Matt Van Stone

Late last year I decided that I wanted to start getting movies and TV shows more legitimately. I decided to get an Apple TV so that I could have access to all of the movies and TV shows on iTunes directly from my couch. Until this past weekend I hadn’t yet rented anything, but I’m happy to report that my first experience with rentals was great.

My wife and I decided to rent the movie Orphan in HD. After purchasing the movie, it took about 30 seconds to a minute to buffer enough before we could begin watching. Our internet connection is the standard 7.5Mbps from Shaw in Calgary. We watched the entire 2 hour movie without any glitches. At no point did it need to pause to buffer.

Video and sound quality was quite good. To me the HD video clearly wasn’t Blu-Ray quality, but I would say that it was better than the HD movies I have watched on Shaw HD. I can’t make a comparison to an SD iTunes movie though because I have not rented one.

The next day I purchased a few episodes of The Office. I purchased both HD and SD episodes. I was very pleased with the SD quality but I didn’t feel that the HD episode I purchased brought enough increase in quality to justify the extra dollar.

Overall I am really pleased with how the Apple TV performed for renting and purchasing. I am going to need to start budgeting for monthly iTunes gift cards though.

Do you use an Apple TV for renting Movies? Do you like it? Hate it?

I have never been a die hard Star Wars fan. I enjoyed the movies, but I don’t think I had even seen one of them until I was 13 or 14 and even at that point I didn’t understand the cultural significance. Whether you love the Star Wars franchise or just mildly enjoyed the movies you can’t deny how cool these FunKo Star Wars USB drives that I just found on Amazon are. Although a bit unpractical, they would be a pretty good attention grabber. At $35 the price isn’t ridiculous either. Amazon currently sells Darth Vader, Yoda, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett.

Has anyone bought one of these? Thoughts?

I just finished reading The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I have seen countless horror movies and read a few horror novels and I have to say this book was more disturbing than anything I have previously seen or read. I picked it up knowing little to nothing about it. I only knew what was written in the brief on the back and that was something about a girl locked in a basement and the neighborhood boys torturing her. As horrible as that sounds it did nothing to prepare me.

The book is written as a sort of confession by a man named David. He is now in his 40s, but all of the novel’s events in the take place when he was a young boy in the 1950s. For the first few chapters the story is very tame. It plays out like the beginning of a love story and it is sort of hard to tell where things are leading. Then within a few short pages that all changes and you are in over your head. Soon I found myself disgusted with what I was reading. The torture is shocking and brutal. The things that happen cause physical reactions in you as you read. I wanted it all to stop yet I was compelled to turn the page. I had to find out what happened next. With each page I turned I wished and hoped that the horror would end. It couldn’t possibly get worse. With each page I was denied. In fact, I began to expect things to get worse. I have never had a book make me feel so uncomfortable in my own skin. What I was reading made me feel like I needed, like I had to get up and do something about what was happening. But as you read you are powerless. Before you know it you are a guilty accomplice to the heinous acts just like David.

Ketchum has this amazing ability to build up your hope and then rip it away with only a few words. This book is not for the weak at heart or the weak stomached. A few times I wondered if I would be able to go on, to continue reading.

It may sound like I am giving the book a horrible review, but actually it was very thrilling to read. It created feelings within me that I don’t ever feel. This is the first Jack Ketchum book I have read and I’m hooked. Next I’m going to read Off Season, which comes highly recommended.

Side Note: Half way through reading the book I discovered that Ketchum’s inspiration came from the real life story of Sylvia Likens and that in 2007 her story was made into a movie called An American Crime. The movie version of Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door was also released in 2007.

Last weekend I completely cleaned out my music collection. I removed all of the music I had on my iPhone and computer and I started from scratch with only music I have purchased. I ripped all of my CDs (about 35 in total) into iTunes. I also purchased a few albums that I didn’t already own and couldn’t live without (Sylosis The Supreme Oppressor $6.93, and Casting Shadows – EP $3.99).

I have been wanting to do this for a long time now but for various reasons (excuses) I hadn’t. Music is a huge part of my life and I believe it is important to support the music you love by going to concerts, purchasing merchandise, and of course paying for music.

Over the next few months I will be slowly purchasing all of my favorite albums. Music is cheap these days and there is no excuse not to pay for it. I have always been weary about purchasing music from iTunes due to the DRM and the fact that you don’t receive anything physical. But these days all of the music on iTunes is DRM free and if I want a physical copy I’m free to burn one myself. I am also going to be exploring online streaming music sites like Last.fm which I already use.

On Sunday’s new episode of Family Guy they did a spoof of the infamous Christian Bale tape. If you don’t know about it Google Christian Bale rage. The original tape was pretty golden in itself, but the writers of Family Guy have managed to make it that much more awesome.

Bale is one of my favorite actors, due mostly to his roles in Swing Kids, American Psycho and The Machinist, but also because he’s just an all around badass. This tape just confirms his badassness. I have read a lot of the reports of this tantrum and I just don’t see how Bale could have gone off like that if the guy didn’t have it coming. I sympathize with Bale on this, not that he gives a crap that it got out anyway. I’m sure if we knew the back story to this conflict we would know why Bale went so far off the deep end, but we probably never will. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt though.

I’m sure this will be taken down before the end of the day, but here it is anyway:

“Well, its nourishing me, so that’s useful…”. GOLDEN.

The Descent was such an amazing horror movie that any followup movie was surely doomed to fail. A major aspect of the film’s appeal was its mystery. When I heard they were making a sequel and Neil Marshall was not attached I assumed it was just going to be a cash grabbing rehash of the original. However, after watching the first trailer (embedded below) the movie doesn’t look like it will be completely horrible. Yes, the surprise of what lurks in the caves is gone, but it looks like the rest of the excitement is there. I might consider watching this instead of passing on it like I had originally planned.

Sylosis is without a doubt the best metal band of 2008. I challenge anyone to show me a band with better riffs, drums, vocals, and song composition. I can name a handful of bands that excel in one or two of these areas, but Sylosis is the full package. The main verse and chorus riffs for this song are pretty simple technically, but the melody is ridiculous. Anyone can write a metal riff with a little practice, but that melodic rhythm is where the true writing happens. It’s ironic that I love this band so much considering their song composition talent makes me feel like less of a man.

Vocals are really important as well. You can have a band that is instrumentally awesome, but has a really lame vocalist. Vocals can take as much away from a song as they can give it. Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity still holds the number one place in my books for metal vocals. But Jamie from Sylosis is giving him a run for his money. Jamie’s ability to go from a deep long growl to a high pitched scream within a single line and make it sound so amazing is brilliant. His singing voice is just as insane, as you can hear in the chorus of Transcendence.

I usually post music videos, but this is off of a brand new album. Check after the break for my second favorite song from the album Conclusion of an Age.

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Here’s another video from the same band I posted last week. This is the second song from their latest album. The opening riff in this song is pretty wicked as well as is the pre-chorus riff. Again, this song has the perfect mix of singing and screaming.

With Ben Stiller movies its always a hit and miss right? Zoolander was a hit, Along Came Polly was a miss as was basically everything since Zoolander. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the best Stiller movie since Zoolander is Tropic Thunder. I can’t say I was laughing my ass off through the whole thing, but there are some seriously funny parts. Zoolander.

Sadly, the funniest part of the whole movie doesn’t even have Stiller in it. I know everyone already knows about the Tom Cruise part. If you don’t then watch the video below. It wouldn’t be as funny if it were any other actor. It’s really only funny cause you know it is Tom in there. Zoolander. It’s the best scene from the movie in my opinion.

T and I have been eating a lot of fruit smoothies lately. I found a recipe on Men’s Health and made it my own. If you have a blender you can make this, its really easy. Here is the ingredients list:

• 6 ice cubes (or double it if your tray makes smaller cubes like mine does)
• 1/2 cup of frozen berries
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp ground flax seed

So start off by putting the ice cubes and the frozen berries in your blender and use the ice breaker or pulse feature to break the ice. I usually like blueberries or raspberries. You want to add at least half a cup, but you can add a little more to make it sweeter and more flavourful. Then add the cup of milk and the 1/2 cup of yogurt and break up a banana into chunks and add that too. I like to use Silhouette 0+ because it has no sugar and low calories, but it is still sweet because it has Splenda. Also you can add a dallup of peanut butter if you like, and for an omega 3 boost add two scoops of ground flax seed. The flax wont change the flavor, just the texture. Once all that is in put it on blend for a minute or so. Depending on your blender you may need to use a spatula to mix it a bit. Once it all looks consistent pour and serve!

This should fill two large glasses or make four smaller servings. Trust me, its delicious.