#Song: Showtime (Piano Refrain) - Kevin Regamey & Malcolm Brown

[hom3stuck-d41ly]

[S] YOU THERE. BOY.

> BOY, QUIT ALL THIS SCURRYING AROUND.

[homestuckmusicbracket]

Beatdown - Showtime

[tranquilspot]

[S] John: Play haunting piano refrain.

[tell me if the track doesn't work]

Released August 9, 2009 by Kevin Regamey and Malcolm Brown The first ~50 seconds were used for this flash. Well that was a nice interlude. Showtime is such a memorable song, it appears later in different tracks, making it John's theme. Thanks to the Unofficial Homestuck Collection, some tracks even have the artist commentary! That's great, I'll be able to comment on it. Also, piano fingers go weeee~

Kevin Regamey: To be honest, I've fallen off the MSPA train pretty hard. This has undoubtedly been the busiest year (or two) of my life, and I am only now returning to reacquaint myself with what the heck is up.

Maaan if only I got more curious, I could have discover Homestuck way earlier. That wouldn't have change the fact that it already ended (or was about to) by the time I discovered Undertale first (back in 2016). Must have been wild to have experienced MSPA during its inception and golden age. That thing huge, so I understand it can be hard to keep up especially when you get off the train a while ago.

Malcolm wrote the chiptune version of Showtime first. I heard it, dug it, and created a piano arrangement just for the hell of it. Like Malcolm has said - earlier on, we didn't necessarily know what we were writing for, so we just wrote whatever spoke to us.

Creative process can be so various and unique from one person to another. They didn't really know in which direction or for what they were writing, but they did anyway. And the chiptune version came first! Crazy.

Tell me your secret guys, please 🥺

I had posted a "Work in progress" version to the music boards, and I received some positive feedback. Positive enough for me to elaborate it into a full piece.

Fuck yeah, MSPA really did sound awesome! Too bad it closed. I mean we've got MSPFA, but I bet for veterans it doesn't feel the same. Is there a similar platform currently existing? Like you post a wip and you got feedbacks then it motivated you to post the full work? No no I'm not talking about Deviantart, been there, done that. Twice. Twitter doesn't showcase art properly, and Tumblr isn't much for like and positive feedbacks, if any feedback really ToT I have put some of my fan art here, but how to get people interacting with it? That'd always been a mystery to me.

As luck would have it, Andrew was finishing up the first playable page of Homestuck just as I posted the full version. As such, I was lucky enough to have the honour of first musical appearance in Homestuck,

Giga chad energy, what a winner!

but most of the credit should certainly go to Malcolm - for defining John musically at such an early stage of the game, and for being the sole inspiration behind this track.

Man, don't discredit yourself! You still did great, you're on the podium even if you're not first place. Yeah, having the skill and honor of defining a character theme is on a different level. But horizontally I would say. There's pride on both. If the chiptune version is well-known and catchy, the piano one is an iconic powerful track, mixing nostalgia, aimless yearning and tenderness. So much emotion that left a mark in each of us. Later to be magnified by the organ pipe version, by da man, James Roach.

Oh, side note: My midi keyboard was misbehaving when I wrote this, so every note of the piece was clicked into a sequencer. D:

I'm not familiar with such programs, but putting them one by one sounds like hell. Rip x) —>

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 253

[S] YOU THERE. BOY.

Songs used: Showtime (Piano Refrain) by Kevin Regamey and Malcolm Brown, Harlequin by��Mark Hadley Author commentary: this was a walkaround Flash page. You could move John around with the keyboard, click on things and choose commands. All options are shown in the book sequentially, thus making it a pointedly NON-interactive experience. But this really just means you don't have to click on stuff to read hidden words. They're visible already. When you look at it this way, interactive stuff isn't that amazing. Outcomes are hiding, and you have to go to the bother of unhiding them, which is kind of a chore. Life is interactive, which is among the reasons it's such a huge pain in the ass.

You would think that by designating an author-created reader/player to submit commands, the game would start moving along more smoothly. But, no.

This now somewhat resembles an old Nintendo Power strategy guide, with screenshots of the game and illustrations of the consequences of player actions. If this Flash game ever stumps you online, like you find yourself getting lost in the house, just take a peek in this book for some HOT TIPS, and you will be well on your way to becoming a Power Player. B)

11: Also, who wants to take a piss with that weird clown watching? I doubt John's cool with that.

15: John, please. The plot of Little Monsters is not foreshadowing the existence of mischievous imps in your house. It is CLEARLY foreshadowing the existence of an alien race called trolls about 2000 pages later. Get with the program!

16: Critical point #1: WV, the one typing the commands, knows who John Cusack is, which is weird even for Homestuck. (SEE: UNIVERSAL CONSTANT.)

20: Critical point #2: Dave is referring to the fact that the Ghostbusters are always getting drenched in a particularly mucilaginous brand of spooky slime in that movie, carrying sexual overtones which I think we're in agreement would be a shame and completely unnecessary to bring attention to under basically any circumstance.

22: Spoiler: John never does use the towel to clean up the oil in his room. I admit fully, I let that plot point get away from me.

28: "God dammit John, that isn't Michael Cera." Really long term spoiler: In an alternate universe, it literally is Michael Cera.

29: The way the gameplay worked out, most of the time the sprite would follow John so closely they would just overlap. That is one clingy clownsprite.

35: Yes, the cruxtruder is why he is housetrapped, and not the fact that his house is now confined to a small plateau towering over an abyss. Also, he can STILL go out through the back door! Homestuck is frequently host to some of the least literally homestuck children in the history of fiction.

38: "John: Exchange shitty figurines for palm of pennies and kick in the nuts. Transaction favors you overwhelmingly."

40: Hey, whoa, whoa… that last line about elderly wisdom. Foreshadowing anyone???

43: That case full of games: same one used by Death in Problem Sleuth. Wait! Did I make a note about that in the last book? Behold the inevitability of my befuddlement on such matters. I promise, you haven't seen the last of it. Probably half these notes will be me inadvertently repeating book one trivia.

47: Heh heh, John sure does irrationally hate Betty Crocker, the harmless baked goods corporation, doesn't he? Surely this is just a silly running gag and won't come back to haunt us in any significant way. Right? I mean… it just can't… could it? That would be blowing a gag way too far out of propo-oh fuck Crocker's gonna be last boss, isn't she.

51: In retrospect, it's pretty remarkable to examine the breadth of WV's basic understanding of things. He seems to know what a washer and dryer look like, and what they're for. And can give quality advice on when it is or isn't practical to launder your garments.

60: "Although, he doesn't know what a swing set is. Or damaged power lines. Or an electric meter. Or handcuffs. Or a kitchen." Maybe I spoke too soon.

64: "AUTHOR'S NOTE: RE: Cirque du Soleil. Best joke in Homestuck. You may now stop reading, and close the book."

65: Follow-up on the peanut allergy issue: I'm pleased to report it does in fact prove to be relevant later.

66: I like to picture dad first hanging that dumbass clown photo straight, looking at it for a while with a vaguely dissatisfied expression, and then tilting it.

76: In these early pages, particularly with the lonely and disquieting ambiance of the walkaround page, there was something that felt deeply troubling about all this strange harlequin shit. Ultimately, the edge was taken off somewhat when it turned out all clownish roads led to a stoned alien juggalo.

One thing the book doesn't do (or even the site most of the time) is convey how quickly all this stuff was made. This entire walkaround game was made in less than 24 hours, all drawn and written by me, and programmed by Gankro. When you have to write a large amount of text for many different user choices, you start to get very quippy and punchy to just get it all done. But then, that's sort of a stupid way to qualify these pages, since that is how literally every page in Homestuck was written, ever. And also all of these notes.

[homestuck-music-review]

Showtime (Piano Refrain)

Vol. 1

By Malcolm Brown & Kevin Regamey 

Nostalgic. Calming, yet powerful. Every Homestuck, from the oldest to the newest, knows this song. The very first song in the comic. Picks up at 1:28. Goes from calm, peaceful and almost playful, much like the beginning of Homestuck, before becoming loud and powerful, a central theme rising above.

8/10. Can make me disassociate. 

[heir-of-puns]

The updated map got me real nostalgic for early Homestuck and I may have started rereading it...

Arrangement of:

Showtime (Piano Refrain) - Malcolm Brown, arranged by Kevin Regamey

The wind skims the void flash where John looks up at the sun - Andrew Hussie?

The Note Desolation Plays - Max "Imbrog" Wright 

Showtime (Original Mix) - Malcolm Brown

Harlequin - Mark Hadley

Aggrieve - Mark Hadley (yes ok I realized after I made it that this version doesn’t happen until Act 2 whoops)

Sburban Countdown - Michael Guy Bowman, arranged by Mark Hadley

Songs belong to their artists and What Pumpkin.

[hom3stuck-d41ly]

[S] John: Play haunting piano refrain.

(Pages including sound will be preceded by [S] in the command.)

> John: Play 52 Pick-Up.

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 77

[S] John: Play haunting piano refrain

(Pages including sound will be preceded by [S] in the command.)

Song used:

Showtime (Piano Refrain) by Kevin Regamey and Malcolm Brown

Song commentary:

Kevin Regamey: To be honest, I've fallen off the MSPA train pretty hard. This has undoubtedly been the busiest year (or two) of my life, and I am only now returning to reacquaint myself with what the heck is up. Malcolm wrote the chiptune version of Showtime first. I heard it, dug it, and created a piano arrangement just for the hell of it. Like Malcolm has said - earlier on, we didn't necessarily know what we were writing for, so we just wrote whatever spoke to us. I had posted a "Work in progress" version to the music boards, and I received some positive feedback. Positive enough for me to elaborate it into a full piece. As luck would have it, Andrew was finishing up the first playable page of Homestuck just as I posted the full version. As such, I was lucky enough to have the honour of first musical appearance in Homestuck, but most of the credit should certainly go to Malcolm - for defining John musically at such an early stage of the game, and for being the sole inspiration behind this track. Oh, side note: My midi keyboard was misbehaving when I wrote this, so every note of the piece was clicked into a sequencer. D:

[heir-of-puns]

Showtime remix!

Arrangement of:

Showtime (Piano Refrain) - Malcolm Brown and Kevin Regamey

You Killed My Father (Prepare To Die) - Yishan Mai (drums, mixing), Will Ascenzo (orchestra, choir), DJ最テー (guitars), viaSatellite (bass), David "Dirtiest" Dycus (synths, composition), Ian White (trumpet), Feat. Kelly Sadwin on violin

Showtime [End Strife Remix] - Plumegeist

Showtime (Svix Mix) - Svix

Showtime (Imp Strife Mix) - Malcolm Brown, George Buzinkai, and Curt Blakeslee

Showtime (Original Mix) - Malcolm Brown

Songs belong to their artists and/or What Pumpkin.

[heir-of-puns]

After Wedding in Starlight, Unbreakable Brothers Strider, and Atomic Odyssey, I realized that John was the only Beta kid left without longer theme. Since I always felt like Unstuck could have been a bit better, I decided to extend it. It was just over the audio limit, so I split it up. The narration is RJ Lake in the full version of Boy Skylark.

Here’s Part 2!

(Original) Arrangement of:

Wind in My Heir - Joe “DoubleJoeSeven” Ouellet Showtime (Piano Refrain) - Malcolm Brown and Kevin Regamey You Killed My Father (Prepare to Die) - Yishan Mai, Will Ascenzo, DJ最テー, viaSatellite, David “Dirtiest” Dycus, and Ian White Savior of the Waking World - Toby Fox Firefly Cloud - Erik Scheele Doctor (Original Loop) - George Buzinkai Heir Conditioning - Tensei Heir of Grief - Tensei

(Extension) Arrangement of:

Do The Windy Thing - Brian Schaefer Homefree - Hilary Troiano Boy Skylark - Robert J! Lake Another Chance - Eston “Silence” Schweickart Pipeorgankind - James Roach Green Ghost - Monobrow Skaian Happy Flight - Seth "Beatfox" Peelle

All of those songs belong to their artists and/or What Pumpkin.

[heir-of-puns]

Part 2! Here’s Part 1.

(Original) Arrangement of:

Wind in My Heir - Joe “DoubleJoeSeven” Ouellet Showtime (Piano Refrain) - Malcolm Brown and Kevin Regamey You Killed My Father (Prepare to Die) - Yishan Mai, Will Ascenzo, DJ最テー, viaSatellite, David “Dirtiest” Dycus, and Ian White Savior of the Waking World - Toby Fox Firefly Cloud - Erik Scheele Doctor (Original Loop) - George Buzinkai Heir Conditioning - Tensei Heir of Grief - Tensei

(Extension) Arrangement of:

Do The Windy Thing - Brian Schaefer Homefree - Hilary Troiano Boy Skylark - Robert J! Lake Another Chance - Eston “Silence” Schweickart Pipeorgankind - James Roach Green Ghost - Monobrow Skaian Happy Flight - Seth “Beatfox” Peelle

All of those songs belong to their artists and/or What Pumpkin.