GeekSugar

Do You Have A Home On Second Life?

CasaSugar — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:02:48 PDT

Second Life is a virtual online user-defined society where users can build houses, businesses, and pretty much anything for their avatars, in addition to buying and selling their creations with real-life currency. The first person person to make 1 million real US $$$ from Second Life was—you guessed it—a real estate developer. What about you?

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Gossip Girl's Second Life Secret

GeekSugar — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:00:41 PDT

While we've been enjoying the stylish fashions and gadgets on Gossip Girl - and the fact that the show is about a blogger! - some fans have started enjoying Gossip Girl's neighborhood in Second Life experience called "The Upper East Side."

In case you didn't know, Second Life is a 3D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. It opened to the public in 2003, and is now "inhabited" by millions of residents from around the globe. The Upper East Side community allows you to build and customize your avatar, have a dance party with friends, play games, watch clips and full episodes of the show. From what I can tell, it's much like the Virtual Worlds MTV has set up for shows like The Hills, Newport Harbor and Laguna Beach, only it exists in the Second Life platform.

The virtual Gossip Girl world looks like the set of the television show, with the same streets, the same hot spots, and even the same characters. To try it out you just need to download the software, go through a brief orientation, and start your "second life." Who knew geek was so chic?

To check out more pictures of the Upper East Side community on Second Life,

View 11 Photos ›

Do You Pay Attention To Avatars' Bodies And Gender?

GeekSugar — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:00:26 PDT

Naturally, I spend a lot of time playing video games and visiting websites that use avatars. I think of them as digital characters, that are human-like, but not necessarily reflective of what I think real people should look like. Aside from cracking a few jokes about the impossible curves of video game vixens - I mean, the Fantastic Four game even put Jessica Alba's body to shame - and the built-in stereotyping, I hardly ever pay attention to avatars.

What's interesting though, is the fact that a recent study showed that androgynous digital personas, ie avatars, are perceived as less trustworthy than ones that are clearly either male or female. It makes me wonder if people honestly find the need to assign gender roles to digital images, or if people are just more accustomed to the exaggerated gender stereotypes that seem to be perpetuated online. According to New Scientist Tech, people typically extend this impression to the person behind the avatar too - meaning avatar design and behavior may have a range of unforeseen psychological influences and that such virtual personas need to be carefully designed to make the right impression.

The issue of trust and personality perception is especially intriguing when you think about the number of people that spend a great deal of time in 3D virtual worlds like Second Life and end up creating avatars to represent themselves and later make virtual friends. Still, not "trusting" an avatar because it's androgynous seems bizarre. Everyone trusts David Bowie, right?
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Do You Participate in Second Life?

GeekSugar — Sat, 12 May 2007 07:03:44 PDT

For those of you who only take light doses of geekdom let me explain: Second Life is a 3-D virtual world that's built and owned by its residents. It opened to the public in 2003, but is now inhabited by more than 6,240,591 people from around the globe, who create avatars of themselves, buy land, spend money, go shopping and do all the other things you might do in the non-virtual world. "From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity," says the Second Life website. "Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business."

Currently, the phenomenon is filled with high profile appearances and a rapidly expanding list of residents - last summer Suzanne Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in Second Life avatar form, American Apparel opened a virtual store, and L'Oreal Paris even held a Miss Second Life beauty contest. It's also home to some controversy. Last week, a ginormous media circus occured after a German TV station alleged there was child pornography in the community. According to reports, the claims were found to be inaccurate (the accused man was 54 and the woman was 27), but nonetheless, the community is back in the public eye.

Now You Can Get A Statuette Of Your Mii In 3D

GeekSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:05:08 PDT

Who would have thought that Zach Braff would be such an adorable 3D Mii character (hint: blue T)?!

If you want to bring your own Mii avatar to life (or a fave celeb of course), then check out Fabjectory! This fabulous site can take your online Mii and transform it into either a 3-inch figure for $50 or a 5-inch figure for $100.

All you have to do is take a clear close up pic of your Mii from your TV screen and upload it on their website and voila- your Mii will be made into an incredibly detailed, full color real-life statuette- it will literally be popping off the screen!

Fabjectory can also create 3D models from your SecondLife avatar or from a SketchUp model.

The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars Of Second Life

GeekSugar — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:00:08 PDT

No this isn't a post about America's next top avatars contest, but it is about the model-like beauties of Second Life. Based on Andy Warhol's short films: 13 Most Beautiful Women and 13 Most Beautiful Boys comes a serious of canvas mounted portrait prints by the Italian artists Eva and Franco Mattes. Actual Second Lifers originally created these creative avatars. What are your thoughts? Do they scream beautiful in a virtual, digitally enhanced sorta way? Leave your comments below.
[via play-girlz] Want to know more about Play-Girlz's co-editor Ingrid Diaz? Check out my Geeky Girls We Love interview with her.

Shawn Johnson Talks Weight Loss and Learning to Love Her Body

espnW — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:05:26 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Shawn Johnson

Shawn Johnson is blogging for espnW throughout her training for the Olympics in London this summer. Follow hers other Olympic hopefuls' journeys on espnW.com.

Four years ago, I was standing on an Olympic podium, wearing a gold medal, and still thinking to myself how I could have been better. It had nothing to do with my performance - it was all how I looked. Back then, I always felt like I could have been a few pounds lighter. But the irony is, when I look back at the pictures, I look unhealthy and too thin. It's easy to get into a trap as an elite athlete, because you're made to feel that you're never perfect, that you can always be better. That's how you improve in your sport, but it's also tough because you aren't satisfied with yourself ever - it's second nature not to be. I'd always think, "Just get a little stronger, a little lighter," until it was completely ingrained in my mind.

Shawn Johnson takes us inside training camp

It's easy for people to blame gymnastics for this mentality, but I feel like the sport has improved a lot. The horror stories we heard from generations ago (think Joan Ryan's infamous book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes), you don't hear at all anymore. But I do believe it can improve further and that good nutrition could be a key to all of this, if it were only taught at a young age. Many gymnasts go into the elite level at 13 or so, and a 13-year-old isn't going to go to the library to read some book on nutrition! She needs to be given the right information on how to eat well. Otherwise, it's not until she's out of the sport that she realizes the damage she's done to her body by not eating enough over the past 20 years.

Shawn Johnson in the driver's seat

I see all the success we have as a country where the gymnasts aren't 100 percent healthy, and I imagine how amazing we could be if we were doing it in the healthiest way possible. I don't think it's a failure on anybody's part; the education just isn't there right now, and it's just not thought about in our sport. My parents have told me since I was little, "You're given your body for a reason. It's OK to be different. Being unique is a good thing." But I always struggled to believe it. I'm stocky, muscular and short, and I wanted to be thin and flexible so bad! My mom would say, "You're not made that way, and you're not going to become that, so you have to learn to accept and love the body you're in." Well, some people are born with that appreciation, and some people have to work really hard to get there. Put me in that second camp.

Read on for more on what Shawn Johnson has to say about body confidence and how she feels in her gymnastics leotard.

20 Things to Do With All Those Leftover Glass Baby Food Jars

Rebecca M Gruber — Sun, 20 May 2012 05:47:01 PDT

Recycling's great, but upcycling is both fun and productive! Baby food pouches may be slowly overtaking traditional glass jars when it comes to lil ones' pureed food, but that doesn't mean the ubiquitous jars aren't taking up precious space on mama's countertop. Before dumping them in the recycle bin, check out some interesting ways the jars can live a second life - your counter and the environment will thank you!

Grey's Anatomy Season Finale Rundown, "Flight"

Becky Kirsch — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:18:05 PDT

It's hard for me to even write this recap because I'm so mad at Grey's Anatomy right now. The death of a major character in the season finale has been teased for weeks, but it's not left until the episode's final moments. In fact, it happens in the first 20 minutes, and once it does, it's hard to focus on anything else.

I'll save my spoilers for below the break, but this is definitely one of the most affecting and frustrating episodes Grey's Anatomy has ever seen, and considering there's been a ferry crash, bomb scares, and a Seattle Grace shooter, that's saying a lot. As Cristina astutely observes, "I don't understand how this keeps happening." There's a lot to go over, like the plane crash, the fate of the residents, and what we'll be wondering about all Summer long, so let's get the depressing party started when you

I hope you're ready for a rant, because I couldn't be more upset about Lexie's death. She's one of the few characters that I've continued to root for and sympathize with over the years, and her will-they-or-won't-they with Mark is one of the biggest reasons I still loved the show this season. Yes, she and Mark got a bittersweet farewell in which he finally confesses his feelings for her, but I just sat there wishing she'd miraculously wake up right up until the final scene. I applaud Shonda Rhimes and the rest of the show's writers for taking big risks that will seriously impact the audience, but right now I feel more like I've been punished for sticking with this show for so long.
You'd think with Lexie's quick death, the rest of the doctors in the crash would be in the clear for the rest of the episode, but that's not so. Meredith and Cristina seem to be OK, but Arizona's got a hideous gash in her leg, Mark's teetering on the brink of death, and Derek may very well lose his hand. For a second I thought we were going to lose Mark too in a sort of Romeo and Juliet move from the writers, but we don't even get closure on what will happen to the current survivors. Which brings us to the next question: how will the surgeons get out of this mess? And will everyone besides Lexie survive?
One doctor we won't be seeing more of is Teddy, who gets a job offer to serve her country again. She passes up the opportunity, and when Owen questions her loyalty, she admits that she's staying to watch over Owen since Cristina is on her way out. Owen then pulls out the trump card and fires Teddy so she'll be forced to leave the hospital. Though she's angry at first, it's clear that she's actually relieved to be leaving the hospital where Henry died. I've always liked having Kim Raver on the show, but Teddy's storyline hit its peak with her marriage to Henry, and has been kind of stale ever since his death. That said, I'm glad the door is still open for her to return.
Both Karev and Jackson decide to leave Seattle Grace for Johns Hopkins and Tulane, respectively. Karev leaves Arizona a voicemail explaining that he needs to see what he's made of without his mentor, while Jackson just seems to want to get away from all of the Seattle Grace drama, April included. As for April, she's hating life because she's not a virgin and she didn't pass her boards, and because Jackson is leaving. So that leaves us with Teddy, Jackson, Karev, and April all flying the coop. If all of these characters (plus Lexie) are really gone for good, there had better be an impressive lineup of new cast members coming in for season nine.
There's one silver lining in this dark cloud of an episode, and that's Bailey's happiness with Ben. She's one of the few characters whose problems seem completely trivial this week (what with her life not being in jeopardy and all). Though Ben is moving to LA, she's agreed to marry him and do a long-distance relationship - and she actually seems pretty content. In a way, it almost feels like this is Bailey's redemption for the trauma she experienced in the season six shooter finale. Not only is she completely uninvolved with the plane crash, but she actually gets a happy ending. At least until she finds out that most of her friends have been in yet another horrific accident.

This season finale definitely ranks high on the scale of shocking finales. Are you as bummed as I am about Lexie's death? Which characters do you think will still be around next season?

12 Ways to Stay in Your Regular Wardrobe While Pregnant

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:23:05 PDT

As previously flat bellies turn into baby bumps and an expectant mama's clothes grow tight, a woman in her second trimester may try just about anything to extend the life of her prepregnancy clothes before diving into the world of maternity wear. Celebrities may opt for purchasing looser clothing in bigger sizes, but there are plenty of tricks for staying in your current clothes for a few weeks longer than expected. Check out our favorite tips for staving off a trip to the maternity store.