Nintendo 3DS XL, Xenoblade, and Super Smash Brothers

    

      I threw down some serious cash on a brand new 3DS XL. I'd been wanting to play the new Super Smash Brothers for 3DS for sometime. I kept asking my brother if I could just use his 3DS and play Super Smash Brothers on it but he kept saying no! I got my own 3DS XL last week. In addition to the hand-held system I picked up the Nintendo jrpg Xenoblade Chronicles. So, right after I bought it I couldn't wait to try it out so instead of going home I went to Starbucks and configured it and put in Xenoblade. Super Smash Brothers I ordered through the mail so it didn't come until late that night. Anyways, the 3D options in Xenoblade looked terrific. It looks like Wii-U graphics (at best) and at worst PS2 graphics. I'm actually really happy with the system and what it offers. So far I haven't played too much of Xenoblade but I have been playing the heck out of Super Smash Brothers. I must have unlocked all the characters in one day, it was super quick. But the best part of it all is that Super Smash is an online game. I can fight people across the world in four player free for all, two on two teams, and 1 on 1 matches with two stock (lives). I only play For Glory, where all your wins and losses count and get added up and recorded. I have found that the best players always have Japanese names.

     My favorite character is Shulk, the main character from Xenoblade. He has this sword, called the Monado, that has these special abilities that you can use with. You just tap a button and the sword can change colors, giving you different abilities. In addition, Shulk has a powerful counter where he blocks an attack and hits the enemy twice afterwards with the Monado. Other characters I like are Fox from Starfox, Donkey Kong, Marth from Fire Emblem, Lucina from Fire Emblem, and Captain Falcon. The game has plenty of characters so you really can't get bored. Also, this is the kind of fighting game that is very easy to get good at. The combos are easy to learn unlike games like the new Mortal Kombat X. So far, I'm loving it. I hope soon I will be able to 1v1 my mates. Xenoblade is a great game too, just haven't found the time to invest in a jrgp, been working too many nights. The story in Xenoblade seems stellar. These robot type alien gods fought and now the world is completely fucked. Overall the system is solid and my brother has a ton of games I can play on it too.  

     Lastly, you have to put into account that the 3DS XL is completely brand new and just came out a short time ago. It's pretty much the exact same thing as the 3DS except bigger for bigger hands like mines. It just makes pushing the buttons easy and it doesn't hurt to have a slightly bigger screen to look at as well. Also, this just in: Local man really feeling it. 

My favorite parts of Game of Thrones Season 4

   

     First of all, way too much happened in this season to write about all of it. So instead I'll just write about my favorite parts. Also, I don't remember every single characters name because they get killed off before I can remember.
      First, the best thing was that King Joffrey got killed by poison in his wine. Tyrion, aka the actor Peter Dinklage, my favorite character is accused of killing him and is imprisoned for this. Later, Tyrion demands trial by combat and this foreigner decides to fight for him because he learns the guy he's fighting killed and raped his sister. But when they actually fight Tyrion's champion spears the guy in the stomach. However, the guy still isn't completely dead. He gets up and gouges out the other guy's eyes, killing him. Then he lays over and dies himself. It was pretty gruesome, as most of this show is.
     Next, another part that I liked was when Lord Balish, who also goes by Peter, was kissing Lady Sansa outside and his wife, Sansa's aunt catches him. So Sansa's aunt scolds Sansa and threatens to push her out of the moon roof, which was how they claimed they would kill Tyrion before he got the right to demand trial by combat. So Lord Balish comes in and tries to calm down Sansa's aunt but she ain't hearing it. So Balish tells her,"the only woman I have ever loved is your sister". And then he pushes her out of the moonroof. It was a surprising moment for me but then again this is the guy who killed Joffrey with poison wine so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he'd kill his wife that he really doesn't love.
     Next, I really enjoyed the fight for the wall. It was the Wildlings and their giants vs John Snow and the men from the Night's Watch. The fighting lasted pretty much the whole hour of the episode and what a fight it was! There was giants too! But the interesting thing here was that John Snow's Wildling girlfriend came to kill him but instead it was her who ended up getting shot with an arrow, by a kid from the Night's Watch. After the fighting's over John Snow goes out to meet with the Wildling King and try to reason with him to stop the fighting and end the bloodshed. Instead, Stanis Borathean, who claims to be the rightful true king shows up and takes the Wildling King prisoner and promises to let him talk and be reasoned with based on what John Snow says.
     Lastly, other parts that I liked was when the female Knight and her squire finds Araya Stark and The Hound. The female Knight fights the Hound and actually wins. He gets so wounded that he says he won't live. He begs Araya to kill him but instead she just takes his coins and gets out of there, leaving him to die in the wilderness. Also, at the very end Tyrion is freed by his brother Jaime Lannister. On Tyrion's way out though he sees his dad on the crapper. He ends up shooting his dad with a crossbow and getting out of town by being hidden in a bag. Not bad for an imp. I've already seen the first episode of season 5 but I'll have to get it on DVD when it comes out as well. 

Low Down, the jazz movie

    

 

 Low Down is a biopic directed by Flea from the Red Hot Chilipeppers about jazz pianist Joe Albany. It is mainly told through Joe Albany's daughter's point of view. Jo watches and struggles with the fact that her father is a dope addict despite the fact that he's a brilliant musician that's played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Mingus, and Miles Davis. John Hawkes plays Joe Albany and Elle Fanning plays Jo. Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones plays a neighbor who does midget porn. One thing that I noticed in this movie that was a bit strange but maybe not out of character for a junkie was the fact that in every scene John Hawkes was smoking a cigarette. When it wasn't him it was some other character. In the 70s did everyone just smoke cigarettes and smoke them nonstop at that?
     Next, this film kind of has two parts. There's the first part, which is nice and peaceful and happy. And then there is the second part which is grim and hellish, the fact that he will never quit using. I rather liked the first part because that was where we get to see Joe Albany playing jazz and having fun making music. In addition, we get to see him develop and keep a great relationship with his daughter, despite the fact that he's on probation.
      Moving on, the second part involved Joe Albany going to Europe and making tons of studio records out there. He comes back home and he's happy about his life and his accomplishments playing in Europe. But then we realize that he's back to using again. It's grim and sad but this was the life he chose. Many jazz musicians lived the junkie lifestyle and quit on and off again and this was no exception. He ruined his relationship with his mother and daughter. But in the end Jo even resorted to buying him the stuff he needed so he wouldn't be so sick. The stuff I'm referring to would be the heroin. 
     Lastly, my final thoughts on this movie was that it was more biographical than just a plain old watch it and its over movie. It had a sense of making me really care about these characters, especially Jo, because she had to live through her dad being a junkie jazz piano player all his life. I feel like jazz musicians lived this way in the past because other jazz musicians did it and they felt like they needed to do it to be like them. Or they just did it once, and they're just hooked. I feel like there is such stigma today for people who use dope that you really can't get away with being a junkie. People will laugh at you, shun you, dislike you, and not be your friend anymore. On the other hand, today we have so many celebrities that are doing drugs that maybe it has become acceptable in the mainstream to be a druggie. This movie brings into question the ideals of musicians, actors, celebrities;what is and what is not acceptable? That's what makes this movie so interesting.

Music I've been listening to lately

    

 Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Ravi Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jack Dejohnette, McCoy Tyner, and these other jazz guitarists Mike Moreno and Julian Lage. I'm really getting into these newer jazz guitarists from New York. Kurt Rosenwinkel is really great and writes great compositions. Check out this tune of his called Zhivago. Also, Mike Moreno and Julian Lage do collaborations where they play as a guitar duo. I've been liking those a lot so far on youtube. I first noticed Mike Moreno in one of trumpeter Nicolas Payton's groups.
     In addition, I've started listening to electronic dance music and dubstep as well. I just turn on pandora and listen to the tunes while I'm surfing the net or streaming video games. This kind of music is more exciting for viewers on twitch.tv who are watching my stream. What I like about it is the beat and the fact that most of it has vocals. So far my favorites are Skrillex, Bassnectar, and Deadmau5. I've been thinking about learning how to use music software and make my own kind of edm music but it might prove difficult to learn the software and to find the time to do it. I find it to be really fun music and I think everyone on twitch.tv has heard the songs in these genres.

Jack Dejohnette album Made in Chicago Review

    

     This is the latest Jack Dejohnette album in which he comes home to his Chicago roots and plays with some of the guys from the AACM whom he played with in his youth. This includes Henry Threadgill on alto saxophones and bass flute, Roscoe Mitchell on sopranino saxophones, soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, baroque flute, and bass recorder. In addition, there is Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, Larry Grey on bass and violoncello, and of course Jack Dejohnette on drums. What makes this 2013 performance at the Chicago Jazz Festival so great is not the compositions, but the individual and collaborative improvisation of these musicians as a whole.
      In fact, I can't tell that these compositions are even written down at all. It all sounds like improvisation and great improv at that! I've always thought that live jazz is always better than studio albums and this is one case where live performance really shines. The level of nuance and skill is just off the roof. A piece that really stands out is the second song, Jack 5, by Muhal Richard Abrams, where Jack Dejohnette opens up with drum flourishes on the cymbals and toms. What gives Jack such a unique touch on the drums is that he was a pianist when he first began playing music. I really like Jack 5 because when the melody comes in, its an odd sort of droning melody not unlike something Ornette Coleman would do. It's slow and methodical. The bass line is especially interesting. Check out this song online if possible, it is a great piece.  
     Some of the other songs have the same qualities as Jack 5 in that the beginning is a bit slow and the melody goes up and down in chromatic dramatic fashion. But when they start improvising things really go the dogs, or in this case, the cats. With the piano its hard to say what this group sounds like. I would immediatley say they sound like the Art Ensemble of Chicago but I would say this is more melodic and structured than AEOC. That's whats so great about it. This is great music for people that are just getting into free-jazz but it still contains enough free elements that free-jazz fans would love it. It's the best of both worlds. The piano really gives the group a harmonic framework in which to do the improvising. There are moments where the piano is doing its thing and it sounds like a post-bop sort of band.
     The other highlight of the performance for me was the last untitled tune. It sounds like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, all free and what not. I particularly love Roscoe Mitchell's squeaky saxophone playing on this. It's what makes free-jazz great, this piece. 
     I would say this is an important record because most of these guys are in their 70s, almost 80s now and they won't be with us forever. So it's cool to see them come back to their roots from when they used to play with each other in Chicago and now here they are at old age still playing and performing together, maybe for the last time. In addition, this is an important jazz recording because many Chicago jazz greats played at this festival as well. This is one of the best new jazz recording I've ever heard.
 As Jack says at the end, "May the Great Spirit bless you!" It certainly has blessed Jack.

Big Hero 6

 Big Hero Six is the last movie I saw and boy is it a fun time. This movie also has some Disney fanboy stuff at the end credits as well that can make or break the whole movie in my humble opinion. First of all, my favorite part of the whole movie was the beginning where Heedo (or is his name Hero, couldn't get the pronunciation right) went to an illegal robot fighting match and entered a fight with his wimpy looking robot. At first, his robot got owned easily but he said,"Give me a second chance". And then his robot just ripped apart the bad guy's robot in a couple seconds. It was robot brutality. It kind of reminded me of that robot fighting movie Real Steel, another great movie featuring the guy who plays Wolverine in the X-Men movies, Hugh Jackman. For me, that was the highlight of the whole movie. But later on we discover Heedo is a boy genius that is wasting his talent trying to be a robot fighter when he should be going to college like his older brother. As they say, shit happens and his brother ends up dead trying to save his professor, who is actually one of two evil bad guys in this movie. Then, Heedo discovers that his science experiment to get into college is safed away in a warehouse and a baddie with a kabuki mask chases him out and he then decides that he is going to take action and defeat this bad guy, possibly kill him because when they encounter the bad guy again, he tells Baymax (the Big Hero robot in this movie) to destroy, and takes out his medical safety chip. This was another important part of the movie because it showed that this kid wanted revenge for the death of his brother, which was justifiable. It shows the evil within us all. I won't spoil the ending but there was tons of action in it and the animation was way cool. Another thing that was interesting was they named the city SanFranTokyo and it looked like the future. I won't spoil the ending part after the credits. I thought it was ok, but others will find it cringe worthy. 

John Coltrane: Offering, live at Temple University Thoughts

     This is one of those albums that is just a pleasure to hear. Every song takes the listener through great variations of themes. This is also the only time John Coltrane was heard singing during a concert as well. When he started singing during the song Leo I wasn't sure if I was listening to the right album on my Itunes, for a second I thought something was wrong. I was taken aback totally. The songs themselves are nothing like the original album versions and although you can hear some bebop licks here and there this is what is called free-jazz, a break away of the norms of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. This is more akin to what Ornette Coleman was doing during this same time, although one could say Coltrane and Coleman were doing free-jazz in their own distinctive ways. To know that the guy blowing the saxophone here is the same guy who made Giant Steps in 1959 is mind blowing! 8 months after this concert Coltrane would be dead and jazz would go onto more free-jazz forms and then into the jazz-fusion of Miles Davis. I would say the greatest thing about this album is the atmosphere that is created by the musicians here. The solos themselves don't speak to me as standing out. Actually what I find that stands out are the rhythms themselves. The drums, in particular really stand out. But when Coltrane blows the horn its with an intensity that goes beyond just hearing it. It really hits home. This was one of the best albums I've ever heard in my life. 

Waiting for LOTV

     Planning to start playing Starcraft 2 again and work my way up the ladder when Legacy of the Void comes out. That's pretty much the only game I'm looking forward to and I know its coming out soon. Also, I'm on the lookout for that new Blizzard shooter Overwatch. It looks like Team Fortress but will most definitely be better. My main thing lately has been work, anime, and Heroes of the Storm. I'm like a god at Heroes of the Storm. Got most of the characters but I'm 4 levels away from maximum level and ability to play ranked. Its still in beta but its the best game I've ever played in a beta. I can't wait for Legacy of the Void. I'm still a bit confused on what the story is going to be like from the trailers I've seen but I'm sure it will be interesting. I've been keeping up with all the new units and stuff because its in beta as well. In addition, I canceled my World of Warcraft subscription because who has time for that shit?