The XX

corey    Media, Music    

One of the benefits of using an online music service, such as Pandora, is that you occasionally get introduced to music you otherwise wouldn’t have heard.

While listening to a channel based on Dead Confederate (another great band), I ran into a band called The XX. They look like a bunch of dorks, but they do make some pretty good music.

Check them out:

The XX

Books and Movies, Movies and Books

corey    Books, Games, Media, Movies, Music    

Since I haven’t posted an update lately, I figured I would run down the list of movies we’ve seen recently:

Aeon Flux – Action sci-fi. I haven’t seen the original cartoon series but apparently it’s pretty funky. I liked the movie, though the people who over analyze movies probably won’t like it as much. ***1/2
Jarhead – Movie about Marine snipers during Desert Storm: Part 1. More of a drama than an action flick, but very good and shows you what a lot of guys go through while deployed and working in the Armed Forces. ****1/2
Memoirs of a Geisha – Pretty good, though slow in some parts. A drama, so hardly anything exciting going on. But still good. ***1/2
Narnia – Done very well, much better than the TV series I’ve seen a bit of. ****1/2
Syriana – Action/Drama. Basically, our (America’s) oil corporations are evil. So is our gov’ment. Interesting and pretty good. ***1/2
The Ringer – Eh. **
Walk the Line – The Johnny Cash movie. Good, but slow in parts. Another drama. The best parts were the performances. ***1/2

And now, books!

I’ve started reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I have to admit, it’s nothing like I thought it would be, but it’s very good. It’s basically a collection of short(er) stories during this upheaval and removal of a galactic empire. I’m now on book 3 and the time compression has slowed down quite a bit.

I was reading the Dark Tower books by Stephen King but those can be fairly intense, it’s nice to read something a little faster and less emotional.

And, not to leave the other two Media topics out:

Music – I got Monster Magnet: Monolithic Baby! for Christmas, and it’s pretty good. I don’t think I’ve gotten any other music lately, but that’s no surprise.

Games – Started playing EVE Online again recently with a bunch of folks from F13.Net. This is one of those games where you play for awhile, quit, come back, play for awhile, quit, come back… A lot of changes have been made since I last played, so I’m getting caught up on those and trying to figure out what exactly to do with our new Corporation.

And that’s about it for Media updates. Oh oh I forgot one!

Lost – We’ve recently started watching the first season of this show. It’s pretty good! Of course, the second season has already started so there’s no way to catch up. Next season I will have to setup Tivo to record the shows so they are ready for us once we have caught up.

L8trz!

The Fray

corey    Music    

My long time friend Isaac has this band, see, called The Fray.

They are part of 93.3 KTCL’s Project Next. Check it out!

Very cool, I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Good luck Isaac!

Metallica, Bourne, and PAX!

corey    Games, Movies, Music, News    

We watched the Bourne Supremacy and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster this weekend. While Bourne was kinda same-ol’ same-ol’and a bit slow, Metallica was pretty interesting. Even if you don’t care for Metallica this is a great film highlighting the changes they’ve gone through over the years and an insight into what a multi-million dollar band deals with daily. Forget Bourne, see Metallica.

Cheryl and I are finishing up the arrangements for our trip to Seattle later this month. I was originally going simply to be at PAX (the Penny-Arcade Expo) in Bellevue. It’s turned into a vacation with Cheryl (which is more than fine), so we’ll be spending a week in Seattle. We hope to get to do some sea kayaking, sightsee Victoria, BC, and visit some of her relatives in Oregon.

PAX should be fun, I’m looking forward to the Soul Caliber 2 tournament. Jeremy is going as well; we’re suppose to be in the Splinter Cell tournament but since we haven’t been playing it I doubt we’ll get past the first round. Oh well, should still be fun! Maybe. If we last longer than 30 seconds.

Cheryl and I have been trying to plan out the days we have there, ie: go here this day, here this other day, blah blah. The Seattle area has so many islands and ferries that it’s getting annoying! We just want to go to Port Townsend and maybe jaunt over to Whidbey Island, but that means 4 ferries (there and back) unless we want an even longer car drive. Ah well, I’m sure it’ll all work out.

Celebrity Status

corey    Music    

My good friend Isaac got mentioned (along with his band) in Westword. See the ‘It’s a small world, after all‘ section. It’s interesting to see someone else’s thoughts on a long time friend of yours.

If you live in Denver and get a chance to see The Fray, please do!