January 2007 - Posts

• Xbox 360 Review: Viva Pinata

  Need another reason to pick up Microsoft’s big white box?  Rare, makers of Donkey Kong Country, Conker, Banjo Kazookie and quite a few other gems might be able to help you out with that. Meet Viva Piñata.   The goal of Viva Piñata is simple. You get a small garden which you can customize in a myriad of ways in order to attract over 60 different piñatas. Some are attracted by how much pond space you’ve dug up, some by certain types of plants, trees or fruits, and some by other types of piñatas.  Once you’ve met the criteria for attracting a certain species, it will become a resident. This is where the game takes an interesting turn.  Your next goal is to get the residents to hump.  A new set of requirements pop up for each piñata in order for them to get in the mood for love, then they’ll go into the house you built for them where you’ll play a mini game to find out if their courtship is successful.  A little while later, a fairy will drop off the egg and a new piñata is born.   Some piñatas are carnivores and will eat other piñatas, other times Sour Piñatas will come into your garden to attack and sometimes your piñatas will just fight for kicks.  One of the most entertaining facets of the game is deciding which piñatas you want to keep and which you’ll allow to be destroyed.  There are constantly new piñatas coming into your garden for visits or to wreak havoc, and each one has certain parameters (easily discovered by pressing Y) for residency.  The village shops are constantly getting new seeds, houses, helpers, decorations and supplies to enhance your garden and really drive the game along.   Viva Piñata becomes very addicting for the causal gamer and more serious gamer alike.  It’s been hard to wrestle the controller away from Ms. Duke (Who’s not much of a gamer) and that’s quite a feat.  We’ve found ourselves saying the most ridiculous things like: “Would you rather have a family of Squazzils or Fudgehogs?  I really want a Chippopatamous but I don’t want to dig all that water and lose my Doenuts!” The game is proving to have lasting appeal, as I find myself putting it in every few days for an hour or two just to see how my garden grows. It’s a shame the game isn’t selling better, because it doesn’t sound like Rare is going to be adding too much in the way of downloadable content.  People compare this game to Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, but there are few similarities.  Viva Piñata is less about the mundane activities of gardening and more like a breeding simulator.  It’s loaded with charm and beautiful graphics and should find its way into your 360 between Gears of War sessions.   8/10   Mahalo, Duke Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 31 2007, 10:17 PM by Raul Duke with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Games

• This Week's Music 01/30/2007

  This week saw very few interesting titles. The biggest release would probably be   Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder If I was going to pick the most overrated, overhyped band of the last few years, Clap Your Hands would easily be on the top of that list. Loved by bloggers, hipsters, and pitchfork writers. CYH has to be one of the most annoying "indie" bands making music these days. The lead singer sounds like David Byrne doing an elephant man impression. The music sounds similar. So, even though I hated their first record, I decided to give them another chance. First off, the first track on this record is easily the most irritating song I've heard all year. Singing out of a loud speaker (wait, i think they did this in the first album) would sound better. Sure, the rest of the album isn't nearly as dreadful, but whenever the band really starts showing us why they have a fan-following, the lead singer opens his mouth. I was also unlucky enough to see these guys live last year at the Langerado fest. Like many others standing there, we just walked away. These guys are just not for me. 4.0 That's it for this week, if you want a Norah Jones review go read Rolling Stone or something.  PS. Nothing against Ms. Jones, I have a new found respect for her after she admitted in EW to seeing Evil Dead the Musical multiple times. She also picked M.Ward as one of her favorite songwriters. Very cool indeed.   Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 30 2007, 07:45 PM by sauer with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Music

• God of War II Trailer

  Need a reason to hold off ditching your PS2 for a Halo 360? Look no further....   Click HERE Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 29 2007, 08:46 PM by sauer with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Games

• Modest Mouse annouce new album tracklist.

  Modest Mouse helped bring Indie a little closer to mainstream music with 2004's hit Float On. Now the biggest band in indie(?) is back with another long worded album title. Will the Mouse be able to top their past success? It's hard to say, but if the album sounds anything like the current single, Dashboard, we'll be looking at much more mainstream effort. I wasn't a fan of their last album, but I will admit that I'm still interested to see what these guys can do. Just wish they could go back to sounding like The Pixies again. Check out what I stole from Pitchfork: Already fond of long-ass album titles and long-ass tracklists, America's favorite humble rodents-- Modest Mouse-- have finally revealed the long-ass details behind their latest LP after a, um, extensive delay. According to Billboard.com and verified by a publicist, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank-- boasting guitar-work from new recruit Johnny Marr, guest appearances from the Shins' James Mercer, and that sunny first single "Dashboard"-- hits stores via Epic on March 20. It has 14 tracks, including the not-so-smartly-titled "Steam Engenius". The digitally-inclined may preorder We Were Dead from iTunes beginning January 30, thereby ensuring themselves access to a "Dashboard" download and some swank behind-the-scenes video shoot footage. Actually we have no idea if it's truly swank, we just like saying swank a lot. Swank? Swank. We hope it's more than this, though. Modest Mouse will hop in their humble tour stretch-Hummers this spring for a presumably long-ass TBA jaunt in support of their new collection of songs, including previously reported stops at the ATP vs. the Fans festival and Barcelona's Primavera Sound. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: 01 March Into the Sea 02 Dashboard 03 Fire It Up 04 Florida - Hmm.. 05 Parting of the Sensory 06 Missed the Boat 07 We've Got Everything 08 Fly Trapped in a Jar 09 Education 10 Little Motel 11 Steam Engenius 12 Spitting Venom 13 People As Places As People 14 Invisible Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 29 2007, 01:42 PM by sauer with no comments Filed under: Music

• Weekend Box Office 01/26-28/07

  1. Epic Movie $ 19.2 Million NEW 2. Smokin' Aces $ 14.3 Million NEW 3. Night at the Museum $ 9.5 Million $ 216.7 Million 4. Catch and Release $ 8 Million NEW 5. Stomp the Yard $ 7.8 Million $ 50.7 Million 6. Dreamgirls $ 6.6 Million $ 86.7 Million 7. The Pursuit of... $ 5 Million $ 152.9 Million 8. Pan's Labyrinth $ 4.5 Million $ 16.3 Million 9. The Queen $ 4 Million $ 41.2 Million 10. The Hitcher $ 3.6 Million $ 13.4 Million Looks like cheap comedies about box office hits seems to be a lucrative investment. I'm not sure why anyone would go see a film that stars a Borat impersonator, but I'm not anyone so.... Smokin Aces did much better then expected, maybe Affleck's curse is finally starting to lift? Catch and Release failed to reel in (see what I did there?) movie audiences, with a pretty tepid 8 million dollar opening. Blood and Chocolate didn't even make the top 10. Next week see's the release of "Because I said so". Which is about an older women getting some. Awesome. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 29 2007, 11:25 AM by sauer with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Movies

• Arcade Fire launch Neon Bible website.

  If the new Arcade Fire album is anywhere near as cool as it's website, we're in for a real treat. very cool indeed. http://www.neonbible.com/  Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 27 2007, 01:30 PM by sauer with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Music

• Weekend Movies 01/26/07

  87% Notes on a Scandal - School teachers in love, with Oscar performances. 29% Smokin' Aces - Another, "lets try to be pulp fiction" dark crime comedy. This time starring Ben Affleck. 24% Catch and Release - A romantic comedy starring Jennifer Garner involving fishing with Kevin Smith as the comedy sidekick. WHERE DO I SIGN UP!!! 20% Blood and Chocolate - How does a film about hot werewolf love get a PG-13 rating?  Go see Pan's Labyrinth instead, or again. I'm sure Stomp the Yard will be sold out, so don't bother. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 26 2007, 11:23 AM by sauer with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Movies

• Dinosaur Jr reunite on "Beyond", info on the new album.

  Looking forward to this, here is the info. Stolen from Pitchfork:  By this time, you're probably aware that J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph are back in full Dinosaur Jr. force. (When Lou isn't too busy with that whole Sebadoh thing, that is.) But they've gone beyond the reunion tour(s) for, um, Beyond, their John Agnello-engineered full-length due out May 1 on Fat Possum. Beyond was recorded at Mascis' Bisquiteen studio in Amherst, Massachusetts, and according to a press release, it's both "some of the best music Dinosaur Jr. have ever made" and "an adrenaline-inducing ride, not of nostalgia, but of bona fide excitement." Well then, color us excited and full of adrenaline. One week after the release of Beyond (i.e. on May 8), Dinosaur Jr. will release their previously reported Image Entertainment DVD Dinosaur Jr.: Live From the Middle East. Nike will make the previously reported Dinosaur Jr. skate shoe available in a limited edition in February. So hurry up and get in line, because we know demand for those kicks will be high. Right. Beyond tracklist: 01 Almost Ready 02 Crumble 03 Pick Me Up 04 Back to Your Heart 05 This Is All I Came to Do 06 Been There All the Time 07 It's Me 08 We're Not Alone 09 I Got Lost 10 Lightning Bulb 11 What If I Knew... Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 24 2007, 02:58 PM by sauer with no comments Filed under: Music

• This Week's Music 01/23/07

  Yesterday, several anticipated indie records came out. Most of these have been available in the dark corners of the internet since October 06. This is a new feature that I hope to keep up whenever a new album that interests me is released to retail. This week saw several, so off we go. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away The Shins won't be "changing your life" this time around. While Wincing is a solid follow up, it lacks a bit of the charm the previous albums shared. The Shins have always been the perfect intro-indie band, but with the genre's ever-growing popularity, it's not all that necessary anymore. Wincing is not a bad album, it's just too little, too late. While the first half of the album will keep Shins fans happy, it's the second half that you'll start to loose interest. An average album, from an above average band. 7.0 Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity Deerhoof just keeps making great records, it's pretty unbelievable. Their last record The Runner's Four was 20 tracks of experimental prog-rock. Friend Opportunity is only 10 tracks, yet it feels just as epic. This time the Hoof tackle dance pop, similar to their work on the Green Cosmos EP. It may not be the best Deerhoof record (Milkman), it's still a blast of musical chaos that makes Deerhoof so different from other indie bands. Fans will enjoy, the others won't be won-over. 8.0 Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer? After two intelligent and poppy records, Kevin Barnes releases his dark opus. Written while going through a divorce, Hissing Fauna is extremely cynical and pouty. Barnes even comes off a bit arrogant on some tracks, which may influence your opinion of the record. While the music remains poppy as ever, it's dragged down a bit by Barnes own lyrics. This is not a party record like his last two records, which may turn some recent fans off. It's seems a bit too whiny to be truely enjoyable on all levels. 7.8 Menomena - Friend and Foe After a very minimal instrumental record, Menomena comes back with an epic post-rock album. Their amazing instrumentation is here in spades, along with some hit or miss lyrics. Not all of Friend and Foe works, but the tracks that do, are golden. It may take a few listens, but the overall scope of this record can't be denied. It's their best record to date, and probably the best album released in January. 8.4 That's all for this week. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 24 2007, 11:27 AM by sauer with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Sauer Says

• Oscar Noms 07:

  NOMINEES: MAJOR CATEGORIES Best Picture Babel  The Departed Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen I know that Babel is the new favorite, but I'm still hoping The Departed can pull in the win. Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson Peter O'Toole, Venus Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness  Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland Whitaker is a no-brainer here. Best Actress Penelope Cruz, Volver Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal Helen Mirren, The Queen Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada Kate Winslet, Little Children A tough one with both Streep and Mirren, but I'm going with The Queen on this one. Best Supporting Actor Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Mark Wahlberg, The Departed Someone told me Eddie Murphy is having a comeback, my prediction, it won't last long. Did you see the trailer to his new film? Best Supporting Actress Adriana Barraza, Babel Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls Rinko Kikuchi, Babel Hudson is a sure-bet Best Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel Martin Scorsese, The Departed Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima Stephen Frears, The Queen Paul Greengrass, United 93 If Scorsese doesn't win, i'll be shocked. Best Original Screenplay Babel Letters from Iwo Jima  Little Miss Sunshine Pan's Labyrinth The Queen Very tough indeed, I'll go with Pan's Labyrinth, altough I'm probably way off.   Best Adapted Screenplay Borat Children of Men The Departed Little Children Notes on a Scandal The Departed looks to be the winner here, Children of Men may have a chance as well. Foreign Language Film After the Wedding Days of Glory The Lives of Others Pan's Labyrinth Water Pan's Labyrinth with little doubt. Animated Feature Cars Happy Feet Monster House Always bet on Pixar Music (Score) Babel The Good German Notes on a Scandal Pan's Labyrinth The Queen No clue, I'll go with Labyrinth again. Music (Song) "I Need to Wake Up" – An Inconvenient Truth  "Listen" – Dreamgirls "Love You I Do" – Dreamgirls  "Our Town" – Cars "Patience" – Dreamgirls Hmm... I'm guessing Dreamgirls will pick up something, just not sure what. Out of all the noms, I'm pleased that Letters from Iwo Jima is not included in the best foreign film category. It leaves Pan Labyrinth as the front runner, and it deserves it. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 23 2007, 12:44 PM by sauer with 10 comment(s) Filed under: Movies

• Book Review: Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

  Beasts of No Nation is the story of a very young boy named Agu who is recruited into a group of guerrilla fighters during a civil war in his West African nation. Beasts tells the story of a boy slowly forgetting his life of school work, friends and family only to have those memories replaced by the atrocities that he and his group of fighters inflict on others.  Agu is haunted by questions of his own morality as he slips deeper into the role of a soldier and falls further from childhood.   Uzodinma Iweala writes this story in a language all his own.  The story is told in first person narrative through Agu’s eyes, and is unlike anything you’ve read before, like listening to a young African child with only a rudimentary grasp of the English language.  The imagery he paints and the careful choice of words pulls the reader into Agu’s mind.  It could have turned out to be a mess, but instead it is lyrical, hypnotic and breathtaking.   Excerpt from Page 1, Paragraph 2: I am opening my eye and there is light all around me coming into the dark through hole in the roof, crossing like net above my body.  Then I am feeling my body crunched up like one small mouse in the corner when the light is coming on.  The smell of rainwater and sweat is coming into my nose and I am feeling my shirt is so wet it is almost like another skin. I want to be moving, but my whole bone is paining me and my muscle is paining me like fire ant is just biting me all over my body. If I can be slapping myself to be making it go away I am doing it, but I cannot even move one finger. I am not doing anything.   Beasts of No Nation is Uzodinma Iweala’s first novel, and he stands poised to become one of the most powerful writers of this generation. Clocking in at 142 pages, Beasts of No Nation can easily be read in a weekend, but will probably never leave your mind.   10/10 Highest Possible Recommendation. Mahalo,   Duke   Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 22 2007, 04:45 PM by Raul Duke with no comments Filed under: Books

• Weekend Box Office 01/19-21/07

  1. Stomp the Yard $ 13.3 Million $ 41.6 Million 2. Night at the Museum $ 13 Million $ 205.8 Million 3. Dreamgirls $ 8.7 Million $ 78.1 Million 4. The Hitcher $ 8.2 Million NEW 5. The Pursuit of... $ 6.7 Million $ 146.5 Million 6. Freedom Writers $ 5.6 Million $ 26.9 Million 7. Pan's Labyrinth $ 4.7 Million $ 10.2 Million 8. The Queen $ 3.7 Million $ 35.9 Million 9. Children of Men $ 3.7 Million $ 27.5 Million 10. Arthur and the... $ 3.1 Million $ 9.3 Million America is still in love with dance movies, as Stomp the Yard stayed at the top this week. I can't wait for Stomp the Yard 2: Electric Boogaloo. The Hitcher did average, and will most likely fall off the planet soon. Pan's Labyrinth did very well, earning the most $$ per theater. It's just too bad it's release was so limited. I finally got the chance to see the film this weekend, and after all the positive reviews and hype, I would have to say it met all my expectations. Let's hope it gets a little love during the Oscars. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 22 2007, 11:59 AM by sauer with no comments Filed under: Movies

• Weekend Movies: 01/19/07 The The edition

  98% The Queen - yeah, I think there is a good chance we'll be seeing this on the best picture Oscar list. 40% The Hitcher - why why why why why why why why why why why why 93% The Italian - don't be confused, this movie is actually about Russia.  In Late to the Party News, Pan's Labyrinth opens wide this weekend. I wasn't able to see it last weekend, but will do my best to see it as soon as possible. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 19 2007, 11:36 AM by sauer with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Movies

• New Wilco Album gets name and date.

  stolen from Pitchfork:  Finally, some concrete Wilco album news! According to a tip from Pitchfork reader Collin Brown and later confirmed by Wilco's publicist, last night at a solo show in Nashville, Jeff Tweedy announced that his band's forthcoming record is called Blue Sky Blue and it will be out May 15 via Nonesuch. It will be the band's first studio release since 2004's A Ghost Is Born.   Blue Sky Blue? Hmm.. can't wait. Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 18 2007, 07:37 PM by sauer with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Music

• Xbox 360: Prey Review

  I must confess I’m not the biggest fan of the first person shooter genre. Sure, I love Goldeneye (N64), Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and Half Life, but most other shooters I’ve picked up have been ho hum at best.  Enter Prey.   Prey is a shooter built around the Doom 3 Engine with a few interesting twists. In Prey, you play a Native American who must save the world and more importantly your girlfriend from an alien abduction, pretty standard stuff.  However, the game play is not so run of the mill.  One of the coolest additions is the ability to walk on walls via Active Walkways. This is a bit disorienting at first, but soon becomes a very cool mechanic.  Prey also allows the player to separate your spirit from your body by tapping the Y button.  Your spirit can do many things that your body can not, such as walk through force fields and across large gaps on spirit spider webs.  Once through the force field, you most likely have to find a control panel to deactivate it or raise a platform, then go back to your body and continue along the path.  Another interesting aspect is the Portal system.  Throughout the game, you will find Portals which you step through and are instantly transported to an entirely different area.  Again, this is a bit disorienting at first, but adds a bit of spice to the game play.  The neatest portion of the game is the ability to control gravity. You can shoot these panels that will change the gravity to whatever surface you shoot. The few interesting puzzles in the game are directly connected to this mechanic.   Despite all these new additions, the game is just not very compelling.  The thing I enjoyed most in the game were the portions in which you’d find a radio playing Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell describing the ongoing Alien Invasion.  None of the weapons were unique or interesting in any way, just the standard rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher etc.  Another annoyance is you can NOT die. Ever. Instead of dying and having to start the level over, you simply are transported to the Spirit world where you play a little shooting gallery to regain some life. Then you are transported back to the same exact spot you just died at.  The one vehicle you use is silly and controls terribly.  I managed to beat the game (only to get the achievement points) in about 6 hours, and I can’t recommend that anyone but the biggest First Person Shooter fans pick this one up.  It’s a Rental at best, but even then, I’d probably steer clear.   4.5/10 Mahalo, Duke Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Jan 18 2007, 06:24 PM by Raul Duke with no comments Filed under: Games