Jazz Music Live Stream

Hello all,

Here's a jam session from today, this afternoon. We just played improv, straight-ahead jazz style, as I know how to play it on the guitar. I've been getting more and more into jazz guitar, and Jason's alto saxophone playing has really pushed me. The key is blending in the guitar with the saxophone. 

Thanks for watching and listening. Have a great day! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRVeekA-yw

Our very own zombie apocalypse virus

Greetings supposedly healthy people of the interwebz. 

Thought I'd jot down some thoughts on the coronavirus going around right now. Well, for starters, let me say that we finally have our very own zombie apocalypse virus! World War Z! Book of Eli! *Insert any random apocalyptic movie!* This is good news for people who love bad news. [Modest Mouse reference]

The one good thing about the virus is that it will bring the world down to Earth, humble them, before everything is turned back to normal. Also, and this is a great good, it just might bring down the entire Trump Presidency. It isn't that the virus is singling him out, it's just that his administration is handling the whole thing very badly. As the late-night comedians joke, "If Trump is in charge of the coronavirus we're all gonna die." Probably the truest and most dark joke I've heard in a while. At least it's funny. I like dark comedy and satire. I'm a Voltaire fan. 

But in all seriousness, the virus will make the world great again. Right now people are stupid, ignorant, and as long as they have their TV, streaming, video games, porn, sex, and beer/liquor, they're content to live their happy little lives not giving a shit about the state of affairs of the world. I'm talking about the average idiots, the biomass. Sitting on their lounger chairs with their potato chips, weed, and beer. This is their only life away from work. Something akin to what Green Day sang about on their critically acclaimed hit album American Idiot.  

The virus will completely decimate the biomass and bring them to their knees. It will humble them. And the entire world. This is just what the world needs in what I would call one of its darkest hours. Ironically what will save them will hurt them and the economy. We don't get to save the girl. Instead, we'll get something like the flu. 

Welcome to the New Dark Ages. This is something of a divine comedy. Somebody should write a book about this period in the world. It will sell like hotcakes. After this period passes the world will be a better place. We will change the world. Or rather the virus will.

What's going on?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to do an update on what's been going on lately. I haven't written in a while because I've been working a lot. And gaming. And hanging out with friends haha. It's been a blast. Life is good. Today I found a twenty on the floor at work and my boss let me keep it! Talk about a great ending to a long day at the shop!

I've been really putting my all into ranking up in Overwatch. I think my best bet is going to be to start adding friends on my friends list on Battlenet and playing Competitive with them to rank up. Solo queue can be an easy way to rank up fast but I feel like solo queue (queuing up for ranked games by yourself, rather than friends) is more difficult if you only play healers like me. In some sense I feel like I'm trying too hard to rank up and its definitely not paying off fast enough. I'm ranking up, but very slowly and gradually. Not the way I want it unfortunately.

Other than that I've been hanging out with a lot of friends. Earlier this week (last week now) two different friends of mine had kickbacks (term for small party). It was pretty fun. Hanging out all night with them was super tiring but in the end it was worth it. It was my first super easy work week in a long time as I had three days off. Tomorrow I have plans to hang out in the morning. The guys + one girl wanna go get waffles.

In addition, I've started streaming again. You can view my recent broadcasts and videos at twitch.tv/megaman1597. I feel like the quality of my stream isn't very good. However, I've noticed its remarkably better when watched on a smartphone. I'm working on improving the quality of the stream without buying all new hardware or new machine. I've been able to get some viewers that hang out and talk to me when I play Team Fortress 2. Because its such an old (and dying maybe) game people just check out whoever still streams it. Not many people stream that game. I haven't been able to secure any viewers at all on my usual games (Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm, :'(  )

I feel like I need to chill out with Overwatch because I'm trying too hard. I gotta play other games and enjoy them. Can't get so focused on one competitive game because sometimes the pressure just becomes so much to the point where you're not having fun. When that happens you know its a good time to sit back, relax, and do something else. Take a fiver.

I've been playing a lot of guitar at my friends' houses but I haven't recorded anything new for my Soundcloud page. If you haven't heard my music yet check it out https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763. I plan on recording more stuff soon. Just haven't had the musical motivation for recording lately. But I am definitely gonna record something soon. I wanna do an 80s metal twin guitar harmonies part complete with fast sweep arpeggios. That would be sick.

That's all folks! I'll try to keep the blog updated daily. If you ever wanna see what I'm up to follow me on my Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ogspace1967. I usually post whenever I'm live on twitch there so there's a good way to keep in contact with me. Thanks, peace!

Apparently I Have Twitch Prime

Twitch came out with a new service called Twitch Prime that offers a "premium experience" that's included with Amazon Prime. So apparently I have Twitch Prime. I can't wait to check it out sometime soon, most likely tomorrow. This sounds great because Twitch Prime members get free gaming loot every month, discounts on new boxed games from Amazon, a chat badge, and one free channel subscription every month.

This sounds incredible! I hope it turns out as good as it seems.

“Twitch Prime is one of those unique cases where we have an opportunity to build a product that is equally great for all of our customers—streamers, viewers, and game developers,” Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said. “Offering subscriptions free through Prime saves money for viewers, while supporting streamers to build their community. Free games and in-game content are always a hit with gamers, but they also let developers reach millions of new potential players. When Amazon acquired Twitch, the first thing the community asked was, ‘When will Twitch be bundled in with Amazon Prime?’ Twitch Prime answers that question in a way that speaks to our community.” (PC Gamer)

Twitch Prime is only available in the US and some European countries. The only way to get Twitch Prime is to have an Amazon Prime account which is $10.99/month or $99/year.

"The first round of "game loot" includes instant access to the new Hearthstone hero Tyrande Whisperwind, and Streamline, "a new indie game built from the ground up for broadcasters on Twitch to play with their viewers." TwitchCon attendees will also be given an exclusive "Boss Ymir" skin for Smite, and a Bomb King weapon for Paladins." (PC Gamer) 

This all sounds great and dandy. I fell off the Twitch bandwagon a while ago because I was having more fun just playing games with my friends-mostly Overwatch. I didn't feel like streaming or watching streams because why would I do that when I can just play. I'm still interested in getting back to streaming, it's just a matter of when.

Because I have this service I'm definitely going to start trying to watch more Twitch streams. Who knows I might find a great streamer that I enjoy watching at night. Sometimes it gets boring watching Netflix or Crunchyroll, even though I love anime.

Amazon really has their stuff together right now. They're doing interesting things as a company moving into the gaming market.

Cool beans. Also, the picture is another one of those One Piece Overwatch crossovers. I'm such a big fan of westerns.

Streaming News

Good news everyone! (thumbs up if you get that reference) I finally started streaming like I said I would in earlier posts. I gotta say that it's a tough gig especially getting used to talking while playing. For some people its easier than others I believe. But I think I've got some good content on my page so far. Check out the highlights section on my channel-here 
My channels name url is twitch.tv/megaman1597

Anyways, I'm going to need to work on my delivery, entertainment factor, and a bunch of other stuff but so far I've got a basic overlay, good webcam placement, and my games are being streamed w/o any lag, something I was struggling with for a super long time. Now that I've got the gameplay running smooth as butter all I have to do is turn on the stream and let the magic happen. I'm working on making the magic happen but its tough getting viewers when nobody knows who you are. I post when I'm live on my twitter and on a twitch streamers facebook group but for the most part I get very few viewers. Which has me thinking I need to try out more games and see if I can get more of an audience playing other stuff than the the games I've been playing.

Check out the channel, let me know what you think. Hopefully I can get more viewers soon but at the same time I won't be trippin if it takes a while because I'm still going to be gaming anyways. The only difference is that I'll have my entertainment hat on. I'm taking this seriously and streaming pretty much everyday before work. Who knows, maybe I can make something of this and make a bunch of friends through twitch and stuff. I'm mostly doing this for the social factor as well as for myself because I actually like watching the broadcasts and gameplay, seeing what I did and could've done better in Overwatch, as well as creating highlights. So far the most fun thing has been finding the best plays or moments and making highlights of them. I'm definitely going to be enjoying that more in the future.

Thanks for checking out the channel and remember to send a follow on twitch.

Streaming again

     So after talking with a bunch of friends today I came to the conclusion that I play too many video games without making some sort content out of it weather it be great game plays or just comedic material (how about both). By now I should have a YouTube channel and have somewhat of a small following on Twitch. I have neither but I will soon. I'm going to start working on adding content to my Twitch account-twitch.tv/megaman1597, streaming more and what not. In addition, I'm going to start a YouTube channel showing off great plays from certain games-Heroes of the Storm, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch (when it comes out), and Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex First Assault. I was streaming a bit a while ago and all my friends thought it was super cool but they wondered why I stopped. I stopped because I felt like it was super difficult getting viewers but at the same time you gotta work for your audience. It doesn't just magically appear. So yeah I'm going to start having gaming content online. One of the things I'm going to focus on super heavy is streaming the heck out of Overwatch once it becomes available to play. I feel like that's a great opportunity right there. I have a friend who doesn't like streaming because he's not a very talkative or sociable person but he's a great fps gamer and he has all these great killshot pro mlg style videos that are pretty sweet. I'm definitely inspired by him. And most of my gamer buddies on Facebook are all streamers. I gotta get back on that bandwagon. I'll probably start streaming again sometime tomorrow morning. Check out my stream sometime. I'll post when I'm live on my twitter page-https://twitter.com/fig_land. Stop by sometime when I'm live and check it out I'm always down for more tips and stuff.

See ya in the Nexus!

Update

     Wanted to do a little update on whats been up lately. The major thing is that I've been streaming everyday since like the 15th. I'm actually starting to really enjoy it and I think I'm going to be a streamer and stick with it everyday, with a schedule and stuff. I'm thinking my schedule will be before work in the early afternoons like 12 30pm to 4 pm monday-sunday. If I had a good constant streaming time like that everyday and spiffy up my conversation skills while gaming I think I'll have a much better stream. So far I haven't been getting many viewers (if at all) but when I told my friend he just said that's because I'm just starting out. You can't expect to be famous when you've only begun streaming. I think streaming could be something hard to do and do well but when I told friends about it they all said it was super easy. I feel like you have to work hard at it and really be an interesting person with a dynamic personality, especially when interacting with the audience. That being said, not all twitch streamers have that and they still have a good following and get lots of viewers. I don't know if I fit that above description but I do think I could be great interacting with the audience when there are more people that watch the stream. So far people have said the quality looks fine so that's good. I want to get into streaming more games as well, maybe starting Fallout 3 or some other single player games because it seems like it could be more dynamic focusing on a solo game and taking time to go over every little detail. We'll see what happens. Check out the old broadcasts I've got so far on twitch.tv/megaman1597. Check up on my twitter for when I'm live https://twitter.com/fig_land.
     Also, I've been training up in Smash. I've been playing Project M (a Super Smash Bros Brawl mod) on stream a lot and I think that's been keeping my skills up a lot because of reaction time and spacing. In addition, I've been practicing Smash 4. Not just online but also labbing it up against the computer and training mode. I've learned a lot more combos with Zero Suit Samus doing this and its relaxing to take it easy and work on combos rather than always playing 1v1 For Glory all the time. Today I actually played doubles only and I did very well. It seems that Zero Suit Samus is a great doubles character. I often go for the stun gun grab up-air into air combos like all the time and it punishes people really hard. I feel like I just learned that setup on Thursday. Usually before I always just stun gunned into dash attack. Not a bad option but the grab is definitely way better for Zss's move-sets. I want to start playing Xenoblade Chronicles X more at night after work but I'm always so tired that I usually just end up watching anime or amazon prime (prime and chill). I'm planning on going to every weekly Smash tournament at Fire and Dice for the next foreseeable future so I know I'm going to just keep getting better at the game. I feel like I've surpassed my friends already and they are great players. I play many games but I feel like I focus and have a passion for Smash. Its the only fighting game that I've always been good at. Now I've become even better. It's a great feeling and its great taking people out at tournaments. Just gotta keep improving and see the results at the tournies. I'm going to save up for a PC monitor with hdmi so I can plug my Wii U to my PC and stream it on twitch. I kind of want to do that because I feel like the twitch following for Smash is very low and doesn't get much attention. It needs more channels for sure. I'm hyped for Smash 4 this year.
   In addition, sometime soon I'll get the drivers permit and then I can start practicing driving. It would be great to get a car so I can travel to more Smash tournaments and Guitar Center but at the same time I don't want the costs of owning a car like having to pay big car payments and gas. But the plan is to get the permit soon and eventually my license not too far after.
     Music-wise, on Wednesday me and some friends are going to a metal show. I'm not particularly found about metal these days but I'll give it a shot. They might be some killer undiscovered great metal bands, you never know. I've always leaned towards the speed metal and death metal side of metal music but I think the bands we're going to be seeing are metal-core bands. Metal-core is a newer style of music that is very in at the moment. I'm definitely expecting a mosh-pit. 
     Lastly, life has been good. I've been waking up earlier, doing more, working hard, playing hard, and having a good go at it. Sometimes everything just falls right into place without any effort whatsoever. Sometimes it feels like writing for the blog is the most difficult thing I do. Everything else is easy-pee-zee. Thanks for reading, and all the best.

Streaming

     

     Over the past couple days I've been streaming a lot and its been a learning process how to get everything figured out, looking good, and sounding good. At my friends house he had everything set up perfectly and it looked good and sounded great. I just got my webcam today and I streamed quite a bit before work. Check out the content at twitch.tv/megaman1597. I already have a lot of new stuff on there from games like Super Smash Bros Brawl (Project M), Heroes of the Storm, and Ghost in the Shell. It's been fun but I haven't necessarily been getting the viewers. The first stream I did at my friends house got some viewers and somebody asked a question. I'll probably starting streaming other games as I figure out how to make everything sound good. One thing I learned is that the max bitrate that should be used for OBS is from 1500-2000. I had mine set at 2000 and after looking the videos I think I should go with 1500. You can see the game clear but it seems a bit choppy, the pixels and somewhat of a lag sometimes. Another thing I learned is that I had my mic volume too low. So next time I gotta set the mic volume to the highest and lower the music settings on all games that have music. I've got a lot to learn. Its been fun and I look forward to doing more streaming. Hopefully soon I'll have it polished so it looks and sounds much better than it is currently. Other games I'm interested in streaming are Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Skyrim, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament 4 beta, Paragon beta, and Rivals of Aether. I have big plans and hope to become a good streamer. I'm not really sure what kind of streamer I want to be like if I should just do a lot of commentary all the time or be more laid back and just chill with music on in the background. I want to do commentary but at the same time I want to be able to chill, so maybe having music on sometimes wouldn't be a bad idea. I'll figure it out. Stay posted about everything on my twitter, https://twitter.com/fig_land.

Smash Tourney at FaD 1/16/16

      I did really well last night at Fire and Dice's weekly Smash 4 tournament. I surprised myself, that's how well I played. This was a very light tourney with only 17 people entering. The people were good but they weren't good like Larry Laur or Zenyou, two great SoCal players that go to FaD quite often. Let me tell you about my matches.
      My first match was against this really good Ike player. I've played good Ikes in tournament before so I knew what to expect. This guy was great but in the first game I kept using Zero Suit Samus' somersault kick and took his two stocks with that move when he was over one hundred percent. It was really good stuff, I can't believe I got those hard reads both times after coming from deep off the stage. Surprised he didn't shield. Game 2 he kind of knew what to expect from me. I just ended up getting hit too much by dash attacks and just getting beaten by Ike's long reach and range. My somersault kick tactic didn't work anymore. He kind of knew my playstyle by now but he was still having a hard time. Another thing to keep in mind is that on Game 2 we played on Duck Hunt, which was making both of us whiff attacks a lot. Game 3 I went in and I played really well. But in the end he ended up killing me with a forward smash. I think he was at like 88%, it was a super close set.
      My next match was against this Captain Falcon player. I think he was using the tag Captain Gold because he went gold Captain Falcon costume. He was really good but I'm not sure if he was a regular at tournaments. I think he might've been more of an online player and he was just testing the waters at tourneys a little bit. His Falcon was really good and it gave me a little bit of trouble. Game 1 was really close. But Game 2 I just pwned him! It was great finally beating someone in tournament. I haven't done this since my first tournament and this was like my third tournament so I'm kind of experienced at this by now. His Falcon was good but I seemed to have a better understanding of the fundamentals of the game. Also, I was getting in a lot of the hard reads. He rolled a lot and I could expect and anticipate when he would roll in front or in back of me and punish.
     Because I won my second match I was still in the tourney. My third match was against this Jiggly Puff main. We played in friendlies earlier before the tournament started and I could barely even touch him, he was that good. He's just a young kid that has so much potential at Smash 4. He's better than Hungry Box at Smash 4, he's really good. His neutral game and spacing is just so good with Jiggs. It's like he's in the air all the time. I tried to do the same with Zss and do the same thing he was doing to me against him but it just ended up in a loss in Game 1. Game 2 I tried to switch it up and play patient and wait for him to mess up and then try to punish. But he just never whiffed an attack. He always hit me or always got away from my attacks. I could learn a lot from him but ultimately he ended up losing to this Mario player that goes by the name of SoCalGohan. Great name!
     SoCalGohan ended up taking the tournament. Free money for him basically. I don't think anyone there gave him any trouble. I saw him play this Shulk player, a Bowser main, a Ness main, and a Rob main, and he just annihilated all of them with ease. He did all the standard Mario stuff like the constant up tilts and head butt confirms but he was so good that he was improvising combos on the fly. It was great watching him combo the hell out of all those characters. It was great stuff.
     In the end I had a lot of fun. I did so poorly in friendlies that I didn't win a single game. However, I did learn a lot more about the game and I played really well in my tournament matches. I also made some new friends. It was fun. After the tournament ended I went to the bus stop to head home and while waiting my friend called me and picked me up because he was in the area at a poker tournament. We ended up chilling at his place. I brought my Wii U over and we played Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8 for a bit. I think he really liked Mario Kart because of the online mode. It was sick playing with him. Then we figured we'd play some PC games. And then I said why don't we stream.
     So we started streaming Starcraft. The stream went pretty well and it was cool having his webcam for the stream as well. Now, I'm getting back into streaming and I think I will keep at it and try to make something of myself as a Twitch streamer. My channel is twitch.tv/megaman1597, check it out when you can. I just finally got the settings just right on my computer to the point where it looks good (not blurry) and has good performance. It took a while messing around figuring out the settings using Open Broadcaster. I'll probably have to figure out more stuff when my webcam gets here. I'm going to try to get a new PC monitior (one with hdmi) so I can stream Smash 4. But at the moment I've been streaming Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex-First Assault. Streaming is fun but I think I have to learn how to be more interactive, and talk more while I play, which can be a bit tricky in the beginning of learning how to be a streamer. Check out my twitter page https://twitter.com/fig_land for updates on when I'm streaming. Stay tuned for more content! 

Plans: Gaming and Otherwise

     So occasionally at work I get divine inspiration and ideas while toiling away in the salt mines. I came to the conclusion that I play so many games and so often that I should try to focus back on streaming. I did start it but I didn't really keep up with it but now I want to really do it, and be committed to it more. I'm going to get a webcam so I can be a true streamer. You know how people stream on Twitch and stuff but they're just playing the game with no webcam and just with a microphone. It's just not the same when you can't see the person. You don't get to understand their true persona and who they really are. It's just a whole lot more fun. So a webcam will help. Also, I'm thinking about posting Super Smash Bros videos online on a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming. I want to start by just editing Smash videos and putting hype music on them and doing a bit of commentary as well. 

     Sounds really fun. This is all really doable stuff and I wouldn't really be doing anything out of the ordinary from my regular life. I mean, I always play games so I might as well have an audience, try to make new friends online with other streamers and viewers, and just have a good time doing it. 

     Other ideas that came to mind is that I need to lose weight. It's easier said than done. A big part of it is that my lifestyle is a very languid and laid back one. The life of a gamer means little to no exercise. At least in the summer my friends and I went out to the beach and went hiking a lot. Now that its winter we mostly just go out to eat and just chill. I think I should make it a habit to start walking everyday, like maybe go out for coffee everyday as a reward for walking. For instance, I could walk to Starbucks from my house (a good workout), and get a coffee when I get there. And then from there I could go to work. And I could do this everyday. I'm sure if I started getting more physical activity I would shed some pounds easily. I think that's the biggest problem really, just not enough physical activity. So I'm going to start walking.

     The other idea that came to mind is that I need to get my drivers license. I'm going to the DMV on the 20th and take the written driving test and try to get my permit. The first time I went I failed but it was mostly because I didn't use any of my skips. It was on a computer screen and you were allowed three skips (basically three free answers) and I just completely forgot I had them and didn't use any of them. For some reason I felt like I could Rambo all the questions and get them all right. Next time I'll use the skips, and hopefully I'll be able to get the permit. Thankfully, I already have a car I can practice on but my folks will have to get me on their insurance for me to practice driving on it. I think driving will change my life because I'll be out more and doing more things. I'll definitely be driving to Smash tournaments and hanging out at Guitar Center jamming on guitars. 

      I was also interested in working on music, but maybe trying to work on electronic music stuff just messing around with music programs. It would be fun to orchestrate stuff on a computer with orchestral instruments. 

     This all just came to me today while I was at work. Good things do come out of work!