Yes, the day has come finally. I got my paws on a Sony PlayStation3 120GB! As avid video gamers may know, this is not easy to come by. So I traded all my Xbox 360 gear and games towards the reservation of one at my store, which was only an available option for a week. It may be true… the 360 was only to hold me off until the PS3 became more affordable. And it did.
I’m currently playing “Heavy Rain”, QuanticDream’s latest PS3 exclusive. The game is hard to describe in few words. It’s a very in-depth murder mystery that involves four anonymous characters, who eventually converge at some point, I think. The game play includes action sequences that requires the player to press, hold, or turn buttons as the symbols are prompted on the screen. There are dozens and dozens of possible outcomes from the choices that your character makes, and the ending is altered depending on the course of the game. There are some pretty captivating sequences. The graphics are outstanding, although some of the facial expressions are a little quirky. The way the game play is integrated in the cinematic parts is great. I can’t help but feel like this is the direction that the new-gen Silent Hill games should go in. Or the way the “Saw” video game should have been. From me, the game deserves a 9.0 out of 10. Which, I just checked, is the average score given by IGN.com.
But, I could help but make this connection…:
Paul Sorvino as “Paulie” from the film Goodfellas
Detective Scott Shelby from Heavy Rain
So this begins a new era of video gaming for me…not that I play video games all the time but I have a few more games on the queue list, which include “Metal Gear Solid 4″ and “Final Fantasy XIII”, which releases tomorrow. You’ll hear more from me soon.
Sometimes I just need the right sound to make me feel…right. It is a little sad, that a person can now be described as a “music junkie”; one who downloads and downloads masses of mp3’s and music files for the sake of collecting new artists and albums. I, however, am on a search for gems such as A Sunny Day In Glasgow. I stumbled upon the name a few times when trying to find similar artists to My Bloody Valentine, then found this YouTube video that convinced me to check ‘em out. In short, ASDIG can be described as the “new” MBV…there cannot be such a thing, but ASDIG comes really close.
And I don’t mean to describe them as a follower of My Bloody Valentine, but a band who certainly travels the road that MBV once paved. ASDIG is no doubt a “shoegaze” band, but they definitely have their differences from MBV. There seem to be more swirling, electronic effects that are most effective to the listener who is wearing headphones. It is a bit nostalgic sounding, like I have heard this before? One might also describe them as “dream-pop” (???), or post-rock…They create atmosphere and ethereal sound, sprinkled with quirky nuances and chill, but danceable beats. The band is also comprised of two female vocalists, whose voices intertwine and seem to melt into the sound. The timbre of the vocals are perfect in this band, as a listener, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The new record is a must-have for listeners who are searching for something soft, distorted, new, refreshing, and slightly melancholic in the most bittersweet way possible. It’s like a cloudy day, (or a Sunny Day in Glasgow, of course), dancing in the rain with red balloons, wine-drunk on a dark, empty dance floor with a flashy disco ball and spinning lights. My favorite tracks off of “Ashes Grammar”, an piece that I have yet to fully listen to because of its 22-tracks, so far are “Failure”, “Close Chorus”, and “Passionate Introverts”. A Sunny Day In Glasgow is doing a pretty extensive Spring Tour around North America and Europe. I suggest you check out their dates on their official web site.
So tonight at the RedBox it was either “Moon” or “The Hurt Locker” and there were no more copies left of the latter. I read on Rotten Tomatoes that Moon got a pretty awesome score, a movie that I hadn’t heard of before. The movie was amazing…the script, the premise, the acting…the soundtrack. It is a psychological ride for sure, something that I was unaware of previously. The plot went deeper as the movie unfolded at a perfect rate. Pardon my French, but believe me when I say: it is a mind-f*^k.
I’d rather not elaborate on specifics, because I feel movies are most effective on unsuspecting viewers. But I’m impressed by the simplicity of the movie, overall. The theme of the movie contends the future of the human condition. The actual moon is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the plot of the film. The claustrophobic nature of the movie is also complimented by good taste in set design, the way the technology and machinery didn’t need to be too overkill and super futuristic. Slick typography included.
Certain movies can leave me feeling a certain vibe even the next morning after it had time to wash over. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I like it or not, but then it grows on me the more I think about it. This year has been pretty spacey so far. Now it is my duty to finish Mass Effect 2.
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As usual, I get ahead of myself when the construction of a band begins and I get all stoked about designing a logo. I always told them that we were lucky to have a graphic designer who is in the band. We don’t gotta pay anyone, and more importantly, we don’t have to explain to someone outside of the perspective what it is we want to visually represent us.
This potential poster design I threw together is from an aerial photograph I took, and tweaked in Illustrator. To be more specific, I layered individual Live-Traced versions and then just mirrored it to create a refreshing composition. Fortunately, it is high-res. But the logo I’m not 100% on because it is a little too reminiscent of a particular Poison the Well logo. Boo, they pioneer both the grunge/splatter band logo trend, AND the metalcore trend.
As for the actual band, we’re getting things together slowly but surely.
Mission Bay – San Diego, CA — 24″ x 18″ Oil & Acrylic
Vinny Sciuto — 30″ x 40″ Oil & Acrylic
Lush — 24″ x 18″ Oil
I feel its time for a new batch of paintings, as I remind myself that knowing when a painting is already finished is just as key as trying to find out how to finish it.
