MCM Expo, London, Sat 29th May 2010

Well, today I got up at 5:30 to go to the London MCM expo. I have never done the expo, so here is basically what I think, and what my day was like:

I had been in contact with the expo beforehand because I wanted to steward at the event (because that way you get free entry). Problem was, that when I got there I had absolutely no idea what the hell I was meant to be doing. I waited at what I thought was the entrance to the expo itself for quite a while, before I asked a member of security where the stewards office was. Eventually I found it. It was essentially a cupboard tucked away down the side. It was totally chaotic and packed full of people running in and out, people managing the queue and getting the place ready to let people in. So I signed in, and they gave me my stewards pass, and offered to look after my bag for me whilst I went round the event before I had to steward. My shift was 13:30 to 18:00. So I went round the expo in the morning, and because I had arrived early, I was the 17th person to be let in (I know this from my wrist band).

So when I got in the place was really nice because I could move around freely, and didn't have to queue up for hours on end to try various things. So the first thing I did was make a bee line to the Super Mario Galaxy 2 demo. It was AMAZING =D, basically it is like 1, but with new ideas, worlds (galaxies), yoshis, new powers, and best of all it was more challenging. Unfortunately it is not out in the UK until June 11th, so I couldn't buy it. Whilst I was in my gaming mode, I played at the No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle stand, and from what I played I really enjoyed it. Being a fan of the original NMH, I can safely say that this one blows it out of the water (from what I played). It is far more slick, and it much less of a button masher. The interface is clearer, movements more fluid, combat less repetitive, the horribly bland open world is gone, and the boring, irritating jobs have been replaced with excellent retro style mini games. So in the end I ended up buying it, and you can expect a full review on this blog soon.

Other comments about my morning adventure around the expo, would mostly be about my disappointment. Thing is, I went to the expo looking for a couple of DVDs, namely the first 2 Evangellion films, neither of which they had. It is not like they are particularly obscure in the world of anime, and you would expect an expo with a heavy anime element to stock it. Given that it was the number one thing I wanted to come away with, I was very disapointed that they didn't stock it (or Paranoia Agent for that matter). Another thing that annoyed me about the DVDs is that some stands were selling DVDs which would only work on American players, and these DVDs were not clearly labelled, so unless you knew what you were looking for, it was very easy to pick one up by mistake. I feel, in this respect that some of the stands were trying to cheat us. As these DVDs were imported, they certainly weren't cheap, and given the fact that they were not proper shops, not all of the stands gave you receipts (I didn't get any), you wouldn't be able to return the film. I was also hoping that some of the prices would be cheaper, but none of it was really any different to what you could get online, or in shops, and the truth is that most of the stuff there, you could have bought online.

Despite these complaints I did find a couple of novelties which made the day special. Of ones I bought, I found an original issue of 100 Bullets, which had an awesome cover with Day of the Dead dolls from Mexico on it. The best bit was that this was only £2. The other thing which I bought was an indie comic from a company called Time Bomb Comics. As far as I am aware it is just 2 guys running it. The comic I bought from them was called Dick Turpin and the Restless Dead. It is black and white like the old comics, but the thing that drew me to them was that a lot of them are horror based, and all of their comics are self contained, so you aren't committed to buying 26 issues. That is what often puts me off buying manga, it is expensive and it is a commitment. I will read it and let you know if it is any good shortly.

Unfortunately I missed many of the "main events" because I never got a programme (they were mystifyingly hard to get ahold of), but the costumes that people came out to the expo in more than made up for this. I have a few photos of some of the most incredible costumes, which I will upload some time in the not too distant future (as I need to sort out iPhoto as I had to reset my mac, so a lot of organising needs to be done before I add more photos), but some of them were well and truly impressive. Highlights included the person in the Alien (as in Ridley Scott Alien) suit, complete with dribble, and wires to make the tail move, the person dressed as Travis Touchdown (NMH main character). The storm troopers also looked pretty epic, and hats off to the people who were anime characters that used glue or wall paper paste on their hair, to make it look like it does in the anime/ manga.

Stewarding on the other hand was a completely different story. I am going to keep this brief as I am aware that my blog post is getting rather long. Stewarding was shit. 4 and a half hours of sitting/ walking around the same area. It was my first ever expo, and I was given no information, meaning that I was about as knowledgeable about the events programme or where stuff was, as the person asking me. This is whatI was meant to be doing, helping people find things, or helping people work things out, neither of which I could do because the people running the expo hadn't given me a map or anything. Also, because I had got up early, and had very little to eat over the course of the day (due to the food being a) expensive & b) nasty), I ended up feeling ill, with a cold sweat, shivers and headaches, but as I could not leave my area I could not do anything about this. So I sat for 4 and a half hours, feeling like shit, with people asking me questions I couldn't answer, which just felt awful. People were also rude to me whilst I was stewarding, which didn't help, with groups of people shouting at me "do something", even though I was doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, and some people being very nasty when I couldn't help them with their problems. Stewarding at the expo was the longest 4 hours of my life, and next time, I am just gonna pay the tenner for the ticket.

So all in all, despite the fact that it was a very mixed experience, now I know what to expect I think I would go back. Next time though, here is what I would do to make my day a lot better:

- Co-Ordinate with other people I am meant to be going with (I ended up spending the day alone because of the timing of my stewards shift etc.)

- Save some money beforehand so that I can enjoy myself and buy some cool stuff without feeling guilty

- Look at the details of the event more closely on the internet before I go so that I know what is going on

- Just buy a ticket, stewarding was not worth it

- I may dress up, 'cause it looked fun, and you kind of fit in more

- Do more than last minute planning

- Pack your own lunch

Sorry that was a long post, I assure you photos of the cosplay will be up soon, thank you for reading if you did, as it is clear that I have a lot of views about this event!

Review: Deftones- Diamond Eyes

Well, where to begin? Some of you reading this review (if anyone is reading it) may not be aware that Chi Cheng, the bassist for Deftones is currently in a coma after a car accident. This means the the Deftones project that they were working on, Eros ended up getting shelved, and instead we got Diamond Eyes. Does this mean that Diamond Eyes is a rushed, second class, or inferior album? Frankly that couldn't be father from the truth.

Every track on the album feels original and relevant. On most albums there are about 2 tracks or more which are almost always skipped out on when listening, or conversely 1 or 2 tracks which you always play, whilst the rest of the album gets ignored. However, this is not the experience that one gets when listening to Diamond Eyes. On the first 3 or 4 listens, there is no immediate "best track". This is because every track is varied, and the album works great as a whole. I know that in the statements about the album, the band said that they were creating an optimistic album, but I found the mood of the album to be rather gloomy, and subtly dark, and that isn't a bad thing. For example Prince are about a murderer, and the song Rocket Skates has a chorus chant of "guns, razors knives".

There is also much to be praised about the musicianship on this album. Stephen Carpenter (guitar) has cited his love for crushing tech-metallers Meshuggah, and it certainly shows on this album. This doesn't mean that the guitar work is going to sound like Meshuggah, it certainly still sounds like Deftones, but you can feel the technicality, and the influence that Meshuggah have had on the riffs. Some of them feel blissfully heavy. There are also haunting, and melodic passages too. The vocals are also fantastic and diverse, with Chino fully understanding that a whisper can be far more terrifying than a scream.

There are so many more positive things that I would like to say about this album that I can not articulate, therefore I shall conclude. I would say that if you are a Deftones fan this is a must buy, and if you consider yourself an open minded metal fan, or a fan of music in general, this is a must buy, or a good place to start if you have not listened to Deftones before. It is easily as good as White Pony, if not better. Make sure you catch them at Download, or on a UK tour (if and when we get one.

In my reviews I would normally say what the best song on the album is, but as it is so hard to tell, I will just have to say that my personal favourite is Prince which you can listen to here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcX6AU3s2lo

Overall album score: 9/10

A bit sooner than expected: One of those rants I promised you.

THERE WILL STILL BE A REVIEW OF DEFTONES DIAMOND EYES NEXT WEEK, I JUST NEEDED A RANT ABOUT THE ELECTION

2010 GENERAL ELECTION RANT

I fucking cried. I stayed up til 12, went to bed, got up again at 5. I cried when it looked like every other general election that went before. I really wanted the Lib Dems to make a break through, and when I got up and they were on 45 seats, with the Conservatives on 250 odd and Labour in the middle. This election just highlights the injustice of our electoral system: People turned away at the polls, Lib Dems only 6% of the vote behind Labour with, now, about 200 less seats. I am actually really depressed about it. My constituency went from Lib Dem to Conservative, even though our Conservative candidate (now MP) was until recently, dodging taxes, he has had god knows how many affairs. The only thing I can't find anything about is his expenses, but I am sure they are there somewhere. The only good thing to come out of this election for me was the Green seat at Brighton Pavilion, that made me very, very happy. I thought that was one of the only true "victories" for me of the evening.

This country is in desperate need of electoral reform, but I don't think we have the right answer or solution yet. If we chose Alternative Vote, then there is almost no chance for the Tories to get in, which, as much as I don't like them, would be very undemocratic. There is also a danger of Proportional Representation not forming a strong enough government. I think the only solution we can go for is Alternative Vote+ which the Jenkins Commission (independent) recommended. As I can't think of a better alternative, I think that this is really what we should go with. Here is a summary of different voting systems if you want to know more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Vote_Top-up

I wouldn't recommend Single Transferable Vote as it is just so complicated. Other than that there is not too much more I can rant on about this particular subject.

Now about what I think will happen next. What I think will happen is that the Liberal Democrats will form a coalition with the Conservatives, but unfortunately, I think the liberals will just get trampled on, just absolutely trampled on to the point where it may as well be a Conservative majority. I don't think that the Liberal Democrats should form a coalition with Labour, as I think there would be uproar, as that is obviously undemocratic, and I don't think that it is right that Brown should cling on to power. However, what I hope will happen is that a re-election will be called within the year, as with a hung parliament people are going to lose confidence with our markets, and our economy is going to double dip (I think). Other than that, I just hope by the next General Election, some time in or before 2015, there are significant reforms to make the next election more democratic, and a more accurate representation of the political mood of the country.

I am thoroughly bored of the 2 horse race between Conservative and Labour, when other parties are getting a high percentage of votes, but no seats. It is an outrage to me. I know there are countries in the world where democracy is absent, so I should probably stop bitching, but, as we claim to be a 21st Century, pluralist, liberal democracy, we should get those constitutional reforms necessary so that the UK can live up to those claims.

/rant

M' kay so... first blog....

OK, so I don't really know why I am doing this, because I don't really expect anyone to read this, but I just thought that it would be pretty cool if I could get my voice out there on the internet. My interests are metal and films and stuff, hence the ranting and stuff. Hopefully I will be able to review some films/albums/games and just rant about general stuff too. So, for my first blog I thought I would talk about some controversial horror film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST If you haven't seen it but you want to, I wouldon't read this post, as it WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.

So... THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE:

So, to start with a quick summary of the film, a doctor kidnaps some tourists, and stitches them together (mouth to anus) to create a human centipede. If you hadn't worked out why the film was controversial, you probably have now. OK, so this film is pretty fucking disgusting, and the scenes are displayed in their full, gory, graphic detail. The film was pretty well received at horror film fests such as London's own Frightfest but was poorly received by mainstream critics due to its graphic content. Now it must be said, that not an awful lot happens during the course of this film other than basically what I said above. (I am not going to spoil the end for you though). I don't really understand how this film can receive critical acclaim, or even how you can really review it in the first place, as you can't really liken it to any other film, so you can't really say how good it is, as if you can't really expect anything out of it. It is a very, very strange film. I am not going to rant about this much longer in case you are getting bored as I can't really think of anything else to say on the matter of this film. If you want to know more I suggest watching it is the best way. And before I stop talking about this, I just thought I would bring your attention to the plans for a sequel, Human Centipede: Second Sequence. The only plot details to emerge are that this time, 12 people are going to get stitched together. This made me laugh, it made me laugh a lot. Maybe I am disgusting, maybe I am sick, but the concept of the film in the first place made me laugh, and when I heard about the sequel, I just laughed harder.

OK, so if you think I am sick, probably not the best blog for you. And before I shut up, I bought Deftones new album Diamond Eyes today, so hopefully my next blog post will be a review. Also, make sure you follow this guy:

http://yipyipyoyo.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading (if you did), now to leave you with some Human Centipede pictures.