Well, I'm back from my camping trip. It was alright; most of the activities were pointless, but the cooking and creek was quite fun.

Day 1; We packed the bags (That was tiring since I was forced to carry quite a lot into one of the buses) and set off to the creek, which is about 40Km inland from my area. After setting up camp, I began one of the activities, which was to hike up the mountain. Other than the lookout halfway up, I don't think our group got the time to make it to the top. My legs were aching on the really steep bits. My group got a fire started later in the afternoon and we had snags (Sausages for the ones that don't know Aussie slang) and my Taco Mince for dinner. The creek itself was pretty cold, but by Days 2 and 3, I got used to it.

And as I thought, two people got sent home on Night 1 for bringing drugs. Quite sad; apparently one of them got pretty sick. And then there was the little group of people trying to breakdance...and I somehow got involved...

Day 2 was the best day. It did rain a lot while we were sleeping, and there was no more firewood (even if we did, it would be wet), but we somehow got some small fires going. The "WaterCrossing" and "Skipping" activites were fun (yes, the skipping one was good for some reason), while the "Giant Spider Web" and "Accept/Reject" activites were pretty lame. A few of eventually persuaded one of our teachers to just let us skip rocks over the creek water. INFINITE SUPPLY of ROCKS is INFINITE.

Afterwards I got my chance to finally cook my sasuages (the ones from Day 1 weren't that great), and it turned out to be a success. The secret was onion, pepper and a slow fire heat I suppose. And I got one of friends to bite a raw onion. Good times...he bit it pretty well. Marshmellows (I wish I could have tried the American smores that Ryan promised he would somehow obtain) followed, along with a lot of mingling under the fire.

Day 3 was basically packing up the tents, and another hike in the forest. These hikes really need to have a point. The mine shaft that everyone was going to find at the end of the 3.5Km journey was closed. After what seemed like an eternity (90 minutes *wink*), everything was packed and all of us were on our way back home.

I made sure to punish my bathroom once I got back. The toilet blocks in the campsite were pretty crappy.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going on my long awaited Year 11 Camping trip! Booloomba Creek in the outskirts of Kenilworth, Qld, where there is no wireless connection from a 10Km radius. So consider me cyber-dead for at least 48+ hours. Good thing I don't have to count MAL Moe for a few days. But this means I don't get to vote in the Shinku/SuiginTou/Ayu/Ana match. x_x

I'll have a fully detailed blog entry for you guys about my trip, once I get back. I'll answer such questions as:

• How much food I'm going to burn
• Who loses their food and starves
• Whether or not my friend Beau decides to burn the forest down or not. Well, that one might be a joke...I better not give him the matches...
• What the weather is like. It better not rain for the next 3 days, or I'm going to curse the clouds. We've had enough rain already!!
• Which people get kicked out for trying to bring drugs or alcohol. People are gonna try, right?

And so on and so forth. Looks like it's going to take a while for me to finish MGLN and xxxHOLIC at the pace I'm going at with my anime.

2 months of 2008 have already flew by. That was fast. This is my new music blog system, with an overview of the music I've obtained or downloaded once every month or 2 months. In total, I've obtained 10 Albums, 1 OST and a Linkin Park Demo Track!

Albums/OST's

• Buckethead - Bermuda Triangle
• Thrice - Vheissu
• Daft Punk - Homework
• Linkin Park - Reanimation
• Kaiji OST
• System of a Down - System of a Down
• OCRemix - Voices of the Lifesteam; Crisis
• Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire
• Andy Hunter - Exodus
• System of a Down - Toxicity
• Daft Punk - Discovery

Feature Review: Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire

As the only album from 2008 that I obtained in the first two months of 08, it's obvious that I should review this one.

Sound: BFMV's goal of a heavier sound was succesful. The "core" part of their Metalcore genre is starting to fall off, which is needed if they're going to be recognized in the real metal community. A lot more aggresive than their first album and A LOT more fast paced. The pace of the album is quite uneven at times. Especially near the end of the album. But at the same time, I can tell that their slowly evolving. Expanding their successful formula, they've managed to churn out some powerful songs. The overall sound (riffs, guitar work) is pretty predictable when you think about it, but at least their trying.

Lyrics: The Poison had quite a lot of...emo lyrics. I hate using the word emo. x_x...anyway, if you take the time to notice, they aren't as...emo.

Tracklist:

1. Scream Aim Fire (4:26)
2. Eye of the Storm (4:00)
3. Hearts Burst Into Fire (4:58)
4. Waking The Demon (4:05)
5. Disappear (4:04)
6. Deliver Us From Evil (5:58)
7. Take It Out On Me (5:52)
8. Say Goodnight (4:42)
9. End of Days (4:15)
10. Last to Know (3:15)
11. Forever and Always (6:47)

Remember what I said about the pace? The first five songs will breeze right through your ears. Hearts Burst Into Fire is the best song out of those 5, with the right tempo and some varity with the guitars (both accoustic and clean electronic guitars). Then the first 2 EpiK songs come in; Deliver Us From Evil and Take It Out On Me. In every review that I have read for this album, no one mentions my fav track. Deliver Us From Evil is just so damn fun to listen to. It must be those catchy riffs at the beginning that grab my attention. Take It Out On Me has a great dual guitar solo, the nice bass section and it still keeps the melodic side of things. Then we have Say Goodnight. My second fav track on the album, a nice power ballad with slow, long but enjoyable build-up and the explosive ending. It's unfortuante that the last 3 tracks couldn't keep the momentum of the middle of the album. End of Days and Last to Know fly by your ears very fast, and just sound quite average to me. Their final EpiK, Forever and Always, is not that great either in my opinion. The outro just drags on (like "The End" on The Poison) for WAY TOO LONG.

Final Score: Whoa. Longets review yet. This is supposed to be a monthy article on all the music I've heard. The band is getting better, but they need to even their pace up a bit and use more variety. 7.5/10

Yoshi's Fav Album of the Month! /months

Andy Hunter is a Christian DJ from England. You've probably heard some of his stuff in Videogames and Movies/Movie Trailers. Well, you need to listen to his first album; Exodus. It's the perfect blend of Techno and Electronic. These 10 songs are better than Daft Punk's first 2 albums put together.

Top 20 Songs for Jan/Feb 08:

1. Andy Hunter - Radiate
2. System of A Down - Prison Song
3. Daft Punk - Da Funk
4. Thrice - Between The End And Where We Lie
5. Kaiji - Espoir
6. Bullet For My Valentine - Deliver Us From Evil
7. Buckethead - Isle of Dead
8. Andy Hunter - Sandstorm Calling
9. System of a Down - Peephole
10. Linkin Park - 1STP Kloser
11. Buckethead - 911
12. Daft Punk - Voyager
13. Xaleph - Son of Chaos (Song 10 in Voices of the Lifestream: Crisis)
14. Bullet For My Valentine - Say Goodnight
15. Linkin Park - Plc 4 Mie H/ad
16. Linkin Park - P5ing Me A*wy
17. Thrice - Of Dust And Nations
18. Thrice - For Miles
19. Kaiji - Line Of Light
20. System of a Down - Suite Pee
    

I've always wanted to do something special with my tags. I did add some foods to a couple of my anime tags (Example: Lucky Star; Slice of Life/Chocolate Cornet), and after thinking about it for a while, I've decided to add a certain food or drink that is shown in that particular anime to every tag in my anime list. This won't be too hard.

Lucky Star: Slice of Life/Chocolate Cornet

Bamboo Blade: Sports/Sushi

xxxHOLIC: Supernatural/Sake

Excel Saga: Comedy/Lukewarm Ramen

Majin Neuro: Mystery Dressing (Like a SALAD. Hell creative, because the mystery is only a layer to the entertainment supplied to Majin Neuro. It is not a mystery, you Majin haters. There's a lot of you out there for some reason)

Trigun: Action/Donuts

Bleach: Shounen/Cake  (Reminds me of that pathetic filler)

FullMetal Alchmist: Shounen/Wine

Gankutsuou: Drama/Poison with your water?

Ghost Hound: Mystery/Sake

Hakaba Kitarou: Horror/Fish

Kaiji: Gambling/Your nearest 2 minute noodles packet. (That's what Kaiji probably eats when not risking his life)

Mnemosyne: No tag yet. But the drink is alcohol. Rin's water seems to be alcohol.

Shion no Ou: Sports/Mystery/Melon-Pan Army!

Baccano: Adventure/The blood of Rail Tracer's victims. (it's food, right?)

Been so long...since I've bothered to type something here...I've been coming up with some funny fake prizes that I typed in my forum siggy. Here is what I've come up with at the moment.

Free Fictional prizes if you vote in MAL Moe:

1. Rena Plush Doll

2. Date with Shana
3. Desu style puzzle book
4. Cake! (cake might be a lie)
5. Jack in the Box with a laughing Satoko
6. Various props from the Moetan anime!
7. An English Lesson with Ink
8. Kaere Kimura's panties
9. Kaede's boxcutter
10. One day pass to Hinamizawa with Hanyuu.

I'm sure I'll come up with more as the comp continues.

11. Muse album.

Artist: Avenged Sevenfold

Album: Avenged Sevenfold

Review: I knew from various reviews and from the band's statements themselves, that their new album was definitely not a "Waking The Fallen Pt 2" or "City Of Evil Pt 2". So yeah, the band like to experiment. Violins, pianists, other vocalists, jazz instruments like the saxophone, etc.

They've fallen (pun!) out of the metal-genre and entered into a heavy-rock sound. And yes, "Dear God" is a country song. 0_0

I like change; I don't want my fav band to play the same stuff over and over again. While Ax7 try their best to be unique, only half of the songs keep me entertained. They tried too hard, and they've lost the powerful thunder that they brought in earlier albums. The first half of the album is definitely better than the second half, with "Critical Acclaim", "Scream" and "Afterlife". The second half is pretty weak, with "A Little Piece Of Heaven" being the only song that stands out.

Tracklist:

1. Critical Acclaim (5:14)
2. Almost Easy (3:54)
3. Scream (4:48)
4. Afterlife (5:53)
5. Gunslinger (4:11)
6. Unbound (The Wild Ride) (5:11)
7. Brompton Cocktail (4:13)
8. Lost (5:02)
9. A Little Piece Of Heaven (8:00)
10. Dear God (6:33)

The songs in bold are my favourites. The songs in Italiic are the songs you need to ignore. I just found Lost and Brompton Cocktail pretty boring. For a country song, I found Dear God better than expected. Almost Easy almost sounds like a mainstream rock song. Though it still sounds pretty good. I guess its chorus annoys me a bit. Overall, the whole album wasn't as gritty as M.Shadows claims it to be.

Rating: 6/10

In that GH3 contest, I came third. It was a highest score competition, and someone got over the 300K mark for getting 100% on My Name Is Jonas on expert.

I'm going to follow Cyruz's trend and make a Top 10 list for my favourite bands/artists. Since I listen to so much music, this will be my Top 10 for 2007.

#10: Thrice

First Song: Stare At The Sun

Made me fall in love: Lullabye

Current favorite: Paper Tigers

 

#9: Billy Talent

First Song: Red Flag

Made me fall in love: The Navy Song

Current favorite: Devil In A Midnight Mass

 

#8: SGX

First Song: Frame Of Mind

Made me fall in love: Haven

Current favorite: No Such Thing As The Promised Land

Other Awesome Songs: Have No Tyrant, Save Me, Composer

#7: Linkin Park

First Song: One Step Closer

Made me fall in love: Breaking The Habit

Current favorite: Shadow Of The Day

Other Awesome Songs: Points Of Authority, No More Sorrow

#6: Maximum The Hormone

First Song: What's Up, People?

Made me fall in love: Koi No Megalova

Current favorite: Bikini Sports Ponchin

Other Awesome Songs: Zetsubou Billy, Akagi, Black Power G-Man Spy

#5: Korn

First Song: Freak On A Leash

Made me fall in love: Children Of The Korn

Current favorite: Hushabye

Other Awesome Songs: Cameltosis, Dead Bodies Everywhere, Seed, Twisted Transistor, I Will Protect You, My Gift To You, Kiss

#4: Placebo

First Song: The Bitter End

Made me fall in love: English Summer Rain

Current favorite: Special Needs

Other Awesome Songs: Pure Morning, I'll Be Yours, Lady Of The Flowers, Meds, Broken Promise, Slackerbitch, Sleeping With Ghosts

#3: Avenged Sevenfold

First Song: Beast & The Harlot

Made me fall in love: Seize The Day

Current favorite: Unholy Confessions

Other Awesome Songs: Blinded In Chains, Sidewinder, Turn The Other Way, We Come Out At Night, Remenissions, Radiant Eclipse

#2: Rage Against The Machine

First Song: Killing In The Name

Made me fall in love: Guerrilla Radio

Current favorite: Bulls On Parade

Other Awesome Songs: Year Of Tha Boomerang, Down Rodeo, Settle For Nothing, Wake Up, Know Your Enemy, Bullet In The Head, Calm Like A Bomb, War Within A Breath, I'm Housin', Street Fighting Man, Maggie's Farm

 
#1: Muse

First Song: Supermassive Black Hole

Made Me Fall In Love: Exo-Politics

Current Fav: Space Dementia

Other Awesome Songs: Sunburn, Overdue, Cave, New Born, Citizen Erased, Plug In Baby, Sing For Absolution, Stockholm Syndrome, The Gallery, Map Of Your Head, Starlight, Map Of The Problematique, City Of Delusion, Knights Of Cydonia