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OnDeck!In-depthMLBPreview,PlusFantasyBaseballDo'sandDon'ts

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Bad Day L.A.Taking Down Tinseltown

Gametime Special

MLS Preview, Masters Golf,NBA Playoffs, and More!

Simmons Going Toe-to-Toe

With the Sports Guy

SCORE! GETTING AND GIVING "THE BEST SEX EVER"!

"Bisexual UntilGraduation" and Other

Girls' School

Sex Secrets

Bill

MAY 2006

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So, this game is about a homeless guy saving the people of Los Angeles after disaster strikes?Imagine The Day After Tomorrow headedby Dave Chappelle. The premise is all ofour worst fears coming true in one day.The point of [it is] to show the ridiculousnature of being afraid of all these things.What’s the protagonist like?There’s a little bit of Buddhist monk inhim. There are philosophies in the worldthat believe if you have no possessionsand no burden of modern life, then youhave no fear. He has nothing to fear,because he has nothing to lose.Was he based on anyone you know?Part of his dialogue is loosely based on a

friend of mine who used to end everysentence with “and shit.” He’d be like,

“Yo, man, we’re going to go down to theclub and shit.” It would crack me up.What inspired this game?I started to notice billboards with bizarre[messages, such as,] “You’re either withus, or you’re against us.” They made merealize that I have to speak out in any wayI can. And the only way I can in any validfashion is to do what I do—make games.Have you always been interested in politics?I was never really politically aware oractive until after 9/11. I started to readmore than what was being presented onFox or CNN, and I read between the

By Rebecca Swanner

25

lines. It started to make me feel a little bitangry and a little bit helpless.What is the game’s message?The first message is, “The only thing tofear is fear itself.” The other message is,

“We’re the only ones who can helpourselves.”The game deals with violence in a unique way.It’s actually anti-violence. You’ve got guns,

but [there is a] threat advisory bar to tellyou when things are becoming toochaotic. There is classic gameplay—running around, shooting zombies, stufflike that—but on top of that is the idea ofchaos control and chaos management. Ifyou don’t help out, you’ll die.What inspired you to design games?When I got my job at id [Software], it wasby chance. It was almost like somethingreached down, plucked me up, and waslike, “Okay, you’re going to go make videogames now.”Do you think working outside the video-game world has helped you?I think it might have. There’s not a gameconsole in my house. I don’t play games.When I was thinking about Bad Day L.A.,I was thinking more about the story andthe comedy of it than anything else. I think

[outside] influences can be detrimental.Is that why Bad Day L.A. doesn’t follow

the current trends found in free-

roaming titles like GrandTheft Auto?From a story perspective, even when agame claims to be nonlinear, it still has abeginning, middle, and end. Bad Day L.A. has a linear story arc, but you haveoptions of where to go and what to do.Nonlinear storytelling doesn’t existanywhere that I know of. Not even in life.[For example,] dinner is very linear—you[wouldn’t] pick up a wine bottle and bashthe guy sitting next to you on the head.Is it true that you’re trying to create a fi lm version of Bad Day L.A.?We are. A well-known comedy animationwriter took the story I wrote and adaptedit. We want it to be live action. Think ofScary Movie, or Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice inthe Hood.What else are you working on?I’m writing the screenplay for Oz. Writinga movie with the [Jerry] Bruckheimerpeople is very interesting. I’m not sayingit’s bad—it’s just very different for me.+

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18 PENTHOUSE.COM

REVIEWS

!!!!Mates of State

Bring It Back(Barsuk)The fourth record from this husband-and-wife duo evokes a light and airy indie-rock sound. The upbeat, piano-driven songs are com-plemented by Kori’s vocals (she sounds like a young Liz Phair), which make this sonically sound.

!!!!Irving

Death in the Garden,Blood on the Flowers(Eenie Meenie)This indie-pop band from L.A. takes a dip in the garage-rock pool on their newest album, giving us electronically infl uenced songs pep-pered with jangly guitars and melodra-matic lyrics.

!!!!Atreyu

A Deathgripon Yesterday(Victory)Atreyu’s me-lodic, hardcore style is more metal than emo on this short (but sweet) record. The sludgy riffs will make you show off your best air guitar, and the record’s good enough that we’ll forgive their onstage choreography.

!!!Anti-Flag

For Bloodand Empire(RCA)These punk re-vivalists return with another energetic, po-litical record. This time it’s on a—gasp—major label. Don’t worry: The corporate machine didn’t stop A-F from sharing their feelings on our involvement in the Middle East.

!!!Elefant

The BlackMagic Show(Hollywood)If you’re a fan of Interpol or early Depeche Mode, you’ll enjoy the new-wave style of frontman Diego Garcia. With each pro-gressive record this New York band gets better, and proves they’re not just an-other Strokes imitation.

!!!!!Rock Kills Kid

Are YouNervous?(Reprise)Imagine a record that sounds like an improved version of U2’s Pop: electronic beats, irresist-ible hooks, and vocals that ache with emotion. Ignore the fact that they’ve been labeled pop-punk and everything will be okay.

!!!!Editors

TheBackRoom(Fader/Kitchenware)R.E.M.–meets–the Cure in this explosive debut record. Though the second half drags a bit, the upbeat fi rst half features outstanding songs like “Lights” and “Munich.” It’s no surprise this record is already a hit in the U.K.

NOTABLE MENTIONS

NOFX Wolves in Wolves’Clothing (Fat Wreck)

Test Icicles ForScreeningPurposesOnly (Domino)

Rob Zombie EducatedHorses(Geffen)

Your girlfriend might like: PinkI’m Not Dead(La Face)

A Blessing and a Curse(New West) !!!!!

Though there are more country-radio stationsin the U.S. than rock or hip-hop stations, many

people don’t think it’s cool to love country rock.Luckily, big-name artists, such as Ryan Adams,

Big & Rich, and the late Johnny Cash, give these

people the excuse they need. These musicianshelped pave the way for Alabama’s genre-

benders the Drive-By Truckers. Part Seger, part

Springsteen, and a little honky-tonk thrown in for good measure, the Truckers prove once againthat they are experts at crafting lyrically rich,

heartbreaking songs that aren’t “achy breaky,” and writing believable, hard-living characters. After sixrecords, we love them for their refusal to conform

to what’s commonly thought of as rock or country.Penthouse Pick: “Easy on Yourself”

Drive-By Truckers

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20 PENTHOUSE.COM

Ever since I started listening to metal and hardcore, I’ve thought it would be awesome to be able to belt out lyrics like Dimmu Borgir or Give Up the Ghost. But every time I tried, my throat burned and I couldn’t carry anything that resembled a tune. That’s before I met Melissa Cross.

Cross, a professional vocal coach, has helped countless musicians—from Thursday to Andrew W.K. to Every Time I Die—learn how to scream without hurting their voices.

When you’re singing like there’s gravel in your windpipe night after night, your vocal cords bang together furiously. This can lead to sore throats, scar tis-sue, and surgery. Cross teaches screamers to sing with their “false cords,” which are located next to the actual vocal cords. When you use these falsies properly, you’ll feel the larynx rise in your throat, and a slight buzzing in your head. This tech-nique produces the appropriate guttural sounds without killing your voice. However, learning to scream without screaming takes work. Inside her studio, the bubbly, redheaded master ofThe Zen of Screaming taught me how.

First I’d need to learn to use my diaphragm to control my breathing. This would allow me to forcefully project my voice, and provide some reserve air so I wouldn’t have to gulp be-tween lines. Next I’d train my brain to allow the sound to come from my false cords when I screamed.

For this, Cross has a method she calls singing “above the pencil.” I gripped an unsharpened No. 2 between my front teeth and attempted to use my false cords to propel a sound that “fl owed over the top of the pencil.”

Cross demonstrated how I was supposed to sound. “Think creaky door! Think Marge Simpson!” She sounded like a ptero-dactyl. I didn’t sound like much.

I’m not used to raising my voice so high, and I squeaked and cracked like a teenage boy. Finally, she suggested I try imitat-ing an old cat. Since I have one at home, this image worked. I screeched out an awful, awesome noise. Cross nodded and laughed.

“God!” she said. “That was frightening. It was like something from The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”

While I was able to make the noise softly, it faltered every time I tried to push it louder. Enough with the screamo: I wanted to try death metal.

Cross told me to bark like a dog.Woof! “Now try barking the alpha-bet.” I started to bark my ABC’s, and fi nally my voice sounded like something on a record. After a few letters, she said, “I usually have my

students do jumping jacks along with these.” Instead of count-ing along, I jumped and shouted in my three-inch heels. One of my friends watching the lesson said, “You sound like Cookie Monster.”

After two and a half hours of training, I left Cross’s studio, throat intact. Although I hadn’t yet mastered the gritty hardcore scream, I could make my voice rumble with the power of a fl edgling death-metal vocalist. Or a Muppet. “Me want cookie!”

Melissa Cross’s DVD, The Zen of Screaming, is out now. For advanced screaming, look for her second DVD this summer. MelissaCross.com

Tired of wrenching

your voice and

coughing up

blood, just to get the perfect, primal, rock ’n’ roll scream?

Music editor

Rebecca Swanner

gets a hardcore

vocal coach to show

her how it’s done.

SCREAMING MY LUNGS OUT

“God!” she said.

“That was frightening. It was like something from

The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”

Cw a l l y @w a l l y . i n M

Cw a l l y @w a l l y . i n M

22 PENTHOUSE.COM

REVIEWS

UnhappinessHotel

In director Eli Roth’s Hostel ($29), a couple of college students travel to a former Eastern Bloc country looking for extreme hedonism. What they fi nd is extreme pain, as guests become cadavers at the hands of sadistic businessmen. Caveat emptor, because this is not a fi lm for anyone with a weak stomach.

Magic: The BlatheringAt this year’s Golden Globes, we were surprised that the tribute to Anthony Hopkins included the seventies horror fl ick Magic ($20). It’s the unintentionally funny tale of a ventriloquist who loses his mind to his dummy and goes on a killing spree. Hopkins is so young and thin that he’s almost unrecognizable, and Burgess Meredith kicks ass in a supporting role.

It’s all fun and games when someone loses an eye.

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By Barbara Rice Thompson

THINK INSIDE THE BOX

23

M*A*S*H NotesThe Robert Altman Collection

Perfect Couple, Quintet, and

Brooks OthersThe new Mel Brooks set ($100) features eight of the comedy legend’s irreverent fl icks, including some of his best: Blazing Saddles, High

Frankenstein (in a new widescreen transfer).The Producers may be making Brooks a shitload of cash, but these fi lms show why he’s a master.

Monkeying Around

PSP

UP

DA

TE

Comedian Patton Oswalt has No Reason to Complain now that his hilari-ous DVD is out…. Dave Attell’s Insomniac Tour Un-censored will keep you up all night drinking … er … laugh-ing.… And enjoy a little retro David Spade in his fi rst HBO com-edy spe-cial, 1998’s Take the Hit ($20 each).

STAND-UP GUYS

Not the TV show, but part of

($40), which includes the DVD

movie version, as well as A

A Wedding. Altman recorded

and each film has a behind-the-scenes featurette.

premiere of the much racier

a commentary for M*A*S*H,

The new 14-disc Planet of the Apes package ($180) includes the

run of the animated television series. You may think of that as overkill—

Charlton Heston original inspired, it’s kind of appropriate.

NBA Hardwood Classics: Michael

entire series of films (excluding the one with Marky Mark), plus the full

and you’d be right—but considering the ensuing cheesiness the

Put some low-budget high comedy

Toxic Avenger and Cannibal!: The

pre–South Park collaboration). Also

Jordan—His Airness, and NBA

Anxiety, Silent Movie, and Young

Furious Finishes ($20 each).

new are Dude, Where’s My Car?,

Musical (Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s

in your pocket with the releases of The

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24 PENTHOUSE.COM

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER

American McGee: innovator, game designer, former hippie. This emigrant Texan, who now lives in Hong Kong, has cultivated a reputation for pushing the gaming envelope since he started designing titles like Quake and Doom. For the most part, McGee’s fearless style has served him well, and gamers have been rewarded with titles like Electronic Arts’ cult hit, Alice. Now the most original man in the industryhas his own media production company and two upcoming fairy-tale projects: Oz and Grimm. His newest title is a political comedyadventure called Bad Day L.A.

American Ingenuıty

For the world’s

most eclectic

game designer, a BadDay is about to be

his fi nest hour.

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