Already the New Year

Even though tonight is New Years, I already feel like it has happened.

Why? I ate a real breakfast not consisting of just chocolate and cookies and listed a new item in my shop, which is open again!

The Winterwoods.

I have plans for these two. The Winterwoods may return in other prints or items. They already have a back story in my head.

And I have a few pictures from my Christmas visit to my home town, Capreol. (In Ontario, Canada) Prepare to be cold.

Isn't it flat and that special kind of bright cold? Eep.

My parents house all tucked into snow. We had just arrived and I wanted to take pics before getting my Christmas on.

Had to climb it!

I got a bit snowy. Good thing I had just bought boots when I got to town. Go kids boots!

Most of my pictures of actual Christmas are blurred with the excitement of opening gifts and lauging and family. Plus no one wants to be in their pjs on the internet. :-) Let me sum up my Christmas for you...

Eat, visit, eat, Christmas eve, gifts, snow, photos, garage doors, stuck cars, kitty litter, Finnish exchange students, wii battles, gift exchange games, cookies, sweaters, lost cell phones, chasing cats, Levack, thickest fog ever, gravy, shovelling, and cheesecake.

I have big plans for the New Year. Most of which include bat wings. :-)

rorschach.

..and company.
here are my favourite quotes from and associated with Watchmen, one of the best graphic novels ever written, second only to, in my opinion, Sandman. ;)
I'll have to put up Sandman quotes at some point of time. Only the entire graphic novel takes so bloody long to read that I've been putting off the whole task of gathering the quotes.
All the same, someday I'll read it for the umpteenth time and actually gather the quotes.
For now then, \Watchmen/.

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose.

         -Rorschach.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.
And if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.
                                                                                  -Nietzsche

Ground floor comin’ up.
                                   -Liftman.

It rains on the just and the unjust alike. Except in California.
                                                          -Sally Jupiter.

Passers by made various deposits- candy wrappers, newspapers, a pair of keds, strangled by own laces, tongues lolling out horribly. The city is an animal, fierce and complicated. To understand it I read its droppings, its scents, the movement of its parasites…I sat watching the trash can and New York opened its heart to me.
                   -Rorschach.

None of you understand. I’m not locked up in here with you. You’re locked up in here with me!
           -Walter Joseph Kovacs (aka Rorschach)

Outside in the distance a wild cat did growl, Two riders were approaching, The wind began to howl.
                       -Bob Dylan

No. Not even in the face of Armageddon.
Never compromise.
                          - Rorschach

it's that simple.
i ought to be pitied.
fullstop.
no amount of chin-highness seems to help it.
so. bow down and pity me.
amen.

Off we go!

Its time to visit, eat and hug your parents!

Off to visit family and friends who live in Northern Ontario, where its not just cold but "DAMN that is COLD." Presents are wrapped (well, the ones that arrived by mail in time. grr!) Cookies are baked (and mostly eaten) and batteries charged for dorky family photos. See you in the new year!

petered out.

and then. two words: forget it.
...................................forget. it.
...................................forget it. and. learn.

take away this dream please. someone. anyone.

denial is good. in a way. was handling it just fine. don't upset that balance please.

take it away. take it all away. give me the body or nothing at all.

shadows melt away. take it away.

FUCKYOU. }:-]

Downloadable

Tah Dah!



This year I made little digital artwork of Rocko the Cat (my cat) in a stocking! I backed the artwork in green and white striped paper and then laminated it. I included the flat little ornaments in my Christmas cards to my friends and family.


You can get the original from my flickr HERE.


If you aren't the ornament type, I also made a half page of gift tags you can print out on sticker paper for your gifts.


Yes, I am one of those people who includes their pets name on Christmas cards.

Still alive!

Not having to tend my Etsy Shop is weird! When I hear the email ping I don't feel like I have to run in the room and check right away. I am so unpopular.

I have been busy this week but I can't show much as they are gifts...What if the giftee saw it?? Horror.
- I finished up a gift for new bundle of baby!! Its SO not my usual colour scheme.
- did a little Christmas illustration decoration, which I guess I could make downloadable later this week...yes.
-sketched up a *ton* of new print ideas. Its a sheaf.
-and printed up a new lino print (Which I can show you!)

I had this stamp carved for a year or two, and have used it a few times on paper for tags and things, a few times on fabric. But it was time for a proper print run. These teeny little prints are oil based ink on thick and smooth watercolour paper. They will be listed in my shop when I return on December 30th.

The oil based ink works so much better for me than the water based did. I think I may have to switch permanently. Sure I risk brain damage when cleaning it up...

So even though I have orders from my dude to "not work and watch movies," I don't feel that happening today. Its a day to produce! Vampire boys don't draw themselves you know.

die laughing. plus, 'i lived through hell.'

Disclaimer: if you're unfamiliar with Metal subgenres, this won't be all that funny to you. All the same, I really hope you die laughing. xD
Coz I did.
And secondly, this doesn't intend to offend any subgenre, as all of you are aware how very much I love metal. In all its forms.

Enjoy.

HEAVY METAL: The protagonist arrives on a Harley, kills the dragon, drinks a few beers, and bones the princess.

POWER METAL:The protagonist arrives riding a white unicorn, escapes from the dragon, saves the princess and makes love to her in an enchanted forest.

THRASH METAL:The protagonist arrives, fights the dragon, saves the princess and fucks her.

DEATH METAL:The protagonist arrives, kills the dragon, fucks the princess and kills her, then leaves.

BLACK METAL:The protagonist arrives at midnight, kills the dragon and impales it in front of the castle. Then he sodomizes the princess, drinks her blood in a ritual before killing her. Then he impales the princess next to the dragon.

DOOM METAL:The protagonist arrives, sees the size of the dragon, and thinks he could never beat him. He gets depressed and commits suicide. The dragons eats his body and the princess as dessert. That's the end of the sad story.

GOTHIC METAL:The princess in a velvet costume starts singing soprano. The protagonist completes the duet by adding the beast part, while the dragon plays the flute. Suddenly the dragon swallows the flute and accidently scorches the beauty and the beast and suffocates to death. All their souls are damned in hell for all eternity.

PROGRESSIVE METAL:The protagonist arrives with a guitar and plays a solo of 26 minutes. The dragon kills himself out of boredom. The protagonist arrives at the princess' bedroom, plays another solo with all the techniques and tunes he learned in the last year of the conservatory. The princess escapes looking for the HEAVY METAL protagonist.

GLAM METAL:The protagonist arrives, the dragon laughs at the guy's appearance and lets him enter. He steals the princess' make-up and tries to paint the castle in a beautiful pink color.

NU METAL:The protagonist arrives in a run down Honda Civic and attempts to fight the dragon but he burns to death when his moronic baggy clothes catch fire.

so that's that. oh and the second bit. exams ended yesterday. 5th sem was a murderer of a sem. so relieved is the least i can say about myself right now.

:D

so the gang went to an amusement park to jubilate. apart from the regular bits, i showed a tiny tendency to turn into silver surfer.

look.

and these, with me, are THE retards. :bolts:
:)



you are what makes college life what it is. love you guys. :)

Christmas hobo

Its that time of year!I closed my Etsy shop! Not forever, just for the Holidays.

Its a bit like a vacation, in that I don't get up every morning and get to work emailing and packing and making stuff. But its a weird busy time of year for me. I make Christmas gifts, have baby's and birthdays and all sorts of projects on the go for launch in the new year. Its crazy busy, but I still don't have to answer to the man. I guess the man is really just my inbox...

Its just a weird time of year, where I am loosing money and spending money and being busy and not having a job all at the same time. PHEW. :-) But its nice to have a change, and I always end up making some cool stuff this time of year, so I can't complain.

I have the tree up and I cannot take a nice picture of it.
Its a black tree with only a few pink and white lights and purple and silver decorations. Add heavily patterned curtains and carpet and you get a mess. It looks nice in real life, but its just a blurry blob in all the million photos I took of it. I don't think we *tried* too hard to decorate it this year, we just threw the decorations at it. It shows. Its shows how awesome we are.

Once the tree is up its all holiday around here. No meal shall be cookie free.

It comes from the diaphragm. OF HELL.

Sometimes I get a laugh out of myself.

I am sitting in my studio, dancing around to dudes screaming about eternal suffering or something about life being a deep pit of horrible despair, while photoshopping bright pink backgrounds of the adorable kitty stickers I drew.

If I ever get my own house I am going to build a soundproof room in the basement where I can perfect my metal guy scream. And paint it piiiiink.

Twilight remorse, Jonny Lee Miller recollection

I feel a bit bad about trashing Twilight. Maybe if I had thought the dude from the movie was cuter I could have been won over to the dark side (or the Mormon side, or whatever...) Ok, the feeling passed, its still lame.

My lino printing is also kinda lame. Its not a disaster by any means, but its not as perfect as I envisioned it.

I made a LOT of prints and most of them are too "quirky" for me to be happy with. The ones that are good are good. I want to try some different inks before listing anything. I also want a printing press now. There is one at the art supply store I go to all the time. Its only like $500. :-(

Here is a new product I just listed. Stickers!

I am a label person. I just like them. Plus its useful, cheap and cheerful. (ok, maybe not quite cheerful, but they could be if I wasn't such a freaking closet GAWTH.)

I think a lot of stickers will be in my future. I have approximately one billion ideas for sets to draw. Most of them include gravestones. Ha! Next up is a Batcat set. I have the sketches complete, now I just have to draw them in Illustrator.

So its Cyber Monday (in the states). Today. Yep.
*crickets*
Pretty much what I expected. I hate being told when people are supposed to shop. Who says Cyber anyway? Welcome to the 90's. *Runs off to watch Hackers.*

flies.

"...and when she wasn't living in the future she was living in the past. As for the present she got through that as quickly as she could, running away from things, running towards things, so that her voice was always a little breathless, her heart pounding at an escape or an expectation..."
.............................................Grahame Greene , Brighton Rock
Go read honestytesttag on otherblog.
Sem exams are less than three days away, and I hate to admit it but I think I'm..uh..screwed.

Oh and about Mumbai, since everyone's writing about it, all I have to say is I DO NOT condemn the government or the administration. And I respect them for all their effort, and with this retrogressive withdrawal into a prehistorian barbarism, all we can do is hope, trust and respect as much as we can, and as long as we can.
I for one, shall keep believing in my country, come what may.

Twilight review

Here is my Twilight review.





Making fun of this book isn't really useful or necessary. The people who like it really, really like it. No changing their minds. I just thought it was weak.
My short list of its weak-ness:
-Teenagers are boring. You were boring, I was boring. They go to school and care about dances and tests.
-Main characters are not equal. He is a super-hot, 80 year old, rich vampire who can read minds. She is pretty and smells good.
-No adult situations. Yes, its a teen book. Which means no actual weight to threats of sex and death. Which is what vampires are about. Sure scary situations happen, but its in kind of a "edited for TV" way.
-Subtle churchiness. They struggle with abstinence (vampire abstinence) and marriage like situations would fix everything.

Some of these complaints are founded, some are just personal nonsense. But cutting my teeth on Anne Rice (who I actually respect more now that I have read other vampire crap) made me realize this wasn't my cup of tea. Its a dullish romance book. And I actually read and really enjoy some romance books, but written for adults. I may try to read the second book (I have heard it gets better) but I don't really care. If it falls from the sky I will read it and reconsider my review.

Cover is nice though.

Lino!

Screw Twilight. I don't have the review ready that I promised. I spent the weekend buying gifts and eating my hopelessly burned peanut butter cookies instead. I also messed with my blog layout and tried to not headbutt the screen while messing with codes in seemingly random fashion. So this is what it looks like now.

Then I started a new little project...

I am starting a little lino carving!

I don't know how to carve linoleum, but that rarely stops me from doing things. I did some lino prints when I was a kid I think. And then one or two in highschool (or was it university?) Whatever, I touched lino block some time in my past.

I usually use softoleum (or soft-kut) for my stamps and fabric prints, which is way softer and easier to use. But its hard to get small detail. I wanted to try something new. And lino seems so much more grown up for some reason.

I also have the dullest lino cutter ever made by human hands. Its so crappy. They never have the size of blades I like at the art supply store. Why do they hate me?

So I have been warming the lino block under my bum (Hey, warming it helps you carve it!) and then carving teeny lines, which will be the guide for the deeper lines. I should be finished the carving by the year 2010.

Newness

My mailman brought a big box to me!

New mats! (Hey, it was exciting to ME! See the exclamation points!!)

I would love to mat everything in oval mats. It reminds me of old photos and fairytale illustrations. Some of my paintings have rough edges and can be hard to mat without a getting a custom mat cut (Which is a pain. Am I right? You won't do that.) So I will introduce a few prints in this new format.

I haven't even updated the shop with the new listings or anything. I will probably do it throughout the weekend...Later. What? Am I a robot? A listing robot?? Its FRIDAY.

I might do my Twilight review later today. I finished the book last night so I wouldn't have to stick my fingers in my ears whenever some movie review came on TV. (Which is a freaking frequent occurrence, with all the **dazzle hype.**) I am one of those people who hates having any part of movies or tv ruined for me. Even if I know what is going to happen. I don't want to know when, how or what pants they are wearing when it happens.

Off to find some sort of sparkle graphic to accompany my review...

Free!

Starting today!
I am giving away free Spooky Christmas gift tags with my Etsy orders!

I will throw in a few in each order, the more items, the more tags! (Duh!) They are matte sticker paper, some are bigger, some are teeny tiny, perfect for little stocking sized gifts.

I was going to sell them, but nah. Free is so much more fun.

I am probably finished making Christmas items for my shop now. I had high hopes, but I got all Grinch-y about it, and started painting high contrast male models instead of Santas. Haha.

I am reading Twilight right now, and so far its making my 14 year old self turn the pages and my 28 year old self gag and roll my eyes. I will have to wait until I finish it to officially rip it up. (Uhh.. I mean, give it an unbiased review!)

I don' think I will see the movie in theatres though, I might slap some kids. I guess it wasn't that long ago that I was am impressionable teenage girl, but I shudder when I see how lame some teenage girls can be. They turn into squealing mindless romance zombies. Its gross. Oh wait, this is so turning into a review....must stop.

So I leave you with a pic of Rocko the Cat. Its been far too long since I spammed this blog with catness.

You can hardly tell he is fat. Its like a myspace shot. haha

More swooping.

Look at this little custom order I made. Isn't it the freaking cutest?

Haha. A chef bat!
Making little clothes is super fun. But I don't want to do it all the time, to keep it fun. :-)

Some other bats I am considering though...
-tax man
-professional poker player
-makeup artist
-Etsy shop owner
-Ricky Gervais

Just kidding.

The hand

crept towards the ipod.


and flipped back onto the pillow...



There was a song playing on the ipod.
Enter Sandman by Metallica.

Sleep with one eye open,
Gripping your pillow tight...

Exit light,
Enter night;
TAKE MY HAND!
Off to never never land...

Painting in limbo

I finished a new little painting, but a technical difficulty is keeping me from scanning it right away. Here are a few photos of its little life.

Here is the pencil drawing. I thought it looked like Miley Cyrus, but my dude said it didn't. Phew! This is one of those pointless paintings where my only goal is to paint pretty eye makeup and splatter stuff.

So I inked it with acrylic ink and a little brush. No major flubs. I even left some of the pencil lines underneath at some places I liked them. Then, as always, my first step
is to wash everything in colours. White paper be gone. If you go to the full size one at its Flickr page you can see just how carefully I do this. *snicker*

So here is the final painting. She needs some plastic surgery in Photoshop, for sure for me to be super happy with her, but other than that I think it came out ok. Until she is scanned I am not sure what form she will end up as in my shop. Maybe a matted print, maybe a bookmark, maybe something else...

So now that Remembrance Day ceremonies have been watched, coffee and pastries have been gobbled (delivered to me in my pj's by my sweet dude!) and the internet has been updated, I can go out into the world. The cold winter world. Damn.

EDIT**
She is photoshopped and etsyshopped, and her name is Olive.

americans are NOT stoopid.

i hate the fact that indians are MORE excited about the presidential elections of another country (that i'm not...*cough cough*...exactly FOND of...and i'm sure even this dude won't help me in being fond of it. coz in the end it doesn't matter whether or not it's Bush or Obama or whoever. things won't change FOR us darlings! Newsflash!!) than i've ever seen them being about the presidential elections of India. Fuck! loads of them don't even know WHO OUR PREZ IS GODDAMMIT!!!!

so i found something on the net.


oh watch this watch this. DO!!
so much for wetting ourselves in excitement over Obama's victory.

How long until next Halloween?

Halloween is OVER. How depressing!! I am sad.

It was awesome though.

We were sort of rockabilly/psychobilly zombies of some sort. We had already forgotten or abandoned parts of our costume by this point. The flash makes us look less zombie-ish than we really were. We left accidental tattoo prints on the rental car, each other, animals, and furniture. Wahaha.

We were at a party called BOOzefest. BOOzefest V to be exact. Five years of awesome parties. Hosted by two awesome friends that pretty much went Halloween crazy, and spared no expense to make sure everyone had a great time. They have a nice big house that was packed with decorations, food, and many,many drinks. Their parties are always good, but this one was really great. I feel lucky to not only have generous friends, but friends who also like Halloween as much as I do!

Good turnout too! We won third prize in the costume contest. Cheeeers!

So I sit here listening to my Halloween playlist while I begin to switch to Christmas mode. Its not an easy transition!! I would trade in Christmas for a second Halloween in a second. *grumble* Ok, trying not to be a grinch...

I listed my first Christmas item.

Spooky Christmas pin set.

I always have this set in my shop at Christmas. This years version's images are a touch larger and a teeny bit more saturated.

I don't really know if I will make any more specifically Christmas themed items. Its such a gamble, and I am not a gambler I guess. ;-) I do have some little things started, and will probably try to get some of them listed this week.

I am shutting down my shop for Christmas on December 10th, so I pretty much only have ONE MONTH. Guess I better got on it.

gaddamned hormones!!

i feel like a fucking teenager.
...on a fucking emotional rollercoaster....high one moment, low the next.
i want to scream out that notorious adolescent line: 'i hate the world!!'
fucking hell.


i don't want to feel this way. i'm PAST teenage. bloody twenty.

fuck. it. all.
:x

Read THIS, people. It's been a while since I irritated an assent out of Joe B R to link up to this post ( ;P ), but I didn't get the time to actually link up. This post is a couple weeks old, and it's a good read, especially for girls who'd like to hear someone speak, as in SPEAK, out against men groping women. This dude was effing pissed in upper case, and I tell you folks, you won't regret having read it...

:P

!!!

christ!! what where how??

i thought i only used the f word. but according to this here i must be a foulmouthed bitch... wtf!!!

O_o

makes me wonder WHICH all words they actually consider cusswords...

NOW!

I am in NOW this week!

Now is an independent free weekly news and entertainment newspaper that pretty much one trillion Toronto people read on the subway every Thursday. Its basically the perfect audience for people like me. Its an "Authors Fest" issue and my little bookmark got chosen!

Hello little cat!

Here is a link to the web version of the little article. I like it that my name got into the little blurb at the top. Not too shabby.

So that is fun. Its pretty much what I expected when I was contacted by the fashion reporter. Its teeny tiny but its still in print. I tried so hard to pitch the "Book Vampire" one to him! Ugh, doesn't anyone like vampires?! ;-) haha

So HI NOW READERS!! If any of you manage to trickle this far I am going to celebrate by getting myself a present. Or if none of you do, I get a present. I basically just get a present.

i hate kids.

yes. i hate them. they get on my nerves and i simply. cannot. stand. them. shy reticent quiet kids are still okay... but you get so few of such kids these days that it's okay to say i hate kids as a whole.
:P
And the very prospect of having kids makes me go Ugh!! Yech!!! Creeps! nononononoNOWAY!! :shuddershudder:
I was just discussing this with mom when she told me how ugly it was of me to hate nishpaap sishus(innocent children) and she also attempted to enlighten me on how absolutely devoid of emotion I happen to be. I promptly left the spot with a snappy 'Ma plee..h..z! Don't nag!!!'
Once I was safely back in my room and had locked the door, another thought gripped me- The scary idea of having kids that'd actually grow up into teens and young adults and have their own opinions and rebel against parental authority!!! Jeepers creepers!!! The horror the horror!!! I could NOT stand a specimen like myself!!! My nerves'd blow off! :shudder: The sheer thought made me break into cold sweat.
Plus, of course, having kids also means cleaning them feeding them doing all the yecchy stuff worrying about their studies health school homework blahblahargh. Read, end your life. Read, say tata to your own hobbies, entertainment, obsessions. Read, sacrifice your life for something that, despite it all, grows up and slams the bedroom door on your face with a "Jeez! It's my life for chrissakes! Leave me the hell alone."
Thanks but no thanks. I'm NOT having kids. Newsflash, mom!
:cheeky grin:
Though I'm ever so thankful Mom never felt the same way herself. :P
(PS. Oh and by the way, I haven't yet told her I don't believe in marriage or that I think living together with one's partner without marriage is the best idea mankind ever came up with. I'll keep you posted though, on what passes when I do tell her.)

Also this is what a lovely friend LD writes:
'Well, females are conditioned to want kids from the moment they are born. If you have a slightly older girl in a bunch of kids she's expected to "mother" the younger ones. It's sick. I don't know, but you'll find very few women who are willing to admit that they dislike the idea of kids, it's mostly the social pressure in a way which results in this. I mean, hey, if a man says he doesn't want kids, it's considered manly and perfectly acceptable. If a woman says the same, she's judged to be some kind of heartless monster. Whoever said women have to be maternal? Besides, the world is already full of examples of poor parenting. Don't we have enough spoilt and pampered brats already? How do I know that I won't end up doing the same? Blah.'
Read this post HERE.

I swear he can say the word "mom."

Here is my day, morning and evening.



His isn't so much a cat, as he is some sort of constant eating-animal. I like to call this animal the fatty bear. Or possibly, the cat-loaf. He turns cat food into fur and pee. Loudly.

I am featured on my Street team's blog today! My street team is pretty active and has about one billion members. The Etsy Dark Side Street Team is all about making darker sellers more visible and giving them a community to chat to and network with. I just squeak under the door as "dark" enough. Hi street team people!

Maybe tomorrow I will make a comic about how my cat can only go to sleep if I build him a tent in the blankets. No really. Its freaking pathetic.

Monday.

Ok, its Monday. It dreary outside and cold in my studio and I feel like I could just crawl under a blanket and watch House (which I downloaded in a totally legal way.) Is someone being a jerk to everyone supposed to make me smile so much? I might be a bad person...

So this weekend a batch of Batcat plush were finished up. I got a request for a more baby-safe doll, and this is what I came up with. They are nice and floppy, and kind of flat, perfect for kids to lay on and beat up.

I put one sleepy one in the shop. One is spoken for and the awake one might be photographed tomorrow (when its less dreary.)

Another thing that I will add is my new little phone my Dude got for me. I had the oldest phone on the planet, and the worst part is that it still worked perfectly and dependably. How crappy is that?? I wanted it to break so I could get a new fancy one.

I now have the phone of a 16 year old boy.

I have yet to mar its surface with stickers and junk, but that will happen after the honeymoon period of newness. I think its nice I actually have a use for my Bluetooth now. Sending nonsense to and from my phone. Its like I live in the future. (P.S. My Dude got the 'girl' colour and I got the 'boy' colour. Does that blow your mind how we laugh at typical gender roles? HA.)

Ugh, today is definitely the day I turn the heat on in the apartment. It somehow feels like failure. I always try to go as long as possible without it. But Screw that, its officially friggan cold, and friggan Monday. I have written posts about how I usually feel so optimistic and productive on Mondays. I am so sorry about that. I take it ALL back. I just feel COLD.

On Whiplash, and a bit of the eternal how-could-i-have-avoided-it-it'd-get-to-me-sooner-or-later Tallica vs Deth debate.

This dude here was inhuman. Fucking. Inhuman. Period.

:bows:

RIP.

And this…

Late at night all systems go
You've come to see the show
We do our best, You're the rest
You make it real you know
There's a feeling deep inside
That drives you fuckin' mad
A feeling of a hammerhead
You need it oh so bad.

Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash!

Bang your head against the stage
Like you never did before
Make it ring, Make it bleed
Make it really sore
In a frenzied madness
With your leather and your spikes
Heads are bobbing all around
It's hot as hell tonight.

Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash!

Here on the stage
The Marshal noise
Is piercing through your ears
It kicks your ass, kicks your face
Exploding feeling nears
Now is the time to let it rip
To let it fuckin' loose
We are gathered here to maim and kill
Cause this is what we choose.

Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash!

The show is through
The metal is gone
It's time to hit the road
Another town Another gig
Again we will explode
Hotel rooms and motorways
Life out here is raw
But we will never stop
We will never quit
Cause we are Metallica!

Adrenalin starts to flow
You're thrashing all around
Acting like a maniac
Whiplash!
…is pretty much the goddamned ANTHEM of thrash metal. Metalheads here’ll exactly know what the song talks about..
And isn’t it oh so us? Isn't the feeling ohsofamiliar!

For people who haven’t heard it, HERE’s the youtube link. (Bleh. Not that I think there IS a metal fan who has NOT heard the song. I posted the link so Whiplash just might convert a couple of Others into Metalheads.) GO LISTEN TO IT. And wonder how, just HOW on earth, a human can play the bass like THAT!!! Yeah, that’s the same dude whose picture I’ve posted up there. Cliff Burton!!!

Oh and you can’t miss the guitar solo either. That, as Metal-militant points out, is Kirk.
Anyway, Metallica has and shall never been the same after Burton and Mustaine. And I trust I’m not the only one that keeps wishing Mustaine was still with them. And people, let’s admit it, Deth is musically superior to Tallica as well. For people who do NOT listen to Metal but still appreciate musical talent, duh!, go listen to (and this is obvious to any BABY metalhead,)… Hangar 18, Symphony of Destruction, Tornado of Souls, Holy Wars and Kill the King(big DUHs after each.)for starters for some fucking inhuman guitar and bass work. That brings me to these dudes here, besides of course, Mustaine.



Marty Friedman, David Ellefson and Nick Menza!!
Gods in their own rights.

And don’t even get me started on Deth lyrics. Every time I listen to Rust In Peace, I’m left wondering how on earth Dave came up with lyrics like these…

Tremble you weakings,
Cower in fear
I am your ruler, land, sea and air
Immense in my girth, erect I stand tall
I am nuclear murderer I am Polaris
Ready to pounce at the touch of a button
My systems locked in on military gluttons
I rule on land, air and sea
Pass judgement on humanity
Winds blow from the bowels of hell
Will we give warnings, only time will tell
Satan rears his ugly head, to spit into the wind
I spread disease like a dog
Discharge my payload a mile high
Rotten egg air of death wrestles your nostrils
Launch the Polaris, the end doesn't scare us
When will this cease
The warheads will all rust in peace.
Bomb shelters filled to the brim
Survival such a silly whim
World leaders sell missiles cheap
Your stomach turns, your flesh creeps
High priests of holocaust, fire from the sea
Nuclear winter spreading disease
The day of final conflict
All pay the price
The third world war
Rapes peace, takes life
Back to the start, talk of the part
When the Earth was cold as ice
Total dismay as the sun passed away
And the days where black as night
Eradication of Earth's
Population loves Polaris.

The only facet where Tallica scores above Deth is James’s godly vocals. In fact there too, though people are always ranting about how bad Dave is as a vocalist, I think his gnashy gnarly vocals have a charm of their own. And well, who could miss that grimace. Ah well. That, to me, would place Deth a wee lil above Tallica. At any rate now we have two great bands instead of one. Metallica still remains Metallica, and with all due respect to Hammett and Newsted, who I worship as well. So well if Metallica is Godly, Megadeth is GODLY! And that's about it. :)

Coming back to Whiplash then, this song here is just about the best piece of music I’ve come across in old-school-real-Thrash Tallica, or atleast one of the bests at any rate.

AND I also have to mention the fact that THIS is the song, and Burton is THE dude that made my favourite style of headbanging what it is- the whiplash!

The dead rise and review...

Nightmare Revisited

Looking at the CD for "Nightmare Revisited", I really have to imagine that it was prompted by a Disney executive in a nondescript boardroom saying, "Geez, we ought to exploit this Nightmare Before Christmas property after all these years!". Beloved of spooky kids everywhere, a 'special edition' DVD of the film has just been released, and to accompany it is this album, a collection of covers of the full original soundtrack, I.E. with 20 different artists all covering a different song. Luckily, the album sounds much better than a quick cash-in should (though this can be attributed in no small part to the strength of Danny Elfman's songs). The choice of artists is interesting; although there are exceptions, the album largely splits into straightforward alternative rock on the one hand (Flyleaf, Korn, Rise Against, Plain White T's) and more experimental, hipster-approved bands (Sparklehorse, The Polyphonic Spree, Datarock). I have to say that my preference (at least on this album!) is for the former. Marilyn Manson's bombastic Weimar-metal cover of "This Is Halloween" is clearly cartoonish by design; Sparklehorse's "Something's Wrong With Jack" is insufferably precious, a mess of glittery meandering and falsetto vocals. Definitely a worthwhile album - most of the time - for fans of Jack and Co.
-N. Zombie

N. Zombie will be reviewing only zombie approved awesome albums weekly, to brighten your dreary existence. Or the opposite. Or whatever. :-)