Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can

Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can. You have destroyed so much.
What is it, exactly, that you have created?
Can you name even one thing? I thought not.

Hell Militia, Archgoat, and Black Witchery

Folks, I've gone to a f*** great Black Metal gig last friday at La Scène Bastille (Paris this time, eh, eh !!).

Hell Militia is a great band (never saw them on stage before). They are also scary and ooze evilness, and of course this is completely intentional !!!

I took some pictures of the gig. Maybe you want to see some sample before diving in.
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Are you scared yet ?

OK, you are big boys and girls now. Try this one:


OK, the whole set is here.

Want to hear some ? Beware, this is only a feeble youtube copy of this another kind of Mass (sort of), only the REAL THING is better.

Zyklon, Blood Tsunami, and Dead Beyond Buried

OK, here are the pictures I took during the Underworld show in Camden Town, on May 8. Zyklon performance was a killer, but also I discovered Blood Tsunami (a Norway Death / Trash Metal band, with Faust as drummer), and Dead Beyond Buried, a local U.K. Death metal band. Both were very good too !!!



The whole set is here.

Pensée unique

The beginnings of the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, strangely match those of another one, George Bush. No wonder that the American administration looks forward for new relationships

Catherine Pégard, chief editor for politics for the French newspaper Le Point, has been nominated adviser for the President. Myriam Lévy, political journalist for the newspaper Le Figaro, covered Ségolène Royal campaign; she has been nominated media adviser for François Fillon, the new prime Minister. Georges-Marc Benamou, editorialist for Nice-Matin, has also been nominated adviser for the President. I'm regretting to say that the only comment I have about all this is: they have been rewarded for what they have done.

Also Laurent Solly, assistant director for Nicolas Sarkozy campaign, has been nominated in Bouygues group (which owns TF1, the main French T.V. network). Sarkozy is a close friend of Martin Bouygues, Bouygues CEO.

You want more ? The UMP, Sarkozy's party, has no more president, but a direction with three people, in order not to bother Sarkozy with another possible leader at the right.


Je sais, les lecteurs français de ce blog qui ont voté pour lui vont penser que tout ça, ce sont des critiques gratuites. N'empêche...

Catherine Pégard, la rédactrice en chef du service politique au Point, est devenue conseillère auprès du chef de l'état à l'Elysée. Myriam Lévy, journaliste politique au Figaro, a couvert la campagne de Ségolène Royal, et est nommée conseillère en communication de François Fillon, le nouveau premier ministre, à Matignon. Georges-Marc Benamou, éditorialiste à Nice-Matin, devient conseiller à la présidence. Je regrette de dire que la seule idée qui me vienne à l'esprit est : ils ont été récompensés pour services rendus.

Dans un autre domaine, Laurent Solly, le directeur adjoint de campagne de Sarkozy, a été nommé hier à la holding du groupe Bouygues (qui possède TF1). Sarkozy est un ami personnel de Martin Bouygues.

N'oublions pas non plus le licenciement de l'ancien rédacteur en chef de Paris Match, Laurent Genestar, par son patron Arnaud Lagardère (autre ami personnel de Sarkozy), après cette une :
Après les élections, c'est devenu ça :

Sarkozy, le rêve d'une vie s'accomplit, de qui se moque t'on ?

Vous en voulez encore ? Et pour couronner le tout, l'UMP n'a désormais plus de président, mais une direction collégiale à trois têtes, tout cela pour éviter de faire de l'ombre à Monsieur Sarkozy.

Oh my god, who touched Sacha ?

Video games are going a long way toward...virtual life, maybe... this is a little scary, isnt' it ? And I am not speaking here of all of these MMORPG (which I don't like very much, I confess).

Look at this trailer for the upcoming Valve's multiplayer's FPS Team Fortress 2. Does it not reminds you The Incredibles, except we are here in a shooter, and the hero is not an incredible superhero, he is an incredibly powerful and dangerous madman.

This trailer is already better than computer-animated movies, and they say it is real-time in-game rendering. GPUs can now do that ?

Look at that:
Some people think they can outsmart me, hmm, maybe..., maybe...
I've yet too meet one that can outsmart BULLET.

Update: This is maybe scary for movie moguls too. See this article on the L.A. times, The movie magic is gone. People now want to be their own heros, and it seems that movies does not provide them with that any more. At bit extreme ? Maybe... maybe...

Some days in London

I was in London for 3 days at the beginning of last week (just after the French presidential elections). There was some light rain, but it is part of the fun in England, isn't it ?

I always like to go there for a few days each year, I like this city. But I choose this particular week because of the Zyklon gig at the Underworld on May 8.

You know that Zyklon was formed by Samoth and Trym, formerly in Emperor. Also they were supported by Dead Beyond Buried, an U.K. Death metal band, and Blood Tsunami (with Faust, also formerly in Emperor, as drummer). The gig was very good !!

I made a LOT of pictures of the show, more on that later when I have time to upload some of them on my flickr account. But for the moment, just a short teaser (a picture taken in Camden Town, this is typical):



And also, here is a little (rather old, and not taken in Underworld) clip of Zyklon:

New Serenity

Enough with politics for a while. The last French presidential elections results were very, very, very bad for socialists like me.

I already talked about this excellent Death Metal band from British Columbia, Severed Serenity. They recently released a video of one of their latest performance on youtube, and it's a killer !!



By the way, if you live around British Columbia (they're from Kelowna), they are looking for a drummer (this is only for good and serious drummers, you only have to hear them to understand why !!).

Mr Sarkozy, Al-Qaida , ce sont des Chiites ou des Sunnites ?

Il est préférable d'accepter de reconnaître qu'on ne sait pas tout plutôt que de dire n'importe quoi, Monsieur Sarkozy. Al-Qaida, c'est une mouvance Sunnite. Un exemple de plus du supposée "sérieux" de ce Monsieur, qui prétend connaitre parfaitement les dossiers, alors qu'en fait, on est dans le rêgne de l'approximatif.

The question : Mr Sarkozy, Al Quaeda are Sunni or Shia ?
Mr Sarkozy, you should rather accept that you don't know everything, than to stick to such a big mistake for ages. Al Quaeda is in the Sunni strain of Islam. One more example of his supposed knowledge of issues, when he really is often approximative.

Votons Ségolène Royal !!!

Pour une fois, un message en français. Je suis allé au meeting de Charletty, et j'ai écouté le débat du lendemain. Je peux dire qu'elle m'a impressionné de maîtrise et de maturité (les photos ici, pour ceux que ça interresse).

C'est vrai que Sarkozy me fait peur, mais ce n'est pas pour ça que je voterai pour elle :

• Elle est compétente et solide (il fallait vraiment qu'elle soit solide comme un roc pour arriver là ou elle en est maintenant malgré la multitude de pièges lancés sur sa route, y compris par son propre camp. Décidemment, le machisme et la misogynie de la société française sont toujours aussi élevés).


• Elle a un projet d'ouverture. Il est faux de dire qu'elle ne veux rien faire, elle veux faire avec les autres, pas contre les autres.


• Elle dit vers ou elle propose d'aller (c'est ça la politique), elle ne dit pas par contre que tout est fait et qu'il suffit de lui laisser les clés (ça, ça s'appelle du populisme).

En contraste, Nicolas Sarkozy veut faire croire qu'il est le seul candidat possible, mais mettons à part mes opinions (ce ne sont pas que les miennes d'ailleurs) sur le personnage lui-même. Contrairement à ce qu'il veut faire croire, c'est le roi de l'à peu-près en économie. Ceux qui croient qu'avec lui, c'est du sérieux, vont déchanter.

Rehearsal with Aes Dana

Yes, I can consider myself a fan of Aes Dana, this excellent French Celtic Black Metal band. Listen to their anthems, maybe you will be surprised. Black Metal and Celtic influences mix very well together !! Beware, this is true tradition and chaos, this comes from far away: it is heavy, its howls are about lost battles, dead people on the battlefield, old gods that will soon die...

However, I was privileged to be present at a rehearsal, it was a lot of fun !!!! The next picture is just a teaser, you can look at the whole set here.