History of my homeland

What is the price of a mile?



A common hobby in the place where my grandfather moors his boat is digging up remnants of either world war that's been fought here, remnants are plentifull, but memories are running thin and past horrors are being forgotten.

out shopping, the art of war, Georgia

So I went out shopping today, and I picked up a bunch of Alice Cooper CD's, as well as Sabatons "the art of war".

I'm listening to it right now ... they managed to blend Sun Tzu's writings quite well with their music! Before the number "40:1" (the casualty ratio between the nazi Wehrmacht and the Polish defenders of the Westerplatte), a female voice quotes Sun Tzu that conquering in battle alone does not suffice to be a victor in the end. (winning without doing battle is to be desired, true words)
For sure, if in every battle you suffer casualties at a fourty to one ratio, you'll not likely win the war.

Later, this is essentially repeated in the song Talvisota, which is about the Finnish war in WWII, you all remember "Finland, be afraid", right?

So, listening to this music, I put the international news up on a browser tab, to see houses in Georgia set ablaze, Russian sources claiming over 2000 fatalities in the Southern Ossetian Capital alone.
If anybody invlolved in the conflict is reading this, let me quote Brodén to whom I'm listening right now:

• How many wasted lives? How many dreams did fade away?
  Broken promises they won't be coming home
  Oh mothers wipe your tears your sons will rest a million years
  Found their peace at last as foe turn to friend and forgive
  And they knew they'd die

Seriously, you know how this will eventually end, small details such as the final borders and other geopolitcal details aside ... small details in comparison to the human pain suffering, and the grief by the survivors of the dead.

Back from Grasspop

There was internet in the festival area, a booth set up for advertising an ADSL subscription, slow as a slug, and not a bullet at that. My connection to blogspot crapped out on me, so I'm finishing this post here.

Judas priest was AWESOME! Rob Halford rose up from underneath the stage to break out in "I am Nostradamus", followed up immediately by "metal gods" for good measure. They played a great deal of their classics (the hell patrol, painkiller, the ripper, the green manalishi, ... I loved the entire thing.

Sabaton was great too, I managed to get a spot directly up against the fence, next to a bunch of fanatic Swedish (?) fans. One of those guys asked me if I was ready for some hardcore Swedish power metal. I said yes, but soon I found out I was wrong: nothing could have prepared me for what would follow. The lead singer sure is a piece of work ... "Let's talk about ... sex! Lets talk about (grabs groin) my penis! This is: the rise of evil!"
As you can see, the song is really about the origins of the nazi party. Don't worry, with lyrics going: "A former prisoner, with a vision or delusion" and "who will stop the madmans reign" it should be clear that the band does NOT look back kindly on these people.

He gave a nice speech about the battle of the Westerplatte, before kicking off the song: fourty to one. This touched me, because I'd visited the site when I was in Poland. It's a strange thing, but not unheard of in military history ... the Spartans who were describe in the film 300, the Russian invasion of Finland ... people fighting from a defensible position are the absolute worst opponent to ever attack.

I could go on for hours about KISS, Iron Maiden, and all the other great bands I saw from up close, but now I'll just get back to my normal blogging.

If you're interested in seeing what went down:
Youtube!

Making ready to leave ...

I'm leaving for graspop tomorrow, a metal meating headlining bands like KISS, Iron maiden, Judas priest, Saxon ... I'll be gone untill monday.
I'm very happy that the scotus managed to push through the Heller case today, I was afraid I'd miss the results.

So ... unless one of my neighbours dragged along a laptop and an internet sattelite dish (or the camping has Wifi), you won't be hearing from me untill monday afternoon GMT+1

These colours don't run.

Been out shopping for clothes today, picked up some music too: I spotted Iron Maidens 2006 album "a matter of life and death" had had it's price cut back to 7 yoo, so I picked it up. Should've bought that thing way back!

Especially loving "these colours don't run"



Iron maiden has long made songs about war, both in favor (aces high), neutral (the trooper) and opposing (2 minutes to midnight). I like them for their good music rather than their message.

There is no true escape, I'm watching all the time.

Closing down the sunday edition, I'm reading the wired webpage, and spot a monument to my subculture:
Screaming for vengeance by Judas priest makes the news on wired.

How? It's become available to those who play the game "rock band". I myself don't dibble in consoles, but I -obviously- own the album in question (the remasters version), and love it! Yet, I am instilled with the hope that some kids might at long last realize: they just don't make music like this no more.

(/rocks out to "fever")

Sometimes I think my generation is lost ... I was about to write a whole lot about the demise of lusic during the 90's /slash/ new millenium, including a link to toy box' "best friend" but then I put on "devils child", which turned out to be a fatal mistake (ouch my whiplash, ouch).
In closing: the youth of today is still being given exposure to proper music, I owe much gratitude to rockstars games myself, for introducing me to Judas Priest and Megadeth.

If you've got kids: Hard rock and heavy metal are far more "wholseme" than contemporary music. Exempt: the holograms!

Here I am ... Rock you like a hurricane

So after finishing up in the process controls lab, I stopped by the record store today.
Bought myself a best of album from scorpions ...



Man I feel old banging my head to this tune ...

Love's forbidden, so is passion. This whole place is sterilized.

So I watched "the island" yesterday, pretty good cyberpunk if you ask me, but passing that:
They didn't want their sheep (agnates, agnus: lat: lamb) hugging or getting physically close to eachother to make it easier to control them. Keeping them apathic untill the day they are led to the slaughter so to speak.

Today's society is evolving towards that premise in some places today even, Alice Cooper made a song about it back in 2000, "cold machines" from the "brutal planet" album. I like to believe that he's talking about the emotional element of people when he sais "no-one here gets out alive", as the place he's at turns lovers into cold machines, numbing their senses and killing them on the inside.

Eight year old shock rock has now become policy in an american institution, as a school in Mesa Arizona bans hugs that last more than two seconds.
This is the place you send your children to to become healthy adult beings, but it would appear that said school considers showing affection to be ... unhealthy? In bad taste? Unproductive?
Instead of showing affection, are children to become mechanical instruments that carry out assignments with question?

Having children raised by the TV is razing their future, as is wanting them to become apathic machines. It is vital to instill kindness into our children if we want them to turn out right. If anything, the present day should serve us as a warning of what can go wrong when children aren't brought up properly.
If you can stomach the heavier trash metal, Annihilators "plasma zombies" has a great message on the subject of letting electronical entertainment take over the role of parenting. (lyrics)

Scrat, now I need a hug ...

No survivors, set the world on fire ...

Poor Megadeth plug, the mother I'll be talking about set her kids on fire, not the world, and fortunately there were survivors.
That's right, before attempting to commit suicide (and failing miserably), the mother doused her five children with an accelerant and set them on fire.

This is one of those cases that proves a lot of gun rights activists wrong. Yes, a demented person will indeed find another means to wreak havoc if a gun is not available, but the results might be less dire. Let's face it, if she'd had a gun, chances are she would have killed more of her children than just the baby.
Now they're just scarred for life both physically and mentally.

Some people are plain sick.

Violent video games and music.

There's a problem with juvenile violence, both in the US and in the UK, as well as many other countries. As long as problems have existed, people have sought to blame someone (else) for such issues. Violent video games have often come under fire.

A myriad of violent media have been banned throughout history, from pen and paper RPG's such as dungeons and dragons, performances by Alice Cooper and Judas priest, as well as other musicians, video games, ... They were/are considered to be in bad taste, harmful to the people who were exposed to them. The FBI even raided a "shadowrun RPG" office once, because they were distributing material describing how to commit fraud ... in a world that existed only on a sheet of paper.

Authorities have often overreacted when it comes to "questionable" entertainment.

The current focus of this way of dealing with juvenile violence lies on violent rap music (extended: the entire genre of hiphop) and violent video games. Probably because that just happens to be what's "happening" with the youth of today. And I, being youthful and liking both violent music and violent games, am going to share my opinion on these media with you.

*Nerdy*
I've been playing violent games since I was six! The original prince of Persia, wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake ... I was there when sidescrollers were replaced by three dimensional environments in which to kill your opponent, I saw sprites get replaced by polygons, I witnessed the introduction of scripted AI, I was there!

Mind you: I didn't play just violent games. I loved theme park and simcity (2000), the latter I played recently (thank you dosbox), Used to play transport tycoon as well as many other business games. I found it amusing to build things in games, business empires, theme parks or military bases, I loved the logistics. Maybe that's why I never dug deep into real tine strategy games, always preferred the turn based variants that allowed for much more economy. I loved the civilization series, got alpha centauri lying around somewhere and I've got space empires 5 on my hard disk. Also loved the sims, but got bored after while.

I also loved Deus ex, greatest game ever in my opinion. Violence is strictly optional in that game. You can get through the entire game without pulling a trigger, and only one character has to die. (but this can be accomplished without physical force). Especially early on, you'll be commended for using a minimal force approach.
But this is one of the best examples of games that demand you make certain moral choices. You do get to choose who lives and who dies. Soldiers, civilians, world leaders ... and you have to deal with the consequences.

Some of my favorite games are devoid of violence.

I loved playing Gears of war while it lasted: It had great immersion and amazing action-packed scenes. Yes, it's bloody, and you can't join a multipleyer match without getting chainsawed in half a couple of times, during wich your screen is covered in bloodsplatter. It doesn't bother me, I'm in it for the fun.

Another game I loved was bioshock, homage to system shock, this is a real shooter, you cannot advance far without killing a lot of characters. This doesn't contain so much graphic violence in the main gameplay. Little blood, a couple of scary scenes. The little sisters are a little bit disturbing, but the harvesting process was "tuned down" in terms of "ickyness", so that's not all that bad.

One highly disturbing scene I found is the part where you have to kill Andrew Ryan. This one kill is different than the ones leading up to the event. He's not a braindead splicer (zombie), he's a conscious human being who puts up no fight whatshowever, but you have to kill him -against your will- anyway (this happens in a cutscene, you don't control your character during these events). Still this scene had me on the edge of vomiting, you can watch the entire thing on youtube, just look up "Andrew Ryan".

And that's the big issue: Some of the best games simply are violent.
*/nerdy*

How do we handle that? Kids want to have fun, if these violent games get good reviews on account of them being really enjoyable, they will want to play them! I liked to play carmageddon when it was still controversial. Not because I liked running over pedestrians, but because it was a fun game.
Games are rated for a very good reason, the esrb provides parents with a relatively objective system that allows them to see the worst of a games content in a glance. If you have children and you don't play games yourself, read their warning labels! If you can't be there to educate your children on how to handle the content of a game, make sure they don't get their hands on games that would require such guidance.

I was taught not to resort to violence by my parents, and that worked! I am far from a violent person. A know-it-all megalomaniac, sure, but not a violent one. My friends have told me on several occasions that they couldn't possibly imagine me angry. I've never picked a fight with anybody, nor do I ever feel like settling disputes in a violent fashion. Clearly, having games as a passtime has not resulted in my being a violent person.

I've been playing violent games for 15 years, and I'm pascifist!

What about music?
I said I like violent music, that's true, but it's not rap. I love Power metal with a passion, as well as many other genres of metal and rock music. This hasn't kept me from loving classical music or soft rock either. My love for Queen predates me discovering Sabaton by about ten years!

Sabaton is a power metal band who like to glorify great battles of the past, the second wold wars D-Day, stalingrad, the first deployment of uclear weapons, the Fall of Berlin, as well as the Vietnam war, the Falkland war ...
Listening to their music on a semi-daily basis hasn't inspired me to joing the military ...

The music gets ever so more "graphic" if you listen to Manowar. Listen to "hail and kill" for a little while.
In the end, Joey sings:

"Rip their flesh
Burn their hearts
Stab them in the eyes
Rape their women as they cry
Kill their servants
Burn their homes
Till there's no blood left to spill
Hail and Kill
Power and dominion are taken by the will
By divine right hail and kill"

But my most profound love for this 20 year old music hasn't cultivated violence in me. As a matter of fact, it calms me down and helps me get my toughts back toghether when I'm irritated. Nor has the song "pleasure slave" from the same album turned me into a sexual deviant.
Despite the screams of conservatives during the "filthy 15" era were screaming, Heavy metal hasn't caused the downfall of civillised society.

Scaremongerers have been wrong in the past.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of violent rap, but frankly, I don't see why it would be so different. True, songs about dealing drugs and theft are much easier t act out in real life than a song that calls to ride a dragon into battle and fight with valor, but a well raised kid can see that neither one is a great goal to spend your life trying to accomplish.

Is there a connection between the prevalence of crime, and music that "talks" about it, or even glorifies it? Rap music has traditionally been about what's going on on the street, so the relation may very well be real, but in the other direction than proclaimed by scaremongerers.
Could music which glorifies crime push a kid into a life of crime?
Probably, but not just any kid. It may seem pretty glamorous, but any kids who's been half-properly raised knows better than that.

The kids who end up in a life of crime, are kids who weren't raised by their parents. Kids who grew up in front of a TV, with no parents, or parent's who set a bad example. Stuck in violent schools and living in high-crime areas, where criminal activity such as dealing drugs offers better prospects than a 9.2.5 occupation, chances of getting caught are considered negligable and jail isn't percieved as scary.

The most influencial people in a persons life, are it's educators. It's parents and teachers. I believe that giving children a loving enviroment to grow up in, and education and a future will go much further than banning or restricting certain violent media. It sure is a lot more work than simply blaming somthing entirely different, but I'll tell you it'll work a great deal better!

Please share your thoughts and oppinions on the matter, how do you feel about children being exposed to potentially harmful material?

Merry christmas!

My one love got me the megadeth warchest!

If you start spotting numerous spelling errors and typos in my posts, I've lost the use of my ring- and middle fingers. (*)

17 y/o gang member shoots and kills other teen.

The Miami herald reports:

The required course of action is clear, if we make it illegal for this kid to buy a gun legally, this never would have happened!

... oh ... right ... it's already illegal.
Gosh, I guess he must have been ... (Priest, British steel album, track three)

displays of affection should not occur on the school campus

That's a piece of the school policy which got a girl put in detention for giving two friends a hug ...

Sure, there's being stoïcist and respectfull to authority, but Jesus ... and they expect that our kids will grow up to be warm sociable beings and not psychotics?
Crud, I can't ... I can't do this ...

Alice, help me out here will you ...
/Pulls up "cold machines" from Alice Coopers "brutal planet" album

"You don't know my name
You don't know my number
You don't know my face at all
We walk right past each other
Every single day
Like cold machines
We're marching on and on and on and on and on"

Youtube video feauturing "Cold machines"