I like this ship!  You know, it's exciting!

• Randy Blythe of Lamb of God wrote an open letter on the band's website asking promoters to increase security at the band's upcoming tour stops, which begin in Asheville, North Carolina in a few weeks.  Obviously, Randy doesn't want a repeat of the 2010 Prague incident, in which he was charged with (and later acquitted of) manslaughter in the death of a fan.
   
• AC/DC have posted a message on their official website asking fans to contribute to a project that would see Kirriemuir, Scotland--the hometown of former lead singer Bon Scott, who passed away in 1980 at 33--receive a memorial statue of him.  The movement needs to raise $75,000 by June 5th to make it happen, so if you can help, visit the AC/DC website to learn how to do so.
   
• Who's coming back for The Expendables 3, you ask?  Sly Stallone says Mickey Rourke for sure, and he's also talking to Wesley Snipes and Jackie Chan.  As for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, and the rest...we'll just have to wait and see.
   
• Speaking of Willis, he's signed on to star in Expiration, an action flick with a $60 million budget that will see Bruce play--get this--a hitman who's been poisoned and has to race against time to find the cure and stop whoever did this to him.  That's great and all, but I liked this movie better the first time, WHEN IT WAS CALLED CRANK WITH JASON STATHAM.  Seriously?  Sixty-mil to turn Chev Chelios into John McClane-gone-bad?  No thanks.
   
• Gaming news brought to you today by Coffey's Comics & Games in Cape, and as of yesterday, this little beauty began circulating the internet.  It's a teaser trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins, coming October 25th to current-gen consoles and PC.  The full trailer's due out Monday, for the record.
   
• Meanwhile, a couple of other blips:  Sony's planning to have Gran Turismo 6 bookend the shelf-life of the Playstation 3, as it's the last major game slated to release for the console before the PS4 drops late this year, and Microsoft is making a smart decision in light of a new console, too--it looks like they're finally dropping that silly MSPoints system in favor of cards that deal in real-world currency.  Hallelujah!
   

Enjoy the weekend!  'Til Monday, maniacs...ROCK!
--HH

(News credit to 411mania.com)

No matter what I do, it's always going to come back to that &%$#ing pie!
 

• As of yesterday, Slayer announced on their official Facebook page that there will be a public memorial for the fallen Jeff Hanneman on May 24th at the Hollywood Palladium in LA from 3:30 to 7:30.  Seats are first-come, first-served, and the venue only holds about 4,000 people, so I imagine there are some already lining up now.  Hanneman passed away earlier this month from liver complications at age 49.  
   
• Nine Inch Nails' original bassist Eric Avery announced that he is leaving the band before their upcoming world tour, citing an overwhelming schedule that includes his playing with Garbage on a date-heavy tour for the past year and his interest in film scoring.  NIN has a show coming up in late July in Japan before they return to the States for Lollapalooza in August.
   
• The recently-announced Mission: Impossible 5 has a script writer, as Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) has signed on to pen the film for Tom Cruise, who'll be starring and producing.  Filming begins this fall, though nothing's known about the flick as far as a plot just yet.
   
• Will Smith is currently considering in starring in a remake of The Wild Bunch, though instead of a period western, the new version would be set in modern times and focus on a disgraced DEA agent putting together a team to go after Mexican drug cartels and does anyone else think this sounds SO GENERIC?  Ugh.  I bet Big Willy Style wishes he hadn't passed on Django now, huh?
   
• The first of five planned downloadable content packs for Defiance has been detailed.  "Enter the Castithan" will include the titular race as a new playable race, plus new outfits, vehicles, story missions, and a new game mode.  Free content is extended to new weapons and a military academy PVP map, and it's expected that the other DLC packs will include both free and paid content, though we don't have a release date on any of them yet.
   
• Although Grand Theft Auto 5 was recently detailed and has quite a bit of buzz behind it, Take-Two Interactive isn't even planning on showing it off at E3--or anything else, for that matter.  The massive industry trade show is coming up June 11-13, but Take-Two and Rockstar will instead reveal the game independently throughout the summer before it launches September 17th for XBox 360 and PS3.
   

'Til Finally Friday, my brood...ROCK!
--HH

(News credit to 411mania.com)

I used to be legit.  In fact, I was too legit.  Too legit to quit.  But now I'm not legit--I'm unlegit.  And for that reason, I must quit.
 

• Iron Maiden's new beer production has come to a halt in Sweden because the logo, which features Eddie from the cover of the 1983 single The Trooper, has been deemed in violation of one of the country's alcohol laws...but they aren't saying which one.  Probably the one about having skeletons on your brew, I guess.  In any case, they're hoping to sort it all out soon.
   
• We all know that Bill Ward isn't involved in the new/old Black Sabbath reunion, but now, we may know why:  Ozzy says he just couldn't hack it anymore.  Osbourne told NME Magazine that when the group met with Bill, he was using Post-It notes to help remember the songs, and he outright admitted that he didn't know how to play any of them anymore.  Brad Wilk instead played on the upcoming 13 album, while Tommy Clufetos will tour with the band in the UK in December.
   
• On March 8th, Kevin Smith announced to the world that he'd begun the writing process for Clerks III, the final installment of his surprise trilogy.  (Surprising in that it was never meant to be a trilogy, that is.)  As of yesterday, Silent Bob says he's finished the first draft of the film, which clocks in at 137 pages and "plays like the Empire Strikes Back of the Clerks trilogy."  Because it ends on a down note?  Because it's the best one?  We'll find out...
   
• Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to acting hasn't exactly set the world on fire, so he's looking toward other film projects to grab the attention of the modern movie-goer...and for that, there's nothing better than a remake of a gory cult classic.  Rumor has it that Ahnuld is in line to star in a new version of the Troma classic The Toxic Avenger, and if you know that flick, there's nothing more to say about that than YES PLEASE.
   
• Coffey's Comics and Games on Broadway here in Cape brings you gaming news today, as we discuss the 2014 edition of Magic: The Gathering's Duels of the Planeswalkers, coming sometime this summer.  New for this year's edition is Android tablet support, along with new decks, challenges, and plenty more, including a new play mode they aren't revealing yet.  Of course, the game will still be available on other platforms like iOS, XBox, Playstation, and PC.
   
• Now under the Take-Two Interactive banner, WWE '14 (or whatever they end up calling it) now has a release window of sometime in October.  Currently, it's only listed for XBox and Playstation releases, but it's likely it'll come to next-gen consoles as well.  Otherwise, all we know now is that The Rock will be on the cover.
   

'Til Thursday, you wild things, ROCK!
--HH

(News credit to 411mania.com)

The ICE...is gonna BREAK!

• Guitarist Wes Borland says that Limp Bizkit's new album, Stampede of the Disco Elephants, is coming sometime in September this year.  He also says not to think too much about the title, as they came up with it "in about ten seconds," as well as noting that DJ Lethal may or may not be joining the group for the forseeable future due to creative differences.
   
• KISS is currently looking to expand their Rock and Brews restaurant chain from three to about a hundred.  Paul Stanley says the band hopes to have new branches up and running in LAX, Hawaii, and believe it or not, Kansas City, Missouri over the course of the next year.  The restaurant is described as an upscale version of the Hard Rock Cafe.
   
• Gremlins is the next cult classic to hit the remake circuit, as Warner Bros has signed Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows) to produce, though they're still without a writer or director.  Grahame-Smith has also recently completed a draft of the next Beetlejuice flick for the studio.
   
• Sam Jackson will play the President of the United States in the upcoming movie Big Game, in which a 13-year-old boy is tasked with staying out in the wilderness overnight to prove himself to a group of friends.  When Air Force One crashes nearby after being attacked by terrorists, the President and the boy must team up to escape the terrorists.  Production is expected to begin later this summer.
   
• A new multiplayer map is coming tomorrow for Gears of War: Judgment, titled Dreadnought, which takes place on a naval vessel where the COG transported captured Locust Berserkers after Emergence Day.  The map will be free for a limited time only.
   
• Watch XBox Live and the Playstation Network today for a new demo for Resident Evil: Revelations from Capcom, as it's due to drop anytime.  The console version of the 3DS handheld game features improved visuals, a new enemy type, and other improvements, and it will launch fully a week from today.
   

'Til Hump Day, friend-o's...ROCK!
--HH

(News credit to 411mania.com)

I don't know what your generation's fascination is with documenting your every thought... but I can assure you, they're not all diamonds. "Roman is having an OK day, and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof." Who gives a rat's ass?

• The Rolling Stones brought in a couple of special guests for their concert Saturday night in Las Vegas.  The Green Valley High School choir joined the legendary rock outfit for their performance of "You Can't Always Get What You Want," while pop star Katy Perry joined Mick Jagger on "Beast of Burden."
   
• Iron Man 3 continued is dominance at the box office this weekend, claiming the #1 spot for the second week in a row with a $70 million-plus take, putting it at a worldwide total of nearly $950 million--almost to that magical billion-dollar mark.  The Great Gatsby debuted at #2 well above expectations with an impressive $50 million, while Pain & Gain came in third, and Tyler Perry's "Hey, I'm Still Here Too!" flick Peeples bombed like William Hung on the Warped Tour.
   
• Robert Downey Jr., you've just starred in the biggest movie of the year thus far--what are you going to do next?!  If you said, "I'm gonna be in my buddy Jon Favreau's indy comedy called Chef that he wrote himself and will also direct, produce, and star in, and it's about a chef who loses his job and opens a food truck to reclaim his artistic food integrity, and you can find out more about it next week at Canne, as well as other cameos from Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, and more!", then that's oddly prophetic.
   
• The Wii U might be in even more trouble from disheartened third-party developers, as EA has now said they simply can't make the Frostbite 3 engine work on Nintendo's next-gen system.  This means that major upcoming sequels like the next entries in the Mass Effect, Battlefield, and Dragon Age series won't be appearing on the console, as well as any of those now-exclusive-to-EA Star Wars games.  This is gonna get ugly...
   
• Speaking of ugly, Aliens: Colonial Marines sucked so hard, the studio was sued over it...and now, it's sucked even harder, to the point that Timegate has reportedly closed its doors for good.  To be fair, the studio was facing other financial and legal issues from SouthPeak Studios, among others, so...yeah.
   

'Til Tuesday, you manic monkeys...ROCK!
--HH

(News credit to 411mania.com)