15 Johansen, Ripper, Exodus

MUSIC Has it really been that long since I wrote on my blog? Damn this thing, sometimes I wonder why I have one :)
I won't begin with the band everyone around here has been waiting for... I'll leave that for a later post (hopefully before the concert, yes?), but I have a few shows I did attend that I haven't written about: Kevin Johansen (august), Tim 'Ripper' Owens (september) and Kreator/Exodus (october).

People outside South America aren't familiar with Kevin Johansen and it's obvious why, he mixes Argentinean slang with english and a few invented words and makes some kind of rock/folk that doesn't sound like anything else. He was accompanied by Liniers, a famous cartoonist from Argentina where they mixed visual art with music, it was a lot of fun. A friend of mine snuck into the backstage and got an autograph from Mr. Johansen, something a lot of my female friends are undoubtedly jealous about :)

Tim 'Ripper' Owens is a guy that you either love or hate. I'm sure most hardcore Judas Priest fans go for the latter, and I feel sorry for them, really... can you watch the Live in London DVD and say Ripper doesn't sing well? Quit comparing him to Halford for F's sake, and listen to the guy. You'll see how good he is. Sure, his stage presence is mediocre, but did I pay to see him jump, headbang and make the horns, or did I pay to hear him sing classics like Painkiller and Livin' After Midnight? At least the 'Ripper' can still hit those impossibly high notes. That's right, I said it. Bring it on, Halford lovers. For the rest, a picture of the event.
...and that's me, on the front left side with a white t-shirt and big-ass sideburns :)

And last but certainly not least, the killer combo of American legends Exodus supporting German thrash-masters Kreator. I had only listened to one Exodus album, and it wasn't a good indication as to what their current direction was, so I'm glad I listened to Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005), The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A (2007) and the remastering of their first album titled Let There Be Blood (2008) just in time for the show. Their setlist was comprised mainly of these three albums, so I had no problem following the songs and moshing along to them.
My second time seeing Kreator live was a slight disappointment, as they chose to fill the second half of their set with obscure (to me) songs, and I think some people felt like this too. Still, the first half was as killer as I had expected, with soon-to-be-classics like Hordes of Chaos and Destroy What Destroys You. Here's my friend jumping off the stage at the 11-second mark:

14 Concert venues, Nintendo Wi-Fi

MUSIC Capitan Memo was awesome, the place was packed! The line to get in was a block and a half when I got there (about 15 minutes before the show started). We all sang, jumped and went back in time to when we were young and worry-free... Memo even made an example of the animals in Fables of the Green Forest, who instead of destroying the environment, live in harmony and peace with it. *sniff*
What surprised me the most was the intro sequence, shown on giant projections, which I later learned was an anime clip used to promote the new Mazinkaiser OAV series. I leave you with a YouTube video of the concert.
Capitan Memo - Intro & Festival de los Robots
Now, the subject I wrote about on my last post was the closing and refraction of the National Stadium, which won't be available either for sports or music events. The quest to find a new venue has started, with options like the Monumental Stadium and the Amauta Coliseum, but they all have problems from security to luxury suites which would allow the owners to watch the events for free). We have nothing defined yet, and AC/DC is looking for a place to play at.

MOVIES You might say my Clint Eastwood collection is complete. It might as well. The Sergio Leone Trilogy, the first four Dirty Harry movies, Hang 'Em High and The Unforgiven. All thanks to a store I found in Polvos Azules that carries all thse classic gems. I'll get Million Dollar Baby from a friend, and my sister has Gran Torino, so that's basically all the Clint movies I care to see.

GAMES So, Nintendo DS, where to begin? Should I start with the music, the movies, the pictures I can enjoy on your tiny, but inviting dual screen? The lipstick-red color of the limited New Super Mario Bros. edition? The Wi-Fi conectivity with which I can play with friends around the world as easy as multiplaying with a friend a few feet away? Or just the amazing range of games I can play on the R4 cartridge?
I can't seem to put down Trauma Center: Under the Knife and Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. I have around fifty games waiting to be played, but I don't. have. time!

13 Clint Eastwood, Nintendo DS

MUSIC It's time to go see Capitan Memo, the guy who created so many cartoon spanish openings of my youth (including He-Man, King Arthur, Captain Future, Flash gordon, and many more), while we wait for another megaconcert... although that's gonna be tough now that our National Stadium's been closed for repairs until late 2010. More of that on the next post.

MOVIES So I'm definitely starting a little Eastwood collection... I'll surely be getting the other two from the Sergio Leone trilogy, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Also, I want to see Hang 'Em High just because it's such an awesome title :D And finally, Unforgiven will close the 'Western Clint' era... to start with the 'Modern Clint' era; I've gotten the first Dirty Harry movie, and plan on getting Magnum force and Sudden Impact (I'll decide on The Dead Pool if I like the others enough).

GAMES I got a Nintendo D-freakin'-S. Hell yeah. My Backloggery's gonna get a lot bigger soon...

12 post-Maiden, Team Fortress 2

MUSIC Maideeen! Some pics now. I only took the crappier ones :)


So as you can see, we finally got the flag made, it looked great, we waved it high, and ultimately had a lot of fun, even with a couple of "gasping for air because the crowd was going nuts" moments. I don't have photos of the KISS concert, but you should have been there too :) both concerts were great.

MOVIES Finally! Eastern Promises, what a great movie. I still need to see A History of Violence, though...
I'm kinda starting my Clint Eastwood collection, I just got Pale Rider, A Fistful of Dollars and the third Dirty Harry movie, The Enforcer, since they didn't have the first one. I algo got Ong-Bak 2 (sequel to my favorite martial arts movie) and was about to get a Charles Bronson film too. [random trivia] Did you know Bronson was an U.S. Air Force gunner during the years of WWII?

GAMES I got the Orange Box on Steam for my birthday , and besides doing most of the achievements for Portal, I have been playing waaay too much Team Fortress 2, and finally understood why everyone was raving about it. I'm loving it, the Pyro and Medic are my favorites so far.

Only one new screenshot gallery, this time the Genesis classic Shining Force II, a game that has plenty of unintentionally funny dialogue.
Shining Force II gallery

11 Tomb Raider, Ah! My Goddess

I'm back! How is 2009 treating you all? I haven't had much to talk about, but I do now, so let´s start.

MUSIC KISS is coming to town, and I got my tickets. Meanwhile, the Iron Maiden flag is not progressing along, I have a job to worry about now, and I haven't taken any time to finish the design and send it to print. Also, it's a little expensive for one person to pay so I'll organize a Live after Death DVD party, with all funds going to the flag. Maiden's show is less than a month away now!

MOVIES If you remember my last post, I mentioned the next movie I would watch was gonna be Eastern Promises. Well guess what, I haven't watched it yet. I think I need to be in the mood for a movie here in my room, since the only movie I've watched since then is Raiders of the Lost Ark. I usually only watch series.

GAMES Since december 1st, I've beaten 15 games on 4 or 5 different systems, from which I can highly recommend Shining Force II for the Sega Genesis, The Lost Vikings II on the SNES and X-Men (6-player) on the Arcade. I also finished Monkey Island 1 and 2, but I'm saving the third one til later since I've been told it's really good. Right now I'm playing Tomb Raider: Anniversary and I was playing Fallout 2, but I haven't been lately.

My friend Brian has helped me get this Embedded Galleries up here if you want to check out some screenshots (I started with Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Lara Croft in sexy poses). I also have a Ah! My Goddess screenshot album, if you haven't seen it (the series not the old OAVs), go ahead and watch it although I don't recommend it too much. The drawings are gorgeous though :) especially Urd... *sigh*
Anyway, he hasn't helped me with these empbedded thingies so I'll just post the links.
Ah! My Goddess - Season 1
Tomb Raider: Anniversary

See ya!

10 Iron Maiden, Steam

MUSIC Yes, THE Iron Maiden. Yes, for the first time IN PERU. March 26th, 2009. Still hard to believe, even though the band has it posted on their official website as part of their 'Somewhere Back in Time' tour. I'm still speechless. Just one day after I was talking to a friend about how incredible it would be to have Maiden here, it appeared in the news and it started spreading like wildfire. I don't want to think this much ahead, but I know I'll make everything possible to be in the first row, waving a giant flag and screaming: Up the Irons!!!
EDIT - Almost forgot to mention, tomorrow (December 8th) marks the 4th anniversary of the death of one of the most respected metal guitarists, off all time, 'Dimebag' Darrell. Pay your respects by blasting 'Cemetery Gates' on your stereo or by going to a tribute concert if there's one near you!

MOVIES Man, Bee Movie was a total letdown. What? That's like a year-old movie? Shit, sorry, I'm so far behind my movie-watching it's not even funny. Next up: Eastern Promises! (That's 2007 too? Aw, nuts.)

GAMES Since I've put off the pimpin' of my ride computer until next year, even though I'm dying to try out Fallout 3 (check my friend's screenshots if you haven't seen the game), I have to keep playing Roms and older PC games (I will even go back and play the Monkey Island series! How exciting) for now. Which hasn't been that bad: I signed up to Steam, and a friend gave me Half-Life as a gift (it was on sale for its tenth anniversary), and since I jumped straight into Half-Life 2 without even knowing what happened in the first one (I know, shame on me...), I knew it was time to learn the origins of the greatest FPS. Well, that's my opinion anyway. Steam has also been great for trying out demos like Tomb Raider: Underworld (nice graphics, has some big flaws overall), Football Manager 2009 (great, no complaints with this one), and Penny Arcade Presents: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two (long title, short demo). Great fun.

By the way, this is my All-Time Top 5 First-Person Shooters:
- Half-Life 2
- Doom 3 (either this or the original Doom)
- Call of Duty 4
- Prey
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Happy Holidays. See ya next year!

09 Paradise Lost, Mobile games

MUSIC Monday, November 3rd 2008 came and paradise lost kicked ass. Everything started beautifully, with The Enemy (as expected) firing up the crowd, then Erased (a favorite of mine) got us jumping and chanting every word. And when the show was about to explode... the fuses exploded. Actually the whole block was cut off the power, something me and probably all of the people gathered there felt ashamed of. Who would've thunk? Power came back after 20 munutes which were deducted off the setlist because the band had to catch a flight that night and there was no making up for the time lost.. So that really sucked, and some of my favorite PL songs (True Belief, Isolate, Mouth) were probably those that were cut off. The rest of the show was amazing, Say Just Words and The Last Time put the crowd in a total frenzy, and after The Last Time it was time to say goodbye to Paradise Lost and a memorable night :(

There are no good (metal) concerts until the end of the year. I should be able to save some money now...
All I have now is great albums which I highly recommend: Volbeat - Guitar, Gangsters and Cadillac Blood, Bison BC - Quiet Earth, the new Týr, the new Satyricon, and so many others. There's no time for all of this!

GAMES I played it two full weeks before the release date. They said it wasn't out yet, but let me tell you, it was. Gears. Of. War. 2. If you loved the first one, I don't need to tell you it's awesome, you've already pre-ordered it! And if you didn't like the first one, go play Singstar or something, you douche-fag!
I finally played Guitar Hero's game rival, Rock Band. I will only say this: when I get my Wii and I have to make a choice between GH: World Tour and Rock Band 2, I'll simply have to pick both. I also realized I'm not that bad at singing (at least the couple tunes I had to sing). Take your place inside the fire with heeeeer! I still have to get the hang of playing the drums (it is totally different than air drumming).
And what's with all these crappy mobile ports of great PC or Xbox games? All I get for my phone are watered-down (not graphics-wise but gameplay-wise) versions that are either too short, too frustrating to control, or too slow to be entertaining. Where can I find a decent game (besides Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Assassin's Creed) for a lame-ass Nokia 5070? There are so few! I know... "get a better cellphone". Pfft.