Album Covers: Big Pun

The Original & Alternate covers to all of Big Pun's solo albums.

Capital Punishment

Yeeeah Baby

Endangered Species

-Dont Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Anime: School Rumble Season 1

       
  School Rumble is a wild, over the top romantic comedy.  In it there's a pretty messed up love triangle.  (You can't really call it a triangle.  See chart.)  Tenma is the female lead.  She is in love with Kurasuma, who is oblivious to this no matter how obvious she is about it.  Harima is the male lead , who is madly in love with Tenma.  He's in the same situation as her but is worst off, because he can't seem to tell that she likes Kurasuma. The main plot point through out the entire series is that no one can muster up the courage to confess their feelings to the one they love.  This makes for a lot of funny moments, awkward silences, and misunderstandings.
          Each episode is divided into three sections.  Each section has it's own title and focus on a single event, sometimes they'll cross over into the next part of the episode if it's something important.  Most times they're self contained stories that provide little progress to the series as a whole.  Some people think that this is a bad thing, but I think it's exactly how life is.  Life is full of little moments that when put together tell a story.  None of which have any direct impact on anything on their own, but together you can see the big picture.
          With (young) love being the major driving force of the show, there is a strong sense of innocence.  As I mentioned before the show is over the top and never takes itself too seriously. There is an episode where Harima finds enlightenment and can tell peoples fortune through animals.  (Those animals come back in future episodes for more gags.)  School Rumble is lighthearted and sweet.  (Everything you need to feel good inside.)

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Music: Grieves & Budo - 88 Keys & Counting

          I picked up 88 Keys & Counting because I saw Budo's name on it.  I had no idea who Grieves was at the time, but after listening to it I went out and bought Irreversible. (His first album and marked my calender for Together/Apart release too.)  For the past month Gwenevieve is the first song I put on when I get in my car.  The album is mostly about lost love and loneliness. (I like that emo shit, if you haven't noticed.)
          The title refers to the number of keys on a piano/keyboard adding that they are counting more.  (Like saying it's something you've never heard before.)  I love these kind of projects, where the album is composed  completely by one artist and one producer.  It makes for a more personal record (regardless of the subject matter) and this is no exception.  88 Keys & Counting lets you look at the world through the eyes of someone fighting off their inner demons.  Though dark and depressing, hope can still be found.


Gems (Top Three)


1.)Gwenevieve - Track #7
In this song Grieves describes a girl who is giving up on happiness.  She really believes it wasn't meant for her and becomes numb to the world.  He's bothered by her outlook on life.  He asks himself whether he should passively dismiss it with a smile or help her with her burden.  He points out that she is the reason things are the way they are.  Her negative outlook keeps people at bay, truly keeping her away from happiness.  Though not directly stated in the song, the message I got from it is that we are in control of our lives and life is what you make it.  What will you make yours?

2.)Nature Vs. Nurture - Track #9
The title says it all.  Nature Vs. Nurture is the question that asks; what makes us - Us?  I think Grieves uses it to ask; what broke us?  I'm not sure if he means depression or insanity, but either way there's no true answer.  No real cause or culprit that can be blamed and avoided.  There's no moment when you become depress or insane.  It's like a seed that slowly grows till it becomes this truth you can't argue with but can't accept.

3.)Dead In The Water - Track #5
Here he talks to an ex girlfriend after the relationship has ended.  Hurt by how things turned out he asks; "what did you want from me?"  The question, if considered implies he didn't want this.  He wanted things to be better.  It further suggest that she only wanted to hurt him.  This (for me) is confirmed when he tells her at the end of each verse; "You got a problem."  In hindsight he sees all the things she done, though he describes them through metaphors that clearly portrayed her intentions.  In the last line he says.  "I hope you find what your looking for and leave."  Which to me is kind of like saying this will never make you happy but don't look to me when you realize that.

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Album Covers: Eminem

The Original & Alternate covers to all of Eminem's solo albums.

Infinite

The Slim Shady EP

The Slim Shady LP

The Marshall Mathers LP

The Eminem Show

Encore

Relapse

Recovery

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Game: Killzone 3

          Killzone 3 (Another PS3 exclusive) picks up exactly where KZ2 (Killzone 2) left off.  I played the campaign during the month the PSN (PlayStation Network) was down. Playing on the hardest difficulty available the game proved challenging.  Throughout the game you get to use or ride in various vehicles that definitely helps with the game getting redundant.  Vehicles like the tank, exoskeleton, snow bike, hovercraft dropship, jet pack, and spaceship.  They all have different game play mechanics, which help change the pace of the game.  Don't get me wrong KZ3 is a solid FPS even if it didn't include them. (I consider it more of a bonus, not a necessity.)

          Now on to my favorite part; multi-player mode.  When your playing online you can choose from five classes: Marksman, Engineer, Field Medic, Tactician, and Infiltrator.  Each class has their own load out and primary ability.  For example the Infiltrator can disguise himself to look like a member of the other team, which is perfect for sneaking around behind enemy lines.  You need "Unlock Points" to upgrade your load out and abilities. You get unlock points by ranking up and you rank up by getting kills and completing objectives.

          There are three game modes in KZ3 they are: "Guerrilla Warfare", "War Zone", and "Operations".  Guerrilla Warfare is just a fancy way to say death match.  War zone is crazy because the the objective is always changing. The objectives are "Body Count" (Death Match), "Capture & Hold", "Search & Retrieve" (Capture the Flag), two rounds of "Assassination" and two rounds of "Search and Destroy".(Both Offensive & Defensive Rounds)  They change at random once a round has ended. (Rounds are 5 minutes in length within the same game.)  This keeps you on your toes and constantly changes the pace of the game.  (Just because you won the first three rounds doesn't mean you won.)  

          The last mode is Operations (My favorite).  In Operations the ISA and the Helghast fight for control of the map.  The ISA is attacking  and the Helghast is defending. The ISA must perform certain tasks to gain access to more of the map and the Helghast must stop them from completing those tasks.  If the Helghast succeeds at stopping the ISA at any of the choke points then they held their ground and win the game.  The ISA must succeed in all three choke points in order to win.  

          A special feature in Operations is the cinematic cut scenes.  There are cinematics for the intro, the three choke points, and whether you win or lose for both teams.  These are specific to the map and include the best players in the round. (Or the lucky one who completed the task.)  You get a kick out of being in the cut scenes, especially if your friends are with you.  Like any FPS, it has little to no replay ability unless it's online.  (I enjoyed KZ3, but FPS are all reskins to me.)

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Anime: Afro Samurai

          Afro Samurai is a story of vengeance. Afro is the main character, who has embarked on a ruthless quest.  He chose this because when he was a boy he witness his father's death.  He died in a duel for the number one headband which he was defending.  During the duel he was decapitated and Justice, the new number one threw his head at Afro's feet.  That was the moment when he lost his innocence and began to harbor a hate that eventually put him on the path of revenge.

          It's shown at the very end that there are many more headbands as Jinno (Afro's childhood friend) returns covered in them.  The rules on how they are obtain and their use is unclear.  As for the number one and two headbands it goes like this:  The one who wears the number one head band is considered to be the fiercest warrior in the world and shall posses the powers of a god.  (It's the god powers that draws so much attention.)  To obtain the number one headband you must kill the current Number One. (Here's where it gets interesting.) To gain the right to challenge the #1 (Number One) you must already be in possession of the number two headband.  The problem with being the Number Two is that anyone can challenge you. (Quick recap: Only the #2 can challenge the #1, but anyone can challenge the #2.)

          It is this point that makes being the #2 (currently Afro) so hard.  You must be skilled because if not you won't last with it.  Afro's journey to Mount Shumi is chronicled in five episodes.  Along the way there are many that want the number two headband for themselves and Afro must accept every challenge or forfeit it.  There's a lot of action (Some of it is over the top) and blood.  Afro cuts his opponents down with brutal efficiency and you aren't spared any of it.  There's also some fan service in the show.  Most notably the soft core porn scene near the end of episode two.  The rest is provided by Brother 1 side-girl, but she doesn't appear much. (This isn't one of those shows that only get by on fan service.)    

          I feel like there is some East vs. West (Not coast) undertones in Afro. With Hip-Hop having a strong influence on the designs and the show being set in feudal Japan. (A futuristic feudal Japan.)  It becomes more apparent when you consider Justice.  He's a cowboy and Afro's nemesis. (Nothing says western culture like cowboys.) Need I say more?  Cowboys vs. Samurai.  Take it how you will, but in the end Afro Samurai is a raw & gritty mash up of east and west cultures that when combined make for a damn good show. 

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Music: Afro Samurai OST

          This soundtrack is part soundtrack and part songs inspired by the show.  That's due to the fact that some of these, if not most of the tracks with vocals never appear in the series.  Needless to say the tracks with vocals are the best part of this OST.  RZA produced everything except for the two Stone Mecca songs and the one with Maurice.

          With Moives like Ghost Dog and both Kill Bill's under his belt, RZA was perfect to work on The Afro Samurai soundtrack.  Samurais being a part of RZA's philosophy (in a sense), brought pure Wu flavor to the project. He sampled snippets from the show to create that signature sound that he is best known for.  All in all, it could be considered a Wu solo album in the same vein as The Would According To RZA. 

Gems (Top Three)

1.)Who Is Tha Man? By Reverend William Burke - Track #9

I'm surprised at how many people don't like this song. To me Burke kills the track and RZA destroys the beat.  The sample used in the hook is my favorite part.  (It always gets me to sing along in my car.)  They bring raw beats with rapid fire rhymes to lay rest the age old question; Who is the man?

2.)Cameo Afro By Big Daddy Kane, GZA, & Suga Bang Bang - Track #11
BDK (Big Daddy Kane) & GZA come together to do what they do best.  They keep in line with the soundtrack by making plenty of references about sword play and killing your opponent.  I'm amazed at how much material these guys have created over the years and still aren't tapped out.  It takes incredible skill to develop a style that can be considered dope years later. Rappers can only hope to have a career last half as long as these vets.

3.)Certified Samurai By Talib Kweli, Lil Free & Suga Bang Bang - Track #3
It starts off with a lot of powerful energy for the first ten second.  In that time you subconsciously prepare yourself for whats to come, only to get knocked off balance by the horns that come in with Suga Bang singing.  By the time you gather yourself your knee deep in Kweli's verse with a beat no where near what you expected.  The new beat captures you though.  I can say without a doubt, this is a RZA production at it's finest. Suga Bang sings the chorus and Lil Free finishes off the song with trendy rhymes in the second verse. (Not to happy with it.)

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Game: Heavenly Sword

          Heavenly Sword (a PS3 exclusive) came out a year after PS3 was released.  Many games have come out since then and yet I still can't really think of any that are acted out so well.  The writing and the voice acting are incredible. The characters in Heavenly Sword are great.  When all this comes together the result can only be an unforgettable game. I enjoyed the cinematics,  not only because of the need to know how things progressed but how these scenes were acted out. HS (Heavenly Sword) truly blurs the line between the movie and gaming industry.

          HS's backdrop is that there was a great war threatening mankind.  An evil Raven King lead a massive army that destroyed everything in their path. (Kind of like Sauron from Lord of The Rings.) When all hope is lost the heavens sent a warrior to face the Raven King.  With the "Heavenly Sword" at hand the warrior dispatches the king and restores peace to the world, but that peace didn't last.  Once he killed the Raven King he disappear leaving behind his weapon.  Man quickly  became corrupted by the power and began to kill each other to posses it.  That senseless violence is what started the clan, they take the sword (never using it) in hopes to end the bloodshed. They release a short five episode animated series as a prequel to the game.  Poki3 over at youtube did us all a favor and combined all five episode into a short ten minute video. (Yes, two minutes per episode average.)

          The game has beautiful vistas.  The scenery in each chapter are like works of art in themselves. You fight through a snow fortress, forest temple, and valleys bridges that seem to be linked by castle-like pillars. (check out chapter 2, if you didn't get that last one.) This coupled with the soundtrack creates rich environments, that are gratifying. The best term I can come up with to desricbe the music is ethnic orchestra. (It is so good that I got the soundtrack on my iPod.)  In this orchestra they mix traditional western instruments with eastern instruments to form a powerful, yet organic sound.

          You play as Nariko and Kai.  Both are part of the clan that has been protecting the sword for centuries.  Nariko is skilled with swords and face to face combat.  She is the one who actually breaks the sacred code, never to wield the Heavenly Sword.  Once Nariko starts using the sword you can use it in many ways.  The default stance, known as the speed stance has an equal amount of speed and damage.  In this stance the sword takes the form of two blades.  In range stance, the sword become two chain blades that she uses to to kill enemies at a distance.  Range stance is the fastest but the weakest of all three stances.  Finally the power stance, is the strongest and slowest of all stances.  It takes the form of a giant two handed sword.  You can quickly switch between all of these to preform some interesting combos.

          Kai is an archer.  Usually when you play as her, she is stationed in one spot from which she must kills everything in sight. (It's like a sniping mini-game.) Here you are going to get acquainted with what the game refers to as "after touch".  After touch is a feature in the game where you use your SIXAXIS controller's motion-sensing capabilities to guide projectiles to their target. (Kind of like sniping with Max Payne, only you can control the bullet after you shoot it.)  I think there's one stage where you actually walk around with Kai.  In it you come to find she can't fight, so your best bet is to keep bad guys away.  If they get to close run away, turn and shoot.

          Okay now to address the elephant in the room, God of War.  God of War I and II were both release before Heavenly Sword.  The developers over at Ninja Theory admitted that the games had an influence on their project.  They even put Kratos's armor  (from GOW II) and weapons on display in a section of the game to pay their respects.  To pay To me the one of main similarities is the red and white design of both Nariko and Kratos.  The only other thing that comes to mind is Nariko's range stance,  where her weapons are exactly like the one from God of War's.  After that there are none. Besides, it's another option when your looking for an action-adventure game.  I don't see anyone complaining that FPS (First Person Shooters) are all just reskined guns and enemies of each other.  

 -Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Music: Macklemore - The Language Of My World

          The Language Of My World is thought by most Macklemore fans to be his first release (it isn't).  This album is hip-hop at it's purest.  Out of the nineteen tracks (the Intro doesn't count) there are ten that I consider unskipable.  I expect less than a 4th of songs from albums to be gems. The other nine are good, but not my cup of tea.  With that said it was really difficult for me to pick three to share with you.  I was almost tempted to add a bonus. 
            He's a Seattle-based emcee.  His style is very different from the East, West, and South coast (even though Seattle is in the West). Here he covers topics such as: homelessness, racism, the war in Iraq, class-ism, drug use, love, and the immaturity we had as high school students.  The beats on this album were amazing.  I'm not sure who all the producer are, but I've been following Budo, who (did The Magic - Track #13) has a uqnie style of his own.  Overall, it's a very well thought out effort from Macklemore, who seems to be (like wine) getting better with time.  If you like The Roots, Mos Def, Common or early Kanye then you've got to check out this album.

Gems (Top Three)

1.) Hold Your Head Up Ft. Xperiance - Track #6

It's (as the title suggests) about staying positive, no matter how grim things are.  It focuses on how relationships grow apart and the strength needed to accept that.  Macklemore puts pure hearted poetry (it's more then rap) to a mellow semi-jazz beat, an immaculate combination. The chorus is sung by Xperiance, who's voice sounds like someone who just realize how to deal with the pain and is passing that along to you. Definitely good cruise music. Life goes on is the message here, but it won't be understood until you've lived it or until you've lost some friends for no reason at all.

2.) Contradiction - Track #17

It's about being aware of being a hypocrite, but trying not to be.  I find it very interesting how he developed this concept.  In the first verse he holds a conversation with a female fan who's calling him out on his shit.  The second verse is traditional to a point, that he's speaking directly to you, but you can argue that he's still talking to her.  We're not perfect and most of us talk a big talk, but actions speak louder then words. There's a fine line between saying it and living it, Which side are you on?

3.) As Soon As I Wake Up By Step Cousins (Macklemore & Xperience) - Track #19
This is a great feel good song.  Both artist go back and forth spitting poems full of pure positivity.  The song doesn't have a focal point, instead it branches out treading lightly in each verse.  It never loses momentum or that "make you smile" energy.  The beat is very light (innocent in a sense) complementing the verses flawlessly.  By the end, you can't help but have a better outlook on life.

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy

Music: CunninLynguists - Strange Journey Volume One

          Strange Journey Volume One is the third mixtape (Pretty much was an album) released by the CunninLynguists. With four true albums (That's 7 for you mathematicians.) under their belts, they are in true bloom.  No longer needing to "prove something" or "make a name" they take their artistic vision and run with it.  This was my first impression because this was the first album I got from them.  It was the cover art and the title that pulled me in and made me put down the cash for it. (It happens and I'm definitely not disappointed)

          I guess the reason it's considered a mixtape is because neither of the CunninLynguist rappers appear on some songs. (Though they are still produced by Kno.)  Just because it's categorized as a mixtape; don't think that this is in any way a half-assed effort.  Kno's beats captures (Or sets) the emotion carried by the album, while  Deacon and Natti cleverly convey their thoughts on a wide range of topics. To me the overall theme is the struggles of couping with the human condition. (I might be wrong.) The fear of death and the search for purpose. These are the fundamental aspects of the human condition that plague me and yet I find joy in the simplest things like holding hands, creating and appreciating art. Sorry, sometimes I get lost in my own thoughts, but this is life and it is a strange journey.

Gems (Top Three)


1.) Die For You By Mr. SOS - Track #9 
Okay  officially, Mr. SOS isn't part of the group, but he was before. (I don't know why he left or anything, but this song being part of the line up shows they're still on good terms.)  It's about looking for real love and once you find it how would you know it's real. After a long list of messed up relationships it's hard to believe in it anymore.  You become numb and cynical, but that hole is still there.  That longing for affection is still there and so you keep trying to find it.  So when you think you found true love just ask: What would you do if I lose my way? See what they'll say.

2.) Don't Leave (When Winter Comes) By Deacon the Villain, Slug & Natti - Track #13

The song features Slug from Atmosphere (Another great band) who definitely was an asset to the track.  Being on the road more than being home takes a toll on anyone.  These underground artist really only get by with the money they make from their shows. So they (Underground artists in general) tour more then anyone else.  This song is about home sickness and the pain of leaving love ones behind.  They do it in hopes of better tomorrows.  The female vocals at the end was like an unexpected perfect touch finishing off this great song on a powerful note.

3.) Broken Van (Thinking of You) By Deacon the Villain, Natti, Mac Lethal - Track #15

This entire song is an analogy of women (Or relationships) and cars.  It is put together really well.  If you're not paying attention you would think the song is about being broke and not being able to take care of your car.  With lines like "Neglected all the checklist, proper maintenance, spark plugs, wires the bleeding brakes and shit."  Could be taken literally or as he didn't do what he was suppose to to keep the relationship alive.  Give it a listen and you will clearly see the skill and creativity these guys have.

BONUS! The Distance By tonedeff - Track #14

This would have been #2, but tondeff isn't in the group. (I know. Technicalities.) He is a close affiliate and founder of QN5 Music. (The label the Cunninlyguists are on.)  I'm actually not clear on what this song is about.  What I take from it is a life tale of loneliness.  I know I've had that feeling, where no mater what I do things never seem to get better.  (Not in an economical sense.)  A very sad piece, but I think that's what make it so beautiful.

-Don't Just Be A Robot, Be Happy