Quick & bad ass: Tim Schafer guides you thru the very beginning of Brutal Legend. It may seem like standard 3rd person slash'em up at first, but dude. You got Jack Black spewing his funny nonsense over the whole thing. Plus you get to wear chucks, and I can't remember another game with this awesome feature. And it's got genuinely funny humor (no, that's not a truism, not in the gaming industry, unfortunately). And it's got lots of rock'n roll. If it's at least as awesome, witty and addictive as Psychonauts, this game will so be 2009's biggest and baddest. Also check out the new improved website. Peace.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Nova Rock 2009 Report - Part Two
Skippers unite
You thought the other post was long? You have no idea.
Drei Tage Bart
...and then there was day three. We woke up to find, with a sigh of relief, that mother Nature had taken note of the desperate slovenian's prayers and went to cause people grief some place else - the thick brown goo had by now turned into terra ferma, so getting from one place to another got 3x faster. But by now I'd realized a lot of the bands I didn't know anything about closely followed the death-metal-in-stretch-pants-and-slip-ons formula, so we didn't make any efforts to see what was up in the concerts area until about 3pm. Sevendust were playing at 16:20 (notice the strict german timetable protocol) and, even though we all agreed they were fun but too damn' constant (not to say boring), we were pretty curios to see them go at it live.
Wir Musen Diese Juden Organizieren
^^^ That's probably incorrect but german is cryptography to me. I know I talked shit about austrians in part one, now let me redeem myself: they know what time it is when it comes to organizing stuff, and this year was even better than last year. Starting with how civilized parking thousands (I think it was thousands) of cars in a freakin' field with no markings whatsoever was, up to the incredibly clean toilets (they must have been cleaning them every hour or so) - goddamit there was even toilet paper in them, two rolls of it! You know what it's like when you're at a festival, be it small or large, and you gotta go potty and that usually means walking for minutes and when you do find a free toilet you're trying to work the zipper and peepee with one hand and stuff your t shirt up your nose with the other one to block the stench, and people are yelling and knocking on the door that just won't stay shut and you get shy blatter syndrome? No such thing here. You'd just walk 10 m out of the crowd and always find an empty, clean toilet stall. I know I may be stressing this too much but hygiene is definitely what matters most in times like these ( I should talk, my tee was one with my integument). Security were by no means brainless, 2x2 brutes - no one to hassle you - on the contrary: I'd just made it past the wavebreaker and was running towards the front of the stage to catch mr. Cornell and they were hanging around saying "have fun!" in german, making you feel like you're a marathon runner and they're hi fiving you off the sidewalk. Put that in your meditation pipe and smoke it.
On the other side, there was one moment, while we were waiting in front of the shower barracks and staring at the neverending sea of dirty ass people lined up, with all the fences around, when some drunken dude came up behind us and started yelling stuff in german at the top of his lungs, and it felt just a little too much like a konzentrazionslager movie scene to feel comfortable. I know it may be ignorant, but whenever I hear german people yelling out whatever they're yelling I get NAZI flashing on my hud instantly. Rant over.
Siebendust Und Die Statiche Xen - Americanische Subkultur
We arrived at the red stage in time to catch 2 or 3 Bring Me The Horizon songs. As a classic once said, "nice name, bye". These dudes were the total opposite of wysiwyg - if I had seen a picture of them I'd've taken them for some Lostprophets wannabes, with pants so tight your genitals would cringe just imagining that fabric pressure. No, no, no, young bucky - their show was like The Used lipsynching to Cock & Ball Torture. I say, if you're gonna play death metal, fucking put some skull t-shirts on and grow mullets, you're doing nothing but confusing the audience. Dressing up like today can't really hide the fact that you're playing 1986's hot new music.
But they were quickly done and Sevendust was next. At first I was tempted to see them from a distance - the organizers had thrown hay everywhere to make people forget about last night's mudocalypse and it sorta looked like a really dirty version of a country festival, without the country music. We got up off our butts and headed for the first line of battle, and I'm glad we did. Although I barely knew any of their songs, Sevendust are a thrill to see live. Poor guys were happy their tour was over and were going home - hope those home made spaghetti tasted good, big black dude with plate armor, great voice and dubious dancin'.
You got your hay, you got your rubber boots... Yee haw
Sevendust. I can't name one song but they rocked
Alright, so that was done, too. Next up - Static X! Unfortunatley, on this occasion I was reminded that not all music that sounded good to me 10 years ago still does today. That's not to say Wayne & the boys (and girl) suck ass, it's just that the evil disco rhythm section can't really make up for the fact that their songs are usually comprised of 2 notes + quick incomprehensive gargling. What was really awesome about them was their drummer, who hit the cymbals both from over and under, that guy must've been on some kind of performance enhancing mega drug they fuel drag race cars with. Now for the girl - would've been a nice addition but all she did was do some dumb puppet dance way in the back, and serve shots to the band every once in a while. And fake boobs, IRL too, are just not cool, man. To quote Robin Williams, "they're like nazis - they don't sing, they don't dance". 90%of girls in the audience I would've prefered to see naked over her. I mean that literally, too ;) To compensate, I bounced up and down like crazy, even though I was mildly bored by how almost identical all the songs sounded. Definitely not a live revelation.
Look at that goatee. King Tut would've been proud.
All I could think about was "BE! AGRESSIVE! BE, BE
AGRESSIVE! B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!"
Die Limpe Keks - Riffen Und Violenz
I cannot tell you how pumped up I was about finally seeing the Bizkit live. Now, since we managed to make it to the front of the stage without breaking a sweat most of the time, we confindently joined the queue that was forming on the right, until we realized it wouldn't go as smoothly as planned. Minutes went by, some girl in the back was constantly rummaging through her handbag and uncomfortably involving me and Teo's asses...it was not good. To make it worse, Guano Apes were making total asses out of themselves by opening for Limp motherfucking Bizkit. See, now I understood why no one seems to know other GA songs other than those three you know, too: THEY SUCK. I would've checked them out with a smile at 3pm, out of respect, but come the fuck on!!! I could instantly name 3 romanian bands that would've done a 10 times better job opening for the Bizkits than Guano Apes. Leave it to the germans to plug their one hit wonders. What was kind of unsettling was that the audience seemed to love their show... all one can do is scratch one's head. Anyway, back to the queue story - there we were, noses up in the air so we could catch a wiff of oxygen, when some enthusiastic dudes from the back started pushing, so we tagged along - frantically made it to the waist high fences, then we noticed the smug smirk all security had on their faces... so we slowed down the pace and realized they'd modified the corridor so it led straight back to the end of the line. That, Nova Rock security, was a dick move, as funny as it might've been for you. So we went to the front of house and waited. And then Limp Bizkit came on stage, and kicked things started with "My Generation".
Teo had told me what it was like when Slipknot played, but I expected a bit more peaceful crowd. Not a chance - that was war right there! Once the 1st song was over Teo went to see his beloved Dimmu Borgirs (I personally believe he pussied out), and Mo retreated a few rows back where it was relatively peaceful, but I really wanted to stay as close to the stage as possible (that's just a way of saying, they were waaaay far) and endured. The setlist was short and hit-heavy, and unfortunately Fred wasn't at his best - him gasping to catch his breath reminded me of my first live gigs where I couldn't dose my air properly... He came around, though, but that was secondary either way - I was battling for survival there. I usually stay away from the pits, and this one was the most violent I was ever involved in.
...cuz in this house, it's Limp motherfucking Bizkit
Now, you have your three types of moshpit people: those that are happy to be getting their bones crushed in the middle of it all, those that stay the fuck away, and those that hang on for their lives at the edge of the pit, dodging human canonballs and pushing them back in. I was, in this case, applying for the latter position, except there was one son of a bitch right behind me that really wanted to see how I'd like it in the middle - he kept trying to push me in until I turned around and yelled at him "I dont want in, motherfucker! Back off!". Well, he was either austrian or he didn't care, cause eventually he had his way, punched me in the back 5 or six times, and I went in and took more punches and kicks than I did in my entire lifetime up to that point. I tell you, it's an amazing thing, what the violent riffing / adrenaline / getting your ass kicked combo will do to you. I'm not proud of myself, but I did what I had to do, and when that scumbag got in my sights I punched him three times in the back of his head so hard my knuckles were sore an hour after. The satisfaction of seeing him go down was immense, even though the song was over soon and he got up and smiled idiotically at everyone, including me, and I smiled back, and there we went again - it felt like more knuckle drumming on my back than John Otto was dishing out there. There was a nice side to this - made the songs even more exciting ("Now I know why you wanna hate me" - cos you're a frustrated wurstchen boy and can't understand shit Fred's saying), and even though I despise violence, since this was like an organized thing - think Fight Club, only with handicapped people - it was pretty satisfying to spot the war mongerer intently punching the lights out of everybody, including girls, and giving him an elbow sandwich whenever the swirling mass of sweaty bodies brought me close enough. Yes, I know the paragraph's long and only about fucking shit up, but you have to bear with me, the last time I was involved in something physical was maybe 11 or 12 years ago, when I got punched in the gut three times in a club toilet out of the blue. It's nice to be able to give back to the community once you've received your share.
Back to the show - the most memorable part, as pictured poorly in the video above, was when Fred had everyone kneel down and then jump up on his signal. Now, Slipknot do this too, but as Teo told me afterwards, the audience didn't really listen to Corey friday night. Well Fred did it: tens of thousands (I have no idea how many, really, but it was an ocean of people) kneeled, with only a few exceptions rising a little, like muddy stunk up meerkats, and I insisted on taping everything, not counting on the fact that once we were on our feet all hell broke loose. So I managed to film having my ass handed to me on a plate, even though its so dark and shaky you really can't see shit. But screw that. It doesn't matter, and doesn't hurt anymore (it did for almost two days). What hurt most was Bizkit played such a short set because motherfucking Die Toten Hosen were up next, headlining! WHAT. THE. FUCK?! What the fuck is wrong with you german type people? Do these dudes have any idea how many records Limp Bizkit have sold? What their fan base is, in numbers? Limp Bizkit was cut short, so Die Toten Hosen could play way into the night, by the time I was returning from Machine fuckin' Head they were still playing, and then there were fireworks and I was sitting there in the tent shaking my head in awe. As far as I'm concerned, Die Toten Hosen are lacking a comma between the first two words. Limp Bizkit's in the house... and you ain't shit, popular geriatric punk band no one else really cares about.
Die Machine Kopf - Lassen Freiheit Ringen Mit Ein Shotguntz Blaste
So there I was lying bruised and battered in the tent, when Machine Head's first riffs rang thru the dusty night air, and that groove I had almost forgotten got me the hell up on my feet. I tightened both my chuck laces and my buttcheeks, zipped the flaming skull hoodie that seemed to effectively keep people away all the way up and set a full speed course towards the red stage. Little did I know this one would be Nova 09's revelation - I had never seen this band play live, and neglected their last 2 albums on account of "overmetalness". Boy was I a faggot for that kind of attitude. First of all, they played a LOT of songs off the Blackening and Through The Ashes Of Empires that I either was hearing for the 2nd-3rd time, or didn't know at all, and I'm talking 10 minutes songs, solo included, that rose the hair on the back of my head and took me away. I'm quickly nominating "Halo", "Imperium", and Rob playing "Descend the Shades of Night" rivalled, if not surpassed Trent's rendition of "Hurt" in the department of getting your eyes watery, especially since it was dedicated to their guitarist's dad, who had passed away, and it was father's day, too. I always dug Machine Head, but always saw Robb as your standard low brow talented but narrow minded metalhead - but the dude is an Artist with a capital A. Also, best crowd communication I've ever experienced, even if it was reduced to "Are you feeling fucking liberated tonight, motherfuckers? ARE YOU FREE?" - and I fucking DID, right there, maybe more intensely than ever. As for the heavy side of the set, None But My Own, Ten Ton Hammer, Davidian cracked my skull open and I went friggin' ballistic. I think if they'd played "The Blood The Sweat The Tears" too, I'd've had a seizure. No idea why they didn't do an encore, Robb seemed genuinely impressed by the audience responcse, it must have been the organizers going "You ah not german or austhian, yes? You go listen to Die Toten Hosen, du schweine hund. Deutsches glory uber alles!". The crowd chanted "Machine fuckin' Head" for 10 minutes after the concert ended. I can't stop listening to almost anything else but Machine fuckin' Head, and it's been four days. Must be some midlife crysis type shit or something...
Die Aftehmathen
Parting is such sweet sorrow... in this case, it was my hands are freezing in this fucked up october cold sorrow. I've seen my share of dreary stuff, but I'm pretty sure the sight of thousands of abandoned tents in a landfill, beneath a cold, dark and low sky takes the cake. Low side of Nova - not quite the atmosphere last year had, bit too crowded, crappy ass weather, ridiculously expensive everything, and I missed my girl like crazy all the time. On the bright side, I didn't catch a cold like the T and Grampa did, I saved some money for seeing NIN again and paying the bills, the bands were amazing, organizers did their job, and I'm already hooked for Nova '10, for which I'll be definitely packing a waterproof backpack, less canned food, and a pair of big ass rubber boots. As much fun as we made of them last year, I'm not leaving home for Austria without those, that's for sure.
You can talk all the shit you want but Nova has the bestest sunsets
Well, that's about it. Until next time, I wish I could leave you with the Nova Rock version, which was amazing, but this one will give you a pretty good idea: Machine Head - Descend the Shades of Night, live. Bye y'all.
You thought the other post was long? You have no idea.
Drei Tage Bart
...and then there was day three. We woke up to find, with a sigh of relief, that mother Nature had taken note of the desperate slovenian's prayers and went to cause people grief some place else - the thick brown goo had by now turned into terra ferma, so getting from one place to another got 3x faster. But by now I'd realized a lot of the bands I didn't know anything about closely followed the death-metal-in-stretch-pants-and-slip-ons formula, so we didn't make any efforts to see what was up in the concerts area until about 3pm. Sevendust were playing at 16:20 (notice the strict german timetable protocol) and, even though we all agreed they were fun but too damn' constant (not to say boring), we were pretty curios to see them go at it live.
Wir Musen Diese Juden Organizieren
^^^ That's probably incorrect but german is cryptography to me. I know I talked shit about austrians in part one, now let me redeem myself: they know what time it is when it comes to organizing stuff, and this year was even better than last year. Starting with how civilized parking thousands (I think it was thousands) of cars in a freakin' field with no markings whatsoever was, up to the incredibly clean toilets (they must have been cleaning them every hour or so) - goddamit there was even toilet paper in them, two rolls of it! You know what it's like when you're at a festival, be it small or large, and you gotta go potty and that usually means walking for minutes and when you do find a free toilet you're trying to work the zipper and peepee with one hand and stuff your t shirt up your nose with the other one to block the stench, and people are yelling and knocking on the door that just won't stay shut and you get shy blatter syndrome? No such thing here. You'd just walk 10 m out of the crowd and always find an empty, clean toilet stall. I know I may be stressing this too much but hygiene is definitely what matters most in times like these ( I should talk, my tee was one with my integument). Security were by no means brainless, 2x2 brutes - no one to hassle you - on the contrary: I'd just made it past the wavebreaker and was running towards the front of the stage to catch mr. Cornell and they were hanging around saying "have fun!" in german, making you feel like you're a marathon runner and they're hi fiving you off the sidewalk. Put that in your meditation pipe and smoke it.
On the other side, there was one moment, while we were waiting in front of the shower barracks and staring at the neverending sea of dirty ass people lined up, with all the fences around, when some drunken dude came up behind us and started yelling stuff in german at the top of his lungs, and it felt just a little too much like a konzentrazionslager movie scene to feel comfortable. I know it may be ignorant, but whenever I hear german people yelling out whatever they're yelling I get NAZI flashing on my hud instantly. Rant over.
Siebendust Und Die Statiche Xen - Americanische Subkultur
We arrived at the red stage in time to catch 2 or 3 Bring Me The Horizon songs. As a classic once said, "nice name, bye". These dudes were the total opposite of wysiwyg - if I had seen a picture of them I'd've taken them for some Lostprophets wannabes, with pants so tight your genitals would cringe just imagining that fabric pressure. No, no, no, young bucky - their show was like The Used lipsynching to Cock & Ball Torture. I say, if you're gonna play death metal, fucking put some skull t-shirts on and grow mullets, you're doing nothing but confusing the audience. Dressing up like today can't really hide the fact that you're playing 1986's hot new music.
But they were quickly done and Sevendust was next. At first I was tempted to see them from a distance - the organizers had thrown hay everywhere to make people forget about last night's mudocalypse and it sorta looked like a really dirty version of a country festival, without the country music. We got up off our butts and headed for the first line of battle, and I'm glad we did. Although I barely knew any of their songs, Sevendust are a thrill to see live. Poor guys were happy their tour was over and were going home - hope those home made spaghetti tasted good, big black dude with plate armor, great voice and dubious dancin'.
You got your hay, you got your rubber boots... Yee haw
Sevendust. I can't name one song but they rocked
Alright, so that was done, too. Next up - Static X! Unfortunatley, on this occasion I was reminded that not all music that sounded good to me 10 years ago still does today. That's not to say Wayne & the boys (and girl) suck ass, it's just that the evil disco rhythm section can't really make up for the fact that their songs are usually comprised of 2 notes + quick incomprehensive gargling. What was really awesome about them was their drummer, who hit the cymbals both from over and under, that guy must've been on some kind of performance enhancing mega drug they fuel drag race cars with. Now for the girl - would've been a nice addition but all she did was do some dumb puppet dance way in the back, and serve shots to the band every once in a while. And fake boobs, IRL too, are just not cool, man. To quote Robin Williams, "they're like nazis - they don't sing, they don't dance". 90%of girls in the audience I would've prefered to see naked over her. I mean that literally, too ;) To compensate, I bounced up and down like crazy, even though I was mildly bored by how almost identical all the songs sounded. Definitely not a live revelation.
Bout to fuck shit up in the pit with Grampa
Look at that goatee. King Tut would've been proud.
All I could think about was "BE! AGRESSIVE! BE, BEAGRESSIVE! B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!"
Die Limpe Keks - Riffen Und Violenz
I cannot tell you how pumped up I was about finally seeing the Bizkit live. Now, since we managed to make it to the front of the stage without breaking a sweat most of the time, we confindently joined the queue that was forming on the right, until we realized it wouldn't go as smoothly as planned. Minutes went by, some girl in the back was constantly rummaging through her handbag and uncomfortably involving me and Teo's asses...it was not good. To make it worse, Guano Apes were making total asses out of themselves by opening for Limp motherfucking Bizkit. See, now I understood why no one seems to know other GA songs other than those three you know, too: THEY SUCK. I would've checked them out with a smile at 3pm, out of respect, but come the fuck on!!! I could instantly name 3 romanian bands that would've done a 10 times better job opening for the Bizkits than Guano Apes. Leave it to the germans to plug their one hit wonders. What was kind of unsettling was that the audience seemed to love their show... all one can do is scratch one's head. Anyway, back to the queue story - there we were, noses up in the air so we could catch a wiff of oxygen, when some enthusiastic dudes from the back started pushing, so we tagged along - frantically made it to the waist high fences, then we noticed the smug smirk all security had on their faces... so we slowed down the pace and realized they'd modified the corridor so it led straight back to the end of the line. That, Nova Rock security, was a dick move, as funny as it might've been for you. So we went to the front of house and waited. And then Limp Bizkit came on stage, and kicked things started with "My Generation".
Teo had told me what it was like when Slipknot played, but I expected a bit more peaceful crowd. Not a chance - that was war right there! Once the 1st song was over Teo went to see his beloved Dimmu Borgirs (I personally believe he pussied out), and Mo retreated a few rows back where it was relatively peaceful, but I really wanted to stay as close to the stage as possible (that's just a way of saying, they were waaaay far) and endured. The setlist was short and hit-heavy, and unfortunately Fred wasn't at his best - him gasping to catch his breath reminded me of my first live gigs where I couldn't dose my air properly... He came around, though, but that was secondary either way - I was battling for survival there. I usually stay away from the pits, and this one was the most violent I was ever involved in.
...cuz in this house, it's Limp motherfucking BizkitNow, you have your three types of moshpit people: those that are happy to be getting their bones crushed in the middle of it all, those that stay the fuck away, and those that hang on for their lives at the edge of the pit, dodging human canonballs and pushing them back in. I was, in this case, applying for the latter position, except there was one son of a bitch right behind me that really wanted to see how I'd like it in the middle - he kept trying to push me in until I turned around and yelled at him "I dont want in, motherfucker! Back off!". Well, he was either austrian or he didn't care, cause eventually he had his way, punched me in the back 5 or six times, and I went in and took more punches and kicks than I did in my entire lifetime up to that point. I tell you, it's an amazing thing, what the violent riffing / adrenaline / getting your ass kicked combo will do to you. I'm not proud of myself, but I did what I had to do, and when that scumbag got in my sights I punched him three times in the back of his head so hard my knuckles were sore an hour after. The satisfaction of seeing him go down was immense, even though the song was over soon and he got up and smiled idiotically at everyone, including me, and I smiled back, and there we went again - it felt like more knuckle drumming on my back than John Otto was dishing out there. There was a nice side to this - made the songs even more exciting ("Now I know why you wanna hate me" - cos you're a frustrated wurstchen boy and can't understand shit Fred's saying), and even though I despise violence, since this was like an organized thing - think Fight Club, only with handicapped people - it was pretty satisfying to spot the war mongerer intently punching the lights out of everybody, including girls, and giving him an elbow sandwich whenever the swirling mass of sweaty bodies brought me close enough. Yes, I know the paragraph's long and only about fucking shit up, but you have to bear with me, the last time I was involved in something physical was maybe 11 or 12 years ago, when I got punched in the gut three times in a club toilet out of the blue. It's nice to be able to give back to the community once you've received your share.
Back to the show - the most memorable part, as pictured poorly in the video above, was when Fred had everyone kneel down and then jump up on his signal. Now, Slipknot do this too, but as Teo told me afterwards, the audience didn't really listen to Corey friday night. Well Fred did it: tens of thousands (I have no idea how many, really, but it was an ocean of people) kneeled, with only a few exceptions rising a little, like muddy stunk up meerkats, and I insisted on taping everything, not counting on the fact that once we were on our feet all hell broke loose. So I managed to film having my ass handed to me on a plate, even though its so dark and shaky you really can't see shit. But screw that. It doesn't matter, and doesn't hurt anymore (it did for almost two days). What hurt most was Bizkit played such a short set because motherfucking Die Toten Hosen were up next, headlining! WHAT. THE. FUCK?! What the fuck is wrong with you german type people? Do these dudes have any idea how many records Limp Bizkit have sold? What their fan base is, in numbers? Limp Bizkit was cut short, so Die Toten Hosen could play way into the night, by the time I was returning from Machine fuckin' Head they were still playing, and then there were fireworks and I was sitting there in the tent shaking my head in awe. As far as I'm concerned, Die Toten Hosen are lacking a comma between the first two words. Limp Bizkit's in the house... and you ain't shit, popular geriatric punk band no one else really cares about.
Die Machine Kopf - Lassen Freiheit Ringen Mit Ein Shotguntz Blaste
So there I was lying bruised and battered in the tent, when Machine Head's first riffs rang thru the dusty night air, and that groove I had almost forgotten got me the hell up on my feet. I tightened both my chuck laces and my buttcheeks, zipped the flaming skull hoodie that seemed to effectively keep people away all the way up and set a full speed course towards the red stage. Little did I know this one would be Nova 09's revelation - I had never seen this band play live, and neglected their last 2 albums on account of "overmetalness". Boy was I a faggot for that kind of attitude. First of all, they played a LOT of songs off the Blackening and Through The Ashes Of Empires that I either was hearing for the 2nd-3rd time, or didn't know at all, and I'm talking 10 minutes songs, solo included, that rose the hair on the back of my head and took me away. I'm quickly nominating "Halo", "Imperium", and Rob playing "Descend the Shades of Night" rivalled, if not surpassed Trent's rendition of "Hurt" in the department of getting your eyes watery, especially since it was dedicated to their guitarist's dad, who had passed away, and it was father's day, too. I always dug Machine Head, but always saw Robb as your standard low brow talented but narrow minded metalhead - but the dude is an Artist with a capital A. Also, best crowd communication I've ever experienced, even if it was reduced to "Are you feeling fucking liberated tonight, motherfuckers? ARE YOU FREE?" - and I fucking DID, right there, maybe more intensely than ever. As for the heavy side of the set, None But My Own, Ten Ton Hammer, Davidian cracked my skull open and I went friggin' ballistic. I think if they'd played "The Blood The Sweat The Tears" too, I'd've had a seizure. No idea why they didn't do an encore, Robb seemed genuinely impressed by the audience responcse, it must have been the organizers going "You ah not german or austhian, yes? You go listen to Die Toten Hosen, du schweine hund. Deutsches glory uber alles!". The crowd chanted "Machine fuckin' Head" for 10 minutes after the concert ended. I can't stop listening to almost anything else but Machine fuckin' Head, and it's been four days. Must be some midlife crysis type shit or something...
I have no pics or video. Didn't bring the camera. Am an idiot.
Die Aftehmathen
Parting is such sweet sorrow... in this case, it was my hands are freezing in this fucked up october cold sorrow. I've seen my share of dreary stuff, but I'm pretty sure the sight of thousands of abandoned tents in a landfill, beneath a cold, dark and low sky takes the cake. Low side of Nova - not quite the atmosphere last year had, bit too crowded, crappy ass weather, ridiculously expensive everything, and I missed my girl like crazy all the time. On the bright side, I didn't catch a cold like the T and Grampa did, I saved some money for seeing NIN again and paying the bills, the bands were amazing, organizers did their job, and I'm already hooked for Nova '10, for which I'll be definitely packing a waterproof backpack, less canned food, and a pair of big ass rubber boots. As much fun as we made of them last year, I'm not leaving home for Austria without those, that's for sure.
You can talk all the shit you want but Nova has the bestest sunsets
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Nova Rock 2009 Report - Part One
For all y'all skippers
Yes, it's a long ass post. If you just want to watch the video (part 1), here you go.
Overture
Nova Rock 2009 - this report obviously won' t cover everything that went down there - as the old chestnut goes, I guess ya had to be there. Better than Nova Rock'08? Hell yes. Bigger? Yep - and that was both bug and feature.
As it usually goes, a few months before the fest there's 20 people you know pestering you with info about the festival, how we gonna do it, are you sure you're coming cause I sure am - 2 weeks til it begins and everyone's broke and not making it - their loss. So we were cut down to the elite team of myself, Darth Twaider, Grampa Denis and Mo. Experience taught us we gotta bring the bacon along (not really bringing home the bacon. Nuance), so we bought all the canned goods crap in Hungary where it's obscenely cheaper, so, ticket aside, the whole trip cost me about 50-60 euro. Plan ahead! It was kind of a given, since a glass of water was 1,5 eu in the concert area, beer was 4 eu... BYOB. Nova began on friday, we got there thursday night and the camping was packed, so we muscled in on some pussy austrians - only one of them was a genuine Vin Diesel lookalike, but he didn't say shit. Motherfuckers kept Transylvania under the gun for centuries, time for a taste of your own medicine, bitch! Domination.
Larghetto
Night went by fast and it was day one. This year, the plan was to catch as many of the obscure bands as possible, too, but it just can't be done, man. We got our asses up and headed for the blue stage, where Drumatical Theatre were playing. Since nationalism is at home in good ol' Osterreich and the pamphlets were all in german, we had no idea what to expect. And no idea this was a cheap Stomp ripoff that got really old, really fast. Speaking of the language barrier, it boggles the mind that these are 8 milion that a) have a shitload of english language concerts going on all the time, b) can't speak english for shit , c) aren't even considering it. And this leads to some ridiculos bill decisions...more on that later.
Amoroso
Sonic Syndicate came next. I knew these guys from last year, and what got stuck in my memory was their female bass player. To call her hot is an understatement. In the meantime, I did some research and found she was elected hottest chick in metal by some official hottest chicks in metal deciding comittee or whatever, fact is, she is. The band's like In Flames, only a bit more emo, hotcore, they're ok, and they bring it correctly when on stage. But Karin is by far their greatest asset. I took that show in long, hard and slow. My kinda chick.
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Caliban - I never heard these guys before - turns out they're another band that dresses like emo kids and plays death metal ("Death metal - now with girl pants!), a rather underwhelming experience until I noticed the circle pit was non-bloody enough to enter, so me and Gramps gave each other a run for our money - if anyone spots me let me know :)). A few laps and I hit the pit stop, if there's any fun in running around in a circle while the competitors try and knock you the fuck out, it eludes me - kinda like Nascar.
This is the point where we abandoned the blue stage - Black Stone Cherry, Disturbed, Mastodon, Slipknot and 'tallica were coming up, and I ditched them all. I'd seen Disturbed live already, I can't stand stoner rock, Slipknot would've been nice but were overlapping with FNM and NIN, and Metallica just ain't my business.
Con Brio
Still wondering who's the man?
Faith No More, followed by Nine Inch Nails. There's a succession I never thought I'd experience live... It sucked that FNM played a shortened version of their set and weren't headlining. Everything else blew me the fuck away. Shivers down my spine as the world's greatest rock singer entered the stage after peeping from behind the curtain a few times, walking with a limp and leaning on a cane... some people have a sense of humor about decades-after reunions. The music? I shat my pants. Only consolation when it was over was that I'm probably seeing them again in Bucharest, and that NIN were coming up.
Yep, I was this close.
And come the fuck up they did. Trent Reznor is a volcano! Luckily (and weirdly, I might add) enough, both me and Mo made it past the wavebreaker and saw the whole show like 6 meters from the band, which was amazing - the sound was crystal clear, the performance ranging from electrifying to making you want to break down and cry like a bitch. And then the rain came, flowing heavily, and we didn't care, but during the last song of the set - Head Like A Hole - the power went out in an instant. It was surreal, I mean I'm used to seeing that happen in a club while the band plays to 80 people, NOT at a huge ass festival like Nova. Trent said on Twitter "It would have been nice to finish the set, but someone kicked the plug out. Sorry".Consolation? Seeing them again, in my fucking back yard. Yes yes y'all!
Con dolore
So the rain came down, and I'd taken all my clothes out the backpack prior to the shows, and left them scattered in the tent next to the matress, where all the water gathered. So I made it thru 4 days of Nova 09 in one t-shirt and no proper shower. Depressive weather aside, the next morning had us tingling with excitement - mud everywhere! Whee! Not as much fun when your sneakers' laces aren't long enogh to be tied - hop back, retrieve shoe... the works. As some slovenian guy told Mo with utter dispair, "THE GROUND IS TRYING TO EAT US ALL!!!" Anyways, probably due to other more important festivals, this year was a bit weird, as in saturday, which is usually kick ass, really lacked a headliner. We said screw it, and scurried along to see Dir En Grey, which are a cooky visual kei j-rock band a friend of mine was terrorizing me with... had to see them live. Weirdest cocktail of alternative rock and black/death metal possible, but i expected more in the costume department. Fun, though.
Then came Staind, a band I was in love with back in 10th grade, and hadn't listened to for years and years til 09 came along. Oh my God they're good live! Aaron is as apathetic as you'd think he is, but the rest was top notch. A whole lotta feeling in those songs... and we were up close an personal again, too.
Chris Cornell! Yep. Ok, before him we saw All That Remains and Killswitch Engage, which were fun and all, but metalcore is not my thing, and btw I get this weird feeling american girls aren't all that, since all these hard ass metalcore dudes would talk about between songs was how they'd want to make out with the austrian chicks. Which, yes, are hot as hell most of them, but that's not the point goddamit! Ahem. Chris Cornell. Chris Cornell is old, yo. But he looks great, yo. Honestly, I expected more from his goofy high pitched heavy metal grunge voice, but he was aight... a bit expressionless maybe. He had it good, setwise - his own solo material, Soundgarden and Audioslave songs. Truth be told, I would have prefered either of these last two. I hear Soundgraden are reuniting... who's next?
Soave
Fuck, what were we thinking when we stuck around for two Kaiser Chiefs songs? What the fuck is wrong with people these days, seriously? That was like nintendo music performed by the Beatles' retarded monkey cousins. I seriously have no idea how the Earth can tolerate all this indie faggotry and it doesn't just say ok enough you little stretch pants sissies, and open up and swallow their whiny asses into a pit of molten lava. Put some clothes on your sister wouldn't wear, you homos! Geez!
Well, as if that wasn't enough, we decided we'd give Placebo a try - besides, there was so much mud on the way back that we figured it would dry up a bit while the gay brigade lights up the stage. Ok, I was wrong - Placebo don't suck as much as I wante..uhm, expected them to. You know, we were yawning and everything, and my feet were cold, but the faggots really put on an interesting show - everyone switched instruments except for the drummer and Molko, there was a violin, there was good singin' (great emotional voice this little fudgepacker has! Nasty ponytail tho), and did I mention the drummer? HOLY SHIT! i guess he's the one that actually kept us from leaving towards the moderate tent warmth. He really put some backbone in those dirges. But you know, all homophobic jokes aside, if you are one (a homophobe), DON'T go to a Placebo show. I personally have nothing against them, they can kiss and marry and fuck each others' poopenshaft all they want, but that bass player/ guitarist / whatever was DEFINITELY the inspiration for Bruno, and is the gayest thing I've ever seen living and breathing. Talk about reinforcing the stereotype. I was hoping for the Pixies' Where Is My Mind cover, but it wasn't meant to be, I guess. Plus, they didn't play Pure Morning. Why you little..!
And those were days one and two... I'll stop here cos my fingers are sore from typing - holy shit this is long! And I'm not getting paid for it. To be continued.
And you can have it all, my empire of dirt, but take the
one on the right, not through with the other one yet
Yes, it's a long ass post. If you just want to watch the video (part 1), here you go.
Overture
Nova Rock 2009 - this report obviously won' t cover everything that went down there - as the old chestnut goes, I guess ya had to be there. Better than Nova Rock'08? Hell yes. Bigger? Yep - and that was both bug and feature.
As it usually goes, a few months before the fest there's 20 people you know pestering you with info about the festival, how we gonna do it, are you sure you're coming cause I sure am - 2 weeks til it begins and everyone's broke and not making it - their loss. So we were cut down to the elite team of myself, Darth Twaider, Grampa Denis and Mo. Experience taught us we gotta bring the bacon along (not really bringing home the bacon. Nuance), so we bought all the canned goods crap in Hungary where it's obscenely cheaper, so, ticket aside, the whole trip cost me about 50-60 euro. Plan ahead! It was kind of a given, since a glass of water was 1,5 eu in the concert area, beer was 4 eu... BYOB. Nova began on friday, we got there thursday night and the camping was packed, so we muscled in on some pussy austrians - only one of them was a genuine Vin Diesel lookalike, but he didn't say shit. Motherfuckers kept Transylvania under the gun for centuries, time for a taste of your own medicine, bitch! Domination.
Larghetto
Night went by fast and it was day one. This year, the plan was to catch as many of the obscure bands as possible, too, but it just can't be done, man. We got our asses up and headed for the blue stage, where Drumatical Theatre were playing. Since nationalism is at home in good ol' Osterreich and the pamphlets were all in german, we had no idea what to expect. And no idea this was a cheap Stomp ripoff that got really old, really fast. Speaking of the language barrier, it boggles the mind that these are 8 milion that a) have a shitload of english language concerts going on all the time, b) can't speak english for shit , c) aren't even considering it. And this leads to some ridiculos bill decisions...more on that later.
Amoroso
Sonic Syndicate came next. I knew these guys from last year, and what got stuck in my memory was their female bass player. To call her hot is an understatement. In the meantime, I did some research and found she was elected hottest chick in metal by some official hottest chicks in metal deciding comittee or whatever, fact is, she is. The band's like In Flames, only a bit more emo, hotcore, they're ok, and they bring it correctly when on stage. But Karin is by far their greatest asset. I took that show in long, hard and slow. My kinda chick.
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Caliban - I never heard these guys before - turns out they're another band that dresses like emo kids and plays death metal ("Death metal - now with girl pants!), a rather underwhelming experience until I noticed the circle pit was non-bloody enough to enter, so me and Gramps gave each other a run for our money - if anyone spots me let me know :)). A few laps and I hit the pit stop, if there's any fun in running around in a circle while the competitors try and knock you the fuck out, it eludes me - kinda like Nascar.
This is the point where we abandoned the blue stage - Black Stone Cherry, Disturbed, Mastodon, Slipknot and 'tallica were coming up, and I ditched them all. I'd seen Disturbed live already, I can't stand stoner rock, Slipknot would've been nice but were overlapping with FNM and NIN, and Metallica just ain't my business.
Con Brio
Still wondering who's the man?Faith No More, followed by Nine Inch Nails. There's a succession I never thought I'd experience live... It sucked that FNM played a shortened version of their set and weren't headlining. Everything else blew me the fuck away. Shivers down my spine as the world's greatest rock singer entered the stage after peeping from behind the curtain a few times, walking with a limp and leaning on a cane... some people have a sense of humor about decades-after reunions. The music? I shat my pants. Only consolation when it was over was that I'm probably seeing them again in Bucharest, and that NIN were coming up.
Yep, I was this close.
And come the fuck up they did. Trent Reznor is a volcano! Luckily (and weirdly, I might add) enough, both me and Mo made it past the wavebreaker and saw the whole show like 6 meters from the band, which was amazing - the sound was crystal clear, the performance ranging from electrifying to making you want to break down and cry like a bitch. And then the rain came, flowing heavily, and we didn't care, but during the last song of the set - Head Like A Hole - the power went out in an instant. It was surreal, I mean I'm used to seeing that happen in a club while the band plays to 80 people, NOT at a huge ass festival like Nova. Trent said on Twitter "It would have been nice to finish the set, but someone kicked the plug out. Sorry".Consolation? Seeing them again, in my fucking back yard. Yes yes y'all!
Amazing
Con dolore
So the rain came down, and I'd taken all my clothes out the backpack prior to the shows, and left them scattered in the tent next to the matress, where all the water gathered. So I made it thru 4 days of Nova 09 in one t-shirt and no proper shower. Depressive weather aside, the next morning had us tingling with excitement - mud everywhere! Whee! Not as much fun when your sneakers' laces aren't long enogh to be tied - hop back, retrieve shoe... the works. As some slovenian guy told Mo with utter dispair, "THE GROUND IS TRYING TO EAT US ALL!!!" Anyways, probably due to other more important festivals, this year was a bit weird, as in saturday, which is usually kick ass, really lacked a headliner. We said screw it, and scurried along to see Dir En Grey, which are a cooky visual kei j-rock band a friend of mine was terrorizing me with... had to see them live. Weirdest cocktail of alternative rock and black/death metal possible, but i expected more in the costume department. Fun, though.
Then came Staind, a band I was in love with back in 10th grade, and hadn't listened to for years and years til 09 came along. Oh my God they're good live! Aaron is as apathetic as you'd think he is, but the rest was top notch. A whole lotta feeling in those songs... and we were up close an personal again, too.
Chris Cornell! Yep. Ok, before him we saw All That Remains and Killswitch Engage, which were fun and all, but metalcore is not my thing, and btw I get this weird feeling american girls aren't all that, since all these hard ass metalcore dudes would talk about between songs was how they'd want to make out with the austrian chicks. Which, yes, are hot as hell most of them, but that's not the point goddamit! Ahem. Chris Cornell. Chris Cornell is old, yo. But he looks great, yo. Honestly, I expected more from his goofy high pitched heavy metal grunge voice, but he was aight... a bit expressionless maybe. He had it good, setwise - his own solo material, Soundgarden and Audioslave songs. Truth be told, I would have prefered either of these last two. I hear Soundgraden are reuniting... who's next?
Soave
Fuck, what were we thinking when we stuck around for two Kaiser Chiefs songs? What the fuck is wrong with people these days, seriously? That was like nintendo music performed by the Beatles' retarded monkey cousins. I seriously have no idea how the Earth can tolerate all this indie faggotry and it doesn't just say ok enough you little stretch pants sissies, and open up and swallow their whiny asses into a pit of molten lava. Put some clothes on your sister wouldn't wear, you homos! Geez!
Well, as if that wasn't enough, we decided we'd give Placebo a try - besides, there was so much mud on the way back that we figured it would dry up a bit while the gay brigade lights up the stage. Ok, I was wrong - Placebo don't suck as much as I wante..uhm, expected them to. You know, we were yawning and everything, and my feet were cold, but the faggots really put on an interesting show - everyone switched instruments except for the drummer and Molko, there was a violin, there was good singin' (great emotional voice this little fudgepacker has! Nasty ponytail tho), and did I mention the drummer? HOLY SHIT! i guess he's the one that actually kept us from leaving towards the moderate tent warmth. He really put some backbone in those dirges. But you know, all homophobic jokes aside, if you are one (a homophobe), DON'T go to a Placebo show. I personally have nothing against them, they can kiss and marry and fuck each others' poopenshaft all they want, but that bass player/ guitarist / whatever was DEFINITELY the inspiration for Bruno, and is the gayest thing I've ever seen living and breathing. Talk about reinforcing the stereotype. I was hoping for the Pixies' Where Is My Mind cover, but it wasn't meant to be, I guess. Plus, they didn't play Pure Morning. Why you little..!
And those were days one and two... I'll stop here cos my fingers are sore from typing - holy shit this is long! And I'm not getting paid for it. To be continued.
And you can have it all, my empire of dirt, but take the
one on the right, not through with the other one yet
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Head Up
That's right, bitch. iRap.
What's up, everybody in Internetland? Ever heard of Eminem's alter ego, the crazy drug addicted murderous Slim Shady? I got one of those, too, except by day I'm Li, peaceful harmless graphic artist cooked up in air conditioned hell with nothing but winamp, a pad and you guys to keep me company, and by night I'm sometimes taken over by Kaen Shine, just another white dude acting like he's black and he can flow. Then I wake up naked and bloodsplattered and pretend all's well. The song is embedded below. Please don't listen to it if you're not into rap music, it'll probably ruin your day, and that really wasn't the point.
Head Up (preprod raw mix) - Kaen Shine
And suprise! It's also on that evil motherfucker's myspace, too.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Right Around the Corner - the Bruno Movie
Boy oh boy, I remember first seeing Borat on a friend's computer, 2003 or 4 I think it was, and being absolutely appalled at the way he'd claim good ol' Romanian middle of nowhere villages were Kazakhstani - then realizing it was better than the other way around... Then I was mildly shocked when my friend ultimately convinced me this was the same guy that played Ali G - "Ali G in Da House" was mediocre comedy at best, with some rare moments of truly shining comedic genius by Sasha, but it would've never dragged me in like "Da Ali G Show", which my aforementioned friend supplied me a hanful of cds of. And boy did I watch the fuck out of them, since the internet back then was reduced to that crowded place that smelled like cigarettes and taxed for way too much per hour.
The Borat movie wasn't that much of a disappointment, it's just that, compared to the sketches in the show, it didn't come through like fans expected it to. But it was a sort of unique and quirky popularization of what Sasha did, and awesome in the sense that it really brought him and his incredible comical talent into the spotlight. Sure, at the expense of Kazakhstan's remains of tourism, and some of Romania's face too, but I can overlook that. Well, finally, the Bruno movie he's announced since 2007 is premiering july 10th in the States I think, and judging from the trailer it WILL roxorz. Time for Austrians to take some heat too, goddamit. Check it out!
I recommend you also follow Bruno on twitter, while the promotional funny updates stream lasts. And one last word to those who've only come into contact with Sasha's work via the full blown motion picture(s): download Da Ali G show, it's guerrilla comedy at its FINEST. All that's required is a wee bit of familiarity with cockney/jamaican accents/slang. If you can't make heads or tails of what Ali's saying, HBO kindly provides you with an Ali G glossary right here.
And I leave you with one of my favorite segments from Da Show: Ali interviews the FB...I! -not the other way around. Talk about using inspired comparisons and bringing your wife in the conversation. Ouch! Enjoy. And enjoy Bruno when it comes out.
^^^^ There's one word they left out the glossary - gaffin' means farting. FBI dude wanna act like he knows what it means, FBI dude make ass of himself. Hihi
The Borat movie wasn't that much of a disappointment, it's just that, compared to the sketches in the show, it didn't come through like fans expected it to. But it was a sort of unique and quirky popularization of what Sasha did, and awesome in the sense that it really brought him and his incredible comical talent into the spotlight. Sure, at the expense of Kazakhstan's remains of tourism, and some of Romania's face too, but I can overlook that. Well, finally, the Bruno movie he's announced since 2007 is premiering july 10th in the States I think, and judging from the trailer it WILL roxorz. Time for Austrians to take some heat too, goddamit. Check it out!
I recommend you also follow Bruno on twitter, while the promotional funny updates stream lasts. And one last word to those who've only come into contact with Sasha's work via the full blown motion picture(s): download Da Ali G show, it's guerrilla comedy at its FINEST. All that's required is a wee bit of familiarity with cockney/jamaican accents/slang. If you can't make heads or tails of what Ali's saying, HBO kindly provides you with an Ali G glossary right here.
And I leave you with one of my favorite segments from Da Show: Ali interviews the FB...I! -not the other way around. Talk about using inspired comparisons and bringing your wife in the conversation. Ouch! Enjoy. And enjoy Bruno when it comes out.
^^^^ There's one word they left out the glossary - gaffin' means farting. FBI dude wanna act like he knows what it means, FBI dude make ass of himself. Hihi
Friday, June 5, 2009
Oh the Brutality!
Thumbs waaay up!
E3 Brutal Legend craziness, yay! Definitely buying this. Below is Tim Schafer doing the talk, and we all know he'll walk the walk alright, so words are veeery unnecessaaary... Lookin' forward to rocktober.
Hi res conference thing. Toodles!
Monday, June 1, 2009
The Enchanted Box
Click pic (I was tempted to rhyme this with "tiny dick" but I can't really see how)
Hey. I don't plan on advertising what I do @work too much on this blog, cuz honestly it doesn't appeal a lot to me in most cases (having to illustrate/animate scripts I don't feel, feel me?), but I'll show you one animation I actually enjoyed making while working on our in-house kids site project. No comment on the actual content/script/whatever regarding the site, I had nothing to do with that, I only illustrate/animate. So far this animation's Romanian only, but the rest of the site's pretty much multilingual, and lots of graphic artists contributed to it, so if you have a kid he might want to check it out.
So, happy 1st of june to all us kids!
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