Author Archives: WNJohns

About WNJohns

Hello there! I'm WNJ- Writing Nate Johnson as I like to say sometimes haha. I am an aspiring writer (online and book), graphic designer and hopeful entrepreneur (that ones still to be determined). Feel free to get in touch, I don't bite! Oh and complete nerd. That too ; )

Crush 40: Overcoming A Video Game Stigma

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Did you know that video game’s often times have their own bands to create tracks for the “next big hit”? Well, it’s true! Crush 40 is one of the best examples of such hidden rocker talent. The guys behind Crush 40 have created many great tracks for Sega since the mid 90′s, and then bonded together over Sonic The Hedgehog game series.

It may seem odd at first to think that persons who possess such musical talent would stay in a niche area like video games for their careers instead of trying to go “mainstream”. At second glance however, this is not such an odd idea. Soundtrack developers for major video game companies are given huge budgets to work with- which equals large studios, equipment, recording and development tools as well as personnel… really, the longer you think about it, not taking advantage of a niche like this seems crazy!

They have played at numerous tours, shows and special performances. One of their best songs Open Your Heart had been in the works to make it onto the Rock Band playlist (it unfortunately didn’t quite make it) and theme song (Live & Learn) after theme song (His World) for every Sonic game since the Dreamcast, as well as a few other Sega to boot.

So if you’re in the mood for some great new rock music, don’t let life tangle you up inside- live and learn! (Whoooa yeaaah!)

Amazon Module’s vs Amazon Spotlight Module’s On Squidoo

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I recently spent some time going through my squidoo lenses and writing down every little bit that did not look, read, feel, or taste right. Well maybe not the last, but regardless, the list wound up being quite a long one! And an area of concern that popped up on many of my lenses was the crowding of amazon sales modules.

I don’t know why, but the amazon sales module screams “salesman!” when I try to use it on my lenses and I was close to giving up hope… before reading up on how to create pages to target one item at a time. I gave this targeting of amazon onto one item at a time with a video game review lens, Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time, and found that it not only got rid of that over-salesmanship-feeling I had, but blended the text and item picture together quite well.

I suppose it can’t replace it entirely, or at least I keep telling myself that. There are places where one would need to list out a few products in a row, perhaps different variations of the same ipod, or accessories. I wonder if others have had any similar experiences, or if this is just common knowledge that took a little longer to get through to me ;-)

PS – I know how to scrawl writings in photoshop! INTERNET FEAR ME!