Various Bits of Media

I've had a story called "Pocket Twos" rattling around in my head since last week when I went to a coworkers house and won the night's poker match. Perhaps one day I'll actually write it. It's not all that interesting, and certainly the last thing this world needs is another cards as real life story, but I'll still probably subject you to it in due time anyway. You don't need to plan your schedule around it or anything, but know that soon you will be accosted with yet another bout of poor writing by yours truly.

If you've spent any appreciable amount of time at this site, you well know how much I love the rock. Not Dwayne Johnson, although he does seem like a fine fellow, but instead the raw, blistering, healing power of the rock and the roll. Folks, if you love rock as much as I do, then you really need to buy the new Muse live CD/DVD set, HAARP. I had heard Muse a bunch on XM and "Knights of Cydonia" is pretty much the only reason to buy Guitar Hero III so when I saw that they had a live CD/DVD set coming out, I was mildly interested. I'm a sucker for a good live show, even if it's from a band who's discography I own nothing from, and a quick perusal of the band's MySpace page further stoked my interest. I bought the set this weekend, and folks, I'm here to tell you that these dudes can kick some shit out. The concert is a total blast, and a real feast for the eyes and ears. These guys can fucking play, the crowd was totally into it, and the camera work is top notch. If you are finding yourself dangerously low on rock, get thee to a record store and pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

On the movie side, I recently watched the French horror movie Frontière(s) and all I can say is "meh". Imagine that someone watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and The Descent and then sat down to write a movie and this is what they'd come up with. Some thieves flee Paris after some elections, why this is important I have no idea, but they made a huge deal about it, only to come across a family of cannibalistic neo-Nazis. Poor decision making abounds, people die and the main character, Yasmin, becomes the "wife" of the family's new patriarch. Unfortunately, she took all of her acting cues from Saw and displayed some of the worst over acting I've ever seen. Granted, I can't begin to imagine what someone in her shoes would act like, but mute shaking probably isn't it. At least not shaking, while mute and staggering around bow legged and arms outstretched. If you came in on the film while watching her stumble around, you would think it was a zombie movie, and a bad one at that. I don't consider it a complete waste of time, as it gave me something to write about tonight, but at the same time, if you see it on your shelf, or in your online video store of choice, just know that you're not getting anything terribly imaginative. If you're ok with that and really just want to see some neo-Nazis chow down on some annoying twenty-somethings, I guess there's worse movies you could see. I can't imagine that many movies fit that particular description, but I am hopelessly out of touch with modern horror movies, so perhaps there are plenty.

Battlestar Galactica started back up and all I can say is "wheeeeee!" Now all I hope is that we get the final season as one nice package, and not spread out over several years as SciFi tries to figure out how to make another good show. Here's a hint, it doesn't have a Mansquito in it.

In rock gaming related news, I am continuing to enjoy the hell out of Rock Band. I'm about a third of the way through the vocals tour on Hard, and this is when the rubber hits the road people and you find that you're not nearly as good as you thought you were. Better here than on Expert where nothing but bitter shame and embarrassment await. I'd like to know how it is that I can get three stars on "Black Hole Sun", and just barely at that, and then drop five stars on "Dani California" without even thinking about it, as "Dani" seems to me to be the harder of the songs, but what do I know. I was also able to rock "Don't Look Back in Anger" to the tune of five stars on my very first try, so clearly I have no idea what's going on. "Dirty Little Secret" is also nothing but a thing as I can do five stars on it, to the tune of about 95% complete on Expert. There are many things I would consider myself, but possible front man of an All-American Rejects tribute band is not one of them. This game clearly thinks otherwise. I still say that for the money, no game gets me as pumped up and just overjoyed at being a part of gaming like this game. Kicking out a five star performance on any instrument, but particularly vocals is hugely satisfying. Add to this the face that they actually know how to support the game and offer new songs and you have a game that you could conceivably, play until the Gods of Rock call us home. All they needs are downloadable albums to make the experience complete and I'll be a happy man. That is until Rock Band 2, which better have the Band World Tour mode over Live or I'm going to smack someone. Possibly you. It's nothing personal.

That's it for today kiddies. Be good.