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Jef Rouner

Jef Rouner (not cis, he/him) is a contributing writer who covers politics, pop culture, social justice, video games, and online behavior. He is often a professional annoyance to the ignorant and hurtful.

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How NOT to Raise Money to Make a Music Video

By Jef Rouner
Dec 30, 2011

Friends and enemies, music videos are an enduring passion of ours, both filming them ourselves and reporting on the best that we come across year after year. We think the medium has only become better and better with technology being made easier and cheaper for the average independent artist to...
Best Comics in December: KISS, Sex with Crystals, and Godzilla Bin Laden

By Jef Rouner
Dec 29, 2011

Once a month the amazing staff at 8th Dimension Comics selects a pile of the best new releases for us to peruse and judge. This month we're going to abstain from our regular series in an attempt to give some other books space and also so this doesn't become a...
The Top 5 Video Game Hitlers (sNSFW)

By Jef Rouner
Dec 29, 2011

Okay, weird confession time. We have this...thing about Hitler. We fully recognize that he is singlehandedly responsible for some of the gravest atrocities of the last century, and that his very image is enough to strike fear into the hearts of men and women everywhere. We get that, and we...
30 Seconds With Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra

By Jef Rouner
Dec 29, 2011

Having seen Better Than Ezra live, we can tell you that no band in all of America is enjoying their career more. Seriously, they are like the happiest people on the planet. We sat down with Kevin Griffin, who we will always love for singing "The Killer Inside" to see...
Clouds Are Ghosts: Harbinger Heralds Brilliance

By Jef Rouner
Dec 28, 2011

We got into the Clouds are Ghosts while deconstructing their band name. It was clear when we heard their work that the band was good, we compared them to Legendary Pink Dots and the Irrespressibles and that is some of our highest praise. The only problem we ever had with...
Gothic Council Makes Its News Year's Resolutions

By Jef Rouner
Dec 27, 2011

Well, Christmas is over, as is Festivus for the rest of us, and now 2012 is barreling down at us like Donkey Kong threw it. Some people say that this year will be humanity's last, but since we say that as often as we can we're not too worried about...
Happy Mauro Hamza Day! 5 Great Sword Fighting Themes

By Jef Rouner
Dec 26, 2011

We do love our obscure holidays here at Rocks Off, as well as setting up playlists for them, but this is the first time we've gotten to tackle a holiday exclusive to our own city. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mauro Hamza. Hamza, is the coach for the 2012 United States...
Happy Gothmas! Top 10 Goth Christmas Songs

By Jef Rouner
Dec 23, 2011

"Dude, religious Christmas is pretty macabre. All kinds of scandal, sex with a ghost, strangers bringing mystical gifts, and everyone predicting this young couple's baby's death like its glorious wonderful thing. Oh and a decree to slaughter all male babies the next day... what could be more goth?" -Kassi Gooch...
5 Brilliant Classical Works With Obscenities for Names

By Jef Rouner
Dec 23, 2011

Our day job is as a clerk in a sheet music store, and in general it is a pretty sweet gig. We like being around music students, teachers, and people who just want to play. It truly is an invigorating thing to see. Then again... there are things in the...
American Horror Story: Endings Are Hard

By Jef Rouner
Dec 22, 2011

We have a theory, and you're going to need some pretty hard arguments to dissuade us. The entire purpose of the season finale of American Horror Story was simply to endure long enough so that viewers would see a variety of trailers for upcoming horror films. We counted five different...
The Embargo Act of 1807, And 5 Artists We'd Miss If It Was Still Here

By Jef Rouner
Dec 22, 2011

We're living in a globally connected world right now. Goods of all kinds are available from anywhere in the world in days, or in cases like music and films instantly. Our favorite expression lately is, "Living in the future is awesome," and if anyone argues with you punch them in...
Gothic Council Debates Great Gothic Album Cover Art

By Jef Rouner
Dec 21, 2011

Gothtopia would like to firmly bitch-slap an old adage, that being the warning about judging a book by its cover. The lesson we are supposed to draw from that is that we should look deeper inside than just the surface in order to better appreciate the true character of whatever...
Agony of Choice: BioShock Infinite vs. Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock

By Jef Rouner
Dec 21, 2011

Art Attack has really enjoyed our new video game reviewer role because, well, who wouldn't? A return to the forefront of the gaming industry after being content to wander around a few system generations back is exhilarating, and for the first time in many years we're actually sitting on the...
5 Most Annoying Collections We Bought for Just One Item

By Jef Rouner
Dec 21, 2011

Art Attack's day job is as a clerk in a sheet music store. Now, people come in and they want a song, and if the song is really popular, say Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," then getting just that song is no problem. However, there are hundreds of thousands of...
Beach Boys Reunite for New Album, Ensure Armageddon.

By Jef Rouner
Dec 20, 2011

Mason Lankford said, "There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened," but Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. We were wrong last time, but we're totally right this time! In honor of their 50th anniversary the Beach Boys...
My 5 Most Awkward Brushes with the Sex Industry

By Jef Rouner
Dec 20, 2011

Hi guys, Jef here. Let's drop the royal we for the duration of this and talk like regular folks with severe mental problems. This was a big year for me at the Houston Press, and also the first year that I got to attend the blogger holiday party. Since I...
Interview: Dani Filth Talks Concept Albums and Playing Live at Castle Bathory

By Jef Rouner
Dec 20, 2011

Our apologies to Dani Filth for any inconsistency as the voice recorder app we downloaded specifically for this interview and spent an hour practicing with to make sure it worked perfectly buggered off. Thus we recreated our conversation from memory and learned a valuable lesson about over-reliance on technology. Rocks...
AgesandAges: A Tale of Portland and Pearl Harbor

By Jef Rouner
Dec 19, 2011

As the year comes to its close and we welcome the cool temperatures and the grey skies, definitely our favorite weather, we turn to the Pacific Northwest and the band AgesandAges. Mick Cullen of Subterranean Radio, our dealer in all excellent and underground, passed along the music video for the...
A Geek Answers Your Children's Questions About Santa Claus

By Jef Rouner
Dec 19, 2011

If there is any one aspect of being a parent we have been avidly preparing for for years, it's how to explain the concept of Santa Claus to our child. The world of science and pop culture offers so many helpful devices and skills that we are fully confident of...
WarBeast: Oh Fuck, They Have a Time Machine

By Jef Rouner
Dec 16, 2011

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. We try real hard to avoid metal bands here in the old What's in a Name? column. We still haven't forgiven Owl Witch for...
The 9 Creepiest Laughs in Pop Culture

By Jef Rouner
Dec 16, 2011

They say laughter is the best medicine, but no matter how good the medicine is, if it's delivered with a rusty hypodermic needle by a disreputable Tijuanan doctor who smells vaguely of pennies and soup mix, it probably isn't going to do you any good at all. Here we pay...
American Horror Story: Born in Blood

By Jef Rouner
Dec 15, 2011

Over the course of our coverage of American Horror Story we've been sort of dismissive of the ongoing story arch involving Viven's Connie Britton) pregnancy. They've done their level best to interest us in the story, what with adding ghost rape, prophecies of the Anti-Christ, and just your typical horror...

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Jef Rouner