When tragic events happen, I have this tendency to go into API-craze. Perusing API’s are like unwrapping a new birthday present and checking out the specs and seeing what it can do - it can be sufficiently fascinating enough to ward off sorrow or tragedy-confusion. For fun, I went ahead and poked at the Google Checkout API.

The PHP Google Checkout sample code is very bulky, far more than I’d need for my virtual goods transactions, so here’s a simplified API - just the basics you’d need for processing your digital goods: Google-checkout-basic-digital-goods

Usage can’t be simpler… The easy-peasy way is to create your $xml post by beginning with xmlTop() and ending with xmlBot(), then concatenate a xmlItem() in between those two, for each item you wish to have. xmlItem() takes the arguments title, description, price (USD), and quantity, respectively.


$xml=xmlTop().xmlItem('Appleberry Crispz','funky applethangs that melt virtually in your mouth!',1,10).xmlItem('Blueberry Blisset','get hacked to virtual oblivion by blueberries in the Carribean!',0.50,5).xmlItem('Cranberry Chickens','chickens that taste like virtual chickens',21,1).xmlItem('dowager dame virtua','virtual dowagers on a stik',1000,5).xmlBot();


curlIt(id,key,$xml,(0 for production | 1 or default for sandbox)) returns the result, which you’d then process using parsedArray(parseReturn($xml)) to get an array with two entries: array(serial number,redirect-url).

For safety, I’d store the serial number into a db with varchar(99), as Google hasn’t published a maxchar cap, at least not according to Jacob Moon (let’s not even think about Twilight - but, zOMG, what a name!).

Redirect your user to the second entry in that array, and they’re ready to buy!

So, I finally forced myself to take a break from writing my… neverending novel ;-D Happy for you, because the long-awaited Twilight SL release of Edward Cullen on Second Life has come!!! Egahds. Ed Cullen. Yes. ED CULLEN!!! *zOMG* EDWARD!!! Available? Yup!

You can now *be* (or have someone else impersonate) Edward Cullen, the elusive telepathic yet ever-so-sympathetic vampire heartthrob hero of the Twilight Saga. Both photorealistic Edward Cullen and Bella Swan skins based on photos of the RL actors who portrayed them in the recent movie — are available… for your SL voyeurism purposes, and perhaps beyond.

Free Cullen Family vampire eyes are also released! And, Bella-Swan-grade band-aid’s are also still free! Grab @ Twilight SL Shop.

Be safe. Get Edward now - Only at the Twilight SL Shop! ;-P

Next up, Alice Cullen. And, the fun continues… The cast is slowly be SL’ed…

As always, all Twilight SL Shop proceeds benefit the SL Shakespeare Company, a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving Shakespeare a virtual life — so, really, this is your chance to get Edward and do good on SL! Go for it!

Certain body skins used in IC-Skins (_AR, _SR, ::RIO::, and others), SL Globe Theatre Gift Shop, and SLface.com products are open-source, and their textures are provided both with the skin package inworld in Second Life and on the web at http://skins.inacentaur.com/extend/body

You may do whatever you wish with the body skins under a typical BSD license. Credits and more stringent requirements of usage are included with each respective body skin in the above listed repository.

You can add your own details and customize the body skin to your desire. Some ideas - you may wish to add custom bruises, or put on tattoos or bandaids (for example).

Editing Skins (Outside of SL)

A simple way to do this is to edit the skin textures in Photoshop (if you don’t have Photoshop already, you can get a function trial copy for free for 30 days on Adobe’s website). You would then create a new layer (shift-ctrl-N) and put whatever funky stuff you have in mind on top of the base skin. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to put bandaid’s on a body skin’s lower body (legs). (You can also export just this layer to create “band-aid” underwear.)

1. Fetch the files for the body you’d like to work on from http://skins.inacentaur.com/extend/body
2. Open up the lower body texture for the skin you’d like to work on in Photoshop. To simplify things, each .psd file has two layers: a (hidden) UV map layer, and the body texture layer. To unhide the UV map, click on the far left “box” in the layer you want to unhide in the Layers panel. (If you don’t see the Layers panel, you may have to press F7 to toggle it on/off.)
3. To save time in this tutorial example, we’re going to download some ready-made band-aid photoshop brushes (http://punksafetypin.deviantart.com/art/Brush-Set-07-Band-Aid-37285501), created by Deviant Art user punksafetypin. We’ll use these somewhat like stencils to quickly put some bandaid’s on our character.
4. To install these brushes, unzip them and put them in your Photoshop Brushes folder. Press F5 to open the brushes panel in Photoshop. On the top right hand corner of the panel, you’ll see a down arrow - click that, and click Load Brushes and find the brushes you just installed.
5. Now, have fun tattoo-ing on these band-aid’s *on a new layer*! Use the UV map as a guide, and try to stay within the lines so your bandaids will appear seamless. (Drop by the Twilight SL Shop in Skin City for some freebie bandaid underwear!)

Creating Skins (Inside SL)

To upload your skin to Second Life, fire up the Second Life software, and go to File > Upload Image. Upon success, you should find your upload in your SL inventory. To apply that to a SL skin, simply follow the steps below:

1. In your inventory, make a copy of the skin you wish to edit. Right click the skin, and select copy, and press paste. (You may wish to rename this second copy so you can find it easily later.)
2. Edit this copy, but double clicking the skin (in your inventory) to wear it. Then right click (in your inventory), select edit.
3. You should now be in Edit > Appearance mode. Click on the skin tab, and drag and drop the body skin on the bottom two skin texture boxes. The body skin is made up of an upper body and lower body skin. You would drop the upper body on the middle texture box, and the lower body on the lower texture box.
4. Click apply to finalize results and exit edit > appearance. This skin in your inventory will now be showing off your new body texture you just uploaded!

I had hoped to provide plentiful tutorials, but it looks like time may be an issue. There are plenty of tutorials that teach you how to use Photoshop on Google (so please google!), but feel free to ask the IC-Skins group inworld for help, though!

sLiterary, Second Life—Beginning February 1, 2009, WoWA (“Works of Women Authors”) will be reading and discussing Stephenie Meyer’s epic #1 bestselling novel Twilight in conjunction with Twilight SL. All are invited to attend the group’s daily and weekly sessions: 7 PM SLT (GMT-8), Mondays thru Saturdays, and 3 PM SLT on Sundays. The discussions are tentatively held at the Long Discussion House, sLiterary or the Blackfriars Theatre, Shakespeare. Details will be posted at http://twilightsl.com

The discussions will progress at roughly a chapter a day on Mondays thru Saturdays, with a recap of the past week’s six chapters on Sundays, to finish the twenty-four chapters of Twilight in the twenty-eight days of February, 2009. Participants may wish to finish reading the novel before February to engage in more advanced discussions through the month.

While the discussions are designed to be informal, and the topics variable, the group hopes to critically analyze the novel to discover both insights in the saga itself, as well as the craft of fiction.

About WoWA

WoWA, a.k.a., “Works of Women Authors” is a sLiterary initiative with the purpose of bringing awareness to literary works written by female authors. WoWA events usually manifest in the form of a discussion group that meets on Second Life to (critically) discuss literary works written by women. The group has analyzed in depth over the period of several months the works of Ayn Rand, Virginia Woolf, and Mary Shelley. While the group has traditionally studied works by non-contemporary authors, the group is now venturing into contemporary authors.

About sLiterary

With humble beginnings as a literary magazine and discussion group formed in mid-2006, sLiterary is now a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering literary and artistic endeavors in Second Life and virtual worlds. In addition to sLiterary Magazine, a literary journal dedicated to “fiction set in the virtual world of Second Life”, sLiterary actively supports several major initiatives, notably the SL Shakespeare Company, the sLiterary Art & Writing Gallery, and Primtings Museum. Various literary and artistic events of note are held in the sLiterary sims.

About Twilight SL

Twilight SL is a new group on Second Life dedicated to connecting Twilight fans on Second Life to do Twilight-related things on SL! Planned activities include in-depth discussions of the Saga, RP, fan fiction creation and critique, machinima, photography, and more! Please join the Twilight SL group for updates. More info @ http://twilightSL.com !

Earlier tonight, I officially finished reading Book 4 (Breaking Dawn) of the Twilight Saga!

While some I know are horrified that I’ve immersed myself in this (derivative/juvenile/fleeting/genre/pulp fiction/romance) series, I think I have to admit I side with the masses on this–I love Twilight!

Shallow in mythos, yes. (Pathological to all “light vamp” novels after Anne Rice {and, perhaps, all vamp novels after A.R.}, practically all mythos is Anne-Rice derivative. From mythos of the first shapeshifters [recall Body Thief] to “Renesmee,” [recall Witching Hour]) Deja vu-ish in your stereotypical vampire male lover being Victorian-esque and speaking with that sort of cordiality, yes. (It is a romance.) Vampires who don’t have sharp vampire teeth, per se, but just really strong jaws (Almost as strange as Joss Whedon vampires with their dramatized stage faces.) Stereotypical rift between vampires and werewolves (not quite like Underworld, though, as these werewolves are actually Native American shapeshifters who gain the trait genetically and can’t infect others.) Glowy eyes! (And they don’t usually wear contacts even though they try to blend in among humans.)

But, as I mentioned earlier, Book 1’s magic is that it’s totally soft-core, and yet you become immersed in the world and totally get to understand Bella Swan as you connect to her by reminiscing your similar (and-yet-so-different) high school experience; you can tell so much love went into writing it for the author to keep both the soft-core piousness in with a perfect but not-nauseating amount of suspense.  Book 2’s fault is that it doesn’t tailor to the target audience; you simply can’t give someone who wants to read a vamp novel (and who’s already in love with the lead vamp) 350 pages of werewolf-esque lore. I suppose the devout fan (me?) would trudge through all that just to see what would happen (the official way it’s supposed to happen!), but the development amounts to a very painful sort of can’t-stop-reading (nauseating) suspense–in a way, something of a cheap trick equivalent to forcing the reader to keep reading on behalf of a certain vampiric hostage. Book 3 was ok, but the writing seems very rushed; much of it just doesn’t seem smooth. Book 4 relies on an existing fanhood; you have to be in love with Bella and/or Edward to read through the first half, and while the plotting of the second half is more coherent, the ending is actually happy and just (to an extent).

Basically, you love the characters and you can’t resist falling in love with the saga and smiling giddily through even its myriad outrageous scenes. Not to mention, there is always a very pious air that, to your delighted surprise, actually holds out (What you don’t come to expect of a vampire novel - literally no sex for Bella and Edward until they’re formally and big-grand-wedding wed… in Book 4, which is 750 pages long — longest of the volumes, and perhaps originally intended to be something other than a young adult book(?)! Mad props! Skill?

Although you notice that Meyer almost never has more than two people to a dialogue, the usage of the special gifts of certain supernatural characters as literary tools is definitely exploited–most evidently, Edward’s ability to read anyone’s mind (but Bella’s) effectively allows his dialogue to serve as that of an omnipotent narrator’s. The Cullen family vampires have talents that make them nearly stereotypical: Jasper like a Carebear (he can quite seriously emote!); Alice like a Cassandra of sort (or Go Ask Alice!); Edward like the vampire of the Rococo-type romances who can see through everyone’s thoughts but the one person’s. The blending of talents into the characters isn’t always seamless, but I think they were well introduced - found it pretty easy to associate each member with his or her talent after just a casual introduction to each in Book 1 (but I’m told that’s a girl thing).

I have to admit I love the denoument to Book 4’s finale (the buildup is interseting-esque; Aro’s deliberations is tainted [agreed]). I really wish RL political antagonism that’s on the breaking dawn of war could end so passively–that victory could be without a fight. (Then again, how would you make a true-to-book ending for a movie based on Book 4’s actual ending? What would the fans–especially the ones who haven’t read the book–think, after getting all spiffed up for a fight, when they all just leave, and the seemingly-winning side cheers despite missing the fight?)

Then again, did Meyer really mean “The End” at the end of Book 4 - the Volturi are sure to do something in the near future about this unexpected threat, perhaps send a spy or something (or maybe the priceless antique necklace Aro gave Bella has some curse that makes it the magical equivalent of a tape recorder — ok, stretch, interesting the actual mythos isn’t that crazy yet)? Suffice it to say, lots of fun fan fiction possibilities ahead…

On Monday, my Twilight books from Amazon arrived two days ahead of schedule, so Monday night, I started reading Twilight (I’m still young enough that several friends made me swear to read it before watching the movie). Stole some time today to finish reading it earlier this evening.

I think the thing I love about Twilight is that it’s a page-turner, but it’s not a “I have to finish reading it before I can stop” novel - you can actually step back and muse about the characters, and it doesn’t use the usual glitz and sham tricks of sex and gratuitous violence other suspense novels use. And it’s actually not horrible, the trips down memory lane (cc high school era) the novel invokes — it makes you think about these events, and they become more real as you associate them with your own experience (or inexperience) in the era…

Yes, so, truly I find the novel brilliant in that it manages to achieve the essence of a #1 NY Times Bestselling book without losing the virtues of a wholesome good read.

Re: Vamp novels - yes, I’ve read Anne Rice Vamp Chronicles (main canon at least - till Memnoch and then most of Armand, could never finish reading Pandora and others; agreed, first-draft-ish; also loved Witching Hour, so I’m actually lax with regards to editing), and no, I’m not saying that the Twilight mythos can compare to Anne (and, in fact, everything after Anne’s series in the 1970s/80s is derivative). Relative to vamp novels, I’d say that Twilight does have a few novelties. For one, I’ve yet to encounter a non-movie vampire story that’s set near an Indian reservation in Washington (and thus waving werewolves, lightly, into the mythos). Another thing is… it really is thrilling to have your protagonist be an ordinary girl in high school in love with someone she finds impossible, and who even admits his existence shouldn’t have been possible — I suppose that’s something many of us have personally experienced, and we’re luversallcrazy in that it’s working out, and we’re bonding with her (despite the nuances of our different experiences). Twilight is in some respects a formula novel–its language is very plain; several chapters actually described day-to-day experiences of a high school student (and yet they do help establish the setting by taking us down memory lane recast in the novel’s world)… and yet it works similar to how Harry Potter works in that though the protagonist has a formidable sense of morality and altruism, she’s not heroic like Lestat (which would require a different formula), but she’s something most people can be, and we can relate to many facets of her by virtue of our common traits. (And, who wouldn’t want to suddenly move to a new school district, albeit a log-cabin-esque smalltown, and become something like a star in status.)