Featuring: Ammo, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen
Tonight we had the whole gang back and start the show talking about how Bel was apparently replaced by a totally different person as he both healed a few dungeons and ran raid content in FFXIV as a mage class. From there we talk a bit about Blaugust which is starting the day this show releases. The rest of the show is sort of a rapid-fire remembering of games that had dropped off our radar over the years or that we just plain forgot about. We talk about MMORPGs gone by, games that had DLC releases, or just games that we started but never actually got back around to playing. We dive a bit into Genshin Impact and the most recent content release as well as apparently the ability to play your pc/mobile account on the PlayStation 5. Lastly we finish the show with a discussion of Ghostrunner, a movement puzzle platformer game featuring a deep cyberpunk aesthetic.
Good Morning Friends! I hope that you had a sincerely good weekend and that it was restful in the right ways. It is the start of a brand new week and I hope it is a most excellent one. Later this week Blaugust 2021 officially begins and I am looking forward to seeing all of the participants posting away. For those of you readers who might be finding my blog for the very first time welcome. Mixtape Mondays is a series that I have been doing each Monday for a few months now. As a kid, I loved making Mixtapes for my friends and now that I don’t really use physical media I was missing that experience. After getting heavily into Spotify, I realized just how well the Mixtape format translates, and as a result each Monday I post a new mix with new album art.
Tides of War
I think every generation goes through a period of time where they heavily engage with the music of their forebearers. For me, that time was late middle school and early high school and I am not entirely certain what triggered it. I do know that in 1990 when the massive Led Zeppelin Boxed Set was released I was already bought in and fully engaged. My personal musical explorations were largely contained to the genre then termed “Classic Rock”. It does make me wonder if that moniker is a sliding scale that changes meaning as the music ages. Does that mean that Nirvanna is now considered to be “Classic Rock”? Regardless this is also music that I deeply associate with Vietnam and post Vietnam era thanks to Hollywood choosing to populate the soundtracks of these films with large swaths of these songs. It has become a cliche that if you want to set a war film in the 70s, it needs to include the song “Fortunate Son”. The thing is I get it because that track is an absolute banger.
Well, friends that brings to a close Mixtape number thirteen in the series. As always I would love to hear your thoughts below. If you are tuning in late to the entire series you can find the archive page linked below. I hope you have a most excellent week and if you are so inclined, check out the information about Blaugust 2021 and maybe sign up.
Good Morning Friends! Welcome to the start of a brand new week and with it comes another episode in the Mixtape Mondays series. For those who might be finding my blog for the very first time, each Monday morning I post a brand new Mixtape full of songs available through both Spotify and YouTube. The concept is that as a youngster I used to love making Mixtapes for my friends and I’ve not really had an equivalent to that for years. Now that I have gotten heavily into Spotify, I am once again constructing mixes and sharing them around. This morning represents the twelveth Mixtape in this series.
Explorations in Syncopation
I am going to be brutally honest with you. This Mixtape came about because I was trying to craft something that included Information Society, The Shamen, and Jesus Jones. After that, the entire structure took on a life of its own as I seemingly filled in other songs with syncopated rhythms that I was either listening to at the same time or remind me of that same sort of era. I am not entirely certain if it works as well as I think it does, but I am sharing this creation with you so that you can be the judge of it. I am not sure if I landed on a proper theme, or if I just shared a bunch of songs that I enjoy. Whatever the case, we once again have a Monday and a Mixtape, and this particular one came out of a binge where I crafted something like seven Mixtapes in a single weekend.
That brings to a close Mixtape number Twelve in this series. As always please let me know your thoughts below and if you are tuning in late to the series, you can find the entire sequence over on the archive page. I hope you have a successful and fulfilling week, and if it is your jam please check out the informational post about Blaugust 2021 that will be starting soon.
Good Morning Friends! It is that time again, time to begin talking about Blaugust and as is our way around here I am officially announcing the rules of the upcoming event. For those who might not know what Blaugust is, the idea is pretty simple. Several years ago I started challenging my blogging friends to post something new each day during the month of August. Over the years the concept has morphed and bent, but this time around we are returning to the original concept of limiting the posts and event just to the month of August.
Why We Do BlaugusT
The why is pretty simple. The blogging community is nowhere near as large as it once was. Many of us have aged out of blogging with real-world responsibilities or just moved on to other time-consuming hobbies. Blaugust gives us a chance to infuse the community with a fresh lease on life as we court new bloggers to join the fray. Those of us who have been carrying the torch of blogging for decades now, can sometimes lose hope as our blogroll loses a few voices each year. I’ve come to learn that getting out and mingling and mentoring a new crop of fresh bloggers can give us the perspective to stay engaged and hopefully make this community thrive. The thing is… it has over the last several years as we migrated from “just blogs” to a bustling Discord community that takes place year round instead of just during this one month.
The Schedule
In past years we have had the concept of “themed” weeks and we are continuing that forward for 2021. However I have pruned back things a bit because the entire “month” had started to spill out over the course of six weeks. These themes are not mandatory by any means and serve as a guide post to give you some ideas if you falter on trying to come up with a topic.
Welcome to Blaugust Week – (August 1st-August 7th): The idea behind this week is to give folks time to spread their wings and get used to that daily blogging idea. For the Veteran bloggers, it is a great time to make a few posts related to helping New bloggers get started. These could be tips or tricks or just discussions about what helps you get started. Additionally it is a great time to get connected to the Blaugust Discord and meet the community as a whole.
Getting to Know You Week – (August 8th-August 14th): The idea behind this week is to let t he community know who you are and what some of your interests are. This is a great time to dip into that well of stories and tell us something interesting that has either happened to you or something about your specific spin on blogging.
Developer Appreciation Week – (August 15th-August 21st): The D.A.W. or Developer Appreciation Week is an event that used to happen in our blogging community but fell by the wayside. The idea behind it was it was a week to show our appreciation to the people that make all of those games that we love. The thing is over the years we have grown past just being a “gaming” thing, so for other communities it might be a time to reflect on your favorite Authors, Musicians or just Creatives in general.
Staying Motivated Week – (August 22nd-August 28th): You are getting close to the final stretch. The idea here is to share some of your secrets on how you have stayed motivated while blogging on a regular basis. You might share some tips or ideas you have for making topics happen when you are feeling uninspired. If you are fresh to the initiative you could talk about some of the ways you have managed to keep yourself engaged this year.
Lessons Learned Week – (August 29th-September 4th): This week is a reminder that the goal of Blaugust is to refresh the content creators out there for the coming year, and not necessarily to grind them so hard that they burn out in the process. Some folks are going to cross the finish line and immediately go dormant for awhile, and others are going to want to talk about the experience. This is a space reserved to have that cooldown lap as you process your thoughts about what just took place. Please note this year any posts in July or September will not count towards the Blaugust Awards (some wiggle room granted for timezones of course).
The Awards
It has become a tradition to hand out awards at the end of this process. The truth is for me these have become far less important than the interaction that happens within the community. That said I do see them adorning the sidebars of many blogs out there, so I am going to keep the tradition alive and well this year. For this more “classic” edition Blaugust, we are going to be limiting the contest aspect to only posts made within the month of August 2021. I will of course be adjusting slightly to account for the wild variety of timezones we will have participating in the event. For me the fact that you have signed up and you are joining this initiative is enough, but some folks are going to want to push for higher recognition.
Newbie Blogger Award – You did it! You created a new blog and we are extremely happy to welcome you into this raucous community. As a result we are going to recognize your efforts just for signing up.
Bronze Award – You made at least 5 posts during the Month of August 2021.
Silver Award – You made at least 15 posts during the Month of August 2021.
Gold Award – You made at least 25 posts during the Month of August 2021.
Rainbow Diamond Award – You did it, you posted 31 or more posts during the month of August 2021.
Mentorship
One of the benefits of having done this at least once before more or less in this same style… is that we have existing infrastructure! We already have a batch of mentors ready to help the process, but if you feel like you would be best served in that role we are always open to more. Ultimately mentors should have at least two years of blogging experience under their belt in order to gauge the ebbs and flow of content creation in front of a live studio audience. We aren’t expecting perfection, just a willingness to share the lessons you have learned along the way with fledgling participants. If this sounds like you, please reach out to me on Discord and we can talk about your desire to become a Mentor.
The Details
The Sign-Up form for Blaugust 2021 can be found here. Only those who have signed up will be given credit towards the awards or included on any of the blogger lists.
The invite link to the Blaugust Discord can be found here. Participation in the Discord is entirely optional but also a great way to bounce ideas off the existing community.
When you share your content please use the hashtag #Blaugust2021 for tracking purpose and to make it easier for those watching along to see the new content.
Mingle with the participants of Blaugust 2021. Get out and see the blogs, read the posts, and comment frequently! These folks represent a social structure that you can lean on for advice in the coming years. I deeply value the ties I have made with other bloggers and started this process as an attempt to cement those and build new ones.
If you are so inclined there is a “Gaming Together” channel on Discord for those impromptu grouping activities. I believe last year there were a few games of Among Us that sprunt out of that channel for example.
Welcome to Blaugust 2021. As always if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
If you want an archive of all of the various logos and such from this year and past years of Blaugust, please check out the Blaugust Media Kit page.
