Well Summer movie season is winding down...we've had some definite hits...and some horrifying misses. Look for my complete Summer Movie Season Update on every movie I've seen all summer long since I stopped updating the movie reviews after Matrix:Reloaded in 6 days time, after the final summer movie I plan on seeing, My Boss's Daughter (starring the delightful Ashton Kutcher) comes out. But we can't just live in the past people. Something has to entertain me until next summer, so here's a sneak peek at whats to come between now and the worst time for popcorn movie fans:Christmas Oscar Contender Movies.

The Order---9/5
Shaolin Soccer---9/5
Dickie Roberts:Former Child Star---9/5
Once Upon A Time In Mexico---9/12
The Rundown---9/26
School Of Rock---10/3
Out Of Time---10/3
Intolerable Cruelty---10/10
Kill Bill:Volume One---10/10
Scary Movie 3---10/24
Matrix Revolutions---11/5
ELF---11/7
Cat In The Hat---11/24
The Last Samurai---12/5
Stuck On You---12/12
Lord Of The Rings:Return Of The King---12/17

Well since Mr. J.Go did it a few weeks ago, I thought I'd try doing it well...just kidding buddy. Anyways, heres the CD's I've been cruising too all this Summer.

Audioslave - Self Titled
What do you get when you throw Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine into the blendomatic? The premiere ruling rock band of modern alt-rock radio, Audioslave. Only you don't have to deal with the annoying, shoved down your throat political stylings of Zak De La Rocha. What you do get is some powerful singing chops in Chris Cornell, and some blistering shreddage from the innovative guitar of Mr. Tom Merello. Highlights here include the thunderous opener Cochise, Set It Off, and lyrically fascinating Exploder. The only problem here is as an avid punk fan, I'm not used to listening to songs over the length of 3 minutes, which this cd has 14 of.

Saves The Day - In Reverie
Heres CD #2 to feature a lead singer, this one being Chris Conley, straight from the worst state in the union, New Jersey. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I bring you this review a whole month before the CD's release, and man was I shocked the first time I heard it. Saves The Day takes it down a notch here, sounding much less punky, and much more like there touring mates Weezer musically. Track 4 even reminded me very much of a Beatles tune, both in singing and instrumentally. Conley's lyrics are still deceptively and disturbingly dark and awesome though, and standout tracks include tracks 1, 3 (Title track In Reverie) and 5.

Dashboard Confessional - A Mark * A Mission * A Brand * A Scar
While Saves The Day goes lighter, the final Chris on our CD review sheet, Chris Carraba goes back to his roots (hes the former Further Seems Forever singer)and gets harder and punkier. Finally, Dashboard Confessional sounds like Dashboard Confessional, not Chris Carraba with Dashboard Confessional. But I will say that the original fans of D-board won't be such fans of this guitar filled ditty. Less acousticy and whiny, and much much more polished than any of Chris's previous works (You can tell right away on the new version of Hands Down, which kicks off the proceedings). When Chris jumps into the first chorus of Hands Down you can tell right away how studiod up this CD is. And thats the one problem...You can tell its been done a million times, then mixed together. It takes a little bit of the joy out of the infinitely sing-alongable D-Board Live Unplugged album. Carraba's is a live band to be enjoyed, with the uniqueness of each song being slightly different. Studio D-Board doesn't capture that lightning in a bottle, but its still a good, fun album.

Pearl Jam - Live At Penn State 5/3/03
Speaking of capturing live magic...Here we have Pearl Jam's longest concert ever. A concert I was to being at, until Joe Wills bitched out of the drive. A 3 hour, 3 encore masterpiece that features all the classic tunes like Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Even Flow, Daughter, Jeremy, Alive and a SWEET version of Betterman. Awesome rarities like Breath, and Satan's Bed, and covers that Eddie's made his own like the Beatles "Hide Your Love Away", Gimme Some Truth, and of course Rockin' In The Freeworld. This album is the epitome' of what a live show should be...Long, guitar solo filled, and big on crowd sing-alongs.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - Take A Break
Finally that brings us to the most fun you'll stick in your CD player this summer. The Gimme's are always good for an enthusiastic romp through pop music no one my age would know otherwise. Fat Mike is and his crew are the best of the best in that they can rawk and yuk it up with the best of them. Check out End Of The Road, I Believe I Can Fly (with kick ass ukuelele intro), Save The Best For Last, and the unbelievable Natural Woman.

Well that does it for the new stuff...other things you would find in my CD player right now that you should check out though:
Incubus - Morning View (Circles ROCKS)
Homegrown - Kings Of Pop
Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
The Ataris - So Long Astoria
Bon Jovi - One Wild Night Live.

Here's a weird one... me reviewing a video game that doesn't involve grinding, kickflips, and ollies.
I recently picked up a used copy of Enter the Matrix and I must say it is one sweet game. The graphics and production values are sweet and the game is interspersed with original movie clips with Jada Pinkett and other characters from the movie. I must say I enjoyed the game more than Matrix Reloaded. The plotline of the game runs parallel to the movie and explains what Niobe (Pinkett) and her sidekick Ghost were up to when Neo and Trinity were busting up the Matrix. The gameplay is hamped by the sub-par controls, but I've dealt with much worse 3D 3rd Person games. The game is not very difficult, for whatever reason, your health recharges constantly. It takes about a week or two to beat with both characters depending on how busy you are. For me, it was just the right amount of challenge... enough to keep me playing but not hard enough to piss me off after a long day at work. The graphics and fighting moves ring very true with the Matrix and do a good job of capturing the look of the film. Characters can use their Matrix powers sparingly, when used, the game goes into slow motion and your character starts whooping SWAT team ass. The slow motion fighting again rings very true with the movie. The designers also tried to thrown in some driving and piloting missions to vary things up, and although the graphics are great, they're not very interesting or fun. Overall, I'd say this is a great game for someone who enjoys the Matrix series and is a casual gamer. Best of all, that smoking hot chick Persephone shows up for a very memorable video clip scene...

Last night's Futurama was an outstanding ending to the best cartoon series of this, or any other century. I award it ten thumbs up, it had good references to old episodes without back tracking too much, funny stuff with the Devil Robot and Fry's ridiculous Opera, and a decent ending. But if only some channel would bring the show back...