Hey guys, just a quick note here to anyone who has missed me, I left home for a week or so, had some computer problems, home issues, etc. I should be back in service Saturday.

Basically, RL responsibilities and social anxiety had piled up to the point I didn't want to do anything but sleep and avoid social contact, and I really needed to get away from my home situation, crappy internet and family feuds included. Sorry for the lack of notice. I have no excuse, but here are a few things I will be doing in the next couple days.

First, for those of you in the NGRC, I will be posting an update with a playlist of all the AIM entries and their inspirations to current date, for your convenience.

Also need to update the roster because @LittleMisfortune tapped me on the shoulder about a typo in her name @byteslinger may have already noticed. If any of you have reviewed anything in the meantime you particularly enjoyed, feel free to share in the comments though.

Assuming no interruptions or callbacks on that job interview I put in this week, I will be going through all of the entries this Monday for review, and each following Monday will be expressly dedicated for that purpose.

I also have a crap ton of music backlog that I will attempt to post over the coming months. The problem hasn't been skimping out on work so much as every time I try to render a track, my computer crashes. Hopefully getting a new notebook soon to tide me over, so if I can just move the projects to my external or move parts around until things actually start working, I'll do that.

I also have all the parts in for that electronic drum project I mentioned I was doing. Sorry for delay. Had to order a new soldering iron but should be good to go now. Even got some new E-cymbals in.

Over the next week, I'm gonna try and go through all PMs and notifications that you all have sent me and get back in the groove, so if you see this and I haven't messaged you back yet, it isn't because I'm ignoring you; I had actually typed up replies to a lot of my PMs before I left home, but as I mentioned, frequent computer crashes and not enough money to toss out my Lenovo just yet.

Speaking of money, I may have a job working at a local TV station soon, late night, early morning, so that could change. If you're the praying type, I could use a few, haha.

Anyway, I think I'll cut off right about here. Just wanted to say I love you guys, and I've missed ya. Hope to be back to normal soon.

NGRC Roster

@AceMantra
@ADR3-N
@Big-Boss
@Cyberdevil
@I0ta
@littlemisfortune
@MaiGeims
@PhantomCritic
@SevenSeize
@Troisnyx

Subs:  @BlueAlpha14 @CyberDevil @littlemisfortune @maorrichan @RealFaction @Xtrullor

Extra Peeps: @AliceMako @byteslinger @ChronoNomad @GUTHRIE @IoTheEternal @Jackho @LexRodent @LittleMisfortune @SevenSeize @TomFulp @Troisnyx

... And if you're not on that list, it's because I lost some of my ProKeys shortcuts. Ay. Might follow up this post with a short blog about what I've been doing the past week. Saving my frontpage for the NGRC update.

See ya!

Yeah, that's right. Ya heard me. It's that time! Newgrounds' finest, mostly-annual (only) Art Inspired Music competition kicks off this Sunday, April 29th, bringing the business. (thread and official podcast)

Art by the lovely @Nalem. It is indeed for sale if anyone wants fancy T-shirts and stuff. (snag it with text and without!)

Ps. This post was like 90% memes, but image processing kept hanging on like 3. Sad face. Guess I can just moonlight on CRACKED.com if the demand tumbleweeds and sassy black women is real.

Now, I know you're wondering: @ADR3-N, what does Art Inspired Music have to do with the Newgrounds Review Crew, and why are we inviting everyone to it? Don't we just review stuff? And like, where have you been dawg? You ghostin'.

Tbh, the last time I thought about all of the above, my computer exploded and I... for some reason never heard about Nate's competition, y'know, the last one I invited you guys to, ever again.

Some time after I fixed said computer, however, I was tapped on the shoulder by the eminent @RealFaction and had another thought. (See reference image for details.)

Skipping over the copious amounts of dread I generally have at the thought of social interaction, the general idea was, since I myself will be judging and reviewing AIM this year, assuming no more computer explosions, and I know it to be a genuinely awesome shindig for all involved, why not invite folks to the party?

Y'know, so you can make like ya girl here:

So, like, you're officially invited, because the best part of compos like AIM and NGADM has always been the feedback at the end of the day.

I mean, not that the prizes aren't totally ballin', but a little knowledge and encouragement can propel an artist lightyears forward, sometimes literally, so us music nerds sorta kinda go cuckoo for Coco Puffs over this stuff.

Normally, judges like myself do the legwork of reviewing all the submissions, and this year we have a few panelists in the mix. That's a guaranteed 5-7 detailed reviews per track, which is awesome...

BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE!

I would be remiss not to kick off this crew with a good cause. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to kick it with yours truly in the trenches for AIM 2018. And review things.

No ASL, please. 90's internet rules for the win.

Participants comment below. :)

There is no set requirement of reviews to remain on the roster, nor to participate in the AIM 2018 Review Jamboree, and our application form has been updated. Fill it out as many times as you like!

Also, join the crew, yo.

NGRC Roster:

@AceMantra
@ADR3-N
@Big-Boss
@Cyberdevil
@I0ta
@lilmisfortune
@MaiGeims
@PhantomCritic
@SevenSeize
@Troisnyx

Let me know if I missed anyone. Will personally update the spreadsheet provided by @ChronoNomad on the first of the month to stay in sync with @byteslinger's stat pulling; that will commence the official record keeping. I may ask her if she would mind showing me how to drum up something similar to the EGB roster for the purposes, then host that on a Weebly.

EDIT: Automatic stat-pulling is in the works! Monthly updates in the vein of @Auz's Top 100 Reviewers list will proceed.

Join or CRY, and Remember:

I got bored and made myself a new header and sig. Probably looks terrible.

Used GIMP 2.0, Arial (Newgrounds) font, some sponge brushes, simple filters, etc. Took about 30 minutes. If anyone wants one, hit me up.

Got two songs on the burner, expecting some time in May. Announcement tomorrow for the NG Review Crew, regarding the upcoming AIM competition.Stay tuned!

EDIT: if you're wondering where that announcement is, I didn't lie -- just trying to get it to post. For some reason the memes are hanging it up or w/e

Sub fam: @BlueAlpha14 @CyberDevil @littlemisfortune @maorrichan @RealFaction @Xtrullor

Last time I was here, I mentioned my computer blowing up and not being able to do jack squat since. Well, I've fixed it for the most part -- some more than before. Slated to start university in the fall, and hoping to have that new desktop done by then. I'll be easing back into the usual business along the way, starting with the Review Crew business and the usual mod duties. Got some new synths and some songs in the works also.

Until all that jazz, what's new with you?

If you're mentioned, it's because I think ya might need to know. If TLDR, skip to the bottom.

@ChronoNomad @Cyberdevil @LexaHergon @littlemisfortune @TomFulp @Troisnyx

@TomFulp, just letting you know I'm not disappearing. Been having computer issues a while and just not really talking about it; thought I had them fixed. Evidently not. Should be permanently fixed now. If not, time for a new PC ig, lol.

@Troisnyx, regarding that rap, depending on how much time we have to deal with it, I might have to pass the text file of what I have so far off to someone. I messaged @Cyberdevil about collabing on it with me a bit since the last guy bailed, but then my computer crashed, like, super dead, BSOD, and I haven't even gotten to my mailbox. Also, will have to reinstall literally everything including Discord.

So, yeah. My PC is officially a zombie.

It had been crashing for a while, progressively worse, but it finally corrupted a system file. Could've been me testing out a dll on a problem file that was throwing errors but it's worth noting the problem dll was replaced and the machine was doing just fine for a day or two until I started editing a video in VideoPad of all programs; PC powered off like usual, and then suddenly I get the dreaded BSOD.

If I had to recommend something personally, it's not downloading dlls off the internet, even if I don't think that's what caused the problem directly. Spent 24 hours fixing it, including a 12 hour nap, and the other half bitching because evidently my period was coming on.

Yeah, TLDR, TMI -- I know. You could'a skipped tho.

I cried a little because c000007b Bad Image winsrv errors are a bitch to fix, and I've been dicking around with computers my whole life.

I was able to back up my files with Lazesoft's repair suite and turned a USB into a Win 7 Ultimate emergency boot drive; you can do this in command prompt but I was having issues getting the iso to behave, so I used Win CD/USB whatever wizard. Don't try searching that one. I may just do a tutorial because it was kind of a pain in the ass, and I see a ton of unanswered questions online.

Just to be sure whether I had to go all Hitler's final solution and reinstall Windows or not, I tried it again after running the fancy little wizard, but even with repairing registry, completely repairing the system32 folder to factory, all the other jazz, I was still getting a BSOD. Not sure what the hell was going on there, since usually Bad Image has something to do with screwing with system32. I have a sneaking suspicion my HDD is failing. Everything else just about has been replaced.

I eventually got it to start, but then every application was throwing errors and crashing immediately, so I just copied all my program files, documents, etc. over to my external drive, then reinstalled Windows from USB. Lazesoft's utility pulled up the serial that for some reason the actual Microsoft site wouldn't accept, and I wrote it down, and it was kinda just a situation of paste and pray. So far, no issues, but I was really, really wigged out that the Microsoft site kept throwing an error on what I know is a genuine serial, hoarding isos.

Still don't know if it's going to randomly try to de-authenticate and reject my serial, which came with the computer, and it would have been way nicer if they just sent a disc out with their PCs these days, like they used to with floppies in the 90's but nooooo.

So yeah, I'm gonna be in limited state for a while.

I still have all my programs and documents, but I'll be reinstalling everything piece by piece. Probably will be out of commission for a week.

I still need to install the drivers for my wifi card, for Christ's sake. I'm sitting here writing this, internetting off a dongle I had to pop a disc for. Thank God I bought this thing for mom an hour ago or I'd be wasting my life popping drivers onto USB to revive this piece of crap.

Let it be a lesson, kiddos, have a bootable PE for when shit hits the fan and keep them Windows discs handy. And have system restore points. But mostly just the first part.

Also, totally call me if you have computer problems. I somewhat know what I'm doing.

You know, I've been on Newgrounds 11 years, and if anything gets to me these days, it's the quiet.

Got me like ya girl here.

Not the forums. They still talk shit. I'm talking about this new phenomenon of "I came, I lol'd, I left," dropping fivens and zero-bombs without so much as a word, with one-and-done artists coming on the scene as if dumping stuff on the servers and ditching is gonna win us favors.

Back in the day, we used to give back to the community.

Today, I've watched audio, art, and animation come through the Portal without a peep, sometimes going years without reviews -- or even votes. Do you think anyone comes out of that equation looking pretty?

No. Definitely not Jennifer Anniston pretty either.

It makes us look lame -- us, the guys who debase DeviantArt, trash YouTube, and shit on SoundCloud. Y'know, Newgrounds, the first, the baddest, the best? When our own community can't say so much as hi and thank you, it makes it hard to believe household names like the Weebl, Soulja Boy, Waterflame all started here.

And if you ain't of that persuasion, let's just say I'd rather see this in my feed than this.

This is not going to produce more Weebls and Waterflames. This is just gonna suck.

We're supposed to be the cutting edge of user-created content, the nexus of cringe, counter-culture, and cool, but we've forgotten how we came this far.

Community, reviews, encouragement, telling each other how to improve, that's what drives us. Feedback makes us tick. That's what we in this crew aim to do, what other groups have failed to accomplish, if they haven't completely ground to a halt.

And I had a draft for this post, but I trashed it. If you're reading this yes, I'm inviting you -- yes, you, to join me and the Newgrounds Review Crew in our fight against silence, to keep the spirit of Newgrounds alive.

Instead of encouraging link dumping, self-advertising, and bs, we'll be keeping it simple. See something that doesn't have a review? Review it. Like something? Review it. That's it. No requests, no beauracracy, because that gets tedious. Meetings will be held approx. every 14 days or as I am able to FP, events optional, and potentially there will be some paid competitions.

The particular event I have in mind for this month is @dj-Nate's competition, which I will be judging. If Nate can review each of these entries, we can too!

@ChronoNomad will be in charge of making pretty spreadsheets to keep track of progress because I'm a doofus. Yeah. We'll get on that.

Meantime, the only way to get yourself in trouble is to spam reviews and break Newgrounds review guidelines to get ahead. Do that and things will suck.

To apply, post a comment. To vote on the next event or suggest future events and competitions, here!

At some point, there will be a discord server set up to discuss cool junk.

Newgrounds Review Crew Roster - January

New Blood
@ADR3-N
@Cyberdevil
@I0ta
@lilmisfortune
@MaiGeims
@PhantomCritic

Indecision
@Jackho
@MistyEntertainment
@SoundBounce
@S3C

Personally, I've decided to continue my review for review schtick until further notice. Still got a couple to finish, but they're on the list, and if anyone wants 20 free reviews, feel free to sign up here with an email you don't care about. Confirm it and it'll tip me some pennies toward my bills and equipment, which will help keep me and mine from being homeless come August. No joke. Help me out and I'll love you long time.

But enough shameless self-plugging. Drop your personal goals, recommends, and other junk in the comments! Let's review!

Ps: One of these days I'll get back to doing podcasts. Waiting on easy embed functionality. Until then, holla!

I've been seeing a lot of stuff around here hurting for reviews. A lot of my stuff, too. That's lame.

So, I decided on something yesterday. Yes, I'm not joking. I will be reviewing your crap for one straight week on one condition -- that is, you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours...

Figuratively of course. Hold your passports and sleeping bags, ladies. I'm not about that life.

You want guaranteed reviews? Drop one on any of my tracks over the next week, and I'll give you two back. Yes, I will be doing review responses too, for you stat whores, and yes, they will be thoughtful.

OR, if that's not your flavor, do me a favor. Sign up here under your NG username with an email you don't care about, confirm it, and I'll give ya 20 critical reviews. You know, those things we hardly get enough of these days. Yes, it's a referral link. Yes, it will tip me in pennies when you click it, but it helps pay the light bill and my gear, so hey.

If somebody wants to match me or start a group, we can make this a community event. Ya dig? @CyberDevil and I have been thinking about starting up a Review Crew, and @Auz with the Top 100 Reviewers thread could use new blood. I'd be game.

But that's about it folks. Help ya girl out, get them free reviews, and drop your thoughts in the comment box.

Sub Fam: @BlueAlpha14 @CyberDevil @littlemisfortune @maorrichan @RealFaction @Xtrullor

Ps, a friend asked me to share new fashion store on Shopify. Check it. There's a sale on for the next 2 weeks!

I'm not usually one to ask help, but these are extenuating circumstances.

I want to make it plain I consider Annette (@Troisnyx) a close friend and sister in the faith. I won't sit here and say nothing while her whole life is yanked out from under her, while the nightmares that follow her around in waking life threaten to become real again.

If you follow her, you probably know she and her fiance live together in the UK. Neither of them come from good situations, but they've been making it. They recently were able to get a place, safe from harm. Still, Annette suffers from horrible nightmares and PTSD, a consequence of tremendous abuse she's still reeling from today.

What you probably didn't know is that abuse came after being drafted into the Malaysian National Service. Yes, that's right. Already a second-class citizen on basis of race and religion, she was forced into the service, not too long after criticizing the Malaysian authorities, which, to put it bluntly, are not kind.

Life for non-Malay non-Muslims is not great in Muslim Malaysia.

While at the University of Hertfordshire, she heard from her father how hard things were getting. He was sacked for no reason other than not being a Malay Muslim, and left without any means of supporting himself. People of her ethnicity have been shot in the streets. Her lecturers (one of whom was from Malaysia) told her that "there is no rule of law in Malaysia," and that if she were to continue singing openly about her faith and writing subversive articles, she would face dire consequences. The lecturer from Malaysia who told Annette this asked not to be quoted or contacted, for fear of reprisals.

The National Service program itself has a terrible reputation, but even if you know nothing about Malaysia, with between one-quarter to one-third of women in AMERICAN armed services being raped by their own platoons, you can imagine what she had to go through as a non-Malay non-Muslim in a nation where people of her ethnicity are shot dead in broad daylight.

It was so bad, her father sent her to study in the UK, where she is now, caring for her disabled fiance, Sean, who couldn't survive without her, and I would argue vice versa, since she is basically an enemy of the Malaysian state -- for exercising what should be basic human rights to free speech and free belief and being born.

If Annette was forced to return to Malaysia she would not be truly free to practice her own Christian faith. A church she attended was bombed by fundamentalists while she was still in Malaysia. She would not be allowed to proselytise or speak openly about her faith, she would not be allowed to sing about it in public (because it gives her so much joy), and any slight action seen as undermining Islam as the official religion would have her fined and imprisoned.

No one should be subjected to what Annette, for no other reason than being non-Malay, Christian, and female, has endured. Sean and Annette are engaged to marry, and authorities continue to ignore their pleas to grant her freedom.

To stay safe, she needs the VISA she rightfully deserves, and she needs your help.

I ask that the Home Office grant Annette a Leave to Remain on Family Grounds visa that she should have been granted according to their own rules.

Please sign the petition and share it around!

Even though rendering this was a pain, my computer kept shutting itself off half-through, I ended up cutting out about 10 minutes of stuttering and technical problems, my camera rig is a go-pro bike mount clamped on a clipboard, the quality is potato grade, and I'm painfully aware I can't sing, I felt like it was about time for a status update now that I have a studio setup going and I'm making progress on the projects I have on the board. If anything, this video taught me one thing: adapt, conquer, complain, lol.

While I go figure out how to replace my computer as quickly as possible, what's new with you?

Subs: @BlueAlpha14 @CyberDevil @littlemisfortune @maorrichan @RealFaction @Xtrullor

Hey guys, just a note here that I have not been and will not be as available the next few days. I took on a job remodeling a house locally, so that AP Mod podcast is going to be delayed a bit. The job is dragging on somewhat more than expected due to unforseen complications like 3 layers of stubborn wallpaper, uneven paneling, and grueling 8-12 hour shifts on my feet, but I'm absolutely overjoyed to finally get my figurative foot in the door doing what I enjoy -- cleaning, painting, and fixing. Plus, there's the chance I may keep getting hired for similar jobs, which will mean a steady stream of income towards more equipment -- thereby the means to make better music, not to mention get the start in life that's eluded me thus far. Exciting!

I'll probably be back to regular schedule by Friday night and will be judging for the most prestigious NGADM competition in between modding when I get home. Those of you who audition, if you have any review requests for your tracks, let me know! After each round concludes, I'll be dropping a batch of reviews. I had intended to review each track as I went through entries, but @ChronoNomad specified that no scores should be released until each judging period concludes, which I think adds a fun and fair bit of mystery to the mix. The competition itself so far looks very exciting this year, and I'm honored to take part, however small it may be in comparision to the massive turnout of talented artists. Best of luck to everyone!

As usual, if you have any questions about the AP or the goings about, drop a comment or inbox me here on NG. I also plan to start using Discord more, so if anyone is one there, drop a ... chat invite. Smoke signal. Something. @RealFaction, also, I got a new Discord account. Last one I lost the information to. Just so you know in case you need me for anything on there.

Alright, after judging tonight and the usual mod duties, it's off to bed with my tired ass. I'm bushed!