To Hogwarts! (And Panem!)

Today I was handed a wand (acacia with dragon core, twelve and a half inches, quite bendy) and sent off to Hogwarts, where I was sorted into Slytherin. That’s right, my Pottermore account was activated today!

I always worried I’d end up in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, which is a shame because they’re very good houses. Ravenclaw is clever and Hufflepuff is everyone’s best friend (and they’re very good finders!) but neither seemed quite right for me even though I value cleverness and friendship very highly. In retrospect, Slytherin makes a lot of sense for me. I’m not saying I’m evil (it depends on who you ask) but I am very ambitious. Slytherin can help me on the way to greatness? Cool, I’m there.

In other news, it looks like the Hunger Games ARG (more info here) will be starting up soon! A friend of mine was selected to be a district recruiter today. What does that mean? We have no idea. But we’ll take it as a sign something’s about to happen!

 

Eagle Fall – Angelverse Episode 4

[This is the sequel to Phoenix Rise, so I'd recommend reading that story first. Also, "Altair" is the name of a star in the Summer Triangle. It  is a two-syllable name rhyming with "hair." The character in this story is NOT named for Altaïr (a three-syllable name) from Assassin's Creed, they just both got their names from the same star. It was an unfortunate accident.]

I’m Different!

Sorry I haven’t posted in forever. Between moving back to school, starting classes, getting hopelessly stuck on a story, and rereading the Hunger Games Trilogy, updating Nerdflight didn’t have a very high spot on my To-Do list.  As a sort of peace offering, I’ll share with you some beautiful videos I found.

For those of you who haven’t noticed, this summer I feel in love with the video game Portal 2. Hidden in the game is a song by The National, a wonderful indie band you might know for the song “Blood Buzz Ohio”. Their song “Exile Vilify” could be heard playing in one of the test chambers in Portal 2 and the song’s lyrics decorated the walls in many Ratman dens throughout the game. Since the song had no music video of its own, Valve Software held a contest to see who could create the best music video for the song. To the victor went an autographed guitar and Valve swag.

Too bad no one thinks he (or she) deserved it.

See, the the official rules for the contest, Valve said,

Direct your video vision with live action, game assets, shots of the band, sock puppets, whatever you want. Just make sure you get it submitted with the tag PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE to YouTube by July 15th.

So what did they end up with? A video featuring the world’s most forlorn sock puppet. In case you think I’m joking, see it here.

Admittedly, the final decision on the winning video was very difficult for the folks at Valve, so they called in The National to help. And being an indie band, of course they went for the sock puppet. No surprises there.

The second (or rather 1.00000000001th) video actually pertained to Portal, and in my opinion is far superior to the sock puppet in terms of creativity. Unfortunately, unless viewers have read the “Lab Rat” comic it makes about as much sense as singing footwear.

To see the runners up, you can go to www.thinkwithportals.com/videocontest/, but I’d like to highlight two of my favorites from the honorable mention list. The Best Caroline Story video, while not technically perfect, is haunting in its use of hand animation over Portal footage, almost as if we are observing the ghosts of the past. The Best Turret Story is simply adorable. As it should be.

Magick – Angelverse Episode 3

[Introducing Michael and Ace, the central characters of the Angelverse stories. Don't worry, Ross from "Sleeping Beauty" and Vega from "Phoenix Rise" still have parts to play in the larger story, along with a lot of characters that hav'e been intorduced yet. I have my work cut out for me...

This story was inspired by the song "Magick" by Ryan Adams. Hear it here.]

Attention Hunger Games Fans!

To promote the upcoming Hunger Games movie, Lionsgate has set up an alternate reality game (ARG) to let fans participate in the world of Panem. Go to www.thecapitol.pn to be assigned a district and follow your district’s updates on Twitter at @district#PN.

The only ARG I’ve ever followed before was the FLYNN LIVES game for Tron: Legacy, a fun ride through cyberspace and (in one memorable case) real space that ended concluded with participants frantically “hacking” a mainframe with their computers and cell phones. Little did we know, our actions set into motion the whole plot of the movie. Or so the game goes.

I’m quite looking forward to seeing what the Capitol has in store for us.

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be EVER in your favor!

(To find out more about the movie, see stills and a sneak preview, and download the Mockingjay call, check out the Facebook page)