Just in case you missed the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), here's a full look at one of Sony's biggest exclusive titles, God of War III.
Protoculture: God of War III Footage
Review: Passion Pit Concert 6/17/09
I guess I should start with a little backstory for perspective's sake. So, you probably all know by now that the Cambridge based electro-pop quintet known as Passion Pit has had some success as of late with their 2008 EP, Chunk of Change, and 2009 LP, Manners. From massive successes of both of these albums--and the help of a little super-hit entitled "Sleepyhead"-- Passion Pit have been blowing up the music scene and are capitalizing on their success by going on tour.
Until two days ago, I was not planning on attending any leg of this tour, as I was sure that there was no day and location listed that would allow me to see them easily. But, by some freak combination of timing and luck, I found out that I was in frontman Mike Angelakos' stomping grounds (Buffalo, New York) at the time that he was going to show up with his band and have a little homecoming hooplah at the awesomely named venue, Mohawk Place. There was only one problem though: the show was sold out and had been for weeks.
Being the weird, music-loving person I am though, I showed up to Mohawk Place at the advertised starting time of 8pm to find out for myself. Indeed, they were sold out, so I decided that--instead of going right back home feeling crummy about the whole thing--I would instead stand outside in the rain asking people for extra tickets feeling crummy about the whole thing. Eventually, it seemed no tickets were to be had, but the doorman felt so bad for me that he let me in (for five bucks more than the price of a regular ticket) at around 10:45pm, which was just three songs into Passion Pit's set.
So, now for the actual review: Passion Pit wasn't very good. More specifically, the set only lasted for about 45 minutes total (including the songs I missed outside and the encore), and they had a somewhat poorly paced and oddly selected setlist. Of course, they played their two singles, but only one of them actually sounded decent. Almost all the songs besides those were pretty coolly received by the crowd; that is, besides the inevitable freak outs in the very front rows. I was also really hoping they would play "Cuddle Fuddle" at some point, but they opted instead to play things like "I've Got Your Number" and "Let Your Love Grow Tall," both of which seemed to translate rather poorly to a live setting.
For a concert that was essentially a homecoming for Angelakos, who used to be the frontman for Buffalo's own ska/punk outfit, Cherry Bing, it wasn't the super thrilling show I was expecting it to be. Actually, now that I think about it, almost nothing exciting happened that wasn't crowd induced. Case and point: when "Sleepyhead" inevitably came on, the place went nuts, with people crowd-surfing all over the place and dudes hanging from the rafters, but the song started with what sounds like sampling error (it was a bit out of sync) and then went on to be one of the weakest vocal performances by Angelakos and the rest of the band. I hope it was just an off day for their sake, because if they cannot pull off decent performances of one of the main reasons why so people know/like who they are, Passion Pit is in trouble.
The band then went on to play a couple more tunes that were greeted with some ho-hum responses, but then ended their first set with an awesome rendition of their other single "The Reeling." Now personally, I think the band should push that song in a live setting more often because, not only is it easily recognizable, but it also has those chants of "Oh nooo" that allow for good crowd interactivity and an all around good time. They nailed that song, and it serves as my one glimmer of hope that Passion Pit will eventually be great performers one day.
Other than that though, I have to say that this concert was one of the most expensive wastes of time I've ever been to. So with that, here's my recommendation: either get really cheap tickets if you have a proverbial hard on for Passion Pit, or wait until someone tells you of a good live experience with them. Until then, just enjoy the fact that they can make a satisfying album.
I'll leave you with their video of their performance of "Sleepyhead" that night. If you think it was 'good enough,' I guess you should go and see them.
Song of the Week: AA Bondy - "Vice Rag"
AA Bondy grabs this week's song of the week because of his unique ability to write a nice folksy summer tune that has some of the most depressing lyrics I've ever heard. Oddly enough though, the song always makes me feel good, and hopefully it does the same for you.
Review: Battlestar Galactica Season One
Going into this summer, I discovered that Sci Fi's critically acclaimed show, Battlestar Galactica, had recently aired its final episode. As one that can almost never follow an ongoing TV show on a regular basis, this discovery is what finally spurred me into checking it out. Since the summer began, I have been making it part of my regimen to watch at least one episode a week so that I can eventually make it through the series and have a better idea of what makes this show one of the Best 100 TV shows of All Time. Fortunately, Battlestar Galactica makes this an easy task, as it is such an excellent program that I have wasted more than a few beautiful summer days camped out in front of my television trying to cure myself of a bad case of 'ZOMG-what-happens-next' fever, and Season One of Battlestar is surely capable of giving all but the most elitist or anti-sci-fi fans this malady.
The show tells the same story we heard back when the first iteration of the show aired back in 1978 of the war between the humans and machines referred to as 'cylons.' Humanity lived comfortably on twelve colonies until a traitor known as Baltar allowed for cylons to attack the twelve colonies, forcing the remains of the human race to flee, boarding whatever ships they could in hopes of some day escaping the cylon forces and finding the fabled thirteenth colony known as 'Earth.'
From the very first episode, Battlestar Galactica immediately dumps you into the action, starting with the intense back-end of the escape from the initial cylon threat; crews haven't slept in days and the cylons seem within reach of eradicating the human race. It is this intensity that makes Battlestar Galactica a gripping program, and the show's reimaginers, David Eick and Ronald D. Moore, only ease the tension slightly to later ratchet it up even further throughout the show's first year, making for an incredibly tight, high-impact narrative that will leave you most assuredly wanting more.
With a strong cast composed of established actors like Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama) and Mary McDonnell (President Roslin) as well as relative newcomers Katee Sackhoff ("Starbuck"), Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), and Tricia Helfer (Number Six), the show never feels like it has to lean too heavily upon one role or another. The great thing about this is that the show tends to weave together several plotlines that involve entirely different characters, and, without high quality acting, some narratives might come off as particularly weak, but this is not the case for Battlestar, and it is these strong side plots that help build a more believable and involved universe; a key ingredient in making a quality sci-fi show.
While the phrase 'weave together several plotlines' may seem like either a way to postpone some inevitable plot point or create confusion among viewers, Eick and Moore handle the intricacies of parallel drama deftly in Season One such that viewers are shown a wide variety of the happenings in the human fleet, but are always kept constantly aware of humanity's main goal of surviving the cylon attacks and trying to find Earth. This 'all killer, no filler' formula for a show that--by the way--has some of the best special effects I've seen on TV, makes Battlestar Galactica's first season an incredible first step in the right direction of compelling sci-fi drama.