José the Bronx Rican

I'm actually in the middle of a tremendous adventure on this sort of thing: my entire music collection is being ripped, tagged, flac'ed and mp3'ed, and the video game music part of it is by far the most difficult, because I have to tag these files with the correct information. There is no consistency whatsoever with the stuff that's professionally released, and to make it worse, I'm into some pretty obscure stuff. 75% of it (or not; who knows?) is officially "untitled," and I can't have that. The last thing I want to do nowadays is give a best guess on a song title and then present it to everyone as official. I did that with some of my MIDIs, but I'm gonna change all that too once my research is done. Unfortunately, the game music field is driven by composers and not artists, and even though they deserve front-and-center credit, I can't bring myself to place these composers' names into the "artist" tag. They're just not the artists. Chiptunes and such from the 16-bit era on back don't really have artists; one solution is to just place the console name in the artist tag, and technically it's correct: the console "performs" the song. It also works out because you can categorize Genesis, SNES, et al. music together, and because plenty of games get cross-platform releases and it helps to differentiate (e.g., SNES Cool Spot and Genesis Cool Spot). I actually have a set of rules in order to maintain consistency for titles and artists, and most titles must include "BGM" in capital letters to indicate that it's unofficial. There's so much I haven't even covered yet (I haven't even touched on stuff like mastering, and how I intend to rip older music the old-fashioned way: RCA cables, because as good as emulators have gotten, they're still not exact); one of the reasons for wanting to come to MAGFest is so I can talk to Larry at length about this and exchange ideas and suggestions. I'm as anal as it gets with this. I thought of ways to share this quest, because I think this could benefit a lot of us. I don't think I could find the time and effort to manage a blog, and especially find the time and effort to offer my collection when it's completed, but maybe this one could work. I'll follow developments here. I'm leaning toward a thread or three here, and perhaps at gamingforce and vgmdb, to chronicle what I've been doing and what I will do. Stay tuned.

This was probably a natural progression from working in MIDI. I was already a veteran contributor to vgmusic before stumbling into OCR, then music creation software developed at a ridiculous rate, and I discovered Computer Music magazine and got the kind of training I've been needing for years. One day at a Game Express near where I live, I heard the clerks playing music that sounded new, yet familiar. I don't remember the exact tunes, but I asked about them, and I got the answer. I thought to myself, "That site I've been peeking at? They seem to have some good shit!" Soon after, around the time I first purchased Fruity Loops, I thought, how cool would it be to have some "ReMixes" of my own played and appreciated in public like that? That's where it started, and that's when I started building a collection of my favorite OCReMixes; three hundred fifty-change and counting, along with most of the albums. And I deal in a lot of things: drawing, graphic design and other multimedia stuff (I was an art student in high school), but music has been more important right now because OCR doesn't rest as a community. And I mean, COMMUNITY. Folks 'round the net with similar interests just don't hang with each other the way we do. I've been so busy, my social life was limited mostly to my clerical job at the hospital; not anymore, even though the job was what forced me out of MAGFest this year. Otakon or bust! Some of you know my recent family situation. I no longer have immediate family in this city anymore, so unless and until I'm no longer single, it's my co-workers and my OCR.

Almost. The first was at NYC Meetup 2005: Also in the ; very beginning of part 2. But yeah, no YTMND yet.

That's a bet, especially because (I realized this the other day; how quickly it comes 'round) by next MAG, this whole OCR thing will be rolling up to its tenth anniversary! zawmgg!

I fell asleep while editing some of these pics, so, at 4 in the morning, three hours before leaving for work, I'm catching up on the thread again: Here's a combined panoramic of pixie's group pics. And I said I would... BEARDFEST! I want you to say that next year so I don't feel so bad about this year. Sorry I missed everyone this time 'round, and sorry I missed meeting some more vgmusic veterans (Hale and Pong better come next time!) That exam I took seemed so easy I felt like a passing grade gets me updated to "moron." Being a certified clerical associate better be worth it. Wow, that guitar's been gathering sigs since Otakon. I like that mine can't be missed. I know there're some boldface names in there; someone have a full list?

Already did that; thank you. Have fun, folks. And record everything!

Begging Andy's pardon on that little box where my new headphones were that I meant to throw out. I managed to get everybody moving. As usual, best results on Firefox: And this is the clip of Doug and Shnamalamadingdong doing their thing on the piano at Guitar Center. Forgive the extra noise, and the sudden switch to grand from organ: http://bronxrican.com/stuff/misc/OCRNYCMeet112907b.mp3

I'm sorry I wasn't able to find time to case downtown for some ideas. But East Village is a great area to hang out. There should be no prob finding a good place to eat (I know at least one pizza/pasta joint with decent seating); St. Marks is full of "local-flavor" record/CD stores if anyone's interested; the Multimedia 1.0 store I used to love going to... turns out it's now the VideoGamesNewYork store whose stuff we saw being sold at Otakon last year (go figure), and I'd like to check the place out. And I've never been to Guitar Center, so, also cool. After Chinatown Fair, we should be good for the day. I'll be ready with maps if needed. Wes, Pes, and And should still have my cell #... that'll do. Weather out here, after an overnight rain, will be pretty mild for a winter day (50 for a high); jacket or OCR hoodie might be enough.

One of the highlights last year was Tauce and Bah going at it in Tetris Attack. Everyone, do not skimp on the pics and vids. I'll still "'shop" beards on everyone!

You're both terrible: it's not cake. You'll see next week.

Now there's an idea. But my surprise involves a little rum. Thanks, zirc, and yes, I'm coming.

Any room for me as well, Andy, especially now that MAGFest for me has fallen apart completely? I'm also gonna see about a special holiday surprise for everyone that comes... everyone of age, anyway...

I give up. Fate has been sabotaging my trip all year, and now the work is complete: a.) Saturday morning/afternoon's out because of my exam; b.) that schedule tells me that apart from the concerts, all the good stuff I've been looking forward to, including the panel, the meetup and the JamSpace, is on that Saturday morning/afternoon; c.) I've been told my request for that Thursday and Friday off is denied, because other co-workers have had those days since APRIL. So what's left? Late Saturday night and Sunday morning. I love you guys to death, but it's just not worth it. I'm officially out. That includes my beard. Apologies to Kroze for the late change in plans... let me know of any cancelling troubles. Any idea, anyone, concerning a refund of the registration fee, not that I mind too much, and does anyone know how upsetting to me are these hours of suck?

Still with you, Kroze, but likely just for two days. And, once I'm done taking pictures, I can "'Shop" beards on everyone regardless.

Goatees betta count. :-{)>

28 degrees isn't too bad as long as the wind stays down. And I'm not a fan of precip. But those of us who've been to Bah's NYC Meetups shouldn't have a problem. My update is as follows: I still do not know what I'll decide to do about Saturday and Sunday, because location and time of day of my civil service exam is a mystery until I receive my admission card in the mail, late next week. Disappointment is likely: the exam will probably take place morning of the 5th in the Bronx, and, apart from flying, there really isn't much FAST, early Saturday transportation from Virginia that'll get me to the exam in time. I may leave late Friday evening and not come back. I hope all the good stuff (panel, meetup, JamSpace) will be done before then. Will I miss the OneUps again?

So we don't get to see Sugar Bear turn into SUPER BEAR!!?

Generally being downtown smack in the middle of the holiday season is an eighth level of hell as far as crowding; it just can't be helped no matter where we decide to go, and the larger our group, the more difficult it'll be to get around and hang out. Avoiding that as much as possible is always a priority with me. I'm, of course, busy again, but I hope to help with a plan soon, and I still would like to see about getting my place ready for a select few of us, perhaps for overnight (I'm just a few blocks from Metro-North Fordham).

That's exactly what I've been talking about. Y'all gotta git 'er done. Personally, "Toejam and Fuckin' Earl" would be my choice too, and if so, I'm GRABBIN' that mike.

Stop looking in my direction! Gotta finish filling out my calendar and getting used to a new morning shift at work before I suggest a date.

It's cool with Don, so I'm with Kroze. Thanks a bunch to you guys for offering.

That's what I like to see: community involvement. I've already started, but I'm Mr. Old-Fashioned (still mostly pencil and paper and T-squares), looking for time to ink and cleanup and then scan.

I didn't realize... I PM'ed you a month ago asking what the situation was, and didn't hear from you. I'm now waiting to hear from Don to see about declining. In other news, options may be too thin for heading back to Manhattan early on the morning of the 5th. I hope things will work out.

You missed by seven years; where ya been? http://www.beatstreet.ca/product_info.php?products_id=703&artist=Cocoa+Brovaz

Green, if Jiggles' room is right at the MAGFest site, or about the nearest trainsportation (Amtrak), you can tell him I want in. Gotta solidify my plans soon.