From this past weekend, Sean Penn on Hugo Chavez dissenters;
"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies."
Looks like he forgot about that little thing called the 1st Amendment. And where is the mainstream media reporting this one...heck I will settle for Access Hollywood.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: South Park
*If satire and going to the extreme to prove a point offends you...don't go on! This post might be offensive to some, read on at your own risk*
When you say the name South Park, you usually get some kind of reaction. It's either positive or negative, it's rare to find someone who doesn't really have an opinion about the show. It's been on since 1997. The show centers around 4 boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. I will be the first to admit, I couldn't stand the show when it came out. It seemed immature and stupid, to put it mildly. I think it was sometime during the fourth season that I saw the show. Trevor, from UPS, told me about it and I told him it was stupid and he convinced to watch an episode. So I tuned in and watched one that week.
When I first watched the episode, I thought it was about a small gerbil named Lemmiwinks, who is put up a gay man's anus, and his journey to escape to live again. It was a pretty funny episode. But after it was all over, I saw a bigger picture. The subplot involved the 4th grade teacher, who was fired for being gay. He got his job back and found out that if he is fired again he could sue on grounds of discrimination. So he decides to go "over the top" with his being gay so he will be fired. This includes him putting the gerbil in his T.A.'s anus (who is called Mr. Slave). The boys tell their parents about it, but are told they aren't being tolerant of his life style. The boys are sent to a tolerance camp (which looked like a concentration camp). In the end, the teacher goes off on an audience for not knowing the difference between tolerance and acceptance. A couple clips from that episode are below.
Tolerance vs. Acceptance
I then realized that this show had some hidden conservative values built into it. They go about it in strange ways...to the extreme to get their point across. It turns out that there are a group of younger age conservatives that call themselves South Park Republicans.
They mock everyone, if you are sensitive or offended don't watch the show. I can list tons of examples, but I will focus on a few of my favorites.
Here is their take on Christmas. In South Park, Jesus is a real person who walks the Earth still. Cartman decides to try and give Christmas to Iraqis. So Santa goes in and gets shot down (like Black Hawk Down). The boys get Jesus to help save Santa. In the process the Iraqis kill Jesus. Leading to this clip...
They even hit global warming a couple of times. This is my favorite clip showing just how over the top global warming enthusiasts are.
When the economy was spinning out of control in 2008 & 2009, South Park took it on. Ever wondered how the government decided who was bailed out and who wasn't? This is their take on it.
They took on Paris Hilton and how the media made her into a role model. In the end, Mr. Slave tells parents that they need to be the one to be role models for their children.
Possibly my favorite episode, politically, is Goobacks. It's about people who come from the future to look for jobs because in the future their are none. They can work for low wages because they can put it in a bank account and let it grow because of interest it will be worth a lot in the future. This is a total take off of illegal immigration, even down to the language being spoke. Classic moment here...
There are a ton more and you can read about it HERE. They also have EVERY episode online to watch for free, HERE. This is a smart show, but it can offend easily. No one is safe from their "humor". And being that they can make an episode in 2 days, it is usually very "on-topic".
When you say the name South Park, you usually get some kind of reaction. It's either positive or negative, it's rare to find someone who doesn't really have an opinion about the show. It's been on since 1997. The show centers around 4 boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. I will be the first to admit, I couldn't stand the show when it came out. It seemed immature and stupid, to put it mildly. I think it was sometime during the fourth season that I saw the show. Trevor, from UPS, told me about it and I told him it was stupid and he convinced to watch an episode. So I tuned in and watched one that week.When I first watched the episode, I thought it was about a small gerbil named Lemmiwinks, who is put up a gay man's anus, and his journey to escape to live again. It was a pretty funny episode. But after it was all over, I saw a bigger picture. The subplot involved the 4th grade teacher, who was fired for being gay. He got his job back and found out that if he is fired again he could sue on grounds of discrimination. So he decides to go "over the top" with his being gay so he will be fired. This includes him putting the gerbil in his T.A.'s anus (who is called Mr. Slave). The boys tell their parents about it, but are told they aren't being tolerant of his life style. The boys are sent to a tolerance camp (which looked like a concentration camp). In the end, the teacher goes off on an audience for not knowing the difference between tolerance and acceptance. A couple clips from that episode are below.
Museum of Tolerance (watch til the end for the irony)
I then realized that this show had some hidden conservative values built into it. They go about it in strange ways...to the extreme to get their point across. It turns out that there are a group of younger age conservatives that call themselves South Park Republicans.
They mock everyone, if you are sensitive or offended don't watch the show. I can list tons of examples, but I will focus on a few of my favorites.
Here is their take on Christmas. In South Park, Jesus is a real person who walks the Earth still. Cartman decides to try and give Christmas to Iraqis. So Santa goes in and gets shot down (like Black Hawk Down). The boys get Jesus to help save Santa. In the process the Iraqis kill Jesus. Leading to this clip...
Santa proclaiming Christmas is a time to remember Jesus
They even hit global warming a couple of times. This is my favorite clip showing just how over the top global warming enthusiasts are.
Global Warming Theory
When the economy was spinning out of control in 2008 & 2009, South Park took it on. Ever wondered how the government decided who was bailed out and who wasn't? This is their take on it.
Bailout
They took on Paris Hilton and how the media made her into a role model. In the end, Mr. Slave tells parents that they need to be the one to be role models for their children.
Mr. Slave's parenting advice
Possibly my favorite episode, politically, is Goobacks. It's about people who come from the future to look for jobs because in the future their are none. They can work for low wages because they can put it in a bank account and let it grow because of interest it will be worth a lot in the future. This is a total take off of illegal immigration, even down to the language being spoke. Classic moment here...
The O'Reilly Factor
There are a ton more and you can read about it HERE. They also have EVERY episode online to watch for free, HERE. This is a smart show, but it can offend easily. No one is safe from their "humor". And being that they can make an episode in 2 days, it is usually very "on-topic".
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Tirades of Truth: Dead By April - Dead by April
So I don't hide the fact just how big of fan I am of Nightrage's 3rd album A New Disease is Born. In fact, I would probably rank it #2 behind Descent Into Chaos. And there is one big reason for it, Jimmie Strimmell. His vocals were a lot more diverse than Tompa's (which is big considering put Tompa as one of my all time favorite vocalists). His screams were almost dead on to Tompa's, but his cleans were simply amazing and had to be heard.So I was disappointed to learn he left the band. I soon realized that the real driving force behind Nightrage was/is Mario Iliopoulos. But I read Jimmie was doing a metal/pop fusion band, Dead by April. I am a sucker for good pop and I love his vocals so I was pretty excited for this. That excitement didn't last long.
The album starts off with something that sounds like Linkin Park, yes Jimmie now sounds like Chester Bennington. WTF?!? On a quick side note, funny how this sounds like Chester Bennington and he started a new band called Dead by Sunrise...coincidence? I will play the first track (Trapped) below, but it is a far cry from metal. The song starts off with some generic keyboard playing and goes down from there. This isn't metal, maybe mainstream rock, but the one thing that pissed me off more than the keyboards was that the screams I really liked were gone.
Despite the crapfest that comes out of the first track there are glimmering moments of potential on this album. They do let lose a bit more on the second track Angels of Clarity. This was released as a single and it really shows that potential. The keyboards aren't put in the foreground as much, but are still there. The song really reminds me of something that could have come off of In Flames' Soundtrack to Your Escape.
I could go track by track, but instead I will hit some of the few highlights. Losing You is not too bad. It is a slow mid-paced song with some classic screams, but the clean vocals come off as too whiny. Once again the keyboards play too big of a role. This is a good choice for a single and I actually think it was. Stronger is also a pretty good song. The downside is the keyboards again. The vocals are really strong on this song. He does a nice job of going from the harsh screams to a melodic chorus. But the keys are used a little too much. But you know how those Swedes love the keyboards.
Most of the songs tend to just start to sound alike after awhile. Mid-paced with keyboards. One thing that jumped out at me right away is the lack of solos. Don't call yourself a metal/pop band and don't have solos. When Jimmie does his screaming vocals they sound great. If Killswitch Engage ever needed another lead singer I would recommend him. He reminds me a lot of Jesse Leach.
I will give this band another chance. In fact, it's not a total piece of crap. It is what it is...a pop band with some screams, solid riffs, and a ton of keyboards. There is a lot of potential in this band. If they can go with a little more metal and less keyboards it's a winner.
Free Speech for the Dumb (Inside Four Walls Edition): Piercing what?
So another new tag. This one is just for quick hitting quotes that make you go huh? I was planning on doing the first one on a democrat, but this one was too good to pass up.
So I had a student come into my class yesterday and tell us she got her web pierced (the part connecting the tongue to the mouth. So we were like 'ok, nice let's move on.' Then all of a sudden she goes on to tell us that "Some lady was getting her v@gina pierced" and that "it took her two times because she kept closing her legs."
And I am supposed to get her proficient?
So I had a student come into my class yesterday and tell us she got her web pierced (the part connecting the tongue to the mouth. So we were like 'ok, nice let's move on.' Then all of a sudden she goes on to tell us that "Some lady was getting her v@gina pierced" and that "it took her two times because she kept closing her legs."
And I am supposed to get her proficient?
Monday, March 08, 2010
Venting the Anger: PE Teachers
So lately I have began to really dislike going to work. And I think I know why now. I have a new room in a new building next to PE. Now let me tell you how it is supposed to be...or at least it was when I was coaching many years ago. The PE teachers are supposed to give the students 10 minutes after the bell rings to change, and they are supervising to make sure nothing happens in the locker room. Then they go in 10 minutes before the bell so the students can change and take a shower, if they want. In all my years, I have never seen a regular PE class take a shower, sports yes. Now keep in my our periods are 55 minutes long, so they are only "teaching" for 35 minutes. On block days, when the period is 1 hour 45 minutes long, they go in 15 minutes early. Why the extra 5 minutes? Who knows. During that time, someone is supposed to supervise the shower/locker room and a few others are supposed to be around the edge of the area to make sure no one wonders the campus.
So how is this a venting the anger post? Well, I have been doing a little math. PE teachers have only 35 minutes of "instructional time". I use that term loosely because there is no instruction going on. From my vantage point, I see the kids line up, take role and that's it. They play around for 35 minutes. If students don't want to participate, then they just sit down. No instruction goes on. I love the teachers that bring out a paper and read all period or the ones that text or make calls all period.
Now, here's when I really get mad. Over the past week, I have been watching that the teachers are taking longer and longer to come out. One comes out 15 minutes after the bell. That extra 5 minutes adds up to 20 minutes a day, 1 hour 40 minutes a week...you see where this is going. Today a teacher came out 23 minutes after the bell rang! Why bother coming out? His students were just sitting there!
These same teachers get a prep period as well! For what? There is no testing they have to prepare for. There is no homework given. We are laying off actual teachers and keeping PE teachers. It's a joke! In fact, I have heard some PE teachers just give passes until the final grade is due, so they don't have to calculate anything. Can you imagine if a regular ed teacher did that?
I also love block days, when all the PE teachers take their kids to the track and let them run/walk the track while they talk for about an hour.
How about merit pay for PE teachers? If they can't play a sport or do the mile in X amount of time they lose pay?
So how do I see this if I am teaching? I am on the second floor of a new building and keep my door open. It's not hard to look outside when I am walking around the class.
Some might view this as me whining about PE teachers... to you I say no. I am upset that we are keeping PE alive when we are laying off good teachers that actually work.
So how is this a venting the anger post? Well, I have been doing a little math. PE teachers have only 35 minutes of "instructional time". I use that term loosely because there is no instruction going on. From my vantage point, I see the kids line up, take role and that's it. They play around for 35 minutes. If students don't want to participate, then they just sit down. No instruction goes on. I love the teachers that bring out a paper and read all period or the ones that text or make calls all period.
Now, here's when I really get mad. Over the past week, I have been watching that the teachers are taking longer and longer to come out. One comes out 15 minutes after the bell. That extra 5 minutes adds up to 20 minutes a day, 1 hour 40 minutes a week...you see where this is going. Today a teacher came out 23 minutes after the bell rang! Why bother coming out? His students were just sitting there!
These same teachers get a prep period as well! For what? There is no testing they have to prepare for. There is no homework given. We are laying off actual teachers and keeping PE teachers. It's a joke! In fact, I have heard some PE teachers just give passes until the final grade is due, so they don't have to calculate anything. Can you imagine if a regular ed teacher did that?
I also love block days, when all the PE teachers take their kids to the track and let them run/walk the track while they talk for about an hour.
How about merit pay for PE teachers? If they can't play a sport or do the mile in X amount of time they lose pay?
So how do I see this if I am teaching? I am on the second floor of a new building and keep my door open. It's not hard to look outside when I am walking around the class.
Some might view this as me whining about PE teachers... to you I say no. I am upset that we are keeping PE alive when we are laying off good teachers that actually work.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Music Non Stop: 2010 slow start...
I know that the year isn't even a quarter of the way done yet, but I should have found one good album by now. Fear Factory's new album is better than Transgression, but still not that memorable. I found Threat Signal's last album a lot better. I'm not sure if Arkaea's debut is as good as Fear Factory. By the way, why am I comparing those bands? They are all very closely related. Read about it here.
Arsis' new album is a drastic change in direction for them. They have gone with a more lite-hearted approach to their brand of death metal. Just watch the video above for Forced to Rock...pink lined guitar? Musically, though, it's pretty good. I can always thrown on an Arsis album and enjoy it for awhile. They still haven't topped their debut, but I'm not going to hold it against them. In case you are interested, this is a video from their last album, We are the Nightmare.
Mnemic's latest Sons of the System is better than Passenger, but is nowhere near Audio Injected Soul. I still don't understand the switch in vocalists. To me, they haven't recovered. It's a step in the right direction, but...
In Mourning, Living Sacrifice, and Mutiny Within grabbed my attention with some pretty good albums in a down year.
I am still hoping for something good to come out. I highlighted a couple in the beginning of the year, so hopefully things will still pan out. Remember, it wasn't until June/July last year that some high quality albums started coming out.
Arsis' new album is a drastic change in direction for them. They have gone with a more lite-hearted approach to their brand of death metal. Just watch the video above for Forced to Rock...pink lined guitar? Musically, though, it's pretty good. I can always thrown on an Arsis album and enjoy it for awhile. They still haven't topped their debut, but I'm not going to hold it against them. In case you are interested, this is a video from their last album, We are the Nightmare.
Mnemic's latest Sons of the System is better than Passenger, but is nowhere near Audio Injected Soul. I still don't understand the switch in vocalists. To me, they haven't recovered. It's a step in the right direction, but...
In Mourning, Living Sacrifice, and Mutiny Within grabbed my attention with some pretty good albums in a down year.
I am still hoping for something good to come out. I highlighted a couple in the beginning of the year, so hopefully things will still pan out. Remember, it wasn't until June/July last year that some high quality albums started coming out.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Inside Four Walls: Geometry classes
So our 1st 6 weeks of 2nd semester are over and I turned in my grades and I couldn't believe the number of D's & F's I had in my 2 Geometry classes. I don't know why they are so low this year, but they are...even the freshmen. I don't get it.
I don't think I am doing anything differently. My tests aren't that difficult either. I have some kids that are just there sucking up my oxygen. I think they really expect me to curve their class or something, but it's not going to happen.
Last time I did something like that most of my class came back at BASIC and I was asked why. No more. These kids don't put in the effort and then want a good grade in return.
It's funny that I am writing this because I just noticed this post by Mrs. H. Funny.
I don't think I am doing anything differently. My tests aren't that difficult either. I have some kids that are just there sucking up my oxygen. I think they really expect me to curve their class or something, but it's not going to happen.
Last time I did something like that most of my class came back at BASIC and I was asked why. No more. These kids don't put in the effort and then want a good grade in return.
It's funny that I am writing this because I just noticed this post by Mrs. H. Funny.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Enchanted
Ok so when you have a little girl you tend to watch things you normally wouldn't, Enchanted is one of those things. Enchanted is a movie about a princess from a Disney-type fairy tale land (ironic that this is a Disney movie) that gets transported to New York. At first I thought it was that horrible Drew Barrymore remake of Cinderella.
I won't spoil too much of the movie, even though it was released in 2007. I will talk a little bit about what makes this movie work. The first thing I noticed was the constant nods to earlier Disney princess movies. Literally, the movie starts like all the others with the book opening up and pages turning. A couple of others that stuck out was the obvious storyline that matched Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, with some moments from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Look at all of those classic movies they worked into it! Impressive...most impressive. Some of my favorites I picked up on after the book- Happy Working Song is a play on Whistle While You Work
- Poison apples...duh Snow White
- Evil Queen turns into dragon from Sleeping Beauty
What I found out was that it just wasn't storyline or songs, but actual filming of a scene and camera angles. Some hidden gems that I appreciated after reading the list- Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid) plays Patrick Dempsey's secretary
- The last name of Patrick Dempsey's girlfriend is Tremaine, which is the last name of Cinderella's step mom
- Every character in the background named is named after voice actors or artists/directors of the original Disney princess movies
- My favorite: during a scene in Patrick Dempsey's office there is a fish tank and Part of Your World is played in the background...awesome!
The story makes this movie an instant Disney classic. Patrick Dempsey is fantastic in his role as a realistic lawyer. Amy Adams brings every Disney princess that you saw growing up to life on screen. It really is magical to see her act. The songs are catchy as well. They rank up there with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. That's How You Know is my favorite one...I admit it. Patrick Dempsey's character has the great line when someone starts singing the song..."he's knows this song too?" "I've never even heard this song?"
A couple of things in the video above, my wife realized right away this was an allusion to The Little Mermaid because of the Jamaican song, but there is a bigger one in the song! The only time in the song when the Jamaican man is singing lead and Amy Adams isn't, they are in the lake rowing a boat...like in The Little Mermaid when Sebastian is singing to Ariel and Eric. Seriously, that's just impressive.
When Giselle is running over the hill, at first I thought it was a reference to The Sound of Music, but then I forgot Belle did the same thing in Beauty and the Beast.
How about the reference to an animated movie Disney is working on? That's right, when Giselle is singing in the tower with Rapunzel it is a reference to the animated movie coming out later this year. Remember it takes a long time to make an animated movie, and in 2007 they green lit the project. On a related side note, there is reference to The Princess and the Frog. In the beginning of the movie a frog falls in a bucket of soapy water and comes out with a crown on his head. Two references that didn't make that much sense for 3 years!!! Amazing.
Finally, some of the elderly people dancing in the park were dancers in Mary Poppins!!
There is tons more I could go into, but I will stop here. This is one of my favorite movies right now and probably will be for years to come. Great acting, excellent writing, including references to past movies...how can you go wrong? Definitely a great movie for a family night or date night.
If you want to see more, including some side by side photos, check out this page from FilmSchoolRejects.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Who Decides: Top 5 Iced Earth studio albums
So I was looking at my Last.Fm profile last week and realized that I have listened to Iced Earth about 300+ times in the past two weeks. I can't explain the increase, but I will say Iced Earth is a great band. Earlier Iced Earth was classic thrash metal, minus the blistering solos. Horror Show saw some new elements sneak in like power metal and even a little sludge/doom.
Now I remember hearing about Iced Earth through the Megadeth forums. They went on tour with Megadeth one year and everyone on the boards kept talking about how good they were. Most fans suggested Something Wicked This Way Comes (SWTWC). I remember deciding between SWTWC and The Dark Saga, which had Spawn on the cover (and I was a huge Spawn fan at the time), but I went with the fan favorite and wasn't disappointed. The album is a classic. The guitars were reminiscent of Metallica/Megadeth and the vocals were clean singing...and reminded me of Paul Stanley. So from there I picked up Alive in Athens, Days of Purgatory, and then Horror Show. Which everyone said was bad, but it wasn't...it is a solid album in it's own right. Iced Earth plays epic type metal. Concept albums, trilogies, whatever you can think of that's Iced Earth.
Iced Earth lost some steam, but the albums up to The Glorious Burden are great. Anyone of them is a great listen. So onto the list.
One last thing, these are their studio albums only. If it was any album then it would be Alive in Athens. AiA is the best live album I have ever heard. The 3 disc album is worth every penny. All the classics are played here to perfection. This one album is the greatest hits up to Horror Show. If you are a fan or considering it...buy this first! Now onto the list;
5. Horror Show: I talked about it enough up there. So what is it
like? It is their most diverse album musically. Definitely some power metal in there with Dracula. Phantom of the Opera Ghost is a first as they had a female vocalist sing with Matt Barlow. The album itself is about classic horror film villains. I stayed away from this album for a long time because of the complaints about it. It wasn't until I heard Jack on Century Media's Identity sampler that I realized how great this album could be. It is slower at times than most albums, but there are some great tracks.
Favorite Tracks: Jack, Phantom of the Opera Ghost, Dracula, Wolf.
4. The Dark Saga:
this was the last Matt Barlow album I picked up. I was used to hearing all the songs on AiA. The studio versions are good, but something about the live version is what puts those versions over the top. Honestly, there isn't one bad song on the album. People complain about the length of the songs or the speed, but the songs are catchy as you know what. The last 3 songs make up the Suffering Trilogy. It's not as good as the SWTWC trilogy or Gettysburg trilogy, but it is what it is. It showed what was to come on SW. Every song is a winner, which can't be said of #3.
Favorite Tracks: I Died for You, The Last Laugh, Vengeance is Mine, A Question of Heaven.
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes:
As I said, my first Iced Earth album. There are some filler tracks on here, Consequences & The Reaping Stone are just blah. Other than that it is a win. This jumps ahead of The Dark Saga because of one thing, the Something Wicked Trilogy. This is the trilogy that introduced us to Set Abominae, who despite Jon's best efforts, became their mascot. It was my first time listening to a song that was 20 minutes in length. It doesn't slow down or lose anything. The music is amazing. Iced Earth is great for your classic air guitar headbanging music and the trilogy doesn't disappoint. Throw in some piano interludes and you have a winner. Why isn't it higher? It took me awhile to realize that the track listing goes thrash to slow tempo back to fast, etc. It doesn't have a good flow. Plus the two fillers...
Favorite Tracks: Something Wicked Trilogy, Stand Alone, My Own Savior, Melancholy, Watching Over Me.
2. Night of the Stormrider: Let me be honest,
if they redid this album with Matt Barlow on vocals it is easily #1. Musically it is a masterpiece. The speed of the title track is mindboggling. When I bought AiA, it had most of this album live, but when they remastered it I decided to buy the original. The vocalist, John Greely, isn't Matt Barlow and is kind of flat but he isn't horrible. Jon Schaffer's guitar makes up for any second rate singing. This is also a concept album which is a pretty dark story about a soldier who loses his faith and ends up killing a bunch of people. Then in the end...no remorse, whoa! I can still remember hearing the opening riff of Night of the Stormrider and just being blown away by it. I can't describe it so I will post it here as a video. It's the only song I will do this for.
The rest of the album is great as well. Pure Evil has that epic feel of changing tempos and sounding like a different song at certain points. Travel in Stygian has that great sing along chorus. From start to finish Night of the Stormrider is a winner. This albums has the most thrash influence on it. Solos are present and actually pretty good. This would go away with later albums, but here it works.
Favorite Tracks: Night of the Stormrider, Pure Evil, Travel in Stygian, Angels Holocaust.
1. Burnt Offerings: This wasn't my favorite album for awhile.
It wasn't until I picked up the remaster version that I realized how good it was. Jon doesn't like it because he says it is "too dark" because it was written when he was upset at their label. This is the first album with Matt Barlow on vocals. The first song is the title track and it's over 7 minutes long. Last December is all about Matt's vocals. He carries this song. The riffs are great, but his vocals make it perfect. By the time you finish Diary, you realize this is a special album. The track starts off slow, then kicks into some serious thrash. Creator Failure might be a filler, but it gets a pass because of the albums true highlight, Dante's Inferno. This track is 16 minutes long based on the book of the same name. I can't describe it...it's just something that needs to be heard. This album is their highlight. It's not their peak, but definitely all the stars were in the right place for this one.
One last thought, how about that artwork? I know I have talked about it before, but Iced Earth easily has the best album artwork time and time again. I only picked up some of their albums based on artwork, remember this is before iTunes/Myspace when music was more readily available for sampling/streaming. It's kind of sad that cd's are going away because the artwork and linear notes/lyrics were always fun to read/look through.
Now I remember hearing about Iced Earth through the Megadeth forums. They went on tour with Megadeth one year and everyone on the boards kept talking about how good they were. Most fans suggested Something Wicked This Way Comes (SWTWC). I remember deciding between SWTWC and The Dark Saga, which had Spawn on the cover (and I was a huge Spawn fan at the time), but I went with the fan favorite and wasn't disappointed. The album is a classic. The guitars were reminiscent of Metallica/Megadeth and the vocals were clean singing...and reminded me of Paul Stanley. So from there I picked up Alive in Athens, Days of Purgatory, and then Horror Show. Which everyone said was bad, but it wasn't...it is a solid album in it's own right. Iced Earth plays epic type metal. Concept albums, trilogies, whatever you can think of that's Iced Earth.
Iced Earth lost some steam, but the albums up to The Glorious Burden are great. Anyone of them is a great listen. So onto the list.One last thing, these are their studio albums only. If it was any album then it would be Alive in Athens. AiA is the best live album I have ever heard. The 3 disc album is worth every penny. All the classics are played here to perfection. This one album is the greatest hits up to Horror Show. If you are a fan or considering it...buy this first! Now onto the list;
5. Horror Show: I talked about it enough up there. So what is it
like? It is their most diverse album musically. Definitely some power metal in there with Dracula. Phantom of the Opera Ghost is a first as they had a female vocalist sing with Matt Barlow. The album itself is about classic horror film villains. I stayed away from this album for a long time because of the complaints about it. It wasn't until I heard Jack on Century Media's Identity sampler that I realized how great this album could be. It is slower at times than most albums, but there are some great tracks.Favorite Tracks: Jack, Phantom of the Opera Ghost, Dracula, Wolf.
4. The Dark Saga:
this was the last Matt Barlow album I picked up. I was used to hearing all the songs on AiA. The studio versions are good, but something about the live version is what puts those versions over the top. Honestly, there isn't one bad song on the album. People complain about the length of the songs or the speed, but the songs are catchy as you know what. The last 3 songs make up the Suffering Trilogy. It's not as good as the SWTWC trilogy or Gettysburg trilogy, but it is what it is. It showed what was to come on SW. Every song is a winner, which can't be said of #3.Favorite Tracks: I Died for You, The Last Laugh, Vengeance is Mine, A Question of Heaven.
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes:
As I said, my first Iced Earth album. There are some filler tracks on here, Consequences & The Reaping Stone are just blah. Other than that it is a win. This jumps ahead of The Dark Saga because of one thing, the Something Wicked Trilogy. This is the trilogy that introduced us to Set Abominae, who despite Jon's best efforts, became their mascot. It was my first time listening to a song that was 20 minutes in length. It doesn't slow down or lose anything. The music is amazing. Iced Earth is great for your classic air guitar headbanging music and the trilogy doesn't disappoint. Throw in some piano interludes and you have a winner. Why isn't it higher? It took me awhile to realize that the track listing goes thrash to slow tempo back to fast, etc. It doesn't have a good flow. Plus the two fillers...Favorite Tracks: Something Wicked Trilogy, Stand Alone, My Own Savior, Melancholy, Watching Over Me.
2. Night of the Stormrider: Let me be honest,
if they redid this album with Matt Barlow on vocals it is easily #1. Musically it is a masterpiece. The speed of the title track is mindboggling. When I bought AiA, it had most of this album live, but when they remastered it I decided to buy the original. The vocalist, John Greely, isn't Matt Barlow and is kind of flat but he isn't horrible. Jon Schaffer's guitar makes up for any second rate singing. This is also a concept album which is a pretty dark story about a soldier who loses his faith and ends up killing a bunch of people. Then in the end...no remorse, whoa! I can still remember hearing the opening riff of Night of the Stormrider and just being blown away by it. I can't describe it so I will post it here as a video. It's the only song I will do this for.The rest of the album is great as well. Pure Evil has that epic feel of changing tempos and sounding like a different song at certain points. Travel in Stygian has that great sing along chorus. From start to finish Night of the Stormrider is a winner. This albums has the most thrash influence on it. Solos are present and actually pretty good. This would go away with later albums, but here it works.
Favorite Tracks: Night of the Stormrider, Pure Evil, Travel in Stygian, Angels Holocaust.
1. Burnt Offerings: This wasn't my favorite album for awhile.
It wasn't until I picked up the remaster version that I realized how good it was. Jon doesn't like it because he says it is "too dark" because it was written when he was upset at their label. This is the first album with Matt Barlow on vocals. The first song is the title track and it's over 7 minutes long. Last December is all about Matt's vocals. He carries this song. The riffs are great, but his vocals make it perfect. By the time you finish Diary, you realize this is a special album. The track starts off slow, then kicks into some serious thrash. Creator Failure might be a filler, but it gets a pass because of the albums true highlight, Dante's Inferno. This track is 16 minutes long based on the book of the same name. I can't describe it...it's just something that needs to be heard. This album is their highlight. It's not their peak, but definitely all the stars were in the right place for this one.One last thought, how about that artwork? I know I have talked about it before, but Iced Earth easily has the best album artwork time and time again. I only picked up some of their albums based on artwork, remember this is before iTunes/Myspace when music was more readily available for sampling/streaming. It's kind of sad that cd's are going away because the artwork and linear notes/lyrics were always fun to read/look through.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Thoughts Without Words: 9th graders earning college credit? For ethnic course?
From Joanne Jacobs:
Seems like a high school in San Francisco is going to be offering freshman college credit for taking an ethnic course. Now that's not bad, but they aren't going after the 4.0 kids, they are going after the 2.0 averages...C students.
Now how can a freshman C student successfully pass a college level course? This is setting them up for failure. These kids are going to get an easy A by talking about their "heritage" and then expect college to be easy. Or better yet, I can imagine these kids in Algebra 2 or Geometry saying something like "man, this is harder than my college class."
Only in CA.
Read more about it HERE.
Seems like a high school in San Francisco is going to be offering freshman college credit for taking an ethnic course. Now that's not bad, but they aren't going after the 4.0 kids, they are going after the 2.0 averages...C students.
Now how can a freshman C student successfully pass a college level course? This is setting them up for failure. These kids are going to get an easy A by talking about their "heritage" and then expect college to be easy. Or better yet, I can imagine these kids in Algebra 2 or Geometry saying something like "man, this is harder than my college class."
Only in CA.
Read more about it HERE.
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