Last Reminder for January Entries and a Surprise

Hello everyone! I was fortunate to have a half snow day today (or unfortunate seeing this is the 2nd orchestra rehearsal in a row that was shut down from "Uncontrollable Acts of God") but I decided to use this time wisely and post a reminder to everyone that THE DEADLINE FOR THE JANUARY CONTEST FOR THE $15 iTunes GIFT CARD ENDS WEDNESDAY AT 11:59:59 PM! For those who aren't aware the link to the official post can be by clicking here, but here is the summery.

-The contest is about sending us your thoughts and opinions about the site before the New Year's post. Think of it as a review of the reviewers.

-The only requirement is a minimum of 100 words. In most cases, that's a brief paragraph. For example, that is how many words are in the intro paragraph and the first bullet of this post (113 to be exact). Trying to keep things easy on everyone.

-You can submit it to us however you want to, whether its over the Facebook page, the Twitter page (links above) or email it through our "contact us" email. Just make sure that someone confirms it when you submit it.

- The winner will be notified on the 31st via a post on here and an email/PM (depending on how you sent it in) with the iTunes code.

Now for those whom have been wondering about my other such as the researching campaign with Research Is Magic guys, I am posting a clip from both posts I've been on thus far. For those whom aren't aware, I made a series to finish out last year with called "Thoughts, Opinions, Rethinking and Proposals" which is summery was a series about summarizing the activist ideas I had been researching myself and reporting them to everyone whom reads the blog. The first post was on a group of people called Bronies, or the fans of the show "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" that aren't considered their target audience and contribute to a very unique fandom. Since the post received the most acclaim from any of my articles besides the post showing off Steven Chen's Cello & Piano Nocturne piece, I decided to continue on this path off the site.

Recently, the Research Is Magic team consisting of Kurt Baer and Jason Nguyen, both on the way to getting their doctorates in ethnomusicology (the study of music in culture). They have created this ethnographic study through Indiana University to study bronies and how they interact on an artistic level. I have been asked to join them in a couple of discussions and I thought I would share the previews for those whom are interested.

The first is a sample from a discussion I had with the both of them back at the beginning of the month on "trolling" and "fan pandering".  It isn't as much arts activist then it really is explaining perspective and why bullying is bad however I hope someone out there will love to read this, so here's a sample:

"J: Okay, to broaden the scope a little bit: there are moments when the impulse to troll by people on the Internet is a source of great amusement to me, I fully admit. I wrote last month about the 4chan campaign to send Justin Bieber to North Korea, which is in some ways the source of the “___ is best pony” meme, and while doing that research, I was really tickled by the way these guys mobilized themselves to play this naughty prank on the Internet. I’m not sure whether I would call that trolling as well, but it comes from a similar place. From where you’re sitting and having just gotten trolled by a bunch of random folks (though seemingly less sophisticated than anon in their tactics), what’s the difference?

A: Honestly, I feel like they are very similar but the difference between “trolling” and “bullying”, trolling being more of a gag thing than only trying to gain something from it. I will admit that at one point I would consider myself a troll, but not towards one group of people. It was more of a “how to be a smart ass but make sure everyone laughs” sort of thing and that’s how I have gone about defining trolling. The incident we are discussing may be seen more as bullying and trying to instigate something against us.

J: Yeah, and it seems important in a lot of ways to be able to make that distinction, because so much of the fun we have as a fandom includes skills and posturing that can look a whole lot like trolling or bullying if used in particular ways. I’m thinking in particular about the Twilight becoming an alicorn thing and the fairly vicious way some members of the fandom ripped into the creators for doing the worst thing ever to their favorite show. A lot of those actions could be seen as a kind of trolling–perhaps even bullying in some cases–but then it also turned into one of the greatest ongoing gags ever…THANKS M.A. LARSON!

A: (Laughs hysterically) I know! I think that was a bad idea of them to do to but I understand that they are (or at least SHOULD BE) tending towards their target audience and not serving to us. However, going beyond that point and actually heckling or harassing the creators isn’t the way to go. As you were saying though, I think that her becoming an alicorn could be partially a troll to us as well but it’s all about if you want to see it from that perspective or if you want to see it from “Is this what our target fan base wants?” "

If you would like to read more about this talk (don't worry, its a lot more entertaining on their site) then click this link to view the entire conversation. The other post I wanted to mention in this "update" of sorts was the tag blog post I submitted and was posted a little bit ago from when I wrote the update. This post was a follow up to Kurt's post on the fan music, and was about how the more famous fans should spread their knowledge of the professional world with the lesser experienced people and turn the fandom into an arts hub. Here's a sample from this train of thought:

" After reading Kurt’s previous post several times over and not knowing how to continue on I had to think about what I should write about. It took a long 5 hours (well, not really 5 hours, but it felt like it!) of wall ball and talking to friends on Skype but it finally hit me: Talk about what I know best. Being an activist for a few years now on my home blog, and now the more recent addition of Team Young Spark, this is the prime example of what we look for in that field. For those whom are unaware, arts activism is the act of pushing for continuation of an art or the arts in general. In my case I push for all arts from drawing and sketching to music and story writing so forth, nearly anything they can come up with. When I say nearly anything, I mean anything. The brony community is known for its artistic creations, good and bad. We have a lot of people whom are very creative and can create a lot of stuff out of almost nothing. This group of artists range from fan music, creating new stories from show characters and drawing their favorite ponies to creating pony themed meals, dance routines and even laser light shows based on the show.

The people in this fandom are very creative, and as I stated before the creations range in variety and quality. I love the meme that Kurt posted about the non-brony hearing “pony-step” and think it was professionally done because sometimes that is the case. The “actual” DJ-Pon3 (not Vinyl, though she is good too!) is a professional DJ. He was before the herd and used the herd to hone his craft to then propel his talent. The same can be stated about Gabe Newell and Markus “Notch” Persson (creators of Half Life and Minecraft respectively), both being professional game designers and bronies. Stephen Colbert, actor and the host of The Colbert Report amongst other shows, is also considered (or was, depending on how you prefer to look at his mentions to the herd) to be a brony.

The point I’m trying to get at is we need more people whom are famous and are bronies to help the younger ones try out what they want to try out. The way I personally perceive “the herd” is a plethora of people that create a very unique community that encourages arts and creativity. "

For a full read, click here. If anyone would be interested in doing a tag blog idea for the site then I am open to the idea. If we get enough people interested in the idea then I'll make a tab dedicated to it. Anyways, I think I've ranted enough so have a good night and be safe tonight to those in this nasty snow storm!

Thoughts, Opinions, Rethinking and Proposals #1: The Arts and Bronies

For those who have been wondering where I mysteriously vanished to, there has been a lot of things that have arisen in my life. Some of them haven’t been so great however, others have been the most inspirational and life changing moments of my life. While in my internet vanishing, I decided to research a few arts groups online, and attend some seminars from fellow arts activists. I've also had the opportunity to study several groups of students through my involvement with community schools and from an internship with a local symphony which began me on my journey. In order to transition between now and the new year, with my New Year’s surprises I have for all my very loyal followers, I feel like I should start getting back into the swing of things involved with blogging. In order to get back into the swing of things, I must begin to write again. Between now and New Year’s, I will fulfill a transitional series about the experiences I have been through in my mysterious absence, my opinions of these events, and how I think we as artists should approach them in order to benefit from everything. I will begin with the most life changing event of my life thus far and will continue around to the ones that are the most motivational in my opinion. At the end of each article post, I will list a “proposal” that I feel is very much worth supporting and to help everyone benefit and grow as artists, leaders, and most importantly arts enthusiasts. Without further ado, let us begin with the first topic for the series: The Arts and Bronies.

In case you thought that was a typo, it was not (I would love some brownies though!). Brony, pronounced Bro-nee, is the name given to males (and some females) who are fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I will not go into details because clicking here (in case that doesn't work, try this video. It is longer, and a lot more detailed but it will explain everything) will take you to the best summarized explanation of the fandom I’ve ever seen or heard. Here is the gist of the story: An online TV critic ranted about The Hub's shows being really low quality and was nothing short of a sales plot that Hasbro created to sell toys. After reading the review, several other TV critics decided to watch it only to fall in love with the show. They then spread their love of the show to 4Chan and other image based boards. Once it hit the image boards, the fan base exploded. However, this is not how I became invested into this phenomenon and became a follower of this awkward, nerdy social trend. A friend of mine named Robbie (better known as Pokeboss; @PokebossPony) talked me into watching the show soon after the season 3 finale, to which I reluctantly watched a few episodes in order to try the series out. Eventually I began to like the show, and admired the quality and thought that went into it. Not only did the quality impress me, but the mere root behind the characters’ lives intrigued me. They live based on discovering their special talent that propels their life to following what they want to do. This is also reflected via a tattoo like image called a “Cutie Mark” that visually reflects their talent. For example, one of my favorite pony’s talent is to party. Her cutie mark is of three balloons, which in this world is a key sign of parties. Once I knew about the show and had seen all the episodes, I decided to present myself into the fan base, but I needed an OC (original creation) and pony “alias” to go by so I could fit in. After a week or so of creating my pony self, Harmonic Inferno was born. Following this, Pokeboss and I decided it was time for me to present myself into the fandom; and, as a result, I discovered a world of hidden treasure. I began to notice the fandom that has an unconditional love of the arts and was expresses it in the form of fan art.

Being the art activist that I am, falling in love with this wonderful group of people was almost 2^nd nature. I began to push the limits of the first group of artists I could find into artistic “corners” so I could push their talents and see what there was to draw from. The visually artistic people were asked to draw Inferno to the best of their abilities and then I judged their style and questioned their choices. The more musically inclined were given some criteria to write a song, on to which I questioned their choices to see if they could handle the pressure. Writers were asked to write a story with Inferno along with other ponies and then I questioned the plot, development and overall flow. At the end of the day, or in this case two months, I discovered that these students have a lot of untapped talent. The people invested into the fandom are artists with the most pure of intentions.

Following this series of interrogation-like nit picking, I began to persuade those who wanted to know what they should do with their lives into looking at an artistic career choice. This was where I hit a bump in my own life and the love I attempted to share with the fan base was given back to me via Trav (@HumbleTraveller), Wesley (@wesmantooth02), Marco (@redflarebrony) and Auntie Smilez (@Sol_Smilez). They have been there to support me no matter what, and I thank you guys so much for that support! Along with that, I have met a group of people who helped form a group called Team Young Spark, better known as YS (@TeamYoungSpark). This is where the proposal begins.

Young Spark is a group of bronies formed by Pokeboss and I whom are leading a change in the community to create more artists from this fandom. The way I see it, the fandom's potential is like a pile of wet clay; very easily moldable to what they would like to be. They have the talent to back it up as well. Some of them have transcended the fandom to become great artists while others need some form of push to do so and that that is why Young Spark is there: To provide that push for whatever artistic path they would like to go along. The team as of the time of writing this is Pokeboss and I as founders and co-execs, fellow founders Rocking Aurora, Jake (@Jakenew711Jake) Ben (@CrazyBA_98) Taylor (@AmyLeeLoveMe) and finally additional but very valued members Princess Roxie (@Dj_RainbowWolf), Domino (@Melody_d8), Blue Ice (@DJurbancub), Thunder Twist (@ScottiFilms), Windykins (@TempestPony), Beat (@the_kongregate) and Silly Ditzy (@SillyDitzy). We have a strong crew who all are valued members to the team and I’m also honored to call a part of my team. However, we have our flaws.

The Proposal

Our team is a strong group of artists and if nothing else, a respectable team of arts activists. Though as respectable as we are, we need some help. I have a lot planned for the group in order to bring everyone the best possible education in whatever their craft is. The talents in our group range from music to art, creative writing and animation to web design and programmer but we cannot cover all art forms such as creative dancing, woodworking, metal work and fashion design. All of these, and many more, are all valuable art forms to learn from and we would like as much help in expressing them as we can. I propose that you; the reader of this post and a very valued follower of ASMTB, to help these guys out. Please spread the word about our need for help for these extremely talented people. If you are a fashion designer and feel moved to teach/mentor someone about how to design clothing then we would appreciate it tremendously. If you can bring a new vantage point to teaching music, such as teaching someone to use Cubase then we need your help. Anyone who has the proficiency in a craft and a desire to help out, we would love your time and effort. These groups of men and women are in need to know that what they do as a hobby could become a career for them. There are even a few for whom this is all they have. I worked with one or two whom have said the only thing they have in this world is the community and their art. Please help our cause to spread the arts throughout the community. If you would like to donate your time to this group then contact me through the blog's contacts (facebook, twitter, email) or contact Young Spark directly (facebook, twitter, email).

Thank you for the first post in this series. I hope to see you next time and if you've like this post then please share the site with your friends or follow us on the social medias.