Adrift And At Peace

The Greatest Television Show of All-Time: The Wire

2010-08-31T00:10:00.005-07:00

"The Greatest Television Show of All-Time" -- that is one hell of a statement. One that gets tossed around quite arbitrarily. Whenever we hear that statement we always take it with a grain of salt. As the show aired, it quickly gained a small but very loyal fanbase that heaped mountains of praise on it. I'm not even sure if this show was aired properly in Canada so I never got a chance to verify it for myself. I was still skeptical, but hearing and reading many people and many critic's opinions got me curious. These weren't just generic one sentence statements that studios like to put in advertisements, these were passionate, detailed love letters to the show. People that liked the same shows I did loved The Wire. So with the show over and released in its entirety on DVD, it allowed me a chance to look and confirm for myself whether or not this was the greatest television show of all-time.

The main premise of the show follows several detectives in the city of Baltimore as they investigate murders and the drug trade. What makes this show unique is that it gives equal billing to both sides of the law. The supposed good guys aren't always good and the supposed bad guys aren't always bad. It's not as a simple as looking at it and calling it black and white.

Show creator David Simon, was a former reporter in Baltimore, and another major contributor to the show was former Baltimore detective and school teacher Ed Burns. No doubt the realism of the show comes from their first-hand experiences in their respective fields. Simon himself was frustrated by what he saw in the police, school systems and the failure of the bureaucracy to deal with it in a timely and efficient manner. In one of the special features in this DVD set, Simon specifically talks about the city of New York and the Law & Order television shows. He mentions how there are more murders on all those shows combined than there are in Manhattan in a year.

The scope of the show expands greatly as the series progresses. We are introduced to the police and the drug dealers in the first season. The second season introduces to the Port, where these dealers get their drugs. The third season introduces us to the political side. The similarities between politicians and drug dealers are uncanny. Drug dealers deal in drugs and destroy lives with guns and coke. Politicians deal in bullshit and destroy lives with their words. The fourth season delves into the school system and how many kids are pushed into the underworld as a result of the failure of the school system. Finally, the final season introduces us to newspaper reporting. I think we've all experienced sensationalistic reporting, and this season gives us a pretty good overview of it.

Besides its eye on detail and ultra realism, what really makes this show special, is its large and diverse cast. I don't believe I've seen another television show that not only had so many important characters, but so many fully developed characters. I could go on and on about this show, but there is so much it covers and so much that I want to talk about: my favorite characters, my favorite moments, my favorite season; I could go on and on.

So is The Wire is the greatest television show of all-time? Having seen the entire series in a very short span, I can confirm that yes, The Wire is indeed, The Greatest Television Show of All-Time. It's not a cheery show by any means, it'll make you angry and it might even make you cry, but it is very well worth checking out. It's available on DVD for a reasonable price, and most likely free at your local library.

My Favorite Video Games of 2009

2010-02-02T21:27:00.002-08:00

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3) - this is one of those games that other developers look at and say to themselves that they gotta up the ante on their own games. While the game starts off slow, once the pedal hits the metal, the game becomes fantastically paced, offering moments of stealth, platforming and action. It delivers exactly what the developers promise, basically a summer blockbuster but instead of watching it in a theatre, you play it. There are numerous impossible moments, but who cares, they make this game unique and fun! I finished this in 2 days, but that doesn't mean it's short, I didn't want to put the controller down. In the making of for this game (included with the game), the developers said they wanted to make a game where the player didn't want to put the controller down, and they succeeded. I would have finished it in 1 day if my eyes weren't getting so dry from staying up so late! All in all, it took about 10 hours, but they were 10 great hours. I'd rather play a great 10 hour game than a so-so 40-hour game. Those ultra long games that offer 50 or 100 hours of gameplay are so boring and chock full of repetitive filler material just so they can say they offer "more" gameplay. Sorry but I'm sick of random battles and library levels.

Add to that a fairly robust multiplayer component here brings some extended replay value, I say fairly because while there are about a dozen different modes, there are only a handful of maps (only 3 for cooperative mode). Of course there will be additional content released later for download. The gameplay is top-notch, the graphics are fantastic, offering some of the most beautiful environments I've ever seen in a game, the audio matches that of the best slam-bang action movies you've seen (in 7.1 no less, if you've got the equipment), the story is compelling and the voice acting is terrific. It's as close as you can get to a perfect single-player experience in games today.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS) - ah Nintendo, for a while there it wasn't looking so hot, but all of a sudden you make a system where people wave their arms around and look like jackasses and you become the king of the mountain again! While the Wii and DS sell like hotcakes I barely touch them today. Why? There just aren't many good games to play for them. That's just my opinion of course. Another opinion I have is that nearly all of the Nintendo produced titles for their big names like Mario, Zelda and Metroid always deliver and make it worth owning their systems. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is no exception. This game continues the great Mario RPG tradition where you take Mario and company fight in turn-based battles in a story-based RPG. Being used to the side-scrolling platforming of the Super Mario Bros. series, this seemed like an odd departure at first, but after playing it, I now prefer the RPG games to the platformers!

The story is pretty wacky, Mario is an Italian plumber after all, but would you want it any other way really? For reasons I won't go into, Bowser manages to inhale all the inhabitants of Mushroom Kingdom and a microsized Mario and Luigi must fight inside his body while a normal-sized Bowser fights in the real world. The game design takes this story and weaves it into the gameplay masterfully. The game makes novel use of the hardware, using both screens, stylus touch controls and even the microphone. It's fun, lengthy and there's plenty of stuff to do.

The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360/Playstation 3/Wii) - like Pixar with animated movies, the developers of this game, Harmonix just get it when it comes to music games. After you see the opening cinematic for this, easily the year's best for any game, you know that what you are experiencing is awesome. After the dissapointing Guitar Hero band-centric games for Aerosmith and Metallica, this is how you do the ultimate band-centric game. The game follows The Beatles as they progressed throughout their careers, following them through a small club, to a television show performance, to their giant shows in Shea Stadium and the Budokan in Japan all the way to their final days at Abbey Road studios. For those later years when The Beatles abandoned touring, instead of normal performances on stage like in your typical music game we are given these fantastic dreamscapes.

In addition to all the on-disc songs, we also have downloadable content for 3 of their greatest albums (Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul). It just leaves you wanting the entire catalog available (If that's not possible, can we at least get some of their greater hits like Yesterday, Hey Jude, Strawberry Fields Forever, etc.). The gameplay is the familiar Rock Band gameplay, tried and true, it works and it works well. The new innovation here is the addition of Harmonies, so vital to the Beatles work, which allows up to 3 people to sing at the same time. But the real star of this whole package are the songs and the accompanying dreamscapes. When you play this game you know that the people who made this, made it with love because like you, they love The Beatles.

Shadow Complex (Xbox 360) - this Xbox Live Arcade game costs only $15 but has better production values than some full-priced disc-based games. It's got a well-written, compelling story (think giant underground complex and government conspiracy) with great voice-acting to play it all out. The gameplay itself is classic 2D side scroller action/exploration, in the vein of classic Metroid and Castlevania. While you move on a 2D plane, the graphics and environment are in 3D and look especially great for a cheap downloadable game. The gameplay is varied and you get many different weapons and items that challenge you to mix it up to find the best way to defeat enemies. The story should take around 6-8 hours, but will probably last a little longer if you're like me and you want to explore every nook and cranny and find all the secret hidden areas and items. In addition are a bunch of short challenges that will test out all the skills you learned in the game. Most of them are a moderate challenge, but there are at least a few that will test your mettle. This is the best downloadable game released all year and well worth the money.

My Favorite Television Shows of 2009

2010-01-31T20:38:00.001-08:00

Friday Night Lights - this show has been so strong this season, but one episode in particular makes this show the best on television right now. The 5th episode of the 4th season entitled "The Son" which deals with one of the main characters as he reacts to the death of his father overseas in Iraq. Episodes about death on television are usually bogged down by scenes of melodrama and actors just screaming for an award, yet here Friday Night Lights tones that down to a realistic portrayal that doesn't hit you over the head but still absolutely breaks your heart. So well done and shot in a handheld style that gives it a documentary feel that it doesn't even seem like you're watching a TV show, you're watching life unfold. And the shameful thing is that you aren't watching it! Buy the DVDs, they're cheap!

Dexter - The serial killer who murders serial killers came back in what was my favorite season of Dexter yet. This year saw Dexter as he hunted down "The Trinity Killer." Perfectly played by John Lithgow who delivered an absolutely frightening portrait of a serial killer who is also a family man. I say this because there was one moment where the Trinity Killer confronts Dexter that startled me and made me want to take a step back (even though I was sitting down). The scenes between his family offered some of the most awkward but compelling moments in the show. It all builds up to a great and shocking final episode that makes me dread the next 9 months or so until the next season begins.

Community and Parks & Recreation - if there's one thing NBC did right this year, it was the introduction of these 2 new shows. Both ensemble single-camera comedies that are consistently funny with some really quirky but likable characters. Both feature lead roles that are absolutely perfect, Joel McHale in Community and Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation. Add in some great supporting characters, and general insanity and wackiness, make these 2 shows a great addition to the already hilarious 30 Rock and The Office.

Dollhouse - yeah the first half of the first season was crap, and honestly, after watching the first episode, the only reason I stuck it out was because it was a Joss Whedon show. As people who know me know that I love his work, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, and you might not know him but you've probably seen some of his work, for instance, he wrote Toy Story. Well Fox just wouldn't get their grubby hands off of Dollhouse and kept tampering with it and the result is that the first half of the first season is just so watered down and so un-Joss-like. After they finally let Joss do his thing, wow what a show this became.

What's great about Dollhouse is that it packs everything that Joss is good at into 2 short but oh so sweet seasons of television. There's action, comedy, drama, sometimes all in the same scene! There are tons of twists and surprises. People you think are good are bad, people you think are bad are good. And it wouldn't be a Joss Whedon show if there weren't a lot of deaths. People you love will die, and you will hate Joss for doing it. But it's how Joss makes you love the character in the first place is what's important. They knew that Season Two would be it and it's like they packed all the ideas they would have done if the show ran for 5 years into 1 year. As a result, those final episodes were entertaining as hell.

My Favorite Films of 2009

2010-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Inglourious Basterds - there are 2 scenes in this film that just may be 2 of the greatest scenes ever put to celluloid. The opening scene and the Tavern scene. Any of these 2 scenes alone would have made this my favorite movie of the year. These 2 scenes featuring just a handful of characters but have such intricately written dialogue, spoken perfectly by the cast. It's just so compelling and edge of your seat, you don't know what's going to happen, and you can't wait for it to happen. So well-written and the actors so perfect, this is truly Tarantino's masterpiece. And can I also say, a movie where Germans speak German and not English with poor German accents, how crazy is that?

(500) Days of Summer - it just gets better every time I see it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, easily the best actor his age in Hollywood, the only other actor that comes close to his pure acting ability is Ryan Gosling. A romantic comedy from the point of view of the guy this time, Levitt portrays Tom, the everyguy, with Zooey Deschanel playing Summer, the everyguy's dreamgirl. Both are perfect in their roles and have to be for this movie to work. The narrator warns you at the beginning that "this is not a love story" and Tom believes in the whole "one true love" bit while Summer doesn't want anything serious. Remember what the narrator said? Well things don't end well.....or do they?

I was hooked from the beginning with simple text explaining:
The following is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Especially you Jenny Beckman.
Bitch.
And how can you say no to that musical sequence?

Up - Another year, another of the year's best movies. If the opening wordless married life segment didn't tug at your heart then you have no heart. What else can I say about Pixar? They just deliver every time, they aren't just on another level in terms of animated film, but filmmaking in general. Their focus on story ensures a great time every time you watch their films. They don't rely on cheap jokes or catchy pop songs. The very definition of a perfect family film, there's something in it for everyone.

The Hurt Locker - this movie about a Bomb squad technician works both as an action-thriller with tense bomb defusing segments and also as a condemnation of war. The opening quote that says that "war is a drug" is something that haunts modern times. It's a sad thing when a man feels the need to abandon his newborn baby boy to defuse bombs halfway across the world, not because he doesn't love his son, not because he needs to help others, but because it's an addiction. War is a drug in the worst way.

How About Some Love for Books?

2010-01-24T20:52:00.002-08:00

It's occurred to me that I haven't written much about books here. So let me make up for that.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - one of the best books I've ever read. The story follows two jewish kids who create comics and spans several decades from the Depression era all the way through the Second World War. The writing is just top-notch, with the setting pitch perfect and all the characters feel real. While this is a work of fiction, many real-life incidents are reproduced that give it that extra sense of realism.

I was interested in this book because I'm a comic book fan, but this book is by no means only for that group. It's won some deserved awards such as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. So take that for what it's worth. Interestingly enough, a real comic book has been created based on the comic that Kavalier and Clay create in the book. Even better is that it's a pretty good read too! There have been rumblings of a movie, but I have no idea how a 2 or even 3 hour movie could do this book justice. It seems the wheels started spinning but have completely stalled, and that's probably for the best. Although the rumoured casting of Natalie Portman as one of the leads would be absolutely perfect.

Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling - having grown up as a big wrestling fan, my favorite wrestler in the world was Bret Hart. He seemed to be the perfect package, great on the mic, great in the ring, and he was Canadian.

This is an absorbing book which drew me in and broke my heart. Surely you've all heard of all the deaths of so many wrestlers in the past couple of decades. Hart is frank and reveals everything, the funny side, the bad side, the egos, the politics, and everything in between. He is brutally honest about himself, his many infidelities and the behind the scenes workings of the wrestling business. Unlike the many other wrestler biographies, this isn't being published by the WWE, and doesn't have the filter and ass-kissing attitude that the other books sometime have, because let's face it, those wrestlers need money and WWE is pretty much the only game in town now, and they don't want to go around badmouthing their boss.

This is one of those reads that is of most interest to wrestling fans, but would be a good read for anyone.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk - fans of Fight Club (the movie or the book) will love this. It's by the same author, so it has the same twisted, dark sense of humour that is Palahniuk's trademark. This book was such a scintillating read I found myself reading it loud because the dialogue was so rich.

There was a recent movie made of this book that more or less remains faithful to the book, but it just isn't on the level of the Fight Club adaptation. While it has it's own merits, it just lacks that spark the book has. Stick with the book here.

Nine Inch Nails: Wave Goodbye 2009 in Los Angeles

2009-09-13T16:19:00.029-07:00

20 years after exploding onto the scene my favorite band in the entire universe has played their final live show. I've been a fan of NIN since 1997 when I first heard The Perfect Drug, I slowly got all their albums and they've been my favorite band ever since. It's hard to believe so much time has passed since then. Having missed out on the NINJA tour, which by all accounts was awesome, I told myself I had to try and get tickets for the final section of the Wave Goodbye 2009 tour. After seeing the Ninternet almost fall apart for the New York and Chicago presales, I didn't want to get my hopes up, as NIN decided to play the small venues Hollywood Palladium (4,000), Wiltern Theater (2,000), Henry Fonda Theater (863) and Echoplex (500). (Approximately capacities in parentheses.) With these small venues, the number of people wanting tickets is most definitely greater than the number of tickets available so not everyone is gonna get a ticket. Surprisingly enough the presale process for me was absolutely painless and I managed to get 1 ticket for each of the venues fairly quickly, the only hiccup being that Henry Fonda floor tickets were sold out and I had to "settle" for balcony (this would turn out to be a big blessing). Expecting nothing, I ended up with a ticket to each show!

The original plan had NIN playing Sept. 2, 3, 5 and 6. But after the Sept. 2 show, Trent was too sick and had to cancel and reshuffle the dates from 3 and 5 to 8 and 10. This presented a dilemma as I was originally scheduled to fly home on the 7th, but because of this I had to extend the trip to the 11th. It cost me more than $500 to change my flight, extend my hotel stay, car rental and medical insurance, bringing the cost for the whole trip to well over 2 grand. It was more than worth it though. If I had left as originally planned on the 7th and missed the last 2 shows, I would end up regretting it for the rest of my life.

To all those that waited overnight, and endured the scorching heat to get the best place in the floor and be one of the few to get those venue and show specific shirts, cherish them, because you deserve them! You are as hardcore as hardcore gets, and I bow down to you. To everyone looking for tickets outside the venue, I hope you were able to get in, and sorry I couldn't help. To everyone who couldn't attend, I'm sorry you missed it because it was pretty amazing. Words and video and audio recordings will never do justice to experiencing NIN live. On these very special nights, Nine Inch Nails delivered an experience I will never ever forget. I'm happy that I got to attend these very special shows, but also saddened that I'll probably never see them live again. But as Trent said, Nine Inch Nails has just stopped touring, not making music, so I shouldn't be too sad.

Here are some pics of all the swag I got, followed by each night's setlist and some recollections:

Personalized Tickets and Wristbands (in a nice touch, each featured a different NIN logo from over the years) along with a Pin for the Palladium show that you could only get if you picked up your ticket early:

Posters:

T-Shirts, the top 2 both have the standard NIN Logo on the front, while the bottom 2 show the front and back of the same shirt (1 of em purchased for a friend):

Night 1 - Sept. 2, 2009 - Hollywood Palladium

The first night started out with a bang literally with Mr. Self Destruct. As the rest of The Downward Spiral album was played in order, we knew we were in for a treat as this was only the 2nd (and also the last) time the album in its entirety had been played.

Setlist: (with my own personal comments and observations)

1. Mr. Self Destruct
2. Piggy
3. Heresy - been wanting to hear this live and it does not disappoint!
4. March of the Pigs
5. Closer
6. Ruiner
7. The Becoming - love this song even more after hearing it live
8. I Do Not Want This - so many songs I haven't heard live before, it was heaven
9. Big Man With A Gun
10. A Warm Place - this is so cool to hear live I wish it was in the setlist every night!
11. Eraser
12. Reptile
13. The Downward Spiral
14. Hurt - man, people just wouldn't shut the hell up during this song. We're lucky Trent said he couldn't hear because he probably would have walked off during this and I wouldn't have blamed him
15. 1,000,000
16. Terrible Lie - I love how this song is probably the most popular NIN song that's never been a single. It always get a good reaction and never disappoints
17. Lights in the Sky
18. Burn
19. Gave Up
20. Suck
21. Metal (with Gary Numan) - what a great surprise! It must be so amazing for Trent to be able perform on stage with so many of his childhood heroes, first David Bowie and now Gary Numan (Imagine if Freddie Mercury were still alive!). It's also amazing that those that Trent looked up to when he was younger now look up to him musically. And I don't know how old Gary Numan is, but he can still sing!
22. Cars (with Gary Numan)
23. The Hand That Feeds
24. Head Like A Hole

No encore, but that was most likely because Trent was very sick, although if he didn't say so you wouldn't have known it.

Night 2 - Sept. 6, 2009 - Echoplex

Originally this was supposed to be the last show, but I'm glad it wasn't because it's not exactly the ideal venue for NIN. With a tiny capacity of about 500, you might think it would make the show more intimate, but the way the venue is laid out was just awkward. The venue was asymmetrical, had a low ceiling, columns in the way and the soundboard area took up a huge chunk of desirable floor space. Might be a cool venue to see some small band with a couple hundred other people, but for NIN at full capacity it wasn't to my liking. With that said, the band and crowd were excellent. The band was almost at full capacity as Trent said, and there weren't any screamers during Hurt (that's gotta be the barometer of how good a NIN audience is).

Setlist:

1. Somewhat Damaged
2. The Beginning of the End
3. The Collector - first time live, much more aggressive live, no piano at all, just more guitar
4. Discipline
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. The Frail
8. The Wretched - during the last couple of years NIN would sometimes play The Frail but not The Wretched, but I'm glad that we got them both for 2 nights!
9. Terrible Lie
10. Ruiner - just awesome live
11. Head Down
12. Burn
13. Gave Up
14. La Mer
15. Non-Entity
16. Gone, Still
17. The Big Come Down - my favorite live NIN song. The energy of this song is just incredible and never ceases to get my heart pumping
18. The Way Out Is Through - first time hearing this live, definitely a pleasure
19. Wish - What else is there to say? This just blew the roof off the place especially at the end with all the guitar and the double bass-pedal from Ilan
20. Survivalism
21. Down In It
22. Metal (with Gary Numan)
23. I Die: You Die (with Gary Numan) - a pleasant surprise, it was nice to know that even near the end Trent and Co. still wanted to break out some new songs to surprise the audience
24. Physical - another live first for me
25. The Hand That Feeds - have heard this at every show except my very first in 2000 and love it, but now it makes me a little sad because when this plays, I know we're getting close to the end
26. Head Like A Hole - after all these years, this is still THE quintessential high energy NIN song and gets the crowd riled up like nothing else

Encore:
27. Dead Souls - before they did this, it sounded like they were going to do Atmosphere and started it twice but screwed it up both times and just went into Dead Souls
28. Hurt - in contrast to Head Like A Hole, this is the quintessential quiet NIN song. Always more enjoyable when there are no screaming idiots in the crowd like on this night

Night 3 - Sept. 8, 2009 - Henry Fonda Theater (Rescheduled from Sept. 3, 2009)

As I said earlier, I could only get a balcony ticket to this show, but it worked out for the better in the end. Normally I like having a floor ticket because the experience of being in a hot, sweaty mosh pit with a bunch of other rabid fans just adds to excitement of enjoying a live show. If you can handle it, I recommend you do it at least once in your life. The downside of course is that you are surrounded by hot and sweaty fans and you are on your feet for hours on end and that gets really tiring. Not only is your body taking a pounding, but your view is constantly obstructed by others. And I'm 6 feet tall which is taller than most, if I'm having trouble seeing, I can't imagine how bad it is for those shorter than me.

That being said, the balcony tickets were a godsend because it allowed me to enjoy the entire show with a clear view of the whole stage. I was already a big fan of Ilan's short stint with NIN, but this night made me respect him even more. I was mostly watching him play most of the night because the other 3 nights I couldn't quite see him clearly; he's kind of tucked away in the back, hidden behind the drums on a riser barely half a foot high.

With this being a rescheduled night and with the promise of making these last nights special, NIN delivered, and the theme of this night (and the next) was special guests galore! Joining NIN on stage were Mike Garson (pianist who's worked with David Bowie and NIN on The Fragile), Gary Numan, Jane's Addiction Bassist Eric Avery, opening act HEALTH, Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato, and former NIN member Danny Lohner.

Setlist:

1. Head Like A Hole - usually saved for last, they instead open with it
2. Terrible Lie - after the first 2 songs, and having The Downward Spiral in its entirety days before, was this going to be Pretty Hate Machine in its entirety?
3. Sin - alas, it was not to be
4. March of the Pigs
5. Piggy
6. Echoplex
7. Reptile
8. I'm Afraid of Americans
9. Survivalism
10. Head Down
11. 1,000,000
12. Letting You
13. Burn
14. Gave Up
15. Eraser
16. Just Like You Imagined (with Mike Garson) - at my first NIN show in 2000, they were supposed to play this, but because of a technical fuckup they skipped the song. I've been wanting to hear it live ever since and finally 9 years later it happened in a rendition that exceeded all my expectations
17. The Becoming (with Mike Garson) - Mike Garson adds so much to these songs that I wish he was a full time member. There's a sound in the studio version of this song at the end that is guitar, but live is Ilan playing double-bass pedals, and I love it!
18. I Do Not Want This (with Mike Garson)
19. Down In The Park (Piano Version)(Mike Garson Solo) - it shows you the kind of person Trent Reznor is that even on the final NIN shows, he'll take a step back and showcase his fellow musicians
20. Down In The Park (with Mike Garson and Gary Numan)
21. Metal (with Mike Garson and Gary Numan)
22. Cars (with Mike Garson, Gary Numan and Eric Avery) - every time the lights went out between the songs and went on again, it seemed like there was someone new up on stage!
23. Anthrax (with Gary Numan, Eric Avery and HEALTH) - I think there must have been 10 people on stage all jamming on this cover of the Gang of Four song!

Encore:
24. Heresy (with Danny Lohner) - so nice to see Danny up there as he was such a big part of NIN
25. Get Down, Make Love (with Danny Lohner) - according to NINTourHistory.com, the last time they played this song live was on May 23, 2007 in Osaka, another show I was at! (NINTourHistory.com is a fantastic site for all you NIN fans out there)
26. Mr. Self Destruct (with Danny Lohner and Greg Puciato) - Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato joins NIN onstage to provide vocals for this and Wish
27. Wish (with Danny Lohner and Greg Puciato)
28. The Hand That Feeds

Encore 2:
29. Atmosphere - Thankfully they didn't screw it up this time. However, Trent screwed up the lyrics near the end and his voice was definitely suffering at this point in the show
30. Dead Souls - more Joy Division goodness
31. The Day The World Went Away
32. Hurt

Night 4 - Sept. 10, 2009 - Wiltern Theater (Rescheduled from Sept. 5, 2009)

Despite being sick of Los Angeles by now, it was actually nice to have a day in between shows to recover, especially with the Henry Fonda show going nearly 3 hours. With the reshuffling and rescheduling of the dates, this became the last show and has already reached legendary status in Nine Inch Nails lore. An epic set of 38 songs lasting nearly 3 and a half hours. I was slightly sick (caught the Ninfluenza at the Fonda show I think), I was on my feet for a good 5 hours straight, but I was never tired and I didn't want it to end.

Setlist:

1. Home - another first for me. A subdued opening to a grand night. This was kind of like an Overture you'd see in some classic movies. When it comes on, it lets you know that the show is about to start
2. Somewhat Damaged - and after the Overture, the show kicks into high gear with this
3. The Collector
4. Discipline
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. The Frail
8. The Wretched
9. Ruiner
10. Head Down
11. Burn
12. Just Like You Imagined (with Mike Garson)
13. La Mer (with Mike Garson)
14. Eraser (with Mike Garson)
15. The Becoming (with Mike Garson)
16. Down in the Park (Piano Version)(Mike Garson Solo)
17. Down in the Park (with Mike Garson and Gary Numan)
18. Metal (with Mike Garson and Gary Numan)
19. I Die: You Die (with Gary Numan)
20. 1,000,000
21. Letting You
22. Survivalism
23. Suck
24. Down In It - "Here we go...all the way back to the beginning"
25. The Hand That Feeds
26. Head Like A Hole

Encore:
27. Me, I'm Not (with Atticus Ross) - nice to see Atticus up there as he's been one of the unsung heroes in the NIN camp, he's been Trent's self-professed "right-hand man" in the studio and had a major part in the production of all NIN albums from With Teeth onwards. Very cool to see this song live again, one of my favorites from the Year Zero album, I just love the distorted sounds in this
28. The Warning (with Atticus Ross and Dave Navarro) - great to hear these Year Zero songs again one last time
29. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now) (with Atticus Ross and Dave Navarro) - Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction joins in with some guitar for a few songs
30. Gave Up (with Dave Navarro)

Encore 2:
31. Mr. Self Destruct (with Dillinger Escape Plan) - everybody was clapping to the opening beat of this song as it slowly sped up until pandemonium hit! 2.5 hours in and the crowd was still full of energy. None of us wanted to leave
32. Wish (with Dillinger Escape Plan) - with Dillinger Escape Plan it was 2 bands and twice the carnage. Just absolute and utter destruction at the finish of these 2 songs. Instruments were thrown into bodies, and bodies were launched into instruments. Somebody launched himself full speed into Ilan's drum set. That had to hurt! After Trent came back for the final encore, he apologized for taking so long because they had to make sure they weren't missing any teeth!

Encore 3:
33. Atmosphere - a beautiful cover of my favorite Joy Division song. The original always had this melancholy feeling, but this live rendition by NIN gives it a little kick of energy. And third time's the charm apparently as this was their best performance of it yet!
34. Dead Souls - I was starting to get sad here, I thought it would be this, then Hurt, then the end
35. The Good Soldier - fortunately I was wrong, and NIN really sent us out with a great encore
36. The Day The World Went Away - these last 3 songs were appropriately sad and melancholy
37. Hurt - Johnny Cash may have popularized this song some years ago, but to me, this is and always will be Trent's song. With the right crowd, this song always brings a tear to my eye. What else is there to say? "Everyone I know goes away in the end"
38. In This Twilight - I remember when this song was first leaked before Year Zero came out. It was a sad song with lyrics that haunted me, and I couldn't stop listening to it. I must have looped it for at least an hour. To me this song was about the end of the world, not literally, but in the sense that when you lose something you love, like someone close to you, that can feel like the end of the world. Well tonight, with the end of NIN touring, it was the end of the world for many of us in that crowd and across the world.

"And the longing that you feel
you know none of this is real
we will find a better place
in this twilight"

Quick Hit List

2009-02-24T05:11:00.004-08:00

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father - this documentary movie was one of the most compelling movies I've seen in recent memory. Dear Zachary is a letter in the form of a movie by Kurt Kuenne, close friend to Zachary's murdered father, Andrew Bagby. The twist: The murderer, Shirley Jane Turner, also gave birth to Zachary after she murdered his father. We follow Kuenne in his journey to document how Andrew affected so many people in a positive way. We also follow how Andrew's parents do everything in their power to gain custody of their grandson. Complicating matters, Turner flees to Canada. The Grandparents follow, but are subjected to legalities of Canadian law, which throw some unfavorable roadblocks in their way. Their fight is long and tough and does not end well.

Be prepared, this movie will absolutely tax you emotionally. After I finished watching it, I just sat in silence trying to soak it all up. While this movie is meant to be upbeat, it is, but it is still heartbreaking after we learn the outcome.

Telefon Tel Aviv: Immolate Yourself - the third album from the electronic group Telefon Tel Aviv is their best yet. Having gotten it a few days ago, I've been listening to it nonstop. Surely that's the sign of a great album. Eschewing traditional song-structure, the tracks typically combine electronic beats with usually just a couple lines of lyrics, repeated throughout the song. Strange at first, but catchingly effective. This electronic album has some nice sound manipulation but sometimes has some very dark, brooding and ambient elements.

My favorite tracks: The Birds, Mostly Translucent, You Are The Worst Thing In The World.

The Kills: Midnight Boom - This is another album I've been enjoying a lot lately. This duo have made an album that is an amalgamation of indie rock, electronica with a little bit of punk. It's very danceable with some catchy hooks. I particularly like how "funky" it is; I can't explain that in words, it's just something I feel when I listen to the record.

Favorite Tracks: Getting Down, Last Day of Magic, Black Balloon.

And Remember, you can always see recent stuff I'm enjoying on the sidebar to the right. Scroll down to see it all. I like to reserve full posts for the absolute best stuff.

2008: Over!

2009-02-04T00:01:00.005-08:00

Been a while since I did one of these, so let's revisit some of my favorite things from the year 2008:

Wall-E - the best movie of the year, and nothing else really came close (although keep in mind I haven't seen a lot of recent releases like Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler). Just a masterpiece of storytelling, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Halcyon Days of silent cinemas when masters like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin delivered us dozens of dialogue-less epics. Bravo Pixar, just when I think you've hit the top of the ladder, you manage to find another rung. So many movies are filled with inane banter and dialogue that just exists because the filmmakers don't have the talent to portray it on screen. Here we have a movie where dialogue is kept to a bare minimum and everything is told through visual storytelling. An absolutely beautiful and engrossing movie with some of the most endearing and memorable characters ever put on screen, and they're not even real! Despite that, they way they act seems more real than most "real" people in other movies. This is one of the sweetest and most romantic movies I've ever seen and there's no sex and not even a kiss (in the traditional sense). It's also one of the best movies I've ever seen. This one's for the kids, the adults, the romantics and and everyone else in between.

The Way Home - this Korean movie hit home with me so much that I couldn't stop balling at the end of it. This is the story of a young city boy sent to live with his grandma in the country by his mom who needs some time to sort out some personal issues. I was raised by my grandmother as much if not even more than my parents when I was a kid, and the parallels between the movie and my childhood were uncanny.

One of my favorite scenes is when the boy tries to teach his grandmother to write so that she can let him know when she gets sick. She can't quite get it, so the boy, crying, finally tells her to send him a blank letter so he'll know that she's ill, and come to her right away. If that description made you feel something, then you need to see this movie right away.

A love letter to grandmothers everywhere, this is a movie that I will cherish forever.

Friday Night Lights - who knew high school football in Small Town, USA would make for a great TV show? I just recently got into this, and I am addicted. A wonderfully shot, written and acted TV show, that is as compelling as television can get. We are shown real life issues, and real life situations. Shot in a handheld documentary style, the best compliment I can give this show is that it feels real. This is one of those shows where I'm protective of the characters. When something happens to a character it's like you're brother's being hurt and you want to defend him. This is one of those shows that's always on the cusp of cancellation. For some reason it just doesn't click with the mainstream. Watch it, buy the DVDs, spread the word, and cross your fingers for a fourth season.

Dexter - Like Friday Night Lights, I am a recent devotee of this show also. This is a show about a serial killer who kills serial killers. An interesting concept that is backed up by good writing and superb acting. Not only does it make you question morals and ethics, it's a hell of an entertaining show. Not for the faint of heart (obviously), but those with the stomach will be rewarded.

Torchwood - this is an atypical scifi show (spun off from the also excellent Doctor Who), billed as a sci-fi show for adults. It deals with more mature themes that you wouldn't see in a typical sci-fi show while still managing to include all the stuff most people enjoy about sci-fi shows like action & adventure. From the show's introduction, "Torchwood: outside the government, beyond the police; tracking down alien life on Earth, and arming the human race against the future." Seems like any other sci-fi show, but what sets it apart is how it deals with adult themes like death, homosexuality, bisexuality, and existentialism. Definitely not anything you see in any sci-fi show airing on American TV today.

More Later. Soon (Hopefully).

The Lights in the Sky are Waving Goodbye

2008-12-16T22:08:00.006-08:00

Nine Inch Nails live from the Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts, Las Vegas, NV - Dec. 13, 2008

This marks my 8th NIN show, in 6 different cities in 3 different countries. Variety is the spice of life!

Rather than retype the setlist, I'll just say it was the same as Victoria's, except we lost The Wretched, Vessel, and God Given, but got The Great Destroyer and Reptile. Some quick notes:

- The reason why Josh Freese has earned the moniker of JFF (Josh Fuckin' Freese) from NIN fans
- The Big Come Down is officially the most badass live song that NIN will ever perform. I demand that it be included in every show from now on
- Bombshell of the night was news that not only was this Josh's last show, but Alessandro's as well. We were all prepared for Josh's leaving, but Ally's leaving was a shocker.
- Because of said departures, Trent announced he was gonna deconstruct everything and tour as a 4-piece in 2009
- Trent also said that he wanted to put those screens up in his house to watch porn on, and something about big titties and granny panties. Don't believe me? See the whole speech about it here.

Thanks for all the great memories Josh, of all the drummers NIN has had, you were by far my favorite. And thanks to Alessandro Cortini, it was unfortunate that you were always back there behind the consoles and keyboards, because we could barely see you, but you rocked more than most people realize.

So that concludes the Lights in the Sky over North America 2008 tour. It will be missed. We won't get that fancy 3D theatrical show of it, but hopefully there will be an official DVD (and Blu-Ray) of it, 3D or not. Looking forward to see what that new 4-piece can do. While I hate that Josh and Ally are gone, the new drummer should be able to bring something new to the table that will make the old songs sound new again, I can't wait!

Vegas was fun; as big and fanciful as the hotels look on the outside, they are even grander and glitzier on the inside. The Luxor-pyramid, the Venetian's indoor Venice recreation were just a couple of the landmarks that dazzled me. The blisters on my feet would like to suggest you bring very comfortable walking shoes. And finally, spending 13 hours at the Las Vegas airport is not as fun as it sounds, in fact, it's not fun at all, enough said.

Lights in the Sky Over Victoria, BC

2008-12-06T18:26:00.004-08:00

Nine Inch Nails live from the Save On Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, BC - Dec. 5, 2008

While the setlist for the most part was the same as the show I went to in Seattle, there were a few additions and different visuals for many of the songs which made it a new and different experience. The crowd as a whole was, for the most part, better than Seattle. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I was getting high off all the marijuana fumes? There are still those random retards that need to shut the hell up during the quiet songs. They played more than enough loud and raucous songs for you to go apeshit to.

This was their longest performance yet, and by the end my entire body was sore. And I wasn't even in the thick of it; as usual I parked myself in the middle of the floor at the outer edge of the mosh pit, but found myself sucked into the bedlam during the high energy songs like Wish and Head Like A Hole. I'll have seats for Vegas, although everyone knows there won't be a single ass in a seat once NIN steps onstage; but at least it'll help to be able to have a seat before NIN starts. Drummer Josh Freese seemed to be adding even more flair to his performances now that he's about to say goodbye. The entire band was fantastic as usual, with the multi-talented performers each tackling multiple instruments for the 2 hour and 15 minute performance. It really has to be said that these guys give it their all and work their asses off to put on a smooth show.

Setlist with some personal observations and notes:

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000 - a great intro to the show and to their newest album
3. Letting You - my favorite part is the end when Robin lets loose on guitars and Josh goes crazy on the drums
4. Discipline - boy this with 1,000,000 and Letting You sure would make great DLC for Rock Band 2. Nine Inch Nails Track Pack 03 anyone??? We're waiting for this Harmonix!!
5. March of the Pigs
6. Head Down - the guitar in this song live is just searing, crazy live energy especially from Robin and Josh
7. The Frail
8. The Wretched - missed this last time, so glad to have it back this time. It's amazing how much you crave something when you haven't heard it live in so long
9. Closer (To The Only Time) - new Trent-face-cam on the big screen like they did for The Greater Good. Very cool, made you get into the song even more especially when you see Trent's face on the big screen screaming the song's chorus
10. Gave Up
11. Corona Radiata
12. The Warning - one of my least favorites off Year Zero, but now one of my favorites after hearing it live
13. Vessel - "Oh. My. God. Can it go any faster?" Just awesome! The visuals, the pulsing bass drops, the crazy electronic stuttering; One of my favorites off Year Zero is even better live
14. 21 Ghosts III - just absolutely loved the whole Ghosts section, I said it before and I'll say it again, I would love to see an entire performance in this style!
15. 28 Ghosts IV
16. 19 Ghosts III
17. Piggy
18. The Greater Good
19. Pinion
20. Wish
21. Terrible Lie
22. Survivalism - no girl in the washroom this time, but instead NIN's crazy headbanging tech and a couple guys going at it
23. The Big Come Down - this has become my favorite song to hear live, and it didn't disappoint. Just pure energy personified. You can tell how good a song is not by what's played, but by what's not played. How many times have I read reviews for other shows that go "No Big Come Down :'("
24. 31 Ghosts IV - new visuals at one point made my head spin when it looked like the band was in a blender, very trippy!
25. Only - like Ghosts 31, there was a point here that made my head spin. Has to be seen live, words just don't do it justice
26. The Hand That Feeds
27. Head Like A Hole

Encore:
28. Echoplex - the screen didn't screw up this time, great to hear live
29. The Good Soldier
30. God Given - another new addition, my favorite part of this live is the new bass line which does not exist in the studio version
31. Hurt
32. In This Twilight - my favorite song off Year Zero closes it out again. I especially like the end which has a building crescendo and then finally slowly fades out as each member is spotlighted and given their own separate curtain calls

Click here for attendee-submitted media (pics & vids) from the show on NIN.com.

Ears still ringing, but my ears should heal in time for them to get abused again in Vegas. Last show of the tour, last show for Josh Freese, and the last big production show of this scale. If that means more small venue shows, that is definitely not a bad thing. It should be epic. See you there!

NIN + Vegas = Awesome

2008-10-21T20:31:00.001-07:00

Booked my flights and hotel and got my tickets for NIN's last show of the year in Sin City aka Las Vegas! Suggestions for things to do and places to see are very welcome.

It'll also be drummer Josh Freese's last show with NIN. Out of all the drummers NIN has had, he is easily my favorite. There's gonna be some tough shoes to fill for the next drummer.

Trent says he's got some new tricks up his sleeve for this leg of the tour. We know what the stage setup will be, so the only new surprises will come in the form of new songs. Having the oppotunity to also see them in Victoria the week before Vegas can only help my chances of hearing new songs. Here's my wishlist of songs I've yet to hear live (that they have played live before, except for the last song):

- Getting Smaller
- God Given
- Vessel
- We're In This Together
- The Fragile
- The Perfect Drug (The Holy Grail of NIN songs never played live, heads would explode!)

It should be the show to end all shows. And Hopefully I can get Ron drunk enough to marry some random floozy. I just have one word for him: prenup!

Our Favorite Rock Band Setlists:

2008-08-29T11:09:00.004-07:00

In anticipation of Rock Band 2's impending release in 2 weeks, here are some of our favorite Rock Band themed setlists:

Innapropriate Innuendo Setlist:
29 Fingers
Seven (by Vagiant)
Go With The Flow
Kids in America (by The Muffs) [Rock Band 2]

80s Feathered Hair Setlist:
Roam (Actually came out in 1990!)
Jukebox Hero
My Sharona
Call Me
Wanted Dead Or Alive

Rock Band 2 additions:
Hungry Like The Wolf
Any Way You Want It
Eye of the Tiger

Rae's Faves to Sing:
Gimme Shelter
I'm So Sick
Seven

Jason “1 Phrase Streak” Chang's Falsetto Vocal Setlist:
Live Forever
Highway Star
Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld
Ballroom Blitz
Orange Crush
Crushcrushcrush
Any song with female or high pitched vocals

Repetitive Bass Setlist:
Brainpower
Sabotage

Phil's Gibberish Vocal Setlist:
Sabotage
Flirtin' with Disaster
Queen Bitch
Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld
Debaser

Dave's “Hitting a Single Pedal is Too Damn Hard” or “Songs To Screw Goats To” setlist:
29 Fingers
Anything

The “Thank God it didn't give us March of the Pigs or The Perfect Drug because we tried to do a Mystery Setlist on Expert and we saw a NIN Tidbit during the loading screen and Drums on experts on those songs is insta-fail” setlist:
The Collector
The Hand That Feeds

The “Thank God it didn't give us Burn or Last...” aka NIN Expert Drum Insta-fail songs Set, Take 2:
Capital G

Doesn't Need A Big Rock Ending:
Heroes

Needs A Big Rock Ending:
Won't Get Fooled Again

CSI Theme Triptych:
Who Are You
Won't Get Fooled Again
Baba O'Riley

The Seamless Big Rock Ending Set:
Baba O'Riley
Working Man

The “Any song that has Monkey in the lyrics is an automatic must-buy for Steve” Set:
Moonage Daydream
Monkey Gone to Heaven

Best Spoken Word/Non-singing vocal songs:
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Capital G

The “If you thought guitar solo 1 was hard, wait until you play solo 2!” Set:
Working Man
Green Grass and High Tides

The “Each person has their own 'awesome' & unique way of singing this song” Set:
Highway Star (Jeff & Jay duet!)

The “Why isn't this song in a music rhythm game yet???” Set:
Derek & the Dominoes – Layla
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

The “We're too precious to share our masters for a music game but not a truck commercial” award for most egotistical and un-fan-friendly band:
Led Zeppelin

The “We wish you thought you were too precious to share your masters for a music game because your music fucking sucks” award for shittiest band:
Linkin Park

The Lights in the Sky Have Finally Arrived...

2008-07-28T15:38:00.009-07:00

Nine Inch Nails - Lights in the Sky over North America 2008
Key Arena, Seattle, Washington - Sat. Jul. 26, 2008

This is my 6th NIN concert yet, and every time I walk out of one I'm always saying "That was the best one yet, there's no way they can top that." Yet every single time they manage to do it, and this night was not an exception. I can't wait to see what Trent's got up his sleeve for next time.

Where to start? Let's start with the stage setup, NIN's most elaborate yet. I would wager that it's more complicated than if you combined all of NIN's big stage setups from previous tours together. At the back is a solid wall LED screen. A swinging light grid that is bright as heck (good on you, those few who brought sunglasses!), and two light grids, 1 concave at the back, and 1 convex at the rear. They can be arranged up and down and are sometimes used in tandem to create some really psychedelic effects. It's the next best thing to taking drugs, in fact, it's probably even better!

The great thing about NIN is that the price you pay for your ticket is all up there on the stage. Even cooler, NIN.com did fan presales for absolutely free. You get early access to the best seats in the house, early access to the venue, and with that the possibility of a meet and greet and/or a soundcheck. Plus you get your own personalized NIN ticket, and you don't pay Ticketmaster's ridiculous "convenience" charges. Did I mention it was FREE? And the price you pay, it's all up there on the stage. Usually you feel ripped off paying high prices to go to a live show, but I have never felt more rewarded for going to a concert, ever.

The Visuals - simply amazing. There are so many elements, that work in tandem to create an unbelievable surreal viewing experience. NIN live is not just about the music, but also about what you see. I loved how the stage setup was introduced in layers, like NIN's music. They start out with just the standard lights, then as the performance continues, add in another element one by one, until finally they're all

The Setlist (with my song specific comments added):

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You - Josh Freese is the most balls to the walls drummer out there.
4. Discipline - a new crowdpleaser. Why isn't this in Rock Band yet???
5. March of the Pigs - We are finally introduced to the swinging light grid here, and boy is it bright. If you stared at it long enough, you would go blind for sure.
6. Head Down - Trent rocks the Tambourine before tossing it the crowd; that's one hell of a souvenir.
7. The Frail - strangely segued into Closer. Was expecting The Wretched. Oh well.
8. Closer (To The Only Time) - again performed with The Only Time breakdown at the end, as has been the case since 2005.
9. Gave Up

10/11. (Corona Radiata) The Warning - first time hearing this live. Along with The Great Destroyer played with the band members silhouetted in front of the convex light grid.
12. The Great Destroyer

13. 1 Ghosts I - this section of the concert changed the setup slightly and had many members playing different setups. It was fantastic and I would love to see an entire performance done in this manner.
14. 25 Ghosts III - I have to admit this is my least favorite song from Ghosts I-IV, and it still is. But I'll be damned if I don't say that this live version kicks ass in a way I thought was not impossible. Trent rocking out to the Xylophone has to be seen to be experienced, words just don't do it justice. Add that to another thing NIN can do that all other rock bands couldn't pull off on their best days (like rocking out with a Tambourine, and having a kickass keyboard solo in the middle of an all-out rock song -- Gave Up)
15. 19 Ghosts III - More Josh Freese drum-ass-kickery and Trent xylophone-awesomeness. 'Nuff said.
16. Piggy - this new "Ghosts" style version of Piggy is my favorite live performance of it yet. As with the previous Ghosts songs, new bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen played the standup bass (a NIN first!).

17. The Greater Good - I still can't get over how cool the visual for this is. I'm not even gonna spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet. Don't bother looking it up on Youtube or anything, it just doesn't do it justice. You've gotta see it live.

18. Pinion - weird hearing this in the middle of the concert, because it's always been at the beginning!
19. Wish
20. Terrible Lie - this is one of those old non-single songs that has just become a fan favorite, everybody sings and moshes along like crazy.
21. Survivalism - the backdrop gave us live security cam footage from around the arena a la the music video. There were 8 of em, but honestly I was just watching the one with the chick in the bathroom stall.
22. The Big Come Down - one of my new go-to songs from NIN to absolutely rock out to (just watch the one they do on the BYIT DVD). Visually, there were vertically hanging fluorescent tubes that swung around in a neat way.
23. 31 Ghosts IV - one of the more rocking song from Ghosts, appropriately rocked out to
24. Only - new intro (almost made me think they were gonna play an all-new song until the familiar guitar chord was played), new sound (due to old/new guitarist), and new visuals, the best Only yet! The visuals were again pretty damn amazing.
25. The Hand That Feeds
26. Head Like A Hole - having been to so many NIN shows, like most NIN fans, when HLAH is played, we rock the fuck out not only because the song kick ass, but also because it usually signals the end of NIN's set. We have been trained to expect the end, like Pavlov's Bell. It could've ended here and we would all be satisfied, but that wasn't the end of it.

Encore:
27. Echoplex - the video screen here was cool, with drummer Josh Freese heading out in front of one of the grid screens and manipulating the beat until finally the beat for the song begins. The song kicks much ass live, a very welcome addition to the setlist. Again, why isn't this in Rock Band yet?
28. The Beginning of the End
29. The Good Soldier - More Year Zero goodness.
30. Hurt - done different than the With Teeth tour version, which had mainly Trent singing by himself with a piano. Now the whole band is playing for the most part. Also, everybody just needs to shut the fuck up during this song. Don't scream, don't clap, just shut up and enjoy it or get the fuck out!
31. In This Twilight - did not see this coming at all, but man, what a pleasant surprise! Had a nice little piano outro by Trent before thanked us and left the stage.

Everything was great, but if I had to pick a highlight, I would have to say The Greater Good for it's visuals. Another highlight would be In This Twilight. I didn't expect another song after Hurt, let alone my favorite track off Year Zero. Not a bad way to close the show out at all.

There were some technical difficulties, this being the first official night of the tour and all, but that's to be expected, and none of them took away from the enjoyment of the show. That's one of the bad things about going to one of the early shows. However, the good things far outweigh them. The surprise at the stage setup and setlist aren't ruined, and you don't have to wait weeks or months for them to reach your area, which can seem like an eternity for NIN fans. The moshpit was the most sedate I've been to yet, the Seattle crowd is nowhere near as rabid as Vancouver or Osaka. More assholes than usual, but sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, and in the end, it was all good.

All in all, this was the longest show I've been to yet, about 2 hours and 5 minutes, 31 songs. Just amazing on all accounts. Visuals, music, performance, energy, everything was top notch. Do yourself a favor and see as many shows as possible. I want this in Blu-ray high-def ultra-realism now. Audio is already available (big thanks to the person who recorded and released it in such a timely manner), so hit me up if you want a copy.

To finish, some pics of two tees I got.

What Are You Doing at 12:01am on Friday July 18?

2008-06-25T21:26:00.002-07:00

I don't know what you'll be doing, but I'll be at the Midnight show for The Dark Knight.

Can it possibly live up to our expectations? I don't wanna jinx it, but I'm already thinkin' "Best. Superhero. Movie. Ever."

The Hit List: Making Up For The Last 6 Months, 1 Post at a Time

2008-06-01T21:57:00.002-07:00

It's been more than half a year since my last post of this type. I've been busy enjoying all this stuff instead of actually writing about it, but I'll try to post as much as I can.

The Host - This Korean monster movie has the distinction of being the most popular film in Korean cinema history. It's easy to see why when you watch this film. The previews of this film make it seem like some silly monster movie, and part of it is. The aspect of the film that appealed to me the most, which the previews didn't show was how much of a family drama this is.

This movie opens in a U.S. military morgue in Korea where an American military pathologists commands his Korean subordinate to dump bottles of formaldehyde down the drain. This is based on a true incident that occurred in 2000. The rest of the movie, of course, did not. Because all that hazardous formaldehyde was dumped down the drain, a gigantic organism, The Host, becomes mutated from a fish in the river where a Korean family has set up shop. The Host attacks people along the river and eventually takes the family's daughter. She is believed dead, but later calls them by cell phone trapped in a sewer which she can't escape.

The rest of the movie follows the family as they each work separately and together to find their youngest family member. There are many funny and scary moments involving the monster and the family, but like I said earlier, what I liked the most was the drama of the family trying to save a loved one. The directing and the writing along with the actors who play the family, make you really care for them. Highly recommended.

Happy Feet - everyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things in life is a Pixar movie. If it's a CG movie and it's not Pixar, then I won't bother. But I'm happy to say that Happy Feet is easily the best non-Pixar CG movie, and would fit alongside side any of their movies any day. Obviously influenced by the recent documentary March of the Penguins, Happy Feet follows the life of Mumble, the ugly duckling

What's great about this movie? I love how it integrates music into the lives of penguins. In this movie, all Penguins can sing and have their own song. They sing to each other to find their true loves. Of course, our main character Mumble can't sing. But what he lacks in singing ability, he has in dancing and tapping ability. The story is your typical ugly-duckling/outsider who wins over everyone, but it's done so well. The music is comprised of modern popular music and fits in perfectly. Some of the choices seem odd, but that's the charm. Think Moulin Rouge.

This movie's got it all, great writing, great direction, great music, and a great message to boot about us and the world we live in.

3:10 to Yuma - Easily one of the best movies to come out last year or any year, really. What a pleasure it is to see two of this generation's greatest actors (Russell Crowe & Christian Bale) at the absolute top of their game. Crowe may be one of those controversial figures, but who the hell cares when we get performances like this. Christian Bale on the other hand carries none of the controversy, but has acting ability in spades. He is so good in everything he does that I fear for his health because he is known as such a hardcore method actor and in almost every movie he is in he portrays a character who goes through so many emotional and physical highs and lows.

This movie follows Bale, who plays a family man just barely getting enough finances for his family to get by. Crowe portrays the leader of an outlaw gang who kill and steal to get by in life. Once Crowe is captured, he is to be sent on the 3:10 train to Yuma where he is to be imprisoned. It's not as easy as it sounds, because Crowe's crew are not far behind trying to free him. The subtle nuances and twists that develop, like those between Crowe and Bale, and Bale and his son, are just so note-perfect and play out in such a fashion that makes this movie such a joy to experience.

These two actors alone really do give Oscar-worthy performances (god I hate using Oscar-worthy as an adjective because the Oscars can be such a joke), but what really elevates this movie is a tight script, sure direction, and great supporting performances all-around. Whatever happened to the great Western genre? Well with 3:10 to Yuma, we can safely say it's still around, it was just taking a break. Just go see it.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Ah, video game world records, what have we come to? It may seem like a dumb and useless subject, but this movie is neither. It is compelling and well worth a watch. What makes this documentary so compelling is that it plays out like a well-scripted drama, where we clearly have a good guy and a bad guy. You really can't make this stuff up. Like all great documentaries, it's interesting even if you're not interested in the subject.

And what else can be said about Billy Mitchell, he is quite possibly the biggest douchebag in history, but I'll be damned if he's not one of the great movie villains of all-time. In fact, the central story of the film survives only because the audience wants so bad for his record to be beaten. Without him, the movie would not have been nearly as interesting.

Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360/PS3) - Burnout goes next-gen, giving us a whole new Burnout with a large open world to explore and tons of different events and objectives to complete. While the whole open world thing is new, what remains the same is the great gameplay which remains as solid as ever. I gotta say that Burnout ruins other driving games for me because I'll always try to play them like Burnout. The driving mechanic is just so smooth and simple.

Because of the open world, you have to race in a completely different way than the previous games. You have the entire world and the many many shortcuts you can take to get to the finish the fastest. Crash mode is also different. I don't quite like it as much as the old crash mode, but there is something quite satisfying about being able to go into crash mode any time you want. Yes, anytime, anywhere.

In the end, this is still a very worthwhile game in my favorite racing game series of all-time. I know I'll be playing it for a long time just to find that last secret jump or billboard or smash, not to mention winning all the events, setting records on all the Showtime road rules. There really is a lot to do in this game, and that itself will keep you playing for a very long time.

The Orange Box (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) - based on sheer content alone, this is worth the price. It's 5 games in 1, and not a single part of the package is a stinker. You get the great Half-Life 2, it's 2 expansions, Episodes 1 & 2, along with the team-based multiplayer Team Fortress 2, and the mind-bending Portal, which despite it's short playtime may be worth the price of admission alone. All I can say is buy it, it's more than worth it.

It's A Winter Wonderland!

2008-04-19T11:26:00.003-07:00

The only problem is that it's spring!

This picture was taken last night, not last December.

My Car Got A Big Owie

2008-04-07T22:31:00.004-07:00

So the other day, I was just driving along, minding my own business, just going straight on my own lane, when suddenly some guy in a big truck on a different lane decides he wants into my lane. Problem is, when he tried to go, I was there. So bam, he crunches the side of my car, and the side-view mirror is literally hanging by a thread (as seen in the picture above, it has now been duct taped back on -- Thanks Rae!). Driving without a side-view mirror is not fun.

Thankfully, no one was hurt and double thankfully it was 100% the other driver's fault so all repairs are covered and I won't take a hit on my future insurance premiums.

P.S. - I haven't had a Hit List type post in a while (Nov. 27 to be exact) but there should be a big one soon, so keep checking back.

More on Rock Band

2008-02-11T00:23:00.001-08:00

Here's a picture of the band that my friends and I use when we play Rock Band, "Vegetarian Spank Inferno!" Bonus points for anyone who gets that reference.

I really love the look of Rock Band. The graphics and customization options in this game really put Guitar Hero III to shame, I would compare it as going from last-gen to next-gen, like comparing the graphics of Playstation 2 to Playstation 3. Although it's a blast to play, sometimes it's just cool to sit back and watch the game in motion because it's beautiful. The lip-syncing for the singer really matches well. The drummer actually hits the proper drums in his or her drum set. When you get a close up of a guitar getting played, you see the strings vibrate when they're strummed. The camera angles and stage design is varied and superb. Every so often there are cool special effects like the camera going black-and-white or hazy. The lighting on the stage matches the music being played. All-in-all, the game's presentation is excellent.

Everybody's practicing and gearing up for Endless Setlist. If you don't know what it is, you basically play through all 58 songs included on the original game disc back-to-back-to-back without breaks. Apparently it takes about 5-6 hours to do this. Sounds daunting, but we're gonna take an entire day, get as many people as we can together and make a party of it all. This way we can rotate and swap out people when we get tired or if a song is too difficult for someone.

That being said, here are some more reasons that I heart Rock Band:
- Big Rock Endings. I just wish every song had one
- the ability to still be able to get get more Overdrive while you are engaged in Overdrive mode
- your Star rating is displayed prominently so you know how far away from the next level you are. This way if you're near the end of a song, you can play your ass off to get that next star
- tambourine and cowbell playing for the singer. What a great touch, the first time I sang (Don't Fear) The Reaper, I was in love. I had a fever over the Xmas break and more cowbell really was the only prescription
- new downloadable content every week. By year's end, they say there will be over 200 extra tracks available for Rock Band. While not every song is gonna appeal to everyone, I've already downloaded over a dozen extra tracks. I'm already looking forward to mid-March when they release a Nine Inch Nails track pack. Let's hope that it's the first of many to come.

To end, some song requests:
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody, the absolute holy grail of rock. I've been dying to get this song in either a karaoke game or guitar hero, but what better place is there than Rock Band. If made as downloadable content, this is guaranteed to be the best selling song of all-time. Also, any other Queen would be greatly appreciated.

Jimi Hendrix - you always see those tidbits about Jimi during the load screens, but yet there is no Hendrix to play in the game. It's like dangling a carrot and pulling it away at the last moment. The holy grail of Jimi's catalog of course has to be Voodoo Child (Slight Return), and other great fits would be Fire, Purple Haze and his cover of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower.

U2 - I'm not really a fan of their entire catalog as a whole, but I cannot deny the greatness that is their 1987 album, Joshua Tree. Anything from that would be a must buy. They are undoubtedly one of the most popular bands of all-time, but strangely enough, I don't believe that they've been featured in a music/rhythm game to date.

NIN - Anything. Ok, half of NIN's catalog just doesn't translate well to the Rock Band format (See: most of Year Zero). However, there are some absolute gems that would translate masterfully to Rock Band. Some of my favorites would be: Anything from their Broken album, HYPERPOWER!/The Beginning of the End (bundle em together like Boston's Foreplay/Long Time), and Head Like A Hole.

One of the big points that would make the transition difficult is the lyrical content. To remain a T-rated game, some songs featured in Rock Band are censored. Certain songs that would translate well but would have to be heavily censored would be You Know What You Are? and Only; songs which contain 'fuck' in the chorus. Censoring might work for some songs, but for others it would just ruin it. Although for a lot of the censored songs, when we play them, we like to belt them out with the swear words intact.

Rock Band = Best. Game. Ever.

2008-01-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

The hype is real. When you spend 4+ hours with friends staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing the same game for 2 days straight, you know you've got a special game.

What makes this game so cool? How about getting together with 3 of your friends and rocking out to classics like Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper and personal favorites like The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails. You can play drums, bass, guitar or sing. Get tired of drumming? Try guitar or bass! Get tired of that? Try singing! Tired of that? Well I feel like drumming again! Up for a challenge? You can even try playing an instrument and singing at the same time!

It'll never get old because you can play 4 different instruments at 4 different difficulties and there's over 50 songs with new songs being made available every week (for a somewhat reasonable fee, of course).

Absolutely phenomenal.

This definitely makes up for me being sick through Christmas, my birthday and New Year's!

My New Year's Resolution....

2008-01-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

...Is to play this as much as possible:

Fuck yeah.

Eric's Last Day of Freedom

2007-12-16T23:58:00.000-08:00

With less than a week to go before Eric & Christine get hitched, a bunch of the boys got together last week to celebrate "Eric's Last Day of Freedom."

So without further ado, here are a few select highlights of the night: (Warning: some of the following content is NSFW!)

First up, a picture gallery that chronicles some of the events of the evening are available with a click of the pic:

Secondly, we've got Eric serenading a Speakers Corner booth with his own personal mashup/remix of a couple of his favorite songs:

Next Up, is Eric playing a game of "Pin the Pasties on the Showgirl":

Next we also have Edmond playing "Pin the Pasties on the Showgirl" or in his case "Find the Pasties on the Floor":

Finally, Carmen shows those two chumps how to properly pin pasties on a showgirl (with a little inadvertant help from some of the boys):

So there you have it! After this Saturday, Eric will always be able to look back at this as the good old days :)

Congratulations and best of luck to the future bride and groom, you'll need it!

What's That? Even MORE Free Stuff!

2007-12-11T20:42:00.001-08:00

Found these on my doorstep today, 10 identical sets of pins from Disney Pixar. Strange thing? I never ordered them. Tried looking for a number to let them know of their screw up, but can't find one yet. I'm still waiting on something else I ordered from them and expected that to come today, but not these, although this is pretty cool.

Maybe it's just good karma because I'm such a big Pixar fan?

Snow Snow Go Away, Come Again Another Day

2007-12-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

As soon as I pipe up about the rain it snows (see previous post below). Such is life, might as well make the best of it! Halo 3/NHL 08/Any other online game anyone?

The Hit List: Fall/Winter 07 Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day Edition

2007-11-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

With Fall in full bloom here in Vancouver comes rain. With it raining all the time, there's not much to do besides stay home and watch movies and play games (although that's usually what I do regardless). So without further ado, here's another fairly long list of some great stuff well worth seeking out: (remember, I always keep a fairly recent and regularly updated list of music/books/movies/tv/comics I've enjoyed over on the right)

Movies:
The Lookout - No question, this is one of the best movies of the year. This is the story of Chris Pratt (played so convincingly by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in what is surely a star-making performance) who one night goes joyriding with his friends but foolishly gets into a preventable accident. Lives are lost, but not Pratt's, although he suffered brain trauma which prevents him from remembering things for long periods. As such, he keeps notes in a notepad to help him through daily life. The former teenage hockey star now works as a night cleaner for a local bank.

It is during his time working for the bank that a group of criminals aiming to rob it look to use him to make their jobs easier. Throughout all this is an intricately planned heist and sequence of events that really pulls you into this movie. What really makes this movie work so well is the absolutely fantastic script which pieces everything together, doesn't rely on fuzzy logic and leaves no dangling plotlines. There are so many fabulous callbacks and little character moments (the type of stuff that really puts a smile on your face because it's done so well). So many of these heist movies rely on contrivances and happenstance, but not here. It all makes sense, and is that much better because of it. I think this is a type of movie that`ll hold up on repeated viewings, because even though you know how the heist will go down, the characters are so well-developed and endearing that you can`t help but care what happens.

Flags of Our Fathers & Letters From Iwo Jima - proof positive that Clint Eastwood is still the man. Can you believe this guy is 77? It seems like he gets better with age, perhaps being an even better director than he is an actor (and he's one of my favorite actors ever). Following Million Dollar Baby (Worth every bit of praise it got) with the back to back war epics, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, Eastwood gives us a harrowing portrayal of war from opposing views.

The legacy of WW2 is seen today in the United States as a war that needed to be fought, and one that was triumphantly won with much credit given to them. Flags explores how that opinion wasn't such back then. Back then, many Americans had no interest in a war thousands of miles away and thought that it would have no impact on them. It raises the interesting story of how that famous flag raising picture was staged, but even so, it helped turned the tide of the opinion on the war in the US. Tremendous performances all around, and of course all under the steady hand of Eastwood.

Letters From Iwo Jima centers around the fruitless Japanese defense of an important strategic point. The great moments in this film are the small interactions between the men. It is here we realize that these men could be any men, anywhere in the world. Similar people fighting over similar things, both sides believe they are right, and neither of them is wrong. Despite being from opposing viewpoints, both movies are decidedly similar in their anti-war stance.

While both movies were received warmly, Letters seemed to be the one people enjoyed more. Personally, I enjoyed them equally and found them to be great companion pieces. I hope Clint Eastwood lives forever, as long as he's churning out the movies he's been churning out as of late, the world is a better place because of it.

49 Up - This is the latest in a truly compelling series of films that has followed the lives of several Britons since they were 7 years old and returning to document their lives every seven years since. The fascinating part of this series is that the people they follow come from varying social and economic backgrounds, thereby creating a compelling case study of British society. Does a child born into a certain socio-economic background have a predetermined fate in life? Watch and find out.

Being the seventh film in this series, newcomers might feel like they've missed something if they haven't seen the series before. Not so, in fact, you can go into any of the films with a clean slate. In fact, the films are made to be new-viewer-friendly in that they give a short primer on what has happened to each individual before. This not only helps new viewers up to speed, but also reminds returning viewers (there is a seven year gap between films, after all). The entire series should be readily available on DVD at your local library, and are shown periodically on PBS.

Television:
The Unit - My 2nd favorite TV show, with The Office being the first, but this is a very, very close second, and if it's quality continues to rise, may someday surpass it. This TV show follows a top-secret military group as they wrestle with many unseen and unknown foes around the world (unseen and unknown to the public that is). What sets this apart from your typical top-secret military type-show is that there is also a heavy focus on the domestic lives of the soldiers. It shows us not only their work-lives, but what happens in their every day lives, because their families are all involved as well, by proxy. This is one of those programs that might seem like it has nothing that makes it stand out from the crowd of other TV shows, but it really does offer a unique and most of all, entertaining take on a familiar idea.

Pushing Daisies - this new show tells the tale of a unique individual, our lead character Ned, who has the special ability to bring back the dead. It's not without it's consequences though, as if he brings back someone (or something) for more than a minute, someone (or something) else will perish to balance it out. His ability to bring people back also gives him the power to take life away, if he touches someone alive, it kills them. The Pilot episode saw Ned bringing back an old childhood love of his, Charlotte (Chuck for short). One of the main focuses of the show is the romantic tension between Ned and Chuck, which is made all the more palpable because the two can never touch, or else Chuck would die (again).

The whole bringing back the dead deal might make this show seem dark in tone, and it has its moments, but it's mostly a light-hearted and sweetly told tale of life and love. It has such a sense of wonder and whimsy, that special feeling of magic that you very rarely feel when you watch a television show. And that romance where the 2 love interests can't even touch each other? I can`t wait to see where that goes. It's quirky, funny and really engages the viewer.

Games:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360/PS3)
Game of the Year! This is one of those games that you buy a next generation console for. I enjoyed the first two Call of Duty games very much, but by the third, I was starting to get sick of the World War II genre shooter. That combined with this being the third Call of Duty game in three years, made me very apprehensive. But the reviews were not only good, they were overwhelmingly great, so I had to give it a shot.

Where do I begin among a large list of superlatives for this game? Let's start with presentation, between missions you get these nifty campaign briefings that segue directly into the mission, it makes it feel like there's no loading at all. Graphics wise, this game has the best looking shadows and environmental effects (smoke, snow, rain, etc.) I've ever seen in a game.Audio wise, you'll really feel like you're at war, with bullets whizzing past you and explosions going off closer than you'd like, sometimes too close. The in-game chatter is well-acted, almost always constant and never repeats. The game's levels are varied gameplay wise, you've got some stealth sections, helicopter sections and all out firefights. The atmosphere created is second to none. Some levels are so tense that you'll be on the edge of your seat with your heart racing.

All in all, the single player campaign is one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. Most of this can be attributed to the fact that this is also one of the most polished games I've ever played. You can tell that the people who made it fussed over every single little thing. It doesn't feel rushed, it's not buggy, and there's no filler. It's what all games should be.

Ok, the single-player game is fairly short, but it's so fun you'll be playing it over and over. And I haven't even checked out the multiplayer aspect of this game, which I've heard to be very robust and very fun. Even without it, the single player aspect stands on its own. Co-operative play through the campaign mode would have further cemented this game's greatness (Call of Duty 5 anyone?).

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3) - finally, my PS3 is no longer just an expensive DVD player/somewhat cheap Blu Ray player. The latest in a long line of fun action-platforming games is back, and its a blast. So fun and addicting, I've already finished it twice! For those who don't know what this series is about, just picture your typical 3D platformer, like Mario 64, but unlike typical platformers, you've got tons of varied weapons and gadgets, and that's what sets this apart from your typical platform game. Add the cutesy fuzzball Ratchet and his robot toaster sidekick, Clank and you've got our main characters. Add in varied levels and worlds to explore an RPG-like leveling system and varied gameplay and you've got the Ratchet & Clank series.

Addicting game play aside, the game is a tad on the easy side, but the leveling system and collecting all the secrets give this game enormous replay value. Furthermore, unlike its predecessors, there's no multiplayer component whatsoever. Finally, there's not much here that differentiates this game from it's predecessors, so if you've played the games before it and didn't like them, this game probably won't change your mind about the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) - oh cel-shaded Zelda, how I missed you. I haven't finished Twilight Princess, and honestly I don't really feel that compelled to. I really, really missed the fantastic art style of The Wind Waker. As such, I was hyped to no end for this game, and the verdict? Awesome. Triumphantly returning are the cel-shaded adventurings of little-boy-Link and his pirate-gal-friend Tetra. New to this DS edition of the franchise are unique touch-screen only controls and gameplay which make great use of the DS's unique touch screen and dual screens. The story picks up not long after The Wind Waker and is a satisfying addition to the Zelda mythos.

However, the touch-screen only controls can be a little awkward (I still can't get Link to roll at will) and it can be a detriment to the gameplay at times. Thankfully, it's not a detriment often and for the most part, the controls are great. The length of the game here is not short, yet it's not long either. I don't wanna say it's just right because by the time I was finished, I wanted it to last longer, but that's because the game was so fun. Note to Nintendo: more cel-shaded Zelda games please, thanks!

The Hit List: End of Summer 07 Edition

2007-09-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

Here you have it, the absolute tops of what I've been enjoying lately and would whole-heartily recommend to you all:

Games:
Picross (DS) - Short for Picture Crossword, this is a great little game for those who love puzzle games like Sudoku.

Here's the game in a nutshell: "Like finding the underlining 'picture' in a 'crossword puzzle', the goal in Picross DS is to fill a grid with squares and crosses in order to 'paint' a picture. Numbers at the head of the puzzles' columns and rows signify how the grids need to be filled out, but it will take a sharp mind to figure out the solution - and some speedy fingers to defeat the competition. The game's main Picross Mode offers a staggering 300 puzzles available to play at your leisure."

Ok, it's hard to explain, but once you try it and figure out how it works, it's very addicting. Easy to get into, hard to put down, all at the bargain price of $25 new.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - Wow, what a great game. I knew it was going to be all along, and it lived up to my high expectations. The controls are really quite wonderful, though they take a while to get use to and it's not quite perfect since there are still a few quirks. I would love to play a multiplayer FPS with these type of controls.

Nintendo finally delivers what all us hardcore gamers want. Finally a Wii game that doesn't have N64-quality graphics. It's not as technically proficient as any 360 or PS3 game, because that's impossible given the hardware limitations, but for the Wii, it looks great. Art direction goes a long way to help too. Also, in what I believe is a Nintendo first, full voice during cutscenes!!! Yay!!! When it's done right, like it is here, it really does help make the game better. Now give us a Zelda game with full voice.

Finally, love or hate these games, all 3 games in this series have some of, if not, the best menu design and accompanying music ever. Actually starting the game can be a challenge because I just load up this game and sit at the menu and just watch and listen. I can lose myself for minutes, easily.

Among disappointments, despite the implementation of full voice, there's still a ton of reading to do. Also, where's the multiplayer? I thought that extra year to finish this game would implement that, but I guess not.

Earth Defense Force 2017 (360) - This is one of those lesser-known titles that you might have heard some people rave about. It's an old-school sleeper title. Basically, giant bugs have invaded Earth and you gotta kill em. It's pretty much mindless killing of bugs with a fully destructible environment (So funny how you're suppose to be saving Earth, but blowing up buildings is just so fun). Add in 2-player coop (offline only, sadly) and you've got a fun game that hearkens back to the old days. It's not deep or challenging, but it's mindless bug-killing fun.

Movies & DVDs:
Hud - here's a movie I've never heard about, and it doesn't seem well known, but the few people who have seen it, call it a classic, which I cannot argue after watching this film.

Watching old films, it's easy to become distracted by the acting. What many perceive to be bad can usually be attributed to the style of a certain era. Having said that, that is not a problem here as all the performances are uniformly fantastic and will stand the test of time for decades and centuries to come.

Everything about this movie is fantastic; there are oscar-worthy performances across the board, gorgeous black and white cinematography, and a really well written script all under the stern direction of director Martin Ritt. Once in a while a movie you've never heard of comes out of nowhere and surprises the heck out of you; this is one of those movies. I'm so happy I stumbled upon it at the library.

The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection - what a complete joy this entire set is. I rented this entire set for free from my local library, enjoyed every minute and would have gladly pay full price to buy it. You all know who Charlie Chaplin is, you probably know Buster Keaton too, but Harold Lloyd, probably not. He is widely considered "The Third Genius" or "The Lost Genius" of the silent film era. The word genius is widely used, perhaps too much or in exaggerated terms, but here, it is completely just.

Even if you haven't heard of him, you have most likely seen his most iconic moment ever captured on film. It is of Lloyd's "Glasses" character, hanging by his fingers from the clock of a high rise building towering over crowded streets below. You know what I'm talking about. This moment is taken from his feature film Safety Last and is one of the many dozens and dozens of gems on this 7 DVD set. The set includes a heaping of Lloyd's short films as well as feature films. If you like movies, you will love this. If you like to laugh, you will love this. Those last 2 statements probably apply to virtually everybody alive, so what are you waiting for?

Extras - Ricky Gervais & Steven Merchant's follow-up to The Office is not as funny as it's predecessor, but The Office was an unquantifyable classic. Still, Extras delivers where it counts, laughs. The first season introduces us to the main characters of Andy and Maggie, best friends and fellow Extras in the movie business, or "background performance artist" as Andy likes to call himself. Maggie is happy-go-lucky and enjoys her place in life, but Andy wants to hit the big time. The second season shows us Andy finally hitting the bigtime as he gets his own TV show, but it's not all that he thought it was, as being a minor celebrity just raises even more problems for him.

Of course, one of the big selling points of each episode is that it features a different well-known celebrity, such as Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, David Bowie, Daniel Radcliffe, etc. Even though the stars are playing themselves, they are clearly having fun with their personas. For example, Patrick Stewart presents himself as a pervert, while many others play themselves as egotistical and foul-mouthed.

United 93 - The thought that crossed many of our minds (mine included) when this movie was announced was most likely "Is it too soon?" But after watching this film and the excellent accompanying documentary on the DVD, that thought quickly turned to "Was it soon enough?"

This is a story of a group of people who personified heroism. The real-time, documentary-style of the film really puts you back into the moments on that fateful day. There are no big stars in this film to distract you, and the entire cast delivers on what was most important: doing the real people they portrayed and their families justice. By the end, it was hard to hold back the tears. It is not an easy journey, but most definitely a worthwhile one.

The hour-long documentary on the DVD is just as compelling if not even more so than the feature film itself. It focuses on the families and their reactions to the loss of their loved ones and immortalizing their memories into a movie. One particularly heartbreaking story tells of one of the passengers who was not supposed to be on that flight, but instead on an earlier flight the day before, which was canceled due to bad weather. How her family can cope with that, I'll never know, and it grates on my soul knowing that such a situation has to exist. Like the film, this documentary is a must-see companion piece and also well worth your time.

P.S. - RE: Vacation stuff, vacation pics and Eric So stories are coming. Patience, piggies.

It's Been A While Since I've Won Something...

2007-07-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Good things come in pairs, as after picking up my free Chris Cornell CD from The Fox headquarters in Downtown Vancouver, I decided to get a haircut at my normal barbershop in Chinatown. The wait was several people long as there was a lone barber there when normally there are 2-3 others (they were either sick or on vacation). I waited as several people got their haircut and even let some people ahead of me as they were either in a rush, or were there earlier but it was busy. I ended up waiting an hour or so before I got my haircut, but it was ok since I had nothing else better to do anyway. The barber was really gracious as I waited quite a while and let others ahead of me, and as thanks gave me a free pass for myself and a guest to see Werner Herzog's new film Rescue Dawn.

It's not quite a 37" LCD HDTV, but cool nonetheless.

It's funny how this is the 2nd thing I've won from The Fox (U2 DVD last time), and I can't even stand listening to them!

The Fox Rocks! (Not listening to them, but when they give you free stuff!)

The Best Laid Plans.....Make Way for McClane!

2007-06-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this poll ended up kinda useless, because as I decide to end it, my Xbox 360 has returned, so screw those games, hello Crackdown, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, etc. I promise once I'm tired of my 360, I'll start Zelda: TP as per your requests!

Here are the results:
What Game Should Steve Play Next?

33% - Resident Evil 4 (GC)
17% - Justice League Heroes (PS2)
0% - Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
0% - Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2)
50% - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

So with that out of the way, and in celebration of the release of the first Die Hard movie in more than a decade, the new poll question asks: What Is Your 2nd Favorite Die Hard Flick? Because let's face it, we all know that the first will always be the best.

To further the celebration of the newest Die Hard flick, Live Free or Die Hard, I will be hosting an "All Die Hard, All Day" special event this Saturday in which we will watch the first 3 movies on DVD, and follow that up with a trip to the cinema to watch the fourth.

Yippee-kay-yay, my friends.

Vacation Blog: Beijing, China

2007-06-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Day one in Beijing was terrible. 17+ hours of flights in a seat with barely any room at all. It wasn't that I didn't want to sleep, I just couldn't. Getting into Beijing was another thing, it had been rainy in Vancouver during the time before I left and was blasted by 30 degree heat as soon as we hit the Beijing airport. So basically, recovering from the flight, combined with the culture shock made that first day terrible. But day two, things were looking up.

Day two began with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Many people can't think of Tiananmen Square without the word Massacre immediately proceeding it, which is unfortunate, because it's existence today is suppose to mean the exact opposite of Massacre. Following that we visited the Temple of Heaven which featured a few very intricately detailed structures. You could spend all day looking at it and fine a new detail every minute. Of course, I could say that about almost every temple we saw in China. The Summer Palace followed, which is situated on a giant man-made lake, although you'd never know it unless someone told you, or if you fell in somehow, since the depth is approximately 7 feet.

In the afternoon we went to a "Chinese" restaurant for our set lunch. It sucked. It sucked bad. It's Chinese food for Westerners. Vancouver has some of the best Chinese food in the world, but this was complete shit. It's understandable though, because these set lunches are prepared for Westerners who tend to enjoy it.

It's also interesting to note how the Chinese restaurants that cater to tour groups/foreigners work. There are separate sections (usually rooms, sometimes even floors) for each language represented. So one room would have servers with English-language skills, and another would have French or Dutch, and so on. In addition there is another section for tour guides, who presumably are eating real Chinese food(bastards!).

Those of you used to free water and unlimited refills will be in for a shock.

On the recommendation of our tour guide, Tony, we then went to separate Pearl and Silk factories. I gotta say, those sales associates are good, they speak perfect english and tag team to get you to buy stuff. Which is what I did, hey, Mother's Day was coming up, as they told me several times. Wish I had a pic of Phil modelling pearls though (SEXY!). It was because he's the same height as his mom so he could get an idea of how it looked. Don't believe him when he says I modelled some for my mom though, I'm wayyyy taller than she is.

Following this we went to the Silk Factory which was much more interesting than you think. It begins with a tour of the actual factory and how silk is made, quite intriguing really. Following that we were treated to our very own private fashion show, for the three of us, at our tour guide's request.

After that we were hushed into their gigantic sales area which has everything imaginable, done in silk. Phil bought silk bed sheets with a Dragon and Phoenix design, which symbolizes marriage. It doesn't look like he's getting hitched anytime soon though (bad luck). Also the sheets are for a twin-size bed, so even when he does get hitched it wouldn't cover him +1, so that's double bad-luck. These won't be the only cases of bad luck that Phil will create for himself this trip.

When I get rich(er), my entire wardrobe and bedsheets will be 100% silk.

If there is one thing I truly regret during the entire trip, it was that I did not get those Star Wars silk boxers (They weren't my size anyway). Just think about it, the power of the Death Star, in my pants.

To be continued....

Steve Needs A New Game To Play

2007-06-10T04:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, since my 360 died, and most of the games I want to play are for that system, I need something new to play in the meantime. I've already got a bunch of unplayed games, but which one should I start playing?

So please take a look at the poll on the right --->>> and help me on what just might be the most important decision of my life!!

You Have a Choice, Make the Right One.

There's No Place Like Home

2007-06-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

aka Home, Sweet Home aka Home On The Range aka Home Is Where The Heart Is, etc.

Currently: HOME!!~!@@

So despite being stopped by customs at YVR (The guy went quick once he found out all I had was smelly clothes) I was greeted by the above image last night. Despite customs, I _still_ got home before my cohorts. As great and beautiful as the rest of the world is, I never saw that any day I was in Asia, and here in Burnaby I get to see that _every_ day.

So I just got up around 3pm, after going to sleep last night around 11:30pm. Almost a good 15 hours sleep. Breaks my old record of 13 back when I pulled an all-dayer/all-nighter at the Vancouver Film Festival a few years back. I pretty much did an all-dayer yesterday anyway. If you think air travel by economy class sucks, try going cross-pacific over 16 hours and being my size. _That_ is the definition of suck.

Also got home to promptly find out that my Xbox 360 finally kicked the bucket. Damn, another month without it?? Sucks how the company who has the console with the best games and best online service (I've got all 3 current consoles, that's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it) has the shittiest hardware. Will Sony please release some decent games for the Playstation 3??

Anyways, I'll probably have a series of posts dedicated to each place I was at in the coming time, depending on how I feel - inspired or lazy. Right now, I'm feeling pretty lazy.

That and I'm catching up on all the stuff I missed during the past month, specifically all the TV shows I missed during May Sweeps. People who spoil how certain TV shows have ended this season will have their house or apartment or living establishment burned down. For reals.

Oh, and if you thought Eric So was weird, creepy, shady and a jerk, you didn't have to spend a whole month living with him. Words have not yet been invented to describe his level of weirdness, creepiness, shadiness and jerkiness. And I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who feels that way. I'm sorry, I take the earlier thing back, living with Eric So for a month, THAT is the REAL definition of suck.

I Got My Fist, I Got My Plan, I Got My...NIN Handbag?

2007-05-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Currently in: Kyoto, Japan (man these Japanese keyboards are weird)

Damn, can't upload pics from a public computer, so you'll see it later.

NIN in Osaka was all kinds of awesome, setlist for both nights to make you jealous:

May 23:
1. Hyperpower!
2. The Beginning of the End
3. Last (you have not lived until you've heard this live!!)
4. Survivalism (so awesome live!)
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. Capital G (didn't like when I first listened to YZ, but now I can't stop going "HUH HUH")
8. Burn
9. Gave Up
10. Help Me I Am In Hell
11. Me, I'm Not (One of my favorites from YZ, performed in a way you wouldn't expect live)
12. Eraser (Drummer Josh Freese is just mesmerizing to watch during this)
13. La Mer
14. Into The Void (I love this 1-2 punch)
15. The Good Soldier (Not much different than the album version)
16. Wish
17. No, You Don't
18. Mr. Self Destruct (Finally popped my MSD live cherry - didn't use a condom and loved every minute ;)
19. Only
20. Get Down Make Love (Trent said Queen was his favorite band growing up - FUCK all the Queen haters!!)
21. Dead Souls (One of 2 songs at the top of my list of songs I wanted NIN to play live that I haven't heard yet....calling me....)
22. Hurt
23. The Hand That Feeds
24. Head Like A Hole

May 24:

1. Somewhat Damaged (Still my favorite NIN opener)
2. You Know What You Are? (The crowd was so into this)
3. Terrible Lie (The best I've ever heard it done live by NIN - most likely because the crowd was so into it -- HEY GOD!!)
4. Sin (Always awesome as usual)
5. March of the Pigs
6. Piggy (Hell yes!! Always a crowdpleaser)
7. The Beginning of the End
8. Survivalism
9. Ruiner (Fuck yeah!!)
10. Burn
11. Help Me I Am In Hell
12. Me, I'm Not (extra long intro this time)
13. Reptile (The 2nd of those 2 songs I most wanna hear NIN play live...I got goosebumps during the opening beats of this)
14. The Frail (no Wretched, which was strange....he played the piano chord from The Fragile -- "I won't let you fall apart" -- I would've loved to hear that live -- The Fragile is still my fave NIN album)
15. The Good Soldier
16. Wish
17. Only
18. Capital G
19. Suck
20. Down In It (I WAS UP ABOVE IT!!! NOW I'M DOWN IN IT!!)
21. The Day The World Went Away
22. Hurt
23. The Hand That Feeds
24. Head Like A Hole

It was keyboardist Alessandro's birthday and Trent led the crowd into a nice rendition of "Happy Birthday" for him. Two scantily clad women presented him with a birthday cake and tried to throw it in his face, Alessandro ducked it though....that didn't stop Trent from picking it up off the ground and throwing it at him again though. Didn't miss that time!

Trent also spoke that being the last show of this leg of the tour, he was gonna take a couple months off and work on his next album (big crowd response, obviously).

Thanks to the Osaka crowd for being the best I've ever been to. They were loud yet polite, they jumped but never pushed. They let Trent sing Hurt without screaming during the quiet parts or clapping. The NIN diverse fanbase shows up again as you see middle-aged Japanese businessmen and even women bringing their newborns (!!). They weren't just there, they were into it too! ZEPP was also a fantastic venue, very nicely air conditioned unlike most places.

2 hours and 24 songs each night, aka HEAVEN. If you haven't seen NIN in a small venue, then you haven't seen NIN at their best.

Alive!

2007-05-16T02:11:00.000-07:00

Currently in: Shanghai, China

Next Stop: Hong Kong

More updates later, so many stories to tell.....fans of "Actual Things Said By Eric So" will have a lot to devour.

Where In The World Is Steve?

2007-05-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong International Airport watching The Cartoon Network at the Kid's Lounge

Crazy Movie Going Experiences of Yester-Year

2007-05-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here's an old story I'm gonna break out since I was reminded of it when I saw Children of Heaven. Children of Heaven was directed by Alfonso Cuaron who also directed the 2001 Mexican film, Y Tu Mama Tambien, the movie in question when this whole crazy movie experience occurred.

It was 2001 at the Van East movie theatre, I was there with Casey (ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!), and we went there to see Y Tu Mama Tambien. Now whenever I recommend this movie to my friends, I always go "see it with your girlfriend, and her alone, you'll thank me later." Why? Because besides being a great movie, this is one damn sexy movie. So erotic in fact that people were almost having sex in the theatre as the movie played, I swear to you it's true. It's so good, it'll get you laid. Just don't watch it with your family.

Now, I had seats on the left bank of the theatre at the aisle. This theatre's seats on the sides are turned toward the center a little, so the view was pretty good. So the movie's rolling along, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it, when all of a sudden I hear a quiet but audible moaning coming from the center of the theatre. I didn't wanna turn around and look cuz I'm not perverted (unlike some people *cough*Eric So*cough*), but of course I turn my head slightly to try and see what's going on through the side of my eyes. Still couldn't see anything though, without blatantly turning and staring. So the moaning continues for a little bit, but that's not all.

On the same aisle as I was seated in the middle bank of seats was another couple. Now this I could see through the corner of my eye without making it seem like I was gawking. Several times I could see the girl reaching her hand over and into the guy's lap, but the guy kept shunning her and pushing it away. She gave up after several attempts. Now all I could think was "Ok, this is a damn good movie, but buddy, what the heck is wrong with you?!?!"

Ok, this is a pretty nothing story, but I just had to share it.

Man, do I long for those glory days when things were normal and people had sex in the theatre instead of talking on their phones...

Tales of the Babysitter's Club: Prologue

2007-05-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

So I've got this big vacation coming up, but going with two questionable subjects (Eric S. & Phil), one has to wonder how much of a vacation it's really going to be. If we actually get past customs without getting imprisoned (by Phil's nervousness and twitchy hands) or tortured (due to Eric's stone-faced sarcasm) and we have decent internet access, I might be able to bring some updates.

Here's some things I'll miss:

My own house and bed

Building my massive Xbox 360 Gamerscore over Ed's

NHL Playoffs (Should be back in time for Canucks in Cup Finals though!)

May Sweeps and TV Show finales (thank god for VCRs, PVRs and Bittorrent!)

Spider-Man 3 Midnight Show on opening day (Sam Raimi is god. Hopefully I can catch it over in HK or Japan)

But here's some things that should make up for it:

Tiananmen Square in Beijing

The Great Wall of China (No Eric, we won't be sprinting it)

Qin Shi Huang's Tomb featuring a thousand-plus life-size terra cotta warriors in Xian

Shanghai's Bund and Jade Buddha Temple

Victoria Peak in Hong Kong

Nara's Todaiji Temple and kasuga Shrine

2 back to back nights of NINE INCH NAILS in Osaka (!!!)

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

Kyoto's Nijo Castle, Golden Pavillion and Old Imperial Palace

Miyajima's Itsukushima Shinto Shrine

Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Museum

Tokyo's Mt. Fuji & Hakone National Park, Lake Ashi via Boat Cruise, Mt. Komagatake via Rope-way ride and Asakua Kannon Temple

Kegon Waterfall and Lake Chuzenji in Nikko

Meeting Eric So's imaginary girlfriend

In between preventing Phil from buying useless souvenirs and stopping Eric from general mayhem such as littering and peeing on the streets, hopefully I'll be able to enjoy myself. And seriously Phil, do you really need a separate piece of luggage just for shoes? He's such a girl.

Unfortunately, the trip's length has been tripled due to costcutting features as requested by Phil. We will be arriving and leaving via Cargo Boat, or "The Scenic Route" as Phil likes to call it. "It'll only take a few extra weeks, and we save a few cents!" he says. "Can't we take the Japan-Canada Cross-Pacific Bridge by car?" responds Eric. So even though the the trip ends in Early June, we won't be back until July. Oh well, at least we'll still have cell phone access when we travel across the Pacific Ocean!

Oh god, what have I gotten myself into??

Steve's Hit List: The Best Of The Best - Pre-Vacation edition

2007-04-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed on the right a bunch of lists of current movies, television and music I've been listening to. Scroll down a bit further and check it out if you haven't already. It's a little thing I'm doing since I haven't done any big "Hit List" reviews in a while. Here's a little "Best Of The Best" where I do a short little review on those things lately that I've really enjoyed.

Children of Men - this film is amazing. Alfonso Cuaron has been one of my favorite directors ever since I saw his 2001 film, Y Tu Mama Tambien. You may not be familiar with his name, but I'm willing to bet you've seen his work already, 2004's Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, which many consider the best of the Potter films so far.

This film takes place in the year 2027 when for untold reasons, humans can no longer procreate, with the last baby being born 17 years prior. It follows our main character played by Clive Owen who finds a pregnant woman who may be holding the fate of humankind in her belly.

This is a grim film that was absolutely unsettling to watch, but don't take that as a negative. This film is an effective drama with a few action sequences, but it worked more as a thriller to me. There were several scenes in this film that absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. The handheld camera that takes us in the middle of the action with very little breaks and cuts help provide that unsettling nature, making this film all the more powerful. This is a moving experience that you will not soon forget.

Hot Fuzz - on the opposite end of the spectrum here is a film that is an absolute joy to watch. Like Shaun of the Dead, this film spoofs but also loves the films it references, except this time we substitute Zombies with Bruckheimer Action flicks. What is especially funny about this film is that while it spends the bulk of it making fun of those cheesy Hollywood movies, it turns into what it's making fun of by the end. But it works because the characters are funny and likable, and it's always done with tongue firmly in cheek. There is one moment is this film that is so funny that I couldn't stop laughing for a good 10 minutes. About the only bad thing I can say is that this film could have been trimmed of some 10-20 minutes. That said, I am eagerly anticipating the forthcoming DVD.

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are the new Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Raimi now helms one of the biggest film franchises ever, Spider-Man, after humble beginnings with the Evil Dead series. I envision that in the future their cult status will grow to mainstream status, something along the line of Wright directing a Bond pic in the future.

Marie Antoinette - I was very apprehensive of this film because the reviews were so polarized, either very good or very bad. But the writer/director Sofia Coppola has directed two very good recent films, The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, two films I enjoyed greatly, especially Lost in Translation, so I had to give Marie Antoinette a shot. Like those films, this film is similar in that it follows the main female character(s) as they live their lives. Marie Antoinette is not the usual controversial figure she is usually portrayed as (perhaps unfairly so), but here she is presented as your typical teenage girl as she becomes a woman. A word about the music - great. Some people may hate how a period film is scored with a modern soundtrack, but I love how it really evoked what the director wanted to portray, and plus it's just a blast to listen to. This may not be the an accurate portrayal of Marie Antoinette, but it is certainly a very enjoyable film.

Super Paper Mario (Wii) - the latest installment of the Mario RPG/Paper Mario series further proves my "great first party nintendo games" theory, as it is one of the best Wii games released so far. Originally developed for the Gamecube, they moved this to the Wii without making it seem like a quick port. The controls are well done and the story is involving and funny. However, unlike previous Paper Mario games, this game does not involve turn based battles, but real time battles similar to that of a regular Mario platformer. I kind of didn't like this at first, but by the end I was used to it.

The main selling point of this game is the ability to switch from 2D mode into 3D, providing a whole new dimension to the game (I love me some cliches). And it really is great, a certain 2D portion becomes a whole new area when you go into 3D, which is essential to moving forward in the story and to find secrets.

Qualms: No replay value, I wish it had a Hard mode or something, because this game was just way too easy, I honestly couldn't die if I tried. TOO MUCH READING!!! This is a problem of many Nintendo games, which feature no speech and all text. In addition, the first 20-30 minutes feature you doing nothing but watching - not cool. I hate games that do this, a quick intro is fine, but please don't make us wait so long to play the freaking game!

Casino Royale - The most enjoyable Bond in ages. Gone is all that silly rubbish that made the series so stale and not too enjoyable. It's back to basics, serious and nitty-gritty. Kind of like the Bourne series (which has passed the popularity of the Bond flicks lately). Pierce Brosnan was a good Bond, but I honestly didn't care for the his last two Bond films. They all had their enjoyable bits, but they were all by-the-numbers and followed the same formula. Here, we see Daniel Craig in his first days as a double agent, and he really is fantastic. Looking forward to the next installments, and let's hope they keep it dark and dirty without all the BS that has dragged down the series.

Justice League Unlimited: The Complete Second Season - The final season of Bruce Timm's DC Animated Universe goes out with a bang. Unlimited was no doubt my favorite of all the animated series, which is saying something, because I loved it all. It had some great stories, great voice acting, big surprises, revelations, everything, epic action sequences, it had it all. Of note, is quite possibly my favorite single episode of all the DC animated shows, The Great Brain Robbery. Flash and Luthor switch bodies, hilarity ensues, 'nuff said.

Stranger Than Fiction - this is one of those sleeper films that you never expect, but end up enjoying the heck out of. While Will Ferrell can make me laugh until it hurts, sometimes he's a bit much. This is not your typical whacked-out crazy Will Ferrell comedy but instead a sweet romantic comedy that shows that not only can Ferrell make us laugh, but he can act!

Queen: A Night at the Opera - this is Queen at its best. This is the one with Bohemian Rhapsody, recently and frequently voted as the greatest song of all-time, a sentiment that I would not argue. But this is not a one-song album, it's not one of those "great single, the rest is filler" type albums. What really makes this album great, is that the rest of the songs are great too! Personal Faves besides Bohemian Rhapsody: You're My Best Friend, Love of My Life.

I can say without hesitation that if Freddie Mercury were still alive today, Queen would no doubt be my favorite band, and that's including Nine Inch Nails (Sorry Trent, although I'm sure he'll agree too). Just imagine how crazy-awesome it would be to see Freddie and Trent duet "Get Down Make Love".

Explosions in the Sky: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone - EITS's newest album is fan-freaking-tastic. I love it so much; they have in a very short time become one of my absolute favorite bands. Like I said about their previous album sometime last year, this is all about putting it on, closing your eyes and being transported to a new place. While the title may be melancholic and somber, the music is quite uplifting and inspirational.

Favorite Tracks: Welcome, Ghosts; It's Natural To Be Afraid

Actual Things Said By Eric So

2007-04-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

In celebration of The King of Sing getting his own karaoke blog, I've decided to compile this list of actual things he has said.

To Me regarding China Visa Applications: "nationality canadian..even though ur chinese." Apparently there's no difference between nationality and ethnicity.

Regarding cell phone usage over the Pacific Ocean: "It's roaming right?" Yes, apparently all phone companies now install cell phone towers in the middle of nowhere.

About Eating Green TicTacs like candy to support his Dallas Stars: "They're not green!" (looks at packaging, flavour = WinterGREEN).

On what he would rather win: $1,000 cash or a brand new $30,000 Car "Cash, 'cause it's cash, right?" But the car can be sold for.....ahh never mind.

On the longest Canuck game ever: "Was it regular season or playoffs?" Because those marathon regular season games don't end after a five minute overtime and shootout.

As Jason and I berate Phil on not joining us (Me, Jason and Eric) to watch a hockey game: Eric asks "Are you guys talking about me?" Jason: "Well you're here aren't you??" Not everything is about you Eric, you egotistical bastard.

On Peter getting baptised: "Are you happy for him?" No Eric, we hate that Peter is happy and found religion.

Not so much said, but not said: After dinner at a nice restaurant, we usually like to split the bill. So we leave it to Eric to figure out how much we each owe. Big mistake as it takes half an hour for him not to figure it out. For some reason, we ended up miles short of the proper price. It was also a birthday dinner of sorts for a few of us, so we would be treated right? Wrong. Mr. Calculator forgets to include GST for the whole thing. So in the end, we had to pay for our birthday dinners and wasted a good half hour in doing so!

It's ok Eric, it was an honest mistake, not like you work for an accounting firm or anything....oh, wait....

The King of Sing Gets His Own Blog

2007-04-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

The Eric So Karaoke Internet Phenomenon has become so big that this blog simply cannot contain it by itself anymore. So with that in mind, please visit and bookmark the new Eric "King of Sing" So Karaoke Blog. From now on, all Eric So (henceforth known as "The King of Sing") Karaoke related news and videos will be posted there, because YOU, the general public, demanded it dammit!

Stay tuned here for my usual ramblings and whatnots.

My Top Ten Favorite Gamecube Games

2007-04-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

The Gamecube came out of the last generation of Video Games on the bottom end versus the Xbox and Playstation 2. It had its faults, but certainly had its share of plusses. I will say this about Nintendo, and having owned more consoles by them than any other company, their consoles are worth owning even if they were the only ones that made the games, which was almost the case for the Gamecube actually. Their franchises, from Mario to Zelda to Metroid make their consoles must own by themselves alone.

So inspired by ScrewAttack's Farewell to Nintendo's Gamecube, I give you My Personal Top Ten Favorite Gamecube Games:

10. Bomberman Generation - the ultimate party game. You don't mess with the classics, and thats what they did with Bomberman 64, turning everybody's favorite party game into a complete mess by bringing it into the 3D realm. But they learned from their mistake and just gave us classic Bomberman, pure and simple.

9. Soul Calibur II - great fighting game, with great graphics. Sure it was released on the other systems too, but each one had an extra character exclusive to that system. Gamecube had the best - Link.

8. Burnout 2: Point of Impact - My very first taste of Burnout, and I've been hooked ever since. So good, I bought this twice, first on PS2, then again on Gamecube. It looked slightly better, and the same tight controls, but gave us double the crash junctions, the best part of the game itself.

7. Super Monkey Ball 2 - great game where you had to get a monkey in a ball (hence the name) through a certain level with many obstacles. The twist? You didn't move the monkey in the ball, you moved the level itself. Add in some great mini games that were party favorites (Monkey Bowling anyone??) and you've got a great game.

6. Tales of Symphonia - following the disappointing Final Fantasy X, I was getting pretty tired of those Japanese style RPGs with their stale turn-based combat systems and random battles. But this game was different, you could avoid or take battles at your own whim, but with its different real-time combat system, you actually wanted to do the battles! Now you could blow through this game's main story in about 40-50 hours, but this game had so much else to do that I doubled that, and spent 80+ great hours with this game.

5. Metroid Prime - like everybody else alive, I was skeptical when I heard Nintendo was taking their Metroid franchise into the 3D arena with a first person shooter. Now back then, I was more of a PC gamer, so for a FPS, a mouse and keyboard was a necessity, whereas a controller was the complete opposite. Not to mention Japan has typically shunned first person shooters. Nintendo had the intelligence to employ the Texas based Retro Studios to make this for them. Texas is of course, home of many of the great FPS developers (id, 3D Realms, Raven, etc.). This game had everything going against it. But how wrong I was, and how wrong many of us were. This game was absolutely balls to the walls. The graphics were phenomenal, the controls were very well done, the levels large and expansive with many areas to explore, and despite the move from 2D to 3D, kept much of what made everyone love the older Metroids in the first place. I bet not even Nintendo themselves thought that this would be as good as it turned out to be.

4. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Old Door - Well placed among their Mario franchise, but deviating from the standard platforming by adding RPG elements and turn based battles. The gameplay was very refined, giving you extra boosts if you did things a certain way, such as certain button presses at the right time. Finding out those perfect timings and trying to replicate them each time was half the fun. And not only was Mario battling, but you had a half dozen teammates there to help you, each with their own unique set of actions and even more of those timed button presses. It was over too quick for my liking, but that's because I had such a great time.

3. Mario Kart: Double Dash - I love this game. Adding in two riders to one kart really gave this franchise an innovative new twist. It had some great maps, and was best played with others. Looking forward to see what Nintendo has up its sleeve for the Wii installment. Nothing's been said so far, but you know it's coming.

2. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - it is unfortunate that many overlooked this game because of its cartoonish graphics. Those who didn't were rewarded with a game that fit into Zelda canon nicely, serving as a prequel to all previous Zelda games and telling us the whole backstory of the great Zelda universe. I absolutely loved the cel shaded art story of this film. Stylistically, it helped convey emotion and gave more depth to the story. One of the problems of 3D graphics even today is its inability to realistically portray emotion in human faces. It just never looks right, no matter how powerful the hardware you have because we know that it's not real. The art style in Wind Waker sidestepped this by using celshading, and not going for the realistic look. Add in one of the greatest end boss fights of all time and you have one of the best Gamecube games ever. I like Twilight Princess very much, but am disappointed that they forgoed the cel shaded style, fortunately they are using it in their DS game, The Phantom Hourglass, so all is not lost.

1. Metroid Prime 2 - Metroid Prime was amazing. A complete classic in every way, but this game was even better. It improved every single aspect of the first game, the graphics were even better (probably the best of any Gamecube game), the storytelling was more refined, and it was tough as all hell, but not in an annoying way. It's one of those games where you beat a certain part or boss and you really feel a sense of accomplishment. The first Metroid Prime was a successful hit, swaying all naysayers and universal praise across the board. While Metroid Prime 2 was a hit, it didn't come close to the first as it had the unfortunate circumstance to be released alongside Halo 2 for the Xbox, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2. Ouch. It didn't stand a chance against those juggernauts. If you have a Gamecube or Wii, and haven't played this, then you owe it to yourself. It's one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had, and I am eagerly anticipating the upcoming third installment.

Honorable Mentions:
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat - one of the few games that used that neat little Bongo accessory. I usually hate games that require accessories (save Guitar Hero), but I got this for cheap so the price was right. And you know what? It's innovative, but most of all, it's fun.

Pac-Man Vs. - this neat little gem was packaged with Pac Man World 2 (an unspectacular but competent platformer), and it was all about Multiplayer. It required a Game Boy Advance and the GC to GA cable, but it was worth it for this. Take classic Pac Man, but this time, instead of fighting computer A.I. ghosts, humans become the ghosts. More fun than it had any right to be.

Best Gamecube Game I Haven't Played:
Resident Evil 4 - I'm not really a fan of horror games, and the Resident Evil franchise has kinda been running on autopilot, but the universal acclaim for this title even from those who dislike the franchise put it over the top. I've had this game for a while but haven't played it just yet....soon enough though, soon enough.

Most Disappointing Gamecube Games:
Super Mario Sunshine - Mario 64 is one of the greatest games of all time, bar none. This game isn't bad by any means, it was good, but for a Mario game, good isn't good enough. It just had a very lame story, even for Mario standards, and the controls were not precise enough for a game that needs precise control. People say this game is hard, but I don't think that's by design, it's because of that horrible camera. How many times would you screw up and lose progress because you missed a jump because the camera screwed up and you jumped to a position relative to the new camera angle? Horrible, just horrible. I couldn't stand to finish this game.

Mario Party Franchise - did we really need 4 installments of this game for the Gamecube? If it wasn't getting tired by #4 (the first Gamecube iteration), it certainly was by #7 (the last iteration). It was still fun in small spurts, but the slow and boring gameplay had me itching for the WarioWare series, which was much more fast-paced and frenetic, and most important of all, fun! Each game was essentially the same just with new minigames, all of which are hit or miss, usually miss. Among a game's 70 or so minigames, there were usually just a handful worth replaying. Here's hoping they give us something new and fresh for Mario Party 8 on the Wii. They better.

The Best Time of the Year

2007-04-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

It's the best time of the year, why? Summer's close? Nope. School's Out? Nope. All good reasons for being a good time of the year, but not the best. The real reason? Hockey playoffs. Specifically the first round. Turn on the TV and we get at least a few games every day for 2 weeks. And it's not just regular hockey. It's playoff hockey for the biggest prize in all of hockey -- The Stanley Cup. So you know everyone's giving it their all. And with playoff hockey comes the most exciting part of all exciting parts -- Sudden Death Overtime. First team to score wins, doesn't get more nailbiting than that. You don't score, you keep playing until you do. No matter how long it takes.

So finally I get to go to my first playoff game, game 1 of the first round, the Vancouver Canucks vs. the Dallas Stars. Two evenly matched teams who split their season series all with identical scores of 2-1. Both defensive minded teams with little scoring and great goalies. We all expected a close game, but not like this. The atmosphere is incredible, and as cool as it looks on TV, you have to be there live to experience just how cool a visual it is to see an entire arena waving towels. TOWEL POWER! I even joked that a playoff game between these two teams could cause the game to go into multiple overtimes, little did I know....

Longest Canucks game in history, 6th longest in NHL history. I'm gonna skip the entire regulation except to say that the Canucks blew a 4-2 lead in the third period. Let's jump straight to the intermission after overtime period #3, where the equivalent of 2 full games had passed. I needed water but didn't wanna pay an arm and a leg for it. I can hold out (for now). Overtime period #4, less than 2 minutes less, preparing for Overtime #5, and about to give up that arm and leg for some bottled water. But alas, we score just short of entering period #8.

I gotta say though, as much as I love sudden death overtime and these superlong games, they gotta find a way to shorten them, like with a shootout or 4 on 4 in OT. They gotta do that for the players, it's just too much for them. It's just not fair for them to play that much in one night, and have to do it again in a couple days. They all played their hearts and muscles out, but you could tell that they were all on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. I was getting tired watching, I can't imagine how it was to actually play that long.

Luongo made 72 saves, and while he may have let in a couple "soft" ones, he made the ones that counted, and always gave us a chance to win. He was named First Star, and it was well deserved. We were badly outplayed for much of the game, and were badly outshot, but upon learning that we lost 2 key forwards and were basically rolling 3 lines for almost the entire overtime periods, it made much more sense. We weren't badly outplayed, we were outmanned.

First playoff game, and what a game it was. It was almost two and a half games for the price of one, so I definately got my money's worth. I can now say that I was in the building during the longest Canucks game in history. It was a game the Canucks should've won outright in regulation, but it was not to be. Fortunately, we got the win anyways, eventually. Ok, time for bed, I need it.

Movie Renting Tips From Yours Truly

2007-03-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here's some movie renting tips from yours truly to help you save a buck and get the most out of your money.

1. Libraries are gold mines when it comes to classic movies. Sometimes they'll even have those harder to find lesser-known and more expensive movies that even the big video stores don't carry. If they aren't your cup of tea, give em a chance, what's the worst that can happen? You'll like it?? Once you watch the classics, you'll see how many modern movies homage and rip them off. Once in a while you'll even find the odd new release Hollywood flick. Best of all, it's FREE. Well technically, libraries are funded through your taxes, so you already are paying for it, so you might as well use em. Many libraries also have online catalogues where you can request holds (sometimes its free, but sometimes there is a small charge, usually a buck or less -- still cheaper than renting from an actual video store).

2. With many rental stores now offering "No Late Fees" policies, you effectively have an extra week, and even an extra month (minus a possible restocking fee). Now I'm not telling you to keep a movie for that long, because if everybody did that, everybody loses and no one would see the movie they wanted. Where this can be useful is in avoiding the lineups of the average moviegoer who gets rentals on Fridays and Saturdays. While most people only have free time on the weekend, you can preplan your weekend by dropping by the video store during the middle of the week during less busy hours. Those couple of extra days won't cost you anything because of the "No Late Fees" policy. Spend your free time watching a movie, or waiting in line to rent it, the choice is yours.

3. Some rental outfits offer guaranteed rentals on certain titles, and if they don't have it in stock, its free the next time you return. If you don't mind not seeing a certain movie right away, you can get it free during its release week by visiting a store during the later hours on a Friday or Saturday, as most people have likely rented them all during the previous hours. Conversely, if you really want to see that movie, go early or call ahead, most places will also place holds for you.

4. Now that you have the movie, there's nothing more annoying than in the middle of watching it, all of a sudden it stops or begins to skip like crazy because some random asshole doesn't know how to handle a DVD (You Know Who You Are). This last tip will help you avoid those. It's not 100% perfect, but it certainly helps. Unfortunately, most video rental places have their discs secured so you can't see them for wear and tear until you've paid for it. What you want to do instead of just grabbing a random copy off the shelf, grab a copy on the lowest or highest shelf, and grab the bottom copy, the one most inside. Most people tend to grab the copies at arms length on the middle shelves, and hence return copies are placed back in the exact same place. Those lesser rented copies can yield a disc with less wear and tear. Sometimes, the outside of the case is also an indicator, if its uncharacteristically dirty or grimy, skip it.

A Bonus Tip! Not related to renting a movie, but in watching it. Unfortunately DVDs today can be loaded with advertisements, trailers, and disclaimers (in multiple languages). It just makes me wanna barf. We've all gone through DVDs with dozens of these, taking upwards of several minutes before the movie actually plays. To avoid this, instead of selecting "PLAY" at the main menu, choose "SCENE SELECTIONS" or "CHAPTERS" or something to that effect, and then choose the very first scene or chapter. Choosing the "PLAY" option activates said advertisements and disclaimers, whereas using the latter method skips all that crap and sends you straight to the beginning of the movie.

So there you have it. Efficient time planning, money saving, and maximizing movie enjoyment, what more can you ask for? :)

DVD Review - Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You In Time

2007-03-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

With Trent Reznor cleaned up for good (hopefully), 2005's With Teeth and his touring to support it announced that NIN is not only back, but they're here to stay, and they have never been better. Backed by IMO, his best handpicked assembled band yet of drummer Josh Freese, guitarist Aaron North, bassist/guitarist Jeordie White and Keyboardist/Guitarist Alessandro Cortini.

One of the things I love about NIN is that as long as Trent wants to keep it going, they will never break up. Or as a friend put, they break up after every tour. The band member roulette seems to change every tour, which is good and bad. Bad in that we, as fans, have come to love the then-current members and seeing new ones just seem strange. Good in that the new members bring a new quality to the band, and in essence help keep NIN fresh by introducing their own unique sound and sensibilities. As Trent has said, he would never bring in the best technical player for each position, instead picking those who are multi-talented and fit in with the band the best. I mean, Eric Clapton is a fantastic guitarist, one of the greatest of all-time, but he would never fit in with Nine Inch Nails. Although, come to think of it, I would pay mucho dinero to see Clapton and Reznor live together.

As evidenced through this live DVD, Trent Reznor is now over 40 years old and exudes an energy onstage that many musicians half his age can barely muster. He is truly a sight to see. As much of a master of music that he is, and as quietly spoken he seems to be in many interviews, when he walks onstage, he becomes a monster. No longer dressed in fishnets and drenched with corn starch, Reznor also ditched his longer locks for the short shaven look with a sleeveless tops that show off his enormous muscular arms. As he said, if you can't do drugs, what else can you do? Lift weights apparently, and a lot of them at that.

What I love about the new Trent is new fearlessness towards playing many songs of NIN's expansive back catalogue that have never been tackled, for various reasons. Perhaps inspired by his new band, the newest incarnation of NIN has spiced up old favorites while also playing new favorites that have never been played live before. And this all brings us to NIN's latest release, the live performance, Beside You In Time. This is a great document of NIN at their greatest.

Those are some of my general thoughts, so here are some song-specific thoughts:

1. Love Is Not Enough - fantastic show opener with the band behind a veiled curtain so that we barely see their shadows. Love Is Not Enough is one of those NIN songs that is so good live that I can't stand listening to the album version anymore.

2. You Know What You Are? - anyone who can play the drums on this song and not have their arms fall off is a God, and Josh Freese shows off his deity-ness with this track. The performance of this song is one of the true highlights on a disc filled with them.

3. Terrible Lie - this has been one of my personal faves since I first saw them perform it live. I don't think they've ever done a show where they haven't played this song, and they've been touring since 1989. And yet, it never gets old. Like all the material off Pretty Hate Machine, the song is completely transformed into a new monster live.

4. The Line Begins To Blur - this was one of those songs I thought would translate horribly live, mainly because its got a relentless bassline throughout the whole song, and bass translate very iffy live sometimes. But I'll be damned if the live version kicks all kinds of awesome. Favorite part: "I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW!"

5. March of the Pigs - one of their live staples, always a crowdpleaser. Trent is all over the place and Aaron is all over the arena literally, jumping into the crowd at one point.

6. Something I Can Never Have - I'm so glad they decided to put this back into their set after it was pretty much "retired" since their Downward Spiral tours in 94/95. It might not have the same resonance as Hurt, but it sure comes close, and I know many who will argue it has more.

7. Closer - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the new live version of this song is incredible. Absolutely love the insertion of "The Only Time" at the end.

8. Burn - Like Something I Can Never Have, was brought out of retirement, and kicks all kinds of ass. Sometimes you just need to take something away so that its return is that much sweeter.

9. Gave Up - Another live staple, and just shows how tight NIN's live show truly is.

Now comes what many call "The Eye of the Storm" part of many NIN concerts, where we get several slower songs in between the chaos and mayhem, accompanied by a video projection.

10. Eraser - another one of those oldies but goodies brought back to their live setlist. Probably my favorite track off The Downward Spiral (but really, there isn't a song on that album that isn't).

11. Right Where It Belongs - every NIN album always has that one emotional song that always hits you right where it hurts and really takes you to a sad place. Pretty Hate Machine had Something I Can Never Have, Downward Spiral had Hurt, The Fragile had The Great Below, and With Teeth has this. As if it wasn't sad enough already, the video projection shows us a montage of poverty and suffering contrasted with the image of George W. Bush happily dancing with his wife. Trent has never been very political before, but the current situation with Bush, with the Iraq War and his handling of Hurricane Katrina/New Orleans situation (Trent's old hometown), he just couldn't stand it anymore and had to make a statement. I applaud him for it and agree with him 100%. And if you thought this was all the socio-political commentary Trent had in him, then you haven't been following the commotion around his upcoming album, Year Zero.

12. Beside You In Time - one of visual highlights of the show. As well as it is captured on this DVD, this really had to be seen live for full impact. Love the glass breaking. Exit the video projection, and the Storm resumes.

13. With Teeth - the title track of his 2005 release is one of my favorites from that album. I love that quiet middle part with just the piano and distorted guitar, and live, its easier to hear than the album version which makes you turn up the volume only to be bombarded by the subsequent guitar riffs. I never thought it would be possible, but Trent makes playing the tambourine look cool. He doesn't really play it, its more like he attacks it.

14. Wish - another crowdpleaser that has the crowd on the verge of rioting. Josh Freese's drumming on this song was one of the reasons he really won me over after replacing NIN's old drummer Jerome Dillon. (Let's forget about Alex Carapetis....)

15. Only - manages to sound very different than the album version, but remains very cool nonetheless. So good live, they've got it on this disc twice! The visuals in this song are captured well and really show off how detailed this DVD looks.

16. The Big Come Down - this performance absolutely rocks. I can and have watched this dozens of times......(Leaves to go watch it again).

17. Hurt - another of the live staples, and emotional highpoints. Despite the sad subject matter, this is such a beautiful song, sung beautifully by Trent alone with a keyboard, with the rest of the band joining in the final verse. I love it when the crowd sings along, but please please stop the handclapping. Trent is up there pouring his heart out and you clap your hands? Seriously, stop it. Only clap when Trent wants you to, like in...

18. The Hand That Feeds - Another big F.U. to George Bush, and also a great song to bang your head to. You may clap your hands during this song if you wish.

19. Head Like A Hole - If Wish had the crowd on the verge of rioting, then Head Like A Hole is a full scale riot. NIN leaves us on a high, higher than any drug can give us, and like most drugs leave us wanting more. For the live crowd, that its for the night, but for us home viewers, there's more!

Among the additional content on Beside You In Time:

5 songs from their North American Summer Tour in 2006:

1. Somewhat Damaged - hearing this song live was such an unexpected treat. I'll never forget that moment, as it was both unexpected in terms of the song, and in terms of the moment, as the house lights were still on. Out of all the songs NIN has opened with, this is probably my favorite.

2. Closer - the very definition of a crowdpleaser. Love the accompanying visuals, especially the part where it looks like the red liquid is pouring over Trent through the grate, but fills up as soon as leaves it.

3. Help Me I Am In Hell - like Somewhat Damaged, this was an unexpected but very welcome surprise when I saw them live last summer. Played with a very trippy accompanying video projection.

4. Non-Entity - It was so great to hear this live, and even better to have it here. Great song, great visuals.

5. Only - so good they have it twice, and I gotta say I like this version better than the Winter Tour version. Much trippier visuals.

Music Videos for The Hand That Feeds and Only - interesting how Trent seems to alternate making music videos that are basic-performance-only (The Hand That Feeds) and high-concept-driven-more-complex (Only). Another good example that typifies the uniqueness and diversity of Nine Inch Nails.

Live Performances from Rehearsals of Love Is Not Enough, The Collector and Every Day Is Exactly The Same - must've been from early 2005 cuz Trent was still sporting hair and Jerome was still on drums!

While their last live release contained some great easter eggs, I have searched high and low, and alas there are none of this release. Disappointing, sure, but we sure got our moneys worth for this great little package.

The video quality on this DVD is amazing, shot on professional quality High Definition cameras, you can really tell, even on the DVD, I can't wait to see what the hi-def versions look like. Despite the frenetic lights and obviously difficult material to translate onto digital formats, the video quality really shines. Hardly any compression artifacts to note, all fit onto 1 disc with extras and both DTS and Dolby 5.1. As much as I love NIN's previous live release, And All That Could Have Been, the disc break in the middle of the performance really hurt it. The video quality on the additional content is not up to the standards of the main feature, but they were shot on handheld consumer level high definition cameras. But the band felt the material warranted inclusion despite the lower video quality.

Sound quality is also up there, presented in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Surround, and a proper Stereo track for those without surround capabilities. Trent Reznor is a master musician who has done stuff in plain stereo that amazes. So you can only imagine how great this disc sounds in 5.1 surround sound. One of the aural highlights is hearing Jeordie play live bass on many songs where bass hasn't been played before in previous NIN tours is just incredible, it adds so much to the songs.

Big Kudos to whoever it is who priced the DVD/HD DVD/Blu Ray, because the DVD is about half the cost of the average new release, and the HiDef releases are also both really affordable, costing less than most standard DVD new releases.

Big Middle Finger to whoever it is who decided to delay the HD DVD and Blu Ray versions of Beside You In Time a week after the DVD in Canada. New Album on Apr. 17, tickets to see em live in Japan in May, A North American tour or two probably sometime in the Fall, and Year Zero followup in 2008? Has there ever been a better time to be a NIN fan? I don't think so....

NIN Fans already have this, music fans, this is great demo material not only video and audio-wise, but especially performance and music-wise.

Eric So Karaoke Video

2007-02-18T02:00:00.000-08:00

Because you demanded it, here it is!

If you like it, please leave a positive comment, because there's more where that came from!

Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth

2007-01-27T16:44:00.000-08:00

This movie starts slow, but by the end I was swept away by its heart and emotion. The best way I can describe this film is as a dark, grim and haunting fairy tale set in Spain in 1944 after Franco's victory. Our main character, Ofelia, is the daughter of a pregnant woman, who are both travelling to live her new husband in rural Spain. Her new husband is the ruthless, fascist leader of a small squad determined to take out the rest of the remaining dissidents. Without giving away any more details, Pan's Labyrinth tells the story of Ofelia, who, attracted by a fairy gets led to this new fantastical world. Ofelia faces many trials and tribulations, both in her real life and said fantastical world.

The young Ivana Baquero plays Ofelia perfectly, in a role, that if miscast, would have ruined the movie. Thankfully she proves she has the acting chops, alongside a very powerful and intimidating cast. Most standout is the husband, Captain Vidal played almost too convincingly by Sergi Lopez. He is so ruthless that he gives Hitlet a run for his money. Maribel Verdu is also very effective as Mercedes, one of Vidal's personal servants.

About writer/director Guillermo Del Toro, here's a guy who loves films and knows how to make them. It's pretty clear when you watch the extras for his other movies like Blade II and Hellboy that this man has a deep passion for filmmaking that very, very few people on this earth have. The way he talks just exudes enthusiasm to the nth degree. Blade II and Hellboy were just warmups for him. They are almost like his test films to show the world, "Hey, I can make a cool movie." And someone, somewhere must have seen them and reacted, "Hey, he can make a cool movie!" Both Hellboy and Blade II had the hallmarks of a director who had a great vision and knew what he was doing. They were great films, Pan's Labyrinth, or El Laberinto del Fauno as it is named in its original language, is his magnum opus.

Also of note is the score, by Javier Navarrete, which I'm listening to while typing this. While the movie is dark and grim, not all of his music is. There are some very beautiful melodies with an almost lullabic-quality (Is lullabic even a real word?).

People tend to avoid subtitled movies like the plague, and if you're one of these people, I feel sorry for you, because even if you watch this movie dubbed, you will lose a lot of the magic.

One warning about this film. This film is not filled end-to-end with violence, but it does happen occasionally, and when it does happen, it can be really cringe-inducing and head-turning. Just a heads up for those of you who may not know what to expect.

The more I think about this movie, the more I love it. I look forward to watching this again on DVD or HD DVD or Blu-ray or VHS or Beta or whatever it takes, I just can't wait to see it again.

Besides the aforementioned Blade II and Hellboy, those who enjoy Pan's will also enjoy The Devil's Backbone, one of Del Toro's early films.

DVD Review: The Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition

2006-12-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is quite possibly the most comprehensive box set release of any movie series ever. You thought that 9-disc Alien Quadrilogy (horrible name) was expansive? Warner Brothers' 14-Disc Ultimate Superman Collection blows it away.

Here's some quick thoughts on the movies in this set:

Superman: The Movie

Superman II: Theatrical Version

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

Superman III

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

Superman Returns

Here's some of my favorite features that make this set worth buying (besides the inclusions of all the feature films):

The 1940s Max Fleischer Superman Cartoons

You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman

Look, Up In The Sky! The Amazking Story of Superman

And that's just the best stuff, there's loads of more extra features piled into this set. Here is a complete list of all extra features.

This is one of those sets that promises 20 hours of extra features, but I bet there's even more than that. Honestly, there's so much stuff here, some things you've never thought about, but end up really liking (Warner Brothers Cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and Daffy that spoof Superman) and some things you've never thought about, and still wish you didn't think about (The Adventures of Superpup - a live action TV puppet show with Superman as a dog/pupper, you've gotta see it to believe it).

For any Superman fan, this is truly the Ultimate in DVD sets. Even if you're only a fan of the Donner/Reeve Superman 1 & 2, and hate the rest, the extra bonus material justifies the extra money you'll be paying. If you do the math, you're really not paying that much more. And gosh darnit, that shiny metal box sure is purdy.

The REAL Superman Returns, A Fan's Appreciation of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

2006-12-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

This review is taken from the viewpoint of a person (me), who's favorite movies since his childhood were the first two Superman films. Even today I hold them in very high regard. Also, you may understand this review more if you have an understanding of what happened with the first two Superman films, very accurately described in detail and at length at the Superman Cinema homepage. Give it a read, it's very interesting especially since we've got a quarter century of hindsight. Now onto the review/appreciation.

A brand new Christopher Reeve Superman movie. If that line alone doesn't sell you on this, then you, kind sir, or ma'am have no heart. Forget Bryan Singer's well-intentioned but ultimately dissapointing Superman Returns, this is where the REAL Superman Returns.

I don't remember much of what my science professor taught me in high school, but what little I did retain was all wrong, because Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve show us really what real chemistry looks like. You can't just put some hot broad in a film and expect chemistry like that (See Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four....actually on second thought, don't). Unlike Alba, Kidder was not a knockout-type beauty, but had more of a subtle beauty, she had a nice smile that wasn't really big or overly exaggerated like we tend to see these days and her eyes could catch you off guard at so many turns. As much as Reeve brought to Superman, Kidder was right there behind him. Without her, Superman would have been and is a completely different beast, and an ugly one at that.

Christopher Reeve is most heartwarming and charming as Superman and Clark Kent. He exudes a quirky attitude as Clark Kent, and an airtight confidence as Superman. He is so likable I can't help but smile everytime he's on the screen. His portrayal of Superman and Clark Kent has been so ingrained in my mind, that everytime I read a Superman comic book I hear his voice saying the words on the page inside my head.

One of the most pleasant surprises was the never before seen Marlon Brando footage. Now I know why I was so dissapointed with the Brando footage in Superman Returns, it's because they saved all the good stuff for this flick. The scenes with Brando and Reeve are so essential to the film that its a surprise the theatrical version worked without it. In fact, their many new scenes together address one of the biggest plot holes in the theatrical version, namely how Clark/Superman gets his powers back after he gives them up for Lois.

Among the other new scenes of note are a new opening, where Lois thinks she figures out that Clark's really Superman. The second time's a charm though as another new scene shows her finally figuring out Superman's true identity. It's a lot more clever and rewarding than the original theatrical version where Clark just stumbles into the fireplace.

Gone are some of the things that most fans have always hated about the theatrical version. The two biggest are the finger beams that the Phantom Zone criminals use, and their much shortened invasion of a small American town. The former because it was just seemed silly and untrue of the comic, and the latter because of its heavy-handed way in which it protrayed the small U.S. town as being populated with stereotypical hicks.

The movie isn't without it's problems. While most of the new footage fits like a glove, some of the it sticks out like a sore thumb. Unfortunate but forgivable given the circumstances. It's a real shame this movie can never be fully completed. It brings up the interesting question, how awesome would the Superman series have been if Donner had stayed on board to guide the ship? Donner says himself that he would've been in for the long run if he had the opportunity.

For people who never enjoyed or watched Superman, you might watch this and wonder what all the fuss is about. This isn't for you, this is for the hardcore fans of the original films, who believe it or not, are actually the biggest reason this "new" film even exists. This is proof positive that online fan campaigns CAN work, when done PROPERLY. For fans of Superman, Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a revelation. It's something we've wanted forever, but never truly thought we would ever get. And now that it's here, we're pinching ourselves. This is a must buy. You'll believe again that a man can fly.

There's never anything good on television...

2006-12-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

Because everyone always complains that nothing good is ever on TV and people seem to care about my opinion on the subject, here's a recommendation for every day of the week. Give one a shot, give em all a shot, or don't do anything, just don't keep complaining to me. And remember, VCRs, video capture cards, PVRs and BitTorrent are your friends!

Mondays:
8PM - CBS - How I Met Your Mother
A romantic comedy about a bunch of 20-somethings in New York. Ok, that just described half the shows on TV, but this one is a real standout. It's well-written, all the main characters are perfectly cast, and dammit it makes me laugh. Believe it or not, but Doogie Howser is the real star of the show, he steals every scene he's in and usually has at least a few laugh out loud moments every show.

Tuesdays:
9PM - CW - Veronica Mars
I've done everything short of forcing people to watch this, Clockwork Orange-style, and I'm afraid it's going to come to that unless you people start watching this. I've said it before, but for all Buffy fans that need something new to latch onto, this is it!!

Wednesdays:
8PM - FOX - Bones
This is a great little gem of a show that you probably haven't even heard of. It's about "a skilled forensic anthropologist" and a "special agent of the FBI's homicide Investigations Unit." Sounded about as interesting as a wet sock to me, but the cast and their great chemistry together is the real key to this show's success.

Thursdays:
8:30PM - NBC - The Office
Funniest show on TV. I count the number of days until new episodes of The Office air, and every week without a new Office makes me very sad inside.

Fridays:
Uhhh....call it a catchup day or whatever. But really there isn't much worthwhile television on Fridays.

Saturdays:
6PM - SPACE - Battlestar Galactica
I originally avoided this show because I grew tired of Scifi (thanks, Star Trek and Mr. Lucas) and because I had always thought of the original Battlestar as a cheesy product of the 80s that people only liked because it brought back sentimental childhood memories. Boy, was that a mistake. This is pretty close to the best thing on TV right now. It's filled with drama, intrigue, social commentary, and cliffhangers that will make you mad because you can't wait to see what happens next.

Sundays:
10PM - CTV - Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
This new drama about the goings-on and backstage riffraff of a sketch comedy show not unlike Saturday Night Live is the best new show of 2006. It's smartly-written and smartly-acted (almost too much so sometimes), but don't expect non-stop laughs, this is at its core a drama, but it's definately not without its laughs.

Honorable Mention
Mondays - 9PM - FOX - 24
This will make up for Friday. The Jack Bauer Power Hour deserves some recognition here because it's been one of my faves of the last half-decade. Season six begins in January, and goes non-stop with new episodes every week until it ends in May. Good for all you people who hate reruns (myself included) but bad because we gotta wait longer for new episodes to start (also myself included). This show takes place in real-time with each episode representing an hour in an entire day that plays out over the whole season. What makes this show great is that the writers and producers throw logic out the window for entertainments sake, and give us almost non-stop twists and turns.

Game Review: Gears of War

2006-11-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

This game is just so good, I had to give it it's own post.

Gears of War is one of those games that had so much hype around it that people not familiar with games or remotely interested in the Xbox 360 know about. This is usually a deathbell for a game, as too much hype can be a bad thing. But in the case of Gears of War, it lives up to it, for the most part.

Let's start with the good. First up, Graphics. Exceptional. Quite possibly the best graphics I've seen on a home video game console to date. Some of the in-game cinematics looked almost like movie quality CGI. The shadows, the lighting, the way the blood splatters, is extremely impressive. All with a steady framerate to boot.

Sound and music is also exceptional. When you rev up the chainsaw and slice someone in half, you can actually feel it through the sound. The developers made the smart choice to employ an exceptional orchestral score, again adding to the feel of a big budget Hollywood blockbuster-type production.

All these things add up to create a campaign mode that is atmospheric, action-packed, and most important of all, fun! The campaign can be played in single-player or cooperatively with another player, which can be done online and offline. Cooperatively is definitely the way to go. This game is meant to be played with others working together as a team. In single-player, your A.I. teammates just don't cut it as they seem to die way too much, and when you try to go and save them, that's when you end up getting killed.

The real meat of this game's replay value is its online multiplayer where you team up with up to 3 others in 4 vs. 4 matches. While I love those 20 and 30+ multiplayer deathmatches, there was just too much chaos, which I guess is also part of the appeal. But in Gears, they chose to go with a lean and mean multiplayer by going 4 on 4, a number which is actually perfect for this type of game. To succeed in multiplayer, you must work well as a time. It's all about communication, taking cover, suppressing fire and flanking. There is no bigger satisfaction than sneaking up behind an unsuspecting victim and chainsawing them into 2 bloody pieces. A close second would be calling a satellite strike down on your opponent. And of course, there's always the smile-inducing headshot with the sniper rifle.

Now for the bad, about the only thing I can fault this game on its short length and anticlimactic ending that no doubt sets up a sequel. While it was short, I liked that the campaign had action at every turn. There was no filler, no library levels, no boring dungeon-crawling-random-battle power leveling. It's short, but it is so sweet you'll get a cavity. (Yep, I love my lame cliches.)

This game earns its M rating, and rather peculiarly warns like most games today that "Your game experience may change during online play." Now this is a warning they usually apply to E or T rated games because of certain people who could possibly swear during online play, something game companies have no control over. However, Gears is already an M rated game, so will the online play change into an E-rated game?

It may have taken a year, but the Xbox 360 finally has its killer app. For those who have an Xbox 360, you've already got this. For all others, it's time to get one.

Movie/DVD Review: Seven Samurai

2006-10-26T00:58:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest movies of all-time finally gets a DVD treatment worthy of its legendary status. I have held out on getting Seven Samurai on DVD since I first got my DVD player, sometime in 2000. The original barebones DVD was felt by many to be worthy of purchase for the film alone, no matter what its quality was, as long as it was watchable, afterall, it was Seven Samurai. However, I held off because I heard of rumours of a re-release with new features, new subtitle translation, and improved audio and video quality. Fast forward to September 2006 and our prayers were finally answered as the best DVD production company in the world, the Criterion Collection, finally releases a new 3-disc DVD of Seven Samurai, with upgraded video quality, and a smattering of quality extras.

About the movie (the simple version): Set in 16th century Japan, a small village hires a group of samurai to help protect themselves from bandits who have stolen and ransacked their village, killing some villagers in the process. The movie is long (almost 3.5 hours), but it's never boring, and I found myself sucked into this deeply engrossing movie. Like all great movies, it just gets better everytime you watch it. And everytime you watch, you find something new to like about it that you didn't catch before.

Criterion's DVD features a brand new restoration that simply looks incredible compared to previous releases. It's not perfect, but for a film made in 1954, it has never looked any better. But don't take my word for it, here's some comparisons of screen captures from various DVDs of the film at DVD Beaver. The audio is presented in original Japanese mono or Dolby Surround. The score is conveyed well but voices can seem harsh and tinny at certain times. Again, technological limits at the time of its making limit the quality it could've been. That being said, it's not a big deal and remains very listenable and watchable.

Extras include two informative full-length commentaries, one by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck, and another featuring a roundtable of several film scholars. Also included is a lengthy documentary on the making of Seven Samurai filled with much insight by surviving cast and crew. It does not include any comments from Kurosawa himself as it was made after his passing in 1998, however that slight is belayed by the inclusion of a two hour interview with Akira Kurosawa where he recounts nearly his entire career in filmmaking. Finally there is also an hour long documentary called "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences" which looks at the film's influences from other cinema, as well as the Samurai tradition and lifestyle.

You ever see those DVDs that scream at you "HOURS AND HOURS OF EXTRA FEATURES" and when you finally see them, it's either grossly inflated, or complete dreck? With this release, you not only get quantity, but you also get quality. Criterion's releases tend to be more pricey than the average DVD release, but they're worth it. It's obvious that this company is made up of people who love movies. Each movie they release is done with the utmost care and respect, with quality being their primary goal.

For people who owned previous versions of this movie, this is well-worth the upgrade, and for those who've never owned this movie, a true movie lover's collection is not complete without it.

The Hit List: Video Games Galore

2006-10-23T02:29:00.000-07:00

I like to consider myself a Jack of All Trades, a world traveler of sorts who enjoys the many various forms of entertainment, so with some movie, comic, and music reviews already done, I figured it was time to review some video games.

Lego Star Wars II (On All Major Systems) - the original Lego Star Wars was one of those fantastic games that not only thrived on concept, but in execution. The game not only appealed due to its idea, Legos + Star Wars, but it was also a pretty damn fun game! The second is even better, if only for the fact that it's based on the Star Wars movies that didn't suck. This is also one of the funniest games I've played in a while, as I was playing through the levels not only to progress further, but to see the great cutscenes the gamemakers made that reproduced memorable Star Wars scene but with lego and no dialogue.

Dead Rising (XBox 360) - why has it taken so long to make this game? A zombie survival game no doubt inspired by (IMO and many others) the best zombie movie of all-time, Dawn of the Dead. So much so in fact, that there's a disclaimer on the game cover that says that the makers of the game were not affiliated with George A. Romero or the producers of Dawn of the Dead in any way. Ok, so you're this photojournalist stuck in a mall full of zombies for 72 hours. This game is oh, so great, but could've been so much better (sequel anyone?). There is so much you can do in the game, but what really kills is what you CAN'T do in the game. That combined with some really moronic A.I. (you've gotta rescue other survivors), and a really ass-backwards save system stop this game from being a classic. And don't get me started on Survival mode. In said mode, you must survive for as long as you possibly can while your health slowly diminishes and food items DO NOT respawn. Now when I first unlocked this mode, I salivated at playing this because it seemed like the real meat and bones, something I could really sink my teeth into. But sadly, there is one major showstopper to this mode: You CAN'T save. You've gotta keep playing for 12+ hours straight with no breaks. I would've played this mode to death, but I'm not prepared to sit on a couch for an entire day to do it. Besides, if I kept my 360 on that long, it would probably melt. That being said, it's still a very good game, and a sequel that fixed said problems would be unbelievably welcome.

Kingdom Hearts II (PlayStation 2) - let's get this out of the way up front, the first Kingdom Hearts, a perfect marriage of Square's Final Fantasy and Disney's animated characters and worlds, is one of my favorite games of all-time. So it is to my dismay that this sequel is so fantastic in some ways, but drops the ball in one of the biggest departments. First, the good, the art and recreations of the many classic disney worlds is fantastic. The 3d-ifications of the 2d animated worlds is spot-on and looks incredible. Particularly, the Mulan, Tron (TRON!!!!), The Nightmare Before Christmas (I would love a standalone game made in the art style of these levels) and black and white Steamboat Willie inspired worlds standout. Now the bad, the gameplay, the battles are just too simple and easy. Now, while it may seem that you are given many options and types of attacks to perform during battles, you could literally button mash your way through this game. That being said, this is still a worthy game, especially for those who love the classic animated disney films.

Clubhouse Games (Nintendo DS) - this is one of those DS games that you will want to keep and play forever. It's made up of a large (40+) collection of various simple board, card and other games such as billiards and bowling. One of the best pick up and play games, you can play it for 5 minutes, or you can play it for hours. Some of the games, especially the non-board and card games have quirky stylus-based controls that aren't very effective and sometimes very annoying. Despite that, this game is still a winner. Not only can you play these games by yourself, but also with others, both online and offline. One of my favorite features of the Nintendo DS is the ability for people to play multiplayer games off a single cartridge, and this game is no exception, as 8 players with DS systems can play off a single game card. In addition, you can also play online over Nintendo's free Wifi service. In addition +1, this game's new in-game pictochat is really fantastic and makes me wish it was the standard pictochat on every DS. Overall, a very robust package, one I'll keep for a good while.

Graphic Novel Review: Pride of Baghdad

2006-10-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Written by Brian K. Vaughan, Art by Niko Henrichon.

Suggested For Mature Readers.

Brian K. Vaughan is no doubt one of the most prolific and best comic book writers out there. With the apoalyptic Y: The Last Man, politically-savvy Ex Machina, an extended run on Ultimate X-Men, and my personal favorite about a ragtag group of teenage superheroes, Runaways, he is no doubt one of my favorite writers in the biz, one who can almost write any kind of comic book and in any style. So when it was announced that he had an original graphic novel to be published recently, I jumped in not knowing anything about what the book was about, but knew it would be great because Vaughan wrote it.

And I was not disappointed. Pride of Baghdad is based on the true story of a small group (or pride in lion terms) who escape from the Baghdad Zoo during the 2003 U.S. led bombings. What we get is a multi-layered, textured story following 4 lions as they "escape" their Zoo surroundings and make it out into the "free" world. I don't want to talk about the story too much, so as not to give away the major points, but that is the gist of it in a nutshell.

It is at many times, endearing, playful, thoughtful and heartbreaking, sometimes all at once. The final page will leave you angry, or sad, or probably both depending on your interpretation of it. My view of the war has always been against it, and the reaction and fallout from this book, while being mainly positive, has created much heated debate over its message or messages, as has the real war that this book recreates.

I'm not quite sure what Vaughan really set out to say, most likely he wanted to leave it open to interpretation for the viewer. This, to me just added to the thoughtfulness of the story. It will make you think, and it will make you argue, and that is one thing comic books very rarely make you do.

All of this is brought to life by the incredible artwork of Niko Henrichon. You are hooked onto every page of this book, as it alternates showing us the highest of highs in life, and the lowest of lows. Writing is one thing, but in comics, the art can make or break a story, and this one makes it.

This graphic novel has been put out by DC Comics Vertigo imprint, and contains violence and profanity and is definitely NOT recommended for kids. The Lion King it is not, but well worth your time and money it certainly is.

It's Raining Free Stuff

2006-09-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

Check out what I won this week.

This begs the question: What Will I Win Next?

Stay tuned and ye shall find out.

Your Reason for Getting a Hi-Def Setup

2006-09-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

After seeing the new trailer for Nine Inch Nails' new live DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, Early 2007 can't come soon enough. The quality looks amazing, and I for one, cannot wait to see NIN is high-definition!

This also begs the question, where is that Closure DVD??!! Originally scheduled for Fall 2004, it is already 2 years later....

Now all we need a a similar dvd for NIN's Summer 2006 tour.

The Dark Knight: A Wishlist

2006-09-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

2005 saw the return of the Dark Knight in the definitive film version of Batman. Fans rejoiced, and critics heaped it with well-deserved praise. Having not been a fan of the previous 4 Batman films, Batman Begins was a revelation, finally, they got it right. Due to the critical and commercial success of Begins, Warner Brothers has gone forward with a sequel tentatively due for release in the summer of 2008. Here is a little personal wishlist I put together that I think are keys to keeping this franchise strong.

1. Christian Bale - Perhaps second only to Christopher Reeve in terms of perfect comic book movie casting. He IS Bruce Wayne, he IS Batman. He not only looks the part, he's got the acting chops to match those looks. Apparently he is signed for 3, but if he decides not to don the cowl beyond that, I would recommend not making any Batman films (at least for a little while).

2. Christopher Nolan - he's on board for this, but lock him in for more. His hiring was a bit of an eyebrow raiser, but upon reflection was genius and almost as crucial as Bale's casting. Note to big studios: Further reflection also notes that the best superhero movies have been directed by non-bignames who began their careers with small independent character-based movies. See: Superman (Richard Donner), X-Men (Bryan Singer), Spider-Man (Sam Raimi). Also note, the loss of the director can be catastrophic. See: X-Men 3, Superman 3 & 4. Like Bale, if Nolan doesn't wanna do another Batman, you might as well not make another one at all.

3. _NO_ Sidekicks - Do NOT introduce Robin, Batgirl, or anyone else that could take the focus away from Batman. The movie is called The Dark Knight, not The Dark Knight & Friends.

4. Gary Oldman / James Gordon - Another of the crucial support beams of the first movie. I envision the new Batman series following Gordon and Batman's friendship and Gordon's ascendency throughout the police ranks culminating with him becoming the Commissioner somewhere down the line in maybe the 3rd or 4th movie.

5. 1 Big Villain and 1 Supporting Villain - one of the pitfalls of the first four Batman films were too many villains, and too much focus on the villains. Batman Begins struck a perfect chord with 1 major villain and 1 supporting villain.

6. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard - they teamed to do the magnificent score for the first film. Will they come back? Let's hope so. Their score succeeds greatly in the area of emotional depth, it underlined the tone of the movie without overpowering it. Also, they are masters of their craft and knew how to build the tension by building the beats of the music. It's hard to explain, but if you give the score a listen to on its own, its very apparent. Personal favorite tracks from the score: Eptesicus, Molossus, Lasiurus.

7. A Strong Script - perhaps the biggest strength of the first film was its script. They took note of everything that didn't work in the previous Batman films, and took notice of what made Batman work. They did the definitive film origin of Batman and set the seeds for future films.

8. Lose Katie Holmes - you know what they say, everyone can be good in the right role. Rachel Dawes was not the right role for her. She was clearly miscast, she had no chemistry with Bale, but thankfully her role was small enough and competently done enough that she did not ruin the first film.

9. Great Supporting Characters - the casting of Morgan Freeman & Michael Caine lent an air of nobility and credibility to a "comic book movie." Comic books aren't just people with super powers flying around and beating the crap out of each other, and the casting of these well-known and well-respected actors may have gotten some people to see and enjoy the film who probably would normally not have seen such a film in the first place.

10. Not so choppy action scenes - As exciting and well done as the Begins' climax was, the action was just too shaky and choppily-edited. Honestly, Spider-Man 2's train action sequence made Batman Begins train sequence look amateurish by comparison. Of course, the action in Batman is more grounded in reality and could never be as high-flying as a Superman or Spider-Man film, but it would be nice to pull the camera back a little and tone down the shakiness.

I have a similar wishlist for the Fantastic Four sequel, but because it's so small, it doesn't warrant another post, so here it is in full: Don't Make One.

The Hit List

2006-08-27T00:10:00.000-07:00

Rather than write a long review of a single movie, I'll give a short paragraph on a number of recent TV shows, DVDs and movies I've enjoyed recently.

Veronica Mars: Season Two - my favorite show on TV right now. Superbly acted and written, this show follows the title character as she endeavors through high school. She's smart, sassy and one hell of a detective. The first season was a tightly woven collection of 22 episodes with an overlaying arc that carried the whole season. The second season was even tighter with each episode essential to the season's big arc. Hearts break and surprises abound. Buffy fans, this should be your new devotion. It's always on the cusp of cancellation, so buy the DVDs and watch it when it airs on the CW in October, and spread the word!

Murderball - a really, really great documentary about the sport of wheelchair rugby, wherein the athletes can smash into each with bonecrushing results, hence the name Murderball. There's some real drama here, the kind you can't make up where a former American player, formerly considered the best in the world is cut from the team as he became older, and consequently slower. Feeling betrayed, he becomes head coach of Canada and helps them defeat the American juggernaut. "How does it feel to betray your country" he is rhetorically asked. A very insightful movie that will open your mind and smash your expectations of "lesser-abled" individuals. As one of the subjects says himself "I've done more in my chair than I've ever been able to do walking." Very compelling stuff.

Wonderfalls: The Complete Series - A great show with a great cast with a lead actress I defy you not to fall in love with or at least develop a small crush on. Of course it was on the Fox network and cancelled after 4 episodes. 13 were made and they're all in this set with a heaping of extras. It's a very quirky comedy that requires you to suspend your disbelief on a certain

Short Cuts: Criterion Collection - this 2 disc set is loaded with quality extras. You know movies like Crash that have large casts that interweave several stories together? Robert Altman is the king of them, and this is one of his masterpieces. 3+ hours long, but never boring, and always engaging.

We Were Soldiers - I remember the first time I saw this I didn't like it that much, but I didn't hate it either. I think it was because around the time the film was made, we were just overloaded with war movies. But the second time around was much much better. The movie is almost one big action scene where the audience is dropped into the middle of a particularly difficult battle. A very, very good movie. If you overlooked this the first time, give it another shot.

A Very Long Engagement - bought this recently because I saw it for cheap, but I would've gladly paid 10 times for this gem. From the director and star of Amelie, but don't think this is Amelie 2. A romantic epic set in WW1 follows Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) as she searches for her lover, despite being told of his death. Audrey Tautou has quickly become one of my favorite actresses and I've only seen her in a few movies. This is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, and the cinematography on display in this movie will leave you breathless.

Superman: The Animated Series - Vol. 3 - The last and best set of this animated show, while not the definitive Superman, is still extremely enjoyable. Kudos to the producers for ending the show on a note that isn't typically "Superman" but fits with where the show was headed, a very gutsy move especially for a character not known for being dark.

Justice League - Season 1 - more enjoyable animated goodness from the guys that brought us the Batman, Superman and Batman Beyond Animated series. While this is probably the worst set of anything from the whole Paul Dini/Bruce Timm DC animated universe, it does have a few gems (Justice Guild!) and it also introduces us to my new favorite JLAer, Hawkgirl.

Justice League - Season 2 - the producers sat down and took all the bad parts of the first season of Justice League and fixed them. They kick things up a notch right from the very beginning and carry that momentum all the way to the slambang 3-part finale Starcrossed that really sets the tone for the future, and IMO, the best of anything they've done, Justice League Unlimited. October 24th can't come soon enough (Justice League Unlimited Season 1 releases then).

Born On The Fourth On July - got this in the Ultimate Oliver Stone collection, and this was the first flick I watched from it, because it is one of my all-time favorites. Forget all that Scientology and Katie Holmes bullshit, anyone who doesn't think Tom Cruise is a great actor hasn't seen this film. IMO, the best anti-war movie ever made. One of those movies that has a timeless message that's just as relevant now and maybe even moreso now than at the time it was made, and the time it portrayed.

Various Buster Keaton Short Films: Convict 13, Daydreams, Cops, The Playhouse, Hard Luck, The Blacksmith, The Electric House, The Goat, My Wife's Relations, and the list goes on and on - Let's get this straight upfront. Buster Keaton is a genius, he is one of the innovators of visual humour in the 20th century. He's been copied, studied and idolized so much by modern day actors from Jackie Chan to Johnny Depp. Many people see his gags used in modern day movies and think to themselves how original they are. Well, he did that back into the 1920s. Now that is really something for someone to still be original almost a century later. I could talk on and on about Buster Keaton because he's one of the few people I've truly idolized, so I'll just leave it at that. Go find his movies! They are frequently available for free from your local library! You can't beat that.

Wedding Crashers - Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan are pretty much given free reign to really show off their comedic abilities to the fullest here. This is one of those movies where I would think about a joke that happened earlier and just laugh out loud even when something unfunny was going on. Rachel McAdams is great (wouldn't she be great as Susan Storm - Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four?). She has 2 very rare assets among actresses today, beauty AND acting ability.

Land of the Dead - Forget every other zombie movie. When it comes to zombies, no one does it better than George A. Romero. He's the real master, he created the genre, and no one else has even come close to what he's done. This movie wasn't just good, it was awesome and it just plain rocked. Please, please let there be more Romero zombie goodness. This is almost like a Romero best of mix tape; it's got action, drama, adventure, great ideas, and explores both the human and zombie aspects of living in the new world. Overall, an extremely satisfying movie.

Day of the Dead - Having seen Land of the Dead and enjoying the heck out of it, I decided to go back and give a second chance to Romero's only film which I disliked. With an open mind, I enjoyed and respected this film so much more. I think my original fault the first time was that I expected a film more akin to Night or Dawn. But what Day tries to do is so much different than those films. In this film, Romero really tries to deconstruct zombies and deconstructing the whole human-zombie differentiation. It's more of a talky-thinky movie unlike the more action and drama oriented Night and Dawn. I still place Day as the weakest of Romero's zombie films, but now I like it and respect it much more than I use to.

Once a Thief - A lot of people see Chow Yun Fat as this slick and cool character from films like The Killer and Hard Boiled. As great as he is at playing the slick and cool character, CYF may be even better at the comedic roles, and in this movie he gets to show off his more comedic side. Not to be confused with the far inferior english language remake, also made by Woo.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - A smartly written dark comedy starring two great character actors, Robert Downey, Jr. & Val Kilmer. I'm really beginning to like these guys more and more as they move away from standard Hollywood fair and towards sharply written, dialogue driven independent movies. Oh, and Michelle Monaghan sizzles, she could be the typical Hollywood big star if she wanted to be, but I hope she sticks with these little treasures.

New Photos on Flickr

2006-08-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hey, updated with some pictures from the all-singing, all-dancing, all-guitar hero playing unveiling of my latest masterpiece: the aptly named Steve's Guitaraoke Palace. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., I had a dream, and it was to play Guitar Hero, with Karaoke Revolution _and_ a dance pad all at the same time. Requirements: 2 PS2s, Karaoke Revolution Party with microphone, Guitar Hero with Guitar, dance pad and 2 televisions (I had a TV which allows to accept 2 signals and split the TV in half, displaying both signals). Sadly, Karaoke Revolution Party's sing and dance mode makes you sing and dance to a truncated version of the songs it features.

So sadly, my dream came to a crashing halt. We would have to settle with the combination of guitar and singing, which I have cleverly named "Guitaraoke." Sadly, only 1 song is featured in both games: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' "I Love Rock and Roll." The plan was to have me playing guitar, with Ron on vocals. The key to getting Guitaraoke was syncing the two games, which is quite hard, and which we were never quite able to do exactly. After several abortive attempts were thwarted by Gordon's poor timing, we were finally able to sync it up somewhat, but alas we were thwarted yet again by Ron's inexperience with "I Love Rock and Roll" and he failed the vocal parts. We were never able to sync it as closely as the time when Ron failed in singing, so curse you Ron! We were finally able to do the song with Jess on vocals, but it was odd as the 2 songs were ever so slightly out of sync. In the end, we did what we set out to do, somewhat.

Note to music/rhythm game makers. Combine drummania, Guitar Hero and several guitars, karaoke revolution and you've got you're very own Garage Band. The possible results make me salivate.

Update: For those who want higher quality photographic evidence as well as incriminating video footage, email or message me.

Music Review: Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

2006-07-26T01:13:00.000-07:00

Having recently seen and enjoyed the movie Friday Night Lights, one of the aspects of the movie I enjoyed the most was the movie's soundtrack composed primarily by post-rock group Explosions In The Sky. As such, I went in search of more material by this band. Enter their 2003 album, The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Simply put; lush, epic soundscapes. No vocal clutter. Just guitar, bass and drums. Rock at its simplest, its core, and its best.

Ever listen to a song which has great music but then you feel like the vocals are a distraction? Not so here. Part of the "post-rock" movement is the abolition of vocals. This is my favorite kind of music, the kind of music you can listen to, lean back, close your eyes and be transported into a different world.

Rather than have a large collection of short songs, here we get 5 grandiose, epic songs. I like the idea here, rather than a bunch of songs with maybe 1 or 2 "good" ones and the rest filler, they concentrated on making 5 great songs, each approximately 8-10 minutes in length. There is no filler here, each track is big, beefy, grand and beautiful.

Their sound is amazing, especially the guitars, and each member of the 4 person band compliments each other perfectly. Fans of guitar will not go wrong here. I am very much looking forward to future work from this group.

Personal favorite tracks: Your Hand In Mine, followed by First Breath After Coma and The Only Moment We Were Alone

Tracklist:
1. First Breath After Coma
2. The Only Moment We Were Alone
3. Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean
4. Memorial
5. Your Hand In Mine

The End of an Era

2006-07-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

When Nine Inch Nails' performance at Mountain View on Saturday Night came to a close, so did the [WITH_TEETH] era.

But with this end, comes a new beginning. Work on a new album has been in progress throughout the last year, and should be completed within another year. And with the completion of the new album, should come more touring.

As the With Teeth era comes to a close, I just wanted to say thanks to Trent for confirming, that yes, good music DOES exist! And that Live Shows shouldn't be pre-recorded, but in fact, played LIVE (what a concept!)

Another half-decade wait seems implausible, but anything can happen . Is Nine Inch Nails still pertinent? Are they still relevant? Can Trent still bring it in the studio? Can he bring it live? A resounding YES on all accounts. Great music does exist, and its name is Nine Inch Nails.

Goodbye WITH TEETH, hello HALO TWENTY-THREE, whatever you shall be called. It was fun while it lasted, and I bet it'll be even better when it starts up again.

Movie Review: Singin' In The Rain

2006-07-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

So I saw this again recently, and I hadn't seen it in so long that it was almost like watching it for the first time, again. Well, it's even better than I remember. Great musical numbers, a great look that is reproduced fantastically on Warner's 2 Disc Special Edition DVD, heck, I can't imagine it looking better when it was first released in theatres. The colours jump off the screen and the amount is detail is staggering for such an old film, I've seen many recent releases that look worse than this movie. Every single member of the cast is pitch-perfect, hitting all the high notes, both musically and comedically. The cast looks like they were having fun making the movie, and this makes the film even more fun to watch, it's a real joy to watch this. Warner's Special Edition DVD has the aforementioned fantastic transfer, sound is provided in a fancy new Dolby Digital 5.1 track that sounds great, but is never too flashy for its own good. Purists will appreciate that the original mono track is included. Extras are high in quantity and quality. This is the best kind of DVD, a great movie, looks great, sounds great, tons of great extras. The great looking transfer would be enough for any fan, but the well rounded package puts it over the top. I know it's cliche, but they really don't make 'em like this anymore. Maybe the best movie musical ever, and certainly one of the best DVDs ever.

Rules of the Game

2006-07-02T03:47:00.000-07:00

Just some quick pointers to people who always seem to get the wrong end of the karmic stick.

It is a bad idea to:
- Insult someone then ask them for a favour (!!!!!!). I dunno why, but people do this to me all the time. Even worse, when I tell them no they think I'm the jerk. People can be very strange....

It is a good idea to:
- Kiss ass. Sometimes outright, but not too much. Subtle methods are preferred. For example if you wanted to kiss my ass in a subtle manner, you would work in a sly method of praising something I like, rather than outright saying that I am awesome (I like to hear that, but not all the time).
- Donate to charity. Research Foundations (like Cancer, etc.) and Local Hospitals (those people keep you alive when you're in a really bad way) are highly recommended. Not only are they good causes, they NEED the money. Here's a tip, instead of giving small change to charity, write a cheque for a larger amount semi-regularly (say every year or so), and ask for a tax receipt. Donations larger than $20 are tax deductible, anything smaller is fair game to the revenue service.

The common rule to karma is: do something good, get rewarded; do something bad, get punished. Take these to heart and your life will be so much better (I know mine is).

Movie Review: Cars

2006-07-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pixar Movie - Definition: Greatness. Awesome. _Insert positive attribute here_.

Bad Pixar Movie - Definition: one that only makes the top ten best films list of any given year rather than the top five.

As of the weekend of June 25, of the current Top Ten Grossing Movies in North America, Cars is the only movie with a fresh rating (a movie which has more than 60% positive reviews from major movie critics) at Rotten Tomatoes.

Yeah, so the reviews have been middling (for a Pixar film, that is). Other filmmakers would kill to get the positive reviews that Pixar garners. They've set the bar so high that anything else in just pales in comparison. No other 3D animation studio comes close, their movies sound the best, look the best, make you laugh the most, make you cry the most, they are simple the best period.

Movie Review: Superman Returns

2006-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Yep, he's back, but should we care? After a grandiose opening, the Superman series of movie just kept losing steam, each one getting gradually worse. The Superman movie series also has the distinction of being one of the few movie series where the special effects get progressively worse.

First off, Superman/Clark Kent himself. Brandon Routh does a serviceable job but never really looks comfortable in the costume, and overplays Clark's geekiness. He just doesn't look comfortable when he's flying, especially when he takes off and lands, and doesn't look natural like Christopher Reeve did. Now he really made me believe a man could fly.

We needed more of Clark's mom and Jor-El. Such integral characters in the life of Superman, but nearly forgotten in this movie. The way they promoted it, it was as if Marlon Brando was going to be such an integral part of the movie. While it is amazing how they added him into the movie, it left me underwhelmed.

Too much homage to Superman. As in Smallville, this movie pays homage to the Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve's original interpretation of Superman to a fault. There are so many echoes of the first film that they tried to play as homage, but to me played as repetitious. Like when Superman heralds the safety of flying ("Statistically speaking..."), Lois's spelling inquiry ("How many Fs in catastrophe?") and when Clark throws the baseball several miles, Clark dropping his glasses and wanting to tell Lois his secret. And while I love the opening theme and title credits of the first movie, this movie copies it almost exactly and it just felt "been there, done that, 28 years ago".

The music in this movie evokes my general feeling about this film "very good, but not great." Many of the themes by John Williams from the original are back "re-imagined" (somebody please kill this word) by new composer John Ottman, in addition to some new themes. Most of it was very well done, but just doesn't match up to the original. That being said, John Williams score for Superman The Movie is just about as perfect as you can get, and it is my favorite film score of all-time, so I'm biased.

On to the things I liked about this movie: The Clark-Lois story was so well done that I hated when it would cut to Lex's story. My favorite scene: when Clark uses his see-through vision to watch Lois as she leaves on the elevator.

Kate Bosworth is really great in this movie. Her Lois is very different than what we've seen in previous incarnations, but still evokes the general feeling of who Lois should be in relation to Superman. She really pulls off the intelligent, go-getting reporter type, and it's easy to see why Clark would be in love with her. She has some of the more emotional scenes in this movie and really helps give some emotional impact to a movie that lacks it.

Many have complained about the age of the leads, but it didn't matter to me, yes they are young, but I think with younger leads, it would connect better with today's younger audience. That being said, all the controversy does make you think, and one of the thoughts in my mind was 5 years previous, would Clark Kent even look like he's been through puberty yet?

I saw the movie in IMAX 3D, which is definitely the way to go if you don't mind paying a little extra and it's available near you. However, only 20 minutes of the movie are in 3D, usually the most exciting. Many may be put off thinking it's accomplished using the crappy red-blue glasses, but it's not. It's done using new special technology and slightly tinted glasses. It is extremely well done and way better than the headache inducing red-blue glasses method. I only wish that the entire film was done in 3D, but I understand that it couldn't be done and still be released day and date with the normal theatrical feature.

There's a lot a nitpicking by me, but that's because I love the original Superman so much. Christopher Reeve was literally born to play Superman, and to see someone else in the role is almost wrong. Christopher Reeve will always be Superman in my eyes. This film is really really good! In fact, those not familiar with the previous Superman movies will be able to enter this movie with a blank slate and enjoy the hell out of it. On my superhero movie scale, it doesn't quite crack my top five, but its close and is easily better than Superman 3 and 4, and way better than most of the other superhero dreck (I'm looking at you X3 and Fantastic Four). I really shouldn't complain too much since it really is a competently made Superman film. It really could've been worse, we could've had Superman fighting giant spiders, polar bears and gay robots for all we know. Here's to Superman Forever and Superman & Robin (that's a joke about how the Superman movies have stolen the Batman movie names - Batman should steal Superman's naming...imagine the marquee: BATMAN BEGINS 4: THE QUEST FOR PEACE).

Movie Review: Baadassss!

2006-06-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Instead of posting reviews of movies that are mainstream, I'll make use of these movie reviews to recommend those harder to find gems, those small little movies you may never have heard about, instead of whatever generic Hollywood remake or sequel is out.

I really hate when movie reviews spoil movies for you, but I understand how they have to sometimes in order to understand the critic's feelings. However here, I will generally post about the stuff I love and will try and give a quick synopsis without major spoilers. It's a really touchy thing because sometimes even the smallest detail can be a huge spoiler. I know it is very hard to do sometimes with the saturation of modern media, but it is my belief that a film is best enjoyed when you go in knowing absolutely nothing about it. How many times have you seen a movie that has been so hyped, and as a result was so dissapointing? With that said, onto the review.

This time I am choosing one of my favorite films in recent history, Mario Van Peebles's Baadasssss! That's two As and five Ss. Not only does Mario serve as writer and director, but also stars as his father. His father, Melvin Van Peebles was a pioneer, and his film, Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song, was destined to fail before it was even made. Shot in a pseudo-documentary guerrilla style much in the same way his father did more than 30 years ago, this is an always exciting and compelling look at the state of filmmaking in the 1970s. And who better to tell the story than Melvin's own son Mario, who was with his father the summer this film was made and witnessed everything firsthand. There are so many things to like about this film, it's quick pace, and fly-on-the-wall style give us great insight to Melvin Van Peebles's process.

I have never really been a fan a Mario Van Peebles's work before this, having seen him in various random movies in the 80s and 90s. However here, he shows a certain charisma and a passion for the material (perhaps because it is so close to his heart).

If you rent this, make sure to make time to watch the plentiful and informative extras. Most compelling of all is the audio commentary with father and son. Many of the events that occurred during this movie carry a bit of that "you can't make this up" feeling and is all corroborated by the father. One of the more interesting tidbits, some clips from the original Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song are seamlessly integrated with new footage shot for the movie, and it turns out Mario had to pay his father to use this footage.

This is the best kind of movie, the one that makes you wanna go out and explore more about the history of Black Cinema, or find a copy of Melvin's book on the Making of Sweetback that this movie is based on and even try to find a copy of Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song (still no luck).

Important Cinematic Landmarks: Catwoman and Batman & Robin

2006-06-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

I know most of you will have read the title of this post and laughed, but if you really think about it, it's true. Because of the monumental failures of these films, DC Comics and Warner Brothers really took a step back to look at what made their superhero movie franchises work and what made them crap. From there, they took some huge risks in rebooting the Batman franchise by hiring a competent, but unproven director, but their masterstroke was finally casting someone who WAS Batman. Batman Begins was an unqualified success, easily the best of all the Batman films ever made. From then, it's been great news after great news. They basically gave Bryan Singer pretty much carte blanche to reinvigorate their Superman franchise. The film isn't even out yet, but early buzz and indicators such as the trailers that have been released show a spark that hasn't been in the Superman series since the first movie came out in 1978. And it doesn't end there, they went and hired Joss Whedon to write and direct a feature film for Wonder Woman. Very little is known about it right now, but as a self-professed lover of all things Joss, that was quite possibly the best news yet.

If Catwoman and Batman & Robin had to be made for Batman Begins and Superman Returns to exist then so be it. You can look at them as coal and diamonds, sometimes it takes something really bad to make something really good.

Concert Review: Nine Inch Nails at Ridgefield, WA - 5/27/06

2006-06-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

With the current Nine Inch Nails summer tour in support of last year's With Teeth album, main man Trent Reznor stated that this would be the last round of touring "for a while". To NIN fans, a while can be an eternity, who knows how long it could be, after all, With Teeth came out 6 years after his last album, and NIN didn't tour again for 5 years after his last tour. That's half a freaking decade folks. My friends and I were dissapointed that a Vancouver date wasn't announced for this last leg of touring (as Trent & Co. were doing a summer tour in outdoor venues, I blame Vancouver's lack of a suitable outdoor venue for this oversight). Next closest place, Ridgefield, WA, at the southern end of Washington, a stone's throw away from Portland, Oregon, and a 6-8 hour drive depending on certain conditions such as traffic. But that wasn't gonna stop us, we had to see NIN again, there was no way we wanted to wait another 5 years to see them after their Vancouver show in Sept. 05. So we sucked it up and made it a long weekend in Portland, OR (yay for tax free shopping).

The weather was cold and damp all weekend, rain wasn't a bother as the venue was open, but covered. First opening band was TV On The Radio. Pretty much a straight rock group, of very little relation to NIN's sound, and greeted thusly by the crowd. A lukewarm reception at best. The singer tried his best, but the rest of the band needs to learn a little something about performing live. The Bass Player had his back turned against the crowd for the ENTIRE performance, is it so hard to turn around and face the people you're playing for? And having one of the guitarist play the Maracas for a couple songs? At least have him feigning air guitar or something. It takes a personality like Trent to be able to pull off something cheesy and turn it into something cool (see: Trent rocking the tambourine).

Next up was Bauhaus, legendary electronic pioneers who hit their peak back in the 80s. Reznor cites Bauhaus as one of his major influences, and had stated how he almost didn't want to go on after them. The crowd was very respectful and 90% of the audience stood for their performance. Bauhaus is known for their electronic sound, but gave a setlist full of energy no doubt more geared more towards the NIN audience's taste.

Next Up was NIN. Their stage setup and set design was unique from their previous show in Vancouver. Upon first inspection it was very unique and no doubt made everyone wonder what it would be like. At first you just see 4 vertical sets of horizontal grates. Very strange looking, and we had no idea what we were in for. It turns out those horizontal grates had rows of lights that lit up to make some absolutely fantastic looking visuals. In the back were 5 LED screens that made the sets backdrop and projected some even more awesome visuals. All this in addition to NIN's standard fog machines, strobe lights and lighting setup.

The intro was very cool and very sneaky. Pinion has long been NIN's opener, and once the lights went out and Pinion started playing, that's when you knew NIN was about to start. This concert was not the case. I say the opener was sneaky because they started while the house lights where still on. You could hear a strange electronic beat on the speakers but couldn't really tell if it was starting, but we all stood up in case. Then you hear Trent start singing the opening strains of Somewhat Damaged and see him silhouetted behind the grating. Once he reached a certain part of the song, the band joined in, the house lights went off, and the incredible visuals exploded on stage. Very, very awesome. Somewhat Damaged is one of NIN's more angry songs, and it was definately a great kick start. From there the grating was raised up and NIN continued their performance with setlist stalwarts, You Know What You Are?, Sin, Terrible Lie, and March of the Pigs.

One of the emotional highlights of the night followed as the stage was covered in a haze with a moody dark purple lighting, as they then played Something I Can Never Have. I had never heard this before live, and it is always a treat to hear NIN play something new.

Next up was Closer. I love how they've deconstructed the song and turned it into a whole new animal for the new With Teeth tour shows. Whereas the old live version was almost a carbon copy of the album cut, and at one point 4 members each on a keyboard (a record for a rock band I'm pretty sure). The new version strips all those keybaords away and adds a lot more guitar, and even inserts a short part of The Only Time towards the end of the song. During the song, the 2 middle grates were down and showed a very cool blood like effect and the LCDs in the back throbbed as we saw Trent's silhouette in front of them. Always a crowd pleaser.

Following this is a new standby of the 05-06 tour, Burn, which if you haven't heard live before, sounds very different but very cool. After this is the always rocking Gave Up.

And next was another of the pleasant surprises of the night, Help Me I Am In Hell. Accompanying this was, the 4 grate-screens came down and treated us to some fantastic imagery, which at first was very peculiar at first, but as the song wore on, you could making out water bubbles, perhaps boiling water. Very trippy. After this I expected Happiness In Slavery, as these 2 songs almost always go hand in hand. Instead we were treated to Non-Entity, first played by Trent by himself on a piano with a beatbox, but now with his full band. Great song, although I think I still like the piano version slightly better. Dissapointed with no Happiness in Slavery, but that quickly subsided. Following Non-Entity was Only, which was one of those tracks I thought might not translate well live, but Trent and Co. always surprise, it's even better than the album cut. Next up was Wish, one of my personal favorites, this song never gets old, and this song always gets the adrenaline pumping, and this night was no exception.

Another surprise awaited us as Trent begins playing something off key alone on a solitary keyboard. I was expecting this to lead into The Frail, but instead was pleasantly surprised as he went straight into La Mer. The pleasant surprises continues, as the song leads straight into the most rocking version of Into the Void I have ever heard in my life. Simply incredible!! Following this is one of the more underrated tracks from The Fragile, The Big Come Down. So glad I got to hear this live. Suck was next and was one of the heaviest tracks of the night and satisfied the headbangers in all of us.

Next was another treat, another song I thought I would never hear live, their live cover of Queen's Get Down Make Love. Another rocking crowdpleasing that had the crowd jumping, bobbing their heads and shaking their fists to. Hurt followed up, and did not dissapoint. This song begins with just Trent alone with a keyboard, before the rest of the band joins in for the last verse. One of his more meaningful songs, Hurt always touches a chord with the crowd and brought on many lighters as well as some tears.

The concert winds down with The Hand That Feeds, a good wakeup call after Hurt, to bring us out of that somber mood and kicking our collective asses with some straight out rock.

Finally NIN finished with the seminal Head Like A Hole. This venue was seating, so their wasn't a mosh pit, but the crowd just couldn't hold it in anymore. People jumped, people cheered, and people bowed down before the one they served.

The weather was cold and wet, despite it being the "summertime" which Trent lamented about. As he talked about how this would be his last tour for a while he stated how for the last tour he was convinced "to tour the coldest part of the country during the coldest time of the year," and because of that, "We froze our balls off. So they ask me now to do a summer time, it'll be outdoor, it'll be nice." Small pause. "So here are....Freezing our balls off". In Trent, We Trust.

Gladly, the venue was covered, so rain was not a problem, and all the movement that comes with enjoying NIN (headbanging, fist pumping, moshing, jumping, clapping, etc.) warmed us up sufficiently.

Maybe a little shorter than previous shows, but despite that, my favorite of all 3 NIN shows I've been to (The only thing that can top a NIN concert is another NIN concert). For all that crap we had to put up with the whole weekend, this made it worth it.

Small addendum: the parking at the Amphitheatre at Clark County is setup very strangely, and upon exiting, it looked like it would take at least half an hour, and maybe even longer than an hour to leave the place. Thankfully, I like to be very prepared and anal about things, and perusing the Clark County Amphitheatre's website, I found a sheet you can printout to get VIP parking access if you have at least 4 people in your car. This turned out to be a lifesafer, and instead of being stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour, gave us a special clear exit and let us get out of the parking area faster than you can say "I LOVE YOU TRENT!"

With the show, and my new TV in the span of a few days, this might well have been one of the greatest weeks of my life. Hell, without my new TV, I would still be able to say that last sentence and not be lying.

The Setlist in Full:
1. Somewhat Damaged
2. You Know What You Are?
3. Sin
4. Terrible Lie
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. Closer (To The Only Time)
8. Burn
9. Gave Up
10. Help Me I Am In Hell
11. Non-Entity
12. Only
13. Wish
14. La Mer
15. Into The Void
16. The Big Come Down
17. Suck
18. Get Down Make Love
19. Hurt
20. The Hand The Feeds
21. Head Like A Hole

Told you it was gonna be long :)

Best Day for Mail Ever.

2006-05-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

Remember my last post? (Scroll down, I'll wait) Back? Well I got this delivered to me today. Here's a pic of it setup in my computer room. As if that wasn't good enough, I also got this, and this (it's not too clear in that pic, but I can get a free Ipod shuffle, and all I have to do to get it is test drive a car). All in all, a very good day for mail. A very good day for mail indeed. Coming Soon: My incredibly long review of NIN's recent and amazingly awesome show in Ridgefield, WA.

Safeway - Lucky Break

2006-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

This makes my Skateboard signed by Tony Hawk look like pocket change.

Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

2006-03-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

So I finally saw Howl's Moving Castle, I decided to skip it in theatres (the last movie that I was motivated enough to see in theatres was Serenity) and blind-bought it (I own all Miyazaki movies on DVD anyway, so why stop now?). I approached with trepidation as some reviews said the story was muddled and detracted from the film. Upon watching the film, I can definately understand their qualms, but still enjoyed the movie immensely. Despite the lacklustre response to the storytelling, all reviewers agreed on at least one thing, the look of the movie. In a word, gorgeous. In more words, quite possibly the most beautiful traditionally animated movie ever made. I'm a certified Miyazaki freak, so I loved this movie. For people new to Miyazaki however, I would still highly recommend this.

Most Overrated DVD Feature

2006-03-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

Alternate Endings - they're so useless.....instead of saying "Hi," the guy says "Hello" and voila theres your alternate ending aka cash grabber. To me, when I see an alternate ending, that just tells me the filmmakers lacked the filmmaking ability to do a proper ending. And don't believe their bullshit "oh, we did it to give the fans a choice!". Alternate endings usually scream poor writing and poor filmmaking in general.

The Real Reason DVD Killed VHS

2006-03-18T02:25:00.000-08:00

Clearly, the number one reason why DVD killed VHS is simple. It's not the better picture quality, it's not surround sound, it's not the extras, it's because you don't have to rewind them. Shows you how lazy people are, all you had to do was press a single button and wait a minute or two.

Rant: Natural Flavours

2006-03-17T02:15:00.000-08:00

Here's something I always see on ingredient lists: Natural Flavours - what does that mean? This could mean anything! Urine is a natural flavor, dirt is a natural flavor, I don't get it, this one "ingredient" alone allows so much leeway and could mean almost anything. One could almost make a food item and put one ingredient on the package: "NATURAL FLAVOURS."

Seriously, there's gonna be stuff here soon...

2006-03-13T01:54:00.000-08:00

So I started this little blog on July 20th, 2005 with the intentions to post reviews of movies, games, music, etc. along with my certain observations of everyday life, some humourous, some angry, some both, and everything in between. Well it's March 13, 2006 and I still haven't put anything up here yet. That being said, the plan now is to post a little something every so often somewhat regularly. Until then....

FIRST!

2005-07-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

Boy are those people who always post FIRST! annoying....