Vivek’s Blog

As promised in a prior post, here goes a piece on music I’ve recently started liking.

Let me go artist-by-artist in no particular order.

1. Porcupine Tree

These guys are British and they make Art/Experimental/Prog Rock. I seem to have an affinity for Prog Rock and Porcupine Tree grabbed my attention from the very first song I played: Blackest Eyes off their 2002 album, In Absentia. I’ve been playing their stuff over and over again in the past 3-4 days and I love it! Their music reminds me of Pink Floyd and A Perfect Circle, both bands I like. Their music is vibrant and they incorporate a variety of styles into their songs. Must Listen! They are poised to dethrone Tool from the top position on my weekely charts - the first time since around April. Of course, that doesn’t mean another artist will best Tool in my eyes (or ears).

Recommended Tracks: Blackest Eyes, Trains, The Sound of Muzak, Pure Narcotic, Piano Lessons, Lightbulb, Strip the Soul, Stop Swimming

2. The Mars Volta

I just started listening to them today so I don’t have a concrete opinion yet. But from I’ve heard so far, they seem interesting to say the least.

3. The Living End

If you like Green Day, you are certain to love The Living End. This Australian Rockabilly/Punk Revival trio turn in energetic music that will put a smile on your face even if a lot of it is serious in tone. Their 2006 album, State of Emergency, has been refered to as American Idiot Part II and that is true to some degree. These guys have their own style what with the stand-up bass and Australian accents. The lead singer does sound somewhat like an Australian version of Bill Joe Armstrong and on the track “Wake Up,” the children will remind fans of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” All in all, a good band and definitely worth your time.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Til the End, Wake Up, What’s on Your Radio, State of Emergency, Into the Red

4. The Supersuckers

Take this sample:

someday someone will ask
yeah this one’s for the kids
well if you look back on the days
and they ain’t got time to waste
with that mopey dopey shit
so cut the crap and bring the hits
and everywhere I go
all the motherfuckers know
that I’m ready

are you ready
I said I’m Eddie Spaghetti
here to rock your ass steady
are you ready
(yes we’re ready)
then grab a drink and chug a lug
have some sex and take some drugs, alright

Recommended Tracks: Rock n’ Roll Records, Rock Your Ass, Pretty Fucked Up, Bruises to Prove It, She’s My Bitch

5. The Riverboat Gamblers

These guys are pretty good. Their albums are around 30 minutes but it’s balls to the wall rock for those 30 minutes. The music is an excellent blend of garage rock and punk revival and is fun to listen to. They just don’t seem to wanna let up on the sonic assault until the album is done.

Recommended Tracks: Just listen to the entire albums…they’re only 30 minutes.

Among other new music by artists I have been listening to for a while, there’s Switzerland by Electric Six and Blood Mountain by Mastodon. Both are excellent albums and certainly worth checking out even if you haven’t heard of either artist…ever. This is as good a time as any to start!

I’ve had my DS for almost two weeks now so I thought it was appropriate to pen my thoughts on this console. I waited twice to buy it. Once, for a redesign that would take care of some minor issues with the original DS and then again for a color other than white. White’s good and all but honestly, with everyone including Apple slapping that shiny white on iPods and iMacs it has become sort of annoying. And then those iPod accessories, again designed to fit the looks of the player are also usually white. So, I wanted something different. I saw Japan had a Black and Navy Blue DS to go with the White so I waited.

Finally, Nintendo decided to release Black and Pink on September 12. I rushed (well, all right, I ambled) to the EB store in the mall here to place a pre-order for the black DS. Then, I spent a week deciding what games I wanted to get with my DS. I knew I wanted to get Mario Kart for sure but couldn’t settle on a second one. Finally, I decided to get Mario Hoops 3-on-3 which came out a day earlier. So off we went to the mall on the day and picked up my DS with the games. Also got a year-long replacement guarantee from EB - just in case.

Got back to the room and quickly unpacked the DS and fired it up. The black, sleek, DS Lite is sexy. The bright screens stand out against the black background. The button setup is simple. You get four keys on the right (A, B, X, Y) and an 8-way D-Pad on the left. There are shoulder buttons, on on either side plus a Start button and a Select button. These two have been moved over to the bottom right and are fairly tiny. Can be hard to press at times but you rarely need them anyway. The power button is along the right side while the volume slider is on the front side. The microphone is located between the two screens while the stylus sits nicely on the right underside. The package also includes an extra stylus plus the charger. You can actually get yourself a miniUSB-to-USB cable to charge it from a USB port. It takes about 4 hours for a full charge but you can play games while you charge it.

After initial setup, you need to turn off the DS and then you restart it with a game inside to start playing. The basic menu lets you choose between the game in the DS slot, GBA slot, PictoChat, or Download Play. Pictochat lets you use the wireless to chat with images you can draw with people around you. You can also play certain games multiplayer without actually owning a cartridge for you system by using “Download Play.” At certain retailers, you can download content for your games. I popped in Mario Kart DS and it looked SO MUCH better on the Lite than it did on the original DS. The buttons feel a little loose but you get used to them real quick. The stylus feels good in the hand and works flawlessly. The tiny speakers fake surround sound pretty well. The GBA slot has a cover when you are not playing any GBA games. The battery lasts for 5-8 hours depending on what you run on it. For graphically-intensive games such as Mario Hoops, it will top out around 6 hours. WiFi use cuts the life short but not drastically. With regular games like Mario Kart, you can easily get 8-9 hours out of it. Wonder what method CNET used whn they declared the PSP as having greater battery life than the DS.

The system has two processors, either of which can power either screen. Each screen displays 262k colors and as it well-known, the bottom one is a touchscreen. While a lot of games use the touchscreen to show useful maps, more and more games are actively using it. For example, games like Starfox and Mario Hoops make extensive use of the touchscreen and demand a certain amount of dexterity with it.

Short Game Reviews:

1. Mario Kart: This is a really fun racing title. For those who have played Mario Kart on the N64/GCN/GBA will take an instant liking to this new avatar. It even includes tracks from previous titles if you want to relive those good times. There are a number of game modes that promise endless fun. Under Single-Player, you have Grand Prix, Time Trials, Vs., Battle, and Missions. All are well-done and the unlockables will keep you going for hours and hours. Certainly one of the best games for the DS and a must-buy even though it came out a year ago!

2. Mario Hoops 3-on-3: Mario has been in a number of sports titles like Soccer, Tennis, and Baseball. With Hoops, he invades the world of basketball with his pals. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and is another fun game to play. The game uses the touchscreen for an innovative control scheme. Other than moving your player on court or switching players, everything is controlled by the stylus. Gameply mechanics are good except for the clumsy switching system. It’s ok when you switch to the wrong player on the easy mode but when it happens in hard, the game punishes you with a high-scoring basket. That is pretty much my only gripe about the game. If you want to see what the DS can do, then this is the game you need to get.

Both games support wireless multiplayer and two DSes connect seamlessly with each other. There is no lag and you can’t tell you are playing wirelessly. It’s great if you can get 4 players together for a game of Mario Kart!

I knew the DS had great potential when they first announced it but I had my doubts due to the bulk and two-screens. However, the DS has come out with flying colors and the DS Lite has pushed the envelope further by offering a sleeker package. The selection of games is way better than the PSP and as an added bonus, you can play old GBA games. At an affordable $130, this system is a great buy and games are cheaper than other consoles. The DS is great for a quick game in between classes or if you are bored. With the CF/SD media player attachments on their way, the DS gets expanded functionality. If my DS were a lady, I’d make love to her. Wouldn’t you?

This post shall serve as a double-review. You will read my review of the Electric Six concert on 9/16 in New York City and then my thoughts on their new album, titled “Switzerland.”

So, let’s get things underway with the concert. When I bought the tickets, I saw that Aberdeen City would be opening for Electric Six. When I got to the venue, I found out that there were two more bands playing that night - The Last Vegas and Liam And Me. Oh well. E6 were scheduled for a midnight appearance. The venue was more like a club and held only about 800 people. So wherever you stood, you were always real close to the band. The first band, The Last Vegas came on at around 9:20pm and started with a bang. I saw them and I thought, these guys are so…AC/DC. They tried hard but their singer sucked. They looked like posers from the word go and as the set went on, it just got worse. Plus, they were really loud - and in a small venue, everything is loud already. I was really glad when they got off. The next band, Liam And Me, came on at 10pm and these guys looked sincere. Their music was decent and not as loud as the previous band. However, the sound levels were too high so I stuffed some tissues in my ears to prevent permanent damage.

Then, around 11, Aberdeen City came on. I’d heard these guys were decent and they sure were. They have a weird sound but are a good band. Their bassist is crazy and the singer’s voice stands out over the music. These guys were done at about 11:50pm. Then, E6 started setting up their stuff. When I first arrived at the venue, I ran into 4 of the E6 band members who were taking a walk. No Dick Valentine unfortunately. Even after the setup, there was no sign of E6 until a quarter past 12. Finally, they showed up. The guitarists and Dick were wearing suits which was odd considering the kind of music these guys make.

They kicked things off with “There’s Something Very Wrong With Us So Let’s Go Out Tonight” and the venue was full by this time. Dick was animated and dancing his ass off. The crowd was really into it. Jumping up and down and dancing and yelling. They did about 13-14 songs including “Gay Bar” and left. The crowd yelled for an encore and they came back out. Dick now had a t-shirt on and he played “Jimmy Carter” with Tait Nucleus after telling us that they’d do a couple more and then one more and then finish up with “Dance Commander.” After that, the guys played a couple of tracks off the new album before ending as promised with Dance Commander.

Overall, I was very impressed with E6. Valentine has a great voice and can do weird stuff with it. The rest of the band did their parts well. A couple of times during songs, Valentine just stood on the stage with his hands in his pockets and wearing a big smile. He was drinking all night and was great! I love most of their songs and was slightly disappointed at not getting to hear a few but what the hell. The band put up a great show and played a lot of great songs. I got home really late but it was an enjoyable show, save for the first band and the fact that we had to go through 3 bands before E6 showed up. Tool’s up in 3 weeks time.

Moving on to the album. It kicks off on a slow note with “The Band in Hell” which was surprising considering how the previous two albums opened. The next track, one of my favorites, is called “I Buy The Drugs” (catch the video on the Videos page) which is about a guy who supplies drugs to a sorority. Fun! The next couple of tracks are decent but nothing special although the lyrics to Mr. Woman are hilarious.

“Infected Girls” is track 5 and is another slow jam talking about ummm “infected girls doing it better.” Following this one is “Pulling the Plug on the Party” which is more in tune with the kind of music E6 makes although the lyrics show a different side of the band. “Rubber Rocket” is a song best understood when you listen to it. There is a double entendre in the title and you’ll see how that works once you give the song a listen. “Pink Flamingos” is another one of my favorites but I haven’t yet understood what the song is trying to say.

Among the last few tracks, “Slices of You” is most fun while the closer, “Chocolate Pope” gets the “WTF?” award. “Germans in Mexico” is another one I fail to get although it has a good beat to it. The prize for the longest song title goes to “There’s Something….,” another weird, slow jam.

All in all, I’d say this is a more mature album with better production than the previous two. The synth is not used as much as on “Senor Smoke” but is still used for weird sounds and piano imitations. I think it was on allmusic that I read this album feels like the morning after a party which is about accurate. “Fire” was the party, “Senor Smoke” was the night out after the party, and “Switzerland” is the hung-over, morning-after. But that’s all right, it shows that E6 have more up their sleeves than you’d think. They have taken a new direction with this album but it should still keep fans happy.

PS: I saw a couple of really old Asian ladies at the show. I wonder what they get out of E6’s music?

Well, it’s official. The Nintendo Wii will (love that) launch on November 19th in the US for $250. The Japanese will have to wait two more weeks until December 2nd when they can get their Wiis for 25000 yen or $212. The US version, while more expensive, will come bundled with Wii sports unlike the Japanese version.

At first glance, it seems silly to launch two days after the PS3. But think about it. The PS3 will only have 500k units out for launch. Those will DEFINITELY sell out first day itself. Then, an agonizing wait until they ship more units. In the meantime, you have the Wii, selling for $250/350 cheaper available in abundance. People who couldn’t get PS3’s will certainly consider the Wii as a good, cheaper alternative. So in that sense, this is a smart move.

First-party games will cost $50 although third-party titles might cost more. No DVD playback but that’s ok. The Wiimote will cost $40 while the nunchuck attachment will be for $20.

Read the rest of this entry »

I think my laptop is trying to tell me something. I re-installed Windows a few weeks back because my laptop was running slow and I had too much junk on my HDD. Everything was hunky-dory until I re-installed UT2004. I haven’t played much off late but until say February or so, I used to run the game at 1680×1050 with most effects at High. It would run perfectly fine at around 45fps. Right before the Windows reinstall, I noticed a slowdown in UT. I thought, well, the reinstall will take care of it. Nope.

It was on my external drive and even at 800×600 with everything turned low, it was stuttering. I moved the installation to my internal drive but that didn’t seem to make any difference. So I uninstalled the Omega Drivers I had been using and put in the old Dell drivers. Still nothing significant. Finally, I took out my PCMCIA sound card and played with onboard audio. That did seem to make a difference. I thought all right, maybe I need to update the Audigy drivers. And after updating, I was able to run 1280×800 with most settings at High and all was fine in Deathmatch/Mutant/CTF. But the moment I started an Assault game, the slowdown returned. I realize that the Assault mode has a lot of stuff going on at any given time but it was perfectly all right a few months ago.

What finally got to me is that today I installed Quake 4 and it was lagging even at the lowest quality settings [640×480, Low Quality: Default]. By contrast, the copy of Quake 2 that comes with the Special Edition ran flawlessly at 1024×768 High Quality [as I’d hoped]. It’s strange - at the same time last year, I was running F.E.A.R. at 800×600 with settings at medium or medium-high and it ran without any lag [OK maybe the occasional jerky frame but nothing distracting]. This is the same machine that ran DOOM 3 at 800×600/Medium settings without problems up until June/July ‘05.

Dell has stopped releasing drivers for my card and the last one is from late 2005. I started using the Omega Drivers since they utilize the newest Catalyst releases straight from ATi. And actually, there was a slight performance improvement in FarCry with them - heck even FarCry ran well at 1024×768/Medium-High just a few months ago.

Is my laptop drive nearing the end of it’s life-cycle? Are the processor and graphics card stressed out? I know RAM is not an issue because right now I run games with 750MB+ free memory. I know it’s not the external drive causing problems because there no noticeable difference when I moved the install to the internal drive [Quake 4 is on the internal too; F.E.A.R., FarCry are on the external]. I will probably loose faith in my laptop’s ability to run games if FarCry and F.E.A.R. don’t run as well. With Extraction Point on the way, I hope I can fix whatever is causing a problem here. Also, I’d like to get back to playing UT2004 on the LAN with my friends here and Assault and Onslaught Modes are our favorites.

Computer hardware progresses at a rate far too rapid for the average consumer to keep up. Intense competition fuels growth - even though we don’t really need it. I love video games but they are in a way responsible for pushing hardware to produce higher polygon counts in shorter periods of time. Sure, new games look pretty but should you have to make a $300 upgrade just to be able to play a $50 game? A lot users end up playing old games anyway simply because the latest games won’t run on their year-old hardware. I was a firm believer in PC Gaming but over the past couple of years, I’ve gravitated more towards consoles - the no upgrade idea is extremely attractive. Sure, I still love the keyboard-mouse combo for FPSes but a controller is not too shabby once you get accustomed to it. But it’s far easier to shell out a couple of thousand dollars for a high-end PC than it is to pay $400-600 for a new gaming console. After all, the console can only play games or browse the internet in a limited way. A good idea is to get a good console and cheap computer that you can upgrade maybe once every 4-5 years just for everything other than gaming. But you will miss out on quality PC games that way. And not everyone can afford a high-end gaming system on a yearly upgrade cycle and a new console. It’s just not fair either way.

Well, on the bright side, I get my DS on Tuesday so there’s something that I don’t need to worry about games not working. Maybe if the 360 drops its price, I can get one with my roommate and then I can play the newest games in 720p. Oh well, back to reading.