(Negative - CD - The Ting Tings)
As music changes and evolves with each generation of the world's youth, more and more styles and genres emerge from a myriad of underground artists. However, are these genres necessarily producing high quality music that is listenable or even -GOOD- at all? The Ting Tings decided to release a full album titled 'We Started Nothing' this May 2008. Honestly, it's a peice of crap; the same kind of crap the teens which enjoy calling themselves 'hipster' enjoy praising and worshipping because it's 'unique,' just like themselves.
The Ting Tings are a group of two consisting of Jules De Martino and Katie White, from the country of England who have been together producing music since December of 2004. White sings and plays guitar in songs where it is needed, while Martino focuses on the drum and synthesizer elements of their songs. On occasion, Martino will also sing back up vocals on the group's tracks.
What’s another dynamic duo that has achieved major success especially in America? The White Stripes, of course. And while the female + male chemistry works good for both of these bands, The Ting Tings have one thing The White Stripes do not have. That thing, is a singer which is praised by many fans (male especially) to be ‘attractive.’ You do not see legions of fans deeming Meg White the hottest thing to ever walk the planet! In all honesty, people are much more influenced to like something if an attractive person is behind the making of it, that’s just the way our minds work. It’s the looks and being on an iPod commercial, that are helping The Ting Tings sell their music so that they may even be recognized as ‘Not Just Another Indie Band.’
The album itself is one major downfall once you have listened to the catchy beats of ‘Shut Up and Let Me Go’ and ‘That’s Not My Name,’ and the songs themselves become monotonous or over listened to. The other tracks on the album lack the same effort on Martino and White’s part in composing them to be even mildly enjoyable. Fruit Machine has some lyrics with content to them in the first minute of the song that just can’t make up for the repetitive-as-hell guitar riff playing over and over in the background, because eventually the lyrics themselves become repetitive.
“You've hit the bottom one hundred times before.
Now feel the fever as I leave you wanting more.
You thought you could turn and walk away.
Taking chances that weren't yours to take.”
Five stanzas following that line of lyric just repeat ‘Ker-Ching! Ker-Ching!’The Ting Tings’ album ‘We Started Nothing’ truly has ‘started nothing,’ besides a few techno-pop beats that will stay stuck in your head all day.
Good structured melodies on Martino’s part, but he may just overall be too good for Kate White. It’s time that we just ‘Shut up and let them go,’ because they are nothing special. They simply produced a tune Apple could claim and mass-broadcast so swarms of our youth would be more inclined to buy an ipod .
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Review 2 : (Positive - Video Game - Team Fortress 2)
Stylized graphics with more characters to play than just a basic soldier with a pistol. New maps with twists and turns in every direction that will take months of play to memorize. Eventually, Garry's Mod would become so popular that it would lead to Team Fortress Classic. After achieving great success, Valve realized that there were some improvements to be made upon TFC. The product of this continued effort and time put into TFC, was Team Fortress 2.
Team Fortress 2 has literally no plot since it is just a shooter game. However, it's possible to get immersed in the game, because each 'class' or type of shooting character has their own background story and their own plot. Take The Heavy for example; A large buff man that carries around an automatic re-load gun that shoots thousands of dollars worth of bullets, in mere seconds. But this Russian man has a soft side to him. He calls his gun 'Sasha' and simply lives by the fact that "No one outsmart bullet."
Each class has their own philosophy on how to kill, and take down their enemies. Each class feels that they have found the best way to survive and excel, on the battlefield. The entire game is based around the mere fact that humans will become violent, if their lives are threatened. It's possible for this instinctual reaction to emerge even while you're playing a silly little game, and the rush you get from crushing your foes in this FPS [First Person Shooter] is rewarding.
Team Fortress 2 consists of a myriad of characters for you to devour and come to love as you play the game more and more. These characters include The Heavy, The Sniper, The Medic, The Spy, The Pyro, The Soldier, The Demoman, The Scout, and The Engineer. For example, The Medic has the power to heal people on his own team, but watch out-! Don't heal spies. The Spy has the power to cloak himself thus becoming invisible, or being able to disguise himself as an enemy team member. Is that person behind you a team mate, or a spy waiting for your back to be turned so they can stab you? Each character requires a very different style to play it effectively.
Valve's time and effort which they put into creating Team Fortress 2 was not a wait. Pick up the copy of The Orange Box today to experience rich multiplayer gaming online with all of your friends; You simply won't regret it. But be alert on the battle field, because 'no one can outsmart bullet.' Kill your enemies before they kill you, out there!
