable. If you’re going to wear the trousers without the shirt, you can bulk up again, but they don’t accommodate a butt size over 20, which is a shame, especially with the caboose potential of the TMP body. The second pair of sneakers is also from Semler, available at their main store.
Etham continues to support the TMP body as well and has a shirt at TMD which of course combines easily with their chinos which you can get at Etham’s main store. For shoes I suggest the Deadwool sneakers.
Aitui also keeps including a TMP size with their typically layered and lightly crumpled looking jackets and coats.
You can of course try items that don’t include a TMP size, there’s a chance they’ll work if you use the Signature or classic size where available. Don’t get your hopes up for things like tank tops and underwear though. Those really need to be rigged for a specific body to work.
Credits
- TMP mesh body
- Catwa Stanley mesh head
- Skin is from Aeros as they are one of the few places that carry both TMP and Catwa appliers. ‘Brox‘ in the tequila tone.
- ‘Season 5 Steking’ mesh ears from Mandala
- ‘Reach’ hair from Stealthic
Changing Colors hunt
Soon some people will be doing that annoying thing of going to some woodsy area to witness the changing of the leaves in person, much to the chagrin of the locals because, well… tourists! Personally I’m spending some quality time with my friends and family in Belgium before I return to Sweden. Here it’s still too soon to for leafs to turn golden, orange and red and once I’m back in Stockholm, chances are it will go very quickly from yellow to brown with not much splendor in between. Now let’s see if this Changing Colors hunt will fork up some splendid prizes. I couldn’t find a hints list, but I can tell you the hunt starts at Wiccan Wears. The hunt runs till the end of September, you’ll be looking for an autumn leaf and the prizes are 1L$.
- The first hint at Wiccan Wears is “When it’s your turn have a seat!”
- The second stop is Storax Tree and you’ll find the gift right at the poster. In other words, there’s no hint here.
- Next stop is Timeless Textures. Hint: No hint here! So let me give you one of my own: Yesterday I visited a medieval castle. (true story).
- Changed Seasons. Hint: Again no hint in the hint giver! It’s starting to look like participants don’t care much about this hunt. So here’s my hint: I sure hope this isn’t poison ivy!
- The Happy Hat. Hint: Again no hint, but this store is no bigger than a top hat, so you should be able to find that leaf. The gifts is a nice scene with horses, a broken fence and some trees which includes a couple of poses and a colourful cowboy hat.
- Sassy Brats. Hint: Oy vey! Here I go again with a hint of my own. Hit the stairs but watch out for the cat! It’s just a bit playful but those claws are sharp.
- Grumble. Hint: Nope! Shake your magic ball to get an answer.
- Waffles. Hint: Again njet on the hints! Check out the nooks and crannies of the ground floor. You may want to check if you got mail while you’re at it.
- DRAMA. Hint: No hint again here, but as it’s a small shop it’s no big drama.
- WCI. Hint: You guessed it! No hint in the hint giver. Go take a walk on the beach, especially if you always wanted to make furniture or art out of driftwood.
- The Sissy Bar. Hint: nope. This leaf got lost in a hibiscus bush.
That’s all folks. Happy hunting!
