Autumn Edition 2021
Happy Holidays Page 4-9
Black & White
Digital Artistry Page 20-23
Photography Page 10-17
A magazine for Second life fashions, beauty & creations
Letter from Editor O
n behalf of the editors, journalists of New Heights magazine, I want to welcome you to our Autumn edition. We will strive to bring to you a glimpse into the beauty within the realms of Second Life. From beautiful scenery to beautiful avatars and more. Fashion will also lay the runway of the magazine. Showcasing the talents from design to execution and those who wear such amazing clothing. New Heights isn’t in competition with anyone or any existing publication. We are our own creature of nature with what we present within these pages. We hope that you enjoy what we bring to you quarterly and we are always open to suggestions, because without input & feedback, one never gets even better! Enjoy,
Editor in Chief
Message from the CEO First, I would like to thank everyone who reads our magazine. This is the second edition, it’s exciting that we have in store for you in this edition. I wanted to create the magazine because I love pictures of beautiful fantasy & wanted to showcase the hot talent of designers & those who create hot avatars in Second Life for all to enjoy! Being a gay man, who doesn’t like some hot guys, am I right! The magazine will be published every quarterly with new features and advertisements from different designers, all for your viewing pleasure!
Enjoy,
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boardwalk%20Heights/62/100/2012
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New Heights CEO Malachi Alexander Emerald Sinz 3
Happy Holidays
Are Coming... 4
As the holidays and the gift-giving season approach, we can all get excited about the various package sizes we will see. Whichever holiday you celebrate, we are often taught as children that you’d only receive presents if you’ve behaved and were good for a whole entire year! However, as Adults, we’ve come to learn we receive the best presents when we are naughty. Happy Holidays and whether you’re giving or receiving, may your package always be the biggest!
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Jack Frost - The Frosts usher in a Winter where only body heat will sustain you
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The Woodsman - Finding the Perfect Christmas Tree or Firewood, this man knows his wood
Kwanzaa - Rich in Culture, Rich in Melanin, Rich in Beauty
The Elves - When Santa is away, the Elves will Play
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http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boardwalk%20Heights/61/66/30 8
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BLACK & WHITE Photography
The photography of various artists from Second Life, using the black & white effects that can be found within the photo tools & the wind lighting settings along with photoshop & other editing programs. 10
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Photography by
LUCIEN
Nephilim
Angel Boy I love you. I always will. I throw myself away and shatter into a million pieces...
Crying out
Diabolical
These tired wings are falling I need you to catch me.
Black Tie
They said it was a “Black Tie” event, do you think this will work? 12
Raised In Hell The dynamic uses of lighting available in Second Life photo settings along with using a photo editor like Photoshop, may provide you with the same gorgeous results! 13
The Fae Folk are both beautiful and divine. Into the darkness their light shines through and graces us in the darkest places with pure light.
Be subject to my gaze and stay with me for all time or let me seduce you and show you the evil charms of demon power.
The use of a black background along with the windlight setting of TOR-Special-Use with full bright, and wear some facelight, gives you a dynamic effect. 14
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Ever wonder what it’s like to have a Nephilim serve humans. Your about to find out. “How may I serve you my master”
The Paragon of light stands before you in judgement of souls and your after-life’s destiny
Let me show you a trick in the cards which you will see your destiny is to die to me.
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The use of the different photo tools (like the Gamma selection as demonstrated above) in SL along with the extra tools in Photoshop or whatever graphics editor you use, can have amazing effects on your photography.
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Bringing to light certain colors along with using the gamma function, giving such a heavenly feel to your photos. Blend your hues and saturations along with applying a white level to balance the gamma & everything else that is white within your photos. 18
Even under water in Second Life, using the water settings along with addition light sources, you will replicate a natural lighting, reflecting off of your mer tail & skin. Within your editor for your photo, apply a graduated filter with dark tones or even a vignette if its suitable. Oh the comfort of being under the sea.
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Cruising Pole dancing and hot men come down to Echo at Boardwalk Heights, a cyber-Cruising experience with a lot of “Fun” to be had.
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http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boardwalk%20Heights/63/87/2993
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Digital Artistry by TechBMerlin
Matrix Rose
Within the circuitry of perhaps all of our digital lives, there is still the natural occurances of the flower of love, the rose.
Dragon’s Skull
A technique similiar to Ed Hardy yet with the artistry of Tech, representing a beautiful asian dragon amongst the human skull. Perhaps there is a link between the two.
Digital Hooo!
Digital Owl ready for flight amongst the night skies. The digital artwork of TechBMerlin is becoming more popular not only inworld Second Life but also on Facebook. Check his creativity in both places. 22
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Fae Birth
The evolution of the birth of fairies
Our Mind Our Stars
Starry nights reveal the capacity to dream
Window to the Soul
The eye captures the true souls of each person
The Dream of Man
The dreams of men expand the universe with all the imagination to create worlds
Digital Stretch
The digital world reaching for humanity
Circuits of the Mind
The mind is full of circuits and vision, all intermingled
The Kingdom of our thoughts
The realm of our thoughts create castles & kingdoms for all our imagination
The Morning Fuel
Mess with my coffee, you may end up dead
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Fashion Underwear
Whether it be naked or in underwear hot men are a yummy sight to see. Also throw in a little bit of a bad boy and that is yummy times 10!
Hot men standing and waiting outside to let the Naughty boys into the club 26
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The party begins after hours so come on down and join us for a little naughty fun!
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PPhotography by Malachi Rush Modelling by Jevon, Bo, Andariel & Malachi
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As the queen says “when he gives you that look then the panties are coming off” When he gives you that look you know what time it is you lean back bite your lip and pause waiting for his next action
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Interview with Marcus 32
from Miss SL Organization
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Sit down and chat with Marcus Lefevre-Enimo from Miss SL Organization When did you start the Miss SL Organization and what was your goal when starting your company? I did start the MISS SL Organization end of November 2014 and there was no other goal for me but to preserve standards for the modeling and pageant community, in a time when it seems that no one else would hold up at least some standards. What standards do you want to uphold and preserve? Foremost, reliability. I think it’s important that models, or pageant candidates, know how an organization works and that these processes do not change dramatically over night... of course there are always things to tweak within an organization but generally, things have to be recognizable... it’s why there are repeating patterns for everything we do... always the same show times, rehearsal times are always the same, the way rehearsals are conducted, feedback etc. etc... even with the music I play at shows, there are certain pieces I play to certain occasions, as it makes an event recognizable, memorable. When things constantly change it’s confusing the team, models, candidates, and audience too... and that’s how it appears messy, unorganized. What is the most exciting/rewarding thing about running your company? It’s clearly seeing the models and candidates evolving over the years... I’m conscious that their participation in our competitions is part of their evolution... during a competition I can see a model grow from the audition until the Grand Finale, and it moves me that much that I’ve a few times cried already when I saw MY finalists in their final outfits, having worked so hard for weeks and months, to then finally bring their very best onto our runway... keeping in mind “their very best” is just a snapshot of that very time... they will move on from there and evolve even further and I have the privilege to watch them as they go on. It’s also very reassuring that former finalists again and again return to our competitions, there are some who have been with us 3, 4, 5 or 6 times already... all this is my reward really and excites me, it cannot be paid with money.
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So, what does it take to be apart of the competitions? Oh, it does not take much, at least not what someone from the outside would expect. I.e., I don’t care about academy diplomas or something like that. What you need to bring is the willingness to commit the proposed time, to want to learn and the ability to listen and see what you can take from what you were told for yourself. It’s not like we’d be expecting you to be a 100% super top model right away... there’s none in Second Life anyway, it’s nonsense. Everyone who is willing to learn can be part of the competition just by applying. If your new, do you offer help and guidance for newcomers? Of course, a lot. First, we offer a basic workshop at the begin of the competition, where I guide the new candidates through a very few standards they need to know about for their participation. Then, I offer after every audition, challenge and even after the Grand Finale optional feedback to the candidates, where we can see about details in the outfits and posing performance... my opinion there is never imperative and every candidate can take it, or not. Also, the candidates can message the team and me about everything to any time really. As team we’re limited in helping candidates of course, but at least we can point directions. Finally, I’m rolling out a mentor program with the MR SL 2022 competition where candidates can opt to get guidance by a former MISS SL, MR SL or AVISTAR finalist during their participation in the running competition. the first half of a year that we do MISS SL and the second half of the year, roughly, that we do MR SL. The AVISTARS were originally the YoungStars... my idea was to have a competition between the two big ones, for those we normally don’t see on runways... often times I’d go to places and see very creative styled avatars and think they’d look great on our runway too... and when talking to the one or other, I usually get told that they don’t think they are up to the “modeling standards” which is another nonsense particularly for Second Life modeling. My focus on YoungStars was on.
What made you come up with your 3 competitions (Miss SL Mr. SL and Avi Stars) and would you be open to more in the future? Bahahaha, no. I’m overloaded with events already... I do approximately 30 - 35 shows per year, counting the MISS SL Agency shows too... with 52 weeks a year there’s not much room left to do anything else really. At the begin we only thought about the MISS SL pageant as competition, but MR SL just was a logical consequence that had to follow... so it’s younger appearing avatars, but MR SL YoungStars ‘18, Xuro asked me if we can think about transforming it into a more inclusive competition. So now everyone can join it, all ages, genders, shapes, new and experienced... it’s split in three age categories now, the AVISTARS are the adults, the YOUNGSTARS are younger appearing, say 12 - 18 and the TWEENSTARS are at the apparent age of 8-12 years old. That’s how that came together and there’s really no room for anything more, lol. People think that these competitions are rigged. How do you combat this? I cannot combat it... it’s a natural reaction for those who do not win, to speculate about the win of others. I do know though that I’m very particular about the scoring process, having experienced rigged competitions to which I was invited as a judge. It’s extremely frustrating and a waste of time in my understanding. Over the years I’ve developed a security system with which I make sure that we only get the scores from the judges who are supposed to judge, and it all goes real time into a sheet I maintain, and my team has “view”-access to, too. I try to minimize the human error with that. At the begin we had to tally the points still from notecards, which was very tiring but also comes with mistakes every of us would do. The candidates can see their scores after a competition too. After the Grand Finale I meet them or send them per mail a graphic overview, generated by my sheet, in which they can see all points that were given to them. There’s nothing more I could offer about it, it’s transparent as possible, by also protecting the involved individuals’ interests... i.e. I’d never publish scores on social networks or on our website, as that could damage a model’s reputation. So, we keep it behind closed doors and yet transparent as possible. In the end, I’ve no illusions though, some always will say this and that is rigged and I’m ok with that if I can investigate my very own mirror and know I’m doing the right thing.
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How do you pick who is a Judge? My husband Hikaru helps with that. He’s the one judge who’s always there and whose advise I value the most. Before every challenge show I would tell him a few certain judges that I do want to judge, i.e., winners of previous competitions, runner ups and other established models and the others Hikaru get to choose, it’s usually a 50/50 divide. He’d also then choose from established models, designers, bloggers, photographers... generally people with a creative background but def not limited to modeling only. There are a few core judges who we know are very objective and reliable who you will see most of the time at our challenges, but we try to have at every challenge other judges too... to get a healthy mix and a representable cut, without much of favoritism. Preventing these tendencies in a competition is normally the task of every owner of an organization, but that’s not always their interest I’m afraid. Someone wins one of the competitions what does that mean for you and them going forward. Like what do you expect of your winner? It’s a tricky thing really... I do hope that the winner has ambitions to realize projects of whichever sort, i.e., to benefit a charity. I mean, if you win a title, you really should make use of it and the organization’s framework. But, other than other organizations, I do not make contracts with winners, it’s yet another nonsense. Every winner will need to decide how much they want to use their title and I will do everything I can, provide them every help i can, to support them with projects they get into their mind. But i won’t force it either, I simply cannot. It’s Second Life after all, and if a winner decides not to use their title, then it’s that. But a winner who puts a project onto our schedule has not only our full support and our full work force behind them... they also leave a legacy, their footprint, for future pageant candidates and winners to come and that’s something to maybe consider about before winning. Winning is not just an achievement or privilege to have a fancy title above your head, it also can mean a responsibility for you to make yourself heard and use the title to work for good things, of any sort.
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What would you say is the hardest thing about joining/getting into the fashion community? Apart of the MISS SL Organization... it’s the pompous exclusivity that some claim to have. Some pageants only accept certified models, some agencies only accept you if you are super thin, super tall or super pale. Some models and agency or organization owners think so very high of themselves, that they are looking down on others and make them feel like outsiders. If I were new and would be met with such snobs, I’d not go there again. I see it as part of my very own legacy to prevent this kind of arrogance in our organization and team and to be open to everyone who wants to experience pageantry and modeling. In the end, it’s not about me as owner of the organizations but it is about the participants and models who join our events, they are the main attraction. But some organization owners are not aware of that little detail and think of themselves as the saviors of the fashion world and encourage their models to act in the same ways. When judges judge one of your competitions what is the biggest thing that you see candidates make mistakes on? Well, there are many “mistakes” a candidate can do. Most common is though that they did not read the challenge descriptions fully or did not understand it. I try to be precise with my challenge descriptions and the requirements as possible, but if they are not read or not understood, then candidates will create a styling that’s probably great but simply did not meet the challenge requirements. That’s one thing... and then many do not realize how important posing is for a presentation on a runway, not only in pageants but everywhere where fashion is involved. For pageants, there’s a difference between moving a doll from the left to the right or having created a styling with a story and then bringing the story to life with your poses. It’s a huge factor too.
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Tales of...
Miskatonic County
Dagon Rising 38
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Start your mystery adventure! Grab your hud & weapons in order to experi-
ence the fully storyline & objectives. Enjoy the scenary and remember details are important. From Downtown Miskatonic to the Country Fair, your experience depends on everything @ Miskatonic.
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In the shadows and back alleys of Miskatonic, evil has returned. Cultists have
raised portals and called forth horrors from the abyssal plains to attack the city. Their goal is to restore the reign of the Great Old Ones. This Halloween, a titan will rise. However, there is one hope to stop them. You!
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Arkham Asylum awaits you to explore all the craziness and lunatics that may help in your adventure! Secrets await you within the asylum!
Seaside shopping, damaged by the “perfect storm”. 42
Miskatonic High! What lurks the halls? Why are you out of class without a hall pass? Better hurry or be found dead in the boiler room!
Miskatonic main downtown. Damaged by the “perfect storm”. Theatre existed in the town
but no longer offers the amazing stage plays that once providing evenings of top entertainment. 43
New Heights Staff Editor in Chief
Rayden Evergarden Art Director
Malachi Sinz Creative Director
Malachi Sinz Art Editor
Rayden Evergarden Design Director
Malachi Sinz Picture Editor
Rayden Evergarden Copy editor
Malachi Sinz Production Manager Feature Manager(s)
Malachi Sinz
Jevon If you wish to join the staff @ New Heights, please contact Malachirush or Rayden Evergarden inworld for available jobs. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Miskatonic%20County/132/75/3008 44
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https://secondlife.com