Posts Tagged ‘ review

“My Presence Is A Present, Kiss My Ass.” – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy By Kanye West Album Review

Rap is dying. Let’s just face it. People are too caught up in shitty mainstream rap music to see good artists, like Atmosphere, Saul Williams, and (even though he is more well known…) Lupe Fiasco. When I heard Kanye West was going back to rapping on his new album, at the time called Good Ass Job, I was waiting for something that was only entertaining because it was drowning in its own ego, like most West albums. I listened to West every now and then, but I never thought he was anything more than a decently good rapper from the shitstream of popular rap. Though, when I started hearing the rave reviews of his new album, now titled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I will admit, it struck me as surprising. I mean, even Pitchfork gave him a 10/10 and they only give scores like that to The Cure! Being the curious man I am, I got the album and started listening to it. What hit me was one of the biggest surprises I have ever had while listening to a rap album. I mean, in a year where mostly nothing but shit came out, the one album that is coming from the biggest douche-bag in music (right next to Axl Rose and Metallica) today is the one you would expect to be the worst, right? Well, I nominate this album for “Biggest Shock of 2010″, because My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ended up being one of the greatest albums I have heard all year.

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“Try The Ketchup, Motherfucker!” – A Thousand Suns By Linkin Park Album Review

Cooooooooool. You see, this would be the point where I say “LINKIN PARK IS BACK!” but this isn’t Linkin Park. And for the first time, I feel that’s for the best. Let’s admit it: Minutes To Midnight was an attempt to distance themselves from a sound, not an attempt to make a great record. It was okay, but it was overall throwaway. Mike, Chester, Joe, Phoenix, Brad and Rob are still trying to distance themselves from the dead (or what should be dead) genre of nu-metal after becoming the pinnacle of it, but it looks like this time they are trying to do something more than just run away from the past. But the almighty question(s) is this: Is this better than what they have done before? Has Linkin Park finally proved they can make music that has the same energy, emotion and awesomeness as Hybrid Theory and Meteora? Have they finally been able to make themselves a band instead of just a snapshot of the music industry in the early 2000′s? When am I going to stop asking questions and start answering them? Right about now, actually.
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“How Come Nobody’s Tried To Be A Superhero?” – Kick-Ass (The Movie) Review

After months and months of hype, build-up, and impatient waiting, the movie adaptation of the comic “Kick-Ass”, a story about a normal, everyday teen who becomes a “superhero”, has finally come out. Directed by Matthew Vaughn and staring Aaron Johnson (who’s surprisingly British because he had me fooled he was American) as Dave Lizewski aka Kick-Ass, this is anything but your traditional superhero movie. But the question is, is it good? Now now, my friends, you just have to click below to see.

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Album Review – The Betrayed by Lostprophets

It’s been a long time guys. The rock/rap/nu-metal/pop/whatever (and UK!) band Lostprophets are back after a few years and a disappointing album. James Oliver, the band’s live keyboardist, stated that this new album, titled The Betrayed, had “the bite that Start Something (their second album, it was the heaviest of the three) had, with the song-ability of Liberation Transmission (their third album, which was very poppy and disappointing) but personality of Thefakesoundofprogress (their first album, which was an odd mix of metal, rock, and nu-metal… which turned out amazing).” Any Lostprophets fan would be excited as all hell for this album then! That just described awesomeness! Hell, I actually had hope that they would be able to redeem themselves. Now, notice how earlier I said that they are back. I really… REALLY wanted to say “and better than ever” but that, sadly, is just not the case.

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Compact Movie Review: GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

Yes, the long awaited GI Joe movie has finally come out. With a mix of new faces and well-known ones, it has it’s share of a good cast. It has enough explosions to make Michael Bay blush. It has more puns then a bad b-movie. For our lazy readers, let me sum it up into a few three word phrases: Ripcord and Scarlet. Lots of boom. HOLY CRAP ACTION! And the most important one, WASTE OF TIME.

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“I’m Back Now.” Eminem’s Relapse – Album Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, Eminem has returned! Along with Slim Shady. Yeah… the Slim Shady that shot himself at the end of “Encore”. I don’t know how! Oh, and Marshall Mathers is tagging along too! Yes, all three of Mr. Mathers’ alter egos is coming along for the ride on “Relapse”, Eminem’s first studio album in 4 long years.
Why was he gone so long? Anyone’s guess. But I think it has something to do with the murder of his best friend, Proof, his relapse into prescription pills after getting out of rehab, and overdosing and almost dying. I am just spit balling here, but it is a valid reason.

So, after four long years, is the mighty Em able to return to the rap game with the same fire as before? Click read more to see if he did.

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“It’s easy to do, just follow these steps…” Incredibad Review

The time has finally come. The Lonely Island, AKA The Dudes, AKA Andy Samburg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, has released their debut album, entitled Incredibad. It not only has your favorite SNL Digital Short songs, like “Lazy Sunday” and “Dick In A Box”, it has original songs… which are just as good as the other songs. Let’s start… shall we?

The album starts with the hard-hitting song “Who Said We’re Wack?”, a song about The Dudes trying to figure out who said they were wack. It feels like a gangster rap song… hard-hitting, catchy, and makes you feel like you want to make a mosh pit… somewhat. The simplistic lyrics actually work to the advantage of the song and it clearly deserved the opening spot. It does end somewhat abruptly, but then it leads to the first song with a guest… which is a recurring theme.

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Album Review: “The Final RIOT! Deluxe Edition” by Paramore

Well… on Paramore.net… they asked fans to review the new live album. So I did. Now I am posting my review here… I got the deluxe edition… so you get to hear about all the extra stuff… ENJOY!

DVD:

Awesome. The performance was great. It was recorded in my hometown… so that is some extra awesome points right there. The power the band gave was awesome. They were very energetic and it made it a pleasure to watch. Not once was I wanting it to just be over. Though… some of the visual effects I could of gone without. Most of the time they were cool… sometimes they just got in the way of the show. The documentary was both informative and funny. It is interlaced with the performance very well and it always leaves you wanting more. The special features on the Deluxe Edition… to tell you the truth… were kinda a disappointment. The extra director’s cut footage was kinda smaller then I thought and most of it was just parts in the regular documentary that was elongated to show you all of it… not saying that’s a bad thing… I just thought that maybe… MAYBE there could of been a BIT more… just a TINY bit. But what they had there was awesome. The photo gallery was pretty cool. There were some real nice pictures there set to some real good music. Now… the thing that disappointed me the most out of all the extra stuff… not saying it was bad… it was awesome… was the music video for “Let The Flames Begin”. That is pretty much my favorite Paramore song and I thought it would be really cool to see a music video for it. Then I saw it and realized it was basically what I just finished watching. The live performance of this song was amazing… don’t get me wrong… but I was just kinda expecting more. The thing that bugged me the most about it is how there was almost a time machine effect in it. In one clip… you would see Hayley get down on her knees for the outro… but then the next clip… you will see the same thing happen again… just at a different angle. Now… that is just me being completely honest. Overall though… it was freaking awesome.

CD:

Also awesome. The quality was real good for a live album and all the intros and outros added to the songs live just SCREAMED for a live CD to come out… and it is awesome to be able to have those extra tid-bits of awesomeness in a CD form so you can have it at awesome quality and officially.

Packaging:

When I looked at the case for the Deluxe Edition… right off the bat… I knew it was something special. I pulled out the art book and looked through it… it was awesome. The pictures in there were either artistic… cool… or just plain funny. It looked just like the tour program so you don’t really feel like you were missing out on anything if you got this. The special long case for the CD and DVD really helps keep them safe and non-wiggly. Though… it sometimes is a pain to get the disks out and put them back in without having to worry a bit about scratching them. The laminate was a nice touch… really makes you feel special… but it could of had a better holder. With my OCD… I always have to keep things from CDs where they were… slipcases… extra stuff… pretty much anything. Every time I opened the CD case… or even took it out from the slip case… the laminate would just fall out. But… still… it was some awesome extra stuff.

So all in all… it was awesome. Totally worth the $35. It is/was limited to 5,000 copies… so if you hurry up… you may still be able to grab the deluxe edition. Yeah… I just checked… the deluxe edition is sadly sold out. BUT: the regular edition is selling at Target for $15. It just has the CD and DVD in a regular CD/DVD case. It does come with a regular booklet… but not with the art book.. photo gallery/director’s cut footage/”Let The Flames Begin” music video extras on the DVD… the fake backstage pass… or the special longer packaging.

Review: Fracture Demo

First of all, sorry for no new updates lately. Anay and I have had a lot of things to do. Now, on to teh review!

Fracture is the new third-person shooter from LucasArts. Yes, the same LucasArts who made the ever so disappointing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The demo came out the 18th of September and I finally got it and beat it.

The big hook of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was that The Force was a powerhouse of… well… power. The big hook in Fracture is what they call Terra Deforming. Let me clear it up for you:

Terra Deforming is the opposite of Terrforming. Terraforming is the act of creating terrain, hence the terra. Terra DEforming is the act of destroying terrain. Here’s an example.

The Terra Deforming in Fracture is actually real cool. It’s easy and quick to use (coughunlikeforceunleashed’sforcepowerscough) and you can use it in a variety of different ways. You can use the Left Bumper (I played it on my Xbox 360) to lower (if I am correct) the ground and the Right Bumper to raise it. That easy. Of course, there are the weapons that Terra Deform in a more fancy way, but to just do a simple raise or lower, that easy. The shooting is very good. It’s just what you would expect from a shooter game. Now, when you mix those two, it makes for the need of a strong mind. You can raise the ground to act as a wall to fire from or you can lower the ground and hide in the hole. You can raise the ground around an enemy to trap him or lower the ground he’s on to make him fall. You can use it to your advantage in many different ways.

Now, with all this said, it’s not all good. The demo suffers from the same fate as The Force Unleashed, IT’S. TOO. SHORT. You can finish it in about 5 – 15 going straight through. Now I took about 20 -30 minutes because I explored a bit, messed around with the weapons, and even found a few secret areas. It was also a bit too easy, but I was only playing on normal.

So, from what I have played, I would say this would be a rent for me when it comes out. It’s fun, but not so fun that I am like “I NEEDZ IT!” It still needs some tweaks and if they tweak it right, it will be a good game. Fracture comes out October 7, 2008 on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Watchmen Review Soon

I just finished the “Watchmen” graphic novel. I am going to wait a bit to review it so it can sink in a bit, but all I have to say right now is this: AMAZING.