ArmadonRK

For me, it was a year and a half ago, when he showed up on SNL. I saw his performance and said, "Oh my god. How did we forget about this guy?" We did, after all, as a culture. In our societal memory, Prince had been largely forgotten. And for the last two years, on and off, I've been telling people, "Hey, remember Prince? He's worth remembering." Maybe it's because of his streak of being an "asshole" or an "eccentric", his zealous protection of his work from showing up online where it's accessible and memorable. That his work couldn't be streamed anywhere, couldn't be found on YouTube, it prevented access to his music by those who didn't hear of him when they were young, it prevented a memetic resurgence of his popularity in a culture of viral phenomena. And it amazed me that we had largely let go of this artist no less talented, no less influential than the mainstays of our musical heritage. Dylan, MJ, the Beatles, Hendrix, and so many others. Maybe it was his personality, his ardor in keeping his work from the world. But we shouldn't have let that stop us. I remember immediately after that SNL performance going out to buy Plectrumelectrum. I remember listening to what little of his music I knew already, and listening to so much of his work for the first time. So I understand all this "bandwagon mourning". We forgot about him. I don't think that should stop us from remembering him now. Hopefully this time we won't let him go so easily. I remember one Internet comment about Prince after that SNL performance, and it's become my favorite way to proselytize ever since. "Prince is your favorite musician's favorite musician." Rest in peace. And be remembered.

Ekko's gonna be another Yasuo. He's definitely overtuned right now, but not nearly as much as everyone is whining, and he will guaranteed get overnerfed by the time Riot's done with him. I will say he has too strong an early game for how well he scales. His W is so hard to land, I don't know why you're having so much trouble with it. You have to place it 3 seconds in advance, and the field lasts for a blink of an eye, most of the time you'll miss the stun, the .5 second notice is enough time for most players to dodge it. It's definitely nice in a wombo, though. As it stands, I think the strong stun is a good reward for how hard it is to actually use effectively. The shield is too strong, though. I'd say nerf it from 80% AP to 60% and see how that flies (though i can see it going as low as 40%). It's his passive that's bonkers. 40% for 2 seconds at level 1, scaling up to 80% for 3 seconds? That's a slow for your target AND a speed boost for you. I think it could be cut in half (20% at level 1 to 40% at level 18), but I think it's better to shave a full second off the duration at all levels, and only cut 20% at max level, really focus him in on an assassin pattern rather than sustained hyper carry. But ALSO cut the base damage on his passive, to give him a more vulnerable early game. His E is the definition of mobility creep, but I don't think that represents as much a problem with Ekko as with the overall state of the game. So yes, he needs some significant changes, but I don't think he's nearly as strong as people are saying. That said, I like his kit. He's fun to play and fun to play against because he's all about making use of interesting mechanics available to you. I like him for the same reasons I like Yasuo. Playing with or against him is more about outplaying your opponent than outplaying their champion.

You let genres other than verifiably and definitively Techno past the judges' panel? This is an affront to musicianshipicalitinessitude. Me, too.

from Dust: An Elysian TailProbably one of my all time favorites. It's currently sitting as my most listened to track for all of 2014, according to WinAmp. Dust is littered with haunting and beautiful pieces. Falana, Gone Home, but most of all: .The guitar solo is just so jam-packed with feeling, sometimes I just listen to it over and over again. from Sonic Adventure 2Sonic Adventure 2 does some wonderful work with recurring themes and motifs, most notably the Main Riff from the game's intro, which goes through a few iterations during the games cutscenes, then resolves in the vocal track Live & Learn during the final boss battle. However! I am partial to a secondary riff, the "teamwork" motif that also gets its fair share of time throughout the game, culminating in Cooperation, when the Hero and Dark campaigns intersect and *SPOILER* the game's heroes and villains have to work together to succeed. *END SPOILER* Following up on Native Jovian's point, my favorite scores come from the repetition and variation of themes. The theme or piece that evolves is the most powerful. (Oh, did I mention that Everdawn Basin's guitar solo is a take on a melody from Cirromon Caverns, an earlier track in the game? Yeah, I have a thing for recurring motifs...) On that note: (Halo: Combat Evolved) (Halo 2) (Halo 3) (Halo: Reach)When Another Walk kicks in at the end of Released, with the drums and the chorus... :'( It's certainly not the only such case of recurring themes and motifs in the Halo franchise, but I think this one, being as mellow as it is, is among the most under-appreciated. But I could spend thousands of words and many, many hours on this topic, so I'm going to shift to a couple of my favorite stand-alone pieces. from Sonic AdventureIt's mostly very chill and relaxing, but as you will have noticed, I love an emotional guitar solo. from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's MaskWhen it gets to the end of the day, and this comes on, it really forces me to think about all the people of Clock Town, and I can really feel the tragedy of their story. from MotherIf this cover from the soundtrack release is "cheating", let me just say that every single version of this piece is beautiful.

Oh man, oh man, I am really digging this! I'm glad I waited until the whole thing was out to listen to it, I would have driven my self crazy waiting if I had jumped right in before the whole soundtrack was up. Really, it's just damn good.

1. Banjo & Kazooie 2. Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic) 3. Boo (Mario) Banjo-Kazooie 2015! Banjo for America! [shape-]Change We Can Believe In! What Do You Really Know About Gruntilda Winkybunion? Okay, okay, I'm done now. #VoteBanjoKazooie

I know plenty of folks here are already familiar with Savant, this is where I first found out about his music, and so are probably already on the ball, but I just wanted to ask if anyone else was as hung up on this album as I am? http://shop.savantofficial.com/album/zion His YouTube channel has all the tracks up as well. https://www.youtube.com/user/winterpiss/videos Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed all of his albums, but the last few have pretty much just been great, without inspiring much more from me than that. I don't feel like his stuff has really gotten under my skin like this in a while. Protos, Orakel, Cult, heart, Overkill, Alchemist, ISM; they all had their share of standout tracks and were solid throughout, but I haven't felt that every single track on the album was a mindbending masterpiece like this in a long time, since Overworld, Vario and Ninur. Or maybe it's just personal taste, and the influence of Middle Eastern folk music on the album is appealing to me. But there's something special about this one...

That's because there are valid complaints. No, exposure is not completely worthless. But most of the time people are asking for free work, they are not giving you exposure that is worth the opportunity cost. I would consider this "opportunity" to be such a case. But that's up to the individual to decide. Besides, there's a legitimate concern of perpetuating the undervaluing of musicians. I think we can all agree that's a real problem. This is a ludicrous comparison. There is a clear and obvious difference between doing pro bono work as a working professional and soliciting unpaid labor from said professionals. Safety-net clinics and pro-bono law work are not the same as "opportunities" for musicians, so let's please not pretend they are. By the way, "pro bono" doesn't simply mean free. It means "for the public good". Yes, there are opportunities for exposure that are worth taking for little or no pay. But what fraction of solicitations of free work are those really? If anyone finds value in this opportunity, they are free to take it. Each can decide the value of their work and the opportunities available to them on his or her own. EDITING IN: A clarification on how I don't believe this "exposure" is worth it. 35 thousand Twitter followers sure sounds impressive, if you're just running a private Twitter account, but compared to really high exposure channels? But how much exposure is that really? Anyone in PR/social media stats/analysis will tell you that not all of those subscriptions translate into attentive followers, and only a fraction of those translate into actual regular listeners of the radio program. Then consider the demographics of a niche/novelty conservative radio program. What ages, what professional fields, what people is this reaching? Is this a political or professional demographic you are trying to reach as a musician? "Significant" exposure, "not a small force", "growing in both audience and presence" are not confidence inspiring statements when soliciting free work. I'm not trying to be an asshole, but I think questioning the value of such an opportunity is a legitimate course of action. I'm not reading about an opportunity that would excite most composers to jump on board for the exposure. I'm reading the usual doublespeak from someone trying to oversell themselves and wrangle free work from professionals.

Not sure how I managed to miss this, but I would have loved to get in on the action. At least I'll put my name out there as interested in case a spot opens up.

I hadn't encountered any CDs through regular play, and then found a tedious but effective farming method for CDs. Mew drops trophies/CDs/wrench-bags, so Master Balls only on high, given enough time nets you quite a few CDs if you have the patience, or a Netflix queue to occupy you while you mindlessly throw Pokeballs for an hour. In a 99-stock game I net 6 new tracks. I always found Ness to be really strong in 64. His Melee and Brawl counterparts were much weaker, but he is looking pretty solid in his latest iteration.

Hmmm, okay, we'll make it 5/10. http://smashboards.com/threads/every-song-confirmed.379362/ Never mind, still no Sonic Boom, now no Fountain of Dreams as well; 0/10. On a more serious note: Yoshi is a complete monster now, and I'm happy with that. Some of my favorite non-Fox characters now seem solidly competitive (Ness, Link, Samus, et al.) while old favorites are still strong (Fox, Sheik, Zero Suit Samus, etc.) if not all top-tier. The new additions are mostly equally fun and viable, save for Mega Man, who is sadly terrible. I hope he gets buffed up soon. But Yoshi is just ridiculous. He's fast, he's strong, he has a good air game, he can juggle, he can spike, and he's not a lightweight. I always forget how heavy he is because he just seems like he'd be a lightweight to me, then I get into a match and I'm tanking killing blows at 100% and up. Also he has the best new costume in the game. Yes, Black Yoshi is better than Fierce Deity Link and you know it.

I was really enjoying this game a lot up. The 3DS version played like that perfect balance between Melee and Brawl, and I was preparing for what would likely be the best in the Smash Bros franchise. I fired up the Wii U version and had a blast with the speed and fluidity of the game, with its truckload of characters, stages and items. This was definitely my favorite installment in the franchise so far, fixing the problems Brawl had without slipping back into the same mistakes Melee made as well. I buckled down for a full evening of play in order to unlock all the hidden characters and stages before inviting my friends to join me, and the real Smash would begin. During a short break on my unlocking journey, I popped my head into Sound Test. Sonic Boom was missing. DK Rap was missing. 0/10; worst Smash Bros ever.

Absolutely not. I probably shouldn't have peeked in this thread at all, then I wouldn't have been tempted to put in my two cents, but I figure I might as well. Anita Sarkeesian has been very calculated from the beginning. She is that brand of 'journalist' that has defined the modern mainstream media. The kind that quickly realized how sensationalism sells. Sarkeesian's a pot-stirrer. She's an attention seeker. Her frail attempts at "feminism" are extremely well thought out. She has been intentionally crafting controversy around herself from the start to build her brand. Every view, every link, every share, every argument in every comments section is publicity. As the saying goes, "There's no such thing as bad press." It's not strictly true, but it sums up the current state of affairs quite well. If your name is out there, if it's everywhere, it doesn't matter what agenda you're pushing as long as you keep people talking about you. Hold their attention as long as you can. I won't say whether she does it for the attention, or the money. It's at least one, it could be both. All I know is that Sarkeesian is a shameless and skilled self-promoter, but to call her a feminist or a journalist or a critic is a joke. That said, these people exist everywhere. The worst that I can say of Sarkeesian is that she deserves only to be ignored. Just as I simply choose not to tune in to Bill O'Reilly, I will never again click my way over to Feminist Frequency. But I can't imagine that Sarkeesian could have predicted the vitriol that would come from all this. The way the GamerGate tag has played out disgusts me. If Sarkeesian never warranted more than to be ignored, the bigots of GamerGate deserve to be publically identified and shamed. The hatred and poison that has been uttered from under that banner is inexcusable. "But that's not what GamerGate is about!" you might say. I've had that conversation before, a few months back. My brother was telling me how reasonable parties were working towards reforming Hamas from the inside, and that was the great hope for the region. But they're still under the banner of Hamas, I told him. Who are the vocal and active members of that group? Many nationalists and socialists in the Nazi party were not Hitler. But they aligned themselves under the wrong banner. Whether it's GamerGate, or FeministFrequency, or the Gawker network, you've aligned yourself under the wrong banner. What's saddest about it all is that sexism is an important issue we need to tackle right now. Issues of gender and equality are hot button topics today, and I'm thrilled to see these issues get the attention they need. Sarkeesian, Kotaku, GamerGate, they are not the attention these issues need. They are not addressing the very real issue of sexism in media, games, movies, music, literature, the workplace, at home, across the globe. No, they are all cherry picking the controversies that will get them views, links, attention. None of them are concerned with tackling sexism, or journalistic ethics, or whatever else is their buzzword-of-the-day. Not really. And I wish they'd all shut up, so that the adults could go back to trying to make the world a better, safer place for people of all genders and kinds.

I've read that Target Blast and Trophy Rush are the fastest way to get the custom moves. I've gotten a few moves reasonably quickly that way, but it requires a hefty coin investment, so I ran out and now need to restock. My Friend Code: 4768-7781-9668

I recently made the mistake of telling some friends of mine that I never got through Gurren Lagann because I found the first half of the series to be unquestionably terrible. Now I've committed to watching the series in its entirety with the goal of dissecting it episode-by-episode and delivering a paper explaining why I think it's a bad show, while my friends are hoping that getting through the series in its entirety will make me change my mind. I haven't yet seen Rurouni Kenshin, though it comes highly recommended. I did see the first live-action film, which was really good, so I mean to get around to it. Bleach is absolutely worth it, in my opinion, IF you have the patience to wade through the heap of shonen tropes and cliches. It's got the obnoxiously long fights, the unbearable mid-fight monologuing, the constant powerlevel one-upping, blah blah blah blah blah. But from the visual style to the subtext, it has some of the most incredibly well-crafted characters you'll find in anime, and is one of the thematically strongest series I've ever watched, topped off with a rather superb sense of humor throughout. It's a series I'm so glad I watched once, and have fond memories of, but doubt I will ever have the patience to sit through again. What's good about Bleach isn't just good, or great. It's phenomenal, it's deep, and it's intelligent. And it's buried under a mountain of mediocrity by way of tropes, cliches and conventions of the genre.