Internet Hunters

So i decided to post today on a topic i really only read about today. You see i was on cracked.com which is a stupid little internet comedy site that's actually not stupid at all, it's pretty funny! Anyways the article was about the "World of Warcraft" or WOW as it shall be known in this article. Essentially it was a list of reasons why WOW is worse than real life. Now i won't get into the WOW world too much but let's just say it's pretty intense. I mean i knew that video games were getting crazier and crazier, but this list still kind of blew my mind. Anyways #1 on the list was about online sex within the game. How the characters could strip down, and not necessarily make their characters have sex, but they could position them so that they were in sexual positions and then they would talk dirty to each other. So what does this have to do with internet hunting? Well they had a couple links to articles of what online sex in WOW had lead to. And i gotta say......WOW!

They had one instance of something that occurred in China. If you don't know anything about Warcraft, which i didn't until a couple hours ago, basically players form guilds and assume roles within these guilds. You could be a hunter, a priest, the leader....it all just depends how strong you are at the game and how long you've played, aswell as how much you've built up your character. You actually have to basically write a resume to get into a guild and they could string you along for months assigning you to menial tasks only to say in the end that you don't fit. Yes it's insane i know. Anyways this incident in China leads us to internet hunting. There was a husband and wife, and the wife had quit her job and basically just played WOW all day. The husband was also in the game but only cause he wanted to spend more time with his wife and he rarely actually entered the world. So she would play this all day and they had their own seperate computers. One day she was asleep and he went on hers to check his email. He noticed that she hadn't closed down WOW and he started reading her chat with the leader of her "guild". UH OH! Turns out she was having an affair with this guy. Possibly just an online affair too. It remains to be seen whether or not she had actually met this guy in person, but from the sound of their conversation it was entirely possible.

This is where the internet hunters come into play. The husband was none too pleased and publicly posted a message in a WOW chat room about what was going on. Then the crazy world of WOW took over. People started hunting down the guy in the game to try and get at him. The majority of his guild turned against him, and hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of gamers heard about the story and rose up against him. And then, in a mass protest of his actions, they organized a mass suicide......within the game. Where they all killed off their characters. It didn't stop there. Several of these gamers, or as i like to call them, Meganerds, decided to try and find out the guy's true identity. Which they were eventually successful in doing. They found a picture of him, they found his home and cell phone numbers, where he lived and where his family lived. He was bombarded by phone calls, emails, and people even harrassed him in public so much that he was forced to barricade him and his family in their house and not come out. He left school, and chat rooms went nuts with emails being sent to every possibly company they could think of with his picture and details of what he had done and urging them to not hire this man. Some of the messages went so far as to suggest that he and the woman he was adulterous with should be "beheaded" or "put in a pig cage and drowned." The husband of the woman eventually tried to come to his rescue and tried to rescind his claims of an affair but the harassment continued none the less. Was the affair morally wrong? Oh hell yeah. But this just serves as an example of the power of the internet. Especially in China where many people have become completley addicted and now when you enter an internet cafe in China you have to show identification in order to use a computer.

Another example of internet hunting that is slightly disturbing came from a video that was posted also in China. It was of a Chinese woman holding and cuddling with a cute kitten. She eventually puts the kitten on the ground, and uses her stiletto heel to impale it through the eye and then crush it's head. Sorry if that's a little graphic but that's what happened. Truly disgusting i know. However once people got wind of this video....well cue the internet hunters. Several decided to take it upon themselves to figure out who this woman was. They made an internet "Wanted" poster featuring her picture and what she had done and began to circulate it. Someone recognized the park she had committed the vile act in and responded. So once they had the locatoin it was only a matter of time before they discovered her identity. Turns out she was a nurse, and the guy filming was a DJ or something. Anyways both were found, and both were exposed, fired from their jobs, and eventually basically run out of town. Neither were charged with any crimes however because in China there are no laws against animal cruelty.

So we can all have our opinions on internet hunting, whether it's a good or bad thing. In both these cases the people in question had both been up to some unsavoury activities. But it is a little unsettling when you see how truly powerful the internet is. Especially with some of the pictures i have up on facebook! Already looking forward to coming to work someday and walking in and seeing a huge blown up poster of me wearing a women's bikini while my boss stands there and says, "Eric......we need to talk."

Any opinions on the matter? Cause i'd sure love to hear 'em!

Books That Fill Your Pants With Shit - A Response

I am not impressed.

Walter Greyhound is a GuestBlogger on The Chronicles of Gritz. He also contributes to Spin, Details, New York Magazine and gives suggestions on Amazon as DarwinLVR72

Books that fill your pants with shit!

Today i'm going to discuss a topic very near and dear to my heart that i sometimes take flak over. Scary books. Horror novels. Whatever you want to call them, i love 'em. And it's always the same sort of reaction you get from people when they ask you what you're reading. "What book are you reading right now?" "Oh well i'm reading "IT" by Stephen King." Then their faces sort of show slight shock and maybe even a little fear and they find a way to get rid of me. WELL FUCK YOU! I mean what is this stigma attached to horror novels? Why is it that the crazy old abo Julien Favre can be completely obsessed with the Saw series of movies and no one bats an eyelash, but i mention that i like Stephen King books and people seem to think i'm going to cut their faces off and wear them as masks? I mean i can pretty much guarantee you that people that have read "Catcher in the Rye", have killed a hell of alot more fellow human beings, than those that have read "Cujo".

The beauty of a horror novel is the fact that the writer can actually scare you by using your own imagination against you. He has to be able to make you see what he sees in your head, and doesn't have the ability to rely on shocking your system with a quick scene change to a guy in a mask holding a knife. He has to be able to rely on a slow buildup. He has to be able to set the mood and accurately describe the environment in which the action is taking place. He has to describe every detail vividly without going overboard and losing his grip on your suspense. Not an easy task. Horror novels are also quite different from their movie counterparts. You're not really going to be able to read a book and all of a sudden scream or throw the book against the wall.

Now i'm not trying to knock horror movies in anyway. While i may not see Saw V opening day like Favre, i do enjoy the occasional horror flick. Jaws is one of my favorite movies of all time. I saw the movie Scream on my birthday back in the day and thought it was entertaining as hell. And even movies short on plot and high on gore can be a good time just to see what the hell new ways a director will come up with to knock people off. (Re: Turistas, Hostel)

So now i'm going to give a few suggestions to people for books to read if they enjoy horror novels, or have never really tried reading one. This isn't to seem like a pompous asshole, they're just books i loved. First off is the one i'm re-reading right now, which is "IT" by Stephen King. I read this book probably ten years ago and didnt' remember much of anything about it since my brain is mostly full of malted hops and bong resin. (Tommy Boy) And i gotta say....wow....just so good. Probably his best. I mean in terms of fear factor how can you really go wrong with a demonic clown named Pennywise? The book takes place, as all his books do, in Maine. You follow a closeknit band of "losers" at two different time periods. When they're 11 and meet Pennywise for the first time. And again when they are in their late 30's and have returned to face him once again. The book regularly flips back and forth from each of the two eras and does not focus on a singular main character, but rather each member of the group in turns. It's a long book, 1078 pages to be exact, small type too. But well worth it.

Another beauty which i've read countless times is also by Stephen King writing under his pen name of "Richard Bachman", and is called "The Long Walk". One of the main reasons i loved this book is for the mystery involved in it. You're never quite sure what year it is exactly, or why what's taking place is happening, and even more importantly why it's accepted. It's almost as if you are being lead to believe that you are already living in this world and know what it's all about. I know that sounds strange. Basically the book starts with a group of 50 kids that have all received "the invitation" in the mail. They have all showed up, because you are lead to believe that being invited to the long walk is a huge honor. It is the most prestigious event in the country every year and is lead by a man known only as "The Major". I personally picture him as Sargeant Slaughter. The mystery of just what the hell is going on is what leads you into the book. Soon you realize that these fifty kids are going to take part in a yearly competition known as "The Long Walk". The rules are simple, they start to walk, and they keep walking. They have to maintain a certain pace which is closely monitored. If they fall below the pace they receive a warning. If you get three warnings....BLAMO! Last one left is the winner and receives the ultimate prize which is constantly hinted at but never explained. It's not an unbelievably clever book, but it's high on entertainment and is one of those books that you end up flying through. For the most part it takes place in the head of one of the walkers and it is interesting to see how King delves into his emotions as the race continues. Either way it's awesome, check it out!

I realize this is too long already so i won't give long descriptions of any others. However other great scary books include Firestarter by Stephen King obviously. About a little girl with incredible mental powers. The Historian by a girl i can't remember about Dracula and him being alive in present times. And Different Seasons by Stephen King, which is 4 short novelettes in one book. 3 of the four novelettes were made into movies, and you know them as "The Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", and "Stand by Me".

That concludes my little chat on horror novels, i'll understand if you avoid me next time i see you.