A Magical Musical Obsession

That rarest of wild beasts, a new Rammstein single was leaked onto YouTube last night in what one can only assume was a tremendously early fashion, causing all sorts of commotion among fans, at least one fan web site to close their forums (“due to piracy” their site states - wish I had been awake to see what happened there), and undoubtedly some very panicked members of Rammstein’s management - and possibly the band themselves.

But as much as I would like to gush about the new single, or describe it and how excited I am about what it might mean for Rammstein’s music, or, even better yet, repost it myself and get into loads of trouble, I’m not going to do any of those because that’s not what this story is about.

Listening to this new single last night has only reaffirmed what I have already long known - this band holds a very special place in my heart.

I know that sounds horribly cheesy, and it is, but I don’t mean that in some sort of obsessed stalker fashion. What I mean is simply that there is no other band that I hold in quite the same regard as Rammstein and I wouldn’t give that relationship up for the world.

The key to my special feelings about this band lies in the fact that they were a formative band for me. They were one of the few, the key, the building block bands that defined my musical tastes when I was younger. They struck a chord with my tastes so strongly that it almost feels as if every other band I’ve ever listened to is somehow judged against their sound.

I don’t even mean to say that Rammstein are the most talented band around or that they make the best music ever. Simply because my biased ears tell me that is true doesn’t mean it’s true for any more normal person.

That’s exactly what I love about this musical relationship, though - unlike every other band I listen to, I seem to be relatively incapable of objectivity when it comes to Rammstein. I just love them.

There is no other band I listen to, out of the many occupying my iTunes library, that gets me anywhere close to as excited as I get when hearing new Rammstein music. It is a rare experience indeed, as Rammstein is certainly not the most prolific of bands, but that just makes it all the more special.

Listening to new music from the group, such as the track making the rounds last night, produces a feeling of pure joy in me unmatched by no other entertainment experience I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve long wished that I could find another band like Rammstein, simply because I wish to experience such musical bliss more often.

As much as I love letting my analytical mind do its thing, when you’re as hyper-critical about everything as I am, it’s wonderful just to sit back and let the happiness wash over you when hearing music for once. I don’t have to worry about why I like it. I don’t have to worry about whether anyone else will like it or why or why not. I just take in the churning industrial goodness with a big, goofy grin on my face.

Sure my analysis will come eventually, even for a band I place on such high a pedestal as Rammstein. Unlike with just about everything else, however, it will only come with time. Once the music has thoroughly sunk in, once the music has ceased to be “new”, once every note of the music has been locked into my brain, and once I can listen to it without said big goofy grin on my face, then and only then will I begin to analyze it like I do everything else.

But this won’t make me like it any less. In fact, it may simply serve as a way to extend my enjoyment. If I can no longer smile because it is new, then I can smile because it is different and there are details to pick out and analyze and compare.

I realize that some may find the level of dorkiness of such a strong, irrational obsession for one band simply off the charts. I completely understand this reaction, but I make no apologies. I wish everyone could have such a strong affinity for a band, as it is difficult for me to think of anything at all that brings as much instant, irrational, sweeping, total joy as hearing new Rammstein music, as last night served to prove.

Everyone deserves the chance to be as stupidly happy as I am during those fleeting moments. It’s a feeling I truly wish I could share. It’s a feeling I truly wish got the privilege of experiencing more often. More than anything else, it’s an experience I greatly cherish.

Welcome to ZestfulContemplation.com!

Welcome, welcome, one and all.  Feel free to stay a while and have a look at the new, shiny surroundings.  I've been hinting through my other communication outlets (such as Twitter and Facebook) that I haven't been resting on my laurels, and this, dear friends and readers who bothered to stick with me and check out my new endeavor, is proof of my statements.

I now have my very own domain name, not to mention a much more full-featured site to go along with it.  I have also loaded it with a bunch of new posts to make up for my absence, and to give you something new to read while you're here.  Of course, should you have a fond remembrance of one of my older articles, they're all here too, coexisting with the new just like they belong here.  So cute.

I truly appreciate you stopping by.  This site is a work in progress and I would very much welcome comments, complaints, and suggestions on how to improve.  I already have a number of ideas, so please, let me know what you think.  

In the meantime, enjoy your stay and remember to return often.  Much more good stuff is to come.  Welcome again to www.zestfulcontemplation.com.

Guitar Hero Smash Hits - Just the Essentials Review

In this Zestful Contemplation Just the Essentials video review, I let you know exactly what you need to know about Guitar Hero Smash Hits in order to make an informed purchase and get to the heart of the game without wasting too much of your valuable time.  It's the first in what I hope to be a series of short, to the point reviews, giving me an exercise in both conciseness and basic video editing.  

As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions, please let me know.  I'm always looking to improve.

Update on Fri, August 14, 2009 at 6:17 PM by Brendan T. Smith

It would appear that I made a slight mistake when posting this for the first time and made the video private when I hadn't meant to.  That would explain why not one other person ever watched it.  I've now fixed the issue and would greatly appreciate it if some of you could finally take a look at it and tell me what you think of it and whether it's worth it for me to do more of them.

Twilight - Journey Into the Abyss (Part Eleven)

Note: Many, many thanks go out to my roommate, Bryan, and his significant other, Anna, for obtaining the wonderful item you see in the above photo for me during a recent trip.  I absolutely adore it.  

Chapter Nine (continued)

Shattered Dreams: All right, so you know those myths about vampires? You know, every single vampire myth ever? The thing that makes a vampire a vampire and not a weird shiny thing with superpowers that just happens to drink blood like an overgrown mosquito?

Yeah, throw all of those out the window. They’re not welcome here.

Creatures of the night? Nope.

Burned by the sun? Nope.

Sleep in coffins? Nope.

Apparently the Twilight breed of “vampires” actually do drink blood, but that is the single solitary thing I can find that ties them even somewhat to the mythical creature that the rest of the world has been featuring in other legends and pieces of fiction for perhaps hundreds of years.

Well, okay, that and a long, possibly immortal life span.

There, I found two things. Are you happy now?

It really is enough to make one wonder why Steph chose vampires for this ridiculous story in the first place. I mean, I’ve heard of taking a familiar concept and reinventing it, but usually when that’s done there’s, oh I don’t know, some sort of reason for it.

Here it seems totally arbitrary. Edward might as well be labelled a superhero or a mutant or something for the random mishmash of various qualities that have been slapped on him. There’s no apparent underlying philosophy behind the vampire reinvention. She just seems to tack on whatever features are most convenient for her sappy story.

Beautiful slumber: “He hesitated for a moment, and a peculiar tone entered his voice. ‘I can't sleep.’

It took me a minute to absorb that. ‘At all?’

‘Never," he said.’”

Well... I sort of can, but only vicariously. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. You, uh... you might want to close your windows at night.

Those pesky details: “‘You aren't concerned about my diet?’ he asked sarcastically.

‘Oh,’ I murmured, "that.’”

Yeah, the tiny little part where the boy sitting next to you DRINKS FREAKING BLOOD AND IS A VAMPIRE.

That part.

This should be fun: Now Mr. Golden-Eyed Dreamboat is attempting to explain why, despite all outward appearances, he’s actually still dangerous.

This should be good.

Well, come to think of it, there is the whole part where he’s a schizophrenic, obsessive, psychic, maniac vampire. That might qualify.

Change the game tape, please: “I watched the headlights twist with the curves of the road. They moved too fast; it didn't look real, it looked like a video game.”

They looked like a video game: the most boring video game EVER MADE.

Adventures in improper usage: I’ve heard of being “terribly afraid” before. I’ve even heard of being “wonderfully afraid”.

This distinctly marks the first time, however, that I have heard of being “hideously afraid”.

Being both hideous and afraid I can understand (a condition which our little Bella just might fulfill - ba dum tish), but being “hideously afraid” is a state I’m afraid I just can’t wrap my head around.

No kidding: “...openly, the walls between us gone for once.”

Yeah, in nine long-ass chapters. Tell me about it. I’m just as relieved as you are, Bella.

Place your bets: “I realized my eyes were wet, and I fought against the grief that was

trying to overpower me.”

I’d like to place $10 on grief, please.

Come on, grief! Go grief! Overpower her! You can do it! We’re all counting on you, little guy!

Disturbingly unfunny: [Referring to feeding off of animals instead of humans] “‘But animals aren't enough?’

He paused. "I can't be sure, of course, but I'd compare it to living on tofu and soy milk;

we call ourselves vegetarians, our little inside joke.”

Hahaha.

Haha.

Heh...

...

Ummm....

*Gulp*

Woah: Bella: “‘Why didn't you want to leave?’

Edward: ‘It makes me… anxious… to be away from you.’”

Wow. I knew Edward was a freaky stalker, but that’s way beyond weird.

Whuh?: “His eyes were gentle but intense, and they seemed to be making my bones turn soft.”

LOOK OUT! Edward’s stare gives you a degenerative bone disease! Avoid his gaze at all costs lest you melt into a little puddle of skin on the floor.

And gentle, but intense? Really? Those are, quite literally, two completely opposite states at the same time. I know this dude’s got a lot of powers (including the apparent ability to inflict degenerative diseases by looking at people), but I think this is a bit much even for him.

Snicker: “‘Well, you asked if the sun hurt me, and it doesn't. But I can't go out in the sunlight — at least, not where anyone can see.’”

Awww, does poor little Edward have self confidence problems?

“‘Why?’

‘I'll show you sometime,’ he promised.”

Now this is a moment I really and truly can’t wait for. My sunglasses are at the ready.

You know what they say: “‘Don't you see, Bella? It's one thing for me to make myself miserable, but a wholly other thing for you to be so involved.’”

Hey, misery loves company, right? You two would be perfect for each other. Trust me. Go for it.

Role reversal: “‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.”

Hey, isn’t that supposed to be her line? At least, that’s what terrible romantic comedies have told me should be the case.

And terrible romantic comedies are never wrong.

Predictable tears: “‘Are you crying?’ He sounded appalled. ...sure enough, traitor tears were there, betraying me.”

Damn those traitor tears.

Damn them to hell.

So cute: Man, I can’t tell you how adorable this scene is. Poor Steph is just trying so hard to write a serious scene with lots of building tension and regret and budding romance not to be.

It’s just so cute how hard she tries.

You can’t blame her for lack of effort though, I’ll give her that much. She really is digging deep into shallow pool of emotional depth to try and make this work.

The fact that it doesn’t is not at all surprising, but reading her failure is just so much fun.

Continue to Part Twelve

Yes, I’m a terrible person.

A Third Handheld Competitor, You Say? Madness!

I am fully aware that in most hardcore gaming circles, announcing that you believe a phone can be a truly capable gaming device will get you roughly the same type of odd stare as if you announced that you thought the box containing the pizza was just as tasty as the round pepperoni-covered treat within.

Here I stand before you, however, ready to face your odd stares (yes, I can feel them through the Internet - I’m special that way) and announce that I think a phone can be a capable gaming device.

In fact, I’m going to do one better.

I think that the iPhone can provide a satisfying gaming experience on par with or better than the PSP or the DS.

There, I said it. Now let me explain.

The key to this madness lies in understanding that all of these various devices have their strengths and weaknesses.

The PSP is a powerful little bugger. It’s essentially a PS2 in a much smaller container that you can hold in your hands. Its software catalog is a bit lacking and it doesn’t provide you with many experiences you can’t get elsewhere, but it does have some nifty titles and a lot of power in a portable form.

The DS has a much larger selection of titles and an interface that provides for experiences that can’t be had elsewhere, giving you a reason to play even if you don’t travel often. On the downside, it’s lacking in power and most games available for it don’t do much to show off the true potential of its innovative interface.

I fully believe that the iPhone carves out its own little niche in the gaming world that makes it just as viable a competitor as either of these two other systems. It may not provide the depth of gameplay or keep you hooked for as long as its rivals, but that’s why it works - it does something different and it does it well.

Perhaps its greatest asset is simply the fact that, unlike the other portable consoles, you’ll likely have your iPhone with you wherever you go. This makes it maybe even the ultimate portable gaming platform, as it provides a fully capable gaming experience wherever you happen to be without you even having to remember to lug around a separate gadget.

It should be noted that this is less true of the iPod Touch, of course, which is just as capable of a gaming machine, but lacks some of the natural convenience of its phone counterpart.

Why the iPhone works so well as a gaming device is simply that the whole experience revolves around its portability and its constant connection to the Internet.

Most of the games might be more simple than what you’d find elsewhere, but they work fantastically for small, pick-up-and-play chunks, which is exactly what you want on a phone. They’re also much cheaper on the whole (you’ll almost never pay more than $10 for a game, and most are $5 or less) so the simplicity is far more acceptable. If you dig around, it’s more than possible to find a game for under $10 that gives more gameplay value than something you would have bought for $30 on the DS or $40 on the PSP.

Additionally, since the iPhone is connected to the Internet at all times, whether that be through a Wi-Fi connection or the cell phone data network, it facilitates the ultimate in impulse buying (especially when you combine its ever-present net connection with cheap game prices). Simply browse the App Store and download a new game - from just about anywhere - right onto your phone and immediately begin playing it. It’s incredible how addicting this becomes, especially when there’s so much good stuff to play.

Interestingly, both the PSP and DS are putting forth efforts in the area of instant purchase, downloadable impulse buys, but neither comes anywhere close to what’s already available on the iPhone. The PSP Go will bring the ability to download full games to the platform, but their larger file sizes, the higher price of the device, and the lack of much interesting to play all hold it back. The DSi now has a download service of its own, but let’s not mince words here - it sucks. Nintendo has a lot of work to do here.

I’m not arguing that the iPhone is a perfect platform. No gaming device is. Like any successful platform such as the DS, Wii, or PS2, the iPhone has its fair share of crap cluttering the App Store. The fact that there’s no easy way to find the best stuff in the store right now is a shortcoming indeed, as most of my gaming finds are discovered with the help of external sites. Also, like its innovative gaming peers the DS and Wii, many titles try to cram experiences or control types that just aren’t suited for its lack of buttons and the titles that truly take advantage of the platform are somewhat rare.

Still, the iPhone’s focus on control via only touch screen and motion sensors is far from a detriment. Even I was skeptical at first, but the lack of options forces developers to be creative and, when approached correctly, can make for some innovative and fun experiences literally not possible on any other platform. Sure, there’s plenty of titles that resort to a virtual D-Pad (not all of which are bad, mind you), but there are others which use multi-touch, creative touch screen controls, tilt controls, or some of these combined, to make titles that wouldn’t work anywhere else.

Of course, the most important part of any gaming platform is its library of games. No matter how much I try to convince you that the iPhone should be taken seriously, none of it is going to mean anything until I can prove that its great features and convenience are also backed up by things you’d actually want to play.

With that in mind, keep an eye out for many more iPhone game reviews here in the future. I already have a number of them written and ready to go, and many more I want to write after that. I am anxious to prove to non-believers that we have a true contender on (or rather, in) our hands.

It may be different, it may be easy to dismiss as too “casual” or too simple, and it certainly isn’t perfect, but I’ve had more fun and spent more time gaming on my iPhone recently than my PSP and DS combined. Hopefully more people will see the light as I do someday.