2010 in Music

201 IN MUSIC

an end of the year summary by Phillip Smith

This is going to be one of my biggest blogposts ever, and one of the very few that I will be dual shared on my personal blog and TGWTG.com, this is going through the past year of music, and with the last CD release day of 2010 being over, I believe its time we get on with the show!

Best Rock Album's of 2010

If your into Rock 2010 has been good to you. The amazing releases from many bands have shown that, beyond anything else rock is not dead! Choosing the Winner of best rock album, and the runners up WAS HARD beyond belief, and these choices were not easy to make at all! Before I list them I would like to make an honorable mention to to Exhibit B: The Human Condition by Exodus, that was just so close into making it into the second runner up spot and was probably one of the very few GOOD metal albums this year!

Second Runner Up: Light Me Up By The Pretty Reckless

A band that I really liked, that got awful reviews from pretentious critics who can't look past frontwoman; Taylor Momsen's acting career and personal life. Good CD if you are looking for a little bit of late 90s revival alt rock.

First Runner Up: Hurley by Weezer

Amazing album, what can I say. Combining the sound of old school Pinkerton and new school Red Album, it is Weezers redemption song....album. After how awful Raditude was, Hurley was a godsend.

Rock Album of 2010: The Dissent of Man by Bad Religion

I would place No Control at the top of any list of best albums albums of all time, that said...I think I might like The Dissent of Man better...being a BR fan since I was like 5 that's a heavy thing to say, but I think its true. Its a really hard call to make, but whether you agree or disagree, this is one of the best punk albums to come out in AGES! This masterpiece should be on every album to listen to before you die list.

Worst Rock Albums of the 2010:

Alongside the amazing feats that prove that rock music is alive and well...there are albums that...make me cry for humanity. These are them, the most god awful pray you never hear them again rock albums of the year!

Second Runner Up:There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret by Bring Me the Horizon

This is a CD that I just don't understand why people like it. The lyrical structure is awful, the nearly non-existent solo's suck, and every song sounds like RAWGRAGRAGRGRWRGWFUCKRAGRARAGRSR.

First Runner Up: Invented by Jimmy Eat World

The most drooling same song being played over and over and over again album of all time. This LP should have been an EP. With a length of 55 minutes, the same song over and over again gets a bit repetitive.

Worst Rock Album of 2010: Will Never Die by Brokencyde

I am going to have to defend putting this album in the "rock category" which I can easily do. Brokencyde is kind of rock kind of pop...and which ever category I put them in they'd be one of the worst. Since I have a worse pop album (I know surprising), I decided to put them in the rock category, because they need the title of worst something! Brokencyde is so bad they are awful....no redeeming factors...yet 12 year old wanna be scene girls think they are cool. This album is so bad, I am in fact going to tell people to buy it just to annoy their friends!

Best Pop Albums of 2010:

POP MUSIC POP MUSIC POP MUSIC POP MUSIC...I may not show it a lot, but I love all kinds of pop music. From indie pop to R&B to hip hop I LALALALALALOVE IT. These are the best Pop Albums of the year!

Second Runner up: Harmony/What Is Love by NeverShoutNever!

I know its not fair for 2 albums to be second runner, but both of these CD's are roughly 20 minutes long, so together they make an LP. NSN is one of those rare bands that can make the emo acoustic pop thing work...and they do it well! Both albums being produced by Butch Vig and Butch Walker respectively...they are damn good albums that are worth a listen and a buy!

First Runner Up: Connect the Dots by Rabbit!

This was an LP I discovered through the band. Rabbit! started following me on twitter, I followed back and checked out their music and loved it. Even saying they were better than XTC...which got me crucified, but I don't care its true! Their indie pop style defines what the next generation of songwriters should be looking at!

Pop Album of the 2010: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry

Oh boy I am gonna get a mob after me for this one...I like it what can I say. Teenage Dream, TGIF, Firework, ET, and all the other tracks (minus the worst track on the album California Girls) are just perfect. The perfectly produced pop album that makes you want to listen to more mainstream stuff. Plus Katy is HAWT HAWT HAWT <3

Worst Pop albums of the year:

There were some Clunkers in 2010, from god awful pop country to god awful pop...pop! These are the lows of this year.

Second Runner Up: Speak Now by Taylor Swift

I hhhhhhhhate Taylor Swift, singing awful pop music with a southern accent doesn't make you country, it doesn't even make you pop country! In the case of Speak Now, it get sentenced to 25 to life for udder stuppidity!

First Runner Up: Plastic Beach by Gorillaz

If the previous Gorillaz albums weren't to pretentious and mind numbing rambling....MAYBE THIS IS THE ALBUM FOR YOU. If you aren't a hipster or a pretentious music snob, stay clear of this junker.

Worst Pop Album of 2010: The Incredable Machine By Sugarland

AGSGADADDasjdhsakjsdhaksjdh Okay I think I am better now. This album is the single worst abomination Pop Country has ever brought us, if you NEEDED another reason to burn down Nashville this is it! Horrible lyrics.... horrible everything...just ARGGRHHHH! Jennifer Nettles must be stopped before she destroys all of music!

Music Video's of the 2010:

Music videos can be effective ways to communicate the message of a song and these were my picks as the best of this year!

Second Runner Up: Take It Off (version 1 video) by Ke$ha

This video is awesome, the filters used make this a very pretty video. I honestly have to give director Paul Hunter props, he is a veteran in the music video industry, with credits ranging from the video for Everclear's Father of Mine, to Lenny Kravitz's American Woman, and Eminem's Superman! This video has everything, people exploding into glitter, trash cans being thrown, an empty pool, and a post apocalyptic desert!

First Runner Up: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry

The video tells the narrative of the of the song's story, it uses very soft lens and soft filters. It is very pretty music video, and I am glad it went viral!

Best Music Video of 2010: Here We Are Juggernaut by Coheed and Cambria

This is the single defining track in Coheed and Cambria's album Year of the Black Rainbow. The video stays true to the concept of the album. The special effects are amazing and it looks like it could be in a movie! Great video, matches the song perfectly, also the video got me really into Coheed and Cambria!

2010 in music a synopsis

In 2009 I was dissapointed and betrayed by the music industry. We had a good Eminem album and a good Green Day album then for 5 months nothing until Bowling For Soup's Sorry for Partyin'. This year we have seen so many amazing releases all year long, its a wonder I have been able to keep up.

2010 will be remembered as the year the music industry let a filthy hipster whore like Ke$ha make music...and it turned out good. The year Eminem was back..and not as Slim Shady, but as Marshall Mathers. The year new acts were born, like NeverShoutNever! and the Pretty Reckless, and old acts continued to do what they do, like Weezer and Bad Religion.

The thing I will remember 2010 as is the year that...music became good again. No filler, no garbage, just amazing albums from amazing artists.

From the looks of it 2011 will be just as good, with new albums from; Cage the Elephant, Saves The Day, Sum 41, Green Day, Weezer, Eve 6, Blink 182 and SO SO SO MANY MORE, I think I will be even busier than before ;)!

Visit my website http://mlrtproductions.com for more info on me, and links to my other hubs on the web!

Eggnog+Coffee=Pretty Damn Good!

What do you do when you have a ton of left over eggnog after Christmas? Try mixing it with things, like the classic eggnog and captain crunch, or how about eggnog milkshakes, or my new favorite eggnog and coffee. Heres what you'll need:

A coffee cup

Some eggnog (bonus points if its traditional hard eggnog, but negative points if you get drunk and puke)

black coffee no sugar

Put half coffee and half eggnog together, stir, drink, enjoy! Since I am a minor and don't drink, I used store bought eggnog, though friends who have tried this with traditional eggnog have said it tastes good! So there you go!

You Can't Fight the World, but Thats Just the Way It Is

I was listening to the band Zero Down, Jim Cherry's band before he died of a congenital heart condition. I noticed every song was about how no matter how hard you try, you'll never change the world, but you can at least try. Its a beautiful concept to me, but the idea of that realization is kind of deep. Is it true, I mean can we really do nothing? I am not sure, but I like to stay an optimist, and hope everything I try to do good for the world will help! If not I guess I am just a fool like Jim was!

The title of the blog comes the song the called "The Way It Is" by Zero Down, go to Fat Wreck Chords website, and buy this album and support the surviving members of Zero Down, and maybe just maybe understand the message Jim Cherry was trying to give to the world.

What Christmas Means to Me

This is a blogpost I decided I'd write for 1 of 2 reasons. First and foremost I am trying to post more content that is interesting and people will like. Secondly, I am writing more to improve my style and form, so doing essay type blog posts like this will help.

When I was younger Christmas was all about the excitement of the morning, and from ages 1-10 the magic of Santa. Waking up at 6 in the morning bugging my parents to start doing stuff. This stuff to me was the highlight of the day.

As I have gotten older though I find something new I like about the Holiday every year. I realized that I am a huge fan of ham and roast, along with all the other common Christmas foods. There is also something REALLY cool about giving someone a gift and knowing they liked it!

Though I could never buy into the "religious" aspects of the holiday, I have always been intrigued by the Jesus mythos especially about the birth. The idea of even thinking back as far as 2000 years ago is already something to wrap my mind around; but adding in virgin birth, a couple fleeing for their lives in the dead of night, and 3 kings giving presents to a baby...just makes it so cool! Its probably the most interesting story in The New Testament.

I have also grown to hate Christmas music...to the point where I walked out on my parents decorating the tree when my dad starting playing some really awful Christmas music! The worst offenders on my list of Christmas songs I hate would have to be that damned horribly depressing song about the kidding getting his dying mom shoes for Christmas...I believe that, that song IS specifically designed to depress death! If I had to pick a few songs I can stand it would be Santa's Beard by They Might Be Giants, 30 Days by nevershoutnever, and Happy Holidays You Bastards by Blink 182.

As far as Television Christmas specials go, there are 3 I HAVE TO SEE! Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Flintstones Christmas Carole, and Olive the Other Reindeer...these specials OPTIMIZE CHRISTMAS FOR ME! If I don't see these specials...I think I would cry! Call me a big softy, but I love Christmas specials, almost all of them. Bonus points if they have a depressing ending or are animated OR both!

So, what does Christmas mean to me? It means good food, god awful music, an interesting myth, and tearjerker TV specials, and maybe, just maybe family to ;)!

Why did Vegeta kill Nappa???

This question has always bugged me a bit since I started watching Dragonball Z (when I was 4), why did Vegeta kill Nappa? The conclusion most fans came up with, due to Vegeta's dialog with Nappa before he killed him, is because he believed Nappa was to pathetic, not truly a Sayian warrior, blah blah blah. Others think Vegeta was just evil and would kill anything, but I have came to a new conclusion; Vegeta killed Nappa because he didn't want Nappa to become stronger than him.

Nappa had a power level of 4000, him being brought to near death by Goku meant that once he recovered he'd have a power level of 8000+ roughly. Now Vegeta could stop Nappa with a power level of 4000 EASILY, even if he tried killing him in his sleep! Now Nappa with a power level of 8000+ given a strategic moment could kill Vegeta as he slept or had his back turned. Vegeta saw Nappa as a threat if he were to get stronger, AND KILLED HIM, to save his own skin later on.

Thats just my theory though...

The Web Home Of MLRTproductions

So for about a year now I have promised a full fledged web page devoted to all things MLRTProductions. It has taken a full year, but finally the website is up! I invite you all to go to http://www.mlrtproductions.com/ along with this website my twitter, youtube, and most noticeably THIS BLOG, have had design changes to match this site. On this site you can get links to my profiles, my videos, and on the chance you hate checking my blog links to my blog posts!

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me thus far, and as I expand my ventures, I hope you guys will come along for the ride, because THIS is just the beginning. So all of you on my blog, my youtube, and TGWTG.com, I love you all!

P.S. The site was created by Famous web designer and certified dork Hammy Havoc, "he offers US$100 - US$250 sites that do it all courtesy of Hammy Havoc (@hammyhavoc on Twitter) who can be contacted on hammy@splitanatom.com and portfolio over on www.splitanatom.com, although his latest portfolio is due to arrive in a few days, complete with photography and a variety of new services including audio engineering."

Why I haven't written.... one big post from a games nerd

Well folks, I'm sorry I haven't posted a whole lot, but lets get started... I'm not gonna waste any time because I have a lot to talk about. Fallout, Fable 3, Black Ops. Lots to cover, very little time.

So lets start with the easiest one. Fallout New Vegas is a game by Bethesda that follows Fallout 3. The series took a bit of a break, but when Fallout 3 hit it was a phoenix from the ashes of rpgs of the old days. It was long, deep, engrossing, story driven, and amazing. The vats system, love it or hate it, allowed the rpg vets to get there turn based on, and the game also had a first person mode that kinda let shooter fans... well... shoot from a first person perspective. The flaws of the game where not enough to keep it from becoming an instant rpg classic. Solid work from Bethesda.

Well in comes Fallout New Vegas. From the get go you can tell the story got a shot of adrenaline as far as pacing goes. The first scene is actually of YOUR character getting shot in the head. Very instant sort of feel to it. Gotta love that. And that is fantastic. The game is a solid one. The post-apocalypse has never looked so damn good. Its something to behold. Desolate and expansive, the area around Vegas and outside of California is great. The story is one of rebellion and blood shed. As with Bethesda you kind of have an open ended feel to it, but Caesars Legion is painted as mongrels, horrible scoundrels, heathens, while the New California Republic is painted as a government trying to do SOMETHING in the world that you are now forced to live. Sometimes not for the best, but atleast for a cause. Moral ambiguity lends well here and allows the player to feel really like they have to pick either the semi tyrannical regime of the NCR or the INSANE people in the legion. I just noticed a little bit of irony... But not the point

The bad thing about this game... Its Fallout 3 again. There are little changes here and there, but nothing significant. The mechanics, the feel of motion and such are all the same. If you played Fallout 3 you will INSTANTLY know the controls. It is great for an rpg, but some people may find it disheartening that its more of the same...

Except the story. The story is deep engaging and with many different subplots. Every town has its own weight to it. People that know you, remember you, and have a story to tell. Its amazing how deep an rpg can get....

And then Fable 3 came along. And I was amazing at how deep a shallow game can be. The first half of this game is just like Fable 2. Gather a group to help fight an evil ruler. This time the ruler was your brother, your father being the player character from Fable 2. The mechanics changed a bit. In Fable 2 you had 3 colored orbs that came out of people. You gained more yellow orbs for using ranged attacks, green for melee, and red for magic power usage. The more of each gained 3 different experience bars with three different levels for each trait. The more you used melee the buffer you got and the better with your sword you became. In this that idea is scrapped. On the Road to Rule you open chests with different levels of those three traits and you just gain flat experience which gets you tokens to spend. Making the game a bit shallower... I hated that. In Fable and Fable 2 there was a sense of having to practice things to get better, now half way through I could easily just get enough to switch my skills. Easier, but at the cost of something that was defining of the series. It plays well though and I can't fault a game changer that may have made it easier for other to grasp the game a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~ SPOILER ALERT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second half of the game you overthrow your brother. You become king, and you find out the evil things your brother was doing was not without cause. Now the darkness, a magical evil force that is consuming the land just across the sea from your own, is coming towards Albion. It is destructive, as most evil forces are. Now, this poses a problem. Seems your brother was doing evil things because they saved him money, allowing him to gain a mighty large treasury to fund an army to save the kingdom. Now you have 3 options at this point. Do all the good things, spend all the money, and therefore have no money to protect your kingdom thereby letting everyone die. Two, be evil gain a huge treasury and save EVERYONE in your kingdom. Or do all the good things, and try to gain enough money to fill the treasury enough to help Albion save itself from ruin..... Which if you play the game legit is really hard. Interesting moral choices. You do quests every day, make choices for your kingdom thus getting you money or losing it. Then face the darkness defeat it and... Well the ending I'll let you find.

Now, if you want to know a secret... In the game lies a mechanic to buy and rent houses and buy shops. Each one will gain you money every 5 minutes.... You have 364 days till the darkness invades Albion.... But the days don't change unless you do all the quests for that day... So buy a bunch of houses pawnbrokers tattoo parlors barber shops and such around Albion... leave your controller laying on the ground so the camera spins and you don't time out, and leave it be a night or two. All the money, and you can be good... Or you could play a jackass. Your choice

~~~~~~~Spoilers Over~~~~~~~~~

Now... Black Ops. I won't bother with story or mechanics. Everyone has bought this damn thing like it gives you nudes of Kat Von D or something. Everyone grabbed this game. The Call of Duty games of late have been some of the most popular games on the market. The single player is like a war movie. You feel like a powerful bad ass, and yet have super low points of sadness, like any war movie should do. The mulitplayer is engaging. Great for casual players, the jump in jump out rounds are easy to play, fast paced, fun guntastic games. The leveling system allows for a deep meta game though where the hardcore can race to gain the highest level, or prestige, dropping themselves back to lvl 1. It is a great formula. The story here take a bit of a conspiracy slant. Some fans may not like the single player story because it isn't as much like the last 3 call of duty games as far as story is concerned, taking a more cerebral approach, but I enjoyed the mind game of it. The multiplayer is great, and if your on it add Cilero on xbox live.

To be honest I don't trust treyarch as a developer, but after every last one of my friends got it I kind of had to... And I'm glad I did, totally worth it. Treyarch has been lackluster in the past, but they really did it well this time.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (My Chemical Romance Album Review)

My Chemical Romance and I have a twisted past, I liked their debut album, a good majority of their sophomore attempt Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and to a way lesser extent a couple of songs off of The Black Parade. My problem with My Chemical Romance altogether is...the sound they have developed over the years, has devolved from a tightly bound post hardcore sound, into scene kid vomit. We get it, the world is sad blah blah blah, but tell US a story we haven't heard before. Does their new release, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, tell that story I have been waiting for? Lets find out.

This is a concept album, not that you'd know that unless you went to Wikipedia or read the band's blog. The concept is so loose, its hard to believe that it is even a story. The basic premise of the story is that there are these people in a post apocalyptic world that are trying to take down an evil corporation...I liked this story better when it was Resident Evil: Apocalypse. ANYWAY, that is the story, no other explanation given...and the songs SURE AS HELL don't help. They try to keep a cohesive story together, but it just fails. Chalk a terrible concept up with vanilla lyrics, and you get uninteresting results.

Before I rip into the music to bad, let me just say that there are 3 amazing fun songs, that I REALLY REALLY ENJOYED; "Na Na Na", "Party Poison", and "Vampire Money". Those three songs are what is keeping me from HATING this LP altogether. That being said, THE REST OF THIS CD IS GARBAGE. You have the terrible dance theme "Planetary (GO!)", that I wouldn't even subject my worst enemies to. The only song that is more cringe worthy is the Nu Metalesque song "Destroya" that features sing talking, that would make Ke$ha go DAMN. Another track, that is awful is the lead single, "The Only Hope For Me Is You" the beginning of the song shows promise, but quickly sounds like more of the same, that we have heard a MILLION times.

This is really one of those albums, I WAS LOOKING FORWARD to, I really hoped that My Chemical Romance, could release something that could blow my mind. Instead I am left here feeling kind of empty, and wondering why I wasted my time on three good songs, and 12 songs ranging from meh to awful. Really what I recommend here is go on itunes and buy "Na Na Na", "Party Poison", and "Vampire Money" AND SKIP THE REST OF THIS ALBUM. I give, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, a 2 out of 5.

I will leave you with the video for "Na Na Na"

Top 25 Punk and Punk Sub Genre albums Part 2 of 5

This is a blog series I have been wanting to do for a long time. I just hadn't heard enough punk music to make an actual opinion on what the best of the best is! These are all my opinions, and if you don't like them, then write your own blog! This includes sub genres, so don't complain about there being Emo, Pop Punk, New Wave, Hardcore, or any of the other sub genres that may appear on this list! The lines of punk spread large, so don't leave a bajillion comments saying "Thats not punk".

You can Find Part 1 Here: http://mlrtproductions.blogspot.com/2010/11/top-25-punk-and-punk-sub-genre-albums.html

20. Coral Fang by The Distillers

Very Rarely do you find a punk band led by a chick that isn't part of the Riot Grrrl genre. The Distillers are a rare exception to this unwritten rule. Sure there are songs in their discography that preach womens rights, WHICH I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH. What I have a problem with is female led punk bands that can only talk about women rights thus stereotyping themselves. Anyway back to the album at hand: Coral fang has a lot of energy to it, the kind of music you could blare when your down at the skate park and everyone would be cool with it. Amazing lyrics written by front women Brody Homme (former wife of Tim Armstrong current wife of Josh Homme), combine with this electric powerful fast punk sound, and her deep throaty lyrics. Sadly Coral Fang is the last Distillers album, the band split in 06, and it doesn't look like we'll see a reunion. My favorite tracks off this punk masterpeice are; Beat Your Heart Our, Coral Fang, and The Gallows is God.

19. Commit This To Memory by Motion City Soundtrack

Everything is Alright, was a track I heard years ago and didn't pay much attention to, besides bobbing my head to it. Then fastforward to a few weeks ago when I was on youtube and searching through punk bands, and I came across Motion City Soundtrack, a pop punk/emoish band, that I fell in love with. I love every track off this album, especially the infectiously poppy Everything is Alright, that I didn't give a second listen to when I first heard it! My favorite tracks are Everything is Alright, Attractive Today, and Make Out Kids.

18. Start Today by Gorilla Biscuits

A Straight Edge, Vegan, Youth Crew, hardcore punk band, a long description, for a great band! I found out about Gorilla Biscuits through the video game Tony hawks American Wasteland which features a cover of Start Today's title track by Fallout Boy. I thought the cover was alright, I looked it up online and found out about the original band. Gorilla Biscuits are everything great about the 80's and early 90's hardcore scene, ANGRY, POLITICAL, FAST lyrics. I love this band, this is their second and currently last record. The best songs on this album are Start Today, Cats and Dogs, and Two Sides.

17. Goodbye Cool World by Bomb the Music Industry!

Bomb the Music Industry! is a band that is best described as a Chainsaw hitting a synthesizer, a guitar, and a bass, with overly fast ridiculous lyrics, AKA an amazing punk band. There is so much emotion in every word sang. Choosing which album would represent this band in this countdown was tough, but in the end it came down to Goodbye Cool World, only because of the 4 part song "The King Of Minneapolis", the first two parts at the second track of the album and the second two at the second to last part of the album. That song is what sold me on this band, and its what secured Goodbye Cool World this spot. Top tracks: King of Minneapolis(parts I&II and parts III and IV), Side Projects are Never Successful, and Fuck The Fans.

16. Adelphia by A Skylit Drive

I am gonna get SO MUCH flack for this choice, before anyone says anything I KNOW ITS METALCORE, but Metalcore is a derivative of hardcore punk, thus can be included on the list. A Skylit Drive is the rare exception to my hate of metalcore. Adelphia is hard to explain why I like it, its just a good album, and it is deserving of being the only metalcore album on this list. My faves on Adelphia are: Those Cannons Could Sink a Ship, The Boy Without a Demon, and See You Around.

BEST OMEGLE CHAT EVAR!

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Official messages from Omegle will not be sent with the label 'Stranger:'. Strangers claiming to represent Omegle are lying.

You: Can you duck my sick

Stranger: with a flu shot maybe

You: You mean a shu flot?

Stranger: no a flu blot

You: Flo Bots are awesome

Stranger: they like... rap and transform and stuff

Stranger: they're super kewl

You: Yes very Keper Suwl

Stranger: lmfao god damn it

You: god gamn it

You: DOH I screwed it up

Stranger: yes you did

Stranger: not so cool now are ya

You: No I am not :(

Stranger: you've messed up a few times, i just let you have your happiness

You: Well then it appears you know to much, and must be assassinated

You: youtubes team of monkeys will take care of you now

Stranger: assassinate this! *nonexistance*

You: DAMNIT, now who am I going to give these concert tickets to

Stranger: sorry, i don't exist

You: Damn you and your non existance!

Stranger: my apologies from the realm of nonexistance

Stranger: which doesnt exist

You: Wait if the realm doesn't exist yet you dont exist in it, doesnt taht mean it really does exist

You: your mind is now fucked

Stranger: the eternal question. you will never know. because the answer doesnt exist

You: Damnit that was a good come back

You: Almost too good, is that you Morpheus

Stranger: no.

You: Neo?

Stranger: it is I Trinity

You: FUCK that was my next guess

Stranger: too bad cuz i'm not trinity either

Stranger: this is smith.

You: AWESOME do the clone thingy!

Stranger: okay

Stranger: done

Stranger: now i am omnipresent

You: WOW I JIZZED IN MY PANTS!

Stranger: i know. i was there

Stranger: i am everywhere

You: if you are everywhere could you also be nowhere?

Stranger: YES

You: but WAIT nowhere doesn't exist...!

Stranger: remember? i dont exist

You: But you can't be anywhere if you don't exist

You: YOUR LOGIC IS FLAWED

Stranger: perhaps I am god. or on the plain of existance as a god would be.

You: That could be the answer...DAMN YOU god you win this round!

Stranger: as i suspected.

Stranger: well...

Stranger: knew.

Stranger: because i am god

Stranger: i am both presant, past, and future, i am both this dimension and all others,

You: game...set...match!!!

Top 25 Punk and Punk Sub Genre albums Part 1 of 5

This is a blog series I have been wanting to do for a long time. I just hadn't heard enough punk music to make an actual opinion on what the best of the best is! These are all my opinions, and if you don't like them, then write your own blog! This includes sub genres, so don't complain about there being Emo, Pop Punk, New Wave, Hardcore, or any of the other sub genres that may appear on this list! The lines of punk spread large, so don't leave a bajillion comments saying "Thats not punk".

25. Start Static by Sugarcult

The track Bouncing off the Walls, initially peaked my interest in this band, after watching American Wedding, but never enough to look up the band until 2008! After discovering Sugarcult, I listened to all their albums and fell in love with Start Static! The tracks Hate Every Beautiful Day, Stuck in America, and Bouncing off the Walls won me over and I still listen to this amazing album when ever I want a pick me up!

24. Energy by Operation Ivy

To look at punk from the Look Out Records days, is to take a look at the beginnings of what would become the Pop Punk explosion of the mid 90s. Well Operation Ivy might not be a name you associate with, the name Tim Armstrong should be...aka the front man for Rancid and The Transplants. Operation Ivy was Tim Armstrong's first band, and they achieved little popularity while they were together, they released some classic punk material on Energy, that would later go on to inspire many punks! The songs Knowledge, Sound System, and Unity are just pure classics and they really set this album apart as an epic!

23. Weight of the World by This Is Hell

Picking this album is going to get me a lot of flack speaking as This Is Hell is a "New Band" and Weight of the World is a "NEW ALBUM". But I don't give a fuck, this is a kick ass album, and it is one of the best hardcore punk albums to come out in like 8 years. The pure energy behind the music, is almost jaw dropping, these guys are amazing! I don't know what else to really say except check out the tracks No one Leaves Unscathed, Bloodlines, and Worship Syndrome!

22. Bleach by Nirvana

Nirvana's first album Bleach, was a very weird pick for me to put on a punk list, but I find this album especially to be extremely inspired by hardcore and pop punk. The sound is very basic, and primitive and very reminiscent of Dead Kennedys. My faves on this one would have to be About a Girl, Negative Creep, and Mr. Moustache [sic].

21. Who We Are by We Are the Union

The first band of the new Ska revival, to really get some popularity. We are the union combines, Emo, Pop Punk, and Ska, to create a match made in heaven! It makes me feel the life that the early and mid 90s ska bands have. Who we are is the album that got me looking into other new ska bands, and it is just wonderful! You Allowance Exceeds My Rent, I am Like John Cusack, and Ourcore are the best tracks on this album!

Next Week I will have my #20-16 on this count down of albums!

Speak Now (Taylor Swift Album Review)

Taylor Swift, is a recording artist I can dig. She writes her own music, and for better or worse, its something a lot of people in pop music don't do! I really enjoyed MOST of her sophomore attempt, Fearless, and I thought her first self titled album was...okayish. So I didn't really know what we were going to see from Speak Now.

The song writing on this album is weird as hell. Some songs with very strong/simple premises fall apart in the lyrical development until they become cluttered story songs, that your not quite sure what the story was about in the end. Then songs like the revenge song "Better Than Revenge", where normally that idea is hard to work off comes off GREAT! Its my favorite track off the album even. It's just a shame that songs like the rambling "Never Grow Up" or the overly dramatic "Dear John" muck this album down a TON.

I am not gonna surprise anyone by saying this...but this album sounds like the other two Taylor Swift albums! Every Taylor Swift song on every album is exactly the same. With exception of maybe one or two tracks. Adding to the bland sounding Taylor Swift music, you also have overly long songs. Counting in at an average of 4 minutes 30 seconds a song, 53 minutes for the whole album, its nearly unlistenable with how much some songs drag on. Their is some silver in the lining of these clouds though, the song "Haunted", is just amazing and beautiful, the layering of drums and guitars just fits it perfectly with swifts voice. Then theres the song "Better Than Revenge", which is the ultimate fuck off song to someone who stole your lover. The song's: Speak Now, Enchanted, and Sparks Fly are pretty good as well! While the rest of the album runs the line of meh, and bad.

To conclude, Speak Now, is a good attempt at a third album from Ms. Swift but it sadly falls apart due to more of the same music, and some dull lyrics! I give Speak Now a 3 out of 5!

I will leave you with the video for the lead single off of Speak Now, "Mine"

Skylarking [1986] (Classic XTC Album Review)

Welcome to my new blog series; Classic Album Reviews! This new series is kind of a way for me to get in touch with older albums, and provide you guys with album reviews...when there isn't a lot coming out! I hope to make this a weekly thing, so I can review 2 new popular albums, 1 newish indie album, and 1 classic album EVERY WEEK! Anyway without further ado lets get on with the review!

XTC is a band I found out about thanks to the They Might Be Giants song XTC Vs Adam Ant. XTC is one of those rare bands that managed to make separate sounding albums. Its like when you hear an XTC song, you know its an XTC song, but you don't hear the same song over and over again. So when choosing a definitive album on which to review, it was hard. Though after some thought, one their highest selling and arguably BEST album, Skylarking, was my choice!

I don't know whether I should mention the song writing or not! I mean its Andy Fucking Partridge...the man is pure genius...okay and Colin Moulding he was a genius to...but Andy Partridges songs are the best! The Song writing was amazing, the album is like 2 long songs, that just don't end, in a good way! The Lyrics are a jumbled concept, about the changing of seasons, that then switches to the 2nd side, that is about...I am not quite sure to be honest, its got similar themes...but, its more of a loose concept, which is cool to! The first half is a little more psychedelic while the second half is more poppy!

This is one of the best albums of all time and the music proves it. Very simplistic, guitar and bass, with fantastic well produced synth, and Andy Partridges haunting vocals singing every word! The only problem I have with the music is all the synth sounds very fake, and noticeable. It isn't overly distracting it's just a little quirk with the album! My favorite track off the album is Dear God, even though it didn't appear on the original release, it was a B side to the single grass, but became very popular and well known in the US and UK, and 17 years later in 2001 was put on the remastered version of Skylarking! If I had to name my favorite track on the original record it would be mermaid smile, this trippy pop song that is just beautiful, and is the best example of the Skylarking's awesomeness!

Skylarking is fantastic, if you don't own this record...WHATS WRONG WITH YOU! Go out to a classic record store or a thrift store and get the vinyl if your into records. If you want a CD or Digital download GRAB THE REMASTERED VERSION. 5 out of 5, great record, one of my favorites!

I'll leave you with the video for my favorite track Dear God BTW Sorry for the Subtitles in spanish...it was the best quality of the music video Audio and Videowise!

Incredible Machine (Sugarland Album Review)

I didn't want to review this CD I REALLY REALLY REALLY DIDN'T, but this week has had ZERO other major releases for me to review so, against my better judgement, I have decided to undergo this review. I HATE Sugarland, its not that I hate country either. I like Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and even some contemporary artists and bands like Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band, and Gary Allan...but I JUST CAN'T STAND SUGARLAND. The bitter irony is that Kristian Bush's band Billy Pilgrim, is one of my favorite Folk Rock bands. Sugarland...is just...I DON'T KNOW it makes me angry and PHILLIP WANNA CRUSH! Needless to say though me having to fill my quota of doing at least 1 popular album a week has driven me to the point of madness...WITHOUT FURTHER INTRODUCTION...here is my review of Sugarland's Incredible Machine.

The lyrical, style of this album is very shallow...and I would normally FORGIVE something like that in a pop album, but these lyrics are so shallow they don't get that reprieve! I can't forgive any of this godawful writing...there isn't any depth what-so-ever. I can sometimes forgive that...if it wasn't for the fact that every song has a section where, 2 to 6 words are repeated over and over again for no fucking reason, until you reach the point of delirium. No meaning in this album, its pointless, and the lyrics are not "art", they are trash. Ke$ha songs are better written then this garbage!

The music is...well just...wow. This album might as well be by Jennifer Nettles. The music is just one big ego stroke after another. Her vocals are mixed so loud that when she gets singing her "high" parts you can barely hear any of the background music. Then the best part is there is a song that IS OBVIOUSLY WRITTEN AS A DUET, that just features Nettles singing alone...a love song to herself if you will! The track "Stuck Like Glue", is a love song duet, that is probably the best written thing on the album...to bad in its final form its a duet, that isn't quite a duet, Kristian does sing on the track, but only a little bit on the chorus, and its always backing...and then theres an embarrassing 90's ska sounding part of the song that makes it uncomfortable. The rest of the album is unremarkable, terrible, or just noise. I just don't see how people can listen to this drool!

I can't believe I am doing this but, this album is so awful so terrible, and so...just YUCK. I HAVE NO CHOICE. but to give it my first ever 1 out of 5. Try again Sugarland you have not converted this critic!

Just for a laugh here is the video for their song Stuck Like Glue!

http://MLRTProductions.blogspot.com

Connect The Dots (Rabbit! album review)

I love twitter, I not only get to know amazing people from around with world but I get to vent about my hatred for a majority of pop music, and most importantly I find AMAZING and TALENTED bands. To wash the bad taste of Jimmy Eat World and Bring Me The Horizon, I decided to listen to a band that started following me on twitter. Rabbit! is an Independent band I have fallen in love with in a mere 24 hours! Their album Connect The Dot's is seriously WIN!

The best way to describe the lyrics on this album would be if you took everything good about The Postal Service, Shins, CAKE, and XTC and mixed it all together, these are smart pop lyrics, and I enjoy it. Each song's choice of words incites feelings of happiness and nostalgia, and just happiness! This is just a great album, and a fantastic example of song craft!

The music altogether is very strong. A nice mix of many different instruments electronic and acoustic and damn fine beats go great together with the amazing vocals on all tracks. My two 5 favorite tracks on Connect the Dots would have to be Magic, Ladybug, Pea, Life Is Sweet, and 1-4-3. There isn't much else I can say about the songs besides they are damn good pop music.

To summarize, Rabbit! is a fantastic band that I can see going very far and even though I will get crucified for saying this, Rabbit! isn't as good as XTC...they are better. This kind of music never heard anymore, and I think its a damn shame! I hope that in the next couple years this band goes on to sell platinum without selling out their sound. I give Connect the Dots a 5 out of 5.

I'll leave you with the video for my favorite track off Connect the Dots "Pea"

Pea (Live at the Baldwin Acrosonic)

http://www.myspace.com/saverabbit

http://twitter.com/saverabbit
Rabbit | MySpace Video

There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret (Bring Me the Horizon album review)

This is going to be a long opening paragraph but I have reasons for it being so long. Normally I will explain my relationship with what ever band's album I am reviewing, but in this case I was a blank slate, I had never heard a single song by this band. I didn't even know this band existed until @crabxcakes told me to review their album during a phone conversation. I to be honest knew one thing about Bring Me The Horizon, they were a screamo/metalcore band. THAT IS ALL I KNEW. Now me not liking screamo, I have avoided their music entirely, which is why I have never heard a song by this band. Well now I have heard a song by them, 12 songs in fact, these songs are what encompass the album I am going to review "There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret".

The lyrics are....there are lyrics right...well there are actually I just have to look them up on lyric sites....but I don't feel like doing that so I will just go off of, what I think the lyrics are. So right a majority of the album is features strong lyrical scenes of Arrrgrhrghrghgr and RAWHHHHHH...also GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGH and MAHRRRGARGHERER. That is all I understood from listening to the songs.

On to the music, it sounds good, if it wasn't for the random animal dying noises in the background occasionally accompanied by the word fuck and on a couple songs a guest vocalist. The guitar work is great, and BMTH doesn't constantly use double bass drumming like everyone does now a days, their music actually sounds original. Though I am really considering reporting them to PETA for animal abuse, because I can hear the sound of dogs dying in the background of every song! My question is where are the leads? The biggest problem with the music end next to the WTF worthy vocals is the lack of any real strong lead guitar.

To some this album up, if you don't like Screamo/Metalcore you'll hate it. I hated it, but if I was looking at the perspective of someone who likes that kind of music, then I could see this being a very original and creative album....BUT since I am not that person I give "There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret" a 2 out of 5.

I'll leave you with the lead single from this album "It Never Ends" if you like this song you'll like the album!

Invented (Jimmy Eat World Album Review)

This is going to be a short review because everything I have to say after this sentence will fit into one paragraph!

This is the most mind numbing droning party emo music ever. Its not terrible its just DRONING, if your looking for something to listen to at a party that won't distract people THIS IS TOTALLY THE ALBUM FOR YOU. If you were looking for a great indie/emo album to listen to, sorry your not getting it here. The music and lyrics are POORLY written! Every track sounds so plain and vanilla you will probably not even know its by Jimmy Eat World. This album consists of 10 blah emo tracks and 3 blah indie tracks, it'd just be better to skip this album all together and pick up Bad Religion's FANTASTIC The Dissent of Man, which for a limited time is only 8 bucks at target and is a much better album. Invented gets a 2 out of 5

I will leave you LIKE I ALWAYS do with the first single off of Invented, My best Theory

Ok finally....

Ok, so I got it. Halo:Reach has been in my possession since launch day... And I know I'm late to reviewing it, but there are reasons, I swear. One, my WoW guild leader and me have been hammering out gearing me, her alt, and another guy so we can start raiding and teaching him tanking in a 10/25 man environment... Yeah I'm that guy. And two... well we will get to two.... But lets start with a story.

I get home with Halo:Reach. I'm a huge fan of the story, so naturally I wanna play campaign FIRST, as not only a refresher course of Halo but because well... It is REACH....

For those of you that don't know the name Reach for us Halo fans is huge. Reach was the pin being pulled from the grenade that was Master Chief. The fall of Reach was that part in the story that always gets mentioned but was never seen. Think the "Jedi Wars" from Star Wars and you'll get it. If you don't know that reference well... I pity you.

Getting into the thick of it, your are Noble Six. You are shoved into Noble Team as they are deployed to Reach. Some of them at first are apprehensive. You are filling the shoes of a fallen soldier in a tightly knit platoon. Not to mention much of your past is kept secret. But ONI and the UNSC has plans for reach and you have to help. What follows is a roller coaster ride.

Lets start with any good story really, dialogue and voice acting. Top notch in both regards. It is hard to overstate Bungie's use of words. They weave a great story in every game and this is no exception. The voice actors do an amazing job. And if you have ever seen Castle, Firefly, Serenity, or Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog then there is the treat of hearing Nathan Fillion calling for your backup.

Now, the score was perfect. It was filled with sorrow, pain. It was soft and driving, but filled with the sort of impending doom I love in these stories. Now, again, for those that don't know why it is done this way.... Reach as a planet is taken over. The whole planet falls to the Covenant. And in fact, Halo fans know that what they are doing is futile (kinda) because in the end all the Spartan-IIs (Master Chief is a Spartan-III) that where on Reach die... Noble team is all Spartan...

And as a side note, thank you Bungie for giving me the one sequence in a video game I've always wanted. No spoilers here BUT wait till after the credits. It is possibly the single most effective story telling devices I have felt for the end of a video game series. As I sit here thinking about the heroics, and how the ending is conveyed I am almost in tears. It was simply beautiful. I wanted to see it... but I never wanted to see it... It is a thing that if you are into story telling it is amazing.

Now not everyone that gets Halo games are in it for the story telling.... Now rememeber When I said I'd get to two? Well.... Multiplayer is reason two that this is late. Bungie really raised the bar on arcade shooters. Every weapon feels well balanced and you never feel overpowered. Before the sword or the hammer or the fuel rod canon would make you feel like a God. Well in here, atleast to my eyes, they are very balanced. obviously some weapons are better then others, your not gonna wanna use pistols all the time, but they all have a distinct place. Couple that with some amazing gametypes (my favorite is Headhunter. Think of the rings in Sonic after you kill a guy, you gather them up and then deposit them back at base... the catch? If you don't make it back to base and you die all the heads you carry drop for the other person to pick up) and its addicting. As I type this I'm waiting to turn around and jump into it again.

People have complained that its "Not COD" and to that I say GOOD. This is an ARCADE SHOOTER. This has HEALTHPACKS and guns that DON'T make sense, and physics that are weird, they throw curve balls. If you wanna be competitive and try to outplay and be super 1337 and uber pwnerer and be pro or w.e., play CoD by all means. I'm not stopping you. What I wanna do when I game? I wanna have fun, with friends, I wanna laugh a lot. I wanna relax and just have a good time. Halo:Reach right now to me, for my dollar, is the best console shooter for that purpose.

The Dissent of Man (Bad Religion Album Review)

I am probably one of the biggest Bad Religion fans you'll meet. I was raised on No Control, How Could Hell Be Any Worse, and Against the Grain. When I heard they were streaming their new full length album The Dissent of Man, on Myspace, you could understand why I would be so excited. This is a pre-release review, so the quality of the music I am listening to isn't as good as it would be on CD, so I won't comment to much on production quality to much.

This is Bad Religion so commenting on the writing, is hard to do because they have some of the best written punk songs of all time. I think the writing on this album is up to par with Stranger Than Fiction, smart writing with allusions to literary and scientific knowledge and that special kind of tongue and cheek word play. Their debut single "The Devil In Stitches" is probably one of the best examples of that, its such a smart song that might go over some peoples heads, but most will get the word play and allusions. The only thing I can really comment on is this album has a little bit more pop sensibility than their previous 2 albums.

As far as the recorded music sounds, it really reminds me of Social Distortion, which isn't a bad thing at all. It still sounds like a Bad Religion album, its just it has a lot of great guitar riffs in the background and a poppy vibe going against the melodic hardcore sound that Bad Religion in a lot of ways defined. They do have songs on the album that are Melodic Hardcore, like the great song "Meeting of the Minds", its just its mixed in there with Pop Punkish songs like "Won't Somebody" and "The Resist". Its a nice change of pace as most BR albums start to blur together if you listen to them to long. My 5 Favorite tracks on this album are The Devil In Stitches, Won't Somebody, Meeting of the Minds, The Resist Stance, and my favorite song on the album "Cyanide".

To conclude, The Dissent of Man, is a great album, and a very fun listen. At 40 minutes long it is totally worth full price, but Target will for a short time be selling it for $9 for a short time after its release. So if you wanna buy the CD you can get it September 28th at Target! I definitely recommend this album to everyone except, people who hate punk, and those who think atheists eat babies. I give the Dissent of Man a 5 out of 5

I will leave you guys with the single "The Devil in Stitches"

Hurley (Weezer Album Review)

Weezer is a band I really love, in fact one of my favorite albums of all time is Pinkerton, and I love everyone of their albums except Make Believe....well until I heard Raditude. Raditude was just awful I hated it, it wasn't the worst album ever it was just so disappointing coming after the instant classic of the Red Album. So when I heard Hurley was going to be release LESS THAN A YEAR after Raditude, you could understand how I would be skeptical about this release. Honestly I thought it was just some contractually obligated thing they had to do for Epitaph like some contract revision that said they had to release their first Epitaph album as fast as possible. After listening to it, I find something special about it, something that makes it better then Raditude and even the Red Album in some regards.

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The song writing reminds me of the old indie rock Weezer, before they went overtly pop rock. I have nothing against the Pop Rock stuff Weezer has done, I mean I love Maladroit and the Red Album, its just hearing this reminds me of the Green Album, Pinkerton, and the Blue Album. Rivers is back from whatever funk he was in with Raditude, and you can tell this is grade A Weezer song writing at its best. The only problem with any of the writing is on the song "Memories" there is a lyric "back when Audioslave was still Rage" its kind of easy to see that this song was not written in the last 4 years, and that it was meant for either Make Believe or Maladroit.

The songs as a whole are honestly just beautiful, taking the style of music from Pinkerton and mixing it with the synth from Maladroit with improved talent, just make pure eargasm. There is not a single song on the album...well except for the cover of "Viva La Vida", but thats because I despise Coldplay. If I had to pick my favorite 5 songs from the album it would probably have to be "Ruling Me", "Unspoken", "Run Away", "Smart Girls", and "Memories".

To close you guys out, Hurley is what Weezer was trying to do with Raditude. It seems to me this is the record Weezer has been trying to make since Maladroit, its just the Label wouldn't let them. I was terrified when I heard Weezer was releasing a new album less than a year after Raditude, fast forward to now, I am excited to hear that Weezer is planning on releasing a new record less than a year after Hurley.

Anyway I will leave you guys with the Video for "Memories" Featuring the boys from Jack Ass 3D

Albums That Changed My Life: Boxcar Racer (self titled)

This is a series of blogs that I am trying out. Once a week every Saturday morning I will write one blog about albums that changed my life. If people don't like it or if I get an overwhelmingly negative response I won't do any more. Anyway on to the blog.

Boxcar Racer's self titled was the first album I listened to all the way through. When I was like 8 I knew there was a band called blink 182, and I knew my two older brothers listened to them and I heard a couple songs, but one day my brother brings over his Boxcar Racer CD when he was visiting. He forgot to take it back with him and I stole it essentially for 2 months, I listened to it over and over again. It was the first album I had ever listened beginning to end.

This was the album that made me a music geek. The tracks that have stayed with me for almost 9 years now would have to be "I Feel So", "Tiny Voices", "Letters to God", and "My First Punk Song", just all such memorable tracks. In re-listening to the album I would have to say the entire album is amazing, it's just such a great mix of song writing and musicianship. Its not very often you can say that an album you listened to as a kid over and over again holds up like Boxcar Racer's self titled has.

One thing that always bugged me when I was a kid, but now I understand is why didn't they make a second album? Then it just clicked, the reason there is only one boxcar racer album is because the first one says everything. below is the music video for "There Is" the 10th track from one of the best albums of all time.

The Pretty Reckless' "Light Me Up" album review

This review has been a few days coming, its just I haven't had time since I got this album off of Itunes UK to write a review! Now that I do I can finally give my thoughts on this album...buy it!

Okay maybe that wasn't a good enough review that this album deserves, so as standard to my format lets talk about the song writing. "Light Me Up" doesn't fall for the same traps that most modern rock albums by popular bands fall into (ahem Nickleback and Kings of Leon). Every song's lyrics are very unique, you don't have 10 songs that sound the same (like Nickleback and Kings of Leon), it also features a very creative use of metaphors that don't fall flat (yeah I don't like Nickleback and Kings of Leon so what), and this just pop rock songwriting at its best! Last time I had seen writing this good I'd have to go back to 2008, with Cage The Elephant's debut and I LOVED THAT ALBUM TO DEATH!


How about the music supporting the lyrics? I'd say its better then the lyrics, I am reminded a lot of "Mellon Collie and The Infinite" with the mix of punkish hard rock song rock songs and power ballads that use classical instruments. If there are two song that is the WOW track to this album I'd say they are "Goin' Down" or "Just Tonight" because both show the best this album has to offer! The only song I am not a big fan of is "You", and its only because it sounds like a thrown on acoustic song. AND if I wanted to be knitpicky I could say that "Miss Nothing" and "Goin' Down" is to much power to be put back to back...but that'd be anal!

Normally my last paragraph is giving my final summations, and telling you guys whether this album is good or not...its 5 out of 5 stars...but I feel I need to address some things OTHER reviewers have been saying. I have been hearing a lot of people (mainly kids and 40 year old women) arguing either that front woman Taylor Momsen is the next Courtney Love or Cherie Currie or the opposing side that says she is like neither. I have to agree with the opposing side, SHE IS NOTHING LIKE COURTNEY OR CHERRIE. I mean if I had to compare Momsen to anyone it would be Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl, or to name one female Poe...actually yeah she reminds me a lot of Poe! Another thing I should address before leaving you with a music video, is how some people dislike Nothing left to Lose because it doesn't sound like something that 16 (now 17) year old Momsen could have written...its because I don't think she did, while no official word, this song sounds like it was written by a guy most likely songwriting partner and Pretty Reckless' guitarist Ben Phillips...just wanted to put that out there.

Anyway I'll leave you guys with the video for Miss Nothing (only watchable if you are from the United States) Light Me Up Available in the US September 7th, and Available now in the UK

Harmony by NeverShoutNever (Album Review)

At the begining of the year I reviewed NeverShoutNever's debut album "What Is Love", I thought it was mediocre, due to its length, and the fact that Best Buy and Wal Mart (not Target) were charging full price for what was essentially an EP. I liked it it was a very mature album about love and regret. Fast Forward a few months and we have "Harmony" Christofer Drew's folk style album.


The album is 11 songs (13 on the preorder), and in my opinion the writing is okay. The songs that are good are amazing, and the rest of the album is okay. While back in a blog talking about NeverShoutNever!, I said Christofer Drew has potential to be a great song writer like Bob Dylan, and the songs This Shit Getz Old, Cheatercheaterbestfriendeater, Piggy Back, and Sellout PROVE HE IS A DAMN FINE SONG WRITER. Then you have songs like Harmony, Love Sick, First Dance, and the two sound alike songs The Lousy Truth and Trampoline seem to show him reverting back to his old stuff which is bad, because artists are suppose to develop over time not revert to childish things because its popular.

The actual music its self is GREAT. Listening to "Harmony" you can tell super producer Butch Vig had his hands on this project. His Unique way of recording things in a very epic and large style shows, even the quiet songs feel kind large and grand. This album features a lot of Banjo and Mandolin in the background, and mixes acoustic with electric which just sounds amazing! The one thing I have to criticize like I did above is the fact that The Lousy Truth and Trampoline sound to alike, especially since they are right next to each other in track order. Also the song Harmony bugs me a lot and I can't figure out why, I just in general hate the song and wish it to die!

"Harmony" is good album overall the weak song writing on some songs lacks the growth and maturity needed to make an all time great album. The music behind the lyrics is what saves it and all of Bitch Vig's producing talent shows! Plus appropriately priced at many locations for $10 for a 25 minutes, your only paying roughly 50 cents a minute, its not bad! This is worth getting on CD if only for hearing the Tracks Piggy Back and This Shit Getz Old in the highest quality possible! To make a very BIG statement for me I NOT ONLY say buy this album I am saying MY FAVORITE SONG OF 2010 SO FAR IS THIS SHIT GETZ OLD! I give Harmony a 4 out of 5!

I leave you with the video for my FAVORITE SONG SO FAR IN 2010, This Shit Getz Old

This S**t Getz Old

NeverShoutNever | MySpace Music Videos

The Reason Why so Many People Hate Owl City

Owl City, is a weird guy. I like his music, but I know a lot of people hate it, and somethings about it seem off. I came to a stunning conclusion as to why today, its because its to perfect. His music is the audio equivalent to the visuals in Avatar. So fake it gives you a disconnect despite the fact that its suppose to be amazing.

Using musical progressions that shy away from to sharp or to flat notes, adding in sound effects like the Alien Horn from fl studio's plug in pack (Fireflies), and auto tuning the voice away from a robotic or natural sound into some creepy mid ground that makes you feel uncomfortable. This combination of studio magic combined with song writing about fantastical imaginary worlds where you are to believe Adam Young's life is some fantastic indie movie like 500 Days of Summer....except its a fantasy movie also, like Avatar.

Thinking about this in those terms its weird, but its like you listen to Fireflies for the first time it makes you happy, then you get sad because you know that fantastical world described doesn't exist, thus having a bad feeling associated with the song. Kind of a weird thought...

Dropkick Murphys Kicked Ass at the Grand Sierra's Grand Theater

This is my second time seeing Dropkick Murphy, the first time was actually my first concert nearly 3 years ago! Dropkick isn't my favorite band but they put on a crazy good show! Dropkicks openers for this show were Larry and His Flask and The Adolescents (which I didn't find out about until the show started because I didn't read who was gonna play with DKM).

As always every time I visit a venue I haven't been to before, I'll review it. Reno, Nevada's Grand Theater inside the Grand Sierra resort is just impressive. It has the largest indoor stage in the west coast, and something crazy like the 8th largest in the US! It is a massive small venue, it has a lot of seating and there isn't a bad seat in the house except in the bottom row on the far right of left. The floor is a little tight, I think they should have made it it a little bigger that way people can have a little breathing room. Security was the best and nicest I have ever seen, they talked to us guys in the front row of the mosh about music and stuff, they didn't choke-slam anyone for smoking they just told them to smoke outside, and when the time came for them to step in and remove a guy from the pit they did. Its a really cool venue, and I will definitely go there again.

The first band up was Larry And His Flask a band I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT. These guy's are some of the best in the genre of bluseycelticbluegrassfolkjazzpunk. It is hard to compare these guys to any other band, but their set was amazing. With amazing stage presence and a stand up bass player who was running across the stage with his bass spinning it around nearly chucking it in the crowd at a few points, a drummer who stood up and played, and a band that was floating around the stage like crazy, it was just awesome I WOULD SO SEE THESE GUYS SOLO LIVE!

The second opener was the Adolescents, aka one of the best Hardcore Punk bands of the 80s! Seeing these guys live was a trip because I saw footage of them live on youtube, it was amazing I was like "I want to be there". Fast forward to the show, and I was there. With no false expectations of it being like the videos of the old days of punk, it was still so cool! The set they played was awesome I believe it was either a 45 minute or hour long set and it was good. The mosh got crazy, people were having fun! One of the two guitarists Joe Harrison was awesome he is like in his 20's I think but he looks like he is 12 and he is just an spectacular guitarist! 3 members including the bassist drummer and lead singer were all from the original lineup! All looked it to, still I am glad I got to see these guys live I would love to again!

Then there was Dropkick, just a stellar live band, the first time I saw them I was to young to really get up in the pit, but this time I was at the very front, when Foggy Dew (their intro music) started playing I just felt like six 20 year old girls start pushing on my back to get up front(didn't work) I even had this one chick who had her arms around me at one point (again thinking that it'd make me let go), then the pit started and she stopped that fast. Dropkick played an average length 1 hour 45 minute show which is their standard, and wow did they just TEAR UP the Grand Theater, people going nuts stage diving everywhere, and only one prick got removed from the concert (for tackling security) .

It was an all around FANTASTIC performance, with a crazy pit! They had Stephanie sing "Dirty Glass", which was awesome because she doesn't normally tour with Dropkick! Also as tradition at Dropkick concerts they invited close to 100 women on stage to sing "Kiss Me I'm Shit Faced" with the band, but some dumb bimbo messed up the "It Was Tiny" part. At the end of the show they played "Shipping out to Boston" and "Bar Room Hero" where they allowed what had to of been 200 people up on stage from the crowd (including me) it was insane and so much fun! If Dropkick comes to your town BUY TICKETS, I don't care what you say BUY TICKETS, just go see them its a lot of fun!

Few updates

So it has been a while since I updated and a lot has happened in my gaming life. I got a few games that I'm now part way through and will comment on in a bit, but lets talk about a few of the upcoming things I'm excited for....

Cataclysm-Yes I'm one of THOSE people... I get it.

Halo:Reach-After playing the beta they really seemed to add some strategic depth to the Halo 3 while not killing the built in fun factor of running around and blowing up your friends. It is strategic without being over strategic. I like that. Also the graphics are leaps ahead of Halo 3 in my opinion, and really optimized for 1080p... finally.

Scott Pilgrim-This goes here because... well read the damn comics they are so huge in video game references and nudges and jokes that the game they are putting up as a download later (with the movie) is gonna be hilarious. Plus the retro SNES look is brilliant for the series.

But finally on to the games I came to talk about. The first game I got recently I wanted to talk about was Singularity, a game that isn't getting as much press as I think it deserves. I played it on the Xbox 360. The game is brilliant. It has a deep engaging "alternate history" story centering around the Cold War, and Russia finding an element that allowed for some crazy stuff, but it sort of imploded without anyone outside the project knowing much more about it then a name. You are in charge of an American deployment sent to investigate a huge emp surge on an island known as a location of an old Russian lab. Well, an apparent Singularity was opened during experiments with this new element (an isotope of E-99). This allows manipulation of time. Your character gets involved in things not only in 2010 (current date in game) but also 1955. He finds he is put into the middle of both conflicts, and havoc obviously ensues.

The game plays out beautifully. It is a first person shooter with a very nice set of weapons even early on. The E-99 weapons have really cool properties (a self guided missile for instance) that have strategic purpose in the story. It feels good, and is based on the unreal engine 3 so if you have played any fps with that engine you know what your in for.

The story plays out in a number of ways. This is borrowed heavily from Bioshock... So heavy in fact many reviewers (myself included) have seen the ties so deep that we can't help but mention its kind of ripping it off, but in the best way possible. Tons of audio diaries and interactive places in the environment allow you to unravel as much or as little of the story as you want. It is a great way to do it, and I'm personally glad to see more fps games taking this route.

The game is a fun ride so far and I can't wait to get time to take more of the ride. I'm a big fan of war conspiracy stories AND of alternate history style stories, so I'm very excited for this.

Now I also bought Red Dead Redemption. This game is getting a great deal of coverage, and for good reason. I'm gonna assume everyone reading has played at least a little bit of GTA IV so I won't go to deep into mechanics. The game is a wild west story of a man backed into a corner. John Marston is taken away from his wife and children, and told he has to hunt down his old gang members and kill them before he will be allowed to see them again.

The first thing about this game is how RICH it is. It is jaw dropping. The views you get of the west are beautiful. Rockstar out did themselves this time, and I love every second. You feel transported to the south west seen in such great films as Outlaw Josey Wales and the Dollar series. If your a fan of those style of movies your gonna love stepping into that world. Everything is picture perfect.

And lets be honest, No game review would be without a Starcraft 2 review.... And I have my own to give. I'm a Starcraft fan. The original RTS was well balanced, perfect, with a HUGE learning curve if you wanted to take on true greats. Starcraft 2:Wings of Liberty is the reboot of the series after over a decade. Even the opening cinematic makes a joke, with Tychus Findlay getting out of prison, stating at the end if he was ready for another job that it was "About damn time" letting a little of Blizzards humor out.

The game is REALLY pushing multiplayer, putting battle.net 2.0 at the forefront. And it is a great system. Allowing gamers from WoW and SC2 talk in between games easily is amazing, and allows a sense of communities to be establish, letting hardcore players of both play both without feeling disconnected so they can always get asked to raid or asked if they wanna play a match in either game. It is a genious business decision for blizzard, and a great saving grace for us gamers. (Yes I know that xfire and steam already do this but building it into the game for Blizzard makes this connection happen for everyone, no third party stuff required, meaning EVERYONE in game has it, no barrier for entry...).

Now that doesn't build a good game. And let me say this. An RTS is a delicate beast. It is a game hinging on balancing units. How many resources to make them, how much space they take up, time to build them, and how many steps you have to go to even get the ability to make them is huge. The battles play out as a sort of high tech chess or rock paper scissors match. Some units are better versus others.

Three races are balanced on play style in the multi-player, and each has strengths and weakness. Terran is the forefront of the campaign, so I'll talk about the pros and cons of it first. They are the middle ground. They have strong upper tech trees, are not to expensive, but not super cheap. The upgrades are a huge part and offer good buffs. These when compared to the other two races are obvious. Protoss is the high tech race. The race with the biggest learning curve, they require tight resource management cause everything is more expensive then the other two, but each unit is that much stronger. In a 1on1 fight versus the "mirror unit" of the other race, Protoss will win. But there is the problem, they can not build large armies as quickly and can be easily overwhelmed by Terran and of course.... The Zerg. The Zerg is the "bug" race of Starcraft, and are the purest idea of strength in numbers. MMO players that play open world PvP have heard the term that originated in Starcraft. Zergs build weak units, but can build more units quicker then any other race, so your goal is to be cranking out TONS of units as soon as possible. It is a great balancing act that many have dove into full force.

And the multiplayer is just as good, and just as deep, as playing chess... if you know, bishop to a-3 meant you shot an alien in the face. It is deep in strategy, but the campaign offers a slow build up. It is only the Terran but gives you a GREAT view of what is in store in multiplayer.

Now if your not a fan of competitive multi-player... Don't bother with Starcraft 2... Because well lets face it, this is the most competitive game on the planet. South Korea in fact has 4 television channels that where and to my knowledge still are dedicated to professional Starcraft players.... A game that came out 12 years ago is being televised and players are being payed. Competition is huge. The new battle.net system though keeps it in check. After a few placement rounds it places you in a ladder of similair skilled players so your not getting beaten by a pro in Korea...

And the ONE con I have with the game is this... The units are almost TO similair to the old ones. There are some huge changes don't get me wrong, but marines/zealots/zerglings are still the same thing. Battleships and Carriers are still ruling the skies. Thor is a beefed up Goliath, and immortals are the more balanced answer to the Dragoon. It is very similair... Which means if your a Starcraft player your gonna feel at home, but if your where not be prepared to get beat while your learning. But don't worry, it is a very pretty loss to watch happen.

But all in all, the balance is there, the graphics are beautiful on a good system, it runs silky smooth, and the big draw of the game for me, multiplayer, is spot on. The campaign has some great humor and ties in the story of the Queen of Blades (Kerrigan) from brood war and brings Raynor back... Drowning his sorrows with a little whiskey, and being forced to get back into the fight he thought he left. It is a deep game, and really should be played.

So all in all, all three games I'd highly suggested picking up if you have some extra cash. If you'd like to play SC2 with me add me. My battle.net is drewsipher@gmail.com