ULTRAMARINES

For all you Games Workshop & Warhammer 40K lovers out there...check it out!

**WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AND POOR VIDEO QUALITY**
http://fragdolls.com/index.php/blogs/category/cadettes

VBlog #4 - Happy Holidays!

As promised, I have created a Video Blog for my Protoss Nexus Gingerbread House (affectionately renamed the "GingerNexus").

I'll post up pictures later, but for now - enjoy!



Happy Holidays, and keep on gaming!

Video Blog #1 - PAX Prime 2010

Finally! An update!

Yes folks, and a long one at that. Below you can watch my very first video blog, which is all about PAX Prime. Now, I warn you, it's a long video blog....over 10 minutes of pictures and stories from Seattle, Washington. I'm going to make it a point to be more concise in my future video blogs, so hopefully this will be the only 6+ minute vblog. We'll see!

So, what are you waiting for? Take a look! :D

T-minus...

2 DAYS UNTIL PAX!!!

Well, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. As soon as I found out I was a Frag Doll Cadette, my stress level has increased exponentially! At my full-time job I have more client meetings, requirements and design reviews, and training sessions than I have space on my calendar, and my after-work life isn't much better. Sadly, there's only so much time for gaming after work...but I wouldn't trade this for anything! There is still so much to be done before I leave...I just hope I don't forget anything!

I'm so excited for this event. I'm thrilled to finally meet the Frag Dolls, some of the most famous women in the gaming industry, as well as the other fabulous Fall Cadettes (and even some past Cadettes)! I'm not sure how much I can disclose as of now, but we Cadettes certainly have our work cut out for us! SO EXCITED!!!

I'M A FRAG DOLL CADETTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen...I received the email on Wednesday evening, and it's been torture keeping it a secret! I wanted to scream it from the mountain tops when I found out, but I had to wait until the Frag Dolls officially announced it on Friday! AAHHHHHHHH :D :D :D :D :D

Before I go into details, I want to thank a few people for putting up with my crazy antics/nervous tendencies/procrastinating ways:

1.Jason – My boyfriend, and the creative genius behind our film projects. Without him, my video applications wouldn't be nearly as well lit, filmed, edited, and directed (or fun :D ).
2.My parents – Thanks for all the support, even if mom doesn't quite understand it all.
3.Jess – My bestest, who always puts up with my larger-than-life ideas. Thanks for gaming with me when no other girls would.
4.All my friends and family – You all have provided so much love and support. I only hope to continually return the favor.

Now, back to the FDCs (Frag Doll Cadettes):

Our first event is PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington on Sept. 3-6th. Jason and I had already made plans to go to this event, so it will be interesting to see how this works out logistically. In any event, it should be a blast and I'm super excited to meet and hang with the Frag Dolls and the other lucky Frag Doll Cadettes for Fall 2010! Seriously, I can't believe I made it.

And in honor of the current Spring and future Fall 2010 Cadettes, Frag Doll Siren (one of the newest Frag Dolls) made a fantastic video - check it out!

SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dream come true, anyone? :D

For the love of all things RIDICULOUS

First off, my Frag Doll Application is finished! This time around, instead of me sitting in front of a camera and answering questions, my boyfriend suggested that I should read a story. I loved the idea, and spent the next few days creating my storybook; laying out all the pictures, deciding what videos should be displayed as I spoke and when, and creating the storybook text. Jason (my boyfriend) and I spent the next week setting up lights, filming scenes, and trying to find time to sleep somewhere in between it all.

I submitted the written portion of my application on Friday afternoon, and my fantastic boyfriend spent the entire day editing my video interview. Now, you might be thinking "But Kim, the video interview is only a 3 minute movie....what could possibly take him so long to edit it?" WELL - aside from horrible traffic, sleep deprivation, and crashing computers, we also had to deal with creating a "living storybook," complete with videos and green screen captures. Here are pictures, just to show you how massive this "video interview" undertaking was...

 (Lights filling up my Living Room)

 (Massive Green Screen)

(My mom on the green screen) 

(My boyfriend, the talented director) 

 (Me, being a princess)

(Me, being a Space Marine Princess)

(Test Run!)

(The Set - look at all those controllers!)

(Opening page of my storybook)

(Reading beneath the camera)

(So many controllers)

(Last day of filming)

As you can see, we put a ton of effort into this film. Little did we know that tragedy would strike just before the deadline. When we tried to render the final product - Jason's computer crashed! We didn't realize it at the time, but one of our green screen film captures was causing the problem, so every time we tried to run the 30+ minute render, it would crash. Running out of time, Jason thought quickly and rendered a copy of just one film take - that of me in front of the camera reading the storybook (sadly, all his hard work editing would not be submitted). After that was rendered, we only had a little bit of time to send the video through yousendit.com - and just sending the video took many hours. At this point, I wasn't even sure if my application would be accepted, since the video interview would probably be received after the deadline.

We were pretty bummed, but this whole experience has inspired me to do better and plan ahead for these applications. I've already started thinking about what I'll do next time...

And just so you all can see the difference in the movie we did send to the Cadettes and the one we should have sent in, here they are:

Film (no green screen captures or editing):

Film (edited, final version that should have been sent in):

Frag Doll Cadette Academy - Fall 2010

Is it that time already? It seems like just yesterday that I sent off my Spring 2010 application...I'm eager and pleased to announce that they have made a few changes to this Fall application, which is due at the latest on July 16th! Only three weeks to complete the following:

1. Cover Letter
2. Resume
3. Gaming History (2 pages)
4. Video Interview (3 minutes max)
5. Photos (2)

For this Fall semster, and all other Cadette semesters, the Frag Dolls will be evaluating applicants based on their "Casting Call" criteria, and not the minimum requirements stated above. They estimate that they will select 20-25% of the top applicants (those who they see could one day become Frag Dolls) and place those girls in a random drawing for the final 12 chosen to be Cadettes. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited about this round, and I can't wait to submit my application :-)

I've also made some progress on my Video Blog...and by progress, I mean I've thought more about it, and figured out what (or more specifically "who's") camera I will use. I'm really trying to come up with some creative concepts for this Vblog - my only concern is the execution. I can day-dream all day long about how things can look and what should happen, but making this a reality will be much more difficult than I anticipate, I fear.

In light of this, I'll be pulling ideas and techniques learned through all my recent escapades dealing in film. I'm so thankful to know and work with such talented people in the area. Most recently I was commissioned to be a spokesperson for a nearby electronics company, and working with this production group, in particular, has provided me invaluable experience with technical film, special effects, and on-screen practice. Not to mention that I also completed two small independent films with their help (check out my earlier blog post about the 48 Hour Film Project, and click the link for the actual film!).

I'm also getting back into some other creative past times, most recent being a new Hip Hop dance class I signed up for (attended the first practice this evening!). I can't explain how thrilled I am to have found this class, and I'm already eager for next week's lesson...but, this is completely off-topic :-)

As always I'm open to ideas on what to do for video blog segments, both creative and technical gaming aspects. Give me an idea, and I'm sure I'll be able to work it into a video blog at some point.

Oh, and uh...I heard some big game convention happened recently...I think it's called E3, or something? Has anyone heard anything about this? ;-)

The Waiting Game

I'm really not trying to get my hopes up for this...but it's nearly all I think about. I'm literally refreshing my email every 5 minutes. I keep going back to the Frag Doll forums and re-reading what people post. Two Frag Dolls were even kind enough to post their "encouragement" of the forums as well, although their posts have made us all more nervous and excited. It would be nice to just know, and have it over and done with - whatever the outcome.


Random side note - I've been craving a good book to read. I'm thinking of re-starting the "Song of Fire and Ice" series, as I stopped halfway through the second book. I'm also getting excited about the HBO show based on the series...looks pretty intense! Although I'll most likely start that book series again, please feel free to leave comments and let me know of some other good books/authors I should look into :D


I guess that's all for now...I'll post an update if anything interesting happens on the Frag Doll front.

This is the week....

....when we find out who the lucky 12 new Frag Doll Cadettes are! I've already been checking my phone/email like crazy - but I need to seriously not get my hopes up. It doesn't help that I had a great time chatting with some of the other Frag Doll Cadette applicants last night over a Skype-conference call - These ladies are incredible, sweet, and gamer-ific! It was so nice to be able to chat about all things girl and gaming related :-)

I'm seriously considering trying out for one of the PMS clans. Of the few girls that I've met so far, this seems like the perfect place for me to cultivate my skill in FPS's and make some great friends. I'm a little worried that I won't be "good enough" to join, but there's no hurt in trying huh? Plus, I keep surprising myself in the games I'm playing, so perhaps I'm better than I think ;-)

A friend of mine sent me this link about the PlayStation Network being down - I have totally missed this, considering my recent obsession/fight with Xbox Live. But sad times - I hope they're able to fix it soon so we all can get back to the important thing in life: gaming. And if you can, please avoid logging into the PlayStation Network - looks like just logging in will mess with your console and shut it down :-(

My boo just sent me this link, which I found hilarious. Not video game related, but still fun (for all you table-top RPGers out there).  Oh, and alternative text FTW. Also, Duck Pin Bowling = super weird.

And finally, here is a link to the latest Frag Doll commercial - now playing on G4TV. Maybe someday, I'll at least get to meet these fantastic women :-D That's all for now!

Video Interview

Well, I was reluctant to post this video, especially after seeing a couple other Cadette application videos...but I figure it won't hurt anything (except perhaps my reputation as being a lean, mean, fighting machine) :-) So, here it is! Seriously, I look super nervous throughout the entire video. But again, thanks to my fantastic editor, the video looks much better than anything I could have put together on my own.

Women posting on the Frag Doll forums are speculating as to how many applications were submitted for this class of Cadettes...I honestly believe that anything below 100 is far too liberal. And, in order to not get my hopes up too high, I'd like to believe that there were perhaps 300 applications sent in....so my chances of getting one of the 12 spots out of 300 + applicants is very small. Oh random selection...I honestly don't know if this is better or worse than being chosen based on the application itself. Also, we're planning to do a Skype-conference type thing with some of the applicants - which I'm really excited for! It'd be great to talk to these girls "face-to-face" in a sense, instead of just talking through the forums.

Ok, aside from all the Frag Doll Cadette craziness - I ordered the final piece to my Xbox Live puzzle: the wireless adapter. I even ended up buying the A/B/G & N network one, which is apparently better and cooler and nicer and all that jazz. I'm very excited to set it all up and start playing online!

As for weekend game playing, I completed a few levels of Halo 3 in the campaign and played a bunch of games of Command & Conquer. I suppose I'll have to start playing against real people soon, and not just hard computers...but, I'll let you know how that goes when I get to that point ;-)

Just a few more weeks...

Late last night I received my confirmation email from Phoenix of the Frag Dolls, saying they received all the parts of my application, they are complete, and that my name has been entered into the random drawing - YAY! I know I shouldn't get my hopes up....but WOW do I want to be accepted into this program. Dream come true - hell yes.

Fun side note - Barbie's new career is Computer Engineer! I definitely voted for this, and I'm glad it turned out! I like that she looks like she's straight out of the 80's in this link too.

Another fun fact - I'm officially getting Xbox Live! I've decided to suck it up and pay for Live, as well as a Wireless Adapter for my 360. I'm still looking for a cheap one, but I did go ahead and buy two headsets, a year subscription to Xbox Live Gold, and three new games: BioShock 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Mass Effect 2. I'm super excited...now if only I could not break the bank with this wireless adapter... :-) I'll post my Xbox Live name on here as soon as I'm set up and ready to game!

Frag Doll Cadette Application...DONE!

As of 11:46 pm on February 16, 2010 - my Frag Doll Cadette application is complete and submitted! YAY! Now if only I could actually make it into the program... :-)

Overall, I'm pleased with my application. I wasn't too thrilled about my video interview at first, since I don't particularly like watching myself talk on tape, but my editor did an amazing job in putting it all together - THANK YOU! And more than anything, I'm happy that the application is in, if only a few days before the deadline. I'll be posting the video after the deadline - probably sometime this weekend (and you can totally tell how nervous I am in it!).

On a side note - a good friend of mine sent me this link, which I found extremely interesting. I really like this woman, and I think she's doing great work. Not only is she attempting to help bridge video games from being just a fun "pastime" into something that can help people in the real world, but she also seems to have a real keen grasp of how video games affect people psychologically - a topic that is near and dear to my heart. And so, if you have the time, please watch the short clip about her - she's fascinating!

That's all for now - I'm tired and work will start only too soon for me. Good night!

[Edit update: in reference to the link and Jane McGonigal...]

So...I re-watched the short clip of Jane McGonigal speaking on the cnn.com page - when a few of her phrases stuck out to me:

1. "Video Games are teaching people how to stick with problems longer." & "People who are more accustomed to failing in the game world are less 'put-off' by failures in the real world...they are more likely to stick with tough problems until they find a satisfactory solution." - Now, I'm not sure if she made this up from personal experience or in speaking with industry associates and friends...but this makes perfect sense in my mind. If there is no research backing a statement like this...then I'd like to put my name in the drawing to conduct it! How fascinating would that be? If true, how great would that be?? I really like this idea, and I plan on looking into this statement further.
2. Interaction through online gaming leads to an increase in social stamina, and therefore gamers are more likely to talk to someone face to face. - Now, I don't necessarily agree with this statement...I can believe that yes, gamers will easily talk with anyone online, since there is little to no accountability in some cases, thus making it easier to talk and speak your mind. However...face to face? If anyone has any insight to share on this fact, please feel free to comment. 
3. Classifying difficult situations in life to "sub-boss" and "boss" battles. - Guilty. I've easily done this more than a dozen times. I agree that it makes things seem more interesting and has helped me get through some trying times. I also like to think that I "gain experience" when I engage in different activities, like working out, studying, completing work assignments...anyone else?