RoadRunner Records -- Shame On You

 

Recently, Amanda Palmer released the video for her song Leeds United. However, RoadRunner Records requested that she recut the video to include less shots of her 'belly.' 

Now, looking at the shot above, that had no retouching done to it, I think Amanda looks fucking amazing. She looks like a woman should. Apparently RoadRunner believes she's far too fat to be showing off her stomach. 

However RoadRunner Records has no problems showing promo shots of Nightwish on their site with Tuomas Holopainen showing off his belly. Tuomas isn't fat by any means, either, but I'd say his belly is around the same size as Amanda's. But because he's a metal head and a male, he could splay himself naked and RoadRunner would have no problems. But amanda dares to show off her stomach and they throw a bitch fit. 

This needs to be dealt with immediately. Here is RoadRunner's contact information. PLEASE Email them a photo of your stomach, with whatever you'd like written on, or bare, and let them know that Bellies of ALL Shapes and sizes are appreciated and loved! 

ROADRUNNER RECORDS INFORMATION

ADDRESS:
902 Broadway, 8th Fl.
New York, NY 10010

PHONE:
212-274-7500

FAX:
212-505-7469

KEY PEOPLE TO NAME-DROP:
         Managing Director: Cees Wessels
    President: Jonas Nachsin
    SVP Marketing: Madelyn Scarpulla

EMAIL ADDRESSES TO SEND YOUR BELLY PHOTOS TO:

General Stuff   roadrunner@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<
Website Inqueries   webmaster@roadrunnerrecords.com
Publicity Inqueries   publicity@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<
Retail Inqueries   retail@roadrunnerrecords.com

FILM AND TV MUSIC
Joan Bolvin       bolvin@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<

PLEASE, SEND SOMETHING!!!!

Update: A member of The Shadowbox has put together this wonderful little letter detailing everything. Please read and send something along to RoadRunner or to Jordan!

Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls, has recently gone solo. The record company she is signed to, Roadrunner Records, has given her hell over finances, record sales, and now this...

Amanda has recently released her new music video for the song "Leeds United".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYSULkXcVYw

Roadrunner Records responded by telling her to she was fat, and to recut the video to show less of her belly.
Amanda blogged about it here:

http://blog.amandapalmer.net/

Since the release, Amanda Palmer fans have been posting tons of responses in the online Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer forum here:

http://www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=6054.0

They have begun posting pictures of their bellies in protest and support of Amanda, and sending their pictures to the email address of Jordan (doritojoe89@gmail.com) to make a collection to print and send to the Roadrunner Records HQ, and so far over 100 photos have been collected.

This isn't just about Amanda Palmer's belly. This is about all the bellies of the world: Big, small, hairy, stretch-marked, scarred, pregnant, every single belly. The aim is to reclaim the belly; To promote a healthy body image for everyone (not even just females) and to bring an end, or at least a tapering, to the "barbie dolling" of images that record companies and the media as a whole do to artists.

So JOIN THE REBELLYON. Take a picture of your beautiful belly, send it to Jordan (doritojoe89@gmail.com), make it your default myspace/facebook picture, do anything to promote the cause. Help spread a healthy body image for everyone. Just do it.

And flip through this thread to see some more bellies. It's worth it.

http://www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=6054.0

Prince William Whips It Out!

Prince William has finally whipped out his private bits and been caught! The paps were chasing him around during a Polo match and Billy had to piss, so... 

Jump past the break for the shots. 

The Baroness Redecorates

Sarah Slean announced today that her new B-side EP will be released on December 9th in stores and online. The EP will be titled The Baroness Redecorates. The official tracklisting, including seven tracks with four previously unreleased, is listed below. 

1. Parasol


2. Lonely Side of the Moon


3. Modern Man I & II


4. Compatriots 


5. The Rose


6. Hear Me Out


7. The "Disarm" Suite

Unforunately, Sarah's beautiful rendition of Paul Gross's song "After The War" from the Canadian War Film Passchendaele is absent from the EP. But Sarah has confirmed that there is a short film being worked on to accompany the track Modern Man. Look for The Baroness Redecorates in stores and online on December 9th!

New Album Alert -- Goddess - Emm Gryner

 

Canadian Gem Emm Gryner has announced that she will be releasing a new album in February 2009. The album will be titled Goddess. Emm noted in a recent blog post that the album is a 'winter album, with it's minor keys and strings' which is a contrast to her most recent album, released in 2006, The Summer of High Hopes. 

Jump past the break for a little more insight on the album!

NO on Prop 8 -- Vote Today!

As a friendly reminder to our Californian readers, please go out today and vote No on Prop 8! Whether or not you support gay marriage, the prop wants to change constitutional rights to allow the government to discriminate under the law, which is wrong!

Also, for every American reader, go out and vote! Whether you vote for Obama or McCain, just go vote!!

Lars Stephan Opens Official Website

YEAH my own website!

Originally uploaded by lars nyc


LarsNYC from Flickr has started his own Website! It features several photos not originally in his Flickr portfolio. Here's hoping the website works out beautifully for you, Lars! I'm rooting for you! Visit it below and find the link added to this blog's linklist! 

www.larsstephan.com

Beyonce -- I Am... Debut Singles

Standard I Am... Sascha Fierce cover

 

Beyonce is releasing a new album next month entitled I Am... The album will be a double-album, with Disc One entitled I Am... Beyonce and Disc Two entitled I Am... Sascha Fierce. I'm pretty excited for the album. I loved Dangerously in Love but B'Day didn't really do it for me. 

Beyonce's new album has a dual-personality theme. The first disc is the Beyonce disc, containing more bluesy and R&B styled songs and the second disc is the Sascha Fierce disc, containing dance and hip-hop styled songs. 

The first single from the album is a double A-Side, If I Were A Boy (from the Beyonce Disc) and Single Ladies (from the Sascha Fierce Disc). Both videos are embedded below.  I enjoy Single Ladies much more. 

Bee Lady

Saw her when leaving my day job today. Thought it was kinds cool and very random.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer -- A Review

 

Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer
Released: September 16th
Tracks: 12
Record Label: Roadrunner Records

Who Killed Amanda Palmer is an adventure in to Amanda Palmer's psyche. The album delves in to everything from war and abortion to family issues and domestic violence. Amanda Palmer, free of the ties that a band can bring, was able to let herself go and do everything she couldn't with The Dresden Dolls. 

Full Review after the jump. 

Sarah Slean to release new EP

The beautiful and talented Canadian songwriter Sarah Slean is set to release an EP of tracks cut from her Fourth Studio Album, The Baroness. No news of a concrete tracklisting has been released yet, but Sarah has confirmed through her official website that an EP will be released. 

Sarah had upwards of 20 songs written for The Baroness ranging from the release of Day One to her recent life in Paris, France. The songs were cut down from above 20 to 18 during the recording process. 

Expected tracks for the EP are

• Parasol - Confirmed by Sarah herself. An upbeat piano piece based around a classic tune. Available to those who pre-ordered The Baroness from the official Sarah Slean store.


• The Rose - Speculation. Released as a bonus track on iTunes, written as part of a CBC collaboration of artists adapting classic Schubert pieces. Also published in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled, The Baroness. 


• The Lonely Side of the Moon - Speculation. Released as a bonus track on iTunes and apart of the same CBC collaboration and also published in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled, The Baroness. 


• My Song - Speculation. A song played live at shows since roughly 2005. 


• Compatriots - Speculation. A song played live at shows in 2007.


• Modern Man - Speculation. Not much is known about this song. It has been published as a poem in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled The Baroness.


• The Right Words - Speculation. Not much is known of this song. 

So here's hoping we'll get a little more information on this such as title, tracklisting, and release date in the near future! 

Thanks to LittleSlean for information on select songs.

New Song up on Myspace - Bitter(Sweet)

So, I don't know if I really mentioned it on this blog in the past, but I am a musician. I record under Matt Wyllie. I'm a vocalist (and a vocal teacher), a self-taught pianist, and have been considering learning some guitar to round it out a bit. But, I do have a myspace music account, a page on facebook, a YouTube account, and I do run Twitter. In fact, I'm gonna through those up on the links side bar.

Anyway, I've put up a new song on Myspace. It's a rough demo of a song written about a month ago. It's a piano-vocal song at the moment, but I think I'm hearing strings. 

Hop on over to Myspace to give it a listen!

Yaoi Fest - Finally, A Canadian Yaoi Con!

 

I was really excited to hear about Canada's very first Yaoi Convention being organized. I was even more excited that it's being set for next year and in Calgary! It's close enough I could drive if need be! I'm totally going! 

Yaoi Fest is planned sometime for Fall 2009 in Calgary, Alberta. Details are still sketchy and rough, but I'm really hoping this will pull together and go through! I'm definitely excited for this. 

It's about time we finally got a Yaoi convention in Canada! 

Check out their official website here!

Posting now erratic!

So my second job has taken up more time than I thought it would. It looks like posts will end up being whenever I can get to it. Sorry guys.

The Women -- Eh...

 

I don't know what it was about The Women that didn't quite work for me. I mean, it wasn't a horrible movie. But it wasn't quite what I thought it should be, either. The cast was pretty good, the characters were likeable, and it was touted as one of the gayest movies in a while thanks to Debra Messing and Bette Middler being involved. But it was just kinda... eh. 

Bette Middler was in the movie for all of five seconds. She played a stoner acting agent that Meg Ryan's character met at some random camp she went to after separating from her husband. She tells Mary (Ryan's character) that she should ask about what she wants not what everyone else wants over a joint and that's all we see of her. It was really more of a cameo than an actual role. 

The story was a good idea, but the implementation was kinda off. Mary's husband cheats on her and it's about how she deals with it with some of her friends help her. Jada Pinket Smith plays a lesbian writer, Anette Benning plays a magazine editor, and Debra Messing plays a mom-type. 

It was okay. But I guess I just wanted to like it more than I did. I'd wait for it to come out and rent it or even just wait for it to play on Movie channels.

Apple -- New iPod Lineup

 

Apple introduced it's new lineup of iPods yesterday. The whole line has been updated with new UI, storage updates, and hardware changes. However the Price Changes introduced for the US aren't quite as nice for Canada even though our Dollar is near equal with the US Dollar now. Tch. When will you learn Apple? Head past the jump to see what's changed in the iPod lineup. 

Pre-Order Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Pre-orders for Who Killed Amanda Palmer started today! There's three different combinations of what you can pre-order...

Package 1

A physical copy of the album
An instant download of the entire album and two exclusive bonus tracks: I Google You (a song co-written by Neil Gaiman) and Straight (With Strings) [ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH ONLINE PURCHASE! DOWNLOADS NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH PHONE ORDER! I had a rather bad run in with MusicToday about this]

Package 2

A physical copy of the album signed by Amanda Palmer* and Ben Folds**
Exclusive Downloads from Package 1
An exlusive "I Killed Amanda Palmer" t-shirt in the size of your choice from S - XL

Package 3 (LIMITED TO 672 COPIES)

A physical copy of the album signed by Amanda Palmer* and Ben Folds**
Exclusive Downloads from Package 1
An exlusive "I Killed Amanda Palmer" t-shirt in the size of your choice from S - XL
Limited Edition Lithograph signed and numbered by Amanda Palmer
A copy of "The Big Book of Who Killed Amanda Palmer" featuring photos by Kye Cassidy and Short Stories by Neil Gaimain. Signed by both Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman
A copy of the album on Vinyl and signed by Amanda Palmer
A "Crime Scene" photo set and exclusive Murder Evidence

*Only the first 5,000 copies order between both Package 2 and 3
**Only the first 250 copies ordered between both Package 2 and 3 

Click on the Album Cover to Pre-order!

Scheduling Change

Hey guys!

There's gonna be a change in posting here. I've just picked up a second job and It's gonna take up some more of my time now. So the posting schedule's going to change to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Saturday Night Rant will change to Friday Night Rant. Everything will pick up again on Monday!

WTF -- Google - "We Use Your Shit And Don't Pay You!"

 

 

So, it turns out that Google's decided to find an easy way to advertise. The EULA (End User License Agreement) basically states that Google has free reign over whatever you post to the internet through the Chrome browser. So if you're a blogger, Google can use anything you posted to your blog with the Chrome browser for anything they'd like without having to pay you. The same goes for anything uploaded to Flickr, or posted to Facebook, Myspace. This includes music accounts! If you're a musician and you've uploaded something to your Myspace Music through Chrome, you could hear your song pop up in a Google ad sometime soon. 

Past the Jump for EULA terminology. 

First Shots from Leeds United Video

AmandaPalmer_LeedsUnited_401 copy

Originally uploaded by Alex de Campi


Amanda Palmer has shot her first solo music video this past weekend! On Sunday, a video was shot for Leeds United, the first single from the album. It is separate from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer series. That series comes to a close next week with Guitar Hero and an Outro. 

A couple more shots after the break.

Google Browser -- Chrome

 

Google's taken a leap and entered the mainstream browser run. You can add Chrome to the list of browsers you spout off whenever someone asks how to access the net. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome? 

Some of the features include:
- New JavaScript engine called V8 for faster performance
- "Special tabs" above the window, not below the address bar (see image above)
- Address bar auto-completion
- Opera-like "Speed Dial" with thumbnails of your most visited 9 websites
- Privacy mode
- Web apps can be launched in their own window without addressbar/toolbar
 

Chrome definitely sounds interesting. I haven't had a chance to try it out for myself just yet as there's no Mac or Linux version up yet. But you Windows users out there can try out the beta, if they can find it. I haven't been able to locate the exact download page just yet.

No Post Today!

There will be no usual post to today as I'm away from the computer today. Since it's a holiday, I'm out at the lake with the family.

Posting resumes as usually tomorow!

Saturday Night Rant -- The Sunday Morning Edition

Hey guys, sorry I didn't get a chance to post this last night. I got busy drinking with the girls and then I was chatting on BlogTV with Luna from youtube. (Go check her out, she's hilarious. Here's her YouTube Page.) And then it was like 2:30 in the morning and I just totally spaced on it. So, here it is, a day late. 

 

Trolls

 

 

Jewel

Looking through tear stained glass

Heaven never fell so fast

A simple light

Dashed

 

As the heavens crashed

And Hades roared

I felt myself

Blissful

 

The angels cried for death

The demons rallied

She was alone

Dead

 

No-one saw

No-one came

No-one recognized

But me

 

© 2008

Gaming: LittleBigPlanet

(click to enlarge)

There's very few words to describe just how excited I am for LittleBigPlanet to release in October. The game looks fantastic! Both visually and content-wise. It's an action platformer that has fantastic levels of customization. 

LittleBigPlanet is a PS3 exclusive and is expected to be a console-mover. The game is based around three pillars. Play, Create, and Share.

Read more below

Isis Introduces Herself

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRHXPORMl-w"]

 

 

Strength Through Music

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeCbuI257Wc&fmt=18"]

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. 

Steamy YouTube Find

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dviUyTHEas4"]

 

The video title is Hubad Scene 6. There's something incredibly erotic about this that just works.

Saturday Night Rant -- M.I.A.

Hey guys, sorry to leave you hanging this weekend, but I don't have the time to sit and type out the usual Saturday Night Rant. I have to take my dogs in for surgery this weekend, one of my hamsters isn't doing well, and I have several goodbye parties to make appearances at over the next couple of days. 

There'll be one next week!

Jasmine

Gaming: Highly Anticipated Games

 

So, I've been playing a lot of Metal Gear Solid 4 Lately and It's gotten me to thinking about future games that're coming up. So I decided I would throw together a little list and give my impressions on each one, a couple screen-shots, all that. 

Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII Collection - Square Enix

That was a mouthful. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the three announced, one leaked, and two rumoured titles in this collection. Final Fantasy XII looks gorgeous, it's battle system looks very interesting. It's sort of like... From what I've heard, you see the monsters on the map, but when you approach them in real time and completely seamless, you jump in to a battle with them. So it's like taking Final Fantasy X's battle system and Final Fantasy XII's real-time and smashing them together. 

Jump past the break for screens of Final Fantasy XIII and the other games in The Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII Collection.

Danny Radcliffe -- Nekkers at last?

 

Whie I've never found Danielle Radcliffe to be "ZOMG SO SEXY", apparently quite a few people have. I've always thought he sorta looked like a turtle. *Shrug* The Harry Potter in my head is much, much sexier. 

Anyway, it turns out that Mr. Radcliffe, as I'm sure many of you already know, if coming to Broadway with his performance in Equus. Which means Nekkers Danny on stage! To promote the broadway run of Equus, Danielle Radcliffe did a photoshoot with Vogue. Now, of course, since it's vogue, there's no cock shots, but you do get a... side-ass shot? That' about the best way to describe it. Jump past the break for the semi-nsfw shot.

 

Perez Hilton -- WTF?

A quick surf around Perez Hilton's website is, admittedly, a guilty pleasure of mine. I don't really care about what's going on with celebrities. Though I am and avid fan of a few, I don't obsess. (Unless we're talking about Jared Padalecki.) 

Anyway, Perez Hilton is a larger guy, is friends with Beth Ditto, a larger girl and an avid supported of BBW, friends with Mika and helped Launch him who is also a BBW supporter and even wrote a song for all the girls out there. But Perez doesn't seem to care that his advertisers have used images of BBWs in a negative light. The ad, pictured above, is seen on Perez Hilton's blog stating 

"Don't Let This Happen To You. If you've ever felt like this, it's time to make a change"

Perez supported Niki Blonsky when she was first announced to be playing the large and in charge Tracy Turnblad in the movie adaption of Hairspray and yet he allows advertisers to make both men and women feel horrible about their weight? Something's amiss... 

Jailbreaking an iPhone

 

So, I bought an iPhone 3G last month when it finally released in Canada. That's my current homescreen. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to Jailbreak my phone and run custom firmware or not. It'd be interesting to try out, but I'm one of those nervous folks who thinks my phone will end up broken if I do it. But that doesn't mean you can't! The good folks over at iphoneincanada.com have put up a handy little guide on how to jailbreak your iPhone 3G! Give it a shot! 

iPhone in Canada's Guide to Jailbreaking

Saturday Night Rant -- Miscommunication

Miscommu-

nication

 

Not So Guilty Pleasure

 

I love Jared Padalecki. He's fucking gorgeous. I first saw him in House Of Wax. I thought he was gorgeous then but now he's just a god. Love love love him! If I had the chance, I would become Mrs. Em Padalecki. Mmm. He's tall, he's handsome, he's just muscled enough, he's got a fantastic ass. And he's from Texas. And everything is bigger in texas. ;)

Catch Jared every thursday night on The CW in Supernatural with other hotties Jensen Ackles and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The next season of Supernatural starts next month on September 18th.

Two more shots after the jump...

All-time High Views Today!

Thanks to you guys, the readers, we've reached an all-time high in views!! Woo-hoo!! As a thank you, I've provided a compilation of all the released tracks so far from Who Killed Amanda Palmer and have uploaded it for you all. 

I wanna say a big, big thank you to Humbuged of The Humplex. He's a fantastic artist and has been a big, big help in getting me started. Thanks, Hum!! <3

Download link after the Jump

America's Next Top Model's First Transgender Girl

Meet Isis. She's America's Next Top Model's very first Transgender model. She's said she knew since she was about 11 that she was a lady in a boy's body and, I have to say, girl looks fantastic. Here's hoping she takes the title!!

Wii DVD Playback

 

Tired of not being able to play DVDs on your Wii? Well, with a simple little hack, you can! It requires a way to get files to an SD Card from your computer, an SD Card (The Wii only supports up to 2GB cards), and a copy of Twilight Princess. (US readers will need to discern which version they have. More on that later.) 

If you wanna watch DVDs on your Wii, follow along after the jump. 

Amanda Palmer -- Who Killed Amanda Palmer Vids

 

Amanda Palmer of the The Dresden Dolls has put together a rather fantastic album to release as her first solo effort. With Ben Folds' help, Amanda has created a solid album that's sure to remain a classic on Dolls Fans, Indie Snobs, and general Music Lover's shelves for a long, long time. 

As I've mentioned before in this blog, the title is Who Killed Amanda Palmer. A reference to Twin Peaks (Who Killed Laura Palmer) that's since come to take on new meaning for Amanda and fans. Amanda has collaborated with several recognizable artists to complete the whole Who Killed Amanda Palmer saga. Neil Gaiman is writing short stories for a photobook shot by Kyle Cassidy. Ben Folds produced and played on a number of the album's tracks. Amanda developed several of the songs and played and even recorded with them. 

With the help of Michael Pope, a celebrated indie director in Boston, and friend of Amanda's, a series of videos was shot as a concept short film based around the Who Killed Amanda Palmer concept. These videos are slowly being released via YouTube and several other mediums. I've embedded the released videos so far after the break. 5 Out of 8 have been released so far. Expect updates when the last three are released!

 

Favourite Profile: Lars_NYC

 

Lars is one of my favourite photographers/models. The man's not only beautiful, but he manages to capture emotions and beautiful poses. He shows such innocence in one photo and power in the next. He's a German born and was living in New York City for a while, working a few jobs here and there including Naomi Campbell's assistant. (I don't know how the boy survived it and how he didn't get discovered and on the New York runways.) But he's back in Germany now, I believe in Berlin.

More shots Lars has done (both of himself and of others) after the Jump.

Saturday Night Rant -- Straight Drunk

The Saturday Night Rant is back again and this time it takes another dive in to my personal experiences with men, however straight, drunk, confused, or otherwise difficult.

 

Straight

Drunk

 

Nightmare Revisited

 

 

Disney's milking that cash cow again. On September 30th, Disney Records is releasing Nightmare Revisited, a collection of covers by several different bands and artists of all sorts of genres. Danny Elfman re-recorded the tracks "Opening" and "Closing" for the new release and artists such as Amy Lee, Polyphonic Spree, Marilyn Manson, Flyleaf, and All-American Rejects have contributed to the collection.

Cover and Full Tracklisting afrer the jump. 

More Keric's Komplex Goodies

I've managed to snag a couple more previews for Keric's Komplex 3, including a flash teaser made by Hum himself. I've posted them after the jump. Take a look!

iRiver's Mplayer -- WTF?

iRiver's working together with Disney to bring the Mplayer to the market. I'm assuming these are targeted at young girls as I can't really see this design appealing to anyone else. Well, maybe the over-effeminate queens out there. 

But, seriously, WTF is up with these things? How could Disney think these looked good? The mickey mouse design was gaudy enough, but the swarovski crystals and little ribbons? Come on, Disney.

Gaming: Soul Calibur IV

 

So, I haven't really mention it before, but I'm a gamer. I'm a nerdy gamer. I follow gaming blogs, I get excited for games I like, I go to my 24 Hour Wal-Mart at midnight to buy new games and get mad when the 60 year old lady who has no clue what a Playstation 3 is can't find the game I want. 

Anyway, I picked up Soul Calibur IV this weekend. A friend of mine had bought it last week when it released and I was on the fence about it. Not that I didn't want to buy it. It's just, I didn't know if I wanted to spend my last few bucks on it before my next cheque came in. 

He brought it over, we played. I still kicked his ass with Ivy and I was sold. The graphics have taken a fantastic leap from the previous games, the new characters are a welcome addition and the older characters have had new moves implemented while a few classic moves are brought back. 

The game does have a couple downfalls. While the new Critical Finish feature is very flashy and downright depressing when it does happen to you, it has to happen first. Most battles go by so quickly with Soul Calibur that this method won't get used a lot unless you encounter that one person who constantly blocks. 

I also found the story mode very short and kinda boring. It's five rounds, you usually fight three or four people per round. One character and one to three more randomly generated custom characters. I found even the hard mode for it easy and was hoping for something a little more... fleshed out. I mean, they have 50GBs worth of storage on a Blu-Ray disc. (You 360ers can handle disc swapping, can't ya? Yeah, you can. :P) 

But what I bought the game for is very good. Multiplayer kicks ass in this installment. There's no mandatory install, which is nice, but there is the option available to cut loading times. Sweet. Why wouldn't you do it? 

So, overall I really like Soul Calibur IV and it's well worth the money. I'm definitely going to be playing, so if you're a PS3 owner and you've picked it up, gimme an add on the PSN and we'll duke it out. (PSN ID = EmWy)

 

(Oh, By the way, who else noticed that Ivy's tits are now bigger than her head? Your tits are too big when you have to coin the term undercleavage to describe them!) 

Keric's Komplex 3 is on the way!

 

Humbuged, one of the artists I profiled recently, is working on a third flash game in his Keric's Komplex series. The first two can be found here.   

Hum's characters are great. Funny, but sexy. The first Keric's Komplex game centered around Keric, a modest hunky beefcake,  waking up to a good stiff morning hard on and needing your help to take care of it. 

The second introduced Cyl (pronounced like "sill") to the series. A spunky, slimmer redheaded twink that Keric encountered for the first time on the train. Cyl groped the big elf before following him home. Cyl shows up at his doorstep and jerks him off on the front step. 

The third entry in the series is introducing a third character the the series. Hum's given us a teaser image. 

So check out Keric's Komplex 1 & 2 and keep checking back here for updates on Keric's Komplex 3! 

Saturday Night Rant -- Absent

 

Hey guys, sorry to say it but due to the move and the extra work I've had to do with it has caused The Saturday Night Rant to be cancelled this week. I'll make sure one goes up next week and will keep blogging on the go with the WordPress app for the iPhone!

Heart-Shaped Box

I was home this week, visiting family and my mother had received this lantern as a gift from a dear friend of hers. Seeing it reminded me of Nirvana's song Heart-Shaped Box.

I thought maybe having a phone with email would help me post more often turns out that I'm just lazy. Ha.

That's about it for now folks.

Peaceout
Em

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday Night Rant - It's a Love-Type Thing

I figured I would start up a weekly sort of thing so that I had a reason to post regularly. We'll see how long that lasts... 

Anyway, the first Saturday Night Rant is below. 

It's a Love-Type Thing

I was at a wedding this evening when I ran in to an old crush of mine. We'd made out a couple of times and had even gone so far as oral, but nothing seemed to draw further than that. He was about a year younger than man, but whatever. 

So, I have to say, he looked good. But, unfortunately, he didn't seem to recognize me and I wasn't about to go "Hey, remember me? I'm that guy that used to suck your cock!" 

The night went on, I took a few pictures. Then my friend Hannah, her mother was the bride, pointed out her cousin and his boyfriend to me. I smiled and gave the obligatory "aww" and talked to her for a bit. That's when I looked up and realized I'm really alone and it bugs me but doesn't. 

It's a hard thing to explain. I don't know so much what I mean when I say this. But It's sort of like... Like you're happy but there's that little voice in the back of your head that keeps saying "Yeah, you say you're happy, but.."  

So, anyway, I was kinda starting to realize that maybe I'm not as happy as I thought I was. I blamed my single life on my little podunk town, but how could that be if these two guys had found each other? Okay, might not be the town. 

I tried to talk to this guy I'd known when I was young and it was so awkward. He either didn't remember me or didn't want to... And then I thought maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just not wantable. There's something fundamentally wrong with me that makes me incapable of relationships... 

But what should I believe? Is it my town? Is it my own fault? Is it society's fault? Why do I feel alone and ashamed when I should be proud and surrounded by people that love me and that I love? What on earth are we supposed to believe? 

Who should we blame for the pain loneliness brings? I just don't understand what I should feel. I want to be happy, I really do. But when every aspect of your life seems to turn itself against you and you're getting no where, what do you do? 

I watched Hannah's cousin and his boyfriend interact. Dance, whisper to each other, gentle touches here or there... I watched it and I wanted it. Instead, I was left with a table full of people I barely knew or didn't get along with. Why had a shown up? Oh, right... I was getting paid for the pictures. 

I tried to bury myself in the work there, taking shots of the bride and groom, people having fun. but it just got to me further. It got to the point where Hannah was asking me what was wrong. I lied and said I was just tired. I didn't need to bother her with my stupid inner workings...

So, I still don't know exactly what it's all about, really...

What do you think? 

Lightning Bolt Shot

Storms

I'm in my bed right now, sitting at the window watching a thunderstorm
unfold. It's beautiful.

It started innocently with some lightning in the distance and then
quiet thunder. It got louder and closer as the wind picked up and you
could smell the storm on the wind.

Now it's starting to rain lightly and I'm in front of an open window,
typing this on my phone. I love storms. There's something so wild and
free about them. If it weren't for the little gangbangers in my city,
I'd be outside right now. Everything is so peaceful yet chaotic in a
storm. I LOVE it!

Peace out,
Em

Sent from my iPhone

The Dark Knight

I saw The Dark Knight yesterday with a friend of mine. Not only was
the writing and directing fantastic but Heath Ledger blew the other
Jokers out of the water.

He was horrifying, funny, creepy, and all around intimidating! There
were points I was cringing and frightened, points were I was laughing,
and points were I was crying.

Fantastic film. If you haven't seen it yet, go see it! You won't
regret coughing up 8 bucks to go!

Sent from my iPhone

iPhone review

I caved. I've picked up an iPhone 3G now that they've finally become available in Canada. I chose to phone Rogers and buy it over the phone instead of waiting in line for however long. 

I've really been enjoying it so far. It's a wonderful little device. There's a lot you can do with it and I'm really enjoying it. I'll try to make some more posts to the blog from it and see how that goes. Maybe now that I've got the internet in my pocket, I'll remember to update more often.  

Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer, Lead Singer of The Dresden Dolls, pianist, songwriter, general all around fantastic artist, has decided to release a Solo Album. 

Who Killed Amanada Palmer is due out on September 16th.  12 Tracks, 1 cover, the rest original. Amanda's just as amazing solo as she is with The Dresden Dolls. You can download two of the tracks from the Gyget below that Amanda and Co. have so graciously offered us. 

Favourite Profile: Humbuged

An introduction to the gay artist known as Humbuged. 

The man's done some amazing work and has been around in the gay art community for years now. His personal life isn't out in the open, which I think is a very, very good thing. The general public doesn't need to know everyone's business. ;) 

Anyway, Hum has done some excellent art and created some very sexy characters. He's also dabbled in some Flash animations and games. The most recent one is a feature of Final Fantasy X's Wakka. Here's a little preview he posted. 

He's a great drawer, an awesome animator, and a creative mind. I adore the man and I've never even met him. Check him out at his website below. 

The Humplex

Favourite Profile: Sarah Slean

I'm gonna use this time to talk about one of my favourite people. Her name is Sarah Slean. She is everything. She is a pianist, a singer, a songwriter, a painter, a writer, an actress. She's, truly, a renaissance woman. 

She's been in the music industry for over a decade, has released two books of poetry, had her own art opening in Toronto, Canada, and has even acted in an independent film noir musical about the Evelyn Dick murder case. 

I recently had the pleasure of seeing her live and meeting her after the concert. She is a sweetheart and absolutely stunningly beautiful. 

Sarah's most recent album, titled The Baroness, was released on March 11th, 2008. The album features 12 brand-new songs from Sarah, all independently written. 

The lead single from the album, Get Home, is an anthem for anyone who has ever had someone cheat on them. Other stand out tracks on the album include Looking For Someone, a track detailing a longing for love, Sound of Water, a song discussing perspective and how situations can be viewed positively as well. 

The album is a strong release, presenting a melancholy soundtrack for life. Sarah's fourth studio album and seventh release, Sarah has evolved in to a new artist with each album. 

Sarah Slean has stated in previous interviews and discussions that she never releases an album because her record label tells her to. Sarah never wants to release an album unless she feels ready to, unless she has had a big change come in her life. 

Sarah's one of Canada's most talented writers. Give her a listen! 

The Official Video for "Get Home"

I'm Alive

I've been pretty busy lately with an assortment of different things. Finishing out classes, working on a record label (hopefully it'll be open before the end of 2008), and having a social life. 

But I'll make a quick update since I'm having another insomniatic night. 

I've been looking forward to The Dresden Dolls' new release, No, Virginia..., for a while now. Well, it's finally leaked and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with it. For a B-sides and 'Songs we never thought you'd hear' compilation, it's pretty solid. Some of the tracks were released before and a few were left off that a lot of fans would like to see. But I find the compilation to be an excellent collection of songs. The flow on the record works just as well as their full length releases

There are a few catchier songs that would work well on radio, some less commercial songs that would appeal to the indie-hipster crowd and a rather heart-wrenching finishing track. 

So, even though the album's leaked, it's still worth the wait and definitely the purchase. I'd suggest picking it up on May 20th! If you're a fan of The Dresden Dolls, you might want to consider entering their pre-order contest for No, Virginia... Gives you the chance to win a toy piano decorated by the band, tickets to any date on their headlining tour this summer, and a copy of their newest book! More Details here and Amanda Palmer's (Singer, Pianist, and Songwriter of The Dresden Dolls) blog here.