Wax lyrical

For some reason, I've been thinking about song lyrics recently. So, in tribute to these random thoughts, and with the help of Google, I've listed a few of my favourite lines from songs over the years...

"Ransom paid the devil, he whispers pleasing words, triumphant are the angels, if they get there first"

"I want something good to die for, to make it beautiful to live"

"The farther I fall, I'm beside you, As lost as I get I will find you"

"Why don't you close your eyes and reinvent me?"

"So brown eyes I hold you near, 'cause you're the only song I want to hear, a melody softly soaring through my atmosphere"

"And I still remember, Your sweet everything"

"All in all theres something to give, all in all theres something to do, all in all theres something to live, with you..."

"All these other flaws, will lead to mine"

"She'll come back as fire, to burn all the liars, and leave a blanket of ash on the ground"

"Its something I have to do, I was there too, Before everything else, I was like you"

Woah. After reading some of those lyrics, it all sounds like doom and gloom, or oddly soppy romantic gestures. Just to prove it ain't all serious here at HQ, I've gathered a few more light-hearted lyrics that make me laugh...

"We're driving Lamborghinis, and we're sipping on martinis, we're slurping on linguinis, but we're spying on bikinis"

"I summon up the power of banana clan!"

"You know my name, now give me my money!"

"Freak with a mask, and it ain't even Halloween!"

"Your game is weak, you geek, so don't sleep, Cuz I'll be checking and wrecking ya"

"Play in the rain and don't get wet, walk through the desert and don't even sweat, play in the snow and don't get cold, I'm just a cool young brother who looks kinda old"

This was fun. I might do it again soon.

Thursday Night Film Review

Saw "Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" on Thursday night.

Don't bother. I'm not even gonna check if I got the spelling of Talledega right. Most of the funny scenes were in the preview/ads, and even then, some of those scenes didn't seem to make it to the final theatrical cut. The preview for the Borat movie was funnier than this entire film.

Will Ferrell, you can better. Much better. Even Tom Cruise or the baby Jesus couldn't help you...

Zombie nation

After a quiet period on my Xbox 360, where I've really only being playing Halo 2 or re-visiting Ghost Recon, I was excited to notice that, finally, after a lull in the available games (mainly due to the US summer, when apparently even geeks need to get out in the sun, and thus games companies don't release many new titles), there have been a few good new games released for the 360. The game I've been eagerly awaiting is Dead Rising, which I bought over the weekend.

Dead Rising is all about zombies. Lots of zombies.

The game draws many similarities with George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead", about zombies in a shopping mall. You play as a photojournalist, who is searching for the scoop of a lifetime and has heard something is "up" in a small country town. You are flown in by helicopter and dropped on the roof of a shopping mall, determined to find out what is going on. You've got 3 days (game time) to survive, and thousands of zombies to avoid.

Dead Rising is crazy. The shopping mall has been constructed amazingly well, with all sorts of plazas, food courts, cinemas etc. The zombies are awesome; gory, shuffling monstrosities, intent of eating you alive. And thanks to the abilities of the Xbox, there are literally hundreds of zombies on screen at once. Makes for a pretty intense atmosphere... you, a deserted shopping mall (with a handful of survivors, some helpful, some scared and some just plain psychopathic), and hundreds of zombies coming for you. Fortunately, you aren't without help. The number of weapons in this game is outstandingly brutal...everything from baseball bats and golf clubs from the sports shop, chainsaws and hedge clippers from the hardware store, sledgehammers from the janitor's closet, through to guitars from the music store, pans from the cafes, rubbish bins, bowling balls, dumbbells...whatever you can pick up, you can kill zombies with. Attacking the zombies with each of these weapons creates nastily authentic sound effects and visuals, in conjunction with serious zombie carnage.

What more is there to say? Zombies. Crazy zombie violence. Awesome. (Apologies to anyone with zombie friends).

Sunday Night Movie Review

In the interests of light entertainment this afternoon, I went and saw "DOA: Dead or Alive" at the movies. There weren't too many other options (school holidays seemed to have brought out half a dozen kids animated movies about animals...), but we passed up "Nacho Libre", which may or may not be good (I suspect the trailer has the best scenes), to go for trashy.

In case anyone doesn't know, "Dead or Alive" is a console-based fighting game, including competitors such as ludicrously proportioned and costumed girls, big, hulking macho guys and the obligatory old school martial arts experts. Each character has a different fighting skill set, from martial arts to wrestling and just plain brawling. There is a crazy Japanese story behind all the fighting but... well, all I remember is that it gets pretty convoluted - evil corporations, fighting tournaments, enemies, friends, brothers, sisters etc etc.

The movie takes a number of aspects of the game and shifts them to the big screen. The basic premise of the movie is that a number of talented fighters have been invited to a tropical island to participate in an elimination style tournament to find the "best" fighter, and to win $10 million. The films starts out introducing a number of the female characters, who are really the main stars of the film, and proving their combat expertise... Jaime Pressly, Holly Valance and Devon Aoki among them. Yep, big names. We then move to the island, and get introduce to assorted background characters and fighters as the tournament begins. I won't try to follow the plot, it goes a bit all over the place, but suffice to say, you know you are in for an in-depth portrayal of a villain once Eric Roberts walks on to the screen.

Despite the fact that this film sounds like rubbish, it was actually surprisingly entertaining. There were heaps of fight sequences, and although they often utilised wire work and similar techniques seen in a number of martial arts films over the last half dozen years, the fights were actually quite well done and looked (somewhat) realistic i.e. you could actually see the actors punching and kicking, rather than just rapid editing during the action. For all the young boys and geeks out there (maybe I qualify here?), there were some rather gratuitous shots of the girls in assorted skimpy outfits or bikinis, including a very necessary beach volleyball game (referencing another game in the DOA world, which is based on volleyball).

So yeah, I kinda liked this movie. And not just for the eye candy. Considering my last computer game to movie conversion was "Bloodrayne", which was atrocious, "DOA" was a much more worthy waste of an afternoon.

Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills

I was on a tram yesterday, travelling along Swanston St past St Paul's church opposite Fed Square and Flinders St station. There was some scaffolding and temporary fencing around part of the church. There was some church advertising on some of the fencing, part of which proudly proclaimed "Faith in Skills".

I presume they were referring to nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, and computer hacking skills.

Old school geek fun

I spent the afternoon today playing Halo 2 online on my Xbox 360. Reminded me of a time long ago, about 15 or 16 years ago to be exact. Different game(s), same partner in crime. Always entertaining.

We might have been beaten in the vast majority of our matches, and the annoying twits still talk smack online before, during and after every game, but slowly, ever so slowly, I'm starting to get the hang of proceedings. I'm actually starting to manage some reasonable scores - I think my hand-eye coordination is finally starting to...well... coordinate.

Now if I can manage to convince a few others to buy 360s and get online, I might be able to get some genuine friendly competition going. It'll be a riot. And it'll give me an excuse to get rid of the guy who keeps sending me dozens of game invites every day. Dude, seriously, you'll never read this, but ease up. Please.

CD Review

At some point soon in time, I plan to write an article on "when good things go bad". No, that isn't a very bland reality TV show; rather, it is simply my opinion on when a few favourite things of mine, in particular bands and authors, have gone from being talented artists to boring wannabes that offer nothing new or exciting. Unfortunately, this phenomenon seems to be happening more and more frequently recently, making me wonder whether it is their (the artists) fault for losing touch, or my fault for just getting older, changing my tastes and just not agreeing some of my old preferences. But that is for another entry at another time...

The reason I began with that thought was that, until their most recent cd release, "Revelations", the rock band Audioslave were almost on this list. The formula was right... the instrumental section of Rage Against the Machine, a great foundation for a heavy duty rock assault, teamed with the voice of Soundgarden, Chris Cornell (who in my mind has one of the great rock voices - and screams - of all time). And yet, apart from the occasional reasonable track, I've thought their first two albums were average at best. The chemistry just wasn't there; the heavy tracks lacked an edge, the ballads were just dull. Very disappointing. I was definitely ready to give up on them.

However, Audioslave just released their new cd, and having heard a few small snippets of one or two tracks, I was pleasantly surprised by the groove behind the songs I heard, and thought I'd buy the cd and give them one last chance. Wow. Right decision. Revelations is a fantastic rock album, definitely the album Audioslave has been threatening to make since day one. It doesn't feel like one part RATM, one part Soundgarden; it finally sounds just like Audioslave. I find it really refreshing to hear a straight up good rock album, and not have to deal with all the crap around at the moment... the UK flavour of the month who will taste foul in two months time, the next Australian rock stars who are actually crap but no one will say that because they're Australia, so we have to support them... etc.

Favourite tracks of mine on the cd include Revelations, the opening track which starts gently but kicks along and sticks in your head once it begins, One and The Same, a track with the best guitar wah-wah I've heard in ages (Tom Morello is an amazing guitarist) and Broken City, which has the funkiest yet weirdest groove in a rock song that I can think of. I won't list every track here, but just about the entire album deserves a mention.

If you like authentic rock from some of the older, yet not forgotten, statesmen of the rock genre, get this album; I can't seem to get it off my iPod at the moment, which for me, is an impressive feat.

Friday Night Film Review

After the great meal at SOS (read the review below), we went and saw Clerks 2 at Hoyts Melbourne Central. I'd read some pretty average reviews, but this was always going to be one of those films that I'd go and see regardless of the reviews. I enjoy stupidity in movies sometimes. OK, so maybe a lot.

And oh my lord, was there stupidity? Hell yeah. Childish antics (any of Jay's behaviour), very crude humour (porn related conversations), more geek references per minute than probably any other film this year (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Transformers...etc). It was great.

For anyone who doesn't know the plot, well, there isn't much too it. Basically two long time friends who used to work in a convenience store (see Clerks, the original) have moved their employment to a fast food establishment. Rather than serving customers, they basically spend all day fooling around and talking shit. Hmmm, sounds like my days at work.

There is a slightly serious thread to the story, about growing up, "getting a life", and the importance of friendships and relationships. But you don't see Clerks 2 for a moral, you see Clerks 2 for the bad taste jokes and the rambling dialogue. And on that note, it delivers.

Friday Night Food Review

OK, new segment. as well as my random and rather pointless reviews of films, I'm also going to review restaurants I visit. First review... SOS @ Melbourne Central. We had dinner there on Friday night.

SOS is quite a unique venue, situated in a rather hidden corner of Melbourne Central on the food/bar/movie level. The entrance is hidden behind an automated sliding door; behind the door is a long dimly lit corridor, complete with a Japanese style rock garden/fake tree trunks as decoration. Exiting the corridor reveals the restaurant itself, complete with large central bar, long "communal" style tables, similar to Longrain, and a spacious balcony. After entering via the shopping centre, the views across Swanston St to the State Library are refreshingly unexpected. I would put the restaurant vista up with Verge and Taxi for impressive dining views.

Anyway, so what is a fine dining restaurant doing in the middle of a shopping centre? Quite incongruous...

I read somewhere that SOS is a "veg-aquarian" restaurant. Which basically means seafood and vegetarian dishes only, no meat or chicken. Still makes for a pretty tempting menu to choose from. My selections were; for entree, carpaccio and tartare of salmon with a black olive sauce and citrus fruits; for main course, ravioli filled with porcini and thyme, with butter and blueberries; for dessert, macaroon and white chocolate terrine with grapefruit sorbet and citrus salad.

Very very tasty, although I have to admit my selections were not so adventurous. I'm always a sucker for nice salmon, and the ravioli sounded so simple and tasty. I was maybe slightly underwhelmed by the entree; the salmon was lovely, but there perhaps wasn't enough overall flavour to the dish. The main course was great; 5 large ravioli pieces, with a delicious filling, and a rice buttery sauce. The blueberries were a strange but welcome addition. The dessert was fantastic, an explosion of sweet, sour and rich flavours; the white chocolate in the terrine was sweet, the delicate grapefruit sorbet had a great sour kick, and what I presume were alcohol soaked cherries buried in the terrine added the richness.

All in all, awesome company, great meal. Highly recommended, even if it is in a shopping centre. I can definitely see myself out on the balcony having a leisurely meal over spring or summer.

Slow to react

So I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Don't quite know why... some busy/dull days at work, some gloomy weather and not a whole lot of excitement I guess.

But I'll have some updates soon. Topics to include...
...Friday Night Film Review - "Clerks 2"
...dinner at SOS in Melbourne Central
...the return to form of Audioslave on their new cd
...when good stuff goes bad (in particular, authors and bands)

Sleep now.