Kiss
with Ted Nugent and Skid Row
Friday June 23, 2000 @ Air Canada Centre in Toronto

This is the first real all out stadium rock show I have been to. I think the reasons are pretty obvious. Tickets for these kinds of shows are pretty expensive, and most huge rock bands simply suck. Kiss are an exception to the rule. The tickets were not cheap, that’s for sure, but with Kiss you know you are going to get your money’s worth. We wanted the best, and we definitely got the best.

None of us are hardcore Kiss fans, and in a lot of ways we had decided to go to this concert just because we thought it would be an amusing experience. The audience at a Kiss show is really strange. You see a lot of older people with their kids there, as well as the typical metalheads and stoners, and just average every day people. Fun for the whole family!We were lucky enough to have the people sitting beside us headbanging and smoking pot all night long. That was cool. It’s always fun to see the painted faces and costumes as well. Some of us painted our faces, and wore various heavy metal attire to effectively blend in with the crowd.

We missed Skid Row, which was a big disappointment. The show started really early. We never did find out if Sebastian Bach was actually playing with the band, or if he was off doing his own shit. Last I heard he was doing stuff on Broadway or something. Unfortunately, we did happen catch most of Ted Nugent’s set.

All I can say is that The Nuge is a total jackass. Not only is his music shit, but he has some fucked up views on the world that he tries to push on people. He made various racist and totally ignorant comments throughout his set. It was disturbing to say the least. Normally I would just dismiss it as part of his act, which he uses to get people riled up but the thing that bugged me is that so many people were applauding the things he said. I don’t really expect a lot of the stoners to have brains, but I was just thinking about the number of impressionable young kids that were probably in the audience that night.

He came out on stage for his encore wearing a huge indian headress and a shirt with the confederate flag on it. Then he ended his set off by bringing out his bow and arrow and saying “They can’t take my weapons away from me!” and muttering “Sacrifice the buffalo!” as he took aim and fired a flaming arrow at his amp and ignited some sort of pyrotechnic device.

Anyways, The Nuge and his redneck ranting were soon forgotten.On stage they erected a huge tent with the Kiss logo emblazoned on it. Behind the tent you could make out silhouettes of the crew members as they went about their job of setting up the various stage props and assembling other apparatus. (or is that apparati?) The suspense was starting to build. In the meantime we went out into the halls and examined the various overpriced t-shirts that were available for purchase.

It wasn’t too long before the tent finally dropped with a blast of pyrotechnics and Kiss were lowered down from a giant platform in the middle of the stage. They opened with Detroit Rock City, no doubt thinking that they had attracted a bunch of new fans with that movie. They probably did, I know that it played a part in our presence there that night.

This show was billed as the Kiss Farewell Tour. Who knows if it will really be the last time they are together, but they were certainly milking it for all it’s worth. After every song Paul Stanley would be like “People we love you! And this is the last time we will be here, but don’t be sad! It’s a happy occasion!”

Each band member had their own “solo” time on stage. Ace Frehley engaged in a lengthy guitar solo (it wasn’t as impressive as it sounds) and then soloed the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. That was pretty funny. Gene Simmons’ solo was also particularly memorable. They turned down the lights as he performed a demonic bass solo, during which he spit blood. Then he was hoisted up to a platform in the rafters and played the opening bass line for 100,000 Years, after which the rest of the band rejoined him onstage.

For me I think my favourite part of the show was when Paul Stanley was hoisted out to a small stage in the middle of the crowd while they played “Love Gun”. He looked so funny strutting around in his custom made platform shoes and wiggling his ass. Although Paul Stanley’s sexual orientation is clearly an issue for debate, you can’t deny that he is one of the most charismatic people in the world. He should run for president.

Another memorable performance was the song “Heaven’s On Fire”, where huge flames erupted during the chorus, and even up in the upper levels where we were sitting you could feel the heat coming off them.

We unanimously agreed that the cheesiest part of the show came towards the end, when Peter Criss delivered his rendition of Beth, complete with prerecorded piano in the background. And of course, the final song they performed was Rock And Roll All Night. I’m glad they didn’t go too overboard with the encores, because some bands just don’t know when to quit, but Kiss have the live show down to a science.

Now obviously I’ve never seen any other Kiss performances, but I have they feeling that they do pretty much the same live show for every tour. You definitely get your money’s worth, but I don’t think I would pay a lot of money just to see the same show over again. Maybe 20 years from now when they are decrepit old men in wheelchairs and they do the Old Men in Makeup Reunion tour I will be willing to shell out again.

Overall, the music was rockin, the pyrotechnics were dazzling, and the vibe was amazing. I know that it’s all part of the act, but Kiss come across as some of the most honest and genuine rock stars ever. They certainly know how to put on a show, and this easily ranks as one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. — Sean

River City Ransom (NES)
Developed by: American Technos Inc.

This was one of my favourite games for the NES.It was somewhat unique because it combined arcade fighting style games like Double Dragon with some elements of the RPG genre. It’s your basic street brawl setting, but throughout the game you interact with characters and stock up on items to help you along the way. Granted, the character interaction is pretty limited, and the items don’t do much more than help you regain your strength. However, your character has attributes that increase as you gain experience, such as Stamina, Defense, Will Power, and Strength. This is something that hadn’t really been done before with a fighting game.

The storyline behind the game is predictable but fun. Alex and Ryan are straight A students, and the one day they decide to cut class, some jackass named Slick took over their high school and kidnapped Ryan’s girlfriend, Cyndi. So obviously the next step is to head over to River City High School, and attempt to rescue Ryan’s chick. Unfortunately, River City is overrun by many gangs, all of whom answer to Slick. To get to River City High, you will first have to defeat these various gangs and their leaders along the way.

Fortunately for you, most of the gangs aren’t all that tough. They’re just poseurs with hip names like The Home Boys and The Frat Guys. (Except for that gang of foreign exchange students called The Internationals. Those guys are tough, and they speak English surprisingly well…)

Each of the gangs are supposed to have different “personalities” and fighting proficiencies, and supposedly certain gangs have grudges against either Alex or Ryan. To be honest I never really noticed much of a difference in the gang behaviour, although certain gangs seem more likely to run away from you than others. The only thing that really changes from gang to gang is the colour of their clothes and the various witty phrases they spout off, depending on whether or not they are getting their asses kicked. Some of the cooler trash talking phrases include “How ’bout this?” and “Biff!”. Personally I always wished Alex and Ryan would do some trash talking of their own during the game, but I guess we all know that heroes aren’t cocky. At least they weren’t back in the 80’s.

The characters in this game were cute and lovable, even though they were supposed to be bad ass thugs and ruffians. The artwork and animation was very cartoony in that Japanese style.There were about 5 or 6 different character templates, and each gang would consist of some combination of these characters, just wearing different coloured shirts and with different names.(American Technos later used the exact same character design and controls for Super Dodgeball, another excellent game.)

There are little details in this game that set itself apart from all the other fighting games out there. For one, they attempted to make every character in the game a unique individual. There are no hordes of nameless thugs in River City Ransom, no sir. Sure they may all look pretty much the same, but the creators of the game spent a lot of time picking out a different name for each of them.

I really liked this game because of the fact that it actually felt like you were in a real city. Unlike most side-scroller fighting games, you could go back to areas you had visited, and at some points in the game, you actually HAVE to go back to these other areas in order to beat some of the bosses.

Of course, perhaps the coolest things about this game was the shopping malls which you come across throughout your trek across the city. In each of the malls there are various stores and restaurants where you can buy food and vitamins to replenish your energy and increase your strength. There is plenty of variety in food; River City has everything from Chinese food to Sushi to Fast Food to French Cuisine. My favourite was always Merv’s Burger Joint, where you get service with a smile.

The shopping malls were cool cause you could even buy strange items like CDs and toys, which, believe it or not, actually increase some of your player’s attributes. Who would have thought that a Soul music cd could increase one’s agility? Buying useless items is always worthwhile for the endearing remarks that the game makes when they are used. For instance, when you use a cd, “hot tunes fill the air”, or when you buy a teddy bear, Alex hugs it when no one is looking. How cute! The Burb Village also offers nice relaxing saunas to our heroes, which is always memorable because you get to see Alex and Ryan’s butts.

So where do you get the money to pay for all this stuff? Well, after wiping the floor with a bunch of strung out gang members, Alex and Ryan always remember to steal their money too. I think the shopkeepers must have been pissed off that Alex and Ryan always paid with handfuls of coins, seeing as that’s all the defeated gang members ever seem to have on them.

Another aspect of RCR’s realism is the variety of weapons that are available in the game, and how they all react with other objects in the game. If you have a tire, and you throw it at someone, it rolls along the ground for a while, before losing momentum and falling on its side. While it is rolling, someone can actually jump up on the tire and ride it as it moves. Also you can kick boxes, garbage cans and other objects so that they slide across the floor. If someone throws a rock at you, you can use a bat or a chain to hit the rock back at the person who threw it. Sometimes when playing a two player game we would set up Alex and Ryan “baseball” games. That got boring really fast, but still, the realism of the game always intrigued me.

I think this is why the game had so much replay value to it. Even after I beat the game, it still remained fun to play. You could be as creative as you wanted because the fighting techniques were so unlimited when compared with the basic punch and kick button tapping games that were common at this time.

It was especially fun to play with two players. In River City Ransom, you can accidentally hit your partner, so sometimes you just get pissed off at each other and Alex and Ryan start duking it out between themselves.

If RCR has a weakness it is probably in the fact that it is a little too easy. If you play long enough and build up a bit of money, you can purchase certain books that teach you some killer techniques, such as Stone Hands, which teaches you punch really fast, or the aptly titled Javelin Man, which allows you to use a fallen enemy as a deadly weapon against his friends. Once you have special skills such as these in your repertoire, you are pretty much unstoppable. Easy games can be kind of disappointing, but on the other hand, they are accessible to a wider variety of gamers, so I guess that’s a good thing.

This game had a unique style all on its own. The realism, and excellent play controls, and the fun little inside jokes make this game tops in my book. Did I mention that the music ruled?River City Ransom was loads of fun and for me it was definitely one of the most memorable games from the 8 bit NES days. I think they made a sequel to the game in Japan, but I don’t know if it ever made its way to North America. If you’ve never played this game, I highly recommend downloading an emulator and finding a copy of the ROM because this is a classic in every sense of the word. — Sean

Bless The Child
Directed by: Chuck Russell
Written by: Cathy Cash Spellman (novel), Thomas Rickman, Clifford Green, Ellen Green
Starring: Kim Basinger, Christina Ricci, Rufus Sewell

I really don’t know why I went to see this movie. I saw the previews for it and I thought it looked ridiculous. But there was nothing else that I wanted to see, and we were going to a movie, so this was the choice.

As it turns out, Bless The Child is a bad conglomeration of every other popular movie from the past year or two. For the most part, I had a hard time paying attention to what was going on because I was too busy pondering all the different movies that it reminded me of. Some movies that come to mind are The Green Mile, End of Days, Stigmata, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Seven, The Ninth Gate, and even Eyes Wide Shut and Dogma to an extent. I can’t really go into the details of all the similarities without giving too much of the movie away, but there were certain scenes that were reminiscent of these other films, and certain plot elements that seemed to have been pilfered from them.

Bless The Child is another one of those religious thriller type movies where the world’s saviour comes from somewhere you least expect it to. This time the saviour is a young child, the daughter of a heroin addict, who is abandoned and brought up by her aunt (Kim Basinger). The movie is also mixed with the serial killer thing, with the typical detective and police backdrop. This is where Jimmy Smits’ character comes into play. His character as the police detective was the most realistic, but also the most pointless.

The movie was really poorly written. There is a whole chunk of the movie in the middle that serves no purpose other than to stretch the film’s total running time. There are a number of scenes where suspense is built up, only to have the scene end and the suspense dissolve suddenly with the plot and characters completely unchanged. Any little spurts of momentum that they build up simply fizzle out a few minutes later.

Towards the end of the movie, I just didn’t care about what was going on anymore. I actually started thinking it would be nice to just get up and walk out of the movie, which is something I never do. There is nothing to push the story along; they never tell you what the stakes are. All you know is that there is a “satanic” cult, and they want turn this child to the dark side because she has been “blessed”. There is never any further explanation about what would happen if she is turned to the dark side. Normally I would expect in a movie like this, the world’s fate would hang in the balance. Not this time though. Basically, the only thing that hangs in the balance is the fate of the girl herself.

I find that often religious movies can be the scariest, because religion permeates our culture so much, and the existence of God and Satan always seems to be a grey area for many of us.The concept of satanic cults can be chilling if done properly, because we know that such things do exist in the real world. Bless The Child simply does not do it properly. They throw out a few cheesy explanations of ancient symbols and markings and expect that to be frightening in and of itself. There is nothing scary about it. The movie does manage to cause you to jump a few times, I will give them that. However, they try to force scenes to be dramatic or powerful by using slow motion or by hitting you over the head with choir music. Towards the end, all I could think is that religious people must have been almost embarassed by the movie, because of the almost silly and corny way in which the heroes of the story pray to God in order to defeat the bad guys.

Who is the genius that decided Kim Basinger should play the lead role in a thriller/action movie? She seemed very out of place in Bless The Child. She showed little to no emotion in this movie, and whenever she had to participate in some sort of physical stunt, it seemed like it was always in slow motion to disguise the fact that she just looks awkward and goofy.

Rufus Sewell (from Dark City) also plays a key role in Bless The Child. He is the leader of a cult who has a warm and inviting exterior which hides his inner evil. It is a role that was perfectly suited for him, but unfortunately his character is so poorly written that he looks like a jackass. I found myself often laughing at things he said that were supposed to sound angry and menacing.

The kid in the movie, Holliston Coleman, didn’t do too bad a job, but on the other hand, all she really had to do was sit there and say nothing through the whole movie. I think there are a lot of kids out there who could do that.

Perhaps the only reason to see this movie is because Christina Ricci is in it. Unfortunately, she is in the movie for all of 10 minutes.

As I look back over what I’ve just written, I realize that it sounds like I really hated this movie. In actual fact, this movie isn’t any worse than a lot of the other crap that has been shown in theatres this year, it’s just that I seem to be getting more and more cynical. I’m sick of seeing good ideas recycled a million times. If you can somehow ignore the many flaws in this movie, then it may serve to keep you entertained for its entire duration. I would tell you that your money would be better spent on a different movie, but there really isn’t anything out there right now that is worth your money anyways. — Sean

Perfect Dark (N64)
Developed by: Rare
Published by: Nintendo

This review is probably just going to confirm what most gamers already know: Rare makes some damn good games. Who knows where the hell Nintendo would be without them.

Perfect Dark is the “unofficial sequel” to Goldeneye for the N64. Instead of making another game with the James Bond franchise however, Rare opted to create their own characters and storyline. And what a storyline it is! Rare kept the espionage theme from Bond, but they have also added a sci-fi element to the story. It breaks down like this: You are Agent Joanna Dark, and your mission is to infiltrate the headquarters of a corporation called dataDyne. Recent events would seem to suggest that they are involved in some sort of alien conspiracy, and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. Most of the plot is a mystery that slowly unravels as you progress throughout the game.

When I first heard about this game I asked myself how they could possibly improve upon Goldeneye. Goldeneye was an amazing game with a lot of detail, great play control, and great replay value. The overachievers at Rare, however, knew exactly how high the expectations were, and they didn’t simply give Goldeneye a facelift, they made vast improvements in every area while keeping the basic Goldeneye play controls.

First of all, there is a vast assortment of new weapons in Perfect Dark.For the most part, I think that guns are guns, and this type of thing doesn’t really make much difference to me. However, there are some pretty cool new guns including the Laptop gun, which is disguised as a laptop computer, and the Dragon, which is an assault rifle/grenade launcher combo. There is also a strange yet powerful new weapon called the Farsight, which allows you to locate and shoot an opponent through walls. You don’t want to let this one fall into your enemy’s hands, trust me!

Another cool thing about the weapons in this game is that every weapon has a secondary function, most of which come in extremely handy. For instance, the Laptop Gun can be deployed as a perimeter sentry which will fire at anyone who comes near it, and the Dragon can be set to self-destruct, creating a huge explosion. You even have a secondary function when you are unarmed; instead of trying to knock out the opponent, you can try to disarm them and steal their gun instead.

Yet another interesting feature in Perfect Dark is that when you get punched by an opponent or hit with a poison tipped dart, your vision temporarily blurs. The effect feels very realistic, to say the least.

Joanna Dark also has access to some neat gadgetry that even Mr. Bond was never fortunate enough to have. One of these neat little toys is the CamSpy, which is a floating camera that can access areas that are impossible for Joanna to reach on her own.

Putting aside all the new weapons and gadgetry however, I think perhaps the most important improvement in Perfect Dark is the focus on enemy artificial intelligence. In Goldeneye, the difficulty level was increased in the missions mainly by throwing more opponents at you, or by giving the opponents more firepower or higher accuracy. In Perfect Dark, the challenge feels much more realistic because of the fact that the opponents actually have varying degrees of intelligence and different personalities/behavioural patterns.

This also makes the multiplayer mode a whole new ball game. You don’t even need to have friends to play a multiplayer game, because you can play against computer simulants, up to 8 at a time.Not only can you play against simulants, but you can also team up with simulants. Under these circumstances, you can give your artificial teammates general orders such as Hold, Protect, Follow or Attack.

There are also some really cool new multiplayer options that combine the typical “deathmatch” scenario with the solo missions. You can tackle the solo missions with a friend in co-operative mode, or you can compete against a friend in counter-operative mode. To explain the counter-operative mode a little further, one player takes the role of Joanna Dark, while the other player is able to control each of the bad guys in that level. I don’t know if that has ever been done before in another game, but I think it’s an amazing idea.

The only complaint I have about the game is that it requires the use of an N64 Memory Expansion Pak to access most sections of the game. You can’t do much more than play the solo combat challenges against computer simulant opponents unless you have the Expansion Pak. Of course, this isn’t really a flaw in the game, it is more of a minor annoyance. After having played the game, it is easy to see why the extra memory is necessary. It is actually a notable achievement that they managed to make any portions of the game playable at all without the additional RAM. It is a pain to drop some extra cash on the expansion pak, especially considering the cost of N64 games, but quite honestly it is all worth it.

As with most of Rare’s games, they go above and beyond the call of duty to create a fully immersive world. I am always amazed at all of the little details in their games. In Goldeneye, I loved how if you shot at the ceiling, dust and debris would shower down on you. In Perfect Dark, on the very first level I found a cool little detail that once again attests to Rare’s brilliance. When you are on the roof of the building, if you look out at the skyline of the city, you will see little ships flying around in the night. For the fun of it I decided to target one of these little ships in the distance and squeeze the trigger. To my surprise, the ship exploded right before my eyes! Okay so maybe I’m just a geek, but little things like this really excite me. Suddenly the game seems so much more realistic, and as a player you feel like your actions are completely unrestricted.

There has been a lot of hype around this game, and I can honestly say that it is all well founded. Sure it’s another first person shooter, but it has a great story, and a lot of attention to detail. There is a lot more to Perfect Dark than just blowing away bad guys. On top of that, this game has the best multiplayer mode that has been seen on any N64 first person shooter to date. The options are virtually limitless.

Lately it seems that there aren’t many reasons to own a Nintendo 64 anymore. I am happy to report, however, that Perfect Dark is one game that will definitely make you want to hold onto that N64 system for just a little while longer. — Sean

Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
(Equal Vision)

Saves The Day are a band who are considered to be part of the emo scene and the hardcore scene without really belonging in either one. I suppose the emo label is obvious; a lot of their lyrics are about relationships and breaking up with girls and stuff, and they have that pretty boy image. I would say, however, that their music is a little too straightforward and not artsy enough to be called emo. On the other hand, they are clearly too melodic and poppy to be a hardcore band. If you ask me, they are a power pop band, plain and simple. That’s not a bad thing though, because they do it well.

Despite the title of the album (which they ripped off from a Devo song), Saves The Day are steadily gaining popularity.These guys definitely have some commercial potential, and there has been talk that they will be the next Blink 182, but I really doubt they will reach that level of mainstream success. Their music is too smart and the songs are too fast paced for the most of the mainstream music world to latch on to.

Saves The Day are huge fans of the band Lifetime and it really shines through in their music to the point where Through Being Cool sounds like it could have been the latest Lifetime album if they were still together nowadays.Every song on the album has its moments, butI think the most solid track is You Vandal, which features thundering drums, thick guitars, and a fun, melodic sing-along chorus.

The lead singer of Saves The Day has a very distinctive voice and style of singing. I would think that one’s opinion of this band is heavily dependent on one’s opinion of his singing. If you find his singing is too whiny or too poppy for your tastes, then it will probably be difficult to look past this as you listen to the cd. On the other hand, if you think the singing is catchy and you find the melodies sticking in your head for days, then this cd will never leave your stereo. — Sean

Timecode
Written and Directed by: Mike Figgis
Starring: Xander Berkeley, Golden Brooks, Richard Edson, Salma Hayek, and many more

When I hear someone refer to a film as “experimental”, I often think of something that is artsy, strange, and hard to understand. To some extent, these observations can be true. Timecode, however, is truly an experimental film, not because it is artsy and strange, but rather, because it tries something with the medium that has never been done before. (At least, not to my knowledge.) And as with most experiments, it was somewhat unknown exactly what the resulting film would look like.

In Timecode, the movie screen is divided up into 4 frames, and each frame simultaneously displays different footage. The action that occurs in each frame is not completely random however. There is a story, and the different frames simply present what different characters are doing at the same moment in time.

The movie was shot in 4 consecutive takes, one for each camera, and the actors improvised around a basic story outline. That being said, you have to give a lot of credit to the actors in this movie for making it more than just an experiment by giving the movie substance and by bringing forth some memorable characters.

When I first heard about this movie, I was very interested just to find out what the viewing experience would be like. As the movie starts, they try to ease you into the odd format by starting with one frame, and then slowly introducing the other 3 frames. It still takes some getting used to however. At first you have the urge to try and take in every detail. Your eyes will flit back and forth between the different frames, afraid of missing an important part of the story.

Viewing becomes easier however, once you learn to allow the sound mixing to direct your attention. When the sound for one particular frame becomes louder than the others, you focus on that one instead. In addition to this, many of the scenes are slow and drawn out anyways, so there really is no risk of missing out on anything important.

The story itself is not really much of a story; in reality it exists only to facilitate the unique method of storytelling. It doesn’t really lead anywhere, but you are so busy enjoying the multiple camera experience that you don’t really care. What is important here is how the story is told, rather than the story itself. This is one of the reasons why you can miss some of the action going on in the various frames without detracting from your enjoyment of the movie.Actually, I think that if there was a really involved story going on, it would probably be frustrating to watch in this manner.One thing I would like to note is that the movie is quite humourous. There are a lot of amusing characters and funny moments, even early on, but personally I didn’t catch on to the humour until I had gotten comfortable with the viewing process.

In Timecode, they use the multiple camera effect in some really interesting ways. There are some particularly cool moments when different characters converge on a scene together and so you see the action unfold from two (or more) different angles. There is also a lot of interesting use of sound from different points of view. During a good portion of the movie one character plants a listening device on another character and eavesdrops, so you hear the dialogue from two points of view.

Another thing that I noticed is that there were some points in the movie where the images in each of the 4 frames suddenly mirror each other almost exactly. This was obviously planned by the director, but it’s really cool how they match up at specific points in the movie, which I suppose can be seen as a comment on the things in life that people all have in common.They used the multiple angles to do a lot of cool things, but for some reason I also strangely felt that there was some potential here for something more that was perhaps left untapped.

Timecode is definitely a movie intended for the attention deficit disorder generation, was a really innovative idea and I think everyone should see it just because it is a unique viewing experience. For obvious reasons, this is also a movie with a lot of replay potential. You’ll probably want to go back and watch it all over again to see what you missed the first time, but even if you only watch it once, you should feel satisfied and perhaps even somewhat enlightened. — Sean

Huevos Rancheros - Muerte Del Toro
(Mint)

Calgary’s Huevos Rancheros prefer to take their time when writing new material, and it was kind of disappointing to see that they could only manage 10 original tracks and 2 cover songs to follow up 1996’s 7 song Get Outta Dodge EP. After hearing the actual songs on the album however, my disappointment was completely forgotten. Huevos Rancheros are all about quality, not quantity.

Huevos Rancheros mix catchy surf melodies with a thick, powerful, rock and roll edge and an exotic mexican flavour. This time around Huevos decided to also add piano and organs to some of the tracks (courtesy of Pat McGannon) although this serves as more of an atmospheric touch, rather than an additional instrument. The guitar sounds a little more produced this time around, but guitarist Brent Cooper still manages to coax from it throbbing waves of fuzz and reverb in that Link Wray style.

The album gets off to a great start with a rockin’ cover of Diamond Head, followed by the song Beach Blanket Blackout, which previously appeared on the Del-Fi Surf Monsters compilation. The high point of the album however, comes during the 3 songs right smack in the middle of the track listing: the mellow yet melodic Ride, Cowboy, the galloping Wild Turkey Surprise, and then the double picking perfection of Trouble A Brewin’.

At times I am tempted to say that some of the songs are mediocre, and patched together only to stretch the album into a full length project. Upon closer inspection however, each song can hold its own. Although some tracks overshadow others, I don’t think Muerte Del Toro has any real weaknesses. As far as I’m concerned, they can keep writing songs at any pace they want, as long as they keep writing songs that are of this calibre. — Sean

Big D and the Kids Table - Good Luck
(Asian Man)

It is nice to see that there are still some really good ska punk bands out there. Big D and the Kids Table are good. Really good. They attack their instruments with energy and aggression, but they also understand the rhythm of ska at the same time, and fuse the two together. This is ska punk the way it was meant to be played.

The band has 9 members, and each member leaves a mark on the recording. The album features catchy horns used in all the right places, along with vocals that are a good balance between screaming, singing and group chanting. The high energy of the songs are held together and focused by an outstanding drummer who is amazingly quick on the hi-hat.They also prove that they can bring down the intensity a notch while still laying down tight rhythms and melodic vocals, on the song “Gotta Find Out” and the acoustic title track “Good Luck”.

The lyrics mostly tackle the typical teenage insecurities and complex issues such as relationships, partying, and mustaches. It’s nothing brilliant, but it’s a lot of fun nonetheless.

Nowadays it takes a lot for a ska punk band to stand out above the crowd. At a time when most ska punk bands are eliminating the ska from the repertoire, Big D and the Kids Table have forged ahead and put out one hell of an album. Good Luck is infectious, fun, and highly recommended listening. — Sean

At The Drive-In/Sunshine Split EP
(Big Wheel Recreation)

Let me just start by clearing something up right away: this cd doesn’t come with a cover. That’s right, it’s just a cd sitting in the case, with the band info and track listing underneath the cd and on the back. Weird huh? Yeah I guess.

Anyways, this is a little teaser that At The Drive-In put out to whet people’s appetite for their upcoming full length, Relationship of Command. Like people’s appetites weren’t already whetted enough.

It is actually a split CD EP with 2 tracks from ATDI and 3 tracks from a Czechoslovakian band called Sunshine. I kind of half expected to find out that Sunshine was an At The Drive-In side project (a couple of the members are in a dub band as well), but apparently Sunshine are a real electronic band.

The 3 songs from Sunshine are actually 3 different mixes of a song called Streamlined. The first version of the song sounds pretty cool; a steady drum beat with echoing guitar effects and weird noises, along with faintly strangled vocals. After I got to the third version of the song I was beginning to get a little tired of hearing looped beats over and over again.

The first At The Drive-In song is called Extracurricular, and it is one of the best songs I have ever heard from them. It is hard hitting and aggressive with quirky guitar riffs mixed in. The second song, called Autorelocator, is a long electronic song. It creates an interesting atmosphere, but again, it tends to get boring after a while. It is completely unlike anything At The Drive-In have done before and it is an interesting experiment, nothing more, nothing less.

As far as I’m concerned, I only bought this EP for the song Extracurricular. It is worth buying the EP just to have this one amazing song, but if that song turns up on the new album, then I can guarantee you that this CD EP is just going to sit on my shelf and collect dust. — Sean

Mission: Impossible 2
Directed by: John Woo
Written by: Bruce Geller (TV Series), Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Robert Towne
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton

The first thing that struck me about Mission Impossible 2 is that it is NOT a Mission Impossible movie. MI:2 is nothing like the first Mission Impossible movie; there is no complicated conspiracy plot, there is very little cool spy gadgetry, and there are no original characters are in it (they were all killed off in the last one). The only clues that remind you that this is still a Mission Impossible movie are Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, and the face mask disguise technology, which is used quite a bit in this movie.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Mission Impossible 2 isn’t a lot of fun. In fact, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at a movie in a long time!

First of all, MI:2 is directed by Hong Kong action movie director John Woo (who has worked with the “face mask” thing before in Face/Off), and I can assure you that if you love Woo you will love MI:2. All his trademarks are here… doves, flames reflected in the eyes, slow motion action sequences with ridiculous amounts of bullets being fired… A lot of people complain that John Woo is cheesy and melodramatic, but I don’t see why this is such a bad thing! Sure, he may not be corny on purpose, but that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh at it.

Secondly, the whole plot is really laughable. Basically Tom Cruise has to recruit this sexy female thief for the mission (which he does in total James Bond fashion) and then she must infiltrate the enemy base by hooking up with an ex-boyfriend and find out what they are up to. It’s something about biological viruses and stuff, I didn’t quite catch it all. Anyways, the plot is complicated by the fact that somehow Cruise falls in love with her after spending one night with her.. yeah right.

Then there is the matter of the soundtrack. There is no trace of cool spy music here, only loud metal bands playing bad ass headbanging riffs. You can only imagine how amusing it is to watch Tom Cruise’s character trying to sneak around while Limp Bizkit’s version of the Mission Impossible theme is blaring in the background.

The first half of the movie was actually kind of boring. I guess it was only there to establish the paper thin plot (as if it really needs setting up). After this however, the action gets pretty intense. If you are hoping for character development somewhere in there, you are watching the wrong movie. MI:2 is a big budget James Bond influenced action movie. Nothing more, and nothing less. And there is nothing wrong with that, especially when John Woo is at the helm.

Overall, I have to say that Mission:Impossible 2 kicks ass.As long as you don’t take this movie too seriously, you will definitely be entertained. — Sean