Set It Off - Calm Before The Storm - 2009 Album Review

Blog also released on Blogcritics.org

From performing onstage with All Time Low to playing on the 2009 Van’s Warped Tour, Set It Off has already decided their future for themselves. There is no stopping the Florida pop-punk quintet at this rate.

Lead singer and guitar player Cody Carson formed Set It Off. He started filming YouTube cover videos of his favorite band, All Time Low. From there, he decided to take a year off from college to follow his dream. Alongside Carson are Austin Kerr (bass), Benji Panic (drums), Dan Clermont (keyboards), and Zach Something (guitar). Their influences include Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Four Year Strong, Relient K, Forever The Sickest Kids, New Found Glory, and We The Kings.

Produced by Paul Leavitt (All Time Low, The Dangerous Summer, Senses Fail, Circa Survive,) Calm Before The Storm is Set It Off’s latest release and is now available on iTunes.  Coincidentally, Calm Before The Storm is a name they decided on in honor of their idols, Fall Out Boy. Though it sounds like Set It Off is a traditional pop-punk band, they proved that they have strong musicianship and originality.

What I liked a lot about this EP was that each song showcased a different musical element. “Introduction To Outselling A Salesman” has an accurate title – introduction. It features a strong keyboard rhythm throughout. This will be a great opener for any live show with the eased in introduction verse. “143” was one of the first songs pre-released on the band’s PureVolume site. It is driven by Carson’s vocal melodies on top of the guitars. The record ends on a fantastic note. Reminding me of All Time Low’s “Remembering Sunday,” the acoustic “I Promise” explores a boy’s broken heart. Starting with a simple acoustic guitar riff, “I Promise” leads into a finale with the whole band singing along. That really impressed me. It proved how close knit the band truly is. More importantly, it showcased that Set it Off display a promise to look forward to.

Set It Off is one of those bands that clearly present their dreams through music. Both their hard work and strong musicianship separate themselves with the rest of the pop-punk genre. Touring constantly, they will not take no for an answer. If you like any of the bands listed above, Calm Before The Storm is just the beginning of the long journey ahead for Set It Off.

Check out Set It Off on:

Myspace Purevolume iTunes

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zachsb, yes coffee milk!

omgstephanie:

zachsb:

andrealynnxo:

zachsb:

andrealynnxo:

zachsb:

andrealynnxo:

haha it’s like chocolate milk but coffee flavored!

That sounds like an ingenious idea. Probably save me so much money from going to Starbucks all of the time hahah.

D: I seriously can’t believe some people don’t even know what it is! it never ceases to surprise me.

Learn new things every day, eh?

haha I just read your little side thing and you’re from Boston?! that makes it even more surprising you wouldn’t know what coffee milk is!

Haha, that’s crazy, I’ve never heard of it. hmmm Boston would only have the best food ;).

I actually liked Chicago food better!

mm idk about that. Nothing beats some Sal’s Pizza, or Fenway Franks, or anything at little italy

Mastering the Nikon D700 by Darrell Young & James Johnson - Book Review

Blog also released on Blogcritics.org

Just looking at Digital single-lens reflex cameras confuses me. They have enough buttons to control an F-16 fighter jet. The Nikon D700 is an astounding camera that is Nikon’s first ‘compact’ professional digital SLR. Published and available now on Rocky Nook and Nikonians Press, Mastering the Nikon D700 is an outstanding book that provides a wealth of knowledge to both the experienced and beginner digital SLR users.

Mastering the Nikon D700 by Darrell Young and James Johnson is one of the most user-friendly and easy to read guidebooks I’ve ever read. Throughout the many chapters on literally every feature of this camera featured beautifully colored pictures. Many books of this type have a great description of every feature of the camera, but fail to provide clear and accurate pictures that walk you through the meaningful content. Mastering The Nikon D700 clearly puts the reader first. After reading this book, I felt that if I had never touched a camera before, I would’ve been confident with the D700. It was clear, descript, and to the point. Each chapter explores each feature and capability of the camera in extreme detail, surpassing any guidebook I’ve seen to date.

One part of this book that I thoroughly enjoyed was the simple yet powerful conclusions at the end of each chapter. If you get lost in words throughout any of the nine chapters, these conclusions take a step backward. They provide a recap of the previous readings using extremely accessible dictation. Although I found the bodies of the chapters extremely easy to understand, the conclusions were an icing on the cake.

I rarely enjoy reading guidebooks on technology. I’m the person that likes to pick up the device, bring it home, unbox it and lock myself in the room all day with it. I usually work myself through the learning curves on the various gadgets. It’s something I enjoy. In fact, Mastering the Nikon D700 is the only guidebook I have in my house right now. However, this book completely changed my outlook. Though I enjoy figuring out the problems, Mastering the Nikon D700 added much insight. There are some features on this camera that I would’ve never known or even thought about that this book went into massive detail on. This book is a fantastic testimonial demonstrating why reading is so important.

Extending beyond the camera, Mastering the Nikon D700 covers accessories, and other equipment that will enhance your photo experience. Usually when this happens in books, it is merely a marketing ploy to sell accessories that make the company money. This was not the case in this book. Young and Johnson truly made suggestions that are of beneficial use.

Although Mastering the Nikon D700 is an absolutely stellar book for owners of the camera, I also found it to be of great use for anyone seeking useful knowledge on DSLR cameras in general. This is one of the books that prove that one truly does not know everything. There is always something to learn. Mastering the Nikon D700 makes learning the ins and outs of the Nikon D700 camera a simple and an enjoyable process.

Click here to purchase Mastering the Nikon D700

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