Red Meat Reviews » Red Meat Reviews

For The Next 2 Weeks Only – Cat Shit One

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:41:25 +0000

Haven’t heard of Cat Shit One? Your not the only one. Its Japanese CGI madness I tell you, MADNESS!!!!

From what I watched its about 2 bunnies going on a rescue mission in the middle east where they have to waste some Camels, for reals. Hyper cute character design good enough to be in Pixar or Disney combined with the horrors of war in graphic detail make for a unique 25 minutes. The best part, you can stream the first episode for free for the next 2 weeks or so on youtube. or just check it out here,

Solid 4 bloody camel humps slices out of 5

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Gun Sword – To Many Awesome Cliches Wrapped Into One Series

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:13:46 +0000

If you crossed Vash the Satmpede with Kill Bill mix in some popular anime cliches like space cowboys and giant mechs your get Gun Sword, and as Martha would say, “it’s a good thing”

Straight out the gates this anime is one that any fanboy is going to like. Its hard to describe this 2005 anime series currently streaming on netflix, but I’ll make an attempt.

It centers around this wandering dude named Van, who has an Armor (A space mech) named Dan of Thursday and is looking for a man with a claw that murdered his soon to be wife. One day Dan meets Wendy, a girl that is looking for her brother, and thats where Gun Sword begins.

Gun Sword is 26 episodes long and it gets pretty deep when it comes to plot and character development. Turns out Van’s Armor, Dan of Thursday is one of 7 Armors that look over this world. Apparently this world was a prisoner planet a long time ago, so long in fact that the people of this planet have forgotten their own history. To keep the planets population in check, Dan of Thursday and 6 other Armors circle the planet in their own space station satelliete where they power up and rest until called upon by their pilot. Once summoned, the Armors land on the surface and the pilot assumes control.

Needless to say there are serious religious and world domination themes going on, all with clean animation, good voice acting on the English end, and some humor that actually works in an anime.

The best part about Gun Sword is that you don’t have to be an anime head to get into it. This is not to say that the hardcore anime freak-a-zoid will not dig this series, in fact they are going to love it.

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New Music Review Bites – Cage The Elephant, Jonquil, The Get Up Kids, Esben And The Witch, Say Hi, Chikita Violenta

Haaris Ahmed — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 06:16:26 +0000

Cage The Elephant – Thank You, Happy Birthday

A new year and Cage the Elephant kicks things off with their sophomore album, Thank You Happy Birthday. I have always pressed the fact that Cage the Elephant is a band to be experienced live, their 1st album was dope, but when I saw them live it all made sense. The second album is hardly much of the same, they don’t depart from their sound as much as they expand it and fuse new and exciting audio (like on Japanese Buffalo or Saber-tooth Tiger). They do have some really radio friendly that will rattle in your brain during your evening commute, buts songs like Indy Kidz, Sell Yourself, and Always Something rise above the rest of this highly recommended album.

Jonquil – One Hundred Suns EP

This one is for people who are fans of light hearted tracks, cause not everything has to be power chords and electronic beats. Jonquil comes at you with pure positivity and fun melodies with a heavy foot on keeping everything upbeat. For fans of bands like Vampire Weekend, Jonquil will scratch that indy itch for about 30 minutes, its an Ep people.

The Get Up Kids – There Are Rules

Can’t place my finger on why I like this band, I just do. Maybe its cause they are from the 90′s, maybe cause they are from the mid-west, or maybe its because this is their first new album since they broke up back in 2005. In any case this album is the Get Up Kids, only more grown up? I really cant tell cause it sounds like they had a blast making this album, which translates onto There are Rules. Worth a pick up if you are down with the Get Up Kids.

Esben And The Witch – Violet Cries

This is def my pic of the week. WARNING this album is not for everyone. I cant stress enough how much I dig this UK trio’s sound. When I hear any tracks off of Violet Cries it transports me to Sleepy Hallow (Disney Sleepy Hallow not Johnny Depp). I am suddenly walking under a full moon, I can smell the reeds as they rock to-and-fro in the night air, I hear the distant mating calls of toads and other amphibious swamp creatures getting it on; all while looking over my shoulder for the headless horseman and his flaming Jack-o-lantern.

To say this album is haunting would be a serious understatement. Harmonized vocals and drawn out guitar chords lulls the listener to a state of vulnerability that I haven’t felt since Tool. Esben and the Witch in no way sounds like Tool, but the effect is the same, scary music that doesn’t scare me.

Say Hi – Um, Uh Oh

How many albums can Say Hi put out? Um, Uh Oh is the 7th (i think). I have nothing bad to say about this album. If your a Say Hi fan then pick this one up. It sounds like some of these songs could have been on their previous album, Ohh’s and Ah’s, so theres nothing really new when it comes to the sound. Still its a solid pick up.

Chikita Violenta – TRE3S

Who the fuck is Chikita Violenta? Apparently they are a Mexican band that like to get down with that alternative sound. Chikita Violenta have a drastically different sound and style then what one is used to hearing coming from Mexico, in short they sound like they are art rock cats from Brooklyn. If you like lo fi pick up TRE3S

Foo Fighters at the Velvet Jones 1/28/11

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:09:14 +0000

You read the headline correctly, Dave, Nate, Pat, Taylor and Santa Barbara native Chris decided to do a show in SB, but instead of selling out a huge venue they opted to sweat it out at the Velvet Jones, a club that barely holds 300 people.

The concert was a secret, I didn’t find out about it till the day of the show. The rules to getting in were simple, follow the Foo Fighters on twitter and wait for some sort of sign. Between various twit pics of familiar features the California 101 North the Foo Fighter fanbase was in a nervous frenzy. I got a tip to que up outside Velvet Jones at 4pm from a buddy who was en route to pick me up. When we arrived we were greeted with small yet wide line of people. A bouncer came out announcing that you better have cash, be over 21 and the venue is only selling single wristbands. By the time my lady got off work and met up with our group the line was moving but luckily we got wrist banded up! A wave of 90′s nostalgia swept across my mind, it was rad to find out about a show via the internet and get tickets in an actual line and not an online fiasco.

I arrived at the nightclub around 9ish, caught some of the El Marichi Bronx, and then it was Foo Fighter time (around the 10pm mark). It was so surreal to see this band, who I have only experienced in a stadium setting. I was super close to the Foo, and so was everyone else because the venue is just that small.

So why were the Foo Fighters there? They decided to play their new album, cover to cover, no breaks, no bullshit, just pure Foo Fighter action. The new album rules, its super fast and aggressive, at least that’s how they rocked it on this particular Friday night. Instead of getting off stage after giving the crowd the entire new album(which is self titled, I think) they started busting out hit after hit form their extensive catalog of music.

I unfortunately had to leave at midnight, so I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing. Apparently the Foo Fighters played up until closing time, at least that is what the locals claim. I believe it, it looked like Dave Grohl was having a great time on stage, in between tracks he was talking shit and tweaking songs, he even gave his wife a little dedication. It was also a highlight seeing Pat Smear on stage, I have seen both Chris Shiflett and Taylor Hawkins bands at Velvet, but to see all those guys come collectively together as Foo Fighters at a place like Velvet Jones, well it doesn’t happen that often, I was just happy to be in the room.

The show was the tits. I hope more arena bands take a page from the Foo Fighters and play small club shows in Santa Barbara to work on new material as well as rock old hits until closing time; yeah I’m not going to hold my breath.

You are probably looking for a set list, Here is the set list that I ripped off of setlist.fm if you care about these types of things

1. Bridge Burning
2. Rope
3. Dear Rosemary
4. White Limo
5. Arlandria
6. These Days
7. Back & Forth
8. Matter of Time
9. Miss the Misery
10. I Should Have Known
11. Walk

12. All My Life
13. Times Like These
14. Generator
15. My Hero Play
16. Learn to Fly
17. Wattershed
18. Up in Arms
19. Big Me
20. Enough Space
21. Monkey Wrench
22. Hey, Johnny Park!
23. Everlong

Encore:

24. The Pretender
25. I’ll Stick Around
26. This is a Call

Also big ups to the Velvet Jones staff for being the best establishment for live music in Santa Barbara, you cats rule.

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Tetris on PS3 FINALLY

Haaris Ahmed — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:08:49 +0000

Tetris is one of the 1st games most of us remember playing as kids. Through the years puzzle games have come and gone, but Tetris is the constant. You would have thought Tetris would have been a standard game that came with the ps3, but you like me were wrong. EA has got off thier asses to deliver Tetris with some new twists and some updating.

The first thing EA did with Tetris is wash it in beautiful HD. EA could have stopped there and I would have been fine with that, but they didn’t. Lets talk single player action. EA has kept the standard marathon mode where you drop blocks till you lose. EA have also included different modes of gameplay called “variants”. These variant modes are different twists on the standard Tetris game. Some variant modes include added gravity, keeping below a certain laser line, and running matrix boxe which as soon as you drop a piece/block the matrix box actually shifts from left to right, pretty trippy.

Multiplayer mode is where it is at. You can play all the single payer modes in the multiplayer option both locally and online. The battle modes are my personal favorite . There is also a co-op mode that allows you to team battle as well, and yes you can do that online. The developers of Tetris took their time to make the online mode as fun as possible because lets face it, there is no feeling like kicking someones ass in Tetris and talking some shit afterwords, thanks EA.

Tetris was developed by the Russians to keep their cosmonauts sharp while in space in the 60′s. Like most things awesome Tetris is now owned by the world. Instead of playing this on an old school tube monitor or on your cell phone get down on some HD action and download this piece of humanity.

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Like Ninja Scroll? Basilisk Anime Review on Netflix

Haaris Ahmed — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:49:55 +0000

It has been a long time since Ninja Scroll came out. When I first watched Ninja Scroll it was a religious experience that i have carried till this day, Hell it started my anime obsession. The first time you watch Ninja Scroll you cant believe what your seeing, it is both shocking and beautiful. I have never seen violence portrayed in that matter.

Since the time of Ninja Scroll there have been a lot of ultra violent anime especially about the feudal age of Japan. Most animes are copies that are really generic or clones of Ninja Scroll. Basilisk is an anime that is cut from the same cloth but stands on its own two legs as an stand alone series.

Basilisk is a Romeo and Juliet story set in Feudal Japan about 2 opposing ninja clans. The story will send you on a twisted ride of political backstabbing, ninja magic, sex, murder, and of coarse mad ninja stars yo! The basic premise is about 2 ninja clans who have hated each other have a peace pact that has lasted hundreds of years decreed by the shogun at that time. This pact is dissolved because the Emperor’s wives both bear him a heir. These rival mothers want their sons to succeed the emperor. What is the shogun to do? His solution is to break the ninja pact by letting the opposing ninja clans represent the half brothers lineage. This will keep the war for power in the ninja world and will not become an internal blood bath, good news for japan, REAL BAD NEWS for the ninja clans. The shogun assembled an list of the ninja clans heads. The victor is the clan who eliminates the other clans heads first.

Both ninja clans HATE each other and have been waiting for this peace pact to be lifted, except for the heads of the clans which are young and in love and have been working on creating a permanent bridge of peace, but as most star crossed love stories go this is going to end with a lot of blood.

The animation is real clean, hardcore and in your face. If you are opposed to sex, blood, gore and murder than you shouldn’t watch this. I can not stress how epic this anime is. There is a lot of movement and some serious nudity and sexual exploitation on both sides. For example there is a ninja who once she organisms you die; her breath at the point of climax will kill anyone she is conjoined with, pretty bad ass. And thats just 1 of the many ninja’s in this anime.

With fast moving anime, a compelling story (which does drag at times) and twisted in ninja folklore Basilisk is a must watch for any fan of anime, ninja’s or just plain bad ass shit. Its currently streaming on netflix.

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Soul Eater – This Anime Series Will Consume Your Soul

Haaris Ahmed — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:30:47 +0000

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!!! I know we hear at the meat have been lazy as all hell, but 2011 is a whole new ball game. We will try me more productive this year, hooking all you carnivores up with awesomness, but no promises. On to the review, Soul Eater!

Soul Eater is one of the best anime series I have ever seen seen hands down. I passed it over on the netflix’s time and time again because I thought it was another run of the mill cliche cute anime series, I was WRONG, way wrong.

Soul Eater takes place on another plane of existence where the Grimm Reaper rules supremely, yet he cannot leave this plane due to the storyline of this anime. The Grimm Reaper develops a school for soul eaters and their misters to do his job of collecting souls. The soul eaters are people that have the power to slay evil spirits and witches by turning into actual weapons, and after the battle they consume souls to become more powerful, cool right? Misters are people that control the soul eater when they are in weapon mode. The realationshop between mister and weapon is what drives this anime into an epic series, after a couple of episodes you are attached to every character. The Grim Reaper is portrayed as a light hearted easy going kind of dude, but whenever it flashes back he is much MUCH darker.

The story centers around 3 students, but is mostly about Soul (a weapon) and his miester Maka. In the 1st episode Soul is about to become the Reapers new weapon. In order for a weapon to be yeilded by the Grim Reaper it has to consume 100 souls and 1 witch soul, but both Soul and Maka were tricked on on the witch soul and had to start from square one.

But thats just 1 character in an anime series that has many MANY characters and story lines that go all sorts of directions. MY NEW FAVORITE HERO IS BLACKSTAR. He is the man and his back story is simply sublime.

The animation style is so clean with a lot of movement, and there are a a LOT of episodes.

This anime is live Avatar the last air bender, great story for both the kids and adults alike, I think, I don’t have kids. Its streaming for free on netflix right now, what more do you want.

Me and Black Star are giving this epic anime 5 soul eating meats!!!

31 Days of Halloween Bonus Feature- House of the Devil

The Caped Tirader — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:46:16 +0000

House of the Devil is a nearly perfect homage to the great horror movies of the late 70′s/early 80′s. The atmosphere, the grainy film, the clothes and hair-do’s take you back to a better much simpler time in horror. One where killers killed and young girls got killed by killers who kill.

The movie focuses around Samantha; a young college student who needs a job. Samantha finds one as a babysitter at a terrifically creepy house with an address that is, of course, in the middle of nowhere. Well, as you would expect when a young girl goes to babysit in a house that’s miles from everyone, she encounters a satanic cult and madness ensues.

As I said, this movie is a NEARLY perfect homage to the films of old. All it really was missing was gratuitous boobies (don’t click lest ye have a sense of humor), and I really coulda used a bit more struggle once the madness ensued; though the tension build up was NICE.

Anyway, give it a go if you are looking for a fun flick with some reminiscent themes.

Throw some bacon on them steaks!

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The 31 Days of Halloween-Day 31- Trick R’ Treat

The Caped Tirader — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 15:05:19 +0000

Day 31: The last day of the countdown is finally here! I hope everyone enjoyed it. I have to end this count down the same way I did last year. Have a great Halloween!

Trick R’ Treat (2009) (delayed since 2007)

I will start this one like a few others I’ve posted. Trick R’ Treat is not a ‘scary’ movie. It is, however, a great movie to ring in Halloween night.

This movie is all about the rules of Halloween and, moreover, what happens if you break those rules.

In case you were wondering what happens…you get killed. Perhaps by this little guy (Sam) in the picture

The movie is actually 4 short stories that are intertwined and connected by these rules. There are werewolves, creepy kids, a murderous principal, and of course Sam- the protector of Halloween rules.

This straight to DVD flick has plenty of well known actors in it (including Anna Paquin), The cinematography of the flick is its strongest point. Perfect for a chilly fall evening full of ghosts and ghouls. Make sure you follow the rules…or risk being stalked and then murdered by this little demon protector.

Once again. I hope you all enjoyed this countdown.

5 juicy steaks

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The 31 Days of Halloween- day 30- SAW

The Caped Tirader — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:58:35 +0000

Saw

Ok, so I know a lot of people are sick of Saw because of all of the sequels, but hear me out. 1st, part of what makes horror movies great is the fact that the killer doesn’t die and you get to see him (or her) kill over and over again. 2nd, as far as originality in a horror movie goes, Saw is right up there near the top

3rd, this movie series actually holds sentimental value with me. Sounds ridiculous I know, but on October 29, 2004 I took Mrs. Caped on our first date. Being the romantic that I am, that date was to see Saw. Anyway, YES, she still ended up marrying me. So the Saw series became a running point of humor in our relationship. We call it our anniversary movie because every year since, there has been a sequel in the theater during our anniversary.

Ok, so if you can get past Danny Glovers horrifically terrible acting, Saw 1 is a smart and fun ride. The death scenes are creative and the plot has great twists.

Saw II (my favorite in the series) is more of the same but it pits a group of criminals together in a house. Get ready to cringe and gasp about 30 seconds after one of the criminals uncovers a hole in the floor full of syringes.

We just went and saw SAW 3d last night and it DID NOT disappoint! Lots of gore and some fun, cheesy 3d blood effects for good measure. Plus a return role for Carey Elwes. Overall it was a good “final” chapter to the series

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