![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyHalf-term has been peaceful as the duo are in Royston and Cambridge (due back today). However, it has also been busy. Friday night, following a quick dinner of rather fine Hawaiian pancakes at My Old Dutch with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ao_lai, I went to the Distant Worlds concert at the Royal Albert Hall with chrestomancy, chrisvenus and ao_lai.
The concert started at 19:30, finished at 22:15 with a half-hour break in the middle. It was the 25th anniversary, so the programme had been altered to include music from all the games. It worked by having an orchestra and choir (and a few soloists) plus a huge screen showing clips from the games (and Advent Children). The concert began with a medley covering music from all the games. Then the next half to two-thirds was spent playing a track from each game.
I do not particularly remember the first three pieces (although I have played the games); FFIV's track was "The Four Fiends", FFV's track was the main theme and the song from VI was the theme to the Ghost Train sequence (called "The Phantom Forest"). VII's was "One-Winged Angel" (of course!) and VIII's was my favourite - a new version of the standard battle music. For IX the theme was "You're Not Alone!" and X was "Zanarkand". I didn't recognise the music from XI, but it was called "Vana'diel March" (having never played it - it's the first on-line game) and I don't remember XII's but it was apparently "The Dalmasca Estersand" (I didn't like that game much anyway). For XIII the song was "Blinded by Light" and I don't remember XIV's (and haven't played it - it's the second on-line offering, currently off-line).
The remaining third of the concert was a mixture of other tracks, including contributions from several soloists. The first of these was the Chocobo theme (which played before the interval between the song for FFXII and the one for FFXIII) and this had the funniest - and cutist - game scenes. They played a new version of "Eyes on Me" (FFVIII) with a soloist, a new version of "Theme of Love" (the most famous FFIV track) and they did a long version of the opera music from FFVI with three singers ("One-Winged Angel", "Theme of Love" and the opera are apparently always played). The opera was probably my least favourite of the lot as I would have preferred the time be spent on playing a few more other tracks and it was the only time that the screen was mostly black (the new version of the opera was about 15 minutes, maybe more, while the game sequence is nearer 5 minutes). Then they did one last song - the new song from XIV (which I don't remember the title of). There were two final pieces - the first was my second favourite - a medley of the battle music from the different games; it included a shot of Zack Fair and ended with the FFVII fanfare. Then the concert ended with the Final Fantasy Main Theme.
Because it was Final Fantasy a number of the audience turned up in costume. Also, the Albert Hall staff were all very polite and helpful. All in all, a lovely evening.
Since I last posted, I completed The Blackwell Deception, which is the fourth in the Blackwell series from Wadjet Eye Games. The Blackwell series are point-and-click games about helping ghosts that fall more into the "mystery" category than "horror". They are good for a number of reasons - decent puzzles (without silly object combinations), complex characters and interesting stories. I played the first three games at the start of this year, found the first two good, but on the short side and then really enjoyed the third. This fourth game is of a decent length (like the third one) and a rather interesting plot. There are plenty of ghosts to help, as well as some advance of the grand plot which has been going since the start (or, strictly speaking, since the second game). I really enjoyed Deception and was smug when I completed it without having to refer to a walkthrough. Recommended to anyone who likes point-and-clicks.
Now that LoveFilms have a reached an agreement with Universal Pictures, we finally got to hire and watch Kick-Ass. I was surprised and pleased to see it lived up to all its hype. Great film, lovely action sequences and a good cast - in particular there was a wonderful performance from Chloë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl.
With the duo away,huggyrei and telpher came over yesterday to play Magic. I didn't enjoy it as much this year as I have done previously. Mainly because I had an unusually high number of bad draws when I had all lands or none (telpher similarly suffered). While the game sometimes goes that way, I only play once a year and so really noticed it. The set itself was fine (Pack rats was banned), although both bateleur and telpher had difficulty putting a playable deck together due to the guilds (which use five of the ten colour pairs).
Today I've been thinking about various family birthdays and Christmas shopping. I like this time of year, particularly when I don't leave all the shopping to the last minute.
Note: Updated to reflect further information about the concert
ao_lai, I went to the Distant Worlds concert at the Royal Albert Hall with chrestomancy, chrisvenus and ao_lai. The concert started at 19:30, finished at 22:15 with a half-hour break in the middle. It was the 25th anniversary, so the programme had been altered to include music from all the games. It worked by having an orchestra and choir (and a few soloists) plus a huge screen showing clips from the games (and Advent Children). The concert began with a medley covering music from all the games. Then the next half to two-thirds was spent playing a track from each game.
I do not particularly remember the first three pieces (although I have played the games); FFIV's track was "The Four Fiends", FFV's track was the main theme and the song from VI was the theme to the Ghost Train sequence (called "The Phantom Forest"). VII's was "One-Winged Angel" (of course!) and VIII's was my favourite - a new version of the standard battle music. For IX the theme was "You're Not Alone!" and X was "Zanarkand". I didn't recognise the music from XI, but it was called "Vana'diel March" (having never played it - it's the first on-line game) and I don't remember XII's but it was apparently "The Dalmasca Estersand" (I didn't like that game much anyway). For XIII the song was "Blinded by Light" and I don't remember XIV's (and haven't played it - it's the second on-line offering, currently off-line).
The remaining third of the concert was a mixture of other tracks, including contributions from several soloists. The first of these was the Chocobo theme (which played before the interval between the song for FFXII and the one for FFXIII) and this had the funniest - and cutist - game scenes. They played a new version of "Eyes on Me" (FFVIII) with a soloist, a new version of "Theme of Love" (the most famous FFIV track) and they did a long version of the opera music from FFVI with three singers ("One-Winged Angel", "Theme of Love" and the opera are apparently always played). The opera was probably my least favourite of the lot as I would have preferred the time be spent on playing a few more other tracks and it was the only time that the screen was mostly black (the new version of the opera was about 15 minutes, maybe more, while the game sequence is nearer 5 minutes). Then they did one last song - the new song from XIV (which I don't remember the title of). There were two final pieces - the first was my second favourite - a medley of the battle music from the different games; it included a shot of Zack Fair and ended with the FFVII fanfare. Then the concert ended with the Final Fantasy Main Theme.
Because it was Final Fantasy a number of the audience turned up in costume. Also, the Albert Hall staff were all very polite and helpful. All in all, a lovely evening.
Since I last posted, I completed The Blackwell Deception, which is the fourth in the Blackwell series from Wadjet Eye Games. The Blackwell series are point-and-click games about helping ghosts that fall more into the "mystery" category than "horror". They are good for a number of reasons - decent puzzles (without silly object combinations), complex characters and interesting stories. I played the first three games at the start of this year, found the first two good, but on the short side and then really enjoyed the third. This fourth game is of a decent length (like the third one) and a rather interesting plot. There are plenty of ghosts to help, as well as some advance of the grand plot which has been going since the start (or, strictly speaking, since the second game). I really enjoyed Deception and was smug when I completed it without having to refer to a walkthrough. Recommended to anyone who likes point-and-clicks.
Now that LoveFilms have a reached an agreement with Universal Pictures, we finally got to hire and watch Kick-Ass. I was surprised and pleased to see it lived up to all its hype. Great film, lovely action sequences and a good cast - in particular there was a wonderful performance from Chloë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl.
With the duo away,
huggyrei and telpher came over yesterday to play Magic. I didn't enjoy it as much this year as I have done previously. Mainly because I had an unusually high number of bad draws when I had all lands or none (telpher similarly suffered). While the game sometimes goes that way, I only play once a year and so really noticed it. The set itself was fine (Pack rats was banned), although both bateleur and telpher had difficulty putting a playable deck together due to the guilds (which use five of the ten colour pairs).Today I've been thinking about various family birthdays and Christmas shopping. I like this time of year, particularly when I don't leave all the shopping to the last minute.
Note: Updated to reflect further information about the concert
