Earlier, I had mentioned the short films that Weta and Neill Blomkamp were creating for the Halo franchise. well the day has come and the second installment is here:

This clip is so purdy it brings tiny tears to my eyes. My coworker and I have been drooling over all the slick Halo 3 marketing tactics while at the same time thinking of ways to justify purchasing Xbox 360’s to our wives. As much as I’d love to bust out Halo 3 right away I’d like to see if the rumored benefits of the 65nm chips pan out for the 360 before I plunk down the change for one. We shall see.

Admittedly, I wasn’t really all that thrilled to hear that Billy Corgen, Jimmy Chamberlin, and a couple others were putting out a new Smashing Pumpkins album. This is why I was not entirely broken up when Zeitgeist proved to be a little underwhelming. There are a few things that put me off of Zeitgeist right from the beginning:

• Billy Corgan’s solo album Future Embrace was great IMHO, it moved in a direction that the Pumpkins only touched on in their later albums.
• Two original band members and a couple stand-ins do not make a reunion—especially when the two have already played together in another band.

Devildriver has released their third album, The Last Kind Words. For those of you who don’t know, Devildriver is the latest project of Dez Fafara former front-man of Nu-Metal/Goth band Coal Chamber. Suffice it to say, Coal Chamber disbanded for reasons too numerous to count. Out of the ashes of that debacle came Devildriver, a no-holds barred grab you by the throat and shake you metal band. From where I’m standing Devildriver is a step in the right direction.

Recently, I was introduced to an interesting musician who goes by the name of Xardas. He is a Lebanese composer of industrial noise. Currently, Autumn Wind Productions is releasing Xardas’ back catalog of recordings under the moniker 20.sv.

I’ve been enjoying the self titled debut album by The End artists Kosmos over the last few days. What can I say, it’s a funky little disc. The best way to describe Kosmos’ music is to look no further than their name. Kosmos takes you on a psychedelic hop through your interstellar neighborhood. Steady beats and groovy guitars are backed by heavy doses of organ and distortion.