Surfacing To Grab A Breath

Happy New Year and hoping this will be a really great one and not the End One..as some are predicting.. I am just naturally a more positive person and I think and feel that 2012 might be a lot better for all of us…in all ways, and I believe we will all live to celebrate a 2013 too.
I have been slightly absent again, because I am stuck out in the wilds of Kitely building a strange world that I will use for my next machinima poem. I am calling it “Beyond Sebgram X-99 and yes it is an alien landscape and sort of a poetic- adventure world. The building of the world which turns out in the end to be the sets for the film, is what takes the most time..but I think in a few days it might be ready. It is available to see under construction now as it is, and anyone is welcome to come check it out, although for it to make any sense you need to be able to see video and music streaming automatically. I have created a new “look” for this world too, and I give instructional 1 minute videos inside the world as to how to enjoy and also how not to be killed or maimed on Sebgram X-99 (or beyond) here is a picture of my character in bliss..so hopefully if you all follow her instructions, you can reach this state too *smiles. Come visit soon..take a chance and if you have never gone into Kitely, well try it, and come see what I am working on and take the “tour.”  “Beyond Sebgram X-99”

Bliss..even the ground is happy and moves

And then..when I can extricate myself from the moving plains of Sebgram, I find myself once again staying up too late for Tukso…and I just can’t help myself. I shot this photo, and thought it cool enough to share. So..please be a little patient and I hope to have a nice machinima/poem production sometime in the next week. Until then, enjoy the beginnings of a new year and think positively..2012 is going to be a winner and we are too!!

Tukso (our Red Hot Papa) Padula,Kari & Kiki (front row center) at dinah moez



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2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Karima @Tropical Reflections Thursday Dec.29 ~ 1pmSLT

A peaceful tropical setting for an hour of multi-media poetry

I hope all who can be in-world tomorrow, Thursday Dec. 29, at 1pmSLT will join me in the beautiful tropical setting of Costa Rica Sims for my reading this month of Tropical Reflections. I will be doing some new material, some original music, and some more complicated image changing, thanks to my dear friend and manager of Tukso Okey, Padula Bing ,who has offered to help me out, and will be working the photo screen.
As I think some know about me, I am a Costa Rican in real life, and was a resident on this beautiful estate in Second Life (more than 100 joined sims) for two years, so I always love to do a reading here, in a picnic atmosphere, pillows on the lawn, and warm breezes blowing across the venue. If that sounds good to you too, please join me tomorrow at 1pmslt for an hour of my best efforts to entertain you with my original poetry, some well selected music, and changing imagery.
Here is your taxi link (that if it happens to dump you underwater.. just fly up and follow the red beam of light please.. has been known to happen:) Taxi for Tropical Reflections
Hope to see you all there!

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“All I Want For My Rezz Day is Tukso Okey!!” Monday Dec. 26th 7pmSLT

Tukso Okey..a gift you would never take back to exchange! But you will bring him back again and again...

So..do you blame me?
If you think his picture is hot.. well honestly, his music is a gillion times hotter.
I know it has only been a few posts since I did one on this incredible performer, but I wasn’t even going to celebrate my rezz day more than fondly remember it,  sitting on the beach, drinking a cup of black coffee, and listening to the waves roll in, or maybe invite my sisters to come dance in our family cemetery of rogue lost loves…until I went to a Tukso show a few days ago, and this chant, this mantra began to fill my head and before I knew it, while I was ignitedly dancing in our now famous girl’s chorus line, I heard myself say over and over “All I want for my rezz day is Tukso Okey.”
Four years old and I am big enough to know what I like..what I love..I have 37,000 items in inventory (I know..shame on me) so I don’t “need”  anything else.. Not one more thing!
Things are material and therefore ephemeral..here today, forgotten about tomorrow, ahh but sharing one of those magical moments at a Tukso show, where he connects so personally with his audience (even throwing our chat back at us in a funky impromptu way) and we respond with outrageous 20- line Tukso gestures (because we are really feeling it..Really)..as the advertising slogan goes “Priceless” He gives us all his talent and boundless energy, his 27 minute riffs that keep building and driving, and we give him  back,  sighs and loving vows of loyalty and tears even, there were tears that day I was chanting my mantra,  over-the -top applause, and we let ourselves “feel his experience” because we are now part of his music, his magic and his family. We Are the experience.
So.. why would I want anything else for this, my fourth Rezz Day?
If you haven’t heard him yet, and think I just rant on and on because I am too lazy to go hear other musicians (smiles)…. well I bet you will change your mind after you hear him once. Nobody is coaxing or paying me to say this, I promise you, so if you haven’t heard him, this would be a nice opportunity, and help me come celebrate my happy Sl day. If you are a fan and therefore family already, please come to my Kantina del Mar on Monday night and feel the experience with us all. Monday is not about me, or my years in Sl, it’s about what still counts to me, being with friends and family and all sharing in an event we are blessed here in SL to be able to do…bathe in the magic and the charisma of the hottest, and as Menubar Memorial puts it “The most bad-ass musician in the 2 known universes” So I hope to see you all  here at my little bolero bar at 7pmSLT. Here is your taxi “Kari’s Kantina del Mar”
Because for my Rezz Day (sing it with me…) All I want is Tukso Okey!!

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*OOPS….Correction For My Subscribers on Email

I want to apologize to my readers who have email subscriptions. I had to take down the  first YouTube of my poem “Deeper” which appeared on the post before this one, as it was
only playing at 280 and the quality was so bad. This version seems a bit better, but my normal uploads and their format seems to longer be accepted by YouTube /Google. So…I give you the slightly better version at 360 and if you clicked and clicked on the other to no avail..I am sorry.. I give you once again a hopefully better rendition of “Deeper”…Enjoy!

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“Deeper”

I’m happy to present and share with you all, my newest video poem entitled “Deeper”
I at first thought this poem a little “creepy,” but I showed it to my dear friend, sim partner, and expert blogger, Happiness Merryman, and she said she found it lyrical and deep, not as creepy as my warnings had stated. I just know the subconscious as well as the bottom of the ocean, hold both fascination and terror for this woman, ever since she was a little nightmare- proned, destined -to -be- a- poet, waif in the jungles of Costa Rica.
I am drawn to the depths, and yet…..well I think my poem and this video says it better than I can in an introduction. I will only say a few more things. This machinima was filmed on my newest world I created on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand, and also on my earlier world of Water and Glass where I filmed two videos, “Water and Glass” and “Shooting Star” Deeper is sort of a small underwater journey through tubes and portals until you get to the… well the deepest part. Both worlds are public, free of charge and can be entered through these links:
Water-and-Glass or Deeper. I would love any intrepid grid hopper, and those who don’t yet know they are, to come and visit me. I will be happy to give you the royal tour.
I did use my new 3D Navigator Mouse , albeit sparingly, as there was a problem over the weekend (maybe my server end) of getting very erratic bandwidth and lousy fps. Ahh but when that gets cleared up, I can see it will be wonderful to use it full time.. So without further chatter on my part, I give you “Deeper” and as always I just hope you get comfy,  while you take five minutes out of your day..and Enjoy!!

“Deeper”

If thoughts could be held like prisoners,
I would hold mine back from walking too near the sea.
I would not allow them to break the rules, and be swallowed by the monsters
that always are pursuing them and me.
Immune,
I would sit in quiet satisfied complacency, and no
temptations or jeers or manipulations could break inside disturbingly.

I would not go down below the level of the ground
I would not go deeper… where there reigns only the unknown and its sounds.

I do admit the deep part has its draws as well as dangers,
confusion in the dark can be so inspiring at times
,
but I have seen the sorrowful mistakes with my unfocused eyes,
and felt the fear envelop me… so make no mistake

I do not wish descent as an escape,
and pray that sleep protects me from this unwelcome state.

Yes I know that way way down, there is some beauty to be found,
but I would not go down below the level of the ground.
I would not go deeper where there reigns only the unknown and its sounds,
where hideous creatures and their thoughts strive to reach their dream,
to catch me unaware with no vigil and no warning,
to come up swiftly from  underneath and when I least expect it...
and when I think I am the victor,
roar with all their power and… swallow me
.

Karima Hoisan
 Dec.19th, 2011
“Deeper” Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand

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Ahh December…A Month of Anniversaries and Milestones

It was four years ago this month, Karima was sitting, reading in her garden

 It was four years ago this month,  Karima was sitting, reading in her garden, most likely a book of verse, when someone said to her,
“I am watching the Discovery Channel on my television and they are talking about a strange virtual world, they call it Second Life.”
Luckily she was reading on her laptop (smiles) so she put in the address he told her, and before she knew it, she was yelling from the garden to the house,

“Oh what fun, I will make an avatar, and choose a name.
I am going to be “the girl-next-door model”
“What do you think of the name “Karima Hoisan”?

“Ha ha I am learning how to fly.”
“I just had a conversation with a parrot”
“This looks pretty amazing… Come see!”
I took the first photograph of myself, which would be the first of thousands, and not knowing how to use my camera very well, was a straight noob shot from behind.

and then I fell off of Avatar Island and landed on what would be my home..forever

 and then I fell off of Avatar Island and landed, on what would be my home…forever.
How many memories, tears, laughter, learning curves, creative flops and successes, loves, losses, dreams in windlight, frustrations, and moments of utter bliss, in these last four years?!! Family was born, and some were lost, friends were made, tested with time and they lasted..some left themselves  along the way, and didn’t make it to today, while some disappeared into the night, like fog.
If I had it to do all over again, I would in a heart beat.
Second Life  changed my life in way, that four years later I am coming to understand, and to harvest and collect the creative fruits, daily, monthly, yearly.
Then one year ago this month, an idea that was born almost in the first few weeks of my Second Life journey, was realized in the publishing of my first poetry book in world, entitled, “Digital Rabbit Hole” My publisher BellaLuna Galaxy suggested, no actually she insisted, I start a blog too at the same time, to promote my book,  announce my readings, or for whatever I might want to share with those who enjoyed my poetry. I could not imagine at the time, what I would ever say in a blog, and fought this idea, pretty insistently…until I lost. I was sort of like a SouthPark character walking away, mumbling to herself,
“Ok. Ok. I’ll keep a blog (grrr) Sheesh@!”
Now a year later, I look back so fondly, and see BellaLuna knew what I never could imagine, that a blog, takes on its own life, and through it, I have had so many incredible experiences, and inspirations, so many friends, who I connected with even more deeply by sharing my posts with them, and the whole year has been an amazing experience. I tried, sometimes less successfully than others, new things, new mediums for me and art forms. Stories were born, videos were made, and adventures were had.
If I had it to do all over again, I would in a heart beat.
I close with this video, the first ever made for me, by my friend Fidel, another Second Life jewel discovered when I wasn’t even looking for jewels. This was the promotional video for my official book launching on Galaxy Isle, and those who were there, will testify that we crashed the sim that day. Milestones and Memories of December! Thank you all for making my Second Life and this blog such a joyous experience for me.. Happy Holidays to you, and thank you for letting me show and share and learn to love you.


Thin Air

In this thin air of real life
Only duty can call me to return
For nothing is as glorious as a
Sunset in windlight,
Descending sphere we’ve come to love
Hypnotizing glow and burn.

Oh Second Life you swallowed me
Took me by surprise,
Creative rapture!
I am the willing victim
Of your virtual possession,
Digital rabbit hole…
How you enthrall then capture.

I dream in your reflecting colors
Of shifting shapes,
I weep to see so much beauty on your  shores,
And in the souls of
Some few special ones
I find I burst into
Emoting seeds and spores.

I stand in awe and let myself be moved.
Love here knocks , it calls in  many ways.
My door is always open
To your changing scenes,
My heart expands with each
Oxygen -rich day

I breathe you in,
Thick..
so full of life, spontaneous laughter
How thin the air above ,
all day the grey it makes me choke,
I almost lost the will to live
just could not see a why for it
‘Til I was rezzed upon your land
Oh, changed forever after.

Karima Hoisan
March 21,2008
Costa Rica

An excerpt from
“Digital Rabbit Hole”
copyright 2010 all rights reserved

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One Word Why I Sometimes Stay Up Too Late…TUKSO!!

Digital Rabbit Hole is not only about showcasing my poetry, and Second Life is not only about making films for me, it’s about having fun and about friendship..and a very important ingredient Live Music!! I sometimes get myself in a rut, and take it all too seriously and forget to kick out now and then and just enjoy it all. It is no secret that Tukso Okey is my favorite live musician in Second Life, and I have done several posts about him, (see back posts) When You Run With Wizards, Karima~Tukso ~The Mistaken Paparazzi~The True Story, Flux Capacitor by Tukso Okey and MenuBar Memorial, What Might Happen If , Tukso Tukso Tukso.
The night before last I missed a great show, that everyone was talking about so, last night, armed with a big cup of Costa Rican coffee, I decided to stay up past my bedtime to catch the 10pmslt Tukso show at Benelli’s Bar. If anyone is reading this who hasn’t had a Tukso experience, I say without any exaggeration, you are missing one of the best things you can do in Second Life…or any life. Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Just make a point of finding where he will be next and catch a show as soon as possible. Each one is a total original, and there is never one like the one before. So, when I arrived, the show was just beginning, and there was a group of guys in perfect sync, right below the stage, dancing to Tukso’s first song…

and the show was on!

and the show was on! I had no sooner rezzed, when I got a dance invitation from Kiki to join a pretty awesome Girls chorus line that was forming. I mean watching those Boys do their moves, inspired us Girls to show them ours, and the  battle of the chorus lines was now part of the show. As I said, every time Tukso performs there is a special flavor for each show, and this one was flavored in “Hawt &Sync” and as Shesa coined, we were the delicious “Tukso’s Tarts”

Eat your hearts out Boys....We have our moves too!

“Eat your hearts out Boys…We have our moves too!” But, the competition was stiff, and they showed us theirs,

Left To Right Taronn, Sandi, Misha,and Fadi

and we showed them ours…

From right to left Padula, Kiki, Karima, Shesa, and Stacie

Then they showed us theirs again…

While Tukso was showing us why he Is The Red Hot Pappa

 While Tukso was showing us why he Is The Red Hot Pappa, we were showing him why we loved to be his Tarts… It was one of those spontaneous, lose-yourself-in his music moments.

Every one was a winner in the battle of the Chorus Lines

Every one was a winner in the battle of the Chorus Lines and even a 5.0 Earthquake in my country (Costa Rica) right before it was over, only made me lose the sync a tiny bit..but quickly I was back tightening my line…and It was so much fun.. am I allowed to say that? That might not be the coolest term for blog writing, but Fun is what it was..and what it always is when Tukso works his magic…

Shepp and Wynn in the foreground, Girls and Boys in line

and all present at Benelli’s Bar were in agreement..

So, listen Boys, last night was a draw...

So, listen Boys, last night was a draw… a tie, but I don’t think Tukso’s Tarts will leave it at that… Right Girls?

So we challenge you to do your thing...and we'll do ours

 So we challenge you to do your thing…and we’ll do ours real soon. Now I better take  a nap to be ready to stay up late again, because Tukso is ALWAYS worth losing a little sleep over… Join the group, our Family and jump into the magic that this great performer brings.

* Here are some Links to Tukso Okey, his blogs and music just to “Spread Da Word”
http://www.nimbitmusic.com/tuksookey/ 
http://www.facebook.com/tukso.okey
http://www.youtube.com/tukso
http://tukso-okey.blogspot.com/
http://www.thesixtyone.com/tukso

**Kiki just slipped me this link, if anyone is interested in joining the chorus line, they can pick up their official Tukso’s Tarts T-shirt here, wear it to the next show and if Kiki is there.. she will invite you:)
 https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Harmony-Deschanel-T-Shirts-Tuksos-Tarts-BOXED/2952971




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“Chilled”

I know..I know..it has been two weeks since my last post, and that is very unusual for me, so I hope my loyal readers are still with me. Where have I been? I have been lost in the snowdrifts and glacier caves, and chilly ice-house rooms of a new world I am building on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand. Yes I am still in Second Life (about to turn 4 years old next month too) but I, who am not what you would call a builder that could pass a safety code in any virtual world, am now completing my third world here. Kitely, which is just about to take off and be officially ready and functioning, (it is in Beta at the moment) has now opened up the Public Worlds…to the public, and so I had even more incentive to get my latest one, entitled “Frozen Warmth” ready for open- house so to speak. If you would like to visit this frozen foreign land, just click on the link and it will start the entry process, http://www.kitely.com/virtualworld/Karima-Hoisan/Frozen-WarmthThere are a few things one must do, at first to get in, but they are easy and well -explained. After the initial downloading of a plug-in, it is no more than clicking on a url, and poof.. in a minute you are there. You can also find a list of who else is there you might know from Second Life or any life by opening the public world tab and seeing a list. Entry to my worlds is free of charge, so please feel free to visit and not worry about any charge . For a more detailed explanation on Kitely and what they offer, and how it is set up, click on their main webpage here Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand. I am excited about this possibility to create more than one world and not have to pay a fortune in tiers to do it. This opens so many possibilities, for creative people everywhere, and without mentioning specifics, I am seeing many names I know from Second Life, making their new worlds beautiful and amazing.
So, below is the first YouTube machinima poem I have filmed on my new “Frozen Warmth.” Not much warmth shows in the video, but you are invited to come and find those cozy places yourself, and sit by a fire for awhile. I want to mention just a few things about this latest machinima, the first being that I am hoping it will be my last one filmed with the hindrance of lack of mouse, and especially lack of 3D mouse. I have ordered one, and by the time it gets here, it might be Christmas, but eventually I will hopefully present much more polished and smoother versions of what it is I do in my videos. I think I probably will always have that “hand-held” camera look, but maybe a more fluid variety of  the same. I also want to share that I had once again written an entirely different score for these images, and when I put it together, I found, it did not move me at all..so I thought, “If it doesn’t move Me..imagine my readers and friends!…” and I threw it all out and started over again. I am much happier with the music I did settle on, and I hope you will agree, that it works with the poetry.
I want to give a special thanks to my SL sister Maria Vought, for sending me some amazing photographs, she had taken of glaciers in Alaska. I used them as textures too in building my world, and you will see them on the final credits.  A big thank-you to
The Freesound Project, that has an incredible vault of sounds for just about anything you can think of, under The Creative Commons Attribution. I now present to you my latest YouTube “Chilled.” I hope you feel it was worth the wait, and I promise to try not to go so long, in between posts. Just chill and enter into the world of ice and snow and broken hearts. Enjoy!!


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“Blood Red”

I am taking a small break from machinima filming, and just hoping to let my poetic muse run free, with no constraints or molds… free to run like the blood that is inside, in constant movement keeping us alive
When I was helping DB Bailey get his Stanford show together, I revisited his photo stream, (David Denton Architect Photostream) to download and then upload about eighty images to be shown. I am always moved deeply by these photos, but the favorite color group, the one I most resonate to, is the group of blood red. This is what these photos say to me, and I invite you to listen to my recording of the poem to the beautiful music of Era’s “E Lucevan Le Stelle”.  I know this is a little more complicated than a YouTube but please just click on this link below and hopefully listen to the audio .mp3 while you read along and let the illustrations transport you into the story. Enjoy!
“Blood Red by Karima Hoisan.mp3”    

The party and the passions got out of hand

Blood Red

The party quickly got out of hand, guests trampled the welcome mat as they ran out the door,
plates and glasses smashed and scattered, the bent and broken silverware lay strewn upon the floor,
tables tipped and over-turned, plumed hats sailed by like ruby leaves caught in a whirl-wind gust.
Oh, what was this riot really? Was it just about the ordinary human themes of sex and betrayal, jealousy and lust?

The city was a crimson fishbowl of transparent intrigue

The city was a crimson fishbowl of transparent intrigue, nothing could be hidden,  for few and far between were any solid walls.
Sunset was a time to warm up dreams and fantasies, to spy on neighbors, as they strolled the wide and open halls.
The archaic interwoven with the growing up, the innocence of new, this urban structure mimicked in almost every way, the residents inside.
Widowers stationed in their windows, lost to fantasies of youth, watched the flowing nubile fillies, going out for fresh air and a ride.

Hari Kana was a rose in bloom that walked the penthouse floors

Hari Kana was a rose in bloom that walked the penthouse floors, perfuming the very air around her, doing her daily chores, washing heavy carpets in a sink.
Just a servant of the household, just a girl with dreams of white embroidered wedding dresses, then later on
, some tiny pattering feet of pale blue or pink.
She never left the confines of this high perched loft of style, and the first rays of purple dawn, caught her working, scrubbing, serving.
Her unblemished beauty alone, should have gifted her a much more suitable life, taking Hari  far away from the drafty winds that blew, for she was so much more deserving.

Every day in fuchsia's morning light, he stood wrapped in the shadows of his room...

Everyday in fuchsia’s morning light, he stood wrapped in the shadows of his room, peering up through floors of glass to watch her day advance.
Hari Kana had caught his eye, he was obsessed with every move, he traced and followed her graceful steps, composing love letters in his head of sensual romance.
He knew she was a bit too young to care for him and those desires he had pounding in his loins and heart.
Her look would be of shocked surprise, if ever once declared, these day dreams through an open window, that made his blood-flow stop and start.

On Tuesday she took all the rugs and beat them with a whisk,for Saturday would be the party

On Tuesday she took all the rugs and beat them with a wire whisk,  for Saturday would be the party. The penthouse had to be in spotless, crisp perfection.
Her ruby lips were full and filled his opera glasses, lens pressed tight against his open eyes, now all he saw was their moist rosebud reflection.
She was so completely unawares, of the hours and hours that he spent, in quiet, focused, love-sick adoration, night and day.
Her mind now occupied its time thinking of a handsome boy, who standing in the open door, captured her heart as she signed for a package, before she sent him on his way.

When dreams collide instead of harmonize, the air turns dangerous with poison and revenge

When dreams collide instead of harmonize, the air turns dangerous with twists and timing, bad links are clicked into their place, and then are set in motion.
She imagined a waltz when no one thought to see what she was doing, perhaps outside the kitchen door, staring into stars and that young man’s magic eyes, the color of the ocean.
But the one who came up to her face, in the open archway, who timidly did greet her, was not the young man she had wished and dreamed for,
instead it was the towering figure of a large -set man who took this opportunity, and found himself invited to the suite where Hari Kana stood, receiving hats and coats, on top the welcome mat inside the door.

As luck would have it, the party which was in full celebration on that fateful Saturday...

 As luck would have it, the party which was in full celebration on that fateful Saturday, at the penthouse, high above the harbor and the narrow dockside streets,
was hit with the first few tremors of an earthquake rolling, shaking every floor beneath, swaying in jarring vibrations that tossed many off their feet.

As the intensity increased, Hari Kana was thrown into the loving arms of the unknown...


As the intensity increased, Hari Kana was thrown into the loving arms of the unknown, and held tight to a stranger’s chest, just as the panicked guests flowed out and down in a fearful tidal wave.
Many died and fell into the harbor, with the twisting girders, frames and floors, but some, they say, fell on top of strangers they had never seen before,
who with just their bodies, protected them from impact, and were nameless unsung heroes, quick and brave,
Hari Kana was allowed to live her dreams, for she was one of those, who miraculously survived to tell her story, and was saved. 

Karima Hoisan
Nov. 15, 2011
Linc Island Renacer SL


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