Green Gravy

WRC Rally Evolved's co-driver

2011-03-10T16:53:00.006+10:30

He is truly one of the great video game companion characters of all time. Here's some of the comments he'll give you as you approach the starting line of a stage.

"Don't press that button."
"I am sweating .... with FEAR."
"... and only then did the doctor see the thermometer, haha!"
"Maybe we should turn the driver's aids on."
"Sigh, I hate this *bleep*-ing stage"
"I've got an idea, let's not crash today, right?"
"Can't we just play the video game version?"
"Hang on, I think I've dropped my pen."
"Damn it's hot in this cabin."
"This is gonna ROCK!"
"My head's still killing from last night."
"Hold on, my notes are upside-down."
"I really hope that bolt doesn't come loose."
"I'm buzzing already, COME ON!"
"The team are telling me that you need to drive faster, and crash less often."
"So I gave her the money for the taxi home, and we said no more about it."

What The Hell Guys?

2011-01-24T01:51:00.002+10:30

Burnout 3: Takedown had a feature where you could skip the song the soundtrack was playing mid-game just by hitting the L2 button.

Why was this not incorporated into every single game made since then?

Summer Movies

2011-01-22T12:40:00.010+10:30

For me this Summer has been made of made things; university research, studying Japanese, and movies, plenty of movies.

Battle Royale
If you can detach yourself from the extreme violence this is an very fun movie to watch with great action and characterization. 9/10

The Bourne Identity
A well paced action thriller with a good hook and occasional decent drama. 6/10

The Bourne Supremacy
Feels a bit like Jason Bourne ported into a plot he doesn't belong in, and without the good hook of the original, it simply feels like an extended 24 epsiode. 4/10

Caligula
This is bad, but it can be fun. 4/10

Citizen Kane
Not much to say, except that I now love Orson Wells. 10/10

Dracula (1931)
It's hasn't aged too well in terms of acting and effects, but it's refreshingly loyal to the book and certainly has its moments. 6/10

Duck Soup
Some of the most consistently funny dialogue you'll hear in a film, complimented really well with great visual and physical gags. 8/10

Fearless (1993)
A moving American drama on trauma, near death experiences, guilt and recovery. 8/10

The King's Speech
I thought I'd like this because I like Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, and I did. 9/10

Man On Wire
One of those great documentaries that can transport you completely into a different time and mindset. 8/10

Murderball
A strong documentary on both sports and people's struggles with becoming handicapped. 7/10

Naked Lunch
Walks a fine line between bizarrely wonderful and utterly unwatchable, with some strong steps on either side. 5/10

Nosferatu (1921)
Makes up for it's melodramatic acting with beautifully gothic cinematography and some effective tension building, a classic. 8/10

Paprika
Satoshi Kon (RIP) completely stretches his creative legs in an movie that plays by nobody's rules, great stuff. 9/10

Sky Crawlers
If you can handle Oshii's slow pacing, this is a gorgeous and thoughtful movie filled with underlying metaphors, even if they're more impenetrable this time around. 7/10

Titus
I needed an annotated copy of the play in my lap to be able to watch this, but I still found it pretty amazing. 9/10

Trigun: Badlands Rumble
About as well as I could hope this movie to be, it's just a strong movie length episode that avoids feeling forced or dragged. 7/10

Tron
Dated, but imaginative and fun. 6/10

Tron Legacy
Great soundtrack, but it's just a really unimaginative rehash that ports a few ideas from the original and fails to add to them in any interesting way. 3/10

My New Blog

2010-12-13T00:26:00.000+10:30

DeepSplinters

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Trophies

2010-12-03T13:21:00.007+10:30

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are being re-released on the PSN next year, with updated HD graphics and trophy support. While I find the latter somewhat disturbing (that is to say, they'll likely detract from what the point of these games are), my friend over at Callisto's Patches and I have a few suggestions for possible trophies.

ICO

Cooties Trophy:
Complete the game without touching Yorda except for necessary jumps and climbs

Twilight Trophy:
Never let go of Yorda's hand or allow her to wander with any sort of independence.

Ragdoll Trophy:
For carelessly flinging Yorda around for so many minutes straight.

No Means No Trophy:
Have a second player play as Yorda and hit Ico with a thrown barrel or bomb.

Down Low, Too Slow Trophy:
Failing to jump across the retracting bridge in time.

Shadow of the Colossus

Divine Intervention Trophy:
Require every hint from Dormin before beating every colossus.

Sneaky American Trophy:
Exploit the NTSC glitch of riding hawks to great heights.

Wise Guy Trophy:
Visiting the lairs of later colossi in an attempt to fight them first.

Bringing a Knife to a Gun Fight Trophy:
Attempting to fight certain colossi with only a sword, when a projectile weapon would have been best.

Alright Now What? Trophy:
Successfully climb to the secret garden.

Touché Trophy:
Successfully climb down from the secret garden.

Fruitcake Trophy:
Eat all the (non-forbidden) fruits in the game.

New Blog

2010-11-25T12:39:00.002+10:30

From now on, all my music related posts will be at

http://bingecringewhinge.wordpress.com/

Enemies List Home Recordings

2010-11-24T23:53:00.005+10:30

ENEMIES LIST HOME RECORDINGS was created to explore something else; the inherent promise in the availability of the means of production. One person in a bedroom can write, record, burn and sell a record on par in quality with the best any label can offer, and for a tiny fraction of the cost. What does that actually mean?

It means that the Market Forces that have always acted as a restraint upon art are dead. Not dying. Not on the way out. Dead.

Official site
Lastfm community

This is a label I've wanted to write something on for a while. Enemies List is a vessel that celebrates people creating earnest pieces of art in their bedrooms or their basements, away from the influences of the industry and pressures for high production values. Many of the artists released by the label share members, but more noticeably, they often share a crushing emotional tone of bleakness and negativity. Something about the home made production of the music complements this mood so well, it feels more personal.

There's a few great bands I've managed to discover through this label.

Have a Nice Life
Genre: Industrial, shoegaze, doom
Probably the most well known artist, HaNL is a heavy band, not so much in music but in tone, production, lyrics and concept.
Bloodhail

Planning For Burial
Genre: Drone, shoegaze, ambient
PFB have this ability to slowly build intense music out of layers of fuzzy guitars, with hints of vocals, drums or keyboards usually playing supplementary roles.
Being a Teenager and the Awkwardness of Backseat Sex

Nahvalr
Genre: Black metal, noise
This was an open source black metal project that anyone could contribute to, with mixing of submissions done by Dan and Tim of Have a Nice Life. The result is a confronting and chaotic onslaught of barely distinguishable screeches and only god knows what else.
Chorus of the Blasphemes

Giles Corey
Genre: ????
This solo project of Dan seems to be an "anything goes" zone for various song ideas and experiments. The result feels familiar to fans of other EL bands, but has it's own flavor through use of country-style acoustic guitar and surprises such as brass instrumentation.
Blackest Bile

Xasthur
Genre: Black metal
Not too familiar with this artist yet, but my impressions so far are of completely raw low-fi black metal, with a bit of "weird sound" experimentation.
Soulless Elegy

The Bounty Hunter Review

2010-11-21T19:46:00.005+10:30

**Contains spoilers**

I was at work (at a video store) when I had the idea to hire the shittiest recent movie I could find and review it. Congratulations to the Bounty Hunter for winning that honour. This movie has just 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.

8% is way too much.

This is a verified shit movie. Seriously. I just wasted two hours of my life watching it. Actually, I kept zoning out and missing parts so I kept having to rewind it and it ended up being more than two hours. I'm not tired or anything - it was just so boring that at times I couldn't pay attention even though I tried. I found myself wondering if people knew how crap this movie was when they were filming it? Or was the realisation afterwards? Rest assured that I didn't actually pay to watch this movie, thankfully.

Anyway, the actual review.

The overracted opening scene sets the tone for this ridiculous story, where Gerard Butler (he's no stranger to ridiculous storylines) is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter (how does that even work? He's allowed to restrain people as he pleases? I'm fairly sure what he's doing is called false imprisonment, and there's definitely some assault in there, too, but whatevs) who has to hunt his ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, as she's wanted for skipping bail on some felony or some kind of whatever (I lost interest early on, you see).

So, they used to be lovers and there's some attraction between them or something (despite them having ZERO chemistry onscreen) and they fall back in love blah blah, so there's all these soppy moments with the sweet music and the staring into each other's eyes. But, also, there's some half-assed alternate plot also occurring, where some guys are after Gerard Butler (I don't even know his character's name because I just don't care enough) because of something regarding drugs and cops, so there's also car chases and brawls. You get every cliche with this one!

So, yes, this is an romantic comedy action movie (that even sounds ridiculous; surely that should have been a warning). I bet the producers were like: romantic comedy audience + action movie audience = DOUBLE MONEY! Yeah, well, no. Just fail. The movie tries to do way too much and doesn't do any of it well.

The action part of the movie is summed up with about two sentences at the end. Very Scooby-Doo-esque. The romantic part of the movie is summed up in a little more detail - but it's really not any better. Guess what, Gerard Butler decides, after turning her in to the cops, that he actually does love her and stuff and gets thrown in jail with her... so they can celebrate their wedding anniversary together, which is today, but no one's mentioned it til now. Surprise! I'm fucking serious. Now you know why I may sound a little annoyed, right? This movie was shiiiiiiiiiiiit.

The highlight of the film was seeing Jennifer Aniston sprint in high heels. That was wild.

PS, just imagine Gerard Butler growling "take it easy, Skippy". Yeah, that happened. Yeah, you really don't want to see this movie, trust me.

You're damn right I have a problem

2010-11-20T12:56:00.003+10:30

Step 1.
Achieve moderate technical proficiency in your instruments, nothing further.

Step 2.
Over-produce music so it sounds clean and accessible despite whatever themes you're attempting to explore.

Step 3.
Write punchy nu-metal tracks that take minimal influences and utilize completely safe songwriting techniques. One thick riff pushed forward enough in the production is enough to carry the song, even if it's a routine one.

Step 4.
Make your songs a little vulgar, but shallow enough to not be too threatening. Remember, mass marketing and bringing in the teenage audience always takes precedence over artistic expression.

Step 5.
Get all these bands together to play concerts, and call it the Music As A Weapon tour.

My Impressions of God Of War II's Plot

2010-11-07T14:53:00.014+10:30

An interpretation of the first hour or so of God of War II.

RRAAAAWWWRRRR!! Hi I'm Kratos! Man I sure love being the god of war. I can invade as many cities as I want, killing as many as I want, until I achieve my goal of........ errrr...

I'm Athena, a god who is still on Kratos' side for some reason. The other gods are becoming mad at Kratos, I must warn him! That's my job!

Out of my way you stupid god who could probably crush me, there's a battle going on and my character doesn't really know how to do anything else.

Alright Kratos just listen, seriously. If you don't stop invading cities and generally being a dick, the gods will be pissed and they will come after you. I am trying to warn you, do you understand that at all?

YOU'RE BORING ATHENA, WHERE'S MY BATTLE CLOTHES? AHAHAHAHA! RED STUFF!

And so Kratos wades into a battle where the gods swiftly "betray" him and attack in the form of a giant statue.

WTF? Since when were the gods mad at me? Why didn't Athena warn me about this? Isn't she my assistant or something?

Use my sword, bro.

Err Zeus, kinda feels like this sword you gave me is draining my power.

USE THE SWORD KRATOS

Well I don't see any signs that the gods are mad at me so I'll take it, kaythanks.

And so Kratos used the sword to kill the giant statue, which included a pretty cool platforming section inside it's body. When he climbs out he starts yelling, not at all looking at the giant statue that is falling over behind him. Needless to say he gets squashed in one of the plot's more satisfying moments.

Noooo I can't die, think of all the killing I'll be missing out on. Curse you Zeus! ZEEEEUUUUUSSSS!!!

Yeah dude?

You betrayed me! I'm the victim in this game! I will spend the rest of this story trying to get revenge for this incredible crime of yours, WHICH I RECEIVED NO WARNING ABOUT BY THE WAY!

Blah blah blah stab-time!

Zeus impales Kratos through the chest with a sword. Kratos dies and goes to Hades, then leaves about a minute later. Huh. Then a titan starts talking to him, somehow.

I am Gaia! I hope you like my expressionless monotone voice because you'll be hearing it constantly! I can help you Kratos. Well, sort of. I'll just tell you what to do, how's that?

Yeah this doesn't feel familiar, huge-woman-made-out-of-dirt-and-grass-that's-frankly-horrifying.

Okay, there's these things called the Sisters Of Fate, right? Go find them and you can travel back in time to the moment when Zeus stabbed you and kill him instead.

Alright, so we have a main goal. Spend the game finding this convenient Deus Ex Machina plot device, so we can undo Zeus' "completely unfair" punishment of Kratos. The punishment he survived and is now perfectly healthy. Sure he's not a god anymore, but what kind of person would consider this maniac having god powers a good thing?
And why will this plan work anyway? He was already dying when Zeus killed him. If he goes back, won't he just overpowered again? Why doesn't he go further back in time and just not be a pointlessly violent douchebag of a god? Oh right, because Kratos will always take the option with killing things. Okay then.

To kill a god, I must become a god. God of WAR that is!

So Kratos rides his flying horse.... somewhere. And he fights against these flying enemies who work for ...... someone. The flying combat isn't very exciting or fun, but you'll get plenty of practise at it!
Aaaaanyway, Kratos flies into an ice cave, where the titan Typhon lives

Could you leave, please?

RRRAAAWWWRRRR!!! DIE! DIE!

Kratos, after invading this guys home, proceeds to hack away at his eye, which has a bow inside it for some reason.

GIMME!

Oww!.... dick.

Kratos leaves his cave, and we get more flying combat, longer this time. Gaia explains more about why she wants revenge on Zeus, but she still terrifies me and I don't really care anyway. Something about Zeus having daddy issues. I was pretty much done, so this is where I stopped.

Saito Koji - Ocean

2010-10-30T16:02:00.003+10:30

Year: 2010
Genre: Ambient

Tracklist:
Part. 1 30:35
Part. 2 30:35

I want you to ask yourself, "is there enough Japanese ambient/drone/loop music in my life right now?" Well if there isn't, then Ocean fills the gap pretty nicely.

Saito Koji's musical style is reminiscent of William Basinski, it's uses synthesized loops over a long period of time to create a really hypnotic effect. It may sound boring, and if it's not your thing then it probably will be. For ambient fans though, this really deserves a look. Even though it's sparse on composition, what is actually here sounds very otherworldly and peaceful.

One SEM label's bandcamp site, you can hear previews for both tracks, as well as buy a digital download for €3, or a CD for €8.

Favorite Skinny Puppy Songs Redux

2010-10-28T00:16:00.012+10:30

I did a post forever ago about what I thought were the ten best Skinny Puppy songs. Since then two things have happened; it became one of the most popular pages on the blog, and I got a lot more familiar with the band's catalog.

So, I've heard worst excuses to make a list. Here's my favorite Skinny Puppy songs, twenty five this time (ten just doesn't seem to cut it).

25. Inquisition [Last Rights]
Kick-ass drumming in the intro.

24. Mirror Saw [Last Rights]
Weird little gem that's easily overlooked.

23. Smothered Hope [Remission]
Dated sure, but still awesome live.

22. Assimilate [Bites]
After 25 years the verses in this are still damn catchy.

21. Rash Reflection [Too Dark Park]
The bizarre drum beat almost makes it sound like it's going too fast

20. T.F.W.O. [Too Dark Park]
Possibly their best use of electric guitar, it's almost a percussion instrument.

19. Tin Omen [Rabies]
DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN

18. Morpheus Laughing [Too Dark Park]
Sinister as hell.

17. Harsh Stone White [VIVIsectVI]
"Hey guys how about we use a jackhammer instead of the snare?"

16. Goneja [The Greater Wrong Of The Right]
Really an A+ example of how the newer sound can work.

15. Deep Down Trauma Hounds [Cleanse Fold Manipulate]
It's all really good; drums, synth, vocals, lyrics.

14. daL [MythMaker]
Totally unlike Skinny Puppy but pretty amazing.

13. One Time One Place [Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse]
Screamy, mellow, spacey, all the good stuff.

12. jaHer [MythMaker]
Unnnnwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnndd.

11. Grave Wisdom [Too Dark Park]
Frankly intimidating.

10. Tormentor [Too Dark Park]
The first verse in this always makes me want to listen to all of TDP.

9. VX Gas Attack [VIVIsectVI]
The build-up in the middle is one of their best moments.

8. Amnesia [The Process]
Feels kinda clean and has a different vocal style, but it's beginning-to-end awesome.

7. Rivers [Rabies]
Their best instrumental/movie sample song, for those who thought Kubrick films needed more Dracula.

6. Spasmolytic [Too Dark Park]
Really weird but grounded enough to be catchy as hell.

5. Nature's Revenge [Too Dark Park]
Basically a soundtrack to massive unease, then it leads into...

4. Shore Lined Poison [Too Dark Park]
... the soundtrack for mass genocide and disaster.

3. Testure [VIVIsectVI]
Incredible lyrical style, beat shifts, and lacking in any moment less than great.

2. Love In Vein [Last Rights]
Incredibly abrasive and booming, builds slowly into a monster.

1. Worlock [Rabies]
Just brilliant. Haunting. Intense.

A Rant On Rally Games

2010-10-24T20:32:00.008+10:30

Even though I never watch rally, I think the game form is awesome. It's all about an exercise in driving with finesse in a battle between you and bloody rough terrain. It's about starting to recklessly push your car through tight lines in those last few corners in an attempt to get under that goal time. It's about watching replays where the camera pans up and you can see the track winding through mountains and trees off into the distance.

Well it used to be, anyway.

A new WRC game, a solid rally series from the last console generation, has appeared on PS3 and it tries to take the same road the old ones did, providing a graphical update, realistic damage and driving physics. It's a no-nonsense rally game, and I find that appealing. I've been playing the demo recently and after some disastrous first runs I'm starting to understand how the cars behaved and I'm shaving seconds off my lap times at a very satisfying rate.

It's kind of disappointing then to see the mixed reviews it's getting. I've been reading a couple, namely those available on Gamespy and Playstation Universe. They both seem heavy on the comparisons with DiRT 2; a game which is to rally sims what the modern Need For Speed games are to road racers. Colin McRae and WRC games were competitors back in the day but the former has long since gone off chasing more arcade and extreme games like Motorstorm and the previously mentioned NFS. The focus on stages is gone, replaced by a more jack-of-all-trades approach to general off-road races. What is up with the comparisons here? If I want a rally sim I would prefer it to focus on rally stages, not try too hard to seem like an extreme sports title with a douchebag aesthetic.

I mean, I even saw some complaint in one of the reviews about how WRC didn't have a "rewind" feature, and therefore could be frustrating. Meaning, they didn't like that when they crashed they couldn't turn back time and retry the corner. Seriously? I can see something like that being cool in an arcade racer, but even then wouldn't it detract so much spirit from the racing to essentially have a mulligan button?

I'm not saying some criticisms aren't unwarranted. For example, the graphics really aren't as good as DiRT 2. I'm just frustrated that there's such an emphasis on player hand-holding this generation. Sometimes I feel a bit disappointed in myself for falling so much out of gaming culture these last few years. Other days, I feel completely justified.

Depeche Mode Mix CD Review

2010-10-15T15:18:00.008+10:30

1. Black Celebration
2. Halo
3. Enjoy The Silence
4. World In My Eyes
5. Stripped
6. Dream On
7. Everything Counts
8. People Are People
9. I Feel You
10. Precious
11. Walking In My Shoes
12. Blasphemous Rumors

I came into this compilation album with only passing knowledge of Depeche Mode and only a vague familiarity with some of the songs included. The album contains a good spread of the influential band's history and manages to display several sides to their music, from catchy new wave tunes to stripped back ballads. What I found here was collection of reasonably simple songs that were still capable of working their way into my head and staying there for a good while after I'd turned the music off.

Depeche Mode seem to differ themselves from the scene of bouncy 80s new wave by offering a darker exploration of synth pop music. They do pull this off, somewhat. The music never takes on any real sense of grit, instead relying on deeper synth chords and the lower half of Dave Gahan's vocal range. What's left is music that still sounds very clean, with nothing more than hints to something more emotionally tainted. Over the twelve songs here, I did develop a yearning for some moments of wider exploration, or a more abrasive sound every now and then. But, For those willing to open their ears to something that simply sounds fun off the bat, Depeche Mode could be rewarding.

There's definitely some standout tracks included here. The energetic opener Black Celebration is liable to get you humming along. Newer track Precious is also surprisingly enjoyable with its infectious mix of well produced electronic beats and melodies. Stripped managed to overcome my cynicism towards a slow paced Depeche Mode romance song thanks to it's swelling chorus. I also enjoyed how Dream On mixed things up with speedy low-key verses delivered in a more disjointed style. Unfortunately I found some tracks, such as People Are People and I Feel You, too bare and just not catchy enough to be saved.

My largest problem with this band lies with Gahan. His voice actually fits this music well, but he seems to like carrying the same emotional tone in every song. Everything here sounds like he's feeling a little down over something, but not much more or not much else. This isn't helped by lyrics that can be noticeably corny at times. Take People Are People for instance, a song about prejudice where nearly every line exists to inform the listener, without ambiguity, that the song is about prejudice. Even some of the stronger tracks feel held back by this. I'm not expecting poetry that can stand on it's own merits, but a little abstraction and less obvious rhymes would help this music go down easier with me.

I have no doubt this compilation serves as a great introduction to Depeche Mode, spanning not only their discography but their various styles. It's a good piece of light entertainment, one I kept around longer than I thought I would after my initial impressions. For those who enjoy catchy synth melodies, Depeche Mode probably would have reached your radar long ago, but if they haven't, what are you waiting for?

Rating:
6/10

More Thoughts on the PSP + Five Games I've Been Playing

2010-10-05T17:31:00.007+10:30

The (highly anticipated) follow up to my initial thoughts.

I have to say, I use the PSP 3000 more than I thought I would. Besides having shortcomings in a couple of main areas (durability and innovation), I think it ends up being even with the DS.

So less than two weeks after getting my PSP home, I had been playing Katamari regularly and had gotten to the last level. I woke up one morning, grabbed my PSP out of its case; time for the final level. Turned on the PSP, to be greeted by a line of stuck pixels across the screen. Awesome. So I ended up returning it and having it replaced under warranty a week later after being dicked around some by JB hi-fi (they're alright, sure, but getting something replaced under warranty from them isn't the easiest task).

So, with PSP #2, I haven't had any problems yet (touch wood). Well, the only minor problem I've had is that I have a lovely deep scratch in the screen. I ordered a screen protector from ebay but continued playing the console before it arrived in the mail for a few days, thinking I couldn't scratch the screen in that short time. Turns out I can! I was lying on the bed playing a game. I fell asleep for an hour with the PSP next to me, and when I woke up I fumbled around for it and it had a nice scratch on it. Either someone pried my door open and took to my PSP with a sharp object, or the PSP is able to be scratched by bedsheets*. I've got myself a screen protector and case for it, which I use all the time, so hopefully it should be fine from now on. I'm generally pretty careful with game consoles, and I've had problems with it. Suffice to say, I wouldn't be getting my eight year old sister a PSP. Ever. I've seen the way she treats her DS, and the DS can take it.

Anyway, durability issues aside. I often find myself in awe over how impressive the screen looks. It's big and bright.

However, I was always impressed with the innovation of the DS and the extra features that DS games are allowed because of that. An example, in Phoenix Wright, you're able to tap the touchscreen to shake powder on surfaces and then blow the powder away using the microphone. Things like that impress me, as simple as they are. They're different from the norm. You miss out on that with the PSP. There's not a lot that's innovative about this console.

But, the lack of innovation is somewhat of a blessing in disguise! Games have to try harder to be something special, and some of them do. Take Locoroco for example.

In Locoroco, you're a squishy ball with a face who has to collect his identical friends in each level (there's 20 to find in each level). Gathering the friends makes you bigger, but you're able to break down into single entities to fit into small spaces. The game is controlled solely by two buttons - the left and right buttons on the top of the console that you press with your index fingers. These buttons tilt the screen either left or right, tilting the world and thus making your character roll through the level. Innovative, freaking cute, and brightly coloured: I'm sold.

What else have I been playing?

- Me and My Katamari: similar to the PS2 game, but portable. Let's face it, all Katamari games are the same. The PS3 version is the biggest jump from the other platforms but it's still the same. Slightly different objectives in this one. Still entertaining.

- Metal Gear Solid (Portable Ops): Initial button control problems aside, yeah, the game's good, but I actually find myself not really wanting to play it as it's too involved. Handheld consoles (or any console, these days) are just a distraction before I fall asleep every now and then, and I find it difficult to make an occasional return to this game than others.

- Lumines: I'm not exactly sure what I like about this game. It's simple, yet addictive. It's a puzzle game, that old thing where blocks are falling from the sky. Like Tetris, but not like Tetris. Very well done. Usually these games bore me very quickly. I'm not sure what they did, but I keep playing it, so they've done it right.

- Tekken (Dark Resurrection): What can I say, another Tekken game. Much like Katamari, it follows suit with it's predecessors, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's quite good.

I've got a few other games, like Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, etc, but I haven't been playing them (yet).

*Hint: it's the latter.

So I think these are my favorite anime characters

2010-10-02T23:47:00.015+09:30

I mean, I'm not sure but who cares? Lists are fun. I tried to stay away from obvious choices like Rei Ayanami, Spike Spiegel and L.

Excel (Excel Saga)

This girl is not a human being, she is more like the results of some weird experiment of combining an endless supply of energy and copious amounts of anime culture. Her mile-a-minute voice and bottomless pit of enthusiasm could get pretty tiring if she wasn't so hilarious and unpredictable.

Akira Maeda (Cromartie High School)

We all know this guy, the easily frustrated loner-ish type whose plans never seem to pan out. Maeda's pain has created some of my favorite pieces of animated comedy, period. Whether he's wondering why people always decide to meet at his house without his consent, or trying to convince eight idiots that getting a buzzcut isn't an actual rule in baseball, I could listen to this guy get mad and yell about anything and find it extremely funny.

Misae/Mitzi Nohara (Crayon Shin-Chan)

Shin is possibly the most problematic child ever, so when he's still scared of his mother more than anything, she's must be pretty memorable. Mitzi doesn't really censor herself, must have astronomical blood pressure, and isn't afraid to lash out with physical punishment, but somehow she is still the closest thing to a moral beacon in the household.

Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)

Quite simply, Wolfwood oozes cool, but there's also a decent amount to his character. He's a priest in what seems like a pretty godless society, and yet his grasp on morals is as shakey as everyone else. He often has something wise to say, but he certainly doesn't have all the answers, and he has a satisfying arc over the series. Oh, and his crucifix contains something like five guns.

Wolfgang Grimmer (Monster)

I can't say too much about Grimmer without spoilers for the series (he doesn't even show up until the second half), but there's much more to this compulsively smiling ally than his appearance lets on. He's quite an enigma, and even by the end of the series an aspect of mystery is left to him. In an anime about trauma and monstrous human beings, his theme of rehabilitation resonates strongly.

Scar (FullMetal Alchemist)

It's easy to come up with despicable antagonists, but it takes great writing to create one whose perspective you can easily understand, who you can even sympathize with, but can still feel very dangerous. Scar is one of these characters. He even has conflicts with other enemies within the show, and what's more fun to watch than two antagonists battle it out? A scary but tragic man.

El Topo, Or, How to Turn a Bad Movie into a Cult Classic by Calling it 'Surreal'

2010-09-27T13:42:00.012+09:30

Considered by many to be 'the definitive cult spaghetti western', Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo has been highly praised by both critics and cinema fans.

I am not one of these people.

Granted, I don't watch western films, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge. But, generally speaking, I have a certain affinity to underground films filled with excessive violence and nudity. However, I found very little to like in this movie. Spoilers are going to be discussed, so be careful with that.

The film opens with El Topo (played by Jodorowsky) wandering around with his 7 year old son. For whatever reason, the son only wears a hat and sneakers, but, whatever, I'll let this one slide. They come across an entire village completely slaughtered at the hands of 'The Colonel' and his henchmen. We then cut to said henchmen sexually humiliating a group of priests while the colonel is serviced by his female slave. Alarm bells started ringing for me upon seeing the acting performance of these henchmen, who seem to think that the phrase "tone it down" is a meaningless concept. I waved it off though, after all, it's not exactly a high-budget affair and perhaps adds to the lo-fi charm of it all. El Topo confronts these people, shooting one of the henchmen and castrating the colonel (who, directly afterwards, kills himself for good measure).

It's at this point that the movie takes a nose dive into stupidity. After saving the female slave, he decides to take her with him and abandons his naked son with the priests (I'm not even going to touch that one). Wait, what? Why does he do this? It's only revealed later on that he's madly in love with this woman. Where did this come from? Up until this point in the movie, he's come off as nothing more than an emotionless deliverer of vengeance. What the hell happened in the few minutes before riding off that caused him to cast away his child and bring along this woman? This is never explained! The movie just assumes that the audience is completely okay with this.

After wandering around in the desert for a while and drinking water out of a phallic-shaped rock (which, for the record, starts streaming out water only after he shoots it), El Topo's mistress tells him he must kill four people who reside in this desert. Why? I have no idea. The first person is a blind man who keeps two limbless servants (the first of many deformed people in this movie). The man boasts that he is unaffected by bullets and, as such, El Topo cannot beat him. So, like all good people, El Topo sets a trap and shoots him in the face before killing off his servants for completeness sake I guess. El Topo feels a fair bit of guilt over tricking this person, but clearly not enough for him to not play dirty tricks on the next 2 people he kills. I must again reiterate that I have no idea why he's doing this, or why he's in love with that woman, or indeed pretty much anything in this movie.

It's during this time that another character joins the party, a woman with (for whatever reason) a man's voice. Who is she and why is she here? Good question, I don't know. In one particularly stupid scene, the new woman is whipping the old one quite brutally, leaving excessively large scars on her back (again, there is no explanation why this is occurring); clearly, woman #1 is in a fair bit of pain as a result. But then, woman #2 takes off #1's shirt and starts licking her scars, causing #1 to moan in ecstasy. What a fucking cop-out of a scene, it's so stupid that it feels like it was stolen from a hentai. Did Jodorowsky simply think that this movie needed some lesbian action or something? Anyway, moving on.

After defeating his final opponent (by letting him shoot himself) El Topo returns to his woman only for her to shoot him and bugger off with the male-voiced woman. I can't say I wasn't expecting this, at least it gave those stupid lesbian scenes (there's more than just the one I described) some context. At this point, some more limbless/crippled people come along and carry El Topo away; so ends the first half.

The second half, concerned with the rebirth and redemption of El Topo is quite a lot better than the down-right stupidity of the first, but it's still not that great. It begins with El Topo waking up in some cave after apparently being asleep for 20 or so years (okay then). Clearly the rest has done him well as he seems a lot less bat-shit insane now and is actually a pretty nice guy. The cave is full of limbless, deformed and dwarfed people who want nothing more than to be able to go to the village outside the cave. El Topo, along with his dwarf girlfriend, start busking a comedy act at the village in order to finance the construction of a tunnel to the trapped people. How they could get out of the cave while the rest of the people couldn't is, once more, never really expounded upon. However, the village is a pretty terrible place, where the aristocratic old ladies at the top of the social chain take pleasure in watching the various ethnic groups get either tortured or killed. One rather memorable scene involves the townspeople forcing Topo and his girlfriend to have sex in public for money. Another pretty stupid scene, but, hey, what else are you going to do if you don't have a TV?

For quite a while this story develops and you're left wondering what the hell it has anything to do with the first part of the movie. Eventually, a new priest comes to the village and, upon recognising, El Topo expresses his desire to kill him. The priest is, in fact, El Topo's son, something that took me an awfully long time to figure out (maybe if he'd been mentioned at least once in the last 90 fucking minutes I'd have an easier job putting this together). El Topo pleads with his son to only kill him once the tunnel is complete, he agrees. But, of course, once it is done, the son cannot kill the man who apparently taught him everything he knew (he must not have had much of an education after the abandonment).

With the tunnel completed, the deformed people stream out of the cave to the village, where they are massacred upon arrival. Surely El Topo should have expected this after having seen the kind of heinous acts these people are capable of? The villagers shoot El Topo as well, but he's too pissed off to stay down. Grabbing one of the villagers guns, Topo proceeds to slaughter everyone in the village. I must admit, I do kind of like this scene as it is pretty bad-ass, but the movie was far beyond salvaging at this point. El Topo sets himself on fire and his girlfriend (who just gave birth) goes away with his son, and that's how it finishes.

When a movie is written by, directed by and starring the same person, you're essentially throwing yourself at the mercy of this person that something decent will come out of it. El Topo wasn't horrible, but it was disappointing. Too much emphasis is placed on making everything weird and surreal and not enough time is spent explaining what the fuck is actually happening. Some people might claim that I didn't like it simply due to it's violent and brutal nature. This isn't true. I have no problem with people using excessive violence or nudity if it helps get a point across (for example the massacre of the deformed people wouldn't have been nearly as powerful if the violence wasn't there), but this isn't the reason why this movie frustrated me.

To summarise (sorry for this being so long), if you enjoy bizarre imagery and Christian symbolism, then you might find something to like in El Topo. If, on the other hand, you need your movies to at least make some sense, then you may be better off watching Eraserhead.

Movies that are so Bad that they're Actually Good. My Top 3.

2010-09-20T15:43:00.003+09:30

1. Saved
This movie is awesome. For those who grew up watching Home Alone, seeing Macaulay Culkin all grown up and with a bad attitude is great. With Mandy Moore as one of the main characters, I know I'll have a difficult time convincing anyone that this movie is actually good, but let me put it this way - I've never come across anyone who's hated it. So what have you got to lose?

2. Black Sheep
A New Zealand horror film (where the word "horror" is used quite loosely). The only one you ever need to see (are there others? I don't know. Probably not). Check out the tagline: "get the flock out of here!". That sets the scene for the movie. But it's good. It's low budget and the acting is sub par. But it's good. Sometimes I'm a little disappointed in New Zealand movies and the way that they incessantly poke fun at themselves and depict New Zealanders as being unintelligent, silly bogans. But sometimes, I think it works well. In movies such as this. I mean, in the movie, they insinuated that a guy was having a relationship with a sheep. They just don't take themselves seriously.

3. The Room
I didn't know what to expect when going to see this movie, I was invited by an old friend, and knowing his movie taste quite well I assumed it would be something awesome. And it was awesome, just not in the usual sense of the word.

A Ramble About (the band) Hole

2010-09-19T00:17:00.006+09:30

I don't understand what's so distasteful about Courtney Love. Okay, she drinks, smokes, does drugs.. but so what? You know, to paraphrase Bill Hicks, what does it matter what she does so long as she doesn't harm anyone else? She has a kid, but I've read interviews with her kid and she seems incredibly down to Earth. And you know, she'd be, what, 18 or so now, obviously old enough to have some DUIs and stints in rehab, but has she? No. Well, not that I've heard. I'm under the impression that she probably has more of a brain than some other females in the media around her age.

I've just never had a reason to dislike Courtney Love, and trust me, I can hold intense grudges, I won't shop at Harvey Norman because I read of a sex scandal that they were involved in when I was like 12, and it offended my morals. Seriously, just give me some kind of moral grounds to dislike someone or something and I will. But I've never had a reason to dislike Courtney Love.

In fact, I would go as far to say that I like her. A lot. I like her attitude. She does what she wants. She's been in some good movies (Man on the Moon and People VS Larry Flynt, I haven't seen any others). And of course, she fronted one of my favourite bands growing up: Hole.

So I was going to write an extensive review about "Live Through This", my favourite Hole album, but somewhere between this idea being formulated and the writing out of my Courtney Love justification I've decided that I don't have much to say about that album except that I like it and I have liked it for a long time?

There's rough parts and yelling.. soft ballads, straight to the point lyrics.. and some depth, without trying too hard. It's an album that I first heard when I was 12, that I heavily listened to for years... and I can still listen to it without cringing or thinking it's lame (I cringe at Megadeth and Metallica a little now, which I listened to in the same timeframe). It's blunt and honest. There's themes of jealousy, love.. without being lame. Anti religious references, eating disorder references.. again without being lame. She even screams "FUCK YOU!". What more could you want? It's solid.

A suitably 90s-looking photo.

And hey, I generally dislike female vocals but I make an exception for Hole. So they must be pretty awesome.

tl;dr: I like Hole and Courtney Love. "Live Through This" is one of my favourite albums and it kicks the butt of your favourite album.

The Worst Movies I Have Ever Seen

2010-09-14T13:46:00.004+09:30

The Room

Screamers

The Closer

- So Boring... So Very Very Boring

Alone in the Dark

Blood Live Action

- LOL Duck

Freddy vs Jason

- WTF why

Wicker-Man

- Boring

Star Ship Troopers 2 and 3

Most Parody Movies

- Epic Movie

- Scary Movie 3

Cross Roads

- Brittany Spears the movie

Baby Geniuses

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

2010-09-12T22:53:00.009+09:30

Fullmetal Alchemist is a very good series. But when I heard that there was going to be a remake called Brotherhood. I had to ask myself… Why, why so soon it has only been like 6 years or something. With that said I looked forward to it and had to get my hands on a copy. So I did and it is very good and very different. Now I read up a bit about why the series was remade. The 2003 series was based loosely on the manga, which was not finished at the time. The 2009 series, brotherhood is a direct interpretation.

So the story revolves around the Elric Brothers, Edward and Alfonse. They live in a world where there is a powerful force called Alchemy. Alchemy is a scientific like magic where there are rules, which the power abides by, equivalent exchange being one of them. However many aspects of this art is still unknown and considered dangerous/forbidden. Al and Ed grow up living with there mum in a small remote village. After the death of their mother they decides to use this power to bring her back, using alchemy’s forbidden practice of human transmutation. This results in failure. Both of the brothers lose something in the alchemy exchange process. Al loses his body and Ed loses his left leg. Ed attaches Al’s soul to a suit of armour giving up his right arm in yet another exchange. Fullmetal tells the story of how these two regain what they lost (Al’s body and Ed’s arm and leg) and how this event is the beginning of their adventures in seeking the Philosopher stone.

This item is believed to allow alchemist to use alchemy ignoring the law of equitant exchange. However it’s just a rumour, and the information can’t be found on the subject. The human transformation event gets the attention of a man named Mustang. He is a ranked officer in the alchemy division in the military. He offers Ed a choice, being so young and surviving an event like this is very rare. Especially when he attracted his brother’s soul to armour. He is seen as a prodigy. He is told that if he where to join the army he would have access to the recourses he needs to recover what they lost. Therefore the oldest Ed joins the military as an Alchemist to gain access and investigative privileges to this knowledge. Ed having lost his limbs gets given metal replacements… giving him the military alias fullmetal. When they start their investigation they soon learn that the philosopher stone has a very dark history and that there not the only ones seeking it. This is the general story for both the original and the brotherhood series and this is all that I’m willing to tell you about the story.

The character development in brotherhood is probably the best that I have seen. Each character has a history and because I was so use to the original I almost found it shocking to see what sort of developments they want through. There are more characters and some one off characters in the 2003 series who play a much larger role and vice a versa. Brotherhood has a very thick story, even more so that the 2003 series. It doesn’t slow down and it focus are slightly different, resulting in a completely satisfying ending… (Spoiler-) None of this Shamballa crap, don’t get me wrong… that part of the story was good… it just didn’t suit what it was trying to do. Why just two worlds? That is something that has always bothered me… well anyway. (-Spoiler). Brotherhood unfortunately has made me look back at the story structure of the 2003 series and had made me second-guess a few things, things that didn’t add up, things, which didn’t sit right with the characters actions.

Now if you where planning to watch brotherhood I would strongly suggest to watch the 2003 series to get a feel for how the characters work and the basic story line. Brotherhood moves quickly and is very character driven, as for the 2003 series, which is very story driven. The differences are slight but they make a major impact to how well the story flows. By being character driven the story is layered. Each character has a goal and therefore drives the story accordingly. There is a great example in brotherhood to demonstrate what I mean but it is a major spoiler… so tough. Anyway… Brotherhood is worth checking out. I give it 4.8 out of 5. The element of surprise changes made it really fun to watch.

Tekken Movie Comparison

2010-09-11T01:34:00.023+09:30

Face it, a Tekken movie will always be bad. Still, if it's loyal to the series, has plenty of character cameos and battles, then it's easy to make some cheesy fun for fans of the games.

Sure enough, that's largely what the 1997 anime does. It's set around Tekken 2, and brings in as many characters as possible, carrying over what little personality they had in the games. Sure the script is terrible, and plenty of the story is plain ridiculous, but it's bad in an enjoyable way. Kazuya is a tortured loner filled with a need for revenge, Heihachi is a powerful old-fashioned evil bastard, and Jun is a tough woman who can still see good in anyone. For Tekken fans, especially those familiar with the early games, it's worth checking out to see this characters beat each other up and get a laugh at the more stupid moments.

2010 saw the release of a live action Tekken movie, and boy does it miss the mark. In my mind, the biggest crime is a complete mishandling of the characters. For example, Marshall Law is actually a good guy, here he is not. Kazuya wants nothing more than revenge for his father, here he is some ambitious junior executive of the "Tekken Corporation" (did "Mishima Zaibatsu" sound too Japanese? For fans of the series?). Nina and Anna are twin assassins who want to kill each other, here they're just colleagues with no conflict. Heihachi looks ludicrous and turns out to be "not so bad after all". What a load of shit.

And spoiler alert here:

This movie implies that Jin is the result of Kazuya committing rape on Jun, while in the games it was a consensual encounter that proved there was good in him. That change can fuck right off. Are they trying to piss the fanbase off?

I mentioned the anime brought in as many Tekken characters as they could, as a result, there were very few characters in the movie who weren't fighters. Stupid? Yeah. Awesome? Yes. The live action film does bring in a few more non-fighter characters, but they're all stock stereotypes; Jin's sponsor who cheers him from the sidelines for example. I don't care about you, get of out of the Tekken movie.

Both films are pretty weak in terms of script and acting. I still have to go with the anime on this point though. Maybe it's just me, but bad dialogue in anime can still be entertaining, whereas in live action it can very easily become irritating, as it often does here. The anime will make you laugh, the live action will make your eyes roll.

I'm bashing the live action film a lot (I hate to go back to it, but seriously, how do you get so many simple characters so wrong?), but there were one or two things thing I liked. The appearance of direct game references gave me a few laughs. For example, in the tournament, an "arena" is actually chosen for each fight, and the database looks like the character selection screen. It even did have a proper tournament, unlike the anime. It didn't really matter though since when it failed to keep the viewer posted on how it was progressing and just had a fight every now and then.

So congratulations 2010 Tekken movie, for making me realize I'm more loyal to the plot of a fighting game than I probably ought to be.

One more thing, Raven is a Blade rip-off, we all know this, it's fine. In a live action movie though, it's all the more obvious and a little embarrassing. As if you put in Raven anyway, he sucks.

Tom and Scott discuss Eva 2.0

2010-09-06T21:32:00.002+09:30

Late night msn conversation.

Reel Anime 2010

2010-09-05T01:38:00.007+09:30

Five recent anime films are showing in selected cinemas across Australia for two weeks this September.
Website

Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
The first installment in the four-film retelling of the Evangelion saga is about as strong as you could hope. The visuals have been given a very polished makeover, the plot follows the first six episodes of the series quite well, and that Evangelion 'feel' is definitely here. It's a good piece of the series to pick for a movie adaptation as the ending feels logical and complete, while giving the viewer something to look forward to in the future. What changes have been made are mostly for the better, but they're fairly minor. For example, some of the clunkier bits of drama have been removed or reworked. This approach makes a good film for newbies to the series, and fans should enjoy it too, but keep in mind that a retelling is really all you're getting here.
trailer
4 stars

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
The second film in the new Eva series is more of a mixed bag than the first. The biggest problem is that it tries to do too much. About half of the length of the original series' plot is in here. As a result, major events seem cheaper, and the (quite long) film drags an awful lot. Significantly less time is given to the consciousness of the pilots, maybe they're saving most of that for the final two films, but there's too much plot here and not enough emotional consequence. I can give the film credit for trying to tell it's own take on the Evangelion story, though it doesn't completely work when the first film was much more loyal, and new characters are given very little screen time. I can't really recommend this film, though if you're a fan you know you have to see it anyway. Just to leave you with something to look forward to, the action scenes in this movie are bound to widen your eyes in enjoyment, even more so than the first film.
trailer
2 stars

King Of Thorn
What may initially seem like a mindlessly violent apocalypse-with-a-group-of-survivors movie actually turns out to be a reasonably ambitious piece of action sci-fi. The plot tries to plant a lot of seeds in your mind and reap the all benefits in a twist heavy third act. Some of the ideas are genuinely interesting and some of the characters may surprise you, certainly enough to warrant this a recommendation for those who like to a cool plot with some blood splashing across their screen. That said, it does try to be a bit too clever towards the end as the suddenly surreal direction grows a bit tiresome and the Sleeping Beauty similarities are hammered home way too hard. The ending may leave you feeling a little unfulfilled, but it's an enjoyable piece overall.
trailer
3 stars

Redline
I have not seen this one.
trailer

Summer Wars
While I wasn't exactly cynical about this film, I didn't expect to find my favorite film of the year, which is pretty much how it turned out. Summer Wars is a welcoming film full of very funny jokes, a wonderful (literal) family of characters, moving pieces of drama, fist-pumping moments of triumph, and interesting yet unobtrusive subtext about our increasing digital age. The film is split between a large and fairly traditional Japanese household and an escalating cyberwar on a world-wide digital community. These two faces of the film might seem polar opposites but they tie into each other beautifully through our main characters. Summer Wars is definitely one of those movies that takes you on a ride and leaves you wanting to cheer in your seat during some of those climactic moments. I really recommend this one.
trailer
5 stars

My Favorite Album From Every Year Since I Was Born: Part 3

2010-08-25T22:50:00.011+09:30

2003: A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step

I may receive flak for this but, I think Maynard as a vocalist shines more here than he has done before or since. His voice brings such a smoothness to this alt rock album while easily providing some crunch for the heavier sections. Aside from him, I can't think of any other supergroup that has actually lived up to their line-up's potential as much as A Perfect Circle on Thirteenth Step, it's one of the most polished and satisfying rock albums I've heard.
Pet

2004: Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm

You know what? I like this album so much that I'm tired of writing about how much I like it. It's right up there with my favorites though.
A Season In The Sky

2005: The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

My advice for this album is to familiarize yourself with the subject matter (singer/songwriter John Darnielle's abusive childhood at the hands of his stepfather) and play this album during a quiet part of your day while listening to the lyrics. It's heartfelt material in the hands of a terrific songwriter.
Dilaudid

2006: Gojira - From Mars To Sirius

As far as death metal goes, I've never found an album as fun as this one. Gojira's guitar and drums pack an earbleeding wallop. While calling it a prog album would be a stretch, the band do play around with some wonky time signatures and windy guitar lines when they're not going for all out aggression, which provides some appreciated depth.
Ocean Planet

2007: Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

This album comprises of two compositions (totaling about an hour) loaded with a symphony of instruments and electronic manipulation. Putting favoritism aside and looking from a critical standpoint, this is easily one of the best albums I've heard. Daisuke is a master of his craft, and it's a craft difficult to put into words. Just check it out.
opening of Stella

2008: Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness

Okay here's the thing; this is a gloomy double album recorded with deliberately cheap equipment and following some unlabeled musical style between industrial, shoegaze and post-rock, with lyrics and themes largely inspired by a murdering cult from Medieval Rome that had a strong obsession with death and suffering. Does that interest you? If so, we'd probably get along.
I Don't Love

2009: Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind

I don't listen to this that often but when I do give it a spin it leaves a pretty striking effect. This instrumental post rock album uses a string orchestra to full potential to heighten the emotional qualities of the music and make the whole experience feel like an epic journey (my interpretation is that it's about the afterlife, but it's certainly open).
Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn

2010: Alcest - Écailles de Lune

Alcest take their sound in an ambitious direction here combining the shoegazey/clean vocal sound of the last album with more screechy black metal, and come away much stronger as a result. What's more, there's a real arc in the tone of the album that slowly becomes more peaceful over it's (admittedly short) running time.
Percées de Lumière

Initial Thoughts on the PSP

2010-08-25T15:40:00.004+09:30

I purchased a PS3 earlier this year, but I watch blu rays on it a lot more than I play games. In fact, I have a backlog of games that I've been wanting to play on the PS3 but just haven't gotten around to it.

Compare this to the DS. I've finished several DS games this year alone (that's a lot for me, I'm not an avid gamer these days). So why do I play the DS so much? Because it's portable, I can play it wherever, including in bed, so I end up playing it a lot more.

This was the deciding factor that made me finally get a PSP 3000 last week. I know, the PSP is so 2006. But yes, I finally got one. I was running out of DS games that appealed to me (I'm hanging out for the next Professor Layton, though), and there was a couple on the PSP that I wanted to play.

Turns out it's kinda difficult to even GET a PSP. Many places like EB Games don't stock the PSP Go, but JB do. I checked out the PSP Go and ended up deciding on the older, PSP 3000 console. Why? Because the PSP Go no longer supports UMD, that's the main reason.. and I like having physical copies of games.. and I wanted to be able to borrow games from my friends.. and the design of it, while feeling slightly more ergonomic, I just don't think that the design is any better than the 3000, why exactly does it slide up like that? The screen still isn't protected, although the console appeared to be smaller.

Na nana nanana na na nanana nana na na na na. Katamari Damacyyy.

The first thing that I noticed about the PSP 3000 is that, seconds after it leaving its plastic packaging, it was in fingerprint hell. I have both of the consoles in black, and the DS fingerprints, also, but the PSP is just on an entirely new level. This did mildly bother me at first, but it's just something you have to get over. At least with the DS, the inside beside the screens and where you're putting your fingers on the buttons isn't fingerprintable.

The PSP is a lot lighter than I imagined. I believe it's lighter than the DS, but I haven't validated this. The screen not being protected on the PSP is obviously a little unfortunate, but I purchased it in a package with a screen protector, so I think I'm alright with that. Connectivity is better with the PSP. The fact that there is a web browser is a plus, but I'm having trouble connecting to a network with proxy internet, although that could just be me.

I think the PSP lacks inventiveness. I think that if you explained the idea of handheld consoles to someone who hadn't heard of the idea before, they might come back to you with a sketch of the PSP. I won't say that I'm a big Nintendo fan, because I'm not (the wii was a step in the right direction, trying something different and selling it as a mainstream console, but it still left a lot to be desired in terms of interactivity and graphics in particular). I'm not tied to either Sony or Nintendo, but I have to say, Nintendo are at least trying new things. The PSP feels a bit textbook to me.

Despite lacking inventiveness, they're doing their one thing and they're doing it pretty well. Their one thing is having nice looking graphics on a slickly designed console. The console looks impressive, games are colourful and much brighter than the DS, the menu mimics that of the PS3.. it really is like having a mini PS3 in your hands.

Currently, the PSP 3000 is AU$279 with four games. The the latest DS is AU$239, console only. I'll let you decide if that's steep or not.

My opinion is: if you only get one handheld console, make it the DS. Personally, I wouldn't have bought the PSP if I didn't have:
- my tax return money
- money saved from having to much uni work and no social life
- incredible boredom, and
- a desire to play every Katamari game available.

RIP Satoshi Kon

2010-08-25T09:38:00.005+09:30

1963 - 2010

Kon was an extremely respected director both inside and outside the anime industry who produced many genre classics in his unfortunately short career.

My Favorite Album From Every Year Since I Was Born: Part 2

2010-08-16T23:29:00.002+09:30

1995: GZA - Liquid Swords

This guy's raw lyrical prowess and storytelling nature turned me from a rap skeptic to a (still very) casual listener. Liquid Swords is full of metaphors between slum and samurai lifestyle, crisp yet low-key RZA production, Wu-Tang cameos and Lone Wolf and Cub movie samples. This has rightly gone down as a great lyrical achievement.
I Gotcha Back

1996: Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind

To call this a grim listen would be a gross understatement. Soundtracks For The Blind is bleak, highly experimental, and very very long. It can feel like a jumbled list of song ideas but the negative tone runs strong throughout. The 10+ minute metal tracks are particularly crushing and infectious. There's also a lot of dark ambient interludes that use distortion, sampling, drone effects and other techniques to carry the album's weight. A few tracks might be a little cooky, but it's all a part of the bizarre package.
How They Suffer

1997: Radiohead - OK Computer

I give up. I tried writing something about this that satisfied me and I ended up deleting everything I came up with. It's a defining album of the 90s, and unlike anything else. Listen to it if you haven't.
Paranoid Android

1998: Massive Attack - Mezzanine

It's so easy for slow music to just soothe, but when it can also carry different emotional weights, and even feel heavy at times without major shifts in tone, then there's something brilliant at work. Mezzanine is still, to me, the definitive trip-hop album. The atmosphere is thick and buzzing, the vocals change between smooth rhymes and delicate falsettos, and a wide variety of acoustic and electronic sounds are used beautifully.
Teardrop

1999: Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós are one of those bands you can pick a mile away, they managed to carve such a unique sound for themselves. Even though (assuming you can't understand Icelandic) the lyrics are foreign to your ears, such emotion carries through to you through the strings and Jonsi's voice. This music can lift you up then bring you back down instantly with a swelling change in the instruments. It's a tranquil album that can hit surprisingly hard.
Starálfur

2000: Boris - Flood

Flood can only be truly experienced by shutting out the world and letting its 70 minute song bleed through your earphones. I reviewed this ages ago and compared it to a trickle of water, that builds into a tidal waves, then recedes upon it's destruction. I still feel that's as accurate description as I can give. Flood is mostly comprised of guitar instrumentals, with smooth melodies that repeat and build upon themselves very slowly. You won't always be in the mood for it, but it's unforgettable when you are.
excerpt

2001: Tool - Lateralus

You know, when you ignore the huge amounts of hype and resulting backlash against Tool, I find them to be a pretty decent prog metal band who did manage to put out one amazing album. That wonky and bassy Tool sound is here in spades, but their creativity with song (and album) structure is more flourishing than on previous releases. I find it keeps an interesting pace, and never slows to the crawl that they sometimes do. If you're a fan of their sound, then this will be fulfilling as hell.
Lateralus

2002: Agalloch - The Mantle

Agalloch's fusion between black metal and folk music finds this amazing sound that's heavy, but feels very smooth and natural due to the heavy use of acoustic guitar and instruments. The interplay between tremolo electric guitar and acoustic melodies and strumming is handled very well, as is the contrasting screech and smooth vocals from John Haughm. It's an album that thrives on creating soundscapes that sound melancholic and natural, like a dead forest or something.
...And the Great Cold Death of the Earth

Beyond Good And Evil Review

2010-08-15T00:29:00.007+09:30

Cult games are a funny thing. Beyond Good And Evil garnered healthy critical success upon its 2003 release, but commercial sales were pretty underwhelming. Still, in the last seven years this game has developed an underground following and is often named as one of those underrated gems of the last console generation. Seven years is a long time though, how has the game held up?

Well, I liked it. I thought it was excellent in fact.

BG&E is set on a planet named Hyllis, which is routinely attacked by a neighboring race called the Domz. Protecting Hyllis is a military force named The Alpha Section, but it's established early on that their efforts are pretty casual to say the least. You play the role of Jade, a photographer (yes that's right) recruited by an underground organization to investigate and break a conspiracy gripping the planet.

So it's a conspiracy plot, and a reasonable one at that. Oddly though, the twists aren't the main interest for the player here, it's the characters. For example, you meet Pey'j, Jade's pig/man uncle (roll with it) at the start of the game. It's clear from how these two act around each other that there's a long history and family relationship present, and soon you'll be drawn into caring for these characters as they do for each other. You'll also meet more colorful people, such as a formal but caring P.O.W., and a Spanish A.I., each rounded with their own personality quirks.

Pey'j: made of ham and awesome

BG&E manages to mesh a few gameplay styles together into a unique experience. Imagine a short Zelda game in a sci-fi setting, loaded with stealth sections and you'd be in the ballpark. The world is open for the player to explore, with plenty of little side quests such as races, bar games, and animals to photograph (getting a picture of as many species as you can nets rewards). There are a few large areas that serves as "levels" in the game, such as mines and factories. Usually your task is to infiltrate, take some incriminating photos and escape again.

Playing the game is a fun mix of light platforming and puzzle-solving. There is combat, and it's functional enough, but it's rarely the focus. Progression is usually a question of logic, whether it be figuring out an environmental puzzle or sneaking past a room full of guards undetected. The levels are well designed and rewarding to complete. The only downer is that the controls for moving Jade can be a little slippery, especially with subtle movements, but it's only a bother in a few sections of the game.

There are also vehicle sections, which aren't up to the standard of the rest of the rest of the gameplay. The hovercraft's steering is can be overly jerky, and it just feels a bit too zippy. At least towards the end of the game, once you've upgraded it to *ahem* another level, things suddenly get a lot more enjoyable.

"He's doing it again isn't he?"

Visually, this was always going to look old. Thankfully, a lot of effort was clearly put into the art and design of the world of Hyllis. As such, the world still has a beauty to it that shines through the rough polygon edges. Likewise, the music is brilliant. I really liked how piano melodies sometimes cut in mid-gameplay to add to the weight of a situation. Due to public request, Ubisoft released the soundtrack for free online. It's definitely worth checking out.

BG&E is just one of those adventure titles that can really immerse the player until that final area is complete. It's not without it's problems, like the previously mentioned vehicle sections, as well as it's short length, and the occasional unclear objective, but these are far from deal-breakers. It'll mostly be sitting in bargain bins as used-copies these days, but it's sure a worthwhile purchase. The good news is that Ubisoft are now working on a sequel, so give the original a shot.

Best Cosplay Ever

2010-08-09T01:22:00.005+09:30

If you haven't seen Akira, you probably should fix that.

Taken from this site.

My Favorite Album From Every Year Since I Was Born: Part 1

2010-08-07T22:43:00.005+09:30

Which is 1988 for those of you playing at home.
Also, I've avoided artist repetition. If I really did pick my favorite from each year it'd be too clogged up by the same bands.

1988: Foetus - Thaw

In my opinion J.G. Thirlwell's best release. Everything great about Foetus is here, a varied sound with great production that makes you want to click your fingers with an evil grin on your face. A true musical mad scientist.
Don't Hide It Provide It

1989: The Cure - Disintegration

Heavy on the gothic atmosphere, with an ensemble of string and synth melodies that will carry a deeper emotional hook over time. Muted and clever instrumentation and a convincing vocal performance from Robert Smith ensures it feels genuine throughout and never becomes overbearing.
Plainsong

1990: Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park

There's so many things I love here. I really like Ogre's disjointed, distorted lyrical style that's heavy on imagery and abstraction. I like how well the chaotic and unnerving music carries the underlying themes of the planet biting back at humanity. Really though, this is an extremely high quality collection of varied industrial tunes. It's also one of my favorite albums of all time.
Spasmolytic

1991: Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

It's criminal that I had to choose between this and Slint's Spiderland, my two favorite post-rock albums, two albums that carved the way for so many. What puts this slightly higher is it's unbelievable soothing effect, carried by expertly handled guitar, keyboards and stunning vocals by Mark Hollis. It's a really easy one to just lose yourself in. At the time, there was nothing else like it. Some have taken inspiration, but none have done it as well.
After The Flood

1992: Faith No More - Angel Dust

This is a pretty mad alt rock album that jumps, swings, soothes, pumps and everything in between. It's a fun listen because it sounds like one of those albums that was fun to make. Mike Patton's lyrics and versatile vocals are a real highlight, as are the occasional keyboard and string effects.
Jizzlobber

1993: X Japan - Art of Life

X Japan can feel like a guilty pleasure sometimes but there's nothing wrong with this enjoying this. Art of Life is a single track album; 29 minutes long, and it's half an hour of every member in top form. The vocals are emotion-charged, the drums are blasting, the guitar is windy and speedy, and that eight minute piano solo is something insane. I love this music, though incidentally I'm not a fan of the cover.
excerpt

1994: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Perhaps for you, there is one album that sticks out in your mind as the one that got you really into music. The one where you first started thinking of art instead of just entertainment. For me, that's this one, and it's still one of my favorites. The Downward Spiral sounds ugly, diseased, broken, and it pulls you into it's personal black hole atmosphere. Reznor displays enough creativity here to keep each song distinct but all focused towards the same goal. It's one that needs to be experienced beginning to end.
Ruiner

Ten Movie Reviews in Exactly Ten Words - The Pretentious Edition

2010-07-30T17:26:00.013+09:30

I quite liked the idea behind Jess' post, so, like all good people, I thought I'd plagiarise it. The movies I've reviewed aren't necessarily new, they're just films I've seen recently. You'll also find my scores are generally higher that Jess'; simply put, I don't watch crap.

May contain spoilers, tread carefully, yada yada yada.

Bad Education 8/10
Good use of 'story within story', well acted, quite gay.

Inception 9/10
Smartest mainstream movie in ages, Memento is still slightly better.

Stalker 9/10
Arguably the best cinematography I've seen, a bit long though.

Naked Lunch 6/10
Not as crazy as the book, but few things are.

Confession of Pain 6/10
Watchable storyline and well acted, though unnecessarily violent in parts.

Let the Right One In 7/10
A Swedish boy learns revenge is fun, with a vampire. ~~I know it looks as though I didn't like it, but it's quite good; see it before the Hollywood remake ruins it.~~

The Yes Men Fix the World 8/10
Bigger stunts than the first, but lacks its lo-fi charm.

The Piano Teacher 9/10
Not “easy viewing”, but has very complex characters and story.

Good Night, and Good Luck 10/10
Well shot, great music, excellent acting. Holy shit it's good.

Bubba Ho-Tep 6/10
Bruce Campbell is Elvis, what else needs to be said?

Ten Recent(ish) Movie Reviews in Exactly Ten Words

2010-07-23T15:21:00.008+09:30

May contain spoilers.

Ten movie reviews in exactly ten words each (go on, count them). Why? Because I don't want to study.

In the Loop 5/10
You'll like it if you're dull and like "The Office".

Where the Wild Things Are 2/10
Boring, inaccurate portrayal of a whiny kid (with behavioral problems?). I mean, really, if you ask me what movies I thought were awesome fifteen years ago, when I was a kid, I would say something like Home Alone, Jumanji, something with a little substance. In fifteen year's time, are kids going to say that Where the Wild Things Are was one of those wicked movies from their childhood? I mean, really, the story of an irritating, spoilt little kid who runs away from his nice family to lie to a bunch of guys in monster suits, and then goes back home to hug his mum as though nothing happened... is this really all you can come up with?

The Men Who Stare at Goats 7/10
Quirky, strange, but oddly entertaining. Omg, Kevin Spacey is old.

Adam 5/10
Ignorant girl dates guy with mental difficulties. Pompous and dull. Like seriously, she acts like she's never met anyone in her life with a mental issue. Has she been living under a rock? And the guy was not nearly as attractive as he looked on the dvd cover... highly disappointed.

Edge of Darkness 6/10
Entertaining, but predictable. Not bad.. and I was expecting bad.

Remember Me 4/10
The ending, oh god, the ending. What can I say?

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 7/10
Gritty, well filmed, but with a "Law and Order" storyline.

Karate Kid (2010) 5/10
Heartwarming, to the point of sickness. Very good acting, though.

A Single Man 7/10
Interesting. Wouldn't be if it weren't about a gay couple.

Toy Story 3 9/10
Entertaining, funny, sound storyline, no faults that I can find.

Awesome Song Titles

2010-07-21T18:33:00.002+09:30

Exactly what it says up there^.

Anal Cunt - Your Best Friend Is You
The Angelic Process - Mouvement-The Smoke Of Her Burning
Dissecting Table - Least Mean Squared Algorithm For Personality Alteration
Foetus - Take It Outside GodBoy
Have A Nice Life - Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail
Mastodon - The Last Baron
Melt-Banana - Disposable Weathercock
Neurosis - Stones From The Sky
The Ocean - Metaphysics Of The Hangman
Skinny Puppy - Morpheus Laughing
Sufjan Stevens - A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons
Sunn O))) - Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself In Clouds?

Come on, give me some more.

A Brief Review of The Hurt Locker

2010-07-19T13:46:00.005+09:30

9 out of 10 people are dumb.

Contains spoilers.

I really wanted to like the Hurt Locker, I even ignored my coworker who labeled it as propaganda. But really, it carefully dodges being too blatant, but when you think about it, what happened? A child was killed and packed with bombs. Those Iraqis, with their bombs, always killing cute little kids and stuff. American soldiers never kill kids, of course.

American soldiers find civilians strapped with bombs by Iraqis, and they try to help them, and if they can't, they get all apologetic and teary eyed. Because they care about Iraqi lives, don't you know? That's why they bombed the hell out of their country in the first place.

And how narrow sighted could the movie be? I mean, sure, I'm not saying that she had to make the movie a more broad portrayal of the war, but it's really freaking narrow. Following around a bomb squad. But I understand, if it were more broad and perhaps showed Americans in their helicopters methodically picking off innocent journalists, then... I don't see it winning quite so many awards.

Just Putting it out there

2010-07-02T01:35:00.001+09:30

Does anyone else find it annoying when people say harry potter in the movie. Its always in the same annoying voice. Its like a painfully stupid old mans whisper.

Movies I've Seen This Year - Ranked

2010-07-01T20:10:00.006+09:30

Gee now that I've written them out and seen what kind of movies make up the high end of my list, I'm realizing it's been a slow year so far people.

13. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
FUCKING DIE. HATE. A bunch of preppy teenagers take Greek mythology and bent it over a barrel before violating it with a sparkly dildo.

12. Robin Hood
Medieval Warfare film 101. Oh and someone called Robin Hood is in it.

11. Clash of the Titans
Refreshing after Percy Jackson but pretty forgettable and uninvolving.

10. Law Abiding Citizen
Fun revenge film that goes too far and gets a little sickening.

9. Iron Man 2
Really tired of superhero movies, really tired. Less of RDJ being RDJ this time around too.

8. Alice in Wonderland
A bit forced and predictable but some of the weirdness is pretty cool. Anne Hathaway's White Queen probably knocked this up a place or two.

7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Some very good moments, surprisingly. It's nothing special but it's not the series rape that video game movies usually are. That said, a few choice characters were plain stupid.

6. Fantastic Mr Fox
One of my favorite childhood books becomes fodder for Wes Anderson being Wes Anderson. It's actually decent if I'm being honest, but makes a huge number of changes that leave it lacking behind the source material.

5. Sherlock Holmes
Yeah this came out last year but I saw it this year. There could be a great movie made from this; the casting is perfect for one. It just needs a stronger plot, where we don't know the bad guy from the opening scene.

4. The A-Team
One of the funnest action movies I've seen in recent memory. When it slows down it feels completely shallow, but the way it crafts set pieces makes up for it. Completely ridiculous, but it doesn't hold any delusions about itself.

3. Hot Tub Time Machine
See, the fact that this is number 3 makes me wonder what's happened this year. It's pretty funny, almost a male antidote to Sex and the City 2. Not quite as good as The Hangover, but worth checking out.

2. Kick-Ass
Fuck you summer blockbuster superhero movies, here's some disturbing violence, relatable characters and a real sense of consequence. Kick-Ass is everything these movies shouldn't be, and that's what I like most about it. It's a little too long, and Kick-Ass himself is far from the most interesting good guy, but a unique take on a stagnating genre.

1. Toy Story 3
Pixar didn't screw it up. They round out this series by taking it into a risky direction and having the skills to pull it off. Really funny, genuinely moving, and with something for viewers of all ages. Bloody great.

Morel Orel

2010-06-30T23:43:00.006+09:30

Morel Orel is a stop-motion animation from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim from a few years back. The show follows Orel, an extremely righteous boy who does his best to keep both his elders and God happy. Morel lives in a town called Moralton, located at the exact centre of America in the state 'Statesota'. The church is in the direct centre of the town an, thus, is the centre of the US. As you may have guessed, Moral Orel tackles the subject of conservative America and religion. Initially the show is a parody of conservative values of people, but gets much darker towards the end of the show.

I've heard this show described as Davey and Goliath meets South Park and to an extent the comparison is valid. The animation is very similar to Davey and Goliath and the first season is very similar to that of South Park, but that's about as far as the comparison can go. The first ten or so episodes involve Orel horribly misinterpreting something from church, which leads to disastrous consequences as Orel tries to follow what was told to him. Upon hearing of this, his father takes Orel into his study, spanks him and tells Orel why his actions were wrong, giving an explanation even more convoluted and confusing than the original message.

If one were only to watch these first episodes, then they would quite rightly say that the show, while by no means bad, is nothing that spectacular. The series really starts to pick up at the season 1 finale, The Best Christmas Ever. In this episode, the emphasis is not so much on Orel but on the other people of Moralton, namely, his parents, who are clearly in a loveless marriage. The change is a little jarring, but the exceedingly dark humour, which is pretty much to the point of straight drama, is very well handled with amazingly deep characters. The Best Christmas Ever sets the mood nicely for the second season; while the main character is still Orel, those around him are brought into the light a little more. The result isn't exactly pretty (these are exceedingly flawed characters), but incredibly compelling. Orel also undergoes a slight transformation, as the continual onslaught of strange and contradictory messages from both the Reverend during church and his father start to take their toll on him, leaving this character, who only wants to do good, extremely confused and disoriented about life.

The two-part finale of the second season and the entire third season can be considered as one big story. This is when the show is at its best as the tension between Orel and his father reach breaking point. I really have to emphasise that the final stretch of this show (it's only three seasons long) is some of the best television you will see. Period. The reason for this is the character development of everyone, even moderately minor characters. Pretty much every citizen in Moralton has some sort of problem and, despite keeping up appearances, are all falling apart. I won't go into too much detail as it's something one should experience for themselves, but the characters, while they are parodies, all have an undeniable humanity to them, even the ones you're not supposed to like. Chances are you'll find yourself both identifying with and caring for these characters much more than most, if not all, live-action dramas, and that's quite an amazing feat when you think about it.

Some may say this show is a criticism of religion; discounting the first season, I'm not entirely sure it is. To me, it's really more about the people. Yes, religion is a big part of their lives, but these characters are so much more than just their faith, to chalk up all their problems to religion would be foolish.

To summarise, I found this show to be, frankly, astounding. While it does take that initial time investment before it really starts to get going, it's an investment definitely worth taking. Buy it, download it, I don't care, but you really should give it a shot. Rarely does something this good come along.

How To Destroy Angels - Self Titled EP

2010-06-16T17:06:00.006+09:30

Rising from the ashes of NIN, trio How To Destroy Angels have released their debut EP for free download on their website.

1. The Space in Between
2. Parasite
3. Fur-Lined
4. BBB
5. The Believers
6. A Drowning

Musically there's a resemblance to the mellow electronic side of late NIN material. There's some subtle influences from dubstep and trip-hop mixed in with the synth lines and occasional distorted guitar. Mariqueen's vocals do the job without being particularly memorable. Overall though there is that slightly sinister tone that could make NIN fun to listen to even when it was toned down.

I'm sorry for all the NIN comparison's but they do sound rather similar.

Highlights are the buzzing The Space In Between and the mellower A Drowning. Things get a little standard in the mid-section, The Believers reaches for some weird sense of variety but can't quite grab it. It's an encouraging release though and certainly worth the download.

The Space In Between official video

Drudkh - Autumn Aurora

2010-06-10T21:10:00.006+09:30

What Scott and I have done is pick an album for each other (that neither of us have heard), which the other must listen to and review. This was the album picked for me, so let's get to it shall we?

Unless you're quite the European black metal aficionado, you probably wouldn't have heard of Drudkh. If this is the case, then all you really need to know is that Drudkh are a Ukrainian black metal group, who have a sound somewhere in between the the acoustic-influenced black metal of early Ulver and the atmospheric black metal of Burzum. This sounds very good on paper, but rather than get your hopes up, I'll just say it right away - it's not as good as either.

This doesn't mean that Autumn Aurora is a record unworthy of your attention, far from it. At it's core, Autumn Aurora is a very solid record. The record, in my opinion, starts out moderately acoustic, building up slowly over the first few tracks before starting to really unleash the patented black metal tremolo riff and finally coming to a climax in 'Wind of the Night Forest', the highlight of the album and, really, quite an excellent song, after which the album slowly winds down again in the last track.

So, yeah, that's really all I have to say about it. Not much I realise, but the thing about this album is that if you're in any way familiar with atmospheric black metal, you would have heard this before. It's nothing new or ground-breaking, but what it does it does very well. If you're new to this style in music, this would definitely be an excellent place to start; it covers all the standard atmospheric black metal bases nicely can and even at times be, dare I say, pretty. The golden love-child of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Bergtatt this is not, but a worthy addition to your collection nonetheless. And, hey, they're not even Norwegian.

The How To Train Your Dragon Review, or: How I Miraculously Refrained From Gauging My Eyes Out

2010-06-08T14:03:00.008+09:30

Disclaimer: This review is written partly in jest, and it CONTAINS CRAPLOADS OF SPOILERS.

Okay, so, How to Train Your Dragon is one of those hyped up kid's movies. It's all 3D and wonderfully cute. I also didn't care much for Avatar, and HTTYD is just another movie of what seems to be an emergence of movies being released with the 3D tag which are severely lacking in everything else. The main weakness - reused, predictable storylines.

About five minutes in to the movie, I knew the ending. The opening scenes show fighting between the humans and the dragons, and the main character is a weakling. Couple that with the title, and you can extrapolate the story. Weak kid befriends dragon, humans and dragons live in peace.

That's it. That's the movie.

I'm serious. But perhaps you're too stupid to notice that you've been shortchanged? I mean, it was bright and colourful, right? So it was pretty good, yeah!

You could argue that the shit storyline is okay, because it's a kid's film, it doesn't have to have an in depth storyline. But really. Five minutes. No twists in the whole thing. I've seen kid's movies with much better storylines. But hey, this ones all pretty looking!

The main character is a weak, unlikeable boy, with an American accent, in a town full of vikings. He has a love interest, a little blonde girl, who is also American speaking. She's much stronger than him, and more physically skilled; can wield an axe awfully well, but she's skinny and weak looking, because that's how girls should look. Everyone else in the movie, all the vikings in the town, have Irish accents, for some fucking reason. This allows us to associate with the American boy and his love interest, not the big mean foreign vikings, who constantly look down on him.

Our American kid meets a wounded dragon. The dragon is incredibly cute and acts a lot like a cat. And then he acts like a cat some more. And, oh look, he just rolled around like a cat! How cute! Once the point has been gotten across that the dragon is incredibly cute, we can see that it appears that the American kid doesn't want to kill it, so he befriends it and they fly around and stuff. It's all very heartwarming.

But then, oh, serious time. There's a big battle! Between the humans and the dragons! The love interest, with her mad axe wielding skillz is in trouble, about to die.. but who saves her? The American boy, of course! On his cat-dragon. It's so heartwarming. But I would have thought that the girl could have saved him.. since she was so physically superior and it's a physically battle and all that. Oh wait, yeah, she's a female, of course.

Dragons and humans are friends now and they see the errors of their fighting ways, and everyone lives happily ever after, yay!

This movie has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is fast disappointing me in the animation genre, and not just kid's films, but anything with nice looking animation gets a high rating on that site. This isn't the site's fault, as it's just a representation of the reviews from many other reviewers. So one in fifty people didn't like this movie. Oh well, can you really blame me that I expect something a little more from movies these days, and I can see through the seemingly grandiose appearance that mediocre movies are given when the 3D tag is applied to them?

Ninja Town DS Review

2010-06-04T17:11:00.005+09:30

This game didn't appeal to me when I first saw it in the shops. The whole pirates/ninjas/whatever thing has been done to death, and it never interested me in the first place. Except Shinobi, that guy was a badass. But besides that... ninjas, meh.

You wouldn't know it from the cover, but as it turns out, Ninjatown is actually a decently fun and crazily addictive tower defense game. Maybe it's got something to do with the love hearts on the cover, or the cutesy characters, but I really thought it would be shit.

But no, it's a tower defense game that I found myself going back to. If I failed a level, I did it until I completed it because it was fun to do so. And if you pick the game up after not having played in a while and it's easy to get straight back into it. Some of the levels are a little hard, and it's a bit inconsistent because I found that I had to repeat some of the earlier levels a few times to pass them, but some of the harder levels were quickly and easily completed on the first go - that's really the only fault I can find with the game, and it's not a big problem.

At first I found myself skipping over the dialog and cutscenes present after the end of each level, as I usually do since I'm impatient like that, but after catching some glimpses of it, I realised that the game had a quirky sense of humour to it that I actually liked. And then I read some of the dialog in the cut scenes! (this is a big deal for me, I usually don't bother).

So yeah, definitely one of the better tower defense games around. 9/10.

Classic Albums: Can – Ege Bamyasi (1972)

2010-04-19T22:57:00.012+09:30

I think that we don't give enough attention to older stuff on this blog, so I guess I'm here to rectify that one album at a time.

Krautrock, a style of music that could be best described as a sort of percussion heavy pop or rock from Germany, has its origins in the late 60's, with the general consensus pinning Neu's first album as its beginning. For whatever reason, the style hit a chord with the British public and played a very important role in the British music scene of the 70's. There are probably about 5 albums that are considered the essential krautrock albums, they are Neu's self-titled, IV by Faust, The Man Machine by Kraftwerk (well, any Kraftwerk to be honest), Can's Tago Mago and, of course, Ege Bamyasi.

Ege Bamyasi begins with Pinch, a 9 and a half minute psychedelic display of awesome. Pinch, to me, is the quintessential krautrock sound; it's funky, it grooves and is a joy to listen to. For those who have heard Boredoms' Vision Creation Newsun (if you haven't, go do so now), you'll definitely find its roots here. The next few tracks, Sing Swan Song, One More Night and Vitamin C, change the style from psychedelic to more pop oriented. Granted, I prefer Pinch to these tracks, but, hey, they're still pretty awesome.

We then move on to Soup, the longest track on the album and where Can start flexing their experimental muscle. As a result, it's not for everyone, but I think it's great; besides, surely you'd expect an album from the early 70's to have at least one LSD-influenced mindfuck. That said, if it's too much, the last 2 tracks, I'm So Green and Spoon (yes, the indie band is named after the track), are the most accessible on the album; and they're awesome. Funky rhythms, cool sounds and, of course, great percussion. If you're inspired to check out Can, these would be the tracks I'd recommend you check out.

To summarise, every moderately popular band and their dog have cited this album as an influence (Pavement are big fans), and rightly so. It keeps that balance between accessibility and experimentalism to appease both newcomers and seasoned veterans. There's more to Germany than goths and walls.

Updated Anime Guide

2010-04-16T21:36:00.021+09:30

I was looking back at this old post and thought I'd update it, why not. So here's a bunch of anime I've watched rated into a few rough categories.

Classic, essential viewing
Cowboy Bebop
Crayon Shin Chan
Cromartie High School
Five Centimetres Per Second
FullMetal Alchemist
Grave of the Fireflies
Haibane Renmei
Millenium Actress
Mushi-Shi
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Spirited Away
Summer Wars
Princess Mononoke
Voices of a Distant Star
Who's Left Behind?

Great, definitely worth buying
Akira
Angel's Egg
Boogiepop Phantom
The Boy Who Saw The Wind
Cross Game (impressions)
Dead Leaves
Death Note
FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Gauche The Cellist
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Kiki's Delivery Service
Memories
Metropolis
Monster
My Neighbour Totoro
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Nichijou
Only Yesterday
Oseam
Paranoia Agent
Perfect Blue
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Ponyo
Porco Rosso
Robot Carnival
Samurai Champloo
Sword Of The Stranger
Tokyo Godfathers
Toradora!
Trigun
Whisper of the Heart
Wolf's Rain

Flawed but good, if it's on watch it
The Animatrix
Arrietty
Battle Angel Alita
Blazing Transfer Student
Blood: The Last Vampire
Cat Soup
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Durarara!!
Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Excel Saga
FullMetal Alchemist: The Conquerer of Shamballa
Gunbuster
Halo Legends
Howl's Moving Castle
House of Five Leaves
Interstellar 5555
Kakurenbo
King of Thorn
Kuragehime
Martian Successor Nadesico
Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion
Ocean Waves
Pom Poko
Serial Experiments Lain
Tales From Earthsea
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Vision of Escaflowne
Wings of Honneamise (aka Royal Space Force)

Average, or very audience-specific
Afro Samurai
Berserk! (impressions)
Bleach (impressions)
Dragonball Kai
Eden of the East
Elfen Lied
Eureka Seven (impressions)
Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
Fist of the North Star (1986 film)*
Ghost Hunt
Hellsing
Macross Plus
Neo Tokyo
FLCL
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
Ninja Scroll
Spriggan
The Tatami Galaxy
Tekken
A Wind Named Amnesia

No.
Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Gantz (impressions)
Gunbuster 2
High School of the Dead (impressions)
Ninja Resurrection
Ninja Scroll series
Texhnolyze (impressions)
Wicked City
Windaria

(impressions) means that I haven't watched the whole series.
*One of the worst titles I've ever seen, but so bad that it's actually enjoyable.

My Best 3 Albums Of 2010 So Far

2010-04-04T10:18:00.005+09:30

I wouldn't usually make a list like this so early in the year, but 2010 has been amazing in music so far. These are the three albums especially in any year would be AotY contenders for me.

Artist: Alcest
Title: Écailles de Lune
Genre: Black metal, shoegaze

This albums opens with some fantastic black metal focused tracks, but weirdly enough it's the shoegazey second half of this album that really blows me away. Last year's Amesoeurs release was great, this knocks it to the ground.

Artist: Akira Kosemura
Title: Grassland
Genre: Pop, modern classical, electronica

This album is pretty expansive in terms of sound and genre but it maintains a wonderfully chilled feeling and consistently great songwriting. The minimalistic piano tracks in particular are really relaxing.

Artist: Emancipator
Title: Safe In The Steep Cliffs
Genre: Trip-hop, instrumental

Safe In The Steep Cliffs is a wonderful ensemble of short varied trip hop tunes. You know how some albums have a really good instrumental piece tucked away on them? This album has 14 of them.

Honorable mention: Sanchez, the Devil & the Hierophant's album Neon Skeleton, if only because it's really not getting the attention it deserves. It's a cleverly written post metal album with harsh lo-fi screamo vocals. It's also a free download from bandcamp.

Song Analysis: Katy Perry - Ur So Gay

2010-04-02T22:28:00.002+10:30

Oh boy.

I still consider this one of the best FPS levels ever

2010-04-02T09:37:00.005+10:30

Game: Timesplitters 2
Level: 1990 Siberia

Part 1
Part 2

Enjoyable FPS stealth? Check.
Awesome and atmospheric background music? Check.
Cool location? Check.
Fun shooting engine where you can plug a guy between the eyes at 30 metres and still feel the impact? Check.
Sprawling but not overly open level design? Check.
Several varied objectives? Check.
Building up your arsenal throughout the level? Check.
A genuine feeling of being outnumbered and against the odds? Check.
Zombie apocalypse? Check.
Blowing the heads off zombies with a shotgun? Check.
Boss battle with some army vehicle? Check.
Reasonable secondary objectives? Check.
Gameplay variety between sneaky survival and white knuckled gun-ho? Check.
Requiring the player to think a little to make it through? Check.
Fun little secrets to discover? Check.

I really hope Timesplitters 4 sees an eventual release.

New Vinyls

2010-03-30T14:53:00.003+10:30

So I had an awesome birthday haul of four new LPs, one as a gift and three from the Vinyl Palooza Fair in Adelaide.

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Oh holy crap yes. This album has my favorite SP artwork, and it even came with a CD version. Oozes cool.

Slint - Spiderland

Oh holy crap yes. The packaging is suitably low key, and it only adds to this wonderful album's charm. Forgot how much I loved it.

Cynic - Traced In Air

Oh holy crap yes. The art all over this thing is stunning, the front cover is actually probably the weakest graphic. It's really well decorated with images of statues and mist, with awesome silver records.

Boris - Feedbacker

Oh.... Chris should be happy.

Heavy Rain

2010-03-22T13:05:00.001+10:30

Okay Heavy Rain is good. But the question is would i call it a game or a interactive movie. When i played through i saw the story as something you would expect form a movie similar to se7en, twisted, narc, etc.... there is also a bit of die hard in there. The point is it isn't a game worth story, it is a movie.

As you may have read or heard already this game is based upon quicktime everts. Each event which makes up the game you can fail or succeed always altering the path in which the story takes. This means that the killer and events could changes based on how well or how bad you play the game. What i found interesting with this system is that the buttons indicated on the screen will be effected by the current status of the character. They start shacking (Nervous) or blur up (Drunk).

I have played through the game once and found it to be very entertaining. The story is deep, exciting, tense and its drags along slowly... unfortunately. But what else would you expect with a story structured like this. You may also find that the parts of the story don't add up or flow the way you would expect. Things could go unanswered or change. However because of the nature of this game you have to be in the mood to play it and I also suggest to feel the full emotional experience, play it in one sitting with a group of friends.

This is a game which is an experiment more so that anything else. The engine which this was built around wasn't designed for a typical gaming experience. It excels in the detail in the graphics but where it fails slightly in the glitches when it comes to its physics... going through doors when the character is reacting to something (fire), people walking through other people and other one time random things... also the mouth movement needs a little work when people speak or scream. It sometimes looks like they are yawing.

Now if your a serious gamer i suggest that you do try and play through this game at least once. It is a interesting play through with some re-thinking/re-inventing of how we experience a story.... suck shit avatar. In my book I consider quicktime events and holding down a button to walk old and outdated. But since the game is built around this you sort of don't mind after you get use to it.

Trailer Spotting

2010-03-20T16:25:00.000+10:30

Something Classic

Tron 2... Yes this is something which looks cool.

Something Lame

Twilight Eclipse has final released a trailer. Now, think about this for a second. What do all these films had in common. The lame relationship drama thing, it is vomit material in my mind. The same story just put into a different scenario. It is lame, and so i just watched this trailer for this movie with no sound... i think i still got the gist... It is predictable and yet painful to watch.

Something Cool

How to train your dragon... Note the 3d set design is really impressive, it looks almost real. There is a lot of attention to detail. Apart from being funny... it also looks really brutal almost. It is a trailer worth watching.... Because its interesting. Interesting unlike twilight... pfft.

Something Awesome

Ironman 2.... YES!... just Yes.

Something Old (Remake or something)

Avatar, the last Airbender... um apart from the main character looking a bit like mini me... not bad.

Resident Evil 5 sucks

2010-03-14T17:44:00.004+10:30

I think with a year of hindsight, more hold this sentiment than ever. There are a number of problems with it but I think many of them can be traced to one issue: tension.

Tension is essential in a survival horror game, but only the right kind. Foreboding atmosphere, great soundtrack, menacing enemies and mind games are a great way to make the player feel on the back foot. Unfortunately, RE5 passes on all those options and tries to create tension and horror in it's own bullshit way.

In RE5, your character can't move and do -anything- at the same time, including shooting or stabbing (the stab is useless anyway). This restricts the player in a very clunky way in an effort to make the game harder, and by result, more scary.

Fuck that. That isn't scary or tense, it's annoying.

Furthermore, it's just not a scary game. If you have bad controls, and you're not scary, what the hell is your game trying to do? The infected aren't that scary, and I think the main reason for this is one that may not be obvious when designing a game; there's too many of them. If I'm running around a map, running past dozens of these guys because I'm low on health and the shooting controls suck, I'm not scared, I'm not even taking the game seriously. If whenever some showed up it was some kind of big deal, then there would be some kind of impact to them, but there isn't.

The RE franchise has other famous issues (plot, anyone?) but RE5 pissed me off most of all for the reasons above, most of the other problems are what you go into a RE game expecting. RE5 though, damn.

Have A Nice Life - Time Of Land

2010-03-09T15:48:00.003+10:30

This new EP has been released by the band as a free download from here. The EP was only ever sold in physical form (on tape) at their first ever show, but now it's available to everyone.

Have A Nice Life are a duo from Connecticut whose music blends many genres such as post-industrial, shoegaze, ambient and post-punk all with an under-produced glaze. Their debut double album Deathconsciousness stands as one of my absolute favorite releases of recent years. Time Of Land is much in the same vein and comes highly recommended.

Soundwave Adelaide 27th February 2010

2010-02-28T10:16:00.005+10:30

Here's some quick thoughts on the bands I caught.

Baroness
These guys put on a great show. I went in not knowing much material, but I had a blast. They're one of the bands carrying the modern heavy metal gauntlet and for good reason. Smart song writing and an energetic performance.

Isis
A disappointingly short setlist comprised of material entirely from Wavering Radiant (although that is my favorite album of theirs). That said, they translated their sound and atmosphere very well to a live medium and really made those powerful riffs stand out.

Anvil
I've never seen a band have so much fun on stage. The singer constantly engaged and played with the crowd. The drumming was probably the greatest I've ever seen live, Rob Reiner lead the way for a lot of his peers in the eighties and he still does. Sheer entertainment value was very high, Anvil are an essential show to catch.

Meshuggah
It's Meshuggah.

Placebo
They played a good mix of old singles, which is a good thing. Their new drummer definitely fits into the band well. Worth catching if you have a good knowledge of their material.

Jane's Addiction
Eh, if you're not a fan it won't change your mind. Perry for all his years of experience was one of the weaker showmen of the festival. They did some interesting visual pieces to compliment a few songs.

Jimmy Eat World
Yaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Definitely a set too long for a band with such short and bland rock songs.

Faith No More
A must see for fans and non-fans alike. A good setlist of hits mixed in with moments of complete weirdness. They rocked as hard as they ever have. This was fittingly the greatest act to play on the main stages all day, and a great closer.

Song of the festival
Isis - Threshold of Transformation

Scott is digging...

2010-02-23T01:21:00.004+10:30

Artist: Between the Buried and Me
Title: The Great Misdirect
Genre: Progressive metal
Year: 2009

Doesn't flow through the whole album the way Colors does, but the songs are more direct and individual. The second half is amazing stuff.

Artist: Massive Attack
Title: Heligoland
Genre: Trip-hop
Year: 2010

A fine return to form that sees another evolution in their sound. It's more stripped back and accoustic, and possibly loses a bit of that impact that was so present on Mezzanine material. Definitely worth checking out, but not an album that should take seven years to make.

Artist: Wu-Tang Clan
Title: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Genre: Hip-hop
Year: 1993

The way I listen to music isn't suited to rap, I still need to learn to pay more attention to lyrics and appreciate wordplay, but I'm getting there. This album is fun, varied (with each of the nine members being distinctive and talented in their own way) and authentic in all its low-budget glory.

Artist: The Ocean
Title: Fogdiver
Genre: Post metal
Year: 2003

Wow, for a debut EP this material is up there with their best stuff.

Artist: Porcupine Tree
Title: Fear of a Blank Planet
Genre: Progressive rock
Year: 2007

By the time track two concluded I was convinced I would become a fan of this band. A great and interesting concept, catchy and rewarding songwriting, thoughtful lyrics and fantastic guitar work.

New Century Classics - Natural Process

2010-02-13T19:41:00.003+10:30

Genre: Post rock
Year: 2009

This whole album is up for streaming and download at Bandcamp, for any amount you wish to pay (yes including $0).

The music is organic instrumental post rock in the vein of mellow Russian Circles, but with more outside instruments used, in particular strings. It comes highly recommended from me as a great album perhaps a little overlooked last year.

Pelican - Ephemeral (EP)

2010-02-10T16:53:00.007+10:30

Genre: Post metal, instrumental
Year: 2009

While I couldn't much get into Pelcian's full length debut Australasia, something about this three track EP sidesteps any tedium and delivers a purely enjoyable package. For those unfamiliar, Pelican's sound is similar to Isis if they were an instrumental band, the focus is on heavy riffing and time signatures.

The title track is the shortest, and in my opinion the least interesting. Not to say it's bad, but it's standard Pelican fare that failed to hook me in a significant way. The next track, Embedding the Moss, is a damn lot of fun. The guitar work is deep, bouncy and catchy throughout. It's a song to really bang your head to. The final track is a cover of the Earth track Geometry Of Murder. This one is slower, not Earth-slow, but it provides a nice shift in atmosphere. Pelican really make it their own with their emphasis on climbing guitar melodies emphasised with heavy chords. Good stuff.

Pelican's myspace, where you can hear Embedding The Moss.

edit: I just had the thought that this EP is a really good introduction into post metal for new listeners. It's short, catchy, and contains no vocals (a common complaint from initial impressions of the genre).

Loon ft Christoper - What You Say (my remix)

2010-02-07T13:25:00.004+10:30

This is my take on that god awful radio hit What You Say by boring autotuned rap artist Loon.

The 10 Highest Grossing Films of the Last Decade Worldwide

2010-02-05T14:35:00.006+10:30

Let's see what you people did...

10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - $892,194,397 USD
This one was of the best books in the series, but it was the longest yet and the movie struggled to hold it all together, it didn't flow well scene-to-scene. It required knowledge of the book to completely "get", which is something all movie adaptations should try their hardest to avoid.

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - $921,600,000 USD
The middle film was always destined the be the weakest in the trilogy, but it's still amazing. The battle at Helm's Deep was one of the darkest, if not the darkest moment of the movies. The film also handled the splitting of the characters into several stories very well.

8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) - $933,956,980 USD
Whoops, I didn't see this. The book, like the Goblet of Fire, was one of the best in the series though.

7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) - $937,000,866 USD
More? Okay then. Arguably, this was the worst Harry Potter book, and the movie is pretty safe with how it handles it. On the whole, it was forgettable, but not terrible.

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - $958,404,152 USD
Oh geez this was bad. I saw it once and the impression it left on me was one of a movie with an extremely forced formula. The established villains took a backseat for some uninteresting military guy, the story was long and not interesting, the climax tried so hard to be so epic but failed due to a complete lack of immersion and suspense by that point. A series parody.

5. Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone (2001) - $968,657,891 USD
The first film had teething problems. The script and acting was just plain awful at times, as most of the film's energy seemed to go towards creating an immersive world. It is one of the better stories of the franchise, and since it's the first it's the easiest one to get into. I have to admit, this movie at the time got me to start reading the books, so for kids it's pretty fine.

4. The Dark Knight (2008) - $1,001,921,825 USD
This ironed out some issues that Batman Begins had (but foolishly lost a lot of the stealth badass-ery it had too). A good, dark superhero movie with an interesting story, atmospheric soundtrack and very good action scenes. Still, Bale makes an ordinary Batman and a bland Bruce Wayne, something that becomes apparant every time the movie slows down to him and equally dull Maggie Gyllenhaal. Yes, yes, alright, the Joker wonderfully steals every scene he's in with his creepy demeanor and unpredictable nature.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - $1,060,332,628 USD
Not as bad as the third, but it was essentially a re-tread of the first movie with less polish and the unsatisfying premise of being concluded in another movie (seriously, for straight action movies I just think it's better to make the film one complete ride for the audience).

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - $1,129,219,252 USD
The epic conclusion the the LOTR trilogy contains everything that made the movies great. Good characters on a dangerous journey, fantastic battles, fearsome creatures, beautiful music and cinematography and inspirational scenes. Sure it needs six previous hours of watching before you can fully appreciate it but this movie has gone done as a classic and deservedly so.

1. Avatar (2009) - $2,074,690,946 USD encounting
James Cameron continues doing what he does best; taking average-to-poor scripts and executing them brilliantly enough to make a memorably immersive spectacle. Casual filmgoers will receive an enjoyable ride, while cynical critics will leaves with a mountain of nitpicks to fuel the backlash to this hugely popular hype machine. Everybody wins.

The Ocean - Heliocentric preview

2010-02-03T10:52:00.003+10:30

Tracklist
1. Shamayim
2. Firmament
3. The First Commandment of the Luminaries
4. Ptolemy Was Wrong
5. Metaphysics of the Hangman
6. Catharsis of a Heretic
7. Swallowed by the Earth
8. Epiphany
9. The Origin of Species
10. The Origin of God

The Ocean are a post metal outfit that you need to check out if you're a fan of bands like Isis, Pelican and Neurosis. They have two albums scheduled for release this year, and it's been revealed that the first is called Heliocentric and it will become available on April 13th.

On their official website, they have posted multiple track excerpts for your listening pleasure. Check those out here.

At this early stage it seems to me like this album keeps the classical music influences of Precambrian, while re-visiting the more post rock song structures of Fogdiver. This makes me happy, this makes me very happy. Roll on 2010.

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

2010-02-02T00:25:00.005+10:30

Genre: Industrial, noise
Year: 1992

Those vaguely aware of my music taste likely already know that Skinny Puppy are one of my favorite bands. Last Rights isn't quite my favorite album by them (I'd rank it as second), but in a way it's their most interesting. After the popular, and fucking brilliant, Too Dark Park album, this abrasive (even by their standard) noisy collection of raw industrial sound was a real curve ball release.

Maybe the first impression is "What the hell drugs are they on?", and yes at times the drug influence on this album is pretty obvious, such as the harsh-beated opener Love in Vein, the scary bad trip soundtrack Knowhere, or the sheer wtf that is Scrapyard. From beginning to end that out-of-control creepiness sort of tone never gives an inch. Simply put, I think this is the most cohesive and unnerving album the band has put out, and that's saying something.

The track that seems to garner the most discussion is Killing Game, really just because it was the closest thing the band had done to a mellow ballad at the time. It's different, but I like it, the vocal delivery is good and the music is just weird enough that it doesn't feel out of place. A track called Left Hand Shake also garners controversy since an unlicensed sample meant it was pulled from the album, a shame, it's rather good.

Oh to hell with it, here it is (it slots in as track 10, before Download).

Make no mistake, this is a grower. It was a good month or two before I felt like I really appreciated it. While it feels like anti-music at times, the rough tone, dark sound and excellent quality consistency put this as a genre classic for me.

Killing Game
Inquisition (live performance)

Law Abiding Citizen

2010-01-30T02:59:00.005+10:30

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Year: 2009

Alright... from watching the trailer for this movie i can see people perceiving it in one of two ways. One seeing it as awesome, a movie which could been seen as being smart... or. THE BIGEST TRAILER CLICHE EVER. Using big generic phrases.... Well anyway the movie. UM... quite simply it isn't bad. The set up for the movie is great. A broken man/ex super assassin kicking ass by planning some sort of super revenge when the entire time he is locked up in prison. Its a setting which give the impression of being (like a said before) smart. But you can't base an entire movie off of something which the joker did in the dark knight... it sounds good but it is in the end a predictable film. It has to dedicate its story line to an extreme which in the end lets down the entire film. Okay... simply, we have all seen this before and we know how the story ends because all versions of this type of plot have been explored, and in my eyes the ending is the most important part. Now with that said... if it did have an ending which was 'smart' then it would be bad... but... i would still complain about the script.

The film can't focus of the right characters. This is something which happens in the beginning. the main focus of the film is 'fox' (the good guy) but i could help feel more sympathetic towards 'butlers' character who ultimately is the villain in the movie and his action are alienating... I couldn't give a flying fuck about 'fox's' character. Because his emotional background wasn't built up and his acting was no were near as good as 'butlers'. Now i do like it when the main focus is a bad guy, but this fact always comes across very clear. making the character/story flow... making what he does easer to digestible, in terms of plot and understand of the message... The writing focused on extremes... They were either very good or very bad. 'butlers' characters actions, i believed were out of character. In the beginning he was a loving person... who ended up just as a cold cold person, and this wasn't clear... Take 'fox's' character for example. He is a young lawyer in the beginning who through the case just to keep his slate clean. 10 years later 'bulter's' character re-appears and tries to teach them a lesson... not in terms of kicking ass (which is what did happen.... sort of), but in terms of teaching (what we were led to believe). Teaching the wrong doer (the bad guy). I like the idea of teaching morals in a fucked up way... its cool. But know when the message is taught... and stop teaching it. Other wise the stories message comes across as a lost fart in a perfume factory... focus on something and stick to it.

Okay the idea of this story is good. Its what made this movie so appealing to me. However the writers for this scripted didn't deliver on the high standard in which they set for themselves... and it was a high standard. A movie like this is... well best when most things are kept in mystery. Its sets the scene for the most thrilling part in the movie. So i believe giving away the punch line for a movie like this destroys the experience... i didn't need to have every thing explained, in fact not explaining half the stuff would have made the ending better... that my opinion anyway. It worked well with the joker. However with that said this movie is worth a watch... even if they didn't get the beginning and end right... the middles not bad. I do however suggest to them this... KNOW WHEN TO STOP. sometime too far is too far.

Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

2010-01-28T23:45:00.003+10:30

Genre: Drone, psychedelic
Year: 2008

One thing I like about this album is that if you were to designate it a title from the cover alone, you'd get the official title.

Other things I like include how well the drummer is able to routinely keep such accurately slow timing over long playtimes. I like the extremely laid back psychedelic guitar wanking that washes over the beat. I like how organic the piano sounds, and how the notes ring until their death. I like how even though I don't smoke weed, this album just takes on another life when my ears are tired, or I'm sleepy.

It is long though, quite long and slow. I usually get restless before I make it though the whole album. I still pull this out every now and then and get some fantastic listening from it though.

Engine of Ruin
Rise to Glory

Christopher Lee Symphonic Metal Concept Album

2010-01-27T12:26:00.007+10:30

Do I even need to add to that?

So, uhh, the album is titled Charlemagne, and here's the myspace page:

The story of King Charlemagne, First Holy Roman Emperor, acted and sung by the legendary actor Christopher Lee. Sir Christopher is the highest grossing actor of all time, with cinematic milestones such as "Lord Of The Rings", "Star Wars", "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Dracula", amongst over 280 movies - and still counting!

The Carandinis, Lee's maternal ancestors, were given the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Through his Carandini ancestors, Christopher Lee has a direct link to Charlemagne, and has decided for the first time in his life to pay homage to his distinguished ancestor, who is credited as "The Father of Europe".

Charlemagne is a concept album with original words and symphonic metal music.
(Taken from the website)

Interesting. It's released March this year.

Boris - Flood

2010-01-24T22:28:00.007+10:30

Year: 2000
Genre: Ambient, experimental

"Feedbacker shmeedbacker. Take it from this long-time Boris fan, Flood is where it's at." - Scott

If there was ever an album built for listening after 10pm it's this one. Flood, appropriately, is like water. It's tranquil, but carries deceptive power. It forms musical by hypnotic repetition like running water moulds rock over time. To me, the album is a collective experience, so that's how I'll attempt to describe it.

Flood's 70 minute runtime flows as a single song, although it is broken into four parts (tracks). It spends a long time establishing and building atmosphere with slowly unsynching accoustic guitars, which serves to immerse the listener deeper without crossing over to tedium. As Flood builds, drums and rhythm guitar are introduced to create backing for a rather long and mellow solo. The song soothingly rises and falls, even introducing some muffled vocals, before eventually crashing into a heavy explosion of slow, crushing riffs, after more than 30 minutes of play time.

The climax (ohhh the climax) only works so well because of all that came before, and only seems more awe-inspiring because how much time the song seems to spend "recovering" from it, with dying echoes of the main riff drifting and bleeding away into silence for a long stretch. Flood ends on an ambient note with ringing electronic notes and waves, a faint reminder of what the listener has experienced that slowly eases the album to a conclusion.

If you'll permit me one more piece of water imagery; Flood 1 could be a trickle, Flood 2 could be a stream, Flood 3 could be waves, and Flood 4 could be receding waters.

Usually I add links to hear a few of the songs, so readers can experience their own little window for the album. This time though, adding only a single part seems a little redundant, so I'll just leave you with my strong recommendation to check this album out.

The Gerogerigegege - Recollections of a Primary Masturbation

2010-01-22T22:36:00.007+10:30

This post probably isn't going to help my reputation here as 'that guy that always posts about weird Japanese crap', but I can think of much worse things to be known for.

Chances are, you probably have not heard of this band. If that is the case, let me divulge a little and tell give you a little background as they are certainly one of the most fascinating bands I've come across in some time. The name Gerogerigegege is a combination of the Japanese word for vomit (gero), diarrhoea (geri) and the onomatopoeia of doing these two acts at the same time (gegege). The band's two core members are Juntaro Yamanouchi and Gero 30 (aka Gero 56 aka Tetsuya Endoh), two guys who met in an S&M club. Yamanouchi is a gay cross dresser and Gero 30 is an fat, middle aged exhibitionist who would masturbate on stage during their live performances. Gerogerigegege's musical work spans from relatively normal sounding rock, to noise, to ambient music, to some rare releases featuring recordings of people having sex and a man defecating. That said, I guess The Gerogerigegege's trademark sound is a sort of noisy grindcore, characterised by Yamanouchi's continual shouting of "1 2 3 4!". Hopefully you can see why I consider The Gerogerigegege, along with Yamataka Eye's old group Hanatarash, to be the two most interesting Japanese noise bands of the late 80's.

Anyway, onto the actual purpose of this blog post, Recollections of a Primary Masturbation is something of a compilation album by Gerogerigegege, featuring a staggering 338 songs, 223 of which were previously unreleased (it should, however, be noted that the album runs less than an hour). However, to save space presumably, tracks have been collected together, adopting names like '8 Songs part 1' or '233 Songs part 2'. While I certainly have no intention of breaking down the album track by track, I will at least try to convey the general vibe that the album presents.

The first few tracks, 'First Recording', 'Two Songs' and '19 Songs', set the tone for the album very clearly. These tracks are intended to be as aurally abrasive as possible, featuring distorted screaming, clashing guitar and heavy percussion (percussion being a very loose term here, simply meaning things you can hit). This music, clearly, isn't for everyone; but if you're a grindcore fan, you'll find it done better than most and actually pretty good. The mood takes a shift for '233 Songs' parts 1 and 2 (which, I might add, only go for about 10 minutes combined, meaning that's an average of a song every 2.6 seconds or so). To be honest, I have no idea what's going on here, to me it's not much more than an onslaught of sound broken by periodic silences. You could tell me that it was a single, slightly sludge metal track and I would believe you. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying I don't know what's happening. What is kind of interesting is the mixing in of some radio announcers with vomiting and diarrhoea noises, in a sort of weird way, that is.

Anyway, once the 233 songs are out the way and songs can last more than 4 seconds again, the style shifts back to where it started for the last 3 tracks, '8 Songs' part 1 and 2 and '75 Live Songs'. 75 Live Songs is actually a remastering of The Gerogerigegege's most famous album 'Tokyo Anal Dynamite', which is a fusion of Ramones jams and John Zorn's Naked City. This is probably the highlight of the album, if just due to the utter insanity of it all. It's quite hard to describe with text so I'll just say it's like a hippopotamus getting killed by a guy with a circular saw, who in turn is having an array of glass plates smashed over his face. Yes, that doesn't make sense, but neither does the music. And that's why it's good.

So, instead of kicking back with your easy to listen to Phoenix or Sufjan Stevens, why not take the high road and experience the project that was declared by it's very founder "Japanese Ultra Shit Band"? Public masturbation is optional.

Media Players

2010-01-22T13:08:00.000+10:30

All Tested on Defult Settings
All Freeware Downloads

Upon istalling the new and imporved windows 7 onto my laptop i couldn't help but rip all my cd's music onto the system trying to get a feel for the new operating system... As you do. Windows Media Play i had noticed changed quite a fare bit from it pervious adaptions for vista. I couldn't help but compaire with iTunes the media organiser i use on my mac.

These are all first impressions and so if you feel i got something wrong, comment on it. But think of it this way, it could be a fault in the interface and or settings available.

Window Media Player (windows)

Pro's
- Updates all feilds in song name to the correct names. Also downloads artwork.
- It searches for music all over the computer
- It has a very easy organize search window
- Recognises all types of portable media devices.

- PSP (Massive Plus)

- Not so sure about iPod (Can't find mine/Don't use it ever)
- A good begining music media orgaizer
- Importing songs is easyer then it looks. Click and Drag

Con's
- Is a little slow
- Not everything updates... more of a problem with the microsoft libary
- Forgets random things
- If you rib an album with 2 cds, there is a chance that the songs will write over each other.
- Name the CD's disk 1 and disk 2 (that how i got around that)
- If it gets unorganized, very hard to re-organize.
- Automatic updates can fuck things up if left unattended

iTunes

Pro's
- Easy naming system.
- Organizes files directories of music... mac espicialy
- Good for large list of music
- Importing songs is simple.

Con's

- Music search can get a little ugly.
- Even though songs are named correctly
- you have to have an acount with apple to get album art (Even if you brought the CD)
- wipes you iPod if you change hosting iTunes

The difference i have noticed between a windows based systems and a mac when using iTunes.

Mac - iTunes
- Its designed for this systems so it runs with effishacy

Windows - iTunes
- It take up a huge portion of the processing power
- Found it to be a little more high maintainace of the windows system

Media Monkey (windows)

Pro's
- Quick
- Organizes music libary directories
- Can find album covers for you, off amazon (I think... Smart)
- Good for large unorganized music collections

Con's
- Can get a little messy if you don't know what you are doing
- More aimed at computer nerds so to speak
- GUI is a little confusing, everything is presednet in lists.

Winamp (windows)

Pro's
- Has interesteing tools to monitor music playing at the moment.
- An extra bar in the web browser.
- Nice use of space GUI
- More designed for commited music lovers or web surfers.
- Nice organized look, but still everything is done in lists
- Downloads a little bio of the artis playing as well as a suggested music video from youtube.
- Has a more direct version of finding artwork.

Con's
- A little skittish if caught off gaurd.
- Moving the window, cause a drift effect... looks like it doesn't belong
- Importing is a little difficult.
- doesn't update straight away
- doesn't warn us that it is updating

New Emancipator album released

2010-01-20T17:29:00.004+10:30

Emancipator is a very young man showing ridiculous amounts of promise with his style of instrumental modern classical/trip hop music. His critically acclaimed debut album Soon It Will Be Cold Enough was released in 2006 and now his follow up Safe In The Steep Cliffs is available for download in pretty much any format you could want from this site for the very reasonable price of $10 USD.

Check out the track Nevergreen for a preview. I've listened to the whole album through and while it's a bit early for any substantial thoughts on it, it was rather good. I recommend checking this out.

Time Wasting Yet Again

2010-01-18T20:58:00.005+10:30

Bored so i tried something new on something old... i guess. So anyway enjoy.

True Blood: Season 1

2010-01-17T02:20:00.008+10:30

Year: 2008
Genre: Horror, Drama, TV series

Okay... true blood. Um... after getting this dvd series i only then realised that this was a chick flick, so don't judge me. Being australian and all... yeah. So what i firstly heard about this was that is was vampire porn... and how i interpreted that was a weird kind of... um, triple x experience. I can say now that thats not entirely true, and i was... bored as well as curious. Its more like normal sex with an expanded universe which involved the vampire option i guess. Think of it as more as a more realistic adult twilight, which i believe to more awesome. It uses the logic of the traditional vampire more and make them fit into the story rather then the other way around. Now because i know nothing about this... really, i'm sort of going in blind. I have no idea who the main characters are and what the story is about... twilight quite simply.

So true blood is based in a swap like hill billy town called... i don't remember, but its not important. Vampires have been around since the beginning of time, it was only recently that they reviled themselves. It is a big shock and a lot of economic issues are introduced... such as do we trust them and all. Well anyway vampires have become a new um... novelty among the normal public. Such as a sex symbol, etc... bitings really big... um yeah. Moving on, some chick falls in love with one of them simply because she can't hear his thoughts. Yes, the chick has the mind reading ability and can't read vampires minds... because they are dead, and yes that is referred too a number of time under the sex topic.

So if you have seen twilight, you have pretty much seen this. its just that there older and that there more straight forward when it comes to relationship building... none of this emotional teen build up shit, i mean what the hell. So in conclusion this is just another love story about women for venus and men from mars but using that new old theme of vampires to express it. I still think the best is underworld for it was the first to really highlight this idea... from memory. This series is more sex orientated, I mean in every episode the same character gets laid by a different chick who dies in the following episode. Oh and a big plus for this is that vampires in sunlight don't sparkle, they burn and burn badly, death like burn... i don't think i did too bad writing this while drunk... peace out

Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: The Endless Not

2010-01-15T11:47:00.004+10:30

Year: 2007
Genre: Industrial, experimental

Being a general fan of industrial music, I should probably be ashamed that it's taken me so long to try Throbbing Gristle, a group that's been treading new ground for the genre since the 70s. I'm glad I got around to it, as I'm not sure I've heard something quite like this. Part Two: The Endless Not is a bizarre collection of songs that almost feel like electronic pulsating life forms. It's not easy to swallow initially but the music is stringed with a lot of little subtleties that keep the flow up for the lengthy track running times.

Rather than building something clean and logical, Throbbing Gristle seem to enjoy trying to create unnatural songs. The base electronics often sound warped, and the vocals seem to deliberately just miss what notes may feel instinctive. What instruments are sampled vary wildly from the likes of trumpets, strings and xylophones. The sum of this is a creative album that rewards patient listeners with soothingly demented music, if such a thing can exist.

Vow of Silence
Almost a Kiss

Screamers: The Hunting... Part 2

2010-01-15T01:19:00.005+10:30

Genre: Horror, Action

Year: 2009

Part 1

I'll tell you what this movie is. Its boring, lame and i don't think its entirely the stories fault. Its the way it is presented. Its a good story, it just that this version of it is poorly put together. Everything is rushed and uncoordinated in terms of the actions in which the characters part take. So where am I... ah yes. The Screams where released and go on a killing spree. The main characters escape and try and find a new source of fuel. They now have 2 human survivors with them. One which become a last minute love interest... His past is a little bit shady.

So they find the sand-person, who apparently turns out to be the lead designer of the screamers... mmm, didn't he die... ah whatever this stopped being fun a while back. He tries to keep them on the planet telling them that there is no fuel left, when in-fact he using fuel to power his base... By the way, he's the best actor in the movie so far. So last minute all but 2 of the characters get killed off... they are really stupid... I mean one decides to stay behind and mourn over a dead body, telling the other that she'll catch up... and so the others just leave. Wouldn't you leave like a body guard... whatever, its not my movie.

The last 2 characters is of course the last minute love interest which i could care less about. They escape and 2 months later when the girl comes out of hibernation she sees that she is in fact pregnant, and now for the most awesome thing in this movie... The ending. Words can not describe this.

Yes, she made out with a screamer... Just by looking at the box you know this was going to happen. So any way thats screamers.... Yeah. You read it so you don't have to watch it.

Screamers: The Hunting... Part 1

2010-01-13T17:54:00.014+10:30

Genre: Horror, Action

Year: 2009

It was one of those boring day, i had nothing to do and i was all alone. So i went to a video store and found what i believe to be one of the most painful movies i have ever sat through, Screamers: The Hunting. So i picked this movie up not knowing anything about it at the time. Thought it looked like an interesting watch and so I brought the dam thing. I judged a book by its cover so to speak. But by looking at the cover i was hoping for something along the lines of Blade II, Virus, Doom and that movie Event Horizon all mixed together into one awesome film. I was hoping for at lest a half decent watch. Not something i would stop about ten minutes into it because i thought i could spend my time doing better things... no serious that how i felt. I had nothing to do that day... FUCK!

Moving on... Okay in the beginning of this film we see a guy sneaking around. He looks ahead to see it the coast is clear... He hears something behind him, he turns, its nothing. He then goes back in the direction of the sound to meet up with the other sneaking around with him... just think about that for a sec... smooth, very smooth movie. This is but 5 seconds maybe into the film. Even now i want to break this thing. Because I noticed this, I will pick out everything. Thanks movie, thanks... Okay, they start moving onwards when they are suddenly attacked by, you guessed it Screamers. Mole like machines which jump out of the ground and take chunks of people with them... wait mole like but what about that cyborg person... spoiler, thanks to the poster on the box, AHHHH. anyway one of the group makes it/survives and turns on a beacon which signals for help... haha, this place reminds me or lazer mania.

We then cut to the title, followed by one of those quite empty space ship moments... Boring. No seriously, i was so bored in this part it stopped making sense, and it wasn't that long. I have no idea what the chain of command is. Whoever shouts the loudest i guess, i think the evil ones the captain... i don't know. So apparently these people on the space ship are going to a planet called "serious 6b"... yeah seriously? A mining planet. We are shown a history of what happened on this serious rock. Workers rise up against there evil scientist masters, scientist make screamer, screamers kill everyone, no one wins. Now they have to go get the possible human survivors. Because the little blinking dot said so... I have the feeling i making this movie experience worse for my self....(*sigh)

Oh... if you haven't noticed, i doing the whole review like this. So you can feel my suffering. Okay, so before walking on the surface of this serious planet. They all get this blue thing which are designed to protect them from the screamers. if it turns red, its not working and the screamers will attack them. Now i can go with that, many movies have done it before. They also speculate that the machines have evolved over time and that they have a time line of 6 days to save these people because someone fucked up. They leave the ship along with a guy who has a fascination about his viking heritage, who will leave in 6 day with or without them.

So walking around on this planet we see that they are being watched by some one, it is unclear by whom... sand-people maybe. Along there journey they come across some mutated acid... i don't care, that sounds really cool and a USR robot factory... ah sorry screamer factory. Its old and not working at this current time. But never fear, some evil dude will put a stop to this... i don't know if he's the captain or a guy with a loud voice, he got the job done. We also learn a number of things about the screamers, they use bones as parts... what, why? and that screamers have an almost perfect design... killing the lead designer in its prototype stage... eh? From its description of it manufacturing history, that too sort of sounds cool... come on movie, you have something cool going for you now... ah no spoke to soon. Upon seeing how big the factory really is the characters can't do anything but use different words to describe how big it is and throw flares into the abyss so to speak. I mean at least 5 of them do it, in the same direction, in the same spot... what why would you do that, wasting... ah whatever. We soon find out the the captain/commander of the group has a alternative objective when visiting the planet. Its not the rescue the people, its to rescue the screamer technology.

After leaving the factory they encounter humans. They are a little hostel towards our heros. They have a little gun fight and have a whole bunch of anti-climatic events. This is what this movie is, dumb. See watch this. Now this is a clip where they encounter screams for the first time. When they are retreating from a gun fight with the survivors. At first the blue patches don't work, and they are forced to fight them off. Now this isn't that funny, its just stupid how this sequence ends. There are a few thing which you the reader should look out for. First of all, the trigger happy retarded firing his gun way past the end of the action sequence, the survival time of the person who gave up his blue patch and how the movie keeps to its own logic of the blue patch...

After this they think, fuck the survivors i'm out of here. So they go back to the ship where they shocking find the person guarding it was killed... by screamers. They find out that they are now stuck on this planet because the ship also has no fuel. So they have nothing else to do but go back and ask the crazy human survivors for help. This time it was a lot easier to make contact... What a waste of time. (*sigh) We are now halfway through the movie.... ahhhh, Okay, okay i can do this.

When entering the survivors base they are instantly accused of being screamers. They then go though this weird test where one of the survivors cuts one of the crews hands and tastes the blood. This then proves that they are not the enemy and that they are now welcome. When getting a tour of the base one of the crew stumbles into a room where 3 human like prisoners are being kept. Because of this and the blood thing the rescue team then debates about how these people have survived over the years and wonders if they have become cannibals. Taking the law into there own hands they then free the prisoners using the acid they found... i knew that would come in handy. Well anyway it turns out that they are in fact the evolved screamer... who would have guessed.

This movie is lame.

Anyway these screams run around the base killing people in really odd ways. I mean you get the people with the fist though the head, the person who gets cut in half and yeah, but how the screamers do it is really sort of strange... okay so the killing spree starts. i have just noticed now that i have gone on a bit... but it can't be helped. So watch out for part 2 of this shit fest.

Song Analysis: Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA

2010-01-13T16:28:00.004+10:30

Click to view full size

Norah Jones - The Fall

2010-01-11T12:35:00.007+10:30

Ah, the recommendation-from-the-person-you-don't-often-share-music-with, they're always interesting. Tom decided to give me a CD to review, and so here I am listening to something I probably would never pick out for myself:

Year: 2009
Genre: "Accoustic pop" I guess

I wonder how many family dinner parties over the recent holiday period were held with this album humming along in the background. That's how The Fall's music strikes me, it's very non-intrusive and pleasant on the surface. Nearly every song uses a full band of guitar, bass and drums but the music is soft and seems to take influence from pop, blues and contemporary jazz.

The vocals are the album's chief driving force. Norah's whispery voice seems to have more force behind it than I can recall from the stuff I've heard before. She sings earnestly with a nice bluesy/jazzy tone, and her delivery plays with the rhythm of the music across the verses. They're the definite highlight. By comparison the backing music often falls into being just that; backing music. Some songs have instrumentation that barely seem to change at all save a minor shift for a short chorus.

The lyrics are nice enough without really ever providing a "wow" factor. Some ballads will have you listening to Norah's words, others are dull and don't seem to go anywhere. the problem seems worse across the midsection of the album, where things start to get a little tired and routine. These minor issues can be traced to one fact; the album plays a bit too safe. It could have benefitted by a few tracks being cut and maybe a few others being expanded on a bit musically. As it stands, it's a collection of mostly short songs that can be a little forgettable.

Despite what I've said, The Fall far from a lost cause. A nice surprise for me was how the album picks up towards the end. It's like Norah read my mind and injected a bit more experimentation into the music. There's even a few instrumental stretches in some of the later songs, they work well, I wish there were more of them.

The question is, will I continue listening to The Fall once I'm done writing this? I would have to say probably not, but this is not a bad album. The leading single Chasing Pirates is a nice and laid back poppy number, and other tracks like Back to Manhattan are enjoyably smooth.

Now I just need to throw a dinner party.

Wu-Tang Clan members ranked

2010-01-10T12:14:00.004+10:30

...in terms of their usability in the PS1 game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style or Wu-Tang: Taste the Pain. That's what you were searching for right?

9. Inspectah Deck
Um, well, he can punch, he can kick, he's not slow I guess but he's not that fast. Pretty bland all-round fighter with no real specialty.

8. U-God
Has some good kicking combos, not much else to say.

7. Ghostface Killah
Slow with not much range, but has some really powerful moves and throws. Expert players can be dangerous with him.

6. Ol' Dirty Bastard
His drunken boxing/capoeira style can make him hard to predict and he has a couple decent moves in his arsenal.

5. GZA
Good range with his chain but it's unweildy compared to the other weapon-weilding characters of the game.

4. Raekwon
Best puncher of the game, his combos are quick and he can juggle his opponents around.

3. Masta Killa
The ninja of the game; really speedy and agile, and with that cheap Rising Sun move.

2. Method Man
A little slow but with excellent reach and crushing power. The amount of smashing reachy moves he has with his huge hammer is ridiculous.

1. RZA
An absolute tank with good speed and long reach. He can juggle for ages with his twin swords.

2009 Movie Wrap-up

2010-01-06T19:35:00.003+10:30

Essentially, Tom and Scott give a quick rundown on a bunch of movies from this year.

Bark Psychosis - ///Codename: Dustsucker

2010-01-05T22:06:00.003+10:30

Year: 2004
Genre: Post-rock

Now why haven't I posted about this yet?

Back in the early nineties, Graham Sutton's outfit Bark Psychosis were one of the bands to help define the genre of post-rock. Their debut album Hex had a style that was a quite ambient and chilled out approach to rock, it was also rather good. In 2004 he returned after ten years of silence with a second BP album, and thankfully he clearly hadn't become dated and stagnated in that time.

Codename isn't a carbon copy of what worked ten years prior, there seems to be a lot of additional inspiration drawn from jazz, lounge, electronica and other chillout genres. It sounds different but what remains intact is that oh-so-delicous smoothness the first album had. Codename's one of those albums you know you enjoy but seem to have a hard time remembering how it actually goes, only because it has a knack of making you relax and zone out. It's another classic of the genre for me.

From What Is Said to When It's Read
Shapeshifting

Gojira - The Link

2010-01-04T20:13:00.003+10:30

Year: 2003
Genre: Progressive death metal

The Link is a very interesting beast. The production might catch you off guard, like it did me. It's got a bit of an amateur recording feel. The sound's crystal clear but it seems to forfeit that "punch" you get with a lot of metal material. That's not necessarily a problem, The Link isn't the kind of album to ride on heavy hooks that it pushes to the front and cranks up high.

This music twists and turns with time signature shifts and varied, creative instrumental work. Tracks like Death Of Me will have swinging verses only to harshly jerk ninety degrees into a sea of fast riffs and mad kick-drumming, then die, then build up again, then jerk around some more. While the vocals, drumming and guitars (most of the time) are in true death metal style, the song writing is very progressive. While it may destined to, at best, sound 'interesting' on the first listen once the album hits a groove with you the bumpy ride it takes you on is a lot of fun.

Death Of Me
Dawn

Toms Top 10 Creative Music Videos... which he has seen some where, some how.

2010-01-03T19:09:00.014+10:30

In this article i will list the most creative music video clips which i have seen. Believe me that isn't that many. This list is more about the relationship between the song and the video, and how creative they got with these videos. Not all the songs are likeable. But... what can you do. This list isn't in any particular order. This is for a few reasons, one being... I CAN NOT BE FUCKED. Note this is my first music based review thing.

Norah Jones - Chasing Pirates

Now when watching this video i could help but recognise the idea. I had seen something similar before in monty python and the meaning of life. For those who don't remember for know. Here, after this awesome song about the galaxy is the skit. (2:30)

It wasn't until later I found out there was a whole short film using this idea. A Terry Gilliam short film. It is weird. So either this music video is a tribute of a tribute or just a tribute. Either way, it is very similar and the more i compare the more i agree with this fact.

part 1

part 2

Norah Jones's music video for chasing pirates sets it self up for being a very ordinary music video. You know the whole door opening at the beginning and the chick collects something off the ground. I wonder how many time thats happened. However i believe it to be referencing the works of Terry Gilliam. Mainly because it takes place in her dream and the moving pirate ship buildings... very creative in my eyes.

Massive Attack - Tear Drop

As weird as this my be it is very cleaver. The song teardrop is about being alone, not to be mistaken for heartbreak... as some people have done in the past. Here we see a baby in the womb. Its singing the song. Thats all there is to it and yet the idea of the song comes across strong in my eyes. Its the most detached and alone you can be from the outside world.

Coldplay - Life inTechnicolor II

Um... this is awesome and i haven't seen anything like this which comes close. What makes this video so good is the audience's reaction. Its like the biggest what the fuck moments for them... i didn't think Coldplay rocked that hard however... mmm okay.

OK go - Here it goes again

People start making shit up when there bored. I see this as a result of that. I don't ever see me having the patience for pulling something off like this.

Powderfinger - Sunsets

This is just simply fun and interesting to watch. Every time it air's i stop what i'm doing and watch it, and i know i'm not the only one. It tells a story, a good story. Not about heartbreak or commitment (there are way too many of those), i see it more about sacrifice... something no one really sings about.

Tenacious D - Tribute

This is a stupid yet awesome.

Foo Fighters - Resolve

Um... normal people, weird scenario. Its like one of those days filled with... mmm okay and what the hell moments. Its simply fun to watch.

REM - Everybody Hurts

Its just... Rememberable. The thoughts people have in this video reflect the song in different ways. Like all these videos, its a simple ideas which work.

The Offspring - Hit That

Its like those weird cartoons. You can't look away.

Blur - Coffee & TV

Yeah... He's Got his mojo going and all... Whats not to like.

Runners Up

Strong Bad - Trogdor The Burninator

Coldplay - The Scientist

Coldplay - Yellow

Foo Fighter - Learn To Fly

So thats my list.

My 10 Most Played Songs of 2009

2010-01-01T12:44:00.005+10:30

These are not, of course, specifically songs from 2009, but what I've played the most times according to my lastfm chart. There's a few repeated bands, but I just listen to some artists more than others regardless of what I consider "best".

10. Mastodon - Diviniations
I can't freaking skip this once it starts.

9. ohGr – Witness
One of those songs (and albums) that isn't the best around but I still seem to listen to a lot.

8. Dethklok - Thunderhorse
Oh geez...

7. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
Wow, what an eleven minutes.

6. Skinny Puppy - Nature's Revenge
Best experienced at night with earphones.

5. Neurosis - I Can See You
Breathtaking

4. Skinny Puppy - VX Gas Attack
Unsurprising, one of the versions I have is one of my favorite live performances ever.

3. Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
DUNN da DUNN DUNDUN DUNN da DUNN DAADAA

2. múm – Green Grass of Tunnel
Tha happiest song on the list.

1. Skinny Puppy - Testure
Yeah, I listened the hell out of that song this year.

Ninja Resurrection

2009-12-31T21:14:00.011+10:30

Okay here's the thing. It's the evening on New Year's Eve and I'm at home by myself due to sickness. Simply put, this isn't my favorite night ever. So what else can I do but channel all that negativity into something, enter Ninja Resurrection.

This is an anime that wants you to believe that it follows on from the well known ultraviolent anime romp Ninja Scroll; the main character has the same name, he looks similar, the titles begin with Ninja and the show's carry a similar asthetic. Ninja Scroll is one of those movies which is not that good from a critical point of view, but is awesome at the same time.

Ninja Resurrection essentially feels like a fan made project created by someone with a raging fetish for buckets of violence and little concept of actual directing. This anime makes Ninja Scroll look contained. It's completely ridiculous, nonsensical and above all, it's crap. Though, rather than explain why it sucks in detail, what I'll do is list some of the events from only the first episode completely out of context:

A metric fuckton of voiceover exposition on top of paintings to lull the viewer into thinking this is an anime with class.

Jubei, our hero, decapitates the face off a big chain-sword weilding bad guy while the soundtrack sounds like music that should be playing as Gandalf dies or something.

A young christian warrior was going to sacrifice his life to save the villagers from an army of warriors. Instead something makes him mad and he calls on God to give him strength to kill the one guy who isn't trying to kill his people.

God responding to this proposition by actually granting him an immortal stone dragon to kill Jubei with. Screw the villagers I guess, this is important.

Jubei, our hero, defeating an angry, confused but otherwise innocent man by holding up the decapitated heads of two little girls from his village to stun him, then throwing his sword into his chest so god damn hard he goes flying into the high window of a tall building some distance behind them.

An evil man goes on a ramble about false gods before cutting his own finger off. The finger crawls around on the floor and up the skirt of a woman and stimulates her.

Said woman than proceeds to have sex with the one village survivor, who doesn't seem to offer any resistance or confusion besides the fact he's in a room full of the burning corpses of everyone he knew.

Jubei, our hero, hangs out in some red sky land, acts sad towards some snow, then leaves while nodding at an old man. The old man finds it funny.

Still in red sky land, someone off-screen has arranged the heads of over thirty thousand dead civilians into a mountain.

What the hell have I watched?

Avatar

2009-12-28T11:54:00.011+10:30

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Romantic

Year: 2009

Okay, Sorry this review took a while to make. I had to organise my thoughts on this one. Alright Avatar. This is a movie in which James Cameron, known best for his work with Titanic, The Abyss and Aliens, Directed. As we all know the technology behind this particular film was meant to be ground breaking. So much so that it would have a similar effect in the movie world as the Star Wars movies did (an almost oh shit reaction). Thats whats he's hoping for anyway, but i think Toy Story beat him in this area of film making... wait, Pixar, George Lucas... Beaten again (George Lucas is one of the founders of Pixar). I know what your thinking, they are different Techniques. But wait, the result was very similar. Thats not to say it doesn't look good.

Now watching this film you can't help make comparisons. This films story is built upon other stories and ideas. There are elements in this film which when noticed, can't helped but be seen as stupid or unoriginal. For one, the look on the planet Pandora. The big idea to show us a new world. I have seen something similar before... MYST. Oh yeah, MYST. A game which i consider to be awesome, so it know i well... in fact (ah never mind... i'll do that later). Moving on, with that said it isn't bad. In fact its the cool ideas all mixed into one. This story plays all the classic cliches and it plays out fluently. However we have seen it all before... just not in an alien world.

Now because this film took such along time to appear along with a lot of vague advertising people will most likely like or hate this film for the wrong reasons. What i did find was that people who saw it in 3D had a greater experience than the 2D views... weird i know. I do suggest you see the movie in 3D, however 3 hours can be a bit much... so don't say i haven't warned you. I did think wearing the glasses for that long was a bit much at times, but the realD 3D technology is impress at the moment.

When coming out of this film there was a lot to digest in terms of judging this film. It is well edited and flows nicely through the story. But the film focus isn't the story as such. Its very basic and designed to introduce people to a new alien world. I think people would agree with me that people who have seen the film would have liked a bit more of a eventful complication. I would have liked to see some more areas of grey... so to speak, not just the clear cut good and bad side versus story, which is identified in the trailers. This is a good film, but it is also very ordinary in terms of story. I do suggest for you to see this film if you haven't already and see it at the movies. Go all out and watch the full movie experience in 3D... You won't hate it, but its not something you absolutely love.

Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side, Review

2009-12-28T00:12:00.013+10:30

I probably wouldn’t be doing this, but the internet here is currently down and, as such, I need a way to kill time. Anyway, as I’m sure you all know, Family Guy is a widely popular comedy show predominantly concerning the antics of the Griffin family of Quahog, Rhode Island. Family Guy achieved notoriety a few years back after being renewed by Fox due to its staggeringly high DVD sales. The return of this show has vastly increased its fanbase, to the point where it’s pretty hard to find someone aged 14-25 who hasn’t heard of Family Guy.

It’s also crap.

Let me backpedal a little from this statement, pre-cancellation Family Guy was quite good; it had interesting scenarios and some great writing. Since their return, despite starting with what I’m sure were the best intentions, the series very quickly became formulaic and repetitive. Sure, it’s still funny in places and does some interesting things every now and then, but all you need to do is compare a season 5+ Family Guy episode to an episode of Futurama, season 3-8 Simpsons or South Park to see that the writing is just not as good as other comedy animations.

And now we have Something Something Something Dark Side, the second part of an exceedingly ambitious idea to retell the classic Star Wars Trilogy with that distinctive Family Guy style. One does not need a sociology degree majoring in nerd culture to know that this idea, along with Robot Chicken’s Star Wars stuff, is, clearly, a means of tapping into the Star Wars cash cow, in which thousands of people will spend ridiculous amounts of money on something so long as it mentions Bobba Fett in there somewhere. Despite the clear capitalist agenda pounding in the back of my head, I quite like Blue Harvest, the first in the series, and, alas, I liked this too. Yes, we can get on our high horse all we want, saying that it’s a lazy way to make a quick buck, but one can see when they watch these installments that the creators have a real respect for the movies they are parodying (parody is, after all, a form of flattery).

So, onto the actual movie. If you’re new to the Family Guy Star Wars series or just very slow, Something Something Something Dark Side (from here on abbreviated to SSSD) tells the story of The Empire Strikes Back, but with Chris as Luke, Peter as Han, Lois as Leia, Brian as Chewy and Stewie as Darth Vader. If you’ve seen Blue Harvest, you’ll know what to expect from SSSD; the core story is retold, but with gags and references aplenty added into the mix. It’s hard to describe SSSD with anything more than that, it really is just ‘Family Guy In Space’. But, what’s important is that it’s pretty damn funny, with some parts leaving me laughing out loud quite heartily. The straight to DVD release nature of SSSD was a good idea as there are a few uses of the word ‘fuck’ which have great effect and, simply, wouldn’t be as good with the bleeping that would occur on television. To put it simply, SSSD continues on quite fluently from Blue Harvest and, while the differences between the two are basically non-existent, it’s still a worthy addition to your collection.

“But Chris,” I hear you say, “how can you like this movie…thing after blatantly bashing the mechanical nature of recent Family Guy, something of which SSSD adheres to?” A valid point, but one I will attempt to explain. Firstly, the major issue with current FG is the actual plots of the episodes take a back-seat to continual strings of gags, callbacks and obscure references. Like South Park said, the jokes are completely interchangeable and unrelated to the plot, which falls into the shadows as a result. The Star Wars episodes aren’t like that, the plot is the driving force and where most of the jokes come from. Hence, the writing has to be a lot sharper than it usually is, and the polish shows. Also, a surprising amount of thought has gone into this series to try and make it as authentic as possible, with identical shots, music and wipes as the original films. There’s a lot to like here if you’re a Star Wars fan, so long as you don’t take your fandom too seriously.

To conclude (this review is far too long), SSSD is a good watch and, while I wouldn’t pay $30 for a 1hr movie, I would recommend it for a rental or an ‘internet rental’ as it were. Yes, it certainly not the most deep thing you can watch, but so long as you’re not a libertarian socialist with glasses and long, dark brown hair who likes the band Boris, you’ll enjoy yourself; and if you are, then you may be surprised with the result.

Agalloch - The Mantle

2009-12-27T22:26:00.004+10:30

Year: 2002
Genre: Folk/Black metal

This is tricky for me to write about, and I'm not sure why. The Mantle is, without exaggeration, the best album I've come across in months. It's a metal album that soothes more than it rocks, largely due to the heavy usage of accoustic guitars and smooth Ulver-esque vocals. Even so, it has plenty of moments where electric guitars and black metal screeches fuel the music. The transitions between these is handled perfectly though, it never feels like it's changing gears into another style, but flows between them in a way that the listener barely notices.

Much of the album is instrumental. The interplay between accoustic melodies and atmospheric metal backing is gorgeous. I can't pick anything in the music that lags. The percussion is strong and creative; The Lodge has a distinctive *clack* keeping the beat which is apparantly a deer's skull being struck. The bass is never really brought into the limelight but provides some very pleasant and essential support during the smooth sections of the music.

The guitar and vocals are where the album shines the brightest. The harmony between the different breeds of guitar contributes so much to the music. The opening and closing tracks are purley accoustic, the latter with beautiful whispered vocals. Both the clean and screech vocal styles sound great, even better when they play off each other (such as in In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion). John Haughm just became one of my favorite vocalists in metal.

I can't really describe this album in a way that feels satisfactory, but I wanted to post about it. Give it a look and see for yourself what I'm trying to say.

...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth
You Were But a Ghost in My Arms

Cynic - Traced In Air

2009-12-27T20:14:00.003+10:30

Year: 2008
Genre: Technical/progressive death metal

I've had this album for some months now, but it sounds better now than it ever has. Why would you want to check this out?

If you're a drummer, you will get something out of this.

If you're mildly interested in death metal but get put off by the growling, you will get something out of this.

If you want to hear music that uses vocoder to build a unique sound rather than cover up the vocalist's lack of talent, you will get something out of this.

If you want something to piss off your metal purist friend who lives in the eighties, you will get something out of this.

If you think the idea of jazz fusion in metal is preposterous, you will get something out of this.

If you want a heavy album that doesn't blast a wall of guitar and sing about dead bodies, you will get something out of this.

If you want to "fit in" at Sputnik music, you will get something out of this.

If you want something technically proficient but not over indulgent, you will get something out of this.

There's plenty of reasons, really.

The Space For This
Adam's Murmur

Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-27T11:11:00.008+10:30

Genre: Mystery, Comedy, Action

Year: 2009

This is the latest Guy Ritchie film to hit the big screen, and let me tell you like all his others... it doesn't disappoint. His style of film making is very unique. He almost makes it look like some sort of music video from time to time without breaking character or flow of story. A perfect candidate for the Bebop film me thinks... anyway back to this movie. Sherlock Holmes is a classic character whom we all know about in some way or form. It was to my surprise my sister drew a blank... I'm still in denial. Not even the Great Mouse Detective could save the day.

So anyway, when talking about the older style characters of Sherlock Holmes with my family, we believed that it wouldn't work in terms of todays expectations of film. The main reason was Watson, the tubby sidekick of Holmes. In this movie this character is played by Jude Law (not fat), and he portrays him very differently. He doesn't look and isn't completely helpless. He looks like he was military trained (Military Surgeon, for those who don't know). He is one of the noticeable changes but, i don't really care. It works, its believable.

Moving on, Holmes. Holmes is a smart person... so smart that he shit over everyone with his genus... and when it happens its really entertaining and funny, yet deep, believable and... sort of moving. But i have seen characters like this go bad quickly when all they do is explanations. Smart character could sound dumb/stupid. So they made him a bored drunk whom keeps everything to himself... thats entertaining right. A person who needs to distract his racing mind with a case to solve, or he will go insane with boredom and drink himself to death... or something along those lines. That with the new and improved Watson... Awesome!

Now because of the Holmes character, you don't know the ending until the end... yeah like, that never happens. With that said, everything you see on the screen and every thing you hear are all clues used. You can potentially solve the mystery yourself, before Holmes. But are you smart enough... To tell the truth i only figured out about half before I was out done... yeah. So it does plays out like the CSI show a bit when he is thinking, but set in the era of Sherlock and sometime in slow-mo. Now... how this movie ends there is clearly going to be a sequel... a mystery villain... mmm, hell yeah. Its like a superhero movie... but not. I do however have the feeling that we have seen clues as to his true identify and motives which have not yet been explained. Guy Ritchie films are like this. I do suggest you watch out for it.

Overall i liked this film. It was very refreshing to see. What attracted me to see this film was not the massive name drops of actors. But the director. I am a fan of the works of Guy Ritchie. From Lock Stock and Two Smokin Barrels to Rock and. Rolla. Films which, I do recommend highly. Well thats all i have to say... See this film and dare i say its has better editing than Avatar... Ohhh no he didn't.

Play TV

2009-12-25T15:45:00.009+10:30

Play TV is a new hardware addition for the playstation 3. Its a simple device which when connected to the console allows your system to act as a TV set top box with the characteristics of that TiVo thing. I also think the 360 does something similar, with HD movie and an internet connections... But I don't know then detail and from how I described it sounds costly for internet accounts. I guess i'll have to try that out sometime. Anyway, back to Play TV. It is a very handy device. Its simple, cheap and yet effective. I am a person who likes there entertainment system and adding this to the mix makes thing a lot more simple.

This system surprised me in terms of its remote play capabilities. I can us a PSP to watch TV, random i know. Remote play is a function on the playstation which is a cool idea which works... but what useful function can you use it for... a portable tiny TV with a limited range of the PS3? I myself use it as a glorified remote when it comes to listening to music. How the playstation 3 is designed now suggests that the future generation consoles will be more like little multifunctional computers which run your entertainment system rather than just play games.

When you think about it now. TV's with the built in set top box will be almost useless when it comes to recording. I haven't come across one which have been designed to by-pass this technical flaw, other than having to buy more equipment. But thats a rant for another day. Back to the main topic Play TV has the ability to recored. This worked out really well, apart from the fact that i couldn't program it to turn off my system after recording a show. Either i haven't found it or this function is non-exsistant as of yet. I guess i have to tinker with it a little more.

Alice In Wonderland

2009-12-22T11:52:00.003+10:30

Watching the new trailer for the upcoming film of Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland, i could help think to myself... What the Hell. Though out the entire trailer Alice doesn't say anything, yet she's is said to be the chosen one... wait what... why? The focus is on Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter characters. But if memory serves, those characters they play were not the main focus of the story. Okay, i can understand that Tim Burtons vision for this story will be very suited for the stories particular nature. But i don't think it should be at the expense of giving Johnny Depp a lead role in the story. The Mad Hatter is a cool supporting character, because he was a Mad Hatter who had kick ass tea parties. That was all... oh that reminds me, i need to pull of a change places prank on someone sometime. Anyway because i noticed this, the trailer started looking very stupid to me. Why is there a battle, or have i forgotten that part.

Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets

2009-12-21T22:29:00.007+10:30

Genre: Post metal
Year: 2001

What an appropriate name, this album sounds like metal that has been left out in the sun for a long time. I do mean that in a positive way. This music feels like something that is aggressive and self-remourseful, but has been left at the mercy at some dominant force and has just been beaten down for a long time.

At times it sounds intentionally broken, such as the stilted drum beat of the title track or the skips in Stones From The Sky. When it was released it was pretty noticable for not being as heavy as the band's previous work. The subtraction in sound benefits the soul of the music. 1996's Through Silver and Blood may have felt like an army, but this is definitely a personal expression.

The music itself is arguably better too, Neurosis aren't trying to overwhelm listeners with busy sound. A Sun That Never Set's songs do get quite heavy at times, but it's that slow crushing heavy that takes plenty of build up before it inevitabley pays off. Steve and Scott's strained vocal styles fit perfectly into the atmosphere of the material. There's plenty of creativity and harmony shown across all instruments, the guitars are harsh and powerful during the thicker sections while elements such as keyboards, violins and bells provide great ambience.

Title track
Stones From The Sky

Where The Wild Things Are and Avatar

2009-12-18T12:00:00.005+10:30

These are two of the biggest releases of the summer. I've seen both in the last couple of weeks and thought I'd leave some thoughts on them.

Where The Wild Things Are

I loved this movie, but I can completely understand those who don't. This is a rare case when a movie is probably more appropriate and understandable from a child's perspective than an adults. This could explain why so many parents have been labelling this too dark or scary for children; it's not. In a modern world of hand-holding children's media it can be hard to remember how dark and bizarre a child's imagination can actually be. What this film is, is a wonderful window into the world through the eyes of a young boy, with all the mindless fun, scariness and uncertainty included.

The wild things themselves are the best characters I've seen in a children's movie in a long time. These great beasts have better child-like characterisations than the kids in any movie I've seen this year. Seriously.

There actually isn't much plot to this movie but it carries a strong message, again mainly for kids. Max's personality and behaviour lead to a nasty conflict with his single mother and he runs away to the (imaginary?) land of the Wild Things. They end up crowning him king, but as the movie develops it's clear that what they're really after is a more parental figure.

It's an amazing movie people.

Avatar

Lets get the obvious out of the way first, this movie looks incredible visually. It's not just the CGI attention to detail, the forest of Pandora is brilliantly creative and uniquely vibrant. You get a sense that this is a real, if unbelievable eco-system. If you're going in for eye-candy you won't be disappointed. The 3D gave me a headache after a while though, and I found the action hard to make out, but this could be a result of my tired eyes at the time.

In terms of script, plot and characters, this movie is pretty average. The plot pretty much writes itself and there's very few surprises. Likewise, the characters aren't that well fleshed out and the dialogue (whenever the film actually stops long enough to have some substantial dialogue) is very watered down. Still, it's better to have fairly shallow lead characters than shallow and plain unlikable ones, I'm looking at you Star Trek.

This is where I go off on a rant about how sci-fi can be more than action movies set in space, and about how likable characters make for better action sequences, and about how you shouldn't go see such a style-over-substance movie, but I can't. I enjoyed myself, and for two main reason; pacing and presentation. Avatar never has you restless for too long, and while it isn't the best movie around, it will definitely keep you entertained for a couple hours. It's like eating out at a very good take-away place, it may be lacking in substance but it's still very tasty. If you see one popcorn action movie this year, see Avatar.

Song Analysis: Owl City - Fireflies

2009-12-14T00:41:00.008+10:30

Let's dive right into this heartwarming piece of autotuned non-threatening electropop, and uncover the themes and emotions behind Owl City's lyrics. I'm sure we'll find a warm song stringing together some personal experiences, presented in an format accessible for the listener and easily flowing with the songwriter's sentiments. I can't wait you guys!

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

...... Okay, not getting it. It's fine though, I'm sure this'll make sense later.

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

The fireflies? Leaving teardrops? I'm sure this is a metaphor, the bugs must represent some emotion like ... love or some shit.

Oh, and I wouldn't think you rude at all, I'd be staring blankly too if something this freaky was actually going down. I thought you knew me Owl City!

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly

Why?

.. How?

I'm having a hard time filtering out any meaning here, sir.

It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

I don't even...... what?

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A thousand hugs from ten thousand bugs? So I'm assuming your intended meaning is a thousand hugs from each bug? That's damn time consuming, and don't you have some dance lessons to do?

A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

Oh there is not, don't be silly.

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe that if you suffer a concussion, you'd ironically start to make sense.

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

Get some sleep, dude. You are delirious and narrating some pretty heavy hallucinations there.

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell

What's going on? No! No! I mean it! That's it! What the hell people? Oh my freaking god, what's the matter with you?

But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I honestly just..... I.... You'd like to make yourself believe that planet Earth turns slowly? Seriously, what the freaking fuck man? That first line alone gives me a fucking headache. What are you talking about? Tell me! Say something in English!

..wait, you'd rather stay awake when you're alseep? Oh fuck you Owl City, I was using that bit of brain you just imploded.

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Stop! Not that again! Shutup! Gawwd.

Is this a joke? Did you lay down some pop radio friendly backing music then think "hey you know what'll be funny?" before finding some obscure fanfiction for some forgotten fantasy show and cut and paste random sentences for your lyrics? What is this? What do you want from me? To nod along and act like everything is okay? I can't unhear this, this batshit insanity is going to stay with me all my life! I don't know what to believe in anymore, am I here? What's the planet Earth doing? What's the deal with the bugs, bitch? I just don't know!

Help me Owl City! For god's sake help me, do something! Say something! Say anything, clear this up!

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

...*whimpers*

Scott's Favorite Albums of the Decade: 15 - 1

2009-12-10T22:00:00.001+10:30

30-15 here

More of this stuff.

15. Foetus - Flow

Flow is a dark, tongue-in-cheek ride through genre mashups of industrial, big band, swing and more.

14. múm - Finally We Are No One

This is like the dream of a child; simple, warm and playful with tension occasionally coming into the fray.

13. Burial - Untrue

12. Radiohead - Kid A

You know about this, it's on everyone's freaking list.

11. Hauschka - Ferndorf

I'm no good at describing classical music, but this is a fantastic piano album.

10. Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind

9. Tool - Lateralus

One of the most hyped albums of the decade, and it seems to actually deserve it (except for Triad).

8. a-fei - Nymphéas

An instrumental post-rock/electronica/modern classical album with live drumming that sounds both unique and infectious.

7. Ben Frost - Theory of Machines

Bbbzzzzzzzzrrrrrrkkkksssssshhhhhhhrrrrrrrrnnnnngggggggrrrrrhhhhh

6. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step

One of the finest alternative rock albums I've ever heard, polished to a sheen with strong track after strong track.

5. The Ocean - Precambrian

Metal that sits between death, progressive and post labels with lashings of organic instruments like piano and cello sounds like a fantastic premise, and one The Ocean made the most of it.

4. Nine Inch Nails - Still

Noticeably more accoustic and mellow than their previous work, Still is an unbelievably soothing and powerful soundtrack to a mental rock bottom.

3. Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

One hour, two tracks, god knows how many instruments and effects, amazing music, love.

2. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm

Probably my all time favorite album to sit under a metal genre label. Eye of Every Storm takes a minimalistic approach to music, making every wonderful riff ring in clear rather than bombard you with ten other layers of sound simultaneously. Everything here is exceptional; drumming, guitars, vocals, bass, lyrics, atmosphere.

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows

I find it amazing how different each song on this album sounds, and yet they all manage to keep a very high standard of quality throughout. So many songs send a shiver up my spine for different reasons; Werid Fishes, Up on the Ladder, Videotape, House of Cards, Last Flowers, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Nude, and more.

Scott's Favorite Albums of the Decade: 30-16

2009-12-09T01:02:00.008+10:30

This is just a collective argument for why this was an amazing decade for music. I didn't put any restrictions on how many albums any one band can have. Go check out Willy Wonka Hates You's list too.

30. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker-

I hope you're happy Chris, I bumped out Bark Psychosis for this.

29. Radiohead - Amnesiac

Pyramid Song is possibly the song of the decade.

28. Ben Frost - By the Throat

27. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

This is the last album I got on this list so I'm going by early impressions here.

26. dredg - El Cielo

These guys just have a great talent for alternative rock, El Cielo is accessible yet layered.

25. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Just a great collection of metal songs with plenty of talent on display across all instruments.

24. Neurosis - Given to the Rising

Guitars.... so thick .... head ....... exploding...

23. Massive Attack - 100th Window

22. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

To me this feels more cohesive and consistent than Blood Mountain.

21. Russian Circles - Geneva

20. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Patchy brilliance.

19. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

As metal as freaking whales in the sky.

18. The Antlers - Hospice

This is why

17. Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters

16. Saltillo - Ganglion

Trip-hop with classical music fusions, what's not to like there?

Top 15 here