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Game Review: Alice: Madness Returns

This aesthetic triumph's gameplay leaves us far from Wonderland.

By Timothy J. Seppala
Posted July 5, 2011

Without a doubt, Alice: Madness Returns has the most beautiful and well-realized aesthetic of any game I’ve seen in ages. But, I’m begging you to never play it. Why? Because it’s heartbreaking that a world rife with so many imaginative possibilities ends up feeling so empty, so dull, and so soulless.

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Entertainment

“Keeping Score”: Where the Classics Are Current — and High-Tech

How a top A/V team helped Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony explore Mahler

By Robert Ripps
Posted July 2, 2011

“I sometimes think I should’ve been a filmmaker rather than a musician.”

So says Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor and music director of the San Francisco Symphony.

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Entertainment

Hands on with "Dead Island"

Shambling in the sun

By Timothy J. Seppala
Posted June 26, 2011

Dead Island came out of nowhere earlier this year; its announcement trailer — the scariest set of reverse-chronology vacation snapshots you've seen in a while — went viral and now has more than 4.7 million hits on YouTube. And then for months we heard nothing. What was it, exactly?

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Entertainment

The Mahler Symphonies on SACD — and Vinyl LP

Partly launched to promote the state of the art, SFS Media now goes retro.

By Robert Ripps
Posted June 22, 2011

Back in September 2002, I interviewed Michael Tilson Thomas about the launch of a bold new project with the San Francisco Symphony: a complete cycle of the Mahler symphonies to be released on hybrid multichannel SACD via the orchestra’s fledgling in-house label, SFS Media. At the time, Thomas already had clearly formed ideas about the sound he wanted:

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News

The Big Man Joins the Band in the Sky

RIP Clarence Clemons, E Street Band Saxophonist

By Mike Mettler
Posted June 21, 2011

The Big Man has left the building.

Clarence Clemons, the powerful tenor saxophonist of the E Street Band and onstage foil for Bruce Springsteen for 40 years, died Saturday at age 69 due to complications from a recent stroke.

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Entertainment

A Talk with "Keeping Score" co-director Joan Saffa

Behind the scenes of the series and the Mahler episodes

By Robert Ripps
Posted June 20, 2011

Robert Ripps: From your perspective, how has Keeping Score evolved since its 2004 premiere, both artistically and technologically?

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Gear

Review: Sharp XV-Z17000 3D DLP projector

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted June 16, 2011
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Sharp XV-Z17000 3D DLP projector

Sharp was once king of the $10,000 projector class, a class now nearly disappeared. With the 3D era under way, it returns to the game with this $4,995 offering, only to find the market far more competitive than before. Most notable is the $500-cheaper JVC DLA-X3, the baby brother of the X7 model I reviewed in the April/May issue.

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