Can't type summary, must return to Defense Grid.

We talk about this on this weeks podcast, but it's too cool not to bring to your attention immediately. Direct2Drive is celebrating their 5th aniversary by offering all sorts of awesome games for 5 bucks. Indie hits like World of Goo and COGS, to more mainstream shit like Bioshock and Saints Row 2.

Check it out, yo.

I'm starting to turn into Phil when it comes to writing these things. This podcast is better than last weeks, but fortunately Phil will be back for the next one. Jacob joins us to spice things up a bit, but Jacob and I both have the tendency to communicate non verbally, which doesn't make for good podcastery.

Enjoy?

When we set up cutenews, we agreed that we wouldn't use the Apt-T site as a personal blog, and we've been pretty good so far on that. But this is an artistice issue, and one that's very dear to my heart, so you have to tolerate it anyway.

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Apparently I'm an old man. Don't get me wrong, Dragonforce concert was fucking sweet, but it could have been so much fucking sweeter.

The thing I like about bands like Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica is that there's a very high level of traditional musicality in their playing. It's what differentiates them from thrash metal, death metal, screamo and other shit like that (not that I have anything against those heavier forms of metal, I couldn't dream of doing the shit they do, it's just not to my ear). So why the fuck does a venue feel the need to blast the PA up to max, distorting everything good about what I'm there to listen to, and leaving me deaf for hours after. I'm there to see and hear a great band play great music, not feel a kick drum shaking the entire building.

I can't quite recall the name of the piece, but at an Oregon Symphony concert I attended, the first 3 minutes or so of the piece were insanely quiet. The phrase "you could hear a pin drop" is oft overused, but in this case the pin would be louder than the music, but with everyone in the audience absolutely silent as they were, the music still felt extraordinarily loud, and yet that pin would outblast it. It was amazing.

These bands are made up of artists, and like all arts, you have to be able to detect every minute detail of it to truly appreciate what's going on. Every brushstroke of a painting, the darkest shadows and brightest highlights of a photograph. But when it gets all muddled together into one bank of speakers and blown to the point that it's beyond distorted, the art is lost, and it makes me sad.

I want to hear the loud pounding bass and kick drum, but I also want to hear the super clean synth lead and every ounce of Theart's amazing vocals. And I also want to be able to hear the chick at Muchas when I leave after the show to get some nachos.

I really just want to see appreciation for these heavier forms of music from people who truly appreciate music the way I do, and they aren't going to be willing to if they can't discern it from thrash screamo shit metal that a couple of wannabe punks blast out of their parents garage.

All music deserves the same appreciation as classical music. I want to go to the Schnitz, sit down in the balcony, and have a nice applause as Dragonforce walks out onto the stage. As Dave Mackintosh raises his drumsticks into the air to count off the first song, a hush falls over the audience. Click click click click BAM a pristine and clear wall of sound makes its way through the auditorium. You can hear every ounce of technical proficiency that this band has, and you can truly appreciate it. As the song ends, the audience erupts into a standing ovation. ZP Theart walks to his mic stand, and the audience quiets down as he introduces the next song, and it begins again. Glorious, Clear, and Musical.

I guess the title doesn't really leave much for this space. The codes were annoying to type, and I'm pretty sure I got at least one of them wrong, so if any of you have issues let me know. I probably just typed the code wrong.

If you're checking your e-mail looking for the prizes, you're looking in the wrong place. They're in your private messages box in the apt-t forums.

We've still got some of these limited edition pax 09 avatar tshirt codes, so we'll probably offer them up in some future contests as well.

Thanks to all who participated.

Apparently Phil is a vital part of the podcast. His lunacy is necessary to fill time. We made it to our usual hour, but only barely.

Congrats to the winners of our "Spam DWMM8 Contest" contest:

1st Place: Time
2nd Place: ThatZero
3rd Place: Sykrim, who declined any prizes, so prizes go to
4th Place: Hudni

Always love to see participation and appreciation of the work we do, so thanks guys. Prizes should be in private forum messages by the end of the week.

I'll also take this time to announce we've got a PAX09 video on the way, don't know the exact release date, but it's being submitted to Machinima.com as I type.

I think I'm finally really guilting Phil into working on ep10, so once he's back from his Beach vacation, it might actually get worked on.

Until then, later all.

Phil returns from PAX, Skitch is home sick, Sarah is uncontactable, and Dave is... Dave.

Besides discussing PAXgoings on, we introduce a new contest with fantabulous prizes (Details here). XBox Live Avatar Gear? KOTOR? You want it, you can work to win it.

Phil will be gone for the next three weeks or so of Podcastery, so hopefully Skitch and/or Sarah show up each time. If not, I've got some T.S. Eliot, some Samuel Clemens, and some Göethe lined up just for you guys.

Comments have been fixed! Go forth, and let us have your opinions on our posts!

Unfashionably late... that's Phil alright. Showing up a whole 20 minutes late to the podcast, after telling me that he and Sarah wouldn't be able to show up. Fortunately that gave me some 1 on 1 time with the audience... well more like 1 on 6 or however many people actually listen to this damned thing.

I think I brought some much needed culture to our podcast, though I butchered any italian involved, and, more miserably, called the italian french at one point.

Phil wanted me to delete the first 20 minutes but I told him that it's a warning: Any time he doesn't show up on time, it becomes my time; and I will do with my time what I damn well please.

Enjoy :)

Sorry for the almost week delay in the podcast. I had some family emergencies come up that kept me from getting everything put together. It's out now though, so enjoy.

Addendum:
This is even a week later than I originally wrote this post. The guys who do our hosting had their sprinkler system go off, which pretty much completely fucked over their servers, which are, essentially, our servers. Thankfully they kept good backups, and we're up and running again, with a sweet new podcast. We've also submitted some new shows to machinima.com, which will hopefully be out soon, and Phil got his account back active to start work on DWMM10. Good times.