Goodbye, Ginny.
by tenshi on 11/11/07 at 3:04 pm
One of the typists for digital dressmaker GinnyTalamasca is dead
by Tenshi Vielle
It’s always sad when someone from the Second Life communitydisappears, with little to no explanation. We get to know designersthrough their work, and come to love them through their efforts. Theyare a bit special to us, and it’s what makes us feel like we might beable to support each other. A sense of community.
There are a million words I could type on this page, but they’d allbe meaningless. For nearly a week now, the Second Life fashioncommunity has known something was up, and it’s been horribly silent.There was a dread that echoed. A dread of not knowing what was coming,or maybe it was not wanting to know. We don’t want to lose one of thecommunity – it’s like losing family. Some people may hurt more thanothers, but at the end of the day, I think we all just hurt.
This is why it really, really sucks that the Quad shut down on October 30th. No explanation. Rumors absolutely flew that someone from the Quad had died. We were all genuinely concerned.
YesterdayStarley announced that one of the two people that operated GinnyTalamasca had indeed passed away. Ginny left us on October 30th due toa sudden and unexpected brain aneurysm. The future of his Last Call andDazzle lines are unknown at this point, but not many are thinking aboutthat – we’re just mourning, each in our own way. His best friend and partner wrote a piece on the Last Call blog, to be found by clicking here.
Ginny,from all the outpouring from the blogs at Fashion Planet you obviouslyhad a lot of admirers and friends. See you in the next round.
View one of Ginny’s lasting legacies, Diary of a Dressmaker, here in .pdf file format downloadable in .zip.
Nina A
Nov 11th, 2007
Sad news.
Prokofy Neva
Nov 11th, 2007
I’m amazed that the Herald would take such a story at face value and not see it as a classic case of Internet histrionics disease.
Penance Sautereau
Nov 11th, 2007
Ginny was one of my first SL friends. I was 2 days old and she saw my lame blow-up doll looking noobness and gave me hair and nice dresses. She was always busy and we didn’t see each other much but we had some nice IM’s and she was always friendly.
*raises a glass quietly and has nothing else to say*
Prokofys unfed cat
Nov 11th, 2007
Prok, there’s a reason many people wish the same would happen to you.
Len Brennan
Nov 12th, 2007
I’m amazed that the Herald would take such a story at face value and not see it as a classic case of Internet histrionics disease.
You’re a piece of shit, Fitzpatrick.
Melissa Yeuxdoux
Nov 12th, 2007
Please don’t feed the troll.
FlipperPA Peregrine
Nov 12th, 2007
Ginny was always a pleasure to deal with. Best thoughts to family and friends, and especially the surviving partner.
James Kazan
Nov 12th, 2007
I’m sorry to hear that but how many typists can use an avatar Tenshi? I thought if they are more than one is against the SL ToS.
Reg Baxter
Nov 12th, 2007
I used to sort of support a lot of what prok said or at least her right to say it, but this last post of hers lowers her to the depth of pond scum, or perhaps thats an insult to pond scum, lets say fox news instead, can’t get lower than that.
Anyway sorry for feeding the troll/prok Melissa but I have lost friends on sl too and her comments are garbage.
I know my GF lived for Ginny’s clothes and had spoken to her on a few occasions, this is a sad time for all of us to be sure, all of us that care that is.
Jorus Xi
Nov 12th, 2007
Prok you are a fucking stain.
Artemis Fate
Nov 12th, 2007
I can’t say I ever knew Ginny, but I did like some of her clothes. Always weird to hear about a person dying when you only know them from the avatar, since I associate my idea of that person more with the avatar than the actual person behind it, and for all considerations, the avatar is still there. Especially in this case where the other person behind Ginny might still be walking around on that AV.
Prokofy Neva
Nov 13th, 2007
I’m sure Ginny is out riding Weedy Herbst’s horse now, on her way to meet Weedy Herbst’s beloved husband.
When people die in real life, normally people in their real lives don’t have a problem supplying people in Second Life with a news clipping from real life news; a memorial page that real relatives have made; something *normal*. None of that is supplied here.
Instead, there are many, many questions swirling around the closure of the sims, the revelations that there were two people, etc.
I just think the Herald needs to put someone *other* than a gushing wide-eyed fangirl like Tenshi on this complicated story.
BTW, many other people don’t buy this story either, but they are too intimidated to speak out.
Anon
Nov 13th, 2007
Actually, Prok.. a link was posted on another vile blog of the obituary, but was removed so that morons like you don’t have access to anyones RL information.
Tenshi Vielle
Nov 13th, 2007
Prok, I didn’t say anything but your recent comments have been way to far. Ginny is ACTUALLY gone, and you need to quit treating players like they’re NPC’s with no one behind them. You’ve stooped lower than low. You’re so far down that not even the dog’s fleas can bite you. You’re disgusting.
Astonished Reader
Nov 13th, 2007
I used to respect Prok.
Not any more.
When you die irl Prok will anyone even care?
Trudy
Nov 13th, 2007
Prok can’t even get her “facts” straight about Weedy’s boyfriend. Weedy has never called him her “husband”. It has ALWAYS been boyfriend.
Prok doesn’t have any qualms claiming that her (ex?)husbands relatives were kidnapped or killed by the Soviets, yet we never SEE any PROOF. How about YOU deliver some hard evidence Prok? Why are we supposed to believe you about anything? Because your Prok and you said so? Fuck you, you arrogant windbag. If this had been Simone you’d be singing a different tune for sure (because she buys into and supports your haggard conspiracy theories), you pigheaded asshole.
So people, you can believe this pond scum who can’t even get the descriptor for Weedy’s significant other right or you can believe Ginny’s best friend and that obit which was removed.
My partner and I are big fans and own TONS of Ginny’s clothes and this is a sad day. My heart goes out to Ginny’s friends and relatives.
Observer
Nov 13th, 2007
Kinda funny, Tenshi calling someone “lower than low.” lower than “dog’s fleas can bite”.
Keep going Prok, you’ve almost reached Tenshi, and she wants some company.
anon
Nov 14th, 2007
1) You had nothing nice to say about Ginny when he was alive. Quite the opposite in fact 2) You did everything you could to expose what had happened instead of respecting personal wishes and 3) You have gone on to continue to spread rumors about him since his death. You weren’t “genuinely concerned”. In fact you have no right to utter his name.
Only one person was ever the typist for Ginny Talamasca. The account has since been transferred through LL.
You were not his friend. Do not pretend to be now.
Prokofy Neva
Nov 16th, 2007
Tenshi, we have no evidence that this RL typist is really dead. It’s not personal. It’s journalistic inquiry, of the type you should be doing, instead of gushing and being an empty-headed idiot.
I don’t buy any story about any RL link — and I’m not a moron, and I don’t harass people in real life, unlike the tards posting here.
In fact, my inlaws’ relatives did indeed die in the GULAG and sadly, it’s amply documented, but there’s no need to supply griefers with further means to intrude into my personal life, either.
Weedy’s “husband/boyfriend/imaginary friend” is well, not there. Not real. We all know that. It’s a narrative that bespeaks something important to Weedy or about Weedy and we all understand it, but we’re not *required* to believe in it or any of the outlandish stories that have surrounded it (like the hantavirus story).
As I said, when other people in SL have died in RL, there is ample evidence that they really died. There are just too many questions around this case. I’m not sure why. It’s sad no matter how you look at it.
You'reclinicallysickintheheadprokofy
Nov 16th, 2007
Hey Prok, so you’re calling Starley Therian a liar? She went to the damned funeral and gave a blog account of it…
“In fact, my inlaws’ relatives did indeed die in the GULAG and sadly, it’s amply documented, but there’s no need to supply griefers with further means to intrude into my personal life, either.”
Yeah, so YOU get to claim shit without supplying proof, but everyone else is obligated to prove to you that it’s true about Ginny? Hypocritical cop out. You’re trying to intrude yourself. What’s you’re excuse? Only Prok gets to intrude? Who made you God? Delusions of grandeur, classic. By your whacked definition of a griefer you give above, you are a griefer yourself (I have actually considered you a griefer for a long time).
And how do “We all know that.” about Weedy? We don’t. You’re just guessing, and like the asshole you are, deigning to speak for all of us. Show us conclusive evidence or piss off. And stop using “we” when you’re voicing your asinine conjectures. You represent no one’s voice but your own, creep.
You’re a horrible, evil, self-serving oaf who uses the misfortunes of others to try and appear as some sort of visionary. You’re fraud who does nearly everything to others that you complain about them doing. You even hijacked your friend Coco’s thread about her mother’s death just so you could take a few more petty and vindictive shots at your enemies. You don’t care about other people (unless they kiss your ass and then you’ll give them a fake thank you and once they dare disagree with you, you’ll turn on them like an abused pit bull), you don;t care about SL, or anything that doesn’t help you prop up that fat-headed ego. And you’re no journalist, your a blogger, and a piss poor, nut case one at that. You are hands down the biggest egomaniac I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.
From Starley’s blog:
“To his funeral, I wore a dress that he helped me pick out and that he talked me into spending way too much money on. At the time, he told me that a dress so fabulous would find the perfect occasion. I never dreamed that it would be this. Somewhere I’m sure he laughed and said “I told you so!”.
I got to see where he lived, the laptop he worked on with the touch pad almost worn through from drawing on it with his finger. (Yes, he designed his clothing with his finger on a laptop touch pad!) I met the person behind Katterina, who I’d heard laughing in the background a million times on the phone.”
http://www.starley.com/2007/11/clarity.html
Yeah I am so sure that a well known designer with a lot to lose if they lied about something like this is just making it up…
You awful stormcrow, I hope Hell has a special place waiting for you.
Prokofy Neva
Nov 16th, 2007
Starley is one of the people who writes for this blog Last Call, and is apparently in the same designers’ group? So it’s not an independent source.
Even after reading Starley’s account several times, no, I was utterly unconvinced because common sense and journalistic due diligence let you know there is something odd about all this.
And no, I didn’t say Starley lied; I said I don’t believe this account. It could be an account about an event part in SL, part in RL. It is obviously a narrative that means something to Starley. But it may not be true in the conventional sense.
We can’t know that Starley himself wasn’t lied to. Perhaps this person told him it was Ginny; it could have been someone else. And was there a funeral with a casket? Or some makeshift memorial service such as is common in the modern era where you really can’t be sure anybody died at all?
Again, when people die in RL, there is a RL obituary, news article — especially for one so young. There’s a real life family — something.
This just doesn’t add up. And it’s my right to say so.
As for the thread about Cocoanut’s mother’s death, I can only say: if you want something to be kept private and untouched by people you might disagree with, don’t put it on a public forums, especially one like Second Citizen was. I sure didn’t blog about and write forums postings about *my* mother’s death.
And if you read that thread, you could see what really happened: Cristiano hijacked it first. I fought back. He was despicable in doing that. I wouldn’t have posted it if Cristiano himself hadn’t first made a nasty crack at me. I fight back when that happens.
Weedy finally retired into obscurity for awhile, having failed to convince everyone that she a) had this boyfriend husband b) who waited by her bedside in the ER; c) that she had to go to because she fell from a horse and then caught hantavirus (!) and d) but was suddenly able to rise from her deathbed and type posts to the forums about all this.
anon
Nov 16th, 2007
1) Why does it have to add up for you? Why do you have the right to know anyone’s RL information?
2) There is a RL obituary you insufferable git
3) Starley is a SHE.
proksucks
Nov 16th, 2007
Prok, you’re expressing your opinion, which you have every right to do so.
To call it journalism is crap.
This was attributed to you. If you did indeed write it it shows that
at one point you were capable of human feelings and sensitivity. If
you didn’t, then it’s not a surprise at all:
“The avatar has reliably been found to be a window to the soul; and that communion of the souls is possible in SL in ways that aren’t so religious as to be off-putting, nor so hippy-dippy as to be meaningless. It’s real~Prokofy Neva”
It’s your right to say so. Granted, you’ve done it time and again.
No one cares about your in-laws or your mother who died. Thank you for not blogging or writing about it.
Just die.
Starley
Nov 16th, 2007
Prok’s questions are understandable if not entirely tactful. Unfortunately, anyone who spends any amount of time online comes across an instance of someone faking their own death, and it’s a natural instinct to be suspicious. I really wish that were the truth in this instance, but sadly Ginny has really passed away. I went to his funeral, not some other person’s. There is indeed an obituary, but the decision was made not to post it online as the people named in it have privacy concerns, which I don’t think are unfounded. I guess it’s been discovered by someone who knew him well enough to know his real name and is floating around, but it’s not my place to give the link.
There really is no way to “prove” anything here. I was not duped into going to a stranger’s funeral. I have no way to prove that though. Even with an obituary, how do you prove the person was “Ginny Talamasca” unless you already knew his name and location? The people who were close to him know the truth and that’s all that’s really important.
Prokofy Neva
Nov 17th, 2007
Starley,
I take your points, and you have your own experience. But you can’t expect that people who live drama-ridden in-your-face public lives like this and then mysteriously disappear and close sims and don’t say anything for days to be believed when they suddenly announce a death, and it also seems to be a convenient way out of a drama situation that seems to have painted itself in a corner.
If it’s a private matter, keep it private. If you live your life on the Internet, expect people not to believe, and not to be impressed.
I certainly stand by these words:
“The avatar has reliably been found to be a window to the soul; and that communion of the souls is possible in SL in ways that aren’t so religious as to be off-putting, nor so hippy-dippy as to be meaningless. It’s real~Prokofy Neva”
But it’s real for you, not me. Sorry, to disappoint.
Nina A
Nov 17th, 2007
…”But you can’t expect that people who live drama-ridden in-your-face public lives like this and then mysteriously disappear and close sims and don’t say anything for days to be believed when they suddenly announce a death”…
That is exactly the circumstances I would expect to hear of a sudden death. What do you know Prokofy? What is your ‘smoking gun’ or is someone guilty until proven innocent, an attitude formed from your Russian connection?
Logic
Nov 18th, 2007
The whole thing was fishy. If they wanted respect, they should have said there was a death. Instead, it was open to all speculation and the result is exactly what should have happened. They handled it all 100% wrong.
respect this decision: We think the whole thing is a ploy. Ironic that LC just released boots on their blog. They sure went back to work awfully quick after such a ‘tragic’ event. “I don’t know when I will be able to look at a computer again” or something of the sort was said on that same blog just 5 days earlier.
Please.
Nina A
Nov 26th, 2007
More news on this sad event.
http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9822822-52.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5