Bear

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Decent dama komedy about a teen who's suicidal... or, thinks he is at least. There's nothing new or very exciting here, but it was OK anyway. Lots of charm. The Hamiltons - What do you get when yu mix bad drama and bad horror? A realy bad film, such as The Hamiltons. What a disaster of a film. Nothing good about this at all.

Things have changed a lot through the years. An EP doesn't have to have this many songs or that much playtime. An EP can have everything from 1 to 45 songs, and be everything from 5 to 75 minutes long. The same goes for albums. You'll inf short-as-fuck albums as well. "Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood" anyone? Full lenght, but less than 15 minutes long... or short. Whatever.

The Purge - Home invasion horror with a great concept but that falls through due to its weak script. It never becomes anything but a mediocre film at best. Near Dark - I saw this film 7-8 years ago and thought it was brilliant, so when my girlfriend suggested this yesterday I was thrilled. But woah, what a disappointment. This hasn't stand the test of time. It's not bad, just not very good either. Both the story and charachters becomes a bit too weak. It lacks punch. It lacks something interesting. I hate when this happens. Strait-Jacket - Horror film by the master of gimmicks, William Castle, with a script by Robert Bloch, the man who wrote Psycho. Great film that's up there with Castle's Homicidal. It has a feel of Psycho, but it's not at all a copy or anything. Great suspense, great characters, great dialog and a Joan Crawford who's phenomenal! Hell yeah! Do watch, kis, right after you watched Psycho and Homicidal.

Another great episode, and a surprisingly lighthearted episode as well. They're walking new paths with this season.

The Family - This is a crime comedy by Luc Besson with Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. What a big disappointment this was. When Luc focuses on violent gangster crime he does really well, but every single time he gets close to comedy he fails and so goes the film. Awesome, awful, awesome, awful and so on. It's a shame because I really expected a good film here. The Conjuring - One of the most hyped horrorilms the past 10 years, and a film that I've had really high hopes for for such a long time. Not because of the hype, but because of James Wan, who's got several great films in his filmography. And every single time he makes a horror film you can see that this guy doesn't just love horror films, he KNOWS and UNDESTANDS the genre. He knows what hororfilms are all about, and that's why he's one of the most promising directors in the genre at the moment. The Conjuring are easily one of the most unoriginal films I've seen in a long time, but does that matter? No, not when it's done as good and effective as this. The whole film, including the atmosphere, reeks f the 70's, and as a massive horor fan that is never anything but a bonus, and the set designs looks amazing. Great, just great! A bit sceptical to a sequel and spin-off, but as long as James Wan makes it I will have faith in them both.

I bought meself a pair of V-Jays headphones the other days. Cheap, light and comfortable, but also really good sound. And I've picked up some stuff for free lately as well: A Technics SL-5 direct drive vinyl player. And I picked up a stereo today. Plays CDs and more importantly tapes. I can finally play my tapes again.

Macabre - A cool suspense thriller with a bit of horror thrown in, by the king of gimmicks, William Castle. This ain't close to being his best film, but it's still a very solid film. The cemetery scenes were really good, and with a thick atmosphere. Those scenes were brilliantly directed. This film is also known for being the first film where he took in use his gimmicks. Gotta love that!

The To Do List - Maggie Carey, the director of this film, have gathered several likeable actors such as Bill Hader, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Andy Samberg for this 90's influenced teen/sex comedy, which makes it disappointing to see how hard she actually failed with this film. And while you are treated with a couple of laughs throughout this film, none of them will make you spill your milk or anything. Meh, this was poor. There's only one impressive thing about this film, and that's the fact that she gathered some cool actors for this piece of shit film.

The Last Stand - This is Arnold's first major filmrole in 10 years, and god damn he didn't lose anything at all. Well, let's be honest, there wasn't much to lose to begin with. He was never a good actor, but when you're as cool as him you don't need to decent acting skills or anything. Arnold is Arnold, and Arnold is badass! Anyway, as a huge fan of Korean cinema I was really excited about this film as this is Kim Jee-Woon's Hollywood debut. Kim Jee-Woon's the man behind films such as A Tale of Two Sisters, The Good, the Bad, the Weird and I Saw the Devil among others, and he never made a poor film, so my expectations to this films was quite high. And guess what, he didn't disappoint one bit. The story ain't all that, but that doesn't really mean anything at all. You don't watch films like this for its stories. This is a throw back to the 80's witty and bloody action films. The Last Stand is, hands down, a really awesome film. It's action as you remember it from when you were young. Great! This means I've seen two of the three Korean Hollywood debuts so far, and neither disappoints. Kim Jee-Woon's The Last Stand is, as already said, awesome, and Chan-wook Park's Stoker is fantastic. I really can't wait till I get to see Joon-ho Bong's Snowpiercer. Massive expecations! However, I am not surprised, though. These three directors have been three of the best and most interesting directors in the world for quite some years now, and neither ever managed to disappoint me so far. Brilliant!

It's hard to say, but I am not sure he told the (whole) truth. But I hope this isn't something they'll focus on in the next episodes though. I hope they're finished with all of this now.

Bought them an hour and a half ago and my first impression is indeed that it seems like you get a lot of sound for a rather small amount of money. They leak a little and let in a bit of noise when the noise gets loud around you, but that's not a huge problem for me. Gonna try them the out with hip hop, electronica and ambient later today. Need to try 'em out with different kind of music. If you want something massive and superb, this obviously aren't your choice. But if you want something good, for a small amount of money, I doubt you'll be disappointed with these. They're getting great reviews as well. Also, a massive bonus for the fact that they are almost too comfortable. I've never tried any headphones or those you put in your ear that's close to as comfortable as this. Lovely!

And we still don't know for sure either, and I love it that way.

Oh, I see. I agree with you that they were able to find their own style with Soma, but it didn't catch me like debut did. I just thought it lacked the riff. Shame, because I really looked forward to the album. Not sure if you only checked out the song I posted or the whole album, but it has some variety including blastbeats and stuff. I see. It's a lot harder and focus less on the atmosphere and more on the beats and stuff. Maybe that's what makes the difference to you? Great album nonetheless. Nice! Be sure to check out their two first albums as well, which is, in my ears, a lot better than this. Blood Lust are their masterpiece so far. Cool! Be sure to check out their debut album as well. And a few more bands you might enjoy or just catch your itnerest. A bit too many I guess, but that won't hurt nobody. Orchid - The Mouths of Madness This ain't much more than Black Sabbath worship, but it's good Black Sabbath worship if you're into that kind of thing. They've got one of the best artworks this year as well. Skogen Brinner - 1st This is baically Black Sabbath in Swedish. They've managed to capture that lovely 70's production and atmosphere. One just gotta love this! Tempelheks - Red Forest While listening to the opening song you could easily have been fooled to believe this is a Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats song (- the vocals). Something that weren't good enough for their two first albums or something. But this is still great, though. Some might react to the vocals, and while not the best, I don't think they spoil anything at all. They just adds to the charm IMO. The other songs doesn't sound quite as much as Uncle Acid, but they're still very good. A very enjoyable debut. Mount Salem - Endless Female fronted doom/psychedelic rock with that occult feel similar to the two first Blood Ceremony albums, but without the flute. I think this EP is just fabolous and the vocals are really good. Mansion - We Shall Live Doom metal/rock with female vocals. These finns sounds like a doomy Jess and the Ancient Ones with a small amount of Jex Thoth thrown in. Listen to the intro to the song bellow. That's Jex Thothish, yeah?. Amazing too! Also, the themes on the EP are quite interesting. "The themes of We Shall Live revolve around Kartanoism, a Christian sect active in mid-twentieth century Finland." Shinin' Shade - Sat-urn Great psychedelic rock with amazing female vocals. A bit slower and heavier than most other bands I've mentioned. Some of the riffs are just crushing! High Priest of Saturn - High Priest of Saturn This ain't nearly as good as the demo they released, but a solid album nonetheless. Think Electric Wizard meets Sleep meets Om. Abysmal Grief - Feretri Abysmal Grief have been one of the more unique bands within the genre for 15 years now, and they are a band that rarely disappoint anybody. I guess it's fair to call them horror doom, because they manage to create a horror film atmosphere on every single release they do, much to do how they use the keyboard. Brilliant!. Lots of Paul Chain, Death SS and King Diamond in their sound. Tusmørke - Offerpresten and Den Internasjonale Bronsealderen Tusmørke took me by storm with their debut album, Underjordisk Tusmørke, in 2012. In 2013 they released to new EPs, both amazing. Progressive/psychedelic folk/rock which I would guess are inspired by greatness such as Jethro Tull and Amon Düül II among others. I can't get enough of these guys, so it pleases me that they are releasing stuff in a high tempo. An album in 2012, two EPs in 2013, and as far as I know two albums and a split planned for 2014. Oh yes!

Red 2 - This was a rather disappointing film. I didn't expect much as the first one was only OK, but still lacked the humour of the first one, and it looked really uninspired at times. That's the biggest problems. Another annoying thing is that Byung-hun Lee seems to suffer from the Jet Li syndrom. Amazing in Korean films, but really stiff and boring in english speaking films. That's a shame.

Anyone tried v-JAYS II? Apparently you get a lot of sound for your money with these. My old, shitty ones broke today and I need new ones, so I thought about trying these out. Can't really afford much more than this right now. So, anyone got any experience with them?

But they are demos, dear you. Demos are made to give labels and people a little taste of what you're like, and it's cheap. Like, really, really cheap and also easy to fix. And unlike CDs, they're also charming. Demos aren't supossed to be high standard shit. There's no need for it either. As for sound it all comes down to personal taste.

We're the Millers - Surprisingly good film. Jason Sudeikis's comical timing is great, but Nick Offerman just steals the show here. What a great performance! Yeah, solid film. Worth checking out if you want a laugh. Homicidal - This film was released in 1961, a year after Psycho and it was a knock off of the mentioned film. Yes, it obviously tried to cash in on Psycho's sucsess, but it was also a great film so who cares? It's a bit campy, but that's a part of the charm here and the film felt a bit ahead of its time. Both the atmosphere and acting are great, and especially Joan Marshall's amazing here. That's one hell of a memorable performance. If you enjoy Psycho you might as well check out this, because I think there's a big chance of you enjoying this as well. I like how William Castle starts off introducing the film, just like Hitckock did with his TV-series. Gotta love it! Another thing that's really interesting is the "fright break", which was a gimmick that William Castle came up with. It might look stupid in 2014, but in the 1960's in the cinema I'm sure it was exciting as hell, and I sure liked it. William Castle was a master of gimmick and used gimmicks to sell his films to the audience. He's quite known now, but that's more for his gimmicks than his films, even though he made plenty of great films and even some classics like House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts. The man was creative as fuck, and unlike 2014 where we only get one shitty gimmick - the 3D, he made up plenty of different stuff. I'd recommend taking a look at his wikipedia side for more info on this. I wish I could experience those gimmicks myself.

And by this you mean the use of triggers, autotune and overproduced music that sounds as if it was all programmed on a computer without anyone actually playing the music, or? Yes, I am exegerating to some degree now, but people/band often emulate the sound of others because they like that certain sound and feel that it fits their music. And some does it for cred, but I'm sure that's the minority.

Just watched the new episode. I loved it! Next episode in on the 5th, and then the third on the 12th.

So here's a few albums from 2013 I think you might enjoy. 1. Czarface - Czarface I don't really know what kind of hip hop you enjoy, but this might be something for you. Nothing original at all, but it's a very solid boom bap album that will you take you back to the 90's. 2. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats took the world by storm in 2011 when they released their second album, "Blood Lust", a perfect blend of catchy doom metal and psychedelic rock with occult vibes. In 2013 the band returned with a new album, "Mind Control", and it's another very solid album, but a bit different. I feel as if this is more rock inspired and I don't get those occult vibes this time. It's a bit more garagey and laid back, I guess you could say. 3. Jess and the Ancient Ones - Astral Sabbatsy Psychedelic rock that brings my thoughts to occult rock bands such as The Devil's Blood, Coven and Sabbath Assembly, just slightly more uplifting that the few I named. I don't really know what more to say other than to point out that Jesse's a goddess! That voice, man. That voice. I can come back with more too if you feel you're getting anything out of my recommendations. Because it's been a massive year for music and good music should be recommended to others.

By the way, what do you think of Windhand's debut album?

Darkthrone are best known as a black metal band and played black metal for 15+ years (minus a couple of death metal albums), and they never bothered changing their logo. So it's a traditional black metal logo, and it's understandable that people would get the impression it was a black metal album from the cover. But the music is very much speed/heavy metal which I would guess was very much influenced by old school speed metal ala Agent Speed anf Savage Grace and heavy metal and epic metal ala Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Heavy Load and Manilla Road, but also with a hint of the first wave black metal (mainly Hellhammer/Celtic Frost). My thoughts also goes to Pagan Altar at times. This is something that is easy to notice on Leave No Cross Unturned. The opening riff sounds like something off Agent Steel's "Unstoppable Force", while the rest sounds like something off an early Hellhammer/Celtic Frost recording. But beside that, I wouldn't say that there's very much black metal on the album. Sure you can hear some Venom and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost here and there, but not too much of it IMO, and then there's the vocal as well of course. Cool! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I'll also come back with a 3-5 albums that I'm sure you'll enjoy. You might have checked 'em out already, but if you haven't you might find something new.

No! Just no. It isn't. If you're looking for black metal Darkthrone anno 2013 isn't where to look. I don't like nagging about genres, but Darkthrone haven't released a black metal album since 2006. The Underground Resistance is just a heavy/speed metal album with a bit of the first wave of black metal (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory) and doom thrown into the mix, but the amount of black metal are minimal. Great album though! And picking Paysage d'Hiver and Summoning were quite some surprises. Especially the first one. Both released two great albums this year, so that's cool. And I guess it's OK to come with a recommendation here? Caladan Brood should be right up your alley as you enjoy Summoning. They're a Summoning clone which doesn't really add anything new to the genre. The biggest difference are the clean vocals ussed in Caladan Brood, and they're great as well. Not quite on par with Summoning's 3-4 best albums, but still worthy of your attention.

I'm gonna check out Cokiyu, Abe Fuyume and Ichiko Aoba and Fairies for sure. The tags and your description made me curious, especially about Cokiyu. I can also go good for Blood Ceremony, Jex Thoth and Run the Jewels. All released great album this year. Blood Ceremony's "The Eldritch Dark" was a step in the right direction for me. With each album they've gotten less doomier and more psychedelic/prog rockish, something which I really enjoy. There's simply less Black Sabbath and more Jethro Tull and Blue Öyster Cult here. It's on par with "Living with the Ancients" for sure, maybe even better. Great album! Jex Thoth's "Blood Moon Rise" was a huge surprise. I've been following the band since their Totem days, so I knew I would get a geat record. But I was surprised they left most of their doom metal behind and went for a more psychedelic rock sound ala Jex Thoth's previous band, Sabbath Assembly, which plays a ritualistic form of psychedelic rock. "Blood Moon Rise" almost sounds a lot more like a natural follow-up to Sabbath Assembly's "Ye Are Gods", than to Jex Thoth's "Jex Thoth". A bit weird that.

The Hidden Face - Cool, but a bit disappointing thriller from Colombia. It's not bad at all, in fact it's quite exciting, but it just lacks that last nerve to put it together with those films you'll talk about in five years. It's well-acted and well-directed, but the story just lacks that suspense that I would like. But it was a good one. Twitch of the Death Nerve aka A Bay of Blood - It's hard to know what to call this film as it has been released under a billion different titles (apparently no film had more titles than this, and one of the titles were Last House on the Left – Part II, even though it had nothing at all to do with that film). Anyway, Twitch of the Death Nerve (which I believe is the most known name for this film) is a giallo (a type of Italian horror film that has a strong mystery-vibe to it) made by the (horror)legend Mario Bava. The story is a bit messy and confusing, though very exciting. The film shocked the living shit out of people when it was released in the early 70's because of its very graphic violence, which are executed brilliantly. You believe them, and they're just stunningly made. And the atmosphere is really nice. This isn't Mario Bava's best film, but it sure as hell is his more influental film. This is a proto-slasher, and one of the proto-slashers that had the most influence on the genre, something which is easy to see. Classic films such as Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th Part 2 and The Burning are so obviously inspired by this film, and two of the murderes were even reused in Friday the 13th Part 2. That's how important this film was. Just as important as Psycho for the slasher genre, maybe even more. Says a lot. Breaking Bad, season 4 - Another great season, and the last few episodes are just really, really intense. You almost get exhausted because of the high intensity level. Gustavo Fring is a great character, and Walter White's character development is insane. You just gotta love it. However, one scene almost ruined this season because it's that bad.