Madonna sucks

Tags

madonna, madonna sucks, music, plagiarism

My attention was turned to this article recently, simply titled “Madonna The Thief”. It goes into a great amount of detail about how much she rips off other people in the industry. It lists more than 20 lawsuits that have been filed against her in relation to things such as plagiarism, and uses photo and lyric comparisons to show how much she has stolen from others throughout her entire career.

I’d heard of some of these things, but I had no idea the extent to which this waste of fucking space has essentially used other people to further her own career. What a cunt Madonna is! And this is coming from a lady who got all fucking pissy about how Lady Gaga’s Born This Way sounds a little bit like her own Express Yourself, despite the fact that she has done the exact same thing for a very long time. I’m pretty sure that if you looked up the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of Madonna’s ugly mug right alongside it.

Put this shit alongside the fact that she has done other things like forcing 200 villagers out of their homes so she can build a school, enforcing insane rules that say her support acts are not allowed anywhere near her, investing money in some of the world’s largest polluting companies while at the same time playing at large-scale pro environment festivals, destroying a yoga class because she didn’t get her way… honestly, the list goes on. We could be here forever.

Madonna, seriously, please just fuck off. And soon. The world will be better for that.

The Duke is back!

Tags

news, pop culture, what's happening

I am now back from Fiji, Dear Reader. Unfortunately in the time I was gone, I didn’t really have internet access, so I don’t know what has happened much in the time I was gone. So I must ask for your assistance. Have I missed anything major in the world of pop culture that should be discussed here, or has it been a rather boring couple of weeks? Hit me up in the comments, and let me know if there’s anything that needs to be talked about.

As always, thank you for reading, and look out for lots of new content!
The Duke

The Dukes Playground is heading to Fiji!

Tags

bullshit, fiji, slow posting

Hi there, Dear Reader. I know I haven’t been writing on here much lately. This is partially due to the trouble I have been having with my internet connection recently (trying to run a website off a terrible 3G connection in a small country town is not so easy, I assure you) but it’s also down to the fact that I have been planning a little holiday to fucking Fiji, baby!

I will be back in early June, and hopefully then things will be back to normal. There’s plenty more bullshit out there to talk about, and there’s plenty of time for your friend at The Dukes Playground to get fired up about it.

So, until we meet again, this is The Duke, signing off. Peace!

May The Fourth Be With You!

Tags

may 4th, obiwan kenobi arrested, star wars, star wars day, star wars series

Today is the 4th of May (at least it is here in Australia, the rest of the world needs to catch up), which means that it’s fucking Star Wars Day, son!

For those of you unaware, Star Wars Day falls every 4th of May to celebrate the Star Wars series that we all know and love (well, used to love anyway), due to the pun of saying “May the Fourth be with you”, in reference to the famous line “May the force be with you” from the series.

This comes only a few short days after a man whose legal name is Obiwan Kenobi was arrested over a hit-and-run inceident. That’s some crazy shit.

So how will you be celebrating Star Wars Day, Dear Reader? I’ll be kicking back this evening to watch Harmy’s Star Wars Despecialized Edition, a fan-made re-edit of A New Hope that gets rid of all the special edition bullshit and shows the movie as it was in 1977, all in glorious HD!

May the force be with you.

Still no news about ‘Half-Life 3′ makes me a sad panda

Tags

e3 expo, gabe newell, gaming, half-life, half-life 3, sad panda, valve

Three months ago, I wrote an article about the fact that there’s no news about when Half-Life 3 will be released. The hope for all the fans out there would be that an announcement would be made at E3, the world-famous gigantic mother-fucking video game expo, where any big announcements in relation to the industry are typically made. Unfortunately, according to this article over at GameSpot, Valve, creators of the Half-Life franchise, will not be making any announcement in regards to Half-Life 3 at E3. In fact, they won’t be making any announcements at all!

According to Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, the reason we’re not getting any news about Half-Life 3 is this:

The problem is, we think that the twists and turns that we’re going through would probably drive people more crazy than just being silent about it, until we can be very crisp about what’s happening next.

So it looks like the wait isn’t going to be over for some time. He says he’s acting in the best interest of fans, and I can see his point, but there must be a part of the team at Valve that feels the longer they keep their fans in the dark, the more said will either lose interest in the franchise altogether, or greet any announcements with disdain and anger. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.

The deceptively complex and wonderful world of ‘Viva Piñata’

Tags

games, gaming, rare, trouble in paradise, viva pinata, xbox 360

I bought myself a copy of Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise recently, and since then I have been playing it like crazy. Back when the original Viva Piñata came out, I played the living shit out of it. As in sitting in the dark until the wee hours of the morning, bleary eyed and practically delirious, completely addicted to trying to lure one more animal into the garden, and mystified by the bright, pretty colours. It was awesome. Then other games came along, and I slowly forgot about the wonderful world of Viva Piñata. That is until a local game store had a 2 for $38 sale recently, and I picked up a copy of Burnout Paradise, and Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise. I know I’m late to the party with Viva, since it was released in September of 2008, but man, I’m making up for some lost fucking time.

The Viva Piñata series, for those who don’t know, appears very simple on the surface. You’re left in charge of a garden, and your actions (your ratio of grass, soil and water, what types of decorations you deck out your garden with, etc.) will attract different breeds of living piñata animals. You can then romance these piñatas with each other to increase the population, and continue building and modifying your garden. That’s pretty much all you need to know.

What’s so wonderful about the series, though, is that this shit is just the tip of the iceberg. As your garden expands and you try new things, more and more piñata types will arrive. Learning what you need to do to attract them and keep them around, finding ways to protect them from enemies that appear every so often, giving them good environments so that they don’t fight each other all proves very challenging and very complex. For a series that’s primarily aimed at children… I just don’t see how they’d keep up. I’m a 26-year-old man, and I consider my self fairly intelligent, but fuck me, sometimes keeping up with all the shit I have to do in my garden can be overwhelming.

Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise takes the winning formula and addictive nature from the first game and introduces new piñatas, new territories to explore and capture piñatas from, a series of new challenges that can be undertaken, mini-games, and even something that resembles a plot! Not that you need it, because building that garden is where the game is at, and that shit works fucking perfectly. I forgot how amazing Viva Piñata was, and I can’t wait to spend many more hours of my life having fun with Trouble In Paradise.

I can see why the game would have its share of haters. For kids, it may be too difficult. For adults, it may be way too… cutesy. I can understand that, considering the piñatas have pussy, sugary names like Bunnycomb, Sparrowmint, Fudgehog, and Quackberry. But this just adds to the fun. If you can play through this, and not get swept up in the sweet, gentle nature of it, well, you’re much stronger than I.

Dear Reader, do yourself a favour and check out this fun, beautiful, cute, deep, complex, wonderful game.

Holy new ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ trailer, Batman!

Tags

amazing, batman, movies, the dark knight rises, trailers

The 3rd official trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has just been released, and

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, IT’S AWESOME!

I have nothing more to say on the matter, Dear Reader, just go and watch it. Like, right now. Please. Go. Yes.

A quick thought about ‘The Fifth Element’

Tags

bruce willis, die hard, perfection, the fifth element

So in The Fifth Element, Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich, is constantly referred to as perfect. When priest Vito Cornelius, and some others, refer to her as perfect, they mean of course that she is a supreme being, she’s the fucking fifth element, she’s important to the future of humanity. But when the hero of the film, Korben Dallas, and by extension, the audience themselves, are told that she is perfect, it is romanticised, and so we’re meant to see her as being the perfect woman, in terms of appearance and her potential as a partner.

So inThe Fifth Element, Leeloo ends up with Korben Dallas, played by Bruce Willis, in the end. You would think that the perfect woman should end up with the perfect man, and she ends up with… Bruce Willis. So therefore, in the world ofThe Fifth Element, Bruce Willis is the perfect man.

Good for you, man. Good for you.

I think Bruce Willis is pretty cool and all, and I love me some fucking Die Hard, but perfect? If he is, that sucks for Demi Moore. What do you think, Dear Reader? Let’s discuss.

Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’: First look!

Tags

django unchained, entertainment, inglourious basterds, movies, publicity stills, quentin tarantino

Over at Entertainment Weekly, the first two publicity stills and a synopsis have been released for Quentin Tarantino’s next film, Django Unchained.

After being sent to a chain gang after rebelling against his owners, Django (Jamie Foxx) is recruited by a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to help him settle an old score. Django has information that Waltz’s Dr. King Schultz needs, so the German mercenary liberates the slave and promises that if he helps him kill the Brittle brothers, Django’s old owners, he’ll make it worth his while. Along the way, the duo end up crossing paths with a deranged plantation owner named Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who likes to make his toughest slaves fight to the death in gladiatorial combat. Candie is a businessman who owns a plantation called Candie Land, who is now the owner of Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).

I love Tarantino’s work, but I have to admit, after Death Proof, although it was a fun movie, I was worried that Tarantino may be starting to falter. But then along came Inglourious Basterds, and holy fuck, that movie was fucking awesome. It has since become my favourite of Tarantino’s work, and now with Django Unchained on the horizon, and with Christoph Waltz who played Col. Hans Landa to perfection in Basterds taking one of the main roles in Django, I couldn’t be more excited.

Look out for Django Unchained, Dear Reader, arriving on Christmas Day this year!

Lacey Warner and The Party Professionals!

Tags

lacey warner, photography, promotion, sexy, the party professionals

Here we are again, Dear Reader. I’ve just completed a photo shoot with the beautiful Lacey Warner to help promote a party planning company local to our area, The Party Professionals. From their website:

The Party Professionals are a local, family owned and operated Entertainment Company, with more than ten years experience in the entertainment industry. Over this period we have built up a great reputation for providing reliable and professional entertainment, custom designed to suit the needs of all our clients. Our enormous music library, along with our ability to ‘read a crowd’ enables us to tailor our entertainment to suit any crowd. This ability, we believe, is imperative for providing successful entertainment services.
The Party Professionals are fully licensed and Insured and are a registered “working with children” company.
Entertainment is as much about image as it is about content, so our team here at the Party Professionals always present ourselves in an appropriate and professional manner, whatever the occasion.
With Ten years experience, top quality sound and lighting equipment, an enormous library of music and Karaoke and an ability to read any crowd, we can cater to just about any function or party you can think of. We have a range of rigs to cater for any job including large gear for outdoor and sporting events right down to our small rigs for lounger room parties.

I’ve seen The Party Professionals in action many times before at local events, and have had the pleasure of having them host a recent event of mine, which was absolutely incredible, and many of my guests commented on how wonderful their work was. These guys come highly recommended, and do great work, so make sure to check them out.

The Party Professionals
The Party Professionals on Facebook

The Party Professionals shoot on Facebook
Lacey’s Facebook page