Metallica - Death Magnetic

I used to be a fan of Metallica, prior to their whole Napster fiasco. A recent birthday had me reminiscing again and I decided to check this album out, just for the hell of it. Sadly, this release fails to hit the target on so many levels.

I sense Metallica is also trying to recapture its youth as well. The first few songs on this new album are straight out of Metallica's early days, pre-black album stuff, with Kirk convulsing on the guitar, and James hacking up a lung into the microphone. Nothing here seems to approach the genius that was Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning, but the spirit is one and the same.

Where Metallica seems to shine most lately is during those times when they seem to relax into their talent. Instead of forcing the harsh guitar, they ease into a rhythm on songs like "The Day That Never Comes" and in the early parts of "The Unforgiven III". These songs are more reminiscent of the Black Album and far superior to the rest of what's being released here, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, my copy seemed to collapse into distortion at times. Not sure if that's because of the digital samples I downloaded, or because the music itself was crappy. My samples are 256 Mbps, which are typically good enough for most music I listen to.

I am left wondering if Metallica has lost its edge or if I've just grown up and lost my angst. Something tells me they will fail to touch the hearts and minds of today's youth with this latest attempt. While I appreciate their attempt to re-live their golden era, I just don't see Metallica making a comeback with this album. Not until they learn to relax and let their instruments sing again will they truly be able to raise themselves out of the muck that started soon after Napster. Not to mention the fact that the times have changed since then. The anger and angst are missing from these songs, and no amount of Kirk using his magic fingers on the fretboard can save this album from being mundane.

So glad I didn't spend money on this!

Sifted: 6 out of 10

Rampage Jackson is full-on insane.

This CBS interview of Rampage Jackson is hard to watch. His explanation for his recent arrest: he was "betrayed" by a friend/family member/employee and proceeded to lose his mind. Too much Red Bull and videos of The Secret pushed him over the deep edge. Roll in some runaway Christianity and you've got a recipe for a lifetime in the mental ward.

Some Drudgereport Propaganda

Just thought I'd share this ludicrous link I found on Drudge.

I'm curious. Who the hell did they poll for this piece of farce?

They obviously didn't ask any real red-blooded Americans.

100 Words Every High School Grad Should Know

This list is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I have a Master's Degree in English and even I don't know some of these words. Methinks the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries are suffering from a case of inflated ego. A few of the words:

abjure
abrogate
abstemious
bowdlerize
expurgate
jejune
lugubrious
moiety
obsequious
orthography
pecuniary
unctuous

Honestly, I've gone through 35 years of living and never even heard these words used in conversation. More importantly, they are rarely used in writing as well. Why on earth would I bother wasting several Megabytes of brain capacity learning to use archaic words that are worthless in day-to-day usage? To display "linguistic superiority" over others? Only a silly dictionary editor could come up with this crap.

As a former Technical Writer, I think it's more important to stress how to use language simply. Tossing vocabulary at people is merely confusing for most of the population and leads to problems and lack of communication, especially when writing instructions or directions for people who speak English as a second language. Proposing words like this is nothing short of ignorant.

[100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know]

DRM Group Vows to Fight Bloggers

Talk about a bunch of morons. They already lost the battle before it's even gotten started! What, are they gonna go erase the entire internet in the hopes that no one will get their grubby hands on their precious numbers? Talk about stupid.

[Dumbass Article]