I Technical FCed Painkiller. I feel so accomplished.
This morning I was like "I feel like trying the Painkiller solo". I got 99% (made stupid mistakes) but I FCed all the parts that I usually have trouble with (I think it's D and H, don't remember the exact names). So then I went back and FCed all the sections. So yeah, time to put it all together.
I got like...
108 FCs now?
53/84 Rock Band 2 FCs (lol)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Revival
Behind Last Place -
I need to start recording my part. Finally the long awaited EP will be released soon. :D
We still need to make songs for the EP. I think two more would be good for an EP. Current song (unofficial) that we're putting on there... credits are listed below.
Beginning To End
Lead Guitar - Brady
Rhythm Guitar - Me
Drums - Seth
Vocals - Alice and Connor (We need to get them the lyrics)
Bass - We'll see, probably me
Written by - Brady
So yeah, I'll be trying to write more songs and stuff, we'll see what we can do with Seth lacking his drums and stuff. Congrats to Brady for finally getting a new guitar :3
I got semi-ungrounded. Retook my failed stuff and got 100%s on them. In real life, I have no second chance. So I need to shape up more. Hahaha. Who am I kidding? Why am I so light hearted about something so serious? Maybe it's just who I am. Silly, obnoxious, sporadic, awesome me.
I really don't think I need a hair cut. My mom thinks so.
Random Fact : In the time it takes me to get 1 hair cut, Seth Wulbecker would get atleast 3.
So yeah, my cousins are coming NEXT WEEK! Sean is too. It's going to be epic. Having 10 people in a house that can barely hold 5. I wonder where they will sleep. One golden rule for my cousins that I probably will set straight with my cousins is... Don't toss my guitar up in the air nor bump it into any wall.. only I can toss it up in the air. I'm trying to keep my guitars in prime condition.
Random Fact 2 : I wipe my guitars at least 3 times a week to get all of the natural skin oils off and to keep it looking shiny. Helps keep the finish on my guitar stay nice.
Random Fact 3 : If it wasn't for the black pick guard, my guitar would be pretty girly since it has mini-sparkles in the paint.
Random Fact 4 : I probably take better care of my guitars than I do with my laptop... I mean this thing is filthy.
So yeah, I can't wait to get my clarinet back also. I gotta do some clarinet hero stuff with Matt. It's going to be epic as heck. Here's the list of songs that I'm going to do.
Bat Country - A7X
Critical Acclaim - A7X
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Yellow Submarine - Beatles
Well thats all for now I guess.
I need to start recording my part. Finally the long awaited EP will be released soon. :D
We still need to make songs for the EP. I think two more would be good for an EP. Current song (unofficial) that we're putting on there... credits are listed below.
Beginning To End
Lead Guitar - Brady
Rhythm Guitar - Me
Drums - Seth
Vocals - Alice and Connor (We need to get them the lyrics)
Bass - We'll see, probably me
Written by - Brady
So yeah, I'll be trying to write more songs and stuff, we'll see what we can do with Seth lacking his drums and stuff. Congrats to Brady for finally getting a new guitar :3
I got semi-ungrounded. Retook my failed stuff and got 100%s on them. In real life, I have no second chance. So I need to shape up more. Hahaha. Who am I kidding? Why am I so light hearted about something so serious? Maybe it's just who I am. Silly, obnoxious, sporadic, awesome me.
I really don't think I need a hair cut. My mom thinks so.
Random Fact : In the time it takes me to get 1 hair cut, Seth Wulbecker would get atleast 3.
So yeah, my cousins are coming NEXT WEEK! Sean is too. It's going to be epic. Having 10 people in a house that can barely hold 5. I wonder where they will sleep. One golden rule for my cousins that I probably will set straight with my cousins is... Don't toss my guitar up in the air nor bump it into any wall.. only I can toss it up in the air. I'm trying to keep my guitars in prime condition.
Random Fact 2 : I wipe my guitars at least 3 times a week to get all of the natural skin oils off and to keep it looking shiny. Helps keep the finish on my guitar stay nice.
Random Fact 3 : If it wasn't for the black pick guard, my guitar would be pretty girly since it has mini-sparkles in the paint.
Random Fact 4 : I probably take better care of my guitars than I do with my laptop... I mean this thing is filthy.
So yeah, I can't wait to get my clarinet back also. I gotta do some clarinet hero stuff with Matt. It's going to be epic as heck. Here's the list of songs that I'm going to do.
Bat Country - A7X
Critical Acclaim - A7X
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Yellow Submarine - Beatles
Well thats all for now I guess.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
I pwnz you narb
The red pad for our drums kind of like... fell off? Well the rubber did, now we have a sock and a post it note that says RED on it instead of the red rubber. XCells plox. The pedal (RB2 stock) also kind of broke. It's unusable pretty much, it's like snapped on the base too. Now that is hard core. Our dad is finishing Seth's Titan pedal from Value soon. Also he's getting a Rock Pedal and MetalWorkz, so that will be exciting?
Me? I am doing pretty much nothing. Editing videos, laughing at videos, making videos. So on, I got the hang of Adobe Aftereffects. I editted my first video but gave Seth the credit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8IX95mOofs
Mr. Robert (for all of you guys who watched my videos on him) came over for dinner. He asked us if we had DJ Hero... hahaha... no. I don't even want DJ Hero that badly as long as I have Beatmania which is like the REAL DJ game :D
RawkSD finished off my cellphone SD card. So now we have to use Seth's SD card to upload Lego Rock Band on there.
I should get outside more, maybe start doing my daily jogging again up and down the hill. I am way too lazy. REALLY LAZY. Oh and by the way, all you "Asian Wannabes" have evoked the wrath of the Asian Queen.
Me? I am doing pretty much nothing. Editing videos, laughing at videos, making videos. So on, I got the hang of Adobe Aftereffects. I editted my first video but gave Seth the credit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8IX95mOofs
Mr. Robert (for all of you guys who watched my videos on him) came over for dinner. He asked us if we had DJ Hero... hahaha... no. I don't even want DJ Hero that badly as long as I have Beatmania which is like the REAL DJ game :D
RawkSD finished off my cellphone SD card. So now we have to use Seth's SD card to upload Lego Rock Band on there.
I should get outside more, maybe start doing my daily jogging again up and down the hill. I am way too lazy. REALLY LAZY. Oh and by the way, all you "Asian Wannabes" have evoked the wrath of the Asian Queen.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
New guitar design
I have been talking to the people at Ultimate Guitar and talking to the makers of Fender. I have decided that H-2 YSP will NOT be an Ibanez Prestige S. I have resolved in making the guitar a Fender Double Fat Stratocaster. I might have to buy some pretty cheap guitar body but kicking it up a notch, or two, or five.
Here's the specs :
Body = Fender Stratocaster (Routing Style HSH) - Alder - Dark Red
Pickguard = Fender Stratocaster - Black white black
Neck = Fender Stratocaster - Maple - 21 Frets (Scalloped) - 9.5'' Radius
Bridge - X2N by DiMarzio
Neck - Evo2 by DiMarzio
Bridge System - SuperVee Floating Tremelo
Neck Nut - SuperVee Locking System
Extras - Two Volume knobs for toggle switch (Routed similar to Tom Morello's)
I need to start saving my money for this. I was told that I could make one of these with an American Standard Stratocaster and buy a HH pickguard from GuitarFetish.com, however, they don't have the color I want. It'll end up costing me a lot more money if I start buying every part individually. I might have to buy the pre-wired set, replace the pickguard and the pickups.
I figured out that my computer has a performance setting. Helps a lot for FoFix. I finally 5 starred Get Out of My Yard by AngelHero. I need to download the other version.
Here's the specs :
Body = Fender Stratocaster (Routing Style HSH) - Alder - Dark Red
Pickguard = Fender Stratocaster - Black white black
Neck = Fender Stratocaster - Maple - 21 Frets (Scalloped) - 9.5'' Radius
Bridge - X2N by DiMarzio
Neck - Evo2 by DiMarzio
Bridge System - SuperVee Floating Tremelo
Neck Nut - SuperVee Locking System
Extras - Two Volume knobs for toggle switch (Routed similar to Tom Morello's)
I need to start saving my money for this. I was told that I could make one of these with an American Standard Stratocaster and buy a HH pickguard from GuitarFetish.com, however, they don't have the color I want. It'll end up costing me a lot more money if I start buying every part individually. I might have to buy the pre-wired set, replace the pickguard and the pickups.
I figured out that my computer has a performance setting. Helps a lot for FoFix. I finally 5 starred Get Out of My Yard by AngelHero. I need to download the other version.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Finally forced myself to write another entry.
I am not really that responsible at writing these entries as much as I would like too. I stopped writing in my personal journal for a little bit because I got tired of wasting the paper saying everything miniscule that happened... "today, I went to go eat food. It was tasty. I layed around all day and played some guitar. Bla bla bla bla".
However, a few new things DID happen over the past 2 weeks.
Firstly, I got a new Digital Camera. 10 megapixels, thats amazing. I have a 4gb memory card for my camera, so I can record up to 2 hours of high quality video. The video quality isn't as good as the Sony, but it is a lot more smoother quality and doesn't auto-focus as much.
The auto-focus got really annoying for my Sony, so I now use it for photography more. Since I have Adobe After Effects and Rock Band 2 back, like no joke. PiP, PiP,PiP. Super crazy, super fun to play around with. I blew up my own mind with the amazing things I created with it. I experimented with a Bodhisattva Gold Star video, turned out really nicely...ish.. The new set-up for camera angles are going to be more direct. Thats better.
We learned how to import custom songs on RawkSD for the Wii, but since our Wii isn't set up yet, we can't do it yet. Props to my friend Matt for FCing View From The Afternoon even though the chart was half incorrect. Hahahaha. So yeah, we're working on 2 projects right now for RawkSD.
Francis Hates L4D - Full Band custom (drums is done, amazingly fun but hard)
Asian Girl Song - Full Band RBN Custom (free on Wii, nothing is recorded yet)
Speaking of recording, I found the copy of Magix Music Maker in a pile of stuff, I popped the CD in and started recording a random song. I call it... The IHOP Song, dedicated to those who go to IHOP to fool around... Matt... AGAIN. It's hilarious, there's so many really fast licks in the song and the song ends in a really fast progression. When I wrote it, I was trying so hard not to laugh while recording. So yeah, I also created a video introduction. You can see it on my YouTube channel...
http://www.youtube.com/user/XAlphaZeroX
I finally thought of a cooler stage name than "Sammy Boy". I just decided to use my real name, which is Hyunwoo. It sounds a lot cooler than...
"NOW INTRODUCING! THE NEWEST BAND MEMBER OF BOO BEAR KILLEM AND COMPANY! SAMMY BOY ON GUITAR!!"
Like, I get it, we're a jazz band. But... really.. Sammy Boy is not going to cut it. Hyunwoo is mildly better than Sammy Boy. Atleast it keeps me away from confusion with the song "Danny Boy".
The new band is coming along very good. We just practice during school, Desean brought his gigantic keyboard the other day. It was absolutely crazy, it reminded me of the one Jordan from Dream Theater had... and yes, it is THAT big. It sounded amazing too, almost like a REAL piano playing.
My old band, Behind Last Place is on hiatus, however that does not mean that all work stops at BLP. Currently I am trying to get an endorsement from DiMarzio pickups and Tama drums after we release our EP. I saw the Monkey Lords do it, so why can't we if we put our hearts in it? Plus we might get colorful low resistance cable cords! If you play electric guitar, you gotta go for DiMarzio. Nothing really beats DiMarzio in my oppinion.
http://www.dimarzio.com
I am proud to be playing HS-3s and the YJM (HS-4s). Best pickups I've played ever.
I have 2 projects to work on. All are featuring DiMarzio pickups and straps. There is "H-1 S", my main guitar. It is going to have a Super Vee installed for floating goodness, and some HS-3 and YJMs. That will be settled very soon. Now, the other project is going to be the complete opposite of "S" in some sort of way. I am going to call it "H-2 YSP". It's going to be an S Prestige Ibanez in red and black, it is going to have 2 humbuckers (X2N and EVO2) and a single coil (Super Distortion). It'll give the guitar more of a crisper and brighter tone than "H-1 S". I could probably make a white "YSP" right now if I have 38000 more yen,Friesta has a S Prestige Ibanez for 40000 yen.
Thats all for now, I gotta sleep. I have school.
However, a few new things DID happen over the past 2 weeks.
Firstly, I got a new Digital Camera. 10 megapixels, thats amazing. I have a 4gb memory card for my camera, so I can record up to 2 hours of high quality video. The video quality isn't as good as the Sony, but it is a lot more smoother quality and doesn't auto-focus as much.
The auto-focus got really annoying for my Sony, so I now use it for photography more. Since I have Adobe After Effects and Rock Band 2 back, like no joke. PiP, PiP,PiP. Super crazy, super fun to play around with. I blew up my own mind with the amazing things I created with it. I experimented with a Bodhisattva Gold Star video, turned out really nicely...ish.. The new set-up for camera angles are going to be more direct. Thats better.
We learned how to import custom songs on RawkSD for the Wii, but since our Wii isn't set up yet, we can't do it yet. Props to my friend Matt for FCing View From The Afternoon even though the chart was half incorrect. Hahahaha. So yeah, we're working on 2 projects right now for RawkSD.
Francis Hates L4D - Full Band custom (drums is done, amazingly fun but hard)
Asian Girl Song - Full Band RBN Custom (free on Wii, nothing is recorded yet)
Speaking of recording, I found the copy of Magix Music Maker in a pile of stuff, I popped the CD in and started recording a random song. I call it... The IHOP Song, dedicated to those who go to IHOP to fool around... Matt... AGAIN. It's hilarious, there's so many really fast licks in the song and the song ends in a really fast progression. When I wrote it, I was trying so hard not to laugh while recording. So yeah, I also created a video introduction. You can see it on my YouTube channel...
http://www.youtube.com/user/XAlphaZeroX
I finally thought of a cooler stage name than "Sammy Boy". I just decided to use my real name, which is Hyunwoo. It sounds a lot cooler than...
"NOW INTRODUCING! THE NEWEST BAND MEMBER OF BOO BEAR KILLEM AND COMPANY! SAMMY BOY ON GUITAR!!"
Like, I get it, we're a jazz band. But... really.. Sammy Boy is not going to cut it. Hyunwoo is mildly better than Sammy Boy. Atleast it keeps me away from confusion with the song "Danny Boy".
The new band is coming along very good. We just practice during school, Desean brought his gigantic keyboard the other day. It was absolutely crazy, it reminded me of the one Jordan from Dream Theater had... and yes, it is THAT big. It sounded amazing too, almost like a REAL piano playing.
My old band, Behind Last Place is on hiatus, however that does not mean that all work stops at BLP. Currently I am trying to get an endorsement from DiMarzio pickups and Tama drums after we release our EP. I saw the Monkey Lords do it, so why can't we if we put our hearts in it? Plus we might get colorful low resistance cable cords! If you play electric guitar, you gotta go for DiMarzio. Nothing really beats DiMarzio in my oppinion.
http://www.dimarzio.com
I am proud to be playing HS-3s and the YJM (HS-4s). Best pickups I've played ever.
I have 2 projects to work on. All are featuring DiMarzio pickups and straps. There is "H-1 S", my main guitar. It is going to have a Super Vee installed for floating goodness, and some HS-3 and YJMs. That will be settled very soon. Now, the other project is going to be the complete opposite of "S" in some sort of way. I am going to call it "H-2 YSP". It's going to be an S Prestige Ibanez in red and black, it is going to have 2 humbuckers (X2N and EVO2) and a single coil (Super Distortion). It'll give the guitar more of a crisper and brighter tone than "H-1 S". I could probably make a white "YSP" right now if I have 38000 more yen,Friesta has a S Prestige Ibanez for 40000 yen.
Thats all for now, I gotta sleep. I have school.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Woah
My parents bought a huge TV. It was too big for the car.
Some thoughts?
Woah... Rock Band 2 on a big TV that takes like 30% of the wall. Thats crazy. We also got the small TV for the study room! Woot! So if we can't use the big TV for Rock Band, we can take it to the study room where there are SPINNING CHAIRS!!!
So yeah, Team Cena.. hmm... I want to join Team Cena really really badly. There's barely any Wii players, we gotta step it up to the plate and show that Wii players are just as good as any other player. There's only 5 members left on the Wii. When they open up, I'm going to re-enter for the Guitar spot.
If Drew or Stephen or Matt ever reads this. Lets try out for Team Cena together! We'll show the world that Wii is easily as awesome as all the consoles!
Some thoughts?
Woah... Rock Band 2 on a big TV that takes like 30% of the wall. Thats crazy. We also got the small TV for the study room! Woot! So if we can't use the big TV for Rock Band, we can take it to the study room where there are SPINNING CHAIRS!!!
So yeah, Team Cena.. hmm... I want to join Team Cena really really badly. There's barely any Wii players, we gotta step it up to the plate and show that Wii players are just as good as any other player. There's only 5 members left on the Wii. When they open up, I'm going to re-enter for the Guitar spot.
If Drew or Stephen or Matt ever reads this. Lets try out for Team Cena together! We'll show the world that Wii is easily as awesome as all the consoles!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Boobear Killem AKA Desean Rogers
My friend from advance band (his name is Desean Rogers) turns out to be an amazing piano player and singer. I was amazingly impressed at his ability to make really catchy chord progressions and mix hip-hop into a jazzy smooth theme.
So today, I brought my guitar to school with a goal of practicing sweep picking in the band room. When Desean goes to piano, he starts playing and stuff and I'm practicing what I want to practice (arpeggio sweeps and random songs that I haven't played on an amplifier before). Thats when it hits me, I wanted to solo along with his newest song.
It took me a while to figure out what to do for the solo, what notes to play and how fast he was playing. First try was an improvision, I had no clue what I was doing. Half of it sounded amazing, half of it sounded like crap. Took us 4 tries for me to get the solo right. When we finally finished a full go of the song, one of the people in the room was like...
"That was hot man! I could sleep to that music!"
I thought it was amazing to, I was suprised at how good we sounded. My friend Desean, who's stage name is Boobear Killem, asks me if I had a stage name. I think to myself, "Stage name? Who needs a stage name except Avenged Sevenfold who picks pretty awesome stage names.". I end up saying "No" and thats when he gives me my own stage name "Sammy Boy". Hahaha, I think my custom guitar line up will be call "Sammy Boy Custom Fender Stratocasters". He told me that I have to drop by his house (which he has a studio in it) to record with him for his new album. Its going to be pretty tight. We might release the new song as a demo.
Don't worry, the Beginning to End EP will come out eventually... as in after I get my stuff back from America.
Anyways, it was the first time I plugged "Yusuke" into an amplifier. The tone is amazing, I love how smooth and clear the tone is for the upper pick-up. I also love the huge different tone I get from the HS-3 on the bottom pick-up. I am definately going to be getting an HS-3 sometime soon for "S". I can't wait to get "S" back from America. I also need to buy a case for "Yusuke", I have a feeling that I am going to be using "Yusuke" and "S" a lot at the same time. I love how I have bright colored guitars, maybe I should get a red guitar instead of white.
So today, I brought my guitar to school with a goal of practicing sweep picking in the band room. When Desean goes to piano, he starts playing and stuff and I'm practicing what I want to practice (arpeggio sweeps and random songs that I haven't played on an amplifier before). Thats when it hits me, I wanted to solo along with his newest song.
It took me a while to figure out what to do for the solo, what notes to play and how fast he was playing. First try was an improvision, I had no clue what I was doing. Half of it sounded amazing, half of it sounded like crap. Took us 4 tries for me to get the solo right. When we finally finished a full go of the song, one of the people in the room was like...
"That was hot man! I could sleep to that music!"
I thought it was amazing to, I was suprised at how good we sounded. My friend Desean, who's stage name is Boobear Killem, asks me if I had a stage name. I think to myself, "Stage name? Who needs a stage name except Avenged Sevenfold who picks pretty awesome stage names.". I end up saying "No" and thats when he gives me my own stage name "Sammy Boy". Hahaha, I think my custom guitar line up will be call "Sammy Boy Custom Fender Stratocasters". He told me that I have to drop by his house (which he has a studio in it) to record with him for his new album. Its going to be pretty tight. We might release the new song as a demo.
Don't worry, the Beginning to End EP will come out eventually... as in after I get my stuff back from America.
Anyways, it was the first time I plugged "Yusuke" into an amplifier. The tone is amazing, I love how smooth and clear the tone is for the upper pick-up. I also love the huge different tone I get from the HS-3 on the bottom pick-up. I am definately going to be getting an HS-3 sometime soon for "S". I can't wait to get "S" back from America. I also need to buy a case for "Yusuke", I have a feeling that I am going to be using "Yusuke" and "S" a lot at the same time. I love how I have bright colored guitars, maybe I should get a red guitar instead of white.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Majesty's new Shadows EP review!!
Hey guys, nothing really exciting happened this week (besides an awesome tastic barbeque). So I am going to do a review on Majesty's upcoming EP titled Shadows.
http://www.myspace.com/maj3sty
You can listen to it here and physically buy the album for 5$ in Canadian dollars. I don't feel like converting Canadian dollars into US dollars, but you can also buy it if you live in the US. If you're patient enough, they're posting their download soon. But if you have the money please support their talents!
After listening to their EP, like... 20 times, I think I can finally make a review on their music.
A little background of Majesty (directly taken from their MySpace)
Majesty is a death metal band formed in early 2009 from Georgetown and Burlington, Ontario, Canada. We have just finished tracking our 3 song EP with Jordan Valeriote at Sundown Studios in Guelph, Ontario. Eventually, these three songs will be available to download on the video game called Rock Band - hopefully by the end of 2009. We are still currently in need of a bassist. Majesty was created as a bunch of friends covering songs by artists such as Protest the Hero and As I Lay Dying, which progressively moved into faster and heavier aspects of the metal scene, evolving into death metal. Majesty started to create original material and documented all of the better music on Guitar Pro, and eventually began playing and practicing our own songs. We played our first show in May 2009, a battle of the bands, which we won first place against 12 other bands. This gave us free studio time - which we decided to not use. Immediately we were placed on an already packed roster for another show at the Sound Academy in Toronto, Ontario, which was the most horribly run show. We felt as if the band wasn't going to be doing anything great and lost momentum. After a couple of member changes, Majesty started full force writing again and now have an EP titled Shadows.
Okay, from all their songs you can definately hear their influences. The playing over all is great. They made a huge improvement from their original song Shadows Aren't Made For Hiding in terms of sound quality. These songs were done at Sunset Studios and were mastered there too. One huge notable sound quality difference is in the drums. On their first song Kyle's drums did not sound anything close to what it does now. The snare sounded a little bit like a marching snare, and the bass drum sounded like a big bumping sound. At first when I heard the song Silent Wars I thought that they had bought a new drum set for this EP, turns out they didn't. The recording equipment was just bumped up to professional quality, now it sounds like the typical metal band's drum set. The bass drum is that eagerly desired fast click, the snare sounds heavy and very dark.
The song Shadows is actually the new version of Shadows Aren't Made For Hiding, and they made a huge improvement on the song. I still have the original on my iPod and right now I'm listening to Shadows and you can easily find what they changed in the song. They kept the same theme though. I like the changes that they made in this song a lot. They changed the guitar intro and right after that they start going into a more faster paced riff that I seem to enjoy a lot. This song has a pretty fast break down.
The song Placebo reminds me of As I Lay Dying the most, the song is pretty hard core. The drum beat is simple but carries a lot of attitude into the song. The song is very eerie compared to the three. The song uses a lot of the same note over and over again like Almost Easy by A7X and changes it up. In most of the song, the bass drum is following the rhythm guitar. In a little way, this song has a part that reminds me of the bridge in Visions by Abnormality, but they make it sound a million times better. The song is probably their slowest song, also I personally didn't like this song as much as the other two.
The song Silent Wars is my favorite out of the three. In my opinion this is the most original song out of the 3 and definately defines Majesty's style of music. The beginning would be better if they got an actual orchestra to play instead of a synth. The intro comes in at first and then sets the mood for the song then Kyle comes in with a snare solo. After that the whole band comes in and it at first is a long chord with Billy playing the main theme in the background. I thought that was really cool. Right after that, they play probably the coolest riff in metal history. The drumming is insane in this song and the guitar solo is pretty sick too.
Here's the downside of this EP, I think that they have way too many breakdowns. They have them in each and every song which gets a little bit tiring. Some people may agree, some may not. I remember reading on their official FaceBook page theres a guy who said "You can never have too many breakdowns". Breakdowns in my oppinion leaves the song sounding a little bit empty. If they had Mike play a chord and have a basic bass line behind Billy then it would fill in that "emptiness".
How ever, I am really excited for this EP to come out in mid-November. If you're a huge fan of heavy metal, then I highly suggest you to get this EP. Its nothing like other heavy metal or death metal bands out there where its all speed and no musical composition. Even if you don't like screamo and just like metal, I think you'll enjoy this EP a lot. Its nothing like where its all just blasts and random chromatic notes, these guys actually PLAY great music. I also liked how they incoperated a synth (played by Kevin) in their songs. A lot of it reminds me of a horror movie, but it sets the mood for the songs a lot. These guys did a really great job on their first EP. I can't wait to see what they do later.
http://www.myspace.com/maj3sty
You can listen to it here and physically buy the album for 5$ in Canadian dollars. I don't feel like converting Canadian dollars into US dollars, but you can also buy it if you live in the US. If you're patient enough, they're posting their download soon. But if you have the money please support their talents!
After listening to their EP, like... 20 times, I think I can finally make a review on their music.
A little background of Majesty (directly taken from their MySpace)
Majesty is a death metal band formed in early 2009 from Georgetown and Burlington, Ontario, Canada. We have just finished tracking our 3 song EP with Jordan Valeriote at Sundown Studios in Guelph, Ontario. Eventually, these three songs will be available to download on the video game called Rock Band - hopefully by the end of 2009. We are still currently in need of a bassist. Majesty was created as a bunch of friends covering songs by artists such as Protest the Hero and As I Lay Dying, which progressively moved into faster and heavier aspects of the metal scene, evolving into death metal. Majesty started to create original material and documented all of the better music on Guitar Pro, and eventually began playing and practicing our own songs. We played our first show in May 2009, a battle of the bands, which we won first place against 12 other bands. This gave us free studio time - which we decided to not use. Immediately we were placed on an already packed roster for another show at the Sound Academy in Toronto, Ontario, which was the most horribly run show. We felt as if the band wasn't going to be doing anything great and lost momentum. After a couple of member changes, Majesty started full force writing again and now have an EP titled Shadows.
Okay, from all their songs you can definately hear their influences. The playing over all is great. They made a huge improvement from their original song Shadows Aren't Made For Hiding in terms of sound quality. These songs were done at Sunset Studios and were mastered there too. One huge notable sound quality difference is in the drums. On their first song Kyle's drums did not sound anything close to what it does now. The snare sounded a little bit like a marching snare, and the bass drum sounded like a big bumping sound. At first when I heard the song Silent Wars I thought that they had bought a new drum set for this EP, turns out they didn't. The recording equipment was just bumped up to professional quality, now it sounds like the typical metal band's drum set. The bass drum is that eagerly desired fast click, the snare sounds heavy and very dark.
The song Shadows is actually the new version of Shadows Aren't Made For Hiding, and they made a huge improvement on the song. I still have the original on my iPod and right now I'm listening to Shadows and you can easily find what they changed in the song. They kept the same theme though. I like the changes that they made in this song a lot. They changed the guitar intro and right after that they start going into a more faster paced riff that I seem to enjoy a lot. This song has a pretty fast break down.
The song Placebo reminds me of As I Lay Dying the most, the song is pretty hard core. The drum beat is simple but carries a lot of attitude into the song. The song is very eerie compared to the three. The song uses a lot of the same note over and over again like Almost Easy by A7X and changes it up. In most of the song, the bass drum is following the rhythm guitar. In a little way, this song has a part that reminds me of the bridge in Visions by Abnormality, but they make it sound a million times better. The song is probably their slowest song, also I personally didn't like this song as much as the other two.
The song Silent Wars is my favorite out of the three. In my opinion this is the most original song out of the 3 and definately defines Majesty's style of music. The beginning would be better if they got an actual orchestra to play instead of a synth. The intro comes in at first and then sets the mood for the song then Kyle comes in with a snare solo. After that the whole band comes in and it at first is a long chord with Billy playing the main theme in the background. I thought that was really cool. Right after that, they play probably the coolest riff in metal history. The drumming is insane in this song and the guitar solo is pretty sick too.
Here's the downside of this EP, I think that they have way too many breakdowns. They have them in each and every song which gets a little bit tiring. Some people may agree, some may not. I remember reading on their official FaceBook page theres a guy who said "You can never have too many breakdowns". Breakdowns in my oppinion leaves the song sounding a little bit empty. If they had Mike play a chord and have a basic bass line behind Billy then it would fill in that "emptiness".
How ever, I am really excited for this EP to come out in mid-November. If you're a huge fan of heavy metal, then I highly suggest you to get this EP. Its nothing like other heavy metal or death metal bands out there where its all speed and no musical composition. Even if you don't like screamo and just like metal, I think you'll enjoy this EP a lot. Its nothing like where its all just blasts and random chromatic notes, these guys actually PLAY great music. I also liked how they incoperated a synth (played by Kevin) in their songs. A lot of it reminds me of a horror movie, but it sets the mood for the songs a lot. These guys did a really great job on their first EP. I can't wait to see what they do later.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Crap crap crap... and Rock Band Tournament Tomorrow!!!
First... why the crap crap crap part?
I forgot to write in my journal yesterday. I broke the streak of awesomeness. I was chatting with Kristine and Leann so it slipped my mind to write in my journal. So I guess I'll have more to write about? I'm not entirely sure. I just write as I go.
I just finished eating dinner with Uncle Yusuke (or Takamoto-san, the guy who gave me the Yngwie custom), it was a barbeque of Korean foods. Let me tell you, everything tastes different in Japan. It is so weird. It's still delicious, but different. The galbi had more sugar content making the outside have a nice coating that you normally see in wet rub barbeques. The sausages are extremely sweet, but unbelievably delicious. The vegitables remain the same... except I found out that my parents don't cook the stalk of the broccoli. Are you kidding me? Thats the best part!!! EVERR!!!
Second crap crap crap, my friend is thinking of quitting guitar? Is he serious? I mean he has serious talent and thinks of the catchiest chord progressions! I was planning on recruiting him for Afterlife. His reason is the following :
...a minute ago.
"im not awesome at guitar im barely average, and im losing hope in the guitar now."
This is to all the people who say they're not awesome at guitar:
Shredding your axe is not easy. It took me 5 years to be able to shred on my guitar. (By the way, shredding is another word for a combination of sweep picking and fast picking progressions) I still can't even do it as good as I want to. As long as you have your basics for guitar, you're considered awesome because a majority of the people who own a guitar CAN'T even do the basics! Those people are the douche bags of guitar society. They think they're so tight or something because they can hold a guitar really low and move their fingers really fast to a chromatic unscaled pattern. It takes time and patience to be able to produce something worthwhile! If you still don't think you're good enough then look at the Worst Guitarists Ever on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjt6iD6_Zsk The video is more funny than ear bleeding.
Okay so.. yeah, third crap crap crap today is going to be... missing my friends I guess? I had to be like talking to them on the phone for like, 3 hours today straight with Amanda, Federica, and Leann. I never talked on the phone THAT long unless I was playing Rock Band with Clay and Drew... sorry, I'm a nerd, and we don't have a XBOX360 like everybody. I miss my little sisters, my band mates from Behind Last Place, my school friends, my older brother... ish because he's visiting soon. I'm going to spend a lot of time on the phone this weekend.
So yeah, I just finished making another song, it's in the dangerous Drop C tuning. Sean told me it was way to low for my strings, I beg to differ. I'm going to have to go down to the arcade again to buy myself some not rusty strings. I also need to buy new strings for my other Fender, the S Guitar. Also my friend told me about a store near the Genza that has electronic drums! YES!!!
We're also going to be performing at the Harborview Club sometime. It might be a Behind Last Place reunion, because I'm going to eventually perform with Brady there. Right now we're just going to be Afterlife for a bit.
Also, ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT TOMORROW! LETS KICK SOME ALLEN!! (Inside joke)
I forgot to write in my journal yesterday. I broke the streak of awesomeness. I was chatting with Kristine and Leann so it slipped my mind to write in my journal. So I guess I'll have more to write about? I'm not entirely sure. I just write as I go.
I just finished eating dinner with Uncle Yusuke (or Takamoto-san, the guy who gave me the Yngwie custom), it was a barbeque of Korean foods. Let me tell you, everything tastes different in Japan. It is so weird. It's still delicious, but different. The galbi had more sugar content making the outside have a nice coating that you normally see in wet rub barbeques. The sausages are extremely sweet, but unbelievably delicious. The vegitables remain the same... except I found out that my parents don't cook the stalk of the broccoli. Are you kidding me? Thats the best part!!! EVERR!!!
Second crap crap crap, my friend is thinking of quitting guitar? Is he serious? I mean he has serious talent and thinks of the catchiest chord progressions! I was planning on recruiting him for Afterlife. His reason is the following :
...a minute ago.
"im not awesome at guitar im barely average, and im losing hope in the guitar now."
This is to all the people who say they're not awesome at guitar:
Shredding your axe is not easy. It took me 5 years to be able to shred on my guitar. (By the way, shredding is another word for a combination of sweep picking and fast picking progressions) I still can't even do it as good as I want to. As long as you have your basics for guitar, you're considered awesome because a majority of the people who own a guitar CAN'T even do the basics! Those people are the douche bags of guitar society. They think they're so tight or something because they can hold a guitar really low and move their fingers really fast to a chromatic unscaled pattern. It takes time and patience to be able to produce something worthwhile! If you still don't think you're good enough then look at the Worst Guitarists Ever on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjt6iD6_Zsk The video is more funny than ear bleeding.
Okay so.. yeah, third crap crap crap today is going to be... missing my friends I guess? I had to be like talking to them on the phone for like, 3 hours today straight with Amanda, Federica, and Leann. I never talked on the phone THAT long unless I was playing Rock Band with Clay and Drew... sorry, I'm a nerd, and we don't have a XBOX360 like everybody. I miss my little sisters, my band mates from Behind Last Place, my school friends, my older brother... ish because he's visiting soon. I'm going to spend a lot of time on the phone this weekend.
So yeah, I just finished making another song, it's in the dangerous Drop C tuning. Sean told me it was way to low for my strings, I beg to differ. I'm going to have to go down to the arcade again to buy myself some not rusty strings. I also need to buy new strings for my other Fender, the S Guitar. Also my friend told me about a store near the Genza that has electronic drums! YES!!!
We're also going to be performing at the Harborview Club sometime. It might be a Behind Last Place reunion, because I'm going to eventually perform with Brady there. Right now we're just going to be Afterlife for a bit.
Also, ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT TOMORROW! LETS KICK SOME ALLEN!! (Inside joke)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
All Asian Rejects and.. school.
First day a school. Let me tell you... AGHHHH!! 'Nuff said.
Well the only thing that got me to the AGHHHH!! point is my 4th Period Language Arts class. Everyone said that she was a really mean teacher. She gave me 3 assignments due at the beginnning of class on thursday. Now the thing is... I don't have access to what I need UNTILL thursday. She knows perfectly well that I don't. But still I am no exception. I have to read 1 short story, 1 poem and 1 new article every week. Also 1 novel every 4 weeks... for 9 weeks.
Now I'm perfectly fine with reading one thing every 4 weeks. In fact, if I had time. I could finish a book in around 5 hours (if I am goofing off). But thats not all! You have to fill out this 3 page assignment EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU FINISH A FRICKEN TEXT! Okay, I know I may be slightly over-stressing myself a little bit... but if you were me. You'd feel the same way.
Also I am 3 weeks behind the rest of the class, so I have to make up those 3 weeks ALSO, so that means 1 novel, 3 poems, 3 short stories and 3 news articles I have to make up. IT FRICKEN SUCKS!!! My friends who are in honors classes (which I used to be in) say that they're having a blast... problem is... the school didn't place me into honors classes. The only thing I'm in thats above average is band and math (where I have to take Algebra 1 during my sophomore year... AGAIN). I used to be in all advance classes, INCLUDING ART. But advance art is only available to upper classmen... when I have ALL the qualifications to making it into advance art (I have recommendations and an award for getting my art displayed in YellowPages).
Well all is not bad.. I found a new band in Japan. Of course I'm going to still work on Afterlife, but I formed another band. We have 4 guitarists (which I kind of don't get the point), 1 bassist, 1 drummer. We're probably calling ourselfs the The Asian Band. Since we're all asians. I'm going to be singing and doing lead guitar. So yeah.. pretty chill I guess?
Tomorrow I hope will be the "fun day". I have gym, art, band and math. Pretty much all my favorite subjects (now) rolled into one day.
Well the only thing that got me to the AGHHHH!! point is my 4th Period Language Arts class. Everyone said that she was a really mean teacher. She gave me 3 assignments due at the beginnning of class on thursday. Now the thing is... I don't have access to what I need UNTILL thursday. She knows perfectly well that I don't. But still I am no exception. I have to read 1 short story, 1 poem and 1 new article every week. Also 1 novel every 4 weeks... for 9 weeks.
Now I'm perfectly fine with reading one thing every 4 weeks. In fact, if I had time. I could finish a book in around 5 hours (if I am goofing off). But thats not all! You have to fill out this 3 page assignment EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU FINISH A FRICKEN TEXT! Okay, I know I may be slightly over-stressing myself a little bit... but if you were me. You'd feel the same way.
Also I am 3 weeks behind the rest of the class, so I have to make up those 3 weeks ALSO, so that means 1 novel, 3 poems, 3 short stories and 3 news articles I have to make up. IT FRICKEN SUCKS!!! My friends who are in honors classes (which I used to be in) say that they're having a blast... problem is... the school didn't place me into honors classes. The only thing I'm in thats above average is band and math (where I have to take Algebra 1 during my sophomore year... AGAIN). I used to be in all advance classes, INCLUDING ART. But advance art is only available to upper classmen... when I have ALL the qualifications to making it into advance art (I have recommendations and an award for getting my art displayed in YellowPages).
Well all is not bad.. I found a new band in Japan. Of course I'm going to still work on Afterlife, but I formed another band. We have 4 guitarists (which I kind of don't get the point), 1 bassist, 1 drummer. We're probably calling ourselfs the The Asian Band. Since we're all asians. I'm going to be singing and doing lead guitar. So yeah.. pretty chill I guess?
Tomorrow I hope will be the "fun day". I have gym, art, band and math. Pretty much all my favorite subjects (now) rolled into one day.
Manliest Journal in the World??
Sean just started a blog, and the first sentence is "THIS IS GOING TO BE THE MANLIEST JOURNAL IN THE WORLD!!!".
I beg to differ about it. I say that my awesome purple and gold journal is the manliest journal in the world... possibly. Yeah, you got your acid free yellowish paper, and that little purple and gold tie for closing it... Mhmm, unlike your crappy little notebook. Which I will now refer to as the ghetto journal. Just kidding. Sean probably is going to have a beastly notebook.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrParkMD517
Subscribe to Sean's YouTube account. He'll probably post a new video... eventually. But the video that he already gots on is pretty beast. He almost got a YouTube partnership with it, but it wasn't "original content" for some reason.. Guitar Hero...
So today, school starts. It is 6:34 AM and I am chatting to my friends on AIM. After my day is done I'll tell you guys all about it... if anything exciting happens.
To answer a few questions...
Q: What school are you going to?
A: I am going to EJ King Elementary / Middle / High School (K-12)
Q: How is the school system like?
A: Imagine it as a HEHS with multiple buildings.
Q: How long is your day?
A: 8 Hours, bus ride takes a while too.
Q: Are you still going to be chatting with us?
A: That'll be a problem before the weekends. I can wake up early or you guys can wake up early, otherwise I'll be talking to my friends in Japan.
Q: Any thoughts about school?
A: Three words baby, ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT!!! I'm going to be entering a tournament with Seth for some DVDs (yeah, I don't know which ones) and going to win. I highly doubt theres any one in the school who can beat us... still...
Check out Seth's YouTube (He's also known as [Team Cena Kids Club] NitroXelerator, sponsored drummer)
http://www.youtube.com/user/nitroxelerator
He's got some pretty crazy drum and guitar stuff on there. He's actually a multi-expert instrumentalist.
Q: Do you already have friends that go there?
A: Yes, not going to say their names, but I got friends.
Q: Whats your mascot.
A: A stupid fricken cobra. I mean a Saxon could easily kill and devour one with his mighty jaws.
So, that was the most frequently asked questions. Hope I answered YOUR questions!
I beg to differ about it. I say that my awesome purple and gold journal is the manliest journal in the world... possibly. Yeah, you got your acid free yellowish paper, and that little purple and gold tie for closing it... Mhmm, unlike your crappy little notebook. Which I will now refer to as the ghetto journal. Just kidding. Sean probably is going to have a beastly notebook.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrParkMD517
Subscribe to Sean's YouTube account. He'll probably post a new video... eventually. But the video that he already gots on is pretty beast. He almost got a YouTube partnership with it, but it wasn't "original content" for some reason.. Guitar Hero...
So today, school starts. It is 6:34 AM and I am chatting to my friends on AIM. After my day is done I'll tell you guys all about it... if anything exciting happens.
To answer a few questions...
Q: What school are you going to?
A: I am going to EJ King Elementary / Middle / High School (K-12)
Q: How is the school system like?
A: Imagine it as a HEHS with multiple buildings.
Q: How long is your day?
A: 8 Hours, bus ride takes a while too.
Q: Are you still going to be chatting with us?
A: That'll be a problem before the weekends. I can wake up early or you guys can wake up early, otherwise I'll be talking to my friends in Japan.
Q: Any thoughts about school?
A: Three words baby, ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT!!! I'm going to be entering a tournament with Seth for some DVDs (yeah, I don't know which ones) and going to win. I highly doubt theres any one in the school who can beat us... still...
Check out Seth's YouTube (He's also known as [Team Cena Kids Club] NitroXelerator, sponsored drummer)
http://www.youtube.com/user/nitroxelerator
He's got some pretty crazy drum and guitar stuff on there. He's actually a multi-expert instrumentalist.
Q: Do you already have friends that go there?
A: Yes, not going to say their names, but I got friends.
Q: Whats your mascot.
A: A stupid fricken cobra. I mean a Saxon could easily kill and devour one with his mighty jaws.
So, that was the most frequently asked questions. Hope I answered YOUR questions!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Some stuff
School starts this monday... just putting it out there. I am now officially a Cobra now. :D
Aim : ReactiveAlpha
Gmail : ultimateff@gmail.com
YouTube : XAlphaZEROX
^ ^ I'll be checking it tomorrow
Yeah, we're starting a new band... yet again. Behind Last Place is being put on hiatus or atleast going Endless Sporadic style until we move back. We're going to make this band pretty much inconsistent with the line up. The only two people that are going to stay the same are Seth and myself. Seth's going to be doing drums and I'll be doing guitar and back up vocals. We're getting a bunch of guests to play with us.
One of the guests we're going to have quite often is The Fox and The Pound. They consist of our good friends Drew and Clay... I don't really know Derek much. Anyways, they're pretty beast, you might want to check out their YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/foxandthepound
Derek just put up a Stricken guitar cover video, I haven't watched it myself due to the crappy loading here, but I'm pretty sure it's epic.
Another one of our guests we're having is our lead guitarist from Behind Last Place, Brady. His skills easily surpass his guitar (he thinks so too) that he uses though. We'll be seeing what will happen about his guitar later. Brady's a much more accomplished solo guitarist than me, so you know that he's amazing. Check his YouTube out also.
http://www.youtube.com/user/synysterbox
If you're feeling rather charitable, donate to Brady for him to be able to get a new epic guitar! Also check out his Hearts Burst Into Fire cover, its pretty epic.
I'm not sure if this going to be just an online version of Behind Last Place because pretty much everybody from Behind Last Place is participating in this new project, but I'm pretty sure it'll be epic. The new band name is called Afterlife. We don't know why we picked it but Seth and I just thought of it at the same time.
So yeah, I'm about to start school again on monday. I might have to retake Algebra 1 because my Jr. Highschool didn't put it on my transcript saying that I took an Algebra 1 class. You know how embarrasing it's going to be being a Sophomore in a 8th grade (advance, 9th grade average). I'm taking Geometry this year, but unless I can get a transcript saying that I have already taken Algebra 1, I'll have to retake it next year. It won't be as epic as my 8th grade Algebra 1 class.
THIS IS MATH CLASS!!!
I miss America.... besides all the gangsterness.
Aim : ReactiveAlpha
Gmail : ultimateff@gmail.com
YouTube : XAlphaZEROX
^ ^ I'll be checking it tomorrow
Yeah, we're starting a new band... yet again. Behind Last Place is being put on hiatus or atleast going Endless Sporadic style until we move back. We're going to make this band pretty much inconsistent with the line up. The only two people that are going to stay the same are Seth and myself. Seth's going to be doing drums and I'll be doing guitar and back up vocals. We're getting a bunch of guests to play with us.
One of the guests we're going to have quite often is The Fox and The Pound. They consist of our good friends Drew and Clay... I don't really know Derek much. Anyways, they're pretty beast, you might want to check out their YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/foxandthepound
Derek just put up a Stricken guitar cover video, I haven't watched it myself due to the crappy loading here, but I'm pretty sure it's epic.
Another one of our guests we're having is our lead guitarist from Behind Last Place, Brady. His skills easily surpass his guitar (he thinks so too) that he uses though. We'll be seeing what will happen about his guitar later. Brady's a much more accomplished solo guitarist than me, so you know that he's amazing. Check his YouTube out also.
http://www.youtube.com/user/synysterbox
If you're feeling rather charitable, donate to Brady for him to be able to get a new epic guitar! Also check out his Hearts Burst Into Fire cover, its pretty epic.
I'm not sure if this going to be just an online version of Behind Last Place because pretty much everybody from Behind Last Place is participating in this new project, but I'm pretty sure it'll be epic. The new band name is called Afterlife. We don't know why we picked it but Seth and I just thought of it at the same time.
So yeah, I'm about to start school again on monday. I might have to retake Algebra 1 because my Jr. Highschool didn't put it on my transcript saying that I took an Algebra 1 class. You know how embarrasing it's going to be being a Sophomore in a 8th grade (advance, 9th grade average). I'm taking Geometry this year, but unless I can get a transcript saying that I have already taken Algebra 1, I'll have to retake it next year. It won't be as epic as my 8th grade Algebra 1 class.
THIS IS MATH CLASS!!!
I miss America.... besides all the gangsterness.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Balloon Festival and YouTube Update
Yeah pretty beastly.
I have a whole 4 part video on just one of the events there. It was a motorcycle show, and let me tell you guys. These motorcyclists used those motorcycles as if they were little toy bikes. They had perfect controll over the machine and it was just awe inspiring.
One of their best demonstrations of their controll was when they got one of the volunteers out and put them in front of the track. They would charge at her at full speed and when they touched her shoes they would stop or turn.
There was also a competition that I couldn't record because my iPod ran out of batteries. It was a target competition where from hot air balloons the contestants would have to drop a marker as close as possible to the X. Korea lost to Japan sadly. But on the good note, Korea got runner up. Anyways, the rule is, you can go as low as you want with out touching the ground to drop your marker. Japan got pretty dang close to the ground that it looked like it was gliding on the ground.
Some of the contestants I thought were retarded or something. Because they would go about 200 feet off target before they'd drop their marker. Some would not even get CLOSE to where they were supposed to drop their markers. Some even started sailing into the city, which I thought was hilarious. Out of the 100 contestants, I think only 24 got on to the target field. Out of the 24 that got on the target field, I think that only 7 got moderately close (1 from America got really close, 1 from Korea and Japan got the bull's eye).
The most hilarious team probably was the Australians. They had an advertisement on their hot air balloon and they were on the field and it seemed like they purposely turned into the crowd and dropped their marker into the crowd. I thought it was hilarious.
Go check out my new videos on my YouTube : XAlphaZEROX
I have a whole 4 part video on just one of the events there. It was a motorcycle show, and let me tell you guys. These motorcyclists used those motorcycles as if they were little toy bikes. They had perfect controll over the machine and it was just awe inspiring.
One of their best demonstrations of their controll was when they got one of the volunteers out and put them in front of the track. They would charge at her at full speed and when they touched her shoes they would stop or turn.
There was also a competition that I couldn't record because my iPod ran out of batteries. It was a target competition where from hot air balloons the contestants would have to drop a marker as close as possible to the X. Korea lost to Japan sadly. But on the good note, Korea got runner up. Anyways, the rule is, you can go as low as you want with out touching the ground to drop your marker. Japan got pretty dang close to the ground that it looked like it was gliding on the ground.
Some of the contestants I thought were retarded or something. Because they would go about 200 feet off target before they'd drop their marker. Some would not even get CLOSE to where they were supposed to drop their markers. Some even started sailing into the city, which I thought was hilarious. Out of the 100 contestants, I think only 24 got on to the target field. Out of the 24 that got on the target field, I think that only 7 got moderately close (1 from America got really close, 1 from Korea and Japan got the bull's eye).
The most hilarious team probably was the Australians. They had an advertisement on their hot air balloon and they were on the field and it seemed like they purposely turned into the crowd and dropped their marker into the crowd. I thought it was hilarious.
Go check out my new videos on my YouTube : XAlphaZEROX
Monday, October 26, 2009
Dance Festival and Taiko Drum Master
Hopefully my vlog doesn't suck TOO badly. Check it out on my YouTube by the way at XAlphaZeroX. It took me like an hour to get a decent take, and when I did it turns out to be 2 seconds too long. So I'm using the SECOND best take.
So yeah, about day... 6 (full day) in Japan. Two days ago I went to a dance festival and let me tell you, it is pretty beast. You got people doing a bunch of martial arts moves mixed with traditional dancing and each group (there was multiple colleges and dance groups there doing their own thing) had a specific theme to their dance.
One funny thing at the festival was that each group had a singer/announcer, and a majority of them sounded like Franky from One Piece.
Anyways, my two favorite themes were a Ninja Samurai type (I'm uploading it on YouTube) thing where the martial arts was most noticable within the dancing. The next favorite theme was a cartoon hero type thing. There were the bad guys (who were dressed as devils) and the good guys (who were dressed like power rangers with out the helmets) and they would fight while they were dancing.
There was this one group that gets a special honor, I forgot what they were called but they had little preschoolers in it, and they were so cute. They were REALLY REALLY cute!!! When ever they had to yell you could hear little tiny high pitched voices screaming along with the college (and elderly) people. If I recorded it, most of you guys would agree with me. But those little kids could dance, normally if we tried that in America, I'm pretty sure most of them would mess up. But these kids were as good as the older kids.
The food at the festival was also awesome. Everything was made right before your eyes. If the food you wanted was grilled, they would grill it open flamed. The food was also VERY fresh. You know how most meats in America are really tender when they are just finished cooking? Thats because of fillers and other meats mashed in destroy some of the connective tissues. Thats why you always have to know what quality of meat you're getting. So anyways, these meats were extremely juicy and chewy.
Some of the vendors at the festival would have signs making special deals like 2 for 1 if you beat them in Rock Paper Scissors. There was also this one where it was like an avalanche based game (where the ball rolls down a series of pegs to change the course) where you pick the jack pot (out of 15 slots and it was 3 for the price of one) and see where the ball lands. You could either get 1, 2 or 3. So Seth tried it out, and he was 1 slot away from his jackpot, but he got 2 for the price of 1. The food that the vendor was serving was a hamburger type patty on a stick. It was delicious!
Seth also tried the Rock Paper Scissors one for a chocolate covered frozen banana.
Random fun fact : One of the bananas had a face with a marshmellow Hitler moustache.
Seth won that one. The bananas were good (ahaha, thats what she said).
Later we hit the arcade (which is a long mall, the one near my house is about 1.25 miles long) and Seth got to try this Taiko Drum Master game (due to the fact we couldn't find a DTX machine anywhere) and he did really good on his first try ever. After the first song (which was level 1/10) he skipped to a level 7/10 and still got 99% of the notes and only missed 10. Video is going to be on YouTube too.
So yeah, about day... 6 (full day) in Japan. Two days ago I went to a dance festival and let me tell you, it is pretty beast. You got people doing a bunch of martial arts moves mixed with traditional dancing and each group (there was multiple colleges and dance groups there doing their own thing) had a specific theme to their dance.
One funny thing at the festival was that each group had a singer/announcer, and a majority of them sounded like Franky from One Piece.
Anyways, my two favorite themes were a Ninja Samurai type (I'm uploading it on YouTube) thing where the martial arts was most noticable within the dancing. The next favorite theme was a cartoon hero type thing. There were the bad guys (who were dressed as devils) and the good guys (who were dressed like power rangers with out the helmets) and they would fight while they were dancing.
There was this one group that gets a special honor, I forgot what they were called but they had little preschoolers in it, and they were so cute. They were REALLY REALLY cute!!! When ever they had to yell you could hear little tiny high pitched voices screaming along with the college (and elderly) people. If I recorded it, most of you guys would agree with me. But those little kids could dance, normally if we tried that in America, I'm pretty sure most of them would mess up. But these kids were as good as the older kids.
The food at the festival was also awesome. Everything was made right before your eyes. If the food you wanted was grilled, they would grill it open flamed. The food was also VERY fresh. You know how most meats in America are really tender when they are just finished cooking? Thats because of fillers and other meats mashed in destroy some of the connective tissues. Thats why you always have to know what quality of meat you're getting. So anyways, these meats were extremely juicy and chewy.
Some of the vendors at the festival would have signs making special deals like 2 for 1 if you beat them in Rock Paper Scissors. There was also this one where it was like an avalanche based game (where the ball rolls down a series of pegs to change the course) where you pick the jack pot (out of 15 slots and it was 3 for the price of one) and see where the ball lands. You could either get 1, 2 or 3. So Seth tried it out, and he was 1 slot away from his jackpot, but he got 2 for the price of 1. The food that the vendor was serving was a hamburger type patty on a stick. It was delicious!
Seth also tried the Rock Paper Scissors one for a chocolate covered frozen banana.
Random fun fact : One of the bananas had a face with a marshmellow Hitler moustache.
Seth won that one. The bananas were good (ahaha, thats what she said).
Later we hit the arcade (which is a long mall, the one near my house is about 1.25 miles long) and Seth got to try this Taiko Drum Master game (due to the fact we couldn't find a DTX machine anywhere) and he did really good on his first try ever. After the first song (which was level 1/10) he skipped to a level 7/10 and still got 99% of the notes and only missed 10. Video is going to be on YouTube too.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Get well soon Juli-chan
Title says it all, the poor little baby is sick D:
I met Nana-chan and Juli-chan yesterday. They're really adorable, Nana-chan just started preschool. Juli-chan was sleeping when my family got there. Their parents are motorcycle technicians.
Nana-chan also has the beastliest ride there... a Retro Flyer.
I met Nana-chan and Juli-chan yesterday. They're really adorable, Nana-chan just started preschool. Juli-chan was sleeping when my family got there. Their parents are motorcycle technicians.
Nana-chan also has the beastliest ride there... a Retro Flyer.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Yngwie Malmsteen and Takamoto-san
Well, it was the first full day at being in Japan.
It was filled with mountain climbing (via car) and lolly gagging.
The mountain climbing was unbelievably scary, there was railing when you didn't need railing and no railing when it was a matter of life or death if you slip up once. To make matters worse, 90% of the roads going up the mountain could only fit one car at a time. It was exactly like Indiana Jones style when he's like wall hugging across a huge casm.
When we finally got to the top (which took like 30 minutes of constant screaming and turning), the view was beautiful. You could see the ocean, and all of Sasebo. The buildings look so small and insignificant compared to the towering mountains that they were on. The sight was literally breath taking, being hundreds of feet in the air made it hard to breathe. It felt like you were breathing in nothing and I found myself to be constantly gasping for air just from a simple walk up the stairs.
The descent was even scarier, you would easily accelerate because the roads were so steep. Good thing we made it in one piece.
Later in the day, around 5 pm we went to my dad's friend's house to eat dinner. Let me tell you, his mom is a beastly cook. I mean everything was so delicious I wanted to keep eating but I got really really stuffed that I took the biggest nap in my life. My dad's friend's name is Takamoto-san, he's really nice and a fellow guitarist.
Turns out, his favorite guitarist is Yngwie Malmsteen and when he was my age he bought a Yngwie Malmsteen Custom Fender Strat. It was pretty old looking though. He decided to actually give the guitar to me as a welcome to Japan present. I was speechless, and I was just playing it for like several hours and in the car too. He also gave me some Ernie Ball strings, but the high E string was rusty and broke when I was putting it on... lol. So I had to keep the ancient high E string on. It doesn't sound as good as the other new strings (which weren't rusty) but still I can atleast play.
So before I decided to put the new strings on, I decided to clean it. It had like dust and weird crimson red and black marks everywhere. I must've spent an hour just cleaning and polishing it. Now it looks like something you can shred on. The strings also are made for lower tensions, so I have to keep it at atleast half a step lower or else it hurts my fingers. The pick ups are all authentic (DiMarzio YJM Pickups and a DiMarzio HS-3 Stack Humbucker Pickup). The fret board is scalloped meaning that the frets indent creating a wave shape through out the whole neck. The tone of the guitar is a lot different than my S Guitar (Standard Vintage Fender Stratocaster), the sound when flipped to the upper pick up reminds me of the sound that you hear in the recordings when Yngwie is soloing. Its a nice smooth and metallic sound. When it's switched to the bridge pickup, it sounds really crunchy and pretty deep. Its a great guitar to have and I'll be definately playing it a lot.
Now I have to decide in which types of songs that I'll play it in.
I didn't have a wire cutter with me so I had to keep the excess string on, so now it looks like I have like noodles sticking out of my tuning pegs. I guess it makes it look cooler. I can't wait to plug this baby into my amplifier. I think I'm going to learn how to play Red Devil and make a tribute to Takamoto-san for giving me this super awesome guitar.
He also gave Seth a 5 string bass. I forgot what brand it is, but I do know that it's the same bass guitar as the bassist has in Alien Ant Farm. So this will make recording a lot more better.
Later we'll be getting an electronic drum set, so just stay tuned for that. Well I think thats all for now. Peace, love and keep rocking out!
It was filled with mountain climbing (via car) and lolly gagging.
The mountain climbing was unbelievably scary, there was railing when you didn't need railing and no railing when it was a matter of life or death if you slip up once. To make matters worse, 90% of the roads going up the mountain could only fit one car at a time. It was exactly like Indiana Jones style when he's like wall hugging across a huge casm.
When we finally got to the top (which took like 30 minutes of constant screaming and turning), the view was beautiful. You could see the ocean, and all of Sasebo. The buildings look so small and insignificant compared to the towering mountains that they were on. The sight was literally breath taking, being hundreds of feet in the air made it hard to breathe. It felt like you were breathing in nothing and I found myself to be constantly gasping for air just from a simple walk up the stairs.
The descent was even scarier, you would easily accelerate because the roads were so steep. Good thing we made it in one piece.
Later in the day, around 5 pm we went to my dad's friend's house to eat dinner. Let me tell you, his mom is a beastly cook. I mean everything was so delicious I wanted to keep eating but I got really really stuffed that I took the biggest nap in my life. My dad's friend's name is Takamoto-san, he's really nice and a fellow guitarist.
Turns out, his favorite guitarist is Yngwie Malmsteen and when he was my age he bought a Yngwie Malmsteen Custom Fender Strat. It was pretty old looking though. He decided to actually give the guitar to me as a welcome to Japan present. I was speechless, and I was just playing it for like several hours and in the car too. He also gave me some Ernie Ball strings, but the high E string was rusty and broke when I was putting it on... lol. So I had to keep the ancient high E string on. It doesn't sound as good as the other new strings (which weren't rusty) but still I can atleast play.
So before I decided to put the new strings on, I decided to clean it. It had like dust and weird crimson red and black marks everywhere. I must've spent an hour just cleaning and polishing it. Now it looks like something you can shred on. The strings also are made for lower tensions, so I have to keep it at atleast half a step lower or else it hurts my fingers. The pick ups are all authentic (DiMarzio YJM Pickups and a DiMarzio HS-3 Stack Humbucker Pickup). The fret board is scalloped meaning that the frets indent creating a wave shape through out the whole neck. The tone of the guitar is a lot different than my S Guitar (Standard Vintage Fender Stratocaster), the sound when flipped to the upper pick up reminds me of the sound that you hear in the recordings when Yngwie is soloing. Its a nice smooth and metallic sound. When it's switched to the bridge pickup, it sounds really crunchy and pretty deep. Its a great guitar to have and I'll be definately playing it a lot.
Now I have to decide in which types of songs that I'll play it in.
I didn't have a wire cutter with me so I had to keep the excess string on, so now it looks like I have like noodles sticking out of my tuning pegs. I guess it makes it look cooler. I can't wait to plug this baby into my amplifier. I think I'm going to learn how to play Red Devil and make a tribute to Takamoto-san for giving me this super awesome guitar.
He also gave Seth a 5 string bass. I forgot what brand it is, but I do know that it's the same bass guitar as the bassist has in Alien Ant Farm. So this will make recording a lot more better.
Later we'll be getting an electronic drum set, so just stay tuned for that. Well I think thats all for now. Peace, love and keep rocking out!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Japan, yeah pretty chill
So I arrived in Japan yesterday. The first flight was about 13 hours long, then followed by a 5 hour wait, then the second flight was 2 hours long, then we had a 1 hour drive back to the new house.
Where am I staying?
I am going to be at Sasebo, Nagasaki. If you guys want to visit me, make sure you email me and I'll send you the adress. But make sure you have something to do for 21 hours.
First flight -
At first I was estatic to be able to go to Japan. It quickly was crushed by crying babies and lot of air pressure changes.
I watched a couple movies that were repeating as soon as the credits roll. So you never were able to know when the movie is going to start unless you're watching other people watch the movie and wait until the credits start rolling. I did that in a non-stalker type way.
The movies I watched were as followed, Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen, Angels and Demons and Pelham 123. Ice Age was pretty funny, I found myself being the only passenger on the plane watching it laughing obnoxiously loud. Transformers, I say skip it, enough said. Angels and Demons, I thought that the movie was pretty good but they missed some of the best parts and changed the last brand to two keys instead of the Illuminati Diamond. Pelham 123 was a great movie, but it had a ton of swearing in it, but you have to be pretty smart to understand it... or maybe I'm just dumb.
I also wrote into my journal, I must've filled out 8 pages in that one day instead of my usual 1 or 2 pages. I just had a lot to write.
I didn't touch my DSi at all, I found no need to play.
I used my iPod a lot, but lost interest in it and took the oppertunity to sleep instead. I must've slept a lot, but in reality I only slept about 2 hours through out the whole flight when I thought I slept 5. Take my tip and don't sleep on the plane because there's a lot of turbulance on the flight and this turbulance is like on drugs. It was absolutely brutal.
The games that we could play on the plane were pretty broken. Yes, there were video games on the plane, but they were pretty simple. The reason why I say it's broken is because it's almost impossible to beat the computers and there's no option to face a human opponent. In connect four the first 2 levels are insanely easy, just place your pieces in a horizontal line and you win. Level 3 was almost impossible to beat, and level 4 is literally impossible and if you lose against level 4, you go back to level 1.
Reversi was even harder, my mom only won 3 times out of like 100 games. The reason is because they always make the players go first. You can skip a move, but if you do it as your first move then you automatically lose. The only way you can win is if you get 3 of 4 corners that are on the grid.
I didn't bother to play any other game (out of the 8 crappy games available) because I was so angry at how impossible the games were.
The wait -
So we had 5 hours until our next flight, it was filled with getting lost. We got lost and told the wrong directions for 4.6 hours. We barely got on to our next flight.
The next flight -
I don't know, I slept through the whole thing. I got 2 excellent hour of sleep.
Where am I staying?
I am going to be at Sasebo, Nagasaki. If you guys want to visit me, make sure you email me and I'll send you the adress. But make sure you have something to do for 21 hours.
First flight -
At first I was estatic to be able to go to Japan. It quickly was crushed by crying babies and lot of air pressure changes.
I watched a couple movies that were repeating as soon as the credits roll. So you never were able to know when the movie is going to start unless you're watching other people watch the movie and wait until the credits start rolling. I did that in a non-stalker type way.
The movies I watched were as followed, Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen, Angels and Demons and Pelham 123. Ice Age was pretty funny, I found myself being the only passenger on the plane watching it laughing obnoxiously loud. Transformers, I say skip it, enough said. Angels and Demons, I thought that the movie was pretty good but they missed some of the best parts and changed the last brand to two keys instead of the Illuminati Diamond. Pelham 123 was a great movie, but it had a ton of swearing in it, but you have to be pretty smart to understand it... or maybe I'm just dumb.
I also wrote into my journal, I must've filled out 8 pages in that one day instead of my usual 1 or 2 pages. I just had a lot to write.
I didn't touch my DSi at all, I found no need to play.
I used my iPod a lot, but lost interest in it and took the oppertunity to sleep instead. I must've slept a lot, but in reality I only slept about 2 hours through out the whole flight when I thought I slept 5. Take my tip and don't sleep on the plane because there's a lot of turbulance on the flight and this turbulance is like on drugs. It was absolutely brutal.
The games that we could play on the plane were pretty broken. Yes, there were video games on the plane, but they were pretty simple. The reason why I say it's broken is because it's almost impossible to beat the computers and there's no option to face a human opponent. In connect four the first 2 levels are insanely easy, just place your pieces in a horizontal line and you win. Level 3 was almost impossible to beat, and level 4 is literally impossible and if you lose against level 4, you go back to level 1.
Reversi was even harder, my mom only won 3 times out of like 100 games. The reason is because they always make the players go first. You can skip a move, but if you do it as your first move then you automatically lose. The only way you can win is if you get 3 of 4 corners that are on the grid.
I didn't bother to play any other game (out of the 8 crappy games available) because I was so angry at how impossible the games were.
The wait -
So we had 5 hours until our next flight, it was filled with getting lost. We got lost and told the wrong directions for 4.6 hours. We barely got on to our next flight.
The next flight -
I don't know, I slept through the whole thing. I got 2 excellent hour of sleep.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Hey guys, introduction time
Okay, here's how everything is going to go down. Hopefully I know you guys in some way, if I don't you're probably a stalker of some sort. Not that I really care.
So anyways, I created this blog to be some what of an online journal, I'll try my best to update it at least once a week. If I don't update it in like a week, probably means that I lost interest in posting. Which normally I will do eventually... but don't worry, I'm a lot more responsible than I was before... where I almost flunked out of the 6th grade... but anywho, just sit back and enjoy.
If I DO forget to post, you can always find me on my Facebook (where you can also find my AIM and email) and also you can always go to my YouTube and watch me shred the plastic and real guitar (occasionally my clarinet too). Here's my email too if you guys want, just email comments, questions or concerns and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Email : ultimateff@gmail.com
Youtube : XAlphaZEROX
Today is Seth's birthday by the way, so I wish him a happy birthday, we got him a pretty beast cake. It's Rock Band themed. If you guys didn't know Seth is [Team Cena]Nitroxelerator as their drummer. I thought of getting him something Rock Band related for his birthday, but being the poor teenager with 20 dollars in his pocket in yen (the currency of Japan), I don't think I can buy anything really nice... yet. ;P
If you guys didn't know for some weird reason (be it that you don't read the description on my videos of Peace of Mind and Perfect Drug, or you are just socially clueless) I am moving to Japan on the 20th. I won't be getting any of my stuff back until mid November and I won't have wi-fi 24/7 for like a week. I've done quite a lot of crying (yes, manly men like me cry too), when I thought of not seeing your faces as often as I do now or not hearing your voice through my own two ears in person, I just started breaking up. I want to thank you all for making it so hard to want to leave this place, it shows that I really care about you guys and that you guys care for me too.
Much love everyone!
-Sam
So anyways, I created this blog to be some what of an online journal, I'll try my best to update it at least once a week. If I don't update it in like a week, probably means that I lost interest in posting. Which normally I will do eventually... but don't worry, I'm a lot more responsible than I was before... where I almost flunked out of the 6th grade... but anywho, just sit back and enjoy.
If I DO forget to post, you can always find me on my Facebook (where you can also find my AIM and email) and also you can always go to my YouTube and watch me shred the plastic and real guitar (occasionally my clarinet too). Here's my email too if you guys want, just email comments, questions or concerns and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Email : ultimateff@gmail.com
Youtube : XAlphaZEROX
Today is Seth's birthday by the way, so I wish him a happy birthday, we got him a pretty beast cake. It's Rock Band themed. If you guys didn't know Seth is [Team Cena]Nitroxelerator as their drummer. I thought of getting him something Rock Band related for his birthday, but being the poor teenager with 20 dollars in his pocket in yen (the currency of Japan), I don't think I can buy anything really nice... yet. ;P
If you guys didn't know for some weird reason (be it that you don't read the description on my videos of Peace of Mind and Perfect Drug, or you are just socially clueless) I am moving to Japan on the 20th. I won't be getting any of my stuff back until mid November and I won't have wi-fi 24/7 for like a week. I've done quite a lot of crying (yes, manly men like me cry too), when I thought of not seeing your faces as often as I do now or not hearing your voice through my own two ears in person, I just started breaking up. I want to thank you all for making it so hard to want to leave this place, it shows that I really care about you guys and that you guys care for me too.
Much love everyone!
-Sam
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