a mixture of sorts

Tonight I have been browsing back and forth between the amazingly awesome things written and stated by one Michael Swaim, as well as those by the awesome Steven Novella MD. I have also finished Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, and during the credits I searched this here internet for the soundtrack, so that I can play this song on repeat.


Just enjoy that bit of awesomeness while I finish this blog. I have been waiting quite some time for Professor Layton too, along with many other folks I know, and I was definitely not disappointed in the story or the puzzles. The ending was totally spectacular as well. I am still waiting for some awesome folks to go ahead and remix some songs from the series! Get on that!

Nothing really to report over at GM4A currently. LVN is currently on hiatus still as well. The Start Screen though seems to be quite productive as of late! Unfortunately the same can't be said for the forums and community in general. Now that the site is redesigned, soon I hope we can begin a larger push to get a community under our stead. there are only a handful of posts and threads as of this post. And even fewer comments on articles. It is sad to look at the main page and see that the majority of articles, no matter what their subject have no comments, and when they do, it is usually just one. I will try to remedy it by leaving some comments on some of the other folks posts more often. I have noticed that once one person has left a comment, it tends to get other people to add their two cents as well, and I think it is a good small strategy to start with. Hopefully I won't lazy about and get to it.

One more thing, I know it is over now, but HAPPY DREAMCAST DAY PEOPLE! GO PLAY/LEARN ABOUT THEN BUY THEN PLAY PROJECT JUSTICE!

Besides that I got some more articles written out today, and hope to get a lot more sorted out tomorrow as well. For now though it is time for ever more Layton. I need to find me those last couple puzzles!

They said it would never happen. Said it couldn't be done. They set the title in front of me. Said it couldn't be won. They told me I wouldn't make it. Now my moment has come. The superheroes are clashing, and the remainder is one.

Molentary Express

So I just purchased Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box this past weekend, and needless to say IT RULES! I would actually be playing right now but I am once again stuck on an annoyingly difficult puzzle. So instead, here I am blogging out. Also adding some more new tracks to my iTunes library, tracks that will be included on our next compilation effort. Certainly exciting times! Sadly thanks to Prof. Layton as well as the new Metroid Prime Trilogy release I have not gotten too much work done on my site lately, but hope to get more done starting this Thursday when I have some days off and some free time to myself. With that free time I hope to start several articles, hopefully finish at least one, and keep things moving along for our upcoming compilations.

Besides that I have noticed tons of Drama in one of the boards I frequent (cough *RT* cough). So I am not too enamored with the place currently, I have no idea when it will die down either so I have not been focusing on it much at all lately. The drama isn't really the problem though, never has been.

There just seems to be a general lack of input or output on the boards lately, which is quite the opposite on the VG rock and chiptune side of things. With stuff like Kind of Bloop, C-Jeff, Armcannon, Metroid Metal and so much more, there is just waves and waves of things happening. Over in the nerdcore trenches, not much at all. Perhaps that is just my perspective though, I certainly hope so, because that means there are some awesome albums in RT that are about to bubble to the surface. One can hope.

One thing I am having a problem with is that the most vocal and active folks in the community seem to be the folks with the least output. Not just that but also the community is so insular. Far and away there seems to be no active promotion by anyone about anything. It's incredible the lack of promotion these people give others, but especially themselves. It's times like that where I feel "Why am I promoting these people that couldn't care less to help anyone else, including me?"

This is not to say that their music is bad, or anything about their music really. It's just, when I am going around writing, promoting, and telling everyone about these folks music, I would hope that I would get some support in someway.

Basically what all this rambling basically adds up to is that, for how active I am in the nerdcore community, for how hard I work to help them, support them, and just generally be their friends. NO ONE IN NERDCORE READS MY DAMN WEBSITE! Most of them barely know it exists it seems like. To have to remind people of my site's URL and that I even have a site is definitely exasperating to my spirit as a person who supports this "nerdcore" thing wholeheartedly.

I am worn out though, I am not really going to go into it much more right now. Needless to say that there is a lot to be done in the realm of nerdcore. We will see how things go. For now I sleep! And by that I mean play two more hours of Layton!

I'm sorry to say that I am just a ghost. I'm no super powered human capable of fixing every single problem that could possibly arise.

back on track

So I have been moving foward with getting the next compilations under way and I am very excited! That plus F-Zero plus Iwadon plus some other projects make for so much awesome. Also back to work on one West Coast Wig Out, think I'll have to buy the domain name for that one too, we'll see. Oh yes, I also have a new post over at the start screen about C-jeff. I think the next article I will be writing will be about Kenley and his Into The Score Podcast.

Having just finished Earthbound at the request of my friend, I went back and listened to his podcast about the soundtrack, and it provided a ton of extra tidbits that helped me enjoy the game even further after the fact. Earthbound was such an amazing game in so many ways, I am incredibly glad to have played it from start to finish. It was definitely worth it and now I understand the attachment so many people have had to it over all these years. The game and the music are both incredible, and tough to get out of my head.

I just went and did a huge review for the one and only Armcannon, sadly I don't think anyone read it (YOU CAN READ IT RIGHT NOW THOUGH!). I will bug Danimal about posting about it when he gets back from rocking the shit out of PAX with Metroid Metal. Too bad I sadly had to miss out. I hope some good fortune lets me head out to MAGFest though, as Metroid Metal was announced as a performer just recently for that!

I have a bunch of other stuff to review too, so hopefully I can work that out tomorrow and not slack of as is normal for a loser like me. So with that I get some sleep!

OH FUCK, I also forgot, my awesome pal Marcos Was kind enough to interview me! Check it out for a cool interview where I ramble on too much and plug everyone I can!

The battle is ending, true war is just beginning. I'll learn from this disaster, I'll build eight robot masters.

redesigns and new angles

So recently The Start Screen underwent a redesign from I don't remember what kind of annoying format over to wordpress. I think the site looks fantastic (besides the blue link text) but the site seems to load faster and be more organized and looks just simpler and more streamlined. PLUS it is under wordpress and it is so much easier to write under that than the weird approach the old blogging tool they used handled things over there which would sometimes crash, not read html correctly, and do weird things between writing and posting a blog. NOT TO MENTION NO SAVE DRAFT OR PREVIEW ARTICLE FEATURE! That was particularly annoying, as I had to write out the post somewhere else and then transfer it to The Start Screen.

I would write more but I got me one of them radio shows to show, well broadcast anyway. I have failed to mention the radio show anywhere yet, but once I have some bad ass art from my amazingly artistic friend Kate I should be good to announce it! Well for now, unofficially, let it be known that I have a radio show over at areciboradio.org and it is known as Ballad of the Wind Fish! Every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-2 PST. Listen in at that link at those times to hear me share with you all the sweet VGIM that I have been listening to lately!

Poor neglected blog

So much has happened since I last wrote in you. There was of course Nerdapalooza in July, there was also the Comic-Con shows in San Diego. There has been much of sitting around not doing anything particularly amazing. There have been piles and piles of new albums practically. From Dual Core to Armcannon, compilations like Kind of Bloop and Chronotorious. And many more to come as well! Hopefully I can get back into the grind of posting in here. It's not that I have nothing interesting to say but I just got out of writing in this blog, and every day that passes I become less interested in posting in it.

Anyway, there is plenty of stuff happening, so I will update this blog soon with that info soon!

You helped our music grow, this one's for you! You purchased and believe in it, this one's for you! You ripped it and seeded it, this one's for you!

Can't sleep

So yeah I was lying down. Listening to episode 203 of SGU and playing some classic Advance Wars Dual Strike. Finished the battle on AWDS (got an A again, but aiming for an S rank, so frustrating...but so fun!). Well after setting down the DS, I finish listening to the podcast, and here we are. I am less tired than I was earlier. Dang. I hate when that happens.

I figured I would just update this blog a little whilst being unable to sleep. I Don't really have anything to report or share with anyone though. Looks like you are quite the chump for even reading this far. tsk tsk.

Actually, I should mention that there is an awesome concert this saturday in LA. Here's the link. I get to see Z1 play for the first time in nearly a year, not to mention seeing Dr Awkward perform as well, which I am interested in because I would dig booking him for more shows in the future.

Oh also, man, Nerdapalooza is less than a month away now. Geez, it just came out of nowhere! It is really happening wow. I am buying my plane ticket soon and can't wait! The one time of year where I don't have to shut up about video games and science and vg history and the direction of nerdcore hip hop and the third generation of VGrock and blah blah blah blah blah...

So you've canonized some shit that didn't happen in the series, that's some fucked up shit. I think you need to take an english course.

the future. THE YEAR 3000

Got my new article about II Pause up on The Start Screen now (here's the link). I am pretty proud of this article too. I did a paragraph on three different albums from Pause, which was a fun way to change up those articles.

So, anyway, I am trying to sort out some things for the future, as the title sort of implies?

What things you ask? Several new compilations (all secret currently). Ideas for more compilations. Wrote out 5 more new articles today for GM4A which you folks will be reading soon of course. Trying to plan a concert, sort out ideas for two more concerts, and getting ready for Nerdapalooza.

Ah Nerdapalooza. buying my tickets this week for that noise. I think I am pretty prepared for most of our hosting duties as well for that. Need to make some merchandise for Nerdapalooza too. I am wondering what can be sold/given out there. Thinking maybe some shirts if possible? GM4A and LVN shirts, cheapo ones, but will probably just give them out anyway. Can't forget some stickers, and maybe buttons as well. Hopefully a good amount of HCNC2 albums, and the other compilations as well. I also want to get a hold of and burn some upcoming tracks for future compilations to hand out. Get a tiny bit of buzz going for upcoming stuff. I have no idea what will be turned in by then though.

Anyway, I said I was going to go to sleep before I even started blogging this, and that was like, half an hour ago. OK Sleep now. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

POP POP BLAM BLAM, Bitches know who I am. I'm the baddest mother fucker from O-Town to Japan

Working working working

So wow, several things in the pipeline right now. Some really amazing people may be on board too! This is really exciting. And I am going to sort out more stuff soon as well! Man oh man I can't wait to let everyone in on everything as it all develops!

Still need to talk to some people and get others on board. I think tomorrow I will get the ball rolling on even more stuff. Also a day off so I can finally talk to Chibi Ma and brainstorm more stuff. I have more ideas, and I know she does as well. I really want to involve her more in the compilation making side of GM4A, both to get her to be more involved in the site, as well as to keep me more level headed about the directions I go in with things.

At this point I should also mention Ma is a fantastic friend and I am lucky to know her. =]

Anyway, she shot the beginnings of an idea my way and I really love it. I know once we flesh it out more we will have something very awesome on our hands. A great idea is just on the tip of my mind for it! Can't wait to figure out what exactly that great idea is!

That is all really. I do wish I could mention more, but everything is at such early stages that I can't reveal anything yet. but in due time info will slowly start coming to light!

Well time to get some rest now and then roll up my sleeves and work on that whole podcast thing.

constant production

So man, why do I always feel compelled to work on more and more stuff? So much that it is sure to become pretty overwhelming at some point. Anyway I am wrapping up ANOTHER project. Setting to work on 2-3 more as well. I don't want to make any announcements yet but yes things are getting done even after the release of HCNC2. Not to mention the whoring out of HCNC2 to whatever gaming or music website I came across. Was it worth it? I hope so. even if at least one site picks up the story I will be happy with that. So yes yes yes so much stuff in the works.

Also the podcast. PODCAST PODCAST PODCAST. new episode out. Advertising it on Qwantz this past day. Also trying to spam it more on theshizz and RT. I hope it works. We have to reach more people but how? I can't just keep bugging the same people. How do you successfully advertise a podcast? I have the ad space on qwantz like I mentioned but who knows how many people click through, and then actually listen to it from there. Just have to grow one person at a time though. We are currently at about 85 subscribers, if we can reach 100 by the end of the month I feel confident we can reach 200 by the end of the year.

A much easier goal to reach this year is definitely the 5000 downloads. We have gotten up to 2500 so far (1500 of those being this year alone). So I think this goal is totally reachable, especially at the pace we are keeping now.

Back to the new stuff I am working on. It should be really exciting. I am tackling a lot but I think the ideas are great and should be really fun and folks will love them when they hear them!

I have a lot of odd things on my mind lately too. hmmmm. I will have to discuss them eventually maybe? Well I guess I can say that I am working on all this stuff as a bit of a distraction from things. Isn't that always the way though?

I'll destroy you, I'll prove them wrong. This is my redemption song.

productivity as it relates to letters and/or numbers

So I was feeling pretty productive today, so I was luckily able to bust out a good few posts for GM4A. I still need to push HCNC2 a lot more, feels like things died down for it way too fast so I have to look at new venues to push the album on people. I have been looking a little but need to really put some new energy into it.

I have also sorted out, and updated the LVN myspace, started whoring out the twitter feed and pushing the podcast a little. Need to push it even more though! The podcast is now over 2,400 downloads at the time of this writing. I think we are doing something correctly. The podcast is once again what I want to focus on for this post. I think the creation of HCNC2 will make a good next blog post too!

Well as you may know we have brought one Chibi Ma on board for our podcast ride. I think she makes a great addition to the team as well. It also seems to have reinvigorated both B and I to put some extra muscle into our end of the podcast. we have been running at near to about a week per podcast ever since MisterB's return, and it doesn't seem like we will be slowing down any time soon either. we have started to push the show harder, but still to the same places we have been pushing them to already. Although we are still reaching new fans that way, especially in the nerdcore community. Sadly I have not been able to hit the vgm and chiptune community as easily which I am saddened by. Hopefully we can swing things that way soon because there is a lot of potential fans there, not to mention a lot of potential fodder to discuss during podcasts.

Another thing that Ma has somehow been able to wrangle out of MisterB and I is to get us to talk about video games more. Ma seems to be far more up to date on games than us two. She is like the VG news portion of the show. She is also able to play the ridiculous role alongside us as well which is great. It seems we are all able to play off of each other really well. Coincidentally though, my favorite podcast in the entire world The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe did the same thing back in their early days. Around episode 35 I believe, they brought on Rebecca Watson to be the sassy young gal on their podcast. Now they just celebrated the 200th episode so they must have been on the right track!

Anyway enough about Ma, it isn't all about her sometimes. Sometimes. Anyway the big thing I want to talk about is that MisterB and I are hosting Nerdapalooza as Letters VS Numbers. This means that we will be introducing bands and bantering and insulting people for two days in front of a ton of people. I am both nervous and excited and a bit snoozy (but that last bit is probably because it is 3AM). This means pretty big things for LVN clearly. I wonder if it will actually make people be interested in our podcast though.

I really think we have to bring our A material. I think the most difficult thing for me is to play off the crowd. Unlike MisterB I am not as quick witted and my jokes take time and some forethought to flesh out entirely. I think I will have to write some things out beforehand depending on the situation. Well not even write them down exactly. It is more like the Dual Core intro thing. I just need a minute to plan things out. I wish that Dual Core intro Colon :P, COOL WHIP, and I did was posted somewhere because I am pretty damn proud of how that went. The thing is, when I have a basic plan, I can easily improvise from there, but when things are 100% off the cuff I have no plan and I fail to deliver any meaningful kinds of jokes.

It is sort of like, if there is a line drawn I can veer from that line and come back to it with incredible ease. But if you just set me down with no line, no chart or diagram, then I will not even move. I won't know what direction to go or what path to take. When we were thrown on stage at Nerdapalooza last year that is what happened to me, I had no idea what we were supposed to talk about and as such I barely talked at all. Anyway that is how I have to sort things out on my side for things to go really well. I think I can handle it though! I do pretty well in front of crowds when I am up there with someone else.

Now, the people at Nerdapalooza itself is going to be another thing. I think we will be able to play off the crowd for the most part, seeing as how a lot of it is made up of a lot of our friends and fans of the show or just us in general. I wonder how we will go over with folks who have no idea who we are though. I am sure there are a lot of them. The course of action I assume is to convince them that when they get home from Nerdapalooza to google LVN and subscribe to us. A difficult task indeed, but one I think we can do if we have a bit of merchandise, a lot of moxy (how do you spell that? is it a real word?), and a ton of something else that would make this sentence awesome, but we only really need two things so this bitching closing sentence fails to deliver.

an update? oh fuck something must have happened!

Hell yeah something happened. Man, everything happened! Okay so I think I should cover the biggest thing first!

Here Comes a New Challenger II Turbo has finally come out! It has been half a year in the making and it is finally out in it's 2 disc 26 track glory! It has gotten some really awesome reviews already too! Here are some choice quotes

"It's very quirky and unorthodox with a plethora of genres covered by a great ensemble of musical talent." - Axtuse

"GameMusic4All has released their newest compilation & it's fantastic. Best nerdcore comp yet." - Doctor Popular

"i would consider this '2009's best kept secret', as there isnt a singly shabby track on the whole double album set." - Shawn Phase

"HOLY MOOGLES ON A CHOCOBO!

this is hawt" - Chibi Ma

So yeah, I guess the album is having quite the impact on folks, which I am really glad to hear. The thing now is just getting people to listen to it. How do I spread the word? I really want this album to be a big deal, but unlike when I do a straight game tribute this one is a lot tougher to market. I need to contact sites that cover music, or maybe underground hip hop along with the sites for gaming news and such. In that vein I also did my own write up for the album at The Start Screen. So check that out if you are so inclined.

I really put a ton of energy into this album, which is always weird to say. I mean, what did I do really you know? I didn't write a note of music or write a single line. I feel like people giving me credit on the album is always odd, when they should be thanking the individual artists who made these amazing songs. Anyway that is a whole other subject. Back on topic, yeah, lots of work, and lots more to be done! Need to get the album pressed still, gussy up the website a bit more, and just keep spreading the word like I said earlier!

Also, a few small things that happened, I checked out a cool little orchestral concert recently (review and footage here). That was definitely a fun time, I got to see Civ IV played live again, and this time by Chris Tin himself which was really awesome! He even tweeted at me about it! Also saw an awesome orchestral rendition of the music from flOw, the most bad ass flash game ever made in all of history, especially the flash games made before computers were invented, i mean, fuck that shit. Oh, anyway, yeah I recorded footage from it then out of nowhere Austin Wintory (composer for flOw) contacts me on youtube asking for the raw footage and saying he really liked my write up. That was definitely a new high point for me!

Finally, you may have noticed a quote above by one Chibi Ma, well she is the new writer for GM4A I alluded to in a previous blog! She is already kicking some ass too, she already up and did a whole awesome lengthy interview with the UMD Symphony Orchestra which is an awesome read! And soon she is going to do an album review for one of my favorite composers! I don't think I can say what album she is doing yet but I am sure it is going to rock! It should be out soon I imagine. I think I really made the right decision by having her on board. Soon she is probably going to show me up and people are going to think she runs GM4A! haha well ok probably not but she would definitely make a lovelier face for the site than angry antisocial Anthony would.

Also, she is now on Letters VS Numbers! I am supposed to be editing the first episode with her as an official member of the crew right now but I am being lazy. It is awesome to have her on. So much less dead air and she actually keeps us talking about video games a lot more often now too!


also a few more things. I don't write for the nerdapalooza blog anymore, those reigns have been picked up by Hex once again! I might be writing for Good-Evil.net soon too! The site is really awesome and ran by shizzies so I can't wait to be part of the crew there. Working on my first article for them now!

Oh and very importantly, MisterB and I, as LVN, are hosting Nerdapalooza! FUCK YEAH! I will have to write a lengthy post about just that very soon I think! That's all for now! Hopefully I can remember to update this thing more often. Good night!

You work a computer or a typewriter. you don't work a guitar. You play it.

What a day!

So Saturday was one of the most awesome days I have had in some time! I will expand on it later, but basically these things happened.

1. My good friend and fellow super VGM enthusiast Ma has come on to write for Game Music 4 All!


2. I went to the Street Fighter art show "Jab, Strong, Fierce!" and it was so much fun! Expect an article soon!



3. I went to the SC3 party in Claremont, CA and that was also loads of fun! Expect a post about that soon as well on GM4A!

Tired

Not writing much, but let's hit a few things.

DONE:

• New Article at The Start Screen about OCReMix (link here)
• New Letters VS Numbers podcast (Letters VS Numbers Noncast 02: "Bears")
• New info and bands announced for Nerdapalooza (link here)
• New website for nerdy music Nerdcore Network)

SOON:

• Working on a new article for The Start Screen
• and a new interview for GM4A.
• Might have an awesome new writer on board for GM4A. She is super enthusiastic about VGM so hopefully she will fit right in. =D
• Working on the very early stages of two new compilations. One with another site, and one for GM4A.

A Blog not at 4 AM,

So yeah, right after I said I was going to try and get back into daily posting I stop posting for a few days. I have been working on a new LVN episode, but man, I hate editing. I HATE IT SO MUCH. I have no idea how shows like Skeptic's Guide do a podcast a week. especially a 70 minute one of all talk. ours is only half an hour and takes FOREVER to do. weeeeeaaaaaak.

Anyway watch out for a new LVN soon, once I stop procrastinating and finish it up.

Oh yeah, I also have to start playing FF9 today. I have never finished it and am now burdened with the task of defeating said game. So that is where my day is going!

I write for nerdapalooza blog now

but I am still not an official member of the nerdapalooza team waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. No not really, well I don't know. I probably am. I don't really care. Anyway, yeah, I do write for the Nerdapalooza Blog. The whole thing was terribly out of date so I forced my way in and updated everything and made everything easily findable for folks who are not too familiar with the biggest and best nerdcore festival ever conceived. How is that for a plug?

So anyway, that is about it really. but trying to get into the groove of posting here again. I tend to keep it up for a bit, then forget once and fail for like a week. Here is to hoping I can keep the trend up for at least a little while!

There must be something else to talk about. hmm.... OH YEAH! Working with Miz Calamity over at TSS more to integrate some GM4A stuff over there. That is really exciting and I am really thankful for the opportunity. I have known for a long time that a big step in getting more people interested in VGIM is to hook up with a video game website that is really open to the cultural side of things to get a lot more people interested in it all. This is exactly that. I'm very lucky to find people so open to the idea! I can't wait until things move forward there, should be really exciting!