Rock and/or Roll

  I watched a documentary on Netflix called Heavy Metal in Baghdad.  I had almost rented it several times from Blockbuster before we had Netflix, but there was always something else that caught my eye.  It was always one for which I said, "One of these days..."  Well, yesterday was one of those days and boy was it worth the wait!  Yes, it's a documentary about a band, but it gives one of the most nitty gritty, honest portrayals of life in Baghdad with no media bullshit in the way.  The band really is good too.
  I can't wait to get started on some medication for my bipolar disorder!  Today I got a Netflix video in the mail.  It was a Mushroomhead documentary.  I think I laughed through the whole thing!  Yes, they're a serious metal band with wicked awesome music, but they also know how to have fun.  Almost every scene was packed with them being silly, goofy, drunk, laughing or tearing down the house with their live shows.  There were also three music videos and lots of DVD extras including hilarious deleted scenes and behind the scenes of the making of their video.
  By the way I found out one of my aunts in Tucson has some yogurt store called By The Ounce.  Apparently you grab a cup, put some yogurt in it, throw on some toppings and pay for it by the ounce.  Ha ha, you see that clever marketing strategy in the name and everything?  I went to the website, btoyogurt.com, and the place looks so immaculate and modern.  Notice I didn't include any adjectives which would indicate an opinion one way or the other whether or not I'd wanna go there.

Masked Bands

  These are just the random musings of a nerd with too much time on his hands.  This is not meant to insinuate any copycatting (is that a word?), plagiarism, band wagoning or Johnny-Come-Latelys.  What this is is a bunch of similarities I've noticed between a few masked bands from the past and the present.

1. Both Slipknot and Sykotik Sinfoney capitalize the S, K and T in their names.
2. Both Slipknot and Sykotik Sinfoney mix musical genres within the context of a single song:
-Slipknot: "Do Nothing (Bitchslap)" from the album, Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat
-Sikotik Sinfoney: "Cake Fuck" from the album, Eargasm
3. They also both do the rap/metal thing, as does Mushroomhead:
-Slipknot: "No Life" from the album, Slipknot
-Sykotik Sinfoney: "Mr. Cool" from the album, Eargasm
-Mushroomhead: "BWOMP" from the album, XX
4. Sykotic Sinfoney and Green Jello both have singers dressed as cows:
-Sykotik Sinfoney with Crusty Udder
-Green Jello with the Cow God
5. Slipknot and Mushroomhead both have bassists with pig masks:
-Slipknot with Paul Gray
-Mushroomhead with Pig Benis
6. Slipknot and Mushroomhead both have similar analogies for their relationships with their bands:
-Slipknot as the carcass with the fans as maggots feeding off them
-Mushroomhead as the shit with the fans as mushrooms growing off them
7. All four bands have lots of members.
8. Slipknot and Sykotik Sinfoney have each appeared in movies:
-Slipknot in Rollerball
-Sykotic Sinfoney in Bad Channels
9. Mushroomhead and Sykotik Sinfoney both seem to put down Slipknot (in my perception) in songs:
-Mushroomhead with the line "just another number in a long line of no one" on "Just Pretending" from the album, Savior Sorrow.
-Sykotik Sinfoney with the line "he's stupid when he's dressing like a clown" on "Stupid" from the album, Eargasm.
10. Slipknot seems to have a diatribe of their own against Mushroomhead in the song, 'Only One' with the line, "Filthy Hands stay away from mine" (a possible allusion to Mushroomhead's Filthy Hands label).
11. Both Slipknot and Sykotik Sinfoney have someone request the song "Freebird" in one of their songs:
-Slipknot: the hidden live track "Dogfish Rising" on the album, Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.
-Sykotik Sinfoney: "Mr. Cool" on the Bad Channels soundtrack.

  There's probably other things I've thought of, but don't remember right now.  There's probably also things you've noticed that I haven't.  Anyway, I love all these bands so this is in no way a putdown on any of them.