People can say some pretty stupid things online. Maybe it’s the anonymity, maybe it’s just a spur-of-the-moment thought immortalized forever on a message board. Some of them are understandable, given circumstances. OK, your brain farted and spat out that retarded statement, and now you’re feeling better. Alright.

But sometimes, the things people say can cause great need for release of frustration. Some of them can make you want to steal a car and ram it into a shopping mall, or grab the next person to walk past you and shove his face into a tree trunk. For example, I’ve heard, more than once, someone who is supposedly into rock music say they hate Nirvana, and that Nirvana sucks. This is utterly berserk. Listen up, pinhead.

First of all, the words “hate” and “sucks” are oversimplified ways to express discontent with something. People use them when they don’t know how else to identify or explain what they don’t like about something. And don’t get me wrong, there is much not to like about Nirvana. (Big hint: It’s designed that way.) But to say Nirvana “sucks” and that you “hate” them is entirely missing the point, like saying “man, Casablanca is so damn sappy,” or “why does Van Gogh paint so many sunflowers?” Let me explain.
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Twitter users who follow Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor might have noticed a nice bonus to being part of the Tweet generation Wednesday. The Industrial rock icon is passing out tickets and backstage passes to NIN fans who follow his Twitter feed.

Reznor announced the giveaway Wednesday morning over Twitter, then tweeted a link just before noon. Users who clicked through were taken to the band’s NIN|JA tour page, where a short form was open for a brief window of time. The first five fans who completed the form took away the NIN|JA ticket haul.

Twitter users tremor76, freezya, shockwavesmedia, ungeheier and chadrullman each received two free tickets and backstage passes to any show featuring NIN and their touring acts, Jane’s Addiction and Street Sweeper Social Club, during their upcoming tour. The tour kicks off May 8 in West Palm Beach, FL and ends June 12 in Charlotte, NC.

A repeat of the contest was announced for Thursday, so any NIN fans who are Twitter-savvy had best get on board and keep an eye out if they want to take advantage. The only requirement is for entrants to provide an ID number, presumably to identify them once they receive their ticket (though this is a guess based on how they handle presale tickets…).

Visit Reznor’s Twitter page here, and the NIN|JA tour page here.

Reprinted from my Cinema Blend article.

I don’t get goose bumps very often. Occasionally I’ll be sitting alone some cool, quiet night with headphones on, and I will feel a chill, mixed with the tingle of awe that occasionally comes with a really good song. If I had more time to sit still, it might happen more often.

But sometimes it doesn’t have to wait for the right time.

It happened to me the other day, in fact – on a hot day, maneuvering through traffic on the way home from work. And it makes sense, considering the song. It was The Smiths’ “Suffer Little Children,” possibly the creepiest pop song ever written.

This song doesn’t endeavor to be morose like Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” or Halloweeny like Type O Negative’s “Black no. 1” (or any other Type O Negative song…). This one is unassuming, quiet, beautiful and innocent – and entirely haunting. Part of the reason has to do with what it is about.

The last track on The Smiths’ first album is about a series of murders. Specifically the Moors Murders, a string of extremely violent child killings that took place around Manchester in the ‘60s.

Between 1963 and 1965, Scottish stock clerk Ian Brady and his girlfriend, Myra Hindley, persuaded five children between the ages of 10 and 17 to follow them to various places, where Brady mercilessly tortured and then killed them. Hindley watched while Brady raped, hacked and strangled his victims with string or cord, nearly decapitating one of them. The couple then buried the corpses on a dreary field north of the A635 road, west of Oldham, called Saddleworth Moor. Four of the bodies were found over the next twenty years, one never was.
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