broken

brochureware = B = broken arrow

broken adj.

1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme depression.

--Jargon File, autonoded by rescdsk.

Halo 5

Track Listing

1. pinion
2. wish
3. last
4. help me i am in hell
5. happiness in slavery
6. gave up

7 - 97 :: Nothing

98. physical
99. suck

Released in 1992, Nine Inch Nails' second major release is just over one half hour long. Wish, last, and gave up were coproduced with Flood. The tracks for Broken were recorded in various studios, all without the knowledge or permission of Trent Reznor's former label, TVT Records. (Reznor sued to be released from TVT Records because they didn't support him artistically or financially. A deal was negotiated between Interscope and TVT Records, and Nine Inch Nails got its own label: Nothing.)
Broken is an album about Reznor's feelings of captivity to his label. From pinion to gave up, Reznor makes it quite clear that he is entirely unhappy with the binding restraints forced upon him by TVT Records. This record is not as focused as some of Nine Inch Nails' other works, but still worth a listen.

There is an unreleased movie that was meant to go with the album. It contained clips from what appears to be a snuff film and the music videos to the first six tracks of Broken. Many of the videos were released independently, including pinion and happiness in slavery, the latter featuring a man being sexually tortured by a machine before ultimately being ground into human chuck.
Perhaps the most disturbing portion of the movie is the video for gave up. Herewithin is what appears to be the climax of the snuff film clips, where a man, previously kidnapped, is cut, torn, and ripped open, laying bare all of his vital organs for the torturer to cup in his hands and bring to his mouth. Truly the most twisted, disturbing experience I have ever subjected myself to.

Broken, as far as Magic: the Gathering is concerned, is a term that is thrown around more and more frequently amongst competitive players these days. Simply put, a card that is broken is a card that breaks the format, or metagame. In essence, a broken card, or a broken deck, is one that is grossly over-powered in its current environment.

Just how broken a card is depends on a variety of factors, such as whether you are talking about limited (a format where you acquire the cards you play with and build a deck right before play begins, such as a sealed deck, or draft tournament), or constructed (a format where you build a deck from the cards you already own which are allowed, such as Type 1, Type 2, or Extended). For example certain cards would be very powerful in limited, where there are fewer forms of removal and the tempo of the games is slower, whereas in constructed the same cards could be considered nearly un-playable. A card like Living Hive is a good example, it is a very large creature that would win you many limited games when it came into play, but it's casting cost is too great to be considered for most constructed formats. By the same token, some card combinations that would be broken in Constructed would be totally unplayable in limited formats. For instance, Shared Fate and Leveler is a very potent combination of cards, but when they are not played in conjunction, they are very weak, so few people would attempt to play either of them in a limited format.

Some cards are so broken that they are banned or restricted from certain types of tournament play. The idea behind banning some cards in certain formats is generally that if left unchecked, decks based on these cards would become the only viable ones in a given format. A great example of a card banned for being too broken would be Tinker, which was banned from the extended format. Tinker was deemed too powerful, as it allowed players to play very high casing cost artifacts as early as turn 2 or 3, and it was a card that was showing up in virtually every successful extended deck until it's banning.

Having said all that, let me just summarize with a simple breakdown of broken: Broken means good. If someone refers to a card as broken, expect to see it the next time you go to a tournament, and if you want to win, use cards designed to deal with it.

EP: Broken
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Label: Nothing Records (TVT/Interscope)
Year: 1992
Rating: 4/5
Summary: Harsh and abrasive antidote to Pretty Hate Machine.

To me, Broken feels like the true birth of Nine Inch Nails, after the false start of Pretty Hate Machine. This is where Trent Reznor introduces the remaining pieces of his style, such as beautifully grotesque sound collages, well sequenced samples of rock instruments, sudden endings, and atmospheric crescendos. (It also includes a trick that would later become one of Marilyn Manson's hallmarks: playing a loud snare drum on all the downbeats of a chorus.) Combined with his already established technique of juxtaposing quiet verses with loud choruses, his unique style is now finally complete.

Trent Reznor understandably overcompensates for the restrained nature of Pretty Hate Machine - in places, Broken is only slightly more rhythmic and melodic than bursts of noise. It also sounds a little rough around the edges, as he enthusiastically embraces his new style before he's had a chance to get comfortable writing in it.

If you want to hear only the very best of Nine Inch Nails's releases, you should probably skip this EP and go straight to the masterpiece that is Trent Reznor's magnum opus, The Downward Spiral. If, however, you want to hear the raw template of the aesthetic that would later be put to outstanding use in his more developed later work, then this is it: Broken is the intense sound of the angry; the rejected; the reluctant ex-Christian; someone trapped in Hell itself.

Bro"ken (br&omac;"k'n), a. [From Break, v. t.]

1.

Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.

2.

Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a broken surface.

3.

Fractured; cracked; disunited; sundered; strained; apart; as, a broken reed; broken friendship.

4.

Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships.

The one being who remembered him as he been before his mind was broken. G. Eliot.

The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away. Goldsmith.

5.

Subdued; humbled; contrite.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Ps. li. 17.

6.

Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse.

7.

Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope; blighted.

G. Eliot.

8.

Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.

9.

Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made, or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken tradesman.

10.

Imperfectly spoken, as by a foreigner; as, broken English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to say a few broken words at parting.

Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators. Macaulay.

Broken ground. (a) Mil. Rough or uneven ground; as, the troops were retarded in their advance by broken ground. (b) Ground recently opened with the plow. -- Broken line Geom., the straight lines which join a number of given points taken in some specified order. -- Broken meat, fragments of meat or other food. -- Broken number, a fraction. -- Broken weather, unsettled weather.

© Webster 1913.