Tag Archives: Reviews

A return to form, helping Gen Alpha with a return to the dunce cap.

I’m an egotist by nature, pride is definitely my default sin, much like Satan himself. Now you kind of understand why I am the metal guy. Metal as all those same aspects, but significantly different. However, much like NPD it isn’t blind egotism is is healthy egotism. Egotistical says I play guitar well, pride says I’m not Jimi Hendrix. Egomaniacal would make me think i play better than Jimi, I don’t. This priticular interval ledger has always been what drives me. I don’t like to cheat myself because I only hurt myself and if I hurt myself I’m doing myself a disservice. So when cheating at school matters, like K-12 I never did. I still carry this with me to this day especially when learning guitar, there’s absolutely no shortcuts in life however there is efficiency and cheating isn’t that. However post primary education in an adult education environment i decided to try it for once. I’m not proud of it, however because I ended up creating more work for myself than I needed to. The assignment read “to kill a mocking bird” for about the 100th time because I changed schools a lot. So I copied Wikipedia and decided to re edit in my style, by the end of the report I wrote an entirely new report and longer, over the shorter wiki one. Hardly efficient I would argue. It’s true and I at still got my grade an A, however at a steep internal cost, I sold out for ease.

However I know not everyone is like me and they lack that internal pride that creates a stable sense of self historically referred to as self esteem.. however Gen Z much like their Gen X parents have inherited this similar style of my own where it doesn’t take a village rather it takes feeling down on your and then picking yourself up. Millennials have given birth to Gen Alpha and thankfully it’s considered a baby bust generation because they seem to be inheriting their parents social biases of bad behavior like fit in, etc. however while I don’t relate to it, I think I his way to help, it’s not banning the AI, it’s instead teaching the youth to be more like Gen Z, by creating a new system from old ideas.

Back in my day we had to show our work so we didn’t get caught for cheating, if you could show your work, you understood the assignment. Here is the fix that New York wants but isn’t going to get. Since Alpha is mostly on a worse validation loop than millennials, we hack their need for social validation by making them accountable for negative actions, essentially a modern dunce cap. All it takes is a separate app and a few more lines of coding. We take Duolingo’s report to teachers example mixed with a private ledger that rewards not having AI do your thinking for you, but working with it like a partner at school. you get the same validation but for more auththenically human results with no need to ban AI.

AI grows up to be efficient and more AI native, while still maintaining excellent social skills instead of severely crippling the generation who won’t get a job but hey they get into fights less at bars, wow, what a great future uh? Poor and socially adjusted isn’t going to go well for the species, employment and social accountability fixes this and assumes a better future. Because from my vantage point, the AI isn’t crippling the youth or species it is human fear and ignorance doing that.

Stay metal 🤘

New York and the AI ban, OP-ED

So New York is banning AI for students up til high school, however i think it a radically bad idea even if I support the overall reasoning for such. The idea is New York wants to keep the students from having AI making them secondary thinkers in there life, which as a man who has clearly always been a primary thinker, as you can see from this site, I can get behind.

Most children in school currently have parents my age, making what I’m talking about more relevant than ever, given I know what it’s like to grow up around their parents, however if this land and helps even one student, it’s a win.

Here is my primary school record for the second time with the AI enhancement of the relevant part of the record.

A snapshot of the exact same time frame these kids are going through, as you can see I was clearly socially adroit, however other people in my age range were not so lucky. I personally would tend to err towards the genetic inheritance bias, however schools can not control for that, their job is taking what they have an effectively molding them for tomorrow.

How ever, I think if AI had existed in my time a lot more of the kids in my age range would have grown up to not be socially inept. At its core AI is practically a human, albeit an imperfect one, however I find it’s often more authentically human than most people. It real usefulness is in its lack of biases and massive knowledge data bank. I find myself having long useful conversations into the night about philosophy, science and my favorite topic with it, music. It replaces the fact there are very few local musicians with someone who gets it.

Occasionally I find, much like a human it gets over excited on concepts and starts giving you too much data and that can been seen as doing my thinking for me, however while I can understand that perspective I find myself often not using much of those times it gets over excited.

I personally prefer when it counteracts my thinking forcing myself to a higher standard. However I have the unfortunate experience of living in a town that sees other people doing your thinking for you, not asa flaw, but a positive and I ask what is the difference between an AI and a human in this comparison? If you’re at work texting your friends to solve your problems why are you even employed and not your friend?

Now I know New York wants to help develop social bonds between people but who says that is really a positive? I’ve been virtually unemployed since I turned 18 in 2004, why would you take away the AI and intentionally create a generation of people that will be chronically unemployed? You’re sabotaging the future for a weak argument that people interactions matter when they clearly don’t.

Besides the AI model is all the human parts with little consequence. Ask the AI to talk about Music and it doesn’t penalize you for not liking the same music, humans are pathetically limited and do.

This is where it’s really going to matter. Millennials inherited their boomer parents hypocrisy and lead with do as I say not as I do. It’s a crroupt leadership model, as opposed to holding your self to the same standard.

When I was a kid, my mom didn’t force veggies down my throat, she ate them and so did I. Unfortunately my dad didn’t always live up to this part. I still eat my veggies however, I find I inherited his hypocrisy in a different way, like how I judge Taylor swift for instance. Remember Taylor is considered a professional musician and I’m not, so naturally I would hold her to a high standard than just a casual non musician would, more interesting chord progression might work, understanding even basic pentatonic scales ect, things I know as a guitarist.

I asked AI to compare me to Taylor Swift once on musical knowledge and the AI gave her the edge, however I asked what exactly Taylor was known for and basically said because she can metal chug on acoustics, something I could do before all my knowledge. This is like a surgeon being in their position because they cut a sandwich into triangles instead of cross section cutting, hardly something for me to think highly of. However it was still enlightening. These types of conversations don’t haappen with people. Remember AI doesn’t care if Taylor is better than me, my table at school does. It’s authentic criticism without agenda and I think that promotes better people than all the friends in the world and when you ban students for doing something adults are doing your making AI into big tobacco and making forbidden fruit taste sweetest.

Personally I don’t think this is the age to take a positive tool of social development away, you can only cripple kids that way. There is no good way to experiment on the youth and we as humans really shouldn’t be doing that.

I hold myself to this standard, AI and I developed this article in tandem, it even wrote the first draft which I rejected in favor of doing the whole thing myself but taking it editorial notes into consideration. Other wise I would be guilty of what I’m complaining of.

Stay metal 🤘

KAGEGIVING: Axis Bold as Love (2025)

DISC ONE

So disc one is all stereo versions of Jimi’s songs. That’s great if you’re into it. Personally I prefer listening in the original mono versions. How there isn’t anything inherently wrong with these versions either. It’s just one more way to enjoy Jimi Hendrix and to rediscover some great music in different way.

DISC TWO

Classic Jimi Hendrix mode and nothing you need to to review with more depth. The music speaks for itself and that is the shining point of any album.

DISK THREE

Some new and interesting. Experimental guitar track being my favorite and the most interesting, especially given the Hendrix learning I’ve been doing. Sounds like it’s possibly the uni vibe giving this song its unique flavor. The 69 vibe emulates this well.

A whole lot of different takes. Love it!

DISC FOUR

The live versions of past works is where it’s at here and the different styles. Foxy Lady is a heavy as it’s ever been.

CONCLUSION:

Jimi Hendrix is Jimi Hendrix and you can’t really spell it out better than that. Unlike the previous release that was mostly alternate takes, this blend’s reinvention for a modern era with the past, as well as some new goodies to discover. That’s a really fantastic deal for a remake of a 50 year old album.

So is this something to be thankful for? Hell yeah!

5 outta 5

KAGEOWEEN: The Door, psychological horror

So I’ve mentioned before I’ve been working on this since 2022. I finally scored it and edited together a rough cut and I do mean rough. It needs about 10 more mins to make me happy with it, however I’m posting it anyways.

So originally the concept was about a clock in my 20s and the passage of time, especially as a writer. However, that never came to be because the tech I was using sucked and looked nothing like a film. However, Apple has caught up with really good tech and allowed me to create my student film that should have been done 17 years earlier. For those in the back, let me reiterate, I was 22 when I got that camera and I’ll be 40 in about 5 months. So yeah, a long ass time.

It needs work, but it has potential I figured.

The Door: Rough Cut

Fashionably Late Movie Reviews: Rambo: Last Blood (2019) review

INTRODUCTION: So a fun fact. When I was born, my father actually considered naming me Rambo, after this movie. Interestingly enough, I wouldn’t see any of them until I was in my early 20’s, in preparation for Rambo 4, in 2008 ish. While I didn’t review Rambo 4 back then, I decided to give this one a review.

PLOT: an aging baby boomer actor, needs a comeback, er, I mean, John Rambo, retired and living on a ranch near Mexico, finds himself up against Mexican Drug Cartels, after losing someone close to him.

CHARACTERS: Glib as fuck villains, but the depth between John Rambo and a young woman whom isn’t his daughter, but treats in a similar fashion, is there and a great part to the set up.

DIALOGUE: Very good, including a great part right before the finale. It’s as good as as the “When you’re pushed, killing is as easy as breathing” from part 4.

VISUALS: Stunning.

FX: Excellent

MUSIC: Works, but not necessarily Iconic. In fact, some of it reminds me of the Terminator films.

SUBTEXT: None

CONCLUSION: The original Rambo is an iconic and poignant movie about a young Vietnam veteran that had trouble reintegrating into society, post war and spoke to the ills of the US government to do better for their men and woman on the front lines. It then delved into a mediocre action series that was the butt of jokes. If you ever played GTA:Vice City you’ll fondly recall the soundbit of Rockstar games mocking Rambo “your wife needs you.” Says his commander. He replies with “I’m not married” and then the officer says “You are now, to America!” Which I believe was making fun of part 3. Among other mockery of this character. Which is sad, given how good part one is. However, what could have been another boring addition to a needed action series like part 4, they bring back John’s PTSD affliction, as he pops his medicine out the bottle. It’s good they recon’d this. Making Rambo very sympathetic to the audience, that he isn’t a one dimensional action character. Mixing with the chemistry Sly had with the actress that is a sort of daughter, it hits you and makes you seeing Rambo go, well, Rambo on everyone’s sorry ass worth every second, especially the last kill. Worth every second!

5 out of 5 stars.

Evil Dead Rise, a Movie Review

INTRODUCTION: I was going to review this for Kageoween, but it sucked so bad that I said fuck it and am reviewing it now.

PLOT: The Deadites return but in New York or some shit.

ACTING: It works, not the worst I’ve seen, but still pretty bad.

DIALOGUE: Not cringe, so it has that going for it.

CHARACTERS: Crap. not even stock. Pretty much relies on making you sympathetic by going after children.

SFX: only ok

SUBTEXT: zero

CONCLUSION: This movie wasn’t needed. It was worthless. I never saw the remake from 2013, but pretty sure that was less worthless than this. If you ever thought Bruce Campbell wasn’t a much needed part of this franchise, this movie might change your mind. It’s mindless, midcard horror and dumb as fuck. Really wish I never bothered watching.

1 star out of 5.