Double Threat, Baby

Every week I read Strawberry Singh's blogger challenges and tell myself I am going to start doing them. The idea, if you don't know, is that she posts a "meme challenge" and encourages people to do their own and link to hers in the comments section of her blog. They are fun little ideas, especially if you're a blogger who is struggling for new material, which I am not, because I mostly ignore my blog, as you all know.

But I have some big news to announce this week, and I am hopping on Berry's meme to do it. The theme of the meme is "Double Threat", and I'm part of one! Starting next week, Meegan Danitz and the crew from After Dark are moving to Idle Rogue!

Double Threat

Two online screen names you’ve had: 
Meegan: embee21.  Usually some form or variation of embee. I can't think of another besides Meegan
Chry: I have been chryblnd since 1997, but I do use other screen names, including, of course, my Guild Wars 2 main, Artje Orestes. Wild-eyed Crazy Mary was an alt I used in the first chat I hung out in.
Two video games you’ve played: 
Meegan: LOL. I'm actually not much of a gamer other than SL.  I played a mean centipede back in the day but I think I'm exposing my age by saying that.
Chry: I like to say I play Guild Wars 2, but the truth is I don't find time much any more. I tell myself every day I will be back, but this Guerilla Burlesque thing, it's time-consuming.
Two things you love about Second Life: 
Meegan: Dance and Music.  It's pretty simple
Chry: The way it uncovers creativity in people who might not even know they have it; and the way you can immerse so completely in beauty.
Two things you’ve done in Second Life: 
Meegan: I'm a business owner and a performer.  Neither is anything I ever would have tried in RL.  I'm really quite shy.
Chry: Well there's naked parachuting. I also played roller derby for about five minutes
Two things you still want to do in Second Life: 
Meegan: I want to learn how to take better pictures.  I also want to learn to make particles.
Chry: I'd like to publish a really cutting edge media outlet. And learn to live mix as a DJ.
Two things you like about your Second Life avatar:  
Meegan: Meegan's ass. It really is fierce. I also think she has a sweet face and I like that.
Chry: Chry is muscular but still curvy. She looks strong, and I love that. She dresses well too.
Two of your Second Life Pet Peeves: 
Meegan: Forced landing points at shopping venues and random people asking me what's going on tonight.  Is your event search broken?
Chry: "I'm leaving". You are not, nobody leaves. Also conference calls summoning me to your event. C'mon. I already have you on my friends list, I am in your groups, and all the other music groups, I have you on facebook ... I know what you're doing, quit that one last spam shit.
Two things you did as a newb that you’re embarrassed of: 
Meegan: wearing boxes but I still do that.  Oh and wearing instead of adding clothes. I ended up nude on more than one occasion.
Chry: I refused to wear an ao for months because I didn't understand what they did. Now I can't even bear to look at someone else who hasn't one. Also, fell madly in love because I didn't know it was possible and didn't have my customary walls up.
Two of your closest friends in Second Life:  
Meegan: TheaDee and Chryblnd Scribe. I would have picked Cori but I'm closer to her in RL.
Chry: Oh this is a tough one. I'm not encouraged to have friends, in case it feels like favouritism. Plus the nature of my work is that I am more or less emotionally involved with people according to their needs, and it's a two way street. If someone I am working with needs extra emotional support, then I am often very close to them, but sometimes it's just for that period.
I will say this - Meegan Danitz has carried and sometimes dragged me through some rough days over the last year, and she does it with a kind of generous calm that I really respond to. I am also, of course, very close to Lingual Markus, who tells people I am his best friend when in reality he is much better to me than I am to him.
Two of the most beloved things in your inventory: 
Meegan: My obscenely large dance collection and my new mesh bodies
Chry: Jet, my dog, and the lip piercing made for me by that first love.

What does this merger mean for Idle Rogue? After Dark run a stylish and cool live music venue, where the attention to detail is perfect. They treat their musicians well, establishing productive relationships, nurturing their talent and promoting their endeavours. They treat the fans well, providing a warm and inclusive atmosphere in which to enjoy performances. So for Idle Rogue, this means we get live music run by people who care at the same high standard we do.

Additionally, over coming weeks we will move the Metaharper Interactive Gallery to it's own environment, making use of Gloriana Maertens graceful "Mayfair" build to house the cutting edge interactive dance stages. If you have not discovered these yet, they house fully-realised version of some of the best-known dance acts in SL. You just select the one you like, and the props and choreography will be rezzed for you as the music begins to play. Jump on the poser, and you are the dancer - it's a really great way to be part of the thrilling things happening in dance entertainment today.

I am beyond excited, and I hope you guys will make yourselves part of the new and vibrant community that can grow around this fusion of music and dance. Double threat? You bet we are! We are about to open the doors to the best entertainment sim in Second Life.

Mastering The Ring

As we put the finishing touches on a new round of Le Cirque de Nuit, I find myself reflecting on this creative process of mine. The mind map for this production is labyrinthine, it stretches back many years, and has been hand-drawn, shaded and re-coloured according to my personal belief system and the influences that have passed over that.

I always wanted a Circus. I thought burlesque and circus could work so well together, and that was the motivation behind The Beautiful Freaks Burlesque Circus. Beautiful Freaks was to be a kind of melding of circus, burlesque and dark cabaret influences. It worked too, but I let it go in a moment of self-doubt. Lesson One: Don't let that happen again.

 The story of how we came to The Night Circus is part of the annals now, and has been included in more than one interview: newly arrived at Guerilla Burlesque and on my Facebook friends list, Gloriana Maertens recommended a novel to me, and I was so caught by the imagery within it, it was easy to imagine it in Second Life.

It wasn't my first foray into an event production. Mark Moffre and L.David Hesler had both very generously allowed me to work with their original music to create dance entertainment productions, and I'd learned a great deal about managing my own team and piecing together the elements of a show on their time.

But Le Cirque De Nuit brought it's own magic with it. It arose at a time when I needed very badly to work, and at a time when Arrehn Oberlander's work towards scripted cameras began to show results. And, of course, at a time when Gloriana was available and willing to do the work of building it.

This is what I enjoy most in these projects. Imagining a notion, and drawing together the people who can profoundly influence it. I cannot now imagine a circus project as compelling, as satisfying, as the one Glori, Arrehn and I have majicked together - and I use the term deliberately. Cirque is charmed, I am convinced of it.

The original story, if you do not know, is a tale of two illusionists - one naturally gifted and born into The Business. One carefully selected and trained to it. They were raised to compete against each other, with the ultimate goal of proving which method is the more powerful.

I don't actually believe in magic, of course. But it's not hard to imagine the three of us casting our different energies at that sphere in the sky above Idle Rogue.And then came the dancers, every one of them on target despite a very soft brief. I hadn't known what we could have until they brought it, and it was an indescribable joy to watch it unfold.

I am not easy to work with. I choose people based on their talent, and then let them alone to work up their part of the process. I figure they'll call me if they need me, and I can move onto another part of the plan.

They hate it.

My mission, it transpires, is to try and manage creative people who are capable of a high level achievement. This requires a serious humility, and I sometimes fail at it. I do not doubt I take it all too seriously. But there is fun, there is wonderful fun, when it all comes together - and it comes together this weekend. I hope you can make it!

Style Notes

Body:
Skin - Amber Fair "Smokey" by League
Body and Hands - SLink Physique
Hair: Zaara in Black Amber (modified for hat) by D!va
Makeup - Circuit in Black by Beautiful Freaks (link to blog)
                 Harley by MUA
Eyes - Promise Oxidation by Ikon
Tattoo - Bohemian by Letis
Nails - Dante's Daddles by Koffin Nails

Clothing:

Coat: Alvira Frock Coat by Dark Passions
Chemise: from "Chantilly" by Boudoir
Pants: from "Applause" by GlitterMonster
Boots: Anakre from "Raine" by The Plastik

Accessories:
Monocle by Yasum
Hat by Timelines Vintage Couture
Cravat by Ladies Pleasure (marketplace)
Nose-ring by Zaara
Garter by LouLou & Co
Cane by Creative Insanity (marketplace only)