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A spoiler spilled when spoiled

 

interesting title no? I bet your feeling like you want to know why and how. But, I am going to be the evil laughing maniac this time.

What’s going on? not much, not much been a fun few weeks though. with the absolute height being the Tavern LARP ‘Den Geniepigen Draak'(The Sneaky Dragon) which was a first Tavern LARP for me.
It’s basically a small LARP event like I have described before, but then minus all the fighting and in a Tavern(so it’s all Roleplay). It’s kinda fun, but your character needs to fit in. I brought in Boris.

Turns out he is rather hard to play in a LARP with his broken common(not his motherlanguage) and his tendency to just sit and ponder. Yet the Elvenmaid whom he followed(yea, she’s an Alchemist, he needs to protect those, et voila, my reason to be there. Hers was a lot harder to concieve xD) to the Tavern just dragged him along and sat him in a group of curious folk.
First there was a local monk(claiming the wine was good, but of course Boris thought it was absolute rubbish, only the drink he grew up with is proper stuff) who came from a monastery nearby. They all had, save for himself, made a Vow of Silence. but he made it up by his endless(but fun!) talks. I bet the other monks never got the chance to actually speak.
Then we had this small, frail woman, who made Jewelry out of chainlinks, not much of a talker, but still a very pleasant companion.
Third off there was this, I believe, Vampire woman who turned to be friendly.
That and the Elven maiden, I believe I have them all, unless my mind is really playing tricks on me.
Aside this group there were 2-3 more groups(and a random assortment of various folk), one group were a bunch of local folk, who apparently lost their parrot(and more then just that if you asked us) and a group called the Atlantians. The bunch of locals where prominent and fun to interact with(or just look at for that matter, more then once I had to hid a grin and stop my head from shaking)
Also, there was live music by Kelten zonder Grenzen, they had a violin, two harps and a hurdy-gurdy and there was dance. oh yea, there was dance. to be precise; Balfolk dancing. and guess what, the Elven Maiden loved to dance. also guess what? She has these great puppy eyes. irresistable. and so I danced. and I liked it much(even though I found it also scary :P)
Balfolk is basically just dancing simple dances, you don’t have to have good talent to participate(which is a good thing). Here an example, we did this dance. The speed shown is rather low, in my experience we went faster anyway(but hey, it’s my experience). it seems easy, but after a few spins it’s really hard to find the way to your right to join in for the second partner and such(I am very surprised how everyone somewhat managed not to bump into each other)
So all in all, a very awesome night which I would recommend to all who read this. To throw in a little teaser: the Webcastblog Goed Folk(Good Folk) was present a bit later on the evening, here is the cast(In Dutch) the part begins at 16:00.

it actually became quite the rant, which is good if you held on so far. Because, no matter how awesome that night was. It was outshone by the event that afternoon. The Elven Maiden I keep refferring to is Ashley, which I now may call my Girlfriend 😀 I lack the words to actually describe my joy about it, as well as the nervousness that went before that 🙂 So there, it’s out.

Patience, young grasshopper

 

yea, I’m late…. again… who cares 😉
the title is this time about the one thing I wish I’d have but which I’m unfortunately lacking. The keyword there is Elfmaiden.

so yea, what’s new? a lot of things actually, of which some I can’t(or don’t dare too) tell about.
Work is still going strong(and boring I might add, getting repetitive) nothing new there except for the fact that I got the opportunity to go to the thing I wanted: Configuration Management, I do tell, it is about as boring as it sounds, but I like it. Even more so, due to circumstances I had it, and then stuff happened and I voluntarily gave it up for a while in favor of the customer(very long, political story I don’t want to bore you lot with), so for now, back to the drawing board drawing stickmen.

As for LARP, season’s coming again and blood starts too crawl where it can’t go. soo much to think about, so little time.

My main rig has also given up, so I have struck quite the deal(methinks :P) I bought new hardware, and I let a complete rookie(*coughAshleycough*) assemble it. FYI she claims never too have assembled a computer, and she thought it a challenge, so et voila! 2 flies in one strike xD

I think at least an hour or so has passed since I started typing this blog, and meanwhile I have seen folk scream for help as creepers decided they would be their next hugging victim, or how they jumped into Lava. Very funny stuff, all happening on my MineCraft server. if you want in on it, poke me 😉

now, we all know how most usually end, MUSIC MAESTRO!

got songs from various genres, but most come from APB, started listening to it after some random youtube song link 😛
so kicking off is Alabama 3 – The Night We Nearly Got Busted

next off is Negative PH – WK

Third song goes about Whoibe – Troubled Times

Now for something completely different, this is stuff you have too like, and I like it(at least for this moment. I tend too agree with one of the highest rated comments: Why won’t my speakers go louder?
Justice – Waters of Nazereth

Deadmau5 – FML

and lastly a godly (normal) song!
Sara Bareilles(you know, of Love song) – King of Anything

Sleepless noise

 

So, I hereby grace you all with a post like in the old times once more, random and after a long period of nothing.

Reason for this gracing is a sleepless night on my side, all thanks to something unsaid by a certain someone. oh, and the fact I went too bed with energy too burn might not have helped.
I so hope I can settle this thing soon once and for all, hopefully in a very good way too! Then I can make a post which explains a few things posted on here 😉

In the mean time in my life…. nothing really earthshattering has happened. Life has gone on in the same boring old fashion. Work has been the same, personal life pretty much has been the same. oh and the SPSD came back together after laying low due to RTW(makers of APB) going bankrupt.
The initiator has been Oriagi, faithful Oriagi. I only came accross the reactivation a few days after the post, something in me called me towards the site to see if anything changed, and boy did it.

Suddenly those old boards jumped too life again and folk are on it daily, even though APB isn’t coming out for another month or two or so(by another company and different paymodel).
In the mean time we play Minecraft and Battlefield Bad Company 2, those games are fun!

Minecraft is graphically one of the least attractive games but the possibilities it offers is just staggering. you start in this world made out of so called blocks, these blocks can be ‘mined’ and if done by the right tools you can reuse said block to make it into something else, like a house, some stairs, a new pickaxe or, why the heck not, the USS Enterprise(not made by me, mind you!) . Basically anything you can possibly imagine is possible in one way or the other. I have set up a private Minecraft server, so if you have the game(paid version!) and want to join give me a holla and we will see if you get the details or not 🙂  On a sidenote and for the record, I still try to convince Ashley to come play this game as well, all attempts so far unfruitful.

On Battlefield Bad Company 2(BC2 hereafter), it’s good old Battlefield as I knew it! So far pretty much all versions of the game after Battlefield 2 where such utter crap I became to ignore the series in total, until Salvi(of the SPSD) mentioned it to me. Boy, am I glad she did. the game is absolute fun and I sometimes sit in cover counting down to jump out and start blasting the mofo that kept me sitting in cover. not always succesful in either killing or surviving, but that’s a price you pay. I love it. also, should you happen to have it, make sure you set the mediocre sound from Hifi to Wartapes! I don’t know why on earth they decided not to use that soundmode, but hell, it now sounds like your in a real war! soo much better. an explosion now really sounds like and explosion! it just doesn’t go boom, it goes BOOM on a different level!

As for the music(there will always be music, for why have had we be graced by ears if not for listening pleasure?) I have made a selection which I can only describe as Noise and more Noise.

First off is something Salvi showed to me, apparently hers and her brother’s favourite song(and mine too!). I must, however, give the warning to all listeners that this piece is best described as noise and that thus a warning is appropriate. other then that, enjoy the Metal m/ song is by Strapping Young Lads – Detox

Second off is Rammstein with Rosenrot, because it is awesome. A little bit less noise.

Third is another Rammstein song, this time more noise with Zwitter

Fourth is a song out of another genre, it’s Fall Out Boy with This Ain’t A Scene, This Is An Arms Race

Lastly I conlude with a song out of yet another genre of music, totally different from all above and definately NOT described by the word noise, classical is far more accurate, it’s also a two part piece(15 minutes, but sit down and enjoy this masterpiece) Ravel – Bolero (sidenote, the director doesn’t kill people, I swear!)
Part 1: 
Part 2: 

Theme- and gamesongs galore!

 

Sorry for the lousy and uninspiring title, but in this little blogupdate I want to talk about Songs from Movies, games and the like(not sure if there is more to it though).
but first! I would like to claim that Somewhere this weekend I’ll take some pictures from my LARP outfit and tell something about things to come. Also, I am listening to the Imperial March as I type this, therefore i cannot be held accountable for anything I type and/or promise.

Now then, back to the songs and the like. I’ll kick off with one described before and one all of you will know(save if you really lived under a rock for a few decades); The Imperial March!
Composed in 1980, John Williams made this song for Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, it’s a classic almost anyone will recognise(and a lot will like it):

Along the same lines, also from Star Wars, I’d like to present to you: The Chalmun’s Cantina. While very few would actually know this song if you mention it, quite a few(I think) will recognize it, and if not, they will like the song all the same. Composed by John Williams for Star Wars IV: A New Hope:

Next up: a gamesong! one of the oldest I know, but one that does memory relive and is still awesome to listen to. Composed by Frank Klepacki for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn(the first game) in 1995:

After last one, I can only mention one more gamesong from the same author(but composed in 1998 for C&C: Red Alert): Hell’s March!:

Now, by now most of you will feel where this will be going(what can I say, I like rock/metal) but I will try to steer a bit ofcourse with the next one. While there aren’t many songs that keep stuck in my head that I would actually remember as beautiful from a game or movie(or it must be promoted VERY upfront) I still remember this old beaut:
Amazing Grace from the movie Braveheart(where I heard it first) However, seeing not all of you would like the bagpipes featured in it and because all I could find was the bagpipes only versione(while there is actual singing in the movie version) I decided to settle on an awesome version of it sang A Capella in the 70s by Judy Collins and a Choir. Composed by John Newton around 1772:

With the next one I will probably flabbergast the lot of you, as I am a rather big claimer I would never listen to such music….there are always exceptions though, and this is one of them.
Lil’ John and Eastside Boyz – Get Low;

From the same game I bring a song which would sound a lot more familiar to me, Black Betty by Spiderbait(not sure if I featured it before, but who cares)(and ofcourse I can only post some crap version of the song because Universal want to pretend it’s butt has all the rights to everything related….ugh):

From NFS: Underground 2: Riders on the Storm – Snoop Dogg vs the Doors, a dub by the Dee Oo double G over the original track, which I like(my hand still goes to the shift button to shift gears when i hear it):

Back to moviethemes I say, now with a theme that is as legendary as the actual movie itself, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Composed by Ennio Morricone in 1966:

I’m starting to see that there is no recent movie in the line-up, then again, I find most of the music of recent movies doubtfull at best, but, as always, there are exceptions, and luckily Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen changes that, with a nice, gruff, rough, hard song by Nickelback(PLEASE forget their lousy soft popsongs and expect good hard rock):

lastly, the song that started this post, it’s from a game I just completed and I just can’t get enough of this song. It’s the main theme to Divinity II: Ego Draconis and it’s composed by Kirill Pokrovsky somewhere last year:

and that’s that as far as i’m concerned, but I’ll throw in one teaser, it’s a nice one I promise:

LARP update

 

Righto, another year’s past since the last EFF and some of you may remember I posted a picture of me, my shield and shoulders(+gorget) back then.
I also claimed more of my costume would follow sometime, but that the beginning was there.

The beginning of this year was about marked by a LARP event we(me and my mate Steven) attended.
on that event I had an awesome picture moment
The only downside of that picture, it’s my old costume you partially see there.
What has changed/not visible then?
– The cuirass is now adepted so I can actually sit down, and it looks BAD ASS!
– The length of the straps on my greaves are extended, so I can wear them(hooray! they won’t go for my shins so fast now!)
– The shoulder you lot see is replaced by a leather one
– I have a new belt which is a _lot_ longer(1.75M(5.7 feet))
– I actually have 2 short swords, one you can see in my hand, the other one peeks from behind my shield.
– The swords vary greatly in weight and lenght, the one I’m holding is the lightest and has a very easy swing. The one sheated is a very crude and heavy sword I use a backup should I be disarmed
– I have a proper IC pouch now for all the IC coin we make(I hoard the coin of my mate as well )
– The pouch is filled with various precious looking stones and some IC coin
– A warrior’s pouch, mostly filled by OoC stuff
– There is now a band with the clan logo(a wolf) added to my leg
– My shield now has a strap so I can hang it on my back(I had to walk the whole event with that shield in hand(very annoying for certain situations))

Seeing the next event is next week, I’ll try if i can get a picture of it and upload it here.

Other then that, the first event we attended, the Dwaler 9(the Stray 9) was pretty much EPIC.
The event is based around a tavern somewhere in the Schwarzwald in Mythic Europe. Yes, MYTHIC Europe, meaning it’s Europe as you know it, but with Mythical elements. That is basically with Magic, Elves, Drow, Vampires, Orcs and so on and so on.
When we(Pascal(me) and Keidas(my mate)) arrived on a late friday night we did the introduction and wandered through the woods afterwards and decided to go home when it was real dark.
The next day we walked to the main camp and stood there for a while, and it was not very long until a pointy-ear(Elf) approached us with the question whether or not we were for hire.
Seeing we both play Mercs that wasn’t the problem, as long as they paid up(my exact quote, just add a rawish voice and a money-hungry grin). And so it came to be we were part of the Militia.
That day was filled with various battles as well as numerous word exchanges between us and some random other player, a whole group was even denied for a few hours by the Jarl(Viking king/leader), a player whose group decided they would lead the whole camp. I must say, they became rather creative after a while.
The short version of it: We got promoted to Guardmasters and we gained the privilege to kick various other smalltime members around in the Militia, something my character enjoys doing so, and I am hinting to the literal kicking.
Sunday we were asked to join a Vampire hunt by the Vikings. Our weapons were blessed by a ritual, as well as ourselves.
With about 15 men we hiked to the Vampire camp to supposedly eradicate them once and for all, so we conquered their camp and chased them off, by that time only 10 of us were left, and we marched back to the village.
We where halted by a ritual we joined the fray and closed that same fray about an hour later. Then we finally marched back to the village only to have the most unpleasant surprise, the whole village was waiting for us, and I don’t mean the nice variant of the said waiting, with the slaughtered Vampires up front(bearing a wide grin of course)
So, at that point we looked at each other and shouted ‘For Odin'(our warcry) one last time and stormed into the waiting players.
Seeing we were outnumbered 5 to 1 I don’t have to mention the outcome.
Somehow my character managed to survive(hooray for the ‘It’s nothing personal, I was just paid to slaughter you’-card the Mercenary can play) and as such we were reinstated as the watchmasters we were(save for a few minor conditions).
and with that my major roleplay ended that day, there was of course a traditional(or so I was told) end fight(the ~30 Players versus about 50 NPCs) which I also managed to survive by standing behind them all(no armour or health after the first wave with a boss).

and next weekend we are going to see how it goes on a different event.
My character there, Pascal, will be opting for a Paladin(but not a holy goody-goody, the Merc kind) along with a set up clan(don’t know all the details, but Merc afaik)
I’ll see if I can let you lot know more about it. For now, till next time