Month: June 2011

Dystopian Squeeze

great, more neighbours to hate

So, hmm, another infograph that involves us. This one is pretty disingenuous though, since living space has long since ceased to be the Maltusian bottleneck. (Let’s just ignore the astronomical economical opportunity cost of consolidating the population) Food, potable water and energy, and ESPECIALLY the efficient distribution of, are now the systemic shock factors.

Guards! Guards! Bring me that game!

AM-Turtle-cover

Hey, hey, look what we have here. I must confess, I never thought of actually looking for a Discworld tabletop game. A cursory search on Boardgamegeek turns up only 2 entries, and only of them looks like something with a bit of polish. I guess, depending on how this new attempt turns out, fans will be glad they have something new to look forward to.

Adrenaline Mob

So Mr. Mike Portnoy (formerly of Dream Theater, of course) assembled his very own super-group consisting of SYMPHONY X frontman Russell Allen, guitar virtuoso Mike Orlando (SONIC STOMP), bassist Paul DiLeo and STUCK MOJO/FOZZY axeman Rich Ward (copy and pasted from Blabbermouth).

On paper, this band should be kicking all sorts of asses and I am a huge fan of Sir Russell Allen. Unfortunately…

I present Exhibits A through C:

Their message seems to be “We like hanging out in abandoned industrial areas”*

And, really? Using the Godfather font for your logo?

Exhibit D:

Well, that was, how you say, GENERIC. Not half bad but generic and underwhelming.

Never mind chest thumping quotes like:

  • “Even my wife, who’s been through it all with me, says it’s the best stuff she’s ever heard me play on. I played in DREAM THEATER for 25 years, plus some other pretty decent bands including AVENGED SEVENFOLD, so that’s really saying something.” – Portnoy
  • “This band is not in the vein of SYMPHONY X or DREAM THEATER. It’s more along the lines of, say, ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK, DISTURBED, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, SHINEDOWN… with Russell‘s absolute pipes from hell and Mike just outright killing it on the kit.” – Orlando (come on! Disturbed?)

I just don’t foresee great success in this band’s future, but I’ll be glad to be proven wrong

* of course, most rock bands want to be taken seriously so goofing off on camera is taboo. Admittedly, goofing generally only works well for Devin Townsend.