A Good Read: "Edge" by Thomas Blackthorne

   Well today, since I've been slacking a bit on the blogging department, decided that it's high time I did a book review. I purchased this book maybe two days ago and just finished it, it's that good. This one has some really gut-wrenching revelations about scientific what-if's, so if futuristic decline scares you, well, suck it up.

   I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, but will give a basic overview of how the story is set up. There are several developed characters in the novel, whom are all richly displayed in a not-so-far-away London/Great Britain setting. Nuclear development and other scientific advances have led to wider distribution of technology, even among children in slums. Guns are banned in Great Britain however knives have become legalized, as a way of curbing 'crime'. What is described by the author to be dueling, is that any citizen wearing a knife, can bear a formal challenge to another knife bearing citizen as a way of resolving conflict. The former United States, (it's now a triumvirate, both seaboards are their own countries) has done something similar by legalizing the usage of firearms in a similar fashion. The main character has a storied past and a bleak future, with some severe violence issues. (He is ex-special forces) So you think to yourself, this must be a friggen violent book. Dang straight. If you are squeamish, I'd not recommend it. However it is definitely one of the best sci-fi/fantasy reads I've come across in a long while.Edge

Diabeetus

So I may or may not have a problem, you tell me.

Concert Review

So I found myself attending a concert last night in which I was pleasantly surprised. It was only $20, ordered my ticket online and went with a couple friends. The line-up was as follows in order of appearance:

Carnifex www.myspace.com/carnifexmetal
Unearth www.myspace.com/unearth
All That Remains www.myspace.com/allthatremains
As I Lay Dying www.myspace.com/asilaydying

I am going to give my personal opinions on the music quality/stage show & presence/overall of each band in the order that they played.

Unfortunately, the line was a bit long so it took us about a song and a half to actually get into the venue to see Carnifex playing. If you are into some heavy stuff, Carnifex would be worth your time to check out. These guys rip some heavy riffs that are fast played and delve into what most people would call death metal. Double bass petal is pretty much omni-present throughout their entire set, which gets a little repetitive. Some good ole' fashion head banging and thrashing accompanied most of their stage antics. Overall these guys weren't an absolute "wow" for me, however they put on a good show.

Unearth, on the other hand...were very "wow". I had never seen these guys prior to last night and let me tell you, they bring some awesome energy. The scream style of their vocalist has never been my favorite, as it borders on punk/hardcore type yelling, as opposed to raw screaming. I guess the main difference is pronunciation of whatever he is saying, its easier to tell in his form, but not as aggressive if you ask me. That aside, these guys were killer live. They were all over the stage, in the crowds face, and even one of the guitarists toward the end of their set, ran back to play within the crowd. They ended one of their songs with the blow of an airhorn, while ridiculous was actually pretty hilarious. Overall, sick show I would recommend anyone able to see them live.

All That Remains, I am still a little undecided about how I feel about this band. I like them all in all, but they were kind of a downer after Unearth. Not that they didn't have great energy, it was just noticeably lower than the band before them. Everything was spot on sound wise, minus the vocals. Vocals to me are pretty important if you decide to sing, especially when a good majority of the crowd knows the words. That's a pretty big bone to pick however, they were still pretty cool live.

As I Lay Dying, kaboom the place exploded. I've seen these guys a couple times live and they never disappoint. Everything was great again sound wise, except I think their drums were a little too loud and the guitar riffs weren't always distinguishable. Pretty surface stuff, because everything else was perfect. They always throw down and last night was no exception. The pits were great all night, but when As I Lay Dying came on, they really went nuts.






So here are some more of the tour dates if you happen to be interested in checking this show out.

Sep 15 2010

6:00P

Dos Amigos Odessa, TX Find Tickets

Sep 16 2010

6:00P

Midnight Rodeo Abilene, TX Find Tickets

Sep 17 2010

6:00P

THE VILLAGE Little Rock, AR Find Tickets

Sep 18 2010

6:00P

New Daisy Theatre Memphis, TN Find Tickets

Sep 19 2010

6:00P

VALARIUM Knoxville, TN Find Tickets

Sep 20 2010

6:00P

The Madison Theater Cincinnati, OH Find Tickets

Sep 21 2010

6:00P

Orbit Room Grand Rapids, MI Find Tickets

Sep 25 2010

6:30P

Webster Theatre Hartford, CT Find Tickets

Sep 26 2010

6:30P

IMPERIAL Quebec, QC, CANADA Find Tickets

Sep 27 2010

6:30P

METROPOLIS MONTREAL, QC, CANADA Find Tickets

Sep 28 2010

6:00P

Capital Music Hall Ottawa, ON, CANADA Find Tickets

Sep 29 2010

6:00P

COWBOYS LONDON, ON, CANADA Find Tickets

Oct 1 2010

6:00P

THE GARRICK WINNIPEG, MB Find Tickets

Oct 3 2010

6:00P

ODEON SASKATOON, SK, CANADA Find Tickets

Oct 4 2010

6:00P

MACEWAN HALL CALGARY, AB, CANADA Find Tickets

Oct 5 2010

9:00P

EDMONTON EVENTS CENTER EDMONTON, AB, CANADA Find Tickets

Oct 7 2010

6:00P

VOGUE VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA Find Tickets

Oct 8 2010

6:00P

El Corazon Seattle, wa Find Tickets

Oct 11 2010

6:00P

Senator Theatre Chico, CA Find Tickets

Oct 15 2010

7:00P

Tropicana Yuma, AZ

Nov 4 2010

6:00P

Volkhaus Zurich, SWITZERLAND Find Tickets

Nov 5 2010

7:00P

Rock Planet Pinarella di Cervia (RA), Italy, ITALY Find Tickets

Nov 6 2010

6:00P

Gassometer Vienna, Austria, AUSTRIA Find Tickets

Nov 7 2010

7:00P

Löwensaal Nuremberg, Bavaria, de Find Tickets

Nov 8 2010

6:00P

Le Laiterie Strasbourg, FR, FRANCE Find Tickets

Nov 9 2010

6:00P

La Trabendo Paris, PARIS, FRANCE Find Tickets

Nov 10 2010

7:00P

Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, lu Find Tickets

Nov 11 2010

7:00P

Tonhalle Munich, Bavaria, de Find Tickets

Nov 12 2010

7:00P

E-Werk Köln Köln, Nordrhein-, de Find Tickets

Nov 13 2010

6:00P

Longhorn Stuttgart, Baden-Würt, de Find Tickets

Nov 14 2010

6:00P

Skaters Palace Münster, Nordrhein-, de Find Tickets

Nov 15 2010

7:00P

Columbia Club Berlin, Berlin, de Find Tickets

Nov 16 2010

6:00P

Brewhouse Gothenburg, Västra Göt, SWEDEN

Nov 17 2010

6:00P

Hovet Stockholm, SE, SWEDEN Find Tickets

Nov 19 2010

6:00P

NOSTURL HELSINKI, FINLAND Find Tickets

Nov 21 2010

6:00P

KB MALMO, SWEDEN

Nov 22 2010

7:00P

Grossse Freiheit 36 Hamburg, Hamburg, de Find Tickets

Nov 23 2010

7:00P

Werk II Leipzig, Saxony, de Find Tickets

Nov 24 2010

6:00P

Trix Antwerp, Belgium, BELGIUM Find Tickets

Nov 25 2010

6:00P

Waterfront Hall Norwich, UNITED KINGDOM Find Tickets

Nov 26 2010

6:00P

Koko London, London and, UNITED KINGDOM Find Tickets

Nov 27 2010

6:00P

Wolfrun Wolverhampton, UNITED KINGDOM Find Tickets

Nov 28 2010

6:00P

Manchester Academy 2 Manchester, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM Find Tickets

Nov 29 2010

6:00P

Garage Glasgow, UK, UNITED KINGDOM Find Tickets

Nov 30 2010

6:00P

Musical Influence

This evening, I would like to make a post about musical influence. Music has played a role in shaping society, popular (as well as unpopular) culture, and individuals lives, for centuries. In our advanced society today, music touches anyone and everyone, most people will talk about songs they remember from when they were small children. Some of you might say; "HAHA NO WHAT ABOUT POOR PEOPLE IN AFRICA AND OTHER PLACES WITHOUT RADIO!?!". Ah well, good point, not everyone in our world today does own a radio, however music still manages to impact daily life. Music is portrayed in its most pure form, through the voices of friends and families, at gatherings or mealtimes. So even though someone in a jungle tribe of the amazon who has never seen or heard a radio in their life, will still know the value, and importance, of music. It's safe to say, music in performance to simple appreciation, is one of the few things that connects human beings. I mean TRULY connects us. All people know the art form, and in some way are impacted by its existence in our lives. Granted, we maybe cannot all agree on a single style of music, but there you have it. :]

I have developed my musical tastes over a great many years, and I would say I'm insatiable when it comes to the stuff. I am by no means the expert critic, performer, or connoisseur, but I would still like to share some of the stuff that I find enjoyable. That disclaimer aside, I have a wide range of likes and dislikes, some may not agree but if we all did, it would make for a boring life.

I'll end up picking some older/newer bands/performers and doing some more in depth reviews on them, so stick around :p.

Sick as a Dog.

Well today's blog is dedicated to my dog, whom as that lame saying is; "he is sick as a dog". Poor little feller got my up almost every hour last night to go outside to potty. I feel terrible for him, got him in to see the vet today and got him some meds. Nice vet trips, gotta love em....only $80 down the tubes. Would of been more if I had done a different test to determine that he doesn't have worms, because he is on anti-worm junk. I need to get him some doggie insurance or something haha ;[...anyway, going to post a picture of him, his name is Hunk. He totally has only child syndrome and is stubborn as crap so I know he isn't feeling well when all he wants to do is lay down. I hope he gets better soon.....

Probably the cutest thing ever, he dug himself a little cave :p

Music Review: A Plea for Purging: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

So I have been listening to A Plea for Purging's new album titled, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, for a couple weeks now. First and foremost I'd like to say they have come a long way. Depravity, their release prior to Heaven and Hell, had some excellent ideas musically however they weren't executed quite as well as they could have been. I digress however, A Plea for Purging is a METAL band, so stop right thar if you don't dig. They are also a Christian band, which should not be a turnoff to how awesome they are. Even if you aren't religious their musicality on this album alone is reason to appreciate it. The album opens with a crazy preacher rant into some nice blast beats with a real break-chorus type feel. Don't forget the ugly chords, these guys love to throw those in. By ugly I don't mean power chords, I mean harmonically incorrect chords. Another really interesting thing about this album is their incorporation of some really technical parts. It honestly reminded me of Meshuggah on a smaller scale. Oh and the singing, they have some aweeesome clean vocals throughout the album, not a ton mind you, but enough to make you go 'wow'. I'd give this album a 9/10 it's really worth the listen.

Man I want to play in Germany

This festival is an outdoors version of Warped Tour in Germany. Except the bands don't suck and the crowd is AMAZING. Even if you don't like the music, check out the pit!




Apparently these people know how its done.

Wake up and google can't delete emails

THE WORLD IS GONNA END! Oh man, Google is having server trouble it must mean zombie apocalypse or crazy fever death somewhere....can't be good.

Figure it would look something like this.

WOWWWWW

In my attempt to make a new post I butchered my old one :(. Man I suck at this blogging bit, but hope to not make the same mistake again...there were comments on the old one that I missed too....gah. Horrible pathetic fail.

Back when SC was cool....

Starleague, guys in korea who took this game to the pro-level and thus you had crazy fan-dom as well.

Star craft 2

Well I bought starcraft2 not too long ago. Have to say, for playing the original and Broodwar for 12 years running I am still a bit disappointed. The campaign felt very close to the actual game as far as units and game-play were concerned. Not to mention the way the plot developed from the original was very cool and refreshing. Although some of the side missions were pretty sketchy, (go fight for an insane dude and release everyone on a prison planet...brilliant stratagem Raynor), it was truly enjoyable.

As for paying for the next 2 "expansions" to the game... well....protoss and zerg not having a campaign written into Wings of Liberty is a low blow to the wallet for most people, and a legitimate complaint.

Now here comes my rage saved esp. for multi-player. Where in the hell did half the units go? Staple units such as firebats, medics, goliaths, wraiths, (deconstructed into vikings and banshees somewhat), lurkers, defilers, goons, dark archons....the list goes on. How in a theater of war can an intelligent unlearn how to do some awesome things? Its like giving someone an awesome gun then saying its obsolete and giving them a club instead....wtf blizzard?

Anywho, the game runs kinda meh for those who like money maps, everything else ranked wise is match making which I am no fan of either.
It seems to me Blizzard just jumped on the idiot proof wagon trying to make the masses happy although they have done fine with WoW so it makes sense.