Yesterday was a good day for new releases. I bought the new 300 Movie on HD DVD
July 26th at the Exchange
There was a really awesome show at the Exchange on July 26th. The Fifth Dawn opened up for Goatwhore, Amon Amarth, and Darkest Hour. It was a packed exchange and I heard it was completely sold out, so right on. The crowd was really into the music and everyone had a good time although it sure did heat up in there. I missed the start of Fifth Dawn because they had to start playing as soon as the doors opened so the line wasn’t in yet. The end of their set was really good and I throughly enjoyed the new vocals. I can’t wait for their CD release whenever that will happen. Goatwhore continued the metal and brought forth a great show. The packed exchange loved it. After them, Amon Amarth from Sweden looking like a pack of Vikings took the stage and played some awesome stuff.  Head banging blonde guys who are all tough and tall was cool. After this came Darkest Hour with their smoke machines and all. I wasn’t too interested in them as they were a detour from all the previous metal bands with their metalcore (emo) style. It was funny how they were the only band of the night to have security up by the stage. Haha, well it is Regina and anything could happen. Great time at the exchange, great night of music.
Top 10 GMail Tweaks
The following site has 10 interesting GMail plugins and tweaks. Most of them are affecting the appearance and usability of the interface. I think some of them could be really useful and the whole list should be checked out. I would recommend Google to take a look at these and possibly add them since some are particularly obviously useful to everyone.
Nintendo Announces Wii Fit: Step Pad To Get Healthy
With Nintendo’s newly announced Wii Fit, with a step pad accessory for the Wii, I thought of the question, when did Nintendo start to care about the health of its customers? I know for the longest time now, Nintendo has been throwing in warnings about health into their games. Reminding players to take a break after playing for too long and reminding them to wear their wrist straps. This Wii Fit is a change in direction for them. When people get into better shape by using this step pad they might be more inclined to get out and participate in sports. This could end up hurting the company as people will spend less time playing games and playing their Wii. So thank you Nintendo for entertaining us for so many years, but I am wondering where your long term strategy is at by making exercise games. They really need to learn that if they want us to be gamers for life we need to be fat.
Sony Slashes PS3 Price
Sony cut the price on the PS3 by $150 Canadian today to set the price at around $550. Online site Futureshop already has the new pricing reflected while Bestbuy still shows the older price. The new price cut comes as sales of the next-gen console have been poor. Sony is hoping to double their monthly sales numbers as a result of the price cut. The price cut should help to promote sales but it is very likely that a price cut by Microsoft will take away some of its thunder. There is some speculation that the Microsoft price cut on its 360 will come before the end of the week. If that is the case, Microsoft will probably continue to dominate the sales. The announcement last week about three year waranty and then a price cut will surely allow them to increase sales.
Creepy High Voltage Installations in Russia
The Russian countryside yields sometimes most improbable sights – abandoned artifacts and installations from bizarre military/scientific research, strangely futuristic forms left to rust and decay – to be found by a curious photographer. These older towers were built and used by the scientist Tesla. Kind of resembles the Tesla coils in command and conquer games. I want one for my backyard!
7-Elevens become Simpsons “Kwik-E-Marts”
Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of “The Simpsons” fame, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art. Now you can get Buzz Cola, KrustyO’s and Squishees. This is a very cool promotion that I think would do very well wherever it is done. I doubt it would happen anywhere in Canada, but sometimes its cool to just look at the pictures and imagine.  If you want to know all the locations of the Kwik-E-Marts you can check out the 7-eleven webpage hopefully by July 2nd for a complete list.
Antropology 100 Complete
I finished my first summer class today. Anthropology 100 took me 3 and a half weeks to complete and I really enjoyed it. The class itself taught about various parts to human life. There were chapters on stuff like, religion, gender, political structures, family, and colonialism among other things.   The condensed summer class meant that each day of the class was a new chapter for the most part. As well, we watched anthropologically related videos that really added to the immersiveness of the class.  I would definitely recommend this class to others that need a 100 level elective. I am a really big fan of summer classes since they are more condensed and cause me to stay focused on one thing longer, I think I learn better this way.
Dude, you bought a girl car?
Five vehicles that will cause random people to make the remark “That is totally a girl car”. I would agree completely with the list of cars being girl cars. I’m just glad that my car wasn’t on the list or I would have to be discrediting the whole thing!
Friday the 13th
On April 13th 2007, I was at the Exchange in Regina. A $10 ticket got me in to support my friend’s band The Fifth Dawn. They were opening along with Stillseed and Itchy Stitches. The main acts were Anonymus and Unexpect, both French bands from Quebec. I had only heard Fifth Dawn prior so it would be a good introduction to a number of bands.
The show started off with The Fifth Dawn, which once again put on a really great show. I believe they played a few new songs along with the ones I have heard before. I really liked the sound of the band and the music was complex and kept me entertained. I’m not a great fan of the vocals, but at least the music was spectacular. It should be awesome to hear them open for Dying Fetus at the upcoming show in the Riddell Center. After this was Stillseed, and their shirtless (hairy) bassist. Not bad performance, kind of interesting. After this was Itchy Stitches. I wasn’t impressed by the singing from their female lead vocals or the music coming from the rest of the band so I took shelter near the back. They also seemed to try to tell jokes or stories or something, which completely made the whole thing seem out of place and awkward.
Finally the big names took the stage and Anonymus put forth some really powerful music and I was thoroughly impressed. It was also good to see some new languages being sung, like English, French, and Spanish. Good presentation and I liked the uniforms they had. Next up on stage was Unexpect. They put on such a great performance, their music was unique and diverse. They incorporated so many elements into their songs that it was such an experience. Also it was nice to see some actual singing ability up on stage for a change. The huge bass with 9 strings looked very impressive and the violin brought forth some unique sounds that actually worked with their music. I have to say that before the show I have never heard of Anonymus or Unexpect, but now I might consider buying their CDs. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.