I wonder why so many good artists these days run out of things to say after a few albums.  It is not like Wagner or Beethoven only had productive careers for five years in their mid-20s.  Many great artists continue evolve and have important things to say well into old age.

I've been reading the Byock translation of The Volsung Saga recently.  As a translation, it is fairly faithful to the source and clearly written, though perhaps less artful because it largely ignores the verse structure of the saga.  It also contains a good deal of insight and explanation in the translation notes, which is useful if you haven't read much Norse saga before.

An interesting idea but would be near impossible to get right.  In fact, I'm glad nobody has tried to use this part of Tolkien's work  yet because they would probably fuck it up.

After the forum upgrade, I noticed that "Recent Unread Topics" link is missing on the initial user landing page.  It's functionality can still be found at http://www.deathmetal.org/forum/index.php?action=unread but it'd be nice to have an actual link to it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sikh-temple-gunman-end-apathy-20120806,0,7628363.story

Wade Michael Page, the man accused of killing six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, was a member of a white supremacist band called End Apathy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, and in a 2010 interview about the band had expressed disappointment with a “sick society.”

On MySpace, the band’s most popular song is called “Self Destruct,” posted in 2006. Many of the band’s lyrics, where intelligible, express a generic sense of alienation. A few lyrics from “Submission”: “Compassion is a weakness,” “adapt to the trying times or pay with your life,” “refuse to think for yourself, you want to be led!” “Unable to see the big scheme / you could care less what it means / you don’t deserve to be saved / Submission! You’re a slave!”

An interesting development in an otherwise standard mass shooting.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57477097/colo-suspect-james-holmes-smart-but-quiet-teachers-and-neighbors-say/

Twenty-four-year-old James Holmes left different impressions on people he encountered in life. At the University of California, Riverside, where he graduated with honors in neuroscience in 2010, he's remembered as brilliant.

"He was an honor student, so academically he was at the top of the top," University Chancellor Tim White said at a press conference. "He really distinguished himself from an academic point of view during his four years with us, graduating with highest honors."

But back in the northern suburbs of San Diego, where Holmes grew up, friends came and went from his house all day. His father, surrounded by police, left for Denver early Friday morning.]

Interesting that these shooters are exclusively the quiet, marginalized, white male, aspergers nerd types.  I wonder how long it is going to take for the media to find his manifesto and start a witch hunt over its contents.

This EP gets better with each subsequent listen, and I've listened to the original Demon Advance more times than I can count.  Best output of any band this year so far as far as I am concerned.

Why is this called southern Europe ruined again and not Spain ruined again? What does this have to do with southern Europe as a whole?

Well, Greece and Italy aren't looking so fiscally hot either for one thing.