End of an Era (Kind of...)

I might not be posting in this sucker as much as I kind of sort of possibly used to. I've had good times with this blog (or as I prefer to call it, the place where I talk about shit that I want to talk about for an audience of about three) and I think I'm going to calling it temporary quits for a while for one reason.
That reason being, I got a job at Nintendo World Report as a Staff News Writer and thus most of my video game writing focus will be there and not here. And while I advertise this as my thoughts on video games, movies and music, we all know that this is just an overblown venue for me to talk about video games and occasionally mention 311, Murder by Death, Rushmore and TMNT. I'm sure I'll return to talk about movies and/or music and talk about video games outside the realm of Nintendo, but most of my focus will shift from aimless internet wandering to focused internet wandering for the sake of a legitimate position.
Thanks to all my loyal readers (if you exist) and...who the fuck am I kidding? I'll probably post something in mid-April when Leatherheads and Forgetting Sarah Marshall come out. And there might be a new Weezer album sometime soon that I could mention and talk about how all I really like by them is the Blue Album and a smattering of songs from everything else.

Random aside: I saw this video of the Bloodhound Gang at a live show combining the Sweater Song by Weezer with Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to Fuck With. It's pretty solid.

I've Got Nothing

Another missed day...
Sorry loyal readers, but I had an emotional day and well, shit I just plum didn't have much to say.
~~~
Favre's retirement press conference *tear*
~~~~
I'm almost done with Kirby 64. The game is a lot better than I remember it and I'm glad I had my impulsive Kirby buy. I might try to burn through it tonight and maybe even buy Kirby's Adventure with the 500 Wii Points sitting around on my Wii.
~~~~~
I demand Brawl comes out now!
I really want to play this game...
~~~~~~
I was right, I ain't got shit to say today.

Rock Band Downloadable Content Analysis

So, in the bastard son follow up of my Virtual Console article, I am now doing the 'Rock Band DLC' article that I mentioned.
Here is the list of all the songs I have on Rock Band...by year (I had to have some way of differentiating them. Also, I have a very boring job, so this kills a lot of time)
* represents cover

1960s (1)
"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees*

1970s (29)
"N.I.B." by Black Sabbath*
"Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath*
"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath*
"Hitch A Ride" by Boston
"More Than A Feeling" by Boston
"Peace of Mind" by Boston
"Rock & Roll Band" by Boston
"Smokin'" by Boston
"Something About You" by Boston
"Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks*
"Complete Control" by the Clash
"I Fought the Law" by the Clash
"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival*
"Heroes" by David Bowie*
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Queen Bitch" by David Bowie*
"Casey Jones" by the Grateful Dead
"Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead
"Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet
"Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet
"Volcano" by Jimmy Buffet
"My Sharona" by the Knack*
"Can't Stand Losing You" by the Police
"Message in a Bottle" by the Police
"Roxanne" by the Police
"Teenage Lobotomy" by the Ramones
"Working Man" by Rush*
"Action" by Sweet*
"Bang A Gong (Get It On) by T. Rex*

1980s (20)
"Call Me" by Blondie
"Roam" by the B-52s
"Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner*
"The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden*
"Crackity Jones" by the Pixies
"Dead" by the Pixies
"Debaser" by the Pixies
"Gouge Away" by the Pixies
"Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies
"Hey" by the Pixies
"I Bleed" by the Pixies
"La La Love You" by the Pixies
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" by the Pixies
"Mr. Grieves" by the Pixies
"No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies
"Silver" by the Pixies
"Tame" by the Pixies
"There Goes My Gun" by the Pixies
"Synchronicity II" by the Police
"Limelight" by Rush*

1990s (10)
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
"Siva" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Interstate Love Song" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Sex Type Thing" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
"El Scorcho" by Weezer

2000s (18)
"Attack" by 30 Seconds To Mars
"The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars
"Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects
"Move Along" by the All-American Rejects
"Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) by Coheed and Cambria*
"Shake" by Count Zero
"Sprode" by Freezepop
"Still Alive" by GLaDOS
"Hysteria" by Muse
"3's and 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Song With A Mission" by the Sounds*
"Dreamin'" by Weezer
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" by Weezer
"Troublemaker" by Weezer
"Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother

I have a grand total of 78 downloadable songs. That means that, for all of Rock Band, I have spent over $300.
I spend a lot of money on video games.

Top 5 DLC Songs
1. "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
2. "Action" by Sweet
3. "Working Man" by Rush
4. "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden
5. "Sprode" by Freezepop

Honorable Mentions: "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer, "El Scorcho" by Weezer, "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead, "Limelight" by Rush, "Synchronicity II" by the Police, "More Than A Feeling" by Boston

Favorite Song By Instrument
Guitar: "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie and "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
Bass: "N.I.B." by Black Sabbath
Drums: "Action" by Sweet
Vocals: "Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks and "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie

UPDATED 3/26: Added Boston Pack
UPDATED 7/1: Added everything I bought recently

I am sad Brett Favre retired: A Rope of Sand

Sorry for the day off, I am actually trying to post everyday now. I will probably post twice today to compensate.
~~
There's a few reason why I didn't post yesterday and let's get to the one that will probably resonate with me for the longest.
My favorite sports player ever, Brett Favre, retired yesterday. I'm still not really believing it.
It all started when I was in the food court with Lauren and she was like, "Hey look! Brett Favre's on TV!" and I looked over and what did ESPN say?
"Brett Favre to retire from NFL"
and it also said something about being on the phone Desmond Howard which really makes me wonder if Jamal Reynolds wasn't available or something. Desmond Howard was with the team, for what, a Super Bowl? Like fucking seriously, they could've been able to contact someone with some kind of bigger connection to Favre than Desmond fucking Howard. Doesn't Shannon Sharpe work for ESPN? Just call his ass up and be like 'put your brother on the line'.
Anyway, Favre's retirement put a somber tone on the entire day and still has me being all mopey still. He was an institution. He's been the starting quarterback for the Packers since I was 4 years old. That's a long ass time!
He will be missed from week to week, but he left a lasting legacy that will probably not be forgotten.
~~~
I had a philosophy paper due today which I was working on during the majority of my free time yesterday. So that ate up my potential blogging time.
~~~~
I also had to deal with intramural sports bullshit including a group of defectees and the loss of our potential team captain to said defectees. So, if you're interested in being the captain of an intramural soccer team, lemme know.
~~~~~
4 days til Brawl...

Cleaning Out the Refridgerator (or How I Learned About Virtual Console Economics)

I've been having a problem as of late. Whenever I go to download a game off of the Wii Virtual Console, I look at an ever-shrinking number of artificial "blocks" that make up my Wii's Storage System.
I remember, a long time in the year of 2006, thinking to myself as I download Bomberman '93 and Sonic the Hedgehog, "Damn, that's a lot of room. I'm never going to fill this up."
I was wrong.
Dead wrong.

Right now my Virtual Console list stands at 24 strong:
NES (11): Adventures of Lolo, Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden II, Ninja Gaiden III, Punch-Out!, Startropics, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3 and Wario's Woods
TG16 (2): Bomberman '93 and Chew Man Fu
Genesis (4): Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Gunstar Heroes, Kid Chameleon and Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES (3): Super Castlevania IV, Super Mario World and Super Metroid
N64 (5): F-Zero X, Kirby 64, Mario Kart 64, Pokemon Snap and Sin & Punishment

And, my fridge has almost filled up. Soon I'm going to have to make tough decisions for my Virtual Console future. What game on this list would be my first to go?
I have my thoughts. Some of these games aren't neccesarily classics and were perhaps accidental purchases made in a drunken stupor (only Chew Man Fu falls into that category. It was my birthday, I drank a few White Russians, I bought a racist video game) but I have a little bit of sentimental attachment to all of them. After all, I bought them and the amount of crap you have to go through to get this shit (connecting to the internet, buying points, downloading the game) means it wasn't exactly easy.

I guess the point of this could have been summed up in a small sentence:
Get off your ass, Nintendo, and make a fucking Wii harddrive!!!!!

Also, 6 days til Brawl.

UPDATED 3/4: I forgot Pokemon Snap. Also, I refrained from doing this earlier, but here is my grand total of Virtual Console expenditures (including NJ sales tax): $186.18
So, for the price of Rock Band, I bought the Wii rights to 25 games.
In a sadder post, I might go in depth into my Rock Band spending.

I think I have today's post figured out...

Murder by Death's new album: The Red of Tooth and Claw

Murder by Death is a very distinct band that appears a lot older than they actually are. Their history dates back to the turn of the century when the band, all students at Indiana University, met and decided to make music. They got their name from an old Neil Simon play entitled Murder by Death. At the time of their inception, the band was a five-piece consisting of common rock instruments such as guitar, bass and drums but also having a female cellist and a keyboardist. The band, featuring guitarist/vocalist Adam Turla writing songs that eschewed back to his religious studies background, quickly dropped out of school and became full time.
They released their first full length in 2002 entitled Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing, on the New Jersey independent record label, Eyeball Records. The album was focused more on the crazy dark instrumentals than the art of Turla’s lyrics. In 2003, they followed up with what is their most critically lauded album, Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them? This album told the story of a small Mexican town and their fight against the Devil. There’s also a song about zombies and it opens with the Devil drinking in a bar and getting shot in the back. It was after this album that the keyboardist left to return to school. This altered their sound a lot as now the cellist had to take over on keyboards and thus split her time on cello and keyboards. The band’s third album, In Bocca al Lupo, drew inspiration from Dante’s Inferno and instead of telling a long story like their previous effort, it told separate stories focused around similar themes focusing on the different sins and levels of Hell.
The band’s new album, which hits store on March 4th, is entitled The Red of Tooth and Claw and represents their debut on another independent label, Vagrant Records. The album is yet another step of their consistent evolution but they are showing signs of sameness with this record. They are one album away from something I call the “Millencolin Effect” (named after Swedish punk band, Millencolin). The “Millencolin Effect” occurs after a band releases three albums that sound almost exactly the same. That is the point when I stop caring because I don’t like hearing the same stuff over and over again. Currently, bands like Flogging Molly (who also have a new album coming out on March 4th) and the RX Bandits sit on this threshold.
Going back to the band on hand, Murder’s new album sounds very similar to their previous effort, In Bocca, but it does have its differences. For one, Turla seems to be embracing the fact that he sounds like a modern day Johnny Cash but I’m pretty sure if I threw some of the songs (namely opening track “Coming Home”) in a Johnny Cash mix CD, many people would not be the wiser. However, the album contains a lot of what I love about the band: great lyrics, dark cello riffs and overarching theme. The overarching theme on the album about fire and revenge and it is very noticeable in such tracks as the single, “Fuego!” and “Ash”. Interestingly enough, I would say those two songs are the highlights of the album. Other solid tracks include “Steal Away”, “Rum Brave” and “’52 Ford”.

The Hills Are Alive...

I saw the Sound of Music at my old high school. That was cool. The set was, I believe this is the only term for it, dope as hell. The Von Trapp house was ridiculous. Bravo stage crew. I am proud of the people I once worked with and the people who I don't know.
Personally, I think the show sucks dick. It's a terrible terrible show, but this was a good performance of a bad show, much like Gypsy. My fondness for fabled 'classics' of musical theatre wear out once the plots are shown to callous attempts at leading into another song.
~~~
March Mustache Madness has begun and I am now clean shaven for the first time since early January. Good luck to all involved with this ridiculous idea.
Remember, trimming is allowed but only to accentuate whatever facial hair you're focusing on.
~~~
It's March 1st, so that means Brawl is only 8 days away. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so pumped...
Like, for realz, I am so damn pumped.
~~~
I beat Professor Layton. Haven't finished all the puzzles in it yet, but the main story is complete so the urge to play it is a little dulled. I'll still kick back and knock out puzzles whenever I get an oppurtunity. The game is amazing and the replay value lies in the depth of the extra puzzles.
You might not technically replay the game, but there is a lot to do.
~~~
I'm kind of pissed at Harmonix but in a very good way.
The leaked DLC list for March was scheduled to have a stupid Thrash pack to kick off the month. I was happy as a pig in shit for this because I want to stop buying songs for the game as I think it is slowly driving me broke.
However, they happen to announce 6 Grateful Dead songs and while I am not a deadhead, Lauren's kind of into them and their music might be fun in a stoner Rock Band sort of way.
~~~
I really wanna play Brawl...
Like, now.
*sigh*