Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan

Today, December 28, 2009, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead. When I heard this, I was so shocked. He was the drummer of my second favorite band Avenged Sevenfold and my favorite drummer of all time. To me, this if by far the biggest death this year. I loved Michael Jackson but for me personally, this one tops even that. Avenged Sevenfold changed a lot of things for me and I've always talked about The Rev being the best drummer of all time.
Not only was he an incredible (to say the very least) drummer but also a great singer. He has the most unique voice you'll ever hear (He fronts a band called Pinkly Smooth, also an amazing band).
As horrible as I feel about this, I can't imagine how bad his friends and family must feel. A7X is clearly a very tight group who are all about their friendship.
I'm watching Avenged Sevenfold's live DVD, "Live in the LBC" as I type this. Also I'll be wearing Avenged Sevenfold all week. My thoughts are with his friends and family. I know he will be missed.

RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan

Avatar Movie Review: Part 1

This is going to be a two part review of the movie Avatar! The first one is the original, not in 3D and the second will be in 3D which I'll be seeing soon.

Avatar's $237 million budget makes it one of the most expensive movies ever produced. The hype for this movie was insane and if you're worried that it won't live up to it, don't be. James Cameron manages to not only use groundbreaking technology for visual effects, but he does it well and lives up to the hype surrounding Avatar. This movie is incredible.
Like I said, the visual effects are what really make this movie as great as it is. From the beginning of the movie, it is very clear that Avatar isn't like anything you've seen in a movie before. From handheld computer screens to the Na'vi people to the world itself, everything was stunning to look at. Everything looks so beautiful that you actually feel a connection to the world and everything in it.
The story is basic but far from bad. Some plot points have been done but it's not a major flaw.
The acting was good. You can feel the connection between the characters. A great performance from Zoe Saldana (also in the Star Trek movie) who plays Neytiri. She acts as a Na'vi the whole time and does a great job. Sam Worthington as Jake Sully also did a great job. I think his voice was perfect for the role as he had to do a lot of narrating.
The movie is long. Just under three hours, but I saw this movie at 9:30 and got out past midnight and I was entertained throughout the whole film.
Anyway, Avatar is definately a must see. One of the best films of the year. Come back for my review of the 3D version of the movie in a couple of days!

-Josh CV

PS: To those of you who said I probably didn't like Paranormal Activity because of the hype, this movie had waaaaaay more hype than PA. The difference between this movie and that one is that Avatar is actually good and could live up to that hype. If a movie goes around saying its the scarriest movie of the last 30 years, it should probably be at least the scarriest movie of the year. It wasn't and anyone who thought it was probably saw The Exorcist as a kid and hasn't watched a scarry movie since... Just sayin'.

30 Seconds to Mars: This Is War Review!

Four years after the release of 30 Seconds to Mars' "A Beautiful Lie," their highly anticipated third release, "This Is War" is finally released. With a 30 million dollar lawsuit with their record label behind them, 30 STM set out to make an album that would be a true experience to listen to.

Now 30 Seconds to Mars' last two albums were both very different from each other and "This Is War" carries on that tradition. All three sound like the band but at the same time they are very different which is a great quality in a band.

From beginning to end this album is BIG. The songs are mostly around five and a half minutes long which makes it not super accessible but if you're into that "epic" sound this album is a perfect example of it. Most of the songs have a very large choir vocal that adds to that sound and it definately enhances the songs.

Jared Leto said that he wanted to make this album a visual experience as well as a listening experience and that is very much accomplished. In songs like "Hurricane," "Kings and Queens," and the title track, "This Is War," you can picture in the head the settings that the band may be performing in.

Technically, this album is not a concept album but many of the songs have similar themes of going to "war" and fighting for something. Religeon is also brought up often throughout the album.

While going through this album, every song made me want to re-listen to it because it was so good but what stopped me was the first few seconds of the next song ALREADY having me hooked.

There are few problems with this album but there are some. Like I said before, the length is not for everyone. Also the last few songs of the album seem to be better suited for "A Beautiful Lie" than this album. "Alibi" sounds VERY similar to "A Modern Myth," and I think we all could have done without the creepy chanting at the end of "L490." It wasn't a cool kind of creepy, just an annoying and unnecesary chanting.

Overall, straight up buy this album and you will not be disappointed. Every song is worth listening to multiple times with the exception of "L490" which is worth at least one listen.

All the songs are great but top songs would be: "Hurricane," "This Is War," "Night of the Hunter," and "Kings and Queens."

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Update and December!

Hooooooly crap, it's been a long time since I've posted on here! Sorry, a lotta stuffs been goin on with me and I wasn't able to really do anything.
I just got 30 Seconds to Mars: This Is War. Haven't listened to it yet but I will later tonight and I'll review it by the end of the week.
Also Avatar! Gonna see that when it comes out and review it.
Quick update on me: First episode of the new season of Scrubs was awesome and I'm really excited for the rest of the season, lately I've been doing a lot of writing for my band despite the fact that we're probably gonna be putting out 3 new covers this month. Aaaaand not too much else.

It's December! Great month. My bro, Eric Striffler is doing a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways on his youtube channel and Twitter so subscribe and follow him and you can win stuff and watch some great videos. He does make really good videos. Links: Eric Striffler's YouTube  Eric Striffler's Twitter
You do need to be subscribed on YouTube AND following him on Twitter to win.

Also, I got a DOPE Christmas list going this year. This is probably my first year putting real thought into my list so I'm excited. If I don't get any of it, I'll probably end up buying it because I really want everything on it!

And I wish I could wear these clothes every day cuz I love them! (Picture v) Ok bye!

-Josh CV

New Moon Review!

On Friday, November 20 the wait for the extremely highly anticipated second instalment in the Twilight Saga, New Moon, finally hit theatres. Then that day passed. Then several hours went by. Then I saw it.
That being said, I'm not exactly what you would call a Twilight fan. I'll admit the story is good but anything that takes everything cool about vampires and makes it sparkle isn't really my cup of tea.
Now for all the Twi-Hards, (who have more than likely already seen this movie at least once) New Moon will be a huge breath of fresh air. Everything that was horrible about Twilight is almost completely fixed. Except, of course, the unfixable: Kristen Stewart still plays Bella. But even she did a little better.
Bella and Edwards relationship is still almost nonexistant. They still have no onscreen chemistry and I never felt for a second like what Edward is willing to put himself through for her is really worth it.
But Kristen and Taylor Lautner had great chemistry. Their scenes were totally believable.
The visuals were great. The wolves looked fantastic. Watching the trailer I thought they just looked like normal wolves but after seeing the movie we see that they're much cooler than that.
Acting wise, everyone was pretty great. Taylor Lautner was great and for the short time he was in it, Robert Pattinson was also really good. Again really the only drawback to this movie was Kristen Stewarts acting and the relatinship between Bella and Edward.
Overall this movie was far far far better than Twilight, everything was improved upon. The visuals and the script were good. And its always great in a movie like this to hear the crowd get into it, I love that.
Oh and I've always been  on "Team Edward" (not that its a huge deal to me) and this movie has confirmed that.
Let me know what you thought of New Moon?

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Dead By Sunrise Setlist

Haven't posted anything in a little while so here's a quick setlist for Dead By Sunrise

Fire
Crawl Back In
My Suffering
Let Down
Morning After
Walking in Circles
Condemned
End of the World
Too Late
Inside of Me

Kinda long considering the only have one album but opening band setlists are boring so they'll all be about this long

-Josh CV

Me In 8-Bits!

Hey so I'm on my new laptop and I saw it had an 8-bit filter so I had this idea that I think it pretty cool. It's me in 8-Bits, so I'll tell you 8 "bits" about myself that you might not know.

1- When I'm barefoot, I walk on my tip toes. I don't know why I do it and I don't even notice when I do it, it just happens haha. And Tyler makes fun of my for it.

2- I like every genre of music pretty much except reggae and punk. So suggest things to me if they aren't either of those two genres haha.

3- I don't eat fast food at all or drink soda. Tyler made me eat fast food on my birthday and since I haven't had it in so long it didn't sit well so thats how I know for sure I'll never eat it again.

4- I'm colorblind. Mostly to red and green but I sometimes can't see other colors too. And every time I tell people this they ask me what color things are and I hate that haha.

5- I can bend my fingers back reeeaaaally far. Next time you see me, ask me to show you. It's weird haha.

6- My favorite food is cilantro! I love everything about it, it makes everything better.

7- I love to read. My favorite book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's so sad and amazing haha and I like a lot of other books too.

8- And a lot of people already know this but it's worth mentioning- I love everything that is music. I play guitar and bass and sing and I'm in a band called Ashes to Snow.

Alright so that's 8 bits of me. Let me know if you thought this was a cool idea cuz I thought it was haha.

-Josh CV

Dead By Sunrise: Out of Ashes Review!

Dead by Sunrise is the very highly anticipated side project from Linkin Park front man, Chester Bennington. The project was announced about five years ago but was put off because of the new Linkin Park album. We had already been given a taste of what was to come with the new project with “Morning After” which was featured on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and an acoustic version of “Let Down” and those songs kept us all VERY interested. “Morning After” does not appear on the album but a full version of “Let Down” does and is expected to be the next single.
The album, Out of Ashes, starts with the song, “Fire.” This song is incredible. Its anthemy feel will have fans singing along to the chorus in their rooms or while driving. It’s just that kind of song that you can’t help but sing when you hear it.
Next is the band’s lead single, “Crawl Back In.” This song kicks off the harder side of the band with its heavy guitars and vocals. For the first part of the album, the songs go back and forth between soft and hard, which is interesting because it isn’t something that is usually done but it still flows great. “Inside of Me” is another hard rock track. There is a recurring theme on the album of Bennington feeling that something is wrong with him which is most likely influenced by his alcohol addiction that he was in rehab for before the recording of the album.
“Let Down” is a slower song that we can guess might be about Bennington’s divorce. But “Let Down” is followed up by “Give Me Your Name,” another slow track that serves as a glimmer of light on the album. It is a happy song about meeting his new wife, who he is happily married to today. “Condemned” is somewhat of a low point on the album. It’s an awesome song but it is pretty different from the rest of the songs here.
The album ends with “In the Darkness.” This song is an absolutely amazing way to end the album with its acoustic guitars. You get a feeling that, even through all the madness, there is hope for the future “(In the darkness)/All that you want from me is all I have to give/(In the darkness)/Coming so easily, learning how to live.”
Lyrically, this is some of Bennington’s most amazing work. Bennington’s voice is complimented beautifully by his band made up of members of Julient-k. Use of heavy guitar and synths give it a kind of 80’s sound. The album is incredible and was very well worth the wait. If you’re a fan of Linkin Park you will definitely want this album.

PS: A friend of mine went to the Epicenter show that Linkin Park did a few months ago. Dead By Sunrise played a 3 song set in the middle of the LP performance and he said people LEFT. If you’re there for Linkin Park why the hell would you leave for DBS especially when LP was going on again when they were done? Some people…

-Josh CV

Intro To Setlists/RED Setlist

Ok so for like I don't even know how long, I've been making setlists for bands just because it's fun to do. If you don't know what a setlist is, it's the list of songs a band plays at a concert and it's actually not as easy to make as it sounds. The opener and closers are very important, you have to be sure to use songs people would want to hear and they all have to flow. I've been practicing making them for a long time and I think I'm pretty good at it so I'm gonna start posting them. Starting with one of my favorite bands, RED.
All setlists will be a headline set.

RED Setlist:

Death of Me
Wasting Time
Hide
Fight Inside
Mystery of You
Never Be the Same
Let Go
Forever
Already Over
Take It All Away
Out From Under
Encore: Breathe Into Me

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Been A While

Hey everyone. It's been a while since I've posted so I'm just writin here to update. This weekend is gonna be pretty big. I'll post about LP Week (which is still goin on right now) and Halloween! Also I'm gonna do my Saw VI review soon and on either Sunday or Monday I'm gonna have a special somethin d:
So yeah that's what's up! Eleight comes out tomorrow!! That's the newspaper at my school that I am on.
Happy Halloween!

-Josh CV

Where The Wild Things Are: Review!

Last weekend on October 16 (My Birthday!) the highly anticipated movie adaptation of one of my favorite kids books, Where The Wild Things Are was released in theatres!

I've been excited for this movie for MONTHS and I was so excited to see it. The original book by Maurice Sandak was my favorite as a small child so I had high hopes for this movie and it definitely....... was not at all what I expected! But that's not to say it wasn't good. It was great!

I'll start off by saying your kids will probably have nightmares from this movie. I think it might have been made more for people who grew up with the book and are older now rather than kids now who are just seeing it for the first time.

The movie is incredibly dark and some scenes are absolutely terrifying. There's a lot of talk about eating people and not in a cute, pretending way. It's also really sad, but it is a great movie. Spike Jonez did a great job and I think he did great with what he was trying to do.
It was just an awesome movie and I'd recomend it to anyone who grew up on the book. If you're worried that it might ruin the book for you, it won't. It wasn't supposed to be anything like the book, it's just really sick so watch it!

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Linkin Park Week Update

So I'm going to have to postpone LP Week because this week is my homecoming week. Gotta dress up and show some school spirit!

But starting next Sunday will be LP Week!

Dead By Sunrise and Where The Wild Things Are reviews coming in the next two days

-Josh CV

Annual Linkin Park Week 2009!

As most of you know, Linkin Park is my favorite band ever! They were the first real band I ever liked so I hold them responsible for my insane love for music.
Freshman year of high school (after I got out of private middle school, where I had to wear a uniform to school every day) I started Annual Linkin Park Week where I would wear a different Linkin Park shirt every day for seven days in a row.
This year it will start Sunday October 18! If you have a favorite artist that you want to pay tribute to and you have at least 7 (or 5 and you can just wear them to school) shirts of that band, then join me!
LP means a lot to me, they've had so much influence on me so I figure this is the least I can do. So join me with your favorite musician if you can or want!

Also Dead By Sunrise: Out of Ashes review coming soon. Just got it yesterday. And I'm working on an All Time Low review to try to win a free ticket to go see them next month! So maybe I'll be posting that too.

-Josh CV

Paranormal Activity Review

After hearing so many things from so many different people about Paranormal Activity for the last month, I was extremely excited to go see it. It was hyped as the scariest movie of the last 30 years and after hearing from people who have actually seen it, I was convinced it was true. If you haven't seen it, I'll tell you this... It's not true. In fact, it wasn't scary or even good at all.
The movie is about a couple who have been experiencing some "paranormal activity" so they buy and video camera and record their lives to try and figure out what's going on. The whole thing is recorded on a video camera like Cloverfield so if you get motion sickness, that may be a slight problem for you.
The pace of the movie is extreeeeemely slow. It's almost as if they made the movie boring and slow so that whenever something happened it seemed exciting and that did work but only because so little was happening and even those things weren't that exciting. I will say the last ten minutes were awesome but that doesn't make up for the rest of the movie.
Overall I thought this movie was a waste of time. Didn't live up to the hype, it wasn't scary, and it was very slow.
If you do want to see this movie, though, it did reach it's 1 Million demands to get a full release so it'll be in all theatres soon.


Also, the Paramore concert I was supposed to go to on October 2 was postponed until November 10, so I'll be posting about that then and also my review of their album will go up at the same time. I wanna do both at once.

-Josh CV

Movies!

Haven't posted in little while so gonna just show you some movies I'm looking foreward to in the way future.



Nightmare on Elm St. the remake looks sick! The trailer was just released a couple of days ago and it looks really cool. It doesn't seem like they're gonna venture off too much from the original. The remake is produced by Michael Bay (Transformers 1 & 2) and directed by Samuel Bayer (just a bunch of music DVDs). Check out the trailer in the link below



http://http//vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63620829





Shutter Island staring Leonardo DiCaprio I've been looking foreward to for a long time. Because originally, It was supposed to come out on October 9 but now it's been pushed back to February 19, 2010! It's based on the novel by Dennis Lehane and is directed by Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Gangs of New York). Trailer below!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVrHkYoY80



Although I am completely against the whole vampire fad thats going on right now I am so pumped for this movie, Daybreakers! (Just realized these are all horror movies!) It isn't like the Twilight, Vampire Diaries, teen crap its a REAL vampire movie and a really cool idea. Basically, almost everyone is a vampire and the remaining humans are used just for food. But the humans are dying off too quickly and the human-looking, civilized vampires will go crazy and turn into their bat-like form if they don't have enough human blood to drink. Meanwhile, a group of humans want to rebuild the human race in secret and keep their blood for themselves (selfish bastards). Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig and is set to release January 8, 2010. Trailer:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b2bbX2kG_8



And of course there's Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, Avatar which releases this December, and Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (which I'll post a link to cuz now one's heard of it and it looks great!) based on the novel by Alice Sebold.



The Lovely Bones trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g



Theres so much more but I don't wanna make this one too long and I just know I'm forgetting some good ones but oh well! Haha alright bye.



-Josh CV

Three Days Grace: Life Starts Now REVIEW!

Background:

First before I get into this review let me give you some background really quick about me and Three Days Grace. I borrowed their first album from a friend of mine in 2003 and was quickly addicted (the only other band I liked at the time was Linkin Park). In early 2006, Three Days Grace's new single was released and their new album was announced and I was incredibly happy. In June when it was released I went straight to Tower Records with my friend who first let me borrow their debut CD and we both bought one. A few singles into the album, Three Days Grace reached mainstream success with "Never Too Late." A lot of people who have been with a band since their beginning don't like when this happens, me included, I must admit. But the difference here is there was definitely no "selling out." From their debut album to One-X the band only evolved enough as to not put out the same album twice. They stayed true to their music and themselves and made an album that, from beginning to end, is virtually flawless.



Review:

When I first heard "Break" I was brought back to when I first heard "Animal I Have Become." Not because the songs are similar but because both songs took what they had from the previous albums and improved upon them, making something new while still being identifiable as Three Days Grace.

The album starts off with "Bitter Taste," a hard hitting song that bashes on someone for their wrong doings. Nothing we haven't heard before lyrically, but musically this song is one of the band's strongest. Neil Sanderson's drums and Barry Stock's guitar are taken to a new level with this song and it sets a good tone for the rest of the album.

Three Days Grace albums have always been a little top-heavy and this album is no exception. With songs like "Break," "World So Cold," and "Lost In You" taking up the second through fourth tracks on the album, all three are potential singles. And that's not for no reason. "Lost In You" is something very different than anything we've seen from the band before. A softer, more poppy side of the band. I would not be surprised if this song is released as a single. "The Good Life" is very "Riot"-Esq as far as sound. It's a fun song that definitely pumps you up about just wanting to have fun and live "the good life," very care-free. Definitely one of the best off the album.

At the start of the second half of the album is "Last To Know." This song has the first 3/4 of the song as just piano and Adam Gontier singing. This is a huge step forward for the band (not that I want them to only make piano ballads) because it's definitely something new and shows maturity as a band. After the second chorus, the guitar comes in and leads into the rest of the band. At this point in the mostly sad song, the hopeful part comes in. The beginning chorus' being about being left along by someone and the ending chorus being about realizing it was for the better. A definite high point on the album. "Bully" is a song about feeling tormented to the breaking point. "Goin' Down" has an eerie feel kind of like being in a haunted mansion. The album finishes with its title track, "Life Starts Now." The song is about someone who feels alone and thinks everything would just be better if they just weren't there anymore and trying to make them see that everything can be better and life is worth living. Like the title track from One-X it is another high point on the album, which shows that Three Days Grace really knows how to end an album. To me, I feel that "Life Starts Now" is a great ender because it's like, "Ok the albums over, you're ready to go live your life."

Overall, Three Days Grace has proved that they are able to improve with each album, no matter how seemingly flawless an album might be and I have no doubt they will continue to make great music in the future and I'll be listening to this album for a long time.

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Poll

Hey, I have a new poll up!

Next month I'll be turning 17 so I'll be able to see rated R movies! (Exciting I know)
But, I'm torn between two: Zombieland and Law Abiding Citizen. So everyone check out the poll to the right and just click whichever one you think I should see on my birthday next month!
Poll ends at midnight the day of my birthday, October 16. Whichever one wins, I'll be seeing along with Where The Wild Things Are, which I'm really excited for!

Also my review of Three Days Grace's new album, Life Starts Now will be this Tuesday!

-Josh CV

October!

October's gonna be a BIG month! I'm probably gonna be posting a lot next month heres a list of things to come. (Rest of September included)

September

• Three Days Grace- Life Starts Now
• Paramore- Brand New Eyes

October

• Paramore Concert!
• Zombieland Review
• Where The Wild Things Are Review
• Saw VI Review
• I possibly will be going to Hollywood and meetin Eric Striffler but I don't have all the details for that yet, I'll keep you posted!

Meeting Eric would just make my whole year. I'm so very excited for the rest of this month and next month!

-Josh CV

VMAs... Kinda

Right now I'm gonna talk about juuust the beginning of the VMAs. You all know why. Kanye West's tasteless and just incredibly rude interruption of Taylor Swift's time after she won Best Female Video. You all know what happened and this is yesterdays news I was just able to get to a computer to talk about it right now so I won't say what happened I just want to say that what he did was absolutely horrible. He ruined Taylor's moment when she was clearly extremely excited (See: her face when her name was called).
Beyonce of course was the big hero of the night when she said that her first VMA was such a great moment for her and then let Taylor Swift come back up to finish her thank yous.

Tonight on Jay Leno, Leno asked Kanye what his mother would think of what he did last night. Kanye was left completely speechless. Some people are saying that it was WRONG of Leno to ask that and I completely disagree. I think it was great that he asked him that. I think it definately put him in his place. Kanye clearly had no regard for anyones feelings so why should anyone have any regard for his?

About Barack Obama's alleged calling Kanye a jackass, I definately don't mind at all that he said that but some people aregoing to use that against him as usual. If people can find a way to put telling kids to stay in school against him then they'll find some way to use this.

So overall, congrats to Taylor Swift for her VMA I think she definately deserves it (I am a fan d:), 3OH!3 were my pick for best new artist (love them!) but Lady Gaga did put on a good performance so I have kind of a respect for her but still don't like her music. And Green Day winning best rock video over Paramore and Kings of Leon is the biggest rip off of all time. Not because I like Paramore or Kings of Leon because I'm actually not a fan of Kings of Leon but they are just 100% more talented than Green Day.

-Josh CV

9 Review!

Yesterday after school, me, my brother and Blayke saw 9! It was based on the short film by Shane Acker which is also pretty sick. You can tell by watching the short film that Acker had the idea for the full length movie the whole time and I can see why Tim Burton was so interested in it because the short film is very well done.
9 is about nine ragdoll type things in post-apocalyptic times who go on search for their friend, 2 who was taken away by a creature. Throughout the story we learn more about why they ragdolls are there and why the machines are there and all of the deeper meanings along with it.
I really loved this movie. I thought the story and plot were great. The visuals were great, the cast was great I just thought overall that this movie was amazing. The beginning started a little slow but I supposed it was necessary to set the scene but as it goes along and the action starts and the plot unfolds, it gets really good.
About the PG-13 rating, some people were saying that it should have been PG but I think it deserved the PG-13 rating. There are a lot of disturbing scenes and scarry images. A lot of death and a lot of monster things, just no blood.
So overall, great movie. Definately recommend and if you wanna watch the original short film you can watch it in the link below but I would recommend watching it AFTER you watch the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IQcMeNh7Hc

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Paramore Concert

Today I bought my tickets for a Paramore concert on October 2 in San Francisco! I'll be going with my good bud, Blayke, also bassist in my band.
We got the tickets when they were sold out too but we had to pay like 40 bucks extra! But it's gonna be totally worth it, Paramore is an amazing live band.
Their new album, Brand New Eyes, comes out on September 29th and it promises to be their best yet. Check out the October issue of AP Magazine, theyre in the cover story (and a full page Eric Striffle ad on page 57)

Seein 9 tomorrow, I'm sooooo excited! I'll review it.

-Josh CV

The New Band Name

After months of arguing and disagreeing with the bandmates about what our band name should be, we have finally come up with a conclusion. About 1-2 months ago we decided we would come up with as many names as possible before today and make a list of every one (good or bad) and all rate each one from 1-5. With 3 of us that would make the highest possible score 15. We took the top 5 from that list and rated those ones from 1-10, 30 being the highest possible score. The top 5 were:

1. AMF (more like WTF if you ask me but oh well doesn't matter anymore [sorry Blayke])
2. Down To Ashes
3. Through The Eyes
4. Ashes To Snow
5. Ashes Like Snow

After going through every single name and narrowing it down to five and then going through those 5, our official band name is now

ASHES TO SNOW

We are all very happy with it and have already gotten some great feedback! Tell us what you think!

-Josh CV

SmallFartrr!

Hey everyone! Some of you may remember the video me, my best friend Tyler and my brother made about a year ago called The Homeless Hobo. You can watch it at the end of this post.
Well we decided maybe its time to make a second one?! Yeah we definately are. We'll start recording this weekend, I can say that but I'm not sure when it will actually be up but I'm soooo excited.
We're just about at 1000 views on the first one and thats what inspired us to continue making them because we weren't going to before.

youtube.com/smallfartrr

Please go there and subscribe, Thanks!

-Josh CV

Eric Striffler Update #3!

Today was Eric Striffler's FINAL CLUE before the big revealing tomorrow at 10 PM EST

This morning he informed everyone that he would be on Blogtv at a random time durring the day and the clue would be available for only 5 minutes. So I sacrificed my Saturday to stay on Blogtv from 10 o' clock in the morning allll the way until around 4:30 PM. I didn't leave my computer for more than a few minutes.

When he finally went online we saw two DVDs. One was of Saw II and the other was Saw IV and there was a plus sign in the middle. There was also the message "Simple math will help you solve this clue."

The clue meant Saw VI. The second part of the clue was a clip of a man talking and then right when he was done talking someone else started talking but was cut off after only a couple words. Everyone there immediately recognized the second voice as Eric Striffler. We then put together that a little while ago, Eric talked about wanting to interview the director of Saw VI. And he did.

Everything that was revealed to us over the course of this whole ordeal will be released TOMORROW at 10 PM EST when the countdown finishes at eric-striffler.com

-Josh CV

What's Still To Come In 2009 (And What Isn't)

So it seems like the best of the year is coming up at the end this year (hopefully) with this months, District 9 being freakin amazing starting it all out. September starts a wave of huge releases.
Tim Burton's new animated movie, "9" releases September 9th. I just saw a new trailer for it with the tag line "This is not your little brother's animated movie." Which I thought was siiiick.
A series of great bands releasing CDs: Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Paramore. And I'm not a huge fan but AFI also.
October has movies like the highly anticipated Where The Wild Things Are movie and SAW IV which looks and hopefully actually turns out to be better than the third and fifth. The posters and clips for it are incredible and very different than anything we've seen from the Saw series.
Zombieland which looks hilarious also comes out in October.
BIG DISAPPOINTMENT: Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie Shutter Island has been moved from its October release date to February of next year! This is a huge let down for me because I was soooo excited for this movie. Now we'll have to wait.
Also in October the extremely highly anticipated side project from Linkin Park's Cheser Bennington, Dead By Sunrise debut album which I cannot wait for.
Of course, New Moon in November. Right now I can't really think of anything else but I'm sure I'll think of something right when I post this.

-Josh CV

Eric Striffler Update #2!

Today we got more clues from Eric Striffler!

First we saw a paper on his live blog that said Revisit The TERCER SPOT (which is Top Secret backwards) but what we actually had to do was go to eric-striffler.com/topsecret2 which gave us a phone number to call
The phone number didn't work so what we really had to do was dial it backwards (just like TERCER SPOT) That lead us to Eric's SayNow number with a message telling us these letters: NOMIGKSRON. Unscrambled: KOMING SOON. Since Eric's youtube login is ErickWithNoK we went to eric-striffler.com/comingsoon
At that website the rest of the envelope from the last website was revealed as PTR 3 which stands for Pass The Remote 3, a series on Eric's youtube. Theres also a huge scramble of letters and numbers. It's unknown what it says at this point other than the capital letters spelling out WELL DONE. It's possible that thats all it says but I don't know. Don't know when the next clue will be.

-Josh CV

Eric Striffler Update! 8/23

Ok, Eric's little game is getting INSANE! Here's what we have so far as of today:

A link to a countdown that ends right before midnight on August 30- www.eric-striffler.com/whereiseric

Another link to a strange picture of an envelope that says "Top Secret" with a coffee mug covering part of a message that ends in "--R 3"- www.eric-striffler.com/topsecret

In the live blogtv today he said (on the chat because all that was on the live stream was a piece of paper with the link above on it) its not a new channel or a date or 3 seconds.

Right before the live blogtv ended another paper appeared that said 8/26 9 PM EST. Which means there will be another live show, probably no real answers, and another clue.

-Josh CV

Eric Striffler!

Sorry I havent posted about this earlier, I've been pretty busy lately.

On Thursday night, Eric Striffler did his second All Night Live Show on BlogTV. From 7 PM til 7 AM the next morning he broadcasted live on blogtv.com to almost 700 viewers! Throughout the show the number of viewers went up and down and eventually settled around 500 and then dropped to a little above 200 at the end.
It was absolutely AMAZING. I had such a great time watching (I stayed the whole 12 hours). His friends Paul, Joe and Rich were all there and Jillian made an appearance for a while too. They made prank phone calls, had iTunes giftcard givaway contests and took calls on SayNow. I got through on SayNow just as they were closing the lines ): Anyway it was really great and I can't wait until the next one.

In other Eric Striffler news, yesterday Eric posted a video saying he will be LEAVING YOUTUBE. At the end of the video was a backwards message that when played in reverse said "If you believe what I tell you, I have a bridge to sell you." What that means, I have no idea. He also has an image at the end of the video. If you take a picture of the image on your iPhone with a special application, it brings you to this website: eric-striffler.com/whereiseric
On the screen all it has is a countdown that end Sunday August 30 right before midnight. This could either mean that Eric is moving all of his videos to his website on that day which is also the day he starts college or just that his website is opening and the whole leaving youtube thing was a joke. Or something else entirely, I don't know. Either way, I know for sure he will continue to make videos.

-Josh CV

School Schedule Surprise

Found out today when I got my schedule that AP Music Theory is only 4th period which means I only have 2 classes on B Days! So I start school at 10:00! I'm so excited about that

Also, tomorrow I was going to go to Warped Tour but now I will be staying home to watch Eric Striffler's ALL NIGHT LIVE BLOG! From 4 PM-4 AM (7-7 EST) Eric Striffler and a few of his friends will be on his live blog. I watched his first one a few months ago and it was HILARIOUS! If you can make it through a whole night and have nothing else to do I recomend watching. You can watch it here: blogtv.com/people/ericstriffler

For updates on the show follow Eric on Twitter: twitter.com/erickwithnok

-Josh CV

MR. FML!

Eric Striffler has two channels on youtube. One which he puts his original videos and short films and one where he does movie and music reviews and different updates of interesting goings on. His sister, Jillian who appears in some of his videos did her first ever "Mr. FML" game last night where you can send her your best FML via Twitter and she would pick the best one. I've talked to her on Twitter before as well as Eric and last night I was given the honor of being the first ever Mr FML!
Big thanks to Jillian for that! you can follow Jillian on Twitter here: twitter.com/jillstriff

You can follow Eric here: twitter.com/erickwithnok

And watch Eric's videos here: youtube.com/ericstrifflervids
and here: youtube.com/erickwithnok

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Dead By Sunrise, Three Days Grace

Dead By Sunrise is the INCREDIBLY HIGHLY anticipated side project of Linkin Park's lead singer, Chester Bennington. The debut single off the debut album, Out of Ashes was revealed today on the bands myspace page. The song is called Crawl Back In and it is available for purchase on iTunes August 18. Album is release October 13. Check out the song here: www.myspace.com/deadbysunrise

Three Days Grace's new album will be released on September 22 and the album cover has been revealed on their website. The album will be called Life Starts Now and the debut single will be called Break. The single's release date is unknown right now. Check out the album cover here: www.threedaysgrace.com

-Josh CV

Strikeforce

Tonight I went to the Strikeforce fight at the HP Pavilion, originally to see my cousin, Josh Thompson but he was out for an injury. It was still hecka fun though! Gina Carano defended her title against Cris Cyborg. She lost which sucks cuz shes freakin hot haha. And she lost her undefeated streak. Gilbert Malendez won and defended his title which I was excited about cuz I wanna see Josh Thompson win it back from him.
After we went to an after party for Josh and hung out, got some food and Cung Lee was there! Which was sick. It was a good night. Gonna make the best of these last 10 days of summer!

-Josh CV

District 9 Review!

Of all the movies I've every seen, District 9 was by far the most difficult to watch. Not because of the content of the movie but because getting in to see it was hard. Without a parent I needed to sneak in which presented a few problems. First I couldn't find a believable movie to buy a ticket for so I ended up having to get Julie&Julia. Didn't work. They were suspicious right when I said the name. I (was actually with my brother and friend, Tyler so when I say "I" I mean "we") waited back for a bit and once I saw people going in I made my move. I was in and was sitting down for about ten minutes when I guy came in and asked for my ticket. I didn't have one so I was escorted out. I went home pissed and was determined to get back in so later I went to Saratoga (with my mama) to see it again. Obviously this time I couldn't get kicked out.

District 9 is about an alien species that "crash" lands on earth and the aliens are being held in an enclosed area called "District 9" by an organization called MNU. In this movie there are no well known actors (except the lead character who looks and sounds a little like John Oliver from The Daily Show, but its not him haha) which I think adds to the movie as far as paying more attention to the story and meaning. The lead actor, Sharlto Copley, did however, do an amazing job. The story which was based on a short film, was extremely well done and of course Peter Jackson did an amazing job, as usual. If you're not into the whole science fiction thing, don't worry because this movie has it all. Action, amazing story that is actually really touching, about friendship, love and everyone being equal. The movie is a little political but don't let that stop you from seeing it if you're not into that kinda thing because it has so many other things. Really just something for everyone. So definately see District 9, you WILL NOT be disappointed, I promise.

-Josh CV

Paramore, Ahmir, Murphys

Today was the premier of Paramore's new video for their single, "Ignorance." I watched it this morning on MTV.com and it is amazing! Hayley Williams... Sooooo hot haha. The video is sick and the song is also amazing. Cannot wait til their new album, coming out September 29 AND I'm seeing them in San Francisco October 2.

On youtube today I came across a musical group called, Ahmir. For the past couple days, a video was in my subscriptions section that said "Jonas Brothers Cover..." I was hesitant to watch because it said Jonas Brothers but now that I watched it, I wish I had sooner. It was a video of someone who I subscribe to who was advertising this band, Agmir's youtube page and when I heard them start singing, it was incredible. Check them out here: youtube.com/ahmirtv

Today I went to a place called Murphys, CA with my mom, brother and two cousins. We explored some caves and went zip lining. Got lost and found a lake which inspired me and my cousin, Lan to take a trip to a lake around here next Thursday. It was a really fun day. Got some quality music listening time in on the long car ride and had fun while I was there, just a good day.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a review on here of District 9! Can't wait to see it, I've been waiting so long!

-Josh CV

Two Songs One Music Video

Ok so lately I've been really wanting to make a music video. I've made some before (that you can see at youtube.com/lpiscoo) but those were just funny ones I made with my friend, Erfan.
I really want to make a serious music video that I would write and direct for a band or singer or anyone who makes original music that I know. So obviously not a major label band or anyone but just someone I know. If anyones interested let me know and lets figure somethin out

In band news, me and Blayke got a really good start to two songs that we are hoping to have done very soon. One is a slow song that we want to make acoustic and the other is heavier. They both have great potential and I'm excited to see how they will turn out.

-Josh CV

Intro Blog

One of two blogs today. I've gone through many different blogspots but this will be my last I promise and I'll stick to it.
I'll be updating this one with news of my band, my videos and just stories of interesting things that happen to me.
Ok I'm about to post my first real blog!

-Josh CV