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.

Idle Rogue Productions: Le Cirque de Nuit

What a wondrous journey Le Cirque de Nuit has been! In small but complex steps, this notion made it's way to me, from my first rudimentary attempt to combine circus and neo-burlesque, to the strangely rare gift of a book voucher serendipitously arriving at the same time as a new and clever friend, who recommended The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. The book was a cute and quick read, but the striking imagery of a monochromatic Victorian Circus stayed with me throughout the remainder of The Very Bad Year that was 2013.

Many things failed in 2013, and others were fatally wounded. Projects that should have been meteoric failed to launch, people who should have felt beloved did not, the fog of many unhappinesses clung to me wherever I rode, but as the year ended I dreamed of a black and white steampunk circus, and when I woke, the idea stayed luminous; by December the dream was a plan, and it strengthened and consolidated throughout the first months of 2014.

Le Cirque de Nuit demanded all the time it needed. We thought we'd be performing it in January, February at the latest, but it was April before everything was in place. In that time, Gloriana Maertens built an enchanting environment that was an inspiration to everyone who saw it; Arrehn Oberlander joined the project with a formidable skillset and enough will to see this project through to a higher level. The two of them gave me toys that weren't even whispers in my dreams, and they polished and refined them as we watched the various other elements fall together around this charmed endeavour.

We called for auditions, and warned hopeful candidates that we intended to edit their work to get it to a higher standard than anyone had seen before. And one by one the candidates brought us intricate, beautifully realised acts that required nothing from us but our delight. Stars from all over the grid came willingly to work with us, hard-working, gifted performers who agreed time and again to rehearse with us, to meet with Arrehn, to learn new tools and new ways of performing. Not once was there a tantrum or a rift: everyone who joined this project brought with them goodwill and diligence, and sustained it even when they weren't quite sure of the vision. I am so grateful to you all for staying with me, for trusting in the concept and in our ability to make it real.

Two days before the April 6th premiere, we held a "teaser" preview for SL media, and as they reacted, we knew it was really, truly the spellbinding achievement we suspected it could be. Opening night audiences were rapturous, with the sim filling at both performances within minutes and people left outside the sime clamouring for a chance to see it.

Tonight we perform it again, two more times, in hopes of satiating some of the demand. Is it my magnum opus? Is it that one lucky time when everything fell into place? Is it the beginning of a SLifetime of producing totally immersive, high-quality original entertainment? Is it enough, just one time, to wash the taste of ash from my mouth?

Le Cirque de Nuit is a dance entertainment production set in a black-and-white steampunk circus, and will be performed to audiences on the Idle Rogue sim in Second Life at 7pm and 10pm on Saturday, April 19th. It features original performances by 13 professional dancers from around Second Life, as well as art installation interludes in a 90-minute production.Seats are limited to ensure a high-quality production, so the sim will be reset an hour before each performance. Audiences are advised to arrive early, seat their avatar and remove all unnecessary scripts and devices to assist the performance.
An Idle Rogue Production.