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Long time no post... And surprisingly, I actually have something to talk about this time... aside from my love for rain.

First off, I've finally uploaded something new... another cover... because everything else I'm working on is gonna go on my album, and I don't wanna spoil it. But yeah... I didn't even know this song existed til I saw a Youtube video of someone playing a MIDI of it through Synthesia... I immediately downloaded it and learned it.
... Then I recorded myself playing it, and uploaded it... Cause it's pretty, that's all the reason I need.

Watch Me Bleed - Originally done by Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Give a listen, let me know what you think... Unlike a couple other piano pieces I have up right now, this one I actually played all the way through, very minimal editing... I deleted a couple of accidental extra notes and messed with the velocity a little bit because I haven't fine tuned my MIDI Keyboard velocity settings just right yet since I reinstalled Windows.

ALBUM UPDATE
Yep, still working on it... Funny story, while playing the cover above, it gave me an idea for a song for my album, a mellow piano piece, I'm also working on an orchestral metal song, as well as what might possibly be straight up metal.
At this point in time, I don't have any concrete plans for trance yet in regards to the album, although I do have a few unfinished projects lying around that may end up making the cut after I finish them.

As mentioned in the past, a donation will get you a copy of the album when I finish it (Minimum $1), you can use the link on the left side bar that's conveniently labeled "Donate!" to do so.

RANDOM STUFF
1: Diablo 3 is fun times.
2: I think my monitor or graphics card is dying... or god forbid... both.
3: I'll be changing the theme of my profile soon (Themed Black Rock Shooter now, previously was themed Yin from Darker Than Black). Am open to suggestions.
4: I'm trying to learn Moonlight Sonata.
5: The cover above is the first piano piece I've learned to play with hand over hand action.

I love the smell of rain.

That is all.

So, I'm working on a song for my album, and I've run into a bit of a dilemma... I started out with a 3 guitar melodic intro, that was going to build up into an epic orchestral metal verse... Then I replaced the 3 guitars with piano... Then I put the guitars back and wrote out a piano section on it's own based off of the riffs I was using in the intro, which ended up all on it's lonesome in FL Studio instead of me ending up exporting it to Midi to put into the song I was writing.

... Then I deleted everything and recorded what was originally my idea for the verse which ended up being the intro for a completely different song... Then I played a solo over it... hated it, deleted it... Played another one and sped it up x2 to see what it'd sound like at the speed I ideally wanted to play it at.

Then I started writing an orchestral piece based off of the piano thing I did earlier.

Then I realized I was having an ADD attack and saved everything and gave up before I flew through a million different ideas without actually getting anything done.
If nothing else... I at least have a bunch of ideas to flesh out now... Granted by the time I'm done this album, I'll probably have 5000 different song ideas laying around on top of whatever makes it onto the album itself.

And I think I had something else to talk about here... but it's completely slipped my mind at this point... so instead, I'll leave this sexy little link here:
Donate to get my album when it's released!

Also, new linkage over
<----- Here... Check them out!

As the title of this newspost suggests, I have a touchy topic in mind, that could very well turn people away.

What is it you ask?
Donations.

Yep, I'm touching on the topic of donations. Now before everyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not asking for anything, all I'm doing is providing the option.

In reality, there are 2 reasons I have opened up a donation box:
1: As a means for people to essentially "pre-order" the album I'm working on.
2: To help motivate me.

Number 1 is pretty straight forward and obvious, you donate, you get a copy of my album (Which was planned to be a pay what you think it's worth album anyways, so it all works out).
Number 2 is a bit trickier... Long story short, as implied by my last newspost, I have a hard time believing anyone enjoys my stuff... Why? I don't know, and I won't get into it.
But if people are donating, I have more of a reason to write, and write more often, which in the end should mean more quality stuff, sooner, instead of how I'll go into 2 month hiatus's from creating anything because I just don't feel there's any point.

Anyways, enough explaining... everything considered, I figured if nothing else, it was worth a shot at least once, if it flops, then whatever, I'll let it die until the album is released and open 'er back up again for purchases (If I don't decide to go through another source instead of doing things completely independent).

So, the moment of truth, the donation link, do with it what you will:
Donation Box

Points for no "Gimme money cause my life is hard" sob story?

PS:
If you do for whatever reason decide to donate, please let me know, so that I can add you to the list of people to receive a copy of my album whenever I finally finish it. And please note, only donations above $1 will get you a copy of the album... Admit it, you'd feel pretty insulted too if you someone paid $0.01 for your efforts.

So... I've been noticing recently that my stuff has been getting a lot more attention lately... Where did this sudden, seemingly random, boom of interest in my music come from?

Someone even said I was "popular" in chat a couple days back, to which I thought, "Me? Popular? Not possible."

Have I just been ignorant... clueless... about some increase in interest in my stuff? Or... what?

Someone explain, before I hurt myself trying to think over how this happened.

...And so the power struggle intensifies. This slippery slope seemingly insurmountable.

So, as I've hinted at in the past, I've been debating working on an actual album... And now, I've decided to actually release one.

... Catch is, it's not done yet. Far from it.

Although I do have some details to share regarding it:
1: I'm planning on releasing it as a "Pay what you think it's worth" album.
2: The album will include both old songs as well as album exclusive songs (Meaning they won't be obtainable anywhere but with that album).
3: I may or may not do a few hard copies on request... although since shipping then becomes an issue, there will be a set price (Undecided) for actual physical copies.
4: It will be a mix of genres, and not focus on just one style of music, if all goes well, it should be fairly equal between the genres.

And lastly, I'm taking requests for old songs you may want on the album... Any old song of mine that goes on the album will more than likely be remastered/remade to give it a bit more polish.

And that's all I've got for today. Feedback, comments, questions, concerns... Go!

Also... new "song":
Nightmare Lollipop
And Acid-Paradox's take on it!
Nightmare Kitty Kat

Completely random "gonna sit down and play piano" tune. A random name for a random song... it all works out.

... Ok, this newspost won't be as pointless as my last.

I'm going up to my hometown to visit my grandpa tomorrow. And I love Mass Effect 3.

See? Conversation fodder!

Also... as requested by 161425, the full picture of my icon:

...I made a newspost that was entirely useless... True story.

It was so much fun that I just had to laugh:

... That's what she said.

No, get your minds out of the gutter... I'm referring to the size of this newspost, it's gonna be a big'un. So you TL;DRers may as well bugger off now.

First things first, I am once again going to divide this newspost into sections, each labelled with the general theme of the news in that section, making it easier for people to read what they care about and skip over anything they don't. Anywho, here we go:

March / April Metal MAC
If you haven't seen it already, I am hosting the MAC ([bi]Monthly Audio Contest) for the months of March and April under the theme of Metal... Because apparently the community thinks I'm some kind of metalhead, no idea where they got that idea.

In any case, if you're at all interested in metal, I strongly suggest you give it a look here. That link leads to the main contest thread, where all the submissions will be... well.. submitted. There is also a discussion thread for questions, WIPs, and general chatter about the contest, generally, anything that's not an actual submission goes here.

The contest is officially sponsored by Newgrounds, so there are some pretty awesome prizes to be had for those that come out on top, I hope to see a lot of awesome submissions!

Music
So, I wanna ask you guys a question. How does a "pay what you think it's worth" album release from me sound?

Why do I ask? Well, I've been getting more and more people asking for me to actually put stuff on iTunes or even just put out an actual album. And while I'm not sure there's enough interest yet to warrant an iTunes release, there is enough that I may do an independent release letting you guys pay pretty much whatever the hell you want for it.
At this point in time, I'm thinking of making it a 6 or so song EP that will feature maybe half songs from my newgrounds profile for familiarity sake (And probably polished a bit extra) as well as a couple new songs that will be exclusive to the EP.
Or I can do a full album and include all 3 of the genres I do often (Metal, Trance, Classical), mixing things up a bit, also with a ratio of old and new songs (Again, exclusive to the album).

At this point, it's just an idea... I want to get an album done either way, but I figure I'd test the interest in it first and get some feedback on how varied or large an album/EP you'd expect.

Album aside, I've released a new song that I've yet to include in a newspost, so here it is along with a few other songs I'd love to get some more feedback on:
Angel Fall (Trance)
Above It All (Feat. Bad-Man-Incorporated) (Metal)
Tick Tock (Trance)
A Taste Of... Version 4 (Orchestral Metal)
Them (Classical)
Final Flight (Updated!) (Trance)
Yin (Classical)

Gaming
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
So, I recently picked up Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning... Of which I had 0 interest in until the day of release. I looked at some of the trailers and thought, "Meh... Just another Fable disappointment."

But being the open minded person I am, I downloaded the demo to give it a go anyways. And I was pleasantly surprised by what I got... So much so that I bought it. I definitely don't regret the purchase... I've spent probably a good 50 hours in the game, and I've barely touched the main story at all (I think I'm only like 3 quests in). There's so much freaking content that it almost puts Skyrim to shame. From what I've played so far of the main story, it actually seems to have a somewhat unique plot in regards to the cliche stories you often get in RPGs now-a-days. Having tons of fun with the game, an open ended RPG with action combat and the ability to respec any time you choose (Assuming you have the cash)... It's just awesome, and any RPG (Especially action RPG) fans should definitely check it out.

Tera
I've been out of the MMO scene for a while now, having been completely burned out on the traditional mechanics... Point, click, wait, loot, repeat. And I had 1 MMO on my radar... that was Guild Wars 2.
Now I know what you're thinking, "But BFP... This part is titled 'Tera'!"
And you're completely right, it is. Hear me out. I've been looking forward to Guild Wars 2 for a long time, touting it's action based combat system and unique gameplay systems that set it apart from all the other MMOs out there... I was impatiently waiting for this game.

Then Tera jumped out in front of me out of nowhere one day, and it was also touting an action combat system... In fact, there is no targeting in the game at all (Not in the traditional sense of cycling through targets anyways)... Nor is the game "I click my skills" friendly... In fact, it's practically impossible to play without all your skills keybound or play using a plugged in controller. You have to aim your abilities, there's no RNG targeting miss or hits here... even healing has to be done by aiming at your party members.
I went ahead and preordered the game (Releasing May 1st) and got into the second beta weekend event... And it's the most fun I've had with an MMO in a long time... Combat isn't a grind, it's actually entertaining, and the more skills you get, the more awesome it gets as you start jumping, flipping, warping all over the battlefield dodging your enemies while blasting away at their health as you would in a God of War game.

I'm really looking forward to the games release now and I've pretty much all but lost interest in Guild Wars 2 as it is still far, far off. I'm hoping the game stays fresh all the way to the level cap, and PvP at end game seems like it'll be quite fun.

Battlefield 3
Not too much to say about this one... you all know what it is, so I shouldn't need to link to a game page... But I do want to say, the game is a lot more fun now that I don't suck horrendously at it.

And honestly, I would probably still suck horrendously at it if it wasn't for this guy.
He's posted a ton of tips and tricks videos for the game, and I've watched almost all of them... Before watching his videos, my average K/D in game was like 0.5 (Gross... I know). After watching, I've been averaging more around 1.5-2.0 (No joke). Surprisingly, the tip that made arguably the biggest impact on how well I play was turning my mouse sensitivity WAY down. I was always under the impression that "pro players" used high sensitivity so they could adjust quickly and pop people in the face behind them before they get a second bullet into your back. Boy, was I ever wrong. My sensitivity in game is about half of what it was prior... and now I'm picking people off like crazy. I can't turn around nearly as fast... but like RivalxFactor says in his mouse settings video... if they're behind you, you're probably already dead anyways.

Now that I don't suck so much, I'm having a blast playing the game... Although I still suck at flying jets/helicopters.

Miscellaneous
Not too much to share in this section... except this one really bad ass song I found on youtube... and immediately got into my playlist:

And just because I don't wanna leave it at just a single item in the Misc. section... Here's a cute gif for your viewing pleasure: