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[Feb. 4th, 2010|11:05 pm] |
www.myspace.com/frontthisscene
New review of the recent K! Tour show, featuring some truly epic photos! Check it out :) |
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[Feb. 3rd, 2010|08:25 am] |
So what do you guys make of the FOB split? I'm not suprised at all, it seems like it was on the cards for a while. I'm looking forward to hearing Patrick Stump's solo album though, that should be pretty interesting.
Things are going well, still. No drama, at all. I feel like I've made new friends at my new job, I like my job (seriously) and Front This Scene is going well. Got our pictures through from Kerrang tour, our new photographer Jodie is incredibly talented. Her pictures actually got me excited to write the actual review. I'm phoning DF Concerts today (one of my new work friends had a contact in there, yaldi!) to get her a photo pass for AFI. I'm pretty sure once they see her pictures she'll get one no problem. What's really cool is she found us, we weren't even looking for a new photographer! But it's worked out pretty well.
Might write an article on the FOB split, but I'm not sure. Will post a link when the K! Review is posted. |
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[Jan. 17th, 2010|08:56 pm] |
Long time no update guys!
Basically, I've been working constantly. Monday to Friday, I've been training for my new job at NFU. It's going so well, I really like the other people in my training group, and while the training is a bit intense sometimes, I'm enjoying it. It's so weird to get up in the morning and have a purpose for the day.
Today was my last day at BeCogent. It's so surreal, I can't believe I won't be going back. I worked there for the past 3 and a half years, and while it's not perfect, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss my friends there. We've promised to keep in touch and hang out often, I'm optimistic that we'll stay friends :)
Nicole and I have big plans for FTS this year, and we've got a few reviews coming up that I'm quite excited about.
So, basically, the year has been awesome so far haha. Good job, great friends, what more could I possibly want? I'm happy and healthy, feeling confident and positive. Outlook's good, people. Long may it continue.
Hoping you're all well
x |
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[Dec. 30th, 2009|08:20 pm] |
Front This Scene got its 25,000th blog hit today!
Woah. 25,000 hits! It's all down to Nicole's promo skills, she's a real whizz. I still can't get my head round that number. |
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[Dec. 3rd, 2009|07:28 pm] |
So, like many of you, I was pretty upset by the news that the marriage equality bill was rejected by the New York State senate this week. Thirty eight state senators decided that gay men and women do not have the right to make their relationships as legal as heterosexual men and women.
What makes this especially horrible is that New York City was one of the first places in America where the gay rights movement really started and gathered steam. The 30th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots was celebrated this year. In 1969, at a small club called the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, gay men and women decided they'd had enough of the hatred, the homophobia and the violence. They were sick of living in fear and in darkness, and they started fighting back. It's sad to think that even now, thirty years later, they're still fighting the same fears and the same prejudices, they're still battling the same hatred in New York city.
Another disgusting fact about this latest injustice is that one of the best gay activists of all time - Harvey Milk - was born and raised in the state of New York. If he was alive today, there's no doubt he'd be deeply saddened by this recent turn of events.
What really gets me is that the city of New York is a mecca for gay men and women. Like California, it's really one of the places in the world where gay men and women now go to seek acceptance, they're part of what makes that state so great, and now that state has told them they are less than their heterosexual neighbours. This continued legal put down is only going to breed even more distrust and fear, it's going to give the homophobes of America even more ammunition - to quote a comment I saw on a news post today: "If the gays can't win on their own turf, what chance do they have of winning anywhere else?"
When you think of the United States and gay history, you think of two states: New York and California. These are the places where gay marriage should have, by all accounts, been made legal first. Two gay men or women can't walk into San Francisco or New York City - two havens for gay rights activists, and get married. But if they walk into any city in Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, they can get married. They can validate their relationship. They can be seen as equals in the eyes of the law.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The Senators who voted against the Marriage Equality bill will still stand to say the pledge of allegiance. I bet they say it with pride. Yet how can these people pledge allegiance to their country, their country which is supposed to be ONE nation under God, INDIVISIBLE with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for all? I'm sorry, but they've built a divide between the gay community and the rest of society, so America is NOT one nation. It's NOT indivisble because they have divided it by denying gay men and women equal rights. There is NOT liberty for all because the gay men and women do not have the liberty to marry whoever they choose. And denying these people equal rights based on their sexuality is NOT justice. Any Senator who stands and repeats that pledge is nothing more than a hypocrite and a liar.
I truly admire the gay community for their grace, their strength and their courage in fighting what has always been an uphill battle for them. Yes, this week, they lost ground. But there's no doubt they'll keep fighting, and every single time they lose I'll make a post like this, ranting and raving because I believe in equal rights. I believe that two of my best friends, two of the loveliest men in the world who have made their home in New York, deserve to get married there someday. I believe that the majority of Americans will do the right thing when the time comes, and they'll vote for equal rights given half the chance. The time hasn't come yet, but it WILL.
"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope, the hope to live my life, the hope that one day I could live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married. I wanna thank my mom who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all if Harvey had not been taken from us thirty years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value. And that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you, and very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours. Thank you, thank you, and thank you God for giving us Harvey Milk." - Dustin Lance Black. |
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[Oct. 13th, 2009|01:16 am] |
"So, today I was asked to come here and say a few words. I spent so long trying to think about what words I would say, in fact, I spent longer on this speech than I did on this outfit, and my Dave will tell you, that has never happened before.
When I think about equal rights, there are always three words that stick in my mind, three words repeated ad nauseum by those who would deny us our rights, or by those who sit on the fence when discussing this topic. First of all, to the fence sitters - you really should be on our side, because we have a lot in common - we both have something up our asses on a regular basis. Those fence posts have gotta hurt, right?
Anyway, joking aside, when I was thinking about this speech and doing a little research into the arguments against equal rights, I kept coming across three words.
Seperate, but equal.
And the more I thought about those words, the more ridiculous they seemed. The statement "seperate but equal" is a complete oxymoron. If we are kept seperate, than we are not equal.
People will tell you that this is a complicated issue, a delicate subject, but that's something I have to disagree with. This is not complicated, it has never been complicated, and the only people complicating it are the very people who would deny us the right to get married, the same people who cringe when I kiss my partner in a restaurant. This issue is not complicated. We want equal rights. As human beings, we deserve them. We are being denied our rights. How is that complicated?
As passionate as I am about this subject, I feel the need to at least acknowledge the inane arguments spewed forth by those who would deny us our rights. First of all, they will claim that the way we live our life goes against God, that we are evil because a book over 2,000 years old claims it. But that book that they put so much value on? It also states the adultery is a sin - how many Christians have cheated on their partners? But it also says that men who need glasses shouldn't be priests! If you believe that the words of Leviticus are enough to deny gay men and women equal rights, then you also believe that those with glasses can't be a priest. My message to those who would hide their homophobia behind their Bible - don't you dare use one law to persecute me, when your religion pays no mind to the other laws laid down in the very same book!
Then there are those that will say that marriage is reserved for a man and a woman, and it's always been that way. Those people need a history lesson. In the early days of the Roman empire, same sex marriage was commonplace, and the ceremony contained the same rituals performed at a heterosexual ceremony. How can it be that thousands of years ago, a civilisation was more evolved than we are now?
There are more arguments against us. Some argue that legalization of same-sex marriages will open the door for the legalization of polygamy. How that link was made is beyond me. I've only ever loved one man, and I've been with him for more than half my life. I will never love anyone the way I love my Dave, I will never have another relationship as long as I live. He's it for me, he always has been. I want to marry him, not everyone that catches my eye! Then there are those that claim that recognition of same-sex marriages would erode religious freedoms. Two words, ladies and gentlemen, refute that argument: Adam Eden. The only peole eroding his religious freedom are those who supposedly share his faith! He's been turned out of churches, he's been denied access to the Vatican City, he's been told that he is not a Catholic and is going to Hell - so who is truly eroding religious freedom here? He's not free to walk into a most churches and pray, so to those who claim that equal rights for us will somehow impact their religion - look at yourselves and your treatment of Adam Eden before you make some outrageous comment. But the one that really gets on my nerves? Is when they say that legalising gay marriage will have a negative effect on the family, and the raising of children.
I have a son, as I'm sure most of you know. He is a wonderful little boy, he's the light of my life. I love him the way any father loves his son. Dave loves him the way any father loves their son, even though biologically, they aren't related. My son wants for nothing. He is bright, funny, kind and sweet. He goes to the best school in California, he has all the toys he wants, and he is raised by Dave and I, not by a nanny. He is loved, and he is so precious to us, and he loves us as well. I recently had the pleasure of meeting an incredible young man called Oscar Alexander-Wild, who was raised by a gay couple, and he's a remarkable person. He's a musical genuis, graduated high school at just 14, has played with some of the best orchestras in the world. He's articulate, passionate and dedicated and he was raised by two gay rights activists. If my son grows up to be anything like Oscar, I'll be so, so proud of him. There is no proof that gay people make bad parents, just like there's no proof that every heterosexual couple will make good parents. My abilities as a father have nothing to do with my sexuality, and my son is an absolute treasure. I challenge anyone to spend five minutes with him and honestly say he's not a well adjusted, awesome kid.
So what argument is left? Gay marriage does not have a negative effect on the instituition of marriage itself, look at the Netherlands! When they legalised gay marriage, they found that both divorce and suicide rates dropped. And let's face it, with fifty or so percent of heterosexual marriages ending in divorce, it's not as if there's much more damage that we can do, is it?
There you have it - there is no logical reason to deny us equal rights, there just isn't. But I understand that a lot of these people, these hate filled and scared people, won't think about this matter logically. Denying us our equal rights, our HUMAN rights, is due to homophobia, hatred and misconceptions. This is supposed to be the land of the free for Christ's sake! How can we be free if we are persecuted, put down, and told we are less than? For that statement to be right, it should say: "Land of the free - unless you're different than the foolish notion of what's right".
I'd like to end this speech with a quote from a gay rights activist called Jason Yanowitz. He said: "if somebody doesn't have equal rights, then none of us are free".
So if you're straight...if you have any sort of compassion, or heart, if you think you have morals and ethics, I want you to think about the fact that when you go to sleep tonight, there are people out there who do not have equal rights, who fight every single day just to live their lives the way they want to. Think about gay kids who lie awake wondering if there's something wrong with them. Think about the gay men and women who watch their partners sleep and worry about what will happen to them if something horrible should happen to us. Think about the man lying in a hospital bed, with his partner forced to wait outside because their ten year relationship isn't legally valid. Think about your kids, your grandkids, who are going to look back on all this and wonder why something so foolish was ever an issue in the first place.
Think about the rights you have, and imagine a life without them. Imagine not being able to tell the world you're married. Imagine not being able to make decisions about the welfare of your partner if they end up in hospital, while the parents who abandoned him can. Imagine knowing that at this moment in time, you can't have a happy ending because a bunch of strangers think some deity doesn't want you to have it. Imagine what it would be like to not have your basic human rights - that's our reality. We live with it every single second of every single day. You have the power to change that. It only takes a split second to put a cross in the right box. Don't do it because you pity us, do it because you know in your heart that it's right, because you believe in equality for all. Do it because you believe in this great nation.
Do it because you know if you were in this situation, you would want the same compassion.
So when the time comes - and it will come soon - make the right choice. Vote for equality - because it is the right choice. Thank you."
- Fay Adams. |
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[Oct. 8th, 2009|11:14 pm] |
So, to celebrate the fact that there's going to be a gay rights march in Washington this weekend, I've already penned a gay rights-esque chapter of The New Divide that'll be posted sometime this weekend. In the meantime, I thought I'd do another of the Emo Boy Series FAQs, this time, answering most of the questions I get about one of the gayest characters ever.
Ladies and gentlemen:
( Sonny Jackson: The FAQ ) |
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| "The Red Sun Rises" info post! |
[Sep. 29th, 2009|09:17 pm] |
Ok, so, I've had a few people from FP asking me about The Red Sun Rises, because I know it's a bit weird to see me writing something in a different genre and style.
So, I've put this post together just to answer a few questions that people have, and to explain a little bit about the story and where it came from.
First of all, The Red Sun Rises is a story I've been writing on and off for a while now. When I first started writing seriously, when I was 12/13, it was supernatural/sci-fi/teen horror fiction that I produced. It was really just a reflection of my own interests - I'm a huge, huge Anne Rice fan, I loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer and that kind of thing, so it wasn't a major leap for me to start writing that kind of material. In fact, some of it is still up on my fictionpress I think.
A year or so ago, I started writing a story called Beyond Redemption, which was a supernatural/religious story about the Devil falling in love with a human man. I did a lot of research for it and worked a lot on the plot. It's still something I hope to go back to in the future, but at that time, it wasn't really going anywhere because I was still so focused on the Emo Boy series.
I started working on The Red Sun Rises a little time after that, mostly because vampires were back on the reading list. As much as I love Twilight, I felt like the whole vampire genre was getting really watered down, so I started writing the story purely to entertain myself. Again, it ended up being put aside so I could work on other projects, but now I'm working on it again, and really enjoying it.
The plot of The Red Sun Rises is a bit more complicated than what I usually deal with. It's about a boy named Eren Anderson. His father, Robert, is an Elder in something referred to as "The Order", but they also call themselves "Children of Nature". They're not crazy hippies, there supposed to be some kind of Wiccans, or something in that sort of field. Basically, they have the ability to "cast", they use magic that's rooted in nature.
Eren was told by his father that his mother was just a regular person, who died shortly after childbirth, and as such, Eren doesn't have "the blessings of the Mother" - which means he doesn't have the ability to cast at all. His father raised him as part of the Order, but essentially, he's an outsider. His friends have started their education in casting, and Eren's discovered some secrets about his past that his father kept hidden.
But Eren's not the only lead character in the story. Vampires Lilith (who is actually Eren's mother, as revealed in the introduction but unknown to Eren himself) and Corbijn are also really important. Corbijn is basically someone who has been reincarnated every single time he has died for thousands of years. The Master of the All Hallows (that's the town where Eren lives) Vampire Coven discovered Corbijn's secret in 1791 and has been discovering him ever since. In Corbijn's current life, the Master found him when he was only a baby, killed his parents and kept Corbijn locked away as a human pet in the Coven house. After meeting Lilith and agreeing to help her stop the Master from killing Eren, Corbijn is changed into a vampire, essentially stopping his reincarnation as he is now immortal, and frozen in the form of a 17 year old boy.
The Master is planning to kill Eren because of a prophecy made about him when he was born, but I'm not going to say what the prophecy is, because it'd give too much away! But the story deals with Eren's transition from outsider to leader, accepting his own fate and discovering who he is and what he really believes in.
The inspiration behind the story is kinda varied. A lot of it is inspired by music - AFI, Kill Hannah, My Chemical Romance etc. But I'm also inspired by the current interest in vampires, and how many different takes there are on such a popular myth. The Red Sun Rises was a chance for me to acknowledge all those brilliant writers, and to contribute my own thoughts and ideas.
Plus, it was a chance for me to get back to where I started, and to write something completely new, something that has always interested me. I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel in the future, depending on how much fun I have with this story.
So there you have it. That's The Red Sun Rises. I'm working on a re-write just now, but hope to post more in the future. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed working on it :) |
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[Sep. 10th, 2009|06:17 pm] |
So I'm thinking, maybe putting my e-mail address on my fictionpress profile was a bad idea - I've been getting lots of questions lately, and no reviews! So, for those interested, here are a few more answers. Enjoy :)
( Emo Boy Series FAQ Part 2 ) |
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[Jun. 11th, 2009|05:45 pm] |
Front This Scene has had 3,000 hits this afternoon :) nicole did some light promo for the My Passion album review that was posted today, so sometime today we had our 20,000th blog view. Happy times!
Jump on the bandwagon at www.myspace.com/frontthisscene |
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[May. 28th, 2009|12:55 am] |
In the words of Chester Bennington: can I get a HELL YEAH! |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 20th, 2009|02:24 am] |
My American friends:
You have until 1am to dial these numbers:
1-866-436-5701 - 1-866-436-5703 -1-866-436-5705
Please, please, call in and vote for ADAM LAMBERT to win American Idol.
He's easily the most talented contestant of the season.
He's different, and he's interesting, and a vote for him isn't just a vote for the outcast kid or the true winner, it's a vote for change. I hate to get sentimental, but I kinda feel like it's true. Kris Allen is the sweet but dull little kid who just doesn't compare.
Also, I'll be very, very happy if he wins :)
So please, it'll take two seconds and I can't think of any contestant - past or present - that deserves it more. |
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[May. 5th, 2009|11:57 pm] |
Just posted a live review featuring Madina Lake, The Audition, Flood of Red and Yashin AND! A review of Madina Lake's new album "Attics To Eden" over at the webzine, so check them both out here:
www.myspace.com/frontthisscene |
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[Apr. 24th, 2009|11:40 pm] |
Nathan Leone answered my question on an AP.net chat tonight :)
Made my whole freakin' day! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|12:10 am] |
Day 1 of Kurt Cobain week is up NOW at Front This Scene.
For the next six days (as today has already been done), we'll be posting articles and reviews about one of rock's greatest frontmen. So be sure to check it out and spread the word:
Heavier Than Heaven: An Introduction to Kurt Cobain |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|05:45 pm] |
Woah, woah and double woah.
The webzine blog - where we post all of our articles - has had over 2500 today.
Yeesh. |
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[Oct. 16th, 2008|12:41 am] |
Tonight was the OFFICIAL LAUNCH of the webzine I co-own/run with Nikki and Nicole!
I can't begin to tell you guys how excited I am :)
I'd really love for you all to check it out, add us, read Nikki's awesome review, comment, and keep checking back in the future!
www.myspace.com/frontthisscene |
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