Wu Wei: Doing without Doing

Wu wei is often translated as non-violence, which is not all that accurate. Better to say non-interference. It is a principle in Daoism of limited effort. Zen Buddhists call it skillful means. Athletes call it being in the zone. The central concept is to manage things successfully by doing as little as possible. Know when action is required and know when to keep your hands off. The perfect leader can rule a nation without seeming to do anything. The nation manages itself naturally. Of course, the ruler acts, but discretely and in the moment. He doesn't push things. To push is to meet with resistance.

In the martial arts, wu wei is regarded as suppleness, softness, yielding, or passivity. The Japanese word, Ju, embodies this concept. Judo and jujutsu as martial arts both use an attackers force against him. By yielding to an attack, you reduce the power of the attack and can then control and counter. This technique is used in taijiquan to great effect. The common technique is to yield first. Next is to deflect the attack, then control the attack, and finally to redirect the attack. If you look at the yin-yang diagram, you see an s curve in the center. This s curve is often used as a model for self defense. With the waist as axis, the taiji player yields to the attack, seizes the attacking arm, leads the attacker in the direction of the force, and then redirects the attack. This redirection is known as Cai, or pluck. The sudden redirection of force delivers a whiplash force that can break a neck or dislocate a joint. Note that not all steps may be necessary. A deflection, hold, or throw may not require redirection or even control.

Minimum effort is central to Daoism. Maintaining one's mental, physical, and spiritual health relies on not over extending oneself. This makes the typical Daoist appear lazy. Fair enough, but are they stressed? Are they over worked? Are they invasive? Are they a control freak? Daoists act, but only when necessary. When Daoists act, they do so in accordance with the Way. The Way is an unintelligent force that creates and sustains all things (sound familiar Star Wars fans?) It follows patterns of ebb and flow. Daoists, through meditation and other means, tune themselves into this pattern. As a philosophical Daoist, I attempt to attain this relationship with the Way. Sometimes I succeed.

One day some friends and I decided to hike up a trail behind the university. It was late winter and snow still blanketed the bench of the Wasatch Mountains. The trek up was tricky. I took many rests, not as keyed up about the destination as I was appreciative of the journey. This was no race for me. We eventually came to the desired spot. We larked about, then headed back. As you can imagine, the way back was a difficult journey. The ice and snow were a poor combination with the downward slope and gravity. Everything seemed to want you to go forward and down. For most of us, this meant falling on your ass. I, however, went with it. I understood the Way or Dao of the mountain. I slid, yes, but I did not resist. I let myself slide down the mountain on the soles of my shoes, racing down the mountain. I managed to keep my balance simply because I went where the mountain wanted me to go. Soon I was at the base of the foot hills. A large boulder sat gleaming in the sun, its peach colored stone warm and inviting. I climbed atop the boulder and sunned myself, waiting for my friends to return. All the while I maintained a feeling of contentment, relaxed awareness, and general goodwill. My friends were not quite so cheery. Several were downright surly after having taken several nasty spills.

As mentioned in the latest podcast, our friends Neil and Tanja are engaged. Both attribute their meeting and subsequent engagement to the InsideOutcast. I admit now, and will forever defend my position that I am not a match maker. I met Tanja on the Box Room forum. We hit it off as I know a little German and complimented her on her knowledge of English. Meanwhile, Brandi had developed a solid friendship with Neil over twitter. I knew from Tanja that she was into Doctor Who and audio books. I knew through Brandi that Neil produced, edited, wrote, etc. several Doctor Who audio plays. It didn't take a genius to figure out that what Tanja enjoyed, Neil produced, so I pointed her in his direction. This was just a small matter of getting Tanja the Doctor Who audio she wanted and Neil another customer.

Little did I know that they would develop a friendship on the web. That friendship flourished into something greater. At first this was, frankly, a little troubling as neither Brandi or I were certain that feelings were reciprocal. Neil, understandably, was quite laconic about the affair. Finally, on Christmas Eve, he announced his engagement. Truth be told I am not responsible for their love. They did that themselves. it grew from mutual respect and admiration. All I did was act when action was best. Minimum effort. Bring two people together with a single, non-interfering comment. I had no selfish intention, no hidden agenda. There was nothing I expected to gain from their meeting. I was an agent of the Way in a single, humble instant. The rest was their own doing.

I wish Tanja and Neil a life of continued happiness and shared moments of joy. Best wishes and congratulations. By the way, no matter how much you wish to thank me for introducing the two of you, it was only an introduction. The connection you two have made, you have made together. It is purely, essentially your own. I was just a small step in a long and glorious journey. Think of me as no more than a stepping stone on the path of your new life together.

An excerpt from the Dao De Jing, the Classic Book of Integrity

The soft overcomes the hard;
The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
Therefore I value taking no action.
Teaching without words,
Work without action,
Are understood by no one.

Teaching without words - have a while to perfect that one. ;)

Step Off: A Brief History of Dance

Scientific study suggests that we humans possess an understanding of rhythm that is lacking in the rest of the animal kingdom. Musicality in animals is accidental at best. In man it is deliberate and conscious. Rhythm forms the backbone of music. The first instrument is the human voice. One can imagine primitive man aping the sounds of nature, of grunting patterns that developed into speech and then song. The beat of the drum and plucking of string was soon to follow. Woodwinds, too. Music is inherently, definitively human. Where there is music there is likely dance. Dance has evolved over time. Yet, many dances retain a primitive quality. Here I present a brief history of dance.

RITUAL DANCE

Early dance was performed ceremonially. Nomadic tribes were deeply superstitious. Sympathetic magic implies that like produces like. If one were to dance out a successful hunt, surely the next hunt would prove successful. Dances of ceremony exist today in the form of many African tribal dances, Native American dances such as the well known rain dance, and even the measured movements of a Daosist priest or Shinto priestess.

FOLK DANCE

As superstition recedes in favor of logic, dances are performed more as tradition than ceremony. Dance is an expression of cultural heritage. Dancing around the may pole, Irish step dancing, Russian folk dancing - these are expressions of cultural significance. Many of these dances remain unchanged over the years.

SOCIAL DANCING

As tradition falls to the way side, dance is viewed as a means to bring couples together. Social dancing is one of the most common forms of dance, spanning a great many styles. Square dancing, country line dancing, latin dancing, ballroom, the Lindy hop, disco - each is a means to bring together prospective young lovers. Even the waltz is a social dance, though for the upper class. Military men were expected to know several dances and perform them at social gatherings whereby they could meet an eligible young woman. On the other hand, some social dances can get quite risque. The French can-can for instance was usually performed by ladies wearing no underpants. Men were sure to glimpse a little somethin' somethin'.

EXPRESSIVE DANCE

At some point, one goes dancing not in order to meet someone, but simply to let off some steam. Here one dances for oneself. Contemporary dance and street dancing are a fair example. In contemporary dance, the dancer expresses the meaning and mood of the song, the body a conduit for the music. Dance is from the heart and extends throughout the entire body. Though it may lack rhythm in many cases, it can quite beautiful. Street dancing is just as much an expression of music, but more urban. Hip-hop, breakdancing, and crumping embody life on the hard streets. Movement reflects this lifestyle. Distinctions between different styles of hip-hop can be drawn simply from where one lives.

DANCE AS ART/ENTERTAINMENT

On the flip side, there are those who enjoy watching expressive dance. Certain people may go to a club just to watch great dancing. At its finest, dance is high art. Ballet is one form of dance that the general public regards as high art. Just about any dance can be considered art. It depends on how much value is placed on that particular dance. Contemporary dance is finding its place as art. Even if dance is not regarded as art, it may be viewed as entertainment. From vaudeville to Broadway to movies to music videos, dance is used to draw and captivate an audience.

So there you have it, a brief history of dance. Note that many styles overlap. Hip-hop can be regarded as social, expressive, and entertaining. The distinction rests in the intent. Are you dancing with someone, for someone, or for yourself?

A Darker Shade of Pale: Ethnic Goths

People may ask, "Why is it I have never seen a goth of color?" In other words, why is it the goth scene so predominately white?

Well, they have a point. The goth scene started in England with the gothic dance pop music of Joy Division. Joy Division in its own right grew out of the punk music scene, a primarily white, Anglo-Saxon protestant movement. Other gothic bands soon followed. Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, The Fields of the Nephilim. As a progression from punk, goth is rooted in British history, politics, culture, and religion. Yet, as a romantic movement, goth moves away from just the social and political arena of England to touch upon more universal issues of loss, sorrow, isolation, and death. There are many references to religion, particularly Christianity, that reflect a more specific society. In some degree this is balanced with Greek, Roman, Norse, and Celtic mythology. Even still, the above represents only the religions of Europe.

In defense of homogeny in the scene, not all goths can be judged by their cover. Many goths, I would even go as far as to say most goths, do not fall into the established stereotype. Black eyeliner, black nail polish, wild hair, clove cigarettes, torn fishnets, ruffles - these are the outward features of the typical goth. Most goths I know may wear black, maybe a band T-shirt, but they don't go out of their way to goth it up. I like to call us basement or subdued goths (sub goths for short). Sub goths don't look goth, but they are. Even DJs and musicians in the scene can be basement goths. So, who is to say that a black man, an hispanic woman, or an Asian fellow isn't a subdued goth? There is more to it than just appearances.

Goth is about expression and sensibility. It is not limited only to the vampire aesthetic. Goth is an ever widening circle embracing many aspects of the dark side of life. Romantic goths embrace the high fashion and social customs of the Victorian or even Elizabethan age, only with a prominent penchant for black, mourning attire. Intricate lace, ruffles, top hats, canes, parasols, veils - these are the finery of the romantic goth. Deathrockers resemble something akin to a punker just freshly risen from the grave. Emphasis is on anti-fashion and horror. Gothabillies embraces the 50s aesthetic of bowling shirts, tweed, leather jackets, poodle skirts, and Betty Page. There are many subcultures within the scene, each with something else to offer a prospective goth.

Furthermore, discussion of race is a sticky topic to begin with. Although there appear to be sharp distinctions regarding national borders and cultural differences, the walls are thinner than one may think. Anthropologically speaking, science can trace our DNA to Africa. In short, we are all African. Each human can trace their DNA back to Africa. We are brothers and sisters one and all. During the ice age, massive glaciers used up much of the ocean water. The seas receded. This allowed early humans to travel across dry land that may once have been a river, a lake bed, a canal. Humans moved up into the Indus valley and eventually settled in Eurpoe and Asia. Humans evolved over time to adapt to the colder climates. Melanin evolved out of the skin and eyes. Fast twitch muscles atrophied in favor for muscles equipped for more prolonged activity. This is not to say whites and Asians are more evolved. Africans evolved parallel to Eurasia, only equipped to handle warmer climates. Even then there are distinctions between East an West Africans and well as differences between mainland Asians and Asians on the Pacific islands. When someone describes a custom or trait as black or white, latino or Asian, this has as much to do with genetic make up as it does environment. There are distinctions between different races that developed over time, but the essence of humanity remains the same.

ASIAN GOTHS

There are several emerging goth scenes in Japan, particularly in Tokyo. Gothic Lolita is a scene in which girls and women dress like dolls. The clothing is very detailed, similar to romantic gothic fashion, very intricate with frills and lace, only with a touch of anime. This scene has grown in popularity and is spreading to Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. The other big movement is the cybergoth scene. Cybergoth is a blend of rave culture and the goth scene. Cybergoth is largely populated by rivetheads. DJ Sisen is a world renown Industrial/EBM DJ. Not only does she expose Tokyo to Skinny Puppy and Nitzer Ebb, she is a fashion ikon in her own right. She dresses in visual kei, wearing quite outlandish and colorful outfits and applique to her eyelashes, etc. Japan's greatest contribution to the goth scene has to be the fashion. The trends and designs in the visual kei arena definitely take gothdom in a new direction, taking dark fashion into this next millennium.

Musically, the goth music of Japan tends to be J-rock with horror elements. Marilyn Manson is often cited as inspiration for the scene. A J-goth band worth mentioning is Chako, an ethereal band from Kobe. The music is lush and sorrowful.

Chinese culture is not one for diverse expression, being a socialist nation. However, many Chinese Americans and other Chinese living outside mainland China follow the way of the goth. Goth is quite rare in the rest of Asia as well, finding expression only when apart from the dominant culture. Asian Americans and Asian Europeans are more likely to demonstrate gothic tendencies or have gothic tastes. This may have something to do with the immediate environment. If .

LATIN GOTHS

Mexico has had a long love for the vampire and other stories of dark romance. South America, too, possesses an air of mystery and wonder. The Aztecs and the Mayans are just as mysterious as the Druids and Celts of Europe. So it is little wonder that members of the Latino community would adopt goth as a culture. There is an hispanic gothic community in the Bronx. It is a tight knit group that had been featured in the New York Times. Of course, the members of this circle of goths have suffered persecution from parents, neighbors, and the like. These goths run the gamut from trad-goth to rivetheads.

And speaking of rivetheads, Hocico is an industrial band from Mexico City. They took inspiration from Skinny Puppy and similar bands. Their style is acerbic, yet beautiful, ranging from aggrotech to endzeit electro. Endzeit is usually limited to Germany. Hocico performs mostly in Spanish. They are getting more recognition all the time and currently tour all over the world. A number of other hispanics populate gothdom in one form or another.

AFRO-GOTHS:
Goths of African descent, or afro-goths, are fairly rare. However, they are not unheard of. According to an Internet pole, 51% have met an African American goth or emo. However, most of the yes answers are from the midwest and the south, both having in sum understandably less insight into the gothic community, and therefore more likely to give an incorrect answer.

A problem, especially in the U.S., is that there is a great deal of pressure on black Americans to hold onto their cultural heritage. As they did not come to America willingly, it is understandable that many African Americans resist complete assimilation. As such, they keep to the culture of Africa in music and dress. The biggest contribution to the black American experience is the development of a new culture. Blues, doo-wop, hip-hop, rap, and funk (and many would say rock & roll) developed in America as a means of black American expression. However, more and more white America emulates black culture. Vanilla Ice, Kid Rock, eminem. These represent stages of reverse assimilation. White kids disassociate with their white roots. Eminem is more widely accepted today than Vanilla Ice nearly 20 years ago.

The mistake is assuming that black goths are trying to appear white. Goth is not a white issue. Goth is about self-expression. The black goth is attracted to the same things as a white goth or a hispanic goth. Truly gothic folk tales have a rich, African tradition. Perhaps the person grew up in a white, suburban neighborhood and therefore lived the "typical" goth experience. Whatever the case, something appeals to the individual and draws him or her into the scene.

Sadly, many blacks still possess a misconception of goths, believing them to be racist skinheads, devil worshippers, etc. Although these elements do appear in the scene, they are not the scene. Just as some blacks are gangstas doesn't mean all are. There are black CEOs, black authors, black producers, black bankers, black physicists. Even in the rap community not all rappers are gangstas. The Rza is deeply into Eastern philosophy. The fact is there is a fair amount of resentment towards any kind of alternative culture in the black community, just as in other communities. Goths, being so very obvious, make an easy target. It is the same attitude white people had when members of their community started to adopt the black culture. Wiggers became the derogatory term for these individuals, sometimes even if they grew up in the same socio-economic environment. The black goth can be viewed as a traitor to her race.

Just the same, some afro-goths do overcome this opposition and express themselves fully at the expense of ridicule or exile. There is a black gothic Lolita community, embracing the Japanese goth aesthetic. There are black goths within the vampire community. The Vampire Club in New York features several regulars. Romantigoths, candy goths, death rockers, even gothic belly dancers all find a place in this small community. A considerable section is taken up by rivetheads. Industrial/EBM may have teutonic beats, but the content is mostly about politics and urban decay. These subjects are the same posed by Public Enemy and other rap artists, only the music is ever so slightly different. Even the technology is the same, lifting hooks and beats from other sources. Laying in samples from television, movies, and radio. Industrial music reflects the anger and frustration of living in a post-industrial society. One of the top cybergoth communities is based in Detroit, a city with a large black population.

An unexpected drawback of the African goth is difficulty finding a suitable life partner. Sure they could go outside the black community, but why should they if they don't want to? A black goth seeking a black goth must be a nightmare and I do not envy them for it. However, I do wish them the best of luck. Several websites are devoted to bringing together members of the black gothic community to offer support, to enlighten, and to accept. Many afro-goths come to the party late and have to play catch up. This means many questions asked regarding fashion, slang, customs, and music. For any aspiring afro-goth, I would suggest getting on Last.fm and entering the following tags. Goth, Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Ethereal, Industrial, EBM, Horrorpunk. This should provide you the opportunity to choose those artists that best fit your tastes.

Black goth bands are considerably rare. Code Industry is our best example. They were a politically charged, coldwave group in the early 1990s. Blacks have contributed individually to the goth-industrial scene. Reggae vocalist, Morgan Adjei, lent his stylings to KMFDM's album UAIOE on tracks like Murder and Loving Can Be an Art. On Front Line Assembly's album, Millennium, Che the Minister of Defense provides rap vocals to Victim of a Criminal. Duane Buford provided keyboard and spoken word vocals on Revco's Linger Ficken' Good.

It is disappointing that so few black musicians actively contribute to the goth scene. There is definitely room for goth from a black perspective. I would be interested to see what direction black musicians would take darkwave music. The contribution of blacks to medical science, music, film, and sport is considerable. The joy of goth is adaptability. Goth can be shaped to the viewpoint of the musician. Christian, pagan, sadomasochistic, satanic, romantic - a number of approaches are open for the aspiring afro-goth. Hopefully, the fans today will grow into the musicians of the future.

Black musicians have contributed to the goth scene even though they are not goths. Michael Jackson's Thriller, speaking as a goth, is a brilliant tribute to the horror scene. The lyrics refer to just about every cheesy creature feature of the 50s. The video equally addresses zombies, werwolves, and such. It is just good fun. Prince's outlandish costumes granted blacks the ability to dress similarly. Dressed in period victorian ruffles, one's peers would regard one as a Prince fan and not a goth. This is a mixed blessing, surely. Musically, goth owes a great deal to black culture. Reggae inspired punk, and punk inspired goth. Blues music, too, influences a good deal of early goth. Meanwhile, hip-hop and rap have inspired the new sound of Skinny Puppy as well as the aggrotech vocal stylings of Angelspit and the peculiar mash-up that is Stromkern. Tribal beats form the foundation of many goth songs, particularly by artists like Tigerlily and Drumatic.

The gothic-industrial scene has gone global. Bands, fans, and DJs live in or can trace their heritage to the following countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, the United States of America, and Wales. And this is just off the top of my head.

Occasionally, white goths receive venom from the ethnic goth community. White goths are condemned for being too homogenized. Same fashion, same music, same background. This attack fails to consider the broad range of goths within the white community. It seems a feeble attempt to validate the ethnic goth movement by creating a straw man argument. White goths are all the same so they are boring and irrelevant. Ethnic goths are all different and therefore interesting and relevant. Every white goth, and every goth of color I know, is a unique individual. There is no place in the debate for such baseless attacks. Allow those to express themselves as they choose fit just as you would permit yourself the same. The same person who says that all white goths look the same turns around and in the next breath says that racism has no place in the goth scene. I am left scratching my head.

On Forgetfulness

After our Thanksgiving hiatus, The InsideOutcast returned with our 17th episode. How much you forget in just two weeks. It doesn't take a careful listen to expose missing cues. The audio stings come out of nowhere. Both the news and feedback suddenly interrupt conversation. This shows just how much you can forget over a short period.

Recently I injured my knee tripping over uneven pavement. As such, I haven't been performing my usual routines of taijiquan. There was a time I performed each routine daily. As of late I've found the time to perform maybe one or two segments of a full routine. It is not surprising that I am forgetting some of the postures, particularly during the single sword routine. Going from Flying Diagonally to Black Dragon Sways Tail has been a source of trouble. Until recently I found myself turned around.

In the same vein, returning to the office after a vacation or special assignment, one may find that he has forgotten many of the standard operating procedures. Passwords and phone numbers are forgotten. Much of the once familiar routine seems foreign and awkward.

The mind is a complex organ. Over the years, people have equated the brain with the greatest device of the time. An abacus, a pump, a steam engine, a calculator, a computer. The computer is quite an apt description. The mind is much like a hard drive. It stores information. Some of this can be accessed readily. At the forefront of the mind stands the desktop. Here, for quick and easy access, are the most commonly used functions of the mind. However, if you don't use the function often, it may drop off the desktop. You lose the shortcut and have to search for the application. Leave it for a long period, the file may corrupt. So, too, with memories and skills. The key is frequent use. Practice, practice, practice.

A hard drive can only hold so much. The brain, though seemingly able to record an infinite amount of data, stores only a fragment. There is long term memory, that which is stored for later use (or saved to the hard drive) and short term memory, that which can be recalled only a short time after the experience (an unsaved document). The more innocuous and unessential experiences should be discarded lest they take up space needed for more important or useful information. This proves difficult as one may not always be the best judge of what should be dedicated to memory and what should not. Nor are we always capable of making that choice. I know I tend to latch onto the particulars, but not the essence of the thing. By my own admission, sometimes there isn't enough disk space for more important data.

So, if you wish not to dull the blade, then keep it honed with practice. If nothing else, visualize the routine. Mentally work through the steps. Recall to mind passwords, phone numbers, the names of customers and coworkers. Create a list to remind yourself of these things. Keep the functions at hand. You may save yourself trouble later.

Of course, should you know anything about computers you will find many problems with my metaphor. Just the same, you can see where I'm coming from.

Canine Evolution: The Best of Skinny Puppy

Originally this post was to present my all time favorite Skinny Puppy songs, including lyrical content, musical style, and the impact it had on me. However, as the list grew quite large, I decided to drop that topic and take up another. Here I list the Skinny Puppy discography. From Skinny Puppy's catalogue, I present one track that defines each album. The tracks below are regarded by fans and critics alike as the most influential and most definitive in the Puppy ouvre.

I shall discuss each track at length in order to highlight how the track reflects the album, why the track has such impact, and how the track shows the direction of Puppy's musical journey. Unless otherwise specified, interpretation of lyrics is mine or from the web other than that of the artist. Note that Puppy lyrics are dense and steeped in symbolism and double meanings. Compounding this is the fact that Ogre's song writing is stream of conscious. Theoretically, even he may not be fully conscious of the meanings in his songs. Keep this in mind. These are my interpretations, not definitive explanations of the tracks.

K-9 - Back and Forth (1984)

Skinny Puppy independently produced and released 50 copies of Back and Forth. The EP contains a few experimental tracks recorded in Puppy's early brap sessions. K-9 is regarded by critics as the first, true Skinny Puppy song, meaning that it is the first track to capture the band's signature sound and content. cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre confessed that their music, and the name of the band, referred to a dog's eye perspective of the world. Not only that, but the dog is malnourished and abused. K-9 is just that. Lyrically, it tells the story of a dog's life. The dog observes human behavior and finds it distasteful. Lines such as "Seeing through the keyhole/Watching master beat her" suggests the cruelty of man. "When the foe bears the control" supports this claim. The dog is neglected if not abused. "I sit in dung" suggests the master does not tend the dog's living area. Other lines consist of "It's not fit to piss in/Why not move so I won't stay/Kick me out." Even moving places would be better because at least the new place will be clean. Better yet, let the dog free as it could live happier on its own rather than under the roof of a neglectful owner. The animals over which we claim dominion are smarter than we think. "Wouldn't you think I have no thought?" The track firmly plants Skinny Puppy as defenders of animal rights.

Musically, the track is fairly straightforward. There is a punchy drum track with the distorted bass synth supporting it. Seemingly random guitar strums echo throughout as counterpoint to Ogre's modulated, growling vocals. Uptempo music with dark messages occurs frequently throughout Puppy's music. The tracks on Back and Forth were rereleased as Back and Forth: Series 2 along with several other earlier experimental tracks, demos, and live segments.

SMOTHERED HOPE - Remission (1984)

Perhaps Skinny Puppy's first if not greatest hit, Smothered Hope quickly defined not only the band's sound, but their attitude. It opens with a steady beat which builds and builds. The bass synth joins in and soon the song bursts forth with Ogre's acerbic vocal strains. "It's not in the rhyme or reason/so it goes with every season/crawl to top fall through bottom/first hand love is really rotten/slice of life find what's plenty/inch towards a sanctuary/fight with me inside the womb." Bells add nuance to the music, bringing it to another level. cEvin Key's synth melodies possess a ringing sound like glass, bells, or metal on metal. The effect is crisp and haunting. Underlying the melody is the distorted bass synth with a delay to really draw out the sound. The combination of driving beat, ringing melody, and distorted bass is indicative of Puppy's early sound.

Smothered Hope suggests depression, or more accurately, a bipolar disorder. Crawl to top fall through bottom, if that doesn't illustrate manic depression then I have no idea what does. The song closes with samples from Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, "If the world's a hell, what's it matter what happens in it?" In the film, a young woman suspects her uncle of being a serial murderer. Smothered Hope, learned helplessness, depression, nihilism. When we view our lives as being without future or meaning, there is little rhyme or reason to anything we do. Hopelessness is a dangerous road. When there is nothing more to lose and nothing to gain, what is the point in living?

Talk on the web suggests that the song recounts Ogre's experience as a young child, having accidentally smothered his pet mouse, Hope, with a pillow. That tragedy well explains the mood of this piece and his current status as an outspoken animal rights activist.

ASSIMILATE - Bites (1985)

Ogre tests his machine gun vocal style in this frantic and complex track. It touches on a little of everything Skinny Puppy riles against, including organized religion, guns, nuclear weapons, animal testing, and the use of fear to control the masses. The lyrics read as a list of social ills, or signs of the impending apocalypse. Radiation, AIDS, guns, propaganda, religious intolerance, and the list goes on. "Crazy world of weary thought/So receive me had enough/lock me up/lock me up" If the world is insane, it is the sane who seek asylum.

Nietzsche referred to the masses as the flies of the market place. In Daoism, the valley spirit is yin, represented by society. Yin is responsive and prone to petty acts and narrow mindedness. The mountain spirit represents the hermit. Primarily yang, the individual is expansive and enlightened. On the other hand, the line could suggest that those who suffer a mental breakdown really experience a moment of clarity. They see the world for all the sickness it contains and it overwhelms them. They are locked away.

"Rot and assimilate/so hot to annihilate." Either become a contributing member of society and add to the problem, or society will seek to destroy you. The ultimatum of with us or against us applies. The conflict between the individual and society, a classic one. Although individuals make up society, moral responsibility is distributed across the whole. It is easy to say it is the other person's fault. Houses burn to the ground because everyone thinks someone else will call the fire department. Women are raped and murdered in plain view because someone else will intervene. The individual bears complete responsibility, is indeed burdened by it. The compulsion to lift that burden, to become complacent is strong. The individual represents what society has given up, moral responsibility. Society resents the individual as he or she presents a mirror in which society witnesses the monster it has become. Society cannot accept anything that is different or unique, nor can it admit its moral ambivalence. In order to maintain the veil, all must be assimilated into the collective.

And just for added measure, the closing stanza reiterates SP's position on animal testing. "Agony profusely stains the inner thinking of the brain/accusations clanking chains experiments with groans of pain/all prefer no one blames the terror in an animals screams/in cages our future - the answers insane." Clearly Ogre refers to the distribution of responsibility. In The Republic of Plato, Socrates says that in a democracy the dogs own the streets. How often have you seen an unclaimed dog in your neighborhood? No one calls the police. No one calls animal control. No one asks their neighbors if their dog is loose. It is someone else's problem. It is taken for granted that animals must suffer that we may benefit. Few openly admit this. Fewer wish to take responsibility.

As for the music, the beat is simple, the bass line driving. The synth melody, again, sounds like small glass bottles, adding a ringing, crystaline nuance to the piece. In sum, the song is angry to say the least. A friend of mine used to wrestle in high school. He would play this track just before a match. The sample, "Is it safe?" is from The Marathon Man.

DIG IT - Mind: the Perpetual Intercourse (1986)

Mind expands the Skinny Puppy sound with deeper base and bigger percussion. Beefing up the rhythm section distinguishes this album from the previous releases. Dig It is the breakthrough hit off the LP. The music is bare boned, crisp, clean, like the audio version of surgical steel. One may even style it as coldwave, having similar qualities to the music of Chemlab and 16 Volt. It comes on as little more than a drum machine, ringing synth, simplistic guitar riffs, and Ogre's vocals. Dig It inspired Trent Reznor to write Down In It. This led to the release of Pretty Hate Machine and mainstream exposure to electro-industrial music.

By most appearances, even Steven R Gilmore's sleeve art for the single, Dig It is a condemnation of the medical profession. Back in the day, medical students hired grave robbers to retrieve cadavers for study. Some students robbed graves themselves. The medical community has not evolved much since then. In their quest for greater understanding of anatomy and physiology, doctors have frequently left morality on the wayside. Science first, then ethics. This leads to animal experimentation, vivisection, and drugs more dangerous than the disease. Doctors are like mad scientists, seeking the elixir of immortality. "Practitioner of medicine/belong until the end/Bringing hope scars the point/extend eternity."

Ogre has a thing for word play. "Dig it/Dig it/Feel it/Unearthly remains." Does unearthly remains refer to something alien or does unearthly refer to unearthed, or dug up? In several instances, Ogre refers to a corporate slave. Money is the bottom line, not helping people. The medical community subsists by alleviating symptoms, not curing disease. As long as medicine is a for profit business there will unlikely be a cure for cancer. The most poetic stanza has to be the closing one. "Boils bitten haggard pick vomit kicking out/razor slide black eye shroud brain bespattered jaw/retaliate begrudgingly precise as what it seems/Fear of claim upon the cyst pent up carnal grin." This seemingly random assortment of words viewed from the mind's eye reminds one of a montage from a horror film. Black eye, brain, shroud, bespattered jaw. The doctor cuts away at the cadaver. Is the carnal grin the pulled features and bared skull of the corpse, or the intense desire for knowledge in the doctor's visage?

The line, Dig It, could refer to the cultural revolution of the 1960s. The hippies of yesterday have grown into the CEOs of today. Many have shrugged off their idealism in favor of corporate greed, becoming the one thing they most despised, the man.

"Open your eyes to verify the life experience."

ADDICTION - Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987)

Cleanse expands on the dimension added to Mind. The music is deeper and broader in scope. The undisputed break out track from this album is Addiction. I own about 8 or 9 different versions of this song, live, remixed, original, extended, and covered. Addiction is a great track in that its message is straight forward, the musicianship superb, and an air of autobiography ties it all together.

The music is lush. A simple 4/4 beat is accompanied by the signature distorted bass synth. Little by little the song expands and develops, becoming more intricate until Ogre takes the mic. "Desperate deranged talking in my sleep again/eyes twitch retain a sentimental something/looked lorn and we burned and we burned/I was a cinder body soul in my dreams." Is this a dream or a drug induced vision? Feeling deranged, burning sensations, are these the effects of the drug or the symptoms of withdrawal?

The chorus: "Breakdown amidst the mixtures/avoid addictive plea/responding disillusion/encrusted cruelty/describe why nails enclose me/eating so evenly/there exists a lot of reasons/to support fatality." The breakdown mentioned has a double meaning. For one, it is a mental breakdown as the will contends with the addictive plea. Secondly, the breakdown is chemical. The drugs enter the body and become a part of it. It breaks down within the system just as the system breaks down in response to the drug.

"Abstinence possessed/hardly what you think it is/hearts beat positive/provided there's progress/ignorance does insist/of the right coffin/took some food offered me/can't see myself drank the wine/wished the feverish burst of terror." Drug addiction is self-destructive behavior. One can keep from taking the drug as long as everything in life is okay. Should some negative experience enter one's life, then the drug is a refuge. One drinks, shoots up, or snorts wishing for that chemical response, something to kill the real emotion.

The song ends with the words "unbearably alive." Life is suffering. It is the first tenant in Buddha's four noble truths. To live is to suffer. Drugs are a way to temporarily alleviate the suffering, but the desired effect is fleeting. The first hit is the best, and the addict takes hit after hit, trying to relive that first experience. It is a destructive and vicious cycle which in the end brings only more suffering. "So pound the nails in tight/eyes screaming out of sight/against a grain like curtain/unbearably alive."

TESTURE - VIVISectVI (1988)

The developments in Mind and Cleanse led up to the creature known as VIVISectVI. Here Puppy really bares its fangs. Topics that were buried in symbolism are brought forward as blatantly as a slap in the face. Human Disease (S.K.U.M.M.) and Dogshit set the tone for the album, which is one of complete and utter contempt for the human race. Again, SP addresses the crimes committed by the medical community in the name of science. The title is in its own way a condemnation. The capitalized VI, when taken together, reads as 666, the number of the beast. The word, Sect, suggests a cult, the cult of medical testers.

Testure, a more down tempo track, maintains much of Puppy's signature sound. Heavy percussion, distorted bass, bell like synths are all there. Ogre's vocal treatment is more restrained. He lets the words, not his tone, carry the meaning to great effect. The restraint works well to support the somber tone of the song.

"In nervous convulsion crouches infant ape trembling in mother's shit/cage eyes tear less filled with contempt/clinic mask experiment with life and death/smell lingering noxious scent anxiety/omnipotent doctor grinds the cage door revealing love's primal instinct taken away." The life of the animals slated for medical experiments is traumatic and unsanitary. The doctor reaches in the cage to take the baby from the mother. Omnipotence suggests that the medical community is all powerful. This sentiment is mirrored by aggrotech artists, Angelspit. Doctors hold considerable sway over human and animal life. The trust invested in them is easily abused.

"Conscious of the pain/pass off as humane/white coat seems so clean/most dirt bleached out of greed." It is clear pain and suffering is being inflicted upon selfless animals. However, because it is done in order to supposedly save human life it is accepted. Whatever blood stains the hands can be washed off with money. "Eyes burn in a rabbit/push the pain test button/cut spine trip mucous infection/pills each day." There is something insidious about animal testing. It seems like inflicting pain just for the sake of pain. Common sense dictates what the result will be. Science claims to be amoral, objective. However, when reduced to dripping bleach into a rabbit's eyes hasn't science lost its way? If you force feed animals pills each day, if you inject them with viruses, surely it will have some undesired effect. What price is human well-being to account for the cost of animal lives?

"Smash price research rat/lab rent paid in flesh/more ill drug store sales/sharpen the knife/emphasis on money/new disease everyday." Animal testing is a vicious circle. There will always be disease and pharmaceutical companies selling drugs to counter those diseases. Animal testing is funded by the pharmaceutical companies, whose goal is not curing illness, but only alleviating symptoms. Until the cycle is broken, more animals will suffer and die.

"Kitten drags it's dead limb/continuing all suffering/it will come back and win/paralyze turn trauma burns out the will to live/the lying message 5 year genocide/1945 VIVISectVI." Abuse of animals leads to abuse of humans. It is seen in serial killers. Societies behave much like individuals. If they accept the torture of animals, it is just a measure of degrees before they accept the torture and killing of other races. 1945 marked the evacuation of several concentration camps. The holocaust was a 5 year genocide wherein gruesome experiments were conducted on human beings, including vivisection, the dissection of living human beings.

WORLOCK - Rabies (1989)

Rabies takes a step in a different direction. By adding Alain Jourgensen of Ministry to the mix, to say Rabies is more rock oriented is an understatement. Rodent is crisp and polished, pointing a finger at corporate greed. The track was used in a commercial to promote the film, The Boiler Room. Fascist Jock Itch, the first Puppy Song I ever heard, is heavily influence by thrash metal and punk. Jourgensen's fingerprints are all over this track. As one may expect, the fan reaction to Rabies was mixed. Some embraced the new sound, others felt Puppy had grown to commercial. In retrospect, though, Rabies had a lot to offer. Namely, the tracks Tin Omen and Worlock. Tin Omen, or Tienamen, is an account of student revolt. It retraces the Kent State revolt during the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Four student were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard. The majority of wounded and dead were not protestors themselves, only passersby.

Many consider Worlock the greatest Skinny Puppy song. It is high upon my list of favorites as well. It is, as samples suggest, the story of the Tate murders as instigated by Charles Manson. The Manson family was a cult of personality. Manson, the Worlock, possessed considerable influence over his followers. Although he was not present at the murders, his influence was there. The song includes not only a guitar riff lifted from the Beatles' Helter Skelter, but Manson singing the lyrics as well.

At first listen, the lyrics seem random and meaningless. However, the real meaning is buried in metaphor and intricate details. "Eyedropping biopsy cyclops overlooks optic option rotten showstopper skinpopper babbler dabbler." The many references to eyes comes from the confessions of Manson family member, the "self confessed criminal." Had she the time, she would have removed the eyes of the victims and smeared them on the walls. For the lines showstopper and skinpopper, she also confessed to wanting to skin Frankie Sinatra alive while forcing him to listen to his own music.

The chorus goes, "Wasted views/that's all they see, Blue/Hot blood guild optic nerve/with the right attitude/you will succeed, Blue/Self abuse recluse/too late for me/make shifting peace/settling crazy things/keep your eyes open/soft spoken changes nothing/a view so cruel." Again, there are many references to eyes throughout. The Blue mentioned in the song was a Manson family member. She recorded music with Red, Gypsy, and the rest of the Manson family. The chorus sounds like Manson's words to Blue. "You will succeed, Blue" and "Too late for me" suggest she is acting in his place. Manson's goal was to change the world through the spread of violence and terror. He was the painter, Blue his brush. He the wizard, Blue the wand.

Skinny Puppy's dog's eye view of the world comes into play as the caretaker that discovered the murder scene had his dog with him. Anyone with any knowledge of Skinny Puppy as artists would know that they do not approve of murder. This is not a song applauding the actions of the Manson family, only an objective account of the experience.

Supporting the song was a video that presented many clips, often explicitly violent, taken from various horror movies. Though played in many clubs, networks banned the video. This ban, though partly based on the band not having paid royalties for the use of these images, was primarily due to the violent images portrayed on film. Severed limbs, punctured eyes, and other disturbing images abound. The single features a comment regarding violent images in horror films. Skinny Puppy are avid horror fans, and embrace violent images as long as they are special effects and not true violence. They defend horror movies and fight against censorship. Watching violent movies does not directly make you a violent person. Indeed, the members of Skinny Puppy are pacifists.

Tipper Gore went after Skinny Puppy for the images in their videos and the content of their songs. The fact that such a radically liberal band would be pursued by a democrat reveals what little understanding of the band the politicians had. Puppy has time and again proved their anti-war position, their defense of animals, and their defense of basic human rights. Man's inhumanity to man and the dangers of evil influence are the messages of this song. "Crazy words soft spoken." The devil speaks in whispers and always with a smile.

Politicians live in a world of isms. Patriotism, Nationalism, Socialism, Reformism, Republicanism, Liberalism. This world is populated by symbols, whether wearing flag pins or burning flags. Somehow simulated violence is more directly linked to actual violence than social ills. The real world is practical. Symbols are mere representations, no more definite than shadows. Poverty, gun control, unemployment, education, these are the actual causes of violence. Censors put the cart before the horse. There are horror movies, thus there is violence in the world. Wrong. Art follows life. Both Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were based on the exploits of Ed Gein. However, politicians would blame Gein's behavior on the pulp crime magazines he read. Art makes an easy target. To point a finger at the true cause of violence would be to admit failure in governing.

The fact that censors, thinking the song is an evil influence, would seek to censor this song and thus block this message is the epitome of irony.

TORMENTOR - Too Dark Park (1990)

Too Dark Park is something of a masterpiece. It signifies the demarcation line between early Puppy fans and those coming late to the gruesome party. After the shift to Rabies, Skinny Puppy shifts again. It is a wonder fans didn't suffer whiplash. Too Dark Park at once returns to the themes explored in VIVISectVI, but pushes the dimensions of sound even further. The beat is pounding, the synth work crisp and symphonic, Ogre's vocal work strikes the appropriate mood, the samples are spot on. This is Puppy at top form, making Too Dark Park a definitive album. During the In Solvent See tour of 2009, at least as many songs in the set list had been lifted from this album as from the latest release, Mythmaker.

Even the art work experienced a shift. Steven R. Gilmore had created album art as cold, crisp, and eerie as the music in Bites and Remission. Too Dark Park is a different beast. Resembling the grotesque doodles of a marginalized teen, the album features numerous demonic creatures. The goal it seems was to present a toxic world. The music offers a better treatment. This album is a wake up call. Nature's Revenge, Grave Wisdom, Spasmolytic, just about every track features the declining state of the environment. However, of all these tracks, it is Tormentor of which I discuss.

Tormentor is the single off the album, and rightly so. It encapsulates the feel of Too Dark Park, both the symphonic, down tempo stuff and the pounding, hardcore stuff. Quite simply, the track is about electro-shock therapy. That shocking the brain can somehow restore a person's sanity is yet another cruel leap of faith committed by the medical community. Along with snake pits, hydro-therapy, and lobotomies, the electro-shock is just another example of science's dominance over humanity. Because the subjects are mentally disturbed, they cannot speak for themselves. They cannot decline treatment. For instance, the character in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tells a story of a college professor whose quest for defining quality led him to apparent madness. He was given a lobotomy that he had not approved. The chorus, "Mental shock/disturbed thoughts rotting/long lasting reaction/make it stop/stir up the pot/taking away means nothing." The key phrases here are stir up the pot, or scramble the brain, and taking away means nothing. To wipe the mind through applied electric shocks, or worse, too slice away the frontal lobe of the brain does more harm than good. How can taking something away improve the mind?

Parallels to animal testing run throughout the track. Just as in Testure, cruelty to animals leads to cruelty to man and vice versa. The opening stanza, "Walls trapped within yellow eyes/the cutters drooling face rips apart/cuts to the heart," suggests the cutter, or doctor, rips apart and cuts to the heart. Vivisection.

There are lasting repercussions to such experiments. Someone suffering from a mood disorder is reduced to a gibbering vegetable. "Distorted moodswing smile/altered music shadow covers/melted honey bitter pie/she utters tasting quite lovely." Doctors deliberately alter the perception of disturbed individuals in order to restore them to normalcy. This theme hearkens back to Assimilate, wherein those that are identified as different are either assimilated or destroyed. Of course, the perceptions altered are not always the desired result. Language, motor skills, memories, affective responses can be damaged in the process.

It matters little whether the track is about animal or human rights as the two are linked, pretty much presenting the same argument. We must not forget that this song is about the tormentor, not the tormented. "Forget you are human and remember you are a god." This sample, like most of Skinny Puppy's samples, links directly with the track. Doctors play god. They make life and death decisions, determine the choices made by their patients, and so on. Many a doctor has suffered the god complex. "Forget you are human," that is, remove humanity from your personality. Archaic concepts like "mercy" or "pity" no longer apply. Such caution limits one's power. Drop them and you are like a god, beyond good and evil.

If you have ever read an Ayn Rand novel, then you know the type. Petty moral concepts like altruism chain the masculine hero. Only by dropping such limitations can man fully live his potential, that of a world mover. Like Nietzsche wrote, all great men are evil. That is the theory. In practice such individuals create monsters, not better worlds. It is the lesson learned in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Science without ethics designs weapons of mass destruction, super viruses, toxic waste. Tormentor is the dark side of Rand's philosophy of egoism. The video game, Bioshock, presents this philosophy when taken to the extreme, mirroring Skinny Puppy's point of view. Remove ethics from the equation and the formula results in madness, suffering, and death.

Science is a tool, like a hammer. In the hands of the sensitive artist, it creates a house. In the hands of the heartless, it batters in a skull.

KILLING GAME - Last Rights (1992)

Last Rights is widely regarded as Puppy's most ambitious album. To many younger fans, this was their first album. That the video for Killing Game aired on MTV helps matters as it exposed Skinny Puppy to a broader audience. Personally, I found Last Rights disappointing. As a follow up to Too Dark Park, I think Last Rights lacks the same impact. The tracks are uneven making the overall album unbalanced. Some tracks do little to contribute to the whole. Lust Chance as an instrumental is just passable. Download is nothing more than a random collection of digital bleeps and white noise. Love in Vein is an open admission of the heroin use that would change Skinny Puppy forever. This is not to say I hate the album, only I do not list it high in my favorites.

That said, Killing Game is one of the stronger tracks off this release. The track is downtempo. It is not a dance track by any means. Killing Game is all about atmosphere. This point is driven home by histrionic vocals from Ogre that make Worlock seem restrained. Killing Game presents the ultimate question. Why is there war and violence? "Who taught the killing game first?"

"Fallen angel head crashes dead out of control/lost memories staircase twists/darker rooms lit with left out toys/after playing mean changes toys into tools/twisted playthings on the staircase fools/fools weapons represents the killing game." There is a lot going on in this stanza. In some versions of the gospel, war is taught to man by fallen angels. Perhaps war and violence are memories from the war in heaven. Left out toys are the weapons of past generations, the slings and arrows of ages past. Playing mean and changing toys into tools suggests moving from simple, childhood games to full on war. Cops and robbers turns into spy versus spy. The wrestling between boys becomes the bar fights of adults. Twisted playthings on a staircase. The twisted playthings are weapons, the staircase possibly the double helix of human DNA. Is violence and war embedded in our genetic make-up? Are weapons hardwired into our genome?

The chorus goes, "Who taught the killing game?/time's taught the killing game herself/no, I taught the killing game myself." The crux of this song is who is responsible for violence and war. Is violence a part of our heritage, something left to us by our ancestors? Ogre says no. He taught the killing game. Going back to Assimilate, Killing Game is about moral responsibility. War and violence is not a product of the past, but of the present. We choose as individuals to engage in acts of violence. We have free will and can end war if we only choose that course of action. The responsibility of violence is on each individual. However, as society tends to distribute responsibility, essentially passing the buck, the assimilated person does not regard himself as contributing to the violence.

The rest of the song is a list of violent acts. Pushing faces into glass, spewing venom, tooth and nail. These horrific images are a testament of man's violent nature. However, this nature is an affectation. It is not inherent or innate. It is studied and selective. "I taught the killing game first."

HARDSET HEAD - The Process (1996)

The Process attempted to carry on with the style developed on Last Rights. However, it was plagued with problems. Ogre's addiction to cocaine caused the greatest schism in the band, yet this was not helped by heroin and marijuana use by the rest of the band. The new label, American Records, found Puppy to be a thorn in their side. The release date kept being pushed back as the rift in the band increased and increased. Puppy saw a number of producers come and go (three in all). Unhappy with the original recordings, American had the band rerecord the tracks. Finally, Ogre left the band. Two years later, Dwayne Goetell died in his parent's home from an apparent heroin overdose. Everyone thought this would be the last Puppy album, their last bark.

The Process, like Burning from the Inside by Bauhaus, is an audio representation of a band falling apart. While many would prefer to forget this album, The Process offers a few swan songs. Skinny Puppy manages to produce some decent tracks despite the difficulties. Candle, Amnesia, Jahya, and Process are solid tracks, but Hardset Head sets itself apart.

Musically the track makes use of advancements in technology. Driving, acerbic, and sharp, Hardset Head is also polished to a sheen. I consider the bass line one of the coolest in the Puppy ouvre. Electric guitar comes to the forefront when before it was used primarily for rhythmic effect. Structurally, Hardset Head seems designed for a mosh pit. The stanzas are somewhat subdued and the chorus comes on like a blitz. Ogre goes from near deadpan singing to passionate screams.

Lyrically, Hardset Head presents some difficulty. The stream of consciousness lyrics are particularly dense, resembling an indecipherable mess of random words. Past interpretations of similarly styled songs have cracked the egg, so to speak, revealing deeper meaning. In the past, selected samples (usually from horror films) establish the intent of the track. Hardset Head, as the title implies, is stubborn. Hard-set suggests something rigid or fixed. A harset head is one that cannot be moved, a mind that cannot be changed. Stubbornness seems to be the theme.

The best hint to the lyrics is likely the two words, "silent noise." Silent noise, like deafening silence, is an oxymoron. The image is one of people speaking, yet saying nothing. In the information age, the overwhelming majority of information is nothing more than static, white noise. Political pundits blather about, listing off sound bites and talking points, but not adding anything to the discourse. The opposition puts up a wall, stubbornly refusing to accept the position of the other party. They volley meaningless tautologies and straw man arguments back and forth. In the end, nothing comes of it but deeper trenches. On the other hand, silent noise could very well imply a lie of omission. By not making an admission, by withholding the truth, one just adds to the noise of falsehood and misunderstanding.

All this is superficial reaction. Deeper meaning lies in the album as a whole. The Process, believe or not, is a concept album. Ogre established a professional friendship with inspirational source and mentor, Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle, the originators of industrial music. Very much a product of the 1960s, Genesis spoke to Ogre about the culture wars of the time. Hippie culture embraced Eastern philosophy. This started with the Beat generation, but flourished in the late '60s. Hinduism, Daoism, Buddhism, Sikhism. A religious cult emerged, a collection of individuals seeking enlightenment through the process. The process was a system of opening oneself to all modes of thought. To choose one system over another is to shut the mind to truths inherent in those religions or philosophies. The process embraces all modes of thought, believing that each holds some aspect of truth. Deny one and you might as well deny them all.

Taken in this vein, the complex lyrics unravel into something more comprehensible. "Driven with (event width)/two paths given/pure force downs/turns the screw crawling back." Driven with two paths. For most there are two opposing forces. Yin and yang, right and wrong, good and evil, socialist and capitalist, conservative and liberal. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide people into two groups and those that don't. People create opposition by choosing one perspective over another. "Pure force downs" quite directly links to down force which connects to the previous line, "driven." Forward momentum creates down force. Pursuing one path or another just roots you more deeply in that belief system, just as the faster the exotic sports car, the more the spoiler holds it to the road. "Turns the screw" fixes one to the spot. The direction is not forward, but down. No, the direction is backward. "Crawling back" suggests a regression. In his stubbornness, in his denial of other systems of thought, man essentially crawls back into the primordial ooze.

"In term space - a time to intrude/in term peace - assuring a future." If you view the universe in spacial terms, it follows that everything is divided into this and that, mine and yours. Space is something to intrude upon, to fill, to invade. If you view the universe with a peaceful mind, it follows that the universe is a totality. There is no this and that. All is one. No need for war, no need for greed. Each cares after the other as any one thing is but an extension of the whole. Thus, the future is assured.

The chorus follows. "Silence noise forming sound like silent noise/silent voice screaming hints retaliation." We have discussed the well-nigh impenetrable image that is silent noise. The line that calls attention to itself, though, is retaliation. Hardset Head is about opposition. Pick a side and immediately you are presented with an enemy, those who don't believe as you do. In his essay, The Rebel, Albert Camus states that it is better by far to neither be master or slave. The slave is exploited while the master is morally diminished. Taiji is the balance between the poles of yin and yang, the middle between the extremes. However, wuji exists outside the boundaries of yin and yang. It falls nowhere on the scale. It exists outside the scale.

"Heinous plans in sides remain taking downs taking aim/filling curses two conditions back upon itself." The extension to opposition is contention. Each side plans to overthrow or undermine the other. However, neither realizes such intimations belie the frailty of their beliefs. That one must convert or destroy the unbeliever strangely empowers the enemy. The inquisitor admits he finds the miscreant a threat. Hate and fury are born from fear and doubt.

"Pass it off as good intentions leaving marks hard to heal/re-assisted retrogression leaving tracks path reveals/sample act reflected clears noticed thought while leaving hears/nuisance labels paranoia so stupid how perceived that way." Attacking the opposition is not just to better establish one's own position, but is to educate the enemy. They are wayward. We bring them the truth. Converting natives to Catholicism is but one example. Historically empires have bathed whole peoples in blood supposedly with the best of intentions. The more tightly one holds onto an archaic system of thought, the more rooted is he in the past. In Daoism, righteousness creates evil. Only by pointing out evil does it come into being. This is known as codependent arising. Man exists, therefore there is woman. An item is hot, therefore things can be cold. God created evil simply by looking at his creation and saying the words, "It is good." By definition, anything opposing his creation (darkness to light) was evil.

"Shaman stands retreating all is over evermore smoke the curse your creation back upon yourself." Stand retreating, another oxymoron. However, in context we see that narrow-mindedness stunts the progress of man. If one destroys the opposition, one in essence destroys his point of view. Without light, darkness has no meaning. Without pain there can be no pleasure. Without hate there can be no love.

The silent noise that presents such a problem reveals itself as ignorance. Stubborn pursuit of one system of thought at the expense of all others is ignorance. The despot, the pundit, the scientist, the zealot all portray their ignorance simply by dismissing the opposing point of view. The final line reads, "silent truth asserts its proof like you abhor." Nothing defines ignorance quite like intolerance. The open minded, the progressive person, at least considers another point of view in order to come to a greater truth. The ignorant person dismisses it out of hand.

Hardset Head appears on the soundtrack for American Werewolf in Paris.

PRO-TEST - The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004)

According to some fans, Puppy should have left it at The Process. They should never have gotten back together. The passing of Dwayne Goetell spelled the end of an era. I am not one of those fans. When I spotted this album, I was overjoyed (if not just a little shocked) that an old favorite had reunited. When I played the album I was in for a greater surprise. That Puppy had changed its sound again was expected. They had evolved their sound over the years from album to album. What surprised me was how accessible it is.

The Process had been regarded as the bands most commercial album, clearly having more to do with the label than the artist. Greater Wrong of the Right is different. After an eight year hiatus, Puppy returns with a new direction. Ogre brings his more hip hop and pop influenced vocal style he developed on his solo project, oHgr. Meanwhile, cEvin Key creates richer and more varied music, showing his experiences gained over several projects, solo and otherwise. Together the combo create my favorite album. I know I risk humiliation or worse from other fans, but for me it gets no better than The Greater Wrong of the Right. I am a Puppy fan. yet, there are tracks I simply do not like and I have deleted them from my iPod. There are also those tracks that I can give or take. Each track on Greater Wrong of the Right is a gem. I have given a five star rating to each. If the track plays on my iPod, I am liable to crank up the volume. I may even repeat the track.

First and foremost, GWR is Puppy's response to the politics of George W. Bush. Of course, Puppy being Puppy, this is not as obvious as with Ministry or KMFDM, but it is there just the same. Daddyuwarbash, Neuwerld, and Downsizer are but three examples. The kicker, though, is pro-test. Pro-test is an out and out condemnation of conservative politics. Ironically, when alerted that Puppy performed anti-Bush songs, the right wing voiced opposition. This only encouraged those who felt similarly about the current political climate to attend Puppy's shows and to purchase the album. Despite many fans hating on this album, Pro-Test is a top download from the band on Amazon.com.

Musically, Pro-test owes a great deal to oHgr. The machine gun vocals, the clear message, the more accessible sound all point in that direction. However, it remains intrinsically Skinny Puppy. If you were to go back and listen to The Process, you would notice how it bridges the gap between Last Rights and Greater Wrong of the Right. The guitar, the polish, the accessibility suggest that is the direction they were going. GWR simply takes up where Puppy had left off, only years later. Pro-test is an onslaught of guitar, synth, and drums. Samples are used sparingly, but to great effect, adding nuance to the politically charged theme. If I had any complaint, it would be that Ogre's vocals are too modulated, making it difficult to make out the words, an issue already extant in skinny Puppy songs.

"Hit me on the street while waiting to do nothing/where within the space can anything feel certain?/look into the future make out the word speak/send in the spies to watch them." Several things going on here. First of all, paranoia. Who is the enemy? After 911 people were afraid of their own shadow. Anyone could be a threat. The government at the time took advantage of such fears. The Patriot Act was signed into law in order to provide the government the ability to spy on its citizens in order to root out possible future terrorist attacks. However, if one strips the nation of its liberty and protection from the government, does that not validate the terrorist's actions? Terror is to spread panic and distrust. The best response to terrorism is to go about your daily lives, however hard that may sound. "Hit me on the street" is a bit much as protestors to the Patriot Act did not openly (that is, publicly) suffer the same violent reaction as protestors during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

"Creepy are the people unable to do something/sitting on an armchair fenced in their creation/look up to be there anywhere is somewhere/itchy past scratch the itch." Those who fight for the Patriot Act, and those that sign it into law, must fall under the same rules. They, too, are caged or "fenced in" under the watchful eye of their creation. They willingly give up their rights through fear.

"Feel about a nation so precious is the freedom/carousal the brass ring reach into a black mass/So it's corroded so it's polluted/we all want some of it." When patriotism is more important than the laws of the land, then you have entered a Nationalist society. Fascism is built on the shoulders of bullies. In this manner, the country is not so much ruled as stolen. What does it matter if the constitution is ignored as long as they stay in power? That power is meaningless if gained at the expense of what makes America great, liberty. Grab the corroded brass ring in order to rule a polluted world, a world without regulation.

"Maybe all the people now left without no loving/where with all the strength gone better see it coming/get off the fence trip rip up the garbage/make it up to the earth, bitch." Love depends on trust. Take away trust and there is no love. When people fear and hate, it saps both mental and physical energy, energy that could be used more effectively. To worry over something that may not happen is a waste. To distrust every person you meet is to prevent any healthy relationship. When people care nothing for each other, they care even less for the environment. Stop shutting out others and the world gets smaller. Enemy becomes neighbor. The earth suffers from neglect.

"Be a politician eroding all your freedoms/down the rabbit hole cracks money markets fall/through a looking glass time becomes too fast/all to benefit the rich." Politics serves constituencies. Greased palms make the world go round. When politics serve the rich, only the rich get served. Focus is on making the rich richer at the expense of the poor. In essence, this line predicts the coming financial meltdown. Remove regulations from financial institutions, and corruption rears its ugly head. To serve the few over the many turns society upside down. Majority rule has no real meaning.

"So keep eating from the apple inches from the center/shaken to the core until it doesn't matter/no one to turn to nowhere to run to/better the bomb to blow it." The apple here clearly represents that in the bible, the forbidden fruit of knowledge. However, instead of knowledge, it is power. As you move further from the center (moderate) you move further to the left or right (liberal or conservative). Eventually you move so far to the extreme that there is no turning back. Little by little the constitution is stripped away. Finally, in a throw back to '80s culture, you might as well drop the atom bomb as America has been destroyed just the same.

Whether or not you agree with the politics, the message is clear. Skinny Puppy has frequently reflected the zeitgeist in each release. Whether aids, war, the environment, or politics, SP has commented on current events of the time. This is no different. Not only does the song rock, it continues the tradition of Skinny Puppy: to view the world through the eyes of the marginalized and abused. The band proves that an old dog can learn new tricks. Pro-test attests to Skinny Puppy's comeback, proving they still have relevance some 20 years later.

The video is unlike any other from Skinny Puppy. Simply put, a number of rivet heads run into a number of b-boys and have a dance off. The dancing is superb and fits the danceability of the music, though it seems the anti-Bush statement is buried in subtext if not altogether discarded.

HAZE - Mythmaker (2007)

With such a recent album it is difficult to pick out something definitive or lasting, but Haze shows promise. Personally, Jaher off the same album is my favorite from Mythmaker. Indeed, it is currently my favorite Puppy song. However, Haze has shown a greater response. Furthermore, a video has been released to support the track.

Musically, Mythmaker continues what started with Greater Wrong of the Right while attempting to relive the glory of Last Rights. Mythmaker is an ambitious album and features many, striking tracks. However, like Last Rights, Mythmaker suffers a lack of balance. Some of the tracks I simply do not like. Mythmaker, as the name suggests, is an album about perception and deceit. Magnifishit spotlights those who make false claims, who are self aggrandizing, who play up their importance. "I am the undisputed lie," is but one of the lines. People create their own mythology, building up a false persona. Ugli points out the inconsistencies in the perception of Jesus. If Jesus is about love and compassion, why are his professed followers hateful and intolerant? "Jesus wants to be ugly" is not a condemnation of religion, but a condemnation of hypocrisy.

Haze is a downtempo track in the vein of Killing Game and Testure. As usual, the lyrics are complex. "Death feels like the butterfly/can't escape the scarred lie/real relationships must die/underneath the scarred lie." The death card in the tarot represents a transformation, hence a butterfly. Death is not an end, but a transition. When one is deceitful, it is impossible to maintain a real relationship. Meaningful relationships require trust. By lying, one kills any chance of an actual relationship. The metamorphosis, like that in Kafka, is a degeneration. The butterfly into a worm. The scar, the emotional scars of a failed relationship.

"We globalize the others' lies/we sanctify the great disguise/what if change gate/don't watch it show your shape/desperate in death/death will tell them/death will kill them/death will tell." We are implicit in the the global lie. As long as we do not question, do not verify, we maintain the illusion. In this sense, we are all worms. However, truth will out. There is an honesty in death. Medical examiners know that the dead speak and they do not lie. After we have passed, our true selves will be known. Secrets and lies are revealed. Societies follow the same principle. The great conspiracies, the global lies reveal themselves after the fall.

"Now I'll break out tonight/I'll escape light light/I'll escape one tonight/Gravitate slice slice." The worm finally escapes the prison of deceit. It leaves the world of darkness for the light. Illumination. Gravitate - the worm is drawn to the earth, to things of a solid nature. Slice slice - the worm has regenerative abilities. It cuts away the injured half, the corrupt half. Although the worm must separate to escape, it remains whole. Such is the power of regeneration. The emotional scar is what remains of the worm's escape from the lie. Death is the butterfly, the worm coming to terms with its own truth.

There are several layers of meaning. 1) It is a political statement regarding a government ruled by fear and lies. 2) It is an account of one's escape from an abusive, distrustful relationship. 3) It is a song about suicide. Death is the only thing that offers truth.

The third option I dismiss as Deep Down Trauma Hounds off Cleanse Fold and Manipulate reveals Ogre's distaste for suicide. Better to grow from suffering than allow it to destroy you. Haze reminds me of a hexagram from the Yi Jing, the Classic Book of Changes. Youthful Folly presents an image of a mist covering a mountain. The mountain represents knowledge. The mist obscures that knowledge. Water in the Yi Jing embodies danger and falsehood. Haze is a song about deceit, whether between individuals or between a government and its people. When the truth is obscured, trust is violated. When trust is violated, relationships are false. Seeking the truth is painful. One must become an exile, cutting oneself off from society. Only then can one emerge free and whole. Haze is falsehood, killer of trust.

Skinny Puppy fan, Jolene Siana, wrote Ogre several letters over the course of her life as an abused child. Jolene sought refuge from her mother in Puppy's music, drugs, and the act of cutting. Cutting is a widely misunderstood and maligned practice. Although I in no way condone the act, I can see how it may provide some psychological relief from the stress of adolescence. Sometimes pain may be all there is to remind someone they are still alive, that they still feel. Jolene contemplated suicide often, but did not carry out the act. In the end, her letters to Ogre gave her that human connection she needed. Ogre had kept her letters and one day, as promised, returned them to her. She has since published those letters in a book titled "Ask Ogre: Letters from a Deathrock Cutter." The book is bleak to say the least.

Haze shares striking similarities to her story of an escape from an abusive relationship. If there is anything Skinny Puppy cannot abide it is the abuse of power or trust, whether the abuse of humans or animals. Haze could very well be Ogre's attempt at retelling her story, although this is just one possible suggestion.

Skinny Puppy's latest album has been postponed due to the fact that SPV records is claiming insolvency. For legal reasons, the album cannot be released. The album was to drop in October, but has been pushed back to the end of the year (if then). Puppy scheduled a tour to promote the new album finding that they could not perform the new material. Instead, they played selections from their back catalogue, including some songs previously never performed live. After the release of the their 13th album (strangely affected by a stroke of bad luck) I shall add another track to this blog. Until then I wish Skinny Puppy continued success. Here is to a long and productive career in experimental music.

Blood in the Sandbox: GTA IV vs. Saint's Row 2

With Rockstar Games advertising The Ballad of Gay Tony, and with The Lost and the Damned before that, it brings up a question, does Grant Theft Auto IV warrant additional content? Is the GTA series still relevant? There was a time that the GTA series was the benchmark for naughty fun in the sandbox. But is it still? Has banging street corner hookers finally doomed the franchise, or is there still some ammo left in that unregistered pistol?

New gang in town, Saint's Row, started as a GTA knock off. It owes its very existence to the GTA franchise. However, has it outgrown its second banana status? Is this the new fastest gun in town?

The debate is an old one. Which is better, GTA IV or Saint's Row 2? Although an old topic, the Ballad of Gay Tony brings it up again. Which is currently the better sandbox crime simulator? I will tackle this question on a point by point basis, awarding the moniker of top dog to the winner.

ACHIEVEMENTS

I admit it. I am an achievement junkie. I obsess over achievements. The bleep bloop of an unlocked achievement is music to my ears, and satisfying at a deep, psychological level.

The GTA IV achievements seem more like chores than anything that will be unlocked through standard gameplay. They require you to meet so many strange people, maintain so many friendships, and the like. Certainly there are achievements unlocked for collecting cars, stunts, packages, and so on. Also some achievements unlock just following the story. Personally, earning gamer points for just starting the game cheapens the experience. Achievements like Finish Him are an exercise in frustration. Completing melee counters in a limited amount of time depends on the police catching you, the combat system, and having the target fight back. The designers structured the game as if to prevent the success of this task. It took a long while, and sheer luck, to unlock it. The New York Minute achievement demands you replay the game. I prefer achievements that can be unlocked in one play through. The most pointless and boring achievement has to be the one you unlock by riding a cab across a bridge without skipping the scene. Just watch the world go by out the cab window. This went on so long the screen dimmed as I had not used my controller for many minutes.

Saint's Row 2 is a bit more straightforward. Yes, achievements unlock by completing the story. Yes, achievements unlock by completing collections. However, most are unlocked through completing activities and missions. There are a few unusual achievements such as gambling so much money or getting so many nut shots with a gun, but for the most part the achievements are not so much chores as goals. Saint's Row 2 presents a nice variety of achievements overall.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 1

ACTIVITIES

Each game contains a number of mini or meta games to add some variety to the mix. How do they compare?

GTA IV has some of the most dreadfully boring activities of any video game ever. Aside from bowling, darts, pool, and CUB3D, which are dull enough, most of the activities are passive. Get drunk, watch a cabaret show, eat, go to a comedy club, get a lap dance. These are not interactive, participatory activities. These simply require one to sit on one's ass and observe. I didn't pay for a game to watch the same four comedy routines over and over again. I don't drop a disk in the console to take my cousin to a titty bar. This is not entertainment. Driving the characters around in the game seems only to benefit the writers as you are subjected to the constant whining or bragging of coke fiends, ex-cons, steroid junkies, and alcoholics. Why doesn't Niko just let one slip and put them out of their misery? Moreover, Niko is a recent immigrant. Shouldn't they offer to drive him around? On the other had, the activities of vigilante, racing, and stealing cars is slightly improved over past GTA games. However, the ambulance and fire truck are strangely absent.

The activities in Saint's Row are many and varied. Most importantly, they require input from the player. Hitman, Snatch, Carjacking, Drug Trafficking, Insurance Fraud, Mayhem, Fuzz, Escort, Septic Avenger, and Trailblazing are a number of activities offered the perspective trouble maker. An those are just the activities. Diversions include drive-by shooting, ho-ing, mugging, robbing stores, driving a taxi, and so on. Whether helping to sling drugs, pretending to be a cop, throwing oneself into traffic, piloting a combat helicopter, covering buildings in human waste, or just blowing shit up, Saint's Row 2 has the player involved. Yes, the activities can get repetitive. Also, higher levels get quite challenging. Just the same, there is a little here for everyone. However, the Tow Truck diversion is next to impossible and poorly conceived.

GTA: 0 SR2: 2

CELL PHONE

It seems an odd topic to bring up, but cell phones are a sign of the times. Each game is graded on how well or how poorly the cell phone is used within the dynamics of game play.

If I was Niko, I would throw that cell phone out the car window given the first opportunity. Whoever decided to use the cell phone in the manner it is employed in GTA IV should be jobless now had this world any sense of justice. You do not design a sand box game, an open world to explore, and then shackle the player with a cell phone that is little else than an electronic leash. If you want to keep the abilities that your so called friends provide, you must keep them happy. If they call you, you are pretty much at their bidding. Not only that, you must reach them within an hour and take them where they want to go (even if they don't tell you). I'm sorry. Is this a crime simulator or a dating sim? The fact that the game spends so much effort on custom skins and ringtones misses the point entirely. I never wanted the damn thing in the first place. Why would I want to customize it?

The cell phone is used to greater extent in Saint's Row 2. Not only is it useful for mission updates, but is used in certain activities. Want to assassinate that fireman? Call the fire dept. The phone can also be used to call in your homies for back up or to enter cheat codes. The phone is a useful tool, not a ball and chain.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 3

CHARACTERS

An assorted cast of characters improves a game. The more you like the characters, the more likely you are to keep playing or even to replay the game.

I already mentioned how whiny or full of shit the characters in GTA IV are. Each possesses some fundamental flaw. Each is burdened by some hang up, whether heroine, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, steroids, gambling, or just their own mistakes. This flaw colors each charcter to the point that they become mere stereotypes. Much of the game centers around driving these characters around town as they bitch to you about their problems. They should have named it Niko: the Chaffeuring Psychoanalyst. Rarely does any one of them seem like a genuine friend. Roman is more a source for Niko's trouble than a close family member. Pretty much every character in the game, with few exceptions, go out of their way to insult you. I'm sorry, but I was called enough names in school. I don't need characters badgering me in a video game, particularly if they are supposed to be on my side. The girlfriends are shallow or annoying, not nearly as entertaining as the love interests in San Andreas. Kate is boring and sad. Frankly I wasn't moved in the least when she got shot. Only Lil Jacob did I like, perhaps because I couldn't understand much of what he said. To be fair, of all the characters he seemed to most genuinely care for Niko's well being. The problem is not helped by the apparent lack of star talent doing the voice over. GTA has had the likes of Ray Liota and Sam Jackson in the past. Why change horses when jumping to next generation consoles?

Saint's Row 2 is home for a wealth of colorful, well-rounded characters. Your best mate, Gat, is larger than life and a true delight. He steals every scene. There is a comradery between you that is palpable. Your lieutenants are not far behind. Eliza Dushku plays pot smoking, hippy chick, Shandi. The cut scenes featuring her smoky voice are priceless. Michael Dorn, Worf himself, plays Maero, the leader of rival gang, the Brotherhood. Even Neil Patric Harris lends his talents to DJ and drug dealer, Veteran Child. This is just a sample of the broad cast of characters to be encountered and enjoyed in Saint's Row 2.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 4

CHEATS

Not all of us use cheats. Those of us that do may use them to enhance game play, to take the frustration level down, or simply to save time.

What GTA IV considers cheating boggles the mind. It offers a reset option which puts you back to the start of the mission you have failed. Whatever armor or ammo you lost is not replenished. I'm sorry, but this isn't cheating. I should not be punished simply because the prgrammers were to lazy or thoughtless to include a checkpoint. Checkpoints have been around for a long time. It is common courtesy for a game to provide a checkpoint before a difficult boss battle if not a full on save point. Why should I have to drive the distance to repeat the same difficult mission over and over again? GTA IV even has the gall to count how many times you cheat. Bastards. Aside from this, there is a code that can be entered into the in-game internet to unlock maps to hidden packages, jumps, characters, etc. However, this blocks achievements. What does it matter when the same maps can be found on the actual internet?

Saint's Row 2 offers a plethora of cheats. They, too, block achievements, but at least they are actual cheats. Infinite helath, unlimited ammo, considerable strength, instantaneous vehicle repair, and so on are at your fingertips. The game features modifications as well, from changing the weather to the effect of gravity. Want a particular weapon or vehicle? Just type in the code.

GTA: 0 SR2: 5

COLLECTIBLES

Both games feature a number of items, locations, etc. that can be located and collected.

In GTA IV, achievements are unlocked for exterminating pigeons, stealing cars, meeting people, and the like. However, little other award is given than the achievement. In past games, weapons were added to each crib for every ten or so secret packages found. Not so in GTA IV. The pigeon hunt is a near pointless enterprise.

Saint's Row 2 has a number of collectables. Finding them unlocks achievements, but may also unlock rewards or abilities. Perform so many stunts and a parody version of the Trans Am from Smoky and the Bandit is added to your garage. Kill so many gang members and a leather jacket is added to your wardrobe. Find so many CDs and you unlock a free music track. Saint's Row 2 is not afraid to reward players for completing tasks.

GTA: 0 SR2: 6

COMBAT

The combat system can make or break a game. Here is the run down.

I have yet to be impressed by the GTA melee combat system. I'm sorry, but I thought my character was hard as nails. How could I lose a fist fight with some ordinary girl? Melee combat should be satisfying, not frustrating and embarrassing. Gun combat saw a bit of an overhaul in GTA IV. The auto locking is still there, and still rather finicky as to what it selects as a target. One can use free aim as well, but it takes some finesse. What has been added is taking cover. Cover usually works and is for the most part a welcome addition to the game. However, it is an epic fail should an enemy come from behind. There is no quick recourse. Wasted.

Saint's Row 2 has fun with the combat system. In line with the concept of rewarding players, stars are awarded for head shots, taunts, slice and dice, road kills, beat downs, multi kills, vehicle's destroyed, and nut shots. New to the game is holding a person as a human shield. The human shield can be thrown into traffic, over a cliff, into a jet engine, or in front of the path of a moving train. Gun combat is loose and easy. Whatever is in your cross hairs is fair game.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 7

CONTROLS

Nothing ruins a game quite like wonky controls.

GTA IV suffers from too much realism. For instance, having to repeatedly tap the A button to sprint gets old very quickly. Moreover, what you can jump over or climb and what you can't often makes no sense. A small wall can be as much a barrier as razor wire. The tilting of the screen evertime you change direction while walking is just stupid. There is no reason for it. If your character is drunk, you can pretty much forget about walking. GTA IV asks for finesse, but the controller can't provide it. This hampers combat, driving, mini games, what have you.

Saint's Row 2 has functional and intuitive controls which is all one needs really. Walking, running, jumping, selecting weapons, tagging gang signs, whatever work quite well.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 8

CUSTOMIZATION

The ability to design aspects of the game to suit your sensibilities is a great way to enable the player to stamp their personality on a game.

GTA IV offers only the most minimal of customization. Yes, you can purchase clothes for Niko, but you cannot changes the color or style to any great degree. The other thing that seems customizable is the cell phone which has the least bearing on giving your character personality.

Saint's Row 2, on the other hand, is all about customization. Even your character can be made to please. Want to play as a woman? Sure thing. You have four races and three voices from which to choose. Add a custom walk for good measure, whether a sway or a bounce or a thug. Select a melee combat style. Hair and make up? Sure. Clothing? Various designs and colors in many combinations. Pimp out your ride at the local Rim Jobs. Customize your crib with a pool table or stripper pole. Select the style your gang presents. Choose the three rides your gang flaunts on the mean streets. Personalize your game to suit your tastes.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 9

CUT SCENES

As of late, video games are as much interactive movies as actual video games. Cut scenes set up story arcs and, when done well, add nuance to any game.

The cut scenes in GTA IV mostly consist of Niko observing the interaction of other characters. Yes, Niko is more reserved, but there is something impersonal in these scenes. Again, it seems just a means to introduce more unlikeable characters. Furthermore, the graphics in these scenes are not the best. There is something manikin like about the features and movements.

The cut scenes in Saint's Row 2 feature as many highlights of the game. The fight between you and Maero at the tattoo parlor is a prime example. The fact that such care is taken in presenting your character in your selected style of dress is much appreciated. When your goth girl is addressing the new members of the gang, you can look on and smile. This is the most important element, for the majority of the cut scenes are about your character, not the peripheral characters. This is your story and you are on center stage. Furthermore, the graphics in these scenes are vibrant and smooth.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 10

GAME PLAY

What about general game play. In other words, is it fun?

GTA IV is many things, but fun it ain't. Missions are unsatisfying, the tone is oppressive the game mechanics are frustrating, and most things are geared toward passive rather than active involvement. Just having to go back to your crib in order to save the game spoils the fun.

Saint's Row 2 is an absolute blast. It starts off with a prison break and doesn't let up. It lets you play at you own pace and gives you plenty to do. The game is responsive, presenting a truly interactive environment. Mug people, kidnap them, rob stores, whatever you like. The world is your oyster. Dig out the pearls of your choosing. A save anywhere feature lets you continue playing without having to pop in to your local crib.

GTA IV: 0 SR2: 11

GRAPHICS

On the next generation consoles, graphics have come to be a greater concern. Is it realistic? Is it pretty? Is it both?

GTA IV boasts extraordinary realism. The reproduction of New York City and neighboring New Jersey is something to behold. However, all this realism comes at a price. The colors are drab, the lighting dim. Even boosting the saturation level helps only a little. Furthermore, the character's faces are just ugly and the clothing hideously drab. I thought New York City was the center of the fashion world. Overall, though, GTA IV delivers presentable graphics, but not as jaw dropping as one might have hoped. Occasionally the graphics engine fails. You will be driving along and suddenly ram into a phone pole that wasn't there before. It just materializes in front of you.

Saint's Row 2 is less pressured to be realistic. The colors are vibrant and the environments alive. Characters appear animated, even changing expression. It is difficult for the graphics engine to keep up sometimes. This results in the occasional glitch. For instance, people who should be seated on benches float in mid air. Graphics for me is not a selling point. This said, I feel both games make a solid effort despite falling somewhat short.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 12

HUMOR

Both GTA and Saint's Row have a tradition of presenting humorous scenes, parodies, and the like.

In past incarnations, GTA has been delightfully funny. Vice City has some great radio segments and the porno take on Spielberg is a laugh riot. San Andreas is somewhat more grim. However, Wu Zi is one of my favorite characters of all time. They managed to poke fun at his blindness without crossing the line, a delicate operation to be sure. GTA IV, though, suffers from a complex of identity. It pushes for a more serious story, but tries to keep the same level of humor from past installments and fails epically. First off, the radio segments are so overwhelmed by background noise as to be barely audible. Then, if you do listen, the material just doesn't have the same punch. Swearing is used frequently for shock humor, and that's about it. One would think Rockstar is funny only if the material is dated, like the Scary Movie franchise. Crude attempts at humor clash with the grim storyline. The end result is a jarring atmosphere, leaving the player wondering at just what was the aim of the developers. Yes, some of the parodies are great, but a lot of it is just taking the piss. Fruit computers, an attempt by Microsoft to poke fun at Apple falls flat as there is no truth behind the jibe. Besides, who wants to browse a fake internet in a video game. It is just another avenue for the writers to present their ideas. The sheer pointlessness of it bleeds through.

Saint's Row 2, though, is laugh out loud funny. There are some grim moments, but they are presented in pitch perfect counterpoint to the game. They do not compete with the overall story. Cut scenes warrant multiple viewing with such great, absurd lines as, "You know the saying about dogs and blowing shit up." It dawns on you moments later how ridiculous it all is and you laugh. Humor for the most part centers around your character. For instance, compliment a goth chick and she may respond with, "Want to see all my piercings?" The parodies are great as well. Freckle Bitch's as a take on the Wendy's icon is brilliant. Other fine examples are A Company of Gyros and Rim Jobs.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 13

MISSIONS

The main crux of any crime simulator are the missions. How do they support the story? How do they reflect the character? Are they fun?

Niko seems the type that would be perfectly contented just driving one of Roman's cabs. If it were not for his lust for vengeance, he may have done just that. However, in his search for 'someone' Niko takes jobs for the various mob families. Moreover, his gambling addicted cousin keeps getting Niko into trouble. Sadly, most missions involve Niko being someone's bitch. He is an errand boy, a gun for hire, a fuckin' yokel. Doing dirty deeds for people who don't appreciate it is unrewarding at best. Succeeding at a mission in GTA IV is a hollow victory.

The missions in Saint's Row 2 drive the story. Most of them involve your character's quest to reinstate the 3rd Street Saints. Many of the missions are self motivated, often springing from your character's own plans. Other missions present repercussions to your character's actions as rival gangs seek revenge. Missions of this nature are rewarding and deeply satisfying.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 14

RACES

Put it to the floor and burn rubber. We're in it to win it.

I was impressed with the updated racing for GTA IV. It was not nearly as hectic or frustrating as past installments. I found that as I grew accustomed to the mechanics of driving, I did quite well, often winning races the first time through.

Saint's Row 2 offers a wide selection of races, including cars, motorcycles, boats, jet skis, helicopters, and airplanes. Best of all, the game sticks you in the recommended vehicle after you select the activity. There is no need to bring your own car. For variety and convenience, Saint's Row 2 takes the point.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 15

REWARDS

It is encouraging to be granted something for a job well done. How does each game treat the player's success?

GTA IV is unrewarding at best. Of all the installments I have played, this one rewards the player the least. Okay, you may unlock this or that friend's ability, such as calling off the cops, but they only work so far. It seems when you need it most, the ability is unavailable. Other than that, there is precious little given to the player as a reward. There may be a car here, some money there, but nothing of any lasting value.

Complete all levels of an activity in Saint's Row 2 and your player is awarded a bonus. Decrease police notoriety, have infinite ammo, unlock a weapon at your crib, receive a discount at clothing stores, take less damage from explosions, and more is provided. The more activities you complete, the more powerful your character becomes. These bonuses prove useful in later missions, and even in other activities. Furthermore, respect is awarded for just about every action, whether it is taunting your enemies or parachuting from an airplane. The more stylistic your play, the more respect you earn.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 16

SOUND

So, how does it sound? Are the environments immersive? Are the sound effects realistic?

GTA IV has decent sound in theory, but in sum each element combats the other. Perhaps New York is just that noisy, but conversations, the radio, traffic, and background noise all vie for your attention so the end result is just a noisome mess.

Saint's Row 2 suffers similarly from too much going on at once. However, this occurs less often. The sound is surprisingly good. What surprised me most was the first time my character was involved in an explosion. The sound cut off as if my character had gone deaf. Then a ringing sound could be heard. Gradually hearing returned muffled at first, but then as clear as before. This reaction to an explosion was so life like that it really drew me into the game.

GTA IV: 1 SR2: 17

SOUNDTRACK

Music adds dimension to a game. Music, if selected diligently, should reflect the mood of the game. As both games represent the actual world, using licensed music is fitting.

GTA IV has a solid soundtrack. This comes as no surprise as GTA IV has traditionally chosen great tracks to add into the mix. Collections of these tracks have been released commercially, featuring the game art. GTA IV boasts such artists as Genesis, Kanye West, Nitzer Ebb, Killing Joke, Gong, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, Agnostic Front, The Smashing Pumpkins, Black Sabbath, The Stooges, and gothic rock superstars The Sisters of Mercy.

Saint's Row 2 is less impressive both in quality and quantity. The soundtrack features mostly emo and cheese from the 1980s. Filling the gaps are the trending artists of the time. Artists include Deftones, My Chemical Romance, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Run D.M.C., Ne-yo, MSTRKRFT, Bad Medicine, Kasabian, Beethoven, Eek-a-mouse, As I Lay Dying, Opeth, A-ha, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Europe. Sadly, most of the fair does not appeal. Granted one need only turn off the music volume which, after many hours of play, becomes a requirement.

GTA IV: 2 SR2: 17

STORY

The main story should grab one's attention. If there is no interest in the story, then there is little interest in continuing the story.

In GTA IV, Niko arrives in America to visit his cousin, or so it appears. In truth, he seeks out a traitor that cost the lives of many of his friends. In his obsessive quest, he enters into the service of several gangsters and never-do-wells. He finally finds his nemesis only to find the experience unrewarding. He considers changing his ways, but is in too deep. He has angered the wrong people. Niko is forever plagued by his past. The story is grim and overtly moral. This is uncommon in a GTA game. Although many embraced this more mature story line, I felt that it fell rather flat and was incongruous with the rest of the game. A strong effort, but poorly executed.

Saint's Row 2 starts with your character awaking from a coma. You escape prison only to discover that the 3rd Street Saints, your old gang, is no more. Little by little you rebuild your empire, eventually taking on the corporate conglomeration known as Ultor. The story is straight forward and character driven. The mood is sustained throughout.

GTA IV: 2 SR2: 18

STUNTS

Finding stunt jumps, or creating your own, is a wholesome and entertaining diversion. With practice, it can be an art.

The stunt jumps in GTA IV are an impressive lot. As usual, the camera switches to slow motion to enhance the experience. At just 50 stunt jumps, it is a bit skimpy. Also, some of the jumps are puny affairs. Furthermore, jumps are oddly located. For instance, in the starting map there are no jumps located in the south of the island. Just the same, it takes only a few views of You Tube videos regarding stunts in GTA IV to form an appreciation. Of course, being GTA, some of the stunts are a bit finicky. Fall short and too bad. Try again. Furthermore, the paths to certain jumps are blocked by traffic or what have you. Again, the programmers seem to purposely frustrate the player.

Saint's Row 2 features 80 stunt jumps scattered over the map. That is not all. One can also use an airplane or helicopter (I recommend the latter) to fly under bridges and tunnels in order to unlock Barnstorming stunts. You can also perform wheelies, stoppies, powerslides, near misses, near crashes, powerslides, and similar stunts to earn respect. Although not as graphically impressive, there is a greater selection. On the down side, the notice that you have unlocked a stunt jump appears in larger letters on the screen. Though this informs the player of their success, which is good, the player misses out on the action. I consider this a tie.

GTA IV: 3 SR2: 19

VEHICLES

Driving is a big part of sandbox crime simulators, so make sure the vehicles come up to scratch.

The cars in GTA IV control like tanks. Hit the breaks and you might as well be driving on a sheet of ice. The quest to create realism really damages the driving aspect of GTA IV. Considering how much driving you may be doing, this is not a good thing. However, with practice one can somewhat better control the vehicles. Just the same, certain missions depend on your driving ability. Forget about traffic. The vehicle controls seem your biggest obstacle. Using the trigger buttons to accelerate or decelerate is more Forza Motorsport than GTA IV. This set up is unnatural to those experienced in the GTA franchise. Aside from that, the boat rides are frankly boring. The combat helicopter is a disappointment. Its cannon and missiles are virtually useless. A far cry from San Andreas.

The vehicles in Saint's Row 2 control quite naturally. The braking system is adequate. The ability to customize the vehicles make the experience more intimate. The helicopter's weapons are fantastic, including a missile lock system. Boats are still boring, but at least are more pertinent to the game than just taking floozies out to stare at the gas works of New Jersey. Driving is a blast. Even if you are driving badly, it still manages to be fun.

GTA IV: 3 SR2: 20

WEAPONS

In a crime simulator, weapons are tools of the trade. Are they serviceable?

GTA IV takes a long while to give you a weapon, unless you know where to look. Even so, the weapons are the straightforward fair. The assault rifle works well, combining decent damage with longer range. Decent, but uninspired.

Saint's Row 2 offers up a plethora of weapons from katanas and sword canes to rocket launchers and chain guns. The chainsaw is a particularly vicious weapon in action. Infinite ammo and special weapons can be unlocked through the completion of certain activities.

GTA IV: 3 SR2: 21

I will not compare online play and downloadable content as I have not experienced either in GTA IV. I have tried out online play in Saint's Row 2. The co-op missions are great fun with the right person. However, the missions were a little too narrow for my taste. To limit the weapon and the location and expect you to overcome multiple enemies undermines the spirit of the game. Standard missions generally allow the player to approach the mission from a myriad of different angles. The downloadable content offers just one. Granted additional clothing, vehicles, and the like is a welcome addition, but not necessary. Online competition is something I have never really liked in theory or in practice. Saint's row 2 does little to ease my trepidation. Teammates leave when things aren't going so well. Teams are often mismatched. The ranking games just aren't fun. Also, you cannot play co-op with a friend who happens to not have the same downloadable content as you. Downloadable content should be something you can toggle on and off.

As you can tell by the final score, Saint's Row 2 is the far better game in my estimation. GTA seems headed for a downward spiral. The overall impression is one of pointlessness and frustration. Meanwhile, Saint's Row 2 improves overall. It is interactive, charming, and fun. Has the second dog come to be alpha dog? It would appear so.