Author Archive for Russ Crandall

16
Jul
09

Cheapskate: Buy 2 Get 1 Free + Free Shipping at Gamestop/EB

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Cheapskate and Games
Tags: ,


Well, that title really sums it up, doesn’t it? The offer expires on July 21st, so jump on it. There were 394 used Xbox 360 titles/accessories to choose from when I did my shopping. As you can see from my picture above, I finally gave in to Oblivion (GOTY edition, at that), re-bought Crackdown, and got the newest Scene It? game for the next time we have guests at the house. As in, never.

I noticed a couple hefty price drops, too: Dead Space for $27 and Gears of War 2 for $35. Not bad! The coupon codes are B2G1FREE and SAVER.

Totally unrelated but somewhat funny picture after the break.
Continue reading ‘Cheapskate: Buy 2 Get 1 Free + Free Shipping at Gamestop/EB’

16
Jul
09

DLC Review: Fallout 3’s Point Lookout

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Games and Reviews
Tags:


Lordy, I love me some Fallout 3. This has to be the first game I’ve ever played that has satisfied me with continuous downloadable content so constantly. My hat’s off to Bethesda, who has not only released FOUR packs for Fallout 3 (and a fifth one on the way), but they keep getting better with each new DLC.

The Point Lookout content takes place in rural Maryland (and by “rural” I mean “backwoods”) and is just plain HUGE. It is so big that there’s a 40-point achievement for finding all the location on the map. Also, there are five main quests and seven hefty side quests. That’s quite a bit of bang for 10 bucks. The story itself is quite good, and its usual moral-and-decision-based gameplay left me at a fork in the road. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which way was the right way to go. At the end of the day, I’m personally okay with my decisions and I applaud Bethesda (again) for coming up with such smart dilemmas in their games.

If you’re playing Fallout 3, this DLC should be bought, second only to the Broken Steel DLC because that one unlocks the level 30 cap.

15
Jul
09

Free to Download: Russ Crandall – 2013

By Russ Crandall 5 Comments
Categories: Music
Tags: , ,


As you heard on the podcast, I recorded a 5-song EP last month and I’m now offering it free to the internet/world/you. You can download it at last.fm, or just listen to it streaming if you’re not one for commitments. Tyler did the album art, so mad props.

14
Jul
09

Record Review: Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar and Other Love Songs

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Music and Reviews
Tags: ,


release date: June 23, 2009

Setting: A local police interrogation room. A conversation between Russ1 (police officer) and Russ2 (suspected criminal). Russ2 is currently in a straight jacket.

Russ1: Do you know why you’re here, you slimy, formerly-skinny little jokester?
Russ2: It’s because I don’t like this album.
Russ1: No, you smarmy son of a bitch. Elaborate.
Russ2: I don’t like this album because it sounds too much like Drive-By Truckers.
Russ1: Exactly! And you like Drive-By Truckers, don’t you? DON’T YOU?
Russ2: Yeah, but…
Russ1: No “Yeah buts”. You’re nuts, kiddo, and you’re going to be locked up for a long, long time. They’re going to suit you up in a permanent, full-body straight jacket, with only three holes – one to eat with, one to see with, and one to poop with.
Russ2: But that’s not fair! How am I going to pee? How am I going to clean my ears?! Let me defend myself!
Russ1: (Shrugs) Okay, you have four sentences.
Russ2: I don’t like this album because it sounds almost exactly like Drive By-Truckers, just with Patterson Hood-only songs. His previous solo album, Killers and Stars, sounded like it was recorded in a dining room (it was) and had a brilliant, raw, and stripped-down quality to it. I was hoping for something like that, and instead I got this full-band album with a poor focus in songwriting. It’s not a bad album at all, it’s as good as any DBT album, it’s just not what I wanted to hear. Besides, DBT are prolific enough that I still haven’t made it through their entire back catalog yet, let alone trying to process this DBT-esque album.
Russ1: You have a point. But that was FIVE SENTENCES! You’re going straight to the loony bin!!

13
Jul
09

Record Review: Foreign Born – Person to Person

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Music and Reviews
Tags:


release date: June 23, 2009

Wow, this one is really hard to review. You see, Foreign Born writes melodic, reverby, pop-derived indie rock. In other words they sound like a whole lot of other bands out there. All of their songs are about four minutes long, and have a memorable quality to the point that I find myself recognizing each song’s melodies once they start playing, but I couldn’t start humming any of their songs on queue. That being said, I like this album. They remind me of a cross between a more rock-oriented Radiohead (The Bends-era) and a less catchy Rogue Wave (2nd album-era).

These guys sound like nice guys to me. And they made a nice album. It’s definitely a 7/10 or so. It doesn’t change the world, but I’ll enjoy these songs when they come up while my iPod is on shuffle play.

13
Jul
09

iPhone App Review: ComicZeal

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Apple and Books
Tags:


I’ve recently started reading comic books – I like the art and the fact that they’re quick and easy to read – but one thing that’s stopping me from getting more into them is their price. I could go broke in one hot minute, and that’s just by buying the collections/trade paperbacks.

Enter ComicZeal, a comic book reader app for the iPhone. It costs $3, but allows you to load any comics you have (.cbr files are the most common) as well as download a butt-ton of old, Golden Age comics. It couldn’t be simpler: you download a free program called ComicZeal Sync onto your computer, drag your .cbr files into the program (sorting and tagging them as you please), and then sync it with your iPhone through the ComicZeal app (wirelessly!). The app itself lets you sort and group your comics in any way you please, making navigation a breeze. It has all the features you’d expect from an eBook reader, like pinch zooming, swiping to the next page, saving your spot, etc.

I’ve already loaded dozens of comics onto my phone. It’s pretty awesome. You can download it here.

11
Jul
09

Weekend Entertainment: Resident Evil 4 Boredom

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Weekend Entertainment
Tags:

I just played through Resident Evil 5, which inspired me to find something about Resident Evil 4 to watch for our weekend entertainment. This video shows a few funny things you can do in RE4 if you get bored. The guy who made this video below actually has an entire walkthrough of the game (Wii version) with commentary uploaded on YouTube.

10
Jul
09

Impressions: Battlefield 1943

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Games and Reviews
Tags:


I figured out how to get rid of the “failed connection” screen that kept popping up – I just went ahead and bought the XBLA title ($15) and I was able to connect after only a few tries. I’m assuming they’re prioritizing their servers based on who actually paid money for the title, which makes sense, but it was quite a gamble for me to shell out money on something I hadn’t tried out yet.

The game plays a lot like what I remember Battlefield 1942 being like (I played the demo of that back in the dizzay on the PC): semi-large maps of WWII battlefields with capture-the-flag games. You can be one of three fighters (short, medium, and long range = infantry, rifleman, and scout), and I prefer the rifleman so far. You can get on mounted guns, ride vehicles, fly planes, or just be a ground-pounder. The respawn isn’t as fast as I’d like, but I felt myself getting the pace down pretty well, even after one round. There is a EXP leveling system (awesome) as well as modern controls that were configured intuitively.

Make no mistake about it, it’s a Battlefield game, but it feels good, looks good, and is now permanently on my hard drive. I think it has a right balance of pick-up-and-play and challenge that I will probably find myself jumping into these matches fairly regularly. I just can’t believe that this is an XBLA game. I mean, UNO is an XBLA game, too, right? It’s like comparing a chihuahua to a bull mastiff. Well worth $15.

09
Jul
09

Demotopia! (Video Edition): Battlefield 1943

By Russ Crandall 1 Comment
Categories: Demotopia! and Games
Tags:

09
Jul
09

Record Review: Let’s Wrestle – In the Court of Wrestling Let’s

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Music and Reviews
Tags:


release date: June 30, 2009

For me, the beginning of the calendar year is catchup time. I’ll read up on a few end-of-year lists, and over course of the year I’ll get up to speed on albums I may have missed. I first heard of Let’s Wrestle from someone’s best-of-2008 list, which highlighted their debut EP, In Loving Memory…, and I immediately liked it. It could be that it reminded me of the most excellent Seattle band BOAT, or the band I was in until last year.

In the Court of Wrestling Let’s actually features my two favorite songs from last year’s EP (”I Won’t Lie To You” and “Insects”), plus 14 more similar (and similarly great) tracks. This is raw, lo-to-mid-fi indie rock with minimal instrumentation, smart and funny lyrics, and a bit of jangle and a bit more crunch. Basically, it’s positively-minded rock written by world-weary slackers that would rather spend their time playing video games than learning how to play their instruments really well. And bejeezus bless ‘em for it.

If I had any complaint it would be the length of the album (16 songs, 42+ minutes). I am only in the mood for this type of indie rock every once in a while, and in short doses, so their EP was just right for me and my tastes. As a quick fix I’ve opted to split this album in half and take it in that way, and it’s working brilliantly for me so far.

08
Jul
09

Impressions: 30 Rock

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Television
Tags:


Wife and I have sat down and watched the first few episodes of that damn show everyone keeps talking about, 30 Rock. Immediately, I’m happy I did because now I know why it’s called “30 Rock” in the first place (maybe I’m an uncultured swine, but I didn’t know it was an address).

We’ll probably keep watching it. For now, I like it because it is quick and snappy, and it doesn’t tend to paint its characters in the best light, but it’s also not altogether mean. I also like that the episodes are short (22 mins) and the first two seasons are available on Netflix Instant Watch. I am definitely not ready to say that it’s the funniest show on TV right now (a title that Tyler has given it several times), but I remain optimistic.

08
Jul
09

The Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay Video You May Have Missed

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Games
Tags: ,

I missed this when it first came out, so maybe you did too?

08
Jul
09

RE5: That Shit’s No Joke In Single Player Mode

By Russ Crandall 3 Comments
Categories: Games
Tags:


Holy monkey brains, I didn’t realize how challenging Resident Evil 5 is without a real-life partner to co-op with. I got the game in the mail today, and I decided to jump into the beginning of chapter five (of six) without the help of my friend Nate who had helped me with the first four chapters. Wrong move. Because Nate had already beat it several times, he had unlimited ammo and was killing about 75% of the baddies. Trying it on my own, I’ve been resorting to my old Resident Evil 4 tactics: inching through the map and conserving ammo like each bullet is a little piece of gold (or Good N’ Plenty candies, which are essentially the same thing to me).

Nate and I have a (totally hetero!) online date this weekend to finish it up, and I’ve decided to wait until then before going any further.

08
Jul
09

Record Review: The Mars Volta – Octahedron

By Russ Crandall 9 Comments
Categories: Music and Reviews
Tags: ,


release date: June 23, 2009

There are three kinds of people: a) those that have never heard The Mars Volta, the current long-standing project by former At The Drive-In members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, b) those that hate The Mars Volta, and c) those that like The Mars Volta. Sadly, although I am a big fan of ATDI, I can’t make it through any album by The Mars Volta except their three-song debut EP, Tremulant, and their latest album doesn’t change that for me.

I was ready to give Octahedron the time and patience I figured it deserved. Each of their albums have been termed more and more “accessible” (read: palatable) and I figured album #5 was time for me. I’m not a big fan of prog rock but I was ready to give this one a shot. I was planning on painstakingly decomposing each track, finding the elements of it that rocked just like ATDI did so many years ago, and becoming a fan. Instead, I realized that after you take out all the annoying background sounds, this albums sounds like a cross between Coheed and Cambria and The Eagles. Nothing on this album felt like rock music, aside from track #5, “Cotopaxi”, which may be the only song from this album that I actually keep in my music collection. The rest felt like creepy, self-indulgent, hyper-exhibitionist mediocrity. In other words, like a skinny kid flexing in the mirror and kissing his tiny little biceps.

Maybe it’s unfair of me, especially since I’m such a big ATDI fan and I was hoping for something along those lines. But at the end of the day, listening to Octahedron did nothing for me other than compel me to get the first Mars Volta full-length, 2003’s De-Loused in the Comatorium, in hopes that THAT album will actually sound a little bit like ATDI.

07
Jul
09

Record Review: Pete Yorn – Back and Fourth

By Russ Crandall Leave a Comment
Categories: Music and Reviews


release date: June 23, 2009

First of all, shitty album title. It’s his fourth album, get it? Shitty cover, too. There’s four of him, get it?!? And the word “back” is backwards, get it??!???

I’m a closet Pete Yorn fan. His music is totally middle-of-the-road singer/songwriter alt-rock, but I’ve always liked his debut album Music For The Morning After. It’s full of subtle, catchy melodies, and the last half of it really stands on its own two feet. His following two albums were increasingly bad, so much so that I didn’t even give album #3, Nightcrawler, more than a fleeting chance in my record player.

I approached Back and Fourth with a little more patience and optimism, and found that I liked it. Not as much as the first album, but this is probably my second favorite record of his. It doesn’t stray from the nice-guy rock that he’s known for, although there is a good mix of upbeat/downbeat tracks, and everything has a very smart restraint to it. Track number four, “Social Development Dance”, may be his best song since “Simonize” (album #1’s closer).

Basically, if you’re a fan, you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve never heard of the guy, go try out those 30-second snippets that you can get on iTunes of his first album, and make your decision from there. I personally think he’s worth the time it takes to catch the subtleties of his music.

« Previous Entries


Send us tips or requests
Subscribe to our RSS feed
Subscribe to threevue by email
Follow us on Twitter

Archives

Mark Hill:

mark’s last three twitters:

  • Jess and I just landed in Utah. One non-alcohic beer, please! 1 day ago
  • Big time change of plans. Today I'm headed to Kansas for a week, then to New York for a week, then back to CA. This will be fun, 2 days ago
  • Just had a great Castle Crashers sesh with Jess and @TylerMiller. (Mark) 3 days ago
Russ Crandall:

russ’ last three twitters

Tyler Miller:

tyler’s last three twitters

  • @Nerfgun lazyness lol 1 day ago
  • Pulled up behind a truck today with a trifecta of shitty band stickers: Korn, SlipKnot and Insane Clown Posse... Wow. 1 day ago
  • Twitter! Stop being an asshole! 1 day ago

People like us. We have

  • 237,366 visits

threevue twitter

this many people are totally into threevue.com right now:




web tracker