As stated last week, this here site has turned four years old, and with that we are having a bit of a blogger party this month to celebrate. Kicking off the festivities is a fellow I have looked up to for some time, fellow blogger, and the wise sage of nerd culture, Z. of Hipster, Please!. His writing and work ethic, not to mention his love of everything nerdy has been a huge inspiration to me over the years and I am happy to have him doing this short guest article for GM4A. So enough of my rambling, here's Z!

Long ago I made peace with the fact that, as a self-appointed apostle of the nerdy gospel, I am forever doomed to repeat my own philosophical thesis. My own social mission statement. My own nerd culture catch phrase. For those of you keeping score at home, it goes something like this:

We are freaks and geeks and gamers and misfits. We are different, but that doesn't mean we're flawed. We are individuals, but that doesn't mean we have to be alone.

In April of 2006, I made the conscious effort to reinvent Hipster, please!, a blog that I'd used to collect nothing more than various unrelated personal musings up to that point, into a cohesive project focusing on nerd music and its related culture. My core concept was to paint disparate elements like nerdcore and chiptunes and tabletop RPGs and sci-fi/fantasy lit and, yes, even videogames as part of a larger schema in the hopes that it might help those interested in one aspect easily explore the others, and, along the way, promote proper geek unity. Interestingly enough, even as I sermonized on the preternatural strength of solidarity, it often felt in those early days that I myself was completely alone, particularly with regard to this endeavor itself.

The internet is a nerd-powered machine, so there have always been concentrated pockets of social geekery, even with regard to more niche topics like our music. But whereas projects like OverClocked ReMix and Rhyme Torrents were fan communities where artists shared work with other artists, I was merely an outsider. I was an external observer. And I was lonely.

Thankfully, on the other side of the country a young man was simultaneously launching a similar venture, a site with a heavy focus on not just the importance of videogame music to our culture but a veritable celebration of the undeniably inspirational force that is gamer history.

You could say that my own Hipster, please! and Game Music 4 All grew up together as sister sites, as siblings. It then serves to reason that there would be a certain amount of rivalry between the two, but that's never been the case. From time to time we do touch on the same subjects at the same time, but we always seem to come at things from our own unique angles. And more often than not, Anthony (AKA: Genoboost) and the GM4A crew turn me on to acts and events that I may have otherwise missed. I can only hope I do the same for them.

Our mission is the same and our methods are uncannily similar, but it never feels like competition. It feels like fraternity. It feels like family.

From the early days of simple reviews and interview posts, throughout the release of some undeniable classics in the realm of online music compilations and even into this brave new world of GM4A Records, this site has made its own indelible mark on nerd music and culture. Likewise, for four solid years Game Music 4 All has remained one of those blogs I read not simply because it helps me stay on top of the goings-on the realms of VGM and chiptunes, but because I genuinely enjoy the unpretentious tone and unbridled creativity of its writing staff.

It's with this in mind that I say Happy Blogiversary to my extended family: Geno, Jephso, Chibi Ma and all the rest at GM4A. Thanks for keeping me on my toes, in the loop and, most importantly, for sharing with me this wondrous journey.

I love you guys! - Z.

Thanks again to Z. for being completely awesome, and stay tuned for the rest of the month, as we have more awesome bloggers celebrating as well!