Iceni

Hopefully not referencing private parts.

'Missionary Man' by Conception.

It certainly could be, but I don't like to hoist the conspiracy flag straight off because I'm not a self-important reactionary who's reflexively contrarian. There's a long history of pro-Russian pseudo-irredentist sentiment in eastern Ukraine, and the central government did cause a controversy with the striking of the language law. As it stands now there's not a whole lot of coherent evidence suggesting what Russia's real motives are, but I have seen material suggesting that the referendum on accession by Crimea wasn't entirely above board.

First, neither the 430 Scuderia nor the 458 Italia have V12s, they have V8s...like the California, as a matter of fact. Besides, the new California is beautifully styled. For that matter, the Ferrari 599 GTB (a V12 supercar) is a pretty stunning piece of work.

I didn't have any reason to believe you were being anything other than totally serious.

Not really, there's a remarkable amount of evidence for their intervention in Crimea. Even a decision to occupy eastern border towns wouldn't really be a massive problem since Ukraine's sovereignty is up in the air at the moment given that Crimea voted for independence. No way in hell is the UN going to get involved in any way other than sanctions, and if anything the US is even less enamored of the idea. Maybe the UN could intervene effectively in a small country with a tiny insurgency, flat terrain, friendly countries on the border and a vastly sympathetic population, but using force to dissuade separatism in Ukraine is a bad idea considering Russia's oil resources and the fact that it's got one of the most powerful militaries in the world. The Russian authorities been remarkably prudent in conducting all this.

Well, your English certainly (to use a phrase that's seemingly exclusive my dad) 'beats the pants off' my French. 8000th post. Whee for me.

'Collide' by Jeff Loomis, featuring the peerless voice of Christine Rhoades.

It's a compliment. Your manner of speaking suggests that you're making an effort, which is more than I can say even for many people who speak English as a first language.

Bloody hell, those growls were rubbish. Not only that, but it seems like their guitar work has really suffered. They sound like nascent Before The Dawn riffs...and that's bad. Before the Dawn riffs have decent melody but they always sounded pretty half-assed to me. Chugging also seems to have worked its fat worthless ass into the rhythm. As for the solo, I thought it was fine. Compositionally it was weak, it reminds me of some of the half-baked power metal I had to slough through back when I couldn't get enough of good power metal but found the genre loaded with lazy wannabe dragonslayers. Structurally it was pretty sodding boring as well.

'High Moon' by Star One.

'Everchanging' by Element. Great tech-death from the West Coast.

I liked Crimson II the most, but definitely check out Crimson, it's good. I liked a lot from Purgatory Afterglow as well. The other albums they have are a little anti-clerical for my liking but maybe you'd have more of a stomach for that sort of thing.

Heh. Monkeys.

'Love?' by Strapping Young Lad. This leeeurve it'zubaaaaht kon TROOOOOOOOL

Also you shouldn't use it, because it is stupid as all hell. You're never too young (or too old) to be an irrational, immature idiot.

Their newest album was fine although I think the vocals were weak. Otherwise it was pretty good stuff. Neurotripsticks is actually the only album they've done that I haven't listened to, I like essentially all of their work in any case. It comes as a surprise to me that you find them boring, I think they're one of best tech-death groups around.

Been working on economics for most of the day. Blech. At least we finally seem to be doing OK and the readings I have to do for history are nice and short!

His creepy paintings adorn albums.

Harvests the...um...job offers. Glad to hear things are going all right for you.