Heavy Metal Sunday wanted a mohawk, back in the day.

One of the more fascinating things in metal is what happens when we see stylistic blending with other genres of music. Metal/Rap has been well covered, as has crossings between prog rock and metal bands. But often ignored is the cross-pollination between punk rock and metal. Punk influences lead to the birth of Speed and Thrash Metal (my favorites) and punk's political themes also made their way into metal's consciousness.

But the exchange flowed both ways. In the early eighties several punk bands experimented with metal riffs and beats to varying effect. Perhaps the most successful of these was 1982's Coup d'Etat by the Plasmatics. Today's video, THE DAMNED is the Plasmatics at their best, blowing crap up and Wendy O. Williams being an angry, intelligent, sex goddess.

Sadly, this album marked the beginning of the end for the Plasmatics. Dropped by their label, they went on a series of hiatuses and breakups. Later albums were weak and irregular. Williams became more interested in working for animal rights and left performing behind. Wendy's last performance of a Plasmatics song occurred due to the prompting of Joey Ramone. She performed "Masterplan" one final time with Richie Stotts, when Richie's band opened for the Ramones on New Year's Eve, 1988. Ten years later, she committed suicide.

Bonus! Wendy O. and Motörhead doing Stand By Your Man! Take that, Tammy Wynette!

"Wow, a Grand Opening! Who do we know who is dead?"

Saw this in Stockton, and the choice of product made me laugh and grab the camera.

All shall bow before the power of Gridlore!

Hey, I actually got a victory out of Civ IV today! Domination victory with about 80 years left. I was playing the Mongolians on a random map that created two major continents and a few large islands. I really lucked out in terms of resources, I had early access to cows, elephants, rice, and horses. I was also lucky in that two of my three neighbors were weak. I concentrated on wonders and specialists that allowed me quick tech gains. When I finally went to war with Montezuma (I needed access to the sea) I was sending macemen, knights, and longbowmen against his axe-wielding forces.

I quickly consolidated there, then turn on Peter the Great before he could turn on me. Turns out he had recently been warring with Saladin, so the Russian cities fell into my hands like over-ripe fruit. Since my armies were right there, I just charged on and conquered the Arabs as well. By this point I had actual infantry and my navy was going from sail to steam. After hunting down Arabia's last outpost, I turned to my last rival on the main continent. Now armed with tanks and artillery, the Mayans fell quickly.

One trick I've learned is to build cultural items like temples or theaters in captured cities. It makes for happier citizens, and spreads your influence faster. Needless to say I was doing the same in cities not near the war zone. I was gearing up for an invasion of the French continent when I got the message that I had won a domination victory, and saw this video.

Chieftan difficulty, standard size, temperate world.