Ricky

So I must say that Trailer Park Boys is one of the greatest television shows in Canada's history. That is all.

"Don't fuck this up, those damn cigarettes in there is our life. And for fucks sakes man, take a shower! You look like a hobalo"

Sucker Punch - Sure to be one of the best movies of this year!

One thing I absolutely love is when I get to see a movie that I have herd almost nothing about, have not seen trailers for, or even knew the release date of. I find the experience so much more genuine when you don't know the storyline before hand.

So last night I hit the ol' movie house to see Sucker Punch starring Emily Browning (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys) Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical [ =\ ] ). I must say off the top that this movie was absolutely amazing. I was completely blown away at every scene. It incorperated everything I love in a movie: hot girls, action, guns, a great fucking storyline, flawless CG and believable characters. 

So basically (without giving too much away) this film is about Baby Doll (Emily Browning), and her struggle to escape from a mental hospital she is forced to live in. While undergoing a procedure upon entering the facility Baby Doll reverts into a world where she is enslaved by a Burlesque house in what seemed like the 1940's. In this world her and the other enslaved girls must dance for high powered men and crowds of rich people. Quickly they learn that Baby Doll is the best (sluttiest) dancer in the bunch, and through her dancing her and the other girls enter different worlds where they must kill and fight their way to find a boss, defeat him, and collect his item. When you get right down to it seeing this movie was alot like like a video game. Sucker Punch included all of the basic elements for a great adventure game: 3 different main worlds, fight through enemies/past obstacles, fight 3 boss', collect items and kill the final boss.

This movie was completely stylized right to ever tiny detail. Right down to the warn out walls of the burlesque house, the stains on the Cooks apron and the filth on his face. The camera work and CG was also phenomenal, especially in the scenes where Baby Doll and the girls are on their way to the boss battles. This is probably one of the best movies I have seen in years, the unique story structure and the powerful and sexy cast make this movie an instant classic. At no part of this movie did I feel disappointment and the film constantly kept me paying attention. This is almost nothing negative I could say about this masterpiece of a film. 9.5/10

Captain America Trailer!

So I was so stoked when I herd that the full trailer for the Captain America movie had been released, and it seems like it was warranted! Based on the trailer and the already awesome back story of Captain America i can tell this movie will be fucking epic!

I cannot wait until The Avengers movie!

Battle: Los Angeles

Seeing LA burn puts a smile on my face

So last night I hit up a local beer hole with an old pal and then dragged our sloppy asses to the movie theatre to see the latest in a string of alien apocalypse filmes Battle: LA, starring Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking) and Michelle Rodriguez (S.W.A.T.). From the beginning of this movie I knew I would have to brace myself for some very atypical disaster movie cheese. The film starts off with some very Armageddonesq cheesy character introductions, where we meet the typical group of movie marines, as well as their cheesy melodramatic back stories. The main character, SSgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), is the typical seasoned war vet who's "seen too much", who we learn at the beginning is considered kind of a traitor throughout the other marines for getting some men killed in the Middle East.
  

Following the character introductions the story starts to pick up at a feverish pace. You learn that Alien crafts (origionally thought to me meteors [DERP]) are landing, dropping off aliens and fucking up everything in sight. And of course the marines are too the rescue.
 

After a while though the movie starts to come into it's own and you can actually sort of enjoy it. I found the camera work really cool, the film uses a lot of handycamish shooting techniques and in your face angles to add more of a sense of realism (though I'm sure it could make a lot of people sea sick). I was happy to see that they did didn't fuck up when designing the aliens. The creatures were a species that survives off of water and rely on surgically implanted devices to move quickly and fight. The aliens were, from what I could see, eyeless and very skinny.

Though there are some cheesy moments that will have you rolling your eyes, and the fact that this is nothing more than the typical alien disaster apocalypse movie it was actually enjoy able. The explosions and CG were enough to keep me awake, and are the best part of this movie. You basically don't go more than 5 minutes without hearing something blow up or the exchange of bullets. Overall Battle LA was a good movie, but with several character, dialogue and storyline issues plus a distracting amount of product placement. I give it a 7 alien water sacks out of 10   
 

Sony Walkman NWZ-S545 MP3 Player Review

For yours I have been militantly boycotting the iPod and almost all Apple products, accept the Macintosh II (only because it is so old and badass).  Apple is a company that seems to be all about profit and limiting control which really bugs me. But because of this boycott I have found it hard to find good alternative in the world of MP3 players. In 2006 I got my first MP3/video player the Creative Zen Vision: M (60 gig), which up to only a few months ago (even with a screen with half the pixels burnt out) served me as a great music player. After that, for a brief time I owned a 120 gig Zune (which was amazing) which unfortunately was damaged beyond repair :(

You served me well Zen

So a few months ago i went out to the Sony Store and picked up an MP3 player I had looked at while working at a Best Buy, The Sony Walkman NWZ-S545. My first impression, to be honest, was not amazing, as the first one i bought was broken when I bought it and had to return it the next day. I figured I would try my luck on another one, which turned out to be a great decision.

So I guess I should highlight exactly what the ma fucker can actually do. The model I bought can hold 8 gigs of music/pictures/video/voice recording.

Music: The quality of the music playback is fantastic! The sound is crisp and detailed and contains an equalizer to customize the sound of the unit to your personal preferences. When used with my pro headphones the sound is fucking brickhouse! The Walkman also has very simple library navigation making it easy to find the song/album/artist your looking for in no times. This version also has 4 speakers on it (2 in back 2 in front) that for such a small device are actually really loud and clear and are great for when I'm at work and need to be able to transport my music throughout the warehouse.

Pictures: The picture viewer on this device is of fairly high quality but is extremely limited to the small size of the screen. To view most images properly you have to constantly switch between vertical and horizontal and fiddle with the zoom feature. But to be honest, the picture viewer gets almost no use from me.

Video: Good video playback on an Mp3 player is extremely important to me. I spend a lot of time per day on buss' and rely on movies or TV shows to distract me of the fucking smelly fat weirdos surrounding me. The video quality is fantastic on this device. The quality is bright and clear even on such a small screen. Often time i forget I'm watching movies on what is essentially 2' x 1' screen. My only problem is skipping ahead in the videos (and music) is bloodcurdlingly slow, and really annoys me at times. Other than that the video playback and size of the video compressions is great.

Voice Recording: Haven't used the feature, chances are I probably wont, but you never know. Could come in handy...at....school?

Considering its $115 price tag, its tiny size and its fairly decent features the NWZ-S545 is a pretty decent Ipod alternative, and I can see it serving me well until I can afford something better. Though his player is great, the interface is kind of weak, the battery life could be a lot better and the scan feature during movies and podcasts is dismal. I give the Sony Walkman NWZ-S535 a 8.6451/10

Black Flag - Rise Above and American Waste

Black Flag from back in 1984, looks like some kind of cheesy promo video, songs are still great though

Dillinger Four – Civil War

When I was 14 and entering grade 9, as well as a whole ocean of new music and art, I became engulfed in the punk rock culture . I was doing the whole 9: listening to the music, going to shows, having the 3 foot Mohawk and my ridiculous studded jean jacket. But what stuck out the most, even till this day, is the music. Something about the right punk song can completely change your mood and attitude and make you snap out of the funks we often fall into.

Dillinger Four was one of the first punk bands I was introduced to in high school from my punk rock guru Ryan. What struck me was the simplicity and rawness, but it still had that poppy catchiness but minus the cheese and empty words.  Dillinger Four (D4) is Patrick Costello (bass, vocals) Erik Funk (guitar, vocals) Bill Morrisette (guitar, vocals) and Lane Pederson. After 3 studio releases, from 1998-2002, D4 went on a 6 year hiatus before releasing their most matured and interesting album Civil War, in 2008.

 Civil War is one of those albums that will stick with me my entire life and instantly took a spot in my top albums. Similar to D4’s other albums is that fact that there is not a single crappy song in the set, but what was different is the obvious maturity in these 13 songs.  Even from the first song (A Jingle for the Product) you can hear In lines like “we never had a chance but we made our plans till they we’re blown apart, we watched it all crash around our feet and man it broke my heart” where they seem to be looking back into the youthful versions of themselves and the tribulations of the punk rock mind set. 

 The album deals with a range of subjects from the media’s propagandized projection on culture, government denial, to a beautiful anthem for atheism called “The Classical Arrangement”.  Though there is an obvious maturity this has not stifled the youthful fast upbeat and simple rhythm and guitars, which create the recognizable punk rock sound but with noticeable tweaks. The album is also perfectly put together which a amazing balance of hard hitting punk anthems to more slowed down serious tunes. There is just something about Civil War that has kept me listening to it at a nearly daily basis, something that keeps me smiling whenever i hear it, something that makes me sing the songs out loud without caring who hears it. For me this is one of the greatest pop-punk albums i have ever herd and any fan of punk, hard rock or whatever should at least give the songs a try. I give this album an easy an easy 10/10.