Heroes Volume 5 Ep 2 - Ink

The hooks are sinking in...

This episode treated us to very few things that annoy me and a whole lot of things that rocked my world. And this comes after watching the far superior House...

For starters, we have Sylar and Parkman in what is easily the coolest damned thing Sylar's ever done. The taunting continued and escalated. We were shown that Sylar can use Parkmans own powers against him to get what he wants out of Parkman. This turn is executed perfectly, and I am giddy with the prospect of what's to come. I hope it takes a good long time before Sylar is reunited with his body.

That is, of course, not to say that all was hunky dory in the land of superheroes. We were treated to more of Gretchen, who I am beginning to seriously dislike. We take an interesting story between Noah and Claire and we throw her into the mix and I just want to turn the damn thing off. Granted, this is the same storyline we saw between Noah and Claire the last 2 seasons, but it actually seems to be moving forward now. Thank god. Noah played the less cool than usual role of father rather than normal guy vs super dudes, so I'm hoping they kick him back into gear next week and we see some more of Tracy (who was oddly completely missing from this episode).

We were introduced to Emma, a deaf woman who suddenly starts seeing noise. She ends up playing a wonderful piece on the cello, and she plays it by seeing colors instead of hearing noise. It seems like that's her only gift (other than making very comical impressions of people's uncaring faces)... so I'm wondering where they're taking her.

As always, best for last. We finally see the true extent of Samuel's powers, as he levels the house he grew up in. No joke. "A sinkhole" they call it. The buildup to this moment was all quite spectacular and was very reminiscent of our beloved Chapter 1. On his way, he introduces himself to Peter, who he thinks could take the place of his brother Joseph at the Carnival. Samuel works some of his ink magic to create a tattoo of a compass on Peter's forearm when they shake hands. He also breaks into Peter's house to make Peter believe that he is who Peter thinks he is - a victim Peter rescued from a crash. We as the audience know this is untrue, but poor Peter does not.

Speaking of Peter, his rescuing ways come back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit and the rumors around the hospital that he is a "glory seeker" and causes all those accidents himself. I'd go off on some tirade about how people can't just be grateful, but this serves to push Peter out of his rut and start being a person again. I most certainly applaud that. I can now get back into thinking Peter is awesome, just the way I like it.

So, the show ended with Peter seeing he's got a spinning compass on his arm while he and his partner are at the scene where three people were killed by Samuel's sinkhole. Where do we go from here?

I would like to suggest that they clear up a glaring plot hole that has come to light. When does Peter realize he has telekinetic powers? He obviously has them now... he and Samuel shook hands, and physical contact is what allows Peter to absorb powers. Once he realizes he has telekinetic powers, surely he'll realize that the man he met is not who he claims to be. Right?

Anyway, this season is dazzling so far in a way this show hasn't done in a very long time. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

House Season 6 Premiere

I thought I'd take a small piece of time out of my busy Tuesday evening Hulu watching to write a little something about this show. I don't blog about it often, but one of my all-time favorite shows is House. I spent all weekend a couple of weeks ago watching season 5 of House trying to catch up in preparation for season 6, which premiered last Monday. Unfortunately, Hulu runs a week behind on episodes, so I was not able to watch the season premiere until tonight.

About House in general, the show is great for one reason: the characters. Sure there are medical mysteries, crooked cops, and some graphic surgery scenes, but it's the characters that really make the show work. It's been an absolute pleasure watching them grow and evolve over the past 5 seasons. It's one of the rare shows that continues to get better as time goes on, and season 6 looks to continue that trend.

So, in regards to the premiere. I have only one thing to say about it.

That was the best episode of television that I have ever watched.

That is all.

Review - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Yes, I have finally watched a movie called Perfume.

It started out with a text message conversation. My friend wanted to hang out and watch a movie tonight.
I thought: Cool!

He said he had a movie in mind that he thought I'd like.
I thought: Cool!

He said it was called Perfume.
I thought: ........ummmmmm......

He said it was my type of movie and he is seldom wrong when he says that, so we watched it.

Wow!

I went into this movie with the expectation that it would be only decent enough to warrant the "you'll like it" comment from my friend. I came out utterly blown away with this intensely marvelous movie.

I'll say it again. Wow!

And something else: Brilliant.

The story of this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before - a boy is born with an unusually strong sense of smell. He smells, it seems, much as a dog would smell, and he sees the world through the vibrant colors of olfactory. The story traces his life as he strives to create the ultimate scent. I take that back, it's not really the creation of the ultimate scent. He is working to capture wonderful scents so they never fade, which leads him down the path that is, for lack of a better term, dark.

I know, I know, it sounds silly. Downright stupid even. I get it. I thought the same thing. But trust me, it is anything but brainless. The story is dark, a little twisted, sometimes downright humorous, and has one hell of an ending. The ending, in fact, struck me as completely strange until I sat down and thought about it for a bit. It suddenly all made sense... It fit with the movie's themes and was a cute little jab at human nature to boot. Brilliant.

Easily the best thing about the movie was Ben Whishaw. I'm not familiar with him from any of his other work, though a quick IMDB search reveals that he seems to stick mostly to period pieces (this movie takes place in France in the 18th century). I wish he was in more, as we can definitely add him to the list of actors and actresses that I'd pay to see in a movie. Whishaw plays the central character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Let me take a moment to say that I don't think even more well-known character actors like Johnny Depp or Russell Crowe could create a more believable, richer, or deeper character than Whishaw portrayed with Grenouille. Grenouille has twitches and ticks and mannerisms, a distinctive speech pattern, quirks in the way he moves, and a vast array of subtle facial expressions. Not one expression or movement is out of character, not one word or breath. The movie gave me plenty of time to find fault, as there were many, many moments in the movie where the camera would just sit on Grenouille, and I got to watch his reaction to other things that were happening or being said off screen. Whishaw pulls each moment off fantastically.

Also of note, both Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman are in the movie, and both are superb as well. I should say that Hoffman's accent grated on me a little, but that is a trifling concern when held up against everything else in the movie.

The score felt overdone in some places, but on the whole, it was a pleasure to listen to.

I wish I could say more, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for those of you who haven't seen it yet and may want to. If you haven't seen it yet, I implore you to go rent it and give it a shot. It's 2.5 hours very well spent.

Oh, one final thing that really stuck out to me in this movie was the camera work. The crew had the unenviable task of taking a story that is all about smell and making audiences feel that with only video. The camera does a wonderful job of visually connecting us to what Grenouille is smelling. The shots are up close and personal, you can see the little details, the textures, and the colors explode off the screen. Throughout I was thinking to myself that this must be how he sees the world, all the detail. It was pleasantly surprising.

Anyway, enough rambling before I start to give things away. Go watch this movie... NOW!

Score: 9.8/10.0

Heroes Volume 5 Season Premiere Reaction

So, let's get straight to the point. Is Heroes back on track?

I'm not sure yet... but things are definitely looking up.

Heroes Volume 5 (season 4) kicked off last night with a 2 hour season premiere, and it was good, old fashioned, power-wielding fun. We had our old characters, we had some new ones introduced by way of the the Sullivan Carnival, which is headed up by the wonderful Richard Knepper, and his gang of bad, bad heroes.

I'm going to jump right in here and say that his motives, thus far not revealed, will keep me coming back for more. Knepper's character, Samuel Sullivan, is deliciously... dark. I had high expectations for Knepper in this villain role, and if the first episode is any indication, we are all in for one hell of a treat. I'll get back to him - best for last, after all.

As is the usual Heroes way, we find ourselves presented with several different storylines that will eventually intersect with each other. Yet, we have a strange and exciting mix of stories not yet seen in the world of Heroes.

First and perhaps most exciting - of the original characters anyway - would be that Matt Parkman has Sylar in his head. The idea of this is that when Matt Parkman was in Sylar's head making him believe that he was actually Nathan, part of Sylar's mind slipped into Parkman's. Now, Sylar comes out, hallucination-style, and quite literally taunts Parkman. This is a fantastic twist on Sylar's character, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens here. Sylar's ultimate goal is to reunite his mind (the part that's stuck in Parkman) with his body (currently in the form of Nathan Patrelli). His goal for this episode was to get Parkman to reneg on his promise to his wife that he would no longer use his mind control powers. He succeeds admirably and entertainingly. I imagine that Sylar will ultimately find his way back into his body, but until then, the ride should be entertaining and one of the show's high points this season.

We also have Noah Bennett, who is involved with Peter and Tracy. Put simply, Bennett is almost murdered by Tracy (recall that Tracy is back as the vengeance-seeking thing made of water). Things happen, and magically, I think, Bennett and Tracy are falling for each other. Talk about a one eighty. Anyway, romantic subplots aside, Bennett is working with Angela to put the company back together, but doesn't seem motivated. Claire is in college and his wife is seeing other guys. Oh, and Danko dies, which leads Bennett on a short scavenger hunt for a compass, which is soon stolen from him (leaving him almost dead) by a guy with super speed and a penchant for slicing people to ribbons.

Peter is a sissy as ever. I'm utterly bored with his I don't wanna do anything attitude. If I knew him, I'd punch him in the face. He's back to his paramedic ways, using his speed and strength powers to help people. Boring. Sure it's cool that a hero is actually using his powers to help people, but he whined about doing it enough last season that it really just irks me now. He goes with Bennett to find the compass, absorbs Speedy McSlice-Em's powers, and a cool knife fight ensues. He refuses to help Noah further, however, citing the reason for coming along as "speed will help me save people" yada yada. Punch in the face.

Anyway, Hiro is dying. Remember the nose bleeds from the last season? Well, it turns out to be something that is killing him, I'm thinking brain tumor. Anyway, he and Ando are running a Dial a Hero service, which ends up with them amusingly rescuing a cat from high places. Hiro stops time, then when he restarts it, he is frozen... something, something, they haven't explained it yet, moving on. Anyway, he ends up traveling back in time to the Sullivan Carnival when it visited Tokyo, Japan 14 years ago. There he meets Samuel (who also traveled back in time specifically to meet Hiro), who convinces him its a great idea to use his powers to go back and fix his previous mistakes. He does this by forcing Hiro to prevent the event that causes Hiro's sister to hate Ando. Upon returning to the current time, Ando and his sister are going out, making Hiro feel like a... well, hero, and making it clear that Samuel's logic is, in fact, bottled wisdom.

Nathan had a tiny role in the show, which is awesome because I'd like to hit him in the face with a shovel. He's easily one of the most infuriating fictional characters in the history of fictional characters. His role this week was blessedly short, boiling down to very little more than whipping out some Sylar-esque powers with confused expressions on his face.

Moving on.

Claire is in college, her room mate is almost as infuriating as Nathan, then her room mate dies by jumping (supposedly) out of their second story window. Police find a suicide note on teh pillow, which we as astute viewers will note wasn't there when Claire walked into the room and discovered the suicide. Claire also notes this and decides that her annoying room mate was murdered. Enter (somewhere along the way) Claire's new friend whose name I didn't bother to remember and who will only be noteworthy for the rumored lesbian relationship coming up between the two. Rock on. Oh, and at the end of the episode, Claire decides to fall out of her window to see if it is possible that her ex-room mate jumped, was pushed, or fell... and for some strange reason, her new found friend decides that this is the perfect time (so late at night that nobody on a college campus is wandering the streets and no lights are on in any dorm room, but for some reason this girl feels like just wandering into the room of a girl she, quite frankly, barely knows) to wander into Claire's room and see her misguided investigation techniques. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that this chick (ah, Gretchen is her name.... who names their kids that any more???) obviously has ulterior motives.

Moving on... to the Sullivan Carnival. This is what is going to make or break the show this year. Yes, Sylar's story with Parkman is interesting, yes I like Noah's character, but I doubt even these things will be enough to stave off the axe if the carnival characters flop. First and most certainly foremost is Robert Knepper's Samuel Sullivan character. The show opens with him giving a eulogy for his brother, the dead (and likely murdered) Jacob Sullivan. His speech serves as a diving board to launch us back into the story and the characters, yet it is him to whom we gravitate. His character is dark, undoubtedly evil, and is just a pleasure to watch. We know he seeks vengeance, presumably for the murder of his brother, but the hows and deatils of why haven't been revealed, and this is why I will tune in again next week. I'm curious as to his powers, however, because he seems to be able to do numerous things. He's obviously a telepath, as he covered his brother's casket by moving the dirt with his mind. Yet, he also seems to be able to do other things. His tattoo stick (henceforth, "the stick") delivers ink into the skin that does... things. It forms pictures on tattoo lady's back, and, in one part, it forms a hand around the neck of another carnival hero (actually, Speedy McSlice'Em) and almost strangles him. Fascinating. I definitely want to see where his powers take him in the show.

We've also been introduced to several of the carnival's other misfits. Wee meet tattoo lady who can give details about the faces Samuel makes appear with his ink (delivered with The Stick). We meet Speedy McSlice'Em and get to see him kill Danko (for shame, I liked Danko). We also meet an older gentleman who can time travel much like Hiro. Samuel uses this man to send him back 14 years to meet Hiro at the Carnival when he goes back in time.

It's clear that there are many things going on in Volume 5. And pretty much all of it hinges on how well the creative team delivers with the carnival misfits, and Samuels grand plan. One thing that was highly disappointing was the fact that I don't think Samuel had enough time in the show. I hope this is corrected later on.

Anyway, while not up to the standards set by Volume 1, the first episode of Volume 5 piqued enough of my interest to keep me coming back for more. There was moer story progression in this one episode than we saw all year long with Volume 4, and there were also more powers in this episode than the entirety of the last 2 volumes.

So, let's buckle up and see where this takes us.

Final Heroes Volume 5: Redemption Preview

In honor of the fact that the Heroes season premiere is on tonight, here is an extended preview. It's on tonight, though I won't be able to watch until tomorrow. Can't. Wait.

Surrogate Advertising... Ripped off From Terminator?

I stumbled across this advertisement for Bruce Willis' upcoming Matrix-esque movie Surrogates while browsing the web today.

This immediately brought to mind the advertising for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.



Funny how similar they look, yes? Sad how we're running out original ideas for advertising robots who look like people already.

Heroes Volume 5: Redemption, Season Premiere Sneak Peeks

IGN's got some awesome footage from the first episode from Volume 5. Check it out, and remember, Monday is the full 2 hour episode on NBC.

I Got It

More Heroes News & Previews

Man With The Plan

Heroes at IGN.com

Heroes Volume 5 in One Week

Just a reminder, folks. Heroes Volume 5: Redemption hits next Monday. In just a week, we finally get to see if Volume 5 can redeem the once amazing show and bring it back to its former awesomeness. I've been getting pumped as we've been getting closer.

This could be so ridiculously good - new arch villain, carnival goodness, Tracy back for revenge, Sylar versus Matt Parkman, Claire's (probable) lesbian college sorority fling... and the possibility of an actual story line with meaningful dialog, worthwhile events that actually propel the story forward, and other cool things that actually make sense!!!! Whoo hoo!

Anyway, I don't actually have TV, just Internet, so I'm going to watch the season premiere as soon as it hits Hulu. Check back probably Tuesday evening for thoughts and reaction.

Remember: 2-hour season premiere Monday, NBC, 8/7c. Be there!

Also of note, my other favorite thing to watch on NBC, Southland, also returns next week. Season premiere of that one next Friday 9/8c. Watch that too!

Review - 9 The Movie

I must admit, the primary reason I wanted to see 9 was to see how good a movie could be that used Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home" for their trailer music. The trailers for the movie gave me some chills, as the use of Coheed's amazing music was top notch.

So, what then, of the movie?

First and foremost, I was sitting near somebody who smelled obnoxiously bad... atrocious really. So, some of my enjoyment of the movie was leached as I tried to find something better-smelling to put in front of my nose... my ticket stub, the inside of my shirt, my finger....

Anyway, stinky people gripes aside, the movie was quite a treat. The standout feature of the film was easily its visual appeal. The animation is superb; the attention to detail borders on perfectionism. The characters, visually, are fully realized and smoothly animated. In fact, most of the care I felt for the characters was driven by their animations, their facial expressions (so poignant for creatures made of potato sacks), and their body language. There is so much to absorb on the screen, it is sometimes a challenge to take it all in.

Also of note, the voice acting is great. Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, and company were spot on in almost every scene in the movie. Make no mistake, it's the animation that truly brings the characters to life, but the voice acting certainly doesn't hurt either.

The story, while a tad cliche, is interesting and exceptionally dark. I've heard many a tale of folks who saw that movie with their kids and ended up leaving because of how disturbing some of the scenes are. Yes, things die, yes there are some very dark visuals, but it is rated PG-13 after all.

The movie is certainly part cautionary tale - of the "artificial intelligence is bad" variety - and in that aspect, the story fails, as other movies (I, Robot; Eagle Eye) have done it previously and better. Yet, its achievement is its interesting little quirks and its entertainment value.

This is certainly not to say the movie is without fault, as it's got its fair share of them. First and foremost, the character development is utterly lacking in numerous areas. Take, for example, the character 2. Much of the story revolves around this character, indirectly, but we have so little chance to get to know him, it's hard to care how his large piece of the story ends up. Give me characters that are more fully realized, like 5, 7, 9, and 1, and I'm quite happy. The rest of the characters, no matter how central a role they play, never feel like anything more than husks, like potato sacks with eyes. The movie clocks in at a stumpy 79 minutes. I really would have enjoyed the movie more thoroughly had they added an extra 10 minutes even and devoted it to more fully fleshing out the characters.

Ordinarily, I'd come out of a movie like this a little upset that I'd wasted time and money watching it. There was something enchanting about 9, however, something that took what could have been a waste of time and turned it into a thoroughly enjoyable movie. By the end of the movie, even through the nauseating smell, I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and the characters, I cared about what happened and wanted the good guys to come out on top. For that alone it was well worth the time and money.

Score: 7.5/10.0

Final Fantasy 13 Music Live Performance

IGN's posted the title track for the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII. The live performance video is actually quite awesome, though the instruments are often overwhelmed by the singer's voice (which happens to be rather beautiful).

Check it out, and get a taste of what's to come musically from the next Final Fantasy.

More Final Fantasy XIII Info

Star Trek - Back in IMAX for a Limited Time

OK, folks. If you were one of the peeps that did not see Star Trek in full IMAX glory, Paramount Pictures is giving you another chance to do it. Starting this Friday, Star Trek will be re-released in 85 IMAX theaters across the country.

Do yourself a favor and GO SEE IT. I would love to go, but the IMAX screens here in Colorado are not participating (again... Star Trek was never in IMAX here).

You can find a full list of participating theaters here.

Review - Sci-Fi Crimes by Chevelle

At last, I breach into reviewing music! It's a little tough, seeing as I have only a little love for modern music that doesn't qualify as "classical." That makes writing regular reviews of music a little difficult!

Back in the day (I feel old for even thinking about writing that), I used to be into rock. Rock everything. Metallica, Korn, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains, Green Day, Offspring, Pantera... I like classic rock like Boston, Eagles, Journey, and so on as well as the more (at the time) modern heavy rock stylings of bands like Disturbed, Tool, Coheed and Cambria, Chevelle, Three Days Grace, and such.Over the years, much of that had pretty much fallen off. I still enjoy listening to classic rock, can still sing along to most of the songs, but I don't find myself listening to it very often. I dumped my liking of most modern rock like so much refuse soon after I started working at Burger King. Even more fell off when Randy introduced me to European metal, which puts most rock that comes out of this country to absolute shame.

So, it's a pretty big deal when there's a rock outfit that comes out with a new CD and it's actually good. I haven't heard a new band that I have been any bit impressed with since I met Chris Townsend on MySpace, and he's from England anyway, and he sings what would most likely be classified as adult alternative rather than rock. There were a few holdouts from the BK years, and it's really these bands that keep me coming back to rock from time to time.

One of the most consistent of these bands is Chevelle. I fell in love with Chevelle when The Red off Wonder What's Next started seeing a lot of airtime on my local radio station (94.3 KILO, baby!!!). The song so thoroughly captured what I felt most of the time I was working there, it was truly remarkable. I've been a devoted fan ever since - I once saw them in concert twice in the span of a week. Once at a place in Denver called Cervantes where I got to meet the band (back when Joe was the bassist) and where my car was broken into at some point during the show. The second show was at the World Arena in the Springs where they were "co-headlining" with Korn. Co-headlining really meant everybody was there to see the decidedly inferior Korn. Colorado doesn't have the strongest Chevelle fan base....

Once every 2 years-ish, they come out with a new album, and there are few bits of news that can get me quite as pumped up than hearing "New Chevelle album out xx/xx!" I generally get more excited about hearing about a new Tool album, but that's only because it takes forever for them to release new stuff.

Anyway, Sci-Fi-Crimes. I downloaded the album on Friday (thanks to the spiffy early digital release for folks who pre-ordered) and have been listening to it regularly since then. The album is... different for them. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that Chevelle is constantly evolving their sound. Wonder What's Next doesn't sound anything like Point #1, neither sound like This Type of Thinking, and so on. And I love that about them. Rather than pulling, say, an Offspring and just writing the same music over and over and attaching new lyrics, these guys are always pushing their sound.

But this was... way different.

Like I said, I love that they evolve constantly, but there are certain expectations that I have for any Chevelle album. Mostly, all their albums up until this point have 2 things in common. Polish, and a heavy sound.

With the exception of Point #1, every Chevelle album has come through with this extremely polished sound. With Sci-Fi Crimes, that polish has been stripped away, leaving this more weathered, rough sound. It took some getting used to, if only because it defied the expectation I had that it would be polished to a nice shine. This new, not-so-shiny Chevelle is actually really great once I got past the initial "not what I was expecting" shock. Make no mistake, it is still Chevelle, but it is obviously not the same thing that we've heard on their previous albums.

This album s also a lot less heavy than their previous outings, as certain iTunes and Amazon reviewers have decried. Lyrics aside, one of the things that attracted me to Chevelle was Pete Loeffler's voice. The man has one of the most amazing and versatile voice in rock history. It was that contrasted with the heavy, driving guitars and in-your-face beats that really set Chevelle apart from everything else that was coming out at the time and what has continued to set them apart from most of the crap that rolls out of studios to this day. With Sci-Fi Crimes' less hardcore approach to the music, it seemed some of that dynamic contrast was gone. But, I quickly discovered that that doesn't really matter. Loeffler still has an amazing voice, like I said before, versatile, and there are many new ways to appreciate how well it works with their new musical tones. Besides, lighter isn't necessarily a bad thing. This album feels more rhythmical than their previous outings, and that suits me just fine.

One other expectation I always have of Chevelle albums but neglected to mention earlier is deep lyrics. This album delivers in spades. Nothing new there, Pete Loeffler writes wonderful, deep, thought-provoking lyrics, and that's all there is to that.

So, after first listen, I was on the fence about the goodness of the album. However, after each additional listen, I kept finding more and more things that just worked on the album. So, here's the song-by-song.

Sleep Apnea - I think I must have missed this song on my first run-through, because the song caught my attention as soon as I started my second listen. Chevelle really as a knack for writing powerful and harmonious choruses for their songs, and that talent is on full display here.

Mexican Sun - The rising and falling guitars are awesome.

Shameful Metaphors - Yet again, the chorus is what really shines in this song. Top to bottom, though, it's one of my favorites on the album.

Jars - This was the first single released for the album, one that I wrote about on this very blog a couple of times. The song is just wonderful, and the video for it lives up to Chevelle's knack for creating very awesome music videos!

Fell Into Your Shoes - I like this song, a lot. The guitar work here is not like what I'm used to hearing from Chevelle, and the change is a welcome surprise.

Letter From a Thief - This was the first song I really started digging into the lyrics.

Highlands Apparition - This was the surprise sleeper song on the album. On my first listen, I was pretty ho-hum about this song, but the more I listened, the more I really, really started to like the song. One of the best on the album easily.

Roswell's Spell - This is a much slower song, and it very much reminds me of some songs off Point #1. I like the song a bunch, but if I had to pick a "least favorite" song on the album, this would be it.

Interlewd - One and a half minutes of some guitar stuff. Cool, but far too short. I wish, just once, that Chevelle would whip out a long instrumental piece. I know they've got the talent. Pete is a rocking guitar soloist (check out Point #1 if you have any doubts), Sam can kick some serious behind on the drums, and I'd love to hear Dean get a bass solo.

A New Momentum - What else can I say? I'm running out of adjectives! :) Another great one with a particularly interesting chorus.

This Circus - This song came as an instant download when I preordered the album. At first, I severely disliked it. Yet, as was the story of the album as a whole, I came to love it the more I listened. Now, it gives me chills and ranks as one of my most played songs on the whole disc.

All told, I couldn't be much happier with this album. It defied my expectations, and it succeeded brilliantly while doing so. It is very different from what they've put out before, but I continue to insist that in this case, different is a very good thing.

Score: 9.5/10.0

On an aside, my favorite Chevelle song has long been The Clincher off the This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In album. While I think that Sci-Fi Crimes is better on the whole than TTOT, The Clincher remains their best song.

Hostage: A Love Story

The newest Funny or Die video is up. It's called Hostage: A Love Story, and it stars Zachary Quinto of Heroes (and Star Trek!) fame. Check it out. It's hilarious!

HOSTAGE: A Love Story with Zachary Quinto from Zachary Quinto