Big Hog's Blog

Every year at 11am on the 11th of November across the Commonwealth, a two-minute silence is held to commemorate the Great War to remember all those who died in conflict. People who find themselves caught in this solemn flash mob of micro-grief will attest to its gravity - the silence pregnant with the memories of lives violently torn apart and cut short.  It creates a moment worthy of their heroism and sacrifice. When the silence finally breaks it evokes perseverance: that dawn will come and life will carry on. The power of these minutes are why it's used to honour victims of tragedies and endures as a staple of school assemblies and sporting events.  Recently, I've been sinking all my free time into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I also played Remake in 2020 and Crisis Core in 2007. I love these reinterpretations of what is probably my favourite game. I love the themes from the OG they expand on, and I think Square for the most part got it right in how they further characterise...

 'Zeppelin' is a word spelled how it sounds and I still struggle to spell it.  Regardless, here are Led Zeppelin's top 3 lyrics.  "I'VE REALLY BEEN THE BEST...  ...THE BEST OF FOOLS." This lyric is from Since I've been loving you.  This is what flim-flam artists and comedy geniuses call a ' bait and switch'. Our man (probably Robert Plant) lures you in with a moment of self affirmation, before hitting you with the best of fools.  Thus making a fool of the listener. The lyric work on multiple levels. Or 2 levels at the very least. BONUS THING TO TRY: Sing 'best of fools' in the tune of 'best of you by Foo Fighters' and you've got yourself a real mega mashup of 2 well-known rock songs.  "WE'RE GONNA GO. WALKIN' THROUGH THE PARK. EVERYDAY." This lyric is from Babe I'm gonna leave you.  The strength of this line is in its specificity, further consolidated by the fact that I used to walk through a park every day...

Rap metal exists. It exists as much now as it existed when it first started to exist.  Tallah first found me during the pandemic. I was deep into the 6ix9ine lore and he'd just put out that song about being back - and just how back he was from jail after grassing on every person he'd ever met plus Cardi B.               Shrewd viralists Tallah picked up the song and refashioned it into a nuts-to-butts nu-metal banger which quested its way on to my timeline and entered my eyes and ears and I thought it sounded cool. I powered up the Spotify and got listening. It turns out 6ix9ine is a good blueprint for Tallah. Trying different styles, features and stunts to gain a some notoriety. A band made from YouTuber Justin Bonitz, someone savvy with the algorithms, clickbait and Patreon (check out our EP of Alladin covers?) and the son of legendary Dream Theatre drummer Mike Portnoy. They've also fired a  bloke  for being dodgy. And pu...

'What's that?'  'Nothing'.  But it wasn't nothing.  It had been a few weeks since a mysterious vortex appeared in my locker at work, and I was still trying to hide it while I figured our my next steps. What are you supposed to do when a vortex appears in your work locker? Tell work? That wouldn't work. They'd just contact the locker company. And I work for the locker company. So that won't work. They'd just contact me.  It wasn't a fire, so the fire brigade's out. What other kinds of brigades are there? An army brigade? There's no need to escalate this to the military. I've heard they're stretched anyway. And I can't call the police because I'm not a snitch.  It's hard to keep a mysterious vortex secret. Especially inside your locker in a busy office. I'm a pretty big enchilada at the locker company. People come to me with important questions containing long words like 'ineffectual', 'substandard...

Here's a scenario: Little Red Riding Hood encounters Eddie the Head from the Iron Maiden album covers. Eddie goes in for a kick. Though he's several meters away, his leg impossibly extends in Hood's direction, morphing into a chainsaw blade, roaring straight for her head, when she produces an uzi from her picnic basket and blows Eddie away.  Here's another scenario:  A cursed, but empty suit of samurai armour is hacking away at Dracula. He ducks and weaves out the way before grabbing the suit of armour and uses his powers to force the armour into material form: a beautiful woman, wearing nothing but a yukata. He bites down on her neck after transforming into a demonic entity. These scenarios are from the game Darkstalkers. The greatest fighter Capcom ever put out.  We shall never see it's like again.  (the editor) Dan

2022 is drawing to a well deserved close.  A lot of horror unfolded on our TVs this year. After two years of Pestilence, we finally got round to War. The year also gifted us with a very respectable helping of manageably fictional peril as well tho.  Here are some of the good and so-bad-it's-good movies to enjoy before we all tuck into Famine and Death. They're pretty much all horror because that's all I watch.  In no particular order.                                                                                                 THESE WERE GREAT      X A cast of horny a-listers head to a cabin in the woods for a bit of sexually-charged horror fare. Cool setting, but the pa...