University of Washington - Seattle, WA
University of Washington - Seattle, WA
University of Washington - Seattle, WA
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bloom, outdoors, photography, quad, university of washington, uw | 3 Comments »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged city, front, gilman, issaquah, outdoor, photo, photography, photos, street | Leave a Comment »
Album Cover for "These Hopeful Machines"
Musical artist BT is at the cutting edge of modern-day composition: Creating breath-taking songs with the latest digital sounds and effects, many of which he pioneered and created. A form of music that once might have been reserved for fans of Techno or Electronic has expanded to mainstream music. It’s nearly impossible to find a song on the radio today that doesn’t have some sort of digital effects or instruments. The music on BT’s new album “These Hopeful Machines” takes a step further than most pop music by using technology to stretch the limits of music and advance the art of composition, rather than just recreate what was previously done acoustically. Furthermore, his music combines the best of all worlds: acoustic instruments, strong male and female vocals, as well as digital instruments and effects.
Posted in Music | Tagged bt, composers, composition, electronic, Music, these hopeful machines | Leave a Comment »
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Expansion
By PHIL PALIOS
Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the epic StarCraft, WarCraft and Diablo game universes, hosts an annual convention for fans of their games to learn about what’s new and discuss these universes. This year’s convention began today and continues through tomorrow with a series of panels and new announcements.
During the opening ceremony a new class was introduced for the upcoming Diablo II release: Monks. The announcement included a cinematic and gameplay reel that were quite impressive and continue my excitement for the upcoming release (which won’t be any time soon). The biggest announcement today was World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, a new expansion for the best-selling Massively Multiplayer title that was first introduced five years ago.
Posted in Games | Tagged blizzard, blizzcon, cataclysm, diablo, expansion, starcraft, world of warcraft | 2 Comments »
Alana Grace performs on Warped Tour at The Gorge / Photo By PHIL PALIOS
By PHIL PALIOS
Alana Grace, while influenced by Alanis Morissette, has a style and voice all her own. Where Alanis Morissette has crisp and raw vocals that sometimes border on whiny, Alana maintains a more full vocal range and warmer tone. Their similarities are better found when exploring the lyrics, both artists have something to say and are not just producing good beats and melodies but deliver an emotional rollercoaster of music. The songs on Alana’s latest album “With One Word” cover emotions from upbeat songs about moving on, paranoia and obsession to down-tempo ballads reflecting on loss, fear and doubt. All of her songs fit into the wide pop-rock genre, which is unusual for an artist on Warped Tour where most bands play punk rock and carry a more aggressive tone with no interest in becoming mainstream. Throughout this new album I find a common theme of independence, hope, and reflection on lessons learned.
Posted in Music | Tagged 2009, alana grace, concert, gorge, live, pop, rock, warped tour | 1 Comment »
Warped Tour 2009 at The Gorge - Photo By PHIL PALIOS
By PHIL PALIOS
On a sunny Saturday afternoon at the beautiful central-Washington concert venue sometimes referred to as Heaven’s Amphitheater but most commonly known as The Gorge thousands of music fans migrate from their homes, skate parks and local rock club hangouts to the punk rock Mecca known as Vans Warped Tour. Sponsored by the famous footwear maker, Warped Tour is the masterpiece of tour organizer Kevin Lyman and has given hundreds of bands the otherwise impossible opportunity to spend the summer traveling around the country and playing amphitheatre-size venues for tens of thousands of music lovers.
Posted in Music | Tagged gorge, interview, kevin lyman, Music, punk rock, vans, warped tour | Leave a Comment »
By PHIL PALIOS
What is Twitter for? Why should I care what you’re doing with your boring life? While many people use Twitter to make their otherwise dull lives seem more interesting, I recently discovered that Twitter has created a new form of communication that allows open conversation with people you never imagined to be possible. The process is simple: you see a celebrity or someone you find interesting, you find their Twitter account, you can talk to them. I’m kidding, right? No. I have experienced this phenomenon first-hand and think it’s something worth sharing. Continue Reading »
Posted in TV | Tagged brea grant, charlie lieberman, greg grunberg, heroes, james clark, TV, tv show, twitter, wendi lynn allison | 3 Comments »
Zune HD
By PHIL PALIOS
You may have recently seen Zune in the news with their latest announcement, the Zune HD touch-screen music player. It looks like a wonderful device, but I believe that Zune has a lot more to offer people who love music: the combination of a great music subscription service, desktop software and portable player. To dig deeper into the digital music subscription revolution I had the chance to sit down with Jessica Zahn, Program Manager on the Zune Social team and Matt Akers, “Gangster of Test” on the Zune Client team at their beautiful new Zune HQ building on the Microsoft Studios West campus.
To begin with, I wanted to know how they felt the subscription model was doing when compared to the more traditional means of listening to music. “I definitely think it’s growing.” responds Matt, as he continues: “I think we’re still in the phase of getting people to learn about what it really is and get people [who are] acquainted with ‘renting music’ in a way, whereas we look at it more as being able to enjoy lots of music whether it be through friends or the social and gain a robust collection without having to spend thousands of dollars and being able to enjoy that music…A lot of it is getting people to understand what it is and [making] it available to them.”
Posted in Music | Tagged interview, Music, zune, zune hd | 4 Comments »
By PHIL PALIOS
Pixar’s latest film, UP, is not just a kid’s movie about balloons. With UP, Pixar has managed to create an entrancing, entertaining and emotional film about letting go and how all the small day-to-day events are what make up life’s big adventure. I believe the crowning achievement of this film is its success at connecting with both children and adults to communicate the same message. While I am not a fan of spoilers, I can’t help but reveal some details of the story to help provide an understanding of why UP is worth seeing, seeing again, and buying. This animated feature stars two characters: Carl, a 78-year-old retired balloon salesman and Russell, an 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer. While Carl seeks to fulfill his life-long dream of grand adventure with his wife, Ellie, a promise he was not able to complete before she passed away, he is joined by Russell, who has yet to experience the actual outdoors, despite his plethora of merit badges.
Posted in Movies | Tagged 3d, movie, pixar, review, up | 1 Comment »
Divided by Night Cover Art
By PHIL PALIOS
The Crystal Method emerged on the electronic music scene twelve years ago with their release of “Vegas” that stormed the charts, most notably the single “Busy Child” is one most people will recognize, even if they don’t know about the artists behind it. The group consists of two amazingly talented electronic artists: Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan. Earlier this month the group released their fourth album, “Divided by Night.” This new album reflects the group’s ongoing musical evolution by continuing to build on classic The Crystal Method style and sound that can be traced through all of their albums while producing new ideas with different beats and sounds. One of the things that make this album stand out is the guest vocalists who helped create and perform on many of the songs.
Posted in Music | Tagged Music, the crystal method | Leave a Comment »
