Marcomeatball MAY Newsletter!

Hey gang! Lookin' at you Free members allllll the way up to Tabarro. Thanks so much for being here for the first (of hopefully many?) Monthly newsletters to have a bit more of a slowed down and typed out, one sided, interesting, and ideally funny, chat with me. And by chat, I do mean, just me typing into the void. This will be pretty stream of consciousness and terribly exciting for you, who knows where we will go. I will also be attaching an audio file of me reading this out loud, because why not.

Man, there's a lot of video game music out there isn't there? I had a friend recently message me and he was like do you know 8bit-big band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBjMyeWrsA)? To which I replied, of course. But, I realized there is SO much video game music stuff out there, not just the original creations but actually the sub genres and covers, and accapella, etc. There really are so many people who truly love video game music. Wild huh.

I've been enjoying a week off before coming to "work" on Monday of this week - it has been essential. I wasn't burnt out per say but when I tell you I had a lot of resistance to the work, I do mean it. It's an interesting thing because I do try to treat everyday as a 9-5, but, mechanically, a youtube "career" isn't necessarily like that! While, ya, I do play video games and talk about vgm for a living I really do try to structure my life around a standard work protocol. I think part of this is because of a scarcity or fear mindset where I HAVE to be producing content in order to ensure that I'm able to pay my bills but also because being a "reaction" channel creates a gap when it comes to what is trending and what is niche. Whereas: I believe everything should be featured and deserves to be heard, but depending on a bunch of factors, something niche will inevitably get very small amounts of views equaling out to like 0.01 revenue while something more popular will undoubtedly be more.

It's a shitty balance to strike which is why the teacher of the youtube course I took suggested prioritizing a second channel for any and all reactions and leaving marcomeatball to be the sort of cultural zeitgeist or packed video channel to continue to ensure that the broadest audience sees the videos. Kind of annoying, but, probably really smart long term. That way nothing has to be sacrificed for "revenue" or "views" and even unsung heroes of vgm can be heard.

anyway, I was talking about my week off LOL. always thinking about work. I got back into Battlefield 1, one of my absolute favorite games, such a treat. It's like the best FPS game that exists and i love and adore the attention and care that the game was given. Leaps and bounds better than BFV or especially 2143 or w/e the hell the latest BF entry is called. The music too is really harrowing and haunting. It truly does such a phenomenal job of connecting us as players and viewers to the tragedy that was WW1. I was almost a history teacher, and in another life, I'm sure I am. Which is why I'm so drawn to ww1/2/real battle fps experiences. So many good maps in bf1 too. Love sniping from afar, it's such a good feeling.

I also finally started up ARKNIGHTS now that I have a bit more time since I'm not playing MiHoYo games for the time being, it just became too much. Arknights was nothing i really expected to enjoy because tower defense just doesn't land with me, but, shit, I am locked in HARD. The characters are really engrossing and most importantly, it's fun and always changing so it never really gets stale. Not only that but the story makes sense. I had been playing some Punishing: Gray Raven thinking to catch up before Wuthering Waves comes out but man, chapter 14 made no freaking sense! It was like reading some sort of science journal, it just sort of pissed me off. I HAVE THREE DEGREES DAMNIT! So, I decided to pick up Arknights, and ya, not looking back. Fun, terrible gacha system, but also surprisingly free to play friendly, so that's nice. Not that I'm f2p, but, if you wanted to be lols.

I also picked up Xenoblade Chronicles on my Switch finally and wow. It's a great game. So much to appreciate and enjoy about this one. I sort of bounced off the combat the first time I played it (for about 12 hours) and gave up but this time around, that too, I've really connected with. It's really nice. Engage the enemy and Guar Plains are AWESOME tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDJtsfR51To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi0M9SIaLb4 - especially engage the enemy here, I think it's exceptional out of context actually, though i don't love the beginning, then the soft tone section comes in and just slaps you with EMOTION. It's so cool. I can't wait to break this down in more detail.

I'm spinning out a lot of neat ideas that featured a broader audience so even more people can get into video game music and be exposed to new things. Probably going to stream less, but more music streams, if that makes sense. I set up a working PNG model so that I can just casually play and not feel like I always need to be on which is honestly exhausting. Certainly no more 6-8 hour streams. It's not good for my mind and body. I think in lieu of a lot of streaming ill lean into "diary" experiences where every week I post a video catching the audience up on recent games I'm playing. That way it's LIKE a stream experience, I dunno.

Anyway, other than that, things are decent. Going to the gym, trying to lose some weight, just trying to be mindful of my health. Have some sponsorships that are neat and am thankful for. I think that'll do it for this first newsletter. I'll try to keep up with it every three weeks ish? We'll see. Hope you're well. :)