The MXM-Lively-Room from outside

I always felt so-lala about Lively. It was not bad but it also was far away from being really cool. I will never understand why multi-billion Dollar companies release such unfinished projects that are neither fish nor flesh, neither water nor wine.

At least Lively was free for everybody and simple to use – but a strong and lively community didn’t grow up anyway.

I don’t want to talk about the reasons for Lively`s failure, i only want to show you some pictures i took from the MXM-Room shortly before it was closed forever…

MXM-Room closed its doors forever!

There has been a MXM-Room on lively.com. It was a nice one that featured many sexy pictures of my famous sims-models, as well as lots of pretty furniture and funky accessories.

I originally planned to create a meeting point for those of you who feel chatty and want to spend some funny time with a couple of friends.

I also had planned to create a second room to promote “Luisa & The Elfish Spell” (BTW: Big news are coming soon!)…

But all those plans are digged now and a few pictures are everything that remained:

My avatar is checking the room and waiting for guests

The info-sign was my idea. It contained hints for lively-beginners; how to move the avatar, how to gesture and such stuff.

It was a great moment when the photo-frames finally worked

These interactive photo-frames were the only way to add a personal branding, art, photos or logos to a room.

But the frames turned off after only 1 or 2 days. Then it took 3 weeks (or even more) to bring them back online (with no notable change).

In that time all guys with serious or professional ideas had just left lively. Everybody but me.

These boxes also contained help files of mine and even PDF-Downloads

Houseplants for a comfortable atmosphere

There was a huge “shop” in Lively where you could “buy” all kind of furniture and decoration for your room(s).

Maybe it was another problem that many people thought they needed to spend real money. In truth it only was a virtual shop..

On the other hand i’ve met people who spent the whole day to decorate their rooms until everything was really perfect… just like in The Sims ;)

Of course there was a special corner for a Lena Luv gallery

The other side of the gallery

You probably notice the poor quality of the Lena Luv pictures. This was another problem of Lively. You only could upload very (!) small files (64 x 64) to let them fit into the frames.

All (!) other formats had been cropped randomly somehow… nobody never ever did understand how this process worked. I guess even the developers didn’t know.

Imagine a cool photographer who wants to create a virtual gallery or something like that – no way. Lively totally sucked in this point.

The whole room from above: Chilling area, bar and gallery

Sitting at the bar, watching videos, wasting time, still waiting for guests

That's the first floor, the balcony

Goodbye my room, i'm going to leave you through the secret door

Do you see the door on the wall, head over heels? That was a secret gate to another room of mine, the “Downside Up” Room.

Unfortunately i don’t have pics of the Downside Up room, but imagine an apartment where everything is turned upside down:

Lamps “hanging” from the floor, the sofa and table “standing” on the ceiling; it was great and people loved it.

So the experiment is over. It was a nice time, much too silent though.

But gladly i’m running further more projects which help me to get over the loss of my beautiful Lively-Room.

Bettie Page Pin-up Icon

I’m sure you have seen this face before. The person on this photo has a special style, a taste that one can’t forget. It’s the strong charisma and defiant look of this model that let her appear on more magazine covers than Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford together.

Although Bettie Page retired from modeling in 1957 to live a religious life she never became to be forgotten. Quite the contrary: Bettie Page is still a world-wide known Pin-Up-Icon, the face of erotic photography, respected and worshiped by everybody who has a sense for beauty…

Bettie Page’s inspiring art!

Groundbreaking Vamp-Pose

Bettie Page’s art is still a big influence to Photographers, Superstars (Madonna) and Topmodels as well as an inspiration for sub-cultures like Gothic, Emo, other Fetish-Styles and the New Burlesque (Dita von Teese).

It’s also counted as historical fact that Bettie Page has prepared the ground for the sexual revolution in the late 1960′s. Only Bettie herself never certified that.

She was very poor for a long time until a smart lawyer managed to drive Bettie’s royalties in. Many of her photos had been published without proper licensing so far…

A Pin-Up revolutionist!

Bettie Page in her famous Leopard-Dress

Bettie Page started as a model in so-called “Camera Clubs” which was the only way for men to shoot nude art photos without getting arrested.

Bettie quickly became very famous due to her natural and unrestrained manner (in front of a camera). Her career also led her to New York where she tried to break through on Broadway. Bettie was also invited to film castings in Hollywood but the fools didn’t sign her because of Bettie’s southern accent.

Hollywood and Broadway didn’t work for Bettie Page, she always remained to be a Pin-Up Girl.

The first Bondage model!

Also sexy in black and white

Bettie Page is also known as the world’s first model for Bondage and BDSM Photography. And of course she’s also responsible for the success of a dance form called striptease.

In the 1950′s this style of photos and movies was most provoking, though nobody would find those motives offensive nowadays. Bettie never officially appeared in explicit pornographic poses.

Side note: It’s cynical that today’s companies like Google try to censor erotic art in the same manner like judges did in the 1950′s. Following Google’s new censorship-terms it is definitely not allowed to show Bettie Page’s art on YouTube, for example.

Bettie Page dance performance!

I found a nice movie anyway. It’s a stage performance of Bettie and when you imagine that she did this in the early 1950′s it becomes obvious where all the typical standard poses of today’s models come from:

Please also visit the official websites bettiepage.com and bettiepagemovie.com.

More: The whole life and career of Bettie Page on wikipedia.com

Farewell Bettie!

Yesterday, on December 11, Bettie Page died in Los Angeles at the age of 85.

She’s gone, but the Pin-Up-Goddess is still alive.

Farewell Bettie