Kguillemette

#11 Dream Theater- Learning to Live

Dream Theater is a somewhat polarizing group in metal. I think it is widely agreed that individually, they are incredible at playing their instruments. After all, this was a bunch geeks at Berklee that formed the band. My opinion of them is that they are a group of collaborative artists capable of any sound, emotion, or feeling in their music. They can lay it gently, though they often lay it real thick. They can keep it simple, even though they keep things complex. Much like life, which is what "Learning to Live" is about. It's a song of perseverance, growth, and acceptance. It's what I play when life seems really tough. 

Oh, and Mike Portnoy is also solidly in my top 5 of metal drummers.

After this we are into the top 10! I'm sure many can guess what bands will be featured given what hasn't been seen yet. Any takers?

On 11/12/2023 at 2:47 PM, RH said:

I found a lot of CIB 5200 games randomly at my local Salvation Army about 4 years ago.  I never sold them but I never care to collect them either.

This Kaboom! was in the lot.  I loved the art too.  If you are interested in this game (or all of them), feel free to DM me.  We can work out a reasonable deal.

It was still there and wound up being only a couple bucks on a black friday sale. It's been on the shelf for close to 2 years since I started visiting the store but I finally gave it a new home. Cracks me up every time I look at it!

16 minutes ago, G-type said:

whats that

My home state

On 11/28/2023 at 12:38 AM, G-type said:

I think Die Hard 2 and Die Hard 3 are absolutely true sequels. They contain John McClain doing his superhero cop thing against terrorist/robber dudes. They have all the necessary ingredients and the right spirit... regardless of their provenance... in fact I think they are more legitimate than Live Free, Die Hard (which WAS written as a Die Hard script), yet somehow feels less authentic.

I cant tell you how disappointed I was when Live Free or Die Hard had nothing to do with NH.

11 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

Damn you got some nice selections on this page.

 Sonata Arctica was a big favorite for me for a good while.  Fell apart after they kicked the guitar player out. If you haven’t, look into Songs of Silence live album.  Just the first 2 albums worth of material.  Don’t know why spotify shows it as a 2010 release.  Original lineup and in my opinion much better quality than the one from ‘06 after they’d replaced the keyboard player.

 

In my opinion they really fell off after those first two albums. The first one had a couple good ones on it, but Silence was awesome straight through. They never really grabbed me after those two albums. They needed that keyboard player.

#12 Amon Amarth- Twilight of the Thunder God

You gotta love Amon Amarth. They escaped me for many years and after digging deep into their catalogue, I found remarkably consistent music. Great steady beats, harmonies, aggression, energy, and an edge all define who they are, along with subtle history or mythology lessons. When a group of fantasy geeks get together to make some death metal, we get, in my opinion, far and away the most fun MDM out there. "Twilight of the Thunder God" gets me pumped every time. I love this band. And being the remarkably consistent songwriters they are, of course we get a bonus track for the day!

They haven't lost a step in their over 20 year history. Keep it up, guys!

On 11/24/2023 at 11:03 PM, Estil said:

I see they're still doing that pinching the bottom of the fry box crap and thus you only get half a box of fries, even though all their ads and menus past and present show the boxes full and the fries standing tall and proud.  I'm actually almost next door to a McDonalds and I would've killed for this kind of chance back in the good ol' days of the 80s/90s when they had Super Size.  But I'm never going there if they insist on pulling this stunt.

I mean...is wanting and getting your money's worth too much to ask?

Can always buy 2 if the large isn't large enough.

I picked meatloaf. Tis the season for meatloaf!

#13 Dethklok- Lost Vikings

Can it be that a fictional band designed to be a parody of a typical heavy metal band could produce something on par with the best the genre has to offer? Well, yes. Especially when you manage to hire Gene Hoglan to write and perform your beats for you. The metal community as a whole embraced the shit out of Metalocalypse knowing full well they were being made fun of, because the metal community knows how to take a joke! And besides, Dethklok songs are badass!

I hosted this year. Baby shark Mac and cheese, black eyed peas, maple glazed carrots, collard greens, pan gravy, mashed potatoes, cornbread and cranberry stuffing, and buttered garlic green beans. Happy Thanksgiving!

#14 Nightwish- Sacrament of Wilderness

Now I do prefer Nightwish with Tarja over Nightwish with Floor. Not because I prefer one vocalist to the other, but more the songwriting really peaked with Tarja in my opinion. Reading about the band, it seems Tuomas Holopainen was head over heels for Tarja for basically her era's entire iteration. As the main songwriter, there were just endless love letters written to her that she constantly overlooked and otherwise rejected. Eventually she marries someone else and the tension between them reverberated throughout the band making it unsustainable. Hell, by my interpretation, "Ghost Love Score" was Tuomas relenting and mourning a relationship that never happened. Tarja and Tuomas couldn't be around each other to the point where she even traveled to concerts separate from the band,(hence the infamous "You're Fired" open letter. Petty much?) Tarja and Nightwish's divorce was inevitable, but their best music was made along the way. Once, Wishmaster, and Oceanborn are all killer albums. Century Child and Angels Fall First are very good ones. After that they get kinda "eh". Angst is quite the muse, isn't it?

On 11/21/2023 at 9:08 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Sounds timeless

On 11/20/2023 at 9:25 AM, G-type said:

One of these days, Nintendo will release Super Mario Bros 2 part 2, and then all those "it's not a real Mario game" people will all look silly.

I feel like 3D World already did that. Those "not a real mario" folks are just a stubborn bunch.

I guess I'm alone in that I absolutely loved avatar. Still haven't seen pt 2 yet though

#15 Death- Scavenger of Human Sorrow

We have reached the top 15! Here we have the second best band from the Florida Death Metal scene. When I say band, I really mean the brainchild of the amazing Chuck Schuldiner. Death started out making pretty generic death metal by today's standards, though it was absolutely pioneering at the time. Never satisfied, the songwriting grew more complex and technical with every subsequent album after Scream Bloody Gore. He also seemed to have a knack for recruiting some of the absolute finest session players to help with the recording, composing, and touring of his quite insane brand of metal. His last album was his finest in my opinion, with "Scavenger" being an amazing song. It may not be the best background music for working out to, but for just listening, it is a feast for the ears with everything going on.

I know I'm getting slower with updates mostly every other day right now, but I will absolutely reach this finish line!

Pizza grilled cheese! Mozzarella, parm, pepperoni, jalapeño, pizza sauce for dipping.(my kids can't get enough jalapenos, hence getting them by the gallon).

Sad news. Sorry to hear.

#16 Borknagar- Up North

Borknagar has always been great, even if just a touch below the big boys like Dimmu, Emperor, and Mayhem. Garm was fine, but when you actually feature Vortex as the lead... I mean come on. His voice is incredible. This song first came to my attention about a year ago having no idea Borknagar was even still active. It's easily been my top 5 most played since then. It's settled down a touch since then but still remains pretty heavily featured on my personal playlists.

That sucks. Seems like a place I would spend so much time.

Seems like something I might watch if it were on and I had nothing better to do.

54 minutes ago, Murray said:

Funny lookin’ grilled cheese 

Grilled cheese night is tomorrow!

55 minutes ago, Richardhead said:

Is that shake N bake ?

Great value seasoned panko crumbs. Fried in 50/50 oil and butter.

Fried pork chops. Nothing healthy about this, but gotta clean the freezer and fridge out with Thanksgiving underway

#17 Slayer- War Ensemble

 If there is some big energy, loud aggressive drumming, flashy guitars, and other things that make me want to go 150 mph through my day, I'm in. Slayer epitomized that. I love Seasons in the Abyss and "War Ensemble" still gets my blood pumping all these years after first hearing it! 

Much of the SNES I play is on my Homebrew Wii, so I guess I'll go with that. It's not the greatest as far as input lag is concerned, so tight platformers aren't the best. RPGs though you can't beat the wireless and plugging a SNES mini controller into the wiimote for a nice authentic feel. Great relaxing on the couch and veging out under a blanket.