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A Day to Remember continues to mix what seems relatively unmixable genres on What Separates Me from You, their fourth CD release. The pop-punk’s lighthearted, happy-go-lucky themes now meet with metalcore’s aggressive moments. The Florida quintet tackles each with ease. You won’t hear any groundbreaking songwriting ideas on A Day to Remember’s latest album, but it’s certainly an interesting (and eclectic) approach to music. What Separates Me from You often leans heavier on the pop-punk side in terms of quantity, but oddly enough it’s the metalcore inclinations that are the most memorable.

The record kicks off with the best of both worlds in “Sticks and Bricks”. The death growls/clean vocals trade-off is heavily present throughout. The oft-mentioned “pop-mosh” most definitely comes through on this particular track with heavy gain used in the verses and the choruses transitioning into a more subtle, clean guitar tone. Elsewhere, A Day to Remember often opts for one style or the other, and usually that works to the band’s benefit.

For as much pop-punk that shows up on the record, it’s actually “2nd Sucks” and “You Be Tails, I’ll Be Sonic” – which favor straightforward metal aggression and breakdowns through and through – that are the highlights. When the band isn’t slowed down by the transition to clean vocals/clean guitar, there’s a dramatic effect that works extremely well.

The lyrical content is relatable to a younger crowd, with themes ranging from anger at an unspecified individual to sticking to one’s game plan regardless of the naysayer’s. “If I Leave” draws upon the latter topic with lines such as, “I hate this town; ‘Cause no one can understand; I just can’t be tied down; Nothing comes between me and my plan.” While the title, “You Be Tails, I’ll Be Sonic,” shows promise of being slightly ironic, it does end up following the basic love-gone-wrong format.

A Day to Remember has enough happening that it holds your interest. Songs do not always sound the same on this album- in fact far from it. Even the tracks that are pop punk veer in unique directions, such as going towards mosh/metalcore. If you are a pop punk purist who doesn’t have room for death vocals you’ll want to steer clear, but A Day to Remember does prove they are masters at the mixing the genres.

7:00 pm  •  6 December 2010  •  View comments

And she stirs, nudging the pillow like a sleepy puppy who wants attention. She rotates her hips a degree or two, presses her cold feet together, and hugs the warm blankets as she tries to stay toasty. Her thoughts race to the events last night, and wishes she was asleep again. When I’m asleep, she thought, I don’t have to remember. Sleep releases all pain, tension, and worry…a great anesthetic.  But now the girl is awake, and her mind is full of memories that she wishes she could forget. Now, slowly, she eases open her eyes as slowly as the sun rises, and with equal deliberation.

She stares at the world before her, which is incarnate in a single body, a single soul. He faces the ceiling, hands folded behind his ears; he seems to be thinking a great deal because the depth of his eyes does not compare to the blank, empty canvas he is confronted with. With one single breath escaping her lips, he can tell that she is not asleep anymore. The cream colored cocoon is that silent. Purposefully, he turns to her young face, which is still flooded with exhaustion. Her hair is tousled, the layered bangs creating a messy sea of string. Her lips are pink and her pale white skin is violated by two long, grey strokes that are so perfectly composed from her big, brown eyes to the edge of her chin.

A pale yellow tank covers her torso, while only white shorts conceal the rest. He on the other hand wears nothing to cover his tan chest, only dark blue boxers. Now staring at each others’ tired faces, she frees a tiny smile; a fake one, though. He knows that guise, he knows she is sobbing behind the soft smile she puts on display for him. His fingers then reach out for her, smoothing her wispy hair a little as they course through each strand. A sigh emerges from her nostrils, and her big, childlike eyes have disappeared once more. Becoming bolder, he caresses her tinted cheek with each fingertip, tracing the path of the grey lines. Gently, her hand meets his, and they both relish in the tiny spark ignited so briefly.

She stares at his caring face; the smooth, rich skin that seems to glow. His eyes have closed now, as he focuses his thoughts. Now, both simply looking into each others’ eyes, she loses the battle and a tiny tear drops from those deep wells. He quickly reaches over to wash it away. As he does so, her face is flooded with the tears of yesterday. “Sssh…,” he whispers, speaking so delicately as to force her attention. Her tears dry and all that is left is a blur of grey wash all over her little face. “I’m sorry,” he whispers again. Although she says nothing, the look in her brown eyes spells forgiveness and he asks for nothing more. He smiles, genuinely, and leans in to kiss his most prized possession. Her eyelids delight in the gentle attention they are being given, and a baby smile, a soft smirk, sneaks over her face to match his.

Moving closer, he wraps his arm around her bare shoulders providing so much warmth in that solitary action. And at last she closes her eyes once more and sighs in part relief, part fatigue. And she smiles, hearing the lullaby before her thoughts wander willingly into unconsciousness…

7:32 pm  •  18 November 2010  •  View comments

Photo Courtesy of Buffalo Rising

During the week of October 25^th-29^th, the Buffalo State College student organization Campus Roleplaying, Animae & Gaming Group (CRAGG) held a campus-wide event call “Humans vs. Zombies”. Humans vs. Zombies (also called Zombies vs. Humans, The Zombie Game, or HvZ for short) is a live-action game predominately played at college campuses where players begin as Humans and try to survive in a story where Zombies have risen from the dead. The game was created in the fall of 2005 at Goucher College by students Brad Sappington and Chris Weed in Baltimore, Maryland. Weed and fellow players have since created an official website with rules and information for other universities to create and customize their own HvZ game.

The ultimate goal of the game is for either all Humans to be turned into Zombies, or for the humans to survive a set amount of time. Humans can defend themselves using socks, marshmallows, water guns, dart guns or any weapon that is deemed safe and appropriate, stunning the Zombie players; Zombies are unarmed and must tag the Humans to gain a kill and avoid “starvation”, forcing them out of the game. Safe zones are established so that players can eat and sleep in safety.

 CRAGG deemed that only socks could be used as weapons; nerf guns made complications with University Police and local gun laws. In addition, any indoor location was made a safe zone. If you were outside for any reason besides work or school events you were free game. Players were given a colored arm band that you would have to wear at all times while you were outside. Orange indicated that the player was human while neon green meant they had become a zombie. CRAGG set up many activities throughout the week such as finding the hidden drop point to receive special items. One item that I found useful during the game was the cure card. This would allow you to either be safe from turning into a zombie if tagged or cure a zombie if they had been tagged in the last 24 hours. Other items like the zombie repellant allowed players to repel three zombies from feeding on you for five hours. It was used on most of the faster zombies in the game.

The game ended on October 29th, where the few remaining humans had to find a secret button around campus and stop the nuclear bomb from dropping on Buff State. The button went up at 3pm and the game was over shortly after. The group CRAGG said that they are going to try and plan a longer game either next semester or year, so keeps your eyes and ears open for the next zombie attack!

12:42 am  •  15 November 2010  •  1 note  •  View comments

Last night opened the current music & arts festival at the Burchfield-Penney, housed on Buffalo State College’s campus. Students and community patrons came to see spoken word poets, enjoy the gallery, and experience a showcase of local art. WAM, a “monthly Writers/Artists/Musicians’ creative mixer that showcases Buffalo talent & encourages conversation and collaboration,” cosponsored the successful event. It continues all throughout the weekend so be sure to check out more of their FREE performances and exhibits! 

RendezBlue | The Burchfield-Penney

Free Henry! performs

The art showcase

Eddie, our secretary, in the interactive gallery

Shadows of a hanging art piece

More of the hanging exhibit

11:01 am  •  12 November 2010  •  View comments

In a period, where one genre of music appears to be the dominant one (dance and electronica) many musicians follow mainstream tactics in order to get their name known. Santi White aka Santigold goes about her way by unleashing her genre-bending style. It’s hard to believe that this eccentric performer used to work as an A&R representative for Epic Records. She realized just how disenchanted she had become with life in the boardroom when she took a request from soul singer and childhood friend Res to work on her debut album How I Do (MCA).

Santigold’s self titled debut album released in 2008, breaks down boundary and genre classifications by incorporating new wave, indie rock, post punk, and electronic music all within her first record. For most of her songs on the album, they never sound the same, she provides her own uniqueness. In “Creator”, her first single it features her ‘singsongy’ rap abilities blending in with warped electronic beats. Influenced by the sub-cultural alternative scene of the 1980’s, her songs “Lights Out” and “Unstoppable”, show off her way of writing in catchy hooks that are accessible to a wider audience of listeners. Her song “L.E.S. Artistes” infuses her indie rock influences with her hypnotic voice with post-punk guitar riffs, it also plays on the fact of musicians who are trying to make it in the New York City music scene but only focus on trying to be seen rather than on their quality of their own music. Santigold’s genre hopping musical style has garnered her attention from well known artists like Kanye West, Beastie Boys, and Christina Aguilera.

4:12 pm  •  8 November 2010  •  View comments

“Do you want to play a game?” The deep grungy voice that revs your heart up in anticipation for who’s going to get wrecked next is back and it’s in 3D. What ingenious, over-the-top device has Jigsaw come up with now? If you want to get up off the couch this weekend and go to the movies, here is how I feel about SAW 3D: SAW 3D is SAW 4, 5, and 6…with 3D effects. The story barely goes anywhere, and in true SAW fashion, confuses you for a while then it doesn’t matter because someone is being ripped to shreds. The issue, like all the others, is that SAW tells multiple stories at the same time and it could give you a migraine (especially with those 3D glasses on) but it does hold a certain interest to those of you who have followed the series loyally. If you’re looking for a deep story that answers all your questions, leaves you with none, and you come out of there saying, “That was the GREATEST ending to a long series of gratuitous yet entertaining movies!”, then just stop reading now (this review not the site!) and save yourself the trouble because it just doesn’t happen.

Going into SAW I already had a few things in mind, “People are about to get destroyed…ALL my SAW questions will be answered, ending will leave me satisfied and SAW will go out with a bang.” Only one out of three of those things happened and I’m pretty sure you can guess which one that is…that’s right…people in that movie…got…DESTROYED! It was the only relatively entertaining part about that movie. When I left the theater I was pleased, until my friends and I began to recall the movie and could only remember the kills and not the actual content of the story. You can follow the plot line relatively well but the story doesn’t go anywhere. It’s like running on a treadmill…sure you’re doing something and you are moving…but you’re not going anywhere…you’re in the same spot.

And now…what was unique in this movie over all the SAWs…the pièce de rèsistance…REAL 3D! It was cool…and that’s really the perfect word for it. It wasn’t spectacular but by no means was is bad. It enhanced the games that Jigsaw plays and makes the gory experience a little more “in your face”. This movie really wasn’t worth all the hype but it is a decent movie to check out. Final rating: 3/5

PS: The ending…of the “final” SAW movie…leaves you with a cliff hanger…smfh.

4:37 pm  •  6 November 2010  •  View comments

9:21 am  •  5 November 2010  •  View comments

photo by rebecca farewell-prisaznuk, senior. 

8:25 am  •  3 November 2010  •  View comments

1:32 am  •  2 October 2010  •  View comments