13th Anniversary Statement
"Another Year of Major Challenges/Is This Operations Planbook and Standards Strategies 'Under Threat'?!"
(Posted on May 31, 2023)
Hello, everyone; yours truly here again with the long awaited "anniversary statement" for the music operations' 2023 year. Only that this time around, I've been fighting even more "adversarial forces" as compared to last year including a certain real life situation outside of these music operations as a whole that you all might have seen me elaborate on via certain posts in late 2022 and/or earlier this 2023 year which was trying my hardest to slow my music operations groove to a screeching crawl to almost nothing at all. As of the date of this statement, I've still been fighting these "personal roadblocks" to press on forward for the music operations related happenings for the remainder of this year. And yes, this even includes my finding the opportunity to get this year's "anniversary statement" written up. The one piece of good news is that as I've been preparing stuff to share with you all on this document in question, progress was slowly being made on the "group meeting" end for everyone to meet physically at my place after two years of "technical separations" due to the COVID mess interfereing with our personal grooves.
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At last, all of us are finally together again! I've been waiting for this day since forever!
 You said it, Babsy! And to be with one of our best friends representing us makes it better for this year.
M. C.: Thanks, you two. Oh, right, I should remind you all that these two are "representing" the instrument sets that I've been using in my music covers - more specifically, Konami's Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! and Konami's Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Sports Challenge.
 Yeah, it definitely has been a while on that one M. C.; we heard you called on us in terms of doing stuff from Mario Party Superstars as well as a recent cover of a song from Mario Kart Tour, perhaps?
M. C.: Exactly that, Babs. You know how much I still love these two sets in question; even I was starting to wonder when I ever going to call on them again. You're still in this thing, and I'm very happy for that.
 (grabs and squeezehugs M. C. from behind and gives a huge smooch on the cheek and giggling): I'm sure that's the same for the three of us too, right.
M. C.: How could I ever forget, Dot? I'm sure you all recall that Konami's Animaniacs instrument set was called for me to do that cover of the "staff credits" song from Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
 I'm just happy that we had the chance to get involved in M. C.'s final music cover of last year.
 You said it, Wakko; I'm just hoping we'll be more involved in new music cover for this year. Maybe some new targets from that same Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker game perhaps, M. C.?
M. C.: God only knows the answer to that, Yakko. As I told you all many times before, it all depends on which instrument set I use in my Super Nintendo music styled covers to try and match the original "modern" Mario game tune itself in question.
 Would one example include the set that represented me when you were doing a certain batch of covers earlier last year targeting a "theme" from Mario Party Superstars, Doc?
M. C.: Actually, yeah, Bugs - more specficially, the "Peach's Birthday Cake" board that was featured in Mario Party Superstars. What caught me off guard was that they did TWO versions of this song - the "main theme" and the "last five turns" theme in which I used the set representing you for both of them (which, of course, is Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage).
And you called on us for the "introduction fanfare" to that theme, right?
M. C.: Exactly. More specifically, the Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Sports Challenge set for that "fanfare".
 And now I'm wondering if we'll be involved for any new covers targeting songs from the same Mario Party Superstars games.
 All we have to do is be patient, mate; I'm sure M. C. still has a lot on his belt regarding where things involving all of us go from here.
 Yeah, man; I'm just that that we're all here together physically again for this annual meeting. You've been doing all right, M. C., my man?
M. C.: Yeah, I'm still in this thing; thanks for asking, Plok. And great to see you again as well, Rocko. You two have been doing all right as well?
 Heck yeah! Way better than what we all had to endure since the past two years. I swear, our being "separated" like this has been a literal nightmare that no one wants to go through in their lifetimes ever again!
 You're not the only one saying that, Plok. Even my dog Spunky didn't like it. Now that everyone's starting to get back together slowly, we're getting close to reach definite "normalcy" levels again.
 No joke, pal. I was waiting for this day to arrive too so we wouldn't have to deal with those so-called "Zoom virtual meetings" for a while.
 Now, Bubsy, that can still be useful down the road, so don't count that out. That said, I too am happy that we can put the "virtual meetings" to rest for a short while.
 You said it, Minnie! But with that said, I see that our group didn't get repesented that much for M. C.'s covers last year...
 And I think I know why, Mickey. Remember earlier this year when M. C. shared that because of his dealing with unfortunate "real life situations" he wasn't able to do as much music covers involving any of us as compare to last year?
M. C.: Exactly that, Bonkers. Like for example, for your "team" involving yourself, Mickey, and Minnie, I was only able to have one cover posted and that was from Super Mario Odyssey during the course of last year. And yes, this depressed me too.
 Oh, come on, M. C., don't get depressed on us! <squeezehugs> Even we know that you could only do so much in a midst of a health crisis!
 <joins in the squeezehug with Minnie> Yeah, even all of us were still virtually limited in what we were able to do as we were trying to fight through this health monster. None of us appreciated it! Just be glad you pulled through last year, because we did too!
M. C.: I appreciate the comfort, you two. All of you are still the main reason I do these covers in question (along with my enthusiasm for the Mario game series itself as a whole). Also, you are right about the "involvement" instrument set wise, but just to confirm those words with evidence, I'm sure you're referring to this on the "featured Super Nintendo music instrument set usage" end from 2022:

Specifically this. Even though the majority of you here were involved during the course of last year, it wasn't as much as the 2021 year before it. But I still have to say that even I wasn't happy about it either. Not that I'm playing favorites with you all, just seeing all these "ties" all over this part of the "involvement" from last year personally concerns me. Sure, it has triggered some shakeups as can be seen from this changelog page here (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/archive_pages/mfstats_rankings_changelog/year_2022.php), but the problem is that they been from instrument sets that apparently had little to no general "recognition" from the majority.
 That's what I've been wondering about myself, pal; even though I see that I was one of those folks that did a slight shakeup on our list.
 Apparently, it still wasn't enough, Bubsy, even though you weren't alone. It seems that other sets that M. C. used played a small part in it too. 
M. C.: Right, but the bottom line is in regards to the song targets I've been trying my best to clear off the backlog. And this angle concerns me as well - because if you all have checked this page in question (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=pages&f=52), there are still as of the date that this gets posted four targets in my planbook spanning two Mario game installments. Here's the problem: as some of you have stated and as what I have elaborated, along with my also trying to recover slowly from this health crisis that has plagued us for two to three years... I've had to deal with recovering from a personal loss within my own family network... more specifically, that family member in question within the same network one year ago was experiencing slowly deteriorating health conditions which caused me to focus more on checking on them periodically making sure they were still hanging in there while the health care staff was doing their best to keep her statistics in check.
My gosh, M. C.! I bet that explains why your music activity itself representing us was noticeably less than the previous year?
M. C.: Exactly, Babs. Which also brings me to showing the featured Mario game installment which involved my music covers in 2022 as well.

Although there are still noticeable things like the top installments featured here including Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart Tour, Mario Party Superstars and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, the rest only had one cover I did for each - and all of them resulted in my only doing a total of 18 covers in the previous year. But the roadblocks from my personal end didn't stop there - even though I've been fighting to stay positive month after month after month pressing forward with the song cover process and review my planbook on what I should focus  on next, I was hit with the biggest attack from early December of last year after getting news that the close family member in my network that I've mentioned about earlier passed away and went to be with the Lord in their mid to late 80s.
 <hugging M.C. tightly> Oh wow, M. C.; very sorry to hear about the loss.
<joins Minnie in hugging M. C. tighly> We all are. This also must be the same case that
M. C. was explaining about regarding those earlier posts from December of last year as well.
 <also joins Minnie and Babs in the squeezehug> Without a doubt. My sweet M. C. representing all of us must have gotten through a whole lot of emotions trying to sort out a very personal part of his family and now they're not around with us here anymore.
M. C.: That's exactly it, you three. And to this day, I am still slowly having to sort some personal angles out as a result of this passing; it's been literally been trying to take its toll trying to mess with my groove for these music operations as a whole. Trust me, it's always a very serious matter when a certain close family member passes because it can change many thing within the family network itself like that and now it has hit my own; it's like one of the biggest personal challenges of my life and I pray that by the grace of God, I'll definitely overcome this as the months progress.
 Yo, ladies, I hate to break your squeezehug even though it's still definitely appreciated for our M. C., but... <bumps M. C.'s fist> you've still got this, man! I want us back to full enthusiasm before this year is up, but we especially want you back in full throttle for sure!
 No joke, pal. I may be a smart aleck from time to time, but even I know that those who are definitely passionate about their own endeavors will get through whatever works get thrown at them and rise from the adversarial forces trying to destroy them as well as the person too. This family loss is still a very serious matter, but I'm sure you'll be able to overcome this.
 Exactly, Bubsy! <turns to M. C. whispering in his ear> Also, M. C., do you know that phrase that also goes "This too shall pass"?
M. C.: I actually have, Babs. In fact, it's one of the phrases that came back to my mind as I was sorting out the same "personal matters" regarding the passing of the late close family member in my personal network. Heck, I've been listening to certain Gospel songs that have been helping me through each day ever since that family member's passing as well. And on a slightly unrelated note, some of those gospel songs that I listen to constantly may have been part of my influential strategies in doing my music cover procedures for these music operations as a whole; hopefully, one of these days, I can elaborate on that further in an upcoming "Behind the Process" entry as the months forge ahead.
 I've been wondering about that myself. <giggles> I want to see a smiling, loveable, M. C. again as we progress through the rest of this year.
 You've got that right, Babs! Nothing beats when our M. C. is in a very positive mood, for sure!
Yeah, Doc; remember, he also said that his love of this Super Mario game series and the songs for them have still been one of the biggest motivators that's pulled him through even through this difficult time.
 Yeah, along with representing us with the instrument sets he's been using to do these covers. I'm still grateful that I was even involved once last year.
 Actually, Bonkers, you mean the year before last. Because I was involved last year in one of M.C.'s covers targeting one of the songs from Super Mario 3D Land.
 Oh, sorry; was slightly confused since he used the set representing me to cover song from that Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury game (mainly one of the songs exclusive to the "Bowser's Fury" side). At least he still didn't forget about us two awesome bobcats.
Same with his representing me as well, Bonkers. If you noticed, he was covering a few songs from Mario Party Superstars last year. If anything, despite the turbulence, M. C.'s been going through, he hasn't given up on this overall operation at all for like almost thirteen years now...?
 I bet there's an extra something as to why he'd do certain song covers from the Mario Party Superstars last year, and the clue itself is a very big one.
 Oh, come on, Minnie; it's very obvious! <giggle> He's always saying that he's a huge fan of the Mario girls, including one Princess Peach!
 Right, and one of those related stages was "Peach's Birthday Cake", wasn't it? Only that there were three "themes" related to it for Mario Party Superstars.
Yeah, Doc, one involving you all for the board's "fanfare" part, and the two other "themes" were involving the set featuring me. All still trying to match the theme environment of the song itself from that game.
M. C.: You're all are exactly on target there. And I still can't believe it's been a little over one year since I've done those covers in question resulting in the addition of this page to house stuff targeting music from Mario Party Superstars in general (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=pages&f=96). And by checking the planbook that I have, rumor has it that I might not be done with doing song covers from this game yet. God only knows when I'll snag the chance to see about dealing with the process in due time. But what I do know from my personal end is that before I take action on this or any other angle at all, I need a MUCH clearer head (along with making sure I still progress in recovering from the family loss that I was discussing about earlier) to address the challenges going forward in this 2023 year.
 Right, mate. But I gotta ask, and I know I'm asking for many of us here today, when will we all get more involved in the future song covers that you plan to do? It looks like as some of us said, we're finally starting to get back to normal after two to three years of major health turbulence.
 Been wondering about that too. It's been a while since our M. C. did covers involving the sets featuring Minnie and me. Maybe we'll work our way further up on the rankings list in the coming months.
 Uh, Mickey, you do know we hold the #2 spot regarding the first adventure we had together, right?
 Oh, right! But we still have a long ways to get to number one and usurp one of M. C.'s personal favorite instrument sets. <laughs>
 How can we even forget? The same set that was used like 80+ times thanks to recent songs from Mario Kart Tour and other Mario Kart song stuff!
 At least so far this year, that same set hasn't been called upon... yet. Even though he has that set (and the one involving me) way up there in the "personal favorites" list.
ALL (except M. C.): We know...
 Let's just all be grateful that the majority of us here are closing in on the top ranks overall on our part of that "rankings list document" that M. C.'s been talking about.
 And here's to our usurping that list even further in the coming months! I'll be definitely waiting for it to happen, especially for me.
 Only that you still have a ways to go there, Bubsy. And not to be conceited, I'm in a slightly higher rank as compared to the set involving you.
 Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. The bottom line is we're all wondering when that "top instrument set" M. C. is talking about will ever get "dethroned".
 Yeah, don't hold your breath on that, pal; it's still going to be a very long while since we find out that answer.
M. C.: Patience, patience, everyone. As I said, God only knows especially as I recheck my planbook as the months forge ahead. And I'm obviously hoping for the best that you all will be represented in my future Super Nintendo music styled song covers of the modern Super Mario game series down the road. My passion on this is still strong for them, as well as for all of you "representatives", and I honestly and seriously do not take that for granted.
I'll get back to that for all of us later on, but for now, I have to slightly switch gears because there's something that I seriously need to address amongst all of us - but the thing is, I have a strong feeling in my conscience that this isn't just concerning my music operations itself that I've been maintaining for 13 years, but from the clues that I've gathered... I hate saying this, but if my assumptions are right... the majority of videogame music fan communities are possibly about to be in the situation of becoming "under threat" more than ever before.
 "Under threat", M. C.?! What exactly do you mean by "under threat"? I hope this doesn't mean that your precious operation is in that situation!
M. C.: I'm still keeping fingers crossed on that, Babs, and am still holding out hope for the best that these beloved music operations as a while that I've heard dear for nearly fifteen years will reach the next "major milestone" as we progress forward in the weeks and months to come. But I still have to share with all of you here (as well as everyone else out there that will be reading this anniversary statement) that based on clues that I've recently gathered... I'm noticing certain "adversarial forces" outside of these music operations that still have an eye on wrecking my overall passion and enthusiasm for these music operations as a whole, along with other factors that might have an intention of usurping my music operations' "planbook" on the backend.
 "Adversarial forces", my neck! If I had my way, I'd use my limbs to knock them all out in your defense, M. C.! What in the heck could they be trying to do in messing your operation up, man?
M. C.: Calm down, Plok; I need to explain this. From the sources that I've gathered, there are three angles of these "adversarial forces" that have now more than ever posed a "challenge" to my continuing these overall endeavors. And the first one is regarding my music arrangement "procedures" with you all when I do new Super Nintendo music styled covers themselves.

So as you all know, for all these years and thanks to certain "videogame music insiders", I've been gathering all these "instrument sets" (with the majority of them representing you all) with my hopes of trying to still match the "original stylings" of the modern songs from the Super Mario game installments (main, spinoff, and branched). Let me be clear to all of you here (and to everyone else reading this statement itself): I will still be continuing to do this process in my planbook because that's been this overall operations' intention ever since I started this thing thirteen years ago. It's never an easy decision in regards to what instrument set will be called to do a Super Nintendo music styled cover of a modern Mario song, but I always hope that the end result will be worth the struggle, especially when it's time to finally post those covers.

However, recently - I've been starting to get some certain "complaints" from a few visitors/listeners saying that these song covers "don't sound 'Mario' enough", "this sounds like something else and not a true Mario game song", and so forth. I see where they're coming from, but let's be real: it would be a real challenge for me to even go that route since all of these "modern" songs that I've been covering ever since the Wii/Wii U family of Mario games all the way up to today's Nintendo Switch Mario game installments, and even the very popular mobile app installment Mario Kart Tour which has you all known has been still giving us quadruple addictive tunes to this day.
 I see where those people are coming from, M. C.; apparently, they're trying to get you to conclude that you're involving all of "us" in this process should haven't been part of your planbook from the start.
 Yeah, what the heck, bub? Even though I haven't been called on much instrument set wise, these "modern" songs you've been covering while representing all of us are something else as you're still trying to stay true to the original songs and the intentions of them.
 Yeah, pal; like the majority of those songs you covered using the instrument sets representing Minnie and me - especially involving the games of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and even certain songs from Super Mario 3D World. Why in the heck would those people even think to say that the stuff that you do doesn't sound "Mario" enough?
M. C.: My question exactly, Mickey, and that's one of the cases which I'm trying to figure out even to this day. But I'm having a feeling they've been trying to see about getting me to use those sets in question because apparently, those "materials" in question are apparently the only ones they apparently know and/or possible care about, music insiders wise.
 I'm on your side on this too, M. C.; but it sounds like according to them... "details" wise, they possibly want to hear stuff that sounds really familiar them that matches that "Mario" theme itself.
 Yeah, from what I'm understanding from this case... according to them addressing those "concerns" to you, M. C., based on their "music interests" as well as their also being followers of the Mario series that you're representing... they think that we that you're representing on the instrument set end as you're doing these music covers do not exist!
M. C.: Yeah, and that is what has me deeply concerned. Rest assured, I'm definitely not letting you all go, so help me God. However, I have to also say that there's yet another part of this angle which is also a key factor to this "threat" on my planbook from the backend. And let's just say that as of late, recently it's has been rearing its head towards my direction with the intention on hoping to mess up my planbook process in the months ahead regarding future music cover stuff.
 Now that part is what's baffling to me, M. C., especially in terms of my work as a cop in Toontown when I'm not with all of you here. What could be the situation that's having you possibly raising the "red flag" there?
 I'm under the assumption, Doc, that what M. C. is saying is that what he's been doing to represent us in his covers for years is about to apparently come "under attack"... meaning that he's got some important decisions to make on how to address the so-called threats he mentioned earlier that's aiming for his "planbook".
 I think I have an idea - you guys remember about news M. C. was sharing regarding a certain "angle" of a certain "Mario Kart" installment since a few months back?
 Yeah, I've heard that news on occasion, and so has Wakko and Dot.
 Especially since all of us know that all those Mario Kart games are like literally a big deal as of late.
 Even that Mario Kart Tour game is still gripping the majority of those videogame hobbyists. I wish I was able to play that thing!
 Easier said than done, Wakko; there's still criteria to be met before we can even check that game out at all...
 But don't forget about that Mario Kart 8 game installment as well. Recently, the same gaming hobbyist majority has still been going insane over that game since many years back!
 No joke, pal! I checked M. C.'s rankings list... even though that said game hasn't gotten to the top spot yet, it's slowly working it's way up to that point, but slowly.
 Don't forget about Mario Kart Tour as well, man; recently as of late, M. C.'s planbook has been dominated with dealing with new song cover stuff from that game. Those awesome songs from it will not stop coming!
 I know, right? And I see he's still trying to find time to clear some stuff from his backlog regarding Mario Kart 8 music stuff.
M. C.: You all are right on those front, everyone, and I'm still working on finding time to get those numbers down - especially on the side of Mario Kart 8 (as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch console). And thankfully, I've been given a little break regarding doing Mario Kart Tour song cover stuff ever since I posted that Super Nintendo music styled cover covering that Athens Dash course theme.
 We heard! And it was using one of the instrument sets representing us that hasn't been called upon in quite a while, right?
M. C.: That's the one. But let's get back on track here about this "threat" I'm talking about. As some of you noted, yes, this is also related to "Mario Kart" (more specifically the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe side). So as you already know from this installment in question - it's still going very strong and keeping the "interest" for the Nintendo Switch console alive, and I'm not surprised. But the recent happenings that have been implemented for said installment were enough to trigger alarm bells for my planbook and has been slowly trying to crawl its way into how I'm going to approach possible "candidates" from that angle. More specifically, I'm referring to this:

This angle in question, right here. And the main culprit in terms of this trying to usurp my planbook groove is the "info" that's found on this site: https://mariokart8.nintendo.com/booster-course-pass/ 

Here's the situation - the clues are in the featured course listings there. There are some featured courses that I've already covered for posting in their respective pages (specifically Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, and yes, even Mario Kart Tour). But this is the thing: the course listing involves stuff that's beyond this music operation's scope, and that is what's trying to wreck my planbook process because we've got stuff that goes all the way back to course content from a certain installment that made the Mario Kart installments beyond famous in the first place! Add to the fact that there were "remixes" done for all these songs for the "Booster Course Pass" section of said game and that at least one of said songs from it got my attention... it has now gotten my planbook in its sights as well as how I'm going to approach doing covers from it, if any are "confirmned" on the backend for my planbook.
 I see where you're coming from with this mate. And honestly, I believe that this kind of case has to be approached very differently since some courses aren't really from modern Mario Kart games.
 Yeah, pal, I'm not seeing myself wanting you do apparently do your "usual method" regarding a case like this, even if you're still doing your best to keep us in play for future covers.
 Exactly, this "Booster Course Pass" content thing you're talking about is a whole different ballgame, M. C.; have you got a possible strategy on how you're going to approach this kind of case in due time? Not that you're obviously giving up on us personally, of course.
M. C.: Yeah, I'm still working out the kinks regarding this matter, Dot. The thing is that details are still under lock and key, but what I can say is this - once progress has been made for me to possibly share music cover stuff in due time, it's going to be placed in its own separate section. Not only that, although it pains for me to say this, but in the case of the "Booster Course Pass" portion of song covers from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I might have to do some ajustment in my "standards" backend wise because I'm under the strong conviction from my conscience that my usual approach with you all on the instrument set end is not going to cut it here.
 Understandable, Doc; this kind of situation isn't something I'd take lightly either. There's only so much you can do with us; something like this looks like as what was stated... a different "music arrangement strategy" might have to be made.
M. C.: And you won't believe this, Bugs - I've also been getting some stuff in my correspondence saying "Hey, when are you ever going to be using... that set... in future Mario Kart song covers that you plan to do in the future? I think you need to bring that into the mix in due time!" To those people, I say to please be patient with me - from what I've seen via clues on my end, the probability is high that the time might be coming to possible implement that standard adjustment just for this section of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe song cover stuff that I do.
 You've got this too, my man! If anything, even though you're a huge fan of the instrument set involving me as well as the Spider-Man and the X-Men set, I believe there are some songs on that list that could be good candidates to try at least!
 Yeah, here's a hint - I know you loved doing that "Singapore Speedway" song cover from Mario Kart Tour. <giggles>
M. C.: Oh, come on! How can I ever forget about it, Dot? To this day, even that song itself is still playing in my mind (both my cover of it as well as the original song itself from Mario Kart Tour); in fact, it even helps me focus in getting ready for each day before I head out the door to do my necessary business outside my music operations!
 <hugs M. C. and whispers in his ear> Maybe your same planbook is trying to tell you something about it. Possibly try to do a song cover of this same tune from the "Booster Course Pass" side of it, perhaps?
M. C.: That might be a possibilty, Dot; but once again, nothing has been finalized yet planbook wise. But I do know that I have to make preparations for the adjustments from this angle to be made and that any covers I do that involving "Booster Course Pass" music stuff will be housed in a special separate section of our site in due time. So to everyone: definitely make sure to keep tabs on the front page of our site (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com) for further news regarding this case in question.
Now to switch gears again on one more angle, and this also ties into possibly having to see about dealing with some possible "standards changes", and that's in regards to the "community/audience angles". This, to me, is even more serious as compared to what we're talking about earlier regarding the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass stuff... because as I stated earlier, and as I stated earlier to copy a certain "line" from a movie trailer that I've seen, "there's a darkness coming".
I still hate "darkness" stuff in general, really; it scares me so much!
 Calm down, Babs; we're still okay as long as we're together here. But M. C., what's the deal with what you're talking about now?
M. C.: Right, let me explain. So as all of you know, I've been doing these endeavors for 13 - 14 years trying to find others who definitely love Nintendo's Super Mario videogame series as a whole as well as my doing the Super Nintendo music styled covers of the "modern" songs for it from the Wii/Wii U installments up to today's ones for the Nintendo Switch and even that mobile Mario Kart Tour installments that we were discussing about earlier. But as I elaborated with you in regards to the statement for last year, I'm sad to report that I've noticed some environment and/or audience/interest changes that are now more concerning than ever before.
 I think I know where you're coming from with this man, because I'm seeing this too... especially since after this "health crisis" that we've endured for nearly two years... it's possibly affecting the "interests" of your majority over time.
 Not just the "interests" part, Plok, dear. Apparently the same majority also have a bunch of "real life stuff" outside of these endeavors that M. C.'s maintaining and that's maybe affecting their coming to check all this music stuff he's doing featuring us out!
M. C.: Yeah, allow me to explain further - and one piece of evidence is on the "community portals" angle. And once again, I find it very concerning that as of the date and time this overall "anniversary statement" gets posted, the related IRC channel of my music operations as a whole has dropped to nearly two to three members (myself included). Plus, on the "Discord Portal" angle, I still only have a total of 12 members (also including myself) and I'm still fighting tooth and nail because I'm still optimistic that those "supporters" of these music operations as a whole are definitely out there.
However, the protip in terms of the "numbers" is still this: it all depends on the "platform" and where the "interest" from that lies. Get this: our SoundCloud portal (https://soundcloud.com/mcfp_2013) still has the follower count at 124. So every time I'm posting "personal favorites" of stuff that I share on the main website from time to time, the "follower count" slowly increases. But the problem is the same as last year's... even when I try to let people know about other "community portals" like Discord and IRC to see about joining the follower bases there, they're still not budging. Same with the Twitter Portal angle which still has the follower count at 68.
 Right, but I know I'm not the only one asking about the "Forum Portal" side; that section of your site has been "dormant" for a few years. Any updates regarding that situation?
M. C.: Haven't forgotten about that, Bonkers; I still blame not just the "health crisis" matters that we've endured from a few years ago to even the recent "family member passing" that I went through late last year for all these "delays". Hopefully, one of these days, I can elaborate further on this, but I can say for now it all is due to the "restrictions" implemented with our home base website's current hosting service; that's one of the reasons why I haven't had the chance to get the site forums part of the site back in action again. Details are still under lock and key on when I can actually get it addressed, but it's currently low priority right now because of more pressing matters within these music operations as a whole, as well as outside of it.

But putting that aside, the community portal angle numbers are still dire on all fronts and that tells me the "interest level" of the possible majority regarding these music operations as a whole. That does not mean that I am giving up this fight because I still believe deep in my conscience that there are many people out there who are still fans of especially the "modern" angle of Nintendo's Super Mario game series. It's just that right now, we're in the 2023 year and it's time to start getting realistic.
Once again, to all of you here in this meeting itself - let me make this one thing abundantly clear: there's no way on God's green earth that I'll abandon using all those instrument sets that I've gathered representing the majority of you for all these years thanks to some insider sources in the videogame music community. All of the stuff that I have in my posession so far to do these beloved Super Nintendo music styled covers of modern Mario songs is still the biggest drive for me to this day; it's just having to still carefully choose which ones would be best for upcoming stuff as the months forge ahead.
 Yeah, M. C., I get you there, mate. But I'm really thinking you shouldn't ignore today's "demands" either. It sounds like this "Booster Course Pass" thing that you're talked about earlier may really be a force to be reckoned with in terms of doing covers from that.
 I think he also knows that, Rocko. I mean, I'm glad we're all still together on this all the way. But I also believe that we all have to see about preparing for changes on the horizon too, and big time.
M. C.: That's what I was about to elaborate on, you two. If I may continue, but to everyone who is reading this "anniversary statement" itself: first of all, this is a fine time to make sure that if you're definitely with all of us on these endeavors maintained by yours truly, please make sure that you take this moment right now to join our community portal followings via our Twitter profile (https://www.twitter.com/mcfp_2013), our SoundCloud profile (https://www.soundcloud.com/mcfp_2013), our Discord server (via invite link application located at http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/email_form_3.php), and even our IRC portal (located at https://webchat.esper.net/?channels=MCsMarioMusicGallery). As I have shared with you faithful friends/followers/listeners before, although I may be the sole author/administrator of these entire operations, it's still absolutely nothing without your support to back me up on this process. We need you all more than ever to increase all of these community portal numbers, especially as we prepare to begin the "summer months period" in less than a few weeks from now, as well as for the rest of this 2023 year itself. I'm still very optimistic and sure that this can be done; the only major requirement that still stands is meeting the "criteria" as shown on this page: http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=pages&f=4.
Additionally, at this time, even after I get this statement posted and return to clearing my music arrangement backlog at last, I still am in great need of everyone's input via our two active "online suggestion forms" on our site: the "featured Mario game installments" / "featured instrument sets" form (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/suggestion_forms/sform_2.php) as well as the search for new "song candidates" (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/suggestion_forms/sform_1.php) to aid in my planning for the coming months. I've heard from a few of you there in the past months and I sincerely thank you for that; regardless, I definitely need to hear from many more here as well. Granted, as I stated in posts on our website itself, the one thing standing in my way correspondence processing wise is the "restrictions" placed on our related account at Formspree for form processing as well as the "email correspondence restrictions" from our site hosting provider AwardSpace. As always, if I run into any situations from my end upon hearing news, I'll make sure you all know about it A.S.A.P.
Which brings me back to the main point of this overall anniversary statement, and to finally start wrapping things up still addressing the readers themselves: although my "representatives" are still with me, especially on the instrument sets end for sure for these music operations as a whole, this is the concern/warning that I'm giving out not just to myself, but to all of us videogame music fan communities as a whole - the clock is ticking and the environments/atmosphere/userbases are changing all around us. The clues in regards to the "environment changes" are already there and already starting to make an impact on how we manage our operations now. Not to mention that if I'm not mistaken, those who have been with us for many years back may have their overall interests change over time or a lot of "real life situations" have been occupying them like you-know-what. That to me, along with everything else that was shared above in this statement should be raising alarm bells right now because the bottom line to us all is this: we videogame music fan communities are now at a critical point in which we need to investigate all means necessary to make some much needed "standards adjustments" to satistfy today's crowd - especially for the "majority" who have never in their lives heard the term "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" before and/or are just stuck in knowing the very recent Mario game themselves installments for the Nintendo Switch as well as the mobile app installment Mario Kart Tour. If our related account at SoundCloud is anything to go by, especially in regards to the "numbers" I've seen, like this (targeting the "followers" statistic, of course):

As well as the listening activity stats from that same SoundCloud account (the "top 10" as of 5/20/2023, when I took this picture):

Even though the SoundCloud account targets my "personal favorites" as discussed about earlier, this angle tells me this one conclusion: the "majority" of the listening audience is definitely on sites like that and have this one simple demand - for content like this to be posted on major streaming sites like the SoundCloud platform. Now let's be clear: my main standards/promotions procedure is still going to be in place including the "home base website" itself and the community portal angles like Twitter, Discord, IRC, as well as SoundCloud. But what the listening majority is saying for us to conclude is this: if we don't step up our game and start featuring/sharing our stuff via major streaming platforms like SoundCloud, we videogame music communities sadly run a risk of having our community follower numbers becoming very small to non-existent in the coming years. Although I'm not doing this for the fame/recognition (just answering the call and using the musical talents that God has given me since I was born to good use which I, of course, do not take for granted), this is something that I want to definitely make sure does not happen for these music operations overall.
After I get this posted before the "summer months" arrive in late May, I will be making sure to increase my investigation efforts on the backend to start addressing these above discussed threats to my music operations including how to approach the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass stuff, and seeing about the "major streaming sites" angle - all related to the promotion of these music operations overall. Not to mention making sure we start stepping up our game to get new content itself besides music stuff added on here as well (which is another portion of the warning that I've stated above; because if we don't get new actual stuff added for the home base website itself, the interest from the majority is going to slowly decrease there as well and that's not good for any site author/owner/administrator like myself). For example: it's been years since I've dealt with "Behind the Process" entry stuff (as can be seen here: http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=pages&f=38); once again, blame real life matters for that. I'm hoping that during the course of the summer months, I can at least see about finding ways on getting this rolling again because I still have some ideas I want to sort out for future entries there, so stay tuned.
The bottom line is this, not just to me, but to all of us videogame music fan communities as well who manage doing song covers - all of these concerns/threats against us at this time can not be ignored any further and must be adressed in a very timely manner. Either we get our passions together and make the much needed adjustments to our standards ensuring we make it to our next major milestones for the operations that we manage, lest we literally get left behind by the "listener majority" overall out there as the years pass on. I know that I personally want to make sure that I want these music operations to make it to the 15 year anniversary mark, and even the 20th anniversary mark. But I still can't do it without everyone's support, and I sincerely thank many of you all out there who are still standing with me regarding these endeavors giving shoutout to the modern Super Mario musical score stuff by my doing the Super Nintendo music styled arrangement take on them. It means a whole lot to me, seriously, and once again, I do not take any of this for granted. But I don't want all these efforts that I've painstakingly been doing here to be all for nothing either, so let's get down to business and start attacking these latest concerns/threats to our music operations as a whole head on. 
And finally, once again to all the readers/supporters out there for these music operations as a whole: although it has been discussed earlier in this anniversary statement, I honestly want to thank you all for your understanding patience as I've been still trying to recover from the family events that happened late last year in early December due to a close member of mine passing away and is with the Lord now. It has still been a very trying time as I'm trying to personally emerge from this hurdle and press forward (which explains why there was "small activity" last year and why it also still feels "small" for the first half of this year); hopefully, as this statement itself finally gets posted and we proceed forward through the remainder of this first half of 2023, some real progress can get made. We have a long ways to go and some serious work to do for the remainder of this 2023 year itself; hopefully once this is out of the way and I definitely get a much clearer head for the remainder of this month of May and the upcoming June month itself, I can recheck my planbook on the backend to figure out what should be taken care of next to address concerns and get new content in action here.

As always, do not forget that if any of you have any further questions after reading this statement, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me via the main correspondence contact form (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/email_form_1.php) because once again, I still cannot do these operations full force without the support of all of you out there, so every legitimate inquiry I receive in my music operations related correspondence, especially from this form, means a whole lot. To those who have done so, thank you as always.
And with that, I'm literally beat. I'm so very sorry if this feels like a very long rambling, everyone, but it feels like there are a whole bunch of adversarial forces out there that are determined to knock me and these entire music operations out of the picture. But thanks be to the Lord that we're still standing.
 No joke, bud! I'm just glad we all made it to this point at last. Besides your family issues, I remember you were also telling us about those same "adversaries" trying to wreck your site and overall groove prior to the end of last year?
 That was when his site's hosting service was attacked and the related account was suspended as a result; we couldn't even see the site itself!
M. C.: More specifically, DDoS attacked, which I elaborated on one of the blog entry posts of the previous year (http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=archives&p=511). I really wasn't happy. Thankfully, I caught on to it when getting a notice in my email correspondence from the hosting administration at AwardSpace and sounded the alarm myself immediately after getting back to them. If I didn't do so and if it wasn't for the administration helping me out in resolving the matter back then, we wouldn't be meeting here today. But I'm literally hoping and praying to God that something like that does not happen again in the future.
 Um, M. C., I think there's something else I should tell you before we all go.
M. C.: Oh? What would that be, Babs?
 It's about those same "adversarial forces" that you're talking about and what you were addressing earlier. <gets closer to whisper in M. C.'s ear> Nothing personal, but right now as we speak, you're now also dealing with a "majority" out there who have unfortunately a very little attention span, very little patience, and most importantly, are pleading for almost everything to be "simplified"... literally.
 You beat me to telling him that, Babs! <giggles> I mean, M. C., we all understand why we all met here today to discuss these issues for the year (and I'm still so glad we get to do this in person at last). But apparently, those people out there are wanting nearly everything to be "less explaining, more simple, and more familiarity. <winks to M. C.>
M. C.: Right, I'm seeing those "clues" myself too, even via the SoundCloud activity that I shared earlier. Apparently, from here on out when this anniversary statement gets posted, they don't want to see and/or stuff that has them scratching their heads the first few seconds. They want to see and/or hear stuff that has already resonated with them like that within said timeframe at the start; if I take action on those "concerns" in question, that's when our operation's interest numbers will apparently rise. Bottom line: "they" want all the "confusion" out of these operations as a whole and much more "simplicity" in. This isn't going to be easy, but seeing about resolving this matter can be done and must be done starting immediately (so help me, God, of course!).
Okay, everyone - time to end this here for real because I'm honestly exhausted from this very huge conversation and "reunion" - who's ready to switch gears and get lunch?
 Yeah, man! I've been waiting for all of us to do this as well after two years of being separated!
 You've got that right, Plok; nothing beats getting some good food after a meeting like this.
 As long as Wakko doesn't get all the food before the rest of us do.
 Hey, I heard that!
 Hopefully, I can get some more carrots as we arrive at the lunch meetup spot.
 Not surprising there, Bugs; I'm wanting to see about getting that and more.
 Hopefully along with getting our lunch, I can also find something to take back home to share with Spunky.
 And I can't wait for us to do some gameplay after we finish this lunch; it's been a long while since we've done physical activity amongst ourselves.
 Say, M. C., as we get to having our lunch itself, can we discuss about further personal meetups? Minnie, Babs, and I were literally waiting for this day to come even more as compared to everyone else here.
 As always expected from the Warner sister; why am I not surprised?
 Hey, M. C. definitely can't resist my "super cuteness". And I'm very sure Minnie and Babs are on the same page with me regarding seeing our best friend in person after all this time!
Yeah, even to the point of us three giving M. C. a huge squeezehug!
 And smooches too!
M. C.: Okay, all; calm down, really. <laughing> Right now, let's get ourselves organized once more and then we'll proceed to head out. This is going to be the best reunion we've had in quite a while. Can't wait to finish it off with this lunch we've about to have, that's for certain!
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Material Acknowledgements / Disclaimers
All materials related to the Super Mario game series overall (including character pictures, character names, game installment names, and other corresponding elements for the series) are copyrights/trademarks of Nintendo of Japan (Nintendo Co., Ltd.) and Nintendo of America Inc. © 1985 - 2023. All other featured elements used in correspondence with this entry are also copyrights/trademarks of their respective owners/parties. For more information, please visit our "home base" website disclaimer page at http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/index.php?show=pages&f=1.
While the majority of said contents themselves that are written on this "anniversary statement document" is completely true as stated by the author regarding the state of the music operations themselves, the "presentation/course of events" shown on this document is entirely fictional. 

Characters and related materials featured on this document for "dialogue purposes" are copyrights/trademarks/courtesy of their respective holders including, but not limited to: Disney, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon/Viacom New Media/Viacom International, Accolade/Solid Software, Tradewest/Software Creations, Capcom, and Konami; extraction of said images featured on this document are courtesy of the "Spriters Resource" community (http://www.spriters-resource.com).

DISCLAIMER/WARNING: This document itself is ONLY allowed to be shown and read at the following places:
	* The "M. C.'s ''Mario Music'' SNES Arrangement Gallery - Home Base" website page
		(http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com)
	* The DeviantArt gallery page at https://www.deviantart.com/mcelaire

     If you find this document anywhere else on the Internet besides these two locations listed above, contact the
     author immediately at http://www.mc-mmg-homebase.com/email_form_1.php or via DeviantNote at
     https://www.deviantart.com/mcelaire with details on where you may have found this document so that proper     
     action can be taken accordingly. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.