The availability of pulsed x rays on short timescales has opened up new avenues of research in the physics and chemistry of shocked materials. The continued installation of shock platforms such as gas guns and high power lasers placed at beamline x-ray facilities has advanced our knowledge of materials shocked to extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. In this seminar I will discuss our data on shocked zirconium and aluminum taken at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) beamline at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The topics will range from observing shock melting on the 10s of picoseconds time scale, solid-solid phase transitions, direct observation of laser ablation depths and residual temperatures at time delays ranging from 5 to 75 ns after being driven by a 120-ps short-pulse laser.