Review: With Teeth

[WITH_TEETH]

Nine Inch Nails

2005

I recall listening to With Teeth for the first time, somewhere near the end of high school and definitely during my first year of college. Well, definitely a couple of songs over and over. You know the ones. I remember being left in awe at the album both as a whole and in pieces and this is where my review starts.

With Teeth has always stood out as one of the best NIN albums for me. Where The Fragile seemingly faltered, With Teeth did the opposite and lunged forward and stood tall. The funny thing is that With Teeth is actually kind of far from "standard NIN". This time around, it's not just Trent playing every instrument himself with a heavier industrial synthesizered* lean like before. This time around the instruments extend beyond the norm in a more obvious way. You know, you can actually tell with greater ease that there are guitars and basses (redundant) at work. You also have to give it up for guests who do a damn great job (Dave Grohl, for instance on drums on tracks like Only and Getting Smaller).

Trent delivers on all levels, as if he learned from the misstep that is The Fragile. The level of aggression on With Teeth is awesome, to say the least (and also to use the most commonly used phrase of adoration). It is only enhanced by the fact that it at least seems less synthesizered* and therefore comes off as more human, more primal, more visceral. The same vicious NIN we've come to love over the years brought one step closer to you, the listener. The angry, seething, appreciative listener who more often than not, seeks someone to understand them. As do songs like Only, Getting Smaller, Sunspots, Every Day is Exactly the Same, and The Hand that Feeds. 

All of articulate what you have a hard time expressing sometimes: your anger, frustration, horniness, conflicts with your own self, an intense dissatisfaction with being blinded in a cyclical routine with almost no end. A chorus of increasing anger "... there is no you / there is only me / there is no fucking you / there is only me" serves as a perfect example of how With Teeth is that album that speaks volumes about what's trapped inside you, just dying to break free, to scratch, claw, fight, and bite its way out.

* That term is only there so we could be on the same page.

10/10

Luigi!

Nintendo has been celebrating 2013 as "The Year of Luigi" and there's probably something to be said about that.


Awesome!

Of course I'll explain why that's awesome.


Growing up, my cousin and I played Super Nintendo every weekend. That was the rule: only on the weekends were we allowed to even touch the Super Nintendo. Since it belonged to my cousin, that somehow granted him the privilege (or right) to play as player 1 and since we only had Super Mario World, he got to play as Mario. By default, I played as player 2.


Luigi.


Now, most people would bitch and moan about how unfair it is that the younger relative should get to go first or that he would take / knock the controller from my hand whenever it was clear that I actually knew how to play or that it was wrong for him to transfer most of my character's lives to his.

Well, I did complain about the last two, not so much the first one.

Of course, only children complain about the first fact because it still hasn't sunk into their growing minds that someone can do with their property as they please: claim first use, give away their property, or be a jerk with it and not lend it out or anything.

I didn't complain about being player 2 and playing as Luigi because off the bat, I already sensed some sort of connection with Luigi, as strange as it sounds. Coming in second (despite being older than my cousin), being tall for my age, and not getting much recognition for the things I did. Granted, 5 year olds don't often do amazing enough things to be recognized. Though, turkey hands and using glue and safety scissors correctly are remarkable in their own right. But that's not the point, is it? It's about actually noticing that figure at the edge of the limelight who has always been there but not been embraced.


That being said...


I commend Nintendo for giving one of its major (though not often unsung) heroes some major recognition. It's been long over due, in my opinion, given that the first game is called Mario Brothers. Brothers. Not just "Mario" or the "Adventures of Mario and nobody else". Luigi has always been there for me, for you, for player 1 and for player 2 (and recently 3 and 4 and beyond). He isn't made to hog the spotlight but is still just as recognizable as Mickey Mouse and Mario yet doesn't get the acclaim he deserved, until now.

For Luigi to finally get some recognition is great especially since it means he isn't being still treated as just a second fiddle.

Speaking of second fiddle...

His trophy description in Super Smash Brothers Melee probably put it best:


Although Mario's younger brother has always played second fiddle, Luigi finally garnered the spotlight with his very own game, Luigi's Mansion. Things are looking up for the eternal understudy; he's even picked up his own rival in Waluigi. The day he's referred to as the "lean, mean, green machine" may not be too far off.


The only thing that seems to bother me is how often Luigi is portrayed as a coward. It never really used to be this way. Prior to his own game, Luigi's Mansion, he was just as brave as Mario is portrayed and always tagged along, a willing companion and partner. But then they made him into a coward. There's something strange about that.

He's just as capable, if not more, than Mario. He can one-hit K-O opponents, the green missile is a devastating move, and of course, he jumps higher and farther than Mario in the Doki Doki Panic ripoff.

This should make him less of a coward and more of a reluctant hero but of course, there's a bright side to everything. His perceived cowardice can be used as a means of disarming foes. This works, by the way. If you've played Super Mario 64 DS, you'll remember that enemies' texts often deride and underestimate Luigi at first. And when you beat them, their texts are reactions of frustration, surprise, and a twinkle of admiration. Take that, suckers.

Furthermore, one could see his bizarrely implemented cowardice as an obstacle for the player to overcome. A symbol of what one can overcome while achieving great things: restoring peace to a haunted valley, restoring peace to the Mushroom Kingdom by defeating and making your foe acknowledge you by name, and conquering your demons and those who would oppose you in your tasks.

I'll stubbornly see Luigi as that reluctant unsung hero who should get more recognition and less as a coward but I take great comfort in knowing that at least Snake respects him, and so should you.

Thanks, Nintendo, for giving Luigi some major recognition.

Happy Year of Luigi, everyone.

Packaging

A few weeks ago, I asked a friend for help running an errand because I have no reliable means of transportation other than public transportation. After finishing the errand, we went to stuff our fat faces on wings at a well-known wing restaurant. I'll let you figure out where we stopped to it; it's very popular as I'm told. Eventually, we went to a Barnes & Noble because I really wanted to buy a copy of Judge Dredd Complete Case Files. (Note: I'm not an asshole. He wasn't just used a chauffeur for the day, I told him to pick out anything he wanted and he did).

Since then, I've bought stuff from Barnes & Noble in person and online. Especially since I paid for the membership (which is paying for itself thanks to free shipping and the discounts). No, I am not a sell-out; I'd have to be getting paid in order to be a sell-out.

After that first Judge Dredd book, I went back to that same location and bought the Complete Case Files 02. Much to my dismay, however, some asshole had flipped through the pages and torn a hole through one and damaged the other pages as well. You bet your ass I was fucking pissed- still am, by the way.

I went back the next morning and explained my situation: "I don't want to sound bratty but there's a hole in a page and some of the pages have been damaged. I'm guessing somebody flipped through the pages and damaged them." The guy at the register understood completely and did the following: took back the damaged copy, and ordered a fresh copy to be delivered to me because that torn copy was the last one in stock at that location.

After I left the store, I ordered a copy of Tank Girl: Apocalypse online because I can and because reasons.

I'll just skip ahead to a few days after both orders came in, separately (obviously because I ordered them at separate times and in separate methods).

The packaging for both books was... perplexing. Tank Girl was in a folded thick cardboard folding box that you open by pulling some flaps on the sides and then tearing open.

(Part of) my most recent order (Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume and Seven Samurai) arrived about an hour ago. They came in a box with only crumpled up paper on top to protect the book and DVD set. I was very grateful that the people at UPS didn't accidentally damage the contents which could have easily happened given the pretty poor packaging.

I'm gonna be honest. The packaging Barnes & Noble uses honestly confuses me, and frankly sucks. Well, the box + crumbled paper combo sucks the most, the other method is surprisingly efficient though I would prefer the book to have been in shrink-wrap to further protect them from potential scratches when rubbing with the cardboard. A foolish notion but not entirely improbable, is it?

I've ordered some stuff from eBay and the packaging the sellers have used is way better. Maybe that's because I didn't order books and movies from eBay and because that's just the seller's preference: envelope and bubble wrap.

That being said, at least my copy of the Complete Case Files 02 came in without torn pages or anything of the sort.

As for the "part of" comment. I ordered Tank Girl: The Odyssey and am waiting for it to arrive tomorrow. It should have arrived today as well because I ordered it along with Bone and Seven Samurai. Hell, it would have made more sense for the box to contain Bone, Seven Samurai, and Tank Girl. But I guess stock is limited here and there and all that fun stuff.

Hmm.