Reviews Updated on:05.07.2008

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Music

Mindless Self Indulgence - if
“If” is captivating and electrifying while being completely original. Mindless Self Indulgence is here to confuse the shit out of regular everyday people. At the same time M.S.I. takes the people below the outcast’s and gives them a place to feel normal. M.S.I. has been known for their outrageous music because of their previous releases [Frankenstein Girls Seem Strangely Sexy, You’ll Rebel, etc.]. “If” is no exception to this case but they might have even pushed the envelope farther with this release. Certain tracks such as “Mark David Chapman” and “Mastermind” will more than likely be used as references to put this album on the boycott list this year. Mindless Self Indulgence proves that ‘intelligent’ is a term to describe people who think outside the box and to my surprise they made that point with “If.”
MindlessSelfIndulgence.com

The Dirtball - Crook County
This is one of best and most diverse records I have heard all year. “Crook County” takes a music listener on a journey they have never been on before, placing no boundaries on music. The Dirtball has crossed musical genres and gone beyond expectations with “Crook County.” The album is filled with hard hitting rock grooves, heart pounding hip hop beats and laced with phenomenal lyrics. With “Crook County” The Dirtball used the time limitation to his best ability by managing to have 19 tracks with not one filler track that you want to skip or fast forward through to get to a hook. The persistence and hard work behind “Crook County” will give you your money’s worth. “Crook County” is filled with guest’s acts such as Big B, Lady Love, Boondox, Ceekay, that lend a comforting hand to the tracks they are featured on. This album is a definite buy for music lovers. [Pre-Order The Dirtball - Crook County]
TheDirtball.com

Walls of Jericho - Redemption EP
Most people know and love Walls Of Jericho for the fact that they are a 5-piece band that is fronted by Candace Kucsulain who has the vocals to rival many other females in the screamo/hardcore scene and also some of the men in the scene. Walls of Jericho are now back with a brand new EP which is totally unlike anything they have made before. This time around the band has taken a totally different approach and taken on the idea of making an acoustic EP. I know what you may be saying that they've whimped out on us or have gone soft. This may come as a shock to some of the bands fans and will come as a pleasant surprise to others. Everybody here knows that Walls Of Jericho plays hardcore in general but they will be surprised to discover that their new EP is an acoustic release. This is strange for a really aggressive band, but not so strange if you have listened to their last album as the hinted at it with the song "No Saving Me."
www.wallsofjericho.tv

Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Rhymesavers is the label that serves the world with the best hip hop. “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” debut at number 5 on billboard the week it came out, making it the best debut for both Rhymesavers Records and Atmosphere. “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” is not just a good hip hop record but a phenomenal record in general. Atmosphere proves he not just a talented MC but a real musician for all to enjoy. This album explains a lot about the 5 track EP's and free albums Slug and Ant released leading up to this release. From track 1 until track 15 this album is a story. This isn't a party album but a masterful piece that proves true hip hop is NOT dead. This record is a must own for the year.
www.rhymesayers.com

You, Me, And Everyone We Know - Party For The Grown and Sexy
Drive Thru Recording artist You, Me, and Everyone We Know took their E.P. and gave it away for free. The songs of You, Me and Everyone We Know seems to emerge from the shadows alternating monologues of spite and discontent with rhapsodies of inordinate joy. But peer through the veil of havoc, and it's clear this band seeks a new, if unnerving, way to rock its way to the truth. Their CD "Party for the Grown and Sexy," is impressing fans and critics alike.[ Download The Music for Free]
www.myspace.com/youmeandeveryoneweknow

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
It’s a little to late to act original now isn‘t it. Nine Inch Nails put this CD up on-line on Monday, May 5th 2008. Nine Nails Fans are probably acting as if this is a revolutionary thought to let fans download the music for free. Trent did offer fans multiple formats in which to download the music in such as .MP3 .WAV .WMA and many more. The music does stand up and it is actually good music but definitely not amazing. If this would have came out before “With Teeth” NIN might have actually kept the old fan base. Due to the numerous statements that Trent Reznor has made about the state of music on top of weak albums it seems the old fans are getting really tired of it. “The Slip is worth a download but only the NIN addicts will go out and buy a physical copy from a record store. [ Download The Music for Free]
theslip.nin.com

The Briggs - Come All You Mad Men
“Come All You Mad Men” is a record that is far from bland and boring. The Briggs continue to be one of the most compelling and unique bands on the market. The latest release “Come All You Mad Men” has the same old school punk vibe that does not come off as another cliché. Take the heavy music, rough vocals, and tons of yelling to make the perfect mixture for today’s youth. Put your fists in the air and stomp your boots to their Irish Rock banter. [Pre-Order The Briggs - Come All You Man Men]
www.thebriggs.org

28 Degrees Taurus - How Do You Like Your Love?
The psychedelic music hit my ears with 28 Degrees album “How Do You Like Your Love?” 28 Degrees Taurus is a band that has made beautiful songs that are completely unique and original. This album from beginning to end is something that goes outside the realms of the earth’s atmosphere. The music is cool and hip enough to be the soundtrack to a Quentin Taratino movie.
www.myspace.com/28degreestaurus

Yvette Rovira - The Art Of Attraction
Astrology is something some of us can’t even comprehend. Yvette Rovira took astrological signs and based her record “The Art Of Attraction” around them. She took the element of being human in day to day relationships and placed the perfect mixture of pop and dance behind it that everyone can relate too and understand. Yvette Rovira is ready for the entire universe with her music for everyone to enjoy.
www.myspace.com/yvetterovira  

David Rovics - Songs For Mahmud
The musical version of democracy is what the press has labeled David Rovics. This folk singer/songwriter makes the listener think. “Songs for Mahmud” actually gives credit to listeners instead of giving them everything they have already been fed by everyone else. This is good music that has a message behind it. You can take whatever you want from it, though. It’s safe to say that David Rovics is probably a guy George W. Bush would probably like to see at Guantanamo Bay.
www.davidrovics.com

Hours Of Shipwreck - The Hours Is Upon Us
Hours Of Shipwreck is completely unique and original with their release of “The Hours Upon Us.” In the same vein as the notable acts Radiohead and Muse, few will understand the vision of the group’s outlook on music. For those that do, they will see the passion that lay forth in the music. The production on the album is pure gold with the mixture of different music elements.
www.houroftheshipwreck.com

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Cloverfield
The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla that had me on the edge of my seat! On July 4th of 2007 the hit blockbuster of the summer Transformers made its debut into theatres. The trailer for Cloverfield was shown with no title attached to the project, which created the biggest internet buzz for a film that I have ever seen. People by the millions were logging on to find out anything about the movie. On January 8th 2008 Cloverfield made it debut into theatres. Cloverfield had no in between with movie fans. They either loved it of hated it. Cloverfield is a government leaked video about a creature invading New York City. The whole thing was shot from the perspective of an average guy named “Bud” on a hand held camera. Due to the hand held hand camera the video is very shaky and choppy. The main idea of the film is a group of friends that are everyday people and their face to face encounter with this creature. Now the main reason people ame to hate this film was a lot of people said it felt so fake. People who enjoyed this film loved it for the real effect that came across on film. A lot of the footage has very eerie feeling similar to the September 11th attacks. The DVD features are amazing for behind the scenes footage. The ‘behind the scenes’ takes you into the story idea behind Cloverfield, filming the project, and how they created these larger than life scenes. Fan boys, such as me, wanted to see the trailer that created the entire internet buzz. Unfortunately, they left it out on the version that is available now. They should be releasing another version that will probably see the light of day sometime next year since Paramount Pictures such green lighted “Clover field 2.” It is too long though to wait a year for another version to come out for geeks like me. This is definitely not a film to miss.
www.cloverfieldmovie.com

Day of The Dead [2008]
This is a remake by name only. The only thing this shares in common with the original is some zombies, the military and a couple of actors. Most of the characters are created for this movie and the whole plot is completely different. “Day of the Dead” ‘08 is only a remake by name attempting to cash in on the success of the “Dawn of the Dead” remake and Romero's other “Dead” flicks. “Day of the Dead” is entertaining due to how bad it is. As a remake of “Day Of The Dead” it is a travesty of a film and a complete insult to the original. As a stand alone movie it's actually fun in how bad it is. I was able, after awhile, to not think of the original and take this movie for what it is; a silly zombie flick.
Day Of The Dead at IMDB.com

Alien VS. Predator Requiem [Unrated]
For those who found 2004's Aliens vs. Predator too lightweight in the gore-and-guns department, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem offers a marked improvement in both categories, as well as a respectable amount of rumbles between the title extraterrestrials. Set in the 21st century (which predates the story to all of the Alien features), Requiem sends a crippled Predator ship crashing to Earth in a small Colorado town; unbeknownst to the locals, the craft is loaded with H.R. Giger's insectoid monsters, which make quick work of most of the population. As the human cast is slowly whittled to a few hardy (if unmemorable) souls, a Predator warrior also arrives to complicate matters and do battle with the Aliens, as well as a ferocious alien-Predator hybrid (dubbed a Predalien by the sci-fi and horror press). Visual-effects designers and music-video helmers, The Strause Brothers (who make their feature directorial debut here), keep the action on frantic throughout, which is wise since the dialogue and characters are threadbare at best. That should matter little to teenage male viewers who are inarguably the film's key audience. Fans of the Alien franchise, however, may find the off handed nod to the series' mythology, given during the finale, its sole saving grace.
www.avp-r.com

Alvin and The Chipmunks
Families come in many different shapes and sizes but few humans consider rodents members of the family. Dave Seville (Jason Lee) is no exception, so when this failing musician finds three young talking chipmunks gorging themselves in his kitchen cupboards, Dave is quick to question his sanity. Then he tosses the offending chipmunks outside into the rain to restore order. When Dave hears the chipmunks singing outside his window he realizes that that unusual trio might just be the world's next vocal sensation. He strikes a bargain with them--the chipmunks can stay with him if they sing his songs. While chipmunks Alvin (Justin Long), Theodore (Jesse McCartney), and Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) quickly begin to see Dave as a father figure, it's strictly a business arrangement for Dave and he maintains an appropriate emotional distance. Dave's frustration with the chipmunks mounts as they unwittingly wreak havoc on his personal life but when Dave's old friend and record label mogul Ian (David Cross) begins to exploit the chipmunks for personal gain, Dave suddenly realizes what an important part of his life, and indeed his family, the three chipmunks have become. Hilarity reins in this live action/CGI comedy with many memorable scenes--think chipmunks showering in the dishwasher, riding in remote control planes, and bouncing off the walls under the influence of a serious caffeine buzz. Catchy Chipmunks' songs both new and old promise to lodge themselves in the minds of viewers long after the credits roll and even those none-too-enchanted with the premise of singing chipmunks can't help but be entertained by this comical film.
www.thechipmunks.com

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Secret Invasion [Comic Book]
After months (even years) of anticipation, Secret Invasion is finally here. I’ll readily admit I wasn’t a big fan of Brian Bendis’ last epics, House of M and Secret War. House of M felt like 90% set up and 10% payoff and Secret War, well, just didn’t seem to go anywhere at all. With Secret Invasion I’m beginning to see how Secret War is finally going to pay on some dividends. Brian Bendis wastes no time creating complete chaos with this first issue. I hate making comparisons but it’s very reminiscent of the first 15 minutes of a summer blockbuster (ala Michael Bay). The potential confrontations are over before they even begin and we get a lot of damage on a planetary scale; not to mention explosions. The Skrulls make their move very quickly and everyone is pretty much caught off-guard; even Tony Stark, the futurist, didn’t see this one coming. He is held completely powerless to stop the onslaught. With the tone set at such a serious level I found it even more hilarious when I came across slices of humorous dialogue. I literally laughed out loud when I read this stuff. The timing was impeccable and the production values are just as impressive. I think this is Leinil Yu’s best work since that Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk series he did a few years back. They brought Mark Morales on board to ink his pencils was a touch of genius, too. Normally, I hate it when we get a book that’s digitally inked but Yu’s one of the few artists that can pull it off. With Secret Invasion, however; his art clearly takes a new shine with Morales’ inks. Laura Martin’s colors add to that shine adding a lot of vibrancy to Yu’s art. In a way this book looks like a brand new car you just bought off the lot. If only the cover by Gabriele Dell Otto wasn’t so dreary. It’s very hard to talk about this story without spoiling it, so I’ll just go into why the story works. The beginning gives us a good rationale as to what’s going on with the Skrulls. It’s moody, brooding, and all that dark stuff. From there the story slowly builds up speed until it hits a sprinter’s pace around page 20. From here till around page 40 (the last page), it’s a non-stop ride of suspenseful moments that’ll leave your jaw on the floor. Secret Invasion is off to a dizzying start and like its pace, it’ll leave you breathless.
www.myspace.com/comicbooks

Bamboozle Road Show
Saves The Day
Armor For Sleep
A Cursive Memory
Set Your Goals
Metro Station
Location: The Joint (Inside the Hard Rock Casino) [Las Vegas, Nevada]
Date: April 4th, 2008
I went the the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV to see the Bamboozle Road Show. When I got into the short line to get into The Joint I felt like an underdog in the high class Rockstar style casino. The Joint normally had a couple thousand people inside for a show. On that night there were only a couple hundred. Most of the people that went to the show were real music fans and big Saves the Day fans. The crowd was warm and open to all the opening acts. Maybe I was just in a great mood this evening but every band that played I enjoyed and respected. Metro Station, Set Your Goals, Armor For Sleep, and Saves the Day all played from their heart and did not rush through their set. As some might have thought due to the low attendance that evening that the show would not be worth the money but it really was because all the bands made it great. You could not deny the friendships of all the bands. When you see tight bonds with these bands in someway you see a family on stage that you would enjoy being apart of. Now the lack of attendance for Bamboozle Road Show has so many factors behind it that it would be hard to pin point the main reason but one reason could be due to the fact that those bands are not shoved down your throat by radio or T.V. which makes music lovers go out of their way to find these kind of bands. Unlike most cities that have a drive of hardcore music lovers Vegas lacks this for some reason or another. The Bamboozle Road Show was an amazing package and it was a real gathering of music lovers that care about music before image.[ BamboozleRoadShow.com]

Taste of Chaos
Atreyu
Bullet for My Valentine
Mucc
Des Pairspray
Bless The Fall
The Underneath
Idiot Pilot
Location: The Pearl [Inside The Palms Casino] (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Date: April 8th, 2008
It was a weekday night and this unattractive person is at the hottest spot, The Pearl. This place is known for holding many big events such as MTV’s VMA, awards ’07, Marilyn Manson’s Halloween Show, and Tool. I have never been inside The Pearl before this point. I was really looking forward to checking it out. Unfortunately I had some box office issues. When they finally find my tickets felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory; Now I got the golden ticket.
I rushed to get in line to get inside The Pearl. I felt great other than just being a little bummed out that I missed some of the show. I had a long walk down what seemed like a lot of stairs to get to the floor of the venue. The anticipation was killing me as I walked down the hallway to get into the music hall.
The Pearl is the most beautiful venue I have been in. I looked up and everyone from the floor, Plaza and Balcony had amazing views of the stage. They were filming the show for the projection screens to be shown to the audience on High Definition camera‘s. The sound was amazing. Everything seemed over the top; however, I was at a rock show and at one of the most sought out rock shows of the year “The Taste of Chaos.”
Every person in the crowd seemed to be dead. No one was moshing, head banging, crowd surfing, and no cheap smoke was coming from any where inside the venue. Band after band was going on yet it seemed like everyone was dead. I enjoyed every band going on the stage giving it their all. During the show I found out that the security was tight and if you did any of the actions listed above you would be kicked out of the show.
The big downside to this show was that it took place the Pearl. At most markets the Taste of Chaos was two stages except for the Las Vegas date. The Second Stage acts got to use about thirty five percent of the stage. There were two small areas (one of each side of the stage) that were allocated for the Second Stage acts. Most of the time you could only see a few members from the second stage acts on the stage. The Pearl Production Staff did an amazing job at change over’s though. There would only be a few minutes here and there with no live music being played during evening. Another plus for the show since The Pearl is not located on the strip the show was allowed to run until 11:30pm. Most all ages concerts that take place in Las Vegas have to be over around 9:45pm due to curfew restrictions that surround venues.
When I left the venue I felt that I cheated myself by going to see the Taste of Chaos in Las Vegas. It was a great show but it felt like I came out of a movie instead of a concert. The Pearl took an amazing concert package and made it feel like another strip attraction that you could catch anytime in the City of Sin. Maybe I am just getting old and still want to see people react to the music in a concert setting.
[ TasteofChaos.com ]

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