Golden Age of Hollywood aka The Pit of Vipers

 This was dawn, there were no rules, we were so young,
Movies were born; so many songs yet to be sung.
So many roads still unexplored;
We gave the world new ways to dream.
Somehow we found new ways to dream.

"New Ways To Dream" - Sunset Boulevard - Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Golden Age of Hollywood reminds me a lot of SL Fashion. Glamorous, stylish, enviable from the outside, and from the inside  - insanely talented people, some bordering on genius with what they can do, but also a pit of vipers, workaholics, some (not all but some) who will do almost anything, say almost anything, to get to or stay on top. (I realize what I just said may not be very popular)  You want to read some funny quotes - look up things that Bette Davis has said about her rival Joan Crawford or vice versa.  One of my favorite stories from the Golden Age of Hollywood was when Lauren Bacall was having an affair with Eddie Fisher, then husband of Debbie Reynolds.  Apparently Eddie Fisher was late picking up Ms. Bacall for a date...so what did Lauren Bacall do...what any other respectable mistress would -- she called his house (and I am heavily paraphrasing here everything but the last line) and when his wife, Debbie answered the phone asked where the hell he was.  Debbie, appalled by this, said "How dare you call here asking ME where he is" to which Lauren Bacall replied "Honey, if your husband has no respect for your marriage, why should I?"

I don't know what that says about me...I think that is one of the funniest stories I have heard and hearing it made me garner a new respect for Lauren Bacall.  Now, I do NOT believe that was she was doing was right, but what she said was so truthful and just filled with brutal honesty.  If your partner has no respect for you or your relationship, why should anyone else? If you don't have respect for yourself, your situation, your place, why in the WORLD would anyone else?  I find that many people on SL act one way, yet expect...no, correction...DEMAND to be treated in a way that directly contradicts their own actions and words.  I myself fell into that trap when I was a lil noobie on SL. The longer I am on SL though, the more I carry myself as I do in RL. I treat others with respect, and in return, I do expect to be treated that way. It doesn't always happen, and I used to just rail and rage against it to anyone who would listen. To the point where I was called the worse case of co-dependency they had ever seen by a very psychologically disturbed man who had no right giving a mental diagnosis to anyone.  But in some cases, and I hate to admit this on ANY level, he was right...I was a screaming harpie. 

Now, after almost 4 years on SL, a ton of ups and downs in this virtual world, I don't know what changed. I just know now, more than at any other time of my SL..I am more the RL me than anything. I did remove a lot of toxic people (case in point the man above) from my SL.  I have surrounded myself with amazingly creative people, people who are true and honest.  With that is the knowledge that many people on SL are NOT who they say.  It's quite easy to pick these people out and SL being SL, being a virtual world, we normally, 99% of the time...let it slide. It's SL a place where we can be ANYTHING we want to be. But does that include letting those who want to knowingly take people's real emotions and steamroll them? I stated in my last blog post I was feeling uninspired.  I realized it was because I was failing to do what I had set out to do.  I was not being true to who *I* was.  I was falling into the drama...not my own, but others.  I was becoming drained.  Losing sight of what was important to ME. You can't fix people who don't want to be fixed and you can't constantly be giving out the same advice over and over again to the same people when time and again they refuse to take it.  You can chose to bang your head against a brick wall of the status quo, or you bang some drumsticks to the beat of your own drummer.

I chose the latter and I chose to surround myself with people who chose the latter.  Recently a dear friend of mine did just that.  I could not be more proud of her. I also could not be more proud of what she wrote about her experience, going against the grain of what is the SL Fashion Status quo...in my mind the equivalent of the antiquated Hollywood Studio System if you will.  Change is scary, but it's necessary and it's an amazing journey if you embrace it.  Those at the forefront of change may never be considered popular, they may even be considered troublemakers or loud mouths.  But they will never be forgotten.

 Nothing has changed
We'll give the world new ways to dream
Everyone needs new ways to dream

Hair - Expert Hair in Pitch - LeLutka

Eyeshadow - Smokey Cat Shadow - L.Fauna

Necklace - Pearl Rain Necklace in Cream - Mandala

Earrings/Bracelet - Diamond - Finesmith (NEW)

Dress - Ivy Cocktail Dress - GizzA Creations (Hollywood Event EXCLUSIVE)

Shoes - Triumph in Nude - N-Core

Poses - Isomotion