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Dominic Sacco

Last Updated: 9/23/2009

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Gender: Male
Age: 24
Sign: Scorpio

City: Billericay, Essex
Country: UK

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July 24, 2007 - Tuesday

P Diddy holding online interviews... whatever next?

MY FRIEND Denise will get the job, that's what. With the help of you.

She is going for the position of Mr P Diddy's personal assistant, and if she gets it, she will remember all of you (this doesn't mean you will all get to go backstage with the Diddy himself, it means I will though, since so many of you read these things and I'm doing Denise a favour)!

Here's the orginal video of the Puffy one, trying to revolutionise the traditional interview system all by himself, bless him:

Visit this youtube video:

Rate the video a 5 - she deserves it.

I mean, just look at the competition she's up against:

Does Diddy even carry an umbrella?

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July 10, 2007 - Tuesday

CD review: Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell

A NEW Bad Religion record to its fans, is ironically, like Christmas. They look forward to this one day with hope and wonder, then celebrate when it arrives. There's no trees or angels though, and it only happens once every two to three years.

Well, that day has arrived yet again. And it won't disappoint those fans at all. In fact, the little sticker on the front of the case, claims:
"Punk rock heroes Bad Religion are back with a vengeance unmatched since their fiery beginnings."

And this statement is half true - yes they are punk rock heroes, yes they are back with a vengeance, but no it's not the best since their beginnings. For me that was The Process of Belief - but ask any fan, and trying to pick a favourite Bad Religion record is almost impossible. It's like trying to pick a blonde or brunette in a certain situation. If you prefer blondes but the brunette is sexier, or if you prefer brunettes and the blonde attracts you more, or even worse if they're both as fit as each other and you don't really mind, it's pretty fucking hard to do.

Bad Religion: they're not bad, nor are they religious. They're middle aged though. And singer, Greg Graffin, is also an American university professor.

Anyway, that's enough detailing from the subject at hand. The songs on New Maps are fast, short, captivating and quite brilliant. They're not as spine-tinglingly awesome as records like Against The Grain and Stranger than Fiction, but they follow on nicely from previous album The Empire Strikes First. Sadly there is a lack of "hits" as such on the record, but that's not what Bad Religion albums are all about. Listen to the record as a whole a few times, and any punk rock fan will fall in love with it. Even most rock and rollers should enjoy this.

Album highlights "New Dark Ages" and "Grains of Wrath" are full of vigour and reek of epicness - at this point in time I could listen to them all day. Other strong songs include "Dearly Beloved" and "The Grand Delusion," among few average tracks that scamper along. Intro "52 Seconds" is a great introduction - very old school punky and is actually 58 seconds in length. Some kind of statement perhaps? Or a lack of care. Early tracks available from the Internet "Heroes & Martyrs" and "Honest Goodbye" fit in well with the rest of the album.

As always, the lyrics are thought-provoking, intelligent and some of the finest amongst the other punk rock, hardcore, emo and pop-punk crowd of bands around today. Here's an example from the first three songs:
52 Seconds opens with the simple, "I know I'm part of something greater than myself, Don't know the meaning of it but I hope that matters less," and the lines in the second track, "Our heroes and martyrs present two points of view, Tell me which Deity you're praying to," shows Bad Religion's questioning and ideas over recent fighting between the West and Islamic fundamentalism.
Then it's dictionary time when we reach the third track,
"Deprecate, repudiate, ameliorate, adjudicate the wisdom found, wisdom found."

They're still busting crosses. Or something.

Production is smart, sweet and succinct - and the drums of Brooks Wackerman are simply some of the greatest percussion skills ever recorded on a punk record. There's more fills than a Travis Barker beat and more speed than a NOFX single, with real "Wow" moments, even some bits of double bass and incredible breaks. Listen to "Germs of Perfection" for good example of his techniques. And again as always, the oohs and ahhs are evident in most tunes, giving a great backdrop element to the record.

Overall, fans of Bad Religion should be getting this anyway, but this is a fine introduction to the band that is keeping an old genre alive and kicking. "Fields of Mars" is a fantastic climax to their long-awaited record, with it's quirky piano intro and outro, surrounding a speedy, catchy tune.

The songs aren't as amazing as perhaps they could have been, but it's still a worthy addition to the Bad Religion back catalogue and a great album.

Score: 8/10
Top track: Grains of Wrath
Reviewer: Dom Sacco

Have a listen to the album for free, while you still can. It's on their Myspace page.

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July 9, 2007 - Monday

Live Earth was a hypocritical mess

YES, let's hold an event with the sole purpose to help solve global warming and the ongoing crisis surrounding our climate.

Let's hire over 100 artists and fly them all over the world, causing more sky pollution from planes than usual.

Let's hire several shitty acts who are about as revolutionary as an old woman moaning about the bus timetable.

Let's get lots of celebrities to sit smiling during each set and dance around to the bands, while cameras zoom in on them.

Did any of the artists even sing songs about climate change? Who cares when they look like this.

Seriously, half the people who go to these kind of things are going just to see their favourite bands. I saw about 2 home-made flags with "save the climate" on, out of how many thousands of people in the audience.

Why doesn't Kevin Wall and Al Gore use their money to stage a meeting at the UN or EU, or politicians in America to gather and start promising to prevent global warming? Rather than organise loads of gigs around the world. The notion does seem slightly wasted and silly, in this way.

And what is it with these pathetic front row sections for those who spend hundreds of pounds for a first class ticket? It's elitist bullshit. Why should they have that privalege by simply paying more? If we're going to change the climate, we have to get politicans involved fast, we have to get everyone together - that includes all types of people regardless of wealth.

What's next? Save the whales with Michelle McManus and Rick Waller headlining? Please.

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July 8, 2007 - Sunday

Addicted gamer on TV chat show

I WAS watching some late night crap on TV the other night, as you do after the pub, when something caught my eye.

There was a 40-something man brought onto this mock court chat show, called Guilty (I think, couldn't find it on the net), who was taken to court by his wife for playing too many games!

This guy was slated by the audience as he admitted to playing games for 12 to 14 hours a day! And he's spent over £5,000 on games. I know, WTF indeed.

Anyway, humour aside, I'd just like to let you all know that addictions don't always come in the form of alcohol, smoking, sex and booze. Games can be just as addictive. Fair enough though, this nutter should have a job - he was on the dole playing games all day while his wife worked and cooked and cleaned. Although in his defense he did educate and joke with his kids, "apparantly."

I'll never forget his wife saying how jealous she was of Lara Croft though! Oh what strange creatures these women are.

For those who like to discover what happens in situations like this, he was found guilty by all but 2 of the audience and made to dress as a woman for a month, with no games, but lots of cooking and cleaning instead.

Tip: everything in moderation, kids.

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July 7, 2007 - Saturday

Essex is shit

IT'S FULL of people with cocky egos, no sense of humour and those who don't give a crap about anyone else apart from their little group of buddies.

Myself included then huh.

What a silly sign you have, Essex. Unless it's to do with the three muskateers.

(Note: This blog contained sarcasm somewhere, so awards will go to those who can spot where)

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July 4, 2007 - Wednesday

Billericay high street is good for keeping fit

I WALKED almost the entire length of my high street to get a tenner out, because about four machines in a row displayed, "No cash available at this time."

The pub I was heading to, due to sod's law, was down the other end of the high street, furthest from the working cash machine.

Not frustrating much, then.

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July 2, 2007 - Monday

Save your independent record stores!

I WENT into Slipped Discs the other day - my local record store in Billericay (yes a real place, no not a Greek island).

And I was depressed to say the least. After speaking with the cool owner, Paul, I discovered that Slipped Discs was one of only three small independent music retailers left in Essex.

The cause of their death? Paul explained to me in five easy steps:
1. The Internet.
2. Little kids who buy music only from the net.
3. Major chain retailers who sell popular albums for like 20p.
4. All you scumbags who copy music and get it all off Limewire for free. Shame on you.
5. Major labels signing shitty acts who don't sell well enough, meaning the mass produced CD's are wasted tons of money on.

Stop stealing music, you bloody Ipod generation you!

So I came up with an idea which I discussed with Paul - why not make little stickers you give to everyone who enters the shop - even if they don't buy something. And on the stickers it would say, "Support your independent music retailer!" or something along those lines.

People need to realise that an unsigned band on Myspace will not have an album available anywhere, let alone in a small independent stockist. People need to go to these independent stores, because they will give you a better service than Woolworths and Asda's ever will. Most of the time they will even order in rare records for you.
And for all the Internet thieves out there - there's nothing quite like having the actual CD case in your hands and the lyrics book while you listen to it. That is a part of the experience and that way you are supporting the artist you enjoy listening to, rather than stealing their album and getting high on it for free.

Keep it up, and you're going to flush the music industry further down the sewers than it already is. So support your local independent music retailer! Go and print stickers out with that on it and hand them out to people now!

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June 28, 2007 - Thursday

Support my buddies at EA!

BEFORE you ask, no they're not corporate whores. How dare you.

They got into this year's Dare To Be Digital competition, which is two-month paid placement at EA Studios in Guildford. Go them! They have to make a level or two from a brand new game of their choice - so they have to sit down, design and make it.

My mates (the genius that they are) are making a quality flying game for the Wii, called Airborne, where you can upgrade your craft after doing Pilotwing-style objectives, like flying through hoops and shooting enemies down.

Not the most amazing name in the world, but don't judge a scheme by its... err... logo.

Now they need your help to support them and vote for their video diaries! You have to sign up but it's painless and you know it's for a good cause!

Visit Dare To Be Digital here and sign up and view the Guildford videos. Make sure to be biased like me and give them 5 stars!

They are the future of the games industry! Schemes like this do restore a little bit of faith towards EA at least and with others like Rare and Lionhead overlooking the projects, it can only be a good thing.

Non-gamers should still support them, I tell ya.

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June 27, 2007 - Wednesday

Matt Skiba's evil twin

FOR ANY fans of Alkaline Trio.

I was on the BBC News website, when I read a story about some billionaire, Matthew Mellon, being cleared of charges over apparantly stalking his ex-wife.

All that is irrelevant though - he's a spitting image to Alkaline Trio's frontman, Matt Skiba:

Matt Mellon is Skiba's evil twin - look at the hair!

And for argument's sake, here's the original (Yea it's small but it's a similar pose):

The one, the only, the Skiba.

Not sure which one should be labelled the evil one though... I've just remembered the lyrics to "This Could Be Love."
"Step one - slit my throat, step two -play in my blood, step three - cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house."

Yea thanks for that Skiba, real charming love song you wrote there.

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June 26, 2007 - Tuesday

Morning news is better than evening news and how improving nuclear weapons wasn't newsworthy

SOMETHING is happening which shouldn't be.

I come in after a crazy night out. It's about four in the morning. I make some tasty bacon and egg sarnies (with the yold spreak on the bread too and just the right amount of tomato sauce also.. mmm...), then I switch on the TV.

The news is amazing. They're talking about things that really matter, things that are much more interesting than who left the Big Brother house or Neighbours moving to channel 3. The BBC are giving us news from around the world, which is, let's face it, more important than events going on in just one country, England.

They're covering attacks, meanings behind them and important movements in Israel and Palestine. They're looking at the European Union and how it will change without Tony Blair a part of it anymore. They're actually making me laugh at this point, because they have about five members of European parliament arguing over whether or not Tony Blair has a nice smile. It's important stuff concerning the EU, but it's entertaining because of these European nutters. They're also covering progress with British troops in Afghanistan and how the situation is developing out there. They had journalists embedded out there talking over shootouts in cover - if that's not hardcore I don't know what is.

BBC World morning news gets the stuff that really matters

This reminds me of when I did work experience at the Bournemouth Daily Echo. They were doing stories on how squid could replace cod, when I told them about a Bournemouth law lecturer who went to parliament to give a talk about developing our nuclear weapons - whether we need to improve them or not, and why. This would be passed on to the minister of defense. Come on, this is huge news! We're talking about how other countries will see us differently and how our nuclear weapons may be changing - and the effects this might have! Although, I do get the feeling this wasn't covered by the press so other countries wouldn't know about it... only the few who visit the government's website would.

Anyway, I digress. Watch the six o'clock news and you'll just get English events, no matter how unimportant and irrelevant they are. Ok sometimes you get the big world news too, but trust me it's not the same.

Do yourself a favour and watch BBC news at like 4 or 5am.

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June 25, 2007 - Monday

Monkey Ball on the Wii is the biggest load of shit I've played in a while

AND I've played a few games in my life. I had the recent pain of having to review this for Corrosiongames.com (which you should check out now).

Ok. Anyway. Let's go through the basis of what is fundamentally wrong with this game, "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz" (it's a crap name for one):

1. Monkeys in balls. Why?
I've never been a fan of this style of game and I never was a fan of the original title back on the Gamecube. I still don't understand why the hell someone would want to move a monkey around a course in a hamster ball, collecting bananas and getting pissed off every time you fall off the edge.

2. Don't do this to Mii.
This should not have been made specifically for the Nintendo Wii. The movement of the Wiimote makes me feel "special" and it's just generally bad all around. Ok so this was a launch game for the Wii - but so what? It's Sega; they can and should have done a lot better implementing a decent control system instead of one that just helps you fall off edges even more.

3. Mini-game garbage.
The main point of this anti-Monkey Ball blog. The 50 mini-games on offer are the scummiest gaming bile ever excreted from Sega, in my opinion. They are horrendously evil and excrutiating to play. Hang on, the word "play" would be incorrect here - it's more like a form of self-torture. Why would anyone in their right mind want to do that? I don't want to even mention any examples, let's just say they don't work and aren't fun in the slightest.
Ok ok I'll give one example - rock paper scissors. Except there's a frying pan and crash helmet included too - why would you want to do that, Sega? Why ruin a perfectly normal, fun, simple game? By adding things that don't work, muck up the original concept and put monkeys in balls to play as? Arg.

Why, why, why? Someone tell me. And don't say, "why not."

4. Short Arse.
The game isn't big enough. Actually... come to think of it, that's a good thing. It'll all be over soon. Ahhh...

5. Bosses - wtf?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Again, something which Sega has disagreed with here.
"Let's put bosses in!!" they probably discussed.
"Yea great idea! We'll make it so the player has to just tilt and jump at the boss at the same time, it'll be classic gameplay!"

Or not.

6. Don't buy it.
I can't write any more about this game. I may have mild depression if I continue any longer.

Make sure to kill any monkeys in balls you see.

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June 17, 2007 - Sunday

Message for our troops in Iraq

WELL, more of a song.

My cousin Johnny is currently serving in Iraq and has been for around a month now, so I decided to dedicate a song to him, to the British troops in Iraq and to those who have any opinion regarding the war.

Youtube is being stupid, so I can't upload the song there just yet, but it's on my Myspace profile and Rise the Phoenix music page (which you can find here).

For those who aren't familiar with my music, I'm a rock guitarist looking for a band. I write all music and lyrics myself. To help me find the best musicians possible, I record all my stuff on my computer, while playing the vocal track with a clean (ish) sounding guitar.

This is just one of the tracks off my CD "Rise the Phoenix." You can badger me for a free copy if interested. I don't usually do this, but it's quite a meaningful display this time, I would say.

Lyrics: I'm Bleeding Ink...

I've been thinking "U.S. Allies"

Cos my cousin's in Iraq

Now I'm asking all the questions

What if he's not coming back?

When I put this pen to paper…

How it shoots and seeps in black:

'Where do squads and journos embed?'

'Who's to save them from the flak?'

[Spoken verse]

Don't get me wrong, I support war, but not a war of bombs, not a war of wrongs, a war of words. We have the right to say whatever we choose in this country. So don't let political correctness stand in your way. The irony is some political movements aren't correct anyway.

Don't hate journalism. Without it, the world would be a much darker place. Hate separatism. But don't hate journalism. Trust me. I'm from Essex.

It pains me to write this down, as if it could somehow take theirs away. God watch over our soldiers. This one's for you guys. I'm bleeding this ink for you. So -

Tell me why you choose to fire with a gun instead

How are we equal and civil men? (I'll never know)

Tell me why the troops they wanna see their own kind dead

As for me, I'll fight with the pen

SPITE

[Instrumental]

FIGHT

Make a stand with me, for humanity

cos freedom of speech is all we've got left

Throw down weaponry, raise your hand with me

cos freedom of speech is all we've got left

[x2]

He joined the army, fought for his country

Will you write blood, will you bleed ink?

I joined the media, wrote propaganda

Will you write blood, will you bleed ink?

I know what I think yea yea

I'm still bleeding ink...

Dominic Sacco June 2007 Rise the Phoenix Copyright.

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June 1, 2007 - Friday

Cops and nobbers

WALKING HOME on a Thursday night shouldn't be that bad.

But when you spot a guy across the road urinating up the wall, only to realise there's a woman crouched in pain beneath him, then you realise something probably isn't quite right.

So when he spits on her and she cries, "what are you doing?," then you know something isn't right.
Myself, on the other hand, being very tipsy and slightly shorter than the guy, who looks like a football hooligan, decides not to confront the nutcase. For all I know he could be carrying a knife or whatever.

So I ring the Police and let them know I'm concerned for the woman's safety. They ask for a description of the man and I abide. Law-abiding citizens live to tell the tale, right. Which is what I'm doing now.

I hear sirens a few minutes later and when I turn behind I can see the lights in the distance. I'm not sad enough to go back and see what will happen - I know The Police will have sorted it out. What bugs me is the idea that not everyone in my situation would have done the same... that woman could have got into a worse state and so on.

Ok I realise this blog is kind of depressing. I'm going to concentrate on more media-related blogs over the next few weeks instead of personal life-related topics!

But I will say one more thing:

There are a lot of nobbers out there. Thank God for the cops!

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May 25, 2007 - Friday

Getting things for free is great.

I WAS sitting at the bus stop, when a couple approached me.

"Hey fella, you waitin' for a yellow bus?"
"Yea," I reply.
"Here," the man says as he reaches into his pocket and hands me a slip of paper.
"It's an all day pass, I don't need it," he explains.
"Ahh cheers mate. There should be more people around like you. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome fella," he says, before walking off with his bird.

The bus appears two minutes later. Isn't it great when things just work? For everything else, there's masterclass. A group of rowdy nobheads fill the bus but I blank them out and Bad Religion pops into my head. Cool.

Anyway, I get to the club. Sound Circus in Bournemouth. I'm part of the live music society and so get in for free with the membership card (the ironic thing is that the live music society is hardly a society anymore, but the card is still valid for some reason! I'm not going to complain).

I'm not drinking tonight since yesterday night was possibly the most drunken night I have ever experienced and I wanted the chance to relax. So amongst the rocking-like-a-bitch and free water, I have an awesome time and talk to lots of cool people.

When we head home, would you believe it - by chance my mate is driving past us, so pulls over and picks us up, before driving us home. Free of charge of course. No taxi fare, no walking.

And that twenty is still in my pocket.

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May 15, 2007 - Tuesday

Whatever you do, don't mention the word "cult"

NOW I have heard of this Scientology whatnot before in the past, but nothing could have prepared me for what I've discovered today (and no it's not only the somewhat biased Panorama show).

Firstly, what I want to say that this religion is a total disgrace to all of us as a human race and a disgrace to any aliens that may be on other planets or what they say we descended from.

I'm not sorry for how my opinion on them has submerged deeper than any remains of the Titanic, because there is no need for cutting members of from their family (what they call a 'disconnect'), no need to follow reporters around and give them a bad name, nor is there any need to link psychiatry as a the route cause for the holocaust.

Oh yea, don't call them the four letter C word for this though:
Embedding has been stopped for this video, click on this sentence to view it.

Two things about that video - BBC journalist John Sweeney on the right is not in the wrong for saying "some people say it's a cult" to get comment from Tommy Davis of the church of Scientology. Secondly, Panorama actually added a different voiceover to that footage when Davis is walking away, in the actual programme Sweeney is talking about some guy who said it was a cult, not being a British citizen.

What Scientology do to attack the BBC back is post their own video on Youtube, of Sweeney losing his cool - he should not have done so being a professional journalist, nor should he have been so obsessed with using the C word. It's not a good idea to piss off your interviewees. Also, they cut interviews from famous actors and actresses - why? They should have been included in more depth, Panorama.

Anyway here's the video Scientology posted of Sweeney "losing his voice, not his mind" as he put it.

Fight, fight, fight!!
Ahem.

After watching the panorama programme tonight, I was bored and decided to do some more research into it. It was pretty biased, since they only interviewed people who oppose the 'religion,' so I found some documentaries from the 90s and other American film footage of Scientologist gatherings.
What I discovered was a plethora of ex Scientologists who say leaving was the best thing they done and promotional videos from the 'religion' themselves. In nearly all instances, Scientology did not like anyone looking into their cult (oops, that one just slipped out), and instead they turned the tables in every case - by filming, photographing and documenting the investigator for future reference. They research into that person's background and will defame them instead. I have to say at this point, I have to hand it to them for being a religion with balls but that's as far as my admiration for them goes. After watching and reading up on them I actually feel sick.
They carry out audits with members, or what they call a series of tests known as Dianetics, which are like lie detectors and they pinpoint and record every bad moment in people's lives. It's simple if no-one has seen it already and it's how they make their money - they identify so called negative aspects with people so that they join and pay lots of their hard-earned cash to the church to help them get over problems they don't even have.

They are completely against psychiatry. They led a journalist round one of their museums of torture, saying how psychiatry was to blame for it. They stalked John Sweeney in various cars and with various private investigators - is this not scary or what? This 'religion' has been under our noses the whole time and I had no idea what they were like. To be honest I'm glad they're not a recognised religion in our country and I'm glad they've been brought to light for what they are.

L. Ron Hubbard - the guy who thinks some space alien blew up people in volcanoes.

I mean, their founder was a science fiction writer. Of course his religion is going to be about aliens blowing up people in volcanoes with H-bombs. But there's people out there who actually believe this? Please. The words plausible and Scientology should never be put in the same sentence in my opinion. And a lot of them wear black - whats that all about? It's like a big conspiracy; they could be the Men In Black but with an ulterier motive of cleansing the entire planet of non believers. Or something.

This organisation is not a recorded religion in the UK since it's a pay-as-you-go 'religion' and charities found no examples of positive social change from Scientology (a lol is in order there) but in America it is. They even have Tom Cruise as a level 7 OT something or other, which cost him millions of dollars to reach that level apparantly.

Watch this video on 90s Scientology instead - it's better than the Panorama one

Truth is, I could go on and on about this whole debate and there's a lot of material out there to read on it. But at the end of the day I hope artists put pen to paper, write some really good records about it (Bad Religion you better be listening), I hope more journalists keep looking into Scientology to uncover more about its shady goings on and I hope people will stop fighting each other over sets of beliefs which make no God damn difference to how we live our lives apart from producing hatred.

All I know is religion causes war. Down with the lot of them.

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