Here’s my review for Modern Warfare 2. Sorry it took so long – real life and Assassins Creed 2 got in the way. Still, I hope it’s enjoyable. You should probably note that it contains approximately one naughty word though.

Going_Rogue_In_Rochester_NY_1(Nov_21_2009)1.avi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td7llYRW9So

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22

Video: Supporters line up hours in advance to see Sarah Palin in Roanoke
http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/video/wb/227300
Hundreds waiting for Palin’s book signing in Roanoke; video of overnight campers http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/227301
Sarah Palin Book Signing Roanoke, VA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgeomclZIg4

Gov. Palin arrives in Asheville NC (Buncombe County Republican Party Nov 22 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Inkk-nqr4
Sarah Palin comes to Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWQlRZlPag

Modern Warfare 2 has been generating a lot of excitement recently, and i’ve bought the game and have already formed an opinion on a lot of the things here. I haven’t done a video review in a while and I figured that this would be a pretty good opportunity to try and get another one done for you guys. It’s up to you. You don’t need a Twitter account to vote in the poll, but you’ll need one to make a comment.

$LAVE REVIEW

(I wrote all of this while I was actually watching the video… So fuck spelling, grammatical, punctuation and capitalization errors. I’m leaving it as is) 

• I guess this video is about the downfall of western civilization or something, this intro is weird and apocalyptic ?
• where did all this stock footage come from? did they buy it? I tried to get a 15 second clip of a chick making a sandwich and it was like 200 bucks!
• anthony Schultz first part… fast and steezy as always…  wow! smith hippy jump. what’s with the ants? up is the new down i guess.
• fuck this aged film on the skate tricks… does the color change signify it was a good trick?
• oh my god… Pat Burke best intro ever! pissing your name, then kickfliping over a biker and making him eat shit. so good! song is sooo G. what was up with that flat groud kickflip!?
• the National Geographic footy should have been in between parts… not in them as time filler. 
• damn Frecks slams hard. hard enough that there are as many slams as tricks in his part. there are a few bangers wedged between the biffs though. front blunt and half cab enders are the stand outs.
• I get it, you smoke weed and drink, slave team. enough “in the van” footage
• I think i’m watching the friends section right now… not sure…? is this Conhuir Lynn’s part? real strong mix of baker-makers and solid stomps here. oh shit, didnt think i’d see any anti-hero dudes in the slave vid. 
• Danny Dicola rips. seeing this dude in person is gnarlyyy. I really cant take this vintage filter anymore. alot of bank footage here. earl warren line is tuff! Also bringing back the thrill of it all indy fingerflip. holy dumptruck!!!
• Remember when Mumford skated street? I do. but fuck it… he is killing the tranny like a rabid aussie. why is this whole part blurry and blue? has he ever had a part where he hasn’t cracked his dome open?
• if they wanted this shit to look old, they should have filmed it on a hi-8 camera.
• dude! they totally pussed on showing allie kill that bird. fuck peta. show him murdering that fucker.
• Jon Allie… if there is one dude in skateboarding whos style has never changed it’s allie.  was that nollie tail on brooklyn 11 from his fucking sponsor-me tape!? I’ll tell you what, if you want photo / video incentive checks… film with black box filmers. super close to the shoes.
• Superman 2000 grabbing his hat grinding the gnarliest kink rail ever!!! highlight of the video so far.
• Jon Goeman is your favorite skaters favorite skater. no doubt. if you ever get the chance to see this kid skate in person do not pass it up. I’m pretty sure this is his first video part ever. which is nuts, cuz he’s been steady crushing for ten fucking years. the only thing im noticing is i don’t think his shit translates to video as well as in person… good part though. haha birdhouse footy!
• well I guess the video is over. Pretty fucking solid video. A definite must buy for 7 bucks. Oh shit! a cop just did a buttery kickflip! $lave… So-cal’s version of Nor-cal. I think it kinda sounds like I’m hating which I’m not doing at all… I really like the company, the graphics fucking rule, their team is tuff as fuck. Just not feeling the vintage filters and fillers.

Modern Warfare 2 was released at midnight, and below is the video review from the great gaming website GiantBomb.com. The review is done by Jeff Gerstmann. Check it out, and let us know what YOU think of the game in the comments.

It of course looks fantastic, and the multiplayer once again appears to be in top form. I won’t be getting the game until early next year though, when I’ll be picking it up for the PS3. Between this, MAG and Bad Company 2, the first couple of months of my having a PS3 will be nothing but FPS online (maybe some single player MW2). Awesome. If you have the game, preferably thePS3 version, what do you think of the online aspect?

Batman: Arkham Asylum is possibly the biggest example of a surprisingly good game I can think of for a good long time. Batman games haven’t had a great track record since around the 16-bit era with those great games on NES and Mega Drive, but it’s more than just that. A third person action game based on a popular comic book license with stealth elements, developed by a studio not especially well known for action games. It’s a recipe so often resulting in disaster that you almost expect it at this point, but let me quickly dispel any doubt you may have about Arkham Asylum, and let me say this: it’s a damn fine action game.

The game opens up with Batman wheeling the Joker in to Arkham Asylum, the holding ground for many of Batman’s captured foes, but things go wrong when Batman realises something is up, as The Joker didn’t hold any resistance to being captured in the first place. Very soon after, the inevitable happens and The Joker escapes, causing chaos around the Asylum, and the game takes you through the story of Batman meeting many of his foes in order to return order to Arkham Asylum. It’s very apparent to me that although I don’t have a lot of history with the Batman series in any real capacity, it sticks close to it’s source material, although I feel keeping the Joker as classic comic book Joker was a great move.

The game looks great. The main characters in the story look fantastic, detailed and well designed, with Batman and The Joker in particular looking brilliantly realised. Some of the other more generic characters don’t look so great, which creates a weird discrepancy between the comic book characters and the random people in the environments. The animation is top notch, and the game performs great, with a rock solid frame rate with very little screen tearing or any other graphical blemishes. The map of Arkham Asylum isn’t particularly large, but it’s packed tightly and densely with tonnes of detail, and much like something like a Metroid or a Castlevania, it’s a world that you’ll traverse in a non-linear fashion, returning to sections of the map as you earn new abilities.

I suppose visually, the most impressive thing about Batman: Arkham Asylum is it’s atmosphere. Arkham Asylum is actually pretty creepy, and a lot of the environments are really well designed in terms of creating a mood. The entire game has a dark feel to it, much like the modern Batman films, and I think it suits the style of game Rocksteady created. The enemies littering the areas are well placed and equally match the game’s tone. At points during the game I found myself just admiring the quality of the areas they had created.

Equally, the game plays great as well. There are a couple of different styles of gameplay incorporated, and each of them plays in slightly different ways. The main focus of the game is on hand to hand combat, and at first glance it seems like yet another brawler with a couple of attacks, but once you get to grips with what the combat requires of you, it has a surprising amount of depth. I feel like the combat in Arkham Asylum is built to be played in a fluid manner, moving from one enemy to another countering any incoming attacks. It’s a fairly rewarding system once you get to grips with it, and although you won’t confuse it for Devil May Cry, it’s a combat system that stands on it’s own.

The game also has a detective style mechanic to it, which involves pressing one of the shoulder buttons to trigger ‘Detective Vision,’ which applies an overlay to the graphics, showing different interactive elements such as vent covers you can remove and destructible walls, as well as any enemies in the room, also letting you know how “scared” the enemies are as well as if they’re armed or not. It also helps track down a lot of the Riddler’s Challenges, a set of collectables hidden deep in the environment.

The other main gameplay style is stealth, a mechanic usually done so poorly that even the mention of it is a bad idea. Luckily, the stealth in Batman: Arkham Asylum is well executed. It’s not overtly punishing (which honestly is usually my problem with stealth segments), with you usually getting away with being seen if you’re crafty and react quickly, but it’s a complete breeze either. The AI here feels a little shaky to me however, with several enemies seemingly in my line of sight not batting an eyelid when I take down one of their companions. The stealth gets more challenging, removing the ability to use the gargoyles to escape enemies, and eventually enemies get alarms that alert everyone in the room when they’re killed. You could argue that the stealth becomes arbitrary, adding more convenient contrivances until the stealth becomes frustrating, but it’s set up so that it’s never too frustrating to get through.

The game is also surprisingly long, with it taking me around 10 hours to get through. The game definitely doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, and although there were some segments I wasn’t too big of a fan of (with a battle late on in the game being of note), the large majority of the game is brilliant. Once the game is finished there are the challenge rooms, which are essentially both combat and stealth arenas, with online leaderboards and unlockables. I found it good training to learn the combat, but it didn’t hold me for long, especially the stealth rooms. The Joker challenge rooms, which as of this review are PS3 exclusive, add Joker-specific challenge rooms, which are interesting because the Joker has a different combat style, with a much faster movement between enemies, but his finishing moves take much longer to finish. It doesn’t add a whole lot, but it adds some variety to the challenge rooms and some longevity to the game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of those games you never could have predicted. A fantastic Batman game, beautifully realised on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, released in the middle of August. I really didn’t expect as much as it gave, and even if this didn’t have the Batman name on it, it deserves all the praise it got. Tight, focused gameplay, fantastic looking artwork, and great controlling gameplay. It’s definitely worth watching Rocksteady, as it’ll be interesting to see what they move onto next.

VIDEO REVIEW

We got yet another video up for your amusement. This time it’s the Datalogic QuickScan series of retail barcode scanners. Available as a linear imager, laser scanner, and cordless imager, these barcode scanners are pretty snappy and lightweight.

Anyway, enjoy!

Creature is the best. This video was fucking rad. Truman Hooker started it off with an all-terrain shred sesh. Then some Nipon shredding by the elders of hesh. Sean “Gary Busy Jr” Conover’s part was nutty with a halfcab flip board on a rail!? Taylor Bingaman shredded the tranny and the sets. And Gravette killed everything in his path… There was a lot going on at this premiere so I’m leaving a shit ton out, cuz I plain don’t remember. But the second this gem of suffering comes out on VHS grab a copy of it. Its a stoke and a half. Almost as good as the mythical “Cranny Pack” Creature is supposed to come out with soon.

Oh yeah, the two shorts: LARB & Blood Shed are fucking amazing. The animation in LARB is so killer, I could watch that shit on loop for days and not stop laughing. It could be the new South Park… Only better.

Not one to deprive you of the videos we make, here’s a quickie of the new POS-X EVO-TM1 touchscreen monitor. We got Travis to run this one, primarily because we wanted more videos of him on YouTube.

If you are not a fan of Miley Cyrus, then this video will be everything you love to hate. If you are a fan, then this video will be everything you love, period. It’s as if they took every preconceived notion of the Miley Cyrus experience and compiled it into three and a half minutes. It could be that this video was made without any thought to the depth of the meaning behind the imagery, but I highly doubt it. This video is pure genius.

The reason I say that this video is genius is because if you love or hate it, you want to watch it, and probably more than once. Its as if Cyrus is playing a parody of herself. She is dressed as a sexed up cowgirl, albeit a 16-year-old one, that directly plays to the idea that sex sells. Now I personally have a bit of a problem with marketing a girl of this age as a sex symbol, but I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t effective. Another strange aspect of this video is the setting. It’s a run down drive-in that looks like its set in the Midwest, but is supposed to convey southern United States imagery. It imparts a glorified white trash appeal with the notable absence of unattractive people. And every car is a dusty muscle car. This setting almost seems to scream buy America first. What makes this blatant use of Americana even more overwhelming is the giant American flag that unfurls over the drive-ins screen.  Cyrus sings while confetti rains down.  It’s a ticker tape parade,generally reserved for national heroes or important national events like the end of a war, taking place for Miley Cyrus at a drive in.  Has Cyrus become a national treasure worthy of such an honor?

Throughout the video Cyrus is the center of attention.  The lyrics of this song chronicle her journey from her Nashville home to Los Angeles. While the video loosely relates to the lyrics, it definitely does not follow them closely. Even the lyrics themselves are a bit suspect. In the song Cyrus sings about going to a club, although clearly she is not old enough. Drinking age in the US is 21. Also a part of the chorus that goes, “Noddin’ my head like yeah / Movin, my hips like yeah” may seem vapid, but actually seems to be a clever disguise for sex. These lyrics also translate very well into the actual music video, since body language is then able to clarify the connotation of the words. Yeah is the new work for sex.

This video seems to send the message that Miley Cyrus is America. I think you would be hard pressed to find something in this video that doesn’t echo that. Even in the final scenes of the video, Cyrus is singing in front of a giant electronic American flag that has stripes that change color.  All of these things combine to produce a video that is both ridiculous, and powerful, and  genius. It is hard not to watch  Miley Cyrus. There is something in it for everyone. It reflects exactly what some people love to hate, while at the same time giving genuine fans everything they could want. It finds a place for nostalgia and sexiness that could keep most people interested. Through all of these methods of delivery this music video achieves everything a music video could. It makes those who love Cyrus, love her more. It makes those people who love to hate her…love her for that. It also does one thing that overshadows both of those things: it makes people talk.

Since the video release on September 23^rd,2009 there have been over 24 million views on Youtube. The fact that I am currently even writing this, is a testament to the brilliance of this video. All in all, this video does exactly what a music video should, and more. It sells Cyrus and her song to us, and it does it in a way that goes beyond the traditional music video. It creates an interest among a diverse group of people, spurs conversation, and after all of that fake dust settles, it will make Cyrus a lot of money.

A review of my Collings 290 played through a Swart AST amp. It features a Mahogany body and neck, a rosewood fretboard, and Lollar P90 pickups.

A review of my Thorn Junior 90 played through a Swart AST amp with a dash of reverb and trem. The guitar top is made of curly koa, and is inlaid into a korina, or white limba, body. The guitar is a set neck, and features Thorn P90 pickups.

If anyone wanted proof as to how awesome Edmonton is just watch this:

Coming Home by the Shout Out Out Out Outs and Cadence Weapon

The awesome use of fire in only one of the things that makes this music video so epic. The combination of synth pop and rap is rare and truly amazing.  The Shout Out Out Out Outs are synth pop perfection. Members Nik Kozub, Jason Troock, Lyle Bell, Will Zimmerman, Gravy and Clint Frazier are considered by many adoring fans to be one of the best local Edmonton bands. Their notoriety has come from steady airplay on campus radio stations and on CBC radio 3.  Their second album Reintegration Time was released in March which was the follow up to  their celebrated debut album Not Saying/Just Saying which was nominated for a  Best Alternative Album Juno. One of the unique aspects of their group is their use of two drummers.

There’s nothing bad I could say about Cadence Weapon ever (except for maybe the fact that he doesn`t like the club Halo but that can be forgiven). Even `the establishment’ think he`s awesome.  He was named the  Poet Laureate for the City of Edmonton this year by the Edmonton Arts Council. Cadence Weapon aka Roland Pemberton, born and raised in Edmonton,  has so far released 2 lps and 2 mix tapes. His debut album Breaking Kayfabe was so critically acclaimed that he was nominated for the Polaris Prize in 2006 (losing to Final Fantasy). He’s not a typical rapper, he uses techniques from rock and pop.  This doesn’t always turn out well ( not naming any one in particular… cough… Limp Biskit… cough…) but Cadence Weapon makes it work. In this song he doesn’t just rap he also screams. And how can you not love a song that screams we do acid more than several times. Cadence Weapon is best known for using Edmonton as his muse.

This isn’t a typical mix of rap and pop. To start off this song is 7 minutes long, four minutes longer than the average song rap or pop. Both Cadence Weapon and the Shout Out Out Out Outs are at the top of their game in this song so the length isn’t a weakness. As the song goes on it becomes apparent that the length is needed to get all of the awesomeness out. This hybrid works because the artists don’t compromise their sound. They stand true to their music and you can feel the authenticity of this song.

Even if you don’t always remember the last out in the Shout Out Out Out Out’s name, this song and it’s artists are standouts.

This video is all your favorite skaters, talking about their favorite skaters. It’s always pretty cool to see Pro skaters talking about who hypes them up. Cuz after all… We are all fucking skateboarders!

ALSO:

Things that ruled about this video in no particular order:

• Marisa’s part was fucking awesome.
• Lil’ Fucky ripped it so hard, well deserved last part.
• Keagan is Pro now!
• Rap in a ZERO video! so tuff… even made Chris Cole watchable.
• James Brockman’s super serious slo-mo heavy part, so gnarly. (only after black hammer in the whole video)
• Girls on skateboards shredding (oh and Elissa was lookin’ kinda hot at the premier, is that weird to say?)
• Baby Jamie aka Lil’ Fucky yelling “fuck the police!!” when he is getting tackled and arrested.
• It was short, raw, and hype as fuck. For sure the hype-up video before your next session.
• Oh yeah, the intro’s to each part were so tight. Loved the projector and crazy bugs and lightning and shit for sure!

Things that sucked about this video:

• Jamie Thomas filming his part in two days in a warehouse in the Salton Sea. Shit is lame. Like Chet in the Label vid. I just don’t get the concept. No disrespect to either of those dudes cuz they are both huge influences on what skating is today (and to me), but the shit woulda been sicker in one of the montages.
• James Brockman didn’t have last part.
• Not alot of Elissa or Gilley footy… which bum’s me out. Jamie gave them a big chance…
• Garrets hair was right in front of me the whole time so I could barely see. (see video)
• Steve Clare making me walk in the frigid SD cold to Capitan Keno’s then leaving after I bought him a beer

Shyne is Officially Deported, Back in Belize

 

Shyne was officially deported to Belize on Wednesday (October 28), taken directly from holding to the airport in New York, where he flew to his home country.

According to local outlets, he arrived in Belize around 2:40pm local time Thursday, escorted by a U.S. Marshall following his deportation.

He was processed by local authorities at the airport, then was welcomed by his father Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, his mother Imeon Myvett and other members of his family, as well as fans.

Shyne’s team told media that he would now like to be called Moses Michael Leviy to reflect his conversion to Judaism.

“Shyne is home. He wants to say how happy he is to be home and to be a free man,” said the rapper’s uncle, Michael Finnegan, current Minister of Housing. “He would love to have a conversation with the media, but because he was legally advised by Professor Ogletree, he must not speak to the media because he doesn’t want to prejudice his situation with the US government or with the Belize government. So he asked me to ask you that he does not want to disrespect you the media, but please to understand what is going on.”

Finnegan also revealed that Shyne has been given an entire floor at the Radisson Fort George Hotel to give him some privacy, until his place is set up at his uncle’s house, which will take around two weeks.

“He needs some privacy, he needs not to be around anybody, he needs just to sit down in isolation and contemplate his life,” his uncle explained. “I think that we need to respect that. If you notice, he has lost an extreme amount of weight.”

The rapper was set to be released earlier this month, but U.S. Customs officials delayed it while they decided whether he should be deported or not.

The decision has been made, but Shyne plans to fight the decision from Belize. But, in the meantime, reports say he’ll work on new music while his immigration issues are hashed out.

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So yeah guys, just letting you know that i’m probably going to take a short break from the video reviews that I usually release. This is due to several reasons:

1- Too many games are coming out – Left 4 Dead 2 is out in a few weeks, as well as Assassins Creed 2 – two games that i’m looking forward to very much this year that should hopefully suck less than Halo 3: ODST did. There’s a ton of others coming out as well, or some that I simply haven’t played yet (Modern Warfare 2, Brutal Legend, the list could go on forever).

2- Unhappy with the quality of the reviews – Thus far the reviews that i’ve done on the site have been 100% done by me. The footage is by me, the voice overs are by me, the video editing is done by me. You get the idea, it’s a very time consuming process and ultimately I think that I can do better. I would like to work with a group of people for future reviews. This gets more ideas on to the table, which hopefully results in higher production values, and ultimately, something that’s more useful to the people who watch them. When I look at the amount of views for my reviews, everything is dwarfed in comparison to my review of Sonic The Hedgehog. This is something that I wish to change.

So yeah, the video reviews that I do are being put on hold mainly because i’m unhappy with the quality of them at the time being. I also have a minor addiction to Battlefield: Bad Company right now. Which, coincidently, is an awesome game. You should buy it. NAO.

Finally got this one to render, took around 4 attempts… As always, HD version available on YouTube.

“Video Review of the controversial third person shooter for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC from IO Interactive, the makers of the Hitman series.”

The fellas over at POS-X did a rev bump on their mid-range barcode scanners, jumping from the XI3000 to the XI3200. I’m pretty sure that this scanner is 200 more than the predecessor, too. POS-X chose the XI3200 as the time to shift offering only a USB model. A lot of manufacturers, and even some end users, are still clinging to PS/2 and even RS-232 for their barcode scanners, but 9 times out of 10 we’re selling a USB model.

We have a video here to show off, just a quick look at some of the new features on this scanner. Once we have a couple in house we’ll try to chuck one off the roof.

Since Guitar Hero first came out, I have been waiting for a hip-hop oriented video game, and tomorrow DJ Hero will finally be coming out. Now DJ Hero is not exclusively hip-hop music, but there are a good amount of it to keep me happy. With some of my favorite artist like Jay-Z, Wale, Kid Cudi, and Eminem backing it with their songs I knew it would be pretty good. The key to these music games is obviously gameplay, but they really do need a good library of music to succeed. IGN just put up their review of DJ Hero, and they say it is one of the best music games they have played. They gave it a 9.0 out of 10, which is higher than I expected it to get from them. Either way I am glad I will be picking up my pre-order of the Renegade Edition tomorrow. BTW yeah that is Jay-Z/Hov/Jigga/Sean Carter/w.e you want to call him playing DJ Hero.

Click to watch the video review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB-iPiqGQ0c

Lightload Towels(www.ultralighttowels.com) are the only towels that are survival tools. Use them as a wind scarf, fire starter, first aid supplement, insulation, a mask and much more. For a survival demo click on the Swamp City Production’s video above.