Ripper’s Recommendations Pt 1

Being a fresher at university is a tiring and busy experience, and this is the first time I’ve been able to sit down and actually write something for this week – and I promise it’s not AFI related this time. I was going to review ‘Daisy’ by Brand New, but I left it on my PS3 and have no access to it whatsoever. So this week, I thought I’d do recommendations. They may not be necessarily new, they could be ridiculously well known, or they might become your new favourite. Who knows!

Band of the week
After seeing that there was a punk society at my uni, I got all excited and started listening to lots of hardcore in preparation. One of those bands was Cutting Class, a British(!) hardcore band who have released one hell of an EP. The free Tour EP is punk as fuck and great to throw down to. The lyrics are true and from the heart, and the breakdowns are some of the greatest I’ve heard in hardcore for a long time. These guys are going to be huge in the hardcore scene given chance, so give them all the support you can!

Movie of the week
Hot Rod is possibly the funniest film of all time. Seriously. The first three times you watch it, you wonder why you’re laughing, and why you’re actually watching it. Then you watch it a few more times and see its genius. Hot Rod is the brain child of The Lonely Island, a comedy troupe featuring SNL’s Andy Samberg as the titular character. Rod Kimble is a very shit stuntman who decides to pull off the biggest stunt his suburban neighbourhood have ever seen to raise money for his dying step-father’s heart transplant… all so he can kick his ass when he gets better. It is as stupid as it sounds, and that’s totally part of its charm! If you’re a Saturday Night Live fan, you’ll probably love this.

Game of the week
I have no access to my PS3, so I’m stuck with my DS. I did find someone here who brought their Wii, and after talking to them for a bit, we decided on the ultimate title. Super Smash Bros Brawl. Think Nintendo’s most classic characters battling it out for the top spot… whilst smashing each other to pieces. Brawl is ridiculously addictive, even if you don’t like fighting games. It’s got undeniable charm, as every character has their own special attacks relevant to their game. It doesn’t need to be in depth and you can pretty much just pick it up and give it a go. And it has Kirby in it. What more do you need?

Book of the week
I actually read this a few weeks ago, but I haven’t found anything yet which touches it on the scale of awesome. I’m talking about American Gods by Neil Gaiman. American Gods is an outstanding tale of a young man named Shadow as he gets tangled up in a war between the classic gods of old and the new gods of media and economics. The book is huge, but I managed to finish it in less than a week because I could not stop reading it. It’s fantasy at its very best, without being too confusing. The characters feel familiar because they are familiar, and even though you’ll recognise almost every god, Gaiman gives them a face, a name, a personality. It’s an incredibly in depth book, but it’s also very easy to read. If you don’t read any other Gaiman books, read this.

TV show… ever
Truth be told, I have never watched anything better than Supernatural. Not even Buffy, and I’m a big Whedonite. Supernatural is essentially the tale of two brothers who hunt demons and other big bad mythical creatures, all for the sake of revenge. Those two brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester are also ridiculously attractive, which certainly helps keep my attention at least. Good looks aside, the story is one of the most unique I’ve seen on television in a long time and it gets bigger and better with every season, unlike Sam’s hair. Supernatural can be found on Living TV at the moment, where they’re about to start Season 5 (which by the way, is EPIC).

Want me to review anything? Drop me a line at ripper@twobeatsoff.co.uk!

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