Grimm

Definitely. Gotta say it was an awesome moment when this happened: halc: Did you see Laura?! She totally just winked at me! me: Wait, really?! halc: Yeah look now! *Laura turns and winks at me* me: DUUUUUUUUUDE!

IDK about MP3 downloads but there's always Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Hisaishi/e/B000APFK7S/works/

So, who's coming to VGL St. Charles next week?

THIS. Lords2 FTW. I second - SMRPG, Red Alert, Halo, FF6 Not yet mentioned - Skyward Sword OST, Secret of Mana, anything by Video Games Live. If you're into anime as well get LOTS and LOTS of Yoko Konno and Joe Hisaishi. EDIT: I forgot - MASS EFFECT 2. BGC will appreciate it if you go sharing the love around.

I remember there was one bLiNd mix with a comment along the lines of "if this were done by anyone else but bLiNd I'd think they were just showing off." Wouldn't be surprised if it was this one My understanding of "composer-wank" is when somebody comes out of nowhere and goes into a new style and absolutely destroys it to the point you think it's a completely different person. Alternatively it's when they drop something that makes you think they just took more than one level in badass at a time (danger, such obvious roidage may cause long-term health issues) I personally tend to fall in love with composer-wank tracks (the aforementioned bLiNd track subtly and virt's over-the-top deliberately bombastic turn-it-up-to-eleven DKC2 mix are two of my favorites on the entire site)

Really neat Wired Magazine article on nerdy violin covers, especially video game music: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/02/nerdy-violinists/

http://foxvalleymagazine.com/thumbnail.php?file=arts_arcada.gif&size=article_large I snagged the 5th seat from the right side, 2nd row from the back in that picture. Keep your eyes peeled for a very tall blonde guy.

Turns out that VGL isn't coming back to GenCon this year. I may have to get some front row tickets for the Chicago show because they likely won't be this close for another year at least.

Just confirmed with Tommy on Facebook that they're not actually coming to GenCon this year Still haven't heard which of the VGM bands are returning either.

More info on VGL St. Charles - Ticket sales start Monday. - Preorder link on Facebook only. - Theater only seats 800.

Ticket sales for VGL start Monday. Apparently they're posting the preorder link on their Facebook page only. Oh, and the theater only seats 800. I'm excited!

Remember, if you can't make the Chicago meetup there will be an Indy meetup at some point as well.

For you Chicago folks, I checked today and saw a new listing on the VGL dates page for a show in late March that's in St. Charles. http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates

Here's my idea for a preliminary super-long-term planning checklist for GenCon: 1. Confirm with VGL whether or not they're returning/asking GenCon event staff again and hope for a better response (may be best to wait until after the Super Bowl as any attempt for VGL to schedule anything during this week is totally futile) 2. Try and find which VGM bands will be returning this year. 3. Play with the idea of organizing an anime wing panel/get frugal people free badges (I was thinking something easy like "musical themes in JRPG games" or "evolution of the Japanese gaming industry" or even a deconstructionist comedy panel like "your favorite JRPG sucks") 4. Check if anyone needs a carpool and if anyone can provide one. 5. Assuming [1] and [2] are successful, find a time and place for an epic OCR + VGL + VGM band meetup!

I can help organize Indy, though I'd definately want to communicate with some of the other locals who A. have names that actually carry some weight (AKA OCR folk who people in the community actually know, not someone who just joined to chime in here,) and B. were present at the last meetup you guys held. I feel like that would help a lot in keeping everything well grounded in reality. Not to mention, fairly democratic.