Brentalfloss Q and A

One of the highlights of the London Gaming Con this Saturday was the appearance of YouTube gamer Brentalfloss. For those who do not know, Brentalfloss puts lyrics to a host of video game tunes, ranging from Mega Man to Zelda, Ducktails, and much more.

For his first appearance of the weekend, Brentalfloss spent an hour on the upstairs stage answering fans questions, and generally wise-cracking. 

The Q&A was introduced by a guy in a Mario fat-suit. Straight away Brentalfloss brought to the audiences attention that Mario's stomach was "looking like a buttocks", something I'd noticed (and chuckled at) when I first arrived at the main stage area. The front creases were definitely in the wrong place, that's for sure. 

The "buttocks" joke isn't really seen in this picture I took, but nevertheless, there they are!

And so, the question time began. Brentalfloss introduced fans up to the stage one by one to ask his questions, some of which I managed to quickly jot down. The others made it onto a video I recorded of the Q&A. Unfortunately though, it seems that Windows Movie Maker is trying to make things difficult for me, and keeps insisting on the files being corrupted (they work fine on by Blackberry, and on VLC), so I shall annotate a few of the best questions below.

The first question was a simple one-"How was your flight?"

Brentalfloss replied saying that it was great, although he did not manage to get a lot of sleep, due to two children crying hysterically throughout the flight. One of which was adamantly refusing to allow his father to put the seatbelt on him, thus the crying began. 

"Have you ever thought of singing to any non Nintendo related games?"

Brentalfloss: "Usually when I do a song, it's from a game I've played. Most are from the Nintendo consoles, but eventually Sega is on the cards." He also talked about how he sang along to a track in Castlevania, as the plot line for the game was "hilarious".

The next fan asked how he managed to collaborate with various other people, such as Underbelly. Brentalfloss replied stating that they were all an "underground unit", which he jokingly mentioned sitting around a large table-Brentalfloss at the head of it-and established ideas. After joking around a bit, he eventually stated that he was approached by Underbelly, and they agreed to meet at the Comic Con in America. The rest of it went from there.

"What song would you redo if you had an unlimited budget?"

Brentalfloss mentioned that he would rather do a sequel, one of which he has recorded as part of Brentalfloss' 12 Days of Brentmas, which will be published this coming Thursday. The audience was treated to an exclusive live performance of Brentalfloss performing his newest track, a sequel to his first Ducktails song, Ducktails-the Amazon. This was one of the most enjoyable segments of the Q&A, as he had so much energy, and the song was actually pretty funny-if you're familiar with Ducktails and Scrooge McDuck anyway.

After this, a series of bizarre questions were asked...

"Why do you think pizza is a vegetable?"

Brentalfloss explained to the audience that a government bill was being passed to rule that pizzas count as a vegetable, due to having vegetable toppings. Whilst he agreed this was ridiculous, he did jokingly state that pizza should actually be classed as a fruit, due to all the tomatoes.

Then there was some fascination with porn, which raised quite a lot of laughs...

"If you weren't doing music, what would you be doing?"

Brentalfloss: "Porn. Yeah, porn. No, I have three caps-music theatre writing, teaching or "this internet thing" which I called it until the CD came out. I would like to try and get a musical produced whilst teaching."

"What kind of porn?"

Brentalfloss: "Basic hardcore. Artistic erotica. Butthole close-up. 

"What do you think of Japanese anime porn-Hentai?"

Brentalfloss: "Culture reflects the things it wants in art. Manga and Hentai porn have lots of gigantic penises, so...do the maths."

"How do you get your head so god-damn shiny?"

Brentalfloss: "Bowling alleys. We have these things that shine the balls. I use that."

"What's your favourite British phrase?"

Brentalfloss: "I have a few, like "you look like a real dogs breakfast!" or "bobs your uncle." He then quipped that bob's your uncle is used to express that something is finished, and that he should use that in sex.

Amongst the comedic questions, there were plenty of insightful ones thrown this YouTuber's way though, like these:

"What got you into music?"

Brentalfloss: "You know the song by The Temptations called My Girl? (starts singing). I remember it the movie My Girl too. One day I went into my sister's room, and instead of playing with her Barbies...I used her keyboard to single note-play out My Girl. Then I played around on Mario Paint, and self taught on the keyboard."

"What instruments do you play?"

Brentalfloss: "Piano, drums, accordian, guitar, skin-flute...only my own!"

Unfortunately the question asker was a bit of a mumbler, so I didn't catch their question entirely, but they asked Brentalfloss about his interest in acting I do believe.

Brentalfloss: "I looked like Macaulay Culkin during Home Alone when I was a kid. I told my mum I wanted to act, so I took an audition or two."

"What made you decide to make a Mega Man 3 video and put it up on YouTube?"

Brentalfloss: "After graduating from musical theatre, I had a free summer. I created a youth programme in Arizona helping kids with musical theatre, and then I made this Mega Man video. I thought it would be funny and thought nothing would come from it. Really, it came from the love of the song."

"What's your favourite song you have ever made?"

Brentalfloss: "My original would be Matt and Angry, which I made for their wedding and the Super Secret EP which is not so secret anymore! Anyway, Google Super Secret EP and you'll find it.

Erm, pre-existing...Mega Man 3 with lyrics."

"I'm studying musical theatre. Can you give some advice?"

Brentalfloss gave a long speech about following your dreams, and not giving up, whatever your ambition may be. He quickly followed with a wisecrack about needing a "dick or fart joke", as that's his humour.

"Will you be coming back?"

Brentalfloss: When Anime League wants me back, yes. Currently I am at the mercy of any organisation that wants to send me, so as soon as I can."

"You've made YouTube videos, and you've got a comic-what's next?"

Brentalfloss: "I've got a new album coming out, and more videos." He also mentioned that he does not see the idea of Brentalfloss and the "video game songs...with lyrics" theme continuing forever, as "there are only so many songs you can put lyrics to." He hopes it'll lead him onto something new in the long run though. 

So all in all, the Q&A with Brentalfloss was an often hilarious experience, with a variety of serious, interesting and down-right bizarre questions being answered. 

Brentalfloss hosted the Pub Quiz with Dragonball Abridged's Lawrence Simpson.

After the Q&A ended, Brentalfloss appeared at the London Comic Con as one of the hosts of the Pub Quiz, and held a one hour live performance from 7pm to 8pm on Saturday evening. He shall be appearing again at tomorrow's convention also. 

Kayleigh's Experience of London Gaming Con

I've attended many conventions over the past few years, and I was excited to be able to grab a press pass and attend the London Gaming Con at The Rocket House. The thought of a convention devoted to the gaming side of things was pretty appealing afterall.


When I arrived, I was quite surprised at how small the venue was. In fact, if I am being honest, I was a little disappointed, as due to this small space, not as much could happen on this Saturday. The artist section was a little small, and the interest was definitely devoted to the countless televisions and consoles that were set up around the venue for gamers to take a spin on. Perhaps if this event manages to grab a much bigger venue next year, there will be more room for gaming artists? We shall see.

As with all conventions, it seems customary for a few people to turn up in cosplay. The London Gaming Con was no exception. Although the amount of people in cosplay was a little thin on the ground on the Saturday, there was definitely a few standout costumes, including John Marston from Red Dead Redemption, who won the Cosplay Masquerade. 


I managed to grab a go at various games throughout the day, including Blazblue Continuum Shift, which I was surprisingly OK at (beat-em' ups are not always my strongest point, I forget the combo's!), Streets of Rage 3, Guitar Hero: World Tour, which I was roped into after Lewis Terry failed on expert against some Guitar Hero addicts. Alas, expert also proved to be too much of a challenge for me too. How do these people keep up with it?

Me playing Blazblue Continuum Shift

For old time sake, I also played a bit of Mario on the NES, and tried my hand at some Soul Calibur II, which I happily purchased back when it was released, especially due to Link's cameo. As well as these, I tried out a few classics, such as Time Crisis 2 and Bomberman.


There was definitely an impressive amount of games on offer which appealed to the retro and modern gamers tastes. Other games included Halo: Anniversary, Smash Bros Brawl, Tempest, Left 4 Dead 2, Gears of War 3, Sonic 2, Mario Kart Wii and Double Dash, and many more.


The highlights of the day for me was definitely seeing the Brentalfloss Q&A, where the guy himself answered many bizarre, funny and insightful questions. He also performed an exclusive track which will be making it's YouTube debut this coming Thursday as part of his 12 Days of Brentmas. I also really enjoyed hearing the chiptune covers and the OverClocked Remix panel, which also consisted of a few performances.

Brentalfloss

 We also managed to win a copy of their Donkey Kong Country remix album due to being the first to answer a Zelda question correctly, which was brilliant! Expect a review of the album on here in the next few days or so.


All in all, the London Gaming Con was a great day. There were a few slight disappointing aspects, such as the presence of anime which didn't seem to fit in with the largely game focused convention. The cosplay was also rather limited, so those dressed in cosplay for the day seemed a little out of place, and the convention would have benefited from a larger venue, with more stalls and a few more events, as I did feel that you can finish browsing it all rather quickly in all honesty. However, criticisms aside, this was a fun day out, and I got plenty out of it. I look forward to seeing how the next one appears. 

London Gaming Con: Cosplay Masquerade.

The London Gaming Con came to The Rocket Complex this weekend, which I attended for today. There were a few Q&A's, live performances, panels, freeplay set-ups and stalls to peruse. However, it appears that a convention is not complete nowadays without a nod towards the cosplay culture, and the London Gaming Con slotted in a few cosplay events, including the one I caught, the Cosplay Masquerade.


The Cosplay Masquerade allowed cosplayers to come up on stage and present to the audience their outfits. Unlike a much larger convention like the London MCM Expo, the cosplay in this one was pretty scarce, but a handful of costumed gaming fans sauntered up onto the stage and paraded their outfits nevertheless.

If I am being honest, I did not know who many of them were supposed to be cosplaying as (I'm assuming many were of anime's I have never watched), but there was also a great John Marston (Red Dead Redemption), Mr Fantastic (Fantastic Four) and Toadette (Super Mario). There was also a rather bizarre human version of Portal's GlaDOS, which I doubt I would have picked up on if she had not mentioned who she was meant to be.


The audience were encouraged to vote on their favourite costume by cheering when the presenter (the costumed Mario once again) pointed to them with his microphone. The costume that generated the loudest cheer was declared the winner. At the end of the parade and vote, it was decided that the guy dressed as John Marston gained the most cheers, so he won the title of best cosplayer at the London Gaming Con. It's great that a gaming related costume won this, so congratulations!

The London Gaming Con will be returning at some point next year, in what I hope would be a much bigger venue with a larger variety of things to take part in (the space really limited what could be presented unfortunately). Maybe this will also get the cosplayers flocking in larger numbers, if you're into that kind of thing.

PS3 Attitude at London Gaming Con

The opening of the London Gaming Con was hosted by a member of the Anime League dressed as Mario. Whilst the intro was slightly awkward he did his job well, managing to pull a few laughs from the audience. This was aided by his rather dodgy outfit that made his fat suits stomach look more like a front bottom. After his initial chat and a quick presentation of what was to come, he introduced the head of PS3 Attitude to the stage.

DolphGB quickly introduced himself and got straight to the point. Dolph is set to tackle the toughest 10k obstacle course in the country, thanks to Mens Health. However he is not doing this just for himself, as all of the money that he raises will go to charity.

So far PS3 Attitude have raised just over £300 for GamesAid childrens charity, their charity of choice. Deciding that this was not enough, the good people at PS3 Attitude have secured a huge amount of donated prizes from various companies.

So far they have gathered up T-Shirts, games, figures, plush toys, posters and vouchers for game downloads.

For a chance to win some of these amazing goodies go to DolpGB's donation page and make a donation of at least £5. Be sure to leave your full name so they know who to contact. For every £5 you donate you will secure yourself a single entry into the competition, therefore the more money you put in the more prizes you stand a chance of receiving.

On the 16^th of December no more donations will be taken and the PS3 Attitude Team will randomly draw names from a hat. There is a maximum of two prizes per entrant to try and keep it a balanced competition.

The contest is open to all as long as they can ship from the US or the UK.

I know I will be entering, as  with over 70 prizes up for grabs, the chances of winning something are nice and high. Plus, even if you don't win, it is all for a good cause.

For more info visit PS3 Attitude and GamesAid

A Guest Post by Lewis Terry

OverClocked Remix Panel

Four of the UK team of OverClocked Remix were on hand to present a panel and performance at this Saturday's London Gaming Con. 


OverClocked Remix is an online community dedicated to the recognition of video game music as an art form. The panel started with a performance of the Pokemon Battle Theme, which had been transformed into a more rockier, metal type song. 


After the song had finished, the team introduced themselves as four of the admins who remix and moderate OCR. They stressed that  anyone can submit to OCR, which goes through to an approval process by the judges. If you make it through, your remix is available on the site. There are plenty of workshops available to view on the site to help out potential remixers. The team also stressed that the forum on the OCR website is the "most supportive community in the world."

The site also hosts interviews with remixers and composers, such as Danny B (composer of the music in Super Meat Boy), and David Wise (Donkey Kong Country). OCR is a completely free organisation that has released a number of albums, such as Sonic the Hedgehog-the Sound of Speed, Mega Man 9: Back in Blue, and Pokemon Missingno.


A great thing is that many of OCR's remixes and composers have made it into actual gaming titles, such as in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, God of War: The Ghost of Sparta and Mass Effect 2.

After discussing their website for a while, the team then initiated a short contest, which involved listening to a few clips of some of their remixes, and answering questions about each one. The first one to put their hand up in the air and shout out the answer wins one of their CDs. So, guess who won one? Me and Lewis Terry, who thankfully has a much louder voice than me and managed to get their attention. We had to answer a question on who created a particular Zelda remix. Many answered with "System of a Down", but we knew it was Rabbit Joint. Woo! 


This is what we won-Donkey Kong Country 2 (Diddy Kong Quest): Serious Monkey Business:

The panel was ended with a Sonic remix and the battle theme for Final Fantasy 7, both of which sounded brilliant on the guitar. You can check out the Sonic one below. Apologies for the shaky hands and the poor sound quality-recording on a Blackberry has never been my forte.

I urge you to check out the remixes on the website, which you can find here. 

London Gaming Con Coming Next Month

Wishing for a convention dedicated to gaming? Well, the London Gaming Con is coming to London on the 3rd and 4th of December, which promises exactly that. 


London Gaming Con is an 18+ event that acts as a sister convention to the London Anime Con, which is taking place in the same venue, the Rocket Complex, Holloway Road. Pricing is reduced to £14 for two days, or alternatively, £8 for Saturday and £6 for Sunday (if you register and pre-pay now). Tickets can be bought via the registration page. The convention is open between 11am and 1am. 


The convention promises plenty of bands and DJ sets, including Nintendisco, and guests such as popular YouTuber Brentalfloss. Many gaming publishers will be on hand with plenty of games available for attendees to play, which range from modern to retro, and plenty in between.  


There are also plenty of gaming tournaments, a few panels and stalls dedicated to selling gaming, anime and cult merchandise. More details can be found via the London Gaming Con website. 


I shall be there on the 3rd of December. I can't wait!