A Sampler Of Status's To Quo

This week's jam is CRAZY FRESH, yo:


Summer Games Done Quick is going on, and I wanted to play a song that's both summery, and has to do with running. Currently, there's a race for Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. It's weird, finding more than one person who gave a shit about that game. It's weird to see that Naughty Dog went from that, to Jak and Daxter to Uncharted, the DEFINITION of polish.

The song doesn't feature Cee-Lo Green's vocals very well, but he's able to convey the right urgency for the song, while still sounding good. For something similar, look to the bridge of "Fuck You" when he screams "WHYYY LAAADY?"

Danger Mouse drops the beats like it's 1979 up in here, and while the hook isn't as memorable as "Crazy", it's punchy to go with Cee-Lo's golden selling of every line.

ENOUGH MUSIC TALK, TIME FOR SOME ANIME BULLSHIT!

CHIBI-PA SAMPLER TIME MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

HOW DOPE WAS CHIBI-PA?
It was pretty good! For a small con, it felt big, and it was crowded. Dead after the costume contest, but before then it was poppin'. Saw 80% of my So-Flo con bros, and if my Dad didn't fuck it up too bad, I've got some video footage!

For $5, you got pretty much you'd get some panels, a game room, a cosplay contest and a dance, all of which convientiently located next to a bar with a hotel. Oops, did I say that wrong?




This was a "sampler" for the main Chibi-Pa Show in November. No details have been announced on THAT yet, but I know last year they had a pretty good lineup for a smaller show.

The only thing missing was a tabletop room, but from what I heard, it was a last minute cut on the venue. If this is a clue to what Chibi-Pa will be like in November, I'm down!

I also remember it's been a while since I updated the Flickr account, so I'll probably post stuff from that when I get some free time, or am not sleepy.

All I can say is, NOW I AM SO PUMPED FOR ORLANDO NERD FEST!!!

Also, Hulk Hogan said some REALLY racist shit recently, and WWE has been going to great lengths to scrub him from the records. We're talking "WE WERE ALWAYS AT WAR WITH EURASIA!!!" type shit with possibly the biggest sports star of the 80's.

When I first heard this news, It was in the context of a radio interview he did where he was telling a story about hanging around Booker T, Timaland, and the producers for his daughter Brooke's album, all saying "My Ni--a", and he started copying them, and my first thought was, "It's bad, but not that bad. It could get him in some trouble, but the WWE has done much worse"

Then the actual words came out.

Yeah, saying "I am a racist" then dropping the N-Bomb is indefensible. Given that he's worked with so many black wrestlers and had black fans over the years and says that is mind-boggling.

This was said in a private conversation, that Hogan may or may not have been aware that was recorded, so he was probably more candid and looser than in "everyday life", but this was still a major screwup.

You know what fixes screwups? Admitting to it.
You know what REALLY fixes screwups? Learning from the messing up.

To end this on a slightly better note, new song this Sunday!
For those of you lucky enough to come to my Chibi-Pa Show, you'll see what it is.
All I'm saying is, I predate all of NateWantsToBattle's songs by about 40 years.

Echo Chamber Recap 134

NONARY GAME IS E-SPORTS!

-For those of you further behind, the "Nonary Game" refers to an experiment from the Zero Escape game series where 9 people are captured and and forced to play a game where they all try to escape a harrowing situation.

While I've only played 999, the first game in the Zero Escape series, the game is still worth a play, as it's filled with clever escape the room puzzles, novel character development and enough junk science to shake a stick at. In a way, it's very similar to the game version of "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream".

-MORPHOGENIC FIELDS!!!

-Resident Evil Outbreak did exist, and I remember renting the game, but not progressing very far, since the load times killed the thing. I'd like to see that take on the game again. Left 4 Dead is a comparable game, but L4D is more focused on combat, the early Resident Evil Series were focused on Puzzle solving. Something like that (and my 999 game) is WAY too hard to coordinate online, and AI opponents for something that would be way to complicated.

Good news, though. You can play on Private Servers now!


-I was going to go line by line and show all the escape rooms by where each of us live, but there's a goddamn directory of these things.

-Potluck Simulator 2015 is yet another candidate for the Echo Chamber Game Jam. IMJUSTSAYING.

-There's an article here about the success of the room escape game as a business. While it does address the concerns of a business, (repeat customers, each game can only be played once) but doesn't address how those problems are solved. The puzzles themselves are a great adrenaline rush, and the 999 series add the intrigue and characters to get attached to. But the Room Escape Businesses has all the former, but none of the latter, so there's little reason to go back.

-Jeff, Game Show Addict would be curious to check out the YouTube Channel Buzzr:


Jeff isn't big on "YOUTUBERZ!!", but it's worth a watch and is the closest thing us non-cable havers will have to some classic game shows.

-Also, the JackBox Party Pack is on Steam.

-Press Your Luck Scandal:


-Apperently the "Sonic Shitting In Tails' Mouth" thing is closer to science than we'd expect.


The "hedgehogs rub shit all over themselves" fact was mentioned no less than 100 time in the TBFP Sonic Adventure LP.

-RHYTHM BASTARD GON' GIVE IT TO YA!



-Game Dev Tycoon and Paolo has the right idea. Though I believe it needs an "Asset Flipping" option, and a Jim Sterling Expy.
I think I'm going to kick him a couple bucks for the Patreon, since his LPs keep me going at a long day of work.

-If there was a word to describe "Her Story", I'd say "Deliberate". It's the same word I'd use to describe Silent Hill 2 as well. There is no extra "stuff" for the sake of there being extra stuff, everything in the game is place exactly how the "author" intended it to be. There are queries you type down in Her Story where there's 6 videos, but you can only see the first 5. That 6th video is the one you need to see, and it's written in such a way that eventually you'll loop back there.

The logistics are mind boggling: Every word of dialogue had to be planned out in advance, with the right words being said in the right video, with every bit of dialogue matched to an exact point in the story, and every response broken up in a way that serves both the gameplay, but still feels natural. Damn.

I heard Gone Home is also in the same vein, a short, but well-crafted experience, but Her Story has a biiiit more replay value in finding all the videos.

Status Quo Sunday THE FIGHTENING

MAHVEL BABY!


So I got Twitch on my PC, the WWE Network App on my Xbox, and I have to be at work 5:30 AM tomorrow. Yeah, sounds like an average week.

Battleground was OK, John Cena vs. Kevin Owens was a pretty good fight, as well as the ending with Rollins vs. Lesnar. The NXT DIVALUTION TAKEOVER match was also nothing to sneeze at, with Charlotte winning, as a fateful reminder of A. The current Women's Division Status Quo (TM) on the main roster and B. The fact that I haven't been keeping up with NXT stuff.

EVO Was beyond nuts, where America got its ass kicked 3 ways till Monday. Stayed fior the MvC3 finals, where Hulk smashed, and Hulk smashed A LOT.

This is going up on Monday, can't you tell?

Right, on with the show!

OR SHOULD I SAY SHOWS???
Updated the sidebar with both of my upcoming shows. I'm going to be debuting a new song at Chibi Pa Sampler, and ANOTHER new one at Orlando Nerd Fest.

Hopefully I can get videos of those performances, and make them as awesome as possible!

KICKSTARTER UPDATES:
I'm shooting for August 1st. The art for the rewards is almost done, and this week I'm sending out the newsletter so that you all can see the cool stuff I've got going on, so y'all can get thirsty.

MUSIC NEWS:
This Friday will see the official release of an early demo, next week is the version of my Chibi Pa song, and the next one is the song the one I'm debuting at Orlando Nerd Fest.

Ambien's kicking in,see you next time!

Echo Chamber Recap Episode 133

BASTARD/WEBSTER 2016!

-Or, more accurately 2024. Since we'll both be over 35 by then.

Our platforms include:
-The official religion of the country is Bad Religion
-Our secretary of state will be Jello Biafra
-The entire band Train will be put to death by being thrown at Rush Limbaugh, rigged with explosives
-We're entitled to free MTG drafts whenever we please.

-Flappy Bird and Fruit Ninja are legit arcade machines. Just thought you'd like to know that.

Not entirely unheard of, but these machines would be better suited along with airports or restaurants or other places, since arcades are becoming less and less of a thing. Like, "I COULD play this on my phone, but I CAN ALSO WIN TICKETS TO GET AN IPOD SHUFFLE FUCK YEAH!"

-And now to disappoint you all, Markiplier plays the saddest Flappy Bird clone, Flappy Fedora:


-Madden: The Gathering, huh? Me and Anime Cow came up with an anime version of MtG, so let's see what we can dredge up:
Gideon would the star quarterback, obviously, since he's always the center of attention and creatures are always trying to attack him.
Ajani used to be a superstar quarterback back in the day and is now the kindly coach that gives the little guy
Jace would be John Madden. I can see Jace stating the obvious like "now the player is carrying the ball", "if they score more points then the other team, they can win" and everyone eats it up and sees it as gripping commentary.
Garruk- linebacker. FUCKING LOOK AT THAT GUY
Tibalt is the guy who made a good play back in High School and has been bragging about it ever since. Think Al Bundy from Married with Children except he didn't score 4 touchdowns, he just got in the way of the defender who was chasing the guy who scored the game winning touchdown.

"Hey Rhythm Bastard, why didn't you do any of the female Magic characters?

WOMEN? IN SPORTS?

BUT.... MY BIOTRUTHS!!!

-For those curious, I picked white, and went 1-2 and then dropped, because it was 4 in the morning.

-Danger 5 will only have 2 seasons, unfortunately. In the end, though, can you really blame them? I can respect that, not doing anymore when you're out of ideas, or can't find a new place to take the series.
Though David Ashby, the series creator and actor behind Jackson, looks a lot like my friend David.

David Ashby

David K. Ginn

-STARSLIP CRISIS by Kris Straub of Chainsawsuit fame.
 
-Creed's Trailer, looking pretty good.

But yeah, keep bitching about your Christian Rock Band.
AND THEY SAY THAT A HEROO CAN SAVE US....
That was them, right?

-Dave Grohl should be an inspiration for us all. He has persevered through this broken leg, he has persevered through the death of Kurt Cobain, he has told us to make music for ourselves and that it's OK to like Ke$ha.
Dave Grohl, you won the 90's. Thank you.

I'M GONNA DO IT! I WILL GO OUT AND MAKE MUSIC TO THE EXTREME, THANK YOU FATHER!!!

Status Quo Sunday Remembers Iwata, Then Gives It To Ya

First the bad news: President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata just died.  The man was nothing short of awesome. He was an amazing programmer, and his accomplishments include helping debug Super Smash Bros Melee to make its release date, rebuilding Earthbound from scratch in record time, porting the Pokemon battle system from the Game Boy Games to the Nintendo 64 for Pokemon Stadium, AND compressing Pokemon Gold and Silver to fit the Kanto region in there.

On top of all of that, when the Wii U wasn't meeting sales expectations, he cut his salary in half so that his employees wouldn't feel the burden. Can you imagine an AMERICAN CEO doing that, let alone one in the gaming industry?

RIP Iwata.

This week's jam:


Sigh...

I saw the leaked Deadpool trailer. I didn't want to see it, go in fresh, and let the movie impress me... but I really liked what I saw.

I read the leaked script, so I was expecting a couple of the story beats, save for the ONE NEW CHARACTER, but it looks like there will be enough to surprise me. Also, I didn't hear the word Chimichanga ONCE, so while they're leaning hard on being an over-the-top R-Rated action/comedy, there will be no Waypool.

For those of you further behind, Waypool refers to writer Daniel Way, who wrote the character for most of the late 2000's. Now imagine someone wrote Deadpool based on cosplayers and 4chan "Best Of" Posts from 4chan's /b/ board. Not /co/ where you might get some discussion, but /b/.

Also, it was announced that Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness, the team behind the first year of Deadpool's first ongoing series, will come back to write a Deadpool/Spiderman series.

Now, for the bad news: President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata just died.  The man was nothing short of awesome. He was an amazing programmer, and his accomplishments include helping debug Super Smash Bros Melee to make its release date, rebuilding Earthbound from scratch in record time, porting the Pokemon battle system from the Game Boy Games to the Nintendo 64 for Pokemon Stadium, AND compressing Pokemon Gold and Silver to fit the Kanto region in there.
On top of all of that, when the Wii U wasn't meeting sales expectations, he cut his salary in half so that his employees wouldn't feel the burden.

RIP Iwata.

OK, Rhythm Bastard News!

MUSIC/MAGIC NEWS:
Played at my prerelase! Went 1-2 and dropped.

My "Try To Write Something, Anything During Lunch Break" is working out pretty good. Should have new stuff soon. I wanted to finish my Origins Rap, but I might just put up my section for Jace as a little preview. The verse is ready to go, but I still need to find 3 female MCs (not a lot of people there), who play Magic (a very limiting Venn Diagram)

KICKSTARTER NEWS:
Art times fun times! The poster design is being worked on and looking spectacular, and my T-shirt design is in the beginning stages. Once those are finished and I nail down the budget, we'll go live!

Basically the main theme of this week is that I'm finally committing things to paper, and at least it's better than me talking in generalities.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
It's almost midnight, and I want to do this by Sunday, BUT next week I'll hopefully have more details regarding my shows. Sometime throughout the week, I'll update the sidebar and send out a newsletter.

FOR THOSE OF YOU FURTHER BEHIND:
Chibi Pa Sampler- 
July 26th
 Doubletree by Hilton
Deerfield Beach, FL

Orlando Nerd Fest- 
August 10th
The Geek Easy
Orlando, FL


 YO, SHUT THE FUCK UP I FOUND A BETTER TRAILER THIS WEEKEND:

Echo Chamber Recap Episode 132

OH CRAP WE NEED TO LINK THE DOWNLOAD

-Courage The Cowardly Dog feels like creepypasta before creepypasta was a thing but creepypasta was still a thing.





one day i found a slab buyt then it got all foggy and a scary voice said RETRN THE SLAB but then i said 'what's your offer' and the voice said RETURN THE SLAB OR SUFFER MY CURSE and i said 'NO I WILL DEFY YOU' and then he threw bugs at my house and i said NO1 and i punched him in the face and
everyone was clapping for me.

except my brother who WAS DEAD ALL ALONG!!!1


-"Karaoke Bar In Hell" is the name of my shitcore cover band.

It's also the name of my "Cheers"-esque sitcom about demons who run a karaoke bar in hell. Thankfully, we only have to license three songs: "Livin' On A Prayer", "Let It Go" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You". There's silence anytime the demons are talking, but whenever you see things from the perspective of the damned....

"WHOA, WE'RE HALFWAAAAAY THEEERE, TURN AWAY AND SLAM THE DOOR for yoooooou...."

Then during sweep week: SATAN shows up! They've got to make the place good and torturous before the big guy (played by WWE Superstar Ryback) but guess who just died? MAROON 5's ADAM LEVINE, and he's ready to bust out some hot new grooves!

-Robot Hell, in both classic and SFM:


-10th Circle of Hell, according to the Onion, will be sponsored by Blockbuster... So, they REALLY wanted to make sure nothing else could be added then...

-Peas in Guacamole is such a non issue, I'm not going to talk about it.

-The article "Rickrolling is sexist, racist and often transphobic in context" has to be one of the greatest pop culture thinkpiece within the past decade, and it truly is worth a read.

It's important to notice these things, and while we can't blame ourselves for our ignorance- IT'S A FUCKING RICKROLL AND WE WAITED FIVE MINUTES FOR THAT SHIT


-XKCD Rickrolling comic:




-Minion memes:




Because if I'm wasting the bandwidth, it's going to be with this shit.
FUCK YOU OWEN!!!


-Phantom Pregnancy is a very complicated phenomenon, where what would once be a strange occurance that would eventually fade away, is now reinforced by the Echo Chamber known as the internet.



-Married by a hipster shark. This is normally where I'd link the episode, and do a recap, but that episode isn't up yet, OWEN.

FUCK YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!

-Janelle Monae is one of those artists that you look at them, and think, "Yeah, that's exactly what I want to do!" Her music videos are very creative, most being straight up science fiction elements, not unlike the late Michael Jackson.

All of this in encapsulated in her albums, known as "The Metropolis Saga", explained here.

While the story of the albums are very loose, usually handwaved away by time traveling shenanigans, but thematically, revolution, resistance and being an "other" (android) are at the core of the EP and 2 albums that make up the saga.

-Also, FUCK YOU OWEN!!!

Status Quo Sunday Fights HItler

This week's jam:

That was a selection from one of my favoritest bands, Crowd The Airwaves, an all girl alt-rock group fronted by my friend Heather. Who's all the way back in NY.

Why am I bringing this up NOW you ask? Yesterday, they played a show with S.S. Hanami, a band, for those of you further behind, I play a lot with at conventions in Florida. S.S. Hanami was looking for a band to play with in the Northeast for their tour, and I got two sets of friends together.

It was great seeing both bands be really impressed with each other.

Anyway, ON TO THE UPDATES!!!
ALBUM/KICKSTARTER:
I'm ready to launch it as soon as the reward designs are ready. Anything not 100% complete, it's OK, because we have a full 30 days to work on it. Getting all the design stuff together.

MUSIC UPDATE:
This week I'm think I'm going to try something new:
At lunch, sketch out one song/lyric concept a day. If they're any good, or I really get attached to them, then they'll become full fledged songs.

Still a couple other songs in the tank, but I've been preoccupied with 10-hour days and errands and shit this weekend.

 Also, I uploaded my MTG songs to YouTube:


This week I recently watched two things that both involve killing Adolf Hitler:
Danger 5, an Austrailian show that parodies the spy movies of the 60's (and then the action movies of the 80's):

and Kung Fury, a movie that was Kickstarted that parodies 80's action movies:


While Kung Fury had a few laughs and some really great effects, Danger 5 gets the edge. Both attempt to recreate the look and feel of their respective time periods, but Danger 5 plays it THAT MUCH straighter.

Granted, Kung Fury, over the top as it is, kind of lets everything speak for itself. The effects are over the top and look incredible well done, leading to a couple good sight gags in the beginning and a ridiculous fight scene toward the end. Part of me was expecting the protagonist to state some of the weird shit he's gotten into, but it managed to avoid that. But there's plenty of bull shit that feels unnecessary, like the fact that he's fighting Hitler, who knows Kung Fu (for some reason). Cause Hitler's funny I guess?

The most accurate thing in the movie was David Hasselhoff's single "True Survivor", which screams "One Hit Wonder". There's nothing that particularly stands out about it, but everything, from the synth arpeggios, and "lyrics about love even though (thankfully) there's no romance subplot in the movie" lyrics makes it blend so well.

Danger 5 scares me with how well they did recreating the look of a 60's spy film. Like, look at the trailer. I also like the small running jokes the series has going through it, like character reciting perfect drink recipies on their death bed, and pretty much everything going on with Claire.

Still, everything is kept to one consistent plane of existance. Weird shit happens in Danger 5, but it feels like it's part of this bizarro alternate reality World War 2. In Kung Fury, the weird shit happens because it's cool, and it'll get the "LOL!" and "EPIC!" comments in the section. And that's a bit of a turn off.

Both are quick, entertaining watches, and worth your time for this week.

See you next time, and remember your mission.... KILL HITLER!


Courtesy of Joe Hunter

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 131

Y'ALL COME DOWNLOAD, Y' HEAR?

-Like most of our episodes, we usually come up with awesome ideas, and one I had was to change all designs of the Confederate Flag to this:


I think it's pretty fair. The South lost the war, and if you're still wearing this thing out of pride, then you're a loser. Like, you do know the Confederacy was all like "WE'RE TAKING OUR BALL AND GOING HOME! IT'S ABOUT ETHICS-" and then the Union was all like "Damn it, eat your broccolli you fuckers"

"Cool, we got all these slaves-"

"Nah, fuck that noise, slavery's illegal, you gotta pay 'em like regular people"

"But States Right's-"

"AMENDMENT! NOW IT'S DOUBLE ILLEGAL" Then Abraham Lincoln gave Robert E. Lee an Attitude Adjustment. John Wilkes Booth, like the fucking smark he is, shot the President in the head.


Now I'm tempted to edit in "Loser Flag" on all the episodes of the Dukes of Hazzard. A lot of work for a token gesture, since we're not getting rid of systemic racism, we're getting rid of one it's symbols. But token gestures make the millz billz.

As much as we like to talk shit about the South and turn it into a punchline, read this first.

Would you like to see more "History With Rhythm Bastard"? Let us know in the comics below!


-RHYTHM BASTARD'S NUZHAWK CHALLENGE:
This is only for any Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game with a "Classic" Mode, where you're required to complete objectives to move on to the next level.

THREE RULES:
1. You must complete enough objectives in ONE TWO-MINUTE RUN to move on to the next level.
2. In any Competition, whenever you finish your first combo or bail, THE HEAT ENDS.
3. NO LEVELING UP ALLOWED


That's it. I was able to finish all of THPS2 and 2X's career modes, but THPS1 uses tapes, and more tapes are required per level to move on, so while I might have enough saved up from previous levels to advance quickly, I can't go back and do the earlier ones.

Plus San Francisco in THPS1 is total bullshit.

-Here's a comic that explains Nuzlocke.

-And here's the Two Best Friends Nuzlocke Run:

-Another ridiculous challenge I heard was one of my friends did a 120 Star Run of Super Mario 64, but every time you died, you had to do 10 push ups. There were other rules of course, but I forget them a year later, but that stands out.

-There are some "Hard Mode" drafts for Magic The Gathering that Jeff was talking about, namely dedicated sets like Unhinged, filled with ridiucouls comedy gimmick cards, and Conspiracy, a set meant to be drafted in an 8 man pod, but played in 2 4-man games. I'd love to draft either one, but Conspiracy is old news at this point, and Unhinged is difficult to find.

Both experiment a lot with the game, with Unhinged making you aware of what the other player is doing (like a card that you lose life if you tap your nails, etc.), and Conspiracy plays around with the fact that A. Other people are playing, and B. The draft format itself.

-MahJong Manga is called MUDAZUMO NAKI KAIKAKU. You can read it here. The Manga Fox Page sums it up as such:

Junichiro Koizumi. Prime Minister of Japan, or God of Mahjong incarnate? Watch him clash with other world titans such as George W. Bush, Kim Jong Il, and Vladimir Putin in the one force that matters in the political world: mahjong. 
 
Like, a very small part of me finds dumb bullshit played 100% straight and serious as this. While I'm sure the comic itself is a play on world politics played from the point of view as a Japanese man, I'm not so sure it works as a series. Maybe a CollegeHumor thing.​