Movie Review: Breaking Upwards

Album Review: Mighty Tiger's Western Theater

What's in the Inbox: Stat Quo "Success (Back to U)"

For a while now, gamers have been scrambling to get English-subbed copies of GameCenter CX released in America, with little luck. Well, it looks like they may get their retro wishes answered, as a new, 80s inspired, English trailer was just released for the series, now titled Retro Game Master. While it doesn’t explicitly announce a worldwide DVD release of the series, it does end with “Don’t miss the KACHO, as he makes his first foray into the big, wide world!” Hmm . . .

Disney announced today at ShoWest that Toy Story 1 & 2 be re-released to theaters as a 3D double feature in October for 2 weeks. According to /Film, they’re billing this as a “’great value’ in these economically challenging times”. So, in essence, Disney is using our hardships to earn them phat bank. Bravo, corporate swine!

Toy Story fans stricken with a lazy eye will be pleased to know that Toy Story 3 will be released on June 18, 2010. At the time of posting, it looks as though it will be available in both 3D and regular flavors.

(source)

Press is swirling about a singer, songwriter named Elizabeth Cook being cast as Joni Twitty in a musical about the life of Conway Twitty. That’s all well and good, but who forgot to send out the press release that there was going to be a Conway Twitty musical?

For those of you not familiar with Conway Twitty, he was a legend in country music and was 10 times cooler than you. Clips of his performances on Hee Haw have recently made a resurgence on Family Guy.

Conway Twitty: The Man, The Music, The Legend, The Musical is playing in casinos right now and will hopefully make a stop in your area if you’re lucky. For more information, click it.

(source)

TheTripWire has a great, albeit depressing, article about the trials of one band wanting to get its video on MTV2’s Subterranean. That band: Team Robespierre. For the story, click it.

Here’s the infamous video in question:

Our friends at ABC News feature The Decemberists in their latest edition of New Music Monday. Their new album The Hazards of Love is out now and it’s not too bad.

“Rock operas” have their place– while you’re sitting by a fire, drinking a glass of cognac, reminiscing about life, whilst quoting Bukowski. Since you don’t do that very often, this isn’t one of those records you would revisit frequently. Also, a few of the songs sound like a direct Richie Sambora/Bon Jovi ripoff. Don’t believe me? Listen to Margaret in Captivity and tell me you don’t think of Wanted Dead or Alive.

As always, click the headline for the video.

Do’h! Looks like our “reliable source” proved a little less reliable than we though. Sony’s “major announcement” wasn’t a Playstation 3 price cut as we thought/hoped. Instead of that, sadly, the announcement was that the price of the Playstation 2 will drop to $99 on April 1. Hrmpf.

The Playstation 2 is currently in its tenth year of existence. Our friends at Joystiq point out that the PS2 library will inflate to around 1,900 games by year’s end. That’s fairly impressive for such an old machine.

Anyone plan on picking up the sleeker model or will you stick with the old? If you still play your Playstation 2, do you stick the the classics or check out new releases? Share your feelings with the group, please.

(source)

Former Faith No More and Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton has been commissioned to make the Crank: High Voltage soundtrack and The Playlist has an exclusive track from the record entitled The Hammer Drops. To hear it, click.

Metal Sucks says that it “is in no way, shape or form metal, but it does sound like it will be the perfect soundtrack to watch Jason Statham kill people in ridiculously violent ways and/or fuck Amy Smart in public.”

The soundtrack will be released April 7th on Lakeshore Records and the film, starring Jason Statham, will come out April 17th. Faith No More has also announced a reformation and European tour.

Crank: High Voltage is a documentary. Oh wait, it’s not?

The Faraway Places will release their sophomore album, Out of the Rain, the Thunder & the Lightning, on May 12 via Save It Records. The band’s eclectic style was described in their press release as a blend of “Motown rhythm, Lou Reed guitar, and blown-out moog-styled synths”. Sounds delightful, no?

The group is offering the album’s second track, “The Sun Goes Down”, as a free download on their website. It’s quite an infectious little number that makes us wonder why May 12 has to be so far away.

(press release)

Remember Ys? Well, if you do, you’ll be thrilled to know that the classic Japanese RPG has been turned into an MMO called Ys: Call of Solum. It is currently accepting applications for a second close beta in random spots across the globe. To see if you qualify and to apply for a beta key, visit YsOnline.com.

(press release)

If you pre-order The Sims 3 video game, EA will offer exclusive downloads of songs featured. You will also receive special edition packaging with a set of stickers, the redemption code for that free MP3 and a two-sided poster where one is the band and the other is a Sims version of the band.

But the poster and MP3 you get depends on where you buy the record. Here’s the list:

Bang Camaro – “Revolution” – Best Buy exclusive
Ladytron – “Ghosts” – Target exclusive
Young Dre The Truth – “I Love LA” – GameStop exclusive
Dexter Freebish – “The Other Side” – Walmart exclusive
Datarock – “True Stories” – EA Store Exclusive

For more information, visit EA’s Sims site.