Sunday, November 30, 2008

Music: This Week's New Releases

The Killers - Day & Age The Killers are my favorite band of Mormons. For a group of Mormons they sure do put together some excellent high energy sex-charged post-punk dance pop that makes me want to fuck. If it turns out that lead singer, and devout mormon, Brandon Flowers gave money to the pro-Prop 8 campaign in California then you should download it for free somewhere. If he didn't, then go ahead and buy it. The cover is super shiny and pretty. The band picture insert makes it look like all 4 band members have completely different gimmicks and belong in 4 separate bands.


Los Campesinos!
- We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed this one was finally released here in the states. The CD package comes with a separate DVD and a zine. I haven't listened to it yet, but I am SUPER stoked on this one.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Music: This Week's New Releases

Today marks the release of Guns 'n Roses Chinese Democracy. It is the first GnR album in 15 years and the first studio album in 17. This is a Best Buy exclusive, so lame. I love "Sweet Child O' Mine" as much as the next guy, but that is not what we will be getting here.

I don't imagine that I will, ever, hear this album. I heard the first single at a Rock Band party, and I was far from impressed.

This does mean that every US citizen, excluding Slash and Buckethead, are eligible for a free can of Dr. Pepper! You have until tomorrow morning to do it though.
use this link and scroll down to the bottom and on the left side you will see the Free Dr. Pepper link.

I'm sure you will enjoy it more than the album.

For those of you in Seattle go to Easy Street today to get 20% off all non sale items.

Monday, November 17, 2008

MMA: UFC 91 Results, Brock Lesnar is Your UFC Heavyweight Champion



Saturday Night's main event was all it was cracked up to be. In one corner there was the legendary champion and huge fan favorite Randy Couture. In the other corner was the MMA newcomer and a huge beast of a man Brock Lesnar who was appearing in just his fourth pro fight.

The crowd was super hot for the fight with chants of, "Randy" during the introductions and voracious boos all around for Lesnar. In the first round both fighters were clinched up against the fence. Brock is so big and strong that his knees to Randy's thigh actually lifted Randy off the ground. It was an amazing show of size and strength.

Brock eventually took Randy down to the ground in the first round. Randy was able to reverse it and get on top which caused a huge crowd pop and more chants of, "Randy!" Randy was only on top for a moment before Brock rolled him back over and took mount.

Brock Lesnar won the first round on all three judges scorecards.

In the second the fighters exchanged some punches and Randy cut Brock open under his eye. Brock then hit a big right directly to Randy's temple and the world champion crumpled straight down. Brock immediately hit a hammer fist to the face as he pounced on Randy and delivered 35(!) unanswered shots before the referee finally put an end to it all. I had already been screaming, "Stop it! What are you doing, stop the fight?!?" The crowd booed their new champion.

In the semi-main event Kenny "Ken Flo" Florian beat Joe "Daddy" Stephenson in a little more than 4 minutes with a rear naked choke. Ken Flo came down to the ring in this awesome jacket. After his match I took Brookie's iPhone and tried to look up the jacket, but iPhones suck apparently.

Kenny Florian understands how to build and sell a fight. The first words out of his mouth in his post fight interview in front of the crowd was, "I want BJ's belt," BJ Penn is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. Ken Flo added, "I consider BJ to be a master. It's time to kill the master." I want to see this fight so bad!

UFC 91 was an awesome show from top to bottom. With the exception of the main event every fight on the main card ended in the first round. Only the fight of the night award winners Jorge Gurgel and Aaron Riley had a fight that went the distance. The main card fights were so short that every prelim fight was shown on the pay per view to fill time. This is one of the greatest shows in UFC history filled with quick knockouts and submissions. There was not a boring fight to be found.

The next pay per view is UFC 92 on December 27th which has a stacked card with a triple main event. On that night we will get to see Forrest Griffin defend the Light Heavyweight title against Rashad Evans, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira will defend the Interim Heavyweight Title against Frank Mir(winner to face Brock Lesnar to unify the titles), and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson returns to fight Wanderlai Silva. It's going to be spectacular!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

MMA: UFC 91 Preview



Tonight is the biggest UFC fight in....well....EVER!!!

Tonight is the UFC return of Heavyweight Champion Randy "The Natural" Couture as he defends his title against monster MMA newcomer Brock Lesner.

Brock comes into this fight with just a 2-1 career record. His last fight came on August 9th when he dominated Heath Herring for 3 rounds on his way to the unanimous decision. The highlight of the match was when Brock started the fight with a punch to the face which caused Herring to do a backwards somersault. It was AWESOME! At the start of this match Brock will have close to a 50 pound weight advantage on the champion.

Randy Couture
is 45 years old and his last fight was against a scared Gabriel Gonzaga on August 25, 2007. It has been absolutely ridiculous that Couture has fought at this high of a level as long as he has, and sooner or later his luck will run out. I hope that happens tonight.

If I was booking this match I would build up Brock Lesner as the super awesome unstoppable babyface and future of the UFC Heavyweight division. Randy Couture is the obvious heel, the man who "retired" while UFC Heavyweight Champion because he wanted to go elsewhere(ie-Affliction) to fight Fedor. He sued the UFC to get out of his contract while the UFC filed a countersuit for breach of contract. THEN Couture appeared and was interviewed on the first Affliction pay-per-view. It was only after he made that stupid mistake that he renegotiated a new contract with the UFC at which point this fight was announced. I would paint Couture as a UFC turncoat. As a man who doesn't care about the company while he still holds the belt. I would build him up so that the fans will hate him and boo him relentlessly. All great fighters have to be able to work as a babyface as well as a heel.

But alas, Brock Lesner is a natural heel, so despite me wanting to see Randy Couture get knocked out in 30 seconds the fans will be chanting, "Randy, Randy!" Whatever.
Regardless of the winner this should be a great fight, and probably the best heavyweight fight that we have seen in a long time.

The most intriguing fight on the undercard is the lightweight matchup between Ultimate Fighter alums Kenny "Ken Flo" Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stephenson. Ken Flo has won 5 straight fights including his August fight where he completely shut down Roger Huerta in dominating fashion.
I hate Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. I hope that Ken Flo chokes him out in 30 seconds.

Other fights on the undercard:

-Nate Quarry vs Demian Maia
-Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks in a fight between two heavyweights that no one wants to see fight.
and Dustin Hazelett vs Tamden McCrory in a fight that is only on the main card because The Ultimate Fighter winner Amir Sadollah had to pull out of his fight due to an infection on his leg. The best thing that I can say about Hazelett is that he was knocked out in amazing fashion when he lost to Josh Koscheck.

Music: This Week's New Releases


The Flaming Lips- Christmas on Mars CD-DVD combo, with a MEGA DELUXE version available from their website which includes stickers and trading cards and popcorn, AMAZING!!! I am seeing this at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle on November 21st. Tickets are still available, you should come to!

Los Campesinos!- We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed This is a CD/DVD combo from one of the most fun indie pop dance bands alive today. They only made a single run of CDs for the entire world, and they are only available through Rough Trade, which is in the UK which makes it more expensive to get it here in the states(bastards!). You can also get it via iTunes, but of course sans DVD.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Music: This Week's New Releases

I hope you voted.

Danielson- Trying Hartz

The Decemberists- Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series - Volume 2 (vinyl)

More pretty vinyl for the Decemberists fans. I won't be able to review it until all of them have been released and they send me the entire series. I just wasn't willing to pay so much for shipping, sorry.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

This Week's New.....Oh Fuck It

Go Vote, Go Vote for Obama!

This Week's New.....Oh Fuck It

Go Vote, Go Vote for Obama!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

MMA: EliteXC is Dead! (officially)



The last EliteXC show on CBS did a very good rating. A rating that the network and Showtime were both happy with. CBS began the discussions to buy the organization outright.

Two days after Seth Petruzelli knocked out Kimbo Slice he was doing media interviews when he said that he was paid a bonus to stand up with Kimbo. This launched an investigation by the Florida State Athletic Commission. You see, this is a mixed martial arts fight. People made bets on this fight in Las Vegas. You do not pay someone a bonus telling them to stand and exchange with Kimbo in hopes that Kimbo knocks him out. Unfortunately for Kimbo Slice and EliteXC, Petruzelli knocked Kimbo the fuck out.

Due to the ongoing investigation CBS declined to purchase the organization and later that afternoon EliteXC filed for bankruptcy and began firing office employees.

Seth Petruzelli's punch to the jaw of Kimbo wasn't the knockout blow that I had predicted for EliteXC, but his follow up interview certainly finished the job.

The North American MMA market is down to Affliction and UFC. Affliction is only a couple shows away from going under themselves. The first quarter of 2008 seemed like a promising time for MMA in this country, but here we are barely in November and we are just a short time away to being back to only having the UFC.

Music: This Week's New Releases

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals- Cardinology
Your best bet for a solid release this week is the 10th release from Ryan Adams and 4th with The Cardinals. I have this one already, but I haven't listened to it in its entirety. It seems solid enough though.
Bloc Party- Intimacy
The Cure - 4:13 Dream
This is the 13th release from a band that no one has cared about in at least 11 years. And I mean really, only 13 releases? Ryan Adams will probably release 13 albums next year.
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On Axl Rose once referred to them onstage as the "Pidgins of Shit Metal". Chinese Democracy comes out later this month, and I pray that it's the worst album of all time. We'll see who laughs last Axl.