The DBO Challenge continues! I've been busy unpacking from PAX (and sneaking in time with Bioshock Infinite) so this week's update will be a little sparse. I have grander plans for next week though...

Week 2 was a resounding success - if you haven't perused the thread lately, be sure to do so now: http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?mode=thread&id=5526#p5526

The Leaderboard

I've updated everyone's point totals on the DBO Challenge Leaderboard, which you can find at this handy URL:

http://destiny.bungie.org/dbochallenge

(Please check the leaderboard and let me know - via email - if I made a mistake and didn't award you points.)

Deadline: 6:00pm EDT on Tuesday, April 2nd.

This week is fairly simple:
1. Pick any concept art image released by Bungie. (This gallery is a good place to start.)
2. Choose a piece of music that you think fits well with the image and post a link to a streamable version of it. (i.e. find it on YouTube or a similar site where everyone can listen)
3. Write a short poem or paragraph that ties the image and music together.

Available Points
Low payout this week: 1 point for participation.

Bonus Prizes
Two randomly selected entrants will each get one key to the "Smashmuck Champions" closed beta on Steam. (They were handing these out at PAX East.)

TLDR: post a piece of Destiny concept art, a YouTube link to some fitting music, and a couple lines of text before 6:00pm EDT next Tuesday.

We Used To Wait

By the time we met, the times had already changed.

No buried gold awaits discovery
No long forgotten treasure
That which you seek lies elsewhere hidden
Here there is only Dereliction

Carol of the Bells - I always thought there was something kinda scifi about this version of the song. Near the beginning it sounds as if you are slowing from a faster than light jump, and later near the middle there's a part with horns that always sounded to me like you've come across something grand and awesome. Like first approaching Earth and seeing a giant damaged sphere hanging dangerously close to the planet.

Rest now weary Traveller
Humanity lies safe in your care
Soon we shall arise and venture forth
To reclaim what once was ours

Blade and bullet and holy fire - with God's gifts, we'll carve a path to salvation.

For a weary guardian, the Pike is the only way to cruise.

...just an Earth-bound misfit, I. :(

Que, que pasa, pasa?

It would be much easier for Batman to climb out of that hole if it were on the Moon, I guess.

Doopsie

- No text -

In the Halls of the Fallen
A Lord sits in contemplation
Mourning his Brethren's demise
And awaiting his time for Vengeance

- No text -

I'm going to have to look into Zack Hemsey. Very reminiscent of Sam Hulick/Jack Wall

Dear lord my editing sucks today!

GO HERE > http://destiny.bungie.org/galleries/announce_assets/d/traveler's-rest

She lifts her head to the shards above her, the city reflected in their sky.
"What is it?"
"That's the Traveller, my love. It protects us."
"I want to go there."
Her father laughs, takes her hand. "But it is up there," he teases.
She frowns and follows, but she thinks, she wants to go up there.

The dude is incredibly talented. I thought I would take this chance to share his music with y'all.

If you remember the Inception commercials with the "BRAHHH, BRAHHH," blaring, that was his composition. Here it is. His work is a combination of epic instrumental and hip hop lyrics. His lyrics are incredible too, not your run of the mill pop lyrics. I definitely recommend checking him out.

And I think I am gonna go rewatch Inception now.

She lifts her head to the shards above her, the city reflected in their sky.
"What is it?"
"That's the Traveller, my love. It protects us."
"I want to go there."
Her father laughs, takes her hand. "But it is up there," he teases.
She frowns and follows, but she thinks, she wants to go up there.

That was pretty cool! It took me a little while to get used to the music, but it grew on me by the end. It gave me a certain feel, like, if Miyazaki made a movie set in the last City about a little girl who grows up there. Pretty cool indeed.

I picked the live version for the extra meta of it being his daughter singing on the track with him.

Love me some Gabriel.

A Lone Guardian, on a lone hill.
An airless height, a silent solace.
Light unlike the light of man, cold and unknowable.

And in this black doth they find peace,
and in this black doth they find serenity.

Sticking to the shadows, the hunter stalks the Fallen troops. This marauder patrol had lasted nearly two days, and the vigilant guardian had been on their trail the whole time. Soon they would lead her to their camp, nearly 100 men strong. Then her real work would begin.

- No text -

Awesome choice man! I love their music!

Alone.

Oh Forgotten Lords,
We damned few must wander,
The stars and cold and null,
and warmth we've long forgotten now.

The hordes smite not by choice,
They want no more than death,
If they were free they'd be,
But I am their Master

Vivid colors surround our greys,
Bringing life to that abandoned by death.
It makes one question our better days;
A planet free of our unsustainable heft.

Our first and last world's ruins bereft
Of those too few of which are left.
Violent and busy streets now drowned in silence.
Punishment and consequence of our world's theft.

Vivid colors give hope that we will rise again,
We've learned our lesson, although too late.
For the world brings life that slowly mends.
Our Earth survives even when the world ends.

I am getting some pretty sweet Firefly vibes from this combination. Well done!

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

Dunno why. I just few the music fits that image.

From an icy mists whispers a shadow.
It appears to be just a man.
But alas the grip of fate
Has formed a most harrowing clan

The wind. It utters a warning of the coming.
The cold snow the only proof of their uttering.
Once Noble wards now but ash. Kings of wrath and tears.

As the shadow grows so do the number.
No less men but machines, clambering and clunking with their heavy footfalls.
No more men but monsters.

The Fallen

Shiny! I thought it sat rather cunningly!

Music.

As I throttle the thruster my ship leaps forward and pulls into a steep climb. I'm pressed back into my chair as my eyes scan the boards and horizon. Passing through the atmosphere we rocket out of Earths umbra and I see it, as if for the first time.

Sunlight streams across it's stark white face casting no shadows.

And again it is breath-taking.

Resting above Earths last city it sits, the Traveler. I realize I'm holding my breath so carefully I exhale, feathering the controls to bring my craft closer to the colossal ship. Closing the distance I am reminded at the incomprehensible scale, that such a thing could exist is an utter bafflement. Yet here it is, now passing quickly under my feet as I continue my pull against Earths gravity. Valleys and crevices zip past faster than I can follow, soon I will be clear.

Slowly my eyes wander back to my controls as I give silent thanks to the cosmic stranger.

The watcher of our world.

The Traveler.

Yeah, they have a knack for choosing song titles that, when combined with the music, evoke pretty strong mental images. Or maybe that's just me. That's why I figured they were a good fit for this challenge.

Hmm, I may not be very good at this week's challenge… at least that's how it feels…

Anyway, I went looking through my music library for something slower, deeper, and a bit forboding and came up with this to go along with the slow paced exploration of Earth's ruins as shown here:

It seemed the only other bits of music I found that I thought would go with the concept art were all these tracks by some guy named Martin O'Donnell for some series call "Halo". Sometimes I forget that there's a decades worth of good music there!

Wow, that music with that video...I had chills, and my eyes were welling up. It was one of those moments that just slam into your chest where you realize how amazingly beautiful this world and universe we live in really is, despite our problems. I'm gonna be rewatching that one for a while :) Thanks for sharing, man!

Aye, it's one of my favorites.

Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me.

The sphere is there for us
watching and observing.
What would the ancients say
if they could see what we see?

You know I couldn't resist this one.

Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon/McCartney)

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream
It is not dying, it is not dying

Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
It is shining, it is shining

Yet you may see the meaning of within
It is being, it is being

Love is all and love is everyone
It is knowing, it is knowing

And ignorance and hate mourn the dead
It is believing, it is believing

But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not leaving, it is not leaving

So play the game "Existence" to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning

"Git'em up, Pike."

"Who was that masked Guardian anyway?"

Run Through The Jungle

What's behind you is buried.
Move forward with haste.
Are you the chaser?
Or being chased.

Holst's Mars: Bringer of War

Even before Rome was a dream of Troy's fervid Aeneas, the blood-red world prowling our night sky has symbolised war. The coming of the Traveller changed much, but not that. Prepare yourselves, Guardians, for the crucible of Mars.

-- Steve's a sucker for overblown soundtracks.

If I ignore the guns they're carrying, that song does flow very nicely.

BTW, Revolver FTW

I can't wait to customize my Guardian,

Cause every girl is crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

http://youtu.be/Pn2-b_opVTo

If I ignore the guns they're carrying, that song does flow very nicely.

What? You don't think that time-traveling robots are motivated by love?

I do love me some The Planets. It has such a good Star Wars feel to it, in both the general and specific meanings of the phrase.

Space Zombies.

I hope they find Space Sophia.

Nah but foreal:

Glinting Vex automatons from future long forgotten,
Skulking Hive, toys of their master: mindless, long since rotten,
Fallen creatures, many-armed and seated in dark throne rooms,
Cabal giants bearing shields: we'll send them all to their dooms.
None of these can keep us now from where we seek to go:
We Guardians solve mysteries of ruins Hidden in Snow.

Bonus:

Tiger Man, Tiger Man
Project Tiger was his master plan
Build his game, any size
And you'll win the GOTY prize.
Oh wait - they cut the Tiger Man.

Damask Rose


Tales of The Future

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
-T.S. Eliot

Our endless march rages on,
The will of the fleet shall be done.

The humans run and hide,
Our Imperial dominance will survive.

Potent and powerful, the skeletal structure gathers up the life force of the planet, and breathes it out into the stars.

- No text -