Gnomeaggedon the chilled-out mage has returned from his blogging hiatus with a bang, recently dropping a devilish duo of posts.
The first of these is about his earning the title Battlemaster, and after seeing what really went into earning that title, all I can say is, “Holy crap, dude. Grats.”
Can I just say, “Really? Gnomer, we know you’re a frosty mage, but you take screenshots of huge snowflakes? I think we can all see who the real ‘flake’ is in this picture, right?”
Anyway, he’s revived some meme of six where you’re supposed to, like, go through your screenshots folder, and then go into your sixth sub-folder, and pick your sixth screenshot in that folder and then publish it, and make six other suckers do the same.
He was kind enough to name me as one of the six people he’d most like to make go do some work, so I went into my screenshots folder, and, lo and behold I don’t have sub-folders. I have a million folders with screenshots in them scattered amongst my document areas, but I don’t keep those in the WoW Screenshots directory.
Not that I don’t trust Blizzard to leave my screenshots folder alone when they patch the game, but… I don’t trust Blizzard to leave my screenshots folder alone.
I subscribe to the dual theory that, first, shit happens, and second, my screenshots are only of value to me, so if Blizzard deletes them in a random drive-by patching accident, well, no skin off their nose, why should THEY care?
Anyway…
To pick a screenshot, I tried to stay in the spirit of the meme, to pick something as randomly as possible. Therefore I opened my screenshots folder, started at the upper left-hand corner, and went diagonally six pictures down-right to grab this gem;
I have to say, I’m mighty pleased that out of all the screenshots I could have grabbed, I got one that I was intentionally trying to frame as an action shot – my Worgen warrior Bigfurrybutt surfing on an alligator while leveling in Sholozar.
Nice looking ‘gator there, too. I think that might make for a pretty sexy mount.
Part of this meme is that I now have to tag six other suckers…
So, that being the case, who do I choose to ask to take part? There are LOTS of people I’d love to see offer up screenshots. Some because they are talented artists with an eye for framing attractive scenes and seeing what is in their folder would be entertaining.
Others because there is a high likelihood they’d have WoW Porn in there.
I’ll let you decide which is which.
The six folks I will ask to take part in carrying on this meme are;
How many degrees of seperation are there before every WoW blogger has been asked? Only time will tell. Thank you Gnomer for the opportunity to remember how cool surfing on an alligator is.
Back in the day on my own blog, and holy crap it’s been years, I used to do a Raid Song of the Week feature, basically until the hosting I was using for it (eSnips) broke. :) It was fun, and I do miss it, but I was nowhere near as clean in my pursuit of the perfect raid music as The Godmother is.
The Godmother is for reals. Just her off-the-cuff list of songs she provided as examples, and her description of what mood or WoW situation they fit in are off-the-chain. (Note – BBB jumps shark with hackneyed expression that was dead before it arrived. Take cover, Arizona.)
I don’t have a real, serious contribution to her list, but it still inspired me to share some music with you (as well as send you to her blog contest, the actual point of the post).
I do have one song I always found perfect for one particular situation im WoW. Whenever I run Karazhan for fun, I still love popping in Paralyzer by Finger Eleven when I’m on Maiden of Virtue.
Well I’m not paralyzed, But, I seem to be struck by you; I want to make you move, Because you’re standing still.
It’s a good song, but it’s too old school for a modern WoW raid song entry. And how many people these days can relate to why being paralyzed by her, and wanting to make her move would be even relevant?
It doesn’t really cut it. Not for a suggestion fir the Utimate WoW Mix Tape. No ma’am.
I DO have a relevant song, but I am absolutely certain it’s not what The Godmother was looking for. So, instead of submitting it to her awesomesauce contest (which you should totally be participating in so I can reap the benefits of your suggestions on her final tape), I’m going to share my perfect song with you.
Every single time I run LFR, the tentacles are all around me. Tentacles.
No, not testicles, tentacles.Tentacles! Tentacles waving around, tentacles with eyes, tentacles flapping and flailing and flaming with a flouncing flourish.
Whether it be tentacle trash on Warlord Zon’ozz, tentacles of fire on the Spine of Deathwing, or tentacular tentacles of terrible tentational destruction on Madness of Deathwing, it’s all tentacles, all the time.
Except when there are oozes. And dragons. And, well, fine. Screw you, I’m fixated on the tentacles.
I just so happen to have a song about tentacles.
Oh hell yes I do. I am the Big Bear Butt, and when I say I have a song about tentacles, I’m not screwing around.
So I happily present to you, on this fine Friday, a song about tentacles, called, appropriately enough, Tentacles, from the album “A Shoggoth on the Roof”, published by the H. P. Lovecraft Society, and given to me years ago by my buddy Mannyac. If you can find the album, I heartily recommend it. Alex loves listening to it in the car, particularly this song.
Enjoy the tentacles, my friend. May you make it through LFR without feeling… violated.
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I have no idea, and I ain’t running a competition. I think I just watch too many cooking competition shows.
What I would like is some link love.
But not YOUR link, or mine.
Lemme’ splain.
Do you know a really good writer, someone who is blogging but hasn’t had much exposure yet? They are your little secret, and you wish more people knew about them because they’re so awesome, but it can be hard to be noticed by WoW Insider or MMO Melting Pot?
Well, I’m not big time, but I’d like to know about them too!
So, what I’m asking you to do is to please leave a comment here recommending someone else’s awesome blog for me to read.
I’ll read them all, I assure you, and I will add those with feeds to my private feedreader.
Those that I really, personally like and are WoW related may even make the move from my private feedreader to my permanent WoW Blogroll on the site. Those that ain’t WoW related will stay hidden, while I lurk unseen, reading and enjoying. Muahahaha!
**For those who are not aware, I have a widget on my website that allows me to link a folder on my Google Reader feedlist to the blog, only showing those blogs I place in the special folder. So, the blogroll does not represent EVERY feed I follow, just the ones I think other readers may find as awesome and relevant to WoW as I do. If you do not see your blog on the blogroll, it doesn’t actually mean I don’t read your blog. :)
In other news, I almost won a Piggie Award! Thank you very much to Hugh and the MMO Melting Pot for the kind words, and for thinking my writing is even worth considering. It’s much appreciated, it really is. Great congratulations have to go to Melmoth of Killed in a Smiling Accident for the win. If you’re going to lose to someone, it’s nice that it be to such a wonderful writer.
I’ll put the specific link here again, just to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the blizzard of linkage.
The way I feel about her hypothesis is, if it’s not true, it SHOULD be.
The story of World of Warcraft is sweeping fantasy, and to have that kind of massive backstory upon which is set the smaller but more personal events of our game is perfectly in keeping with the best fantasy fiction.
The story that we play though and live out is very small, very personal to our characters. Just as Annes intro to that article says, we see our small piece of it, much as mice scurrying around the feet of the masters of the house. We fight our mouse wars, and we live our mouse-sized loves, and our mouse world is full of intense passion and incredible pageantry, but there are forces at work that are beyond not just our power, but our awareness and capacity for understanding.
The Lord of the Rings, much abused as it has been, is still a great touchstone to illustrate this point. There is a grand war in the background between all these incredible, ancient forces, but our initial introduction to the world is through the eyes of Bilbo Baggins, the most humble of the races of man. We might as well have been introduced to a world of high sorcery and warring gods through the point of view of a rabbit, and indeed, why not?
Having such a detailed and thorough backstory for what is and why it is that way is great, especially when your characters are not the movers and shakers. You see a world of unfathomable events through eyes of innocence, and discover it’s wonders and terrors with the main character together.
Really, I’ll say it again. I read the tin foil hat ideas that Anne Stickney put forth, and it sounds so very, very plausible… but if it’s not, I really wish it were. I love the idea that all of these grand events that we have seen from the ground level through the eyes of our characters really are moving towards this incredible final culmination… and I won’t spoil where Anne thinks we’re going, but it is definitely the kind of thing that leads you to imagine, “Wow, what if…”.
Reading an article like that first thing in the morning sure does help the rest of the day go well.
Tesh has taken up the challenge, and crafted the ultimate Ring of Power™.
Or at least, the ultimate Ring of Furry Feral Druid Pride.
Yes, I said Furry. We’re Druids. Get over it. SOME of us are even Taurens, so if you can’t at least handle the label with humor, dare I say “let it slide like water off a Manatee-forms back”, then you’re in the wrong end of the class pool.
Tesh has opened a new Shapeways store, called Tish Tosh Tesh Toys (I love that name), and has presented us with several different Feral Druid ring designs.
One of these rings is exactly, EXACTLY, how I envisioned the ring I wanted to design… except a little better, because it has our Druid shoulder markings on each side of the claw design;
It’s amazing! And on Shapeways, when made out of Stainless Steel, it’s only $23.00!
Now, at this time it is only on there at size 11. I do not know what size my finger is, but it’s unlikely to be 11. I ain’t that lucky. But Tesh tells me he is going to be adding more ring sizes soon.
I think if we ask nicely, he may also add the option to have it made out of other materials… I don’t know what the options are exactly, and I know I will buy the stainless version so I can wear it without worrying about breaking or chipping it, but it seems to me you can have things made of other materials, some colored. Perhaps a Night Elf purple or Tauren brown version are possible.
Still…. behold the power of creation!
And if Tesh acts fast, it is entirely possible that some lucky Druids could be seen wearing one of Teshs rings at Blizzcon! Talk about a head turner, eh?
In other Tish Tosh Tesh related news, one of the things he intends to create and place for sale on his Shapeways store are Zomblobs! figures for a tabletop game version of his game design.
Just sayin’, this ain’t a one-shot store for a one day wonder novelty item that will quickly and quietly fade away. Tesh has plans. Exciting, imaginative plans. I’m really looking forward to seeing where his vision will carry me next.
