Review Assignment

New England Metal Review—January 7, 1989

            There are some albums that are just made to destroy sound systems.  Metallica’s …And Justice For All is definitely one of these.  The production on the record emphasizes Lars Ulrich’s machine gun drumming and the razor sharp guitars of Kirk Hammet and James Hetfield.  It’s not a sound for the faint of heart, and the incendiary intensity of the band is pretty much unrelenting from start to finish. 

            …And Justice For All works because it is such a focused effort.  Every song and sound belongs in the framework that Hetfield and company have constructed for the album.  From the haunting backwards-tracked guitar harmonies of “Blackened” to the final slash-and-crash of “Dyer’s Eve,” the entire four sides of this collection work together perfectly. 

            It’s interesting for a few different reasons that AJFA is Metallica’s best work.  This album had some big shoes to fit as the successor to an album as well received as Master of Puppets.  Metallica took on the challenge of repeating success by taking all of the elements of their style and kicking everything up a notch: faster and more complicated riffs, heavier guitar sounds, fiercer vocals, and tighter arrangements.  Also important to note is that AJFA is the first album the band has put out since the death of bassist Cliff Burton.  Metallica has emerged from what could have been the end of the band and proven that there is still plenty of vitality to the band’s music.

            AJFA is without a doubt an album that people will be talking about for a long time to come.  With a statement like this, there can be no doubt that Metallica has been inducted into the pantheon of heavy metal legends along with Sabbath, Priest, and Maiden.    

TMI Essay Response

In Term Papers, Google, and Library Anxiety, Ann Donahue and Carolyn Gamtso discuss at length the challenges that face students who need to find sources for research projects.  The authors state that library anxiety has been a constant problem for generations of students, even as library services have developed and made research an easier process.  Whereas students might once have feared digging through a library’s collection of journals to locate a single article, today’s students are presented with a staggering amount of information from something as simple as a Google search.  The authors’ main point in the essay is that the student who conquers library anxiety is one who possesses information literacy: a skill that allows a student to evaluate sources being considered for research projects by their timeliness, relevancy, and credibility.  The information literate student is one who can thrive in a TMI-filled world.

On Writing

Stephen King's On Writing is a book that I wish I had read years ago.  After taking a few writing courses in college and wading through some awful textbooks on the subject of writing, I'd have to say that King's book is a good one.  King tells you the facts and isn't hiding behind a wall of pretension.

Also, the man is just plain funny, which makes the book a highly entertaining read.  For just one example of his humor, check out page 186, in which King lists a few of his favorite "profane aphorisms of great color and vitality."

Overall, it doesn't matter if you come to the book wanting to learn how to finally get yourself to crank out that novel that's been rattling around inside your brain for ten years or just want to enjoy a fun read about a storyteller talking about story.  On Writing is a book that has something to offer to anyone.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

New Comics Convention to be New Hampshire’s Biggest Pop Culture Event

            Coming to Manchester in May 2011, the first ever New Hampshire Comic Con (NHCC) will be an event no fan of comics culture can miss.  NHCC will be held at the Radisson Hotel on Elm Street in Manchester on May 8, 2011 from 10-5.  At $20 a ticket (ages 12 and under admitted FREE!) NHCC is guaranteed to be a fun yet affordable way to kick off the summer season.           

            An impressive guest list is forming up, with industry veterans such as Stan Sakai and Peter David already on the bill.  Plenty of events are planned, including demo sessions of upcoming video games and a comics movie marathon.  Many of the area’s best comics retailers will be on hand with plenty of items for sale.

            “We decided that it was time to really put New Hampshire on the map as far as comic conventions go,” says Glenn Roebuck, one of NHCC’s organizers.  “There are many comic stores in the state and many fans who groan about having to travel out to Boston or New York to get to experience a big con.  It’s time to prove that New Hampshire is a place that really loves comics.”

            Governor John Lynch has released a statement about NHCC, hailing it as “what is sure to be a successful pop culture event that New Hampshire can be proud of.”

            Fans can get their tickets by logging on to www.nhcc.com or by stopping in any of New Hampshire’s comic stores (find a store near you at www.comicshoplocator.com).   The countdown to New Hampshire Comic Con begins today!

New Hampshire Comic Con News Release

Coming soon to Manchester: the first annual New Hampshire Comic Convention!  NHCC is a convention where you can find all kinds of comics and memorabilia, meet and greet your favorite comics creators, attend panels, and demo upcoming video games.  The con will be held on Sunday, May 8 at the Radisson hotel in downtown Manchester.  Tickets are already on sale at www.nhcc.com.   At $20 a ticket (ages 12 and under free) you won’t find a better deal for a convention in the area.

Some of our confirmed comics guests:

• John Romita Jr.  (Guest of Honor)
• Peter David
• Mike Allred
• Jan Duursema
• Charlie Adlard
• Becky Cloonan
• Stan Sakai

And here’s a sample of some of the events we’ll have during the day:

• All day Magic the Gathering tournaments
• Street Fighter vs. Tekken demo
• Spotlight Panels on Peter David and John Romita, Jr
• Costume contest

All tickets ordered from www.nhcc.com by March 10 will enter purchasers into a contest to win a $500 prize pack from Dark Horse Comics!

Head on over to www.nhcc.com to find out more about the first ever New Hampshire Comic Con!

Random Picture Time

500 Words

Some people swore that the house was haunted.  But Jenna wasn’t the kind of person who ever believed what anyone else told her.  The stories her mother and aunts always mentioned never sounded like they could be true.  They were about stupid things like knocking sounds coming from the attic and objects mysteriously falling off tables.  Just stupid. 

            Jenna put the key in the lock and turned.  This used to be Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  She had loved this place and was never scared of it even once.  But now, with her grandparents being dead and the house’s alleged status as “haunted,” her mother had ordered it to be demolished.  This was Jenna’s last chance to see if any of the stories could be true.

            She walked up the creaky staircase.  She checked her reflection in the mirror.  The glass wasn’t cracked.  The November wind rattled the windows.  She wasn’t scared.

            Jenna walked out of the house.  It was just an old country house.  There was nothing wrong with it.  She walked around to the back of the house and saw a deep hole in the ground.  She didn’t remember ever seeing this before.  She got down on hands and knees and looked into the darkness.  A pile of human skulls gazed back.

            Jenna screamed.  She didn’t know what else to do.  What did this mean about her grandparents?  Why didn’t any of her relatives tell her about anything like this? 

            She looked up at the house and saw a full skeleton in the window of the kitchen.  She screamed again and then tried to convince herself that she was just seeing things. 

            She thought about getting into her car and driving back home as quickly as she could, speed limit and state trooper be damned.  But she couldn’t leave.

            The key entered the lock again and Jenna went into the kitchen.  She looked everywhere for the skeleton that she knew she had just seen.  It wasn’t hiding in the oven, or in the closet, or in the cabinets.  She couldn’t have just imagined it.  That would be stupid.

            The tablecloth slid right off the kitchen table and crumpled on the floor. 

            Knock knock knock.

            The sound was definitely coming from the attic.

            Jenna screamed again.  Once again she thought of getting in the car, and once again she decided against it. 

            She pulled open the ladder to the attic.  It squealed in protest, opening for the first time in decades. 

            The knocking continued as she started ripping apart floorboards.  What was making that noise?

            She stared out the tiny attic window and tried to find the skulls in the deep hole.  She didn’t see them.  The knocking stopped and she calmed down.  She cried and whispered words of reassurance to herself.  Then a bony hand touched her shoulder and she passed out while screaming.

            Hours later she woke up in her car and had no idea how she had gotten there.  Nothing was ever the same again after that.  

Too Much Information

            I have a lot of things that I’m interested in.  This means that every day there are quite a few websites that I visit in hopes of catching some interesting or important little tidbit of information.  I have a handful of sites that I check on a daily basis to keep up on news about comics, then there’s one for music, and one for basketball (yes, even though it’s the NBA’s offseason and there is hardly any news at all).  I may or may not login to Facebook, or zip over to Amazon to check the price on something and then deliberate whether or not to buy it, or maybe I’ll get really sidetracked and wind up spending the better part of an hour on Youtube. 

            I always get annoyed with myself when I let a quick fact lookup turn into a full-blown, hour-long session of TMI absorption.  And this is where the love/hate aspects come into play: if I’m reading up about things that I really enjoy, why should I feel like I’m wasting my time?  It’s because it’s never a direct experience.  If I wanted to devote time to the comics hobby, why not read a couple that are sitting in a stack in my room instead of an article teasing a story that’s coming out half a year from now?  Or, how about instead of following a discussion of opinions on a new album, why don’t I just listen to it again and think about my own reactions?

     

Blog Under Construction

Please bear with me as I have fun with all the different color combos I can try out here. No guarantees that it will look good until I spend a little more time with it.

Finally...a first post.

It took a second attempt on another computer using a different operating system, but finally this blog is set up.  It even has something better than a boring white background.  Javascript is apparently a necessary thing.