The man in black pauses for a moment of reflection on his foe. There is a part of him that envies the man in red. Since that night he likes to think that the man in red has led a peaceful life, he even has a family now. He leads the life that all mercenaries dream of, a peaceful life. The last of the morning fog burns away as the last of the column of workers winds its way through towards the fields. The moment of envy passes and he sets off towards the manor of the man in red.


The paving on the road that cuts through the heart of the forest that borders the town and hems in the man in reds manor is travel worn, the trees at the side are impeccably kept and offer a sharp contrast to unkempt ones that lie just past the forest border. The forest seems eternal in contrast to the recent settlement near the docks, who knows what tales the trees in the forest would tell if they could talk. Generations of observing the comings and goings of man and other creatures.


The path way seems to have been constructed purposefully to reach the man in red’s residence. There are no branches or crossroads, but that suits the man in black. There are no distractions on this path, no chances to go a different way. The man in black is committed to this path whatever it’s outcome. The gun belts are starting to fell like a ton weight, the companions that have saved his life more times than he can remember start to feel like a house guest that has outstayed their welcome. He’s just waiting to get rid of them because one way or another he’s going to be finished with them tonight.
The forest track winds closer to the fortress, the sun begins to set and in his mind a bell begins to toll. The gun belts creak in as he adjusts them so he can get the drop on the man in red. The sun has set as he reaches the gates of the fortress, the sentries wave him past, the man in red is expecting him it seems.


Something about that sets him on edge. He was sure that the sentries observed him on the forest path but just to be waved through. This is new and the man in black doesn’t like that. New situations are dangerous and one seldom leaves them alive. The door to the manor opens smoothly as the man in black approaches. No creaking, the hairs on his neck stand a sure sign that something is wrong. As he makes his way through the manor he smells blood on the air. There is something wrong here, he thinks back to his approach to the manor and realises that the sentries never moved from where they standing on the wall. That combined with the thick almost pungent smell of blood sets the dice rolling in his head and he involuntarily draws his guns. He realises that the man in red is more that likely dead or gravely wounded. Revenge and honour seem lost to him at the moment.


He pushes those thoughts from his mind and continues his way through the manor. Needlessly checking every room, he knows where the creature that did this are. His pragmatic nature shows in this checking every room. Eventually he reaches the main hall and the shock of what he sees makes him fall to his knees and the guns slip from his hands. In front of him is a scene that he had hoped never to see. The man in red is missing his hands and feet, his head is hanging on by a sliver of flesh and there is a symbol carved into his chest. The symbol is of two dragons arranged in the shape of a ying yang. The symbol that is burned into the back of his head, he remembers it from his youth when he was a part of the monarch’s assassin squad. They always said it was a life service. But himself and the man in red never believed that. Since they were the best in the squad. Only one surpassed them and he is here now. In thirty years of living free as a mercenary he has killed seventy five of the monarchs assassins. To have this one sent after them though means that they do want the two of them dead and no mistakes.

Having just watched this film I’m surprised. When I heard about the film I was expecting a Spinal Tap type film, I was wrong. The film begins showing Anvil at their peak playing at a rock festival in Japan in the early 80’s. The rest of the film is completely different to the start. The film for the most part shows them as a fledgling group of guys in their 50’s still trying to be rock stars and at the beginning it is funny. But the tone changes when you see how excited they get when they get some European tour dates.


The tour they embark on starts off on a high at a festival. But it quickly descends into a farce with them playing to half filled and empty clubs. The fun and amusement makes way for the realisation that these guys are chasing smoke. They are never going to get that break and enjoy the success they want. It’s a shame really, the two main members come across as really polite and genuine people. One of them takes a job at a telemarketing firm, and he doesn’t get anywhere there because he has to be impolite and pushy to people on the phone.


In terms of the film there are three stand out moments for me. The first is somewhere in Europe they turn up 2 hours late for a show because they got lost trying to find the club. The club owner/manager lets them go on and play their two hour set. Then refuses to pay them because they were two hours late and the club had half emptied. Emotions run high for the band at that point and understandably so they did play the show and got nothing.


The second is when they are trying to get a distributor for their latest album. They go to a meeting with EMI in Toronto. The EMI representative turns off their album midway through the first song. While it was obvious to me that he was never going to take the band on. He does build up Anvil’s hopes to the extent that they leave thinking that they have a good chance of being accepted/signed by EMI. The disappointment that is on Lips’s face when they get the rejection note from EMI a few weeks later is gut wrenching. They perserve though and self distribute their album selling it directly to fans.


The last moment comes right at the end of the film. For the film it’s been built as these guys who can’t get a break. They go to Japan to play as part of a big rock festival over there. You believe that things are finally going there way. They find out their spot is the first on the day at 11:35am. The band starts to worry that no one will be there since they are the first band on and it’s so early in the day. This is shown right until they walk on stage dread that they are going to walk out into an empty arena…….they were wrong and the arena is packed full of anvil fans.


Watching their story begs the question is it worth it to be in the music business? There are a lot of films, books and other media that show how great it is IF you get that break. It’s refreshing to see the story of what might have been and the consequences of not making it big. These guys all have regular menial 9 to 5 jobs such as delivery drivers and are never particularly comfortable, given that a large portion of their income has to go on Anvil and the costs involved in keeping the band going.


Stories like this seem very common these days in the modern pop industry. Where bands have one or two hit singles and are then forgotten about. This is especially true of bands and performers that originate from reality shows such as the X factor. One hit wonders that are discarded and forgotten about as soon as something better comes along. For the moment I don’t know of any reason for people to try make it in the music industry…..seems more hardship than it’s worth since their is not guarantee that you will ever become successful.

Lately I’ve been listening to Dan LeSac vs Scroobius Pip. On there album there’s a song called “Thou Shalt Always Kill” it’s a very good lyric and song but there is a bit in the middle that goes like this


“Thou shalt not put recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how good they are or were once were.
The beatles were just a band, Led Zeppelin were just a band


It goes on like that through various bands. But that got me to thinking were bands such as Led Zeppelin, the Sex Pistols, The Beatles and Rolling Stones just band or were they something more. The Sex Pistols and Rolling Stones especially for me stand out as more than just a band. They are almost the embodiment of a time in history and a mood in the country. The Stones and Beatles were the flag bearers of the swinging sixties. The Stones at Altamount could be said to have been the end of the sixties. (Appropriate that it was to Sympathy for the Devil). The Sex Pistols were one of the pioneers of punk and that movement made the earlier bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones look like the old dinosaurs. Those older bands had become very technical and were doing twenty minute drum and guitar solos. The younger fans coming up didn’t want that. They wanted quick, fast two minute songs to jump around to.


Surely they were more than just a band they started a fashion trend and were one of the epicentres of a cultural movement. The same has happened throughout music history, from the pioneers such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. They were superseded by punk and bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols and Clash. These in turn were replaced by the new wave of British heavy metal led by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. This list could go on through the different versions and bands that were more than just popular but defined a period, by the way they dressed the content of their lyrics and the way that they represented themselves to the public.


I don’t think that it is fair to these bands to say that they were just a band. A lot of bands are just bands but some go beyond that and become a representation of an atmosphere and period in history. These bands are an important part of history and even shaped part of it. For example if it wasn’t for glam and hair metal in the 80’s then there would be no such thing as parental advisory labels on cds. A small example but still it does show how these bands have had an influence on society.

It’s 1:32 in the am and well I’m writing to my blog. Most sensible people are asleep or out partying, I’m not sure which I’d prefer at present. Probably sleep. There’s no real point to this other than it might pass some time till I fall asleep or I dunno go mad and go skydiving or something along those lines.


I suppose while I’m here I’ll scribble a brief part about a subject that deeply interests me, that is the changing media landscape. Almost since the inception of the different mediums of well media such as television, print and radio. They have been controlled by companies giving the wider public almost no input into what they read, watched or listened to. In recent years this has changed due to the internet and websites such as youtube, digg and facebook.


I think the youtube slogan sums up these sites, “Broadcast Yourself”. These sites focus on user interacting and user created content. In stark contrast to the programming schedules of the established media companies. These sites and their explosive growth in users has the established media running scared. The old world thinking that these companies have is strange given that the music industry has found out that you cannot control the internet. Yes the music industry did succeed in closing down napster but big deal! Napster was just the first, off the top of my head I can name over a dozen services and websites that will let me download films and music for free.


One thing that these companies seem to be mailing spectacularly at is that fail to realise that the internet cannot be controlled and even if they succeed in getting youtube to pay up these fines, sending the pirate bay guys to jail and hell even removing file sharing software such as limewire from circulation. They will NEVER succeed in controlling the internet or the content on it. It’s impossible when you have the volume of people that use the internet daily to control what they upload, download or visit. No matter how much they may like too.


Personally all these companies are serving to do is make me think that they are scared, stubborn and closed minded. They are failing to adapt to a new technology that for the foreseeable future is only going to become more popular and cause them more headaches unless they choose to adapt to the changing way that media is viewed and distributed.

Given my extremely close proximity to finishing my undergrad and actually being a qualified adult :(. I unfortunately have had to begin giving some thought to the future. The idea of having to actually assume some adult responsibility is frankly quite terrifying. This may have something to do with the economic change that has occurred while I have been a student. When I started my degree in 2005 things were extremely rosy and optimistic, we were told that we’d walk into jobs once we were qualified, that the world economy was absolutely desperate for technical graduates (B.Sc and B.Eng). But then well the world kinda went down the toilet and turns out the world is in a very serious financial crisis. With most companies announcing cut backs and the banking system in serious trouble, the perfect bubble seems to have burst.
This leads to my thinking to the future. There are three main options to all graduates travel, further study and getting a job. All have positive and negatives and the degree of those are going to vary from person to person. I’m going to give a short summary of what I consider to be the more important points of these three options.

1. Travel- Arguably one of the most popular for students, the big pluses of this are that you get to well travel and see the world. To experience different cultures and see some of the most spectacular sights in the world. The downside of this is that it can be expensive and dangerous depending on the political stability of the region you are traveling to.
2. Further Study- In the current economic circumstances this is my most probable choice. It has the advantages of allowing you to stay in the student lifestyle for a little bit longer. But also when you finally do finish and the world economy is back in a better place you will be in a much better position in the job hunt. The downside is that you have another year of exams and assignment stress. Which after three to four years most people have had enough of.
3. Job Hunting- I can’t honestly say that even if the economic boom was still going that this would have been my first choice. I would most likely have still gone with further study. The perks of job hunting are that you get your evening and weekends back and you are no longer a poor student. The weekly pay cheque and complete lack of assignments and exams are very big pros for this option. The downside is that you lose a lot of the freedom you have in college for random road trips and the like. That while fun are really frowned upon in the workplace (Unless your boss is uber cool and wants to come with you :P)

Those are the three main options that I can think of for graduates. One of the main things that I suppose I am afraid of happening is that I end up with a desk job. I don’t know why but lately the thought of having a desk job chills me to the bone. It’s like a desk represents a cage or prison cell. I don’t know what brought this on but in the last couple of months the thought of a desk job is like a bell tolling. I think it may be because a desk represents order and to an extent a form of tradition. Whether it’s youthful naivety or a pre mid life crisis the thought of coming in everyday to sit at a desk for the day just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m sure there’s a lot of people with the same thought as me and most likely a lot of the older generation shaking their heads in dismay.

The older generation would most likely say that I am just being childish and what else would I like to do? The answer I have it that I don’t know. At the moment it’s a case of I know what I don’t want.


Anyway I think that’s enough random rambling for one night. I’ll post something up later in the moth about post grad choices, the kayaking intervarsities and I’m currently writing another short story featuring the man in black.