It’s finally Christmas!
This is always my favorite time of year. I found it a little difficult to get into the holiday spirit at first, but it arrived just in time. 😀
Everyone had a great time opening up their gifts. Hardware has been installed, games have been downloaded, and I am coloring while I listen to my favorite Christmas songs.
I hope you got to spend your holiday with those you love the most.
To all my family and friends, Merry Christmas!
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the Sinners Burlesque Christmas Show.
When I heard that Yummy was going to be onstage, I knew I couldn’t miss it. And I’m glad I didn’t, because it was a great show!
The opening number was an adorable one, with the dancer in a snowglobe and penguins circling her.
So cute. 🙂
The next number was a group routine (I’ve lost my notes, so I don’t know the song, but it was very cute.)
The venue itself was decorated to the nines, including sleighs for the audience to sit in while they enjoyed the show.
And then, the number I’d been waiting for. 😀
Yummy was in a group number and it was spectacular!
Aura did a fabulous job with the choreography and I loved the costumes.
You can’t see him in the photo, but there was also an adorable polar bear who made a surprise appearance. 😛
The next routine was a solo number – a lovely ballet set in front of a Nativity scene.
After the ballerina, Aura took to the stage once again in a very jazzy, burlesque number, which I unfortunately did not get a picture of.
(I was too busy snooping around to see how she was working her magic.)
The final act of the show left everyone in the audience grinning.
Dancing (in reverse drag) to ‘Walkin’ ‘Round in Women’s Underwear’ (one of the vastly under-rated Christmas classics), it was an adorable number and a great end to the show.
If you haven’t been to a Sinners show, be sure to check them out. Join the group to stay updated on their latest news.
On Saturday I had the pleasure of dancing with Miss Lady C and Miss Bathory at the Main Event Show Lounge.
Christmas is one of my favorite times of year and this show was a blast. 😀
Lady C started off the festivities with a sexy little routine to ‘Santa Baby’ by Eartha Kitt.
It’s one of those quintessential Christmas songs and it was such a fun number.
After Lady C, Miss Bathory took to the stage with her Frosty friend.
Dancing to ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ by She & Him (the ‘She’ is Zooey Deschanel), Miss Bathory was on fire – so hot that she melted poor Frosty!
He looked happy as he went, though. 😛
Lady C’s next number was to ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ by Natalie Cole.
Such a sultry, sexy voice, and another hot holiday number from Lady C.
I always enjoy her routines – classic burlesque style.
Following Lady C, Miss Bathory warmed the stage with her fabulous routine to ‘Sugar Rum Cherry’ by Duke Ellington.
This routine was just gorgeous, and if you missed it, you missed out!
I’ve seen many a dancer incorporate a pole into their routines, but this one was very well done.
Her costumes are always amazing as well.
The final number was put together by Miss Lady C and was a fun routine to ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ by LeeAnn Rimes.
What a fun way to finish up the last show of the year. 😀
I also wanted to point out someone who helps make the show possible – the DJ at Main Event Show Lounge, Diamonique Viper.
She has one of the sexiest voices on the grid. 😛
The ladies are already busy at work on their next routines for the January show.
Join the group to stay updated on the latest happenings and showtimes.
A week ago, I was lucky enough to stumble across a post on Plurk from Daeberethwen Arbenlow about a tutorial she had made for removing a green screen in Photoshop.
Though I had watched various tutorials on the same subject and attempted it numerous times, I could never get to work as cleanly as the videos showed.
It may be that I have more experience with Photoshop now, but I’m chalking it up to the terrific job Daeberethwen does of explaining in her tutorials. 😀
Since the green screen video, I have used the method with great success. Just yesterday I cajoled my husband into logging into SL so we could take a holiday photo.
I had set up all my props in front of a green screen so that I could insert a different background later in Photoshop. We could have just gone somewhere winter-y and taken the pic, but I wanted to try out my new skill. 😛
Also, it gave me an excuse to sort through my giant folder of ‘Christmas’ items and purge some of them. (How do I end up with so many no-copy items that are useless to me for sets?!)
This is the edited photo and what I will be using for Christmas cards. 🙂
I used several techniques I learned in videos from Daeberethwen, including the green screen removal and using the ‘screen’ layer style to add effects.
I am still amazed at how quickly and cleanly I can now add effects and fancy bits to my photos with very little effort!
I changed my ‘green screen’ to blue, since so many of the props have green in them. I did have to lower my tolerance a bit with the background eraser, because at 100% it was erasing much of his tuxedo!
I added a background texture (the snowflake background behind the pergola), changed the hue of it a bit, and then used the ‘screen’ layer trick to add some snow as an overlay.
After adding the text, I think the total time to process this photo was maybe 20 minutes. For comparison, here is the original photo:
As you can see, I cropped it (sorry, Frosty!), removed the blue screen, and then added my other effects.
Simple!
I love playing around in Photoshop and learning new techniques. I have a ton of pre-made filters and actions I’ve found in various places, but I get much more enjoyment out of discovering how to do something myself. 😀
If you’ve been looking for some great Photoshop tutorials, I highly recommend Daeberethwen’s videos. You can find the tutorial on using the ‘screen’ layer here.
I can’t wait to try this out with other photos and effects!
It’s Christmas Eve and our tradition is to celebrate with extended family today.
So, while the turkey is cooking and the rolls are waiting for their turn in the oven, I thought I’d take a few moments to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
The holidays can be stressful – remember to focus on what’s important.
Family, friends, loved ones – those who are with us and those who aren’t.
Use today and tomorrow to make precious memories.
That’s the true gift of Christmas.
See you December 26th!
As I said before, Saturday was a full day of show watching.
I managed to make it to one other show – and boy, am I glad I did!
I’d seen a video of this group before, but not an actual performance.
What I saw at the show will definitely have me going back for more!
Lots of creative routines with very well done sets and choreography.
The show opened with some very nice eye candy.
If Santa’s helpers all look like this, I’m gonna have to try harder to stay on the nice list!
I loved this routine – very creative use of ice skating animations.
I’ve seen many different ice skating/ice dancing routines this season, but this one is by far my favorite.
This routine wins the ‘cute’ award – hands down!
I love the hippo song, and this little hippo avi is just too adorable.
The dance animations used were very creative as well.
One of my favorite Christmas songs for the last several years has been ‘The Christmas Can-Can’ by Straight No Chaser. (If you haven’t heard of them, look them up – they are amazing!)
This routine was one of the best choreographed routines I have seen in quite some time.
Great use of a variety of animations, a nice but simple set, and a focus on the performers.
I am a sucker for ballet dances, and this one was truly enchanting.
I loved the ballerina angels descending on the snowflakes.
After they landed, a giant Christmas tree rose up in the background – just amazing.
The last routine of the show was Rudolph and the other reindeer.
I loved how his nose actually blinked. 🙂
Adorable costumes and cute choreography.
If you haven’t seen this show, make sure to catch it!
Last night was a late night for me, because I stayed up to catch the Christmas Extravadanza! show put on by SexyS Quintessa.
And I get to kill two birds with one stone in this post (just an expression, I would never actually kill a bird), because I went back to the sim this morning to capture some pretty pics of the sim using SL Go!
Yesterday SL Go announced they have now added the Firestorm viewer as an option (for PC only right now). So, of course, I had to try it out.
After I did, boy, am I excited!
Because I now have all the fancy schmancy photo tools and windlight settings that come with Firestorm – something I was missing with the LL viewer.
So I spent a little time traveling around the sim and snapping some pics.
I also snapped some pics at the show last night, and I’ll be including those here as well.
The sim is beautifully decorated and there are lots of little areas to explore and take photos.
I love this little area, with a grand staircase and the beautiful carriage.
You almost expect Cinderella to appear around the corner!
This area was the setting for one of the acts in the show.
An amazing setting and costume, very ethereal and beautiful.
I am definitely going to have to get a Flickr account, just to make it easier to upload all the photos I plan to take!
The phototools in Firestorm make it really easy to play around with things and be creative. And when the sim is as fun as this one, it’s easy to get carried away.
Just look at this adorable stage!
One of the acts in the show was set in front of this cute little toy shop.
And when you go to the show, Santa himself drives you around in his sleigh from place to place, in true Christmas fashion!
There were many creative acts throughout the show, and not every act is performed each show, so make sure to go more than once to catch them all!
These lovely ice skaters did an amazing routine, complete with lifts and turns!
The whole sim is just absolutely charming.
Even if you can’t make one of the shows, go for a visit and take some pictures yourself.
And, of course, no Christmas would be complete without mention of the Grinch and the Whos down in WhoVille.
I probably had too much fun playing around with the windlights, but there was so much eye candy around!
I have a lot more pictures, so I will hopefully have time in the next few days to get a Flickr account set up so I can share them all more easily.
One of my favorite things on the sim was the Northern Lights.
Be sure to experience the sim at night – it’s beautiful!!
A gorgeous tree set against the Northern Lights.
Go – explore – have fun!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
On Monday, Starlite Theater had its Christmas show.
There were lots of really cute acts (and I’m not saying that just because I dance there).
I wasn’t able to be in the show on Monday, due to that pesky RL bug we all seem to catch at one time or another.
However, I was able to sneak in and take a few pictures. 🙂
Izzy Mavendorf and her mad Russians started off the night.
Or was that drunk Russians?
Next up was a beautiful department store with a sticky-fingered thief.
Where’s a mall cop on a Segway when you need them?
Continuing with the drunk *ahem* I mean, Christmas theme, we visited an Ugly Sweater party in progress, wondering, “Who Spiked the Eggnog?”
Then Frosty turned up with his snowgirl posse and showed everyone how it’s done.
Who knew Frosty could twerk?
And after Frosty’s twerking, I don’t think anyone was surprised to see Pervy Santa show up.
Leave it to Devy to dance around in her unmentionables and put on a sexy show for Butt Crack Santa. 😛
There were a few other routines I missed, but it was a great show and everyone had a terrific time.
You can catch the Starlite Dancers onstage every other Monday at 7pm SLT. The next show is 12/29/2014. Enjoy!
When I saw a notice that the Night Theater was doing a ‘Winter Wishes’ show, I had to go. I love the creativity of the acts that I see there.
I was not disappointed.
The opening act was a darling number with 4 little gold snowflake fairies.
The particle effects were well done, and I love the ending pose that I captured here.
This set was a song I had not heard before – River by Sarah McLachlan.
A beautiful song and I love how this set captured the imagery of it.
The skater in the background was a nice counterpoint to the dancer in front.
Then came the dancing gingerbread cookies!
This number was chock-full of sweetness and the little gingerbread couples swing-dancing to the music was adorable.
And who could forget these sexy reindeer?
I love the costumes in this number.
If you haven’t seen this show yet, there are still a couple of performances, I believe.
Do yourself a favor and enjoy some holiday cheer courtesy of The Night Theater.
I reported a few weeks ago about Winds of the Sahara Cabaret closing their doors.
I attended their Christmas show last night and it was announced that, though they are closing over the holidays, they will reopen in January 2015 at a new location.
The location hasn’t been announced as yet, so keep an eye out for notices of the new location.
In the meantime, here are a few quick pics from the show last night:
Winnie did a darling number to ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,’ including the adorable little hippos.
There were several very pretty winter scenes, but this one was my favorite. So glittery!
A Kat and A Mouse 