Hey! That's up for review!

    Today, something is not up for review. Instead, we appreciate the life of Chris Cornell and his contributions to the music industry and our lives. For those of us who knew and loved his music, we have fallen "on black days" as his race here in life is now finished. I will not entertain any of the rumors or the well covered stories of his struggles. This is not for that. This is simply to appreciate him and be a reminder of what was lost today.     Chris Cornell... a name that resonates across the music industry. He was the leading warrior for Soundgarden which lead the grunge rock movement in the US in the late 80s and into the 90s. He is also known for Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, and his solo works.     His vocal range was unrivaled and if you've ever been around a radio you've heard him belting out his hits in a super high octave. No one quite like him. He achieved so many accolades in his more >30 year career. In 2005, ranked 12th in MTV's "2...

    As we continue down this road of blogging, there will be times when I need to preview events so that you as the reader can go take advantage of it! I don't want you always on the outside looking back on something wishing you could've been there. Here's one of those times where I'm firing off the flare to signal to you to schedule in some time to make it to Memphis in May's World Championship BBQ Festival this week (if you're in the area).     If you know anything about Memphis, there are 3 things it is known for: Music (blues, in particular), it's wonderful heritage, and BBQ. This week in Memphis, it is all about the slow smokers down at Tom Lee Park. Last year over 16 Tons of pork was smoked during the 3 day event. For the first time ever, the festival has been expanded into four days instead of three.      MIM BBQ Fest served host to 26 teams in 1978 for it's inaugural festival and has now grown to over 250 teams from all over the country and...

    I was lucky enough to have been contacted by the developer for Astrokarts for a review on their space racer on the Oculus platform. This is my opinion and I have not scaled it back in anyway.     Astrokarts is a game that is one part F-Zero (Super NES) and one part Tie Fighter Scene from A New Hope (Star Wars). Astrokarts reminds me of F-Zero because it is ultra fast, has a great soundtrack, and has tons of ships to choose from the only difference is it is set up in a space racer where you must avoid all kinds of galactic objects in order to beat the other ships you're racing against. It's part Tie Fighter for obvious reasons you'll see when you play.     Astrokarts features a wide variety of ships. There are several seating arrangements that may work better for each player. This gives the game a lot of depth for the player to enjoy many different ways of racing. Whether you stand, sit, or lay down there's a flying style for you. There...

    If you had told me years ago that I would be reviewing a Harry Styles album, I likely would've told you, you didn't know me or you had the wrong guy. I'll admit to you now, I am not a One Direction (#1D) fan. I am naturally skeptical of the musical prowess of these guys when they breakout on their own. There has only been one really successful ex-boy band member... All hail King Timberlake for making the transition.     About a month ago, I caught wind of Harry Styles solo album being released sometime in early May. I rolled my eyes as I've seen this before with Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, 98*Degrees, etc. They've all broken up, they've all tried the solo route, and with the exception of the aforementioned Timberlake, they've all failed at clearing the gap.    Harry Styles self-titled album released on May 12th, 2017. It was easy to find in the "New Releases" section of Spotify. I queued it up knowing it was going to be a solo version of a 1D a...

    Today, we dive into the world of virtual reality! I've had my Oculus Rift for a couple of months now and have been completely blown away. I'll do a complete review on the Oculus soon, but for now we focus on Robo Recall by Epic Games. It was released on March 1, 2017.     Robo Recall is a first person shooter in which the gamer controls a character named Agent 34. You have just been moved up in the RoboReady Corporation to a Recall Specialist. Starting out you have access to pistols but later you can unlock shotguns, revolvers and plasma rifles. Pistol/Revolver holsters are on your hips whereas Shotgun/Plasma Rifle holsters are on your back. To draw a weapon the user simply pulls one out of the holster by grabbing it using the Oculus Rift controllers. To reload, Agent 34 must drop his gun and pull a new one from the holster. Guns regenerate to the holster after a short period of time. To move around the map in Robo Recall, users must use the teleportation featu...

Disclaimer: I have not read the novel. I am basing this review on the TV show only.     Thirteen Reasons Why is a show based on the young adult novel by Jay Asher. The book achieved #1 on New York Times best sellers list (2011). The Netflix exclusive debuted this past March.     This is a story about a boy named Clay Jensen who receives an unexpected package. There are seven cassettes and each side features details aimed at a particular classmate outlining reasons why the author, Hannah Baker, committed suicide and their role in it. Reasons for which she outlines has to do with bullying and sexual assault. Each person who receives the tapes is to listen to all of them in order and then pass them along to the next subject.     This high school has every dilemma you can find. I don't know what world this school exists in but I feel the writer was reaching way too much to make the readers feel something. Is there a school in America where a g...

    Chris Stapleton might have one of the more appropriate names in the industry. For over a decade, he has been a major Staple  in the Nashville-music scene, collaborating with artists such as Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bently and Brad Paisley on their albums and serving as a songwriter for Vince Gill, George Strait, and Kenny Chesney.     I was raised on country music. I remember being a kid and singing Garth Brooks, George Strait, Travis Tritt, Hank Williams, Jr., and Clint Black just to name a few. As I grew older, I watched the landscape of country music start to change. It became pop with a twang. It became watered down. As I write this I am reminded like Alabama once sang "If you wanna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band." As I watched this genre breakdown and become a shell of itself, I grew tired of the major players. I walked away. I still kept the good ol' stuff on my Spotify playlist but I wasn't actively searching out for the nex...