Some promising new-ish Soulfly

Didn’t know it, but Soulfly released a new album in early March (there’s another one from a couple years back that I also missed). The inventory at the local record stores varies; I hadn’t seen it. But based on some tracks like this that I’ve listened to, I may go get their new CD, Enslaved. Or get it online, more likely. Anyway, pretty good stuff. Good old Max Cavalera, he does not disappoint.

Fight!

Just passing along some really nice music from the Gundam Unicorn OST volume 2, that I used yesterday as inspiration for an RPG fight scene. The last minute in particular is wonderfully intense. Maybe I’ll loop it this evening as I go into SWTOR and try to get my smuggler at long last to level 50. One more level to go.

Not much for wine, but…

To the handful of folks who bother to check here, have a good holiday. Hope you got your books, Dave. If not well…hell, I don’t know what to do about it. It was just something sentimental, which suits the theme of this holiday song.

Musical interlude

After finally laying WoW to rest, I’ve been goofing off playing LOTRO – just a stopover, a fill-in until SWTOR hits the stores next week. Could have preordered, I suppose, but I’m in no particular hurry. Being on a raiding schedule is not something I miss.

Yesterday was interesting, though, and not just for the frivolous Deeds I was working on to accumulate Turbine points rather than buy them. My elf hunter is ready to move on from Bree-land, but I have lingered there awhile to finish some content that’s worth points. But working out of Bree allowed me to see a little in-game concert being held outside the Prancing Pony.

I already knew that there was a system for generating music in-game, and how files could be written up, stored, and then called from within the game. But I hadn’t seen it in use extensively before, much less by a group. Not sure how they handle timing it so they all begin at once, but it was nice to watch groups of 2, or 4, or 6 get together and play.

I stuck around for about an hour and they were still going in ‘open mic’ mode, with individuals and pairs stepping up in turn to play a tune. Xmas music, LOTR music from the movies, the Star Wars theme, current RL music…well, someone had to translate it into LOTRO’s version of the ABC notation.

Of course, the song that got the most cheers was Tom Bombadil’s theme. The most popular character that somehow got cut from the movies, sheesh. Got time enough for five different endings but not this fellow, what gives?

Having played through almost all of the Bree content, and certainly all of the Shire stuff and the epic book quests that involve him, I can see why. Tom’s this one bright, happy spot in the middle of a forest full of nasties, next door to the Barrow-downs full of wights. Bree is not the most pleasant area. Quite a contrast from running mail and spoiled pies around the Shire. There’s actual orcs and such.

I suppose the game will get somewhat more grim, should I venture onward at some point. Nice to see the community there, however small it may be, thriving in its own way. It’s a good thing that the game went F2P.  It shouldn’t go under the way some other MMOs had to, for lack of subscriptions.

Calling it a day

The Old Republic beta testing is finally over, leaving me with a couple of weeks to find something else to do. This evening I took care of some business that turned out to be a lot sadder than I’d expected.

Tindalos has found his spot to settle down.

With access to the new replica gear vendors and the transmog reskinning of armor pieces, I picked up his DK starter blues from back when he was just taking off for Outland and transmogrified his mix of Cataclysm gear to resemble the best gear set death knights ever had. Better even than the junior-Lich King model from Icecrown Citadel. Would have liked to leave him with Shadowmourne, but I figured out a long while ago that it just wasn’t in the cards.

I have parked him in Grizzly Hills, down the hill from Conquest Hold, where he can relax with the Horde left behind in Northrend and fish for Glacial Salmon. I liked death knights enough, I guess, that the game felt…done after the end of WotLK, slaying Arthas and finishing what the death knights set out to do.

While I took my last cruise around the zone looking for a spot, it figures that my favorite piece of music would cue up (the first song from the Night Music set). Good sendoff from the game. I have some pre-paid subscription time left until January, but little reason to play again. Maybe in the future I’ll be back at it, playing pandaren monks or the next big thing after that, but for now, all done…and that will probably close the book on WoW posts here as well. Seven years playing WoW, a good run.

I played a lot of toons in WoW before settling on my DK (and his/her many races, genders and faction switches) as the character and story I liked most. I wonder who my next avatar will be in a galaxy far, far away?

Nowhere to go but here

Been a difficult couple of weeks in the desert, and I especially haven’t had much to report in the last week or so. Just dealing with the monsoon, the heat, and the repercussions of this past year’s great big medical bill. 900 bucks for going to the ER for a few hours, to have my apparently dire condition diagnosed as nothing quite so dire. Ah well. The bill’s paid, and maybe now I can get a couple useful things done with the rest of the year.

One small, bright spot in an otherwise humdrum July has been some new music; the quest to find interesting alternative music that doesn’t remind me of whiny college kids continues. I seem to gravitate toward groups with interesting vocalists. The Silversun Pickups are one such example.

Chose this track with an active sense of irony. 

On minstrels

Not directly WoW-related, but on the MMO front. Been awhile since I checked into LOTRO, but after seeing this particular video I can only surmise that the damned hobbits have ruined the place. Watch at your own peril! It will scar your brain.

Yeah Joel, I know. I’m kidding. sheesh

New (and lovingly used) media

I had the opportunity today to go and spend a bit of disposable income on some new tunes and vids. I had it in mind to look for the latest (3 year old) album from Gojira, and I found that.

/rocks out

Also surprised to find brand new Amon Amarth (Surtur Rising), so I got that too. Plus a cheap used Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, which I’ve wanted on disc for a while. I will have to listen to my new Viking metal soon. For now, more Gojira. It’s good music for …anything! Better be, because I suspect I will be listening to it playing WoW, in the car, mowing the lawn, cooking, etc. I know record stores are supposed to be going out of style, but it’s nice to have a good one in town.

Geek’s paradise

It is troublesome to me to enjoy popular things. Nevertheless, we had a good time this weekend watching the new Tron Legacy movie. All things considered, it did not seem like a bad place to get lost for decades, unless you’re on the wrong side of a duel. Like a Matrix-style movie with…less interesting story elements, but plenty of visuals to gawk at.

Naturally, the music was part of why I enjoyed it. For a silly old movie concept about computers, and in spite of being produced by Disney, sometimes the stars align I suppose. Daft Punk did the soundtrack, and evidently combined their house music and love for tech and robots (and probably the original Tron movie, too) into some pretty nice and appropriate music.

It was that or Jeff Bridges’ vintage slang. Radical, man.

Synchronized kicks

As a sort of reminder-to-self, I learned that Inception is apparently coming out on Blu-Ray on December 7th. So while I may be fighting to get through whatever broken servers lead to WoW, I should also make sure to grab this movie! The best one I saw this year, I think. And the soundtrack too, while I’m at it.

In another life, I could have gone on pursuing music, and I would have liked to play in an orchestra that played pieces like this. This was one soundtrack I wouldn’t be afraid to turn up to eleven. Certainly the musicians did.

So I may be exploring the new zones in Azeroth, or I may be playing a worgen with Sue’s werewolf-ninja to be, but I will also set aside some time to watch this movie again…and to turn it up, way up.