Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Wrong Ribbons

I know everyone and their mother has seen the ribbon magnets on the backs of cars that support our troops. Some are camoflauge, some are yellow, some are red, white and blue. I don't know which came first, the concept of the yellow ribbon around the oak tree or the Tony Orlando and Dawn song, but we're getting out of control.

For one, any ribbon that says anything political is just wrong. It's against the noble idea of supporting countrymen and women who are risking their lives for the mission.

Two, I saw a ribbon today that said, "Support our Troopers." I'm not a fan of cops. It's not that individual policemen are bad, it's things like this. The idea of the yellow ribbon is to signify that someone is gone and we want them to return home. If you come home everything, that's defeating the purpose. Another thing that gets me about policemen is when they call you up and ask you to support the Fraternal Order of Police. Unless I've misunderstood, that's their union. Support yourselves. You attack us into giving money to your union by making us think we're doing this great thing to support law enforcement when really we're doing nothing of the sort. It won't get you better cruisers, equipment or technology. It will get your lobbyists more clout in the state houses and capitols and it will get you more power at the bargaining table.

Back to the ribbons. If you've got a yellow ribbon on your car, God bless you. I don't. Not because I don't support our troops because I certainly do, but because I don't like yellow. Call me fickle. But if you have a ribbon that does anything other than support our troops, then take it off and understand why it's wrong.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Best/worst road trip ever...

Bit of a crazy weekend...

I haven't posted in a while and that's pretty much because I've been following local football and soccer teams across the state, but I thought I would write a little about that.

Friday, Travis and I made a little trip to Murray, Ky. to do a radio broadcast of football game and it went from the single greatest road trip we had ever had to make to the worst ever in about 5 minutes time.

First off, it rained off and on the entire 125 miles of the trip down there, but we found the restaurant we were looking for without even having to turn around. Bonus.

It's called Jasmine and it's in Murray and it is a Thai/Japanese place that is very nice, reasonably priced and the sushi was dynamite. Travis enjoyed his pad thai noodles as well.

We got our food and we had plenty of time to eat and make the game. We get out of the restaurant just lovin' life because we made great time getting down there, had a great meal and it had stopped raining. And on top of that, we figured our team was going to win big too, so we were primed for a very successful and enjoyable road trip.

Until...

We get to the football stadium and find that the press box is a small block building just tall enough to stand up in. Then we find out that everyone covering our team was assigned to a single section of the press box only big enough to comfortably seat three people along with some coaches. Unfortunately, there ended up being five of us and one was filming the game and couldn't see the whole field from one specific spot in the press box so he kind of had to move around.

Travis and I decide to take one for the team and run our headsets out of the press box into the bleachers right in front of the press box. Also note that it had been raining for the previous 48 hours and the bleachers were made of concrete meaning they held water like a bowl so if we didn't stand on top of the slick metal bleachers we were standing in an inch or two of water.

Then it started raining.

The wind started swirling around and it was a very cold, wet and miserable broadcast. Then on top of all that, our team lost badly to a team that barely averaged a touchdown per game in a mud bog of a game and they didn't make the playoffs because of it. Well, that and another game that didn't go our way. It also rained pretty much the entire 125 miles back as well.

So it jumped from best ever to probably worst ever road trip we've made.

Saturday I got to go back down to far west Kentucky for a soccer match and since our team won I gotta go cover them in eastern Kentucky this week. Between traveling the world over following the local sports teams and getting new computers at the office and working on the big basketball preview, I'm about ready for everything to stop and the school year is only a quarter of the way through.

The good news is that fall sports are over this Saturday and basketball is up next and I won't have to worry about tromping around in mud and rain.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Guitar Hero II is here in less than two weeks, so here's some news.

Click the link for the Guitar Hero 2 website. It is nothing special, but they do have the set list up and 30 second snippets of most of the songs. They all sound pretty good and this game should make the original Guitar Hero look like a game for pre-schoolers.

Here are my impressions on the snippets I listened to.

Tonight, I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight, made famous by Spinal Tap, sounds like it it will be cool to play, a straight up rocker.

Heart Shaped Box sounds boring to me, but I am not a huge Nirvana fan.

Message in a Bottle, made famous by the Police, sounds like it will take time to get down, tough rhythms.

Carry on Wayward Son, made famous by Kansas, may have some small problems. The singing is not as good as the original and the music sounds a little different but I am still looking forward to playing it.

Monkey Wrench is my favorite Foo Foo song and the music sounds perfect.

The mandatory punk song on this edition is Search and Destroy from Iggy and the Stooges, it sounds funner to play than I Wanna be Sedated from the first Guitar Hero.

War Pigs, made famous by Black Sabbath, will have to be played after drinking some cough syrup fro maximum enjoyment, but will be a blast to play.

Who Was in My Room Last Night, made famous by The Butthole Surfers, will cause fingers to bleed. It has a tough and fast rhythm, but a good groove.

Sweet Child O’ Mine sounds dead on, not sure about the singing but I wouldn’t have known if Slash was playing or not.

Freya, made semi-famous by The Sword, will be a blast to play, lots of chunky riffs to blast out, very Sabbath-y and Metallica-y.

Stop, made famous by Jane’s Addiction, will be a SOB, with tough rhythms and a blazing solo at the end.

Carry Me Home, made semi-famous by The Living End, is super tough, will take a few times playing through to get the rhythm I’m sure. Maybe the toughest rhythm on the whole game.

Hangar 18, made famous by Megadeth, will be the funnest track to play with a partner, very fast and uptempo with 11 solos to end the song.

A Haunting in the OC.

It is Halloween time and last year about this time, I told you of the many misadventures I and my idiot friends had as we…vandalized is too harsh a word, as we pranked our way all over the county. I have no more tales of Halloween mischief. I do have an experience to tell you about. Many of you have heard this story because I love to tell it, even though it did not happen to me.

The setting is late fall of 1994 or 95, and I am going to pick up a cousin and some pizza and we and Bratch will be dining and watching a late delay UK basketball game. The game starts around 10:30 PM and we stay up until halftime. My cousin decides he is going to bed. My parents are out of town (and this is the craziness we get up to when home alone as teenagers, well, that’s not quite true, but I won’t go into it here, I’ll just leave you with these words “fuzzy dice tag”), so he is going to sleep in my parents’ bed. Bratch and I also go to bed, but we continue to watch the game on TVs in our rooms.

My cousin said that he went into the bedroom and sort of swung the door shut without it actually shutting. You know how a door can close, but not necessarily latch? My cousin said that he never heard it latch, but it was shut. He then go into bed and tried to go to sleep. My parents’ bed at this time was a waterbed that was not more than three feet off the ground, so you could actually hang your arm off the bed and touch the floor.

As my cousin tried to go to sleep, he remembered looking at the clock and then closing his eyes. He reopened his eyes and looked at the clock and saw that only 3 or 4 minutes had passed. He then noticed something at the foot of the bed. It looked like someone was on their hands and knees; he could only see a shadow with no features. He said that the shadow started crawling up the floor towards the head of the bed. My cousin thought that this shadow was either me or Bratch trying to scare him.

As the shadow got within reach of him, he thought he would scare whoever was trying to scare him. He took his arm and swung it at the shadow and said, “Get out of my face.” Well, his hand went right through the shadow and the shadow disappeared. At this point he said he was petrified and could not move. As he lay there for a few seconds freaking out, he said he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and whatever it was disappeared.

Somehow he was able to go to sleep. The next morning was Sunday morning and parents or no parents at home; we were expected to go to church. My cousin forgot his “church” clothes so his mom brought him some that morning. His mom sent his sister in with the clothes. I am a very light sleeper, so I heard her come into the house. I also heard her come down the hall and go to my parents’ bedroom door. I heard what sounded like her trying to get in but eventually knocking on the door and telling my cousin she was hanging his clothes on the doorknob. When my cousin got up, he saw that not only was the door shut and latched, but the door was also locked. His sister also said it was locked and that was why she hanged the clothes on the door.

Now this is not exactly The Exorcist, but it is something that we have remembered and remembered clearly ever since. My mother was the only one who slept in the bed at night because my father worked third shift at the mines. Every night, as long as I can remember, she leaves the door half open and has a light on in the room. I asked if the ghost was the reason for this, but she said no it wasn’t.

A few years after this incident, a group of us was messing around with an Ouija board (I know, I know, this is stupid, but I just can’t see a board game company putting out a board game that opens up a portal to the other side. Although it is freaky and I doubt I will ever mess with one again.) We “rellegedly” talked with a spirit who said that our house was indeed haunted by an 18 year old guy. I have no idea about the history of the land before our house was built. I do know that the cornerstone from my Mammaw’s childhood home was used in the foundation. I am not sure if that has anything to do with it.

In later years, I have heard things. I have heard what sounds like footsteps in the hall, things falling, sometimes bangs; I have even sometimes thought I had heard someone say something. I have no proof that anything supernatural is going on and I do not think I would want proof. So, there is my ghost story of the Halloween season, it is not exactly the Bell Witch, but it made for a very interesting memory.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Heroes Heating Up

Heroes continues to inch toward something big happening. Meanwhile, lots of interesting small things are going on.

What we know:
  • The cheerleader is in danger, most likely from her father who is most likely the main bad guy, Sylar (spelling?)
  • Hiro is going to be a big time player in all of this as he came back from the future to speak to the younger Petrelli (Peter) telling him to save the cheerleader, save the world.
  • Peter's ability to fly may not be the only power he posseses, as he was able to finish Isaac's heroin inspired painting.
  • The older Petrelli is as greasy as fried Spam.
  • Next Ali Larter goes ballistic on her ex, who I think may be helping Sylar.

What we don't know:

  • When all these people will get together.
  • Who is responsible for the bomb (just six weeks into the future) that threatens NYC.
  • Why is Sylar doing what he's doing and does he have powers?
  • How the pyschic cop fits in.

Either way, what a great show.

Friday, October 20, 2006

We have a new nominee for Moron of the Year, Jake J. Brahm

I assume that many of you have heard the nasty rumors going around about certain NFL stadiums being targeted for some sort of terrorist attack. The powers that be have already said that this was a hoax earlier in the week. Why someone would do this, who knows. Well, the hoaxster has been busted and it appears to be some hippie in Wisconsin. Why do I think he is a hippie? Because he worked at a co-op health food store. Click the link for the story and this guy’s high school picture.

Who, in this day and age, spreads internet hoaxes about terror attacks for a month online? Did this idiot think that the authorities don’t monitor internet chatter for things like this? The government already listens to our phone conversations, I think they would have no problem reading your chatter on Geeks ’R’ Us. This guy is being busted at a time that President Bush can declare him or anyone an “enemy combatant” and send him to Gitmo never to be heard from again.

I am not sure who the moron of the year should be. We have the guy who confessed to killing JonBenet. We have President Bush for just being President Bush. Mark Foley for being at best a skeevy old creep and at worst a pedophile. And now we have Jake J. Brahm, the douche bag who thought it would be cool to make terror threats at a time crap like that is not something you want to put out there. I am afraid that even writing about this numbskull will cause the FBI to start a file on me.

Let this be a lesson to you kids, don’t be stupid. Flush a cherry bomb down the school’s or co-op’s toilet, set off a stinkbomb while playing hackey-sack, those are relatively safe pranks. Look at this guy’s picture, if he thought high school was torture; wait until the government breaks out the old waterboarding. It makes swirlies look like a fun way to wash your hair.

'Bully' hardly a 'Columbine Simulator'...

I'm not that too many people have heard of Rockstar Games' new release Bully. Piccu said something about it a few days ago and I didn't really think too much about it until I started checking out the press it was getting.

See, there are some games out there that you simply have to buy if for nothing but the historical value. That's why we see these little Atari 2600 joystick games with a dozen old titles on them. They can't hold a candle to today's games, but the historical significance of Pong, Pac-Man and Yar's Revenge cannot be denied.

In fact, I'm thinking that I may have purchased a Playstation 2 simply to play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Another spectacular offering from Rockstar Games. The game that put them on the map because of it's gratuitous violence. It is a game I feel everyone should own because of the controversy it sparked and the fact that it's ridiculously detailed and fun.

Rockstar's new title Bully is in fact based on the GTA engine. But before anyone goes off of the deep end like they did back in August, Bully involves no guns and no killing. In fact, it is rated T-for teen and not M- for mature like Vice City and other GTA titles.

While I've only played about 10 minutes of Bully since buying it yesterday, I can already tell it's going to be awesome.

The plot is you are a troubled teen named Jimm Hopkins who has been sent to the Bulworth Academy boarding school. Where they turn boys and girls into men. The whole place is corrupt and you basically navigate your way through the school and surrounding areas and be Jimmy. Meet girls, go to class, fight bullies that pick on you, maybe even play a sport.

From what I can see about the game and what I've read, it's simply high school life cranked up to 11. The hot girls are ridiculously hot, the jocks are ridiculously stupid and the bullies act like Mike Tyson.

What makes the game cool is that you can interact with anyone you see and from what I heard on a podcast with one of the games developers, each person you see in the game is a unique character. So you aren't going to see 15 people that look exactly the same.

To me, the lure of this game is seeing how involved Rockstar makes this game. Everyone has seen or played GTA: Vice City or San Andreas. Say what you will about the violence, but those games are far more detailed than anyone could imagine. So in Bully's case, I want to see how detailed they make the environment and what you can do in it.

Getting into another issue, back in August a lawyer was fighting to ban Bully from being released. That's probably why Rockstar kept it on the down-low until its release because this lawyer that had never played the game or had even seen it labeled it a "Columbine simulator."

There is nothing I hate worse than people going on TV giving out their opinion on something when they've not researched anything to support their opinion. As far as I can tell from reading reviews and owning the game, the are no guns in this game.

At all. Not one. I'm not sure there is even a holstered gun.

It's like listening to congressmen talk about how the internet is a system of tubes. Do a little research, wrap your head around the concept and then formulate your f-ed up opinion.

Or better yet, ask a kid.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

KISS is back, shockingly with music.

Just when you think KISS can’t find anything else to sell, they come out with their own signature fragrance. I know I have always wanted to smell like Ace Frehley, but something more important is happening in the world of KISS. And oddly enough it is focused on the music, live music, that is. Apparently KISS will be screening a 1976 concert from Detroit for one night only in select theaters throughout the nation. Unfortunately for Bratch and me, we live in the country’s armpit and will have to travel to Louisville or Lexington to see this show. I am not opposed to doing this by the way, hint, hint.

Besides that, KISS will be releasing a boxed set of all their live recordings, including remastered editions of Alive, Alive II, Alive III, and the previously unreleased Alive IV on Nov. 21. That might be something worth looking into, even though I own the first three editions in some form of recording. Also on Halloween, KISS fans will be getting a two disc DVD set of concerts and backstage footage called KISSology Vol.1 1974-1977. Those were good years, before KISS cologne and KISS caskets.

All in all, it looks like a KISS bonanza for Bratch and I this fall. While the Alive box set intrigues me, I will definitely be checking out KISSology. Click the link for Kiss On the Big Screen and for locations where you can see it.

Gay marriage!!!! That should get us some hits...

Here in the office we were discussing political advertisements that we have been seeing on TV. Unfortunately for those of us in Kentucky, we are relegated to watching Indiana political ads since our closest TV stations are based in Evansville.

November is just around the corner so the political ads are out in full force. A couple of days ago I mentioned to some of my co-workers that all of the political ads had nothing to do with improving anything. We've gone from a political landscape where false promises had to be made about cutting taxes to putting above all else making sure gay men and women can't get married and that no one can burn an American flag.

There is also the occasional, "we can't let the liberals get control," as if the Republicans are doing such a great job.

I honestly believe that I would rather have a politician lie to me and tell me that he's actually going to help me by cutting taxes or something of that nature, than to hear them tell me that he's going to make sure that my morals aren't compromised. That really bothers me. Especially the flag burning deal.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to see some flags burned, pass a law saying it's illegal. They are going to have to put a stiff penalty on it if they think that any flag will be safe beyond that day, my friends. And frankly, I've never seen a flag burned in person and if I feel as though I don't want to see it on TV I can turn it to Sportscenter. There problem solved.

I had never really given gay marriage much thought until this week. I've always realized that it isn't a moral issue so much as it's an economic issue since there are hefty tax breaks with marriage. However, it did just dawn on me why the tax breaks mean so much.

See, there aren't all that many gay men and women in this country and if they got married it wouldn't mean too much of an economic hit to this country. However, I think the politicians need to tell the truth. The reason they are against gay marriage is because, people aren't stupid.

If they ever granted the tax benefits to same sex marriages, every straight guy on the planet would be trying to find a buddy who would marry them. All they would have to do is go through a 10 minute process, sign a few papers and then get fat checks in the mail every year at tax time.

I'm not saying that I would do such a thing, but I understand the concept and can appreciate its value.

However, I don't want my tax dollars being spent on my representatives arguing over moral issues. With everything going on in this world, these are the last things politicians should be discussing.

Lie, mud sling and lie some more, but don't waste time and money arguing about insignificant moral issues.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

My two cents on the SC Trip

I think this year was a success again! I concur with Bratch that we need to skip the beacon on the Friday night. I think we should go with cooking out that night too, or at least just cooking up something easy to cook.

Other than the mediocre trip to the beacon the snacks and other food was as usual excellent. I'll let Piccu relay his impression of small batch bourbon. I have had it before and was not dissappointed in the least, again.

The movies were fun. I completely agree with Piccu's assessment of the movies. I have been thinking about and believe that I have been tricked as to my favorite Friday the thirteenth movie. I really think it is number 2, that we are confusing.

The boat was excellent and a fun ride around the lake, although it is loads more fun in the warm weather.

As to the remainder of the "month of Halloween." What other flicks is everyone squeezing in before the month is out. I may have a private movie madness this weekend. I may throw in something old and something I haven't seen. Not sure what I want to check out. I have this list of the best 80's horror movies that are seldom seen. I acknowledge that it leaves off the fact that it doesn't include the mainstream likely best of them, just those most people haven't seen. I haven't seen any of these so if anyone has tell me to watch it or skip it.

Happy Birthday to Me
Scanners
The Sender
Watcher in the Woods
Prom night
One dark night
Night of the Creeps
Mausoleum

Oh, and Piccu, the movie I was trying to think of is called The Town that dreaded Sundown.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

A little about the SC trip and the Beacon Drive-In...

So Piccu and I just finished up a successful trip to South Carolina to meet down at the lake house for Monster Movie Marathon (MMM). Last year's MMM was a success so we thought we would try it again.

I have to give mad props and big ups, as the kids say, to Mike and Amanda for giving us directions for an alternate route to get down there. It made a huge difference. Especially on the return trip. We shaved almost an entire hour off of our time. Of course we started our return trip at 11 p.m. EST Saturday night. We pretty much drove half way across the state of Kentucky and saw maybe 25 vehicles coming and going. That means fewer stupid people around to kill you. The only draw back was that the heat was out in my truck. Instead of heat it was more like cool which was just a notch above cold which was the temperature outside.

We made it down there around 5:30 p.m. EST Friday afternoon after leaving home at about 9 a.m. Central time. It's a trip and a half, but instead of heading to Nashville and taking I-40 all the way across Tennesse, we took an alternate route along the Cumberland Parkway toward London, Ky. and then headed south to Knoxville.

It doesn't sound like a very good idea since it is a little less direct of a route and adds a little north-to-south distance, but the lack of traffic on the Cumberland Parkway more than makes up for it.

After making it to SC we decided to make a trip to Spartanburg to the "world famous" Beacon Drive-in. Last year Piccu got screwed after he ordered the catfish and it came out fiddler-style instead of fillet-style. So this trip was the second chance because eating catfish fiddlers is too much like work.

Piccu went with a no-brainer and got a burger this time, but I saw that they had fried liver on the menu and every now and again you just get a craving for liver. At least we country folks do on occasion. So that is what I got.

Unfortunately when I sat down to partake of my gigantic plate of liver, fries and onion rings I picked up a piece of liver only to find out that I had received a plate of gizzards.

For those of you who don't know what gizzards are, no one else does either. They taste similar to liver, but not nearly as strong in flavor and they can be a bit chewy and tough depending how they are cooked. And getting a plate of them cooked right is like winning the lottery, it just doesn't happen.

The gizzards that I received were dog toy tough. Piccu picked one up to try and tried to take a bite of one. But biting off a little bit was useless, once you had one you had to commit and eat the whole thing at once. They aren't that big, but some are a little more than you want to take at once since you are in a public place and trying to show that you have some sort of table manners.

We also got screwed last year on the world famous Beacon Drive-In iced tea. It was the best lemon tea I had probably ever had, but I don't like lemon tea so it was a let down. I'm sure that many people say that you aren't "southern" if you don't put lemon in your sweet tea, but those people are in fact morons. Last time I checked the woods around my house, I didn't see one damn lemon tree. It would be different if the stinkin' lemon tree was indigenous to this country or even continent of North America. But it is not and it pretty much just grows in Florida where no southerners actually live unless you consider all rich old people southerners.

So that's strike two for the world famous Beacon Drive-in. I can appreciate it, but at the end of the day it's 0-for-2 in my book and I don't think they serve anything that isn't deep fried in God-knows-what and sometimes you want to take it a little easy on yourself.

I'm sure that Piccu will say something about the trip since this is getting long so I'll leave that to him, we had a blast as usual. The boat also wasn't broken so we tried to break it and I got to see the lake.

So Merlin and French Toast need to thank the rest of the family for us for having us down so we could have fun and see the baby. We call him Texas or Tejas. For the most part he seems to be a pretty happy go lucky kid when he's not projectile vomiting.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

More Guitar Hero 2, including FINAL track listing. Woo Hoo!!!!!

Ok, here is the FINAL track listing, according to the Guitar Hero 2 Wikipedia entry. There are a few new names since the last post regarding the track list. Some of the songs I did not know or had not heard in a long time. There will be 40 main songs and 24 unlockable songs. On the first Guitar Hero, all the unlockable songs, except for 2 were from bands of the members of the game developer. This time, the unlockable songs will be by indie type bands that you may have heard of, including some bands from the Warped Tour and other indie bands that that contacted the game developers to offer their songs.

As Bratch said, we have already pre-ordered our copy of Guitar Hero 2 and got a 4 song demo in the November issue of Official Playstation Magazine. Already, even though it is pretty rough, Strutter by KISS is my new favorite song to play.

Some other songs I am looking forward to getting a crack at are, Cheap Trick’s Surrender. This is a classic in all senses of the word and I am a huge Cheap Trick fan. Also, Kansas’ Carry on Wayward Son will be b*#^h to play I am sure, especially in the breakdown. War Pigs is my favorite Sabbath song and it should give me a good dose of carpal tunnel syndrome. I am an idiot, but I love Cherry Pie. It ought to be fun to play, but perhaps not as challenging as most songs on here.

I have already heard that Sweet Child O’ Mine is a perfect song for this game, and I heard it just the other day and it sounds like it will be tough. Others I am interested in is, Freya by The Sword, Thin Lizzy’s Bad Reputation, Avenged Sevenfold’s Beast and the Harlot, Megadeth’s Hangar 18 and of course, the Bark at the Moon of this Guitar Hero, Free Bird. Free Bird should have me wanting to break stuff after a half hour.

Here’s the full track list and if you want to catch an interview with the creators, click the title for the link. So far it is part 1 of a supposed 3 part interview. I am making my way through it as we speak.

1. Opening Licks
• Mötley Crüe - "Shout at the Devil"
• Danzig - "Mother"
• Cheap Trick - "Surrender"
• Wolfmother - "Woman"
• Spinal Tap - "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"

2. Amp-Warmers
• KISS - "Strutter"
• Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box"
• The Police - "Message in a Bottle"
• Van Halen - "You Really Got Me"
• Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son"

3. String-Snappers
• Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
• Alice in Chains - "Them Bones"
• Iggy Pop and The Stooges - "Search and Destroy"
• The Pretenders - "Tattooed Love Boys"
• Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"

4. Thrash and Burn
• Warrant - "Cherry Pie"
• Butthole Surfers - "Who Was in My Room Last Night?"
• Matthew Sweet - "Girlfriend"
• The Rolling Stones - "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
• Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"

5. Return of the Shred
• Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name"
• Primus - "John the Fisherman"
• The Sword - "Freya"
• Thin Lizzy - "Bad Reputation"
• Aerosmith - "Last Child"

6. Relentless Riffs
• Heart - "Crazy on You"
• Stone Temple Pilots - "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart"
• Stray Cats - "Rock This Town"
• The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica"
• Jane's Addiction - "Stop!"

7. Furious Fretwork
• Anthrax - "Madhouse"
• The Living End - "Carry Me Home"
• Lamb of God - "Laid to Rest"
• The Reverend Horton Heat - "Psychobilly Freakout"
• Rush - "YYZ"

8. Face-Melters
• Avenged Sevenfold - "Beast and the Harlot"
• Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized"
• Dick Dale - "Misirlou"
• Megadeth - "Hangar 18"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird"

Bonus Tracks
• The Last Vegas - "Raw Dog"
• Drist - "Arterial Black"

Monday, October 09, 2006

Guitar Hero II demo, it scares me...

Still on Guitar Hero II. We put 5 bucks down on a pre-order at Wal-Mart or W-Mart as the junk mail in my hotmail account that I'm slowly killing.

On Saturday, we finally tracked down a Playstation magazine with a demo version of the game and four songs. Strutter by Kiss, Shout at the Devil by Motley Crue, YYZ by Rush and You Really Got Me a la Van Halen version.

If you look at the GH2 post directly below this one, you'll see that Strutter seems to be the first song of the game and that kind of scares me because it's ridiculously difficult when you compare it to the songs that opened the first GH. Three note chords abound and some sketchy transitions make it a bit difficult to play. I played it through on the "expert" level on the first try after playing it on the hard level several times.

However, knowing some of the songs the way I do, I'm sure that the "Practice" mode is going to be used a lot. To me, Strutter would have ended up in the second or third section of songs on the first GH and instead it seems as though it is leading off the game as the easiest song there is.

Yikes.

Piccu and I are pretty sure that none of you really care too much about GH, but we are hooked and frankly you would be too if you play it. I'm sure most Best Buys have a demo hooked up to play so stay away from it if you don't want to get hooked on it.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Guitar Hero 2 set list is making my head explode.

As most of you know, Bratch and I are just ate up with the greatest video game in the world, Guitar Hero. We know that Guitar Hero 2 will be out November 7, but we don’t have a complete list of songs that will be on it. That is still the case, but most of the blanks seem to have been filled in, at least according to the Wikipedia page for Guitar Hero 2. This is Wikipedia and I usually take everything on it with a grain of salt considering the readers and users of Wikipedia can edit the info on the site, but according to Wikipedia, this is a list of confirmed songs for Guitar Hero 2. If I wasn’t excited before now to play this game, I am super psyched now.

1. Opening Licks
•"Strutter”-KISS
•"Mother" (possibly by Danzig)
•"Message in a Bottle” - The Police
•"Monkey Wrench” - Foo Fighters
•"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight” - Spinal Tap

2. Amp-Warmers
•"Shout at the Devil” - Mötley Crüe
•"Heart-Shaped Box” - Nirvana
•"Woman" (possibly by Wolfmother)
•"Carry On Wayward Son” - Kansas
•"You Really Got Me” - The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen

3. String Snappers
•"Surrender” - Cheap Trick
•"Them Bones” - Alice in Chains
•"Search and Destroy" (possibly by either The Stooges or Red Hot Chili Peppers)
•"Tattooed Love Boys” - The Pretenders
•"War Pigs” - Black Sabbath

4. Thrash and Burn
•"Cherry Pie (not in yet)" (possibly by Warrant)
•"Who Was in My Room Last Night?”- The Butthole Surfers
•"Girlfriend" (possibly by The Darkness or Matthew Sweet)
•"Can't You Hear Me Knocking?” - The Rolling Stones
•"Sweet Child O' Mine” - Guns N' Roses

5. Return of the Shred
•"Killing in the Name”- Rage Against the Machine
•"John The Fisherman” - Primus(performed by Primus)
•"Freya" (possibly by The Sword)
•"Bad Reputation" (possibly by Thin Lizzy or Joan Jett)
•"Jessica” - The Allman Brothers Band

6. Relentless Riffs
•"Crazy on You” - Heart
•"Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart” - Stone Temple Pilots
•"Rock This Town" (possibly by the Stray Cats)
•"Last Child” - Aerosmith
•"Stop" (possibly by Jane's Addiction)

7. Furious Fretwork
•"Madhouse” - Anthrax

Bonus Tracks
•"Raw Dog" - The Last Vegas
•"Arterial Black" - Drist

Other Confirmed Songs
•"Beast and the Harlot” - Avenged Sevenfold
•"Free Bird” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
•"Hangar 18” - Megadeth
•"Laid To Rest”- Lamb of God
•"Misirlou” - Dick Dale
•"Psychobilly Freakout” - The Reverend Horton Heat
•"YYZ” - Rush

The Rolling Stones at Churchill Downs: Piccu's Story Part II

When last I left you, I was standing in the rain waiting for the Rolling Stones to appear on the huge stage. It was 200 feet tall and was just the biggest stage I had ever seen. In fact, before the show fans could text a word to win a chance to move to better seats. The better seats happened to be inside the actual stage. There were four floors, two on each side of the stage, of fans watching the show unfold before them.

The Stones hit the stage with Jumpin’ Jack Flash, and as soon as I saw Keith Richards appear on stage I thought two things. One was, “Why is he wearing that goofy hat?” Two was, “Oh my God, it’s Keith Richards!!” I was seriously a little freaked out. It’s not everyday you get a chance to see a band that has made some of the greatest music in the history of mankind. And many of those songs were played this night.

Mick, I call him Mick, thanked us for coming out to see them in the “s*#t weather.” And by this time, it was pouring rain; you could tell the Stones were getting soaked as well. The Stones played It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, then a song I wasn’t that familiar with called Oh No, Not You Again, then on to Let’s Spend the Night Together. Now, they broke out a song I had no expectation of hearing and it happens to be one of my all time favorites. Mick grabbed his acoustic guitar and the band started playing Dead Flowers. For those who are not familiar with this song, there is a line in it that says, “Makin’ bets on Kentucky Derby day,” which is very appropriate for the venue, Churchill Downs. It was a very nice surprise.

Now they moved on to super long versions of Streets of Love and Midnight Rambler, not two of my favorites, although I actually did enjoy Midnight Rambler. Next was Tumbling Dice, which thus far was the best song of the night.

Now Mick disappears and “Keef” comes out onstage and starts talking to us. We have no idea what he has just said, but he is going to sing a couple songs for us. He sings You Got the Silver and Little T& A. He is easier to understand while singing than when talking.

Now the whole band kind of disappears and my section can only see the performance on the big video screen on stage and the two right in front of us. What I later found out is that a small part of the stage moved out into the middle of the crowd and because every one was standing in the seats, I never saw them out there. This was a small stage, almost like a club stage and the Stones took it up a notch. They started this part of the show with Miss You, the song on which I first made a call to Bratch. I left a message on his phone of the crowd and I singing along. Then we got Rough Justice and Start Me Up. Then we heard the cowbell start up and the band tore into Honky Tonk Women. On the main stage a huge blowup Rolling Stones’ tongue logo appeared. With the wind and rain, the tongue was wagging throughout the song.

Now the band returns to the main stage for a song I wasn’t sure if they played live, Sympathy for the Devil. A song that is so damn good you feel bad for liking it so much. The intro went a couple of minutes and the crowd chanted “Hoo-Hoo, Hoo-Hoo” until Mick began to sing. This song provided a surprise when flames shot up out of the tip top of the 200 foot stage when Mick got to the end of “Hope you guessed my name.” It was amazi-zi-zing. Best performance of the night as far as I was concerned.

Then we Paint It Black, and the next song, Brown Sugar, was the next song that I called someone and left a message. This time it was Sleeping Boy and I left the whole second verse and chorus on his machine. After this the stage goes dark for a few seconds and the Stones returned for what is considered their encore. It didn’t seem like the encore because they didn’t leave and make us beg and chant for them to come back. Anyway, they went into a great rendition of You Can’t Always Get What You Want, which the crowd sang the whole way through. This was the song that really gave you the chills because 50,000 people were all singing along. Then the final song was a down and dirty sounding Satisfaction. This is not one of my favorite Stones songs, but they really rocked this mother out or something like that. This was the second time I called Bratch and he answered and got to hear a 50,000 person sing along.

So that was it, the best concert I have ever been to. I dare anyone to try and top it. Well, at least anyone under the age of 35. I want this information to be in my obituary and on my tombstone. If you ever have a chance to see them, I highly recommend it; in fact I wish I had sprung for the $300 tickets about half way through the show. I was kind of surprised that they did not sing Gimme Shelter or Angie and Wild Horses, but it was well worth the rain and ticket prices. In other news I did not use the bathroom until I got back home. That was 7 hours and 45 minutes of extreme bladder control. It was a momentous night all around.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Heroes is a Hit

Heroes is just a little bit X-Men, just a little bit X-files. But it’s entertaining. My wife and I have gotten into watching it after the first two episodes.

The premise of the show is that five strangers in different parts of the world have begun discovering that they have strange abilities.

There’s the cheerleader who is indestructible. There’s the nurse who can fly (and maybe his brother can as well.) There’s the Japanese office worker who can bend space and time. There’s a policeman who can hear people’s thoughts.

The two most compelling characters are the heroin addicted artist who predicts the future in his paintings. Including one where New York City is flattened by a possible nuclear bomb. And my personal favorite, the single mother who blacks out and when she comes to, she’s killed two men. The video that was rolling showed nothing, but you could hear some pretty freaky stuff going on (that’s the X-files part.)

It’s been interesting to say the least. If you can make room in your Veronica Mars filled life for another show, make it Heroes.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Veronica Mars is back, you must watch it!

Most of the network shows have already premiered this TV season and I am enjoying House, Bones, and CSI:Original Recipe has been extra crispy this season. But, the show I am looking forward to the most this season premieres tomorrow night on The New CW at 9/8 EST/CST. The show is Veronica Mars and I know I have been hyping this show for two years, but it lives up to the hype. I want everyone to check out the season premiere on Tuesday and watch the first six episodes. If after those six shows, you still don’t like Veronica Mars, then by all means, stop watching the show.

I have already watched the premiere episode on MSN, but I will be DVRing it just for moral support. The writing is still sharp and while it is helpful to know some of the back story from the last two years, it’s not like you are starting to watch Lost beginning with season three. The first Veronica Mars episode this season begins at Hearst College and involves the thieving of a new character’s belongings. It also leads us into the main mystery that will be taking place over the next 6 episodes involving a rapist who rapes and then shaves the head of the victim. A rape storyline doesn’t seem too Gilmore Girls to me.

Don’t be fooled by Veronica Mars’ placement after the Gilmore Girls, the only girlie thing about the show is that Veronica is the main character and she is a female. So I want all you guys to man up and watch a real show. If rape, murder, drugs, gang violence, child abuse, blackmail, kidnapping and suicide aren’t your bag, then you should probably stay away, but if you like all that with smart writing and a boatload of surprises throughout a season’s run, then Veronica Mars is the show for you.

October means scary and weird movies on TCM

It is October and that means that there is going to be really bad horror movies being shown on Turner Classic Movies. I don’t know if this is a horror movie, but it sure as hell sounds weird. It is called The Devil with Hitler. It is going to be on TCM today, Monday, at 6 PM EST. Here is the synopsis, if he wants to keep control of Hell, Satan has to get Hitler to perform a good deed. Now I don’t know about you, but that just sounds weird, especially coming out of 1942. I have to see this. I am sure that I will not be able to watch the whole thing, but I am going to try. The run time is supposedly 43-44 minutes and I haven’t got anything better to do.

You will be able to find many more weird movies like this all month long on TCM. Including a brand new series called TCM Underground hosted by Rob Zombie. This series will be showing “off the wall” cult films. It begins on Oct. 13 at 2 AM EST with a movie that has been called the worst movie ever made, Plan 9 from Outer Space starring Bela Lugosi and directed by Ed Wood. That will be followed Bride of the Monster at 3:30 AM EST. This movie also stars Bela Lugosi and is directed by ED Wood. These movies should be very bad in a good way. You can catch TCM Underground every Friday until the end of the year.

Also I must advise you to check a very creepy movie called The Uninvited that will be shown on TCM on Oct. 13 at 8 PM EST. This movie was made in 1944 but it will creep you out even today. If you want to watch how old school horror was done, you can’t go wrong with this movie.

Something Stinks in Henderson, Ky.

I’ve already blogged about Henderson County head coach Duffer Duffy’s suspension this past week. Since then, there has been a letter from a player and a letter from Duffer himself to the Henderson Gleaner trying to explain the situation.

But Friday night, the long time broadcaster of the Colonel’s football team stepped down. At half time.

So in the past three week’s Henderson has seen an assistant coach, Tom Duffy, Sr. resign, the head coach, Tom Duffy, Jr. suspended for inappropriate conduct, and the play by play man of 31 years, Henry Lackey quit in the middle of a broadcast. And of course all of this follows the preseason death of player Ryan Owens and the subsequent rumors and accusations of wrongdoing by the coaches.

No one is accusing the coaches or killing Ryan Owens. I don’t think they “worked him to death” in the July sun. I think they were negligent. Criminally negligent? I don’t know. Probably not. But I think they made some big mistakes and have showed no accountability for mistakes they may have made that put Owens in jeopardy.

But there’s an awful lot of red flags popping up in Henderson County. This whole situation fails the smell test.

The Rolling Stones at Churchill Downs: Piccu's Story

I don’t know if you realize this, but I saw the Rolling Stones live and in concert at the legendary Churchill Downs in Louisville Kentucky. I am one of roughly 50,000 people in the universe who can say that. I must say that this was probably the best show I have ever seen. Let’s get into the details.

I found a cousin who was more than willing to leave work early and take me to the show. We left a couple of hours before show time and we made pretty good time. No stops, a straight shot. As we got about 5 miles from the show we encountered some traffic problems. It took us about 20 to 30 minutes to move the 5 miles to our parking lot. We arrived right at 5 o’clock, the time the legendary Alice Cooper was scheduled to go on. We rushed to the bathroom, then got a bottle of water and got to our seats. We were ready to rock. Unfortunately Alice wasn’t. Someone said that they heard he was still on the golf course and for those of you, who don’t know, Alice loves to golf and Louisville has a PGA course.

An hour after the show was to begin, the show began. Alice fired it up with No More Mr. Nice Guy and he didn’t let up from there. He played all my favorites including, Billion Dollar Babies, Be My Lover, 18, Is It My Body, Go to Hell, Poison, Under My Wheels (my personal favorite), and ending with School’s Out. Alice did not run his whole crazy stage show, but he had his walking cane (which he threw into the crowd after his set), his swords, money, balloons and a crazy dancing girl that he whipped. He also managed to bring out his albino boa, and I am not talking about a feather boa. It was really good especially for only an hour of music. I can recommend going to see him, he sounded great and his band is very tight, including Eric Singer on drums. I am even thinking about sneaking over to E-Ville to see him later this month if I can snag some tix.

After Alice, me and Dave went in search of a cool t-shirt we saw a drunk milf wearing. It was the Rolling Stones tongue logo with a picture of a horse race transposed over it. On the back was a picture of the grandstands with the famous twin spires. It looked really cool. Did I mention that at this time it started to rain? Well, it did, so we went under the grandstands looking for the merchandise table. We found it but it was so crowded and we were so packed in we gave up and went back to our seats. So no shirt and I still haven’t used the bathroom since arriving.

It began to really rain, hard, and the Stones didn’t come on until a full hour after Alice left. By this time I was starting to get soaked and I couldn’t sit down or I would get an a** full of acid rain. Dave and I seem to be the youngest guys in our section, as well as the only sober guys. In fact, I can’t count on one hand how many times I smelled burning leaves. One drunkard was talking about seeing the Stones for the first time and the J Geils Band opened for them. He then started yelling and screaming for the J Geils Band, like they were up next. While we were waiting for the Stones they were playing some music but the music was not very loud. Drunky then started screaming, “They’re playin’. Can’t you hear them?!? It’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash!” We all kind of looked around and rolled our eyes. “They’re playin’ but you can’t hear them!” Ok buddy.

This is too damn long so I will break down the Stones for you tomorrow or Wednesday. As if you care.