Steve Burns - Songs For Dustmites [2003]

Nothing is more compelling to do what you want to truly do in life than this man's story. From 1996 to 2002, Steve captivated children as the host on Blue's Clues, following his predecessor, Donovan Patton, until 2006 when the show was canceled. After his leave from the T.V. show, Steve worked on material for his debut musical career which he then later called, "Songs For Dustmites" in 2003 with the help from member of The Flaming Lips. His songs are a mix of feelings and harmonies that he incorporates into the album, possibly from his own life, or just the cultivated genius of the harbored emotions kept from his previous career.

It's a great listen for any mood. I would defiantly check this album out; once you do, you won't believe this is the same man from Nickelodeon's hit children's show.

mediafire(.rar)

Unfortunately, Youtube has their head up their ass and removed audio from most of the videos. Here's the song, "A Reason".

"Spice and Wolf" review

Spice and Wolf. This title combined with the seemingly furry cover art might make this series look like pure generic weeaboo bait. Well, looks like the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is still alive and kickin’. There aren’t a lot of series like Spice and Wolf that can pull off fantasy, economics, and, let’s face it, a goddamn furry wolf girl and be able to do it tastefully and realistically. Ah, and did I mention it somehow makes Medieval Economics 101 somehow entertaining?

Centuries ago, the pagan wolf deity “Holo” traveled south from her homeland and became a goddess of the small farming village of Pasloe. In return for their company, Holo would ensure that their crops would ripen well. As time passed, and farming technologies became more advanced, the villagers slowly backed away from their commitment. In her “human” form she comes upon Lawrence, a traveling merchant. From this, another commitment is made. Holo will try to help with Lawrence’s business endeavors, and in return he will return her to the north. Various antics ensure, involving currency devaluation schemes, price fluctuations, and shepherdess hiring… Just try to trust me when I say that the series does a good job on making these topics both entertaining and interesting.

Imagining an anime series built around economics, especially in a medieval atmosphere, does not seem too appealing. However, the smooth flow of the plot and the tension it creates makes this feat all the more impressive. I will admit that some of the intricacies of economics that the show introduces may go over some viewer’s heads, but the show does its best to tell the general idea as well. There is some mortal danger thrown into the mix at some points, which does well with ramping up the tension, as well as giving Holo an excuse to use her wolf form. As a whole, the plot smoothly transitions between leisurely banter and some of the more tense parts.

That’s not to say it’s all about economics, however. A lot of it has to do with the chemistry and banter between Lawrence and Holo, and their different perspectives and lifestyles. Holo is a pagan goddess who lives life for pleasure and interaction, while Lawrence has a very practical mind, and always thinks like a merchant where everything can be related to economics or bartering. Because of these two perspectives, conversations are quite dynamic, even though an entire episode can pass without much else going on except the two leads talking with each other. Still, the sharp and witty byplay between Holo and Lawrence never seems to get old. Character development is done very well in this regard, and feels quite organic compared to most series where drama seems forced or changes unrealistically. If you’re looking for pure fan service and wolf goddess yiffing, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Sure, we are talking about a girl with wolf ears and a tail, and there is nudity in some scenes, but it comes off as tasteful with it being more as an expression of character rather than purely pandering to the fans. Her playful and clever attitude, under toned with the loneliness of centuries of isolation, is a welcome reprieve from the generic tsundere heroines which are becoming all too popular these days.

As a whole, the animation is either hit or miss. The backgrounds look very organic and are very detailed, but there are some points where they seemed to have made shortcuts on drawing the characters. Thankfully the facial expressiveness with both Lawrence and Holo remains to be better than most throughout the series. Also, I’m just going to come out and say it: with the parts with nudity, Holo doesn’t have nipples. Yeah. I understand that they need to do so if they want to be TV-broadcasted, but this remains on the DVD version.

The soundtrack, however, is done excellently. Many of the pieces are primarily fiddle or accordion, which creates a folksy vibe that works well with the series. If I have any gripe, it’s the Engrish-laden ending song, but that’s what skipping is for. As for the English voice actors, they do an impressive job as well. Holo’s voice fits perfectly with her personality with the quick and subtle shifts in demeanor, and the general haughtiness in which she speaks doesn’t get old.

All in all, Spice and Wolf’s wonderful character dynamics and unique plots is a breath of fresh air which cannot be compared to any series so far, so long as you don’t mistake it as a furry-pandering fanservice fest. Season 1 is already released in the US (some of which you can see online here), with season 2 coming out in early 2011.

Story: A-

Animation/Art: B

Music/Sound: A

Overall: B+

Actually..

"Spice and Wolf" review sometime next week. Should be interesting!

Alien Swarm - Valve

Unless you've been living under the proverbial rock for the past several years, you know that Valve and Steam have revolutionized the PC gaming industry by using no hassle purchases (mixed with insane deals) to bring gamers what they want. Well, in about 17 hours from now, they're going to be doing it again.

That's right, tommorow Alien Swarm will be released to the public. A third person, top down shooter, this game will bring with it 4 player co-op, 4 classes, and 40 weapons. Think of it as I MADE A GAME WITH ZOMBIES IN IT !!1 on steroids. Not the kind of steroids that you kicked out of baseball for. The kind of steroids that stop your weak-ass heart in a less than a millisecond. Oh, and a bunch of aliens.
The download is going to come with the complete game/ mod tools, and with 64 achievements. (Y'know, if metagame gives you some kind of satisfaction.) This is just another example of how Valve is still putting out awesome games for awesome gamers.
"Well, this sure sounds like viral" the reader is thinking to him/herself right now. I would be inclined to agree with you. I mean, all this will do is net Valve some extra money....WRONG.
All of the afore mentioned comes to you at the low, low price of nothing. That's right, this all is FREE.
One would be inclined to ask why you are still reading this, and not Steam right now getting this?
Completely free, go to the Steam page for download/trailers.

Black Lagoon Anime Review

As soon as you pop in the disc and watch Black Lagoon’s opening melody of flashy snippets of violence and broken English, one can’t help but feeling this is going to be another mindless shooter anime. However, with its grimy atmosphere, top notch writing, and characters which completely drench with awesome, Black Lagoon will not let itself be written off.

The series kicks itself off with a bang…or punch for that matter, right to the jaw of Rokuro Okajima. This young Japanese businessman has the luck of getting his ship hijacked on an important business trip to Southeast Asia. The pirates get what they came for (a disc of very volatile information), and decide to take Rockuro (or “Rock”, as the pirates decide to dub him) with them as well. The pirates, calling themselves the “Black Lagoon Company”, think they might as well get a little bit of pocket money for a ransom if they can get it. With this, Rock finds himself joining the nefarious underground “delivery company” with Boss Dutch, mechanic and computer hacker Benny, and combat specialist Revy aka “Two-Hand”.

Revy herself basically becomes the poster girl of the series, whose profanity ridden, confident attitude is a very nice change of pace from the damsel in distress/ harem character archetype. When she’s first introduced, one can’t help but feel that there’s not much depth to her gun toting antics. However, as the series progresses and her damaged past reveals itself, it creates a great deal of empathy and depth to a character who just appeared to be a violent bitch. This usually reveals itself through various encounters with Rock, whose suburban and sheltered personality completely contrasts that of Revy. This makes for some very interesting conversations, delving into issues such as survival, existentialism, and environmental perspective. This is when the English dub really shines, pulling no punches when it comes to profanity, and having the voice actors really giving it their all. Needless to say, the script is written incredibly well, with interesting dialogue and unique character development. For an example, feel free to watch this clip which includes Rock and Revy, well, let just say they’re having a grumpy afternoon:

As for the action scenes, this is one part of the series where it’s having a little bit of an identity crisis. It just can’t seem to decide whether it wants over the top shoot ‘em up (battling with a terminator-esque maid), or realistic gunplay (commandeer defenseless cargo ship). Still, it manages to have more than enough action for any adrenaline junkie without it being absolutely ridiculous. That’s not to say there isn’t gore, however. There is more than enough execution shooting, snitch torturing, and cold blood murdering to go around. Just don’t expect overly flashy scenes to be the staple of the show.

The animation differs as well, with some shots being absolutely gorgeous and detailed and some seeming almost completely static. It never becomes distracting, but it becomes easy to notice the transition after a beautifully rendered gunfight. There is some CG thrown in as well, and works well in the few instances that it pops up (usually with gun close-ups and shell casings). As a whole, it looks pretty damn good.

While not ground-breaking, with its coarse-language, graphic violence, and downright awesome characters, Black Lagoon is certainly something to check out for anyone who wants an action anime with a realistic and gritty atmosphere.

Story: A

Animation: B

Sound: A-

Overall: A-

Owls - Owls Self Titled Album [2001]

Lead singer of the Owls, Tim Kinsella, is a veteran when it comes to the indie/emo scene, as he has been in such bands as Joan of Arc, Cap'n Jazz, and more notably, American Football. The owls take on a melodic, yet, fun to follow style of playing that changes as the songs go on. The theme of the songs are generally emo, however it does not fall under the category of "whiny ballads of adolescent troubles". Going through the whole album, it becomes a smooth, lo-fi ride with many of the same elements in each one of the songs that could be found in the other bands mentioned before. Sample some of their songs from their last.fm page.

Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra - Boulevard de l'Indépendance [2006]

One of the most important things anyone can learn while discovering music is that there are more genres in all different parts of the world than the ones our culture is more familiar with. This group is fronted by a Malian Kora player, Toumani Diabaté. His playing skill for the instrument is acknowledged around the world as phenomenal and mesmerizing. Through the recent years, he has collaborated with many other musicians to expand his style of playing to reach more audiences and genres, which range from Spanish-y Flamenco, to Folk, Blues, and Jazz. Originally I found this artist while looking for the OST to Little Big Planet, a Game of the year platformer for the Playstation 3, and just recently have been getting into the "world" genre. The myspace page has the songs from his only album released. I would give it a listen, as it is very active, inspirational (even if you have no idea what is being said), and it just flows.

album@mediafire

The Jealous Girlfriends - Self Titled Album [2008]

I stumbled upon this while looking for unsigned indie artists. They hail from Brooklyn, New York, and have the distinct experimental indie sound that NY is known for in their songs. Most of their songs are lo-key and very mellow. An example of this is the song, "The Pink Wig To My Salieri" Found on their Myspace Page. I would defiantly give them a try, and leave a shout in their last.fm or myspace page if you like them.

mediafire link

Former Constellations - Meridian [2010]

Well, let's kick off this new blog with a little suburban gem. The band is Former Constellations (formerly know as The Gulls,) coming straight out of Glen Rock, New Jersey. The band itself has it's fair share of difficulties in making their music. Vocalist Mark Lock is a while away from the rest of the band, and as such, has to record his own vocals and send them to the band in New Jersey (Guitarist Chris Stone, Drummer Jack Biamonte, Bassist Alex Profaci.) This also means, of course, Live performances are limited to just the New Jersey crew. What's most impressive, though, is how their music comes together into seamless works of art. Even as young as this group is, in their music, you can hear the maturity that has already occurred in the music they are putting out. This is a perfect example of what every Indie band should strive to be. Just the music: free from publishers and recording companies telling one what to do. This is an example of true indie. Music for music's sake. So if you would like some more Psychedelic rock, pop onto their Facebook Page , and download Meridian. The entire album hints at your typical dad rock, Animal Collective, and Arcade Fire (among others). Its the balance between all of these that makes this album truly worth a listen.