30 June, 2014

New games incoming


Last month I had a little poll to see which open-world, first person shooter was favoured by my modest following of readers. Despite the 250 or so hits the blog has received in the last month, no one took the time to vote. This isn't the first time this has happened, so I get the impression you lot don't like voting in polls regarding first person shooters.

Never the less, I decided to resolve the matter in my own way; by purchasing Rage: Anarchy Edition. How did I go about making this decision? It had nothing to do with ratings, reviews, or recommendations. Instead I looked to see which of the three titles I was interested in playing was still available from the various online retailers. Since Rage was the only title available, Rage is what I bought. OK, so it's not a 'new game' as such, but it will be a new game for me.

As an added bonus it was on promotion, so I managed to pick up both Rage: Anarchy Edition and Deadpool for only R299. The downside is it will take nearly three weeks for the package to be delivered. That will at least allow me some time to progress in Diablo III, and possibly even try my hand at playing Call of Duty: Ghosts online. That said, I have spent quite a few of the last couple of evenings watching soccer (or football if you prefer), instead of gaming or reading, so perhaps I wont get all that much further in Diablo III before Rage and Deadpool arrive.

27 June, 2014

Kahn live: An anti-review


Last night I got roped into attending the début solo performance of local musician, Kahn Morbee (The Parlotones). Following Kahn's advice of, 'not writing about what I don't like,' I'll simply tell you about my favourite part of the evening, and that I like the project's logo.

After playing a few new songs, Kahn asked if the audience wanted to hear a Parlotones song, which was met with several people in the audience cheering. Kahn asked for suggestions, at which point someone shouted "Shallow waters."

The irony is probably lost on foreign readers here, so I'll explain; Shallow waters is a song written and performed by another local band, Just Jinjer.

If you wish to hear what Kahn's solo effort sounds like, The candle is available on his website as a free download. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm sharing it anyway.

23 June, 2014

Foo Fighters South African Tour details


Following this morning's announcement that Foo Fighters will be touring South Africa this year, here are some of the tour details.

At present there are only two shows scheduled:
10 December - Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
13 December - FNB Stadium, Johannesburg

The opening acts are Kaiser Chiefs (U.K.) and local alt. rockers Blk Jks [pronounced Black Jacks].

Several years ago a couple of the members from Blk Jks joined us for a braai at our student commune. At the time they were still relatively unknown on the local scene, but had already travelled to, and gathered quite a following on the other side of the Atlantic. 

When I traversed the Atlantic in 2011, I was able to attend a Foo Fighters performance on the last night of my stay in New York. It was one of the best concerts I have ever attended, and I promised my friends that if Foo Fighters ever came to South Africa, I'd be getting standing tickets.

Tickets go on sale at 09:00 (local time) this Thursday, and I am already dreaming of attending both gigs. If the Jo'burg concert was first, this would have been more likely, but either way I aim to attend at least one of these events.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Foo Fighters perform live again, and I am relieved that the promoters have chosen artists worthy of opening for the band.

Now to wait for news on the first single from 'Studio Album Eight,' the premier date for Sonic Highways, and ticket sales to open.

Today is a good day...

This is probably the best news I've ever seen on a Monday morning!


It's official, Foo Fighters are coming to South Africa. More details to be announced by Big Concerts at 16:00 local time.

15 June, 2014

I'm on a tropical island

I haven't had time to write much the last few weeks, but now that the wedding is over, I should have a bit more spare time to sit and write again. I'll probably wait until we get back from our honeymoon before jumping back into blogging, so that I can maximise on the relaxation time, and take a lot of photos.

02 June, 2014

Sonic Highways - Fall 2014



By the far the studio album I am most looking forward hearing this year is the eighth offering from the Foo Fighters. Even more exciting is the decision to record the album at various studios around the United States, document the recording process, and then turn it into the HBO TV series, Sonic Highways!


Unlike Sound City, Sonic Highways will share more of the stories of the musicians, and the music scenes that influenced them while living in cities renowned for their impact on global music trends. in Grohl's own words, "a love letter to the history of American music."


The series will run for eight episodes, with each episode centring around a new location. These are rumoured to be Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Washington D.C. 

Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles are high on my list of "places to go," and New York is at the top of my "places to go again" list, so those are the episodes I'm looking forward to. In all honesty though, I reckon the entire series will be worth watching, and I'll definitely be asking my (future) family in the States to get this for me on Blu-ray once it's been released.