Forever, my beloved. | WoW Machinima | Claude Opus 5.5 Music Video

A man, his staff, his lantern, and the one love that never let him down: a Costco hot dog, still $1.50. An Irish folk lament in the shape of "The Long Black Veil", told as World of Warcraft machinima: a worgen in Gilneas, a golden Val'kyr behind the food-court counter, a goblin founder who will not raise the price, a widow in Undercity, and Dralnu, who brought a barrel. A parody. Not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Costco Wholesale. World of Warcraft characters, places and assets © Blizzard Entertainment, used non-commercially under Blizzard's fan content policy. HOW IT WAS MADE Song: written with Claude, sung by Suno. Video: built in code by Claude Opus 5.5 (Three.js), rendered frame by frame. World of Warcraft models, maps, animations and effects exported from the game with wow.export (by Kruithne); map tiles converted in Blender. Shading, lighting and fog set up to match the game. The UI (quest tracker, tooltips, cast bar, achievements, player frame) is a hand-drawn parody of WoW's. The goblin "COSTCO" signs and the food-court menu were generated with Gemini image generation; no other image generators. THE FACTS BEHIND THE LINES "Nobody knows how the price never grew" / "and still pretty cheap": the hot dog and soda combo has cost $1.50 since 1985, and Costco says it will stay that way. (Fox Business; Fortune; Mental Floss) "You raise that hot dog and I'll see you dead": former CEO Craig Jelinek recalled co-founder Jim Sinegal telling him "If you raise the [effing] hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out." (425 Business, 2018, retold by Business Insider) "The men from head office ... with charts": comic licence. In the real story it was Jelinek alone, telling Sinegal they were losing money on it. "Over my dead body": a folk paraphrase of that threat, not a real quote. LYRICS My trusty partner never makes a sound In this heavy world where the valleys run deep My true companion is always around He's there when I'm hungry, he's there when I weep Clad in a simple wrapping of brown He's known in every city and town I've never known one so humble He'd never let a tummy rumble His lasting warmth is the top of the heap A Costco hot dog... and still pretty cheap He lies at rest in a long brown bun 'Neath the food court lights when the shopping is done Nobody knows how the price never grew "Over my dead body," the old man swore true Costco hot dog, my beloved Some years ago on a cold grey morn The men from head office, sharp as a thorn Came down to the old man with charts in their hand Said "The dog has to rise, sir, you must understand" The old man stood up and he set down his tea He said "Lads, if you raise it, you'll answer to me You raise that hot dog and I'll see you dead" And the men from the office went white as the bread Now my wife asked where I went Saturday noon I said "Off to the gym, love, I'll be back soon" But the gym never saw me, God rest my soul I was down at the warehouse with a dog in a roll She found the receipts in the lining of my coat Each one a love letter, each one a note A hot dog, a soda, a hot dog once more And she cried "Who's this mustard on your collar for?" He lies at rest in a long brown bun 'Neath the food court lights when the shopping is done Nobody knows how the price never grew "Over my dead body," the old man swore true Costco hot dog, my beloved The doctor said "Son, you must give up the dog Your veins are as clogged as a Connemara bog" I said "I'd far sooner lie cold in the clay" So he shook his head slowly and sent me away They buried me up on the hill by the store With a dog in my hand like the faithful of yore And the bagpipes were playing, the relish was green And the queue for the food court went right past the scene Now she walks the aisles in a long black veil Past the pickles in bulk and the tyres on sale She orders the combo, sits down where I'd be And nobody knows... but the mustard and me Costco hot dog, my beloved Costco hot dog... my beloved And still pretty cheap Sources: https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle... https://www.businessinsider.com/costc... https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/5... https://fortune.com/article/costco-pr... #worldofwarcraft #machinima #musicvideo