World of Warcraft Vs Keiko

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You might have noticed recently that I have been missing of late.

A few weeks ago, my husband blew me away with an unexpected query as to whether I would play World of Warcraft again if he started to play it. Turns out that he wasn’t as satisfied with Runes of Magic as I believed. So, we immediately started looking around for disks and got our Battlenet accounts up to date using our old World of Warcraft details. I ended up formatting my computer and finally got Windows 7 Ultimate on this sucker.After all, I don’t want to have to reinstall and download all of the updates again when the time for Windows 7 Beta periodic shutdowns get close.

However, I have had to approach World of Warcraft differently this time around. For those that aren’t aware, last time I played, I stopped writing for just on a year. World of Warcraft is addictive and it is easy to get caught up in the community, but you really have to be careful not to neglect the things that matter – friends, family, ethics, responsibilities (financial and otherwise), as well as mental, spiritual, physical and creative growth as an individual.

For the days that I haven’t been roleplaying with my game group, I have played no less than 8 hours a day on World of Warcraft. My Death Knight is on the precipice of 67th level now and I have 2 toons (human priest and a human paladin) ready to pull up levels. My husband and I started a guild as well, now with the first bank slot, and have 4 friends that have joined the server to play alongside us. We are talking about starting a guild website and actively beginning the task of pulling lower level members up levels as well.

It has been a bit strange going back to the first MMORPG that I ever played, but there is something about this game that resulted in a 9 month period of not writing several years ago. There is a heck of a lot going on at any given time, and the game is simple enough that beginners won’t be intimidated.   It has been a pixel-induced creative coma, but I am fine with that. I have enjoyed going back to playing the game, and find that it is great research for a story that I am working on about a Technomage. I could never play Runes of Magic as much as World of Warcraft, one of the most addictive games I have ever played.

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Music Video – I’m Letting Go by Josh Woodward

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I have been a fan of Ohio-based musician Josh Woodward for some time now, and when his double CD The Simple Life (Part 1, Part 2) was released a few years ago, I was thrilled. The following is a response to a home performance that he uploaded to his YouTube page, and really captures the themes and emotions of the song. Many thanks to the talented Saul Molina for creating such a beautiful clip. [N.B. Josh Woodward has released all of his songs via a Creative Commons Attribution US license. You can download his new album, Breadcrumbs, as well as his other music free of charge, which includes album, instrumental, and live versions of his songs. You can purchase CD's via links on his website.]

 

Comedy Video – Cellphone Wars (Corner Gas)

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The following video is a scene from the first season of Canadian comedy series, Corner Gas (official website). I don’t know how Brent Butt, the script writer and actor in the show, managed to keep producing high quality episodes every week, but now that the show has come to an end, the humor will live on through repeats. Corner Gas FTW!

 

Music Video – Everybody’s Fool by Evanescence

I have been a huge fan of Evanescence ever since their album Fallen, with many of the songs featured in the soundtracks for both film and television. The following song, Everybody’s Fool, has a special meaning for me, as it gives voice to past anguish. That does not mean that it leads to unnecessary reflection on my part. Instead, it expertly tells a story and conveys the pain associated with a dark time.

 

Music Video – Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) by Florence and the Machine

Today, I found this bizarre but gorgeous music video by Florence and the Machine, called Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up).  It is a mixture of different themes, and is sort of an Arthurian retelling of Alice’s visit to the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

 

Playlist 7 Picks 01/22/2010

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I missed voting to the contenders for Playlist 7 last week. Luckily, but this week has been a lot less consumed with playing Runes of Magic, so I have just got around to checking out the offerings for this week. There were a few familiar faces as well as a host of new players, and it was at times difficult to decide which songs to place in the top 7. That being said, I was in a strange mood and some of my choices might lead to some brow-raising, but I am sure that you guys will at least appreciate some of my choices even if we don’t completely agree on where the 14 artists fit.

Here are the top 7 picks for this week:

• Hooked by Jeremy Vogt Band (Indianapolous, IN, USA)
• Gone by Sarah Solovay (New York, NY, USA)
• F.O.E. by Pivot (Raleigh, NC, USA)
• Home by Eric Macek (Orange County, CA, USA)
• Something Unreal by Ex Norwegian (Miami Beach, FL, USA)
• We are Stars by Scatterheart (Vancouver, BC, CA)
• No Answer (Redux Radio Edit) by Brother Ape (Stockholm, SE)

Here are the 7 honorable mentions:

• Razor Arms by Alien Skin (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)
• Satisfy Your Soul by Il Collettivo (New York, NY, USA)
• Fall This Hard by Melissa Axel (Denver, CO, USA)
• Choking on Menthol by Brett Ryan Stewart (Carthage, TN, USA)
• Demon Eyes by 2 Drunks and a Guitar (Saint Louis, MO, USA)
• Simple Living by L-Mo (Leeds, York, UK)
• Something Else by LOGAN (Glascow, UK)

 

State of Keiko 01/21/2010

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It has been a long fortnight. After making my way back to playing Runes of Magic, I finally got my husband playing it again, and he made the most of a week break from work. Two and a half days would be spent playing roleplaying games (Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 + Storyteller World of Darkness) and the rest was spent learning more about RoM by throwing ourselves into the newest update. I’d join a guild and soon found myself with a host of new gamer buddies, whose friendship was forged in the fires of instances such as The Windmill and the Forsaken Abbey.

In spite of hours spent questing in Taborea and in pen-paper RPG’s, I would find myself writing again. The main character of my Gamer Girl story is inspired by playing in Virtual Adept mage in World of Darkness and MMORPG gaming, but there are still lots of plot and character ideas that need fleshing out. The first hurdle is, as always, putting my arse in the chair and my fingers at the keyboard. In this I have succeeded in spite of numerous distractions, and I believe that gaming and roleplaying will actually help me with this story.

By the way, I should have new content up on the fiction blog in the next few days, as well as a post on this blog regarding my Playlist 7 picks for this week that is scheduled to go live in the morning.

 

Music Video – Come Undone by Duran Duran

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When I was growing up during the early 80’s, Duran Duran were always in the thick of it, releasing one popular song after the next, to the delight of young girls and boys alike. Duran Duran had a unique sound which set them apart from other pop groups of the era. In their own way, they were pioneers, expanding the idea of what popular music is. When Girls on Film was released, the video clip brought with it controversy and changed the landscape of what should be considered acceptable. These raunchy images would send young males into a tailspin, but was one of two songs left off of the Arena album. These songs were apparently released on the 2004 special edition of the album, though you can still find 10 track versions of the release for sale online.

Come Undone was a song from Duran Duran: The Wedding Album, their 1993 release, and is a song that really showed their maturity and talent as a music group. However, when most people of this release, they think of songs such as Ordinary World. For me, all of Duran Duran’s songs had their own touch of artistry. Wherever you sit in the debate of which of their songs is the best, I am that we can all agree that Duran Duran are a seriously talented group that are still releasing premium quality tracks nineteen years since their self-titled debut in 1981.

 

Music Video – Percussion Gun by White Rabbits

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When I first saw White Rabbits performing this song live on Late Night with David Letterman last year, I found myself fascinated by the strangeness and awesomeness of their sound. It was odd enough that I started searching for podcasts featuring their music, and soon found them performing live on Blogotheque, a French entertainment vodcast. A live performance will always offer a sense of spontaneity and authenticity to a piece. That being said, there is something going for the bells and whistles of a music clip. I hope that you enjoy watching the official music clip of Percussion Gun.

 

Music Video – Freedom (Live) by Ryan Hammer

The following is another artist that I discovered via Playlist 7, a talented guy by the name of Ryan Hammer. You can find Ryan Hammer on ReverbNation, Facebook and Youtube.