Amazing Guitar Hero performance – Through the Fire and the Flames

I had to link to this video as it is just astounding.  I’ll link to the music video of the actual song as well.  I know my synapses can’t fire that fast anymore, let alone whether my hands and fingers could ever move that fast for so long.

Here is the early 80s video of the same song by Dragon Force.  I’m amazed to say I had never heard of them before.  Can’t say this song is that memorable, but the guitar playing is impressive.

Sopranos Season 5 – piling on

I find that I really need a lot of time between seasons of the Sopranos because I’m drained when I finish each season.  I go into each season hoping for two things:  Tony shows some growth or he gets arrested or shot.  By season 5, it is clear the first thing is never going to happen.  He is still seeing his therapist, but it’s a one step forward, two steps back for him.  The most damning episode to me, more than any of the murders which are so common in this show, is what he does to his sister.  The set up was a little too fast, but Janis gets involved in anger management classes and starts to make some positive changes.  I’m always suspicious of her motives, but she seems to be sincere here.  Tony gets enormously jealous of these changes she seems to be making and he is able to tear down her fragile new personality in a matter of minutes.  This gives him more happiness than just about anything else he does the entire season, even getting back together with his wife. 

Knowing that season 6 ends ambiguously, I’m not really looking forward to the finale.  I’ll watch, because the show is that good, but I’m tired of this guy and I wish David Chase would have definitively closed the book on him, one way or the other.

The Con by Tegan and Sara

This sister duo had a great song on a compilation album a couple years back that I loved called ‘Walking with the Ghost’.  Their voices are not traditionally beautiful, but they do fit well together like any great duo.  They are right on the edge of being discordant, but they rarely cross over (my wife might disagree on this but she hasn’t asked me to turn it off too often – a good sign).  Several of the songs on the new CD are playful, many are about breakups, all are toe tapping and gain strength after repeated listens.  I’ve read that they had help from the producer behind Death Cab for Cutie’s last CD for what that is worth.  I didn’t love it when I first listened to it, but it has grown on me over time and I think it may be my favorite album this year.  Standouts are ‘Back in Your Head’ and ‘Nineteen’.