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WoW Moviewatch: Code Monkey
On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, we'll continue our Staff Picks series by sharing Robin Torres's favorite machinima. It's not functional or elegant but maybe manager wants to write machinima himself. Here's what Robin said about Code Monkey: Code Monkey was first machinima I ever watched. It was also my first introduction to Jonathon Coulton's music. It's a fun song set to a fun video and still one of my favorites. Experienced machnima viewers know that Spiffworld provides all the JoCo love you could ever want in machinima form. Plenty of WoW fans learned about the performer through Spiff's ambassadorial work. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Jonathan Coulton talks coding, Creative Commons and becoming an internet rockstar (video)
There are few ways of endearing yourself to the geek world more quickly than writing a song like "Code Monkey." The developer-friendly track was one of 52 released as part of Jonathan Coulton's year-long "Thing a Week" project and was later adopted as the theme song for a similarly-titled G4 program. The songwriter was just adhering to that old adage of "writing what you know," having worked as a full-time computer programmer prior to giving the music world a go -- though, as he readily admits, he still keeps it real by coding for his own site. We sat down with Coulton as part of this month's Engadget Show, discussing his midlife crisis-driven decision to quit his day job and the journey that the internet played in making him a star. We also discussed the musician's favorite tech, his love of Creative Commons and using gadgets to make music. Coulton also treated us to three songs, including "Still Alive" from the Portal soundtrack and two tracks off his brand new record Artificial Heart. Video of all that after the break.
Why Gnomes (supposedly) rock
I can't say I agree with the premise of this post that reader Syp wrote and sent to us (I'm Horde to the core, so for me, Gnomes only rock when eaten with a side of fries and Horde soda), but I can't really argue with most of his points. He sets out 10 reasons why Gnomes rock, and I have no doubt that they're sure to inspire lots of cross-faction discussion.I do have to admit-- the Gnome mount is one of my favorites, and engineering has gotten to be lots of fun. Escape Artist is an excellent ability (especially since it went instant a little while ago), and I have missed out on the fun that I hear is Toshley's Station-- I'm trying to work my little Gnome Warrior up to the mid-60s so I can get in on the Star Wars references, too.But I do take issue with Syp's "underdog" and "conformity" points. If you really want to play a race/gender that doesn't get a lot of love, try a Dwarf Female.
Cinemassively: Chiron Beta Prime
Spiffworld has created another fantastic Machinima using the Creative Commons licensed work of Jonathan Coulton, the man responsible for the internet hit "Code Monkey." Coulton's song, Chiron Beta Prime, sets the scene for this WoW video about a family laboring away during the Christmas holiday. It also happens to be a present from Mike Spiff Booth to JoCo, whose birthday was on December 1st! "Awww!"I'm pleased to see the Christmas Machinimas flowing in at a nice pace so early on in the season. If you have made an MMO holiday film, let us know![Thanks, Krystalle!]
WoW Moviewatch: The Future Soon
In this edition of Moviewatch, we're treated to another Spiffworld/Jonathan Coulton video. This actually originally had its World Premiere at Blizzcon 2007, but according to Spiffworld, "Everybody was going nuts for Code Monkey." While I love Code Monkey, I have to admit, the dark humor involved in this one made me giggle far more. At least, when compared to the "aww" that Code Monkey got out of me, anyway. Previously on Moviewatch...
