Video Games LIVE!

I just got back from the Video Games Live concert in Boston. For those who don't know, they take classic video game favorites and orchestrate the music for large orchestra and choir. While playing the music they have video clips of the songs playing in the background, as well as a bit of audience interactivity and crazy laser action.

They played the staples of the industry like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, but they also threw in a couple of really cool arrangements. Some of my personal favorites were the music to Bioshock, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II, but if you're a gamer there was plenty for everyone.

The man behind the operation, Tommy Tallarico, is actually one of the most important video game composers in the industry. He started out a long time ago, composing the music for the first Prince of Persia game, and then exploding from there to do the music to huge AAA titles like God of War. He is a Massachusetts native, and earlier in the week he actually came to Berklee to speak about how he got into the industry and the current trends. It was an incredibly informative presentation, and it was just cool to see someone that is so high up on the video game ladder, talk to us about how he paved his way into the industry.

The interactive sections of the concert were awesome. They had a whole Gutiar Hero thing where a contest winner got to play a song from Guitar Hero while the musicians backed him, Ralph Baer, the original creator of PONG, got to play pong on stage with a random audience member while the orchestra played little bits. They pulled a member from the audience, and then gave him a shirt and a controller, and he got to play Space Invaders on the big screen, except he was the ship, so he had to run around while shooting down the ships as the musicians played. It was all pretty incredible. We even got to see Martin Leung, the guy who plays the video game music blindfolded on Youtube, play Final Fantasy music live for us, which was pretty amazing.

In the end it was a night spent with a bunch of peers, eating and drinking, and seeing a really cool concert. Time well spent.

Quick Catch Up

To: Adonis, Lance, Ray
From: Nazer

So I just got my absentee ballot in the mail. It came in a big ass envelope full of reading material as well as the actual ballot. I wish I knew more about the city council candidates and such (I don't get to see all the commercials for these guys, but I do get to see all the negative ads about New England council officials), but I guess it's time to do some homework. It's pretty unreal looking at this stuff, finally voting in a presidential election, just another sign that we've come a long way from sitting inside with nothing to worry about except who we want to main in Smash (oh wait we still do that).

In other news school keeps me pretty busy. Midterm week isn't as heavy as one might think, but writing four parallel lines with proper counterpoint in the form of a fugue isn't exactly everyday material. I love my film classes. We're finally getting to write music to picture, and we do a lot of analysis on film music, really informative. A couple weeks ago Joey Newman, a Berklee grad, came to talk about his experiences so far in LA. He was nominated for an Emmy for his music on "Little People, Big World" and he talked about TV a lot, which was a nice change from looking at film all the time. I've also been dealing a bit with the integration of music into video games, and Berklee actually hired a guy and created classes just this semester for this industry, I can't wait to take some of them.

I spend my free time playing video games and watching television and movies. The Mad Men season finale was a couple of days ago which was really good, and if anyone has been keeping up with Dexter this past weeks episode was seriously insane. My favorite shows of the moment are Pushing Daisies (which is on the verge of cancellation, WATCH THIS SHOW TELL YOUR FRIENDS), Chuck, and Fringe, but I've been watching literally everything else (except the CBS shows), and lots of shows are getting really good as well. 30 Rock premieres this Thursday, can't wait for that, and Top Chef comes in a couple of weeks, so that's just another hour and a half to add to my dedicated TV watching time.

I got Guitar Hero World Tour over the weekend. It's a fun game, and I've only played the guitar stuff, but it EPIC FAILS in comparison to Rock Band. The band interface is terrible, and the worst part is that if one person fails, everyone else fails, so you can't like save your band members or anything, but I'll put up a more in depth look at that later. Fable II was cool, and Gears of War 2 comes out next week, and I want to get a Gamefly account so I can play some of the games I don't want to spend $60 dollars for.

So that sort of sums it up. School, media, drinks, oh and I cook a lot now too, trying to learn and perfect my Moms recipes and stuff, so yeah I guess I'm keeping busy. Till next time.

(Oh and Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix is supposed to come out before the end of this year, and then Street Fighter IV this winter, hella excited)

Sunday Morning

To: Ray, Adonis, Lance
From: Nazer

9:53 AM. Thinking about going to church, not too sure yet, the rain might get crazy. That's what bugs me about this city, well along with the weird accents and absurd liquor laws, the amount of rain I've seen in my time up here has been simply ridiculous. A couple weeks ago it was sunny as hell, then while walking home from class a storm comes and everyone, including me, gets owned by the wrath of nature; not exactly what I'd call a good afternoon.

Going out to buy groceries or pick up a six pack involves a complicated string of thoughts: what kind of sweater/jacket do I have to put on, will my umbrella be able to take this, is it cool to walk around with these shoes in those puddles, etc. It's tedious, but it's necessary, unless you're down to get wrecked by weather.

Besides all that, school is awesome. Classes are pretty challenging, which is good, and it's nice to talk about music, in a college, snobbish, geeky way, once again. My roommates are chill, but I gotta loosen these guys up a bit, they're not quite on that singing Green Day on the karaoke machine while spending hundreds of dollars on Soju level yet, but in time we'll get there.

I've been watching a ton of TV and that keeps me pretty busy. Tonight alone we have Mad Men, the season premiere of Dexter, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, True Blood, Entourage, The FOX comedies, and I didn't even include football, so I have no idea what I'm going to do about that tonight, but we'll see. This new Ne-Yo cd isn't very good at all, kind of disappointed but whatever, and the Rock Band 2 setlist is fun as hell to play.

One month in, and I guess I can say that I'm comfortable. I'm keeping up on all my school work while simultaneously juggling many hours of TV, with movies and video games, while still enjoying myself. I've been cooking a lot too, which is fantastic because I can spend 5 bucks on a steak and have that last me 3 meals, same thing with a pack of chicken breasts. Me and my asian roommate are planning to take a trip to chinatown so I can pick up some lumpia wrapper so all these fools can eat it all, but once again we'll see. Maybe more next week, what's going down with you guys?

(Yeah I'll post when I feel like it)

Talk Louder Muh Fucka

Nazer and I are the shit.





I think i might have killed the mood ahhhh well...look at erwin and lily's reaction in the background love it.

Halfway Done With College...

It's 1:20 PM. My bags are packed, my room is cleared, and in about an hour I'll be calling a cab to take me to Logan airport for my flight home. After a week of rain, the sun is shining again, and I hate to say it, but I think I'm really gonna miss this place.

When celebrating the end of the school year last night everyone was talking about how excited they were to go home. it didn't really hit me till then that I spend the majority of my year in Massachusetts, and the holidays and the summer in California. Today I ran some last minute errands, but while walking through the city streets I really took the time to take it all in, and even though I give this place so much shit (for not having good food and no 24hr spots), I really do enjoy myself when I'm up here.

Another school year gone, with another four month summer. People always say that college is about finding yourself, and this year that realization really shined through. After learning so much more about music than I thought I'd ever know, I'm much more determined to live successfully doing the things I love: playing piano, composing for full orchestra, producing, electronic music, and so on. For Berklee kids the summer is really about taking in everything you learned throughout the hectic school year and really soaking it in, making sure you understand the information presented. This summer I plan to really hone my skills in all of these areas, as well as collaborate with my friends through the internet, trading songs back and forth, etc.

I could go on and on about all of this, but truth be told I just want to relax for this next hour, head to the airport, order a cocktail on the plane just 'cuz I can, and then hangout till I'm back in San Diego. Till next time.