On the third day of christmas decorating my true friend gave to me...

On the Third Day of Christmas Decorating my true friend gave to me a Cask of Christmas Cheer, a teddy bear Christmas t-shirt, and started following my blog!  That's a three Meep gift!  For a girl starting out in the big wide virtual world of business, my friend Orinoco Beresford has been full of helpful tips for the business avatar.

Orinoco owns OB Designs, where he puts his RL graphic design talents to 

use creating the most fabulous textures for his furniture, decorative arts, and Shabby Sheek Sheds.  For the holidays he made this fabulous freebie Cask of Christmas Cheer that you can get 

at his store or on-line at Xstreet SL. He also sells a fancy-dancy version that serves drinks full of holiday cheer to people. Perfect for any holiday parties that need a little excitement added to the mix. You can find the Cask of Christmas Cheer on Xstreet SL here, http://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1041507

A winter wonderland needs snow!  Glorious piles of pristine white snow drifted into corners and piled up in small mounds.  A beautiful way to add a wintery touch to your holiday decorating.  I found this nice freebie pile of snow on Xstreet SL made by Quark Yifu.  Meep!  Now I can be a snow kitty too!  You can find the pile of snow at Xstreet SL here, http://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1005940

Once you've got the snow drifted in all the right places, you can add some snowy trees to your winter wonderland.  I found some beautiful freebie one prim snow covered trees designed by Sonja Kowalski.  If you look at her profile, it looks like she has wonderful plant and garden things for sale.  If you go to Xstreet SL, you can find the snowy trees here, http://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=995637

Happy Thanksgiving and stop back for more days of Christmas Decorating!

On the Second Day of Christmas Decorating

It's been a busy day in Real Life getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I still have time to get in a little freebie shopping to spread Christmas Cheer.  So let's see what wonderful treasures nice people are making available for free today on Xstreet SL.

Some people have a nightmarish vision for Christmas and you can find some very dysfunctional Christmas decorations very easily.  This first one is the Melty McSnowman from Boo Wobbit.  The poor dear doesn't look like its in too much pain as it's melting into a big 

puddle. The carrot nose is a disappointing cone, especially when you've got these fabulous sculptie stick arms as part of it.  It also comes in a very nice newspaper wrapped/ribboned box that would look great under a grunge Christmas tree.  You can find this on Xstreet at, http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1015293

If you're a returning reader then you already know that I love cuddling!  There's nothing more fun than crawling up close together and sharing a little warmth on these cold winter nights.  The giant sculpty Christmas Cupcake by Minke Bailey is perfect for this.  The cupcake itself is amazing and it lets two avatars crawl up and cuddle.  A wonderful holiday backdrop for those Christmas pictures you need to send out to your friends.  This is available on Xstreet at, http://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1036755

Meep! Since this is the second day of Christmas decorating I only need two items, right?  Unfortunately Second Life seems to be messing up and while items are being delivered almost immediately from Xstreet, it's taking forever to move something from my inventory to rez it in-world so I'm giving up checking out anymore items for tonight.  I have to usually go through several items for every one that looks worthwhile.

Goodnight and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Twelve Days of Christmas Freebie Decorations

If you're a new business owner like me, you know you've got to pinch every Linden!  I'm not talking about behinds.  One way to extend your advertising dollar is to find the many wonderful holidy freebies and put them to use decorating around your place of business and home.  To get you help get you started I'm going to review some of the Freebies I found and have put around The Forum Shops mall.  Over the next twelve days I'll be reviewing freebie Christmas deocrations and blogging about the ones I like with links on how to purchase them.

Meep!  I'd better plug the Culture Cannibals store too.  We have a selection of inexpensive Christmas decorations placed around the store too. Plus a special surprise freebie that will be unveiled during The Forum Shop's Christmas Holiday Kickoff Party this Sunday, November

 30th from 5:30-7:30 PM [Click to see the SL Event listing].  Sponsored by 7 Minds Web 

Services, Peer Shapes, Fora Shapes, and Wedding Elegance. 

Now off to the Christmas Freebies!

The first thing I've found is a wonderful sexy Santa outfit freebie by Ruffian.   As you can see, this isn't something you'd normally wear for a business meeting. It's more suited to casual sex Friday attire when you're tired of wearing jeans.  If Mrs. Claus wore something like this the Christmas presents would have never been delivered. This outfit is a freebie by Ruffian and also includes boots and bangles.  You can find it on Xstreet SL at 

 http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1028138

The hood in the outfit above is a bit much for me. Plus it covers up my cute ears and not even dogs want to wear something to prevent their ears from being scritched.  I had to search for a hat that was the right colour and also allowed me to adjust it enough so my ears would poke through.  I found this wonderful freebie Santa hat designed by Luthien Unsung that fits the bill perfectly.  It's the right colour and the right fit.  Boys can even wear it!  Here's the Xstreet SL link for

 it, http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=529031

Speaking of boys and what they can wear....let's find a nice Santa suit for the male avatars reading the blog.  Meep!  I got sidetracked by all the fantastic high quality Christmas decorations available for free.  Boy's, you'll have to wait for an outfit because this North Pole sign is the kitty's meow!  It's a little prim whorish weighing in at 17 prims, but you can't beat the quality for a price of L$0.  I had it delivered to The Forum Shops mall in anticipation for the upcoming Christmas Kickoff party and it looks grand by the entrance steps. You can fget it for free from, http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=999224 

For those with prims to burn, here's another lovely holiday, an ice skating snowman!  It's an adorable well-made creation, but 44 prims!  I sat hypnotized by it's slowly circling figure for about ten minutes before I

 returned him to the inventory heap.  Just too many prims for The Forum Shops mall, unfortunately.  I hope someone can find a good home for him.  Until then, here's the link where you can go to adopt him, http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=371902

Gosh, I could be here all day!  Here's one last review of some nice freebie decorations for you, including a single prim wreath, candy cane, and Christmas tree.  There is also a very top drawer looking toy soldier and a cute snow man with a corn cob pipe that are under twenty prims each. These freebies were created by Alicia Stella Design and I've set them out at The Forum Shops if you'd like to take a look.  You can get them from Xstreet at, http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=154117

Tomorrow as I continue this series over the next twelve days,  I'll try to find a nice Christmas outfit for the male avatar.  If you have any favourite freebie Christmas deocrations, feel free to add them to the comments to share with everyone.  Don't forget about our Christmas Decorating Kickoff Party on Sunday, it would be lovely meeting some of you dear readers!

Living a Luxurious Holiday,

~CultureCannibal Zilz

Classes at The Forum Shops

Meep...I've accidently become a teacher! If you read one of the earlier blog posts I made about Xstreet SL, you may have noticed the bit about looking for the short class on how to signup for Xstreet.  It's true, I've now stumbled into teaching inSL.  

It all started one night when I was suffering from writer's block.  My goal is to write one blog posting a day, but as you can see I'm writing one about every two days.  My mind started to wander as I sat at my desk, banging my head against the keyboard, trying to jar something loose for the screen.  I began to think about how my learning style seems much better situated to being in a class and learning from an instructor.  If most people are like me, is it even worth it to write a how-to blog entry?  

That's when I decided I needed to start teaching too!  Along with writing about how to do things that help avatars going into business inSL, I'd also start offering quick classes.  We're all very busy, so a quick 15, 30 or even 60 minute class is a perfect way to spend a short amount of time learning a new skill or product that can be essential to the success of your Second Life whether you are a creator, shopper, or business owner. 

I've already started offering two classes, one on how to signup for the web shopping service Xstreet SL that lets you shop on the web and have items delivered to your Avatar inSL.  The second is a class on how to find freebies on Xstreet. If you have ideas for other classes, or specific times you'd like to see a class taught, please add it to the comments for this blog post.

Following are ideas for several other classes I'd like to offer. 

• How to signup for Xstreet SL (already being offered)
• How to find freebies in Xstreet SL (already being offered)
• How to sell items using Xstreet SL (in development)
• How to use the forums in Xstreet SL to market your items (in development)

Other course possibilities:

• Creating and using a group inviter for your store
• How to use the slide presentation Tool
• How to make a blogspot blog for your business/creations
• How to make a drop shadow in Photoshop for a sort of 3D effect
• How to make a seamless repeatable texture in Photoshop
• Demonstration on how to use the Fashion Show Venue 

And I'm sure you can think of many more!  Please post suggestions to the comments or drop me a notecard inSL to CultureCannibal Zilz.

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More Xstreet SL: Finding Freebies for your Second Life

One of my favourite things to do in Second Life is to find nice freebies.  But this kitten's legs get tired running from store to store and sim to sim sorting out which freebies are keepers and which ones get buried in the kitty litter box.  Xstreet SL is the purrrrfect way to shop for freebies from the comfort of your own couch.

Freebies, Freebies, Everywhere!  There are two ways to find freebies on Xstreet.  The first is to look at the marketplace freebie list and the second is to do a marketplace advanced search and limit your maximum price to L$1.  When I checked earlier today the list of freebies, excluding non-mature items is 1,000 pages long.  That's over 10,000 freebie items! Enough to keep me purring all night long, and the next night, and the next...well you get the idea.  You can even find some naughtie freebies by enabling mature content.

However browsing through 10,000 items doesn't exactly make our shopping life easier...and that is my intended goal.   Using Xstreet's marketplace search not only helps you find a particular item you're looking for, but can also tell you if that, or a similar, item is available for free.  One of the first things I do when shopping on Xstreet is click on the advanced search button to expand the search options.  Along with the search words I set the maximum price to be L$1 and then we're off.  If there is anything matching the search words that cost L$0 or L$1 then they will be returned.   If nothing interesting is returned then I remove that and go about my search normally.  

Quite Easily Done.  The 12 days of Christmas ain't got nothing on Xstreet's list of freebies.

Living Luxuriously inSL,

~CultureCannibal Zilz

Xstreet SL: A better friend than diamonds inSL

It was a sad day for diamonds when I had to drop them from my friends list to make room for SL eXchange.  Oh what a wonderful world it is with SLX,  or as it's now called, Xstreet SL.  For those of you who don't know, Xstreet is a great resource for both content creators and customers.  Can diamonds help you comparison shop, find quality freebies, or sell your products without having a store?  No, but Xstreet can! 

Hello Xstreet, my new best friend.  And what do you do with new best friends?  You show them off to all your old friends so that they can see how trendy you are.  Gentle readers, I'm soooo trendy with Xstreet!  Come to think of it, I'm even trendy dumping my conflict diamonds.  I'm trendylicious! And if you continue reading with me, I'll share the scoop about Xstreet with you.  

Before you can use Xstreet to purchase or sell items, you'll need to sign up with them. This is much easier to do in-world, where you can visit an XStreet terminal and type in general chat, "signup your@address.com" [without the " marks]. But you can also go to the Xstreet new registration web page.  When you register, please consider adding me, CultureCannibal Zilz, as the person who referred you!  

When you tell the Xstreet terminal your signup email information it will respond that it is contacting the server and then if everything goes right the terminal will tell you that signup has succeeded and to go to your e-mail to complete registration. The email from Xstreet SL will have a link to click that will activate your account and your member information with your SL name and a new password used to login to your newly created Xstreet account.  You must follow the instructions in this e-mail within 24 hours or your new signup information will be deleted and you'll have to start all over again.  

Now you can login to Xstreet and start shopping!  Ooops...well you can shop for freebies since you haven't added any $Lindens to your Xstreet account.  The easiest way to add money to your account on Xstreet is to visit the Xstreet terminal in-world, right click on it, and pay it an amount. I suggest paying a small amount like $L25 at first to see how it works.  And not to worry, if you deposit more $Lindens than you need in Xstreet, you can always withdraw them back to your SL account.  

If you're someone who learns better with a teacher than from reading, look for my short fifteen minute class on how to signup for Xstreet SL on the Second Life Events page.  I teach it at The Forum Shops and we have an Xstreet terminal right there to use too.

Tomorrow all write more about how to use Xstreet SL to find freebies, to find other items that you're looking for, and also how to use Xstreet to sell your own creations.  

Living luxuriously inSL

~CultureCannibal Zilz

Pssst! A free spot to throw a fashion show...

If you're friends with Steven Colbert you may think we're a bunch of socialists like those librarians who let people use their libraries and books for free.  That's not why we're offering designers and modelling agencies a free venue to put on a fashion show.  The real truth is, I love to shop.  

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that having more fashion design mavens and divas out there creates a better shopping experience for us all. 

I'm pleased to announce that we Culture Cannibals and The Forum Shops at StanLee are offering a free venue for fashion shows and other creative presentation formats.  This is part of our on-going effort to encourage designers and content creator inSL.

Our Graeco-Roman themed grand plaza is perfectly suited to give your audience and press photographers a clear view of the runway while being surrounded by timeless elegance inspired by the ancient world. Please feel free to visit the Fashion Show Venue space and see if it fits your needs, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Stanlee/46/207/2050.  Click on the box by the pool to rezz the parts of the fashion show venue.

If your agency or clients would like to reserve this free space, please contact CultureCannibal Zilz with a notecard specifying the date of your event, the time it starts, the length of the event and a description that can be used to advertise your event on the SL Events page.

Fashion Show Venue Pictures and Descriptions

Imagine a runway surrounded by the quiet waters of The Olympic Pool, providing an elegant open space to give your audience and press photographers a clear view of your models. See an actual fashion show utilizing the space in the photo slide show below.



Thank you designers, creators, and agencies for improving our Second Lives. If you’d like to reserve this free space for your use, please contact me, CultureCannibal Zilz, with a notecard specifying the date of your event, the time it starts, the length of the event and a description that can be used to advertise your event on the SL Events page.

And thanks to The Forum Shops at StanLee for making this space available.

Living Luxuriously inSL,

~CultureCannibal Zilz

Meep! An Accidental Business

You'll hear me meeping a lot in this blog.  For those of you who don't know what meep means, join the litter.  The Urban Dictionary says meep is one of "the most versatile words in the English language, or in fact any language!"  It can mean whatever you want and tha's exactly how I use it.  If it's ever not clear which meep I'm using, ask in the comments and I'll let you know exactly what I meep.

Meep! A business Avatar!  That's the last thing I'd ever thought I'd end up doing in my Second Life,  and the reason why I'm calling this blog The Accidental Avatar.  I don't have a creative bone in my body, but it turns out that most of my friends inSL are chock full of them.  [Editor's note: If you don't know what chock means you'll want to use Webster.Com, not the Urban Dictionary.]  All around me my friends were creating things.

CapabilityTodd Elswit was making buildings, Orinoco Beresford was making furniture and sheds, Phinneas Vella and Zak Escher were making shapes, and CJ Escher was making babies.  Well...CJ is making weddings which leads to making babies.  And Aevalah Nicholaidis was making fountains and starting a modelling agency.  Even our friend Blue Revolution was creatively figuring out how to use things like vendors, rental systems and the like.  Though we suspect his true creative bent is starring in machinima porn.

Liberally mixed into this creative maelstrom were kind hearts and gentle souls that shone through their Second Life Avatars.  As I stumbled through this gifted whirlwind I accidentally found out that business in Second Life doesn't have to be about cut-throat competition like Real Life.  Together we shared ideas and resources to help jump start each of our businesses so that builders and designers can fulfill that urge to create.  

I was lucky to accidentally fall into a nurturing and supportive environment like this, but it doesn't have to be accidental.  In future posts I'll be sharing the things we've learned to make our SL businesses and lives better and I hope you'll feel free to comment and share your experiences too.

Living Luxuriously inSL

CultureCannibal Zilz