QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali has confirmed the passing of the group’s singer, Kevin DuBrow, at the age of 52.
This sucks. They were one of the first bands I ever saw in concert. In October of ’83, I saw them open for Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden. Make all the hair metal jokes you want but once you got past “Cum on Feel the Noize” they were actually a pretty good band.
Heaven And Hell To Record Album:
There’s been much speculation of a forthcoming Black Sabbath reunion with the original line-up with Ozzy Osbourne at the helm, but founding member Geezer Butler has adamantly denied such rumors.
Heaven and Hell are currently in discussions with various record labels about recording a brand new studio album in 2008,” says Butler.
Good because we all know who the best Black Sabbath vocalist is.
Here are some reasons why Peter Steele has attained almost god-like status with me.
Reason #1:
“I believe that the true definition of a rock band is to upset people and that’s the reason rock became rock in the late 50’s, because the country was pretty right-wing. So when rock came out—being left-wing—that upset people. I will admit to being slightly right-wing. I consider myself to be a conscientious conservative. I am pro-police, pro-government, and pro-parent. Because the country has shifted so far to the left that even if you are mid-wing, still you are upsetting people. So, all these trendoid rock bands are just preaching to the choir. I have, in the past, gone out of my way to upset people and fortunately it worked. That’s why I can say Carnivore and Type O Negative are true rock bands, because your parents aren’t going to like this music. And if they do like it you better find different parents.”
Reason #2:
“I went to confession for the first time in 30 years. And the priest was very happy that I had come back to church and stuff. I didn’t go into each and every sin otherwise he would have to take two weeks vacation (laughs). I said ‘Father I did wrong and I want to apologize to God for my behavior and I’m going to try for it to not happen again.’ It’s better to pay in this life then in the afterlife. So he said “well, make a large donation to your favorite charity, which I did. I’m not going to tell you which charity it was or how much, because that really started me thinking about these so-called charitable people. Charity should be anonymous. If you’re going to get a pat on the back for doing…”Oh, you’re such a great guy. You gave five million dollars—even though you have 50 billion—to South Africa. You’re a great fuckin’ guy.”
And reason #3:
I had gone to see Deep Purple, Scorpions, and Ronnie James Dio at the PNC shithole of fuck, New Jersey. Whatever it is. They were all really cool. Ronnie’s a great fuckin’ guy.
Thanks to KNAC for the best Peter Steele interview I’ve ever read.
Georgia May Regulate Wrestling as a Sport In Response to Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide:
In a knee-jerk response to the Chris Benoit murder-suicide the State of Georgia, where the crime took place, is considering regulating professional wrestling as a real sport.
These politicians may think that they’re protecting wrestlers from steroids and concussions by enacting such legislation but they’re really not.
I believe it was Oregon that tried a similar regulation not too many years ago. They were regulating wrestling because of health concerns. I believe it was because of the blood that wrestlers shed in matches that Oregon officials were trying to protect wrestlers and fans from blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. So what did the wrestling companies do? They just didn’t go to Oregon anymore. That will be the same thing that happens to Georgia if they enact any kind of legislation like that. Which would mean no more Pay Per Views in Georgia which would mean a loss of revenue for the state. That would be a shame because Georgia has such a rich history of professional wrestling.
Also if you regulate pro wrestling you’d have to regulate other non-sporting events as well such as the circus or rock concerts.
Besides this won’t really protect the wrestlers. They’ll be doing the same things they’ve always done, just in another state.
So I watched the animated Superman: Doomsday today and it kicked ass. This is the movie that Superman Returns should have been. Lots of Superman smashing the crap out of stuff.
It’s based on The Death of Superman storyline which I never read so I can’t tell you how accurate it was. One warning though, this is not for little kids. It’s rated PG-13 for a reason. It contains blood and there’s a fairly high body count.
The only thing I didn’t like about it was they didn’t use the voice actors that were used for these characters during the DCAU. It took me half the movie to get used to Adam Baldwin as Superman. Anne Heche was ok as Lois Lane. But I’m sorry, Clancy Brown is Lex Luthor. Luckily he’s reprising his role on The Batman.
Anyway, overall I liked it a lot. It’s worth a buy.
4 1/2 out of 5.
Virginia victim blasts V-Tech:
This article is about an Australian girl who was at Virginia Tech at the time of the massacre. She had the following to say about the V-Tech Rampage game.
AUSTRALIAN Virginia Tech student Eleanor Brentnall survived the university massacre in which 33 people were killed and 29 injured.
After returning home to recover with family, the rising basketball star has been made to relive that horrific day by a video game created by a Sydney “sicko”.
“I can’t think why he would do something like this,” Ms Brentnall, 19, told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
“I’m embarrassed this guy is from Australia. He gives us a bad name.”
Ms Brentnall, who has returned to her family home in Melbourne, said yesterday her Virginia Tech classmates would be devastated.
“It’s easy for someone who hasn’t ever been put though something like that to sit at home and make a video game as some kind of sick joke,” Ms Brentnall said.
“He should be thinking of the families that lost loved ones. Obviously he hasn’t had a great amount of life experience to be doing something like this and he probably just hasn’t thought it through.
“‘My team-mates knew people who were killed and injured and everyone is just devastated by this.
“An apology wouldn’t mean anything coming from him because he is asking money for it.”
Don’t worry, Ms. Brentnall. The sane among us realize that this shouldn’t reflect badly on all Australians just because of one degenerate assclown.
Speaking of said assclown, this article goes on to explain why he has obtained such levels of assclownery…
Unemployed western Sydney man Ryan Lambourn, 21, developed “V-Tech Rampage” and has demanded $US2000 ($2400) to take it off the internet and another $US1000 to apologise to victims and their families.
His website was shut down yesterday but the game is still available on the internet.
Mr Lambourn, who lives with his father at St Clair, posted this message on another website: “LOL (laughing out loud) my site is down because they got too many angry emails and they won’t put it back up with vtech still on it.”
Unemployed and still living at home. That speaks volumes.
32 slain, and it’s just an online game to him:
Here’s a Virginia reporter’s take on the V-Tech Massacre game…
My urge was to buy a ticket bound for the land Down Under, to kick some Aussie.
Ryan Lambourn, a 21 -year-old Australian man, has designed an online game. Players walk a gunman through a college-campus bloodbath.
“V-Tech Rampage” begins with a murder designed to occupy police. You stop to mail a message to NBC after evading cops. Next up, “To Norris Hall so the real fun can begin.”
“I understand people’s objections… and don’t care,” Lambourn wrote in a posting online, using the online alias PigPEN.
His online name fits. It’s tough to say what art is, but this slop is hateful porn.
I played the game to see if Lambourn had anything to say about the tragedy I covered for a terrible week last month. There was no moral, just a path where progress equaled easy murder.
“I was kinda trying to prove a point with how easy it was,” Lambourn wrote online.
I’m kinda not buying that.
The Aussie’s game isn’t the first to make sport of the Blacksburg slayings. A website hosting the game has drawn more than 125,000 visits.
The same site also features other pieces of Flash animation about Virginia Tech. One is a graphic cartoon of the killings that was posted on April 18 – two days after the massacre.
That animation, “Virginia Tech Shootout! ” was the work of Karri Esala, 20, of Finland. I asked him what he thought of Lambourn’s game.
“I think making a game of the shootings this early is in very bad taste,” Esala said, “but that’s how it’s intended to be…. Let’s wait a couple of years and there will be a major movie studio making money on the V-Tech shootings, too.”
Other offerings at the site include “The Suicide Bomber,” where you play the title character; “Oklahoma City Escapades,” where you play Timothy McVeigh, and “Sniper’s Revenge,” starring you as John Allen Muhammad.
In Lambourn’s game, it’s easy to spot the reference to Liviu Librescu, the heroic Tech professor who blocked a door from the killer to shield his students while they escaped through second-story windows.
Librescu was shot and killed. He was 76, a Holocaust survivor. Last month in Blacksburg, I read messages to him at memorials, including: “You saved my best friends…. I will never forget.”
Lambourn memorializes him with an anti-Semitic remark.
Curiously, I’ve yet to find a game about the 1996 Port Arthur rampage that left 35 people dead in Australia.
Too close to home, mate?
Word.
I haven’t played the game yet because I wasted most of my tasteless game outrage on SCMRPG. But now, after reading this editorial, I’m definitely going to give it a try over the weekend.
US uni massacre game website taken down:
Well, well, well. It seems that one Mr. Ryan Lambourn has had his site taken down. The site that was hosting the flash-based game V-Tech Rampage has been shut down by his web host, Liquid Web.
Not only that, but somebody has taken it upon themselves to post Mr. Lambourn’s home address and phone number online.
However, the game is still being hosted at Newgrounds.
Outrage over Virginia Tech game:
V-Tech Rampage has made it to the mainstream press, in Australia anyway. The game’s creator, 21-year-old Ryan Lambourn, is just another mutant.
Lambourn said that while he felt remorse for those who had lost friends and relatives in the massacre, he also had sympathy for the gunman.
“No one listens to you unless you’ve got something sensational to do.” he said. “And that’s why I feel sympathy for Cho Seung-hui. He had to go that far.”
That’s a great message to send, isn’t it? If you don’t get your delusional way, go out and kill a whole bunch of people. Pathetic.
Let’s throw in some disrespect for the victims as well…
The game text also refers to “Emily”. Emily Jane Hilscher, 18, was Cho’s first victim. The subject of his infatuation, she was shot in a dormitory.
“Emily stayed overnight with her boyfriend, Karl, again last night. He’ll be dropping her off at school as always …,” the game text reads.
And sprinkle in a little bit of internet tough guy…
Players who fail to shoot the characters get the following message at the conclusion: “Mediocrity. You let Emily get away!
Are you always full of shit, McBeef? Try again, this time don’t be such a wuss.”
Mix it all together, and what do you get? Just another attention whore mutant trying to cash in on a tragedy.
Or as one blogger put it…
“People like this need to be publicly beaten,” reads one blog comment. “This asshole is possible the worst little piece festering of pond scum in years.”
Word.
It seems that one Danny Ledonne, creator of the ever tasteless Super Columbine Massacre RPG, is even down on V-Tech Rampage. He left the following comment at Game Politics…
Inevitably, comparisons between SCMRPG and VTech Rampage are being made right nowÂ? For myself I wish to point out that SCMRPG was never a for-profit endeavor and thus I never posted statements like that which is on the VTR game’s homepage:
I will take this game down from newgrounds if the donation amount reaches $1000 US, i’ll take it down from here if it reaches $2000 US, and i will apologize if it reaches $3000 US.
This quote seems to indicate that Ryan has no intention of leaving the game up permanently or having a channel for discourse (as I have done) but instead has unfortunately chosen an artist’s statement that reads more like a hostage note
I would like to ask bloggers to consider not whether a game about the Virginia Tech shooting SHOULD be made but how we might go about making a game that accomplishes more than VTR does with the subject matter.
Wow, when you’re being talked down to by the original tasteless homemade game designer, you must have something wrong with you.
And to answer your question, Danny, a game about Virginia Tech should not be made. Just like there shouldn’t have been one made about Columbine.