Category: Reviews


Its Been 4 Years Almost 5

Filed Under: Music, Reviews
May.20, 2009

The last time anyone heard from CKY, it seemed that the band was done with. Despite huge grassroots successes with Volume 1, IDR and An Answer Can Be Found, the rock and roll lifestyle finally caught up with the band, and a much needed hiatus ensued.

While virtually 2007 and much of 2008 passed without so much as a sentence from the band, many fans hoped they were working together to patch things up and move on. Not ones to simply quit, CKY settled their differences, met their demons head on and came out of it stronger than ever.

2005’s An Answer Can Be Found was met with mixed reception, there were questions in the air about if the band’s heart was still in it. Though it was a great rock album, many felt it lacked the substance and polish of their previous efforts.

With their fourth album Carver City, CKY has really outdone themselves in every area. This album is a very progressive effort from their raw rock sound on Volume 1 and thick in your face guitars of IDR. Deron Miller has really matured with his craft, as has Chad Ginsburg who doubles as producer and guitarist. Like a pheonix reborn, the album feels fresh and new from the songs to the attitude. Layers of guitars and vocals complete with sonic soundscapes from synths and keyboards run full assault on the ears for the length of the album.

The album opener ‘Hellions on Parade’ cuts right to the chase (no pun intended) and explodes out of the starting gate, reminiscent of fan favorite ‘Escape from Hellview’. From there we’re led into the seedy town of Carver City, where tales of missing girls, dead bodies, ghost crews and thoughts of self hate preside over the inhabitants. This seaside resort town is supposed to be a dream, but instead serves as a nightmare for anyone inside. ‘And She Never Returned’, ‘Rats in the Infirmary’, ‘Imaginary Threats’ and ‘The Boardwalk Body’ showcase CKY’s hard rock edge and their talent for addictive hooks and melody. ‘Plagued by Images’, ‘Woe is Me’, ‘A#1 Roller Rager’ and ‘Fishermans Wharf 1 & 2′ are classic CKY. These progressive riffs with eerie overtones that harken all the way back to Volume 1’s ‘Lost in a Contraption’, ‘Rio Bravo’ and ‘To All of You’.

Longtime fans will appreciate this offering. It’s without a doubt their best effort to date, check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Carver-City-Cky/dp/B001XJBDLM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 &s=music&qid=1242854436&sr=8-1

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Top 5 Best iPod Touch / iPhone Applications in AppStore

Filed Under: General, Reviews, Software, Technology, Thoughts, Web 2.0, Web Applications
Jul.28, 2008

I love my iPod Touch. I was a bit weary back in March about the decision to buy the 32GB model but now it’s paid off. With the recent firmware update (available for 10 bucks through iTunes) comes a new little program called AppStore. AppStore is basically iTunes for iPhone/iPod specific software, with plenty of freebies. There has always been the ability to run Web Apps, which is to say connecting to a website and running an application- but this is so much better. This lets you download software to keep, more responsive, more slick, and better designed.

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Emotion as Art

Filed Under: Gaming, Reviews, Technology, Thoughts
Jun.13, 2008

As being probably the only guy in lower Delaware able to pick up a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 off the shelf yesterday without a preorder (thank you Radio Shack and my resourcefulness to check there) fresh off the delivery truck (oh, and they only had 1 copy for the location- lucky me), I spent a healthy 6 hours with undoubtedly one of the largest games ever made.

Cracked the seal, opened the box, the ink on the instruction manual still smelled as if it just came out of the printer. I don’t think I have been as anxious to open a game and throw it in the console since possibly Super Mario Brothers 3 in 1990- and back then, I was only 8 (thanks mom). But this is so much more, an ending to a game series 20 years in the making since Metal Gear first appeared on the MSX/NES- with characters never to be seen again, resolutions to every major plotline, and a finality to everything we knew.

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No Country for Old Men

Filed Under: Experiences, General, Reviews, Thoughts
Jan.28, 2008

As enthralling as the movie itself, the book provides even more picture painting and story telling. Even if you’ve seen the movie, I highly recommend reading the book that came before it.

“You wear out, Ed Tom. All the time you spend tryin to get back what’s been took from you there’s more goin out the door. After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it. Your grandad never asked me to sign on as a deputy with him. I done that my own self. Hell, I didn’t have nothin else to do. Paid about the same as cowboyin. Anyway, you never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. I was too young for one war and too old for the next one.But I seen what come out of it. You can be patriotic and still believe that some things cost more than they’re worth. Ask them Gold Star mothers what they paid and what they got for it. You always pay too much. Particularly for promises. There ain’t no such thing as a bargain promise. You’ll see. Maybe you done have.“

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Nostalgia thy name is Wii

Filed Under: Experiences, Gaming, General, Reviews, Software, Technology, Thoughts
Jan.26, 2008

You know, despite its nearly 90% terrible library of games (thanks lame third party developers), the Wii pulls through in one key area for me: downloadable content.

Theres nothing like plopping down $40 and downloading some titles from my childhood. Super Marios, Zeldas, Contra, just boatloads of games I had growing up and still will play to this day. In those days, games were actually challenging. I STILL can’t beat games like Punch-Out, Kid Icarus, or Battletoads. Those games are beyond difficult. It’s amazing that games from 20-25 years ago are harder than games that are released TODAY.

To put it in perspective, I beat all the tournament ranks and challenges in Fight Night 3 on the Xbox 360 (todays equivalent to Punch-Out) in a weekend, and got all the achievements to boot. Wasn’t at all hard, and for $60 I expect a lot more than what it threw at me. While I loved Mass Effect on the 360, beating it three times in a month (on Hard, Hardcore, then Insane difficulties), it still wasn’t really that hard. Ho hum.

On top of that, you can also get games for the Neo-Geo, Master System, and TurboGrafx 16; consoles I never had growing up. I know that I want the Samaurai Showdown series for the Neo-Geo, those games were awesome.

I hear the Greene Turtle is having a Wii tournament sometime soon (though a rumor but from a good source). I wonder if its based on Wii Sports, Madden, or something else. I’ve played just about anything and good at all the games. I’m pretty unbeatable in Tennis and Bowling. Not to stroke my ego or anything, but its not like I’m killing kids who suck at games. Steve puts up a good fight sometimes.

I wish they threw Counterstrike or Team Fortress 2 tournaments around here so I could really show who’s boss.

Time to go make my rounds on the town.

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Pownce: 10 Years Too Late; Digg Admins Abuse System

Filed Under: Business, Delaware Web Design, Delaware Web Development, Experiences, General, Internet, Reviews, Software, Technology, Thoughts, Web 2.0, Web Applications
Jan.22, 2008

“Pownce is a way to keep in touch with people and share stuff with them. Send files, links, events, and messages to people you know and have real conversations about them.”

Wow, really? REAL conversations? Share stuff? Why does this sound so familiar?

Oh, that’s right. Because thats what millions of people have been doing with AIM, ICQ, Yahoo IM, MSN and other instant messaging software since the mid 90s.

Honestly, whats the point. There wasn’t a demand for this since so many applications exist that do this and do it far better. Not to mention, this doesn’t support Linux, and it’s written in Flash/Flex for the Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) platform, which has seen minimal support from the community itself.

One thing I don’t agree on with this application is that anyone connected to your list is shown in your profile page on the Pownce website. Can you imagine if MySpace listed all your AIM buddies screen names to the world? Yeah, its kind of a bad thing.

I can’t even think of one scenario where email, text message, IM, or a phone call would not achieve what Pownce is trying to do, so much so that its not even worth downloading. At work, we have our own internal IM server, and it can do all the things Pownce does and more. I will write about that in another article. At home, like the rest of the world, I use AIM/Yahoo. Both of which I have 200 contacts combined, countless email addresses, and a phone full of contacts. I don’t need to switch, because I do not have a single reason to, and neither do any of my friends.

You guys are far too late.

Digg Admin Abuse

Once again, the powers that be at Digg plant the article to maximize traffic to the site. If you notice, the submitter of the “story” is arielwaldman, who is on the Pownce development team. Wow, can’t get any more obvious than that. But, the funny part is the massive backlash against the site and application on the whole by everyone on Digg, just check out the comments posted on the topic:

http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Pownce_Launches_

This only makes known what most have assumed for so long: the ones in charge of Digg abuse their power and put stuff on the front page that will directly favor them. Case in point:

http://www.digg.com/users/arielwaldman/history/submissions

Two submissions from this poster, one being the story in question, further proves that Digg staff will falsely make something popular for friends, coworkers, or corporate sponsors. This has happened before with Leah Culver blog posts, who, surprise, is involved with both Pownce and Digg. Not to mention everything Kevin Rose posts is front page by default. This makes the site not that much different than corporate media where the news is controlled.

Just let us decide whats worth reading and what isn’t. Users don’t respond well to having content shoved down their throats, especially when they are supposed to be the ones approving what content shows up.

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Kevin Quillen is a web developer on the east coast specializing in web design, web hosting, custom website design, website design, web applications, Coldfusion development, database design, MySQL / MSSQL database & consultation, PHP development, Wordpress themes, iPhone application development, Drupal hosting, Drupal development, logo branding, business logic, custom application programming, Linux and Windows Server management and more. All views and opinions posted in this blog are original. Do not copy without permission, but feel free to share an article.