Album review: Endgame by Megadeth

So I've had the new Megadeth album for a while. What do I think of it? I think it's an excellent metal album. Megadeth have most of the time been rivals to Metallica, mostly because Dave Mustaine, the singer and rhythm guitarist, used to play guitar for Metallica, and wrote some songs that are on their earlier albums. But he got fired and started Megadeth to get back at Metallica. He wanted to create a band that would be more successful. He failed in that. However Megadeth have always been better musicians than Metallica, their songs are far more technical. But, while Megadeth may be better musicians, and they are indeed excellent musicians, they were never better songwriters. But that doesn't mean they weren't good. They were, and they definitely are now. Metallica put out Death Magnetic, and somewhat regained there former sound, the one that got them a fan base before they stopped being metal. It is a good album, but the extreme compression makes that album almost unlistnable to me. This album is not just a good album, but a great album, this album destroys Death Magnetic, its so far ahead its not even funny. Not to say Death Magnetic was bad, not at all, I gave it an 8, but Endgame just blows it out of the water. For starters, the production on this album is really good, its not over compressed, it sounds great. The modern production just makes the songs even better. Also, the musicianship is phenomenal. The drumming is fantastic, the guitars are tight and focused, the soloing is insane, they have dueling solos all over the place and its great. The songs themselves are excellent, all of them, but the standout ones especially. The songs just lock into the rhythm and drive forward with a fury. "1,320'" is a song that just locks into a groove and drives forward, as I said earlier, with a fury. "Dialectic Chaos" is a great instrumental. But I'm not going to describe the songs in detail, although "44 Minutes" kind of has stupid lyrics. It's almost like reading a report, seriously. But it's a good song, even if the lyrics are kinda stupid. Bottom line is that this is an excellent metal album, its miles ahead of Death Magnetic. Some songs are excellent, some good, but none are bad, or even "ok"; I like all of them. Even though I'm giving this a 9 out of 10, its tons better than Death Magnetic. 9 out of 10

Mike Bauer of The Washington-Missourian

You might have read about Mike Bauer, he's a highschooler who writes for the Washington-Missourian in the "My MO" section. But here's the problem. He writes about the same stuff I do. Except he does it badly. I don't know him and I'm not a regular reader, but what is this? He makes me and people like me look bad quite frankly. My posts have 10 times the quality his columns ever had. Now if he reads this, I'd be delighted to have him as a co-author. But nonetheless, let me run down the substandardness of his disorganized non-sense. This guy always switches topics within a few sentences. In his January 16 column discussing the economy he switches from Governor Rod Blagojevich in one sentence commenting on his haircut in one sentence (really, it was one sentence), to a Chevrolet ad he saw next to a test he was taking, going on to gas prices, then in advising people to save money in tough times (He's what? 2 years older than me? I bet he knows all about tough times), he goes on about drive thrus and not buying a soda there then back to gas prices, then talking about how using your cell phone at school to check the time can somehow effect the electric bill at your house and telling you to get a watch, not an expensive watch, mind you, "just one that lets you know what time it is." I guess he's never heard of a clock. Then he moves on to how, when you go to a Cardinals game, you should check the outside vendors for food, instead of buying it inside because its cheaper. This is in one column about the economy. What is this nonsense? People read stuff like this to get away from their problems. This guy is always changing the topic. Why?? Stay on topic, seriously. Maybe we just have different styles, wait a minute, no we don't. In writing quality opinion pieces, there is only one way. THE RIGHT WAY! This guy is all over the place. With things that no one cares about. At least I take time to think of interesting topics. Not something you hear everyday. He says he writes about sports, pop culture and stuff that annoys him. But he's writing about the economy. That has nothing to do with any of that. The economy isn't a sport, a pop culture phenomenon, or annoying, its troublesome, but not annoying. He should be writing about pens at the post office and NASCAR, but at the same time he shouldn't because those are mine. (Well, to be fair, the NASCAR one isn't entirely my idea, 62365 thought of it first, but i took it an made it made it my own, so to speak. And JamesNintendoNerd got the pens at the post office, but I expanded if i recall, besides, everyone looks up to him *Nostalgia critic*cough*Irate Gamer* but I made them mine to an extent.) This guy needs to organize his thoughts. Alot of the time, he barely writes 2 sentences about a topic. Now, I've had 2 occasions where that happened but at least I padded it out with alot of filler that was vaguely related to the topic at hand. His column isn't amusing, in fact, I find it somewhat annoying at times, although he usually has about 1 good point among his sea of garbage. Later.

Guitar hero world tour is disappointing

Edit: okay, maybe i was a bit too harsh. Its fine on multiplayer, its a good game, but the set list sucks. GH 3 had tons of classic rock. This is full of new stuff and just plain bad stuff. Korn? Breaking Benjamin? Paramore? Why? Its all whiny emo-ish stuff. That's not rock. They do have some good bands. But not enough. And the only metallica song in this is trapped under ice. I was hoping for a good song after all the terribleness. but they give me that? Why not "Creeping death?" or "For Whom The Bell Tolls"? or maybe even "Fade to black". There from the same album as that. Why? I'll just have to wait for the expansion. And i hear theres a Jimmi Hendrix one coming out too. So theres that. Good game, bad songs. Rock band 2 did it better, its not worth $200 in my opinion. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, read my original review below.


So, flushed with Christmas money, about 2 $50 visa cards, $20 in cash, a $50 gift card to Barnes and noble, a $20 check and a small $10 gift card to borders, i like books. But anyway, i didn't ask for much so i got a ton of money. So i go to the store to spend some. I got 2 books. I was going to spend the rest of the money on albums, but i got an X box 360. I figure, why not get a game? After arguing over rock band 2 or guitar hero: world tour, we got GH. Yes, i knew rock band had better songs but i figured, stick with guitar hero. Big mistake. I pay $100 because me and my brother split it. it cost more than i thought, i thought id have some money left but no, both the gift cards are used. This better be good, I thought. I get home, i set it up. It was disappointing. Its not very user friendly on multi player. Some things you cant tell. And the songs, terrible choice. Rock band 2 nailed it. Guitar hero missed. There are some good songs, but many of them I've never heard of. Some just suck. Why is Korn here? Why? Blink 182? They don't deserve a spot. The thing with Guitar hero 3, which was great, was that every song was a classic. Even the new stuff was really popular at the time. And another thing, id heard of almost everyone on there. On this, i don't even know who half these people are. HushPuppies? Stuck in the Sound? NOFX? Who are these people? Your supposed to be doing songs that actually have something significant about them. Another thing, Why does Tool have 3 songs?? Why? I don't have a problem with Tool, but why 3 songs? O yeah, one of them isn't forty six & 2. In comparison, Rock Band 2 features Pearl Jam, Joan Jett, Kansas, AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Tenacious D, Megadeth, Ratt, Billy Idol, Soundgarden and a better Metallica song than GH. ("battery" from master of puppets as opposed to "Trapped under Ice", one of the few songs off Ride the Lightning i don't like.) Not the Hushpuppies. To be fair, its an alright game, its got Creedence clearwater revival, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne, the smashing pumpkins, jimmi Hendrix and even a Willie Nelson song, but so much stuff that tries to appeal to the casual gamer. Instead of Black Sabbath, we get Blondie, instead of Slayer, the mars Volta, seriously, the mars Volta. Some songs on GH are the same as on rock band 2, and there are some of the same artists with different songs, for instance, system of a down, its great there on there, but rock band 2 has "Chop Suey!" this has "B.Y.O.B". Both are good songs but "Chop Suey!" is clearly the more classic song. Ive also heard complaints about the note chart being way off what it is in real life, and how sometimes theres a note that isn't really there or something. Its not worth $200. Worst $100 I've ever spent, possibly the worst purchase I've ever made. At least I have the Metallica Expansion to look forward too. That's gonna be great. Probably alot harder too. At least i got that. GH world tour is overrated, its clearly slipping, i cant believe they screwed up like this, if the next one isn't better then they've clearly jumped the shark. Buy rock band 2 instead, it has much, much, much, better songs.

Movie review: Four Christmases

So yesterday i saw Four Christmases, what did i think of it? I thought it was hilarious. Its about a happily unmarried couple who doesn't want kids or to be married, gets stranded at home and has to visit their parents who are all divorced and dysfunctional. I wont go into the details but it was a funny movie, a laugh out loud funny movie. Funny moments include two "semi professional" cage fighters who beat up their older brother, not realizing a $10 cap on presents so one kid gets an X-box and another gets a flashlight and destroying a house trying to install a satellite dish because of stubbornness. Its funny throughout and I enjoyed it. It wasn't perfect, no movie is, but it was quite funny. In album review terms, high 8 out of 10.

Movie commercials

Whats with advertisements for movies? They always have a similar sounding narrator every time, do they only have 3 guys they pay to do movie advertisements? Also, they claim every single movie advertised is number 1 or "the best of the year" or something like that, i bet if you played 2 in order, they would both say that. You cant both be the best! Choose 1 jerks! Another thing, they always claim its the film every ones talking about, but I've never heard of it, who's talking about? Stop making yourselves look stupid, seriously. Movie advertisements should be about enticing you to see the movie, not spouting a bunch of overused, cliche phrases that do nothing.

Americas funniest home videos

Its a TV show that has become a staple of television, it has gone through many time slots, channels and hosts, it has become a classic in its own right, except one thing. It outdated. Yes, Americas Funniest Home Videos is an outdated show. With websites such as youtube and others, we dont need a TV show to watch people's hilarious videos anymore. And the humor is outdated also, its pretty much the last holdout of 70's style shows which are so cheesy. and the videos, where do I begin, the videos are so repetitive, oh look, that guy fell, that kid got scared, and so on. How many times can you watch someone fall or a kid get scared of santa during the kids scared of santa montages? The show is obsolete, period. If i want funny videos, i go to youtube where theirs more than physical comedy, although it is funny, and youtube is of gennerally of a funnier quality than anything they show there. Another thing, the video that wins is never funny. Its just something with a baby or an animal thats supposed to be "cute". It's so rediculous. America's Funniest Home Videos is nothing but a relic of an era that is long gone, its time to get rid of this outdated show.

Other people that do rants that I like

besides doing my own rants, i also read and watch other peoples as well, many of these people inspired me to start this blog.

62365

This guy, with his strange name of a few numbers, is the guy who originally inspired me to do this blog. And i admit, i steal some of his points on things too, in fact, i liked his NASCAR one so much, i decided to use alot his talking points, cause its so true, yeah, my best rant isn't even completely mine. I admit, alot of my really early posts, were not completely my own ideas, but really, this guys hilarious, o yeah, i started using his Later thing too cause i liked it so much. It works doesn't it?

http://www.youtube.com/user/62365

Angry Video Game Nerd

I like this guy, he's very funny, he also cusses alot, but i try to keep this clean, which is why I don't post his videos. I did however, take some of his pens at the post office rant. Off his you know whats Bull$*1* series of videos. He normally reviews really old games and are hilarious. But besides for that pens at the post office, i don't take any of his ideas or reviewing style.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesNintendoNerd


Brad’s Completely Useless Record Reviews


Now this guy is called Brad, and hes not my cousin. He inspired me to do albums occasionally, even though he admits he ripped of 99% of Mark Prindles writing style. he also used to cuss in alot of his early reviews, but he almost never does anymore, hes matured alot. He also seems to be really slow in updating lately, but whatever, I also adopted his simple 1-10 rating system, instead of letters, grades or such. he also likes Led Zeppelin alot for some reason. Other than that he seems to have somewhat similar tastes to mine.

http://www.geocities.com/bradreviews/

Theres also some random teens who did some things on HSM that i can't pinpoint.

Those 3 are ones i like alot. Theres probably more, but i'll edit this list over time. Later.

DVD cases

In an effort to get back to the original spirit of this little page i have, I'm going to start doing more rants again. One thing that really gets me, is those security stickers on DVD and video game cases. You know what I'm talking about? Its a pain to get off, and its on all 3 sides! Is that really necessary? That security tape is really going to stop someone from stealing it from Amazon.Com's warehouse. Even if its in a box set, its on all 4 or 5 videos! On top of that, theirs another thing on the box! Why??!! But not only DVD cases, most toys have wires and Styrofoam and all this other crap. Its ridiculous, getting ridiculous packaging off is a pain. (Those monsters! How dare they try to keep their product from being stolen!) That's probably what Brad would say, but do you really need it on things that are being sold online?? Obnoxious packaging is a waste of money as well as time, patience, and your life, because I'm writing about it, and you just read that whole thing. Later.