Interview with Zed Linden

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of having a very interesting conversation with a Linden! I have to admit, Zed Linden is probably one of the most stylish Lindens I’ve seen on the grid. I couldn’t help but to try to persuade him to pose for me for one of my male fashion posts. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to try too hard. He’s very friendly and as you can see from his answers to the questions I threw at him below, he’s also very enthusiastic. 😀

So here is my attempt at being a goofy interviewer:

Strawberry: Hi Zed! How long have you been working for Linden Lab and what has your main focus or project been while you’ve been here?
Zed: Hello!  I’ve been a Linden for about two and a half years.  I’m a software engineer, and I mainly work on our websites and web services. Since I started at the Lab, my main focus has been on registration. The latest-greatest version of registration was recently released (Rodvik Linden blogged about it here), and it’s something that everyone involved is really proud of. Go check it out — invite your friends!

I recently switched groups and now I work in our Internal Tools team. This group is responsible for creating the software that our support team uses, so our goal is to help make our customer service representatives more efficient and make people’s lives easier. In the long run, these things benefit every user. My new group is also responsible for JIRA and handful of very interesting applications used within Linden Lab.

Strawberry: You’ve been a Linden for quite some time, but it seems like you’ve just recently and suddenly appeared in world.  Where did you come from?!?
Zed: A few months ago, I realized that for a long time, I had only been logging into Second Life to attend Linden Lab meetings. So, I decided to start logging in and exploring more often.  The first thing I noticed were these amazing men’s fashion blogs like In Cold Blood, Carthalis, (ir)regular guy, SixX, and the F*cking Slipsters.  I was impressed that their styles were all so creative and unique, and their photography made their avatars look larger than life!  These guys gave me something to latch onto and a real motivation to keep logging in.  After a couple weeks of following the blogs and meeting people I was hooked: I fell in love with Second Life and my job all over again.  True story 🙂

Strawberry: There’s no doubt about it, you are one of the sexiest Lindens inworld. Who or where do you go to for sl fashion advice? Or does it just come to you naturally?
Zed: Ha!  Well thank you very much for the kind words.  I really have no sense of fashion, and in RL I’m a complete mess.  I am somewhat new to the SL world of men’s fashion: I’m still getting my feet wet and I’m figuring out what my style is.  I recently asked a friendly and brilliant blogger for style advice, and his response was “Well, what do you want your style to say?”  This kind of blew my mind, both because I had no idea how to answer, and also because no one had ever asked me this before (including myself!).

Blogs are currently my #1 source of ideas and tips.  When I see an item blogged from a shop I’ve never heard of, I go check out the shop to see what it has to offer.  I also really enjoy hunts, especially the MENstuff Hunt!  And I’m pleasantly amazed at the recent explosion of fashionable charity events, such as Fashion for Life, the Fantasy Faire, and all the fundraisers for Japan — you’re doing a very noble thing: please keep up the great work!   I love exploring and finding new places, and I love chatting up designers.  I’m really impressed with the variety and creativity that I find when I’m out and about.

Strawberry: What are some of the new and upcoming things (viewer updates, events, etc…) that the Lab has planned that you are pretty excited about?
Zed: There’s a lot of great stuff coming up for everyone in Second Life! There are new features and Viewers – the Environmental Settings Project Viewer is out now, we’ve just launched the new official SL Viewer with better search and real-time shadows, we’re continuing to make enhancements to SL Viewer Basic Mode, and mesh import is coming this summer – to name just a few things. And there are some great events coming inworld (SL8B kicks off June 20) and in real life (SLCC is August 12-12). As always, the best place to find out about all the exciting things as (and before) they happen is the official Second Life blog.

Strawberry: When do YOU think the rapture will really happen?
Zed: As soon as my RLGF reads this blog post!

Strawberry: Pepsi or Coke?
Zed: I’m more of an energy drink person.  Vast amounts of secondlife.com code were fueled by late nights, Red Bull, and heavy metal!

Strawberry: Be honest with us, have you ever got on a poseball and slexed? If so, with whom? 😀
Zed: NO.

Well after THAT answer I thought I should just shutup. LOL! A big thank you to Zed for giving me the honor of not only taking his picture but for also gracing my blog. Thank you very much Mr. Linden! <3

And this is what Zed is wearing:
Skin – Muism – Jacob (Mocha) (marketplace)
Ears – Drot – Size 00 Stretched Elf Ears (marketplace)
Perfect Hair Forever – Drot – The Tommy (Chocolate) (marketplace)
Eyeballs – Fashism – Sunrise Silver & Blue #3 (XL) (marketplace)
Necklace – Kosh – Multiplex Necklace (marketplace)
SLexy T-Shirt – Kosh – Starry V-Neck (marketplace)
Jacket – +grasp+ – Leather Biker Jacket (Black) (marketplace)
Hott Pants – …Scars… – S’s Design Zip Pants (Wine)
Shoes That You Can’t Even See – Jeepers – Oslo (Black) (marketplace)

Poses
Pic #1 – MADesigns – Confidence #8 (marketplace)
Pic #2 – Del May – Rain On My Face
Pic #3 – Long Awkward Pose – Shy Guy #2 (marketplace)

Location – Club Nine