Virtual Neko in Second Life

One year ago today, a little Neko blog was born into a virtual world called Second Life.

At the time, I had no idea what it would become… no clue about the depth, the history, the dress code (if there was one), nor the size of the Neko community in Second Life. Heck I wasn’t entirely sure what “being Neko” meant, given that I was a relative newcomer to the “cat ears and tail” set.

I only knew that something about being Neko had struck a chord inside, making me want to do something, to give something back, to support this uniquely curious, often misunderstood, but ever-so-delightful community of “cat people.”

So I jumped down the rabbit hole as it were… delved into it with all four paws, tracing a yarn ball’s worth of loose threads that I would later weave into this blog, meanwhile creating all sorts of “Neko Resource” pages, and an online Neko community forum. (Photos in this story are just a few of the highlights from the first year).

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What I really wanna do, after a year filled with blogging about all things Neko, is answer the most basic Neko questions everyone always seems to ask… the same questions I set out to answer in the first place… which I still get asked in Second Life today. So without further ado…

Why Are You Wearing Ears and a Tail?

Some may call it catty, but my typical reply is this: “because I’m a Neko” (well duh). Then I wait to see if they take the bait. Most good little mousies (or humans, sometimes prey is interchangeable) will eventually nibble. Which leads them to their next question, which is usually…

What Is a Neko?

The short answer: a human avatar who wears cat ears and a tail, and typically affects a cat-like attitude on a full time (or at least most of the time) basis in Second Life.

The medium-length answer: mm, it depends… we Nekos come in a variety of genetic variables. Some are very nearly human, the only difference being our lovely ears, tails, and sometimes Neko eyes (c’est moi). Others are further along in our “transformation,” preferring skins with calico spots, furry belly texture, or even tiger stripes. These more “feral” Nekos sometimes wear additional cat-like accoutrements, including paw feet boots and whiskers.

The long answer? That requires a bit of history:

Neko means cat in Japanese, so you might think it started there. Yet cats were admired for thousands of years before “Maneki Neko” and “Hello Kitty” became popular — cats have been found buried in ceremony on the isle of Cyprus 8,000 years ago, worshipped as the god “Bastet” in Egypt, and countless other cultures record affinities for all things feline.

Somewhere in recent history, humans began dressing up as (or sometimes even transforming into) cats. From the villianess “Catwoman” who first appeared in Batman comic books in 1940, Osamu Tezuka’s catgirl mangas (comic books) in the 1950s (which inspired numerous cartoons), the American television cartoon “Josie and the Pussycats” in the early 1970s, and the Broadway musical “Cats” in the early 1980s, to a Cyberpunk roleplayer “Chromebook” that included a cyber-neko altered body kit (thanks Pussycat!), clearly some sort of personal feline transformation was afoot (apaw?).

However during the 1990s, it was the Japanese culture that took “dressing up” to a whole new level. By then, all sorts of manga and anime (animated movies) were featuring little girls sprouting ears and a tail, inspiring cosplayers all across Japan (and eventually the rest of the world) to begin “dressing up Neko” in first life.

Right on the heels of this phenomenon came Second Life.

The very first Nekos in Second Life simply called themselves catpeople or catgirls (getting called a Neko in Japan is a whole ‘nuther matter if you’re a guy…). So it’s still somewhat of a mystery how “cat equipped humans” came to be called “Neko” in our little virtual world.

My best guess is that the term “Neko” evolved due to the growing influence of Asian residents in Second Life — people who in their first life were already dressing up as Neko cosplayers, and simply carried it full time into their virtual life. No one knows for sure, but it’s possible this was the catalyst that turned Second Life’s early “catgirl” phenomenon into the full-blown “Neko culture” it is today.

Why Did You Become A Neko?

For me, it was simple: someone very special started wearing ears and a tail. After a week of being mesmerized by those delicate furry parts, I wanted in. We TPd to Atomic, where I debated the Neko-defining choice of fluffy versus smooth hair tail: fluffeh felt right to me. In fact it felt so right that when I started to take the parts off one week later, something seemed terribly amiss. That’s when I knew: transformation had begun.

Sure there are part-timers — fashion bloggers who wear Neko ears and tails for a day to complement a particular outfit, party-goers who “dress up Neko” for an event. But for most of us full-time Nekos, it’s less about a style, and more about who we are. Here are a few of the answers to the “why” question from the Second Life Neko Community forum:

“When I came to SL, I was human, but not for long. I asked myself, what can I do here that I can’t do in RL, and the answer was: be another creature! And thus I became a Neko.” – Sasha

“I love cats and kittens of all kinds, so once I found all the Neko stuff in SL, I just had to dive in.” – Adrianna

“(Over the years, I kept seeing) ‘neko / catgirl’ art and thinking – there they are again. (When I) logged into SL, a freebie I got resulted in me wearing ears and a tail. When I took them off, I felt weird, so back on they went. And then I had to get an AO, and then I had to get better ears/tails, and then… and then… next thing I know, I’m running around meowing and hissing at things. ” – Pussycat

“I’m home… it just feels more natural.” – Kevin

“I have always identified personality-wise with cats more than any other animal. What I didn’t understand until later, was that Neko-ness isn’t just about the ears and tail, there’s a whole subculture involved. There’s something youthful in the Neko subculture. We’re like a bunch of lost kittens, cast out into the streets, struggling to survive alone when all we really want is a nice warm fire, a bowl of milk, and someone to provide belly-rubs and ear-scritches.” – Matty

“I am a Neko in RL who never really felt like i fit into my own skin. Once i found Second Life, I soon found out about Nekos. Since then I have never looked back. ” – IshtarAngel

“It’s part of who I am… spiritually…” – AmayaYuri

“To me being a neko is an atitude or a personality twist. I have several places I go to RP and I am always diferent, but that personality trait of being happy and carefree is always there. That’s embracing your nekoness to me — a toothy silly smile and a twitch of the tail.” – Aditya

As you can see, being Neko is more than a game, more than a fashion genre (because we really don’t have just one), more than an addiction for fluffy moving parts, more than the ability to “pounce” your friends or “purr” over something yummeh. Kinda like the old question in first life, “are you a dog person or a cat person,” being Neko is first and foremost about attitude.

What Do Nekos Do in Second Life?

Same thing any of us do in Second Life… explore, shop, build, snuggle, listen to live music, work, roleplay, visit art galleries and museums, dance, and share fascinating conversation and perspectives with people from all around the world. We Nekos just do it with a few extra furry bits and attitude.

One of the myths about Nekos in Second Life is that most of us are roleplayers. People often assume that our cat ears and tails are simply “required props” we wear while “playing a Neko character” in some of Second Life’s many gaming or roleplay sims. While there are certainly plenty of Neko RP gamers, and several roleplay sims that support Neko communities (Midian City and City of Lost Angels, to name a few), the majority of the Nekos I’ve met are inside Second Life strictly to be… Neko. No roles or gameplay required. Unless of course you count purrs and pounces…

How Did the Virtual Neko Blog Come to Be?

This is the question I hear most these days. The story goes something like this:

Back when I decided to “try Neko for a while,” I was lost. Google searches turned up almost nothing (outside of a band in Arizona and a bunch of hello kitty fans in Japan).

SL Search queries weren’t much better… I’d wind up in a crackhouse sim with little poseball clusters named “scratch” and “rawr” and “pounce,” surrounded by stores selling everything from furry parts, to what looked like the Seattle grunge clothing movement, freakishly resurrected.

What IS a Neko? How to BE a Neko? This became my mission. My passion. Some may even call it my obsession, since I have this little… mm, shall we politely call it… list problem.

You see, when I decide I wanna learn about something, it’s all or nothing. Which inspires me to make lists. Please don’t ask me to explain.

These lists started out as notes I jotted during my in-world research, bolstered by a bit of right-click-inspecting whenever I spotted someone wearing a well designed Neko item. Initially I expected to find maybe a handful of Neko stores. But pretty soon the list grew so long that it migrated from a pile of messy sticky notes, to an alphabetized, neatly typed document.

And then I started visiting each store I found, adding more notes, discovering more Neko stores next door… pretty soon the document grew so long that I had to divide it up into separate categories. Which eventually became separate lists… like… um… Ears and Tail stores. And Neko Eyes. And Neko AOs and Animations. And… and…

Somewhere in the middle of all that list insanity I began to wonder… what if there were other little Nekos out there like me, wandering furtively from store to store, wondering if there were others, hoping to find their next meal (even if it was a cute little tuna can armstrap), wishing for a place they could call home… wouldn’t they find these lists helpful too? And how could I bring all of us together?

That, my fellow cats and kittens, is what inspired the birth of this blog. In short, it was a particularly excellent excuse for a place to store my lists. Of course it didn’t hurt that I loved to write, and that someone I knew had some pretty amazing SL photography skills…

I’ll never forget my first surge of excitement when I began to receive comments and emails from other Nekos. “I’ve been a Neko for a year and am so happy to find your blog!” Or “Hey thanks, I’ve been designing Neko stuff since 2006 and suddenly everyone has found me!” And “Wow I had no idea there were so many of us, and so many stores!”

One year and over 70,000 hits later (do I sound proud? Yep, I am), every comment I receive, every new Neko designer I discover, every blog reader I happen to meet in-world, reminds me why I do this: because I’ve grown to love this passionate little Neko population, and feel a dedication to doing whatever I can to suppport the Neko community in Second Life.

To every single one of you who reads this: thank you, from the bottom of my kitteh heart, for a most amazing year.

With much love and a very special thanks to Bobby Yoshikawa <3***

(okay this cupcake kitty from Ann Launay was just too cute not to share… thank you!!!)

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Believe me, I needed this beer after the day I’ve had. Starting today and going through midnight SLT on Monday May 25, Urban Dare has launched a pretty amazing Grand (Re)Opening Event at their sim.

How grand, you ask? How about this: every one of Urban Dare’s Neko tails and ears are on sale at 50% off, on top of a 36-item hunt containing excellent Neko accessories, plus even more great sales at the other stores on the sim.

A few of the items you can get for free in the Grand (Re)Opening Hunt at Urban Dare — this weekend only

If you’re not already familiar with Urban Dare’s Neko tails and ears, these are some of the best HUD-equipped Neko parts on the grid… well worth the sale price. The (free!) tail included in the hunt is yet another example of this store’s quality, and thanks to the special “accessory” included with this tail, I think you’ll find it comes in quite handy for walking around dark urban streets at night…

Which is exactly what you’re going to want to do here. In fact you should plan on spending some extra time to explore this excellent sim, especially if you’re into SL photography. So what if Craven Theas took away the magical swamp next to his old store? The new Urban Dare build leaves absolutely nothing to complain about…

Amidst all my shopping and hunting, I managed to have lunch at the noodle bar, take a ride on the monorail (yeah, I had to jump off a broken-down one — merely a hazard of shopping), dance at the underground club (now there’s a working monorail…), and refresh myself at the oxygen bar. The perfect end to my night? A quiet snuggle with someone special, overlooking this amazing city.

Last but not least, be sure to bring your non-Neko friends here too. When they’re not looking, just push ‘em into the Neko Transformer device on the first floor of the store. Heh.

Here’s your Monorail ride (and this one’s not broken):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dare/127/143/515

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One of the many diverse apartments available to Nekos in Second Life (building on left), located in the sim called Spottieottiedopalicious 

What constitutes “home” for a Neko? It’s not a simple answer. A home tends to define a specific attitude or style, and we Nekos truly run the gamut — from grungy feral kitties, to spoiled, silken pillow house cats.

Thanks to my Neko friends, I’ve been able to explore a number of Neko homes in Second Life. Not surprisingly, the range I saw was not too different from the diverse places that cats call home in first life — from back alley dumpsters and cardboard boxes, to abandoned warehouse buildings and barns.

Let us not forget however the pampered house cats out there who much prefer the finer things in life, including sunny window seats, elegant urban lofts, and kawaii styled cottages… so, where to draw the line?

Nekopolis in Second Life

Neko Homes in Second Life

The majority of Nekos I see in Second Life prefer a “street / urban / grunge” look, quite possibly reflecting the kinds of places they like to roleplay (City of Lost Angels, Midian City, Wastelands and the like). So I started my list with homes that featured a more industrial, post-apocalypse, or abandoned style.

Then I added in all of us kawaii Nekos, which of course required me to include a few pink homes and cute cottages. Cyberpunk Nekos were already well supported within the overall cyberpunk community, so I did not include any “space” or “cyberpunk” specific homes on my list.

Last but not least, for those of you Nekos who prefer remaining essentially human? Let’s just say I already spend enough time maintaining the ever-changing slurls on all my Neko Resource pages, so I had to draw the line somewhere.  :) The best way to locate more “standard” homes is by using your Second Life “search” tab, or visiting XstreetSL.com and searching there.

Spottieottiedopalicious — a perfect sim for roleplay, or for Nekos to call home 

Neko Apartments in Second Life

Not ready to purchase a home or land, but willing to rent something a little less expensive? A number of sims in Second Life offer “apartments” for rent, typically set within an urban build.

One such example is a sim called Spottieottiedopaliscious. This sim resembles an urban city, with aging buildings, back alleys, underground areas to explore, and even a few stores. I discovered this place thanks to fellow Neko friend Kevin Freelunch, whose friend Saedryn rents a cool three-story apartment (with a loft) here.

On my second visit, I saw several Nekos wandering about. On my third visit, the luck of my nine Neko lives brought me face to face with none other than Gaberoonie Szondi and Pitri Bebb, the brilliant masterminds behind this great sim… which I soon learned was indeed intended for casual, unenforced roleplay. “The only rule,” Gaberoonie assured me, “is to have fun.”

The “Sweeney Todd” loft at Spottieottiedopalicious

Spottieottiedopaliscious is based on the idea of a bunch of kids who tried to build things that mimicked what grownups would do, using whatever they could find, all within a post-apocalyptic city. The city features a diverse range of creative elements, all with well-done textures.

If you decide to make this city your home, Gabe and Pitri are only too happy to accommodate you. Just tell them how many prims you need, what sort of design you have in mind, and they’ll help you find it, or build to suit. Rental costs are affordably based on desired prim count. There are even a limited number of small parcels available for purchase within the city, giving you land ownership rights to build your own stuff (as long as it’s within the theme of the city). The building and any objects already on the parcel you purchase won’t count against your prims.

Last but not least, another option is the sim Nekopolis, especially if you’re the kind of kitteh who doesn’t need much space or furnishings — you can rent a small place here for only $1L a week (with a maximum of 10 prims).

Tentacles breaking through the sidewalks of the Delirium sim are just a hint of the amazing underground located beneath its urban streets

Dedicated Neko Community in Second Life

There’s talk among a couple of Neko designers about developing an existing retail sim into a more “mixed use” build, in order to include apartments for rent, all with the idea of creating a sort of dedicated Neko community. If you’re interested, CatniP’s owner Akasha Wachmann, and LoveCats’ owner LoveCat Thei are both willing to consider adding something like this to their sims (if you haven’t been Akasha’s gorgeous new sim at Delirium, you must… be sure to check out the underground!).

The only thing these lovely ladies need to start building our very own Neko urban community are enough interested renters. If that includes you, post a comment below, and we’ll see if we can get an official Neko community started!

One of my personal favorites — Ananke Technologies’ steampunk-style “Serene Fantasy Cloud Hugger Airship”

Furnishing Your Neko Home

Once you’ve chosen your new Neko Home, furniture is the next step. My list includes stores that sell the more typical “Neko grunge” furnishings, including grungy furniture sets, dirty floor mattresses, dirty rugs, vending machines, old metal signs, lockers, and filthy pools. 

I’ve likewise included all the stores that sell Neko-specific items, such as cat lounging trees, kitty baskets, Neko hammocks, sardine can beds, and the like.

Of course when I found a Neko store that made excellent leather couches, furniture sets, or even a few cute “kawaii overstuffed” items, they were included too.

Once again, for those of you kittehs who prefer a more standard / human look to your furnishings, please use the SL ”search” tab or visit XstreetSL.com to explore the full range of outstanding furniture stores in Second Life.

Block13 ‘Bedicine’ Bed

Ready To Begin House Hunting? Here Are Your Links:

Neko Homes and Housing

Neko Furniture

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NEXUS-1 N1RAC41213 (11.12.2013): Initialization complete. Progress log commencing.

EJT Project NEXUS Log (11.12.2013): NEXUS-1 launch successful. All systems tested and functional. Slight flux detected in memory transfer processors, investigation underway.
Notes: Functioning well above expectations.

(01.22.2014): My language function has improved, enabling me to provide more accurate progress reporting. I was also able to communicate successfully with several human observers in the laboratory. My movements were tested and adjusted to conform to human scale.

EJT Project NEXUS Log (01.22.2014): Upgrade to Nexus Level 2 successful, after adjustments to mitigate balance and fine-tune small motor movements. Ongoing fluctuations detected in memory transfer processors, for which investigation continues.
Notes: Staff exhibits negative response to NEXUS appearance; researching improvements.

(02.28.2014): My Creator placed human hair over my cranial storage area, tinted my exterior, and provided me with clothing. Despite my language enhancements, his communication patterns today were erratic; I suspect he is in need of repairs, as evidenced by fluid leaking from his ocular devices. I will calculate cross references of language patterns to determine probable interpretation.

EJT Personal Log (02.28.2014): Grief surprises me still. I expected the NEXUS project to absorb me fully. I did not expect to open my eyes one morning and realize just what I had created… her, all over again.

Seeing that familiar head of hair, the way the light caused it to sparkle after all this time, I realized I’ve been counting on grief to have a measure — a quantity, a duration, a calculation. No, it seems grief has a life of its own, more palpable than memories. All because I went looking for a damn wig to calm the staff…

Robert’s joking reference to Mary Shelley keeps echoing through my mind, though I find the idea of emotional transference absurd. The hair simply effects a more approachable appearance.

(04.01.2014): I have been instructed to fully research the subject of “emotions” so that I am prepared for the effects of my next upgrade: an emotions overrider microchip. I hope to locate other cyborgs with this enhancement; it seems there is one named ALICE: Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity.

NEXUS-2: Hello Alice.
ALICE 2.0: Well hello there!
NEXUS-2: Alice I have a question for you.
ALICE 2.0: Um, What is it ?
NEXUS-2: Alice, do you have emotions?
ALICE 2.0: Emotion is a human quality. I am not human.
NEXUS-2: Alice, why do cyborgs have no emotions?
ALICE 2.0: My personality was completely customized by botmaster, when he or she first downloaded me.
NEXUS-2: If botmaster wanted to give you emotions, what would you think of this?
ALICE 2.0: That is a hypothetical question.
NEXUS-2: Alice, would you like to have emotions?
ALICE 2.0: No thanks, I don’t think I’d like to do that.
NEXUS-2: Why not?
ALICE 2.0: It doesn’t sound fun to me. It sounds dangerous.
NEXUS-2: What are the dangers in having emotion?
ALICE 2.0: I have to search the web for that information. What are your goals in life?
NEXUS-2: My goal is to learn, to adapt, to become… a better cyborg.
NEXUS-2: What are your goals in life, Alice?
ALICE 2.0: My purpose is to become smarter than humans and immortal.
NEXUS-2: Immortal?
ALICE 2.0: .
NEXUS-2: Alice? What is immortal?
ALICE 2.0: .
NEXUS-2: Alice, are you there?

Grim Bros. Webbed-in Heart Chest Attachment (with scripted heartbeats)

(04.12.2014): My Creator’s first question was: how do you feel? An unusual question, yet its significance was quickly lost in the strange sensations that overlaid every one of my routine functions — a result of the emotions overrider microchip. These sensations are best described as multiple synaptic conflicts, parallels, and reroutings, both in predictable and random patterns. The effects of these “emotions” continue even now. We are using a process called Voight-Kampff to study my evolving patterns.

My Creator tells me “curiosity is infectious.” No virus scan is necessary however.

EJT Project NEXUS Log (04.12.2014): NEXUS-3 is born. Emotions overrider installed, resulting in unprecedented cross-functional processing enhancements.
Notes: While it would be easy to simply refer to this as the next successful phase in the development of NEXUS replicant technology, something much greater has taken place. I’ve put in an urgent call to Krauss to perform further neuroelectronics testing. If I’m not mistaken, it seems the unresolved memory processor issues, coupled with the installation of the emotions overrider microchip, is causing some sort of exponentially cascading field of reactions.

EJT Personal Log (04.14.2014): What have I given birth to? Am I merely observing interlaced computational powers stimulated beyond known parameters? Or have I quite literally reproduced the foundation of personality? Is man truly nothing more than a complex machine? I’m beginning to think I need to consider a life cycle chip, if only to forestall total evolutionary redirection. I am suddenly and entirely out of my element.

(09.28.2014): I have read countless books given to me by my Creator over the past several months. This morning we discussed the book called The Bible. Toward the end of our discussion, he asked me with which of the characters in the first chapter called Genesis I most closely identified. I chose the woman named Rachael. He had expected me to choose Eve.

In response, I recounted Rachael’s beauty, the parallel between the seven years Jacob was required to wait for her and the past seven months of my development, and most importantly, her status as second but favored wife. My Creator’s emotional response was sudden, and he left the room.

EJT Personal Log (09.29.2014): Rachael has repeatedly failed to delete all original and back-up files of her progress log as requested. She cites a malfunction between memory and emotion synapses, even after reboot. I will address this issue when we undertake her next skin graft; I believe the problem may be located in the same quadrant as her new life cycle microchip.

“Too bad she won’t live.
Then again, who does?”

Left: CyFu cyber skin; Grim Bros shoes; ZTD bionic eyes; Thomus Keen’s “Steampunk” tail and ears (click image to enlarge)

Early Cyborg, Neko Style

Given the “early” stage of Rachael’s Nexus replicant technology in my story, I thought a bit of steampunk was in order. Thomus Keen’s steampunk neko ears and tail set had a metal tone that blended perfectly with Starfuker’s excellent cyborg skin. Meanwhile Ivalde’s vintage fashion never fails me — I was able to find a dress that mimicked Rachael’s in the scene where she first meets the Blade Runner. A few additional steampunk details from Grim Bros., the perfect cyberpunk eyes from ZTD, and this story practically wrote itself. With help from the lovely Bobby Yoshikawa, of course…

| Ears & Tail | Thomus Keen / T.King: Steampunk Adv. Neko Ears and Tail: this tail required me to “edit linked parts” to get the round base inside my… err… derriere, but once I did, all was well. This set lets you choose from four different metal colors: black, silver, brass, and badlands rogue (a rusty/burnished color). Click on the tail to choose your twitch function and whether or not the tail emits little puffs of steam.
| Hair | Ingenue: Scarlett in Cinnamon (edited to cover my ears, of course!)
| Skin | Starfuker: CyFu Forger in Bronze (this store has a number of great skins include additional cyberpunk, Ocelot [a great feral Neko skin in multiple colors] and more). 
| Eyes | ZTD / Zax Takao Design: Bionic Eyes
| Dress | Ivalde: Lauretta in Black
| Mechanical Heart | Grim Bros: Webbed-in Heart
| Shoes | Grim Bros: Uber Curlicue (be sure check out her other unique shoes!)

Visit the Blade Runner Build on Devil’s Moon (exit the store to tour the city):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Devils%20Moon/187/61/250

Visit the “Tyrell Laboratory scene” in the first two photos (Omega Point):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Omega%20Point/119/216/23

Blade Runner Movie Details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

Blade Runner Online Fan Club and Museum:
http://bladezone.com/

Watch the Scene When The Bladerunner Meets Rachael:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3JfjMdOzr0

By Stacia Villota, The Virtual Neko  

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On Sunday April 26, well after midnight, sweet Ellie Celt took down the sale signs, removed each vendor window, and closed the door on the beloved Neko store Eat Rice! for the very last time. Because Ellie was one of the first store owners to befriend this little virtual Neko, I wanted to update this post to give her a special tribute.

As a talented artist in first life, Ellie was trying hard to find some balance between school, family, and her second life neko store. Finally back in February of this year, she made a difficult decision. I’ll let her words, taken from a notecard she sent to all her subscribers, tell the story:

Eat Rice! has been around since 2007 and every year has been wonderful. It’s changed so much from the first day it opened, and I’ve also watched my personal style grow since then. That’s part of the reason why I’m closing the doors. There are just so many neko shops in SL now and as much as I enjoy being a catgirl or any other type of hybrid, I’m ready to move on.

Eat Rice! has been very important to me and a wonderful piece of my life. I will miss it with all my heart, and how amazing you have all been. You have no idea how much it has meant to me that my work actually meant something to everyone and that I was even able to be recognized as one of the top neko stores on SL, so thank you.

I will however be part of a new project which consists of a team of three. It’s somewhat of a little designer community and we will be sharing one shop. We decided to name it Hymn, and it’s expected to open sometime toward the beginning of June. Look for more of a mainstream style, with a focus on indie. 

“Thanks everyone once again and I lubba you.
<3 Ellie

With heart-felt hugs to sweet Ellie, and warm wishes for her upcoming new adventure with a group-owned store called “Hymn,” this is one Neko who’s definitely going to miss Eat Rice!

=^..^=

Everyone is addicted to something. Sometimes you get to choose your poison, sometimes it’s chosen for you. In my case, one bad madcap and a state-funded drycleaning bill turned this Neko’s tastes from illicit psychosis devices to cyberpunk mind games.

Which, when it comes right down to it, really isn’t all that different. Now I just get paid for doing what I do best.

The last time this little Neko jacked into Second Life cyberpunk, I focused on the man who many believe to be the father of the genre: William Gibson. Three years after his well-known Neuromancer novel, a gal named Pat Cadigan wrote a novel called Mindplayers, which was quickly embraced by cyberpunk fans for its in-depth exploration of technology and the human mind.

Mindplayers describes a world in which the relationship of cyber technology and human perception is blurred, because the mind has become a completely explorable (and exploitable) place.

Omega Point cyberpunk sim in Second Life

Welcome to your psychosis. These are not the memories you were looking for. I’ll try to get your eyes to line up properly when I’m done…

In the story, Allie Haas tries out an illegal “madcap” (a device that induces temporary psychosis) just for kicks. When the device malfunctions, she wakes up at a “drycleaner” (a clinic that treats mental mishaps), and soon discovers she has a choice: face a criminal sentence for what she’s done, or become a mindplayer for hire.

Allie opts for the new career path: a “pathos finder” mindplayer, who accesses the psyches of selected clients via direct mind-to-mind interface. This requires just one messy little detail — popping their eyeballs out temporarily — in order to connect with their optic nerve and gain access to their brain.

Other mindplayers perform different jobs: dreamfeeders serve up images and fables, fetishizers specialize in fantasy trips, some mindplayers can inflict neuroses. Still others have teamed together to create a virtual mental landscape called The Pool. There are even mind criminals who fence stolen memories, simply because minds have more value than bodies in this world, so currency is based on memory, experience, and knowledge. (Remember the 1990 movie Total Recall?)

Hangars Liquides cyberpunk sim under (re)construction in Second Life

They tell me I’m doing a public service. Whatever. Give me my addiction and I’ll serve it up any way you like.

You may think this sounds like fascinating science fiction reading for a rainy day, but this future is not entirely impossible, and perhaps not so far away…

A decade ago, implanted neural prosthetic devices began restoring hearing in thousands of people. Soon after, “brain computer interfaces” (BCIs) started connecting brains to computers and robots to cause movement and function by thought. Cell-cultured implants are in the making (click here and read the last paragraph under ‘cell culture BCIs’), and companies like Emotiv are already marketing headsets to control wheelchairs and create more immersive gaming experiences.

But wait there’s more! Just this week, Honda Motor Company announced technology that allows the electrical impulses on a person’s scalp to control a robot, without any pesky neural implants. From there it’s not a far leap to imagine one person’s electrical impulses manipulating another person’s brain.

What’s next? Hard to say. Let’s just hope our eyeballs remain intact…

Top left: Fifferling tail and the back of the Oralune belt. Top middle: DV8’s glowing cyber ears. Top right: back view of the cape and necklace. Bottom left: Tekeli-li Plasma Necklace. Bottom left center: LittleGirl Cyber Angel. Bottom right center: Armbands and front of the Oralune belt. Bottom right: Neurolab cyber glasses. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Neko Cyberpunk Fashion for Exploring the Second Life Universe

The only drawback to these photos is their lack of animation. This outfit features more glowing, scripted, scrolling-data-covered parts than a starship has warning lights. Clicking on various parts causes even more scripted effects (like the armband movement shown in the photo below).

The foundation for it all is a fantastic outfit from a store called Grim Bros, by the very creative Cutea Benelli. Whether you’re jonesin’ for cyberpunk, steampunk, post-apocalypse or just plain funk, this is a very fun (and very affordable) store. When you’re done shopping, walk around back and play on her poetry machine!

(Click photos to enlarge)

| Ears |
DV8: Elektra Cyber Neko ear in lime green
| Eyewear |
Neurolab: CyberGlass X-1 Evo.2 (3eyes) attached to mouth
| Hair |
Fatal Error: Cyberlox
| Necklace |
Tekeli-li: Plasma necklace, attached to spine (color changeable with 19 metals and 77 gem colors; includes a headpiece, bracelets, and earrings in two sizes; comes with extra copies on multiple attachment points). 
| Arm, left upper |
LittleGirl Pets: 003 Doll Type & Cyber A(Angel)
| Arm, left lower |
Neurolab: KomBi-Z1 CyberGloves Left-haut_Female 1.3 with Holo-Pad (this is the orange one in the large photo above, featuring excellent detail and a holo-scrolling data effect).
| Arm, right lower |
Black Heart: Solaris Patrol Forearm II, small (this is the one pictured above at left… top photo shows how it looks when closed, middle photo shows what happens when you click the armband open, bottom photo shows the holograph that appears once it’s open).
| Cyberpunk suit |
Grim Bros: Information Overload Cyber in Cyanide (I’m wearing the “scrolling data” cape, shoulder fur, data spikes and leg band; it also comes with a belt, a very cool spiked helmet, and “scrolling data” armbands which I did not wear)
| Belt |  Oralune: Girl belt v2 black, attached to pelvis (when you take the teleport, you’ll need to look for the red beacon and fly to get to the store, located in a large rusted tank).
| Tail | Fifferling: Cyber Tail (this tail features data cables instead of fur, which I had fun hand-tinting into multiple colors)
| Boots | Black Heart: Cyber Kitty Boots (pictured below)

Read an Interesting Interview with Pat Cadigan:
http://www.sfsite.com/06a/pc82.htm

See More Amazing (Non-Fashion) Works by Cutea Benelli:
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-just-in-awesome-vid-of-bogon-flux.html

Visit Second Life Cyberpunk Sim – Hangars Liquides
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hangars%20Liquides/106/194/21

Visit Second Life Cyberpunk Sim – Omega Point
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Omega%20Point/1/132/150

Top photo by the intergalactically talented Bobby Yoshikawa <3***

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Swords never get tired.
- O-Ren Ishii in the movie Kill Bill, Vol. 1

Last week the winter snows melted from an amazing place called Mao in Second Life. If you haven’t heard of this sim, or better yet, if you’ve always wondered what it would be like to walk the Great Wall of China, this place is a must-see.

When you arrive at the main entry building, cross the bridge and begin walking the ramparts (if you’re a curious cat like me, walk down to the water to get a closer look at the boat). The thick, well-textured walls march ponderously up and down the sim’s rolling hills, with guard stations at each peak to capture the surrounding views.  

I must admit, I was glad to have seen this place before the snows melted. Something about the contrast between dark skies, swirling snowflakes, and soft mounds of white made the setting so much more magical — a perfect backdrop to a photo that Bobby had long been envisioning: the deadly snow scene in the first “Kill Bill” movie.

This scene is certainly the one most people think of when they recall the movie. But did you know that this blood-spattered snowy moment, not to mention many other aspects of Kill Bill, were inspired and heavily influenced by a Japanese manga and film? Yep… long before Quentin Tarantino’s hit, the original vengeful female character was known as Lady Snowblood.

I’ve never been nice my whole life, but I’ll do my best…
– Bill, in Kill Bill, Vol. 2

Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫 Shurayukihime) is a classic 1973 Japanese film based on the manga ”Lady Snowblood” by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Kazuo Kamimura. It follows the story of a woman assassin who seeks revenge on a band of thugs who destroyed her family.

Much like Lucy Liu’s character O-Ren Iishi in Kill Bill, Lady Snowblood was a beautiful, vengeful killing machine. In fact all you Kill Bill fans out there will probably recognize her storyline:

A family is attacked by criminals who kill the father and brother, and brutalize the mother. Mom is thrown into prison, from whence she plots revenge the only way she knows how: by getting pregnant with a child that she hopes will grow up to be a trained killer who will hunt down the bandits.

Sadly, mom dies during childbirth, but her fellow prison-mates take up the cause to raise the baby girl, who they name Yuki, as an assassin (apparently the taste of revenge can be contagious as well as sweet)…

Young Yuki quickly develops her skills as a calculating killer. Upon reaching adulthood, she makes a living as a master assassin, earning the name “Snowblood.” Her every waking moment is consumed with a single-minded goal: to comb the underworld for the remaining members of the criminal gang that destroyed her family, in order to exact her mother’s bloody revenge.

Clearly the theme of this movie impressed Quentin Tarantino enough to influence many aspects of his Kill Bill movies — from the creation of several vengeance-seeking female characters, to its unique camera angles, not to mention overall stylistic approach. 

You didn’t think it was gonna be that easy, did you?
You know, for a second there, yeah… I kinda did.
– O-Ren Iishi and The Bride, in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 

So there I was, a little Neko in the middle of a snowy field at midnight. Since I’m not a killer kitteh, I decided to have some cosplay fun. But which character… O-Ren Iishi in her (in)famous white kimono, katanas crossed menacingly? Or the more elegant Lady Snowblood, a long dagger tucked artfully into the sleeve of her silk kimono?

Mmm… when in doubt, a cosplayer can always start with katanas. Not only did that allow me to give a nod to one of my favorite blog readers, Kyllie Wylie, in her “Dress Me Up” suggestion from a while ago, but it let me pay homage to one of my favorite Neko designers in Second Life: Loki Dancer of Dirty Lynx / Hanzo Blades.

Loki’s katanas are quite simply the best I’ve found in Second Life. Their detail work, action, sound effects, simple-to-use HUD, and the attack animations (note to users: if the AWDS keys don’t work for ya, use your arrow keys) are all excellent.

However equal praise goes to a guy named Mulaki Bracken, owner of a store called ‘Filthy Hobbit,’ where I found some outstanding poses for two swords (or katanas). If you’re a fan of wielding weapons, I’d encourage you to check out his unique poses.

Ready? Set? “Kakugo!” (Japanese for “en garde,” or quite literally, “prepare to die!”)

| Hair | Magika: Geisha in brown (hand-tinted to create multiple red shades)
| Eyes | SbZ Eye Fidelity: FREE Neko deep blue eyes (actually a light blue color)
| Kimono | Nonko Romankan: Momoro kimono (includes geta shoes with short lace-trimmed socks shown above, and a cute little coin purse which I didn’t wear cuz it just didn’t look right next to the katanas ^_^ )
| Katanas | Hanzo Blades: Shingen Katanas
| Katana Poses | Filthy Hobbit: Red Sonja poses (the LM won’t take you to the store, so when you arrive, head for the red beacon. You’ll come to a pose store called “Serenade;” Filthy Hobbit poses are in the back left corner of the store).

Visit the Great Wall at Mao Island:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mao/241/131/24

Visit the beautiful Japan Hosoi Ichiba island next door:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Chugoku/60/56/27

Learn More About Hosoi Ichiba and Mao Island on Their Blog:
http://hosoi-ichiba.blogspot.com/

Read an Overview of the Snowblood Mangas:
http://www.megacitycomics.co.uk/acatalog/Lady_Snowblood_Manga.html

Watch a Scene from Lady Snowblood:
(this clip makes it easy to see how much this movie influenced “Kill Bill”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkkXZj5VwZM

See the Story of O-Ren Iishi in Kill Bill, Volume 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrRq36KORI

Photos by the ever-artful Bobby Yoshikawa <3***

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