Weezer: Album Six

I’m a huge weezer fan. I caught wind of a new album dropping this year a while ago. This past week other fans and I got some awesome news. Well, few weeks ago Weezer announced a date (June, 24th). This past week, however, the album’s first single aired. Hot friggin’ damn. The song is titled “Pork & Beans”; it’s got this odd verse riff and a seriously rocking chorus. It’s a damn good tune.

I read somehwere, I forget off the top of my head, that this new album (which is being referred to as album six, and the red album (their site claims this is another self titled disc) is supposed to be a bit experiential. And right on the site the band comments that they hit many of their musical goals on this record.

If “Pork & Beans” is any indication, this album is going to kick some major musical ass. That’s a crude thing to proclaim, but how else could one put it?

Head to Weezer.com to jamm to their new single. Or, wait for it on the radio, I guess.

Here’s some pictures. Rivers has a friggin ’stache. It’s weird.

Some weird photos to compliment a supposedly experimental album. I can dig it.

Post Modernism; The World Ends With You

I am a post modern thinker. Well, I want to be. Or rather, I want to embody the concept more than I am already. The concept is utterly undefinable, much like the term ‘poetry’ is undefinable. There are only things about each concept that people can agree on. For poetry, well, it’s things like verse and meter and the styling of the language. But! You see, even these things are debatable. For post modernism, as I understand it, it’s just a huge concept that is still being furthered today. There’s an idea there, and it’s hard to conceive, but yet it’s growing, making it damn near impossible to understand. Yet, I am beginning, finally, after quite some time, beginning to grasp it.

In my last entry I wrote about Coetzee’s Disgrace. Since then I have learned of his other novels. Coetzee is a post modernist writer. He is exactly what I want to be. I have since gathered a few of his novels, and am expecting nothing short of brilliance. From what I hear, I will not be disappointed.

Secondly, The World Ends With You. A DS game. A little game by a company most should be familiar with, Square-Enix, famous for classics such as the Final Fantasy series, the Kingdom Hearts series, and the Dragon Quest series, as well as many others. This is their latest game; it shares no ties with any of their former series, save for some artistic resemblance and genre type.

It is an RPG. And, from what I have gathered, the characters are whiny, at least at first. But the story has me intrigued; I detect a trace a bit of metaphysical exploration hidden within the story, plus there’s a dual screened combat system that is very intriguing. I am not expecting a story on par with something like Metal Gear Solid, but perhaps this might be another example of a ‘deeper’ narrative. I am hoping it will be enjoyable from both the narrative and gameplay standpoints.

Note: This is the Japanese Box Art. The North American version uses the same background, but with English fonts.

Coetzee

Disgrace is a novel I’ve been reading; an assigned reading for an English class. J. M. Coetzee is the novel’s author, and I have to say he is a genius. I was skeptical wen my professor had said he was among the best of authors writing in the last century. In English’s crudest terms, Coetzee is the “shit”. He’s truly gifted and/or amazingly skilled in his writing.

Disgrace is about living life in modern South Africa. It’s depressing, but the way Coetzee handles the themes it simply amazing. “Simply amazing”, such terms do Disgrace no justice. It’s humorous, enraging, depressing; it’s life.

I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone.

Read it.

That’s really all I can really say about it.

Sonic Unleashed

Sonic won’t die, at least not yet. If the series must continue then I would hope the Sega takes a good look at the series history and make games that show they remember what Sonic used to be. I don’t mean remake or retread familiar waters, I mean stay true to your source material. No wonky stories with aliens, no rouge genies, no clones, no pirates, etc, etc. That goes for gameplay additions too. Shooting? Fishing? Driving? Not in a Sonic game. Ok? Thanks Sega.

Recently, Sega announced Sonic Unleashed. Along with this uninspired name, Sega released some screen shots and a trailer. Both the screens and the video seemed to take into account all the things I had been thinking. It was a mix of 2D and 3D gameplay (although the 3D segments seem to be in the same vein as Secret Rings, boo). The environments have a unique styling, but it still looks like a Sonic game. There were loops and platforms, and it looks amazing. I’ve included only one screen below, but it’s a really nice looking one (I’ll have some links at the bottom of this entry).

Sweet, right? Sonic with a bit of a European vibe? That’s pretty cool. So I saw all these things, and it made me happy to see them. But, I had to sprinkle some salt on all of this sweetness, because with everything Sega has released in the last five years, virtually none of it has been worthwhile. This looks great, but will it be great? Will there be something revealed later that could totally ruin what I see here? What could ruin a most 2D experience?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, the Secret Rings part might. But, what if it wasn’t on rails? Or what if those portions were rather limited? That would be ok. But what if everything was on rails, even the 2D parts? That would be terrible.

But even those things, as hindering as they might be, didn’t prepare me for the other bit of information that I stumbled across, which is pictured below.

Were-Sonic.

Upon seeing this nearly all of my interest in the title fled my conscious. The levels will be divided up into day and night segments. Presumably you will “unleash” Were-Sonic in the latter segments. These sections will also be combat heavy. And we have another poor, poor, choice by the fine folks at Sega. One of the CG screens also had a Sonic 360/PS3 styled monster in it.

These ideas don’t mix with the rest of what Sega has shown of the title. 2D goodness + non-robotic monsters + Were-Sonic? What kind of prick thinks this shit up?

I’ll reserve judgment until Sega shows more of it, but I remain very skeptical. If the game has a vast emphasis on 2D gameplay, defeating Eggman’s robots, and the Were-Sonic parts are actually playable and enjoyable then this will be a worthwhile endeavor. I can get over Were-Sonic, like I’m sure Zelda fans quickly adjusted to Were-Link (which turned out quite well I might add, but that was a Nintendo game from a studio known for amazing games, not a Sega team known for missing the mark with every game they make). However on-rail segments, mosters, aliens, and whatever else Sega might add would ruin this for me, and would make it a prime example as to why the series should end.

Make the right choice Sega. Make the classic fans happy, not the furries who enjoyed your last few efforts.

Links:

Screens:

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/03/22/sonic-unleashed-artwork/

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/03/22/more-sonic-unleashed-screenshots/

Trailer:

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/04/04/check-out-this-new-sonic-unleashed-trailer/