Gearing up for this weekend's Show - Emerson 7/14/2012

Please God don't let this be true.

If you read my most recent post you already know what's up. If not, go read it and you will find that I spent more time ripping on Sonic Maelstrom's shit music than I spent praising some of the other bands.

Since I wrote that post, I have been able to find  some examples of them online. It would have helped if their band name was spelled right on the itinerary for the show. If it was my band, I would have had it corrected.
Here go drown in a whirling vortex of sorrows.

Listening to them now, I will say that they sound a lot better recorded than they did live. Still, it sounds like they can't figure out whether they are taking their influences from Korn, Godsmack, Creed or Pearl Jam. Really... try to mash up Korn and Creed. It's not going to work. I challenge the writers of Glee, who have been successful mashing up West Side Story's I feel Pretty with TLC's Unpretty, to try to mash up Creed and Korn. They will probably not even try. Or at least it doesn't for me. I hope this doesn't turn into one of those "Primus sucks" things. I would be very disappointed.

Wow seriously. I need to stop hating on them and just let them dig their own grave. I'm open to changing my mind about them if they clean it up a bit, and start to sound better live.

Wait, why did I just bring up Glee? I really need to get out of the house more often. Fuck you! I like Glee.

So anyway...

I'm going to this event on Saturday 7/14/12. The only band officially on the lineup that I have seen is Cast From Perfection. They have amazing stage presence, and I am seriously excited to see them again.

They are last on the lineup flyers, so I am really optimistic for the rest of the show. Usually you go up the list the longer you've been around. And if you've been around long enough, you're supposed to be really good. I basically pulled all my neck/shoulder muscles last week during Cast From Perfection. I'm probably not going to be able to walk after this show. I can't wait!

Battle of the Bands - Emerson Theater 7/7/2012

This past Saturday, I went to check out the Battle of the Bands contest at the Emerson Theater on 10th and Emerson in Indy. The winner of this contest gets to play at the Mayhem Festival this year, so it was a pretty epic prize.

If you don't know, the Emerson is an under 21 establishment, so the participating bands really ranged as far as the age of their members. I showed up a little late, so the first band I saw was the M80's. The members looked like they ranged from ages 14-17, but age doesn't really matter when you're fucking metal. They were excellent! Here is a video of them from the show. The sound quality is shit though cause it's from someone's cell phone. M80s and more M80's

The Risq was another pretty cool young band, but they don't have any music up on youtube. Get some stuff up you guys! How are you going to be promoted without an example of your work? I found some music on ReverbNation. the Risq

The next band that came on was Creed... I mean Sonic Malestorm... And they sounded like a shitty version of Creed. They couldn't even get the audience going. If this band was a bunch of kids like the previous two, I would cut them some slack, but they were a band of older dudes. A consensus going around the crowd was, "Why did you come here if you were just going to suck?" Now I really hate to trash people for doing what they like to do, but seriously, do not come to town to compete in a metal competition if you're not metal. I don't know if they were just having a bad day or what. I just don't see these guys getting anywhere. But you know what? I'm not the see all end all of metal. I am by no means an expert, or a critic, I just enjoy it. I did not enjoy this band at all. I would have loved for you to share in my disapproval, but even though I tried, I couldn't find anything of theirs online. No Facebook page, no Youtube, nothing. Were they even really there, or was the event staff just wasting time until the sound guy could fix something?

 Epyon gave a good show. Sadly, the friends who came to the show with me bailed at this point to go to the bar around the corner and get some shots. Those geeks really missed out. Epyon was engaged in the music and they worked the stage. Everyone was everywhere. Some kid in a yellow shirt got his face busted open during a pit fight too. He looks to be ok now aside from the huge gash on his eyebrow. Epic Pit Fight Face Busting! Epyon's facebook page.


Should This Armor Fail was fantastic. I did think that they had one too many guitarists, but that is only because one of them looked like he wasn't doing much. He's probably a very integral part of the band. Shit, he could be the one who writes all the music. I don't know! Otherwise, everyone else looked like they were into it. This is where the crowd started to really get into the whole show too, not just the pit fighters. There were more people dancing, and jumping around for this group. These guys sounded like, in my opinion, Story of the Year. I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for my opinion, but I don't care... I like Story of the Year. What is most alike was the way the singer switched between singing and screaming. A lot of the other bands were 100% screaming. Should This Armor Fail's Facebook page.

Vires was awesome. They sounded really good together. The lead guy was pretty energetic, but the others kinda just stood there playing their instruments though. I really liked the guitarist's dragonfly shirt. That's pretty hardcore. Not sure if you know this, but dragonflies live their entire lives in about 4 days. They basically have to decide whether to eat or mate, and then they die. It's badass! Actually, I'm not sure if that's true at all. Here's a link to their music. Fucking check them out and support their music.

Cast From Perfection is actually the band that I went to support. I have a friend in the band and he is awesome! So I went to this show to support my friend's band, and I had never heard them before, but just wow. They are amazing. They were showmen at their finest. First and foremost, and a lot of the other bands should totally learn this lesson from them, they made their vocals louder than the instruments. Hello bands everywhere! When you are playing a live show, your instruments are naturally going to be louder than your vocals. Please turn the instruments down so people can hear your fucking lyrics. Otherwise, there is no point in having lyrics at all.

Secondly, Cast From Perfection was the only band who actually successfully engaged the crowd. Encouraging them to jump around and headbang and scream and stuff, made the performance a lot of fun. My neck/shoulder region is still pretty sore from it and it's Tuesday. It's been 3 days! Also getting close to the crowd and encouraging them to air molest your guitar is pretty sweet. These guys were just really enthusiastic about being up there in front of everyone. It looked like they were having just as much fun as the crowd. And that's what you gotta look for in an artist. They have to enjoy what they do.

Check them out on Facebook Cast From Perfection.
And here's some of their music... cause that's all that matters. Fucking Brutal Music.

So after these guys finished playing, my friends and I left, even though there were like 3 or 4 more bands to play. But before we left, we asked around to see if we could vote for our favorites since it was a battle and everything. As it turns out, there was a judge... that's right A judge. One. Judge. One judge for like 14 bands. How the fuck are you going to only have one judge? How could that not be biased? They probably didn't even consider how many presales each band brought in. The M80's brought in like $300 from presales alone! Cast From Perfection brought in over $500. And the Creed Ripoffs brought in a whopping $0. I know this because I was able to stealthily take a picture of the ticket taker's computer screen.

So I am not sure who won, because I wasn't there, but apparently, everyone else is calling them a Pantera knock off. "There can only be one Pantera", and this is true. The whole thing was totally rigged. They should have put it to a screaming vote at the end of the night or something. And Epyon should have gotten extra points for bloodface kid.

If you attended the event, comment below. Tell me who you would have voted for, if there had actually been a vote. Or talk about the bands that I didn't get the privilege to see.

Rocky Horror and other Audience Participation Events

That epic moment when something is so bad, it is awesome!

When I was in junior high, my best friend raved about the Rocky Horror Picture Show. She had an older brother who told her all about it. And, I am pretty sure her parents both went to see it one time or another. So that Halloween, I was pretty excited to find out that VH1 was going to do an all day marathon of the film. I holed up in my basement that night so I could watch it.

Now, I'm a huge fan of musicals, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that RHPS is indeed a musical. I absolutely loved the opening scenes with Brad and Janet. It was both hilarious, and reminiscent of the first few scenes of "Night of the Living Dead", at least in my opinion. Then Brad and Janet got lost on the road and ended up in a creepy house full of eccentric people, and some stuff started happening, and I was out like a light.

Several subsequent attempts at watching it later, and I realized that if I couldn't stay awake through the movie, even when fully rested, then I probably just didn't like the movie. That is until I was invited to a public showing several years later. That night, for the first time ever, I stayed awake and enjoyed the whole movie. I also realized that the music in the movie turned to slow, storytelling ballads that lulled me into a cozy sleep state.

I don't really need to get into all that goes on at a public showing of RHPS, as I am sure many of you have been to one, or at least heard about it already. If not, I'll post a link at the bottom of this post that'll tell you all about it. Indeed, it was definitely a good time out with friends, and I felt good for supporting a local independent theater. (disclaimer: I AM NOT A HIPSTER!)

Earlier this week, the same friends who took me to RHPS, took me to see another similar event. We went to an arts theater to see the epicly bad love triangle drama, The Room. This isn't nearly as popular as RHPS, but apparently it's growing in some circles. Audience participation for The Room is not nearly as energetic as Rocky Horror. The story is easier to follow, and there is only one thing to throw, SPOONS! You should definitely go see it if you get the chance.
Public participation in theaters is a fucking unique experience. It doesn't have to be nearly as involved as RHPS, or The Room, it could be as simple as filling a premiere with friends, or like minded people, and just experiencing a film for the first time with others. I remember seeing Star Wars episode 3 on opening night. The theater had to show it on all 18 of it's screens to accommodate the crowd, and I am sure they still had to turn people away. Nearly everyone was dressed up for the occasion. Everyone was just as excited as I was to see the final installment of Star Wars for the first time; movie history.

Environments like this create a special atmosphere. It's different than seeing a movie a few days later, when almost everyone who is a true fan has already seen it. When you see a premiere with like-minded enthusiasts, you're actually going on an adventure with your companions. It's new, uncharted territory. The whole theater struggles through the plight of the characters, they cry when Aniken's mom dies in his arms, and they cheer when Obi-Wan leaves him for dead on the lava planet (because it is bad-ass).

This isn't just true with Star Wars. One year in college, my history of games class was able to fill a pre-screening of Kick Ass. And it was awesome! When Kick Ass tazed the drug dealer in the face, someone yelled out, "Oh! in the face!", and everyone busted out laughing. The night was filled with such comments. It was a memory that the audience shared together. I will always remember that movie the way I saw it the first time, which was much more exciting than watching it alone at home on DVD.

So, in the comments below, let me know your favorite audience participation event story.

Rocky Horror Picture Show fan site: http://www.rockyhorror.com/
The Room wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_(film)
The Room Tribute video game: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547307 this shit is EPIC! Find all the hidden spoons!

Classic TV shows. Nick at Nite. Life in general

First, I would like to say that I have always been bothered by the way they spell "Nite". It's "night" people! Stop promoting incorrect spelling!

Second, I would like to say that I spent my childhood years staying up all hours of the night watching this channel. Often times, people I work with say things like, "Oh, this one time on the Mary Tyler Moore Show... oh you're probably too young for that." Well guess what, old people, I watched that show all the time when I was 6. I know what you're talking about.

Anyway, Netflix has started posting some of these old shows. I literally spent most of my day today watching  Dick Van Dyke. This was probably my favorite show as a kid. It's a wonder why we don't have shows like this anymore. Something that the whole family can sit down and watch together. There is no programming like this at all today. TV parents don't love each other, kids are not obedient or innocent. Wives and husbands don't come together and talk out their problems, talk about how to raise their kids, talk about their day, talk at all. Today on TV, you'll see married couples sleep in the same bed, and the same bed of the lady /man down the street.

I can understand that times have changed, and now we're supposed to show diversity on TV. We're supposed to let kids know that not every family is the same, and that's "OK". But has this gone so far as to create bad role models for families?

Is there even any programming out there for families to watch together? Sure, Lifetime still has those original movies about moms looking for their kidnapped children, which are great for scaring your kids into staying in the yard.... Well... that's not any fun. Oh! We have the Disney channel, where the programming is made exclusively to promote tween-pop. The content is sometimes so ridiculous that it doesn't even make any sense. Sometimes they play classic movies, which are pretty good, but neither the programming or the movies are really all that entertaining for adults on a regular basis.

There is such a split in what's on TV. Everything is made for a specific demographic, but families are not made out of one demographic. Families are all demographics under the same roof.

TV families used to represent the perfect model for the perfect family. Today, they reflect the worst possible relationships imaginable. Today, we have nothing to look up to, no goals to reach. What we have, is a very low bar, that we try not to go under. We see the dirt on everyone, and try to justify our immoral lives by saying, "well at least I'm not as bad as [insert trending celebrity couple here]".  Wouldn't it be better to try to be the best we can be for the betterment of mankind?

Netflix! Why you no Break Bad?!?!

I have been waiting for AMC's Breaking Bad season 4 to be added to Netflix instant streaming since it finished airing on TV. Season 5 airs in July, and still no season 4!

Seriously Netflix! get with the program here!

Breaking Bad is the epic tale of Chemistry teacher Walter White (Brian Cranston) who starts dealing meth to help create a pretty nice cushion for his family to live on when he dies. In season 1, he was diagnosed with cancer, his 15 year old son has paulsey, and his home-maker wife finds out she's having another baby.

His brother in law, Hank, is a DEA agent, and one day while Walt is on a "ride along" with Hank, he sees one of his former students flee the scene of a lab bust. He later confronts this student and asks him to help him get into the drug trade. Hilarity ensues.

Walter finds himself forced to make one tough decision after another. You follow him along this journey from High School Science teacher to hardened criminal. At first, he doesn't even want to touch a gun, and later, you find him masterminding elaborate plans to wipe out high rollers in the drug trade. All the while, the DEA seems to be closing in on him (or rather they're really portrayed as complete morons, who haven't been hot on anyone's tail throughout the whole series).

Anyway, Netflix come on already and post season 4 before season 5 starts, I'd really like to watch the series in order. Could be totally confusing if I don't know who key players are at this point.

Roger Waters Presents :The Wall

My 27th birthday! Happy birthday to me!

Tonight, (June 11, 2012), I went to see The Wall, a concert put on by Roger Waters. It was a pretty fantastic performance. I had at this point only seen the movie once, and that was about 6 years or so ago, so I didn't really know what to expect.

If any of you have ever seen a Pink Floyd show, you would know that it is more than a concert, it relies heavily on storytelling elements. They used props and projections, and puppets and carefully timed construction to tell the story of a man named Pink Floyd, who is building a mental wall to keep people out, but then finds that it also imprisons him, and his struggle to get back out.

I really liked the use of the bricks in the wall. As the first half of the story played out, stage hands were building the wall out of white bricks. The bricks were each about 5 ft by 3 ft, and looked like they were pretty light, leading me to believe they were made of light Styrofoam, or card board. I sat in the far balcony, so I couldn't get a good look at their construction. By the time intermission rolled around, the wall was complete. The second half of the show was really cool because the wall served as a projection screen to show some pretty awesome imagery. A lot of which was taken directly from the movie, but some was changed for the show. The story deals a lot with WWII, but during the concert, a lot of things were changed to reflect the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same message is sent however in that people are used as stepping stones for the country to bring terror onto others. There was actually a written message on the wall that said something to the likes of,

"Every weapon, every tank, every bomb represents in it's final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and not fed, from those who are cold and not clothed."

:: update:: I found the quote I was looking for,

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

This message was pretty in your face the whole time, actually. In the first half of the show, the really precise projection system showed a picture of a different soldier, or civilian who has lost a life because of the war, on the face of each brick. It looked like one of those pictures made out of 1000 photos. This basically is supposed to mean that we are just tools that are used by the government to keep people out, and to keep us in. Like we're just livestock or something. This imagery also reminded me of the Great Wall of China, wherein people who died while building it were just built into the wall serving as mortar. I am not sure if this is true, but that is definitely the rumor.

There were obviously some more, "don't trust your government" overtones, but I wouldn't say that the narrative is actually all that shallow. There were a lot of other themes, such as the loss of innocence, the damage of overbearing parents, the realization of the state of the world, self destruction, and many others. This is the story of every man, and his struggles. Of every person, and their individual wall. It's really deep. Watch it, and then watch it again.

Actually, you can find the movie legit on Youtube on RogerWatersChannel http://www.youtube.com/user/rogerwaterschannel

Here is the direct link to the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jTmMU6sMgM

Also, the song "Hey You" was cut from the official release of the film. It is supposed to go between "goodbye cruel world" and "is there anybody out there?" . Here is the link for the cut portion of the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B4N_-NIBZA&feature=plcp

While watching the movie, or after watching it the first time, I highly suggest reading the complete analysis of the film because there is a lot of symbolism and metaphor used in the film and it is explained in the analysis.
http://www.thewallanalysis.com

If you'd like to see some pics from the concert, check out this guy's page:
http://clarencegrad72.blogspot.com/2010/10/wall.html

nkotbsb

Nkotbsb new kids on the back street boys does not sound like they put enough thought into it because it sounds like they are on them. They should have. Had 2 bs and have one of them backward.

Kevin and howies hat died in a terrible school bus accident. Howie buys a new hat which happens to be kevins reincarnated soul. Only Howie can hear him, but for some incompent reason he doesn't tell the others. Kevin tries to communicate with them, but gets nowhere. Meanwhile, aj also bought a hat.

The bsb. Often turn into knotb. But they are unaware of their own alternate identities. Howies new hat which is kevin, also has a knotb alternate identity.

Ideas for bsb fan satire stick figure comic.

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baby ducks

I got baby ducks

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team four star

Is totally awesome, and I wish they would put out content more often than once a month.

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Acai Berry

Hey all...

I'm sure you have all heard about the wonderful benefits of acai betty and all the hundreds of pounds of lard you will burn whilst paying out the ass, quite literally as well as figuratively for this glorified tropical blueberry. But what about the real side effects?

There are about a billion or more websites out there dedicated to this fruit as if it is the fountain of youth... It will cure cancer, heart disease, obesity, immigration and gay marriage. It costs nothing but 12 easy payments of your soul, and your first born child.

Here are some of the things the websites will tell you:

It is natural, so there are no side effects.
Well hello!!!! arsenic is a natural extract of apple seeds, but I guarantee it has side effects. If natural things didn't have side effects, then people who like to smoke Marijuana, wouldn't be trying to hide it from their coworkers, boss, the government and Jesus. Poison ivy is naturally occurring as well.

Acai Berry will boost your metabolism.
What a load of shit... i mean it's technically true, but it is misleading. Eating ANYTHING will boost your metabolism... especially if it is an organic fruit or vegetable. All you dieting people need to stop starving yourselves and eat things... not eating things is what makes you huge! our bodies weren't meant for the rollercoaster of binging and fasting. Our bodies need a regular schedule of nutrition so it knows how to properly store and use the nutrition. If you starve yourself, the next time you eat, your body is going to want to store more of the nutrients as fat than it will use to repair your broken cells... Basically... this rollercoaster causes humans to be giant tubs of blubber that age quickly because of the lack of cell regeneration. Eat healthy and exercise... go to the friggin gym... take a walk to the park... take the stairs instead of the elevator, and park your car further away from the front door of mcdonalds.

Clinical labs have proven that acai berry has no side effects.
you need to ask questions here. Whose clinical lab? I have a clinical lab, but God knows I'm no doctor. I'm tech support. And I can say anything I want to online... Whenever a site says it has clinical proof, actually look for the clinical proof. it would be published in a SCIENTIFIC journal if it is true... or jeez... they should at least post a link to a graph or something in the sidebar, or the article itself.
Oh by the way, the only thing the online medical sites like webMD.com have said about side effects is that they haven't had enough time to test the short term or long term side effects of this product, therefore, have no idea.

Dr. Phil and Oprah have featured acai on their tv shows.
Ok, do you have any idea how TV shows like this are even put together? Producers have a team of teenagers and early 20 year olds surfing the web for today's next trends. They see the same crap you read about a subject, product, new hat wearing directional preference, and they test it on their target demographic. in the case of the acai berry and any of it's associated products, the demographic is pudgy housewives who do nothing but watch oprah and dr phil all day. So the topic team says "oh cool, let's feature this!" they gets tons of money from the acai berry distributors for the advertisement that they are going to run on the show (the show is a big advertisement by the way, but that is another topic) and oprah gets a few "experts" to dress up like scientists and proclaim that acai is a new miracle.... Does anyone remember when she did atkins or south beach? it is a pattern... stop being so blind! By the way, Dr Phil is not a medical doctor, he is a therapist... With 4 more years of school, i'll be a doctor too... a doctor of Media arts and Technology... but i'm sure you won't want my medical advise.


Ok so now that i'm done trashing massive copy and paste job of the acai berry promoters. let me tell you this..

I'm the kind of person who will try pretty much anything. I tried Clean and Clear advantage for my face (which actually worked for a little while) i tried being Vegan (failed miserably after 1 good week) i tried south beach, atkins, joining a gym, running regularly, birth control (as some of them actually cause weight loss and prevent acne) and wii fit. now i'm a normal average american girl. a little overweight. I'm relatively healthy, and i have no marks on my medical history.

I tried the acai cleanse detox thing that i found in my supermarket. a friend actually recommended it to me. apparently she lost 2 sizes on it... good for her. so i took it home and excitedly read all the info on the bottle, took my 2 pills and drank my 8 ounces of water. That night i woke up from a sound sleep at 4:00 am, vomited all over the place, had to drink about 2 liters of water to get re-hydrated, and i've had a migraine headache for the last 3 days.

I have NEVER had a migraine before EVER. there is NO history of migraine in my family at all. And yes i know it was a migraine cause it was so painful i couldn't get out of bed for 2 of these 3 days.

So anyway...
i thought i would post a bad review about acai berries since there aren't any