Arcade Fire, Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA 10/3/10

I have to travel to the Bay Area once a week because I've been interning at a post-production house in San Francisco. Today on the drive down I listened to pretty much nothing but Arcade Fire, trying to remember the amazing performance that happened the night before. Nowadays, I would just tweet a bunch about stuff, but I felt compelled to blog this one. I had a lot of things on my mind I guess.

-One of the best parts of the evening was the double dip of Regine Chassagne songs. Really early into the set they did "Haiti" and "Sprawl II". I didn't think I would hear "Haiti" live, so when they started playing it I may have freaked out a bit. My squeals of joy were hopefully drowned out by the crowd. Another nice surprise was "Ocean of Noise."

-This was my first concert in a year. I went to one show last year which was the second day of the Treasure Island Music Festival when The Flaming Lips headlined. I also saw The Decemberists and Beirut that day but it wasn't that memorable. Mainly because although I love Beirut, I can't listen to them for long periods of time because they make me sleepy. The Decemberists, who I really love, only performed The Hazards of Love beginning to end. I don't really like it when bands do that. Perform one album. It's kind of lame. The Flaming Lips were awesome. Seeing them live is quite an experience, but I don't consider them one of my favorite favorite bands. I knew the words to the songs, and I was dancing and jumping but I don't know. They're right outside the top ten or something for me. The whole reason for me explaining this was because last night's Arcade Fire show was the first time since probably going to concerts in Chicago, that I felt that really amazing feeling of just giving personal energy to the band performing and getting an equal amount of energy back. Being in the presence of a band that you love and seeing them give an amazing performance is one of the best feelings you can experience, in my opinion.

-They didn't play "My Body is a Cage." I didn't even think about that song until I heard it tonight. Now I feel disappointed. Only a little.

-Despite what you may think about "Wake Up," like maybe you think it's played out, or you might not even be familiar with the song, I implore everyone to go to an Arcade Fire show just to hear that song live. It is the ultimate sing-along and dance-along at the end when it gets upbeat. It was an amazing sight to see.

-I noticed that the crowd response for "Month of May" was kind of low. It's not my favorite song on "The Suburbs," and I don't know if I'm part of the majority when it comes to that song. They keep playing that song when they perform though, so I don't know. Funny story though, I was standing next to a girl with her arms folded tight. I wanted to wail in her ear, "HOW YOU GONNA LIFT IF WITH YOUR ARMS FOLDED TIGHT? TELL ME!"

-Poor Will Butler! He ate it hard while running around during "Rebellion." He was playing a drum(maybe a tom?) and he was just running around like a wild man, and he slipped. He quickly got up though. Probably had a lot of adrenaline going inside of him but it looked like it totally hurt.

Based on my enjoyment factor of last night's performance, I can comfortably put Arcade Fire near the top of my all time favorite bands. It's been an interesting journey for Arcade Fire and me. I was one of the few people that didn't really like "Funeral" at first. Besides "Rebellion," I just didn't enjoy it for whatever reason. When "Neon Bible" came out though, I was like "Oh, this is pretty cool." I think because it's probably their most depressing album is what attracted me to it. This year, "The Suburbs" came out, and my album of the year list now reads like this:

1. "The Suburbs" - Arcade Fire

2-100. Don't know yet. "The Bridge" by DLRN is somewhere in there. "Teen Dream" by Beach House. Everything else is a question mark.

Episode 13

STORY OF MY LIFE

   

EPISODE 11

Hey cuddlahz and cuddlahettez, lukewarm off the presses is Episode 11 of our fun-loving non-action, non-adventure podcast!

After a tasteless joke by Pierre, Alvin's agent Shawn Manilow takes the show in is his own slimy hands and the direction of the show will never be the same... AGAYNE. Plus the anti-climactic conclusion of Alvin's curse.

PLUS: an exclusive interview with villainous heartthrob Joran Van der sloot's brother, Jacobi! He is none too pleased with his blood broham! Santigold vs. Lady Gaga? Etymological origin of the goddamn vuvuzela! Drunken stories and why Alvin's mom almost didn't go to his wedding! Ketchup on hot dogs: blasphemous? Alvin talks his video game bullsquid and why Judd Apatow is making women pointless in romantic comedies. PLUS: Pierre defends Amanda Bynes even though she seems sorta cunty.

Uploaded July 3, hopefully in time for y'all to listen to while on your way to your 4th of July destination. Be safe all day errday!

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P: @finethanksokay

Spiz: @spizarelli

the show: @madcuddlez

WHATDAFEEZY?~

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i needs ta shave, nigga

treds and spiz 4eva

No Podcast This Week

Our brief streak of having a timely release of our podcast will be ending this week. It's been difficult to get everyone together. Mostly it's my bad because I haven't been around much during the evenings because I have to get up everyday at 5:30am to bring the wife to work which means I have to go to bed at a reasonable time. Also, this prevents me from getting really drunk, which I like to do during shows. Another reason that I haven't been around is because I'm playing lots of video games. The only time I've had available in the last two weeks is Friday night which is probably the worst night to do it because everyone goes out. I don't really know when we'll do another episode but once we do I'll keep you updated. We still plan to talk about "The Room" so sit tight podcast fans. Thanks again for listening.

Mad Cuddlez Goes to the Movies!

If you're in the Bay Area this weekend and you have nothing to do around midnight, come see the phenomenon that is "The Room." It's playing at the Red Vic Movie House on Haight. The guy who played Mark will be there. Hopefully I can snap a pic with him. Come hang out with us while we act obnoxious and throw spoons at the screen.

Mad Cuddlez Episode 6: Fred Boliba Murders Victims in Their Sleep

I'm trying to make up for the lack of episodes in February, so here you go, back to back. We talk about the Pacquiao fight, our friend Jtreds and his love for the Lost Boyz, and we rate the girls of ABC's TGIF lineup. Thanks for listening and show your love. Email the show at madcuddlez@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter(@spizarelli, @finethanksokay) and visit the blog runningcorrespondence.blogspot.com.

Songs featured:

"Air"(Barrett's Theme) - MF Doom from Vinyl Fantasy 7
"Don't Want Your Love" - Great Scots
"Softshock" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Music Makes Me High" - Lost Boyz
"Outrage" - Booker T and the MG's
"Getz Ya Grown Man On"(Remix) - San Quinn, Mistah F.A.B, Turf Talk, and Clyde Carson

Links

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From Hating Action Games to God of War III Slapping Some Sense Into Me

Up until this past February, I haven't ever played a God of War game. Nothing against the game, but I have never owned a Sony console so that would make playing God of War a problem. Today I just finished God of War III and that has to be one of the best game experiences I've ever had. It's crazy because after playing Dante's Inferno, and completely hating it, then God of War I, which I didn't finish because nothing compelled me to do so, I had no desire to play God of War III.

Let me briefly take you back to the beginning of the year. Actually I'll just sum it up like this because I really shouldn't waste energy on talking about this piece of shit. If you think it was a good game and you want to discuss it with me, we can do that but I have a feeling that I'm not going to get much argument. To sum all of that up: I got really frustrated playing this game. I died at times where I didn't think I should have because of the stupid fixed camera and simple platforming that had to be done miles away from the camera so I couldn't see where the fuck I was jumping, the combat was not interesting or satisfying, and the story/the environments we're meant to be enjoyed by 12 year olds. Fuck you Dante's Inferno, you piece of dog shit, and more importantly FUCK YOU FOR HINTING AT A SEQUEL.

You should play this game if you like tits though. I'll say that. And penises too. In case you didn't know, the Devil has a giant black cock that he just really wants to show Dante. So play this game if you like that kind of stuff. Oh, oh and in the Lust level, guess what? VAGINA'S ON THE WALLS! EVERYWHERE! Honestly, I didn't care for all of that. This is supposed to be Hell, you know? I wasn't afraid of it at all.

After that fiasco I was surprised by my wife with a Valentine's Day PS3 aka the greatest Valentine's Day gift ever. I mean, you don't expect that kind of a gift on Valentine's Day. Anyway my first desire was to just catch up with all the Sony exclusive games that I've been missing out on. I rented the God of War Collection and I eagerly dove in. Man, people weren't kidding about it being exactly like Dante's Inferno. I could still feel that scar that Dante's Inferno left on nut-sack while going through God of War I. It wasn't completely the same though. I would agree that what I was playing was slightly more enjoyable than DI, but there were still things annoying me about it. The fixed camera still bugged me. The combat was definitely better though I wasn't very good at it, and there were two situations that pretty much caused me to stop playing the game. *SLIGHT SPOILERS HIGHLIGHT TO VIEW* The first part was that conveyor belt part where you have to push the pillar across the screen against a conveyor belt while enemies are attack you. I spent awhile on that part and after I got past it I told myself, "If there is something like this later in the game, I'm going to stop playing." Sure enough, there is a part during The Challenge of Poseidon in which you have to push a caged human, up a hill, while enemies are attacking you, and make sure you put the caged human on one of the few random ledges that are strung about this giant hill. If you don't do that the guy slides all the way down to the bottom and you have to start over.*SLIGHT SPOILERS END* Sure enough, I stopped playing.

God of War was fighting an uphill battle to win my affection. I had just been heartbroken by Dante and now, I didn't have the patience to do anything difficult, so I stopped. I didn't even bother trying God of War II. I figured, "Same shit. It'll be cool but I'll just end up getting annoyed." I needed to step away from action games.

I went to my local Blockbuster to rent some gaming goodness and there it was. The last available copy of God of War III. I could have played something else, but I was really hoping that Heavy Rain was going to be available but it wasn't. HEY! If you rent from the Fair Oaks Blockbuster and you have Heavy Rain: Why the fuck do you still have it? It takes 8 hours to finish it. Can you PLEASE return it already? Reluctantly, I grabbed it and took it home. I told myself, "It's a new game. You can't pass it up. Maybe it'll be good," but yeah, I was reluctant.

GOD OF WAR III IS AWESOME.

I love almost everything about it. It's a 9 hour non-stop thrill ride that had me smiling the entire time. I enjoyed every death and dismemberment in the game. "You need that eye? Too bad, I'm pulling it out and I'm going to cover myself in your eye blood. Oh that's a nice head you have. Now, it's mine and I'm using it for a lantern." It was always something different and it had me going either, "FUCK YEAH" or "GAWWW DISGUSTING!" The puzzles are challenging but not too difficult, and I looooove the combat. So much to do, so many options to kill people with. It was like Kratos felt my pain these last few months and said, "You know what? I'm angry too man. Let's say you and me take out our anger on EVERYONE THAT WE POSSIBLY CAN." The scale of the game is amazing too. This game did in fact do a lot of that stuff that annoyed me in Dante's Inferno in terms of zooming the camera back to make you see how crazy this situation is, but God of War III never asked me to do anything extremely difficult. God of War III never made me feel insignificant either whereas Dante's Inferno made me feel like a wimp lightly scratching enemies with my little harvesting tool. The people who made God of War III(Sony-Santa Monica) I think really understand the craft of making a good game. They kept it interesting, constantly moving you forward, and completely masked any kind of sense of repetitiveness.

I think that because of Dante's Inferno, I can really appreciate God of War III. I understand what is shit and what is fucking genius in terms of action games. So thanks Dante's Inferno for sucking balls. Now I have to go back to Blockbuster to rent Heavy Rain. If they don't have that, maybe, just maybe I'll rent God of War Collection and try to play God of War II. Probably not though. I just want to let this good feeling soak in. My next rant I'm planning is talking about Modern Warfare vs. my new lover, Battlefield Bad Company 2. We'll see though, I need to get my blogging legs back.

MCP EPISODE 5: Wha Cha Doin is Stealin Ain't Cha Degenerate?

We're back after some time away. Pierre has been up to stuff and I got a PS3 so I've completely tuned out. We talk about St. Patrick's Day, answer a whole bunch of questions from our favorite listener, and hate on the Olympics and other shit. Listen, laugh, and enjoy. Please subscribe to the show in the iTunes store to get episodes instantly, and leave a review if you'd like. You can email the show at madcuddlez@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter(@spizarelli or @finethanksokay). Thanks guys and gals.

Songs featured in this episode:

EPMD feat. Redman, Method Man, and Lady Luck - Symphony 2000
Charmels - I'll Gladly Take You Back
Neon Indian - Terminally Chill
Daft Punk - One More Time
Kyeremateng Atwede & Kyeremateng Stars - I go die for you
Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello - Carpetbaggers

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and if u dont dance well then *SHRUGS ya no friend of mine!

u can dance if ya want to!