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My response to Barack Obama	April 6, 2007, 3:06AM
by: Seregloth
I wrote this in response to the good senator's question of "How can we engage more people in the democratic process?" I thought this would be interesting to post, even though it's long and I jump around like a gazelle with A.D.D. Enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------- I may not vote for you, but I am curious of what you would do if elected, not just what you promise to do. As for the question at hand, for starters the whole checks and balances system is out of whack. One thing that would help restore balance is TERM LIMITS. Thus far, the only major national office that has term limits is the one you are running for. As a result, there's no new blood in the system, as you are aware there are senators who have been in office longer than I've been alive (which granted, is only 17 years, but that's not the point) From what I've seen most senators and congressmen care more about their political careers than making a difference and can't even relate to the average American. And as for the supreme court justices being appointed for life, it's not the papacy for crying out loud! Americans should be allowed to elect supreme court justices and they too SHOULD HAVE TERMS AND TERM LIMITS. I suppose it's beside the point that the house and senate as whole entities refuse to regulate themselves. Self-gain is not a trait I want in a leader of my country. Is it not the duty of a civil-servant to be just that, a servant? To focus more on the long term repercussions rather than a raise in salary? When did we loose sight of representing the needs of the masses? I've participated in the Texas Youth and Government program throughout my high school years, and I must say I would rather have our student legislature in Washington rather than the members currently elected. I'm not merely saying this to express my frustration, we really could do your job Senator, and do it well. I think spreading awareness about that program would definitely help get more young people interested in the democratic process, as the final answer to your question. It will also let minors know they can make a difference. If a bill is signed by the student governor or has overridden a veto, then it is presented to the actual state legislature. One thing we've debated in our last session was a proposal to repeal the James Byrd Jr. act against hate crimes. In the end the act was deemed unconstitutional on the grounds that a hate crime is a thought crime and one cannot and should not be convicted of a crime simply for hating someone because of their skin pigmentation or gender. Hate is hate, no matter the cause. Oh, and we can't pull out of Iraq. I honestly don't think we'll ever be able to. If we abandon Iraq it will become the new hive for anti-American extremists, much the way Afghanistan was. Do some digging if you don't believe me. Basically the point I'm trying to get across is you have to decide what's more important: politics or progress? If you cut the crap and tell it straight I guarantee you would gain tons of support from all parties just by your honesty. Well anyway, I hope I've given you some food for thought, and don't you dare loose to Hillary in the preliminaries. The last thing we need is a Machiavellian communist calling the shots. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
topic: Current Events
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Silent Hill : Dark Dreams	April 6, 2007, 2:36AM
by: asherock3
Silent Hill : Dark Dreams by : A.E.R. Silent Hill, popular survival horror games, as well as a movie. Both circling around the main character's mental state and their past. I will begin with discussing the movie. It starts with a young mother's child having dreams about a town called Silent Hill. Rose, is determined to see the town in hopes it will help her daughter. Certain events involving a chase from a street cop , ends in a crash. Resulting in Rose awakening to find the passenger door of her SUV is wide open with Sharron no where to be found. As Rose steps out of the car, it appears to be snowing when it's in fact, ash and soot. As she enters Silent Hill, she explores the town. Finding out its been cut off from everything modern. Literally the town is cut off from the road. It appears to be like the road has disappeared. Looking over the edge of where the town used to connect to the mountains, Rose encounters a woman named Dahlia. Rose shows Dahlia the locket around her neck that carries a picture of Sharron. Dahlia thinks it's her child and tries to take the locket. Rose is frightened and runs off. She see's what appears to be her daughter Sharron and runs after her, running down into the sewers. Rose see's something hanging from a fence and turns on her lighter to discover its a mutilated body. Now this next part. I'm not too sure how to explain, i guess you could say monsters that resemble young children's bodies size wise, with their skulls twisted around to the side, giving their face, a stretched appearance, begin to come after her and which after she hears this strange siren, they disappear. Leaving Rose passed out. She awakens in a bowling Alley and runs out. Earlier in the SUV, Rose had found a drawing done by Sharron. It had dipicted a school with crosses on top of the doors. Cybil, the police woman that had been chasing them , puts Rose in handcuffs and begins walking her into the town of Silent Hill Cybil proceeds to tell Rose of the history of this town. How a town fire seeped into the underground mines, setting the coal veins on fire. And how the town was evacuated. And accuses Rose of not being Sharron's mother and thinks she came to throw Sharron down a mine shaft. Rose tells her that she would never do that to her own daughter. Cybil notices some thing walking along the cliff side and calls it over. Little does she know its nothing she expected. It appears to be incased in its skin, and an opening in where its chest is supposed to be, spits acid onto her. While Cybil begins shooting "it" Rose makes her escape. Running down the road and into Silent Hill. Rose finds a map and heads toward the school. Upon entering, she searchs for a flashlight. After finding one, she begins to explore the dusty and decaying school. She decides to search the upstairs. When she gets there, She follows a young girl into the bathroom. Hearing the young girl crying, Rose begins to open each of the stall doors. Upon the last one, there is, a horribly distorted man, chained in barb wiring to the wall, the man is dead. On the wall behind him, there are the words, "Dare you, Dare you, Double Dare you" with an arrow pointed toward the man's open mouth, which has been chained open. Rose reaches inside his mouth and pulls out what appears to be half a stone with the words "otel" which means hotel. Then she runs out of the bathroom, to have three men spot her. She runs back into the bathroom and locks the door and prays for them to leave her alone. The men carry a bird with them, that starts to go into a frenzy, meaning the darkness is coming. The men run off leaving Rose still locked in the bathroom. The deceased man who had been chained crawls out of the bathroom stall with his feet chained to his head. As he is crawling towards Rose, cockroach type flesh eating monsters, begin to pop out of the ground. Rose runs out the bathroom door and runs down the stairs while the camera angle changes and shows some dead body hanging while she is running down the stairs. As she runs by a hallway, she stops and looks down it to see the three men being eaten alive by the cockroaches. Rose screams and runs out and across the courtyard. She collapses by lockers and beings to sob. As she is laying there, the cockroaches begin to go near her. Someone grabs Rose's arms and pulls her into a room, Rose realizes it is Cybil and they secure the door shut only to find themselves trapped in the small room. Behind them is a large fan which, symbolizes the rebirth and death of Alessa, who later appears in the movie. They hear something being dragged on the floor, like metal. Then a huge knife slices into the room through the doors. The monster only known as Pyramid-Head, begins making a hole with his knife so that the cockroaches can get in. Pyramid-Head is depicted in both the games and the movie, as a 7 foot tall man, with a robe which appears to be made out of flesh wrapped around his waist, and a large pyramid shaped metal object over his head, which can mean pain and suffering. He is brutal and kills anything in his path. Now, as the cockroachs get in, a siren sounds and everything begins turning back to normal. Cybil and Rose, leave the room and go in search of a local hotel where they believe Sharron is. Cybil takes her to the main Hotel in Silent Hill, where they hear Shouts emiting from inside the building, thinking another "acid spitter" was attacking someone. They run into the hotel to find a young girl named Anna throwing rocks at Dahlia. Cybil stops her and Dahlia runs out, while Rose asks Anna why she is in the hotel. Anna tells her her mother needs more food. Cybil, checks out the clerk desk and opens the mail slots to find a folded up drawing for room 111. Cybil shows Rose and its one of Sharron's drawings. They go up the stairs with Anna to search for room 111 where they think Sharron is. As they begin their search for room 111, they can not find it and so Rose see's a portrait of some girl being burned alive and takes out the drawing they found. She cuts through the portrait to find room 111 behind it. They enter it to find another building with a door on it so they jump across to find a cramped room with a bunch of stuff in it. Rose see's a girl who looks like Sharron and runs after her. She jumps across an open pit to reach the girl and see's the girl face to face and says "You could be her twin". The young girl spreads her arms out and says "Look. I'm burning." and flames engulf her arms before she disappears. Cybil helps Rose back across the open pit, and asks her who that was. Rose says back "I think i just saw Dahlia's daughter. Alessa." and Anna replies "We don't say her name" and after a few minutes of pointless talking, birds fly out of the open pit and Anna tells them they have to hurry for the darkness is coming. They run all the way to a church, where people are running into it, and Dahlia tries to stop Cybil and Rose from going in there. Claiming they are damned and will drag them into their own hell. Anna throws a rock and hits Dahlia, making her fall down. Rose helps her and then, everything becomes pitch black. Cybil turns on her flashlight to see everything rotting and changing and takes Rose's hand and runs with her to the church, before they enter, they turn to see Anna about to throw another rock at Dahlia, and then Pyramid-Head appears behind her and grabs her. Pyramid-Head holds her by the neck up, and rips off her clothing, and then, as Rose and Cybil enter the church, he rips off Anna's skin and throws it at them, covering them in blood. The people in the church, try to beat Rose and Cybil, yelling they are witches, when Christabella, comes in and calms them all down, Anna's mother hugs Christabella and says "The lured my Anna, they gave her to the fiend." with which Christabella replies "You have to remember Anna went against our laws. she went out into the devil's playground alone. She was not the responsibilty of these two strangers." And then Christabella and the rest besides Rose and Cybil, pray. After they pray, Christabella asks them how they got here and what they are looking for and then, they take Cybil and Rose to a hosptipal where the demon lies. They open the Elevator for them and then, as Christabella hands Rose her locket, she see's that Sharron looks just like Alessa. She screams "witch!" and the men who came with them, try to attack them, Cybil holds them off and tells Rose to find her daughter before shutting the elevator. As Rose goes downward into the darkest part of the hospital, Cybil gets beaten with pipes for helping her. Rose exits the elevator and starts running, following the directions that she memorized. As she gets to the demon's room, there are, dead nurses with their faces bandaged up. Now these are supposed to represent Alessa's hate of beautiful women. Because since her body was burned so badly, she could never really mature into something beautiful. Anyway, as Rose tries to sneak past them, they sense her and begin attacking her, only to begin missing her and killing other nurses. Rose leaves the light on the floor and runs into the demon's room. A little girl says "You made it Rose, your reward is the truth." Now this part is slightly long and it would take quite some time to qoute exactly what she said so i will give a brief explanation about it. It goes on to show how Alessa, didn't have a father and how she was called a witch because of it. and after she runs into a bathroom, it shows a man and it gives the impression that he rapes her. After you hear the young Alessa scream, it shows Dahlia, much younger, with beautiful red hair, coax her out of a bathroom stall and comfort her baby. Christabella appears behind Dahlia and tells her to just name who the father is. And then she goes on to say that they must "purify" this sin. It skips to men and women walking down a hotel hallway with Alessa and Dahlia. They take Alessa and tell Dahlia " we invite the sin, not the sinner" and Alessa proceeds to scream and yell "Mommy!", and Dahlia runs off saying "what have i done" and then it skips to Alessa literally being burned alive over a pit of fire with her screaming in agony. But then, the chains holding her over the fire, break and the thing she is strapped to, swings around and knocks over the pit of fire, setting the curtains covering the windows on fire. Not soon after everyone runs out, the police with Dahlia, run in and try to save Alessa. The young girl then says "Now you know why Dahlia is broken". It then shows Rose standing inside a..well to put it, a hospital room covered in darkened blood. Rose attempts to talk to the nurse who continually keeps her back to her while walking away. The same girl who appears to be Sharron's twin comes out by the nurse and says "don't be afraid, she wont hurt you. she needs your help" to which Rose lifts up the curtains around the actual Alessa's hospital bed and asks "where is my daughter" to which the child replies "she is not your child. She is her's" while she is pointing toward the bed and then the camera zooms in to show the bottom half of Alessa's face to show her smiling. The child continues on to say "She is what's left of her good side. We hide her outside this hell." and some other info that isn't really important is said, and then the child talks about wanting satisfaction, or Revenge. Rose agrees to help and the child goes inside of Rose's body. Then it goes to see Cybil tied to some type of ladder over burning fire and she is being lowered onto the fire to be burned alive, it shows Cybil's flesh begin to melt off and then she is completely engolfed in flames with Sharron screaming down below. Then it skips to Rose's husband being escorted by police to the town lines of where He, Rose, and Sharron live. And he tells the police that he will be back with people who know what they are doing. Then it skips back once again, to the church after Cybil has died. And now they have Sharron tied to another ladder, ready to "purify" her sins. Right before they lower the ladder and start the fire, Rose bursts through the door and begins to tell the townspeople the truth about Alessa. When she gets to Christabella, she stabs Rose through the heart, causing Rose to fall to the ground. While they all scream to burn her, her bleed starts rotting the ground, causing the darkness to finally enter the church, the middle of the church where the fire had been, crumbles into the ground, With the older Alessa and her Barbed wire for a weapon, come up through it. Alessa begins to kill people with the barbed wire i.e. breaking their bodies in half. Then Alessa goes to Christabella, and I'm not going to go into detail about, but her barbed wires go up Christabella's bum, and rip her in half. Rose unties Sharron from the ladder and takes her into a corner and tells her to shut her eyes and then Sharron see's the demon girl and passes out. When they leave the church, all the blood and guts are gone and Dahlia is sitting on the stairs and asks Rose why Alessa didn't kill her too. To which Rose replies "Mother is god in the eye's of a child." And then they go back to her SUV and leave the town of Silent Hill, but they are still stuck in a different reality than Rose's husband is in so in the end, they never truelly return to the how they once were. Now that was the movie, in my own words by how i saw it. Some of it, is not correct, i understand that, but its how i saw things. Now i will give quick thoughts on each of the Silent Hill games which the movie is based on. Silent Hill One, follows a man looking for his daughter who is in the town of silent hill, in the end it turns out to be alessa and after he kills Alessa's true form, she hands Harry who is the main character's name, a baby girl to which he takes and raises as his own daughter. Now i understand once again, that that is a very short thing. The game itself, is less physcological, than the others. Silent Hill Two, follows James, who has recieved a letter from his deceased wife, and in hopes of her still being alive, heads to the town of Silent Hill. He meets a woman who looks strikingly like Mary his wife. In the game he see's her being brutally murdered in total about three times by Red Pyramid-Head. At the end it shows that He is the one that actually killed his wife and he takes the other woman's body to perform a ceremony on her to bring Mary's spirit into her or something close to that. Now this game is much more physcological to which that James is not all that sane and eventually in the end, suggests that he loses his mind completely. Silent Hill Three, is about Harry's daughter he took from Alessa. She is supposedly said to be the bringing of god for an everlasting paradise. In the end, she kills god in a way. Now this one, i can not really tell what the true meaning is. Anyway. Silent Hill Four : The Room is about Henry, who one day finds himself trapped in his own apartment.No one can hear his screams for help and a strang hole appears in his bathroom and continues to get bigger. Whoever dies in the other worlds he visited, dies in the real world. He stops the man who tries to bring some monster to life and depending on the ending, purifies the apartment complex of the spirits. This one, gives questions as to if it was all in the guy's mind, or if it really happened. Now to end my paper, i will just tell some information of the town these popular survival horror games and movie are from. Centralia Pennsylvania, have coal fires below the city in the mine shafts still burning today after almost 2 decades. The town has been evacuated, though some die hard residents still refuse to leave. After almost 40 million dollars attempting to put out the fire, no such luck has been granted. It is said that the fires could burn for almost 1000 more years before finally dying out. And that is my paper on Silent Hill.
topic: Various
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The Patriot Act vs FREEDOM.	March 30, 2007, 1:48AM
by: AROMA_AMONIA
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin For hundreds upon hundreds of years governments of all shapes and sizes have been using fear to obtain control over their subjects . Its seems that if you get enough people scared they will give up their rights and freedoms for the idea of safty . On March 23, 1933, the newly elected members of the German Parliament (the Reichstag) met in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's Enabling Act. It was officially called the 'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich.' If passed, it would effectively mean the end of democracy in Germany and establish the legal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. The 'distress' had been secretly caused by the Nazis themselves in order to create a crisis atmosphere that would make the law seem necessary to restore order. On February 27, 1933, they had burned the Reichstag building, seat of the German government, causing panic and outrage. The Nazis successfully blamed the fire on the Communists and claimed it marked the beginning of a widespread uprising. On the day of the vote, Nazi storm troopers gathered in a show of force around the opera house chanting, "Full powers - or else! We want the bill - or fire and murder!!" They also stood inside in the hallways, and even lined the aisles where the vote would take place, glaring menacingly at anyone who might oppose Hitler's will. Just before the vote, Hitler made a speech to the Reichstag in which he pledged to use restraint. "The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one." - Hitler told the Reichstag. He also promised an end to unemployment and pledged to promote peace with France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. But in order to do all this, Hitler said, he first needed the Enabling Act. geuss what happened ?? The Bill was passed Hitler had his supream power and the rest is history . Just a month and change after september 11th with great haste and secrecy and in the name of "the war on terror" the united states congress passed legislation that gave the Executive brench new powers which undermine the bill of rights in the name of public saftey .This 342 piece of shit act is ironicly names "The Patriot Act" , i geuss even George W has a dar ksense of humor. It was passed on October 26th , 2001 with little debate by members of congress many of whom never read the bill . The Patriot Act gave George W Bush the Powers needed to advance his war upon his own free people in the name of safty . Today the executive branch has the power to come into your home take what they want and never even tell you they were there . They have the power to Tap into you phone , your computer and whatever else you may own . If you are detained for any reason they have the right to listen in on your conversation with you lawyer completely destroying lawyer client privlage . Furthermore 1000's of american people , "FREE PEOPLE" are being detained just on the suspition of terrorism , they are being held indefinitly without charge in military custody house in secret camps around the world . Secret camps ... Wire taps ..... this is a dictatorship in the guise of Democracy ....and it doesnt matter who's in power !!! Democrat or republican . "Money is law Fear is Power Power is Everything Business is Good" . - Kenton YOU ARE NOW LIVING IN THE GREAT IMPIRIAL NATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE SUPREAM RULE OF HIS MAJESTY GEORGE BUSH II . SIEG HEIL BABY . (Stats and Facts taken from the ACLU website ) P.S the Patriot Act is up for Re-otherization this year .....fight , scream do what you can to make war against it . THE ROAD TO TYRANNY Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP2YZGskECM ------ Kenton"el rebelde del alma"Jakkson [This topic was updated on March 29, 2007, 6:47PM by AROMA_AMONIA.]
topic: Current Events
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joined thoughts	March 30, 2007, 12:00AM
by: Drkmtl
There once was an drunk named Joe and his beautiful wife Cristine. Joe had some serious anger issues that he had, had since he was young. And Cristine had a uncontrollable meth addiction and serious split personality disorder. He was bullied constantly when he was young. He never just blew up and let any of his anger out. He picked up drinking because, it helped bottle his emotions up inside. Cristine had taken up meth years back, and would have extreme outbursts of rage and lose all control. Joe loved the sight of a cold, frosty beer sitting in his hand. The thin foam over the top after every drink he took. And Cristine loved the sight of the slightly darkened end of a glass crack pipe steaming after a hit. For some obscured reason Joe and Cristine got along great because of their morbid thoughts of sadism and blasphemy. Their awful thoughts started bleeding though their addictions. They would then start describing how they wished the people that they hate would die. One day Joe had the thought that maybe they should try out their thoughts on some one they both hated. This guy was creepy, perverted, misconstrued 22 year old that loves to drink and smoke weed, he thrives on 16 year olds and also has some quite morbid thoughts of raping the girls he takes an interest in. Joe and Cristine both hated him because he had tried to get with Cristine. So Joe and Cristine both stalked Jacob until he eventually went down a old country road that never got used. Joe floored the car and rammed the back tire of Jacob's car, spinning him out of control and sending him into a tree totaling his shitty ass car. Joe and Cristine then go to the trunk of their car pullout razor blades, hydrochloric acid, and a butcher knife. They then walk over to the car where Jacob is struggling to get free from his car. Jacob then starts panicking when Joe went for his eye with a razor blade and punched Joe in the face. Joe's face then boiled over with rage and he started slashing Jacob's face with the razor. Jacob then starts screaming with pain. As Jacob looked up at Cristine with a look of faith in his cold, scared eyes, that she might possibly save him, she took the butcher knife, pressed it against his already bloody, tearful cheek and slowly cut, roughly but slowly down his throbbing torso. Joe and Cristine both then pulled Jacob's blood covered body out of the car as he wailed in pain. They then laid his worthless body out on the road and took the bottle of hydrochloric acid and doused his sorry ass in it. Joe and Cristine watched with morbid pleasure as his skin started to melt away and burn while he screamed all the way till he died and took his last breath. Joe and Cristine packed up in the car and took off back to their house and then waited to see their work on the news. His gruesome murder was brodcasted on all four news channels. Joe and Cristine both felt proud of their work. The morbid couple then went to the table, sat down and plotted yet another one of their grotesque murders. Joe had one person he had wanted to kill since he was in high school. This guy was the stupidest shit kicker he had ever known. This worthless ass wipe was the reason for Joe getting arrested back in the 10th grade. So Joe and Cristine loaded up their car with awkward tools to teach him a lesson; TO MIND HIS OWN FUCKING BUSSNESS! They then drove out to his ranch in the far outskirts of town. They hid in one of the sheds that he had to go in to and waited for him to walk in. Finally he walked in and Joe gave him a blow to the head with a brick. As he laid there squinting to try and see who it was that did it Joe flipped on the light. The look on Joe's worthless victims face was full of regret and fear. Joe looked around and found a tool that he loved. It was a branding iron. Joe picked up the tool and turned to his victim reared back with it and the Cristine step in and told him to put it down. Joe was stunned and then Cristine came up to Joe and whispered in his ear, " you of all people can kill him more creatively than just beating him to death with a branding iron". Joe looked up at his prey and dropped the iron. His enemy's face lit up with hope. Joe then walked over there to his enemy and knocked him out. While he was knocked out Joe and Cristine held him against the wall of the shed and nailed him to it. The enemy then came to and started pleading for his worthless life. Joe walks up to him and asks, "why should I of all people let you live? You are the reason I served time in jail." He replied, "cause it wasn't me who did it. I would never narc on for drugs." Joe quickly snapped back and yelled at him, "WHY IS IT CAUSE YOU THINK IM CRAZY BITCH?! OR IS IT CAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO DIE HERE TONIGHT?! IT WAS YOU THAT NARCD! YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE THAT KNEW OF THE STUFF I HAD! NOW YOUR GOING TO DIE SLOW PAINFULLY! BITCH YOU MADE A BIG MISTAKE!" By this time Joe was filled with pure hatred. He then picked up a old rusty razor blade and slit his victims wrists, the insides of his elbows, the backs of his knees, his akeles tendon, and last but not least, his throat. Then watched as the bastard bleed to death. The gruesome couple went on to kill every one they ever hated. They were never caught. The two psychopaths need up disappearing with no traces. Even today if you watch the news you can still hear about their grizzly murders from all across the country. So far the US Marshall's can connect 93 explicit crime scenes to the duo. The two were last spotted in Weatherford, Texas leaving the residents of Chisum Smith's ranch. This story isn't completely finished. Authors- John McWatters and Deana Wright more of this story is to come soon
topic: Essays
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QUICK KILLERS short story	March 29, 2007, 10:35AM
by: brokn_within_secrets
She lay curled into the corner of the small dark room, the blanket pulled tight around her. The blanket�s warmth was her only little comfort, even if it had started to smell salty from her sweat. But, it kept her warm in the drafty little cell. Somewhere, in the dark, she could hear her friend sobbing from the other room. She wanted so bad to reach out, to touch and comfort the young girl and tell her everything would be okay, but that would bring him back. He could hear all, he was omnipresent, and sometimes he made her doubt even her thoughts were safe. She crawled across the cell and pressed her head against the wall, and offered a silent prayer and a few unspoken words of comfort to her friend. She knew the action was futile, pointless, but it eased her guilt, and suddenly the sobs began to weaken and for just a moment she thought her action had an effect on the girl. And then his footsteps came, heavy and hard on the cement floor. They drew closer, louder, until each footfall as a mental explosion. He�s coming for me, she said silently to herself, He�s already had Lysa once today, and she hadn�t satisfied him, so he�s coming for me! The footfalls stopped just outside her cell, and she felt a cold shiver run through her body. She dreaded the blindfold, the feeling of his arms around her as he carried her away, and his dick inside of her as she screamed until her throat was dry. He�s coming for me! The sound of the rusted hinges creaking made her wince, and she closed her eyes tighter, not wanting to look upon the monster. She waited, and waited, and nothing came. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and the cell was still dark. The sound of leather cracking against flesh and bone rang through the darkness, and young Lysa let out a frightful bawl. The hinges creaked again, and the Cell door slammed shut, and he was gone once more. He likes to hear us cry, she thought as she pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders. I won�t cry anymore. Time had disappeared, slipped into the dark void of The World outside her cell. All that she had was her cell, oppressingly dark and horribly cold. She had tried to keep a sense of time, of minutes and hours and days, but she stopped after the first time he had raped her. She had been blindfolded and tied down, immobile and unable to fight. He�d cut away her clothes and never given her anymore, only leaving her a tattered shirt he�d torn in his lust. She�d fought, as hard as she could, for the first few times. And he�d beaten her, hard and relentlessly, until she had learned to withdraw deep into herself and go to another world until he placed her back into her cell like a child replaces a toy after he�s grown bored. The world she had withdrawn into was where she wanted to be, but was getting harder to conjure with every passing day. The first day she had lay there afterwards in her cell, wrapped tight in the blanket, and drifted off. Only it was her Prince making love to her, and she could see his face perfectly. Now it was different. He was a blur, unrecognizable, and sometimes He would enter into her fantasy world unwelcomed, brushing her Prince aside and forcing himself upon her. He oppressed her even in her dreams. The footfalls came again, waking her from her uneasy sleep. The door was pushed open violently, parting the darkness with a burst of light that cast the Monster in a dark Silhouette, and a small plastic baggy came was thrown into the room before the door was slammed shut once again. She crawled for the bag, feeling for it in the darkness on her hands and knees. She found it, snatched it eagerly, and parted the lips. She cupped a handful of the contents in her hand and swallowed it eagerly. The taste was foul and she gagged violently, but forced the meal down. She would need her strength, she knew. �Here ye go, Darlin�.� She paused suddenly as a wave of horror passed through her. It was His voice. The Monster. It was low and soft, almost soothing. �I gotsa good meal for ye. No, I won�t hurt ya. I only want ye to eat.� A long pause, and then, cheerily, �Good girl.� The door slammed, and he was gone again, his heavy footsteps echoing away into the darkness. Lysa had screamed when he came for her the next day, and the sound of his blows and the choking sobs as he beat her poured through the walls. She cried, wanted so bad to fight, and when Lysa�s screams died down to soft whimpers he took her away. It wasn�t long before he came back for her, blindfolding her and taking her in his arms and up the stairs to The Room. When he laid her down on the hard table it felt different, wet and sticky and warm. He tied down her hands above her head, pulled her down and tied her ankles. And she thought of her Prince, confessing his love to her as they made love on satin sheets. Then he kissed her, bringing her sharply out of her fantasy world. Tears streamed down her face as she tasted his foul tongue in her. He broke the kiss, but it had left behind a coppery wetness that lingered in her mouth. And as she laid there in the cell, wrapped in her warm blanket, she realized suddenly what she had tasted on his lips and what the sticky wetness was that still clung to her back: Blood. Lysa did not cry that night. He starved her for the rest of the week, and the silent darkness pressed in around her, and every time she thought about crying she thought about Lysa and had to clamp her hand over her mouth and whisper over and over again in a soothing tone, �He wants you to cry. Don�t cry. He want�s you to cry. Don�t cry.� And to stay sane, she retreated into her fantasy world and thought about pizza and her Prince and reading in front of a fireplace whenever she could. And then he came for her. The smell of food reached her before anything else, and her stomach turned inside her as saliva filled her mouth. Instead of tossing a bag into her cell and leaving, he entered slowly and put the plate down before her. The light of a lamp filled the room, but he remained hidden by shadows. �Don�t worry, Darlin�, I ain�t gunna hurtcha,� he whispered, �I just want ye to eat something.� She looked down at the plate: Some kind of pasta with hunks of beef scattered through it. She filled her mouth and began to chew, letting it slide down her throat and sate her hunger. He giggled as he watched, but she ignored him and kept eating. He took the plate when she was done, and as he bent down the light fell across one side of his face and she caught the slightest glimpse of a quivering jowel thick with fat. As he left, he turned to regard her once again, casting the light of the lantern directly in her eyes. He let out a terrible giggle and whispered, �None of you ask any questions about the food when ye starvin�.� He dipped the plate towards her and giggled, �Say bye to Lysa, darlin�.� As soon as he was gone, she vomited. Her mantra forgotten, she began to sob violently as she threw up the last of the meal, crawled back into the corner, and forced herself to sleep. She didn�t notice when he came for her. The warm feeling of the sun against her face brought her awake and she began to sob as she realized she was not blind folded. She looked around slowly at the beams of sun shining through the thick foliage of the treetops, warming her cold naked body. �Enjoy it, Darlin�,� he said in his small voice, �It�s the last time.� She closed her eyes as he strapped her down, unable to look into his face. She waited for him to force himself into her, but it never came. He walked closer, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. I will not cry, she said to herself, I will not scream. I will not give him satisfaction. A violent blow jarred her from her thoughts, and she felt the bones in her face crack and break. Then another, and another, until all of the pain ran together into numbness. She felt herself go limp and he stopped the beating to giggle, and she dug as deep as she could and brought all of her strength and will power she had to the top and forced her head high. And he knocked it all away with a single blow. Her world began to spin, and she felt herself falling into the void and go limp. She woke to the sound of humming and a grinding soreness in her face. She was no longer tied down and was laying flat and loose upon the table. �Oh, you�re awake!� she looked at him, tried to force her eyes open but they were too heavy to lift. He was simply an indistinguishable blur. �Good,� he said cheerily, �I like them awake for this part.� She cringed at the sound of grinding metal. �I�m going to take you apart, starting with your toes. Did you know that after your head is separated from your body, your brain will register everything for fifteen seconds?� The world began to come into focus, and he turned. He stood there fat and ugly and smiling menacingly, a long-bladed skinning knife with a slight curve held in his hand. �Guess what you�re going to be doing for those last fifteen seconds.� He giggled again, like a child, and slammed the skinning knife point first into the thick oak shoptable. He crossed the room quickly, bent over her and pressed his lips against hers before returning to sharpening the knife. She lay there motionlessly, completely limp. Pain coursed through her face and when she tried to draw a breath through her nose the pain hit her like a solid punch, so she lay there and breathed slowly through her mouth. She wanted, more than anything, to be able to move her legs but they seemed weighted down. She started with a toe, wiggling it slowly. �A good edge is essential,� he muttered as he inspected his work. Unsatisfied, he returned to the whetstone. She slung her legs from the table and pressed her feet silently against the cold cement floor, shifting her weight to her feet and silently bringing her torso up. �Getting close.� She waited until he started again, dragging the blade slowly from one end of the stone to the other, before she lifted herself from the table. A heavy piece of pipe was leaned against the table she had laid on, and she picked it up slowly, wary of the sound of screaming metal against the concrete floor. The pipe was three feet long, skinny but heavy, and slightly bent. She raised it high above her shoulder and started towards him. �There!� He screamed, slamming the knife down and turning slowly to face her. She paused, fear overwhelming her as he looked from her to the pipe and back. Hesitation registered across his face, and he took a step back. �Stay away!� She heard herself scream, and in that single moment of hesitation he lunged at her. She stepped to the side as he lumbered towards her, just outside of his outstretched arms, and brought the pipe down hard across the back of his head. The blow split the skin underneath his thinning hair and he fell to the ground, crying as he tried to stem the flow of blood with his right hand as he pushed himself up with his left. A great rage overtook her, and she brought the pipe down again. Over and over until the Monster�s blood ran thick and black across the shop�s floor. She stood over his corpse, his blood sticky on her bare feet. She felt a great revulsion as her strength left her and the blood splattered pipe became too heavy to lift. She felt like collapsing, falling down and sleeping, but instead forced herself through the door. And fell asleep with the afternoon sun warming her body.
topic: Essays
[reply] [1 comment]

Black Metal	March 29, 2007, 2:18AM
by: Passionfruit
Black is the night, metal we fight Power amps set to explode Energy screams, magic and dreams Satan records the first note We chime the bell, chaos and hell Metal for manics pure. Fast melting steel, fortune on wheels Brain haemorrhage is the cure For BLACK METAL (Venom, Black Metal) Historical Background Black Metal, as a 1990s phenomenon, is a creature with an identity largely distinct from its parent heavy metal music. Growing like a fungus away from the light of mainstream media interest, it developed its own bizarre sounds, imagery and philosophies. Baddeley, G., Lucifer Rising 1999, Plexus, London It is agreed by most that the term Black Metal originated with the phrase in the Venom album “Black Metal” in the early 1980’s. From there it grew to spawn such bands as Bathory, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. In the early 90’s came the onslaught of Norwegian Black Metal with bands such as Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor. These bands drew influences from Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost and others to form a new genre of metal music – Modern Black Metal, and more specifically, Norwegian Black Metal, Viking Black Metal and Scandinavian Black Metal. Black Metal has always been connected to National Socialism (NSBM – National Socialist Black Metal). Beginning in 1991 there were dozens of church burnings in Norway, which the Norwegians blamed on the Black Metal Circle. The Black Metal Circle was founded by a group of likeminded Scandinavian metal fans who all started their own bands. In the early days they would get together in a dim specialist record store called “Helvete” (hell) owned by Euronymous who founded the band Mayhem. The Black Metal scene is known for its violence. Several murders were linked to major players of the scene and at least 100 churches were burned by arsonists. Count Grishnack, real name Kristian “Varg” Vikernes, went on to stab and kill Euronymous. In prison he injected National Socialism into the blend of Satanism and Paganism. Several likeminded musicians have taken up this ideological composite, with nazism often being the strongest influence. NSBM is plainly fascist. Neo Nazi speech is illegal in much of Europe, leaving those artists consigned to the black market. Definition of key terms Norsecore - a derogatory term used to describe Scandinavian black metal. Also known as raw black metal, and kvlt black metal. It is now somewhat differently used as a derogative term for blasting, high-speed black metal lacking of any real attitude and/or ideology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsecore NSBM - National Socialist black metal (also known as Nazi black metal or NSBM) is a neo-Nazi subgenre of black metal music with lyrics that advocate ideas of racial separatism, anti-Semitism, Aryanism and a desire to return to pre-Christian ways of life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSBM Scandinavian Black Metal - Black metal is dark and fast music using melodic development to express its themes. Of all the metals, this is the most communicative with the modern listener, expressing nihilism and a heroic anti-social assertion of the self. Evolving simultaneously with death metal, this genre includes all of the technique and rhythmic intensity of the former with more emotive and comprehensible poetic communication within the music. http://www.anus.com/metal/about/black_metal/ Viking (Black) Metal - a cross-genre reference usually used to describe the lyrical and thematic elements of bands rather than the music itself. The bands that are associated with viking metal cover a broad range of musical genres and influences, such as folk metal, thrash metal, death metal, black metal, and power metal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Metal Troll (Black) Metal – Some bands, notably Finntroll, have shifted the focus of their music from the heroic humans or God of Norse mythology towards the "villains"- creatures such as trolls and giants. Like Viking Metal, Troll Metal is largely a thematic genre, with bands being musically either Black Metal, Folk Metal or some other form of metal. Like Viking metal, it often contains anti-Christian themes, with the trolls and monsters being a representation of the pre-Christian pagans of Northern Europe. These lyrics are not always entirely serious, though,as they are as much anti-human as they are anti-Christian and could even be seen as a little tongue-in-cheek, parodying the radical anti-Christianity or white supremacist ideas of certain black metal bands. Some Bands: Turisas, Finntroll, Burzum, Gehenna, Darkwood my Betrothed, Ensiferum, Enslaved, Emperor, Immortal, Samael, Katatonia, Gorgoroth, Impaled Nazarene, Beherit, Blasphemy, I Shalt Become, Black Goat, Infernum, Graveland, Gotmoor, Soddom, Abruptum, Dimmu Borgir, Usurper, Von, Dark Tranquility, Dark Throne, Blood, Celtic Frost. Heavy Metal is socially more accepted than it’s subculture Black Metal. Heavy Metal is less brutal in style and sound than Black Metal. Its fans are usually dressed “normal”, whereas Black Metal fans will dress up in clothes covered with metal spikes or even battle clothing, such as chain mail. Corpse Paint is also very common for Black Metal fans to wear. They will also often take on “stage” names from Norse folklore or books such as JRR Tolkiens Lord of the Rings. Heavy Metal fans seem to be a lot more easy going and accepting of other music genres and beliefs and lifestyles. Where Heavy Metal followers are accepting of for example Christianity, Black Metal followers are so against it and determined to do it harm they even burned down churches in the 1990’s, mainly in Norway. With Heavy Metal having so many subcultures it is natural that some will think they are better, and more “true” than others. Bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, who have achieved notable commercial success, are branded as not being “true” to the genre by a large part of the Black Metal community. The majority of Black Metal followers are white middle class Europeans with the core follwing being in the Scandinavian countries. Norway is still the generally accepted birthplace of Black Metal. “Maybe they are all the more shocking because those involved a largely white, bright and middle-class. Given that they flag their rejection of mainstream values with the most anti-social icons they can find, perhaps it’s remarkable their Satanic posturing doesn’t lurch into literalism more often.” Baddeley, G., Lucifer Rising 1999, Plexus, London Black Metal is not politically correct. A large part of its followers and artists are Neo Nazis. The Black Metal scene nowadays has a very large number of diverse bands. “Black Metal is defined not so much by a musical style as by a lyrical fixation with the satanic (though not necessarily Satanism itself), evoking dark passions and gothic moods. Within these boundaries, Black Metal is arguably the most vital and creative force in contemporary music.” Baddeley, G., Lucifer Rising 1999, Plexus, London Black Metal is a male dominated genre. It is very rare that the bands have female members, like Angela Grassow, the lead singer of the Swedish/German band Arch Enemy. “The seemingly limitless present-day ambitions of black metal are evident in the mission statement of blackmetal.com, an American on-line store influential in fostering the genre stateside: ‘Black Metal is the state-of-the-art pinnacle in extreme music and most alternative, most underground form of demi-monde culture this side of Hades! BLACK METAL, blackmetal, ‘BM’, ‘Norwegian’, ‘Northern’, ‘true’, ‘elite’, ‘modern black’, ‘dark metal’, ‘Greek’, ‘blackened death’, ‘gothic metal’, ‘Pagan metal’, ‘vampyric, ‘death industrial’, ‘black noise’, ‘dark ambient/black-ambient’, etc. – these are the nomenclature that sets our music apart from the mediocrity of conventional culture and brings us all together in the most cutting-edge community!…Hail Satan!” Baddeley, G., Lucifer Rising 1999, Plexus, London Despite its attempt at isolation from the traditional norm, it has still found it's way into one of the more classical and conservative of art forms. A ballet company, Ballet Deviare. Ballet Deviare is the first and only metal ballet company of its kind, that's right, you saw it correctly METAL and BALLET...specifically catering to the genres of death, doom and grind metal. Fusing "high art" and extreme music together. Ballet Deviare's mission is prompted by the fundamental desire to modify and expand the restrictions of ballet and to further legitimate heavy metal/extreme music as an art form. We deliberately stray from conventional ballet companies in that we offer a different experience, in terms of choreography and music. We are the first ballet company that strictly utilizes death, doom and grind metal as part of our permanent repertoire. The company also strives to cultivate and establish new audiences and to grant expanded artistic opportunities for talented dancers and choreographers. While other companies insist on using old, outdated, cliché music...we have stepped outside that restricted boundary to offer a unique and distinctive performance experience. Who the hell said that high art can't kick ass? Come experience high art, our way. Http://www.myspace.com/balletdeviare As shown in this example as much as a subculture tries to set itself apart from the mainstream there are always ways for it to be brought back together in the way of the mainstream wanting to be cutting-edge and different to the rest of the mainstream, therefore creating it’s own subculture.
topic: Essays
[reply] [43 comments]

In The Wild.	March 28, 2007, 6:48AM
by: Neurotoxic
How is the natural world described and distorted in these texts? Why is this the case? The texts are: Aldous Huxley's, Brave New World. Ridley Scott's, Bladerunner. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (BNW) and Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner (BR), both display the distortion of nature. The effect of extrapolated contextual issues in these satirical texts reflects the composer’s context and concern. The novel, BNW, was published in 1932 amidst a period of immense change. Dictatorships, mass persecutions, high unemployment rates and a continuous threat of a world war which were centred around technological development. Technology was valued and scientific development embraced, clearly presented through the text BNW. Huxley conveys the use of technological advancements of scientific research in the first chapter, where the audience is shown the process of human embryos being created and undergoing treatments in test tubes, presented through pseudo-scientific jargon and parody of mass production and eugenics in the 1930’s. In the text BNW, Huxley presents technology as the new Mother Nature, or god. Ford [Henry Ford], has become the new Christ due to his revolutionising mass production techniques, adapted to creating and controlling humans. Nature’s rhythms such as child birth and aging have been abolished in the BNW. Motherhood is detested and is described as a “revoltingly viviparous scene”. Children are now created in test tubes and subjected to treatments and processes such as the ‘Bokanovsky’ process, “shocking an egg so that it divides to form up to ninety-six identical embryos”, enabling ninety-six individuals to man factories, benefiting commerce. Drugs are now prescribed to stop aging and its effects, which places an expiry date on the population, furthering control of the people. Nature is marginalised in the BNW, reduced to few sporting grounds, which utilize “elaborate apparatus”, to encourage commerce. Nature’s value being reversed by Huxley, shows how little regard is held for it in this BNW. Savage reservations hold ‘savages’ who still reproduce sexually, grow old and marry, a total parody to the BNW. The savages are shunned in the society of the BNW, as they are dirty, foul and inhumane, “civilisation is sterilisation”, the hypnopaedic platitude reads. Lenina’s revulsion to age presents the view of society in the BNW “But it’s terrible” she exclaims whereas John presents the view of the reader, “I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.” John says listing each value reversed by Huxley. BR directed by Ridley Scott, was filmed in 1982 [re-edited in 1999 – Directors Cut] and also shows the distortion of nature due to both social contexts of the 70’s and 80’s. Both 1970’s and 1980’s saw the rise of computers, test tube babies and the beginnings of global warming. Cloning was a popular scientific ideal and success was celebrated for both the first test tube baby in 1978 and the cloning of farmyard animals. BR is set in the future Los Angeles in the year 2019. The text begins with a panoramic shot of the metropolis, representing that of hell; fire is bellowing into the darkened sky, ironically in the ‘city of angels’. Nature cannot be seen. It has been destroyed by man. The city shown is overpopulated and Asianised, two prominent concerns of the 1980’s. Nature is now artificially created. “It’s artificial?” Deckard asks, “of course it is” Rachael brusquely replies. Nature’s absence is shown through ‘Voight Kompff’, used to detect replicant as the questions asked are pertaining to animals to create empathy for the now extinct species. The world of BR also shows that natural rhythms are missing, such as night & day and love. The constant rain in the city suggests a post apocalyptic world and hence the sky is continuously dark due to the scorching of the sky by nuclear weapons. Love is non existent, showed through the relationship Deckard and Rachael share which is conveyed by the scene in which Deckard forces himself upon Rachael, violently, in an effort to show his love. Life is not valued in this world, expressed when Deckard brandishes a gun in a crowded street and shoots Zhora, using a close up shot of a woman’s bland, unresponsive face as Deckard points a gun at her. The replicants, being “more human than human”, value life and show human emotions which are not evident in the human population. Their juxtaposition with humans conveys how humanity has been lost and can be seen by the responder through the exaggeration of their deaths. In the 1980’s there were fears of large corporations becoming too powerful, and in BR, the have now become all powerful, presented through the omnipresence of advertising. Tyrell heard of Tyrell Co. lives in a Mayan temple-like building towering above the other buildings of the city, also conveying the power corporations hold over the people. This fact also gives sense to the quote “If you’re not police, you’re little people”, the police and corporations being literally higher than the public. Science and commerce are now valued over nature shown through Tyrell Co.’s motto, “Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell, more human than human is our motto.”. Replicants have been created as slaves to improve commerce. As in BNW, BR shows how nature has been forgotten and hence technology and scientific advancements have become all important. BNW shows nature marginalised to small areas to constitute commerce, where in BR, nature is artificially created for commerce. Human nature has been removed in both texts and shows how humans have severed their relationship with the natural world. The social contexts of Ridley Scott and Aldous Huxley have influenced the way nature has been presented in both texts. It has been distorted to emphasise the importance of restricting scientific control and the detrimental impact that humans have on nature. Any feedback would be nice. Constructive criticism would be valued.
topic: Essays
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(The New) ECW - Extreme Crap Wrestling...	March 26, 2007, 11:00AM
by: Matticus
I write this after just witnessing something extremely (pun intended) upsetting while surfing my cable television. I see the ECW logo, I hear legend Joey Styles and Tazz commentating…but I see a huge ring. I see a huge crowd. I see a large arena. I SEE two steroid freaks having a poor ‘wrestling’ match. No ECW rules. Just a normal standard boring wrestling match. Bobby Laslow or whatever his name was. Powerslams the opponent British Bulldog style and gets the 1..2..3. I choked on my drink, literally. Did I JUST SEE THAT?!?!?!? ECW…someone just won by a power slam. Ok, this must be the first match on the card, maybe they’re both jobbers. But then not only did I choke on my drink I started to feel nauseous when this Bobby character was the ECW World Champion! Oh My GODDDDDDDDDDDD! Joey Styles eat your heart out. How much money did Vinny Mac pay you, you big sell out. How have the WWE got the audacity to call this ECW? This is the equivalent to getting Paul Heyman and ECW legends with E-C-’Dub’ hardcore fans and throwing excitement on them every week. ‘EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING’. Oh yes. The ECW come back by the WWE. When I first heard about this I was at first excited when I heard Paul Heyman would get full control and it will be at the classic ECW arenas. But rather expectedly it was awful. People have told me that Heyman only got a handful of creative control over this new ECW product. Talk about kicking a man in the bollocks. A man who deserves as much respect, indeed more respect than Vince himself. I’ve been a fan of wrestling for 20 years. As a young child I grew up with the WWF(E), when Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart etc. were in their prime. I was a major fan when I reached my teens. I had found WCW and ECW totally fascinating by competing against the WWF. It showed me that the WWF wasn’t as great as it proclaimed. I still watched WWF but I was a fanatic of ECW and WCW right up until their demise. By this time I had lost my love for wrestling. I didn’t ‘feel’ the same way about it anymore. Perhaps with WWF destroying its competitors there seemed no point. Also, after the end of the two smaller federations the WWF started to put on weaker shows, with weaker storylines, weaker characters. I know they weren’t competing for ratings. I know they didn’t have to put in as much effort as they previously had to but why waste such great opportunities? Buying out ECW and WCW gave the WWF the best roster of wrestlers ever. Did they use it to their advantage? No. A year after Invasion I stopped watching wrestling altogether. I stayed up late for another PPV (I live in the UK) and it was awful. Truly awful. I thought to myself ‘wrestling is dead’. I considered I had ‘grown up’ and that wrestling had been a child hood entertainment. But so is football and I still love that. It was definitely something to do with the state of wrestling. Through the years I’ve missed of wrestling I slowly kept up to date through some friends. And I was surprised the WWF were still using the old time wrestlers. It is funny how the new guys can not take their places. Perhaps it is to do with poor management? Brock Lesnar received the biggest push ever (even more than Goldberg) and he retired in his mid 20’s! Poor, poor, poor. In about 2005/2006 I started to show an interest in wrestling when I found TWC (The Wrestling Channel). It appealed to me. I did not know there were good smaller wrestling companies out there with such exposure. I instantly loved TNA, not only because it reminded me of my love for WCW, it also had my favourite wrestlers there. The likes of Raven and Jarrett. I also got to see new talent. AJ Styles, Chris Daniels and many more. You can instantly tell they are more entertaining than the body builders the WWF call ‘new talent’. Also TWC showed smaller promotions. ROH amazed me. How original! A quality WWF does NOT have. FWA, a U.K. promotion which isn’t stuck in 70’s. And MLW, the new ECW…Or so I thought. Despite this nostalgic time for me to get back into wrestling. It was short lived. Most of the smaller promotions folded. Only TNA grew but it is nowhere near competing the WWF. Perhaps if another Ted Turner came along then maybe. In the last year I’ve been tuning in and out of wrestling. Meanwhile enjoying the new range of DVD’s available. RVD’s One of a Kind and Ultimate Warrior’s story are awesome although I ignore the bad smell the WWF puts on them. I also see other DVD’s. WWF vs. WCW, an hour long ‘docu’ on the Monday night war. This was wrestling at its best. But no doubt it will be extremely biased. I’m still eager to get it for nostalgic reasons. Also the history of ECW is a must have for my collection. I’m not over reacting. This new version of ECW is EVERYTHING the old and great ECW was against. It makes me feel horrible. The WWE have turned ECW into the new version of ‘Sunday Night Heat’. Where jobbers collide. I must not be alone with this disgruntlement. Surely other fans like me can not bear to witness such crimes against wrestling? Oh how I would love to have Vince up against that charge. I could probably make a very convincing case. The poor ECW show is followed by WWE SmackDown. Thirty minutes have not impressed me, in fact I am cringing at this minute seeing two extremely dreadful gimmicks. Have they got twelve year olds writing the scripts now? I’m turning over to TWC as soon as possible to watch some REAL WRESTLING. (From a deeply upset and angry ‘x’ generation wrestling fan)
topic: Rants
[reply] [5 comments]

When I was young	March 24, 2007, 2:26PM
by: JudgeJudas
This article will most likely be different from the ones I've written earlier. An almost entirely different theme. And who knows, maybe some people will get pissed off because of this, although I doubt it, but then again, there are idiots just about everywhere. Now, the topic is: Action-figures and different types of toys. I remember when I was kid, I had(and logically enought, still have) asthma, so I wasn't able to play soccer(yes, I'm a european, so we didn't have American "foot"ball), or interact in most types of sports, as I only needed to laugh to much to get a vicious asthma-attack. In the result of that, I turned to oher ways of entertainment, such as drawing and toys. One of my all-time favourite things were lego, and I must say I was actually a bloody genius when it came to constructing/playing with it, most likely because I've always been one of the "smart kids", but that's not the point, I just had to throw it in there(":P"). Aswell as lego, I, as many other kids, especially my other closest friends, also turned towards action-figures. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Force(or something like that), and only a few years later the Action Man craze, and of course, at every possibility, Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, and any Marvel and Batman(the only real good/best DC there is) toy we could. I sincearly believe there were other things, but I can't remember it all. Oh yes, also Star Wars action figures. I don't think I have to tell you that I was quite a geeky-ish kid. Not one that would become a "trekkie"(although I do enjoy Star Trek from time to time), more one of those outsiders with too much imagination and some sort of wisdom. Growing up, I remembered action figures kicked a whole lot of ass, not a little, a whole-fucking-lot. And lego actually had more than five pieces in a big box, and I guess it was a challenge for some. But now, when I walk into a toystore(and yes, it happens, looking for video-games, some cheap movies, or just some costume/theater-effects and so forth), most of, if not all, the toys I see, suck ass. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles look like silly ass turtle-demons on stereoids with white eyes. Action Man has become blond, lost his trademark scar on the cheek, and looks like a wanker with silly accesories. Batman, Spidey, X-Men & Co has all these accesories that doesn't make sense(Ok, that was somewhat the case when I was young, but not half as bad), they come in silly costumes(which has never ever ever ever appeared in any of the comics or cartoons or movies) and so forth. And they look like strange demonoid characthers, and not in the good way. One of the few who can pull of a demonic version of anything is Todd MacFarlane(creator behind Spawn, amongst other things), although most his works of other things are hell-ish even before he gets a thought on it. And for the final part: Lego. I think we might all just lobotomize our kids as soon as they are born if they grow up with lego. Lego is no longer in any way any form of a challenge. There's about 4-5 pieces, you put them together and you're done. It's idiotic. Instead of challenging their minds, and thereby most likely making them smarter, we destroy them with mind-numbing toys. And yes, the toys I grew up with didn't actually challege many minds(except for lego and miniature-building and alike), but what the hell, it wasn't as bad as it's now. I guess I could just finish this of with saying "I remember when I was young". And yes, most likely, you didn't get anything out of reading this, but too bad.
topic: Various
[reply] [2 comments]

Concern	March 23, 2007, 4:21AM
by: nothingmoves
"Essays" on this site are often alarmingly juvenile and inchoate. What's worse, their quality seems to be diminishing still further. Something must be done about this if this site is not going to devolve into a forum for childish whining and mockery. I think that this problem, and potential remedies to it, should be discussed by the Dark Starlings community in its entirety, and I can think of no better forum than here on the essays site itself. The best editors care more about the quality of the work that they publish than they do about their own reputations. I thank our editors for being among them, and, thus, for having the strength to publish this.
topic: Essays
[reply] [8 comments]

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