So, last night, I played some Left 4 Dead. My first game, I played on a team that was half-newcomers who had no idea what they were doing. Kind of annoying and we got our asses whipped. But hey, everybody was a noob at one point.

The second game was even worse. I played as Louis. The people on my team were saying racist things about Louis, calling him a "porch monkey" and talking about how they just wanted to kill him. The moment we had control of out characters, they all started shooting me. I decided there was no way I wanted to play with these guys and immediately bailed. Curiously, they said no such things about Bill, who's also black.

I went to give them all negative reviews and was stunned that they all had five-star rep ratings! So a bunch of racist pricks who shoot fellow teammates are considered cool enough to get five-star ratings!. Meanwhile, I'm always courteous to other players and I barely have a three and a half star rep rating. If I wanted to be somewhere were assholes were king and decent people were shit on, I'd go back to high school.

Have I been having rotten luck with L4D players online or what?

Awhile back, I wondered how long it would be before the conspiracy theorists claim Michael Jackson faked his own death.

Well, it didn't take long at all.

A new melee weapon in Left 4 Dead 2 has been revealed:

( And it is... )

I decided to play a little Left 4 Dead tonight. A friend of mine was online playing and I decided to join in. I found myself in the midst of an apparently heated game. I was armed with a shotgun, which is a weapon I'm not accustomed to using. And they apparently had some kind of strategy worked out. One which, strangely, involved shooting the red car that alerts the hoard and not going into the safe room you're supposed to be racing for. Yeah, I don't get it either.

Well, I was screwing up really badly tonight. Half the time, I didn't even know I was screwing up. Everyone else on my team was yelling at me while the zombies were coming at me. Too much information to take in and no chance to absorb it all! And all this time, I was under the mistaken impression that this was a game and we were supposed to be having fun! When they started voting to boot me, I decided to bail. The "You can't fire me! I quit!" approach. I immediately ejected the disc, turned off the 360 and ran off to hide my head in shame.

I think it's gonna be a long time before I play Left 4 Dead again.

Last night, I went to see Judas Priest and Whitesnake play at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford. It was my first time seeing Judas Priest and my second time seeing Whitesnake.
( Whitesnake & Judas Priest concert review: )

So, can anybody give me an English translation of this? Because I can't make any sense out of it.

I recently found out that Paul Stanley was asked to produce Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction, but Paul wasn't able to do so sue to his commitments with Kiss. It kinda had me wondering how a Paul Stanley-produced Appetite For Destruction might have turned out. During the 80's, Kiss' albums were sounding very slick and polished, so it possible that if Paul produced AFD, it wouldn't have sounded as raw and dirty as it did under Mike Clink.

And that would've been a shame because I think that stripped-down sound was part of its appeal. It was a breath of fresh air in an era dominated by overproduced music. It'd also a key reason why it's aged so well. It doesn't sound like a typical 80' album. It sounds like it could've been made today. So thank God for Mike Clink.

My mom is in Minnesota, tending to my grandparents. In her absence, Mercy has decided to spend a lot of time with me. Part of that is that she hates to be alone. Another factor is that my room is air-conditioned, which is a plus for a long-haired German Shepherd in the summer. I also have two comfortable carpets in my room for her to sleep on.

I went bowling yesterday for the first time in at least a decade. I started out as the resident gutter king, but got better over time. I still lost both games I played, though.

My copy of the new Cheap Trick album, The Latest, came in the mail today. I listened to it while I was out walking. Overall, it's really good. One thing, though. The song "Sick Man of Europe" came on. It was a really rocking track with a cool riff, Robin Zander belting it out and some great bass playing from Tom Petersson. Then the song ended, much to my surprise. At first, I was wondering if my iPod had somehow skipped to the next song, but it turned out that the song was only two minutes long. Just as I was really getting into it, the song was over. I suppose there's something to be said about quitting while you're ahead, but I think this song could've been extended by another minute or two.
( More album thoughts... )

Watch this and try to resist the urge to punch your monitor.

How long will it be before the conspiracy theorists come out and say Michael Jackson faked his own death?

...And I have to wonder just whose bright idea it was to put the spoiler on the cover?

I just looked at the top selling songs and albums on iTunes. Half the songs on the top-selling songs list were Michael Jackson songs. Likewise, nine of the ten best-selling albums were Michael Jackson albums. The only non-MJ album in that top-ten list was the new Black Eyed Peas album, which had been knocked of its top spot down to #9. Just over 24 hours ago, I never would've thought that the Black Eyed Peas would be knocked off the top by Michael Jackson.

Over at Amazon, it's pretty much the same story. Every single one of their ten best-selling albums is by Michael Jackson.

I can't say I'm surprised. In it's own sick way, death can be the biggest career boost for an artist. Look at Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Dimebag Darrell.