Articles by Michael Anderson

What the HECK Happened to Herbie Hancock?!?

Herbie Hancock learned a lot from his time with Miles Davis, musically and also about being restlessly creative. After leaving Miles band before the earth-shaking Bitches Brew era, he headed off to release his own series of classics. He had already carved a great space in modal music with his Blue Note recordings Maiden Voyage and Speak Like a Child, but then went on to record Fat Albert Rotunda and the classic Headhunters which solidified him as an all-time great in pretty much every aspect of the music. He was there at the start of MTV with the techno-funk-hip-hop-dance song…

News

Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media

You know you are of a certain age if the acronym WORM immediately evokes CD-R in your brain. WORM stands for ‘Write Once Ready Many times’. In the early days of commercially available recordable CD media the drives were used as back-up devices competitive with 8mm DAT. Consumer systems lost the WORM name and became CD-R in around 1990, with the first rewritable CD-RW systems only introduced in 1997 and commercially viable in 1999! Since then every sort of Flash memory storage has been rewritable to the point where it is hard to even think about a ‘write once’ architecture….

News

Check Out This Crazy Mashup of Star Wars and Pixar Characters!

It doesn’t take much to see Toy Story’s Evil Emperor Zurg as a translation of the Darth Vader archetype. But imagine going through the main Star Wars characters – of the original trilogy – and using a Pixar character to represent them! That is exactly what Paul Tassi has done for Unreality Magazine, and is shown in high resolution at his website. Let’s take a look at his Luke Skywalker, played by Flik from A Bug’s Life: There are loads of other great ones represented, from Leia to Han Solo to Chewbacca and even the droid pairing of R2D2 and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Mahjongg Artifacts, a PSP Mini Game Review

The Hype: A prequel to Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2, the Story Mode of Mahjongg Artifacts introduces players to the start of the adventure through graphic comic scenes. As players explore five ancient cultures and master more and more complicated Mahjongg layouts, they will uncover lost relics as well as special tiles that will help them in their quest. The Classic mode of the game will allow players to choose which layouts and tile sets they want to complete, while Endless Mode constantly produces a never-ending arrangement of tiles, which will provide a limitless challenge. The Reality: As I mentioned at…

Game Diary, Reviews

First Impressions: OnLive Gaming Service

I have written here and here and here about the OnLive gaming service, which was announced over a year ago as a way for gamers with relatively modest computer hardware to run the latest and greatest games in HD. The service was supposed to release on June 17th, but folks sporadically started gaining access on the 18th – which is when I got access to the service. I’ve had the chance to get some play time with the service and wanted to give you some first impressions. The service runs on most reasonably powered Macs or PCs without any issue….

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Coming to iPad!

Game Diary, Reviews

The Netbook Gamer: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (2003, RPG)

I made a big deal in my Neverwinter Nights Netbook Gamer about how that game had reignited my love for role-playing games after nearly a decade away. But I also mention that there was a reason I picked up Neverwinter Nights in the first place – I was enjoying the recent Star Wars games and was really looking forward to the promise foretold in Knights of the Old Republic previews, but wanted to get a feel for the state of the RPG again to see if it was even worthwhile for me to give the upcoming Star Wars RPG a…

Events, Game Diary

Penny Arcade Sums Up E3 In Three Panels

Image Courtesy of TechShowNetwork I didn’t lead with the comic itself as it contains some language and phraseology that might offend some … so click on in to see the comic itself – or head to Penny-Arcade to check it out! I have written at some length about the Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony presentations, but in their most recent comic Penny-Arcade sums up the whole thing much more efficiently than I have seen anywhere: Um … yeah. What they said. Source: Penny-Arcade

Editorials, Game Diary

My Summary of Sony’s E3 Presentation: Buy Our 3D TV’s, We Make a Better Wii-Mote, People Are Too Dumb for the PSP

I am honestly beginning to believe that hubris is so tightly ingrained in the Sony Corporate culture that ‘berate the customer day’ likely stands alongside ‘casual Friday’ as a regular occurrence. OK, perhaps that is a bit harsh, but what came out of the mouths of Sony at their E3 press event were definitely NOT the words of a company in DEAD LAST in every possible category of gaming for the last several years who should be looking to ingratiate themselves with the customers who had previously made them the biggest name in console gaming. How bad is it? Nearly…

Editorials

Mac Mini Updated and Priced to Sell iMacs, that is

Image courtesy of GeekyGadgets By now you have likely heard that Apple did a refresh on the Mac Mini, greatly overhauling the internal and external hardware and enhancing the overall specifications … and the price. The basics are as expected – more or less a copy of the 13″ Macbook Pro with more desktop-like set of connectors. The big new features include the addition of a HDMI port, upgrade of the graphics chip, and the sleek new look. Here are some details: Most notable is the new aluminum unibody enclosure, which stands just 1.4″ tall and features an easy-to-access memory…

Game Diary, Reviews

GearGames Retrospective: 5 PC RPG Games That Defined The Year 2009

Last month I provided an introduction to the series I am now kicking off for real: a look back at the last decade as seen through the lens of a PC Single Player RPG fan. Now after getting all of the full reviews completed for my top games for last year, it is time to begin the journey in earnest by looking at five games that shaped the genre in 2009! As a reminder of what I’m doing, as we enter a new decade I thought it was worth taking a look back at the last decade and what has…

Music Diary, Reviews

Recent Jazz Releases You Would Never Hear About Otherwise

Photo from EyeShotJazz There was a time – before the internet, no less – when I really had my finger on the pulse of the jazz world. Some of it was location – I was less than an hour from Boston, Worcester, Providence RI and the Newport Jazz festival – but some of it was just knowing where to look for new information. As the years have passed by, I found that I have been relying on many of the same sources – radio, magazines, tracing through other artists discographies – but with decreasing success in finding new music outside…

eBooks, News

Landmark NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions Published After Decade of Development

If the image above makes you salivate or at least gets your mind buzzing with excitement, you want to head directly over to Cambridge Publishing and grab the new 422 page Handbook of Mathematical Functions. Why? As noted in the press release: The NIST HANDBOOK OF MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS has been the most widely distributed and cited resource for scholars, scientists, and engineers ever since it was first published in 1964. Over the past few decades, tremendous advances in applications of mathematics have taken place and the 2010 edition reflects these modern developments in theoretical and applied science. So what do…

Editorials, Game Diary

Sony Casts ‘Rewrite History’ to Explain the PSPGo Flop

Way back in the fall of 2009 Sony introduced the PSP Go. Before releasing the system, they touted the all-digital system based on the appealing physical form, the removal of the slow & noisy UMD drive, the ease of using the PSN store, and the new PSP Mini games. With the rumored UMD-to-PSN trade-in system, the system looked appealing despite being much more expensive than the PSP-3000. But then suddenly, shortly before the system launched, Sony killed any sort of ‘UMD to PSN’ transition system, killed any pack-in games for North America, confirmed that many games wouldn’t arrive at the…

Game Diary, Reviews

Dragon Age: Origins The Darkspawn Chronicles DLC: PC/XBOX360 Game Review

I have already detailed my feelings about the epic role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins, stating in my review that “not only do I love nearly every aspect of the game, I also love how after finishing it a couple of times I am thoroughly enjoying a new play-through as I contemplate my actions and consequences from the prior runs.” After such praise, it is a pretty easy guess that I am a lock to get any and all new content for the game. There have already been several add-ons released, from the initial Return to Ostagar DLC to the much…

Game Diary, Reviews

Half-Life 2 (FPS, 2010): Mac Game Review

If you ask any long-time Mac Gamer about the ‘ones that got away’, there are two games they will instantly cite: Marathon developer Bungie’s ‘Halo’, and Valve’s Half Life. Halo got a mediocre release for Mac & PC ages ago (and the even MORE mediocre Halo 2 came along later as an attempted Vista Trojan Horse), but the Half-Life franchise has eluded a Mac release … until now! We still await the release of the original, but for now Mac gamers can rejoice and enjoy the classic Half-Life 2! The Hype: By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of…

Game Diary, Reviews

Avernum VI (2009 RPG): The Netbook Gamer

Something interesting about the games from Spiderweb Software: I have been fortunate enough to be on the beta-test teams for the last few iterations of both the Mac and PC releases of the Geneforge and Avernum games. This means having access to the code early, getting loads of play time in before release … and yet in all cases I find myself writing reviews months later. I attribute that to the difference between playing to test for issues, and playing as a gamer figuring out what I do or don’t like about the overall experience. So here I am in…

Game Diary, Reviews

Portal (FPP, 2010) Mac Game Review

[GlaDOS voice] Hello and again welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center. We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of the enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from … [/GlaDOS voice] The Hype: Portal is a new single player game from Valve. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories,…

Music Diary, News, Reviews

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – To The One Review

Apparently April was CD-release party month at the old-British guitar legends home! Hot on the heels of Jeff Beck’s Emotion & Commotion comes To The One from John McLaughlin. While McLaughlin might not carry the same name recognition as Beck outside of the jazz world, the impact of the contributions of the 68-year old McLaughlin rival if not exceed those of his younger country-mate. Another similarity is that neither of these greats have rested on their laurels, constantly pushing ahead. Yet there is always a common thread and respect for their own history and fan-base. Such is case with the…

News

R.I.P Gary Coleman – Child Actor and Star of Diff’rent Strokes

Gary Coleman died yesterday after falling into a coma following an intracranial hemorrhage, with some reports indicating he might have had a fall that led to the brain trauma. For many of us who grew up watching Coleman on Diff’rent Strokes, it is yet another “died too soon” on a growing list of our childhood icons. According to an ABC article: Celebrity website RadarOnline.com said Coleman, 42, was taken off life support on Friday, and similar reports were filed by showbiz site TMZ.com and by CNN, citing a spokeswoman at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. The…

Music Diary, Reviews

Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion Review

Just over a month ago I wrote about the special launch-day deal Amazon.com was having on the MP3 version of Jeff Beck’s new Emotion & Commotion CD. Over the last six weeks I’ve kept the CD on my iPod in heavy rotation. Needless to say I have found something to like in the first studio release in seven years from the 65-year old legendary guitarist. At the same time, this is also my least favorite Jeff Beck release since his early 90’s rockabilly outing Crazy Legs. Let me give a bit of background and then dig into a song-by-song review….

Editorials

Wait … YOU Had The App Made … and it is Just for ME, to Give ME Free Stuff?!?!

A long time ago I signed up on the Verve Music site in order to gain access to some ‘exclusive’ John Coltrane content. Since 2003 I have gotten more or less weekly emails from them, generally throw-aways promoting whomever was new, but with some occasional gems. Fairly typical for a music publisher and nothing obnoxious enough to make me unsubscribe. The last several months, however, have been a nearly daily stream of emails related to American Idol Season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee and her latest recording “Unbroken”. Verve has been absolutely punishing my inbox with pseudo-personalized emails pushing me to…

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