Movin’ on

Hey everyone. I’ve finally made the decision to move everything to Youtube as of March 2008. Most of my work is on there already and I have little reason to pay for the extra bandwidth anymore. Thanks for all the support and search Blessed3126 on Youtube for updates. ~Kim

My Surprise Film: Ashes

Surprise!

You weren’t really surprised that I popped up with a new vid, were you?  I didn’t think that you would be.

How goes it everyone?  I’m doing well and looking forward to the current semester ending in the next 2 weeks. 

Anyway, less about me, more about the film.

Like many of my other music videos, Ashes was indeed inspired by the music.  The featured song, “God Loves Ugly” by Jordin Sparks,  jumped out and grabbed me the instant I heard it for the first time.  Of course the song resonated with me and called up several images in my head that I could not shake until I got this movie done.  So, I placed myself on a strict filming schedule.  Making time for myself to film almost everyday, and the released product is the result.  It surprisingly wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to pull off technically and didn’t take half as much time as it would’ve taken while going back and forth messaging people. (Just sayin. lol)  It helped me a lot to focus strictly on my filming in my minimal freetime.  And that’s something that I don’t think I’ve done since I started in 2005.  So, so long ago…

But yeah, the twist on this version of Cinderella is not just that she’s black. lol  The main thing that I’d like the audience to notice here is that though Cinderella (or as I like to call her, Ella May) is darker than her stepsisters, stepmother and practically everyone in the kingdom, and though they consider her ugly, she is in fact a very beutiful human being–erm, sim. :)  She spends the whole film putting herself down and believing that simply because she doesn’t measure up to the kingdom’s standard of beauty, she is unworthy of anyone’s affection. 

The angel’s role here (not her fairy godmother) is to inform Ella May of her true beauty.  The angel comes to remind Ella May that God created her as a beautiful creature, and of all the wonderful things she deserves.  When Ella May doesn’t believe what the angel says, the angel transforms her into exactly what she wants to be:  the ideal standard of beauty in the kingdom.

When Ella May goes to the masquerade, the Prince immediately falls in love with her “beauty”.  But when the real Ella May is revealed, the true inner ugliness of the Prince, as well as the rest of the kingdom, is revealed too.  Ella May is humiliated and upset that no one appears to love her for who she is.  But along comes the Knight, whom has been watching her all along.  And he loves her with or without the mask.  (Yeah, I was going for some symbolism in there…)

So, motto of the story: Be yourself, love yourself and someone else will love you just as much; Someone always has.

 Hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed making it.  It was stressful at times, but I’m glad I made the time to get it out of my system before Finals.  I’m not sure if I’ll be releasing my next film (or the next ep of The Mansion) over the Holiday break, after I graduate in April, or somewhere in between.  So just keep a look out and watch for random updates.

Thanks guys!

 ~Kim

Good, Bad, and Ugly (Read at your own risk…)

Hey people,

 Hope all is well.  I wanted to update those of you who still check around for me and/or follow-ups to The Mansion.  I appreciate those of you whom are faithful to the series and sending messages inquiring about the next release.  But usually when I break for a while I expect people to think of their other favorite series, music videos, or something beyond sims completely.

So here’s what’s been up.  As you know, school has started and within the past two months I’ve read approximately 5 novels, 30 short stories, 2 plays and the Lord only knows how many pages of that darn copy-editing textbook.  All and all, it’s going well.  I definitely am starting to feel that I’m getting my money’s worth and learning what I should for an English major and Creative Writing minor.  Ironically, all this reading has reignited my love for leisure reading as well as my own writing.  And I’ve been taking trips to the library 1-2 times a week. 

This is where my free time has gone: Reading and Writing.  I still enjoy the sims, and at random moments on the weekend I find myself playing the game for a couple of hours.  But lately it isn’t long before life tempts me to read another chapter, write another paragraph, or go back to that (I hate to say) inconsistent job search.  So I haven’t been watching Sims movies, and I definitely haven’t been working on The Mansion.  I know, I suck, I’m inconsistent and I wish that I could finish the series already.  But it all takes time and this year, that is something that is especially important to me.  In approximately 6 months I’ll be graduating from college and heck, not only do I need a job now to save up, I’m supposed to be applying for a career or at the very least an internship.  When things like this cross my mind, it’s hard for me to continue doing the things I do for fun.  Do I really want to stay in my mom’s house making sims movies after I graduate?  Not really.  In short, Reality is calling me home.  And that means weighing what matters the most to me.  

 What matters the most?  Starting the path to a career, working on my writing everyday, staying close to my family as it expands and enjoying the miraculous beauty of life.  But this includes books, movies and theatre.  My love for the arts will never go away.

Therefore, I will not cancel The Mansion, but it will be postponed until things slow down and line up a bit more.  I can’t promise to return The Mansion this month or next month because I have too many things to organize at the moment.  But when I’m ready, I’ll let you know.

Now, this post is already super long.  So those of you simply looking for an update on the status of The Mansion can end your reading here. 

————–

On another note:  If you’ve ever seen my profile on My Sim Page on thesims2.com, you might notice that in the About Me section I mention that I’m an “inconsistent, easy to get along with, complicated girl” who happens to change her mind “without notice”.  Usually I don’t talk much about my relationships in this blog because, well I just figure that those of you who read it don’t look for that.  But for some reason I feel the need to note some things about myself which I’ve noticed recently.

I think that for the most part, I’m a friendly person.  But I can suck as a friend.  People call or write me, and sometimes it can take a while for me to respond.  I keep a lot to myself and acquaintances at arm’s  distance.  I can be an awesome person to listen to problems, give advice or temporary support, but I am not a safety net.  All too often, I invest much more than I should into my friendships and withdraw and run like crazy when I realize that some people aren’t meant to be in my life forever.

I guess I’m saying this because, I go through transitions.  Lots of them.  And I can sense when I’m going to go through them because I’ve had so many!  Is it the sign of a fickle person when they sift through friends like a deck of cards?  Is it a sign of growth?  Confusion? Intelligence?  Would I be stubborn to stay exactly the same forever?  Live in the same place, do the same things, talk to the same people for as long as I live?  Does this make me a bad person?

The truth is, I’ve met several people through Machinima directing whom I’ve referred to in the past as my friends.  The original set contained many memories for me.  Those were the relationships that pulled me back into filming after I retired.  Many of those friends have moved on with life now, some I still talk to from time to time.  Consistent, steady people whom I’ve been able to count on for almost 2 and a half years.  I look up to these people for what I lack, in talent and in personality, and I appreciate their patience with my own.

Then there was the new set, found after my return.  Easy to grasp because their young, lively interest in this hobby reminded me of my original love for Machinima.  They reminded me of the days I spent watching “Maybe You”, “Heyya”, “Trapped in the Closet”, “Life or Somethin”.  The 24 hours I spent trying to understand the in-game camera for my first video, “Seven Days”.  My first original series, “The 12 Days of Christmas”, created with my first director friend, Chaneljcoco.  These people were too new to be a part of “the drama”, to know about “the drama”, or care about “the drama”.  They enjoyed the process of filmmaking for what it was: filmmaking.  And this reignited me.  It made me feel new to machinima again.

But the fact of the matter is, without amnesia, or a memory even crappier than I have now, it’s impossible for me to ignore my experience from my first year.  Whatever my experiences, good or bad, they were how I grew as a person and a director and I wouldn’t change one thing.  Not even the smallest.

So I feel this way now, as I sense new friendships coming to an end.  It doesn’t take an argument, a debate or even a hello to realize that things are changing.  People are changing.  Some I’m sure I’ll talk to from time to time.  It seems that as I get older, some things just aren’t so personal anymore.  In all honesty, Chanel and I haven’t talked in a little while, but that doesn’t make me think we’re no longer friends.  She’s busy, I’m busy, but I’m 99.9% sure that when that baby is born, I’ll be getting a picture!  (I better get a picture… I say that because I know she’ll read this!)  But there are some who I know things will change with.  The conversations get shorter, the distance grows, and eventually it just kinda stops. 

It sucks, it stinks, and sometimes I wish it could stay the same.  Sometimes, I try to go back and make things the same.  But it never really is.  So I figure, the less I fight it, the sooner I can face it.  There are some people whom I’ve honestly told I’m going to be taking a break from our friendships.  And I can’t be sure that the break will end.  But I see no point in lying or being rash.  If there is one thing that the sims community has taught me, it is not to be rash!  I no longer go deleting videos when I’m upset or disagree with something, and even though I was thoroughly honest with these people, I won’t block them on messenger or delete them.  If they choose to do so, I won’t stop them. 

But, I just wanted to put this out there as a warning.  I am not a perfect person.  Not a consistent person.  Not a rash person.  Things are changing and I can’t be the only one who sees that.  I am changing and as a result, my friendships are shifting.  My priorities are switching and that affects the people around me.  My social perspective on the machinima community too often affects my creative perspective.  And I think that because of that, this transition of friendships may be greater than my last: from many, to some, to few.  I think life will be easier that way.

And this brings me to my final point.  I hope that this makes sense to you if anyone (anyone at all!) is still reading this.  I… don’t think I’m looking for constructive criticism anymore.  In all honesty, I want to finish The Mansion, and make music videos from time to time when I feel up to it.  I don’t need the recognition, and I don’t want a job in filming.  I’m a writer, and publishing is where my interests are.  Filming is what I do for fun.  Placing individual storylines that I have yet to place anywhere else into a media form for the public to see.  That’s my desire.  Not that I can’t handle criticism. I enjoy it and use it.  In fact, if it is still offered, I won’t turn it down.  But it’s no longer my priority.

I definitely don’t feel that I’m some perfect director or someone who can’t grow.  I just want to entertain people now.  Heck, I wanna entertain myself.

Anyway, if you read all of this, thanks for reading my 1600-no 1700- word chapter here!  I just had a lot that I needed to get out and I feel much better now.

For those of you who skipped around, here’s a summary:

-The Mansion will be postponed until further notice

-I’m a friendly person, but a sucky friend

-I’m a sucky friend, but a friendly person

-I don’t plan to seek constructive criticism once I officially return to filming

Thanks guys!

~Kim

Time For a Quick Break

Hey you guys!

How goes it?  I hope everyone is well.

But as you know, school has started and I have more work this semester than I think I’ve ever had in my life.  So I gotta break from filming just a lil bit.  I’ll still be hanging around this time though.  So if you have questions, feel free to email me or message me on youtube. 

Oh!  And I apologize in advance to anyone who’s recently made a movie and I haven’t had the chance to watch or review it yet.  Things like this tend to happen when I get out of Machinima mode, but I’ll do my absolute best to get to them as soon as I can.  Which may indeed be until I start filming again. lol 

Anyway, I plan to pop back around the end of October, but if for any reason it’ll be longer, I’ll be sure to update and let you know.

Thanks guys!  And keep tuning in! ;)  I’m not goin anywhere!

~Blessed (Kim)

The Mansion: Part Four

Yes, it’s seriously here and I couldn’t be happier.

 This installment gave me several headaches and plenty of technical difficulties.  But I won’t fuss about that now.  I am glad to have it done and to be able to continue presenting this story to you guys in movie form.

 I got the chance to try some new camera tricks here,  (ie., flying pencils combined with greenscreen) and I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out.  They actually were a little easier to do than some of the other shots that I initially thought would be simple. 

So after all the delays, glitches and tornadoes,  I’m glad to have this one done and I think that the rest of the series, Parts Five - Eight will be much easier to complete.  Of course that doesn’t mean faster!  But we’ll have to see. lol 

Classes will be starting in a little over a week, so I’ll see what I can do.  I’m hoping to keep up with a filming schedule that will allow me to put out one ep each month, but once again, no promises yet!

 Thanks for the patience you guys and for all the constructive criticism and reviews.  I’m thinking that this one will give you a few things to critique, seeing as how I tried so many new things, including Decorgal’s new Custom Modeling Poses Overlay Hack.  I’m still learning, but this one wasn’t too hard to utilize.  But  I do think working with her other talk hacks first made it easier for me.

I made an effort at the end to give the mod creators I often use a special thanks.  I think I left out Numenor, so a special thanks needs to go out there as well.  I think these people do some great work that I personally can’t figure out how to do!  lol  And they deserve to be acknowledged more often.

I also should take this time out to thank the cast for sending in all of their lines and doing retake after retake.  Especially Ianplayssims whom was willing to do about 3 takes of every line to put across the emotions that I desired.  I was very happy to have some of the original cast return in this installment, including Ianplayssims (Ulan) and Brosys_30 (Ward).  Sims2aholic (the original voice of Sami) will also be making a comeback as another character in a couple of episodes, so keep an ear out for her as well. 

But all of them are awesome for agreeing to continue to work with me on this project and sending in their lines for the whole series quickly and being patient with my picky demands. lol  I would recommend them to anyone looking for quality actors.

Anyway, that’s all for now you guys.  Keep an eye out for Part Five and I hope you enjoyed Part Four!

 ~Kim

P.S.  I have to thank Deb (Maidenfine) once again for allowing me to turn this cool series into a movie!  I think her baby may be due any day now, so this one will have to be a present from me to her! lol  Congrats, Deb!

Seasons (not the EP kind)

I really don’t update these things enough, so I thought I’d try to let you guys know what was up today while it was on my mind.

I’m happy to say that I’m back to filming, now that my unexpected guest has left, and things are progressing quickly.  I still won’t give release dates, but I’m sure that The Mansion: Part Four will be out soon.

I was looking around for the single slap mod this morning and realized that a really great Mod creator, Squinge, decided to retire/resign from–I dunno– everything Sims, I guess, a couple of months ago.  And he has unfortunately decided to take all of his amazing creations with him.  Fortunately, I realized that the mod I was looking for was saved in my downloads folder, and I simply forgot to install it.  But it’s too bad that other future directors won’t have the privelege of using his creations in their films.

As someone who retired this time last year, I can completely understand the need to break away from it all.  What us creators do in the sims community can be extremely time consuming and honestly taxing.  And though it’s a lot of fun, it’s extremely hard to keep up our work consistently without breaks.  Otherwise, the burn out comes and we find ourselves stressed out or disinterested in what, for most of us, is a fun hobby.  Perhaps this would be different if we got paid to do what we do.  But then again, maybe it’s the fact that these aren’t our jobs that keeps us trying our hand at it.

What I do know is that once the fun stops, it’s time for a break.  There’s no sense in stressing over angles or codes or textures when you could be at the park with your family or out to dinner with your significant other. When it comes down to it, we are obligated to no one but ourselves…in the sims community, anyway.

 My advice to anyone feeling exhausted with Sims 2 creating would be to step away from it for a while and focus on other things.  If you decide to come back later, cool.  And if not, that’s cool too.  But I would give it at least a year before making decisions on removing anything else.  You just never know when your muse might strike again.

I found that I deeply regretted removing my films and reviews when I originally walked away and realized that I did not need to disappear completely.  Several wonderful directors have come and gone without taking down their work and in that sense, they leave behind a shadow of themselves for others to learn from.  They sort of become legends and I’ll admit, I often go back and watch their work when I need a little motivation.

 So anyway, I guess all I’m saying is that we all face the decision of how long to stay or when to go.  But I think it can be really hard on a person when they can’t look back and admire their own work and accomplishments from time to time.  I certainly did.

~Kim

Update on The Mansion:Part Four

Okay,

I’m not sure how many of you guys read this blog, but I’m hoping that posting this will stop the continuous questions about when The Mansion: Part Four will be released. 

Originally, my plan was to try to get it out sometime around the end of this week.  But of course, as always, by setting a date, I have jinxed myself, and it looks like it’s probably not gonna happen.  I was just notified today that I have a visitor dropping by tomorrow to stay here for a week and guess who’s hosting???  Yep, me.

So, I’m gonna go for getting Part Four out by the end of this month, before classes start up on September 5th.  After that, my releases may be even slower, because this is my final year of college and I simply won’t have as much freetime.  Sorry guys. 

 But no worries, I don’t plan to retire again, lol.  But after this, I will no longer respond to posts of when my next release of anything will be, because as you can see, life happens, and that simply can’t be planned out all the time. 

 I’ll update again soon.

~Kim

Updates on the Nonupdate

Hey People!

 It’s been a while, eh? 

 Well, there have been posts made, but unfortunately they haven’t been on this blog.  And I apologize for that. 

Both of us have been making our updates on the Pure Chaos forum in the form of audio webcasts.  But I realize that’s certainly no fair to those of you whom aren’t members of the forum… even though it would be nice if you were….lol

 Anyway, as far as the site, I’m finally getting around to updating things.  I recently updated the Mansion cast page, and I’ll be updating the Left Behind series section soon.  Though the eps are old and not at all my best filming, people have been requesting to see them, so I will give people what they want.  

Now, on the filming front.  I’m gonna be honest with you guys.  I’m tired. lol  Not tired as in I’m retiring again, lol, but tired as in, I haven’t been much in the mood to film this week.  And I owe it to you guys to let you know what’s up. 

So anyway, once I get geared up again, I’ll be putting out the rest of The Mansion series and the Left Behind remake.  I also have a few music vids that I’m just itching to get finished, so I’ll have to get those out soon as well. 

For right now, I’m assisting Jpro07 with the writing of an upcoming film with an awesome premise and I’m gonna finish updating parts of our website (especially these old links). lol

Oh!  And if you’re looking for a fun contest to join, our forum, Pure Chaos, is starting up a new contest called Channel Surfing, where the name of the game is recreating the intro theme to your favorite TV show.  Check out the forum if you’re interested in joining.

I’d also like to congratulate CHill, for the awesome winning entry in our Commercial Imitation contest.  You can view that on the forum as well.

 So that’s it for now you guys!  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to let me know here or by email.

 Till next time!

 ~Kim

The Mansion: Part Three

It’s finally here!  And not a moment too soon! 

I don’t have so much to say on this episode other than it was a ton of work and had several random delays.  In fact, if it weren’t for my laptop cord going out on me, this ep would’ve been released a few days ago!

 Anyway, I hope that those of you who missed the series will enjoy the new episode, and that those of you who have never seen the series before will be interested in catching up! 

You might notice that there are lots of interesting changes in this episode, particularly in the main characters’ looks so it might take some getting used to. lol

I have to send a special thanks to Jpro07 for assisting me with some of the unique special effects in this one.  He’s been a great help in this process and I look forward to him taking on the role of Nam in the future episodes., starting with Part Four.

Speaking of Part Four, I’m not sure when it will be out.  Seeing that school will be done soon, I’m sure that I’ll be able to focus on finishing out the series this summer. 

The Fame Game by Blessed3126

Hey everyone!

Today (or for me, night), I am proud to announce the release of my new music video, “The Fame Game”, featuring the song “Everything’s Just Wonderful” by Lily Allen.

So how long has it been exactly?  I think it’s been 12 months and 3 weeks since I released my last official film, “Two Paths”.  It’s so nice to be back.  I’ve never been so happy to finish a film in all of my Machinima career!  (Spoilers may follow)