Album Review: Blake Lewis - Audio DayDream

Two weeks ago, I reviewed the album of 2006 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and deemed it great. But, who was I really rooting for throughout American Idol? Blake Lewis of course!! I was so dismayed to see him lose American Idol, even with his beatboxing. But, if he signed with the record company behind American Idol, his album would be much different, and in turn, probably worse.

With Blake Lewis, as previously mentioned, comes his beatboxing. And on quite a few tracks, this is very prevalent, such as "Gots to Get Her" and the ever-so-addictive great choice of a single "Break Anotha". But, as many of you saw on American Idol, Blake's voice can also get really smooth. On his album, "How Many Words" and "Without You" are some examples of this. Some of his songs are also more on the pop side of soul, like "Hate 2 Love Her" and "Here's my Hello". And then, out of nowhere, Bshorty (Blake Lewis' alter ego) grabs the mic and beatboxes his way through an interlude. Any other rap appearance on the album? One of the more alternative rappers in the game, Lupe Fiasco. What a great fit for Blake Lewis. The diversity of this album is amazing. The production on this album is also very good, giving Blake robot-like sounds, helping him on the beatboxing, and just being great beats. Listen to "What'cha Got 2 Lose" and "She's Making Me Lose It" for a great example of these. Yet, with all of that diversity, I like the fact that Blake decided to end a majority of the songs with some sort of beatboxing effect. It seemed very creative for some reason, yet uncreative at the same time.

My favorite two tracks on the album are "Break Anotha" and "End of the World". "Break Anotha" has really started to grow on me mainly because of Blake's sync with the tune , aswell as it being sort of reminiscent of Maroon 5's "Wake Up Call". Does anyone else see that similarity? As for "End of the World", it has a different to it than the rest of the songs. It seems like more of a positive-melodic song, which I like a lot. Especially when it comes to Blake Lewis. And for some reason, I also like the Outro a lot.

Grade: A- - Diversity, great singing, and beatboxing all in one album?
Tracks to get: Break Anotha, End of the World

Well, I bid you adieu with this message:

I hope all of your DayDreams are sweet after listening to this album!

Crayon Physics turned into an iPhone app

Many people over the past few weeks have been looking frequently at YouTube amazed at a game known as Crayon Physics. And I am one of them. The main point of the game is to draw bridges and circles to get a blue ball to hit a star. But how do you draw these? With a stylus on a touch screen computer of course!! Watch this video to see how Crayon Physics works:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QsTqspnvAaI

Now, why am I posting about this? Because along with looking at this YouTube vid a few times, iPhone and iPod Touch fans have been thinking about how to get this game onto their Apple devices. Now, this is possible. People have made a program for the iPhone and iPod Touch called iPhysics that is extremely similar to Crayon Physics. And instead of the broing levels in Crayon Physics, people have hade custom levels with designs!! For instance, there is a Mario level pack available for iPhysics. In that pack of levels, you go from Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros. 3. Of course, there are some glitches in the game, such as the fact that you can't really draw a circle and the fact that the star is a red box, but I am sure that updated versions will have even better quality. On that note, catch ya tommorow with an awesome album review!!

Album Review: Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (Deluxe Edition)

To commemorate the success he had with the album, Justin Timberlake has rereleased his hit album FutureSex/LoveSounds. So, for this week, I am going to take a look back at 2006 by reviewing one of its most successful albums. FutureSex/LoveSounds has spawned an amazing six singles to mainstream radio, aswell as two of them getting a suprising mass amount of play at Urban stations. And the deluxe edition is even better!!

From the first moment your hear FutureSex/LoveSound (the first track on the album) to Sexy Ladies (Remix) (the last one), you can hear great production on this album. Whether it's from the trio of Timberlake, Timbaland, and Nate Hills, Will.I.Am, or Rick Rubin, the production on this album is outstanding. The beats are amazing ear candy in my opinion. They go from extremely technical-sounding (Sexy Ladies, My Love, Summer Love) to smooth (What Goes Around........Comes Around [Interlude], Until the End Of Time, Set the Mood Interlude, [Another Song] All Over Again). One thing I noticed about the songs is that some of them (ex. Summer Love/Set the Mood Prelude) are split into two parts, one being a prelude or interlude and the other being the actual song. I think that this is in spirit of the title being split into two parts by a slash mark. The guest spots on the album also help a bit. Timbaland, T.I., 50 Cent, and Three 6 Mafia put a little more edge into their album with their rapping, aswell as their random appearances in songs in the case of Timbo. On the other hand, Beyonce puts a little more R&B flavor into Justin's current hit, Until the End of Time and Will.I.Am puts more of a hip-hop flavor onto the song he produced, Damn Girl. The one thing that I really dislike about the album is that pretty much all of the songs are about love and sex, with the exception of Losing My Way (in which Justin talks about an addiction to crack cocaine and asks if anyone out there understands him and hears him). But what can you expect from an album titled FutureSex/LoveSounds?

My favorite two tracks on the album are My Love and What Goes Around....../Comes Around Interlude. I like My Love for the amazing production on it, aswell as the T.I. guest spot. Justin is also taking his voice to the limits on this song, which I really admire. I especially like What goes Around because it is essentially a story in one song! The "story" talks about how when the girl Justin like rejects a relationship with Justin, it will all come back around at her and that it isn't fair. As for the argument on which is better, out of the regular Until the End of Time and its remix, I would say that Beyonce beats Justin on his own song. The remix is truly an amazing combination, with the princess of R&B and the prince of Pop (even though he really wants his music to be titled R&B music, not Pop). Plus, their voices harmonize so great.

The production of this album, along with the smoothness and versatility of Justin's voice, make FutureSex/LoveSounds a great album in my opinion.

Grade: A-: Spectacular production, amazing singing and rapping. The only drawback was the unoriginality of the tracks.
Track to Get: My Love, What Goes Around.../...Comes Back Around Interlude, Until the End of Time (duet with Beyonce)

Game Review: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for Nintendo Wii

Ah. What a beautiful day at the 2008 Olympics!! Such a great breeze, the sun is shining, and what's this?!!??! The competitors are entering the stadium!!!!! But wait, it can't be!!! Mario, the heroic plumber and mascot of Nintendo, and Sonic, the hedgehog or heroicness and mascot of Sega, are entering the stadium in one competition together!!!! And they are being followed by such heroes and villains like Luigi, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Bowser, and Peach, to name a few!! This, is Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games!!!

The main selling part about this game is the fact that this is indeed the first game in which Mario and Sonic clash!! Many people that are fans of both protagonists have been waiting for them to be together in a game, and this is their chance to see them together. Of course, this isn't really what fans were expecting. I would think most people would have wanted the two to have their own epic journey in which they face annoying pests such as Dr. Eggman and Bowser. Atleast this is a start of possibly a big game including Sonic and Mario. Anyways, this game sets Mario, Sonic, and their comrades (and your Miis) as contestants in the 2008 Bejing Olympics.

And with the Olympics come a wide array of sports events! These events range from Swimming to Athletics (Track and Field) to even Table Tennis!! The games are divided into six categories, each utilizing either just the Wii Remote or the combination of the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck. I think that this game is much similar to Wii Sports, except a wider choice of characters and different activities. The most fun out of the activities, in my opinion, is the Trampoline. This event, classified in teh Gymnastics category, has you first trying to jump a certain distance, and then peforming tricks by pressing the A and B buttons and twisting the Wii Remote. Speaking of the Wii Remote, this event uses only the Wii Remote. It is pretty tricky to get all of the buttons and tilts in time. I always keep getting in the low to mid-7s for my score on the performance!! As for those who played Wii Sports for a fun way to sweat off some pounds, I would recommend the Swimming events. the events in this category have you moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in different ways to swim with your character. Some of these characters make you move the pair of controllers up and down to swim with them. i have found that by rapidly doing this method of swimming, it is easy to break a sweat. As for those who want a mental challenge, I would recommend the Fencing game. In this event, you use the Wii Remote held vertically to block, fake, and fence at your opponent. It takes a good mind to know what the opponent will do and how to counter it. Mabye you're thinking that the opponent is about to fence at you. Block the shot to leave your opponent open for a fence. Or, go backwards and dodge the shot. There are also many games that I didn't talk about that are fun, so try them out!!!

Overall, I would say that this is a great game that utilizes all of the motion-sensory features of the Wii, whether it's aiming the Wii Remote at flying disks or quickly alternating the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to run. And it's also a bonus for those Mario and Sonic fans.

Gameplay: 8.5/10 - Pretty bad concept, but very nice gameplay in my opinion.
Graphics: 8.25/10 - Not really detailed, like most other Wii games, but just as crisp and clear as an Olympic day!

Also, I want to say that for my album review this week, be prepared for a blast from the near-past!! I am Jaykk, signing out!

In my opinion, the top 3 electronic must-haves

As all of you know, today was Black Friday, the start of the holiday season. To celebrate the start, many people shop for holiday gifts! To acount for the start of the holiday season, I wanted to make a top three list of must-haves for this holiday season:

3. Super Mario Galaxy

It has been awaited since even before the Wii was released. And now, Super Mario Galaxy makes is descent onto Earth. This is the must-have game for all people with a Wii. For some good information on this game, you can refer back to when I posted about Super Mario Galaxy in an article. And with the success it has had already, I am sure that one out of atleast every 100 houses will have this in their bundles of gifts.

2. Rock Band

Ever since the release of Guitar Hero, some people have wondered, could you ever have a digital band? Well, with Rock Band, that is very possible indeed. Rock Band has a great selection of songs that focus on the whole band, and is rapidly adding to the list with downloadable content. Some examples of great songs are Dani California, by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Wanted Dead or Alive, by Bon Jovi. I would say this also is a must for families. With the main game needing 4 people, This is a game the whole family can love and enjoy playing.

And........................





1. iPhone

When I was in the Apple store two days ago, I swore I saw atleast five iPhones being purchased. Plus, with the commercials still running in maximum of the product, the iPhone is the must-have on any wish list. The versatility that it has is amazing. Plus, it means that instead of getting a phone, laptop, and iPod for someone, you can just get them an iPhone. Nothing much else to say, as most of you should know what the iPhone does.



Well, that's all for today. I hope you have had a good time shopping today! See you back here on Monday, and possibly sooner!!

Can it be alright to lipsync?

First of all, I would like to say happy turkey day to all of my blog readers! It has been a great holiday for me so far, and I hope it has for you too. Secondly, I wanted to talk about an important topic in music today, lipsyncing.

As I finished watching the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I started to wonder about the musical performances. I realized while listening to them that they were all lipsynced. So, for my blog article, I was thinking about when its alright to lipsync. Of course, I came up with the obvious places where it is horrible to lipsync. But, I also came up with a couple times in which its fine to lipsync.

The place in which you want to lipsync the least are most televised performances and concerts, in my opinion. Televised performances are one of main sources of exposure for digital download success. But, if an artist lipsyncs a televised performance, then that will get a possible customer of the digital single mad at the artist and most likely cause him or her to not buy the single. Also, if that performance was really talked about beforehand, then the artist would most likely get a lot of bad media if they lipsynced a televised performance. For a good example at this, look at Britney Spears' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her performance was extremely hyped up. Then, the performance comes. Britney messes up, and every single pop culture TV show is giving her bad press. As I said before, another bad place to lipsync is at concerts. Most concertgoers want to hear the music of the artist they are seeing in a different perspective, that perspective being live. If an artist lipsyncs at a concert of theirs, you can expect the crowd to boo them to death and leave the concert.

But, in some cases, it is alright to lipsync. For instance, take Chris Brown's performances at the MTV Video Music Awards and the American Music Awards. He did lipsync, but made up for it by doing some amazing dancing. So, if you do something else in your routine to make up for lipsyncing, like dancing and the such, then you can lipsync and people won't give a care. Another place I find it alright to lipsync is the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since the performance is shortened anyways, most people won't care if you lipsync or not.

Well, I am gonna stop here and go to my thanksgiving feast. So, with my goodbyes, I wish all a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!!

Album Review: Jordin Sparks - Jordin Sparks

Hello fans =). Today, I am here to review the not-so-long, but awaited debut from Sixth Season American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.

After her first single, "Tatoo", didn't do amazingly on the charts, I was having doubts about Jordin Sparks' self-titled debut album, Jordin Sparks, doing good on the charts. But, after hearing the rest of the album, I can say with all my heart that this album will debut at #1. Just as she said, Jordin's album has a pop feel like Kelly Clarkson, but yet smooth like Beyonce. More on the smooth side though, especially with tracks like "One Step at a Time", "Permanent Monday", and "Next to You". There are some tracks that sound more pop though, like the techno-beat "Shy Boy". Plus, Jordin chose a great track to end the album with, "This is My Now". Putting such a powerful track like that makes a really good last impression on the listener.

Personally, I really like the album. First and foremost, Jordin has an undeniably great voice. Secondly, I think her album appeals to people who listen to more mainstream, yet also people who like listening to urban radio stations. As for my favorite tracks, well, the majority of them are good, but a track that really got my ears tuning in was "No Air". The Chris Brown guest spot on the track does make me like it, but it's also the theme of the song that gets me. The song is about how a boy can't live without their girlfriend beside them and how a girl can't live without their boyfriend beside them. Jordin and Chris alternate lines, and then sing the chorus together. I think their voices go along great together, especially when they're combined in a meaningful chorus.

Overall, the album is very good in my opinion. Mabye not enough to convert me to a state of Jordin Sparks obsession, but good nonetheless.

Grade: B+
Tracks to Get: "No Air"