Seriously. America needs more heavy snowfall. And when I speak about America, I’m talking about the real America: Washington, D.C.

Seeing D.C. crippled by weather and therefore unable to influence the news cycle with more back-and-forth about health care reform bills, filibusters, jobs reports and activist judges was really kind of pleasant for the last few days. There were still some interesting bits of news coming from the world of politics—Sarah Palin’s cliff notes written on her hand during her overpaid Q&A at some radical convention—and in the media sphere—with Bill O’Reilly’s Jon Stewart interview.

But instead of all the never-ending national concerns, we got a chance to see television journalists doing what they do best: scaring the crap out of us.

What was it the Europeans were making fun of us for calling it? A Snowpocalypse? Sure, we got a dusting (if you even want to call it that) in Northern New Jersey, but I’m told Asbury Park had a foot. That’s pretty significant. Certain parts of Maryland had three feet. You could easily…

Here’s a music quiz for all you hardcore New Jerseyans out there. In the ’90s while groups such as Rage Against The Machine were surfing on radio waves with the musical style known as rapcore, what underground New Jersey band gained a large and devoted following by coupling rhymes about food stamps and abortion with manic distorted guitar riffs and adrenaline heavy drumming? If you guessed the Garden State’s own E-Town Concrete, you’re right.

It started as a joke band during the high school years of vocalist Anthony “Ant-Money” Martini and drummer Theodore “Ted P.” Panagopoulos back in 1995. Two friends coming together to jam out, and nothing more. Even the name was meant to be “corny” according to band members, a temporary moniker that just stuck. But what started as a gag matured into a ten year career for E-Town, with five albums released, tours held around the world, and appearances on iconic music channel MTV.

After some lineup changes over the years, final band members included guitarist David “DeLux” Mondragon and bassist Eric…

The American people are smart enough to do this on their own.

- John Boehner, Ohio Republican Representative, when asked on Meet The Press if there should be federal government regulation over the purchase of health insurance across state lines.

Part of our 2010 Faux Revolution is the expulsion of ridiculously unsubstantiated nonsense like using the American People whenever someone is trying to make, prove or back up a point. There is no real American People, and if there were such an animal there is no way they would be willing or able to agree en masse on everything stated daily by debaters, lawmakers, executives, pundits, etc. It is a fantasy, which is a nice way of saying it is a blatant lie, and it must stop. In fact, all mention of any kind of “people” in solidarity must cease, especially when pitching ideology. The good of a group is never considered when ideologies are being thrown around. It is only good for the ideologues espousing their creed for an explicit segment of society.…

HIM frontman Ville Valo sounds a little overwhelmed when he gets on the phone from Finland. He has been juggling press, mixes for special releases and preparations for a world tour that will start in Australia in late February, head to the UK, then arrive in the U.S. in late March. But things are not so rough—the group has had a bit of a break, having not toured since 2008 nor released a new studio album since 2007’s heavy and somber Venus Doom, an album which was influenced by Black Sabbath. While it did not match the gold sales level of its predecessor—everyone’s album sales keep falling in general—it continued the group’s artistic evolution and took them into new territory.

The new HIM album, Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice, is the group’s seventh studio release and offers a nice contrast to its predecessor—an energetic manifesto of hard rock aggression and pop melody, combining ‘80s-style synths and crunchy guitars, with Valo crooning, screaming, even chanting over the infectious mix. For those who thought that this…