The Eye of The Universe by Selenada at deviantArt.com
In our matrix, I’m so thankful for everything…the food that came and went, your hand upon my head, the crowds, that new car smell or new baby breath. Even if we prove some day this is just a Matrix play; the parts we play are pre-ordained, I’m thankful I got mine to play, sometimes over and over until I almost got it right.
Any day is good; is good to remember that nothing should be taken for granted. All is a gift, whether you think it dropped in like a meteorite
or had your name penciled on the wrapping. With a plan or without, we make our small outlines that turn into a life.
We make people smile and cry and they lie to us and we to them, and the big if :
If we’ve learned some compassion, we both comfort each other.
If we didn’t interact or intersect could we say we had a life?
Nothing is not in movement..nothing..and we move forward remembering the past. If as they say this is a great multi – player computer game,
I hope the controller falls in love with all of us..and plays incessantly
day and night… night and day.
What seems impossible to bear is made bearable
because we’ve learned to love andforgive, been loved and forgiven. I’m so thankful that I travel light, no heavy resentments,
no oldie – moldy suitcase full of bitterness and envy. Even with the bad – luck times, scraping the bottom, gasping for breath, with all my mistakes, 10 degrees of pain, and the ones left crying in the wake…
Giving thanks, I would do it all over again.
With Mal Burns and Tara Yeats-on Inworld Review Photo by Dale Innis
Yesterday I was invited by Mal Burns to participate in his Inworld Review on SL television. I want to thank my friends who came to show support, and especially to Nat who stayed up way past her bedtime(in Germany) to be there until the very end. It was a long show (2 hours 30 minutes) packed with lots of information about Opensim with focus on business, social topics, and art. I will embed the whole show below, and if you have the time, check it all out, but if you are interested in seeing my part of it, I speak at the end starting at about minute: 1.47.20 (1hour 47 mins) I was flanked by Winter Silversmith, Maria Korolov,Mal Burns,Tara Yeats, and Petlove Petshop. It was lots of fun and very educational to be part of this show, and I want to express my sincere thanks once again To Mal for inviting me. Enjoy!
So, on my SL profile’s first page, among other short little quotes of mine, it says, “Hi I’m Kari a soul-infused avatar Sl is a world for me and not a game.:)
I wrote thatalmost 7 years ago, and it was my way of saying that I saw SL not as something unreal but as an alternative reality. Even if you don’t go as far as to believe in a soul, then let’s say conscience, personality+morality, something that humans have (or should have) and we infuse all that in our avatars.They have our thoughts, our beliefs, our talents and sociability and they represent us on every level because we are the ones who breathe life into them, otherwise they are just….. an NPC( a Non-Player-Character) Meet “Let’s Dance my first NPC.
“Let’s Dance” (her name not just an invitation)
I feel sorry for her.
She is on an endless dance-loop, an endless salsa routine at my little under- the over-pass Dance Club on my Kitely world, “The Hudson Line” just waiting for someone to dance with her.
She has nothing more inside and maybe it’s me, but I see her as more vapid than I could ever look. She is my clone, an NPC copied directly from me and thanks to Nara Malone’s Video and free gift at her world’s landing, I created her.
Now I am having “moral misgivings” 😉 Well, I am kind of serious here, but not totally..still there is something a bit creepy about watching yourself dancing one dance into the next and never knowing the “why ” of her/your existence. I guess the why (on my end) is she is a great Greeter etc etc. but I am wondering if that is enough for her?
So00, I am now pursuing the training of a Chatbot on Pandora’s website at least to give her the gift of gab and maybe who knows, meet someone who likes to text a soft spoken salsa dancer and anything could happen from there:) If you have an Opensim world and are interested in causing yourself this great “dilemma” or if you are not as prone to looking at life as melodramatically as I do, you might find the idea of NPC’s to be very interesting(albeit weird) and functional on your worlds. Thank you Nara for making this video I will embed below and also for offering us the free gift to make our own, You too can be a Dr Frankenstein in only minutes… “Its ALIVE and it looks just like Me!!” The NPC! Here is how to get to Nara’s World (from Opensim) and find your NPC poseball located in a gift box by the landing zone atworld.narasnook.com:8900
Keep exploring, learning, having fun. That’s what virtuality is all about!
Nina Camplin-Fuschia is Over The Moon on Vector’s Vortex (Fuschia Nightfire)
Isn’t that a gorgeous picture!! (points up)
Yesterday I had the opportunity to host the HG (Hypergrid) Safari and it was an amazing experience for me in many ways. First I had never maxed out a dance ball on Kitely (25 dancers) and second I never had so many visitors all at once (between 28 and 30) but the world was incredibly stable and not laggy and the tour kept sending people up smoothly. I was honored to have such a great group of explorers, artists, creators of all kinds, and just very good people on Vector. Everyone it seemed had a great time, and it was a good stress test for Kitely as a grid. We passed with flying colors. I will include a few more pictures from Nat and myself and Thirza’s blog post url to read our local chat when we said “Adios.”
Thirza has more information on her blog post about how to join the Safari in future weeks. I can’t wait for next week’s destinations!
Vector’s Airarium was a very popular attraction Photo by Nat
Yours Truly…Photo by Nat
Elevator-Going Down…
Cosmic Salsa
I hope to host the HG Safari again..on one of my other worlds, but the Vortex was a great place to host such a multivirtual group of travelers… Was a true honor to do so.
Here is a great piece on the whole Safari (all three destinations) by Thirza: Safari Spanks The Vortex
and another post by Nat in German with some artistic photos (post Gimp): Die Hypergrid Safari Enjoy!
Another monumental day for me in my 7 year history of virtuality…I joined the very cool Hypergrid Safari conceived and promoted by avatar Wizard Gynoid and populated with so many artists and creative people that I have admired through out those 7 years in Second Life…but we are moving beyond the separations of individual Opensim grids as we watch it transform into a virtual multiverse, a very cozy-friendly, wild,artistic and neighborly extended barrio we can all explore and visit.
We started showing up at 12PST and by the end I counted 30 plus participants
We landed at Futurelab Sandbox where we visited “Insanity” by Cherry Manga and Art Blue on the Metropolis Grid. The picture below says it well..and there was a play presented, sounds, music, speaking, chat lines..It was surprising for me and wonderful and I just sat in a chair, riding a beam of light and tried to take it all in. It was sitting room only and some had to play musical chairs. This was week 25 and it was obvious how popular these Safaris have become. Where had I been the last 6 months??
A wild set, perfect for a highly surreal theatrical experience of “Insanity”
I even saw a helicopter that flew..I felt like a 10 year old girl at her first World’s Fair
Because of some crashing and time restraints I did not get to go to the other planned destinations… but I am hooked:) Thank you Thirza for inviting me and Wizard for planning these Safari Adventures. Next Wednesday I am honored to host the Safari for part of their travels on my own Vector’s Vortex on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand. I hope you all will come and take the ride up through “endless dark space” to Vector’s secret poetic/scientific platform. For my SL readers (most of you) take a chance and see how much bigger our virtual continents have become..
This address will get you there if you are coming from another Opensim:
grid.kitely.com:8002:Vector’s Vortex
or on the web:http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world/Karima-Hoisan/Vectors-Vortex
Vector’s Vortex on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand
“The Connection:” conceived and created especially for The University of Western Australia’s MachinimUWA Vll: Transcending Borders.
I’m going to be very honest here, I didn’t think we would be entering the prestigious machinima challenge this year, for many reasons, but resumed in a compound sentence, we didn’t feel that call to competition and I actually thought I might be judging this year, not entering. Fate has a way of pushing us one way or the other sometimes, when we are astride and trying to ride that fence line..”Should we?” Shouldn’t we?” but even I succumbed to the carrot of temptation, when I saw what the theme would be this year.
Nat casually asked me one day if I wanted to do a film with her for the UWA , and I said I was not really inspired. RL had pulled me out of virtual worlds a bit in 2014 and I felt my muse was not very strong, and I had slacked off on my poetry too. I said I couldn’t even imagine an idea we might do, when she dropped the carrot my way (usually I am tempting her with one in the other direction) by telling me “The theme is pretty interesting. It’s called, “Transcending Borders”
Boom! Some lights went off inside… but I still had no clear idea..what it would be about. I said, “Give me a few days to see if I can come up with an idea we both like, or feel free to be the one who does that, but it’s an interesting concept..so maybe…yes” The rest is history as they say… I realized we had a perfect story to fit the theme, but does one do stories like this? How to make the focus universal,. and not personal..etc etc. Still, all my inner voices were yelling, “Go for it”
I won’t go into details here, and maybe if you feel inspired to make comments, that would be a good place to talk more about the focus of our video within the theme. What both Nat and I really want, is for you to watch it… then we can talk:) But I do want to say a few things about the making of this one, number 15; that sometimes it proved too much for Nat’s software, and we had scare after scare and crash after crash.. After a particularly bad day..Nat sent me this photo..and I share it with you. I always use the metaphor that to hook Nat into our next project I need a nice juicy carrot..to lure her in (usually the first draft of a soundtrack and the idea) but this carrot almost choked her:) as it was Too Big for her outdated editing software:)
Hmmm….
.
We have been lucky in the past that somehow the Calvary gets sent in to save us in the nick of time..(last year we had a train movie, and the train wouldn’t move until about 2 weeks before deadline!)
This year was no exception.
So against all odds and some outdated software, and then the generosity of a friend and some new software, we can proudly present our film. This is our entry for 2014, but it is also our story, and our good luck for being able to make this connection.
I want to thank our graceful galloping horses, Shesa Quandry, Gamma Infinity, Dale Innis. Along with Nat and I, they kicked up splashes, drops and dust across the screen. Special thanks to my number one leading man, and number one villain, Odracir Wrigglesworth. Without all their help…we would have only an outline and some music, not a movie.
I will say one last thing…
I know the days of the blog are fading away. I have talked about this with other die-hard bloggers and we all agree. Facebook with its easy “Likes” has made all of us at times a more dumb-downed version of ourselves when it comes to giving and showing support and making comments on blogs.
It’s very easy to click a Like and walk away without even having to put it into words in your own head, for example: what you actually liked about it.
Please…take the time to really comment here or on YouTube, or even better both, if our movie made you feel something. Making a comment (because it does take time) is a really tangible gesture of generosity. I promise you, Nat and I will cherish what you have to say, even if you are critical, we want to know how our movie affected you. We read your comments, even years later. They stay and serve to inspire and re-inspire. A Like doesn’t last past the click:)
9000 kilometers apart… but this is our 15th video Collaboration.
We proudly take you behind the scenes of that connection Enjoy!
For those who would like to translate the narrative into another language ,
here it is below:
**************** we make it look easy… but its not… and it’s not about us… it transcends us… where we meet… there are no egos and no borders… there are no limits
We send thousands of typed words flying back and forth in fiber -optic English We send gigabytes of footage, megabytes of sound back and forth across the Atlantic Sea
This connection is outside of voice, outside our mother tongue Really.. I never heard her say (German for “That’s super!”) or (German for “That will never work” )
Tell me, what fence line, what border, what sky-high wall can stop imagination in flight?
What walls still exist, when we can break through age, religion, culture, location?
We trust each other and one idea sparks another
Not lovers in the conventional sense..we are creators In a world with no bodies, only minds, souls, hearts and imagination
There is a visualizer and a vocalizer without one or the other…we lose the magic In the virtual age where synergy reigns every creation is greater than the sum of its parts
Welcome to The Hudson Line by Karima Hoisan and Dale Innis! Even though there is still some tweaking and nip ‘n tucking going on, I think this new world is now presentable for the public’s (hopefully) appreciation. This project, was born from several conversations about commuting and loosely ties in with this poem I wrote last year entitled: Rivers From The Window. I find the subject interesting; day after day, going into the city, a routine that living here, in a small train-less town in Costa Rica, will never be revealed to me. Dale has more experience, and so he shared it with me, and I felt I came to know a little more about the route that led to the fantasy you can now enter there in 3D style. If anyone really knows this line, you will probably see very few things you actually recognize, and a giant monopoly board between Tarrytown and Riverdale, I am pretty sure does not exist;) but the main thing after all is said and done, is to make Art out of Life, and this installation tries to live up to this objective at least:)
Bird’s eye view from the fire-tower
Monopoly along The Hudson
Also, there is not really a fire-tower, which we brought in from Portland Oregon, but it is a great way to view the line, and pretty comfortably too. Lots of fun to climb up, and a little dangerous, as it is in the middle of a thunderstorm. I encourage all intrepid visitors to try.
Climb the tower for some great views
The main attraction is The Train..which actually runs, stops at different stations, and has an electrifying finale at the end-of the-line, so don’t stand up until you get there. It runs from Tarrytown into Harlem, and then descends into the tunnel at 125th Street.
Crossing the Harlem River
Once you have taken the 5-minute train ride, I invite you to walk around, and get a feel of the environment we created for that purpose. You can fish along the docks, read a few of my poems, have a picnic under the pines, or explore the little out of time and space cabin, that is diagonal from Yankee Stadium.
Gone Fishin…
I think I will say no more. Please come and visit it for yourself. This is a collaboration made for the sole purpose of sharing it with others. Dale and I both worked hard in our respected areas..Dale made EVERYTHING move including the train, (which was converted from an Arcadia Asylum passenger bus) and was the great bridge builder,(made an ethereal Tappan Zee Bridge) track “layerer”, and sculpt and texturer… I just added my part, and there are lots of sounds, and little movie clips and decor and odd ideas to embellish the feeling of it all.
The Welcome Sign! Please click for a notecard
As I say on the card: Please turn on media to play automatically and sounds. Each station platform plays a short video on the billboard there Set draw distance to 350 + Region default is early morning sunrise. Use the teleport in front of the sign to go to the train. Don’t forget to stand when you get to the end of the line
*A very special thanks to Arcadia Asylum and Linda Kellie for all their marvelous and free builds they share with everyone. Here is the address to take you there: The Hudson Line Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand HG @ grid.kitely.com:8002:The Hudson Line (for all you pioneering Hyper-gridders) Come Visit Soon!!
The gravel jumps up off the road in my personal polar shift. It hops and cavorts while springing higher and higher. I can only watch from the audience, as I am not the writer.
The gravel leaps into the air, a chorus line of fine-ground stone; the rhythm beats in crisp perfection, stretching to the sky. I sit in the first row of my eyelids, focused and mesmerized.
Sleep deprived, I create the scenery for some late- night show, that will play out in unconsciousness, when wondering why I dream. I ponder who writes them after-all, to cause this endless stream.
Then like a vision in hallucination, the milled stones turn to pines. Trees begin to morph from brown to green forming tall and rising, higher than rocks could ever yearn, they stand materializing.
I hold my breath, sweet vision? or bad symptom of my health rundown; I do not care. All is a gift as the trees cavort and jump to the gravel’s surge. Standing majestic in throbbing color, they exist, while the gravel’s being purged.
Should I worry as this continues on with trees becoming soldiers? Should I promise to sleep 8 hours nightly, in hopes I’ll never see another pine? Perhaps the soldiers darting through the trees and all in flux, could be that sign.
Maybe I will find the time to write dream-plots for every shifting scrim. Like a V.I.P in the balcony, I pull myself away, as sleep now comes a- crawling, with visions speeding on and up, I start to slip into a deeper dream that’s calling.
Digital Rabbit Hole 