Celestial Elfis one of my favorite machinina makers. From telling Druid tales, or maybe the day of the dead, to saving all trees, his style, voice, choice of music and machininma magic is so easy to recognize and love. I fall bewitched into film after film. Sooooooooo… when I logged into Second Life (according to me for a few minutes) I was swept up by an invitation from Elf that I couldn’t refuse, “Hi Karima I’m just finishing a film and Natascha said she can drop over to help……”That is how minutes later I found myself face to face in a stand-off with Nat..a very new look for both of us (winks)
That Henkie Troll on the left is Nat and I am “The Toadman”
And here is the finished film. Thank you Elf for including me in your very important tale.
As he explains,
“Britain’s trees are under unprecedented threat from new pests and diseases. We are asking people to help us identify trees that might have problems – particularly ash, oak, horse chestnut, pine or spruce trees – so we can find out more or take appropriate action. ( http://bit.ly/HEnNAE )”
Read more about it on YouTube (also see our names in the credits:) Leaps up and down and claps wildly pointing below to the Video..Enjoy!!
Natascha and I were invited to participate in this very important event held at “Galerie Artemis” in Second Life on Tuesday November 19th.
Nat wearing a T-shirt that was given at the event
Many illustrious gatherers were present
There comes a time when you have to leave…
“Window on a Train”in its Spanish version“Ventana en un Tren“ was chosen as one of the machinimas shown in this artistic event dedicated to Stopping Violence against Women. It was very well-attended, and I counted almost 60 avatars present, which also made it a little hard to get some pictures. I will include some taken there by Natascha and a few of mine and of the hard-working Duna Grant, one of the organizers, who invited us to show our film.
I willinclude the official description of this event and some of the artists involved. “Kicca Igaly Elros Tuominen ( Antonio Alza ) Gregory Kappler HOLALA Alter ( Julio Juste Ocaña ) Karima Hoisan & Natascha Randt LeMelonrouge Francesc Mary Wickentower Noke Yuitza Yesikita Coppola
The lost freedom of battered women is the theme proposed to different artists, that develop it, each one of them giving a very personal vision of what it suggests to them. Kicca Igaly has built an installation that will serve as a hall for the presentation of the machinimas that speak in images, in some cases also with voice, about the main topic for this year. Kicca Igaly also presents an explanatory text, which complements her work:
a poignant scene from Ventana en un Tren
kicca igaly ..Nat and I in the background
Libera… finally libera! Di decidere di non subire più la sopraffazione di un uomo violento… Di decidere e gestire la propria vita… E per mano a suo figlio, abbandona quella casa-prigione, lasciando un uomo sconfitto, che lancia un ultimo gesto di vano richiamo. Free … free at last! Deciding not to suffer more the oppression of a violent man … Deciding and manage his own life … And holding the hand of her son, leave the house-prison, leaving a defeated man, that launches a last gesture compartment of recall. The machinimas, mostly made for this event and therefore unpublished, belong to artists from different countries, Spain, France, Luxembourg, United States, Peru, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica & Germany, in an attempt to, on my part, transform this important world problem in an international act too. Not only women are sensitive to this social scourge. Many men also want to denounce it. Hence, besides being international, my call to them and their positive reception, has resulted finally in the exhibition that Galerie Artemis will present. I want to thank once again, all who organized and participated in this very vital and timely event. Let’s learn to love and leave the violence behind us!!
Barbie Alchemi and her mother Fran Seranade are featured in this amazing “Drax File” machinima episode, showcasing special stories of Second Life. They are the life force of an inspiring sim that has done so much for so many suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. This movie moves me deeply. If you know nothing about Second Life, or what is possible here, I think you will be amazed, and if you already, create, live and are part of our community, you will feel proud to form part. I gave a poetry reading there in January and was very happy to contribute my words to the vision. See Reading at Creations for Parkinson’s. Nat made a great film of DB Bailey’s instalation there too a while back. DB has Parkinson’s and creates the most engaging and artful spaces on their sim. See: Advice To A Flower Thank you all for making this! I say no more. Just watch it!
You can send me a message from the train, that carries you past rivers from the window, a car filled with people saying nothing, where low whispers draw out the frowns, and a laugh is charged with capital punishment as no one should speak to strangers, or they will be stared down by the dead people who go into the city.
I will not embarrass your daily role that packs you into moving dioramas, where you sit in silence, silence being the golden token and go missing in the back streets of your memory. Getting lost in private thoughts that as yet do not offend them, youwatch those graffiti-spiced retaining walls go by…go by…go by. You are on both sides of the glass, the curator and the curated, so it might be o.k. to message me, on your way to the chocolate factory.
(Ask any woman who remembers having contact with horses when she was growing up. A horse can be a girl’s first love!.)
As I said in my past post, this video marks a perfect dozen for Natascha Randt and I.
I think once again, and at the point when we are almost done, but not quite, those small details seem very important, and yet somehow we miraculously agree so easily on the changes. It’s not easy for Natascha to “render it all again one more time, 10 more times! Yet, there are moments I feel we are looking out of the same eyes. It’s such an odd sensation and Nat says, “Ha! I knew you would say that.” She knew because she was thinking it too, and I always marvel at this post-pro stage, where it just comes together as a truly finished product, how easy it is for us to agree. I give so much of the credit to her, as I know that normally machinima filmmakers are total loners, who rarely would allow someone else to give their opinion , especially at that last stage.
We have people to thank too:)
No matter how weird the task we give to RAG Randt our Blender Sculptor in residence, he comes through. He confided to me he has been called this before (less euphemistically) but had never made one, when we asked him to make us a nice “horse rear” (like in rear-end not rear-up)
Thank you RAG for our horse – hindquarters & Dale for getting that tail to flick just right
Then Dale Innis, our scripter in residence, took it up to his secret laband fooled around a few nights on getting a tail to move to the same rhythm as a boot.
We called upon our magic screen couple, Shesa Quandry & Gamma Infinity who demonstrated a high level of on-screen chemistry, to play dual roles in both two-legged and four-legged parts. Dale tended bar in her elegant style and also galloped like the wind. All I had to do was sit on a bar stool and swing my boot, and then rear up and lead the herd, but Natascha..oh my, Natascha had the tricky multi-tasking role of totally transforming herself into the exotic dancer and a black wild stallion who held a Space Navigator to film it all while she ran. We hope you will like the finished product of this collaborative wave of creativity.We give you our latest passion,
“Drink Me With Your Eyes.” “Our eyes are the window of desire; so powerful they can make horses grow restless in the night. When all is sublime innuendo, it can spark a spontaneous stampede.”
Please watch in HD and Fullscreen for the full experience and as always comments are very welcome here or on YouTube..or…both Enjoy!
I will include the poem with its small translated parts below. I am hoping Nat will also tell her side of the production. Here is Nat’s blog post on it too in German: Drink Me With Your Eyes This idea, the poem, and the music were born on a sublime musing about sensuality one night in Second Life. Our virtual world continues to inspire all kinds of musings that hopefully will translate into music, poetry, and with Nat’s help, machinima.
Drink Me With Your Eyes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A tiny Spanish feeling
A bolero and a glass
Un bolero y un vaso (a bolero and a glass)
A bolero and a glass
Cocktail of East and West
Poured into this dress
Gesticulating, swaying saying, “Drink me with your eyes”
“Solo con tus ojos.” (only with your eyes)
“Drink me with your eyes”
“Solo con tus ojos.” (only with your eyes)
“Drink me in.”
The horses tied up to the fence
Their tails flicking on the breeze
The horses tied up to the fence
Their tails flicking on the breeze
Las colas de los caballos (the tails of the horses…
Me recuerdan tanto de ti …remind me so much of you)
Las colas de los caballos (the tails of the horses…
Me recuerdan tanto de ti…remind me so much of you)
When you were in your dance
Bailaste solo por mi (you danced only for me)
Your dance was just for me
Bailaste solo por mi. (you danced only for me)
And the horses grew impatient
They wanted to be set free
And the horses grew impatient
They called to us to set them free. And we freed them all that night
Against the crashing sea
And they galloped down the shoreline
Their tails dancing on the breeze
Las colas de los caballos (the tails of the horses…
Me recuerdan tanto de ti… remind me so much of you)
A tiny Spanish feeling
A bolero and a glass
Un bolero y un vaso ( a bolero and a glass)
Las colas de los caballos (the tails of the horses…
Me recuerdan tanto de ti… remind me so much of you)
“Drink me with your eyes”
“Solo con tus ojos.” (only with your eyes)
“Drink me with your eyes”
“Solo con tus ojos.” (only with your eyes)
“Drink me in.” Karima Hoisan
June 29, 2013
LINC Island SL
It started out as stone, with the Sculptor peering in the window a stone- piece placed upon a board, a game of chess, and a bit of unsure give and take while waiting for a train. It takes time for stones to smooth in waves or gifted hands; it takes the patience of an Artist to carve a masterpiece, from stone… from only stone.
Oh the chiseling had its painful parts along with aching joy, skilled fingers leaving gashes, excess caution tossed away. The slab was smaller now and it began to shine and then refine, with just one blow so carefully placed, it broke right into two. Two from one were fashioned, as the Artist’s vision grew, and many angles tried and cast aside, to see the two align.
Oh the thinning had its painful parts along with aching joy, to place them on the edge would be to invite them both to fall. So delicate, as if blown by breath, how quickly they would shatter. There was nothing left of stone, just glass, transparent, and reflecting. If one fell on top the other, it would be the end of both, so vulnerable and sheer, and they became like precious jewels, when moonlight rose to hold them.
The Artist was their owner and he chose to put them far from harm. He hid them in His chess game, with the board so firmly on the table. Most people looking in would not even be aware that they were there. Stable in the center of the table, they were outside the game that was being played, hidden in plain sight, two crystal figurines that would cry and sing with just a finger running down their middle. How could it be, they were once made from stone? from stone… from only stone.
Proud to tease you with this little appetizer to enjoy while you are waiting for the main course (in the next few days hopefully) This video makes 12, a perfect dozen, collaborations that Randt & Hoisan have produced.
The Randt & Hoisan Team (L-R Hoisan & Randt)
Natascha and I are “The Team,” We are The Visualizer and the Vocalizer (Vi & Vo) and we love making videos together. We continue to do so, because we have a small but very loyal audience who believes in us, and watches them and seems to enjoy them. We hope this teaser will wet your appetite…It is our first sensual and bi-lingual film…. Watch it here, and let us know....
One of the great things about having an International film partner (Natascha Randt-Germany) is that every once in awhile, I get to partake in Music, Art and festivities, I would normally not even know about in Second Life. This Friday, October 18th at 1:30pm-2:00pmslt, Nat is hosting a 30- minute segment of the very popular and well-attended ” Festival der Liebe” (Festival of Love) lovingly referred to as “FdL” She has built a great little movie theater in one of her hangars up at her airport, on skybox level of my sim, LINC Island, and will be addressing a group of enthusiastic film buffs and interested spectators, about a few of our combined projects, specifically, “Follow Me!” and “Blur” If time permits, she is planning on showing a teaser of our soon-to-be-released, “Drink Me With your Eyes.” which will be coming to YouTube soon (as soon as two perfectionists like Nat and I think it is finally ready *smiles)
Sohi Moo, organizer of FdL, in rez with Nat and I onlooking…
FdL is a German event of culture and art in virtual worlds. The theme of this year’s event is “Pixel Thoughts”. Organized by Brennende Buchstaben and SecondRadio, it takes place in Second Life and the Metropolis Grid from the 17th – 21st of October, 2013. There are readings (mostly in German, naturally) concerts and exhibitions. Every 30 minutes you can meet another artist. Born in 2011, this year marks the third FdL event . The idea behind it, besides entertainment, is to meet other artists and organizers and get fresh ideas, perhaps even work together on new projects. All artists present their own work, novels, pictures, compositions, art, comedy, short stories and so on.
Natsker’s Hot Pink Phantom F-4 with my little desert FrogFoot in the background at Hangar Kino
Nat’s sleek shark-nosed Phantom F-4 and my little desert-toned FrogFoot parked just off the runway at Hangar Kino will welcome you when you arrive above. Vi & Vo Line -Visualizer & Vocalizer (Nat & I:) born on our last project “Window on a Train” is still alive and well and graces the Hangar Cinema. Come and join us. Wear a translator and enjoy all of it to the fullest.
More information on Nat’s blog post (in German):
Here is your private Lear Jet which will take you to Ground Level on LINC Island. Just use the Tp to get to the airport above (or holler to Nat or me, and we will bring you up personally…. but just come and enjoy The Festival of Love on LINC! Private Lear jet for FdL
Here are a few follow- up photos. It was a great event, 26 were present and all enjoyed Nat’s presentation and our movies.
Wouldn’t you know, it poured…..
It let up…just in time, and the audience was nice and dry.
Suspend! Hang from me for just a few moments. Suspend your disbelief; of course I’m here! There might be an infinite pile of pieces but you’ll know mine, by the smell, the shape, the attitude. You could find me in a flooded river and I would be that log on which you cling. You could find me in the blackest night; drop down and extend your arms, I’m that glow before you on the road. You and I, we make the picture complete. I’m sure we were the last two pieces the puzzler kept inside his chest… right next to his infinite heart.
Sometimes ideas are born without even thinking about them. This one was, and I want to share it, because I think it might have an easy universal appeal. It’s a win-win-win kind of thing. Everyone wins, and directly two will know why, and one, will just see it as some good luck. Sooo….you have someone who is having a birthday, or a special holiday, or a commemoration, and you want to acknowledge that. Gifts that run in the $5-$10 range would be considered pretty cheap, and perhaps not worth giving. You might have to go out and shop for something a lot more expensive, and they might already have two of them, or not really like it or have one put away in the closet. I can assure you this gift idea would not have that problem, and it costs only between $5-$10. It’s all up to you. Here are the steps: 1. You take a bill from your local currency, inside that price range and you write (depending on the occasion for the gift) “Happy birthday So and So and to the one who finds this Good Luck” 2. Take a picture of the bill with the inscription and after step 3, send it to the one you dedicated it to. 3. Go into your town, and stealthily (so no one will give it back to you) let it drop on the sidewalk….and keep on walking. That’s all there’s to it. If you are in France, write it in French, in the USA..well leave your message in English. The important thing is: Whoever finds the bill will be happy. They will read it out of curiosity and they will wish your friend a…. “Happy Birthday” “Happy Anniversary” “Merry Christmas” etc. Somehow this random inter-connectedness feels so beautifully Cosmic, almost like a singing telegram, because a smiling stranger, or should I say, “yet-unknown-friend” will happily say the greeting! A $5 bill found on the ground is worth more than $5. It is worth the positive thought that “This was their lucky day” It’s random, and maybe some more deserving people will find it than others, but that is not the point. All who find it (deserving or not:) will be happy and will say the greeting with good cheer and a smile on their face. When you send the picture, just say where you dropped it and that is the whole gift. I include one I did in Spanish in my town, for a friend ( I erased the name here to protect anonymity:) who had a birthday. He really appreciated his gift and also did one on his own..and this is how it can spread. If you get one, give one..and pass it on. They make great thank you notes too:)
For _____ on his birthday and who finds it, The Luck” (5000 colones=$10)
For ____…and for who finds it”
The inscription can be what you want it to be, just make sure the person finding the bill, realizes it was a premeditated drop. The rest is up to beautiful random fate! Let me know if you like the idea…and if you do, let me know when you do one:)
Darauf habe ich das gekritzelt: “Für Papa Du hast mich gefunden! Das war der Plan, ein kleines Stück vom Glück.” Then I scribbled this: “For Dad You’ve found me! That was the plan, a little piece of happiness. ”
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Anyone else? I will add them here whenever you send me an image or a blog post
Digital Rabbit Hole 