Music Makes the World Go Round 0 comments

I had an epiphany last night. Granted, last night I was in Sportsters/Spoons/Firkins/almost City (granted, we only walked through the back entrance of Spoons, and then through the front because it was so bloody busy), and I had had a few drinks and was liable to be talking a load of shit, but I'm almost sure this happened.

So me and Nick were happily sitting there, listening to that weird/random curly haired man singing/dancing for the 40th time, and he stops. Then, suddenly Cheryl Cole comes on in the background. And this brings me to my epiphany. Simultaneously, we both suddenly realised (well, maybe not suddenly, I kinda thought so since forever) that the Cole-meister is crap. Like, seriously, how did she go from slapping random toilet attendants to, as now dubbed by the media, 'the nations sweetheart?' It just seems wrong, primarily because her solo songs pretty much suck. Granted, they do have a pretty good beat to dance around to, but said beat was probably created from the memories of Sophie Amogbokpa being punched in the face over and over in her head. That may have been a bit harsh.

But, my point is, how come the so called 'music idols' that have emerged in 'noughties' are all pretty poor? I mean, there have been so many emegerences (is that a word?) of new bands that have well outdone people like Subo or the Cole-meister - granted, these opinions are nothing but personal to me, though I'm sure they're shared by tons of others. And plus, stuff like the X-Factor (I'll admit it myself, even I get hooked on it) just promotes really, really manufactured and crap music, year in and year out. I mean, think about it. Burke-meister aside, has any other X-Factor winner really gotten anywhere? Joe may have an album coming out or whatever, but what's he done? Granted, I don't really follow all of that so he might've done a lot that's not to my knowledge, but I don't see him sparking the hearts of thousands and becoming some idol. I really wish, for music, that I was alive aaages ago, when INXS or Van Halen, or The Cult were all the rage - now that would be good.

But the point is, if I was live back then, would those bands be open o the exact same interpretation? D'you reckon bands like The Beatles acted the exact same way idols do today? D'you think there was a small time band trying to get recognised constantly, but was always blocked by the fame of all these other massive bands? Or, do you think people just thought the exact same as I'm thinking now? They probably did. And don;t get me wrong here, I'm not attacking all the music that came from the noughties, nor am I being one of them 'mainstream music is shit' arseholes, all I'm saying is that, truthfully, the days of amazing 'pop idols' must be well and truly gone, especially when some of ours are just so poor.

But, as is the case with all music, it's completely open to personal interpretation. This rant is coming from a guy who has INXS, The Beatles, Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida and Kanye West in the same library. And there's tons of people like that. And I'm not saying I hate every song that's ever came out of the noughties, I just don't see how so many of them are loved so much that they become the songs that define these years. Because, personally, the music that made those ten years so great for me wasn't produced by Simon Cowell (though saying that, it probably was considering he owns half the fucking planet), nor was it given to someone for winning a competition in front of an ecstasy-enduced audience. And I'm trying so, so hard not to sound like a music snob here, because I bloody hate music snobs, but that's just my opinion.

Anyway, I'm off. I fancy listening to some will.i.am.

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Now playing: Rogue Wave - Cheaper Than Therapy
via FoxyTunes

Back In The Swing 1 comments

As the title suggests, I really need to/am going to get back in the swing of posting stuff this year, seeing as I really haven't since 2010 rolled in. I don't really have much of an excuse other than general laziness, but the Easter holidays are coming up soon, so maybe I'll get some more stuff done then. And some Easter eggs.

Well, I got absolutely no sleep last night. Not a wink. I hate it when that happens. You jump into bed at a semi-reasonable hour, and you know you're tired, your mind knows you're tired...but as soon as those lights go out and your head hits that pillow, suddenly, your brain begins to speak to itself. And who knows what you're talking about. And also, the last two episodes of OTH S04 drew me back towards my laptop...so that may have something to do with it.

Anyway, updates-wise, Black Sky the game is chugging along extremely slowly, though I've finished a couple more maps and areas since the last screenies were up, namely Silenz, Koriezia and the Rish'haad Catacombs. They're all looking pretty good actually, my mapping seems to have gotten a lot better recently, and the RPGVX RTP isn't exactly the best to map with. Saying that, their are some Mack tiles mixed in their, but who cares. All in all, actually, I'd say the mapping (without events) is about 35% (?) done, I still have the mammoth mapping that will be the mountains, the many mountain caverns, underground cities and a holy city atop said mountain. They'll probably take the most time, after that it's just another few palette locations (a few more deserts/forests/highways etc), one or two big cities then the final 'continent' to map. And that should be the mapping done.

I don't really want to turn this into a dev blog for Black Sky, but while I'm on the subject I may as well ramble on. The main issues right now are enemies - so, if you're still here, some opinions would be lovely. RPG wise, how do you like your enemies to grow? Do you prefer them FF7/9 style, each with set levels and stats so your party can encounter them at a reasonable stage? Or, do you prefer FF8, when then enemies actually levelled up with you? I'm kinda stuck between them the now, 'cause I like the idea of levelling monsters, though the only problem is if you create a really strong random encounter that's designed for later on in the game, by the time you actually get there, that random encounter will be waaay stronger. Of course there are ways around this, but still...lets hear your opinions.

Another point I'd quite like to share is that, following numerous database changes and arguments and mishaps, I'm going to make MY OWN bestiary. Well, it is my story (Auron moment much?), so I reckon rather than trying to recycle other FF bestiaries I should try my own. I'm already using the FF12 equipments and states, and skills seem to be all recycled from a multitude of FF games. Saying that, that'll change when the actual pen on paper story gets further along and the language of the Mrist is further developed and I actually have names for spells and such, rather than the oh so cliche Fire, Fira, Firaga...etc. On the topic of Skills actually, they're all completely finished (names aside), minus a lot of damage testing and tinkering. Items are all done too, so all that's left is the bestiary, mapping, and writing the damn story at some point. I may finish Chapter Two today, come to think of it...

As for scripts, many of the YERD ones that were being used have been replaced or gotten rid of completely, and I'm using the new ported YEZ ones. I got rid of the cacophony of incompatibility that was Tankentai and switched to Reedo's simple SBS, at least until Yanfly's Battle Engine Melodies is out...it looks delicious.

Anyway, if you're still here then I congratulate you, I just needed to vent my ideas. Sorry about the horrendousness that is this post, but I can feel my eyes closing, so I think I may have a snooze before attempting to write anything.

Next week, raccoons! A large, inordinate and altogether useless number of raccoons!
xxx

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Now playing: Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow
via FoxyTunes