Saudi Ladies Want to Undress in Peace!
The Washington Post has something about Saudi women who have their panties in a bunch because of the strict laws of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You see, the same people who thought it would be awesome to dress the women in clothing from head to toe also say it’s bad for women and men to interact, unless they are related or married.
So that means women cannot be sales people, because they might interact with men! But it’s okay for them to buy lingerie from men, which I don’t quite get, because they’re interacting with men.
Well, semantics aside, there’s a movement in Saudi Arabia to allow women to work as sales people in stores that sell women’s unmentionables. It’s legit; they even have a petition on Facebook (which I still cannot find). Among the actions they are taking, boycotting stores that employ men to sell them underwear. Basically, reverse sexism, which as we know is still sexism.
How do you feel about this? I feel bad for the women, who have to interact with the males of the species who are not related to them. And for the men, who have to actually size them up, estimate what they need, and sell it. Oh, and there are no changing rooms. Why? Because the thought of women undressing in public? SCANDALOUS!!!
Mostly, though, I feel sad for the end user. The husband who would get to see revealing clothing on his wife, if not for the women going home and feeling too icky from the experience to actually wear them again.
I don’t know if this would actually happen, but the people interviewed make it sound like, in extreme cases, it could.
So men have to suffer because Saudi ladies want to undress in piece. Can you think of a more twisted conclusion to this story?
Don’t Stop Believin’
GiantBomb is reporting that Journey’s classic hit Don’t Stop Believin’ will be making its way to Rock Band DLC sometime in the near future. I can’t wait.
Now if only they could get a few more Journey songs into the mix, including Stone in Love (for that matter the entire Escape album wouldn’t be bad), Separate Ways (World’s Apart), Be Good to Yourself, Raised on Radio, To Be Alive Again, Nothin’ Comes Close, and a handful of others. You know what else would be good? Some Styx and REO Speedwagon. Oh how I love early 80s arena rock.
I feel ill
All it took was the headline: Jim Carrey, Sean Penn And Benicio Del Toro Cast As Three Stooges. MTV news is reporting something that makes me want to throw up. They are taking the venerable Three Stooges films and somehow doing a remake. Starring the above actors.
I tried to read the article, but it depressed me so. I got as far as Carry, Penn, and Del Toro will play Curly, Larry, and Moe, respectively.
Prepare for mediocrity, America (and the world), coming to a theatre near you in 2010.
2×05: The Last House on the Left
In this episode, Jay V gets together with Chris and Vanessa to discuss the 2009 remake of Wes Craven’s the Last House on the Left, but end up talking about other strange thriller-type movies, including Death Bed: The Bed that Eats and Exte: Hair Extensions. And then go on to discuss summer movies, like Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, Terminator Salvation, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Random Rhyming Chatting
This may only interest the few people who like reading people talk to each other. Months ago, Adam and I were conversing in GChat, when I mentioned to him,
me: so. i has house.
Adam: All by your lonesome?
me: YEP! ^_^
Adam: I’m watching house. does that count?
Adam: so, where is it? how big?
Adam:and how did you swing buying a house?
me: i’m really just renting from my parents
Adam: i thought maybe you had an inside line on trading or robbed a bank or something
me: insider trading. that’s not my style.
Adam: outsider trading?
me: nope.
And, little did I realise, the next line would start off a chain reaction, leading to the the weirdest chat moment I had ever involved myself in.
me: actually theft isn’t much my style either.
You will understand as you continue reading.
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My Music Monday: Metallica
Welcome to My Music Mondays. Each week I will be delving into my music collection and looking at a new artist going somewhat randomly currently but eventually from A to Z. I’ll examine why I first started listening to them, my favorite album and my top 10 songs for the artist. As my music collection is pretty extensive and I have a lot of one offs, I have set a qualification to be featured here. That is that I have to have at least two albums of the artist’s music before they can be considered. This week I look at Metallica.
I had a choice of which band to do today. On one hand, Pearl Jam’s “Ten” is being re-released tomorrow and the album is being released on Rock Band tomorrow on XBOX Live and Thursday on the PSN. On the other hand, this coming Sunday Guitar Hero: Metallica releases and I was asked specifically by a friend to do a special My Music Monday: Mettallika edition. I know that is spelled wrong, it ties into the request….
Anyway I was turned on to Metallica somewhere around eighth grade and my freshman year of high school. At the time I was big into the 80s hair metal scene, bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Europe and Poison were in my tape deck along with Guns N’ Roses. I spent a lot of time listening to those bands and watching their videos on MTV. Then one day I caught the brand new video for “Enter Sandman” and I was hooked. I fell in love with the Black album and quickly began looking into their prior works, to which I was turned onto some of the most heavy, yet melodic music I had ever heard.
I have been a fan for nearly 20 years now and have had the pleasure to see them live a couple times, each of which was a special occasion. The best time I ever had though was during a free concert that the band held in the parking lot of the CoreStates Center, which they entitled the Million Decibel March, was held in November 1997. The concert was insane and at one point I was within just a couple feet of Kirk Hammett, by far the best free concert I have ever been too.
Favorite Album: Master of Puppets
If I had to choose only a handful of albums as my all time favorites, Master of Puppets would be on that list. In my opinion it may be the best metal album ever put together.
10 Favorite Songs
10. Bleeding Me
9. The Call of Ktulu
8. One
7. Wherever I May Roam
6. Nothing Else Matters
5. Master of Puppets
4. Enter Sandman
3. Orion
2. Fade to Black
1. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
So what do you think of Metallica?
Fourth Game Beaten of ‘09: Resistance 2
I am going to come right out and say it, I never finished Resistance: Fall of Man. I liked it well enough I guess, The story seemed interesting enough and at the time I got it, there really wasn’t all that much else to play on the PS3 but I got bored with it somewhere around half-way through and then got distracted by games that did the genre better, like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. It came as somewhat of a surprise to me that I was interested in playing Resistance 2.
However Insomniac, one of my favorite developers, seemed to have really upgraded everything that I had complaints about in Resistance: Fall of Man so I caved and bought it. This time though I didn’t even get the chance to get bored with the game as I purchased it but let it sit on my shelf so I could spend time with some other high profile games, like Mirror’s Edge, Gears 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Prince of Persia, etc… Eventually, enough became enough and I forced myself to sit down and play the game.
What I found was a mixture of some really good gameplay, some refinements and additions to the formula over the previous title, and a weaker overall narrative, which I took exceptionally hard. When I play games by myself, I generally prefer to have a strong narrative, something with some reach and tied together well through intermittent cutscenes. I felt the strongest point for Resistance: Fall of Man was its story, that’s unfortunately not the case with Resistance 2. The story is still interesting but the way its told is very hacked together, and lets just say the ending to the game, while dramatic and fittingly appropriate, was a pure letdown.
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Random Obscure Sound Repost: Tesla Boy
One of my favorite things about music from the early 80’s was their reliance on synthesizers to create the melodies, rhythms, the everything. To me, nothing beats the sound when you’re looking for nostalgia.
I never go on Obscure Sound’s website, but when I did today, I was treated to feeling like I was four years old all over again, all thanks to Tesla Boy. They are described, according to Obscure Sound, as “a fusion of Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Pet Shop Boys without sounding like they borrowed any primary ideas at all.” I hope you enjoy this morning wake-up as much as I did.
2×04: Discussions on Watchmen
Jay V and Brady pull in Chris and Nicholas for nearly an hour of talking about the latest comic book-based film, Watchmen. Consider it making up for lost time. Also mentioned: the graphic novel, Watcher in the Woods, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, lack of squids in the movie, Night Man, and more!
Note: This episode has more adult language than normal.
Chris, besides About 12 Minutes contributor, maintains Kariyanine Online, where you can read his post on Malin Akerman being hot.
Nicholas blogs at We Laugh at Catastrophe (among other places), though he hasn’t posted his 90+ master list of giant squid quotes.
The Scourge
I find it quite hilarious that I will sit here and read Mark Simonson’s article The Scourge of Arial, after telling a friend of mine that his album design is marred by the use of that font. I especially like how Arial is referred to as, “the standard font in practically everything done by nonprofessionals in print, on television, and on the Web,” and that, “it has what you might call a ‘low-end stigma.’”
I was never a fan of the font; I always saw it as bland, boring. And then, after Helvetica vs. Arial, I saw it as a simple ripoff, a rather yawn-worthy ripoff, at that! My favorite replacement to Arial—which is really a Windows-replacement for Helvetica—is LinoType’s Neue Helvetica. Its slight differences, compared to Arial, and even LinoType’s original Helvetica font, make it so fresh, while still remaining simple.
My Music Monday: The Cult
Welcome to My Music Mondays. Each week I will be delving into my music collection and looking at a new artist going somewhat randomly currently but eventually from A to Z. I’ll examine why I first started listening to them, my favorite album and my top 10 songs for the artist. As my music collection is pretty extensive and I have a lot of one offs, I have set a qualification to be featured here. That is that I have to have at least two albums of the artist’s music before they can be considered. This week I look at The Cult.
Despite being a child of the 80s and growing up on the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Whitesnake and a host of other 80s hard rock / metal acts I don’t have a storied history with The Cult. My introduction to them actually came over a decade after their greatest hits when they released their 2001 album “Beyond Good and Evil”.
The album, while not their best, had enough good music on it to get me to look into them further. It certainly didn’t hurt when I was misinformed that former Guns N’ Roses drummer, Matt Sorum was the drummer on the band’s 1989 “Sonic Temple” (he joined the band shortly after “Sonic Temple” was released and did drum on “Beyond Good and Evil”) and I picked that album up. From there I branched into some of their older stuff most notably 1987’s “Electric” and 1985’s “Love”, which all ended up being right up my alley music wise.
Favorite Album: Sonic Temple
When I found out the Matt Sorum was not the drummer on “Sonic Temple” I was a little bit let down, however it did not negate the fact the “Sonic Temple” is an excellent rock album and my hands down favorite from the band.
10 Favorite Songs
10. My Bridges Burn
9. Sun King
8. Love Trooper
7. Rise
6. Breathe
5. Rain
4. Sweet Soul Sister
3. Love Removal Machine
2. She Sells Sanctuary
1. Firewoman
So what do you think of The Cult?
Third Game Beaten of 2009: Rocketman: Axis of Evil
When I first heard about “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” I had pretty high hopes, after all I grew up on top down shooters like “Ikari Warriors” so this looked to be right up my nostalgic wheelhouse. Unfortunately “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” has more than its fair share of problems, most notably the lack of fun I had playing it.
As I said “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” is a top down shooter, but unlike “Ikari Warriors” it is a dual stick shooter. My experience with dual stick shooters is mostly with games like “Geometry Wars” or “Super Stardust HD”, games where you are faced with unbelievable odds yet through the users maneuvering, targeting and powerups, coupled with the speed of the ship those odds were more approachable. “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” still has you facing unbelievable odds but the rest of the gameplay mechanics of a twin stick shooter are tragically missing.
That’s not to say that the game does not have power ups because it does, and a good selection of them as well. Sadly though the power-ups are so powerful that the game goes from being insanely difficult to being a cake walk. This is all balanced out by putting a timer on the power-ups unfortunately the timer is so short that you end up over-extending your position in an effort to kill as many enemies with your powered up weapon. This will often result in cheap deaths from enemies off screen once your weapon has powered down. I am sure there are some players who have mastered the game that will tell me that there is a fine strategy involved in weapon use and map progression but I don’t have time to master a mediocre game and honestly I don’t care.
Unlike most dual stick shooters I have played, “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” has a detailed, if not entirely well-told story to give your slaughter of little green men purpose. The story is told through a series of anime cutscenes. I don’t want to speak ill of the story but I stopped caring around level 3 and started skipping through the scenes, considering that I generally love stories in games that isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement.
There was one piece of the game I enjoyed though and that was the character customization mode. By killing enemies you pick up differently shaped gold pendants and earn experience points which all works as currency in the game that can be spent at the end of each level to upgrade your character in a variety of ways. Be it armor, personal statistics, weapon stats or even stock for your arsenal of gadgets, “Rocketman” lets you upgrade your character anyway you want. Sadly upgrading your character has no real discernible effect on your in game character’s appearance but I do so love to spend points on stuff.
Truthfully if you are looking for a dual stick shooter that is based off of an obscure constructable strategy game, then “Rocketman: Axis of Evil” may very well be for you. However if you are just looking for a dual stick shooter, I recommend “Geometry Wars” on the 360 and “Super Stardust HD” on the PS3, they are both far better games than “Rocketman” ever even had hopes of being.
2 out of 5*
Myspace » Facebook » Twitter
Guess what!
According to . . . [TG Daily | Yahoo News | Business Week] . . . Facebook is revamping their website to allow for real-time updates, and is being compared to some high-powered Twitter. The new site will go live in about a week, and lets you also post photos and videos and stuff like that in these updates. One thing this feature has over Twitter is that Twitter doesn’t show you the multimedia, just a tinyurl link to it.
But the thing I love about Twitter is that it’s so easy to use, and you can even do it on the go! A quick text message and you’re done! If I wanted to update Facebook while I’m out, I have to flip open the phone, log into Facebook, and then scroll down to the status update section, type it in, click UPDATE, and wait for the data to transfer.
It kind of reminds me of the clunky way MySpace added the Friend Updates box—smack dab in the middle of your dashboard, which I hated and always ignored—and then applications—and I have zero clue where these damn things go in the first place. I haven’t regularly logged on to MySpace for about a year and have just recently started using Facebook regularly. It was around then that MySpace appeared to be ripping off Facebook, and Facebook redesigned itself to be much more user-friendly. That’s when I ditched one and went to the other.
And now looking this Facebook»Twitter news, I’m thinking the same thing might happen, as Facebook tries to capitalize on the best Twitter has to offer. I guess the writers at TechCrunch put it well when they stated something like, if you can’t buy it, beat it. The only difference is, I use Twitter way more than Facebook anyway, and I probably always will.
Weebl Games: Metro Sibera
If you wanna know what’s been keeping me up all night, go check out Metro Siberia. I’d seen a helicopter game like this, a spelunking game, a snowboarding game (Robin Arthur has it hidden in a Credits screen), a rocketing-through-a-cave game. This one looks the best, and it’s kept me entertained for at least half an hour. It’s a shame I stink at it.
My Music Monday: 3 Doors Down
Welcome to My Music Mondays. Each week I will be delving into my music collection and looking at a new artist going somewhat randomly currently but eventually from A to Z. I’ll examine why I first started listening to them, my favorite album and my top 10 songs for the artist. As my music collection is pretty extensive and I have a lot of one offs, I have set a qualification to be featured here. That is that I have to have at least two albums of the artist’s music before they can be considered. This week I look at 3 Doors Down.
In August 2000 I had tickets to the two sold out Creed shows at the Blockbuster E-Center in Camden, NJ. 3 Doors Down was one of the two opening acts in support of Creed those nights, the other being American Pearl. Today the only band out of those three that is still together is 3 Doors Down. Not only are they still together but they have quietly become one of the most successful rock artists of this decade, netting a pair of #1 albums and a handful of #1 singles.
I actually started listening to the band in early 2000 and was not surprised in the least by the ascension of their song “Kryptonite” to the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. And by the time the concerts in August came along, their song “Loser” was in the midst of its record 21 week run at the top of the Mainstream Rock charts. Anyway I’ve been a fan since the beginning but the funny part about it all is that I can’t name you a single member of the band without having to look it up. They just keep a low profile, stay out of trouble, and play their music. It’s kind of refreshing actually.
Despite being a fan and getting their new releases when they came out, I hadn’t seen them live since those two concerts in 2000. That is until this past Saturday, where they headlined a show at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. The band still has a great live energy, although they now feel more comfortable commanding the stage. They play a super tight set and they showed me something that has seemingly been absent from many public figures over the past decade, a love for the United States of America. They had no political message other than an overwhelming indication that they were proud to be Americans. They ended their show with the song they wrote honoring the US Military forces, “When I’m Gone” and as it ended, red, whit and blue confetti covered the crowd. It was like being at a USO show or something. I was waiting for a USA chant to overtake the audience as they left the venue to head back down to the Showboat floor. As I said before, It was kind of refreshing.
Favorite Album: The Better Life
I was hard pressed in determining which album was my favorite (picking ten songs was even harder), however despite my two favorite songs being from their latest album, when I thought about it more I had to go with their first album, “The Better Life”. It has “Kryptonite”, “Loser”, “Duck and Run” and “Be Like That”, the four songs that hooked me to the band in the first place.
10 Favorite Songs
10. Loser
9. The Road I’m On
8. Kryptonite
7. Duck and Run
6. Let Me Be Myself
5. When I’m Gone
4. Be Like That
3. Let Me Go
2. It’s Not My Time
1. It’s the Only One You’ve Got
So what do you think of 3 Doors Down?
