We talk about evolutionary biology.
Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting and briefly chatting with John de Lancie, the voice of Alarak. And no, despite the temptation, I did not ask if he found the conference … hmmmm, acceptable.
Was this by random chance? because wow-wee! That is too cool!!!
I would have asked him what was his favorite role. Playing Alarak or playing as Discord ^:=:^
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Heh. He was speaking at a conference I attended. I originally signed up for the keynote speaker (Brian Greene), and it was funny, as the name didn’t register at first when I saw him on the program. I kept trying to remember where I had seen that name before, and it wasn’t until I read his bio on the conference website that mentioned he played Q on Star Trek, I said to myself, “Holy crap! That is Alarak!”
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Coolest day ever! 
Didn’t know he is a man of science that meeting sounds very interesting.
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That’s adorable.
Didn’t realize other people cared about evolutionary biology lol (I’m just an arm chair enthusiast). I HATED bio in high school, barely skating by on tests with Bs, but once the evolution chapter came up, I perked up. It’s like history, but with animals! It also makes it so much easier to blame my parents for anything that’s wrong with me.
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I have always been a bit of an omnivorous armchair geek, so this weekend has been one long nerdgasm. Talks on everything from how memories form and why they are unreliable, to the latest in research on the neocortex and how that can be applied to AI and machine learning, to evolutionary biology and what the present can tell us about the past, to theoretical physics and the multiverse (the presentation I am attending after breakfast), to the chemistry of nutrition and wellness (you should not do a celery juice diet, they have naturally occurring nitrates!), I am just learning so much.
I love it.
Exactly.
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The Protoss are nothing compared to the Nephalem.
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What a missed opportunity! Awesome anyway though Hoku, fate must have brought you to meet Alarak. I think that means that you have to become an Alarak main.
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If I had TL3 I would have photoshopped protean armor on you 
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This thread gave me goosebumps remembering what Blizzard used to be about, the fantasy, the making nerd dreams real, the love of the story the game and the real life chance happenings.
I’m jealous of you OP, but also incredibly happy for you as well. Ty for sharing this very cool occurence!
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wow, you met the voice actor of Alarak (and Discord)
Im soo jelly right now. 
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That would require my being able to hit combos…
I do play Alarak on occasion, and whenever I get him in brawls, but there is a good reason I mostly play tanks and bruisers. 
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I always have this feeling that I would be conflicted about meeting this person in real life. On one hand, he can very adeptly play the insufferable egoist that can just be so casually dismissive of anything or anyone… But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a generally good person.
He’s probably the only person who could belittle me in some rant as Q or Alarak and I would actually be PROUD of it.
Awesome news, BTW.
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You have no idea how accurate that is! When talking about his acting career, he did say, “I mostly play (naughty word)”, but he was very pleasant to meet in person.
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Wench I’ve taught you time and time again how to do it and you simply refuse.
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I blame old age and ineptitude.
And anyway, I have just as much fun locking them all down for you to murder.
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Nice job on meeting Alarak!
I’m curious as to what he had to say on Evolutionary Biology
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Mostly about how it pertains to science education overall in the US, especially among younger people. He and some colleagues are working on a series of animated videos aimed at pre-teens explaining how evolution really works. It isn’t about making organisms “better”, nor is it something with a goal. As part of this, they are using examples of where something works good enough, but is actually a pretty, well, dumb result. One of his examples was, er, the scientific word for balls (drat the naughty word filter, it sounded much better in his presentation, especially since he does sound like Alarak).
Personally, I just think he wanted to use the scientific word for balls in a formal presentation.
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I think I know what word you’re talking about, but they really ban that word?
Whatever, I’ve studied a lot of biology, so i was just wondering what he spoke about. He is correct about the “goal” stuff, and he is right to aim it at pre-teens. Because when they get high school, teachers sometimes mislead students on that topic.
Anyway, I’m happy that you got to meet him, and I do think a lesson in evolution would be more fun for pre teens in Alaraks voice.
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