The World of Z

It ends up that “cabin fever” describes both Jacob’s cabin and the boat’s cabin.

The flashback with Locke is a very interesting one. It shows a character at multiple stages of his life, which has not been done before. It also has multiple characters from past episodes, which is no common.

Um, what else? I am really looking forward to the producers expanding the role of Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick). I find him a very interesting character. We also get the reason why Locke considered going to Australia in the first place, which I immediately though of when Abaddon suggested it.

I also like them bringing Richard Alpert back into the mix. He is considered one of the back-up guys to Ben, who considers himself a back-up guy to Jacob. But we are still not sure who Jacob is. When we enter Jacob’s cabin, we see Christian Shepard, nice and cozy, and hanging out with Claire. Huh?

And to move the island?

I like the fact that Sayid is going back to the beach. This sets up the Oceanic Six: Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Sun will be at the beach; Aaron is on the way with Sawyer and Miles; and Hurley is gonna be there soon with Ben and Locke apparently. I would venture to guess that Ben Locke and Hurley go back to the beach to explain the predicament.

Also, I don’t think Hurley will make it past this season. I mean, he’ll get off the island but we won’t see him again. But I laughed out loud when he shared that candy bar with Ben. That was LOL worthy.

Can’t wait for next week’s “There’s No Place Like Home, Pt.1.” Being part 1, there should be a good cliff-hanger.

Cliff-Hanger Rating: 2 Sleepless Nights/7 Sleepless Nights

All Quiet on the Western Front has been proclaimed as “the greatest war novel of all-time.” Just look at the front cover above.

Anyways, I had to read this book for my tenth grade World Literature class, so I figured I’d let you guys, that is, whoever cares about this blog, get my take on it and decide whether or not you wanna get it yourself.

All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer, a volunteer German soldier in World War I. The story begins in the middle of Paul’s career in the army, with him saying, “We are at rest five miles from the front. Yesterday we were relieved and now our bellies are full of beef and haricot beans” (1). The following story is told fron Paul’s point of view, which is a very effective tool for the story. This is so because we see a war from the eyes of the victims (we all should know that Germany lost both World Wars) and not the winners. We also see it from the trenches, the dirty places, the battlefields, the camps. The places where today’s war correspondents would never go. All Quiet does a good job, at least in my estimation, in portraying the reality that was war back then.

The statement above is further backed up by the background of the author. Erich Remarque (1898-1970) fought in WWI himself and was wounded 5 times, the last severely. When we think of great authors today, names like Remarque don’t come up as often as names like Homer, Grisham and Hawthorne among others. In fact, Remarque was not as well known because of the lack of American publishing of his books. All Quiet is one of the few.

The most intense part of All Quiet comes during a humongous battle in chapter six. There is intense fighting and many die. The line that characterizes most of Paul’s, and possibly Remarque’s thoughs about the war comes on page 113 in that chapter: “We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down.”

All Quiet comes across as a heavily anti-war book, whether Remarque intended to do that or not. Throughout the book, Paul, who I assumed was a character similar to Remarque, describes the terrible conditions, gore (one guy gets shot in the back and Paul can see his lungs pumping, others are completely dislimbed and dismantled), and overall scarecity of anything good in war. Even when Paul goes home on leave, he finds it hard to adjust to a life without bloodshed and gore.

I defeinitely recommend All Quiet on the Western Front. Out of the books we have read this year in English (The Odyssey, The Inferno, The Count of Monte Cristo) All Quiet  stands out as one that is the most realistic and does not need Hell, gods or confused identities to make an enjoyable read. In an Aurora Forum conducted by Stanford University, war correspondent Chris Hedges, who has covered wars in the Middle East for The New York Times, said that “the only way to understand war is to see it in the eyes of the victims.” In All Quiet on the Western Front, we get that picture.

Grade: A

I was pleased that we finally got a Jack flash this season. Jack seems like he has the most flashes (including the first flashforward), but it was a good idea that the creators took this long to finally bring his flashes into the picture.

I was also pleased that the phenomenon known as Christian Shepard was reintroduced. I always found him to be the most mysterious character in the show. The fact that Jack and Claire are half-brother and -sister has still not been revealed. I get the feeling that Jack and Claire will find out very soon, if they stick around long enough to see each other. We know Jack does, but what happens to Claire?

Kate, wow. What a turn of events. This was something I never expected, something surprising. So we know that Juliet is not Jack’s dreamboat in the end. This takes away from the suspense.

The dilemma on the boat has not been resolved in two episodes. This was saddening, but the previews for the next episode show that it will be resolved. Michael, er, Kevin will take a bigger role, I believe. I also think that he will accomplish his mission. If you are forgetting what his mission is, just look to this quote: “I’m here to die.”

Next week’s episode brings a lot of promise. “Cabin Fever” could imply multiple things. We left Locke, Ben and Hurley as they were trekking to Jacob’s cabin in “The Shape of Things to Come.” It could also mean that those on the freighter are getting restless being cooped up, like Desmond and Sayid. I really hope that Desmond gets off the island. I like him a lot. Or, in response to my self-inquiry about “Cabin Fever”, it could be both…

I was really excited for “The Shape of Things to Come,” the last LOST episode that showed last Thursday. I knew that Locke’s camp was going to be attacked, but I was unsure about who. The appearance of Keamy remedied that.

I was surpised that Alex was killed. I figured that she was going to be given a deeper back-story. We don’t know the process behind Ben kidnapping her, we don’t know how she met Karl, we don’t know, well, we don’t know a lot.

I was also expecting an answer to whether or not Danielle and Karl are alive. It would be pointless to end an episode without answering a question…unless you are making LOST. So it’s acceptable.

I’m glad that the writers decided to show a Ben flashforward. I was wondering how Sayid ended up working for Ben in the end. The fact that Nadia died after Sayid married her was interesting.

This also brings up the whole Shannon-Sayid-Nadia triangle. Shannon and Sayid had something going on in Season 2. And where was Nadia this entire time? In Kal-I-Four-Nye-A. Very interesting…

This is some trivia from the Lostpedia.com website. The hyperlinks do nothing so don’t click on them.

Can’t watch the episode tonight because I’ll be at a track meet. Can’t watch it tomorrow ’cause I’m going to a Skillet-Decyfer Down concert. Might watch it Saturday and get to you soon after that.

I was looking around yesterday and found that Relient K has two new records coming out pretty soon. Here’s the story on the Relient K website (the link has more details on the records).

Dear Everyone That Pays Attention To Our Band,

Hello. Hope you’re doing well.

We’re doing well. Amongst other things.

One of which is recording.

We are not recording the next full length Relient K record, however we have tracked thirteen new original songs that will be going on an EP. We’re calling it The Nashville Tennis EP. We know its a lot of songs for an EP. Whatever.

As well as the EP, we’re going to put out a B sides record. I’m not totally sure of how many tracks we’re going to put on there, but we’re aiming for 20+ for sure. As of right now, we’re calling this The Bird And The Bee Sides.

The two albums together are going form a new release also called The Bird And The Bee Sides. We’re hoping to release it on the earlier side of the summer.

In addition to this, we’ve got a bunch of other tricks up our sleeves. We just gotta run it all past the suits first. God bless ‘em.

Hopefully this gives all of you a little idea of what we’re up to. I wish we had a little more confirmation on The Details, but we’ll clue you in when that happens.
Relient K

1. “Never Let Me Go”-From Family Force 5’s debut Business Up Front/Party in the Back. Look at my album review.
2. “Replace Me”-Same as #1.
3. “Lose Urself”-Same as #1 and #2.
4. “Hotel Aquarium”-From Falling Up’s Captiva. A great guitar song with lyrics I can’t tell but it sounds cool.
5. “Sooner or Later (You’ll Want It All)”-From House of Heroes’ The End is Not the End. I found this song free online and enjoy it immensely and can’t wait for the album.
6. “That Thing You Do!”-From the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. A great song.
7. “Falls Apart”-From Thousand Foot Krutch’s The Flame in All of Us. Great song.

Relient K is possibly the greatest band I have ever heard. There are many facets about them that make them my favorite musical artist.

            I was first introduced to Relient K by one of my best friends, Stan Cameron. I was over at his house one day and he said he had to let me listen to some music. The first words I heard were “Here’s the kick off. Hope you’re not sick of Relient k or all the songs we play. Cause then you’ll want to throw our CD away.” I was like, “Okay, that was a little weird.” Later I realized that the weirdness was just beginning.

            Then I heard the second song. It started with a pretty sweet guitar riff thingy, then added in some drums and it sounded pretty sweet. At that time I wasn’t a huge music fan.

            “I think we’re going somewhere. We’re onto something good here…we’re going and I never know when, never know when where we’re going. And to go back to where I was would just be wrong. I’m.” And “Pressing On” was the first real Relient K song I heard. About a year later, after I had purchased a couple other Relient K CDs, I borrowed the “Pressing On” CD, actually called “The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek”, from Stan.

            I was further introduced to Relient K through the WOW Hits collection. I got the 2006 hits CD from my mom for my birthday. There were two songs on the second CD that I would repeat: Kutless’ “Strong Tower” and Relient K’s “Be My Escape”. I really liked the sound of “Be My Escape.” The lyrics were catchy and I have them memorized pretty much.

            “I’m giving up on giving up slowly.” That line was pretty good and caught my attention. I figured, “Hey, these guys are good.” I never fully realized the songwriting ability of lead singer Matthew Thiessen until a couple years later.

            Soon after I heard that song, I implored my mom to take me to the Carpenter’s Shop, a Christian bookstore in Sanford, my hometown. There I found two CDs by who was becoming my favorite band in my early stages of liking music. It was “Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right, But Three Do” and “Mmhmm,” two of the three Gold certified records put out by Relient K (“The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek” is the other). I got into “Mmhmm” first. Driven by “Be My Escape”, rocked by “I So Hate Consequences”, perplexed by the title of “Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet?”, “Mmhmm” was my favorite CD at this point in my life. At first I never got into “Two Lefts”, but later in my life I realized the value of a few songs.

            I continued listening to “Mmhmm” and the other albums on my iPod daily. Currently my iPod is filled with Relient K songs, with 58 of the 502 Relient K-sung. I still need to transfer songs from my old computer to my Mac, because I lost the CD for “Mmhmm.”

            When I began making movies, I was easily persuaded by myself to put Relient K songs into my films. For my first movie, Act Four of Romeo and Juliet, an English project which I got an A+ on, their acoustic version of “Be My Escape” was the opening credits song. In my second film, Poison, I had beginnings to songs, including “Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry,” as scene transitions. While in production of my award-winning film, Dr. Elite, I used “Must Have Done Something Right” from “Five Score and Seven Years Ago” in the first trailer. Unfortunately, it did not make it in the movie.

            “Five Score and Seven Years Ago” was the height of Relient K fandom for me. When the CD released, I was in Italy. When I returned home, the first thing I did was buy a copy of the CD off of iTunes. I was pumped and aptly rewarded. “Pleading the Fifth” was a fun paradox. “Come Right Out and Say It”, “Bite My Tongue”, “Up and Up”, “The Best Thing”, “Must Have Done Something Right” and “Faking My Own Suicide” all gave me good feelings and some nervousness as well. “I Need You” and “Devastation and Reform” were great hard songs that reminded me of the connection I needed with God. “I’m Taking You With Me” and “Give Until There’s Nothing Left” were fun songs with good messages. “Deathbed” was a solemn anthem of a life story. And bonus track “Sloop John B” was a great reminder of one of Relient K’s influences and another one of my favorite bands, The Beach Boys.

            As for my favorites from my favorite, that’s hard to discern. My favorite songs from Relient K are “From End to End” (“Two Lefts”), “Getting Into You” (“Two Lefts”), “I Need You” (“Five Score”), “Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet?” (“Mmhmm”), “The Best Thing” (“Five Score”), “Pressing On” (“The Anatomy”), “Sadie Hawkins Dance” (“The Anatomy”), “Life After Death and Taxes (Failure II)” (“Mmhmm”), and “When I Go Down” (“Mmhmm”). My favorite album is their latest offering, “Five Score and Seven Years Ago.”

            Relient K ranks among the greats in my book because of their great lyrics and great music. I was first struck by their lyrics with the song “Devastation and Reform.” Here is a copy of the first verse and chorus:

            Fear can drive stick
And it’s taking me down this road
A road down which
I swore I’d never go
And here I sit
Thinking of God knows what
Afraid to admit
I might self-destruct

So lock the windows
And bolt the door
Cuz I’ve got enough problems
Without creating more

I feel like I was born
To devastation and reform
Destroying everything I loved
And the worst part is
I pull my heart out, reconstruct
And in the end it’s nothing but
The shell of what I had when I first started.

            It’s a great song. And that’s only the first verse, bridge, and chorus.

            Relient K is great in concert too. I saw them play on the Appetite for Construction Tour with Switchfoot and Ruth on November 2, 2007. I would never forget it. It was a week before my birthday and parents gave me an early birthday present. Not literally, but they allowed me to go with the youth group at my church. There I learned to like Switchfoot and rocked out to every single song that Relient K did. “I So Hate Consequences” was their opener and was awesome. Before Switchfoot’s performance of “Meant to Live” later that night, “I So Hate Consequences” was the best live song I had heard. And I’m not a huge fan of live stuff.

            Relient K has too many good qualities to be passed down by anyone. Mainstream music has even heard them. “Mmhmm” was #15 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in 2004 and “Five Score and Seven Years Ago” was #6 in 2007 when it debuted. “Be My Escape” and “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” were both Top 40 hits whose music videos made it into MTV’s Top 10 Countdown. “Be My Escape” became a Gold single in October 2005. Relient K has played on “The Tonight Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

            Relient K is my favorite artist and “From End to End” is my favorite song. I think that’s ‘Nuff said.

“Come along now children. It’s time for a little music.” This sentence is the first line on Family Force 5’s 2006 debut offering Business Up Front/Party in the Back. I will be reviewing the Diamond Edition of the CD, with 3 extra songs.

1. “Cadillac Phunque”-A great opening song. “I’m rollin’ around, servin’ it up, I brought you some Cadillac Phunque!” 8-10
2. “Kountry Gentleman”-Possibly my favorite song from the album (I’m gonna say this about 4 songs). Great theme song for any boy from down South. “My momma raised me in the Dirty South, a Kountry Gentleman, so you best watch your mouth!” 9-10
3. “X-Girlfriend”-As with all the songs, FF5 has some catchy lyrics in this number. The lead singer, Soul Glow Activator, sings, “She just became my x-girlfriend.” Not exactly the most catchy, but it sticks. 8.5-10
4. “Drama Queen”-One of my least favorite songs, but it’s still great. “You go and talk behind my back. Don’t you know that’s whack? It’s a personal attack.” As I said, catchy. 7.9-10
5. “Put Ur Hands Up”-My least favorite song. The synthesizer saves the interesting lyrics. 7-10
6. “Love Addict”-Possibly my favorite song on the album. “Doctor, oh doctor, I’ve got an emergency. It seems I’m head over heels, a case of L-O-V-E!” 9.5-10
7. “Earthquake”-Probably my 2nd least favorite song. But it’s still cool. “The needle dropped. My track was hot. We began to rock. Our eyes were locked.” 7.8-10
8. “Replace Me”-Possibly my favorite song on the album. Maybe close to my favorite song of all. Relient K’s “From End to End” and a song later on this album beat it. One of the songs that is closest to being Christian. “My batteries died so long ago. There’s a heart-shaped box where they must go.” I absolutely like it. 9.9-10
9. “Lose Urself”-This starts out like a song from the disco era. But it turns into a pop-punk with some catchy voices and lyrics. “I must say that you captivate in so many ways that I can’t relate.” 8.5-10
10. “Peachy”-The song where you can understand the most lyrics. It’s fun. I read somewhere that it was written to convert a friend to Christianity. It ends up being fun and relaxed despite being a punk-rock band. “You, wanna talk about God Philosophy. I don’t think there’s anything wrong. I’ve got time, in fact lifelong.” 9-10
11. “Supersonic”-The synthesizer and guitar miz great to make this song a great party song. “Let go of yourself. It’ll be good for your health.” 8.7-10
12. “Numb”-”You know, cardboard is one of the coolest things invented by paper.” This song is about dancing. I don’t exactly enjoy it that much. 6.8-10
13. “I Love You to Death”- This begins like a hard rock song and continues with brief interludes of normalcy, Family Force 5 normalcy that is. This is an okay song, not my favorite but good. 8-10
14. “Face Down”-Decent. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. 7.5-10
15. “Never Let Me Go”-This is the best song on the album. “You will never ever let me go!” This is the best song and has an interesting music video that everyone should see. 10-10

Average score: 8.407-10

Overall: This is one of my favorite albums ever. It has some catchy lyrics and great guitar-synthesizer combinations to make an unforgettable album. “Replace Me”, “Love Addict”, “Kountry Gentleman”, and “Never Let Me Go” are all great tracks that I can put on repeat and not get bored. This album has great mainstream potential that has not been fulfilled, but the Christian community has embraced this CD full on, with FF5 being named Best Artist, Best Band, Most Underrated Artist, Best Website (familyforce5.com), Best Live Performance, Artist You’d Most Like to See on the Cover of CCM (who created 5collector’s edition covers featuring each of the band’s members), and Most Likely to Be Breakout Artist of 2008. Thier video for “Love Addict” was 3rd behind tobyMac’s “Boomin’” video and Skillet’s “Whispers in the Dark”, and “Love Addict” was the number 2 best song behind Skillet’s “Rebirthing.” Also, FF5’s video for “Never Let Me Go” was a finalist for Best Short Form Music Video in the 2008 Dove Awards, the Christian msic idustry’s answer to the Grammys. Well, it’s time the world hears Family Force 5.

Grade: A-

Here they go again! The Canadian “pop-punk” group is back at their guitar-jamming, drum-pounding ways with their third studio album, Hawk Nelson is My Friend. I now will give you a song-by-song review and then give my disc review.

1.  ”You Have What I Need”-The band goes back to a formula that is similar to the songs “The One Thing I Have Left” and “Like a Racecar” on their previous albums. It is possibly my favorite song on the album.
2. “Friend Like That”-A great guitar riff gets us started on a great, peppy, fun song. It praises God for being a friend “that can set me free.” I like it……
3. “Turn It On”-It’s another song that has a similar ring to it, like “Late Show” on Letters to the President. It’s a fun song too with also some good guitar. A good dance song like “Bring ‘Em Out.”
4. “One Little Miracle”-Similar to “Zero” and “Everything You Ever Wanted”, this song talks about hardships and that there is a possibility that “one little miracle” could “get us through.” It’s a good song to listen to when you’re down because it brings you up.
5. “Let’s Dance”-A review I read called this song “the worst song on the record” in a review where he gave it a 1-star grade. It’s not exactly thought-provoking, except the line: “Money is the god we work for.” Then I had to listen a little closer. It doesn’t really make much sense after that.
6. “Ancient History”-Not many songs use a class name to draw you in, but this time it helped. It’s Jason Dunn singing once again about guy-girl angst. It’s pretty poppy and fun. I like it.
7. “Somebody Else”-A song of lament about who the singer used to be to a girlfriend, I think. “I used to be somebody else…the people around me, they all seem to tell me, that I tend to change like the seasons.” Very nice soft song, for Hawk Nelson that is.
8. “Arms Around Me”-A song asking God to “wrap your arms around me.” A good soft song.
9. “Just Like Me”-Jason Dunn is getting mad at a girl because he is “just like” him. Not my favorite.
10. “Not the Same”-After examining the lyrics, it looks a lot like “Zero.” It’s a song about the past, but with a twist: “Though it’s not the same without you.” Good song, not my favorite, but better than “Just Like Me” and “Let’s Dance.”
11. “Words We Speak”-I honestly don’t get this song. Good sound though.
12. “I Still Miss You”-Battles with “You Have What I Need” for best song on the album. Song about the lead singer who loses his grandma to cancer and still trusting God while mourning her death.

Overall: “Hawk Nelson is My Friend” is probably this Canada-based group’s weakest output so far. “You Have What I Need” and “I Still Miss You” are two songs worth listening to, while “Friend Like That” is pretty infectious and well-done. Othwerwise, this lacks mainstream potential and is not really my favorite. Check out their previous albums, “Letters to the President” and “Smile, It’s the End of the World”, to see a better sampling of Hawk Nelson music.

I need to give this a grade like FF5’s album.

Grade: B-

1. “Say This Sooner (No One Will Ever See Things The Way I Do)” by The Almost-The song with the ridiculously long subtitle is ridiculously good.
2. “Keeping Me Alive” by The Afters-Awesome song. Completely awesome.
3. “Turn It On” by Hawk Nelson-A lot like “Bring ‘Em Out” from their previous album, but cooler.
4. “When You Look Me in the Eyes” by Jonas Brothers-Oh, you caught me. Actually a decent song.
5. “International Harvester” by Craig Morgan-One of the few country songs I like.