Pawl Schwartz's Blog, page 153
May 21, 2015
urchicago:
Cattle Decapitation || New Song Released from...
Cattle Decapitation || New Song Released from Upcoming Album
The Kings of gore-grind are back and better than ever. I’ve enjoyed the shit out of listening to these dudes grow in sound and scope with each album, evolving and putrefying into something much more interesting than the sum of its parts. “Manufactured Extinct” is no exception, proving with just one listen that Cattle Decapitation have built their own beautifully hopeless misanthropic aural apocalypse out of sound.
The Anthropocene Extinction drops on August 7th. Pre-order from Metal Blade Here.
May 9, 2015
urchicago:
Sleep Paralysis Documentary || Looks Fucking...
Sleep Paralysis Documentary || Looks Fucking Terrifying
I’ve had them in the past, and I’m sure that you have too. You wake up with a weight on your chest, all extremities tingling. Maybe you sense something sinister lurking just beyond your vision. There may be a voice speaking to you, telling you awful things about yourself and giving shitty advice.
Hell, maybe nothing like this has ever happened to you. I’ll tell you this: it’s scarier than any horror movie I’ve ever seen.
There were two main iterations to mine. It was either a shadow man as tall as whatever room he was in with a single eye who would draw me further and further from my body while contorting himself into strange symbols; or it was me paralyzed on my bed with a crackly radio broadcast-tinted voice advising me on where to go and what do do. It’s not a dream, although you may fall into them during it only to come back to the paralyzed but awake state, but something truly fucked up and in between worlds.
Enter: This documentary on the phenomena of Sleep Paralysis. If all the hype is to be believed, The Nightmare adds up to something as scary as the experience itself.
I may buy in, but I may hate it, solely based on the fact that I love real-time reality ghost hunting shows like Ghost Bros but absolutely hate paranormal re-creation dramatization shows where randos just claim whatever they want in voice-over and have actors act it out with extra ham. Who cares? Quit reading and watch the damn video.
urchicago:
NEW VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Mortal Kombat Xby Pawl...
NEW VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Mortal Kombat X
by Pawl Schwartz
It’s hard to believe that many years ago this franchise actually survived a bloodless release on Super Nintendo. Simply view the screenshots for the slap happy level of carnage that Mortal Kombat X serves up. Medical students wouldn’t be wrong to call a night with this game “studying musculature,” with all of the beautifully rendered X-ray moves.
If you have ever been addicted to a video game (and as a gamer reading this article, I assume that has happened to you, the same way any reader has experienced that crack-like “page turning effect” when reading a good book), you will be severely addicted to this game. It is as simple as that. Read on, reader…
May 4, 2015
urchicago:
Rare Games || Announcing New Game at E3 2015
‘This...
Rare Games || Announcing New Game at E3 2015
‘This is more fun than anything we’ve ever done.“
Rare, creators of Conkers Bad Fur Day, Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, and Timesplitters are finally FINALLY ready to release a new game. After many setbacks centered around firing key employees (some of which moved on to Playtonic Games) due to restructuring by Microsoft (thanks), Rare is finally going to show off its new project at this years upcoming E3.
April 30, 2015
urchicago:
Warp Drive Invented || Confirmed by NASAYes, you...
Warp Drive Invented || Confirmed by NASA
Yes, you read that right. NASA has been doing experiments lately on electromagnetic propulsion technology to figure out if it will work in the vacuum of space. Guess what? Against physics, it totally fucking does!
Guess what else it does? Travel faster than the speed of fucking light! This technology is also green, (runs on hydrogen fuel) and will enable things like vertical takeoff for airplanes.
“Apart from the excitement over EmDrive possibly being a real thing, internet users also noticed Nasa could possibly have accidentally invented the warp drive – a faster-than-light propulsion system that enables spacecraft to travel at speeds that are greatly faster than light in sci-fi movies such as Star Trek.
“Nasa researchers posted on the Nasa Spaceflight forum that when lasers were fired into the EmDrive’s resonance chamber, some of the laser beams had traveled faster than the speed of light, which would mean the EmDrive could have produced a warp bubble.”Did we just invent UFOs? Sweet.
April 22, 2015
New Tony Hawk Pro Skater game || Tony Hawk ConfirmsI always...
A video posted by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on Apr 21, 2015 at 2:48pm PDT
New Tony Hawk Pro Skater game || Tony Hawk Confirms
I always wondered what happened to the franchise, but just figured that it ran out of steam. Tony Hawk, on his instagram, posted the above video with the capiton:
Select your character (by @rob.wootton)
I am sharing this now in honor of our next game having been accidentally “leaked” recently…
THPS fans will rejoice. Details soon.
Something about these games was always addictive as hell…I’m looking forward to any new installment, and its soundtrack.
March 26, 2015
Young readers prefer printed books
‘Ebooks an evolution || Not a Revolution’
I was glad to find this article via BoingBoing after finishing Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island recently and finding the first half incredibly hard to pay attention to on my e-reader. I am glad to know that my eyes are not alone in wishing for a break from the now-ubiquitous screen. Click the link for the full article from Cory Doctorow.
Complimentary TL;DR: Young People still buy printed books in droves because of format lends itself more easily to reading comprehension, wheras e-books are better for reference after the book has been read.
March 25, 2015
urchicago:Ernest Cline’s Armada || Now available for...
Ernest Cline’s Armada || Now available for pre-order!
The long-anticipated second novel from the author of Ready Player One is almost here! I’m squealing with nerdly delight over the cover and synopsis (found on the pre-order page):
It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He’s daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom—if he can make it that long without getting suspended again.
Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.
At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy.
A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.
But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.
Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar?
urchicago:NEW FEATURE: The Best & Worst Films of 2014by...
NEW FEATURE: The Best & Worst Films of 2014
by Justin Tucker
Everyone knows the Academy Awards ceremony is a sanctimonious, seemingly never-ending dog and pony show. Generally out of touch with audiences, the Academy will at times make questionable picks for Best Picture and ignore certain films altogether. I mean, does anybody actually believe Slumdog Millionaire is a better movie over The Dark Knight? Is Crash actually going to stand the test of time as a work of art?
I am here to cut through the crap and the pretentiousness to present the actual best pictures of 2014. Read on, reader…
urchicago:UR AWESOME: Countdown to ChappieBeen pumping Die...
UR AWESOME: Countdown to Chappie
Been pumping Die Antwoord all week. We are ready! Movie hits theaters TOMORROW!!!
