http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Mon, 29 Mar 2004 07:51:57 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/29/075157.php Martin Blank"Bush wants universal, affordable broadband access for all."The back-story: necessitated by people in poor health who will be able to -- really, really fast -- read up on their diseases and perhaps treat themselves, or calculate their greatly reduced life expectancy, as Bush doesn't care about universal, affordable healthcare. This is opposed to universal, affordable narrowband access with which people can do the same thing, but a lot slower -- maybe so slow they're dead before they've diagnosed themselves.Now that Howard Dean is out of the running for president, the Bush administration figures the Internet is pretty much just for porn and chat rooms again. Safe for mass American consumption, that is."Coalition closes Iraqi paper."The back-story: the USA, exporting truth, justice and the American Way -- or some small portion of it. The part that looks like fascism. Politics14162@blogcritics.org Mon, 29 Mar 2004 07:51:57 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/31/081706.php Martin BlankI subscribe to the conservative -- fair enough, I think -- Christian American Family Association's (AFA) Action Alert e-mail list. Don't ask me why. If you subscribe to Harper's but still watch the No Spin Zone once in a while; or, conversely, you're a Liberatarian who bought and read every word of the Clinton-era national healthcare proposal, you'll understand. It's like slowing down at the scene of a bad accident: you won't like what you'll see, but you look anyway. The latest four or five Action Alerts have been pointed directly at the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) revisting policy on language in broadcast television and whether or not any language at all qualifies the broadcast as obscene -- as in against the public decency, opposed to the common good, bad, bad, bad. Since everything from "bitch" to "asshole" is fair game on prime time television these days, the AFA's big concern is letting the "f-word" out the gates and onto your regularly scheduled programming. Indeed I don't know that "bitch" and "asshole" ever gave them such qualms as the "f-word": they seem particularly perturbed by the "f-word". I'm not sure I understand exactly why, as I can quote many passages from the Bible where believers are called upon to get out there and procreate -- following some fairly strict guidelines, of course, but it still involves "f-ing". Yet the AFA is quite chipped up that the FCC will "abandon the family to Hollywood's vulgarity".Never mind that they've got the wrong coast -- the major broadcast networks being universally based out of New York City -- the AFA is bound and determined to keep the "f-word" off the airwaves. And actually, I fully support their campaign. That's not to say I give a damn whether or not the "f-word" rings loud and long from the great glowing boxes in America's living rooms. Frankly, it doesn't bother me one way or the other. Indeed, during almost every episode of NBC's ER this season, I've heard the "f-word" quite frequently. (Granted, it wasn't coming from the television set; and as near as I can tell most often issued forth from my mouth.) Still, I support the AFA's motivation and ambition to fight what they see as a wrong in public policy. Go to it: we need more people willing to stand up and take peaceful action along the lines of their beliefs. But apparently this sort of action costs a lot of money.Indeed, right after a phone call and e-mail to the FCC, the next best thing you can do to keep the "f-word" mum is send the AFA cash. "If you can give $25 or $50 today, please do. If you can give $100 or $500, do that." And, silly me, I thought this was about morality, about the moral consequences of letting down the public guard on matters that may seem trivial to me but matter much to others. But if any one of you sends $500 to the AFA to keep the "f-word" out of television programming, you're the most immoral son of a bitch I know. I can think of about 14 dozen better places -- left, right and center moderate -- for you to send your $25, 50, 100 or 500 than the AFA's campaign against the FCC and the notion that they might look the other way if the "f-word" pops up now and again on broadcast television. Straight away asking for 500 bucks to wage war against the "f-word" debauches the entire concept of campaigning for moral integrity; it's the antithesis of moral integrity; worse by so many thousand meters than the "f-word" ever aspired to be. And the AFA Action Alerts play up as a grassroots e-mail campaign, a commitment deep and valued in the heart of the common, Internet-connected man. Seems to me the common man has to be wondering about that kind of grassroots action, what with, apparently, the cost of landscaping and topiary installation tacked onto the basics of lawn care.Think about it, if you will. What's worse? Keeping your kids out from in front of prime time television -- which really isn't a bad idea on several levels? Suffering yourself through the "f-word" a few times a week from your sofa redoubt? Or contributing to the war chest of a political lobbying organization -- with a quite possibly veiled agenda -- masquerading as the last bastion of American decency? The AFA is the candy story with the numbers game running in the back room; and, after all, $500 is a lot of money for a stick of licorice, isn't it? Video11354@blogcritics.org Wed, 31 Dec 2003 08:17:06 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/21/155011.php Martin BlankI'm not a Christian. You would perhaps find it odd then that the facets I've most enjoyed of the occasional Christmases past are Anglican midnight Masses. Even secularly, they are gorgeous spectacles. But I'm not a Christian. Not in the way most practicing -- even merely believing -- Christians would allow me; most would call me heathen, a few would avow that in a past life I had wings, then I didn't have wings and my name began with "L". Suffice to say I'm not in line with the spooky, paranormal aspect of Christmas. And I'm not referring to the tired argument of Christ's birth occurring sometime not around 25th December, and also a few years prior to or after the traditional year of the Nativity. Bah, what's a little timeline shift in a chronicle spanning 2,000 years? As for me, however, I'm talking about the whole shebang, all the trappings of the religion itself: not a Christian.All the same, every year, as is pretty much the greater American way, I endure Yuletide events -- seem to go on and on beginning sometime round the last week of August. And truthfully I've had a miserable time of it. We have four or five families -- depending on diplomatic relations, you know -- to attend to; scheduling conflicts abound, and it's typically the other party who has all the schedules and I the conflicting. I've had miserable Christmases for about the last 37 years, and I'm only 35: that should put you more in less in the frame of the matter.But by God -- of course, that is if I believed in God with a capital "G"; but that's another philosophation for another day -- not this year! Any society, be it large or small, tranquil or contentious, rich, poor or in between, needs some slice out of the calendar to pointedly ignore the shitstorms, privations, starvation, taxation, prosecutions and other woeful meddling bothers of life on this planet, a world that some have noted is only truly beautiful when seen from space. And in the tradition of America, Christmas might as well be it for this country, whether or not you believe. I for one intend to put aside my cursed attitude and humbug ridicule this one year and have some fun with it. Although I do reserve the right to reassess next year.I'm going to first of all realize that I don't have to believe in order to get swept up in the better spirit. I can go shopping instead, and not worry about the bills. I'm not kidding. It doesn't have to be shopping: pick your own outlet: lounge by the fire with a good book; be kind to family members that you loathe; ignore them when they loathe you back anyway; turn off the television news for a few days -- when a week later you dial back to CNN, the world will either be there or it won't, and there's not much you can do about it in the interim; buy your kids the very thing they weren't getting this year because it was too expensive or frivolous, just too much or what have you -- get it, leave it out Christmas Eve and watch them faint dead away when they wake the following morning.For those of you in the social-worker Santa's helpers bunch, you're probably fairly set with your plans to dish out turkey and stuffing of questionable quality to the homeless and otherwise impoverished. Or you've collected toys for those children who would go without if it weren't for your efforts. But also realize that not every child is going to get a toy, not every homeless will be fed and sheltered, not every schizophrenic will get his meds and a bed for a week or two. You'll have done what you can, and what you can includes doing something at least near indulgent for yourself. You'll only be good for the downtrodden masses as long as you last; don't crack up over those who have already quite cracked up enough for everyone.To be succinct about it: the hell with you all, I'm going to have a good time this year. And I hope the lot of you will, too, even though that may mean looking after yourselves a bit more than you believe jibes with Christmastime magnanimity. Just don't jump off the bridge unless you're really sure about how it is angels get their wings. Culture11148@blogcritics.org Sun, 21 Dec 2003 15:50:11 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/14/104513.php Martin BlankPentagon officials initially declaring that deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has been captured are now indicating that what they first thought was the former Iraqi leader is in reality a Gulfstream V misidentified by an RAF pilot.Seriously, have you seen the pictures? Now, we all thought he dyed his hair that youthful dark black. Looks like he doesn't dye his hair, after all: it really is, more or less, still naturally that dark. I don't know about you but that to me is the greatest shocker of the whole escapade. No Grecian Formula for him. Will wonders never cease? Culture10958@blogcritics.org Sun, 14 Dec 2003 10:45:13 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/06/213945.php Martin BlankThe United States Secret Service is investigating hip-hop musician Eminem for alleged death threats against the president within -- what shall we call them? -- draft lyrics. That right there should be enough. I should need go no further. You'll understand, not Secret Squirrel -- as undoubtedly many enlightened Americans are hoping I was remarking upon -- but the guys with the white-wire radios bulging from their ears, black patent-leather shoes and similarly black baseball caps, the ones who are fooling no one. The secret service. My word.It's not enough that we've by this point come to look pretty silly and boobish on the international scene, now our... What are they really? Sort of a national police force charged with maintaining the security of public officials, governmental offices, etc? Hmm. Our secret service is investigating a rapper for some politically motivated verse.Now I'm certainly not the most appropriate to comment on this fiasco from a musical perspective. You see, I don't like rap, hip-hop, trip-hop, what have you. Indeed, there's not such a record in my collection. There may be a hip-hop fusion album, or perhaps one of those numbers that crossed over quite large on the charts, but it's not a hip-hopster collection, certainly. In fact, I'm sitting here listening to a Pretty Girls Make Graves record while I write this. What do I know about hip-hop? It's not that I don't get the whole rap thing; I get it in large doses out the windows of automobiles cruising round the streets next my apartment. I just, and you hip-hop fans must forgive me, don't like it -- which is rather unfortunate as it puts me in sort of a quandary.My circumstance would be like you, for example, if you greatly appreciated the genius of Mozart but couldn't bear any of his operas. Or concertos. Or symphonies. Or ten notes strung together. Rap has been labeled "street poetry" and I'll give them that and most anything else they want in regard to respect for artistic merit. I am, actually, completely impressed with what I see behind the scenes in hip-hop music, the talent, very timely verse, the ad lib manifestos that are simply amazing. But I'm afraid I don't find the genre pleasant to my ear, in any sense, even in that unpleasant pleasantness that contemporary music can sometimes have. I'm sorry. I apologize profusely. It's bothersome really, since I don't have that same problem with, for example, my example: I appreciate Mozart's genius and enjoy his operas. But Ludacris, Run-D.M.C., G-Unit: appreciate, yes; enjoy, no.All this serves to getting round to the point that "street poetry" or whatever you want to call it has a place in the annals of human artistry -- whether I happen to like it or not. And attendant to full accreditation as a form of art is some broad amount of freedom to express oneself, love, lust, joy, frustration, anger, malice, without meddling government authorities. Simply put, it's probably just about alright for an artist to sing that he'd rather see the president dead than die for money. Likely not particularly threatening when taken in the proper context and with that rather largish dose of Haldol someone in the higher-up has been missing on a regular basis. I don't think we need investigation by the SS (Oh, go on; but it is funny, though, isn't it?).You know it's bad when CNN -- been trying to play it so-so patriotic of late, they have -- goes at reporting it as if it's a lamed joke. One thing when they're laughing at you through commercial break, but something again to see them laughing outright amidst the news segment. I don't know how it played on FOX News as by doctor's orders I'm not allowed to watch that network; but I'd guess FOX is at Defense Condition Whatever and Bill O' Reilly has volunteered himself for some sort of super-double-secret secret service operative role. Agent O' Reilly, undercover as 2Bill O'Shutup. Hmm. We'll see.But a humble wish from an American: Can we stop this nonsense? It's humiliating. Really. Music10731@blogcritics.org Sat, 6 Dec 2003 21:39:45 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/22/082422.php Martin BlankTyler, Texas, is no place to hang out if you're looking to make the great on the dream-pop circuit. No doubt why this young all-in-the-family outfit -- their bassist is however recruited from beyond the bloodline -- has lately foregone home territory for North American tours, fronting the likes of alt-rock deities Coldplay. I first ran across Eisley when they were but a local act, on the verge of the big deal but still passing out one-offs at all-age shows and cramming for trigonometry exams between appearances. That's back when they were MossEisley, before their big-time platter purveyors decided perhaps prudently to forego any sort of legal scuffle with juggernaut Lucasfilm. For the uninitiated and inveterate Star Wars hater, I offer the band naming history in manic episode mode:Mos Eisley: name of spaceport city on remote dust-bowl planet Tatooine in first Star Wars film (actually Episode III, of course, now known as A New Hope, due to director George Lucas's prequel predilection; Obi-Wan Kenobi declares of same, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." (So much for that: at least this particular Jedi Master has never been to Kuala Lumpur.); band named MossEisley not Mos Eisley or MosEisley or moseisley; it could have been irony for all we know; long-gone Star Wars model toy play-set trademarked under Mos Eisley; mark expired but still on the books; nobody wants to fight; kids want to be jukebox heroes; what the hell? we go with Eisley; can't sue us for that, can they?; oh yes they can but let's hope they don't.Whew! And today we have Eisley, an outstanding brood of musicians ranging in age from about 15 to 21; do not let their youth fool you; rather, let it entrance you. On the Laughing City EP, "I Wasn't Prepared" is a gorgeous bedtime lullaby. "Tree Tops", another children's song, this one more suited to skipping rope or playing hopscotch. Finally, the title track, destined to be a dreamer classic: You'll swoon over it at first blush. Indeed, the only real downer in Eisley's repertoire is their Web site: attractive, but overloaded with too many obliterative multimedia technologies for this writer.Forthcoming, slated for 9th December, is Eisley's second EP, Marvelous Things; and I for one certainly hope it's an appropriately titled follow-up release. If so, you'll want that one, too. But can they sustain a full-length recording? A whole bloody album? Time as it has the habit of doing will tell, although I remain supremely confident and await a disc weighing in at more than five tracks. Within the year, to put a point on it. (If they tack the second EP onto the first and call that an album, these youngsters will rue the day they ever looked twice at a piano.) Music10355@blogcritics.org Sat, 22 Nov 2003 08:24:22 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/13/172425.php Martin Blank[Note: This item is getting a bit more positive response than I expected, therefore I am cheating it back to the top just this once. Forgive me and I will not repeat this little date/time alchemy.]Now that I have the attention of every gamer who reads Blogcritics, I'm proposing a new project -- follow up to the recent disastrous Blunt Swords debacle. Blunt Swords was to be a discussion forum for writers that actually works. But it didn't work. It didn't work because online forums for writers don't work. I knew this. I also know that if I get very drunk I will have a three-day hangover, yet I've indeed willfully intoxicated myself to great extent in the past. So I guess I just had to stick my hand in the fire to discover that writers' forums are too hot -- or not too hot, as the case may be -- to manage.But this new gig, this is all about fun: We are forming a video gaming league for writers. If you're laughing now, piss off. There's a precedent for pen-wielding gamers. Alex Garland and Martin Amis. And Martin Amis and Alex Garland. And Trent Reznor -- okay, he's a songwriter, which is not exactly what we're after; but if Trent Reznor wants to join and be my new best friend, he's in, baby. However I'm sure there are a great many writers who don't quite have that sort of name recognition who pine passionately for pastimes popular perhaps betwixt periods of perpetrating purple prose and violating virginal volumes with venomous verse. You get the picture.The rules, because there are always rules:1. You must be a writer. This does not mean that you must be a published writer, or work in a writing-related field; you must only aspire to the writer's life. And keep after it daily or at least weekly. If you put food on the table by working at Blockbuster or as an automotive mechanic or a soft-porn star, so be it. You simply must define your avocation and potential vocation as writing.2. You must have Internet access. That one should be easy. You're reading this.3. You must have a PC, Mac or Xbox with Xbox Live subscription. You'll need some games, too; but we'll start matching up the haves and the have-nots when the league is formed. We'll try to accommodate Mac users as much as possible for game sessions; however, realize that if you're Mac-only you may not be able to participate in every league night. Once everything is underway, informal sessions can be scheduled in addition to the formal league nights. 4. Membership is by application only. Application is an essay in one-hundred words or less on why you belong in our little club. Judgment of essays will be, shall we say, less than strict. We'd just like to know that you're interested enough in the concept to bang out a hundred words and submit it for review. Hopefully, submission of an application implies that you will actually participate.5. Submit essays to the Game League Secretary. Essays must be in English or French, though English will be the default language for all league communications and sessions. (For those applying in French, keep it damn simple, please: meaning, more or less, a French children's story.) There is no deadline, as recruitment -- conscription? -- is ongoing; but please, if you're interested, hop on it.You'll be notified of your acceptance -- very likely -- or rejection -- a spare few of you who really shouldn't write anything, ever. Details to follow. Please give this serious consideration. If we build a largish membership, we can hold tournaments: pay $10 to enter; 20 entrants; that's a $200 Amazon.com gift certificate to you should you win. The more, the merrier, and the better the prizes.Get to it, people. This is my last gasp at some community-building. Gaming10095@blogcritics.org Thu, 13 Nov 2003 17:24:25 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/10/145639.php Martin BlankApple's new Panther operating system is out and it includes iChat AV. Apparently, a fair portion of our Blogcritics use Macs, and some fair number of those have upgraded to Panther. I'd like to see if there's any interest in forming a private Blogcritics iChat AV directory -- for those of us with either an iSight or strictly voice chat capabilities. If you are interested, have voice and/or video capability, please send me either your .mac address or your AIM screen name.In the interest of privacy, please don't post your information in the comments to this entry. Rather, e-mail your particulars to Sanford May and I will compose a list. Ideally, I'll create a secure directory on the Web, pass that information along to Eric Olsen; and he can send out an e-mail to the Blogcritics mailing list with the link and the password.[Note: I've been getting a few questions about this. iChat AV will work with audio chat on any Mac that supports Panther and has either a built-in or external microphone (USB or line-in if your Mac has an audio-in jack). You do not need an Apple iSight to use the audio chat functions of iChat AV.] Sci/Tech9994@blogcritics.org Mon, 10 Nov 2003 14:56:39 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/05/081646.php Martin BlankPerhaps the most interesting thing about insomnia -- and switching my work schedule around to accommodate nocturnal habits -- is that at the end of my work day -- as most everyone else in my time zone is waking, I'm settling in to relax and play a few games on Xbox Live. Lately I've been playing Crimson Skies, not with Joe down on the corner, or Alex in Oregon, but with a spectacular smattering of international competitors. Sure there are the handful of approximate locals working mid-shifts, and east-coasters firing off a few rounds before work or a.m. classes, but chiefly my cohorts are Australians and Asians just come home from wherever they spend their daylight hours. And a few French schoolchildren in for the afternoon, the ones that know this much English: "Hello. How are you? I am fine;" repeating the phrase over and over again, asking and answering themselves perpetually as if afflicted by some peculiar form of linguistic autism. Gaming9843@blogcritics.org Wed, 5 Nov 2003 08:16:46 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/04/070305.php Martin BlankThe Tuesday media recap. And on time this weekend, before most of you layabouts have bothered to crawl from beneath the feathery bliss of your Calvin Klein duvets (I wrote "duvet" instead of "comforter"; that makes me a "metrosexual"; time left before that moniker thankfully expires: 26 hours, 17 minutes).First, video games, because as the holiday overindulgence season approaches, the games are practically pouring off the shipping ramps of major publishers. This week you'll want to look for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Singled out for top pick this week: although the much-ballyhooed convergence of games and film occurs with frightening regularity and often reprehensible results, Return of the King may mark the watershed event for games riding movie coattails: a great game based on a film expected to have immense popular appeal and rank well among respected movie critics. Available on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, though you'll likely want the GameCube or Xbox versions for that graphics edge. To split hairs, go Xbox with this one.Next up, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, exclusive to PlayStation 2. Nothing lamentable about this one; fans of the series will want to buy now. Action-adventure mavens otherwise occupied may delay, but if you own a PlayStation 2, likely you'll drop $50 for Castlevania sometime over the holidays or save a bit at a New Year sale.Finally this week, SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals II, also exclusive to PlayStation 2. This is a multiplayer experience, not highly recommended if you're in it only for the solo game. And if you don't already have the necessary accoutrement, it's not a game, it's a bloody -- it's all fake blood in SOCOM of course; remember, it's only a game -- investment: $50 for SOCOM; $40 for the modem/broadband network adapter; $40 for the voice-enabling headset (yes, you need it, really). Note the word "modem" in the network adapter description. Ignore that: if you don't have a broadband Internet connection, forget SOCOM. The good news is that the network adapter works with other online titles for PlayStation 2; and that whopping $40 for the headset gets you a quality piece of peripheral engineering, not the electronic trinket included with the first SOCOM title. Speaking of SOCOM the first, if you run out right now and pre-order SOCOM II before it ships about mid-week, you'll get a bonus disc containing a playable demo of the game. The original SOCOM had its share of detractors and technical problems: do not hesitate to try before you buy, especially if you'll need to eBay the family sterling to afford the headset and network adapter.On DVD, it has to be Finding Nemo. Pixar has revolutionized animated film in the United States, and not because of a mere billion dollars in high-end computing equipment: their creative team is superlative, from screenwriters to animators to voice actors. $15 at Circuit City for the double-disc edition, though in markets where Circuit City has outlets, you'll likely find competitive pricing from all the major retailers. If you think Trix are for kids, and you believe Reese Witherspoon is what Matthew Broderick meant by "hot" in Biloxi Blues, then by all means buy a few dozen copies of Legally Blonde 2, affix them to your unclothed body and present yourself at Reese's front door. A stalking indictment and a few bonus misdemeanor charges await you.Music. Do I even have to write about music this week? Good God, it's a teenage wasteland right now. Yet I suppose I'll trudge through the muck and uncover perhaps one flawed gem. I'm going to stretch my neck over the block and yell for Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow, having yet to hear the record. I know, I know, more evidence of metrosexuality, but McLachlan is long overdue for a studio release and I hope and desire that she doesn't disappoint. Two notable collections: Yearning for some twang? The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter hollers Get yerself on over ta hear and buy this here record album. And September 77, Port Elizabeth, weather fine; it was business as usual at Tower Records 619: Hit, a Peter Gabriel collection. Be you Genesis disciple or devotee of the solo career, great tracks on two discs: you want this, you want it bad.An autumn release day and all I can give you is one new record and two "best of" compilations? Earth to music industry: Britney cannot write music, possesses mediocre vocal range, can't act her way out of a hatbox, she's a jingo -- I don't care which side you're on, just don't be a jingo: be better informed than someone functioning at the cerebral cortex level -- and she chews gum during televised interviews. Musicians may smoke during interviews; they may not chew gum. So it is written and so it shall be.And on a personal note, I had a dream last night about Christina Ricci. Christina, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Chris-teen-ah. (Where have I heard that before? Never mind. Stephen Ambrose and Jayson Blair, rock on, brothers.) Which brings me to my heavily veiled point: The Gathering; where is this film? Scheduled for a stateside theatrical release? On DVD soon? Who cares? Me, I care. Somebody tell me why I, an American, prince of the earth, sovereign of skies and fossil fuels, cannot view this film.*Thanks to His Royal Majesty David Bowie, Defender of Glam, Divine Ruler of Adolescent Angst Gaming9804@blogcritics.org Tue, 4 Nov 2003 07:03:05 EST