Avatar Review: The Fluff Fox by Cloak Farigoule

By Grease Coakes

Many furries remember the club that was once Anthroxtacy or AX for short for furries. Well trained exotic dancers and a full roster of djs including Aurora Avila added to an excellent club atmosphere
Sadly Anthroxtacy closed it’s doors a few years ago. If you look in my profile you’ll still see those AX tags.

Like any furry I was browsing around the SL marketplace poking around for a new avatar. I happened to see a familiar name that was a regular at AX, one Cloak Farigoule. Who happens to be well known around the furry scene for being a gifted scripter and builder. Cloak had an excellent idea that was in his Fluff fox for 900L. The idea of changing your fox to any color you wish. No more buying a favorite avatar just to get different colors.

A HUD comes with the avatar along with a tattoo. There’s a set of picture instructions also included. The color HUD works with eyes and fur. The wearable tattoo changes your fur color when you edit it. The avatar itself looks cartoonish, but not cheesy. It comes with fox whiskers and nice digi legs.

I happened to grab the mysterious Cloak and ask him a few questions. "What inspired you to build and script within Second Life?" I asked him. Cloak answered, "Simplicity and smaller audience." I asked him to clarify, "What do mean by smaller audience?" Cloak answered, "A better niche audience."  I asked, "The better audience that was looking for furry and or different and custom avatars?"  Cloak answered, "Better as in the idea that there is not much competition and high demand."

I nodded, "Everyone wants a fox or raccoon a certain way and not the cookie cutter avatar that's sold by vendors. Most people go for the pre-made avatars. But the true avatar hounds might want a custom look and you want those to  come  your way?" Cloak confirmed, "Of course."

I brought up, "I really like your Fluff fox avatar where you change colors what can you tell me about it? Or rather tell anyone who might not know about it reading the SL Newser?" Cloak answered, "Make it where you don't need to buy custom colors and I like the idea for more customization without always having to consistently buy different color set for each skin."

I asked, "So it's the colorful fix all for foxies. Are you releasing the same idea for other avatars or just keeping it to foxes only?" Cloak answered, "Definitely I’m working on that for my neko avatar."

Look for Cloak Farigoule on the second life market place. But if you want the fluff fox which offers male and female skins, go here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/flUff-Fox/5712580 . Also included was a picture that you wear to show you how to change colors

If a new avatar was on your wish list and you wanted a fox with all the colors of the rainbow look no farther then Cloak’s Fluff fox.

Pictures were taken at the ark’s sandbox here http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/244/46/28 .

Grease Coakes

Review: The Anthroxtacy Fox

By Grease Coakes

Many furries in Second Life miss the furry club as Anthroxtacy or AX for short. I remember Tactital Tempest told me when we ran into each other “AX was just like every other furry club. But it’s sorely missed.” That left a void in Second Life that has yet to be filled. People were used to seeing the same furries at Anthroxtacy a few times a week. Now a days I rarely see Keeser Cushing around or other furries from there. Aurora Avila clubs at a smaller club called Club Midi once a week.

However there’s still a small part of AX around that Bixyl Shuftan discovered. At NorthStar Polaris (33/181/3001) you can still buy AX avatars. I was very pleasantly surprised. The AX3 fox got everything right just like the avatar planet fox I reported on. I went to the sandbox at The Ark at the ark here to play with it at Quarabia (152/128/502).

There’s a few of the avatars there besides the AX3 fox but when I tried out an AX3 fox I instantly loved it. In fact I haven’t opened an AX fox in such a long time I forgot it wasn’t a box you rezzed on the ground but instead a little fox that matched the color you bought. Hence I bought a blue fox so the color box was a blue fox.

Just like the AP fox from the previous article, the hud is easy to use. Click the HUD to make your tail wag and click the color menu to pick out colors for your eyes. But like the popular toshuki avatars whenever you type or speak on voice you see your avatar become animated making arm and mouth gestures like you’re actually talking. The same goes for the AX3 foxes. I type nonsense and the avatar becomes alive.

Just playing with the hud I click the arrows at the sides of the eyes. It turns out it slowly closes your eyes from wide awake to closed like you’re taking a nap (Zzzzzzzzzz.) Might be handy when you take an afk break to close your eyes to make it seem your avatar is taking a snooze. Or you could look like you're walking around blindly.

Another good thing is that the AP fox had a cartoony look. The AX fox leans more towards a realistic look. When you look carefully around the fox muzzle you see whiskers and stray hairs around the face.

Also the AX3 fox is very inexpensive for all of 250L. The other avatars at the mini AX mall are different prices. However for the excellent graphical look and easy to use options. This avatar is more of a steal then the AP fox. But don’t get me wrong the avatar planet fox is also high quality, but I think the Antrhoxtacy fox is much better even if the price was the same.

For giggles and kicks I spent my last 250L on a purple colored fox. As I write this article I have all of 90L. But I don’t feel guilty, Bixyl pays me and any other reporter a set amount per article and there’s always other ways of making Linden so I can always make my money back.

So if you’re looking for an awesome buy but your linden isn’t so high go the AX avatar mini mall at northstar might be what you are looking for. In fact the vending machine had other avatars as well not just foxes for the same price of 250L. Maybe foxes isn’t your thing? There’s other choices as well. It wouldn’t hurt to at least check it out.

Editor's Note: the AX store at the Northstar Mall has both a vendor for individual Anthroxtacy avatars, and several "fatpacks" where one can get all colors of the same kind of avatar, such as the otter.

Grease Coakes

Review: Avatar Planet Foxes

By Grease Coakes

Just like any other furry in the world of Second Life I enjoy shopping around for a new avatar. When I was looking for a human avatar for going to the church in my earlier article I typed out avatar thinking I would find a cheap human avatar. I found a sim called avatar planet at Blacktail Ridge (50/66/215). Thinking it had human avatars I checked it out. I happened to see a vending machine not for human skins but for a fox avatar I never heard of.

I forgot about looking for a human avatar as chances are I had a freebie human skin anyway. So I bought the orange version and went to the church and saved the fox for later.

When I went to a sandbox to try it out I was impressed that it seemed easy to use. The cartoon look is appealing as well. But the cartoon appearance isn’t too cute as a turn off it seems just right.

It did come with an instructions note card however the hud is clear and easy to read. You click the blue buttons and it takes you where it says. Click eye colors one and two for not just one color but two within each eyeball.

As a bonus you can also change the color of your tongue and adjust it sticking out of your fox muzzle. And also that you can open or close your jaw as well. So it would make your avatar appear like you are wagging your tongue like a natural fox animal habit.

As you can see below jaw rotation are the numbers 1 through 4. 1 being closed and four being open all the way.  There’s also paw pad options to change the color of your paw pads and your tongue. The color hud is easy. Click on what you want to change and pick a color from the color palette.

I happened to see a friendly sign that explained their policy and also names to contact if you have a problem with your avatar or it did not deliver after you paid.

Blaze Borgin and Doug Falta did a great job creating this fox avatar. They found the happy medium between bells and whistles and ease of use. You may have heard the expression “less is more.” That’s the case with their avatar planet fox where it’s very simple as I’m playing with the hud I’m not confused at all.

Maybe you’re not interested in a fox avatar? Blaze and Doug made other choices such as a velix whatever that is, but it looks cool like a kind of demon. An otter, a bat, and a red panda.

Wandering around the store I see they also have skins for other avatars and some clothes. So you’re a winner if you check out avatar planet you get a new avatar at a fair price and some new clothes to try out on your new fur and tail.

And that’s another good thing about the avatar. The price as you might have seen on the vending machine is a mere 800L. Other avatars I have seen priced for 900 or 1,000. So for you’re what getting for your money is a steal I’d say.

I have nothing but good feelings and happy vibes about the avatar planet fox. I didn’t try out the other four avatars. However if Doug and Blaze followed the same simple and easy to use hud and graphically appealing design I’d say each of the other avatars is a bargain just like the fox. I highly recommend if you are looking for a new avatar look no farther then Avatar Planet

Grease Coakes

DJ Micah's Club Culture

By Grease Coakes

DJ Micah hasn't been in Second Life long but he's well known as a DJ around Furnication which is Nemoen Magne's club. And now as a blue tiger from the UK he's taken the next step from DJ to club owner. Micah has made a graphically pleasing club with a vision all his own. In 2013 he created the club however money issues forced him to close it down. When I talked to him on Jan 14^th this year he said it only just opened the previous Friday.

 Unlike some other furry clubs, Micah's new club is centered on the music and not so much nudity and sexual hijinks that a few have been noted for. One of the rules is no sexual conduct in the club. It's also welcoming to humans who are looking for a new place to hang out. Also he has put a lot of blood sweat and tears to make sure his club looks like a real life club. The only exception is that no security searches you for weapons or drugs like in the real world. You can warp in at Nocturnal Chaos (200/220/4001) and just walk in.

Like Shadowquine Maltz's Ark it's like a lounge environment where you can hang out if you like or dance to either the radio stream or the live DJ throwing down tracks for the crowd. I also noticed he had a very realistic light system. Another rule he stated was “no excessive glowy things”.He wouldn't want his club to be lagged to all heck if 20 people had script intensive glow add-ons. There was also a couple statues that look very realistic and not cartoony. When I tried an laugh emote I was surprised that it didn't make any sound. It made sense that DJ Micah didn't want any sound spam like in some human clubs. Also there's a very realistic looking bar for bartenders (Like when I was a bartender for the old BAY club.)

For such a young club he already put a lot of pizazz as he has a website explaining club rules here at http://www.indigofuzz.co.uk/culture/opguide/. Also never seen before in Second Life is a there's also an option to fill the club with foam just like a real life foam party in a club. Already it shows a video with DJ Micah djing live on their facebook page here at https://www.facebook.com/cultureonline

Micah being a DJ in real life his SL club is being sponsored by his own record label Tantrem records. The record label itself is also young. So if you have written a song you really want heard, talk to DJ Micah he might choose your song to add it to 700 retailers in the real world like Sony music Amazon Beatport and much more. Feel free to read it here https://www.dropbox.com/s/xo5jo02qunzxxua/Tantrem%20Distribution.txt?dl=0

Club CULTURE being a new club is looking for bartenders hosts and of course DJs! However Micah warned that his club sets a high standard for high quality so you have to have excellent skills or at least above average to represent the ethos of the club which is all about the music. Rock music or jazz DJs need not apply. DJ Micah made it clear that he wants to have it as an edm club. Remixes of rock or pop songs into house music or any other edm genre is ok.

If you're looking for a new place to work at or just to hang out and have a good time Club CULTURE is the place for you.

Grease Coakes

The New Raawr Fox Avatar

By Grease Coakes

In today's world of Second Life people like you and me always want to try a new look whether a new furry avatar or set of clothes. For the humans maybe a new human skin or shopping trip.

One of the things I do when I log on is look through my notices. I scan through them fast but I did happen to notice was that Furnication at 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Furnication/115/222/2001did have a new fox avatar release party recently. So I figured it couldn't hurt I had some Linden to blow to try out a new look. I check out the Raawr site I found on search. The LM is http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Free%20Spirit/137/81/22.

I let the store rez which didn't take that long before going about. I looked through the fox vendor and decided on a black color. The price is 900L which wasn't so bad. I went to the ark sandbox to try it out and the first thing I see when I put on the shape is that I look very skinny with the male shape. Remember when the Aventity foxes came out years ago and it seemed every fox fan was wearing them? They were really skinny, so male wearers of that avatar had to add a lot of body mass to look not feminine. This avatar from Rawrr has a much skinnier male shape. Even when I added more muscle I still looked unhealthily skinny. Skinny is fine Aventity foxes looked good and were the fad years ago when they first came out for a fair price. But they also came with a read me to let you know how to use your avatar. When I look through the recent section of my inventory I see no such read me for the Rawwr avatar. 

When I load up the HUD for the avatar I see a jumble that's not exactly clear. Granted I like the PG-13 artwork that you see on the hud however I would prefer a read me and a HUD that's easier to understand over nice artwork. To be fair clickies are already installed on the ears and tail so that saves time of having to look through my inventory for me to install. But the HUD isn't clear when I see numbers and symbols? What do the numbers 1 through 4 mean? I had to spin the hud around to find eye color. When I clicked the symbols, turns out it changes the iris of your eyes. Neat effect, but when I look at ears and hands I'm not sure what they do.

Granted the avatar does look good, although the ears don't show up when I put on my fave hat I bought from a Native American vendor. Heartspeaker Lorefield himself said I look good with it on. 900 Linden is a fair price. Toshuki avatars are the same price. However for a majority of avatars that I purchased there was always a "read me" notecard so if I got lost on what this does or how do I change the eye color.

And the HUD is a jumble. It seemed rushed as if the creator wanted to rush it out without beta testing to make it user friendly. I clicked things on the hud and it took a few times to get it to click. I did look through the box again and there were adult add ons for your avatar. That's a nice touch. I'd have to say like Aventity foxes it might have been geared to the ladies crowd, and this avatar seems that way too. I don't like the "Straving Marvin" look, so I find a sturdier fox shape. I think the creator had a femboy look in mind when she made it. I looked on my tail and saw the creator was Flower Leleu.

I think if the HUD was easier to use and there was a read me explaining what everything does I'd have a better feel for this avatar. I didn't like the male shape either. But graphically it does look good. And looking at my screen I do see my tail wagging by itself and it came with clickies. I think if the creator took more time with the HUD and took the time write a "read me," I could have a much easier time working this out.

Flower you did do a good job creating your avatar. However I think the male shape is way too skinny and I wish the HUD was easier to understand. Other than that, if you like tinkering with a hud and heart eyes this might be the avatar for you.

Also now that I think of it, this might be a good avatar for the fairer sex. When I saw a box for the adult add ons, I did see lot of them for vixens. Since I'm male I didn't try that stuff out.

I have mixed feelings about the Raawr fox. I'd give it a B-. I wish I understood the inner workings, but it does come with nice features. And I would recommend using a different male shape.

Bottom image credit: http://raawr-avs.tumblr.com/ 

Grease Coakes

Brandi Streusel’s Custom Painting and Underwear Shops

By Grease Coakes

Brandi Streusel, the partner of Nydia Tungsten, owns two shops at Angels Haven (4/169/23). The first shop I looked around at was her custom skin shop for bikes and cars. Brandi told me that custom texturing and building was something she enjoyed, "I started out playing with logos and that was my first one, but I’ve moved on from there."

I took a look at her bike designs and she had a small showroom with many different bike colors and textures. If you don’t see what you like you can always contact her and ask for a custom job. In fact one of her bike designs was given out for RFL.

Brandi Streusel: "Nydia had me create the texture for the RFL motorcycle."

I told Brandi that probably raised a lot of money for RFL. She didn’t know how much but it was probably a lot of money.

Icebear a friend of Brandi’s stopped by to hang out. I asked him was he getting a custom job from Brandi and he said he was thinking on it. I asked Brandi if I wanted a custom job how much would that cost? She had this to say, "Well, that depends. Cost start out at L$500 for the first 5 textures and L$100 per texture after that. That even includes updates as required till the design is accepted. "

She said one of her customers was so happy with the results, that he paid 2,000L on top of the 500L that was already paid for the custom job.

Grease Coakes: "Oh I see they paid 2,000L on top of the 500L. He must of been very happy with your custom job."

Brandi Streusel: "(giggle) That is what they tell me."


Brandi showed me some pictures of custom jobs in her bike shop. She had this to say about one of her custom works, "But if you look at the photo of Legend Leeeroy - S10. Notice the front end? that was all flat but I textured it to look like the lights and grill were real."

After Brandi showed me the bike shop. She showed me her panties store. She mentioned her shop is part of SL wide treasure hunts which feature over 100 stores. She said it’s a good way for people to build up their inventory. There was also a lucky chair and midnight maddess at her panties shop. So you may get lucky if you happen to visit. Don’t worry she doesn’t leave guys hanging as she makes custom underwear for men too. She gave me some free briefs for men. We both agreed that it’s good business to make giveaways to promote yourself.

She showed me her private workshop. When I asked could I take a picture of her desk Brandi told me no. So her private workshop shall stay a secret to the public eye. If you want to view her work go to her shop on the SL marketplace at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandis-Shop-in-Second-Life/113420045338613 .

Also Brandi is on Facebook with https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandis-Shop-in-Second-Life/113420045338613 .

Whether you’re looking for something to make your bike or car look extra special. Or maybe you want some custom underwear for men and women. Brandi’s shops are right for you. Don’t be shy when I was talking with Brandi she was easy to get along with as I was interviewing her. So if you are looking for one of her  custom jobs just ask. And she can work her custom magic for you.

Grease Coakes

The Art and Jewelry Show at the Panorama Art Gallery

By Grease Coakes

When I randomly IMed Timo Dumpling to invite him to come see me DJ, I was surprised when he said yes. Not many humans venture into the wilds of a furry club. He stayed for a short time and tipped me and said he had to go to bed as he lives in Australia. His night time is the morning of the east coast US. He later IMed me and invited me to a jewelry and art show at the same sim. I said sure his event was 3-5pm SLT.

After a break away from SL, I logged on shortly before the event. I ran into Samantha again who greeted me and welcomed me to the art show as she said there was two new artists to display their artwork at the gallery.

One of the two artists I ran into almost instantly was Wanda Muggins. The artwork on the top floor was all computer animation from Photoshop using the flame effect on a black background. Her art work was incredible to look at, especially the fire horse and the picture of the minotaur. I said that computer artwork is an art medium all on its own. Pixar is a good example of that. But there’s still regular artwork today used by Studio Ghibli the Japanese animation studio that created Howl’s moving castle. In fact the cover picture of my children’s book was drawn by hand, not by a computer program.

Wanda also commented that she had many old photos from the era of World War 2. She asked, "I have a lot of original photos that I would like to display from World War 2. Do you think people would be interested in them?"


I answered, "I'd think so WW2 is a big time and period in history. I remember talking to a WW2 survivor over the phone."

Wanda said in real life she had 100 or so photos from World War 2 from a photo album in real life, "I have a book here on Antwerpen. It was given to my Dad before he left there. It has 100 pictures of the bombings and stories in it. (There are) very few of those in the world today. I scanned all the pages and hope to put them in a book."

The other artist was Sandafina Birgisson her niche was jewelry. She showed me her secret to make lovely jewelry with blender which can be found at http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-266/ free of charge. I asked Fina as (As Sandafina’s nickname) why she made jewelry. She answered, "Oh fashion mostly. Who could argue with that? I love using the program blender to make things I learn all the time."

She said right now she just makes jewelry, as blender is hard to work with. Fina had this to add, "O M G, sometimes I wake in the middle of night with an idea, and I have to turn it on."

When I was talking to the two lovely lady artists a DJ showed up around the start of the art show. Isabelle Mavendorf played a variety of genres to a large crowd on the lower floor with Fina’s jewelry display. She played a classical music song and some random electronica and pop music.

All in all it was fun to see the art displayed around the art gallery and I fun talking with the two very talented artists. The DJ played some interesting music and I had fun socializing with the humans there.

Maybe that’s what art and music or one of the two is all about. To express yourself for others to enjoy and to have a good time. I think any human or furry always loves a fun time.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Velequez/215/87/24

Grease Coakes

Mellowdee’s Art Show at the Panorama Art Gallery

by Grease Coakes

One of the many things that people use second life as a tool for is to show off art. One day Mellowdee or her resident name melody1778 teleported me to an art show at Velequez (234, 76, 23). Mellowdee is a nice lady so I said sure.

With support from Timo Dumpling and Samantha Chester, Mellowdee created art outside the small clear dome. In the center of the dome Yukithepianoplayer Hutchinson played piano music to add positive energy to the event.

Inside the dome though were many pictures of various mediums of art. A lot of the pictures were pretty and professionally done it was hard to pick a favorite. Various artists drew the pictures in the dome. Mellowdee did the scripted artwork in the gallery found easily by walking through a sliding glass door.

Watching the scripted artwork was fun as it constantly changed shape like an ocean wave or a lava lamp. By hitting refresh on my snapshot option in firestorm phoenix I saw many variations of the same artwork as the color lines flowed this and that way on the black background.

Mellow came to her own art gallery after Yuki’s live piano show. She showed me the mandala which place in a space art show by popular vote and 3rd place by jury vote. With only ten prims to work with that must have been a major challenge.

Samantha Chester came up to meet with me and Mellow soon after. She mentioned a Virtual Harlem that is no longer in Second life. She mentioned that LL took away an educator discount on sims. I said that’s too bad an art gallery could be shown to kids and adults online as a school fieldtrip.

Timo Dumpling came to talk to me when the other guests had left and he complimented me on my new avatar, "Incredible avi that a bit of everything (laughter)."

Grease Coakes, "My avatar? Thank you it was rather expensive."

Timo Dumpling, "Had the gallery just on four years now and it is just starting to work."

Grease Coakes, "I've been on SL six years so you had this gallery 2/3 of my lifetime ... That’s a long time."

Timo’s gallery used to be at info island which was a place for newbies to get their bearings in second life. Sadly he said it no longer exists. He now found this new sim which is less restrictive.

Art inspires us whether in second life or if you visit a museum in real life. With all the bad things that are going on in real life it’s a nice escape to look at eye candy around yourself or at an art show. Something to keep in mind when you log into Second Life it’s one of the many things that the grid has to offer. Mellow dee and her art show will be up until July 31st.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Velequez/228/70/23

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Timamoon%20Arts/30/226/55

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Velequez/211/47/22

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Velequez/217/120/23

Grease Coakes

Kinzart Kreetures and Their Upcoming Gryphon

 by Grease Coakes

One of the pastimes of Second Life just like real life is shopping. Gee golly, I’m bored as anyone could browse around a furry mall or a clothes store looking for the newest and coolest trends to throw on your avatar. 


Furries in general get excited seeing and hearing about a new avatar to show off their furry pride and wow their friends. Recently Kinzart Kreetures, or KZK for short, released a Ferret avatar for 1,000L with many new features including eyelashes. The release party was at furnication a few weeks ago. After many tries I finally got a hold of Sylver Bu and Flame Soulis the two owners of KZK.


As lots of furries know recently, KZK held a poll to ask the burning question. If KZK were to make a new avatar, which animal would everyone want to see get built? The choice was an owl or the griffin. According to the poll, the griffin won the poll by lots of votes.

Through persistence I did contact not only Sylver Bu and Flame Soulis. Sylver Bu told me a lot of options would be included with each avatar. Basic colors would be included for people to pick and choose. I asked what would stand out in Sylver’s griffins and she had this to say, "They'll come with a variety of attachments so you can easily modify the griffin into a hippogryph.  Not really much else to say than that. It’ll come with all our standard features as well as a new set of wings." In addition Sylver also added the standard features, "blinking colorable eyes, expressions, poseable hands, wings that open in flight, some alternate tails, ears, and beaks."

That’s plenty of bells and whistles for an avatar. Sylver quoted the price at 1,500L Wow! That’s a lot to ask for an avatar.

Sylver is in charge of building the avatar and physical appearance. Flame Soulis is the main furry behind all the scripting to make the avatar twitch this way.

Flame talked about the AIO which is short hand for all in one script. Here’s what he had to say, "Well, the Ferrets are using the latest AIO scripts we have, which manage all customization options. The Ferrets are also the first to use a single script based mesh blink system, with support for eyelashes. The griffins will most likely use the same system."

One of the things Flame strives for is that the scripts in the KZK avatars. He wants them to operate faster and take up less memory. A major concern of any furry is during a tail sale or a major party is this. Is my avatar burdened with lots of scripts? It’s no fun for anyone to walk into a sim and get a warning you’re too scripted or some such. So Flame is looking to minimize that on KZK avatars.

In fact Flame likes borrowing features from older avatars to be included in newer avatars. For example the KZK ferrets have an eyelash feature. That same eyelash feature and more will be included in the griffin avatar coming in the near future. Flame said remade avatars get updates as KZK continues to promote their avatars.

I asked the big question that griffin fans everywhere are biting their nails/claws to know, "When will the new griffin avatar be released?" Flame had this to say, "Somewhere within maybe June or early July, but it depends on our schedules."

At the very latest August as Flame also wants to insure that AIO script to operate the avatar works properly. He seemed dedicated to make sure the avatars don’t spaz and glitch. He might also develop a new AIO script which he will name the AIO2 script.

I myself will be excited to see the new avatar when it comes out and I do have a KZK fox so I can say they do make good avatars. Whether you are a fan of griffins or you just want a new shiny avatar to show off to your friends. The KZK griffin coming in the near future might be the fur and feathers package you may have been looking for. Sylver was nice enough to show me this web link as a preview (possibly not safe for work).

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okarthel/112/156/24

http://www.kinzart.com/news.php


Grease Coakes

Felina’s Movie Theater

By Grease Coakes

Last year I reported on Shock’s movie night which is now a staple of the Sunweavers. Every evening at 6pm SL time, Shock plays a movie or two at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/253/175/451 one of the hangouts of the Sunweavers. Recently, I heard of something new. There's a new movie theater for the Sunweavers by Feilna Fermi.

By grabbing a random LM sent by Rita Mariner through the Sunweavers group, I found Feilna’s theater. Shockwave Yareach and Rita Mariner were there when I warped in. Once in, I saw the front of a movie theater you might see in real life. When I walked in, I saw multiple theaters showing movie posters like in real life for example "Thor" and a "Lord of the Rings" movie.

Many other furry hangouts like the Ark and Anthroxtacy also have their own movie night but Felina's Theater http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Isle/213/115/23 is another movie theater showing the same movie at the same time. Felina Fermi has been a Sunweaver living on Rita’s sim for a couple years before she added her own movie theater.


Shock’s movie hangout is just a grass square in midair with some furniture. Felina’s land on the other hand is a small theater with multiple movies. Using million media, Felina’s VCR was showing a large assortment of movies that you can choose from. First ask Felina Fermi to allow you access to the XL and Millions media video devices. It only takes a moment for her to add your name. Then using a text-driven menu you can pick out for hundreds of movies ranging from the "X-Men" movies to John Hughes’ "Breakfast Club," and more. Felina’s friend Earthy creates the stream for her XL movies. If you look through the movie list and you don’t see the movie you’re looking for click the store option and you may be able to find it.

On the night I wrote this article, Shock played "Hardware Wars," a spoof of "Star Wars" which had cheesy effects, and then "Kung Fu Panda" 1 and 2.

Another neat feature of Felina’s land is that her home is right there. I checked out her house and it was amazing. A lot of décor like pictures and kitchen assortments along a reproduction of her real-life home. Among the things I happened to see was her music keyboard along with her posters of video games art. Another thing I noticed there was 4 or 5 cats meowing like crazy in her back room with the video game art and her keyboard. It was interesting to hear random meows while I wrote this article. Good thing about the SL cats is they don’t knock over your coffee to mess up your computer.


So for her it’s like having a movie theater at home. Felina isn’t just a one trick cat though. In real-life she has a music keyboard and she also composes musical remixes of video game music tracks. I got her Skype information she gave me a lot of her music files. Later on I’ll try them out and see how they fit with my live DJ mixes. She mentioned a couple times that she heard a song in her dreams in real life and she was able to create the song like that on her music keyboard. She recommended I try her final fantasy remixes that she created I might just do that.

Felina’s movie theater was certainly a welcome addition to the sunweavers group and family. Just
in case Shock’s movie land was filled up or maybe you wanted the movie theater feel Felina’s movie
theater might do the trick. Also ask her about access to her movie library if you want to check out a movie by yourself or with a friend. Just don’t mind the cats next door.

Grease Coakes

"Fallout Equestria" The MLP/Fallout Crossover Roleplaying Game

By Grease Coakes

The fad of MLP which is shorthand for “My Little Pony” has spread beyond the MLP sims and current pop culture. In a roleplay in Second Life, there's a roleplay which combines it with the popular "Fallout" computer game. The storyline has an alternate MLP universe in which Equestria was destroyed by nuclear war with the zebras. A friend got me into the game, which is currently full. Vadise and his friend helped me create my character sheet. I picked the gryphon species and named him Dusty from GI Joe.


Ahead of time Vadise told me to buy a die roller from the marketplace for all of 150L called “Ash’s Dice Roller”. That way I can roll dice within SL for the game. The game play between the characters was in SL main chat and skype. Everyone was laughing at the antics of the game.

The background of the game as I started at level 1 is after 200 years since the nuclear war, ponies and other species have lived in a giant stable or fallout shelter. Ahead of time I had to have firearms, negotiate, persuade, and unarmed 30 or above to be in security.

I made my red brown gryphon well rounded with 7 Strength 6 perception 9 endurance 4 Charisma 3 Intelligence and 3 luck. Like a table top roleplaying game I have to make rolls to see if I make the check or fail. In the MLP fallout game I have to roll under to succeed. So to make an endurance check I have to roll a 9 or under on a D10. Pretty simple for endurance, but I’d have a lousy time trying to succeed on a luck or intelligence roll. I use the ash’s dice roller to roll not physical dice.

As a security officer Vanilla Surprise, my boss asked me to look for some missing persons: a Pegasus, an earth pony, and a male griffin. With another griffin, a female named Vertiga, we went to sub level 6, the level which the three missing ponies and griffin were last spotted. Playing off my intelligence of 3, I played a goofy character who decided to shoot his beanbag shotgun at rats crawling on the ceiling on the sewer pipes. Apparently my shooting the sewer pipes caused a funny situation where pony and griffin waste spilled out onto the floor. Socket, an earth pony mare and the mechanic of the group, checked in on the situation. Xinka, a zebra character with magical abilities and doctoring skill, heard my shotgun blam and came to investigate.

Veritgia, my partner as security, yelled at me asking me for the shotgun and that I’m derpy. Socket made me clean up the mess I made with his cleaning machine. I failed the mechanical skill check and broke his cleaning machine to make things worse. Socket the mechanic was shot by a sleeping dart and almost fell asleep. The group tracked down the dart shooter and chased him down a stairwell. Socket the earth pony mechanic breathed fire down the stairwell, which I thought was derpy.

With the fire on the stairwell no one could go down the stairs to chase down the attacker. Socket went into the fire herself taking some damage, but instead I asked information from my pipbuck or PDA about the dart gun that the attacker dropped. The DM gave me information when I used my turn researching into the serial number on the dartgun and found out the name of the attacker. Alas it was a waste as the fire died off the group discovered the attacker was dead from falling and breaking his neck some distance from the stairwell.

Everyone gained 500 XP for completing the scenario. I asked do I get bonus for killing the poor rats and the DM (Dungeon Master) Razi said no.

When I talked with Vadise who plays Xinka the zebra mare said I played the character perfectly playing off the Intelligence of 3. Here’s what he said:

Vadise Sagukari: "You did excellent for a 3 int character. Like totally absent of reality. You were super fun."

Isn’t that what dice roleplaying is all about?

For more information on "Fallout Equestria", Click Here.

Grease Coakes

Club Cutlass

By Grease Coakes

One of SL’s oldest clubs is a steampunk/pirate inspired club. It’s been around for six years which is a long time for anything in real life or Second Life. Club cutlass may not be popular like IYC or SGB but it’s a long time staple of the Sunweavers. One day when I was djing Jenni Greenfield the longtime manager of Club Cutlass was a nice enough lady to tell me about her club. The Sunweavers are a group of furries that been around SL for a while headed by Rita Mariner who’s usually a bunny.


The Landmark takes you to a floating pirate base with a skull and cross bones dancing floor. In fact to dance you click on the dance floor and your avatar starts dancing in a complex series of dances. Not your average click a ball and pick a single dance ball, but instead a full set of dances to animate your character. Jenni says the club has been through many changes for six years. The newest design is simple and detailed for pirates and party goers of all ages.

One of the djs of Club Cutlass, Cynthia Farshore, likes to play rock music from old to new. Other clubs that came to mind were Dusk Griswold, Akea Grommet, and Shockwave Yareach. (No not the transformer the furry wolf named Shockwave).


Jenni said one of the cool things about Club Cutlass is how there’s little or no drama. One of the plaques I saw was “Drama Llamas will be and shot and mounted (not necessarily in that order).” Every week there’s three events as Jenni ask for DJs to fill those events. Each event has a contest for men and women to win a Linden prize of 200 or so. For example going through the alphabet one event was best in anything U. Lots of furries come to that event in their underwear and or an umbrella. Better ask quickly if you want to dj for one of these three events the slots fill up fast. I procrastinated one time and the next day the slots were all filled already.

I asked Jenni what she liked most about Club Cutlass and here’s what she had to say.

Jenni Greenfield: That we've lasted so long, while I've seen many clubs die after a few months.

That’s certainly true, I agreed. Not all clubs and hang outs stand the test of time.

Jenni said she loves Halloween events around Club Cutlass. I told her in real life that I have a velvet cloak so I never have to buy a Halloween costume anymore. She said something similar

Jenni Greenfield: "I have a black cloak with celtic markings!"

She also admitted to being a puppeteer for a long time like Dusk Griswold. I wrote an article about Dusk and her puppets in the SL Newser. Jenni says she has been puppeting since 2002, but hasn’t been practicing as much as her friend Dusk.


Jenni’s Club cutlass is certainly a neat club to hang out at. The music styles of the DJs are easy going and the conversation is laid back. Usually the DJs are good about music requests just ask and you shall receive. If you want a good place to relax and be a pirate Club cutlass is the place for you.

Club Cutlass is at Sunweaver Space (245, 88, 123), with parties on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 6 to 8PM SL time.

Grease Coakes

Perri Prinz’s Green Meadows Club

By Grease Coakes

One day I sat down with the owners of the Green Meadows club Perri Prinz and RECoyote Mindes and asked them about their club, which was known as Xanadu before. Perri’s club is managed by Skylark Lefarve and is based on the Green Meadow Lands club in Perri’s very own writing series “Spectral Shadows.”

In Perri’s own words she explains, "Everything in Spectral Shadows is an allegory of something, mostly dealing with my internet and SL experiences." Perri said like Bixyl, I’ve been put in her story series as a reporter. Perri said I don’t have any super powers in her story, just skills as a reporter. Drat!

Perri explained that the club plays mostly various genres of rock, like 50’s rock and roll, swing, classic country, and classic rock and so on. The décor is very original like a 50’s swing wall design, plus album wall art all along the club walls. There are also retro game machines up on the upper floor. Not in the mood for dancing? Play a game of Pac Man instead. The arcade machines created from the real thing link to a game site where you can play the game matching the machine. Perri said that Truck Rolland designed the arcade games, but Perri designed the invisible overlays to lead you to the website.

There are a few vendors around behind you when you warp to the club selling disco outfits and more. Curio Draco designed the dance floor and when Perri asked for permission Curio said it was ok to use the artwork.

Later that evening, Cynthia Farshore of the Sunweavers DJed at the Green Meadow Lands club and she played her mix of classic swing and more.  A lot of avatars were dancing and having a good time on a Sunday night. Skylark Lefarve during every event has a Linden contest for best in something for both men and women avatars. So there’s good music and a chance to win at Perri’s retro style club.

The teleport carpet in the plaza also warps you to Perri’s gallery of Punk Hippie’s art work commissioned for Perri Prinz’s "Spectral Shadows. So if you’re in an art browsing mood by yourself or with a friend you can check out the gallery of artwork created by Punk Hippie. In fact she’s the same artist that drew the cover for my children’s book “Ginny Griffin’s First Day Of School”. Punk Hippie’s art style is very simple but professional in my opinion, with bright colors and a fair amount of detail.

Stop by once in a while to Perri Prinz’s club with live rock or also my DJ set 4-6 SLT on Friday nights. And also if you are a classic rock DJ looking for a place to perform, why not apply here? Perri is always looking to new dj talent to add to her club.

Grease Coakes

For the 2009 article on "Perri's Xanadu" as it was called then, Click Here: http://15timez.blogspot.com/2009/12/xanadu.html .

Kelly Yap's Art Show

By Grease Coakes

You may or may not know Kelly Yap in Second Life. She’s a green skinned human in second life like the green girl from the original Star Trek that charmed Captain Kirk. I remember meeting Kelly long ago from the "A List" for an art show best in hats. I’m a lousy builder in SL, but I gave it a shot anyway. She’s currently holding a contest called “These feet are made for walking.” I still qualify for trying out, even though I don’t wear shoes (what furry wears shoes?) She asked me to DJ for an art show of hers. I said sure why not, we were already friends.

 The first floor was created by Trill Zapatero. I saw some pictures of tarot cards what seemed spray painted against brick walls and many grails. The theme itself was grail quest with many framed pictures on the walls. There were grails on the floor that spouted out the letters “Ism” very much like the photo of grails that also said ism on the nearby wall.

 

The second floor was created by Tani Thor who made scripted art with a few pictures that had a lifelike appearance with 3d scripting. Some of the RL photos looked amazing as well. Kelly Yap seemed afk before her art show so I checked out the third floor. Green feet were the subject of the third floor by Caro Fayray. Her artwork seemed unique as it was centered on what everyone has feet. Kelly later told me that the third floor was not complete.

 

When the clock hit 3pm SLT, lots of avatars warped out of the blue as if they were hiding behind the pictures. The artist herself Tani Thor warped in wearing an amazing black dress. She spoke Italian but had a text translator to translate into English. She seemed happy that a lot of people were wowed by her art. She also told her photos, which looked realistic, were taken not in real life but in Second Life.

 

In a short time there was a ton of avatars there dancing along to my music and checking out Kelly Yap’s art show. People were having a fun time checking out Tani Thor’s artwork and/or dancing to my music. Either way from what I could everyone was having fun. Some people spoke Italian but art and fun seemed to break down language barriers.

 

Kelly Yap had lots of friends check out her art show and Gemma Cleanslate popped in for a sec to look for her friend Trill Zapatero I told her that her buddy didn’t show up. I wanted to DJ for a longer time but my guru showed up online. However I also enjoy Brahma yoga class so it was the greater of two goods. Art is a part of life whether in real life or Second Life, in music or drawings or photography of what goes around us. I may not have a fancy art degree, but I certainly can appreciate art when I see it.

 

Grease Coakes

Game Review: Borderlands2

The new first person shooter offered by Gearbox Software is an excellent game in my opinion. The first Borderlands is and was a good game as well. The sequel follows from the original where the vault hunters Roland, Brick, Lilith and Mordecai from the first game discovered the vault. The Vault was an amazing treasure trove of weapons and riches on the planet of Pandora. Disappointed that there was no treasure they wandered off not to be seen again. 

The second Borderlands follows five years later as new vault hunters come to Pandora in search of a new vault. There’s an introduction to the plot before you can pick a new character. The prologue explains that a rare element eridium now is on the surface of Pandora and the Hyperion Corporation is now mining it on the planet.  Handsome Jack runs Hyperion from his spaceship a large H covering the moon. The characters this time are Maya the Siren, Axton the commando, Salvador the gunzerker, and zero the assassin. Each character has a special ability. Maya can phaselock a single enemy and keep it from attacking for a short time. Axton can summon a turret to shoot at enemies for a while. Zero can turn himself invisible. Salvador for a short time can wield two weapons of any kind at once. The other three characters are only allowed to equip a single weapon at any one time. Over time you’ll learn to hate Handsome Jack as the main villain in the game as he does atrocious things.

Borderlands 2 allows character customizing like World of Warcraft. For each of the four characters there are three skill trees you may distribute your skill points that you start to gain at level 5 and up. Maybe I’m nitpicking but gearbox soft could have automatically given your character his or her special ability at level 5, but instead you have to use your first skill point to gain your special ability. However it’s a small thing. As an example the Siren character I play as grease711 her skill tree is geared in Harmony. Harmony lets her bring back other characters in a co-op from dying to getting back on their feet by using her phaselock ability. Overall it’s slanted to being a healer player and helping other players by keeping them from death. I even have the option to shoot other players to refill their hit points or health. A player was shocked that I deliberately shot him and his hit points went back to full. I also dabbled in her elemental damage tree apocalypse. My damage improved as I killed baddies quicker but I lost a lot of my healing abilities. Don’t worry though if you want to reset your skill points for your character it doesn’t cost a lot of money.

The game itself has wonderful graphics and fun gameplay. You start out with lousy weapons but as you progress through the game mowing down baddies you gain bigger and better weapons like an RPG game but with black humor along with a western feel of first person shooting. Once in a while you’ll see treasure chests with either meah or something worth your time or something that makes you go wow!

Also like World of Warcraft your character is asked to do quests helping out various npc/s you gain experience and sometimes a new firearm. It’s your choice whether you want the weapon or just to sell it for money in your pocket. 

The color of rarity goes from white, green, blue, purple, and the very best is orange. The firearms are pistols, shotguns, smgs, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and launchers which fire rockets. The weapons have attributes like reload speed fire rate and how much damage the weapon does per shot and accuracy. Also your character uses shields like a smaller version of energy shields from star trek shows. You’re your shield goes to 0 then you’re vulnerable as any attack hits your flesh instead. You’ll see blood splattered when your shield is off when you’re hit.  Launchers are slow to reload but pack a nasty punch. Pistols do their fair share of damage too and fire faster. Right now my commando has a blue pistol off a quest. Also the weapons that you find have different elements. Fire is very effective against flesh. Shock guns knock down shields fast. Corrosive destroys armored or robotic enemies swiftly. It helps to have elemental weapons in store to wipe baddies out quickly before they have a chance to overwhelm you.

As you progress through the game you’ll meet the characters involved in the story. Each time you meet a new character there’s a dramatic introduction of the character and his or her name. One character an npc you can buy guns from is introduced in a very funny way. A good laugh is a woman npc who you do quests for. A man taunts her for being the leader when he is very sexist against her being a woman. Don’t worry she gets him back.

Eventfully at the end of the game you’ll fight Handsome Jack. The boss fight is an excellent medium between easy and hard so long as you work together with your teammates you’ll down him. And there is a lot of treasure when you defeat Handsome Jack in the final fight so it’s certainly worth your while to fight him over and over again if you want to look for better guns.

After defeating the game there’s a “True vault hunter mode”. It’s a much harder version of the normal game and was very frustrating. Every time your character dies you lose 5% or so of your total wealth as you pay Hyperion to create a clone of yourself. If you’re not careful you could lose a lot of money quickly. One thing an npc says which makes sense in the game, “Money isn’t worth a thing if you don’t spend it.” Don’t be afraid to spend money on something that will greatly improve your character like a new weapon or shield. You’re better off buying upgrades than dying and losing your cash. The more cash you have the more cash you lose per death so hoarding your money is counterproductive.  When you have the chance shop around for a better shield or new weapon. The money you spend will help out your character making the difference between dying once in a while to dying a lot.

The plot itself is fun to follow and adds to the gameplay. Even if you beat the game there’s always the option of trying a new character of a new skill tree to make your character very different. There’s certainly replay value when you play co-op with others. Another neat thing is the voices from your character and the bad guys you fight. The bandits in the game will constantly taunt you or npc/s will ask you to go on a quest in a live voice. The voices sounds legitimate no corny voices in this game. My character the siren will say things like “Cool!” or “I love my powers! “When you phaselock bad guys.

I highly recommend Borderlands 2 to anyone who is a fan of first person shooters or an RPG sort of game. Even after beating the game there’s things for your character to do like leftover quests or the boss from the original borderlands that’s only fightable when you reach the maximum level 50. You can choose to fight him below level 50 but it’s a poor idea as he is impossible to fight and you’ll just lose money dying again and again. 

I haven’t reached level 50 yet, but with the game being fun to play and a joy to look at graphically it’s only a matter of time. 

Grease Coakes

Stepping Large in Second Life

It seems like there’s a large variety of avatars in second life besides human avatars like we are in the real world. Furries have a wide range of real life and mythical animals to anthromorphize as. There are robots around as well like transformers or maybe an android or two. For the more spiritual I have seen some avatars as angels.

When I met with Ceri Quixote at her shop Quixote’s Dream at the landmark of the same name she showed me there are still ways to make your avatar unique in SL.  Her shop sold skins for women as different colors but that’s not what was different about her. When I warped to her shop my avatar at max height was maybe less than half her height or maybe a third.

Ceri Quixote makes Colossus avatars in Second Life. She told me she wanted to push the envelope in Second Life to what she could make with mesh which has been incorporated in SL recently with viewers like Phoenix and Firestorm. Her current avatar was just the tip of the iceberg.

Ceri and I ported to a sandbox to see the main course. When she put on her avatar, she was a giant like perhaps a giant from jack and the beanstalk. My griffin self was a mere speck compared to her massive or gargantuan avatar. I was sure to take a couple photos.

I joked with Ceri that in addition to invading Tokyo like Godzilla she could easily pick up guys. She laughed at the joke. Also Ceri will make the large avatar for not only women, but men as well.

Sadly the massive avatar was not for sale. However the regular Colossus avatar will be on sale at the end of May. Ceri said she was still fine tuning the scripts and outfits for men and women.

I asked Ceri being a furry myself, does she have any furry avatars she would want to incorporate into her colossal avatar?

Ceri Quixote: I've always been partial to bunnies - the Kani avatar is one of the first I bought in SL. So bunny fans in the furry community will have an XL option soon.

I asked, if I wanted to buy one what the price would it be? "1,500L" I said, that’s a good price. I paid more for a popular feral avatar.

I asked Ceri, what if she was tall like her super-sized avatar, what she would do?

Ceri Quixote: If I were that tall in real life? I'd probably travel as much as possible.

An easy feat if she was the 50 foot woman, like the B movie.

So if want to impress your friends with a cool new avatar and you’re tired of the same old furry or human or robot options. Be on the lookout for Ceri’s new look so you can step large in Second Life.

By Grease Coakes

Editor's Note, Hamlet Au found this Youtube of the Colussus, by Deceptions Digital. There's also another by "OldMountainWizard."