Friday, November 27, 2009

**


Dead Man's Bones
are a band that defines the recipe for a disaster. Actor hunk from The Notebook, Ryan Gosling, forms an indie band with friend Zach Shields with lyrics that revolve exclusively around classic horror archetypes and vocal duties being shared with the local arty school's children's choir.

And yet, it works. Unlike most celebrity-fronted bands where the vocals and production are so polished and over-worked that they barely even resemble work done by humans, the self-titled album sounds (and was) a home-made project. It has loose tracking, sometimes iffy production and rough vocals but it all adds up to a piece of work with so much charm and weirdness that by the time you hit the point where a gang of 20 kids are screaming,
'My body's a zombie for you!' the moral questions regarding that situation become inconsequential.

Additionally, before you listen to the album, imagine how Ryan Gosling's singing voice sounds. Got an idea?
You are wrong.

**


After the incredible first season, Dexter began to lost steam with it's second and third season. This was largely due to a few crucial missteps along the way (Lila, the death of Doakes and the she-witch Laguerta), but the fourth season seems to have brought the show right back to glory. John Lithgow as Dexter's new nemesis, Trinity, was a stroke of genius.

One gripe that always grates me though is the fact that it seems like each episode only has around a half hour of real content and then has to be fattened-up with sheer twaddle to reach the full hour. The Angel / Laguerta affair is pure tedium and if they both don't end up slaughtered in the worst fashion possible I may have to spend the next season skipping any and every scene that doesn't directly involve our murderous hero.

**


Team Fortress 2 is the greatest game ever made. Of this there is no doubt. However, lately I've been enjoying the increasing lore and madness that comes with each of the class updates as much as the actual game. The comic for the game's shirt -allergic weapon supplier, Australian Saxton Sale, is comic gold Jerry.

As are the fake comic book covers by his company, Mann Co. Slogan:
We make comics and get in fights.