Monday, December 28, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Bows Down To The King

This week's post Chirstmas Jam:


I've been waiting to post this song ever since I discovered it in Guitar Hero TV. Really easy to play but it's fun to jam to. If I were to describe this song in one word, it would be "refreshing". Most of the music I listen doesn't catch me the same way this did: All pop music has to have a hook every five seconds, and all the alternative rock is starting to sound the same like a Mumford Band. Then along comes Wolf Alice, bringing it heavy after the dour, whispery verses that take their time in order to heighten the impact when the thunderous chorus brings it back.

Speaking of Guitar Hero, I finally got 5* on all songs on Expert. My last song? My white whale? Fucking Katy Perry's fucking "Waking Up In Vegas"

-Christmas was the past Friday, and it was pretty good to me. I'm sitting on one of my presents, a Cambodain slave child a new office chair RIGHT NOW

Also got two of my favorite albums from 2013 on vinyl: "The Next Day" by David Bowie and "The Electric Lady"by Janelle Monae.

Speaking of albums, I got a few books in the 33 1/3 series for some of my favorite albums, such as Flood, Fresh Fruit For Rotten Vegetables and The Super Mario Bros, soundtrack. I like the one for I Get Wet, so these will make for some good reading.

From the same series is a book on "How To Write About Music", which I'll take particular interest in, so hopefully my musings here can get better.

-And the benefit of posting these late is that you get the breaking news that Lemmy of Motorhead died at 70 today.














With his powerful bass sound and gravelly voice, rock music is missing a bonafide bad ass. Kick Satan's ass for us all, you glorious motherfucker.

-On a less bad note, The ZeldaThon is currently going on, so make sure to support them! 

-Later this week, I'll have a post about I question I get a lot.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Podcast Recaps for this Week!

A little something to send you home on...

SLAYERS OF DECADENCE EPISODE 5!


MORE BABY MAKING!
We staple on baby traits like it's some kind of RPG. Granted, it's more abstract like "gifted orator", "dedication to one's city", etc. We're really not going to fuck up our messiah baby.
However, when we decided gender, we rolled dice: "Oh, negative, it's a dude!", "I was hoping it was blank so we can call it David Bowie"
Also, we staple on city traits like there's no tomorrow and arbitrarily teach them Engineering and Guerilla Warfare.
Then we find out we're fighting rape apologists, so their slaughter is justified.

FANDOMANIA SPECIAL EDITION: CHRISTMAS MUSIC!
I was more than glad to partake in this, since FandomMania is also behind another BIG SURPRISE, especially when Mega Ran's on board.

Also, another Christmas jam I'd like to divulge you all is "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)" by The Darkness:


Yes, they have other songs!
Keeping their glam cred by doing a song about the most glam holiday. Justin Hawkins's voice really shines, and the guitar work, while relatively straightforward, is broken up by some nice riffs.
Can we talk about the music video? It's my blog, so fuck you, we are.
My favorite comedy trope is the ridiculous with a straight face. Justin's always five seconds away from crying, nobody acknolegedes the laser gun firing off, a talking robot, grinding guitar players on a double neck, it's great! A shame I forgot to mention it, but meh.





PROWRESTLING.COOL END OF YEAR AWARDS
I wasn't on for this one, as I was at Holiday Matsuri, but Owen asked me what I thought, and I'm here to deliver:



Though, I hate to break it to Owen, The Coolies might not be the best name for an award

Best Newcomer: Lucha Underground
Haven't seen

Best Network Show: Breaking Ground
Haven't seen, though I'm interested in the How It's Made type shows.

Best Show Aesthetic: NXT Takeover Brooklyn
Eh, not sure I agree, since how can one define aestehtic? After all the ho-hum decorations for this past year's PPVs, I liked how Wrestlemania Play Button looked: outdoors, big wide stage, and the matches becoming more important and dramatic as night falls.

Most Improved: The New Day
yesyesyesyesyesyes! Take 3 guys who have personality in abundance, and throw them in a stable together! What could go wrong? have them be positive black people: the stable. Goddamn it. Kinda racist, on top of all of that... The original concept where Xavier Woods was leading Kofi and Big E in a heel tag team was interesting, but then they debuted and the crowd hated them.

Then they leaned into the hate, and then they became AWESOME!

Basically, it's like me and my little brother: I do something, he hates it and comments what a stupid dork I am, and then I do whatever I was doing louder and harder and in his stupid neckbeard face.

Plus Xavier Woods runs a gaming channel UpUpDwnDwn. 

And this is their official T-Shirt. God bless unicorns:


















Best Theme Song: "Cool For The Summer" by Demi Levato
Hmmm... I'm with John, I'd listen to "We Like It Loud" outside of the theme song. "Cool For The Summer" is tolerable, and "We Like I Loud" is generic, but Sleeping with Sirens gets it.

 Best Promo: New Day vs. Edge and Christian
This is the best because I have eyes and a soul:

Xavier Woods plays the Final Fantasy Fanfare on a trombone. You lovable unicorn magic dorks, may you shine forever.

Best Special Entrance: Rusev On A Tank
Again, after a ho-hum string during the regular PPVs, Rusev's great Wrestlemania entrance was full of flair, showmanship, character developement, and most importantly: EFFORT!!

Also it's got a goddamn tank.

Best Surprise: RKO OUT OF THE AIR
The amount of practice that went into to make this spot happen.

Dot-Coolest Moment Of The Year: That's a Picture Of Sting
For me, it's the Salina Del Sol on the ladder. It's one of those "HOLY SHIT!" moments. Like fuck, there was BLOOD on the ladder.

Best Non-In-Ring Performer: Dario Cueto
Haven't seen




Best Feud/Storyline: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
I spent my Christmas Eve watching matches between these two and

Diva Of The Year: Sasha Banks
As much as I want to give this award to real life waifu Chandra from Magic The Gathering (aka Becky Lynch), and Diva of Eternal Sunshine Bayley, Sasha Banks has the attitude, charisma and talent to get over, and in NXT she was great, but on the main roster, they have not pushed her at all.

Superstar of the Year: Seth Rollins
My brother started watching because of Stephen Amell at Superslam and John Cena memes, and Seth Rollins is his standout.

Best Event: NXT Takeover Brooklyn
I was at NXT Rival, so that one wins.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Status Quo Sundays When You're Drinking Down Your Wine

This week's jam:


Yeah, a cover of my favorite Christmas jam. Not as crunchy as The Kinks, but it still maintains the bouncy fun of the original, and it reminds us that sometimes, that not everyone gets to have an idylic Norman Rockwell Christmas.Normally I throw away my Jank Tank (extra Magic commons and uncommons) at shows, but I've been trying to find a good YMCA or Youth Center to donate them to.

It also reminds us The Kinks fucking rule.

So, here's how the past few days have went:
Thursday!
RECITAL
I'm taking voice lessons, and this is a thing I do. I think I did all right, I think I have some video from that....

Friday!
STAR WARS!
In the event that you haven't seen it yet, it leans very heavily on you remembering that Star Wars: A New Hope exists, but it had interesting characters, and things happened that I cared about.

Saturday and Sunday!
HOLIDAY MATSURI
DEFINITELY up there as one of my favorite cons of the year. A mosh pit broke out, my foot got (a little) messed up, and I went to bed drunk. That's a rock star weekend if I ever saw it.

Bulletpoints:
-LOTS of Undertale cosplay. Mettatons, Sans's and Papyrus's were in abundance, a lot being at least "good". Really, the cosplay here was top notch, like everyone saved up all their energy for one last hurrah.

-Propeller Anime ran a bunch of interesting panels. I caught their panel on Nerdy Music and the panel Mamoru Hasoda. I have a LOT to catch up on this holiday season, namely cleaning out my car...  They run anime nights at Bikkuri Lounge in Orlando, and plenty of other events at The Geek Easy in Winter Park, FL.

One of the panelists for Nerdy Music, EyeQ, has an album based off Attack On Titan out now called Walls of Maria, with all the proceeds going to charity. The man spits every word with nothing less 100% conviction, so I suggest you all go check him out.

-Playing lots of Boss Monster. The object of the game is that you are an RPG game style boss, with the intent of luring adventurers in you dungeon to kill them. There's a fair bit of planning involved, as different rooms attract different adventures, and having nobody come to your dungeon early can be an advantage, giving you more time to prepare a badass dungeon, especially as more badass heroes enter town. Also you can screw other players over by making adventurers more powerful, with even one point of health being the difference between survival and defeat.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/bossmonster/images/e/e0/Boss_Monster_Box_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121208072847

-Running games of Werewolf is a lot more fun than playing them, because you don't have randos wanting to kill you because you have a hairy chest.

-Not seeing the guests.
Update: My brother got shit.


Monday, December 14, 2015

Status Quo Sunday I Mean Radio is Now ON CD!

This week's jam is the bestest Christmas Jam ever!


Back in New York, this was the perfect "Driving home in the cold" song. It's bouncy, it's funny, and it's not overplayed unlike "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and Paul McCartney's MOTHERFUCKING GARBAGE "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time".

Saxaphone Guy in that music video is having all kinds of fun in his "This is what the 80's thought Cyberspace Looked Like" world

SO WHATCHA GOT FOR US THIS WEEK R.B.?
Well, last night was the Album Release Party-

THAT SHIT WAS RELEASE TWO MONTHS AGO!
True but-

I HAD IT SINCE JUNE-
Thank you Jeff. This week the physical copies came in, and I didn't do a proper release for that so I decided to stream the music on Twitch!

SO I CAN ACTUALLY HOLD A COPY OF STATUS QUO RADIO IN MY HANDS AND LISTEN TO IT IN MY CAR?Yes! Get it now on Bandcamp! 

I'll try to send a little present with each CD, like a poster, some Magic cards, whatever. I'll try to make it worth your while!

HOLIDAY MATSURI!
THIS SATURDAY! I'll also try to be at Propeller Anime's events, so I'll be there as well.

The guest list is a lot more star studded than I initially thought.

Todd Haberkorn, Sean Schmell, Gray DeLise? Shit, man. I know I'm obligated to bring back my brother something from all of this.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Echo Chamber Episode 149 Recap and other Podcast Recaps

FUCK YOU I DO WHAT I WANT!

YEAH... THIS WAS AN EPISODE...

-Basically, Jeff had a concert and Paolo was going to Yamacon. So Mystakin and I were talking on Skype, and neither of us wanted to do another Eric and Erich show so soon, but we didn't want to miss two weeks in a row, so we did this... thing.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BW4kaQk50Vo/hqdefault.jpg

Yes, Psychonauts 2 is happening.

Yes, Her Story and Splatoon won a shitton of awards.

Yes, nerds lost their shit about not playing titty game.

Yes, Weff and Arcanon will be pretty mad.

Also, because this episode was so short, here's some bonus content:
SLAYERS OF DECADENCE EPISODE 4:



In this one, some riff-raff ascends to Kindunos's Outpost of the True Warrior and he needs to decide if allow ruffians to innovate on our honed fighting style, and Zun-Quib-Slay fucks some more people and has more babies.

Then at the end is this incredible scene where we fight off a siege army using cunning, guile, FATE-level bullshitting and ZQS getting his freak on. There was a meme on Tumblr that I'm not going to look up right now, that lists how to do a simple task in each of the main tabletop RPG systems, and FATE's was "How well can you bullshit to the GM that you can do it?"

And then the fudge dice don't roll in your favor.

Can I just say? Ryan's podcast Ragnerdrok is worth a listen if you're a fan of tabletop RPG gaming, because those guys know what they're talking about. On a chance meeting with Ed from the cast at I-Con over 3 years ago lead to this.

Also, Raymond of this podcast is an experienced roleplayer, so I couldn't have picked two better people (that I don't know IRL) to run this campaign with. Or at least the core two. There WERE supposed to be other people involved but they don't show up that often.

Like any podcast, the number of people change the dynamic entirely. For example, any Echo Chamber Podcast on it IMMEDIATELY goes to shit once we hit 6 people. And by shit, I mean awesome.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Is One With The Force

Holy shit Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Animated Series is bad. RETSUSTREAM!!!

Anyway this week's jam is a Christmassy Jam:


The entire point of it is for use in Mega64's "Aggressive Caroling" series:


I'm not joking, I want to do this at Holiday Matsuri.

http://holidaymatsuri.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/slider2015main.jpg

HOLDIAY MATSURI?
Yes, Holiday Matsuri. The biggest Florida party con that comes by the Holidays!
 It's kinda late, at 10:30 PM, but it's on Saturday, so it'll be a good starting point to your evening's debauchery. 

I've never been, but it's up there with MegaCon and the Supercons as the big ones to visit in FL from what I hear.

So, I'm making it a big awesome show, playing lots of songs, giving out lots of presents and digging up some songs I haven't played in a while! You even score physical copies of Status Quo Radio!


While I've gotten older, Christmas has become less special since I know more about what goes on behind the scenes, but I love the leadups to Christmas: Those last minutes before work or school let out, the week or two before when all the decorations are put up, driving down the main drag with a chill in the air, seeing stores lit up...  This is part of that experience, because I've got a recital with my vocal coach that Thursday, work stuff on Friday, and this on Saturday.

WAIT, WHAT WAS THAT THING YOU SAID?
About what?

STATUS QUO RADIO!
The listening party? Yeah, I-

NO, NOT THAT- WAIT LISTENING PARTY?
Yeah, but that'll be after I get the physical copies of Status Quo Radio in. Which, I just found out shipped! I ordered a lot, so you don't have to worry about them selling out, and this was so easy, I'm probably going to do a run for Dino Hunter MD: The Sound Track, but one step at a time.

GAME SHIT
Guitar Hero Live is still taking up a lot of my time, but I've been streaming Borderlands 2, which you can catch here.

PLUGGING PEEPS!
Two albums are coming out soon and both had listening parties:
"Fragmentation" by Professor ShyGuy
A Chip-Pop-Opera filled with sensational singing and boisterous bleeps and bloops!


"Planet Twill" by Twill Distilled
A devious diva with vocals that thrill, raps that kill and drops beats with skill!


"Gauntlet" by RPG-Unit
RPG UNIT HAS A SONG ABOUT GAUNTLET AND IT'S REALLY GOOD FUCK YOU I'M NO DON DRAPER


Monday, November 30, 2015

Status Quo Sunday is Really Just Black Friday on Rhythm Bastard Time

This week's jam:


I have professed my love for Janelle Monae in the past, but recently I got turned on to Estelle, who most people who know of her from he role as Garnet on the series "Steven Universe". She also sings the theme songs for that show and "We Bare Bears":


Why Estelle? Well, it recently came to my attention that she sang the song "American Boy" (feat. Kanye West), which is song that always seemed to show up in the background if I were in a public place long enough, recognized by it's sweet, airy chorus. Like most of those songs, the hook is recognizable, but I never had a title, artist or any other part to attribute to it.

ENOUGH OF THAT, NEW SHIT!
Chibi Pa 2015 Recap Video is out!


This one is done (relatively) on time! Unfortunatley, there are a lot of costumes I wanted to feature, but couldn't for timesake (I shoot for under 3 minutes)

PHYSICAL COPIES OF STATUS QUO RADIO ARE COMING!
And they'll be (hopefully) available at Holiday Matsuri! This took way to long to get done, because of internet screwups and everything, and I was going to include some ARG type stuff, but they're coming out, it's going to be very cool, I've been working really hard on all of this, and learning a SHITTON of Photoshop.

I ALSO GOT GUITAR HERO LIVE!
So far, I'm enjoying it, but the new guitar layout takes some getting used to. The feature I'm making the most use out of is GHTV, and leaving it on in the background while I've been working on the album design stuff. The song list/GHTV setlist is very solid, with a lot of good recent songs, and a fuckton of indie songs that don't suck, so the list has been pleasant to play through.

Really, the main difference between the two games is the same as it always has been: GH for loners, Rock Band for party people, but it's imnportant to note that the latter has a backlog of over 1500 songs, and is committed to monthly updates. Rock Band is safe and sound, being very secure in the weekly DLC, and for Guitar Hero to continue, it needs to keep updating with adding more content to GHTV every week.




Thursday, November 26, 2015

Echo Chamber Recap Episode 148

PILGRIMS!!!
 
-Yeah, I'm on Team Christmas, because that's the time of year when your racist ass aunt is obligated by Our Lord Capitalism to shut her damn mouth. Thanksgiving is when she's all like "Hey, you wanna know what I think about INSERT NAME OF MINORITY GROUP?"

Though you don't get ads all the way in September saying "BETTER THINK ABOUT THANKSGIVING!!! ONLY XXX DAYS LEFT!!!". How early do you think about Thanksgiving? The morning before you're supposed to show up to your parents? PSSSSSHH!!!

-Halo, for a while, was the new Goldeneye 007, a game that everyone plays together in the dorm room, but I wonder if it's been beat out by something else, even Smash Bros. Call Of Duty seems to have the online shooter space squared away, so it's hard to see what place Halo occupies in the public consciousness since it's early Original Xbox days.

I've always been aware of the series, and how Master Chief is another "Legendary Video Game Character" to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mario and Lara Croft, but I never got the appeal, until I started playing Halo: Reach. It plays well and doesn't have a lot of what are known as "feelbads", or anything that would hamper a player's enjoyment right off the bat. The DMR was accurate, but still can fire at a decent clip, health regenerates, and ammo was very rarely a concern.



It's a good game, which is why so many are eager to kill aliens and don't afraid of anything.


-It hit me as I was listening to this podcast to write the recap that while I was thinking of The Hold Steady's "Sequestered in Memphis":



Arcanon might have been thinking of "Walking In Memphis" by Marc Cohn, a bit of a one-hit wonder.



-Rock Band Update. Full deets here, we've been talking A LOT about it, so there's not much left uncovered.

-For the record, Brain Dead was the original name the Peter Jackson movie I was talking about, and Dead Alive is what it was called in the States.



-Dark Cloud 2 Advertisement:



May I talk about how much I loved this back in the day? Never played the game, but as a naive high schooler, shit like this seemed possible. "Wow! I CAN DO ANYTHING?!?!?" Hahaha no.

-PAX EAST IS GOING TO BE AWESOME! Tickets sold out quickly, but your plan ain't worth shit. Got my room all lined up thanks to Good Guy Owen, and ready to have some fun in Beantown.,..in 5 months. Hopefully we can get a panel, which means an extra $150 to spend on Magic Drafts.

Maybe we can taste test some mozzerella sticks with Mudry's Mozz...


Also we talked about fainting couches. According to Wikipedia the speculated reason for the existence of fainting couches are sexist as fuck:it's either corsets or "female hysteria".
Also, there's such a thing as fainting rooms. Which have fainting couches. Fuck Victorian Europe. So expect to see plenty of pictures of us flipping off fainting couches.



Tuesday, November 24, 2015

INSERT QUEST HERE: Slayers of Decadence Part 3

GET IT HERE!



So, I wasn't able to attend this session, but it's been a delight to listen to. They take my Dad joke to the next logical step, and teach shepherds to weaponize fire.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Status Quo Sunday vs. The Eldrazi

This week's jam:


NEW SONG! "Attack On Eldrazi", inspired by the new Battle For Zendikar set. I took a lot of cues from The Aquabats! especially the “Floating Eye Of Death!” era.

This lovely art work is made by @godbirds! He was great to work with and you can also follow him on @ciphir and get more MtG-based doodles!

Here’s my other MTG songs:
“Hunting Bigger Game” (Magic 2015)
“Force Of Dragons” (Khans Of Tarkir)

“Change The War” (Fate Reforged)
“Unbroken” (Dragons of Tarkir)

ULTRACON! Didn't play. Some stuff got shifted around, leaving only one panel room, and I got shifted out of a time slot.

I still had fun, and I helped run a panel with Just Guys Playing Games. Inspired by PAXAMANIA and The PAX Rumble, me and JGPG held a rumble of our own, where we held a tournament on WWF's No Mercy on the N64, winner getting a free Luchador mask. I wish it was a little better attended, but we managed to get a full 4 player game going, and were able to crown a winner!

OTHER STUFF I DID!
-Ultimate Championship Wrestling and a game of Zombies! at the same time. I wish I was in the crowd, marking it up like a mofo, but even with my influence, the crowd was only sorta into it. The people affiliated with this were also part of Florida Super Championship Wrestling, but that was closed down by the con that they originally worked with.

It's VGCW IRL, and it was fun to watch. I hope to see it develop/go on more regularly than once a year.

-An Epic game of Epic with the people from ConJunkie. Thankfully two of the people I played against were familiar with MTG. The e-mail for my Champion Tier card came in, and all these games I've been playing have given me an idea of what cards I like, and what I want to have on my card.

-Buying lots of shit, primarily a sweet set of MTG inspired coasters from Nookingtons and a carved wooden deckbox courtesy of Altruistic., which in doing my research for this, also has a Taskmaster Cosplay replica shield.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?
Better than last year, for sure. It did feel empty because of the size upgrade and the fact there are two other cons that same weekend, but if the con can stay at this level of quality on a better weekend (since Chibi Pa was last week in the same area, and Megacon had an event the same day), it can start to grow.

WHAT'S NEXT?
For one, the recap videos to these things, also getting the work done for physical copies of Status Quo Radio. I have some new songs in various stages, so hopefully I can get a lot of work done with the Holiday Weekend. With me, the problem is I get overwhelmed with how much I want to do.

Oh well, see you next week!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

NEW SONG: "Wrestling Wayback" (Unused Theme)

 So this was an unused theme for a podcast Owen and John of ProWrestling.Cool were doing, where they'd riff on old WWE pay-per-views. I was asked to make something for it over a year ago, and it fthe podcast finally came out today!

LISTEN HERE JAMBRONIES AND BE HUMBLE

I wrote this song as the "theme" since it was originally pitched as MST3K in setup, but now it's a RiffTrax like show. Still, to celebrate the podcast and give them a plug, I'm polishing off the song and releasing it!

The cover art is by SailorSwayse. 






Wednesday, November 18, 2015

INSERT QUEST HERE: The Slayers Of Decadence Episode 2

Meant to post this earlier, but I didn't have internet... Episode 2 of the Fate Accelerated game I've been playing with the people from Insert Quest Here and Rag Nerd Rok.


Monday, November 16, 2015

Victory Over The Status Quo On Sunday

This weeks jam is... oh... oh... oh........
Wow... Friday the 13th was a son of a bitch... When you have to #PrayFor six different countries, you wonder who fell asleep at the wheel.


-Been out the past week or so because Comcast is Comcast and comcast is awful. I was ready to have CDs on sale, but I wasn't able to submit designs.

-Chibi Pa was the BIGGEST thing going on this weekend. My set took place in what was dubbed "The Society Lounge" which was a little nightclub style place with lots of different kinds of seating with a bar in the back. Wasn't a bad place to play, and the sound was on point. Still need to get used to actually singing more better.

Set went good, premiered a new song, that went good, and I got to drink a lot!

HIGHLIGHTS!
-Seeing all the familiar faces again! From people I've featured in Recap Videos, to So Flo Con Bros, to people who've seen my shows before to SS Hanami who hosted a Koto and Wine Party and played on the days I wasn't there.

-APPARENTLY I DON'T KNOW HOW A SELFIE STICK WORKS SORRY JAMES

-Werewolf looks to be the thinking man's version of Cards Against Humanity in that it's the hip new card game to play, and there's actually something a thinking man can work with.

For those of you further behind, Werewolf is a game for a around 8+ people, where villagers try to find a werewolf among them, and the wolf has to kill everyone else. There are other roles like the Bodyguard who can save a player if a werewolf targets them, or the seer who can point out werewolves.

It's great, because who doesn't love a good mystery? If you have a good GM, it's a lot of fun.

However, what would seem like an interesting logic puzzle devolves into people throwing around random accusations for various reasons, since there's nothing for people to go on in the early stages. For example, I was singled out because of my chest hair.

There is a One Night version, where there's a lot of switching roles and everything, and that works because there's only one night, so the goal is the main focus, and there's less fucking around.



-Also on the events was a "Hentai Variety Show". Now, part of me was expecting the worst, because the only other "Hentai" panel I was at was a "Dub That Hentai", which was jackasses yelling over porn.

This was the opposite because it was good, and funny, and entertaining in which everyone had a fun time. Basically, it was a crowdsourced burlesque show, with a striptease/cosplay contest, where both genders went after the top prize with gusto. Though I think the winner for the men might have been a professional. Or at least practiced.

WILL YOUR DUMBASS BE LATE WITH THIS CHIBI PA RECAP VIDEO?
... Later than usual.... I do have Ultracon this weekend and a bunch of other stuff on my plate, so hopefully I can get some free time.

-Oh, and I went 4-0 at FNM. NBD

-New song is coming.... SOON. I got some feedback on the mix and playing with the EQ a bit, lots of little things I might not have known otherwise. I'm having cover art done by ciphir on Tumblr, who's in the bizness of mking some really funny MtG related stuff.


So, when both those elements come together, I'll make a post about it, and you'll have some sweet new tunes to listen to. Until then, I'm going to be at Ultracon!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Provides Content For Youtube

This week's jam:


NateWantsToBattle is propably the only way we'll get Old Fall Out Boy for a while. He also has a metal cover of Excalibur's song from Soul Eater that's awesome as fuck.



While he is the most prolific "maker of songs about Five Night's At Freddy's", he wasn't the first. This Halloween I posted up a video of me doing an acoustic version of the song I was commissioned to write for the "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza" chain back in the 70's.


I also helped build and design the robots, which is why they act so evil. Because fuck the night watchman, and fuck the owner, who stiffed me on the commission royalties. Before the second FNAF game was released, I contacted Scott about using the original songs. Unfortunately, the tapes are god knows where, so it's impossible to get a digital version.


I'm not in that deep with the FNAF series, having only played some of the first two games, the rest of my knowledge coming from Markiplier's Let's Plays. Still, I like how it's become a thing. The designer was working at a Dollar General, doing games in his spare time until FNAF drops and everyone wants to play it, or at least watch others play it.

What's fascinating is that the adage "Thank God For Jim Sterling" comes into play. He reviewed of one of Scott Cawthon's earlier games, "Chipper & Sons Lumber Co.", where he commented on how creepy the game looked.

Cawthon's response? He got a bunch of neckbeards and a hack Brittish tabloid rag writer to threaten Jim with rape.

Nah, he was like "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED MOTHERFUCKER!" and make a game about creepy animatronics.

Also this week, I did my TOTALLY ON TIME Chibi-Pa Sampler recap video:


I don't rmember a whole lot, but it was a fun one day outing, and a reminder that equipment maintenance is key to providing the best performance you can on all occasions.

Status Quo Radio is now on YouTube:


Which means I did EVERYTHING from the list from last week, except the Insert Quest Here thing, but that's on that guy.

Next week? A new song? Yeah, sure.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Echo Chamber Recap Episode 145

#ETHICS IN ROCK BAND JOURNALISM

-The best way to describe the issue of Harmonix Employees posting reviews of their own game is "faux pax". It's embarassing, but in the long run, ultimately harmless. The "IT'S ABOUT ETHICS IN GAME JOURNALISM" crowd showed up a bit, but like we mentioned before, the issue died down within the day.

-YOU KIDS LIKE WEEEEEEEED?
*smashes bong on floor*
*glass shatters*



STONER COLD STEEEVE AUSTIN and vince is the DEA read my fanfiction here

-CORRECTION: Morning show DJs are more chill than these over the top doofiness of the Guitar Hero Live DJs. Elvis Duran making Dad jokes would be less groan worthy than this shit.

-Guitar Hero TV in general has everything I'd LOVE to see in Rock Band: Random songs playing in the background, and the ability to "rent" the entire DLC library. Main question is though: are the microtransactions working out for GHTV? Secondary question: How often and how many songs are they going to add to the DLC rotation. I remember in an interview the way their protocol is set up is that they can add a song once it gets popular on YouTube the same day.

-Girls and Boys Music Video:

Ah, 2000-era mall punk.

-Murder Burger


-Take ground beef, add Reese's Pieces, roll into a donut shape, and deep fry it. Add four patties, with a layer on bacon, egg and cheese on each. Shove a double down in between the second and third patty. Cover in marinara sauce.

-ARTICLE ON KURTWOOD SMITH PLAYING VERNON MASTERS.
Yeah, so Taskmaster, drink him in:




So, for those chumps who don't know about Taskmaster, LEMME SSSSSSSPELL IT OUT FOR YOU!
Taskmaster is a villain within the Marvel Universe, typically hired as a mercenary. Blessed with the power of "photographic reflexes", he can imitate the movements of anyone he sees. He can throw his shield like Captian America, have the sick Kung Fu skills of Iron Fist, and can shoot arrow like Hawkeye. He then uses these skills to teach people how to be better henchmen so his pretty skull face doesn't get hurt.

In addition to that, he's also been known to use his skills for personal reasons (learning how to cook, play guitar, etc.) for macking on the fly honeys. So, he could have used his gift to be in a great rock n' roll band, or win dance competitions, but instead he's like "FUCK THAT NOISE, I'MA PUT ON TIGHTS AND BEAT UP SUPERHEROES"

-The missing songs from Pachabel Rant are:
"Graduation" by Vitamin C
"One Tin Soldier" by Coven
"Hook" by Blues Traveler
"Push" by Matchbox 20
"Good" by Better Than Ezra
"With Or Without You" by U2
|"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia
"Sk8R Boi" by Avril Lavigne
"We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister

-DIDNEY WORL in minecraft


-We talked a lot about A Flavor House Atlantic.

-


THE BEST WEEDMIX EVER!


Sunday, October 25, 2015

Status Quo Sunday IN A CELL

 Have you bought Status Quo Radio on Soundcloud yet? YOU SHOULD!

This week's jam:


Remember when songs used to be one hit wonders?
Remember when songs used to be weird as fuuuuuuck?
Lady Gaga comes close I guess, but her songs are relatively normal in subject matter.

I found about this one on the Star Fox Animated Series stream. 

Ah, let's see...

Game Day was today (short, went 1-2 with Atarka Red) and finishing up work on my Battle for Zendikar Song. Shot some footage for a long over due con recap and

HOLY SHIT DEL RIO'S AT HELL IN A CELL?

AND BEAT JOHN CENA?

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Jose Alberto Rodríguez, top, of Mexico, known as Alberto Del Rio wrestles Jacob "Jake" Hager, Jr., known as Jack Swagger, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J., during the WWE Wrestlemania 29 event. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Right, right, back on topic.

Now, a lot of my time is spent juggling different projects, delicately balancing between writing, streaming and practicing, and sometimes I have a lot of stuff backed up because I'm working on getting one thing started, because otherwise, I'll have nothing for the week. I have a whiteboard (it came with me in the move!) that's filled with different song ideas, a notebook slowly being filled with lyrics for future songs, and a To-Do list that never seems to dwindle.

It's paralyzing. Like, I have 7 tabs open, each with a different thing, and I can't commit to one. "Oh shit, I have to send an e-mail to this person, and I actually could be doing this but...and so on. For example, right now I'm editing a e-mail to send in one window, finishing up this, putting together my desk, trying to write guitar parts for one song AND putting up Status Quo Radio on Youtube.

I get stuck in these patterns where I don't have the time to finish one thing, so I half start others.

HOLY SHIT BROCK LESNAR BEAT TAKER? AND NOW THE WYATT FAM-

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See what I mean? So here's the plan for this week:
1. New Con Recap Video
2. New SONG video
3. Status Quo Radio on YouTube
4. Podcast Recap for Echo Chamber
5. Reposting "Slayers of Decadence"

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Echo Chamber Recap Episode 144

No, Seriously Harmonix, Fess Up

-So we talked about Millenial Stuff later, and I'm going to bring this up at the beginning of the article: Don't let old men yelling at clouds get you down. What will make the old generation even more angry is if we persevere.

Here's the thing that scares boomers the most: When our generation comes to power, we'll have to undo the mess they made, and it will almost be like they never existed.

So share, clean up the environment and question the status quo.

Every time you take a selfie of you twerking on fleek for your bae, this happens:


-Going back to the top of the podcast. A Flavor House Atlantic would have the following items on the menu:
Blood Red Steakmer
Welcome Homefries
Ten Wings (Of Gods Blood And Burial)
The Wishing Well of Beer (Unlimited Beer for only $15!)
Junesong Provolone Grilled Cheese Sandwich
In The Flame of Burger
Neverender Nachos
Elf Tower New Mexican Tacos


-FRIDAY THE 13th KICKSTARTER


Not going to lie, it looks pretty decent. It seems between this and Until Dawn, video game devs have a thing for murdering teenagers... HMMM....

Another similar game was on Kickstarter around this time last year, called (oddly enough) Last Year, with a similar premise: X on 1 gameplay vs. a killer.


However from the descriptions, it seems that Last Year seems to be taking more of its cues from Evolve with different characters as different classes, where as the 13th, will be more on just surviving.

-The Angry Video Game Nerd has certainly mellowed out since the early days, with James Rolfe moving away from the character. However, the reason why the original AVGN managed to survive as opposed to all the Johnny-Come-Latelys and the PISSED OFF GAMESMASHERS of the world is that his love of making movies shines through. Like look at this:


He had a friend help him with this. He went to film school. He's a fan of AC/DC for crying out loud!


Also he gave us this:


So all the rip-off AVGNs and Zero Punctuations is that, really, without the anger and the funny curse words, they don't have anything to say. Words come of their mouth, but there's no passion behind any of it, it's just bitching.

-Game Grumps Mickeymousecapades aka DANNY SEXBANG LOSES IT:


And that led us to Douchebag Youtube, which is white guys sitting in front of stuff bitching about feminism and black people or whatever.

-That is the polar opposite of Black Vine, seen here:



-Nobody knows what Fuckboy is. I'm not going to parse what it means because all I remember is the meme with the skeleton saying Engarde Fuckboy. I can't find it so I can only assume Fuckboys are people without skeletons.

-Mark Mothersbaugh's Soundtrack Listing. Some notable examples:
Rugrats Theme
Rocket Power Theme
Pee-Wee's Playhouse Theme
Super Mario World Cartoon Theme
Beakman's World Theme
Dumb and Dumber
Crash Bandicoot Series
Regular Show
Jax and Daxter Series


-Last but not least, I'm really sorry Jeff, this is the meatball sub incident:
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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

INSERT QUEST HERE: Gods and Monsters Part 1



I was part of an Actual Play session this past week on the podcast Insert Quest Here. Also on the podcast was Ryan from Rag-NERD-Rok who was our GM.

A couple years ago I was part of a DnD group with some friends and it was fun, but then once I played a game of Eclipse Phase with Ryan, I had to get good at improv and role playing, and it's a weird space to get into, especially when there's so much riding on the face that dice rolls need to come out a certain way, but then again, that's where Rag-Nerd-Rok showed me some next level GMing. A good GM will let you fail. A good GM has a plan for if and when you fail. A good GM will not let you fail.

It's midnight Sunday when I wrote this so I have content for the rest of the week, but you get my drift.

The FATE system has a lot of back and forth to it, and makes for a cinematic style of play, where you have to occupy this odd headspace between what your character would do and what you would do as a third party watching it on a movie screen like so many horror movie buffs yelling "Don't go in there!".

So, question, when Part 2 comes up, should it be its own thing, or should I lump it in with the podcast recaps? 

Monday, October 19, 2015

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 143

THIS SHOULD HAVE REALLY BEEN OBVIOUS

-OK, so as I mentioned last week, I do these things by working of general headlines and then writing about them. However, think of of this as my "For Those Of You Further Behind" look at Rock Band 4, since I picked it up THE DAY after we recorded that Episode.

-For some reason, I had this in my Bookmarks Folder to put on this week:



You know what's Rising Above? HER WEIGHT! ACK!

-Right, so I've been a little back on forth on RB4, and while it's still Rock Band, I still have this dialogue going on in the back of my head. The setlist isn't as big, bbut they're an indepentent studio now and can't pull in anything else. Customization options are barren, but the models look REALLY GOOD, and the venues, while missing the crazy effects I loved playing around with in the RBN days, make the venues feel more real.

The main complaint I hear is that "It was rushed to beat Guitar Hero to the market." I can see that, but it's like "When would they release it?" Another couple months might not have been enough to add anything significant, and waiting another year would be too long. To release it OTHER than the holiday season would be ridiculous. DLC exports have been spotty, and are slowly coming together, but I can still download all my old songs for FREE, and have even discover new ones.

All that said, Rock Band 4 is still worth playing because the Rock Band experience has ALWAYS been worth playing.

-Confession, I left my notes at work, so I'll try to remember exact topics we talked about:

-The Voting System: I've always been for this, and limiting my options to what songs I can pick keeps me from picking the same song, and has my exploring the setlist. I've only played by myself so far, so it's been more of a multiple choice test than a band feature.

-Freestyle Solos: As of right now, not a fan. It's a great idea, but it's off JUST enough that I shut them off, since I need to double check my calibration. Also, I'm playing by myself right now, so I'm more in the RAGH MUST PLAY GAME then the FUCK YEAH PARTY TIME mode.

-Tour Mode: Love it! Other than the really-not-there character creation options, it's an entertaining enough mode to play through.

For each tour you go out on, there's a decision you make beforehand. For example, "Do you buy a van with what little you have or do you let your uncle manage you?" which all boils down to stuff like "$$$ vs. Fans" or "Pick your own setlist vs. have it chosen for you". That's standard, but what I like is each little story that happens in between each decision. For example, before one of my shows in the loading screen text, Uncle Tony said that he's an awesome business man with dealings in the condiment business. Next show, he mentioned something about striking a deal. For my last show on the tour, my band was wearing "GRANDMA STAPLETON'S HORSERADISH SAUCE" tees. Nice little touch.

-Setlist surprises: "Your Love" by The Outfield. Always a one hit wonder, but it's a great 80's pop-rock song.
 
This has also been covered by The Aquabats, meaning it's an Objectively Good Song


There aren't a lot of Epic Marquee Songs this time around, but there's some good stuff.

-This was also saved on my Favorites this week for some reason:
Oh wait, that's the site's source code. Nevermind.

So, yay! RB4! yay....

-Oh yeah, and here's the Worst RBN Venue Ever:




Sunday, October 18, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Crosses the Streams, Lives Da Dream

This week's jam:


Nothing too original, it's been a go to "Hip, Exciting Indie Song To Be Played During Sports" for quite a while now, but it's solid workout music.

OK, so what have I been up to this past week?

STREAMS!
Last Sunday, played some Magic Duels online, and on Saturday, I worked through my Battle for Zendikar song and played some NBA 2K16.

The songwriting stream, while not very populated, didn't end up too badly. It's an hour I can dedicate to working stuff out, and I think it helped. In between watching the Battle For Zendikar Pro Tour I've been finishing up this new song.

All of Status Quo Radio I recorded on my crappy lil' lappy, and it's going to take some getting used to working on my new desktop. Namely, getting all my files and plug ins lined up. Reaper's been good to me with RBN, and it looks to be good with me on this. Hopefully I can get everything lined up right.

SHOWS?
Right now it's a lot of unconfirmed stuff, and Holiday Matsuri being the only show I will 100% be at. Chibi-Pa and UltraCon are usual suspects, but I don't want to confirm anything until I get full confirmation from them.

RHYTHM BASTARD ON iTUNES?
Hopefully! I submitted the paperwork and am waiting to hear back on that.

YOU LIVIN DA DREAM?
Hahahahaha no.

The title is a reference to the NBA 2K16 Career Mode, directed by Spike Lee. Or, at least the first 3 chapters are by Spike Lee. It's kinda neat to see this little story play out with you and your longtime friend dealing with your rise as an NBA Superstar.

It's a neat little thing, but there's a lot of telling as opposed to showing. It seemed like Spike wanted to make a basketball movie, then had to work out a video game's frame work, so what would be a good estalbishing scene, or something that might be held out a couple beats longer is dumped because we're here to play basketball. There's a lot of good set up for some interesting Walking Dead style decisions, but it never happens, and the main dramatic thrust of the story is lost on the fact that you have to play games in between these dramatic story moments.

So while I was doing well in the High School and College portions of the game, I started to fail during Rookie Year. Regardless, the game went on saying FREQ (your characters "name" so they avoid using your real name) YOU'RE A STAR PLAYER! while I was getting 2 points a game off 5 minutes of play time.

Then it just kinda ends. I could see enjoying this as a basketball movie, but as a video game story it feels kinda wasted. Rest of the game is still good, mind you and I'm digging the MyCareer mode.

Also the cheerleaders look... very different from advertised...
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9B4TdhtRwCM/maxresdefault.jpg

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Status Quo Sunday RELEASED!!!

Shit, what will I call this channel now?

Anyway, on to the JAM!


 Status Quo Radio cover art

Status Quo Radio has officially been released!


Everything I wanted to post I posted about yesterday, so I'm trying to get the word out now.

But yeah, it's a HUGE relief that all of this is done. Getting Rob on board really gave me that push I needed to finally finish it. It was never a thing of "if" but "when".

SO THE KICKSTARTER..?
It would have helped make the release bigger, but all that stuff will now be done piecemeal. I still plan on ordering CDs for sale, but I won't be able to make most of the bigger stuff I had planned, and doing a proper run of my CD Dino Hunter MD: The Sound Track. I do know most of the people who did put in a pledge personally, so those will be honored to the best of my ability.

The digital release was always set for October 9th, the release date for the Orange Box and Team Fortress 2.

WHAT'S NEXT?
I have a general idea of what direction I want to go with my next album, but for now, I have a couple con shows planned, and do have a backlog of material I'd like to write. My old notebook has been lost to the ages, but I have a fresh new one ready for my sullying.

For example, I wrote a bit for my Battle For Zendikar song, and I have an acoustic song I've played at a couple shows that I'm making a video of when my room is less cluttered with shit.

Also, I got an Xbox One, so I'm looking into streaming a bit more. This is going up later in the evening because I was playing the new Magic Duels online. Other music peeps like Benjamin Briggs, Kit from Random Encounter, DJ Roborob and Professor Shyguy stream, so I figured it could be good to be out there more. I've been trying to get back in the streaming biz, but my capture card refuses to play nice.

However, I do plan on doing "songwriting streams" where I'll work through a song, and play a bit for you all.

There will be more Bastard, don't you worry!

 IS THIS STILL GOING TO BE CALLED "STATUS QUO SUNDAY"?
Yeah. I mean, Green Day calls their fan club the "Idiot Club", right?




Friday, October 9, 2015

Status Quo Radio out TODAY!!!



IT'S OUUUUUTT!!!

Five years! Five years in the making, from the first time I played Team Fortress 2, to the first song I uploaded on NewGrounds,  IT'S FINALLY FUCKING DONE!!!

Now, if I can remember correctly, Force Of Nature was the first song I worked on, and Bastard's Reunion was the last. All the interlude sections were recorded this week.

Here's a list of people I'd like to thank:
DJRoboRob for doing the mixing/mastering/production
It was fate that we met up at Omni Expo 2014, where he and Starby caught a set I did in the hallway, because the panel room I was supposed to play in gave me no walkthrough. He remembers it as "the nerdiest punk rock moment" he's ever seen. A few months later, he's mixing the tracks he heard that very night.

Mervyn McKoy for doing this sweet ass cover.
#SoFloConBro, and maker of some damn fine comics, such as Giant Robot Warrior Maintenance Crew and The C-Listers. I hope he goes far and does more mainstream work, not that I don't pick up everything he smears his art on.
Seriously, we went back and forth and came up with something GREAT. I loved it so much it helped drive the finishing part of the story and makes for a sweeeeet MTG playmat design.

Paolo Viteri for helping out with the drums

A solid podcast partner, a solid drummer, and a more solid friend. He helped figure out drum parts when my idiot guitar hands couldn't.

David K. Ginn and Jesse Schoepfer for doing some background vocals!

The DHMD KREW!!! A lot of this stuff is going WAAAAAAAAY back for me, since their gang vocals were recorded YEARS ago. Still, they were some of the first people to believe in my music, so they get a credit :D

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Echo Chamber Episode 142 Recap

she's concerned about my cholesterol but she's getting fat so i think she's eating it all
 
-Now, how I do these things is I listen to the podcast and write one broad heading for every subject I think I can write about. Then I put all the headings into the CMS for the site and go from there. All I have for my notes on the first part of the podcast is "Dinosaur/Donald Trump", which could only mean a prompt to list my favorite possible Donald Trump/Dinosaur interactions:

  • Dinosaurs eating Donald Trump's face off
  • Bernie Sanders winning the election, then riding off on a veloiciraptor, who then goes back and eats Donald Trump
  • Herbivoric dinosaur thinking Donald Trump's hair is vegetation, then eats his head in the process
  • Brontosaurus's stomping on Donald Trump's crotch
  • Donald Trump being horn fucked by a triceratops.
  • A pterodactyl picking up Donald Trump by his belt and then dropping him into a volcano and his pants come off in the process as his tiny baby dick flops around before he falls in and his dick gets burned first
-Now, "Shitlord" has gotten a lot of flack for being a "TUMBLR/SJW!!!" insult, since it's an insult not specific to any race or gender. However, I feel such limitations on languge lead to more direct, honest insults. For example, instead of old standbys like "Fag", "Retard" and "(insert racial slur here)", you're calling them "shit", which isn't comparing them to other people, but instead something that can't exist without us. Adding "serf" implies being owned by somebody else. So, calling them a shitserf means "You're subhuman and someone else's problem"

-"Anime took a shit on the E-string of a guitar"- Jeff Webster, on Babymetal's "Gimme Chocolate"

"Hungry Like The Wolf" from BABYDADROCK
-It's interesting how the Karaoke Revolution/Lips games never achieved the same success Guitar Hero/Rock Band did, because there were a lot of Karaoke Revolution games. However, none achieved the same level of success, when most people use GH/RB as a glorified karaoke machine. I think RB just got the DLC stuff all figured out, and focused on a broader scope of music, so they took first on that. Karaoke Revolution committed the Mortal Sin of having to switch out discs and even when it went online, there was not enough DLC.

So hopefully Rock Band can keep up the DLC front, since that's what kept them separate from the rest of the pack.

-Joe McCarthy was a man who was behind the main thrust of Communist Paranoia in the U.S. It was stupid bullshit in the Cold War, since we were itching to invade another country since WWII. America's got mad warboners.

So, you'd think Joe McCarthy would be regarded as a fucking loon, as his day's Jack Thompson, right?

NOPE BECAUSE TEXAS WANTS TO CONTINUE THE RED SCARE BECAUSE FUCK YOU REASON.


IM A SMERTMEN!
-I have many thoughts on Until Dawn, but if I may draw some comparisons between it, The Walking Dead (Telltale) and Heavy Rain/Sadness Trilogy.

In The Walking Dead, you reach the same endpoint of the respective stories, however all the decisions are meant to make you feel shitty THE SECOND AFTER you make a decision. The choices didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but broken up episode to episode, you had the experience of thinking about what would happen next, where the story was going, what other people did, etc.

Beyond Two Souls seemed to have to have one binary choice at the end. Fuck that noise.

Indigo Propechy had "multiple endings" but if we're thinking in video game terms, all you had to do was not fuck up the QTEs and make the OBVIOUS CHOICES to get the best ending. It was supposed to be episodic, but budget fucked them over. It promised a "malleable story" but, not really.

Heavy Rain, on the other hand, delivered on this promise a little bit more, where main characters can die, rendering parts of the game inaccessible. Like Indigo Prophecy, the endpoint was obvious, but the game kept going if you screwed up. Also, there were "sub-endings" once certain conditions were met depending on how long you used certain items, what you did, etc. Kinda like Silent Hills 2 and 3.


Until Dawn was similiar in all of those aspects, however it does this odd thing of keeping its cards close to its vest and throwing them out on the table. Yes, like Heavy Rain characters could die, but the game gives you hints on what to do next and how to keep everyone alive. So, like the Walking Dead, characters remember what happened, but unlike the Walking Dead, I wasn't caught up in the world and the story too much. I ENJOYED IT, loved playing the game, but I was still playing it like a game I tried to win.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

WORLDBUILDING WEDNESDAY: Five Random Facrs, and Corporate Warfare

Album is coming THIS FRIDAY, so here's a little bit more BG stuff:

FIVE RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD OF STATUS QUO RADIO:
1. Lead Bastard's real name is Leonard Banks. His name was the only coincidence that the initials lined up.


2.  May Cinder is a sophmore at Teufort Technical University, and is studying robotics, with the intention of learning how to build and develop androids.

3. Beat Bastard's dad, Frank Pritchard Jr., is an accountant with R.E.D.

4. Lead Bastard and Bass Bastard played baseball for their school during the spring.

5. In their high school marching band, Rhythm Bastard played the trumpet, Lead Bastard played the flute, Bass Bastard played the trombone, and Beat Bastard played the tenor drums.

CORPORATE WARFARE:
It would seem to be the logical conclusion of corporate capitalism that everything would be under the purview of one large company, with the government acting as a protector, the reality is that two titans stood among the rubble, having grown large through an orchestrated series of mergers and acquisitions, to avoid direct conflict with the other as much as possbile. While the larger corporations go by many names to avoid looking like they have a monopoly, to those aware of the situation, they are known by R.E.D. and B.L.U.

At first it started out going into separate industries, one going into to train transport, the other going into delivery, mining different minerals, etc. Still with nothing left to gain than the other, the CEOs began to grow weary of the Cold War that had grown between them. Financial and business advisors both advised them that direct conflict would be unprofitable, and a merger between the two was out of the question, as the CEOs were very prideful of the empires they had acquired, and felt a merger would be a concession.

The cold war grew hot, when each company would hire their own private group of mercenaries to sieze key control points, such as mining areas, towns, etc. by force, but their efforts provided little net results for either side. Over time, the mercenaries became the defacto law enforcement of whatever region they happened to be in.

Cooperation was out of the question, and competition had been rendered useless, so the for the two CEOs to settle their rivalry was through complete and total segregation.

At first, with the regions divided due to whomever was providing services such as electric and cable, it was a simple task. Then it became to who's territory lived better. Once spending money on infrastructure was no longer seen as profitable, the homeless were executed in the middle of the night, the poor sent off into an exile, to live at farms in the middle of nowhere. Then the comparison only focused on the rich ("Well, we can't let the lazy bums decided our fate, now can we?"). Eventually the middle class began to move out of the cities and the wealthy led more and more decadent lives. Some are able to make do, but those who don't make 7 figures a year, they experience the stress firsthand, as those with money are in no rush to part with it.

The general attidue the average citizen has or rather, is supposed to have, is complete disgust and hatred for the rival company. Any sense that one may be "better" than the other, or the notion of going for whatever is convenient at the time is laughed at. Cooperation is severly punished.

Any break in the illusion is silenced ASAP, such as a band's biggest song...

Monday, October 5, 2015

Status Quo Radio DROPS THIS WEEK!!!

This week's jam:


Putting Status Quo Radio into Bandcamp/iTunes/THE WHOLE SHEBANG! Pre-orders will be up... soon.

Status Quo Radio comes out OCT 9TH!




So, this weekend...

FRIDAY: Mizucon!
There were equipment screw ups aplenty AND I missed Eyeshine/Johnny Young Bosh. Still got to meet up with some cool people, INCLUDING, someone who went to my Mizucon Show in 2013. He said I got better!

They gave out free Magic practice decks (nice!), a robust table top room (NICE!) and a dealers room that closed when I got there (not so nice). Really, the con itself seemed solid, but I was only able to go Friday night, so while I had fun, I didn't leave with the best impression.

Shout out to the Gamers With Gains YouTube channel, who will be doing a way better job of covering it than I will.

SATURDAY: Marc with a C/MC Lars/Peter Pepper/Random Encounter
Missed Marc but talked to him at the merch booth and was a super nice dude, MC Lars was great as always and a friend of his proposed during the set, Random Encounter put on a great show featuring older members, rivaling The Aquabats in former members.

Peter Pepper is like a more metal Foxy Shazam which was a more metal Queen. There was a mosh pit every song, which in the shallow venue of the BackBooth was a welcome respite from nerds standing shoulder to shoulder.

Yeah, it was worth 2.5 hours in a car both ways

SUNDAY: Battle For Zendikar GPT Atlanta
Went 1-2 drop and then went to the gym and watched some Competitive Smash Bros.
Battle for Zendikar is still a foreign language to me. 
Today wasn't terribly exciting, but I'm glad I don't have too much to do the coming weekend.

Also,
Status Quo Radio comes out OCT 9TH!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Status Quo Sunday and the Return Of The King

This week's jam:


OK, so I moved recently.

Not to a new city or state, mind you, I'm actually closer to work. But we did downsize if just for a little bit. I'm still setting things up down here, but between work, and unpacking, the music's been rough going.

Now, I don't want this to be entirely a post where it's like, YEAH KICKSTARTER'S STILL GOING...
 etc. But, here's some lessons I've learned over the past couple weeks:

1. Promoting shit is INCREDIBLY difficult on a phone.
Mobile browsers are very limiting, and you can't trust shit typing in an email on said mobile phone. I had to spam this goddamn thing everywhere, and I received messages on KS for people who would gladly help me with that.

I went to an UltraCon single day event, and collected some business cards for some interesting opportunities, but I couldn't do anything for the past couple weeks, and ON TOP of that, the Rock Band Road Crew had its deadline set for September 17th, while I was still out. So, without a desk and internet, I had to cobble something together that I eventually got rejected for.

Really, it felt like my life was on pause, waiting for all the bullshit to clear so I can get back to work. That's no excuse, and I'm learning to deal with that, but holy shit it's stressful. Oh, it's possible to get by, but impossible these days if you have anything that needs to be shared with the world.

2. Sometimes you feel like the only capable one...
Still living with my family, and the "We're fucked in a zombie apocalypse" short version is this: My Dad's suffering from back problems, my Mom can't lift heavy things and doesn't want to lighten the load, and my brother is more concerned with making sure his PS3 games are alphabetized than keeping everyone on task or learning what a Phillips-head screwdriver is. I feel like I'm the only one going anywhere in life and these people are holding me back.

It's one of those times when "Going Galt" (referring to the book Altas Shrugged, when all the rich people leave) seems tempting, with the weight of the world bearing down on your shoulders to just shrug it off.

Just imagine them struggling putting together a desk or moving a box that's "too heavy" and they'll have to learn to DEAL WITH IT. They might learn something! Holy shit!

http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405868167l/662.jpg

Randian Objectivism is bullshit. It seems that you're needed for everything all the time everywhere, but you are still but a human being, dealing with other human beings and there is a lot other people have to put up with. I was at work most of the time everyone else was packing, so I couldn't see what they were going through.

So at this point, communication becomes key.

Let others know when and if so, how, you're feeling overwhelmed, ask others for help, to lighten your load and make your limits perfectly clear.

Though me and my brother carrying heavy shit up a narrow flight of stairs and you say "Don't scratch the walls?"

Fuck that noise.

3. Learn to let it go
Want to know how to piss off a serial hoarder? Play this while you're moving...


I'm still unpacking everything and learning how to put it away. It's incredible how much STUFF you can acquire over the course of a couple years. I've gotten into Magic the last time we moved, I've started selling T-shirts, etc. But I've tried to keep it manageable. I'm making a run to donate what I don't need, thinning out my bookshelf and looking for stuff to throw out. I'm trying to decide what stuff I need

Meanwhile, my Mom was trying to move every damn item we acquired to a smaller place, to the point where we had to get a storage unit. If you have to get a storage unit, it's time to get rid of it, I say.

I voulenteered to pay for anything we've missed provided we get the bullshit over with sooner, she said no.

I still remember when we originally moved from New York, she was almost in tears because we might leave behind a jug of laundry detergent. Granted, any armchair psychologist can tell you it wasn't about the detergent, it was that we could leave behind something. And we couldn't throw anything out, because "We Might Use It In The Future".

This sounds like petty complaining, but I'm trying to parse this into a clever little saying you can keep in your pocket, so I'll leave you this:

Ask yourself these three questions, always:
Why do I hold on to what I have? 
How can you better use what you have?
Who can use what you don't need?

Dear Hallmark, please give me all the money dollars for this greeting card bullshit.
Sincerly,
R. Bastard, esq.


MIZUCON ON FRIDAY!!


Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 138

THIS WEEK IT'S THE ERIC, ERICH AND ERICA SHOW


But Hurricane Erica was a Tropical Storm then fizzled out.


-HOW DARE YOU! How dare you not cater to my tastes exactly?

HOW DARE YOU acknowledge other people in the world?

HOW DARE YOU HAMDIX for not making the soundtrack be exclusively Avenged Sevenfold and Dragonforce? What's with all this obscure hipster bullshit like "The Who" and "Elvis Presley"?

HOW DARE YOU call me a faggot online! I'm not gay, I fucked your mom! You're the faggot!


HOW DARE YOU say "Black Lives Matter"! I'm not black, arer you saying my life doesn't matter even though white people are treated with way more respect in diginity in similar situations?

HOW DARE YOU cut in front of me in line you old hag? You're like 90, you can fucking wait like 20 minutes for me to argue with the cashier over a coupon.




-Mystakin's back, so cast your Five Cost Starving Buzzard and get ready to speedrun through this podcast with your backup strats.

-Rock Band "themes"-
"Really Hard Southern Rock Song"
RB1- "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlawas
RB2- "Bohdisvatta" by Steely Dan
RB3- "Free Bird" by Lynard Skynard

"Song By The Who"
RB1- "Won't Get Fooled Again"
RB2- "Pinball Wizard"
RB3- "I Can See For Miles"
RB4- "The Seeker"

"Mega Dumb 80's Hair Metal Song That Gets Picked All The Time"
RB1- "Wanted Dead Or Alive" by Bon Jovi
RB2- "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor
RB3- "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
RB4- "Panama" by Van Halen

"Throw The Last Song We Head On The Radio On To This"
RB1- "Dani California" by THe Red Hot Chili Peppers
RB2- "That's What You Get" by Paramore
RB3- "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse
RB4- "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars

"Throw That Indie Song From That Car Commercial On To This"
RB1- "Reptilia" by The Strokes
RB2- "Float On" by Modest Mouse
RB3- "Lasso" by Phoenix
RB4- "Arabella" by The Arctic Monkeys


Song by Avenged Sevenfold
RB1- "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
RB2- "Almost Easy"
RB3- "The Beast and The Harlot"
RB4- "Hail To The King"

Song by The Foo Fighters-
RB1- "Learn To Fly"
RB2- "Everlong"
RB4- "Feast And The Famine"

Dumb 90's Song-
RB1- "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys
RB2- "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit
RB3- "Walking On The Sun" by Smash Mouth
RB4- "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes

-Shovel Knight Amiibo!


AS OF RIGHT NOW, it seems like a neat little unlocking thing, but is seems to set up a bad precendent, especially with the Amiibo scarcity. But I can see them doing somethng where you can buy the related DLC for the same price since it unlocks stuff among different games/systems.


-Super Mario Maker/Kaizo Mario is what happens when a Game Designer actively hates you and wants to hide in the bushes while you play and giggle at your failure. Most game deves passively hate you where it's like "Eh, we could fix this, but nah"
Kaizo Mario is a 72 oz, Steak Challenge of a game, only two minutes in you realize you suck at eating.
Kaizo Mario is the "let's make smaller paddles!" bit from That 70's Show.


-The Consuming Shadow, while not game of the year material is still a refreshing game, in that it goes hard on one thing (puzzle solving/logic puzzle) while being part of another (survival horror).

You can download it here.
 

What TCS reminded me the most of was this logic puzzle:


Albert Einstein once posed a brain teaser that he predicted only 2% of the worlds population would be able to solve.
FACTS:
1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colours.
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigarette and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, brand of cigaratte, or drink.
CLUES:
1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps a dog
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Camel drinks beer
13. The German smokes Marlborough.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.
The question is, who keeps the fish?
See if you can answer it in the comments!