[Energy Drink Review] Rumba Energy Juice

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Here’s a portion of a review posted on Caffeine Critic:

Popping the tab, I am met with a refreshing and invigorating orange aroma that instantly floods your mouth with anticipatory saliva. It has a nice balance of tangy and sweet, though is a bit heavy on the sour side, and smells like it would be the perfect drink to accompany my breakfast.

Rumba isn’t really as enjoyable to drink as I had hoped, but most of that is attributed to the slightly-too-thick texture. The flavor is just fine, with appropriate levels of tanginess, sour, and sweet balanced in the unique blend of juices. The most prominent flavor is orange, but there are also Rumbalings (get it? Rumba…lings? Rumblings? Get it?) of peach and apple in there as well, making for a very pleasant cocktail of fruit flavors.

Read the full review on CaffeineCritic.com!

[Movie Review] Blue Valentine (2010)

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Blue Valentine is a film that centers around a contemporary married couple in a struggle to keep the relationship afloat amidst a dimming romantic  flame between them. The film is raw, unflinching, and boasts two of the most intense, brave performances from leads Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

The film portrays the relationship by cross-cutting between the present as a struggling married couple and their initial meeting and subsequent courtship. The film is such a roller coaster of emotion that it’s almost  unnerving at times.

Gosling and Williams deliver two of the most powerful performances in recent memory, as the film forces the two actors to balance equal parts optimism and dejection, a rare feat that allows each of them to rip your heart out and put it back time after time.

The two burst off screen with Gosling channeling the intensity of Robert De Niro with Nicholas Cage’s ability to completely delve into the character like a chameleon. Williams is just a powerful, but her performance might be just slightly more impressive just because of how amazingly brave and one of a kind  it is.

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[Movie Review] Let Me In (2010)

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The only thing that gives American cinemaphiles a greater sense of satisfaction than latching on to an acclaimed foreign film is scoffing at the idea of that movie being remade in America. So naturally, many a self-righteous brow became furrowed upon the release of Let Me In, the Americanized version of the excellent 2008 Swedish movie Let The Right One In.

While it would be false of me to deny ever engaging in acts of film snobbery, I can honestly say I went into Let Me In with a completely neutral attitude and am happy to report it’s not a travesty, but rather a good, sometimes excellent, re-telling of one of the great sad stories of recent memory.

Synopsis:

Like the original movie and the novel it’s based upon, Let Me In tells the story of a lonely and bullied kid, in this version, named Owen. While fantasizing revenge against his tormentors, Owen meets Abby, an outsider whose moved in next door to him.

The two strike up a friendship, with Abby providing Owen with a much-needed friend as well as helping him stand up to his bullies. Things become complicated, however, upon Owen’s realization that his new friend is a vampire.

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[Movie Review] House of White Spiders (2010)

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Overview:

Back in the 90’s there was a glorious resurgence in the Indie movie scene, which busted out gems like Swingers, Clerks and Kids. That era came and went fairly quick and we no longer see those kinds of Indie love fests.

However, the horror genre has always been one to draw the Indie directors. Maybe it’s because of the films they saw as a kid, maybe it’s because horror is well known as being easy to make, but there is a huge amount of Indie horror out there if you want to make the effort to look for it.

House of White Spiders is a low budget indie flick written and directed (along with a bazillion other production roles) by Gregg Taylor. According to IMDB this is Taylor’s first film credit, and if you’re going to go this route, you might as well get your name on it a lot! Continue reading →

[Game Review] Breach (Xbox Live Arcade)

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System: Xbox 360 (Live Arcade Exclusive)
Developer: Atomic Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre: First-Person Shooter

The first thing we need to get out in the open is that I am not a huge fan of first-person shooters. I don’t play Call of Duty, have never played Halo online, and am generally not interested in any FPS coming to the market. There have been exceptions where I’ve fully enjoyed FPS games, like with the recent Goldeneye 007 remake for the Wii and the Left 4 Dead franchise on the Xbox 360, but generally speaking I have very little interest in this type of game. However, when the folks behind Breach sent me an email with a code to download the game for free a few weeks before it came out, I decided to go ahead and jump on in.

Now that you know I’m not a fan of first-person shooters, you may think that I’m not the right guy to be reviewing this game. And really, I’m probably not. Especially if you’re a huge fan of the genre and want to know how it stacks up against the likes of Call of Duty. That said, I can definitely tell you whether or not this game is fun, and I can do so without dwelling over pointless comparisons to other games.

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[Restaurant Review] King Gyro’s of Terre Haute, IN

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Here’s a portion of a review on Does It Hit The Spot:

The most important aspect of any restaurant is its food, and in that aspect King Gyro’s performs phenomenally. The first thing you’ll notice while looking at the menu is the great amount of selection and diversity, ranging from burgers to fish to Italian beef  to BBQ chicken to poor boy to chicken nuggets to tenderloins to sausage to gyros, and the list goes on. If you’re a human being with a stomach, there is something on this menu for you.

Aside from having great selection, King Gyro’s food is absolutely delicious. I’ve been numerous times in the past couple of weeks, sampling something different each time I go, and everything I’ve tasted is just plain awesome. Easily the most delectable menu item is their gyro, which is such a fantastically amazing sandwich that I’m having trouble putting into words how phenomenally delicious it is. Inside of a gyro, you’ll find a very generous portion of their fantastic gyro meat, which is tender and flavorful, topped with fresh tomatoes, onions, and a cool sour cream cucumber sauce, and it’s all wrapped in a delicious piece of pita bread. Everything about it is just to die for. I went there with my girlfriend Kim, who is a vegetarian, and they even went out of their way to make her a vegetarian-style gyro that she says was delicious.

Read the full review on DIHTS.com!

[Album Review] ST II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT by Akron/Family

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Over the past few years, I’ve developed a pretty intense hatred of most art-rock. A great deal of it is irritatingly pretentious, self-congratulatory and worthless.

So when I stumble across a bands like Akron/Family, who are able to throw together a seemingly endless barrage of musical styles and still create songs that sound as if they are being performed by human beings, I must admit I find it very exciting.

The band has been on quite a hot streak over the past few years, a streak I’m happy to say they’ve continued with S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT.

Review:

With such an epic title, I suspect there are expansive story elements to Shinju TNT which may provide it with deeper meaning. In time I will perhaps explore them, but thus far I’ve tried to enjoy the album on a purely visceral level, and I’m happy to say I very much have.

Of the three A/F albums I’ve heard, Epic Journey is the most atmospheric, with certain songs achieving an almost Sigur Ros quality of ambiance. There’s an almost hypnotic quality to tracks like “Island” and “Fuji II (Single Pane” which makes for quality relaxation at the end of a stressful 28 hour work week.

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[Food Review] Subway’s Buffalo Chicken Fiery Footlong

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Here’s a portion of a review on Does It Hit The Spot:

First I want to complain about the guy who made my sandwich. His name was Tony. Tony was new. Tony was very nice. Way too nice. Tony was so nice, he was completely obnoxious. Everything Tony said made me want to punch him in the balls with a knife. Tony had a loose bandage on the back of his neck, one that swayed and flapped in the breeze of the building’s air conditioning unit, spreading a wave of HIV with every flutter. At least Tony smiled, but Tony also had a habit of spitting when he attempted to pronounce certain words. Words like sorry, spit, and sandwich. I forgive you, Tony, for spitting on my sandwich.

Anyway, I got my Buffalo Chicken with Italian Herbs and Cheese bread, provolone cheese, heated instead of toasted, and topped with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onions, and ranch dressing. As is usually the case, the toppings were all fresh, the lettuce and cucumber were crispy, and the onions were crunchy.

Read the full review on DIHTS.com!

[Energy Drink Review] Xyience Xenergy: Lemon Blast

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Here’s a portion of a review on Caffeine Critic:

I’m sure that a lot of you who don’t know me assume that I’m an exceptionally fat, lazy sonofabitch that sits on his ass all day and does very little with the chemical energy I put into my body, instead letting it sit and be absorbed into my growing collection of pounds and thigh dimples. If you ask anyone who’s met me, they’ll tell you that, for the most part, you are right.

But that’s not true. I put my energy drinks towards great use to accomplish many amazing feats. No, not contracting diabetes. Jerks. I like to ride my bike a lot. I enjoy adventuring outdoors. I go to the gym every once and a while for strength training. But more important than any of those, I’m currently playing through Metroid Prime: Trilogy. The whole thing. All three games. From start to finish. I need the energy more than any physically active person out there.

So I figured since Xenergy is the official energy drink of the UFC, it would probably be up to the task of helping me collect all twelve artifacts in the first Metroid Prime.

Read the full review on CaffeineCritic.com!