genoboost's blog

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So, in my infinite foresight I have been overwhelmed by too many things for too long. GM4A has gone without updates from me for some time now. I have been buried, mired perhaps, in the writing, and reading of a person who wants to write for a living, and have people read it.

No one checks out this blog, so it doesn’t really matter what I say here, but writing is writing. I think I plan on trying to write a few more joke articles and game articles here for a bit. I do want to do a bit more article writing now, but not in the same simple vein I have been for a long time on GM4A.

As of late, and if you peruse my deviantArt page you will see that I have written a few short stories…and even poetry (BLEARGH) lately. To what end? Not sure yet. I do love writing fictional stories though, which has culminated in finally making the decision to actually become a real life writer. That decision is something I will have to discuss later though. Right now I am putting the finishing touches on a 50K word novel I have written for NaNoWriMo. So from November 1st I have thrown down a ridiculous (for me) amount of words, all about some loser detective who…READ THE BOOK! Moving on…

I am writing on here now, because a few things have been crossing my mind lately. I would like to bring video game culture and the world I see into a much larger framework. I feel like video game music and culture is stuck in a bubble without any context or history. What is missing most of all is the humanity of the hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of bit players in this constantly shifting new media.

When people rich and poor, of every persuasion, and from many corners of the earth do something, it has an impact. Video games are having an impact. That should be explored in larger depth. How is No More Heroes the antithesis of GTA? How does the music in House of The Dead Overkill effect your reaction to the violence on screen? What does a social game like Super Smash Brothers say about human interaction and of fairness and cooperation?

These are all things I have thought about, and perusing google, not a person has written about it. Perhaps it will be me that has to do so.

I got a jacket to put on and a hat to wear
I wouldn’t waste a gallon on you out there
And I got all the time in the world

Finally got my Teleidofusion review finished this past weekend and it is up now over at TNG for Music Monday. It clocks in at about 1K words,  here’s an excerpt.

Imagine a cold spring morning; it’s the time of year when the temperature is slowly shifting from the lifeless cold of winter to the gentle, cool breezes of springtime. The light of the sun climbs across the ground and pours through the cracks in your curtains, and a methodical, rising sound lulls you from a deep sleep. Savor the feeling. That is the opening to the debut album from chiptune duo Teleidofusion.

I also got to see the one and only Nullsleep perform this past weekend over at Synchronicity in Los Angeles with George Brower, Trash80, and Mr. Spastic. It was my first straight on chiptune show, and definitely had a great time there. Also passed out a lot of flyers for West Coast Wigout 2 which I hope entices some people to come out.

I think I will write more about my experience working on WCWO2 soon on here as well, once things let up at work. Maybe a post about the Nullsleep show as well if time permits, it was certainly a night to remember, I can assure you of that! Here’s a crappy camera phone photo I grabbed of Nullsleep’s performance as well!

And when I finally get there I’ll taste freedom.
Freedom from my family and their lies.
Freedom from my boss,
and freedom from the cross.
The cross on which I once was crucified.

So I have a ton of things to get done, and even more things to get done with some recent news. I have things to write, then some more things to write…then some stuff to write.

Looks like I will be writing for Beep City soon though! I think I am going to title the article series “Stage Select.” Luckily I do not need any fancy graphics or anything for this one. The basic idea for the article is that I will take one chiptune track from my collection and plunder it’s musical depths and gleam from it a short review of the imagery the song conjures up in my mind. Was that description a little over the top there? Yeah, probably. Well basically I review and discuss one track per article.

Above and beyond that I have to draw a small pixel art “screenshot” of the image I have in my mind from the game too. If you look a couple posts back I kind of did something like that with the song Galactic Hero by Comptroller. That is initially where I got the idea for these articles actually.

I am also looking for other websites to write for as well, I really feel like the next step to being a writer is working with deadlines, expanding my writing style with different types of articles, and simply getting my name out there. This comes right on the heels of my former guest writer stomping ground The Start Screen (not linking it since it doesn’t exist anymore) shutting down forever just last week. So with that I am also looking to rewrite and re-host my articles, and let me continue writing them. I am really hoping for an established video game website to host my articles. Are YOU that website!?

Well I would prefer one that could pay me, but who am I to demand such things just yet? I would love some more financial security though, and I wonder how much better I would write if I got paid for it. That is a whole other thing to think about though, and won’t dwell on it now.

We got love
Love to share
That is why we’re here

I need to start posting here again, I have a ton of new things to work on, but right now I am sick. cough cough cough. goodnight!

But not because I haven’t been busy! Well okay I haven’t been busy, at least not until the past week or so. Allow me to explain. The day after Christmas I unfortunately broke my old computer. So sadly I was left sans computing power for several weeks until I gathered enough spare change to head down to Fry’s and grab myself a new one. I accomplished that feet about two weeks ago, give or take. And since then it has been a slow trek to getting things back in order. I think I have done well for myself in that respect thus far.

I have been able to get This Week in VGIM back on track. Started releasing new episodes of Ballad of the Wind Fish once again. Not to mention GM4A’s upcoming concert.

Another thing I am proud of is the slow but steady success of the GM4A Records netlabel that has started up merely two months ago. Since then we have been lucky enough to have two great album releases in Comptroller and Doug Leinen. Also several exciting upcoming projects which I hope will see the light of day as well.

Now to change things up a little.

That there is a simple astronaut man I drew in tribute to the Comptroller track Galactic Hero, which I have gone on record as saying highly visualizes the moments building down to a heroic launch into space. That also leads me to another artistic endeavor I am undertaking, although I don’t want to reveal what that is just yet. I am not sure exactly when it will be popping up, but I have been putting a ton of thought and some bit of work into it, and hope that it comes to fruition soon because I am very excited about it.

One more thing, before I was sadly ripped away from my former computer last year, I was working on another new thing, which explains that blank post below this one. Though it has not seen life just yet, I am happy to be resurrecting it very soon. That should be exciting as well!

Winter’s cityside
Crystal bits of snowflakes
All around my head and in the wind
I had no illusions
That I’d ever find a glimpse
Of summer’s heatwaves in your eyes

It has been raining most of the day today, which seems to have ratcheted up my productivity a notch. I got a good chunk of writing done, listened in to KyleJCrb’s new radio show, and have now finished up a bit more of that World game map I have been working on. Still no new dungeons, but did work on some transition pieces. Check it out.

Here we see the northern river going from ice into a free flowing river. I don’t think I made the transition as smooth as I would like, But I still think it looks pretty good. This is of course the Northern part of the map,  and just east of where the snow dungeon resides.

And to the East the gentle grass slowly turns into a harsh magma filled hellscape. This will be the location of the fifth dungeon as well. Though I am still not sure exactly what my plan is for that dungeon. Perhaps it will come to me in a dream?

Also big plans for a very special Ballad of The Wind Fish tomorrow! On that note I should mention that the last weeks episodes are available to listen to on the appropriate GM4A page. I look forward to tomorrow afternoon’s show, so with that I am off!

Oh yeah, before I go, we also have a cool contest announcement coming up soon on GM4A, keep an eye out for that one!

So what if we like to do what we do?
It’s not like we’re gonna stop any time soon.