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
…but then a flower begins to bloom inside your pocket…
A Flower Pocket Garden
In the dark and quiet moment of a rainy morning, There is some sunlight to be found inside my heart, And although I’ve encountered much that’s disappointing There are still some miracles that set a day apart.
The planned things, have their value and their order So solid and secure with each week mirroring the last, But then a flower begins to bloom inside your pocket, Where you never thought to find it, as you sowed your seed on grass.
If you carefully reach in and touch the petals and the stem, You will see it’s as real as those well-known gardens pruned before you, Where rose bushes do not change and marigolds are playing with light, This flower is impossible, yet it lives to let you know you’ll make it through.
Love shows itself sometimes in brash and boasting elegant bouquets. It comes with chocolate candies and cards and midnight dates. But on those rainy mornings, it might come in such an unexpected way, by flowering in your pocket, bringing hope of an unseen better fate.
Not sure how to begin this post without sounding like I am blowing a very blaringly immodest horn, but really I just want to share the miracle..that somehow fate made me a “builder” on the virtual alternative and growing world of Kitely- Virtual Worlds on Demand.
Kitely Worlds Showcase
I have told this story and several variations of it before, over the past two years. I “blame” my sudden impulse to create virtual worlds on my friend and mentor DB Bailey.
DB (David Denton Architect in RL) who is always ahead of just about everyone,and invited me to come see a world he was building on a place called Kitely, that at that moment was in beta testing, and was inviting people to come create anything they wanted at absolutely no cost.
Dogwood by David Denton
I will include here a small machinima I made for DB and this world (in my very primitive and novice style) below:
Now, two years later, I have many worlds that I created on Kitely, and Kitely has grown up and out of beta testing stage, and has begun its metamorphosis into a thriving virtual community (Complete with its own Marketplace.) Yesterday I got an email from one of my oldest friends on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand, Lawrence Pierce who is owner and creator of “Serenity Island,” one of the most beautiful worlds to be found there, telling me about the creation of a Welcome Center and a place that housed and Showcased some of the more interesting worlds.
Lawrence Pierce’s “Serenity Island”
Below I will do a bit of my own Showcasing and show you some more of my favorites too:
“Transgenia” by Daniel Hoffman.
Daniel also paid my world “Float” a visit and we struck up a friendship.
Mat Mahogany, another Kitely friend, who is a real builder has some great worlds to explore.
“Butterfly Cove” by Mat Mahogany
The most loved creator perhaps (surely in my book)has to be Linda Kellie because her hundreds- closer- to -thousands of very useful and beautiful merchandise was given away freely to everyone in her Mall and other locations. Before Linda, I had to invent my clothes, my furniture, and my everything, and she was the first to say, “Here, use any of this if you like” to the whole virtual community at large. I love that kind of pure generosity.
Thank you Linda Kellie!
“Evergreen” by Devokan Trust is a nice steampunk serene atmosphere to explore:
“Evergreen” by Devokan Trust
Now… to the immodest boasting part… Lawrence Pierce said he was very happy to find along one side of the showcase area, an entire wall of my worlds.
A wall of frenzied inspiration...
There they were, sure enough, when I came in today to see the installation. Five worlds, five obsessive passions of a poet who never thought she could build, and yet on Kitely she went almost crazy building one themed installation after another. I give them to you below:
“Between The Profound and The Profane”
“Beyond Sebgram X-99”
“Deeper”
“Deeper” has its own crudely but lovingly made machinina too, which you can see below”
“Float” my personal dark favorite
My last world along the wall is this one below. It was my 2nd build, and also one of my more “normal… less dark and more romantic ones”
“Water and Glass”
“Water and Glass”
I want to thank Ilan Tochner, CEO of Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand and my very first friend more than two years ago too, for the honor of including 5 of my worlds (I have created 8 in all) in this tasteful exhibition of a selection of public Kitely worlds at the Welcome Center. The whole installation is serene and well done, and I invite you all to come see it and wander over to the Kitely Worlds Showcase and visit and click on one of them to teleport to it and explore. I promise you, if you can make a prim, it would be worth your while to get your own world, and let your imagination out to romp and play. I did…and look what happened:)
Just Click here to go to Kitely Welcome Center Openyour eyes inside the virtual...You’ll never close them again:)
Well, of course I was titillated by the idea of a “Sharknado”… combining a couple of humanity’s worst fears into a near-perfect storm and a very silly, exaggerated, but entertaining movie. After getting hold of a copy and watching it (Don’t ask!) I was inspired to try to do something, but wasn’t sure how to approach it when Nat came through with her own version of a group of sharks spinning counter-clockwise in a quick rotation.
Dancing with sharks..keep your legs in!
So being a non-builder, but a clever work-arounder, I faked the rest, and now there is an amazing Sharknado spinning ominously out in my Bay. It actually looks not bad, and my point of this post, is to invite you to see it. You will land at the lighthouse, which is also the gateway to a pretty nice and romantic underwater area, I have carved out below.
Hop off the dock and explore underwater..but do heed the sign!
I am also proud to announce we have a shark cannon, that shoots sharks of course, but not at them, just using them as cannon balls (no sharks are harmed) and that is thanks to Dale Innis.
Plus we have the very trending-now..”Indonesian Walking Sharks” that might walk up a hill under your watchful observation. Just keep an eye out they don’t walk under your chair.
evolving right before your eyes….
Last but certainly not least, as it is a whole sim of sharks, I invite you to come to my world on Kitely, “Float” and float with the sharks at night in the middle of the ocean. If you never have been to Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand, this could be a very memorable introduction..a heart palpitating experience, to be sure.
Jump in a boat and float.
You land in the middle of a shark-infested ocean…
Let the nightmare begin… on Float…
So, as you see Shark Week goes on and on in my virtual worlds. If you happened to not have gotten enough of it, please come anytime and partake in my contributions to the theme. Here are two landmarks you can use for visiting.
The river moves downstream, silver liquid, self replenishing, bleached white foam, surfs the baby waves. It is the way. Pulling anything that frees itself from shore,
It is the only way.
Downstream…. over moss rocks, crystalline transport, birds call, wind rises, every leaf and branch slightly sway. It’s on its way. It knows things that I once knew but having stayed on shore too long they’ve been forgotten. . Benign hypnotic burbling, no flash floods of surprise and mud, this moment is only about filling the air with gentle roaring, lullaby of movement, like Life itsel,f liquid fluxing carrier, all onwards downwards, downstream. It is the way, making its way down. “Don’t resist the ride” it shouts at me above its roar, “You’re no gray slate boulder or sun’s hot plate, clinging to shore, not rock foundation digging in and holding on, nor a wet sleek bullet of underwater resistance. “Let go and float, without filling your pockets with self defeating stones that shorten your journey and plant yourself in pebble- bottomed tombs. Your destiny is waiting in the stream; it’s not the way, no river grave your doom” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hear the constant burble burble and now I’m letting go, floating, orbiting, a non -bursting bubble. It is my way, taking me downstream. If I am well- constructed from the elements, If I am made for buoyancy, then easy be my watery passage left. It is the way, this way on river’s ceaseless quest, to float in free repose, downstream, infused by spirit’s breath. To know that I’m expected at the river’s open mouth where I will be, in waiting seas spit out, welcomed then to fathom’s cold mysterious blue, swallowed up so gently now by death’s own brackish truth.
Karima Hoisan published 2008 Costa Rica
*Footnote: This is an older one, but today I thought again about the ceaselessness of rivers
“I clawed you out of clay, ingrata…” (Painting “Renacimiento” by Isabel Hermano)
Clay Baby
I clawed you out of clay ingrata; you were the first lost grail on the bottom of the well, nebulous, unborn, a golden nugget, caked in mud, only living in my mind. I passed you my secrets of heaven, warned about the fast track to hell, and shared the arcane, even some knowledge of the angels. I gave you eyes..to see creation, which was my point, in all of this.. creating recreating creation. I hope you did not misunderstand. Why create if no one’s there to see it? Is not the reward of creation,
justone true appreciation? Now you can do that too, build worlds from dreams and half formed visions. Don’t be ungrateful, I gave you all the tools, Clay baby.
So stop trying to know what I know. There are just some things not meant for children who play in dirt to understand. You have done so well, yet failed in your compassion. Maybe there’s still time to get it right. Don’t take for granted one more sunset, one more birth, or one more death, or tide. I know you wish to know some more, but secrets keep you going. Stop playing my role, and when you see the world around you bright and pungent, strange and ever-changing, just take a minute out and let me know. From your birth you were endowed to be the spoiled prodigal of it all. Find, your medium, find your love and try to find your place. I watch you sleep, I am always The Always Awake… Clay baby.
Digital Rabbit Hole 