Vae Solis

Japan Earthquake Tsunami Impact Map

2011-03-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

A powerful earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale struck north-eastern Japan at 1446 local time (0546 GMT) on 11 March 2011. Initial estimates put the epicentre at 400km from Tokyo under the Pacific, at a depth of at a depth of 30km.

This was followed up with a devasting Tsumani. The (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has published Tsunami warnings for the U.S. West Coast, Alaska, and British Columbia coastal regions, with a map forecasting Tsunami propagation energy and maximum wave amplitude for every country with a Pacific coastline:

>>Source<<

Japan, devastated by strongest recorded earthquake in its history

2011-03-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

Mind-numbing destruction to Japan in the greatest earthquake in Japan's recorded history. The resulting Tsunami combined with the quake is placing damage estimates among the highest ever seen, exceeding Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina.

Our thoughts are with Japan's people today, as they begin a long, painful journey to recovery.

source: msnbc

Go Team.

2011-03-10T23:26:00.001-08:00

click me, dumbass.

The mighty Faustone MK II Valve Klipper

2011-03-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

Some days are clearly better than others. Check out the Faustone MK II Valve Klipper, the infamous Laney Klipp's tube preamp & fuzz section in pedal form. Great sizzling overdrive to full blown, massive fuzz ala Tony Iommi during Sabbath's golden years. Put up against my 200 watt Orange Thunderbird, this pedal yields some of the greatest tones I've ever heard.

Check out the Faustone Youtube channel for some great video demos!

Hope fades for Del Tor's Mountains of Madness film

2011-03-09T02:00:00.000-08:00

Seems there's all kinds of shitty news today. I've been holding my breath for almost two years waiting on news of this production getting underway, but at the last minute, it appears the $150,000,000 price tag turned off the Suits.

Fuck.

EXCLUSIVE: The green light process on At the Mountains of Madness with Universal Pictures has gone on for so long that there is now a very serious rival for director Guillermo del Toro's next film. I'm hearing that Legendary Pictures is moving fast on a project del Toro likes called Pacific Rim, a Travis Beacham-scripted PG-13 tent pole-sized project with big monsters and the creation of a new world. It could very well be the next film del Toro directs. That picture was developed independent of Warner Bros, and relatively under the radar by Legendary chief executives Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni. Del Toro has been in the loop through this process. He and Beacham almost worked together in the past when the director flirted with The Killing on Carnival Row at New Line. The Legendary-del Toro relationship dates back through the 8 months they put into Pacific Rim.

Universal has been balking over the $150 million budget and R rating on At the Mountain of Madness, the adaptation of the HP Lovecraft tale that revolves around the discovery of thawing alien beings in Antarctica. This despite the fact that del Toro had Tom Cruise ready to star in the film, with James Cameron producing with Don Murphy and Susan Montford, and Cameron god-fathering the 3D process. Del Toro and his team have delivered a stunning visual presentation that met the studio's budget specifications, but I'm told the studio is still wary about the R rating and price. It's just a very hard decision. The film is more horror than action adventure and i'm told it would have to generate $500 million in worldwide grosses for the studio to earn its money back. That means it would have to be a Lord of the Rings or Inception kind of achievement, which is a lot of performance pressure to place on an R-rated horror film. I'm told Universal is hanging onto the film in hopes of returning to it, but that the studio is expecting for del Toro to move on to Pacific Rim. I've heard that del Toro has asked for an answer by end of business today from Universal, or he is moving on.

>>Link to full article<<

As the rest of the article points out, Del Toro's role as a producer has absorbed much of his time. Seems he hasn't made a film in quite a while now, a true disappointment considering how much talent he brings to the screen. Hell, at this point, I'd even be happy to see Drood get made..

Pass the Pepper!

2011-03-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Check out this great article on Cannibalism and the deeper role it plays anthropologically than most people want to believe. I found it credible, but it totally ignores the fact that Nature has a way of punishing a species when it practices consistent cannibalization, ie; prions like Kuru, nvCJD, and Mad Cow Disease. Those prions exist in all mammals, but only accrete to a toxic level when we consume our own kind. This further ignores the reality that once a culture is forced into cannibalism as a means of survival, prion infection with its delayed incubation periods is probably the least of its worries..

Anthropophagy routinely emerges, says Petrinovich, under predictable starvation conditions, and such examples of human cannibalism are not as rare as many people believe. "The point is that cannibalism is in the human behavioral repertoire," writes Petrinovich in his 2000 book The Cannibal Within:
… and probably is exhibited for a number of reasons—a common one being severe and chronic nutritional deprivation. A behavior might be exhibited only under extreme circumstances and still be part of our biological inheritance, and the fact that its course follows a systematic pattern argues against the hypothesis that it is psychotic in character.
Petrinovich wends his way through a human history littered with the gnawed-on bones of our cannibalized ancestors, revealing that—contrary to critiques arguing that man-eating is a myth conjured up by Westerners to demonize "primitives"—we really have been gobbling each other up for a very, very long time. We're just one of 1,300 species for which "intraspecific predation" has been observed. Among primates, cannibalism can usually be accounted for by nutritional and environmental stress, or it appears as a reproductive strategy in which mothers, for example, consume their unhealthy infants to make way for more viable offspring.

>>Link to full article<<

Alice in Chains original bassist, Mike Starr, Dies.

2011-03-08T22:23:00.000-08:00

Alice in Chains bassist, Mike Starr.

Some very sad news today, as I launch the Vae Solis blog with the death of Alice in Chains bassist, Mike Starr:

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Mike Starr, the former bassist for Alice in Chains has died, according to police.

Police have confirmed that they checked a residence at 1:42 p.m. at 1986 South Richards Street in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, where they discovered Starr's body.

He was 44 years old.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Starr was arrested for illegal prescription drug possession in Salt Lake City in February.

Starr was the original bassist for Alice in Chains a rock band that made its mark on the "grunge" scene with roots in the Seattle area. He left the group in 1993. Another original band member Layne Staley, died from a cocaine and heroin overdose in 2002.

Starr appeared in 2010 on the VH1 cable reality show "Celebrity Rehab" after suffering from a heroin addiction.

When they emerged, Alice in Chains hit me like a baseball hat in the face. I can still remember the very first time I heard them at a Carcass show on Miami's South Beach. The track was from a promotional EP, 'Killing Yourself', and was called 'We Die Young'. That opening riff just slammed me in the gut, every note, drum, and vocal was saturated in disillusioned fury.

It went straight to my head, stayed there, and never left.

AIC's debut album, while not as technically well-executed as the polished works that came later, stood out as a true masterpiece; a unique and disquieting journey into social angst and interpersonal dystopia that had few, if any peers. It served as a major cross-over album as the band left behind the LA glam scene and carved a burning path into the Seattle grunge scene. For me, the LP heralded an inevitable departure from what was feeling more and more like a weak, adolescent death metal/grindcore scene that just wasn't holding my interest anymore. Along with other Seattle greats like Screaming Trees, Nirvana, and Soundgarden, the grunge scene had an indelible effect on me and who I was, much like anyone else at the time who experienced it during its hey-day, and I can honestly say I love the stuff today just as much as I did when I was 17.

And as far as I'm concerned, nothing has really come along since that even comes close to it, which makes losing these early pioneers all the more painful. Mike was cut loose after the unforgettable 'Dirt' release, with the band citing Starr's poor contributions. Personally, it wouldn't be till AIC's last studio LP, the self-titled 'Alice in Chains', that I would be able to appreciate their material again; something was lost when Mike was fired, and was never really regained, but I'm more than grateful for what we have still to savor from this incredibly talented group.

The only thing that brings me comfort is knowing that Layne Staley, who passed away in 2002, now at long last finally has a worthy mate in the here-after to keep him company till the rest of us catch up.

Rest in Peace, Mike Starr, and thanks for the kick ass legacy you leave behind you.