Be afraid, be very...something or other

I'm working on another project that I'm going to unveil in the not too distant future, but in doing research and background for it, I discovered that there are, not including last year's made-for-TV-remake, seven films for Children of the Corn.  Doesn't that seem a wee bit excessive to anyone else?  It was originally a thirty page short story about children going nuts a la Lord of the Flies and some creepy dark thing instituting some of that "old time" religion in the youngins.  Seven films.

...because I can't sleep...

I've been clicking the "Next Blog" link at the top blogger bar for about an hour now, just seeing what people have decided to post.  Most are about as interesting as watching paint dry, especially the preponderance of Christian blogs proselytizing at me while playing midi hymns (I thought midi files on pages were banned back in the 90's?), but then I guess the same is true if you just randomly came across this page in your travels.  It only ever really matters to the person writing it, so well...

What I did kind of find interesting was the sheer amount of people, all with the same basic template, who are "Bringing home..." whomever; the adoption blogs.  Maybe I'm just overly cynical, but most of the adoption sites just seem like so much a scam, even to the point where I swear that some of the blogs themselves are made up since several of them seem to duplicate the same material.

C'Mon Get Happy

I watched the first episode of Happy Town.  It's too early to really say much, this episode really was just an introduction of characters, basic premise and setting, but it did a decent job.  MC Gainey is great as Sherriff Conroy, but he's really the only one whose individual performance stands out.  The group of catty widows and their landlady were interesting, emphasizing the oddball characters bit.  At some points, it feels like it's trying too hard for the Twin Peaks by way of Stephen-King-made-for-TV-mini-series tone, but we'll see how it turns out.

No Matter How...

The new Coheed and Cambria album, Year of the Black Rainbow has grown on me considerably over the past couple weeks, particularly the song "Far". Below is an acoustic version that I think is even better than the album track -- albeit the video and audio is kind of poor, cell phone recording likely.

We've got armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening.

A little while ago I picked up Avantasia's two new discs, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. I'm an uabashed fan of what you could call over-the-top, pretentious metal, and have a certain fondness for projects like Tobias Sammet's Avantasia and Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Ayreon. Due to the cheese and power metal aspect of Avantasia, I've not been able to get past track five, "Blizzard on a Broken Mirror", from the first disc, but I'll probably eventually put the two discs on as background noise while I'm cleaning or something and let it diffuse.

I do, however, quite like the first single, "Dying for an Angel", which has to feature the biggest, catchiest butt rock chorus this side of 1980's Bon Jovi. Check out the video above. Turn it up to eleven.

You Won't Know

After finally catching the latest episode of Stargate Universe, "Divided", I must say I'm really enjoying this show. I was never a fan of SG1 or Atlantis, both shows just seemed to focus more on the humour and seemed to lose the plot half the time, that I just tended to leave them alone. This placement in that universe, however, has enthralled me since the beginning. It's still early in the series development, but the characters seem more engaging, the writers are actually contributing to regularised serial story, and although the overaching plot seems borrowed from Star Trek: Voyager and -- along with its shooting style -- Battlestar Galactica, it seems like something different.

I think it could partially just be the outstanding performances from all of the actors, specifically Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira and David Blue, maybe it's just because Blue's character of Eli Wallace just lands so close to home, maybe it's Elyse Levesque spending most of the season in yoga pants, or maybe it's because the rest of the rabid Stargate fans seem to hate it, but I'm quite enjoying this.

Birds flying high...

The Muse concert last night at the Pacific Coliseum was quite good. I've been impressed with their albums for quite some time, but they are indeed better live. I was slightly disappointed that they didn't play "MK Ultra", but it was more or less made up by playing "Map of the Problematique" and causing me to realise just how good is Dom Howard a drummer.

First Impressions of a Rainbow

I've been privileged to have a first listen of Coheed and Cambria's new album out April 13, Year of the Black Rainbow, and I have to say I quite like it. It doesn't come off as nearly pretentious as their previous releases, and seems to focus more on standard song structure and less on the overarching concept of the whole Armory Wars nonsense. It also features what's probably Claudio Sanchez's best work in "Pearl of the Stars". I'll definitely be picking this up when it comes out.

Best of 2009

If anyone asks you to do anything related to the Olympics, you politely say, "No." Before the year is out and I disappear until April or so...whenever the fallout from the Winter Games is over...I wanted to post a brief "best of..." for what I've been using to keep myself sane over the past year. I wouldn't say that 2009 has been a watershed year for music, but there still has been quite a bit of new material worth noting. I think the largest bands releasing anything new that caught my notice were U2's No Line on the Horizon, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, Pearl Jam's Backspacer and Weezer's Raditude. Canadian acts, The Tragically Hip and Our Lady Peace both put out decent efforts this year on We Are the Same and Burn Burn, respectively, always nice to listen to every once in awhile. None of them would be on my top ten, though, if that says something. This has been more of a year of those bands that aren't necessarily household names, but continue on apace releasing album after album, creating sonic delicasies for those of us with ears to listen.

They didn't make the list, but I should give honourable mention to Matthew Good's Vancouver, which has some of his best songs in years, Epica's Design Your Universe, Within Temptation's An Acoustic Night at the Theatre, Behemoth's Evangelion, Nile's Those Whom the Gods Detest, Karl Sanders' own Saurian Exorcisims, Paradise Lost's Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, Mastodon's Crack the Skye, Mesh's A Perfect Solution -- which makes an amazing use of the interstitials between songs to create one long cohesive piece of music -- and Current 93's Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain. All of which are decent releases from this year, worth a listen or two. Depending on the day, any of these may have made the list instead.

Them Crooked Vulture's self-titled debut should probably be on the list, but isn't. It's a hands down fun album, well-crafted with a nice groove, but for some reason it just hasn't fully clicked with me yet. I like it, but it feels like something's missing. I'll probably revisit the album in a few months, see if I can figure out why I can't get past a few listens.

10. THIS IS WAR - 30 Seconds to Mars (December 4)

A squeaker onto the list, this album almost didn't make it. Basically, it was between this album and Chevelle's Sci-Fi Crimes. I'm a fan of Jared Leto as an actor, his performance in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream is still haunting, and by extension, I have grown a fondness for his band. I think I probably liked their self-titled debut more than A Beautiful Lie, but both were good, strong albums. This is War is a slightly different creature, more vulnerable than the other two, and it adds a sincerity and heart that I think was missing from the earlier albums. The soft-loud-soft-scream dynamic is still here, so if you didn't like that on previous releases, you still won't, but I can't help but find myself humming some of the tracks. I think "Hurricane" is probably the best track on the album. The version that made it, without Kanye West's collaboration, is better without it, somehow more atmospheric. Other stand outs are "Search & Destroy", "Night of the Hunter", "Kings and Queens" and the song that I almost swore could have been an homage to The Cure, "Alibi".

9. TWO SUNS - Bat for Lashes (April 7)

I find new things, new sounds on this album each time I listen to it. Natasha Khan herself makes me think of a musical love-child of Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Tori Amos.

8. THE CROWN OF WINTER - Forest Stream (August 11)

Think epic, grandiose music; symphonic black metal at its finest. Although very different, Russia's Forest Stream are the first band in a very long time to remind me of black metal gods, Emperor, if, of course, you mixed in some British-styled doom. The music itself is gorgeous and lush, the only problem ever comes with Sonm's clean vocals which tend toward the pedestrian, but otherwise, this is flawless. The title track is a near twelve-minute sonic assault that throws in just about anything possible, mixing darkness and light, beauty and depression. I couldn't help but be overwhelmed when I first heard this song. Things only get better from there, soaring guitars, complex polyrhythms, and excellent use of harsh vocals -- layered one upon the other to an interesting effect. Standout tracks include the title track, "Mired" and "Autumn Dancers".

7. ABOVE - Samael (March 6)

6. PRIVILEGIVM - Secrets of the Moon (October 6)

5. SING ALONG SONGS FOR THE DAMNED & DELIRIOUS - Diablo Swing Orchestra (September 22)

4-tie. OLD CROWS/YOUNG CARDINALS - Alexisonfire (June 23)
4-tie. BILLY TALENT III - Billy Talent (July 10)

You may say that they just keep releasing the same album over and over again. I think they just keep refining it, honing their sound to precision, with each subsequent release. Benjamin Kowalewicz's vocals are still an acquired taste, but they fit Billy Talent's brand of alterna-punk perfectly. This album also allows Ian D'Sa to open up a bit more with his guitar work, leading to some nice hooks on "Rusted From the Rain" and the Muse-inspired fuzz to "Saint Veronika". Originally, I rated this one lower, but relistening to it while writing this list, I realize that there is not a single bad track on the disc. From start to finish, this album is an engaging experience. My favourite tracks on this album kept changing over the course of the year, but what still really stands out are "White Sparrows", "The Dead Can't Testify" and "Turn Your Back".

3. SKYFORGER - Amorphis (May 29)

2-tie. WAVERING RADIANT - Isis (April 21)
2-tie. MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS - Sunn O))) (May 26)
2-tie. WHAT WE ALL COME TO NEED - Pelican (October 27)
2-tie. GENEVA - Russian Circles (October 20)


1-tie. C IS FOR [please insert sophomoric gentilia reference HERE] - Puscifer (November 10)

1-tie. NIGHT IS THE NEW DAY - Katatonia (November 10)

"Departer" is probably the best song written this year.

1-tie. THE RESISTANCE - Muse (September 14)

Answers from a magic 8 ball

Am I a putz?

Does everything I touch naturally turn to crap?

Is there any hope for me at all?

Gee, thanks, Magic 8 Ball. You're a real help.

House Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Damn good writing.  I actually like this concept for the show more than the previous set-up, and as it was House was probably my favourite show on television.  Sadly, though, given the nature, it probably only works as a one-off with the occasional continuing element and then it's "back to normal".

Most times the hardest part is asking for help.