The pop rock foursome from Denver is back with Scars & Stories. Producer Brendan O’Brien helps the group further polish their sound on this release and enables the group to expand their range and depth sonically. World travels and real life experiences fuel this release and avid followers of the Fray should notice a growth and maturity in the lyrical content. New listeners should be pleased also as the Fray sits comfortably in a position that aligns their constellation with other stars in the pop rock sky.

Ryan Gosling’s Drive is a slow burn action flick that seeps of 80’s nostalgia. Drive is heralded by critics and audiences for the tone, realism and the ability to realistically capture the gritty underbelly of Los Angeles (in a way that doesn’t revolve around the typical gang bangers).  The film does have slow moments, but when the violence and action shows up, it is worth the wait. Don’t expect to see lots of high-speed chases though. Drive is somewhat of love story, lead by the characters, the scene and the music. Gosling is a stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals. He takes interest in his neighbor and her son and all is well, until her husband comes back from prison. To say more than that really ruins the film. Some critics note that with such a title, Drive should have more action. You would want that, but that is not what the move is about. Drive is not about cars, Drive is about determination. Drive.

The classic Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker gets a seasonal refresh, with the “Moto Leather Jacket”. Taking styling cues from the original and iconic Schott black leather jacket, this release fine tunes the workings of a successful, limited edition shoe previously crafted by the leather jacket makers, Schott NYC themselves. The sneaker features a genuine leather upper, metal zipper detail around the eyelets and palatable, geometric stitching to accent the leather jacket inspiration. You can get these Converse All Stars now as either a high-top or as a low. However, brown leather gets only the low option, while the black leather gets both. Order them at the Converse online store.

The Adventures of Tintin, Steven Spielberg’s first full-length animated film is packed with action, drama and adventure. Follow news reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy as they journey around the world; through the skies and across the seas; in hopes to solve a mystery and find a treasure, all with the constant threat of a curse over Tintin’s shoulders. With a cast that includes Daniel Craig (James Bond, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Andy Serkis (known for his work as Gollum and more recently as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), The Adventures of Tintin almost flawlessly combines great storytelling with motion capture and CGI animation for the making of great animated film. Tintin pays homage to and that stays true to the original early 20^th century classic comics, yet brings excitement that you can enjoy today. Pre-order Tintin and you save 51%.

Recently introduced to the global audience, Blue Microphones Tiki USB Microphone is billed as the first USB mic that accurately mimics the intelligence of human hearing. How is that possible you ask? The technological wonder workers over at Blue Mics have figured how to gear components of the portable USB microphone to focus on sounds you desire recording and to minimize sounds you don’t, through noise cancellation, voice isolation and auto-mute.  Small enough to fit in your pocket, the Tiki mic is the perfect add-on component for recording audio when a portable voice recorder, iPad or other tablet are not enough for the task. Now you can record and listen to those all important multi-hour lectures in CD-quality sound.

Even though quite some time has passed since BigBerries first put the spotlight on a novelty pair of USB cufflinks, the demand for them (or at the very least the production of them) does not seem to be going away any time soon. Now, from being merely quirky, conceptual prototypes, functional cufflinks of varying types are becoming routinely available for you to purchase. That said, you can add these polished silver USB cufflinks with 2GB of storage capacity to your collection. Additionally, these cufflinks purportedly serve as a Wifi hotspot for your devices, making it so now you don’t have to mooch from the local coffeehouse to get your data. You can order them at Brookstone.

As time passes and days go by in the year, you do one of two things, you get things done or you don’t. Touted as a modern classic, “Getting Things Done” by David Allen is a book that details an organizational method that moves you from carrying a truckload of mindless mental clutter, to productive thoughts and effective, useful, task-orientated activities. While time management itself is not a new concept, the approach presented by Allen has generated a cult-like following in some circles and has even generated several web-based companies (Remember the Milk and 43Folders) that revolve around the GTD framework. In the book Mr. Allen periodically jaunts off-course into classical guru territory using the occasions to parlay some psychology and several philosophical insights, but they appropriately connect his presentation. However, despite weaving across the lane of focus, GTD manages to deliver strongly on the main premise. If you have ever found yourself running aground periodically when it comes to completing your to-do-lists, committing to resolutions, making appointments or otherwise, Getting Things Done is worth reading.

With an eight megapixel camera bolstered with Carl Zeiss lenses to help you capture all those important moments, a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen for all the media you can possibly consume, WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth and a 1.4Ghz Snapdragon processor with an updated chipset to handle LTE all wrapped in a soft to the touch polycarbonate frame, the Nokia Lumia 900 is first Nokia Windows Phone with 4G LTE.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is a great looking phone, but are looks enough to return Nokia to glory? Just in case its looks do not convince you to buy, Nokia is said to be giving the Lumia 900 an aggressive price with the hopes of making the new Microsoft Windows 4G phone appear even more attractive and thus more likely to get into your hands.

Thirteen tracks of metal, extra heavy, with some soul on the side. That’s how you can describe Mastodon’s long-anticipated sonic descendant to Crack the Skye. Constantly pushing forward, with the Hunter, Mastodon ditched the concept album model that has worked so well for them previously, like a snake shedding its skin and angled off into new musical territory. The result is a much appreciated evolution in sound, complete with more palatable song lengths, lyrics whittled down to the essential essences that evoke emotion and surge with force and direction, anthem-type choruses and melodic chords that tease the untrained ear into believing that Mastodon is aiming to go pop, but to the seasoned veteran it’s a sign of developing maturity in their craft. Could this be due to Mike Elizondo, who has handled production duties for Eminem or is it due to road work with Alice in Chains? Who cares? It’s Mastodon, the Hunter, the drums are vacuum seal tight, the songs stand alone and the music speaks for itself.