It's Fucking Christmas.... Again!

It's that time of the year folks. The most ridiculous and overrated holiday of them all. No not Valentines Day, and not Easter neither.

Fucking Christmas. Again.

I absolutely hate Christmas and I'm going to explain why so everyone can hopefully get some sort of understanding into the idiocy of this day that warps the minds of millions or billions worldwide.

For one, everyone goes on about how it's supposed to be the 'season to be jolly' like the rest of the fucking year is meant to be spent being the pessimistic nihilist of the world, because society allows you this one day to escape from your daily grind of mundane and zombie-esque activity to spend time with your family, because clearly spending time with your family any other day of the year is forbidden and frowned upon so only do it on Christmas.

It's that time of the year where parents, who when they were children were told that Santa was a real person and that they had to behave for the year or else they wouldn't get any presents but awoke on Christmas day to find they actually had presents anyway thus unknowingly creating a materialistic mentality deep inside their psyche and believing that no matter how they behaved they'd receive what is "entitled" to them anyway, tell their children this same fucking lie over and over repeating the never ending cycle so when those kids grow up they pass it onto their children and so on and so on. How ridiculous and idiotic is this? Remind you of any other fairytale? One that people seem to want to carry on into adulthood?

And the concept of gift giving is probably the most ridiculous and vacuous part of this whole moronic tradition because the only good it serves is to create profit for large corporations that couldn't give a shit about the happiness and well being of the everyday citizen of the world. Let's take a look at Coca Cola for instance, their advertisements on television multiple tenfold during this time of the year with the portrayal that if you have a beverage of theirs or share it with someone else that it'll bring immense joy to your life despite the tremendous negative health issues it can create, and how highly addictive they have made it. And serving this to children, because their ads are clearly targeted towards the impressionable young minds of today, not only makes these children destined for a life of diabetes and a multitude of other health problems but also serves to fuel a corporation built on greed and destruction of ones well being for the sake of the dollar.

Yet let's all hold Christmas in a positive light and tell everyone to have a wondrous and joyous one because that's the social norm isn't it? No one these days ever thinks for themselves, they just follow the rest like the sheep that they have been told to be.

Christmas is by far the worst time of the year and it seems I am in the extreme minority that has this belief because every fucking year I am having to explain myself to everyone about why I can't wait for this pathetic excuse of a day to be over and done with.

This year it is even worse because I work in retail and have discovered a whole new low that people sink to. People spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars around Christmas time and complaining about it!!

Let's back up a second; people go out and WILLINGLY spend copious amounts of money during the Christmas period yet they openly complain about spending so much money when it was their choice to do so in the first place, yet it's like they're putting the blame on something other than their own actions and choices. And you know what that is? Social norms created by society for everyone to accept and abide by because that's what you have to do, isn't it?

People are a fucking joke these days. You DON'T have to go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money, you can teach your children not to become materialistic and that they should just behave themselves just to become decent human beings instead of just for the reward of some present at the end of the fucking year. And you may argue that it's a time of the year that the children look forward to and my rebuttal would be why can't they look forward to any other day of the year? Is it because your parenting is so shocking that you make every other day of the year just as mundane and dull as your working day in the office? Children are children, they are extremely imaginative, naive and they dream because the world hasn't told them what they can and can't be yet. So make everyday for them special and before you know it they won't care about materialistic items for Christmas even if their friend at school gets the new Playstation or Xbox, because your child or children will believe that the greater gift to something that can have a price tag placed on it is that they aren't dead yet.

Then there's the fact that when people feel the need to go out and spend huge amounts of money, that they do so right at the last minute. I can just imagine their thought process when they awake the morning before Christmas and think 'shit, it's Christmas eve, I have to go do all the Christmas shopping. Oh my where did the time go? I swear it was March yesterday!' Wake the fuck up and stop living in your dreamland of day to day cycles of repetitive tasks and pay attention to the world for fuck sake! Why don't people think outside waking up in the morning, going to work, going home and going to bed and repeating?

Christmas is a joke and I have no hope whatsoever that the world will ever wake up to itself and see it for what it really is; one big marketing ploy that everyone keeps falling for.

You all make me sick.

Narcissism & Social Media

So this blog stems from a conversation I had with a good friend recently about how the internet, social media in particular, has created a world of narcissists with the belief that the world owes them never ending attention and affection.

I believe it is something that has been rapidly building up over years through the constant obsession with social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc and users spamming news feeds with selfies with tag lines such as "Omg, I am so ugly". You know the types. The ones who know they aren't bad looking and are simply fishing for compliments for their daily dose of self gratification to make themselves feel good about their lives and have everyone focusing on them. Because they need to be the centre of attention. Everyone needs to know they exist. It's a desperate cry for attention, also through everyone trying to find that new internet craze that goes viral and gives their social media platform, whether it be Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, thousands of more followers so they can feel somewhat 'famous' thus providing a feeling of self importance. If this is the sort of thing that, particularly teenagers, need to do to validate their lives then it's not only sad but something that is setting them up for one very tough life.

The media, and those who are supposedly "role models" (read celebrities such as musicians, actors, actresses, etc), are having a large negative impact by following this moronic trend of posting ridiculous selfies and acting in such ways that everything needs to be about them. Talk about setting the standard for a younger audience.

Not only has the internet played a big part in this but also reality television. The idea of watching people deliberately act like complete degenerates on live television to simply entertain those vacuous drones through the idiot box so they go to work the next day and spend the whole morning talking about them has no doubt driven the increase in narcissistic traits developed in young people. And I say young people because they tend to be the most impressionable. They see something and replicate it in their own lives, maybe sometimes not even realising and from there it builds like a virus flowing through their bloodstream.

And that's exactly what narcissism is, a virus. We have entered an age where relationships will be a thing of the past because couples will break up over not getting enough attention that their small minds desire. This could have ever lasting mental issues embedded with them unable to determine what has caused this relationship breakdown and constantly placing the blame elsewhere instead of looking at the real problem; themselves.

Not only this but it has destroyed the very thing that I believe made us human; empathy. No one cares about anyone else anymore, no one is willing to go out of their way to help someone in need because this world is not about them and people have no consideration for things that can have dramatic negative impacts on the lives of many as long as it doesn't affect them. This is particularly shown with new political policies introduced where people are more than happy to turn a blind eye to the monstrosities these power hungry sociopaths are willing to inflict providing their lives are not hindered.

Society, and the world as a whole, is sliding down a massive decline into a dark depth that the very invention, that was supposed to benefit the human race, has created; technology.

I realise the irony of saying that when I am typing this through the use of many technological devices and posting it on an online social platform, something slandered throughout this blog, but sometimes irony is necessary and this is that instance. I hope many people worldwide read this and some sort of change is done. But considering the younger generation of 2014, maybe we have very little hope.

I will leave you with this short clip that portrays these words before you in a visual format quite perfectly.

My Take on The Metal Community - From an Avid Metal Lover

Over the years, 6 and a half or so, I have attended hundreds of gigs and metal music orientated events, parties filled with fellow metal loving maniacs and over this time I have discovered something rather ridiculous and hypocritical, and that is how outrageously stupid a vast majority of the metal community can be.

The first thing that has me bewildered by the utter idiocy of metal loving people across the globe is their lack of musical variety, how they go on and on about being open minded to music and more superior to those who listen to "simply commercial mainstream music" because they listen to bands the general population of music listeners have never heard of but when a band tries something new the fans are quick to blast them, call them sell outs or anything of the sort.

The perfect example for this is with the new In Flames album. Sure, In Flames fans have been absolutely vacuous morons for years now but with the release of Siren Charms it's gone to a whole new level. While I don't actually like the album, I'm not going to tear the band apart for wanting to try something different, not wanting to become stale and repetitive in their sound and fade away and be forgotten. Yet their "fans", and I use that word very loosely, feel the need to call this band sells outs, especially since their signing with Sony Music, and because they aren't releasing Whoracle Pt. 2. Seriously, can these people be any more stupid and hypocritical?

Then there's Opeth. We all know the deal here. Mikael is a big fan of progressive rock music and very much progressive in his own musical creativity, and if you've ever heard at least one Opeth album, you should know that sooner or later they would go in the direction they have headed with Heritage and now Pale Communion. It was blatantly obvious on Watershed, and while I love and miss the days of My Arms, Your Hearse, I still admire their braveness to push the boundaries and create forward thinking progressive music. But clearly not everyone is on the same page and feels the need to react in the very way, to Pale Communion, majority of In Flames "fans" have reacted to Siren Charms. Also, if Mikael is over the whole death metal side of their previous releases, then why should he be forced to go back and create a new album that is effectively My Arms, Your Hearse Pt 2 or Still Life Pt 2? People need to realise that being in a band is not always about pleasing the fans as you need to be happy with what you're doing, or how else can you continue to do it?

Not every band is going to continue to use the same formula for every album they ever release in their entire career and there is a very good chance your favourite band will, at some point, want to experiment and try something new, and the thing with this is that it may not always come off well. But then again, musical taste is subjective so it's entirely up to the listener as to whether it has come off well or been an absolute failure. And if you don't like it, then fine, move on. Listen to a band who's released something you do like, or go back to your mum's basement, put on your Lunar Strain cassette tape and cry like the immature baby you are that In Flames aren't becoming mundane and stale by doing the same thing thousands of times throughout their career like they did on their first few releases.

Sure, Amon Amarth have done it for the past 20+ years since their debut album Once Sent From The Golden Hall, but they are happy with their sound and it's one almighty sound at that, and they are Amon Amarth!

Another thing that irritates me is when metalheads rave on and on about being open minded but will tear anyone apart when they discover that someone listens to a band they don't consider to be "metal" or "brutal" or in any way to their liking. Because clearly every single person that likes the incredibly wide ranging and ever changing musical genre that is metal must all share exactly the same taste and listen to the mind numbing distorted guitars of Slayer.

I remember attending a Fleshgod Apocalypse/Septicflesh co-headliner at The Hifi Bar in Melbourne and after the gig got talking with your typical "I am better than you" metalhead wanker about how much he hated Septicflesh's performance, but not once did he mention that he decided to leave early because he disliked their show so much. No, instead he decided it'd be better to stay around the whole 90 minutes and watch every second of it so he could go outside after the gig had finished and rant to everyone about how bad he thought it was. Because that makes sense, doesn't it? Then he was handing out flyers for the Coroner show which was being held at the same venue and when I told him I didn't want one because I didn't like the band, he had the audacity to tell me how stupid I was by liking Septicflesh and not Coroner. He's lucky my first did not go through his scrawny, ugly and annoying face. But I decided to be the better person and walk away.

I have a strong dislike for the thrash metal scene but you don't see me attending thrash gigs just to let everyone know how much I hate it; probably because they're all massive meat heads and I'm no fighter, nor am I suicidal, but that's beside the point. My point is that the sooner these degenerates grow up and get out of their little arrogant and egotistical shells and become the decent human beings they so love to go on about being the better.

Post-Europe 2013

There have been many developments in my life since my last blog. It has been several months of inactivity on here due to not having time to be able to publish anything, but now due to some changes I am allowed more time to focus on my blog.

I will start off by covering my incredible, and memorable, trip to Europe last year throughout August.

This was the second time I had traveled to Europe and while it was always going to be hard to top the 2012 trip I believe it may have done just that. There were many lows, and much more highs, but that comes with every holiday as you need to take the good with the bad.

Arriving into Vienna, which for the record is a terrible city, I spent one night there before catching a train to Ljubljana, Slovenia to attend the amazing Metal Days festival, formerly known as Metal Camp, in Tolmin.

This was the first year the festival was operating under it's new moniker and since I had never attended Metal Camp I cannot inform you on any changes that may have occurred, however I can vouch for it being one of the best, if not the best, festivals I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Not only was the line up full of some highly talented bands but the location is absolutely perfect, situated in a valley right next to a beautiful, and very refreshing, lake which proved to be the perfect spot to cool down and have a swim on the scorching hot days that followed my arrival.

The main bands I was eager to see at this festival were Hypocrisy, Wintersun, Solstafir, In Flames, Soilwork, Ensiferum, Primordial and Mayhem. All of these bands, with the exception of Mayhem, put on amazing shows. Mayhem were very disappointing and I left midway through their set.

However these were not the only bands I managed to see live, in between the beers, chatting with awesome people and swimming. There were quite a few bands I had never heard of, never got around to listening to before or never seen live, including Unleashed, Dying Fetus, Alestorm, Graveworm, Mystery (from Melbourne, Australia!) and Lock Up. It was a good chance to discover some new music and finally see a few bands I had never managed to see before.

The biggest highlight of the week was easily finally seeing one my favourite bands live; Hypocrisy! I was ecstatic when I saw they were on the line up, especially after their Australian tour for January 2013 was unfortunately cancelled.

Following Metal Days, I spent a few days in Ljubljana which is where the low point of my holiday occurred as this city was not only incredibly boring, but I ended up being very sick the day I arrived due to a mixture of lack of food, water and intense heat. And to make matters worse I received a text message that my dad's dog had died (which I loved very much and treated like my own).

After this I spent a few days back in Vienna, which was another low point in my holiday. I have no intention to ever return to Vienna as it's another incredibly boring, and overrated, city. Salzburg may be the go next time I visit Austria. But I did manage to find a decent metal bar not far from my hostel which was nice and provided a good night of beer and entertainment with a mate.

Then it was off to Czech Republic for some more drunken antics in Prague prior to Brutal Assault festival in Jaromer.

I ensured that this year I had a few days prior to Brutal Assault to spend in Prague as last year I was only there for one day and saw very little of the city. I cannot begin to describe the amazing times I spent in this city with amazing people. The cheap beer and food, the amazing sites, the bars and restaurants and most of all the gorgeous women!

Before heading off to Brutal Assault we, mates and I, made a stop at Sedlec Ossuary, a small Roman Catholic chapel who's interior has been decorated with human bones. Albeit being small it was still amazing.

Anyway, onto Brutal Assault. This was an incredible festival. Another one of the best I have attended and would go back for many years to come. The line up was amazing, although not quite as good as the previous year, which be very hard to top.

The only problem I have with this festival is the annoying coupon system they have in place which requires patrons to line up and purchase coupons before they can buy food or beer anywhere in the festival grounds.

As for the bands, it was awesome seeing Behemoth, Opeth, In Flames, Alcest, Ensiferum, Ihsahn, Leprous, Novembers Doom, Saturnus, Meshuggah, In Vain, Orphaned Land and Sylosis. Many of those bands for the very first time. And staying in a hotel as opposed to camping was probably a very wise move as well, although the bus system where you need to book a ticket for a certain departure time was frustrating, especially with buses not running as regularly as they could have been.

Behemoth and Alcest were the two highlights of another incredible festival.

Following the conclusion of Brutal Assault I headed off to Cesky Krumlov, well known for being the location for the Hostel films. However it was nothing like the films, as this small town was one of the best places I have ever been to. Not only was the castle incredible, which I spent 5 hours at on the first day, but the restaurants were amazing and cheap as was the beer. I had lunch at one medieval style tavern that cooked it's meats over an open fire. So you can order your meal and then watch it cooked before your eyes. And what made this place the best restaurant I have ever been to was that it only costed me roughly $20AUD for a pint, an entree (a trencher with garlic soup), a main course and tip. Talk about nabbing a bargain! I will definitely be returning in 2016!

Following my departure it was closing in on the end of my holiday, but not before the prestigious festival known as Summer Breeze situated in Dinkelsbuhl in Germany.

It was another 3 long days of beer, festival food and bands as I saw Lamb of God, Tristania, Whitechapel, Enslaved, Ensiferum, Soilwork, Primordial, Cult of Luna, Long Distance Calling, Solstafir and Rotten Sound, who all put on very impressive performances, albeit a few hiccups, but still memorable nonetheless.

The highlight for me at this festival would have to be Solstafir as I am becoming a big fan of their unique style which differs from anything I have heard before, which these days is rare in the metal scene. But honorable mentions to Lamb of God and Tristania, in particular the latter who I had never seen before.

Following the conclusion of Summer Breeze it was time to head off to Munich was some mates for a couple of days before flying back home and to reality.

Upon arriving into Munich I checked into my hostel, caught up for some beers and the following day headed off to Dachau, a former Nazi concentration camp which is now open to the public.

This was one of the most full on and eye opening experiences of my life. Walking through and reading the history along with hearing former inmates recount their time here was both heart wrenching and sickening. The conditions were inhumane and brutal and the treatment just as bad if not worse. And the worst came when I came upon the gas chamber which had been disguised to appear as a shower so as not to cause any confrontation from inmates when brought here. They would be informed they were going to have a shower, they would remove their clothes and step into the chamber, and once the doors had been sealed and locked, they would be executed from poisonous gas emitted from the ceiling. This raised my hatred to an all new level for Nazis.

After this it was time for a more relaxing and positive tone, as it was my final night in Europe before flying home. This was spent in the city of Munich drinking copious amounts of beer with a mixed group of people from different countries; Australia, America, Germany and Japan. It is a night I will remember for many years to come. From drinking a litre of beer in Hofbrauhaus to being nagged by strippers whilst consuming a ridiculously over priced, but delicious, beer in a strip club.

My time in Europe last year is definitely a period of my life that I will be very proud of, especially taking into consideration I originally had no intention of returning to Europe in 2013. It's times like this that we need to have in our lives, a break from the everyday grind that allows us to unwind, let loose and enjoy the finer things life has to offer. Travelling the world is one of the most exciting, memorable and rewarding things you can do and everyone should do it as much as they can, not only for the memorable nights but also for the culture as well. I met many awesome people from all over the globe (Uruguay, Norway, Finland, Germany, America, Israel, Switzerland, Canada, Japan) and made some awesome new friends that I hope to share many a beer with in the future.