Grade Anything

[Chickenman 9]

They're quite awesome. Tell him I said that. :p

[Chickenman 9]

The last 3 CDs I bought:

I'm working on memory here, as my iPod is down, but eh.

"Pearl Jam" by Pearl Jam **** out of 5

Great alt rock album. It doesn't match Ten, Vs., or Vitalogy, but such a feat is near impossible. Pearl Jam shows it can still rock after all these years. "Life Wasted" and "World Wide Suicide" are splendid rock cuts that do a great job of opening up the album, but if you ask me, the barely two minute "Comatose" is the highlight track, with Eddie Vedder clearly pushing his vocal chords to places you'd think he wouldn't be able to reach nowadays. "Unemployable" is incredibly catchy, particularly in its opening lines, and offers a great commentary on the state today's blue collar worker has to endure. "Gone" is my favorite track when it comes to sentimentality, as it describes the car ride away from one's home town in order to find success elsewhere. It's a lot like their classic "Rearviewmirror." He captures a perfect blend of sadness and hope, and is the track I keep turning to. "Inside Job" is the closing track, and it's another powerful one. Written by guitarist Mike McCready and describing the time he spent trying to overcome his addictions, it's an excellent way to end the CD. It calls into question what it means to be human, but is not without McCready's signature arena rock riffs. It's very epic and gives the listener a great sense of closure. Every single other track is great, but a little forgettable. Hence the fact that I forgot them.

The next two will be reviewed when I come back from the doctor's.

[Bad furday 57]

Wall-E : A!

:D (luffs the movie) :p

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

doesn't the scene where:

Wall-E trash-compacts his treasures

totally break your heart? A++++ for this one.

Project 17 by Laurie Faria Stolarz: A+ (feel free to use for Probe Droid)

Since my semester is winding down, I decided to go to the library and actually check out a book. This story follows six high school seniors in their quest to make a short film. But there's a twist: the film director has decided to film them spending the night in an abandoned asylum slated for demolition the following week. As one would expect, the place is suposedly haunted. Rumors are rampant about the horrific abuse inflicted on the residents who were once "treated" at Danvers State Hospital, and haunting stories about the ones who never left. The varied members of the group have different motives for participating, but most are just in it for the thrill. But when the journal of a 17-year-old patient is discovered, clues begin to fall into place that suggest someone has some unfinished business, and it's up to the students to bring peace to one soul and tell her story.

Having grown up near a place similar to the one in the story--and the legends attatched to it--I found it easy to relate to the characters. I could picture exactly in my mind the graffiti-stained walls, the complete and total darkness, the disrepair of the structure itself, the fear of who (or what) might be hiding in the darkness, and the overwhelming sense of sadness that permeates a place where so many people died. It made me wonder what would happen if I spent the night in my own town's haunted hospital and what I might find there. The story is told in first-person present, which lends itself well to becoming immersed in this world. I could feel my own pulse racing and the back of my neck prickle with the characters as they heard the creaks and the whispers. This story almost makes me want to see what secrets are hiding in the shadows of our sanitorium. But the place really gives me the creeps, so I don't think I'll be venturing in with a video camera anytime soon.

[Chickenman 9]

Here's that one I promised after I got back from the doctors.

I kept the promise.

Just later.

"The Lucky Ones" by Mudhoney **** out of 5

Pretty much the only big grunge band besides Pearl Jam left, Mudhoney put grunge on the map way back in 1988 and continues to rock to this day. Though they've experminted a bit with the last couple of CDs, this one is an intentional step back to their roots, and it works. It feels a lot like a sequel to their first CD, Superfuzz Bigmuff, albeit not quite as good. They waste no time getting right to it, as the first three or four songs, especially "I'm Now" and "The Lucky Ones" are just kind of an all-out assault that's as raucous as anything they've ever written. The album slows down for a second only to pick up as fierce and abrasive as ever with the "The Open Mind," the very next track. "Tales of Terror" is probably my favorite track, with Mark Arm wailing amongst Mudhoney's trademark fuzzy distortion. Arm has always been the king of the snarl, and he proves why throughout the album. There is the small problem that not a whole lot of the songs are very memorable. They kind of run together. They're all really good, but just don't distinguish themselves. And none approach the status of some of their older songs.The only other problem with the album is that it's a little too tight. No songs go over five minutes, and only two go over four. Four don't go over three minutes. It's pretty much a blitzkrieg from start to finish, and at the end there's almost a feeling of "that's it?" But the incredible thing is how Mudhoney sounds in this album. They aim to return to their roots from twenty years ago, and succeed, sounding almost indistinguishable from their previous efforts. With this album, they prove they haven't lost it over their long career.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Chickenman

[Bad furday 57]

doesn't the scene where:

Wall-E trash-compacts his treasures

totally break your heart? A++++ for this one.

It does. But not as much as

when he's built that statue thingy for Eve and she ignores it. Or when Eve is frantically trying to save

Wall-E.....and he doesn't remember her at all. Or when he's in awe of the universe and he touches the space dust. And especially when he

and Eve are dancing in space.

It was so cool to see two robots given so much personality :D

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

indeed! Pixar rocks!

[Mara 29]

Viva la Vida by Coldplay

A+ <3

I just love this album. It just gets better and better every time I listen to it.

It's so completely different than any of their previous work, you can tell they were experimenting a bit with sounds, but, yet, on another level it's still inherently Coldplay and ties in with what you're used to hearing.

I think my favorites are "Viva la Vida," "Violet Hill," "42," and "Lost!".

[Ayingel 24]

luffed wall-e

[Drake 53]

Just got back from seeing Wall-E. I agree with the statements made by my esteemed collegues above.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

woo! i'm an esteemed collegue. :D

[Andy 60]

He must have meant everyone else. ;)

[Sticks 1]

He was making a generalization

Anywho,

Pretty. Odd. by Panic! at the Disco: A+!!!

Absolutely loved the first album, so I got this one thinking it would be similar. Popped it it...and was like, WTF? Nothing like their first album. Didn't like it at first...but then it started to grow on me...and grow...and grow...and now I can listen to every song over and over! It definitely has a unique sound, which I love in music. The instrumental parts are gorgeous, particularly the piano and trumpet parts. Of course "Nine in the Afternoon" is excellent, but the CD has little hidden treasures, such as "I Have Friends in Holy Spaces," which sounds like something taken from the 30s or 40s; "The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know;" and "Folkin' Around," which is this cute, little folk-sounding tune that's hard not to love (and I don't usually like country!). Love the sound!

[Andy 60]

lol, I hated that album. Totally gone off Panic at the Disco now.

[Chickenman 9]

I'm not going to do the third one I said I'd do yesterday. Because a) it'll be 4 pages long, and 2) No one knows who Mudhoney is. So there you go.

And Panic (I refuse to use that damn exclamation point) at the Disco is irritating in ways that music shouldn't be. Ever.

[Andy 60]

The officially dropped the ! back in January, I believe.

[Sticks 1]

Pfft, details, details.

And their music is genius! I'll admit that it's not for everyone, though. It takes a certain type of person to appreciate it :p

[Ender 8]

It's not genius, it's just more bland, sounds-the-same-as-all-the-rest pop punk s***.

[Drake 53]

It would seem that Ender is not that "certain type of person" who appreciates it.

Neither am I. :p

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Ender's not the type of person to appreciate a lot of things. :p

[Jake Durron 23]

Journey to the Center of the Earth: A-

It was much better than we thought it was going to be, it had great plot lines but they had a few things that annoyed me like... they left their packs on the beach and then two scenes later they were magically on their backs.

[Chickenman 9]

A continuity blooper was something you didn't like about a movie?

And as for Panic, I really disagree that it sounds bland and like pop punk (oxymoron, not a genre ). They're a bit more unique than most of their emo peers. I just see them as pretentious and s***ty.

And their fanbase (Sticks excluded ), for the most part, is kriffing annoying.

[Ender 8]

pop punk (oxymoron, not a genre )

A very good point.

[Andy 60]

Well technically pop can't be a genre, strictly speaking, as the definition of pop changes to suit what the current trend is... hence popular music.

[Rogue 4]

WiiFit=God.