Preview and Predictions for UFC 140

Dec. 10, 2011 @ The Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Main Card

Light Heavyweight Championship: Jon Jones v. Lyota Machida

It wasn’t the Jones v. Evans fight we were expecting, but this should be a very interesting one. Two very dynamic strikers. Jones is on a complete tear right now, he’s basically unbeaten (I refuse to acknowledge the DQ  against Hamill as a loss). He hasn’t even  been threatened up until this point in the octagon. He basically looks unstoppable. However, Machida is coming off the brutal Karate Kid style knockout of Randy Couture. If you haven’t seen it, or need a reminder, here’s the video (kick is at 7:33).

Need a Reason to Post-Rock?

Like their music, Not to Reason Why has become a melodic crescendo of success since the release of their newest EP, The Book of Hours. Having only released the album not even six months ago, their local fame and success have grown exponentially in the post-rock scene.

The group originates from Petaluma, CA and has been together for roughly 4 years. Their members consist of Ian Simpson on guitar, Navid Manoochehri on bass, Paul Haile on Drums and Lauen Haile on piano. They have previously released one other EP in 2007, Who Wants Flowers When They’re Dead? and 2009’s full length album, Would You Hug Fire? With the release of The Book of Hours, they’ve shaken the foundations of instrumental rock at its core.

For The Hundredth Time

For fans of: It Prevails, Counterparts, Saints Never Surrender, Life in Your Way, Shai Hulud

From Myrtle Beach, SC comes Hundredth, a melodic hardcore band whose roots can be firmly traced to the punk/ hardcore genres. Their second full length, Let Go, shows tremendous growth from their previous release. When Will We Surrender was a solid album, but felt fragmented at times. Hundredth have rectified the mistakes of their past, and delivered a very cohesive record. It never feels forced or contrived.

This emphasis on cohesion actually starts from the very beginning. The intro “Let Go” has a similar picking/chord pattern to the beginning of the last song “Hurt” (a cover of Johnny Cash version of the Nine Inch Nails song – DOUBLE COVER!). The album ebbs and flows through a variety of musical and vocal styles. You’ll hear traditional hardcore breakdowns, epic buildups, as well as punky uptempo parts.

Let’s Talk the Block.

If you liked "Shaun of the Dead", you HAVE to check this out. The only way I can describe it is "The Goonies" meets "Gremlins" meets Ali G.

I consider myself to be pretty gangster. I know a handful of awesomely gangster sayings and hip slang, and even own a t-shirt proclaiming how gangster I indeed am. Close friends of mine would attest to how truly gangster I’m capable of being. That being said, nothing could have prepared me for how gangster a group of inner-city kids from London could be. Not even all the hours of Ali G I’ve watched in my time.

Over the summer, I caught wind that a small studio (which includes a few of the great minds behind “Shaun of the Dead”) was putting out a new action-comedy about an alien invasion called “Attack the Block.” My interest was further piqued by the unusually high ratings I found on Rotten Tomatoes, and before I knew it, I was hunting down showtimes and more information about the movie’s über-limited release (there was only one theater playing the movie in the Bay Area at the time).

Happy Turkey Day from WRECKED!

I'm thankful for winning ideas like this one.

Spend some time between awkward conversations with grandpa and dodging the sexual leers of that weird uncle of yours with some sweet thanksgiving-related videos!

Preview The Harvest Wombs

If you’re a fan of bands like The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me, and Cynic you have to check out Fallujah. Born right in our own backyard, these dudes from San Francisco write some seriously impressive tunes.  They’ve posted two of their songs from the forthcoming debut The Harvest Wombs (coming out Nov. 22 on Unique Leader Records). “Become One” features Francesco Artusato of fellow Bay Area shredders All Shall Perish.

It’s Time To Squad Up or Shut Up

Remember those days when you were a kid where you were counting the days until that one particular video game hit store shelves? Where you couldn’t wait for the school bells to ring so you could jet over to the game store and cash in all your lunch money for that new shiny game? As we grow older (and admittedly more cynical) those peak moments of anticipation grow fewer and farther between. Well, after playing the game at E3 and wasting way too much time playing the beta this past september, I found that Battlefield 3 was that game that would bring me back to my childhood-like days of impatience.  I raced out to my game store of choice after work and picked it up, gathered some friends around the TV (after eating some delicious steak sandwiches) and fired up the game. Too bad the online servers didn’t work – at all.

Immortals: An Old Tale Retold With Bullet-Time

Yeah, when I walk around, golden strands of gold shit trail behind me too. But, at least I have the decency to tuck mine in.

If there’s one thing I can’t stand about movies today, it’s not having enough slow motion effects. Let me ask you a series of serious questions: Do you like decapitation? Do you like heads exploding? Do you like people getting cut in half? Do you like Stephen Dorff (of “Space Truckers” fame)? Then motherfucker, you’ll like this movie. If you are familiar with the epic tales and myths of old, you will no doubt spot some inconsistencies with the story, but this is fiction based on mythology,  so we’ll give them a pass.

DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Opeth Is No Longer Opeth.

I just want to start off by saying that I have a bit of a bias in this review: Opeth is my all time favorite band. I even have their logo tattooed on my right forearm to prove how much I obsess over them. There has never been a Progressive Metal band with such musicianship and talent like these guys. When people think of Opeth, they think of masterpiece albums like Ghost Reveries and Blackwater Park, which included equal amounts of ear-raping death metal and somber acoustics with beautiful clean vocals. These Swedes have been doing that for over 20 years, and we still can’t get enough of it. In 2008, they released Watershed which was still metal as fuck, but leaned a bit more towards their softer side — but even still, it was goddamn amazing. We couldn’t wait to hear what their new album would bring. After three years of waiting, they finally released Heritage… and it wasn’t exactly what anyone expected.

Hold up Your Horns for The Hunter

In 2009, Mastodon swept the metal masses off their feet with their comparably slower, melodic epic, Crack the Skye. I’ll admit, before that record, Mastodon and I were only acquaintances in the metal spectrum – we’d hang out every once in a while, I’d always play their songs on Guitar Hero, but they weren’t a band that had earned their spot as one of my favorite bands. Crack the Skye changed everything, it cemented a regular spot in my playlists, and somehow, those proggy bastards found a way to outdo themselves yet again with 2011’s The Hunter.

The Carnival’s Where the Magic Happens?

Something about that panda seems suspicious. It can't be trusted running a carnival.

Minigame collections come and go. Party games and generic multiplayer games are a dime a dozen, and to be honest, we pick them up every now and again keeping our fingers crossed that maybe this one’s different. Maybe Carnival Island is the game that revitalizes our hope in modern party games. Why? Because this deceivingly cute carnival clone comes to us from the hands of Magic Pixel Games, a relatively new studio formed by the guys behind the gravely under-appreciated Boom Blox, not to mention the game’s being published by Santa Monica Studios. Yeah, they put out God of War, and more recently, the PSN favorite, Fat Princess. Ever heard of them?

What’s Your Morning Commute Like?

A friend of mine posted this video the other day and it blew my fucking mind. So many of us complain about our commutes to work be it drive time, traffic or whatever it may be. Am I going to make my BART train in time? IF I get on there in time, will there be a seat available so I can sit and kill time playing my DS or smartphone game so the ride doesn’t suck? Who knows!? Imagine this climb being your morning commute every morning.

Speaking Volumes “Via” Breakdowns

For fans of: Periphery, Meshuggah, After the Burial

From Los Angeles, CA comes a group of young genre-benders called Volumes. Their sound can be described as a mix between chuggy “djent,” and post-rock flavored melody. Upon first listen, I found the album to be rather frustrating: the band’s chugging sections became very monotonous compared to the more melodic sections. My interest would be briefly piqued, but then I’d sit around waiting for the next memorable section.