GeekSugar

Do You Have A Home On Second Life?

CasaSugar — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:02:48 -0700

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 -0700

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, read more

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Do You Pay Attention To Avatars' Bodies And Gender?

GeekSugar — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:00:26 -0700

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 -0700

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 -0700

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 -0700

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.

Jared Leto's Changing Hairstyles Over The Years

PopSugarUK — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:00:00 -0700

Jared Leto debuted a new shorter hairstyle this Summer, and it got me thinking about the actor and musician's hair evolution over the years. From his curtains back in 1994 through long locks, cane rows and dyed tips, check out Jared's changing hairstyles over the years, and vote to let me know what you think of each 'do!

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Ask a Trader: Is He Into Me?

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Conventional Wisdom is a different kind of advice column. Your questions will be answered by people from all walks of life rather than by advice experts. This week, a trader helps out a frustrated woman. If you have a question you'd like answered on Conventional Wisdom, you can submit it here.

Today's question:

I have been seeing this man for a little over a month. He is significantly older than me (13 years) and pretty busy. We talked last weekend and both said we wanted to take things slow due to failed past relationships (jumping into them too quickly; he was engaged).

That's perfectly fine with me, but the problem is that we never talk. We Facebook message each other, but it's extremely brief two word phrases. When the weekend hits, we might see each other one day. When we do see each other, he acts like he really enjoys my company until I say something nice (he runs a gallery, so I told him if he ever needs help getting a show set up, to let me know) in which case he kind of buries his head. He also won't respond if I send him a compliment via one of our Facebook messages.

He does let me keep some toiletries at his house if I ever spend the night, which is rare - we don't have sex either. I really like this guy and want to get to know him, but it seems impossible and I feel like I'm just getting strung along. Should I talk to him and tell him what I expect with "taking it slow" or something? Or does it seem he really isn't into me at all? Would he really string me along if he knows I don't want to get hurt anymore?

Signed,
Taking it Too Slow

To see the trader's answer, read more.

Dear Taking it Too Slow,

It sounds like, for whatever reason, this guy is not romantically attracted to you. You are right to worry that he lets you stay overnight and keep toiletries at his house, without ever making a move. You say you really like him, but I must recommend that you not waste too much more time on him without knowing he feels the same way because it sounds like you keep putting forth effort, without getting anything back from him. Tell him how you feel, and if he shares those feelings then you can explore the possibility of a real relationship together. If he says he's just not ready, this is your cue to move on and trade up. And no need to second-guess breaking off your sexless sleepovers: if he really does have feelings for you, he'll come back when he's ready, and if you want to, you can give him another shot.

Signed,
A Trader

Nicole Kidman's Candid About Sexual Fetish and Tom Cruise

PopSugarUK — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:50:10 -0800

Nicole Kidman has given a frank interview to British GQ for their December issue, and posed in lingerie for the accompanying photo shoot. While yesterday's rumours about her teaming up with Robert Pattinson for Bel Ami have been quickly denied, Nicole did tell the magazine about her relationships with other men. She reveals her penchant for sexual fetish, opens up about Tom Cruise, and speaks about the challenges of marriage. Here are the highlights:

On Tom Cruise: "I became famous very young. I became very famous because I was the wife of somebody. I did a lot of good, worthwhile work in Australia between the ages of 14 and 19 and then I married someone famous... I know my agents at the time were like, 'Do not get married! It will ruin your career!' And I was like, 'But I’m in love!' All I know is that I wasn’t someone interested in fame. And that’s not why I got married."
On her explorations in love and sex: "My life has been about exploring types of love. I’ve explored obsession, I’ve explored loss and love in terms of being in a grief-stricken place, I’ve explored strange sexual fetish stuff, I’ve explored the mundane aspect of marriage, and monogamy. But I’m still on that journey."
On Keith Urban's problems with drugs and alcohol: "I don’t talk about that. That’s the sanctity of our marriage. Our relationship is pretty much off bounds and we really don’t discuss it except to say we’re very together. And you know, you work on it. It’s a very adventurous, extraordinary place to be: incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous and you’re very much out at sea. You’re exposed. You could drown. When you commit to someone like that you live and die together by that decision."

To find out what Nicole had to say about where her marriage to Tom went wrong, being a working mum, what she wants out of her career and not choosing the safe option, read more.

On the state of her relationship with Tom during Eyes Wide Shut: "[W]e were pretty happily married throughout that period. People will always watch the movie in hindsight and go, ‘Oh no, that must be where it all went wrong.’ I don’t want to say whether anything is or isn’t true any more. Listen, people can mythologise and think what they want, and that’s where it begins and ends for me. The rest of it is information. Some of it is isinformation. And some of it isn’t. I don’t care now at this stage in my life to refute rumours, or confirm them... We’ll see where it takes me and where it ends up but, right now, I quite like that abandoned feeling."
On refusing to talk about Tom and Scientology: "I want to honour that marriage for what it was, and there is nothing I would go into about that. I have never discussed the intricacies of it and I never will."
On filming Nine after giving birth to Sunday: "I'd just given birth, so i was like, 'OK, I'm [still] a woman – I want to do this film! And I do have a life other than simply feeding this baby.' I think when you give birth you get itchy to get back to work and you want to feel life still goes on."
On what she wants from her career: "I make films that aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, I realise that. I get it. But that’s where i am. if I were a painter I certainly wouldn’t be painting for the masses. And I’m unwavering on this. I want to take risks. I want excitement, danger and uncertainty."
On not choosing the safe option: "I have a career where I have had to weather the storms. It’s become second nature to me. I’m used to my roles and the movies I’m in being criticised. I seek it out. In my life i do not seek out a safe place. I like existing in an uncomfortable place artistically. People can believe this or not, but in the end I hope my life will be a mix of extreme love and bold artistic choices. I’ve never wanted to be safe. I’ve never chosen safe relationships. And I’ve never chosen safe films. I would have had a much easier life if I did."

Let PopUS know if you think Nicole is being refreshingly honest or over-the-top with her revelations. You can read the full interview in GQ, on sale today.

Catching Up With Biggest Loser Tara Costa

FitSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:47:08 -0800

Even though she is no longer required to pull big numbers at the weekly Biggest Loser weigh-ins, Tara Costa is still working it. She told Life and Style that she's "still battling the last 10 pounds."

Tara currently weighs 164 pounds (down from 294 at the start of the show), but the second runner-up of from last year's season says she'd "love to live at 155-ish." Her plan of attack is twofold. She's headed for a week-long stay at the Biggest Loser Resort and Spa, located in Ivins, UT, where guests can reenact the rigors of the weight-loss reality show: six hours of daily exercise and a healthy diet. Her second method is running. Tara ran in the New York City Marathon last Sunday, completing the 26.2-mile course in 4 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds.

I love keeping up with past contestants from the show and seeing that they are still living healthy lives. Like Tara, are you battling the last few pesky pounds that refuse to go away? Join the Weight Loss Support group, to meet like-minded people who share your goals.

Photos courtesy of NBC and Getty