STATE OF THE BASTARD 2022

Well, I Guess We're Back Now? Something Something 34...

Yeah, 2021 has had a LOT of ups and downs and while it was a "Back To Normal" year, that came with a big fucking asterisk. I started to play live shows again which is always a treat, but the year was basically 2020 Take II. 

We're still not handling the pandemic (at least only enough to go "BACK TO WORK") and it's boiled down to "We've learned nothing, and we're not taking any new precautions to prevent something like this screwing up everything again"

Since we're in "The Show Must Go On" mode, I played Megaplex, Mizucon and Anime Iwai, and played the opening set for All Hail The Mustache's EP release.

Let's see... I also got kicked off a huge project that could have been my big break and then have my podcast friends try to have an intervention over podcast which left me an emotional wreck the next day. Then again, it was an ultimately mediocre affair that was met with a resounding "meh".

"Fuck Danimal Sweepstakes With Zach and Cannon" is an inside joke within my friend group. 

AT LEAST I GOT AN ALBUM OUT OF IT!

   

I took all of that into BastardMania, an album of all my instrumental work and a new single "Future Endeavor" (more on that later!).

GOD I love HellBreakfast. He KILLED it on this! I look like a badass Jojo character, Thrash looks beefy as hell, and Jonesy Spenserson looks like a proper grappleman!

SPEAKING OF ALBUMS, HARDCORE NERDCORE PUNK ROCK WILL RELEASE THIS YEAR FOR REAL THIS TIME!

When this post is posted, I'll have been back from MAGFest where I gave out Test Burns for feedback, since I HAVE finished all the car mixes. It'll have a lot of songs I play live, a lot of songs based on Fandoms, and with proper funding, it'll be a sweet package. I will be holding another Bastardthon to fund aforementioned sweet package, since Kickstarter is going down the NFT route. I'll probably host it somewhere else:

MY PATREON IS GOING MONTHLY

I'm part of SO MANY GODDAMN THINGS: podcasts, music making, costume making, game development all of which fall under my, for lack of a better term, brand or nerdy DIY shit.

I don't want to feel "pressured" by the notion of "Shit! I gotta come up with song this month!" or ONLY posting to it when I have a song to do.

At least with a monthly schedule, I'm still DOING stuff, and I can post my project board to the Patreon so you can see all the balls I have in the air. 

All right, that's all the major headlines, TIME FOR THE SUPERLATIVES!

MOST RECENT SONG THAT WASN'T A REWORK OF AN OLDER SONG: "Run Over Ronnie"

Hi. do you like all the shitty fascist vice signaling of Trump, but NONE OF THE PRETENSE OF SUCCESS? Ron DeSantis is your guy! At least Trump (fuck that's an awkward phrase to say) is like "Yeah, I got the vaccine because I'm a special boy" to Token Black Female Conservative Candace Owens and when she tried to push the CHINA BAD RIGHT? line, he was like "China's like. blowing our asses out".

Ron legalized running over protestors, and fucked up COVID response because he was looking out for Trump's brand. So this song I went all Dead Kennedys on it and got gruesome.

The only people who LIKE DeSantis fall into one of two categories:
SOUTHERN FL = Is 1/16th Cuban (and their relatives immigrated before WWII) so they can justify hating "Communism" (which is defined as anything that inconveniences them, not public control of the means of production), and failed as either a lawyer or a realtor. 

If they're male, they work for a cheap contractor that ends up pissing off the clients of the people that also hire the geotech labs I work for and have a beard made of pubic hair. If they're female, they run a business that can boil down to "Psychic Yoga For Dogs" and takes pics of her fake tits whoring it up on Instagram, but call for a "Retrun To Tradition" on the same page. You can dox them if you type "(THEIR NAME) LLC" into google.

NORTHERN FL = They're a veteran who immediately enrolled in the officer program and sat behind a desk for the minimum enrollment period. They call themselves a "Hard Working Small Business Owner" and that Damn Biden is fucking it all up, and how THEY don't benefit from White Privledge.

Also their small business is selling yachts. 

FAVORITE SONG I MADE THIS YEAR: "Future Endeavor"

Every once in a while, when I'm feeling bad about my songwriting, I turn out a song that proves I still got it. I wrote this after I got booted off Retromania Wrestling to be replaced after working with them for ALMOST TWO YEARS.

Writing this came natural because in addition to having a lot of jargon to jog my writing, wrestling also has a lot of EMOTION in its storytelling. Betrayal stories are VERY common, and to mold that on a breakup song is a natural fit. 

PODCASTS I'M A PART OF!
I'd Rather Not- These are still good for a laugh every couple weeks, and we've gone.... places.

RPG Pals Club- We've hit a LOT of milestones, with us FINALLY making it to the Battle Of The Bands, the party splitting up, and having plenty of fun asides. If you're a fan of RPGs at ALL, give us a listen!

OTHER COOL SHIT I DID
Was Part Of Two Tribute Albums
Thanks to the cool dudes at GameGrooves, I was part of:
Link-182: A Pop Punk Tribute to The Ocarina of Time (covering "Water Temple")
and
Subliminal Verse: A Tribute to Joey Jordison (as vocals on SaiyaSounds's cover of "Psychosocial")

Both incredible for helping to get me out of my comfort zone. I also tried an acoustic version of "Live and Learn" for their Sonic Adventure 2 album, but it ended up not working out.

SaiyaSounds did wonders on his cover and took it from aggresive to symphonic, and I'm relieved it worked out as well as I did. 

Interviewed on Furry Radio

So as I've been getting into the Furry Scene, these guys guys were smart enough to make notice of my genius and try to fit me in!

It's probably the MOST in-depth interview I've done. 

 Started A Wrestling League

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was supposed to be a celebration of Retromania releasing, became probably a spark in my week? Me and my friend from the 3000 Brigade started with a Battle Royale that ended up with Would You Rather Bot winning and taking on Thrash Panda for the belt.

Then we kinda kept doing it, with my friend Ernie and the RNG took us to some very strange places. Fire Pro throws some stuff at us that is VERY conducive to some interesting booking, and even on more bespoke weeks, it's still hype.

Built A Fursuit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND I'm working on the full suit, but this was the year I finally caved and said, OH WHY NOT? This whole process has been more of an engineering project than anything else. I've learned how to work with fur, how to carve foam, and I've even learned how to properly sew by hand!

I am planning on making a full video on it, but even if I never did anything instructional, there's a wide community of people out there eager to answer questions and make tutorials themselves. It feels like I have a project car I'm working on, only which make sense, since as I've said before:

FURRIES ARE NERDS THAT HAVE SEIZED THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

Is Thrash my fursona? For lack of a better term yes, but there's a lot of BIGGER thoughts I've had that I don't want to type out right now because it's 3 AM and I'm writing this RIGHT after Magfest.

I Went To MAGFest

Technically this is supposed to be 2021, but fuck it, I'll include that here. 

Most of my time was spent helping staff the Rock Band booth, but I still got to get around and meet friends I've only talked to online, catch up with old friends, and try out some new games. Unbeatable and Crescendo are my highlights from the indie game section, 

Also there were little game challenges you can try out in the console area for reward points! Perfect idea for when I'M clinically insane enough to want to do a con!

TREND I LIKED THE LEAST: Fascism By Karens

Hey, did you know that if you know jack shit but bitch loud enough you can upset reality? Just a couple months ago, a bunch of members of the neo-nazi group the Proud Boys and their enablers raided a school board meeting in Miami to whine about shit like mask mandates and "Critical Race Theory", things predicated entirely on an extreme conservative media sphere that emphasizes that inconveniences and "wokeness" are the greatest threat to the children they don't have.

These Karens, backed by violent Neo-Nazi thugs who are in turn backed by the police, get to waste everyone's time by sqwaking to someone who has to deal with budget cuts to their department because all the funding is going into supporting an already over-militarized police and backing corporate bailouts. Some even run for the school board, entrenching their whining, hoping that Daddy FacebookPageNewsmax will give them little pats on the head as Karen gets told she's a good girl, while a billionaire fucks over every other aspect of her life. 

MIAAgainstFash on Twitter has been a really good look into how this shit works on a local level.

Hence why we should bring Chanology back.

TREND I LIKED THE MOST: Worker Solidarity

HEY, TURNS OUT STRIKES KINDA WORK, HUH? 

ALMOST LIKE THEY SHOULD BE CONTROLLING THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION AND NOT BEING FORCED TO WORK LONG HOURS FOR LITTLE PAY WHILE THE CEOs MAKE BILLIONS?

Also Titmouse NY Unionized as I typed this.

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOONER? AWARD: Scott The Woz/RuPaul's Drag Race

Hey all, hey all, hey all, Rhythm Bastard here!

This year I discovered TWO things that have had an impact on fucking up my vocabulary, not seen since Homestar Runner.

Scott The Woz is a gaming YouTube who makes informational videos on various topics in gaming, usually wasting a fuckton of money in the process. What takes his videos to the next level though is his very snappy sense of humor, very aware that the YT gaming space is filled with a lot of people who straight up have no idea what they're doing, no interest in being educational, and no idea of what's actually funny. Scott Wozniak saw the "Mickey Mousecapade" Game Grumps Episode and went "How bout I do NOT THAT?"

Plus the guy gets his friends in on the dumb bullshit, so it looks less pathetic and more like "Me and my friends doing funny bits".

RuPaul's Drag Race was introduced to me by UB, lovely partner in crime, and even when it's bad, I'm still amazed by the basic facet of it all: People doing what they're good at, and encouraged to be creative in strange and unique ways.

I pretty much do everything everything a drag queen does (lipsync, sing, tell jokes, make costumes, etc.) except do make up and present a woman.

FAVORITE SONG OF 2021: "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" by Lil Nas X

Every phase of this song hits at just the right time, and that lovely acoustic guitar work makes this song a pleasure to listen to. Looking at a video he did on Genius, he goes in depth about every line of the song, just to show how well thought out this is. Lil Nas X has proven himself worthy in his own right, not just a one-hit wonder who did a silly hip hop cowboy song.

Plus the music pissed off a lot of people and features him twerking on the devil, so fuck yeah, that's punk rock.

TOP 40 SONG I HATED THE LEAST IN 2021: "good 4 u"

 

 

Despite the alleged controversy that it's too close to "Misery Business" by Paramore (what), I'm glad to see Pop Punk fluke it's way on to the charts at least once a year.

It's also a good example of Song Writing 101:
Chorus: Main thesis (You're doing BETTER without me? WOW SOUNDS GREAT *through gritted teeth*)
Verses: Supporting the chorus, where Verse 1 is how short term her ex benefits, and Verse 2 provides a longer view of them post relationship.
Bridge: A counterpoint to the song (hey, maybe I do suck and you're better off)

Not a whole lot to say about it, it was just a fun song for me to listen to and lipsync to. 

OLD GAME OF 2021 RUNNERS UP:

5. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Xbox One) - More fun than RE:Rev, and the character switching makes more since, especially since we get more screen time for Claire Redfield and the Burtons (Barry from RE:1 and his daughter Moira)

4. Steamworld Dig (Switch) - Purely a bathroom break game which gives me enough time to go through a couple digs and come back up, and while the story isn't that much, it's a satisfying game to go through. 

3. The Hayseed Knight (PC) - A bollywood movie in a visual novel, wonderfully voice acted all around, with my good friend Stanpai being the voice of the titular Hayseed Knight, and pushing the limits of Ren'Py to give a presentation BEYOND what's capable for most.

2. Full Throttle: Remastered (Xbox One) - Rock N' Roll motorcycle point and click adventure game that has incredible worldbuilding, incredible VA (main antagonist played by Mark Hammil? YAAAAS) and the fucking opening song "Legacy" by The Lone Jackals that sets the mood just right make it on this list as an old game worth revisiting.

#1 OLD GAME OF 2021: Arcade Spirits

Visual Novels were big for me this year, since it's something I can just zone out to and read along with in tiny parts, and not have to really interact with. It's easy progression, as I've been finding myself sinking more and more time into "battle pass" style games like Fortnite and MTG Arena, and want to actually finish a story.

Arcade Spirits tells the story of a 20-something in their quarter life crisis looking for a change in life, and they find it by working for an arcade where they can eventually find romance.

I'm friends with Stefen Gagne, the primary writer of this game through the Rock Band community, and I was excited to see so much buzz around a game that he made with a small group of people. To support him, I bought it Day One!

Then I never touched it. What prompted me to finish Arcade Spirits was this video by Laura Crone. She discussed the benefits of the VN being more accesible for people who don't play video games, since it provides a good story in a striaghtforward method that most people are familiar with (reading words), and presents it in a manner that is unique to gaming (interactivity and determining the outcomes of a decision) without anything that might throw someone off (reaction time, mastering a control scheme, the question of "Where Do I Go?")

The story is striahgt out of the 80's with your best friend character, a corporate asshole rival, and (for the most part), an ending where you find one your true love.

Like Hayseed Knight, this game pushes Ren'Py to its limits, but where Hayseed Knight's focus was on presenting elements that make the presentation of the VN easier to digest for someone not a fan of the genre, Arcade Spirits gamifies the interactions, giving you different "moods" of responses and setting each romanceable character with their own relationship meter, making the VN more digestible to someone looking to play a proper game with numbers to min/max, but provide enough enticing options to give them an emotional vector to start from. 

What I liked most about was that it was just a fluffy game that didn't have high stakes, but still made me care about everyone. EVERY choice is seen as valid and meaningful, since you can romance any character regardless of your gender, or romance nobody! The game still goes on, and your character can still find fulfilment! As someone who has trouble with relationships and intimacy, it's refreshing, and makes me still feel valid.

Though I hooked up with QueenBee, the correct choice, I mean, c'mon.

NEW GAME OF 2021 RUNNERS UP:

5. Backbone (PC) - A game where you play a bisexual raccoon detective out to destroy the bourgoises that oozes style and reminds me of the Harebrained Shadowrun games with how diverse your approaches can be. 

4. Echo (PC) - This game is on the OTHER end of the Ren'Py spectrum, where the presentation is as basic "Ren'Py VN" as you can get, but the writing is so solid, that I IMMEDIATELY went to replay through the other routes, because this isn't a romance, it's a psychological horror VN where you choose who you're spending the horror with, and each of the character routes are playable short stories that explore different genres and tropes of horror under the umbrella of a very real dread of being stuck forever in a town that fell apart.

3. Resident Evil Village (Xbox One) - It doesn't do the horror genre tour as well as Echo does, and isn't as well written, but it's a fun game that puts a more action oriented spin on the mental moments I loved about REmake and Resident Evil 2 (including Mercenaries Mode from RE4), while making Ethan Winters kind of developed as a character?

2. Everhood (PC) - On the surface, the game acts as another game trying to munch on Undertale's flav, but the battles are absolute trips to behold with each fight being a synesthetic experience that incorporates its music BETTER than Undertale, and also acts as its philisophical counterpoint.
 

#1 NEW GAME OF 2021: Inscryption

Inscryption combines a solid rougelike deckbuilder, an escape room, and the most hardcore DM you've ever experienced that takes a story I should in should in theory hate, but makes for the best game that came out in 2021.The game's first act sets such a strong groundwork for how good the game of Inscryption itself is, that when the game pulls a "THE PRESTIGE!" on you not once, but twice, you're still along for the ride.

When it comes to Magic The Gathering and the like, I'm what you'd call a "Vorthos", someone who's interested in the lore of the game and how the card interactions work in "kayfabe", or the proposed reality of the game itself. For example, in Magic The Gathering, a Planeswalker card is an ally you're summoning from another plane of existence to aid you in battle, and will "planeswalk" away once they've taken enough damage. "Instant" spells require less preparation than "Sorcery" spells, etc. Inscryption's presentation makes these little interactions much more intense when you could just be playing a regular old card game. I did NOT get this level of attachment to... any mechanics really in Slay The Spire.

I'm considering looking into Kaycee's Mod, which allows you to JUST do the roguelike deckbuilding and can even contain more lore!

Also, kudos to the devs for finding an actor who looks like all MTG influencers simultaneously. 

ANNUAL REMINDER I SHARE A BIRTHDAY WITH MC BAT COMMANDER:

PODCAST RECAPS FOR 2/11/2017: Sad, Old Men

ECHO CHAMBER EPISODE 196

-OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?

-Apparently Scrath and Sniuff actually existed:

Sounds exactly as good as you imagine a hair metal band in the 90's would sound.

-Online Play I couldn't get to work, but I'm glad it's there with all the features we mentioned. Namely the "all members get one song".

-As someone coming off a Game Jam, most of what happens when making a game comes from the testing, more so then the coding. For example. you can program a basic collision detection code to get everything else moving, but until you find out stuff like "running in a corner accelerates your character so hard you go to another dimension",then you go back and fix that error.

Like the old proverb, "Most Writing Comes In The Editing"

-I'M A GOOFY GOOBER!

​-Legendary Punk Singer Jello Biafra:


-Legendary Punk SInger Jello Biafra on Not Owen President

I'D RATHER NOT EPISODE 45 

-The Lee Harvey Oswalds DO exist, and I have more likes on Facebook then them and I'm a slightly better singer than them.




-YOU'RE FAKE NEWS OWEN

-The "We're gong to call you fake news until you stop attacking us" is a real thing, sadly.

-Adolf Hitler was born in 1889. If you bang in 1910s Germany, you could pop out Eva Braun. She's not a leader, though so chances are you're popping out the modern day equivalent of a modern day millennial.

-Here's John Howland's Wikipedia page, since this podcast will be the most anyone's ever thought about him.

-This the Zero Escape Timeline. Some highlights:

• (1904) In April, copies of Phi and Delta arrive (presumably in Germany or Europe) via transporter from 2029 following D-END 2. 
• (1905) Ten months after arriving by transporter, another copy of Phi is sent to 2008.
• (December 25, 2028) - In California, Sigma is knocked out by Soporil in his car. His consciousness is pushed to January 25, 2074, and his 68-year-old consciousness occupies his body in the present time. Phi's consciousness also switches places with her future consciousness. Akane joins Sigma and Phi, but her consciousness isn't from the future so she hasn't experienced the Radical-6 outbreak. The three of them infiltrate the Mars Mission Test Site (Dcom) in Nevada after using Crash Keys to hack the admin server to include them. Six others have joined the Dcom experiment for their own reasons: Junpei, Mira, Eric, Carlos, Diana, and Q. 
• (January 27, 2074) Akane has been wearing K's armor. K is revealed to be Kyle, a clone of Sigma, who has been kept in cold sleep since the beginning of the Nonary Game in this timeline. Sigma learns that his body is 67 years old, but his consciousness is from the past. Akane attacks Phi with the Myrmidon knife, making Phi and Sigma's consciousness jump back to the past to April 13th, 2029. 

 -And now a message from Commissioner Gordon:

VOICE OF ALL- AER 7 BREAKING POINTS


Dovin Baan is Dovout Baan. I'd also like to show you the bloopers I recorded!

Status Quo Punches A Nazi In The Face

5CALLS.ORG 
Things have been happening kinda fast ever since Donald took office. Due to potent combination of ego and money, insane bullshit is being passed under the rule of "executive order" left and right.

The speed at which this hits is overwhelming, and by design it's supposed to be. You're supposed to want to give up and submit.

However 5calls.org is a website where you can look up your local representatives, and make some quick phone calls with scripts to help you organize your thoughts. It's quick, actionable and straight forward.

Resist.


JAM OF THE WEEK: "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by The Dead Kennedys Only Every Syllable Richard Spencer Gets Decked In The Face

For the record, the punchee says shit like this:


Fascists don't deserve a platform because there is no debating, they know their ideas are ridiculous and extreme and saying "Well hey guys, it's just a difference of opinion" validates genocide and oppression as a legitimate opinion. Once you fall down the rabbit hole of saying white supremacy slogans for "top kek" and waving Pepe flags, you're beyond debate.

Also, it works:



ACTUAL JAM OF THE WEEK: "Victorious" by Wolfmother


OK, on to something more triumphant that you can have in your head while punching said Nazi: Wolfmother's "Victorious". It sounds a lot like their earlyier stuff, particularly "Woman", with that constant gallop, but Andrew Stockdale's vocals send it over the top with a huge arena rock chorus.

Plus, I love this music video. It probably cost like, $50 and whatever they had lying around, trhen shot it front of  a green screen, but I'm always a sucker for some cheap B-movie shit.

Then again, Knights Of Cydonia takes this and cranks everything about this song up to 11, but "Victorious" only came out last year, and it made for great BG music when it came on in the gym.

STATUS QUO STREAM: Aether Revolt Magic Duels


The new story mode for Aether Revolt was released on Magic Duels! Been out of the game for a while, now I'm back in, even though I have none of the new stuff. Don't even get me started on how behind on Hearthstone I am.



TO RECAP:
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ’s Violence Against Women programs.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after RTing factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.
* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protestors were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.
* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.
* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.
* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, “period.”
* On January 22nd, 2017, White House advisor Kellyann Conway defended Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts” on national television news.
* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which defunds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.
* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China’s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing him the popular vote.
* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.
* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing DT the popular vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women’s March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.
* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.
* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.
* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as “absurd.”
* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protestors with cars if they are on roadways.
* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.
And today: the wall and a Muslim ban.

Status Quo Wednesday Is Just A Theory

WHOA! EPIC THEORY VIDEO ON THE KOOPAS FROM MARIO! INSANE THEORY!


JAM OF THE WEEK: "Psychobilly Freakout" by The Reverend Horton Heat
They are so good live! And then Jello Biafra from the motherfucking Dead Kennedys goes up to sing a couple songs? WHAT?

THE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS, THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT AND JELLO BIAFRA
This show, more than anything, has taught me the value of a good front man. And the value of an upright bass.



Really, it was just the Shack Shakers and Reverend, since Jello was only on for a few songs and the encore.

The Shack Shakers, a band from good ol' Kentucky, were a great opener, especially J. D. Wilkes, their lead singer/harmonic player, who looks like David Byrne, moves like Iggy Pop, and whose performance style lends itself to have a "Splash Zone" set up. I couldn't hear shit over the sound system, but the band just worked so well together I didn't care. Listening to their songs on YouTube, they have this almost Gothic edge to them. Like, even they said, "We have three types of songs: songs about chickens, songs about the devil and songs about trains."

Then The Reverend Horton Heat went on. The only song I know from them is "Psychobilly Freakout" off Guitar Hero 2, and now I feel like an idiot, because Jim Heath is a really good guitarist. For a band that's over the hill, people were moshing on pretty much every song.

Then Jello Biafra came out.

Holy shit does he still have it. At almost 60, he was moving around the stage, mugging like a motherfucker. It didn't last long, since he came out to do a Guantanamo School Of Medicine song, a cover of "House of the Rising Sun", then the Dead Kennedys songs "Holiday In Cambodia", "Too Drunk To Fuck" and came out for "Viva Las Vegas" for the Encore. Still, 110% into it.

All in all, a great show, and some incredible music I wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

Status Quo Super Late Does Not Tap When Attacking

LET'S ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Mainly the orange one elected to the office of President last Tuesday.


Shit, there's been a billion hot takes on it, and MC Lars really has the one I can relate to the most, how we hoped it would never happen, how we all wondered why it all went wrong, and proceeding forward by Making Good Art.



The key word at this point in time is Vigilance.




Donald Trump has given us NO reason to trust him. His entire campaign was spent othering people who aren't Cis Straight White Dudes. Everyone he wants in his office is clearly reinforcing this notion; from his vice-president Mike Pence, who is SUPER evangelical and anti-LGBTQ, to his most recent appointment of chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who runs Briebart, which is where you go after Fox News rejects you for being "too racist". All of his debates were spent talking over Clinton, lying about everything, showing an overall poor temperament and just spouting catchphrases ("ISIS!" "EMAILS!", etc.).

The motherfucking KKK is happy about this. 

Now you see stories about how he's going back on several of his campaign promises, and everyone's saying "he might not be so bad", and how we should work together and-

No... 


No.

What I mean by vigilance is that this validated a lot of shitty people, and be vigilant by sticking up for those who are going to be hurting from all this.  Sometimes just the fact that someone is watching is a discouragement. If you're witnessing harassment, interfere.



You can write your representatives:



Make your voice heard, and keep talking. Dissension keeps this shit from being normalized. We've come too far as a nation to have all of that reversed.


Trump supporters, be vigilant too, but not for "Un-American Activities", but to be critical of the man you elected.

Let's not assume you're racist, sexist whatever. You voted for him because he was going to change things up? He hired Newt Gingrich, Rudy Guillani and Chris Christie to his transition team, about as inside ball as you could get. Going back on some his promises, such as when he wants to keep parts of the Affordable Care Act? When the KKK and the American Nazi Party are doing the Daniel Bryan YES! chant over the decisions he's making? Ask yourself "Is this what I signed up for?" every step of the way, and it is perfectly fine to say "no". See the "Contact your representatives" part above.

And now he's "surprised by the scope of the job"... oh...

We can't ever let up. Not now.   

THIS WEEK'S JAM: "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now" by The Dead Kennedys


Well, duh. Of course, this is super relevant because I'm about to crack into the 33 1/3 version of Dead Kennedy's "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables".

SOMETHING POSITIVE TO END ON THAT ISN'T STEREOTYPICAL CUTE FLUFFY ANIMALS
If you're reading this, you're still alive, and can do something about the future





SOMETHING NOT LIFE AFFIRMING OR MOTIVATIONAL EITHER
Tiger Mask W is a really fun anime.  

NOT WRESTLING OR ANIME RELATED
Fine, here's me being a big ol cosplay nerd:

Sunday

By now, you've heard about the murder of 9 people in a domestic terrorist attack. 

The perpetrator is a 21-year-old white kid with a terrible bowl cut and is a fan of apartheid and white supremacy movements, who told his victims "You're taking away our country".

Nobody's taking your country away from you. Other people want the same country you, a white male (like myself) have.

We should be the generation that puts and end to this. With all the mistakes of our ancestors combined, and the technology you're using to read this to connect each other and gather information, it boggles my mind that there's young people who stand behind the Confederate Flag, support Gamergate, and whatever other bullshit reactionary movement to try and preserve the world that's being dumped upon my generation.

Maybe it's because I'm doing OK for myself and have a strong support from friends and family, but my mind wonders: are these people so bereft of anything positive about themselves or in their lives, that having a lack of melanin and a penis are the ONLY qualities they have? Is the Status Quo the only thing in their life that works?

I want to end this on a positive note, so here it goes:
There's no shame in losing to someone better.
There's no shame in recognizing someone else is better.
There's no shame in recognizing the flaws in yourself and wanting to become better
There's no shame in asking for help to become better.
The most valuable capital us Millenials have is Human Capital. Don't waste it by being a dick.
When in doubt, just as in wrestling, put the other guy over.

The title of this week is Sunday, because fuck the status quo:



Sorry about that, it's something I had on my mind for a while. 



UPCOMING GIGS:
Orlando Nerd Fest this year! Last year I performed at the JamSpace, this year I'm performing at the Day After Party at the Geek Easy, which I feel like is the next level, not unlike a Guitar Hero. Anime Festival Orlando is still on the table, as I don't know if the concert's been accepted or rejected at this point yet.

Treasure Coast Comic Con was this past weekend, and it was PACKED. For a small con that mostly relied on its guest to bring the people in, it was really busy. Clearly it's an early lacking, since there's nothing really between Orlando and Miami. West Palm Beach has Palmcon, but that's it really.

It's a great example of a disruptive technology in the convention scene.

ALBUM NEWS:
This week I'm going to be starting on doing some of the interior design work. It's not a big thing, but I do need to get it done EVENTUALLY, and one thing I do now, is that much sooner the album is in your hands.

KICKSTARTER NEWS:
I'm going to be taking a more hands on approach with the T-Shirts, since I do have a design in mind. It's just a matter of working out something efficient with the distributor/printer

OTHER SONGS:
Working on my Magic Origins tracks. Not one, but TWO rap songs, hopefully coming before the set is released.

THIS WEEKS GOALS:
FIVE NEW VIDEOS ADDED TO THE RHYTHM BASTARD CHANNEL!

JUST YOU WAIT!

A Report On Jerry Brown By The Rhythm Bastard

I know I'm supposed to be writing about stuff like thermocouples and galvanic series for school, but I figured I'd write about a great man in history: Jerry Brown.

Jerry Brown is the attorney general of California (2007-present) and used to be the governor (1975-1983). There's other crap about him, but all that matters is this:

CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES
I am Governor Jerry Brown,
My aura smiles and never frowns,
Soon I will be president.

Awesome. California Uber Alles in the bag!

Very simple song. just fast. The hardest part is these bridges in time:
e----------------------
B---------------------
G-8-88888-666------
D-8-88888-666-77-4-
A-6-66666-444-77-4-
E----------------55-2-

And for the part where it slows down ("Now it is 1984..."), just play the root notes (the ones toward the bottom of the tab)

And this part at the end is tricky:
e-------------------------
B-------------------66---
G-8-8888-8886-666666-
D-8-8888-8886-664466-x3
A-6-6666-6664-44--44-
E------------------------

Another part I had to re-tab because it didn't sound right.
Strum up and down for this last part, just like the Fake Plastic Rock games we all know and love.

I "beat" this to the tempo on Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death album, which is slower than the version on Fresh Fruits For Rotting Vegetables (also on the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland Soundtrack, where I first heard the Dead Kennedys).

Also just found this: an updated version with Schwarzenegger as the object of "affection". Hear it here.

SETLIST UPDATED

No! I Killed Him!

I'm going to temporary re-open the polls for about another week. If no-one answers, I'll pick one of the Dead Kennedy songs (Police Truck or California Uber Alles).

EDIT: Nevermind. I just saw two people voted.
Eh, screw it. California Uber Alles will ALSO be added!

About As Believeable As The Second Gunman

The Dead Kennedys are finally in Rock Band. I don't know how this happened! I love them and a ll, but you'd think with a song called "MTV Get Off The Air", a game published by MTV Games would be the LAST place they'd show up. For a while, I was going to do a song lesson video as a "Never 'Gon Happen Pack", featuring "California Uber Alles" by The Dead Kennedys, "Holiday" by Green Day, and "The Ocean" by Led Zepplin. I'll still do it, with the aforementioned "Get Off The Air Song"

The THREE pack consists of:
"Holiday In Cambodia"
"California Uber Alles"
"Police Truck"

MUST BUY for your systems equivalent $5.50 for the pack, $2 a piece.

All I know is: Jello is going to be pissed... He's held a very anti-corporate ethos and I wonder how what his opinion is on the Dead Kennedys being in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Guitar Hero Rocks The 80s, Guitar Hero 3, and now this. He even accused his former band members of wanting to license "Cambodia" to Levi's for a commercial (which they denied) and condemned the use of the song "Too Drunk To Fuck" in Grindhouse.

I can understand WHY Jello is against licensing, and it's (probably) the same reason Muslims aren't allowed pictures of Muhammed in their homes or using the Quran in music. He wants the focus to be on the message and song, not the product. Otherwise, it becomes "that cool song from that commercial/game". Roger Daltrey said something similar. Nobody takes the time sit down and listen to a CD, album, whathaveyou anymore. Usually we have a song playing on our computer while we surf the 'net, or on our MP3 players on our way to work.

So every once in a while, take a CD, any CD (burn one if it's all on your computer), sit in a comfy chair, and just listen.

"Orange Crush" comin' soon, y'all.