The long road to Now...

Well, hello there!

Many of you have probably been wondering where I've been. Much has happened over the past year, so I do have quite a few things to share with you. Agape locations have opened and closed and we actually do have a proper Mainstore now in a pretty-much-permanent location (more on that later). We've loved and lost and loved again, come up with new ideas, revisited old ones, underwent criticism which caused us to take a long hard look at ourselves (and decide that much of it was silliness to begin with), and even did some work on our long-suffering not-so-secret project.

I suppose I should start with the basics. In April 2009 I bought a parcel of land on a sim known as Creamy Shores (yes, that's what it was really and truly called) and began construction on a proper Mainstore. Even though I never really blogged about it, the store proved to be popular and I was happy with the way it turned out - yet there was something missing. Neighbors with questionable building taste moved in and promptly set up ban lines, which totally ruined the concept I had going, so once the parcel in the NE corner of the sim became available I bought it.

The next 3 months or so were spent terraforming the land and re-creating my build on the new parcel while the original store remained open. Correcting what I saw as its flaws, my hope was to bring our customers a new and improved Agape experience. The fantastic Tymus Tenk of Envision Landscaping was on hand to assist in the terraforming and landscape the location. With most of his time being taken up by the creation of his fabulous Calas Galadhon sims, I cannot thank him enough for undertaking this project. Because a whole sim or private island was not in the stars for me, we did everything in our power to minimize the possible effect any of our neighbors' builds might have upon our customers' shopping experience and came up with the idea of disguising the our corner of the sim as a private island.

Actually, this is not as difficult to do as one might think. with some careful planning and consideration given to possible sight lines, we were able to to pull off the illusion rather well I think. This newly-improved Mainstore opened in February 2010, but unfortunately for me, Dreamland Estates decided to close down the Creamy Shores sim, forcing us to relocate a mere 2 months after it had opened. The incredible Mr. Tenk and the talented Mr. Regi Yifu of Regimade heeded my desperate call and aided in moving the build to its current home on the Liberation sim, and I must say... the current version of the build is even better than the last! I would also like to thank Mr. Lef Leven of Ars Avette for so graciously coming out and replacing the ancient sailing vessel that got eaten in a sim crash at our previous location. It is truly a fine ship that graces our shores!

If you've not been out yet, please do stop by and pay us a visit. A lot has changed, and I must say it's all for the better. Also, our free photo studio is back for those of you who need to make a new profile picture. Just look for the TP pad under the spiral staircase next to the brass brazier. there are also areas out in front of the store that make great photo spots.

Until next time!
-Zim

Meet "Bryan"...

Hey everyone...

It's certainly been a while since I've posted anything here. April and May were rather busy months for me in SL as well as RL. As many of you know, we had our "Ancient Pleasures" party over at our Warehouse Plaza location. Those of you went know it was a rousing success. I'd like to thank the IronWorks Staff, DJ Gregster Kidd, and all of our wonderful guests for making it possible :)









Another activity which kept me busy was the construction of our new Agape Mainstore (more on that in a future post). It turned out rather nicely if I do say so myself and I'm very pleased with it. So far we've had almost 140 visitors at that location and I haven't even begun promoting it properly yet. Thanks for all your support!



Now we get to the main subject of this post - our latest shape, "Bryan". Standing 2.3 meters tall, "Bryan" has just about everything a guy could want in a shape... clean-cut good looks, a beefy yet not overly muscled body, and well balanced proportions. Well, don't just take my word for it. As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words...









Designed for Signature Skins' new "Ocean" line of skins, this shape is perfect for those who want to create a surfer boy or college jock look. Bryan hit the shops last night and is here just in time for your Summertime makeovers, so head on down and pick up a demo.



Til next time...

-Zim

PS: The shape is out at all shops except Aussieboys and HnH. Here's the SLURL to our Mainstore if you'd like to see "Bryan" for yourself..

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Creamy%20Shores/80/106/23

"Ancient Pleasures" party @ Warehouse Plaza

Howdy folks,


It's been months since we first opened our store at the fabulous Warehouse Plaza, but what many of you did not know is that it's now in a different location there. We started off in a tiny spot near the entrance to what is now the Hothouse Plaza sim, but just after the holidays we moved to "Judgement Square" on the other side of the Warehouse Plaza sim near the entrance to Folsom Plaza. Sound confusing? It isn't really. In fact to help you find it, we're hosting a huge party at our new Warehouse Plaza Agape store :-)










We've named the party "Ancient Pleasures" in a nod to ancient Greece and to better fit our L$1500 contest theme of "Best in Silks". What better way to show off your bod than with a Silks contest? DJ Gregster Kidd will be on hand to serve up the hot tunes while our guests groove and gyrate to the hot beats. My best buddy Gilgalahad Gunsberg (no relation) has built us a spectacular set to party on complete with a giant statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The party will run from 1 - 3PM SLT on Saturday, April 18th so that our European friends will be able to join us for this truly special event.

All the elements are in place for an afternoon (or evening) to remember... the only thing missing is you! Mark your calendars and TP on down to party with us!

See you there!
-Zim

Agape @ Warehouse Plaza: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Warehouse%20Plaza/165/244/23

OMG! We've been Blogged!

Eddi and Jago over at the "Sex Aficionado" blog have done a review of our "Marcello" shape. although this is one of our older shapes, it continues to be a favorite of our customers. Hop on over and check it out!



Sex Aficionado Blog: http://sexaficionado.blogspot.com/2009/04/agape-marcello-mens-shape.html

"Evan" hits the shops!

Howdy, folks!



We've had another crazy weekend with the opening of the Cherry Park and Emerald locations (we managed to crash the sim at Emerald with 80 people!), but on Sunday I managed to get some time to myself and get our latest shape out to the shops. "Evan" is something a little bit new for me. He's another in the "Signature Series", using a "Vain" skin and hair from a new creator I discovered by accident. In case anyone's wondering, Evan is wearing a unisex top from Fishy Strawberry and Armidi jeans. Yes, I fought the crippling lag with Zann to go and pick these up one evening.







The focus this time was on making him as 'real' looking as I could rather than making him 'pretty' or giving him a GQ face. I tried to give him a body that a real guy would have rather than an idealized SL body that you see around the Grid so often. Hopefully I've succeeded in this. Only time will tell for sure. Traffic in the shops has been up lately and a number of guys have already picked up the Demo version.














So yes, if you've been waiting for a fresh, realistic boyish look this is the time to head on down to your favorite Agape location and pick up a Demo. If you already have a "Vain" skin from Signature skins in your inventory you're all set to be a dude-magnet (or a Chick-magnet) in no time ::winks::



Till next time!

-Zim

"Trevor (Gen II)"

The whirlwind of activity has finally subsided. Last Saturday's grand re-opening of our new Mainstore was a fantastic success (and it was a whole lot of fun!!), the grand opening of the Shops at Jake's Club Resort turned out fantastic, and our newest location out at the Cherry Park mall went into 'soft opening' mode without a hitch. Once things had quieted down a bit, I took a look at my Workshop folder in inventoryand noticed that another shape was sitting there unfinished, so I went into 'busy mode' for a while and finished packaging up old "Trevor II".



"Why 'Trevor II'?" you ask? Well the original 'Trevor' shape was one of the first sold in our shop. At that point in time I was still rushing to get things done so I could get them out on the sales floor, and in all honesty I don't think I did poor old Trevor justice. What has changed since then? Well, we now have the fantastic line of Signature skins to work with and the 'Rage' skin looked like it would be perfect for giving old Trev a makeover. Here's a pic of the new and improved "Trevor"...





So just what did I do to him? A number of things actually... I made him just a wee bit beefier and taller - not too much, though. I still wanted him to have a lean, lanky look, but this time I wanted to give him a bit of a bad boy edge. Once I had his body sorted I went on to re-scuplt his head and face. Again, I didn't want to make him into something completely new - I just wanted to improve on what I'd already started. To tell the truth, the original Trevor was looking a little bit Muppety and I wanted to make him look more 'real'.





Once he had the 'Rage' skin on I gave him fuller lips and sculpted them a bit more to give a bit of a pout to them and shifted his mouth upwards a bit. Also, I refined his nose so that the nostrils were better placed and narrowed his eyes just a tad. Trevor's jaw and nose were also fined down considerably and his face made slightly longer to accentuate the new cheekbones I'd given him.


I know it sounds like I did quite a bit to him, but really all I did was use the Signature skin as a guide in making him more natural-looking. He's currently out in all the shops except the Romeo store, so head on down and try on a wearable demo. I'm very pleased with the way he's turned out and he's certain to give you a unique, sexy look.




Until next time!

-Zim

The Return of DJ Kadie

Not that she was ever completely gone, mind you. Last Summer, one of our personal faves, DJ Kadie Pinkenba decided to take a little time off to try a little game known as WoW. At the time she told me, "I'm sure I won't be playing for long, " thinking to herself "I'll just give it a little try and be back soon. It can't be THAT addictive." Well several months and several high-level characters later, DJ Kadie is back and she's in top form.






It pleases me to announce that the one and only DJ Kadie is back and will be playing at the Agape Mainstore's Grand Opening at Gaytown Mall this Saturday, March 14th from 1 - 3pm SLT. The store is ready (and it truly is something special, folks) and all that's missing is your presence. Please do plan to attend as this really looks like it's going to be a very special afternoon of entertainment. The store has moved 2 doors down, so be sure to update your LM's. You can find us here:



http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/89/86/578



See you Saturday!



-Zim