Atopic, Machinima Expo, graphic cards and smoke-signs...

It has been a bit quiet here for some time now... but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot happening!

The Atopic festival is in full swing - I'm so proud that my film Saving Grace is being shown there, and I wish I would be able to attend - but alas, I have to work... :(
I'm looking forward to IceAxe's adventures in Paris though, I'm sure he will have a lot to tell! And hopefully we'll get to see some pictures, too! :)

I'm also looking very much forward to Machinima Expo - so many wonderful films have been chosen for the consideration of the jury - quite a few of my personal all-time favourites! and I'm very happy, and again proud, that two of my films are among those - both Saving Grace and :transient:, the latter being one of my not so widely known movies of which I personally always have been very fond of. :)
I will also be on the panel of 'Women in Machinima' this year - looking very much forward to get to talk to the machinimatoresses (what a word... lol).

My own movie making is on full hold at the moment - my graphic cards have been causing more and more troubles in the last few month; an update of the drivers made Moviestorm nearly unworkable for me, though it helped with some of the other problems... and iClone is playing sluggishly, too. I know which new graphic card and system I want, but at the moment, all the components I'd like to have are sold out in germany.... so it's more waiting. Which isn't that bad - I'm doing more singing and voice overs in the meantime... :)

I am also waiting for iClone 4 to appear in the german version - which will hopefully be at the end of november. I have high hopes for the facial animation features and the motion-pathing - I never made a secret of it that I'm slightly disappointed in the facial /motion capabilities of iClone 3, and I hope version 4 will make a big difference.

In other news, I've quit smoking - wednesday, 21st october. It's going surprisingly well so far - I'm only slightly more agressive than usual, haven't gained weight yet (and doing my best so that it stays that way), plus I already can feel that my voice is better.... so, singing will get better. Which is the reward for having to give up my one and only vice!
Gah, I'm so boring now........... :D

Online Voting for the Cinemanila Machinima Festival has started!

The excitement doesn't stop - so shortly after the First Ollies Award Show, which left me overwhelmed and very happy about the support the TMU community has shown me - I'd like to say 'Thank you!' once again! :) - the online voting on the First Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival has started!

I am very proud that Kate Lee's "The Afflicted" has been chosen to be voted on! If you'd like to vote for me (or any of the other wonderful movies in their selection), please visit their website:

Cinemanila Machinima

You will have to register to be able to vote!

There are two categories: Short Film and Music Video.

Among the selections for Short Film are also IceAxe's 'Clockwork', Lainy Voom's 'The Stolen Child', Russel Boyd's/Pooky Amsterdam's 'Shrink Wrapped'... (just to name a few!) loads of great films to vote upon!

Voting will be possible until October, 16th!

Good News!

I'm happy to announce that two of my films have been selected for film festivals -

"Saving Grace" will be shown at the Atopic Machinima Film Festival in France (a big thankyou to Phil Rice!), and "Kate Lee's The Afflicted" at the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival in the Philippines!

I'm very happy and excited about this, as you can imagine! :)

And of course I'm also looking very much forward to TMUnderground's First Annual OLLIES Award show, which will take place on the Ken & Roger show this coming sunday, october 11th!

Don't forget to tune into the show and join the merry crowd in the chatroom!

The first time singing live on stage!

As those of you who regularly talk to and meet me in several forums already know, september 18th was a very special day for me - the first time I sang on a small stage live for an audience!

The group of ladies I do acting classes with - we perform a play once a year, directed by our acting teacher David - was asked if we would like to take part in a small festival here in Bonn, which is called "Lesereise" - it could be roughly translated as "Reading journey". The special thing about it is, the readings are performed in shops all over the city of Bonn. In our case, the hairdresser of one of our group members asked us if we would like to perform in her beauty salon.


We did a short, funny play, read some excerpts of books - all centered around women, beauty and beauty craze, and solidarity between women - we chose texts by Vicky Baum and Dorothy Parker - we sang a song together (I got to be sort of a choir leader, too!) and I sang 4 songs.
The "Sleeping Beauties" were born, and we practised roughly 4 month for the event. The program we put together was about an hour long.


Of course, I just had to catch a cold on the monday before the performance - stayed in bed until friday, and up until friday morning I wasn't even sure if I would be able to sing - you don't even want to imagine how I felt, let alone here the rants .... :p

Anyway, despite my stuffed nose, I was able to sing - and for just one slip of the lyrics (I've never in my life had such a feeling of an "empty" head before, and would prefer to never feel that way again!!!), everything went just fine. I managed to find the words again after just one missed sentence, and though I was nervous as hell all through the 4 songs, I had fun, and was delighted and overwhelmed by the response I got from the audience (around 35 people), who congratulated me, praised my voice and even asked me if I would sing on family celebrations...
There's nothing like standing in the midst (literally, because the audience was all around me) of raucous applause... a very heady feeling! :)

As a group, we got asked if we would think about doing our program on stage at another festival, so it was a big success.

For me, this is a dream come true, and it gives me even more incentive to work on my skills as a singer and performer. What can be better than doing what you love and bring joy to others while doing it? (and maybe even making a small amount of money, if all goes well?) :)

I'm going to go step after step now - designing a flyer, working on a repertoire of more songs... this is so exciting, and so much fun!

Hopefully I'll have one or two vids to show off soon - the brother of my man filmed the whole event.

The second round of voting for the TMUnderground OLLIES has started!

The first round of voting for the first annual TMU OLLIES is over - the community has chosen their favourite films, musicians, actors, modders, sound designers....etc. from all the movies uploaded or embedded on the TMU movie site in the last year!

A very big thank you to both Killian and Tom Foster, who organise the OLLIES, you're doing stellar work! :)

Now it's time for round 2 - if you aren't a member of the TMU community yet, now is the time to join our forums and cast your vote!
The nominees for the 43 categories can be found here - please watch all the nominated films before making any decisions! You have until September 27 2009 to vote on the nominees.

I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me - I'm overwhelmed and very happy about all the support I'm getting! :)