Category: Reviews

It’s not often I get on here and chat about stuff other than Sierra but I have to say this Fall has dumped upon me, the motherlode of good music so I figured I should let you know about some good tunes.

The National – Sleep Well Beast

This might be my favourite National album since Boxer.

Matt Mays – Once Upon a Hell of a Time

Matt Mays does it again with a solid rocker of an album.  He spends a lot of years in between releases but it pays off as it ‘s all killer, no filler.  Sentimental Sins and Faint of Heart are on heavy rotation right now.

Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton – Choir of the Mind

Emily Haines is generally found in her band Metric, but once in awhile she puts out a solo album (this is her second).  It’s a fantastic piece of work with piano and layered vocals.  This is stuff I would like to attempt to write.

William Patrick Corgan – Ogilala

Ok, you all know I’m a big Smashing Pumpkins fan so I’m going to add a new Corgan solo album on the list.  But it’s really good.  Stripped down piano, acoustic tunes show off how Billy is an incredible writer underneath his usual layers upon layers of production.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Vietnam War soundtrack

I get excited every time a new Reznor/Ross collaboration comes out and I especially love listening to this album just driving down the country roads seeing the leaves fall.

Roger Waters – Is this the life we really want?

Could this be the best post-Pink Floyd album?  Yep.  Get it now.

Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder

I wasn’t expecting much from the new BSS album and it blows me away.  It’s probably in their top three.

The Dears – Times Infinity Volume 2

Hey, speaking of albums that I wasn’t expecting much from and then it sneaks out with a ninja attack on my psyche and makes me want to listen to it every day for the rest of my life…

 

 

When I was in my teens, I remember starting to rent horror movies.  I specifically remember renting the Halloween series (best series ever?) and watching Halloween 5 and it ended on such a cliffhanger that I had to run out and rent the sixth movie (which was kind of lame).

Anyhow, fast forward 20 years later and I still hadn’t gotten around to watching the complete Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street series.  I was also trying to start from the beginning and then I would just give up once October 31st passed me by.

I realize that Freddy is burn victim, but how do you explain those really bad teeth? 

No longer is that the case!  I decided to just dive in where I left off (like any other sane individual) and see what the series had to offer in the later films.

My thoughts on the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise

First movie was awesome, second film was horrible.  3 & 4 picked things up.  Then Part 5 and 6 got weird for me.  This is probably where everyone else clued into the fact that Freddy had become a caricature of himself and was more funny than scary.  I mean, they had him bring a kid into a literal video game where Freddy was playing the controls.  COME ON!  These films got pretty ridiculous.

AND THEN THEY TOTALLY REDEEMED THEMSELVES WITH A NEW NIGHTMARE!

Wow, this film had it all.  I was scared of Freddy again.  This was Wes Craven’s attempt at becoming meta…where he referenced the film series and had the film feel like it was in our world.  A precursor to the Scream film series where he explored our love for all things horror.  I was immediately satisfied with the conclusion of this series being A New Nightmare.

Of course, we all know that nine years later, Freddy Vs. Jason comes out and does a somewhat decent job of bringing the two franchises together, but it had some good laughs.  ‘Dude, that goalie is pissed!”

My thoughts on the Friday the 13th series

Speaking about pissed off goalies, let’s talk about the lumbering machete wielding mute called Jason Voorhees!  This series is definitely one of my faves…at least the first four films which make a really good story arc.

Then the fifth film comes around and kind of puts a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Always a classic, easy Halloween costume.

But then they jump back and Part 6 is ok!

Then seven sucks.

The eight sucks even more.  My favourite part of Jason Takes Manhattan is that he doesn’t even get to Manhattan until about 10 minutes before the end of the movie.  What the hell!

The ninth movie should have been great.  It’s the last in the series!  Jason Goes to Hell!  This sounds like a cool premise!  Yeah no, this movie flopped.  Wow, Vero was disappointed Friday night when we spent 90 minutes watching this film.  Where I thought Nightmare on Elm Street went out on a high, Friday the 13th went out on an all time low.  I don’t even think Jason showed up in the film more than 15 minutes!  I haven’t even bothered watching Jason X which is basically Jason in space because I hear it’s even worse!

The remake was pretty decent though.

So there you have it…both series started out strong, Nightmare ended awesome and Friday the 13th kind of fizzled out.  If I had to recommend to someone the most efficient way to watch both series, I would say just watch the first four films of Friday the 13th and watch Nightmare 1, 3,4 and New Nightmare.  You’ll get the point of it all.

Now onto the Halloween series!  I ordered that set on bluray the other week and am pretty excited to dive into that again.

No, we’re not talking about the largest late 90s bands…we’re talking about Adonis Creed here people!

Mern and Martin came over with a tortiere in tow and we had a great supper followed by the film Creed which is a spin-off/sequel of the Rocky series.  Two thumbs up all around as I felt that it’s the direction that the Rocky series should have taken in the Rocky Balboa film.

listening to: I Got ID – Pearl Jam – San Diego 2009

Sebastien (newly graduated) and Trish came over on Saturday night and brought along a new horror film called Mama.  I had never heard of it but my ears perked up with the mention of Guillermo!

Mama follows the story of how two little girls end up abandoned in a cabin for five years before someone finds them and brings them back into society.  They are a little wonky after living on their own for five years…but don’t worry!  They had something called Mama to look after them!

Who the heck is Mama?  Lord knows, but it made for a fairly decent horror flick when the girls move in with their uncle and Mama comes a knocking.

I would say it was a decent flick but not a must-see.

We also watched Barbarella afterwards which is a must see in my book.  I don’t think the others were impressed!

I have been to the Mill Street Brewpub three times now and I can definitely say that it’s one of my favourite experiences in the city.  I have heard stories in the past few weeks which range from “I had to wait three hours in line!” (who waits three hours in line?  Come back in a few weeks!) to “They ran out of our favourite beer!”

Trip 1: Day of the Grand Opening…Friday January 27 for lunch.  Dipped into the Portage Cream Ale which was quite tasty.  Then realized that they have ‘trips’ which are four 8 oz. glasses of beer for an excellent price.  So we tried the wares.  I realy was taken by the vanilla porter (Steve said he wanted to buy it all and serve his kids!) and the Valley Red (which on subsequent trips has not been available.  Sold out already!).  The fish and chips are bar none, some of the best I have had in the city.  Dave, Steve and Maren also raved about their food.  Service was impecabble as well.

Only complaint I had was that I bought a growler of the Portage Ale to share with Andre that night and it was quite lacking.  It tasted like something was off about it.  I chalk this up to a bad growler and nothing else as they haven’t had any problems with it that they know about.

Trip 2: Was seated in the lovely section in the back of the restaurant where you overlook the river!  Pleasantly surprised and impressed.  Vero and Krista really loved sitting back there as well.  I had a Bock, some vanilla porter, and a few others on the menu.  It was also wing night and they were fantastic wings at 50cents a wing.  They were huge and the Jamaican Jerk was an excellent recommendation by our waitress Margaret.

Trip 3: Probably the favourite trip so far…our waitress Lisa was great to chat with and she was very accomodating to the increasing number of people showing up to the table for dinner.  Michael found out that there was a brewery tour so we both went to sign up for it, found out that it was in fifteen minutes but was offered free samples while we waited!  Fantastic!  Then Michael began a debate with a gentleman standing next to us about the carbonation in English vs. Canadian beer.  Turns out that the gentleman was Adam, the head brewer at Mill Street!  He guided us down to the brewery and explained the process.  I was thoroughly impressed and I chatted with him afterwards about my own brewing attempts and he gave me some tips as well as offered up some yeast whenever I drop by with a sterilized mason jar!  What a great guy.

I had some excellent Bob’s Beard Red beer as well as the tortiere.  Once again, Mill Street could do no wrong!

I’ve had three great experiences so far, and I’m sure I’ll have more in the future.  Two pint glasses up for this new brewpub in Ottawa!  Kudos to everyone at the brewpub.  Great service.

On Thursday morning, Vero and I walked around Montreal, getting a bite to eat for breakfast, heading down to the Old Port, and ending up at Les 3 Brasseures for lunch before hitting the road back to Ottawa.

But down at the Old Port, we headed towards the Montreal Science Museum for the Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology exhibit!  Benoit had gone to it the week before and said it was great.

When you enter, the give you a little video pad that you listen to commentaries on, interact with the exhibits, and feel like an archaeologist!  For example, if you swipe the video pad across a pillar with a number on it, it will indicate that you have to find four items within the room and swipe your pad next to them.  If you find all four items, then you obtain a piece of a statue.  In the end, if you go into each room and solve their puzzle, you will obtain a completed virtual statue which you can then display on the final room’s video screen with your name under it.  It was quite fun just to try and figure out the puzzles.

I personally loved the movie props and artwork…I wish I could have seen a week’s worth of material!  Costumes, props, storyboards for action scenes (like the rolling boulder from Raiders)…it was all there.  You can punch in a number corresponding with a prop into your video pad and they may show you behind the scenes videos, or a commentary about it.

Plus, there was the element of historical fact throughout the entire exhibit.  They may talk about the ancient temples that Indiana and company were exploring and why it was so important in the archaeological world.

Other rooms had actual archaeological items within them…digs from Macchu Pichu, or documentary clips about the Naska lines over in the Middle East.  It was fascinating stuff.  Vero really was into that portion of the exhibit.  I actually completed the exhibit a good hour ahead of her and then she made me realize that I had just skimmed over some of the stuff so I went back and educated myself a little more.

I believe the exhibit is only in Montreal for a few more weeks before it leaves the continent so if you are a fan, I would definitely recommend going fast!

Saturday morning, Vero and I picked up Mike and Melissa to head to Brockville to see Joe and Danielle and then hop over to Gananoque for a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands.  I’ve always wanted to tour around the Islands and what better time than a beautiful Saturday?

A BBQ to start off the afternoon was great.  We chatted, had a few beer and then hit the road for Gananoque.  Parking was hell in this tourist trap of a town, but we managed to nab a spot, run to get some tickets and embark on the Gananoque Boat Cruise with 30 seconds to spare.

The cruise was quite lovely.  They have a recording telling stories of the Islands and we tour around.  I was quite jealous at the boats going by and people having fun at their cottage.  Must save my pennies!

1.5 hours later, we pulled up to Boldt Castle which was quite astonishing to see in the middle of the 1000 Islands.  Legend has it that George Boldt built a castle for his lovely wife but alas, she passed away four years into the construction.  He paid all the workers and had them leave the island and for 70 years it sat doing nothing.  In 1977, the Alexandria Bay Tourist Authority bought the land and castle and each year the restore a different room in the castle.

It’s quite a beautiful property and you can even get married on the premises!  There was a wedding party disembarking a boat when we arrived.  In fact, we heard that the great-grandson of George Boldt was married earlier in the day!

We toured around the castle for a few hours and marveled at the architecture.  It’s interesting…the bottom half of the castle is complete but the rest of the castle are just empty rooms with graffiti and crumbling walls.  I can only imagine how nice it will look once it’s all done.

Hop back on the boat where Vero and Melissa posed for pictures and I enjoyed the sun going down in the distance as we cruised along the water.  We then grabbed a great bite to eat at the Gananoque Inn and headed for home.

All in all, a great event only a few hours from Ottawa!

This past week I got an interesting email from AGDInteractive saying that they had a King’s Quest III Redux available for download!  I must have been out of the loop for awhile as I had no idea they were developing this piece of art.

I do remember playing Infamous Adventurer’s VGA version of King’s Quest III which was excellent.  Here’s my original post about that from 2006.    I have to admit that after playing AGDI’s version over the weekend, it is also a worthy remake.  I have to admit that I do enjoy the extra plot lines that AGDI put into the game.

King’s Quest III…what can I say that hasn’t been said before.  I logged A LOT of time into this game.  I could never figure out where the wizard’s wand was in the original version.  It wasn’t until years later that I must have stumbled upon a hint book.

So the new version by AGDI is pretty freaking sweet.  Voice acting galore, memories aswirl, and some new elements included kept me quite interested all weekend long.  I really have to hand it to these guys…the visuals were stunning and I felt like I was playing an entirely new game at some points.  That’s what I dig about the AGDI remakes…they add a few new things to keep me interested, instead of being a step-by-step remake.

My only complaint was that I got to a point where I needed the eagle feather and when I found out how to get it, I realized I needed to restore to a point in the game where I haven’t already given the ONE item that is needed to get the eagle feather (unless there are multiple items that I can use and I just didn’t realize).  But you know what?

I really enjoyed the new pirate island adventure as I always found that part of the original KQ3 to be strange.  I also liked the extended outro sequence after the dragon is gone.  But for the life of me, I had forgotten about the expanded story in KQ2+.  I’ll have to go play this again soon!

I also want to point out that it’s quite amazing to see the AGDI adventure games now available on the Mac!  I had installed Windows on my Mac awhile ago to play Quest For Glory 2 but I had some problems so I never ended up finishing it.  Lo and behold, they have released all their games for the Mac!  Hurrah!

That’s that.  Download this free game today at http://www.agdinteractive.com/

iplaying: Undertaker – M.Ward (Transfiguration of Vincent)

Review: Marware Eco-Vue iPad Case

I’ve had my Eco-Vue leather case for my iPad for a good four months now and I figured I would write up a little review letting people (like me!) who are scouring the Internet looking for reviews on this thing.

I must say I have been very impressed by it overall. When I first received my iPad I was quite careful with it all the time as I had no case for it. I would place it inside a paper folder and then place it into my satchel. Ha! Satchel. Oh, The Hangover, how I love thee.

But as soon as I slipped the iPad into the Eco-Vue, it felt like I was putting two pieces of a broken medallion back together again. They were meant to be together. I shove the thing into my satchel without worry that something will happen. I really enjoy it’s elastic band to keep the entire thing together at all times. The elastic band to slip my hand into is a Godsend for a person who rides the bus like I do. I always have my hand under the strap in case I have to jump up to let someone out of my seat, or if I’m standing up and wish to watch a podcast of the Totally Rad Show while I’m holding onto the metal bar overhead with my other hand.

In the morning, I prop the case into a tent-like formation so I can read my emails while I eat my oatmeal. I also bring the iPad out to the garage or around the garden and play some tunes without any fear of it getting dirty. When there is some dirt that falls onto the leather cover, it comes off easily.

I give this two very enthusiastic thumbs up. There are a few things I would improve on the design but realize that it’s really nitpicking.

1. Perhaps add a strip of velcro inside the case where the tab fits into the case. I haven’t managed to fling the case hard enough so that the iPad falls out from the tab that’s holding it in place. That tab is quite sturdy. But I wonder if over time the tab will simply weaken with wear. I plan to add a strip of velcro on my own and I figured it would be a welcome common addition.

2. I feel that they need to offer a right-handed and left-handed version of the case. Being right-handed, I place my left hand into the strap. This is fine but there are situations (like when I’m boarding the bus) that I put my iPad down by my side. Now, as it stands, if I simply put my hand down, the iPad could potentially fall out of the case (but it has the tab to keep it in place) but there’s always a worry of gravity taking over. So I have to to angle my hand so the iPad doesn’t fall out. But if they offered a choice of which side the tab/opening was on, it would solve this issue immediately.

If you’re reading this to gauge whether or not this is better than the Apple case or others…do yourself a favour and try some out, but know this, I have tried a few out and this is my favourite by far!