So, CJ and I were talking about doing a “Metal Mondays” feature on the blog because… uh… it’ll be fun. And why not, right? I don’t really know what we’re actually supposed to be doing in the space, but I figured I’d kick it off by doing a quick and dirty run-down of some of the different types of heavy metal music that are out there. (Note to any other metalheads reading: this list is not intended to be exhaustive. If I didn’t write about your favorite genre or you think I’m giving short shrift to Vagina Carnage Goresnot or whatever your favorite group is, get over it. I don’t care).

So, if you give two squirts of demon piss about metal, read on. If you don’t, read on anyways, weakling.

(more…)

In preparation for the ‘08 Olympic Trials, the painfully white City of Eugene is bracing itself for an influx of mysterious, dark-skinned athletes by giving diversity training to volunteers, police and hospitality workers. I don’t know what’s funnier - the actual story or the news anchor’s faux outrage. Maybe it just sounds a lot stranger to people who haven’t been embedded in this bizarre Bermuda Triangle of crazy for the past two or three years. For example, when I watched this I said, “Yeah, that sounds about right for Eugene.” Thanks to Mike G. for the tip.

The Eugene Weekly finally has their new dating and personals site, Wink + Kink, online, providing the Commentator with a new, limitless source of comedy. The only question is how many I SAW YOU’s can you handle?  For example:

Hey, um, I saw you at the VRC in the food court reading manga, “Got Rice?” Tee shirt, glasses, very cute. Saw you later watching “Smart People” alone, thought you had an adorable giggle. Me: kind of loud girl sitting in the row in front of you, red Chuck Taylors, MC Chris shirt and Foster’s sweatshirt, glasses, ponytail. I get a discount on manga at work, interested??

Or, on a slightly more disturbing note:

You activate my motion sensing flood lights practically every night when you walk by. Why don’t you stop and say hi? Is it my big telescope that distracts you?

The site currently has a free promotion going, and being the curious journalist that I am (and single), I have started exploring this strange, new meat market. The “Wink” section of the site is set up more like a conventional dating site, while “Kink” is more, well, kinky. I haven’t delved into the horrors of “Kink” yet, but the public has a right to know, dammit! Expect a full report soon.

According to an article in Macworld, a newly released study conducted by Nemertes Research Group indicates that “a flood of new video and other Web content could overwhelm the Internet by 2010.”

This internet slow-down is something the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) has been predicting for several years. Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the IIA agrees, saying the study gives “good, hard, unique data” on the IIA concerns about network capacity. He went on to state, “Internet users will create 161 exabytes of new data this year.”

What does this mean to you, loyal OC readers? Not only will it become painstakingly difficult to read the OC blog, but it’ll also seriously impede your ability to view porn online.

Are videos of Miley Cyrus in concert really worth their bandwidth if it means missing a busty blonde in action?

“Video has unleashed an explosion of Internet content,” Mehlman said.

I guess the question is, what type of “explosion” would you like to unleash in 2010?

Read it here.

I had the pleasure of sitting through a monthly OLCC meeting this morning, and the senior citizen commissioners actually did something, well, respectable for Oregon youth and music business. After rejecting admendements to the minors posting rule in December, which allow venues that could only have 21+ shows to admit minors into shows, the board passed a revised rule change unanimously today.

All of the public testimony was in favor of the amendments, which surprised Commissioner Christine Lewandowski who noted that a MADD representative would generally be at such a hearing in opposition.

The admendment allows Oregon venues that serve alcohol to host all age shows and those that don’t serve alcohol to do so for added income, as long as they set up an approved liquor control plan. The WW’s Local Cut has a story and some video coverage here.

Here it is ladies and gents, your 2008 ASUO Elections Issue. Inside there is:

- A wonderful editorial with a gentle headline

- ASUO Executive candidate interviews

- ASUO candidate questionnaires, that are a bit scrambled due to the late special elections.

- Recaps of Eugene visits by Obama and Clinton.

- An interview with Rockne Roll, Editor of OSU’s The Liberty and Oregon Legislature candidate

- A few choice words about the new online evaluation system by Matt Walsh.

- And more…

Charlton Heston is dead today at 84. Due to the nature of Alzheimers disease, the obit writers have had plenty of time to choose their words carefully when giving the great actor and longtime NRA president his due propers.  “Ultimate Movie Star,” says the WaPo, “An Epic Life” purrs ABC News, “Larger Than Life” cries MSNBC in a frenzy.  Even Michael Moore put Chucks photo on his website. Hell, even Al Jazeera called the guy an “All American Hero,”  although this may not have been meant as a compliment.  Of course, the last thing Chuck needed was another compliment. “I have played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses,” said Heston once. “If that doesn’t create an ego problem, nothing does.”

Heston’s courage in politics matched his heroic onscreen personae, standing up for the second amendment in its least popular hours. Although demonized by the left for his service to the NRA, Heston was one of the first Hollywood actors to march for civil rights in the 1960’s. Ultimately, his greatest legacy is his films. From The Ten Commandments to Planet of The Apes, from A Touch of Evil to Soylent Green, his performances projected a sense of determination, presence and heroism which will likely never be matched.

On Tuesday, April 1 at noon, supporters of the soon-to-be closed Holy Cow Cafe will hold a sit-in and costume contest in the EMU food court to protest the EMU’s decision not to renew the restaurant’s lease.

According to the poster for the event, everyone should participate because “taking political action is fun and rewarding. Don’t knock it ’till you try it. And, lastly, because this is a fight we can win!”

The poster also included a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. about the effectiveness of sit-ins and non-violent protest. However, the reason the sit-ins of the civil rights movement were effective was because a) the protesters weren’t supposed to be sitting there, b) their presence incited violence against them and c) this attracted media attention, gaining sympathy for their cause. None of these qualities will be met at Tuesday’s sit-in. Last time I checked, the food court was made for sitting in, and no one is likely to get violent unless the protesters block access to Panda Express. (Some people feel very strongly about orange chicken).

And a costume contest? Seriously, this is how you plan on sticking it to the man?

The Oregon Commentator brings you its eighth issue of the year, The Sports Issue. Inside you will find:

• A somewhat interesting editorial
• “Rifle and Pistol Sports” by Publisher Guy Simmons
• “Sonic Doom” about the sketchy sale of the Seattle Supersonics by Managing Editor Jake Speicher
• The only NCAA bracket in the country with Sudsy on it
• “Rugby: Best Sport Ever” by Associate Editor CJ Ciaramella
• “Ray Schafer: A Model American” by Sarah Cate
• “Budget Golf” by newby Matt Tham
• “Hypocrisy of MCC affiliates disrespectful of campus culture” by Sean Jin
• “How the homeless will save the economy” by Another Perspective columnist Austin Himes
• A stellar representation of the ASUO by Bryanna Torgeson
• And much, much more!

This Friday, 4 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the EMU, the Pacifica Forum will be meeting to address recent OC coverage of the group.

According to several emails I received, Editor-in-Chief of the Eugene Weekly Ted Taylor sent Orval Etter, the founder and organizer of the Pacifica Forum, an email on Feb. 18 asking him to confirm several details from my story. On Feb. 27, Etter announced that the forum topic of that week was being changed to “Pacifica Forum: Attacks on and in.” (The Pacifica Forum’s immediate reaction when questioned or criticized for its often deplorable content is to claim it’s being attacked).

That Friday, Feb. 29, Jimmy Marr, the delightful fellow who previously called Martin Luther King, Jr. a “moral leper and communist dupe,” read the email from Taylor aloud to the forum. In it, Taylor asked Etter to comment on my question as to why the forum had allowed itself to, as I wrote, “be overrun by complete assholes.” Etter reportedly said this would addressed at the next meeting (March 7).

I will be there, of course, recorder in hand, dutifully capturing all the wackiness. To catch up on the Pacifica Forum, start here. Also, contributing writer to the Eugene Weekly Eva Sylwester has her coverage of the forum archived.

As I previously reported, there will be a meeting, now titled “Take Back the Campus”, held on Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in Willamette 100. The event, co-hosted by the ASUO and the Sustainability Coalition, will focus on student involvement on campus and recent actions by the university administration.

You can tell from the oddly proportioned “power to the people” fist on the right (the event’s logo) that the organizers mean business. Or at least have some vague concept of business. According to the Facebook event, the meeting “is not one night of complaining but a chance to come together and take action.” No, I’m pretty sure it will mostly be complaining. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; I’m just saying …

For a full list of the grievances cited by the event organizers, (more…)

The Oregon Commentator presents its second issue of 2008, “Special Elections.” There is too much good stuff in it to mention - Billy Squire lyrics for instance - so just click on the cover already. Enjoy

Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist of Arlington, a small town in Eastern Oregon, is in trouble with her constituents for some racy pictures she posted on her Myspace profile. One picture shows Kontur-Gronquist posed on the town’s fire engine in her skivvies. This is usually the part where Kontur-Gronquist would issue some sort of awkward apology, right?

the mayor said she did nothing wrong and those who are offended need to get over it.

“That’s my personal life,” she said. “It has nothing to do with my mayor’s position […] I’m not going to change who I am.”

Judging from her picture, no one is going to force her to change either; Kontur-Gronquist is stacked. Or, as the Fark headline put it, “Mayor McKickYourAss saw no reason to remove the lingerie pictures from her MySpace page after being elected, what are you going to do about it?”

Hmm, speaking of mayors, I wonder …

The latest Eugene Weekly has a news piece on the Pacifica Forum, and (surprise!) the forum is still bat-shit crazy. If you haven’t read my piece on the Pacifica Forum in the Holiday Issue, go check it out. Anyways, here’s a little treat from the EW article:

Later, after denying that he was a conspiracy theorist, Douglas described how the burning of the Branch Davidians’ compound in Waco, Texas, and the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building were perpetrated by the U.S. government, and he said that the U.S. government was capable of using cable TV boxes as receivers to eavesdrop on people in their homes.

For those not familiar with it, the Pacifica Forum spends most of its time talking about how the Jews run the world, didn’t really die in the Holocaust, eat babies, etc. They try and cover their douchebaggery by claiming they are merely criticizing Israel and its policies, which apparently is a rock-solid defense these days.