Johnny Cash's "American VI: Ain't No Grave" Review

Artist: Johnny Cash
Album: American VI: Ain't No Grave
Release Date: February 23, 2010
Tracks: 10
Runtime: 32:21


Track Breakdown:
(All ratings out of 5 *’s)


1) "Ain't No Grave" - Eerie, chilling, and so hardcore. It's a strong mix between bluesy country we love from Johnny Cash and a melodic rock theme about spitting in the eye of death. 5*'s.

2) "Redemption Day" - It's hard to be critical of this album since Johnny Cash had one foot in the dirt bed when working on it, but this track doesn't have much umph to it. The lyrics are great and he performs it well, but it sounds like a dragged out, slow-mo Tom Petty delivery. But I do like Tom Petty. So 3 1/4 *'s.

3) "For The Good Times" - This song I really dig because while Ain't No Grave is Cash's defiance to the reaper, this song is a goodbye to all of his fans. It's your grand-daddy lying on his death bed and telling you it's okay because he's going to a better place and you're going to have a great life like you ought to. 5 *'s.

4) "I Corinthians 15:55" - I'm sure there will be plenty of people who like this track, and it's because of this format I have to review albums. If you're about to buy the farm or know someone who is, this will probably be a great song to them. It's classy, it's graceful, and it's spiritual. But I'm today's youth and don't dig Gospel or retirement home soundtracks, so I can only give this track 2 *'s.

5) "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" - This song makes me wish Spaghetti Westerns and Clint Eastwood playing "The Man With No Name" was still the in-thing in Hollywood. It's so dirty a-moral cowboy on his mule riding through the harsh desert. It's rough and rugged but at the same time reflective and introspective. It's sweet and yet it's strong. 5 *'s.

6) "Satisfied Mind" - Five or ten or even fifteen years ago, this song would have been a hit. The lyrics are great, the story and message are powerful and relatable, but, and I hate to criticize this of a dying man, Cash just sounds so tired and exhausted on this track. The only people I can see really enjoying this track are mega-country music lovers. If you're not, then this track doesn't translate to you. 2 *'s.

7) "I Don't Hurt Anymore" - Much like the track "For The Good Times" this is something of a goodbye to the world song. Unfortunately it's not nearly as powerful in lyrics or vocal delivery. It sounds like Cash is even more painfully tired in this track than in the previous. 1*. Sorry Johnny, I still love you!

8) "Cool Water" - This song really reminds me of the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly where The Good, Blondie, is being dragged dying and dehydrated through the desert by The Ugly. While it fits well with the movie I don't really relate it to my life, any real scenario or anything else. It's even kind of skippable of a track. A mediocre 2 1/2 *'s.

9) "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream" - While something of an inspirational message that might make for a decent soundtrack song, not very strong in relation to this album. Really runs short compared to some of the hits I've heard Cash belt out in the eight previous tracks. 2 1/2 *'s.

10) "Aloha Oe" - This one boggles my mind. I'm not from Hawaii and I don't have any plans on going so needless to say this one isn't for me. But I don't get why Johnny Cash wanted to end his album with this or why he wanted to record it at all. Maybe it's got secret "I'm not really dead" or "This is where the treasure's hidden" messages in it. But until proven otherwise, 1*.


My Highlights:
"Ain't No Grave", "For The Good Times", "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound". All songs about dying, all with different messages, and all awesome.


Overall Rating:
Averaging all of the star scores together this album comes to 2.92 which rounds up to 3 *'s out of 5. Unfortunately, I really don't think it's worth the money to buy this whole album. I reiterate what I said through many of the individual track comments, I do love Johnny Cash, and I do have a hard time criticizing him since he recorded these shortly before his death. The surprise that he could record and produce anything is maybe worthy of 3 *'s out of 5, but on a bigger scale of things, I'm going to have to subtract 1/4 of a * for the delivery and short amount of tracks. Harsh I know. My final score for the album is 2 3/4 *'s out of 5, or 5 1/2 *'s out of 10. Very skippable and not worth purchasing in full. Definitely look into buying the tracks listed in My Highlights, but the album as a whole isn't worth it unless you're a die-hard Cash fan who needs every hit-and-miss album in his discography.

Jersey getting taxed

A new tax has gone to New Jersey called a tanning salon tax. Probably to cash in on MTV's Jersey Shore. People are angry... very angry... tan people are. Though I'm pretty pale, I feel bad for these people wanting to get tans. This is why I decided that I'm going to help you dodge these tanning taxes. Follow my steps and you will be tan, without the tax! Did I mention it's legal?

1. Walk - Simply walk outside.
2. Chair - Find a chair to sit in. '1'
3. Destination - Look for the sun, and stay away from shady places like trees. '2'
4. Relax - Place chair in the sunny spot, take some clothing off, and sit. '3'
5. Tan - Are you sitting in the sun? Yes? You are officially tanning without paying a tanning tax!

Optional: Apply tanning oil.

'1' - Laying on a blanket also works.
'2' - Is it raining? Uh... shut up and pay the tanning tax.
'3' - Make sure you're in a private area (or beach) and not a church, school, or town hall. If you're not, you're breaking the legal agreement I made with you.


Next week learn how to dodge the soda tax, by drinking water!

Theater Ticket Prices To Increase

According to Retro Hive, the increase in interest in 3D movies and increase in attendance for this special gimmick is giving theaters the crazy idea they can charge more for tickets. If its not bad enough that theaters want to charge up to 26% more for 3D movie tickets, supposedly to counterbalance the "high expenses" of running 3D technology on digital projects, they're looking to raise the prices on normal-vision films as well. Some theaters have described this price bump as testing the grounds to see if audiences will pay. Oh, I imagine they'll pay alright. Expect to see a large increase in the sales of retail-sold 3D glasses and an even bigger explosion of internet piracy.

Bored Vol 1

Bored? I offer you games!

Name: Gravity Game
Link: http://1cup1coffee.com/puzzle/gravity-game/
Info: Play as a marshmallow man, and use gravity to your advantage. A fun flash platformer.

Name: Robot Wants Kitty
Link: http://armorgames.com/play/5516/robot-wants-kitty
Info: Spent 30 mins playing this game... then I finally got the kitty!

GameStop Getting Sued

According to Ars Technica, huge video game retail franchise GameStop is under some legal heat. Maybe you've heard the commercials "buy your copy at Gamestop and get (insert weapon/level/character here)". Some sort of downloadable content is meant to be the prize for buying a game new these days, rather than buying used which doesn't send any cash up the stream to the developers. The reason they're getting sued, somebody screamed "false advertising" because they thought they could buy the game used and get the same extra content. Sorry, no, you have to buy it. It's disappointing, but sue-worthy? My guess is this case will end in an out of court settlement and GameStop will just start throwing disclaimers or stickers on cases that state "special content included" is only for brand new games.

CBVGR: Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

Video Review:


Script: Welcome to the Clearance Bin Video Game Review by Organized Remains. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier is the forth game in the series. It just came out in November 2009, and it was only released on the PS2 and PSP. I'm not sure why it didn't come out on the PS3, but since it didn't the game's cost is only $30 new, while you can find it for $15 used.

The world is running out of Eco crystals and in danger of withering away. Your job is to fix this and find a machine that can save the planet. Of course pirates have to bother you and make it difficult for you to save the world. The game still has the lovable characters, and has brought in new characters.

The controls are pretty good and the abilities you learn throughout the game keep things interesting. While I was never a fan of adding guns to the Jak and Daxter series since Jak 2, they did a pretty good job with weapons in this game. It frustrates me when you die and don't re-spawn with the ammo you started with. If you use all your ammo on a boss and then die, when you try again you will not have any ammo to help you. Lucky your powers can help you defeat enemies, like a big red orb of power that explodes.

Flying is also a big part of this game, which was also a nice edition to the game. Sometimes I find when games have both ground combat and flying combat they don't always work out, but they did it nicely in this game. The ability to upgrade your powers and your ship were also a great addition to the game.

Final Say: I was worried about this new Jak and Daxter, because it wasn't being made by the same company that made the other ones. I know other game series were this has happened and didn't end well for the series (like Crash Bandicoot, but some will argue that). This new Jak and Daxter proved me wrong, while it's not as epic as the first Jak and Daxter, the beginning was kind of slow, but as time went on I found myself having fun. Not sure if the PSP version is any better, but the PS2 version is a good deal at $15, for a game that has only been out for a couple of months.

The Weirdest Music Biopic Ever

"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" from Aaron Paul

If only it were true.

Gaming, Drink and Food

Video games with a side of drinks and food are nice. Most gamers like to eat food, but I know all gamers like when food and video games come together! I found two food related stories for this post dedicated to the romance of food/drink and video games.

First:
Remember when Mountain Dew made a Halo soda? Remember when Mountain Dew made a World of Warcraft soda? Now Mountain Dew is making a Metal Gear Solid soda. With characters from the game being placed on the cans. I know some people hate when Mountain Dew does this, but I actually liked the Halo soda they made. Never got a chance to try the World of Warcraft one, but it seems like Mountain Dew is pushing out new flavors of soda. I find it strange that the new soda being produced usually don't suck. I figure someday they're going to run out of flavors, and just start throwing junk into soda, like the peanut butter and jelly soda.


Second:
When the people at Kotaku bought the new XL DS, a special surprise came with it. A new game, an accessory, or even a little robot companion? Nope! A giant sub! It looks like Nintendo was being very generous. Not much to report on this... except it's awesome!

Rob Zombie's Halloween II Review

image from wikipedia

Premise:
This sequel picks up where the first Rob Zombie Halloween film left off, with Michael Myers being wrapped in a body bag and Laurie being carted off to a hospital in critical condition. Shock and awe! Myers is alive and wakes up when the ambulance carrying him hits... a cow in the road. Yeah... So Myers goes to the hospital anyways and massacres all of the staff trying to get Laurie ,but Laurie escapes and Myers hibernates for two years listening to the guidance of the ghost of his mother. Once those two years are up however, it's Halloween night and time to reunite with dear sweet Laurie.


Standouts:
Unfortunately a lot more bad about this film stood out to me than good. I was a big fan of Rob Zombie's original Halloween but in this film we get stereotypical characters (wholesome yet nerdy main damsel in distress, with her slutty friend and her middle of the road rational friend, then some other innocent characters that you know don't deserve to be slaughtered but inevitably will). Even little things like hairstyles seemed redundant (anyone who sees this film will take one look at Laurie's hair and compare it to some female in any one of Zombie's films, most likely Sheri Moon).

The biggest disappointment about this film are the kills. In so many slasher films you get unique murders but in Halloween II the first kill is awesome. Myers is yelling and grunting as he stabs the crap out of some guy, and for a character that's always been silent you know just how mad he is while he's doing it. After that though, it's all multiple stab kills that work primarily off the power of suggestion, or he'll stab someone with a weapon and just wiggle it around inside of them as you hear the crunching. There's nothing innovative or groundbreaking and it's a bit of a let down.


My Highlights:
The strip club is probably the most entertaining kill scene. Even though the characters being killed are completely irrelevant to the plot you sympathize for them after you see what Myers does.


Overall Rating:
It's not the worst movie I've ever seen. That honor goes to National Lampoon's: Jake's Booty Call, tied with Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus. This is a long way from the first Halloween by Rob Zombie though. I'd rate it about 2*'s out of 5 or 4*'s out of 10.


When You Should See It:
Don't bother. It's not worth the effort to actively avoid, but it's definitely not worth the effort to see. Go check out some of Rob Zombie's other movies, like House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects or the first Halloween.

Portal 2

When the Orange Box came out, everyone loved it. Half-Life 2, Team Fortress, and Portal, were all together and kicked butt, but it was Portal that I loved the most. Combining a first person with a puzzle game, using portals to help you reach the end of the levels. It was one of the best games that came out in 2007.

Now it's been announced that there will be a Portal 2 coming out in the holiday season of 2010. One of the biggest disappointments with Portal 1 was that it was so short. With multiplayer being introduced, more characters, and 3 years of developing, this must be a much longer game.

We waited a long time for Half-Life 2 to come out, and when it did, it was worth the wait. This year we will be waiting for Portal 2, and I'm sure it will be an instant classic just like the first.

Also... if you have not played the first... shame on you. Play the flash version at least!

Clash Of The Titans Remake

Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation, Avatar) is God. Also, in this movie, he plays Perseus, a God. Son of Zeus to be exact, but raised among mortals to value mortal lifestyle. The ominous God of the underworld, Hades threatens to overthrow Zeus and all of Mount Olympus to bring hell on earth! Perseus is the only man who can stop him! But he must embrace his Godliness to do it. This is also a remake of 1981 film and a retelling of the Greek myth of Perseus. Personally, this looks like a hit. I encourage everyone to check this film out when it hits your local theater April 2.

Comedy Central On A Roll

image from South Park Studios

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the recent season debut episode of South Park focused on the Tiger Woods sex scandal did enormous numbers. The ratings for this hilarious episode were the highest of any season debut for the beloved cartoon, and also the highest ratings comedy central has seen all year. Between this awesome new season of South Park, Important Things With Demetri Martin, and Futurama returning June 20, 2010, Comedy Central already has me watching more than NBC. Sure Comedy Central has had some misses, like Secret Girlfriend, Krod Mandoon and this new show Ugly Americans, but its good to have some actual backbone to bring in the viewers. Then you've got shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report which have seemingly endless material and need very few, very short breaks. And for those who haven't heard, Comedy Central has also purchased the rights to air Always Sunny In Philadelphia this summer! Comedy Central seems to be slowly clawing its way out of being a small time cable network that gets mocked for its small budget, to a real viewer-giant. Way to go Comedy Central!

CBVGR: Aladdin

Video Review:


Script: Welcome to the Clearance Bin Video Game Review by Organized Remains. Aladdin for the Sega Genesis is what we're playing through. 5 rubies or dollars is the cost. Will this game make you take the dusty Genesis out of the closet! Watch this review.

Your main weapon is a sword while your secondary weapon are... apples. Nutritious and Vicious. At the beginning this game was following the movie, and then we got lost, but we haven't seen Aladdin in a long time. The story isn't the biggest point to the game, it's to ride flying carpets and ropes, crawl through creepy dungeons, run away from giant boulders, and purchase items from the local shopkeep.

This game had great music, good controls, great characters, and down right frustrating. I'm no pro gamer, but I've played my fair share of games. Sometimes though I just wanted to scream at my T.V.

Final Say: Thought the game was tough, but we had a blast playing it. It was really addictive, and we played through the game in one sitting. So yes! To the $5 price tag, for all you old school gamers out there. This is a must in the collection.

Jimi Hendrix's "Valleys of Neptune" Review

image from Lala.com

1) “Stone Free” - Not a fan of the background vocalists work on the chorus but the overall song is excellent. The guitar work is exactly what I expected turning on a Hendrix album, just all over the place, crazy, inspiring and mind-blowing. This track definitely wasn’t hidden all these years because it was something to be ashamed of. 4 ½ *’s.


2) “Valleys Of Neptune” – the sound quality is so crisp and clear that it’s amazing Hendrix didn’t record it just yesterday. It kind of makes your brain feel like you’re staring at an optical illusion and seeing both pictures in it at the same time when you realize he’s been dead for 40+ years but it sounds so completely new. A stone groove and worthy of being not only the album’s single, but being the album’s name. 5 *’s.


3) “Bleeding Heart” – Unlike a lot of guitarists of today who know a lot of notes but don’t know the art of stringing them together, Hendrix could tell a story and evoke emotions without even saying a word. I’m not saying this song is entirely instrumental, but the majority of the halfway point is and Hendrix melts your face off once again. It’s got more of an older school Stevie Wonder kind of vibe to it at parts but it’s still flat out amazing. 5 *’s.


4) “Hear My Train A Comin’” – Felt like I was a hobo living by the train tracks. A very bluesy track but a little too rough on the ears. Not as groovey as the other tracks, but still an otherwise good song. 3 ¾ *’s.


5) “Mr. Bad Luck” – Great lyrics and a very up-beat memorable tempo. 5*’s.


6) “Sunshine Of Your Love” – This one seems to be added on just to appease the classic rock nerds. What’s great classic rock? Jimi Hendrix. What’s better than Jimi Hendrix singing? Jimi Hendrix instrumental. What’s another band that even Jimi Hendrix loved? Freaking CREAM! So yes, Jimi Hendrix does an all instrumental cover of this Cream song and gives those who actually recognize it’s greatness sweet blissful dreams. 5 *’s.


7) “Lover Man” – The guitar work is a little rough but the lyrics aren’t half bad and the drummer surprisingly is able to keep up with Hendrix. I think if given more time this track could have been better fleshed out but it’s not awful by any means 3 *’s.


8) “Ships Passing Through The Night” – A little too experimental with the guitar work but the vocal delivery by Hendrix feels kind of emotional. Or kind of acid-induced. 2 ½ *’s. Not terrible, but feeling like filler for the album.

9) “Fire” – I have this track on another album of Hendrix and this version sounds so different and dancy. There’s no going wrong with this song no matter how it’s performed by Hendrix, but this version is so upbeat and radical it would make for an even awesomer ringtone than the version your grandma’s used to! 5 *’s.


10) “Red House” – A very bluesy rendition of a song already available. While well-crafted, I wasn’t a fan of the original song that much and can only rate it a generous 3 *’s.


11) “Lullaby For The Summer” – Another instrumental, and it is a very summery tune. You can almost feel the rays of heat coming from Jimi’s guitar. It’s groovy, but just slightly less powerful than the other instrumental track on this album. 4 *’s.


12) “Crying Blue Rain” – The song starts off as a sad instrumental melody with Jimi only chiming in with wails and mournful moans. I had a great deal of respect for that half of the song, but then Jimi turns it into a high-speed chase soundtrack. You would think that Jimi playing the guitar fast would be awesome, but it just doesn’t work in this case. Since I really liked half of the song and didn’t like the other half, it gets a skippable rating of 2 ½ *’s.


My Highlights:
“Valleys of Neptune”, “Bleeding Heart”, “Mr. Bad Luck”, “Sunshine Of Your Love” and “Fire” which is a VERY high rating of hits to misses, and by misses I mean only “that wasn’t too bad”.


Overall Rating:
Averaging all of the ratings together you get a solid 4 *’s out of 5, but I don’t think that does it justice. Using my overall big picture, brownie-point powers based off of ratio of hits to misses, length of album, length of tracks, and various other factors contributed and deemed important by the Organized Remains Battlestation laboratory, I add a ½ * to this rating to make it a full 4 ½ *’s out of 5 or 9 *’s out of 10!

Wolverine: Worst There Is Comic Book Review

image from Marvel.com

I read through Wolverine: Worst There Is on Marvel's Digital Comics, which is a great thing to have a subscription to, especially if you see a sign-up sale. It was only twelve pages but I'm a firm believer you can get a lot done in a short amount of time. I'll tell you that this comic certainly did get a lot done in getting over the subtitle: Worst There Is in this short amount of time. Despite the gory looking cover, which actually looks pretty tame and indistinguishable (that's not a raw-hide mask Wolverine is wearing over half his face, it's his skin peeled back/missing). The entire story of this issue oversees Wolverine helping a little girl he meets in the park find her missing alcoholic father. It's pretty cute. But you know what I'll open up when I want cute? Spider-Man, or any one of the Marvel Kids line of comics. You know what I want when I open up freaking Wolverine comics!?

image from movie-poster.ws

FLESH-TEARING CLAWS!

YOU KNOW WHAT THOSE FLESH-TEARING CLAWS DO!?

THEY MASSACRE!

I'M TALKING BLOOD!

STICKY RED GUSHING BLOOD!

Wolverine even goes into a sleazy bar full of bums and doesn't break one bone of any loud-mouth uppity drunk. He drives around with the little girl on his motorcycle, but wait, first he has to buy her a helmet for safety. The ending is so rushed and anti-climactic that you feel completely baited and switched. Yeah, this comic definitely is "Worst There Is" but not the way you hope to see when you see an enraged, half-face-missing killer mutant on the cover.

Overall Rating:

1* out of 5 *'s because at least the artists weren't terrible. It wasn't the grit and shadows I was expecting, but since they were probably told "we want teddy bears and rainbows" it's not bad. Kind of similar to Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man or The Runaways. So steer clear comic fans.

CBVGR: Wave Race

Script: Welcome to the Clearance Bin Video Game Review by Organized Remains. Looking at Wave race 64 on the N64, and also Wave race Blue Storm on the Gamecube. Both will cost around $5 a piece, or $10 together.

First I'm going to look at Wave Race 64, because I remember playing it as a kid and loving it. Coming back to it now, I'm still having fun. It has everything a normal racing game has: championships, multi-player, time trails and stunts. Pick from four racers, and race to the top through the water. Going right and left around flags. Looking at it now, while it's still a fun game, it's like a lot of other racing games I've played. Except it's with jet skis, so there are not that many of it's kind. This might be the best Jet Ski game ever made, but lets look at Wave Race: Blue Storm for the Gamecube.

5 years after Wave Race 64 came out, we have Wave Race Blue Storm. From the main menu it looks like it has all the same things from Wave Race 64... and that's about it. The only new mode is Free Roam, which is great for people that just want to ride around and not have to worry about flags and people. For everything else, it's basically the same as Wave Race 64. They've added a lot more characters, but it's the levels that are the newest to the game. The graphics look pretty good, and people have more characteristics to them. Also, yes, that annoying voice is back.

It's too bad that Blue Storm is basically the same game as Wave Race 64. Maybe we will get a new Wave Race for the Wii. I'm guessing the Wii motion controls will be introduced. Two things I would like to see in a new Wave Race would be online Multi-player, and a create your own character/jet ski/level editor. Also maybe they can toy around with adding boats to the mix... it's called Wave Race, not Jet Ski Race.

Final Say: Choose one I say. The series shouldn't be avoided because it's fun, especially with friends. I wouldn't say you need both though, because they're basically the same game. I would go with Wave Race 64 on the Wii Virtual Console, just because I grew up with it, but for the people that would prefer graphics, go with Blue Storm.

It's always smokey

Here at Organized Remains we're big fans of the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I came across an article pointing out that the actor Rob McElhenney who plays Mac was in a anti-smoking commercial.



If you have not seen the show you should head to Hulu and watch the episodes on the site. They change every week, but this week I would check out America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest.

Here are some highlights from the show.
Taco Bed:

Green Man:


Also the article shows Kitten Mittens, so why not do that too!

Youth In Revolt Review

image from Wikipedia

Premise:
Michael Cera is Nick Twisp, white trash bred child of divorce who's a uber-intellectual, sex-obsessed virgin. Cera goes on something of a short vacation with his mother and her boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifanakis). On this vacation Cera meets his soulmate, a young bible-belt raised, rebellious uber-intellectual who digs him as much as he digs her. Cera is torn away from his love when the vacation is over but is driven to reunite with her. Unfortunately he doesn't have it in him to take the strides needed, so he adopts an alter-ego named Francois. Who is just him with a mustache and a cigarette.


Standouts:
What stood out most to me was that this movie wasn't very laugh-out-loud funny, but kept me at least smiling the whole way through. Except for when Cera was being wronged so badly it made me sympathize for him. But that's a good thing. Also, the casting was excellent. Galifankis was awesome, Justin Long was great, Cera was great, his love interest was great, and even Steve Buscemi.


My Highlights:
Unfortunately, you can watch the trailer and see just about all of my highlights. This is definitely a case of the trailer giving away all the best parts.


Overall Rating:
This movie was your typically quaint and quirky Michael Cera romantic comedy. It didn't have me rolling on the floor laughing, but it was very romantic  in a puppy love kind of way. The plot was kind of ridiculous, but the acting was great. I'd give it 3*'s out of 5. Perfectly acceptable and fun, but if it went much longer I'd of started knocking off points.


When You Should See It:
While excellent for a date movie, I wouldn't even really say this should be your top priority of date movies. There are probably way better date movies, no matter what your end result intention of that date is, but this isn't a bad film for the date. I guess what I'm saying is, if your Netflix Queue is made primarily of romantic comedies, put this as number two or three on your list. See it eventually, but no rush.

New Donkey Kong Champ

A plastic surgeon named Hank Chien has beaten the Donkey Kong record. Some of you out there have seen the documentary The King of Kong (if you haven't, you're missing out on one of the greatest documentaries ever made... it's on Netflix Instant Watch!). Now that there is a new champion, maybe a new documentary?

I'm wondering why Donkey Kong is getting all the attention. Mappy is a good game and no one has heard of it! Yet there is a Mappy champion named Greg Bond! 658,160 points is what you need to be champion of Mappy.


Mappy is awesome.

PS3 Wizard Controllers

Source of Image
Playstation Move was recently shown at a press conference. What's that you say? Two wizard wands with magical orbs on the tops that allow you... to play ping pong? ... sigh. With the PS3 controller already having motion control, are supposed to be a better way of it... I guess.

The Nintendo Wii has motion control and that's the only reason all these people are playing it. Let me take you back to two days before the Wii was coming out. I was planning to wait in line to get my hands on a Nintendo Wii and everyone I knew that wasn't a gamer was making fun of me, saying video games are a waste of time. Fast forward to today, and these same jerks are now thinking of buying the Nintendo Wii.

Nothing wrong with playing video games, but because of these new gaming noobs, Nintendo is giving us games like Wii Sports. Wii Sports can be fun but it's not when everyone starts doing it: Deca Sports 1 and 2, Summer Sports Paradise, Game Party 1 and 2, Water Sports, Big League Sports, Mountain Sports, Family Party 30 Great Games Winter Games, Vacation Sports, Playground, Big League Sports: Summer Sports, Wacky World of Sports, Neighborhood Games, Go Play City Sports, Cruise Ship Vacation Games, and World Championship Athletics to just name a few. I can't say that all these games are terrible, because I haven't played them all, but from what I see from the description they all include 4 to 30 mini-games... most of the games have the same mini-games. How about all these companies get together to make one epic mini-game game!

I know I shouldn't complain about all the mini-game games, but when the Wii tries to include the motion control into almost every games, and do a horrible job at it... that upsets me. Some do it perfect, like the game De Blob, and Super Mario Galaxy, but some do it awful. I know there is already a bunch of PS3 games with the motion controls, but not every game does.

Playstation! Learn from this, and please don't make the same mistakes. Don't make every game with the wands into a ping pong game! I know you're just trying to make the PS3 more likable to the casual gamers, but if they already have a Wii then what's the point? You need to make these wizard paddles epic, I'm not sure how you should do it, but just do it.

Bill and Ted

image from EW.com

Excellent!

Anyone who's not familiar with the 1989 cult classic Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure needs to go out and rent it, less ye perish. According to Slash Film, star of the Bill and Ted series, Keanu Reeves states that he may, or may not be working on a new installment in the franchise! He may have just been joking but if his one little mention sparks as much interest as I think it is, his hand may be forced. Here's what we hope to see in the third installment of the franchise.


It's present day, which is twenty years after the events of the first movie. The Wyld Stallyns have not only become a huge mega success and sold multi-platinum albums all across the world, but have sadly broken up recently due to clashing egos.

This news is so devastating to the world who were brought together by the power of rock by the Stallyns that one particular group of fanatics, a Pagan cult plan to take action. This cult kidnaps the disheartened son of Ted (Keanu) who acts like a near replica of Reeve's character in the 89 hit. Ted, now more mature but still meat-headed version of himself from the 89 hit is given a window of opportunity to get his son back: one day to mend things with Bill and reform the Wyld Stallyns or his son will be sacrificed to the Gods who will mend things for him. The only problem is that Bill has seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

Ted looks to help from his fans, particularly a group of scientists who love the Stallyns so much that they donate to him a time machine... that doubles as a phone booth. Ted travels to various points in time seeking advice from friends like Abraham Lincoln and Socrates before he realizes he can just go to the point in time he had the blow-out with Bill and prevent it from happening. Unfortunately, when he tries this, it fails just as hard as ever, BUT it forces Ted to understand what he needs to do to mend things with Bill in the present. And mend they do, performing a huge rocking concert that causes a mountain to crumble and crush the evil pagan cult, but hey, they die happy cuz their band is back together.

And if there's any justice in the world, to be written by John Hamburg (I Love You Man, Zoolander, Meet The Parents) and directed by Ben Stiller.

Blind Gamer beats Zelda

I want to say congrats to Jordan, Roy, and others for beating Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Not just because they beat it, but because Jordan happened to be blind. Check out the video for how it began, and how they did it.

Phil's Review of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side Review

Premise:
The Griffin family is watching TV when the cable cuts out. Peter takes the reigns and like the prequel to this movie, tells the second part of the Star Wars trilogy. For imagination purposes, Chris is Luke Skywalker, Peter is Han Solo AKA Carlos Spicy-Wiener, Brian is Chewbacca, Quagmire is C3PO, Cleveland is R2D2, Lois is Princess Leia and Stewie is Darth Vader.


Standouts:
Constant laughs, but a little too self-aware. Plenty of quotes to use with your friends but there are a lot of times where they stop everything just to point out how funny they're being. They also drop the F-Bomb midway through the movie which is funny the first time, funny the second time, but by the third time in the movie it's lost all it's meaning. There is no more shock value left to the word due to how and when they use it. And speaking of offensive, there's one scene with the AT-AT's, or "giant robot camels" that makes me weep with sorrow and laugh with guilty pleasure. I won't spoil it, but viewers be warned when it gets to that scene.


My Highlights:
When Luke is boarding a fighter plane with his co-pilot Dack, who offers to take on the entire Sith by himself. The ending to the Star Wars portion of the movie is definitely one of the most creative ways to end it as well. I was nearly rolling on the floor laughing.


Overall Rating:
It's not cleanly polished writing and is pretty much the poster-child for what critics who grew up on Simpsons accuse Family Guy of - a random series of jokes and flashbacks [minus the flashbacks], but it's so darn funny it's hard to complain about it. There's a very high joke-per-minute ratio and it's a lot more hits than misses, so Something, Something, Something, Dark Side gets 4 *'s out of 5.


When You Should See It:
Because it's only an hour long (less technically since its made for TV and thus takes commercial breaks into account) you should rent it right away or buy it if you see it for cheap. Cheap-cheap, like under $10. Even used. Or if you're really strapped for cash or doubtful of this movie's potential, wait to see it on TV. Sooner or later they're bound to show it, but with a lot of the risque stuff cut.

Mystery Thing Fling

There are a lot of one deal a day websites. Last week Thing Fling had a free mystery Xbox 360 accessory. Free as in pay $6 in shipping, so lets just say you would have to pay $6 for a mystery Xbox 360 accessory.

Yes, I couldn't resist and bought one. What did I get?

An accessory called Pad Power. Pad Power is a battery charger for the Xbox 360. I already own like three of these things. Pad Power did come with something different than the other ones - a plug-in battery charger. Now, I do have one similar, but you need the Xbox controller in the charger... so I can't use it while it's charging. This battery can charge without the controller, also they give you a cable to charge it from your Xbox 360.

Went to Amazon of course to see how much of a deal this was, and I basically saved $6. I read that last time Thing Fling had this deal going on, people also got battery chargers. Maybe all the mystery items are just battery chargers. Who knows. Will I do this deal again? Ya probably... can't pass up a mystery.

Lifehouse's "Smoke & Mirrors" Review

image from Amazon.com

Artist: Lifehouse
Album: Smoke & Mirrors
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Tracks: 12
Runtime: 45:11


Track Breakdown:
(All ratings out of 5 *’s)


1) “All In” – Up beat, feel good pop-rock tribute to commitment to a relationship. A great opener to the album that will have your head bopping and will earn you some brownie points with your significant other if you dedicate it to them. 5*’s! And a lyrical sample!


“And I'm all in, nothing left to hide
I'm falling harder than a landslide
I spend a week away from you last night
And now I'm calling, calling out your name
Even if I lose the game, I'm all in
I'm all in tonight, yeah I'm all in, I'm all in for life”


2) “Nerve Damage” – Ever hear a band attempt a style that it knows nothing about? This song tries too hard to be a harder, grittier rock than it understands how to perform. In the end it just sounds like a generic Matchbox 20 track, which isn’t too bad since you probably like Matchbox 20 if you like Lifehouse, but it’s not what I was looking for in a track for the most part. It does get creative points however for having a blues guitar riff breakdown around the 2:35 point, but I can only award this track a mediocre, skippable rating of  2 ½ *’s.


3) “Had Enough” – Epic soundtrack song. It hits all the right chords, all the right pitches, and no doubt is going to show up at some point in the mainstream. Lifehouse just feels it, and when listening to this, so do I. 5 *’s!


4) “Halfway Gone” – The first single of the album and it’s a pleasant sounding upbeat track that the band put out to distance themselves from the majority of their downer singles that reached great fame – “Broken” and “Whatever It Takes” among others. Comparatively, this tune is more on the level with “Hanging By A Moment” but consistently upbeat without any lulls. 5 *’s ahoy!





5) “It Is What It Is” – I’m very much on the fence about this track, as it’s either really good or really awful. It strikes me as very Backstreet Boys at parts, but hey, it’s 2010 now so I can admit that Backstreet Boys had some pretty great tunes back in the day. On the other hands, the lyrical ingenuity is a solid mix of weak and awesome through the 3:21 runtime. So I guess since this track is what it is… pun intended, it gets 3 *’s.


6) “From Where You Are” – SPOILERZ! DON’T READ IF YOU WOULD RATHER INTERPRET THE SONG FOR YOURSELF! But it’s pretty clear anyways on most levels. The song was written about a friend of the singer who died in a car crash at the young age of sixteen, and this was written for the primary purpose of warning kids about driving safe. Few things sound cool when you point out its righteous purpose, but this song has the potential to be the new “How To Save A Life” (Fray single) of 2010. Keep an ear out for this track, particularly on medical dramas when someone dies, because it’s a tear-jerker. 5 *’s.


7) “Smoke And Mirrors” – Stale sound of today’s generic rockers, and trying too hard to be mainstream. Go with what made you famous Lifehouse! This just sounds like it was done by a band who opens for bigger, more important, more respected bands. But with due respect: coming close rock and roll at times. Unfortunately, close but no cigar. 2 *’s.


8) “Falling In” – A pretty decent driving tune, If not for you, then for a film soundtrack. It’s bubbly pop and innocent but it’s got an infectious core to it. Something you can’t quite put your finger on that makes it just a little over the bar of skippable when it’s played. 3 ½ *’s.


9) “Wrecking Ball” – Another great soundtrack song. It’s just got some great imagery to it that evokes a good deal of emotions. You know what the singer was going through when he wrote this, and when you feel the same way, you’ve got yourself an anthem. There’s little bits and pieces that I think could have pushed this song to a whole new level but it’s a perfectly fun and acceptable song about holding the weight of the world on your shoulders. 4 ¼ *’s.


10) “Here Today Gone Tomorrow” – Whaaaaaat? Lifehouse’s attempt at a mashup of Lady Gaga and “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven. Lifehouse, what are you doing dipping into techno club beats? As I stated before, stick to what you know. 2 *’s.


11) “By Your Side” – You know those songs that are constantly requested on the video to dedicate to someone’s significant other? This is going to be one whether you like it or not. It’s sweet, and it’s good, but I don’t think it’ll be worth listening to three or four months in a row every fifteen minutes. Get your fill now though, 4 *’s.


12) “In Your Skin” – If you’re familiar with, and like, Lifehouse’s song “Quasimodo” then you’ll probably enjoy this song. It’s got a kind of super hero-esque heroic, comic book soundtrack sound to it. Definitely worth giving a listen to 4 *’s.


My Highlights:
“All In”, “Halfway Gone”, “Had Enough”, and “From Where You Are” are the tracks to sample on Amazon, or dig up on youtube, or just go to Lala.com and listen to these tracks in full if you don’t have the time to listen to the whole album in one sitting.


Overall Rating:
Averaging all of the ratings from these tracks, this album gets a 3.77 which I’m using my brownie point powers due to presentation, pace, and ratio of hits to misses, the final score for this album is 4 ¼ *’s out of 5 or 8 ½ out of 10! A very honorable score which by my standards, I say buy this album. It’s rare you find anything over a 3 ½ out of 5 or 7 out of 10, so when you get a score anywhere near the mid-8’s out of 10, you better believe this is gonna be a huge hit album. Worth the money, buy it and be wowed.

CBVGR: The Godfather 2

Video Review:


Review: Welcome to the Clearance Bin Video Game Review by Organized Remains. Skipping the first Godfather game and going straight to the second. Why? The second Godfather game is always on sale every where I see it. The lowest I've seen it is $10 on Gamefly's website. Don't worry, you don't have to be a member to buy video games from them.

Your a Don: the head of your family. The game lets you choose what he looks like, and of course that doesn't go so great. My guy kinda looks goofy, but does a Don need to be a pretty boy? I got into the story of the game, and found it to be decent.

After playing C.O.P The Recruit and Just Cause, I'm playing another game similar to Grand Theft Auto. Is that a bad thing though? GTA was a good game, so good things can come from it, and that's where The Godfather 2 comes in.

The Godfather 2 throws in something different from other games. You have your "family", and only three of the guys can be with you at a time. Each guy can have a different trait to them, like medic or engineer. The four of you go to places around the city, owned by rival families and just take over. To take over you go through the building and find the owner. Then you, "ask" if you can take over. If he says no, you have to terrorize the person into giving it to you. When you own all of a rival family's buildings, you may go to their main house and just go through it and destroy it. This eliminates the family, and they won't bother you anymore. If you don't eliminate the family they can come back and try to take over a building they once had. This is when you pay guards to stand by your places and keep them safe. I found this setup in the game to be pretty cool.

Also people on the street will give you side missions, that are either for cash, or info on a "made man". They will give you the location and how to kill them. You have to kill them in a certain way, or it doesn't send the message out. When you have done this, you have weakened a rival family. I found the side missions to be fun as well.

My biggest problem with the game though is the no jumping. I have to find a separate path to go over a little wall. It gets annoying, and you also have to tap the run button to sprint. Which gets a little annoying after tapping the button so many times! Also my "family" can be pretty stupid, GET IN THE STUPID CAR! These changes and a better "family" could have lead to an epic game.

Final Say: I thought the game was a blast. The game gave me 13 hours of enjoyment. I've looked at other reviews for this game, and it's on the poor side. They talked about the repetitiveness. Which is true. You do basically the same thing over and over. I found the repetitiveness not to be as bad as some people made it out to be. Now that it's no longer $60 and it's $10, I think all the fans of the movies and of shooting games should give it a shot. Heh get it? Shot!? Boom?

The Presidential Seal

According to Sci-Fi Wire, Seth Grahame-Smith will soon be releasing his second big parody of a historical book. A spin-off of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Grahame-Smith will be releasing Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter! Knowing that actions speak louder than words, Grahame-Smith threw together a fantastic trailer that I supremely wish was an actual movie.






This has jogged our creative juices and made us hopeful for a sort of X-Men/Avengers collaboration of the greatest presidents in their battle against a seemingly unstoppable evil! When the Russian, or Chinese government is overthrown by a rebel force from within that sets off a chain reaction of civil wars leaving the country in political and geographical rubble, a tyrant with a vendetta against the good ol' red white and blue holds control. They threaten to annihilate America piece by piece, and while we're losing one state at a time our top scientists pull out the big guns. We resurrect some of the greatest American leaders of all time! And here's the dirty little secret that only our scientists know - these leaders were born with supernatural abilities that gave them their success in the past, and now, will use them to save America from the brink of destruction once more! Presidents! Assemble!

Abraham Lincoln - the power of psychometry. He was born poor and taught himself everything, including how to fight. Lincoln has studied every martial art in the world, merely by means of physical contact with instruction books on the subject. Lincoln is undoubtedly one of the fiercest fighters our enemies have ever seen.

George Washington - the power of rage-enduced super strength. He doesn't grow into an eight foot tall green Hulk, but you still don't want to make him mad. He'll Headbutt your teeth through the back of your skull then use your broken body as a swinging mace.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - the power of hypnotism. A man bound to a wheelchair even in today's age of medicine, but he never needs to rise to his feet. His charisma is no special charm, it's magic. He'll Jedi Mind-Trick you into blowing yourself up if that's his whim.

Andrew Jackson - Nobody likes him, but he doesn't want to be liked. He wants to kill. He's a tough old bastard, but that's not his power, oh no. He moves at the speed of light. How do you shoot what you can't see!?

While this team is great, there's one final missing piece to the puzzle. That piece of the puzzle is actually in our enemy's hands! John F. Kennedy, disillusioned, disoriented, convinced he's doing what's right is Russia or China's ace in the hole. Until the end fight scene when the wool is pulled from off of his eyes and he helps dust off our foes. And when it's all said and done, and all the smoke has cleared... the dramatic cliff-hanger walk off into the sunset.

Listen to Gorillaz New Album

Source of Image
Been a couple of days since our last post. I blame the wind bringing our electrical power to 0%. Well we're back, and found out that the band The Gorillaz have been nice enough to share their new album Plastic Beach. You can't download it, but it's nice to be able to listen to it before buying it. They even got some of their buddies to tag along and help out like Snoop Dogg, and Mos Def.

Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124114812

It will start automatically once you enter the site, but if you need to pause it, there is a pause button to the left. Unfortunately you can't rewind, or fast forward, but I can't complain about a free opportunity to listen to a new album of a band I've always tended to like.