So there’s this recluse guy named Erik Estavillo, who has been filing lawsuits against various distributors of online games. First he filed claim against Sony for knocking him off of Resistance: Fall of Man, alleging they had violated his First Amendment Rights, which as pointed out on Popehat, is a boiling crock of shit and was dismissed in September. This didn’t stop the douchebag from appealing the decision and filing three more lawsuits, against Microsoft, Nintendo, and Blizzard.

He’s suing Microsoft over a broken Xbox 360 which caused him “undue stress,” Nintendo over a software update that stopped him from using a third-party program Homebrew Channel (here  his unalienable right to happiness has been infringed upon), and Blizzard for creating a “harmful virtual environment” that utilizes  “sneaky and deceitful practices.” Among his allegations hoisted at the makers of World of Warcraft are the high subscription fees, the distance between locations, the extra expense of paying for teleportation stones, and the resurrection process.

With any luck, the judge will slap him with fines for mucking up the judicial process with frivolous lawsuits,  but there’s multiple things that indicate that these attempts are just asinine.

1. Sometimes equipment breaks. If it isn’t because you smashed it or attempted to feed it Cheetos, bring it back and exchange it. This is feasible. Suing over it is not. And if a broken system causes you that much stress, go to a shrink and get some fucking Zoloft. Please. For America’s Sake.
2. You’re not on FaceBook, Erik Estavillo, nor MySpace, nor Twitter, nor any other cyber community, because you’re an anti-social dillweed. You were kicked off of Sony’s server for presumably being a mondo chode. Nobody wants your Homebrew weak sauce; you shouldn’t be that upset that Nintendo stopped you from realizing even further how few people like you.
3. More than 10 million people are currently using WoW, and you know what they all have in common? They pay the subscription fees, they pay for the expansion packs, and they pay (game currency) to resurrect. You know what else they all have in common? They’re not douchebags who’ve decided to spoil everyone’s fun.

Seriously, Erik, what do you expect to happen through all this? Do you think there’s a single valid justification for this completely inane, child-like behavior? Can’t you just go crawl back in your shell and leave the celebrities alone?

You read right, there’s the other thing: aside from wasting the court’s time he’s also subpoenaed Depeche Mode’s Martin Lee Gore and Winona Ryder, because he claims they understand loneliness. Please, this is the thinnest-veiled plea for attention I’ve ever heard; I want to meet celebrities too, but I’ll do it the old-fashioned way, by waiting outside their windows.

No, Really, That's All Right - Leave Me Out Of It.

N-am cuvinte. D-aia ma intreb des de ce pula mea scriu aici? Sa-mi traiasca ficatul, nu?

Give me the words…

В последнее время в музыке все ярче проявляется тенденция к доминированию долгоиграющих групп. Будь то AC/DC, Depeche Mode или The Rolling Stones – тенденции задают в основном они, а не молодые исполнители. Хорошо это или плохо – вопрос спорный. О нем можно говорить долго, и новый альбом DM может послужить аргументом как “за”, так и “против”.

С одной стороны, Флетч, Гор и Гаан и правда молодцы. Придерживаясь собственного, проверенного годами, стиля, они выпустили крепкую, хорошую во всех отношениях пластинку. Звучание – беспроигрышно узнаваемое. Голос Дейва с годами тоже не особо меняется. Откровенно слабых песен, как на Playing The Angel, на альбоме нет. Но все же – что-то не то.

Давит груз предыдущих альбомов. У меня дома хранится весь Devotional Tour – лучший, на мой взгляд. Я слишком люблю Black Celebration с его безрадостными текстами, чтобы восхищаться SOTU, где слово “perfect” заменило извечное “pain”. Sounds Of The Universe получился правильным, круглым, как рисунок на обложке. Ни одной зацепки, ни одного раздражителя. Нет больше истеричных нот отчаяния и безысходности, нет больше того напряжения, которое придавало DM их странное очарование. Этот альбом словно искупает всю напряженность предыдущих.

Но это все же во всех отношениях настоящий хороший альбом Гора и компании, и это – его главный плюс. В нем нет революции, нет боли, но в нем есть Depeche Mode. И, что самое главное – он ввел меня в замешательство, и я до сих пор не могу определить, станет ли он для меня вторым Violator или нет. Так что с главной задачей музыки – вызывать эмоции – Sounds Of The Universe отлично справляется.

Det har vært stille rundt hodet til Martin Lee Gore i det siste. Etter et par-tre soloskiver med coverlåter som ingen kjøpte, og en Depeche turné ikledt lue syns vi det er på tide å frigjøre håret. Så idag som han har fødselsdag er det på sin plass med en liten hyllest til synthsjangerens flotteste sveis, floofen.

Floofen har hatt gode og dårlige dager siden Martin, Vince og Andrew dannet Composition of Sound i 1980 i Basildon. For en detaljert oversikt er det vel verdt å sjekke ut History of the floof. For den ekte fan finnes det selvsagt ressurser på internets! Personlig savner jeg Shake the Disease-floofen, inkludert flette, som rører ved selv den hardeste sjel. Hvem smelter ikke når Martin ømmer seg opp og synger sårt “Understand meeeeeee, understand meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…” ???

Se så fin! Jeg forstår deg, Martin. JEG FORSTÅR DEG!!

Det slår meg også at Martin er en god kandidat for videre diskusjon omkring transcendering av kjønnet. Her snakker vi om en fyr som omfavnet synth/goth/SM-looken på 80-tallet og holdt ved den så lenge at svært få kan forestille seg Martin i noe annet enn lakk, lær og sminke. Også giftet han seg jammen med en hot undertøysdesigner også. Frekt. Jeg gjentar mer enn gjerne fjorårets DM-ferie, da jeg ble så oppslukt at jeg løp rundt i en hage i Grenland og ropte “Understand MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” i full Martin-getup. Snakk om transcendering!

Gratulerer med dagen, kjære, kjære Martin!

Bonus!

Tysk, maritim budsjettvariant. Her får man enda mere transcendering fra Martin OG Dave Gahans fabelaktige hoftesleng og handclaps. Kan det bli bedre?