let wrath of the lich king babble ensue

[whitereflection]

Right, back from the con. Was a good trip all in all. I know at some points when the sun was bright I'd mutter that it was hot and humid, but no, it was so very fine out there. HERE is humid beyond belief, and ugh-warm. I'm dreading what the building's like when I go back to work tomorrow. Kind of sort of kept tabs on things while gone, but the wifi at the hotel was pokey and sporadic, so didn't try posting really. Didn't want to feel like James was watching over my shoulder anyway.

So con stuff. It was crowded like crazy of course, but they had set up extra space and arranged exhibits better this time, so getting around wasn't nearly as bad. The only bad point came at opening ceremonies, where there was way way way too little seating (yet that half of the hall was FILLED with chairs). The panels were good, and the Q & A by attendees mostly decent, even some questions and points raised very good thoughts. Some though were laughable or literally booed. My favorite panel was on music and sounds, which featured discussion of ambient game sounds and background music, and the composition and interweaving of the two.

That panel had a short performance by a group that's done a CD of tavern music for the game, and an acoustic guitar/vocal of my favorite piece ever, Lament of the Highborne (sung in-game after a quest, I posted the lyrics up once). The group also performed at the concert Saturday night, as did the vocalist--and the concert was as cool as I'd hoped. Bit of standup by Jay Mohr, performance by the in-house band Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftan (including their new song I Am Murloc which is actually rather awesome, and has a kickass video), and an orchestral concert, Video Game Live. Soundtrack music + orchestra is of course Win Win Win with me. ♥

Bought a couple CDs (the tavern music and the Starcraft OST), some baby murloc figurines, a bloodelf 'paperdoll' magnet set, and got a bag-full of swag. My favorite bit is the hearthstone dangle that I attached to my cel phone. There's a neat tshirt, but it's XL, so I'll probably just keep it as a souveneir and hope someday I lose weight (it fits, I just like baggy :/ ). I want a Wrath of the Lich King tshirt, but they ran out--same with their 2008 wall calendar.

Speaking of Wrath of the Lich King--expansioooooon~~ I hadn't expected that at all, figured the con would focus mostly on Starcraft II. But somewhere in the next year to year and a half, they'll come out with this new expansion. Characters will level to 80, there'll be the chance of unlocking the hero class Death Knight (after hitting 80 and doing a--probably expensive, long, and difficult--quest chain), and have a bunch of new zones and instances on the continent of Northrend. Got a 20 minute taste of one zone, and it looks cool as hell. Sort of Viking/Norse inspired. I know there are nay-sayers and gloom-and-doom sorts already, but frankly I'm excited as hell about it and really looking forward to it--to do my favorite things, i.e. questing, levelling, exploring, will be so very fun. I can't wait.

Other than that, we did hit Disney a bit--Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear ride, PotC, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Small World, Cafe Orleans (zomg Mickey begneits). Amazingly did 2/3 of a day without sunscreen with barely a sunburn, which makes the burn I got on my right arm from propping it on the car window when driving to lunch and the airport (just a couple hours total) yesterday a bit ironic.

Today's mostly recovering; have to go pick up my new glasses, have been working on laundry, bills, unpacking, cat care, etc. Have to call Kelly to check in and Mom as well, too. But hoping to play some, because I've just spent days immersed in a game I couldn't touch and it made me twitchy a little, heh.

Also: driving home from the airport parking last night, caught Iron and Wine's Boy With A Coin on the River's Music With A Purpose show. My love for that radio station is now complete and absolute.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/downloads/movies.html <--Top two items are the WotLK trailer and the I Am Murloc Video, both streaming and downloadable.

http://tinyurl.com/3d9vb3 <--winning comedy video, best of all 3 (comedy, drama, action), imo.

Comments

[lems.livejournal.com]

Wow!! Sounds like a lot... I was at disney too, but evidently the other one, since the Haunted Mansion is closed in Florida for the summer :P Major bummerific!