Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Who doesn't like Felicia Day?

"Felicia Day"by -seek- used under CC permission

Excuse my tardiness, but I didn't notice Felicia Day until I saw Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which I first watched last year--some time after its initial hype [1]. I guess I've been hearing about The Guild for awhile, too, but since the plot involves a World of Warcraft-style MMORPG, I haven't checked it out [2]. No offense to WoW-ers, but I haven't played and know little to nothing about it. But then, it is just a fantasy world populated with magic-wielding creatures battling evil, right?

Anyhow, it looks like the show takes place in reality, where some folks who've met in this virtual world decide to meet in person. So, my fear of watching dwarves battle orcs outside of the context of destroying the one ring is calmed.

I've also avoided The Guild because it's a web series [3]. So, when I would hear about the show, I'd think, "eh, it's a bunch of short shows, probably not that good. What's IMDb say?" assuming that IMDb would back me up, reinforce my decision not to add it to our library collection. And what does IMDb say? As of this moment, 2,043 people have rated the show an average of 8.8 of 10 stars. That does not reinforce my no-buy decision at all.

The last barrier to my ordering of The Guild for the library is that it is available to watch for free online. In the end, I didn't think that was a good enough argument. Fans who watch the series online will be interested in all the extras on these DVDs [4]. People who have no experience with the series may discover it in our library collection.

We'll see how it goes. If people like checking out Seasons 1 & 2 of The Guild here, we'll likely get the rest of them [5]. If not, we'll likely stop after this first set, like we did with Strongbad_email.exe [6].

How's that for transparency in government?

Connecting...
1. If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, I highly recommend it. Request it from the library, or learn more about it at IMDb.

2. "MMORPG what?!" you're thinking? If so, MMORPG stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which is a game in which players assume the role of an imaginary character (dark elf wizard, for example, of private detective even, perhaps in a different, non-high fantasy game), develop that character's skills and personality, in an online environment with a bunch of other people doing the same thing. Wikipedia probably puts it better.

3. You can watch The Guild online on the official website.

4. The DVD Talk review goes into specifics on The Guild Seasons 1&2 DVD extras.

5. Request The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2 from the library

6. Strongbad Email was a weekly web cartoon on the Homestar Runner website. You can request our DVD if you like.

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