Grade Anything

[Brumak 2]

I could deffinately enjoy it then.

[Ayingel 24]

The Departed:

B-

I liked it...but I think I was just too tired to handle it at the time last night. I would really recommend it to people who like surprises...there are plenty...and there are lots of guns...and lots of blood...and I mean a lot....

[Alexander 0]

Yeah, I really liked the Departed, even though it was a remake of a Hong Kong film that I have yet to see (Internal Affairs.) Scorsese still manages to impress me with his ability to adapt different styles of directing to his projects. One could watch Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Departed and you could not really tell they were the same director.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Alexander

[Ayingel 24]

wait....seriously?

i didn't know he directed taxi driver...

[Mara 29]

I really want to see the The Departed...... even since I saw the first trailer on tv... I thought, hey that looks like a cool movie. Looks well made too.

But hey, so was Taxi Driver.

[Drake 53]

Battle Royale - A+

Japanese movie. A bus-load of high school kids are drugged, collared and put on an abandoned island. They're met by one of their crazy teachers who says that they've been put into the Battle Royale program: a televised game in which the teens have three days to fight and kill eachother. The last kid alive is the winner. The things keeping them in line are the collars. If they try to remove them, linger in a "restricted zone", or survive along with at least one other person at the end....they explode, taking the head with them.

It's full of brutal violence, blood, and Japanese school girls. The story is great; Lord of the Flies meets...well...the Japanese.

Battle Royale II: A-

Sequel to previously mentioned BR. This one's about a new group of kids who must fight in the next breed of game. They have to wage war against an anti-adult terrorist group led by the survivor of the game from the first movie. It wasn't quite as good as the first. Not as many cool deaths. Most of the kids die in the first hour of the near three. Still entertaining, though.

[Uncle Du 22]

Sounds sweet, I need to find that one.

[Neil1 0]

Saw 3

Grade - Retarded

Don't watch it.

[Ender 8]

The Good, The Bad, and The Queen (Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz's new band)

This new project is more an album, then a band. As you should already know, the musicians on this effort include The Clash's Paul Simonon, The Verve's Simon Tong, drummer Tony Allen and another guy who I can't remember who was part of the Gorillaz crew. The music might seem like an extension of Gorillaz. Of course, they both have Danger Mouse as the producer. This effort has more theatrical elements. Like anything that Albarn has done in this decade, including Blur, it show his wide tastes in music from dub, 60s rock, even some flamenco to spare -- this project has a mish mash of cultures involved.

This being new for the audience, it served as a listening party and performance in one. It's strange because you want to rock out, but you it's the first time absorbing the music. With that said, it's a beautiful, organic mixture of styles and themes. It felt like a soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist.

Setlist, which is as Damon said, is the whole album in order.

* History Song

* 80s Life

* Northern Whale

* Kingdom of Doom

* Herculean

* Behind The Sun

* The Bunting Song

* Nature Springs

* Soldier's Tale

* Three Changes

* Green Fields

* Mr. Whippy (the B-side)

* The Good, The Bad and The Queen

There was a B-side that was played, where a Lebanese rapper, Eslaam Jawaad, came on stage to bust out some lyrics. That was pretty wild.

When Damon came out wearing a top hat and black tuxedo, it reminded me that this is the first time in about three-four years that he's taken the role as lead singer in a rock show. The Gorillaz music was him hiding in back and letting everyone else take the spotlight. Tonight, he's back to the Damon we remember -- shouting at the crowd, doing his signature jump and standing on the edge of stage to rock out. I like the rock star Damon, but I also like Damon the composer. Tonight, I got to see both in top form.

It's hard to get a feeling of the music the first time around. It's a lot to absorb. Kingdom of Doom is a real winner, so much so, they he played it twice to make it better. The title track is when the crowd went nuts -- it's a jump up and down, push the guy next to you, full on rock song with pounding drums and piano. Damon was like Jerry Lee Lewis on the upright. Northern Whale, as Damon explained, was a love song that turned into a song about a whale.

While Damon is the face of the project, you have to recognize the strong presence of Simonon, who really provides the backbone to this project. His heavy dub bass is the consistency to the performance. Poor him, his bass broke on him mid-song and they had to start over. "Wouldn't be the first time," Damon said. Allen gets to flex his muscles with some wicked drum solos. Simon has his moments with the Spanish guitar. Come to think of it, it's not really a rock project per se, it's more theatrical, than dumb rock songs. Almost like a carnival atmosphere or a Felini soundtrack with a lot organ in some of the songs. I'm sure there's a theme in the music, which we can all discover when the album comes out sometime in the future.

The Roundhouse is an amazing venue. It looks like the inside of a spaceship inside. Acoustics are the best I've heard in London. Located in Camden Town near the Chalk Farm tube, the main performance space is a round room, almost like a circus or a gladiator stadium. With the stage in the middle, it cuts the floor space in half. That's good because it makes the stage roomy, but kind of crappy for sight lines if you are on the far left or right. I was one or two people deep on the left. Those three or four people to the left of me probably had a hard time seeing most of the stage. Anyway, with the all the steel and lighting, it gave it a space age feel. With the stands surrounding the floor, it did make it feel like we were being looked down upon. I just like the look of the room with the tall ceiling and funky lighting.

If you happen to go there, I highly recommend Hache, a burger place about a 10-15 minute walk from the Roundhouse or a 2 minute walk from the Camden Town tube. Get the steak burger Canadian and finish it with the creme brulee. That was a mighty fine meal.

The opening act was Jamie T, who might as well start calling himself Alex T because his voice is so much like Alex Turner that you wonder if it's the same person. His big single in the UK called "If You Got the Money," which a funny, infectious tune. It has that same sort of spoken word, slightly sung quality with strong sense poetic lyrics that is similar to Turner's delivery. As I'll write later, know we get to see what effect the Arctic Monkey have on current music landscape of the U.K. -- this sort of embracing of their DIY, chav culture. It has some personality to it, but I got the gist early on and just wanted him to get off the stage so that the guys could do their thing.

BTW: 70 minutes between sets, it was TORTURE!!!!! After waiting in the queue for that long at the Tate Modern to ride the slide for 25 seconds, I was pretty fed up with standing in the same spot for long peroids of time.

That's all.

[Neil1 0]

Isn't danger mouse a hip hop / rap producer?

[Ender 8]

Yes.

[Andy 60]

I thought Danger Mouse was an AWESOME cartoon series. :p

[Ayingel 24]

Saw 3

Grade - Retarded

Don't watch it.

i heard the same thing about "The Grudge 2

[Neil1 0]

Saw Battle Royale 2 tonight. Sexcellent film.

[Uncle Du 22]

Hehe, sexcellent, I didn't figure there were many people who used that one.

I'm surprised my brother hasn't done this one yet...

Gears of War

Grade- Holy sith Awesome!! (That's an A by the way)

This is definitely a game that you all need to play. Well, if you're into gory, action packed, beautiful looking, easily controllable shooters. I read a review that gave the plot of this game a thumbs down, but all I have to say is, he's a friggin magazine editor, and we can't trust them as far as we can throw them.

The gameplay is incredible, and the story line is awesome. The game ends with you wanting more, which can some times be a bad thing, but not in this case. It leaves off perfectly for at least one more game, and while I can't wait for it to come out, this one has definitely not gotten old yet. The replay value is tremendous. While I generally suck at these types of games, that is easily remedied with the co-op mode if you have an experienced player playing with you (As in my case). Co-op play is probably the best I've seen so far, other than, of course, the Halo series.

I could go on and on about the wonders of this game, but the best way to experience it is to play it. Granted, having a 360 is necessary, but as someone who has never really thought of Microsoft in the highest regards when it comes to console gaming, this does make me a believer. I would honestly get a 360 just for this game. If I had the money. :p

[Ayingel 24]

the PS3

grade: A

comment: hotdamn!

[Uncle Du 22]

Dude, you got one already?!

[Ayingel 24]

well, robert almost got one, but he just missed the amount ebs was getting...

but chris got one...and we all had to create accounts this morning before i left...

[Alexander 0]

Sitting in a comfortable 50 of 300 seats filled theatre during the Casino Royale premiere I was pumped. I loved this film. Admittedly it drags in some places during the third act - but wow - I was blown away. I have not seen all the Bond films, and Goldeneye has been my favorite for a while, but I think Casino Royale will take its place at the top now. I loved the film noir opening. The movie had me tense during a lot of the scenes, not the action scenes but the poker game, talk about tense. The only thing I did not really like about the film was the change in the beginning with the classic shooting at the camera. The barrel of the gun and the blood looked really weird to me for some reason. The opening credits were also kind of weird, but felt nostalgic of earlier Bonds.

Grade: A+

[Neil1 0]

City of God

A+

You know it's a great film when you wish to see more.

Excellent storyline.

Great score.

Well shot.

Banana's.

Now I'm trying to find a city of men torrent. :(

[Ender 8]

I believe Penny-Arcade sums up my thoughts on the PS3 launch titles nicely...

It was good news there for a little while, when PS1 games were five bucks a pop and you were changin' out that hard drive and still retaining your warranty - big, generous moves that asked hard questions of their primary competitor. Just days later, it's weird rumor after dark rumbling after grim report.

The cruelest speculation is that the launch figure is something like half of what was promised - 150,000 to 200,000 units, says one analyst. I am not an analyst, but when I scour the launch list for a reason to wait outside for days in a ewoking line, no klaxons sound and no lights begin to blink or flash. Motorstorm and Lair - the games that really sold people the system at this year's Tokyo Game Show - are nowhere to be seen. There are, of course, those distant ultrabrands - the ones that start with Metal and Final - but buying a system at today's prices, under today's conditions is on that basis is... unwise. Unwise is the diplomatic word I have chosen.

The launch is full of... Well, Launch Titles. It sounds like Insomniac did what Insomniac does - deliver spit-polished hits. Past that, you've got Genji (rank), Untold Legends (just... no) and Gundam (daemonic). Everything else is something that

(a) already came out, and

(b) most likely runs better or has more features on existing equipment. Seriously, read the reviews.

This is beyond insulting. This is beyond ridiculous. It is farcical.

With the Playstation 2, we ascribed the spotty launch supply to monstrous intent. We were young men, though, and young men often feel the weight of unaccountable oppressors bearing down on them. Speaking today, it seems clear to me that Sony would not want to launch under these conditions if they had any choice in the matter. Not with this anemic supply, now reaped by speculators. Not with these titles. But they have done it, singing all the while, making a stupid pageant of the whole affair with their petty sniping. Well, you have not succeeded, not at anything laudable. You've kept young people in out in the elements for days through your ineptitude, this is true, but that is worth negapoints - a reverse scoring method exclusively for jackasses that starts at zero, and actually goes down from there.

[Uncle Du 22]

That's why every jackass that actually sat out and waited for this thing today is a moron.

I mean really, give it six months, the price will come down, and all the better games will be released, or releasing soon. Not to mention that the very first gen of every console is plagued with bugs.

But lets be realistic here: despite what all the Microsoft fanboys wanna say... *looks around* the PS3 is definitely the more powerful of the two machines. Now all Sony has to do is actually make a shooter that can compete. :p

[Andy 60]

FPS on consoles generally suck anyways. :p

[Brumak 2]

It's only a matter of personal preferance

Yeah, controls are easier...sort of, on pc....but once you get the hang of em for console...it's cake.

[Alexander 0]

City of God

A+

You know it's a great film when you wish to see more.

Excellent storyline.

Great score.

Well shot.

Banana's.

Now I'm trying to find a city of men torrent.

That was a hard film to get through given its brutality - but a great film, definitely an A+. I also recommend his more recent, The Constant Gardener, as well.

I agree with beeurd's feelings of suckiness towards consoles, as well.

Edited November 19, 2006 by Alexander