A little delay in the opening of the new Musashi-do shop

Unfortunately due to a loss in the family (my grandma just passed away at the venerable age of 101) my working schedules have been pretty much messed up, since i had of take care of her and my relatives.

The opening of the commercial part (the ones with the clothes basically) of the new shop will be delayed of a few days, and will probably happen around the second half of this week (in the worst case during the week end), and finaly the newest musashi-do creations will be released.

Also stay tuned, because a new Musashi-do project is about to start, and you'll be able to earn free musashi-do gift cards while helping research on many illnesses. Stay tuned for more news on the matter when the shop will be actually open.

Christmas Exhibition at the new Musashi-Do Shop!

It's the 4th Christmas i spend on Second Life, and Goodness, it's been an hell of a Ride.

Many things are going to change from now on, as the Musashi-Do brand is preparing for a grand comeback. The new shop is almost ready, and it's looking great (someone may think that the Musashi Tower spawining from it is a little megalomaniac... and maybe that someone is right), with three floors for the shops, one to be used for exhibitions of various nature, and a beautiful panoramic restaurant at the very top of the tower (wich is already open, so feel free to bring your special someone and friends alone and come enjoy a good glass of Barbaresco del Piemonte while enjoing the sight of the winter wonderland from above).

Also, as a little christmas treat, i'd like to invite you to the themed photographic exhibition that i opened today at the brand new Musashi-Do store (click for the SLurl).

Milano Holidays: the capital city of Italian Fashion dressing for the winter season

The exhibition (all the pictures have been taken by me) will stay open until January the 6th and hopefully will let you appreciate the charm of Milano during the Christmas holidays.

In the next few days the shop is gonna be complete and the long awaited new Musashi-Do creations that were held back by the overload of work for RL companies and by having to attend fashion school everyday, will be eventually released in a quick sequence.

So stay tuned, because Musashi-Do is back, and is back to stay!

The Accademia Montenapoleone 5 opens in Second Life!

Many wondered why I had been pretty much silent for almost a year. Here's the explanation:

During the last few months I worked very hard on the building and opening of my new project: bringing the first real life fashion academy to Second Life. I could find no better one that the fashion academy I study in every morning, and that's the Accademia Montenapoleone 5 (also called Accademia del Lusso or Luxury Academy), whose homepage can be reached at http://www.accademiadellusso.com/ , that already distinguished itself for the innovative and effective teaching methods and was definately the best choice to be a pioneer in Second Life too.
Why did I decide to start this project?
First of all, Second Life has an unparaleled potential for creativity. It's my belief that, short of the real thing, there's no better place for a fashion student to learn how to create a brand and manage it, and also how to interface with the tastes and the needs of a real audience and market than Second Life.
Also, my personal dream is to bring the excellence of italian fashion and creativity in Second Life as it is in Real Life, and to create a point of meeting and merging between Second Life and Real Life fashion.

After about one year since when the idea has been conceived now the virtual academy is ready, and can be visited at this slurl

The grand opening last saturday, featuring a fashion show with the virtual brands Callie Cline, Simone, Shiny Things and Musashi-Do (wich are the guest brands that already have a shop in the island to pose as an example for the academy's students) has been a groundbreaking success, with the sim being filled by the enthusiast audience from start to end.

The project itself will be divided in several branches:

1: The real academy students will be granted shops in the island (in the reproduction of the real life premier fashion street in Milano, Via Montenapoleone) to create and manage their brands and projects in second life. Second Life residents will be invited to port in and to shop 'til they drop on the fruits of their creativity.

2: Several of the academy's teachers (wich are all real world fashion professionals) will hold classes in the island, open to every second life resident, that will cover every aspect of real life fashion.

3: Second Life residents involved in the world of virtual fashion will be invited to host classes themselves, encompassing all aspects of virtual fashion (Everyone interested can contact me (Shiryu Musashi) via IM, or at my email adress shiryu@musashi-do.net).

4: I'm holding myself a real life course on Second Life creativity (it already begiun on December the 3rd) at the real academy, to help the real students and teachers learn thepotential and the use of Second Life.

5: An exhibition center is ready to host exhibitions on several aspects of fashion and art. It already features a small exhibition on Still Life photography featuring the work of last year's styling course at the academy.

It's definately an ambitious project, and i really hope it'll meet it's goals, creating a true place for Second Life and Real Life fashion to meet and merge, and for Second Life Residents and real life fashion students to learn from each other and improve their knowledge of fashion.

Anyone that's interested in attending the classes can join the "Accademia Montenapoleone 5 Update" group (free to join) where notices will be posted to let everyone be aware of the schedule.

If anyone is interested in downloading pictures of the grand opening (for publishing reasons) please click here and feel free to send me a message in world or an email (at shiryu@musashi-do.net) to require any kind of info.

Also, a machinima (movie) of the event will be published soon.

I'm extremely proud of this project, and happy to finally let it see the light :)

The classes will begin soon, so stay tuned!

An heart-felt farewell to Gianfranco Ferre'

This evening, due to a sudden and fatal illness, Gianfranco Ferre' left this world. As one of the world's most famous and creative designers, he helped bringing the excellence of italian fashion to it's current level.Ferre' was an immense source of inspiration for me, and I'm sure for many other SL designers, so I'd like to remember him with one of his last famous quotes:

"Je ne sarais jamais personne, mais personne ne sera jamais comme moi"

"I will never be no one, but no one will ever be like me"

May you find peace, Gianfranco...

Vittoria!

And it's a victory!

After a year of total domination Inter finally managed to win the italian soccer championship :)

Forgive this sudden outburst of sport passion, but i couldn't help it :)

Forza Inter!

My Scion xD featured at the Scion press event

Many for sure wondered where was I gone in the last few weeks. It's actually pretty simple. I begun working for Millions of Us, and precisely I created the new Scion xD for the Scion press event held at the same time in Chicago and on Second Life's Scion City (you can read about it here). It was a thrilling experience, both because I love the car itself (it has a beautifully aggressive look for it's small size, and i LOVE aggressive cars) and because I'm getting to work shoulder-to-shoulder with some pretty awesome and very talented people. It wasn't an easy job, and I didn't manage to sleep more than a couple hours a night in the last two weeks, but it was SO worth it. Isn't it a really cute baby?

A new Musashi-Do shop opens on ASpiRE island

While i wait for my fashion sociology exam and the Milano Women's fashion week (upcoming respectively in one and two weeks) i decided to open a new Musashi-Do shop. My sweet beautiful Bianca not only granted me a place on her ASpiRE isle, but she even furnished and textured the shop herself, with her awesome taste and fashion sense. I really love it!

This week end i'll hopefully manage to get a couple long postponed releases out... i really had a couple very hectic months, but now it seems to be settling down. About time!

The Milano Men's Fashion week begins!

It finally begun, after months of hectic preparation the Milano men's fashion week has begun. Today i got to see RoccoBarocco and Costume National's A/W 2007/2008 collections. There weren't many surprises as of colors, lots of Anthracite grey, white, some black and whole lodads of brown (wich is good, since i love brown).
Again i was sad to see that an important element of elegance like the tie was totally overlooked, both on the catwalk and in the audience. Looks like the stylists are trying to give men an image of a sporty dandy that wouldn't dare working even if work came and bit them on the rear...


Today I was the only man in sight wearing a tie (my new Brown/gold/white striped tie btw, I love it, and it really looked good with a chocolate brown shirt and a black suit with brown pinstripes... did i say I love brown already? :P), and know what? I'm pretty proud of it!
Until a few years ago the tie was pretty much a sign of aggregation, an emblem worn to show that a man was part of that working and productive class that crowded the cities, and as such going around with an open collar was pretty much distinctive and sporty. Now the situation is basically the opposite. The tie has become a sign of distinction and it actually takes guts to wear one with pride in certain situations.
It's ok. I consider the tie an important sign of elegance anyway, a spotlight in the middle of an otherwise sober outfit. So if beside being elegant it can be distinctive as well, all the better.

Whatever the big real life couturiers will do, i'll continue to produce my ties in Second life. It's not an act of rebellion against official fashion or whatever, I just like them, and looking at the sales figures of my ties, many men like them just as much.
Tomorrow i have to go see another fashion show (Frankie Morello's) and know what? I'll wear another tie. Proudly. :)

Santa knocks at the door of Musashi-Do

Christmas is coming, and at last my long awaited vacation from school begun. I'm having a great time feeling immersed in fashion from head to toe (on wednesday we went to see RoccoBarocco's showroom, it was awesome even if his style of clothing is not exactly the same as mine.. i felt like a stain of black oil in a sea of colors :P), but sometimes it can be stressful too! Anyway while I'm waiting to put on the shelves my new fashion releases, all Musashi-Do and Musashi Motorsports shops have been "dressed up" for the occasion.
Also, just like last year, my customers will be able to find free full permissions (copy/modify/transfer) gift wraps in a vendor on the counter at the Musashi-do Main Shop. There are twenty different ones to fit every taste and style, but feel free to modify them to fit your purpose in any way you might like.
Last but not least, if you're a member of the Musashi-Do Newsgroup group, be ready, because a sign of my appreciation will be coming your way on Christmas eve's night. If you're not a member of the group yet, you're still in time to join!
Anyway, i'm done designing for the night (well, the "night" carried over to 3 PM in the day after it seems...) happy holydays to everyone!

Musashi Motorsports Opens on Motorati Island

Thanks to Pontiac that decided to provide residents of Second Life with land on Motorati island to develop their projects (I think this is a very important step on the right direction on behalf of a real life corporation, that finally understood that it's name alone is not enough to draw traffic to it's venue. Well done Pontiac!), I opened two new shops there. A Car shop where customers can find (and test drive for free) the whole range of Musashi Motorsports cars equipped with the brand new (and already extremely popular, it seems) Raiden Mk.2 engine, and a Fashion Shop, in wich the fashion aware driver can find top quality clothes to dress both while driving and while resting.
I have big projects for the Musashi Motorsports Fashion brand, by the way. As of now the shop features the same line as all Musashi-Do shops, but soon will develop it's own apparel line. Stay tuned!

The Raiden Mk.2 ROARS!

It's done at last. Finally all the Musashi Motorsports cars are equipped with the new and powerful Raiden Mk.2 Engine! It was a terribly long haul, but i'm very satisfied with the results and the features included.

Here's a full list of features that you can now find in my cars:
- Realistic 6-speed sequential transmission
- Dynamic steering system
- Realistic Drifting behavioir
- Full featured HUD with touch commands, analogic and digital speedometer, gear indicator and day/night switching
- Variable output engine with three power settings: city, sports and racing
- Variable traction control with three settings: none, mild, full
- Variable stability control with three settings: none, mild, full
- Improved deactivable sim border crossing ability
- NOS nitro injection system
- Seats two avatars
- Guest driver system
- Passenger eject system
- Exclusive P-Freeze precision positioning system
- Opening and closing canopy (roadster versions only)
- State-of-the-art server friendly scripts
- Rotating wheels and turning front wheels
- 9 specific custom sounds, changing when you gear up and down
- Extensive visual effects, including exhaust smoke and flames and tire tracks on the ground
- Compatibility standard that allows users to replace the engine with other Musashi Motorsports Raiden engines
- Bonus decorative Musashi Motorsports Key and Keychain

Pretty nice, isn't it?
Expecially the P-freeze positioning system is something i really like, it allows the driver to move the car around with great precision without editing it, awesome for taking pictures and when one gets stuck or goes off the road :)

As always the cars are available at the Musashi Motorsports Shop

If you already bought any of the old Musashi Motorsports cars not equipped with the Raiden Mk.2, please do not purchase the a new one (unless you want a different model/color of course). The new ones are to considered an update and as such you don't need to purchase them. Just send me an IM and I will teleport you to my office as soon as possible, where, after seeing you rez your old car as a proof of ownership, I will give you the new edition of that car free of charge.

Also a group called Musashi Motorsports Owner club has been opened. The owners of my cars will be invited to that group and will be able to receive updates and new versions of the engine to play with.

Now, after this looong scripting and test driving haul, I better go back to my workshop, I have a lot of fashion designs on sketch. I just ("just" uh? ^_^;;) need to translate them to their digital version now. I missed fashion design, and even if car scripting is great fun, I'm definately happy to be able to go back doing that. So stay tuned, news in that field will come quick!

Christmas is coming!

Having been a bit reclusive lately while scripting the new engine for my Musashi Motorsports cars (that will be released tomorrow night, at last), and having been busy with fashion design school, it's nice and refreshing to see a bit of festive atmosphere, anticipating my much awaited winter holidays (wich I'll spend working on SL anyway, for the ones that like my fashion designs don't worry, I didn't forget about you, quite a lot of news are incoming in the next weeks).
Here's a nice view of Via Montenapoleone (wich is well known as being the main designer store street in Milano and the heart of the so called "Square of Fashion") as seen from one of the balconys of the school I attend. As you can see the christmas lights are already up and lit (in the morning, talk about energy waste...) creating a pretty cute and merry atmosphere.
It's almost time for my mid-morning coffee, the Bar Cova (the one with the teal tents in the background) is definately waiting to give me a small part of my coffeine ration.
In the meanwhile, in the Vittorio Emanuele gallery, neightboring the Duomo Square, Swarovski placed down an immense christmas tree all decorated with shiny crystals, a truly awesome sight, expecially in the evening.
I definately love the festive atmosphere of christmas, and I'll make sure to decorate my shops as well in the upcoming days, I already have a few ideas that might prove nice.

Musashi-Do sponsors the opening Gala at centering place

While you wait for the release (should happen tomorrow evening) of the new Raiden Mk.2 engine for all Musashi Motorsports cars you can go to the opening gala for Centering Place, an extremely interesting and valuable volunteer initiative for counseling and support. During the gala literally DOZENS of Musashi-Do and Musahshi Motorsports items will be handed out to patrons, so be sure to be there and show your support to the girls at Centering Place. You can be sure, they deserve it.
The party will start at 2 PM (on december the 1st of course) and will be held here. Don't miss it!

Musashi Motorsports cars to get a new heart...

Someone might have wondered, in the last few days, if I was swallowed by oblivion or anything like that. The truth is, instead, that I was working on a "secret" project that now is in an advanced development and testing phase. Soon all the Musashi Motorsports cars will be equipped with the brand new and powerful Raiden Mk.II Engine. The new engine sports a long list of rather interesting features, like full HUD control, guest drivers list, a variety of handling and speed settings, able to satisfy both the relaxed driver and the fast&furious racing pilot, further improved sim crossing ability, the revolutionary "Time Freeze" feature and a few other things.
Stand by in the next few days for release (as always you can join the Musashi-Do Newsgroup group to receive real time news). Of course previous customers will be able to receive a completely free update to upgrade the Musashi Motorsports cars they already own with the Raiden MK.II engine.

Musashi Motorsports Drive Around the (SL)World 2006, Leg 5

After a little hiatus needed to develop proper snow tires, the Drive Around the (SL) World resumes today for it's fifth leg. The team is ready, and has checked the mechanics of the car in every little detail. Driving on frozen asphalt can be tricky, so everything must be perfect to avoid a disastrous crash.
Our Race Queen for the day will be Queenie Extraordinaire, awesome DJ and newest of the Musashi-Do models. Most definately a beauty.

It will be mainly a night-time race, ran for the 90% in the beautiful snowy sims around the Zermatt Lake, starting from the Isabel Infohud, across the orient bridge, to the intersection in Larsen, where I'll turn North to make a long detour along the coastline. I'll skim the rocky sims in Clarksburg and Steamboat and then I'll turn left back in the snowy ones in Jernberg. Proceeding across the Mieto mountain pass, i'll reach the intersection in the corner of my home sim of Anton, where i'll turn left again, and speed south-east to the goal in Benham.
The sims are fairly old, but many of them are empty Linden owned land, so the lag should be low besides near the Isabel and Wengen infohubs and the Popular barbie club in Refugio. The road should be frozen all over, but the maintenance conditions are said to be fairly decent.


I'm finally ready to start the leg as the car is positioned on the road. Queenie is there ready to see me off and wish me good luck. Despite the frozen conditions of the route ahead, i'm confident on my new show tires.


START! I step on the gas pedal and quickly gear up as my car darts on the road in front of the crowded Isabel Infohub, the roar of the powerfulm 500 HP engine attracts the attention of the nearby newbies....

As i feel the familiar grip of the wooden planks under my tires, I cross the Orient bridge, surrounded by cliffs, a dam, a castle and even a galleon...


I climb a steep hill in Kania and my tires loose contact with the asphalt momentarily as the GTX jumps! The snowy environment finally surrounds me as I fight for a second the instinct of stepping on the brakes, an action that would for sure send me in a disastrous spin.


It's nightfall as I reach Belmondo. The grip on the frozen asphalt becomes a little weaker but remains steady as I reduce the speed slightly and turn on the headlights, passing in front of a nice victorian style mall.


The sky becomes darker as Grishin and it's beautiful architectures surrounded by the snow disappear behind me. The lights of my car, refracted by the snow in the darkness, create an almost romantic atmosphere. That's why i love snow sims...


I try hard to retain control of my 500 HP beast in the lag as i skim the guard rail passing in front of the crowded Barbie Club, there must be party!


As I speed uphill to enter Jernberg, I spot a beautiful crystal structure towering on the nearby snowy hill... Someone definately put a lot of effort and art in building that...


My engine growls in powerful undertones as I keep it in the lower gears to cross the Mieto Pass, so high that i'm surrounded by heavy clouds.


At the bottom of the pass I step hard on the breaks and corner tightly on the intersection of Anton. Beyond the river my shops can be seen towering in the darkness. Home sweet home...


The snow around the scenic Zermatt lake, probably the most beautiful mainland location of Second Life, gets a red hue as day breaks and the sun raises over the horizon...


It's dawn over the Linden owned chalet in Wengen, but many newbies are already up and about, playing and meeting the parking zone in front of the lake.


The sky becomes brighter as I speed over the river bridge of Eagan, heading towards the goal of this leg...


Entering Heaton I see a beautiful fountain on the side of the road. It's always interesting to see such nice builds hidden where you wouldn't expect them. It's like discovering a pearl in the sand.


And i eventually reach the goal in Benham, the road in front of me is blocked by a massive snow wall, since the Lindens didn't bother continuing it in the newly created sims that lay beyond. A beautiful gothic sculpture stands nearby. This leg is done, stay tuned for the next one!