Of Turtles and Coincidences tells the story of my first attendance of a StarCraft II Event. How is this about turtles? Let me tell you. I will start with the "Coincidences" though. I had interviewed Pholon a while back about himself and his work for Teamliquid.net. I mentioned back then that I am from Germany. Pholon didn't really remember where exactly though so he asked me on Skype last Saturday if I am in Cologne that weekend because he thought that's where I live. It isn't. I live about 6 hours away from there. I asked him why and he told me that the WCS Belgium/Netherlands Nationals would be held there in the brand new ESL studio (some attendees include LiquidRet and Grubby as well as the casters Kaelaris and Templar and the host Soe).
So I made a decision. I thought what the hell, I'll drive the 6 hours and asked Shawn (organizer) if I could visit the studio for the event and he said yes. So thanks to the coincidence that Pholon thought I live in Cologne I decided to go to the event. Thanks for not remembering!
Now to the turtles... The event was run by the guys of Turtle Entertainment who are behind a lot of the ESL productions and content. The studio's they built in Cologne are really quite amazing and all of them that I met at the event were really nice. It was a great experience overall and I can only recommend everyone to go there if they have the chance to visit a live event. The new studio has a bar in it and you are literally right there with the players and casters which makes for an amazing experience.
I am sorry if you expected pictures of turtles in this blog but behold! There's a really cute dog hidden somewhere in this blog. That should definitely make up for it!
1. Pictures
Konrad "Templar" Kleinholz (left) and James "Kaelaris" Carrol (right) casting
Brace yourself for the cuteness. uiduiduiduiduiduiii
2. Videos
Impromptu interview with Soe. It was so spontaneous that I even had to change the SD card in the middle of the interview.
A little impression of the tournament and the awesome studio. Includes the moment when Grubby defeated LiquidRet on the final map.
The pictures are just a small selection. If you want to see more (including the winner's ceremony) click here!
Thank you to everyone I met there. I cannot mention everyone but to randomly name a few in no particular order: Vincent (Pholon}, Jule, Marco, carni (thanks for the awesome tour), Christian, Aladin, Bernd from Blizzard, Aveline, Soe, James (Kaelaris), Shawn, Manuel (Grubby), Jos (Ret) and Pandi and everyone else! I had a blast!
Dear Jojo! I have been behind the scenes of ESL events as an admin, PR Manager, CM and now Game Head Coordinator for 7 years. This is maybe the 3rd time someone from the eSports press thanked me or gave me credit. It means a lot to me. I wanna thank you for being such a well mannered and smart person. You have been looking into every detail of our event organization which I realized already 5 minutes after I arrived, crawling on the floor to get the best pictures, even photoshopping stuff on the spot and interviewing nearly everybody. Keep it up! I also wanna thank uthermal/curse and grubby/cassandra for sharing food and stories and for the fun drive back to the hotel. I'd gibe you guys a lift anytime. Bernd was as he always is: smart, helpful, pleasant to work with. My thanks also goes out to Alex the best stage manager of all times, pünzli, baschi and Benni. Oh and Meike for impressive driving/ navigation.
On May 18 2012 08:17 diejule wrote: Dear Jojo! I have been behind the scenes of ESL events as an admin, PR Manager, CM and now Game Head Coordinator for 7 years. This is maybe the 3rd time someone from the eSports press thanked me or gave me credit. It means a lot to me. I wanna thank you for being such a well mannered and smart person. You have been looking into every detail of our event organization which I realized already 5 minutes after I arrived, crawling on the floor to get the best pictures, even photoshopping stuff on the spot and interviewing nearly everybody. Keep it up! I also wanna thank uthermal/curse and grubby/cassandra for sharing food and stories and for the fun drive back to the hotel. I'd gibe you guys a lift anytime. Bernd was as he always is: smart, helpful, pleasant to work with. My thanks also goes out to Alex the best stage manager of all times, pünzli, baschi and Benni. Oh and Meike for impressive driving/ navigation.
Well written, I know exactly how you feel some times
On May 18 2012 05:49 Soe wrote: Was nice meeting you there Also the dog totally made up for the missing turtle!
That dog was ridiculously photogenic.
On May 18 2012 08:01 Jaaaaasper wrote: Awesome blog jojo 5/5, the only thing that could have improved it would have been moar cute animals( and hamsters).
It's hard to find the right balance. I think this place needs a thread with hamster pics only that can be linked to so people can get their hamster fix in between reading other stuff
On May 18 2012 08:17 diejule wrote: Dear Jojo! I have been behind the scenes of ESL events as an admin, PR Manager, CM and now Game Head Coordinator for 7 years. This is maybe the 3rd time someone from the eSports press thanked me or gave me credit. It means a lot to me. I wanna thank you for being such a well mannered and smart person. You have been looking into every detail of our event organization which I realized already 5 minutes after I arrived, crawling on the floor to get the best pictures, even photoshopping stuff on the spot and interviewing nearly everybody. Keep it up! I also wanna thank uthermal/curse and grubby/cassandra for sharing food and stories and for the fun drive back to the hotel. I'd gibe you guys a lift anytime. Bernd was as he always is: smart, helpful, pleasant to work with. My thanks also goes out to Alex the best stage manager of all times, pünzli, baschi and Benni. Oh and Meike for impressive driving/ navigation.
That post made my day. Hands down. Thank you.
On May 18 2012 18:13 Pholon wrote: Nice blog! :D Cool vid and nice pics ^^ Had a really good time, thanks again to everyone there for such a worthy sunday. See you again sometime soon!
It's all your fault!
On May 18 2012 18:15 Primadog wrote: Great work as usual jojo.
Except maybe the last blog.
On May 18 2012 18:16 mizU wrote: Everyone is so photogenic ^^
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