I’m guessing I’ve mentioned this book before here, but I just can’t help but mention it again as it’s just so great in so many ways. The book, of course, is Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind and is so fun and interesting, I’m actually reading it for the second time right now. The book is primarily about Scandinavian Black Metal and occultism and stuff like that but then gets into all sorts of other crazy shit besides all that. It originally came out in 1998 but I recently stumbled upon the revised version that came out in 2003 and decided to check it out. The new version is even more satany, but to be honest you can’t go wrong with either edition. Whether you are into black metal or not, the book is full of all sorts of stuff that is at times funny, sad, scary, shocking, amazing, and just interesting to read in general. Also, Lords of Chaos is written from a fairly objective viewpoint, so at times you can’t help but wonder exactly where the authors stand on various things like Nazism, fascism, church burning, murder, nationalism, etc. But, hey, you’re a smart fella- I’m sure you’ll get through it just fine and come to your own conclusions. As they say at the end of really fun baking recipes- enjoy!
Dave Hill

I’m guessing I’ve mentioned this book before here, but I just can’t help but mention it again as it’s just so great in so many ways. The book, of course, is Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind and is so fun and interesting, I’m actually reading it for the second time right now. The book is primarily about Scandinavian Black Metal and occultism and stuff like that but then gets into all sorts of other crazy shit besides all that. It originally came out in 1998 but I recently stumbled upon the revised version that came out in 2003 and decided to check it out. The new version is even more satany, but to be honest you can’t go wrong with either edition. Whether you are into black metal or not, the book is full of all sorts of stuff that is at times funny, sad, scary, shocking, amazing, and just interesting to read in general. Also, Lords of Chaos is written from a fairly objective viewpoint, so at times you can’t help but wonder exactly where the authors stand on various things like Nazism, fascism, church burning, murder, nationalism, etc. But, hey, you’re a smart fella- I’m sure you’ll get through it just fine and come to your own conclusions. As they say at the end of really fun baking recipes- enjoy!
Dave Hill

Last night was one of these really fun nights that reminds you what a super town this New York City place can really be.

Things started off on a scholarly note when- against all likelihood- I gave a lecture of sorts to a writing class at Fordham University (my alma mater) at Lincoln Center. I hardly think I’m qualified to be giving advice of any sort on the subject of writing to impressionable young people (or anyone really), but Fordham offered me money and free pizza to do it so I was all like “Yes- I will totally show up at your school and do that.” In the interest of full disclosure, I should also point out that my sister, a much better and more succesful writer than I, had been asked to speak at the school and then one thing led to another and they ended up wanting me to speak to the young people too.

I had hoped to dig up one of those tweed blazers with the suede patches on the elbows for my lecture last night, but I ended up just wearing what I put on yesterday morning (minus the pith helmet). Also, what with the no-smoking rule they have going at Fordham, the pipe was out of the question too. Despite my lack of professorial attire, however, things seemed to go okay. The actual professor of the class guided me through things in more of a Q&A sort of way rather than having me just stand up and lecture everybody all by myself, which was good because I hadn’t really prepared anything beyond a couple notes I had scribbled about “following your dreams” while on the subway up to Fordham.

I couldn’t really tell if the kids enjoyed or benefited from my “lecture” in any way (one student seemed to be smiling a lot, but maybe my fly was down or something), but I had a good time and they seemed like a real nice bunch. Now if my high school calls me to come speak there sometime I will have officially realized all my dreams in life (assuming I get the pet donkey for Christmas as promised).

After I finished forming young minds and touching the youth of America in general, I ran over to Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center to watch and listen to a Q&A session with Woody Allen. It was interesting to go from participating in a Q&A session and then going to watch a Q&A session right afterwards. Overall, I’d say Woody did a better job than I did but there were better snacks at my thing. This was actually the second time I’ve seen Woody Allen be interviewed in front of an audience (I saw him a couple years ago at the 92nd St. Y speaking on the role of psychotherapy in his films) and he was much more forthcoming this time around, perhaps because last night’s interviewer seemed to have a better handle on things.

Woody answered questions for about an hour and then there was a screening of his new movie “Match Point,” starring Hollywood’s Scarlett Johansson and the guy from “Bend It Like Beckham.” I thought the movie was pretty good, but my friend Fred and the other people we were with (one of whom was a massage therapist who also specialized in something called “guided imagery,” which sounded pretty sweet but I imagine must be expensive in addition to being potentially creepy) weren’t that into it. While I agree with them that the movie wasn’t that great compared to most of Woody’s other movies, it still kicked the crap out of 99.9% of all the other movies people make these days. But hey, that’s just me. I’m easy. Keep Ben Affleck off the screen, throw in a sex scene or two and you can have my ten bucks any time.

After the Woody Allen extravaganza, we all walked over to a restaurant called either O’Neill’s or O’Neal’s (I forget which), where I ate a hamburger and drank a couple beers because the people in the movie kept drinking beer and it looked really good. And it was! Then I shared a cab home with Fred and some of my new friends.

When I got back to Brooklyn I finished off a pint of my new favorite ice cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter made by the Haagen-Dazs people. It’s kind of like Chubby Hubby by the Ben and Jerry’s people but a bit more streamlined and not as crunchy because it doesn’t have the pretzels in it. Whether you really like ice cream or simply would like to put on a few extra pounds this holiday season, I highly recommend it.

Dave Hill

Last night was one of these really fun nights that reminds you what a super town this New York City place can really be.

Things started off on a scholarly note when- against all likelihood- I gave a lecture of sorts to a writing class at Fordham University (my alma mater) at Lincoln Center. I hardly think I’m qualified to be giving advice of any sort on the subject of writing to impressionable young people (or anyone really), but Fordham offered me money and free pizza to do it so I was all like “Yes- I will totally show up at your school and do that.” In the interest of full disclosure, I should also point out that my sister, a much better and more succesful writer than I, had been asked to speak at the school and then one thing led to another and they ended up wanting me to speak to the young people too.

I had hoped to dig up one of those tweed blazers with the suede patches on the elbows for my lecture last night, but I ended up just wearing what I put on yesterday morning (minus the pith helmet). Also, what with the no-smoking rule they have going at Fordham, the pipe was out of the question too. Despite my lack of professorial attire, however, things seemed to go okay. The actual professor of the class guided me through things in more of a Q&A sort of way rather than having me just stand up and lecture everybody all by myself, which was good because I hadn’t really prepared anything beyond a couple notes I had scribbled about “following your dreams” while on the subway up to Fordham.

I couldn’t really tell if the kids enjoyed or benefited from my “lecture” in any way (one student seemed to be smiling a lot, but maybe my fly was down or something), but I had a good time and they seemed like a real nice bunch. Now if my high school calls me to come speak there sometime I will have officially realized all my dreams in life (assuming I get the pet donkey for Christmas as promised).

After I finished forming young minds and touching the youth of America in general, I ran over to Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center to watch and listen to a Q&A session with Woody Allen. It was interesting to go from participating in a Q&A session and then going to watch a Q&A session right afterwards. Overall, I’d say Woody did a better job than I did but there were better snacks at my thing. This was actually the second time I’ve seen Woody Allen be interviewed in front of an audience (I saw him a couple years ago at the 92nd St. Y speaking on the role of psychotherapy in his films) and he was much more forthcoming this time around, perhaps because last night’s interviewer seemed to have a better handle on things.

Woody answered questions for about an hour and then there was a screening of his new movie “Match Point,” starring Hollywood’s Scarlett Johansson and the guy from “Bend It Like Beckham.” I thought the movie was pretty good, but my friend Fred and the other people we were with (one of whom was a massage therapist who also specialized in something called “guided imagery,” which sounded pretty sweet but I imagine must be expensive in addition to being potentially creepy) weren’t that into it. While I agree with them that the movie wasn’t that great compared to most of Woody’s other movies, it still kicked the crap out of 99.9% of all the other movies people make these days. But hey, that’s just me. I’m easy. Keep Ben Affleck off the screen, throw in a sex scene or two and you can have my ten bucks any time.

After the Woody Allen extravaganza, we all walked over to a restaurant called either O’Neill’s or O’Neal’s (I forget which), where I ate a hamburger and drank a couple beers because the people in the movie kept drinking beer and it looked really good. And it was! Then I shared a cab home with Fred and some of my new friends.

When I got back to Brooklyn I finished off a pint of my new favorite ice cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter made by the Haagen-Dazs people. It’s kind of like Chubby Hubby by the Ben and Jerry’s people but a bit more streamlined and not as crunchy because it doesn’t have the pretzels in it. Whether you really like ice cream or simply would like to put on a few extra pounds this holiday season, I highly recommend it.

Dave Hill

I am watching the hit movie “Over The Top” as I type this. In case you haven’t seen it before, the movie is about pretty much the greatest arm wrestler in the word, who is played by Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone also drives a big truck in the movie and his son goes everywhere with him for some reason. Sylvester Stallone even lets his son drive the truck in one scene. Talk about a super dad. Right now Sylvester Stallone is teaching his son a hard life lesson by trying to talk some kid who is playing video games in a diner into arm wrestling his son. Sylvester Stallone’s son ends up losing the arm wrestling match the first go-round, but- after running outside and crying for a few minutes- he comes back inside, turns his baseball hat backwards to prove he is not messing around, and then beats the kid- who is much bigger than him, mind you- not once, but twice. Then Sylvester Stallone’s kid calls his mom on a payphone (the film is set in the ‘80’s) and tells her all about it. In this scene, she is lying in a hospital bed, which suggests she is going to die later. After the kid gets off the phone, Sylvester talks to her for a couple minutes and then we see in the background that some bad guys are kidnapping the kid. If they think they are going to get away with that they have got another thing coming. Sylvester Stallone is chasing them now in his truck. Something tells me he is about to get that kid back. Oh wait, yup, he did. And then the bad guys ran away. If you like great movies that have everything, you should totally see “Over The Top.”

Dave Hill

I am watching the hit movie “Over The Top” as I type this. In case you haven’t seen it before, the movie is about pretty much the greatest arm wrestler in the word, who is played by Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone also drives a big truck in the movie and his son goes everywhere with him for some reason. Sylvester Stallone even lets his son drive the truck in one scene. Talk about a super dad. Right now Sylvester Stallone is teaching his son a hard life lesson by trying to talk some kid who is playing video games in a diner into arm wrestling his son. Sylvester Stallone’s son ends up losing the arm wrestling match the first go-round, but- after running outside and crying for a few minutes- he comes back inside, turns his baseball hat backwards to prove he is not messing around, and then beats the kid- who is much bigger than him, mind you- not once, but twice. Then Sylvester Stallone’s kid calls his mom on a payphone (the film is set in the ‘80’s) and tells her all about it. In this scene, she is lying in a hospital bed, which suggests she is going to die later. After the kid gets off the phone, Sylvester talks to her for a couple minutes and then we see in the background that some bad guys are kidnapping the kid. If they think they are going to get away with that they have got another thing coming. Sylvester Stallone is chasing them now in his truck. Something tells me he is about to get that kid back. Oh wait, yup, he did. And then the bad guys ran away. If you like great movies that have everything, you should totally see “Over The Top.”

Dave Hill

I “downloaded” a song from the “Internet” (it was a free download, no foul play) not long ago and it has since lodged itself into the #1 spot on the Dave Hill Top 100 chart of stuff I listen to while walking around and stuff. The song is by Teenage Fanclub, a band that had sort of fallen off the radar with me over the last few years, but now- thanks to this song- is enjoying a bit of a renaissance in the world of Dave Hill. The song is called “It’s All In My Mind” and you can check it out here. It’s good stuff. I really like how the drums come in and out and how the snare drum is muted (or whatever you call it when you take the little wire things off the bottom) during the quieter parts. And since stumbling across the song, I’ve gone back to revisit a lot of Teenage Fanclub’s other albums, which are all pretty solid. Anyway, just thought I’d share it with you if you haven’t heard it already.

In other news, as usual, I would encourage you to check out my unstoppable rock band Valley Lodge while you’re at it. We’re not too shabby either. In fact, you can read a great review of our debut album here. And then maybe you can go buy it or download it from Limewire or something. Just listen to it. Dammit.

In still other news, my friend Dale just launched a new website for himself today. He’s an awesome photographer and has really great hair. He has even photographed Lemmy. Beat that. Check out his goods here. He makes good pictures.

Finally, I had so much fun hanging out with my friend Tim and his brother Mike this weekend that I threw up in my bed on Friday night. It’s good to feel so alive. You can high-five me next time you see me or something.

Dave Hill

I “downloaded” a song from the “Internet” (it was a free download, no foul play) not long ago and it has since lodged itself into the #1 spot on the Dave Hill Top 100 chart of stuff I listen to while walking around and stuff. The song is by Teenage Fanclub, a band that had sort of fallen off the radar with me over the last few years, but now- thanks to this song- is enjoying a bit of a renaissance in the world of Dave Hill. The song is called “It’s All In My Mind” and you can check it out here. It’s good stuff. I really like how the drums come in and out and how the snare drum is muted (or whatever you call it when you take the little wire things off the bottom) during the quieter parts. And since stumbling across the song, I’ve gone back to revisit a lot of Teenage Fanclub’s other albums, which are all pretty solid. Anyway, just thought I’d share it with you if you haven’t heard it already.

In other news, as usual, I would encourage you to check out my unstoppable rock band Valley Lodge while you’re at it. We’re not too shabby either. In fact, you can read a great review of our debut album here. And then maybe you can go buy it or download it from Limewire or something. Just listen to it. Dammit.

In still other news, my friend Dale just launched a new website for himself today. He’s an awesome photographer and has really great hair. He has even photographed Lemmy. Beat that. Check out his goods here. He makes good pictures.

Finally, I had so much fun hanging out with my friend Tim and his brother Mike this weekend that I threw up in my bed on Friday night. It’s good to feel so alive. You can high-five me next time you see me or something.

Dave Hill

I’ve been noticing a lot of bear coverage in the media lately. For the uninitiated, bears are members of the homosexual community who celebrate the fact that they are big and hairy. I am neither gay nor bear-like myself, yet still I can’t help but think that bears are pretty awesome in general. Anybody that can embrace being a little overweight and having an excess of body and facial hair and then seek out others who are like them and throw big parties with lots of dancing and stuff is okay by me.

I’ve been hip to the bear scene for a while now and apparently the rest of the world is starting to catch on to this exciting new craze (well, new to us non-bears that is). John Waters (who I’m guessing has known about bears himself for some time now) included an exciting bear cameo in his last movie “A Dirty Shame.” It was a great moment for both bears and their admirers. Now, just yesterday, I happened upon two separate mentions of bears over the course of my day’s reading. Since I just woke up, I can’t remember the first. The second however, was in New York Magazine, which had a whole story on bears and the exciting bear scene in general. They even quote John Waters in the piece (who, of course, not a bear).

I’m not sure what my point is with all this. I guess what I’m trying to say is “Bears- I salute you!” In fact, I officially decree today Dave Hill Thinks Bears Are Awesome Day. You can do your part by hugging a bear or something while you’re going about your day. Don’t blame me if things go horribly wrong though and the dude you hug ends up not being a bear but just a big hairy straight guy who wants to kick your ass. It’s not my problem. Anyway, let me know what happens. In the meantime, I am going to go look at pictures of naked chicks on the Internet for a while just so you don’t get the wrong idea about me or something. Geez.

Dave Hill

I’ve been noticing a lot of bear coverage in the media lately. For the uninitiated, bears are members of the homosexual community who celebrate the fact that they are big and hairy. I am neither gay nor bear-like myself, yet still I can’t help but think that bears are pretty awesome in general. Anybody that can embrace being a little overweight and having an excess of body and facial hair and then seek out others who are like them and throw big parties with lots of dancing and stuff is okay by me.

I’ve been hip to the bear scene for a while now and apparently the rest of the world is starting to catch on to this exciting new craze (well, new to us non-bears that is). John Waters (who I’m guessing has known about bears himself for some time now) included an exciting bear cameo in his last movie “A Dirty Shame.” It was a great moment for both bears and their admirers. Now, just yesterday, I happened upon two separate mentions of bears over the course of my day’s reading. Since I just woke up, I can’t remember the first. The second however, was in New York Magazine, which had a whole story on bears and the exciting bear scene in general. They even quote John Waters in the piece (who, of course, not a bear).

I’m not sure what my point is with all this. I guess what I’m trying to say is “Bears- I salute you!” In fact, I officially decree today Dave Hill Thinks Bears Are Awesome Day. You can do your part by hugging a bear or something while you’re going about your day. Don’t blame me if things go horribly wrong though and the dude you hug ends up not being a bear but just a big hairy straight guy who wants to kick your ass. It’s not my problem. Anyway, let me know what happens. In the meantime, I am going to go look at pictures of naked chicks on the Internet for a while just so you don’t get the wrong idea about me or something. Geez.

Dave Hill