Chicago White Sox Festivities

This photo was taken using my camera phone this morning at the parade. I was standing in front of the Chicago Board of Trade building, on Jackson and LaSalle. You can see the bus carrying some White Sox players. I think this one had Ozzie Guillen on the front of the bus.

This is a pic of closer Bobby Jenks as he exited Midway Airport yesterday. As you can see, I was there too. I was standing right on the corner of 63rd and Central, where the guys had to turn. I was able to see Paul Konerko, Mark Buerhle, Aaron Rowand, Tadahito Iguchi, Carl Everett, Jose Contreras, A.J. Pierzynski, and Ozzie Guillen. Yeah, this close!

This picture was taken by the media. It almost looks like it's snowing! However, the white stuff is confetti and shredded paper thrown down from the upper floors of the surrounding buildings.

Oh how sweet it is? I attended the parade this morning honoring the best fucking baseball team of 2005, my Chicago White Sox! Witnessing the guys pass by was truly amazing, giving me goosebumps and invoking a feeling of nostalgia. I mean, these guys made me love baseball, a sport I hated only 5 years ago. I began supporting these guys ever since, being heartbroken when they lost in 2000 in the Division Series, up to this special moment. I vehemently followed them this season, ever since the first game. Although I knew this team was special, I never thought they would go all the way. Let's just hope the guys (especially Paul Konerko) come back next year to do it again! Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!

Chicago White Sox are the CHAMPS!

After 88 long years, the Chicago White Sox, the southside underdogs, have won the World Series. Congratulations to the Sox, the team which has awarded all Sox fans bragging rights against the Cubs constant failures! Ozzie Guillen did a wonderful job with these guys, and he deserves all the recognition. Dusty Baker is in the dust! Thanks to Konerko, Iguchi, Dye, Rowand, Everett, Podsednik, Pierzynski, Crede, Uribe, Garland, Garcia, Buerhle, Contreras, Jenks, Politte, Cotts, Marte, Vizcaino, Hermansson, El Duque, Blum, Widger, Harris, Ozuna, GM Williams, Jerry Reinsdorf and the rest of the 2005 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM!!!

Video Game regulation???

Don't know how much any of you care about this but there are many attempts going around at the moment for the government to become active in the decision of what video games can and cannot be sold. For example, the state of Illinois is treating games like an illegal substance. The Safe Games Illinois Act, for example, has been put into place and will begin to regulate the industry in 2006. The thing that bothers me the most is that the industry already has the ESRB (Entertainment Softwar Rating Board) that rates games as Mature, for example, to keep parents from allowing children from playing it. The problem is, the state will be doing this now with a different set of standards that will, most likely, make more games rated Mature or Adult Only, meaning stores will not be able to sell these or even carry some titles. The most interesting part to me is that it is mostly Democrats pushing for this legislation...

Anyway, I've got to get to class, just wanted to know if anyone here cared about the issue.

Greetings from Texas

Howdy,
First off, my name is Jeff, but I go by the name BigNewsDay. I would like to offer my gratitude to Lefty for inviting me to join this community. Lefty has assembled a wonderful blog site for all of us to enjoy and hopefully gain knowledge about how the metal community can positively influence the political system. I understand that may sound a bit cheesy, but I strongly believe change happens one mind at a time.

Now a little about me. I am 37 years old and live in Arlington, TX. I've been a politically minded metalhead since the early eighties. Growing up in Arlington, I've witnessed the power and influence of the religious right on the political system. Arlington is one of the most conservative cities in the country, and is the largest city in the country without any form of public transportation. In a stunning move of indifference, Arlington citizens recently voted to raise taxes and evict low income citizens from their homes so that Jerry Jones may have a new stadium for his Cowboys. I'm not saying that I don't like sports, but I don't agree corporate welfare, especially at the expense of the underprivileged.

Arlington isn't all bad though. This is the home town of the mighty Pantera. I went to high school, briefly, with Dime and was fortunate enough to witness the transition from hair band to one of the greatest and hardest metal bands ever to hit the scene. I understand that some may disagree with that, and that is OK. We all have our opinions, and individualism is what makes this world great. I will share more stories about my Pantera experiences later. Once again thank you very much Lefty for inviting me to join.

Later,
BigNewsDay

Top Metal Bands of All Time

I noticed today that I haven't posted anything of substance regarding heavy metal. I was supposed to submit a review of Hate Eternal months ago. However, by the time I got around to writing the review, I figured it was too late to do so. I've posted my opinions on several current political events, which I admittedly think lack serious substance, except for the Durbin post. I get most of my blogosphere news from DailyKos and the other liberal blogs (I'll lurk around Redstate just to see what the wingnuts are yapping about). I was reading Blabbermouth today, but didn't find any compelling news to share my thoughts on. For this reason, I have decided to write a generic post, typical of many discussion boards on the internet. So all you metalheads out there, tell us who you're picks are (with reasons why) for Top Ten Metal Bands of All Time. Here are my two cents:

1. Metallica
I admit, these guys haven't given us a quality album for quite some time, and their "selling out" is highly debatable, but no one can deny their impact on the heavy metal scene and culture. These dudes showed a faster and tougher alternative to the likes of Iron Maiden and other NWOBHM bands. Fuck, has any band delivered a masterpiece rivaling Master of Puppets? These guys know how to play a live show, even with songs from St. Anger (which sound surprisingly good live).

2. Slayer
These guys are like the evil, brutally fast, and angry counterparts to Metallica. While Metallica played to a larger audience, Slayer consistently delivered brutal efforts such as Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven. Their best effort, Reign in Blood rivals Metallica's Puppets album in shear genius.

3. Black Sabbath
The originators of heavy metal would have been on the top of the list if it wasn't for Ozzy leaving the band. Don't get me wrong, Ronnie James Dio is a phenomenal singer, but Ozzy is the voice of the true Black Sabbath. When Ozzy left, I think Black Sabbath lost part of their soul. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, and Heaven and Hell (with Dio), heavy metal wouldn't be what it is today.

4. Iron Maiden/Judas Priest TIE
Dual guitar leads, menacing riffery, awesome imagery, timeless lyrics, what else can we ask for? These guys are the epitome of the metal band. British Steel, Piece of Mind, The Number of the Beast, Screaming for Vengeance, and Killers are just amazing! That Steve Harris is a bad motherfucker!

5. Immortal
Venom promoted the satanic shit early on, other bands such as Mayhem helped the genre grow, but black metal would be lost without Immortal, the Sons of Northern Darkness just fucking rule this shit! Get Battles in the North!

6. King Diamond
That fucking voice! The awesome guitar work (Abigail)! Words can't describe how good this dude and his band is. Just amazing!

7. Nile
I loved these guys since Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, but Annihilation of the Wicked cemented these dudes as the kings of death metal. They honestly rule with major balls! The musicianship is phenomenal with machine gun blast beats, brutal riffing, and the most gruesome vocals ever!

8. Children of Bodom
Alexi Laiho is the next Randy Rhoads! Yes, I said it. This dude can play up and down the fretboard so effortlessly! I urge you to check out Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, and Hatecrew Deathroll. The songs are just amazing, showcasing dual leads featuring Laiho and his keyboard virtuoso side-kick.

9. Anthrax
I like these guys best when John Bush is the frontman. His voice is so fucking pleasing to the ear. Nevertheless, the true high points of Anthrax's illustrious career are present in Among the Living, Spreading the Disease, Fistful of Metal, and State of Euphoria. Spitz is good, but I like Caggiano's style better.

10. Aura Noir
I'm hooked on these guys. They play a mix between thrash and black metal, and it sounds so fucking good. I urge you to check out all their albums, especially The Merciless.

PANTERA
They would have been number 2, but I hold this band in a special place because my favorite guitarrist, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, was killed almost a year ago in a senseless act of cowardice. I miss you so much Dime. I almost cry when I remember that day in December. I listen to Cemetery Gates at least once a week in your memory!

Alright fuckers, before you begin to obliterate my picks, keep in mind that this list is purely subjective, meaning that it is my opinion, and you don't have to agree. The method used for picking these bands is simple: I picked the bands that I listen to the most, and which have had an impact on my approach to music in general.

Please, no personal attacks when making comments regarding anyone's opinions. Here's an example of what NOT to say:

You're gay because you like Slipknot. Metallica are sell-outs, that means you're an idiot. Your mom sucked my balls because I disagree with you.

If you don't follow the fucking rules, your comment will be deleted, and I'll probably write a post telling the world how much you fucking suck!

Suggestions for Mission Statement

Hello all. Kull and I have been trying to come up with a mission statement for this blog. I welcome any suggestions. You can check out Kull's ideas in the comments for Kull's post Hello to you All. Any suggestions can be emailed to me or posted under this thread. Remember to invite as many friends to Metal Pundit as you can. Thanks again and enjoy!

Welcome Kull and SiliconMessiah

We have two new contributors on this "infant" blog, Kull and SuicideMessiah. These two gentlemen will make a fine addition to this community. Welcome guys. I hope you enjoy discussing various topics on here. Feel free to discuss whatever you want. In order to make this community larger, I would like for you to invite as many friends as you would like. I'm sure you know how to work the administrative stuff (inviting people from the "settings" tab, editing posts, and etc). If you don't, feel free to ask. Well, let's make this blog the best fucking metal/political blog on the net! Thanks again guys!

Random stuff about me

Hey all, I am yet another new comer to the blog!

I am not quite sure how long you guys have been running this thing, though I do know it's fairly new, but I am looking forward to reading and discussing things with everyone here. I am assuming you are all more intelligent than the average poster on Blabbermouth who only has time to call the other person gay or to tell him to go suck on Dave Mustaine's dick or something.

Anyway, who am I? I'm a young (18 year old) guy who loves music (metal the most but all forms of music have their strengths), plays music, etc. Music is the greatest thing in the world, I think. I am in college, studying history and secondary education, we'll see where that gets me.

I have a band that I play bass in (www.lostinblue.com) and I am starting another band in which I will sing. If anyone's interested in that, I'll give a link to that site once it's up and running.

That's all for now, I suppose. Speak with you all later.
-Ryan (everyone's favorite mediocre bassist)

Hello to you all...

My name is Paolo and I live in Genoa, Italy (in the country's NW quite close to the French border, the hometown of C. Columbus)...I am older than Jon Nödtveidt but younger than Lemmy and I know this is not saying much! ;-))) I have a 'cum laude' degree in Modern Literature and a voracious appetite for anything related to history, art and culture.
Politically I am a socialdemocrat and spiritually a rationalistic agnostic with some penchant for neopagan philosophies. I have also a deep-rooted love for metal and hard rock, which was born when I listened to 'Rainbow' for the first time on my uncle's hi-fi.
My favourite genres as of now are Thrash, Black, Heathen/Viking, Melodic Death and Epic/Symphonic Power Metal but there is ONLY a genre of 'metal' that I really dislike and that's 'nu-metal'.
I listened (and still listen) to NWOBHM, old-school death, speed metal, grindcore, progressive metal, australian warmetal and even 'venezuelan beaver cheese metal' (for the monty-phytonesque among you! ;-).
I have been invited on this blog by 'Lefty Metalhead' and I am still grateful for the chance he gave me to meet with like-minded people and to swap ideas comments and suggestions.
I trust this little post of mine will be the first of a long series.
;-D
Paolo / 'Kull'.