Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Pulses by Karmin:
Karmin's first claim to fame three years ago was this Chris Brown song, featuring an amazing rapid fire cover of Busta Rhymes, and they've dwelled happily in their pop covering niche ever since. Pulses is their first album of original songs, and although it was not well-received by critics, it's exactly what you would expect -- the most salient features of today's radio hits rolled into pleasant aural wraps. There is nothing on this album that is daring or groundbreaking, but it's well-constructed and fun to listen to.

Final Grade: B

Les Appareuses Trompences by Boulevard des Airs:
This is the second album from the French band we saw in the Quebec Summer Festival back in 2012. It has a good mix of styles, with some heavy reliance of reggaeton, but still not as much trumpet as I would like. I enjoyed listening to this album a lot, although some of that might just be nostalgia from our Canadian festival experiences. Also, Google Translate unhelpfully tells me that the English title is "The Appareuses Trompences".

Final Grade: B+

Honeywell Whole Room Air Circulator Floor/Table Fan, HT-908:
Small, quiet, forceful, and keeps the mosquitoes away from my legs while I'm on the deck, kind of like a pet bullfrog.

Final Grade: B

Transistor:
I picked this game up because I enjoyed the developer's first game, Bastion. It has a definite style and was obviously crafted with love, but it never grabbed me in the first hour of play. Like Bastion, it drops you into the game without explanation or backstory, allowing you to learn the controls and get into the story as you go. However, this approach doesn't work for me, as it gives me no sense of setting or narrative and I always feel like I'm missing some gameplay mechanic when learning it on my own. Not everyone minds reading a game manual before firing up a game for the first time.

Final Grade: Not Graded