...cold weather

To: Ray, Adonis, Lance
From: Nazer

So I woke up around 9:30, made some breakfast, took a shower, got ready to go to church. After being in San Diego for a few weeks, I didn't even think about checking the weather. When I opened the door outside of my building I was welcomed by this...
Snow is cool...until you actually have to go somewhere and you're stuck in your building. Till next time.

You Were Throwin' Pebbles

8:28 AM, eastern time. I just finished unpacking all of my things. The apartment is empty, all the lights were off, all of the electronics were unplugged, and since I was the last to leave, it's exactly the way I left it. When the plane landed in Boston, I looked out the window to see snow and some fat white guys, and that pretty much sums up Boston right there.

There is literally no food in my apartment. I don't know if I should just go to sleep and rest up a bit, or if I should watch more of the Today Show then just suck it up and go throughout my day. I have to deposit some checks, buy some groceries, then watch a bunch of TV and just prepare for school.

My winter break was ridiculously awesome. I got to hang out with everyone in SD, eating a ton of food, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, singing along to every guys iPod playlist including Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga, and admiring the San Diego weather. One thing I love about going home is everyone's always down to drink a shitload, get messed up, and have a good time. Follow that with some fatty Mexican food and seriously life doesn't get much better, and I'll miss it.

I have no idea when I'll be coming down next. I love being home, but when I'm there I seriously get no work done, so I guess it's a just balancing act that I'll have to figure out. So thanks for the good times everyone, till next time.

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)

...And Away We Go

To: Lance, Ray, Adonis
From: Nazer

I don't mind plane rides anymore. Actually I haven't for a while now. Whenever people talk about airlines you always hear about lost luggage, crappy food, boring programming, and while all of those in fact do occur, I guess I've grown accustomed to them all.

After a long, long summer in San Diego, it's finally time to head back east, to a place where Boston sports rule the world, and mexican food (at least the way we like it) is non existent. It was an incredibly enjoyable summer, basically the ultimate four month vacation. I had my fair share of my three staples, good food, good music, and good company. Happy hour wherever in the afternoon then Santanas at night put a fat dent in my wallet and bank account, but the laughs along the way make it all worth it. Celebrating a ton of 21st birthdays, all with their own crazy stories, plus Irvine trips and Comic-Con help to complete the package.

But what did I get done in terms of work over Summer? One could say absolutely nothing. I watched a bunch of movies and television shows, listened to a ton of music, fooled around with software and played more piano this summer than I have in, well, forever. The balance of fun to (what I call) work resembled a one-sided seesaw this Summer, but honestly it doesn't really matter. We may be in college, we may be trying to forge our way into a stumbling economy, and even though our IDs say we're adults, we're still kids. We talk about video games, we fill our mouths with junk food, and I love it. I figure while we're still in school, live it up, the harsh and unavoidable real world will come eventually.

I'm looking forward to being back in the city. Being able to walk literally everywhere is a luxury that you learn to appreciate, and with the overwhelming amount of heat down here some cold air will be gladly accepted. So good luck in school, to Lance Ray and Raeizon go wild this week, and I'll see you all this holiday season, thanks for the good times.

Because Boston Has No Mexican Food

So it's been nearly a month since I've been in Boston, and while 24 hour, freezing interior Santana's most definitely hits the spot after the many nights of mayhem, there are a few Boston exclusive food elements that I've been missing.

Cappy's Buffalo Chicken Sub


This shop was literally steps away from my dorm. The sandwich contains buffalo chicken strips, tomatoes, lettuce, and bleu cheese on a huge sandwich roll. Whenever I eat it I feel like the fattest person ever, but damn there is nothing bad about this thing.

Pizza and Wings


You can get slices and wings pretty much anywhere you go in Boston, but each spot has it's own qualities. Some places have cracker thin crusts, some p;laces have giant slices, some have hotter wings than others, some serve their wings with multiple dipping sauces, and so on. While San Diego natives know exactly where to go for their favorite burrito, everyone in Boston has their personal favorite pizza place.

Chacarero Chilean Sandwiches


A true hidden gem in Boston. This downtown Boston eatery holds the only sandwich to rival that of the Irvine favorite Le Dip. Choose from grilled chicken or steak (or both) and then combine that with green beans, tomatoes, cheese, a guacamole spread, and probably the best hot sauce I've had outside of San Diego. Place that on their freshly baked bread and allow the power of food to make all other worries of the world go away, at least until it's time to order another one. This will probably be the first place I go when I go back up there, and believe me if I could express mail a few of these to the west coast I certainly would, but they wouldn't retain their freshness. This huge sandwich is priced at 8 bucks, and if you get full you can always save half for dinner.

I'm confident that many of these options would satisfy a coolkids hunger. There are many more places that I didn't list, from the best place for Falafel to the best Indian buffet, but maybe another time. Maybe a San Diego best happy hour list down the line too...till next time.

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.

This Just In...

So Spring was apparently canceled in Boston. It's been raining all weekend, and for whatever reason we're have a Winter repeat session where everyone starts getting sick all over again, including myself. I seem to have caught a bug somewhere during the week, and in turn I find myself taking teaspoons of cough syrup and sleeping for hours and hours in my room.

Less than one week to go in Boston. I attended my last Sunday mass up here this morning, and I'm mapping out the spots I wanna hit up before I leave. Since I've been sick I've completed pretty much all of my assignments, and clocked in a ridiculous amount of hours into GTA. One would say, "damn, you played that much, you must have no life," but what if my life deals with analyzing music integration in a video games and staying updated and current with an industry that grows at such a rapid pace?

In television news, I watched Top Chef, 30 Rock, The Office, and Lost. 30 Rock was hilarious as usual, while The Office failed to impress, I mean I actually checked the clock to see how much time was left in the episode, but there were a couple of funny moments. I like watching Dale not get kicked off in Top Chef, and Lost was alright, I'm getting tired of Jack centric episodes, but I'm curious to see what's up with Claire.

That's pretty much it for now, see you all next time. And this Sunday is Mother's Day, so you should go get your mom a gift or something, PEACE.

It's Saturday, It's Raining, What's New?

To: Lance Ray Adonis
From: Nazer

So it's been sunny all week here in downtown Boston. Everyone seemed a bit happier, clerks in stores were nicer, there wasn't any need for giant wind breakers and so on. Until today, when I woke up to the sounds of rain dripping on the railings of the fire escape, but what else is new?

Today one of the most anticipated games ever is coming out, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For those of you who play, get ready for a ton of additional characters, new stages, new strategies to find, and honestly just more hours used beating the shit out of each other with our favorite childhood video game characters. For those of you who don't play, sorry, get ready to watch a bunch of dudes staring at a screen, the sound of clicking controllers, and a bunch of screaming for no reason.

My spring break starts March 15th, and this week I have midterms. I purposely did all my schoolwork needed so I could dedicate more time into certain things (read one paragraph up), but I should be straight for all my tests. I seriously can't wait to go home though. Even if nothing huge occurs, it'll just be nice to relax and not have to think about chord progressions and scales for a week. Plus I'll get to see my family and eat a bunch of good food since I'll be home for Easter.

Lately my snack food of choice has been Kettle Chips, of the yogurt and green onion variety. I know, instantly you think "wtf yogurt?!!?," but it adds a creamy taste to it, making it a light and refreshing potato chip, much better than shitty sour cream and onion Lays. The other flavors of Kettle chips are bomb too.

I don't know how many people here read magazines, but I have a weekly subscription of Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide that I didn't pay for, and I must say that Entertainment Weekly beats the shit out of TV Guide. The writing is better in my opinion, and they have coverage on music books and dvds as well as tv and movies. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to the TV Guide podcast as well as reading their online stories, but their magazine is just full of TV listings that I could find somewhere else.

Speaking of TV, NBCs Friday Night Lights is currently cutting deals to get renewed for a third season, so I finally started to watch it. I'm halfway into season 1, and I must say it's pretty entertaining. Check it out if you have the free time.

So that's pretty much it for now. I wanna find something incredibly unhealthy to eat, and then I'll be at Gamestop at midnight to pick up my copy of Brawl. PEACE!

Ohh Mahh Gahhh

So to bring the readers out of the madness of the previous few posts, here's this.

This my friends is the almight PIZOOKIE, the seemingly unavoidable dessert at BJ's (or as Jordan likes to call it, B and J's) Restaurant in San Diego. I came across this photo while working on one of my projects, and after seeing it I was left with my mind collapsed and stomach aching for food. That got me thinking about food in Boston. Everywhere you go, you can easily find one of three things; a dunkin donuts, a pizza place, or a sandwich shop. The fast food market consists of McDonalds and Wendy's (and Burger King I guess, but that's not even worth mentioning), and for those eager to make a fat dent in their bank accounts, there's a huge assortment of touristy fine dining restaurants. After a year in Boston, I've found a few special gems that I enjoy. Viet sandwiches and pho in Chinatown, falafel and hummus sandwiches at Falafel King or Cafe Jaffa, cheap indian lunch buffets, and a couple pizza shops that really excel at their craft. But in the end, nothing compares to the addictive and almighty Carne Asada Chips. Nothing compares to the deep dish goodness of BJs and their mouth watering Pizookie. Nothing even really compares to the simplicity and tastiness that is In n Out. So if anyone is wondering why I eat out so much when I'm in San Diego, the reason is simple. It's because good food that you grow up eating is so hard to come by (try finding lumpia in a city dominated by fat, wing eating patriots/red sox fans), so take advantage of everything in your home town because when you move away you'll end up like me, making ridiculous blog posts about food when I should be studying or something.