Long story short, I've been out of commission the past few days due to a freak accident ending up with me tearing a muscle in my neck -- couldn't turn it to the left at all and ended up passing out from pain -- so I'm on a tab or two as I type; bear with me here. I've been on Panax ginseng for about 4 days now, which is really helping with the recovery, it seems -- 10 cc, liquid, from China, Prince of Peace brand, if you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway, I haven't made a post until now because my laptop charger bit the dust. I have a Lenovo T410, and the charger is very... distinct. Quick check of the voltage confirmed it was dead, although the laptop itself is fine. This is good, although I'm not sure where in the hell I'm going to find a T410 charger, or at least a similar one that won't blow up the charger port.

This brings me to the laptop I'm on now, my niece's, which I'm forced to use, rather than my phone, as the NG news editor doesn't work on my Jellybean OS. Shit, what a piece of work this thing is. We'll call her K for the purposes of this post, but Jesus Christ, the amount of viruses on this machine before I laid hands on it was astronomical, and somehow, I think more are crawling in through the temp folder. Most of it was adware, browser hijacking, and annoying malicious uninstalls worked around so that if you were frustrated, you'd just end up installing more of the same shit with every button click.

About the Repair

IE had been hijacked to Trovi and Bing searches, and this setting went through all the browsers. She also had installed some suspicious browsers like "speed browser". What an original name that, eh? Yeah, turned out to be a hijacker/adware spout. Eventually, I managed to delete and end-process enough of these to get IE to a functional level, without every page I searched for to turn into a hijack, and I downloaded Avira, cleaning out the temp folder as I went. All in all, I cleaned about 70 viruses by hand, and Avira found several more when it installed. If not for AdBlock, I'm not even sure if I could make it work. Even now, links are popping up from the text I've got down, so I clearly have a lot of work to do -- about 400 blocked ads since I started typing this post, now that I mention it.

I also uninstalled the worthless piece of shit that is McAfee. Gonna get back to cleaning out temp and settings now before I sleep tonight and take my ginseng. If anyone has heard of a way to permanently get rid of Coupoon, Search Protect, and its malicious friends, mail me please. Even Avira, end-processing, manual uninstalling, and deleting is turning up sparse results, and they keep finding ways in. I may just save K's most personal files on a USB and factory reset this piece of shit notebook. (IMO, it should be illegal to design a PC without a fan -- HP bastards)

Moral of the Story

Never install programs from sources that look unofficial, offer to clean your PC or boost performance, or have "optional programs" bundled in. Never express install. Never download coupon programs. Never install ANYTHING you haven't looked up first. Malware and adware writers are counting on unwitting idiots to ply their trade, and they know just how to get around your average antivirus -- or in McAfee's case, virus -- so you'll be sitting there at your PC, tearing your scalp off, trying to figure out how to get rid of the problem. A little research saves a lot of havoc.

Also, I usually don't approve of using AdBlock on NG due to how revenue is earned and paid out to other users, but in the case of adware, God in heaven am I happy I'm using it now. 488 ads from these damn programs and counting. They're even trying to link to ads in the text I'm typing, bastards!

Wish me luck getting rid of them!

Heya guys, so, since the new to-do list yesterday, I've been busy. Check the fruits of my labor, Urban Vibe, just released to the portal, and let time just melt away!

About the Piece

When I started on Urban Vibe, originally, all I had were those beatboxing vocals, with the tongue-click. From that, I built a bassline and grabbed my trombone for some simple riffs and some squealing, inspired by the seedy streets where I live. From that, I built nonsense vocals and harmonies, as well as the guitar tracks. Thus was born the soundtrack to your walk through life, melancholy in a "things simply are the way they are" kind of way.

All my music is free to use for games, movies, and trailers, as well as for sampling, so long as you credit me appropriately via NG's built in system or link to the track and NG userpage if hosted somewhere else. PM me for commissions/collabs.

On to the next one!

~A

So, it's late June, and NG just randomly dropped 50 extra cents in to my earnings, and isn't showing any data as to how I got it. I figure it may be projects or audio -- or a few flashes my music has been used in. Not sure if I'm alone here or what. Anyway, I plan to get back into music, writing, misc. projects, and video editing/producing soon.

Upcoming Stuff

Visual Novel?
@LawiusLorric and I plan on doing a Visual Novel some time, no idea what about or where it will be released yet, but as far as I know, I'll be in charge of music and possibly art, leaving most of the writing/character design to Law. His roommate is also an artist, so there's that. Who knows when this will be completed...

EDM Producing
Thanks to @Senrekiv, I now am learning how to use a percussion imager, and beyond that, I'm studying the work of some famous producers like the Norwegian duo, Röyksopp. If you haven't checked them out yet, there are several videos on YouTube. Pretty awesome shit.

Other Genres
I may temporarily take a break from EDM to work on some trombone/vocal oriented tracks, or do some covers of songs that I've become obsessed with lately, a lot of which are from the likes of Robyn, TaTu, etc. I may be stylizing some of these wrong. However, I'm also considering doing some mashups and remixes, which, if this happens, I'll likely post them to SoundCloud, unless I do my own vocals, etc. I really hate that copyright laws are the way they are. Otherwise I'd have a lot of mixes to post here.

Collabs and Commissions
There are a lot of people I need to apologize to here. I've lost some files for collabs recently, and I had to turn down a commission the other day (time constraint didn't agree with my RL). For now, commission wise, if you could, please give me a week's notice at least before work needs to be done, and for animations a length in seconds to aim for. I'm under a lot of stress. I apologize profusely both to clients and collab partners alike. Please be patient with me.

As for people who would like to use my existing music here on NG, I only ask you properly credit me, using the system NG has already set up, and link me in the description.

Writing and Blogging
As most of you know, I run the FuckYeahFarroncest! tumblr, as well as my personal tumblr. I plan to be on these more regularly, and write more fanfiction, as well as possibly start up another blog dedicated to gamer heroines, maybe another for my experiences in TribalWars. I'm hugely into that game. If you wanna play along side me, shoot me a message and I'll drop you a ref link and teach you the ropes.

YouTube
Lately I've been making game music videos, and although I'm definitely thinking to make more, I may also branch out into reporting/commentary. Some subjects I've been itching to talk about are the TaTu split, Charleston, and basically crazy shit in general. I might even go into music videos and start talking about NG.

Conclusion

Before the summer ends and I have to hit college again -- EMCC, number one ranking junior college football team in the US, woo! -- and have band, I plan to start on these. It's gonna be a blast!

Mail me for any questions regrading collabs and commissions. I check in at least once a day. I'm also still doing review requests!

~A
 

I edit videos as a hobby. Here's one I did for my Farroncest Tumblr fans. For those who don't know what Farroncest is, it's the platonic or romantic coupling of Lightning and Serah Farron from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. That being said, HD and fullscreen look fab! Made in Sony Vegas 13 as an experiment.  

Man, I'm one sick puppy.

This happened while I was on the way to fix my car. The little bugger just ran on water!

And as an added bonus, DIY vocoder.

Found a funny link today. Check it!

Fixed the grub loader with a USB win 7 install that I had to torrent because the serial sticker on my PC was peeled off at some point, so my laptop works, but I have a lot of work to do before I'm back in business. All my files are still here, thankfully, but I almost got used to not having a laptop, lol.

Apologies to any fans of my music, also. I hit a brick wall when it comes to new ideas. Sure it shouldn't last long, but it's always frustrating, especially when I had so much material in the works, and collabs. Extra apologies to those working with me on those!

I'll try to get around to reading everyone's updates and answering my PMs ASAP. Meantime, thank you all for sticking around!

My laptop bit the dust. Gotta fix the grub loader before I'm back up and running. Sorry to those of you working with me on any projects!

Used to be, Grooveshark was one of the best free streaming services on the net -- perhaps not the best at supporting artists, but it was a decent way to get your name out there, one of the most frequent I used, at least until the big four labels shut them down. I never made any money off of Grooveshark, and I didn't have a huge following either, but upon reading the text wall from the now desolate domain, I knew for sure the labels had won. The transparent-background image I've attached below is all that remains of Grooveshark.

My only question is, what does this mean for the little guy being crammed down the next ad-infested music streaming tube, or for the one forced to submit his audio and information to sites like Reverbnation in order to get his work to services like Spotify? What about artists who do covers? Those lyrics and chords aren't originally theirs. Will the big four come after their work for copyright too, just like they did Grooveshark?

Now I'm aware making and uploading covers is not the same as uploading and hosting copyrighted songs from your favorite Skrillex album, but the reason I draw the similarity is this. If there are lawsuits going on between the Gaye family and Robin Thicke, over two different songs that sound similar, who's to say covers aren't going to go down the toilet for being the same. What websites are going to be next on the big four's list of takedowns for their profit? What about Newgrounds? We host covers here, and it's not a big leap to say that, since Grooveshark also hosted a large quantity of independent artists freely submitting their own work, that they wouldn't come here to NG, where we do the same. Am I the only one who thinks this?

Here's what Grooveshark staff had to say. Clicking the image should take you to the dead site.

~EDM364

So, it's exam week in college, crunch time for the masses. Me, sleep? Not a wink! And I know a lot of students are like me, staying up late nights, trying to get through a thousand and one assignments, study for a grueling gauntlet of exams, and manage to crawl into bed right around the crack of dawn before another day of hell rolls by and they have to do it all over again. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? Wrong. Skimping sleep is probably the worst thing you can do for you, your body, and your educational career. Here's why.

Sleep deprivation results in:

1. Fatigue; irritability
2. Headaches and memory loss
3. Stress induced immune deficiency

   ---

Worried you might be facing the same symtoms? There's a simple solution. Sleep! Be prepared for your day; don't be like me! Here's how.

My Advice to Students

Don't cram. Ever. No more all-nighters!

Think that late night cram session is going to do much good? Nope! Thanks to that extra fatigue you'll be tacking on, your brain will likely be remembering how awful you feel after a less than adequate night's sleep rather than whatever you actually needed to study, and to top that off, headaches, allergies, and illness will be there to make your day that much worse, especially if you're a repeat offender. A stressed body is a sore, clumsy, sick mess, and it doesn't take long for sleep deprivation to add up. I'm definitely feeling the burn, myself, right now, so take it from me: make sure you get enough sleep, or you will be miserable!

If you must cram at all, cram right before the test! Your rested brain is much more likely to remember fresh details than it is to regurgitate anything from the previous night's crash and burn. Bring your study materials into the classroom, even, if you have to. I find looking over your notes a few minutes before class very helpful to test performance, and that's coming from someone who hardly studies.

When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. No distractions.

Humans, especially women, are meant to sleep in quiet, dark environments. If you or a roommate have music or the TV on, make sure that it is turned off when bedtime rolls around, or at least that you can't hear or see it. Flickering light and even moderately quiet sounds can disturb REM sleep, which is crucial to getting rest. If you don't get enough REM sleep, you'll drag through your whole day perhaps even more exhausted than if you hadn't slept at all.

If you can't control outside noise or light, such as, say, if you have inconsiderate relatives or neighbors living close enough to disturb your sleep with late-night soap operas, video game sessions, etc., or even flickering street lights near your window keeping you up through the night, try investing in a pair of earplugs and eye pillows. The darker and quieter your sleep environment is, the better you will feel in the mornings. You may even want to invest in some curtains if your average wake-time is later in the day.

Don't sleep in on weekends or days when some classes are later than others.

Although it may be tempting, those few hours of oversleeping when you get the chance actually hurt you later in the week. They get you used to waking later than you normally do, and you wind up feeling cheated when the day rolls around that you have to wake up early. Do it often enough, and you might actually find yourself falling asleep in the middle of lecture, drifting off during an assignment, and wishing you hadn't gotten up to begin with. Sleeping in may also lead you to go to sleep later due to biological clockwork, which is a big no-no if you want to get adequate sleep during the week.

Try to sleep and wake around the same hours every day. Your routine will make it easier to get up in the mornings and fall asleep at night, and not sleeping your life away every time you get the chance will leave time to do all the things you thought were reserved for late-night stressing sessions.

Limit caffeine and sugar intake, especially late in the day.

Sure, a coffee or a bagel can help you wake up when you're in a pinch, but pouring yourself a cup of tachycardia (rapid heart rate, which can be caused by caffeine) or eating copious diabetes (sugary bagels) for breakfast can raise your tolerance for caffeine and sugar over time, meaning these methods will lose their benefit if you consistently rely on them. Once your tolerance is up, you'll have to up your dosage of caffeine or sugar to get the same effect, and eventually, you'll have to maintain a constant influx of either just to feel normal. This is especially true of caffeine, which can leave you feeling irritable or edgy in high concentrations. Large doses of sugar generally just lead to a buzz followed shortly after by a crash.

It's important to monitor your caffeine and sugar intake later in the day, around dinner. Caffeine especially stays in the system a while, and while it may not energize you at this point in the day, it can make for restless, unfulfilling, or even unobtainable sleep. Addiction to either is even worse and should be avoided at all costs.

Do nap, but remember, catching up on sleep is a myth.

If you must miss sleep, it might make sense to try and regain it, but the cold truth is, REM sleep isn't exactly renewable. All you can do is try not to miss any more sleep in the time you have. You can't afford to cheat yourself. Meanwhile, if things are getting stressful and you have time, catch a power nap. 20-90 minutes of sleep in the middle of the day can leave you feeling better than none at all. You can even take this mindset into other areas of life, such as travel, on long trips. If you're finding it hard to focus on the road due to exhaustion, especially after an all-nighter, even a few minutes of shuteye can help you through, contrary to popular belief.

Hope these tips helped. Sleep well, my friends!

In other news, commissions and collabs are still open. After next week, I'll be free to do other projects as well. Want a commission? PM me!