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Age of Conan's composer talks inspiration, challenges
MMORPG met up with Age of Conan composer Knut Avenstroup at the Oslo launch event and spoke with him about the beautiful score he created for the game. During the four minute video interview, Avenstroup talked about adapting his creative process to the video game medium and staying motivated when faced with the intimidating task of creating three and a half hours of music.He explained that he wanted to learn about ancient forms of music, since the game is set just before the dawn of recorded history. Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble because "there is very little material to look into because the only thing they know about ancient music or music from two thousand years ago is based on the instruments that have survived. They are basically trying to find out what kind of music would be possible to play on these instruments, so there's not a lot to go on."Despite that problem, he was able to draw on inspiration from several cultures -- including Arabic, Celtic, and Nordic -- and the scores of films set in the distant past.
The Shaken Baby doll: funny, not funny ha ha
The absurdity of that photo is usurped only by the stupidity of those who think that shaking a baby is effective child rearing. Enter the re-purposed (and tricked out) $28,200 crash test dummy which the University of Oslo will use to better understand the trauma inflicted on an estimated 2,000 shaken babies each year in the US -- half of whom die, the other half suffering brain damage. If research is successful, the resulting forensic evidence will help prosecute those guilty of this senseless abuse while defending those wrongly accused. Fine, now could somebody please research the trauma inflicted on babies dressed like iPods? That can't be good.
