Bombastic EP CD Review

  Finally Bonnie McKee has released her EP Bombastic in physical form. First it was available as a digital download on iTunes or Google Play, those seemed to be the only two places you were able to download it, Now the long awaited wait is over to get a CD release of this EP.
  Now you can buy the CD directly from Bonnie McKee since she is an independent artist right now. Her online store is here http://bonnie-mckee.myshopify.com/.
 The CD is an autographed copy, which is also a plus since the CD is only $5.99 plus $2 for shipping. Bombastic is in a digipak case, not a jewel case which is also a plus, It gives the CD a more Nine Inch Nails feeling to it since it comes in a digipak. On a side note you can't get the CD in a normal record store to my best of knowledge.
  The tracklisting for Bombastic is

1. I Want It All
2. Bombastic
3. Wasted Youth
4. Easy

  Oddly enough the CD does have a barcode on the back of the digipak, I guess this is for in case retailers want to carry the CD. It's pretty cool for an independent artist to get a company to press CD's for them. If Trent Reznor was able to do it when he had his own label, The Null Corporation than anyone can do it.
  Bombastic is an amazing EP. First off it has been long overdue for a followup album to Trouble which was released on September 28th, 2004. The 2 best songs on the 4 track EP are Bombastic and Wasted Youth. In fact all of the songs on the EP sound amazing on my Altec-Lansing Speakers.

You Didn't Make That: Jeep DJ-5

Today's post will be very brief. A couple of years ago Jeep had a Jeep DJ-5 Dispatcher hat on their merchandise site. If you don't know what Jeep DJ5 is, it was a Jeep that was made for the USPS back in the 1970s. Anyway Jeep never made the Jeep DJ5 Dispatcher, AM General made it. So I don't get why it was even on their website. I guess it was a Jeep Thing that I wouldn't understand.

Obscure Hot Wheels Car of The Day Number 1: Syd Mead's Sentinel 400 Limo

  Today I thought I would start reviewing what are in my own opinion, obscure Hot Wheels cars. These cars may be obscure to them being relatively unknown in the modern world, or cars that were only made once such as an ex Corgi casting.

The original artwork for the Sentinel 400 Limo

  Syd Mead is a well known concept artist and futurist. Some of his designs have been featured in hit movies such as Blade Runner, Tron and Aliens and has even spread out to the video game industry as well. So in 2002 Mattel for some odd reason thought it would be cool to make one of his concept art into a Hot Wheels car. So they did they chose the Sentinel  400 Limo from his book Sentinel which features a ton of car concept art. Out of all the cars that were in that book they chose the Sentinel 400 Limo. So far the Sentinel 400 Limo is the only concept art of Syd Mead that has ever been turned into a Hot Wheels car.
   This car is one of my favorite Hot Wheels cars. It rolls smooth and it looks great when placed next to other iconic movie cars such as the DeLorean Time Machine or the 1989 Batmobile. The Sentinel 400 Limo has been re released and repainted a couple of times since it debuted in 2002. However those cars are painted nothing like the original 2002 First Edition. If you ever see the 2002 First Edition, buy it it's worth every penny.

The Worst PlayStation2 Game Ever

  What is the worst PlayStation2 game ever? Well In my own opinion, that game is Super Trucks Racing. This game is so glitchy and flawed, that in order to sell the game they had to bundle the game with PlayStation2 consoles. I love semi trucks and racing games, so what could possibly go wrong with this game? Well the controls are goofy, that they give EA Sports NASCAR Games look 10 times as better. In fact unlike NASCAR games, Super Trucks Racing uses the analog sticks to steer whereas the you use the D-pad to steer in EA's NASCAR Games.
   Super Trucks Racing was 99.9% Road Courses and to unlock the speedway, you could use a cheatcode that doesn't work at all. Yeah I've tried that cheat code a million times and the freaking speedway doesn't unlock. This game is horrid. I'd rather play Barney's Hide And Seek for the Sega Genesis.
   In Fact Barney's Hide and Seek for Sega Genesis is a better game. It's not glitched to my best knowledge. Why am I comparing a shitty PS2 game to what is possibly the worst Sega Genesis game of all time? I don't know why but it's the only shitty game I could compare it to.
  Super Trucks Racing is one of the worst PS2 games ever made hands down. Don't just take my word for it, go read other reviews and opinions of it on GameFAQs or IGN or, some other gaming website. The reviews pretty much agree that this game is a colossal peace of dogshit. 

The Official Playstation Magazine

reviewed this game on 01/01/04

and gave it  a 1.5 out of 5 stars.

Things That Grind My Gears Number 1: Hot Topic's Clearance Sales.

    I haven't blogged since last year, so it got me thinking that I should be blogging again. One of the things that really grinds my gears is Hot Topic's clearance sales. That's right, the 50% off all clearance T-shirts. Whenever I go into a Hot Topic when they have this sale, it's always a jumbled up mess. Literally it's a real pain in the butt to go looking for a clearance T-Shirt? Why is that?
  Well for starters, all of the clearance T-Shirts are thrown into cardboard boxes that are not categorized into size. So everytime I go into Hot Topic looking for lets say a WWE T-shirt on clearance, I have to dig into an unorganized cardboard box to look for a T-shirt that they may or may not have if any that are in my size. It's really frustrating to look for T-shirts in this manner.
  This brings me to my second part of my complaint, the sizes. Is it me or is it that Hot Topic's clearance sales for their T-shirts, always seem to have too many smalls? I buy my T-shirts in a size XL because that way when I wash them they will shrink up so they'll still fit me anyway. I'm usually a large. I think that Hot Topic buys way too many size small T-shirts, because that's what 99.999% of the sizes are that are on the 50% off clearance sale. Really when I do find a shirt that I like, it unfortunately is a size small.
   It pisses me off every single time they have one of these sales. Sometimes you're better off buying on of the wristbands when they are 50% off. I got my Nine Inch Nails wristband and my NECA Lone Ranger badge that way. Why pay $15 for a replica prop badge from a box office bomb, when you can pay $7 for it?  Yeah sometimes their clearance sales can get you a good deal if you can get to the sale early enough I guess. WWE shirts seem to go really fast when they are on clearance.

Music Choice Overplays Too Many Songs

  I love Music Choice, then again I hate it sometimes. I hate it more than I love it more often now because they are starting to overplay certain songs while others are taking a backseat. In fact one song that seems to be played on every variant of the pop music channels, is Cool Kids by Echosmith. I used to like that song when I first heard it on Music Choice but then I began to despise it. I really despise it. It's on every channel! It won't go away! It can never be undone!
  Music Choice seems to get a hard on for certain artists, such as One Direction, Ecosmith, and Bruno Mars for some reason but they never play enough of artists that do need the airplay and exposure such as Bonnie McKee. I rarely hear her song American Girl on Music Choice anymore. I used to hear it on there once and a while on several of their different genres of pop music channels but hearing Bonnie McKee on there becomes a rare sighting.
  I think Music Choice really needs to stop playing the same damn songs over and over again. This is why I don't listen to the radio anymore in the car since I have a USB drive. I can choose what I want to listen to, without having to hear the same song being played at the top of every hour. Plus you don't have to bother with changing the stations.

Trouble By Bonnie McKee Album Review

 Today will mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Bonnie McKee's debut album, Trouble. It was released on September 28th 2004 which like most CD release dates was a Tuesday. You might not have heard of Bonnie McKee before, but you've probably have heard some of her work as a songwriter, co-writing hit songs with Katy Perry and many other major pop artists of today.

Album artwork for Trouble

  All of the songs on Trouble were written by Bonnie McKee herself when she was still in high school. All of the songs are great for someone who wrote them all by herself. However after putting out two singles, Trouble, and Somebody, the songs failed to chart and the album became a flop. The single Somebody was even featured on the Soundtrack for Win A Date With Ted Hamilton. Bonnie McKee was later dropped from Reprise Records after the album flopped.
  However since the album was a flop, doesn't mean its a bad album, it's not. The album is pretty amazing and it is on my top 10 favorite albums list. It's constantly has a place in my 5 disc CD changer, my USB drive in the car and on my phone. That just goes to show you that I can't get enough of it.
  The tracklisting for Trouble is as follows,

1. Trouble
2. When It All Comes Down
3. Open Your Eyes
4. Somebody
5. A Voice That Carries
6. Honey
7. Green Grass
8. January
9. Marble Steps
10. Sensitive Subject Manner
11. I Hold Her
12. Confessions Of A Teenage Girl

 Even though Trouble flopped, Bonnie McKee has stated in interviews that she practically disowned the album. She even has stated that she can't even listen to it anymore because it is too painful. Many bands and artists have disowned earlier albums such as Styx with their first 4 albums on Wooden Nickel Records.
   This album is pretty hard to find on CD. Just how hard to find is it? Well just go into your local record store and look for this album and see if they have one. You probably won't find it. I went to several F.Y.E.'s and even the local independent record store looking for this CD and they didn't have it. I was lucky enough to get a brand new copy from a third party seller on Amazon for $20 back in February this year. I wouldn't normally spend $20 on a CD unless its a limited edition film score from La La Land Records. However on an interesting note when I bought the CD on Amazon at the time there was a ton of used copies of Trouble on Amazon and they since have been all sold. People are getting into her music thanks to her new single American Girl.
  On the other hand you can still buy the MP3 version of this album from iTunes or AmazonMP3 for around $9.99 which is the cost of the monthly subscription rate for the WWE Network.
  Now my favorite songs from Trouble are Trouble, When It All Comes Down, Somebody, A Voice That Carries, January, and I Hold Her. I believe that all of the songs on Trouble had the potential to become hit singles. Overall I give Trouble five out of five stars because it's an album that doesn't get the credit that It deserves. It's an underdog of an album. I think that the album could have gone far if the label would have promoted it properly but they didn't.
  Trouble will always be one of my favorite albums. There's no doubt about that.