See What Santa has in store for us...

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

Editor's Notes: A Day at the Factory

It's slaving at the factory for me, as the new SNEEZE is coming close to its release date. Uhhh... what IS its release date? Let's just say NEXT WEEK. Graciano Lopez Jaena Day was an Iloilo Holiday, and while I was supposed to be out enjoying the holiday, I was stuck here at home working on the finishing touches to the NEW SNEEZE. The Christmas/January 2009 Issue. Yes, THAT IS indeed Viktor of the Underworld movies on the cover of the upcoming SNEEZE magazine (if you already recognize him without us telling you, then you really are a geek). TeaserTeeze lang ni mga bords. We'll also be featuring pix from the Siege Tour Gig and the Grunge vs Reggae Gig. Thanks to Vansen as always for the photos! He's almost become the sort of official photo journalist for the iloilo rock scene. SNEEZE hopes to be around often this time. Thanks to the support many of you give! Merry Christmas lang da sa inyo tanan. See you next week...



dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

Defining SERiAL MURDER

Serial Killers: Defining Serial Murder

From Eric W. Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims"

Differences Between Mass Murderers and Serial Killers

Gary Ronald York and James Douglas Latham, spree killers who travelled from Florida to Utah

In both mass and serial murder cases, victims die as the offender momentarily gains control of his or her life by controlling others. But the differences between these two types of offenders far outweigh the similarities. First, mass murderers are generally apprehended or killed by police, commit suicide, or turn themselves in to authorities. Serial killers, by contrast, usually make special efforts to elude detection. Indeed, they may continue to kill for weeks, months, and often years before they are found and stopped-if they are found at all. In the case of the California Zodiac killer, the homicides appeared to have stopped, but an offender was never apprehended for those crimes. Perhaps the offender was incarcerated for only one murder and never linked to the others, or perhaps he or she was imprisoned for other crimes. Or the Zodiac killer may have just decided to stop killing or to move to a new location and kill under a new modus operandi, or method of committing the crime. The killer may even have become immobilized because of an accident or an illness or have died without his or her story ever being told. Speculation currently exists that the Zodiac killer is stalking victims in the New York City area. The Zodiac case is only one example of unsolved serial murders, many of which will never be solved.

Second, although both types of killers evoke fear and anxiety in the community, the reaction to a mass murder will be much more focused and locally limited than that to serial killing. People generally perceive the mass killer as one suffering from mental illnesses. This immediately creates a "they"/"us" dichotomy in which "they" are different from "us" because of mental problems. We can somehow accept the fact that a few people go "crazy" sometimes and start shooting others. However, it is more disconcerting to learn that some of the "nicest" people one meets lead a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde life: a student by day, a killer of coeds by night; a caring, attentive nurse who secretly murders sick children, the handicapped, or the elderly; a building contractor and politician who enjoys sexually torturing and killing young men and burying them under his home. When we discover that people exist who are not considered to be insane or crazy but who enjoy killing others for "recreation," this indeed gives new meaning to the word "stranger." Although the mass murderer is viewed as a deranged soul, a product of a stressful environment who is just going to "explode" now and then (but of course somewhere else), the serial murder is seen as much more sinister and is more capable of producing fear.

Third, the mass murderer kills groups of people at once, whereas the serial killer individualizes his or her murders. The serial killer continues to hurt and murder victims, whereas the mass murderer makes his or her "final statement" in or about life through the medium of abrupt and final violence. We rarely if ever hear of a mass murderer who has the opportunity to enact a second mass murder or to become a serial killer. Similarly, we rarely if ever hear of a serial killer who also enacts a mass murder.

The mass murderer and the serial killer are quantitatively and qualitatively different, and disagreement continues about their characteristics just as it does about the types of mass and serial offenders that appear to have emerged in recent years. Perhaps the single most critical stumbling block that today stands in the way of understanding serial murder is the disagreement among researchers and law enforcement about how to define the phenomenon.

Defining Serial Murder

In February, 1989, the Associated Press released a story about a serial killer who preyed on prostitutes in the same area of Los Angeles that harbored the Southside Slayer. He was believed to have killed at least 12 women, all with a small handgun. The news story referred to the victims as "strawberries"-young women who sold sex for drugs. Farther north, the Green River Task Force in Seattle, Washington, continues to investigate a series of murders of at least 45 young women over the past eight years. When the corpses of boys and young men began appearing along the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1980s, police became convinced a serial killer was at work in the area. The preceding cases are typical of homicides one might envision when characterizing victims of serial killers. The media quickly and eagerly focus attention on serial killings because they appear to be so bizarre and extraordinary. They engender the kind of headline that sell newspapers: "The Atlanta Child Killer," "The Stocking Strangler," "The Hillside Strangler," "The Sunday Morning Slasher," "The Boston Strangler," ad infinitum. The media focus not only on how many victims were killed but on how they died. Thus they feed morbid curiosity and at the same time create a stereotype of the typical serial killer: Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, Albert Desalvo, and a host of other young white males attacking unsuspecting women powerless to defend themselves from the savage sexual attacks and degradations by these monsters.

But what is the reality? For those in law enforcement, serial killing generally means the sexual attack and murder of young women, men, and children by a male who follows a pattern, physical or psychological. However, this definition fails to include many offenders and victims. For example, in 1988 in Sacramento, California, several bodies of older or handicapped adults were exhumed from the backyard of a house where they were supposed to have been living. Investigators discovered the victims had been killed for their Social Security checks. It was apparent the killer had premeditated the murders, had selected the victims, and had killed at least six over a period of several months. Most law enforcement agencies would naturally classify this case as a serial killing-except for the fact that the killer was female. Because of rather narrow definitions of serial killing females are generally not classified as serial killers even though they meet the requirements for such a label. One explanation may simply be that we rarely if ever hear of a female "Jack the Ripper." Women who kill serially generally use poisons to dispose of their victims and are not associated with the sexual attacks, tortures, and violence of their male counterparts.

Although many offenders actually fall into the serial killer classification, they are excluded because they fail to meet law enforcement definitions or media-generated stereotypes of brutal, blood-thirsty monsters. The "angels of death" who work in hospitals and kill patients, or nursing home staff who kill the elderly, or the "black widows" who kill their family and relatives also meet the general criteria for serial killing except for the stereotypic element of violence. These men and women do not slash and torture their victims nor do they sexually attack them; they are the quiet killers. They are also the kinds of people who could be married, hold steady jobs, or simply be the nice man or woman who lives next door. They are rare among serial killers, just as serial murders are rare compared with other types of homicide.

To include all types of serial killers, the definition of serial murder must clearly be as broad as possible. For instance, Hickey (1986), by simply including all offenders who through premeditation killed three or more victims over a period of days, weeks, months, or years, was able to identify several women as serial killers. However, there exists such confusion in defining serial killing that findings can also easily be distorted. In addition, current research presents some narrow operational definitions of serial murder without any documented assurances that the focus does not exclude pertinent data. To suggest, for example, that all victims of serial murder are strangers, that the killers operate primarily in pairs, or that they do not kill for financial gain is derived more from speculation than verifiable evidence, given the current state of serial murder research.

Typologies of Murder

In essence serial murderers should include any offenders, male or female, who kill over time. Most researchers agree that serial killers have a minimum of 3-4 victims. Usually there is a pattern in their killing that may be associated with the types of victims selected or the method or motives for the killing. This includes murderers who, on a repeated basis, kill within the confines of their own home, such as a woman who poisons several husbands, children, or elderly people in order to collect insurance. In addition, serial murderers include those men and women who operate within the confines of a city or a state or even travel through several states as they seek out victims. Consequently, some victims have a personal relationship with their killers and others do not, and some victims are killed for pleasure and some merely for gain. Of greatest importance from a research perspective is the linkage of common factors among the victims-for example, as Egger (1985) observed, "victims' place or status within their immediate surroundings (such as vagrants, prostitutes, migrant workers, homosexuals, missing children, and single and often elderly women)" (p. 3). Commonality among those murdered may include several factors, any of which can prove heuristic in better understanding victimization.

Much of our information and misinformation about criminal offenders is based on taxonomies, or classification systems. Megargee and Bohn (1979) noted that researchers usually created typologies based on the criminal offense. This invariably became problematic because often the offense comprised one or more subgroups. Researchers then examined repetitive crime patterns, which in turn created new complexities and problems. Megargee and Bohn further noted that, depending on the authority one chooses to read, one will find between two and eleven different types of murderers (pp. 29-32). Although serial murder is believed to represent a relatively small portion of all homicides in the United States, already researchers have begun the difficult task of classifying serial killers. Consequently, various typologies of serial killers and patterns of homicides have emerged. Not surprisingly, some of these typologies and patterns conflict with one another. Some are descriptions of causation, whereas others are diagnostic in nature. In addition, some researchers focus primarily on individual case studies of serial killers, whereas others create group taxonomies that accommodate several kinds of murderers.

Wille (1974) identified ten different types of murderers covering a broad range of bio-socio-psychological categories:

1. depressive
2. psychotic
3. afflicted with organic brain disorder
4. psychopathic
5. passive aggressive
6. alcoholic
7. hysterical
8. juvenile (the child was the killer)
9. mentally retarded
10. sex killers

Lee (1988) also created a variety of labels to differentiate killers according to motive, including:

1. profit
2. passion
3. hatred
4. power or domination
5. revenge
6. opportunism
7. fear
8. contract killing
9. desperation
10. compassion
11. ritual

Even before American society became aware, in the early 1980s, of serial murder as anything more than an anomaly, researchers had begun to classify multiple killers and assign particular characteristics and labels to them. Guttmacher (1973) described the sadistic serial murderer as one who derives sexual gratification from killing and who often establishes a pattern, such as the manner in which they kill or the types of victims they select, such as prostitutes, children, or the elderly. Motivated by fantasies, the offender appears to derive pleasure from dehumanizing his or her victims. Lunde (1976) recognized and noted distinctions between the mass killer and the serial killer, notably that the mass killer appears to suffer from psychosis and should be considered insane. By contrast he found little evidence of mental illness among serial killers. Danto (1982) noted that most serial murderers may be described as obsessive-compulsive because they normally kill according to a particular style and pattern.

Researchers have been attempting to create profiles of the "typical" serial killer from the rapidly accumulating statistics on offenders and victims in the United States. The most stereotypical of all serial murderers are those who in some way are involved sexually with their victims. It is this type of killer who generates such public interest and alarm. Stories of young women being abducted, raped, tortured, and strangled appear more and more frequently in the newspapers.

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

In Real World News: Batman versus Batman

Where are you from? Oh, I'm from Batman!

Yes, mga bords, there is a place called Batman. It is is a city on the Batman River in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

And on November 7th, 2008, Batman Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan began looking into legal possibilities toward suing Christopher Nolan, director of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight for naming infringement and "placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the film's success has had on the city's inhabitants."
Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, has accused "The Dark Knight" producers of using the city's name without permission.

"There is only one Batman in the world," Kalkan said. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us." (i love this guy!)

I was laughing my ass on a comment made by somebody in the superherohype site, who calls himself "dude" saying: "Sounds like Turkey is having some money problems. This should be a lesson to tell the people of 'Wolverine', 'Watchmen' and the city of "Captain America:The First Avenger" before they sue"


yep. That's the mayor of Batman. Maybe he'll sue Nintendo next for basing Super Mario on him. hehehe

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

9/11 Truth in New Video About Bailout : US Economic Crisis.

The Corbett Report has created a new video explaining why people should be angry about more than just the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. One reason, of course, is the $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon the day before 9/11, when the Pentagon's Budget Analyst Office was destroyed. Watch the video below:

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

Russian Roulette ...For Kids

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

Ash & the Evil Dead (A Halloween Focus)

He’s faced the Evil Dead… He’s fought the Army of Darkness… He’s…
ASH…
Hail to the King, baby!
By Reymundo Salao

(We already know Freddy, Jason, Chuckie, and even Sadako. But many of us forget this one horror icon who’s actually one of the most kickass characters
It is the dark ages, around 1300 AD; The King who is named Arthur his right-hand wizard’s name is Merlin too) raises his sword to threaten Ash, when all of a sudden a cracking boom stunned the king as the tip of his sword is blown off. The King stops to look at Ash, puzzled with what he’s done. Ash blows off the smoke from his gun and turns to the peasant crowd who just witnessed the amazing incident. The peasants of that land were simpleminded medieval folk; farmers, knights, horsemen, blacksmiths, and carpenters. They were at awe to what this stranger called Ash has to say to them: “Alright, you primitive screwheads; Listen up! See this? THIS is my BOOMSTICK! It’s a 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart’s ‘Top-of-the-Line’! You can find this in the sporting goods department. That’s right; this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapid, Michigan. Retail’s for about a hundred-nine, ninety five It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt-blue steel, and a hair-trigger. That’s right, Shop Smart: Shop S-MART…
…YOU GOT THAT?!”
Yes, we’ve seen that scene before, and in case you haven’t, well, then you’ve got three movies to look for: EVIL DEAD (not the Asian movie of the same title), EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, and EVIL DEAD 3: ARMY OF DARKNESS.

He’s not Macgyver, but he still manages to make a cybernetic hand with only a medieval gauntlet, and then he makes a propeller-armed battle tank out of a broken automobile, all in a matter of days. He’s the hero of the EVIL DEAD trilogy. His name is ASH (Full name: Ashley Williams), and he’s seen death one too many times, been possessed by evil demons more than once, managed to cut his own hand in the process, and fought the army of the dead. Not to mention, he had an affair with some chick in the dark ages. It may be that killer shotgun he carries around, or that kick-ass chainsaw he’s got for a hand, or maybe plainly just his wicked personality that makes him the kind of guy who would take on Superman, no sweat.

It’s no surprise that his existence is the work of real insane genius; he was created by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, the now-popular director of the successful Spiderman film franchise. His film has neither got critical acclaim, nor blockbuster prowess, but he remains as one of the most influential fictional characters that ever existed. Mainly because of a cult following that had become an entire nation of cult followers. His ardent fans all over the world are as diehard as any sci-fi/fantasy geek. He’s got more spin-off video games and action figures than Harry Potter or that forgettable hero of The MUMMY. ASH truly embodies the definition of a true CULT HERO.

Evil Origins
The Terror of the EVIL DEAD actually began when Archaeologist Dr. Raymond Knowby and his wife Henrietta traveled to the Castle of Kantar and unearthed the book known as The NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS. Legend has it that it was written by the dark ones. It serves as a passageway to the evil worlds beyond. But in Knowby’s incompetence, he brought it back to his cabin and there, he transcribed and recorded some of its incantations in an audio recorder. It was then when the evil was unleashed to sow terror upon Knowby, which resulted in their massacre.


It was much later when Ash and his friends were drawn into the cabin and there, the evil dead awaited to consume them. But Ash survives…

EVIL DEAD 4?
In regards to 'Evil Dead 4 Sam Raimi says, "There will be an Evil Dead 4, and there will ALSO be an Evil Dead Remake. The remake will be produced by Ghost House pictures, (his company with Robert Tapert) and it will star a new cast and a completely new director. The point of Ghost House is that we want to bring new directors (like Takashi Shimizu of "the Grudge" to Hollywood and give them a chance to make a good horror film."

On WHAT inspired him to allow the remake, Raimi said, "I love the original Dawn of the Dead, and I also really enjoyed the new Dawn of the Dead. I mean, they are both really great horror films. I want to let somebody with a fresh vision bring The Evil Dead to a new generation and a new audience with a different vision..."
Contrary to what Raimi told Mr. D, the remake will be Evil Dead 1 and 2 together, but remade with a higher budget and a new cast and crew. As for EVIL DEAD 4, reports have revealed that this project will push through and ASH’s adventures will continue his adventure fighting the Evil Dead…

dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

SNEEZE November Issue

SNEEZE November Issue
or the Pista Minatay Issue
is going to be out on October 21, 2008
This issue will feature The 10 Best Batman Books, Strange Days 2: The Counter Culture Gig, The Rock the Rehas gig of RockEd Iloilo, The Pinoy Metal band Death Angel, Then there's this Cult in Mexico that prays to St. Death, & we also talk about Saints that can kick your ass, And of course we talk about the Iloilo Counter Culture compilation album. On this issue we also give our thoughts on the relationship between Heavy Metal music and why people call it Satanic.
SNEEZE is available at EddieMar Newspaper & Magazine Shop.







dig-thisShare on FriendFeed

...And So it Begins

Teh! Yari Na! Amo na ni ang Website ka SNEEZE Magazine. This is SNEEZE on the web. If SNEEZE Magazine is'nt enough for you, well, this site is the answer. Well, not really "THE" answer. I mean, there's also cross-stitching, or basket-weaving, or mold collection, or many other wonderful things. In fact, there's nothing even "wonderful" about SNEEZE. Is there? But then at least, we dont waste our printer ink of interviews of beautiful morons who teach us the right sexual positions, or maybe their idiotic shallow understanding of Life in general. We dont waste our printer ink on socialites who do nothing but make pa-cute in social events. We dont waste our printer ink on writers who were just given the position of "writer" just because they have the family name of blue blooded Pinoy families. This is SNEEZE. Where Sports is considered an activity for morons, where disco is for assholes, where spoiled rich brats are fucking irritating pests of the Earth, and where the losers, strangers, weirdos, spooks come home to to destroy the world that conformists have created. (Yes, yuta mo man eh) Spread the disease... SNEEZE it!






dig-thisShare on FriendFeed