So, this month I could think of no one more worthy for the title of Goddess Uniqueness than ColeMarie Soleil (aka Colie.)
This spunky lil pixie is the very definition of this blog-tastic honor. She’s completely and utterly unique to the core, with the soul of a true artist and the heart of a brilliant poetess. Colie is absolutely brimming with creativity and insight, and is one of the most interesting individuals I have ever had the privilege of meeting in SL. Not only is she fun to look at, with her huge impish eyes, spectacularly detailed wings, and outfits that are simply pure fun; she’s also a total creator supreme. So what does she create, you ask? What doesn’t she create is a far better question, trust me. 
This winged little sprite has a hook in practically all things SL. She does everything from amazingly surreal machinima (that could easily be actual music videos, their that well done), to stunning particles that will make any SIM look utterly sparkle-tastic when worn on your pixilated person. She’s also an incredible DJ, an awe inspiring SL photographer, as well as an amazing live SL performer. I had the privilege of hearing Colie sing at an SL event, a few months back, and let me tell ya….wow…just wow! This bohemian song bird blew my socks off, and she even mentioned she wasn’t feeling well that day and she still rocked the house ^.^
(Children Sublime and Dreaming by ColeMarie Soleil)
(Story Time With Bryn Oh by ColeMarie Soleil)
(Pontchartrain by ColeMarie Soleil)
Check out her other brilliant pics: here
So, the other day I was TPed into Colie’s brother’s skybox to conduct an interview with her royal uniqueness and I have to confess… I could have easily talked to her all day, so I apologize in advance if some of you find this too lengthy :p
Q: What’s your fave SL pastime?
A: My favorite pastime in SL would be making particles/playing with particles to music while hanging out at Immersiva.
(They don’t call her the Particel Princess for nothing! LOL)
Q: What’s your favorite SIM?
A: I guess Immersiva is my all time favorite SL location.
Q: What do you enjoy most about being you in SL?
A: I think what I like most, is being able to take my personality and express it in an avatar in a way that is very like how I am outside of SL. I wouldn’t call it SL/RL… I think that one just compliments the other. I like being me because I’ve always been into faeries since I was old enough to talk. My nickname outside of SL on anything online … be it x-box live… online communities… it was always RockerFaerie. Was a nicknamed given to me by my best friend who passed away 6 years ago.
Q: How long have you been in SL?
A: I have been in Second Life since 8/29/2006 as ColeMarie Soleil. So I guess just a little over three years now? Though I’d been working in online communities a lot like SL beforehand so I had a good idea of what I was getting into when I got here.
Q: What inspires the creativity in the things you do IE: your pics, vids, and music?
A: What inspires me in SL? It varies. My pictures on my flickr page (though now censored to 18+ due to false reports from trollers/haters so in order to visit you have to actually be on my list which is well, mildly annoying) come from my everyday life in SL. Most of the time unless the pictures seem specifically planned they are just spur of the moment goings on in my SL life. I like to capture the essence of the people/places around me and enhance them. I consider it not unlike a mild form of SL documentation, as things here are transient. Nothing stays forever. We’ve all seen “Item missing from database”. I know I have.
As far as my videos goes. It really really varies because there are some very serious things I’ve done in there, while there are also very light-hearted things I’ve done. For instance: “My friends are robots” ( check it out: here) is a serious piece I did… that Wagner actually did a nice writeup for in New World Notes, which you can find: here in which he says “the bird girl avatar weaves shimmery machinima with what seems like the internal monologue of the woman behind the computer, as she experiences Second Life. In other words, a stream of consciousness from within the met averse.”
Where as I’ve done more lighthearted things while still being artistic videos like stop motion animation (taking frame by frame stills from Secondlife and putting them in order together in Adobe Premiere. Which you can see here I was graciously given copy/mod versions of Bryn Oh’s Rabbicorn and Lightbulb man in order to take them apart and put together over and over. Without her I couldn’t have done it. A.M Radio actually said something lovely about that video:
“I believe it to be one of the most important art works to come out of the Second Life machinima scene,” he says, comparing it favorably to animations of the Brother’s Quay, and Russian animators. “Her juxtaposition of stop motion, a technology which came to be as a way to animate effects within technical limitations of film, with modern, high fidelity, 3D-generated graphics,” he says, “produces a fascinating discord which highlights Second Life’s connection to animation by bringing life to the inanimate. By breaking the smoothness of Second Life and avoiding attempts to hide its limitations with clever scripting or heavy post-processing, Colemarie embraces the current medium’s limits, commenting on that first impression of potential and fascination we find within the current state of virtual worlds.”
Then there are more angry videos, like this one, in which this one I’ve created to express how I felt about my relationships with people in Second Life over the years. It is like, no matter how much you give to people. It is never enough. In fact, they only want to take more when you are being over-generous. I’ve come to understand why it is important to be somewhat hermit like and wary of people (but still generally accepting just not as trusting anymore I guess… comes with the experience). This video was important to me because I did not know how to explain to people what they were doing to me, so I made this video and sent it to them in the hopes that it would open their eyes. For the most part that intention failed, as they are sleepwalking through their real lives let alone their second, but hey, I tried.
Then there are personal diary sort of entries in videos that I’ve created such as “Of Clocks” (watch it: here)
Where I created a video for my boyfriend and I, while waiting at Immersiva. Immersiva has become a real life home for me, because, no matter where I go I’ve always been able to go back to that sim, and to Bryn. I do not think I would still be in SL speaking to you right now, had I not met Bryn when I did. I was going through a really dark period in my life and I’d all but given up on creating here. That video sort of summarizes my current situation with my relationship, as I am waiting to move to France to go be with my SL partner in Real Life. Only a week or two to go. So anyone wondering about if real love happens here. It does. It’s just rare. If you think you’ve got it. Fucking fight for it. Or don’t bother. Don’t half ass it here, or you won’t make it.
Then I also use video as literal build documentation, while trying to capture the sim through the eyes of it’s creator. I had the fortune to start Second Life hanging at the same sim as AM Radio and Spiral Walcher. We grew up from noobs to creators I think, fueled by the same sort of desire. I think what we try and do is tell stories, have narratives inside narratives. There are a lot of small details in his work that really resonate with how he is as a man. That is why I respect him so much, and why I created this video.
(watch it here)
Also I think documenting sims in machinima form is very important because like I said before. Everything in SL is transient and things can disappear without a moments notice. Like Spiral Walcher’s “Tunnel of Light”, which I had to fortune to film early. (see vid here)
Now that the sim is taken down, it almost makes the video even that more relevant to the fact that things here are here to be experienced but, there are always new people who join who do not get to see a lot of beautiful things that have had life here, as they have financial issues a lot and need to close. So for me… I try and find these places and save them. Even if no one else watches, it brings a smile on my face because I know I can keep the memory of the places/people even if they are gone.
I’d like to end off with… the only thing I really need to say about my life/experience in SL is “Art is hard”. 
(See vid here)
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Still want more Colie? Find this “RockerFaerie” online @ these here links:
Her YouTube channel-here
Her demo recordings/music- here
Her Flikr profile- Here
Her BlipTv page- Here
Her Koinup page- Here
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