Read more at Black Star Rising.

Labels: Black Star, Gisele Bundchen, LeBron James, Media News

As you know, in our old age Media Orchard occasionally likes to look back on past posts that tickled our fancy, and might tickle yours as well.

When I want my fancy tickled, my thoughts often turn to Melissa Theuriau, my all-time favorite newsbabe. Here are some select posts on newsbabes for your reading pleasure.

• Newsbabe Julie Banderas Is a Piece of ... Work
  
• Newsbabe Cynthia Izaguirre: Your Freudian Slip is Showing
  
• The Alycia Lane Collection
  
• Melissa Theuriau Named Sexiest Newsbabe by Maxim
  
• Blogger Uses Blog to Hit on Newsbabe Abby Ham -- and It Works
• Melissa Theuriau Interview: Lost in Translation
  
• 10 Hottest Newsbabes Worldwide
  
• In the Future, All Anchormen Will Be Newsbabes
  
• In Defense of Connie Chung
  
• Spin Thicket Bonus Link 1: Newsbabe Jackie Guerrido
  
• Spin Thicket Bonus Link 2: Newsbabe Courtney Friel

We've also got a newsbabes category at Spin Thicket now, so check it out.

Labels: Media News, newsbabes

[FBN image via Ultimate News Babes]

Labels: Cashmere Mafia, Fox Business Network, Lipstick Jungle, Media News, newsbabes

[This post also appears at Black Star Rising.]

The issue of fair use of copyrighted photographs has surfaced in the Eliot Spitzer scandal, with Ashley Dupre's lawyer blasting media outlets for publishing pics pulled from the call girl's MySpace page. High-profile attorney Don Buchwald said he would take steps "to protect Ms. Dupre from any unwarranted exploitation of her name, picture, voice or likeness for purposes of profit."

Media outlets have responded that the photos are news and thus pass the test for fair use. As the AP said in defending its decision to run the pics:

The Associated Press discussed the photos obtained from the MySpace page in great detail and found that they were newsworthy. We distributed the photos that were relevant to the story. Those photos did not show nudity, nor were they explicit.

Buchwald, however, questioned how newsworthy the photos really were:

While the circumstances surrounding Governor Spitzer's resignation are newsworthy, some publications, in violation of journalistic norms, have used the occasion of Gov. Spitzer's political misfortunes as an excuse to exploit Ms. Dupre's persona for commercial purposes.

Photo District News found some experts who stepped up to bolster Buchwald's argument, concluding that the fair use argument is a "thin one." Maybe, if I consulted enough law books, I'd agree with them.

But let's get real here: The $4,000-per-hour genie is out of the bottle. Buchwald, Dupre and the photographer(s) who took the pics are out of luck. That's simply one of the risks when images are posted on the Web.

By contrast, photographer Wesley Mann is sitting pretty right now. Mann did a topless shoot with Dupre and has sold the photos to the New York Post -- obviously, for big bucks. Mann must be counting his blessings that those pics weren't posted on Dupre's Web site -- or his own, for that matter. Otherwise, they surely would have been snatched on the grounds of fair use, too.

But to me, that's not the most interesting issue that's arisen out of the media's latest fair use dust-up. I'm more intrigued by the the apparent hypocrisy of media outlets -- particularly the AP -- in the interpretation of fair use with respect to bloggers.

As Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters points out, on the same day the Spitzer scandal broke, the blog Confederate Yankee published an e-mail from the AP explaining the wire's broad policy against bloggers using AP photos, including under circumstances that a reasonable person might consider fair use.

The AP was responding to controversy created when it threatened legal action against Brian Ledbetter's Snapped Shot, a photojournalism criticism blog, for running AP photos without permission. Ledbetter was forced to take down his site temporarily to figure out his next move. He explained:

I'm currently in the process of going through and reviewing my archive, separating the photo-criticism from the general tomfoolery in my content as a result of the AP's warning, which is a long and painstaking ... task, but one that will hopefully allow me to bring back most (if not all) of the AP content that I've found specific problems with.

I can't recommend enough that all bloggers need to read Gabriel Malor's excellent explanation of "Fair Use" in the blogosphere. While nothing's guaranteed to keep us out of the courtroom, following his advice would certainly help towards that end.

Would it be unfair to surmise that the AP went after Ledbetter (from among all the other bloggers running snatched pics out there) because it didn't like the content of his criticism? We'll never know.

But one thing's clear: Fair use is a more muddled mess than ever.

[Image snatched from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which snatched it from Facebook.]

Labels: Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Eliot Spitzer, Media News

Labels: Media News

I generally don't post one-offs from the Web on Media Orchard anymore; that's what Spin Thicket is for. But I've probably watched this news report about 1,000 times now, and I'm hoping by showcasing it here it will see fit to release me from its hypnotic spell.

Enjoy.

Labels: Media News

[The following post also appears at Black Star Rising.]

As I recently read photographer Nick Stern's account of the mounting guilt that ultimately drove him to quit Splash Pictures, it reminded me of the quaint apologies we used to get from porn stars like Linda Lovelace when they left the adult-film business. Whatever the financial consequences, Stern proclaimed, "I can sleep at night."

The media has latched on to Stern's story as a cautionary tale on paparazzi excesses. A statement on one gossip site, Holy Moly, said that

a "definite change in the perception of paparazzi pictures" had encouraged the Holy Moly administrators to shy away from publishing pictures of celebrities with their children, those not "on duty" and stars "in distress at being photographed".

The statement added of Stern:

When one of the biggest names in paparazzi jacks it in due to ethics and morals and the world's biggest pop star gets her knickers photographed by 30 people an hour after being released from a mental institute, you know there's a problem on the shop floor.

But let's be real. If the death of Princess Diana didn't change the way the paparazzi work, neither will wall-to-wall coverage of Britney Spears -- even if it leads to her death.

Just this week, an inquest into Diana's fatal car crash heard photographers admit to reloading their cameras and taking pictures of the princess and other victims from as close as 10 feet away. They admitted that they did not attempt to assist the victims or call for help.

So Britney, you're on your own.

In the Fame Solar System, Being Hot Is All That Matters

Forget the momentary pangs of conscience. The trend lines point to paparazzi becoming increasingly prominent figures in the business of photography -- and gaining respectability along the way.

Who knows? Soon the paparazzi may be indistinguishable in the public mind from traditional photojournalists -- just as self-obsessed journos like Julia Allison and Sarah Lacy are viewed as Web-era Walter Cronkites by many.

In a culture where fame is viewed as an end in itself -- the ultimate symbol of success, even more than money or power -- a kind of fame solar system has emerged where the closer you are to the "sun" of the A-lister, the hotter you become by association. Which makes the idea of being a paparazzi more appealing today than being, say, a typical daily newspaper photographer.

Indeed, the role of the paparazzi has been glamorized to the point where "personal paparazzi" services are emerging for "private individuals who want to experience some of the trappings of fame." As Portfolio reports:

For only a few hundred dollars a day, they'll follow you around and make a big show of taking your picture. One of them, Celeb 4 A Day, even prints up a mock tabloid cover showcasing your "news."

But that's not all. You can now teach your children to crave fame and the attention of the paparazzi, too, with the new "Paparazzi Play Set" -- equipped with ravenous photographers just itching to take scandalous pics of Barbie and Ken.

So don't be surprised as you begin to see more TV profiles of paparazzi. Don't be surprised to see more of them dating their subjects.

Today, despite Nick Stern's quaint resignation, we don't live in a Linda Lovelace world. We live in a Jenna Jameson world, a "One Night in Paris" world, where there's no shame -- as long as there's fame -- in being a porn star.

And so it is with the paps.

Labels: Jenna Jameson, Linda Lovelace, Media News, Paparazzi, Photojournalism, Porn Stars

You want to make it big in journalism today? Then make it about you.

That's right. Make it about you rather than the actual story you're covering, the publication or news outlet you work for, or -- God forbid -- your audience.

Call it the Kanye West Guide to Journalistic Advancement.

Yes, it's egocentric -- even narcissistic. But in a environment where legacy news organizations offer little in the way of job security, and where everyone under 30 who's not famous seems to see themselves in a perpetual state of "pre-celebrity," it's only natural that individual journalists would increasingly view themselves as brands that need to be nurtured. Brands that demand shelf space in the form of TV face time, Internet followings and other career enhancers.

This "personal branding" approach to journalism has certainly worked like a charm for Julia Allison, the young journalist who first attracted attention with her affair with then-Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., which some claim helped to cost him a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2006.

Now, at 26, she's the toast of New York as a magazine writer and on-air commentator on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, E! and elsewhere. Although ridiculed by the New York Press as a "Faming Asshole," Julia's template for success is obviously an effective one.

For that formula in a nutshell, check out her blog. Or her photoblog. Or details of her romantic breakups (including e-mail exchanges) on other blogs. Or just read Gawker, where her every self-promotional effort is lovingly chronicled.

I'm sure the journalism and communications students I occasionally speak with are far more impressed by Julia's roadmap to success than any drivel I can tell them about the Five Ws, Edward R. Murrow, and the founding fathers' vision of the role of the fourth estate.

Like it or not, Julia's dream is their dream today.

Forget the Five Ws. Today's journalism is increasingly about one letter -- "I."

I should add that I don't blame Julia for her fame. She's a talented writer and obviously a driven person. I can't begrudge her success any more than I can blame Britney Spears for the amount of coverage she receives.

She doesn't control it, after all. The rest of us do.

Labels: journalism, Julia Allison, Media News

Ya never know.

Labels: alycia lane, Media News, WWE

Sadly, Philly newswoman Alycia Lane reportedly has been fired. And so the tale of the bikini-wearing, road-raging anchorwoman (which to this point has brought us more than 50,000 visitors seeking bikini pics) comes to an end.

[Story.]

Labels: alycia lane, Media News

Labels: Media News, Nancy Grace, twins

As of 9:45 a.m. today, we've had more than 20,000 folks visit the site in the past 24 hours to see the above image, originally posted way back in May. Why? Because the Britney-esque Philadelphia anchorwoman is at it again.

Seems the Photochop above is the top Google image search result for Lane. But we've had plenty of hits to these Alycia pics as well.

Labels: alycia lane, Media News

Congratulations to my friend Bryce Zabel and his wife Jackie (pictured) for earning a Writers Guild of America nomination for their Pandemic miniseries on the Hallmark Channel.

Maybe now Bryce will have the Hollywood juice to introduce me to Tiffani Thiessen like he promised.

Labels: Bryce Zabel, Media News, WGA

[Story.]

Labels: Debra Lafave, Media News, movies, prison, women

Check out my latest Movie Smackdown, comparing No Country for Old Men to The Terminator.

Labels: Media News, No Country for Old Men, Terminator

The critics at Movie Smackdown have offered their arguments for the one Christmas movie you should make sure to see this holiday season. Since Bryce was aghast when I recommended Silent Night, Deadly Night, I decided to go with A Christmas Story instead.

Read the reviews and vote for your favorite here.

Labels: A Christmas Story, Bryce Zabel, Christmas, Media News, Movie Smackdown, movies, Silent Night Deadly Night

[Note: In this day and age, strikes don't happen very often -- primarily because in today's global economy, the concept of labor unions is widely viewed as anachronistic. How can we compete with China if labor unions try to force wages higher than the market wants to pay? Or so goes the argument. I suspect that American workers -- whether as unions or in some other form -- will ultimately come together to address the growing prosperity gap in this country.

In the meantime, folks like my friend Bryce Zabel are left to fight the good fight for the Writers Guild of America, which went on strike yesterday. Here's Bryce's account of the strike's first 24 hours.]


At this time Sunday night, my wife and I were in a mad sprint to finish all the script changes we wanted to make in our latest screenplay before the clock ran out and the strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) officially
began at 12:01 am (PST) on Monday, November 5.

Even as we were engaged in this creative struggle, we followed the news breaks on the internet about the last-minute negotiations insisted upon by the federal mediator that were taking place between the two sides. Naturally, we were hoping that the AMPTP would actually offer up a fair deal, we could chalk the whole thing up to a bad dream, and hold on to that script for a few more days of line-by-line polishing. As it turned out, it seems like the producers wanted the writers to continue to negotiate against themselves.


My phone started ringing with a call from Steve Futterman, a CBS Radio
News friend, who'd heard that the talks had fallen apart and wanted a comment. I'd ducked the call, not knowing if I was allowed to speak for
the WGA or not, as I wasn't yet clear on what our communication policy was. Steve is someone both my wife and I had known back in our own news days and we'd reconnected following the Thursday night WGA meeting at the LA Convention Center. This had also lead to me being on Fox, NBC, CNN, Telemundo and appearing on the front page of the LA Times Business section. It was completely unplanned but probably a consequence of getting to know so many members of the working media when I was chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the days following 9/11 and the two Emmy postponements.

Anyway, while all this was going on, I ushered in this era of bad feelings by registering the most recent draft of the script with the WGA, e-mailing it to the producers on the project, and going to bed. I love this script but, for the time being, it's "pencils down" as we are saying these days. When the strike officially began at one minute after midnight, I was watching "Meet the Press" on my TiVO, using technology to skip commercials, something that has only contributed to the current angst between the sides. Our current impasse is about the new media. We (the WGA) think that writers should be cut in on some of the action and they (the AMPTP) pretty much are treating that desire as similar to Oliver asking for "some more" food.

My phone rang Monday morning at 6:30 am with the request from a morning news producer in my old stomping grounds in Portland, Oregon, asking me if I could do a "live" phone interview in a couple of minutes. I figured the Guild leadership probably
would not hunt me down for speaking for 90 seconds to Portland, and said yes. I went on the air with KXL and was introduced as "producer Bryce Zabel" to talk about the WGA strike situation. This gave a moment of pause because I think they thought I would be speaking as a producer about the pandemonium these crazy writers have caused. Instead, I was able to say that, actually, I was both a producer and a writer but, as a writer, I was now on strike, looking forward to hitting the picket lines in the afternoon.


The picket lines, of course, were made for TV and you've probably seen them yourself on the news. Lots of writers with signs at most of the major TV network and film studios with red being the dominant strike color. Jackie and I went down to Universal to do our picket today. It was hot and loud. Lots of cars were honking their support and the loudest and longest honks seemed to come from every passing cabbie. Having lived through the 1988 strike and nearly lost my home, I'm very concerned about what's going on and don't really see a picket as a potential social networking event, but sometimes there's an element of that, too. Today I met my friend Nan Hagan who once was my assistant at "Life Goes On" but has turned into a damn fine writer herself. Also met Kevin Droney, who's one of the strike captains. Kevin and I share something special: he wrote the first "Mortal Kombat" movie and I wrote the sequel. We both live in the same area and even work out at the same gym.

We left our picket early, I'm sorry to say, because we had not planned a strike picket into our child-raising duties and had forgotten we needed to give our teenager a lift to his afternoon job at Albertson's where, as a union member, he is mercifully not on strike like his parents.

After getting home, I came across an article in Daily Variety excoriating the WGA for not being forthcoming with the media. I thought, overall, it's a bum  rap but, in these matters, perception is everything so I called my friend Patric Verrone who just happens to be the President of the Writers Guild of America and talked to him for twenty minutes about it. He told me some inside details about those failed negotiations on Sunday but you won't get them out of me here. In a time and place of our choosing, as they say. In any case, Patric and I discussed the pros and cons of trying to manage rumors and news flow and trying to get out a single coherent message.

Then I hung up and put up a new cartoon on Writers Bloc Comix, a site I started a couple of weeks ago to turn some humor loose on the situation. One of latest additions is a comic strip that is co-created by my high school buddy Scott Leverenz and myself about, yes, a goateed writer and his much lovelier writing partner who happens to be his wife.

Checked my e-mail, and bounced a message or two with Patrick Healy, the KNBC reporter who put me on Channel 4 late last week and who, in the small world department, worked in Portland, Oregon and knows a friend of mine who is one of our reviewers on Movie Smackdown!, Mark Sanchez.

Tomorrow it's back to the picket lines. Maybe I will go to Disney or Warner Brothers or SONY or CBS or NBC. It's hard to say because it's a target-rich environment out there for labor unrest. Maybe NBC, though, because Jay Leno did buy the strikers donuts. On the other hand, some damn decent Joss Whedon fans bought pizza for us over at Universal.

More later... peace, out.

Labels: Bryce Zabel, Media News, strike, WGA, Writers Bloc Comix, Writers Guild of America

[Story.]

Labels: birth, Media News, Nancy Grace, pictures, twins

While perhaps not as surefire a concept as Bikini Movie Review, Bryce Zabel's Movie Smackdown -- Two Films, One Review, No Holds Barred -- is experiencing strong traffic growth. If you're a film fan, we encourage you to check it out.

Labels: blogs, Bryce Zabel, Media News, movie reviews

As old as the controversy is, we still get a ton of traffic from the Google search "Alycia Lane Bikini Pics."

As of yet, the infamously flirtatious Philadelphia news anchor has never posted bikini pics online -- which is what makes the search fruitless.

But, just in case you're interested, we have more fake Alycia Lane bikini pics after the jump.

Labels: alycia lane, Media News, newsbabes, Rich Eisen

"Do you respect Media Snackers? Tell me why" is a post that many of my blogger friends are talking about today, and Susan Getgood and Kevin Dugan asked me for my two cents. So here it is.

Media Snackers are defined as Web-gen folks who like to get their news, information and entertainment in bits and bytes at a time, from many different sources. They don't want to read a whole newspaper, or even watch an entire half-hour television program, to get what they want.

Another way to put it: Everyone has ADD today -- and most of them are damn proud of it.

Too much Media Snacking, and too few healthy meals, leads directly to this. Do you know that a substantial percentage of high school students think that we fought with the Germans against Russia in World War II? I guess Ken Burns' The War isn't "snacky" enough for them.

Ideally, snacking should be part of a balanced diet that includes reading a book and watching the news on BBC every now and again. But you know, once reading becomes broccoli in the public's mind, it's probably a lost cause.

Having issued those cranky caveats -- yeah, I snack, and I know my readers snack, too. So here are four ways I pander to snackers:

1. Spin Thicket. It's a community for snackers interested in news related (sometimes vaguely) to marketing, media and entertainment.

2. Pick of the Thicket, formerly Pick of the Orchard. A daily link fix culled from Spin Thicket.

3. The Dirt 100. I created this as a quick way for snackers to find top celebrity and entertainment blogs, ranked in order of popularity.

4. Photochops. Almost every day, I see something in the news that ticks me off, and I want to write a rant on it. Because I know that most people don't want to read a thousand-word rant, and because I rarely can take two hours to write one, I usually go with the picture's worth a thousand words approach.

OK, enough of all that. Here's the fun part -- who should I torture by tagging them? How 'bout: Paul, Cam, Rohit, Colin and Mack.

Labels: Media News, MediaSnackers

That's the theme of my latest Movie Smackdown for screenwriter Bryce Zabel. Check it out.

Labels: Bryce Zabel, Knocked Up, Media News, Movie Smackdown

Actually, if you don't mind, let's try something else.

See, we generally will not click on a list-based blog post anymore, so if you didn't click on this one for that reason, we don't blame you. (If you did click on this because of the list, bear with us for a moment.)

Lists are about the surest indicator of a lazy mind you will find online these days -- like bulging, vacant eyes are the surest sign of a sociopath.

But since you came here for a list, we'll give you two:

---

4 Reasons Bloggers Like Lists

1. You can write a list without knowing how to write. No need to organize your thoughts into a natural narrative flow. No need to build momentum around a thesis. Any idiot can put two sentences (or in this case, three sentences) together and then go on to the number 2.

2. Lists confer an authority you don't really have. It's great to read a post from a 19-year-old Digger who says there are "8 Ways" to do anything. Let's be clear: There are eight ways that you know of, or think you know of, because your Mommy, Daddy, and your geek buddies told you about them. The other 57 ways, you have no clue about. Oh, and by the way, six of your eight ways are simplistic bullshit, and the other two ways, everybody with two brain cells to rub together already knows.

3. Blog lists require an equal balance of verbal and math skills. For example, the ability to count to 10 is fairly commensurate with the verbal wherewithal needed to compose most 10-point blog lists. So if your head hurts after writing up 7 points, that's your little brain telling you to stop there.

4. Blog readers like them.

---

4 Reasons Blog Readers Like Lists

1. They can be skimmed easily. Most people don't read this part of the entry; they just read the bolded title, "They can be skimmed easily," and move on to number 2. Reading this far probably means you're either really bored or that you received a perfect score on the reading comprehension portion of the SAT. Congratulations.

2. You can stop at any time. Many people get confused trying to follow a person's idea from one paragraph to the next. Each point in a list is self-contained, so you can stop at any time without getting disoriented or light-headed.

3. Lists make you think the blogger knows what he's talking about. The blogger's "8 Ways to Make Money Online with a Digital Camera and Your Girlfriend" follows in the rich tradition of Moses' 10 Commandments and Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points. This is true even though six of the "8 ways" are bullshit, and the other two ways, everybody with two brain cells to rub together already knows. Which brings us to number 4.

4. Lists tell you things you already know. And who doesn't get a little ego boost from that?

Labels: blogging, blogs, Digg, Media News

Will parents ever learn? Not in Dallas, apparently.

And it's "sluttishly," isn't it?

Labels: Argyle ISD, dallas, Media News

You know, deep deep down in our bodies, we at Media Orchard long to be one of those tough, take-no-prisoners journalists who gets to sit down with Denzel Washington or Angelina Jolie to conduct hard-hitting interviews that result in balanced and in no way ass-kissing profiles.

As fate would have it, we're stuck writing this damn blog instead. But we can at least live the dream, if only through plagiarism, by borrowing actual questions from celebrity interviews and asking them of our micro-celebrity friend Mike Orren. (We would credit the publications we stole the questions from, but since we'd just be embarrassed if we were them, we decided against it.)
***


Gone are the days of the liquid lunch in Dallas. But from the moment he sits down among the power players at a bustling Greenville Avenue sushi joint and orders a round of champagne, it's clear Mike Orren is a throwback. The Pegasus News founder has dressed for the occasion in an expensive-looking Italian suit and a crisp cobalt blue shirt, which just happens to match his piercing brown eyes.

As Orren cradles a yellowtail sashimi gingerly in his chopsticks (revealing a nurturing side?), I begin to pose questions between munches on the bar's first-rate edamame.

How do you keep your energy up? Why are your eyes so bright?

I pretty much subsist on a diet of caffeine, chlorine and fear. The bright eyes come from swimming with my dogs every day at our palatial I-30 and Buckner family compound. That and I always sleep through Tuesdays entirely. That helps me recharge my batteries.

You've been called a "man's man." Describe what that means to you.

It means that even though I was an entrepreneur, at some metaphysical level, I think I am always working for "the man."

What are your co-workers like to work with? A delight?

Like my childhood copy of The Wizard of Oz counseled: "Pay no attention to the people in front of the curtain."

Although you're the president of Pegasus News, it's been said that you are always willing lend a hand to help out your staff.

Everyone knows that I write every damn word, sell all the ads, write the code, build the servers, sweep the floors, and hand-carry every byte of this digi-rag straight from our office through the tubes of the Interwebs and right into your living room. I put some other names on the masthead so I wouldn't have to take all the phone calls.

What are some of the pranks you pull in the office?

I like to practice reality-show dismissal lines. So I walk up to people and say things like "the Tribe has spoken," and my favorite: "You're fired." (Laughs hysterically, wipes tear.) Oh, that Donald. Or is it "that the Donald." Anyhoo, that's always good for yucks. We also have some toy crossbows, slingshots, etc. that a former intern sent us. And, perhaps the biggest prank is renting an office that's always freezing cold, even in the middle of summer.

Where does your sense of humor about yourself come from?

Greensboro, NC, along with the rest of me.

What's your idea of doing something especially romantic?

Coming home with a take-out dinner and an 18-pack of Natural Light and capping the evening with the announcement that I'm quitting my job despite minimal cash reserves in order to start an Interwebs news company. Then, you can just imagine the romantic turns the evening might take from there.

Is sexy really a state of mind?

(Puts hands to temples and stares forward uncomfortably and in silence until the interviewer moves to the next question.)

If you were president, how would you deal with Darfur?

I personally believe... that U.S. Americans are unable to do so... because... Uh... some people out there in our nation don't have maps... And... uh... I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and... uh... the Iraq, everywhere, like, such as... And I believe that they should... ur education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S... uh... Or, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries... So we will be able to build up our future... for our [children].

Can you make a connection between the glory of Achilles and your own glory?

Wow. You did your homework. You're clearly referring to the hit song by the Metal band Manowar. It's true that I left college early (although I did graduate) in order to work as a roadie on their 1993 comeback tour. I went under the name "Bloodaxe." Their music made a great impression on me -- well, my eardrums at