Superficial Intelligence

Today I attended an orchestra concert titled Distant Worlds. It was music from the very popular Final Fantasy games. An excellent excuse for ladies to get their geeky boyfriends to go out or for guys to pretend to be romantic. I probably fit more into the second category, since I took my wife and she has never played any of the games. But we both enjoyed it very much. The composer, Nobuo Uematsu, made a few appearances, although he didn't speak much. The crowd was not what you usually expect to see in any orchestra concert. Some were playing Nintendo DS while the concert started. I saw a few dressed up as Final Fantasy characters. Still, it was an enjoyable night with great music (much of which I could actually recognize). Go check out their site at www.ffdistantworlds.com!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Here is a cool video I saw this week by Animusic. It is a computer animated music video and is very fun to watch. Enjoy!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Weezer really seems to get the Internet culture that has been growing in the last couple of years. One of their latest videos has a mashup of various web celebrities and references to many viral videos. How many can you recognize?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

[Note: Embedding has been disabled for this video, so the most I can do is link to it. Enjoy!]

Posted by Fernando Torre at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For the last day of the video game music week, I saved one of my favorites. This marching band really pulled off a great performance using classic Nintendo songs. I hope you all have enjoyed the interesting performances I have shown this week. Feel free to add more of your own in the comments section!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There isn't much cooler (or geekier) than music made by lightning. These video clips feature Super Mario songs by two Tesla Coils. Nikola Tesla, for those of you that don't know, is one of the fathers of modern electricity, specifically, AC (alternating current). There are no speakers involved in the videos. Enjoy these awesome, almost bizarre, clips:

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

VGL stands for "Video Games Live". These are live concerts that feature music from many of the most famous games of all time. I'm still on the lookout to see if they will offer any concert nearby. This particular clip features music from Kingdom Hearts and a Final Fantasy piano solo. Check their website to see if there is a concert near you!

I cannot embed this video, since the embedding has been disabled for this particular one, but here is the link:

Video Games Live - Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To continue with unusual interpretations of video game music, here is the Final Fantasy Chocobo theme played by one guy with two guitars at the same time. This sort of feat would be practically impossible on acoustic guitars. Enjoy!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ever heard of the theremin? It is one of the strangest instruments ever created. It is fully electronic and is the only instrument that depends on the person's proximity to it to play the notes. There are no strings or keys to press! Few are the people who venture into the weird world of the theremin. It is no wonder that a geeky instrument such as this is used by some to play video game music. Here is Zelda music on the theremin:

There are a bunch of other neat theremin videos around. If you want to hear more, check these ones out for starters:

Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"

Final Fantasy X - To Zanarkand

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The second video of the week is a flute version of the Super Mario Brothers theme. The cool thing is that the guy is doing beatboxing at the same time as he plays the flute. Be sure to check out his other videos, including the Sesame Street and Inspector Gadget themes.

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's time for another themed week! This time, I decided to put up some of my favorite videos of live interpretations of video game music. I am a Nintendo fan, so most of the songs are from classic Nintendo games, such as Mario, Tetris, and Zelda. These are some of the coolest or strangest clips I have found, so I hope you enjoy them. I will start with a very fun video of a choir singing Nintendo acappella. Enjoy!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)