Autumn Vibe

Album: Aim and Ignite

2011-08-10T22:19:00.000-04:00

Aim and Ignite was a smooth-yet-complex beautifully orchestrated album that really stood out for being extremely diverse. The diversity factor was truly outstanding, as the genre of music ranged vastly, from piano orchestrations to jazzy bluesy songs to tropical surfer pop-rock to energetic doo-wop-background-singers-entailing arrangements. It actually never bored me, ever. I am not a huge fan of slow songs, but there are QUITE a few of them on this album, and they did NOT turn me off at all. A nice thing about this is that even if you somehow don't like some of the songs on this album, it is diverse enough that there is something for you.

Lots of the songs' lyrics aren't exactly diverse in subject matter, as pretty much all of them have to do with relationships and breakups and life, things of that nature (both gleeful and glum). This is offset by the excited, enthusiastic singer's voice, that can at the flick of a switch become tragic and mournful, both of which rock to no extent, and make you forget a bit what the lyrics are about and focus on the feelings conveyed by them, which are universally relateable.

Back to the diversity bit again, the singer often has other singers enter his songs and sing with him, which is really just refreshing in general. One problem with listening to an entire album that I have (besides the usual problem of having the same genre and music style throughout the album) is that sometimes the singer's voice begins to get extremely boring. It doesn't usually happen over time, either. It's usually that I'm jamming to a song when it hits me like a brick that I no longer like the singer's voice. This is a sorrowful event each and every time, and I like this singer (Nate Ruess; might as well mention his name at this point, as I have been calling him 'the singer' all this time) because of his unique style, and also because he has other singers sing in his songs regularly (the songs Barlights and At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be) stick out in my mind) which is makes for a pleasant experience. Anyways, in sum, definitely give this album a listen. It's totally worth it.

Best Songs: All The Pretty Girls, At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be), The Gambler, Walking The Dog II

Movie: Drillbit Taylor

2011-08-08T05:07:00.000-04:00

So first of all, I saw this movie on cable somewhere. It was at a time when neither The Office nor Craig Ferguson was on and I had nothing better to do. And I think that that may well be the only really acceptable time to watch this movie.

The movie was not horrible. There are some movies that I would recommend you NEVER to see. This one just isn't great. It's good enough to justify seeing it if you are really bored, but don't bother seeking it out over other things to do.

The premise of the movie is that Owen Wilson is a bum who will do anything for money, and three bullied high school freshmen are seeking out a professional bodyguard. Owen Wilson winds up being the only bodyguard they can realistically afford, as the other, 'real' bodyguards charge high fees and Wilson charges close to nothing. What ensues is that the freshmen attempt to use Wilson's 'teachings' to get rid of their bully problem, while Wilson attempts to extort any money or objects of value from the homes of these kids (who come from rich, albeit neglectful homes) in his quest to run away to Canada.

Despite the cliche everything, from the over-the-top dramatizations of high school to the nerd-gets-the-girl ending to the training montages, the story has some funny moments that can be original at times. This movie does have the problem of the characters making some of the dumbest choices possible, which serves only, apparently, to enrage the audience into verbally abusing the screen in hopes that the characters might grow a brain. If you consider yourself a movie connoisseur, I do not recommend this. But if you are just a casual movie watcher who needs nothing more than a little action and some cheesy love/friendship themes in your film to satisfy you, then this movie is by all means acceptable.

Album: Shame, Shame - Dr. Dog

2011-07-17T07:40:00.002-04:00

Shame, Shame. A pure, heartfelt, emotional trip through the heads of the members of the band Dr. Dog, who have, by their fifth album, become well seasoned and defined in regards to their unique style.

Dr. Dog is a band specializing in a style of rock that I cannot hope to summarize in only a few words. Their sound is at times quite Psychedelic and Bluesy; indeed, one song in particular (Mirror, Mirror) had me eighty-five percent sure I was listening to The Beatles. They also do a good job of retaining a certain folk-rock vibe that makes them unmistakable. They often include funky bass lines, keyboard undertones, and grueling, raw guitar riffs that do not let up. In several moments, the familiar sound of an electric organ can be heard (such as in "I Only Wear Blue"). Their vocals vary from song to song, as the singer changes on occasion, but in this album in particular, most of the songs' lyrics are on the same wavelength in terms of subject matter and emotion; that being that they are nearly all mournful and ring with truth, as if the singer were desperately trying to convey the magnitude of his melancholic emotions solely through the lyrics.

This album is indeed more heartfelt and hits closer to home than many previous albums from Dr. Dog. Instead of vague, matter-of-fact lyrics that describe simple subject matter such as a swamp, the lyrical content in this album is infinitely more specific and pertains (often) directly to the life of the lyricist. This allows for a deeper sense of relatability, past the resonance of the feel of the music; also at work is the resonance of the feel of the message being communicated.
I feel that the extent of the lyrical conviction can be assessed based on the feeling with with the songs on this album are sung. The harmonies of soft wailing are very powerful to listen to in tandem with the cries of passion/grave and piercing recitation of the lead vocalist. The instruments seem to do their best to convey emotion as well, whining and biting all the time. It helps that the recording equipment seems to be on the lo-tech side, giving the tracks a grainy, raw sound that cannot be otherwise emulated. I would say that this album is for everyone, although it may well make you cry in a sudden emotional release. Taking that last part into account, I would still say giving the album a listen would be more than worth it.

Best Songs: Mirror, Mirror, Jackie Wants A Black Eye, Shadow People, Stranger

Book: Catching Fire (the sequel to "The Hunger Games")

2011-02-04T21:24:00.003-05:00

   Honestly, this book fucked up all the accomplishments of the first one. It started off in a stupid way that wrecked the nice ending, and it even finished in a bad state. Its not bad in the way its written, or any specific thing farther than plot and storyline, although parts seemed to drag on, making me feel like reading it was some kind of task that I needed to complete for no real reason. And much of it was redundant to the first book, and not in a re-tell way, but in a, "didn't that shit already happen? oh, its happening again? how the hell did that shit manage to happen again?" kinda way, starting in the first chapter and continuing throughout the whole book.
   All I can imagine is that the second book was only made as a transition into the third book, "Mockingjay", which I haven't read yet. But if that is the case, than there is way too much unnecessary information in that book. I have to say that I'm dissatisfied with this book as a whole, and now I feel discouraged to read the next one, just because I remember the trials of this one.
   One thing i can say is that the style and theme were good, and I give it 2.5 stars out of 5.
- Adam

Book: The Hunger Games

2011-02-04T00:37:00.002-05:00

The Hunger games is a very serious book, but I would have to say that it would probably be meant for 14 year olds to 17 year olds. Not to say other people wouldn't enjoy it, I just think thats the target age group. But again, the book is filled with seriousness along with intensity, and the story is kind of depressing. The characters never really have fun, and the plot is hauntingly foreboding. I think it was an excellent book, and it surpassed my expectations.

I think that the book is kinda predictable, in a sense, but I'm satisfied with the ending. I would go to see a .movie, if one came out,

Album: Baby Darling Doll Face Honey - Band of Skulls

2011-01-31T22:54:00.002-05:00

   Amazing. Creative. Genius. Unique. Passionate. Masterful. Such is a valid (albeit vague) description of every single song on the album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey.

   Just as a general rule, all albums have flaws. The only mold-breaking albums that I can actually honestly say don't have flaws  hail from bands of the same caliber as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson (admittedly not a band) and Green Day, all masters of their respective musical domains. And the reason that you (yes, you!) have heard of each of the above mentioned bands, even if you can't name a single song by them, is that they are so good that they have become household names. Their well-defined mark has been ingrained so deeply within international musical culture that you learned the name much the same way you learned the word 'dictionary': through hearing it in context so many times that you figured it out. This status is the future of Band of Skulls.

   Indie bands are so named, in case it wasn't obvious, because they produce their own work independently (independently... independent... indie, get it?). They usually avoid major record labels and mainstream media as a source of promotion, instead opting to set up websites or simply rely on word of mouth. This makes them different from 'normal' bands in that they do not really seek fame. Meaning if they actually succeed in becoming famous without trying, they must be really, really good. Examples of these really, really good indie bands are Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Arcade Fire, Weezer, Radiohead and the Strokes. This status, too, is the future of Band of Skulls.

   Band of Skulls' first album has it all, from sad songs, to thoughtful songs, to angry, to cheerful, to peaceful. All the songs did share one thing in common though, and no, it isn't even the singer. They were all EPIC AS ALL FUCK, and while I risk sounding like a drug addict from the 80's , there's not many better ways to say it. Band of Skulls consists of a guitarist, a bassist (both of which are singers), and a drummer, whose combined style is unmistakable and natural-sounding, slightly comforting. The percussion is a constant hollow beating that provides much of the impact of the song, and without which none of the songs would be complete. Every drum line sounds as if it were planned out particularly for the song it's in, and none sound generic at all; they are all custom creations that are the foundation on which the lyrics and guitar build upon. The guitar parts are subtle in some songs and loud in others, but always a huge presence; in fact, the guitars actually make more of an impression in the songs that have less of them. And the vocals contain so much feeling that it's impossible not to at least sway along to them, although it's pretty hard not to also sing along. Most of all, though, a casual spirit emanates from each song, so they are not taken too seriously, which comes out to be amazing. There is no way you can possibly dislike this album.

Best songs (a forced narrow-ization): Light of the Morning, Death by Diamonds and Pearls, Hollywood Bowl, Cold Fame

Manga: Psyren

2011-01-27T21:57:00.002-05:00

Psyren is a Japanese comic (Manga) that is ranked 3rd place on the Mangafox website and to be quite honest, it manages to both be pretty good while at the same time, not making sense at all. For example, these guys have ability to travel around between present and future, which isn't that weird, but then the way they do it is retarded if you think about it: a retarded ass robot calls them, and if they pick up, then that robot will teleport them to the future. And the funny thing is that if you don't pick up the phone in short period of time, then you will become deaf, which will kill you eventually, because if you don't listen to the stupid robot, it will kill you (I honestly don't understand what it is, but just go with it). And also, these guys get special power just by traveling to the future! And the guy with the blue hair (dark one if you know what I'm talking about), he has this special power that only a few people get to have, and it's this big black ball and if he shoots it at a target, they will die (which is my friend's favorite word by the way!). So yeah... that's pretty much it, and in the end, they change the future into a better one and shit and yeah..
-Jin M.

Game: inFamous (by Pedro)

2011-01-27T10:20:00.002-05:00

Infamous is just your common superhero video game, the thing that really makes this game work is that it allows you to decide whether to become a hero or a villain in a real unique way. How is it unique? It's unique because you start off as a regular guy who accidentally got powers to control electricity and over time you do missions and side missions. These missions make you have several options to do stuff, like would you rather save the girl you like or save over 10 people about to die if you chose the girl you get bad karma and if you save the people you get good karma. Whether you're a hero or a villain depends on the type of karma you get.

You also get power ups, which are pretty fucking awesome and make the game more fun, and yea the sewers is the best fucking place to get power ups. Through out the game there are three city and in each city there's different types of enemies, like the reapers and the trash baggers, who carry around hefty bags filled with shit. The challenge in this game is fairly decent and it makes it an all around enjoyable game to play. It has a very satisfying and shocking ending which I found to be more than I expected. Also the replay value is high, because you can choose between being evil or good so you could do one play through as the hero and another as the villain. In the end I give this game a 4.5 out of 5.
-Pedro

Movie: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (by Adam)

2011-01-27T09:21:00.002-05:00

To be honest, I would never watch a movie like this. A fake version of some old action figure franchise, it all sounded pretty dumb. The only reason I watched it is because it was on instant streaming on Netflix at my cousin's house. It blew my mind away. The plot was exiting and dramatic, with unexpected complexity seeing as it had the name "G.I.Joe" in it. The action was high quality, with normal and average special affects (Which isn't to say they weren't good) and realistic characters. I loved it

I think the best thing about it was the story, because from beginning to end, the movie is developing a story thats simple to follow yet interesting, and by the end, you feel like the whole movie was just a setup, or introduction, for a second movie. If thats just the intro, I seriously want to see the full thing.

I also like the constant action that doesn't really stop, and the unexpected destruction. There was a sort of cheesiness that I did expect, and it wasn't the best acting, but I loved it. I give it about an 8.5 out of ten. I just called Pedro and he said he thought it sucked, but he watched it like, 3 years ago, so he doesn't know what he's talking about.

- Adam

Game: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

2011-01-26T12:14:00.002-05:00

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-selling games of all time. However, this might have just been because of the hype, seeing as Cod 4 (the previous game in the series) was so amazing. The game has a lot of flaws, as it seems that Infinity Ward wasn't taking its time, and the story mode, although fun and exiting, didn't live up to my expectations. Some parts were too difficult while others were boringly easy, and the difficulty doesn't get harder in a progressive manner. The story alone, however, was great and left space for a new game that I am still greatly anticipating.

The gameplay (online/multiplayer) was standard to FPSs, and the choices in weaponry are excellent. Some guns are overpowered, but you can always expect that. The maps were satisfying and the killstreaks were exiting and set sort of mini-goals for you while you play. The camos were cool, and the thing as a whole is enjoyable(minus the hackers).

What sucks is:

Commando, which is when you are so far from someone that you cant even hit them with a shotgun blast to the face, but you can automatically run up to them and knife them in less than a second.
NoobTubes(Grenade launchers) which is when someone shoots a grenade across the map and blows up anyone within an 87 mile radius.
Tactical nukes which are killstreaks earned at 25 kills. causing any pro/semi-pro players to end the game in twenty seconds.
Campers, who stare at one wall waiting for someone to walk past so that they can finally get a kill, seeing as they suck.

The game was worth buying, before Black Ops came out. Now just buy Black Ops, unless you really want to know what happens in the story.
-Adam

Game: Assassin's Creed (by Pedro)

2011-01-26T11:17:00.002-05:00

If you're looking for a game that grabs your attention throughout the whole game, Assassin's Creed is not the game for you. In my opinion the first game of the Assassins Creed series is one of those games that you rent from Gamefly or something. When the game starts, you're thinking 'This game is going to be awesome', but after an hour or two of playing you start noticing that the game is repeating the same shit, the only difference is that the target you assassinate is a different person each time. First you gotta do three side missions before you get the main mission which is the assassination of the target. You also get to play as Desmond Miles who is Altair Ibn-La'Ahad's descendant; what Desmond does is he gets in this machine named the Animus and has flashbacks when Altair was alive thousands of years ago: yes, this means that the game is all happening in flashbacks, of the only descendant of Altair, I guess Desmond didn't have any fucking cousins or siblings. So yea this game is pretty weird and lacks stuff to do. We had to wait for the sequel and the sequel's sequel or w/e, but in the end ill give Assassin's Creed two stars out of five because the game was entertaining at the beginning and its cool to go around killing people and jumping in hay stacks and shit. Rent it, don't buy it, as a matter of fact just borrow it from a friend.

-Pedro

Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray

2011-01-25T23:59:00.002-05:00

Despite The Picture of Dorian Gray being a classic novel, highly praised by most audiences, I can't say I really enjoyed it. This has nothing to do with homophobia, or a lack of the vocabularic knowledge necessary to understand the old text; it simply seemed that Oscar Wilde was too busy sending messages to the audience to really give his characters life. Every dialogue read less like a real conversation and more like a (cryptic) scripted debate, and Wilde seemed to more or less skip twenty years of character development of the eponymous protagonist Dorian Gray, instead summarizing these years in one chapter. Most characters serve only as tools to invoke some specific reaction in Dorian, such as Lord Henry, who serves to steer Dorian into hedonism, and Sybil Vane, who serves to show Dorian that 'love' is a fickle and unreal emotion.

Most of the book's reputation seemed to have come from it's shock value - there were various less-than-covert hints at homosexuality and adultery - which, unfortunately, are no longer effective in the 21st century. Now that the president is praising gay service in the military on national television, it is hard to be amazed when presented with a book about gay men. Upon realizing that the confusing subtext between many of the men was, in fact, their homosexual urges, I immediately thought to myself, 'So what?' Wilde's reliance on shock value for his book, which is mainly void of plot, makes it hard to take seriously at this point in time, no matter how revolutionary his writing may have been back in his era.

The book was short enough to read through without losing focus, but only by a small margin. Even though there is a bit of violence and romance (it is Gothic literature, after all), the entirety of the novel is basically Dorian getting advice from every other character about how he should run his life. After remaining undecided for years and years, he finally decides to choose the honest way of life, with less than perfect results. In the end, most of the major lessons of the book are taken from the obscure musings of Lord Henry, who (I assume) acts as an outlet for Wilde's opinions. I felt like a book with such a great reputation and superb premise for the plot (Dorian can do whatever he wants via a magical portrait which effectively hides all traces of his sin) would contain much more action, but sadly, I was disappointed. The only reason that this book should be considered a must-read is if one REALLY wants an intro to the basics of Gothic literature while having little fun in the reading process.

Album: Infinite Arms - Band of Horses

2011-01-23T22:32:00.003-05:00

   Infinite Arms is full of acoustic-y, old-fashioned-sounding soft rock, complete with echoey vocals, pulsing drum patterns, and expertly devised harmonies. The careless feel actually thinly veils a layer of sadness, though, so try not to over play these songs in particular, because however tempting it may seem, they have the tendency to become very sad very fast. The beats are unique, and the use of many instruments that, to be frank, I cannot even guess, give it an oddly exotic nature. The only downside is that the songs all seem like archetypal 'insert-me-heres' for specific scenes in movies, like 'the sad scene' or 'the happy closing scene'.

   Band of Horses is a great band, no way around it. The vocals are uplifting, in a quirky, nostalgic way, and their all-around softness (mixed with a slight sadness) in tone is almost therapeutic to delve into. But Infinite Arms, to me, just doesn't seem to capture their full brilliance. It's too repetitive, and lacks real genius. When I first listened to Is There A Ghost a few years ago, I felt almost intoxicated, and while I hate to say anything bad about Band of Horses, I honestly expected more from this album.

   Leaving it at that, though, would be criminal, because Infinite Arms is in no way a bad album at all. Comparing Band of Horses' Infinite Arms to their past work is like comparing a pistol to a shotgun: while clearly the shotgun has more power, more range, etcetera - please excuse my ignorance of weapon statistics - in the end, no matter how much better one gun is than another gun, they will definitely both kill someone when you shoot them in the head ... I think. Whatever, the point is that Infinite Arms is a great album, and you should give it a shot, and you should also definitely listen to the rest of Band of Horses' discography as well.

   Best Songs: Factory, Laredo, Infinite Arms, Neighbor