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Rash of Early Retirement Plagues UFC

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Anthony Johnson
Johnson’s final moments in front of UFC cameras

6/19/2017, Blake Kirkland – Another day, and most of us await the next lunch hour, pay day or for the lucky, vacation. Yet on the trajectory of life, sometimes the things you have to do simply out way the things you want to do. So when our beloved heroes, surreptitiously exit the lofty mantle of sport, it shocks us.

Just last Saturday, Heavyweight phenom Derrick Lewis 18-5-0, told viewers his fight with Mark Hunt had been his last. It wasn’t just another loss, of which Lewis had experienced little on his six fight win streak stretching back to 2015.

Lewis told announcer John Annick, “I’m getting married next week, and I don’t like putting my family through all of this so this would be my last fight. Most likely it’s my last fight in the UFC.” Additionally, the heavyweight expounded on a host of injuries that had been plaguing him, most notably his lower back. An injury common to practitioners of Jiu Jitsu and all grapplers alike.

However, Lewis has yet to be the only casualty of this premature retirement phenomena. The most awe striking being, former number 2 ranked, Light Heavyweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Johnson reportedly leaving for opportunities outside the UFC, rumored to be everything from a position in the front office of the Los Angeles Rams, to the emergently legalized cannabis industry.

Despite the seismic disturbance caused by both mens exit, the rolling show of the Ultimate Fighting Championship carries on. Yet, what can be made of such sudden and inauspicious flights from the sport of cage fighting? Like Lewis and others afflicted with injuries alike, is it the grueling year-round training regimes finally taking their toll? Or rather, like Johnson, are fighters simply tired of kicking, punching and rolling around the mats with other grown men. Time can only tell; but as we move towards the next pay-per-view UFC 213, one can’t help but wonder, who might be next?

Girl of the Week Alexandra Thurlwell

Girl of the Week Alexandra Thurlwell

6/18/2017, 3:05 p.m.

 

Hometown:

Measurements (Bust, waist, hips):

Favorite band or musical act: 

Movie that scared you the most or your favorite video game: 

Tell us about your hobbies or the worst date you ever went on:  

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Model Mayhem 

The Millbrook Estates

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By: Christian Rojas // @thriftycollective – Back in the 60’s, the famous psychedelic proponent Timothy Leary took up residence in a 64-room mansion called the Hitchcock estate in Millbrook, New York to study LSD, its effects and possible benefits for the human condition. He believed “A psychedelic experience is a journey to new realms of consciousness. The scope and content of the experience is limitless, but its characteristic features are the transcendence of verbal concepts, of spacetime dimensions, and of the ego or identity”.

Over 50 years later, a resurgence of Leary’s meta-existential mindset has resurfaced in the musical force that is The Millbrook Estates, a five person psych-rock ensemble based out of Austin. Their focus is on inspiring others to make the most of themselves and learn to love each other through the stimulating capacity of music. Imagine a modern day Beatles that already has a uniquely well-defined sound reminiscent of the simpler kukukachu walrus days.

One of their breakthrough performances occurred at their favorite venue, the Electric Church, a true mecca for all walks of life which features mesmerizing liquid light projections and a truly intimate atmosphere that is still friendly to those not 21+. You can find them soaking up the ethereal vibes even when they are not performing, as they say “it’s never a bad day to go to Church”.

On their inspiration: “Artist wise we jam out to Todd Rundgren, Marvin Gaye, and the Mars Volta; our lyrical inspirations tie back to eastern spirituality a lot as well as philosophy, psychology, and intertwined personal experiences”.

When asked what the overall objective of the band is, drummer Doran Rawlinson stated, “Our mission is just to get people to look within themselves to find understanding of human nature. The human mind is so vast and capable of existing from so many different perspectives, we just want to encourage more thought. We must take our consciousness seriously if we’re going to preserve our existence”.

You can catch The Millbrook Estates at their next show with fellow psychedelic rock aficionados Boogarins June 21st at the Sidewinder in Austin, Texas and their music will be available online at the end of August.

Band members: Doran Rawlinson (drums), David Rawlinson (guitar/vocals), Ricky Acosta (bass), Eric McKeefer (synth), Everett Bergstedt (guitar)

Strip Club Massacre Interview Part 2

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6/13/2017 – Bob Clarke and Bruce Kilroy over at Reel Bloody Films have released their first feature length film, Strip Club Massacre.  We picked up on this during production and ran a short interview with the gore duo. Now that the movie has been released we picked up the phone to find out how the film has been doing, what they learned from making Strip Club Massacre, and what is just over the horizon for Reel Bloody.

 

Strip Club MassacreSlickster – When was the official release date of Strip Club Massacre and how has the response from fans been thus far?

Bruce – After a long time, we got with Midnight Releasing and Brain Damage films, got all of our ducks in a row, and we released on May 2nd, 2017.  That was the official domestic release, but we’ve got some international rights out there as well.  I think the reception overall has been positive.  That’s not to say that Bob and I haven’t read a couple of reviews that were pretty negative.  But, even those ones are the ones that, we kind of chuckle about because, you know, everyone has their opinion.  What may do it for some person, may not do it for another person.

One thing I can say that I’m super proud of is, this is Bob and I’s first full length feature film.  No one has critiqued the movie on anything Bob and I already didn’t know.  Like, “Next time, mental note; We’re gonna UNFUCK that. We’re gonna fix this…”   So I feel like, that is a victory!  If someone said something soooo far off and Bob and I were like, “DUDE! That never occurred to me.” But no one has had anything negative to say that we didn’t already kind of agree with.  To me, I don’t really care if it’s a negative review, because that means they see the same things we do.  We know where we need to improve, and the reviewers see the potential that we have.

Bob – This answer is 100% spot on.  There have been some negative reviews, but there isn’t anything out there that we didn’t already know.

The film was actually more gorey than I expected.  You guys really went for the jugular, pun intended, in certain keys scenes.  Did you accomplish the level blood and shock that you wanted to, or did you feel you that maybe you could have taken it a little further?

Bob – Honestly, I wanted more blood.  Especially in the closing massacre scene itself, I feel like there are some things here and there I should have done a little differently.  I am happy with the production and the final product, but when I watch it I’m like, “Aghhh! I should’ve done this. I should’ve done that.”   I think I did want a little more shock value, but as Bruce will tell you,  our next project is going to come hitting hard!

Bruce – We wanted to try and concentrate on the story.  We felt like we created something special because we had a really good story.  I think because of that, we did scale back a little bit.  We just don’t want to throw tits and blood on the screen for the sake of saying, “Look at all these tits and blood“.  We wanted there to be that, but we also wanted people to acknowledge that it was a pretty decent story and well thought out.  But as Bob said, the next go-round will have more than we did on Strip Club Massacre.

Bone to pick. Slasher movie cliché, I know, but the two main female protagonists (Alica Watson and Courtney Riggs)  didn’t have any nude scenes.  All of the other actresses were naked at some point , but not these two. What gives?!

Both  – [Laughs]

Bob – I don’t really want to get into the answer of that question! Nothing bad, but let’s just say that was not my intention from day one. It ended up happening that way, but if I could go back and do it again there would have been a lot of things I would have done different.  That was one of things that Bruce and I have talked about.

Bruce –  To a certain degree, part of the element that contributed to that was, this was Bob and I’s first feature. It was on a micro budget.  We had to be ok with scaling back a bit where needed, and this goes right along with the gore, wether it was our choice or not.  We said, “No matter what, this film is going to be finished.”  This was a side effect of the small budget we had I think.

Bob – Very good answer!

Any project, especially a project of this scope, is bound to have some learning experiences.  Can you share a one or two of the lessons that you learned during the making of Strip Club Massacre?

Bob – One thing I learned about making a full feature, especially if it’s your first or early on in your career is, limit your locations and limit your cast.   We had extras.  We had twelve to thirteen locations.  When you’re doing a production schedule… and you’re traveling… and you’ve got 45 people in one strip club scene… and you’ve only got access to the strip club once a week…. It’s, well…  keep your cast small and your locations smaller!  That’s the biggest tip I can give a ‘starting out’ film maker with a low budget.

 

What’s next for Reel Bloody Films?

Bruce – For the record,  Bob and I are Reel Bloody Films.  You’re not going to find him working on anything that I’m not working on and vice-versa.  We’re a package deal.  That being said, we’ve been trying to let the release of Strip Club Massacre happen and kind of see how everything goes.  We’ve been tossing around a few ideas, but I think at this point Bob and I definitely have our next full length feature.  We are currently writing it.  It will be…..  I think it’s safe to say that Strip Club Massacre was pretty sexy and pretty fun, but I don’t think you’re going to get the same amount of ‘sexy n’ fun’ out this next film.  We’re going to try and push the boundaries a little bit and get more grisly….

Bob –  Just imagine Rounders meets Hostel!  With a bunch of sexy women involved again, but with a much more darker, sinister, gritty feel to the movie.  We’ll still have some campy one-liners here and there, but I wanted to go all in on this one, hit hard, and make people say, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”  That’s the goal in this upcoming one.

Thanks for talking to Slickster Magazine.  Whiteboard.  Anything goes, shoot!

Bruce – Look for us on social media or any of the major platforms and you’ll find us. There will be updates on the new film up there soon.  There isn’t any misinformation out there.  There are a few people who have accused us of failing miserably at sexploitation. But in our defense, I don’t think we ever said we were going to do sexploitation.  That got put in our mouths early on because of the film’s title (Strip Club Massacre).  To some degree, that’s expected with a title like that, and people took their own liberty.

Bob – Yeah, I agree with Bruce.  Never did we intend to do a sexploitation film, so to whoever said that, I don’t know where you made that up, but go fuck yourself!

All – [Laughs]

 

Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev 2 Video Analysis and Prediction

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Key Points from Kovalev vs Ward 1 

Ward’s Front Hand Control

Andre Ward fights from an orthodox stance despite being left-handed, this means his front hand is actually his strong one, as a result Ward has lots of variety and confidence in his lead hand. The front hand variations allow Ward to control distance and also score with a mixture of punches.

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Level changes along with the unpredictability of Ward’s lead hand made it difficult for Kovalev to get any continued momentum going during the fight.

Kovalev’s Size Advantage

Both fighters are the same height though Kovalev has a one and a half inch reach advantage, however, Kovalev is naturally the stronger man.

Kovalev has campaigned as a light heavyweight for the entirety of his career as opposed to Ward who had only fought twice at light heavyweight prior to Kovalev vs Ward 1.

Ward was cautious due to the natural size and power of Kovalev, the respect he was given enabled Kovalev the freedom to hold the centre of the ring for a large part of the contest. Ward was forced to utilise lateral movement more than I’ve ever seen him use before.

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The Knockdown

From all the possible outcomes Kovalev was (and still is) more likely of the two to finish the fight within the distance. Boasting an 81% knockout rate in his 30 wins Kovalev is a proven puncher, Ward felt the power early in the first fight suffering a knockdown in round two.

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Whatever happens in the rematch Kovalev knows he’s only ever one or two punches away from ending the fight, it doesn’t matter if he’s down on the cards or having minimal success the slightest opening is all he might need.

Ward’s Defensive Awareness

The knockdown seemed to wake Ward up as his immediate response was to try and get off first instead of countering in order to prevent Kovalev taking the initiative.

As the fight went on Ward’s measure of distance improved drastically which caused Kovalev to miss more and more in the latter half of the fight.

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Kovalev’s Reluctance to Work in Close

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What surprised me most about the first fight was how uninterested Kovalev seemed to be in fighting on the inside. One would assume being the bigger man it would provide an ideal opportunity to impose himself on Ward, Kovalev looked happy to hold until the ref separated the two men.

If Kovalev chooses to engage in a game of tag at distance once more he’ll severely limit his chances of winning. A slow paced fencing type contest suits the Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward far more than Sergey Kovalev.

 

Prediction 

The biggest talking point from the first fight was the scoring, all three ringside judges had it 114-113 in favour of Ward.

Kovalev vs Ward scorecards

After the fight there was some controversy as many fans and observers thought Kovalev had done enough to win, out of 63 scorecards from the ringside media 46 scored it for Kovalev, 16 scored it for Ward, and 1 scored it a draw.

I personally had it 114-113 to Ward but the fight was such a tight contest I could see a case for all 3 outcomes.

Let me explain why I scored the fight for Ward. The rounds I gave Kovalev without any doubt were pretty easy to score as during those rounds (one, two, and ten) he was the guy coming forward and clearly landing more shots, pretty simple to score.

In the close rounds (and there was many of them) not only did Ward seem to be landing the cleaner punches he also made Kovalev miss giving me the impression he was controlling the close rounds.

ward-kovalev-compubox-punch-stats

Compubox stats back up my observations, if you take a look at the round by round punch stats above and pay close attention to the rounds in which there’s minimal difference in punches landed you can see how much higher Ward’s land percentage is.

When the total number of combined punches landed in a fight is as few as 242 the criteria for scoring becomes a lot more scrutinised.

In low scoring fights, defence becomes a crucial factor in swaying rounds either way. Ward is unquestionably the smarter defensive fighter & unless Kovalev can do something drastically different the fight will follow a similar pattern.

Andre Ward, in my opinion, wins that type of fight 9 times out of 10 and more importantly, American judges on American soil will score a fight like that for Andre Ward 10 times out of 10.

 

Andre Ward wins on points.

Golden State Wins NBA Championship

Warriors Win Championship.

Image from ESPN

After a final score of 129-120 the Golden State Warriors have won the NBA Finals series 4 games to 1. The Warriors lost only one game all postseason after Cleveland put on a historic performance. After winning 73 games in an 82 game series the Golden State Warriors tasted bitter defeat after being up 3 to 1. That is all an afterthought as they hold the Larry O’Brien championship high in the sky. Every single member of that team worked hard for their title and earned the ring.

And all it took was: The first unanimous MVP, arguably greatest shooter ever Steph Curry. A shooter not far behind in All-Star Klay Thompson. Perennial DPOY candidate Draymond Green. One of the top benches in the league. A team including Steve Kerr, Mike Brown, Steve Nash and many more in coaching and development. Oh wait! Golden State also added the second best player in the world and most versatile scorer in the NBA Kevin Durant in a fluke cap increase that let them sign him. (And don’t forget all the tired, forgotten, ring chasers.)

Kevin Durant is a Champion.

 

Image from NBA

The Finals MVP went to Kevin Durant. Kevin had an amazing and dominant playoff run that continued in the Finals. He absolutely stuffed the statsheet: 35.2 pts, 8.4 rebs, 5.4 asts, 1 stl, and 1 blk on 55.6/47.4/92.7 Kevin Durant was indomitable. Steph shot the lights out, Dray played great defense and the rest of the team played their heart out. But Kevin Durant was the greatest player on the Golden State squad. But he wasn’t the best man on the court. Oh! And he’s a coward.

Kevin Durant a soft, whiny, conceited, zero-guts, sell out, coward. He had a chance to be the man after going up 3-1 against the greatest single season team of all time. His Thunder were up 3-1 against the Warriors and he personally choked away three straight games. Kevin Durant did what was best for him. He picked a team that would give him his best opportunity for success financial and professional. And he had the audacity to say he was taking the hardest road.

 

The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction. But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man…

Hated by Many. Loved by Few.

He knew the scrutiny that he would be facing. He knew exactly what everyone would think of him. That he was giving up. Kevin knew everyone would tell him he didn’t want to win it. That he wanted to be given everything. That was something he knew would happen. He would lose respect from every city in the NBA. Every city but one: Oakland. They welcomed him with open arms. A city that always packed the house, even before the success. A fandom that embraced the hatred from so many others. Holding three fingers in the air as their Golden State Warriors buried teams in a deluge of threes. Playing unselfish offense and swarming defense. The Warriors fans suffered through years of heartache, false hope, and defeat. Boo-hoo. So has every other city in the NBA.

A King Defeated. But Not Dethroned.

Image from Twitter

Lebron James has once again been defeated in the NBA Finals. Despite having eight trips to the Finals he has lost more than he has won.  But don’t you dare place a single shred of blame on this man. For the next several months there will be debate on whether he was the real MVP. (Sorry Mrs. Durant.) And the fact is, he probably was. Probably. It’s hard to beat what KD did, but Lebron did about as much as possible to do it.

Lebron James 33.6 ppg, 12 rpg, 10 apg, 1.4 spg,  1 bpg, shooting 56.4%/38.7/64.9

Kevin Durant 35.2 pts, 8.4 rebs, 5.4 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg shooting 55.6/47.4/92.7

Kevin was more efficient from 3 and the line and scored more. Lebron rebounded more, assisted more, defended more, and actually lead his team. The King did not rest on the shoulders of three all stars. He had two, but Kyrie disappeared in the fourth. And Love never showed up. The only true help that came to Lebron in as the sun set and wolves came out was J.R. Smith. Despite struggling through the finals J.R. feasted from 3 shooting 7/8 and had 25 points. But it was the King who came to defend the land. 41 points, 8 rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block. Lebron could never rest, and when he did all that he worked for crumbled.

Winners are Bought. Not Made.

Golden State built their core with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. The end of their bench was also drafted with the likes of James Micahel Macadoo, Ian Clark, and Patrick McCaw. As for David West, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, and Kevin Durant? Bought. Money and ring chasing talks. The Warriors never did anything illegal. In fact, they have very little money invested in the team. 14th this year and 29th next year. They drafted smart, developed well, and hit the jackpot in free agency.

And the Cavaliers are just as guilty. Lebron has, for the most part, hand picked this team and even the coach. A team with shooters, defenders, all-stars and more. A team that paid over $127 million in salary this year. And will spend over $141 million next year. They tried to do the exact same thing as the Warriors. But aside from Kyrie Irving and arguably Tristan Thompson, they have developed little. Wiggins was traded for Kevin Love. Anthony Bennet is the worst first overall pick in NBA history. Dion Waiters and Jae Crowder, other prominent players drafted by the Cavs were also traded.

The Horrors Ahead.

Image from The Comeback

 

Nothing really. The Warriors are set for the next several years. All of their core players are young. Even if they have to gut their bench look at their starting lineup. Possibly the greatest shooter ever. Possibly the second greatest shooter ever. The second best player in the world and most versatile scorer there is. One of the premier defenders in the NBA today. Baring injury, trades, team meltdown, or the apocalypse there’s little to do. Aside from just building more super teams. Diluting talent and concentrating it into fewer and fewer teams. Regular season games will matter even less. Teams will just tank and pray like the 76ers or Lakers were/are. Basketball has lost its mystique it would seem. You can have three all-stars, legendary shooters, great leadership and arguably one of the top two players of ALL TIME. It doesn’t matter.

Nothing left to do besides wait it out I guess. At least, that’s what this salty Kings fan has to say. Here’s hoping Buddy Hield works out.

 

I’M NO VIGILANTE | Jason Nassr interview PART 1

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6/11/2017 – Jason Nassr is an activist based out of Ontario Canada.  He coaches people in legal matters and is passionate about environmental issues.  Yet, he may be most widely known for his other activities.  Nassr has an online presence that targets pedophile sexual predators.  Here is the first part of his story, as told to Slickster Magazine.

 

Slickster Magazine – Is there any information, or misinformation about you online that you’d like to dispel upfront?

Justin Nassr – Right off the top, I want to clarify; Some people see me as vigilante.  I don’t see myself as a vigilante.  For me, that term is really derogatory. I am nobody that dispenses justice. I am nobody to decide the fate of the these people that I capture on video or any other means.  For the most part, I kind of want to walk away from that term.  People can feel use to it all they want, but for me, I don’t think it works for me personally.

So you will talk to these people. You will find them, warn them, but as far as any type of ‘scales of justice‘, that is entirely not you.

Right. I find that people like Justin Payne, who call themselves ‘vigilante pedophile hunters’, I think that is a really powerful thing to get mixed up in.  I recently saw a video of one of Payne’s bodyguards talking about how he and Payne were in a bar together socially on their personal time, and Payne was going around to people and saying basically, “Do you know who I am? I’m Justin Payne” and shit like that.  It was befitting of what I see his character as.  He describes this as the ‘Payneful Truth’, he wears a sweatshirt with his own name and logo on it,  and this is just not me.  I don’t see myself as these other people who do this.  It’s kind of a shame that there are so many people who are doing this and not a truly organized movement.

You’re a lawyer, correct?  That is your main profession?

No, actually, I am called a legal coach. I volunteer with a non-profit organization and we help people who represent themselves in legal matters.  The stuff that we do is primarily teaching people about the law, teaching about the how to talk to judges better people… people who are representing themselves in legal matters that don’t have legal representation.  People that can’t afford a lawyer, for whatever reason, and they don’t qualify for a legal aid program.

You’re not a vigilante. Would you consider yourself a crusader?

(laughs).  I guess that would be defined best as what we define as The Crusade.  The Crusade, for me, is about education.  Most people see the stuff that I do as some sort of punitive measure, although people go pretty hard on me that I don’t report stuff to the police, for the most part.  So, The Crusade is about education, so in that regard, yes, I am a crusader.   I am very passionate about educating children.

You mentioned that you don’t report your activities to the police.  On other Youtube channels, their channel will be shut down or the police will attempt to intervene with what they are doing. Have you experienced this in Canada?  Have the law enforcement authorities in any way contacted you, or asked you to stop?  Has your Youtube channel been flagged, or anything like that?

The only people that are flagging my work are the people I am catching.  They don’t want their stuff online.  At one point it was almost exclusively that we were putting up videos on the ad-supported Youtube model.  Which is basically, stuff out in the open.  I realized that that was not going to be sustainable.  This is how these channels get shut down, because these people don’t want to be online and there is no defense to it.  Youtube supports the idea of taking these videos down, because they consider this ‘bullying’ or ‘harassing’, and that’s a shame.  Most of the time I don’t think these videos are aimed, or directed, like that.  They are aimed at getting these people’s faces out there, which in turn might be considered harassing with the blowback.  So, we started moving away from that model last year, with some pretty successful results.

You also posted this on your website, www.CreeperHunterTV.com as well?

Yes.  When we started the website, we concurrently started a paid Youtube channel. When we take a look at the paid Youtube channel as opposed to the ad-supported model, we find that people are more invested, obviously because they are paying for this content. In turn Youtube has an obligation to keep this content online, and therefor,  this is the only way I forsee that it will ever stay on Youtube.  Perhaps some of the episodes that you’ve seen, aren’t going to be there next week.

What about your interactions with the police?  Has there been any interference, or is the complete opposite?  Have they approached you and said, “Keep doing what your doing and let us know how we can help?”

Yeah, nothing but support from the police.  I’ve seen and we’ve probably handled, maybe ten different police agencies from across Ontario, here in Canada.  Basically, them contacting us looking for either statements or to see whether or not we were willing to be witnesses.  So that has been nothing but supportive from them.  I’ve actually had a sit-in with a police agency and we talked in depth for several hours about how to collect this evidence or what evidence works best for them.  In the alternative that we were looking to make these kind of reports to them, they were basically trying to groom us and at the same time they were also commending us for the tactics that we have implored.

How can parents best protect their children online?

I think it starts from prior to the age that I’m typically targeting.  Before puberty parents need to be talking to their kids and having good relationships with them.   That is ultimately what has to happen. They have to have an open and frank discussion about some of the most icky and disgusting stuff that there is in life.  If they can’t have that kind of relationship, if their child is out there seeking this information on the internet, or from their friends, that’s how children derail at their teenage years because they don’t have this trusting relationship with their parents.  If parents are not comfortable enough to talk to their child about this kind of content, it will separate them and make them more vulnerable. They will seek out the attention of adults who are significantly older than them that can bring that to their lives, and that’s a shame.  So, it starts with a great relationship, it starts with talking to them at a very early age.  Experts say, as soon as they (the child) starts asking questions, they should be getting answers directly from their parents.  If they’re not, they will seek those out online or other sources and they will essential get a mishmash of information that may or may not be helpful to them and send them in the wrong direction.

Is it difficult to find these individuals online that you expose?  Are they readily available?  Do they contact you? Do you have to sift through hundreds of them or is it only one or two?

It depends on the platform.  So, we have a website here in Canada, www.Kajiji.ca. It is the basically the equivalent to Craigslist in America. We done some of these postings like, ‘friends wanted‘ kind of stuff, “I’m a 13 year old girl…. 12 year old boy looking just for friends“, you know, whatever.  The response in a market with 100,000 people is about 200 responses.  Of those 200 people about 60%  [120] will continue to engage knowing it’s a child and most of that engagement will turn out to be sexual in nature.

So from one ad in a marketplace of 100K, 120 people will willingly engage in pedophilia activity!?

Right, and I guarantee about half of that [60] will be willing to meet.  Of that sixty, until the account gets shut down, we will see probably about ten of those people in person.

That’s from one ad?

Yes, that’s from one ad, one dating profile…  It’s about the same ratio in the Toronto area, which is a market of two million people, but obviously the volume is higher.   On the dating sites, it’s a little higher percentage, probably about 65-70% of people who will engage with the child knowing that they are a child.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…PART 2 HERE

Gloom Influx releases first album

6/1/2017 – Thank you to everyone who has offered their support of the synthwave coverage we’ve had on Slickster Magazine. For those of you who have been following our trail of synth wave artists, Gloom Influx is next among them.  Gloom Influx is Luc Leclerc.  He sent us an advance copy of his upcoming feature album release.  Actions speak louder than words, so let me describe what happened next.  I listened to single while sipping down a steaming hot cup of coffee.  Then I immediately went back to the email, downloaded the entire album, and loaded it onto my iPod nano.  Yeah, still rock a 2GB iPod nano.  Zero fucks given.   Then I listed to the entire album at full volume.  Then I listened to the entire album again.  Then my headphones broke so I got a pair of vintage 1980’s Walkman® foam covered headphones at the thrift store… and listened to the album again.  This album is worth checking out, and here a short interview with Luc about Gloom Influx.

 

Luc, great effort on your first album. We have really enjoyed listening to this. It seems like you have spent some considerable time working on the guitar sounds on the album. They sound huge! How did you create these patches?  Did you play the guitar live on some tracks?

Gloom Influx – Thanks, glad you liked it! Most of these sounds on the album are actually bass synthesizers, driven through a very distorted amp setup, and pushing the limits. As for guitars, I’ll just say that there some were sampled, and some were not. I plan to use more guitars in the future.

Obsidiane is one of my favorite tracks on the new album. Can you describe how you wrote and produced this track?

I really enjoy music from horror movies, especially Goblin. I remember having the theme for Phantasm stuck in my head for a long time, then I wrote this track – in a similar scale and tempo, it also has some common progressions. And like most songs I write, it only took me a few hours to finish composing, one idea morphing naturally into the next one.

Goblin is an Italian progressive rock band known for their soundtrack work.
Goblin is an Italian progressive rock band known for their soundtrack work.

Did you go to school to study music, or all self taught?

I actually did both, got some classical guitar lessons in school when I was young, and then I continued studying on my own, mainly about composition and arrangements. I produced quite a few albums over the years, under different names, but only by using the most basic mixing techniques. So I recently started to improve my production techniques with help from friends, tutorials, and online lessons.

What are a few of your favorite EDM bands?

I’m not really that much into EDM, but I really like Justice, Daft Punk, Boys Noize, and MSTRKRFT. Nowadays I like a lot of 80’s pop – some of which I disliked very much when I was growing up, like Hall & Oates, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Duran Duran. I was a young metalhead who started playing guitar at 11, and I was solely interested in thrash metal – Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Testament, Kreator, etc.

What are few of your favorite 80’s movies?

Everything by John Carpenter – especially The Thing, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China – and David Cronenberg – Videodrome, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Dead Zone. There’s just way too many good movies – Blade Runner, Mad Max, Tron, Re-Animator, Running Man, Brazil. And of course Ghostbusters.

Do you think the genre of synthwave is going to last a long time, or will come and go?

It’s hard to say… I’ve watched the synthwave / darksynth scene evolve quite a lot in the past few years. Not long ago, there were only a handful of live acts. Nowadays, there are literally hundreds of producers, with new releases every week. So there is a lot of generic stuff out there, because everybody is using the same keyboards / patches / chord progressions.

But there’s also some highly talented people out there – like Phaserland, Syntax, Volkor X, SurgeryHead, and more. And the genre works really well with movies & TV – like Stranger Things, and the upcoming Blood Machines movie with Carpenter Brut. So I’d like to think that the genre will stay, but it might re-invent itself as it gets more or less mainstream.

What are your social media pages and do you have any live shows coming up?

I’m on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. At this point, there are no live shows planned, but it is a very real possibility for the end of the this year. I’m not sure what my live setup would be, but I want to play real instruments as much as possible – not just be pushing buttons on a launchpad while reading my emails.

Girl of the Week Tini Wong

Girl of the Week Tini Wong

6/11/2017, 3:05 p.m.

 

Hometown: Singapore

Measurements (Bust, waist, hips): 32″ B, 26″, 34

Favorite band or musical act: Kodaline

Movie that scared you the most or your favorite video game: The Conjuring 2

Tell us about your hobbies or the worst date you ever went on:  I’m a workaholic!  I love to travel and trampoline parks!

Instagram 

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As We Die – An Interview with Original Misfit, and Punk Legend, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein

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It was an absolute honor to interview Misfits guitarist, and punk legend, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein. After the absolute insanity of reuniting  with the Original Misfits at Riot Fest, he recently  released a new record entitled  As We Die with his band Doyle. Doyle also wrapped up their first tour of Europe and are currently trekking across North America. If that’s not enough, Doyle is starring in his first  movie called Death Ward 13 which is currently in production, and signing bands to his label; Monsterman Records. We had the privilege of carving out a few moments of Doyle’s time to discuss all his current projects, The Misfits, and The New York Giants.

Can you talk a little to how you approached the new record “As We Die”?

“We wrote most of the songs during Abominator, really it was just us in a room banging out riffs and writing songs, we have a lot of guest spots on the record as well including Randy Blythe from Lamb of God on ”Virgin Sacrifice”, and Alissa White-Gluz and Michael Amott from Arch Enemy on “Kiss Me As We Die” on the record. I told Michael that I needed a solo and he was on it, but I told him not to play above the 12th fret cause I didn’t want to do that.”

How did you get the guest spots on the record?

“Well, we sent them the three songs and let them do their thing. Like with Michael’s guitar solo, I just sat in the corner on Instagram until he told me he was done, or he took too long and I had to tell him to stop cause I needed to play on the song too”

And the record will be released through EMP Records /  Monsterman Records… who recently signed Element A440…Are you  looking to expand the label even more?

“Ya, it’s cool, we just signed them, and they are going out on tour eventually, EMP is Dave Ellefson from Megadeth’s label, and I was working with a friend of his recently talking about Monsterman Records, and he was like ‘why don’t you release the record with my label’. So it worked out great.”

You’ve got your hands on a lot right now including your first movie “Death Ward 13”, was this just the right time to start your film career, or was the character of “The Duke” just too good to pass up?

“That was my manager who set that up…. I’ve never really done any acting cause it’s really hard”, I’ve been in a few things in the past, but in this movie I don’t have any lines and then kill everyone so…. It’s right up my alley.”

I have to ask what was the vibe playing those two shows as the Original Misfits, people were going nuts…

“It was good, just like old times, we laughed, and had a lot of fun. I wish we were doing more, but you know.”

You’re 2017 Abominate the World Tour continues tomorrow in Raleigh, NC, with Davey Suicide, what is the best part of playing your songs live?

“I get to bang on my guitar within those 12 notes, it’s pretty amazing.”

Can you speak a little to what influenced you to want to play guitar and be a full-time musician?

“Shit, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Joe Perry, there are a lot of influences around that I can’t even remember right now.”

You have been playing guitar with The Misfits, and by yourself for going on 40 years. There are so many artists and musicians that list The Misfits as huge influences on their sound

“You know it’s crazy, you have Metallica, Rob Zombie, and Punk bands, Metal Bands that list us as influences, and we have gone on, we are then directly influenced by them as well, It’s amazing the breadth of genres that we have hit along the way. “

I see you in a New York Giants football shirt sometimes, are you a football fan?

“It’s stresses me out man, I used to watch it all the time, and it just go too much. Now I just watch the playoffs, and that’ the only thing I watch on TV. I don’t need any more stress.”

Well I’m a Cleveland Brown’s fan, so I know all about stress

“Ya but you guys won like 9 Championships in the 50’s…”

Ya but you have 4 Super Bowls, we can’t compete with that, I just listen to them on the radio anymore

What’s next for you guys? Any more Misfits tours?

“You know, I wish it was that simple and I could tell you we were going to do anything coming up, but even if we were, I couldn’t tell you. The two shows we played were pretty great, we are going to do the rest of this tour with Doyle and figure something out. “

 

 

 

 

 

Twitch Affiliate Members Getting Cut of Game Sales

Time to make it rain! Or at least… drizzle. Maybe a light mist. Could even be some increased humidity… Either way Twitch is sending money to members of their Affiliate program through game sales.

Affiliate as Advertisers

After introducing their Twitch Affiliate Program  to help streamers who weren’t quite qualified for their Partner Program, Twitch is expanding their streamer support. If a game is available through the Twitch store and is being streamed and viewers like it, they can buy it right then and there. So now an Affiliate and Partner streamer becomes further ingrained in the marketing. Now streamers aren’t just showcasing the game, they’re selling them. Game developers are realizing the power of streamers and while YouTube is shunning it, Twitch all in. Since Amazon bought Twitch, they’ve expanded the revenue sources, and using Twitch as an online retailer coincides perfectly.

Affiliates and Partners, will have the titles and in-game content on their Channel pages. Each purchase will earn them a five percent cut. Twitch used to get thirty percent of sales through the program with seventy percent going to developers. The five percent cut for streamers comes from Twitch’s portion. If  viewers want to think it over, the games are available on their detail page at any time. The games are downloaded via Twitch’s desktop app.

The games will be advertised and available, without being intrusive.

Twitch’s Money Machine

Since announcing they’d sell games in Februrary, their library has continued to expand. When using the official Twitch app, players can find AAA titles and great indie games. Although they have been tight lipped on official sales numbers, it seems like Twitch is doing everything right. Whether it’s TwitchCon expecting more than 40,000 attendants, owning the E-sport stream market, or climbing the Alexa rankings they can do no wrong. Everybody wins with this move by Twitch. Partner and Affiliate streamers are being given more avenues to make money and legitimize their business. Twitch has more inroads with developers and continues to corner the evolution of the gaming business. And developers can showcase their games to a broad audience and try to capture their excitement for their titles.

We here at Slickster Magazine love the hard work and dedication streamers put into their craft. So much so we try to give some of these up and coming streamers their due. And in a world increasingly filled with clickbait, false advertisements, and money grubbing developers this is good for consumers. At its core it’s just a new way to advertise games. But this is an unobtrusive way to advertise games that make sense. People who watch Twitch streams often want to try out the games for themselves. Twitch is helping to shape the future of gaming for players, streamers, and now developers. Do you think this is their next step in world domination?

Girl of the Week Virginia Richmond

Girl of the Week Virginia Richmond

6/4/2017, 3:05 p.m.

 

Hometown: Massachusetts

Measurements (Bust, waist, hips):  34″ B, 26″,

Favorite band or musical act: Aluna George

Movie that scared you the most or your favorite video game: Resident Evil 5

Tell us about your hobbies or the worst date you ever went on:  I love music, photography, acting and I am very passionate about inspiring others. I also love the outdoors, sports and staying active. Very much into the arts of all types. Always love staying busy and kind of a workaholic when it comes to getting my dreams done.

UFC 212: Aldo vs Holloway Main Card Preview and Picks

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Aldo vs Holloway

Jose Aldo will return to compete in his home country for the first time in almost three years, the interim champion Max Holloway is the man who stands between Aldo and the undisputed featherweight championship.

The most decorated featherweight in all of MMA is in the process of trying to regain some of the respect he lost in that early KO loss against Conor McGregor, we live in a time where it’s too easily forgotten how dominant Jose was as champion instead focusing on a single loss. Aldo’s run of seven title defenses in the span of four years against credible contenders was nothing short of outstanding.

Aldo’s return after the loss to McGregor was against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July earlier this year, Edgar was riding a 5 fight win streak and betting favorite heading into the rematch. Jose Aldo although an underdog showed everybody that he’s still one of the best in the world, dispatching an improved Edgar just as impressively as the first time.

Still, only 30 years old I feel Aldo has enough time to restore the adoration he once received a few years back. Beating Max Holloway would be a perfect place to start.

Holloway has earned a title shot the hard way, hurdling fighter after fighter slowly climbing the ranks taking on guy’s with all different bases and fighting styles. The run of nine straight victories has been invaluable because, at the tender age of 25, Holloway already has an amazing record full of talented fighters with many years left to compete in the sport.

Is this a case of Holloway catching Aldo at the right time in his career or has the title shot come too soon, all questions will be answered on Saturday night.

 

Claudia Gadelha vs Karolina Kowalkiewicz

Who couldn’t be excited at the prospect of the #1 and #2 fighters in a weight division locking horns?. Both have come up short against the champion Joanna jedrzejczyk but with this contest, each woman has the chance to put themselves right back into the mix.

Claudia Gadehla has two losses to Joanna however, both fights were pretty close so although it’s a hard sell an impressive performance against Karolina could go a long way to getting one final crack at the champ. Having recently moved to Albuquerque in an attempt to add some new things to her game it’s clear Gadehla is very determined to take the necessary steps to try and close the gap between herself and Joanna.

Kowalkiewicz’s fight with Joanna was not as close as Gadehla’s but she did rock Joanna pretty good, the worst she’s been hurt during her UFC run that’s for sure. This week Karolina has been vocal about how that loss still irritates her so she needs no extra motivation to get a victory this weekend.

 

Potential fight of the night

Erick Silva vs Yancy Medeiros

Silva once considered a top welterweight prospect has fallen off the radar in recent times, what he brings to the octagon is his aggressive brand of striking that makes for a wild fight. Medeiros welcomes the chance to exchange and isn’t shy to have a tear up himself, we saw that in his fight with Francisco Trinaldo. The two styles should come together nicely to give fans a fight worthy to kick-off the main card.

 

Main Card Picks

Jose Aldo vs Max Holloway (Aldo)

Claudia Gadelha vs Karolina Kowalkiewicz (Gadelha)

Vitor Belfort vs Nate Marquardt (Belfort)

Paulo Borrachinha vs Oluwale Bamgbose (Borrachinha)

Erick Silva vs Yancy Medeiros (Medeiros)

Impact Winter Review

6/1/2017, By: David 64 – Impact Winter follows the story of five survivors in the wake of a devastating meteor impact with Earth. Surviving this however was only the first step, as the resulting fallout has left the world buried in snow amidst a seemingly unending Winter.

You play as Jacob Solomon, the de-facto leader of the group barely scraping by in the ruins of an old church. As the game begins you receive word that help is coming in 30 days. You must try and make it with your four fellow survivors until then.

This is perhaps the first hint that Impact Winter is trying to set itself apart from the steady string of survival games we have seen over the past few years. Death is not inevitable, nor is endlessly building a bigger and better base your only direction. The 30 Day timer gives you a clear goal and in many ways it becomes a game of rationing your time and energy, and the risk vs reward of decisions you have to make, than just your standard survival chores. Helping strangers, keeping morale up and other tasks can also reward you with Rescue points, which reduce the 30 Day rescue timer, making some riskier situations all the more enticing.

As well as managing your time, you do of course have to manage some standard survival stats. The survivors each have their own Energy, Warmth, Hunger, Thirst and morale meters which must be carefully cared for to stand a chance of making it the 30 days. Each of the four survivors can also offer missions that can help the camp in different ways – such as improving your home base, cooking meals to stretch your food as far as it will go, improving your helper robot to find more valuable supplies or developing campsites and animal traps to help you venture further from your home base. These missions also offer a lot of insight into the personalities of the different survivors. Everyone has their own story of their life before the Impact, what they lost, and what still keeps them going. Time being perhaps your most precious resource however, it’s unlikely you will have enough to follow everyone’s quest line in one playthrough. Which adds some replayability.

When you’re not getting to know your fellow survivors and building up your base, you will find yourself wandering ‘The Void’ – The snow buried outside world – in search of supplies. Which are surprisingly abundant. Fuel, food and water are in good supply (At first at least), and your survivors can really help stretch them out by developing more efficient ways to use them. This may sound a little easy, but really it just shows how important efficiency is to the game. You’re on a clock. It’s not just about immediate survival, it’s about planning, preparing and really thinking about what you will need to get you to that 30 day finish line. Supplies may be plentiful right now, but what can you do now to prepare for when they’re not? Maybe you make a mental note of an item’s location for later rather than using valuable inventory space right now. Or maybe rather than gambling on scavenging The Void, you spend your time honing your hunting skills. It’s always a decision of the best use of your time and energy.

On the technical side of things, the PC version of the game got off to something of a bumpy start. Players were plagued by long load times, confusing button mappings, a lack of mouse support and just generally poor PC optimisation overall. Many of these issues have however since been fixed in a patch, with the developers promising further improvements coming soon.

If you can get passed some technical issues, Impact Winter feels like something of a breath of fresh air for the survival genre. More optimistic and purposeful than most, it’s just different enough to offer a new experience to fans of the survival genre without being different enough to alienate them. Preparedness and efficiency are key. And seeing how your actions early in the game impact the difficulty later on, along with the multiple questlines to pursue, means there will be plenty of reasons to start back at Day 30 and test your mettle all over again.

Impact Winter

 

UFC 212: Jose Aldo vs Max Holloway Video Analysis and Prediction

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Holloway’s Keys to Success

Striking output

With an average of 5.67 significant strikes* landed per minute, the foundation of Max Holloway‘s success has been his striking output. Holloway has shown great conditioning which aids his ability to swarm opponents with constant movement and activity.

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Innovative striking

Complementing the volume of strikes is the unpredictable nature of Holloway’s attacks. He frequently changes the pattern of his offence making it difficult for opponents to read his angles and set themselves.

Strike variation.gif, Max Holloway Video

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Durability

We’ve never seen Holloway get seriously hurt in his UFC career, partly because he’s defensively sound partly because he’s got a good chin. When you strike with the sort of output Holloway does you’re bound to get caught as there are more opportunities for opponents to land shots. The few times Holloway has been cracked he’s hardly blinked.

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Aldo’s Keys to Success

Debilitating leg kick

After breaking his foot attempting to low kick Chan Sung Jung we’ve seen Aldo become more selective with his leg kicks. Since the fight with Korean Zombie, the current number of leg kicks attempted stands at 33* from 4 fights, to put that into perspective Aldo threw 29* in a single fight back in 2010 against Urijah Faber.

Aldo has been able to deal with recent opponents (excluding McGregor) without having to use the leg kick which is maybe why he’s refrained from using it. Max Holloway brings with him some unique problems that may well force Aldo to use the leg kick more frequently. When those kicks land they severely compromise the movement of whoever is unlucky enough to be on the receiving end.

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Speed

In contrast to Max Holloway, Aldo fights in bursts choosing to control opponents primarily with the jab waiting for little openings to explode and throw power shots. He uses those bursts sparingly in order to conserve energy but when he does let rip, the speed with which he delivers those strikes is blinding.

Aldo can do serious damage with just one or two of those explosive bursts.

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Veteran of five round fights

Aldo's championship fight record.png

Aldo is 7-0 in fights that have gone all 5 rounds, following the contest with Mark Hominick where we saw Aldo fade badly in the last two rounds he’s used the experience to pace himself far better.

Max Holloway has yet to see the championship rounds. If the fight does go to rounds 4 & 5 Aldo’s ability to edge close rounds especially with his crafty work in the last minute will be a big factor.

 

Prediction

I feel as if the loss to McGregor has caused people to forget just how great Jose Aldo is, most likely because it’s rare to see great fighters get knocked out in such emphatic fashion so early into a fight.

A better yardstick of Aldo’s ability is how well he’s dealt with Frankie Edgar on two separate occasions, Edgar is a fighter who’s barely dropped any rounds against every other featherweight he’s fought yet Aldo handled him without much trouble both times.

Holloway will have periods of success I just don’t see him having enough of them to win the fight. Aldo’s pivots under pressure and ability to exploit mistakes should cause Holloway’s output to drop, without that trademark volume the fight will be at a pace that suits Aldo perfectly. The odds have it close but I don’t think it will be,

Jose Aldo wins by decision.

(*All stats via FightMetric)