In case I don’t make that here’s my script on my feelings toward SOPA and PIPA. Please chime in and let me know your thoughts.

“Hi, I’m Rawrb and I’m an artist. I write, produce, and sing for a comedic metal band called Psychostick. I also draw and maintain a web comic called Alfredo Afro.

I’d like talk about the artist’s perspective (my perspective, at least) on SOPA and PIPA, which have been extremely controversial subjects across the internet, consumers, government officials, and artists alike.

My band Psychostick is a band who I would consider an “internet generation” band. Our popularity and growth didn’t start happening until around 2006 when torrents and file sharing were starting to re-emerge after Napster and other types of file sharing software were banned by the government.

The reason why SOPA and PIPA is on the verge of becoming a reality is because we’ve been a bit irresponsible about how we acquire music, movies, software, and just about anything else that’s downloadable. There’s a line that has been crossed and even blurred out, and I’d like to go back and examine that line.

The internet changed the world. It’s spawned billionaires, created unforgettable sources of entertainment, and it has even helped free countries from tyrannical governments. My band would not be here today if it wasn’t for the internet and I would probably be sitting in a cubicle, working on boring projects that would drive me to insanity.

Thank you, internet.

As Psychostick’s popularity has grown, it’s sales has continued to deteriorate. That doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Our first album, “We Couldn’t Think of a Title,” has sold roughly 50,000 copies since 2006. This is rather astounding due to the declining CD sales we face today.

Since then our numbers have declined, and there can be many variables to this, but I’m almost certain this is related to how available our music is without charge to anyone who knows how to acquire it.

“Sandwich,” our follow up album, is selling around 17,000 copies. And our newest album, “Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3-D,” is closing in at 6,000 copies.

I am just as guilty as anyone – I’ve utilized torrent websites to snag movies, music, and some software for my own entertainment and benefit. When SOPA and PIPA started gaining momentum, I was quick to oppose those bills due to their extreme reaction to ongoing piracy.

That’s the issue at hand. Giving the government complete control over the internet and who gets to regulate what is a very EXTREME reaction. I don’t know about you, but the government is terrible at regulating just about anything.

Look at how well the war on drugs is going.

Have you seen how well they’ve handled their own finances? What’s the debt at now? It’s a number that is impossible to pay back.

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want them regulating OUR internet. Rest assured, they’ll screw that up too.

The Solution

Measures have been taken by some companies to adapt to the piracy issue. Apple, for instance, has launched their App Store for OSX Lion. Here you can find and purchase just about any software you want or need with a couple clicks. Since the purchase is completely digital a tremendous amount of manufacturing cost is eliminated, therefore most of that software is reasonably priced.

Steam is another great example of adaptation. They provide to you a gigantic library of video games that you can download and play, all while keeping reasonable prices and maintaining the convenience of simply downloading a game and playing it.

As for music and movies, iTunes and Amazon.com provides access to a massive variety of artists and films all available with a few clicks or taps.

But why bother with any of those when you can find a torrent website and download them for free? Free is nice, isn’t it? You can save your money and purchase other things you can’t download for free like HDTVs, delicious food, and nice clothes.

All of a sudden we feel entitled to find whatever we want for free. Matter of fact, part of the extreme reaction to SOPA was somewhat knee-jerky. While I feel that SOPA was indeed overboard, the intentions are meant to prevent piracy. After all, stealing is bad… right?

… right?

This subject is suddenly extremely touchy. Why do we suddenly feel this entitlement to any bits of music, movies, or software without having to actually pay for it? How did it come to that?

Now we’ve stepped into the realm of morality. Is it wrong for someone to download someone else’s hard work for absolutely free?

This has suddenly become a question most people struggle with. We might want to consider stepping back and taking an introspective look at where we stand on this subject.

Imagine spending months upon months, thousands upon thousands of dollars working on an album, or a project of any kind, that you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into. Imagine if this is your living; how you pay the bills, feed your family, etc.

Would it bother you if you were losing a vast majority of your sales because anyone who knew how torrents work could easily snag your project for absolutely nothing?

Whatever your answer is, there are always different solutions. For example, we’ve made our albums extremely affordable in a digital format to coerce those that prefer to “borrow” our work from the internet.

Louis CK made one of his comedy specials available for five bucks. I bought it because I thought, “Hey, it’s only $5. I’d feel like a douchebag if I stole it and it’s available for so cheap.”

This won’t fix the problem, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Conclusion

There’s a problem with the economic model of “all free, all the time.” Despite what you might think, artists do need some form of currency to survive. Aside from expression and creativity, what sort of motivation does an artist need to create art?

If people aren’t paying for music, movies, or software, how can the creators survive and continue to create the art and tools that we all love?

Let’s be accountable. SOPA and PIPA are in motion because we’ve been irresponsible with our internet.

If you like something, and want to support where it came from, buy it. Donate to it.

Support it.

Isn’t it time for us to grow up?

Thanks for reading. What do you think?

I’m glad to be able to understand children’s stories.

My point is that I am considering merging this blog with my Alfredo Afro blog. I’m simply trying to narrow down my plethora of projects. I don’t see the point in having multiple blogs, especially when I really pour much of my creative energy into something else that is just more entertaining to viewers, funner for me, and a lot less preachy.

Of course I’m always wanting to change shit around, and I own something like 25 domains, so this is nothing new.

I could easily change my mind in 12 or so minutes.

Shock and TERROR.

Let’s not lose perspective though. I’ve gamed like crazy (as you’ll see below). However with that and the management of the trailer monster that I’ve taken on, I’ve been able to self manage myself without going nuts.

(I’m also trying again to not become a lethargic sack of crap, and last week I started jogging. Yeah, ME.)

My little web comic is starting to take some sort of shape. The more I work on Alfredo Afro the more it just feels right. Ideas hit me at random for blogs and comics and they’re just getting funnier and funnier. I’m also noticing that my blogs receive more attention than the normal bi-weekly comics do, which doesn’t exactly surprise me thanks to whatever experience I built up with Pluh.com‘s reviews and other crap.

These are just fun to create.

Speaking of, I’ve considered “rebooting” pluh.com a few times. It gets traffic thanks to the Daily Dumb over there which I’m determined to make the main (and possibly only) feature of the site. Just thinking about trying something “new” with that site almost sends me into a depression. Anyone I ever bring it up to seems to not care, or their eyes glaze over with copious amounts of foam emerging from their mouth-cannons, and I CAN’T BLAME THEM.

I wouldn’t declare it dead, but I wouldn’t try to “reboot” it either. CPU is doing a great job with the Daily Dumb and I wanna keep that going.

With Alfredo Afro, at least I know if it fails it’s because *I* failed. I’d have nobody else to blame. Did I give it my all for Pluh.com? I can’t say for sure. At least now with AA I know it has a clear purpose and I don’t have to hope that others do stuff without me having to “motivate” them. Heh.

Alright. Enough. Game review time. Don’t get used to this, because 2012 is looking quite a bit more bland than this year.

(I’m STILL playing Skyrim. WOAH.)

Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360)

This review sums up how I’m feeling about modern shooters in general, and GOW3 is no exception.

I can’t play this game for more than an hour without getting bored. Seriously. The games looks great, sounds great, was well designed, etc, but… I don’t know. I’m not sure if it’s just me being a picky jerk or if I’m losing my metaphorical cogs. I can definitely tell that many, many months of time, energy, and talent went into this game because it is obviously very well produced.

But like the Call of Duty single-player games (which I’ve never actually finished because I get SO FUCKING BORED), there’s a moment when I have to pause the game and think, “is this really worth my time right now?”

In all the Gears of War games, here’s the general strategy:

1. Take cover
2. Shoot bad guys
3. Go to step 1 if you get injured

The challenge here is to not fall asleep while playing. There were a few awesome, memorable moments where you’d have to use strategy to kill the baddies, such as this one giant creature that you had to aim for the eyes, but it’d vanish and burrow around. At the end of the first Gears, the last boss was a BLAST to fight because he required real strategy.

The dialogue and story are all excellent. I just wish I could fast-forward through the actual gameplay to watch the characters tell the story.

That is bad.

5 out of 10 glowies.

Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)

Ahh, good old Zelda.

This review also sums up how I feel about this game. So what if I referenced another review? YOU SHUT IT.

Now all the positives from a Zelda game are there: Puzzles, swordplay, strategy, visuals – it’s all there. What isn’t there, sadly, is – and I really hate to say this – is real originality. I know, I know – BLASPHEMAWR!

Gametrailers summed it up; this feels like I’m going through the motions.

• Find dungeon
• get thingy
• use thingy to kill boss
• Next dungeon

I know, I know – this is what Zelda is all about. It is fun and I am enjoying it. I just wanna see Link doing something ELSE for once rather than the same ‘ol, same ‘ol.

To compare, it is in my top 5 Zelda games and I’ve played ‘em all.

Definitely snag this if you love yourself some Zelda!

9 out of 10 Vanishing Princesses

That about does it for me. I need to do some sketching and… well, I don’t wanna go and fire myself for incompetence.

Speaking of crap, how about some game reviews?

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

This game, along with a few others, helped me realize how much I’m NOT an elite gamer. Sometimes the “You versus 60 bad guys” thing can become infuriating. One moment I’m blasting 15 different baddies with my AK-47, then out of nowhere 2 guys wielding shotguns flank me and I’m dead, even though I was checking my flanks. On top of that, I can unload TWO CLIPS of AK rounds into just one of those shotgun wielding, armor-wearing guys and they won’t die.

That’s the only problem I had with this game.

Everything else is gaming perfection. My jaw hit the floor several times during this game, especially during the exploding plane scene like you’ve probably seen in the trailers for the game. I didn’t think they’d be able to improve this much over Uncharted 2, but they did, and I had an absolute blast.

My favorite part of these games are the characters. Sully and Drake’s quips were so well written that I could honestly believe that they were real people. Looking forward to that Vita and the Uncharted on there.

9 out of 10 Shotguns in the Face

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

My poor, poor girlfriend. I had planned on this for a while and I gave her plenty of warning.

“Listen up dear. When Skyrim comes out I’m going into a small hermitage. Mmmkay?”

3 days after it’s release and I clocked in thirty-something hours. What’s WRONG with me?

Okay, in my defense, Skyrim is quite the idealistic virtual medieval magic-fantasy world. What’s better is that it’s NOT an MMORORPROPPRPG, which makes me happy. I don’t much care for those, like WoW, which doesn’t end. Skyrim is a happy medium. It’s so vast and huge that it doesn’t seem like you can do everything, but if you played about 300 hours of it you probably COULD do everything. The game CAN end and you don’t have to pay for monthly crap. YES.

I bought the game for the PC only because I wanted to take advantage of mods (which are already coming out) and any other cool stuff that won’t be available for Xbox or PS3. Plus… it’s on my laptop that I can take ANYWHERE. Love that part.

The game looks and sounds almost perfect. Sometimes I end up stopping and gawking at scenery. Voice acting is diverse enough to not bore me to tears like Oblivion. Caves, towers, quests – almost ALL are unique. Dual casting spells is amazing. Bethesda, please remake Morrowind with this engine. PLEASE. I know you won’t… but PLEASE?

Heh.

The shouts are so much fun to use. Being able to shout at someone and watch their body flop away in the distance just never gets old. I would KILL to have that ability in real life.

KILL.

There are some bugs in the game. I came across an annoying one last night, but it doesn’t stop the game from being fun. When I got to a point where I could get married in the game (hey, this hot chick was calling me handsome, what can I do?), we opted to get hitched. When I arrived at the church and it was time to get married, suddenly the dead body of one of my former companions that died appeared by the church entrance and it said that I “Failed to Attend My Own Wedding” or something. Essentially this.

Yeah.

Little things like that creep up, but the game is otherwise a blast. If you like RPG heaven and hate having a life, Skyrim is THE ONES.

(I had some screenshots but they’ve vanished. ARGH)

9.7 out of 10 Lame Skyrimjob Jokes

So we’re finally going out with Mushroomhead this fall which is a nice change of pace for us. Let me rephrase: We’ve been touring for almost six years now and there hasn’t been a real strong opportunity for us to go out. Think about it; how many huge metal bands want to take out a comedy metal band?

Can I iterate?

The problem with being “unique” is that you’re “risky” in the eyes of other bands/promoters/booking agents. Wanna know why we haven’t toured England/Austrailia/WORLD yet? We’re a “risk” in the eyes of the industry because of our comedic undertones. No matter how YOU feel about it, there’s nothing we can do if Huge Metal Band X won’t take us out because they’re not sure about us.

What’s equally as frustrating is from all the ass-busting we do other bands seemingly just waltz into some sort of famous status where they’re swimming in tour buses, fans, and huge touring ops without even trying. Of course, I’m sure there are some bands out there who look at us and go, “Those fucktards sing songs about tacos and testicles and people like it. Screw them.”

I know you’re out there. *finger points at screen*

Hopefully this tour will help show the world that Psychostick can hang with other non-comedic acts and do it well. We can, I assure you.

Okay, enough about that.

I want to play this.

NOW.

Yeah.

(pauses for applause)

… uhh, the ideas for blogs and comics started flowing. I opened a giant can on wyrms with this comic site. Yes, “WYRMS.” Not “WORMS.” Wyrms are a form of giant dragon for all you non-nerds out there. Thus the giant beasts were released from a ridiculously huge aluminum can upon the launch. You can’t tell by looking at it but I feel the effects already. I’m gonna grow that sumbitch like a weed.

"Wanna make out?"

Surprisingly, the biggest response started hailing from the only two blogs posted thus far. The first one, “Why Playing Trombone Sucks,” is a comical autobiographical tale of the obnoxiousness and overall crappy experience that Marching/Symphonic band was. The second, “9 Ways to Create a Website that Fails,” is based on the lessons I’ve learned from the school of electronic hard-knocks.

Based on reading reactions of the blogs as opposed to the comics, I think the real “hit” of the site will be the blogs. I’ll keep on truckin’ to see what happens, but the blogs seem to be snagging more attention. Hmm.

(Don’t worry you three Rawrb.com followers, I’ll keep posting stuff here as often as I remember to)

To me, Alfredo Afro is kind-of an “all-or-nothing” attempt at running a singular website with consistent and quality content. Yeah, my drawings kind of suck compared to, oh I don’t know, MARVEL COMICS, but I don’t care. I think they’re funny. I write and draw stuff that makes me laugh. If I don’t laugh, I don’t post it. Quite a simple formula, huh?

I feel that this site will succeed in some form; not really “financially” but just as a way for me to finally put my abilities to use that AREN’T for some large corporation or a client. This one is for ME, and it’s about time I get to be a little selfish.

This makes me giggle. That means you should too.

Speaking of “being selfish,” I’ve also been systematically unfollowing/hiding posts on twitter and facebook that are “downers” for me. If you have multiple posts talking about how your life sucks you constantly experience a torrent of overly dramatic crap, I probably unfollowed/hid you. Nothing personal… no, wait – yeah – it’s personal. I don’t wanna read your sob-story. The internet is not your therapist.

I don’t mean to sound like a self-help goody-two-shoes new-agey tool monkey, but your life is a GIFT and you only get ONE. After billions of years of evolution we’ve been given these huge, awesome, complex brains that have the ability to achieve absolutely anything we set our efforts to. Why would you WASTE it on whining about how the world doesn’t hold your hand through life?

If you’re miserable and hate yourself, that’s your problem and ONLY  your problem and it’s up to YOU to fix it. Nobody is going to swoop in and save you from yourself.

Ever.

Period.

WAAAAAH!

Yeah, something like that.

I’ve also experienced near completion of Psychostick’s store. More… eventually.

How can that be?

What I used to do is simply get the site into a functional state. What I mean by functional is, “I can use it.” I’ve struggled with the ability to design stuff where any person can simply load the site up and from just glancing at it, they’d know what to do. My stubborn nature and overall laziness got in the way of that.

I’ve got a huge laundry list of ideas and websites I want to launch, but if I were to try and launch all of them at once using my old methods I’d end up launching several unsuccessful websites and then hate myself for half-assing it. Hence, Pluh.com and other sites that never actually worked like I wanted.

Guess I had to just grow up a bit. “Listen Rawrb; better to have one site that works and is successful than to have several that suck.”

I’m currently approaching a new project with a fresh outlook. I am NOT launching it until the site is more than just functional. I’m NOT launching it until a couple of months worth of content is ready to go right out of the box. I’m NOT launching it until a system is in place to keep content coming. I’m NOT launching it until there is true social network integration.

A lot of this process involves finding the right people who are genuinely interested in working with you, or getting the process put together well enough where you can run things by yourself. I’ve got an added need for this with the amount of touring that I do, so my approach on how to run this is very delicate and very needed.

Any project managers out there that can shed some advice? Please do so in the comments and I’ll pay super close attention.

Big Psychostick stuff coming soon too.

So it’s been a little while since my last update. Didn’t I somewhat promise more frequent updates? Hell naw. I don’t know what you’re talking about. *shifty eyes*

I last left you somewhere in California several weeks ago. Since then we’ve wrapped up that goofy “Parental Advisory Tour” (which I have to admit, was a very plain and boring name for a tour – hey, it wasn’t my idea, so don’t blame me) and started the “Pay Off the Van Tour.” Guess what we’re trying to do? Business 101: minimize liabilities, maximize assets. While the van will always be a liability of some kind with maintenance and whatnot, making monthly payments on it is quite an expense that we’re ready to be done with.

Thank you Aaron for introducing me.

Also the trailer that we bought from Indorphine is on it’s last legs. Did you know that if you squirt grease externally into your bearings that you end up compromising your brake system? I’m sure I vented about that at some point. Either way, it’s time for a new trailer. We’re also gonna end up ditching that extremely heavy merch monster that’s made of 2x4s, 4x4s, and plywood. It’s easily several hundred pounds. Turns out all that weight ended up bending the axles INWARD, causing our trailer tires to wear down very unevenly.

Wait, this isn’t the crap you want to read about. BEER AND DRUGZ LOL

Just kidding. I suppose I could talk about a few things that are actually interesting.

Anyway, the shows we ended up playing in the LA area and San Diego were great. Mower came out to San Diego to show some love, and it was greatly appreciated. It’s always reassuring to know our dumb band makes some sort of impact on other bands; enough for them to want to actually take the time to visit you when you travel through their hometown. Great stuff.

The Phoenix show was surprisingly awesome. We played so early that 30% of the overall draw that night was there so the show was a rough one for us. Yep, even in our hometown. The “Hometown Curse” applies to Psychostick in full force. Luckily some of our good friends came out and showed their support, and that was completely worth it. After we hit that last note and loaded out, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. We hadn’t been an opening act on a tour for a long time. I’m proud of how we rolled with a lot of the punches that were thrown our way, made the best of the situation, and rose above the challenges.

After the show I was wandering around talking with some friends when suddenly someone I was once very close with appeared out of nowhere. We talked for a while and I find out she got married which took me by complete surprise. Definitely a wonderful thing for her and I’m very happy for her. What a character building experience. Mega congrats to you; you know who you are!

Anyway, Phoenix was the last show of the tour and saying bye to those fellers in Jello and Nashville was bittersweet. We spent the next day in Phoenix catching our breath, and from there my manager and I drove all the way back to KC, MO for a well deserved respite. I spent several days playing video games, sleeping, and hanging out with my lady. So freakin’ relaxing, lemme tell you. Touring is a lot like boot camp, y’know? Wait… no, I don’t know. I’ve never been to boot camp. Touring is like… touring. There’s nothing like it, and while it’s fun and insane, it’s exhausting. You quickly learn to appreciate time off and the simple, mundane things in life that most seem to overlook.

A delicious farewell.

We spent the following week preparing an extra-entertaining show for this tour that I’m on now, “The Pay off the Van Tour.” Before I knew it, I was packing my bags, running tons of errands, rehearsing, and kissin’ my lady goodbye for our departure. I do wish I had another week to catch my breath a bit more, but humorcore calls.

We played in KC first and it was a great show; ALL AGES finally! Tons of kids came out and rocked their faces off. Probably our best KC show to date. Next time I hope we can get the radio behind it.

The next night we were in St Louis for a incredibly badass show; 700+ people came out. Not for just us, though… heh. It was some festival show announcement… show thing. We killed it; such a badass show. I love Pop’s and the mediocre diner that’s in walking distance.

Next up was Danville, IL. Slang Metalfest, which is a local metalfest for that area. Turned out way better than I was expecting. Most “metalfests” that we play are chaotic and poorly executed. This was not the case at Slang Metalfest. We ended up meeting a ton of really cool people, including the guys in God Forbid. Maybe someday we’ll get to tour with ‘em. You know, once humorcore isn’t a scary concept. ;P

Chicago was our next stop. We got to briefly hang out with Murph and his crazy friends. Had some badass deep dish pizza. Can’t imagine not eating that when in Chicago. I wanted some Chicago dogs, but alas, this did not happen. Next time… next time…

Smash hit? Where's my fame and fortune?

We then headed to the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA and met up with Look What I Did (YEAH!). First time there, and it was awesome. Apparently this is one of THE spots in Atlanta to play; we played the smaller room downstairs and did extremely well. Can’t wait to head back.

That night we drove back to Nashville, then over to Cookeville for our “reunion” with Green Jello. They had almost everyone back in tow on this go-round, and we got to witness a different set with Jello. The turnout was bad, but the show was good. We were support for Jello, and after the whole thing was done I was glad to be headlining the rest of the tour. Except Skatopia and Mayhemfest.

We made the drive to Amelia, OH next. Good show; got to see Jake (ex-guitarist) and his lady. Good to see ‘em.

And then there was… Skatopia.

Now I can’t exactly give a fair assessment of this show. We didn’t have a set time, we didn’t know where we were playing, we didn’t know jack shit. That frustrated me. Turns out Bill in Green Jello got us a few songs in at 2:00 AM at this shack barn thing. So we waited all day for this. I pretty much hung out in the van to stay cool. I saw GWAR for the first time, and they were AMAZING. Almost right after that we hit the stage in the barn thing and blazed through 5 songs. Great reaction, lots of fun! Afterwards a bonfire broke out and folks started tossing fireworks into the bonfire, creating pure chaos. We escaped not long after that thankfully; I’m not crazy about that stuff.

We got back to Columbus, squeezed in some rest, and headed out to Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh. AWESOME show. I love all ages shows; so much more energy than 21+. They were passionate about their Psychostick, and we gave it to ‘em good. Shows like that make touring worthwhile. Thank you Pittsburgh!

Look What I Did started to experience some van problems that night. As of right now they’re getting their transmission fixed/replaced, which is a bummer, but they’re dedicated and have assured everyone that they won’t miss any shows. What a great bunch of fellers; they’re so professional and easy to work with. Class act.

And now here I am, enjoying a few days off and updating you on most of the stuff you might care to hear about. I’m considering finishing watching Inglorious Basterds, but I might need to sleep in order to run errands tomorrow. Hmm, all work? All play? Stupid Last Airbender not coming out tomorrow…

I enjoy ice cream selection.

There’s quite a bit to do though. I’ve got to find a way to import the comments from my old blog system and then organize these blogs by their proper category.

I urge you to be patient as I do stuff. Thanks.