Maybe what matters is that we embark.

Last night, Tyler and I watched a documentary about Norwegian/European Black Metal in the 90's.  It revolved around bands like Darkthrone, Mayhem and Burzam.  It was very interesting and also, quite predictably, very disturbing.  If you are unaware of what was going on in the black metal genre in Europe (particularly, Sweden, Norway, and some of Finland), you may find yourself very surprised.

Some genres of music in the United States can be considered offensive, some people may even say it is scary.  Bands like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and the like have been labeled as "evil".  However, the reality is, bands like that are all an act.  The black metal bands of that time/genre/area were no. fucking. joke.  At least some of them.  For instance, kids and artists in that genre were committing suicide, and you know what their friends were doing?  Taking pictures of their corpses and using them as album covers!  THAT is metal.  What else? After the photo shoot, they were collecting bone fragments and brain matter for jewelry and ingredients in recipes.  Are you kidding me!?  That isn't theatrics, that is the real deal.
The part that REALLY got me was the commonplace church burnings.  These people were burning down buildings that were built in the 1100's.  I am not religious whatsoever, but that is just wrong.  Like it or not, those buildings are an important part of history and you have no right to get rid of them.  Even if they do offend your pagan sensibilities.  Ridiculous!  But it definitely makes for a good story.
The most interesting part was one of the people being interviewed openly said that he came from a very idyllic childhood.  It was serene, peaceful, non violent, very happy.  He made it a point to say that his childhood was almost better than normal.    The timing of this information was very interesting.  Previous to this, we had just watched "Filth and Wisdom" a movie written by Madonna featuring my favorite musician, Eugene Hutz, as the lead character.  In the opening scene, he made a statement saying you cannot be good without having experienced being bad.  Maybe it's not such an untrue statement.

So, needless to say, I suggested Tyler and I dress up as a Norwegian Black Metal band for Halloween this year.  He enthusiastically agreed.  We haven't decided our band name, but this is what we will look like:


If you have any ideas for band names, feel free to share!

Today, we had sushi for dinner and decided to make a stop at Cheapo to pick up some black metal albums to listen to.  I own a few black metal albums, but they are much more recent and not exactly what we were looking for (i.e. not made up of complete psychopaths).   I  made a pit stop in the VHS section and in case you are interested, got Romeo + Juliet, The Addams Family, and The Wedding Singer for $1.50.   Cheapo had literally NO black metal from the 90's.  They had some header cards, but no actual albums.  The only ones I COULD find were albums from bands that originated in the 90's, but the albums were made in the 2000's.  Unfortunate, but okay, because I'm sure I can pick some up at work.

But, I digress, as that is not the point I wanted to make when discussing Cheapo.  Let me start by saying that Cheapo is a small chain of locally owned record stores in Minnesota.  They have maybe, at most, 5 locations, probably not even that many.   They say you should support your local shops and not give your money to big business and places that are killing small businesses, right?  When I entered the bathroom and went to wash my hands, what did I see?  EQUATE HANDSOAP.  That's right, Walmart brand handsoap....The KEY equivalent to the big businesses killing small businesses.  Right there in the washroom.   Granted, I'm sure there aren't a lot of local businesses selling handsoap for Cheapo to purchase and dispense in their bathrooms, and there definitely isn't a statement to be made here, but I did find it a little humorous, and thought someone else might as well.  That is all.