Daily Archives: May 22, 2014

It’s just a JOY to be on the grid!

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Look, there’s no theme to this post. And I know I’ve long broken my promise of keeping my photos off SLN until June, at least.

But I’m off work at the moment, I’ve for care-free days filled with cycling & swimming (once the school-run is over) and I’m having a blast just being in SL for no real reason. I’ve had a marvellous SL day, spoken to numerous different people, done some blogging and just plugged into why it was I was attracted to SL in the first instance, almost seven(!) years ago. So…for no other reason than I took them, here’s a few photos of me (and Pookes!) on the grid today.

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I’ve got a Mojito. Pookes’ hasn’t. We’ve no idea who left the cigarette.

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‘I want to soundtrack my youth’, Pookes said. Next thing we know, we’re dancing to Whitney Houston!

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It’s a lighthouse. You thought I could even pass it without taking a photo? 🙂

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This simply reminds me of humid Spanish evenings, beside towers built by the Moors over 500 years ago.

Ella

Skin Model

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I don’t know why we’ve not thought of this before! (slaps palm of hand against forehead).

While many blogs will blog fashion items and show them off beautifully, we’ve never actually promoted the best suit we’ll ever own, our birthday suit!

Almost every photo taken for SLN features that suit. And when we check out blogs, or visit stores, we still encounter some coyness (nipple pasties, etc) in relation to showing the skins off to their full effect! I’ve still never seen anyone blog a male skin with genitals displayed, and it’s a rare event where a female skin in a store (there are exceptions) will show nipples (although that’s changing) or female genitals. Odd, really, considering that we’re often making a financial commitment to an item that will be displayed to a greater or lesser extent, daily.

If I’m buying, I want to know exactly what I’m buying (shaved, landing strip, puffy nipples?). As a result I’ve decided that we will, in future, be featuring skins in full effect here on SLN. Hopefully that would give you, the buyer, a fuller sense of that important and sometimes expensive purchase.

And hair, too, defines our avatar. If you’ve ever changed your hairstyle you’ll know exactly what I mean…it can markedly alter an avatar’s look.

Let me kick off this new feature by pointing you at Pink Fuel which does nice skins. Nothing free, but you can pick up a L$75 skin which looks lovely. I’m also very impressed by the ‘boi’ tattoo layers which can give an androgynous or ‘flat chested’ look to your avatar, so I’ll focus on that today. Another L$100, but for an outlay of L$175 you can adopt a new, different ‘boi’ shape (see below). You can, of course, spend more on a skin, or go in the opposite direction with a much bustier look, but I think that the androgynous look is new(ish) and interesting.

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I only noticed recently that Amacci were doing something similar, and now Pink Fuel had expanded what’s available for a ‘flat chested’ look in SL. I was also intrigued by how the flat-chested look might work with a bikini in place (I’m guessing there are SL avatars who are both flat-chested and non-naturist), and the answer to that quandary was that it does work quite well, although putting on a bikini has the odd look of giving the model more cleavage. The hair, incidentally, is one of the newer ones at Dura Hair, and is unisex, something that also adds to the androgynous look.

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Finally, I got our model to add glasses. I don’t know why, but I think that androgynous look also has a kind of ‘nerd’ look (and I don’t mean that unkindly, having grown up flat-chested -although not quite as much as our model- and wearing glasses. Believe me, I know all about the de-sexualised nerdy look! 🙂 )

 

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Ella

 

Urban, naked living at Nude Haven

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Naturism obviously lends itself to being undertaken ‘in nature’. That could be the beach or, in many French naturist campsites, or ‘landed’ clubs (that is, naturist clubs with their own grounds), in some sort of woodland setting. I can think of several French campsites we’ve visited in such locations, and I’m certain that many American naturists, who aren’t close to a coast, will agree that their primary and perhaps only experience of naturism is within that setting. Indeed, I’d be moved to say that for their regular naturist activities, it is going to be undertaken away from the coast. There are, of course, locations where that ‘in nature’ element collides with an urban setting. Vera Playa, in Spain, is a semi-detached ‘village’ where it’s possible to undertake 24/7 naturism. Yes, the closest supermarket is textile, yes, some of the bars demand some sort of cover-up (even if it’s only a sarong). Cap D’Agde, we know about. It bills itself as a ‘naked city’. Pasco County, in Florida, could also lay claim to having some kind of ‘urban’ naturism available to its residents. Pasco County has no nudist beaches, but a variety of high-class resorts and campsites within its jurisdiction that can provide 24/7 naturism, with all mod-cons attached. Most of SL’s naturist locations are beach based. No surprise there, most of SL’s locations, of any description, are beach based. While some, Eden for example, would offer apartment styled living, homes would also tend to be of a beach-orientated nature. Step forward, Nude Haven.

Yeah, you can still find the beach, but it’s away from what is, currently, SL’s only urban naturist setting. Certainly, there have been that type of sim in the past. Rok- Rokutman Westinghouse, was a dab-hand at building Mediterranean styled villages with an authentically French feel, but with a sense of the build having its back to the sea. The water was there, the water-based activities were there, but the focus of attention was on the urban setting. Nude Haven has a somewhat similar feel. A wide town square, around which there are various town facilities. The church is in place, as are the fire station, a coffee shop, a supermarket and so forth.

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Harry’s latest model, Zingibro (it’s an Esperanto word for….ginger!) poses in Nude Haven’s town square.

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Zingibro takes the role of nude sales assistant in Nude Haven’s supermarket….

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…before she adopts the role of nude shopper, something I’ve not experienced since my first nudist holiday in Cap D’Agde, 20 years ago and before it all became a bit sordid.

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The town square in the evening. SLN’s photographers Harry and Diane discuss options for the photoshoot.

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Harry and Diane move off to a small park at the edge of the town square. The air is still and warm, perfect conditions for nude, 24/7 living.

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Going their separate ways, Diane opts to look at the apartments available for rent.

Nude Haven also has apartments for rent at the exceptionally affordable price of L$50 per week. Towards their beach there are also more expensive, but still very reasonably priced, beach apartments. If you’re a nudist on a budget, then naturist living is probably well within your budget with apartments thus priced!

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On my own visit (I’ve been over there a couple of times there to familiarise myself with the sim) I discovered this beautiful fountain! ‘Take a photo, take a photo’, I urged Harry. It reminds me of a very similar fountain that can be found in the grounds of the Vera Playa Club Hotel, in Spain, where I’ve also had my RL photograph taken.

So…who, exactly, is the Mayor of Nudehaven, overseeing this exciting development? The brains behind it is Halo Ewing, and I asked him for the philosophy applied to Nude Haven.

Halo Ewing: Ok brief history: I’d always taken a casual approach to nudism in SL. I’ve spent much of my time dancing naked at clubs or on beaches with no thought to the community of genuine SL naturists. Then I met someone who claimed to spend 90% of her time in SL naked and it opened my eyes to the commitment of the true naturist, someone that didn’t just strip off ‘for a laugh’ but believed 100% that that was the way she wanted to live her life. So I started looking around, thinking ‘where could you go’ or more specifically ‘where could you go and not be judged or come over as an exhibitionist?’

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Danika: Available at Nude Haven

Ella: There’s definitely a very well-defined community of SL naturists, and I think we’re lucky in that those attracted to naturism also happen to be terrific builders.

Halo Ewing: There are some amazingly beautiful places designed and built. I’m in awe of them! But nearly all of them are beach or forest or some magical glade. I was looking to be able to do day to day mundane RL stuff in the nude. How hard could it be? Well quite hard it seems. I figured if I was a RL naturist, I’d want to wake up, walk out of my home, stroll naked down the street, buy an newspaper and milk for my cereal, then maybe have a coffee in a local coffee shop. All completely naked.

Ella: So it was almost a case of you opening it up to realise your own SL dream?

Halo Ewing: I’d want to chat to like minded friends. I’d want to dance, shop and relax completely skyclad. Nowhere like that seemed to exist. So for the first time in my long SL life, I bought a sim to make it happen. None of this could have been done without my SL wife Beth, who has been beyond supportive. Plus I’ve had some great advice from some more experienced friends, Maryliese, Oomei, and Alabaster to name a few.

Ella: The value of good SL friends can’t be under-estimated. SL Naturist is also a group effort. Even though it’s me as editor seemingly steering it, it wouldn’t be possible without my friends. Did you have some grand scheme in mind when you decided to take on what looks like a large-scale project.

Halo Ewing: I played around with the name of the town, originally toying with things like Naked City but decided that sounded too harsh and frankly on a larger scale to what I ended up building. I’m not sure where the inspiration for Nude-Haven came from. It just sprang fully formed in my mind. To me it says community first and foremost. I wasn’t sure if my mad idea would appeal to others, so I’ve started with a Homestead Sim. Limited prims but cheaper on my wallet. The more successful we get (and by that I mean tenants and donations) the more likely I can move to a full sim and start putting in all the things I really want to see. But already we have 3 tenants on the block and I’m delighted that Danika have opened a store here too. For me Nude-Haven is a great concept. I only hope that I can bring my limited skills to it to make it the success it deserves to be. A naked town for people that want to live a relaxed, uninhibited, ignorance-free, lifestyle.

Ella: Oh, I think it has enormous appeal, and it’s one that SL Naturist will certainly throw our support behind. I wish you every success with the project!

Once I’d stopped my little tape-recorder (well, it’s digital, but you know what I mean 🙂 ) Halo told me to give a special mention to Beth, his SL partner, for her ‘valuable, emotional support. If I’m doing this for anyone, its for her’.

‘Maybe one day’, Halo concluded as we said our goodbyes, ‘Nude-Haven can be a massive 4 sim city. Thats my dream’.

In SL, the naturist community reflect the values of the RL naturist community. Open, friendly, good, valuable friends and there to support one another. I would urge the readership to visit Nude Haven, and give Halo support in realising his dream.

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While Diane went off to shoot the apartments, Harry took in one Nude Haven’s houses, also with exceptionally affordable rent of L$225 per week, furnished.

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Naturists seem attracted to flowers, in or out of SL. Here, Harry inspects a beautiful rose bush by an English-styled beach hut on Nude-Haven’s beach.

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It’s mid-day, mid-week, so the beach isn’t busy when Harry opts to top up his tan.

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Who should come online when Harry was doing the shoot? Our mutual SL friend, Justine. A keen RL naturist with the added advantage of ‘living the dream’ by being employed in the naturist industry, a job that seriously limits the amount of time available to her. If we can ever catch her online long enough (probably next winter!) I promise we’ll do an interview with and profile of Justine. Justine’s immediate reaction to Nude Haven (having been tp’ed by Harry) was of glee. ‘When the season is over and I’ve got more time for SL, I’m going to live here for the winter’, she said.

Ella

Words by Ella. Photos by Harry Leistone and Diane Toxx. Models: Zingibro and Justine. Location: Nude Haven

Let it rain

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Most of us involved in SLN are Brits. So we know rain. We talk about the weather. A lot! It’s a national obsession.

And a spot of rain doesn’t bother us one bit. In fact, one of my Spanish holidays involved two days of heavy downpours, forcing most people indoors. Us? We sat naked on the balcony -at a table situated under an awning- and watched the rain. It was magical to be outside watching the rain come down in torrents. By the second day of downpours we’d grown a little bored by it (but not much) and were in the pool at our complex when the rain started. And we just stayed in the pool, swimming naked in the rain. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! 🙂

We don’t normally advertise external sims, but the H220 sim is rather marvellous, a vision of maybe a post-apocalyptic world where everything is slowly sinking under the water. And boy, is it raining!

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It appear that there are plenty of posing opportunities at H220, and if you want a different ambience to your SL photographs it’s somewhere I’d recommend. (Note: it’s not naturist, so if you are tp’ing in, go dressed and only get stripped off if it’s unlikely you’re going to offend).

Ella