Status Quo Sunday Gets Its Money In The Bank

Yeah, another PPV/SQS crossover.

Two new conventions were added to the list:
ANIME FESTIVAL ORLANDO- Not a lot of guests now, but I can't wait to see what's coming up!
Anime Festival Orlando has given anime fans the best deal in “otaku friendly” convention entertainment. Conventions seem to be more popular than ever these days, and we will still give you the best anime themed weekend of your year. Anime Festival Orlando was brought about by a group of Orlando otaku in the year 2000, and for the last 15 years we have brought you the finest in Anime and Japanese Culture entertainment.

UMICON DAYTONA- Loved it last year, looking forward to more this year! Umicon Daytona is an anime, gaming and comics convention right on beautiful Daytona Beach.The main purpose of Umicon is to celebrate and promote American and Japanese video gaming, Japanese animation also known as anime, manga which are Japanese graphic novels, cosplay which is the act of creating and modeling costumes based on characters from Japanese and American media, and the melding of Japanese and American pop-culture.

Like Seth Rollins, 2014 is looking out to be Money In The Bank!

Lotsa prep work on music, and working on more new stuff to play live!

Old white people sure were whiny this week:
Gary Oldman, blaming political correctness for a lot of America's problems and defending Mel Gibson
Basically, "Why can't I call people k--s, n--gers or c--ts? DAMN PC POLICE!"

Ann Coulter Says That Soccer Is The Reason For Moral Decay
Because soccer NEVER has moments where an individual ever makes a difference. Also she doesn't like it which means its horrible and boring.
Also co-ed sports are bad somehow.

My knee jerk reacition is to call her the c word, but comparing her to that part of the anatomy would imply she's capable of providing life or satisfaction. Plus, that's a hate word, and showing respect for people is part of being a good fucking person the liberal thing to do

This is the Rhythm Bastard reminding you to not be a lemon, but rather, a Rosebud:


Also, please donate to the "Damein Sandow Really Deserves Better Fund" and the "Get Rusev A Better Haircut Center"

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 85

NO PICTURES, SOUND ONLY, DOWNLOADING DESTINATION

-So, here's "Expiration Date", the TF2 short me and Mystakin geeked out about:


It's impressive how they've still been plucking away at this game for the past 7(!!!) years.

Also, "Sexual Congress" is:
A. The name of my Presidents of the United States of America cover band.
B. A sex move where one person begs the other for sex, nothing happens and instead they shit the bed.
C. Weird Al's poorly received "Sexual Healing" parody meant to spur voters in the midterm elections.
D. Classy way of sayin' boner-time
E. All of the above

-Dear Esther is the game that Jeff is complaining about, and here it is in ALL ITS RIVETING GLORY:


Things that would make Jeff love Dear Esther:
-Soundtrack by Bad Religion
-Puzzles that require thinking so out of the box that you're in another box
-Puzzles that require you to use Google to translate ALT into Braille into Morse Code
-A way to get on the damn boat

-"It's Always Sunny" clip for reference:

Fuck tha haters.

And I was right, it was the epiosde where "The Gang Wrestles For The Troops"

-Majesco: STILL EXISTS!
Current projects: COOKING MAMA 5 and porting Gone Home to consoles.

A very, very sad state of affairs indeed: The Mama series, movie games, ports, $5 bargain PC games on the Nintendo DS...

-HERE'S THAT MEGA64 SKETCH YOU GUYS!!!



-Weezer: Ehhh.....? I guess...? I kinda liked "Memories" of Hurley, but it doesn't seem like they've been trying anything too different. And I guess I can say that for their previous albums where I liked one song or two, but then again I haven't really listened to any of their recent albums in their entirety. It's like with Green Day and their "Uno! Dos! Tre!" triple album: if they waited on some of that, they might be able to make one excellent album.

-GWAR: Really, Oderus Urungus MADE that band. A great front man is ridiculously hard to replace. They can get a good metal singer, but to have one that was so into the character like Dave Brockie was would be like replacing MC Bat Commander. Like Queen, the singing ability can still be there, but the face of the band, however scarred and hideous it may be, is the soul of the band. 

-YouTube Let's Play Discussion- I'm gonna skip over this a little bit, since Mystakin did bring up a lot of solid arguments, and mine felt kind of half-assed in comparison. Really mine just comes from a place of "Well, the people with the most money are going to fuck with all of this." 

-Ryback does have a Twitter. It's deserted.

-And, of course the Something Awful article I mentioned. 
If anything, Tetris would be more likely to canonize MY fanfiction, because it has WAY more graphic sex scenes. Seriously, it makes "Anime Cow Is Late For School" look tame.

Status Quo Sunday Without Borders

Summer Games Done Quick 2014 started today!
 Watch live video from SpeedDemosArchiveSDA on www.twitch.tv

o and also the u.s. tied with Portugal in the world cup which is probably the world's largest sporting event, but who cares.

What's been going on? I do have a couple of announcements, but that is not set in stone yet, but I can guarantee that there will be a new poster, with all the shows I played in 2014, and 2013 to celebrate Flo-Rida. It's probably going to be me fighting zombies (A.K.A. Gov. Rick Scott and all the old people) or nuking the state from orbit. Who knows?

Also, some behind the scenes progress on Status Quo Radio is being made, writing more concepts (for the bigger album) and even looking toward the production side of things, such as who's going to mix/master it, and how much to set for the Kickstarter, factoring doing a digital only release vs. adding in other costs such as merch so that I have all of that ready for future shows. It's a balance to strike between keeping the budget big enough to account for the unaccountable, and small enough so that it's an achievable goal.

But I'm looking at my to do list, and other than order the last issue I need of True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys and the pieces for a Mono-Green Infect deck, there's a lot of songs in the works.

So sometimes on weekends I have enough time to work for the day, but during the week, I have to do it track by track. One way I love to piss off my parents is that any thing that I want to do that's time consuming, I just hold up 4 fingers for the 4 hours I have from the time I get home from work until bed. Is it healthy to think like that? Probably not, but then again I've always been a bit of a Taskmaster, making lists and always making sure that something is "going on"

But that feeling... That feeling when you fit in a workout during your lunch break, or cross a couple things off your list before bed... That's a pretty good feeling.

Papers, Please and Steam sales really fuck with that.

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 8E-3 and 8E-4

E3 FUTURE PREDICTIONS: YOU WILL DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE

-Mega64 Skit

There was also a later one, but I'm not including it because of Harrison Ford's traumatic death.


-Is E3 necessary?

I forgot who it was, but someone on the Giant Bombcast mentioned that while those of us "in the know" already knew a lot about what's going on in the video game industry already, E3 is more for the average consumer who gets their news through more standard/mainstream outlets (Newspapers, evening news, 24 hour cable networks except for Fox News because technology is scary). A local news station that Bombcaster worked at was only aware of video games during the E3 conference, or during some kind of moral panic.

Your average consumer couldn't care less about what's coming up outside a game that's already being advertised on TV, or more than a month down the line, so they still look to go "GOLLY, look at all these shiny new toys!" before caring about the couple they buy a year.

There was the failed "E for All Expo" that happened a couple years ago which was supposed to be a "Hey, guys! Come and see what's coming out!" thing, but it ultimately flopped.

FOR NOW, until more consoles get online so we might be able to do some time-limited demo/beta stuff for the masses, and until the news gets more video-game savvy (see below) we still need that central rallying point.

-Re: Arcanon on Amplitude: Given Jeff's comments on the previous episode (his credit limit was boosted more or less right away, Arcanon had to wait), I think from this we can determine that Arcanon's bank is WAY LESS likely to receive a government bailout in the future.


BROADCASTING TO YOU LIVE FROM UNDERWATER

-So, while my Skype setup was all good, I still had my USB mic plugged in, which Reaper set as the default. FFFFFF-

-Carolyn was a great guest, and probably the main reason (behind Ozone of course) that this podcast happened in the first place. It was really awesome to hear how much she loved running the RBN Network, and she felt warm fuzzies with us talking about how much we loved making stuff for the RBN.

-Revolution 60- This game sounded really unique from the description she gave, and my brain is stuck on The Walking Dead Telltale meets Megaman Battle Network, which is enough to get me to play it. According to their Facebook page, it's ready for testing.

More pics on Flickr, which is the Online Photo Service of all the cool kids.

-So, yes, THIS ACTUALLY RAN ON THE L.A. TIMES:

"Nintendo's 'glacier white' Playstation 4"

See also, "Cowboy Bebop at his Computer"

Which reminds me that I still need to watch Cowboy Bebop and on top of that, I got my brother bitching at me to watch Attack On Titan.

-We out ourselves as Nintendo Fanboys a lot on this one. Whereas Sony and Microsoft are competing with each other, Nintendo at this point is flailing it's arms going PAY ATTENTION TO US!!! Mario Maker and Splatoon got us the most hype, but my attention was more focused on 3DS and their offerings. So, in average PODCAST RECAP TRADITION, here's what's going to be on my wishlist in the coming months:

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright:

A.K.A. Two of my favoritest DS games had a baby and now I get to play them at the same time instead of choosing what to bring with me on the toilet.

Persona Q:

The universe and characters of the Persona Series, on a console I don't have to beg my brother to use!

Project  S.T.E.A.M.:

Steampunk Advance Wars where you and Abraham Lincoln fight aliens and for the love of Xenagos you had me at "Advance Wars"

-Your annual reminder that Frog Fractions exists

-Following the news that John Drake was let go as well, maybe we can have him on as well?

Status Quo Sundays and the Papas

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!



He was also responsible for filming the show:


My Dad's going in for surgery this week, so that's all on our minds. He was always very supportive of the Rhythm Bastard, and was always willing to help get me to shows, answer technical questions, or be an extra set of ears.

I got him a Blu-Ray copy of the movie Quadrophenia, which is a pretty good movie.

There's a bit of a break in between gigs, so I'm going to be working on new music. A couple Magic The Gathering based songs, and maybe a new rap inspired by a Let's Play?

Also for this week's Echo Chamber podcast, we interviewed game designer Carolyn VanEseltine, who was a former Harmonix employee that ran the Rock Band Network, where we all met up. Since that and last week's podcast are both E3 related, they're going to be recapped together. 

Status Quo Sunday STAYS HYPED for the Heroes

PSY's GOT A NEW SINGLE? Wait, no.... The other thing...

Hero Hype Con! This is probably the first convention I got to see change from year to year, and coming off that first iteration, while it's still rough around the edges, it could keep its current size and fill out more as the years go on, which I'm sure it will. I liked it Year One because it was put together by passionate people, and that's what kept it rolling along Year Two. I was originally scheduled to play at noon, the shenanigans, so I went on at 3, which I was glad for, since I got a spot right before the cosplay contest.

A lot of the guests were locals, cosplayers and the like, but there was a pretty good video game set up, lots of cosplayers, and all the vendors filled out the space well. Next year will be amazing once more people catch on. 

My show? On the way home, when me and Dad stopped by to get some Smash Burger, he put it best: "I felt this parental pride, when I was watching you up there on stage."

The show did have that "big" feeling. It's been a year, and I was in great form. While not perfect, it felt like I've improved a lot over this past year. Let's take a look:

Hero Hype Con 2013
Mizucon 2013
Anime Festival Orlando 2013
Umicon Daytona 2013
Sands Of Anime 2014
Miami Hurricon 2014
Omni Expo 2014
and now, Hero Hype Con 2014.

One year ago, we had to rig up a sound system out of a laptop and a speaker that was not meant to handle anything bigger than an iPod. This year had a full surround sound set up, with wireless mics, inputs for my laptop and everything.

And THERE.... IS.... VIDEO.... which will be coming soon as soon as I get a 45 minute, 6 GB file off an iPhone.

But there are pictures!

Here's to another awesome year! Hopefully I get out of Florida...

Echo Chamber Episode 82 Post Game

AT THE $0 REWARD TIER, YOU GET THIS EPISODE

A.K.A. "The Amplitude Education of Weffery Jebster"

-Yes, Jeff did spend $7500 to have one of his songs in the game, and gets to work with the Harmonix Audio Team, which is, as the kids say, pretty dope ass baller.

-Amplitude did make it's funding goal and then some, which, while awesome, still fell short of the original goal, which was to include Online Multiplayer.

-Looking through the Amplitude tag, I found a post from 5 YEARS AGO signaling the return of the franchise. This was of course, before Kickstarter. 3 months, if Wikipedia is to be believed.   
The key thing from the interview is that they were still busy with all the Rock Band and

-So, while deducing which songs would be a good fit for Amplitude didn't work out, here's what I think are best songs from Amplitude that would fit in Rock Band (Xenagos rest its soul):


5. "Push" by Game Boys

I really like this song. It was one of the tracks made just for the game, by the Game Boyz, which for all I know could be another Kasson Crooker side project. Simple, but the riff is pretty sweet, and the electronica inspired drums could provide a nice challenge. If mixed right, it could be really fun to play.

4. "Rockstar" by The Production Club

Kinda similar to "Push", but overall the guitar and bass work here is more complicated, where as unlike "Push", simple vocals. Still, the more rockier songs, and outside of some creative fuckery like "Synthesized" or "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" this is where we'd get the most electronic.

3. "Dope Nose" by Weezer
 This was a hard call to make, especially since I would KILL to see in Rock Band (it was in Guitar Hero: Van Halen... yeah...) There's so much to love here, especially on the guitar. The solo is awesome without being to hard, and both it and the drums have nice little fills to keep it interesting. Also, you can TOTALLY here the room going along to the WHOOA OOO OOOooO parts, right? Fun fact: This song was used in the prototype builds to Guitar Hero.

2. "M-80" by Papa Roach

Putting personal biases aside, this WOULD be the best fit musically, but fuck you. Every instrument here pounds with fury and energy, and it switches frequently intense punk and hard rock groove. It's incredibly easy to picture this being DLC when Harmonix was still making it.

1. "Everyone Says Hi" by David Bowie

BECAUSE IT'S DAVID BOWIE. The mix used in the game is a little too mellow, but this is one of the many Bowie songs that haven't really been utilized, such as "Changes", "Man Who Sold The World" and "Speed Of Life", the latter of which might make for a good "first tier" track on the new Amplitude. Originally I was going to put it lower, but the album version of the song would be fantastic, especially if they do their due diligence on the rhythm guitar.

Status Quo Sunday Gets Hyped To STAY HYPED!!

Oh, WWE... Every NXT wrestler I think "Oh, I'd like to see where he goes!" gets jobbed out to Rusev....

If we can look back for just a quick second....



Yeah!

You can see the full archive on my Flickr Page.

And now looking forward to the future: Once I'm at Hero Hype Con, I'll have a table there, and be performing a bunch of smaller, surrogate shows around the con since my time slot is so early.

Maybe I'll go "Wandering Salesman" and have all my CDs and posters for sale!

WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT POINT:
Are you an artist/graphic designer looking for some another commission? I'm probably going to need someone to work on some other stuff, but if you're an artist at an upcoming convention, and you want to do a poster, send me an e-mail at rhythmbastard@gmail.com

I'm also looking for people to do the "Status Quo Radio" cover/poster and all that, but that's not for right now. Once I finish this second Act, then I'll be ready for it to send out to artist, just so they will have enough of an idea of the album beyond the first 10 or so minutes.

But after HHC, then I'll have more time to finish up these half-done songs I've been on.

LATER!