Meteo Xavier

Well, directions are filled with extremely vague signal markers that give me absolutely no indication on where I am. I have to see and remember how its done like 10 times before I get it. Also, Google Maps once showed you how to drive to England from Wisconsin. I mean, I'd love to try it, but there's just too good a chance I'll take a wrong turn in Alburqurque and end up Shit Creek without a boat.

I tried driving out of the state once. Ended up in the wrong state.

I don't see how, but I live in Sevierville, TN. The only person I know of that lives near me that might go is BGC.

Fuck the Poh-lice, right? Well, until someone's trying to break into your apartment. Or your sister's been missing for 72 hours. Or there's a huge traffic accident on the highway. Or there's a pederast who keeps staring at your little boy. Or you need to report your stolen vehicle. Or someone's stolen your identity. Or there's a domestic across the street with guns drawn. Hmm... law enforcement doesn't seem to be so bad in that context. Anyway, I think I'm going to be honoring our veterans and currents this Monday. Thats what I'm gonna do.

I'd love to but I really do think it would be physically impossible to pull off. I got lost in my own fucking APARTMENT once. And its one of those stories you think "Oh, well, he has a pretty good excuse for it." I really don't. Maybe I could get a ride from someone and split the cost?

I'm half tempted to really get up the nerve to go, but then I remember I don't know how to fly or get around anywhere.

How is that?

I've seen the name Russi Taylor before a million times but now I can't figure out from where.

I don't know, there's a lot of people who come here looking for tracks that don't want to pay $$$ for professional work. That slipshod vacancy always seems to be open.

Just don't get mad at us if we compare it to vomit then, ok?

Ways to improve your advertisement: Part 1. 1. Know where it is your advertising on. There are plenty of composers here already, more so than game makers. You're offering sand to someone who needs water. A good solution would be to find Independent Game Programmer forums and post there. 2. Post examples of what you've done. This is the internet and you are almost literally competing with the whole world. If you cannot post MP3 examples.... well, you've already gone further than you could go here. 3. Post a reasonable amount of information. This is a blurb at most. Two to three full paragraphs is a good size. 4. Post relevant information. What do we care how long you've been playing video games for when we don't know what kind of music training you've had? A bulleted list of training plus equipment, no more than 8 bullets is usually good.

Its all about balance. I'm not seriously saying we should do without art, but I do think it's in dire need of perspective, from those who start out to those who have been doing it for a while, from those who think they know shit to those who definitely don't (often the same people), from the costs and risks associated with getting into the art world to those who actually win what has gotten to be little more than a glorified lottery ticket. Its a really huge digression I have and I'm going to skip all that, but I guess I'm just really sick of people treating Art like it is or is greater than Life itself. Art's great, but at the end of the day, its just a bit of fun is all. There is more to life than just fun. Art's not going to save you if you're trapped in a ravine. Art's not going to fix the car and, based on my experience, won't help you pay your debts because you spent way, way too much on it in the first place. I just think its off-balance is all.

Bollocks. Criticism is just another word for not having anything better to do with your life than transfer your aggression to the life's work of someone you have not and will not ever meet.

You haven't seen shitty until you've seen Mike Oldfield in a music video. I want to go to the GoodWill every time I see it.

Well, I really do think our society gives art way too much credit in our lives, as part of a much larger thesis statement of disgust I have based on years of exposition in the art communities, but I'm really not a "republican", as if that were a bad thing. That was actually real. My mom was doing a Hungry Hearts deal at our church and made them up for the banner. I think its the funniest thing she's ever done unintentionally.

I'm half tempted to too.

Well if there are a lot of logic gaps, and its hilarious, the only logical conclusion is I'm ________________________. C'mon, you're big boys, you can figure this out. It starts with a j...

Should I draw you guys a fucking map too?

I think all art of any kind should be free, public domain and all copyrights null and void. This will not only satisfy us but help society at large. Here's how this works: With art and music having no monetary value and being completely hobbyist, not to mention the real artists of the world getting pissed that they can no longer collect on their "masterpieces", the quality of art the world over goes down considerably. Art has less impact on the world and the world puts its focus on other things needing considerable interest: Volunteer work, scientific research, masonry, education, preservation of history. With art no longer an egotistical springboard for pretentious misfits or a damn good way to get rich quick, children will focus that energy into other avenues where they can make names for themselves. "Hey! I want to discover the missing elements!" "Hey! I want to save the Congo from civil war!" "Hey, I want to synthesize a cancer vaccine from water and manure!" "Hey, I want to feed the homeless and shelter the hungry!" Now that our genuine interests are practical skills again, humanity values education again and humanity finally evolves into Man 3.0 - our destiny is fulfilled and the skies are literally the limits again.

This topic seems awfully rude.

This topic exists for three purposes: 1. Because Ocremix is my only source of human interaction right now. 2. Because this could help me out if it draws some conversation. 3. Because I'm genuinely curious and it sounds like a fun topic. So because 80% of us are either musicians or budding musicians (or failed musicians for that matter), I often wonder if anyone else tries to color their songs as they work on them. You don't just choose instruments by random to cover chords and leads and where, you try to, and forgive my artistic faggotry here, you try to paint a picture with music here. If you want music to sound like Autumn, you get a couple guitars, an oboe/flute a bass/cello and fiddle. If you want music to sound like Winter, you use wind sounds, twinkly leads, sleigh bells and low bass vibrations. If you want a lake, you use a piano and warm pad, etc. So here's what I've come up with, based on little else than nothing and the General MIDI map, and I wonder if anyone else can contribute. Redish: Oboe, Taiko Drum, Sitar, Drawbar Organ, Reed Organ Orange: Most brass, Church Organ, Harpsichord, some synth bass, Bassoon, Acoustic Guitar Yellow: Banjo, Shamisen, Clavicle, Fiddle, English Horn Green: Nature sound effects, Steel Drum, Agogo, Synth Drum, Synth String 1, Orch. Hit Blue: Square Wave, most flutes, most choirs, Electric Piano, harp Purple: Hazy B3 Organ, some distortion guitars, Bandneon, Brown: Slap Bass, Acoustic Bass, Xylophone, Koto, Kalimba, Pizzicato Black: Distortion guitar chords, sub bass, Timpani, low piano White: Saw Wave, String Ensemble, High Piano, Celeste, Violin (Greenish White) . . . .

I don't think we care anymore.

I have larger goals in mind for these things.

Here's a really good entry from my dream journal: The day of the school game day, I exit out of the games for some reason and walk along the mountainsides (like in the farmlands between Pigeon Forge and Shagbark) when one of the administrators runs up to me and directs me back to the school. She also tells me a test result found that there could be something wrong with my arm in its very poor circulation. At night, as I lay on my arm, I wake up and hear music coming from it. I show it to Suzanne Ruhn and after a few minutes, we learn that the music is coming from elsewhere. We go outside and look up the mountainside and find a house that was previously empty has some lights on. Despite the fact that there is snow on the ground, we make our way up to see whats going on. The music is louder inside, I very lightly open what looks like a sort of chimney door and look inside to a rather dark red and posh living room. A blast of hot air shoots out at me and I look inside, I very finally see a man who looks like an impressario seemingly conducting music into the hallway. He seems to know I'm here and smiles something evil. I don't remember what he does next but he kind of attacks the two of us and disappears. For some reason, we stay and decide to investigate further. We go inside the house to find its just like a regular house. As a modern family was living there and hasn't been home in a couple days. There are toys everywhere, a bathroom with a whirlpool tub, etc. No sign of that room is ever found. The dream stays there for a while and it shows a lot of scenes where we look around the house to see if anything's wrong. I find very little wrong except in the children's room where something is wrong with a doll. It's either in pieces or bleeding or something weird, I can't remember exactly. The dream continues to stay there and makes it look like I've been investigating for days. Suzanne seems to have left and I seem to have turned into Anthony Hopkins. I even have a team with me to investigate. The investigation has taken a turn from "Who was that man and what was going on." to "what happened to the family that was living here?" We start to see a few vague connections between this family mysteriously disappearing and the appearance of whatever this entity is. No further haunting is going on at the moment, we've just spent about 30 minutes of movie time pouring over details and bridging connections. During this time, about a week's worth of investigating, it seems I've made my home there. I sleep there, bathe there, etc. I get comfortable. I decide to use the whirlpool to bathe and once I get comfortable, I begin to go into something of a trance. In this trance, I see a bunch of vague, weird things that I can't tangibly bring up. At one point, the scene is replayed with me and Suzanne going up to the house and opening the chimney door again. This time I find a woman on the couch, and she's staring right at me. She sucks the both of us inside and throws Suzanne to the Abyss. She attacks like me an invisible demon and I start to run through the house. As such, I am then accosted by other figures, like school administrators who are also possessed by this murderous entity. I keep running throughout this David Lynchian house. I am able to temporarily escape them, but I find myself in rooms where I feel like the family is located and trapped. I kinda see spiritual prisons and other weird devices that tell me they are there. All of this happens with other random, bizarre images popping in through scenes like a TV changing channels. The worst yet is at the basement living room, I find a very small baby who is still alive - her arms and legs are cut off and she is bleeding like crazy and in a lot of pain but she refuses to die. She makes a distinct CLICKING sound as she cries. I try to save her but the entity attacks me again and throws me into the abyss. I find myself leaving the darkness into another room of the house where Suzanne is. She killed one of the administrators and tells me she found a way out, but the dead administrator rises back up and kills her violently. Then darkness surrounds me and a rage fills my head as the entity claims me for itself. I wake back up in the whirlpool, as Anthony Hopkins, and decide I've had enough and I get out to dry myself off only to discover the family has come back from vacation. They do not like the idea of a stranger in their house using their facilities and proceed to beat me savagely. I become something like a dog to them. They keep telling me to get out but they won't let me leave. I keep trying to explain myself to them but they keep laughing and calling me a liar. I struggle to make sense of things but there is a noise in my head and lots of anxiety. I feel like I'm going to go crazy at any moment. Days pass and I'm trapped with this rather large family of a mom and dad, several grown teenagers, several young children, aunts and uncles and grandparents. They continue to harass me as I'm here. The pressure keeps building and the mystery just as ridiculous until I find myself back in the children's room and my attention is focused on the doll again. I stare at it immensely, asking myself what it wants from me. SUspense builds until I hear it make a CLICKING sound. My whole body fills with terror and then I notice that the limbs on the doll do not match up with the body. At that point, with noise and rage and terror all around me, creating an atmosphere of electricity and horror, I bolt out the front door. The family follows behind me, giggling and laughing and carrying on like a family but they're also shooting me and tearing at my clothes too. Its an incredibly hard journey but I manage to tear them off me and escape back to school, thinking I wanted to keep a "promise" to someone here. Again at night, I wake up thinking my arm is making music again and me and Suzanne look out the window to see the lights in that house are back up again, with the same music playing, almost like its inviting us - or challenging us, to come back.