Saturday, December 29, 2018

RichaadEB Donkey Kong Aquatic Ambiance is just Breathtaking



I had this melody for almost a year, but one of the reasons I have it is because the arrangement is incredible, I probably wrote an entry about this one a while ago albeit honestly I can't remember, but the arrangment is been in my head for almost 12 months now and I always try to share it with my friends because I honestly enjoy it more than the classic SNES composition.

The arrangement of the cover takes a nu-metal approach in which is not necessarily completely heavy but incorporate elements that are more towards pop to make the sound smooth and eclectic, it takes a beautiful contemporary and sophisticated approach as if it was part of the soundtrack of a cinematic experience.

The notes bring the best memories I had with my childhood, with the experience of gaming as an escape of reality but also by downloading music behind my parents back as they considered unholy any form of metal or music that wasn't approved by them. This video brings that happiness back in the mid 90's when myself and my estranged sybling we started playing Donkey Kong and Mario RPG and a world of imagination and sounds was opened to our eyes and ears.

Video games became my way to escape reality and their soundtrack became the music I could hear on the open; the importance of the video games that had in my life but in the life of many it was how gaming channeling subversion and creativity, it was and it is a way of expression and that's how I feel this cover is a way of expression but also something else, something elegant, something that is audio-visually appealing, which the experience is not only placed on the memories but also on how different generations can connect with a piece of music.

Please subscribe to RichaadEB, I promise you will enjoy his creations and his style. 

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Amouranth with Incels and Twitch

I am new to the world of streams, following them for a year at this moment, as well learning etiquette and there is not a big difference from podcasts. The Internet is a very unforgivable place especially when you are a content creator and a woman, because there is a horde of men with too much egos who will harass any women regards what they do.

In fact, it doesn't matter, no matter who you are, the Internet is not going to forgive you, is going to attack you, is going to ridicule you if you fall without any hesitation; for me the Internet is the representation of a plane of existence that we can be whatever we want to be to the world, the ultimate symbol of globalization and a scenario in which we is the epitome of unity and despair around the world.

With the rise of streamers, you can find any variety, from Let's Play to just chatting, and people will donate money, but also there is the sexual part influenced on the marketing in which people won't hesitate to get scantly and try to sell an image similar as cam-girls or cam-boys to ammase some wealth.

Between those last people there is Amouranth the online moniker of Kaitlyn Siragusa, an online personality from Houston - Texas, which has amassed around 2 million followers that dispersed between different social media but Twitch being her main channel of communication with her audience.

What I find fascinating about Amouranth is not that she creates something meaningful., in fact her content is quite dull as she doesn't offer any witty commentaries or anything special; she doesn't create anything new from what other cam-people had created on different platforms that can go from mecam.me or chaturbate or any other people, her online persona in fact is extremely boring as she doesn't do anything out of the ordinary but the aspect of her that got my attention is that she is playing with fire by attracting online, lonely men that create idilic fantasies about women, but also have proven their misogynistic and racist violence by believing themselves to be superior.

Yes, I am talking about incels and those are among Amouranth army, and yes she is playing with fire up to the point that she has been subject to harassment several times including by Pewdiepie which his behavior is far away from being punished but instead rewarded. We have two faces of the same coin towards online behavior and entertainment that is aimed towards a demographic that doesn't need oversexualized images or extremely toxic men  but guidance to make their communities better.

Another problem that I see with Amouranth is that she can become the victim of a deranged fan, and is not a weird idea because essentially anyone with some tracking skill can locate where their idols live or even send them personal mail; is not strange to see stalkers incidents towards celebrities or personalities and within the public she caters is only matter of time.

The type of entertainment that Amourant or any other streamers of her category offer is just shallow and lame, there is no reaction beyond morbidity on the body, there is no learning or exchange of ideas beyond faux flattering but they are a product of their time and eventually in a 10 years margin we will going to remember these fragments of e-history as a shameful part in which we can learn to create better content and be better role models.

The Multiversal Paradox of Beedle and the Happy Mask Salesman

Who are they?

This is just a mere theory based on observation of the different games that contain the Happy Mask Salesman and Beedle which they seem to exist outside of a temporal correlation of time and space, or to use a better word atemporal beings, because no matter where you are, no matter where you go, you will always find them, up to the point I am thinking they could belong to a separate race of characters such as beings that do not follow the same physic rules as Hylians but also they could be guardians left by the Goddess's to protect the Hero named Link through the ages.

Beedle and the Happy Mask Salesman through their different incarnations exhibit similar abilities to each other, they know events that are happening around them, they have abilities to teleport around the field of gameplay, they seem to be immortal as enemies just ignore them or simply don't mess with them; another ability the two characters carry between each other is to simply have access to a large amount of objects and pull them out of nowhere to assist Link.

Happy
 The knowledge of the Happy Mask Salesman seems to be vast and there are proof he traveled to different universes based on his first appearances where he keeps mementos int he form of masks through his travels on the different universes.

A theory I have, and I am sure many others had it also is that the Mask Salesman can alter his appearances to adapt to the timeline he is in, or at least to blend with the population which let people wonder who he really is? And if he could be related to his last incarnation that goes by the name Kilton.

Kilton and the Happy Mask Salesman have a lot in common besides their obssession with masks, they only appear at certain moments, have quirks on how they react to link but also seem to create powerful objects to assist the player. Kilton itself could be HMS who adapted his appearance to the unified timeline.

Since the unified timeline contains pieces of the previous ones, then it wouldn't be strange that HMS would find a way to survive but also to discard his previous appearance that was Hylian related into a more "creepy one" since there was no need to try to blend in with the decimated society that Hyrule turned to be after the Calamity Ganon.

Beedle
Beedle on the other hand I find him far more interesting, because he has been since the beginning of time aiding Link as a shopkeeper; around Breath of the Wild  he can travel everywhere in the blink of an eye or essentially be where and exists where you are at the same time.

For me Beedle is omnipotent and in a certain way omniscient such as the HMS but regards the incarnation his appearence always keep a similar look such as the bowl-do and the same mannerism over the different timelines and millennia, which let me think he could be the same person you find on the different placements.

The problem is to explain the existence of these two characters towards the multiverse theory, even on a epystemelogical way is difficult because it will lead these characters as an extension of a higher God or Goddess that is beyond the Golden Goddess's and that deity manifest itself in the most humanoid or monstrous form that is always behind Link to ensure his victory.

Some people say Zelda being the reincarnation as Hylia is the Goddess of Time have enough power, but on her humanoid form even if she wields great skills she seems to be more of a herald of the higher beings or a lesser god that rejected her divinity to become a guardian for eternity trapped in a cycle of reincarnation, while Beedle and HMS seem to defy every form of logic and manipulate time and space and time and seem to have an absolute power to manipulate their surroundings to always be there, vigilant.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Why is Important to take a Stand against people as Pewdiepie


To understand about Piewdiepie or Felix Arvid Kjellberg racist tirades or as he mentioned "slips or oopsies" is necessary to understand the historical background that Nazis planted on Sweden and how over the decades their influences never diminished but instead thrived.

Furugard
Sweden has turned into one new centers for the radical European right, is quite weird to say because even with the social equality and the country democratic values and human rights; is a contradiction because for almost a century, Sweden has been the epicenter of a large excesive amount of racists, nationalists and fascist factions.

Albeit we don't need to go far away, in Sweden getting the ability to congregate in public spaces regarding your political and ideological  you need a permit of the local police department which on the first week of July of 2018 the Nordic Resistance Movement found a spot to spread their hate on public space because they obtained a permit to congregate.

There were critics towards the demonstration but it opened a window towards the racism in the Nordic regions to the world, which even with the lax laws towards public gatherings it has shown that life ain't perfect in Sweden or Norway, that even with the equality that is sold as a form of branding there are several social issues as inequality and the lack of government control to put a hold on xenophobia and hate groups.

Felix or Piewdiepie, or whatever you want to call him is a product of the society he lives (just like many of us) but also over the last decade he has become one of the biggest influencers of the world by his Lets Play channel which let him appear on pop culture media and gain a massive 70 millions followers, but also the media itself are the ones who keep defending his behavior on their vast majority, as if you type down on Google Pewdiepie racist much of the cases focus him as "troubled" and a few actually dare to say his racist tendencies and the shallow apologizes he creates.

(Screenshot / YouTube.com)
One of the most recent cases was the endorsement of E;R a content creator that is wide known for their antisemitic and vitriolic content and E;R's channel grew almost 15K suscribers since the shutout. A problematic that is extremely concerning is that Youtube biggest content creator has become some sort of unofficial poster boy for the white nationalists across the globe but also he can become a key figure into indoctrination of younger audiences.

Usually within the communication theories, leaders of opinion or as they are called lately "influencers" can execute a power over a demographic that is extremely "innocent" due the lack of critical thinking and analysis of world politics and socio economical impacts that are tied with violence and movements of the masses.

One aspect that is good to know is when Felix started or at least if he was already the person that showed toxicity on his videos, my bet he was already as that when he started his channel, a mere reflection of what the gaming community is. The toxicity on the gaming community is widely known such as the case of Feminist Frequency, just to name one of many in which the fragility of the "bro's" egos tend to be extremely fragile that they can't take any criticism or any commentary that breaks their xenophobic bubbles.

Why is important to take a stand against people as Pewdiepie? Because you can't let someone promote hate, even if people will say everyone is entitled to free speech there are also consequences when you promote hate and if you as a person stay quiet then you are being an accomplice of hate.


References:
  1. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pewdiepies-excuse-for-promoting-racist-youtube-content-includes-more-racist-content_us_5c1027e4e4b00e17a533cb0d
  2. https://www.newsweek.com/pewdie-youtube-nazi-t-series-racist-anti-semitic-youtuber-subscribers-1252695
  3. https://www.newsweek.com/pewdie-youtube-nazi-t-series-racist-anti-semitic-youtuber-subscribers-1252695
  4. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/apr/05/whats-up-pewdiepie-the-troubling-content-of-youtubes-biggest-star
  5. https://wccftech.com/pewdiepie-controversy-recommends-racist-channel/
  6. https://mashable.com/2017/09/12/pewdiepie-n-word/#ZfTR78bjMiqy
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism_in_Sweden
  8. https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-sweden-became-a-thriving-base-of-neo-nazi-ideology-1.5629892

Monday, December 17, 2018

Legend of Badminton Episode 1 - Badminton Fair Review

Pirlock and his squire
I have to confess I love this little quirky indie game, is just fun to play and the dialogues are really funny. A few years ago I discovered by accident the prologue and I enjoyed it, it got my attention as there aren't too many quirky games in the market and Legend of Badminton really got my interest, not only because is funny but also because it's completely independent and is quite fresh towards the execution.

As left on the prologue Pirlock of Badminton is on his quest to recover his kingdom, not because to restore his honor but rather to restore his fame and gain more political power; Pirlock is just the antithesis of almost every protagonist in video games as he is lazy, enjoys to cheat every time he cans, mistreats every single living being and is a glutton with no remorse.

Appreciation for beautiful ladies and feet
As the prologue, the game keeps the same gameplay in which the player controls the enviroment through his touch through the screen of the tablet or the phone. The gameplay itself is quite intuitive and extremely easy to understand as the actions of the game are directed through the dialogues or the objects that are around the screen.

The scenarios are quite pretty in the design, almost as if they were made by hand and the offer quite a big amount of details, plus the color palette is outstanding  as it creates a distinction towards the components of the Legend of Badminton besides the witty dialogue and situations.

Now that we mention the color and the art are elements of the game that got our attention, as high attention to detail aren't common to see on indy style games and observing something as fresh as the art it can bring energy into any game as well future chapters.

The Legend of Badminton takes inspiration of older style click and point games such a Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, there is even a slight influence on Pirlock design as he looks as Guybrush Threepwood but also he is his own character on his own right. Character designs are unique, as they go with the flow of the story, they play with the cliches of their own personas.

The difficulty of the game is quite hard, maybe it could be me that I had turned lazy with age but it took me a couple of months to defeat the game without the help of any guide, as I wasn't sure what were the proper steps to take to move forward the adventure. The length of the first chapter is quite long itself, as it can take an accumulated two hour mark just to finish it which is quite cool, as games as Undertale don't last long on the first walk through.

On the Windmill
If you want to buy the game, you can click here and it will redirect you to the Apple App Store which you can obtain for US$2.99. Remember that is always important to support indie developers, because you can help someone who is not associated with a bigger firm or bigger studio and you can help that person or group of people to fulfill their dreams of creating something to entertain you.

Thank you for reading us

References:


  1. http://www.guscalvo.com/2016/10/legend-of-badminton-prologue-game.html
  2. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/legend-of-badminton-episode-1/id1230578648?mt=8

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Que paso con Aurita Castillo?

Aurita y su Conjunto
En los últimos meses me han venido memorias de la música que a veces mi padre ponía en la casa, no era muy grande su colección hasta donde me acuerdo, pero por alguna razón que desconozco en mi propio ser, de pronto ligada con la melancolía pero oír estas canciones por medio de YouTube me despertó la curiosidad en saber sobre las agrupaciones de los años sesenta y setenta. 


Una de las razones por la que sentí esa curiosidad es porque por alguna razón del destino mientras veía por Google Maps lo que alguna vez fue el barrio Chambacu ahora se ha transformado en un anexo a la ciudad donde están negocios y parques recreacionales.

Chambacu, 1920 Autor: Desconocido
Para entender el porqué de mi obsesión con Chambacu (1), la razón es esencial y es basada en la composición cultural que ese tugurio que duro activo por más de cuarenta años produjo a nivel nacional (2).

¿Pero uno de los misterios que me han llamado la atención a lo largo de los años es quien fue Aurita Castillo? la cantante infantil de los años sesenta de la cumbia Chambacu de la cual con el pasar de las décadas se ha perdido total información de ella.

Las únicas pistas concretas de la autoría de los discos está basada en una página de Internet que maneja información de las disqueras y de los años de producción de álbumes, que al mismo tiempo dan indicios sobre el tiempo que los cantantes estuvieron activos y en el casi de Aurita las fechas que logre encontrar datan de 1965 a 1975, después de eso realmente no hay información concreta o videos que se puedan encontrar donde Aurita como tal aparezca en vivo (3).

De las páginas que visite la poca información que encontré fue que los dos discos que se sacaron con su nombre fueron en 1965 y el ultimo una recopilación en 1975, pero lo más seguro es que alguno se me haya pasado por alto.

Con lo poco que he podido encontrar, el autor original de la obra es el fallecido Pedro Nel Isaza Aguirre, y de la cual Aurita grabo dos versiones, la primera en 1965 con Discos Fuentes y la última en 1972 con discos Eco; ¿después de eso fue como si despareciera de la faz de la tierra lo que me llega a preguntar quien fue la voz detrás de las canciones? y quien fue la que poso para las fotos?

¿Porque digo esto? La razón es que esta es producto de su tiempo, los años 60 y 70 fueron el inicio de la manufacturación de ídolos de música citando como ejemplo el bubblegum pop y la banda ficticia Los Archíes (4) y la información que al menos abunda me da a entender que Aurita solo fue uno de los primeros ídolos Colombianos de la música, manufacturada para vender con la idea de un infante prodigio en el canto que podía captar el dolor del alma y la alegría de un pueblo.

Si alguien tiene información de Aurita o de las verdaderas personas que la interpretaron se los agradezco de todo corazón.


Referencias:


  1. http://chambacu1971.blogspot.com/2011/08/una-breve-historia-de-chambacu.html
  2. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambac%C3%BA_(barrio)
  3. https://www.discogs.com/artist/3864309-Aurita-Castillo

Friday, December 7, 2018

Life is Strange 2 - First Episode Review

This is a game that even with the fantasy related elements it really hits you in the heart with elements that embark the realness of the situation the Diaz brothers are involved.

Life is Strange 2 is on a certain extent a departure of the first installment, the gameplay is a little bit different since now you control two characters, leaving the deuteragonist as an extension of the main character is his own younger brother who has telekinetic abilities that are triggered by a stressful event.

The style of the game is similar to the first entry, there is a soft pallette that reflects a naturalistic approach mixed with a symbology that is related to the characters roles in the game. The game narrative is far more complex than the surface that is presented as it presents alienation and racism in a very direct way.

It is indeed a sensitive topic but racial violence has to be addressed  more openly, that within certain segments of the population such as LGBT, people of color, based on language, family history and origins that are going to be subjected to discrimination based on political climate or geographic location in which ideals of the Civil War stay present in every day life, even towards religious ideals just to say some of several examples.

Probably the most heartbreaking one is with Hank and Doris Stamper in which Hank attacks Sean out of no reason, handcuff him in his office and assault him just for the fact that Sean is Hispanic and even mentioned on sending him to ICE to see if he is a citizen. That realness was difficult to play through but it was the beginning of the game what is a tearjerker and if you had been subjected to discrimination from the police you can understand how difficult is to trust them as a corp but also as the way they protect and retaliate against anyone that doesn't look or sound white.

Homelessness is another core element within the game, after their father's death the Diaz siblings found themselves running away and traveling around Oregon with an extremely budget and living on the road, even sleeping on an abandoned state park just because Sean the eldest of the two didn't wanted to end in the juvenile system and his brother taken to the United States foster care which it can be problematic to any youth at risk.

The soundtrack is just gorgeous, the entire game is accompanied of a soft indie rock that creates harmony with the storytelling, but also it reflects on the life of the Diaz brothers. The background music takes the lead as it gives a haunting enviroment to the settings of the games and the match with flow of the story.

The scenarios are just plain beautiful, especially the nature's trail; the trees and the river with the mountains in the background gives an overwhelming feeling as if you as the spectator are there with the siblings, is as much being around Oregon being around the nature paths and the imagery that is being surrounded around the Northwest of the United States.

Gameplay wise, is similar to the first installment mixed with the options of Before the Storm decision tree from Chloe, but it rather goes on a simplistic level where the options are shown before the moment that the game auto save the progress but overall it retains the classic controllers of the PS4 and PC that the other game had.

I totally recommend buying the first episode as it offers an interesting dynamics towards gaming, it gives a commentary about our current society problem and how we perceive isolationism versus globalism, but on how human capital affects individual and societal efforts of economical and political growth.