In the past few weeks, though, I have received spam comments in spite of the protective measures listed above and others I have not mentioned. As a result, I have decided to take even further measures and have now allowed any person to comment on my blog. This change is important, because if there are any legitimate readers of this blog, you may now respond the way you would on any other blog. In turn, your interaction will, in theory, prompt me to write more often. Of course, it may not pan out like that, but the least I could do was remove any of the barriers from my end.

In contrast to the Blizzard of 1993, when the immense snowfall seemed to fade too quickly for its size, the more recent fallen snow persisted in a way to burn itself into my adult memory. My eyes had gotten so used to seeing the white stuff, that I was beginning to forget what the actual ground looked like. To be fair, I still rely on memory for that, as much of the snow still rests upon sidewalks, steps, and lawns that had never been introduced to shovels. The thaw is far from complete, but now the piles of snow are beginning to darken and shrink. The white power on the ground has become dimpled and wrinkled, and the trees drop their burdens of snow and swing their bare limbs in liberty.

Winter is undergoing contractions, as soon, spring will be born.

Unlike the last time, there were no representatives from MAGFest, which greatly reduced the festivity in the atmosphere. That is not to say, of course, that the crowd was anything but lively, or that there were no pre-show activities. However, in comparison to the prior engagement, there was less of an aura of celebration and general merriment than there was in the summer. Much of that, of course, could be attributed to the fact that this iteration of Video Games Live occurred in February on the same night the Pittsburgh Penguins had a home game.

Another detail I spotted were the sheets used by the orchestra to play the music. To be fair, it is possible that this was not a change from the last time, but I noticed that the music was spread out on twice folded sheets of three section. Previously, it seemed as though the music was in single sheet format, but it is possible that my remembrance of the previous event is foggy seven months later. In either case, if it were a change, it was one I enjoyed, even though I was not even playing.

The opening preview videos displayed on the viewscreen remained the same, with the exception to the Michael Jackson tribute, which was understandably absent. The standard opening to Video Games Live (which I neglected to mention in the previous entry) began with the orchestra playing orchestra hits in time to a video of Pong, which led to a medley of tunes from older video games, including that of Donkey Kong.

During the break that followed there was a costume contest. This time, there were fewer entrants in the costume contest than in the summer. Although the Katamari and Celes costumes were my personal favorites, a little boy dressed as Link won to the audience’s delight.

The selection of music in this Bonus Round was quite different from the last time and more tailored to my personal tastes. Given that I immensely enjoyed the previous from a musical perspective, this was a welcome surprise and allowed me to enjoy the music not merely from an appreciation point of view, but from the lens of a fan.

The first announced piece of music was Sonic the Hedgehog, an amazing opening. After this came music from Assassin’s Creed 2, with Laura Intravia as the guest vocalist. A short break followed with a competition between two members selected from the audience, a 15 year old male youth and a 21 year old young lady. Both of them were to play the first level of Frogger, with the person who scored the most points winning the competition. The orchestra would play along to the score of Frogger during the gameplay, with wonderful verbal interplay from the host Tommy Tallarico (this was worth the price of admission alone). Despite the dynamics, the orchestra did not miss a beat The young lady won, although both participants received prizes.

After this we were treated to the opening of Final Fantasy VIII, Liberi Fatali. Although Final Fantasy VIII is not the most popular game out of the series in the United States, I believe musically it is one of the stronger entries. I appreciate that music from a Final Fantasy title (aside from Final Fantasy VII’s One Winged Angel) was played by an entire orchestra.

Next came music from Shadow of the Colossus, then Bioshock, and Mass Effect. We were reminded before the Mass Effect segment that the conductor, Jack Wall, composed music for both Mass Effect and its recently released sequel. However, after these segments came. Laura Intravia was now wearing a Link costume with a winged sphere attached to represent Navi, and began the to perform “Flute Link” segment for which she was has become known across the Internet. After this was music from the orchestra performing various themes from Zelda there was a short intermission, which allowed me to stretch my legs.

After the intermission, the audience treated with music from StarCraft II (which at the time was not released). I do not know the track name, but it looked as though the subtitle was similar to “Revenge of the ????es.” Next we heard the familiar, but welcome medley of Super Mario Bros music.

After these selections came the Guitar Hero segment, with the pre-show Guitar Hero competition winner, Zach Fairfield, appearing on stage. His goal was to score 275,000 points on a new song, Jump from Van Halen, on Expert mode. As with Frogger, the orchestra played along with the song, and Tallarico engaging the crowd. He scored approximately 260,000 points, which was only slightly shy of the 275,000 points needed to win, but the crowd had become so excited in both the player’s performance and that of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, that this took little away from the moment. He was rewarded with his prize bag.

From this point the audience was treated to a segment of Halo ODST, the music from Halo, and of course One Winged Angel, originally from Final Fantasy VII (although this was the Advent Children re-arrangement). However, we were also able to listen to various themes from the Castlevania series, and next to last, music from the Mega Man series.

The show closed with the Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross Medley and FluteLink rejoined the stage. This time, the breaths between her notes seemed a little more noticeable, but her flute added to the presence of the dual guitars (of Tallarico and Wall), making this segment even more outstanding and amazing than it did the previous time.

In the end, I am very glad I attended Video Games Live: Bonus Round. Not only did the return engagement serve as a perfect complement to the previous engagement, but it was also enjoyable on its own merits. Seemingly small moments such as Tommy Tallarico bringing out his “Spider-Man” guitar or pointing out Antony Daniels in the crowd made it a greater experience than the last time. As a result, I do not suffer the nagging disappointment from being brought back to the real world. The first round in July taunted me with an earful of pure ecstasy, only for me to crash into despair after no longer hearing. The second round in February lifted me up, but this time, I believe I will ride on these winds of happiness through the icy, snow-ridden days ahead. The Bonus Round does what all sequels — be them of video games, movies, or novels — should do, which is to bring enough of the familiar to link the works, but raise the bar to surpass what has come prior to it.

However, as my memories of the Blizzard of 1993 indicate, these same students will rue their unscheduled freedom when the summer melts the icy memories of pleasure as they remain in hot classrooms with no air conditioning. It is also forgotten that while the Blizzard of 1993 brought more snow than the recent snows on Friday & Saturday and Tuesday & Wednesday, it did not incapacitate the city to this degree. In fact, it was school year of 1993-1994 that was comparable to this recent situation, with schools closed due an extended wave of extreme cold. Then I laughed at David Letterman’s mantra of “Too Damn Cold,” but as the school year was extended even longer, that amusement was a replaced with stifling heat in a building where I had to take tests and and receive instruction from patient instructors such as Mr. Harrison and Mrs. Berdnik. I loved to learn, but not nearly as much as I normally did because it was so terribly hot. I believe many Pittsburgh Public Schoolchildren will also have these memories, when the cold has ensured that the snow is not an ephemeral milestone, but a large white mark in history to stain the upcoming summer days.

I will say that I am surprised at how little I was able to take from this forced respite. I had initially believed that being stuck in the house would actually prove to be a cathartic experience, as it would force me to attend to matters I had long forgotten. Instead, it has only gotten me further behind in my personal projects. This is in part because the days were not spent in complete physical idleness. Instead, I had to shovel snow, and due to my inexperience with snow removal, this caused me to require more rest than I usually receive. While it is fortunate I was a position to perform my job duties from home, I missed my desk and the quietness it brought.

Save the snow shovel, save the world.

I arrived at Heinz Hall shortly before 7 p.m.. I worried that I may have been underdressed in a causal shirt and pants, but my anxieties were quickly dispersed by the attire of those surrounding and inside Heinz Hall. I foolishly went to the “will call” line, even though I already had my tickets. After some preliminary confusion, I spoke with an usher, who informed me that the auditorium would be open in a half-an hour, which gave me time to look around. I went upstairs and heard the beautiful sound of a young man playing arrangements of various video game tunes. The keyboard player, Dominic Cerquetti, as well as others in the area such as Adam, Dac, and several others were of a contingent representing MagFest.

In this section of the lobby, there was a young man playing Chrono Trigger for the Nintendo DS, going down the long staircase in the Ocean Palace. Part of me wanted to stop him and ask him to battle monsters, but I knew better, as he was clearly engrossed in the game, switching through menus in a flurry of button presses. There was also a multi-player station set up with various arcade beat-em up classics such as X-Men. I even got to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles In Time, a game I had never played before.

Before I knew it it was time to take my seat, and the concert began. An animated video of “Yuri The Only One” by LeetStreet Boys preceded the performance. A second, live-action video set to Junior Kickstart’s “The Go! Team” featured a person in a Ms. Pacman costume was being chased around New York City by three of the ghosts. Finally, we were treated Michael Jackson tribute where sprites from the Moonwalker game inserted into various gaming scenes. It was both humorous and touching.

After this, the concert began in earnest, with Tommy Tallarico as the host. He encouraged the audience to make noise and respond during the performance, and as a rejoined one audience member shouted, “Leeroy Jenkins!”

He introduced the first selection, music from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. During the orchestra’s performance, a person covered in a cardboard box similar tiptoed across the stage (a convention from the Metal Gear Solid games), avoiding an enemy soldier. As in the games, the soldier noticed the movement (causing a exclamation point to “appear” above his head). However, the person in the crate was not apprehended, and later Tallarico stepped out of the box.

Interspersed in this half was music from Civilization IV and God of War, as well as moments of more direct audience participation. Tallarico asked for the participation of an audience member, with a prize being offered.  I thought about raising my hand to be chosen, but I thought better of it and remained motionless.  Instead, a young fifteen-year old lady was chosen for the challenge, to beat the first level of Space Invaders in two minutes.  She certainly did better than I would have done.  However, her efforts were not good enough as she lost all of her lives with approximately 30 seconds to go. As a consolation prize, she got a copy of Space invaders to practice.

There also an intermission in which the participants of the costume contest lined up on stage. There were quite a few entrants, including two Link and Zelda pairs, a Mario and Princess Peach pair, and a boy dressed as the Joker. The winner was a young man dressed as Kratos from God of War.

Martin Leung also entered the stage in this half. Going to the piano, he played a beautiful medley of Final Fantasy music, incorporating Aerith’s theme from Final Fantasy VII, Eyes on Me from Final Fantasy VIII, and several other iconic Final Fantasy theme songs.

There was an intermission and I returned to the MAGFest section to listen to more impromptu remixes and rearrangements. It was soon time to return to the our seats for the second half of the concert, which opened up with the immensely moving orchestral version of Kingdom Heart’s central theme, “Hikari.”

The next section was the second competition, where the winner of the Guitar Hero competition went up on stage to perform, with the objective of getting 200,000 points Contrary to what what the Tribune Review would have you to believe, though, the second contestant did not complete the song and win the challenge (although he did get 86% of the way through and excellent score), but he did get the prize.

After this we were treated to music from WoW. Leung was then brought out again to recreate his famous blindfolded performance of Super Mario Bros. on the piano. Tallarico tied a terrible towel around Leung’s eyes, which elicited a “Here we go, Steelers!” chant from the crowd. Leung played the piece excellently.

Next were selections from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Chrono Trigger was represented by to themes, the Middle Ages overworld theme from and Frog’s theme, both benefited tremendously from the enhancement of a live orchestra. The theme set to the introduction of Chrono Cross, a difficult piece in which I noticed one orchestra member losing his place in the performance. (It made the performance more enjoyable than it would have been, not less, as it’s a testament to how video game music has evolved and of course, the various mistakes gamers make when actually playing video games.) During this segment, both Tallarico and Jack Wall both performed an electric guitar duet, enhancing the already superb arrangement to the pinnacle of music.

Tallarico then suggested that if the audience wanted an encore, that as a group hold up our cell phones and handheld gaming systems.  I held up my DSi, which was still on as I had Chrono Trigger on pause. There was a surprise. Music from the Castlevania series greeted the audience’s ears, so many familiar themes performed in such a sublime fashion that I wished the concert would not end.

Finally, after polling the audience, a rendition of Final Fantasy VII’s “One Winged Angel” closed the show. After the, there was a prerecorded selection of Street Fighter II remixes played, although I am unaware of the source of the remixes.

After the concert, I went back up to the MAGFest crew and asked for music from Mega Man 2. In a breach of good manners, I sadly did not give Cerquetti a tip for exceeding my request. A few minutes passed and it was time to go home.

Overall, I had a tremendous amount of fun last week, so much so that the days that followed were absolutely depressing in comparison. At least for that night I enjoyed myself. I can only hope I have more events about which I can rave with equal enthusiasm.