With less than 25 hours from glorious 2009, it’s only fitting to leave you with Billboard’s Magazine’s Top 25 music hits in this exciting 4-and-a-half-minute mash up by DJ Earworm: “United State of Pop 2008“. (Read more)
Entertainment
It’s the time of year again when turkey, log cakes and annoying little cousins festoon the festive table.
If you’re already resigned to images of rosy cheeked cherubims and a certain red-suited rotund individual, take heart, because in an ironic take on the season, all hell breaks loose this New Year as the UrbanWire, together with IAH Games presents 5 collectable Hellgate: London figurines (2 Hunter Marksman figurines, 2 Cabalist Evokers and 1 Templar Blademaster) for grabs.
So whether your loyalties lie with the demon-evoking tendencies of the Cabalists, man-hunting with the Hunters or a spot of head-cleaving with the Templars, it’s shaping up to be one smashing festive season.
Stand a chance to win simply by emailing us at contest.urbanwire@gmail.com with your name, NRIC number and contact number now. This contest ends Jan 10.
This promotion is part of the UrbanWire’s Christmas New-Year supplement.
With shirtless fight scenes, passionate kisses and a tantalising strip tease – Transporter 3 is obviously written with the ladies in mind.
Paper is all that artists Kelvin Atmadibrata (Indonesia) and Rin Ioka (Japan) want for Christmas this year, as the duo collaborates on an origami exhibition titled Mobile Garden at Pagoda St.’s Forth Gallery from Dec 23 to 30. (Read more)
A mishmash of retro anime characters and cameras flashing at each corner. That sums up UrbanWire’s experience at EOY2008, the grand event rounding up local cosplayers’ fun in 2008, on Dec 13 at the Singapore Expo.
The End of Year cosplay event, known as EOY to most, is a focused event dedicated to cosplayers and all aspects of Japanese animation.
This year’s theme was Retro and organiser, Shiro Tsubasa Animation Club (STAC) encouraged many attending cosplayers to dress up as anime and manga characters from 1999 or earlier.
In conjunction with Festive Films, we are giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the preview screening of Transporter 3 on Dec 19.
Simply answer the following question with the right answer along with your full name, NRIC and contact number and email us at contest.urbanwire@gmail.com by Dec 18.
“Frank Martin, in film Tranporter 3, is played by actor Jason Statham.” True or False?
Preview screening details
Date: Dec 19, Friday
Time: 9:30pm
Runtime: 100min
Venue: Golden Village, Plaza Singapura, Hall 2.
Rating: TBA
Language: ENGLISH
About the movie
A superb cast, suspense, action, adventure and romance against a backdrop of fast cars and beautiful scenery in the third installment of the Transporter franchise.
Jason Statham (Collateral, Snatch) stars as Frank Martin, the daring deliveryman pressed back into service from his retirement on the French Riviera. Robert Knepper (Prison Break) is the ex-Delta Force operative trying to keep Frank chasing shadows, while Francois Berleand (Tell No One), plays Tarconi, the gastronomic French detective, who provides invaluable support. Sultry Slav newcomer Natalya Rudakova rides shotgun and eventually persuades Frank to loosen his tie.
From the Riviera to the Baltic Sea, via Stuttgart and Budapest, Frank races to dodge ruthless hit men, outwit a criminal mastermind and prevent an ecological catastrophe.
This movie opens in Singapore on Jan 1, 2009.
Cover your ears, take cover. Save yourselves from the high-pitched squeals of pre-pubescent fangirls screaming “Edward! Edward!”
If you haven’t caught on to the latest craze in the young adult-fantasy literary world since Harry Potter, Twilight, the first of 4 books, is about a 17-year-old girl who falls in love with a century-old vampire (who coincidentally looks 17 himself).
With a distinguished legacy that has won legions of fans over with its potent mix of guns, sex and violence punctuated with subliminal satirical statements, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV is back with smoking gun in hand and a Slavic accent.
(Read more)
Everyone’s favourite beach party is back and this time round, with a bigger bang!
Presenting a greater lineup of fantastic acts such as 2000’s World’s Best DJ, DJ Sasha, Zouk’s Resident DJ Andrew Chow, as well as performances by Electrico, Nouvelle Vague and The Teenagers, ZoukOut 2008’s definitely succeeds in its aim to bring you The Golden Experience.
UrbanWire offers you a look at the much-coveted beach dance party of the year, which took place on Dec 13 this year on the golden sands of Siloso Beach.
The atmosphere was electrifying as thousands of party-goers thronged the four arenas: Mambo Jambo, Hip Hop, the Main Arena and Velvet Underground.
Those preferring not to squeeze through the jam-packed dance floors entertained themselves with the wide varieties of fringe activities, which included aerial shows, bungee rides, pool-dipping, fortune-telling and many more.
UrbanWire was particularly amused by the Mambo Jambo crowd, especially when the hyped-up few showed off their well-coordinated hand moves atop the podium.
With an array of drinks going at affordable prices, the party-goers drank to their hearts’ content, guzzling anything from Vodka Redbulls to Heinekens to Bourbons.
UrbanWire was invited by the good people from Heineken to the Heineken Oasis Room, where icy-cold Heineken goodness did us well in beating the humidity.
As the night wore on, the crowd only grew in size, and the music in all its groovy factor. The common consensus that this UrbanWire reporter got from her friends and party-goers alike was that ZoukOut 2008 was a blaring success.
Now, where’s ZoukOut 2009 already?
A total of 15 years.
That is the amount of time that has lapsed since the last Guns N’ Roses (GN’R) studio release - The Spaghetti Incident?.
Since then, GN’R has seen their popularity wane and underwent multiple personnel overhauls (11 revisions to be exact; leaving Axl Rose the only original member remaining) while bands like Nirvana ushered in a new wave of Grunge music in the early 90’s.
It was also during this extended hiatus from the focus of the mainstream media that Axl Rose began work on his masterpiece - Chinese Democracy.
Process was slow as Axl Rose constantly swung back and forth between hiring a different producer, recording material and jam sessions in studios, and tinkering with post production intricacies.
If anything, Axl Rose certainly saw Chinese Democracy as the perfect platform for him to showcase his vision of how GN’R should sound like.
However with doubt always looming over its release and patience wearing thin, the then unreleased Chinese Democracy grew to become a running joke amongst those in the industry and press as a metaphor for drawn-out recordings that would never see the light of day.
With the album just released late last month after a 15-year wait, does the quality of the tracks justify the prolonged production time or will it been a case of “too many cooks spoil the broth”?
Kicking it off Hard rock
Like a heavy tank, this album streamrolls its way through with an unapologetic hard rock sound.
The title debut single (”Chinese Democracy“) starts off as an eerie and abstract soundscape consisting of chinese voices spliced and layered one over another. A series of pounding drumbeats and overdrive guitar riffs are then introduced before the song morphs into a full-blown hard rock tune that rains down a torrent of guitar and bass lines backed by a fast and furious drumbeat.
The subsequent track “Shackler’s Revenge” presents Axl Rose’s take on the metal/hard rock sound that was once popular in the 80’s. The song explodes right from the start, taking prisoners with its aggressive blend of fast guitars and heart thumping drums.
Interestingly, “Shackler’s Revenge” also adopts a variety of vocal sounds that includes a menancing baritone growl at the start, a high falsetto reminiscent of glam metal bands and synthesised vocals.
Shifting Gears
Things do take for a sharp and strange turn from the third track onwards.
“Better” sounds like GN’R ripped off a Third Eye Blind tune and tweaked it slightly by slapping on harder sounding guitar and drum bits.
The outcome is a pop sounding modern rock track that would probably go down well with casual listeners (it’s the second single off the album; a calculated move anyone?) but then again, “Better” does little in helping to justify the album’s 15-year wait.
The band then heads down the ballad route with “Street Of Dreams”, which left this writer cringing right from the opening.
Plagued by a clichéd piano introduction, cheesy unintelligent lyrics (“You know I tried so hard to make you/Oh, to make you change your mind”) and dated arrangement, the track winds up sounding like a poorly written Bon Jovi ballad found at the bottom of trash bin.
For the remaining bulk of the album, Axl Rose sticks largely to the formula of taking pop rock tunes and giving them a slight twist or topping up with a harder rock sound.
While these tunes are unmistakably well-crafted, tight and will have no difficulty going down as solid tracks, resorting to such a polished sound is also the album’s biggest pitfall – becoming too “clean”.
Chinese Democracy for the most parts plays it far too safe – everything sounds overtly processed and too calculated.
For a band that once stormed the world with its pioneering blend of dirty, blues-influenced hard rock, playing it so safe this time round, is simply confounding; especially for a record as long-awaited as Chinese Democracy.
Saving The Best For The Last
Of the 14 songs available on the album, the one that truly stands out is track 14 “Prostitute”.
The tune manages a fine balance between loud and soft elements to produce a 6-minute epic that artfully brings together different textures and themes. Sounding melancholic in one moment and aggressive the next, “Prostitute” is a complex masterpiece that will leave listeners in awe.
In A Nutshell
For serious listeners, Chinese Democracy would offer little in the way of providing a fresh and exciting sound that teases the senses and emotions.
The album’s overall lack of an interesting experimental edge makes it hard to achieve a sustained listening throughout the duration of the album.
Its series of songs with questionable lyrics (“I.R.S.”, “This I Love”) and predictable arrangements will also leave many to question the album’s quality and wonder if 15 years has indeed been a worthwhile wait.
The UrbanWire gives Chinese Democracy 2 out of 5 stars.
Tracklisting
01. Chinese Democracy (Sample)
02. Shackler’s Revenge (Sample)
03. Better (Sample)
04. Street Of Dreams (Sample)
05. If The World
06. There Was A Time
07. Catcher In The Rye
08. Scraped
09. Riad N’ The Bedouins
10. Sorry
11. I.R.S. (Sample)
12. Madagascar
13. This I Love (Sample)
14. Prostitute (Sample)
You’ve read the Stephanie Meyer novel (in fact, the whole series), you’re smitten with the attractive lead character, absolutely taken by the romance and you’re eagerly anticipating the movie’s release here on Dec 18.
Well if you understood just what exactly I’m getting at up there, you’d be thinking “Oh give me the details on how to get my hands on those Twilight premiums already!”
That’s right, we’re calling out to fans of the latest movie-novel craze in town this Christmas season. (Read more)
“Don’t pay to come here and sing! Let ME do the singing!”
That was the message that Angels & Airwaves lead vocalist and guitarist, Tom DeLonge, screamed to the audience on Dec 7.
For a 104-minute feature about a jaded, elderly man, The Visitor is neither mawkish, dated, nor as boring as one may at first expect. Instead, it’s thought provoking, refreshing and full of life.
If you’re the sort who eats ice cream, thinks ice cream, dreams ice cream, congratulations, your dreams have come true.
Your fairy godmother? Ben & Jerry’s.
Come Dec 6, the well-loved ice cream brand will be holding its very first Chunk Fest.
Named as such “in honour of the delicious chunky add-ins found in every single Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream”, Chunk Fest promises to deliver a “moovellous concotion of great activities, moosic from the best local bands and DJs, great food, and euphoric amounts of ice cream”.
Well, they said it, so you better believe it.
To better entice you, Ben & Jerry’s bringing in 12 exclusive ice cream flavours available only in the United States, in addition to 22 flavours currently offered in local scoop shops. Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cinnamon Buns, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Triple Caramel Chunk; if the names don’t leave you salivating already, tasting them certainly will.
And if you still haven’t gotten your fill of ice cream, take part in the Vermonster Eating Contest and stuff yourself silly. 20 scoops of ice cream topped with 20 scoops of toppings that include savoury hot fudge, chocolate chip cookies, walnuts, chocolate jimmies, chunks of Reese’s and colourful M&Ms topped with whipped cream. That’s right, the contest’s going to put a whole new meaning to “ice cream feast”.
Still not convinced? Why not head down for yourself to experience all that icy-cool goodness?
Then, with your tummy full of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, log onto the UrbanWire, as we bring you the chowing action from the Vermonster Eating Contest.
That’s right, not only can you have your ice cream, you can eat it, and watch others eating it too!
The Ben & Jerry’s Chunk Fest will be taking place at Fort Canning Green from 2pm to 11pm.
Admission is free for all.
Pandora’s box, evil fantasy creatures, ancient secret societies – all of these elements are fundamental to any mythology geek’s wet dream.
And the storyline of Legendary, peppered with truckloads of these, could have been the best thing that has ever happened to geeks since Richmond Lattimore’s The Odyssey of Homer.
Regrettably, Legendary is not a book. It’s a First-Person Shooter (FPS) game, and in that aspect, the title of the game begins to sound more than just a little presumptuous.
You play professional art thief, Charles Deckard, who is contracted by a wealthy businessman to steal what’s inside Pandora’s Box from a museum in New York. And in doing so, you have unleashed a vast array of mythical monsters into the unsuspecting world.
Who could ask for a more perfect excuse to use every manner of heavy duty ordance at your disposal to blow up some werewolves?
Unleashing what’s inside Pandora’s box
Playing the game for the very first time is not dissimilar to opening the Pandora’s box itself - It’s full of examples of what a video game should not be.
Developers California-based Spark Unlimited, have, instead of translating Legendary’s stimulating storyline into stunning visual effects to reel the player into the game, compressed the prologue into a disappointing slideshow. Not only are the pictures of the slideshow boring, they fail to fully capitalise on the captivating storyline.
Forgetful storyline aside, the graphics are not amazing either. In fact, although UrbanWire was playing the PlayStation 3 version, the cutscenes shockingly resemble graphics of PlayStation 2 instead.
Ho-hum visuals resonate throughout this title but nowhere is this more evident than in Deckard himself. Although the FPS genre has seen its share of grim protagonists with less cheer on their faces that the Grim Reaper himself, Deckard looks downright shady even for a professional art thief. He looks more partial to trading the fate of the world for riches untold than placing his neck on the chopping board to save it.
Never-ending tutorial and unremarkable chores
The total game hours of the meagre storyline are so miserly that if Legendary wanted to have players blitz through their plot in record time, it has certainly done a fine job.
Most obstructions blocking the way out are either blown up by the electric force emanating from the opened Pandora’s box or crushed by a passing monster for you to pass through. Plus, any objects that you have to interact with will glow red so you will hardly be stumped at how to get your way out of a situation.
As pleasant as that sounds however, it gets extremely dreary to be ‘hand-held’ after awhile. It doesn’t help either that some of the puzzles are repetitive, such as hacking into the keypad. It was cool the first time around but after hacking into the 10th keypad, this action has simply become monotonous.
Evil terrorises Earth
But if there is anything that can save Legendary from being a complete waste of money, it is the mythical creatures themselves. The variety of monsters available, such as golems, firedrakes, werewolves and griffons, are definitely astounding and each of these creatures requires a unique way of killing them. So it’s not about just blasting away your submachine gun; it takes a bit of skill to kill your enemies.
But good things do not last long in Legendary. Never mind that there isn’t an extensive range of weapons available to kill the creatures in the game. Besides, the weapons are all relatively of the same quality anyway. But the movements of Deckard are seriously unrealistic. He could hardly jump over a train platform and when attacked by a firedrake, he doesn’t even take a step back from the impact.
Other than the drawbacks of not having realistic human capabilities, you have somehow gained the ability of absorbing the life energy of the monsters after they die. Called Animus Vitae, you can heal yourself easily just by holding the triangle button when you are near a glowing sphere of a slain creature’s life energy.
Final verdict
Legendary is full of promise of being an extremely exciting video game. It has an exhilarating (albeit unoriginal) storyline, great mythical monsters and a potentially huge pool of fans just waiting to lap it up. Unfortunately, the flawed gameplay design and lack of visual effects leave this game with much to be desired. And with other highly rated FPS games released this season, such as Call of Duty: World at War and Resistance 2, it is highly likely that not even the most hardcore geeks can dig Legendary out of obscurity.
Score:
Graphics: 4/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Addictive Rating: 3/10
Replay Value: 3/10
Overall Rating: 4.4/10
Legendary is available exclusively on the PlayStation 3 console and retails at $79.90 from Atari.
