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POP CULTURE PURCHASES

 

 

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House Season Four
Fox DVD

The problem with House after season
three was it became so ridiculous.
Come on, I mean who gets away with
what he does? He breaks the law and
he is able to get away with it. Give me
a break. However, season four was
almost like rebooting the series. It was
like the writing team admitted “we
screwed up, our bad” and then really
got to work. And from that point on

he got a new team and a more realistic
sense of being. House became more
human, which can only be seen through
the course of season four, now released
on DVD.

—Matthew Steinbach

 

 

 

The Waking Eyes
Holding on to Whatever It Is

Winnipeg’s The Waking Eyes are
pushing their music in a lot of different
directions, with mixed results. If

you like variety then you may enjoy
this album for a while. But, with the
exception of “All Empires Fall,” most
of the songs on Holding on to Whatever
It Is become unbearable with repeated
listening. Once you get past the musical
novelty —be it xylophones, harmonica,
French horn, or techno beats—there’s
rarely a decent song to go along with

it. The band’s experimentation may
serve them well later, but until their
songwriting reaches the same level

as their expanding musical talents,
they’ll continue to sound like a bunch
of talented high school kids on a sugar
rush. By far the lamest thing about this
album is that there are several songs
that use digital manipulation to make
the singer sound like he has a robot
voice. Seriously. Didn’t these guys learn
anything about that from “Mr. Roboto?”

—Mark Fisher

 

 

 

World of Warcraft: Wrath of
the Lich King

Blizzard Entertainment

The second expansion of WoW is
finally out, and this time it features

the new continent of Northend and

the new hero class, the Death Knight.
Furthermore, the level cap has been
raised to 80 and a new profession called
inscription has been introduced. Death
Knights start at level 55 with full gear
and even get a nice glowing enchant on
their sword within the first couple of
quests. They also learn how to summon
a Deathcharger mount at level 55.

The most interesting part, however, is
that the Death Knight starts out under
control of the Lich King (who, by the
way, isn’t as tall as I thought he would
be, although his voiceover does sound
quite creepy). All in all, it’s a really
good expansion set thus far. As a side
note, inscription uses crushed herbs

to make ink, so expect to see inflated
prices at the auction house on all herbs.

—Angela Szczur

 

 

  

Gears of War 2
Epic Games

Here it is! It took Epic Games two
years to come up with a sequel for
Gears of War and it’s a must-have for
any Xbox 360 lovers out there. Anyone
who played the first Gears of War from
2006 knows how great this franchise
is. The violence, easy-to-use control
and of course awesome graphics

make it a kick-ass series. Gears of

War 2 still uses the same game play
from the first one. Success still relies
heavily on protective cover, so this
game requires a bit of patience. I’m not
complaining though; this game is great
because of that unique playing style.
Marcus Fenix, the badass protagonist,
is obviously back to kick some Locust
ass. Beside Marcus, some of the old
characters such as Cole and Dominic
are included too. Many new weapons
are also being introduced but hey, who
cares; all we care about is the chainsaw
tifle, baby. CHOP AWAY!

—Brian Yoo

 

 

 

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