In light of recent events, I have sustained a serious injury, it's so serious, that I am unable to post this as I am actually not here right now, you're all just imagining things.

Stop it, you cause me great pain imagining that I am here when I'm really not, but of course, I don't have any idea that this is happening, as I'm not really here. You see, I'm actually... really... and completely... but possibly not... somewhere that isn't here but is there in your minds.

So please... Stop posting imaginary newsposts in my absence, you're embarrassing yourselves!

Well, I mentioned this a while ago, but I decided to do a song with vocals in it, and I procrastinated a bit on the idea... And today I finally sat down and did a bit of recording.

This will be my first full song with vocals in it up on NG... Well... first full song with vocals period (I'm talking original BTW, I'm not counting covers). So you could say this is my very first attempt at singing something that isn't by another band.

Anything else I'd wanna say about it I put in the author comments, changes and what-not that will be coming in the next version, that sort of stuff..
Take a listen and let me know what you think:

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /434917

So, it's been a while since I've uploaded anything... So I figured I'd sit down and muck with FL Studio for a while today... and this is what came out:

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /433408

I also decided to throw in a section right at the end of me playing piano in roughly the same chord progression as the rest of the song... Why? Because I felt like it. This is now the second song I have on my profile of me playing the piano by hand as opposed to just programming it. I even left it un-quantized and in free form to "keep the emotion" of it, because no one loves a piano piece that's perfectly on time as if played by a robot.

On the note of piano, I've almost learned to play To Zanarkand all the way through (Read: I know how, I just can't do it consistently yet), and you can bet I'll upload a cover once I get that down, much like I did for Lilium.

I am also still working on that fabled "song with vocals"... slowly but surely.

When submitting to the audio portal for the first time, please, please... PLEASE, include more than a description like "my first song"... Tell us what you used to make it, VSTs, Programs, samples, loops, etc...

Nothing is more of a pain in the ass to approve than a track with a description like, "lulzsong" when the song sounds like a child prodigy made it. If you want to be approved in a timely fashion, give us a reason to believe you did the track!

Keeping on with the theme of my previous newspost, I have gotten started on my way to working on my business plan... Starting small, I currently only have a blog (Which still needs a lot of work), and a single post for my introduction.

Be sure to head over and check it out!

http://backfrompurgatory.blogspot.com/

TL;DR Version:
I'm thinking of starting up a review/blog site that would make me some coin by sales referrals for sites such as Amazon and/or Direct2Drive.

Read on for full details.

--------------------------------------

So, I'm sure it comes as no surprise, but musicians are generally poor folk, some having to choose between this months rent and food for a week. I'm no different, while I've been enjoying a boost in popularity (Which I'm eternally grateful for BTW), I've yet to make much, if any, money off of album sales (Mostly because I haven't put one out in AGES), and paying commission work is few and far between... Not to mention I'm still slowly treading my way up the Newgrounds revenue sharing system hoping to one day get a single paycheck out of it.

In any case, music being one of the very few things I enjoy in life, it's been difficult for me to find a job that I find even remotely interesting, as generally anything to do with music is ridiculously difficult to get into, because everyone that's ever touched an instrument wants a job in music. So I've been in and out of "safe" jobs for years now, security, maintenance, customer service, chef... From normal 8 hour days, to 12 hour nights... And nothing really stuck, while the shift work was pretty good money, it not only destroyed my social life (Har har, I'm implying I had one to begin with), but it was extremely exhausting constantly switching from days to nights and vice versa, and left me little time to work on my music.

So recently, I've been looking into alternatives, and I've stumbled upon something everyone has heard of and knows well... But I neglected to ever really think of it as a career. Affiliate Marketing.
Now, before you go all freaking out saying, "You mean those guys that just spam the internet with links to surveys and porn?!"
I'm talking about legit business, not the 12 year olds that have bots spam the internet with their survey links. I'm talking about running a website featuring reviews and articles on stuff (In my case) like games, movies, music, TV Shows, etc. You do a review of a product, and leave a link directing you to a site where you can buy it, should the person reading buy the product, the person reviewing it gets a cut of the profits.
In my searching around, I've found people (Quite a few people actually) that make a living doing this, and some make a killing, I read one case where someone claims to make upwards of $10,000/month (Granted, he also said it took him years to get to that point).

It's not a pyramid scheme, it's not something you need a ridiculous amount of schooling for (Granted you do need a little knowledge in how to design a website, which I have friends that can help me with that), and you make your own hours, and you are your own boss. It's not a get rich quick scheme, but it's definitely a career option that, if you work enough at it, you can make a living simply doing the things you love, and telling other people about it.

So, long story short... I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to give this a try. I could review Anime, Music, Games, Movies... I mean, that's practically all I do anyways. I could even review things on request (Within reason, obviously). And if I were to get good enough at it, I could very well get free stuff to review like many Youtube reviewers do.

And I'm hoping that once I get a site up and running, and start putting out reviews, some of my fans will be my first readers. It'll likely start out more like a blog than a real review site, as I'll have to learn as I go... But I see it as something I could do that not only makes me some extra coin, it'd afford me a way to share things I enjoy with others, and hopefully, eventually, help get my music out to more of the world.

Thoughts?

Today, my world turned to hell. My trusty old van... Is dead. Everywhere I need to go, is at least 20 km away, I have a group session tomorrow afternoon, I'm broke... And now the money I was going to use to go back to school for music, is going to have to be used to get a new car instead. To top it off... I don't have enough money to get a new car... So I'll have to get a shitty used one, which means it'll likely die on me the second I get back going again too.

Just when I think things are finally starting to go my way, this happens. Murphy's Law.

"But we're all just birds of a feather, and you know we're all the same, this worlds been torn asunder, and you know we're all to blame..."

That's right, these are the vocals for the first half of the chorus of a very special song I'm writing. Why is it special? Because for once I'm going to include vocals, as I'm writing the vocals as I write the music. I'm undecided so far as to how I'm going to do the vocals, myself, Vocaloid, a friend, or someone from newgrounds... But this song WILL have vocals in it when I put it up.

At this point in time, I don't have enough done to put up a demo, but I can say that it will be a Hard rock/metal style song. There are no plans to have any screaming/growling in the vocals, but I am planning a "live interaction" section... I.E. a section where, if played live, the crowd could get involved, in this case (So far, nothing is concrete), I'm planning on including a "Shout! Shout! Shout! Shout!" style section, real fist pumping sort of feel. If you choose to participate when listening to it (When I finally have it posted that is) though is entirely up to you.

As I said before, I don't really have enough done where I want to put up any sort of sample or demo... as with vocal tracks, I much prefer to have it more or less finished, or more polished before sharing... At this point in time, I simply have the guitar parts for the chorus and 2 verse riffs, along with the vocals for the chorus done... No drums, bass, or possible orchestral/electronic stuff is even roughed out yet.

But hopefully you'll check back, and at some point you'll be able to hear it for yourself!

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Shadow-Savant has decided to pass the prize down to the person who came out second in the drawing, which happens to be Marc2012. So congratulations to you, and again, I greatly appreciate all the great feedback you guys have given me!

Congratulations to Shadow-Savant for winning my 100 Fan Appreciation Contest and will be receiving a free copy of the newly released indie title Frozen Synapse!

And thank you all for participating, while there wasn't quite as many entries as I was hoping for, I still greatly appreciate the feedback you guys have given me!

---------!---------!---------!--------
-
I regret to inform anyone that is tuning back in, or tuning in for the first time, that due to a lack of interest (Being unable to reach the minimum entries in a reasonable time period), I have dropped the choice prize from the contest.
And I will be drawing from those that have entered for the predetermined prize shortly. I will give until Wednesday morning for any new entries to be sent in, and then will be drawing the winner.
---------!---------!---------!--------
-

IMPORTANT NOTE:
This contest has been revised to allow for a greater number of people to both find and participate in the contest before the deadline. See the Deadline section for the changes. Those who have already entered are still entered, so don't worry, you don't have to send in another entry.

Alright! The time has come for my second fan appreciation contest, as I've reached the 100 mark! I had gone over a few details in my previous newspost to get you guys more or less prepared, but I'll be skimming over them again in this newspost just so I have everything in one place.

First off, this one is going to be a lot simpler and easy to enter than my previous contest, and the winner will be a lot more random.

Rules:
-You must have me as a favorite artist to be eligible to enter (It is a fan appreciation contest after all)
-You are not eligible to enter if you have won a previous contest, I'd like to spread prizes around as I move forward! (Sorry Kirby!)
-Those who wish to enter must have a Steam account, or be willing to make one, as the prizes will be handled through the Steam Client.

How to Enter:
Simple, all you have to do is send me a PM with the following information:

1: How did you first discover my music?

2: Which of my songs is your favorite and why?

3: What would you like to see from me in the future?

And that's it! Easy peezy! Please keep in mind, I may disqualify people for including 1 word type answers, be descriptive!

How the Winner will be chosen:
Everyone that enters will have their name thrown into a hat, and the winner will be the first name I pull out (Without looking of course).

The Prizes:
-1 copy of Frozen Synapse.

The Deadline:
I will be drawing the winner once the contest reaches a minimum number of participants (10 entries). This is to allow more people to find and participate in the contest. If such a number of entries takes too long to reach (The time before this change is made will be chosen at my own discretion, and suggestions from participants), I will then be taking the choice prize off and drawing from the current entries and the winner will receive the predetermined prize (I.E. Frozen Synapse).

Suggestions?:
As a final note, if anyone should have suggestions for future contests, prizes, or anything at all, feel free to shoot a PM my way! I know not everyone is a gamer, but at this time, games via Steam are a fairly fool proof and inexpensive way (I'm not rich you know! This is out of my own inside out pocket!) for me to show appreciation to my fans.

And that is all, good luck, and have fun! I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say!