This is going to be cool, because on top of being a concert with two awesome DJs, it's also a Hearthstone Tournament!
7:00 pm - Tournament Sign-Up 8:00 pm - Tournament Starts 9:00 pm - Third Impact Productions (30 min set)* 10:00 pm - Rhythm Bastard (30 min set)* 11:00 pm - DJ TONX (30 min set)* 12:00 am - Spider-Man tickets given away* 1:00 am - Tournament Ends* (*) - Subject to change.
I just learned that this is also the same weekend as the Hour Of Devastation Pre-Release, but I should have something for that ready by then...
JAM OF THE WEEK- "Fighting With The Melody" by Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence
Here's what I knew going into this: Jimmy Urine was in Mindless Self Indulgence The only song I know by them is "Straight To Video" Jimmy Urine was in "Lollipop Chainsaw" It was part of Momocon Favorite Game "The Metronomicon" What I Didn't Know: This song was such a banger. Demented, driven and delighting in the devilish, "Fighting With The Melody" is more or less the "lead track" off The Metronomicon. Given my previous experience with Mindless Self Indulgence, it sounds similar.
The rest of the album, "The Secret Cinematic Sounds Of Jimmy Urine" reminded me a lot of John Carpenter's "Lost Themes", but Jimmy Urine's tracks are more energetic, and have more going on. Like, they'd be playing in the nightclubs that are left within a John Carpenter Dystopia.
Both are excellent if if you're into synthy, instrumental music. METRONOMICON
Oh yeah, worth the $12 I spent on it, AND I got the deluxe edition with some select choices from the Soundtrack. A controller of some kind is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY especially on harder difficulties. I'm sure you can finagel something "cleaner" than their default, but that default position is REALLY rough.
MORE MERCH ON THE WAY!
Yup! Getting buttons in, and going to run a special promotion where you get a free button with every T-shirt order.
Hopefully, I'll also have another special item for sale, but I don't want to confirm anything yet.
MINI IWAI RECAP
I played Punk Rock and was in a Boy Band, and had a fun time!
I also had a merch booth!
While my concert went well, the 3000 Brigade show was 1000% OVER. We've worked so hard the past couple months to put it together, and not only did it go well, but the crowd was SUPER into the boy band.
JAM OF THE WEEK: "Girl, You Need A Shot Of B-12" by B-12
This exists in some weird intersection of like 5 different things: 90's Boy Bands, 00's Let's Try Boy Bands Again Revival, K-Pop, etc. I liked the nods to some of the Backstreet Boys's videos like "Backstreets Back" (the horror movie elements), and "Larger Than Life" (all that future shit)
The American Dad episode this is from didn't impress me much, but goddamn is that song catchy. My favorite low key gags are Toshi with blonde Bieber hair and without his glasses, and the music video changing background every measure.
FIRST FRIDAY
This is going to be cool, because on top of being a concert with two awesome DJs, it's also a Hearthstone Tournament!
7:00 pm - Tournament Sign-Up 8:00 pm - Tournament Starts 9:00 pm - Third Impact Productions (30 min set)* 10:00 pm - Rhythm Bastard (30 min set)* 11:00 pm - DJ TONX (30 min set)* 12:00 am - Spider-Man tickets given away* 1:00 am - Tournament Ends* (*) - Subject to change.
ORLANDO NERD FEST ON PATREON
Florida's greatest nerd music institution, Orlando Nerd Fest, is on Patreon and is looking to start up a yearly festival for 2018. There's also a SECRET MYSTERY EVENT in November, so hopefully this leads to a revival!
ANIME FESTIVAL ORLANDO!
Was fun! The AFO Rumble went well, I got to cosplay, and I got to see Roborob again! There will be a cosplay video, since I got a lot of good stuff out of that.
New discovery I made? I think Team Skull grunts might be my favorite "overdone" cosplay.
There's a lot at every con I see, but I don't have that same knee jerk reaction as I do with other common ones. I think it's because 1. Skull Grunts are goofy, but quite the center of attention like Deadpool or something. 2. They're meant to go together with other grunts. If you want to see something of beauty, watch two separate groups of grunts lock eyes, then break out into a "TEAM SKULL!" and dance.
JAM OF THE WEEK: "Welcome Home" by Coheed And Cambria
I'm linking a lyric video because the music video for this is boring and 2004-era metal band as shit. Also it cuts the song by 2 minutes.
Rock Band 1 was the first I ever heard anything from Coheed, they were that long prog song that sounded nothing like Rush, and more like Led Zepplin.
However, what I didn't expect was the lyrics to... enchant me the way they did. Again, I went in to "Welcome Home" cold the first time I heard it, and knew nothing about the band and the greater mythos. But there'd be a line that would catch my attention and make me wonder if it's more than just a regular "Well, then fuck you too" song.
Plus, the song is an epic journey undertaken by a sad, desperate man looking to make it out of the storm, but a-
You know what, I should just stop here.
UPCOMING SHOWS! #MtGZzz
While all the big Magic stuff is going down in GP Vegas, some of the community members are doing a thing called MtGZZZ, which is basically a bunch of us saying "Hey, we're not at GP Vegas, let's do a bunch of Magic The Gathering stuff anyway." There's going to be DnD games, people streaming XMage and MTGO, and Discord stuff. Follow the Hashtag for more info!
Mini Iwai
I will be responsible for TWO events! My concert at 3 PM, and I will be part of the 3000 Brigade Event at 6 PM. I should have a table there, but in case that falls through, I'm going to be palling around with the boys and girls from 3K before the event.
Also my favorite tradition of getting drunk and watch AMV Hells in the game room after all my obligations are fulfilled.
C and I Sutdio Summer Series
More info to come, but this is an event series of various video game music acts, and it's going to be a fun time!
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!
This marks the first anniversary since the Pulse nightclub shooting here in Orlando, and the lessons we've learned have been ignored by this administration.
Now more than ever, it's important to remind all our LGBT friends that your lives matter.
500 LIKES ON FACEBOOK!
I was going to set up a victory stream tonight, but it'll have to wait until Wednesday.
It was a long way to get here, and it was hard, but I'm thankful for each and everyone of you :D
MOMOCON COSPLAY VIDEO!
First time I've done one of these in over a year. I've been sitting on a couple ideas for a while, but Momocon was big enough that I wanted to go back to this series, and highlight some cosplays I thought were neat. Plus, it shows that I'm not just there to work, I get just as excited to get my geek on as you all are.
JAM OF THE WEEK: "Hard Times" by Paramore
A long way away from "Misery Business", eh?
Hard Times grew on me the more I listened to it, and can appreciate it as its own thing. Paramore have been moving toward Blondie-esque pop-rock since their self titled album. Even the music video has that dreamy neon color scheme that was so big in the 80's (allegedly). It's not sticking with me as hard as some of their other work, but it still brings a smile to my face and a groove in my heart whenever it comes on.
3000 BRIDGADE!
I am happy to announce that I'm working with the 3000 Brigade!
In their words:
"We
are the 3000 Brigade! We are here to keep the peace in the Nintendo
Universe... and put on kick-ass shows! We are a troupe of performers
committed to creating enjoyable Nintendo/Video Game-parody shows, rated "M" for mature!" I saw them at Mizucon this past year, liked what I saw, and wanted to get involved! I've have been working with them for a couple months now, and I'm really excited to show you what we've been working on!
This year our shows are going to be at the Anime Iwai events, with a preview show at Mini Iwai this Father's Day.
The show actually happened! I played it, and people liked it! It's my first out of state con that I performed at, and I hope to do much more into the future, especially since I now need to know what do for future shows, and how to expand my setup and performance for the next one.
Momocon was awesome, and reminded me a lot of PAX East, but with WAAAAY more elbow room.
Most of my time there was spent on Magic stuff: I joined the Magic League to earn free cards, and got to catch a couple of the MtG Events. As it turns out, the people from Magic The Gathering really like my music and love the podcast I'm a part of Voice Of All!
This was a picture I took with members of the Magic Story staff, Kelly Digges, Alison Lurhs and Michael Yichao after the Magic Story Panel:
In the front is a cool guy named Wil, who made them sign Test Of Metal, which is where a millenia old plansewalking dragon notroious for his ruthless scheming says something tastes like "goat balls" and calls planeswalker Tezzeret, a very talented engineer, "Tezzy". Yeah, it might rival "Mills College Anime Club" for most embarassing thing I've read.
You can also watch this video where I revivemy Dovin Baan voice:
MAGFEST VERSUS
Magfest did its own version of Nick Arcade. Nuff said.
INDIE GAMES
You know what's awesome? A con where you can play a shitton of indie games! What's better than that? Playing all those indie games without having to wait so much!
Some favorites:
Use Your Words- Created by BrentalFloss, this is a game in the vein of Jackbox Party Pack games, where you use your cell phone as a controller to type in responses to the prompts. The main difference is that it's not focused on getting the right answer, but giving the funniest response. There's also "Decoy" answers that add a bit of guesswork to the mix, to discourage you from picking what would be an answer that would get less points. The retro 60's TV Show art style looks appealing and contributes to the overall "kayfabe" the game is going for. There's a lot of overlap, but priced right, this could solidly fulfill its own niche.
Rise Of The Metronomicon- Dubstep Fireballs. It's a rhythm game with RPG Elements. Think Amplitude, where completing a measure grants you an attack or spell. There was only a demo setup at Momocon, but there were hints of a deeper system going on. The soundtrack features the likes of Ben Briggs, DJ Cutman, Mega Ran, and Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence. You're not getting big names here, but I enjoyed the tracks they did have. I'm holding off until it comes for consoles, but you can get it now on Steam.
Distance- Easily the most polished game there, Distance barely had an empty seat all weekend. Distance is a driving/platformer game where you drive A FLYING CAR? It looks great, and while there are a couple spots where things get sticky, it's still in Alpha with a ton of new features being added regularly. There's hints of a story toward the end of the demo, but the three levels I got to play presented a satisfying experience that I might be tempted to speed run.
Grid Masters- Sometimes people will remember the weirdest games, and I'll be on that shit. For me, that game is Mega Man Battle Network. Grid Masters plays out like a fighting game with that setup, but instead of the randomness of the "cards", you get abilities on cool downs like a MOBA.The demo was setup in an acrade cabinet, which helped sell the fact that it's a fighting game. Still some tweaks to be made, but definitely worth keeping an eye on!
Brawlhalla- I've seen this game everywhere, but never got to play it. Basically it's a free tro play Super Smash Brothers, but with even simpler controls. You choose from a variety of interesting characters who's official lore could only disappoint you, and you try to knock the other characters off the platform. Like I said, Super Smash Bros., but it also is a little floatier in the way Tekken is where you can juggle characters if you're good enough. I got it off Steam, and looking to put some more time into it.
