Cerebral Pop Giveaway: Dragon Age Origins for PS3

Interested in winning the copy of Dragon Age: Origins that our contributor Aaron Rivers just gave a 5 out of 5? Well here's your chance. Just keep in mind, this is the actual review copy of the game that Aaron played, so it has already been opened. Still, if lightly used and free is your thing, then read on to find out how to win.

1. I'd like to say US only, but we'll stick with North America only for now, and we'll talk it over if you're Canadian. I've sent games to Canada for pretty cheap by tossing out the instruction manuals and just wrapping the actual case in brown paper, but Aaron is the one footing the bill for shipping. If he finds out that shipping to you is going to cost him an arm and a leg, then we might just go for the runner-up.

2. To enter, you must leave a comment on any other post on CerebralPop.com. This comment must be relevant to the article you're posting it on, but you must work the word "pickle" into it in some way. Bonus points if you find the article I wrote forever ago in which I compared what I was writing about to a pickle. Don't worry about me seeing your comment if it's an old post, I get an email with every new comment on the site and I will file each email into a folder in my inbox so that no one will get left out or forgotten.

3. Bonus points available for being funny and clever about it, posting on a really old story, and for posting multiple comments on many different stories. But remember, YOUR COMMENT MUST BE RELEVANT TO THE ARTICLE YOU ARE COMMENTING ON.

Well there you go, get reading and commenting. The contest will end next Saturday, December 5th, and I will post the results then. Aaron will strive to ship the game out to you early Monday, which means you SHOULD get it by Christmas, but that's all up to the USPS, not us. Have fun and good luck!

Game Review: Dragon Age

Platform/s: PC, Playstation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: EA (Electronic Arts)

I am not a fan of high fantasy. I have never finished a book authored by Tolkien and I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. I just can't get into the whole high fantasy vibe. It just doesn't click for me. Never has. High fantasy has always seemed childish with its overuse of racial archetypes, reoccurring plot elements, and its over abundance of the mythical. When I hear the word Wizard, I just can't help but laugh. I prefer a world that seems more plausible then what most high fantasy tends to offer.

Before some of my more overzealous readers decide that I should be magic missle'd for my previous statements, know that Dragon Age is for people like me. Although, I'm pretty sure you guys would like it as well.

The world of Dragon Age is a smartly constructed homage to earlier works of high fantasy that does not allow itself to become constricted by the archetypes of its predecessors. While populated by the standard fantasy fare of elves, humans, dwarves, and various other more wicked races, Dragon Age decides to break away from our common conceptions of these by adding enough originality to make their world seem more plausible and intriguing. The most profound example of this, for me, can be seen in their version of elves.

The elves of Dragon Age once, a very very long time ago, were an enlightened and immortal race of beings much like the elves seen in Tolkien and various other works of high fantasy. However, unlike Tolkien's elves these elves were conquered and subsequently enslaved by the humans. So, these once majestic people have lost almost all of their magic and are now not only mortal but considered lesser beings by the much more abundant humans. They now live in two separate societies of Dalish elves, wondering nomads that are desperately searching for their lost power and the much more subjugated city elves who live in separated districts or alienages from their former human slave masters that are more reminiscent of ghettos.

Why this example is so profound for me is because of my previous dislike for the standard interpretation of elves. The standard elven archetype of the stoic, wise, effeminate immortal has always seemed so boring to me. So much so in fact, that I always wondered who, beyond the crowd that read all the Twilight books, found them at all appealing. However, BioWare's elves, especially the city elves, are such a breath of fresh air that I decided to pick one as my character.

Beyond my previous elven aversion, this is especially worth mentioning because every one of the races and classes have been modernized in this manner making them just as interesting. Dwarves live in a caste society, Mages are the most regulated and feared beings on the planet and being able to play the game through these various lenses not only adds to replayability but makes the experience offered that much more unique.

This is because at the onset of starting Dragon Age you are tasked with making your avatar. This aspect is pretty standard fare for western roleplaying games. You choose your race and class with three choices available for each. In addition, the amount of options in which to modify your appearance is almost daunting. After all of this is completed, you are told what your opening story mission will entail.

These opening story missions set the stage for what type of person you will be playing. For me, I learned about how the city elves live in constant fear of their human oppressors. I was forced to watch as my would be wife and cousin were drug away by the local lord's son to be ravished on our wedding day; this was just my beginning.

Because unlike all other roleplaying games of the past, the choices you make when creating you character have serious impact upon the story and the way it is delivered. Being an elf I was almost constantly looked down upon by humans. My background allowed for countless personalized dialogue options for me to choose and changed how many of the NPC's treated me as well. These changes allowed my character to be more then just an extension of myself but rather gave him his own identity. Dealing with racial injustice and bigotry became a constant concern for me.

This attention to detail coupled with BioWare's signature level of high quality storytelling makes Dragon Age a must play for the western RPG aficionado. My only real complaint, in regards to storytelling, is that your avatar does not have a voice actor. While this might not be too much of a concern for some people, when juxtaposed against the very strong acting of all of the rest of the cast I find this lack to be that much more glaring. While I do feel that this causes an unnecessary disconnect, It only marginally deteriorates the overall experience.

I could rant for several more pages about how much better this game's story is when compared to what is normally offered not only in the same genre but games in general. This is no hyperbole, Dragon Age's narrative is that impressive. This is because Dragon Age lives in its minute interactions with the world. When viewed in macro, the story is a pretty standard ode to the works of Tolkien or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Evil creatures threaten the land and it is your charge to unite the lands to defeat them. However, it is in the micro that this game excels.

Much like BioWare's previous release Mass Effect, Dragon Age forces the player to make tough decisions that can drastically change the world. These choices often challenge the player's morality, not in a binary manner like Fable, but rather seem much more subtle and ambiguous. Are you an “the end justifies the means” kind of person? Dragon Age forces to find out. I found these moments while some of the most difficult they were also the most satisfying.

Storytelling aside, we are talking about a game that is said to be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate 2 here, what of the strategic combat?

Dragon Age plays similarly to a single player version of a World of Warcraft five man instance. Much like WOW having a diverse group of specialized components working in concert is a necessity. The further into the game you get the more this becomes apparent. This is not a game where you can blunder you way through level up menus randomly assigning points. Dragon Age was designed for seasoned RPG players.

The level up system of two separate talent trees and stat increases might seem daunting to those people unaccustomed but as one of these seasoned players I can't help but appreciate the attention to detail. Although, the tutorial sections at the beginning do not explain this system well enough to encourage the uninitiated. In a climate of games being designed to more palpable to a larger audience I have to congratulate BioWare on deciding to go with a system that includes such depth even if at the expense of greater appeal. Thankfully, BioWare decided to include the ability to adjust the difficulty on the fly which should alleviate any sense of frustration.

Combat itself is handled by controlling one party member at a time. Those not under your direct control at that moment are automated by guidelines that you can dictate much like Final Fantasy 12's Gambit system. These guidelines can be set to one of many presets or can be completely customized. Also, at any point in combat you can pause and shift perspectives to another character and either take control of them or merely select a spell or ability allowing for more direct control of combat. This allows you the freedom of either dictating each action much like a turn-based RPG or trusting to your presets making small adjustments when you deem them necessary.

That said, Dragon Age further proves BioWare's pedigree as the premier RPG developers. Its dark blood soaked narrative tries to push the envelope in regards to videogame's maturity not only with its liberal use of violence but in its difficult moral quandaries. Frankly, Dragon Age is the best RPG I have played in this console generation, which should be all the recommendation I need to give considering my bias on high fantasy.

Score: 5 out of 5

Confused about our scoring system? Read this explanation.

Want to win the review copy of this game? Check back soon and look for a post with more details on how to enter to win.

Trailer Park: Thanksgiving Weekend

Trailer Park is a weekly post, every thursday, where we feature trailers for the upcoming weekend movie releases.

My wife thinks that it's a very weird thing to do, but my family always went out to see a movie Thanksgiving night. We definitely weren't the only ones. Despite my wife's misunderstanding of this tradition, it's pretty commonplace. How else can you explain the existence of the Robin Williams/John Travolta vessel, Old Dogs? You can't. But if nothing else piques your interest on this week's release list, then perhaps you should check out The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is finally going wide.

The Road

It's uncommon that a book I've actually read is adapted in movie form, as I'm not one of these Lit Losers, which is a phrase I just invented -- so this presents me the rare opportunity to act pithy and stuck-up about all the things that the movie got wrong. For instance, casting Charlize Theron in an attempt at having another big name on the poster is negligable as... well, nevermind. I'll just say, that the best part of this trailer, is the Wilhelm Scream they used at 2:10 or so. Really? We're still using that? Alright.

Ninja Assassin

Remember, I think it was late last year, that video game Ninja Blade came out? Everyone was commenting about how it was unfathomable that a game hadn't been named that yet. That's how I feel about this movie. This hasn't been done before? But I'm not saying that in a negative way, because if it hasn't then it was necessary. I applaud the people behind finally bringing this to theaters. Bravo guys, bravo.

Other Releases:
Old Dogs
Me and Orson Welles
The Princess and the Frog
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

What will you be seeing?

The Evil Things that Villains do

Supervillains, the scourges of humanity. Their only goals are world domination or total destruction of everything we love. They all have their twisted reasoning for why they do these horrible things. Maybe their family was murdered, maybe they were abused, maybe they just plain enjoy the things they do. One thing they all agree on though, is how much they all hate society. Their hatred of people, and by extension of that, their hatred of the people who continuously foil their plans: Superheroes.

Superheroes only serve to further ruin a villain's life, by beating them and putting them in jail. This leads to supervillains doing what they do best -- Getting revenge. However this is usually foiled yet again by the uppity heroes. Can't they give a villain a break?! Over time their hatred of humanity turns into a hatred of superheroes, so the villains return time and again, their thirst for revenge growing each encounter.

This all leads to some great comics, and that is what this post is all about. The evil things that villains do to the heroes who haunt them. Here is just a small list of the types of horrors that villains have concocted for their heroic counterparts.

1. The Joker trying to prove a point.

The Joker is perhaps the most psychotic villain ever. On any given day he can go from goofy clown to murderous psychopath. Unfortunately for Batman and his supporting cast, The Joker was in a psychopathic mood in the Killing Joke. In the comic, Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon, Batman's oldest ally, and in the process shoots and paralyzes Gordon's daughter Barbara, who is secretly Batgirl.

Joker brings Gordon to an abandoned amusement park, tortures him and forces him to view images of his daughter in various stages of undress, it is heavily implied the Joker molested her. This is all part of Joker's plan to show Batman that the world is inherently insane and therefore not worth saving. In other words Joker wants Batman to stop caring about what happens to the world so he can go about creating chaos in peace. However the Joker also hits Batman with the realization that they are basically the same. The product of "One bad day".


2. Green Goblin dropping Gwen Stacey off a bridge.

Gwen Stacey was the love of Peter Parker's life. They were the perfect couple, destined to be together forever. But then the Green Goblin returns, blaming everything that has gone wrong in his life, such as his financial ruin and his son Harry's drug abuse, on Spider-man. The Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen and brings her to the top of what seems to be George Washington Bridge. Spider-man follows them and a fight ensues. Just when Spider-man is getting the upper hand, the Goblin throws Gwen off of the bridge.

Spider-man tries to save her but when he pulls her up she is already dead. He is unsure whether the shock of the fall or the shock of her sudden stop had killed her. Peter is distraught at her death, the girl he loved is dead. Gwen's death would have repercussions on Peter for years to come. Even as far as the relatively recent "House of M" storyline where Peter is shown that his heart's desire was to have a family with Gwen. This causes him great distress, showing just how much an impact her death caused. All because the Green Goblin wanted revenge on Spider-man.

3. Mongul's "Black Mercy" Birthday present to Superman.

You'd think someones birthday would be an off-limits day, but some villains just don't care about boundaries. Indeed, Mongul orchestrated his attack to coincide with Superman's birthday. As if that wasn't bad enough, Mongul's "present" to Superman is a Black Mercy, a parasitic alien flower that sticks to your chest and pacifies you by feeding your brain with images of your hearts desire.

Not so bad, I hear you thinking, but it turns out that Superman's desire isn't to be a big shot superhero, but he'd rather live a quiet life back on Krypton with a wife who isn't Lois Lane. With some help, Superman fights off the Black Mercy and he is pissed with Mongul for forcing him face the realization that he doesn't really want the life he has. Superman uses his full power in an effort to punish Mongul. Eventually Mongul gets the Black Mercy trapped on his chest, showing us his desire, to take over the universe!


So there you have it, some of the worst things villains have done to their superhero counterparts. Don't feel too bad for them, they knew what they were getting into when they took up their tights.

Video Round-Up: Rhino Edition

Video Round-Up is a bi-monthly post that collects an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up every 5th and 20th.

This thing is awesome, but it's raised a question. Why don't we have land and sea cars now if this thing was around in the 50's? I mean, I'm sure we have things that can do that, but not on a mainstream level. When I'm rich I want something like this to drive around in at my summer cottage by the lake! I demand it! Go forth and make it!

Grizzly Bear continues their grand tradition of having the most bat-shit crazy music videos humanly possible. Actually, this one isn't as ridiculous as some of their past ones. My almost 2 year old daughter loves watching it, and it doesn't give her nightmares like I'm sure this one would.

Ooooh video games! Look at you, trying to be taken seriously. That's adorable. Don't you worry your little heads, someone will take you seriously one day. But, you could probably speed that process up a little bit if you spent more then the soda can return money on the voiceover "talent".

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! If nature looked like this, I would never go outside. Actually, I can imagine this happening in a couple hundred years. We'll have destroyed and built over all of nature, so we'll make these robot plants, but it'll have been so long since anybody saw a real plant, that we'll assume they had eyes.

Some people should just never be allowed to use a gun. This woman is one of them. Dick Cheney is another. Too late? Sorry, I'll try to make jokes when they are actually relevant from now on.

My Musical Epiphany: Kids Listen to Shitty Music

For someone who is as in love with music as I am, you'd think that it started when I was very young. The truth is, I used to hate music. Really, really hate it. If you need proof of this, there is one memory that sticks out in my mind.

We were heading out of the house to load into the van and head somewhere, and I decided to spring the theory that I had cooked up in my little 7 or 8 or whatever-year-old head on my siblings -- all music is about love. I don't exactly remember how I argued this point, but I did so to the point that my brother, who is 5 years older then me, just gave up trying to prove me wrong.

I had deduced that music was stale and boring, and that nobody ever came up with anything original, so I was just going to ignore it all. And I mostly did throughout the rest of my childhood, until my early teen years. Pretty much the only music I ever listened to was The Monkees Greatest Hits, because I used to watch the show on Nick at Nite (I watched that network constantly, which is another story), the Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US) soundtrack, because I liked the game a whole lot and would borrow the soundtrack from my friend, and some Native American singer/songwriter named Jack Gladstone that we saw when we went to Yellowstone National Park.

This was my childhood music listening:





So how did I go from The Monkees to The Paper Chase, Devotchka, Animal Collective, The Mars Volta, and more? The simple answer is Offspring, but it deserves much more explanation then that.

The year was 1998, and I was 13 years old. Offspring had just released their song Pretty Fly for a White Guy, and for some reason I picked up on it. It was one of the few things I heard on the radio coming from my sisters room, that I liked. I'm probably opening myself up for abuse, but I think the video even sold it a little bit more.



Right from the point that Noodles walks past and the guitar kicks in, I was hooked. It was everything my stupid little 13 year old brain wanted to like, but put through the lens of people like me. I wasn't popular, or cool, but neither were these dorks.

When I say hooked, I'm not kidding. Offspring became an obsession. I poured over Napster search results to get my hands on anything they ever recorded in their entire lifetime. I had rare covers, and demos -- I was like a crazy stalker or something.

And that's when I started to take notice of other music. Offspring had covered songs by bands like TSOL, Buzzcocks, AFI, and Agent Orange -- all of which I began to dissect and take into my musical repertoire. Then I realized they had their own record label -- soon I was obsessed with bands like The Vandals, Guttermouth, and 30footFALL as well.

The epiphany had occurred. Music could be good, amazing even. There's no way for me to properly explain how Offspring led me to Animal Collective, so I'm just going to end this now. This was the first step to the entire process, and while I might be a little embarrassed about some of the bands now, I won't deny my love for them for one second. I love all of this music still today, no matter what anybody says about it, because it all played a part in forming my love of music today.

Tycho - Coastal Brake

2X combo points: beautiful sound, beautiful imagery.

Tycho is the electronic music project of Californian artist Scott Hansen. His taste in music matches his taste in art; both emitting that warm, pseudo-retro tranquility that gives the sensation of floating in colour, a sensation I have not been able to find anywhere else.


Under the alias of iso50, his website, blog, and portfolio is a regularly updated collection of art and music where the line is sometimes hard to see. His own artwork, while genuine and unique, seems as if its something you've seen as a child, playing with that wonderful feeling of nostalgia.


I've purchased a 12" of the album "Past is Prologue" and as it arrived lost the use of my record player. MP3s of the album are constantly playing and, along with Boards of Canada and the Books, is getting me through college without losing my mind. The pre-order for the single "Coastal Brake" was announced earlier this month, along with three remixes and a fold out poster of alternative artwork.

I suggest you listen to the previews yourself. > blog.iso50.com

Although his art pieces are more than I can see myself spending, they are all something I want to have hanging on my walls.

Tycho - The Daydream


On a side note I want to copyright the use of "pseudo-retro tranquility".

Trailer Park for November 20th

Trailer Park is a weekly post, every thursday, where we feature trailers for the upcoming weekend movie releases.

I probably should have put a picture of New Moon up there, as I usually post a picture of the biggest movie of the week, and then have that trailer featured first, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I even went so far as search 'New Moon' on Google Images, but what I was greeted with made me question even doing this Trailer Park in the first place. So I'm just going to ignore that movie. Except for all that stuff I just said about it. And I guess I'll probably put a link to the trailer in the Other Releases section. But besides that, consider it ignored!

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

I don't think I've even seen a Werner Herzog movie, but I've learned one thing in my movie watching experience. The quality of a movie is always directly proportional to the quality of the director. Herzog has plenty of buzz behind him, so I'm curious about this movie, it's as simple as that. Besides, pretty much nothing else worthwhile is coming out this week.

Other Releases:
New Moon
The Blind Side
Planet 51
Broken Embraces
Mammoth
The Missing Person
Red Cliff

What will you be seeing?

The Boys: Thoughts on the Series

The Boys is a comic book written by Garth Ennis, the author Preacher, and drawn by Darick Robertson, who is most notable for his work on Transmetropolitan.

The book follows the adventures of the CIA backed team: The Boys. In a world where superheros have no morals and are only in the hero business for the fame and royalties from their action figures. The group is formed to keep an eye on them and stop them from going too far in their ignorant and half-hearted attempts at heroism.

The book is notable for its extreme violence and sexuality, which has lead to criticism and even its cancellation by DC. Luckily it was soon picked up by Dynamite Entertainment. In my opinion, the book benefits from the extreme violence. It presents a more realistic, if satirical, picture of what happens when you get punched in the face by someone with super-strength. Your nose explodes into a bloody mess.

Though it seems to be a satirical take on the superhero genre at first, it soon becomes clear, through Ennis' excellent storytelling, that it is much deeper and more complex then that. It is the tale of some pretty messed up people trying to protect their world from reckless and amoral "heroes". The Boys are a team of five, with the focus placed on two key members, Billy Butcher, the leader, and Wee Hughie, a Scottish conspiracy buff and the newest recruit.

The five main characters all have their own problems to deal with; from Butcher's resentment of the "heroes" for the raping and subsequent death of his wife as a super powered baby burst out of her womb, to the Female, who cannot even be touched by another person save for the Frenchman because of the trauma she suffered. They realise that the "heroes" cannot be allowed free reign over the world and they direct all their anger and resentment towards this goal. If this means a few super powered throwdowns along the way then all the better for us.

The art of the book is incredible, Robertson provides vibrant and well paced artwork that compliment the story and characters perfectly. His panel placement is spot on and his art tells us as much about the characters as any conversation. He expertly conveys the characters emotions and mood. He and Ennis play off of each other incredibly well, and it's easy to tell they have worked together before and understand each other's styles.

The writing is typical Ennis. It's at times juvenile and at times touching and poignant, but he ties it all together amazingly with his trademark humor. He opens the first issue with the line "I'm gunna fucking have you. You cunts." and provides some truly memorable one liners throughout.

Ennis has a knack for crafting complex and emotionally damaged characters. He blends the satire and adolescent humor together with poignancy, complex character development and high-octane visceral action sequences. Though, some individual issues can move along slowly, when taken as part of the overall story-arc it becomes clear that they were written with the trade paperbacks in mind.

The only complaint I have about the series is the misogynystic undertones. There are three prominent female characters and they are the most damaged and hurt. This is highlighted by the CIA director, who is portrayed as little more then Butcher's booty call rather then the independant and forceful woman you would assume she would be.

There are several scenes of graphic sex throughout the series, during which, the Director is shown to be self loathing. It's revealed that she has a husband and children, but has no problem sleeping with Butcher regularly. She seems to be more of Butchers "bitch" then she is a family woman, however, this supposed theme of misogyny is contrasted by the character of Starlight. Though at first she seems ready to abandon her beliefs to get ahead in life she later comes to greatly regret her actions and we are shown how vulnerable and unsure she is.

My other complaint is that every storyline is fundamentally the same. They have a target, they go after them, and there is a massive fight with copious amounts of blood, then they all go home happy. This outline is rarely varied from and though initially exciting and fresh, I quickly wished for a bit more variation. Thankfully the supporting characters, such as former Russian superhero Love Sausage and aged comic book creator The Legend, help to make the stories fresh and provide some truly laugh out loud moments.

All in all, The Boys is a series well worth getting into if you can look past the initial adolescent humor and extreme violence. The characters, artwork, and overall story telling make this a remarkable series that has only gotten better as it has gone on, and it looks as though the series will continue to progress and develop as one of the best comics currently available.

The Top 5 Modern Punk Albums

I've been noticing a trend lately. When I mention to any sort of casual music listener that I still follow punk music to some degree, I am greeted with one of two understandings to the term "punk". Either it is, "Oh yeah! I like punk! I just saw Simple Plan a few weeks ago!" (I'm obviously several years behind on my shitty pop "punk" bands.), or, "Oh, you mean that 3 chord stuff?"

It's begun to bother me, as punk has evolved into so much more then 3 chords repeated over and over, and it is certainly not Good Charlotte (Old reference again! Did they die? I kind of hope so.). So I've decided to make a Top 5 list of modern punk albums.

Think of it as a combination public service announcement (Punk does not suck!) and list of recommendations. Do yourself a favor and listen to each one of these albums in their entirety, be it through legal or illegal means. This is punk music, if they cared about theft then they would be sell-outs.



#5 - Cobra Skulls - Sitting Army

I found out about Cobra Skulls from a post on the #4 bands website. I listened to what I could online, and it easily convinced me to buy their CD. I compared their sound to Against Me at first, simply because I thought the singer sounded the same. But upon more listens, they grew into their own beast.

It's a more stripped down, sort of rockabilly sound at times. The most appealing part is that they know of to write songs that aren't needlessly complex, and poppy enough to catch in your head while at the same time fast enough for you to rock out to. And then when you think you might get tired of the CD, they start singing in spanish.

Charming the Cobra

The Cobra and the Man-Whore


This is their first full length, but they've since released a second one. I wrote up my thoughts on it earlier this year.



#4 - Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!

I had always viewed Lawrence Arms as a slower band, which wasn't a problem, but I just never really listened to much. For some reason I did listen to Oh! Calcutta! though, and I was blown away. From what I can gather, they've got two regular singers, and when the one sings, the songs are usually faster to match him. He is at the forefront of almost every song on this CD.

At least that's what I can tell from listening and from retroactively checking out their previous releases. Anyway, the point is, they are an amazing band that I have fallen in love with. Calcutta is a much faster album, but their older stuff still has plenty of moments, and is great even when it's slower.

Cut it Up

Are You There Margaret? It's Me, God.

#3 - Leftover Crack - Fuck World Trade

If you couldn't tell by the name, or the album cover, Leftover Crack will probably offend more people then will actually bother to read their lyrics. And of the minority that do that, even more will be turned away by things like their absolute hatred of cops.

Remember when punk used to be intimidating? Now, "The government sucks!", is about the closest you'll come to some real disent. Leftover Crack isn't afraid to put everything out there, even if sometimes they way they do can be crass and may offend. I really don't like cops most of the time, but I question their choice to openly sing about killing them.

Still, I'll defend their right to do that, and when police in their native NYC shut down their shows at every opportunity for no other reason then they know they have a few songs that are anti-cop, I get pissed off.

No matter what you believe, though, they are one of the only punk bands still around that aren't afraid to just say what they feel. A band like Rancid, might try to act like they don't care what people think, but when you think about them spending an hour spiking their hair, the illusion dies out.

Leftover Crack just walks out in clothes they've probably worn for weeks straight, and say whatever they happen to be thinking. I respect that, even if I don't always agree with how far they take their viewpoints.

Gang Control

Burn Them Prisons

#2 - Against Me - Searching for a Former Clarity

"Punk purists" are probably going to call me a "poser". "Against Me sold out!", "They've changed!". Just ignore that BS.

While they may have changed, it's more of a growth. I'm not picking this album because I think their major label debut New Wave went downhill. I love that album as well, I just think this one has a higher quantity of great songs, and would be the best for a new fan to get into.

If you like this one and want even more, be sure to check out everything else by Against Me.

From Her Lips to God's Ear (The Energizer)

Even at Our Worst, We're Still Better Than Most




#1 - Propagandhi - Supporting Caste

While most bands get worse with each new release, Propagandhi somehow get exponentially better. Perhaps it's because they take a good 4 years or more between each release, but everything improves.

On previous albums, they were prone to randomely changing the tempo of the song at a moments notice, which I loved. While they still do it on this CD, they've gotten a lot better at blending it better. Plus, none of their songs have a set verse, chorus, type of structure which keeps things fresh.

If every other punk band in the world suddenely died, I would be perfectly content with just Propagandhi filling my punk needs. They put everyone else to shame. I could drone on about them for a long time, but I'll let the music speak for itself. The two songs I picked both have slow build-ups, but they are some of my favorites, so give them a complete listen. Here's my write-up of Supporting Caste after it's release.

Supporting Caste

The Last Will & Testament



Well there you go. If that doesn't give you a better idea of what some great modern punk sounds like, then I've failed horribly. I'll probably do a second one of these just because I had trouble cutting out some albums, so keep an eye out if you enjoyed this one.

Trailer Park for November 13th

Trailer Park is a weekly post, every thursday, where we feature trailers for the upcoming weekend movie releases.

It's time to gear up for the holiday movie season. What better way to kick that off then with a Roland Emmerich disaster movie of epic proportions. Perhaps even more epic-like proportions then the epic proportions seen in his previous disaster movies of epic proportions. Be prepared, for an epic holiday movie season... or something.

Yep. How do you top your last epic disaster movie? You take out The White House with an aircraft carrier. And, you know... that whole end of the world thing.

Something about the rebel group sticking it to the man, seems clichè. Still, this seems like it'll be entertaining for a trip to the movies. At the very least it'd be a good movie for teenagers and their parents to bond over. Soemthing that I'm sure all teenagers want to do.

The blogosphere is abuzz. Wes Anderson's stop motion adaptation of the Roald Dahl book The Fantastic Mr. Fox, has sparked up quite a bit of conversation. Besides all that nonsense about him directing large portions of it via email (do you really expect him to stand there watching them move things a centimeter at a time?), there's the main fact that he is sticking to a very old style of stop motion. Will this pay off? Probably not. Will it be cool to watch? Definitely.

Other Releases:
Dare
The Messenger
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
Uncertainty
Women in Trouble

What will you be seeing?

Nintendo Announces the DSiXXL

With the recent announcement of the DSi XL, gamers thought that maybe Nintendo's mind was with it's new casual audience instead of the core gamer. Well, apparently that was the exact case. As of this morning, a leaked press release was dug up from the depths of the Internet, that seems to confirm all of our worst nightmares. Indeed, Nintendo is only thinking about the casual audience they have created, but they seem to be going completely overboard with it. Just read this absolutely insane press release yourself.

Nintendo brought gaming into the living rooms of millions of families with the Nintendo Entertainment System. They defined the handheld gaming market with the Gameboy. They were the first to launch gaming into the modern age with the 64 bit Nintendo 64. They released the Gamecube. And they revolutionized the way we controlled our games with the Nintendo Wii.

Now, they are excited to announce the exciting 5th iteration, in as many years, of the world's best selling portable video game system. The Nintendo DSi XXL, will set the adult market ablaze when it is released on the day that the Nintendo DSi XL sales start to wane.

"One of the things we heard the most from the demographic we managed to capture with the Wii, in regards to our line of handhelds, was I can't see what's happening on this thing," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president. "The DSi XXL was built with them in mind. They should have no trouble following the action on screen now that it is the size of their torso's. Plus, the new XXL stylus will help those with impaired handling, since it is as big as one of those giant novelty pencils you might get at a theme park or something."

Some of the features available out of the box include, a built-in pill organizer, a timer -- so you don't miss a business meeting, soccer game, or pill -- and a variety of game-themed calendars and clocks (for scheduling your business meetings, children's soccer games, or doctors appointments).

Games for the DSi XXL will be catered to your playing tastes. Numerous games, such as Solitaire, Sudoku, and Tetris, will be available at launch. Plus, the DSi XXL will be able to play all existing Nintendo DS games. When these games are put into the DSi XXL, they will automatically go into what Nintendo likes to call "No Need to Try" mode. In this mode, the game will instantly correct the mistakes you make, by simply doing the right thing instead.

"We are really excited to get this out on the market," commented Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "My kids have been playing with a prototype at home and they just love it. My youngest likes to turn it upside down and lay underneath it when he plays."

The Nintendo DSi XXL will release next spring, in Avocado Green and Pumpkin Orange, and will retail for $299.99 MSRP. Additional features and news will be made available prior to release. Be sure to keep your eye on http://www.nintendodsixxlisreallyawesome.com/ for more details.

This is a startling realization of what the future of video games might be like if Nintendo keeps its lead on the competitors. Personally I'm a little disgusted and scared. What do you think?

Dear Twitter,

I really, really like you. Let's talk about something positive first, OK? More then a month ago, Rob Huebel was on an episode of the podcast Jordan Jesse Go. He talked about a bad experience he had working on an Olive Garden commercial, where they took the cheesiest shot they had from the whole day. Then he talked about how he never responds to people on Twitter, but he reads all of he @ replies that he gets and enjoys them a lot.

Ever since then, I have made it my mission to mention that commercial as often as possible. I'm hoping that he either finally @ replies me, or he goes on Jordan Jesse Go again and talks about some jerk that incessantly mocks him about his Olive Garden commercial. Example: He tweeted something along the lines of, "Just walked through a spider's web. He looked at me like, "You diiiick!"." My response to this? "He was probably looking at you like, "Wait... are you the guy from that Olive Garden commercial?""

Still, you are starting to annoy me Twitter. Not all of you, but some. So I've got some suggestions for you. Not necessarily demands, but I'd really like it if you followed these 4 simple things.

1. Own up to your spelling mistakes if you're too lazy to proof-read 140 characters. When you tweet something, and then within 10 seconds, realize you spelled something wrong, so you retweet it with the correction and delete the old one, people still see that. Maybe you don't use Twitter on your phone, but chances are several, if not a majority of your followers do. When you put that tweet out there, it's out there. By correcting it afterwards, you are sending people's phones multiple messages. It is extremely annoying to have your phone beep several times, just to read the same message without a spelling error.

2. Your Twitter handle is not @Whatever. It is just Whatever. When you have a podcast, or you tell someone in real life what your Twitter handle is, DO NOT say, "Oh, on Twitter I'm @Whatever." No, on Twitter you are just Whatever. Twitter.com/Whatever. @Whatever is what people use when they are REPLYING to you, not just trying to find you. Hence the @. As in at. Like I am directing this message at Whatever.

3. Double check the hashtag before you send your tweet. It's annoying to see #whenImdrunk in the Trending Topics, but it's even more annoying to see #whenImdrunk as well as #wheniamdrunk right next to each other.

4. Seriously. This isn't Clitter. Or Pornter. Uh... Fuckter? It doesn't matter. The point is, you guys are being REALLY perverted with your Trending Topics. It's kind of disturbing. There's probably a porn version of Twitter out there. Seek that out if you must.

Alright, are we still cool Twitter? I really do like you a lot.

Are We Being Too Sensitive?

When raising a kid, you start to wonder where you draw the line. Should I stop her from getting on that footrest and jumping up and down? It's cute, but she might fall off. Ehh, it's not that high, and I'm not going to be the parent who wraps their kids in bubble wrap all the time. Hmm, how about her now climbing on that bookshelf? Yeah, that could fall over on her. I should probably stop that.

It's an ongoing battle in your head. In the years since I grew up, parents have become increasingly paranoid when raising their kids. I blame the media. Constantly reporting on abducted children and debilitating injuries can never help calm someone down and make them less worried. But I've started to wonder if the same thing that's magnifying our fears, is also magnifying our outrage.

We've gotten to the point, when not a single day goes by that we, as a collective society, aren't outraged about something. Let's think back, just in the last year, about video game marketing. Case after case of outrage. Gamers decrying this game or that because of some failed marketing campaign. Is any of this justified, or are we just being too sensitive?

It really comes down to you as an individual, doesn't it? We you incensed by the Dante's Inferno "Sin to Win" contest, in which Comic-Con attendees had to take pictures of "sinful acts" with the booth models in order to be entered? No? Well then you probably aren't a woman.

Were you horrified by the recent Modern Warfare 2 debacle, in which a promotional video ended with the title of a fake organization whose name spelled out "F.A.G.S"? No? Well then you probably don't have any gay friends or family members.

I hate the argument that these are games. Just because something is used to derive enjoyment, doesn't mean you can't be disgusted when it's advertising goes too far. Video games are big business, and there are millions of dollars being spent to market them. If someone does a moronic thing like spelling out the word "fags" in their advertising, we definitely need to let them know that is unacceptable. But where do we draw the line?

I don't want gamers to slowly become like the parents of today. My kid has gotten plenty of bruises in the year or so that she's been walking, but none of them have been very bad. She's gotten tough. She might cry, but she runs up to you and says boo boo, or more like "BA-BOOOOO!". You give it a kiss, and say "All better!" and she runs on her merry way. If anything more serious happened to her, I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy to calm her down.

I like to think of things like the Dante's Inferno marketing campaign as a bruise that can be kissed away, and the Modern Warfare 2 controversy as something that could use hospital visit to be sure. Still, that could just be who I am. Perhaps I'm a misogynist with a gay friend. Either way, all I'm asking is that people learn to draw a line. Don't freak out about every little scrape and bruise, or game marketing will be completely boring and dry. Instead, learn to relax a little bit. That way, when the really offensive thing comes along, we won't be the gamers who cried wolf.

Leaving More to the Imagination in Our Media

I tend to enjoy Sigur Ròs the most on the weekends, when delivering papers in the middle of the night. It's dark, no one else is awake, and the sounds immerse me in a completely different world. The cold, night air combined with the vast, stark simplicity of the music, calms me and takes me to another world. For those unfamiliar with Sigur Ròs, think of the words sweeping, epic, beautiful, and joyous, and you're off to a good start. You certainly don't put them on at a party.

When thinking about this, my mind lead me to the worlds within the Team Ico games. Ico was all held in a castle, but what you could see of the outside world was a vast, open, beautiful landscape. When Shadow of the Colossus came along, you could fully explore that world (assuming it is indeed the same world), and while you were led into epic battles with gigantic colossi, the world itself was an open expanse of beauty and simplicity.

Neither game cluttered their world with busyness, and what that conveyed was a sense of grandeur that few other games have ever been able to convey. On that same note, Sigur Ròs is able to give you that same idea through their music, like few other bands can. Compare and contrast for yourself:





Plenty of people could learn from these two examples. If you leave more up to the imagination of your player/listener, then the experience will ultimately be more rewarding. I loved punk music when I was a teenager. But a lot of it has failed to grow and mature along with me. One band that I have left far behind as an adult is Anti-Flag. With lyrics like this;

I've seen a lot of rip-offs in my life.
The rip-offs of the old and of the young, the weak, the sick, the never known.
Stabbed repeatedly in the back by the Wall Street suit.
The Washington hack. Lining up their pockets with the people’s cash and
Laughing all the way to the bank.

Can you really blame me? They have absolutely no sense of creativity. Rather then a subtle metaphor, we get smacked across the face with the most obvious lyrics possible. There is no challenge there. We don't get to analyze what they mean in the song, we're just told outright.

A band that actually puts some effort into their song lyrics, and has grown to be my favorite punk band ever, by continuing to get better instead of worse like all the rest, is Propagandhi. They take the time to write extremely clever and insightful metaphors to what they are feeling. Rather then a blatant "Religion sucks!", we get this:

All the sucked thumbs and held skirts and blankets
so secure they block out the sweep of the floodlights
that could free them from the darkness that surrounds them.
From the demons that keep hounding them and gouge their eyes
until all they can see are rigid dichotomies of the sacred and the profane.
Of salvation or shame with fuck all in between.

Now that is something you can sit down and think about. It takes you a little while to imagine what that means. Sure, the last line kind of gives it away, but then you're still intrigued to go back and analyze the rest of it with the overall theme in mind.

This is the kind of music I enjoy. The kind that makes you think. But I've realized that this crosses over into all my choices for all forms of media. Until recently, I couldn't explain what made me declare Shadow of the Colossus as my favorite game ever. When put under this lens, though, it only makes sense.

As gamers, we are constantly beat over the head with the point. SotC, and Ico before it, dared to give us very little information about the story we were playing. The world is left almost entirely up to our imaginations.

It's unclear as to why all of these huge temples and vast structures were built, and subsequently abandoned. Any information you might think you know about this deserted land and all of it's buildings, you have to analyze and draw your own conclusions about. No explanation is shoved in your face.

If only all games could be this way.

I loved the God of War games, but maybe if they had let you discover the mythology and legends, rather then showing you a cutscene that blatantly explains them, it would have been even better.

A lot of games recently, have been trying new and creative ways to get their story across. Audiologs spread around the world were used in inFamous, Dead Space, and Fallout 3, among others. Even notes, or scribblings, left for you to find and read if you are curious such as wall grafitti in Left 4 Dead, or news panels in the elevators in Mirror's Edge.

Examples like these help your imagination kick in when playing. It really adds to the ominous feel when you read something scrawled by a survivor on the wall during a zombie apocalypse. It sets your imagination into motion, and that can create an experience a thousand times more real then a cutscene would.

Learning to utilize the imagination of the person consuming the media is a valuable skill. I love the way that video games are going, but I wish that more of them would be willing to take the risks that Team Ico has. Still, they haven't even taken the full plunge. I want a game where I wake up into a vast, and open world that I don't know at all. The only information I learn, I gather on my own.

One day, a developer will have the balls to do that. And I can't wait.

Video Round-up: Barrel Roll Edition

Video Round-Up is a bi-monthly post that collects an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up every 5th and 20th.

Source: NPR All Songs Considered

I love Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. They look like a ragtag group of dirty hippies that just wander the streets singing about peace and harmony or something. Still, that's sort of adorable in this day and age. Most people have woken up to the fact that there is no such thing as peace in this world.

Source: College Humor

StarFox 64 is one of my favorite games of all time. I played that thing obsessively, as I've already written about on this blog before. But one thing that even someone who has only seen StarFox played for a couple of minutes would know, is that your teammates ARE ANNOYING AS HELL! That's why this video hits home so well.

Source: YouTube User BimboFortuna

I like to imagine the writers of this show high fiving each other in excitement after having written this script. "Yeah! We totally fit video games into our show! Now all the young kids will think it is hip and fresh!" It amazes me that they actually used a real game, but then gave it archaic video game contrivances. "Alright, we'll use your Prince game. But we have to make it have a set structure of levels. Also, is there any way you can put quarters into this xbox thing?" When you imagine it going down like that, it is infinitely more funny.

Now this is what Halloween pumpkin carving is all about. Creativity, ingenuity, and a heaping amount of pure disgusting.

I'm a big fan of cheesy 90's one-hit-wonders. This song is pretty high up on the cheesy scale. Maybe about a gouda or so. But what really sets this video apart, is the amount of people arguing in the comments over what he is really saying instead of abadee abadie, or whatever. My favorite is, "If I was green I would die".

Trailer Park for November 6th

Trailer Park is a weekly post, every thursday, where we feature trailers for the upcoming weekend movie releases.

There are a couple movies that look like they might be good this week, though, both are questionable. At least there's more options out there then just the Michael Jackson movie.

The Box

I liked Donnie Darko quite a bit, even after all of the backlash. I don't know if it was a result of the backlash that made almost everyone and their mother bash on Richard Kelly's next flick, as I didn't see it, but The Box looks like it could be interesting. The problem is, I only think it might be good because of Richard Kelly. The premise seems kind of lame, but who knows. Early talk claimed that the plot goes in a completely different direction, so I guess I can't really be sure until I've seen it.

A Christmas Carol

Meh. Seems like average kid movie stuff.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

This looks like a Coen Brothers movie, which is a good thing. Dark humor is hard to pull off though. The trailer looks great though. I'll probably see this when it comes around my area.

Other Releases:
The Fourth Kind
Precious
Collapse

What will you be seeing?