Told ya there’d be another one.
My only regret is that I really borked up the music. Not only did it record poorly, but also it’s hard to hear too often. Oh well. Lesson learned!
Category: Music
Where I’ve been
It’s been almost a month now since I posted anything here. What’s been up? The short answer is Monster Hunter. For those who don’t follow, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out on Wii U and 3DS last month, and thats pretty much all I’ve been doing. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that when I get into Monster Hunter, I get in deep. I’ll write about it at length another time, but for now I leave you with this small musing:
I believe that it’s for the best when games aren’t drowned in pop culture references, unless that’s one of the bullet points on the back of the box. Even then it’s like, can’t you write your own material? Still, I can’t help but love that Capcom’s translators snuck a Foreigner reference in there. It’s easy to miss too, because the optimal way to approach dialogue in any MonHan game is to ignore it entirely and skip through it as fast as you can. Apparently at some point a character sings a song from Rent as well, but I didn’t pick up on that one because I stopped watching Rent after approximately two minutes. At this point I’m just waiting for some NPC to claim that they need to see the soul doctor.
I sing in this video
Yes, that’s right. There is an audio recording of me singing in the video embedded below. You’ve been warned. Twice.
In reality though, I mostly just recorded this because I felt like I should at least try to tie up some loose ends before I start up a new long-running series. I’ve been bitten by the Minecraft bug, and I feel like I should be documenting my attempts to defeat the Enderdragon on hardcore mode. So that’s going to happen eventually, but there’s going to be some more FFVAC before that comes around. Maybe even a little something else…
TE’s Top 12 Video Games of 2012
Another year has come and gone, and a big ol’ stack of videogames with it. I made a point in April to keep a list of every game I played throughout the year, and by the time July or so rolled around, I had decided to make up this list of the Top 12 Games of 2012. There are a few rules I decided to put in place for this list, though I ended up breaking them. Heck, there somehow managed to be 14 games in my top 12. Obviously the rules are more like suggestions.
Going in, I had decided that the games which would populate this list would have to be games that I started and finished in the year 2012. They would also have to be games that I’d never played previously. While most of the list fits this rule easily because they were released in 2012, I did make a couple exceptions. Technically there is one game that I did not beat on the list. However, I am right at the end of it, and I haven’t pulled the trigger on the ending sequence because there is more that I want to accomplish and I’ve heard whispers that ending the game ends the game for reals. Justified. The other exception is a pretty major one: a collection. I couldn’t help but add it because 2012 is the Year of the Video Game Collection and it’s by and large the best one I’ve seen so far. Also I did play through two of the games included on it this year. Good enough.
I think that earlier on in the selection process I had another stipulation on what could qualify, but I’m pretty sure that I broke it so many times that I can’t even remember what it was. Probably would have cut down the eligible games to under a dozen anyway. That said, let’s take a quick peek at the honorable mentions. These are games that either didn’t quite make the cut, or games that I really liked but didn’t even come close to finishing. They all deserve to have words written about them, but this is neither the time nor place. So let us look at their boxarts and dream about what could have been.
Now that we’ve got those losers out of the way, you can go ahead and check out what games earned the most of my affection and/or time last year. The list is exactly as Nintendo-centric as you might expect, but there are a couple games on here that will probably come as surprises. I’ll warn you now though, the total word count goes ever so slightly over 10,000 words, so if you’re in, be ready for the long haul. Maybe go get yourself a sandwich or a drink before you get started.
TE’s “Top” 12 Bands of 2012
I mentioned in the Top 12 Albums article that I think making up year-end Top X lists is silly, and I stand by that statement. It’s a super-easy way to farm up some content that takes very little creativity and considerably less effort than writing something with a more original topic. I should know, because I’ve written more than a few of these for those reasons exactly. I’ll admit it, I’m a hack. This is just a hobby, and not one I take particularly seriously.
All that said, I’m getting more joy out of subverting the usual list mechanism by creating it using nothing but a handful of mostly inaccurate data. There’ll be no pondering for me, no mulling over which bands I like the most versus which bands I think deserve most to be on the list. Nope, I just checked the “last 12 months” option on the Artists chart, and voila: the worst of the work is done for me!
Keep in mind that given the method I used to make the list, this only partially represents which bands I would have considered my favourites during the last year. One I actually put any thought into would look considerably different. Hell, I don’t think I could even make a legit favourite bands list for a given year. It seems like a silly proposition, so “most listened to” will in fact be the criteria.
Note that these numbers were accurate as of January 14, 2013.
TE’s “Top” 12 Albums of 2012
It’s January of 2013 now, and January means nothing if not “time to make lists about stuff from the previous year” and I intend to carry on that tired, thoughtless tradition. And, I’m going to make it even more thoughtless by having raw data determine the contents of this list, rather than make decisions on what belongs here based on my opinions.
To that end, I’ve gone onto my Last.fm account and checked the chart of most played albums in the last 12 months. Of course, the numbers are just so slightly skewed because we’re already almost halfway through January, but whatever. I know what I’ve listened to in the last two weeks, and I’ve made adjustments where necessary.
This data has been compiled through two sources: my computer, where every track I’ve played is logged through the Last.fm plugin, and also my phone, where sometimes the iScrob app sometimes decides to log tacks when it feels like it maybe. iScrob is a really crappy app that likes to drop tracks and I didn’t even use it for the first few months of the year or most of the summer. Not included are any songs played through any other source like, say, CDs or the iPod app on my phone. Also not counted are any tracks whose “album” tag is not filled out, though I’m pretty anal about keeping my basic tags correct and complete. So the numbers are going to be incredibly skewed, but whatever! Looking at data gives me total wood. And here it is! (The data, not my wood.)
Alive, tonight
I think I may have to start naming Tonight Alive as one of my favourite bands. I haven’t even known of their existence for a whole month, and already they’ve climbed to rank #33 on my Last.fm top artists chart, edging out a number of other bands I’ve been into for ages like Dethklok, OK Go, and Freezepop. This isn’t a huge achievement, because a lot of bands in that range only have between 200 and 300 plays, but considering that I prefer to listen to a range of music than the same few bands all the time, it’s not bad. And hey, the numbers don’t lie! They’re working their way up there.
You’ve probably never heard of Tonight Alive, and I wouldn’t blame you. They’re a relatively fresh group, having formed in 2008, and they haven’t had one of those silly “hit singles” in North America yet. But that’s okay. generally music that isn’t on the radio is better than music that is. I only stumbled onto them because I listened to Punk Goes Pop 4 on a whim, and was immediately smitten with Jenna McDougall’s voice. I looked up a handful of bands featuring on that album (Go Radio, Chunk! No Captain Chunk!, and For All Those Sleeping), but Tonight Alive has easily been the most popular with me.
So what are they all about? I suppose the easy answer, and indeed what drew me to them initially, is that they’re Australia’s Paramore. But that’s a stupid way to describe them, and doesn’t do justice to the band. Paramore is pretty great, especially Brand New Eyes, but Tonight Alive have plenty of their own style and substance to bring to the table.
I’ve really been getting into the modern punk scene lately, and while I do like the trend towards integrating post-hardcore and techno elements into the more traditional punk styles, I do have a very soft spot for some of the harder pop-punk, and that’s squarely where Tonight Alive sits. While they’re got the poppy energy and catchy hooks, their sound is also heavily dependent on some killer guitar riffs and a fairly heavy focus on the drumming. The combination of Jenna’s light, somewhat chirpy voice contrasts very nicely with the deeper, rougher instruments, and makes the music pop all that much more.
What Are You So Scared Of? would be a shoe-in if I were to elect a current favourite album, and I have a feeling that it’s going to become the third of my “comfort food” albums, which are the albums I turn to whenever I don’t know what else to listen to or just need something to assure me that there is good in the world. The other two are The Ataris’ So Long, Astoria and Jimmy Eat World’s Chase This Light, both matching up squarely with What Are You So Scared Of?‘s pop-punk aesthetic. These are the albums I will be listening to for the rest of my life, and they define me, my taste in music, and have helped to shape the way I view life and the world.
All Shapes and Disguises, is shorter, being an EP and all, lies a little more on the pop side of the spectrum, but I still quite like it. It’s also insanely well-produced for a self-funded debut EP. It’s clean and crisp, but doesn’t have that artificial “we edited it until it was perfect” tone to it. Also there’s a really sweet cover of Rufio’s “In My Eyes.” I don’t know the band Rufio, but you can be damn sure that I’m about to look them up!
Tonight Alive has also cited Thrice as a major influence, and anyone who likes Thrice is in my good books. Seriously. You could be a serial killer or cult leader and if you like Thrice I’ll still nod positively and think “that guy’s got pretty good taste in music.”
The only thing that makes me sad is that What Are You So Scared Of? was released less than a year ago, so it’s gonna be a bit of a wait before I get to hear any new material from these guys. I am frothing with anticipation.
Nostalgia trippin’
Hey, so does it mean you’re old when just the air can cause waves of nostalgia to wash over you? Because I’m totally getting that right now. It’s been a beautiful fall day, and the first real one as far as I’m concerned, because it’s just got that feeling to it. I love this weather, and it brings back memories of everything I’ve ever associated it with. I have no way to properly convey these feelings in words, but I can feel them in my heart and I need to get them out somehow, so I kept a running list of every memory that came back to me today because of the cool autumn air. Here’s what I got:
- Trick-or-treating in general
- Beating Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes for Nintendo 64 one Halloween night
- Playing Silent Hill for the first time
- Daily visits to the Heath Sciences Center
- Watching Criminal Minds on Stephanie’s laptop in my car
- Guitar Hero 5
- Visiting a small corner store downtown that smelled like curry, and buying Pepsis at said store which also smelled of curry
- Treehouse of Horror
- YTV’s Dark Night specials
- McDonald’s Halloween McNugget toys
- Driving around with the family to look at Halloween houses
- That old McDonald’s Halloween cassette tape. “Spooky Sounds” or something of the like?
- Pokémon Silver Version
- The beginning of Christmas madness at Toys ‘R’ Us
- Donkey Konga
- Traipsing through yards covered in crunchy, fallen leaves
- Finally earning my driver’s license
- Purchasing my first car (I still love you, Spirit)
- The beginning of hockey season, and all those dreadful practise sessions
- Carving jack-o-lanterns
- The last family trip to Fargo
- Chasing a bunch of egg-chucking hooligans down the street while dressed as the red Angry Bird
- Playing Rock Band 2 at a Halloween party, and my sister-in-law commenting at how intense I looked while I was playing
- Creating the alias “Tito Sanchez” for reasons I cannot recall
- Going to a corn maze and haunted house with a group of friends, and being thought of as a goofball (not in a good way) by the females of the bunch.
- Playing Magical Starsign in the upstairs storeroom of Toys ‘R’ Us instead of working
- My brother’s friend Brent dressing as a woman for Halloween, and being called “Brenta” for many years afterwards
- Not giving out free cookies to trick-or-treaters at Tim Hortons
- Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, for some reason. I don’t know why, because I never played that at Halloween time
- Pillsbury cookie rolls, with pumpkins coloured into them!
- Enjoying those cold, foggy mornings where nobody’s around and silence abounds
- The many times I said I’d participate in (or at least check out) a zombie walk, but never did
- Pumpkin pie
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Specifically, “This is Halloween”
The Alphabet of Music
If you’ve been around here long enough, reading that post title may immediately lead you to think that maybe I’ve started working on the increasingly-obsolete CD Archive. Or at the very least maybe I’ve made a WordPress-style page for it. No. No I have not.
It’s probably a slightly more interesting story in reality. Probably.
I have a long work day. It consists of a 40-minute bus ride to work, eight-and-a-half hours in the office, and then another 40-minute (if traffic is light) bus ride back home. So I listen to a lot of music via my iPhone, not unlike many other downtown-based drones. I’ve noticed that over the last few months I’ve been falling back on one or two albums to listen to for so long, until I pop a new one on there and it replaces one of the old ones.
Not a huge deal in itself, but I feel bad for neglecting the other 95% of the music on there, so I decided to do something radical. No, I did not hit the shuffle button, that would offend my OCDishness far too much. Instead, I decided that for the past week, I would listen to one album for each letter in the alphabet, in alphabetical order. It’s not really the best way to spice up my listening tendencies, but it’s something.
I might also mention that the mix of music on my phone is a little past eccentric. I’ve got everything from classic rock to nerdcore rap to classical. From Ke$ha to Hawksley Workman to Ghost Hounds. I have both the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtrack and Dustin Kensrue’s Please Come Home on there. It’s varied, and while it’s not all in the best of taste, it’s all squarely in my taste. So go suck and egg if you don’t like it.
Because I will take any reason to make up a list, the results of my project and some musings are after the jump.
Share It Maybe
You can probably guess that I’m not a huge Carly Rae Jepsen fan. She’s pretty much the embodiment of cookie cutter pop music. Nothing special or original going on there. Anyway, it seems that one song, “Call Me Maybe,” has become something of an internet meme. Which would annoy me if her music was bad, but as it is she’s merely uninteresting. Far more tolerable, but a bit less hilarious than Rebecca Black.
Anyway, here’s the best thing I’ve seen to come from this particular meme.
Awesome stuff like this is why Sesame Street has persisted so long in such a cynical world as ours. Also, check out this hilarious video with Kermit and Cookie.