Here lately, I have seen few movies featuring a sophisticated plot. Most of the time, the plot can be summed up in around five words, but to try and sum up the plot for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘s with “Two people solve a crime,” however, would in itself be a crime. Steig Larsson succeeded in weaving an intricate web that could entice any fly and David Fincher has succeeded in bringing Mr. Larsson’s best-selling novel to the screen. Read the full story

19 years ago today, the world lost an amazing singer and frontman: Freddie Mercury of Queen. Known for his amazing four-octave plus vocal range and his phenomenal stage presence, Mercury is often touted to be the top rock singer of all time. I wholeheartedly agree.

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The Social Network is one of the year’s best films. The dialogue is razor sharp, the acting is top notch, and the music is visceral and unsettling. And what else can you expect when the music is done by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross (frequent NIN collaborator, member of Trent’s How To Destroy Angels, and composer The Book Of Eli score) ? Read the full story

Nu-metal is an ugly term to many, especially rock purists. Like every fad though, it had it’s time in the limelight and has since faded. Linkin Park was one of the last successful bands in the genre until they decided for better or for worse, it was time to ditch nu-metal and grow up. Well, before I continue, let me just say that I am a child of the nu-metal era and used to be a massive Linkin Park fan. As I got older and discovered other music though, I simply lost interest in them. Their last album, Minutes To Midnight, was an interesting direction but ultimately I just didn’t care for it as a whole. Really, you could say I was “over it.” Read the full story

In their live conference yesterday, Konami started off their presentation with video showing a vault and you heard a voice entering the, now classic, Konami code before going into reel of their upcoming games. Shinji Hirano, President of Konami, introduced himself and welcomed everybody. Hirano-san says that this year, Konami has strong line-up which consists of Konami original IP such as Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Silent Hill, two Castlevania games, Frogger, and Dance Dance Revolution. Read the full story

Most people know about the financial troubles that California has right now.  State workers are having their pay reduced, budgets are being cut, prices are increasing, and the state tax returns were delayed.  I filed my taxes in January.

I got my state tax refund today.

It came at a very good time.  I was running a bit short, and we’re going out of town tonight, so the extra few hundred dollars is great.  Hell, this means I can afford to buy pre-sale tickets for the NIN|JA show in Mountain View at the Shoreline!

WE’RE COMING, TRENT, PERRY, AND TOM!

-Because I said so

If any of you guys know me, you will know that I love music. I have pretty much been this way even at a young age so it wasn’t like it came about later on in my life.

My Mom has good taste in music so I got a lot of what I like from her. She was born in 1961 and is really into Led Zeppelin, Rush, Journey, The Beatles and other similar bands. My very first concert that I saw was Bon Jovi. Skid Row opened up for them and I think I was around 6 at the time. Out comes Sebastian Bach with his fabulous 80′s hair and the first thing he screams out is “Are you all mother-fuckin’ right mother fuckers?!?!?!?” I think my Mom turned about 3 shades whiter when he said that because I was young but I didn’t pick up saying “fuck” until much later. I really don’t remember much of the concert except for the fact that I curled up in the seat and fell asleep.  I was exhausted from the stuff we did during the day plus I was young so I wasn’t used to staying up late. My Mom is still shocked that I was able to sleep through a loud concert like that, but hey, I LOVE sleep.

My second concert was the New Kids On The Block. Some of you might laugh while reading this but to see them in concert back then was a big deal. I loved them so much it was unreal. I had the lunch box, t-shirt, all of their books, the VHS video, and some other things that I can’t remember. Really the only thing I remember from that concert is crying like a huge baby when Joey McIntyre came out. He was one of my favorites.

As I got older obviously my taste in music got better, but I remember really digging some of the late 80′s early 90′s stuff. I loved Slaughter, Nelson, Guns & Roses, Metallica, White Snake, MC Hammer, and I really could go on.

When Slaughter came out with the music video for “Up All Night” I wanted to be that girl who was walking with the two Dobermans. Lucky broad. With the Nelson twins I just wanted their hair. My Mom thought they were just gorgeous. Looking at them now I laugh because they look ghastly. Even though Guns & Roses is piss poor now they were kick ass back then, same with Metallica. I don’t even recognize them anymore, and I’m not talking about appearances.

I saw Metallica twice in concert. One time was here in Fresno when they were out touring for the Load album and the other time up north at the Bridge School Benefit. For the concert in Fresno, KoRn (who was really unknown at the time) opened up for them. KoRn put on a really good show. Metallica also did really good as well, but I wish that they had played some more of their older stuff. The Bridge School Benefit concert was all acoustic and we even got a preview of some of the songs that would come out on ReLoad.

One nice treat was that Smashing Pumpkins was there. Looking back I think this concert was in 95 or 96 so they weren’t together for much longer. After Mellon Collie they sort of went downhill which is a shame. They were an amazing band. What Billy Corgan has done to them now makes me want to vomit. Their set was fantastic. It was the entire original lineup so that was nice. James Iha is really talented. They even played “Eye” off of the Lost Highway soundtrack. The twist with that song was that they brought out Marilyn Manson and Twiggy. While I might not like all of Marilyn’s music he did a fucking amazing job with “Eye.”

I would have to say that out of all of the concerts I have been to, TOOL and Nine Inch Nails are always the best. I saw Nine Inch Nails twice back in 2005 and I have seen TOOL a total of 3 times over the years. TOOL is one of my favorite bands so whenever they tour around this area I pretty much drop whatever I am doing to go and see them. All of their music is outstanding and I’m never disappointed. Maynard has the voice of an Angel and their drummer, Danny Carey, is a God. Not only is his kit a monstrosity, but he is so damn skilled. Same with Neil Peart of Rush.

The two Nine Inch Nail shows were really different. The first one was held in the Saroyan Theatre and that can hold a little over 2,000. I will say that it was hot as balls in that theatre. With the crowd and then all of the lights, it was like a friggin’ sauna in there. Worth it though. The second show was at Selland Arena and I made sure to get floor tickets. Going to a concert and being confined to a seat is no fun. However… I issue this warning to you all: Be prepared to get aggressive and almost get into fights. At the second NIN concert I almost got into it twice with some pretty large dudes. They were totally asking for it though. I did almost break my nose at the TOOL concert back in 98 which was an experience all in itself. I also passed out at that show for about 30 seconds and I was lucky to have some random guy who was standing behind me catch me otherwise I would have hit hard dirt and tree roots pretty hard.

One show I didn’t get floor tickets to was System of a Down. I’m not stupid because if I would have been on the floor bad things would have happened. I still had really good seats but I kept looking at the crowd on the floor. The mosh pits were insane and miscellaneous items were being tossed into the air. I saw shoes, clothes, bras (yes… bras) thrown into the air so either some poor girl was being ripped naked or it was a feeding frenzy down there.

Hopefully TOOL and NIN come around this area again because I want to keep seeing them. There are so many bands that I want to see in concert but unfortunately a lot of them have broken up like Soundgarden. They would have been fantastic to see but who knows. These days a lot of bands are getting back together for an album and then a tour. Maybe I might get lucky.

I’ll keep you all posted if I do!

EDIT: Chris was awesome and gave me a link to a video some guy recorded of the TOOL concert I attended in 2006. The quality of the video is actually good and it’s the entire thing which is hard to find. So, here is the link and enjoy! I know I am right now lol! – http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3101027634716204839

- She Who Has The Last Word