God, Please Save These Troubled States

I just read this insanely disturbing story over at Shakespeare's Sister about how, just in time for the holidays, Burger King is refusing to pay migrant workers one extra penny per pound of tomatoes picked for the company.

You heard that right. A single penny. Amounting to a mere $250,000 a year.

Please pass this around. Do not give Burger King a single penny of your money. Especially considering this:

• Telling Burger King to pay an extra penny for tomatoes and provide a decent wage to migrant workers would hardly bankrupt the company. Indeed, it would cost Burger King only $250,000 a year. At Goldman Sachs, that sort of money shouldn’t be too hard to find. In 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million — more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year.

Boycott Burger King.

Linkin Park? Seriously?

I'm all for bands expanding their audience and trying out shows they may not be used to.

But Coheed, you're a prog-rock band. Linkin Park could not be any simpler or...man. What word would best represent their brand of everyman "rock"?

Boring?
Trite?
Unimaginative?
Ew?

Eh. I'm really starting to get into their newest record, No World For Tomorrow. But I don't know if I could ever justify giving Linkin Park a penny of my money in order to see Coheed and Cambria. Plus, I'm still a bit bothered that Chris Pennie (The Dillinger Escape Plan) is playing with them.

Anyway, if you're interested, the dates are as follows:

DATE                        CITY                                     VENUE

2/12                      Omaha, NE                               Qwest Center Omaha
2/13                      St. Paul, MN                             Xcel Energy Ctr
2/15                      Columbus, OH                        Nationwide Arena
2/16                      Detroit, MI                                Joe Louis Arena
2/18                      Manchester, NH                       Verizon Wireless
2/19                      Baltimore, MD                         1st Mariner Arena
2/21                      New York, NY                         Madison Square Garden
2/22                      Montreal, QU                           Bell Centre
2/23                      London, ON                             John LaBatt Centre
2/25                      Lexington, KY                          Rupp Arena
2/26                      Nashville, TN                           Sommet Ctr
2/29                      Oklahoma City, OK                Ford Ctr
3/1                        Albuquerque, NM                   Tingley Coliseum
3/2                        El Paso, TX                               Don Haskins Ctr
3/8                        West Valley City, UT               E Center 

I can’t presume to have read any of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, though friends are surprised that I haven’t read a fantasy trilogy based so seriously on attacking religious dogma. (Am I a bad atheist? Probably.)

My excitement for the film version of the first novel, Northern Lights, (called “The Golden Compass” here in the states), was limited, mostly because I didn’t know much about the source material. However, the movie had Nicole Kidman (who I adore), Daniel Craig, and fighting polar bears.

Let me reiterate that: FIGHTING POLAR BEARS. WEARING ARMOR. It’s every human being’s dream COME TRUE. (Don’t deny it.)


The Golden Compass opens with a rushed narration that describes the universe this trilogy will operate in. In this world, every person’s soul has a physical manifestation as an animal that walks around with them. I will admit that I am entirely enamored with this idea and, after about 5 minutes of watching all these adorable live-action/CGI animals prancing around, I wanted one. Badly (The main character, Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), has a “demon” that shifts between a bird, a cat, and a mongoose. !!!!!!!!!!) In this world, the Scholars and the University are at odds with The Magisterial, an organization that believes that if people are told what to do, they’ll be happy. And when it’s discovered that there may be a portal in an alternate universe that would throw the Magisterial’s entire purpose to the wayside, Lyra becomes involved in a battle that, as we’re told, affects every man, woman, and child on the planet.

The problem with this film is evident in the very beginning. I don’t know who over at New Line is responsible for it, but the film has been heavily edited for time. I expected such an epic novel adaptation to last nearly 3 hours. (Especially since they seem to be trying so hard to market the movie as a Lord Of The Rings type adventure.) Clocking in just under 2 hours, there are countless times I’m left wanting more.

As I said, this is obvious in the beginning. Even after the narration tells us what’s going on, I found myself repeatedly thinking, “What the fuck is going on?” (I eventually picked it up.) There’s a complete lack of character development, except with the main character. I wanted to know why Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) is so committed to opposing the Magisterial. (They’re a clever mask for the Catholic Church, in my opinion.) I want to know why Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) is associated with The Magisterial.

But perhaps that’s the point. We’re supposed to be intrigued for the coming 2 sequels. I just wish I had known that coming into the movie!

These plot mysteries continue to plague the rest of the movie. It’s not there are holes in the story, per se. It’s just that it appears this first movie is merely an introduction to these characters and ideas. That’s what does work about the movie. I love these characters. I love this world, these parallel universes. I love the way the movie looks. The acting is great, especially for a film that’s supposed to be for children.


But let’s get to what I need to talk about: the polar bears. Jesus Holy Christ, they are so spectacular. SO SPECTACULAR. There shouldn’t be a kid on the planet who isn’t screaming with joy on the screen every time Iorek Byrnison (Ian McKellen!!!!) pounces into view. (He’s Lyra’s armored bear.) The whole concept really does tap into a secret desire of most children (and this 24 year old man) and director Chris Weitz really excels at making their relationship believable and magical.

And when armored bears fight? Seriously, I expected greatness and I received PERFECTION. When Iorek returns to the north to challenge the King of the Bears, Ragnar, be prepared to watch one of the most RIDICULOUSLY FANTASTIC FIGHT SCENES EVER. Just wait for the resolution of the fight. I was cheering and clapping!

I enjoyed the movie because there are so many things that work here, both as a film for children and as a film for the adults who have to accompany them to the theatre. I adore the message this film presents about free thought without going for the jugular. (It’s really not anti-Christian at all; it’s more anti-dogma.) Dakota Richards is an excellent choice to play the lead: she portrays Lyra as a young girl who is willing to stand up for her friends and family, despite her own fears. Nicole Kidman is, as usual, a scene stealer. In one moment, you’re enraptured by her beauty and her apparent concern; in the next moment, you’re left desperately hating her for her malicious ways.

There will be the inevitable comparisons to other epic trilogies, but this almost seems to be a response to C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series. (Actually, reading up on it, it's been theorized that Pullman actually did intend these as a response to the religious themes found in those novels.) I think with further development, perhaps the other two movies will lift up the prestige of the whole trilogy.

I ultimately had a good time watching the film and I suppose the move had the desired affect: I want to see more. So much more. I know there’s two more films in the work, but I don’t want to wait. I just wish the film hadn’t been so gloriously gutted. I fear that it will leave most people uninterested and annoyed, putting the future movies in jeopardy.

So go see this film, because damn it, I want more of them!

NO WAY!

LOOK AT THAT!!!

That's so spectacular. I love that there are three marker test lines on the bill. (You run a special marker over $100 bills to check if they're real. I remember this from my retail days!) As if they really had to check if this $1 million bill was actually real.

You've got to hand it to the guy: That's a pretty bold move on his part. And it looks pretty real, too!

While I love blogging and being able to rant about social and political injustice, I really want there to be a day, a week, a month where I don't have to read depressing and infuriating headlines over and over again, trying to make sense of them. This has to take the cake for this year:

Dept of Homeland Security wants Firefighters to look for terrorists while in the line of duty

(H/T to BoingBoing for the story.)

I can't fathom this. I don't understand how the whole country isn't rioting at such blatant disrespect for our own right to privacy and how the government is just trying to find a way around doing things the legal way.

Jesus.

I think one of the more disgusting things I've had to witness (and it's something I see all the time here in LA) is men treating women as solely a sexual object: catcalls, groping, lewd comments, and disgust when a sexual advance is rejected.

Just this past Monday, I watched a man in a semi truck purposely slow down, lean out his window, and yell at an attractive women walking through the crosswalk. "You got a nice ass, baby," he says, leering at her, licking his lips. "You wanna come sit on my lap?"

She ignores him, but I can't imagine how. I'd flip my shit if someone treated me with such blatant disrespect. But then, just 5 seconds later, another guy asks her for the time. She stops and politely tells him the time. She smiles. She continues walking.

This man then turns and stares at her ass as she walks away. He turns back, to me, smiling. And I watch as he gives a thumbs up to the man in the semi, who is still waiting to cross the intersection. They both smile and laugh at each other.

Now, I want you to imagine that scenario, but multiply the number of men by 500:

• At halftime of the Jets’ home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, several hundred men lined one of Giants Stadium’s two pedestrian ramps at Gate D. Three deep in some areas, they whistled and jumped up and down. Then they began an obscenity-laced chant, demanding that the few women in the gathering expose their breasts.

Hold on. It's only going to get worse.

• When one woman appeared to be on the verge of obliging, the hooting and hollering intensified. But then she walked away, and plastic beer bottles and spit went flying. Boos swept through the crowd of unsatisfied men.

  Marco Hoffner, an 18-year-old from Lacey Township, N.J., was expecting to see more. Not from the Jets — they pulled off a big upset over the Steelers. He wanted more from the alternative halftime show that, according to many fans, has been a staple at Jets home games for years.

  “Very disappointed, because we’re used to seeing a lot,” Hoffner said.

  The mood of previous Gate D crowds — captured on video clips posted on YouTube — sometimes bordered on hostile, not unlike the spirit of infamously aggressive European soccer hooligans. One clip online shows a woman being groped by a man standing next to her.

  Sunday’s scene played out for about 20 minutes, and at least one woman granted the men’s request, setting off a roar as if the former star running back Curtis Martin had just scored a touchdown. Martin was actually nearby, being honored on the field in the official halftime show, which had a far less intense audience.

This. This is what our culture breeds.

And what are the Jets doing about it?

• Throughout halftime, about 10 security guards in yellow jackets stood near the bottom of the circular, multilevel ramp, located beyond the stadium’s concourse of concession stands and restrooms. One of the guards was smoking a cigarette; many fans do the same during halftime on the giant ramps, which are located at each corner of the stadium. Another guard later said they were not permitted to do anything about the chants at Gate D because of free speech laws. Yet when a reporter tried to interview two security guards after halftime, he was detained in a holding room, threatened with arrest and asked to hand over his tape recorder.

  The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which provides security at Giants Stadium for Jets and Giants games, is aware of the raucous and raunchy halftime show. Patrick C. Aramini, the authority’s vice president for security, parking and traffic for the Meadowlands Sports Complex, said men and women could be expelled and even turned over to the New Jersey State Police to be arrested for their participation — although he said he did not know if anyone was cited Sunday. He added that other measures, like blocking access to the ramps, were being considered.

  “The problem is, you got to watch four or five hundred people sometimes in the one particular spiral,” Aramini said.

  “What do we do, arrest everybody that starts chanting?”

NO. YOU GET THEM OFF THE FUCKING RAMP AND BACK IN THEIR SEATS, DUMB ASS.

This is how these men view women: Nothing but the ends to justify their sexual desire. And if a woman refuses to comply with such open sexism and mysogyny, she is booed. Spit upon. She is clearly not worthy.

Of course, I'd love for some authority to get involved and stop this process. But what disturbs me is that it won't have an effect on the scumbags who are participating in the act. They'll just find another way to marginalize women.

I am enraged. I am furious. And we absolutely cannot let this stand.

• The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

  To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

  Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

How? How do you do this to people who given physical parts of their body in order to defend this country? How can you rationalize such an action???????

You realize that they are unable to serve their commitments because of you, right? You fucking sent them to Iraq to fight your war. You put them in that situation. And they obeyed you, as they promised to do, and now you're unwilling to even give them the decency of allowing them their signing bonuses?

• While he's unsure of his future, Fox says he's unwavering in his commitment to his country.

  "I'd do it all over again... because I'm proud of the discipline that I learned.  I'm proud to have done something for my country," he said.

  But Fox feels like he's already given enough. He'll never be able to pursue his dream of being a police officer because of his wounds and he can't believe he's being asked to return part of his $10,000 signing bonus.

Whomever has decided to make this policy a reality is the scum of the earth.

Contact your Senators. Contact your Congressmen. Spread this news around. We absolutely refuse to stand for this. Pro-war, anti-war, it doesn't matter: This is injustice.

This is such a mind-boggling and frustrating story.

• The boys are accused of forcing a girl they were playing with into a litter-strewn wooded area behind the complex Thursday. She said she was threatened with a rock, and that one of the boys raped her, according to Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie.

  Authorities said the girl waited until Saturday to tell her family, who then reported it to police.

Two of the boys were 8. One was 9 years old.

I'm at a loss for words. Sure, it's just an allegation and the case is certainly still ongoing; the father of one of the boys says the girl is lying to prevent herself from getting into trouble. (Which, actually, makes no sense. Get in trouble for what? If she had sex with these boys, all she had to do is not tell anyone. That's all.)

But I suppose that's the difficulty in case like this. I can't possibly presume to know all the facts and thereby can't make any sort of judgments. However, a rape charge like this, when the people involved are so young, leads me to ponder how these kids even got involved in the first place.

How would these boys know about sexual penetration at 8? How would they know how to rape someone? (They had to know what sexual intercourse was and how to take part in it.) If, by some weird twist, the girl was actually lying, how the fuck would she even know what rape was to claim she was a victim of it?

This is a confusing bit of news to read. I don't understand how this has even happened. And, reading the comments over at Shakesville, the rape apologists can't even leave this story alone.

Sigh.

(Tip o' the hat to Wonkette for the post about this.)

In a bout of maddening confusion, Prince George County Sheriffs mistakenly raided the wrong home, shot and killed a couple's dog, and then walked out without so much as an apology or even acknowledging that they'd shot the dog.

Assholes.

A tip of my hat to Shakesville, as usual, for writing about this.

Turns out that on one of Verizon's new phones, if you dial 911, the phone emits a very audible alarm. Meaning that anyone can hear you if you dial 911. Meaning that if you're trying to hide and dial 911, everyone in the immediate vicinity will know EXACLY where you are.

• Carol, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of making herself or her land a target for vandals, called for help recently when she arrived at some vacant property she owns in east Austin and found her security chain gone.

  She grabbed her new Casio G’zOne phone from Verizon Wireless, which to her horror made an audible alarm when she called 911.

  Fearing vandals were still on the property, she hung up and hid, then put her hand over the earpiece and dialed again to muffle the sounds.

  “I was afraid the criminals were down the driveway and they would hear and they would know somebody was doing something and they would come out to stop me,” she said.

  The alarm is not ear-splitting, but it is loud enough to be heard at least several yards away.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, VERIZON???? WHY ARE YOU INSTALLING THIS IN YOUR PHONES?

• “The tone our customer experienced is our interpretation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act calling for a provider of telecommunications service to offer service that is accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities. The tone, indicating that 911 has been dialed, is one of several features designed to make wireless service is accessible and easy to use, especially for those with disabilities. Other features include a voice command key where customers can use their voice to dial by name or number; a voice echo feature so that a person who can't see can hear the number or letter if sending a text; read back text messages and speech output of signal strength, battery strength, missed calls, voicemail, roaming, time and date.”

Really? Is it really required by law?

• But the FCC said Section 255 of the Telecommunications Code requires that phones let a caller know a 911 call is underway, but does not require an audible alarm.

  “The Commission has not implemented any rules pursuant to Section 255 that would require the use of any tones concerning 911 calls,” a spokesman said.

HOW?!?!?!?! HOW WAS THIS A GOOD IDEA? HOW DID THIS GET APPROVED?

Pure madness.

Let's address this maddening headline first:


OK SERIOUSLY. IS THAT TOTALLY NECESSARY? Look, we already know that our government views the Middle East as an inferior region. But do we need to further propagate the notion that we're "conquering" the Middle East?

Sigh. This is already starting off badly.

• But MTV, which is known for airing provocative videos featuring scantily clad women, says the Arab version of the pop-culture channel will show less bare skin and profanity.

  "When we come to people's homes, we want to earn their respect," said Abdullatif al-Sayegh, chief executive of Arab Media Group, which along with Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks International owns MTV Arabia. He explained that there will be "culturally sensitive editors going through content of the programming."

Oh boy. That leaves like 20 videos they may be able to show. Or will they just edit what's shown in the "offensive" videos? Even further, what kind of artistic integrity does that give the artists who created these songs and videos if they can be edited to the point that they've changed everything they'd shown before? (Part of me wants to say that half of rap and hip hop's videos aren't art, but whatever. Not my point.)

• By emphasizing local music talent and programs addressing the concerns of Arab youth, MTV Arabia hopes to set itself apart from the other satellite music channels that saturate the Mideast market.

  "We are not only a music channel, we are an entertainment channel where young Arabs will get a voice," program director Patrick Samaha told The Associated Press.

Tell me, Patrick. What are the "concerns of Arab youth" that you'll be addressing?

• But to please a more conservative audience, MTV Arabia will tailor some of its programming and keep provocative hip-hop videos featuring barely dressed women and alcohol to a minimum.

  "We hope to provide a platform for Arab youth to break boundaries without disrespecting their tradition and culture," said Bhavneet Singh, managing director of the Emerging Markets Group, part of MTV Networks International.

• MTV Arabia also will broadcast an Arabic version of the popular car makeover show "Pimp My Ride," as well as "Al Helm" ("The Dream"), which is based on the show "Made," in which MTV transforms awkward teenagers into the successful models or rap stars of their dreams.

• "We have a possibility to copy, paste and cut programs," al-Sayegh said. "What we are saying to young people is it's OK to have fun, it's OK to be naughty as long as you don't lose yourself."

Nothing is sacred, anymore.

I swear, Christmas appeared to start even earlier this year. Perhaps the earliest. Thanksgiving hasn't even passed and every store on the planet is already decorated for the holidays.

After being exposed to so much holiday cheer just days after November started, I became confused. What month was it? Was it really Christmastime?

Fear not, my fellow readers. I now have the answer:

www.isitchristmas.com

FINALLY!!! We know what happened:

Click here to read the story. It really wasn't us. (See, I wasn't lying.) It was a bunch of douchebag hackers fucking with DoubleClick. (Which we use for our ads.)

Moral of the story: Buy a Mac, because I was never infected. NEENER.

I think by now it’s incredibly obvious what a giant nerd I am. The Star Wars tattoos, the many freakouts I had at Comic-Con, my obsession with The X Files. Oh, and there’s that fanaticism with really bad power metal. And Iron Maiden. Oh. And how I own more books and vinyl records than anything else I’ve ever owned.

Well, I’m ok with that. And guess what? This nerd totally enjoyed reading Beowulf back in high school. (I know. Blasphemy. Someone actually enjoyed assigned reading?) The heroic story of a man who fights three epic battles against mythical creatures was right up my geek alley. Frankly, I love that kind of story: slightly historical, drenched in epic structure and imagery, and battle scenes of sword-wielding heroes and horrific monsters.

I hadn’t seen a film adaptation of the long form poem up until I saw Robert Zemeckis’ take on it. To be honest, I didn’t really have any expectations for it, bad or good. I mean, the source material is complicated and written in a language no one speaks anymore. In that sense, I didn’t expect it to be a straight-rendering of the story.


But when I wasn’t being blown away by the visual mastery of this film, I was scratching my head at the story. Which left me right back where I started: I don’t feel anything for this film. (I can’t even tell if it’s a good or bad thing that I felt neutral about a film before seeing it and then feeling exactly the same after seeing it.)

Let me digress and state what totally works about this film: The visuals. Where Polar Express was kind of boring and soulless in its presentation, Beowulf improves in leaps what Zemeckis first experimented with in that film. Of course, there are times when the film does appear to be illustrated. You can see the digital imaging and see the effect it has on the film. But holy mother of god, there are some mind-blowing scenes that could only work with the technology present in this film.

When Beowulf firsts arrives on screen, there’s a rather flattering scene where the camera rushes just above the ground, in between horses’ legs, sweeping up to show a snow-covered landscape, desolate and empty. And it’s so frighteningly realistic that I forgot I’m watching a digitized movie.

This continues to be the case with a large bulk of the scenes. Any of the close-ups on Anthony Hopkins’ face (as King Hrothgar) are meticulous, calculated, and capture all the subtle nuances of his acting.


It doesn’t work all the time, though I imagine that it’s just a result of a constantly evolving technology. While there are plenty of scenes created just for the use of 3-D glasses (spear pointed at the screen, coins thrown at camera, blood dripping down), I found some of the characters (mostly Beowulf) to look completely fake.  Dudes, I know what Ray Winstone looks like. And even though I’ve never seen him nude, I know he doesn’t look like that.

Which now brings me to my main criticism of the movie: the story. Nearly all of the original elements and structure is there. I don’t have a problem with that. And the writers don’t so much change Beowulf as add to it and fill in the blanks. That’s what weirds me out. (Neil Gaiman did say that this was going to be a strange adaptation of Beowulf, so I suppose I should have believed.)

The movie has three distinct parts: Beowulf fights Grendel. (Crispin Glover) Beowulf fights Grendel’s mom. (Angelina Jolie) Beowulf fights the dragon. (Himself) Just like the original poem. And the battles are pretty literate to what’s described. They’re fun, dramatic, ridiculous, and violent. (Pretty much exactly what I want from Beowulf.)

But what’s so distracting is the movie’s constant attempt to portray Beowulf as anything but a badass hero. That’s the whole point of the poem! It’s all about how Beowulf sweeps into town, kills a bunch of gnarly beasts, and dies heroically saving the town from a dragon.

Instead, we’re treated to a fractured, conflicted human who makes mistakes and nearly condemns his entire kingdom to destruction because he couldn’t resist having sex with Angelina Jolie. HE’S BEOWULF. NO PRETTY LADY WOULD CAUSE HIM TO FORGET A BATTLE.

The other additions to the story include giving Grendel a motivation for attacking Heorot: an earache. That’s right. You read that correctly. Grendel, who is horrific to the eyes and is played wonderfully by Crispin Glover, tries to destroy an entire city because he has an earache. An earache. I wish I was lying.

The film is rated PG-13 and I’m mystified as to how that got approved. I’m no prude, but this is a violent film. Lots of blood. Beheadings, arms ripped off, people smashed into the ground, and a completely nude Angelina Jolie. (Guys, just because I can’t see her nipples or her pubic hair doesn’t mean I think she’s not naked.) And there’s one particularly gross joke about semen that I don’t think any 13 year old will get. I have no idea how that was allowed in the film.

But in the end, I guess those are just small details. The world Zemeckis has created is stunning, large, and just as epic as the original poem. I can appreciate that.

If I had to give any sort of recommendation, I’d say go see it. In 3-D, if you can. Zemeckis and the cast did pull off the story, even with the bizarre additions. There’s really no movie that’s ever been made that encompasses such a large visual scope and gives the viewer such an experience.

I don't think there's an album this year that I've been anticipating more. Simply put, I adored Miss Machine. I was happy to see the band experiment with more traditional song structures, pop melodies, and to hear Greg Puciato helm the vocals this time around. (He'd been with the band for so long.)

The Dillinger Escape Plan's Ire Works is finally here (and only two years after their predecessor, thankfully). And this is a weird album.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, which, in the Dillinger world, probably isn't a good thing. When I first heard Calculating Infinity, or the Irony is a Dead Scene EP with Mike Patton, and even Miss Machine, they were all instant loves. Every offering they've given us has impressed with it's brutality, technicality, and, recently, it's musical prowess.

But what is this album? It's as if the sheer brutality of Calculating Infinity is at war with the more poppy songs from their last album.

I'll back this up for a second. I realize that a whole lot of you may have never heard this band in your life. For a few years, they've been my absolute favorite live act; as many times and places as I've seen them, their ability to frighten and excite me has never been met by any other live band I've seen in my lifetime.

Here's an example:



This is a performance of "Sugar Coated Sour" at a benefit show in a Virgin Megastore. In many ways, DEP represents unbridled anger and aggression that most bands wish they could capture. Their first full length, Calculating Infinity, is genius. No doubt about it. It's virtually unlistenable to the average music fan: eschewing all melody and traditional song structure, the band pulls inspiration from jazz, Death, Cynic, Atheist, and hardcore to create a sonic sledgehammer. The vocals, sparse and staccato, are merely a second act to the insane instrumentation.


Guitar nerds across the globe have spent years trying to figure out the riffs and leads on Calculating Infinity. What throws people off is that, at times, they ignore musical keys and progressions, creating a landscape of atonal, dischordant fury.

That's what blew me away the first time I was exposed to this band. Being a guitar player, I'd simply never heard music like this: so angry, so pissed off, so technical, so brutal. (There are a million copycat bands around these days, but I'll get to that in a second.)

Plagued by freak accidents and member losses, they've never been known for prolifically releasing music. (It took them 5 years to release their second album.) But now, with just over 3 years since Miss Machine came out, I feel as if Ire Works was rushed. Maybe it's because of issues with original drummer, Chris Pennie, defecting to Coheed and Cambria. (How anyone could choose that band over DEP is beyond me.) Maybe it's because they didn't want to spend a million years before releasing another full length. Either way, there's something off about this record.


The album opens with "Fix Your Face," which isn't much of a departure from Miss Machine's opener, "Panasonic Youth." (Hey, I know that name!) Distorted, atonal guitars, coupled with their fucked up time signatures, make this a DEP staple. The song doesn't do much for me, with the exception of newcomer Gil Sharone's ridiculous drumming and the final breakdown. ("PRICE FOR HEEERRRRRRRR!!!!)

"Lurch" isn't that much different. Their tech-metal, proto-hardcore madness is as brutal as ever. Musically and vocally, this song sounds like it belongs on Calculating Inifinity. No melody. Staccato riffs and vocal lines very reminiscent of their original vocalist, Dmitri Minikakis. This is Dillinger at their heaviest, their fastest, and, strangely, their shortest. The song is only 2:03 long. (And there are 5 other songs that are shorter.)

"Black Bubblegum" is expected territory; I knew they'd experiment further with DEP "pop" songs, and the falsetto vocals and harmonies are ok. I want to hate this song so badly, but it's so goddamn catchy. Ridiculously fucking catchy. It's tame territory for the band; even Miss Machine's melodic songs packed a punch. (See both "Phone Home" and "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants.")

This doesn't and that's a problem. The song is catchy, and that's about. Save for the "When Good Dogs Do Bad Things" reference in the bridge, this just sounds like a pop song that Greg Puciato sang.

"Sick On Sunday" suffers from being too short; it's a creepy experiment in muted beats and electronics and when Greg's vocals come in, I'm sold. This is precisely the kind of experimentation I enjoy from this band. But then, just half a minute later, the song is over.

What? What the fuck are you doing to me? It's as if you've written this fantastic song, much like "Phone Home," but decided to hide the last two minutes from me. What the fuck, Dillinger?

Instrumental tracks sit on either side of "Nong Eye Gong," and these songs also demonstrate a willingness from the band to dabble in more electronic programming. They're creepy, atmospheric, and remind me of some of the instrumental passages on Calculating Infinity. ("Nong Eye Gong" itself is only a minute's worth of brutality and technical wow, but, again, is so goddamn short that I'm left not caring about the song. It's over just as it's started.)


"82588" is short as well. (Notice a theme?) This time, I don't mind. It sounds like a complete song and is the perfect meld between low-end headbangs and high-end technicality. This song is completely evil; the break in the middle, with Greg's muted vocals, leads to a breakdown that will surely cause me to dog pile the fuck out of anyone near me.

I hate "Milk Lizard" because it sounds just like The Bronx and I fucking hate The Bronx. (But the chorus/bridge that so heavily resembles Faith No More is spectacular; the breaks with the pianos and keys are genius. Too bad the rest of the song blows.)

Enough of my complaining, though. Because the last three songs on the album are, without any doubt, the best three songs this band has ever written. "Dead As History" opens with ambient hums, muted beats, gentle piano keys, and a fucking FLAMENCO GUITAR. When the palm-muted verse riffs kick in and the chorus hits, I am totally sold. This is a band who knows exactly what they want to do. The song fades out into a single breakdown, winding down perfectly to Greg singing over the opening piano chords. Pure beauty.

"Horse Hunter" is the best of their early work and the best of their melodic experimentation. This is the one song on the album that has the technical complexity of the Calculating Infinity-era freakouts. The first half of the song is guitar acrobatics, with vocals alternating between gruff screams and falsetto harmonies. But it's the final breakdown, featuring Mastodon's Brent Hinds, that gives me chills. I swear to you, Jesus couldn't harmonize the way Greg and Brent do at the end. When Greg harmonizes Brent's vocals with a high-pitched scream, my insides melt. MEGASWOON.

The album closes with "Mouths of Ghosts." There will never be an album closer quite like this. Once again, featuring a piano as the main instrument, this is an ambient and jazz masterpiece. Clocking in just under 7:00 minutes, Greg's melodic vocals have never sound so perfectly matched to the vocals. Then Gil Sharone's jazz background kicks in, as does the tempo change, and you realize The Dillinger Escape Plan is a completely different beast with Sharone at the helm.

The song is mostly instrumental, with a ridiculously gorgeous piano solo before the three minute mark. And when the vocals come back in, dripping in reverb and soul, they're perfect. The final two minutes are the fulfillment of the buildup; when the distortion breaks free and the sloping riffed chorus bursts forth, I'm blown away.

I don't understand why the second half of the album is the only part that does this. Perhaps it's because they were rushed, as I had said. I don't like how short and undeveloped some of the songs seem. But overall, the album has grown on me. I like it and I don't think it's a bad album. I just want there to be more!

The experimentation on this album is almost flawless. It alternates schizophrenically between brutality and progression. I'm ok with that, most of the time, but there's a part of me that believes that there still isn't something right with this record. Perhaps I just need more time. And hell, maybe seeing these songs live will totally change my opinion.

If you've never heard the band, start here and go backwards. While I am convinced their first record is their best, it may not be ideal to expose yourself to this style of music with the hardest album to listen to.

If you're interested in reviewing music for Buzznet, please join the Official Album Reviews Group. If you can write, I'll feature you!

Ohmygod. This is fantastic.

Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, was asked to sing a duet with the famed Beatles member. And he said no.

• Speaking on Channel 4's T4 program in the U.K., McCartney said: "My daughter was putting an album together and she put us in touch. I asked Thom to do a duet, but he said he couldn't because he only felt happy working on his own and Radiohead's material."

That's right. Fuck you, Paul McCartney. Thom Yorke doesn't give a shit who you are or what you've done in the past. You make shitty music these days and you've got an ego the size of a goddamn country. So go whine to someone else, because Radiohead doesn't need YOU.

That felt really good.

Fuck Rupert Murdoch.

The set of interviews I'll be sharing this week for Beowulf were all from my first press junket ever. And I thought I'd share how that experience is. Watching these videos is kind of surreal because I've seen so many interviews on television and the net that were conducted in this manner, so it's odd to see myself there instead.

Anyway, the junket was held at some swanky hotel in Beverly Hills. After checking in, I waited in a giant hotel room that was bigger than my whole apartment. The room, full of amenties and refreshments (and food, which baffled me, since I was way too nervous to actually eat) was on the 14th floor. Gazing out the eastward balcony, I could see the rest of Los Angeles shrouded in overcas skies.

At either end of the long hallway connecting the room were two of the actors or actresses giving interviews. My name was called and I was set to interview Ray Winstone and John Malkovich first.

The experience is definitely a lesson in camera trickery. If you watch the videos, it appears I'm in a black room with the actor. Not the case. It's just a simple hotel room and each shot is framed to look as it does.

I was surprised how easy it was to interview all four actors. (Alison Lohman, John Malkovich, Ray Winstone, and Crispin Glover.) I won't lie; I was a bit freaked out to meet Malkovich and Glover, because I respect them and have enjoyed their work. But, as you can see from the interview, he was quite talkative and genuinely seemed interested in talking to me:



Oh man. The dude rules.

Alison Lohman also rules. She was tired after having done probably close to 100 interviews by the time I spoke to her, but she was very nice and clearly excited to talk about Paramore.



Stay tuned (as you only can on the internet), as I've got two more interviews to post, as well as my full review of Beowulf. ROCK!

This could be one of the most infuriating and moronic things I've ever read.

MassResistance.org is not one of my favorite websites on the net. Actually, I'd rank it pretty low; I've read plenty of pieces of anti-propaganda from those dolts over the past year. While it was clearly one of the more virulently anti-gay sites I'd come across, I just never bothered to write about them. (It's not much of a challenge, to be honest. It seems so easy, you know?

But the story of how a MassResistance staffer has figuratively thrown her own child under a bus to further the agenda of her own website is just flat-out disgusting. What's even worse is that the site tears apart the "homosexual movement" for exploiting children for their own needs. Yet this is precisely what this site has done.

Let me back up. Amy Contrada is an activist for MassResistance and has hosted a radio show in the past. Here's a great example (from another point of view) of how nuts she is. And another. (She really has no bounds for her hatred, no?)

I'm ok with taking the stance that people like Amy Contrada, who believe that homosexuality is a disease attacking our children, is completely irrational, hateful, ignorant, and downright stupid. I'm normally pretty tolerant to what I'm exposed to, but, beyond the obvious personal stake I have in this, this is simply too much.

Here's why: Amy's daughter, Claudia, has a part in The Laramie Project, a rather disturbing (yet inspiring) play about Matthew Shephard and the effect homophobia can have on a person. I'm sure you can see the obvious problem this presents: A pro-gay anti-homophobia play and an anti-gay mother.

Where MassResistance totally blows it is in exposing the intimate medical details of Claudia to make a point. Why does the mother allow this??? It's her own daughter.

Let's tear this apart, shall we?

• Claudia Contrada was born in Korea and was adopted by Amy and her husband as an infant. Claudia's special needs include psychological/emotional issues and learning disabilities. Amy and her husband had Claudia enrolled in private parochial schools until her special needs exceeded those schools' abilities to deal with them. Thus, in seventh grade, they had no choice but to enroll Claudia in the Acton-Boxborough public school system.

The only reason I can imagine for making such a huge point out of her medical condition is that MR hopes to garner sympathy for their point. "Good Lord, that girl is disabled! How dare they expose her to such filth!" Or maybe they seek to discredit her eventual coming-out by stating that she's a "special needs" student. "She can't possibly be a lesbian! She's damaged! She's just confused!"

Moving on:

• This year the high school decided to have the drama club perform "The Laramie Project", a very objectionable pro-homosexual, anti-Christian play filled with profanity and extreme violence. Last summer, Amy met with school officials and also the drama board and begged them to choose a different play, citing Claudia's vulnerabilities. They responded very coldly, and refused to consider it. (We will be posting the audio recording of one of the meetings.)

  Given her educational and social needs, it was extremely important for Claudia to be in the drama program this fall. Although it was distressing and painful to the family, it was decided to let her be in the play. The school had placed the family in a no-win situation.

CONTEXT. CONTEXT. CONTEXT. Why does this stupid website not understand context at all? There is a CONTEXT to the language. There is a CONTEXT to the violence. Saying "The Laramie Project" is extremely violent (in the negative sense) is akin to telling people not to read the Bible because a whole slew of people are murdered.

No, really. Think about it. Cities are decimated, everyone in the world but two people are drowned by an angry God, and some dude is strung up on a slab of wood to die. After having been beaten. That shit is violent! Don't read the Bible.

As for the second part of that, I can't really place a judgment on it. I'd like to say that I don't trust a single thing that MR says at all. (They're prone to embellishment.) But if the school indeed refused to change the whole play for one person....wait. Ok. Nevermind. The school was supposed to change the whole play just because of one person? And not even the person who was going to be in it?

Anyway:

• From the beginning of her high school career, it seemed that Claudia was targeted from every direction by homosexual activism. She was assigned a high school guidance counselor who was the school's gay-straight alliance club advisor through last June. The counselor's office was plastered with gay stickers, a rainbow flag, coming-out pamphlets, rainbow "Ally" wristbands, and books such as Queering Elementary Education.  This has been the person that Claudia was required to check in with, and turned to for emotional support at the school. (All counselors and administrators at the school have pink triangle "safe space" emblems on their doors and office walls.)

OH, COME ON. You're reaching so hard just to make this point. Was it really "plastered" with stickers? That means the counselor's walls were absolutely covered with gay stickers. Like wallpaper.  And was she really "targeted" by homosexual activism? By having a pink triangle "Safe Space" notice on a door to the library, the school wasn't saying, "This is specifically for Claudia Contrada. AND NO ONE ELSE."

What a load of shite.

• As the tryouts for "The Laramie Project" began, the drama director gave the kids reading material normalizing homosexuality and demonizing those with traditional values as "haters". That was the theme that was repeated over and over. The kids were given lavender wristbands reading "Erase Hate/www.MatthewShepard.org", which leads kids to homosexual activist websites.

GAHHHHHHHH. There is nothing wrong with homosexuality! Just because something isn't widespread doesn't mean it's not normal. And stop calling your ignorance "traditional values." There is no positive "value" to what you're doing: You are demonizing people who have absolutely NO EFFECT ON YOUR LIFE. NONE. WHAT I DO IN THE PRIVACY OF MY OWN LIFE WILL NEVER, EVER EFFECT YOU. EVER.

And why wouldn't you want to erase hate? Oh, that's right. Because you'd be out of a job.

Here comes the fun stuff: MR's smears against Mark Snyder. My favorite one?

• About this time, we've now found out, Mark Snyder started befriending Claudia -- first via email, then by telephone. He offered to be her "ally" in her struggles against her mother. He got her to admit him as a "friend" on her Facebook account. (We now have emails and telephone records of much of this.)

HOLY FUCK. THEY'RE FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK. STOP THE PRESSES, THE APOCALYPSE IS HERE.

And then Claudia Contrada came out as a lesbian.

• Judging from her emails at that time, Claudia was very confused but was relishing the positive attention, which she had rarely gotten among her peers at school. Besides her communication with Snyder, Claudia's name was turning up on various homosexual websites. Her drama club now started to consider her "cool". Claudia clearly felt special. But her behavior also became noticeably more erratic.

Wait a second. How does MR have Claudia's emails? My only guess: her mother turned over her daughter's private correspondence to MR in order to smear her only daughter. Jesus. I also like how the site has clearly built a strawman to suggest that her exposure to homosexuals and the attention she'd received was the only thing to cause her coming out. Right.

Are you ready for this?

• Of course, Claudia is no more a lesbian than the man in the moon. She's always had crushes on boys, and her bedroom has always been (and still is) plastered with pictures of boys.

  Claudia's bedroom wall: Does this look like a lesbian's room to you?

  So when Claudia told Amy and her husband that she's a lesbian, they basically ignored it as another silly idea that Claudia got from the latest school lunacy, and nothing more. Claudia doesn't really understand what "lesbian" is. It was all about getting attention. They did worry that she was starting to hang out with some very strange kids who had their own emotional problems stemming from "gay" and "transgender" identity issues.

When I was in high school, I spoke about crushes with girls. Hell, I had two "girlfriends." But you know what? I was lying. Both to everyone around me and myself.

Obviously, this is a stupid way to try to prove she's not a lesbian. But worse than that? The fact her mother would photography her own daughter's room to give to a website she protested for in order to tell the entire world that her daughter is a liar.

Disgusting.

The rest of the article is a joke, but the ending is what needs to be pointed out the most:

• Exploiting your children

  As usual, the homosexual activists cruelly use other people's children, leaving the parents to pick up the pieces.

  This is ultimately all about the selfish, self-centered nature of the homosexual movement and its obsession with children. It's sick and disgusting. Maybe evil is a better word. But this story isn't all that unique. We've observed for years that homosexual activists first push their way into schools, then seek out the most vulnerable and emotionally unstable kids, befriend them, give them positive attention, and persuade them to "come out" and adopt a "gay" identity. It happens in every school. This is possibly happening to your own children or their friends. You'd better wake up.

You motherfuckers. YOU ARE CONTRIBUTING TO A MOTHER CRUELLY USING HER OWN CHILD TO MAKE A POINT. This mom has no clear concern for her child: She'll share her daughter's personal medical conditions, leak her emails,and photograph her room to prove that she's a liar.

Someone take this child away from this beast.

Holy Christ, how upsetting is this???

If you recall, last week, Linda Stein (ex-manager for The Ramones) was found beaten to death in her apartment. It shocked many in the punk rock and realty community.

GET THIS:

• The personal assistant to Linda Stein, the punk rock pioneer who later became known as "Realtor to the Stars," admitted to authorities she was involved in her boss' death, police said Friday.

  Formal charges were pending against Natavia Lowery, 26, said police spokesman Paul Browne. She "made statements implicating herself" in the killing, he said.

HER OWN GODDAMN ASSISTANT.

What a scumbag.

The truth is, you're simply not American enough Buzznet.

I don't care how much you're fighting for free speech. Or supporting The Bill of Rights. It doesn't matter how many American flags you've got flying in your yard or how many times you tear up with your right hand over your heart, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

You're not American enough.

It doesn't matter how much you give to charities that benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina or the Southern California wildfires. It doesn't matter if you donate to the ACLU or to the Human Rights Campaign.

You're not American enough.

It doesn't matter if you believe in popular rule, even if the popular rule votes for something you disagree with. It doesn't matter if you love American history and enjoy studying it.

You're not American enough. Yet.

But you know who is? Denver Broncos' kick Jason Elam.

That's right. It wasn't enough for him to believe that American evangelical Christianity is a force to be reckoned with. He's written a book, Monday Night Jihad, with his pastor, Steve Yohn.

Are you ready for this display of unmatched heroism and patriotism?

• After a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Riley Covington is living his dream as a professional linebacker when he comes face-to-face with a radical terrorist group on his own home turf. Drawn into the nightmare around him, Riley returns to his former life as a member of a special ops team that crosses oceans in an attempt to stop the escalating attacks. But time is running out, and it soon becomes apparent that the terrorists are on the verge of achieving their goal: to strike at the very heart of America.

You've read this right. A pro-football, right wing, anti-Islam political thriller.

Let's hear it from Jason himself:

• “What I was hoping to do, and think I pulled off, was contrast Christianity with radical Islam and moderate Islam,” Elam said.

  And he purposely avoids demonizing anybody.

  “If Osama bin Laden himself were to pick up this book and read it, I’d want him to say, ‘Yeah, that’s why I do what I do. That’s how I justify, how I reconcile, that’s what I believe.’”

Simply amazing. This is the garbage our political climate breeds.

EDIT: Holy fuck, he's not quite done with us:

• I don't think God wanted us to have blind faith. He gave us so much evidence, archeological evidence, historical evidence, that we can note almost with certainty. It takes way more faith to believe in evolution than it does Christianity. You've got this Goo Man they want you to think we came from. It doesn't make sense to me.

EDIT AGAIN: How did I forget to include this?

Frontman Rivers Cuomo has just announced that on the upcoming demos album, we'll finally get to hear the 4 "lost" songs from the Blackhole Sessions. (Which spawned Pinkerton.)

Pinkerton is, without a doubt, Weezer's weirdest album and my absolute favorite. (Seriously, try listening to "El Scorcho," "The Good Life," or "Pink Triangle" without a smile on your face.

I haven't heard these four songs yet, though I know some diehard Weezer fans who have heard three of this before. So whatever. I'M EXCITED.

Such is the news/rumor that was posted on OhNoTheyDidn't / Ask Ausellio.

If you've been living in a cave, then you've not heard the news that the Writer's Guild of America has chosen to strike. As of Monday, there are no writers working on television or movie scripts.

I'll say it now: I wholeheartedly support this strike. I also support BulletProofHeeb's proposal that writers should stop turning to networks to distribute their work. (Are we to see a cataclysmic shift in the way shows and movies are presented to us? I can only hope.)

Now, I must admit that I don't watch television. At all. I don't have cable in my apartment and, as long as I'm breathing and my heart's pumping, I have no plans to give a single dime to TimeWarner or Comcast or whatever robotic empire cable company is currently forcing their monopoly on the good people of America. Television doesn't interest me. Yet, at the same time, I do follow two shows: The Office and LOST. I always see The Office after the fact; with LOST, I usually head over to my brother's place in West LA and watch it with him and his fiance.

I haven't forgotten about the show since it last aired in May and I'm eagerly awaiting the premiere in February. If it happens, that is:

• If the strike extends into the new year and beyond, there is a chance ABC may opt to delay the new season until the fall. Or worse yet, February 2009. Another scenario has the network simply airing the eight episodes already in the can this February as originally planned — something Team Darlton would not be in favor of. Says Lost cocreator Carlton Cuse, "Damon [Lindelof] and my concern about running the [eight] episodes we will have made is that it will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down. There is a mini-cliff-hanger at the end of Episode 8, but it's like the end of an exciting book chapter; it's not the end of the novel. Damon and I didn't write [the ending of Episode 8] differently [with the looming strike in mind]. We wrote it to be the ending of Episode 8." In any case, he concedes that the decision to hold or air the episodes isn't ultimately theirs. "It's really [ABC honcho Steve MacPherson's] call," Cuse notes, adding, "No one was happy with the six-episode run last season."

What a predicament. But the truth is, I'll wait for either option. I'll watch 8 episodes to keep me interested and wait for the strike to be over. Or I'll wait until 2009. It's unfortunate, because I am a fan of the show, but, again, I support the writers and I'm willing to wait so that they can get what the want.

(Of course, there is a tiny part of me that died knowing that I may have to wait 16 months to see a new episode of LOST.)

Finally.

After many heated meetings today, calls to important people who make more money per hour than I do all day, and lots of incessant bothering, I can finally do something about this.

Just about two weeks ago, users alerted me to a contest that Buzznet was running and was quickly getting out of hand: The Be Big On Buzznet Contest. The contest had no rules and swiftly turned into a nightmare when certain individuals chose to "invade" this site from MySpace and spam the holy-living-you-know-what out of Buzznet Originals in order to gain what they coveted so dearly: internet fame.

And, rightly so, a lot of the most valuable users flipped out. There were no rules. There was no standard set as to who would win or how they'd win. It seemed as if people who had never been on Buzznet a day in their life had a chance of winning a phone and representing this site. And users who have been loyal to this site for years appeared to not even have been invited to participate.

To be blunt and honest, we here at Buzznet plain old messed up. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. There was a lack of communication, a lack of planning, and a total FAILCAKE of execution. What was supposed to be a test, only sent to a tiny handful of users, has exploded into an e-drama worthy of reality show special.

But I'm not suggesting that your reaction to this contest was wrong; you all had every right to be angered at a contest that ignored longtime members, somehow targeted MySpace celebrities (we're still trying to figure out how they found this contest and so aggressively participated in it), purported to argue that internet fandom was something to achieve, and had absolutely no structure to it.

So, we here at Buzznet, myself included, want to say we're sorry. We blew it. We offended our most loyal and appreciated users.

Here's what I can do for you, besides offering an apology:

First, here are the Official Rules.

Why is this important? Because the parties that so aggressively promoted this contest have actually broken the rules, both of this contest and the site as a whole. This means they'll be disqualified. (If you're interested to see how this maps out, please visit the forum for the contest, where I'll address each specific issue.) This is not my attempt to further admonish or embarass those who have spammed us, lied to us, plagiarized existing works. (I'm not a sadist, I swear.) There needs to be structure to this site and there needs to be a consequence for the actions of our users. I'm just glad to be able to have rules to back this up.

Secondly, this is no longer a hidden contest or one that's the end result of some in-house marketing meeting. I pushed to have this open for EVERY Buzznet user and to have some of the language changed. I once had one of these Buzznet phones (during Comic Con!) and it was a total blast. I would like to see a respected and original member of this site have one for the next year as well.

Which brings me to my third point. Bree and I, as well as a few of our superiors, will be judging this contest. This means that I will absolutely NOT allow some second-rate MySpace invading celebrity to have this phone. Buzznet is not MySpace. We are not interested in seeing someone who has never contributed to this community plastered all over this website.

Again, I'm personally sorry, as your Community Manager, that this happened. I know Seb wouldn't have left without this contest (which was a catalyst to what eventually happened). I hope you read this and accept my apology. You are dearly missed by this community.

I'm sorry for the ugliness that it's caused. I hate reading the fights and the bickering.

I hope that we can move on from this point. I can guarantee you that from this point forward, we will NEVER run a contest like this ever ever ever ever again. In fact, we've just launched the Quirky Cookery Contest, which isn't aimed at garnering MySpace celebrities or single visit entrants. It's about being creative and sharing it with this community.

Can we move past this as a community? Can we channel our positive and creative energy and try to heal? I'd love to see more entrants in the Be Big on Buzznet contest, not because it's my job, but because I'd really love to give the phone to someone special and deserving.

SO PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGY AND STUFF??????

Holy crap, this is so shocking and depressing.

• Linda Stein, a pioneer in New York's punk music scene who later became known as a real estate "broker to the stars," was beaten to death inside her Manhattan apartment, the medical examiner ruled.

  Stein's daughter found her body Tuesday night face down in the living room of the Upper East Side apartment, where she lived alone. There were no signs of a break-in or robbery, and police said they had no motive or suspects.

  An autopsy found that Stein, 62, died from blows to the head and neck, medical examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Wednesday.

  Stein was the ex-wife of Seymour Stein, former president of Sire Records, which was the launching pad for the Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna.

In many ways, Stein was pretty much responsible for The Ramones popularity and success. (Music aside, of course.) Now, I've never been the biggest Ramones fan, but those fuckers wrote some good songs. And to know that someone who was a part of spreading awareness about them and getting them to the point they eventually got to has died in such a violent way is depressing.

My heart goes out to her friends and relatives.