EISLEY
The colourless words are burning our heels As the bright lights of the city fade Taking the chase to curb our fear As the bloodless moon casts it's phase
By Numaya
1997. The story is set in Tyler, Texas. Two siblings, Chauntelle and Sherri DuPree, influenced by the Beatles and Radiohead and with amazing vocals start writing songs and creating their own music. Younger siblings, Stacy and Weston, join in along with their cousin, Garron. They form Eisley, an indie rock band (they began as “The Towheads” but that didn't work out very well).
The DuPrees owned a small coffee store in Tyler, where karaoke was a daily affair. That was where Eisley began their journey to fame, performing for an ever-growing crowd each night.
In 2005 they released their debut album Room Noises from which the songs “Brightly Wound” and “Telescope Eyes” gained immense fame. In 2007 they released their second album, Combinations, followed by a hugely demanded tour for this album all over USA. In 2011, they released what is said to be their best album - The Valley. Touring with bands like Coldplay, Switchfoot and Snow Patrol garnered a huge fan base for Eisley. With over eight EPs, and three albums, Eisley has released a lot of great songs over the years. The band won 'Best New Artist' from the Dallas Observer Music Awards.
The amazing song writing makes Eisley an exceptionally unique band. The moving, passionate lyrics connects well with the audience and are brought alive by Stacy and Chauntelle's beautiful voices and the use of various instruments like the harmonica and violin along with heavy bass and piano in their songs. Stacy won an award for best Vocalist from a local magazine because of her vocals and piano playing in “Kind”. Eisley does not focus on a certain type of music but cover a wide range, from soft, piano songs to acoustic romantic music to dark, sad songs.
The thing about Eisley is that although they gained popularity in USA, they are not well known internationally. However the fans there are around the world are simply obsessed with this band.
It was a rainy day when I was procrastinating studying for an exam that I went on YouTube and browsed through trending videos. A video named “Smarter - Eisley” caught my eye and I haven't looked back since.
RECOMMENDED SONGS:
Kind, Invasion, Smarter, Brightly Wound, Mr. Moon, Ambulance, Telescope Eyes, One Day I Slowly Floated Away.
INTERESTING FACT:
Although the band's name translates to ice island in several Germanic languages, it is actually named after a spaceport from the Star Wars saga - Mos Eisley.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Midlake: An American rock band who lean towards indie and folk rock with a hypnotic, melancholy melody topped by poetic lyrics which make their songs pretty amazing for certain music lovers.
By Mahir
Dramatic, drunk, bad attitude, immortal, demon hunter - clichés just doesn't begin describing NeverDead's hero Bryce Boltzmann. However, if you are able to overlook the faulty protagonist, then Konami presents you with a semi-decent action game which you may have overlooked.
As the title suggests, gamers play as a demon hunter who gained immortality and consequently saw his wife brutally murdered and had to carry this rancour for 500 years against the demon king Astaroth. Lucky for him, Astaroth is back once again, giving Bruce a reason to stop moping, put down the bottle and get his gears ready for some payback.
Despite the mediocre graphics and overused Bangla cinema-ish storyline, Konami still manages to salvage some pride thanks to the soundtrack (composed by Megadeth) and semi-decent gameplay. Equipped with both guns and blades Bryce can kill in cinematic styles and it's the gamers' choice whether to fill beasts full of smoking holes or introduce them to some sharp steel. Besides these, Bryce's body can act as a conduit for fire and electricity which helps him solve puzzles but the best use of his immortal body comes in the form of his limbs. You see, Bryce's limbs can be torn off and re-adjusted at any time, allowing him to use them in performing all sorts of gruesome combos like using his hands as bait and exploding them whenever the demonic minions come to feed on it.
In addition to its fluid sword and gun-play, the game can be complemented for its intuitive defence and evasive manoeuvres and Bryce is capable of using his environment to his advantage by crashing them down on his enemies without worrying about being collateral damage thanks to his immortality.
Now Bryce might be immortal and almost impossible to kill but his partner Arcadia is a normal human being and he must constantly come to her aid and its gameover if she dies. The game is fun to play once you get a hang of it but the problem is that it has little or no diversity at all. The same enemies come over and over again and you get blasted out all the time, leaving you to reassemble Bryce's scattered limbs continuously. The game could have been improved in a lot of places and it looked like an unfinished game, which you can't expect from well-known developers like Konami.
The more you play the game, the more you find yourself comparing it with Devil May Cry and eventually stuff seems repetitive. So, unless you are a huge fan of demon hunting hack-n-slash games, you may not want to waste your money on NeverDead.
MUST WATCH TV
Dash e GOLPO
By Rannia Shehrish
Talk shows have taken over the Bangladeshi television network like a seriously contagious infection. The sudden growth spurt has resulted in a bunch of similar talk shows across the channels, causing a nationwide disappearance of young audiences.
A certain talk show however truly stands out of the crowd because of its genuinely funny content. Desh e Golpo, hosted by the insanely comic Eresh Zaker, brings in a different guest star every week. With the likes of Suborna Mustafa and Ali Zaker appearing on the show, you would expect something serious. But it isn't.
Together, the host and guest try to solve problems. Interesting problems. Problems that come through e-mails and phone calls. Except the phone calls and mails are scripted. At the top right, where most talk shows have the “LIVE” sign, this show has “LIVE na”. And the problems are totally whacked out. For example, this one time they tried to give advice to a thief who kept getting caught while out doing his job. Another time, a man asked for help because he went into job interview and there the interviewer asked him to solve a murder. Things basically take off from there.
Why should you watch it? Because it's something different and refreshing and Bangladeshi TV needs something along those lines. Instead of your run-off-the-mill celebrity Q&A sessions and long winded politicians, you have something to take your mind off things. The level of wit and humour is decent and the topics of conversation have a nice variation, ranging from serious ignored issues to extraterrestrials. Overall, the show is simple, fun and random; a perfect break at the beginning of the weekend. Catch the show live on Desh TV every Thursday at 10:45PM. They are also on YouTube.
By Sarah Nafisa Shahid
We've all heard this classic story about the French Musketeers of The Guard and director Paul W.S. Anderson's 2011 movie is another adaptation amongst many of the original novel by Alexandre Dumas. However, the 2011 movie has a lot more put into it - the movie being in 3D - which for Bangladeshi viewers doesn't really make much of a difference.
Despite the title, the story is about four comrades - being D'Artagnan's recollection of the strong kinship between the other three. While in the book this makes sense, the movie fails in delivering this perception properly which leaves the viewers confused for most of the movie about why there are four musketeers on screen.
The plot is set in 17th Century France which is governed by a childish King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox) and is threatened by its more fashionably (yes, what else could be France's headache) and economically superior neighbours. Enter the Musketeers along with a very predictable story about chivalry, friendship, love and loopholes in between.
Cold-hearted Athos is played by Matthew Macfadyen whose skimpy acting evidently shows that he is just starting out with his career. Aramis, the ex-priest, is played by Luke Evans (Apollo from The Clash of the Titans) whilst Ray Stevenson (Volstagg in Thor) plays the sturdy Porthos. The trio and D'Artagnan (played by Logan Lerman a.k.a. Percy Jackson) set out on an adventure to fight the evils of Milady played by Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) and Buckingham played by Orlando Bloom who threaten the peace of France. It's rather unclear though whether Orlando Bloom's role is actually that of a villain, a comic relief or a cameo or all three combined.
Cineplex at Bashundhara City has somehow managed to bring it to Dhaka and run it alongside The Hunger Games. All in all, The Three Musketeers really isn't that bad a movie to go for. Easy on the eyes, the movie is at times worth the two hours you'll be wasting on it. Worth the ticket price? Not really.
Similar to The Three Musketeers or in other words time-killing movies:
The Clash of The Titans (2010):
Sam Worthington playing a demi-god. And that's it really.
2012 (2009): Less story, more things falling down. Great movie for passing useless extra time which we happen to have a lot of.
