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!

02 Helloween, Jericho

MUSIC I'm almost decided on passing up april 30's Helloween/Gamma Ray concert here in Lima, Peru. The opportunity is unique, the music is one that I enjoy very much. My problem is, I fear, monetary. The ticket prices were barely bordering on the reasonable, but since the date of the show is approaching, the prices have gone up... I don't know if it sounds rational to someone out there. Does it only happen here, where greedy businessmen try to cover their butts charging the normal ticket price for the first month, only to increase it the folowing days, to finally charge more than 50% more than the original price the day of the show?
It reminds me of the time I almost saw Rhapsody (now called Rhapsody of Fire), but I didn't since they only had the opening slot (which probably meant a 1-hour maximum stage time), and the headliner was Manowar -which I tolerate, not enjoy-, and since Manowar is a "big name" band, they were charging $60+ for a ticket. I was furious, basically because I would've paid 60 bucks to see Rhapsody, but I would be paying Manowar to see Rhapsody play for an hour, which didn't make sense to me. Rhapsody Of Fire by themselves wouldn't have charged more than $30 anyway.

Anyway, I don't care because Megadeth, Capitán Memo and Joe Satriani are coming!

GAMES Deeply disappointed by Codemaster's Clive Barker's Jericho. I don't remember a recent game so ludicrous and incongruent in plot, game mechanics, and overall "fun" factor. It all went downward as you progressed through the game, until it gave you the most unsatisfying ending of all: the "rolling credits" ending... stupid. Barker is a great writer in my opinion -his Books of Blood can give the creeps to anyone- but this was a letdown compared to his other videogame venture, Undying (goddamn underrated).

More musings soon.
-Art