So it's time for a random 3am newspost.

I have just finished watching "Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai", and I gotta say, very few shows (Although Angel Beats is way up there as well) have pulled at my heart strings as much as this one did. It's been a long, long time since I've watched something that made a tear roll down my cheek, but this show did it.

Since there's no synopsis on the page (Since it's a brand spanking new show), I'll give a brief description:
Jinta Yadomi (Often called "Jintan") is a highschool (I know, cliché setting) kid and a hikikomori. And the story kicks off with him being pestered by a dead childhood friend (Menma, of which only Jinta can see her). After Menma's death, the group of 6 friends of which both Jinta and Menma were a part of grew apart and are living separate lives.
But after Jinta shows an interest in helping Menma pass on to heaven, the group slowly rekindles their friendship in a struggle to grant Menma's last wish.

Overall, it's a very heart wrenching story, especially near the conclusion as it becomes an extremely emotional show. I'd greatly recommend it to anyone who loves tear jerking anime... I'd dare to call it a "tragedy", but really, it's more sad in a heart warming way, and it pulls it off very well.

The only other show I've ever seen that had me this emotional was Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, which had me near tears numerous times throughout the 14 episodes.
If it wasn't for the god awful ending of H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ which ruined the entire series for me... I'd greatly recommend that as well... Unless you watch up to the credits of the last episode and then stop before the horrible conclusion, then by all means, give it a shot.

Also, I apologize for missing this weeks Weekly Picks, I was not feeling well over the weekend, so I never got around to looking for stuff to feature. I will make sure I don't miss next week though!

So, I've been in somewhat of a weird funky mood lately, I feel happy, but I have the strongest urge to write the saddest music I've ever written. Maybe it's because I've been listening to a lot of very emotional music lately which I'll list off below for those that are curious as to what I've been listening to. Maybe it's just because that's how I write, I simply don't write "happy music"... I'm capable of it, but I have to force it, and I don't enjoy it nearly as much.

What can I say? The feeling I get from slower emotional songs is like I've died and gone to heaven compared to happy, upbeat stuff I'm like, "Hey, that was catchy.. moving on..."

Which is kind of odd, because I do listen to a fair bit of upbeat pop type stuff along side the slower stuff... Actually, the stuff that isn't slow and emotional greatly outweighs the slow and emotional stuff in my music library... Metal, Trance, Happy Hardcore, Dubstep, Jrock/pop, etc. Could be because I seem to have a hard time finding those certain slower songs that really strike a chord with me... but when I do find one, I grip it as hard as I can and never let go.

Anywho, here's a short list of stuff I've been listening to that has likely put me in this mood:

Sugao - Midori Tsukimiya
Had just finished watching Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka, and when this song played in the last episode, I just had to have it, I went rabid to find a high quality version of the song... Which I did, and I've been listening to it nearly non stop.

Last Night, Good Night - Hatsune Miku
This was one of the very first songs I heard after discovering Vocaloids, and to this day, is still one of my favorite songs... ever. This song also heavily inspired the creation of Them.

1000 Words - FFX-2 (English version Feat. Jade from Sweetbox)
FFX-2 was not a great game, but I will admit, when this song played in game, I shed a tear. I absolutely love the way it was orchestrated.

Aimo - Megumi Nakajima (Macross Frontier OST)
Believe it or not, the plot of Macross Frontier almost entirely revolved around this one song... But not in a bad way, it actually worked, and the show was awesome... As well as the song (Which I am currently learning the piano version of).

Shade - Draw The Emotional
Dunno what to say about this one... this is the song that basically inspired what I did with Dream Part One.

Lilium - Noma Kumiko (Elfen Lied OST)
You all already know how much I love this song, I have a piano/music box cover of it up on my profile.

City Lights - Motionless In White
Amazing band, amazing song. Metal bands that are capable of writing stuff like this instead of all heavy shit earn triple the respect from me than bands like Job For A Cowboy who are only capable of polluting the air with noise.

For Miles - Thrice
Ok, so this one isn't slow and emotional all the way through, but I still love it. I also tried learning the piano part to this one... Didn't happen... And probably won't anytime in the near future.

There's no doubt more that I'm forgetting, but those are the highlights.

And that concludes my random newspost of the week. Be sure to check out my weekly picks for this week as well!

PS:
I finally finished the main story of Disgaea 4... Took me approximately 63 hours game time to do so, and that was with minimal time in the item/chara worlds. Now time to unlock all the bonus characters in post game! Working on Etna right now... but she's kicking my ass.

PPS:
I have also just reuploaded my latest song Stay Thy Hand with a couple minor tweaks to the mixing, check it out if you haven't already and let me know what you think!

I know, I know, I'm a little late this week... I'll be honest, I got Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten on Tuesday, and I've been having a hard time putting it down, over 40 hours in the game in less than a week, and I've yet to beat it, which is crazy, most games barely last me 10-20 hours... I swear, I've never sunk that much time into a single game without playing anything else on the side, like... ever. But it's just that much fun, I just love collecting the characters, upgrading them, unlocking the better version then reincarnating to level it all over again just to have a bit better stats for the road ahead... It's addicting.

And to make things worse, I had been eyeing Cross Edge for a while, and finally broke down and ordered a used copy (Because I couldn't find anything else) from Gamestop... I'm a real sucker for SRPGs of pretty much all kinds, so I could see myself disappearing from the world between these two games for a while.. but I'll make sure I still put up my weekly picks next week as well, so don't worry.
...I should also keep working on the songs I have on the go...

Gaming aside, I hit up Red Lobster for endless shrimp last night, stuffed my face pretty good... As much shrimp as I want for $20? Yes please... I swear, the staff there knows me and my buddy by our first names by now, since every year we go clean them out when endless shrimp rolls around. The aftermath is never pretty, but it's completely worth it.

Also, for those that haven't already, you should definitely head over to my Youtube page and subscribe! I hadn't paid much attention to my youtube channel, but recently my stuff has been getting more and more popular with youtubers (Mostly via Minecraft videos for whatever reason)... So I figure I may as well start paying it a bit more attention.
Who knows, maybe once I hit a certain number of subscribers I'll start putting up live videos instead of just songs with pictures (Already debating doing that with my latest song "Stay Thy Hand").

Anyways, enough babbling, it's time for my weekly picks:

Song of the Week:
Artist: Lashmush
Song: Darkness In Me (Symphonic Edit)
Purgatory Comment:
Yes, I usually feature underrated stuff (This song is more popular than anything I have up), but this song is just too epic for me not to feature it. I have a real soft spot for orchestral metal, and while I usually prefer clean(ish) vocals, the overall layout of this song just gave me a complete eargasm.

Art of the Week:
Artist: duplex2
Art: Untitled 3
Purgatory Comment:
I don't know how this doesn't have any reviews yet (I'll be leaving one once I get the weekly stuff taken care of). It has a real gritty, dark fantasy feel to it, and I've always been a fan of dark fantasy, especially when it's gritty. Got an ever so slight cyberpunk feel to it as well, without completely destroying the original premise of the overall picture.

So, unlike last week, I actually have something to talk about this week before I move on to my picks for Art/Audio of the Week.

So, for starters, last week I finished a new song, which is probably the longest I have ever spent on a song in one sitting (Approximately 16 hours straight recording). It's also likely the most polished metal song I've ever done, maybe it's the inclusion of bass, maybe it's the fact that I spent a lot more time on the drums... or maybe I just didn't suck it up as much as I usually do on guitar. In any case, do give it a listen and let me know what you think:
Stay Thy Hand

Secondly, so... Disgaea 4 releases this week. And I'm kind of on the fence about how I feel about that. Not because I'm skeptical of the quality of the game... I know it will be awesome. Because, you know... it's Disgaea.
Really, I'm up on the fence about how I feel about that because I procrastinated with my preorder... If I had preordered earlier like I usually do, I would have the game already, because they screwed up the schedule or something and shipped the preorders early, and a lot of people got the game this last Wednesday (This coming Tuesday is the official release, so practically a week early). But for whatever reason, I didn't preorder early like I usually do.
So now... Not only do I have to wait, I may have to wait a week PAST the release date because NIS America ran out of stock and isn't expecting the next shipment to go out until the 9th... instead of for the release on the 4th. So I'm debating cancelling my preorder (I don't need the OST that bad) and picking it up at EB games or something instead on Tuesday.
Either way though, I'm really looking forward to playing it... Always loved the over the top nature of the Disgaea franchise.

And lastly, I would like to ask you guys something, how many of you like my music enough to pay for it? Someone brought up selling stuff on iTunes in a recent review, and while I'm not planning on doing so right away, I'd like to get a feel for where I'm at on the matter. Because it's not free to get stuff on iTunes, and I'd have to make well over 350-400 sales in the first year to make any profit after all the costs.
Let me know! Should the feedback be good, I may end up doing so sooner (Although not likely before I finish one of my fabled albums).

Finally, here are my picks of the week!

Song of the Week:
Artist: Preyfour
Song: Limitless
Purgatory Comment:
Preyfour is someone I ran into while doing a modding session, and I was absolutely blown away by his way of mixing 8-bit and dubstep, it really feels like a fresh take on 2 popular genres... Mixed together.

Art of the Week:
Artist: ZakkVanBurace
Art: Midnight Melody
Purgatory Comment:
I originally came across Zakk while looking for some art to put on my latest video on youtube, and I was blown away by the quality of his submissions, while anime is an extremely popular style, he still seems to manage making it unique in his own way without resorting to ridiculous tactics such as skewed proportions or cheesy gimmicks.
To top it off, I'm a musician, an otaku, and I absolutely love the violin as an instrument, so it's only natural that I would enjoy this piece. Very clean and detailed piece that deserves more attention that it's getting.

So, I've been playing around with a few new riffs lately, and I finally stopped procrastinating and recorded them... To top things off, I didn't just record a small sample like I usually do.. You know, typical couple guitar tracks and a drum track that is barely more than a click track. I went all out and spent the better majority of the day recording. Not only did I spend a lot more time on the drums, I even went the extra mile and included a bass part, any of you who follow me know how big of a deal that is. I almost never put bass in my songs.

Even better... It's a complete song, there is no next version (Unless I at some point decide to put vocals on it, but I'm pretty happy with it as it is), it's a full 4 minute song, no waiting required.

Give 'er a listen and let me know what you think! This is very likely the best straight up metal song I've ever done, so I'm looking forward to a lot of feedback!

That aside, if you haven't already, do check out my picks for best Art/Audio of the Week in my previous newspost, found here.

Another week, another post.

Usually I'd include something here about how my week went... but this last week wasn't all that exciting (Except that I'm really looking forward to Disgaea 4, epic-parody-strategy-RPGs FTW), so instead, I'll ask you guys how your week went. So?

Song of the Week:
Artist: ZStriefel
Song: The Journey Home
Purgatory Comment:
I don't know what to say, this song just makes me want to go slay a dragon.

Art of the Week:
Artist: cristianemi
Art: early spring fog
Purgatory Comment:
Simple, atmospheric, and yet, touchingly complex in execution. This picture caught my eye, and won't let me look away, something about it is just fascinating.... Mesmerizing.

Another week gone by, which means it's time for more weekly picks!

But first, I'll take a little time to blab about what I've been up to (Or what I haven't been up to).
For starters, I've finally uploaded a cover of my playing To Zanarkand (Found here), originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu for the game Final Fantasy X. If you're a gamer, chances are you are familiar with this song, it's become quite a hit... So much so that even gamers that haven't played FFX still know of the song, it's just that damn awesome. And after months of learning to play it (Yes, I suck that much), I'm finally to a point where I can play it all the way through with little to no mistakes.

To Zanarkand aside, yesterday was my Bday, hurrah... Spent the day with my best friend chilling, biking, getting ice cream (Was damn hot out), and then nerding out on Magic: The Gathering. Never been much of one to have a party for my Bday, I'd much prefer to just hang out with a friend or two.

And I'd also like to go be all sappy again and say thanks to all those leaving me awesome reviews, some of them are really touching, and I appreciate every one of them. Hopefully going into the future, I'll continue to be able to meet the standards I feel I should meet to keep you guys happy with what I do.

Anyways, enough with the me talk, it's time to promote some underrated artists! And as a quick note before I do so, if you guys come across anything in the Art or Audio Portals that you find is exceptionally well done and is not getting the attention it deserves, let me know! It's hard work sifting through all this stuff by myself to bring you these featured artists!

Song of the Week:
Artist: GronmonSE
Song: .:Metal Mob:.
Purgatory Comment:
It's no secret that I have a soft spot for orchestral metal, and mixing issues aside, this song just strikes that right chord with me... I'd complain that it's too short, but I get that very complaint a lot with my own stuff, so I probably don't have the privilege of doing so.

Art of the Week:
Artist: voxmortemcg
Art: Solid Bra
Purgatory Comment:
Not only do I think this piece is exceptionally well done (My biggest gripe being that she looks ridiculously bull legged), with all the fine detail in the armor, I love the statement it's making. If you're a gamer, movie goer, comic reader... Well... if you're into any kind of medium that has the possibility of a fantasy setting, you are probably all too aware of the cliché that most female characters have.
And that is, that chainmail/plate armor fashioned into a bikini is somehow supposed to be practical. And I love that voxmortemcg is challenging that thinking by giving a female character armor that actually looks like it would protect from a slight breeze.

First off, I have to thank you guys, as last Tuesday is the second time I have managed to get a song (-Dream P.1-) on the weekly tops list in the Audio portal, which is is flattering considering it's a song I didn't spend a ridiculous amount of time on, nor was it an extremely serious project. Was just one of those, "I feel like writing something today" type things. But apparently, I did well enough that it stayed up top long enough to make it onto weekly tops.
So... Thank you guys!

And now to keep my promise, bringing old tradition back, here are my weekly picks for both audio and art!

Song of the Week:
Artist: RetroEase
Song: Navi's Sacrifice
Purgatory Comment:
This was actually a submission I, personally, approved not too long ago, and was one of the few that I liked enough to PM the artist to show my appreciation. I'm not usually a fan of this style of music, however, the nerd in me just couldn't resist the awesome lyrics of the song.

Art of the Week:
Artist: Caine1989
Art: Miss Watson
Purgatory Comment:
So, I was browsing the Art Portal, looking for something worthy of my weekly pick, and this came up. My first thought was, "Dammit, the Art Portal isn't for photography."
But when I blew it up and took a closer look, I was blown away, it's a freaking painting. It takes a damn good painting to fool me... And this did it.
Touché Caine1989... Touché.

So, a while back, I had been doing a "Band of the Week" thing, where I had featured a band that I had found exceptionally talented and/or underrated. At the time I was only featuring bands outside of Newgrounds that I had found by various means. However, I would like to bring this back as Song of the Week, featuring 100% Newgrounds artists.
Being an audio mod, I get the pleasure of listening to hundreds upon hundreds of songs every week, so I figure if nothing else, I can always find a newcomer that could use a little exposure while I'm doing my modding.

What's the addition you ask? Well, I'm also a fan of the Art Portal, and while I'm by no means extremely active over there, in practice or social means, I figure I browse enough of the art that I can include an "Art of the Week" selection as well.

These picks will be chosen at my own discretion or by way of suggestions from members of the site. I won't necessarily be posting up the stuff I think is the best, but I'll be picking stuff that I feel is underrated or has a certain touch to it that just adds that little extra something, even if it's not a technical masterpiece.

But before I post up the reincarnation of my "Best of the week", I'd like to whore out my latest song first, give it a listen and let me know what you think!:
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /437760

Song of the Week:
Artist: zuperzNG
Song: Bit Beats

Art of the Week:
Artist: Syringes
Art: Skoll

So, those of you who follow me probably well know that I have a tendency to usually do 1 of 3 different styles of music, Classical (Be it dark, depressing, or simply calming), Metal (Traditional, Orchestral, or melodic), or Electronic (Trance usually, sometimes DnB and some stuff I don't know what to call).
Well, I was shooting to create another slow, calming classical piano piece with some light drums, maybe a choir, flute, violins, etc... But I had my guitar out because I was practicing my playing not long before I sat down to play around on my keyboard, and decided to try through guitar over the piano track I had instead.

And what do you know, I liked how it sounded, so I decided to throw in a chugging guitar part along with a simple, melodic lead.

This was the result:
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /437760

Give it a listen, let me know what you think!