First off, a big thanks to commenter Chewyo for bringing this very sad news to my attention. Adam Adamowicz, concept artist for both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls universes passed away today after a battle with cancer. I’m not going to pretend I knew his name before today, but damned if his work hasn’t been incredibly important to me. Especially the Fallout universe, which he was pretty much solely responsible for visually recreating for Fallout 3 and beyond, is such a significant, tangible, real thing to me that it boggles the mind to think it was ostensibly crafted by one man.
Anyway who’s seen the art knows it is of the highest caliber both in concept and execution: iconic, beautiful, rugged, weird, and unforgettable. The people behind many of our favorite games are, for the most part, invisible. But, as the writer of Awesome-Robo points out in a wonderful and heartfelt post, its a time like this where the gaming community should acknowledge the unsung heroes of the field. Adam’s legacy will live on in both the enigmatic order of bits in a save file, and the retrofuture imaginations of a legion of devout fans.
Some more sad news yesterday: famed actor Ben Gazzara lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, passing away at the age of 81 in Bellevue Hospital. One of the finest actors of his generation, the gruff and brooding Gazzara was right on the heels of Marlon Brando during the first wave of New American Acting. After spending time studying under Lee Strasberg, Gazzara broke out as the lead in the original Elia Kazan production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
Many of you may remember his late career highlight performance in Todd Solondz’s Happiness (or perhaps his cameo as Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski or as Vincent Gallo’s father in Buffalo 66). For me, however, I will always picture him in the films of John Cassevetes, and most specifically with Mr. Cassavetes and Peter Faulk in the incredible and ahead-of-its-time Husbands. It’s very sad to think that all three of them are no longer with us. Nevertheless, he had a long and truly great career. Check out another Cassavetes/Gazzara team-up, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, on our Saturday Matinee. And be sure to toast a drink to his memory.
Sad news for anyone who considered themselves part or fan of the countercultural music and art scene of the late 80s and beyond. Yesterday, landmark multimedia artist Mike Kelley was found dead at 57 of an apparent suicide. Though his work – whether it be in music, sculpture, film, installation, or more – often incorporated themes of loneliness and confliction with modern (especially domestic) life, it remains shocking and very sad to see him gone so soon.
Starting out as a member of the noise rock band/art collective Destroy All Monsters, Kelley parlayed his talent into a long and very fruitful career, emerging as one of the most distinctive and respected voices of his artistic generation. His most famous or recognizable creation may still be the dolls that graced the cover and liner notes of Sonic Youth’s 1992 album Dirty. He leaves behind a large hole in the fabric of the contemporary art scene. Total bummer.
Hate to say I told you so, but earlier today filesharing services Filesonic as well as Uploaded.to have gone offline*, though to be fair it didn’t go down quite the way I expected. In fact, the reality of what happened might be even more discouraging. Either based on a snap judgement of the situation at hand, or more likely working off of tips or rumors related to the Feds’ next move, both of these sites shut themselves down of their own volition, presumably to avoid prosecution.
Not only is this a sign of an incredibly hostile litigative environment, but also a reticence on the part of the people behind these sites to stand up to this bullying. It also looks like a tacit admission of guilt on their part, all things which are exactly what we as Americans should not want. These file sharing websites should not be prosecuted not because we just don’t want them to go away, but because they are not breaking the law. If this trend continues, the Government won’t even have to expend the effort and money to legally pursue all of these sites. Let’s hope no one else follows suit.
*Neither site has technically shutdown but done the following: Filesonic no longer allows sharing of any files uploaded to the site. Access to files is now limited to only those who originally uploaded a file making the service useless. Upload.to has merely blocked all U.S. IP addresses from accessing the site.
So much for the blackout. Yesterday, the US Federal Government unsealed a massive indictment of numerous people and properties involved with file sharing hub Megaupload. All in all it seems 7 people were arrested, as well as 2-3 more still being on the lam, and large amounts of property and non-liquid assets were seized or frozen. At the center of it all is Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, founder and head of MegaUpload, who was arrested in his mansion in New Zealand after sealing himself in a panic room with a sawed off shotgun. Police also seized Dotcom’s numerous classic cars, including a Benz with the license plate “GUILTY.”
Though the timing vis a vis the widespread content blackout in protest of SOPA/PIPA legislation is certainly suspect, the fact is that (without that legislation in place) the Feds would’ve had to have been working on this for a very long time, and likely would have executed these warrants sometime in the next 2 weeks anyway. That being said, as far as specific date choice, I doubt this was a coincidence. But wait, there’s more bad news. Now that we know the feds have been investigating MegaUpload (a site that, by the way, is responsible for 4% of the internets collective traffic) it can be surmised that they’re probably deep into building cases against other properties such as MediaFire and Rapidshare.
Kim “Dotcom” Schmitz
I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to see those sites go down in the coming month. After all, there’s no way that they’ve been avoiding the activities that got Megaupload busted. Basically the charges stem from supposed “evidence” that Megaupload was actively ignoring or impeding the reporting and removal of pirated content. Megaupload is perfectly allowed to host user-uploaded pirated content as long as that behavior is in no way encouraged, and if copyrighted content is reported or flagged it must be taken down immediately.
With the mind-bogglingly large amount of data that Megaupload hosts, moderation of that kind is monumentally difficult at best, and odds are they weren’t that interested in doing it anyway. Unfortunately, with a figure as ridiculous and conceited as Kim Dotcom at the head, and likely many similar personalities filling the upper echelons of Megaupload, they probably openly bragged about supporting piracy, and it was probably recorded by the government.
Schmitz in happier, more incriminating times
I’ve already heard that they have IM’s between Dotcom and another unnamed party where he talks about being a “modern day pirate.” That’s the type of shit that’s going to hurt. The weirdest thing though is how little this seems like a criminal case. The Feds keep referencing the potential amounts that Megaupload have deprived the entertainment industry of (apparently somewhere in the $500 million range, which seems more or less arbitrary to me). Because proof of each of those frauds is practically impossible to produce, this sounds to me like a civil suit or class action suit being carried out as a criminal case by the Federal Government.
Let me rephrase that: this sounds like the Feds working as entertainment corporation’s personal legal team. Uh-oh. The internet is none too happy about this, and Anonymous has predictably responded, DDOS’ing the DoJ website, the RIAA, Universal Music Group, and the MPAA. In the end, however, actions like that are minor annoyances (unless 4chan et al really decides to make their stand here, which I don’t think they will) and the real battle will be waged in the courts. Megaupload is a massive company that is incredibly profitable, so you’d best believe their legal team is rock solid. Make no mistake, this battle is just beginning. But nonetheless, it feels like the end of something. Later Megaupload. You were cool.
Though it in itself is often the epitome of a community effort, no aspect of the Star Wars saga was more of a group project than the hulking, wheezing, eternally memorable villain to-end-all villains, Darth Vader. Twas not just one man behind that mask, as I’m sure you know. Whelp, one of the men behind the Sith Lord has passed away.
Bob Anderson, lightsaber fight choreographer for the films, passed away yesterday. Anderson, who was unable to get the massive David Prowse (the man in the suit for most of the films. James Earl Jones’ voice, of course, was only added in in post-production) to do a lot of the fencing maneuvers. So, for the unforgettable duel between Luke and Darth at then end of Empire (among other scenes) that’s Bob Anderson in the black robes wielding the blood red saber. RIP dude, hope you’re hanging with Obi-Wan and Yoda somewhere.
Blake Anderson, AKA the dude with the swaggery hair from Comedy Central‘s fantastic show Workaholics, has been a Мишка buddy for a minute now. Unfortunately, he was injured in the line of duty recently while trying valiantly to bring the internet laffz.
As you can see from the video, Blake was just trying to make a funny video by jumping off a roof at a party onto a beer pong table. Also Tyler was there. Fully acceptable decision. But, unfortunately, not all lolzy videos have lolzy endings, and Blake actually broke his back. Being a resilient gentleman, he’s already undergone surgery and should be back in action soon. Get better dude!
Last night while we were out having dinner or just getting started on our Friday nights, Hip Hop lost a great rapper who barely got a chance to shine. When I first heard about the death of Brick Squad member and Waka Flocka Flame’s best friend Slim Dunkin (born Mario Hamilton) I expected it was another celebrity death hoax making the rounds on twitter. Unfortinatley, it turns out it’s not and that’s a TOTAL bummer.
Friday night Dunkin was shot and killed while on his way to a photoshoot in Atlanta. He was just starting to come into his own as an artist making this extra sad. Dunkin’s intense rapping and sometimes playful sense of humor — he has some great lines — made him my favorite Brick Squad artist second to Flocka. He and Waka Flocka made a great team and their collaborative Twin Towers 2 (No Fly Zone)mixtape (from this summer) was quite dope. Dunkin’ is believed to have been somewhere in his very early 20s at the time of death.
Up above is Slim Dunkin’s video for “Blindside” off Twin Towers 2. It’s my favorite Slim Dunkin song and one of the few he’s solo on. This past Halloween Dunkin dropped also dropped his first mixtape, Menace II Society which featured Waka, Gucci Mane, Pastor Troy and Roscoe Dash; he also had two guest spots on the just released BAYTL album from Gucci & V-Nasty. Really, really sad news.
With Christopher Hitchens’ death yesterday from complications brought on by esophageal cancer, the world lost a great intellect and an even better wit. The Vanity Fair writer and inspired polemic was brashly controversial but always genuine, even when using his considerable grasp of rhetoric to handily eviscerate those he was less than enamored with. Certainly the most widely read staunch advocate for socialism in the United States, Hitchens’ perspective is one that will be missed.
Though he alienated many of his followers after adopting a particularly conservative streak post 9/11, he never seemed like anything less than a very intelligent man who was desperately passionate about what he believed in. A unabashed advocate of boozing and cigarettes, Hitchens’ was one of the last of the fun, magnetic journalists, a figure who’s existence inspired as much debate as his words.
A dude in a popular death metal band (which I won’t name) once told me that the only people who think Pantera is better than Slayer are from Florida. I’m from Miami Beach and drove hundreds of miles, skipped days of school, and creeped out so many Jr. High girls because of this band.
Today marks the 7th year anniversary of their guitar player’s murder. It’s an eternal bummer for me.
I was in seventh grade when the video for “Walk” premiered on Headbangers Ball. No spandex, no Van-Damme kicks, no make-up, just good ol’ boys in shorts playing that riff. That RIFF. THAT RIFF.
Game over, I was 12.
Mouth for War? Phil wrote that riff. New Level? Phil wrote that riff too. Walk? Yup, Phil. No one played it like Diamond Dimebag though. I’m not riding his decomposed jock here. Metal guitar players still can’t top this guy.
Who’s better??? Eddie Van Halen doesn’t count. Squealing out of this Dean ML. How the hell? The sickest. The illest.
@3:08
And dead. Has been for 7 years today. Some fuckface murderized him. Fuck that fuckface. Fuck his corpse. Fuck his Mom. There are people who I’ve met that hate metal. Thinks it sucks, hates it. But they love Pantera.
Black Tooth Grins for errbody. Here, here. To Dimebag Darrell. Amazingness.
