Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user Powerage.

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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?

Powerage:

"I first heard about Newgrounds in the beginning of my senior year of high school, around September 2004. My friend Adam (who doesn’t have an account here) and I were in Advanced Composition class (basically an entire course on learning how to do research papers) and we were kinda sorta goofing off on a site called Albino Blacksheep while we were supposed to gather sources/read stuff on how to properly cite sources for our research papers or some stuff like that, when he tells me about this site called Newgrounds and how it’s even better than Albino Blacksheep. I checked it out and I thought the site was pretty neat. I didn’t visit Newgrounds all that much for the next year or so mainly due to the fact that I only had dial-up at home back then. Things changed in August 2005 when I finally started college, got my own laptop, and my parents decided to upgrade to high-speed internet, so I started to go on Newgrounds more and more. I decided that I wanted some of that voting power so I created an account, and I’ve been here off/on ever since."

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Why did you choose the username some_random_dude and why did you change it to Powerage?

Powerage:

"I put zero thought into creating my first username, I don’t remember why I chose it; I just thought it sounded good at the time. A couple of months later, I was already tired of that username and thought it was time for a change. I then had the idea to try “Powerage” (as it was my favorite album at the time) to see if it was available, it was, so I stuck with it ever since."

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Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?

Powerage:

"I’ve changed a lot in the past eight years, both here and in real life.

I think my first posts were crap, and every time I happen across them (whether it’s because I decide to go through my old posts, or somebody oblivious bumps an ancient thread) I cringe a little. I know of some BBS users who have decided to have all of their BBS posts deleted because of this, though I won’t do this because I like to remind myself how much I’ve changed.

I also used to be in to stats on this site, always making sure to deposit my experience points every single day, did a bit of b/p’ing here and there, and then got a deity whistle shortly after the admins fixed the whistle system back in 2006, then out of boredom, I started whistling (and depositing EXP) on my alt, Egarewop, finally achieving the deity whistle on that account shortly after the 2007 redesign. Jeez, I had a lot of time on my hands. Nowadays, I don’t bother with Newgrounds stats anymore. The only thing I do here (besides watch the occasional flash) is posting in the forums.

This place was kind of a gateway to the rest of the internet for me; from there I discovered ED and 4chan, which led to seeing what the rest of the internet had to offer, some of it great, most of it terrible. I recently came to the realization that I’ll always have a special place in my heart for this place, as while I no longer go to ED and 4chan (haven’t been in more than a year), it’s this place that I still keep coming back to. I guess I’ll always be around here in some form, even if my activity level just consists of just logging in to watch a silly flash for the thousandth time.

In real life, I’ve changed immensely. Back when I first signed up, I was just 18 going on 19, in my first semester at Indiana State University, and I hadn’t even decided what I was going to do with my life. I also had a crippling fear of public speaking, I wasn’t terribly confident in myself, and looking back I think I was an annoying asshole as well. Now, I’ve since graduated from college, I'm in a job that’s actually in the field I got my degree in (though not full-time as of right now) that I love, got over that fear of public speaking, I’m generally a hell of a lot more confident now than I was back then, and I've matured quite a lot in the past 8 years as well. I’m living the best years of my life right now, and I feel that it’s only going to get better from here."

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Are there any other users that you like, and how do they affect you?

Powerage:

"Of course! Posters like Light, Entice, Natick, Idiot-Finder, Sensationalism, Slint, Dr-Worm, 24901miles and ZeroAsALimit (I've probably left a couple out) are all wonderful users that make coming to this BBS worthwhile. The forums would be a lot worse without them."

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Are there any users that you would consider enemies or that you just don't like?

Powerage:

"You know what? Enemy is kind of a strong word here, but there have always been users here who are jerks, dumbasses, or just plain terrible people. I do get annoyed by things like Wriggle’s constant whining about how hard it is to be a white heterosexual male or TheKlown’s amazing ability to straight up lie about objective, observable reality, and to be completely oblivious about the world around him. There’s others as well that I think are annoying, but I won’t bother naming them here."

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What is your opinion about the forums? Is there one forum that you prefer? And is there another forum user that you want to see getting interviewed by me?

Powerage:

"The forums aren’t that bad, to be honest. Sure, they’re nearly dead compared with a few years ago, but I think that the overall atmosphere of the forums has improved. It’s a lot more laid back now, there are fewer whiny assholes (they still exist though), the mods are less strict, and it’s just a more pleasant place than it was back in 2008-09. As far as actually posting goes, I usually stick to the General forum, though I do lurk the other forums from time to time. I think it would be interesting to see 24901miles, Idiot-Finder, and Dr-Worm get interviewed. Hell, you ought to interview Armissea; I’ve always wanted to know what the hell goes on in his head."

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I guess that you have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?

Powerage:

"They do a pretty good job of keeping this forum in order, I guess. There’s a couple mods that I really don’t care for, but the reasons why don’t have anything to do with any moderating they’ve done. Other than that, I don’t really have any issues with the mods. I like that they’re a lot more lax than they used to be."

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Would you like to become a moderator on Newgrounds? If so, what kind of moderator?

Powerage:

"Hell no. I come here to unwind and make the occasional attempt at making a coherent post. I like being under the radar, and I like to just come and go from the forums as I please, I’d rather not have to put up with the bullshit that comes with being a moderator of a BBS. If I were offered the job for moderator, I would decline, and if I were somehow made a mod, I would resign instantly. Plus, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on IRL right now, so I don’t really have the time to moderate an internet forum."

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You were a member before the redesign 2007. Tell me how you experienced Newgrounds back then and what changes you liked about the redesign.

Powerage:

"Probably one of the most notable things I remember about Newgrounds before the 2007 redesign was just how messed up the level system was. For those readers that weren’t around, it used to be that there were only 30 levels, and the requirements for levels 10-30 changed every time the person with the most Experience points (who was deemed Level 30, at the time it was Pimp) deposited, and Pimp usually deposited every single day. When 2007 rolled around, it was calculated that it would take around 129 years to reach just level 29, let alone six months to just reach level 10. It was getting quite ridiculous at that point, so when that redesign went live, I thought it was amazing. There were 30 new levels, new auras, the icons looked cool, we had userpages now, and the level requirements were now static. I thought it was amazing! The site looked so much better after that redesign."

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The last redesign happened 2012. Tell me what you think about it. What do you like and what is not so good?

Powerage:

"The overall look of the layout was great, I liked the new emoticons on the BBS, and having the custom user icons was nice. I don’t really care for the new auras or the new level icons; this was part of the reason why I stopped depositing."

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You describe yourself with a quote from a song from the band M83. When did you start listening to them and what are your favourite songs? Which other bands do you like the most?

Powerage:

"Ah yes, the quote. I first heard of M83 a couple of years ago, the song “Midnight City” was played pretty heavily on the local Alternative Rock station, I thought the song was really cool, so I checked out the rest of the album and bought it on iTunes. The very last song on that album “Outro” is my favorite song from that album; it really pumps me up and makes me feel like I can do just about anything. My other favorite songs from that album were “Wait” and “Splendor.” I know they’ve released other albums, I haven’t had the chance to listen to them yet. I’m sure they’re good as well.

My favorite band at the moment though would be The American Analog Set, an excellent lo-fi/indie rock band from Austin, Texas. They’ve been sort-of on hiatus since 2006, which kinda disappoints me because then I won’t be able to see them live, though live performances do exist on youtube.

There are a lot of other artists I like as well, like British Sea Power, The Smiths (and some of Morrissey’s solo work), The Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Liebe Hart, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Byrds just to name a few, I’ve got 210 different artists and 412 albums spanning many different genres of music dating back from the 1920s to the present day.

Speaking of the present day, I hear people complaining all the time about how there is “no good music anymore” and I think that is bullshit. In this thread Piggler made an excellent point that I completely agree with, that the good old days only seem good because the shitty bands fade into obscurity. Even today, people are making great music, they just need to know where to look!"

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Back in 2006, you had a collection of over 600 Matchbox and Hotwheels cars. Do you still have them or even got more now? What were/are your favourite cars from that collection?

Powerage:

"Except for a scattered few that are probably in a closet somewhere, I no longer have them. I’ve donated the vast majority of them to Goodwill a year or so after that. At that point, I was pretty busy with college and since I hadn’t played with them in a really long time I thought that somebody out there would have as much fun as I did with them. I’m not sure I can pick a favorite from that collection, I had a lot of pretty sweet cars, from the usual supercars, to average sedans, to big trucks, etc."

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You are a fan of the GTA series.Which one is your favourite title of the series and what changes would you like to see in upcoming titles?

Powerage:

"I’d say San Andreas, seeing as that is the only GTA game that I’ve actually finished. I’ve played the hell out of that game. I really liked not drowning upon hitting water as opposed to the earlier games, haha. I also really liked how there were a greater variety of environments (like mountains, desert, farmland, small towns) in San Andreas as opposed to just being stuck in a strictly urban environment, and was very glad to see that was the case with GTA 5. I have not had a chance to play GTA 5 yet, but I think it looks amazing.

As far as changes go, perhaps they could experiment with storylines. I think one set in the 1920’s, during the height of the prohibition era, would be very interesting, I’d really like to see what kind of story (not to mention the soundtrack) they could come up with that. I’d also like to see what they could do with depicting places other than the United States during gameplay. It wouldn’t be the first time that Rockstar made a GTA game that was set outside the US (GTA London 1969). Perhaps they could make missions that involve going to Mexico, or they could set it somewhere in Asia, Africa, or South America. I think, given those parameters, they could come up with something awesome."

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The Big Lebowski is one of your favourite movies. Tell my readers what the movie is about and why you like it.

Powerage:

"Okay, there are two men named Jeffrey Lebowski. One is a lazy, pot smoking, hippie who calls himself "The Dude". The other is a self-made, handicapped, multimillionaire war veteran who lives in a huge mansion. Their paths cross when the millionaire's trophy wife owes money to a pornographer. The thugs hired by this man confront The Dude because he has the same name, attack him and one of them pees on his rug. The Dude then goes to the millionaire’s house to demand compensation for his soiled rug, and the plot takes off from there.

This movie is (for me) one of those movies where you can watch it a million times and never get tired of it. My absolute favorite thing about this movie is the assortment of characters that seem to come from completely different movies (even including the Narrator!), and yet, it works out so brilliantly. This is a film that gets better with repeat views, and I think that everyone who hasn't seen it should definitely go watch it."

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Every person has secrets. Can you tell one of yours or something else that we didn't know about you yet?

Powerage:

"Well, this isn’t exactly a secret, since I had a conversation with Light about this in the comments section of my most recent news post (but then again, it is, since I rarely mention this in the forums), is that my job IRL is a substitute teacher, and I’m currently working on getting a full-time job teaching Math to HighSchoolers. I really like my job, the students like me, I get along very well with the rest of the staff (it helps that one of the high schools I work at is the school I graduated from), and I gain experience in classroom management, which will really help me later on. Thing is though, my current job is only part-time, and I really want to get a full-time job teaching in the area I’m licensed in. I’m also looking to move out of town, as the job situation in my area isn’t that great at the moment. I’m licensed to teach in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (I’d really like to relocate to Milwaukee, but there are places within those three states that will do), so I could be coming to a school near you!"

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What can we expect from you in the future, Powerage?

Powerage:

"Don’t expect too much from me. I’ll probably hang out here a little while longer, lurking in the shadows, posting occasionally, just trying to have a bit of fun. I'll probably be around even less once I get a full-time job, which I hope happens soon."

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about Powerage, dear reader.Feel free to leave a comment here, saying what you think about the interview, requesting users to get interviews is also appreciated. Tune in next week :3

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