No Rock Band news this week, to help build up anticipation for spraynwipe's next post. So instead of boring you all with another rant on design simplicity, it's time for some tough love: What to do if you're artistic soul is floating through the heavens while your decidedly non-artistic body grumbles about a lack of food.

Musician:

1. If you can't sell out every seat in the house, just sell out! Commercial jingles pay handsomely, are easy to make, and get you a great studio to do your real recordings at night. This message brought to you by mennen.
2. Music / audio for games. Most game companies have at least one of these people in-house. This mostly consists of recording hundreds of clips of people screaming and then playing them back randomly. That describes a lot of the bands I listen to.
3. Digital downloads. While there are still no rags to riches stories from purely iTunes, eMusic, and Amazon bands, you can at least go from rags to slightly less dirty rags.
4. Foley artist. If you have an ear for music, you've probably got a great mental picture of what a 747 sounds like when Superman folds it in half.
5. Produce / remix other people's music. Get desperate kids to come to you, so that you can add poppy sound effects and randomly feed people through a vocoder.
6. Event planning - If music is the seedy underbelly of society, concert promotion is the lint-filled belly button. And it's an innie. Get bands booked at tiny little clubs near your side of town or work your way up and get them booked at tiny little clubs on the other side of town.

Video Gamer:

So you love video gaming, eigh? Don't worry, there is a life for you yet.

1. Write about games - I'll be straight with you, writing about video games is the literary equivalent of taking photographs of kittens and adding amusing captions. If you happen to love kittens, this could be a great job.
2. Sports gaming promoter / event planner - Sports gaming is currently a wide open proposition, with blue-sky possibilities. Which means that nobody knows it exists.
3. Help out at game company - Love games but don't feel that artistic spark? Help a game company man phones, organize production facilities, or any one of a hundred other boring things that companies need. I've got some dirty socks that could use washing.
4. Restore arcade games - get out that old soldering gun and some varnish. Buy low, sell high. Just remember that while you may know that Caveman Ninja was the best game ever, try not to let your soul get crushed under the orders for Ms Pac Man.