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All Aboard!
We’re one step closer to interweb domination! You can now find us at our own domain, www.bearseatpeople.com! Of course, the old wordpress link still works too, but update anyway, the new .com just looks cooler. And hey, thanks everyone for really blowing this site up over the past few days, it’s pretty rad, and I appreciate it.

Bears At The Movies/Don’t Watch This Film!: The Happening

As a self-professed decent sized fan of M Night Shyamalan’s work (yeah I even liked Lady in the Water…shut up, asshole) I always get pretty stoked when it comes time for him to drop another movie upon the masses. This year’s installment comes in the form of ‘The Happening’, a movie that had a pretty intriguing trailer with people jumping off buildings and dropping dead all over the place..what OOOH WHATTT I wonder is causing them to do this??!?!? If you haven’t seen it or read any reviews or spoilers for this flick yet, that might be a question you’re asking yourself. But FOR THE LOVE OF GOD let that be where this question dies for you. I can pretty much guarantee you that whatever scenario and whatever twist you’ve come up with in your mind is cooler than what Shammy gives you here. This film is absolute garbage, even by his standards. Heck, it doesn’t even FEEL like one of his movies..there really isn’t any intrigue building after about halfway though, there’s no greater mystery to figure out. He throws it out there, and you keep waiting and waiting and waiting for him to say oooh haha guys just kidding, it’s really about…(insert zany OMG moment here)!! The story/outlandish premise is one thing, whatever. But wtf is going on with everything else? Marky Mark and wide-eyed Zooey Deschannenenellll have the on screen chemistry of a hermit crab and a tennis ball, the dialog is campy and cheesy at best, and while I’d like to give UBERWRITERPRODUCERDIRECTOR Shams the benefit of the doubt as far as his actual intentions for the dialog, I thiiiink most of it is intended to be somewhat serious..annnd that’s not good. There’s one scene, and you’ll know it when you see it, that’s meant to be shocking and dramatic but it looks like something a bunch of kids filmed in their backyard and edited together on their parent’s PC. Just..ugh. I’m sure it’s a cliche you’ll hear a zillion times, but the title is ridiculously appropriate because I can almost guarantee that you’ll be like me and mumble to yourself ‘oh cmon, seriously? this is really happening right now? i’m ACTUALLY watching this occur on the movie screen??’ a solid 5-10 times during this movie. Sigh. But hey, on the bright side, if there is one, this is movie comes close to reaching the soo bad it’s humorously good level which might make your movie watching experience a little enjoyable. It’s one of those movies you wish you had an empty theater with just you and your friends to watch it in so you could MST3K that shit.
In conclusion..please, I implore you, spend your 10 bucks on something with a little more substance..like a cheap, one-legged hooker..or 2 $5 footlongs from Subway. Anything really.
M Night - STOP WRITING YOUR OWN MOVIES.

From My Ears To Your Eyes: METAL!!

Inhale/Exhale - ‘I Swear…’
Solid State Records
Released June 10, 2008

Am I supposed to understand what that artwork means? Does it say something I’m just too dumb to notice? Is it some kind of tribute to 80’s new wave? I DON’T UNDERSTAND!! AHH! Alrighty so I have the first record by this band, but I only bought it because I needed a third Solid State cd to qualify for a Best Buy online offer at the time and I ended up not really caring much about it at all. As I’ve talked about SO many times, it was just another metal/scene band doing the same old thing I’ve heard done better a million times over. My buddy fool of gold insists it’s metal as balls, but I just don’t hear it. So fast foward to present day and their new cd, ‘I Swear…’ (by the moon and the stars in the skyyyy, i’ll be there) and I was really expecting more of the same. And I was right..sort of. Obviously it’s still nothing original, but oddly enough, it’s a lot more rocking and interesting to my ears. It sounds as if they’re trying to actually evolve a little bit, albeit into some kind of August Burns Red (without the breakdowns)/36 Crazyfists/Cave In/20 other band monster, but evolution is evolution I suppose. I even hear traces of bands from days gone by, i.e. Korn and Papa Roach, in there too. Awesome. In all honesty, this is a much more enjoyable listen than I expected it to be, and anytime my low expectations can be exceeded, I feel that it’s a positive thing for both the band and myself. If you’re into ABR or 36CF or anything on Solid State , this is tailor made for you. Chances are I’ll be keeping it on my ipod, and that’s a bit more than I can say for a few of the cds I’m about to school you on.
Bear Approval Rating: 3.4/5
(i need little bear pictures to use for this from now on..someone get on that)

Alestorm - ‘Captain Morgan’s Revenge’
Napalm/SPV
Released Jan 29, 2008

Oh my, oh my, oh my. Imagine my excitement when I came across this gem this past weekend. Four Scottish dudes who have taken the idea of power metal concept stuff past the usual Viking nonsense of a slew of Euro bands and into the uncharted waters of…PIRATE METAL! As you might expect, the songs are all about sailing the seven seas, drinking mead and ale, walking the plank, finding treasure, hooking up with wenches, and all the other cool shit pirates get to do. The dude even sing in an ‘ARRR’ kinda pirate voice and they have all these other pirate instruments happening too. It’s really something special to behold. Granted, once the novelty wares off, the cd is really pretty crappy. But whatever..PIRATES!!
2/5

Misery Signals - ‘Controller’
Ferret Music
Released July 22, 2008

There’s something kinda cool about that artwork. But yea, so Misery Signals. There’s an ad for this cd that says: “For fans of Thrice, Killswitch Engage, Meshuggah, and Tool”. Um ok, whatever you say Ferret. This band is a tough nut for me to crack, I can’t really decide if I enjoy them or I hate them. It’s been that way since their first record for me, and I guess that’s a good thing..at least I don’t have total disgust for them, right? To me, this doesn’t really sound any different from their other stuff, but I’m just a casual observer and a hardcore Miserite might tell you differently. I kinda like the music, they go in some interesting directions with it, but it’s hard to digest it with the vocals being what they are. And what they are is deeply screamed and heavily processed practically the entire time..so that takes some getting used to..but it does help them stand out a little bit. The record has it’s moments where it’s pretty damn heavy though and it has a few neat little breakdowns so that’s always a good way to win me over a little bit. I’ve liked ‘Controller’ a smidge more with each attempt i’ve made to listen, which is good for the band, because I was initially planning on trashing this record. If you’re into Tool, Thrice, Meshuggah, or KSE, give it a listen.
2.5/5

The Famine - ‘The Raven and The Reaping’
Solid State
Released May 27, 2008

This band is made up of a bunch of dudes that were in a band I never really cared for when they played metal called Embodyment and they sorta sound like Living Sacrifice, who I also never really care much about. But yet there’s also a hint of Dimebaggy Pantera riffing going on, and that’s something I can support. But I don’t like this cd. My biggest musical turn-off is a shitty production job, and that’s kinda all I hear when I listen to this cd. Turn down the treble, douches..and dirty things up a bit. It sounds too clean. Not like a good Adam D. production job clean either, it’s like using a brillo pad on a stainless steel pot clean. I’m also annoyed that there aren’t really ANY tempo changes to speak of. Every song is kinda the same thing for 3-5 minutes, and that gets so incredibly old so incredibly fast. Don’t waste your time.
1/5

Knights Of The Abyss - ‘Shade’
Ferret Records
Released June 24, 2008

They sound like any combination of bands like Black Dahlia Murder, Agony Scene, As Blood Runs Black, etcetcetcetcetc. It’s that fast metal with the mid-range screamy vocals that’s fairly typical of bands in this genre. I’ve only listened a few times, but there’s not all that much memorable here. Next!!
1.5/5

I Wrestled A Bear Once - s/t
2007/2008?

Yea I don’t really know anything about this band, aside from their badass tshirt design above and their awesome name and the fact that I downloaded their last cd the other day. I think they even have a girl singer. At least she does some singing on the mellower parts, I dunno if shes the screamer. BUT IT’S ALWAYS GREAT WHEN SHE IS, AMIRITE?? This is fuckin’ metal as balls and pretty awesome too. It’s grindcore to the extreme, with rad programming and those cute little jazzy interludes that all these bands are all about. And breakdowns!! They’r the shit, so go listen to them on myspace, and try not to soil your undies.
They just got signed to Century Media too! Yay!

Things That Suck!

Hot Ass Weather
Oh I hate you, you smiling sunny son of a bitch. I’m glad you’re getting your jollies by making my life completely miserable. 95 degrees in the middle of June? Yea, fuck you too man. You and your little buddy humidity. You two think you’re sooo cool roaming around together and wreaking havoc upon us poor, defenseless people of earth. It’s almost like that time when Hall and Nash came onto to the scene in WCW as the Outsiders and took out anybody and everybody they chose to except only a hell of a lot lamer. At least the Outsiders lead up to the formation of the nWo, the lame weather is just leading up to sweating and ridiculously high power bills. Hey, sunshine..eat my shorts, bud. Is it autumn yet?

Kool-Aid
This might be a tender subject for some of you because I bet there’s a large collection of you BEP readers out there who grew up on this stuff. Heck, I did too, I loved the stuff as a kid. It was so exciting because it cost like 10 cents for a pack of it and you got to create flavor upon flavor of juicey (well, kinda juicey) goodness. Here’s the thing though, in the real world non-childhood version of reality, this stuff is disgusting. As a kid, it’s awesome because you can drink a few glasses and be sent off on a sugar rush for hours upon hours, giving you the energy to build a treehouse or to beat up a neighborhood youngster who went home crying to mommy after your FRIEND hit him with a rock during a rock war and blamed it on you and got you in trouble. Jerk. But I digress. Anyway, it’s too sugary and it gives me a headache, the end.

Getting Eaten By Sharks
I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

From My Ears To Your Eyes Pt 2: Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Coldplay - ‘Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends’
Released June 16, 2008
Capitol/EMI Records

It’s Friday night and I’m terribly bored, so what else is there to do but post a few thoughts about a cd on a ridiculously popular blog site? Nothin, that’s what. Alright, so on to the show. I think I might be one of the few who really though that X&Y was a super solid record for Coldplay and even amongst less company in saying it’s my favorite of the band’s cds. Nothing against Parachutes or Rush Of Blood, it’s just my personal preference. I liked the direction they seemed to be slightly deviating towards on that record, and found it a nice change from the straight up piano balladry the band usually makes use of. So it’s been a few years now and the band is back with this, the oddly titled Viva La Vida (or death and all his friends), complete with it’s Revolutionary artwork, and the promise of quite a shift in audible output. Singer Chris Martin had commented that this cd wouldn’t be such a ‘piano record’ and the fact that this was to be produced by music legend Brian Eno (if you have to ask, look him up kids) cemented the idea that a change was in the works. But would it be a change for the better? That’s what I was determined to find out when I downloaded this bad boy a few days ago. My expectations were admittedly low for this disc, I hadn’t liked lead single ‘Violet Hill’ the first few times i heard it and I just wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got though when I started listening to this cd was music that kinda blew me away a little bit. Coldplay REALLY steps their game up to the next level here guys, they’ve made what amounts to a rather beautiful record with soundscapes so lush only Brian Eno could have been behind them while keeping all their pop sensibilities in tact so as not to push too many people away. They’ve really managed to create a record that might just hush their critics, win over the music snobs, and please the soccer (football?) moms all in one fell swoop..and that ain’t easy folks. Songs like ‘42′ (with it’s slight Radiohead similarities) and ‘Yes’ are great songs that show a matured band..while tunes like ‘Reign Of Love’ and ‘The Escapist’ really appeal to my quiet side and might just be two of my favorite songs of the year so far. Heck, even the once disliked ‘Violet Hill’ is a favorite of mine now. Something about that song feels important, do ya know what I mean? Anyway, I’ve only listened to the record 4 or 5 times now I guess, so as usual, all my opinions are subject to change..but as far as right now goes, I don’t think it would be out of the realm of possibilities for this to be a top 10 record this year for me if all goes according to plan. So that’s cool. Viva La Vida… should go ao long way in solidifying Coldplay’s spot in music today, and might even do for them what the Eno-produced Joshua Tree did for another little band called U2..which is propel them into music industry lifers; or who knows, maybe even legends.

Year End List Potential: 4.8/5

From My Ears To Your Eyes: Short & Sweet

t’s been forever since I’ve done one of these..as is usually the case..but with all the Maystache Maynia happening, I just didn’t have a chance. Either that or I get really lazy. In any event, here’s a big ol list of swiftly reviewed musical mumbo jumbo that’s come out lately that I’ve investigated. I think I might also add a recent and recommended blurb up on a sidebar somewhere where I can just put little suggestions of music for you guys to listen to. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

November 5, 1955 - ‘Bears Of The Sea’
Released Feb 19, 2008
Ironclad/Metal Blade

Besides having a ridiculously favorable album title for this blog, this record all packs a ton of awesomeness as well. Our buddy Fool Of Gold brought these guys to my attention a little while back and I’ve only recent gotten around to checking them out. Boy I’m glad I did. These guys bring to mind Circle Takes The Square, Glassjaw, ATDI, maybe a little Dillinger Escape Plan, with a few other flavors added to the pot for good measure. Musically creative & interesting and seemingly pretty solid lyrically, this cd might be the best metal cd I’ve heard all year and so far probably has the best chance of staying in my heavy music rotation as the year goes on.
Year End List Potential: 4.4/5

Scarlett Johansson - ‘Anywhere I Lay My Head’
Released May 20, 2008
Atco Records

Great, a hot actress trying to prove her musical worth by recording an album of Tom Waits songs. How about we just forget this thing ever happened? Where are the Men In Black with their little memory eraser thing when you need them. This record has three things going for it: the musical arrangements of the songs are lovely, David Bowie sings back up on a few tracks (WTF??), and they’re Tom Waits songs. Notice that none of those things have anything to do with Ms. Johannson. She comes across as bored (and quite possibly a man) vocally and just doesn’t do any justice to the songs she’s singing. Sorry Scarlett, you’re hot, but this shit pretty much sucks.
Year End List Potential: 1.3/5

Seach The City - ‘A Fire So Big The Heavens Can See It’
Released April 1, 2008
Tooth & Nail

Much like their counterparts at Solid State, Tooth & Nail has a certain sound that ALL their bands more or less have..and that’s cool I guess..at least you generally know what to expect when you listen to something and it makes putting tours together super simple. Search The City falls into that same category, as they fit the emo/pop whatever category the label specializes in. As a matter of fact, there are a few a zillion times on this record where you’d SWEAR you were listening to some new slightly dumbed down Anberlin release..they’re ridin’ that jock like whoa. Don’t get me wrong, I guess the songs are enjoyable and fun for what they are; there’s a pretty consistent up-tempo thing going on throughout the record and it makes for a catchy record and a surprisingly decent listen, but I don’t feel like there’s anything there that I’ll remember in a month or two. There is probably some potential here, but they’re gonna havta work a lot harder at writing songs to tap into it. It’s hard to stand out when you sound like a carbon-copy of a million other bands. And shame on T&N for signing an Anberlin clone so soon after losing the real thing to a major label. Lame-o.
Year End List Potential: 2.3/5

Bears In Boston!

EVVVVVERYbody knows that starting this week, the sport that I care the very least about is beginning it’s Finals series, it’s championship round of the playoffs if you will, between the Boston Celtics and LA Lakers. While it hard for me to believe, rumor has it that some people..maybe even some of YOU..enjoy the NBA for whatever reason, so with that in mind, I’ve decided to do something slighty out of the ordinary for blogs of our size. I am sending a correspondent to Boston to cover this series! Our very own Linda will be heading up to Beantown this weekend and will bring you the absolute best in Finals coverage..but that’s not all!!!! She will stationed in Boston for the better part of the summer in order to cover other Bostonian things that I know our readers want to know about. Tom Brady? Check. Harvard lacrosse? You bet. Boston baked beans? Oh God yes. She’ll even be on the hunt to find out why everything there is ‘wicked’ and if anybody TRULY likes Jimmy Fallon or the Dropkick Murphys. Man srsly dudes, if you likde BEP before, you’ll LOVE BEP with new and improved Boston coverage.
Coming Next Week!!

Brandon’s 10 Favorite Summer Albums!!

It’s June! Ya know what that means? It means it’s practically summer! I kinda hate summer though, because I hate being hot..buuut I’ll admit this time of year has it’s perks from time to time. Beaches and vacations are both good things, as are girls not wearing all that much (ohhhh yeaahhh!!)..but for a guy like me, the best part of this time of year is the music it lets me listen to. I’m a very seasonal music listener, and while that’s not to say that I only listen to certain things at certain times of the year, it does mean that I have things I prefer to hear from time to time. Every once in a while, an album comes along that I find myself really wanting to listen to in the summer..whether it be something that originally was released in the summer months that bring back good memories or just music that suits the summertime really well, and so I decided that I’d make a little list to share with you guys of that sorta music! I’d love to hear feedback from you about what you think of my list orrr even what records you love to listen to during the dog days of the year. So here ya go, not in any particular order but numbered anyway for your browsing pleasure, 10 of my favorite records to listen to when it gets way too freakin’ hot.

#1 Killswich Engage - ‘The End Of Heartache’
Arguably the most rockin’ of all KSE records, and without a doubt the one with the coolest, catchiest songs, TEOH is simply one of the best metal records to drive around and jam to in the summer. A metal record you can totally rock out to and still sing along with? you can’t beat that man.

#2 Limp Bizkit - ‘Three Dollar Bill, Y’all’
Hate away, haters. This cd was, and really still is, pretty damn rad. I remember so vividly buying this cd from an Ozzfest display at a store down in Florida while on vacation many years ago. My brother and I took turns with this record in our old school Discmans on the beach and really loved it and it’s been a summer staple for me ever since.

#3 Dredg - ‘Catch Without Arms’
If Dredg’s ‘El Cielo’ record is the perfect winter album, then this is the summer counterpart. Filled with warm riffs and melodies that just scream out summer to me, this cd has accompanied me on many a sweaty car ride. This is another record that I bought while on a Florida vacation, so maybe that has something to do with it, but it really is a stellar cd.

#4 The Beach Boys - ‘Sounds Of Summer’
I guess this one really goes without saying, the Beach Boys are without a doubt the quintessential summer group and probably will be until the end of time. Nobody has ever captured the feeling of summer like Brian Wilson & crew have soooo many times before, and nobody ever really will. Aruba, Jamaica, ooooOoO I wanna take ya!

#5 The Deftones - ‘White Pony’
This is a wonderful cd, but the inclusion of the cd on this list rests solely on the shoulders of two specific songs - ‘Digital Bath’ and ‘Passenger’ (featuring Maynard from Tool). They are two of the most perfect windows down night driving songs I’ve ever heard, and bring back memories of driving near the beach in south Florida at night every time i listen.

#6 Andrew W.K. - ‘I Get Wet’
Probably the most fun cd ever recorded (by the most fun man ever birthed), ‘I Get Wet’ is a summertime staple in my little world. It’s a mindless, good time cd that’s guaranteed to make people, drunk or not, start dancing around like fools. And that’s what summer’s really all about right? Having a good time and dancing around like a complete idiot.

#7 Trance All Stars - ‘Worldwide’
Yeah I know, this comes out of left field a bit. But I’ll tell ya, a few years back when I was going through my techno phase, there is nothing I loved more than driving around the mean streets of Gwinnett County, Georgia at night listening to this stuff. I remember I always used to hit up Taco Bell and get a taco or some nachos and then just cruise around and rave about.

#8 Nonpoint - ‘Statement’
In the days of nu-metal, these guys were a bit under the radar, but were the bomb. They were one of those bands that managed to open at like EVERY show I went to for a while there, and that was cool by me. Even though the days of nu/rap metal are long gone, this is still a great cd to bob your head to, and when spring/summer hits, you can bet it goes right into my car.

#9 Darkest Hour - ‘Undoing Ruin’
These chaps have been my favorite metal band around for years and years, and this disc has risen above all their others to be my favorite. This came out in the early part of the summer a few years back, and I can remember how much I loved the song ‘With A Thousand Words To Say But One’. I listened to it over and over and the cd became my soundtrack for the whole summer. Great stuff.

#10 GlassJaw- ‘Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence’
Truth be told, I hated this at first listen. But it was quite the grower. Has there ever been a better cd to be pissed off about a girl to? It’s full of such bitterness and anger about crappy relationships and women in general but it’s amazing because Daryl Palumbo obviously puts every last bit of emotion in his body into every single song. I don’t even really have a good reason why this is a summer cd for me…it just is.

So there you have it. I’m sure you don’t agree with any or many of my choices, and it’s cool. I know all of these are pretty much ‘newer’ cds, but that’s just how I roll. I would like to know what you guys listen to in the summer though, I can’t be the only one out there who is ridiculously seasonal with music. Let me know!

Bears At The Movies: The Strangers

Wow, that’s a pretty cool poster..alhtough I woulda put burlap sack mask guy up front. But that’s just me.  Props to the cineconchile site I found it on.
You guys have all seen the preview for this movie, they’ve saturated the airwaves for the past couple weeks. This film was one of those cases where the trailer REALLY made me wanna see the thing. It made the film out to be a really dark, quiet, creepy, thriller and the masks the killer people have on seemed so simple but so effective. The impressiveness of the trailer, while making me want to see it, also lead me to believe that I was going to be severely disappointed. Buuuut I went and saw it last night anyway, and let me tell you….that shit was awesome. I could not have been more pleased with how it turned out, it really lived up to and exceeded all my expectations. It really is a creepy ass movie. Ya know how you felt the first time you saw Halloween or The Blair Witch Project? The whole uneasiness feeling that those movies created so well and the suspense they built is almost matched by The Strangers. It almost seems like director Bryan Bertino graduated from the John Carpenter school of horror film direction and portrayal of the ‘bad guy’. This movie just does so many things well. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not really all that creative a story and it doesn’t do anything terribly new and innovative at all, but it doesn’t need to. A seemingly motiveless crime makes up basically the entire plot of the film, the characters aren’t all that developed, the dialog is limited, and it’s basically shot all in one place..which SHOULD make it boring, contrived, and laughable..but for some reason, I didn’t find The Strangers to be any of those things. I’m a horror movie junkie, and yeah I’ve read LOTS of bad reviews about this film but I think people just have too hard a time enjoying a movie for what it is. What The Strangers is is a dark, creepy, mind-fuck of a ‘this could happen to you’ thriller kinda movie that provides a slew of classic horror jump moment and proves that less really can be more.

HAPPY JUNE!!! YEAHHHH!!!!

WELCOME TO THE BEAR DAYS OF SUMMER!!!
It’s June 1 everybody, and we’re kicking things off REALLL big here in BEP land. We were able to get the one and only Andrew WK to perform a special show for us and a few thousand of our best buddies!! If you couldn’t make it, man that sucks for you, BUTBUT luckily for you our cameras were rolling, and we have an exclusive video of AWK performing one of his kickass party tunes!! What a way to start the summer!! PARTY PARTY PARTY!! ENJOY!!